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mai 20e, 2008
mrapol
 | 10:57 pm - hi hi hi
drinking green tea 2 servings of vegetables pack of menthol smooths sitting on the desk listening to brand nubian
east coast forever
word up
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sbflj
| 11:39 pm - Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's: A CHILDREN'S CARTOON CHILDREN'S CARD GAME?!
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SubatomicBrainfreeze/~3/294749542/yu-gi-oh-5ds-a.html  I'm going to assume that you understand the Yu-Gi-Oh card-selling media machine and how it works. The cartoon sells the kid the card game and the kid goes out and spends money on the card game. Like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh takes place in a world where nobody does anything but engage in activities related to the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. It's a fine setup for, say, a videogame, but it makes for awful entertainment for the spectator. Knowing this, why did I bother wasting the bandwidth on the first episode of this show? Well, you see, it's Yu-Gi-Oh on bikes. I just wanted to see how, why in the hell anybody would play a children's card game on a futuristic motorcycle.
It turns out they just put the damn things on auto-pilot. Other than that everything is exactly the same as you'd expect: a dreadfully boring card-game tutorial with moderate production values. What a bust. Also, what bizarre fansubbing choices.
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somari
 | 11:36 pm - while you were out
Since my last post, I..
o Bought the Boston self-titled album.
- Numerous great tracks that I didn't even know were by them.
- Nine tracks for eight bucks.
o Was in a car accident.
- I survived.
- Saved by a bag of laundry and some old woman's face.
o Kicked my iron pumping routine up a notch.
- It's now daily, instead of never at all.
- I don't feel as tired all the time as I used to.
o Went without running water for two and a half days.
- Water heater's pressure valve was busted, and leaked everywhere.
- It was replaced with a new unit.
- We now have enough hot water to take long showers, anytime.
o Watched Jon play BioShock.
- Lots of great scenes that were fun to watch again.
- He found things I didn't, which makes me want to play again.
- Why is System Shock 2 so hard? Goddamn.
o Received a cool white lab coat to wear in the pharmacy.
- My sister is a full-fledged tech at Target, and doesn't have one.
- Matching nametag lists my position as "Pharmacy Service Associate".
o Bought a gun that shoots marshmallows.
- It was more expensive than I expected, and now I'm broke.
- My family enjoys it, and so do I.
- Eating too many marshmallows makes me feel sick.
And now I'm going to lay down for a while.
Musique actuelle: Gorillaz - 19-2000
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anaraug
 | 10:26 pm
I have too many posts to make and not enough time.
Brittany and I explored an abandoned church in New Orleans.
I went on a road trip.
+I saw Radiohead in Houston.
+I did not see Radiohead in Dallas.
++I found myself in the middle of the gay district in Dallas.
++I explored a creek/park and tresspassed on some upscale apartment property in Dallas.
+++I finished reading Tricky Business by Dave Barry.
++I found myself hanging out on a church stoop conversing with a homeless man for two hours.
I roasted yaupon leaves to brew BLACK DRINK. BLACK DRINK must be written in all caps.
And I'm leaving for a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico on Thursday.
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persona_kun
 | 08:16 pm - Stuff
I've taken up doing the Gamesetwatch comic again, which I stopped doing about a year or two ago. I'm finding it difficult to get back in the groove of humor after not having worked on comic stuff for a while, but it's kind of satisfying to be doing it again.
Anyway, some stuff I did:
I switched from a long vertical strip to a page layout so I could maybe reprint the materials into a book someday. Also, it's easier to draw a single page than 9 equal sized panels, though I can't tell the same jokes as I did before. Anyway, check tomorrow when the newest comic goes up. I think it's a Wednesday thing.
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ils_trevmun
 | 08:49 pm - Wow, this is kind of inspirational to see.
I've grown fond of Alton Brown's show "Good Eats;" it's a great way to learn about the scientific principles and processes that go into making food, not to mention the history of whatever you're learning to prepare.
What I didn't know is that Alton Brown was not a chef to begin with.
According to that interview on The Big Idea I linked to ... Alton Brown made the decision to start a cooking show in his 30s, and completely threw out his old career and life to attend college all over again, this time at a culinary school.
Holy. Crap.
The general impression I get from society is that when you're in 30s, that's your midgame, when you should have established your career and your life by then. To see a guy start practically from scratch at this point and succeed the way he has is inspiring, especially for someone like me who is currently cursing the way higher education ensures that you can't bend over without turning your codpiece around first.
Humeur actuelle: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/bitospud/courier/white/shocked.gif) surprised
Musique actuelle: Pillar - Turn It Up
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foto_decadent
[yala_agni]
 | 04:46 am
tick, tock , talk by Andrea Giacobbe
THE FACE nov 1997+ 2 unpublished
models:Kasia Pysiak & more
( *** )
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karoshi
 | 08:20 pm - ElectrLOL
So this is tonight's predetermined set list, compiled in about the same time it's going to take me to type this bulletin:
I'm Good, I'm Gone (Fred Falke rmx) - Lykke Li
Vagabond - Greenskeepers
The Coolest/Let There Be Light - Lupe Fiasco/Justice
L.E.S.D.A.N.C.E. - Justice/Santogold
White Horse (Bass Kleph rmx) - Sarah McCleod
Needy Girl (8-bit Talk Box Dub) - Chromeo
Nylon Smile (Scienticians rmx) - Portishead
Ce Jeu (unknown digital slaughter) - Yelle
Lollipop - Mika
Strangers (Yuksek rmx) - Van She
Aldente B-Moll (Decalicious rmx) - Liberation Frequency
Neon Knights (Rocconova rmx) - MSTRKRFT
Paris is Burning (Alex Gopher rmx) - Ladyhawke
Hearts on Fire (Midnight Juggernauts rmx) - Cut Copy
Love Me Sexy (Weekend's Humpin Sexy rmx) - Jackie Moon
Vocals, sysnths, and filters all over the place!
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fortninety
 | 06:44 pm - Leave It There No Longer Than Tonight Only! God sees.
- I got a free psychic energy reading! And the prognosis? No venereal disease, but that's only cuz I'm a nice guy.
- The face of Jesus, with a pre-addressed, stamped envelope.
- So that's what drug dealers do these days. Interesting. And, poor dogs.
- Finally got an Xbox 360, and I played a TON of games over the weekend. And... I ain't got no problems with 30 fps racers, no siree.
- Also, Katie and I have been rocking We Ski.
- And, got the chance to try out LittleBigPlanet. It's nice.
- But even nicer is how Everday Shooter is coming to the PSP! So, despite LBP, yet another reason NOT to get a PS3.
- Also watched two dudes competitively eating watermelon at the Nintendo World Store. The number of times someone noted how the day before, the store was packed to get an exercise tool? A lot.
http://www.fort90.com/journal/?p=586
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foto_decadent
[natikk]
 | 10:56 pm - Sasha
( Картинка 1395x5387, 699,02 КБ )
Photographer: Hedi Slimane
Model: Sasha Pivovarova
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mrlonghair
 | 07:54 pm
So I think I'm about to run low on money because I have to pick up a new PSU and jump on another fine deal downtown (50% rebate on something I've long wanted and need), so I round up all my cash. I expect 620 SEK, but I find 990 SEK.
I limp off to the cornershop for some necessary milk, at the cashier I reach into my vest pocket to pull out the 100 SEK bill I brought, but I find two 100 SEK and a 20 SEK instead.
This is karma, giving me a gentle caress.
(When you lose most of your mobility; with the right level of discipline towards takeout and home shopping, your wallet will become thicker)
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dinosaurcomics
| 09:35 am - this comic was inspired by a conversation i had with someone, but i can't remember who. was it you,
http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001225.html 
about - archive - cast - comments - sexy exciting merchandise - messageboard - search - reader art - links
May 13th, 2008:
Here's an experiment which could be pretty rad! I'm going to link to the Flickr images tagged "haylookit" here for the next few days, and maybe INDEFINITELY. If you have something you want thousands and thousands of like-minded strangers to see, try uploading it to Flickr and tagging it with "haylookit"! And if you want to see something that some stranger on the internet thought you'd like, click here!
AWESOME IMAGES ONLY, PLZ
UPDATE: Guys this is awesome.
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foto_decadent
[linka_lebedeva]
 | 05:41 pm - Jessica Stam in Harper's Bazaar February 2007 by Solve Sundsbo
( more inside )
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elysesewell
 | 12:10 am - still love you
Just a quick quickie before I hit the sack. I evacuated Korea this afternoon for Hong Kongier climes: got to apply for my Chinese visa here tomorrow morning before I can proceed to my 30 day tour of duty in Shenzhen. My Chinese agency sent a booker down here to "help" me get my visa; so far she's been a downslowing hindrance and a portent of lonely weeks of ill communication to come. Our conversation has been accomplished word-by-word, hunched together over her little electronic translator. Looking to the future, she's been busy translating and transcribing a few bons mots into her notebook, that they might be ready when she feels the need to deploy them:
"You don't takes a bath." [That's true; I didn't take a bath, and guess what else, I'm not going to; and guess what else? Neither did she, so, like, step off!]
"I have the daughter of three years old."
"Rain outside clogs up."
"Please don't chat."
"Do some big poses"
"Do some small poses."
"Do some happy and cheerful poses."
I can do all these poses and more, poses "cool" and "lady" and "lovely," poses "fantastic" and "elegant" and "like swimming in the sea." And I will do. But first Korean snacks:
In Korean, the bottle on the right says "chi-juh [cheese] uyu [milk]."
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nighstar
 | 08:06 pm - 家のない猫がたくさんいるくせニャ～
damn Japan and its cat fetish. can`t (don`t) even take proper care of its cat population and yet there`s this huge cat fetish in this country. i swear the large population of stray cats in this country serve to feed the fetish.
anyway.... damn Japan and its cat fetish! making me buy all this stuff! i swear by the time i leave Japan i`ll have enough cat things to completely decorate (not 'furnish' merely because i cant buy furniture here) an entire room in the most awesomest cat stuff. i`ll have so many books/manga related to cats that this room will house a cat library! and cat lovers will come from miles around to come see/spend time in my awesomely awesome cat room. my cats wont be allowed in the awesomely awesome cat room because they`ll destroy the awesomely awesome cat stuff. D; seriously, though, this cat room sounds like a good idea. i should make that a goal lmao.
anyway, cats own and Japan seems to know this despite not treating real cats better. puzzling.
moving on to things closer to reality, ( weather stuff: another typhoon )
( got my pre-ordered CD/vinyl by Ladytron... )
as for the rest of today, ( teaching at Otsu E.S... )
( aquiring a taste for raw fish )
rejoice, i`m done babbling for now.
Musique actuelle: Ladytron - Ghosts (Cassette Jam Mix)
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tablesaw
 | 02:46 am - Inner. Inner-Sinus. Inner-Sinus Pressure.
I caught a cold upon returning to Los Angeles. I have to wonder if I didn't pick something up on the plane, but it could just be the change in temperature and diffiuclty sleeping back at home. Normally I can smash a cold faster than this. I'd be at home, except we're very short-handed right about now. So I'm being careful, washing my hands, sanitizing my station, and generally trying not to spread anything. But if I haven't improved by tomorrow, I'll definitely be staying home. My overnight coworker's spouse has a compromised immune system, so when he comes in, I have to make damn sure I'm healthy.
Humeur actuelle: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/square/y/sick.gif) stuffy
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officialgaiman
| 04:08 am - Rory Root
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/05/rory-root.html Mark Evanier's blog is the only one I check more than once a day. It's almost always guaranteed to lift my spirits, and even Mark's obituaries tend to be for people who had good lives or made good things, and were not gone before their time. And then today I clicked on it and saw that Rory Root had died...
I've known him for nearly 20 years. And he was fifty -- only three years older than me.
Last time I saw Rory I told him I'd stolen his omnipresent bucket-size cup of coffee for Mrs Higgler in Anansi Boys. He was introducing me at a speaking event, something that made him uncharacteristically terrified. And I told him about the time I'd popped into Comic Relief when he wasn't there, because I was walking past and I thought I'd wave, and had come out having bought $300 worth of books...
He was one of the best comics retailers. Someone with a philosophy on selling comics and graphic novels, on respecting customers, on pushing The Good Stuff, that set him apart back in 1989, when we first met, and that put him far ahead of his time. And he was a nice guy to boot. I liked him enormously, and will miss him just as much.
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aderack
 | 10:13 pm - Incidentally, it's out today.
I was invited to the launch party for Star Soldier R, a couple of days ago, in an informal capacity. It was pretty great, actually. I sat and chatted with the new president of Hudson USA, whose name escapes me, for quite a while. And the game is pretty good, for what it is -- which is a sort of score attack thing, not unlike Pac-Man CE. I asked, in all fatuousness, if it came with one of those Takahashi Meijin tap-timing controllers -- and... it sort of does, in that there's a special game mode for that.
Eventually there was a competition for the highest score in 2-minute mode -- and I came in second place! That's out of the few-dozen people there. Maybe thirty, forty, fifty people? The guy ahead of me chose, as his prize, a six-month supply of beef. Which I'm sure he will enjoy! I chose six months of coffee, and the third-place winner (whom I sort of know) was left with a supply of barbecue sauce.
It's a good thing that I recently began to drink coffee -- if irregularly.
As we left, everyone was expected to take a gift bag; as many did not, I found an extra one ceremoniously shoved into my hand, meaning that I also wound up with an extensive cache of wine, cookies, and chocolate.
All in all, a profitable evening.
Musique actuelle: Miles Davis - Solea
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zerochan
 | 07:36 pm - Greetings from blargsville
Sorry I'm being quiet again! Things here in Iowa are a bit more hectic than I anticipated, so I'm not relaxing nearly as much as I had hoped to. Oh well, I did manage to score a bunch of very good, very cheap games on clearance at SuperTarget, as well as a Wii! (Toys R Us in Cedar Rapids got a bunch in and didn't advertise them, they likely still have more in stock, so if you're in the area, that's where to check!) Haven't got any games for it yet, but Aksys is sending a review copy of Castle of Shikigami III my way, and I'll probably wind up with Brawl sometime in the near future.
Other stuff of note: Iron Man is indeed an entertaining movie, my Aunt Mary is the coolest relative ever, and Rondo of Swords is... not very good, sadly. Oh, and Panchero's is still awesome <3
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jokersama
 | 10:15 pm - I make it a rule never to get involved with possessed people
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )
Humeur actuelle: SPOILED, PROBABLY D:
Musique actuelle: Badly Drawn Boy - Fall in a River
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mia_d
 | 08:17 pm - Spritle and Naughtiness
We found this cat today, dirty and with a terrible collar burn. His owners, who live beneath us, have left without a trace a while back and he has nowhere to go. He's been to the vet and got a clean bill of health, so he's staying here for a while. We tried to locate the owners by calling and even talking with the landlords, but they're straight up gone.
We also gave him his shots and checked him for a microchip (he didn't have one). He's already been fixed so that's a load off my mind.
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officialgaiman
| 05:36 pm - What's Your Story?
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/05/whats-your-story.html 
I asked Jon Howells, Waterstones National Press Officer, about the story card on which I wrote an original short story -- what would happen to it and when. There's some information at the Waterstones website , but he filled me in on the rest of it:
What's going to happen to your card? The original, along with those by all the other authors involved, will be auctioned on June 10th at Waterstone's Piccadilly, the largest bookshop in Europe. This is an invitation only event (your invite will be with your shortly - it would be lovely to see you there but, given where you live, we'll understand if you can't make it), and the auction will be run by a Sotheby's auctioneer. Margaret Atwood will be joining the proceedings live from Paris, and will write her story using her LongPen machine. All the money from the auction will go to English PEN and Dyslexia Action.
The following day, all the storycards will be available to read at Waterstones.com. Outsize facsimiles of the cards will also be on display in the windows of all our stores for people to read, and they will remain there for a month.
There's also a chance for our customers and the general public to get involved with writing a story for the What's Your Story? campaign. They can pick up a storycard in our stores to fill in and return, and online we've developed a nifty tool that allows people to write (and customise) their own stories - full details can be found at http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/navigate.do?pPageID=200000637. This has only been live since late last Thursday and already over 700 stories have been posted.
Three (2 adult and one child) of the best of the public's stories (and the best from a similar competition for our booksellers) will be published alongside all 13 of the author stories in a one-off print run Postcard Book, which will be available from the beginning of August at our stores and Waterstones.com - price is TBC. The winners of the public competition will also win a place on an Arvon Foundation writing course (if they are over 18), or £500 of Waterstone's vouchers (if under 18). All profits from the sale of the postcard book will go to English PEN and Dyslexia Action.
So now we all know. Sounds a wonderful project. (I assume the writing a story competition bit is only open to UK residents, but I may be wrong as it's not listed as such in the terms and conditions.) I don't know if I'll be able to get to the auction in person. But it sounds wonderful. And I need to find out how people can put in remote auction bids and suchlike for the cards (or, if they plan to bid in person, how they can get invitations to the event).
...
I took this yesterday from the kitchen window. As a small child, I was convinced that all animals walked around on their hind legs when we couldn't see them, and spoke fluent English; sometimes they wore clothes and probably drove really tiny, brightly-coloured cars down hidden streets between the bushes. This raccoon did nothing to disabuse me of the idea:
...
Michael Dirda wrote a lovely article about Charles Fort, and Jim Steinmeyer's biography of the man. When I read,
Steinmeyer views Fort as a representative 1920s figure, but to me he seems in a slightly earlier mode: The antiquary with a hobby horse. Fort and his 40,000 slips of paper recall Marx researching economics in the British Library, H.W. Fowler compiling his picky Modern English Usage, the editors of the Variorum Shakespeare and the Oxford English Dictionary noting arcane interpretations and elaborate etymologies, J.G. Frazer tracing hanged gods and ancient ritual in The Golden Bough. I remembered a long-abandoned idea for a short story I meant to write, probably called "Charlies", in which Karl Marx and Charles Fort, both working obsessively in the British Museum Reading Room Library sixty years apart, wound up with each others notes and books, so Marx published The Book of the Damned in 1867, prompting international revolution followed by a Russia organised on Fortean lines, with falls of fish and such everywhere, while Charles Fort published Das Kapital in the 1920s, and is still remembered today as a beloved crank, The Fortean Times a small press publication dedicated to economic theories about the eventual downfall of capitalism. (I gave up on it mostly because, whenever I'd tell communists about it, they'd look disapprovingly at me, which I figured took out half the potential audience for the story then and there.)
(On the other hand, the companion piece, "Kens" about Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Halliwell, may still get written one day. You never know.)
...
Here's a review of The Dangerous Alphabet.
And finally, The Graveyard Book has its own dedicated website at http://www.thegraveyardbook.com/, courtesy of Subterranean Press. It has an interview with me on the front page, but it also has many exciting things up, such as Dave McKean illustrations -- http://www.thegraveyardbook.com/illustrations/...
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foto_decadent
[ablazex]
 | 05:59 pm - dry season
W june08
dry season
photographed by craig mcdean
styled by alex white
models: heidi mount/ elsa sylvan /abbey lee
Humeur actuelle: pleased
Musique actuelle: wolf at the door
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foto_decadent
[linka_lebedeva]
| 12:24 am - Lily Donaldson in Vogue IT March 2007 by Emma Summerton
( more inside )
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mai 19e, 2008
nounverb
 | 05:47 pm - hej
Will be in Stockholm and Uppsala for the next week.
GONNA GO TO H&M AND IKEA AND THE SWEDISH EQUIVALENT OF MCDONALDS!!!!!!!!!
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sbflj
| 04:57 pm - SNAKE VS. LUPIN: "OLD MAN", INDEED
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SubatomicBrainfreeze/~3/293759549/snake-vs-lupin.html
What I love about this is that everybody does exactly the wrong thing. I have supplied the original opening for comparison purposes, but I can't find the one with the original Japanese text on Youtube at all. Forgive.
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ferricide
 | 01:20 pm - will smith creates school founded on LRH study tech!
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/19/usa.filmnews
this is good. ethics violations for kindergartners! i wander what the RPF for rich kiddies is like.
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foto_decadent
[linka_lebedeva]
| 09:56 pm - Mona Johannesson in Marie Claire Italia March 2006 by Bharat Sikka
( more inside )
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mrlonghair
| 07:44 pm - Whoa.
$1 US = 5.99 SEK
Average price of PS3/360 console game in Sweden = $108 US
I am tempted to ask who I can wire money to so they can buy and send me something at nearly 50% off.
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ferricide
 | 10:04 am - for ray, andrew, and others
these are totally hilarious
http://www.cliffchiang.com/archives/245
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foto_decadent
[yagaysgs]
 | 12:16 am - Elise Crombez & Javier Vallhonrat
Elise Crombez for Vogue UK June 2008
Orient Excess
Ph: Javier Vallhonrat
Fashion Editor: Lucinda Chambers
( +++ )
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foto_decadent
[ecstasy_lover]
 | 10:57 am - Greg Lotus Photography
Advertisement: Neiman Marcus
Models: Natasha Poly, Alek Wek, Karolina Kurkova, Shannan Click, Yasmin Warsame, Bianca Balti, Caroline Winberg, Sophie Dahl
Photographer: Greg Lotus
( More )
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bigmog
 | 06:40 am - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Grrr, some irresponsible driver bumped into my car and put a significant dent in the side.
Part of me wants to take it to an auto body shop to treat the years of dings, dents, and scratches. On the other hand, it's probably not worth fixing up the exterior of a nearly 10 year old car that has to live outside.
Humeur actuelle: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/livid.gif) angry
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tablesaw
 | 04:14 am - Robots and Other Things.
Saturday was ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cramerica's birthday, and ojouchan and I accompanied him to the Frank & Son Collectibles Show way the hell out in the City of Industry. He was looking for transforming robots. And he got them.
I didn't pick up much myself. I looked through a lot of the videogame sellers, but there wasn't anything I could justify picking up for myself. I keep flirting with the idea of getting an NES knockoff, because there are a lot of good games with good deals for that system, but I still have many things that . I did pick up a wireless Gamecube controller to use with my Wii (the wired extension that I had been using doesn't fit in my current setup). I also looked for a spare DS stylus, but I nobody had one that wasn't packaged with some other crap.
I did pick up a blind-box Adult Swim mini-figure. There was a lot of cool stuff, so I felt pretty confident. But I ended up with Moral Orel. Ojou had better luck, picking up a different blind-box and ending up with the sole ultra-rare secret figure. Ojou also got a good line on a Barbie seller, who'll be able to help us out with her birthday in another two months.
I think I got a cold when I came home. My nose has been stuffed up something fierce since yesterday. A lot of it is the heat. I'm having a hard time staying hydrated, and it's hard keeping the bedroom cool enough during the day to get a solid amount of sleep. Hopefully things will clear up soon.
This weekend is another Strategicon, and I will probably go. I haven't decided yet whether I'll spend Saturday there or if I'll go to the local NPL game day.
Work always sucks after vacation, but I just got told I rock.
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ferricide
 | 03:03 am - 目標をセンターに入れてスイッチ・・・
i decided i was on a roll after donnie darko and decided to watch evangelion 1.01. i didn't buy the DVD; i downloaded it, as i said i would. complete with crappy english subtitles, no less.
i may well buy the DVD, though. it's really fantastic. i found myself largely incapable of writing much about it at the time of release, despite seeing it twice. when i got back to the US, i even watched the entirety of the evangelion TV series straight through and didn't find anything much to say about that experience, either. i guess i'm losing confidence in my words, now that i think about it. i seem to be writing lots of comments like, "well, i don't think this is probably worth writing about..." where has all of my confidence gone?
nevermind that for now.
evangelion has always meant a great deal to me, for a lot of important reasons. i find a lot of people's criticisms of it to be glib and beside the point, though that's not to suggest that it's beyond criticism. of course, i used to be incapable of handling criticism of it, in true fanboy fashion, but now i can and i'm simply not really that interested in most of the things people have to say. it's something people made their minds up about a long time ago and largely aren't driven to reevaluate.
at any rate, evangelion 1.01: you are (not) alone is a remake of the TV show. i've already heard it dismissed as largely redundant and that's correct to a point, i guess, though i think what's interesting about the first half-or-so of the film is not what it keeps but what it leaves out. that's the kind of texture that you'll only really enjoy if you're a fan of the original work, admittedly. still, i remember when i was watching it in that theater in shibuya for the first time, wondering, "12 years later and this is what they came up with?"
crucially, that feeling doesn't last for the entirety of the film. and i'll admit, crappy as they were (and they were), the subtitles were still useful for helping clarify some of the dialogue points in the film. what's also interesting upon reflection is points where, while the animation may look very similar to the TV show, the dialogue has changed significantly.
and of course, the last part of the film is absolutely fresh and engaging. it metamorphosed one of the episodes i found less than fully compelling in the original run into something that matches the latter half of the TV series for pure addictive emotionality and mystery. that's commendable filmmaking. as much as i like the original show all the way through, the intensity really does spike in its second half, and this is second-half-quality starting much earlier in the story. the fact that i've already seen this movie twice (and for that matter, have known what's going to happen in the film since 1997) and am still enthralled by it says a lot. everything comes together excellently -- writing, directing, artwork, music, acting. so, yeah, it's pretty special, i think.
of course, nobody knows when the second (of four) films will make it out to theaters. september would make it a year since the original. i had thought they'd hoped to be quicker than this, but it's anno, for fuck's sake, so what can you expect? it makes sense from a release perspective as well, really. we'll see. i do hope it's out in theaters in october, during TGS, because watching it in a small theater in tokyo was a hell of a lot more exciting than watching it on my desktop monitor with headphones.
all the same, i feel an emotional release after this film. like a lungful of cold air in the autumn.
i guess i could keep going on about this, but my confidence in my ability to hold an audience has drained once again. i think part of that is derived from the diversity of the people who read my blog these days, but there's something more intrinsically wrong, too. this bears examination.
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ferricide
 | 12:39 am - fate, up against your will
i just watched donnie darko for the first time in years.
when it came out in 2002, it was instantly one of my favorite movies and i watched it with what i can only surmise in retropsect was an unhealthy frequency. i was laid off of my job at gamers.com in 2001 and by 2002 i was unemployed, broke, hurting for freelance, and not doing well in general. i have some amazing memories of that year but also some very disappointing ones. and a lot of donnie darko.
i used to watch movies i liked repeatedly. that hasn't happened much recently. by 'recently' i mean 'the last several years' really. but. growing up, it was my MO.
anyway, i still found it very emotionally trying. i still have the same interpretation of the plot (i remember reading at the time that it wasn't the "right" interpretation, but it's the only one that makes sense to me. i remember discussing this with dravenfrost when he came to stay with me in 2002 at some length.)
i guess there's not much reason to discuss donnie darko at this point; i guess i just didn't expect it to be such an emotional gut-punch for me still. there are ways in which i relate to it less and ways in which i think i understand it more. i'm no longer a confused adolescent (i'm a confused adult now). i view the sub-theme of the '88 presidential election more wryly now that i am so deeply politically cynical (how can you not be in 2008?)
it's a sprawling mess of a film, i now realize, that must only work through luck -- the director's follow-up, which i've still not seen (southland tales) is even more sprawling and apparently doesn't function very well at all. i should get my hands on that. and i might just want to watch the DD director's cut, which i've been reliably informed is inferior to the original. just because.
mary mcdonnell, probably better known these days as laura roslyn on battlestar galactica, plays donnie's mom so well. it's a gutting performance.
the movie is ultimately so disorganized and changable, with everything from dialogue-free musical montage to CG effects shots, dark comedy and drama... it's wildly open to interpretation. it touches something in me because of when it's set and how that was handled. i don't know. my favorite genre of films might be black comedies about the suburbs. it probably is. and there's plenty of comedy in donnie darko, too.
i suddenly feel like i should be doing something more creative with my time.
oh, and while reading about it on wikipedia, i discovered there's a sequel on the way (from a different creative team) about donnie's younger sister, samantha darko (the title is s. darko.) i don't know what to say to that.
i guess the best way to sum it up is like this: my emotions feel teenage again after watching it.
Musique actuelle: the church - under the milky way
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escozg
 | 12:20 am - Show's over?! Show's NEVER over! =((((((((((
The show came, the show rocked thrice, the show's over.
( The Pierce College Spring Dance Concert Retrospective )
Musique actuelle: Daft Punk - Touch It/Technologic (Alive 2007)
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arielchan
 | 12:13 am
irish_cocktail: There's a fucking watermelon on the bed.
Me: That needs to be an LJ post.
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[09:54] JamesHarveyS: toadfish from neighbours
[09:58] JamesHarveyS: and they've got madge and mrs. mangel on there
[10:00] JamesHarveyS: INSTANT BONER KILLER
