ANIME NORTH 2009: PHOTO STORM Part 2

ANIME NORTH 2009 PHOTO STORM part 2

Since the modern anime-kids have no fucking taste, any shows or manga I actually like are usually unpopular. Like BURST ANGEL for instance... yet every year, I always see at least one person cosplaying as either Jo (above) or Meg, which is encouraging. This costume was actually pretty on model too. People have been upping their game every year since this shit start.

I actually don't know who she's supposed to be... Amanda got really excited and started poking me and whisper, "Sexy girl! Sexy girl!" and prompting me to take a picture. It wasn't the first time one of the Beguiling Girls got all excited about a sexy cosplay girl that weekend, which was indescribably hot.

Ha ha ha! One of the things I like to do is catch people being out of character while in costume... sometimes it's sort of 'blah' and sometimes it's pure GOLD! This was pure gold! My favorite POWER RANGER (Zack is still the hippest Black Ranger of all time, bar none) just reading a book, I like the reactions of the people around him too. They're all like, "Man, this is FUCKED UP." His costume was fucking awesome too. There was a really good Red Ranger walking around as well, but I didn't get a picture of him. I like that the old school is making a comeback at AN. I fucking LOVE POWER RANGERS, yo. It was like SAVED BY THE BELL with ASS KICKING... the only thing that could have made SAVED BY THE BELL in any way watchable.

This was a weird one I never thought I'd see at AN (once again, because it was from a show I like), Yurine from KARAS, which is, like, the best 'Henshin' (transforming) hero saga to come out in years. It was an awesome combination of The Crow/Ghostbusters/Kamen Rider. This was another really well done costume from an obscure series that I was pretty sure only had appeal for me... and I was once again proven wrong.

Is this dude ready to kill some fucking Zombies or what? He looks like he could get a part-time job working for COBRA if he's not making enough money at the UMBRELLA CORPERATION.

Another obscure series that I'm surprised people still like, a pretty solid looking Sol Badguy and Dizzy from GUILTY GEAR X, one of my favorite 2-D fighting games that's not STREET FIGHTER. It's like STREET FIGHTER is it was conceived by DethKlok.

Rock Star Haruhi, sans-guitar. It think this costume is actually based on a toy, as she at no point wears this in the series. LOTS of Haruhi this year, even moreso than last year. That is the one show I can agree on with this new generation of fandom as being worth adulation... it's just fucking GOOD. Like anime DOCTOR WHO meets DEGRASSI.


This is for you Jason Azzopardi! This is for you. And a little bit for me. I wouldn't be living up to my nickname if I didn't get a few pictures like this (which I did. :B). I have no idea who she's supposed to be.

ANIME NORTH 2009: PHOTO STORM Part 1

As with previous years, I once again took the on the 3 day retail marathon of fucked up that is Anime North.

Unlike previous years, load-in and setup went remarkably smoothly... even as under-staffed as we were, work was evenly and fairly distributed, and everything was good to go an hour before the show started. And, man oh man, WHAT a start! The economy may be shit everywhere else, but it had no effect on the retail tsunami of Anime North 2009! These kids, usually somewhat shrewd and reserved on the opening day, were ravenous for Manga and Anime merchandise of all kinds! It was hand over fist, non-stop, until shows end.

And it pretty much kept up like that all weekend.

And between taking nerds money, I got some pictures... since nothing really interesting or fucked up happened this year... COSPLAY PICTURES will tell my story!


I thought this guy was a KAMEN RIDER, but he was actually one of the Seekers from KINGDOM HEARTS III: BIRTH BY SLEEP (which I'm pretty sure isn't out yet). AWESOME either way.


There was a super weird trend this year of guys in costumes that were... just totally not applicable to Anime North. Such as... Doctor McNinja and a seriously creepy Frank from DONNIE DARKO. The significane of these costumes? LOST on these fucking kids. Heathens.

I think this was Captain Ron cosplaying as Captain Harlock.


The first Yoko of the con. Predictably, GURREN LAGANN hit BIG this year. The costumes were all very impressive, but the GUNS were insane!

Gothic Loli is still big too, apparently. Last year I couldn't sell the Gothic Loli Bibles to save my life, but this year Erik Kim sold EVERY... SINGLE... FUCKING... ONE. Crazy.


Ha ha ha! Jerry actually had me take this one... Wonder Woman is the only woman he would actually fuck, and this chick was as close to actual Wonder Woman as you can get. Actually, I think her costume is actually better than Linda Carters...

Also, I want that guys VENTURE BROS. shirt.
I used to have a huge nerd-crush on Sailor Mercury, who this girl looks nothing like.

CYBERSIX! Once again, even though this costume is TOTALLY APPLICABLE to Anime North, I'm assuming it was lost on everyone but me. -_- That show as sick as fuck.

DEREK HALLIDAY LIVES IT UP.

Just in case anyone doubted that Derek T. Halliday knows how to (A) take care of himself, and (B) live it up...


Marianted wild Atlantic salmon, flavored with a blend of herbs, garlic long grain and wild rice, with a garden salid, topped with grated mozerella and parmasan and garlic dressing, with a nice, cold, Bravia tall-boy to drink.

And in case you're curious about my entertainment setup...


I call it the "Tower of Triumph."

Life is SWEET at Halliday House. So... fucking... SWEET.

BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE - LIVE ACTION vs ANIME?

BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE is an early 2000 anime film produced by Production I.G. (the studio most famously behind GHOST IN THE SHELL and in all it's various incarnations, as well as other pretty fucking sick-ass anime, many of which are personal favorites of mine) based on a novel by popular anime director Mamoru Oshii (the guy behind PATLABOR1-3/GHOST IN THE SHELL/GiTS: INNOCENCE/JIN-ROH/SKYCRAWLERS/etc) about a serious 'young' girl with a perpetual scowl named Saya, who stalks and viciously murders the FUCK out of cool looking Vampire/Monsters called Chiropterans on an American Army base in Japan in the 1970's, a few months before Vietnam. Though only, like, an hour long, BLOOD was a seriously awesome and concise action movie that clearly defines the differences between North American and Japanese views on what animation can be used for. I recently found out that BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE has since been adapted to a live action film, produced by the guy that produced CROTCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, and directed by Ronny Yu, whose made a number of shitty movies in North America (WARRIORS OF VIRTUE, that kids movie about the kung-fu Kanjaroos, BRIDE OF CHUCKY, ugh, and FREDDY vs JASON, *vomit*), and a number of awesome kung-fu movies (BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR and FEARLESS being the only ones I know personally).

BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE being adapted to live action doesn't come as much of a surprise to me; in fact it makes perfect sense. Despite the original source material being animated, the content of the film was nothing that couldn't be achieved in live action. Beyond that, unlike most anime BLOOD is much more accessible to a North American (and in fact, international) audience as it features an international cast and switches logically between English and Japanese dialogue depending on the background of the character and the necessity of it (BLOOD takes place in Japan, but is mostly set on an American army base). It also helps that Vampires are big in just about any culture. BLOOD is a slick action/thriller/sci-fi/period piece featuring a strong yet sexy, bad-ass, female lead fighting awesome looking monsters with a cool fucking sword; there is absolutely NO reason a movie like that would fail to find success in North America, or be inachivable when adapted to live action. So, just out of curiousity, I though I'd compare the two and see how they stack up.

BLOOD: ANIME TRAILER



BLOOD: LIVE ACTION TRAILER



Comparing the two trailers, I notice a lot of stuff in the live action trailer that seems to have been adapted directly from the original, such as the setting and overall plot, as well as some specific visual cues, but also a number of notable plot changes, such as the more mystical approach to the vampires rather than the animes more sci-fi slant (Chiropterans are a seperate species produced by a virus passed through fluid exchange), and the inclusion of a central villian in the form of 'Onigen', rather than the anime Saya's mandate to just genocide the shit out of the entire species. Also notable is the CYBERSIX-esque plot point that Saya needs to drink the blood of the 'Oni' to survive.

While I am somewhat nervous about these plot changes, I can't really say I find them offensive; to be fair, it'd be pointless to directly adapt an already successful film directly, not to mention that BLOOD was only like an hour long to begin with. Logically some changes would need to be made to pad out the narrative. It just bothers me that the changes made are so... done to fucking DEATH. Seriously? "She killed my FATHER!"? That's a little weak. But, like I said, non-offensive, just disappointingly weak and unoriginal. I still think this looks like an overall strong movie and a good stab at adapting an anime to live action for a North American audience... at the very least it's a far sight better than the fucking steaming pile that was DRAGONBALL: EVOLUTION. I am filled with indescribable RAGE at the thought of that movie.

I'm also impressed that the first five minutes of the movie are an almost shot for shot adaptation of the opening of the anime.

FIRST FIVE MINUTES



Overall, I'm pretty excited about this. I feel like there is at least a 75% chance this will not blow. That's pretty high for a movie these days.

THE FIFTH MANGA: BERSERK by Kentaro Miura

Remember when I posted my Top Five Manga and Anime list? Well, I sort of pussied out on my fifth manga, and left it un quantified... which made sense at the time, because I really didn't know which book I liked so much better than others that I would put it in my Top Five. But after monthes of deliberation, and a lot of reading, I've finally figured it out. So, without much fanfare:

5) BERSERK by Kentaro Miura

BERSERK is hard to sum up in a paragraph, because the entire point of BERSERK is that it's an epic. It's a massive, sprawling, medievil fantasy along the lines of Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS, but far, FAR, more graphic in it's portrayal of sex and especially violence.

BERSERK is the tale of Gatz (or Guts depending on the translation), who starts his life born from under a corpse tree when his mother is hanged with a number of other people who have been persecuted by the 'Land of the Black Sun's' leading religious sect, The Holy See. Gatz, who was never meant to have been born, is from that point on cursed as "The Struggler." Every day of his life is a fight to survive. He knows almost no happiness, and spends his childhood abused both emotionally and physically by his Gaurdian and mentor, a man named Gambino, who teaches Gatz the art of sword fighting, but having no swords small enough for a child to train with, Gatz becomes accustomed to using blades three times his size (which becomes one of the series most prominent staples; Gatz huge, black sword, which is unwieldable by any normal human).

As is typical with most manga, the first story starts off without any sort of context, taking place sometime in the middle of Gatz' life, showing him as the reader will come to know him in the future. By the end of the first story arc, you're sent into a multi-volume flashback that shows the growth of Gatz from a young mercenary of 14, to the tragic events that shape his destiny in his early twenties. You see him make friends with Griffiths, a beautiful and charismatic young mercenary Captain of the Band of the Hawks. You watch him assist Griffiths in his meteoric, almost pre-ordained rise to power in the courts of the Kingdom of Midland; you see him made friends and comrades among the Band of the Hawks; you see him find a deep and lasting love with his former rival, the female mercenary Caska; and finally you see the tragedy of Griffiths betrayal of them all as they are branded as sacrifices to the God Hand, the sinister ruling power of the Astral World and the other planes of reality that make up the metaphysical world of The 'Land of the Black Sun.' Gatz is the only survivor of the sacrifice when annoints Griffiths as the Fifth God Hand, Femto, 'The Wings of Death.' Caska also survives, but is raped into insanity by Griffiths and a horde of demons, leaving her childlike and autistic. Gatz, marked by the Brand of Sacrifice, which draws evil to him, vows revenge on both Griffiths and the God Hand, swearing he will undo all their works and eventually cut them down with his immense sword, The Dragon Slayer.

To that end, the series then becomes a quest book, as Gatz travels around the world looking for clues as to how to cure Caska, find Griffiths, rid himself of the Brand of Sacrifice, and unravel the mystery of the God Hand and their prophecy. Along the way Gatz faces countless encounters with demons, monsters, and 'Apostles', humans transformed by artifacts called the "Beheliet', or the 'Egg of Kings', small red stones with human features which bring out the idealized form of humans possessed of great 'Od' (ether, mana, MP, ki, chi, spiritual power, whatever).

Also, like any good RPG, Gatz eventually forms his "party", recruiting a number of similarly damaged misfits; the mischiefious elf, Puck, the arrogant wannabe child brigand Isidro, the former regligious zealot and daughter of a well-to-do family Farnese, her supposed half-brother/vassel, the fox eyed Serpico, Schierke the child witch, her scarcastic fairy companion Evarella, and Casca. All are damaged goods in some way, the rejects of proper society, who find comfort and strength allying themselves with other outsiders.

In the background of all of this, there is also the continuing storyarc involving a Prophecy, of which Gatz has been a part of since birth; Griffiths, as is typical, is most prominent in the Prophecy as "The White Hawk", who will eventually control the world and all other planes of existance (the Prophecy is unclear as to whether this is a good or bad thing though, as Griffiths is never actually defined as being either good or evil; just ambitious), while Gatz takes the role of the 'Struggler', a man who fights hopelessly outmatched against impossible odds to confound the Hawk.

So, given all that, what is it that I like about BERSERK? A lot of things really. I love Muira's incredibly detailed art (or, at least the artist he would become after 20 or so volumes), which starts off fairly typical of ultra-violent seinen manga, and slowly evolves over time to look like medievil etches. I love his sense of drama and character; how he builds characters from the ground up, slowly revealing the events and tragedies that shaped their beings into the people they are today, and how they still learn and evolve, striving to become better people not bound by their hideously tragic pasts. I love the thought and detail that Muira puts into the world of BERSERK, which is a mish-mash of research on the real history of medievil Europe and the more familiar DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS/TOLKIENesque fantasy worlds, which he combines with musings about the nature of the metaphysical worlds beyond this one. I like that he examines the darker aspects of human nature and religion, but does not condemn either humanity or faith, merely showing what could happen if one took things to far.

Bizarrely, I think the thing I identify most with about BERSERK is that it's central theme seems to be about hope. Gatz faces impossible odds and an endless stream of horrors, both metaphysical (demons, monsters, Apostles, and immortals), and human (reglious persecution, slavery, war, plague, rape), but perseverses, struggles, and survives. Though he man solves most all of his problems with incredible, bloody, violence, he's not an unintelligent characters, and is given to musings about the nature of humanity, as well as his own nature.

Gatz is an incredibly complex character, in that the only thing he really seems to fear in the world is himself. His inability to control his incredible rage and his baser instincts, which actuallybecomes a plot point around volume 25 or so as his darker impulses take on the metaphysical form of a sort of abstract black wolf, which is constantly taunting and tempting Gatz to give into his animal instinct and just completely lose himself in bloodlust. This metaphysical foe becomes a phsyical threat when Gatz recieves a powerful weapon against the Apostles in the form of the Cursed Black Armor. The black armor grants Gatz incredible, superhuman fighting ability, but unleashes the Black Wolf, which overtakes his conciousness, making him a true Berserker; a menace to friend and foe alike, but also to himself.

BERSERK is just an incredibly compelling, dark, adult, fantasy story with some of the most graphic violence you'll ever encounter. It's the kind of shit I started reading manga for in the first place, and like any good seinen manga, the ridiculous violence is tempered by a complex, mature, character driven plot that is as sweeping and epic as anything Tolkien or Gaigax evern came up with, only, you know, actually fucking interesting (because of the sex and violence).

On a related topic, BERSERK is almost one of my favorite anime, which adapts the first story arc (which is, like, volume 1-8 or something), showing the genesis of Gatz, and one of my favorite ever video games, namely, SWORD OF THE BERSERK for the Dreamcast, which has the toughest, most epic EVER, Boss battle in the middle of the game against my second favorite character from the series; Nosferatu Zod, or alternatively, Zod the Immortal (pictured fighting Gatz). He was almost literally unbeatable, and tougher than the final Boss, and he comes at you in the MIDDLE OF THE GAME. He's like this unclimable wall you have to pass, which is pretty much what he is in the manga as well.

WOLVERINE vs STAR TREK vs TERMINATOR SALVATION: Franchise Rescue, Sucess or Failure?

It's been awhile since my last post where I promised to start posting again, but people should be used to me breaking internet promises (I'll always come through on real life promises, but internet promises don't really hold much weight with me).

Anyways, I've recently had the chance to see the summer's three first "blockbusters", all of which are basically attempts at rescuing failing franchises from the shitty last shitty movie that almost ruined them. It shouldn't be news to anyone, but Hollywood is out of ideas. There is literally no new shit left to do in Tinseltown, apparently, so the snake has finally gotten around to eating it's own tail; everything old is new again... but is this a good thing?

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

X-MEN 3... sucked. Seriously, there is nothing good anyone can say about this turd. X-MEN shocked the shit out of people, and was the first successful (both conceptually and financially) comic to screen translation (I'm not really counting BLADE as vampire movies have their own audience) of the new century, and basically set the framework for what comic book superhero movies should strive be. X-MEN 2 was equally shocking because it took a strong start and managed to somehow run with it, making for a far, FAR, stronger movie on all levels. X-MEN showed the potential for the comic book superhero as serious cinema, but X-MEN 2 legitimized it. Then someone fucked up somewhere and Marvel lost Bryan Singer to SUPERMAN RETURNS (which I liked, despite it's obvious flaws, though I have to agree that Superman REALLY did need to fucking punch something), and someone else had the fucking genius idea to give what to this point had been a hugely successful franchise, both financially and critically, to fucking Brett Ratner.

Now, I'm not going to quibble over why you would think the guy that directed increasingly shittier movies since the first RUSH HOUR (which was actually a pretty decent throwback to buddy-cop movies the likes of BEVERLY HILLS COP or LETHAL WEAPON), but to give your biggest, most successful, franchise to a dude with no passion or concept for the project? Why would you expect success? You get what you pay for; an uninspired effects driven movie with no character and a fucking mess of a plot (there were some good idea's in the script, but they were all squandered and mishandled in favor of campy looking art direction and lackluster action set pieces).

So, considering how hugely unsuccessful THAT plan turned out to be, it's completely confounding to me that MARVEL STUDIOS would repeat this formula with what had the potential to be a hugely successful new franchise in WOLVERINE. And I'll admit it; I was fooled.

In the buildup to this movie, I was excited. The trailer looked good, Hugh Jackman was notorious for his passion for the character that he made (and that made him), and from what you could pick up from the trailer, it looked like they really had an idea about what this movie should be about; the long, hard, life of an unkillable soldier caught in an unbreakable circle of tragedy, violence, and lost love. Early hype had this billed as being MARVEL's version of THE DARK KNIGHT; which was appealing because the DARK KNIGHT was exactly what you wanted a BATMAN movie to be: RATED R. No compromising, no pussying out or pulling punches. The promise of a serious, violent, adult WOLVERINE was appealing to me. But that is not what I got.

X-MEN ORIGIN: WOLVERINE ended up totally copping out on all fronts. I was promised THE DARK KNIGHT, instead I got BATMAN FOREVER. A PG-13 shitfest full of cheezy jokes, campy looking costumes and effects, and a directionless, characterless, and worst of all PASSIONLESS story. Even the fights were lame! If you're going to turn in a turd of a comic book movie, at LEAST deliver on some good action (the lightsaber fight with Darth Maul is the only thing that allows me to forgive PHANTOM MENACE)!

Really, it should be no surprise. The movie was given to a guy that would logically have no passion or interest in doing WOLVERINE. I've never seen TSOTSI or RENDITION, but that doesn't seem like a dude that would give a fuck whether he "got" Wolverine. This movie went in every direction but the one it should have, instead trying to focus on pointless easter-egg cameo's by characters that added NOTHING to the plot, and souless action set pieces where Wolverine didn't even get to do anything remotely Wolverine-like! Like, say, GUTTING A FUCKING GUY WITH HIS CLAWS!

And so MARVEL STUDIOS manages to take a potentially money making franchise give it to a bunch of people that don't give a fuck, and shit out another turd, but Hugh Jackman, bless his optimistic, head-up-his-ass, heart, thinks that there's potential to shit out ANOTHER turd! Sorry guy... I like your passion, your dedication, and your hussle, but if you couldn't get it right the first time, you definately won't get it on the second go-around.

Please just let this franchise die for, like, 5-10 years before attempting to resurrect it.

STAR TREK

Anyone see STAR TREK: NEMESIS? If ever there was a movie to kill a franchise, THAT was it. Of course... INSURRECTION, FIRST CONTACT, GENERATIONS, FINAL FRONTIER, VOYAGE HOME, SEARCH FOR SPOCK, not to mention the ridiculously boring THE MOTION PICTURE probably didn't help. All told, there were two good STAR TREK movie; WRATH OF KHAN and THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY. WoK was basically RED OCTOBER in space, and TUC was basically A FEW GOOD MEN... in space. And really, isn't that what a STAR TREK movie should be? A naval movie set against a sci-fi backdrop? Isn't that really what ANY good sci-fi movie should be? Something familiar set against the backdrop of the fantastic? An ordinary, mundane, concept taken to it's extreme? I believe someone once said that when you're writing science fiction, you're not writing about the future, you're writing about now.

And that's why J.J. Abrams STAR TREK is such a successful movie. Without the blinders of fandom on, Abrams managed to look at STAR TREK with eyes unclouded by nostalgia and took everything that was good about the STAR TREK and do it bigger, sexier, and most of all BETTER.

Everything that was great about the original STAR TREK (which, to me, is really the only STAR TREK worth a damn. That's right, I said it. FUCK GENERATION. FUCK VOYAGER. And especially FUCK ENTERPRISE. But not DEEP SPACE NINE, that was actually pretty good), is all present in this film. The action, the humor, the characterization, even the sexiness; everything that made STAR TREK worthwhile viewing is present in the new one, but amped up like the franchise drank, like, 30 Red Bulls and dropped some wicked powerful E before blasting out at you from the big screen in vibrant color and huge, pounding, epic soundtrack. And most of all, Abrams managed to capture the original series by-the-balls sci-fi adventure attitude. Characters are intelligent but proactive. Rather than spouting unintelligable technobabble at their problems, they rush in, fists clenched and guns blazing. Action sci-fi at it's finest!

That's not to say that meant taking a big shit on the fans of the old show. The real genius of the movie to me is that Abrams did it in such a way as to leave nerds, notoriously afraid of change, with absolutely nothing to be pissed off about! He's not saying "Fuck what you know! I did it better!" (unlike a certain Micheal Bay or Shia LeBouf, who just LOVE to shit all over the fandom that made their franchise a massive, surprising, success), he's saying, "Everything that you love... happened. It's still just as real and legitimate as it ever was, and nothing has been thrown away. This is just something exciting and new, and you're free to come along if you like." Abrams made a movie that doesn't pander to fans, but also makes great efforts not to alienate them. THAT'S the sign of a guy that gives a fuck. And that's why this franchise resurrection was successful. STAR TREK has risen like a majestic pheonix from the ashes of countless shitty movies that preceded it.

I'm totally onboard with this new franchise; every aspect from the cast onward was inspired, and there not one weak point I can see. No, not only was this a good STAR TREK movie, it was just a GOOD MOVIE. And THAT'S what every movie should strive to be.

TERMINATOR: SALVATION

Unlike WOLVERINE, I can't say that this movie was a turd. But unlike STAR TREK, I can't say it was a huge success either. Really, after the third TERMINATOR movie, it's not like the bar was set too high (though I have to admit... while TERMINATOR 3 was by no means a great or worthwhile sequel to TERMINATOR1 -2, it was still a entertaining movie to me; but I'm totally biased because I find mostly ALL Arnold Swartzenegger movies entertaining... except for SEVENTH DAY). But it's not like SALVATION tried to hard to hurdle that bar either.

SALVATION's good points are that it delivers on the action, which is what you're really there for in both a TERMINATOR movie and a summer blockbuster, and some great effects and production design. As for the plot... at least it wasn't, like, completely ludicrous. It was just sort of stupid.

The real problem comes from trying to take what was a simple, effective, sci-fi concept for a 1980's chase movie, and taking it entirely too far. Time Paradox just doesn't work on a large scale like this. There's to many variables to do it in any sort of hap-hazard fashion. You either dedicate yourself to working out the mechanics of the Paradox, or you JUST DON'T DO IT. Otherwise, what happens is that if you sit down and really think about any of SKYNET's plans or motivations, it just becomes ludicrous. It's best if you just turn you mind off, sit back, and watch shit explode. The problem with that, though, is that TERMINATOR 2 left you expecting more from your sci-fi action movie plot. You WANT to be challenged. You WANT there to be more to the plot. You WANT there to be a worthwhile character arc. And TERMINATOR: SALVATION just doesn't deliver on that. It's very much what you see on the surface.

That said, the slick, shiny, sheen of McG's (ugh. >_<) music-video direction, and the general ignorance of the target audience of this movie, combined with the modern movie audiences lowered expectations, will probably result in at least one, most probably, shitty sequel.

On a more selfish level, I just can't help but think that this franchise just doesn't work without Arnold Swartzenegger.

IN CONCLUSION

Of the three franchises that Hollywood has tried to resurrect, only one has delivered, and there's more to come this summer. Another TRANSFORMERS, which I'm ambivalent about, GI JOE, which could go either way, really, and another HARRY POTTER on the way, which may be a good thing, as it's the only franchise to consistantly deliver without fucking it up. And probably more on the way. It's been said, "There are no new stories", but now it's becoming entirely too literal.

Some Nerd Shit to Ponder...

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...