So I'm about to turn in last night when the cunning and vengeful Duck Gawd of the MuNuvians sends me this fascinating you tube link....
...which rather caught me off guard and was was sufficiently jarring that sleep did not happen for some time...
UPDATE: As to the actual show (which I haven't seen)...Ubu comments, Don (who now has new digs...adjust your bookmarks) declares it the first controversy of his new blog.
Showing posts with label ...but is it art?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ...but is it art?. Show all posts
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Bleach
Well, today I picked up the third DVD of Bleach.
This series, like Van Dread, had hype around it that had been fairly off-putting, I'd gotten the impression that it was a Naruto clone and mainly a fight show...neither of which is my cup of tea.
In fact, it is a clever and engaging superhero show, which I did not really expect.
Ichigo Kurosaki would be
a normal Japanese high-school student were it not for two things, he is of mixed race and has his late mothers blond hair...which served to get him beaten up throughout his childhood, but has contributed to his being extremely good at fisticuffs...oh and he sees dead people.Like the one behind him in the picture....
Yes Ichigo can see spirits, ghosts, and as he soon discovers other things that exist on the astral plane.
He lives with his 2 sisters and rather stressed out father who runs a small private medical practice. (Dad has not adjusted well to Moms death and although he is a good doctor, and basically decent sort, he is a holy terror of bizarre behavior around the house) Although a bit hotheaded, Ichigo is a remarkably decent fellow with a strong sense of ethics. In fact he is one of the more likable heroes of recent years.
Kurosaki Yuzu is one of his younger sisters.With her light colored hair and sunny demeanor, she seems to take
after their late mother. She tries hard to fill in for Mom. She cooks, she cleans, and is generally domestic. She very much hopes someday to be able to see ghosts too....which she thinks would be the "coolest thing!"
Kurosaki Karin Yuzu's fraternal twin sister looks, and acts utterly different. She is fairly dour, in part because she CAN see ghosts....but she says is in denial about it...the whole thing seriously creeps her out. she wants to be normal...but thanks to circumstances, is basically a goth in spite of herself.
Kuchiki Rukia A "shinigami" currently assigned to Japan (shinigami translates as Death God...but in the
English dub it is translated , perhaps wisely, as "soul reaper" ).
She is part of an astral order that deals with problems of the spirit realm. Specifically, she helps the spirits of the dead move onto the next level, (a place called the "soul society") and fights monsters ( "hollows" ) on the astral plane that feed upon the spirits of the dead....and occasionally the living. (Note that although the soul reapers exist in another dimension/plane or whatever...they do most of their work amongst us, but in spirit form...and thus invisible to most people).
Rukia is extremely competent, professional, and dedicated.(Top of her class, all that).
She also claims to be very old and, at the beginning of the show, has the powers of a minor god. Although she does most of her work on earth in spirit form, she has the ability to interact with humans by channeling her spirit into a human looking body she keeps stashed for emergencies in her area of responsibility. (But what is the likelihood that she'd EVER have to do that? )
Rukia is really impressive and likable character. Brave, as well as practical, she is able to think on her feet and adapt to the most dangerous...and ignominious....situations.
Chad A soft spoken giant on the rare occasions he chooses to speak at all, Chad is a classmate of Ichigo...and one of a handful of people Ichigo genuinely admires. He has unbelievable physical strength. However, out of
fear of killing someone (likely well founded...he can break concrete and bend steel) he never fights back...against humans. He is remarkably tough though, as well as idealistic, and physically brave to a fault. Chad chooses to speak so little, that he has a reputation for being a bit "slow". It is a reputation quite undeserved.
Other characters are revealed as the show progresses, but their explanation involves spoilers...
...such as this, which is simply the most awesomest bird EVER!
Of course explaining superhero origins is usually going to involve episode one spoilers...
...with that in mind...
The origin and set up in episode one is as follows.
While pursuing a "hollow" Rukia, the Soul Reaper decides to take a shortcut through Ichigo's room. As she doesn't look like a spirit he decks her thinking she's a burglar. Shocked that he can see her in the spirit plane...and connect, she ties him up (power of minor god...remember) but then must engage what is an uncommonly formidable hollow. Said monstrosity is, in fact, attempting to eat Ichigo and his sisters...presumably attracted by their spectral vision powers.
Unfortunately, the fight does not go well, in part because Ichigo breaks free and attempts to fight the monster, which is far out of his league. In protecting him, Rukia is gravely wounded. Unable to fight, she offers to transfer some of her power to him via a Magical McGuffin spell...so he might have a chance at killing the horror bearing down on them. He accepts, vanquishes the beast (largely by catching it by surprise) and all should be well...
Unfortunately, the spell was botched, he now has ALL of her powers and no real idea how to use them beyond fisticuffs. She has all the arcane combat knowledge in the world....but no powers and thus no ability to get back to her plane of origin.Without her powers she must transfer to her emergency backup body...which we later learn is not a top of the line model as she never really expected to use it.
Ichigo must now fill her role in Japan until whenever, if ever, she gets her powers back. Only she has any knowledge of what our hero must face, and she also has the ability to detect nearby monsters and souls in need of cleansing...thus she naturally enrolls in his school to be near him at all times.
...at which point, things proceed to get complicated.....
The story is moving along well and the characters are quite engaging. I'm watching the dub mostly and the voice acting is above par. In particular former Power Ranger Johnny Yong Bosch who was so good as Vash in Trigun is very believable as Ichigo, and Michelle Ruff pulls off the stoic Rukia quite well.
The first 2 DVD's were quite good and I'm really liking it thus far.
At DVD2 It's 5 out of 6 bricks. :)
Update: fixed some really embarrassing syntax errors and made the post flow a bit better. After watching DVD3, Bleach is still holding steady at 5 Bricks.
This series, like Van Dread, had hype around it that had been fairly off-putting, I'd gotten the impression that it was a Naruto clone and mainly a fight show...neither of which is my cup of tea.
In fact, it is a clever and engaging superhero show, which I did not really expect.
Ichigo Kurosaki would be
a normal Japanese high-school student were it not for two things, he is of mixed race and has his late mothers blond hair...which served to get him beaten up throughout his childhood, but has contributed to his being extremely good at fisticuffs...oh and he sees dead people.Like the one behind him in the picture....Yes Ichigo can see spirits, ghosts, and as he soon discovers other things that exist on the astral plane.
He lives with his 2 sisters and rather stressed out father who runs a small private medical practice. (Dad has not adjusted well to Moms death and although he is a good doctor, and basically decent sort, he is a holy terror of bizarre behavior around the house) Although a bit hotheaded, Ichigo is a remarkably decent fellow with a strong sense of ethics. In fact he is one of the more likable heroes of recent years.
Kurosaki Yuzu is one of his younger sisters.With her light colored hair and sunny demeanor, she seems to take
after their late mother. She tries hard to fill in for Mom. She cooks, she cleans, and is generally domestic. She very much hopes someday to be able to see ghosts too....which she thinks would be the "coolest thing!"Kurosaki Karin Yuzu's fraternal twin sister looks, and acts utterly different. She is fairly dour, in part because she CAN see ghosts....but she says is in denial about it...the whole thing seriously creeps her out. she wants to be normal...but thanks to circumstances, is basically a goth in spite of herself.
Kuchiki Rukia A "shinigami" currently assigned to Japan (shinigami translates as Death God...but in the
English dub it is translated , perhaps wisely, as "soul reaper" ).She is part of an astral order that deals with problems of the spirit realm. Specifically, she helps the spirits of the dead move onto the next level, (a place called the "soul society") and fights monsters ( "hollows" ) on the astral plane that feed upon the spirits of the dead....and occasionally the living. (Note that although the soul reapers exist in another dimension/plane or whatever...they do most of their work amongst us, but in spirit form...and thus invisible to most people).
Rukia is extremely competent, professional, and dedicated.(Top of her class, all that).
She also claims to be very old and, at the beginning of the show, has the powers of a minor god. Although she does most of her work on earth in spirit form, she has the ability to interact with humans by channeling her spirit into a human looking body she keeps stashed for emergencies in her area of responsibility. (But what is the likelihood that she'd EVER have to do that? )
Rukia is really impressive and likable character. Brave, as well as practical, she is able to think on her feet and adapt to the most dangerous...and ignominious....situations.
Chad A soft spoken giant on the rare occasions he chooses to speak at all, Chad is a classmate of Ichigo...and one of a handful of people Ichigo genuinely admires. He has unbelievable physical strength. However, out of
fear of killing someone (likely well founded...he can break concrete and bend steel) he never fights back...against humans. He is remarkably tough though, as well as idealistic, and physically brave to a fault. Chad chooses to speak so little, that he has a reputation for being a bit "slow". It is a reputation quite undeserved.
Other characters are revealed as the show progresses, but their explanation involves spoilers...
...such as this, which is simply the most awesomest bird EVER!
Of course explaining superhero origins is usually going to involve episode one spoilers...
...with that in mind...
The origin and set up in episode one is as follows.
While pursuing a "hollow" Rukia, the Soul Reaper decides to take a shortcut through Ichigo's room. As she doesn't look like a spirit he decks her thinking she's a burglar. Shocked that he can see her in the spirit plane...and connect, she ties him up (power of minor god...remember) but then must engage what is an uncommonly formidable hollow. Said monstrosity is, in fact, attempting to eat Ichigo and his sisters...presumably attracted by their spectral vision powers.
Unfortunately, the fight does not go well, in part because Ichigo breaks free and attempts to fight the monster, which is far out of his league. In protecting him, Rukia is gravely wounded. Unable to fight, she offers to transfer some of her power to him via a Magical McGuffin spell...so he might have a chance at killing the horror bearing down on them. He accepts, vanquishes the beast (largely by catching it by surprise) and all should be well...
Unfortunately, the spell was botched, he now has ALL of her powers and no real idea how to use them beyond fisticuffs. She has all the arcane combat knowledge in the world....but no powers and thus no ability to get back to her plane of origin.Without her powers she must transfer to her emergency backup body...which we later learn is not a top of the line model as she never really expected to use it.
Ichigo must now fill her role in Japan until whenever, if ever, she gets her powers back. Only she has any knowledge of what our hero must face, and she also has the ability to detect nearby monsters and souls in need of cleansing...thus she naturally enrolls in his school to be near him at all times.
...at which point, things proceed to get complicated.....
The story is moving along well and the characters are quite engaging. I'm watching the dub mostly and the voice acting is above par. In particular former Power Ranger Johnny Yong Bosch who was so good as Vash in Trigun is very believable as Ichigo, and Michelle Ruff pulls off the stoic Rukia quite well.
The first 2 DVD's were quite good and I'm really liking it thus far.
At DVD2 It's 5 out of 6 bricks. :)
Update: fixed some really embarrassing syntax errors and made the post flow a bit better. After watching DVD3, Bleach is still holding steady at 5 Bricks.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Meanwhile, Over at Pulpjunkie....
Everyones favorite un-dead Peter Lore lookalike does anime, giving capsule reviews of portions 18 animated series and movies, mostly from Japan.
He also continues his movie review project with The Cuckoos. In which our heroic reviewer learns once again that we have indeed come a long way....in many ways.
Go check him out! :)
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Prescience
This poem caught my ear tonight, as my friend Bob recited a bit of it to me. I looked it up.
Who, What When?
AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.
We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."
On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."
Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.
Answer in the comments.....
Who, What When?
AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.
We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."
On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."
Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.
Answer in the comments.....
Friday, March 02, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Cool
The Duck God of the MuNuvians has been taking pictures.
Which leaves me to ask....what IS the origin of this "Sad girls in snow" meme?
Which leaves me to ask....what IS the origin of this "Sad girls in snow" meme?
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Painting with Numbers
While over at Pulp Junkie and Gorilla Daze, they astutely watched really cool (or at least creative) things this weekend, I am stuck with the awful knowledge that I just spent money on Grenadier.
Some time ago, I saw episode one which looked promising, I was told that this show was very much like Trigun, which I was very fond of, so when the econopack came available I picked it up.
Unfortunately, it is completely UNlike Trigun in every meaningful way...except in that the main character has a pistol. Although the first episode is promising, it is, regrettably, followed by episode 2 which, sadly, is followed by episode 3...this unwelcome trend continues 9 more times.
The story is disjointed, the pacing is bad and the animation (with the exception of gratuitous bosomy bouncing) is below even most '90s television norms.
The show is a cliche' buffet that seems to have been put together by brainstorming and taking elements from various shows that were popular at the time...
"guns...check"
"blonde heroine with same...check"
"ronin sidekick...check"
"cute kid sidekick...check"
"a way to realistically work rubber bunny suits with push-up-bras into a epidode concerned with alpine survival....no...but what the heck"
The main charachters are likeable but essentially cut-outs.
Rushana Tendou, the smiling gunfighter: her goal is to spread peace and love and turn people away from the ways of war...she travels from village to village smiling and living like a monk trying to defuse conflicts...but as her only real skill other than a winsome smile and an hourglass figure is an almost magical competence with her revolver...action abounds. She not just well proportioned, she is top-heavy almost to the point of diminishing returns. The shows only glimmer of imagination is turning this bit of fan service into the shows signature stock-footage moment...
..this delightfully silly speedloading technique... :)
This should've been the greates show evah!
Yajiro Kojima: Mark 1 Mod 1 ronin (wandering masterless Samurai). He hates gunfighters, considering them cowards, but he is impressed with Rushana's genuine chivalry and sincerity, and so joins her.
Mikani Kurenai: Mark 1 Mod 2 kid the sidekick her parents were your typical fudal era rubber balloon artisans (!!!) and were killed by a band of thugs. She has the skills of a master balloon craftsman and can fashion any sort of latex inflatable thing on short notice....but as there is no latex or plastic readily available one suspects that she's actually a mutant or something and is excreting the rubber...(I prefer to think of it as a latex summoning spell, that bothers me less)
This should have been a decent show especially with the screwball wackieness implied by the reload antics and kids bizarre skillset, but it plods along looking for a plot until suddenly our heroes find a price on their heads....put on them by Rushana's sensei...which then devolves into a stock meet-specialist-bounty-hunter/warrior-of-the-day cliche' for several eps....Then...suddenly...the villain is revealed......to be reason...
...no really. The big bad is some clown in 18th century European garb who explains that the heroines hippie feelgood "get in touch with your feelings"philosophy is no match for the "enlightenment of evil". So we have sentimental emotional fluff opposed to the nashty trixie concepts of the enlightenment.
...just wrong on so many levels.
How bad?
At one point a roving band of rapist thieves are defeated, but in the spirit of feel-goodery they are all given jobs in the brothel they were trying to seize/loot/pillage...so....ummm...everybody wins(?!!)
Even given different cultural mores in Japan, I can't get past that...it is just vile.
Additionally, the peeping Tom humor and fan service gets old quick and there's even a loathsome scene with an old man feeling up his granddaughter (which is supposed to be funny).
Finally, if you are in it for the guns, our heroines muzzle brake is on the bottom....meaning it would accentuate felt recoil....just stupid...this is a really minor point compared to the utter lack of focus....but damn.
The show makes an interesting contrast with Van Dread, another show that cobbled together a series of cliches' and fan service to make a show. In that case despite the silliness of the premise, it was a very satisfying, action packed, superbly paced and even thoughtful show with really impressive character development.
Right Way...Wrong Way
This show is just painting by numbers....badly....no vision, no spark, no clue.
One brick
....just 'cause of that speedloading sillieness. (I'm a bad Ken)
....And Another Thing....
...that, like Grenadier, probably shouldn't have been made.
Hat tip: Matt Welch
Curse you Matt Welch!!!
Hat tip: Matt Welch
Curse you Matt Welch!!!
Disney to Return to 2-D Animation
Via Colleen Doran comes this welcome news. It seems that the head of Pixar, now also the head of Disney Feature Animation is set on rejuvinating the Disney animation shop focusing upon the hand drawn techniques that made Disney great.
"We will be bringing back hand-drawn (two-dimensional) films," said Disney's Ed Catmull, the President of Pixar and Disney Feature Animation....SNIP....He said Disney would do both computer animation and hand-drawn animation.
This is good to hear. Pixar is the best thing to have happened to Disney in a long time IMHO.
"We will be bringing back hand-drawn (two-dimensional) films," said Disney's Ed Catmull, the President of Pixar and Disney Feature Animation....SNIP....He said Disney would do both computer animation and hand-drawn animation.
This is good to hear. Pixar is the best thing to have happened to Disney in a long time IMHO.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Zone of the Enders
Surprise!
It's a cartoon based on a video game...a depressing and dystopic video game.
It has so-so animation.
It has really crappy mech designs...
....and one of the more tedious scores in recent memory.
But Zone of the Enders is one of the most enjoyable shows I've seen in the last few years!
(Note: if I had known ANYTHING about the video game before I bought it, I would never have picked it up)
The show is rather unusual anime in several ways.
The protagonists are explicitly described as Americans (though the mother, a martian, is definitely of Japanese ancestry)
The main protagonist is 49 years old.
In the far future, a down on his luck freighter captain decides to reconcile with his kids, who have grown apart from him in recent hears after his wife left them suddenly and without explanation. So he buys his daughter a cat and decides to find a cargo that will take him back to earth.
The cargo in question turns out to be a super-secret, superpowerful Mech...which despite its disturbimgly Freudian appearance has the bubbly personality of a schoolgirl. Said mech, turns out has a message for James from his estranged wife...it's incomplete but it is clear that she is in distress. So James Links sets off to rescue his wife....unfortunately he quickly winds up a fugitive....fortunately he manages to contact his kids...uuunnnfortunately they want nothing to do with him....but they get labeled fugitives too....and the whole family must pull together to save mom...but that will involve traveling from South Florida to someplace they're not really sure of on Mars....and in their way lies the interplanetary mob, the UN military, martian separatists, The Martian Govt. and numerous space hazards....did I mention they are wanted (unjustly of course) as terrorists?
Dramatis personae: From right to left on the box art front row first...
James Links, a 49 year old American, is the pilot and sole crew aboard the Ender an interplanetary tramp freighter. A vet of the US military, while stationed on Mars he married a martian woman from the Japanese settlement. He retired, started a space transport business had a family and pretty much crawled into a hole and sucked his toes after his wife up and left him....since his kids went to college he's been pretty much in space all the time.
His nickname, "John Carter" is bestowed upon him by a particularly unlikeable UN official because he married a martian. James Links is a quite competent spacer, but he is fighting self doubt and alcoholism. He was a decent mech pilot in his day...but his day was 20 years ago...he finds he has a very short learning curve to rectify this. He spends a large amount of his time reading How to be a Good Daddy a self help book for insecure fathers by an award winning psychologist.
Leon Links, the younger of the 2 children, is 22 and fresh out of college. He nevertheless has risen quite rapidly up the corporate ladder by the tried and true method of sleeping his way to the top. A mommas boy through and through, Leon does not handle his sudden shift from golden boy to fugitive well. He has very few survival or mechanical skills, but he turns out to be a whiz at computers and his knowledge of corporate practices and protocols actually turns out to be a rather useful asset. He has a the most growing to do and is the most out of his depth.
On his head...the kitten... creature of entropy
Noel Links is The older sister and has just landed a job as a construction foreman and partner in a south Florida construction firm....untill she finds herself a fugitive wanted for murder because her dad tried to give her a kitten for her birthday...not that she's...you know...BITTER...
She is a skilled mechanic, which doesn't really prepare her for space combat at all...but mechanics are useful in space...as soon as they acclimate to 0-gee. :) Like everyone else on the team she finds herself constantly punching above her weight, but she handles herself with grace and aplomb....occasional hysterics during re-entries notwithstanding.
And in the rear one of the more disturbing mech designs in a while...Dolores is an immensely powerful battlemech (Orbital Frame) which inexplicably has a charming, innocent and rather flighty personality. She vaguely remembers James Link's wife Rachel, and occasionally remembers other things....things that make almost as little sense in a battle mech as a bubbly personality....
AIs are apparently quite rare in the Z.O.E. universe and she is astonishing to all who meet her. She has almost no combat ability on her own, that is, she must be piloted in combat (this is initially assumed to be due to an Asimov program) but she is fully autonomous and self aware in every other way. She's a 37 foot child brimming with exuberance and curiosity...and enough firepower to take out a battleship....scary doesn't begin to cover it....
Of course the merry band grows and shrinks as the series progresses and there are a hoard of villains too.
The thinpack is now available and I highly recommend it. The show was a low budget production and is so unconventional that it likely wouldn't have gotten made if not tenuously tied to a video game property. It was never popular but it is a surprisingly charming and neat show. It has really good characterizations and the dub is unusually good save for one glitch....in early episodes Deloris refers to herself as an "orbital flame"...rather than Orbital Frame...this is obviously a translation glitch...they cover this up in subsequent eps in a way that actually moves the plot.
The dub diverges a bit in points from the sub, but flows very well and the voice acting is top notch...another unusual and worthy feature.
This show isn't for everybody but I really liked it. It also had an ending....and a non-Gainax one at that...which is always a plus!
5 out of 6 bricks!
UPDATE: Blogger has eaten my pictures! After 3 days all of of the pictures just disapeared...I'm at school and obviously can't load image files on the library computer...so they will stay gone for a day or two...sorry...
UPDATE2: Well, new Blogger now stubbornly refuses to post the previous images So I grabbed 2 from the interweb and rewrote the review to reflect the box art.
...and Don't Forget to Check out Pulp Junkie
...He's got another review up already, this one's an early Hitchcock piece.
Pulp Junkie is always good about noticing interesting details that most of us overlook...for example...
One last odd artistic choice: during the jury deliberations, Sir John is worn down by a series of objections from his fellow jurors, each followed by the line "How do you answer that, Sir john?" Each time the line repeats, an additional juror joins in, resulting in a sort of chant. An oddly theatrical (almost panto?) moment of unreality, something mainstream film largely lost with the advent of sound. The extra detail of sound seemed to encourage an increase in literalism in film making.
I've added him to the blogroll of course. Do check him out from time to time.
Pulp Junkie is always good about noticing interesting details that most of us overlook...for example...
One last odd artistic choice: during the jury deliberations, Sir John is worn down by a series of objections from his fellow jurors, each followed by the line "How do you answer that, Sir john?" Each time the line repeats, an additional juror joins in, resulting in a sort of chant. An oddly theatrical (almost panto?) moment of unreality, something mainstream film largely lost with the advent of sound. The extra detail of sound seemed to encourage an increase in literalism in film making.
I've added him to the blogroll of course. Do check him out from time to time.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
PULPJUNKIE is Back!
Pulpjunkie has returned from blogging hiatus and he has a new movie review project in the works.
5 movies from a given year, starting with 1930.
For his first project, he goes back in time to a festering, hurtful wound in the nations artistic history...and, naturally, picks at the scab.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Black Lagoon
I've seen the first 3 eps of Black Lagoon which looks pretty interesting if dark.
This montage on you tube uses the opening credits song to give a good idea of the feel of the series.
A grim, darkly humorous action, crime, and..er fanservice tale, the show is essentially an updated, serialized and animated Chinese gangster film. It revolves around the 4 person crew of a South China Seas pirate vessel, the BLACK LAGOON (a restored Elco PT Boat). The first 3 episodes concern how "Rock", our average Japanese sallaryman and posterboy for stockholm syndrome manages to end up as the bookkeeper for a band of modern day pirates. This sort of show generally doesn't appeal to me but the characterizations are quite good, and the mechdesigner loves his military kit :).
The show is pretty good about setting up a realistic (looking) view of the corrupt armpits of humanity that make up the pirate infested and lawless world between the Phillipines Thailand and Indonesia. It is being released on DVD by Geneon in April. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.
This montage on you tube uses the opening credits song to give a good idea of the feel of the series.
A grim, darkly humorous action, crime, and..er fanservice tale, the show is essentially an updated, serialized and animated Chinese gangster film. It revolves around the 4 person crew of a South China Seas pirate vessel, the BLACK LAGOON (a restored Elco PT Boat). The first 3 episodes concern how "Rock", our average Japanese sallaryman and posterboy for stockholm syndrome manages to end up as the bookkeeper for a band of modern day pirates. This sort of show generally doesn't appeal to me but the characterizations are quite good, and the mechdesigner loves his military kit :).
The show is pretty good about setting up a realistic (looking) view of the corrupt armpits of humanity that make up the pirate infested and lawless world between the Phillipines Thailand and Indonesia. It is being released on DVD by Geneon in April. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Well I MUST See This Now.
I blogged about its coming some time ago, but now it's out and just about everyone is raving about Strike Witches.
I was afraid this profound sillieness involving cat-girl mecha-tans would just be lame, but it sounds like it might be a winner.
Seriously...a flying cyborg catgirl firing a .55 Boys...how could it not?
UPDATE: OK I can answer that...people are gushing about this SO much that it cannot possibly live up to its hype. If I were into Bittorrent banditry I'd know....but I must wait...and this tasks me.
UPDATE2: Thanks to Stephen DenBeste, I saw it on You Tube. No, it didn't quite live up to the hype....it was not a religious experience, it is not "the greatest 8 minutes of animation EVAH"but despite being a real paragon pf preposterousness, a complete cliche' buffet, it was really cute in an utterly wacky sort of way. I hope they make more.
I was afraid this profound sillieness involving cat-girl mecha-tans would just be lame, but it sounds like it might be a winner.
Seriously...a flying cyborg catgirl firing a .55 Boys...how could it not?
UPDATE: OK I can answer that...people are gushing about this SO much that it cannot possibly live up to its hype. If I were into Bittorrent banditry I'd know....but I must wait...and this tasks me.
UPDATE2: Thanks to Stephen DenBeste, I saw it on You Tube. No, it didn't quite live up to the hype....it was not a religious experience, it is not "the greatest 8 minutes of animation EVAH"but despite being a real paragon pf preposterousness, a complete cliche' buffet, it was really cute in an utterly wacky sort of way. I hope they make more.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Superbusy
Next week I'm house-sitting/cat-sitting/bird-sitting/ yard-sitting for my folks, studying for my boarding officer board on Saturday, taking my Coast Guard physical on Friday, taking a Japanese test, working extra hours at UPS, doing the full time student thing, setting the date for the local Art House to show a Japanese film sponsored by the Asian Studies department, (Tokyo Godfathers) working on my bathroom, doing my Coast Guard drill next weekend, giving blood, meeting with and tutoring my conversation partner, and taking a math test.
Blogging may be light....
So here, is a picture of Princess Lafiel from Crest/Banner of the Stars to tide you over....
Coolness... :)
Mark Wade at Encyclopedia Astronautica has produced a page with his websites drawings of various space projects in high resolution computer wallpaper format.
Wades website is really an awesome resource.
Pithieness...
A succinct review of Ghost Hunt ...
By the end of the second episode of Ghost Hunt, I thought I had everything figured out. Then I watched the third episode only to find that I was right on nearly every point. Yawn.
...by Don at Beware the Kawaii.
(Who, I strongly suspect, looks nothing like this alleged picture of him)
Other pithy reviews there too.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
More Unpleasantries...
So I looked for something to cheer me up.
Ever the ray of sunshine, Bridgebunnies cunningly provides me with 10 MORE (slightly less) wretched things.....
....well 9....this Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto series looks really, really interesting.
I think he's right though, it's unlikely to get brought to region one any time soon.
Ever the ray of sunshine, Bridgebunnies cunningly provides me with 10 MORE (slightly less) wretched things.....
....well 9....this Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto series looks really, really interesting.
I think he's right though, it's unlikely to get brought to region one any time soon.
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