5 Jan 08 - Review and Contemplations on Making It All Work

It's funny what disappoints people.

Years ago, David Allen created a productivity system called Getting Things Done, which I've talked about quite a lot here on the blog. He recently published a new book, Making It All Work, and the GTD community has gotten excited about what new gems of wisdom it might contain.

There's nothing new. His original Getting Things Done book is still the foundation, and explains his recommended systems and methods. Making It All Work explains the psychology behind GTD, what he discovered about human nature and his design of the system to flow with the ways human beings actually behave.

And people are disappointed. They want revelations, deep wisdom, fireworks, and drama. I suspect some of them secretly want new systems and formulae. Nope.

Instead, we get an erudite exhortation. Allen's eminently practical, and Making It All Work shows why humans need a system like GTD. In a way, it's a proof for GTD, as well as encouragement to implement some kind of lightweight, air-tight system to track your work.

And people are disappointed, because the system has no drama, no big changes. It just works.

Which is why I love it, and why Making It All Work was such a valuable read for me last week. I now deeply understand the importance and consequences of an air-tight system. I appreciate how much better life is in general when all one's work is written down, outside of one's mind, freeing the mind to concentrate on bigger questions.

Doesn't that sound good?

Posted in Reviews

1 Jan 08 - The Abominable Charles Christopher

There are so many good webcomics. And so many good artists.

The Abominable Charles Christopher updates only once a week, and it's a four-panel strip, so not much happens. It's slow. And it's beautiful and emotionally involving.

It's drawn by an artist who works at LucasArts, so its beauty should not be surprising. But the strip has a poetic, deliberate feel to it that I rarely see in Western-style stories. It has the kind of steady hand on the tiller of story that I associate with, say, Jeff Smith's Bone.

Posted in Reviews

12 Dec 08 - Legends of Literature -- A Review

Every so often, a book comes along that not only follows a great premise, it fulfills that premise completely.

Legends of Literature is a collection of essays written by contributors to Writer's Digest. Famous contributors, like Stephen King, H.G. Wells, Jack Kerouac, and Ray Bradbury. There are good interviews with Kurt Vonnegut, Carl Sandburg, and George Bernard Shaw.

Much of it is writing advice, yes, but it's also a window into the minds of these great writers. We get to see their approaches to fiction, and their opinions on the writing business. Bradbury, for example, is breezy but pragmatic about the need to just sit down in front of the page and write, good or bad.

It's certainly an excellent book for writers, but it's also worth a look for bibliophiles who just want to know how writers think.

Posted in Reviews

14 Nov 08 - Does An American Tail Still Hold Up?

It's Friday, review day, and I'm going to talk about a very special movie for me. A formative movie.

I watched An American Tail when it was first released in theaters in 1986. I was ten years old. I was enthralled, and still remember the visceral thrill of several sequences: the storm on the ship, the singing of "Somewhere Out There," and the dockside cat chasing scene.

You probably all know I'm an anime fan. Well, that's part of my larger interest in animation itself. I watched with fascination several discs of weird Russian animated films and shorts, and have watched animated shorts from all over the world. Animation just fascinates me.

And I think I can track it all back to An American Tail.

I re-watched it recently. That's always quite an experience, returning to a childhood favorite with the cold reasoning of an adult.

The story falls apart. There's very little connective tissue to link one scene to another; the entire movie almost feels like an excuse to put half a dozen intense sequences on screen.

But those sequences are intense, and I'd put three of them on par with anything Disney or Miyazaki's ever done: the storm at sea, in which Fievel confronts a storm sweeping across the deck of the ship; the dockside cat chase, with its desperate scrambling to fire off a huge mechanical contraption; and the final search for Fievel, an amazingly quiet scene of an emotionally demolished boy.

The first two scenes are frenetic and powerful, with bold but careful uses of color and movement. Neither scene ever confused me; instead, they presented a lot of action, going in what seemed like ten directions at once.

And it sold me on its protagonist. Fievel wasn't just a boy in danger; it was a boy lost in a wondrous but confusing place. The genius of the premise lay in the fact that he wasn't attacked by cats at every turn (any more than the entire mice population). He was just...orphaned.

And I loved its representation of turn-of-the-20th-century New York (and America in general): amazing, ruthless, hectic, and truly a land of opportunity. Flawed, certainly; there are sweatshops, discrimination, and a classically crooked politician (not evil, just completely crooked).

But it quickly becomes home for the characters. Despite all its flaws, despite the tragedy of the story, America still represents great potential.

And it's saying a lot that I believe this despite the flaws in the story. The movie can be difficult to follow at times, but it gets across deeper things. Which is more than most works of art can say.

I'm certainly glad I re-watched it. It's usually worthwhile to track down those old gems of childhood, if just to re-experience them.

Posted in Reviews

7 Nov 08 - Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Director's Edition

When I first watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture, my parents warned me that it was long.

Now, I grew up on the original Star Trek series. I loved it. I was willing to put up with a lot. But boy was that movie long.

I recently got the chance to watch the newly remastered and re-edited version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The original director partnered with a special effects company to restore some of the effects that were rushed out at the time.

Now, many of these restorations/special editions are attempts to improve the effects; make it look like what the director always wanted. In this case, the director and the SFX company were both very clear on one point: that all the effects had to look like they had been produced in 1979. They should look like excellent 1979 effects, but nothing modern.

They also edited down some of the longer shots. Thankfully.

And the result is a very, very strong film. While watching it, I couldn't even tell what had been changed (and I have a good eye for special effects). Even the long shots of V'ger, the alien craft, were now majestic, but I couldn't tell what had been cut out.

The plot has always been an interesting one; Kirk struggling with command again after a long absence, the crew settling into its old habits, perplexed discussions about the incomprehensibly vast V'ger, and the steady drip of discoveries about it. It's like one of the better original Trek episodes. Nothing mind-bending, but definitely an entertaining and edifying use of your time.

Kudos to everyone involved!

Posted in Reviews

31 Oct 08 - Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 5: The Old, Dark House

I've saved the best for last.

I stumbled on this film on an internet search for classic horror movies. It was made in 1932, directed by James Whale (Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Show Boat, The Man in the Iron Mask), and produced by the great Carl Laemmle, Jr. (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, All Quiet on the Western Front), and stars a first-rate group of actors. It doesn't matter who they are; they all play their roles perfectly.

It starts with the hoariest of scary movie cliches: a couple folks are out driving in a terrible storm, and take refuge in an Old, Dark House. At least they aren't horny teenagers, I suppose.

The house's tenants hide dark secrets, of course, which are slowly revealed over the course of the night. It feels like a stage play, at times, and I mean that as a compliment; I felt the stage's intensity as characters faced off.

One relationship shifts dramatically in the course of the night, and that was part of my big surprise. This being 1932, not that far into the talkie era, the film industry's code of decency hadn't quite solidified yet. As such, not only do we see a woman change out of a dress, wearing only a short shift beneath it, we're treated to this bit of dialogue from a girl describing her boyfriend:

Gladys

He gives me a little money. Oh, not very much, just enough to keep me going. You probably won't believe me, but...Bill doesn't...he doesn't expect anything. D'you know what I mean by "anything?"

Bill	Yes, I know what you mean by "anything."

Remarkable. We all know exactly what she means, but it's entirely implied.

In any event, the dark secrets are revealed, one by one. And it's done masterfully. The dread just builds, and builds, and builds, until a final climactic confrontation. There's nothing magical or fantastical about it; no ancient spells or science fiction hand-waving (though the family is said to be under a curse). It's just personalities, people, some deranged and some afraid and some grimly determined to get through it all.

A tremendous film.

Posted in Reviews

30 Oct 08 - Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 4: The Mummy

Okay, this review is predicated on a surprise, but it's a surprise that happens ten minutes into the movie. So I feel justified in explaining it, since it's the core of what I liked about the movie.

The classic The Mummy begins with a group of standard British archaeologists, enthusing over a new find: a mummy (Boris Karloff) and a sealed box, of which the former was buried alive, and the latter should contain the Scroll of Thoth, which was supposed to bring the dead back to life.

The older archeologists argue over what to do, the younger archaeologist opens the box, and the mummy comes to life and grabs the scroll. Of course.

We then cut to ten years later, to the son of the head archaeologist in that scene, who is now digging in Egypt like his father did, where he is approached by...Boris Karloff. Not wrapped in mummy bandages; just standing there, physically frail but psychically overwhelming.

So the entire movie is about the revived mummy, now walking about Egypt like any man, using his powers in a desperate attempt to revive his long-dead lover. Of course, there are complications, and a surprisingly effective love story in the center of it, as is common in any 1930's movie.

Which is what makes it so effective. It's not about a shambling, dusty corpse; it's about a driven man, blessed with ancient powers, and the normal humans who try to oppose him. It's a contest of wills, and Karloff plays a man of such intense will that he steals every scene he's in. He has immense gravitas; he practically glows with it. My eyes were drawn to him in every scene.

Even the ending contains a bit of a surprise; the mummy may have succeeded in something rather horrifying.

Overall, it's a surprisingly effective movie, mostly because of Karloff's performance. A great little film.

Posted in Reviews

29 Oct 08 - Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 3: The Wolf Man

Watching The Wolf Man was a strange experience for me.

I first saw The Wolf Man in bits and pieces when I was in my early teens. I really enjoyed the tense mood and varied characters. I was in a phase of my life when I was watching a lot of black-and-white films, so I appreciated that type of movie: simple, direct, and reasonably well-acted.

Upon re-watching it this week...it doesn't hold up. While it is simple, direct, and reasonably well-acted, the plot itself just drags in places. It's a great example of pacing problems. The story's fine; the editing and pacing just aren't tight enough.

It does play successfully off that perfectly horrible fear of loss of control. The protagonist can feel his sanity slipping away, almost as soon as he contracts lycanthropy. He's constantly haunted by it. He's a decent man, and tries to be reasonable, but he knows what he's doing. And how can a person stop himself?

Unfortunately, the plot mires itself in side stories which distract from his path towards the beast, rather than highlight or enhance it. As sweet and poignant as the love story is at times, it slows the movie down, and does little to bolster it.

But it does feature some solid performances and genuinely creepy moments. Worth watching.

Posted in Reviews

28 Oct 08 - Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 2: The Masque of the Red Death

Vincent Price. This is why Vincent Price is such a great horror movie actor.

You may have read the original Poe story, in which a corrupt prince holds a party at his manor, despite the raging plague outside. Price plays the prince in this 1964 film version, which has been expanded into a study of evil.

And it's a solid little story, really, as Price's character brings in an innocent young peasant woman with great Christian faith, and shows her the decadence of his life and that of his peers. He's completely given himself over to Satan, explicitly, and enjoys needling the girl with a faith completely opposite to her own.

There are a few sub-plots dealing with the girl's lover, the plague-ridden peasants outside, and another baron at the masque, which serve mostly as interesting highlights to the main story. I was particularly thrilled by the bit with Skip Martin's character--a jester-like little person--who wreaks vengeance on a noble for his treatment of Martin's character's wife. Besides Price, Martin's the best actor of the bunch.

The film was directed by Roger Corman, which I initially took as an ill omen. Actually, the film looked just fine; perfectly competent directing. That said, for such a gothic concept, I felt like it could've been shot much more imaginatively, giving the film a creepier, more intense feel. This is meant to be horror, and much of it was filmed like a stage play. That may be more the fault of the cinematographer Nicolas Roeg, though, who went on to direct some interesting things but I think fell flat here.

Despite the rather staid look of the film, it's definitely fun to watch, especially to watch Price be delightfully evil all the way through.

Posted in Reviews

27 Oct 08 - Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 1: The Thing From Another World

This week begins Classic Horror Movie Week, where every day I write about a classic "horror" movie, leading up to Halloween on Friday. Um, that's Halloween the holiday, not Halloween the movie. Anyvay. I watched all these movies for the first time this week, so you're getting a fresh perspective.

I'm starting with Howard Hawks' The Thing From Another World, often called just The Thing. The basic plot involves a group of military and scientists at an arctic research station, who discover a crashed UFO, and recover a body. It thaws and comes back to life, and attacks them. Cue frenzied gunshots and general mayhem.

What's remarkable about this film is how taut it is. It's populated with half a dozen standout characters, each with distinctive personalities and viewpoints. One driven scientist insists that the creature is too important of a scientific discovery to kill, even if it's attacking them. One soldier is just plain freaked out by the thing. A reporter is always asking for information or complaining about the news blackout. The hero keeps a level head, of course, though he has his unsteady moments.

And they all interact. Some of the characters become antagonists, but never villains. They just all have different motivations.

Take that scientist. He becomes a real blockade to the hero, but his opinions make complete sense. He's not crazy; he just believes that the scientific discoveries possible from researching this alien are more important than their lives. Understandable.

Apparently, the creature never looked scary enough for Hawks, so he did the next best thing: it appears briefly, and then usually from a distance. It's effective, really, turning the movie into more of a noir piece. You fear the bad guy (whether the mob boss or the murderous alien) because the movie builds up to him.

Overall, I was impressed. It's a solid little film, full of fun, interesting characters and a taut, fast-paced plot. Like the best of the noir films, if nothing else it's an exhilarating ride.

Posted in Reviews

24 Oct 08 - My Reaction To Tintin

So I've finally bought and read some Tintin, the iconic comic book character created by French artist Herge. Specifically, I read The Adventures of Tintin, Volume 1.

I'd like to write that I loved it, that it was a work of genius. I can't. It had fun moments, and inventive moments. It was certainly good, in a timeless sense.

But it just didn't come together for me.

According to the Tintin Wikipedia article, Herge initially improvised all his stories, throwing Tintin into predicaments without knowing how to resolve them, then coming up with a solution on-the-spot. As a result, the book features many frustrating cliffhangers of the worst sort, such as Tintin being rolled up in a carpet, shot, then thrown into a river, only to discover that Tintin had escaped from the carpet earlier (with no prior clues to indicate this).

Herge began planning his stories with The Blue Lotus, which is included in Volume 1. The planning improves the storyline tremendously; I fully enjoyed that particular storyline.

Another problem was the characters. Tintin's a plucky young man, but he lacks sufficient depth of character to make me really root for him. The rest of the cast is filled out by broad, simple personalities common to the era.

I wouldn't mind that if the stories themselves carried any depth, but most of these adventures are, well, adventures--simple mysteries and thrillers. Astro Boy, for example, has simple characters, but depth of plot. Tintin just felt...simple.

Perhaps that's his appeal: simplicity. I can appreciate that, and perhaps I'll revisit Tintin with an eye for clean stories and straightforward characters. But for now, I can't be counted a Tintin fan.

Posted in Reviews

20 Oct 08 - The Chatty DM

Short one today, but I want to talk about this guy.

It's rare to come across a person as nice as the Chatty DM. He blogs about D&D, amiably and reasonably, and is a great font of knowledge and perspective. He's very active on his comments and forum, too.

If you have any interest in fantasy roleplaying or D&D, Chatty's a great place to check out, particularly for his forthcoming Kobold Love adventure idea.

Posted in Reviews

10 Oct 08 - Batman: Gotham Knight

This is an odd duck: a bunch of Japanese animation studios each produced a short film about Batman, and assembled them into a movie. Moreover, the shorts are all connected in a loose overall plot, despite the wildly different visual styles of each short.

Batman: Gotham Knight features a Batman who is still mostly a whispered legend, even to police. Indeed, the first film is entirely about that legendary aspect, as four teens describe their sightings of Batman in hilariously different forms--to one he's literally a shadow, to another he's a relentless machine, and to another he's a vicious half-bat.

Every story deals specifically with what it takes to be Batman. In one, he tests a bulletproof energy field which turns out to be too effective. In another, we see a young Bruce Wayne training in India to purge himself of his demons (you can imagine how well that goes). In a later short, he slogs wearily through a sewer after a painful battle with Killer Croc. I rather liked a short told from the perspective of two normal detectives, who debate Batman's effect on the city.

Some of the shorts work better than others, and much of my enjoyment of the film came from my interest in the animation styles. Some are sketchy, some are beautifully fluid, and some are highly stylized. The film remains interesting throughout.

However, because each short is so different, it can be a difficult film to watch, especially if you have no interest in Batman or animation.

Still, it was a noble experiment, and worth checking out.

Posted in Reviews

7 Oct 08 - He's Way Too Calm In The Face of Imminent Alien Death

So I'm terrifically behind the times when it comes to computer gaming. But many months ago, I finally got around to playing the original Halo.

It's a perfect first-person shooter. Now, that's all it is, but it provides a fantastic environment in which to shoot at things. Excellent quality all around.

Until I noticed something: the character animation was surprisingly poor. By that I mean that the movement and "body acting" of the other characters, particularly during cutscenes.

The ultimate example was during an alien attack on the ship I was in. I watched through a window as an alien blew open the door to another room and shot a human technician. The scene begins with bangs and explosions on the other side of the door, and I watched as the technician screamed "Help me! They're coming in!" as he calmly straightened up from his chair, and turned towards the door. His body was ramrod straight, his arms at his sides, even as he screamed in terror. Then the door burst open and he died screaming.

How did that get signed off? Why didn't the technician at least crouch, or hold up his arms, or try to duck behind something in the room?

It made no sense, and it destroyed the believability of the scene. The game became just a computer game, no more than a chunk of code twiddling bits and causing a set of sprites to waltz across the screen.

Disappointing.

Posted in Reviews

16 Sep 08 - Houses of the Blooded

Saalon and I have talked before about the future of tabletop roleplaying. It started with the fantasy hack-and-slash of Dungeons & Dragons in the 1970's, followed by the introduction of generic systems like GURPS and FUDGE in the 1980's (allowing for modern games, science fiction games, etc.), and the explosion of more open and acting-driven systems with White Wolf's World of Darkness in the 1990's.

What's next? I think I may have found it.

I spent much of the weekend devouring a 400-page PDF for Houses of the Blooded, a new tabletop RPG system.

Very roughly, it's World of Darkness in the Dune universe. It's focused on helping you to play a role more than kill goblins.

In particular, players can temporarily take over as referee.

As with many tabletop games, whenever you attempt something tough and outside your character's normal abilities, you roll dice. But the dice don't determine whether you succeed; if you roll high enough, you as the player get to decide if you succeed or fail. If you don't roll high enough, the Narrator (Game Master/referee) decides if you succeed or fail.

So, no matter what you roll, you may still succeed. But there's more to it than even that. You roll a number of dice at a time, which may be more dice than you need. You can reserve any number of dice as your "wager," and roll the rest. If you roll high enough, not only do you succeed, you get to add one fact to the success for every die you reserved in your wager. So, if you're leaping out of a bedroom, and you wagered three dice, you might say "Yes, I succeeded. And there's a balcony outside, and I land on it, and it goes all the way along the building." Three facts added for the three dice wagered.

This is revolutionary. It provides a simple way for players to control the progress of the game. They're not inventing super-powerful weapons out of thin air; they're influencing the game to make it more fun.

Can it be abused? Well, anything can be abused, but the system makes it clear that 1) each fact must agree with the story so far, and 2) if you try to add a fact that helps you and hurts the other players, you're not welcome in the game. Simple as that.

It's hard to describe why I find this so exciting. It just feels right to me, and it feels like something that will help the roleplaying industry move forward.

Posted in Reviews

12 Sep 08 - Dead Poet's Society

So I watched Dead Poet's Society a couple of months ago. I'd heard it was good, but never really got around to it.

It knocked my socks off.

First off, it's beautiful. The cinematographer goes to great lengths to capture the beauty of prep school grounds in New England. From the fiery colors of the forest in autumn to a heavy winter snowfall, the movie just looks gorgeous.

Secondly, it's not about Robin Williams. In fact, he's only in a few scenes, and in them he plays a quiet, bookish, somewhat eccentric literature professor. Nothing wild about him at all.

Third, it's about growing up. It's about a bunch of boys who realize the need to carpe diem. Who realize that just doing what they're supposed to do isn't enough.

And the film's infused with great poetry. Classic poetry. Poetry to make one feel like the top of one's head had been taken off, to use Emily Dickinson's phrase.

It's a grand film.

Posted in Reviews

6 Sep 08 - Osamu Tezuka's Brilliant Buddha

I recently finished Osamu Tezuka's Buddha, a manga adaptation of the life of Buddha. It's about 3,000 pages that focus on the historical man, and the evolution of his philosophy, as opposed to attempts to teach you Buddhism.

I had to be careful when reading this book, as I couldn't simply pick it up, then put it down; I'd get sucked in and read through to the end. This is partly due to Tezuka's unique style: he likes to mix up a dramatic story with occasional sight gags, and keep things moving with action scenes. He had a tremendous gift for pacing and entertainment.

So the story moves quickly, and presents Buddha's life with sympathy and directness. Again, this book doesn't try to teach you Buddhism; it chronicles Buddha's life. However, one can't do that without exploring Buddha's philosophy.

I learned that the great spiritual teachers of Buddha's time mostly taught asceticism--that one must forego the pleasures of the world and punish one's body so as to free oneself from earthly desires. While Buddha agreed with the importance of discipline and abstinence, he rejected the idea of inflicting pain or otherwise hurting oneself.

In fact, he believed in hurting nothing. Radical for the time. He really wanted to achieve enlightenment, and he struggled to achieve it.

Now, the manga glosses over a lot of Buddha's later religious teaching, which gets pretty extreme by non-Buddhist standards. He claimed to perform astral projection every day, and that he could teleport.

But the manga cares less about that than about Buddha's moral journey. I gained a nice understanding of Buddha's teachings; how they evolved in response to the events around him.

So, in all, I'm thoroughly glad that I finished this. I learned a lot, and in a way that kept me entertained throughout.

Posted in Reviews

15 Aug 08 - Surreal, Yet Real

Read a fascinating book lately: Boogiepop and Others.

It's the first novel in a whole franchise, which itself takes some explaining. The franchise focuses on an entity called Boogiepop, which exists in the collective unconscious, and surfaces in certain people whenever a paranormal danger to humanity manifests. So, yes, it's something of an urban fantasy.

This first book describes the initial conflict that brings Boogiepop to the surface today: a creature called the Manticore who feeds on human souls. The franchise went on to spawn numerous novels, a live-action movie, an anime TV series, and a manga. This is where it all started, as a single (award-winning) young adult novel.

The book's split into several parts, each one told from a different character's perspective. Because of this, you often get to see the same scene from different characters' eyes, which changes your interpretation of that scene, and what was actually going on. A great hook

The whole story takes place in a high school, which is key to the franchise. Boogiepop is really about the high school years, when young people begin to solidify their philosophies on life. Each character in the novel sees life very differently, but I can sympathize with all of them to varying degrees.

As a whole, I really enjoyed it.

Posted in Reviews

13 Aug 08 - North World: The Legend of Conrad

For the past two weeks, I've been trying to figure out how to describe the online comic North World. And I can't.

That's one of the reasons I like it. North World has elements of a fantasy story--the protagonist wields a sword and confidently fights creatures in the wilderness. But that's crossed with a very normal, modern world of cars and coffee shops. It's a modern world with wildernesses that contain spirit bears.

Not long into the story, the protagonist returns to his hometown, a place he never wanted to come back to. He left it a mess, and now he has to face it. Which means he has to face himself, and the choices he's made. And he doesn't like them.

He loves fighting in the wilderness, but he's alone. And here with his family and old friends...he realizes everyone is together and happy. And he's not. In running off to pursue his dream, he burned his bridges, and he's beginning to realize the folly of that.

An unusual sort of story, and now that I think about it, I realize it's quite similar to Zot!, which I just finished (and heartily recommend to any human). It pulls together the supernormal and the everyday, without debasing either.

An achievement, if nothing else.

Posted in Reviews

7 Aug 08 - What I Think of My Kindle After 6 Months

I've written before about my Kindle, and how much I've used it (I read 3 books in the first week). Now that I've had it for 6 months, my passion has cooled.

I still enjoy my Kindle, and I'm glad I bought it. I like being able to read the WSJ any time I want to, without dealing with a paper. I occasionally flip it open and read a bit more of a novel.

But I only use my Kindle every week or two now. I have free books from the library, compared to paying a few dollars for Kindle versions. And I'm not as mobile as I was, so I don't benefit from having a dozen books at my side all the time. I have a thousand books right here.

But I'm still glad I bought it. It's certainly much more convenient for books that my library doesn't have, and I do believe that devices like the Kindle are the wave of the future.

Posted in Reviews

24 Jun 08 - Johnny Bunko and His Career

Just finished--literally, just--a career management book called The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need. It's pretty short, it's got good advice, and it's got great art. It needs to be : it's a manga.

This sort of thing is commonplace in Japan, where you'll find how-to manga on just about any topic, from medical advice to sex. So it's neat to see one on this side of the Pacific, written by a well-respected career guide (he also wrote Free Agent Nation and A Whole New Mind) and drawn by a top-notch American manga artist.

The advice is, as usual, simple but true. With career advice, it's all about the presentation. We all know the importance of much of this, but we need to be struck by it afresh. Which he does.

For what it's worth, the book offers this advice:

1. There is no plan.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It's not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.

I argue that "talent" probably doesn't exist, but the point remains. Again, this is all sensible stuff, but it's how it's presented that really makes it work.

The story follows Johnny Bunko, a recent college grad struggling to figure out why he's not satisfied at work. He breaks open a pair of chopsticks, to be visited by a spirit who gives him career advice. Sure, it's corny--and it's played that way--but it works.

Strongly recommended; I'm thinking of giving copies to everyone I know who's nearing college graduation.

There's also a great little animation at the Amazon.com site.

Posted in Reviews, Self-improvement

19 Jun 08 - Lagend, a colorful comic

One of my favorite webcomics, North World, had a guest strip today by Nick Daniel of Lagend, so I decided to check out Lagend.

It's got a unique art style, and I mean well by that. Heads are mostly spheres, colors are bright but clear, everything is hand-drawn (including the lettering), and the artist has a thus-far-flawless sense of panel composition and timing. The art style appears to be a fusion of manga, furry, experimental American comics, and Vinnie Veritas.

Note that there's some strong language here and there.

Either way, I like the story and the characters, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Posted in Reviews

13 Jun 08 - The Seven Swords

Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China, A Chinese Ghost Story) recently directed the martial arts epic The Seven Swords. It's beautiful. It's well-acted. It's completely incomprehensible.

The basic story is pretty straightforward--the emperor has outlawed martial arts, and a small evil army roams the countryside, slaughtering all those that practice martial arts. Someone comes to warn the village, two young people save that person, they wander for a while, then stumble upon the legendary Five Swordsmen hiding out in a mountain. They all then return as the Seven Swordsmen to kick the collective butts of the small evil army.

But the direction is muddy, and the shots are too close and don't last long enough to make clear what's going on. It's not unlike the Transformers CGI movie; even if the fights had been good, I couldn't tell what was going on.

And in an action movie, if I don't know what's going on, the movie loses all its fun. I watch an action film so I can enjoy the action. More depth than that is welcome, but it shouldn't betray its central raison d'etre.

Posted in Reviews

6 Jun 08 - The Critical Path

I recently finished reading Buckminster Fuller's The Critical Path. If you don't know him, Buckminster invented the geodesic dome, and is generally considered a slightly crackpot visionary designer. The Critical Path is one of his final books, in which he traces an overview of his life and mission.

In his early 30's, he decided to devote his life to "an experiment, to find what a single individual can contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity."

So he studied energy problems and designed an efficient worldwide energy grid. He studied housing and developed inexpensive, portable housing (geodesic domes). And so forth.

My main problem with his theories: He was intensely rational. He assumed that people would adopt geodesic domes because of their efficiencies, ignoring how people like to live in traditional houses. Granted, he believed that people would adopt such things out of natural necessity, but I don't think people are that rational. People hold on to things.

On the other hand, Fuller impresses me. He accomplished a huge amount in his lifetime; far more than I have. This is a minor complaint about a giant of a man.

It's just a shame that humans can be blind like that.

Posted in Reviews

30 May 08 - Cool Hand Luke

Finally got a chance to watch Cool Hand Luke recently. It's one of those films that are frequently referenced but infrequently seen.

Cool Hand Luke works mostly on the effectiveness of its actors. It's an intensely character-driven piece, with very little action. It's all about the relationships between the characters, how the bounce off each other.

I was struck by the other prisoners' reaction to Luke. He's very independent, seeing no need to observe the prisoners' little hierarchy. He doesn't try to upset it, either; he just ignores it. He wins the other prisoners' respect out of sheer tenacity and difference.

Their reaction? They follow. As impressed as they are at his independence, none of them try to be independent. It's almost like they expect him to live out their own dreams of independence. It's a terrible burden, and in the end it's one of the things that breaks him.

It's a beautiful film, too, full of the rising and setting sun, reflections in glasses, and creative shots. But that's frosting on the cake; the actors drive the film. And they drive it straight to eternity.

Posted in Reviews

23 May 08 - Fight Club - The Novel

Awhile ago, I read the original novel of Fight Club.

I surprised myself by reading the entire book in two days. Granted, it's a short novel, but normally I'm not that engrossed.

This was due to the novel's differences from the film. Turns out, the film is an excellent adaptation of the novel, but many speeches and conversations in the novel are re-arranged to condense the story. The book focuses tightly on the narrator, and the tale wanders as the narrator's mind wanders. A film can't do that. So, for example, Tyler Durden's "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake" speech is composed of observations and bits of dialogue from Tyler scattered throughout the novel.

The novel ends in a completely different way than the film. I think I like the film's ending better, though that's personal preference for the ending's style and content. The novel ends on a darker note than the film, though it's a very Black Comedy sort of dark note.

I'm glad I read it. If I adapt something in the future, I'd learn a lot from a deep study of the differences between the book and the film.

Posted in Reviews

22 May 08 - RomeoRhino

After Mystery Science Theater 3000 ended, I wondered if anyone else would pick up the mantle. They stumbled upon the formula of recording voice-over riffs of bad pop culture movies, and surely someone else would continue. The technology's easy enough.

Someone's done it: RomeoRhino.

RomeoRhino is a YouTube user who takes public domain instructional videos (and a few movies), records himself riffing on them, marries the two, and uploads them to YouTube.

He's learned from MST3K: he doesn't talk over the dialogue too much, he jokes as much as possible, he knows not to get too dark or sarcastic, and he keeps the jokes coming steadily throughout the entire video.

He posts a new video about once a week, and he's been doing it for a year, so there's plenty of material. Some of my favorites:

• The Snob
• Good Table Manners
• The Fun of Being Thoughtful
• What About Drinking?

Posted in Reviews

19 Feb 08 - Books!

Ah yes. I have a blog. Forgot about that for a while.

Just been busy with other things. Who has time for a blog when there's food to cook, novels to write, animations to draw, and books to read?

Books! A few book recommendations:

Temeraire volume 1, by Naomi Novik. Imagine Master and Commander, with the addition of fire-breathing dragons. Novik creates a believable world with fun characters.

By Right of Conquest, or With Cortez in Mexico. A novelization of Cortez's "conquest" of Mexico. I love this bit of history, and this book captures all the high drama in an action-filled story. This book has everything.

The Uncommon Reader, a novella in which the present Queen of England discovers a love of books, late in life. The book deftly explores her unique situation and regrets.

I thank my Amazon Kindle for the capacity for all the above books. I spent a lot on it, and I regret not a penny.

Posted in Reviews

27 Jan 08 - Deeper Review of the Kindle

More complete thoughts about the Amazon Kindle:

One's life changes when one has a device loaded with a handful of books. It can easily fit in a large coat pocket, so I take it with me everywhere. When I stopped by a nearby Chinese restaurant for some take-out, while I waited for my order, I read a few pages of a novel (instead of watching their VHS tape of Dragonball Z). When I paused at work for some rest and a cup of tea, I read a few pages of a novel. When I made lunch yesterday, as I waited to the fish to finish frying, I read a few pages of a novel. I continued reading as I ate; because the Kindle lays flat and I just have to touch a button to turn pages, it's not nearly as awkward as holding open and flipping the pages of a book.

I've now finished two novels and am well into my third, in just over a week. Moreover, there's tremendous power in finishing a novel by a good author, and being able to start reading the next novel in under a minute. It's not just impatience; it's avoiding the whole process of tracking down the author's books, finding the next title in the series, adding it to a list of books to buy, and waiting for the next time I'm in a book store.

Moreover, because of the solid-state screen, the Kindle is more robust than most devices, and stays charged for a good week.

When I first heard of the Kindle, some folks prophesied it would be the "iPod of books." I dismissed that notion, but I'm less dismissive now. Certainly, books are used differently than music; I can listen to music all day and want my entire music library at all times, but not so with books.

That said, I can see a time when a lot of folks just take a reader with them pretty much wherever they go. It's lighter than a paperback, it's darned convenient, and as Dan Brown and J.K. Rowling have proved, people will read.

Moreover, I sold 7 copies of my Kindle Fan Guide in two days. There is a market out there.

Posted in Reviews

28 Nov 07 - 28 Nov 07

Warning: Musings about animation work follow.

I stumbled on a DVD at Toys 'R' Us last week: Disney Christmas collection. For US $10, it has Mickey's Christmas Carol, Pluto's Christmas Tree (the one with Chip and Dale), and Small One. I'd never heard of that last.

So I popped it in, and watched 'em. Small One had a long intro, and then the final two credits came up and I snapped to attention:

Produced by Ron Miller

Written and Directed by Don Bluth

Ron co-directed The Great Mouse Detective and The Little Mermaid, and of course Don Bluth is Don Bluth, so I immediately perked up.

It's an overtly Christian story, in which a boy in ancient Palestine tries to sell his favorite, sweet donkey, and nobody will buy it. He eventually seells it to Joseph and Mary, as Joseph's the only one who sees the use of a calm, sweet donkey.

It's a fine little concept, aimed at a half-hour TV slot. The early sequences of the boy and the donkey playing and working demonstrate their relationship beautifully. The character animation is flawless.

But this is directed by Don Bluth, so we have two full-length musical numbers in a half-hour film. The first occurs just after the boy's father breaks the news that the donkey, Small One, must be sold. The boy (who looks exactly like Mowgli) then sings a sweet, quiet song about how much he loves Small One, despite the four minutes of previous animation demonstrating how much he loves Small One. After half a minute, I fast-forwarded through the song.

The boy then goes to the city, where a guard (differently designed and animated; looked more like a Fleischer character) directs him to a nearby shop. The animation becomes creepy and foreboding in the way that late 70's/early 80's animation could be (think The Secret of NIMH or The Rescuers). Turns out this is the shop of a tanner. The sequence plays a bit longer than necessary, but it's effective.

The boy and donkey run into the street, where we hit our next musical number: the three wise men, as merchants, singing about how much they love to buy and sell things. They toss around coins, they dance, they squash and stretch in a classic Don Bluth way, and they have nothing to do with the story. The boy just watches this in shock and wonder, then moves on.

Perhaps Bluth was trying to convey the emptiness of commerce for commerce's sake. But he does this again in the next sequence, where the boy tries to get Small One into a market, only to discover it's a high-end Horse Market. The auctioneer and crowd mock Small One, looking only at his outward attributes and not his personality.

It works. It overstates its point a bit, but it's an important point.

Then the boy, in despair, wanders to a quiet area, where Joseph steps up to him and asks if this donkey's for sale. The boy sells Small One, we get a slightly tearful but upbeat farewell, and...

...we fade to a long shot of Mary and Joseph, with Mary riding Small One, then cut to a stable with a star shining down on it. The end. Oddly abrupt. We get nothing more about the boy.

It's a shame. If you cut out the musical numbers and tightened up the other sequences, Small One would be a great little film. As it stands, it wears out its welcome.

A shame. Especially considering how much more work it took to make this worse than a shorter version.

Perhaps this is a good example of Antoine De Saint-Exupery's dictum, "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

Posted in Reviews

24 Nov 07 - 24 Nov 07

Saw Beowulf today, which was a disappointment and a joy. Joyous to see well-animated fantasy action that managed to stay fairly true to the original story. Disappointing because the story is modernized in ways that annoy me. All the problems in the film are caused by men giving in to their horniness, contrasted with the principle woman, a long-suffering virgin.

It certainly should have been "R" rated. Its status as an "animated film" exempted it, but that shouldn't matter. The material in this film is "R" rated.

This may be the movie that opens up the American market for more mature animated films.

Posted in Reviews

16 Oct 07 - 16 Oct 07

I'm watching a fascinating bit of internet ephemera: a sped-up video of a guy driving. This is not my first exposure to this type of web video; this one is genuinely interesting.

It's from Lileks, and I'm fascinated by the details. Sometimes he follows closely, other times at a distance. Sometimes he seems hurried, other times leisurely. Why? There are all sorts of little decisions and choices scattered throughout.

Plus, the soundtrack is one of Lileks' own techno remixes of a terrible song from classic Star Trek, which makes it worth watching in itself.

But I wonder: What is it about these little windows into others' lives that make them so interesting?

Posted in Reviews

14 Oct 07 - 14 Oct 07

The second episode of Gundam 00 came out last night. My geekometer is off the chart; this is a giant robot anime series I'm downloading off the internet the day it airs because of how much I've loved previous shows in the franchise. It's equivalent to a Chinese Trekkie downloading episodes of Enterprise as they come out.

Why do I have such devotion to an entire franchise? Because so much of it is so good. It tells serious war stories. It has some amazing action sequences. It's created some of the greatest characters in anime. And, while the quality has varied over the decades, it's rarely disappointed for long.

So, I've been watching the buildup to Gundam 00, the latest series, with some interest. It has a top-notch crew (the director of Full Metal Alchemist, the writer of Trigun, and the composer for the Ghost in the Shell movies), and planned to springboard off a popular past Gundam concept: that the Gundams are rare, super-powerful war machines dropped into a gritty militaristic conflict.

I greatly enjoyed episode one, but first episodes are poor indicators of an entire show's quality. It was a solid, action-oriented, broad introduction to a large cast of characters. Episode two was a better test.

And it performed well. A narrator explained the general political situation, a welcome addition to typically politically-oriented Gundam. Several characters were developed a little, also welcome after that broad first episode.

And, you know, making any large-scale artistic work is hard. It's hard to balance characters, story, character design, setting, artistic style, music, sound, voice acting, backstory, mechanical design, and a hundred other elements in a way that keeps them all from stepping on each others' toes.

So, it's nice seeing something that works. And works well.

Posted in Reviews

1 Oct 07 - 1 Oct 07

Roughed out a review of Gunparade March, based on my viewings through episode five. Tough show to watch, but very, very good.

Posted in Reviews

30 Sep 07 - 30 Sep 07

Added a review of KamiChu!, which I finished yesterday. Nice little slice-of-life show.

Posted in Reviews

26 Sep 07 - 26 Sep 07

Finished Texhnolyze. What a mind trip. It's a perfect ending for this particular show, but it's tragic. Sad, in the sense of watching an insect get trapped in tar. You know it's not getting out of there.

It's odd. I never want to create a show like this. I don't like depressing stories, and I certainly don't like Texhnolyze. It is well-made, and thought-provoking. I appreciate it. I value it. It's a strong work of art.

There aren't that many of those in the world.

Posted in Reviews

25 Sep 07 - 25 Sep 07

Been watching Texhnolyze. It's pure science fiction. It's dystopian storytelling. It's...true. Real.

I disagree with some of its philosophy, strongly, on a lot of levels. But that's surely part of the point, to watch and think and form opinions (reactionary or otherwise).

Nice to have something I can sink my teeth into.

Posted in Reviews

17 Sep 07 - 17 Sep 07

It's amazing to watch people create something out of nothing.

Case in point: the first five episodes of Space Battleship Yamato, which I watched recently. Made in 1974, when anime was still a bunch of crude cartoons for kids, this is a show with weight and melancholy. It's slow and deliberate. We spend whole episodes in almost real time. We see huge futuristic cities, empty due to the prolonged war with Gamilon.

This was in 1974. A tremendous accomplishment. All because they decided to do it.

Posted in Reviews

13 Sep 07 - 13 Sep 07

Just finished watching Brad Bird's short film, Family Dog (it's on YouTube). It was an episode of the old anthology TV series Amazing Stories, if you remember that.

Fascinating. It's a solid story, very funny in parts, and drawn in a very modern, minimalist style. What's most remarkable is that it isn't amazingly brilliant.

And that's comforting. Brad Bird didn't start brilliant then flame out. He's gotten better as he's aged.

Posted in Reviews

17 Jul 07 - 17 Jul 07

Just finished watching The Last Unicorn for the first time.

I know several people who love this film. They all saw it first when they were kids. And I think that explains their love. I just don't think it's a great film.

Why? Well, I'm no big fan of America's music; it's okay, but it's just okay. The voice work is superb. The colors are perfect. But the animation..., well, there are several aspects to animation, and it always annoys me when people criticize "the animation" of a piece. So, let's break that down.

1. First, there's the aesthetic beauty of the art. Does it look beautiful, or does it look like Star Trek: The Animated Series? Full marks here. I admit I love Rankin-Bass's designs, but beyond that the backgrounds are lovely and the colors are just right.
2. There's the sheet count. How many frames of animation (drawings, or sheets) are in an average minute of film? More is better (generally). ''The Last Unicorn has a pretty good sheet count for an animated film. Not Disney, but not Space Ghost.
3. There's the quality of the drawings. Do the characters look the same in each shot? Are characters facing the right directions when the shot changes? The Last Unicorn is, again, pretty good in this department--there are several places where characters are pointing the wrong direction after a shot change, but generally the characters look the same from shot to shot.
4. Then there's the realism of the characters. How do people walk? Are they stiff or natural? When a girl puts on a pair of shoes, does she put them on one at a time, mechanically and obviously, or does she just slip them on without thinking? TLU's not so hot on this score. Lots of weird gestures. If I'm making a point during conversation, I don't wave my hand back and forth across my chest. When I walk, my arms aren't hanging stiff at my side.

So, the animation is mediocre. There are good qualities to it, but much of the physical acting is depressingly stiff.

Then again, most of the Japanese staff went on to make a little film called Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, which is better than this but does suffer from some stiff character movement.

The writing, unsurprisingly, is excellent. Some great lines in there. And while I was annoyed by the trite obviousness of the first two-thirds of the film, I was surprised when it pushed at the fourth wall as the characters debated meta issues like the requirements of the heroic form. Neat, though a bit jarring.

And the end was great (I'm amused that Miyazaki cribbed elements for the ending of Nausicaa).

So, overall, much as I'm sorry to say...I didn't much like The Last Unicorn.

A small voice warns me of hubris. It whispers in my ear, spinning a memory. I feel the cool air of the movie theater, and the presence of the girl at my side. I was nine years old. I was drinking in the greatest animated experience of my young life: An American Tail. If there's one reason that I've watched hundreds of animated films and series, that's the reason.

But An American Tail had many, many more flaws than The Last Unicorn. I couldn't see past them then, and I can't see past many of them now. That movie formed me.

And so, if this film formed others, who am I to judge too harshly?

Posted in Reviews

29 Jun 07 - 29 Jun 07

Saw Ratatouille tonight. The 6:30 P.M. showing was sparsely attended, which shouldn't have been a surprise for a "kid's movie."

It was one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a long time.

Posted in Reviews

9 Jun 07 - 9 Jun 07

Finished watching Bubba Ho-Tep today. Surprisingly fantastic film. Yes, it's cheesy at times--the plot involves the real Elvis, stuck in an old folks' home, who confronts a 4,000-year-old soul-sucking mummy--but like all really good films, it transcends its concept by really examining its concept.

Imagine an Elvis who's old. Way past his prime. Spends almost all of his time in bed. He switched places with an impersonator and lost everything, and now there's nothing left. All of his family is gone. He's surrounded by old folks who've been cast off by their family.

And then he finds out there's some kind of thing that's feeding off the other residents. And he has to decide if he'll do something about it.

Most of the movie focuses on an old man deciding to make something of what time he has left. In some ways, it's an ageless premise. It's also modern as we confront an aging population.

Plus, it stars Bruce "God" Campbell. Can hardly go wrong there. I now appreciate why he's been encouraging his fans to see this film; it's a fantastic role.

Posted in Reviews

31 May 07 - 31 May 07

Tom Swift and His Jetmarine was as thoroughly entertaining as I'd hoped. A great read.

Now, on to Shogun.

Posted in Reviews

29 May 07 - 29 May 07

I finally got my hands on a Tom Swift book. By luck, it's the second book in the Tom Swift Jr. series (Tom Swift and His Jetmarine). I've been curious about the quality of these rousing adventures for years.

And boy, is this book fun. It's all breathtaking adventures and sci-fi inventions, though the author at least attempts to make the inventions plausible.

And the adventure...I don't think I've ever read a book with this rapid a pace. I doubt there's more than three pages between action scenes. There's just enough dialogue to answer a question and raise a few more before something exciting happens.

Which is great. I doubt one could keep up this pace for five hundred pages, but for a quick young adult novel it's fine. Meanwhile, the story rockets along. Great stuff.

Much as I like the modern novelistic tendency towards drama and character development, I wonder if that couldn't be toned down somewhat in favor of this. This is pure entertainment.

Posted in Reviews

28 May 07 - 28 May 07

Saw Spider-Man 3 last night, during a lovely evening spent with Mandy and Kirstin.

I have a troubled history with the Spider-Man movies. The first one had comparatively little web-slinging action. And what action there was, was stunted by Peter's lack of experience. It just didn't have full-scale fun Marvel battles.

Okay, I thought, it's the first movie. He's inexperienced. The second one will be more fun. But no, in the sequel Peter loses his confidence and spends most of the movie rejecting Spider-Man. So we get a modicum of action in that, especially considering its length.

Okay, okay, I thought. He's got his confidence back. Surely the third movie will be more fun. But no, in this movie we spend so much time on his relationship with Mary Jane that there are only a few full-on action scenes. Excellent action sequences, but the stuff with Mary Jane just dragged.

Disappointing. But I did like this film more than 2. The Sandman was perfectly handled, and a shining example of a Marvel character: Right or wrong, he has very human reasons for his actions. Venom was protrayed well, though I would've liked more of him. Venom's all about that dark whisper that tells you to have more power, which is often very, very helpful. In this film, it turns Peter evil almost immediately.

Y'know, in the comics, Peter's relationship with Mary Jane was a crucial spice to the story. It deepened and intensified his worries and self-doubt. But over-spice a dish, and the flavor is ruined. I don't go to a Spider-Man movie to watch Peter Parker court Mary Jane.

This has turned into a rant, and I usually avoid ranting. I appreciate what the filmmakers are trying to do with these movies, and I'm not saying they failed. I'm glad they're trying to get women interested by increasing the romantic aspects.

I'm just disappointed that one of the most fun, dynamic action/adventure superheroes of all time spends half his movies being an idiot with Mary Jane.

Posted in Reviews

27 May 07 - 27 May 07

Just finished reading Neal Gabler's exhaustive biography, Walt Disney. What a man.

He spent his entire life dissatisfied. The animations were never good enough. The parks never had enough rides. His legacy wasn't big enough.

This from a man who legitimized an art form, then immediately created several classics within that form. Then he revolutionized the amusement park, applying standards of cleanliness and excellence that have changed the general standard.

And yet, a nurse wrote to his family, "I took care of Walt in his final days, and just want you to know that the poor man was so fearful."

Is contentment really so far out of reach?

Posted in Reviews

29 Apr 07 - 29 Apr 07

Last week's trip seems to have given me a touch of...something. I won't describe the grotesque details, but safe to say I am sick. I hope it won't last; I want to go to work tomorrow.

I comforted myself by watching Versus, a movie by the live-action Japanese director I saw last weekend, Ryuhei Kitamura. It's a samurai zombie revenge film, and it was just wildly entertaining.

Posted in Reviews

13 Apr 07 - 13 Apr 07

Just finished watching Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress.

I like Kurosawa's films, but I just don't love them like many people do. This one's no exception; it's very good, but I've no interest in watching it again. Well, except for one spear fight halfway through. But he holds his shots for much longer than I feel necessary, and the story just drags on.

Ah well. Worth seeing. The included interview with George Lucas was enlightening, too.

Posted in Reviews

10 Apr 07 - 10 Apr 07

Just finished watching the first episode of the first anime: the original Astro Boy. A few thoughts:

• The animation is often terrible.
• ...but occasionally excellent.
• Tezuka's direction shines in a few amazing, dramatic, downright cinematic shots. Often they're motionless, but the shadows and angles provide amazing power.
• If today's anime fans complain about American actors "murdering" roles, they should hear this. (And to be fair, that's what cartoon voice acting was back then; all of it.)

Worth seeing, but I'm glad I didn't buy it. Thanks to Mom and Dad for their purchase of a six-month Netflix subscription for me. I can see myself falling in love with this service.

Posted in Reviews

2 Apr 07 - 2 Apr 07

Finally watched volume one of Madlax, an anime by the creators of Noir and .hack. The creators have great confidence in their stories, so much so that the first third of each series contains almost no plot, focusing instead on establishing the characters.

This is fine if you love the characters. While I like Madlax's protagonists more than those of Noir, with no context for their actions I have little interest in buying volume two (which may also shuffle along). It's a perfect example of the problem of TV scheduling; I'd be interested enough to catch this every week, and the plot of later episodes would probably hook me. But releasing four episodes at a time on DVD is a different model with different forces at work.

Posted in Reviews

26 Mar 07 - 26 Mar 07

Saw the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. It was perfect, in the mathematical sense of containing everything needed. There were things I didn't know I'd want to see in there until I saw it. They tossed in a reference to the opening credit sequence of the original cartoon, for Pete's sake. It proves that one can make a great homage that's also highly entertaining, a sadly unusual combination.

Posted in Reviews

5 Mar 07 - 5 Mar 07

I finally finished the last volume I own of Astro Boy, volume 15 (it goes up to at least 23, according to Amazon). Its creator, Osamu Tezuka, was a breathtaking writer. In one simple boy's action manga, he tackled bigotry, humanity, inhumanity, the nature of evil, and the nature of goodness.

Not that his works were perfect. The setups were often silly, the characters often one-dimensional. But he was drawing a boy's action manga. For what it was, it was impressive.

Posted in Reviews

3 Mar 07 - 3 Mar 07

Saw Amazing Grace last night, after a fantastic dinner of sushi and sake with Mandy.

It was a surprisingly nuanced film. Those in favor of the slave trade weren't all evil; in fact, all of them had positive sides. The film focused on the human rights abuses of the slave trade. All the characters were multifaceted and well-played. The film felt real.

There were a few tiny problems, but they were tiny. It was definitely well worth seeing. Even at 10:00 p.m.

Posted in Reviews

21 Feb 07 - 21 Feb 07

I've finally watched Battle Angel Alita, an early-90's anime OVA that was a classic for its time. It's less impressive today, though it's still a dark piece with some beautiful action sequences and a solid philosophical core.

It's set in the future, in a literal junk city. The populace lives off the junk discarded from a floating paradise above. The protagonist is an android reconstructed from state-of-the-art parts inexplicably junked from the paradise. Her friends are various "low-lifes" fighting to survive, and she decides to fight with and for them despite not needing to.

Most of the characters betray their morals to get what they want. But they all suffer for this. The anime is less an indictment of humanity as a sad display of its frailty. It seems to be saying that people are capable of good, but keep tripping themselves up.

Which is a fair assessment, I suppose.

Posted in Reviews

20 Feb 07 - 20 Feb 07

Spent some time recently watching two favorite cartoons of my childhood, Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs. Animaniacs is usually considered the better show; it could be far more funny.

But I was struck by how consistently entertaining Tiny Toons was. The humor in Animaniacs was often so left-field that I was just bored. I could watch Tiny Toons all day.

Sometimes, you can be so different that you become incomprehensible.

Posted in Reviews

19 Feb 07 - 19 Feb 07

Last Saturday, I attended a choral concert by the Master Singers of Virginia of Rachmaninoff's Vespers. It was beautiful beyond words.

"Vespers" is actually a misnomer. It was written for the All Night Vigil, which lasts from Vespers (the evening service) through Matins (the night/early morning service) to Prime (the dawn service). Thus, the music begins by echoing the quiet, lilting liturgy of the candlelit evening service, reaching a crescendo of adoration and supplication in the middle of Matins, then calming back down just before a big finish to herald the dawning sun.

The work only lasts for an hour; it's meant to be interspersed with prayer, Scripture reading, etc. But it's amazingly beautiful. Rachmaninoff composed it like he would a symphony, so the various vocal sections mirror and complement each other in gorgeous melodic patterns.

And ironically, Rachmaninoff wrote it during the middle of World War I, just after several of his friends had died. War spurred his musical commentary, perhaps.

You can listen to MP3s or buy CDs of the Master Singers' performances.

Posted in Reviews

11 Feb 07 - 11 Feb 07

On Thursday I caught a matinee of Pan's Labyrinth, the new fantasy film by Guillermo Del Toro. The fantasy aspects were perfectly done--surreal and truly fantastic--and the direction was slick as butter. A lovely piece.

But boring. I didn't care for any of the characters, and the plot just plodded along. Besides, I had problems with both plot threads: El Capitan and his pursuit of rebels, and Ofelia's exploration of the labyrinth. But El Capitan was evil and shallow, so I didn't care about his plot. And Ofelia's trials quickly got dark and disturbing, and I really didn't want to watch that.

So I walked out halfway through. Not because it was a bad film, but because it was insufficiently good. I'd rather spend that second hour, well, re-reading Lord of the Rings, if nothing else.

Side note: The only other Del Toro movie I've seen was Hellboy, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Both Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth are filled with self-absorbed characters who are paying the price for their self-absorbtion. Hellboy was interesting, because they were also bashing demons. In Pan's, there was no other distraction. It became an artsy foreign film about suffering, egotistical Europeans, with a faun. No thanks.

Posted in Reviews

3 Feb 07 - 3 Feb 07

A few days ago, I finished reading Kate Williamson's A Year in Japan. It's a short but sweet read, since it's mostly pictures. She painted watercolors of the many things she saw over there, and wrote about them. It's a lovely, personal work of art.

I'm envious. I want to make something like that now.

Posted in Reviews

2 Feb 07 - 2 Feb 07

I came across How to Negotiate Copywriting Fees Without Turning Into an Asshole while reading blogs this morning. Besides being an excellent summary of a potentially tense aspect of business, it's wonderfully humane. Most of its advice can be summed up by "be self-confident," but it has great specific suggestions.

Negotiations are not just about business board rooms, either. Families and friends negotiate every day.

Posted in Reviews

30 Jan 07 - 30 Jan 07

Last night, I finished reading Boris Akunin's The Winter Queen. I greatly enjoyed its rollicking mystery/adventure vibe and wry black comedy, until the last two pages. The ending was bleak, dark, melancholy, and completely unexpected.

I still like the book, and want to read others in the series (The Winter Queen is the first). But that ending wiped away about 80% of my goodwill.

A shame. I wonder if the writer intended that reaction.

Posted in Reviews

21 Jan 07 - Ryvius Zeta

I felt a little sick today, so I skipped AWANA and watched some anime.

First, the fourth disc of Infinite Ryvius, a TV series about a bunch of teenage astronaut trainees who have to fend for themselves. The plot's superficially similar to Lord of the Flies, but these characters are more mature. It's less about savagery and more about the petty selfishness that quickly rises to the surface when immature people face crisis.

Then, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation III: Love is the Pulse of the Stars. It's the final film in a trilogy that re-tells one of the most depressing Gundam series. The animation is improved and the tone is lightened to create a more powerful, less nihilistic story. There's still a lot of death, but it's easier to take.

Posted in Reviews