I'm a longtime fan of yours-- and I was formerly a longtime resident of South Florida (I live in the NYC metro area now). I grew up reading your columns and articles in the Miami Herald (the "Dade vs. Broward" one is a personal favorite of mine) and my family still occasionally sends me clippings of your writings from the Herald. These writings of yours always make me miss South Florida even more than I do ordinarily, driving me to visit every opportunity I get.
Thus, my question: What is the best thing about living in South Florida?
I just want to know what it takes to have your email picked out by Strong Bad to be animated that week. Girls who want to go out with him, cold ones, cartoons, and superpowers have all been picked over already:P
By the way, out of the latest Strong Bad emails, I highly recommend "Dragon". Funny stuff:D
I think NYU is very very smart in offering these courses, as they will probably make a mint off of them. Interesting that many of the other continuing ed courses are for topics/software that are "hot" right now (Maya, etc.).
While there are many of us who appreciate anime for what it is, and even those who have been taught about anime at various points (a My Neighbor Totoro clip that was shown in a character design class I had changed my life, no kidding), there's more reasons behind NYU's decision to offer anime courses than just academic enlightenment.
It's like my dad once told me: colleges and universities are businesses. And it's also like a Harper's article I once read: colleges are catering more and more to their "customers" desires.
Not to be cynical or anything, but there are a lot of otaku in the NYC area, and the presence of anime is becoming more and more prevalent every day-- from English-language issues of Newtype to a US version of Shonen Jump (at a convenience store near you!). The real test is if more anime courses are introduced later on, and if they are more focused (i.e., specific themes, comparative analysis, single artists'/studios' works, etc.) and less generalized.
Apple's a company with a huge customer following among creative types; I would think that their encouragement to "Rip/Mix/Burn" is intended more to enhance people's creativity... which happens to include the art form of the homemade mix album;)
Speaking of Sony, the Wired article on Sony Electronics vs. Sony Music (which is being posted tomorrow) is an interesting read as well.
Engineering lab? Sure it wasn't a graphic design lab?;)
In between assisting helpless drama students with ClarisWorks, we lab monitors would play endless games of Snood on an old Apple II (I forget the exact model), trying to top each others' scores before the next monitor came in (I'm proud to say that I was consistently among the top five scorers).
However, there was no Snood, nor any games of any kind, on the PowerMacs within the lab itself (they weren't allowed). I guess the school administration knew just how addictive and distracting these little games can be;)
If puzzle games were candy, this one would cause cavities. I found the demo through the Snood website... Candy Crisis has great gameplay, a simple (and whimsical) design, and THE best music I've ever heard in a puzzle game.
I also like Tetris Attack, which a bunch of others have already mentioned...
Here's the article from Anime News Network, just posted about half an hour ago, with more concrete news on the Kiki and Castle in the Sky DVDs. As you can see, there's nothing said about a Spirited Away DVD release, though:/
This is *slightly* off topic, so mod me down if you must. Still, there's been more than a few mentions of fanfiction here, so I thought I should bring this up.
A while ago, I saw an ad in the Village Voice placed by Showtime-- apparently they're holding their own Queer as Folk fanfiction contest. This is probably one of the few examples in the US of a creator/content provider supporting the derivative works of fans (but note the legalese submission rules ^_~). I'm curious to know if there are any more ^_^
BTW, I collect doujinshi, and the arguement that such derivative works only fuels the demand for originals is very true. As my collection grows, I have become more a fan of the works the doujinshi are based off of than back when I had no doujinshi.
This morning, just after 11:00, Frodo locked himself in his room and wouldn't come out.
Bilbo (Bilbo!) gave Frodo this totally wicked flame from hell-- and he just wailed on some decorations for the upcoming birthday party that Bilbo had arranged. We figured it was a random quality check. Bilbo's so smart.
Bilbo is wise.
Bilbo is kind.
Bilbo is benevolent.
Bilbo, Be My Friend... Please!
On his bedroom door, Frodo placed a "Do Not Disturb" thingy stolen from Bree's Prancing Pony Inn sometime last year. Finally, at about 2:30 AM, Merry and I got concerned and drove over to Farmer Maggot's to find "flat" foods to slip under Frodo's door. When we returned to Bag-End at 3:00 AM, there were still a few people grinding away. Our group is scheduled to finish the decorations (RTH: Release to Hobbiton) in just eleven days (Top Secret: We'll never make it). Frodo's lights were on, but he wouldn't answer his door when we knocked. Just then, Samwise in the office across the hall yelled and then glared out at us from his doorway. He said, "You're only encouraging him." Obviously he was stressed out-- I don't think Sam ever sleeps. Anyway, by this point, Merry and I were really tired, so we drove back to the house to crash.
There was a mist floating on the ground above the fields beyond the Hill. I thought about the message and Bilbo and all of that, and I had this weird feeling-- of how the presence of Bilbo floats about Bag-End. Bilbo is a moral force, a spectral force, a force that shapes, a force that molds. A force with a shiny gold ring on a chain.
(Okay, that was kind of a lame ender. How about this Frank Miller one?)
The Dark, Pitiful Creature Returns, by Frank Miller
(panel: The Gollumcave. Gollum is standing at the entrance, looking over the dark lake) GOLLUM (VO): I was only six years old when that happened. When I first saw the cave... Huge, empty, silent as a church, waiting, as the Precious was waiting. And now the cobwebs grow and the dust thickens in here as it does in me-- And the Precious laughs at me, curses me, calls me a fool... Never. Never again. (next set of panels: an older man, representing Gollum's voice Smeagol, is at the top of the stairs) SMEAGOL: Master Gollum? This somnambulism is becoming a bit of a problem. It's the ring, I suspect. Tends to make one overly sentimental.
(skip ahead a few panels to one of Gollum watching the reflections in the lake. For a moment, he thinks he sees Bilbo in there) GOLLUM (VO): Baggins. I should turn away, right this second. Just a reflection. That's all it is. No harm in looking at a reflection... (panel: flashback to Bilbo entering the cave) You remember that night (set of panels: Gollum relives the riddle game and Bilbo stealing the ring from him. Gollum gets up and starts to leave) PRECIOUS (VO): The time has come. You know it in your soul. For I am your soul. You cannot escape me. (set of panels: some goblins are fighting amongst themselves in the Moria mines. They all kill one another. Gollum jumps down to their carcasses, ready to feast) GOLLUM (VO): This should be agony. I should be a mass of aching muscle... unable to move. And, were I older, I surely would. But I feel young again... the blood of these orcs is a baptism. Preciousssss...
For a long time, Studio Ghibli's films (with the exception of Totoro and Nausicaa) couldn't be seen in N. America because no company could afford the rights to them (and after Nausicaa was butchered for the English-language release, undoubtedly the studio was wary of all distro offers since then). The point I was trying to make is that at the time they signed their distro deals, neither Ghibli nor Pixar would've been able to make it on their own; Disney has lent both companies far more marketing power than they'd ever have before... not to say that it will stay that way. Pixar (partially founded by ex-Disney animators) is strongly considering distributing their own films once the contract with Disney's up; more power to them.
(By the way, Disney has worldwide rights to the Ghibli films, including home video distribution in Japan. Just wanted to point that out)
I'm sorry, but you're ill-informed, and besides, Disney-bashing is passe (with statements like "Disney movies mostly tend to suck", it is bashing).
Your most inaccurate statement is: "Disney prefers to spend as little as possible when making movies". I don't know about the live-action end of the company, but animation-wise, the Walt Disney Co. spends more money on animated feature films than any of their immediate competitors (even Dreamworks). Treasure Planet is the most expensive animated film ever made; the production of Fantasia 2000 ran at least five years longer than anticipated, and at the time was one of the most expensive features ever-- animation or live-action. This tradition of huge budgets has been around since Uncle Walt made Snow White.
I do recall that there were massive layoffs and slashed salaries in Disney Animation not too long ago, but that was just the biggest casualty in the entire industry; MTV Animation, Dreamworks, and others were cutting jobs at the same time (gotta love this economy). As for the salaries, when Dreamworks Animation started hiring, they raided the Disney Studios for talent, which led to a lot of raises to keep people at Disney (the perks Glen Keane was rumored to have recieved are legendary).
I believe that Disney still has a commitment to quality animation-- and I also believe that they realize full well that it can be found in numerous places. That's why they bought Jumbo Pictures. That's why they signed Pixar and Studio Ghibli to distribution deals. Of course they have a bottom line to look out for, but they also have a reputation to uphold, especially within the film and animation community. Sure, Lilo and Stitch was okay, but Monsters Inc. and Spirited Away had many professionals at other studios oohing and aahing; we have Disney to thank for all three films.
...But I'm still waiting for Apple to release iPods in colors other than white. Or patterns like they did with that one iMac. I know there are iPod case skins and all, but to have an iPod in shiny Apple plastic in maroon, grey, or paisley would be really, really cool. iPods are too homogeneous as they are now-- white. Bo-ring!
The only time in my life I've ever truly disliked a Mac was about five years ago, when I was using After Effects (3.1?) on a beige G3... the damned machine kept crashing all the time. Fortunately, the comp. lab also had Dells with the same software, so I switched for the time being. When it came time for me to buy a new machine, I went with a Dell. The After Effects factor was one of the main reasons I didn't buy a Mac.
Nowadays, I use AE 5.5 (and sometimes Photoshop 7.0) every day on a titanium G4. Both programs run smoothly, and I can work for five hours straight without having to restart. I have done a 180 from those days five years ago and have become a Mac Hugger again. Yet, just like five years ago, I know that performance-wise, the latest PCs will be far more capable of handling heavy-duty video compositing/animation jobs than the latest Macs... but you know what, I don't care. I'd rather use a Mac because of the greater ease of use; speed be damned. Mac OS is just so much more streamlined and easier to work with, which is very important for artists who want to spend less time mucking with the OS and more time actually creating. For 3D animation, I'm definately sticking with PCs (though I haven't used Maya with OS-X yet...); but for 2D, compositing, and editing, Mac all the way.
I can see Sony circling the wagons. However, you never know what will happen. Remember when the news broke that Microsoft had bought Rare? Shocking news, that was...
But then again, that was a different case. Obviously Nintendo and Rare weren't seeing eye to eye on certain issues, which led to the sale. I really don't see that happening with Square/Enix and Sony.
>And they are just now coming out with Kingdom Hearts International, which is basically the American version but with jap subs. Must not have done too well if they think they can make people buy a second copy .
On the contrary, I would think that Kingdom Hearts would've had to do very well to merit an "International" version of the game (some years ago, the American FF7 was rereleased as FF7 International...
Taking a look at the poll, I noticed that there was no option for dual-boot systems. I imagine that quite a few people here would have them (including those of the Windows/Linux flavor ^_~).
As for me, I own a PC running Windoze. In my hopes and dreams, I would love a Mac, and I've already decided that the next computer I buy will be one. At the time, I bought a Windoze PC because it was more flexible for adding hardware, the Macs that were out at the time (beige G3s) wouldn't run my fave video compositing software without crashing, and of course, the wide variety of games;)
And yep, I have a dual-boot setup (Windows 98 and Windows 2KPro-- my boyfriend wants to put Linux on there when I finally get a Mac, though ^_^).
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks for the tally... useful info :)
I'm a longtime fan of yours-- and I was formerly a longtime resident of South Florida (I live in the NYC metro area now). I grew up reading your columns and articles in the Miami Herald (the "Dade vs. Broward" one is a personal favorite of mine) and my family still occasionally sends me clippings of your writings from the Herald. These writings of yours always make me miss South Florida even more than I do ordinarily, driving me to visit every opportunity I get.
Thus, my question: What is the best thing about living in South Florida?
By the way, out of the latest Strong Bad emails, I highly recommend "Dragon". Funny stuff :D
While there are many of us who appreciate anime for what it is, and even those who have been taught about anime at various points (a My Neighbor Totoro clip that was shown in a character design class I had changed my life, no kidding), there's more reasons behind NYU's decision to offer anime courses than just academic enlightenment.
It's like my dad once told me: colleges and universities are businesses. And it's also like a Harper's article I once read: colleges are catering more and more to their "customers" desires.
Not to be cynical or anything, but there are a lot of otaku in the NYC area, and the presence of anime is becoming more and more prevalent every day-- from English-language issues of Newtype to a US version of Shonen Jump (at a convenience store near you!). The real test is if more anime courses are introduced later on, and if they are more focused (i.e., specific themes, comparative analysis, single artists'/studios' works, etc.) and less generalized.
Oh yeah, and it's also a statement on the US's influence on Japan, but that's another essay ;)
Actually, the Japanese term "Anime" comes from the French word "Anime", which also means "Animation"...
Apple's a company with a huge customer following among creative types; I would think that their encouragement to "Rip/Mix/Burn" is intended more to enhance people's creativity... which happens to include the art form of the homemade mix album ;)
Speaking of Sony, the Wired article on Sony Electronics vs. Sony Music (which is being posted tomorrow) is an interesting read as well.
In between assisting helpless drama students with ClarisWorks, we lab monitors would play endless games of Snood on an old Apple II (I forget the exact model), trying to top each others' scores before the next monitor came in (I'm proud to say that I was consistently among the top five scorers).
However, there was no Snood, nor any games of any kind, on the PowerMacs within the lab itself (they weren't allowed). I guess the school administration knew just how addictive and distracting these little games can be ;)
I also like Tetris Attack, which a bunch of others have already mentioned...
Here's the article from Anime News Network, just posted about half an hour ago, with more concrete news on the Kiki and Castle in the Sky DVDs. As you can see, there's nothing said about a Spirited Away DVD release, though :/
A while ago, I saw an ad in the Village Voice placed by Showtime-- apparently they're holding their own Queer as Folk fanfiction contest. This is probably one of the few examples in the US of a creator/content provider supporting the derivative works of fans (but note the legalese submission rules ^_~). I'm curious to know if there are any more ^_^
BTW, I collect doujinshi, and the arguement that such derivative works only fuels the demand for originals is very true. As my collection grows, I have become more a fan of the works the doujinshi are based off of than back when I had no doujinshi.
Only in the second installment, "The Two Towels".
Friday
Early Fall, 1401 S.R.
This morning, just after 11:00, Frodo locked himself in his room and wouldn't come out. Bilbo (Bilbo!) gave Frodo this totally wicked flame from hell-- and he just wailed on some decorations for the upcoming birthday party that Bilbo had arranged. We figured it was a random quality check. Bilbo's so smart.
Bilbo is wise.
Bilbo is kind.
Bilbo is benevolent.
Bilbo, Be My Friend... Please!
On his bedroom door, Frodo placed a "Do Not Disturb" thingy stolen from Bree's Prancing Pony Inn sometime last year. Finally, at about 2:30 AM, Merry and I got concerned and drove over to Farmer Maggot's to find "flat" foods to slip under Frodo's door. When we returned to Bag-End at 3:00 AM, there were still a few people grinding away. Our group is scheduled to finish the decorations (RTH: Release to Hobbiton) in just eleven days (Top Secret: We'll never make it). Frodo's lights were on, but he wouldn't answer his door when we knocked. Just then, Samwise in the office across the hall yelled and then glared out at us from his doorway. He said, "You're only encouraging him." Obviously he was stressed out-- I don't think Sam ever sleeps. Anyway, by this point, Merry and I were really tired, so we drove back to the house to crash.
There was a mist floating on the ground above the fields beyond the Hill. I thought about the message and Bilbo and all of that, and I had this weird feeling-- of how the presence of Bilbo floats about Bag-End. Bilbo is a moral force, a spectral force, a force that shapes, a force that molds. A force with a shiny gold ring on a chain.
(Okay, that was kind of a lame ender. How about this Frank Miller one?)
The Dark, Pitiful Creature Returns, by Frank Miller
(panel: The Gollumcave. Gollum is standing at the entrance, looking over the dark lake)
GOLLUM (VO): I was only six years old when that happened. When I first saw the cave... Huge, empty, silent as a church, waiting, as the Precious was waiting. And now the cobwebs grow and the dust thickens in here as it does in me-- And the Precious laughs at me, curses me, calls me a fool... Never. Never again.
(next set of panels: an older man, representing Gollum's voice Smeagol, is at the top of the stairs)
SMEAGOL: Master Gollum? This somnambulism is becoming a bit of a problem. It's the ring, I suspect. Tends to make one overly sentimental.
(skip ahead a few panels to one of Gollum watching the reflections in the lake. For a moment, he thinks he sees Bilbo in there)
GOLLUM (VO): Baggins. I should turn away, right this second. Just a reflection. That's all it is. No harm in looking at a reflection... (panel: flashback to Bilbo entering the cave) You remember that night (set of panels: Gollum relives the riddle game and Bilbo stealing the ring from him. Gollum gets up and starts to leave) PRECIOUS (VO): The time has come. You know it in your soul. For I am your soul. You cannot escape me. (set of panels: some goblins are fighting amongst themselves in the Moria mines. They all kill one another. Gollum jumps down to their carcasses, ready to feast)
GOLLUM (VO): This should be agony. I should be a mass of aching muscle... unable to move. And, were I older, I surely would. But I feel young again... the blood of these orcs is a baptism. Preciousssss...
I'll probably write one later as well. I've got dibs on Douglas Coupland :D
I wholeheartedly agree with you. And by the way, I'm not an American... but I've lived in the US most of my life.
This month's Wired has a good article on EA Sports. This company dominates sports games so much it's scary...
(By the way, Disney has worldwide rights to the Ghibli films, including home video distribution in Japan. Just wanted to point that out)
Your most inaccurate statement is: "Disney prefers to spend as little as possible when making movies". I don't know about the live-action end of the company, but animation-wise, the Walt Disney Co. spends more money on animated feature films than any of their immediate competitors (even Dreamworks). Treasure Planet is the most expensive animated film ever made; the production of Fantasia 2000 ran at least five years longer than anticipated, and at the time was one of the most expensive features ever-- animation or live-action. This tradition of huge budgets has been around since Uncle Walt made Snow White.
I do recall that there were massive layoffs and slashed salaries in Disney Animation not too long ago, but that was just the biggest casualty in the entire industry; MTV Animation, Dreamworks, and others were cutting jobs at the same time (gotta love this economy). As for the salaries, when Dreamworks Animation started hiring, they raided the Disney Studios for talent, which led to a lot of raises to keep people at Disney (the perks Glen Keane was rumored to have recieved are legendary).
I believe that Disney still has a commitment to quality animation-- and I also believe that they realize full well that it can be found in numerous places. That's why they bought Jumbo Pictures. That's why they signed Pixar and Studio Ghibli to distribution deals. Of course they have a bottom line to look out for, but they also have a reputation to uphold, especially within the film and animation community. Sure, Lilo and Stitch was okay, but Monsters Inc. and Spirited Away had many professionals at other studios oohing and aahing; we have Disney to thank for all three films.
...But I'm still waiting for Apple to release iPods in colors other than white. Or patterns like they did with that one iMac. I know there are iPod case skins and all, but to have an iPod in shiny Apple plastic in maroon, grey, or paisley would be really, really cool. iPods are too homogeneous as they are now-- white. Bo-ring!
Nowadays, I use AE 5.5 (and sometimes Photoshop 7.0) every day on a titanium G4. Both programs run smoothly, and I can work for five hours straight without having to restart. I have done a 180 from those days five years ago and have become a Mac Hugger again. Yet, just like five years ago, I know that performance-wise, the latest PCs will be far more capable of handling heavy-duty video compositing/animation jobs than the latest Macs... but you know what, I don't care. I'd rather use a Mac because of the greater ease of use; speed be damned. Mac OS is just so much more streamlined and easier to work with, which is very important for artists who want to spend less time mucking with the OS and more time actually creating. For 3D animation, I'm definately sticking with PCs (though I haven't used Maya with OS-X yet...); but for 2D, compositing, and editing, Mac all the way.
Fetishists Really Love Their Macs
But then again, that was a different case. Obviously Nintendo and Rare weren't seeing eye to eye on certain issues, which led to the sale. I really don't see that happening with Square/Enix and Sony.
>And they are just now coming out with Kingdom Hearts International, which is basically the American version but with jap subs. Must not have done too well if they think they can make people buy a second copy . On the contrary, I would think that Kingdom Hearts would've had to do very well to merit an "International" version of the game (some years ago, the American FF7 was rereleased as FF7 International...
Actually, Eidos did the port for Final Fantasy VII. I was also under the impression that Square themselves ported Final Fantasy VIII
As for me, I own a PC running Windoze. In my hopes and dreams, I would love a Mac, and I've already decided that the next computer I buy will be one. At the time, I bought a Windoze PC because it was more flexible for adding hardware, the Macs that were out at the time (beige G3s) wouldn't run my fave video compositing software without crashing, and of course, the wide variety of games
And yep, I have a dual-boot setup (Windows 98 and Windows 2KPro-- my boyfriend wants to put Linux on there when I finally get a Mac, though ^_^).