Palin

“I’m not looking at poll numbers.”

An unwillingness to answer questions presented to her in a debate to which both political parties have agreed.

A folksy attitude that pundits say is meant to distance her from Washington and make her sound just like the rest of us.

“Nu-cu-lar.”

Sound familiar?

Don’t be fooled. Palin isn’t like the rest of us – and she shouldn’t be. She’s running for Vice President of the United States, and anyone who believes that her folksy attitude is anything but belittling to the rest of America is being fooled. Pay attention to what she says, not how she says it. Know who you’re voting for, and let’s not forget the past eight years. Like Palin said, we will learn from our mistakes.

 

Cauliflower Ears

The New York Times put out an article today on the MMA culture developing around cauliflower ears.

Now, I can understand the idea of wearing an injury like a badge of honor. I know when I get bruised up, or come back aching all over from practice, I feel like my pain is a symbol of what I’ve accomplished (except when I get nosebleeds – those are too painful to take pride in). Yet, the injuries that have lasted – like the shoulder injury I got last year that still haunts me – have taught me that the actual well-being of my body is more important than my training. God only gave us one body, and we should take care of it, even if we’re training with it.

So my response to the cauliflower culture? The New York Times article says a number of MMA fighters think it’s cool, that it marks you. But I also know MMA guys who think it’s disgusting. I know I, as a girl, find it disgusting. Who wants to whisper sweet nothings into a bloated, crunchy ear? And who wants to have their ear blown up like James Thompson, a.k.a. Tomato Ear? NASTY.

 

Sparring: What I Have Learned as a Short Fighter

Every time I go to a new dojo, someone says something about my height. I’m doing aikido now, and one of the first things the sensei told me was that aikido is good for short people because height and strength are not as important. As a short fighter, I thought I might share a little bit of my experiences in sparring. Keep in mind that I am only a green belt in karate, and if your sensei says something to the contrary of what I write here, trust your sensei. Also, these tips are based on KARATE sparring sessions. I’ve fought some Muay Thai guys, and maybe it’s because they were twice my weight, but some of my usual techniques didn’t work.

I think I’ve been very lucky because my karate sensei isn’t so tall himself, so every now and then he’ll come over and say, “You’ve got short stubby legs like me, so here’s some advice…” Several times he’s told me I’m too short to do a particular kata, and it only makes me laugh.

Kicking:
Being the shorter person in a sparring match means you have to be brave. You might be afraid to get close enough for the other person to kick you because you know that you can’t kick back from too far away. However, think about this. A kick’s power comes in part from the distance the foot/shin travels before it hits you. Think of trying to kick someone who’s standing a foot away from you. Pretty hard, right? Not as effective? Thus, when fighting a taller person, I recommend getting in close. Sure, you’ll take some kicks, but they’ll have less power the closer you are, and you’ll then be close enough for your kicks to be effective.

Get in and get out:
Last year when I went back to karate after a summer of jiu jitsu and frequent running, I was a powerhouse. Not as in totally built, but I had tons of energy for every fight. And I was extremely aggressive, so it wasn’t until my second semester, when I had lost that energy (hard to go running when it’s snowing and I have homework to do), that I realized I’d been relying too much on my stamina. That’s when a Muay Thai guy gave me some advice (from one short person to another): Get in there, get some shots off, and get out. When I fought a tall person, I had the tendency to get in close – and never leave. This was bad because it meant I lost a lot of energy and had little recovery time. So, a smart game plan would be to circle around the ring, bide your time, dodge a bit, and then move in close for your combo attack, then get out and keep your distance. It’s good for recovering, but beware: not every fighter is going to let you go so easily.

Center of gravity:
If you’re shorter, you probably have a lower center of gravity than your opponent. This means that your opponent will have a harder time throwing you, and you’ll have an easier time throwing him/her. Take advantage of this. Learn some throws. Learn how to drop your weight to avoid being thrown.

Beware going to the ground:
If you’re short, you might be small, too. If you are fighting someone heavier than you, who knows jiu jitsu, avoid getting taken to the ground. Even though I learned some jiu jitsu, I eventually got fed up with it because it was just impossible for me to do anything with a guy who weighed 100 more pounds than I did sitting on top of me.

My old instructor told me that it took one of his classmates a year to make someone tap because of the kind of competition they had in their dojo, but if jiu jitsu isn’t your thing, I really don’t encourage doing it. I think it’s an intimate sport with a lot of potential for injury (I wrecked my shoulder my first year, and my sensei cracked two ribs just rolling with someone). Learn how to defend yourself and get back on your feet. Learn to recognize moves and get out of them. And remember, even if you don’t recognize the move, and something hurts, TAP. I tapped once after getting stacked, just because I felt like my neck was about to snap. You can never be too careful.

Don’t underestimate people underestimating you:
This may be more for meeting new fighters than actually fighting them. Or not. I’m not sure. But anyway, here’s an example. Coming to aikido the first time, my sensei first thought I was in middle school (it took some guessing to figure out I was in college) and assumed when I told him that I did karate at school that it was just a couple of months. Later I did tell him I was a green belt, and at one point in class, when a girl winced at how hard my one-hand blocks were, he said about me, “Look at this girl – did you know she was a green belt before? On the street, if you meet someone, how are you going to know if they’re a black belt?” I guess this is more of a story of reminding you to never underestimate your opponent (I was once fighting a 6′ tall guy, and literally standing a foot away from me, he kicked me in the face…gently, because he was a black belt), but I think it can work the other way, too. If you notice your opponent making mistakes because he or she has underestimated you, take advantage of it. Don’t let their stereotyping make you feel like you should conform to some stereotype of what a short fighter is (it’s a psychological thing…like self-fulfilling prophecy). Do your best.

Oh, and last but not least, a tip for point-fighting:
As soon as they say, “Hajime/Start,” MOVE!! If the other guy is taller, he can hit you sooner than you can hit him. So either get going with an attack or get out of the way. I’ve lost too many points because I’ve forgotten to take into account the other person’s range. And it seems to me a good deal of point-fighting depends on the first move. So move.

Okay, those are my thoughts. Questions/comments/corrections/tips are welcome (after all, I’m still learning too). Good luck!

 

Jesse McCartney’s Leavin’ – Is it wrong?

I love this song. I can’t help it. The hook is so catchy and upbeat. But I can’t help wondering, how wrong is this song?

Here we have Jesse McCartney, former blond, whose music I tried so hard to avoid because he seemed to be just another pop icon they were trying to force down our throats (and yet I know the chorus to “Beautiful Soul”). Zac Efron has stolen his surfer hair, so he’s cut it, dyed it brown, and decided to sing like he’s black. What makes me say that? Because when I first heard this song and pictured the singer, I pictured a young, suave black guy and I wondered what newcomer had come up with this song. And then I found out it was Jesse McCartney.

“Leavin’” is just like any other overly commercialized song – or any other kind of media – that comes out nowadays. It covers itself up with references to old material and references and really offers nothing new but the hook. In “Leavin’” (lyrics here), McCartney uses terms like “don’t stress” and “shawty.” He even talks about a G5, and, yeah, there’s a G5 plane, but Urban Dictionary offers some other less pleasant definitions. In any case, I can’t help thinking McCartney is trying to sound real ghetto. And how about “to the left”? Straight out of Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable.”

Is it right for a white artist to exploit hip-hop culture to make himself marketable? Because that’s what this is. McCartney isn’t offering us anything new with this song, which is why I’m claiming it isn’t “inspired by” or “in the genre of” hip-hop, it’s exploiting it and exploiting our admitted addiction to hooks and already tired phrases. Perhaps the race example is only an added dimension that proves some people in the music industry are starting look at hip-hop as so mainstream it can go white. (And here I would like to point out that not because McCartney is white do I have a problem with this song, but because this song was made just for the money.)

Then there’s the music video, one giant, uncomfortable, awkward mistake. It’s just McCartney and some girl getting up close and personal, although there is really no chemistry and only a sense of “where on earth are they?” and “please, cover up.” Was all the focusing and re-focusing meant to be natural? Like how everything is filmed in shaky camera nowadays? Watching it, you can see that probably the biggest effort made was finding a lace-up bra and teaching McCartney how to undo it. There’s even a scene where the girl’s hair accidentally falls in McCartney’s face. That take should have been trashed but somebody decided it was natural and cute. It just makes the video look more forced and unprofessional to me. And unfortunately it reminds me of the video for the Goo Goo Dolls’ song “Here is Gone,” in which a girl comes out of the swimming pool in her underwear, walks into the kitchen, and kisses her mother’s head. That video had more plot, but that particular scene was also awkward and contrived and had some idealistic vision of what a young woman should be (namely, wet and in her underwear and not afraid to dance on top of a car in mini shorts).

Also, please tell me – who is the target audience for this video? Surely not men. This is Jesse McCartney, after all. But if the target audience is women, why are there so many shots of that girl (the video starts with T&A) and so few of what would interest women about McCartney (possibly his baby boy body, but I’m not sure)?

Sure, “Leavin’” is all over the radio, but at what cost? Why are we always watering down our tastes, to the point that we find it okay for such uninspired, derivative (and racially questionable) songs to make money? I have a copy of “Leavin’,” I admit it. But it got old after about 10 plays and I’m glad I got it for free.

 

Enough with the Movie Remakes, How About Remaking Some Video Games?

In the middle of cleaning out my room, I stumbled across several old video game magazines that I had saved (for example, the Nintendo Power that previewed Zelda: Ocarina of Time). With all the movie remakes in the works, I wish that video game companies would really start focusing on remaking some old classics. And by remaking them, I mean reworking the sound and updating the graphics – and that’s it. Classic storylines and solid gameplay should never be tampered with (a mistake movie studios make in terms of classic characters and plotlines and…well, I have seen very, very few good movie remakes).

This is my urgent list of games that I need to see remade – or shall we say, touched by the magic wand of new technology? Keep in mind that I’m not a hardcore gamer, and I’m sure there are plenty of other great titles that need to be released. I just have some little favorites.
1. Chrono Cross.


The storyline zigged and zagged. It was overwrought and confusing. But it was amazing. Dragons and secret identities and a lost technological city? Betrayals and frustrated love? Fighting a monster named FATE and finding out that if your character had only died as a baby, this two-worlds-instead-of-one situation could have been avoided? A final ultimate, musical way of achieving a perfect game ending? And a mind-blowing opening song named “Time’s Scar”? This game utterly blew me away.

This game had great graphics – for its time. I’ll never forget the hole in the ground that I thought was a bush. In the next ten years, I would love to see a new Chrono Cross. The original score was beautiful and could just use some fleshing out, perhaps. Kid could lose that Australian accent everyone was annoyed by, and we could have some beautiful voice acting. The fighting system could use some tinkering, especially since some elements eventually became too powerful and Continue+ was too easy. I remember a nice innovation in Chrono Cross was the ability to avoid random battles because the enemies were always onscreen, but I would have liked a charm to be able to avoid battles, period (particularly in Continue+).

I also wanted a remake of Chrono Trigger, but that is already in the works, so I am very happy I received a DS for my birthday. I just wish the character designs were different; Akira Toriyama’s style just says DBZ, no matter what context it’s in.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

The GameCube Master Quest version had more fluid graphics and harder dungeons, but this game deserves a quality remake, with Wii graphics and real orchestra music. Sometimes I wish for voice overs, since games like Kingdom Hearts sound fine to me, but then I fear, oh, I fear what would happen to Zelda with voice overs…

I don’t think I need to explain why else Ocarina of Time deserves a remake. Sometimes I wish I had amnesia just so I could play this game all over again. Sometimes I think the ten years since it came out would have made my memory fuzzy in regards to the plot, but it’s still fresh in my mind. If possible, I would have liked to play some adventures as Zelda during those seven years Link is trapped in the Temple, but that’s another story.

3. Final Fantasy VII

This is a no-brainer. Everyone has been asking for it. Especially since the PS3 technical demo came out.

FFVII was innovative and brilliant when it came out, and unfortunately I didn’t have a PS so I never actually played it. (I did buy it a few years ago but haven’t made it too far into the game. Those graphics and the blocky LEGO-like characters are unbearable.)

Nonetheless, I think Square Enix should re-evaluate the fact that every new FF character seems to have the same face shape, nose, and lips. There are other ways of being beautiful, and sometimes not being J-Rocker pretty can be fine, too.

 

Avatar Finale

Nickelodeon aired the final four episodes of Avatar’s season 3 – in fact, the last episodes of Avatar – last Saturday at 8 pm. Unfortunately, I missed them because I was at the theater getting blown away by the Dark Knight, but I made it back in time for the second showing of Sozin’s Comet, the Avatar movie.

For years, I thought Avatar was a some kind of knock-off American anime. I had my reasons. Shows like Puffy Ami Yumi and Teen Titans, with its overuse of exaggerated facial expressions, hadn’t given me much hope for an American show that could use Japanese culture/anime style without being a blatant attempt at exploiting the country’s growing interest in anime.

Just before AnimeNEXT, though, I changed my mind about Avatar. My friend commented that she enjoyed watching it with her younger brother. She likes it? I thought to myself. She wasn’t particularly into anime, so I got the impression that her opinion was a sincere one. So I decided to check out Avatar.

Late at night, I watched Avatar on Nickelodeon – and then I couldn’t take it anymore. When was Zuko going to switch sides? What had happened the first time Aang firebended? And what about the eclipse – and Sozin’s Comet? The week before AnimeNEXT, I watched at least fifty Avatar episodes (or listened, rather) while I worked on artwork. I saved the most recent four episodes for the Sunday of AnimeNEXT, and then I asked myself, where was the rest?? And, thank God, it turned out that Avatar would be ending in a month or so! (Not thank God that it was ending, but thank God I wasn’t going to have to wait years for an ending.)

What first impressed me about Avatar was how honestly funny it could be. The writers didn’t milk the comic expressions, as even some anime do; the expressions came out of the characters themselves, with Sokka doing most of the actual joking, although I just loved the cabbage vendor who always seems to be in the way. The Avatar movie includes two of the most ridiculous expressions so far, as Katara and Toph’s faces practically melt when they mistake the actress Aang for the real Aang. Because the wild expressions were never overused, they were always a pleasure to see (I also recall Zuko’s flabbergasted face at seeing Sokka in a flirtatious mood with that rose in his mouth).

The fluidity of the animation in Avatar also blew me away. Sometimes I feel anime imitation shows cut down on movements to give the feel of choppy anime animation, but Avatar didn’t. Although not movie-fluid, Avatar sets a bar for fluidity in animation, particularly in the fighting sequences, and for the research that went into each element’s fighting style. According to the Wikipedia article, which really opened my eyes to how much work went into Avatar, each element’s fighting style is based on a real life one, from Tai Chi to Northern Shaolin Kung-fu. Although I have no experience in these arts, I must say that watching the show, I could believe these were real styles. They felt real in a gut sense (and also maybe from all the martial arts movies I’ve seen).

As an anime fan, I also enjoyed the references to actual anime, which came in the form of animation styles in certain dream sequences. For example, I felt some Dragonball Z vibes when Aang had that dream about facing the Fire Lord. And, in the episode where Aang had to lead rival tribes through a canyon, the second story told about the tribe rivalry looked like it was straight out of the anime Dead Leaves (I couldn’t recognize the reference for the first one).

So as not to let this go on and on – because I could go on and on about Avatar’s greatness – I was astonished at the kind of material Avatar handled, and I think years from now, the show will be regarded as a product of the Iraq War era. Story lines dealt with parents killed in war, sons going off to war, and the general price of war. What other shows aimed at younger kids – some of whom have undoubtedly lost family members to the Iraq War – discuss the pain of losing a parent to war?

This show certainly did not pander. Characters had real relationships, with actual kisses and not that they-like-each-other-but-they’ll-never-tell attitude, and real family problems. Zuko never gets a tearful reunion with his family – not even with his mother. His true father is his uncle, whom Zuko repeatedly shuns, and that’s a hard truth for a country that occasionally thrives on the vision of the perfect four-member family.

Oh, and the fact that Toph was blind was brilliant. She didn’t need any pity – she was tough as nails, a smart aleck, and one of my favorite characters.

Nickelodeon needs more well-constructed shows like this, that are smart and well-researched, with real jokes and real horror.

Warning: SPOILERS

This is not a review. More like my tearful/joyful thoughts about Avatar’s finale.

I laughed and I cried. Who wouldn’t have laughed? Even my brother, who rarely watches the show, burst out laughing when Sokka climbed into Oppa’s mouth to look for Momo, then flailed in a pool of bison spit while a serious conversation went on in the foreground.

I let a few tears slip when Zuko went to apologize to his uncle Iroh. Theirs was a painful relationship, with Zuko betraying his uncle at the end of Season 2, and then regretting it once he switched to Aang’s side. I was partly sure that Iroh was a good guy from the start, so when Zuko broke up apologizing to him, and his uncle did, too, I couldn’t help myself.

I almost screamed when it looked like Zuko had died fighting Azula – I knew he wouldn’t, but what an emotional shocker. Then I was angry because Zuko and Katara didn’t end up together. I was not really a shipper or Zutara fan, but it seemed to me that Katara was there for the girls in the audience to identify with. And, really, which girl would have preferred to end up with the 12-year-old bald Avatar as opposed to the older, albeit brooding, anti-hero Zuko? Yet who could bear to see Aang end up miserable in the end, right? It was a tough choice to make for the script-writers, and even though I don’t agree with them completely, I support their choice. They had their own vision for the characters, and the ending worked out. …but I still think Mai looks like a guy in that hairdo.

Did this movie tie up all the loose ends? Not completely. Where IS Zuko’s mother, anyway? He asks his father where she is, and we never hear the answer. Toph doesn’t seem to reunite with her parents at the end, either. And what happened after the group split at the Air Temple – what was Sokka’s dad doing all that time? Shaky…perhaps one more episode would have tied up the loose ends.

Nonetheless, the Avatar finale was satisfying, had its own twists, and was ultimately worth the many hours of marathoning that I went through. Congratulations!!

 

Batman: The Dark Knight

This is not a movie review. This is an account of the visceral experience that is The Dark Knight.

Why am I not reviewing Batman? Because you should have already made up your mind about whether or not you’re going to see it. If the biggest opening weekend in movie history isn’t enough to make you curious, then any high-flown praise I can offer you won’t be enough, either. But don’t see it for the hype. See it because it’s good. I’ve seen some great movies this summer – Wall-E and Hellboy II to name two – and this one tops them.

Although I was dying to see Batman on opening day, I didn’t sleep the night before because of some weird insomnia, so my brother, his friend, and I got tickets to see it Saturday night. I prepared myself for the event by not watching any previews, not following the Harvey Dent ad campaigns, and not reading any reviews. I wanted an utterly fresh experience.
We picked a small local theater – not too flashy but guaranteed to not have huge lines. We arrived at 7 pm, just as the previews were starting, and got some pretty decent seats. We spent our ride there discussing other people’s driving habits and making sarcastic remarks about the scenic route our driver had chosen. On the way back, no one spoke.

One reviewer called Batman “exhausting,” and it is. My brother first saw the movie on opening night, and he repeated all the way to the theater that Saturday that he slept like a baby after he first saw. After the movie, I suppose I was drained. Something can indeed be said for just literally leaning forward during a third of a movie and watching tense scene after tense scene unfold.

Two and a half hours after we put the quarters into the parking meter, we came out of the theater. “That was awesome!” my brother said. “Every time they had the chance to do something right with the script, they took it,” his friend, a total film buff, said. “You know, I feel like if I talk any more, I won’t be able to say anything about it,” my brother said. And then no one spoke. We drove back in complete silence.

When we got home, my dad asked us how the movie was. “Great,” I said, as if that word meant anything. “I can’t talk about it.” I still have a hard time talking about it, and thinking about it. It’s the kind of movie that wrenches your attention away from its flaws with high-stakes scenarios that matter to you, even if you’re not particularly partial to the characters.

What kind of movie is Batman? I wondered that, too. It isn’t a superhero movie, not completely. Batman seems shoved aside in favor of the Joker, who behaves more like a serial killer than a super villain. Some of his plans reminded me of the Jigsaw Killer’s choose-or-die plans in Saw. So, is this a crime movie? A horrific thriller? It’s a movie about idols and hope and justice and making the “right” choice when it feels so much like the wrong one. It’s a movie where the villain only cares for anarchy and chaos, yet he always has a plan.

I saw the movie for the second time the Monday after the premiere, and this time I went to an AMC theater. Needless to say, by the time the movie started, almost every seat was taken. I came out smiling from ear to ear.

I will never get over Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne and his feigned arrogance. After watching Batman a second time, though, I wish Bruce had more of a social life. Sure, he hangs out with models and ballet dancers, but aside from Alfred and Lucius, he has no one. I couldn’t even imagine this Batman making any kind of time for a Robin. He barely has enough time to sleep.

And, after this movie, I don’t think any one else will ever be able to play the Joker. As some fans put it, it was as if Heath weren’t even in this movie. It was the Joker through and through. And though I kept searching his face for any signs of the actor I’d seen in A Knight’s Tale and 10 Things I Hate About You, I saw no resemblance. Even the brief glimpse we get of the Joker with his unpainted face looks like the Joker with an unpainted face – not like Heath Ledger. I appreciated every little quirk, the licking of the lips, the slowly opening eyes, the skewed shoulders, and the way the Joker climbs into the bus after taking out Gotham General and bounces in the seat, even though the audience can only see a shadow through the bus window.

But please, don’t see this for the actors. If you do, some of the others might disappoint you. I prefer Maggie Gyllenhall immensely over Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, but she has no chemistry with either Batman or Harvey Dent. So when Batman freaked out that she’d been kidnapped, I had to remind myself that he actually cared about Rachel – because I didn’t.

The Dark Knight’s plot is tightly woven. Sometimes I didn’t believe pieces of it (the huge sonar machine?) but a second viewing answered most of my questions. My dad had questions about where the Joker got his ammunition and how he set up so many elaborate bombs – and where did the Joker come from anyway? – but my answer to that is, the Joker is an “agent of chaos,” as he calls himself. He is unthinkable evil, an almost all-powerful evil. He comes from nowhere, making up a different story for his scars each time. And, anyway, this is a superhero movie. Thankfully, you can ask a lot of questions of the Dark Knight – which is what makes it so great – but you can’t ask TOO many.

Ultimately, Batman is an experience. It’s the kind of movie that you feel in your gut is a great movie, but afterward, you wonder if you could ever watch it again. The last time I felt that way was with Pan’s Labyrinth, but Pan’s Labyrinth was just a hard movie to watch because it was so beautiful yet so up-front in its horror. Batman is just a trip. It’s physically draining. It’s anarchy and it’s a long, powerful ride, and it’s great.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

And if you haven’t yet, watch this movie. Let’s make this the biggest opening week ever.

 

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

I write this as my brother plays the Beowulf video game on his XBox 360. Ah, Beowulf – a movie that gets more unintentionally funny every time I watch it.

I’ve been waiting for Hellboy II since Hellboy came out in 2004. And I’ve been waiting even harder since I saw this preview.

The costumes and the scenery convinced me that this movie was going to be brilliant, as did the dramatic pacing and the Rammstein song playing in the background. And brilliant in scope it is, although the characters are flatter this time around, and at times, it seems that Guillermo del Toro is struggling to mesh two movies together – one that explodes with vivid magic, and one that is firmly grounded in our world’s comic books.

It seems reviving either huge armies or huge monsters from past civilizations has become a bit of a cliché. Just before Hellboy II, for example, came the preview for The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, another movie about reviving a lost army.

Briefly, in Hellboy II, Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), an elf, seeks revenge against mankind for destroying the natural world, so he decides to revive the golden army. His sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) tries to stop him by running away with some of the artifacts he needs to revive the army. Meanwhile, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and Liz (Selma Blair) deal with their developing relationship and encounter the typical problems – living together and possibly raising a family.

Luke Goss, surprisingly handsome once the make-up comes off (or, dare I say, mysteriously so with the make-up on?), played Nomak in Blade II, in which Ron Perlman also acted, and he makes Prince Nuada an empathetic character, just as he did Nomak. With his gold and red eyes, long white hair, pale skin, and pointed ears, not to mention the scars, I expected him to be a vampire-like character, although he came off as more noble and elegant, being a self-exiled elf.

Another newcomer was Johann Krauss, an ectoplasmic “person” crammed into what resembles on old diving suit. He’s voiced by Seth MacFarlane, something I did not find distracting in the least – indeed, although Johann became a bit of a one-note character despite his surprises, I enjoyed having him on Red’s team.

What surprised me to discover was that Doug Jones played the Pale Man, that monstrous creature with eyes in its hands, in Pan’s Labyrinth, while here he plays the less frightening (and occasionally C-3PO-ish) Abe Sapien and the just-plain-freaky Angel of Death. Abe gets more screentime than he did in the first Hellboy, becoming more human than sidekick, although the movie’s finale doesn’t do justice to his personal struggles. I can only hope later movies will address that.

Watching this movie, I often felt like I was walking the line between immersion and disbelief. The movie begins with a background story told by Hellboy’s adoptive father, a technique that instantly had me on-guard since the young Hellboy seemed stiff – despite his expressive voice – and the dramatization of the story reminded me of the out-of-place CGI fight scenes in The Protector. Later, Hellboy and Co. investigate the disappearance (and presumable murders) of 70 guests at a fancy-pants auction where Prince Nuada showed up earlier (don’t worry, these aren’t spoilers, it’s all in the preview), and what ensues is a rather awkwardly-paced fight with some strange fairy creatures. Several expendables die in blatantly expendable-character deaths that are less fun than in the first movie, when I think we at first hoped to bond with some of Hellboy’s human teammates. The awkward pacing – some scenes should really have been tightened up – threw me off and seemed to hold me at arm’s length from the movie.

But I really wanted to like this movie, and eventually it gave me reasons. Some of these were, of course, the incredible monsters that appeared. The creativity that went into the designs was unbelievable, and I’m sure everyone has already seen and been blown away by the strange angel of death creature that has eyes embedded in its wings. A prophetic monster that should have had some more screen time, albeit not all at once.

There’s no arguing with Hellboy’s nonchalant and proud personality, either, or the sense of humor these movies have. Hellboy’s confrontation with Johann is perhaps my favorite moment in the movie.

Still, as I mentioned earlier, I sometimes felt as if Guillermo del Toro were trying to fit two different movies together. Some scenes and landscapes were breathtakingly beautiful and incredibly imaginative and didn’t seem to belong in a movie that essentially takes place in New York and New Jersey (and Ireland, for a bit), even if some locales were supposedly underground and hidden from human beings. I thought Prince Nuada’s world was sufficiently compelling to merit its own world separate from ours, sort of like an extension of the fairy tales told in Pan’s Labyrinth, yet for some reason his story was fitted against Hellboy’s. I don’t know how closely this movie aligns with the comic book, though, so I’ll leave off there.

In short, Hellboy II is a compelling movie that definitely has clichés – the ancient army, the superhero’s struggle to deal with public opinion (especially New Yorkers’ opinions), the relationship drama – but is saved by its relentless charm – the utter beauty of it all, and the quirky uniqueness of its characters. Although if I had filmed this, I would have raised the stakes and made it still more ominous (you’ll see what I mean once you watch the angel of death scene), perhaps Hellboy II just isn’t that kind of animal – it’s entertainment that isn’t meant to get you down, no matter the material it deals with (for instance, Hellboy is the son of the devil but does he mope around about his destiny?). Hellboy II certainly leaves hints of what may come for the characters in Hellboy III. Which I shall begin waiting for now.

 

Con Report: AnimeNEXT 2008 – Sunday

Alas, we spent only two hours or so at the con on Sunday. My friend from New York was visiting, and she didn’t have a day pass, so we snuck her into the con briefly with my other friend’s pass so she could buy some presents for her little cousin. Otherwise, we couldn’t spend much time in the con itself. We ate at Nikko Sushi again, and then saw her off at the bus stop, because the bus’s at the con center run right to Port Authority in NYC. Then it started raining, then pouring, to the point that as we sprinting up the con center steps, I could see a thick layer of water streaming over everything. My shoes and socks were soaked.

We spent our last minute’s of the con in the dealer’s room, looking for last-minute deals. I’ve always been told that at the end of a con, the dealer’s start having sales, just so they don’t have to cart all the merchandise back home. Is this true? Because I’ve never seen it. In the last ten minutes before the dealer’s room closed, though, I bought Neji, a comic by Kaori Yuki that I’ve been casually looking for during the last…oh…five years? It’s never been translated into English but I don’t mind. I was just obsessed with reading it for so long and now I can practice my Japanese some more.

Last, I went down to the Art Show to pick up my artwork and found that 2 of my 3 pieces had sold! Hooray! Until I remembered that there was a $10 fee to actually have my work IN the show…so I only made $15…which will go toward paying expenses…….. But before I get too down, I’m just gonna remind myself that, after all, this is all part of the experience, and if I work really hard, maybe I can have my own booth in the future!! I hope…

So farewell to AnimeNEXT. I won’t be going to any cons for the next two years because I can already see that my schoolwork is going to interfere, but maybe between now and the next time I can work hard on this little business plan I have in my head…

If you have con stories, feel free to write! I’m interested in what I missed >.<

 

Con Report: AnimeNEXT 2008 – Saturday

Well, it took me a while to get to writing this one! I’ve been busy with other writing projects, so alas, the blog got kicked aside. Now watch as I attempt to piece these events together…

Saturday was my friend’s birthday, and we had a surprise party planned for her that night, so we didn’t stay for the dance at the con. The whole day I was thinking really hard what I should buy for her, but this year, I really had nothing I could think of giving her. I guess I was kinda burned-out from other projects I’d done in the past, and from working so hard on art for the past month.

And by art I mean the three pieces I entered in the Art Show! I was both excited and disappointed that the Artist Alley and Art Show were located in the basement of the con center (in actuality, there was a parking lot down there, and they just put a black rug over the concrete). I wonder if the location drew less people down there. On Friday, I had basically just checked out the market and seen the price range in the art show. I was shocked that some people were selling pieces with a minimum bid of $6 but then charging $65 for a quickbid. Now I regret not bidding on those $6 pieces… Also, maybe I have no right to give this opinion, but it seems to me that despite their artistic skill – their Photoshop experience, or their understanding of anatomy, or their grasp of color – artists in the Artist Alley have a hard time understanding composition. Hardly ever have I seen a character in an interesting pose, or a drawing that was composed in an interesting way. Granted, because this is fan art, the artists probably don’t feel like spending too much time on it, but I wanted to see more effort in the art. Otherwise, for someone like me who can already draw, there isn’t much that interests me in the artist alley, although this year some booths had some crazy and great ideas, like decals and cute little food-themed items that reminded me of ShanaLogic. At Anime Boston this year, one booth sold team T-shirts for Organization XIII, and they did look like little league jerseys in a way. I wish I’d bought one >.<

We spent some time in the manga library this year, and I’m hooked on Banana Fish. I read Vol. 1 last year and Vols. 2 and 3 this year and I’m looking forward to reading the rest. The manga follows Ash Lynx, a young gang leader in New York City, whose brother fell victim during Vietnam to a dangerous hallucinogenic drug called Banana Fish. I THINK the manga is shounen-ai or yaoi – after all, Ash was a toy for a major crime boss and something is brewing between him and a young Japanese guy that comes to report on gangs in New York – but the manga focuses much more on the way each character is trying to each his ends, whether through subtle manipulation or outright killing.

This year on the way back from lunch, I finally saw that Kakashi gf/bf duo in person! I think this is them. What a great idea: Kinko’s Copy Ninjas!

Now I will fast-forward to the masquerade because my memory fails me in regards to what we did for dinner and so on…

The Masquerade! The BEST masquerade I have ever seen at AnimeNEXT. I shall explain through compare/contrast. You see, at Anime Boston 2008, which is supposed to be a super ultra awesome convention, the masquerade was terrible – unfunny with way too many dance numbers that didn’t add up to anything. The only worthwhile skit was the last one, an exhibition one, which you can watch here:

Furthermore, last year, AnimeNEXT had some knock-out skits, but some flops, too (like the endless Hare Hare Yukai dances). This year, there was only one Hare Hare Yukai dance, and it was abbreviated, and I think I remember there only being two really dull skits… So, in the interest of sharing, here is a sampling of some of the skits. I recommend going on YouTube to check out more.

SoraX5 Dances to Dirty Pop.

CPR in Kingdom Hearts II.

Don’t ask me why Kairi has to teach it.

The Birds and the Bees. The craziest sex talk I’ve ever heard. (“Today is a good day to die!”)

Because I’m totally drooling over Avatar and can’t wait for the finale.

It wasn’t THAT funny…except for “Fire Nation!”…”Fire Nation!”…”Fire Nation!”

And last but not least – for it was possibly the best – the exhibition skit. The guy sang LIVE and had charisma and charm oozing out of him, perfect for Tamaki:

In closing, I’d like like to point out that whereas the big thing at Anime Boston was…click this to find out… the big thing that I heard on everyone’s lips at AnimeNEXT was…”Buttscratcher!” I don’t know how it started, I just heard it in the street and spent the rest of the day exchanging “Buttscratcher!” with my friend.

Whew, so overall, a laid-back con…I’ll get to Sunday in a moment…