Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Animal Farm

It's quite unfortunate (or perhaps, unfortunate of Orwell's success), that such terms as "1984" has been bandied out rather often, and as such has become, for all intents and purposes, a cliche. Nevertheless, his books, while addressing issues that were current to his time, remain surprisingly relevant to this day.

Animal Farm can be described as humorous satire through and through, albeit a very chilling one. While on one hand it's a satirical take on Soviet communism, on another it's principles remain somewhat all-encompassing, making it seemingly describe events taking place even today. At heart is this: A revolution that is proclaimed on certain principles, which are eventually modified and thus replaced by other ones to make way for profits.

One of them goes like this: All animals are equal. Eventually, towards the end of the story, where the pigs (appropriately enough) take full control of the farm (and hog it's profits), an addition is made that totally invalidates the principle: All animal are equal, but some are more equal that others.

It can be said that contemporary readers find it relevant because they read into the text their own context. Which is why some people might find it relevant (depending on which country and which issues surround them) and others not so, an outmoded critique of a long falsified ideology.

Regardless, Orwell's simple yet hard-hitting work is worth a read. And despite being childishly simple, it references issues that even adults find it hard to deal with.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Black Lagoon: The Triviality & Meaning of Endless Gunfights

I've got to admit, being an intelligent person, I do not like to watch unintelligent stuff. Black Lagoon is most decidedly dumber than it admits (and it says it's quite smart, which I disagree). In between the cheeky Sartre and Heidegger references (and I loathe any show who tries to look smart by throwing about "deep terms" and smiling happily, thinking it's "serious"), we have the endless gunfights involving loads of blood (and a fair bit of gratuitous flesh displays) .

Ah, at least it is nihilistic both philosophically and morally.

Well, that's to say that it's consistent. Expect nothing but violence and deaths in between plots involving the mafia, yakuza and what not. (Even then, the plots are just a sideshow.) But I somehow found it entertaining. Yes, I like action. But action alone is all style and no substance. And that's how far the show goes, and that's how far you're gonna enjoy it, if you enjoy these things at all.



My final assessment would be less bright than my initial ratings (check out my Anime Seen account and the notes). I won't be changing my prior ratings though, I'm satisfied with it on a certain level, but this show does leave a rather unpleasant aftertaste. Yes, the taste of you having watched meaningless trash. For once I feel a sort of moral indignation.

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Note- This review covers both seasons of the anime series, Black Lagoon and Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage.

A Moment of Cynicism, If You'd Please...

A little girl dies and her face is plastered on the front pages of newspapers, proclaiming a terrible tragedy, perpetrated by cruel monsters, complete with graphs on how DNA testing is done or how to keep your child safe (as if we didn't need to know these things until now).

My first reaction when I saw these things was that of...what? I'm not sure. But it was along the lines of: I couldn't care less. Yes, I'm rather apathetic when it comes to these things. Perhaps I should be chit-chatting away about this constantly, considering that this has become a table-topic (quite literally) and people cry at this little girl dying, though they are not even her fifth cousin four times removed.

Alas, such inconsistent behavior is all too common. Quite recently I stumbled into a KFC outlet busy preparing half a thousand pieces of chicken for someone's party or something. The irony is quite evident here:

When one little girl dies, a nation cries. When 16,000 children die everyday from starvation, we happily gobble down 500 pieces of original recipe chicken.

Or as someone noted, oh so truly: "One death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."

That's humanity for you.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Samurai Champloo, Or The Re-Imagining of The Samurai Genre in Anime


Samurai Champloo, unlike its cousin of sorts, Cowboy Bebop, did not make as much waves as the latter did. But this reviewer would contend that the former is much more stronger than the latter.

The anime shares many of Cowboy Bebop's features, obviously because they share the same creator/director. Even then, we find many similarities between the two: such as how in both the animes our protagonists tend to be always hungry, and looking for food.

Okay, comparisons aside, Champloo shares many similarities with that of, say, Rurouni Kenshin: such as intense swordfights and the fact that its set in ancient Japan (although both are set in different periods). But the similarities stop there, and the hilarity begins. Yes, its infused with hip-hop references, and one of the samurai protagonists fight in a style resembling breakdancing.

Graffiti (tagging), beep boxing and what have you abound. Watching the anachronisms, they do tend to make you laugh. And let the comparisons begin again: I found it as funny (if not, a little more) as Bebop.

And then there is the action, in which most of its strength lies. Champloo contains fluid and beautiful animation throughout the series, and it does not let up when it comes to the sword fights: they are meticulously animated and very intense.

Yes, it's funny, but it manages to balance itself out with moments of seriousness and not look aloof in the process. Again and again, it felt like watching Bebop, except something much better.

Sometimes things feel a little tenuous: like how all of the three characters manage to stay together despite having little to reason to do so. But all for the story, one supposes, and in the end it's not some mindless shonen anime with nothing but action in it, but contains well-thought out stories and characters. And yes, I find myself drawn to them.

Wonderful visuals and good music make up one of its many intense scenes.

Music? Yes, Shinichiro Watanabe has always recognized the importance of music to a show. Don't expect a Yoko Kanno score though (she's nowhere to be found), but there are many scenes where the music is simply perfect, and serve to drum up the suspense and intensity. Obviously, there's a lot of hip-hop tunes and beats involved.

While Champloo may have a "filler" feel to it (it's format is similar to, yes, Cowboy Bebop), nevertheless almost every episode contributes a little bit to the overall plot (with the exception of a few, bizarre ones that have no continuity to them) it still probably is one of the best in its genre I've seen to date.

And dare I say it? Samurai Champloo > Cowboy Bebop*. Yes, Watanabe's latest work is much more polished, much more thought out, and well, much better. Comparison of apples and oranges perhaps, and it's not like I have a vendetta against Bebop or anything, but I know a good anime when I see one.
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*The author emphasizes that this is his subjective opinion, and recognizes that many will feel otherwise.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Beware of Legally Pirated Anime

Like a good lawful citizen that is supposed to obey relativistic moral standards, I bought probably my first original DVD, a collection of Studio Ghibli movies recently.

Of course, that sounds too good to be true, what with me being the notorious cheapskate that I am (my philosophy being: why pay money for it when you can get it for free?). Indeed, it is. I bought the "original" collection (complete with the "tulen" hologram sticker and all) from a popular bookstore (it's a pun, so you know what bookstore it is).

I dunno if I should blame our film censorship board (or whoever it is that hands out those "authentic" holograms), but they aren't doing their job well. The collection, which had a sticker on it saying RM 69.90 and "Buy Original", was being sold there at half the price. A steal. But too good to be true.

And how do I know it's a fake? Firstly, a quick check at the real Studio Ghibli collection will reveal that the box set comes with 7 Discs (my one has 5 discs). And it contains one movie that the one I bought doesn't have, namely, Spirited Away. Okay, so some small differences are possible. But load it up and lo and behold, I have come to witness the one of the most crappily encoded DVDs on earth masquerading as an "original" collection.

Besides the horrible resolution and the fact that the geek hired by whoever pirated this stuff (and managed to get a "tulen" tag on it) did not put any chapters whatsoever. And with 3 movies crammed onto one disc, it doesn't make for a pretty sight. Skip a chapter and you skip a movie.

Other giveaways: Spelling mistakes and other "Engrish" errors. Obviously.

By the way, I've also come across other legally pirated stuff, like a recent .hack//Roots DVD my friend lent me. It was nicely packaged in a box set, except it was totally necessary, because some genius decided to cram all 26 episodes of that anime into one DVD. A genius, I tell you. Not to mention other idiocies, such as a few episodes not having any subtitles for a few minutes at a time.

And yes, it had a "tulen" sticker on it, and was being sold at dear ol' Jaya Jusco. Whoever said you can't find pirated stuff in those places?

Yes, the Government folks here are either dumb, too lazy to do any research, or aren't paid enough. Regardless, this is why I still download free fansubs, which are leagues ahead in terms of quality than these China trash. And yes, they are free. Free is better, just as those Linux nerds tend to rave that Open Source > Microsoft.

Rant over. Bye!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Hey There Khalilah

As far as song parodies go, this is one of the most politically incorrect (somewhat; depending on where one lives). But it is also one of the most hilarious. Remember that extremely annoying song (heh, to me) by Plain White T's, Hey There Delilah? Here's a decent parody of it, one that's for once, not done by Weird Al.


A Nightmare Analyzed

I had a bad dream last night. Or was it this morning? Regardless of when I went into REM sleep, I still had a nightmare. And I woke up rather scared. Of any shadows or other lurking thing. I kid you not, I was scared.

So my bad dream was about demons haunting a place. Yes, as dreams go, it was rather real, and in my dreamlike state, I was really scared. But, I wonder why my feelings of fear carried over to when I woke up.

I'm quite sure, for most people, the feelings that they experience in dreams do carry over once in a while (especially if it is a particular vivid or striking dream). Perhaps the most vivid dream I had (of which I remained shaken and affected until the next day) was about...a cat. As for the details, well, from what I can remember, it was traveling along a road through the mountains (I think) amidst a thunderstorm. It may be a thin connection, but perhaps that dream made me like cats. I don't know.

By the way, do lucid dreams tend to maximize the possibility of feelings that are carried over into one's waking state? I'm not sure, and I have tried lucid dreaming (following a how-to guide) somewhat unsuccessfully. In my experience, I have only realized that I was dreaming only once or twice, and in those cases I could only "control" my dream in a somewhat shaky manner. Then again, I wonder whether I was merely dreaming that I could control my dream. Ah, how much clearer reality is. (And I don't want to get started on whether life is a dream, because all discussions on solipsism tend to be a dead end.)

Being not very well read in psychological and neurological literature, I don't know for sure. Perhaps I can offer one interpretation, which I gleaned from a study on "absent minded trangessions".

In a dream like state, feelings tend to remain into the waking state the same way emotions from one's waking state carry over day after day. For example, in reality, if someone close to you dies, feeling of sadness remain day after day, for quite some time. Likewise, if one experienced a particularly shocking incident, the feelings tend to linger for quite sometime.

Thus, in the mind (or should I say brain?) at least, dreams are as real as reality, and the feelings as such that occur in them linger as long as they do in one's consciousness from the dream state to the waking state, the same way impressionable feelings that are experienced in everyday life remain and linger.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

What I Did Last Night

You know, I rarely ever write "what I did" posts for the simple reason that I am not optimistic enough to assume that people are going to care. There are, of course, other people who are quite confident that others will take delight in their narcissism, but not me.

But no, I am not going to write about what I did last night for the simple reason that it would be lame and very narcissistic of me to do so. Thus, I am going to leave it to the experts to do so. Good luck.

P.S.- If this was a useless, random, nonsense post that the kind narcissists put on their blog when they are bored, so be it. It's useless filler, but filler nonetheless.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Prayer Request...

My dad's van got stolen, along with his company equipment in it. Pray, please! =)

Update: Looks like a miracle happened. The van was found! Although with all the stuff in it gone. Still, it saved us the trouble of buying a new one. Praise the Lord. Hehe...

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Said to be Studio Ghibli's very first film, Nausicaa immediately shows how impatient Miyazaki was to bring his themes and ideas forth. Perhaps you can compare it to say, Princess Mononoke. They both have strong environmental and pacifist messages. Except Nausicaa takes place in a post-apocalyptic world.

From there, we can see how it builds on, and how things quickly get chaotic, before we come to a sad and terrible climax to a surprisingly positive resolution. Have I told too much? Well, it's formula. Except this was the very first, so you can say it's original. Truth be told, I perhaps concur with the assessment that Miyazaki has outdone himself with his later films. True, they were much more concise and lucid. Nausicaa can get rather confusing at times, after all.

But for a first movie of sorts, it is great. Indeed, one of the greatest: having a depth hardly matched by Disney films at their golden age. And greatness is a hard thing to execute.

Monday, September 10, 2007

A Few Observations

If you don't know, I work part part part time as an office boy. Besides the typing and typing involved, I get to make calls soliciting information from company gatekeepers (usually operators or secretaries) about their bosses so we can inundate their inboxes with our e-mails. Sometimes I go straight to their bosses.

So here is a short, empirical account of what I've noticed:

  • If the person picking up the phone is a Malay operator/secretary, he or she is more likely to divulge information about his or her boss than Chinese or Indians (the latter being the hardest group to extract information from, although this is slightly misleading).
  • The degree of success of extracting information from the higher ranked members of companies (such as managers) can be categorized thus (from easiest to hardest, according to race): 1. Malay 2. Indian 3. Chinese (although I would say Malays and Indians tie for being the easiest, with Chinese being the hardest).
  • Chinese managers are the hardest to extract information from. However, there is an interesting (if a little tenuous) correlation between the accent of the speaker to the willingness to divulge information (i.e. the thicker the "Chinese" accent, the more likely he or she is to share personal details). Of course, this is slight generalization on my part.
Update: Something I forgot to mention earlier- all my conversations were in English, although some (but very, very little) BM was used in some cases.

Do note that sometimes I am required to ask for e-mails only, and on other occasions actually find out (what I call, "from scratch") the owner of the business from lower ranked members of the company. The latter is not necessarily harder than the former, but it is a longer process.

Notice that I categorize people according to races, and directly imply that some races are more willing to share information than others. This is merely what I've noticed, and it is up to the reader to come up with his own conjectures. That said, Malays are still the nicest of the lot. =)

Well, this is from the top of my head. I should be writing this stuff down. Intriguing. Anyway, I'll share more with you once I collect more observations. Hehe.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Movies To See

So, the American Film Institute has released their list of Top 100 movies as of 2007. Since first posting it here, I've made some progress! Hopefully I'll see all of them by the uh, end of the decade?

I've another list here.

1. Citizen Kane, 1941.

2. The Godfather, 1972.

3. Casablanca, 1942.

4. Raging Bull, 1980.

5. Singin' in the Rain, 1952.

6. Gone With the Wind, 1939.

7. Lawrence of Arabia, 1962.

8. Schindler's List, 1993.

9. Vertigo, 1958.

10. The Wizard of Oz, 1939.

11. City Lights, 1931.

12. The Searchers, 1956.

13. Star Wars, 1977.

14. Psycho, 1960.

15. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968.

16. Sunset Blvd., 1950.

17. The Graduate, 1967.

18. The General, 1927.

19. On the Waterfront, 1954.

20. It's a Wonderful Life, 1946.

21. Chinatown, 1974.

22. Some Like It Hot, 1959.

23. The Grapes of Wrath, 1940.

24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982.

25. To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962.

26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939.

27. High Noon, 1952.

28. All About Eve, 1950.

29. Double Indemnity, 1944.

30. Apocalypse Now, 1979.

31. The Maltese Falcon, 1941.

32. The Godfather Part II, 1974.

33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975.

34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937.

35. Annie Hall, 1977.

36. The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957.

37. The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946.

38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948.

39. Dr. Strangelove, 1964.


40. The Sound of Music, 1965.


41. King Kong, 1933.

42. Bonnie and Clyde, 1967.

43. Midnight Cowboy, 1969.

44. The Philadelphia Story, 1940.

45. Shane, 1953.

46. It Happened One Night, 1934.

47. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951.

48. Rear Window, 1954.

49. Intolerance, 1916.

50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001.

51. West Side Story, 1961.

52. Taxi Driver, 1976.

53. The Deer Hunter, 1978.

54. M-A-S-H, 1970.

55. North by Northwest, 1959.

56. Jaws, 1975.

57. Rocky, 1976.

58. The Gold Rush, 1925.

59. Nashville, 1975.

60. Duck Soup, 1933.

61. Sullivan's Travels, 1941.

62. American Graffiti, 1973.

63. Cabaret, 1972.

64. Network, 1976.

65. The African Queen, 1951.

66. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981.

67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966.

68. Unforgiven, 1992.

69. Tootsie, 1982.

70. A Clockwork Orange, 1971.

71. Saving Private Ryan, 1998.

72. The Shawshank Redemption, 1994.

73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969.

74. The Silence of the Lambs, 1991.

75. In the Heat of the Night, 1967.

76. Forrest Gump, 1994.

77. All the President's Men, 1976.

78. Modern Times, 1936.

79. The Wild Bunch, 1969.

80. The Apartment, 1960.

81. Spartacus, 1960.

82. Sunrise, 1927.

83. Titanic, 1997.

84. Easy Rider, 1969.

85. A Night at the Opera, 1935.

86. Platoon, 1986.

87. 12 Angry Men, 1957.

88. Bringing Up Baby, 1938.

89. The Sixth Sense, 1999.


90. Swing Time, 1936.

91. Sophie's Choice, 1982.

92. Goodfellas, 1990.

93. The French Connection, 1971.

94. Pulp Fiction, 1994.

95. The Last Picture Show, 1971.

96. Do the Right Thing, 1989.

97. Blade Runner, 1982.

98. Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942.

99. Toy Story, 1995.

100. Ben-Hur, 1959.

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Last Updated 20/2/2008


Monday, September 3, 2007

For Not Everything Is Beneficial.

I watched 28 Weeks Later a while back, and it truly represents a break from the usual kinds of movies I watch. You see, I hardly ever watch horror. Since almost all the ones nowadays are so cliched, that if you watched one you watched them all. Which was why I only watched 28 Weeks Later due to a good impression I had with its predecessor, 28 Days Later. Not that it was that good. It was just kind of refreshing, and certainly entertaining.

Then again, it does descend into visual nihilism. That is, there is
nothing else to expect but more blood, decapitation and what have you. It might prove entertaining, but it certainly brings one no good. This is what I've come to conclude.

I hardly, for example, ever watch comedy either. Of the Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler et. al. kind (and almost all of them fall into one category or the other). I dislike them. No, I loathe them. Yes, they make me laugh. But they leave a bad, bad aftertaste. Forgive my language, but crap don't taste good. On the other hand, some of them are sweet fluff. But too much cotton candy ruins the teeth.

But I'm a huge fan of (decent) action movies. Give me Transformers anytime. I lap it all up, eagerly. Lovely, they are. I get delighted by visual feasts, certainly. Even if they serve up no useful purpose, but entertainment.

So, how do I balance it all? The truth is, I console myself by writing reviews. Take for example, anime. I'm very particular. I shun the usual stuff everyone watch- like Naruto or Bleach. If an anime series does not impress me in its first episode, then it goes down the drain (or, as is usually the case, the recycle bin).

So, I have waded through a fair share of often fluffy (and sometimes, downright crappy) stuff. But all for a noble end, that is, to write a review, and warn others away. If anyone listens.

Is there a line I ought to draw? I do think so. I may not be that conservative when it comes to this sort of stuff, but I still hold a small candle to the views of, say Focus on the Family. Some shows I should not be watching (and to that end, I regretted watching them). And some, no one should. Even liberals like Roger Ebert agree that shows like Rob Schneider's are utter garbage. If not due to moral reservations, then due to the plain fact that some shows are not worth your time. Indeed, they are a waste of your time, and your life. Still, crap is crap is crap.

While everything is permissible (in a sense) not everything is beneficial. And considering the abundance of media we have today, there surely are some not too beneficial ones out there. And we as Christians, even more so, human beings who are endowed with reason, ought to shun them.

Last Exile

Almost nothing bad can be said about Last Exile. It has one of the highest production values for an anime that I've ever seen, and, along with a well thought out (and intriguing) plot with interesting characters, is certainly one of the better animes out there.

Well, I can wax eloquent about this anime all day, but in the end you have to see it for yourself to appreciate the depth of the show. Personally, the most important aspect was the well created world of Last Exile, characterized by the conflict between the nations Anatoray and Disith. And certainly the world is a bizarre one (check out the Wikipedia article to find out what I mean, and to spoil all your fun).

So...are there any drawbacks? Perhaps a few, such as the somewhat bumpy plot and often uninteresting detours. But, nevertheless, I can say that I was gripped from beginning to end. Hence why I finished the entire series in two days.

Regardless, this whole show is one big mixture of themes ranging from musket battles and Star Wars style airships to all-powerful antagonists and then some. And if that doesn't get you intrigued, well, tough luck.

Malaysia: My Inheritance

Malaysia: My Inheritance sounds a tad sentimental, if a little corny. Nevertheless, we have high hopes for it. And we are looking for contributors. If you are a youth (we have a flexible definition of youth, don't worry) and you don't mind writing a thing or two (they need only be simple reflections) on Malaysia, from your perspective, then e-mail me! We need contributors.

And lots of thanks to Crystal for her birthday wish (hehe). She's a contributor, too.

So, to use a well-worn motivational phrase, what are you waiting for?