Saturday, September 11, 2004

   Holy crap . . . YTV's kicking ass!!!!!
Hey guys, ohisashiburi!

Now, I've got school and stuff to talk about some time, I'm sure, but more importantly right now: YTV got more anime!

That's right! Canada finally has some new shows! Along with new episodes of Inuyasha and the Dragonball shows, we got Gundam Seed and Witch Hunter Robin! I've never mentioned it before, but I've dearly wanted to see Witch Hunter Robin for a while now. Apparently we might even get .hack//SIGN, too! Ahh . . . . . life is good in the great white north . . . . . which is very wet at the moment . . .

Loving the Witch Hunter, by the way . . .
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Tuesday, September 7, 2004

   I'm gonna post a shameful plug today!
I bought the most amazing DVD set the other day. It was Disney, it was animated . . . and it was from the '40s.

Yeah, I bought the Walt Disney Treasures - On The Front Lines DVD set today. The gist of it is that during the war, Walt Disney got in on the effort and made many, many cartoons . . . I mean, apart from his normal ones. As it turns out, Mr. Disney also made propaganda shorts, education videos for everyone at home, training videos for the soldiers, and good old war-themed escapist comedy. Heck, he even made the feature length film "Victory Through Air Power" which can be viewed as another factor for America's development of long-range bombers! The historical value of these shorts and videos is absolutely unbelievable; Disney's demonifying the Germans and the Japanese is striking, his portrayal of how a child grows up to become a Nazi amazing and shocking, and his way of explaining why buying war bonds or paying income taxes win wars is incredible. Being the WW2 dork I already am, I couldn't get over this stuff . . . . . I mean, in one short Donald Duck wipes out a Japanese airfield! It's crazy!

Still, the most amazing part of all of the shorts, I found, was in the one entitled "Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Firing Line". In it, Minnie Mouse and Pluto learn via Mr. Voiceover how saving her cooking grease and fat and selling it to the military means more ammunition for the war effort. I don't know why this happened, but even now I think about this one part and I just get really emotional . . . . . essentially, Mr. Voiceover is just explaining how the grease and fat can be processed into materials to make bullets and stuff. He says that the annual amount of fat thrown out in the country could make a belt of machinegun bullets long enough to wrap around the world 6 times and stuff . . . wild, huh?

This is where the short hits me, though . . . Mr. Voiceover says another thing along the lines of "every pound of grease you save means another clip of ammunition in the bandoliers of the soldiers on the front line" or something. As he says that, Minnie and Pluto both look over towards the far wall: on it is a framed picture of Mickey Mouse, dressed in full infantry uniform, saluting with a big smile on his face. I don't know why, but every time I think about that scene, I seriously teeter on the verge of tears. For whatever reason, that idea of Mickey fighting at the front while Minnie and Pluto are at home just makes me well up inside . . . it's weird, but what can I say? I'm getting emotional just thinking about it now as I type this . . .

So yeah, it's 2 disks, and currently it comes in a pretty neat collector's tin. I wholeheartedly recommend this to everyone, because it's seriously an incredible little compilation of things that you'd never believe could happen in times of war . . . . .
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Saturday, September 4, 2004

   Dynasty Warriors 4 is a fun game . . .
Anyone else here ever play any of the Dynasty Warrior games? If not and you own a PS2 or X-Box, I think I'll vouch for its funfactor.

Alright, so here's the gist of it.
Setting: 3rd century China
Gameplay: epic Action/war killing-type thing.
Power-tripability: Very high. Big swings make lotsa people fly far away.
Fatigue from killing so many people: surprisingly low, considering you're doing the same thing over and over.

So yeah, I'm finding China's Three Kingdom Period thoroughly interesting right now. I'm definitely gonna hafta buy an English translation of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" soon (though it'll probably sadden my mother, who most likely read it in the normal language). Heh, let's face it, I HAD to buy this game so my mother would stop worrying that I was immersing myself in too much Japanese-themed things! So yes, thoroughly satisfying game for a thoroughly satisfying period of time.

Oh yeah, according to my mom, I'm a descendant of Guan Yu. He's a big dude with a big halberd thing and a long beard. Always good to know these things, I find . . .
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Friday, September 3, 2004

   There are a lot of things money can buy . . . . .
Winter Semester tuition: $2,116.75

"U-Pass" bus pass: $20/month

3 hours of parking in on-campus parking lot: $6

Textbooks for 5 courses: $398.08


Thinking about expensive education in terms of long bus trips and short naps . . . . .:

. . . . . priceless.


Hehe . . . yeah, I still need to find out exactly when the first day of school is . . . . . durnit. Ah well. Guess it's time to brush up on my Latin again . . . . . and yes, this joke was much funnier last year when I was still a poor unemployed university student . . . but hell! I'm not gonna live off of granola bars and water this year! Not again!
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Thursday, September 2, 2004

   I need to update . . . . . wanna learn somethin' neat?
I've got nothin' better to talk about right now, so I thought I'd sorta just talk a bit about myself for everyone. I mean, not in the statistical sort of thing, but more so in my quirky ways and stuff . . . I can't think of anything better, really. So yeah, here's some interesting/odd/weird facts about myO's unofficial Asian-Canadian Vancouverite . . . . .

• Believe it or not, I may be a borderline neat-freak. I mean, my room is horrendous with dirty clothes on the floor and clean clothes folded in a nearby laundry basket (but not put away) and stuff, but I HAVE to organize everything else. The TV area downstairs has a large shelf of sectioned up DVDs: movies, TV series, and "special DVDs" (like wrestling, or hockey specials, or Animatrix or something). All alphabetical, of course.
  
• When school starts, I'm gonna hafta get out of the house by around 7:15 - 7:30am. Thus, my alarm clock will be set for 5:55am, giving me that extra five minutes to roll around. Oh, the clock itself is also set five minutes fast . . . wrap your heads around that one . . .
  
• Through my genes I have a distinctive grin and laugh. Apparently some people describe me as "loud" because of that laugh . . . it's like a quick burst. Like a quick "Haha!" that just blasts out and then stops. That's the social laugh, anyway. Otherwise I apparently speak sorta muted-like when I'm just talking sometimes.
  
• I don't know if this is because of my borderline neat-freakiness, or my obligation to my nation and its heroes or something . . . but more often than not, when I go out, my shirt will be half-tucked in. I'll tuck the left side (where the watch connects to the belt) and pull out the right side (where the cel phone hooks onto the belt). Is it a Gretzky thing? Is it my ambition to be "neat, but not too neat"? Who knows?
  
• Another way I present myself: my "no bells and/or whistles policy". Essentially, no piercings, no jewelry (the pocket watch doesn't count because it's a $10 piece of junk). Heck, I don't even use hair gel (though maybe I should . . . I have what could best be described as a kinder version of "'80s style Jackie Chan hair".
  
• As it turns out, I'm highly sensitive to movies and stuff. I have an ability to well up inside at certain parts of movies . . . y'know, the "now we are free" part of "Gladiator", the "you were never second" part from "The 6th Sense" . . . hell, even the "1000 Words" FMV from Final Fantasy X-2 got me all emotional! Hehe . . . yeah, I'm a softie . . . . . big time . . .
  
• More often than not, if I'm asked to go somewhere or do something, I'll usually respond with "I'll be there in two seconds". Why two seconds? Again, who knows?
  
• I have a knack for picking up anything and finding a way to pretend it's a gun or a sword or something. Call it an overactive imagination, call it being childish . . . I call it fun. Especially at work!
  
• I habitually cut my nails. Yes, I bite them too, but when I'm at home I'm getting incredibly mileage out of the nail clipper. It's bad, it really is . . . like, you know the close-ups of Elijah Wood's nails in LotR? Mine are kinda like that, if not worse . . . gross, eh?
  
• I can't listen to the words "mousse cake" without snickering anymore. I instantly think of a certain joke involving two guys and a game of Twenty Questions . . . that joke might not be all too appropriate here, though . . . hehe . . . . .
  

Well, that's about as much as I can think of right now. If I can't think of better things to talk about, maybe I'll do something like this again. One last thought before I head off . . . . . ya suppose there's any way that would make me myO's official Asian-Canadian Vancouverite? Hehe . . . actually, never mind. Technically I don't live in Vancouver-proper, so there's probably someone out there who fits the role better than I do . . . . . or is there? I dunno, you think there are any other Vancouver myO'ers out there? Hmm . . .
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Monday, August 30, 2004

STREET PHILOSOPHY #11: Why Miyazaki Was Smart, And Why MiramAxe Isn't
(Here we go! Old feature resurrected!)


No, I didn't spell the name of that movie distributer wrong. I meant it that way, and I'm gonna keep it that way. Don't get me wrong, I've always been happy with Miramax's track record for getting us cool little movies like "Swingers" and "Good Will Hunting". I was extra happy when they got us "Princess Mononoke" way back when. Indeed, Miramax and Dimension - two subsidiary companies under Disney - are doing quite well for themselves in regards to getting the rights to all the good little indie and foreign stuff. And, they have definitely been getting us a lot of older movies that most of us would otherwise never see . . . well, sorta . . .

Alright, back to Miyazaki for a second. Now, when Miramax said they wanted to buy the rights to his movies for distribution in North America, Miyazaki went "Sure, aboslutely! But . . ." Yeah, he made them promise that as long as they never changed the content of his films, he'd always sell to Miramax. Done deal. Hell, with "Princess Mononoke" Miramax STILL asked and tried to change things! Miyazaki said "no, no dice." And since then, Miramax has made millions on Miyazaki's anime films.

Now let's go a little further back. Let's take a case study of Jet Li's earlier movie "The Tai Chi Master". In the movie, Jet Li plays a former monk whose best friend joins the army and becomes sorta evil. Jet wins by learning Tai Chi and kicks all sorts of soft-fist ass. Great title, huh? So, why was it that when MiramAxe bought the rights to it seven years later, they retitled it to "Twin Warriors"?

Let's face it, MiramAxe is just run by incredibly illogical people. They go, "oh! We can get a great market of film and kick all sorts of ass!" and yet when the time comes, they go, "oh, people aren't gonna get this market of film . . . we better make it easier to understand!"

We're all anime fans here. We all know the difference between "Card Captor Sakura" and "Cardcaptors". I don't hate dubs now, but I hate it when people change or cut things FOR the dub. I'd like to think that most people realise that other countries speak different languages and have different cultures. That said, I'm quite happy with how I've come around to understanding how Japanese students bow to their teachers before and after class, how shrine visits are carried out, and why people are shouting "Itadakimasu!" It's something you just learn through watching it. So, why can't we learn the cultural bits about other places?

That said, MiramAxe is notorious for this. Most Chinese/Hong Kong films that go through them rarely come out untouched. More often than not, they get retitled, names get changed, and intense orchestrated tracks get changed to hard rap for fight scenes. Jokes get changed to things less funny, parts of movies are left out completely because they seem to be bad for pacing . . . . . there's no way around it, you're not getting what you think you are.

I could go on and on about this, but let's face it, this isn't just me. Lots and LOTS of sites out there with more bandwidth are doing the same, like MonkeyPeaches or These guys. This is a serious matter, guys! Big time.

Before I sign off, I wanna make another quick example. "Shaolin Soccer"! The movie came out in 2001, broke countless records all over Asia, and remains one of the funniest damn things I have seen my entire life. Shortly after that time, MiramAxe bought the rights to it and up until April, 2004 did crap all to get it to us. Dumbass ideas included an entire English dub to "canto-accent English"; changing the title from "Shaolin Soccer" to "Kung Fu Soccer"; cutting over 20 minutes of stuff that people otherwise wouldn't get (and in turn probably making lots of things not make sense); sitting on the movie for THREE years before finally releasing it in theaters; pushing its release date back and back and back; giving it a limited release to maybe about 100 theaters in North America.
"Shaolin Soccer" didn't do too well at the box offices here. Ya don't suppose it was because NO ONE COULD GET TO IT, huh? So yeah, a great movie with great appeal to MANY people missed out because MiramAxe apparently doesn't want us to realise that we're watching an asian movie.

Final point: "Hero" which came out the other night is an incredible film. It came out in 2002, and of course, MiramAxe bought it up really fast. It was winning awards all over the place, and was nominated for best foreign film in the Oscars of that year. Great time to really push this film in North America, ya figure? But no, they instead chose to sit on it like assbirds and pushed it back and back and back. Suddenly it was almost about to go straight to video. At one point they considered titling it "Jet Li's Hero". After all this, it friggin' took Quentin Tarantino to tell them that they HAD to release it. What does MiramAxe say? "Okay, we'll do it, BUT, you're gonna present it and take the rap for it."
Quentin, of course, went "sure."

Oho, Hero's kicking all sorts of ass in theaters right now. Go fig, dumbasses.


FINAL note: it's not just the asian films either, though they're my primary concern. Let's not forget when Peter Jackson originally went to MiramAxe for LotR. Aside from less budget and the whole "3 books into 2 movies" thing, this one suggestion always sits with me as to how MiramAxe is run by monkeys with diapers on:
"Kill off one of the hobbits early on."

'Tards . . . . . and for the record, I want all of you to see "Shaolin Soccer" in one form or another once you can. You won't be disappointed, I promise.
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Saturday, August 28, 2004

   Hero (2002): My Review
Alright, I've owned what is most likely a bootleg DVD of Zhang Yimou's film "Hero" or Ying Xiong for over a year now. Hehe . . . there are many, many perks to living on the west coast, what can I say? Anyhoo, I'll just say it now: "Hero" rocks my world and I know it. Though, perhaps not for the reasons you might think . . . now, this'll be long, but I promise I'll barely even talk about what happens in the movie. I'm only writing this up to sort of tell you what you can expect so you don't come out of it going, "what the suck was that?!" You with me so far? Alright, let's rock . . .


Alright, first thing's first, I wanna make this part clear for everyone so that nobody goes into this movie with the wrong mindset:

Hero is an ART film FIRST, martial arts film THIRD or so!

Heh . . . I know, it's not what they're really selling it as, eh? In any case, the fights in the film are definitely awesome, with some incredibly choreography before the film, talent on the film, and wires above the film. The BIG fights really are a great example of Chinese fight cinema at its best (has anyone here ever played any of the "Dynasty Warriors" games? It's kinda like that). The showdowns Jet Li's character has with the others are absolutely stunning, with some great visuals and real smile-inducing, clap-starting stuff. It's great fun, acrobatic, belief-suspending stuff. Of course, there really are a lot fewer fights than you'd think there'd be. Just lettin' you know that now. This film's all about quality, not quantity.

What of the characters? The characters are all pretty likeable. You've got the mysterious swordsman with no name; you've got the possibly potentially maybe evil depending on your position king who shall become the First Emperor of China; you've got the two lovers with different philosophies that are putting them at ends; you've got the little angry girl who wants the one guy but, well . . . yeah; heck, you've even got the silent, barely on-screen assasin who says few words and fights with all kinds of coolness! So yeah, lots of neat characters. Character development? Um . . . . . I'll get back to that.

Story! I haven't said a thing about story! Alright, here's the gist: early Chinese history. The different kingdoms are out to kill each other for supremacy and control of the entire area. The King of Qin (who will later become emperor) has a problem with assasins who wanna kill him. And . . . . . yeah, that's about it. There's some smaller stories here and there, some flashback points to tell this or that - yeah, a lot of this story is told in flashback. Other than that . . . yeah, story's just there to get the movie goin'. It's not what's important (gasp! Did he just say story wasn't important?!).

Heh. . . here's where I start to disillusion people . . . . . story? Not really important. Fights? Cool, but also there to tell the story in full-spectral glory. Dialogue? Ho ho ho! Oh man . . . maybe it won't seem as funny reading subtitles, but if you listen long enough, you'll catch a few things . . .

Dialog . . . it's actually kinda funny, sometimes. When Jet Li and the King are talking to each other, often enough it's all very sharp, concise, and Question A - Answer B. "You did this?" "Yes." "How did you do it?" "With this."
"You forgot about someone." "Who?" "Me!"
Hehe . . . . . plus the fact that the King of Qin is always referring to himself as "Guo Ren" in third person (I think it means Emperor) . . . kinda funny . . . . . but yes, small matter . . .


So what does matter, you ask? THE CINEMATOGRAPHY! There are very few times where I've used the word "beautiful" to describe a film; this one is one of them. The images this film paints are all absolutely gorgeous. I mean, I've spent time trying to find desktop wallpapers of scenes from this film, they're so nice! This includes everything from the big wide shots to the fights to the little intimate moments. THIS is where this film shines - you look at it, and you love it. I'll just say "colours", though I won't say why. It's all just really, really nice.

As for the final ending? There's a few ways to look at it. Certainly there's lots of meaning and all that stuff, but I'll leave that one for you guys. In any case, it's still beautiful.


So, do I reccommend this film? Hell yeah! It's SO worth it, and getting it big numbers'll mean we'll get more Asian films in our theaters!

Though, if I start going around and start hearing people comparing it to "Crouching Tiger" too often, well . . . . . I might need to start crackin' some heads . . . in any case, other than the casting (me loves Zhang Ziyi), this movie is COMPLETELY different from "Crouching Tiger", so I don't wanna hear it, savvy?
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   Heh . . . things're getting too serious around here . . . . .
ALRIGHT, many, many, MAAAANY things are over and done with now! People are finally shutting up about stuff, people at home are using their brains a little more, and I am . . . . . well, still exhausted as normal. Ah well, it's all good.

Ah, I gotta tell you guys, I'm so happy that I have all these video game OSTs now. I'm like, playing them in the car when I go to work, I'm falling asleep to them at night (I rarely ever play CDs when I go to bed) . . . and go fig that a person can well up from listening to Super Nintendo music, huh? Hehe . . . yeah, I'm such a softie . . . . . which then makes me wonder why I'm apparently so scary to talk to sometimes? I dunno, you guys tell me . . .

Yes, that's right. This is pretty much a real-time rant I'm writing right here. I think I might write something with a little more meat later, but well, I'm still at a slight loss for what I write about. I'll think of something though, I promise . . . . . meantimes, let's see here . . . what's on my mind right now . . . . .

Oh! My year of ripping up all kinds of hell at myO is over! Hehe . . . nah, I'm not going anywhere. I'm just sayin' that my time as a super-powerful "top 10 myOers" type person is done, and more involved, much more intuned people are taking their turn up in the high numbers of that popularity list. Do I care? Meh, not really . . . all things considering, I'm really not as involved with this site as I used to be, so other people should be getting those slots. 'Sides, going by a few particular people high up on the list, it really doesn't seem like the list is all that accurate of site representation . . . but yes, I'll drop this lest it sound like I actually do care about this stuff . . . . . which I don't, honest! Eheh heh heh . . .

Um . . . . . so I dunno, whadayaguys wanna hear? Street Philosophy? Canadiana? That evil music game that no one except Shanny can win? I'm totally open to suggestions right now (that, or I'm just still exhausted . . . which is fine).
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Thursday, August 26, 2004

To the one dear to me:
Thanks a bunch. I took up more of your time than I usually try to, and you stuck by my sorry ass the whole time doing what little you could. I never expected any more, and yet you didn't stop at anything less. You had your own matters to attend to, yet you were still willing to lend an ear. Of all the reasons for coming to this website, you were easily the best of them. Thank you.
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Wednesday, August 25, 2004

   Fun of nostalgia . . . and then this . . . . .
I'm tired and sore. Yeah, that's not frighteningly shocking coming from me, but this time it's for different reasons . . . . . ladies and gentlemen, I am seriously pissed off.

When did all this crap happen around here? Emotions and tensions have raised to unbelievable levels in certain circles of myO, and, as fate would have it, people I know were at opposing ends. Now technically I wasn't a part of any of this, and made it my business to step in uninvited. What can I say, there was a long string of events that led to the final bits, and all have been stupid, unnecessary, mean, and violent. I, for one, am sick of it.

Ya know what the worst of it is, though? For me, the worst of it isn't even the people who are in the arguments, who is insulting/accusing whom of what, or whatever. The worst of it is that all this BS is leading me and someone dear to me down very annoying pathways where we just can't be as comfortable as we usually are. Neither of us want it, nor do we wish it to continue. But the fact remains that as long as all this crap is affecting other people close to us, we're never gonna get to calm down . . . . . and truth be told, this other person really can't afford to go through more of this.


So to sum up, people here are being very immature, uncouth, and stubborn about very stupid things. I don't care who's starting these, or who's egging them on; In my opinion, you're all being foolish. Don't be shocked that someone might take offense at something you yourself considered mean in the first place. When these ridiculous, assinine comments are made, don't lose your temper over them - I don't care if it's because you have to suffer a lot of it, a raised voice never makes people listen more. Most importantly, don't start saying a SINGLE DAMN THING if you don't know the whole story - you'll only make things more complicated.

Everyone, please stop it - it's not helping you, me, or anyone else at this community.
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