So I finally remembered what I was going to talk about earlier. The downside is that I've been getting small 15 minute naps all day to make up for the missing 8 hours of sleep, so you'll have to excuse me if I suddenly sounds a little insane.
Anime, as I'm sure you've noticed, is one of my interests and probably vices as well. Naturally, like any good anime fan / Otaku, I have to educate others on the wonder of anime. A few months ago, my family was visited by some friends of my parents, which is fairly common. While discussing some of my interests as small talk, one of them expressed recognition as far as anime went. She was a little misguided though, so I chatted with her a bit about anime. She suspected that it was made of two parts - television shows like Pokemon and cinematic movies like Spirited Away. I really have an issue with that.
You see, popular animation in North America is basically split on such a line. You have cartoon shows that are for children, mostly comedy or comedy and action mixed. Then you have the high-quality movies like what Disney has a history of making or like what CG movies are doing today. Sure, adults can enjoy it - the Simpsons or Family Guy are too 'mature' for most children, but they're still comedy shows at their roots. The only thing that pulls away from this are action shows based on toys or games like G.I. Joe back in the day. They're more pure action, but they're heavy in product placement and character recognition.
Now, I won't try and say that Anime is more noble and better than American animation. Anime is a commercial product as well, and if it wasn't for things like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh and Bedamon or whatever it certainly wouldn't be burying so deep into the American market.
What I will say, as I told that woman, is that Anime isn't a genre. When you think 'Cartoon' you might think Bugs Bunny or Ninja Turtles. It's true that not all American cartoons are that, but Anime has set itself up as a medium. Manga as well emphasizes that, the thick magazines they publish weekly or monthly are set towards obvious groups like young boys, young girls, older men (not porn) and older women.
What brought this up is mostly MuchMusic (It's like Canada's MTV [not to be confused with MTV Canada], but they still have music videos), who have been playing BECK in hour-long blocks at least a couple times a week. BECK, you see, is about young Japanese kid who gets caught up in the start of a brand new band that ends up going all the way. The series takes place over a couple of years and expands his personal development with other people as well as his development as a guitarist, singer and songwriter. I watched the anime when it was originally released in Japan and I really enjoyed it, and the dub is fairly good (though it loses a lot of its early flavor since everyone speaks English - originally there was a lot of fun Engrish). Where else could you have that, really? Need a new music series? I can think of at least another high quality series, NANA (Though it concentrates on relationships). Need realistic Sci-Fi? Cartoony Sci-Fi? Re-imaginations of classic literature? Racing? Team sports? Fantasy series? A show about bread? There's an Anime for every possible genre.
Now, filling Turner Classic Movies with Anime films is asking too much (Though they occasionally show some Ghibli works). Anime just seems like it's underused and misunderstood. People see animation and they suspect that it's either for children or, if it's really violent, gory or full of cursing - older boys. If people weren't afraid of watching, they could get into the drama of a series like Honey and Clover, or enjoy the investigative drama of Stand Alone Complex.
One of the big things that I'd like to see change is the realization that while girls watch 'boy' series with action like Naruto or Inuyasha (Though the latter is like DBZ for girls anyway), you might be able to pull in a larger female audience and sustain a male audience with girl-targeted shows. Fruits Basket comes to mind, Zannen.ca always seemed to be pushing for it, and I think it's a series that could really attracted viewers on, say, YTV's Friday night anime blocks.
Right now, I'm watching so many new animes from Japan I can't always keep track of them. It's up and down from the new-style harem anime Airantou to the otaku slice-of-life Lucky Star and the parody-filled comedy Hayate no Gotoku, back to the hyper-realistic, dark Bokurano, up to the mystic Reideen and further to the wackiness of Gurren-Lagann. Then I can watch some Shonen action from new episodes of Naruto and Bleach, then pull back to the drama of NANA or the situational comedy of Lovely Complex. When I'm in the mood, I'll sit through and episode of the developing Darker Than Black or the gory action of Claymore before loading up the next part of Sola or Rocket Girls. Really, with that kind of selection how can you complain? There's at least something for everyone - as long as you can stomach interesting characters and an intruiging storyline matched with excellent animation from some mere 'cartoon'.
That's all I can say really. MuchMusic's programmers really got my intrigued when they introduced BECK but YTV's regurgitation of Adult Swim is getting tiring as well. And could someone explain to me why Teletoon won't play a single anime series, but fills the evenings with Adult Swim's hand-me-down hit-and-miss 15 minute episode series?
That's all for tonight. Thanks for your time for my ranty little attitude today.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Lost to the Ages
I had something profound to talk about. The topic has completely escaped me in the past several hours and now I fear may never return. So just know that somewhere in the aether is a really good post.
Aside from that: Gurren-Lagann episode 09 was good. Good enough for me to keep watching. So I will continue to suggest the series as a wacky Gainax mecha anime.
Aside from that: Gurren-Lagann episode 09 was good. Good enough for me to keep watching. So I will continue to suggest the series as a wacky Gainax mecha anime.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Movie Night(s)
Well, so today was pretty much a day of rest for the family. With everyone home, my parents wanted to look around the house and make sure that nothing interesting has happened in the gardens, and my little brother is still in a pretty pissy mood, though I'm not sure if that's much of a change.
The really big thing is that my Dad is repeatedly asking to go see Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End. The last time he brought it up, he couldn't remember a single thing about the second film in the trilogy. When he got back from his trip, he suddenly remembered having watched it and now wants to go see the third one.
This creates an interesting issue for me. I want to go see POTC3, but I have someone special I'd like to go with. I don't know when I'll get out to see the film under those circumstances, and unless I get busy this weekend, I'll be dragged out (or at least guilted out) to the film.
I really hope I'm able to get out to see the film. I know that if my parents see it my father will try to be funny and ruin the whole damned thing. Naturally, he'll make fun of my bad attitude when I ask him politely to shut up. He gets like that when he's having a good time.
Here's hoping I can get out to the movies.
The really big thing is that my Dad is repeatedly asking to go see Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End. The last time he brought it up, he couldn't remember a single thing about the second film in the trilogy. When he got back from his trip, he suddenly remembered having watched it and now wants to go see the third one.
This creates an interesting issue for me. I want to go see POTC3, but I have someone special I'd like to go with. I don't know when I'll get out to see the film under those circumstances, and unless I get busy this weekend, I'll be dragged out (or at least guilted out) to the film.
I really hope I'm able to get out to see the film. I know that if my parents see it my father will try to be funny and ruin the whole damned thing. Naturally, he'll make fun of my bad attitude when I ask him politely to shut up. He gets like that when he's having a good time.
Here's hoping I can get out to the movies.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Moving Pains
Well, sorry for not being around, but I had a pretty strenuous weekend so I've been taking it easy.
On Saturday I went out to help a close friend move, and it was almost just one trial after another. Getting to sleep was far tougher than usual. I ended up getting an hour and a half just after midnight, then suddenly couldn't sleep for the next seven hours. I got up again an hour afterwards and was able to shower, shave and eat before heading out about noon.
May is weird. Everyone seems to be moving this month. Could just be a Spring thing.
Anyway, I didn't feel too useful, quite a circle of friends had been gathered for the moving effort, and I often felt like an extra body to shuttle back and forth instead of packed stuff. I'm also not a take-action kind of person, particularly when I'm in someone else's old apartment. I can take orders really well - unpacking a car, loading a car, cleaning a room - that's all fine. But I'll often just stand around when a job's done rather than jumping into a self-made task.
What really felt like a pain in the end was some of the helpers. There were a few that were just around the new apartment to help, so they were useful when they were needed. But everyone was really prone to smoke breaks. It really stretched out packing when cigarettes were handed out every 30 minutes. Also, a few of them - my friend included - had been moving stuff for a different move just yesterday. One among them in particular was in a far-too-usual foul mood, and an expected breakdown stalled the entire event by close to two hours.
Regardless, lots of things were moved and the new apartment looks like a comfy little space, though it needs work to be completely livable. When I finally got home 11 hours later, I felt sick to my stomach, I had a massive headache, my feet were trying to figure out if they wanted to be sore, swollen or bleeding and my legs were cramped up. I pretty much found something to eat while walking past my kitchen and ate before I sat down for more than five minutes. I pretty much crawled into bed and let my legs lock up - I wasn't planning to move for the rest of the night.
Today was more of the same, since strain is always worse the day after (though I suspect tomorrow might be bad). I took some advil for my pain and some other stuff for my still-crazy stomach, and pretty much relaxed the morning away (For some reason, when I'm sore and tired I get small amount of sleep, but when I'm fit and fine I'll oversleep forever).
The rest of my family came home this afternoon, and they're all doing well. My little brother attended Anime North, the biggest (good) convention around here which I couldn't attend due to a complete lack of funds (I spent the last of my money, pretty much change, on Saturday for a Sobe drink and a muffin during one of the long waits for a shipment of packed stuff). My parents returned from their own trip, fairly pleased with whatever went on. Even with the family around it only means that if I talk out loud it's not just to the cats. We weren't very ready to be a family again tonight, it seems.
So right now I'm just relaxing still. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a nice cool day and I can... Well, do whatever it is I do.
On Saturday I went out to help a close friend move, and it was almost just one trial after another. Getting to sleep was far tougher than usual. I ended up getting an hour and a half just after midnight, then suddenly couldn't sleep for the next seven hours. I got up again an hour afterwards and was able to shower, shave and eat before heading out about noon.
May is weird. Everyone seems to be moving this month. Could just be a Spring thing.
Anyway, I didn't feel too useful, quite a circle of friends had been gathered for the moving effort, and I often felt like an extra body to shuttle back and forth instead of packed stuff. I'm also not a take-action kind of person, particularly when I'm in someone else's old apartment. I can take orders really well - unpacking a car, loading a car, cleaning a room - that's all fine. But I'll often just stand around when a job's done rather than jumping into a self-made task.
What really felt like a pain in the end was some of the helpers. There were a few that were just around the new apartment to help, so they were useful when they were needed. But everyone was really prone to smoke breaks. It really stretched out packing when cigarettes were handed out every 30 minutes. Also, a few of them - my friend included - had been moving stuff for a different move just yesterday. One among them in particular was in a far-too-usual foul mood, and an expected breakdown stalled the entire event by close to two hours.
Regardless, lots of things were moved and the new apartment looks like a comfy little space, though it needs work to be completely livable. When I finally got home 11 hours later, I felt sick to my stomach, I had a massive headache, my feet were trying to figure out if they wanted to be sore, swollen or bleeding and my legs were cramped up. I pretty much found something to eat while walking past my kitchen and ate before I sat down for more than five minutes. I pretty much crawled into bed and let my legs lock up - I wasn't planning to move for the rest of the night.
Today was more of the same, since strain is always worse the day after (though I suspect tomorrow might be bad). I took some advil for my pain and some other stuff for my still-crazy stomach, and pretty much relaxed the morning away (For some reason, when I'm sore and tired I get small amount of sleep, but when I'm fit and fine I'll oversleep forever).
The rest of my family came home this afternoon, and they're all doing well. My little brother attended Anime North, the biggest (good) convention around here which I couldn't attend due to a complete lack of funds (I spent the last of my money, pretty much change, on Saturday for a Sobe drink and a muffin during one of the long waits for a shipment of packed stuff). My parents returned from their own trip, fairly pleased with whatever went on. Even with the family around it only means that if I talk out loud it's not just to the cats. We weren't very ready to be a family again tonight, it seems.
So right now I'm just relaxing still. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a nice cool day and I can... Well, do whatever it is I do.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
I've decided to go ahead and try talking a little about an anime series I've been watching. This is a first attempt, so I'm just testing to see how smoothly it all goes. The pictures and descriptions are bound to contain spoilers, so bear with me. The screencaps also include timestamps from when it aired on TV, so I can't help them. Enjoy a look into one of the newer animes from Japan.
It's one of the big series I'm watching new this season, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann has all the makings of a worthwhile series. Now this season is really overfilled with mecha animes, so having something stand out like Gurren-Lagann does is a nice touch to a season with other series I'm enjoying. Another one of Gainax's works, it has a fluid animation style I can best connect with Re: Cutey Honey. The style and design of the robots is quirky but top-notch, overall leaving you with a good visual experience.
The story starts with Kamina and Simon (or 'Shimon' as a lot of the forum-goers prefer), who live underground in a world where the surface isn't a place they go. Kamina, leader of his Gurren Brigade, looks to the ceiling and cries out for a means to go to the surface and see the sky. His prayers are luckily answered fast, as two visitors from the surface shake things up in their little village. One of them is Yoko, a human from the surface who fights the powerful Ganmen, giant robots (That are mostly giant heads with arms and legs) that are piloted by the evil Beastmen, who are out to destroy mankind.
The first meetings with Ganmen are quick and excellent battles. Simon's personal mini-mech Lagann is impossibly durable and carries a natural affinity to drills, much like Simon does with his work drilling underground. Once on the surface and better introduced to the interaction between Ganmen, Beastmen and humans, Kamina quickly attempts to earn his own mecha, one that he calls Gurren. The fact that humans can't use Ganmen and lost on him, and he quickly finds out the secret to piloting one.
The story continues and the battles continue to grow bigger and bigger as the opponents get more dangerous and the threats get higher. By episode three the title is better explained as Kamina forces the two human-run Ganmen into a single robot, one he dubs Gurren-Lagann!
The series gets really interesting around episode 4, but only behind the scenes. One of Japan's biggest message boards 2channel was getting pretty annoyed with some of the minor details of the series, but episode 4 really got them talking. The animation for 4 was completely different, it really has to be watched to be understood. It looked very similar to BECK, a style that fit well for that series but ultimately looked horrible in the bright colours and unrealistic forms of of Gurren-Lagann.
Well, to answer the concerns, Takai Akai, one of the men who was there before Gainax really existed, was quite rude and generally didn't hold much respect for the complainers. After the complaints for episode 4 arrived, the 2channelers found the original comments and made a huge scene out of it, leading to the producer's resignation. It was a pretty horrible scene, since it was basically a bunch of idiots from a website complaining, but he really should have known better than to sink to their level and throw insults. I mean, you tend to expect a little more from people in important positions, but they're human after all.
With that all cleared up and a Takai Akai removed from the credits for episode 5, the anime continued as before: Full of robot battles. Episodes 5, 6 and 7 were fine episodes, introducing new characters and more information. Personally, I really started to wonder where they were going to go from here.
Episode 8 stopped any train of thought faster than an anti-tank missile. I won't breath a word of what happened, but if you watch the series watch it up to episode 8. Wait, watch it up to episode 9. I haven't seen it yet but it will make or break the series at this point.
Overall, I find that Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann promises a wacky, Gainax-level anime. I've seen many of their series, both their original creations and works they just had a hand in. Even series that people barely know about. It's always interesting to see their work, particularly since they seem to love their company as much as other people do.
Check it out, you should know the usual channels to find it with.
That's all for today. I suppose next time I'll cover Lucky Star, depending on how I feel about this one later. Goodnight!
It's one of the big series I'm watching new this season, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann has all the makings of a worthwhile series. Now this season is really overfilled with mecha animes, so having something stand out like Gurren-Lagann does is a nice touch to a season with other series I'm enjoying. Another one of Gainax's works, it has a fluid animation style I can best connect with Re: Cutey Honey. The style and design of the robots is quirky but top-notch, overall leaving you with a good visual experience.
The story starts with Kamina and Simon (or 'Shimon' as a lot of the forum-goers prefer), who live underground in a world where the surface isn't a place they go. Kamina, leader of his Gurren Brigade, looks to the ceiling and cries out for a means to go to the surface and see the sky. His prayers are luckily answered fast, as two visitors from the surface shake things up in their little village. One of them is Yoko, a human from the surface who fights the powerful Ganmen, giant robots (That are mostly giant heads with arms and legs) that are piloted by the evil Beastmen, who are out to destroy mankind.
The first meetings with Ganmen are quick and excellent battles. Simon's personal mini-mech Lagann is impossibly durable and carries a natural affinity to drills, much like Simon does with his work drilling underground. Once on the surface and better introduced to the interaction between Ganmen, Beastmen and humans, Kamina quickly attempts to earn his own mecha, one that he calls Gurren. The fact that humans can't use Ganmen and lost on him, and he quickly finds out the secret to piloting one.
The story continues and the battles continue to grow bigger and bigger as the opponents get more dangerous and the threats get higher. By episode three the title is better explained as Kamina forces the two human-run Ganmen into a single robot, one he dubs Gurren-Lagann!
The series gets really interesting around episode 4, but only behind the scenes. One of Japan's biggest message boards 2channel was getting pretty annoyed with some of the minor details of the series, but episode 4 really got them talking. The animation for 4 was completely different, it really has to be watched to be understood. It looked very similar to BECK, a style that fit well for that series but ultimately looked horrible in the bright colours and unrealistic forms of of Gurren-Lagann.
Well, to answer the concerns, Takai Akai, one of the men who was there before Gainax really existed, was quite rude and generally didn't hold much respect for the complainers. After the complaints for episode 4 arrived, the 2channelers found the original comments and made a huge scene out of it, leading to the producer's resignation. It was a pretty horrible scene, since it was basically a bunch of idiots from a website complaining, but he really should have known better than to sink to their level and throw insults. I mean, you tend to expect a little more from people in important positions, but they're human after all.
With that all cleared up and a Takai Akai removed from the credits for episode 5, the anime continued as before: Full of robot battles. Episodes 5, 6 and 7 were fine episodes, introducing new characters and more information. Personally, I really started to wonder where they were going to go from here.
Episode 8 stopped any train of thought faster than an anti-tank missile. I won't breath a word of what happened, but if you watch the series watch it up to episode 8. Wait, watch it up to episode 9. I haven't seen it yet but it will make or break the series at this point.
Overall, I find that Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann promises a wacky, Gainax-level anime. I've seen many of their series, both their original creations and works they just had a hand in. Even series that people barely know about. It's always interesting to see their work, particularly since they seem to love their company as much as other people do.
Check it out, you should know the usual channels to find it with.That's all for today. I suppose next time I'll cover Lucky Star, depending on how I feel about this one later. Goodnight!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
First Break
Wow, I've really been doing nothing lately, so it kind of hurts my mood to blog about stuff.
Well, Sunday I played more WoW and rested alongside my family. After that party we had to host, we were all too tired to do anything. The day ended only on a high note with the new Simpsons (400th Episode special) and the Family Guy and American Dad that followed. I swear, I never watch Fox except for the Sunday new animation block and the occasional show like House (That's on Fox, right?).
Oh, guess what? My Dad left about a dozen sausages from Saturday's part on the grill. Outside. All night. They looked a little shriveled and unhealthy, but they were quite edible and I've yet to have my stomach explode.
Monday was pretty dull as well. I played more WoW, including my last battlegrounds for the weekend, a 1 hour, 47 minute long heavy-defensive game where the opposing team basically locked out offensive attempts for an hour. To boot, I started the battle 30 minutes late, which is just my luck.
My Mom headed back north to visit my grandmother again, so us men were left to look after dinner. It turned out pretty well, Ribs with baked potatoes and some packaged broccoli with cheese for my Dad, while my little brother had leftover Salad from Saturday on top of it all. Apparently my Dad's dinner plans for the week also include another trip to Mandarin on Wednesday. <_< Fat chance I'm going there twice in a week's time.
If you don't get Discovery Canada or don't have access to it otherwise, you're missing out bigtime on Canada's Worst Handyman 2, the sequel to the reality-type show where a group of clueless handymen (and women) attend a rehabilitation center for their problems. I liked the first one a bit more, style-wise, but the series is worth watching every single week. It's not that I get an ego boost out of watching idiots do dumb stuff (If I did, I'd just watch Youtube or America's Funniest Home Videos or whatever Caught on Tape and crap like that), it's really interesting to watch people in a serious workplace and how they act and how it reflects on their work. I'd like to be on the program, not because I'm some horrible handyman, but because I'd really like to see if I could compare to the half-assed job they're all doing. The sister series to Worst Handyman is Canada's Worst Driver, a show of similar concept but with big dangerous cars flying around. It's going into its 3rd season, and my little brother says he'll sign me up (Since I don't drive, I'm therefore the worst person at it. Har har).
Today was another average day. I ended up skipping dinner since I had a lunch (This 'one meal a day' thing shouldn't be so habit-forming), though I'm not feeling hungry over 14 hours later, so I don't mind much. I found out that my weekend is going to be very, very boring. My entire family is out for one reason or another, and my plans to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End have fallen through just this afternoon. It means that from Friday morning to Sunday evening it's just me, the cats, and the interweb. Sounds nice and all, but when I'm trying to turn my life around just a bit a weekend where I won't be able to get out of the house or even see other people is more depressing than normal.
Oh, I had planned to do something big for Monday, maybe make it a weekly thing. I was going to write about a new Anime series I was enjoying. This week was Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, but after episode 08... I don't want to spoil it, but my will to cover the series was dashed to pieces. Maybe I'll have more to say when 09 comes out, or at least some sense of if Gurren-Lagann will be the most genius piece of anime work I've seen in ages, or a confusing muddled production Gainax did to keep themselves busy.
So until then, I'm going to just update when I feel like it, about what I feel like. Maybe I'll be able to put together something more regular to look forward too.
Well, Sunday I played more WoW and rested alongside my family. After that party we had to host, we were all too tired to do anything. The day ended only on a high note with the new Simpsons (400th Episode special) and the Family Guy and American Dad that followed. I swear, I never watch Fox except for the Sunday new animation block and the occasional show like House (That's on Fox, right?).
Oh, guess what? My Dad left about a dozen sausages from Saturday's part on the grill. Outside. All night. They looked a little shriveled and unhealthy, but they were quite edible and I've yet to have my stomach explode.
Monday was pretty dull as well. I played more WoW, including my last battlegrounds for the weekend, a 1 hour, 47 minute long heavy-defensive game where the opposing team basically locked out offensive attempts for an hour. To boot, I started the battle 30 minutes late, which is just my luck.
My Mom headed back north to visit my grandmother again, so us men were left to look after dinner. It turned out pretty well, Ribs with baked potatoes and some packaged broccoli with cheese for my Dad, while my little brother had leftover Salad from Saturday on top of it all. Apparently my Dad's dinner plans for the week also include another trip to Mandarin on Wednesday. <_< Fat chance I'm going there twice in a week's time.
If you don't get Discovery Canada or don't have access to it otherwise, you're missing out bigtime on Canada's Worst Handyman 2, the sequel to the reality-type show where a group of clueless handymen (and women) attend a rehabilitation center for their problems. I liked the first one a bit more, style-wise, but the series is worth watching every single week. It's not that I get an ego boost out of watching idiots do dumb stuff (If I did, I'd just watch Youtube or America's Funniest Home Videos or whatever Caught on Tape and crap like that), it's really interesting to watch people in a serious workplace and how they act and how it reflects on their work. I'd like to be on the program, not because I'm some horrible handyman, but because I'd really like to see if I could compare to the half-assed job they're all doing. The sister series to Worst Handyman is Canada's Worst Driver, a show of similar concept but with big dangerous cars flying around. It's going into its 3rd season, and my little brother says he'll sign me up (Since I don't drive, I'm therefore the worst person at it. Har har).
Today was another average day. I ended up skipping dinner since I had a lunch (This 'one meal a day' thing shouldn't be so habit-forming), though I'm not feeling hungry over 14 hours later, so I don't mind much. I found out that my weekend is going to be very, very boring. My entire family is out for one reason or another, and my plans to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End have fallen through just this afternoon. It means that from Friday morning to Sunday evening it's just me, the cats, and the interweb. Sounds nice and all, but when I'm trying to turn my life around just a bit a weekend where I won't be able to get out of the house or even see other people is more depressing than normal.
Oh, I had planned to do something big for Monday, maybe make it a weekly thing. I was going to write about a new Anime series I was enjoying. This week was Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, but after episode 08... I don't want to spoil it, but my will to cover the series was dashed to pieces. Maybe I'll have more to say when 09 comes out, or at least some sense of if Gurren-Lagann will be the most genius piece of anime work I've seen in ages, or a confusing muddled production Gainax did to keep themselves busy.
So until then, I'm going to just update when I feel like it, about what I feel like. Maybe I'll be able to put together something more regular to look forward too.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Oh so tired
We havd a bunch of guests over today. *Ugh* I feel almost exhausted from it. About a dozen or so kids, 17-18, came over for a kind of rest meeting.
Aside from a lot of attempts at Wii Sports, Guitar Hero 2, some spilled glow-stick liquid and food for 20, the afternoon was basically one big set-up and one big clean-up for me.
I'm just going to lay back, turn on some anime and probably get to sleep at a 'normal' time.
Goodnight everyone.
Aside from a lot of attempts at Wii Sports, Guitar Hero 2, some spilled glow-stick liquid and food for 20, the afternoon was basically one big set-up and one big clean-up for me.
I'm just going to lay back, turn on some anime and probably get to sleep at a 'normal' time.
Goodnight everyone.
Friday, May 18, 2007
World of Warcraft: Warsong Gulch Weekend
For those of you who don't know, back around December a couple of friends pulled me into the World of Warcraft so that we'd be able to spend more time together and adventure and whatnot. Well, against all fears it hasn't consumed my soul, but I do find it an excellent distraction during the average day, and it's fun playing online with friends or going onto an alt (alternate character) and adventuring alone.
Well, 'WoW' has two sides to it, player versus player content - such as killing other people's characters, participating in wide-scale battles, etc - and player versus environment content - fighting monsters and beating dungeons. While I don't like world PvP, where level 70 (The maximum) characters kill on anyone lower than them they find (since they can't put up a fight), and people wait by your body for you to respawn after death so they can easily re-kill you (which some people have been known to do for hours), I do enjoy the controlled wide-scale 'Battlegrounds'.
The Battlegrounds are set into level brackets for fairness' sake, but in a 40-49 bracket you'd normally only find level 48-49 characters, as they have the most advantages as far as equipment and stats go. There are also different kinds, the two which are available right now to my level bracket are a resources collection battle (Arathi Basin, where you tag bases and gather resources based on how many you have) and a standard Capture the Flag game (Warsong Gulch). Warsong Gulch - or WSG - is my favorite of the two. This weekend, from Friday to Monday, they hand out additional 'Honour Points' for participating in WSG.
So, even though I'm level 45, I decided to try my hand at participating. Even just winning I earn about 100 honour points and 3 honour 'marks', both which are used as currency to trade for special rewards from WSG. I don't think myself too great or anything, but I was pretty happy after the first battle when this came up:
Even underleveled (and personally I think undergeared), I was still able to kick my way to the top of the charts (At least Horde-side).
I'll probably be playing more tomorrow and the following days until the weekend is over. Today's count was 10 wins, 1 loss and 2000 honour points. Something about 300+ kills probably as well (I reached over 1000 lifetime today.) I figure that by Sunday night, at this rate, I'll have more than enough for what I have my eye on. Monday will be me just being greedy.
Wish me luck! For the Horde!
Well, 'WoW' has two sides to it, player versus player content - such as killing other people's characters, participating in wide-scale battles, etc - and player versus environment content - fighting monsters and beating dungeons. While I don't like world PvP, where level 70 (The maximum) characters kill on anyone lower than them they find (since they can't put up a fight), and people wait by your body for you to respawn after death so they can easily re-kill you (which some people have been known to do for hours), I do enjoy the controlled wide-scale 'Battlegrounds'.
The Battlegrounds are set into level brackets for fairness' sake, but in a 40-49 bracket you'd normally only find level 48-49 characters, as they have the most advantages as far as equipment and stats go. There are also different kinds, the two which are available right now to my level bracket are a resources collection battle (Arathi Basin, where you tag bases and gather resources based on how many you have) and a standard Capture the Flag game (Warsong Gulch). Warsong Gulch - or WSG - is my favorite of the two. This weekend, from Friday to Monday, they hand out additional 'Honour Points' for participating in WSG.
So, even though I'm level 45, I decided to try my hand at participating. Even just winning I earn about 100 honour points and 3 honour 'marks', both which are used as currency to trade for special rewards from WSG. I don't think myself too great or anything, but I was pretty happy after the first battle when this came up:
Even underleveled (and personally I think undergeared), I was still able to kick my way to the top of the charts (At least Horde-side).I'll probably be playing more tomorrow and the following days until the weekend is over. Today's count was 10 wins, 1 loss and 2000 honour points. Something about 300+ kills probably as well (I reached over 1000 lifetime today.) I figure that by Sunday night, at this rate, I'll have more than enough for what I have my eye on. Monday will be me just being greedy.
Wish me luck! For the Horde!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
All You Can Eat
So my little brother is up at some cottage on a lake probably drinking himself stupid (stupider?) while playing Guitar Hero 2. My mother is meanwhile north of here with family watching over my grandmother, who has taken a turn for the worse recently after surviving for two weeks after a different turn for the worse.
Now, my father isn't lazy. It's just that when he comes home my mom already has plans for steak, potatoes, salad and beets or something ready. So when he comes home to a house that's basically empty with me downstairs in my corner room, he only has one thing on his mind.
"Let's go out for dinner."
Well, he said this last night as well, but I was in no mood. He had sandwiches and complained about it. So tonight I decided to go out with him and we'd have a meal somewhere. We ended up deciding on the Mandarin, an all-you-can-eat Chinese-based restaurant.
Man, I'd really like to explore some of the research that goes into perfecting the all you can eat restaurant. Smaller plates mean more trips, less food outgoing at one time, and also a lowered chance for waste from full eaters. Smaller drink glasses means more (free) refills, more waiting, and more consumed (cheap) water. It'd be interesting to see where the psychology of the restaurant goes to work on the consumers. Or maybe I'm just over-thinking things.
I was almost immediately amazed by how welcoming everyone there was. Of course it's mostly an Asian (If not Chinese) staff, but they all turned to say hello when you arrived, and goodbye when you left. They knew where to be at the right time, and they were also constantly on the lookout for people to assist. I was really quite amazed by the amount of work the staff put into everything. There was a gentleman standing by the grill-table who would dish out the steak, chicken and sausage that they cooked there. He would happily load up your plate, thank you as you left, nod as you passed... I could never do something like that. If I had to see someone once every 15 minutes I might be able to handle it, but the idea of having a person pass by every 5 seconds and come looking for food every 30... It'd drive me insane.
I ate a lot, of course, as you should at such a restaurant, and though I was careful in my picks each of the three times I went up for the main course - other than the delicious grilled sausage - I don't think I ever had seconds of something. I should have saved more room for dessert as Lemon Meringue Pie, my personal favorite, was there in plentiful numbers. Instead of having more of it and more Jell-o squares - as there's always room for Jell-o - I decided to have some small cake and brownie slices instead.
I don't have to feel bad about eating a lot. I missed dinner last night due to, well, a lack of quick things to eat and I didn't eat today either. My lifestyle was meant for this kind of thing.
My father enjoyed his meal a lot as well, which was good, since he won't feel the need to go out there again for 6 months or so. He also went to bed pretty early, he was ready to sleep as soon as we came in the door! He always tends to feel a little down when my mother's away, so he bugs myself or my brother for some quality time. So I don't much mind getting 'hassled' with having a meal with him.
I'm probably going to lay down until my stomach stops complaining. It enjoyed the meal too anyway.
Now, my father isn't lazy. It's just that when he comes home my mom already has plans for steak, potatoes, salad and beets or something ready. So when he comes home to a house that's basically empty with me downstairs in my corner room, he only has one thing on his mind.
"Let's go out for dinner."
Well, he said this last night as well, but I was in no mood. He had sandwiches and complained about it. So tonight I decided to go out with him and we'd have a meal somewhere. We ended up deciding on the Mandarin, an all-you-can-eat Chinese-based restaurant.
Man, I'd really like to explore some of the research that goes into perfecting the all you can eat restaurant. Smaller plates mean more trips, less food outgoing at one time, and also a lowered chance for waste from full eaters. Smaller drink glasses means more (free) refills, more waiting, and more consumed (cheap) water. It'd be interesting to see where the psychology of the restaurant goes to work on the consumers. Or maybe I'm just over-thinking things.
I was almost immediately amazed by how welcoming everyone there was. Of course it's mostly an Asian (If not Chinese) staff, but they all turned to say hello when you arrived, and goodbye when you left. They knew where to be at the right time, and they were also constantly on the lookout for people to assist. I was really quite amazed by the amount of work the staff put into everything. There was a gentleman standing by the grill-table who would dish out the steak, chicken and sausage that they cooked there. He would happily load up your plate, thank you as you left, nod as you passed... I could never do something like that. If I had to see someone once every 15 minutes I might be able to handle it, but the idea of having a person pass by every 5 seconds and come looking for food every 30... It'd drive me insane.
I ate a lot, of course, as you should at such a restaurant, and though I was careful in my picks each of the three times I went up for the main course - other than the delicious grilled sausage - I don't think I ever had seconds of something. I should have saved more room for dessert as Lemon Meringue Pie, my personal favorite, was there in plentiful numbers. Instead of having more of it and more Jell-o squares - as there's always room for Jell-o - I decided to have some small cake and brownie slices instead.
I don't have to feel bad about eating a lot. I missed dinner last night due to, well, a lack of quick things to eat and I didn't eat today either. My lifestyle was meant for this kind of thing.
My father enjoyed his meal a lot as well, which was good, since he won't feel the need to go out there again for 6 months or so. He also went to bed pretty early, he was ready to sleep as soon as we came in the door! He always tends to feel a little down when my mother's away, so he bugs myself or my brother for some quality time. So I don't much mind getting 'hassled' with having a meal with him.
I'm probably going to lay down until my stomach stops complaining. It enjoyed the meal too anyway.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Interweb RPGs
So, as some of you may be aware, I've kept myself busy on the internet for, hmm, about the last two years with forum-based RPGs. It started a long time ago when I followed a link from a fansubber's forum onto a One Piece RPG, which unfortunately was awful. But from there I met a lot of people and played in a lot more games that has pretty much been left as a shattered trial of failed sites and wasted time.
Well, just recently another forum I was on succumbed to a lack of activity and was shut down, and with a very short list of viable games I've had to look to the future.
Over at the AMRN there have been plans made for a Cowboy Bebop game, and with a character concept and the whole series on hand, I'd say that I'm into the idea so far.
My IRC games may start anew as an Exalted game with Lunar characters moves from real-life in Windsor online due to the moving of the GM and one of the players, both close friends of mine.
I also recently created a rules system for - try not to laugh too hard - a Digimon based freeform RPG. I liked it, but everyone else just rolls their eyes.
So it was recently suggested to me by a close online friend (As well as fellow forum RPer) that I should create an original RP concept. So the first thing I did was find something to copy.
I know, I know, I'm awful. I don't tend to have completely original ideas ever, but I'm really good at adapting things and expanding on specifics, particularly when its based on something broad like a genre.
I ended up picking Magical Lyrical Nanoha, though my concentration will be on the world and style, not on the characters. I played on a forum RP directly based on the anime before, but it fell through mostly due to the style of the players. I'm hoping that, well, 'stealing' elements of the series will give me a quick and simple system for players to enjoy. Besides, most of the players I know of are used to Naruto, and if you just arm the characters and get rid of their Ninja stuff it'll be almost the same. The main difference? Not having to tell something they can't copy the Uchiha or use Rasengan.
I've only got a little bit worked out, and the only thing I ever have a problem with is making and designing the forum - every time I make a new site I have to relearn what the hell everything does. It'll be just another distraction for me at the computer, but at least I have something promising to work on.
I'll keep you updated.
Well, just recently another forum I was on succumbed to a lack of activity and was shut down, and with a very short list of viable games I've had to look to the future.
Over at the AMRN there have been plans made for a Cowboy Bebop game, and with a character concept and the whole series on hand, I'd say that I'm into the idea so far.
My IRC games may start anew as an Exalted game with Lunar characters moves from real-life in Windsor online due to the moving of the GM and one of the players, both close friends of mine.
I also recently created a rules system for - try not to laugh too hard - a Digimon based freeform RPG. I liked it, but everyone else just rolls their eyes.
So it was recently suggested to me by a close online friend (As well as fellow forum RPer) that I should create an original RP concept. So the first thing I did was find something to copy.
I know, I know, I'm awful. I don't tend to have completely original ideas ever, but I'm really good at adapting things and expanding on specifics, particularly when its based on something broad like a genre.
I ended up picking Magical Lyrical Nanoha, though my concentration will be on the world and style, not on the characters. I played on a forum RP directly based on the anime before, but it fell through mostly due to the style of the players. I'm hoping that, well, 'stealing' elements of the series will give me a quick and simple system for players to enjoy. Besides, most of the players I know of are used to Naruto, and if you just arm the characters and get rid of their Ninja stuff it'll be almost the same. The main difference? Not having to tell something they can't copy the Uchiha or use Rasengan.
I've only got a little bit worked out, and the only thing I ever have a problem with is making and designing the forum - every time I make a new site I have to relearn what the hell everything does. It'll be just another distraction for me at the computer, but at least I have something promising to work on.
I'll keep you updated.
Autumn 2007 @ UofT
So great news, everybody! I got my mark from my Introduction to the study of English literature and was able to uphold my passing average in the 80s! I'm going to the University of Toronto full time this fall!
I've spent a while going over the possible classes for the next semester, so I'll cover some of them here.
Introduction to Anthropology:
This course is pretty self explanatory in nature, but its purpose is a little more complex. While speaking to my professor, he suggested it over classes like Sociology or Psychology for the Social Sciences credit I require for a BA. There's only one class for it, so it's bound to be large, and it's an evening course at that, so it'll be interesting attending.
Introduction to East Asian Civilizations:
This is the requirement for an EAS Major or Minor, both of which are options I'm looking into, depending on my skill in the language course. It's another evening course, with multiple possible tutorials to apply for. I'll have to pick one based on my other courses.
Modern Standard Japanese I:
This is going to be the toughest course of all, from what I hear from students, because language courses are always difficult. I can luckily take this the same day I do Intro to East Asian Civilizations, but there are three tutorials a week taking place at varied hours, so it'll be important to pick from those. If I fail to learn Japanese, I'll switch my major in EAS to a minor and probably pick up a minor in Anthropology, so this is fairly important for further decisions.
Literature for Our Time:
Where my Intro to Lit covered plays, prose and poetry over the ages, this class concentrates mostly on 20th century writers. My professor originally suggested the course due to the professor in charge of it, but sadly that gentlemen isn't listed for the courses at all this semester. It's still the best class possible for what I'm looking to study, literature, so I'm taking it anyway.
The rest...:
Well, taking a Bachelor's Degree means that I need 1 Science Credit, 1 Humanities Credit and 1 Social Sciences credit. Since my area of study will be the Humanities, that's not a problem, and Anthropology will take care of my SS credit. The only thing left is a Science credit, but I know full well that I'm not a great science student. I wouldn't mind taking a course in Geology or Astronomy or whatever, but I doubt I could get into any of the courses due to my lack of high school credits in things like calculus, physics or really anything mathematical or scientific.
The answer is choosing a Science Seminar. They're like beginner's classes on a topic, so broad and simple that you'd be able to understand without being a student of that type. So there are courses for the Sciences like "Time", "Plants As We See Them", "Astronomy on the Frontier" and "Thinking About Planet Earth", to mention a few. All I can do really is pick one that doesn't sound awful, figure out where it goes on my schedule, and then pick up the credit. You see, you can only take one full credit in Seminars, and you're also only allowed to take them as a first-year student. So it's take it now or fight my way through a full course later.
There are two main problems with this schedule, you see. The first is that I'd have two classes on Monday, tutorials Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, a seminar on Tuesday (Likely), a class on Thursday, topped off with a final class on Friday. This would leave only my Wednesday evenings free, which will be tough to get used to. The second problem is that I'll be going from a single simple credit with 3 hours of class a week to 5 full credits with maybe 15 hours of class a week. When you count that I'll be taking a language course as well, that's a massive increase of workload. Add in that I'll be commuting to school 5 days a week now... It's a lot to take in. The Autumn is going to be a very tough time of year for me.
I really hope I'm up to it, because I want zero failures, no excuses. Well, that's it for now. I don't even sign up for classes for a couple of months and I'm not attending until September, so I've got a lot of free time I'm trying to fill in with work in the meantime.
I've spent a while going over the possible classes for the next semester, so I'll cover some of them here.
Introduction to Anthropology:
This course is pretty self explanatory in nature, but its purpose is a little more complex. While speaking to my professor, he suggested it over classes like Sociology or Psychology for the Social Sciences credit I require for a BA. There's only one class for it, so it's bound to be large, and it's an evening course at that, so it'll be interesting attending.
Introduction to East Asian Civilizations:
This is the requirement for an EAS Major or Minor, both of which are options I'm looking into, depending on my skill in the language course. It's another evening course, with multiple possible tutorials to apply for. I'll have to pick one based on my other courses.
Modern Standard Japanese I:
This is going to be the toughest course of all, from what I hear from students, because language courses are always difficult. I can luckily take this the same day I do Intro to East Asian Civilizations, but there are three tutorials a week taking place at varied hours, so it'll be important to pick from those. If I fail to learn Japanese, I'll switch my major in EAS to a minor and probably pick up a minor in Anthropology, so this is fairly important for further decisions.
Literature for Our Time:
Where my Intro to Lit covered plays, prose and poetry over the ages, this class concentrates mostly on 20th century writers. My professor originally suggested the course due to the professor in charge of it, but sadly that gentlemen isn't listed for the courses at all this semester. It's still the best class possible for what I'm looking to study, literature, so I'm taking it anyway.
The rest...:
Well, taking a Bachelor's Degree means that I need 1 Science Credit, 1 Humanities Credit and 1 Social Sciences credit. Since my area of study will be the Humanities, that's not a problem, and Anthropology will take care of my SS credit. The only thing left is a Science credit, but I know full well that I'm not a great science student. I wouldn't mind taking a course in Geology or Astronomy or whatever, but I doubt I could get into any of the courses due to my lack of high school credits in things like calculus, physics or really anything mathematical or scientific.
The answer is choosing a Science Seminar. They're like beginner's classes on a topic, so broad and simple that you'd be able to understand without being a student of that type. So there are courses for the Sciences like "Time", "Plants As We See Them", "Astronomy on the Frontier" and "Thinking About Planet Earth", to mention a few. All I can do really is pick one that doesn't sound awful, figure out where it goes on my schedule, and then pick up the credit. You see, you can only take one full credit in Seminars, and you're also only allowed to take them as a first-year student. So it's take it now or fight my way through a full course later.
There are two main problems with this schedule, you see. The first is that I'd have two classes on Monday, tutorials Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, a seminar on Tuesday (Likely), a class on Thursday, topped off with a final class on Friday. This would leave only my Wednesday evenings free, which will be tough to get used to. The second problem is that I'll be going from a single simple credit with 3 hours of class a week to 5 full credits with maybe 15 hours of class a week. When you count that I'll be taking a language course as well, that's a massive increase of workload. Add in that I'll be commuting to school 5 days a week now... It's a lot to take in. The Autumn is going to be a very tough time of year for me.
I really hope I'm up to it, because I want zero failures, no excuses. Well, that's it for now. I don't even sign up for classes for a couple of months and I'm not attending until September, so I've got a lot of free time I'm trying to fill in with work in the meantime.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
All about Docu-Games
For those of you who are into video games, game legislation, censorship, politics or want to keep up with the insanity of Jack Thompson, I'd suggest heading over to GamePolitics if you don't already.
I'm not sure how many of you heard about 'Super Columbine Massacre RPG', a documentary-style look at the Columbine school shootings realised into a 16-bit downloadable game, but I'd suggest not getting outraged if it's only the first time. Released in 2006, it caused a lot of complaints from people who felt it was a complete betrayal of all of the suffering of the shooting, and still gets used as a case against actual videogame developers, even though it was made by a single man on the internet. I've never played the game, but descriptions of it is that it is quite fair to the incident, based on real events the occured during the shooting, is extremely hard and does not at any time make light of the incident.
SCMRPG is still brought up today due to it's controversial subject matter, and often raised as a first piece of 'game art', where touchy subjects can be explored. People even compare it to film documentaries such as Bowling for Columbine, though it can't be claimed to be as professionally done or anything of the kind.
Well, GamePolitics has a lot to say about SCMRPG and the aftermath of it, including when it was forced out of a game competition due to the controversy around it. They've also covered more games from the internet that have caused more controvery, such as a cheap flashgame about patrolling the American-Mexican border that was decidedly racist. So I didn't really bat an eye when they made mention of a new game that a flash artist had put together was released, titled 'V-Tech Rampage', the topic which should be quickly obvious.
Like I said I didn't care too much for it, since it seemed like another cheap grab at people's attention by releasing something just for the controversy. Obviously people would compare it to SCMRPG due to its nature, but at the same time it was cheapened by the creator's attitude, the low quality of the work and the stunt he pulled just recently - demanding money to remove his game.
Now he claims it's a joke, but people don't have a great sense of humour after you make a cheap flash game about a mass-murdering. So instead of his game being treated as the usual controversy-creation games, he had to turn it into a big story about what a dick the guy has to be. Really, I've met a lot of people who like to create friction in order to get some attention - hell, I've played the devil's advocate more than once in High School to keep students from nodding their heads for 70 minutes - but you really have to wonder what goes through people's minds when they produce some of these games. It probably comes down to getting famous for something, even if its stupid, and getting all those links, diggs and page hits from the frothing public.
I don't want to get into the whole issue of the web-going gaming public constantly sabotaging the mature, aging gamer population in the eyes of the politicians and news circles who are always looking for easy targets for scaring viewers, I'll have to save that for later. Until then, I just want to say that the V-Tech game sucked. It was slow, I was bored, and I hope the creator of it grows up a bit and doesn't try to revel in his controversy like a pig.
Regardless, I'd suggest reading GamePolitics for updates on news stories like this and related topics with video games. Sometimes the legal scene really heats up but you wouldn't know it without a dedicated source.
I'm not sure how many of you heard about 'Super Columbine Massacre RPG', a documentary-style look at the Columbine school shootings realised into a 16-bit downloadable game, but I'd suggest not getting outraged if it's only the first time. Released in 2006, it caused a lot of complaints from people who felt it was a complete betrayal of all of the suffering of the shooting, and still gets used as a case against actual videogame developers, even though it was made by a single man on the internet. I've never played the game, but descriptions of it is that it is quite fair to the incident, based on real events the occured during the shooting, is extremely hard and does not at any time make light of the incident.
SCMRPG is still brought up today due to it's controversial subject matter, and often raised as a first piece of 'game art', where touchy subjects can be explored. People even compare it to film documentaries such as Bowling for Columbine, though it can't be claimed to be as professionally done or anything of the kind.
Well, GamePolitics has a lot to say about SCMRPG and the aftermath of it, including when it was forced out of a game competition due to the controversy around it. They've also covered more games from the internet that have caused more controvery, such as a cheap flashgame about patrolling the American-Mexican border that was decidedly racist. So I didn't really bat an eye when they made mention of a new game that a flash artist had put together was released, titled 'V-Tech Rampage', the topic which should be quickly obvious.
Like I said I didn't care too much for it, since it seemed like another cheap grab at people's attention by releasing something just for the controversy. Obviously people would compare it to SCMRPG due to its nature, but at the same time it was cheapened by the creator's attitude, the low quality of the work and the stunt he pulled just recently - demanding money to remove his game.
Now he claims it's a joke, but people don't have a great sense of humour after you make a cheap flash game about a mass-murdering. So instead of his game being treated as the usual controversy-creation games, he had to turn it into a big story about what a dick the guy has to be. Really, I've met a lot of people who like to create friction in order to get some attention - hell, I've played the devil's advocate more than once in High School to keep students from nodding their heads for 70 minutes - but you really have to wonder what goes through people's minds when they produce some of these games. It probably comes down to getting famous for something, even if its stupid, and getting all those links, diggs and page hits from the frothing public.
I don't want to get into the whole issue of the web-going gaming public constantly sabotaging the mature, aging gamer population in the eyes of the politicians and news circles who are always looking for easy targets for scaring viewers, I'll have to save that for later. Until then, I just want to say that the V-Tech game sucked. It was slow, I was bored, and I hope the creator of it grows up a bit and doesn't try to revel in his controversy like a pig.
Regardless, I'd suggest reading GamePolitics for updates on news stories like this and related topics with video games. Sometimes the legal scene really heats up but you wouldn't know it without a dedicated source.
Stargate Fanfiction
It figures that the first post I'd decide to make on a blog with a Sci-Fi name would be about a Sci-Fi movie. Don't get used to it.
For those of you who haven't seen it, Stargate is a pretty average Sci-Fi film about a, well, Star Gate. The American military sends a small team plus one Egyptologist with some wacky theories into this gate to another world - where it ends up Egypt's gods were aliens and the people are still around, just somewhere else. Seeing that it was made back in 1994, which is when I first saw it, it's pretty interesting to see just how much more cartoony films are today with their overuse of CGI for everything from crowds to buildings to characters (I'm looking at you, Star Wars Prequels).
Stargate has always stood out to me as a good sub-genre of science fiction - where technology is not only alien but historical in nature. I mean if you look at something like The Fifth Element where it's another ancient but alien threat, I get similar vibes, even if the film is completely different in a number of ways. There's just something about visiting some locale on Earth and discovering 'Hey, we just solved an unknown mystery and it's going to unlock the secrets of these aliens'. (I'm also reminded of when Optimus Primal in Beast Wars came across Stonehenge, but that show has a lot more connections going for it.)
One of the reasons that I really find Stargate an interesting two hours of film to watch is probably because of the hundreds of hours I've spent watching Stargate SG-1, a TV series based on the film that's been going since 1997 and should be coming to a close soon, even though it's already created another spin-off. Now a lot of you wouldn't have read any of the fanfiction I've put together, but you can at least understand from various RPs I've participated on: I love writing additional materials based on the premise of other universes. SG-1 is basically that, fanfiction for Stargate that they just happened to get approved and filmed and whatnot. I love the show, so calling it fanfiction almost feels like an insult, but they're really how I've gotta look at it. I also don't know how much the original writers of Stargate did on the series, but with 10 years of episodes I doubt they were there penning every last one.
It's funny that Stargate has always been one of those movies I've been meaning to rewatch, but never get around to. If you've watched even a dozen episodes of SG-1, I'd really suggest going and rewatching the original movie to see where they started and how the plot was ballooned by professional fanfiction writers.
For those of you who haven't seen it, Stargate is a pretty average Sci-Fi film about a, well, Star Gate. The American military sends a small team plus one Egyptologist with some wacky theories into this gate to another world - where it ends up Egypt's gods were aliens and the people are still around, just somewhere else. Seeing that it was made back in 1994, which is when I first saw it, it's pretty interesting to see just how much more cartoony films are today with their overuse of CGI for everything from crowds to buildings to characters (I'm looking at you, Star Wars Prequels).
Stargate has always stood out to me as a good sub-genre of science fiction - where technology is not only alien but historical in nature. I mean if you look at something like The Fifth Element where it's another ancient but alien threat, I get similar vibes, even if the film is completely different in a number of ways. There's just something about visiting some locale on Earth and discovering 'Hey, we just solved an unknown mystery and it's going to unlock the secrets of these aliens'. (I'm also reminded of when Optimus Primal in Beast Wars came across Stonehenge, but that show has a lot more connections going for it.)
One of the reasons that I really find Stargate an interesting two hours of film to watch is probably because of the hundreds of hours I've spent watching Stargate SG-1, a TV series based on the film that's been going since 1997 and should be coming to a close soon, even though it's already created another spin-off. Now a lot of you wouldn't have read any of the fanfiction I've put together, but you can at least understand from various RPs I've participated on: I love writing additional materials based on the premise of other universes. SG-1 is basically that, fanfiction for Stargate that they just happened to get approved and filmed and whatnot. I love the show, so calling it fanfiction almost feels like an insult, but they're really how I've gotta look at it. I also don't know how much the original writers of Stargate did on the series, but with 10 years of episodes I doubt they were there penning every last one.
It's funny that Stargate has always been one of those movies I've been meaning to rewatch, but never get around to. If you've watched even a dozen episodes of SG-1, I'd really suggest going and rewatching the original movie to see where they started and how the plot was ballooned by professional fanfiction writers.
Monday, May 14, 2007
The Dyson Sphere
Welcome, finally, to The Dyson Sphere.
It's pretty silly now, thinking that just over a week ago I decided that a good way to improve my lifestyle was to have fresh locale for my blogging and whatnot. Yet I did it anyway, and frankly it wasn't easy coming up with a name. 'The Dyson Sphere' was just one of many suggestions in the end, but it was one that really jumped out at me.
I should probably start by how it's fitting at all. I've been on the interwebs for a while, and when you start on IRC like I did you get attached to a handle pretty fast. 'Dyson', which has become as commonly used for me as my own name, was picked out at random from two locations. First, it was stolen from the name of a family friend, second, it was close to the name 'Dysan', which was sitting on a diskette box on the desk. It's a name that sounds more respectable than 'NinjahunterX334' and it's quick and easy to say or write, so I've stuck with it almost everywhere (Except at UNSpacy, a Macross-based RPG - Macross Plus having an 'Isamu Dyson' in its cast).
A Dyson Sphere now, is a little more complex. The basic idea is creating a massive sphere around the sun, and using solar panels to collect all the energy at once. It's a big Sci-Fi thing and I know they had it on Star Trek: TNG once (The episode where Scotty returned). That's what you could think of this blog as. It's going to try to collect everything I think up all at once.
Isn't that fitting? I've come up with more bad excuses for the name, but it doesn't matter because I like it and it's already made.
Hopefully I'll remember to update here more often, and I'll try to put together something interesting for people to read about. I think that of all things, this first week is going to be the toughest for making this site what I want it to be. Wish me luck and stick around!
It's pretty silly now, thinking that just over a week ago I decided that a good way to improve my lifestyle was to have fresh locale for my blogging and whatnot. Yet I did it anyway, and frankly it wasn't easy coming up with a name. 'The Dyson Sphere' was just one of many suggestions in the end, but it was one that really jumped out at me.
I should probably start by how it's fitting at all. I've been on the interwebs for a while, and when you start on IRC like I did you get attached to a handle pretty fast. 'Dyson', which has become as commonly used for me as my own name, was picked out at random from two locations. First, it was stolen from the name of a family friend, second, it was close to the name 'Dysan', which was sitting on a diskette box on the desk. It's a name that sounds more respectable than 'NinjahunterX334' and it's quick and easy to say or write, so I've stuck with it almost everywhere (Except at UNSpacy, a Macross-based RPG - Macross Plus having an 'Isamu Dyson' in its cast).
A Dyson Sphere now, is a little more complex. The basic idea is creating a massive sphere around the sun, and using solar panels to collect all the energy at once. It's a big Sci-Fi thing and I know they had it on Star Trek: TNG once (The episode where Scotty returned). That's what you could think of this blog as. It's going to try to collect everything I think up all at once.
Isn't that fitting? I've come up with more bad excuses for the name, but it doesn't matter because I like it and it's already made.
Hopefully I'll remember to update here more often, and I'll try to put together something interesting for people to read about. I think that of all things, this first week is going to be the toughest for making this site what I want it to be. Wish me luck and stick around!
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