new review: Cowboy Bebop
I recently watched Cowboy Bebop the movie a few nights ago. Borrowed it from my cousin Jen. The Skinny: A group of mercenaries save the world from a mad man bent on destroying not the world, but Mars... Yes, this movie takes place on Mars. On the cover, it says "Today's hottest kind of cool". Now I wouldn't call it mindblowingly cool like the Matrix or even Ghost in the Shell 2, but it did have it's great parts. I liked the characters, but I think I would've liked them even more if I had watched some of the series before watching this movie. The movie alone is perfectly fine though. Spike, the lead character, has a calm and cool yet badass demeanor about him that men wish they could have. Almost like Brad Pitt, except with green hair and not as masculine looking. The girls are hot, as expected in an anime movie, but their characters' arent' as likable as I would have hoped. One girl in the mercenary group, Ed, seems like she's constantly high on prozac. The other girl, Faye, has a serious attitude problem but dresses like a Victoria's Secret model. The final female role, Electra, surely does remind me of the supermodel Carmen, but she's also got an attitude problem. (tough girl on the opposing side who falls for the lead male, o well go figure) The story line is very straightforward. They don't try to confuse you like Ghost in the Shell does, so it makes for a very laid back movie. I wouldn't call this a must-see-film but if you're an avid anime watcher, then this should be on your list of to-see. It isn't exactly revolutionary like Akira or the first Ghost in the Shell, but it is a nice "cool" look at a tried-and-true idea.
I hate midterms. I just got my ass kicked by my bio one. Hopefully my other two will make me feel better. Bio now has to be my main focus because of it's painful detail that must be memorized in order to do well. Working 6 hours before the test did not help at all. *sigh* This really puts me back. I will rest the next few days since all my tests are finally done and get ready for the next wave. Tis life...
dissappointment...
So if you hadn't heard from earlier, I got a MP3 Player last week. It's the Sandisk Cruzer Mini MP3 Companion. It's used in conjunction with the Cruzer Mini Flash Drive. The drive itself is super cool, because it's about the size of half a stick of gum yet can hold a helluva lot of stuff on it. The one I got has 512mb of space. It's also got a cool blue light on the end that lights up whenever it's in use.
Unfortunately I can't say the same for the MP3 Companion. It got pretty good reviews and was only about $50 so it seemed like a good buy. It was very easy to use and good sized (slightly smaller than a wallet). Those are the only good things I've experienced so far... Battery life is pretty bad, maybe it was just this unit, but I've had to replace the single AAA battery it uses thrice in the past week. (battery life is supposed to be 7-9 hrs, but I've had to replace it after about 4 hours @_@) After the first day, I dunno what happened, but the player randomly deleted all the files off the player. I then had to reformat the drive when I got home and put all the music back on. (luckily a fast process since it utilizes USB 2.0; good stuff) The second time my player crapped over, today, the thing wouldn't even read the flash drive. The files were all still on the flash drive and it still worked with the computer, but it just didn't work in the player. Even called tech support and they said it was defective... GREAT. I just spent my entire afternoon for this damned product and now have to return it and hopefully get a second one. Another strange thing about this one I'm returning was that whenever I tried to toggle through the menu or songs "fast" (skip through multiple songs) it would like gimp over or have a spaz attack and freeze up. I'm really hoping that it's just this one I got... Well anyway, that's that. Back to darned studying for 2 tests on Friday. >_<
your tip...
Never, ever, under any circumstances... eat instant rice packs. You would expect that our asian counterparts overseas who have made the ingenious and delectable quickie snack known as instant noodles (top ramen, fried noodles, Cup-o-Noodles...etc) would make a decent rice equivalent, but no my friends, this stuff is just plain nast-eh. I had a few spoonfuls and already I was running toward the trashcan. I don't know what went through my mom's mind when she picked this up.
Maybe this will teach him to cook dinner more often. No more instant food for you! Muahaha...
Alas, in this hectic world, where would we all be w/o the gift that is instant noodles. God's gift to the poor college student has silenced hundreds upon thousands of growling gastroenteriums (that's CLAS 205 for you folks). In dire times when real food is low, as well as time, but hot water is around the corner, look no further than the stack of golden labeled Machuran Cup-O-Noodles hidden in the cabinet.
School Days
So school has been in session for about 2.5 weeks and I guess I could say that life is smooth sailing so far, but let me explain myself first and then you will see how I am actually walking down a dark hallway that doesn't have any light at the end of it. If you haven't heard, my Ochem prof is a what I like to call a disgrace to public education (UW = public school if you didn't know). He's got no structure and the more I sit in that class, the more I feel like I'm getting nowhere and not learning any Ochem... All up to us to study ourselves is pretty much the deal here. I'm really liking my Bio prof. She on the other hand is very organized and even color codes the notes as she is taking them on the overhead! I actually also enjoy listening to her lectures. Bio lab seems ok I guess, nothing special here, same lab, different day. Classics is suprisingly the class I think I've invested the most time in... which I think is a bad sign, b/c it's the 3 credit class I'm taking >_< Oh well, that's enuf talk about school... Now for the main attraction...!
2! Count em 2 movie reviews!!! Some maybe deterred once I name the two movies I watched, but I would actually recommend them both! The first is... dum dum dum... Mean Girls! Think what you will, but this movie actually pleases the masses! The second, lesser known is Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence!
First of all, I am a little embarrassed to say that I actually kinda wanted to see this movie because one of my friends told me it was actually pretty funny. So I figured hey, I know I'll be bored sometime so maybe I'll watch it. Now don't assume that I actually used my energy to go get this movie because I didn't. My sister rented it and I figured that I'd watch it when she was. That's the only possible way I think I could have seen this movie... yup.
The skinny: A white, African raised, homeschooled girl, goes to high school for her first time and experiences the drama of her teen years. I was somewhat hesitant because I had seen some of Lindsey Lohan's earlier movies (my sister watched the disney channel often, I didn't have much a choice of what to watch >_<) such as It Takes Two, or some other ones I don't bother remembering, and I wasn't impressed sorry to say. To me back then, she was just another Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen wanna-be cookie cut out young sweetheart that would've probably grown up to be forgotten until she did something random like a napkin commercial. However, to my disbelief, Lindsey surprised me. She gave a performance that was a memorable one. Her transformation from an innocent foreigner to a diva bitch was a little abrupt, but hey it's a chick flick, and she seemed to make that transformation somewhat real. Lindsey reminds me of an actress that will actually make it later on in her career. I don't know why, but for some reason I have a feeling she will be a pretty big star in the future. Maybe it's because I loved her cover picture on the front of GQ, but I don't think that had that much to do with it... ehem... back to the movie. The atmosphere created of the typical high school brought back many memories I had in my high school. Any people older may not recognize the jokes that were meant for the specific crowd. Well, when it comes down to it, this movie is not another "She's all That" or any other J.Lo hot-off-the-monotonous-press flick. This really takes chick flick to another level in that it doesn't have to include a really sappy behind the plot love scene that takes over at some point. That really is a trademark in most chick flicks, but this movie does outstanding w/o one of those. It's just plain good humor about our current high school over-the-top-drama. I give it 6/10. Probably not very rewatchable, but see it once for the effect if you're a girl (or if you're a sensitive guy =P) between the ages of 16-20. Otherwise, you're probably only watching it b/c someone else forced you to.
Now onto the real stuff... (I spent way too much time on that last one >_< it's a product from not writing in a long time so I feel the need to roll stuff out like crazy) If there was ever a movie to confuse the hell out of you, and then you think about it, and suddenly it all makes sense (or not) it's gonna be Ghost in the Shell. For many, the whole concept this movie rides on is a strange and extrinsic one that just doesn't click until someone explains it in layman's terms. Well, for those of you who haven't seen the first one, or didn't catch what exactly the whole Ghost in the Shell deal is, here's the skinny: Somewhere in the future, (i do believe it's in the next century... 2000-2100) cyborgs have become a staple in society. People "upgrade" their bodies by using cybernetic parts to enhance the physical aspects of themselves. But when a person's body becomes entirely mechanical, what really differs a human from a robot. Memories have simply been called stored hardware. The fine line between the two becomes very blurred in this movie. Well, in the first movie, we follow the "Major", a government agent part of an agency known as "Section 9: Public Peace". This is pretty much your James Bond group of agents who take care of the nasty bad guys that the cops can't handle themselves. The first movie really wrestles with the whole, what makes a human, human? question as the Major goes through her missions against hackers and other cyborgs. The second movie is much similar except it follows another agent, Batou, who was the Major's good pal and old partner. Apparently, and this doesn't really ruin anything for the first movie, the Major somehow dissappeared before the second movie's start, thus the reason for Batou becoming the new main character. A few old faces from the first appear, but most of their roles except for that of Togusa, the one with the fewest cybernetic enhancements, are minor. Togusa is a very intriguing character because even though he is a very suceptible target both physically and mentally (he lacks the software that some of the other agents have to protect his other cybernetic brain parts) he seems to be a key player of Section 9. He is a detective, a valuable one at that, with very subtle strengths. One very strong part of this sequel that made me enjoy it was how visually stunning it was. Much of the movie was CGI and even the parts that were hand drawn felt real in a way. (shadowing/lighting effects were great). The first movie and the series had very little CGI in them, but this movie pretty much has CGI take over most of the background scenes and non-character properties of the movie. (There is an amazing helicopter scene flying around a magnificent looking building that just blew me away in awe) The movie is subbed, so heed my advice that you will be reading a lot, and should do so quickly as they move fast. I will definately have to say that I will rewatch this movie in the future because I know I will catch new things in the dense matter that is Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. I give it a 8/10 for being very stylish and well made. The only real thing innovative was the CGI used here but the story remains the same as the rest of the other films/series. It isn't big on humor, but you'll catch a few laughs here and there. Definately not for your avg movie viewer. This takes a bit of brain power to digest. I wouldn't watch it at night when you're almost going to sleep. Unless you plan on sleeping to the sounds of machine guns and robots blowing up.
Well, I have to admit... those two reviews were certainly very on-the-fly. Having not written in a while, I think all my ideas were very jumbled and mashed into something that gives you my opinion of the 2 films. I'll definately have to polish my thoughts for other writings. I don't have a whole lot to write about, until perhaps a movie comes along =P, so I guess I'll be trying to read your blog/journals more often than you read mine. ;D
