Mr March

LOL! It is unavoidable

"I said he'll flip ya! Flip ya for real!"

Just read an article when I got into work today about a serious train accident in Amagasaki, outside of Osaka. The article is reporting over 400 people injured and 70+ killed. One thing the article stressed was the track record of safety that Japan has enjoyed for almost 40 years. It also stressed a need for years to place safety above punctuality. Critics are claiming punctuality is the current top priority for Japanese train operators. I hope no one here was involved in the terrible accident and all your relatives/friends in the area are safe. Can anyone who lives in Japan verifiy some of the facts in this article? As a foreigner, I always like to monitor how news services in my country accurately report on such foreign affairs and the amount of truth vs. sensationalism is present in my regular readings. Is the transportation system in Japan really as efficient and safe as they say? Is this really a bad accident for Japan public transportation?

Quite simply, George Lucas was one of the pivitol technical innovators of modern american cinema, a modernizer of classic storytelling on film, and one of the biggest contributors to the technical progression of the medium. Regardless of how you feel about his work or personally, he will always be that person and has earned his place in film history. For example, I dislike Quentin Tarantino's films, but he will always maintain his place in the history of film as a notable innovator of narrative structure for Pulp Fiction. Other unique praises can be applied to other directors as well (Hitchcock's pioneering of camera techniques, Sergio Leone inventing the spaghetti western, etc). It's actually been fashionable (and long since past fashion I might add) to criticize Lucas for his weakness as a director since the release of the Star Wars prequels. Despite how well or poor his career may proceed as time passes, he will always have his accomplishments and what he has achieved for the industry/medium. Critics can attempt to downplay or understate the past accomplishments of Lucas(oh yes Mr. Brin, we see right through you like glass), but ultimately history will look favorably on Lucas. Well that it should. I often see comparisons between Lucas and other succesful directors of his generation, particularly Spielberg and Coppola. Often Spielberg is portrayed as a much more successful director or somehow more important in comparison. In reality, it will certainly depend upon what you like as an individual...and I suppose a certain cultural-elitism given the amount of importance you place upon american film in relation to film the world over. If one were to grant each director due credit for the true innovations and contributions to the progression of the medium, I'm sorry to say Lucas' work would far exceed Spielbergs. Spielberg has all but led a crusade against digital and his involvement in Dreamworks is a shadow of what THX, ILM, and SS has accomplished for the entire film industry. Many prominent directors owe direct lineages to Lucas' impact on the industry (Fincher, Bird, Jackson, etc). In contrast, Spielberg's contribution to storytelling on film has far exceeded Lucas. Let's face it, the man has directed far more films and been a more consistant pleaser of the moving going public at large. Spielberg has also taken on a much broader variety of subjects in film and been responsible for more modern classics than Lucas can ever hope to accomplish as a director. Keep in mind though, Spielberg has his critics as well. Spielberg is largely held responsible for the downfall of intelligent filmmaking in the late 1970s and the rise of box office banal that would come to be known as the "summer blockbuster." His chain-filmmaking has also lead to the slow homogenisation of mainstream american cinema; his status as a benchmark long outrunning his innovations. Many successful modern filmmakers have actually created entirely new methods of filmmaking in direct opposition to the accepted methods established by Spielberg. Modern indie filmmaking came about because of such a need to rebel against the norms and break molds in the mainstream studio system. Personally, I do not look to Lucas or Spielberg for edgey, innovative, or provocative material in film. They did that in the 1970's and 1980's. Their films now provide entertainment or transport me elsewhere. There are other creators, writers, and directors that have appeared on the world scene that progress film. And yes, even Tarantino was among that group

Damnit, my photography instructor would have me burned at the stake if he knew that I missed that one That's very sharp of you promethuem5. I agree.

I know I'll most likely be the voice of dissent on this board, but the first Ghost in The Shell film is what really got me into the franchise. I found the manga characters far too flamboyant and just plain silly, especially the Major. I appreciated that in the film they had Motoko grapple with some of the serious issues of conscience and soul in a mechanized world with a much more believable tone. She became the conduit through which the viewer began to understand the encroachment of computers into the mind, and the implications of this upon the very nature of human perception of reality. Due to the storytelling requirements of such a tale, Kusanagi will be a more morose and introspective character in order to keep her beleivable. Give her an outrageous sense of humor or audaciously eccentric personality, she appears too dichotomous for such sullen material. I think her character is given just the right amount of humanity and we are fed only bits and pieces of her most private thoughts as the Ghost in the Shell: SAC series moves along. I must say I agree completely with bsu legato that you should watch the subtitled version. Unfortunately, this goes for most anime. The english cast often ruins the effect or tone that the original japanese cast was trying to portray, especially in the case of anime's many unconventional character archetypes (though, there are exceptions like Bebop). In the case of Ghost in the Shell: SAC, the producers of the english dub totally missed the whole point behind Motoko's personality. As such, she comes across in an almost ridiculously bland manner, like a flat charater. She is really her own character in the japanese dialogue and the acting reveals her character in many subtle ways. She's actually the deepest, most dimensional character in the series, taken as a whole.

That's nice to see the aircraft from Patlabor. I wasn't aware any lineart of the fighters from the second movie existed. I can see design lineages in this to the VF-11 in Macross Plus and the VF-0D in Macross Zero. Quite nice.

Strange custom, but very well done. Easily one of the most dramatic departures from the standard VF-1 that I've seen in a custom here on MacrossWorld. The pose is very cool as well. Nice work.

I've read through the article and it's not bad, but I've seen far more damning discussions of mecha. It's a good start and I enjoyed the fact that you decided to cover so many of the practical considerations. However, I'd like to note that you make the classic mistake made by almost every person writing mecha critiques; you work from a mindset that patently disproves the reality of mecha as seen in anime, based on our current level of scientific understanding. Which is a pedantic way of saying, Gundams and Valkyries are totally unbeleivable using what we know. This is a fair and totally valid position. Almost the whole of science fiction fails the test of realistic practicality. Thus, engaging in such a exercise to prove fictional mecha are impracticaly, however detailed and thorough, is really pointless because we all know science fiction is just that. Quantifying the validity of a mecha must start from the suspension of disbelief that these would be fully functional machines in real life. Rather than state "That won't work!" we instead ask "How would it be explained if it were real?" We accept all the crazy things the mecha do, all their astounding capabilities, and the near magical nature of the very concept...then we work backwards. This is how science works. A scientist doesn't look at a black hole and say "Black Holes defy every scientific convention, therefore we are seeing something other than black holes and thus they do not exist". Rather, the scientist says "Black Holes can be detected and they exist, but in what way can I understand how they function?" Once you do that, they you can begin to prove why a tank or fighter would be better than a mecha, or vice versa.

Already had one of those I thought

Don't really like the music, but the lyrics are great fun to read

*recalls his old Battletech table-top days* Gawd, I had almost forgotten about the awful, "inspired-by" designs. Battletech was so much better when they came up with original designs years into the system.

So I'm surfing the web today and I visit one of my regular websites, cinescape.com, a website all about genre movie news. The news section features an article humorously titled "Sex, Sci-Fi, & Rock-'n-Roll." Naturally, I check it out. The article is about a Star Trek-themed, punk-rock band known as Warp 11. They have just released a new album and they also have a website where one can learn about the band. The website is clean, but reading the lyrics is clear they like to go over the top. Have a good laugh and check out the article (which contains a link to Warp 11's website): Warp 11 article on Cinescape.com For any of you who are Rage Against The Machine fans like myself, check out the second track of the new Warp 11 album titled "Rage Against The Federation". The lyrics are hilarious

My copy of Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith Incredible Cross Sections arrived last night from Chapters and I've finally had a chance to look it over. The Jedi Interceptor design is so very nice. I love the merging of design lineages from the old Aethersprite Jedi Starfighter combined with what will become the TIE Fighter series. The toy looks very good and true to the original design. Very nice! So far, the V-Wing and the Jedi Interceptor are my favorite new fighter designs in ROTS.

HAHAHAHA! :) That's great! So damn funny.

Hehehe, that's really weird, but very well done. I especially like the lack of a heat shield, just like my old Jetfire toy. So strange to see a 1/48 version. Kinda surreal

Ya I've ordered a few things(including this book) from AmazonJp without a problem and I can't read much Japanese. Searching for items can be hard sometimes though. Click on the "display in English" button that helps a little. You can register just like you would on Amazon US or CA etc. I'll give it a try and see if it works. Thanks for your help dejr8bud.

Hmmm, I wonder how I can stumble my way through the Amazon Japan website. It's hard to follow. Will they really accept orders in english?

I'm sold

The Hasegawa battroid models naturally look superior to any Yamato produced Valkyrie simply because of the transformation design compromises Yamato must make and because Hasegawa models are built for detail rather than durability. By extention, the Super, Strike, and GBP armors are going to look better when created for a better looking base mecha upon which to add the accessories. With that in mind, I can honestly say that while I find the Hasegawa custom GBP better looking, Yamato has done a damn fine job with their 1/48 scale GBP. In some respects, they've even made the GBP armor more menacing to look at. The 1/48 GBP is simply the best looking armor set for any TOY version of a VF-1 valkyrie I've ever seen and it wins such praise by a very large margin I might add. I'd rather have a GBP armor set (and the Valkyrie) that looks like the Hasegawa models, but is a toy and fully transformable. But without such a product, I am more than pleased with my 1/48 scale Yamatos and I know I'll love the GBP accessory set.

Steamboy came to theatres here in Calgary this week, so a friend of mine (who just so happens to be English) and I went to see it at the late showing last night. Must say, it's been quite some time since I've been insulted by the level of simplicity and idiocy in a film as I was with Steamboy. Steamboy definitely ranks high as one of the most bland, unexciting stories for an adventure film I've seen to date. Correspondingly, the cast of one-dimensional characters is the most uninteresting group I've ever had the displeasure of watching on film. The Scarlett character alone would have ruined the movie, were it not a weak film in it's own right. Needless to say, the dialogue that plagues this film only adds to the problem. I think I almost rather would have paid for a ticket to see Sahara...and the only interesting thing about that film is the legal battle with Clive Cussler in real life. The dub was very poor, especially being that this is now 2005 and not 1989, I demand better of a dub, if I'm forced to watch it at all. Ray Steam's "accent" in particular was terrible, having been voiced by Anna Paquin (I swear to god). My friend cringed at almost every piece of Steamboy's dialogue, and while my reaction was thankfully numbed due to my ignorance of foreign accents, it was bad enough to notice. Both my friend and I would have much rather watched the film subtitled. I can say that the film makes excellent use of complimentary CGI. Like many Studio Ghibli films (and I loathe to compare a film as bad as Steamboy to such high quality films) the combination of cell and CGI is seemless and very dynamic. One scene at the beginning showed two cell drawn characters running from inside the house to outside, almost as if the camera was on a dolly following the movements of the characters. There were also some very interesting full 3D backdrops which rotated around the characters, with the cell art reacting in perfect unison. Very visually pleasing and a great way to meld two art forms. Overall, I'd give Steamboy a 2 out of 10, narrowly missing a score of one simply based on the impressive visual appearance of the film. If you're looking to support anime that comes to your local theatre, you can do a lot better than this and you'll save yourself some grief too.

You wanna borrow my DVDs? you're a regular around here. I'd trust you to return them. H That sure is nice of you to offer Hurin, but I best decline. Don't want to be responsible for damaging or losing your stuff. Don't worry, I'll get around to seeing it eventually. Thanks again, I appreciate the offer.

Hahahaha. I have a friend that utterly despises this film. I'm gonna send him an e-mail titled "Something Special For You" with an anonymous link to the special edition of Spaceballs on amazon.com. He's gonna kill me

LOL

There is a port of the PC version with the added voices of the 3DO version available. Check out the Ur-Quan Masters website: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php I've tried it and it works beautifully.