Saturday, July 29, 2006

Stuff Related to Movies

Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.
- Stephen Leacock

Greetings all! I hope you’re all having a wonderful day! I feel that way for many reasons, but probably the biggest one right now is because I just hope somebody had a better day than I did. I don’t know why I was feeling down most of the day, I just was. It’s a horrible situation to be in. And with that, on with the post.

Where’d The Slides Go?
My parents and I went to see Miami Vice this evening. It was an interesting movie. Definitely a well done movie if nothing else. I liked it, but thought it’s plot was a little hard to follow. It wasn’t complicated or anything, it was just hard to follow. Anyway, what I actually saw at the movie theater is beside the point. The reason for this post is what it was that I did not see. I’m used to going to a movie and being entertained before it by a slide show of ads and quizzes and movie facts. I loved those little slides. But, recently Cinemark (and if I recall, AMC as well) have switched from the slide show to the new thing called “Sony Previews” or something like that. This switch, I consider, to be a bad thing. The slide show did more than just advertise, it got conversations going. It actually kept the social aspect of going to the movies alive. With the Sony Pictures thing now being shown, people aren’t discussing or talking before movies anymore. Rather, their eyes are glued to the screen watching those stupid preview things. Yeah, I agree with Sony that it is an effective advertising tool, but it has completely sucked the social life from moviegoing. There is no longer any need to go to the movies with a companion, as if there ever really was in the first place. Bring back the slideshow!

That brings up an interesting question, though. Why is it that people have gotten it into their heads that moviegoing is a social occasion? It makes no sense. When you go to a movie, you are sitting in a dark room watching a screen with flashing pictures on it. You aren’t talking to your friends, there is no interaction, you aren’t socializing in any way. You are just watching flashing pictures. How is that social? How can that be considered to be, or even remotely related to, a social event? If anyone has any insight on this, please share your wisdom. Because, that has been bothering me for some time. I, for one, have no problem going to a movie by myself. I do it all the time when I’m at school. But, I have friends (*cough* David *cough*) who absolutely WILL NOT go to the movies by themselves. I swear they treat it like it’s a sin or something. Why?

Goodbye Jet Li. Hello Tony Jaa
What a sad day it was when I realized that Jet Li’s new movie, Fearless, was going to be his last martial arts film. I am going to miss him. He’s such an incredible athlete and actor. I’ve loved every movie I’ve seen him in. Definitely, my favorite movie of his has to be Hero, but I haven’t seen them all, so I can’t say that that pick is set in stone. I can understand why the man is getting out of the marial arts spotlight though. He’s getting pretty old to be doing those kinds of stunts. I’m not saying 43 is old, but I get tired just looking at some of the stuff that man pulls off. It’s gotta be quite a strain on the body. So, so long, Jet Li, and thanks for all the fish…er…uh…good movies.

Now, we might be seeing one great marial artist fade into the distance, but that has left a door wide open for the up-and-coming Tony Jaa to step in. Tony made his debut appearance in Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior and will be in another movie coming to the U.S. pretty soon (I’m sorry I don’t recall the name of the film). But, if you saw Ong-Bak you’d know how good the man really is. I mean, he’s incredible! I’m just worried I’m not going to like his movies as much as I like Jet Li’s. Ya see, there is a fundamental difference between Jet Li and Tony Jaa. Jet Li is Chinese and Tony Jaa is Thai. I’m not being racist or anything, I’m simply pointing out a difference of culture. See, the Chinese and the Japanese view martial arts as… well… an art. Which basically means that not only should your movements be swift, efficient, and deadly, but they should also be aesthetically pleasing. This is reflected in movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the aforementioned Hero. The Thai culture does not view marial arts this way. Just watching Ong-Bak you would easily notice that it’s not pretty. The techniques used are gruesome and look extraordinarily painful. It just wasn’t as enjoyable an experience as it could have been. I fear that this is going to be a regular thing with the Tony Jaa movies. Yeah, due to my love of marial arts movies, I’ll still go and see anything that Tony Jaa does, but I just can’t see loving his movies as much as I love the stuff that Jet Li and many of his peers and predecessors have put out.

With that I’ll go ahead and call my post complete. I hope you all have a wonderful day and I’ll see ya ‘round TheO! Sayonara!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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