April 30, 2003

new links

you might notice that Zeke, Jay, and Kitto's blogs have been added to my 'people to see' section. just so you all know.

now reading: Channel Zero: Jennie One- Brian Wood, Becky Cloonan

thecomicman spoke @ 10:52 AM |

April 28, 2003

more disappointing things about 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'

the two new characters (Tom Sawyer and Dorian Gray) are played by two actors (Shane West and Stuart Townsend) who are alumni of two of the worst vampire movies of recent memory ('Dracula 2000' and 'Queen of the Damned').

also, something that hurts me on a personal level: there is apparently a character named Dante Inferno in this film. God that hurts really, really bad.

some things that may be really good or really bad depending on your perspective: the actor that plays Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah) is a 28 year veteran of Indian movies (aka Bollywood). this is his first Hollywood film. also, Stephen Norrington, the director, also directed the first 'Blade' film, the one i enjoyed.

on a happier note, the official title of this movie is not 'LXG,' thank God. this was just something the assholes in marketing decided would look cool on posters.

now reading: Couscous Express- Brian Wood, Brett Weldele

thecomicman spoke @ 05:16 PM |

April 19, 2003

Quite

A wight
With noble light
Can take up arms and smite
His foes regardless of great height.

The knight
Who wins the fight
Is without a doubt right.
Why else would God lend him His might?

In spite
of looming night
And his diminishing sight
He fears God's man more than a sprite.

His plight
fills him with fright
So that he must take flight
And soon become a man contrite.

I write
Brilliantly bright
An epic you deem trite
But i don't take it as a slight.

--Nathaniel Essex, (c) 2003

now reading: Channel Zero- Brian Wood, Warren Ellis

thecomicman spoke @ 01:58 AM |

April 16, 2003

On Why 'Video Girl Ai' is Not as Good as it Should Be or, It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Ai

Yota Moteuchi is in love with Moemi Hayakawa. Unfortunately, Moemi is in love with Yota's best friend and most popular kid in school, Takashi Niimai. Utterly heartbroken, Yota walks the streets of Tokyo until he stumbles upon a video store. He rents an 'explicit' video and takes it home. When he puts the tape in his broken VCR, Ai Amano jumps out to make his life that much more difficult. So begins 'Video Girl Ai.'

As the story progresses, Ai, a magical creature created solely to comfort the man she's with and help him out in anyway possible, begins to fall in love with Yota, turning an already complicated situation almost impossible. The series is funny and heartwarming, and halfway through the fifth episode, the audience wants Yota to forget about Moemi and go with Ai, especially after Yota helps Moemi land Takashi. Even though the audience wants this, they know it is not possible because Moemi is Yota's one true love. Or is she?

After the fifth episode, things take a left turn. Ai's creator, referred to only as 'The Man,' has her recalled because she is defective. A video girl is not supposed to fall in love, something Ai has clearly done. When Yota discovers Ai is missing, he searches day and night to find her. When the video clerk from the video store Ai comes from allows her to speak with Yota one last time, Yota jumps on the chance and follows her into the Video World (not the Dimension of Love, as some of my colleagues have erroneously stated).

The series ends with Yota enduring pain and hardship to save Ai from being crucified and to spend one final moment with her, after being forced to choose between Ai and Moemi. This last episode is where it all falls apart.

The first five episode are all about unrequited love and perseverence in the face of this love. Yota knows for a fact that Moemi loves Takashi, and even though he helps her get Takashi, Yota never loses hope. Takashi, unknowingly the object of Moemi's affections, continually supports his downtrodden friend. Even after he begins dating Moemi, the audience wonders if it is only to further push his friend's cause (Takashi acts like a jerk throughout the relationship and ends it by asking Moemi to make sure she doesn't actually love Yota instead). When Ai enters the equation, she also helps Yota try to get Moemi, even after she has fallen in love with him. Ai gets mad at herself when she does things that jeopardize Yota's chances with Moemi.

This is all for naught, though, because the final episode explicitly states that one should get what one can, when one can. After Yota climbs the glass staircase (a metaphor for love, as 'The Man' deftly explains) to reach Ai, he makes it known what it is he has learned, and that is that one should get what one can, when one can.

This is in direct opposition to the rest of the series. In order for such a turnaround to occur, there needed to be more episodes charting Yota's journey from loving Moemi to loving Ai. And even then the final episode would make no sense. I cannot remember exactly what the exact words Yota utters at the end, but they were akin to 'one should get what one can, when one can.' Even if Yota's decision of Ai were explained more clearly, this last kernel of wisdom would still not make sense in the diegesis of the series. The previous five episodes teach to persevere. Go for the gold, as it were. Pick your girl and never give up. The last episode destroys this by saying that there is no need to get first place, when fifth is readily available.

Overall, this is a very funny, quirky, and sweet story about love and all the hangups that it entails. But the final episode will go down in history as the worst possible way to end a story. Not only does it disagree with everything the previous episodes stated, it also ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, with the audience left wondering what exactly has become of all the characters, Ai and Yota especially.

now reading: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Penguin Classics)- Anonymous, Brian Stone

thecomicman spoke @ 11:02 AM |

April 08, 2003

a little something something

this is something i posted on my Arthurian class' Discussion Board. enjoy:

you know, it's funny that you guys are blaming Morgan and Gawain for the fall of King Arthur when i think it's pretty obvious whose fault it really is. i don't recall neither Morgan nor Gawain, or anyone else really, saying, "Hey Lancelot, go screw the queen."

i have hated Lancelot since i was old enough to know what adultery was. this man, fictional though he may be, embodies everything i despise in humankind. he's this tough sumbitch who goes around doing all these wonderful things and has people left and right praise him for it. but at the end of the day, what does this schmuck do? he goes to his best friend's house and shtups his wife. this man is hypocrisy personified. he calls on God every bloody chance he gets, while committing one of the most grievous sins imaginable (not only is he breaking one of the Ten Commandments, he's also committing one of the seven deadly sins). he lies about this sin (did anyone notice how, even after the seige of Joyeuse Garde was over and he gave the queen back, he still couldn't own up to having slept with her?) and forces many good people to die because of it. and he's French.

God, i hate this man.

now reading: The Death of King Arthur (Penguin Classics)- Anonymous, James Cable

thecomicman spoke @ 03:04 PM |

April 07, 2003

must read

you must all read the short story in this post's 'now reading' section. it is so goddamned good. it is available in the 2001 Best New American Voices. go get it and read it.

as an added incentive for Halifax and Rick, this story was written by a cute Korean girl.

now reading:

thecomicman spoke @ 03:53 PM |

April 06, 2003

lots o' stuff

so, i went to the Cloisters and enjoyed myself. i liked the chapel and the tapestries of the Nine Worthies very much. only bad thing, it's too small. i wish it were bigger.

then, went to see 'Cowboy Bebop' and 'Chicago.' like ET said, 'Bebop' was dubbed, but it was one of the best dubs i've ever heard. i only had a small problem at the beginning matching voice to character, but the was quickly alleviated. 'Cowboy Bebop' was excellent.

'Chicago' was also very good. i enjoyed the 'Be Good to Mama' number, as well as the last one with both Zeta-Jones and Zellwegger.

Saturday, Dan was otherwise detained and so we didn't play D&D. instead, we watched three Leslie Cheung movies: 'Ashes of Time,' 'A Better Tomorrow,' and 'Farewell, My Concubine.' all three were pretty good, with 'Concubine' being the best. 'Ashes' was difficult to understand, but between me, Sam, and ET, we got it all. 'Tomorrow' is an early Woo film, so some of his trademarks are missing (for example, characters actually reload their guns), but it was very enjoyable. and 'Concubine' was amazing. i hate Communists so much.

i caught Daylight Savings Time by accident. my cable box was nice enough to remind me.

finally, Sam, Alex, and i are supposed to watch 'Phone Booth' tonight. we'll see how that goes.

oh, i almost forgot. Sam bought a new tv and it's HUGE! it's so big, i can actually see what i'm shooting at now instead of relying solely on any radar that's given to me.

HUGE!

now reading: The Quest of the Holy Grail (Penguin Classics)- Anonymous, Pauline M. Matarasso

thecomicman spoke @ 04:16 PM |

April 02, 2003

April Fool's

did anyone else enjoy God's April Fool's prank yesterday? real funny, O Lord, making it snow like that on April the bloody first.

thecomicman spoke @ 11:36 AM |

April 01, 2003

...

It has occured to me that i have no defining moment. There is no place in time that i can point to and say, "That is what made me what i am." Instead, i am a jumbled collection of memories, lies, conversations, and behaviors.

Why do i feel like i'm being written by a very lazy author who just can't get to the goddamn point?

Where is my moment?

thecomicman spoke @ 03:12 PM |