dreamweaver13

Finished watching Baccano! (including the 3ep OAV), and I found it one of the best i've seen in a while. Amazing show. I can't remember the last time I LOLd so hard

. It's brilliant the way they set up the separate storylines from all those different perspectives, and to see them all mesh so well by the end. (always fun to watch an episode, and finally realize... so THAT'S what happened 5 episodes ago!) Sheesh, I can't even figure out my favorite character. Of course, Isaac and Miria are almost always on top of that list, but then again, there's Jacuzzi, Rail Tracer, Firo and countless others to consider.

It's amazing how much I liked Isaac and Miria. Normally, I would find characters like that annoying, but I think they were just too over-the-top that they just came out so freakin likeable and hilarious.

i'm definitely watching this again.

If this new spidey movie does things right,and has Gwen as the main interest in peters life,I hope it ends with her dieing on the bridge and goblin getting impaled like in the first series. could be epic shizzle! I liked the first two rami spidey flicks,but the parker wasnt how i saw parker,he was alright but the real parker had abit more of a backbone,he wasnt a full on geeky geek. im keen to see how this new one goes.

please have web cartridges!! they make the fight scenes so much more exciting when they run out.

I think it'll be Gwen as the love interest, but i think she'll survive the 1st movie, and die in the second. We have to fall in love with Gwen first as a character, before she is taken away. Epic indeed.

All I can say is that come the end of the 2nd movie, there will be a lot of kids cryin their eyes out, and a lot of parents furious at the movie ruining the optimism of their kids.

Hmm, have you seen Gunbuster?

No, I was asking if he'd seen Gunbuster since Voices seemed new to him.

Hmm, yes I've seen Gunbuster, and it's actually the first show that came to mind while I was watching Voices. But I was actually referring to the love-story angle and the real-time communication between the couple. Of course, Gunbuster showed the effects of relativistic travel, but the premise in Voices is to see two people actually trying to remain in touch throughout the heroine's journey. Far as I can remember, Noriko and her childhood friend didn't keep in touch all the while she was in space.

So yes, while I have seen Gunbuster, Voices still felt new to me, because it explored a different aspect of the whole space battle/invasion plotline. The fact that the space-battle aspect of Voices was taken almost completely from Gunbuster didn't prevent me from appreciating Voices for what it was - a good love story.

watched Voices of a Distant Star (Hoshi ni Koe) yesterday. Very nice. A short viewing experience, but emotionally and visually stunning, nonetheless.

The premise is interesting, but very simple actually. I read that the OAV was even produced independently by its writer/creator. amazing.

Others:

Up to ep 28 of my MS Gundam viewing.

Watched the first episode of Baccano (very interesting!)

First 2 episodes of Maid-Sama (not as funny as i hoped)

Dammit!!! just found out that Scott Pilgrim doesn't get shown here in my country until November. I am utterly depressed. And enraged. And then depressed again.

By the way

the Britannian Empire invades Japan on the 10th of august 2010. That's this tuesday so watch the news:D

I'm sure Japan is already keeping its defenses ready. I just hope they realize that a real robot isn't gonna hack it for this invasion. Go for the big guns, Japan. Show us some Mazinger action!

Started and finished Working!! over the weekend, and I found it very enjoyable. Good thing I continued watching after the 1st ep (Poplar is annoying. If the rest of the series focused on her, I couldn't have taken it). Hoping for a second season.

My only complaint -- watching that series made me eat so damn much! I mean, i couldn't get past an episode without munching on something. How could I not, after watching Kyouko eat in every frickin scene?

Ok, how about this:

For an assignment in creative writing class, I wrote a love letter to Minmay, written from Hikaru's perspective.

...

Years later, a girl I was dating saw that love letter in some corner of my room. Unfortunately, I never indicated in the letter that it was supposed to be from Hikaru...

Nice. Who's the girl, and who's the voice-over?

Think about it, every other time we see him, he's being chauffeured in private cars, jets, the whole nine yards. But a guy who is worth billions, who has taken the time to get dream security training, is going to ride in the cheapest seats with no security detail? It doesn't add up. It's not a huge thing but it's just one more sign that points to things not being so simple.

No, I got what you were saying. But what you are referring to as a suggestion of a dream existence could easily be labeled as a "plot device" (simply to place full attention of the viewers into the dream heist, rather than the real-world heist against security guards. For all you know, the employer of Cobb owned the train line, much like Saito owned the airline later on).

In any other film, we would have just dismissed it as an unrealistic move, or, heaven forbid for a Nolan movie, a plot hole. Which is exactly what I said earlier. These things (use of cheesy symbolic names, unrealistic actions of a character, moving from one setting to another without transition, etc.) are completely normal things for any movie. We'd notice them, and we'd snicker. But it just so happened that the movie is about dreams and reality, so we could nitpick on all these things to suggest that they imply either dream or reality. We put the movie to a different standard, and all these little plot devices could be given an additional meaning which was never intended.

Im sum, sure you can say that Saito was an idiot for travelling by train without security detail (although we don't know that for sure; and as wolfx pointed out, it's not at all cheap), but his idiocy doesn't necessarily mean that it's all someone else's dream.

Actually it's been implied all thru out the movie that it's all a dream. And Mal even vocalizes it at the end. Well... Mal, the one in Cobb's head.

The first thing I told my friend on the way out was it seemed unrealistic that the kids were the same age, but I feel like it was done deliberately for dramatic effect and to keep the audience wondering if it was all a dream. If they showed them as older kids then it would have been too realistic.

there's some things to suggest the whole thing is a dream. Mal brings it up during one of their confrontations. Then there's how they're constantly just showing up in places the way Cobb tells Ariadne about. Then there's just the opening sequence with them trying to hack Saito, the guy is wealthy enough to buy an entire airline but he rides coach on the train with no security?

Yup, Mal indeed brought it up during their last dialogue, but after some thought, Cobb came up with an answer that, for me, pretty much closed off that train of thought. For the life of me, I can't remember what he said (and I can't find the quote at IMDB), but I remember thinking to myself, "ok, that's one twist that won't be coming at the end". I'll have to watch it again to remember that line.

eugimon, come on, you almost had me with your first 2 signs, then you suddenly use Saito's travel habits as evidence?

My wife hated this theory, but I am sticking to it: I believe this is all just a plain-old dream that the Cobb character was having. EVERYTHING- all of the rules, the technology, all of that, is just some of the crazy stuff we have in dreams. It is all a fiction of a single, strange, dream.

Totems, projections, architects, everything- all a dream.

Well of course it is. It is just a movie, after all.

It's nit really over thinking it, that idea that cobb is still dreaming at the end is one that Nolan obviously wants you to consider

Yup, definitely the idea that Cobb might still be dreaming is an idea put forward by Nolan (meaning, he was still trapped in limbo). But I don't think anything in the movie implies that the whole thing (from start to finish of the movie) was a dream. Sure, they had "approriate names" (honestly, I think Ariadne was the only one that really fit), but that, to me, doesn't really say much, other than that the writer that likes to use irony or symbolism a bit too much.

All movies are, in a way, dreams; seeing as that even a movie based on a true story is not actually the true story. And a movie that shows that reality may be relative is all the more subject to that comparison. But I still don't think there was anything in the movie to strongly hint or push the idea that the whole of it was actually a dream of one of the characters. Sure, you can imagine that to be so (that's completely your prerogative), but I don't think that was the point of the spinning top at the end of the movie.

Finished watching Durarara!! A great series. It's rare for me nowadays to finish an entire series in one weekend, but that's basically what I did. As I said, episode 2 bored me, but the series started to pick up steam around ep4, and I couldn't put it down after that. Also, I loved the OP and ED.

I hope they come up with a second season (I read that the anime dealt with only the first 3 books).

Yes. But the level of limbo isn't exactly specifically level 4. They would've have possibly went to level 4 since they went to sleep at level 3, but they were diving into Fischer, who happens to be in limbo. As for how Cobb and Mal made it to limbo voluntarily, it wasn't said how and at what level they went down, but they were experimenting on how deep they could go and ended up there.

Very true. Makes you wonder, then, how many dream levels it took Cobb and Mal to get to limbo (assuming they didn't die to get there).

Ariadne... she gave Theseus the ball of string that got him out of the Mnotaur's labyrynth... that was the only thing I thought that was kinda cheesy.

good catch. I'm almost sure that's why Michael Caine chose her. "Will you look at that, her name's Ariadne. Wouldn't it be a hoot and a half to recommend her to Cobb?" lol.

Suicide wasn't an option because they'd go into limbo due to being heavily sedated and unable to wake up. (the danger) Thus they needed the "kick" to ride up the different dream levels until the timer on the PASIV device runs out. That's why they have not woke up after swimming to the river bank after the van crashed. But it seems you COULD suicide yourself in limbo to get out of it. Fischer and Adrianne did so. Though perhaps Fischer and Adrianne only rode up one level after suiciding in limbo and was in time before the synchronised kick that would bring them all the way up. Cobb & Saito missed the kick so I'm not sure how would that be different, suiciding before and after the kick.

Additionally Cobb and Mal clearly used the suicide method to get out of limbo,

further reinforced with the Inception idea that Mal brought with her to the real world. (to commit suicide)

My thoughts on this:

-- SPOILERS --

1. Dying in any level of this particular dream labyrinth would send the dreamer to limbo. However, they could also go there voluntarily, like Cobb and Ariadne did, and Cobb and Mal before.

2. Cobb and Ariadne didn't die in level 3 to get to limbo; rather, they voluntarily went deeper. I would presume that they retained their facilities and self-awareness much better than they would have if they had died going there.

3. Also, before Cobb and Ariadne went to limbo, they were already aware of its existence. Cobb, in particular, had already been there. So there was little danger of them being taken in by the limbo state and immediatly losing their awareness, i would guess.

4. From what I understand, the first persons ever to reach as far as limbo were Cobb and Mal (at least as far as the movie's characters know). Although they went there voluntarily (as opposed to dying within the dream), they might not have realized at first where the hell they were. Thus, if they weren't sure how they got there, it would be scary to simply assume that killing themselves would wake them up. For all they know, dead in limbo could have meant dead forever. or for all they know, they were in the real REAL world. I think commiting suicide in limbo with Mal was a big leap of faith even for Cobb.

5. I think self-awareness of reality/dream is lost over time in limbo. Cobb was aware he was in limbo when he went down with Ariadne. But he seemingly lost sense of this while he was searching for Saito, as eugimon pointed out. Cobb knows that you could get out of limbo by killing yourself there. But i think that he's worried about staying there too long that you eventually forget this escape route.

6. Ariadne didn't kill herself to get out of limbo. she received a kick, i think, from falling down in level 3 when the entire complex was blasted to bits. (not too sure if i recall this accurately, though)

7. I don't think it was Fischer being killed in limbo which brought him back to level 3. Rather, it was "falling" inside the dream that woke him up back to level 3. Much like falling in a dream could wake you up before you hit the ground. A bit weird way to bring him back, and not supported by previous discussion on dream rules, but Ariadne did say that she was improvising.

8. Saito got to Limbo by dying. As such, i think he had less chance of having self-awareness in limbo. Hence, being stuck there for ages, until someone brought him back.

9. I think dying in limbo doesn't bring you up the dream labyrinth one level at a time. I think if you manage to kill yourself in limbo, you wake up completely. Like Cobb and Mal from the train tracks back to their bedroom. Which is why I also believe that Ariadne and Fischer did not leave limbo by dying there.

Ultimately, i think the only thing closest to deus ex machina was Fischer being brought back to level 3 from limbo by being pushed by Ariadne. Everything else for me felt grounded on the dream rules explained over the course of the movie.

Just watched it. Pretty enjoyable except:

1.) predictable ending

the "it was all a dream after all that" ending, as hinted by the perpetually spinning top. Either that or he just stayed in dream world unable to deal with not really meeting his kids.

Well, it still beats a rat scurrying across the last scene in the Departed...

Seriously:

Finally finished FMA. Easily one of the best anime i've seen in a long time. Brilliant all throughout. And, oh, real closure sure is beautiful every now and then. lol.

Up next, Durarara!!! Have to admit, the second episode was a bit boring for me. Any other show, i might already give up on it after watching this ep. But the reviews are good. And if anything, i get a kick out of watching (and listening to) the OP anyway, so i'll give it another go.

And of course, there's still K-on S2. It's a nice thing to watch when i'm multi-tasking; some scenes will just make you smile. But since no main storyline is really running (at least as far as ep 7), i'm in no rush to complete the series anytime soon. Mio is still my hands-down favorite character.

Can't wait to get more HOTD!

Amazing movie! Brilliant filmmaking, as always, by Nolan. Only he could pull of this multiple layering without it being too cluttered or incomprehensible.

I would love to see it again and again. At least once on IMAX, hopefully. It's a good thing I decided to watch it in regular theaters first so that I can let the story wash over me completely. Now, it's time for the visual treats to take over.

One thought though...

Aside from HOTD, I started watching season 2 of K'on (up to ep3), and finally resumed FMA Brotherhood (up to ep 54

).

Also I started with Durarara. First episode was mighty interesting.

Highschool of the Dead 1st Episode was cool. If you're into Zombies and fan service (T&A), this series is for you ;-)

Just watched the raw of the first ep (first that finished downloading), and oh man that was awesome!! The first episode, at least, has that Romero feel, and the zombies are pretty messed up. And at one point, they even used a score somewhat similar to the one in the opening of 28 weeks later, so that contributed to the zombie acopalypse mood. I HAVE TO COMLETE THIS SERIES.

Judging by the 1st episode, definitely a must see for zombie fans. Thanks for the heads-up about this series, gunbuster.

A fun movie from start to finish. For me, Murdock stole the show. I agree that the ending was over-indulgent, but what the hey, it was a blast.

I'm getting strange results when I google BOT structure. Can you provide a link to the source article/what BOT means?

(Feeling a bit shamed that my Google searching skills failed me)

here ya go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Build_operate_transfer

I'd be careful about speculating - especially if one limits oneself to only the political economic paradigm of their native country. Japan has it's own political economic paradigm, and Macross has largely followed that.

True, that. But I wouldn't have even brought it up as a possibility if i didn't check first that Japan also makes use of a BOT structure (at least that's what wikipedia says, so that could could be completely wrong, of course). But as i said, it's completely speculation; and as bri pointed out, has little to no bearing on the macross story in general.

DAMN! Finally watched it. Words cannot begin to describe how awesome it was. Watching it was like a frickin religious experience. (ok part of me knows it's because i've been an Eva fan from the very beginning, and that i've been waiting too damn long for this movie, but still!). LOVED the action sequences and the battles. LOVED the new character (go maaya!). LOVED the way they reinvented the characters. LOVED how shinji continued to show the balls that he could only have dreamed about in the series. LOVED (actually more of WTF shocked to the core, in a nice way)how Rei's character developed. LOVED the redesigned angels. Also liked how they used kare kano music in several scenes, and it worked wonderfully.

Good point from Taksraven that the main characters seem to have evolved into the stereotypes of the very characters they helped popularize, but on the other hand, it's nice to see them not as fully mentally messed up as in the series. but, hey, there are still 2 movies to go, and with anno on board, who knows how much messed up they will be in the end.

And now for the loooong wait for the 3rd one. And hoping that someone also screens Eva 2 in a cinema here. Foreign film festivals, don't fail me now!

I know it's been mentioned in another thread, but since this is the proper thread, I might as well say that the DVD and BD of 2.22 are out.

Alright!! The wait.is.ovah!