... when I was one or so -- because my mother war a bit paranoid, as she had had lots of eye trouble as an infant and I was child no. 1/ The doctor looked at my eyes and told her I had almost perfect vision -- which was actually bad, because it is normal for young children to be far-sighted. One's eyeball gets longer as one gets older, so while "normal" kids eyes would go from far-sighted to normal, my eyesight was fated to go from normal to VERY near-sighted. He was right.
... when studying anthropology -- in college and grad school -- the three wave theory seemed to already be commonly accepted. And Eskimos have been recognized as belonging to a separate wave forever (or almost so). This testing may be new and useful because it provides additional confirmation of a long-standing theory -- but it does not amount to any sort of new theory as to the population of the americas from Siberia.
... are re-classified as no longer needing to be prescribed, insurance companies stop covering the cost of such drugs. Lots of expensive drugs (for allergies, for gatrointestinal problems) once covered by insurance are now totally NOT covered. A big win for insurance companies.
... my future wife (married in 1976) and I did this. We watched our first opera together -- Don Giovanni on NBC -- she in Wisconsin, I (7 ayears old at the time) in Oklahoma. Of course, it would be a while before we would actually first meet each other.;~}
> The only things I buy with an installed OS are notebooks, and I make recovery media > for my collection then wipe 'em to install Linux.
I bought a laptop for my wife this week (from Best Buy) -- and this is _exactly_ what I did (except I did leave a minimal Windows installation -- just in case).
Dell (of all people) had a sale -- and I got one of these at a nice discount. I've been quite pleased with it -- and have barely begun to scrape the surface in terms of what it can do (and the software that is available).
> The he should get off his Japanese butt and make a feature film
Both "Haibane Renmei" and "Texhnolyze" are integral cinematic works -- not collections of autonomous episodes. "Haibane Renmei" is, in essence, a meticulously structured 5 hour film.
Do you suggest that excellence can be measured by the official format in which a show is presented?
Wired ignores the most creative figure involved with anime today -- Yoshitoshi Abe. Abe was scarcely out of school when his character designs helped bring "Serial Experiment Lain" to life. This groundbreaking work would have been a far more arid exercise had it not been populated by Abe's characters.
Abe (and part of the Lain team) went on to make the interesting, but not entirely successful "Niea_7". For this, Abe contributed not only character (and environmental) designs, but the basic story.
Abe then went on to create one of the most beautiful and moving animated series ever -- "Haibane Renmei". Inspired more by the films of Angelopoulos and Kore'eda than other anime, this understated story of young people reincarnated in a bucolic limbo is not only wonderfully animated but remarkably sophisticated theologically (in a fundamentally non-denominational fashion).
Most recently, Abe has teamed up with much of the crew from Lain to make his most visually compelling work yet -- "Texhnolyze". This dark dystopian work adapts the fragmented narrative methodology of John Brunner's greatest sf novels ("Stand on Zanzibar", "Sheep Look Up") in a thoroughly cinematic fashion.
Any discussion of anime giants that doesn't include Abe (and his colleagues) is incomplete.
...and paid the fee for an "annual subscription". This way we get each new benchmark release on disc -- along with the latest semi-stable version of the experimental software (firefox, etc).
Yes. "Ocean Waves" is the English title for "Umi ga kikoeru". This was the last Ghibli film we tracked down -- and we were pleased to find it was a wonderful little film. Its only problem -- it needed at least another half hour to fully develop (and make use of) its characters.
This did include some of Takahata's films. True, "Grave of the Fireflies" was not included -- and it is not handled by Buena Vista, even in Japan. I believe "Yamadas" (an utterly wonderfully, woefully under-appreciated film) WAS initially included -- but Disney waived its rights as far as the US is concerned (Buena Vista Japan retained domestic rights, however). "Pom Poko" and "Only Yesterday" (the latter being my favorite Ghibli film of all) are included in the Deal with Disney.
Kondo's "Whisper of the Heart" was also included -- and supposedly the English dub has been done already. It is being held up, sadly. The reasons have nbot been disclosed -- but it is suspected that their is a problem with copyright issues -- John Denver's "Country Roads" plays an important role in the film. Another non-Miyazaki/non-Takahata film "Ocean Waves" was not acquired by Disney for US distribution.
We are used to the Fox dub voices -- and fond of them. Nonetheless, the overall average of the voiice acting quality is higher in the Japanese original. I hope Disney's dub is at least as good.
While the Fox dub preserved the original sound effects and music, it muted these -- quite severely at points. Environmental noises are very important in this film -- and they are all too often almost inaudible. However, the Fox dub did an excellent job in their translated re-recordings of the opening and closing songs.
The pan and scanning of the Fox release does make a big difference. In some scenes, important visual information is definitely lopped off.
The source used by Fox was a bit battered and faded (not their fault, I suppose -- and Ghibli/Tokuma did not make any new source available for the Fox DVD). The restored version of Totoro issued by Buena Vista Japan looks absolutely gorgeous -- and scenes that take place in the dark are vastly better looking.
Although the Japanese DVD LOOK utterly gorgeous -- it has the most annoying dubtitles imaginable. Not only do we have subtitles for conversations we don't hear taking place (or which are 10 times wordier than the Japanese dialog), but we get subtitles for noises (as with hearing impaired subtitles). The Korean DVD (R3, NTSC), on the other hand, looks just as good, is considerably cheaper -- and has excellent real sub-titles. It also has a very good Korean dub (the Korean father is the best one in any version). For those with little kids to entertain, the Korean might not work -- as it does NOT contain the old English dub. For anyone who doesn't need an English dubbed alternative -- the Korean release is highly recommended.
(There are also Taiwanese and Hong Kong releases. I don't have -- and haven't seen -- either of these, however).
Nah, I didn't miss "Dolls". It is one of my favorite films from 2002. (Since most of my favorites NEVER get a US release, I tend to group them by the year of their domestic release).
I won't get to see Kitano's "Zatoichi" until next year (when the Japanese DVD is released). Since Miramax hold US rights, who knows when (if ever), this will show up in theaters here. I'm still waiting for Zhang Yimou's 2002 "Hero" to show up (and it's not clear Harvey will let us see this in theaters even in 2004).
Salinui chueok a/k/a Memories of Murder (BONG Joon-ho)
A serial killer strikes women is provincial Korea in the 80s. Unfortunately, due to poor training and poor logistical support, the local police tend to rely on hunches to identify suspects -- and then torture to extract confessions. A Seoul detective is assigned to help crack the case -- and friction ensues. The film tells us, as it starts, that it is based on an unresolved criminal investigation. So, the telling (and showing) is what counts here. The cinematography is superb -- and the acting equally fine. The story is, ultimately (as one has been warned) heart-breaking -- and frightening. Bong's first film, "Barking Dogs Never Bite" was a comic masterpiece. "Memories of Murder" is leavened with humor -- but is ultimately a tragic one. Perhaps Korea's best film this year artistically -- it also was a major box office success.
Janghwa, Hongryeon a/k/a Tale of Two Sisters(KIM Ji-woon)
Not so much a ghost story (as it has been billed) but the depiction of a young girl's mental unraveling following the death of her mother, her father's remarriage and then the death of her younger sister. This film, like Henry James's famed ghost story "Turn of the Screw" is the epitome of unreliable narration. It is not until the film is over that we can begin to piece together what is real and what is simply "in the head" of our heroine. So, one needs to re-watch this promptly -- which is no hardship due to wonderful cinematography and moving performances, especially by the two sisters. Another artistic triumph that was also a major box office hit in Korea.
Heart on the sleeve emotionalism need not be "schmaltzy". It can be utterly sincere -- and tremendously moving. This film (set in the last days of the Shogunate) of a down and out widowed samurai, who has two young girls and a going-senile mother to support, is as visually beautiful (and wonderfully acted) as it is unabashedly sentimental. Mainstream movies can be masterpieces -- and this, one of the most successful domestic films in Japan -- rates as a master work by a 71 year-old master of (almost) countless populist romances. Hiroyuki SANADA's performance as the title character utterly marvelous -- he stands along with Koji YAKUSHO as the finest of middle-aged Japanese actors. Rie MIYAZAWA is also wonderful as the "little sister" of Seibei's best friend (a far more prosperous member of the same clan), who has idolized Seibei since her childhood -- and who is now divorced after a disastrous first marriage to a highly-connected noble drunkard (played with grat panache by Ren OSUGI). Recommended without reservation to all (but the most hardened of cynics). A success at the Japanese box office -- and Japan's nomination for the "best foreign film" competitions at the Oscars.
Yomigaeri a/k/a Resurrection (Akihiko SHIOTA)
"Yomigaeri" involves mysterious mass resurrections in a rural region of Japan. It's plot seems rather like something concocted by Philip K Dick -- but the tone is far gentler (more like Clifford Simak). The story centers around a bureaucrat sent by Tokyo to investigate (and, if necessary, cover up) the strange phenomena -- and a young woman who was the fiancee of his deceased best friend (but for whom he has always had a secret yen). The film also depicts the lives of various returnees, one of whom is a rock star (who mysteriously disappeared and was rumored to have died) who rejoins her bandmates for the ultimate farewell performance. Shiota, best-known for his more uncompromising arty films (like "Gaichu" -- "Harmful Insect") managed in "Yomigaeri" to make a masterpiece of a movie aimed at a mainstream audience -- and which would have been a piece of hack work in lesser hands.
...was made long before he died -- on a shoe-string budget -- in France -- and was not based on a particualr story, but on a Dick-esque fantasy of which a PKD look-alike was a key character. "Paris nous appartient" (Paris Belongs to Us) was filmed by Jacques Rivette in the late 50s and finally released in 1960. (This was shot on donated scraps of film, with "volunteer actors" -- on a catch as catch can basis). The film involves a young woman who gets ensnared in the paranoid fantasises (about a worldwide conspiracy) of an American expatriate writer -- named "Phil Kaufman".
As far as I know, Rivette has never explicitly acknowledged that "Paris nou s appartient" was inspired by Dick's stories -- or that "Phil Kaufman" was a fantasized si8mulacra of Dick himself. Nonetheless, Dick's stories were already known to the avant-garde in France by the late 50s, and Rivette has expressed his admiration for P.K. Dick over the years.
No big-budget Hollywood-esque extravaganza has ever caught the essential spirit of PKD's universe (almost clairvoyantly -- the universe of PKD that wasn't fully manifested until his sad last days) as well as this early no-budget film of Jacques Rivette. (Many later Rivette films show more indebtedness to PKD for their tone and atmosphere than to Rivette's Hollywood directorial idols).
This is wrong. There is no presumption of innocense in civil cases
True -- but one typically has to prove one's case based on the "preponderance of the evidence" standard. In other words, yoour evidence of violation must "outweigh" your opponent's evidence of "non-violation". This is easier to do than proof "beyond a reasonable doubt" -- but it is not a trivial burden.
MEK
Slashdot Mirror
... when I was one or so -- because my mother war a bit paranoid, as she had had lots of eye trouble as an infant and I was child no. 1/ The doctor looked at my eyes and told her I had almost perfect vision -- which was actually bad, because it is normal for young children to be far-sighted. One's eyeball gets longer as one gets older, so while "normal" kids eyes would go from far-sighted to normal, my eyesight was fated to go from normal to VERY near-sighted. He was right.
Simak dealt with robot-dog relations long, long ago in his wonderful collection of stories (mostly on a post-human Earth).
... and a very nice man. One of Science Fiction's most elegant and imaginative writers.
... when studying anthropology -- in college and grad school -- the three wave theory seemed to already be commonly accepted. And Eskimos have been recognized as belonging to a separate wave forever (or almost so). This testing may be new and useful because it provides additional confirmation of a long-standing theory -- but it does not amount to any sort of new theory as to the population of the americas from Siberia.
...if I had some mod points.
... are re-classified as no longer needing to be prescribed, insurance companies stop covering the cost of such drugs. Lots of expensive drugs (for allergies, for gatrointestinal problems) once covered by insurance are now totally NOT covered. A big win for insurance companies.
this involves a demand for (at least virtual) teacher burning.
MEK
... my future wife (married in 1976) and I did this. We watched our first opera together -- Don Giovanni on NBC -- she in Wisconsin, I (7 ayears old at the time) in Oklahoma. Of course, it would be a while before we would actually first meet each other. ;~}
MEK
> The only things I buy with an installed OS are notebooks, and I make recovery media
> for my collection then wipe 'em to install Linux.
I bought a laptop for my wife this week (from Best Buy) -- and this is _exactly_ what I did (except I did leave a minimal Windows installation -- just in case).
...report being creeped out by these new procedures.
And lots more buxom younger women are apparently being subjected to thorough full body searches than guys.
MEK
... if you happen to use Tmobile as your service provider. It even seems to work fine on Tmobile's new 3.5 system.
Dell (of all people) had a sale -- and I got one of these at a nice discount. I've been quite pleased with it -- and have barely begun to scrape the surface in terms of what it can do (and the software that is available).
I doubt that there is a better phone that is easier to play with. ;~}
And it works pretty good as a phone.
MEK
...to the highly informative anonymous posting to which this is a reply. ;~}
(It tells us more about the Murata manga collection that another poster asked about)
MEK
> The he should get off his Japanese butt and make a feature film
Both "Haibane Renmei" and "Texhnolyze" are integral cinematic works -- not collections of autonomous episodes. "Haibane Renmei" is, in essence, a meticulously structured 5 hour film.
Do you suggest that excellence can be measured by the official format in which a show is presented?
Murata and Tsuruta (Spirit of Wonder, etc.) are two graphic artists who Abe has cited as haveing been inspirations for him.
It looks like Robot is mainly a Murata project, and that Abe is one of a host of others who will be involved somehow.
Still no real word on what Abe's next personal project will be.
Wired ignores the most creative figure involved with anime today -- Yoshitoshi Abe. Abe was scarcely out of school when his character designs helped bring "Serial Experiment Lain" to life. This groundbreaking work would have been a far more arid exercise had it not been populated by Abe's characters.
Abe (and part of the Lain team) went on to make the interesting, but not entirely successful "Niea_7". For this, Abe contributed not only character (and environmental) designs, but the basic story.
Abe then went on to create one of the most beautiful and moving animated series ever -- "Haibane Renmei". Inspired more by the films of Angelopoulos and Kore'eda than other anime, this understated story of young people reincarnated in a bucolic limbo is not only wonderfully animated but remarkably sophisticated theologically (in a fundamentally non-denominational fashion).
Most recently, Abe has teamed up with much of the crew from Lain to make his most visually compelling work yet -- "Texhnolyze". This dark dystopian work adapts the fragmented narrative methodology of John Brunner's greatest sf novels ("Stand on Zanzibar", "Sheep Look Up") in a thoroughly cinematic fashion.
Any discussion of anime giants that doesn't include Abe (and his colleagues) is incomplete.
...and paid the fee for an "annual subscription". This way we get each new benchmark release on disc -- along with the latest semi-stable version of the experimental software (firefox, etc).
MEK
Yes. "Ocean Waves" is the English title for "Umi ga kikoeru". This was the last Ghibli film we tracked down -- and we were pleased to find it was a wonderful little film. Its only problem -- it needed at least another half hour to fully develop (and make use of) its characters.
MEK
This did include some of Takahata's films. True, "Grave of the Fireflies" was not included -- and it is not handled by Buena Vista, even in Japan. I believe "Yamadas" (an utterly wonderfully, woefully under-appreciated film) WAS initially included -- but Disney waived its rights as far as the US is concerned (Buena Vista Japan retained domestic rights, however). "Pom Poko" and "Only Yesterday" (the latter being my favorite Ghibli film of all) are included in the Deal with Disney.
Kondo's "Whisper of the Heart" was also included -- and supposedly the English dub has been done already. It is being held up, sadly. The reasons have nbot been disclosed -- but it is suspected that their is a problem with copyright issues -- John Denver's "Country Roads" plays an important role in the film. Another non-Miyazaki/non-Takahata film "Ocean Waves" was not acquired by Disney for US distribution.
MEK
We are used to the Fox dub voices -- and fond of them. Nonetheless, the overall average of the voiice acting quality is higher in the Japanese original. I hope Disney's dub is at least as good.
While the Fox dub preserved the original sound effects and music, it muted these -- quite severely at points. Environmental noises are very important in this film -- and they are all too often almost inaudible. However, the Fox dub did an excellent job in their translated re-recordings of the opening and closing songs.
The pan and scanning of the Fox release does make a big difference. In some scenes, important visual information is definitely lopped off.
The source used by Fox was a bit battered and faded (not their fault, I suppose -- and Ghibli/Tokuma did not make any new source available for the Fox DVD). The restored version of Totoro issued by Buena Vista Japan looks absolutely gorgeous -- and scenes that take place in the dark are vastly better looking.
Although the Japanese DVD LOOK utterly gorgeous -- it has the most annoying dubtitles imaginable. Not only do we have subtitles for conversations we don't hear taking place (or which are 10 times wordier than the Japanese dialog), but we get subtitles for noises (as with hearing impaired subtitles). The Korean DVD (R3, NTSC), on the other hand, looks just as good, is considerably cheaper -- and has excellent real sub-titles. It also has a very good Korean dub (the Korean father is the best one in any version). For those with little kids to entertain, the Korean might not work -- as it does NOT contain the old English dub. For anyone who doesn't need an English dubbed alternative -- the Korean release is highly recommended.
(There are also Taiwanese and Hong Kong releases. I don't have -- and haven't seen -- either of these, however).
MEK
Nah, I didn't miss "Dolls". It is one of my favorite films from 2002. (Since most of my favorites NEVER get a US release, I tend to group them by the year of their domestic release).
I won't get to see Kitano's "Zatoichi" until next year (when the Japanese DVD is released). Since Miramax hold US rights, who knows when (if ever), this will show up in theaters here. I'm still waiting for Zhang Yimou's 2002 "Hero" to show up (and it's not clear Harvey will let us see this in theaters even in 2004).
MEK
Salinui chueok a/k/a Memories of Murder (BONG Joon-ho)
A serial killer strikes women is provincial Korea in the 80s. Unfortunately, due to poor training and poor logistical support, the local police tend to rely on hunches to identify suspects -- and then torture to extract confessions. A Seoul detective is assigned to help crack the case -- and friction ensues. The film tells us, as it starts, that it is based on an unresolved criminal investigation. So, the telling (and showing) is what counts here. The cinematography is superb -- and the acting equally fine. The story is, ultimately (as one has been warned) heart-breaking -- and frightening. Bong's first film, "Barking Dogs Never Bite" was a comic masterpiece. "Memories of Murder" is leavened with humor -- but is ultimately a tragic one. Perhaps Korea's best film this year artistically -- it also was a major box office success.
Janghwa, Hongryeon a/k/a Tale of Two Sisters(KIM Ji-woon)
Not so much a ghost story (as it has been billed) but the depiction of a young girl's mental unraveling following the death of her mother, her father's remarriage and then the death of her younger sister. This film, like Henry James's famed ghost story "Turn of the Screw" is the epitome of unreliable narration. It is not until the film is over that we can begin to piece together what is real and what is simply "in the head" of our heroine. So, one needs to re-watch this promptly -- which is no hardship due to wonderful cinematography and moving performances, especially by the two sisters. Another artistic triumph that was also a major box office hit in Korea.
Tasogare Seibei a/k/a Twilight Samurai (Yoji YAMADA)
Heart on the sleeve emotionalism need not be "schmaltzy". It can be utterly sincere -- and tremendously moving. This film (set in the last days of the Shogunate) of a down and out widowed samurai, who has two young girls and a going-senile mother to support, is as visually beautiful (and wonderfully acted) as it is unabashedly sentimental. Mainstream movies can be masterpieces -- and this, one of the most successful domestic films in Japan -- rates as a master work by a 71 year-old master of (almost) countless populist romances. Hiroyuki SANADA's performance as the title character utterly marvelous -- he stands along with Koji YAKUSHO as the finest of middle-aged Japanese actors. Rie MIYAZAWA is also wonderful as the "little sister" of Seibei's best friend (a far more prosperous member of the same clan), who has idolized Seibei since her childhood -- and who is now divorced after a disastrous first marriage to a highly-connected noble drunkard (played with grat panache by Ren OSUGI). Recommended without reservation to all (but the most hardened of cynics). A success at the Japanese box office -- and Japan's nomination for the "best foreign film" competitions at the Oscars.
Yomigaeri a/k/a Resurrection (Akihiko SHIOTA)
"Yomigaeri" involves mysterious mass resurrections in a rural region of Japan. It's plot seems rather like something concocted by Philip K Dick -- but the tone is far gentler (more like Clifford Simak). The story centers around a bureaucrat sent by Tokyo to investigate (and, if necessary, cover up) the strange phenomena -- and a young woman who was the fiancee of his deceased best friend (but for whom he has always had a secret yen). The film also depicts the lives of various returnees, one of whom is a rock star (who mysteriously disappeared and was rumored to have died) who rejoins her bandmates for the ultimate farewell performance. Shiota, best-known for his more uncompromising arty films (like "Gaichu" -- "Harmful Insect") managed in "Yomigaeri" to make a masterpiece of a movie aimed at a mainstream audience -- and which would have been a piece of hack work in lesser hands.
...was made long before he died -- on a shoe-string budget -- in France -- and was not based on a particualr story, but on a Dick-esque fantasy of which a PKD look-alike was a key character. "Paris nous appartient" (Paris Belongs to Us) was filmed by Jacques Rivette in the late 50s and finally released in 1960. (This was shot on donated scraps of film, with "volunteer actors" -- on a catch as catch can basis). The film involves a young woman who gets ensnared in the paranoid fantasises (about a worldwide conspiracy) of an American expatriate writer -- named "Phil Kaufman".
As far as I know, Rivette has never explicitly acknowledged that "Paris nou s appartient" was inspired by Dick's stories -- or that "Phil Kaufman" was a fantasized si8mulacra of Dick himself. Nonetheless, Dick's stories were already known to the avant-garde in France by the late 50s, and Rivette has expressed his admiration for P.K. Dick over the years.
No big-budget Hollywood-esque extravaganza has ever caught the essential spirit of PKD's universe (almost clairvoyantly -- the universe of PKD that wasn't fully manifested until his sad last days) as well as this early no-budget film of Jacques Rivette. (Many later Rivette films show more indebtedness to PKD for their tone and atmosphere than to Rivette's Hollywood directorial idols).
MEK