This is probably completely worthless to you if you’re not familiar with Rich Christiano’s godawful American Christian film, Time Changer, but I’m posting it here anyway.
1. The Tatami Galaxy/四畳半神話大系
Word has it that anime in recent years has sucked mightily. One wouldn’t know it if one primarily watched the shows we’ve been getting every two years from Mindgame director Masaaki Yuasa. His latest is an 11-episode minor miracle. Also miraculous is the fact that it was simultaneously broadcast on television in Japan and on Hulu in the United States. His other two series don’t look likely to ever get a release outside Japan, and this is his best yet–a fun, jaunty, and frantic dip into issues of identity, regret, and life.
2. The Duck Knight Returns
You may know about my nearly-20-year-old Darkwing Duck obsession, a love that bloomed when the show debuted in 1991, which led me to running what was quite possibly the world’s most popular Darkwing Duck fansite (at the time) all through my high school years. Admittedly, I haven’t paid much attention to the Masked Mallard or his fan community of late, but rest assured: my heart still beats purple blood. So when I found out that Boom! Studios was giving Darkwing Duck a new comic book series in twenty-freaking-ten, that same heart nearly stopped beating. And upon actually getting my hands on the first issue, I rode the nerdiest high I’ve experienced in years. Ian Brill’s writing nails the tone of the show expertly. James Silvani’s gorgeous art makes Darkwing look more like Darkwing than he ever did in the series’ 1991 episodes. Saying the book feels like a natural and comfortable expansion of the show is no mere platitude. This is everything it should be and more.
Shortly before the release of the first issue, the planned 4-part comic story was expanded to an ongoing monthly, thanks to a voluminous outpouring of fan-love. Here’s hoping the same crew sticks around for a while. Good job, Boom! Studios, for finally getting me to be a comic book store regular again.
3. Bon Odori Dancing
I’m taking a Japanese course this semester and my teacher suggested that members of the class participate in the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple’s annual Obon Festival by practicing for and performing in the Bon Odori street dancing. It was a fun and beautiful experience, dancing in the streets in unison with hundreds of people from the Temple, the Japanese-American community, and the rest of the city, all of us in our yukatas and happi coats. And I’m kinda in love with the Japanese folk music we’ve been dancing to. After two weeks of practice, it came and went all too quickly; I’m already looking forward to participating next July.
4. Afterburner Climax
Oh my, yes. Yes, yes, yes. My friends, this is a video game. You shoot down hundreds of plains, and you want to shoot them down all in a row so you get mad points. It’s like 20 minutes long start to finish and it is perfect.
5. Twin Peaks
More specifically, the first 16 episodes or so of Twin Peaks. I don’t know what kept me from this show for so long, being something of an admirer of David Lynch, but I voraciously consumed the show’s first movement, delighted equally by its horror and soap opera qualities. And then, well, the quality plummeted drastically and instantly after the show’s main arc and I’ve only been able to choke down Guys, I would rather do homework than sit down and watch an episode of these middle episodes. I’m assured that it’s worth watching to the end, so I will. But in the meantime, this thing is work.
Seriously, though, Kyle MacLachlan’s Special Agent Dale Cooper is one of the best things that’s ever graced television. And this scene between the Brothers Horne is pretty much the best thing that’s ever happened to me. (Early season 2, mild spoilers.)
As a result, there are some duplicate posts. I’ll delete those all in time. But with the comments restored, the site feels just that much more complete. Huzzah!
Blogger forced my hand. I wanted to retain the power of FTP publishing and they pushed me out in May. So at last, I’ve completed the site’s migration to WordPress and with it, launched the 9th major version of my 12-year-old website. I’m using a barely-modified prepackaged WordPress theme called Blend, and it really does about everything I want it to. Simple and streamlined seems to be the preferred order on the Internet today, and I’m happy to be moved by the trends.
Unfortunately, all the comments from the old site have been lost. I’m trying to figure out how to get that fixed, so if you see some wonkiness around here over the next couple weeks, it’s probably me fiddling with things behind the scenes. I may end up having to import the blog all over again.
Anyway, the site’s not quite complete yet. I need to bring over and revamp the drawing gallery and other such pages. That’ll trickle in gradually.
My blog’s been pretty quiet the last few months. While away from here, I’ve returned to school. I’m attending Salt Lake Community College, intending to transfer to the University of Utah within a couple semesters and to major in Japanese/日本語. I’m taking a pretty loaded semester, the end of which is approaching both too quickly and too slowly. Also, I’ve been getting involved with Glorious Trainwrecks‘s quickie game-making events. Two-hour video game creation has become one of my favorite creative outlets. I’ve also been quite active posting a lot of the content that would have traditionally been posted here at Google Buzz. It launched in mid-February which is right about when this blog went deathly silent. So if you’re interested in what I’ve been interested in recently, check out my Buzz feed.
I hope to return to it in some form, though. The previous year’s focus on comics and short story-writing will probably make way for something still new. Maybe I’ll attempt to hone my writing skills talking more in-depth about video games and film. Perhaps I’ll refocus on my personal experiences and primarily chronicle my studies, projects, and opinions. Whatever it is, I hope to at least make it interesting to myself.
Some years ago, I read this thing writer-director Kevin Smith said:
Yes, I believe in God. Why? Because I have a career. There can be no better explanation or proof of the existence of God than the fact that I have a film career!
At the time, I found this notion theologically offensive and morally repugnant. If that’s the case, and God is to thank for Kevin Smith’s successful film career (aside from all other factors such as luck and talent), then that’s one big honking middle finger from God to most of the rest of us, His creation–explicitly those who are struggling to carve out a place for themselves in the film industry and also, implicitly, everyone on Earth (all ~6.999 billion of them) who would be considered less fortunate.
As I was driving home from school today, this crossed my mind again and I had a disturbing thought: what if instead of being theologically offensive, this is the most theologically sound thing that’s ever been said? What if God really has favored Kevin Smith, simply because Kevin Smith is to be favored? Maybe questions of piety and religion and faith don’t matter in the slightest, and any and all success comes simply because you’re one of God’s select favorites. Maybe God favors those with souls and maybe the rest of us are without souls. Talent, business savvy, the goodness of our fellow man–these things ultimately don’t matter when God overrides it all with His spoils for His people.
But then I had a thought that’s maybe even more disturbing: What if God has blessed Kevin Smith with his film career simply because God wants Kevin Smith movies?
What if you get up to the afterlife and God is just constantly hosting a never-ending View Askew-niverse marathon. How many times can we make it through Mallrats before we inquire about throwing in with Satan?
Find yourself spirited away to the Field of Puppies.
Before you lies a vast, green expanse. The ceiling is a deep blue sky, lightly populated with fluffy white clouds that will give way to a dark, sacred night full of stars. The ground is covered with beautiful green grass, healthy and trim. And atop that grass, as far as the eye can see, are innumerable puppies frolicking in the field. All around you are wet noses, soft paws, and tiny, wagging tails.
In the Field of Puppies, the puppies are playful and frisky, but attuned to your wants and needs. Their adorable, soft barks will quiet if you quiet is what you desire. If you wish to play with them, they will be only too happy to comply. These puppies do not make messes; they smell like dreams and roses.
In the Field of Puppies, there are puppies of every breed and color. Should you wish to spend your time among Rottweiler puppies, they will be easy to find. Should you wish to play with Spaniels, seek them out. And if you wish to take a nap among a mixed group of breeds–the cutest, most adorable puppies of every shape and temperament there are–simply lie down in the cool grass. Puppies will flock to you and fall asleep on your resting body, creating a most incredibly comfortable blanket of puppies.
Return again and again to the Field of Puppies, a land of peace, warmth, and impossible cuteness.
If you’ve followed this blog at all in the last few months, you may have noticed that I abruptly stopped updating nearly a month ago, after so very nearly a year of daily or five-times-weekly updates. Indeed, I was nearing the anniversary of starting my daily content project. I was actually preparing to announce a great slowing down of my post production around September 16, when I last published this blog. As the weeks went on, I found myself sitting down to write or draw my posts after work, trying to produce something, anything before midnight. I felt like I do on those nights that my mind is racing and I keep telling myself “I have to sleep tonight. I have to!” Almost without fail, I’ll eventually sleep, but it’s rarely satisfying.
But then my personal life took a happy and rather distracting turn and I pretty much forgot all about Whatnot Studios. Creatively, I’d also like to focus on longer, more involved projects than nightly work on a blog can really allow. This experiment has been richly rewarding, though, and I hope that I will be able to keep up some of this momentum and continue producing work in some of my favorite demonstrated directions.
Keep an eye out here. Posts will become more frequent again. Thanks for reading!
Without a sound, Wednesday crept up on Tuesday, and engulfed it in its embrace. When the warm waves of Wednesday quieted, Tuesday had vanished. And thus Wednesday reigned. But when Thursday arrived, Wednesday receded with characteristic silence and grace, acquiescing to the new day.