I had the weirdest time when I was trying to get to sleep last night.
If I wasn't a rationalist I'd have probably said I was experiencing some poltergeist activity.
It started with a weird flash of light. I was laying on my front at the time and it seemed to almost explode from the wall behind me.
The next weird thing was that I could hear what sounded like wind, but not quite. Sometimes there are random gusts of wind that give a very distinct set of noises in my bedsit, and this was kinda like some of them, but not entirely.
The nest thing was another set of noises that almost sounded like someone moving about in the roof-space that connects my bedsit to the main house. We've had mice in there before and it was nothing like them. They make scratches noises and this was much more like something big moving around, but not in a floorboard-creaking sort of way.
At that point I put my earplugs in, but not more than 10 minutes after that I suddenly heard what sounded like a knocking noise.
Because my doorbell is shit, my landlord does knock on my door when he needs to talk to me. However, because this was late at night there should have been an accompanying light from under the door if it was him, but there wasn't.
The other thing I discovered was that my duvet was upside down. I'm sure you've got or have seen a duvet, and if you have then you know that at one end there's always a means of fastening the duvet cover once you've put the actual duvet inside.
In my case, my duvet covers button up and I like to keep the buttoned end down the bottom of my bed, at the foot end. Indeed, it's one of my many little idiosyncrasies / pathologies that I have to have the buttoned end at the bottom.
Weird then that I discovered the buttons at the head end. Weirder still that at no point since putting on the cover have I turned it round. Neither have I pushed it off during the night and had to pull it back off.
So what was it all about?
A poltergeist?
Paranoia and/or the random workings of a sleep-deprived and/or booze-addled mind?
A random collection of events that were actually unconnected, except for their proximity in time?
Well, clearly it was the latter combined with a bit of the second one, since ghosts don't exist.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Monday, 12 April 2010
the wedding
It wasn't bad, in the end.
Since I'm pathologically incapable of being late, I was the first of the work people to arrive. That meant I didn't really know who I was supposed to be looking out for, apart from the bride.
It turned out there were 2 wedding receptions on the go at the hotel, so I therefore kinda joined the wrong one. Really this wasn't my fault, because the staff were cataclysmically useless at showing me where to go. Plus, as I say, there was no-one I recognised who I could use to clue me in.
Anyway, after wandering about, I eventually found the right group and then people from work started turning up and I didn't feel like a lost soul.
I walked down to Farnham, and I'd not quite appreciated how far it was. I think I mentioned last week how I've been trying to at least do a bit of walking and I basically figured this would be a similar saunter.
Well, where my little walks have been around 30 minutes long in my proper walking shoes, this ended up being the best part of an hour in my work shoes. I had prepped by putting some plasters on the main areas I get blisters, but of course that means I've ended up with some sore bit (not really blisters) where I wasn't expecting to.
Thankfully a work colleague gave me a lift home, and that was a really good thing both from a foot ache and booze point of view. I got really rather drunk, I have to confess. I'm not sure how many I actually sunk, but my best guess is six plus a couple of glasses of champagne.
Now really that's not a lot, but it's a long time since I've had a proper drinking session. In fact I was so drunk at the end I' afraid if I had walked home I would have ended up in an accident or something. I could in theory have gotten a taxi, but I honestly don't know where there is a taxi rank in Farnham.
Anyway, the do itself turned out to be okay. I mean, I didn't really know anybody apart from work people, but they had a band on and they played lots of rock and roll standards, so at least it wasn't a night filled with Agado.
Since I'm pathologically incapable of being late, I was the first of the work people to arrive. That meant I didn't really know who I was supposed to be looking out for, apart from the bride.
It turned out there were 2 wedding receptions on the go at the hotel, so I therefore kinda joined the wrong one. Really this wasn't my fault, because the staff were cataclysmically useless at showing me where to go. Plus, as I say, there was no-one I recognised who I could use to clue me in.
Anyway, after wandering about, I eventually found the right group and then people from work started turning up and I didn't feel like a lost soul.
I walked down to Farnham, and I'd not quite appreciated how far it was. I think I mentioned last week how I've been trying to at least do a bit of walking and I basically figured this would be a similar saunter.
Well, where my little walks have been around 30 minutes long in my proper walking shoes, this ended up being the best part of an hour in my work shoes. I had prepped by putting some plasters on the main areas I get blisters, but of course that means I've ended up with some sore bit (not really blisters) where I wasn't expecting to.
Thankfully a work colleague gave me a lift home, and that was a really good thing both from a foot ache and booze point of view. I got really rather drunk, I have to confess. I'm not sure how many I actually sunk, but my best guess is six plus a couple of glasses of champagne.
Now really that's not a lot, but it's a long time since I've had a proper drinking session. In fact I was so drunk at the end I' afraid if I had walked home I would have ended up in an accident or something. I could in theory have gotten a taxi, but I honestly don't know where there is a taxi rank in Farnham.
Anyway, the do itself turned out to be okay. I mean, I didn't really know anybody apart from work people, but they had a band on and they played lots of rock and roll standards, so at least it wasn't a night filled with Agado.
Friday, 9 April 2010
wedding bells
So, as mentioned yesterday, this weekend I will be attending the wedding of a work colleague.
To be frank, I'm not entirely looking forward to it.
Don't get me wrong, it's not one of those situations where I don't like the work colleague or anything like that. She's nice and we get on well, I think. The problem is more that that's the only connection - we work together. I don't know any of her friends of family, so it will be one of those situations of knowing nobody there.
No, that's not right - I'll obviously know the other people that are coming from work. Now again, I get on well with all the people at work, but I see them all day at work. Do I really want to be spending social time with them? And we're only a tiny company so we're not talking hundreds of people here - we're not even talking half a dozen, to be honest.
And, more importantly, do I want to be getting drunk around them? I've noticed alcohol tends to loosen my mouth and I'm bound to say something stupid or that otherwise marks me out as the weirdo I am, when I've been doing an okay job of keeping it hidden.
I'm sure I'm worrying needlessly - it'll be a case of a lovely meal and a bunch of speeches, and then I can just pop off when it gets a bit later and people are getting drunk and I'm getting tired. As I said yesterday, I only live a shortish walk way, so I can pretty much head home whenever.
To be frank, I'm not entirely looking forward to it.
Don't get me wrong, it's not one of those situations where I don't like the work colleague or anything like that. She's nice and we get on well, I think. The problem is more that that's the only connection - we work together. I don't know any of her friends of family, so it will be one of those situations of knowing nobody there.
No, that's not right - I'll obviously know the other people that are coming from work. Now again, I get on well with all the people at work, but I see them all day at work. Do I really want to be spending social time with them? And we're only a tiny company so we're not talking hundreds of people here - we're not even talking half a dozen, to be honest.
And, more importantly, do I want to be getting drunk around them? I've noticed alcohol tends to loosen my mouth and I'm bound to say something stupid or that otherwise marks me out as the weirdo I am, when I've been doing an okay job of keeping it hidden.
I'm sure I'm worrying needlessly - it'll be a case of a lovely meal and a bunch of speeches, and then I can just pop off when it gets a bit later and people are getting drunk and I'm getting tired. As I said yesterday, I only live a shortish walk way, so I can pretty much head home whenever.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
easter weekend
So, last weekend was Easter, which meant I had 5 whole days straight of not having to work, which naturally begs the question "What did I get up to?"
The answer is a rather disappointing "Not very much of interest."
As previously mentioned on the blog I'd been suffering from a stinking cold last week and I still wasn't feeling up to par by the beginning of the weekend. Friday I therefore mainly spent watching the last half of Ouran High School Host Club and some stuff I'd recorded. However, I did actually also go for a walk.
It was actually the first of two walks I did - the other being on the Monday. There were two reasons for me going for a walk. The main one is that this weekend I'm going to the wedding reception of one of my colleague's. It's being held in Farnham and, while I'm not sure I'll walk there (I may book a taxi), I'm thinking I'll walk back.
But the second reason is I'm a bit fed up of being as out of shape as I am. It's a bit of a weird thing to explain, because I've been having some thoughts that I'd like to be able to walk distances without getting really out of breath. Now I know the main problem here is actually that I'm morbidly obese, but in a way, that's not the bit that bothers me. It's the not being able to walk up stairs without sweating and breathing heavily for ten minutes I want to stop.
So I've basically decided I'm going to do that by going for some walks and hopefully that will improve my fitness a bit. The problem of course is that I may start butting up against the fact that really I need to also start eating a bit more sensibly as well and therefore as my weight would come down, so the real improvements in fitness would come.
Trouble is that's the real difficult bit for me.
Anyway, back to the point - I finished off Ouran, which turned out to be a really good series that I greatly enjoyed.
I also watched a lot of telly generally. As you might expect there were quite a few specials and stuff on over Easter, so I watched them as well as catching up on previously recorded telly. It was also the Malaysian Grand Prix and with the BBC's coverage being so extensive (they show all 3 practices, Qualifying and the race) that accounted for quite a lot of hours too.
I did no scanning whatsoever, though, which was a bit disappointing. I'd kinda hoped I would at least do a bit, but in the end I just didn't get around to it. What I did do was prepare a load more updates for trismugistus.com, which is always good. I'll start rolling them out from next week.
So you see it was all pretty dull. Part of the problem was everyone I know seemed to be off doing things, so I was just left to bimble around with no real plan or intent. I mean, I spent a lot of hours sorting through the scans I made myself or have downloaded and archiving those and fansubs to DVD and stuff like that. I tend to regard these as necessary activities, but they're so tedious (and time consuming) I only really do them when I've a big stretch of nothing much to do.
I did, however, get the time to do some more unusual entertainment stuff. First off I read Saturday Night Peter, the second volume of Peter Kay's autobiography. I didn't find it quite as funny as the first, which had me in stitches, but it was an interesting and entertaining read.
I also played Settlers 7.
Well, that is to say, I tried to play Settlers 7.
'm totally new to the Settlers series and I'm a bit torn if I'm honest. It's very similar to Anno, being a resource management/strategy type of game and in it's favour it's very slickly done. The campaign is engaging and interesting and teaches you how to do stuff. On the downside, I much prefer Anno's focus on the "sandbox" aspect and also, I slightly prefer its approach to resources. In settlers, some things get used up and are difficult to replace, whereas in Anno if you run out of something you can just pay to replenish it. This might sound like a cop-out, but of course you need to generate the cash to pay.
Anyway, my main issue isn't with the game itself, but with Ubisoft's horrible Digital Rights Management (DRM) implementation.
See, even though I've paid for the game and I've got a DVD in a box and everything, I still don't own the game. No, what I've bought is the right to rent the game off of Ubisoft.
See, it goes one step further than the really annoying online game registration. To play Settlers 7 you have to have a constant internet connection and you save games are basically stored remotely on Ubisoft's servers. And there's no offline mode.
Yes, that's right - if their servers are down (which it basically was all day Monday, when I was trying to play) or your internet connection flakes out (which mine often does), you can't play. Also, if you're in the middle of a game and your connection or the servers die then it pauses and won't let you play on.
I mean, I understand piracy is a major problem, but surely it's not in anyone's interests to punish the legitimate users?
The answer is a rather disappointing "Not very much of interest."
As previously mentioned on the blog I'd been suffering from a stinking cold last week and I still wasn't feeling up to par by the beginning of the weekend. Friday I therefore mainly spent watching the last half of Ouran High School Host Club and some stuff I'd recorded. However, I did actually also go for a walk.
It was actually the first of two walks I did - the other being on the Monday. There were two reasons for me going for a walk. The main one is that this weekend I'm going to the wedding reception of one of my colleague's. It's being held in Farnham and, while I'm not sure I'll walk there (I may book a taxi), I'm thinking I'll walk back.
But the second reason is I'm a bit fed up of being as out of shape as I am. It's a bit of a weird thing to explain, because I've been having some thoughts that I'd like to be able to walk distances without getting really out of breath. Now I know the main problem here is actually that I'm morbidly obese, but in a way, that's not the bit that bothers me. It's the not being able to walk up stairs without sweating and breathing heavily for ten minutes I want to stop.
So I've basically decided I'm going to do that by going for some walks and hopefully that will improve my fitness a bit. The problem of course is that I may start butting up against the fact that really I need to also start eating a bit more sensibly as well and therefore as my weight would come down, so the real improvements in fitness would come.
Trouble is that's the real difficult bit for me.
Anyway, back to the point - I finished off Ouran, which turned out to be a really good series that I greatly enjoyed.
I also watched a lot of telly generally. As you might expect there were quite a few specials and stuff on over Easter, so I watched them as well as catching up on previously recorded telly. It was also the Malaysian Grand Prix and with the BBC's coverage being so extensive (they show all 3 practices, Qualifying and the race) that accounted for quite a lot of hours too.
I did no scanning whatsoever, though, which was a bit disappointing. I'd kinda hoped I would at least do a bit, but in the end I just didn't get around to it. What I did do was prepare a load more updates for trismugistus.com, which is always good. I'll start rolling them out from next week.
So you see it was all pretty dull. Part of the problem was everyone I know seemed to be off doing things, so I was just left to bimble around with no real plan or intent. I mean, I spent a lot of hours sorting through the scans I made myself or have downloaded and archiving those and fansubs to DVD and stuff like that. I tend to regard these as necessary activities, but they're so tedious (and time consuming) I only really do them when I've a big stretch of nothing much to do.
I did, however, get the time to do some more unusual entertainment stuff. First off I read Saturday Night Peter, the second volume of Peter Kay's autobiography. I didn't find it quite as funny as the first, which had me in stitches, but it was an interesting and entertaining read.
I also played Settlers 7.
Well, that is to say, I tried to play Settlers 7.
'm totally new to the Settlers series and I'm a bit torn if I'm honest. It's very similar to Anno, being a resource management/strategy type of game and in it's favour it's very slickly done. The campaign is engaging and interesting and teaches you how to do stuff. On the downside, I much prefer Anno's focus on the "sandbox" aspect and also, I slightly prefer its approach to resources. In settlers, some things get used up and are difficult to replace, whereas in Anno if you run out of something you can just pay to replenish it. This might sound like a cop-out, but of course you need to generate the cash to pay.
Anyway, my main issue isn't with the game itself, but with Ubisoft's horrible Digital Rights Management (DRM) implementation.
See, even though I've paid for the game and I've got a DVD in a box and everything, I still don't own the game. No, what I've bought is the right to rent the game off of Ubisoft.
See, it goes one step further than the really annoying online game registration. To play Settlers 7 you have to have a constant internet connection and you save games are basically stored remotely on Ubisoft's servers. And there's no offline mode.
Yes, that's right - if their servers are down (which it basically was all day Monday, when I was trying to play) or your internet connection flakes out (which mine often does), you can't play. Also, if you're in the middle of a game and your connection or the servers die then it pauses and won't let you play on.
I mean, I understand piracy is a major problem, but surely it's not in anyone's interests to punish the legitimate users?
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
bleedin heck
Today is my first day back after Easter break and it's been non-stop.
We're putting together a banner for a show we're going to be at, and it's one of those things that takes way longer than you would sensibly expect. That's always the case with artwork like this, I find. You think 'oh, we can knock it out in an hour or two' but then it takes all day.
So yeah, just this crappy 'I'm too busy' update today.
We're putting together a banner for a show we're going to be at, and it's one of those things that takes way longer than you would sensibly expect. That's always the case with artwork like this, I find. You think 'oh, we can knock it out in an hour or two' but then it takes all day.
So yeah, just this crappy 'I'm too busy' update today.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
four day week
It's a four day week this week, because it's Easter this weekend.
It feels weird when Easter is so early. Especially this year when we're getting a somewhat delayed spring.
Anyway, I can't really be arsed to post mush today, so this is it.
Except to say that I'm also taking next Tuesday off, so next week will be a 3 day week for me as well!
And in a couple of weeks it's my birthday and I'm taking the week off. It's a veritable cavalcade of holiday!
It feels weird when Easter is so early. Especially this year when we're getting a somewhat delayed spring.
Anyway, I can't really be arsed to post mush today, so this is it.
Except to say that I'm also taking next Tuesday off, so next week will be a 3 day week for me as well!
And in a couple of weeks it's my birthday and I'm taking the week off. It's a veritable cavalcade of holiday!
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
animu catch-up pt2
Here's the continuation of the mini reviews from yesterday.
This is also useful for me as there was no DVD rental this weekend and I didn't watch any films at all, so I don't have a review for you. I'm pretty sure that due to the timings I'm not going to have a DVD rental over Easter either, which is actually a bit rubbish, as it's the ideal time to watch a film.
Omamori Himari
See, one of the problems with being me and writing these reviews is that my tastes are kinda broad.
How to explain that better?
Basically, what I mean is that while I really like the flagship shows, I also really like some of the trashier ones too. So, while I love things like Eva and BeBop and Eden of the East or the Ghibli output - things that really show off the power and the strength of anime, stuff I'd happily sit anyone down in front of or that I watch and go "oh yeah - that's why I love anime!" - I also love things like fan service strewn harem shows.
If you hadn't guessed, that's exactly what Omamori is. And I'd say it's a pretty good example of the breed, although given how extreme fan service has become in recent years (shows like Kanokon are borderline hentai), this is actually more 'innocent', if that's the right word. But it works.
Chu-Bra!!
Now here's a tough one. Especially given what I was saying above about harem shows.
See, this is a show about underwear.
More specifically, it's a show about young girls wearing underwear.
And there's a line there somewhere. See, one of the difficulties with anime is that pretty much all female characters that aren't 'grandma' types always look a lot younger than they actually are. It's part of the style - the simpler lines and flatter shading just tends to make them look younger.
So it's easy to watch something like Chu-Bra and think the girls are very young. They're not, they're age appropriate to be starting to become interested in more adult lingerie, but only just.
So that's fine as it goes, but the other issue is the intent. If this was a show aimed at girls of a similar age, possibly aimed at providing them with genuine advice about how to wear correctly fitting underwear, then you could kinda understand that.
But it isn't. This is clearly a show aimed at men. And you can easily tell that because of the lascivious camera shots and the way the show is framed.
And that's where the problem with me being honest about liking a "broad range of stuff" comes in, because I actually found I quite liked the show. See, the thing is that although it's clearly got ecchi things on its mind, it does also have the genuinely good advice in it too and, what makes it a good show, is that the characters and the story are quite well done.
Of course, I'm sure that won't stop all those who have a more prudish take on things decrying the show, and in a way they have a point. You could easily have done the exact same stuff without the fanservuce and it would have been just as good.
Hanamaru Kindergarten
Hmm. I have to admit I wasn't sure what to make of this.
Basically, it's a show about a guy who goes to work at a Kindergarten. As in a lot of countries, teaching is a profession dominated by women, especially teaching younger children, so this is an unusual job.
The basic idea of the series is somewhere along the lines of a slice of life comedy. It basically works, although I have to admit a bit of an issue with how it portrays Kindergarten. It's a rose-tinted view of the world, to say the least.
I think overall it basically won me over.
Kaito Reinya
This was another oddity. Stylistically, Kaito looked a lot like a kids show, but a lot of the gags and content is distinctly adult.
It didn't really work for me, I have to say - the stylistic thing really jarred for me. I don't think it help that they were very short episodes as well, as it never really felt like it got anywhere before the credits were rolling.
This is also useful for me as there was no DVD rental this weekend and I didn't watch any films at all, so I don't have a review for you. I'm pretty sure that due to the timings I'm not going to have a DVD rental over Easter either, which is actually a bit rubbish, as it's the ideal time to watch a film.
Omamori Himari
See, one of the problems with being me and writing these reviews is that my tastes are kinda broad.
How to explain that better?
Basically, what I mean is that while I really like the flagship shows, I also really like some of the trashier ones too. So, while I love things like Eva and BeBop and Eden of the East or the Ghibli output - things that really show off the power and the strength of anime, stuff I'd happily sit anyone down in front of or that I watch and go "oh yeah - that's why I love anime!" - I also love things like fan service strewn harem shows.
If you hadn't guessed, that's exactly what Omamori is. And I'd say it's a pretty good example of the breed, although given how extreme fan service has become in recent years (shows like Kanokon are borderline hentai), this is actually more 'innocent', if that's the right word. But it works.
Chu-Bra!!
Now here's a tough one. Especially given what I was saying above about harem shows.
See, this is a show about underwear.
More specifically, it's a show about young girls wearing underwear.
And there's a line there somewhere. See, one of the difficulties with anime is that pretty much all female characters that aren't 'grandma' types always look a lot younger than they actually are. It's part of the style - the simpler lines and flatter shading just tends to make them look younger.
So it's easy to watch something like Chu-Bra and think the girls are very young. They're not, they're age appropriate to be starting to become interested in more adult lingerie, but only just.
So that's fine as it goes, but the other issue is the intent. If this was a show aimed at girls of a similar age, possibly aimed at providing them with genuine advice about how to wear correctly fitting underwear, then you could kinda understand that.
But it isn't. This is clearly a show aimed at men. And you can easily tell that because of the lascivious camera shots and the way the show is framed.
And that's where the problem with me being honest about liking a "broad range of stuff" comes in, because I actually found I quite liked the show. See, the thing is that although it's clearly got ecchi things on its mind, it does also have the genuinely good advice in it too and, what makes it a good show, is that the characters and the story are quite well done.
Of course, I'm sure that won't stop all those who have a more prudish take on things decrying the show, and in a way they have a point. You could easily have done the exact same stuff without the fanservuce and it would have been just as good.
Hanamaru Kindergarten
Hmm. I have to admit I wasn't sure what to make of this.
Basically, it's a show about a guy who goes to work at a Kindergarten. As in a lot of countries, teaching is a profession dominated by women, especially teaching younger children, so this is an unusual job.
The basic idea of the series is somewhere along the lines of a slice of life comedy. It basically works, although I have to admit a bit of an issue with how it portrays Kindergarten. It's a rose-tinted view of the world, to say the least.
I think overall it basically won me over.
Kaito Reinya
This was another oddity. Stylistically, Kaito looked a lot like a kids show, but a lot of the gags and content is distinctly adult.
It didn't really work for me, I have to say - the stylistic thing really jarred for me. I don't think it help that they were very short episodes as well, as it never really felt like it got anywhere before the credits were rolling.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
animu catch-up pt1
So, as mentioned yesterday, I did quite a lot of scanning over the weekend and while I was ill, so I've sampled quite a lot of stuff via fansub, and that means mini-reviews!
So-Ra-No-Wo-To
Apparently, this show is a part of a drive by TV Tokyo to produce more original anime. A lot of anime have always been adapted from manga, but nowadays a lot of anime are also adapted from light novels and games. I guess the idea was therefore to move away from this sort of thing and do something a bit different.
Now to be totally truthful, So Ra doesn't quite hit total originality in the couple of episodes I sampled. The problem is that the characters are dangerously close to those moe stereotypes that everyone bemoans. It also doesn't help that it appears to have the same character designer who was used for K-ON, which is a really rather moe show.
However, I've heard the series gets surprisingly dark and engaging later on, although that wasn't much in evidence in what I watched. However, truth be told I don't have too many problems with moe and this was sufficiently engaging in its first couple of eps (and beautifully animated) that I enjoyed it anyway.
Yurumates
This is a slice of life job, and like many a slice of life it seems to follow the fortunes of students who are re-taking their university entrance exams. However, saying that, this has so little in it about studying and taking exams that it's not actually really about anything.
I dunno, this just felt too much like lots of other shows to really grab my attention. Also, like a lot of those shows, there's a hell of a lot of cultural stuff that isn't obvious and there were no "translation notes" to explain.
Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts
Baka is the first of two shows that Funimation have picked up from this season.
The premise of it is rather bizarre. Basically, the school our hero attends operates a system where you take an initial entrance exam and your grade on that test then defines what grade of classroom you get. So students getting A grades get the best facilities, whereas our hero, who's not clever, ends up in class F where they get rubbish facilities.
As if this wasn't odd enough, the students can then battle each other, using avatars whose strength is governed by their test scores, in order to try to switch classrooms with those above them.
As I say, it's really rather bizarre, but it also kinda works. I guess the best way to think about it is that it's only nominally set in school, and really it's an action/comedy series (with a hint of pokemon).
Dance in the Vampire Bund
This is the second show Funimation has picked up.
I wasn't expecting to like this. I've been suffering a bit of Vampire overload, and the title isn't some clever play or anything - the show is genuinely about Vampires. Also, the images I'd seen suggested the main vampire was a loli and loli does nothing for me at all.
However, watching the first couple of eps, I actually quite enjoyed them. I have to say, though, that (and I know this is quite the thing for me to say), the fan service seems both unnecessary and inappropriate. And that's not just the loli-centric stuff. There's one bit with a busty Vampire who basically stands up, and we get a shot of her boobs bouncing about with wild abandon.
Which is all fine and good, except it's during a really dramatic action moment, so it's distracting, and it's animated in a very unrealistic way, when the feel the show generally seems to be trying to give is more a realistic one.
Ookami-kakushi
I didn't really like this show, though.
I dunno - I think the problem was it was a bit ham-fisted. It's one of those mystery/occult/horror shows and it kinda laid things on thick. You could almost see great big question marks hanging in the air when something 'mysterious' happened.
Also, there's a bit where one of the girls latches onto the hero, and there's absolutely no explanation for this. They literally meet for the first time and she throws herself at him and proceeds to basically confess her undying love for him.
I mean, okay in a harem, but in a dark, mystery horror type job? It just comes across as weird.
And I think I'll cut it off there - more tomorrow!
So-Ra-No-Wo-To
Apparently, this show is a part of a drive by TV Tokyo to produce more original anime. A lot of anime have always been adapted from manga, but nowadays a lot of anime are also adapted from light novels and games. I guess the idea was therefore to move away from this sort of thing and do something a bit different.
Now to be totally truthful, So Ra doesn't quite hit total originality in the couple of episodes I sampled. The problem is that the characters are dangerously close to those moe stereotypes that everyone bemoans. It also doesn't help that it appears to have the same character designer who was used for K-ON, which is a really rather moe show.
However, I've heard the series gets surprisingly dark and engaging later on, although that wasn't much in evidence in what I watched. However, truth be told I don't have too many problems with moe and this was sufficiently engaging in its first couple of eps (and beautifully animated) that I enjoyed it anyway.
Yurumates
This is a slice of life job, and like many a slice of life it seems to follow the fortunes of students who are re-taking their university entrance exams. However, saying that, this has so little in it about studying and taking exams that it's not actually really about anything.
I dunno, this just felt too much like lots of other shows to really grab my attention. Also, like a lot of those shows, there's a hell of a lot of cultural stuff that isn't obvious and there were no "translation notes" to explain.
Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts
Baka is the first of two shows that Funimation have picked up from this season.
The premise of it is rather bizarre. Basically, the school our hero attends operates a system where you take an initial entrance exam and your grade on that test then defines what grade of classroom you get. So students getting A grades get the best facilities, whereas our hero, who's not clever, ends up in class F where they get rubbish facilities.
As if this wasn't odd enough, the students can then battle each other, using avatars whose strength is governed by their test scores, in order to try to switch classrooms with those above them.
As I say, it's really rather bizarre, but it also kinda works. I guess the best way to think about it is that it's only nominally set in school, and really it's an action/comedy series (with a hint of pokemon).
Dance in the Vampire Bund
This is the second show Funimation has picked up.
I wasn't expecting to like this. I've been suffering a bit of Vampire overload, and the title isn't some clever play or anything - the show is genuinely about Vampires. Also, the images I'd seen suggested the main vampire was a loli and loli does nothing for me at all.
However, watching the first couple of eps, I actually quite enjoyed them. I have to say, though, that (and I know this is quite the thing for me to say), the fan service seems both unnecessary and inappropriate. And that's not just the loli-centric stuff. There's one bit with a busty Vampire who basically stands up, and we get a shot of her boobs bouncing about with wild abandon.
Which is all fine and good, except it's during a really dramatic action moment, so it's distracting, and it's animated in a very unrealistic way, when the feel the show generally seems to be trying to give is more a realistic one.
Ookami-kakushi
I didn't really like this show, though.
I dunno - I think the problem was it was a bit ham-fisted. It's one of those mystery/occult/horror shows and it kinda laid things on thick. You could almost see great big question marks hanging in the air when something 'mysterious' happened.
Also, there's a bit where one of the girls latches onto the hero, and there's absolutely no explanation for this. They literally meet for the first time and she throws herself at him and proceeds to basically confess her undying love for him.
I mean, okay in a harem, but in a dark, mystery horror type job? It just comes across as weird.
And I think I'll cut it off there - more tomorrow!
Monday, 29 March 2010
diseased
So having caught man flu sometime the previous weekend, it got progressively worse as the week went on.
By Wednesday I was in quite a state, and so when I woke up on Thursday and things were even worse, I decided I wasn't going to come into work. And that's why the bloggage stopped.
And this was genuine not feeling well, not skiving off. I practically spent all of Thursday morning sleeping, only really 'getting up' at lunch time. Even then, the best I could manage was watching telly stuff I'd recorded on my PVR.
Friday was 'touch and go' - I could probably have braved it into work, but I was far from being well. It was probably on a par with Wednesday, where I was in, but I achieved very little and felt awful.
It was a slightly more productive day, in the sense that I did quite a lot of scanning and watched quite a lot of anime. I'll do some posts about the shows I watched later, but the main thing was the scanning. I've now managed to finish scanning all of the megami and nyan type magazines.
Well, until more turn up, but I was really quite pleased with this. I've also not totally gone off scanning, although I will admit I put my scanner away. However, Easter is looming large next weekend and it's fully my intention to do a load more scanning then too.
So although I'm not going to pretend I'm still a long way off, hopefully it won't take me as long to get caught up as I'd feared.
By Wednesday I was in quite a state, and so when I woke up on Thursday and things were even worse, I decided I wasn't going to come into work. And that's why the bloggage stopped.
And this was genuine not feeling well, not skiving off. I practically spent all of Thursday morning sleeping, only really 'getting up' at lunch time. Even then, the best I could manage was watching telly stuff I'd recorded on my PVR.
Friday was 'touch and go' - I could probably have braved it into work, but I was far from being well. It was probably on a par with Wednesday, where I was in, but I achieved very little and felt awful.
It was a slightly more productive day, in the sense that I did quite a lot of scanning and watched quite a lot of anime. I'll do some posts about the shows I watched later, but the main thing was the scanning. I've now managed to finish scanning all of the megami and nyan type magazines.
Well, until more turn up, but I was really quite pleased with this. I've also not totally gone off scanning, although I will admit I put my scanner away. However, Easter is looming large next weekend and it's fully my intention to do a load more scanning then too.
So although I'm not going to pretend I'm still a long way off, hopefully it won't take me as long to get caught up as I'd feared.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
the science of sleep
Sometimes you have to be in the right frame of mind to watch certain movies.
I'm not entirely sure I was in the right frame of mind to watch The Science of Sleep.
The film is French, I believe, although the main character, Stephane, was actually raised mostly in Mexico. This means that although he speaks some French, mostly he speaks in English. The film therefore has a fairly random mix of English and French with subtitles.
But this is the least of the randomness. Stephane it seems has quite an active dream life. I personally am one of those people who almost never remembers their dreams, but Stephane is almost the opposite - he seems to live partly in his dreams and sometimes has trouble telling them apart from real life.
Now this is a tricky thing to convey on film - especially for a lower budget film like this. A modern Hollywood film might achieve the effect with expensive CGI, but here they tend to use more old school stuff, so we get lots of stop motion and rear-projection and stuff like that.
Overall it actually works quite well. There are occasions when you can't quite tell whether it's meant to be the dream world or the real world, but those are clearly deliberate. When it wants you to know it's dream, it's fairly clear, and when it wants to blur the lines, that works well too.
What doesn't quite work so well is the plot.
The basic plot is a romance at heart, with Stephane chasing his neighbour, Stephanie (yeah, I know). However, Stephanie seems to be a bundle of contradictions. She clearly like Stephane and there are lots of moments of them enjoying each other's company and having fun.
But then when he expresses more interest in her, she withdraws and discourages him. At points this seems to be because she thinks he's actually trying to use her to get to her friend, but then later on this seems to be a rather rubbish reason. Most especially because at one point the film moves forward a month and yet there relationship seems to be still stuck on the same basic issue.
Also, there's a lot of stuff that happens that feels unresolved or random. Stephane's relationship with his mother is never fully explained. His job is also bizarre. It's a rubbish job, and he basically stops doing it, but then later an idea he had somehow becomes a big success. But after that success, he's back to avoiding the same job he was in.
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
But the thing is, I'm not sure if that was supposed to be the idea - I mean, is this the film of someone who's having some sort of breakdown? People around him never really seem to comment on the bizarre elements, and yet they're often involved in them too.
As I say - I think I might have liked this film more, but I wasn't quite in the right mood for it.
I'm not entirely sure I was in the right frame of mind to watch The Science of Sleep.
The film is French, I believe, although the main character, Stephane, was actually raised mostly in Mexico. This means that although he speaks some French, mostly he speaks in English. The film therefore has a fairly random mix of English and French with subtitles.
But this is the least of the randomness. Stephane it seems has quite an active dream life. I personally am one of those people who almost never remembers their dreams, but Stephane is almost the opposite - he seems to live partly in his dreams and sometimes has trouble telling them apart from real life.
Now this is a tricky thing to convey on film - especially for a lower budget film like this. A modern Hollywood film might achieve the effect with expensive CGI, but here they tend to use more old school stuff, so we get lots of stop motion and rear-projection and stuff like that.
Overall it actually works quite well. There are occasions when you can't quite tell whether it's meant to be the dream world or the real world, but those are clearly deliberate. When it wants you to know it's dream, it's fairly clear, and when it wants to blur the lines, that works well too.
What doesn't quite work so well is the plot.
The basic plot is a romance at heart, with Stephane chasing his neighbour, Stephanie (yeah, I know). However, Stephanie seems to be a bundle of contradictions. She clearly like Stephane and there are lots of moments of them enjoying each other's company and having fun.
But then when he expresses more interest in her, she withdraws and discourages him. At points this seems to be because she thinks he's actually trying to use her to get to her friend, but then later on this seems to be a rather rubbish reason. Most especially because at one point the film moves forward a month and yet there relationship seems to be still stuck on the same basic issue.
Also, there's a lot of stuff that happens that feels unresolved or random. Stephane's relationship with his mother is never fully explained. His job is also bizarre. It's a rubbish job, and he basically stops doing it, but then later an idea he had somehow becomes a big success. But after that success, he's back to avoiding the same job he was in.
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
But the thing is, I'm not sure if that was supposed to be the idea - I mean, is this the film of someone who's having some sort of breakdown? People around him never really seem to comment on the bizarre elements, and yet they're often involved in them too.
As I say - I think I might have liked this film more, but I wasn't quite in the right mood for it.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
breaking into 2010
By breaking into 2010 I'm referring to the scanning of anime mags. Specifically, over the weekend I scanned the January 2010 edition of megami.
I only scanned two mags total and I'm sure if I hadn't been feeling crappy I would have done more. Also I was slightly hampered because I went through the scans I've made and tried to name them.
When I scan there are always some images I can't easily identify at the time, so I then have to search through sites like AP and ANN to work out what they are. I've obviously been concentrating on doing scans, rather than naming them, so there were quite a few without names.
It's one of those jobs that takes ages because it's glacial - you sometimes have to open pages and pages to find the image you're looking for. Or you make a guess that proves to be inaccurate, but does lead you down the right path in the end.
So yeah, it can take hours and all you end up with is a dozen or files that have been renamed :/.
Anyway, the point is I watched some anime while I scanned so here are some mini reviews. There are quite a few, because I didn't watch many episodes. I was also a bit dismissive if I'm honest, probably because I wasn't feeling 100%.
Sora No Otoshimono
Essentially this is an "instant girlfriend" show, where the protagonist suddenly acquires a girlfriend, who usually also happens to be a magical girl or an alien or root or something like that. However, I'd say it was a good example of the genre.
Certainly, the first episode hinted at a lot of promise. In it, the protagonist goes power crazy, using and abusing the girl's power with suitably dramatic consequences. The second episode was less good as it kinda stretched itself a little thin, though if tightened up it would have worked a lit better.
So yeah, an overly familiar genre, but potentially quite a good example.
Sora no Manimani
I have to confess I found this to be okay, although I'm pretty sure it's a fairly standard romantic comedy anime. There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose, but it is a rather well-worn path. There's also a tendency in these sorts of shows to utilise a gimmick, rather than do anything particularly original, and in this case the gimmick seem to be astronomy.
Now to be fair that does score more points with me than most gimmicks, because it's an area of interest for me. So overall a watchable sort of show, but nothing new.
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
Although this is an adaptation of a manga, that manga was a spin-off from Toaru Majutsu no Index. I quite liked Index, so I was expecting to like this too, but I dunno, it didn't really do anything for me.
I think the problem was that were Index pretty much got into a plot straight away, whereas this felt more like a sort of slice of life job. A slice of an unusual life, maybe, but because I Was expecting plot, it was just kinda dull. Maybe it works better if you've seen all of Index (I've only sampled it) or it develops a proper plot later, or something,
Kaidan Restaurant
Although the 'kaidan' bit generally seems to be translated as "thriller", a better translation would be "ghost story" or "scary story".
Basically, this is a horror Portmanteaux series aimed at kids. In other words, it features the same characters, but each episode has 3 ghost stories (2 featuring the characters and 1 shorter one told by them as a ghost story).
I wouldn't say I found what I watched particularly scary as such, but other culture's ghost stories can often be quite interesting. And everyone loves a ghost story, although to be fair, this is aimed at kids.
Anyamal Tantei Kiruminzoo
Magical girls. Animals. I barely got ten minutes into this - any show that features an animal psychologist (who, incidentally, proceeds to put a cat next to a feeding bowl were several guinea pigs are feeding) isn't going to get very far with me.
Kobato
A CLAMP show. I've said before that CLAMP do little to nothing for me, and this didn't really do anything to reverse that opinion.
Weiß Survive
One of those two and a half minute webisode type shows. If I tell you Weiss is basically a company that makes card games, you can probably fill in the rest yourself.
I've also continued watching Ouran High School Host Club. I'm really enjoying it. This was actually a bit of a surprise, because I wasn't sure it would be my cup of tea.
And I've been reading Gantz at a breakneck speed. To be fair, this is partly because it has one of those structures where it kinda eats pages. It's a bit like Claymore - you happily read a volume and enjoy it, but then realise that actually, it's not progressed very far. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - I like both - but it does mean it works better reading it in big chunks of multiple volumes, rather than individual chapters or volumes.
I only scanned two mags total and I'm sure if I hadn't been feeling crappy I would have done more. Also I was slightly hampered because I went through the scans I've made and tried to name them.
When I scan there are always some images I can't easily identify at the time, so I then have to search through sites like AP and ANN to work out what they are. I've obviously been concentrating on doing scans, rather than naming them, so there were quite a few without names.
It's one of those jobs that takes ages because it's glacial - you sometimes have to open pages and pages to find the image you're looking for. Or you make a guess that proves to be inaccurate, but does lead you down the right path in the end.
So yeah, it can take hours and all you end up with is a dozen or files that have been renamed :/.
Anyway, the point is I watched some anime while I scanned so here are some mini reviews. There are quite a few, because I didn't watch many episodes. I was also a bit dismissive if I'm honest, probably because I wasn't feeling 100%.
Sora No Otoshimono
Essentially this is an "instant girlfriend" show, where the protagonist suddenly acquires a girlfriend, who usually also happens to be a magical girl or an alien or root or something like that. However, I'd say it was a good example of the genre.
Certainly, the first episode hinted at a lot of promise. In it, the protagonist goes power crazy, using and abusing the girl's power with suitably dramatic consequences. The second episode was less good as it kinda stretched itself a little thin, though if tightened up it would have worked a lit better.
So yeah, an overly familiar genre, but potentially quite a good example.
Sora no Manimani
I have to confess I found this to be okay, although I'm pretty sure it's a fairly standard romantic comedy anime. There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose, but it is a rather well-worn path. There's also a tendency in these sorts of shows to utilise a gimmick, rather than do anything particularly original, and in this case the gimmick seem to be astronomy.
Now to be fair that does score more points with me than most gimmicks, because it's an area of interest for me. So overall a watchable sort of show, but nothing new.
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
Although this is an adaptation of a manga, that manga was a spin-off from Toaru Majutsu no Index. I quite liked Index, so I was expecting to like this too, but I dunno, it didn't really do anything for me.
I think the problem was that were Index pretty much got into a plot straight away, whereas this felt more like a sort of slice of life job. A slice of an unusual life, maybe, but because I Was expecting plot, it was just kinda dull. Maybe it works better if you've seen all of Index (I've only sampled it) or it develops a proper plot later, or something,
Kaidan Restaurant
Although the 'kaidan' bit generally seems to be translated as "thriller", a better translation would be "ghost story" or "scary story".
Basically, this is a horror Portmanteaux series aimed at kids. In other words, it features the same characters, but each episode has 3 ghost stories (2 featuring the characters and 1 shorter one told by them as a ghost story).
I wouldn't say I found what I watched particularly scary as such, but other culture's ghost stories can often be quite interesting. And everyone loves a ghost story, although to be fair, this is aimed at kids.
Anyamal Tantei Kiruminzoo
Magical girls. Animals. I barely got ten minutes into this - any show that features an animal psychologist (who, incidentally, proceeds to put a cat next to a feeding bowl were several guinea pigs are feeding) isn't going to get very far with me.
Kobato
A CLAMP show. I've said before that CLAMP do little to nothing for me, and this didn't really do anything to reverse that opinion.
Weiß Survive
One of those two and a half minute webisode type shows. If I tell you Weiss is basically a company that makes card games, you can probably fill in the rest yourself.
I've also continued watching Ouran High School Host Club. I'm really enjoying it. This was actually a bit of a surprise, because I wasn't sure it would be my cup of tea.
And I've been reading Gantz at a breakneck speed. To be fair, this is partly because it has one of those structures where it kinda eats pages. It's a bit like Claymore - you happily read a volume and enjoy it, but then realise that actually, it's not progressed very far. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - I like both - but it does mean it works better reading it in big chunks of multiple volumes, rather than individual chapters or volumes.
Monday, 22 March 2010
man flu
A bit crappy weekend was a bit crappy.
On Saturday I woke up with a lot of discomfort in the roof of my mouth. I sometimes get the effect if I've been snoring particularly badly during the night, but this was slightly different. This was the prelude to disease.
Basically, I've got a bit of a cold. It kinda developed more during Sunday, with me getting a runny nose and sneezing and generally feeling tired and under the weather.
I was therefore fully expecting to get up this morning and be fully in the throws of a proper bout of manflu, except I'm not. There's actually been very little change from yesterday - my nose is a bit runny and the roof of my mouth hurts and while I feel a bit rubbish, it's not too bad.
I get these occasionally, where the cold never really gets going. I don't know why - it's like the cold is a wimpy strain or my body manages to fight it off before it really gets a foothold. Of course it could still get worse, but at the moment it's just a bit annoying.
It also made the weekend a vaguely unpleasant experience, but not enough so that I stayed in bed or anything.
On Saturday morning I went for a bit of a drive. My main intention was to see how the car was after its second new wheel and the results are good. I was a little afraid that the second bent wheel wouldn't be the only reason for the wobble, but signs were good.
It's great to be able to drive it down the A31 and not feel like it's shaking itself to pieces.
Sunday I went to the Opticians for my "these glasses are wrong" appointment and basically they've taken them and are going to replace the right lens.
The bit that I found bizarre was that from what the optician said, the lens they were going to put in the right eye was now basically identical to my old lens. I found this bizarre because at my first test the optician said that the test indicated that my eyes hadn't really changed and so they would put in the same lenses I had before.
So basically, I don't really understand what happened. It sound like, even though she said that, actually, they put in different lenses. So in other words, there would have been no problems if they'd just done what they said they would do :/.
I mean, I may have gotten the wrong end of the stick somewhere, but that's what it sounded like.
On Saturday I woke up with a lot of discomfort in the roof of my mouth. I sometimes get the effect if I've been snoring particularly badly during the night, but this was slightly different. This was the prelude to disease.
Basically, I've got a bit of a cold. It kinda developed more during Sunday, with me getting a runny nose and sneezing and generally feeling tired and under the weather.
I was therefore fully expecting to get up this morning and be fully in the throws of a proper bout of manflu, except I'm not. There's actually been very little change from yesterday - my nose is a bit runny and the roof of my mouth hurts and while I feel a bit rubbish, it's not too bad.
I get these occasionally, where the cold never really gets going. I don't know why - it's like the cold is a wimpy strain or my body manages to fight it off before it really gets a foothold. Of course it could still get worse, but at the moment it's just a bit annoying.
It also made the weekend a vaguely unpleasant experience, but not enough so that I stayed in bed or anything.
On Saturday morning I went for a bit of a drive. My main intention was to see how the car was after its second new wheel and the results are good. I was a little afraid that the second bent wheel wouldn't be the only reason for the wobble, but signs were good.
It's great to be able to drive it down the A31 and not feel like it's shaking itself to pieces.
Sunday I went to the Opticians for my "these glasses are wrong" appointment and basically they've taken them and are going to replace the right lens.
The bit that I found bizarre was that from what the optician said, the lens they were going to put in the right eye was now basically identical to my old lens. I found this bizarre because at my first test the optician said that the test indicated that my eyes hadn't really changed and so they would put in the same lenses I had before.
So basically, I don't really understand what happened. It sound like, even though she said that, actually, they put in different lenses. So in other words, there would have been no problems if they'd just done what they said they would do :/.
I mean, I may have gotten the wrong end of the stick somewhere, but that's what it sounded like.
Friday, 19 March 2010
manga snippets
I don't really know what to talk about today.
My car's in to do the new wheel today, so I'll be £200 lighter by the end of the day. Sigh...
It's actually depressed me a bit, cos it just seems to yet another thing that's gone not well. I mean, I could have hit the pothole and simply burst the tyre. Don't get me wrong - that would have been a pain the arse, and expensive, but it would have been a lot simpler and cheaper than what I've ended up with, which is having to buy two new wheels and all the inconvenience that's gone with it.
So I thought I'd just do some mini-reviews of some manga:
Gurren Lagann (manga version)
This is the manga version of an anime I love.
Overall I'd say it works - there's quite a lot of tweaks to the story, which is good, but it retains the core of the story. Also, the artwork is pretty good.
Dogs: Bullets & Carnage
I read the first volume, which was actually a collection of short stories, that's then been continued in this series, and that was really good. The ongoing series is less so, because where the short stories were quite imaginative and interesting, the ongoing series seems to have fallen back on a lot of clichés.
The artworks' nice (if a little confusing in the action sequences), though.
Bokurano
I used to really like a manga called Shadow Star/Narutaru. I say used to because my enjoyment of it was spoiled a little by the poor treatment it got from Dark Horse. Basically, it used to be published in a monthly manga comic called "Super Manga Blast" with then anthology volumes put out subsequently. Well, SMB died a death and I'd assumed that the manga it contained would still be released as volumes. But nope, that was it - no more releases, you don't get to read the rest of the mangas!
Bokurano is by the same guy and it's very much in the same style - a very dark undercurrent underneath what seems like normality. There's actually been an anime version that I sampled but has never been licensed.
Biomega
Biomega is by the guy who did Blame, which is one of my favourite mangas of all time.
Biomega's strength, and, to be honest, it's weakness is that's it's more of the same. Saying that, there is one big difference here - there's more of a tangible story, and if I'm honest I'm not sure if I like it or not yet. An aspect of Blame I really liked was that, although there was clearly a story there, it was kinda lost and in many ways didn't matter. Biomega's story is more familiar, being roughly a zombie apocalypse deal.
My car's in to do the new wheel today, so I'll be £200 lighter by the end of the day. Sigh...
It's actually depressed me a bit, cos it just seems to yet another thing that's gone not well. I mean, I could have hit the pothole and simply burst the tyre. Don't get me wrong - that would have been a pain the arse, and expensive, but it would have been a lot simpler and cheaper than what I've ended up with, which is having to buy two new wheels and all the inconvenience that's gone with it.
So I thought I'd just do some mini-reviews of some manga:
Gurren Lagann (manga version)
This is the manga version of an anime I love.
Overall I'd say it works - there's quite a lot of tweaks to the story, which is good, but it retains the core of the story. Also, the artwork is pretty good.
Dogs: Bullets & Carnage
I read the first volume, which was actually a collection of short stories, that's then been continued in this series, and that was really good. The ongoing series is less so, because where the short stories were quite imaginative and interesting, the ongoing series seems to have fallen back on a lot of clichés.
The artworks' nice (if a little confusing in the action sequences), though.
Bokurano
I used to really like a manga called Shadow Star/Narutaru. I say used to because my enjoyment of it was spoiled a little by the poor treatment it got from Dark Horse. Basically, it used to be published in a monthly manga comic called "Super Manga Blast" with then anthology volumes put out subsequently. Well, SMB died a death and I'd assumed that the manga it contained would still be released as volumes. But nope, that was it - no more releases, you don't get to read the rest of the mangas!
Bokurano is by the same guy and it's very much in the same style - a very dark undercurrent underneath what seems like normality. There's actually been an anime version that I sampled but has never been licensed.
Biomega
Biomega is by the guy who did Blame, which is one of my favourite mangas of all time.
Biomega's strength, and, to be honest, it's weakness is that's it's more of the same. Saying that, there is one big difference here - there's more of a tangible story, and if I'm honest I'm not sure if I like it or not yet. An aspect of Blame I really liked was that, although there was clearly a story there, it was kinda lost and in many ways didn't matter. Biomega's story is more familiar, being roughly a zombie apocalypse deal.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
ooh, in't it nice
This week has been veritably lovely weather.
I often tend to say about the British weather that it tends to come with exclamation points. By that I mean that when a new season rolls around the weather will change without much warning.
So up until last week we've I've been freezing my knackers off, but then suddenly this week it's been all gloriously spring sunshine and temperatures in the teens. So it wasn't any kind of gradual build up, but a sudden shift from one type of weather to another.
Of course, there's no guarantee that the weather won't flip and we'll get a sudden cold snap, but I think it's safe to say we're pretty much over the worst of the winter. And thank Jesus H Chrimble for that, to be frank.
I bit the bullet and renewed my insurance yesterday. As mentioned, I decided to protect my no claims, which cost about £41 to do, but as noted, given how my luck's been going, if I do need to make a claim I
I finished Dragonaut. The nosedive into total rubbish that I'd heard mentioned in reviews failed to materialise, although if I'm being totally honest, the end was a little bit of a mess.
The problem, though, seemed to bee very much one of ambition outstripping talent. I was actually struck by quite a few resemblances to Evangelion towards the end, but unlike that series, the writing just wasn't good enough to pull it off.
I think the main thing I'd say was it was a little heavy handed in putting across its message, and the dialogue was rather clunky as a result. Admittedly, I ended up pretty much sticking to the dub version as it was quite well done, so that may be a part of it, but still, glances at the subtitles suggested it wasn't all that different.
The other problem is they were left with a few plot holes you could easily drive truck through, but that's nothing new for anime, I'm afraid. Especially Gonzo anime.
I also finished the first volume of Gantz. I was unsure quite what to expect from Gantz. I'd heard it was rather violent and that was it. While it was pretty violent, that's not something that really concerns me, so overall I liked it and decided to order the remaining volumes.
One thing I would say is I'm not sure about the artwork. I don't think I'd classify it as 'bad' in the same way I would, say, DMC (which I think is meant to be like that, btw), but it's not the greatest. The characters don't always look consistent and some of the faces are off and stuff. It's nothing I can't live with, though.
And I also started Ouran High School Host Club last night. Too early to really give an opinion as I've literally watched 2 episode, but I enjoyed them, so it's looking good.
I often tend to say about the British weather that it tends to come with exclamation points. By that I mean that when a new season rolls around the weather will change without much warning.
So up until last week we've I've been freezing my knackers off, but then suddenly this week it's been all gloriously spring sunshine and temperatures in the teens. So it wasn't any kind of gradual build up, but a sudden shift from one type of weather to another.
Of course, there's no guarantee that the weather won't flip and we'll get a sudden cold snap, but I think it's safe to say we're pretty much over the worst of the winter. And thank Jesus H Chrimble for that, to be frank.
I bit the bullet and renewed my insurance yesterday. As mentioned, I decided to protect my no claims, which cost about £41 to do, but as noted, given how my luck's been going, if I do need to make a claim I
I finished Dragonaut. The nosedive into total rubbish that I'd heard mentioned in reviews failed to materialise, although if I'm being totally honest, the end was a little bit of a mess.
The problem, though, seemed to bee very much one of ambition outstripping talent. I was actually struck by quite a few resemblances to Evangelion towards the end, but unlike that series, the writing just wasn't good enough to pull it off.
I think the main thing I'd say was it was a little heavy handed in putting across its message, and the dialogue was rather clunky as a result. Admittedly, I ended up pretty much sticking to the dub version as it was quite well done, so that may be a part of it, but still, glances at the subtitles suggested it wasn't all that different.
The other problem is they were left with a few plot holes you could easily drive truck through, but that's nothing new for anime, I'm afraid. Especially Gonzo anime.
I also finished the first volume of Gantz. I was unsure quite what to expect from Gantz. I'd heard it was rather violent and that was it. While it was pretty violent, that's not something that really concerns me, so overall I liked it and decided to order the remaining volumes.
One thing I would say is I'm not sure about the artwork. I don't think I'd classify it as 'bad' in the same way I would, say, DMC (which I think is meant to be like that, btw), but it's not the greatest. The characters don't always look consistent and some of the faces are off and stuff. It's nothing I can't live with, though.
And I also started Ouran High School Host Club last night. Too early to really give an opinion as I've literally watched 2 episode, but I enjoyed them, so it's looking good.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
x men origins: wolverine
This weeks movie action was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which I believe has been almost universally panned by critics.
And if I'm honest, I can see why. One of the problems with adapting comics has got to be that comic book storylines can be rather convoluted at times. They can also be more than a little nerdy.
So there's always going to be a conflict - do you stick closely to the source material and please the fans? Or do you tweak, adapt and add so that non-comic nerds can get it too?
Of course the answer is to tread a fine line between the two - keep enough so that the fans are happy, but tweak enough so that non-fans get it too. The real key of course is telling a compelling story. Which is where this really falls down. The story just isn't that compelling.
Another problem they've got here is that this is a prequel to a successful trilogy of movies, so they have to end at a point where the existing films pick right up. But they have the added disadvantage that Wolverine's past actual forms one of the core parts of the existing trilogy's store. In other words, we know the jist of the film already.
It also doesn't help that what is one of the more interesting bits of Wolverine's origin - him being Weapon X - is actually skipped over pretty quickly in the film. He gets Weapon X-ified, but the whole bit of him being Weapon X is chopped out.
Also, for me personally the whole Wolvie/Sabretooth thing is actually not all that interesting, and that forms the main part of this story. So it's a bit like a horse with three legs before its really even got a chance to entertain us.
What then makes it a not very good film is that where it does have a chance to be purely entertaining, it kinda fails. I mean, given the scale of some of the stuff in the X-Men films, the action sequences here are distinctly lacklustre. I mean, it feels like they were working with a rather limited budget, shall we say? It also doesn't help that the thing about Wolvie is that he's a proper killer, and yet the stuff here is rather bloodless, presumably so they could get a good rating.
So it was kind of a let down, really.
For me personally as a comic-nerd there were also a few additional problems. I don't generally mind them buggering about with the comic characters too much, but I have to say what they did with Deadpool went a bit far - they somehow gave him loads of other people's powers, including, adamantium swords that grow out of his hands, a bit like Wolvie's claws.
Which brings up all sorts of issues - how the heck these long swords fit in his arms, for one thing, but also, does that mean he also has an adamantium skeleton? Wolvie had bone claws onto which the adamantium grafted, so how did they give Deadpool the swords?
And Deadpool also had all sorts of other powers too, but there doesn't seem to be a point in the film where they're removed, so does that mean Deadpool is some sort of super mutant? Which is to ignore the fact of how they managed to give him the powers in the first place - it seemed remarkably simple and begs the question why they aren't doing it to loads of mutant and to non-mutants.
Which is kinda the other thing - there seemed to be loads of plot holes, and not just with Deadpool. For example, there's a scene where Wolvie believes someone to be dead and it's later explained they're not. But this is Wolvie - he has super hearing and smell and stuff - there's no real reason he wouldn't detect the person was still alive.
And if I'm honest, I can see why. One of the problems with adapting comics has got to be that comic book storylines can be rather convoluted at times. They can also be more than a little nerdy.
So there's always going to be a conflict - do you stick closely to the source material and please the fans? Or do you tweak, adapt and add so that non-comic nerds can get it too?
Of course the answer is to tread a fine line between the two - keep enough so that the fans are happy, but tweak enough so that non-fans get it too. The real key of course is telling a compelling story. Which is where this really falls down. The story just isn't that compelling.
Another problem they've got here is that this is a prequel to a successful trilogy of movies, so they have to end at a point where the existing films pick right up. But they have the added disadvantage that Wolverine's past actual forms one of the core parts of the existing trilogy's store. In other words, we know the jist of the film already.
It also doesn't help that what is one of the more interesting bits of Wolverine's origin - him being Weapon X - is actually skipped over pretty quickly in the film. He gets Weapon X-ified, but the whole bit of him being Weapon X is chopped out.
Also, for me personally the whole Wolvie/Sabretooth thing is actually not all that interesting, and that forms the main part of this story. So it's a bit like a horse with three legs before its really even got a chance to entertain us.
What then makes it a not very good film is that where it does have a chance to be purely entertaining, it kinda fails. I mean, given the scale of some of the stuff in the X-Men films, the action sequences here are distinctly lacklustre. I mean, it feels like they were working with a rather limited budget, shall we say? It also doesn't help that the thing about Wolvie is that he's a proper killer, and yet the stuff here is rather bloodless, presumably so they could get a good rating.
So it was kind of a let down, really.
For me personally as a comic-nerd there were also a few additional problems. I don't generally mind them buggering about with the comic characters too much, but I have to say what they did with Deadpool went a bit far - they somehow gave him loads of other people's powers, including, adamantium swords that grow out of his hands, a bit like Wolvie's claws.
Which brings up all sorts of issues - how the heck these long swords fit in his arms, for one thing, but also, does that mean he also has an adamantium skeleton? Wolvie had bone claws onto which the adamantium grafted, so how did they give Deadpool the swords?
And Deadpool also had all sorts of other powers too, but there doesn't seem to be a point in the film where they're removed, so does that mean Deadpool is some sort of super mutant? Which is to ignore the fact of how they managed to give him the powers in the first place - it seemed remarkably simple and begs the question why they aren't doing it to loads of mutant and to non-mutants.
Which is kinda the other thing - there seemed to be loads of plot holes, and not just with Deadpool. For example, there's a scene where Wolvie believes someone to be dead and it's later explained they're not. But this is Wolvie - he has super hearing and smell and stuff - there's no real reason he wouldn't detect the person was still alive.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
even more scanning
This last weekend I did some more scanning.
I actually completely scanned two whole issues of megami, which I was fairly pleased with. Now the reality is that this isn't a rate that means I'm really catching up - the latest Newtype, Animedia and Animage turned up on Friday, giving a net increase of 1 magazine, but it does mean I've not given up, and that really id the most important thing.
From memory, I've 4 more issues of megami currently unscanned and it's my sincere hope that I'll be able to do some more of them this next weekend. I'm not going to promise myself or anything, because you never know what might happen, but the main point is that last weekend there were additional distractions.
For example, it was one of my cleaning weekends and of course I had to pick up my glasses and buy some petrol, but mainly it was the Bahrain Grand Prix. Any Grand Prix weekend adds a minimum of 3 hours to my viewing schedule - the race is normal about 1.5 hours and qualifying about 1, but spread over about 1.5 hours. Normally, however I also like to watch a good chunk of the punditry, although not all of it.
Anyway, the point is, next weekend is free of most of those types of things, so in theory I should be able to at least get a couple more megamis done like last weekend. Who knows I may even do more, but again, no promises.
Anyway, while I scanned I did watch a bit more anime, although I also had the F1 punditry on for a good chunk of it. I've therefore not watched as much as I might have done, but here's the mini reviews:
Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana)
I really liked what I watched of this, although it's a bit odd that it appears to be another Yuri (lesbian) themed show. I guess Yuri must be the flavour of the month or something, because there have been a lot of shows featuring it recently.
The take here is quite a gentle one, and it works very well. It's also basically a slice of life show set in high school, so I guess it doesn't win any marks for originality, but it seems well executed and intelligent, so you can't really ask for more.
GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class
I enjoyed this, overall, but it felt a bit like I'd seen it before. I don't actually know, as I've never read the manga, but it had a strong feeling of being an adaptation of a four-panel comic. By that, I mean that the episode was almost divided up into a series of vignettes.
I was also unsure what the target audience was - the art design bit in the title isn't just a framing thing, it kinda teaches you about art techniques and stuff. I was therefore puzzled if that meant it was mean to be aimed at a younger audience, or if that was just the style the manga-ka liked.
I can't say it didn't work, but also it felt too similar to the likes of Sunshine Sketch and Azumanga Daioh, but it looses out to them a bit for me because there wasn't really much in the way of character development.
I also watched a bit more of Dragonaut (6 whole eps at the weekend and then 4 more last night in fact) and I continue to find it reasonably entertaining. Unless it takes a real nosedive towards the end I'm really not sure why so many reviews have crapped all over it. I mean, it's not the greatest thing ever and there are a few clunking episodes (one I dubbed "the power of love" was particularly heavy-handed in terms of spelling out 'the message', but then hey - at least there is a message) but it doesn't seem to match up with the pannings its gotten.
On the manga front I've mainly been catching up with my re-reading. I've discussed it before I'm sure, but I like to read stuff twice, but I also like to read things in chunks. What that means is that I don't immediately re-read a volume, but instead wait until I've a small stack of the same series to re-read and then I tackle them all together.
It means that while I might not get to update my MAL with stuff, I am still consistently plugging away at reading manga.
The only new manga I have read is the first volume of the adaptation of Gurren Lagann and a little bit of the first volume of Gantz. It's too early to really be sure if I like them, but the signs are pretty good.
I actually completely scanned two whole issues of megami, which I was fairly pleased with. Now the reality is that this isn't a rate that means I'm really catching up - the latest Newtype, Animedia and Animage turned up on Friday, giving a net increase of 1 magazine, but it does mean I've not given up, and that really id the most important thing.
From memory, I've 4 more issues of megami currently unscanned and it's my sincere hope that I'll be able to do some more of them this next weekend. I'm not going to promise myself or anything, because you never know what might happen, but the main point is that last weekend there were additional distractions.
For example, it was one of my cleaning weekends and of course I had to pick up my glasses and buy some petrol, but mainly it was the Bahrain Grand Prix. Any Grand Prix weekend adds a minimum of 3 hours to my viewing schedule - the race is normal about 1.5 hours and qualifying about 1, but spread over about 1.5 hours. Normally, however I also like to watch a good chunk of the punditry, although not all of it.
Anyway, the point is, next weekend is free of most of those types of things, so in theory I should be able to at least get a couple more megamis done like last weekend. Who knows I may even do more, but again, no promises.
Anyway, while I scanned I did watch a bit more anime, although I also had the F1 punditry on for a good chunk of it. I've therefore not watched as much as I might have done, but here's the mini reviews:
Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana)
I really liked what I watched of this, although it's a bit odd that it appears to be another Yuri (lesbian) themed show. I guess Yuri must be the flavour of the month or something, because there have been a lot of shows featuring it recently.
The take here is quite a gentle one, and it works very well. It's also basically a slice of life show set in high school, so I guess it doesn't win any marks for originality, but it seems well executed and intelligent, so you can't really ask for more.
GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class
I enjoyed this, overall, but it felt a bit like I'd seen it before. I don't actually know, as I've never read the manga, but it had a strong feeling of being an adaptation of a four-panel comic. By that, I mean that the episode was almost divided up into a series of vignettes.
I was also unsure what the target audience was - the art design bit in the title isn't just a framing thing, it kinda teaches you about art techniques and stuff. I was therefore puzzled if that meant it was mean to be aimed at a younger audience, or if that was just the style the manga-ka liked.
I can't say it didn't work, but also it felt too similar to the likes of Sunshine Sketch and Azumanga Daioh, but it looses out to them a bit for me because there wasn't really much in the way of character development.
I also watched a bit more of Dragonaut (6 whole eps at the weekend and then 4 more last night in fact) and I continue to find it reasonably entertaining. Unless it takes a real nosedive towards the end I'm really not sure why so many reviews have crapped all over it. I mean, it's not the greatest thing ever and there are a few clunking episodes (one I dubbed "the power of love" was particularly heavy-handed in terms of spelling out 'the message', but then hey - at least there is a message) but it doesn't seem to match up with the pannings its gotten.
On the manga front I've mainly been catching up with my re-reading. I've discussed it before I'm sure, but I like to read stuff twice, but I also like to read things in chunks. What that means is that I don't immediately re-read a volume, but instead wait until I've a small stack of the same series to re-read and then I tackle them all together.
It means that while I might not get to update my MAL with stuff, I am still consistently plugging away at reading manga.
The only new manga I have read is the first volume of the adaptation of Gurren Lagann and a little bit of the first volume of Gantz. It's too early to really be sure if I like them, but the signs are pretty good.
Monday, 15 March 2010
ouch!
Well, the weekend was horribly expensive, as expected.
And not quite in all the ways I was expecting.
For example, the MOT and Service cost me more than expected, because they'd replaced my wipers. Now really they're mean to phone me if they want to do stuff like that, but they didn't, and it meant the total charge was around £65 (wipers are one of those things that cost way more than you'd think).
But also I got some horrible news. You remember the pothole I hit and that has been the bane of my existence (and bank account) for months? Well it turns out the wheel wobble I was getting was because the back wheel was also dented.
That means that hitting one pot hole has damaged 2 of my alloy wheels, which cost £185 each, and a tyre, which costs about £120. With labour, that's more than £500 for hitting 1 pothole.
It also means I've got to go back next Friday and get the wheel replaced (and the tyre changed over and rebalanced and that).
I also did the Nissan Roadside assistance, which was actually cheaper than I was expecting at £65 for the year and paid my Road Tax, which was £150; however after the depressing news at even more expense I didn't do my insurance as well. I'm thinking about protecting my no-claims, which costs about £50, but will also mean if I have an accident (and the way my luck's been going it seems likely) it'll save me money in the long term.
And speaking of my luck, I picked up my glasses on Saturday. And I've come to the conclusion that the right lens isn't the correct prescription. At distance and when reading subtitles on a DVD it's definitely slightly blurry. It's not enough to mean I can't see, but it's not right.
Which means I'll have the hassle of getting it fixed. I mean, why can't I just have something that goes really well and is better than expected?
If I believed in such things as karma, it means I must have been very naughty in a previous life.
And not quite in all the ways I was expecting.
For example, the MOT and Service cost me more than expected, because they'd replaced my wipers. Now really they're mean to phone me if they want to do stuff like that, but they didn't, and it meant the total charge was around £65 (wipers are one of those things that cost way more than you'd think).
But also I got some horrible news. You remember the pothole I hit and that has been the bane of my existence (and bank account) for months? Well it turns out the wheel wobble I was getting was because the back wheel was also dented.
That means that hitting one pot hole has damaged 2 of my alloy wheels, which cost £185 each, and a tyre, which costs about £120. With labour, that's more than £500 for hitting 1 pothole.
It also means I've got to go back next Friday and get the wheel replaced (and the tyre changed over and rebalanced and that).
I also did the Nissan Roadside assistance, which was actually cheaper than I was expecting at £65 for the year and paid my Road Tax, which was £150; however after the depressing news at even more expense I didn't do my insurance as well. I'm thinking about protecting my no-claims, which costs about £50, but will also mean if I have an accident (and the way my luck's been going it seems likely) it'll save me money in the long term.
And speaking of my luck, I picked up my glasses on Saturday. And I've come to the conclusion that the right lens isn't the correct prescription. At distance and when reading subtitles on a DVD it's definitely slightly blurry. It's not enough to mean I can't see, but it's not right.
Which means I'll have the hassle of getting it fixed. I mean, why can't I just have something that goes really well and is better than expected?
If I believed in such things as karma, it means I must have been very naughty in a previous life.
Friday, 12 March 2010
hole in my bucket, dear liza
Today marks the start of a very expensive period, all of which relates to my car.
I got the new car in April 3 years ago and so this year my free service comes to an end. I mean, I get this one free, but from now on it's going to cost me money. And it's going to cost me money anyway today, because as well as being in for its service, its first MOT is due. Not sure how much that is since I've not had one in a long time, but it's got to be about £35.
I'm not anticipating any particular problems, though I suspect I made need some new brake pads, which I'm guessing will be fairly expensive. Also, there's the wheel wobble which I'm hoping doesn't point to anything more than a wheel weight being in the wrong place.
Anyway, the other stuff is that I also need to get my car tax. I can do that online, but it's still another £150 or so.
Then of course there's the Nissan roadside assistance (the RAC, basically) and given the problems I had with the wheel not so long ago, I don't fancy giving that up. I've still to look at the details, but I think it's about £100 for the equivalent level to what I've got now.
And finally of course, there's my insurance, which is due. Now that I'm in my thirties and I've got a long period of no claims, that's not actually bad value, but it's still the best part of £350 for a year, which all adds up.
So yeah - at minimum, this weekend is going to cost me about £650. Money will be veritably pissing out of the bucket that is my bank account.
I got the new car in April 3 years ago and so this year my free service comes to an end. I mean, I get this one free, but from now on it's going to cost me money. And it's going to cost me money anyway today, because as well as being in for its service, its first MOT is due. Not sure how much that is since I've not had one in a long time, but it's got to be about £35.
I'm not anticipating any particular problems, though I suspect I made need some new brake pads, which I'm guessing will be fairly expensive. Also, there's the wheel wobble which I'm hoping doesn't point to anything more than a wheel weight being in the wrong place.
Anyway, the other stuff is that I also need to get my car tax. I can do that online, but it's still another £150 or so.
Then of course there's the Nissan roadside assistance (the RAC, basically) and given the problems I had with the wheel not so long ago, I don't fancy giving that up. I've still to look at the details, but I think it's about £100 for the equivalent level to what I've got now.
And finally of course, there's my insurance, which is due. Now that I'm in my thirties and I've got a long period of no claims, that's not actually bad value, but it's still the best part of £350 for a year, which all adds up.
So yeah - at minimum, this weekend is going to cost me about £650. Money will be veritably pissing out of the bucket that is my bank account.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
venice or bust
I think I'm not hugely impressed with the Anno 1404: Venice expansion.
The problem is that the main thing it's added is the espionage element. Whilst this kinda sounds like fun, in actuality it's a little tedious.
I mean, one of the things is that, even though you're doing espionage, which is meant to be secret, in reality it's more like sabotage. Plus it's not secret. If you do anything, then your victim knows it was you - how is that espionage?
Plus it focuses on adding another of the more tedious elements into city management. Basically, there are a couple of things in the game that I always found a bit boring and tedious. These are kinda 'passive' elements, in that you build the building and then essentially they do their job independent of you.
Of course, they take up space and add cost to your city, which makes them annoying and that's why I always used to turn them off. The things in question are the carpenter, who repairs building and the fire station, that puts out fires.
I mean there are a few other similar things - the game can have storms and sandstorms too - but again, those are pretty tedious, so I used to turn them off too.
Well, the espionage introduces another building like that. The acts of sabotage you can do also mean that you need the other buildings I turn off, because you can start fires and stuff.
Plus, whenever there's an enemy spy in your city you have to do a mission to find them before they cause any problems. Well, those missions were always the most tedious as well - the 'find the person' missions.
So I'm roundly unimpressed.
There are some good aspects - there have been some good game mechanic tweaks (which I suspect are actually mostly in the v1.2 patch - not sure if that's available without the game), for example, and having the new Venetian NPC is quite good. Plus volcanoes are interesting.
They've also done lots of scenarios, which can be fun, but there's no new story element. I would have liked the game much more if there's been a new story-based campaign, I think, as I really liked that part of the original game.
So yeah - mixed bag.
And what doesn't help is that I got so far with my previous open-ended game and the thought of starting a new one, especially now I'm back watching anime and just starting scanning again, actually feels like something I don't want to do.
The problem is that the main thing it's added is the espionage element. Whilst this kinda sounds like fun, in actuality it's a little tedious.
I mean, one of the things is that, even though you're doing espionage, which is meant to be secret, in reality it's more like sabotage. Plus it's not secret. If you do anything, then your victim knows it was you - how is that espionage?
Plus it focuses on adding another of the more tedious elements into city management. Basically, there are a couple of things in the game that I always found a bit boring and tedious. These are kinda 'passive' elements, in that you build the building and then essentially they do their job independent of you.
Of course, they take up space and add cost to your city, which makes them annoying and that's why I always used to turn them off. The things in question are the carpenter, who repairs building and the fire station, that puts out fires.
I mean there are a few other similar things - the game can have storms and sandstorms too - but again, those are pretty tedious, so I used to turn them off too.
Well, the espionage introduces another building like that. The acts of sabotage you can do also mean that you need the other buildings I turn off, because you can start fires and stuff.
Plus, whenever there's an enemy spy in your city you have to do a mission to find them before they cause any problems. Well, those missions were always the most tedious as well - the 'find the person' missions.
So I'm roundly unimpressed.
There are some good aspects - there have been some good game mechanic tweaks (which I suspect are actually mostly in the v1.2 patch - not sure if that's available without the game), for example, and having the new Venetian NPC is quite good. Plus volcanoes are interesting.
They've also done lots of scenarios, which can be fun, but there's no new story element. I would have liked the game much more if there's been a new story-based campaign, I think, as I really liked that part of the original game.
So yeah - mixed bag.
And what doesn't help is that I got so far with my previous open-ended game and the thought of starting a new one, especially now I'm back watching anime and just starting scanning again, actually feels like something I don't want to do.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
zack and miri make a porno
Most of Kevin Smith's films - especially his first few - were set in the "View Askewniverse". What this meant was that they were all set in the same world, so although the main character of each film might change, the characters from other films would be kicking about somewhere.
Some may appear as secondary characters or as cameos, or not at all, but the idea was they'd all be kicking about somewhere. The films were all pretty much also set in Smith's native New Jersey, although they'd occasionally venture elsewhere too.
But the key point was that the films all shared the same sense of humour and the same overly-verbose style of writing that Smith built his career on.
But more recently, Smith has tried branching out. For example, there was Jersey Girl, which was definitely not a VA film and also marked a very different style, notably with the huge monologing dialogue pretty much gone. By all accounts it tanked.
And that's been kinda a theme: when Smith has done a VA movie - a 'proper' Smith movie - they've done good business, but when he steps outside, there's been a tendency for a more mixed reaction. Sometimes you can see why, but others it's not so clean cut - I quite enjoyed Jersey Girl, for example.
Anyway, the point is that Zack and Miri isn't a VA film, but it might as well be. There's a lot in common here with the VA stuff - the humour is the same, the monologing is very much in attendance and even the theme of the movie is very VA. But it doesn't feature any of the VA characters and isn't set in Jersey, etc, etc.
It does feature some of the actors who have been in VA films, though they don't play their VA characters... except they're not 100% different.
See what I mean - it's technically not a VA film, but it doesn't really represent a huge departure, ether. It's like Smith wanted to make a movie similar to the other VA stuff but by tweaking some things he thought he could sneak it past people and hence break out. Only he change enough stuff, so it's a half-way house film.
I know I've wibbled on a bit about the same basic point for ages, but it kinda sums up my feeling on the film - because it's not a VA film, it kinda feels wrong, somehow. Because it's meant more as a regular comedy, the insertion of the usual Smith stuff also feels odd.
Which isn't to say there's not plenty to laugh at and that the story basically hangs together, it just disconcerted me a bit. I enjoyed it, but it confused me.
There was one element that didn't really work for me, though. The making of the porno stuff felt like a kind of rose-tinted view of it. I mean, they didn't really have any particular problems making the thing. Well, there was one big setback, but for example, there were no performance problems for the porn stars, even though most of them weren't actual porn stars.
Plus the porno that they were making looked like it would actually have been really bad, but then I think that was kinda the point.
I was also a little disappointed with the package - there were no extras at all. I mean, I appreciate it's probably a rental version, but it would have been nice to have something by way of extras.
Some may appear as secondary characters or as cameos, or not at all, but the idea was they'd all be kicking about somewhere. The films were all pretty much also set in Smith's native New Jersey, although they'd occasionally venture elsewhere too.
But the key point was that the films all shared the same sense of humour and the same overly-verbose style of writing that Smith built his career on.
But more recently, Smith has tried branching out. For example, there was Jersey Girl, which was definitely not a VA film and also marked a very different style, notably with the huge monologing dialogue pretty much gone. By all accounts it tanked.
And that's been kinda a theme: when Smith has done a VA movie - a 'proper' Smith movie - they've done good business, but when he steps outside, there's been a tendency for a more mixed reaction. Sometimes you can see why, but others it's not so clean cut - I quite enjoyed Jersey Girl, for example.
Anyway, the point is that Zack and Miri isn't a VA film, but it might as well be. There's a lot in common here with the VA stuff - the humour is the same, the monologing is very much in attendance and even the theme of the movie is very VA. But it doesn't feature any of the VA characters and isn't set in Jersey, etc, etc.
It does feature some of the actors who have been in VA films, though they don't play their VA characters... except they're not 100% different.
See what I mean - it's technically not a VA film, but it doesn't really represent a huge departure, ether. It's like Smith wanted to make a movie similar to the other VA stuff but by tweaking some things he thought he could sneak it past people and hence break out. Only he change enough stuff, so it's a half-way house film.
I know I've wibbled on a bit about the same basic point for ages, but it kinda sums up my feeling on the film - because it's not a VA film, it kinda feels wrong, somehow. Because it's meant more as a regular comedy, the insertion of the usual Smith stuff also feels odd.
Which isn't to say there's not plenty to laugh at and that the story basically hangs together, it just disconcerted me a bit. I enjoyed it, but it confused me.
There was one element that didn't really work for me, though. The making of the porno stuff felt like a kind of rose-tinted view of it. I mean, they didn't really have any particular problems making the thing. Well, there was one big setback, but for example, there were no performance problems for the porn stars, even though most of them weren't actual porn stars.
Plus the porno that they were making looked like it would actually have been really bad, but then I think that was kinda the point.
I was also a little disappointed with the package - there were no extras at all. I mean, I appreciate it's probably a rental version, but it would have been nice to have something by way of extras.
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