[Music] Motion City Soundtrack - Everything is Alright
Quick update here. I got to looking at the comics section of the links on the left, and I realized that it really did not encompass the dearth of comics that I read, either through infrequent site visits, RSS feeds or email updates. God knows I don't read them all at once, but I keep up well enough. So yeah, there you go.
In the only other news I care to post at the moment, only one more day until Serenity premieres in theaters across the country! From what I've heard, even if you haven't seen the show, you may want to catch this one anyway. If you're a fan of witty well-written dialogue, involved stories, tongue-in-cheek humor and can wrap you brain around a future where the Far East and the Old West have merged on spaceships, then you should see this movie. I'm watching the series for the third time, so yes, I'm a little biased, but still. Go see it. I command you!
September 29, 2005
September 28, 2005
GODDAMMIT!!!
Stupid fucking Blogger just ate another post. It was a good long write up about some movies I had gotten to see, and it just fucking ate it. I went to publish, and it tells me my blog wasn't found. It figures. I had just gotten my blog to show up again, since Blogger screwed up when I had to republish the entire thing a day or two ago. So yay. I guess we'll go for the quick rundowns:
Lord of War: Funnier than I thought it would be, very dry humor, wry wit, some good performances from Nicolas Cage and Jared Leto. Quite a bit of sex and violence thrown in too. Good times, go see it.
Flightplan: Meh-worthy film about a mother whose daughter is kidnapped on a plane. Does a good job of building the tension throughout only to dash it all in the last half hour. The whole plot is laid out, which kills all of the guessing and thus the interest. Didn't end up caring about the characters, and the kidnapping plot seemed overdone. There was a Sixth Sense kind of plot that they toyed with about halfway through that had my interest, but it was discarded for a more conventional ending. Bleh, wait for a rental.
The 40 Year Old Virgin: Damn funny movie. I don't think I've laughed that consistently at a movie in a long time. Steve Carrell is awesome, and the supporting guys (Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen) work well as the well-meaning but personally flawed helpers. Good to see that the movie didn't end up being a one-trick pony. Also surprised at how sweet and endearing the movie could be without coming across as saccharine, all despite the raunchiness. Good times, definitely go see.
Crash: Really good movie about the effects and dangers of stereotypes. The cast is suitably huge and well-stocked, and this befits the twisty plot. I've always had a fondness for movies that have a bunch of different stories that all intersect in some way. A very powerful movie that will make you think a bit about how much stereotypes cloud your vision of the world. Good times, go rent it.
Okay, that about does it. I know I missed some stuff, but it's the best I can do to rewrite what got eaten. Hopefully, the next movie I write about on here will be Serenity, and in anticipation of that, I'm rewatching all of Firefly. I had almost forgotten just how good that show is. Anyhow, now I really need to go to bed, since I have to go back to work tomorrow.
Lord of War: Funnier than I thought it would be, very dry humor, wry wit, some good performances from Nicolas Cage and Jared Leto. Quite a bit of sex and violence thrown in too. Good times, go see it.
Flightplan: Meh-worthy film about a mother whose daughter is kidnapped on a plane. Does a good job of building the tension throughout only to dash it all in the last half hour. The whole plot is laid out, which kills all of the guessing and thus the interest. Didn't end up caring about the characters, and the kidnapping plot seemed overdone. There was a Sixth Sense kind of plot that they toyed with about halfway through that had my interest, but it was discarded for a more conventional ending. Bleh, wait for a rental.
The 40 Year Old Virgin: Damn funny movie. I don't think I've laughed that consistently at a movie in a long time. Steve Carrell is awesome, and the supporting guys (Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen) work well as the well-meaning but personally flawed helpers. Good to see that the movie didn't end up being a one-trick pony. Also surprised at how sweet and endearing the movie could be without coming across as saccharine, all despite the raunchiness. Good times, definitely go see.
Crash: Really good movie about the effects and dangers of stereotypes. The cast is suitably huge and well-stocked, and this befits the twisty plot. I've always had a fondness for movies that have a bunch of different stories that all intersect in some way. A very powerful movie that will make you think a bit about how much stereotypes cloud your vision of the world. Good times, go rent it.
Okay, that about does it. I know I missed some stuff, but it's the best I can do to rewrite what got eaten. Hopefully, the next movie I write about on here will be Serenity, and in anticipation of that, I'm rewatching all of Firefly. I had almost forgotten just how good that show is. Anyhow, now I really need to go to bed, since I have to go back to work tomorrow.
September 24, 2005
Status Report on the Near-Miss
[Music] Circa Survive - The Great Golden Baby
Thought I'd post an update on my status. I currently back at my apartment near the Astrodome, which is now being used as a staging center for FEMA.
I got out to my parents' house in Katy Wednesday night in record time, all things considered. My cousin, her family and some of her husband's family arrived shortly after, having endured 8 hours on the road from Texas City. My sister didn't make it out until Thursday afternoon. She would have made it out sooner, but she had to wrangle that small black hellion she calls a cat. My mother and I headed into town to help, only to discover that her cat was practically possessed. After several failed attempts, I completely lost my temper, to a point where I scared not only my mother but myself also. The cause was probably the combination of a recalcitrant feline and that feeling of impending doom, but coming from a line of people with notoriously bad tempers, it was practically inevitable. We almost gave up on him when my sister managed to snag him with an "Animal Control"-style lasso that my mother had made with a mop handle, a telephone cord and a twist tie. Yeah, some MacGuyver type shit here. Jenni held him in place, giving me an opening to scoop him up in a pillowcase and set him down in his carrier. He had stopped moving once I got him in the pillowcase, prompting me to think I had hurt him, but ultimately showing that he had admitted defeat. We then headed back to Katy via the Westpark Tollroad, one of the few freely flowing road out of Houston.
By the way, if any of my fellow Houston dwellers are thinking about heading back in before 5 am on Monday, I highly recommend taking Westpark, as it is toll-free and moves pretty fast.
We had a nice little menagerie going at the house. Once my sister arrived in Katy, that brought our total up to 14 people, along with 4 cats, 3 dogs and a parakeet. It was a little tight, but we managed to have an okay time despite it. As odd as it may sound, it seems alternately like the longest/shortest three days I've spent in a while. Time seemed to grind by when we were checking reports about the storm, and it flew by pretty fast when we got to kick back and enjoy each other's company. I seems completely unreal now to think that a gigantic and powerful hurricane almost hit us. I doubt any of you need to be informed that the hurricane hit land west of us, leaving Houston and Galveston on the cleaner side of the hurricane. Frankly, the conditions we had to endure in Katy were pretty light. Some pretty stiff winds hit us along with about an inch or two of rain. The neighborhood lost some tree branches and maybe a plank or two from a fence. My cousin's house in Texas City lost a couple of shingles from the roof but little else.
I decided earlier to go ahead and drive back into town since traffic was nonexistant. I've got enough food to last me for a couple of days until the stores around here start opening up again. I don't plan on doing much driving at all since there is virtually no gas in this town. I'm a bit under a full tank, and I hope to make that last as long as possible. I'm probably not going to be back at work until UH opens again, which is either Wednesday or Thursday.
I figured I'd also take stock of where people I know are. Feel free to hit the comments to update me.
Jason: at house in Katy.
Heather: at house in Spring.
Blake: up in Lufkin.
Ian and Brittnee: Brittnee's apartment (most likely).
Parag: Dallas.
David: never left home.
That's about all of them I know. Any other info anyone?
Oh yeah, and if you thought your trip was bad, you could've been Parag, who spent a total of 30 hours winding his way to Dallas. He also ran out of gas in Buffalo. He thought that there was no gas in that town, only to find a couple of service stations that still had some in store. I think he's staying put for the time being, since all of that traffic heading to Dallas is now going to turn around and head back. Yee.
Worst part of all of this is going to be the inevitable finger-pointing that's going to occur. "Why did Texas get such good treatment?" "Why did people get stuck on the road for so long?" "Shouldn't they have done this or that better?" It's gonna be insufferable. Here are some of the answers as I see them. Texas got better treatment because we had plenty of time to plan ahead, probably due to paranoia of having another Katrina magnitude tragedy. People got stuck on the road because we evacuated something like 2 million people, a vehicular exodus the likes of which has not been seen. Yes, the evacuation might have ended up causing more problems than it fixed, but hey, hindsight is 20-20. Better safe than sorry, especially with something as huge as that.
There was a meteorologist who brought up something about hurricanes being nature's heatsink, gathering heat from the equator and dispersing it elsewhere in the world to help prompt the season change. Kind of an interesting thought.
That's enough out of me. Suffice it to say, the storm is gone, but there problems are still problems to solve. Good luck getting back everyone. May your ills be small and your reunions merry. Godspeed.
Thought I'd post an update on my status. I currently back at my apartment near the Astrodome, which is now being used as a staging center for FEMA.
I got out to my parents' house in Katy Wednesday night in record time, all things considered. My cousin, her family and some of her husband's family arrived shortly after, having endured 8 hours on the road from Texas City. My sister didn't make it out until Thursday afternoon. She would have made it out sooner, but she had to wrangle that small black hellion she calls a cat. My mother and I headed into town to help, only to discover that her cat was practically possessed. After several failed attempts, I completely lost my temper, to a point where I scared not only my mother but myself also. The cause was probably the combination of a recalcitrant feline and that feeling of impending doom, but coming from a line of people with notoriously bad tempers, it was practically inevitable. We almost gave up on him when my sister managed to snag him with an "Animal Control"-style lasso that my mother had made with a mop handle, a telephone cord and a twist tie. Yeah, some MacGuyver type shit here. Jenni held him in place, giving me an opening to scoop him up in a pillowcase and set him down in his carrier. He had stopped moving once I got him in the pillowcase, prompting me to think I had hurt him, but ultimately showing that he had admitted defeat. We then headed back to Katy via the Westpark Tollroad, one of the few freely flowing road out of Houston.
By the way, if any of my fellow Houston dwellers are thinking about heading back in before 5 am on Monday, I highly recommend taking Westpark, as it is toll-free and moves pretty fast.
We had a nice little menagerie going at the house. Once my sister arrived in Katy, that brought our total up to 14 people, along with 4 cats, 3 dogs and a parakeet. It was a little tight, but we managed to have an okay time despite it. As odd as it may sound, it seems alternately like the longest/shortest three days I've spent in a while. Time seemed to grind by when we were checking reports about the storm, and it flew by pretty fast when we got to kick back and enjoy each other's company. I seems completely unreal now to think that a gigantic and powerful hurricane almost hit us. I doubt any of you need to be informed that the hurricane hit land west of us, leaving Houston and Galveston on the cleaner side of the hurricane. Frankly, the conditions we had to endure in Katy were pretty light. Some pretty stiff winds hit us along with about an inch or two of rain. The neighborhood lost some tree branches and maybe a plank or two from a fence. My cousin's house in Texas City lost a couple of shingles from the roof but little else.
I decided earlier to go ahead and drive back into town since traffic was nonexistant. I've got enough food to last me for a couple of days until the stores around here start opening up again. I don't plan on doing much driving at all since there is virtually no gas in this town. I'm a bit under a full tank, and I hope to make that last as long as possible. I'm probably not going to be back at work until UH opens again, which is either Wednesday or Thursday.
I figured I'd also take stock of where people I know are. Feel free to hit the comments to update me.
Jason: at house in Katy.
Heather: at house in Spring.
Blake: up in Lufkin.
Ian and Brittnee: Brittnee's apartment (most likely).
Parag: Dallas.
David: never left home.
That's about all of them I know. Any other info anyone?
Oh yeah, and if you thought your trip was bad, you could've been Parag, who spent a total of 30 hours winding his way to Dallas. He also ran out of gas in Buffalo. He thought that there was no gas in that town, only to find a couple of service stations that still had some in store. I think he's staying put for the time being, since all of that traffic heading to Dallas is now going to turn around and head back. Yee.
Worst part of all of this is going to be the inevitable finger-pointing that's going to occur. "Why did Texas get such good treatment?" "Why did people get stuck on the road for so long?" "Shouldn't they have done this or that better?" It's gonna be insufferable. Here are some of the answers as I see them. Texas got better treatment because we had plenty of time to plan ahead, probably due to paranoia of having another Katrina magnitude tragedy. People got stuck on the road because we evacuated something like 2 million people, a vehicular exodus the likes of which has not been seen. Yes, the evacuation might have ended up causing more problems than it fixed, but hey, hindsight is 20-20. Better safe than sorry, especially with something as huge as that.
There was a meteorologist who brought up something about hurricanes being nature's heatsink, gathering heat from the equator and dispersing it elsewhere in the world to help prompt the season change. Kind of an interesting thought.
That's enough out of me. Suffice it to say, the storm is gone, but there problems are still problems to solve. Good luck getting back everyone. May your ills be small and your reunions merry. Godspeed.
September 21, 2005
Ooookay
[Music] Flock of Seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away)
The song seems appropriate, but I'll get to that. First, some things I've been meaning to put up here, but keep forgetting.
First off, the new Revolution controller looks pretty interesting. The jury's still out on how well it'll work, but the potential it holds is pretty exciting.
Second, NBC's new show My Name is Earl looks to be pretty funny. I caught the premiere last night, and it's definitely got potential. Then again, I am a big Jason Lee fan, ever since he played Brody Bruce in Mallrats, but still.
Finally, I picked up FF7: Advent Children off of BitTorrent earlier in the week, and holy mother of Jeebus is it cool. Sure, the story doesn't exactly warrant a 1.5 hour movie, but who cares? With such awe-inspiring action tying it together, it's hard to notice. And that's not to say the that story isn't good, because it is. Fans of the game will more than likely dig it. And before anyone starts ragging on me for downloading the movie, I only did it because it is not yet available here, and I fully intend on picking it up in November when it hits the shelves here. Things to watch for: Cloud's motorcycle (Fenrir) that doubles as the scabard for his six piece sword, the fact that those six pieces combine together into one uber-sword, Tifa's fight in the church and Cloud's battle at the end. Hell, I could list off cool parts all day. Just go get it and thank me later.
Oh yeah, and speaking of the game, I'm almost done. I hit the third disc a day or two ago, and I'm running around tying up loose ends before heading to the final battle. Should be cool.
And now to more pressing news. We've got a hurricane a'comin', and it looks big. I've heard that Rita hit Category 5 earlier today, and everyone is freaking out, myself included to some extent. The worst thing I've done today is sit and watch the news, because all that does is occupy my mind with thought of impending doom. This thing is still two days away, and a lot can happen in that time. I'm gonna be out at my parents' house in Katy, hoping that it'll all just go away. We'll see.
This morning was kinda interesting. I was going to help out with a live broadcast the station was doing from Jones Hall tonight. I was heading downtown at noon to help set up a lot of the equipment for the broadcast, and then head to work an hour later than usual. However, I get a call right after I get up from my supervisor Lance, saying that due to the impending badness, I needed to come in at my usual time. You see, part of my job is to schedule the day-to-day advertising that goes on air. I usually work a day in advance, but on Monday they tell me that they want the logs done through next Friday (Sept. 30), and they want them done by this Friday. Not a big deal. Then on Tuesday, they moved the deadline up to Thursday. A pain, but still doable. Finally, due the aforementioned phone call, Lance tells me that the powers that be want the logs done today. What the fuck? I take a bit to process this mess, during which time Lance calls again. This time, he says that UH is closing at noon and he would take care of the logs, so don't worry about coming in. Whee. Finally, my involvement in the broadcast is nixed because the main engineer who was going to run it is busy evacuating his family. So that's fun. Speaking of evacuating, I oughta get on that. Be safe, my Houston dwellers, and keep a good thought for us.
The song seems appropriate, but I'll get to that. First, some things I've been meaning to put up here, but keep forgetting.
First off, the new Revolution controller looks pretty interesting. The jury's still out on how well it'll work, but the potential it holds is pretty exciting.
Second, NBC's new show My Name is Earl looks to be pretty funny. I caught the premiere last night, and it's definitely got potential. Then again, I am a big Jason Lee fan, ever since he played Brody Bruce in Mallrats, but still.
Finally, I picked up FF7: Advent Children off of BitTorrent earlier in the week, and holy mother of Jeebus is it cool. Sure, the story doesn't exactly warrant a 1.5 hour movie, but who cares? With such awe-inspiring action tying it together, it's hard to notice. And that's not to say the that story isn't good, because it is. Fans of the game will more than likely dig it. And before anyone starts ragging on me for downloading the movie, I only did it because it is not yet available here, and I fully intend on picking it up in November when it hits the shelves here. Things to watch for: Cloud's motorcycle (Fenrir) that doubles as the scabard for his six piece sword, the fact that those six pieces combine together into one uber-sword, Tifa's fight in the church and Cloud's battle at the end. Hell, I could list off cool parts all day. Just go get it and thank me later.
Oh yeah, and speaking of the game, I'm almost done. I hit the third disc a day or two ago, and I'm running around tying up loose ends before heading to the final battle. Should be cool.
And now to more pressing news. We've got a hurricane a'comin', and it looks big. I've heard that Rita hit Category 5 earlier today, and everyone is freaking out, myself included to some extent. The worst thing I've done today is sit and watch the news, because all that does is occupy my mind with thought of impending doom. This thing is still two days away, and a lot can happen in that time. I'm gonna be out at my parents' house in Katy, hoping that it'll all just go away. We'll see.
This morning was kinda interesting. I was going to help out with a live broadcast the station was doing from Jones Hall tonight. I was heading downtown at noon to help set up a lot of the equipment for the broadcast, and then head to work an hour later than usual. However, I get a call right after I get up from my supervisor Lance, saying that due to the impending badness, I needed to come in at my usual time. You see, part of my job is to schedule the day-to-day advertising that goes on air. I usually work a day in advance, but on Monday they tell me that they want the logs done through next Friday (Sept. 30), and they want them done by this Friday. Not a big deal. Then on Tuesday, they moved the deadline up to Thursday. A pain, but still doable. Finally, due the aforementioned phone call, Lance tells me that the powers that be want the logs done today. What the fuck? I take a bit to process this mess, during which time Lance calls again. This time, he says that UH is closing at noon and he would take care of the logs, so don't worry about coming in. Whee. Finally, my involvement in the broadcast is nixed because the main engineer who was going to run it is busy evacuating his family. So that's fun. Speaking of evacuating, I oughta get on that. Be safe, my Houston dwellers, and keep a good thought for us.
September 13, 2005
Comic Conglomerates
[Music] Bloodhound Gang - Why's Everybody Always Pickin' on Me?
You know, I've got links to webcomics on the right over there, and they haven't been updated in a while. However, many of the newer ones I've been reading could probably be handled with about five links, namely to the groups that these comics have become a part of. It's kind of an interesting trend happening now in the webcomic world. Get some comics together and use the "power in numbers" method. They advertise for each other, centralize external and internal advertising for the group, possibly help out with hosting costs, stuff like that. Pooling resources, I guess. It's a good idea, like a comic syndicate but without the corporate bullshit, censorship or oversight. Being able to find five to ten different comics off of one site is pretty handy. Here are six of the groups whose member comics I read pretty regularly:
Bag of Chips - RPG World (which is pretty much over), Skirting Danger, Punks and Nerds, Fox and Apple
Blank Label Comics - Real Life, Wapsi Square, Starslip Crisis, Shortpacked!
Boxcar Comics - Joe and Monkey, Rob and Elliot, Beaver and Steve, Yirmumah (currently reading), Niego
Dumbrella - Boy on a Stick and Slither, Diesel Sweeties, Scary Go Round, Wigu, Goats
Dayfree Press - Nothing Nice to Say, White Ninja, Little Gamers, Sam and Fuzzy, Questionable Content, Butternut Squash
Teh Gewd Guys - Chugworth Academy, Clone:Manga, Star-Cross'd Destiny, Beaver and Steve (member of two groups? wtf?)
So yeah, there we are. It's not until you lay them out like this that I realize just how many damn comics I read off and on. But yeah, just thought that that was kinda cool.
You know, I've got links to webcomics on the right over there, and they haven't been updated in a while. However, many of the newer ones I've been reading could probably be handled with about five links, namely to the groups that these comics have become a part of. It's kind of an interesting trend happening now in the webcomic world. Get some comics together and use the "power in numbers" method. They advertise for each other, centralize external and internal advertising for the group, possibly help out with hosting costs, stuff like that. Pooling resources, I guess. It's a good idea, like a comic syndicate but without the corporate bullshit, censorship or oversight. Being able to find five to ten different comics off of one site is pretty handy. Here are six of the groups whose member comics I read pretty regularly:
Bag of Chips - RPG World (which is pretty much over), Skirting Danger, Punks and Nerds, Fox and Apple
Blank Label Comics - Real Life, Wapsi Square, Starslip Crisis, Shortpacked!
Boxcar Comics - Joe and Monkey, Rob and Elliot, Beaver and Steve, Yirmumah (currently reading), Niego
Dumbrella - Boy on a Stick and Slither, Diesel Sweeties, Scary Go Round, Wigu, Goats
Dayfree Press - Nothing Nice to Say, White Ninja, Little Gamers, Sam and Fuzzy, Questionable Content, Butternut Squash
Teh Gewd Guys - Chugworth Academy, Clone:Manga, Star-Cross'd Destiny, Beaver and Steve (member of two groups? wtf?)
So yeah, there we are. It's not until you lay them out like this that I realize just how many damn comics I read off and on. But yeah, just thought that that was kinda cool.
Holy Bejeezus
[Music] NESkimos - Legend of Zelda Dungeon
I ganked this link from MacHall, and it looks completely badass. Granted, in this context, "looks completely badass" means that it will probably bitchslap my video card. The rest of the computer can handle it due to that big upgrade I did a month ago, but I still can't play any new games on it because of the video card. Someone made the comment that I don't play many games on my computer, and it's not really an issue of "don't," it's more an issue of "can't." My Radeon 8500 is a few years old, which in computer years is an eternity. But I'm damn near broke, so no upgradey for me. Poop. Still gonna try that program out.
**UPDATE** Damn thing doesn't even work. I'd have to upgrade my video card just to run the stupid demo.
I ganked this link from MacHall, and it looks completely badass. Granted, in this context, "looks completely badass" means that it will probably bitchslap my video card. The rest of the computer can handle it due to that big upgrade I did a month ago, but I still can't play any new games on it because of the video card. Someone made the comment that I don't play many games on my computer, and it's not really an issue of "don't," it's more an issue of "can't." My Radeon 8500 is a few years old, which in computer years is an eternity. But I'm damn near broke, so no upgradey for me. Poop. Still gonna try that program out.
**UPDATE** Damn thing doesn't even work. I'd have to upgrade my video card just to run the stupid demo.
September 09, 2005
Naruto
[Music] Stance Punks - No Boy No Cry
So, Cartoon Network is debutting Naruto in its Toonami block tomorrow night, and despite its dubbed nature, I'm looking forward to it. From the looks of things, they're treating the show pretty well. Viz even has a new website up with info and a trailer. Naruto's voice will take some getting used to, but some of the others seem good. It's weird imagining that Naruto is going to be voiced by Maile Flanagan, a 40 some-odd year-old woman with poofy hair who looks like she would be more at home slingin' salsbury steak and whackin' kids for sassing her in a school cafeteria. It's also kind of a shame that Steven Blum (voice of Spike from Cowboy Bebop and Mugen from Samurai Champloo) didn't get the role of Kakashi, as he probably would've been great for it. He'll make a good Zabuza though. Here's a clip from the dubbed version of the first episode that will air tomorrow night. Probably not gonna be home when it airs, but that's what a VCR is for. Gotta hook it up again and reset everything on it, but oh well, shit happens. If only I could afford a TiVO...mmmm, life would be good.
As for the show itself, they seem to be sticking very close to the series as is. The rankings of the ninjas remain as they were (genin, chuunin, jounin, Hokage), "jutsus" are still called "jutsus" (the names of the jutsus have been translated pretty faithfully, too), the music is unchanged and so on. As far as I can tell, they toned down some of the blood for TV, but that's about it. Rumor has it that the show will appear uncensored on the DVDs, though that's not to say that there's a lot to censor anyway.
Hell, the way I figure, it couldn't be any worse than the travesty that is 4Kid's dubbing of One Piece. Honestly, the dub is bad enough that I can't stand to watch it. It's a crime again humanity, since they are ripping the guts out of a really good series. And the editing....damn. We're not talking about editing out some blood here and there. We're talking sweeping and sometimes unnecessary changes. For starters, the music is insufferable now. The soundtrack used to be composed of orchestral music. The end of the battle between Luffy and Crocodile is punctuated by the 4th movement of Dvorak's "New World Symphony." Now, it's shitty hip-hop. It's taken all of my power not to ram a pencil in my ear when I hear the opening theme. I could enumerate all of the other elements that have been changed, but it's been done in more detail elsewhere.
Some of the changes listed in there are just fucking stupid. The Marines become the Navy. Text is removed in various completely useless places (Usopp's dad no longer has his name on his headband, the word "Anchor" is removed from a young Luffy's shirt, the word "Milk" was taken off of a cup). The "Navy" carry "Super Soakers," not rifles. No smoking (that should be interesting to see what they do when Captain Smoker is introduced). And this isn't even to mention all of the stuff they've just out and out removed. I know that 4Kids is a company that aims its programming at young children (most likely 8 and under), but One Piece is a show aimed at a more 'tween-oriented set of 10 to 15 year olds or so. (I'm basing this on the fact that One Piece appears every week in Shounen Jump, a manga magazine that caters to young teenagers, and is also the home of Naruto, Bleach and Dragonball.)
It really makes you wonder: if they had to do that much editing and cutting and rewriting, did they ever ask themselves that maybe, just maybe, they shouldn't be dubbing this show? If they're having to do that much work to make the show suitable for their audience, is that show really appropriate for their audience in the first place? I dunno. I really wish someone else had picked up the show and could've done it justice. Oh well, too late now.
Anyhow, to wrap up, the dub of One Piece is crap, but the dub of Naruto looks to have some definite promise. And I'm spent. Didn't really expect to ramble this much, but oh well, whaddayagunnado.
So, Cartoon Network is debutting Naruto in its Toonami block tomorrow night, and despite its dubbed nature, I'm looking forward to it. From the looks of things, they're treating the show pretty well. Viz even has a new website up with info and a trailer. Naruto's voice will take some getting used to, but some of the others seem good. It's weird imagining that Naruto is going to be voiced by Maile Flanagan, a 40 some-odd year-old woman with poofy hair who looks like she would be more at home slingin' salsbury steak and whackin' kids for sassing her in a school cafeteria. It's also kind of a shame that Steven Blum (voice of Spike from Cowboy Bebop and Mugen from Samurai Champloo) didn't get the role of Kakashi, as he probably would've been great for it. He'll make a good Zabuza though. Here's a clip from the dubbed version of the first episode that will air tomorrow night. Probably not gonna be home when it airs, but that's what a VCR is for. Gotta hook it up again and reset everything on it, but oh well, shit happens. If only I could afford a TiVO...mmmm, life would be good.
As for the show itself, they seem to be sticking very close to the series as is. The rankings of the ninjas remain as they were (genin, chuunin, jounin, Hokage), "jutsus" are still called "jutsus" (the names of the jutsus have been translated pretty faithfully, too), the music is unchanged and so on. As far as I can tell, they toned down some of the blood for TV, but that's about it. Rumor has it that the show will appear uncensored on the DVDs, though that's not to say that there's a lot to censor anyway.
Hell, the way I figure, it couldn't be any worse than the travesty that is 4Kid's dubbing of One Piece. Honestly, the dub is bad enough that I can't stand to watch it. It's a crime again humanity, since they are ripping the guts out of a really good series. And the editing....damn. We're not talking about editing out some blood here and there. We're talking sweeping and sometimes unnecessary changes. For starters, the music is insufferable now. The soundtrack used to be composed of orchestral music. The end of the battle between Luffy and Crocodile is punctuated by the 4th movement of Dvorak's "New World Symphony." Now, it's shitty hip-hop. It's taken all of my power not to ram a pencil in my ear when I hear the opening theme. I could enumerate all of the other elements that have been changed, but it's been done in more detail elsewhere.
Some of the changes listed in there are just fucking stupid. The Marines become the Navy. Text is removed in various completely useless places (Usopp's dad no longer has his name on his headband, the word "Anchor" is removed from a young Luffy's shirt, the word "Milk" was taken off of a cup). The "Navy" carry "Super Soakers," not rifles. No smoking (that should be interesting to see what they do when Captain Smoker is introduced). And this isn't even to mention all of the stuff they've just out and out removed. I know that 4Kids is a company that aims its programming at young children (most likely 8 and under), but One Piece is a show aimed at a more 'tween-oriented set of 10 to 15 year olds or so. (I'm basing this on the fact that One Piece appears every week in Shounen Jump, a manga magazine that caters to young teenagers, and is also the home of Naruto, Bleach and Dragonball.)
It really makes you wonder: if they had to do that much editing and cutting and rewriting, did they ever ask themselves that maybe, just maybe, they shouldn't be dubbing this show? If they're having to do that much work to make the show suitable for their audience, is that show really appropriate for their audience in the first place? I dunno. I really wish someone else had picked up the show and could've done it justice. Oh well, too late now.
Anyhow, to wrap up, the dub of One Piece is crap, but the dub of Naruto looks to have some definite promise. And I'm spent. Didn't really expect to ramble this much, but oh well, whaddayagunnado.
September 07, 2005
Teh Funnay
[Music] Cruiserweight - This Ain't No Beach Party
HEART!
With everything going on lately, such as the hurricane and the finger-pointing that has ensued afterwards, it's always nice to find a pick-me-up, even if it is extremely weird. Then again, extremely weird is probably the most apt appraisal of VG Cats, but that's why I love it. Also, I hated "Captain Planet," so that makes this comic even funnier. Stupid green-mulleted weirdo with his crappy powers and his painfully multicultural friends. Bleh.
HEART!
With everything going on lately, such as the hurricane and the finger-pointing that has ensued afterwards, it's always nice to find a pick-me-up, even if it is extremely weird. Then again, extremely weird is probably the most apt appraisal of VG Cats, but that's why I love it. Also, I hated "Captain Planet," so that makes this comic even funnier. Stupid green-mulleted weirdo with his crappy powers and his painfully multicultural friends. Bleh.
September 01, 2005
Mmmm...Googlebots
Google Announces Plan To Destroy All Information It Can't Index | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
I don't see anything wrong with an army of laser-equipped robots bent on world subjugation. Sounds like fun. I really need to read the Onion more often, especially now that the archives are available online.
I don't see anything wrong with an army of laser-equipped robots bent on world subjugation. Sounds like fun. I really need to read the Onion more often, especially now that the archives are available online.
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