High School of the Dead

Okay, let’s make a couple things clear before I get too deep into this one. For one, I have no idea what the creators of this ridiculous anime were thinking when they decided that the appropriate acronym would be HOTD. Everyone knows that stands for House of the Dead. I mean, c’mon, it was made by Sega for crying out loud. That’s a Japanese company. They should seriously do a better job of protecting their acronyms from their fellow countrymen who can apparently barely speak Engrish.

Anyways, I’m going to be referring to it as HSOTD, to avoid confusion with Sega’s little zombie arcade/Wii/et al games.

Next, I want to make it clear that at no point have I ever thought to myself, anything like: “Man, zombies are cool but there’s a serious lack of animated panty shots of Japanese schoolgirls in the vast majority of the currently existing zombie records.” But, somebody else did, and I couldn’t help but find out what the results of this odd experiment would be.

It is a little uncomfortable that they occasionally try to censor the gore or whatever by cutting to a shot looking up the skirt of the victim...typically with blood flying onto what you can see of the victim’s skirt. I mean, I’m hardly a fan of gratuitous shots of Japanese schoolgirl panties when they aren’t currently being consumed by the living dead and adding that in hardly changes my mind.

But, again, that’s what they’re doing and I’m watching it, so kudos to them for making the call.

Okay, on to the show. So far, I’ve only seen the first two episodes. I do rather like that it starts off fast. There is no transition period from normal to apocalypse. Once the first zombie appears, there’s three more before we’ve established anything beyond what three of the main characters look like. I kind of like the idea that anime is sufficiently cliched that they barely have to show us more than a single flashback and a brief conversation establishing a former love lost to tell us everything we need to know about the characters. That no other facet of their lives is even remotely unique (not that this detail is) and so we already know our characters and their lives and we haven’t even met them yet.

In any case, it means that we are only going to know these characters in the context of the destruction of their world. I also rather like the main character’s reaction to seeing the first zombie attack and victim. He doesn’t question it; he doesn’t doubt it. He simply reacts. He gets his two friends and says we need to get out of here. He moves as fast as he possibly can, resorting to hitting his crush to make his point.

And he still wasn’t fast enough. They still couldn’t escape even the madness in the school, let alone the outside city. Although, I did like a lot of the imagery of the riot within the school as the kids try to get out. As they kill each other, trying to get out. Reaching and grabbing and tackling, with mouths open in wild constant wild screams, they were already zombies and they didn’t even know it.

What can I say? This is a surprisingly angry and subversive little show. They aren’t wasting their zombies or their violence. They might be wasting their panty shots. And the random giant breasts shots, but we won’t hold those against them.

As for the zombies, I rather like them. They are a little cooler than your classic slow Romero zombies. They’re strong. Before the girl learns how to deal with them, she sticks one with her pole. It grabs the pole, still impaled, and slams her against the wall. That’s a pretty kick ass zombie response.

Even better, though, was when one of the characters puts the zombie in a hold that it can’t escape from or bite him. It responds by twisting its head an inhuman 120 degrees or so and bites him in the shoulder. It was brilliant. Admittedly, that means that neck injuries probably shouldn’t kill them for continuity’s sake, but well, we’ll worry about that when we get there.

Later, they had some slightly more obvious instances of the humans responding poorly to the zombies, like these two girls who promise to stay together and protect each other, until moments later one of them gets grabbed and the other girl has to beat her to let go of her hand so that she can escape without her. Neither survives of course.

Anyways, after the first episode I was impressed enough to definitely want to watch more, and the second episode had something the first never even hinted at: a character arc. I’m serious. I admit I certainly wasn’t expecting one of those anywhere in the show.

And, more importantly, it was a really cool character arc. In the first episode, one of the survivor types is this rather obnoxious “genius” girl with pink hair. For awhile, she’s confident and self-assured and learning about the zombies and keeping her fellow survivor in line. But she’s slowly becoming more hysterical, more in need of people’s respect and less deserving of it. Until she finally cracks and nearly sabotages herself and her partner’s escape with her pride and theatrics.

It was really well done. The breakdown was very slow, over the course of the two episodes. And I liked that the episode ended with her taking out her contacts out and switching to glasses. A visual reminder that she’s been humbled, humiliated even, and that her self image is no longer something she can, or should protect. She has to give it up to survive.

So, yeah, I’m thoroughly impressed. This is way more intelligent than the incorrect acronym or the random panty shots would possibly suggest. Or, maybe, I’m just giving them way too much credit. There are already hints that we’re going to see some sort of stupid love triangle... But, it’s not there yet and so I still have faith.

That is all.

Francis

Variety of Random Topics

Okay, I kind of put off posting for a while, so now I've just got a wide variety of things that I sort of had a lot to say about, but by this point I've forgotten most of it, so once everything gets added together, it will probably be pretty decently long.

Let's see, I think I want to start with...Chuck. And Jordana Brewster. Well, I guess mainly Jordana Brewster. So, the dear Ms. Brewster is playing Chuck's long mysterious ex-girlfriend. Now, we've been dying to meet Jill Roberts since, oh, um, 5 minutes into the first episode or so. We've wanted to meet her, primarily so that Chuck can finally get over her, but also we just want to meet her. Okay, then when we found out that she was to be played by Jordana Brewster, then we really wanted to meet her. We will also stop using the royal "we" at this point, because we all know just how annoying it is, don't we?

Anyways, last week she finally appeared. Now, I had mixed feelings, but I wasn't about to hold that against her. Most of my problems arose from the fact that Jill apparently got a Ph.D. in Biochemistry after ditching Chuck and, well, putting glasses on Jordana Brewster...isn't quite enough to make her look even remotely intelligent.

I mean, it's not like she looks incapable of being intelligent, but she just doesn't feel right in that role. I first met her in The Faculty, where she's playing the bitchy prom queen-type girl. I think she also had a major role in The Fast and the Furious. She's not meant to be playing smart. Olivia Wilde can sort of pull it off in House because, well, I've never really thought doctors were all that smart anyways, so I don't hold them to very high standards (it's part of being a chemical engineer, you become an asshole and lose respect for stuff that seems easy compared to the problems you had to solve). But, a Ph.D. in biochemistry, that's a little different.

But, aside from, I was unsure about how I felt about the way they were treating her character. Not surprisingly, Chuck pretty much forgets about Sarah as soon as he sees Jill (remember, he's not over her). And of course Sarah gets jealous and all that's fine. But, I just wasn't sure what they were actually doing with her character. I mean, she's still kind of into Chuck, then finds out that he's still a nobody and loses some but not all interest in him.

Then, and he's where I really got more than kind of frustrated, he informs her that he's actually a spy. I mean, seriously? She's the first person from his real life that gets to find out he's a spy? That's just...not right. She doesn't even earn it. He's basically just letting her know to impress her (right after talking about how cool it felt to have a girl be interested in him who doesn't know he's a spy...which hasn't happened since, like, midway through season 1 with Rachel Bilson...man I'm bringing up two different O.C. alums in the same post...freaky).

So, I came out of it feeling like if they actually wanted to keep her around and have us like her, then they would let her figure out that Chuck is a spy (since she's all super smart and stuff). And her figuring it out would give her the benefit of the doubt (in other words, if she was awesome enough to figure out Chuck's secret on her own, then we, as the audience, not as royalty, would pretty much be willing to forgive her for breaking his heart, all those years ago). But, they took that option away from her, so she doesn't really have a good way to earn our trust and respect, so she's probably going to be gone quick.

Then we had this week's episode, where they were kind enough to inform us that, yes, she is an evil bitch and we're not supposed to like her, even if she is being played by Ms. Jordana Brewster. Of course, the way they decided to do this was completely irrational and makes no sense at all, but that's okay. We're used to it in this show (and Heroes managed to botch up at least as much stuff last week in their flashback episode, so the standards had been lowered pretty significantly, but I'm not talking about Heroes right now as I sit, very tentatively optimistic for the upcoming episodes, I'm talking about Chuck). They decided that she's a spy for the bad guys.

Yeah, I know. Really freaking stupid decision. They end the episode by informing us that she's a government agent, who's actually a spy for Fulcrum (the bad guys). Obviously, this makes no sense. It doesn't make sense because if she worked for the government (which they informed us she did) then they would have informed her that bad guys were making a move on her boss and, furthermore, they would have alerted Casey and Sarah to work with Jill. But, no one told anyone that she's a government agent.

Even more ridiculous: Chuck didn't flash on her! Oh my God, people, are you that incompetent?!? I swear, it's like you wrote last week's episode, filmed it and completed it and then while working on the very next episode, decided this would be a cool idea. You completely ignored everything that had just happened. I mean, when Heroes screws up, at least they're continuous with the previous week's episode. You're not even close.

What's worse is that last week's episode could have worked just as well with everyone knowing that Jill was a government agent. I bet it would have been better even. Casey and Sarah would be working with Jill to protect/interrogate her boss and they would be trying to keep Chuck secret since he's the Intersect and all. Of course, Chuck would be chomping at the bit to see her and say hi and be all "Hey, I'm the Intersect. Have sex with me." And, yeah, it would work fine (but, then I guess the twist in this episode wouldn't be a surprise, but that's alright since the way it is now, it's a twist where the audience just goes WTF?).

So, yeah, I'm kind of sad that I'm frustrated with Chuck right now. But, really, it's not Chuck, it's me. Clearly, I'm not cool enough to be watching it if things like this bother me. But, I'll keep trying, because I do love it so much.

Let's see, next on the list is, um, Valkyria Chronicles. Sometimes, it makes me sad that I play video games so slow. I've already put a good 15-ish official game time hours into that game, which probably translates into 20-25 real hours. And I think I'm just about halfway through it at this point. But, no, I was too slow to start having impressions that won't just sound like me jumping on the "Valkyria Chronicles is so ridiculously amazing everyone should play it. No, really you should even though you don't own a PS3 or like strategy RPGs, it's just that good" bandwagon. But, well, there's a reason this bandwagon formed and it's not because people like to love PS3 exclusive games (in fact, I think people seem to prefer to either hate or ignore such games).

That bandwagon formed because this game is freaking brilliant. Let's pretend for a moment that it isn't one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. Let's just judge it based upon the gameplay. Okay then, it's the best thing the console RPG genre has ever produced, pretty much hands down. I've been addicted to Fire Emblem. I've been addicted to Disgaea. I've been addicted to Advance Wars and I've played a fair amount of Final Fantasy Tactics. All of them are very good and tons of fun. Gameplay-wise, though, not even close, except maybe Advance Wars, and that's just because it's so ridiculously complicated. Valkyria Chronicles' gameplay is almost simple compared to those other games with far fewer unit types and modifiers. But, the way you interact with it, is so much better. Sega didn't start with Chess and make it more complicated. They started with, maybe Star Ocean and Gears of War, and added a little bit of Chess to it. And it feels so right.

I never want to have to move characters around on a grid again (that is a blatant lie, by the way, I'll be playing more Disgaea in a couple months, I'm sure). That's how cool it felt to actually take control of my characters.

On an only vaguely related note, I think there's a question that some of the reviewers need to ask themselves. This would primarily be the reviewers complaining that there's lots of cut scenes. While playing the game, there's a point where you get the option to spend 50000 gold to access some extra cut scenes of your characters on vacation. Around this time, I had about 80000 gold, so this was a significant portion of my money (which goes towards funding better weapons and armor and stuff). Now, if you see that option and you immediately spend the money before even realizing that this vacation will involve going to the beach and seeing the female characters in needlessly skimpy bikinis, you are the type of person this game was made for. If you think, for even a moment, about the fact that you're going to fall behind in the research category and not be as powerful and get effectively nothing in return, then please, don't review this game. We don't care about your opinion of the cutscenes.

Also, only very vaguely related, I was just hoping that if anybody else populated their entire army solely with cute young girls (yes, there are a couple Japanese schoolgirls, but they're typically more like scouts than heavy lancers, to my ever-so-slight disappointment), they'd let me know, just so I don't feel like the only weird loser doing that. For that matter, people whose Rock Band bands are entirely populated by girls would make me feel better too. Although, for the record, I don't make those characters wear as little clothing as possible. I spend the time to find cool costumes for them that look good without removing significant amounts of clothing. I think that, at worst, that only makes me slightly sexist and possibly vaguely feminist since I'm not objectifying these female characters (who, let's be honest, actually are just objects...err, rather, digital objects but you get the idea) and am instead choosing to interact with the game through those avatars instead of my own gender and I have no idea where I'm going with this at all. Moving on...

Valkyria Chronicles is really awesome. Oh, and did I mention the art style? Gorgeous, really. It achieves its goals admirably. It doesn't feel real, but it feels powerful. Some of the best parts at the beginning show these idyllic, peaceful countrysides in this watercolor/penciled-style suddenly getting destroyed by the bad guys. Those are times when it really, really works.

Lastly, I just have a quick thing to say. So, apparently on MTV there's some stupid game show where people play Rock Band in front of an audience and get judged and if they do well then they win prizes. I'd heard it mentioned here and there, always with lots of negative connotations, but I just watched it and it was so amazing. Like, I was falling off the couch laughing at the bands and the performances were totally fun to watch as well. They do this cool thing where it's like watching people playing Rock Band, except instead of the computer generated performers and audience, it's the actually performers and audience (but you can still see the note charts and stuff like that).

Anyways, I highly recommend it. The host is kind of lame (it's kind of obvious he thinks he got stuck with a crappy gig), but everything else about it is so funny. The best part is when they go behind the scenes and interview the competitors and these people are so cool and funny. I mean, they totally love Rock Band and they're excited to be playing in front of an audience, but they're totally aware this is just for fun. And they're having fun. There were two great quotes from the episode I saw. The first one was a response to why they got into Rock Band. I'm paraphrasing but the band leader explains that they got into it because they totally sucked at real instruments, at which point the drummer pipes in and says "That shit is HARD, man!". Trust me, it was funny. The other quote started with the cliched "Rock Band is not a game...it's an experience". But, then after a couple moments of thinking about what he just said, the guy continues, "but if it was a game, it would be, like, the GREATEST GAME EVER!". Yeah, that's a memorable quote.

Let's see, real quick I can mention that I've tried Guitar Hero: World Tour and it pretty much sucks compared to Rock Band (okay, that's a slight exaggeration...um, changed my mind, no exaggeration at all). The primary problem is that they made the conscious decision to make it a multiplayer game that doesn't play like a multiplayer game. You're not a band when you're playing as a group in this game, you're just a group of people all playing the same song at the same time on different instruments. I mean, I think it even gives everyone separate scores (or at least it feels like it does since they eliminated anything like cooperation from the gameplay). The secondary problem is that they decided to make the rule be that if someone fails out, then everyone fails out (even though everyone else can't really do anything to prevent the person who failed out from failing out). This is frustrating, in case you're curious.

Otherwise, it's all just slightly different design choices that are neither right nor wrong, just different (so, since I'm way too used to Rock Band, they all feel wrong, but I know they're not necessarily wrong). Neither game has come up with just the right way to do vocals, but I think Rock Band is a little closer. On drums, it's nice to activate star power whenever I want, but I miss the drum fills as well. On bass, supposedly the note-less strums grow on you once you get used to the idea a little bit. Hmm, well, I failed at being real quick, but it was still kinda quick.

Well, the only other thing I can think of that might be worth mentioning (read as: really is not worth mentioning, but I'm going to anyway) is that I saw the most recent Hellsing Ultimate DVD and it was just okay. A lot of people rag on the original anime for completely abandoning the story in the manga about halfway through. So, the Hellsing Ultimate DVDs are pretty much just for those fans, since they promise to stick with the manga all the way through. I'm now two DVDs past the halfway mark in the original, and well, I'm still up in the air. Neither one finishes is all that great.

The original anime tried to go out in a rather different direction with bigger and scarier and weirder demons appearing. This doesn't really fit with the theme in the manga, but it's not inherently bad. This one, which I assume is following the manga that I haven't read, is just repeating the same theme over and over again. That would be the theme that Alucard is way more sinister and evil and demonic than any of the evil things he gets called in to fight. After the fourth disc of that, I'm kind of starting to understand why the anime wanted to do something different. There's only so many times we can watch the bad guys doing horrible things only to crumple into snivelling creatures at Alucard and the horrors he's capable of. So, we'll have to see. This one was kind of a transition one, so it's possible that the next disc could do some interesting stuff because he'll fighting Nazi vampires that he thought he eliminated, so these are bad guys who actually faced him before and are relishing the thought of facing him again, not because they think they can win, but because they relish the amount of horror and evil this confrontation will bring into the world. Like I said, this could be interesting.

I also like that we get to see more of the crazy priest dude who works for the Catholics. I like him too.

Alright, that is all.

Francis

The Dark Knight Pre-Post

I actually wrote this post on Wednesday, before going to see The Dark Knight on Thursday. I meant to clean it up a bit on Thursday before going to see Batman, but then I got distracted by Rock Band, and so I'm finally posting it now.

So, The Dark Knight comes out this week. That can fairly be called "good news". I'm pretty sure that everyone under the sun is excited about this movie (except my dad for some reason I don't really understand). And, well, in preparation for it, I thought I'd just reminisce about how much I like Batman and stuff like that.

So, when I was young, I was kind of into the movies. I had enjoyed the first movie, but I got bored during the second one, so I didn't like it very much (keep in mind, I was like 6 or something). I was kind of madly in love with Nicole Kidman during Batman Forever, so I was totally into that one. And, well, Batman and Robin was terrible, and even I could tell that. It's interesting to go back to Batman Forever and realize that it's almost unwatchably bad. If you have any fond memories of it at all, don't ever re-watch it. It's embarrassing.

Similarly, it's not very easy to even re-watch the first either. I mean, Tim Burton established the feel of the Batman movies with this one, and it deserved the success it got. But, it's not much of an action movie, and it's kind of slow and the result is that when you come back to it, it suffers a little. On the other hand, I did like the sequel a bit more upon re-watching it, but since I still don't really like it, that's not worth much.

Then things were quiet on the Batman front for a long time. Oddly enough, I started getting into comics and graphic novels and I ended up reading The Dark Knight Returns. My mind was blown. This was the first thing I had read that really made me care about Batman. The tough guy dialogue that Frank Miller writes is just classic and the themes are bad-ass. I was completely enthralled by this version of Batman.

I loved how much of a bad guy he was. How he relished the pain he was causing his victims. How he took pride in his unwillingness to kill, but felt no such qualms about torture. This version of Batman was a vigilante through and through. And so, now every Batman thing I see must be compared to that.

And, well, Batman Begins just happened to come around and compare very, very favorably to just that. I love how dark and evil Gotham City feels in Batman Begins. I love the emphasis on fear. I like that everyone wants to use fear to control each other, even as Bruce Wayne is letting fear control his life (okay, um, sorry about that Donnie Darko reference out of the blue). This isn't the Bruce Wayne of The Dark Knight Returns, but it's not hard to imagine him ending up there someday. I mean, Batman is always at its best when Batman is carefully toeing the line between superhero and monster, and Batman Begins actually brings that into play, and so it was awesome.

Recently, I watched Batman: Gotham Knight, which was also a really fun take on Batman. American Batman writers prepared a couple short stories and some anime directors and studios did the animation and the results are pretty cool. The first one is about the myth of Batman as different kids who all saw Batman in action try to describe what they saw. Each of them provides a fantastic description, of this robot or bat creature or just shadow creature fighting crime. In the end, though, they see Batman and he looks completely human. He's been in a fight all day and he's bleeding and tired (and looks rather out of shape). He's not that myth at all, but the kids are still in awe. Because he is Batman.

The second one, for me at least, has the most powerful image of the entire movie. There's fire all around and the bad guy has a gunto the female cop's head and he's threatening to kill her. Batman, this time looking seven feet tall and deadly, approaches. Through the fire. In the middle of the fire, with flames dancing up his cape and all around him, he stares into the eyes of the bad guy like a creature from Hell, sent to bring this man back down there with him. Then, in a flash, the bad guy is disarmed and the girl is safe. He never stood a chance.

The third one draws Bruce as embarrassingly pretty (in that anime form where the kick ass guys look like girls). It's an interesting story, providing insight into Bruce's morals. When he tries a device to protect himself, it hurts a bystander (not an innocent bystander, mind you). As a result, he refuses to use it, because it puts unnecessary risk to those around him. I like that.

The fourth one is just cool fighting and animation, while the fifth one tells a story of how Bruce learned to "work through pain". It's especially interesting to me for two reasons. The first is that we get to see Bruce with some scruff on his chin and he looked pretty cool that way. The second is that he's traveling the world studying and he attempts to join this order or something to learn to deal with pain. Basically, he lies and uses them to train him to tolerate pain so that he can fight, when they want him to learn to tolerate pain as a means of finding peace. In effect, he uses them to learn their secrets, then betrays their beliefs to satisfy his own desires. I thought it was cool to see that.

And then the last one was more cool action, which I enjoyed as well.

After watching that anime series, I decided to go out and get Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. This is a retelling of Batman's origins, which doesn't so much vary from the source material, as tell the story in Frank Miller's voice. For me, the coolest part of this graphic novel is actually Lt. Gordon. I've always been used to the cartoon version of Gordon where he's pretty much useless. He's old and overweight and incompetent and so has to rely on Batman. Even in Batman Begins, he's incapable of actually doing anything besides not get killed until Batman comes in.

But in Frank Miller's hands, Gordon kicks ass. I mean, really kicks ass. Gordon's fights in that book are actually better than Batman's fights, in my mind. And I think that's a really cool way to look at it. We see a young Bruce learning how to be Batman and then we see this aging gunslinger settling into a new town and cutting out a place for a good cop. Gordon's a hero in this view, and I thought that was really cool.

So, yeah, I'm pretty excited about The Dark Knight. I really want to see what Christopher Nolan does with this Batman. And this Joker for that matter. Oh, and this Two-Face as well. I want to see Batman lose control of the fear he cultivated in the first one. I want to see what he does once this happens. I want to see how he reacts when someone scarier than him arrives on the scene. I'm sure the writers and Christopher Nolan know that you can't use fear to control people forever and eventually their fear will give them strength they didn't have before they were scared. How can Batman control the criminal population in the long term? That's what Batman needs to learn in this movie. And it's going to be a fun ride.

I'll try to get around to writing my actual review of The Dark Knight shortly. That is all.

Francis

Movie Catch Up Post

So, if you haven't noticed, I've been way behind on putting up posts. Yeah, I don't have an excuse. No, I don't really feel like coming up with one. Just assume that it means I started having some semblance of a life or something (which, of course, is entirely false, but that's what I'd like people to presume in general).

Anyways, I have still been seeing movies. Lots of them in fact. And, per normal, I've had opinions about them, although not especially strong opinions about some of them. So, I'm going to just start going through the various I've seen since Iron Man and saying whatever I can remember that I think about them.

Alright, let's begin.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (that is the title right?), I enjoyed it. I admit I had really low expectations. Also, I admit that I hadn't watched an Indiana Jones movie in at least 10 years, probably closer to 15. So, to be honest, I could barely even remember what I should be expecting. Keeping that in mind, I found it to be very fun. The beginning was totally fun. I really liked the escape in Area 51 and I thought the refrigerator scene was brilliant (even if everyone else thought it was stupid).

I especially liked the set up to it. The initial warning signs saying to stay away (which initially meant that he couldn't expect to find help, but then came to mean something else). I had fun with the entrance to the model neighborhood and the initial hope that he's safe, until the realization that everything is fake. Then the rushed search for safety as the countdown comes. And in the final seconds as we see the fridge and in your head (well, my head at least) you're screaming, "Go to the fridge, Indy! The fridge!" And finally he opens the door and it says that it's lined with lead, so you know this means he'll be perfectly safe in there. Just an excellent sequence in my mind.

The rest of the movie was less cool. It's hard to really like Shia's character (or care about him at all, for that matter). You can't help but like William Hurt (or is it John Hurt, I always get their names confused), but that's life. I thought the whole driving off a cliff and onto a tree was completely stupid. It would have been awesome except Marion did it on purpose. You're not allowed to do things like that on purpose. It's supposed to be the kind of luck that only the good guys can possibly have.

So, yeah, it was enjoyable. It made me go back to the old movies and realize that they're really not very good. I mean, obviously Raiders of the Lost Ark was pretty good and The Last Crusade does tons of stuff right, but I couldn't even sit through Temple of Doom. I'd put Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at least on par with Last Crusade, which isn't bad.

Let's see, next is Kung Fu Panda. I really enjoyed that. The opening dream sequence did a great job of both setting my expectations for the movie and just making me smile. I can't help but quote Jack Black's response to the people's desire to repay him for defeating the bad guys: "There is no charge for AWESOMENESS!"

The fight scenes in it were totally cool. They were actually really imaginative, which is really hard to believe in an animated movie. I mean, the big advantage that animated movies have is that you can do cool camera angles and cool weightless stuff and things like that. The result is that people have done the vast majority of the cool things you can really do with animated fights (I blame anime for this). But Kung Fu Panda pretends it's a live-action kung fu movie and so actually comes up with some cool fights that aren't really focused on the advantages of animation (keep in mind that the bad guy's escape from prison is an exception). Watching Po and Master Shifu duel for the last dumpling with chopsticks is easily my favorite part of the movie, and it's primarily because of the fight choreography, not the camera angles or the impossible moves. And I think that's totally awesome.

I also really liked it's final Zen message as well. I won't spoil what the scroll says, but I love that it contains the same message as Po's father. The wise turtle reached nirvana through training his mind and body in the martial arts and Po can't help but worship him for it. But, in the end, we learn that Po's father discovered nirvana in his work at the noodle shop. I think that's really beautiful. Both of these authority figures in Po's life are men of genius, and in the end, Po realizes that and finally respects his father.

So, yeah, it's really a great addition to the American tradition of kung fu movies. It's definitely better and more intelligent than The Forbidden Kingdom.

Let's see, I guess next would be The Incredible Hulk. I had actually watched a fair amount of The Hulk on TV since they had been playing it all the time to get people excited about the new one (which seems like the type of strategy that would backfire, since nobody liked it, but that's not important). It's interesting that upon rewatching the first one (in HD), I actually don't think it's that bad. I mean, it's still ridiculous and weird and confusing, but there's some good stuff about it. Like Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly and Nick Nolte. I mean, it's got a weird focus on psychology and repressed memories, which don't really fit in an action movie, but visually I found it really exciting. I mean, Ang Lee had a vision for The Hulk and I think he delivered it. The fact that nobody liked it might not be that relevant. But, whatever, this movie is pretending The Hulk never really existed so I'll stop talking now.

And, I was impressed by this one too. It definitely had some cool stuff in it. Edward Norton was a very good Bruce Banner, so I totally respect that. Liv Tyler was actually perfect as the girl, so I really totally respect that, too. Maybe it's just that she didn't have very much to do, but I thought she was really very good. She was absolutely devoted to him and he was to her. Their relationship was definitely a highlight of the movie. The general, as played by John Hurt (or is it William Hurt, I always get them confused) was not very good. I mean, I know he's the bad guy, except it seems like he's not supposed to be the bad guy forever. As an audience member, I want him to make peace with his daughter and realize the Bruce is not the property of the U.S. Government and that he should treat him like a human being. But, well, he refuses to do that. And it's frustrating because it just makes him an ass. And, it's hard to like asses, unless they're funny and clever.

Let's see, most of the fight scenes were pretty cool. I like that the Hulk isn't particularly intelligent but has just enough of Bruce to use the scenery as weapons and armor. For example, turning two cars into weights for his hand to kick more ass. That's pretty cool, but it doesn't make him seem like an especially intelligent creature, just intelligent enough to win even when he's not the strongest.

Lastly, I didn't like Tim Blake Nelson's character either. It seemed like they wanted us to view him as a good guy who's going to eventually turn bad, but he just seemed like a bad guy. See, that's what is commonly known as a distinct lack of subtlety. Obviously, all the comic fans already know he's going to be a bad guy, but you still have to actually make him seem good. I mean, after the way he spoke to Bruce, Bruce should have just walked out and said destroy all these samples of my blood. Then come back as the Hulk and make sure they're really gone. There's no way he should be trusted with that stuff, but the people are oblivious because they think he's good. I'm not sure who should be blamed for this, but it's a problem.

Think of the professor in the Spiderman movies. He's missing his arm and working on the science to one day regrow it. Someday, in a Spiderman movie, he's going to turn into the Lizard or something like that, but right now, as far as we're concerned he's a good guy who Peter trusts and respects. This will make their fight cool and interesting (but kind of exactly like Spiderman 2, so maybe they won't bother with the Lizard, but they at least have the option if they so desire). Alternatively, think of Harvey Dent in the upcoming Batman movie. Clearly, he's going to become Two-Face, but right up until he does, he's going to be a good guy. I think that's a much better way to introduce bad guys before they're bad guys (or you can be like Star Wars, with Emporer Palpatine, who I thought was developed really well as a semi-secret bad guy the whole time.

Well, after The Incredible Hulk would be Get Smart. I knew next to nothing about the TV show prior to seeing this movie. All I knew was from the couple of scenes they had shown during advertisements for ordering the entire series on DVD. This meant I knew that it was related to Mel Brooks and that it featured a guy using his shoe as a cell phone, in the days before cell phones.

At this point, I'd like to give an apology to Anne Hathaway. Dear Anne, you really are hot. I'm sorry I didn't properly admire you when I saw The Devil Wears Prada and The Princess Diaries. From now on, I will agree with people when they say that you are hot. Um, I guess that's all...and don't ask why I saw either of those movies when I didn't think you were hot (and definitely don't ask why I've seen Devil Wears Prada three times at this point, while never thinking you're hot).

Anyways, this movie was interesting. It's really odd that someone made the decision that Steve Carrell should play a totally competent spy. It's a little weird, to be honest. I mean, you go into this movie expecting Steve Carrell to bumble around and have Anne Hathaway pick up the pieces for him, but that's not what happens at all. Basically, they both compete to be the most awesome spies. I have to admit that it worked fine and was very funny, but it meant that there wasn't nearly as much slapstick as you would expect (and when there was slapstick stuff, it was often really bad and unnecessary, which is kind of annoying).

So, yeah, it was populated with some fun characters. Hiro plays a nerd working at the base and is quite funny. The Rock is totally cool too. Lastly, I just want to say that the Steve Carrell/The Rock kiss was amazing. I loved how the filmmakers telegraphed it so that I was already laughing just knowing it was about to happen. That was really ingenious.

Um, I guess that's all I have to say about Get Smart. Up next is Wall-E. Now, to be honest, I kind of feel like a bad person because I liked Kung Fu Panda more. I mean, Wall-E definitely a better movie, but Kung Fu Panda spoke to me much more than Wall-E. I don't think I had realized coming in that Wall-E is a love story first and foremost. But it definitely is. Every single thing Wall-E does after meeting Eve is either for her or to be with her. And, well, in the end he saves the human race. For her. So, yeah, it's a really sweet love story, but I must not have been in the mood for a love story or something, because I wasn't really into it.

The opening 30 minutes or something features effectively no dialogue as we simply watch Wall-E, and then Wall-E and Eve, existing. We watch their lives so far. The routines they follow, and the quirks they add in. Wall-E's collection of cool garbage or Eve's flying dance prior to getting to work are special.

Thinking back on the movie, there was a lot of really interesting things to like. I liked that the fat, lazy, pseudo-humans were still looking for love and companionship. I liked that when they were shown that their lives could be more meaningful, they wanted it. These people were brought into this life and needed someone (or something) to show them another life. There was no desire to stay coddled in the ship forever. When they realized there was more than that, they wanted it. That's a really positive view of humanity. I know most people think Wall-E is primarily a negative commentary on the American people, but it finishes with a positive and hopeful belief in us (as opposed to Idiocracy, which is definitely a negative commentary and has no such hope that the masses can be inspired to return to a meaningful way of life once it's lost to them).

It seems like everyone loves Wall-E's fellow rebel robots, but I'm a little more mixed on them. I do like MO, the cleaning robot, because he's the one we get to watch give up his meaningless routine and directive to do what he believes his job is. I think that one decision right there summarizes both the movie and Wall-E's effect on those around him. But, the other robots don't have any such realization. I mean, they're broken. They're in there for repairs because they're malfunctioning. I didn't really like that they were happy to be free or that they followed Wall-E because of it. It didn't really fit the idea that they're robots very well. Wall-E does his job, but has quirks, but these robots have allowed their quirks to take away they're ability to do the job they were built for. This is not the same to me.

Whew, last movie. Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I was really excited for this movie. I had enjoyed the first Hellboy, but it had seemed anti-climactic to me. The final giant Lovecraftian creature Hellboy fought went down really easily and was kind of a letdown. Otherwise, I had thought the movie was really cool and I totally thought Ron Perlman was ridiculously awesome as Hellboy.

Since that movie, I had gotten really into Guillermo del Toro's work and had become something of a fan. I liked Cronos quite a bit, but thought The Devil's Backbone was just okay. I'm probably really weird, but I was thoroughly impressed by Mimic. I mean, it sounds stupid and terrible, but it is neither stupid nor terrible. That impresses me. Obviously Blade II was the best in that series and I blame Guillermo del Toro for it. Also, Pan's Labyrinth was a work of art unlike anything I could have possibly imagined. So, yeah, I like Guillermo del Toro's work.

So, the previews had me really excited for it. I mean, here is what Guillermo and his team can come up with with a big budget and the desire to just blow your mind. Every flash of creature I saw in the previews just made me want to get to stare at the creature designs in wonder. And, well, the movie totally delivered that.

My favorite creature, hands down, was the Angel of Death creature. He looks like something out of a nightmare, but he doesn't come across as evil at all. He just is. He has power and he gives the characters choices, warning them of the consequences of their choices, almost certainly knowing what they will choose in any case. We know when the consequences come, it won't be by his hand. I love that idea of the Angel of Death. He isn't the cause of death, he's merely the bearer of bad news. He didn't make the decision, but you'll have to live with it (pun intended).

Also, watching Abe and Hellboy get drunk together was totally awesome. Also, I had forgotten how much love William Hurt (or is it John Hurt? Aargh, these guys were busy this summer) until I watched him read Hellboy a bedtime story. Also, Johann Strauss was a totally cool addition to the team. I was impressed with that.

Of course, the overriding theme of this movie (and the last movie, for that matter) was that Hellboy has to pick a side. He keeps picking the human side, primarily because of Selma Blair, but the Angel of Death's words can't help but make me wonder if Hellboy will always pick that side. In the first movie, he had to choose between the destiny he'd been created for and the purpose he wanted for himself. In this movie, he has to choose between the the side that can accept him, and needs his help, and the side that has no desire for his help at all.

It's never an easy choice for him, and Ron Perlman does a great job of capturing that. And delivering the line "Awww, crap." I love that line. I also love that they use it profusely, but it doesn't get old. They know just when to use it and how. The result is that it really feels like his immediate reaction phrase. So, when we get the slow, extended, classic delivery it feels even more right.

Man, I really want to see the next Hellboy movie. It'll be awhile, though. A very long while. Stupid hobbits stealing Guillermo's attention from what I want to see him working on.

Alright, that's everything I've seen so far this summer. Phew. Now I just have to wait a few more days till I watch The Dark Knight. That'll get it's very own post, of course.

That is all.

Francis

PS - Darn it, I got William Hurt and John Hurt mixed up, so, um, read the name in the parentheses, not the name ahead of the parentese, because I'm stupid. Darn.

Appleseed: Ex Machina

Well, I finally got around to checking this movie out. I swear I added it to my Netflix queue not long after I first got a PS3, but it took forever for it to become available. In fact, even this copy had to be mailed from Massachusetts or somewhere like that, which means that they didn't have it in stock anywhere closer to me, and probably that they had gotten tired of it sitting at the top of my queue and had given up on it showing up anywhere closer to me. I was, of course, pissed at them for sending it across the country because that takes an extra couple of days.

I was extra annoyed, though, because it also takes them an extra day just to ship it (so it didn't even get shipped until I was expecting it to arrive and then didn't arrive until around the time that I would normally expect to be receiving the next movie on my queue after returning it). Oh, yeah, they actually did that with two of my movies this past week, so I pretty much lost that week as far as movie watching is concerned.

On the other hand, Persona 3: FES came out on Tuesday, so it's probably not a bad thing that I didn't have any movies to distract me from the game (it's looking grim, I'm starting back over from the beginning, which means I'm planning to sink at least another 80+ hours into it, not to mention the 30+ hours of additional content they've added).

Not that this is relevant at all, but the other movie was Dan in Real Life. I actually wasn't able to watch it all the way through. It's a very painful movie to watch. So, yeah, if you ever plan to see it, make sure that the option to just stop it is available, because I swear there must be a point where everyone has to just say, "Wait, I can't handle anymore uncomfortable situations. Please, just stop. Seriously." Or maybe it's just me. But whatever, I'm supposed to be talking about Appleseed: Ex Machina. not Dan in Real Life.

So, yeah, Appleseed. It was an interesting experience. I remember watching the first one, probably two years ago. I remember not recommending it to friends. Or rather, I remember not recommending it to people who like movies as a storytelling medium. I probably told most people who asked that it was visually extremely interesting, if also rather schizophrenic. But, so if you haven't seen it, and, well, you probably haven't, then I should warn you that the story sucks. This made watching the sequel a little challenging because I had more or less forgotten the story, because it sucked. Luckily, they gave a 15 second or so recap of what was going on: you know, some sort of dystopian, post-apocalypse world with an isolated utopia populated by the survivors of the devastating world war, run by synthetically designed and produced humanoids incapable of emotions and protected by cyborgs and human piloted robot suits (because there's always robot suits, or samurai, which is why that series Samurai 7 was such a breakthrough, you know, having samurai fighting robot suits, that's on the same order as pirates fighting ninjas). Anyways, I felt right back up to speed.

But, lets forget about the story for a moment (ha, I already did). That first one was an interesting experience because of the visuals. The idea behind it was to try to combine three different animation styles in one movie. There were normal, hand drawn anime visuals, computer generated visuals, and then this third thing that's a mixture of the two (which is also done with computers...I don't know what it's called, but if you've seen Richard Linklater's movies Waking Life or A Scanner Darkly, then it's kind of like that only not trippy). The result was kind of odd. Now, it's fairly common to see the robots and spaceships and stuff done with computers while the characters and backgrounds are animated. The difference here was that they thought they could switch between the two using that third style.

The best example of this would be when the main character, some cute chick who kicks lots of ass, pulls out a gun. She's an anime character, so when she pulls it out, it appears hand-drawn. However, as she pulls it out and the lights shine on it, the metal glistens, which is done using that third strategy. Then, the camera cuts to her firing it and it's fully computer generated against the anime background, and, for that matter, attached to an anime arm.

So, I've now seen the next one, but in high definition, which is clearly worth something. From the looks of it, the producer people made the command decision to cut down on the anime-style stuff and do most things either with that in-between option or full CG. The main difference, though, is that this in-between option has gotten significantly more advanced since the previous one. The result is that it's really more CG, only it ends up with a very hand drawn look. The only way I can describe it is to tell you to go check out the cut scenes from that game Rogue Galaxy that I talked about a while ago, because it used the same style in its CG cut scenes.

So, this one primarily uses that style for its characters, instead of the anime style, and then switches back and forth on the backgrounds between CG and a hand drawn style. So, it's still fairly schizophrenic, but overall the look is a bit more unified.

Anyways, it was a rather odd experience to watch it. This animation style comes out looking very, very similar to today's graphics quality on a PS3 game. I very much imagine that most of the action we see in the movie could be done in real time during gameplay on the PS3, with a fairly minimal drop in quality. So, watching it felt a lot like watching the cut scenes from a game (for that matter, the story could have come from a game too, a bad game, just to be clear). I think I preferred the style from the first one, since at least it was unique, even though it was uneven.

The other kind of weird thing to realize is that I am totally a sucker for video game girls. Because every single girl in this movie looks like she could have come out of a video game, I was pretty much thinking to myself, "Oh, she's cute" over and over and over again. It was kind of surreal. I'm not sure if it was the hair (the classic, this is CG so we're not going to waste our time trying to render millions of individual strands), or the super smooth skin, but they all reminded me of Rinoa Heartilly (FFVIII, which is not to say that I'm any particular fan of her or even that game, she would just be the video game cutie that they all reminded me of).

One cool thing about it, though, was that John Woo was involved. So, of course, there had to be doves somewhere. And, so, well, it was a robot dove sending out some signal to take control of the general population and have them attack some building or other. I smiled. Also, the actions scenes in general were cool and well choreographed and stuff. I'm almost certain I liked the action in this one a lot more (I'll admit I don't really remember the action scenes from the first one...yeah, I don't really remember anything from it). Definitely the main advantage to doing CG action movies like this is that you can really play with the camera and this did a very good job of that. Of course, there were still times when the characters seemed weightless, especially the robot suits (you have to wonder how maneuverable a giant robot suit really is, especially if that means it's capable of dodging bullets in a mid-air battle), but at least the actions was gorgeously done.

But, yeah, otherwise it wasn't too memorable. I guess if they make another one, I'll add it to my queue. I don't have the will power to stop myself. And, besides, every single female character in it is cute, that's worth something.

That is all.

Francis

Sci-Fi, Westerns, and Jericho

Well, I started watching this TV show Jericho about two weeks ago, today. Ironically, the day that I started watching was also the day that it was canceled (note that I started watching with the help of Netflix, I did not start with the final episode). And, well, I've been pretty much blown away by how good this show is. In fact, I think it's probably the best show I've watched since Firefly.

For a little background, Jericho is basically from the same genre as tv shows like Lost and Heroes and Battlestar Galactica. In other words, it's a fairly large ensemble cast with a very continuous storyline. All these shows are also sci-fi shows to at least some extent and Jericho is no exception. In sci-fi terms, it's a near future post-apocalypse story.

Now, the primary thing that makes Jericho stand out from the shows I mentioned above is the story. Story is really important to this genre and it is Jericho's story that stands out above almost all the TV shows I've ever watched. To put it simply, if Jericho were a book, I would read it. In comparison, Lost could never function as a book and BSG would just make a boring book. Heroes would be readable, but just okay.

I think having a story that can actually function as a book makes a lot of sense to this genre. These characters are being developed in a very similar manner as a book and they truly benefit from having their stories be told that way as well. For example, I never even finished the first season of Lost, for many reasons, but one of them was that the character development style was really ineffective. Initially, the idea of having each episode be full of flashbacks informing us of the background to that character was fun, but it pretty quickly got old. This was because each character's development had to happen in spurts, rather than over the course of the season. I also pulled out because I started realizing that there would never really be answers to the questions being raised and that things would just get weirder and weirder as the writers tried to keep viewers watching while not actually doing anything (to my knowledge, things are progressing along that path still, but don't quote me on it).

In comparison to Lost, Heroes, BSG, and Jericho all having multiple storylines going, fleshing out as many characters as possible simultaneously. This is how books are typically written as well, because character development should happen concurrently with plot development, not at a cost to it.

In fact, the only episode of Jericho so far that has faltered at all for me was an episode that goes over what everyone was doing the day before the nuclear attacks. Throughout this episode I was bemoaning the fact that this pointless break in the story did nothing to develop the characters (since if you hadn't figured out what the characters were doing prior to the attacks, then either you weren't paying attention, or it didn't matter anyway) and took away the momentum that the story was currently enjoying. Multiple times now, Heroes has also had an episode like this, and every time I scream to the Heavens "Why!?" Because, once again, it hurts the momentum of the story and it wastes our time with information that we either could have figured out without them telling us or which could have been explained in seconds without giving up an entire episode.

But, so if all three of these TV shows are using story properly, then why is it Jericho's story that stands out to me? Because a near future post-apocalypse story is a sci-fi version of a western, and I'm something of a fan of westerns.

Now, Firefly was special because that was a western in a sci-fi setting, but there are lots of sci-fi takes on westerns. The difference between these two ideas, for the record, is not just semantics. Firefly was, first and foremost, a western. It used the language, the imagery, the ideals, even the plots of a western (for example, smuggling cattle). It just added spaceships, but at heart it was a western (in fact, it was a romantic western, rather than a modern day western, or at least westerns post-Unforgiven). In comparison, a sci-fi take on westerns normally has a handful of the ideals and archetypes from westerns and that's all. Star Trek would be a decent example of this (you know, that whole "Space, the final frontier" thing is a very western theme).

Jericho uses a post-nuclear America as the new frontier. In this world, there are such dangers as outlaws posing as lawmen, vigilantes, resource shortages, and just plain ol' desperation. These are all classic dangers in the modern western. Character-wise, we have the prodigal son (with a tragic history and a shady past), we have the mysterious stranger, we have a farmer, we have the town elder (mayor, in this case, but he could just as easily be Sheriff), we have both the damsel in distress and the kick-ass girl, and we even have the child whose been forced to bear responsibilities beyond his years due to the untimely deaths of his parental figures.

It's just, wow. This is a modern western. I mean, compare this setting to Firefly. Admittedly, Captain Mal has the properly sad, almost beaten, past that he hides through a sarcastic and often mean attitude, but otherwise, their stories are more like the adventures of Robin Hood than the lives of people constantly living in hiding due to the risk of discovery by the law. In Jericho, though, the theme is how this group of people is managing to still live human lives even as the world around them is torn apart by people no different from them (that's a theme in westerns, by the way, the way that suffering and desperation degrades people as well as the desire to rise above that suffering).

I love how well westerns can transplant themselves into other genres. For the record, obviously Japanese samurai movies and most old English stories of chivalry are variations on the same themes as westerns as well, so it's not like westerns are even the original westerns (in fact, Mushi-shi is following many of the classic themes of the romantic frontier western, which is probably why I'm such a fan of it as well...not to mention Cowboy Bebop, but that's too easy). I especially like seeing that the maturation of the western genre is also starting to be transferred to those other genres as well. Modern westerns are some of the most beautiful stories of heroics, particularly because they focus on being both down to earth and larger than life at the same time (think of 3:10 To Yuma as a great example of a western that was heavily influenced by Unforgiven, but managed to still be full of the romanticism that makes westerns so touching). And, well, Jericho really has the potential to reach some of those heights.

I hope CBS finds a way to renew it, since I absolutely want to see what they do with the world they've created. I want to see the town slowly fall into the degradation of the rest of the world and I want to see them slowly rise above it. I want to see the prodigal son win the heart of the damsel in distress and I want to see the mysterious stranger prove to his family that he's worthy of their trust. I want to see the town elder eventually die, sacrificing himself to help bring redemption to his town now that his town has forsaken him for a leader who will bring them to violence one day. I'm sure some, or even many, of these things have probably already happened (I haven't even finished season one, yet), but I especially want to see where things go after that.

This show is a really intelligent play on one of my favorite genres and I love what they did with it.

That is all.

Francis

Kanon and Clannad

So, you know those topics that you have something to say about, but you don't want to admit that you have something to say about them? Well, this is one of those. I think both these animes are interesting to discuss and analyze, but I would much prefer not to ever admit that I'd ever even heard of these, let alone downloaded them and watched them in their entirety. I mean, discussing these things isn't just admitting how lame I am (which I feel like I do decently often, so I don't really mind), but is basically proof that the only thing I put in my description of myself isn't even accurate (my description says that I'm a guy, but I can't imagine a guy actually watching these unless he had some really serious obsessions with Japanese schoolgirls and high school dramas...and I would prefer admitting that I'm not actually a guy to admitting that I have an obsession with Japanese schoolgirls and high school dramas...but that's probably why it's called denial).

Anyways, I started watching Clannad, then Kanon, then Clannad again, on the recommendation of the dude from Megatokyo (why do I keep admitting that I read that?). Both these series were made by the same animation studio and are based upon some semi-old Japanese highschool dating sims made by some other company (the name is something like Key, but it doesn't matter). Anyways, the Megatokyo dude recommended Clannad and Kanon while they were still releasing Clannad, so I checked it out and thought it seemed kind of interesting and then I wasted some time by watching Kanon, and then went back and watched Clannad (actually, I haven't finished it yet, I think I have like three episodes left, but I'm going to assume those episodes don't change my opinion of the show at all).

I mentioned the order that I watched them in, because it's actually relevant, by the way. When I started watching Clannad, I found it interesting because I liked the main character (who is almost the only guy we see, besides his stupid sidekick friend who can never get any girl to give him a second glance and only exists as fodder for jokes). I was impressed because the main character was actually a kind of cool dude. He was angsty and somewhat depressed, but also sarcastic and funny and more than a little mean (so, yes, he reminded me of myself). However, since at this point there were only two episodes, that's about all I knew about Clannad before I switched to Kanon.

Upon switching to Kanon, the first thing I noticed was that this main character was not nearly as interesting as the guy from Clannad. Basically, he had no personality at all. Keeping in mind that this anime originated from a Japanese high school dating sim, this made sense. I imagine the main character in the game is also pretty much a blank slate, which allows the player to imprint himself in place of the character as a way to experience the game. This doesn't really work for the TV show, though, since I prefer main characters that actually have personalities (obviously, I actually prefer TV shows where the main character has a similar personality as my own, so that I can imprint on him as a way to experience the show, but that is totally not the point).

However, while the game was targeted at boys (well, male nerds, at least), the anime is clearly targeted at girls (and guys who are obsessed with moe or whatever...and, yes, the fact that I just used the term most likely means that I'm one, but it's not true, I swear). They structured the series to follow this guy as he develops relationships with, like, 4 or 5 different girls, one at a time, and helps them with with their problems and then moves on to the next one. Each one gets her own 4-6 episode arc, where she is almost really the main character.

These girls, of course, each have unique and exciting personalities, which almost clash with the main character's own lack of such things. This makes sense, though, because I'm sure the game gave these girls those big personalities because that's what their audience wanted (probably along with some cute outfits and things like that, but the personalities are a big part of it too, I imagine, since I'm clearly not part of the target audience of the game). Ironically, the female characters all having fully developed stories and personalities fits really well with the target audience of the tv show (girls, which apparently I've decided to admit being).

So, the experience of watching Kanon is a little odd. And, well, I didn't particularly like it either. Of all the girls, there was only one that I actually liked (she had a sword and fought monsters...okay, I guess I kind of liked his cousin too, but that's just because I'm a sucker for blue hair), and the guy ends up with the least interesting and most obnoxious of the girls he interacted with. All in all, it was interesting to watch and contemplate about what worked and what didn't as the creators used the same story but targeted an entirely different audience, but it wasn't enjoyable. And this was largely because of the protagonist, which made me excited for Clannad.

But, then I watched Clannad. Clannad clearly makes a bigger effort to step away from its game roots. For one, like I mentioned early, the main character has a fun personality and can actually carry the show. Also, it doesn't really follow the individual arcs for each of the girls that I assume you would get if you pursued the girls in the game it's based off of. Instead, it primarily follows the arc of a primary love interest throughout, while sporadically inserting varying amounts of the story arcs of the other potential love interests from the game. Some of them seem to get the majority of their arcs, while others merely hint at what could have been. The idea behind this is that the story as a whole is meant to be more cohesive, I think. Personally, I liked the other strategy more.

This structuring is just frustrating because unless you actually like the primary girl (and she is, once again, of course, the least interesting and most obnoxious love interest), then the main character doesn't pay that much attention to the girl you like. Even when we do enter a multi-episode arc where he takes care of some girl, he's not doing it out of interest in her. He pretty much only has eyes for the primary love interest from the very beginning (although, I guess there are still 3 more episodes where he could change his mind...if I wish hard enough).

This sucks, though, because we get all these fully realized "meet cute"-type interactions, but they can't go anywhere because the main character only has eyes for the one girl. In the other structure, each girl actually gets to be the primary love interest for a couple episodes, before he moves on (and eventually finally settles on the least interesting and most obnoxious girl). Admittedly, since this is a tv show for general audiences, his cousin doesn't get to be a primary love interest for any time (but she does have her own arc in the game, and they do at least hint at it in the show).

On a side note, I find it interesting that the games' plots, where a guy meets a girl in need and finds a way to help her and eventually realize herself, was done to fulfill the fantasies of the shut-in male players, while the TV show is able to take that same fantasy and make it a chick flick, because it's presenting this prince of sorts who arrives and helps the girls to reach her potential or whatever (an odd empowerment fantasy of both sexes, I guess). Of course, this breaks down a little bit because in the game, the girls reward the guy by sleeping with him (I assume...also, I hear this caused a little controversy due to the plot arc with his cousin), but in the female fantasy version of it, she doesn't have to give him anything in return (or rather, she wants to, but he isn't interested, he was merely helping her).

Also, and here's where Clannad almost certainly is diverging from its game roots, we see the guy's relationships with these girls start improving him (which shows the TV show's creators are doing a better job of satisfying the target demographic with additional empowerment fantasies). He goes from being the rather angsty and somewhat depressed, but sarcastic and funny to the point of mean, guy to something a lot tamer. They try to motivate him to do something with his life and to rebuild his relationship with his family and to stop playing cruel jokes on them. As the show is coming to an end, I find myself missing what he was before the girls started improving him. But, well, I'm not in the target demographic, so it's not like my dissatisfaction matters. However, I'm would be fairly surprised if the guy had to do anything like that in the game (but, maybe it's not crazy, I don't know).

Anyways, I watched both these shows. They were interesting. At times, they were actually enjoyable, well, Clannad was at least. I'm not sure Kanon was ever really able to transcend from an interesting thought exercise to true entertainment, but Clannad's scenes where the main character is being mean were very funny. So, I've admitted it. And, well, maybe I can on being a guy (I would like that). I'm still not admitting any obsessions with schoolgirls or anything like that, though. Just to be clear.

That is all.

Francis

Digital Distribution

So, I've been kind of kicking this around in the back of my head for a while, and it seemed like a good time to finally get around to writing it down (I think I first started contemplating this in, like, mid-October, or something). Anyways, all I hear in the tech press is how someday (in the near, but not too near, future) we're going to be moving away from physical media and digital distribution is going to be the way of the future. Now, personally, I think this is crap.

Before I begin, I would like to point out that I am in no way whatsoever qualified to make any sort of judgment about this at all, so feel free to take this with a couple grains of salt (of course, I'm not sure I've written a post that I was qualified to pass any sort of judgment on, so that should probably be a general tip for reading this blog, but back to the subject at hand). The only reason I can provide for why my opinion is worth listening to is that I'm one of the people who is actually going to be buying this content, so I might have something to say about what I'd want to be buying.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of an entertainment whore. I go through multiple Netflix DVDs and Blu-ray discs a week. I bought a PS3 and am averaging a new game purchase every 2-3 weeks. I even buy additional content through the little Playstation store thing. I thought the iPod was the coolest thing I'd ever heard of from the moment Steve Jobs announced it (but I didn't convince my dad to buy me one until the 3rd generation...obviously, it took a significant amount of bugging him). I've downloaded music both legally and illegally, while the vast majority of the music on my iPod is content I ripped off of CDs I've bought. I've copied movies and TV shows to my iPod illegally and I've bought music and TV shows from the iTunes store (and I've even downloaded a legal copy of Night of the Living Dead to my iPod since it isn't protected by copyright). I regularly download anime fansubs, but I also buy anime DVDs and I also rent them from Netflix (both on Blu-ray and on DVD). I watch TV shows when they play on TV and I'll go to the network websites to catch up on episodes I've missed (but I don't illegally download those). I buy trade paperbacks of comics and I also read webcomics online (and I've even bought trade paperback versions of webcomics I read online).

In other words, I'm a major consumer of this industry. I absorb media in a huge variety of forms and I am willing and able to do it both physically and digitally, as well as legally and illegally (although I try to prefer the legal strategy whenever possible). So, the important thing to recognize is that whatever the future of entertainment distribution turns out to be, it will be people like me who have to be sold on it. And, right now, I'm not really seeing how people are going to sell me on digital distribution.

Most argument about digital distribution are simple: it's already happening to music and sort of starting to happen with TV shows and so therefore it will eventually translate into similar models for movies and video games. End of story.

If they want to make it sound extra-convincing they'll talk about the cost reduction of not having to product physical media and eliminating the middle man like GameStop and Best Buy or WalMart or whatever.

But, I don't think video games and movies are necessarily going to go the way of music, and it's not even clear that TV shows necessarily are going to truly go that way, either. Music is very well-suited for digital distribution. For one, the buyer is likely intending to experience this media many times in a variety of situations (as background music around the apartment, while jogging, in the car, at work, whatever). So, not having to carry around a physical version of this media is useful (I really noticed this when I went to college with my entire music collection in my pocket).

Compare this to movies and video games which are typically going to be experienced at a limited number of places (your TV, or the TV of someone you know). They don't need to travel conveniently, and they especially don't need to travel together (if I'm taking a copy of Serenity over to a friend's place to convince him that Firefly is amazing, I don't need to bring everything else with me).

In the future, this will supposedly be dealt with by providing a set-top box on the TV, much like an Xbox360, or PS3, or AppleTV. Since the media is very nearly stationary, having a stationary box for it (as opposed to the transportable iPod) should be an effective compromise.

But, this solution creates a new problem: space. Movies and video games take up a lot more space than music. A compressed music file takes up not much more than a megabyte per minute of music. A dvd quality movie takes up closer to 30 megabytes per minute of video. For those counting, that's an order of magnitude more space. Of course, a high definition movie costs closer to 600 megabytes per minute of video (note that this is another order of magnitude).

Now, clearly, the files can be compressed some, but we're still dealing with a situation where I will need two orders of magnitude more space for growing my video collection than my music collection. For comparison, my music collection on my iPod only takes up about 15 gigabytes, which in this day and age is not much more than spare change. On the other hand, I just counted and I own over 100 DVDs (most of these are collections, and over half of them are due to the fact that I own the entire X-Files TV Series). So, we can estimate that as costing about 500 gigabytes of space. Now, these days 500 gigabytes is nothing to scream about, but that is starting to create some storage concerns. Here's where it starts getting scary, though. Since I bought the PS3, not much more than 2 months ago, I've bought 5 games for it. Assuming 50 gigabytes per disc, that's 250 gigabytes of storage. In less than 3 months.

As for PS2 games, just for comparison purposes, I own approximately 20, but that's my collection on a student's budget. I wouldn't be surprised if I had bought well over 30 games for my PS3 by the end of it's life cycle (if not 50...hopefully not 100, because that would be a lot of money spent on video games). So, in short, if I wanted to store the video I currently own in a standard definition format on my set-top box connected to TV, I would probably want a minimum of 1 terabyte, but more likely I'd prefer more than 2 terabytes, unless the cost was completely unreasonable. And that's standard definition.

Now, as a consumer of said future digital media, there is no way I would even consider buying something in standard definition. It would be a waste of my time. I spent a significant amount of money on a glorious 42 inch TV. My purchasing decision is pretty much HD or bust (and, admittedly, due to the cost of HD stuff, I often opt for bust, but that is neither here nor there...or rather, that's what Netflix is for). And, if I wanted to store a digital collection of content in high definition, I would probably need a set-top box with storage capacity closer to 10-20 terabytes at minimum (and assuming there's some major compression going on).

Now, there's two ways to deal with this problem. The first solution is to say: well, large scale digital distribution won't be feasible for at least 5 or 10 or 15 years, so by that time we'll be knee-deep in terabytes and people will be talking about exabytes or whatever and it won't be an issue anymore since a typical hard-drive will have more than enough space for all the movies and video games you could ever want to download. The second solution is to say: we'll store it on the server side and either stream it to the users on demand or allow them to download it at will and watch it and delete it at their convenience.

Both of these solutions provide the next point of challenge: getting the content to the consumer. We're talking about distributing file sizes that are in the 10s of gigabytes. Currently, I'm ecstatic when I'm pulling down just 1 megabyte per second on my broadband line (at that rate, I can download 1 gigabyte in just over 15 minutes). So, downloading a dvd quality movie is going to take about 4 times that long, or about an hour, which is long, but not unreasonable. Now multiply that by 10. That should be closer to the file size for the high definition version. For the record, 10 hours is getting to be a long time to download something.

Obviously, this can be remedied by speeding up internet connections (if we can get average transfer rates up to 10 megabytes per second in 5 or 10 or 15 years, than the high definition version won't take any more than an hour). However, how exactly do you go about speeding up internet connections? You do that by convincing ISPs that they want to build out new connection technologies with faster data transfer rates. Maybe in 15 years somebody'll make that happen, but it's not going to happen fast. That kind of extensive build out is costly as all get out, and there isn't really a clear way for the ISPs to benefit from it (besides attracting additional customers...and then price gouging them, which I'm not necessarily a supporter of, by the way).

Also, content providers will have to actually create, support, and maintain the infrastructure to maintain servers to distribute the content to the consumers, long after the customer has purchased the content. This is the case for both instances of digital distribution, but it will be much more intense if the second solution is used (that is, if we don't continue along the exponential growth curve for hard drive size and so people can't obtain multiple terabyte hard drives in a couple of years down the road, and I'll admit that it's a toss up for whether we can actually maintain the growth rate for hard drives, but I imagine there must be a limit sometime). The second solution puts a huge amount of burden on the servers to be able to serve all the customers their content on demand, which would probably necessitate it to become a subscription service, rather than a single payment (think of Xbox Live, where you're paying for the service and the content). Now, personally, I'm not interested in a subscription service, and don't really intend to ever be (aside from Netflix, which is kind of a special case...and digital cable, I guess I subscribe to that as well...and, well, I guess I'm an internet subscriber too, but that's totally not the point).

In any case, I don't really like the idea of paying someone to store my stuff. I especially don't like the idea that if I stop paying them, I won't get to keep my stuff (which is the same reason I'm not interested in subscribing to any music services). That second strategy for digital distribution sounds a little bit too much like that kind of future, and I can't imagine that this would succeed. There's too many people who are like me and want to be sure that they own what they bought, and they don't just own the right to download it so long as the service is running.

So, that's the situation. In order for digital distribution to really be feasible, there needs to be major progress in two industries that don't have much of anything to directly benefit from changing between physical and digital media (aside from selling more of their services if digital distribution becomes the norm, of course, which is hardly nothing).

On the other hand, I see little reason why Blu-ray discs shouldn't be the culmination of physical media for video, kind of like how CDs are for music. CDs contain the uncompressed audio in detail that far surpasses the human ear's capabilities to distinguish. We can compress the files significantly (as in down to mp3) and most people still can't hear the difference, but the trained ear can (to at least some extent...note that I'm hardly one of those trained ears). Similarly, unless TVs start getting a whole lot bigger (which I'm kind of doubtful they'll do), 1080p is pretty much the limit that the human eye is going to be able to distinguish the details from as well. So, there should be no reason for us to ever need higher definition video, but once we've seen HD video, it's very hard for us to go back to standard definition.

So, I think Blu-ray discs are going to be hanging around for a long while. At least as long as CDs hung around before digital distribution kicked them to the curbside (although I still prefer to buy a CD and rip it to my iPod over downloading the CD from iTunes directly). And, well, maybe I'll even buy one someday (and stop just renting them). Also, for the record, the idea of renting HD videos, which would eliminate both the ownership challenge as well as the client-side space problem still faces the download time/infrastructure challenge. Admittedly, right now I'm waiting two days between rentals of my Netflix movies, so if they were to find a cost effective way to provide HD digital rentals, it's possible I might start sniffing around (considering that 10 hours is already a lot less time than 2 days). The challenge, though, is that it would have to be no more expensive than Netflix (but, it would be okay for it to be a subscription service...I guess).

That is all.

Francis

Avatar is Awesome

Well, about every two to three months, I suddenly get this powerful urge to write about how awesome Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender is. This cycle is based upon Nickelodeon getting around to releasing the next disc of the show on DVD, which is on a rather slow schedule. But, I'm addicted so I don't really mind.

Avatar is interesting for a couple reasons. The first thing that I think is interesting about it is that it is basically a American version of your typical action-comedy anime. However, and this might be just because I'm American, it's a lot more enjoyable than the typical Japanese action-comedies. So, basically we have some American dudes who decided that anime was cool, but dubbing over and editing Japanese shows was lame, so why not just make a really awesome American anime. And so that's what they did, and Avatar was the result.

The result is a rather odd hybrid of American comedy and sensibilities with a more anime art style. Personally, I think it comes out very well. The fight scenes are well choreographed and exciting, but so are the visual gags that you just can't find in typical animes.

However, the main reason that I enjoy Avatar and find it so interest is not at all related to the whole Western-meets Eastern concept. It's interesting because it's a really good show. It deals with tough themes at a very uncompromising level. It deals with loss and responsibility and friendship, but not in the same way that these types of things are dealt with in shows like Naruto or Bleach. During the vast majority of the show, it's a group of young friends traveling together, feeling as though the fate of the entire world is on their backs. And they have to watch as so many adults have given up hope or are simply incompetent. They are confronted with an unhappy world every day and they can only lean upon each other. And they do. This group feels much more like a close-knit family than most versions of this story.

The world in the show is another major highlight. It's obvious from their travels that the world is falling apart. Even in the areas that the real bad guys haven't reached yet, the situation is dire. Everywhere that the friends go, things are going badly. And it's not always because of the Fire Nation. I like that. The problems in the world aren't created by just one group. The average people who are suffering need help to solve problems from bandits or unhappy spirits or corrupt leaders or even their own ignorance or apathy. There are evil people in all the cultures (except maybe the Air nation, they might all be good guys if they weren't all dead).

Even more important than the theme of evil everywhere, is the theme that everyone deserves saving. Everywhere the Avatar goes, he helps people. Even as he is slowly traveling deeper into the heart of the Fire Nation itself, he is helping people in need. And he's meeting good, innocent, average people as well. Just as there is evil in all cultures, there is good in all cultures. And, good or bad, they deserve to be rescued.

It's nice to see that kind of theme on a kids show. Even though it's clear that the leader of the Fire Nation is evil, it doesn't mean his people are. I think that's an important lesson to teach our children (and to learn for ourselves, for that matter).

But, what I really like about it are the bad guys. They are so much better than the typical anime bad guys. I mean, they get to be characters for goodness sake. The Fire King is heartless and evil, but the war he inherited wasn't started by a wholly heartless and evil man. Even his evil and heartless (and rather cute) daughter Azula recognizes that she is a monster and perhaps feels some remorse for the fear in the eyes of her followers (when she's not relishing it, of course). Of course, the best bad guys are Zuko and his uncle.

Zuko is awesome because he is such a mirror of the Avatar. They both have physical markings that make them immediately identifiable. Zuko's scar is his constant reminder that he was disowned by his father and his quest to kill the Avatar is his only way to earn that back. Aang's marking is a reminder that he is the last surviving Air Bender and everything that the Fire Nation took from him. They both are travelling and helping people (admittedly, Zuko is just helping people on his travels to find and kill the Avatar, but he's helping people nonetheless).

Zuko is fun because he is capable of being good, and yet his need to regain his cold, heartless father's respect pushes him to fight the Avatar. And his conflict with himself is a large part of the show. He does so many good things, but when it comes time to face the fact that he knows Aang is a good guy and his father is a bad guy and he shouldn't let his father rule his life, well, we're still waiting for him to make the right decision on that one. In the end, I expect that Zuko's actions will play just as large a role in saving the world as Aang's.

Also, I'm pretty sure it goes without saying that Uncle is pretty much the most awesome character on the show. It's too bad that Mako died, since his voice was perfect for Uncle.

So, yeah, it's nice to finally get that off my chest. Avatar is amazing. It's funny and enjoyable, but it's also a lot deeper and more aware than nearly all the kids shows I've ever seen. I know it's target audience is like, probably ten years old, but it's got content that goes a lot deeper than that.

In the end, though, I really like Aang. I like that he has such power and that he is using it to save both the people he meets and eventually the world. I like that he blames himself for the state of the world because he ran away from his responsibilities as an Avatar once and he will never do so again. He's accepted his destiny, because he's the only one who can stand up to the Fire Nation.

In Live Free or Die Hard, Bruce Willis talks about how sometimes somebody has to stand up and be "that guy". Aang isn't destined to save the world. He's only destined to have the potential to save the world. But he's standing up and being that guy and not looking back.

And that's a great main character.

That is all.

Francis