"Nothing amazing ever happens here."
Done with high school forever! I am buying Pokemon White as a graduation present to myself and no one can stop me.
There will definitely be people I will miss not seeing on a daily basis, but I am glad to be moving on to the next stage in my life. I know this next year will be one with a lot of changes, and I hope those changes will ultimately be for the better.
FLCL. I have been meaning to watch this show for who knows how long, but I am glad I have waited to watch it, as I don't think I would have really appreciated it if I was much younger. I'm only through the first three eps on Hulu, but I've really liked what I've seen thus far.
What strikes me above all else about this show is how incredibly beautiful it is. Not necessarily in the traditional wow-this-oil-landscape-painting-is-really-beautiful kind of way, but in the sense that I sometimes zone out while watching it because I am so utterly transfixed by how lovely the animation is. In the Avatar: The Last Airbender artbook, Bryan and Mike cited this show as a huge influence on the style they chose for their show, and I can definitely see the that. The lines and character design are incredibly smooth, and the animation is very experimental and vivacious. I mean, it is Gainax so I don't know what I was expecting, but still. 'TIS A FINE SPECIMEN OF ANIMATION and I wish I could draw with half the energy the artists on this show do.
I want to be Haruko when I grow up if that is okay.
And yes, the plot is just as insane as everyone says it is. Again, Gainax at their finest. :D
Mockingjay. This book.
sign,,...........
(MAJOR TL;DR AHEAD ON THIS ONE, JUST A WARNING) So many FEELINGS about this book. Okay, let's start slow here. I like these books. They are entertaining. I was simultaneously pleased and somewhat disturbed by the meta irony of reading about young people killing each other in the Hunger Games for entertainment as the Capitol would watch young people killing each other in the Hunger Games for entertainment. I could hardly put them down. Some books I slowly digest, these were scarfed down shamefully quickly like a large bag of powdered donuts.
I initially had a bit of an issue with how these books are written. They are not terribly written, but the language can get a bit clunky. I eventually rationalized how they were written by these two facts; 1) They were written in the first person and 2) They were written in the first person of a girl who most likely had very little education in language.
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT I GUESS
The overarching internal plot summary of this book (and…all of the books, really) can be stated in three simple words; It gets worse. Gosh they were dark. The previous ones were certainly not all bunnies and rainbows either, but with this one, I think things became so incredibly depressing that it was detrimental to the overall story. It makes sense given the nature of what was going on within the narrative- things had to get really terrible at the end in order to maintain any sense of realism, and I respect that Collins was willing to take a direction with the story she probably realized would not be particularly popular with her readers. I don't mind sad stories. They can be used to great effect. But I had problems with how it was handled here.
When you continually pound your audience with one sad and/or depressing thing after another, it begins to lose it's impact. I was so fatigued by all of the darkness towards the end of this book that I all but didn't care at all about Prim's death. ('Course her lack of development as a character could have contributed to this...but I digress.) I can sort of see this argument being counteracted with a "Well, that's exactly how Katniss is by the end of the series. She's completely numbed out by all of the trauma." Which...I guess I can understand. But still. (I love how I essentially shut down all of my own arguments by thinking about it from multiple perspectives what is wrong with meeee)
I guess my biggest issue with the Hunger Games trilogy is that...there just didn't seem to be a point to all of the sadness. Not everything has to have a moral or something to them, but when you are pretty obviously aiming for an ending that says "these books are not just entertainment" and I am still not really sure what I'm supposed to take from them either I'm just being an idiot (which remains a distinct possibility), or something in the story isn't achieving what it's supposed to. Is the meaning that the world sucks, and then everyone but your love interests die? 'Cause I already was aware that the world is kind of an icky place sometimes, and I've read plenty of literature that communicates that more intelligently than this, and yet remains hopeful.
dark does not necessarily = deep, basically
ALSO what the heck was with Gale randomly dropping off the planet at the end?? I didn't care who Katniss ended up with but that just seemed like a really lazy way to deal with it???
boy with the bread indeed
The Illusionist. I've seen this movie before, but I watched it again with a bunch of friends recently. It's a very enjoyable movie, if not a particularly deep one. There are some moments in it that are very visually/artistically pleasing to me. The hallway with all of the deer horns and the scene with the old man and young Eisenheim under the tree in particular are just hnghhh worthy. The turn-of-the-century clothing is also a treat.
My bff Janey has a crush on Rufus Sewell (the bad guy in this film and all films I've seen him in) and I find it so cute.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica. After many people saying “DON’T JUDGE IT BECAUSE OF THE STYLE IT IS SO DARK AND DEEP AND FAUSTIAN BRO” and “IT ONLY MASQUERADES AS A HAPPY MOE MAGICAL GIRL ANIMU BUT REALLY IT IS SCARY AS HELL” and finally “IT IS LIKE UTENA AND HOMESTUCK HAD A CUTE BUT EMOTIONALLY SCARRED MAGICAL GIRL BABY”, I finally decided to check this one out. Granted, I have only watched the first six episodes, but most of those claims have proved fairly accurate.
This show should interest me more than it does, and I am having a hard time pinning down exactly why that is. The backgrounds during the witch battles and the music are both brilliant, and greatly enhance the tone of the show. In fact, without those two things, I’m not sure the show would emanate half of the feeling it does. I will definitely try and get the soundtrack if I end up finishing it.
They just drop...out of her skirt...
I guess what it comes down to is that I am not emotionally invested in any of these characters. They just haven’t come across as anything more than cardboard cut out moe personalities to me. Tragedy is meaningless in fiction if you don’t care about the characters involved in it, and I just don’t. :/a Maybe it gets better?
Tiger and Bunny. I am officially caught up now! Let me start off by saying how very satisfying it is to have an ADULT LEAD CHARACTER. IN AN ANIME. I mean... I like young people! I am one. But having a show that is primarily about adults made me realize how underrepresented the 30+ crowd is.
ANYWAY the characters in this show. Can you say ragtag group of misfits? I love how this show balances humour/srs bsns action/character moments. Normally I wouldn't be drawn to a superhero show, and I don't think it has really gotten to the point where it is breaking standards of the genre but it's just... doing what it does really well. :D
KOTETSU why are you such an adorable man child. He is easily my favourite character in the show oh man. I have no clue as to how to draw Bunny's hair though hahaha
Phew! And that's about it! HOW ARE YOU GUYS I feel like I haven't been on here in a while even though it has only been a week??
There will definitely be people I will miss not seeing on a daily basis, but I am glad to be moving on to the next stage in my life. I know this next year will be one with a lot of changes, and I hope those changes will ultimately be for the better.
FLCL. I have been meaning to watch this show for who knows how long, but I am glad I have waited to watch it, as I don't think I would have really appreciated it if I was much younger. I'm only through the first three eps on Hulu, but I've really liked what I've seen thus far.
What strikes me above all else about this show is how incredibly beautiful it is. Not necessarily in the traditional wow-this-oil-landscape-painting-is-really-beautiful kind of way, but in the sense that I sometimes zone out while watching it because I am so utterly transfixed by how lovely the animation is. In the Avatar: The Last Airbender artbook, Bryan and Mike cited this show as a huge influence on the style they chose for their show, and I can definitely see the that. The lines and character design are incredibly smooth, and the animation is very experimental and vivacious. I mean, it is Gainax so I don't know what I was expecting, but still. 'TIS A FINE SPECIMEN OF ANIMATION and I wish I could draw with half the energy the artists on this show do.
I want to be Haruko when I grow up if that is okay.
And yes, the plot is just as insane as everyone says it is. Again, Gainax at their finest. :D
Mockingjay. This book.
sign,,...........
(MAJOR TL;DR AHEAD ON THIS ONE, JUST A WARNING) So many FEELINGS about this book. Okay, let's start slow here. I like these books. They are entertaining. I was simultaneously pleased and somewhat disturbed by the meta irony of reading about young people killing each other in the Hunger Games for entertainment as the Capitol would watch young people killing each other in the Hunger Games for entertainment. I could hardly put them down. Some books I slowly digest, these were scarfed down shamefully quickly like a large bag of powdered donuts.
I initially had a bit of an issue with how these books are written. They are not terribly written, but the language can get a bit clunky. I eventually rationalized how they were written by these two facts; 1) They were written in the first person and 2) They were written in the first person of a girl who most likely had very little education in language.
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT I GUESS
The overarching internal plot summary of this book (and…all of the books, really) can be stated in three simple words; It gets worse. Gosh they were dark. The previous ones were certainly not all bunnies and rainbows either, but with this one, I think things became so incredibly depressing that it was detrimental to the overall story. It makes sense given the nature of what was going on within the narrative- things had to get really terrible at the end in order to maintain any sense of realism, and I respect that Collins was willing to take a direction with the story she probably realized would not be particularly popular with her readers. I don't mind sad stories. They can be used to great effect. But I had problems with how it was handled here.
When you continually pound your audience with one sad and/or depressing thing after another, it begins to lose it's impact. I was so fatigued by all of the darkness towards the end of this book that I all but didn't care at all about Prim's death. ('Course her lack of development as a character could have contributed to this...but I digress.) I can sort of see this argument being counteracted with a "Well, that's exactly how Katniss is by the end of the series. She's completely numbed out by all of the trauma." Which...I guess I can understand. But still. (I love how I essentially shut down all of my own arguments by thinking about it from multiple perspectives what is wrong with meeee)
I guess my biggest issue with the Hunger Games trilogy is that...there just didn't seem to be a point to all of the sadness. Not everything has to have a moral or something to them, but when you are pretty obviously aiming for an ending that says "these books are not just entertainment" and I am still not really sure what I'm supposed to take from them either I'm just being an idiot (which remains a distinct possibility), or something in the story isn't achieving what it's supposed to. Is the meaning that the world sucks, and then everyone but your love interests die? 'Cause I already was aware that the world is kind of an icky place sometimes, and I've read plenty of literature that communicates that more intelligently than this, and yet remains hopeful.
dark does not necessarily = deep, basically
ALSO what the heck was with Gale randomly dropping off the planet at the end?? I didn't care who Katniss ended up with but that just seemed like a really lazy way to deal with it???
boy with the bread indeed
The Illusionist. I've seen this movie before, but I watched it again with a bunch of friends recently. It's a very enjoyable movie, if not a particularly deep one. There are some moments in it that are very visually/artistically pleasing to me. The hallway with all of the deer horns and the scene with the old man and young Eisenheim under the tree in particular are just hnghhh worthy. The turn-of-the-century clothing is also a treat.
My bff Janey has a crush on Rufus Sewell (the bad guy in this film and all films I've seen him in) and I find it so cute.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica. After many people saying “DON’T JUDGE IT BECAUSE OF THE STYLE IT IS SO DARK AND DEEP AND FAUSTIAN BRO” and “IT ONLY MASQUERADES AS A HAPPY MOE MAGICAL GIRL ANIMU BUT REALLY IT IS SCARY AS HELL” and finally “IT IS LIKE UTENA AND HOMESTUCK HAD A CUTE BUT EMOTIONALLY SCARRED MAGICAL GIRL BABY”, I finally decided to check this one out. Granted, I have only watched the first six episodes, but most of those claims have proved fairly accurate.
This show should interest me more than it does, and I am having a hard time pinning down exactly why that is. The backgrounds during the witch battles and the music are both brilliant, and greatly enhance the tone of the show. In fact, without those two things, I’m not sure the show would emanate half of the feeling it does. I will definitely try and get the soundtrack if I end up finishing it.
They just drop...out of her skirt...
I guess what it comes down to is that I am not emotionally invested in any of these characters. They just haven’t come across as anything more than cardboard cut out moe personalities to me. Tragedy is meaningless in fiction if you don’t care about the characters involved in it, and I just don’t. :/a Maybe it gets better?
Tiger and Bunny. I am officially caught up now! Let me start off by saying how very satisfying it is to have an ADULT LEAD CHARACTER. IN AN ANIME. I mean... I like young people! I am one. But having a show that is primarily about adults made me realize how underrepresented the 30+ crowd is.
ANYWAY the characters in this show. Can you say ragtag group of misfits? I love how this show balances humour/srs bsns action/character moments. Normally I wouldn't be drawn to a superhero show, and I don't think it has really gotten to the point where it is breaking standards of the genre but it's just... doing what it does really well. :D
KOTETSU why are you such an adorable man child. He is easily my favourite character in the show oh man. I have no clue as to how to draw Bunny's hair though hahaha
Phew! And that's about it! HOW ARE YOU GUYS I feel like I haven't been on here in a while even though it has only been a week??