Russian mom: my son is better off in Gitmo than he could possibly be in Russia. Well, at least they get some sun and the open air.
Advice for politicians.
Advice for politicians. If you’re running for Governor in California — and these days, who isn’t? — you might want to give this a once-over.
Want to know why you get so much spam? Follow the money.
Want to know why you get so much spam? Follow the money. It’s not all about porn sites and penile enhancement.
John Ashcroft trumpeting a bill which signals the end of Constitutional rule.
John Ashcroft trumpeting a bill which signals the end of Constitutional rule. All in the name of ‘stopping terrorists’… If this asshole gets his way I’ll really start looking for a job in Canada.
Canadians have no property rights.
Canadians have no property rights. I’m not sure why this is news, Garth Turner ran a campaign for the leadership of the PC on this theme about 10 years ago. Maybe it would be news for a member of the Canadian Alliance, a party so fucking backwards it was planning to send a delegation to Singapore to study the possibility of caning as a legal punishment.
New anime for baka otaku!
One TV channel I’ve really come to like in the past two years is the Cartoon Network. One might even say, in fact, that it’s practically the only channel I watch, though I’ll cheat and watch the Daily Show on Comedy Central sometimes; however the Cartoon Network stands out in my mind as a TV operation that “gets” its audience. Over the past couple of years the anime content has been steadily rising, partly through the very successful “Adult Swim” franchise, and through the ‘afterschool’ anime programming.
This past week, though, Adult Swim introduced a show that, for lack of a better term, really blew my mind. This show is called “FLCL” — although it’s pronounced “fuliculi”. Having seen quite a bit of anime I was looking forward to new shows, and this one really delivers.
What is this show about? Good question. Anime is traditionally character- rather than plot-driven, and this one is part of the tradition. The show follows a kid named Naota, who lives in a small town, a town where ‘nothing really special ever happens’, and which features a factory shaped like an iron. Naota is an ordinary kid with ordinary problems until Haruka, a self-styled ‘alien’, shows up… especially considering that in arriving in town she runs him over with her vespa and proceeds to beat him with her guitar. There’s a lot of that in the show.
Anyway, as a result of this (or possibly something else?) Naota develops a very strange bump on the head which eventually turns out to be a growing robot. I could go on describing the action, but it really wouldn’t do the show justice… suffice to say that it is a show well worth watching.
The animation style is unlike anything I’ve seen before. In fact I really should say ‘styles’ because FLCL keeps going from one style to another — from fine drawing to caricature to stills to manga frames to Ralph Steadman like scribbles, this show just hates to stand still. I have never seen an anime show that radiates energy quite so well as this one does. The soundtrack is also phenomenal, and is seamlessly integrated with the visuals and dialogue.
That being said, the most striking thing about this anime is the themes it deals with, directly or not. There is a great deal more sexual interaction between the characters — not really sex per se, but in each episode there’s a great deal of sexual tension between Naota, Haruka and Mamimi, all the more surprising because at least 2 of those 3 characters are teenagers. It’s positively refreshing to see a show making it to US TV that seems to be putting that theme out there, especially when previous shows on Cartoon Network, especially the Dragonball series, were butchered by Funimation in order to strip every bit of even remotely questionable dialogue. Obviously, showing at midnight this show doesn’t quite have the same target audience as Dragonball, but still it was very surprising to see that sort of more raw anime on US television.
And, frankly, that’s a good thing. While one may facilely think of the Cartoon Network as something for kids to watch, the fact is that the vast majority of those who watch Adult Swim are not kids anymore. They’re people like me (scary, huh?) who haven’t yet settled into an 11pm bedtime schedule.
Talking about adult stuff — there’s something a little weird about FLCL’s ‘companion show’ (Adult Swim works in two-show one-hour blocks). It’s called Blue Gender. Now, if you think this sounds like the sort of anime that comes in yellow-striped DVD cases (you know what I mean), I can’t blame you, but it is in fact not an explicitly adult cartoon — in fact after 4 episodes it’s clear there’s not going to be any hanky-panky happening there. It’s really a giant anthropomorphic robot kinda show a la Gundam Wing, except that Zeon is replaced with huge monster bugs. Not just any kind of bug, however. Giant bloodthirsty vagina-mouthed monsters. Yup, you read that right. The Blue (as they are called) are large bugs of various shapes featuring a mouth which is every (straight) man’s worst fear, the vagina dentata.
I guess that must be what the ‘Gender’ part of ‘Blue Gender’ stands for. It’s very striking, so much so that the Adult Swim seg pieces sometimes joke about it. If you watch the show you’ll get a few giggles when you see the bugs. Humorously, even though the Blue take several very different insect-shapes, the vagina mouth is universal, and the frequent close-ups make it clear that this is more than coincidence. Frankly it really gets in the way of plot development. The plot? It’s far into the future, the earth is now ruled by these giant vagina monsters (I’ll never get tired of using that phrase!) and Yuji Kaido, a man who had been cryogenically frozen in the early 21st century, is awakened to find the devastation. He’s rescued by a squadron of soldiers from Second Earth and becomes part of the team. The series follows their adventures. The show has some interesting elements, but I was never really into the whole ‘giant robot fighting machine’ thing. Worth seeing if only to see the Blue’s, er, unusual features.
These Japanese series are often very short! Well, both of these ones are anyway. FLCL only has 6 episodes, and we’ve gone through four already; fortunately Adult Swim will be going through the series again starting next Wednesday. Blue Gender has 24 episodes. This animation blocks runs Monday through Thursday starting at midnight on the Cartoon Network. My take? Don’t miss FLCL unless you’re in jail, and if you’re in jail, break out! (ok, cheap Simpsons joke). Blue Gender? If you like the whole ‘giant robot’ thing (or giant bloodthirsty vagina monsters), this is definitely your bag… otherwise this seems to be fairly formulaic so far.
Anime fans might also want to check with their cable providers for digital cable service… apparently there is a pay-per-view, on-demand anime channel available to digital cable (and possibly satellite) customers. I don’t know much about it, but I’ll be looking into it.
Related links (link will open in a new window):
Who is behind ‘google-watch.com’?
Who is behind ‘google-watch.com’? Apparently it’s a bitter site op with some kooky ideas.
RFID makers claim their products will stop terrorists.
RFID makers claim their products will stop terrorists. As PT Barnum allegedly said, “there’s a sucker born every minute”, and those suckers will believe this wholly-groundless claim.
SomethingAwful.com: SPEWS sucks the big one.
SomethingAwful.com: SPEWS sucks the big one. Arbitrary blacklisting of whole IP ranges, autocratic admins and zealots on USENET.
Gentlemen, start your election satires.
Gentlemen, start your election satires. Time to “restore chaos and order”!