Friday, April 29, 2005

Equivalent Exchange

This is a post that has been a long time coming. That's right I'm talking about the post where I explain why I like anime. I will also post on the differences between anime and animation that originates here in the US. The way that I'll do this is to compare and contrast. First off I will explain why I like anime. The reasons include the depth of some of the episodes. The shows seem to deal more with more emotion than do US cartoons. As a result the characters seem to be more real in anime than US cartoon characters do. This may or may not be important to some people but for me it's one of the most important things. If the characters seem more "real" than I will like them more. I will also find it easier to sympathize with them or dislike them as is applicable. Not that all US characters seem two dimensional. Anime characters seem to struggle more with issues like wondering who they are, moral issues(i.e. Is it worth hurting someone else for selfish reasons?) An example of struggling to find who they are can be found in the show Full Metal Alchemist, in the form of Alphonse Elrich. Al's soul was bound to a iron suit of armor, and the seed of doubt was planted when Al was fighting against a criminal who had gone through a similar process. The seed of doubt that was plantd was whether or not was real or if his memeries were just fabricated.If you're not familiar with the show you may be wondering what I mean by saying that Al's soul being bound to a suit of armor. It was done with alchemy when another alchemy process went wrong.
 
Another reason that I like anime is that in some cases the drawing is outstanding. In some of the anime out there also incorporates CG into the animation process. If incorporated well, it has a tendency to enhance the whole viewing experience. If done poorly, it sometimes detracts. Some animation in the US does include CG but seems to be one or the other. US CG animation in some cases is really well done. For example Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, and others. This does not fully explain all there is to know but it is a start.
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Wednesday, April 20, 2005

It's a bird, It's a plane...Oh, wait never mind.

Even though I can't stand the way that the show seems to have strayed a tad from the source material a bit to much, I find that I have gotten in the habit of watching it. I'm talking about Smallvile on the WB. An example of what I'm talking about it straying too far from the comics is black kryptonite. Um...the only reference I can find to black kryptonite is to Smallville. I might not have a problem with this if there weren't other things that bothered me about the show. Another example of something that I feel is crap about the show is that I have gotten the feeling that the writers of the show think that Jor-El is evil and that Kal-El, Clark, is evil as well. I haven't actually seen an episode with Jor-El so I don't really know how that worked.

Another problem that I have with the show is that green kryptonite seems to "magically" effect everything in one way or another. Oh, you have a slow computer? Don't put more memory in it, put a chunk of green kryptonite in it and it will be the best computer in the world. VCR broken? Go ahead, open it up and put a chunk of green kryptonite in it. Wow it works again!!! Ok enough sarcasm for this post.
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Thursday, April 14, 2005

"Don't you call me a mindless philosopher..."

With the release of Star Wars Episode III only thirty-five days away I find it with ever increasing difficulty to contain my excitment. It seems at times as if I'm about to start running around with my arms thrown in the air while screaming my head off with pure excitement. As I'm sure that you've figured out by now I'm a Star Wars fan. I'm pretty much always enjoyed the original trilogy(OT). When it comes to the newer movies I am not to pleased with them for a number of reasons. I won't go into them now. You can just imagine my excitement when I heard that the OT was finally coming out on dvd. I was jumping up and down running around, the whole making an idiot out of one-self routine. I'll probably go through that exact same routine within a couple of weeks of Ep. III's release.
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Friday, April 01, 2005

Frolfing=Frisbee Golfing

A recently added feature to the university that I attend is a frisbee golf course. Of course knowing my school the way that I do I should have expected it to be as cheap as possible. The reason that I say that I should have expected it is that they seem to go for "value" over quality. I'm not saying that this paradigm is always bad, typically it's good. It's just in this case going for "value" cheapens the fun of playing the game. This isn't really a big deal since I won't likely be playing frisbee golf all that much but still if the school is going to have a course put in they should at least make it a half way decent one.
 
Update: I played on the frolf course on campus awhile back it wasn't as bad as I had initially thought but still not the best.
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