July 26, 2014
A Minor Tidbit...Scarcely Worth Mentioning
An interesting peek at what Disney is doing with the franchise.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
10:35 PM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 16 words, total size 1 kb.
July 24, 2014
Well THAT was an Amusing 15 minutes.
"Yay! We're back!"
The episodes are a bit longer this time around (14:45 with credits) and they really have upped the production values. There is also quite a bit of action, though not at ALL what I'd expected.
We do learn a few important things.
The preview trailer is somewhat misleading.
Soda cans in Vale are NOT made out of aluminum.
It's strongly implied that Blake is in a lot more trouble than has been apparent.
Turkey and scallions do not go together as well as I'd have thought.
The episode has everything, murder, intrigue and a bizarre and silly 7 minute food fight that is about as spectacular as anything they've done yet. The voice acting is still uneven, but Jessica Nigiri does a very good job as Cinder (there was some speculation that her brief scene in last season's stinger was a fluke).
Also, as a catch phrase, "Don't play with your food." is wanting.
However, this was, all in all, a very promising kickoff for the second volume. This is definitely on the watch list.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
09:04 PM
| Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 169 words, total size 2 kb.
I Had NO Idea This Thing Was Real
Do want!
I'd seen this thing in some TV shows but I'd always thought it was a special effect.
The Williams WASP was designed to meet an Army from the 1970's. It actually fulfilled all the requirements but twas not adopted as the Army beleatedly decided that the requirements were ill-considered.
Good grief! With a range of 30 miles it's really not all that much more impractical than a motorcycle for commuting. It can fly above traffic and the fact that it flies means it's significantly less dorky than a Segway.
This is the future we were denied!
Someone must make this happen.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
08:59 PM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 111 words, total size 1 kb.
July 23, 2014
While it is Certainly Good to Have a Goal
...in some cases it may be better to continue muddling through life until one can settle on a goal that is both attainable and productive.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
02:21 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 34 words, total size 1 kb.
July 22, 2014
The Current Ghibli Film: "When Marnie Was There"
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
01:55 PM
| Comments (6)
| Add Comment
Post contains 8 words, total size 1 kb.
July 14, 2014
15 People
RWBY is interesting not the least because it shows how much technology empowers small groups of limited means to do things that not long ago would have been possible only with a major company, considerable capital outlay and then only after persuading the suits to back the project.
Volume two builds on the lessons they learned by doing volume one and boasts a greatly expanded production staff....of 15 people (about a third of whom are also part of the cast).
Thus, the total cast and crew of this series is now in the vicinity of 20 people. This vastly lowers the hurdles to producing ones vision, and the internet largely solves the distribution issue. This is a game changer, and it's just starting. The production diaries remind me of some of the things I've read about the early years of silent films, before the studio system was established,where things had to be figured out, but there was a lot of creative freedom.
Now, while I've liked RWBY, it is true that there are criticisms of this particular show,...it's a superhero version of a Japanese highschool show set in a high-tech Hogwarts. Plus there are technical issues and the first volume ended on a bit of a nonsequiter. However, the show's cast and crew are, in a lot of ways, blazing new trails which will become very interesting paths indeed as more and more people get out there and produce stuff. A lot of it will be utter crap of course, Sturgeon's Law will still apply, but a group of people no bigger than a mid-sized doujin circle (or an APA for those that remember that niche of American fandom) and with similar initial capital outlay ( Poser Pro costs $450.00) will be able to do animated shorts and distribute them, free of the gatekeepers who even today presume to tell us what we shall see.
This is an exciting time. If I had talent, I'd be ecstatic, as it is, I'm merely pleased and hopeful.
UPDATE: Heavily edited the post.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
10:26 PM
| Comments (7)
| Add Comment
Post contains 343 words, total size 3 kb.
July 06, 2014
I am Unsure
...if Arpeggio of Blue Steel is brilliant or just bonecrushingly stupid.
I was initially leaning towards this peculiar earth versus aliens show being interesting with some annoying tendencies when suddenly this happened...
Now I fear it's going to be one extreme or another.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
04:33 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.
July 05, 2014
19 Days to Go
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
07:47 AM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 4 words, total size 1 kb.
July 03, 2014
6 Weeks To Go
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
09:42 PM
| Comments (10)
| Add Comment
Post contains 4 words, total size 1 kb.
June 09, 2014
Ahhh Vocabulary....
Tonight, due to a certain series of events, I found myself looking up the word "Therian". After some initial confusion I found that which I was looking for...and yet did not need to know.
This in turn caused me to ponder the additional befuddlement that might result if any of them find themselves 'connected' to a platypus.
Pondering such ponderables is not particularly productivel. Thus, we'll try to atone by posting this bit of art for Ubu, who has pointed out some information that looks to be worthwhile indeed.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
12:58 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 95 words, total size 1 kb.
So...What's On ?
more...
I'm suffering from acute fogeyism.
Most of the best anime shows I've watched recently have been recommendations. Now, I sit and look at the current and approaching line-up and see a vast wasteland, but there must be something that doesn't suck.
So what's good in the world of anime?
As "Good" is highly subjective, here are the shows that I've most enjoyed over the years.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
12:23 AM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 397 words, total size 8 kb.
June 01, 2014
Desensitization
I had never thought of A Certain Scientific Railgun as a particularly cheesecake heavy series. Even the "beach" episode seemed pretty demur to me and the lead heroine's habit of wearing shorts under her skirt appeared to be a nice mockery of the squalid trend of gratuitous panty shots.
It turns out that I must just be desensitized to this sort of thing. Someone named "John" has summarized the entire series in two minutes and forty three seconds and t turns out that the series is nothing but cheesecake and violence (not necessarily in that order).
Also dudes in wolf masks, which my desensitization caused me to miss on the first viewing.
Seriously though...
Just over a month and a half after watching the first half of the series I finally got around to finishing it.
My verdict: This show is pretty darn good.
A lot of full length series fall apart towards the end. This one did not, and provides the audience with very satisfying conclusion.
Furthermore, Mikoto Misaka is one of the more likable female leads in recent years, being decent and well grounded as well as very smart. She's also believably written, as are three of the four leads. As for Kuroko...well she's quite entertaining, though she is....well....she's flawed*.
Don't whine Kuroko, you know it's true.
The series writer, Seishi Minakami was a protege of the late Satoshi Kon (and did the screenplays for both Paprika and Paranoia Agent) and he throws in little non-explicit bits that develop the characters with some subtlety. For instance, there is, occasionally, a mention of Mikoto collecting merchandise from some Sgt. Frog inspired children's show. In most shows this would be a bit of perfunctory 'cute' ticket punching. In this show, the little frog fobs actually come off as poignant. They speak of a girl who because of her power, had to grow up a lot faster than most and as she approaches college longs for the childhood she skipped. Saten is well intentioned, hard working and quite brave, but she's occasionally quite obnoxious to Uiharu. She's a teenager and the stress and anxiety of not having any powers (in a world where they often define one's worth) is causing her to act out a bit.
Even the episodes that at first glance appear to be filler, (with one exception) manage, in retrospect, to develop the characters and/ or advance the plot.
Note that if you clicked on the video above, it includes about EVERY bit of fan service in the 720 minutes of the series and removes some context in the process. 'Railgun is surprisingly light on the cheesecake. While it's not entirely kid friendly in that regard, Mikoto is an unusually admirable heroine, the show pretty much renounces nihilism and it extols the virtues of decency.
This series was a thoroughly enjoyable ride.
Amongst all the teenage-superhero-highschool-cop-shows this is one of the best. Even without that significant caveat A Certain Scientific Railgun is well above average.
(*She tries (and fails spectacularly) to drug and presumably molest Mikoto at least twice...I mean good Lord, she's pretty much horrible. The only reason she's a "good guy" is because she feels personally invested in her identity as a Judgement officer, likes the power she gets from the job and is the vector for getting Mikoto and the others involved in the larger story. Yes she's comic relief, but.... )
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
12:32 AM
| Comments (9)
| Add Comment
Post contains 568 words, total size 5 kb.
May 26, 2014
Enjoy the Holiday, But Forget Not Why You Have It.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
10:11 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 10 words, total size 1 kb.
May 24, 2014
About 6 Weeks Left To Go
I see the twins are back. (I just wasted ENTIRELY too much of my evening crawling through that with the pause button).
UPDATE:
The arm reversal between her and Jaune compared to the season 1 OP is a nice touch. It looks like JNPR are indeed going to be the duteragonists.
Velvet's team certainly looks interesting.
I find it interesting the CRDNL is included.
Wow. The Rooster Teeth eye catch is really irritating.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
09:28 PM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.
May 20, 2014
This Squirrel Nut Zippers Video
...really captures some of the key elements of early '30s US cartoons.
(Madness being the most important one.)
It actually doesn't start 'till 0:38
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
11:17 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 29 words, total size 1 kb.
Well, I Know What I'll Be Watching This Winter.
Like the previous one, this trailer for the upcoming Yamato film has no animation. But it's 31 seconds long as opposed to 16. Also, there is music this time, music that will mean nothing to those who did not watch the old show. The rest of us however, are a bit enthused.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
01:08 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 61 words, total size 1 kb.
A Bit of Lost History Found
I just received this via E-Mail. I seem to recall hearing about it years ago, but had no idea it was finished or available or especially on You-Tube.
Behold! The long lost 1946 collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali.
This has been up since 2011 so I guess that Disney just put it out there due to its experimental nature, historical interest and the fact that its a short.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
12:50 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 76 words, total size 1 kb.
The Memetic Madness That is Fandom
Having finally finished Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions - Heart Throb I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, though it's not quite on the same level as its predecessor.
The original show, in addition to being funny, was a touching, beautifully portrayed love story that amongst all the hilarity, involved Rikka coming to terms with her loss and getting her act together. The sequel has her pretty much back to where she was for most of the series...except that Rikka and Yuta are definitely a couple. I confess that at first I thought the two of them were just joking with regard to Rikka's active fantasy world, but alas no, and no explanation is given for the regression. Were it not for specific references to the Christmas party in the first serie,s this show could easily have been set during the same time frame as that show...and it might have been more satisfying.
Whereas Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions is about moving forward and growing up, '...Heart Throb' is, in many ways, a renunciation of that. On the surface the show glorifies stability above all else and seems actively hostile to the notion of personal development. For instance, the new character Sophia comes dangerously close to character development...but dodges that bullet with great verve and skill. Great effort is made to ensure that everything remains exactly as it is at the beginning*. I know nothing about the source material for this show, but the this glaring difference makes me wonder if the sequel is a response to fan complaints.
However, the show is quite entertaining in its own right and it made me laugh out loud several times.
With the two main lovebirds relationship pretty much fixed, there is some development exploration of the other characters.
Nibutani in particular, actually comes off as quite likable and decent in this series. She is an important part of a rather unexpected dynamic in the show that it is a bit deeper and more nuanced in its view of Otakudom than one might expect.
Despite the show's overall tone of aggressive Otaku affirmation '...Heart Throb' is not entirely sanguine about the subject. There is a somewhat creepy cour (with VERY creepy undertones) that involves the implications of fandom as a cult and it's handled pretty well...imaginary magical battle notwithstanding.
The show is cute, wacky and often quite weird...
...and occasionally even weirder still.
While it is not quite as good as its predecessor in that it does little to advance the cast, it is still a thoroughly enjoyable show
*...well...except for Isshiki, who is last seen dealing with a development that might or might not be truly horrible for him...the writers are rather vague on that point.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
12:00 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 461 words, total size 4 kb.
May 11, 2014
They Couldn't Just Hire A Couple of Russians?
The Girls Und Panzer DVD has been sitting on my shelf for months and I suddenly realized I have time to look at it.
The dub is a bit uneven and rather rough at the beginning (Miho pronounces Oorai as O-O-R-I amongst other things) making it look like it was done on one take. To be fair, the voicework rapidly gets a lot better as the show progresses and Molly Searcy absolutely NAILS IT with her portayal of Mako. After about episode two the dub is pretty decent.
Then...suddenly.
They'd avoided the temptation of wacky accents...until the Pravda battle at which point there is an ill concieved attempt...from time to time...to affect something that probably sounded Slavic to somebody late one night in the studio when they were all strung out on Red Bull and Mountain Dew.
It gets worse...There is that moment in the Pravda battle that Crunchyroll edited out the Katushya song. Crunchyroll just cut the scene...the dub keeps the footage (minus the mouth movements) and replaces Katushya with an unrelated accordion solo.
" Well...THAT was regrettable. "
The accordion solo is present on the subtitled track too, indicating that they were not able to resolve the rights issue. However, it's unclear why the scene wasn't simply cut (like Crunchyroll did with the sub) as the result is most jarring.
Wait...
Can someone explain to me how a commie song from before 1945 is a copyright issue anyway.
Sentai has done some pretty good dubs (and Highschool of the Dead was absolutely superb) so this is more galling than it ought to be.
UPDATE: The dub on OAV release is actually excellent. Even when a silly accent raises its head, it's intentionally silly and fits perfectly.
I'd not seen any of them previously. They are entertainingly odd.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
10:22 AM
| Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 307 words, total size 3 kb.
May 10, 2014
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions - Heart Throb
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions was an absolutely superb series, being both hilarious and poignant. It also had a satisfying ending that quite effectively wrapped things up, so I've been ponsdering the sequel with some trepidation.
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions - Heart Throb is set just a few weeks after the end of the previous show and pretty much takes up where it left off. There is a bit of hand waving regards the progress Rikka seemed to make in the last episode and some hand waving to explain why a class concious climber like Nibutani is still hanging with these whackadoodles, and further hand waiving regards Dekimori's hair, but it otherwise continues the story, and, well, two episodes in, I've laughed out loud a few times.
It certainly seems to be worth the time thus far.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
03:45 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 146 words, total size 1 kb.
104kb generated in CPU 0.0758, elapsed 0.163 seconds.
82 queries taking 0.1413 seconds, 412 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
82 queries taking 0.1413 seconds, 412 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
