I've been busy slowly disassembling and then slowly reassembling my life as I moved into my Condo. It took me about a month and a half to move, and then another move to get sorta-settled (I'm not completely settled yet... still have to paint the apartment before I can finally unpack everything and actually HAVE a bedroom and free access to all my shit (which is currently still in boxes).
Anyways, I'm going to try and get my focus back and start posting more regularly and about shit that's actually, you know, significant (which is questionable when applied to the stuff that interests me). So I'm going to start by wading in the shallow end and just highlighting some nerd stuff of interest.
GI JOE RESOLUTE. Anime-looking webisodes written by Warren Ellis. 10 in total (five minutes each, with the last one being 10 minutes), which will air as a full movie on Teletoon Friday April 24th at 11:15pm. It's VERY Warren Ellis-y... straight talking dialouge, crazy future-science babble, particle cannons, and two guys die in the first 2 minutes.
The opening from the new (2009) ANN OF GREEN GABLES anime. I has this great '80's TVO Edu-Anime feel to it. It's the sort of thing that the CBC would be smart to try and pick up, but never would. The Japanese love the SHIT out of GREEN GABLES, yo.
T28 (aka TETSUJIN 28 aka GIGANTOR) CGI movie produced by IMAGI, the guys that went bankrupt trying to make ASTROBOY and GATCHAMAN... I actually don't know anything about this aside from the sick looking trailer; like when or even IF it's coming out, but MAN does this trailer look SWEET. These guys have made THREE movie I'd give my left nut to see, and I don't have any idea if ANY of them are coming out. -_-
9, the crazy Tim Burton, Tim Russianlastname, creepy CGI kids/action movie about little toy-guys made out of burlap sacks fighting to survive in a killer-robot-ridden post Apocalyptic world... sort of like LITTLE BIG PLANET without any humor. This looks fucking CRAZY. I can't wait for September, and then 3-4 month's after that for the DVD.
And finally, something that Kiza (my ex-roommate) has gotten me into; GUNDAM MS IGLOO. Japan has finally gotten it's shit together when it comes to CGI animation, and produced one of the most detailed, well designed, and well animated CGI series I've ever seen in MS IGLOO. Not only that, but it's one of the only GUNDAM series I've actually been seriously interested in, and really showcases why the series has been steadily popular for 25+ years. The humanity, the drama, the contemplative nature of the narrative, and it's examination of the philosophy and motivations of soldiers; it's just compelling stuff. Add to that the no-nonsense realistic robot warfare action, and you have something that's truely unique to Japan, but also has universal appeal outside it.
This particular episode is my favorite of the series so far; The Gravity Front. The great thing about this particular series, as opposed to the first MS IGLOO series which had a serialized narrative, is that it's made up of stand alone episodes that you can freely walk into without having seen any of GUNDAM at all. This episode is about a group of Earth Federation 'Zaku-Hunters', a tank unit that specializes in fighting the Duchary of Zeon's mobile suits, and in particular the unit's leader, a man haunted by visions of a Death God, with a powerful grudge against one particular White Zaku, who cost him his leg. The story is basically MOBY DICK with giant fucking robots, which is the only real way you could made MOBY DICK any better!
Anyways, it's worth a watch if you've never seen any GUNDAM before, but wondered why it was such a big deal to the Japanese.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5iCpa5t0kE
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDiwDTMmLWE
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK4SCvU3Amo
Anyways, just though you might be interested in some of this shit...
