I’ve been longing for a nice single-action wheelgun for quite some time. Why? I couldn’t tell you. Part of it would be the simplicity and romance of it. It’s a design that’s endured since the 19th century, and it’s got a certain charisma to it.
Monthly Archives: October 2006
6 posts
One of the nice things about Bittorrent and the DVD format in general is that obscure television series and movies are available all over the world, as opposed to just the countries in which they were broadcast.
On most forums, folks are courteous enough to post warnings on threads that are image-heavy and therefore very resource-consuming to people on 56k and slower connections.The only problem is, if you look at what the Web has become, it seems like a pretty unnerving and plodding ordeal for people on dial-up. I’m running on a spritely cable connection, and some of the stuff out there takes awhile to load up for me, so I can’t imagine how heinous it must be for someone on a modem.
This one came in under the radar for me. In the initial announcement from Warp, it was somewhere in the middle of the list, and since it wasn’t immediately identified as the new Chris Clark record (apparently he’s just going by his surname now), I didn’t take notice.
The lack of a huge promotional push could be interpreted as a lack of enthusiasm for the record, and the initial reviews were a bit lackluster, claiming the record was somewhat dull and monochromatic.
On first listen, I was inclined to agree. There’s nothing here approaching the hell-on-wheels ecstacy of the first album (“Proper Lofi” and “Diesel Raven” were absolutely exhilirating, even if the record had some real mis-steps), nor does it have the restless surrealism that made Empty the Bones of You so compelling.
In fact, the record starts on a very sedate note with “Herr Bar,” loping along to a typical sullen-but-woozy Chris Clark melody but featuring little in the way of development. Continued...
I finally finished the Melancholy of Suzumiyu Haruhi, and what a ride it was. It still remains to be seen if this show will ever see a stateside release, but judging from reactions and sales in Japan, it would seem very likely.
Here’s hoping Manga doesn’t screw up the localization.
The scene pictured above is a dream sequence, which, depending on who you ask, either saved the world or completely re-wrote it into one strongly resembling the one preceeding. Besides, it’s more of a red-herring, since the whole show was aired in an arbitrary order, and this is actually the fourth episode.
And since it was a “dream,” it doesn’t affect the characters’ relationship significantly (as much as it might have affected reality as a whole).
At least that’s my take. Opinions vary.
Confused yet? Good. That’s part of the fun with this. If you follow the order that Kyon gives in the end credits, you’ll get something close to the “chronological” order (which makes sense, since Kyon is the “logical” center of the plot), but in its own way, the series takes on a different life if you watch it in broadcast order. Continued...
Somebody tell me what’s going on. Please?
I usually hate this sort of series, but two minutes into the first episode, my jaw was hanging open in awe. It’s not every day someone throws such a disparate hodgepodge of ideas together and has it actually work. What’s more, it’s incredibly dense and entertaining, with a wonderful sense of humor.
Think Monty Python doing classic space opera, with musings on quantum physics, artificial intelligence, time travel and the nature of God. Set it up with wonderful animation, and you’ve got the Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi.
I have no idea where the “melancholy” part comes from, as this series has one of the sharpest senses of humor I’ve seen in a long time.
People kept recommending this to me, and at first glance, it looked like typical Japanese High-School anime to me. No thanks. I passed on it, and my friends got more insistent, swearing that it wasn’t what it appeared to be. Continued...