A chair... a simple device on which to sit, how complex can it become.

Then you discover that there are effectively two types of chair in the world. The reasonably simple "padded board" chairs from officeworks at about 100-300$. All made in China, all looking fairly similar and lots of reports of breakage on web-sites. This is what I sit on currently and it's starting to give some alarming creaking noises.

Then there is another world. A strange place where 1000$ and more counts as a perfectly reasonably price for a chair. Symbols of dotcom excess like the Aeron and others from mysterious brands like Sedus, teknion and steelcase. Overly engineered, lots of curving metal, tensioned mesh, cryptically arranged levers and knobs, and fancy mechanical hearts allowing things like dynamically controlled recline. Heck, for a lot of them I have no idea how much they cost because the web-sites generally ask you to e-mail them so you can find out the actual price!

They might well be comfortable, sturdy and ergonomic enough to justify that price, although I suspect they have huge profit margins since the businesses are going to write part of the cost off on tax anyway. It would certainly be interesting to have an experimental sit. After all, you can't exactly feel the comfort of a chair from a picture. Good luck being able to do so in Perth though, most of these manufacturers don't even have Australian offices or distributors, let along anything in Western Australia. When I was young and innocent I assumed that if you have the money you'd be able to buy the product you wanted. Now I'm beginning to realize what is actually available (especially in WA) is only a tiny subset.

Is there a sweet spot somewhere in the middle, that's actually available? I haven't found it yet...

Current Mood: curious

A mind-wrenching series of books about a walking basket case and her tedious internal conflicts. There are occasional interludes of story in which a variety of people much cooler than she is "give her space" while protecting her from anything that would distract from her internal bitching and self loathing. She's meant to be the worlds greatest necromance, which from a story point of view means she's legally entitled to goth it up, but isn't actually useful. Her primary ability is annoying people with a complete lack of empathy, subtlety, self-preservation or ability to plan beyond the immediate. Having been converted into a hedaira (demon for "bit on the side") she has immense personal power which lets her brag about her golden skin and recover more quickly when she has a super-powered tantrum.

There are probably a bunch of anime which have just had waaaay too much influence amongst western anime fans. So much influence that one begins to wonder, despite the apparent failings of the material itself, just what managed to grab peoples minds. Three that stand out would have to be dragonball, sailor moon and probably pokemon. Titles that were huge in Asia, like doreamon, don't necessarily register, anime was largely invisible in that far off pre-robotech time. Pokemon probably doesn't really count either, it's continuing flurry of game tie-ins and merchandise make it obvious. But what of titles like Sailor moon? The title that launched a million cos-play disasters?

Well, having found good quality material to watch (and the original stuff, not the recut for US tv terror) I was still happy to let it sit and brood on a shelf. The idea of subjecting myself to such an immense number of episodes, of a dated series, aimed at young Japanese girls and best known for having an intensely irritating lead character was easily avoidable. However finding someone crazy enough to volunteer to watch the first season with me tipped the balance. It's going to take a while though.

So have I worked out what it is about this show that has given it such durability? Not really, but a couple of things do come to mind.

- The first is that the show ages quite reasonably. The action is all posing and repeated animation sequences after all, and the rest is just character work which doesn't really need flashy animation to work. The music is quite good, watching the three leads bounce off one another can be entertaining and Usagi's voice really is capable of peeling paint.

- The enemy fields a dark queen who goes a long way towards suggesting secret plans, even though she doesn't do a whole heap. She has a sequence of bishounen generals, disposed of when they fail too often / get boring, who have somewhat different tactics. And those generals summon a freakish monster of the week for the girls to defeat. The action itself is boring, the girls really don't have an immense range of tactical options (poor ami and her unexciting bubble-bath attack) but it does get a decent sense of horror / threat going. The monsters are pretty nasty looking, some of their schemes are quite cruel and it honestly does seem like they are doing their best to really splatter the sailor senshi. They almost remind me of devilman, and are really quite shounen monsters for such a series. Was sailor moon the first magical girl show to have truly monstrous opponents? I know the first magical girl series did not have such oppositional focus.

- Usagi is immensely annoying. This does help somewhat to draw other people, including the other sailors, out as they react to her being off the wall. But I also wonder if her being so boyish, and flawed, is actually part of her popularity. Did her flaws allow fans to see her as someone they could potentially replace? Or is it that she's such an antithesis to the ideal Japanese female that it was all rather exciting at the time? She certainly is somewhat impressive in the scope of her flaws, especially her interactions with her mother.

- And of course, there's the outfits. Near naked transformation sequences, suspiciously busty 14 year olds and extremely short skirts yet relatively simple designs and an extremely recognisable motif go a long way to explain the cosplay popularity. This is assisted by the fact that much of the action consists of nicely staged, but relatively static, poses.

I must say, however, that the eye-catch still scares me. When entering into the adverts a spotlight scans the screen until it highlights sailor moon. That's fine, no problem, but the all male chorus of "sailoooor mooooon" when she is highlighted is frightening. It reeks of fanboy, and those rather older than 14.

Oh well, will be interesting... I hope.

Also bought myself a keyboard. 60$ US + the same in postage (ouch!) in order to buy a modern reproduction of a 20+ year old keyboard from the one place that still makes them. I hope they're as good as I remember them!

Current Mood: curious

I'm currently playing Vanguard, the little MMORPG that couldn't. Well, playing is actually a little bit generous. Instead after the regular patch through the middle of every WA evening I still had enough time to fit in four opportunities for the game to crash. A little freeze and then you're back at the desk top. The game isn't even capable enough to detect an error, it just falls over without a sound. This is actually a new opportunity, the game was initially stable (but so sluggish) and each patch has introduced ever more instabilities as the developers hack around in a desperate attempt to streamline the beast. What a mess.

The joke is that this game took 5 years of development and consumed 30 million US dollars yet it's still a mess. An engine that doesn't work, immense amounts of empty scenery that seems haphazardly and randomly constructed and so little content that the only universal thing is the emptiness. I can see someone enjoyed making the cities, they're huge, which means they're not realistic and combined with the lack of content means they're not fun. The only challenge is finding your way out of them and never visiting again. The dungeons are much the same, endless huge caves full of a handful of mob models. Each element in the game is carefully tuned to grind you to the edge of tedium. The end game... well, it's just not there yet. The developers are desperately trying to keep people busy while they work out what the plan is, but with the low numbers they'll run out of money and time before they achieve anything novel.

So why am I playing? because my friends in Melbourne are, and a MMORPG is a good way to keep in contact with em. I just wish they'd picked some other virtual world to occupy.

Current Mood: bitchy

My web page has vanished. It'll be back soon. The web hosting has always been a little bit odd. Friend of a friend of a friend with no direct communication. So things like the current example, where the page just vanishes without warning, tend to happen. Going to be getting some new hosting somewhat closer to home and a little bit more featured. Ideally some more reviews as well... some blogs to come on what's been keeping me occupied in the place of writing some, outside of my everpresent slackness and the shock of being a sarariman.

I've also been listening to the DJ shadow album. It certainly is different, and there's no shortage of people ripping into it for lacking character, being regressive and schizophrenic in the sounds it includes. I think the main difference is that this isn't really a DJ shadow album at all. Sure, he produced it, but his touch is submerged far into the background, possibly to avoid competing with all the guest artists who take the starring roles in the tracks. Thus if it was sold as a compilation album, a bunch of artists, it would probably get a much fairer judgement. I'd still hate it, because rapping about "the hood" just doesn't interest me and Hyphy sounds like some weird and stupid hip-hop derivative, but then that wouldn't matter because I wouldn't have bought it. However if you buy it as a DJ shadow album you're struggling to hear any signature, new or old, coming through the music on this CD. Thus, ultimately, while it might not suck in an absolute sense it's certainly a form of false advertising and one to avoid buying on the strength of his name.

The new Cut Chemist album, "The Audience is listening" is pretty damn cool though, especially on a portable player. And lemon jelly continues to amuse.

Current Mood: contemplative

I'm busy trying to work out if I am hypocritical. More specifically I went with a group of people to see Dead or Alive. I'd like to specifically state I didn't organise it, that would be anarch_kitty who has actually played at least one of the source games... and presumably wanted to see the mockery that would result when it was adapted for the big screen. I've never played them myself, but I knew they somehow managed to combine buxom babes, brutal combat and a nice game of volleyball. So in essence I didn't actually care about the source, I just expected a mindless movie with lots of female fight scenes. And I got exactly what I expected, it's really dumb, especially the "secret plot" to make the ultimate sunglasses of doom. However it was also sort of enjoyable because I expected it to be much worse than it actually was, I didn't really care about the material and it all moved reasonably fast without taking itself too seriously. The real question is why was it only snakes on a plane that triggered revulsion. Context? Expectations? ... or perhaps I'm more easily amused by odd looking women pretending to be martial artists than snakes biting people. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that SOAP was being hyped outside of its own value.

On the music front I've run into something fantastically good, "Lemon Jelly" are an awfully entertaining band. Clever, varied but eminently listenable songs that sink happily into your subconscious. Although I must admit a slight preference for their first two albums over their more recent work.

I've also run into something pretty dire. I liked DJ Shadow's music a lot. Notice the tense, his latest CD "The Outsider" is quite a change. The music is much much cruder, and most of the tracks are dominated by rappers droning on and on about whatever the hell it is that keeps rappers entertained. I guess if you wanted a rap album you might be happy, but musically it's an empty wasteland. Blah, I hate being disappointed by an artist I thought I could trust.

Happy birthday j3ffu, thanks for the invite =)

Current Mood: mellow

Just got back from Dinner and a movie. The dinner was surprisingly good, the Herdsman Lake Tavern looks like one of those immense barns of a place that rely on cheap food and no competition. In practice though the food was fast and not bad at all, although they do seem to have a tendency to want to deep fry everything. Of course the dinner was made much more pleasant with good company.... oh yeah, and beer.

Not much could save the movie though... the audience was silent and focused on the movie. I think they were waiting for Samuel L. Jackson to say his one memorable line. Meanwhile the movie was entirely focused on snakes biting people. There was a plot, or at least some sort of thin layer to tie the gaps together, but basically if the idea of watching people getting bitten to death by snakes doesn't amuse you then you've got no real reason to see this trash. It's certainly not much of a horror or suspense flick since everything is set up so obviously that you know what is going to happen way in advance. And the characterisation, blah, even outside of those existing only to be snake-food they were almost entirely superfluous, with virtually nothing they did actually meaning anything or making any difference. It may want to be a cult movie, but it just isn't smart enough to be anything more than a passing fad.

I swear the problem is that the American movie industry has a "quota" of movies they have to produce that's actually higher than the stories they have to tell... which is why even the shallowest joke, seemingly the product of an extended and boozy lunch, gets extended into a motion picture. I guess the same thing happens in anime, but I still believe that manga (and the bizarre people who occupy that culture) give them a much richer field to tap.

Current Mood: bitchy

Tried a new recipe which has been pronounced edible and practical!

First I took two lamb chump chops (though beef would probably work as well or better, and chicken if you spice it a little) and cut the meat from the bone and fat... this really reduces the amount! so three chops might have worked better. This gets marinated in Teriyaki sauce and lemon juice while you mess with the other ingredients. At the end it gets pan fried and a couple of pine nuts thrown in when its cooked. This is going to be the taste and protein boost.

The vegetable load is spring onions, bean sprouts and bok-choy. The bok choy was chopped into strips and blanched (stalk first, then leaves). I didn't blanch the bean sprouts but AK suggested it probably would have worked well to reduce their "metalic" taste". The bulk of the meal is rice vermicelli, which is just too damn easy to prepare. I used 100g, but 150g would probably have been better. These all get mixed together in a bowl so the vegetables are mixed in with the noodles. This is an excellent opportunity to burn your hands on blanched bok-choy.

To finish put the cooked lamb on top then drizzle a sauce of vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and soy (used raw soy sauce here, because we still had some) over the top.

Finally, and most vital, let your adorable partner wash up while you finish up the glass of rather nice plum wine you were drinking during the meal. (We work on the one cooks, one washes principal... though AK raises many an eyebrow at my profligacy at causing kitchen chaos).

Current Mood: relaxed

A friend at work, discovering I was into anime, offered me a title from his personal collection. The rather mysterious "Heat Guy J". Not mysterious because it's rare or exotic, it had a well funded commercial release, but interesting because it seems to have bypassed all the anime fan's I know. Some knew the title, but not much more.

And I can sort of see why. It has very decent production values showing a substantial investment in it. The backgrounds are almost excessively bright and crisp, obviously computer assisted and having a wonderful time of it. Although they do tend to over-use some of the scenery. The setting is some massive metropolis of the near future. And we are following two characters who are special police tasked with finding crimes before they happen. One is young, cynical and cool, while the other is a towering muscleman in a long black coat (his partner being in white). The large guy is J, the legendary heat guy, and the only legal "machine" (ie. android) in the city. He's super-powered, quite taken with doing huge leaps to get around, but he's not super bright. His "wit" is the endless repetition of rather silly aphorisms which make him sound like a 2$ positive thinking book. He also spends a remarkable amount of time getting his butt kicked, he's a bit of a tactical dunce for all his power.

Between them they tackle one crime after another in this big city with a rotten under-belly... although in reality the main crime they face is the really atrocious writing. It lacks energy, enthusiasm or even logic to a quite alarming degree. Some of the stories we've seen so far, 9 episodes in, have been laugh out loud bad with huge plot holes and weirdly lifeless scenes and dialogue... action too when it comes to that, there's something odd about it (very checked, it always seem to stop short). Also impressive is that their detective work seems to center around asking one old guy meditating in a darkened shop who tells them, seemingly free of charge, all the information they need to know. There's not a great deal of backstory either, or they are being really stingy. What is the history behind this odd city or the characters we follow? no idea. This makes it all feel as if they were too busy playing with the visuals to bother too much about the story logic. Indeed the entire thing feels a lot like a tech demo, an experiment in how to integrate computers into animation, rather than something the creators actually cared about that much. Either that or it's just trying too hard to be cool and is thus afraid to risk experimenting with what they have.

Put simply it's really pretty, but it is also an empty shell yearning to be filled with some energy and life. There's much better stuff out there. Still there are also 17 more episodes (although the anarchic-feline is fading fast) so it could get better... but my hope is not great, they seem too happy to just go through the motions.

The lead characters bike is sort of cool though, I will admit that, but I'd take the one out of FFVII-Advent Children rather.... geeze I must review that, it was such a damn fun film. Exactly the sort of exciting drama and action Heat Guy-J misses.

Current Mood: blah

I'm going to collect some bits and pieces from my cooking experiments.

Fresh Rice Ribbon noodles: These noodles are packed with a bit of oil to help them separate, but since they're kept refrigerated they tend to clump together. Don't freeze them, or it is downright impossible to seperate them. They are actually pre-cooked, so they basically need to be warmed through to allow them to seperate and then just heated to eat. I used boiling water to separate them which meant the outer noodles got over-cooked and sloppy.

Still, some instant daschi, miso paste and a bit of instant tom yum mix (I'm such a wimp, it says to use 2 table-spoons and I use 2 tea-spoons) make a quick and tasty broth to use as a base.

Current Mood: full

A new review up... finally. Well, it's not even a new review, I had an old review of Noir but it was based on only 6 episodes. I gave it a worthy, because it seemed to have a really cool start rich with promise, but as I watched I realised how shallow and dull much of the content is. It was really quite a struggle finishing the damn thing. But it was a title I'd never share with Anarch-kitty, so it was good to get it done.

Hm, I guess the review won't be going up immediately... the ftp server isn't talking to me. My bad for ignoring it for so long?

Also saw this anime music video which impressed me rather a lot,
Tra~la~la. Not only does the total over-the-top dramatics of Utena translate well into this format the cutting is brilliant and the sense of humor is rich.

I also got an e-mail from JDM4RSH giving me a good piece of his mind for dissing
Transformers: The Movie. What I really wanted to get across is that you first have to accept the core premise, which is obviously and transparently derived from their toy merchandising, before you can actually appreciate the anime at all. I think quite a few anime fans won't make that leap, being turned off by the very concept of it, so it was worth mentioning. I didn't actually mind the movie (junk planet aside) and I think that was expressed in the closer of the review.

I have some other anime related posts I've ignored for too long. I'll get to those soon, it also gives me more grist so at least my journal isn't as inactive as my page.

( The review I can't ftp at the moment )

From the opening of Texhnohalyze the soundtrack steps easily into the back of your mind and starts happily pounding on the walls. It's damn fine stuff, potently driving but without being boring like so much of the beat driven music is. And some of the individual sounds from which it is constructed, like the sort of "back-scrape" in "Guardian Angel" are complex and delightful in their own way.

And thanks to the fact that a certain feline has an awe inspiring taste in music I got to listen to some more. So nice to make the discovery that the first taste wasn't some sort of fluke. I like, and I want more... but where would one go to find it in perth I wonder?

Current Mood: rejuvenated

So says Lady Death, from the astoundingly average animated movie of the same name. A movie that's not even bad enough to laugh at, it's just soo awfully average, showing clearly the near complete lack of sophistication or imagination on the part of those who brought it into being. It's not anime either, since the script is entirely western (Carl Macek gives rise to another obscenity!), the animation is korean and the funding is ADV showing what it thinks of its own customers taste. It's just very lame, boring and highly derivative... I swear the end battle reminded me an awful lot of diablo! I'll probably write a short review, but only to make it clear that this is neither anime nor something worth actually watching.

It's partly because I'm soo busy, lots of thesis re-work I should be doing in addition to
something far more enjoyable (a.... a.... girlfriend omgwtf!). The other reason is that I
was blessed by the heavens with a girlfriend who enjoys anime... and brings a substantial
personal collection into the deal. As a result I have just been struck by shock and awe
at the immense number of new titles I have the possibility of reviewing. And unlike the normal
random selection I use an intelligent and tasteful mind has already done the initial choosing.

Speaking of random selection, here's a review that's been waiting in the wings unfinished for
quite a while now. I liked the initial thrust of it, that dead leaves is more like a universal
art-house animation, and thus not particularly anime or interesting. But I realised the review
also makes an assumption about context... how much art house animation is there in Japan? is it
another sub-culture of its own that I just haven't experienced? after all, only a narrow subset
of anime makes it out here (especially commercially!). I'm not sure how I'd actually be able to
know the answer to that question, so the review may well be up for some dramatic revisions.

That said... it wasn't that great an anime.

Mmm, a bright Perth Sunday and a long yum-cha ahead, loved one by my side... life is very sweet.

Anime Meta-Review

html! That makes things a lot easier, I assumed it would have it's own obscure format... although an lj-cut sounds somewhat painful.



... as you can see, just playing. No content here!

Once it was impossible to know the mind of women... now you just have to read their journals. Although apparently I'm in-line to get a "thick black line drawn right through me". It sounds a lot like the sort of thing that involves swarthy men, concrete footwear and impromptu early morning swims.

I'm also the author of the anime meta review (amr.nextstudio.net) although recently I've been spending my time increasing my list of material I have to review, rather than actually writing reviews. I figure my backlog takes me safely towards 2010. I've been watching a fair bit though, Karin and Blood+ which have outstayed their welcome and a bunch of other more interesting titles... I really need to get a review down for Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, that was just good fun, as was dokkoida.

Ah well, it will be fun exploring what role, if any, a livejournal can play.