we don't have cable. we occasionally see adult swim when we go over to our friend murdock's house. he has cable. we watch iron chef mostly. neither kurama nor i can stand dub tracks, frankly, and we hate how the dubbing changes the stories.

so. i have nothing to say about adult swim. but i love harvey birdman, attorney at law. and iron chef. but iron chef has nothing to do with adult swim, or harvey birdman.

CHAIRMAN KAGA, EAT THAT PEPPER!!!

oohhh hooo hoooo!! nijyo said the magic words: the matrix!

beefy guy hates this film. i have no idea why he does; maybe he can better explain it than i can assume. i won't insult his intelligence by saying that he didn't get it, because i know he did; however, he still doesn't like it, which baffles me to no end.

me, i loved it. saw it 5 times in the theatre. saw reloaded twice already. and, they both get better and better each time you watch them. each time you watch it, you see more layers, more meaning, more symbolism. i think they're brilliant. i think reloaded is getting negative reviews because, frankly, it's a lot more complex and complicated than the matrix was. i don't mean to be pedantic and trite, but i just don't think people are "getting" it. in fact, i wonder if beefy guy would like reloaded better because there's actually more plot and less plot holes (which i'll admit the original had). i even had to look up some stuff (well, only one thing, actually. i didn't know who/what the merovingian was.)

and the puns, double meanings and layers of this movie! even the title had about three meanings to it! maybe you could critique the wachowski brothers for trying too hard, but at least it's nice to see a movie that isn't simplistic and hands everything to you on a platter, all nice and tidy and tied with a bow. with rare exception, like beefy guy, i think people don't like the movies cos they really don't either a) understand what the hell is going on and/or b) the movies aren't like your standard sci fi fare where everything is resolved in the end. this ain't an episode of star trek here, boys and girls! the reset button is not pressed, to paraphrase JMS, and the universe might not be saved. a lot of people don't like that sort of thing. i should be more precise, a lot of americans don't like that sort of thing; europeans and many asians don't have a problem with it.

now, i'm not saying the matrix/reloaded don't have their faults, i'm not a syncophant; however, they are some of the best movies to come out in a long time. i put them up there with b5 in groundbreaking and, no pun intended, revolutionary.

nijyo's statements are such overblown generalisations so as not to even bear any relation to the rest of this subjective sensory input we all call the world.

casting any sort aspersions on my character because of my taste in things is dubious indeed coming from the man who thinks david spade is funny, and actually liked "the emperor's new groove".

anyway. new strip. looks good. i like the bigger boobs on the girl.

[Update: 5/27/2003 - I dunno how anyone cannot love homestarruner.com, unless for some stupid reason she and Kurama didn't watch any of the Strong Bad Email ones... how anyone can really enjoy "Stupid Photoshop Tricks" is beyond me... just goes to show how different our tastes are sometimes -Nijyo]

so, i checked out homestarrunner.com. *shrug* put it up there with somewhat-sort-of amusing shit as any stupid flash animation thing can be. there are certainly better ones out there than homestarrunner. no, there aren't; flash animation thingies are just pretty stupid, period. like joe cartoons. i mean, there are some occasional chuckles, once in awhile real laugh, but that's really it. roger wasn't too impressed either. he just shrugged, said "eh" and went to clean the toilet in the back.

what's really amusing (most of the time) is somethingawful.com's photoshop friday. there are some really good ones in there.

[Note by Nijyo: The urls for the reviews in question are: here and here]

a ring of power won't help the local denver newspapers learn journalism.

denver has two newspapers (that are owned by one company - go fig): the rocky mountain news and denver post. both suck so bad that sucking noises can be heard in new zealand. as one of my professors said once, "i was looking through the rocky mountain news on sunday because i was in the market for a new mattress and stereo..." (for awhile, the denver post was running lingerie ads smack dab in the middle of the stock report).

so, this morning i was reading the reviews for the two towers. now, i admit, i'm a huge tolkien fan. there are only two people that i know that even stands a chance of beating me on middle earth trilogy, one of whom is beefy guy (if you haven't read the simarillion, you don't stand a chance). whether you like the books/movies is irrelevant in this rant; this is about shit-poor journalism. one would think that if one was going to write a review about a movie that is based on a novel, one would at least become _a tiny_ bit knowledgeable about the novel; or at the very least, have one of the interns check to make sure your information is correct.

i quote from the rocky mountain news: "At the same time, Merialoc (Dominic Monaghan) and Peregrin (Billy Boyd) wander through Faragorn Forest..." jesus pleasus. you have interns, FUCKING USE THEM! now, i may be nitpicking on the spelling, but if one were going to publish something that is widely read, wouldn't it be in one's best interests to check your information? isn't that one of the things that is taught in journalism school? but wait, it gets better. here's what the denver post said: "Further, the death of Gandalf the Grey in "Fellowship" - saving the fellowship members from a behemoth inside the Mines of Moria - seemed appropriate for the tale's solemn, myth-oriented gravity. But now he's resurrected. Can't they let death be death?" ok. two points: 1) behemoth is generally synomous for "elephant" (check your latin), and 2) DIDN'T YOU AT LEAST READ THE FUCKING CLIFF NOTES YOU FUCKING IMBECILE!@#!$#%$#

for all the people who are sick of retards of this magnitude, here's the denver post critic's email address: srosen@denverpost.com; and here's the rocky mountain news' critic:Denersteinb@com

so, i saw "die another day" this weekend. it was an OK bond film. but, i can see why a lot of people didn't like it. the director was obviously not skilled in handling action films, that stupid camera effect was overused (like you need camera effects in a bond film anyway) and i'm getting really fucking sick of matrix effects in every damn film. i think i'll burn down the theatre if scorsese used it in "gangs of new york" (which, btw, looks absolutely brilliant).

madonna was absolutely horrible, both her song and her appearance. i'm sure my hubby and i will get the DVD when it comes out; we'll just mute it during the opening credits. speaking of which, they were different. the intent of the credits i liked, but i thought the images were too busy. and this asian chick kept popping up for no apparent reason. she was attractive enough, but other than eye candy, there was no point to her. and, frankly, i don't think that torturers in korean military prisons are generally women.

to me, the movie was almost over-the-top campy, a la roger moore films. i half expected the zao character to sport jaws like braces suddenly. there were two redeeming qualities tho: halle berry and the car chase scene on the ice.

this was also one of the few bond films where the women weren't idiotic bimbos, or really horrid actresses. both women were believable; halle berry was gorgeously brilliant. but, i think they didn't use her well enough. too many cut scenes during the fights.

i also was amused about the "korean" accents and how they kept shifting. i don't think the guy who played the general was korean (he had a very chinese accent) and the two korean bad guys were obviously american trying to imitate a korean accent. that's not to say they didn't do it well when they did it. but, it just wasn't consistent. and, we won't even mention the british actor trying to speak korean - that was laughable.

all in all, i'm glad i didn't pay full price. for the brosnan films, i'd put this behind "goldeneye" and "tomorrow never dies", but in front of "the world is not enough".

i am neither stuck up nor bratty. i'm just me.

so, i was emailing nijyo about DDR, and i got off on a tangent about light stick ravers, or as Dub This! (another great webstrip) calls them, "tokyo joes". lets take one rant at a time. DDR is a fun game. i like it, what little i've played, which is i think once. however, it's too bloody expensive to play in an arcade. on the other hand, people are treating it as a litmus test for "cool". LAME. at NDK, there were actually people at the dance doing DDR moves. ok. i know, in general, white people can't dance, but let me tell you that doing DDR makes you look that much more retarded. and as for the hard core DDR people: equally lame. sorry, but it takes _no_ fucking talent to memorize something and regurgitate it. the sad thing is, these kids memorize all the DDR dances and copy other kids who have made up these little dances adding spins and whatnot, which they think is cool. but, it's not, cos the sad thing is they still FUCK UP! it cracks me up, personally.

which segues me into tokyo joes and ravers. personally, i think they look like they're having epileptic seizures on the dance floor. and it's the same thing as DDR kiddies, there's no talent involved at all. everything is a set routine. there's no improvisation, no real form or structure. it's just a lot of flailing around.

now, i know what you're thinking, you're thinking i'm full of shit, or jealous, or what have you. here's the deal: i am a classically dancer. i took ballet, tap and jazz for years. i was also in gymnastics as a child and competitive dance in high school. rini _knows_ dance. and DDR and ravers ain't it.

not to mention, EVERYONE is doing it. i hate trendy things. i don't mean to be peurile and assininely reactionary, but if something is trendy, it is immediately suspect. a little originality is what makes life interesting (well, that and tentacles). this is why i got in to the habit back when i was a teenager of ballet dancing or polkaing to music like white zombie or techno. especially techno and trance. my favorite is polkaing. it's great. nothing like a polka to warm the blood and stir the soul.

here's another hint kiddies: repetitive drum programs do not music make. now, nijyo and beefy guy can chime in on this one since they are much more knowledgeable about music than i. but, doesn't music need things like, oh, i don't know, melody, harmony, pitch and rhythm to be considered "music"?

ok, so maybe i am bratty and stuck up. but goddamit, i'm just RIGHT...i'm the witch / you're the world / i'm the hitch / i'm the one you don't believe / i'm the witch...