Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
09 January 2014
New MSTing! 'Two Worlds: Discovering Good Hearts'
Holy crap, could it be? Another new MSTing from us in only *six* months time!? Seriously though, we're very happy to present to you our latest MSTing 'Two Worlds: Discovering Good Hearts', which you can find linked at www.nabiki.com/mst/recent. Zoogz was also nice enough to post a link there to my first Let's Play of the adventure game 'Paul Quest', if you're interested in checking it out. We hope you enjoy our work and comments are always welcome!
01 September 2013
#2LR Too Late Review: Epic
There's more than a little to report as the calendar shifts to September. Our little blog is about to crest 10,000 hits, which is certainly not exactly a big deal in the Land of Internet... spamlink posts designed to get little ol' me to click on them probably contributed around 350-500 of these hits, so it's really a hollow number regardless. At the very least, we're getting roughly the same number of legitimate hits per month, 350-500, and I thank you all for reading our musings and reviews. It's been about a year or so since I started posting more frequently, and I can see that there's interest in the numbers. Thanks for everyone, you readers are on the cutting edge of this ride and I hope that you all enjoy it.
I'm also typing this on my fixed laptop. Best Buy *wants* you to buy a new laptop, hence the $300-$700 quote. HP is at least slightly interested in keeping their equipment running. $200 later, my screen works and all of the niggling little things (loose battery packs, cameras that don't work, etc.) are taken care of. It's $200 that I didn't want to spend, but those people at HP managed to turn around my service call in only two days flat... I boxed up the package on a Wednesday, HP received it, fixed it, and boxed it back up on Thursday, and I had it back in my hands by Friday. Thankfully, HP didn't do a system refresh on it, so I don't have to spend the next two weeks figuring out what software was and wasn't installed. I'm both grateful and annoyed at the same time... gratenoyed? ann-ateful?
Which leads me to tonight's review. I'm at least as current as it gets around here, reviewing the movie Epic, which was released in late May of 2013. The movie is based on a book by William Joyce, which I had never read before anyway... you're getting nothing but critique without the Harry Potter-ish book insights or complaints.
Spoiler space below:
In some indeterminate forest, there's a fight in the air between little skull dudes on larger black birds (ravens?) and little dudes in green armor, riding ruby-throated hummingbirds. The little skull dudes -- "Boggans" -- always seem to outnumber the green armor dudes -- "Leafmen", but the Leafmen manage to make up for it with better tactics and the ability to take out multiple Boggans.
One of the Leafmen is woefully out of place, Nod. He pulls multiple Beetle Baileys and is ultimately kicked out of the Leafmen ranks for not being a team player by another of the protagonists, Ronin. Ronin carries himself rather like a stereotypical Japanese warrior, between the kendo-style armor (without faceguard), the katana blade, and the hand holding the blade, where one thumb is enough to expose the blade to show that "he means business".
In the world of us regular-sized people, Mary Katherine (MK) is being dropped off at a solitary house in the woods. Her father Bomba has wired the whole forest for sound, trying to keep an eye on the little people with all the cameras he's rigged in the forest. He's meticulous, keeping a map of all the contacts, and even has a miniature display of Boggan armor.
Back to the little people, the Queen of the Forest has to hand her powers over soon. She helps everything to live, while the Boggans derive the power to decay from their leader. The night that the story opens is the important one, as she needs to pick a pod in order to transfer her power, and the pod has to bloom by the light of the full moon on the summer solstice. (Time to set up a new system, Queenie.)
Meanwhile, MK finds that she's not crazy living with dear obsessed Dad after a short time and ends up writing a goodbye note. She packs her bag and calls the taxi to depart. However, the little three-legged, one-eyed dog escapes the house, and MK chases after it.
As the queen and the Leafmen come back from pod-picking, they get ambushed by Boggans. The Queen ends up shot through the chest, and at the same time MK and the dog bust onto the scene. MK happens across the odd little panorama, and the queen's magic ends up shrinking MK to little-person size, with instructions on how to deal with the pod.
From here, Nod, Ronin, MK, and the two slug pod caretakers end up on a whirlwind adventure, getting instructions from one of the oldest trees in the forest via a caterpillar, to losing the pod, to infiltrating the Boggan headquarters, to almost getting caught by obsessive-compulsive Daddy, to almost failing when the pod is to be opened via the moonlight. MK figures out why the Queen used her magic to call MK into the land of little people, as she serves as the conduit to her father who's able to deal with the Boggan menace and save the day at the end.
Refreshingly, the story ends as Nod and MK share one last kiss, and she returns to full size. She realizes her dad isn't a complete kook, definitely wants to stay by the forest so that she can talk to Nod via the forest webcams, and finds out that her place in life is in the forest. (For the time being, at least.)
Spoiler space over.
It's quite a bit up there, isn't it? Originally, I was going to just shrug my shoulders and give up, because the screenwriters packed in a lot of stuff into the movie, including frogs, vast multitudes of talking plants, all the odd mythos that I had a bit of a hard time keeping up with, and so on. This is a movie that you can't just get up to refresh your drink or go get some popcorn... either you're going to miss a portion of a fight sequence that you need to keep up with what's going on, or you're going to miss a plot point that will be important at some time in the future. This movie is dense.
Our family bought the movie and decided to have a family night watching it, and I can tell how the movie was with the reactions of our children:
11-year-old: mostly interested.
10-year-old: at times, dozed off. Other times, watched.
7-year-old: as interested in cuddling as in watching the film.
3-year-old: playing on my legs like a jungle gym.
When the ten-year-old talked to us after the movie, he expressed interest in watching it again. I asked him why, as we had watched it last night, and he mentioned that he was asleep through a few portions but wanted to see them in context again.
So, I suppose that this will be the basis of my final grade for this movie. The action sequences are typically fun if a bit dizzying, the plot is dense and dizzying unless you're really giving some attention to the movie, and if you do it does feel like you've seen a long, twisty-turny story. This movie is not a pass-the-time movie, it's a "give me ATTENSHUNS! nom nom nom" movie. The only issue is that you have to keep yourself interested in the movie to keep going forward, and if you lose focus.... you're in the net, watching the other tightrope walkers try to balance their way across to the denouement.
Final review: 2.3
I'm also typing this on my fixed laptop. Best Buy *wants* you to buy a new laptop, hence the $300-$700 quote. HP is at least slightly interested in keeping their equipment running. $200 later, my screen works and all of the niggling little things (loose battery packs, cameras that don't work, etc.) are taken care of. It's $200 that I didn't want to spend, but those people at HP managed to turn around my service call in only two days flat... I boxed up the package on a Wednesday, HP received it, fixed it, and boxed it back up on Thursday, and I had it back in my hands by Friday. Thankfully, HP didn't do a system refresh on it, so I don't have to spend the next two weeks figuring out what software was and wasn't installed. I'm both grateful and annoyed at the same time... gratenoyed? ann-ateful?
Which leads me to tonight's review. I'm at least as current as it gets around here, reviewing the movie Epic, which was released in late May of 2013. The movie is based on a book by William Joyce, which I had never read before anyway... you're getting nothing but critique without the Harry Potter-ish book insights or complaints.
Spoiler space below:
In some indeterminate forest, there's a fight in the air between little skull dudes on larger black birds (ravens?) and little dudes in green armor, riding ruby-throated hummingbirds. The little skull dudes -- "Boggans" -- always seem to outnumber the green armor dudes -- "Leafmen", but the Leafmen manage to make up for it with better tactics and the ability to take out multiple Boggans.
One of the Leafmen is woefully out of place, Nod. He pulls multiple Beetle Baileys and is ultimately kicked out of the Leafmen ranks for not being a team player by another of the protagonists, Ronin. Ronin carries himself rather like a stereotypical Japanese warrior, between the kendo-style armor (without faceguard), the katana blade, and the hand holding the blade, where one thumb is enough to expose the blade to show that "he means business".
In the world of us regular-sized people, Mary Katherine (MK) is being dropped off at a solitary house in the woods. Her father Bomba has wired the whole forest for sound, trying to keep an eye on the little people with all the cameras he's rigged in the forest. He's meticulous, keeping a map of all the contacts, and even has a miniature display of Boggan armor.
Back to the little people, the Queen of the Forest has to hand her powers over soon. She helps everything to live, while the Boggans derive the power to decay from their leader. The night that the story opens is the important one, as she needs to pick a pod in order to transfer her power, and the pod has to bloom by the light of the full moon on the summer solstice. (Time to set up a new system, Queenie.)
Meanwhile, MK finds that she's not crazy living with dear obsessed Dad after a short time and ends up writing a goodbye note. She packs her bag and calls the taxi to depart. However, the little three-legged, one-eyed dog escapes the house, and MK chases after it.
As the queen and the Leafmen come back from pod-picking, they get ambushed by Boggans. The Queen ends up shot through the chest, and at the same time MK and the dog bust onto the scene. MK happens across the odd little panorama, and the queen's magic ends up shrinking MK to little-person size, with instructions on how to deal with the pod.
From here, Nod, Ronin, MK, and the two slug pod caretakers end up on a whirlwind adventure, getting instructions from one of the oldest trees in the forest via a caterpillar, to losing the pod, to infiltrating the Boggan headquarters, to almost getting caught by obsessive-compulsive Daddy, to almost failing when the pod is to be opened via the moonlight. MK figures out why the Queen used her magic to call MK into the land of little people, as she serves as the conduit to her father who's able to deal with the Boggan menace and save the day at the end.
Refreshingly, the story ends as Nod and MK share one last kiss, and she returns to full size. She realizes her dad isn't a complete kook, definitely wants to stay by the forest so that she can talk to Nod via the forest webcams, and finds out that her place in life is in the forest. (For the time being, at least.)
Spoiler space over.
It's quite a bit up there, isn't it? Originally, I was going to just shrug my shoulders and give up, because the screenwriters packed in a lot of stuff into the movie, including frogs, vast multitudes of talking plants, all the odd mythos that I had a bit of a hard time keeping up with, and so on. This is a movie that you can't just get up to refresh your drink or go get some popcorn... either you're going to miss a portion of a fight sequence that you need to keep up with what's going on, or you're going to miss a plot point that will be important at some time in the future. This movie is dense.
Our family bought the movie and decided to have a family night watching it, and I can tell how the movie was with the reactions of our children:
11-year-old: mostly interested.
10-year-old: at times, dozed off. Other times, watched.
7-year-old: as interested in cuddling as in watching the film.
3-year-old: playing on my legs like a jungle gym.
When the ten-year-old talked to us after the movie, he expressed interest in watching it again. I asked him why, as we had watched it last night, and he mentioned that he was asleep through a few portions but wanted to see them in context again.
So, I suppose that this will be the basis of my final grade for this movie. The action sequences are typically fun if a bit dizzying, the plot is dense and dizzying unless you're really giving some attention to the movie, and if you do it does feel like you've seen a long, twisty-turny story. This movie is not a pass-the-time movie, it's a "give me ATTENSHUNS! nom nom nom" movie. The only issue is that you have to keep yourself interested in the movie to keep going forward, and if you lose focus.... you're in the net, watching the other tightrope walkers try to balance their way across to the denouement.
Final review: 2.3
15 June 2013
New MSTing... now at nabiki.com/mst!
After a bit of a website access snafu, we've finally updated A MSTing For All Seasons with the new Megane 6.7 MSTing! You can find it linked at the Recent Updates page if you go to www.nabiki.com/mst. I also updated our frontpage to include our Twitter and Google+ links. Enjoy the new content!
31 May 2013
New MSTing!
In a once-a-year (or even once every two years!) announcement, Megane 6.7 and I have published another brand-new MSTing. It's not available at our main A MSTing For All Seasons site due to access issues that will hopefully be rectified shortly. It can, however, be read at Mediaminer by following this link . Thank you for all your support and patience!
24 December 2011
Happy Holidays and Movie Review: Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind
Happy holidays everyone! I hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable season through Christmas, the New Year, and all of the other holidays that you, your friends, and your family enjoy celebrating.
I'm glad to be able to post again for a second time in a month, and both the holiday well-wishes as well as the subject of the post (movie review!) are good excuses. You can likely tell that I'm not the tweeting type, and I need to have at least something substantive to put on the blog. I opened this blog up so many years ago for two main reasons... one was to make sure that people knew that both Megane and myself were still active and posting. The non-cynical reason was so that I could post quick-hit reviews of MSTings, movies, and other stuff that came our way (like Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic).
Unfortunately, the world of online MSTing has all but dried up, so that leaves movie / television show / anime reviews. Again, many thanks to NetFlix for tonight's selection, the 1984 Studio Ghibli production of Nausicca in the Valley of the Wind
As quickly as the movie starts, the art is already off of the charts. The initial scene (a deserted city) is empty of people, but it is still filled... with artifacts of plants, fungi, and animals (specifically insects). Spore sacs blast pink clouds and the art gains more color, though it is still a bizarre mix of Dr. Seuss with realism, almost as if the artists were trying to figure out all of what they could get away with and still be believed.
And this is a world that will allow you to immerse yourself into it. On the outside looking in, I can see where some people may immediately fold their arms and refuse to believe in a world were the "toxic jungle" is coming to wipe out all humanity, especially if they are of the opinion that ecology (and specifically pollution) is not a major concern. The world is just different enough (and there's so little ability for the story to try to latch on to "Earth history" so to speak) that this may as well be one of the planets surrounding Alpha Centauri.
It is a longer movie, and there's quite a few messages that Studio Ghibli packed into it. The aforementioned ecology message (which seemed very similar to the one in Mononoke Hime), the pacifism of the main character who is very adamant about the lack of necessity of killing, and her very singular focus on not only trying to understand the world around her, but actually LIVING in the world around her. Nausicaa is the type of person that will adapt to any situation and immediately be not only trying to figure out how she can make herself work with it, but she would be thinking of all of the characters around her first.
I say that, and maybe this may be the start of a few posts in this subject, but the above description may sound like a Mary Sue. I truly believe that this is not the case. She does have clouded decisions, the pacifism at one point turns into a rather bad decision down the road as the rest of the world intrudes on Nausicaa's titular valley, and seems so very reckless in many cases. The selflessness would almost become overbearing, and there's probably a terrific article lurking somewhere about how Miyazaki was able to show a protagonist that had so few "flaws" but still felt... human.
While the soundtrack did dip into the 80's in a few regrettable spots, overall it was a terrific movie and very understandable why both Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli were able to build such a subsequent catalog of movies. This movie is definitely between a 3 and a 4, and I would certainly enjoy seeing it again when given the chance. There are certainly places that can be pointed out as weaknesses, but the movie is overall terrific and you'll almost find yourself not necessarily as a viewer but as an experiencer.
We'll see you again in 2012, hopefully with our completed project soon!
I'm glad to be able to post again for a second time in a month, and both the holiday well-wishes as well as the subject of the post (movie review!) are good excuses. You can likely tell that I'm not the tweeting type, and I need to have at least something substantive to put on the blog. I opened this blog up so many years ago for two main reasons... one was to make sure that people knew that both Megane and myself were still active and posting. The non-cynical reason was so that I could post quick-hit reviews of MSTings, movies, and other stuff that came our way (like Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic).
Unfortunately, the world of online MSTing has all but dried up, so that leaves movie / television show / anime reviews. Again, many thanks to NetFlix for tonight's selection, the 1984 Studio Ghibli production of Nausicca in the Valley of the Wind
As quickly as the movie starts, the art is already off of the charts. The initial scene (a deserted city) is empty of people, but it is still filled... with artifacts of plants, fungi, and animals (specifically insects). Spore sacs blast pink clouds and the art gains more color, though it is still a bizarre mix of Dr. Seuss with realism, almost as if the artists were trying to figure out all of what they could get away with and still be believed.
And this is a world that will allow you to immerse yourself into it. On the outside looking in, I can see where some people may immediately fold their arms and refuse to believe in a world were the "toxic jungle" is coming to wipe out all humanity, especially if they are of the opinion that ecology (and specifically pollution) is not a major concern. The world is just different enough (and there's so little ability for the story to try to latch on to "Earth history" so to speak) that this may as well be one of the planets surrounding Alpha Centauri.
It is a longer movie, and there's quite a few messages that Studio Ghibli packed into it. The aforementioned ecology message (which seemed very similar to the one in Mononoke Hime), the pacifism of the main character who is very adamant about the lack of necessity of killing, and her very singular focus on not only trying to understand the world around her, but actually LIVING in the world around her. Nausicaa is the type of person that will adapt to any situation and immediately be not only trying to figure out how she can make herself work with it, but she would be thinking of all of the characters around her first.
I say that, and maybe this may be the start of a few posts in this subject, but the above description may sound like a Mary Sue. I truly believe that this is not the case. She does have clouded decisions, the pacifism at one point turns into a rather bad decision down the road as the rest of the world intrudes on Nausicaa's titular valley, and seems so very reckless in many cases. The selflessness would almost become overbearing, and there's probably a terrific article lurking somewhere about how Miyazaki was able to show a protagonist that had so few "flaws" but still felt... human.
While the soundtrack did dip into the 80's in a few regrettable spots, overall it was a terrific movie and very understandable why both Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli were able to build such a subsequent catalog of movies. This movie is definitely between a 3 and a 4, and I would certainly enjoy seeing it again when given the chance. There are certainly places that can be pointed out as weaknesses, but the movie is overall terrific and you'll almost find yourself not necessarily as a viewer but as an experiencer.
We'll see you again in 2012, hopefully with our completed project soon!
17 January 2011
New MSTing: "[None yet Suggestions welcome in Review!]"
Hey folks,
Megane 6.7 and I have finished our latest MSTing, to a Sailor Moon 'fic that went strangely untitled. There's a chess tournament, Canada, tons of senshi, and even more Sailor Mercury. It can be found at the top of our Recent Projects page on the main site, or at the direct links below:
Part 1: http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/none3k11.txt
Part 2: http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/none3k12.txt
Part 3: http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/none3k13.txt
Within the next couple days I'll have another blog post as well. Thanks for your patience and we hope you enjoy the MSTing!
Megane 6.7 and I have finished our latest MSTing, to a Sailor Moon 'fic that went strangely untitled. There's a chess tournament, Canada, tons of senshi, and even more Sailor Mercury. It can be found at the top of our Recent Projects page on the main site, or at the direct links below:
Part 1: http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/none3k11.txt
Part 2: http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/none3k12.txt
Part 3: http://www.nabiki.com/mst/recent/none3k13.txt
Within the next couple days I'll have another blog post as well. Thanks for your patience and we hope you enjoy the MSTing!
01 October 2010
Now, four weeks have passed...
Well, I now know what this blog will be like without my incessant complaining; silent. I don't know if this is an improvement or not, to be honest. I am absolutely thrilled that I really am far happier where I am compared to where I was. There have been bumps in our road, essentially all the transitioning costs plus the disposition of the house that we left behind in Michigan... but to be honest, these are not major issues that require a lot of emotion, they are just things to deal with and move on.
I am still trying to get schedules down though, and Meg and I are extremely close to finishing our first draft of the latest MSTing. I am still looking forward to watching more anime, attending Youmacon in Detroit during Halloween weekend, and posting when I have something good to say. Now, hopefully, the posts will be far more on-topic than before.
Cheers!
I am still trying to get schedules down though, and Meg and I are extremely close to finishing our first draft of the latest MSTing. I am still looking forward to watching more anime, attending Youmacon in Detroit during Halloween weekend, and posting when I have something good to say. Now, hopefully, the posts will be far more on-topic than before.
Cheers!
06 August 2010
Yes!!
I received an offer letter today. I'm not sure that I could have received a better offer letter even if I stayed in the market another six months. As it is, I am very impressed with the company and the culture, especially compared to BigConglomCoInc's dysfunction.
Of course, this will bring about its own set of new problems, challenges, and pitfalls. This position's most major upside is that I will not have the crushing money issues that I've dealt with... pretty much my entire post-graduated adult life. This is the place that I can stay for a few years and finally rid myself of the debt of being unemployed for all of six months way back in 2003.
I'm not sure if I'd covered this topic before, but due to this time of being unemployed my family lived on credit cards rather than an income. One of the many credit cards we've had through that time has a high balance on it, though it's only between 5k - 10k. Now that federal law tells credit card companies to publish the amount of time it takes to pay off a credit card, we have been informed by this ONE company (we deal with about three or four total, multiple cards) that if we pay the minimum, we will have repaid our debt five times over with the interest charges and it will take us until age 60 to do so. This is *multiple* decades, for those of you who think I'm already archaic. And this is the story with more than a couple other credit cards that we've had to deploy in order to make up the difference between poverty and semi-poverty.
Well, I can do without that kind of crap, and I will finally have the path with which I can take in order to do without that kind of crap. There are challenges, but the ability to move from my area of the country with highly depressed wages, getting away from BigConglomCoInc's idiocy and backwards business methods, AND getting more money... is a win-win-win in my book.
So... you'll still probably get status updates from me about the transition, but you don't have to endure too many more whiny posts from me. To bring this post back to some semblance of being on-topic, I am five episodes away from completing My HiME and I have been pretty happy with the plot and developments leading to the final battle. I must admit that the show has taken a turn or three that I did not see coming, and I love when shows do that. I'd far rather be kept on my feet than fed clichés, even if the plot twists could have been handled better. Queued up following this is Mai Otome. Hopefully, I will remain as excited to go through to the sequel as I am to finish the first series.
Of course, this will bring about its own set of new problems, challenges, and pitfalls. This position's most major upside is that I will not have the crushing money issues that I've dealt with... pretty much my entire post-graduated adult life. This is the place that I can stay for a few years and finally rid myself of the debt of being unemployed for all of six months way back in 2003.
I'm not sure if I'd covered this topic before, but due to this time of being unemployed my family lived on credit cards rather than an income. One of the many credit cards we've had through that time has a high balance on it, though it's only between 5k - 10k. Now that federal law tells credit card companies to publish the amount of time it takes to pay off a credit card, we have been informed by this ONE company (we deal with about three or four total, multiple cards) that if we pay the minimum, we will have repaid our debt five times over with the interest charges and it will take us until age 60 to do so. This is *multiple* decades, for those of you who think I'm already archaic. And this is the story with more than a couple other credit cards that we've had to deploy in order to make up the difference between poverty and semi-poverty.
Well, I can do without that kind of crap, and I will finally have the path with which I can take in order to do without that kind of crap. There are challenges, but the ability to move from my area of the country with highly depressed wages, getting away from BigConglomCoInc's idiocy and backwards business methods, AND getting more money... is a win-win-win in my book.
So... you'll still probably get status updates from me about the transition, but you don't have to endure too many more whiny posts from me. To bring this post back to some semblance of being on-topic, I am five episodes away from completing My HiME and I have been pretty happy with the plot and developments leading to the final battle. I must admit that the show has taken a turn or three that I did not see coming, and I love when shows do that. I'd far rather be kept on my feet than fed clichés, even if the plot twists could have been handled better. Queued up following this is Mai Otome. Hopefully, I will remain as excited to go through to the sequel as I am to finish the first series.
03 August 2010
One down, one to go:
Another quick post, because this current swing is not through yet. I have felt as if I was in some sort of weird movie through the last two days, though. I hope that there will be some calmness as I finish the last few steps and head back home. Even if there is nothing of note to report following my post today, there's more than I can put down within the next fifteen minutes prior to my next appointment. Suffice it to say that the cancelled flight was very unhelpful. I still have to deal with the airline provider later tonight, so I won't be blabbing until after everything's said and done... there's still time for rectification, or a full-out double-barreled frontal assault.
In the next couple days, there will be time for either one extremely long post or a couple of broken-up posts about this extended weekend. Unfortunately, there is not much in the way of a content update except that Megane 6.7 and I are moving ever closer to finishing the first draft of the latest MSTing, and we may also have a target for the next MSTing already. For those people who remember the past few reviews I put up, we found a story that has a newer series as its focus. We're still kind of looking it through, but hopefully if we think that it has good potential we'll be able to gain permission for the story. It's not a very long story, so there's a distinct chance that we will have a fairly decent turnaround through the next few months. (No promises though.)
It's heating back up out there again, so stay frosty!
In the next couple days, there will be time for either one extremely long post or a couple of broken-up posts about this extended weekend. Unfortunately, there is not much in the way of a content update except that Megane 6.7 and I are moving ever closer to finishing the first draft of the latest MSTing, and we may also have a target for the next MSTing already. For those people who remember the past few reviews I put up, we found a story that has a newer series as its focus. We're still kind of looking it through, but hopefully if we think that it has good potential we'll be able to gain permission for the story. It's not a very long story, so there's a distinct chance that we will have a fairly decent turnaround through the next few months. (No promises though.)
It's heating back up out there again, so stay frosty!
06 July 2010
The "no new news" update:
Just what it says above. About the only thing of note, other than the lack of responses to my resume, is that I've finally received my copy of Mai Hime and I will likely be starting that shortly. My last note is that I echo all Megane 6.7 related below about "Danger on Tiki Island", it's a very solid Cinematic Titanic offering. The jokes were great, there were a few terrific riffs (Mary Jo stepped up big time when the female lead first met the monster), and the crowd had a good energy about them. If I were to have only one complaint, it would be the rapid-fire riffing that started the show... it's almost as if they threw everything against the wall to see what would stick.
It's been HOT the past few days here, I'm hoping that the heat will break soon. I'm not sure if I've been quite so irritable as I've been the past three days. My one day off (5 July) was not enjoyable in the least because of all the heat. I can't wait for Friday and cooler temperatures, it's a group Rifftrax night... talking to Meg while Avatar and its accompanying Rifftrax plays behind.
Please, everyone, stay frosty!
It's been HOT the past few days here, I'm hoping that the heat will break soon. I'm not sure if I've been quite so irritable as I've been the past three days. My one day off (5 July) was not enjoyable in the least because of all the heat. I can't wait for Friday and cooler temperatures, it's a group Rifftrax night... talking to Meg while Avatar and its accompanying Rifftrax plays behind.
Please, everyone, stay frosty!
21 June 2010
Update on life and Fate/Stay Night
Hey again folks,
So far, I'm at episode seventeen of Fate/Stay Night. This show is as plot-driven as Azumanga is character-driven. (Okay, warning, possible spoilers ahead here too)
It's a good thing that Fate/Stay Night is more plot, because I'm not crazy about the main protagonist. From what I was reading online, the source for Fate/Stay Night was a hentai videogame, which was first cut back into a videogame, which was then adapted to the screen.
A dispassionate viewer can tell these things, because as I have continued the series it's become more of a harem-building as it goes along. So far, the harem count is at five. There's still eight episodes left for that number to go up too. I mention this because this is one of the few subtypes of anime plot that to me is just unbelievable. There's really no analog to this plot in Western drama or shows, yet it pops up every once in a while in anime. It must just be a cultural or wish-fulfillment thing that makes this subgenre tick.
It's a shame, because the rest of the series has been pretty decent with the overall story. Even if the main protagonist is a doofus, the plot they've built around him has been interesting and there are some nicely-animated fight sequences.
I'm too late to stop watching, as I've covered two-thirds of the show and I am curious how they will resolve the plot. I'm almost to the point of fast-forwarding some of the scenes though, and have only held off because I figure they may attempt to advance the plot while I'm least expecting it.
I think I spoiled myself finding both The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Azumanga Daioh as the first two series to jump back into anime with. Both were fascinating and while they each had a couple of slow or dull spots, I remain very impressed with the product as a whole even a few weeks later.
If both shows were a 10 (forced to choose, I'd pick Azumanga by only a hair), this one is treading a 6. The odd part is that it started at a 6, getting into the plot nudged it into a 7, but the main protag took it back to a 6, the harem stuff started knocking it down further, but the fight sequence in Ep. 14 was terrific and gave it a notch back. There's a LOT of ground for this one to make up, and unless the ending is stellar (or completely terrible) I don't think the 6 will be changing.
The worst part is that it could've been a solid 8, something that'd be worth revisiting every once in a while and would be worth looking up fanfiction for. The plot of the show, the overarching story driving the plot (even the super-magical MacGuffin) could lead to many interesting stories, but not with these characters. Hopefully, the remaining third redeems it somewhat, but this may be my final review depending on how it ends.
Work, as if they couldn't have tried harder, has become worse. It is now tied to the fact that all of us peons have had our status change, from salaried to hourly workers. Now, the almighty clock becomes our enemy, as if we hadn't had enough enemies to choose from to begin with. Of course, it's only the lowest-level of workers that this is happening to, our management is so not hourly because they'd be like given eleventy billion hours of overtime weekly because of all the awesome work they do.
The worst part is that they've "assured" us that our salary and none of the other perks (vacation time, insurance, etc.) will change in the future. This gives me zero confidence, because they've already changed a major fundamental piece of my compensation and I won't be the least bit surprised to hear, six months from now, "We've got to change you all to put you in line with other hourly workers." I've played the hourly game exactly once, as a contractor a long time ago. I'd never wanted to deal with it again. Every single job since then that I've taken has been salaried.
Now, without any choice, I'm back to the tyranny of the clock. Making peanuts. Watching others get big bucks due to work relationships rather than due to effort and/or ability. And now, the sledgehammer is close enough to all our heads to be plainly visible instead of lost in the fog (or hidden behind management's back). At least this final swing is slow enough that hopefully moving out of the way (i.e. finding another job) is possible, though this absolutely puts my educational plans in a complete bind.
Thankfully, lately, we've been able to resolve more than a few issues. This weekend, it was the below family issues... they're finally mending, and it's something that we don't have to spend time feeling bad or worrying about. Now, it's just this. I hope that the same magical fix-it tape that's fixed the other problems below is not out of tape yet.
So far, I'm at episode seventeen of Fate/Stay Night. This show is as plot-driven as Azumanga is character-driven. (Okay, warning, possible spoilers ahead here too)
It's a good thing that Fate/Stay Night is more plot, because I'm not crazy about the main protagonist. From what I was reading online, the source for Fate/Stay Night was a hentai videogame, which was first cut back into a videogame, which was then adapted to the screen.
A dispassionate viewer can tell these things, because as I have continued the series it's become more of a harem-building as it goes along. So far, the harem count is at five. There's still eight episodes left for that number to go up too. I mention this because this is one of the few subtypes of anime plot that to me is just unbelievable. There's really no analog to this plot in Western drama or shows, yet it pops up every once in a while in anime. It must just be a cultural or wish-fulfillment thing that makes this subgenre tick.
It's a shame, because the rest of the series has been pretty decent with the overall story. Even if the main protagonist is a doofus, the plot they've built around him has been interesting and there are some nicely-animated fight sequences.
I'm too late to stop watching, as I've covered two-thirds of the show and I am curious how they will resolve the plot. I'm almost to the point of fast-forwarding some of the scenes though, and have only held off because I figure they may attempt to advance the plot while I'm least expecting it.
I think I spoiled myself finding both The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Azumanga Daioh as the first two series to jump back into anime with. Both were fascinating and while they each had a couple of slow or dull spots, I remain very impressed with the product as a whole even a few weeks later.
If both shows were a 10 (forced to choose, I'd pick Azumanga by only a hair), this one is treading a 6. The odd part is that it started at a 6, getting into the plot nudged it into a 7, but the main protag took it back to a 6, the harem stuff started knocking it down further, but the fight sequence in Ep. 14 was terrific and gave it a notch back. There's a LOT of ground for this one to make up, and unless the ending is stellar (or completely terrible) I don't think the 6 will be changing.
The worst part is that it could've been a solid 8, something that'd be worth revisiting every once in a while and would be worth looking up fanfiction for. The plot of the show, the overarching story driving the plot (even the super-magical MacGuffin) could lead to many interesting stories, but not with these characters. Hopefully, the remaining third redeems it somewhat, but this may be my final review depending on how it ends.
Work, as if they couldn't have tried harder, has become worse. It is now tied to the fact that all of us peons have had our status change, from salaried to hourly workers. Now, the almighty clock becomes our enemy, as if we hadn't had enough enemies to choose from to begin with. Of course, it's only the lowest-level of workers that this is happening to, our management is so not hourly because they'd be like given eleventy billion hours of overtime weekly because of all the awesome work they do.
The worst part is that they've "assured" us that our salary and none of the other perks (vacation time, insurance, etc.) will change in the future. This gives me zero confidence, because they've already changed a major fundamental piece of my compensation and I won't be the least bit surprised to hear, six months from now, "We've got to change you all to put you in line with other hourly workers." I've played the hourly game exactly once, as a contractor a long time ago. I'd never wanted to deal with it again. Every single job since then that I've taken has been salaried.
Now, without any choice, I'm back to the tyranny of the clock. Making peanuts. Watching others get big bucks due to work relationships rather than due to effort and/or ability. And now, the sledgehammer is close enough to all our heads to be plainly visible instead of lost in the fog (or hidden behind management's back). At least this final swing is slow enough that hopefully moving out of the way (i.e. finding another job) is possible, though this absolutely puts my educational plans in a complete bind.
Thankfully, lately, we've been able to resolve more than a few issues. This weekend, it was the below family issues... they're finally mending, and it's something that we don't have to spend time feeling bad or worrying about. Now, it's just this. I hope that the same magical fix-it tape that's fixed the other problems below is not out of tape yet.
27 November 2009
We're still here.
Rifftrax is coming out with another theater presentation of Rifftrax, this time with Christmas shorts in mid-December. Even so, I still miss the old MST3k with the songs and the characters. On the other hand, it was a mini-success for ten years, so maybe in another decade someone else will give the concept a go. By that time, we can get all of the 80's schlock (at least, the stuff that may not get covered by Rifftrax) up onto the MST3k screen.
Megane and I are still working to get another MSTing out. Thankfully, my schedule has finally shaken out a bit better to be able to write with him. I will likely be casting about for another target shortly though, as the one that we're doing is coming close to first-edit completion.
Seven years after getting my bachelor's degree, I'm back to school. It really is amazing... I have a family at home, and a regular 8-5 job, but when I walk onto that campus for my masters' degree courses I feel a rush of nostalgia for the days when I was pursuing my bachelor's degree. And all the free time. Wow, that was a ton of free time. Boy, do I miss it a ton too.
One of the major ways my schedule is getting better is a new laptop. I commute to work on the city bus, which is no mean feat in Detroit, MI.... home of the automobile. This means that a twenty-minute drive turns into a seventy-minute bus ride, not to mention the walking involved in getting to and from bus stops. However, the laptop has enabled me to write where it was not very possible before; has anyone really tried writing on a bus (NOT a train) where the best you can hope for is for not many bumps? (Have I told you about Detroit roads? There's lots of cars, to keep it simple...)
Anyway, this means that I can *hopefully* up the output from my side as well. There's been a bunch of recent hits as far as real life is concerned, but they were like driving over a very bumpy road rather than spinning out into the ditch. In other words, I'm still going forward, though more shaken than before. At least I still have employment, and I'm still going forward as far as career goes, and therefore I will see about writing some more to get these ideas out and recorded rather than keeping them all in.
For the few fans of MST3k still out there, keep circulating the tapes. It's so wonderfully low-tech around here, with the monochrome website, videotapes going into VCRs to see below-zero grade special effects... if anything in this world can be labelled simple, even if it's mid-90s technology, it is in the joking protest to pop-culture that MST3k has at its heart... the ability to point at the Emperor because his junk is hanging free, for all to see.
Lastly, thank you all for your support.
Megane and I are still working to get another MSTing out. Thankfully, my schedule has finally shaken out a bit better to be able to write with him. I will likely be casting about for another target shortly though, as the one that we're doing is coming close to first-edit completion.
Seven years after getting my bachelor's degree, I'm back to school. It really is amazing... I have a family at home, and a regular 8-5 job, but when I walk onto that campus for my masters' degree courses I feel a rush of nostalgia for the days when I was pursuing my bachelor's degree. And all the free time. Wow, that was a ton of free time. Boy, do I miss it a ton too.
One of the major ways my schedule is getting better is a new laptop. I commute to work on the city bus, which is no mean feat in Detroit, MI.... home of the automobile. This means that a twenty-minute drive turns into a seventy-minute bus ride, not to mention the walking involved in getting to and from bus stops. However, the laptop has enabled me to write where it was not very possible before; has anyone really tried writing on a bus (NOT a train) where the best you can hope for is for not many bumps? (Have I told you about Detroit roads? There's lots of cars, to keep it simple...)
Anyway, this means that I can *hopefully* up the output from my side as well. There's been a bunch of recent hits as far as real life is concerned, but they were like driving over a very bumpy road rather than spinning out into the ditch. In other words, I'm still going forward, though more shaken than before. At least I still have employment, and I'm still going forward as far as career goes, and therefore I will see about writing some more to get these ideas out and recorded rather than keeping them all in.
For the few fans of MST3k still out there, keep circulating the tapes. It's so wonderfully low-tech around here, with the monochrome website, videotapes going into VCRs to see below-zero grade special effects... if anything in this world can be labelled simple, even if it's mid-90s technology, it is in the joking protest to pop-culture that MST3k has at its heart... the ability to point at the Emperor because his junk is hanging free, for all to see.
Lastly, thank you all for your support.
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