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Fun weekend, no recording though
I went out this weekend to join a friend going to an open day to look if it was something she’d be interested in later after having decided that while talking on skype pretty much half of the night. So we met up and due to a gasleak we had to take another train to get to where we needed to go, but eventually we got there. It was an arts school which was really interesting for me having gone to a rather exact opposite kind of school as an IT guy. I’m not generally a big arts guy, but there are definitely things that I appreciate, but when it gets too artsy I’m simply not getting it. I’m too logical a person so abstract things don’t really do much for me.
That school as it turns out was very much an art school, as we checked out the photography section there were a bunch of examples of photo’s made by students for projects. These showed for example some walls, some chimneys on top of houses and other really random pictures including some blurry ones that just looked like you accidentally pressed the “photo” button while waving the camera around. This being art… well, I guess you have to be really into abstract art to get any of it.
That school also really reminded me of highschool (not too great a memory for me) with it’s structure and small rooms. There was also a certain smell to it because of all the materials that were around that I simply haven’t smelled since then. Unlike this building, my school had many big rooms full with spacious desks and patchpoints to set up your laptop at and have your books and stuff laid out. As such all the rooms were really big to allow this and were really clean as you took everything with you in your bag as you came and went.
Afterwards we went to a metalbar and enjoyed a pretty good band that was performing there and then as we got to her home we decided we’d watch Bambi on VCR. That’s still totally a good movie despite it’s age and it being aimed at children. There’s something about it that makes it enjoyable for all ages, the only downside to that would be that it is really quite short with a runtime of 70 minutes. But the sheer cuteness factor and unadulterated fun make up for that.
On saturday we went to another art school’s open day to see if that was more her thing, as we had heard that they took a less “artsy” approach to especially photography, which she’s interested in. And that indeed was the case, there were a lot more realistic photo’s that were simply gorgeous and projects that were really interesting and had a message. Hell, I really liked some of that stuff and after talking and getting some more information, it sounds like a pretty cool study all in all and not overly artsy. But she still wasn’t sure if it’s her thing or not, but atleast she’s properly informed of it now and has seen that it doesn’t have to be as artsy (which she didn’t like).
After that was over we decided to go to a movie as we walked near a cinema and ended up viewing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was a really good movie, better than I expected it to be honestly. It’s a pretty lengthy movie and it has you guessing what’s going to happen next, or how the plot sticks together pretty much throughout the whole movie. The characters of Mikael and Lisbeth were all both played excellently, though I also have to mention Henrik. The good acting, interesting characters (mainly Lisbeth), the plot that keeps moving at a good(pretty rapid) pace and the twists make it a movie you really ought to see. Be warned though that it does get pretty shocking in some of the scenes, I have to admit that I wasn’t sitting entirely comfortably in some of them.
After that we checked out some rock bars, sat down and talked briefly and then decided to go home as I still had a 2 hour trip back, I arrived roughly around 1.30am which isn’t all that bad considering. I slept a long time that night to catch up on some sleep as I had some really black spots under my eyes that saturday. Waking up refreshed I did some chores, started reading my next book (Swords and Swordsmen by Mike Loades) while listening to some music and caught up on some of the content giantbomb had put out the past couple of days. Then I finished the day by going out for exercise and watched a movie based on one of my favorite manga/animes: Gantz.
Gantz is a live-action movie which means that it’s played by real people and as such that means that it’s going to take a lot to live up to the original. After watching the first movie (I haven’t watched the second one yet), I have to say that it did a pretty good job. It’s of course very Japanese but it still captures the spirit of the series as the main characters try to deal with the bizarre fights they have to go through and the people that end up in the room with them. It deals with some really unique situations because of it and that’s also where 1 of the flaws lie; it’s hard to portray the struggle of the humanizing process within the characters.
The ending of the movie especially wasn’t as powerful as the end of the manga was for me, but it still shows camaraderie and dealing with loss. If you have any interest in a Japanese action movie that plays with emotions, give Gantz a shot, or go read the manga or watch the anime.
All in all, this was a pretty great weekend, although I didn’t get around to recording, but that’s why I’m so glad I have a backlog that’s already uploaded and scheduled to go online. I hope you all had a similarly good weekend. 
Scott Pilgrim and Eve No Jikan
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
So I finally got around to watching Scott Pilgrim, there had been quite a hype surrounding the movie that to me came out of nowhere. I had never heard of Scott Pilgrim before, but from what I had heard it was a lighthearted movie about a young guy who embraces his geekiness and had to fight some exes of a girl he wants to go out with. Apparently there’s whole series of comics and all kinds of other media, but I haven’t paid it any attention.
Going into the movie I was immediately into it as it was presenting the characters. Starting off with Scott, a skinny guy who’s down on his luck after getting dumped and is in a band, and his gay roommate who he shares a bed with. Then there’s Kim, an old ex of Scott who’s also the drummer for his band, Knives who’s a young highschool girl who gets kind of used by Scott as he’s trying to work through his feelings and they soon grow apart as Scott realizes she’s just not the one, which leads to some funny situations. Then finally there’s Ramona, the girl the movie’s essentially about. She’s this alternative looking girl with dyed hair(which looks great, btw) that just seems way out of Scott’s league.
Then honestly there’s not too much to say about the story itself, it all boils down to boy meets girl out of his league but tries anyway, hilarity ensues. What really is worth mentioning though is how the movie handles it’s transitions and characters moving, Scott is a dreamy guy and there’s a whole lot of transitions where you’re wondering what the hell is going to happen next or even wonder if he’s dreaming or not. It stays entertaining that way and the movie’s very self-aware as Scott will at times even straight up ask: “Am I dreaming?” while staring at someone. It may sound pretty awkward but it’s really entertaining.
If you’re looking for a lighthearted action comedy and don’t mind a lot of cuts and being engorged in gaming and comicbook geekiness, I can definitely recommend Scott Pilgrim to you.
Scott - Ramona - Young Neill - Knives - Kim - Stephen
Eve No Jikan - Time of EVE
I also watched another movie, though this one was not as well known or even shown in cinema’s outside of Japan. This movie is called Even No Jikan, which translated becomes Time of EVE. It is a story about a boy and his friend and their soceity wherein androids are rather common in the household. It plays with the question of how this would go and infact it starts off with some ads on tv about people who are ‘addicted’ to androids and some anti-android campaign, which I would say you would also see in the real world.
It all starts when Rikuo, the main character is going through the logs of his housedroid, later called “Sammy” and discovers that she’d been to a strange place after returning home at a weird time. It wasn’t programmed so he got curious and after talking about it with his friend Masaki at school, they decide to go see where the ‘droid spent her time and what she could’ve been doing. Upon entering the place they find that it’s a small cafe which has some unique rules to it, which boil down to: Everyone inside has to be treated equally. What this means is that there is no distinction between human and android as they look entirely alike. For androids it means that they can act ‘normally’ and disable the “Circle” that normally has to float above their head to indicate that they are infact an android.
So the boys get very intrigued by the entire situation and they try to figure out who is human and who is android, meanwhile some small social things happen and they get to know the commoners one by one. That is essentially what the entire movie is about, the questions about what the androids are doing, how much they know and learn and think and if they’re fully sentient or not. Those are very interesting topics in my opinion and I can see this becoming a question that we’re eventually going to face as mankind.
The movie is actually a “Season 1″ of multiple as it also touches upon people who seem to be governing over the androids and monitoring them as they learn and interact. This project seems to be called Code:Life, which I think is a pretty deliberate and funny name. Nevertheless, if you’re up for some relaxed and entertaining fun and the subject interests you at all, you should give Eve No Jikan a watch.
The Cafe with some commoners