Words for later
Late // The Debut
Words for later
Madoka Magica // Episode One Review
What can I say so far? It seems to be a very typical magic girl anime, at least from what the first episode has given me. You’ve got the normal change scene, similar other magic anime I’ve seen in the past, like Sailor Moon. You’ve also got the cute contractor, a fairly commonly used trope in Magic girl anime. To explain, for some reason or another, these girls are called upon to save the world, in some form or another. They usually are contacted by some creature, typically some form of cat. This one is no different.
The only thing I’ve noticed thus far is the anime seems to be very self-aware. The first example of this comes when one of the character’s is talking to another about the new girl in class, to which the main character says something very airy and plot-driven, to which another replies, “You’re acting like a character in an anime!”. Later, another brief moment of self awareness is brought to the table when they meet one of the magic girls, dressed in her changed clothes. One of the girls turns around and says, “What’s with that girl? Now she’s attacking people in cosplay!” The mention of both of these proves the show is at the very least aware of its audience, and I’m hoping this shines through more as the series progresses.
In terms of proper artwork, I think the animation style in this one is pretty unique. The girls encounter what they call a “witch”, and the animation style overlaps typical “anime” style animation with drastically different art styles, very abstract and defined. I am curious to see how they play with this. By that I mean, if they are going to use the same type of abstract art or if they will play with various art styles in those scenes.
The characters are fairly concrete, Madoka being innocent but thoughtful, Sayaki being tough and protective, Homura being mysterious and lofty with an agenda yet unknown. I’m interested to see these characters develop.
My only concern for this series is the same of that I had on my original watch of Sailor Moon. I don’t want to watch something that gives the main character something new to fight every episode for the sake of episodes, and lacks deep and thoughtful plot development. (To clarify here, I’m not saying Sailor Moon lacked plot development, just that that was the impression I received from it.)
Lifetime of a typical eSports game
Most video games have their highs and lows happen rapidly like a quick burning candle, bright and brilliant but quickly to fade into nothingness without a trace. However this doesn’t stop all kinds of people from dedicating an extreme amount of time to further their skills at these games, potentially ruining their future life in terms of living in comfort rather than struggle. Games that hit the eSport scene might last a few years on an average. Such games like Counter Strike, Quake , Call of Duty, Starcraft, DOTA and countless others have had spot in the limelight if only for a moment. The player base will bask in the glory of all their seemingly dedicated fans but as the sun must set the games lifetime will reach the end of the line.
With the recent rise of League of Legends as the current powerhouse it is a wonder if this candle will ever burn out since it only seems to grow with each passing year. The company itself has put forth millions across the globe to make sure they are “the game to watch”. While a huge risk to do so this only shows Riot Game’s confidence that their game is more than just a typical hot and drop online game. While personally I have found myself burnt out of playing the game. I can only watch as millions of fresh players create accounts to play the game all their friends have been talking about. Then again I’d put myself in a special category where I’ve played quite a number of hours in the past and became quite good but not enough to be a professional. As such I know the game like the backside of my hand which makes it boring. Yet the game has massive depth with the over 140 completely different characters to choose from. All with customization outside of the game to mix-max strategy with balance patches the developers release about each month to ensure nothing is too strong or too weak for too long.
I regress, when one has played through the game enough and achieved enough skill to play with the top 1% of the ranked ladder(which is separate from the pro-tournaments) you understand that the game will behave like any other and follow the same old patterns. So while I might be moving on to the next game, I am apart of the minority who is bored with League of Legends.
API Post
It think this is the coolest thing!
The state of California recently did a census and it showed that API population makes up about 14.5%..of California. Because of that census and the huge number of API that reside in L.A. County, “For the first time, Advancing Justice-L.A. received a grant from the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), to provide English as a Second Language (ESL) and Civics classes to the AAPI communities of L.A.”. The article continues to go on about how the funds will first be dispersed. “The first component of the grant will teach their clients, specifically in the Chinese and Korean communities, how to speak English and preparing them to apply for citizenship.”
The article is definitely a good read! Check it out!
http://www.cafwd.org/reporting/entry/new-grant-bolsters-asian-american-pacific-islander-community
Wedding Banquet: A Queer Story of Two Men and a Woman
This movie showed me a variety of culture mixing in addition to some traditional values that retain from one’s origins. The mixing of marriage traditions was cool to see It clearly had a huge importance to Wai’ Tung’s parents. The father was an influential man but with his health problems always put the film in a “Something very bad could happen at any second” category especially with the tension of the gay couple with a traditional Chinese parents living with them trying to hide their secret.
Tradition was a powerful theme throughout this film. From the traditional wedding ceremony/rituals to the wife cooking/carrying the luggage. How Wai changed immediately from holding the luggage for the one PHD opera lady to his “wife” being the physical laborer in the face of the parents. The final meeting of Simon and Wai Tung’s father was very impactful to me but I wonder if the father would of been so supportive if Wei Wei wasn’t bearing his grand child, though it seemed like the father was just happy his son was happy especially given how he himself was basically forced into a marriage.
Though I found a few scenes that made me uncomfortable I enjoyed watching this movie. The father made me laugh too many times for me to count. His role was extremely entertaining while also being a traditional Chinese father.
Dave + Music Videos
On the reading of Cibo Matto I appreciated the uniqueness of their band and the fact that they didn’t identify as a “female band” but instead as just a band. However in their regards to complaining about fans and riding on the feminist train I failed to see why they were bothered with fans asking them about food, favorite food, etc. When in reality the fans were most likely asking about their favorite food because they were singing about food, not because they were women. Beyond that their music was really peculiar and I personally did not enjoy listening to it though their music videos were really cool. To me the songs lacked some depth, then again most popular songs never have any.
Regardless their angry yelling and such made it highly unappealing and the only redeemable quality I have about them is that it’s a unique style of song topics. I want to say 90% of all songs in general are about love or heartbreak so a new kind of cultural expression is one that is welcomed. I just feel like their style could be more refined to be more pleasurable to listen to or have another layer of depth to the lyrics. Or maybe I’m just not thinking hard enough about the songs that we listened to. Music is such a potent force for humanity to express their thoughts and ideals so it is one we can be very critical of at the same time.
Kabuki and Drag Queens?
ka·bu·ki- a form of traditional Japanese drama with highly stylized song, mime, and dance, now performed only by male actors, using exaggerated gestures and body movements to express emotions, and including historical plays, domestic dramas, and dance pieces.
Created around the year 1600, around the same time the English began to form colonies on the American continent, the history of Kabuki is as long as that of the United States and just as multi-faceted. While it barely scratches the surface, the brief description of the history of Kabuki that follows will attempt to give a general overview of the theater.
Kabuki was created by Okuni, a shrine maiden from Izumo Shrine. Her performances in the dry river beds of the ancient capital of Kyoto caused a sensation and soon their scale increased and a number of rival companies arose. Early Kabuki was much different from what is seen today and was comprised mostly of large ensemble dances performed by women. Most of these women acted as prostitutes off stage and finally the government banned women from the stage in an effort to protect public morales, just one in a long history of government restrictions placed on the theater.
This ban on women, though, is often seen as a good move because it necessitated the importance of skill over beauty and put more stress on drama than dance, putting Kabuki on the path to become a dramatic art form. Another development was the appearance of onnagata female role specialists, men who played women.
So..It wasn’t a big deal that men dressed as women..or Female illusionists…and wore make up and female clothing…Obviously they thought that it took more skill to be an actor…than be a women..I laugh at that a little bit.. Anyways, drag essentially has been around for centuries and it wasn’t seen as a problem in Japan. Of course, drag is drag no matter how you look at it..But it definitely was the not the drag culture that exists today.
Dave Readings Coccections 2/6/2014
My absolute favorite chapter was…Chapter 15 Cibo Matto’s Stereotype A….
There have been a few times where I felt I really connected with the reading and that was when we have some kind of visual or audio to go off of that helps the discussion. I have to admit that, during the whole time we watched the Cibo Matto music video’s, I have never felt more confused in my life. I tried to read the lyrics to get more out of what they were singing about, but still…confused. So, reading through the chapter definitely shed some light on Cibo Matto. When we heard “know your chicken” I seriously thought it was a reference to a vagina, like a woman’s reference to her vagina. Quote “i know my chicken, you got to know your chicken”. But really, like Dave say’s Cibo Matto means “food crazy” in italian. That was my first impression. I suppose I should keep my mind out of the gutter…just saying haha.
Anyways…on page 295 under the section Cutesy J Pop, with an Edge, I personally would classify them as Kawaii [cute]…at first! However, when we say the music video…I forget the name, but they were singing with a live band and it turned into a rap..That was obviously no more Kawaii [cute]. Let me rephrase that; they were not cute anymore.
The Power Of Music
“Where Is The Love” by The Black Eyed Peas is very powerful and moving song. This song also carries the word controversy by the question mark on the Bible. Before coming to Evergreen I would have only thought of one reason why the Bible could be controversial and that is by not everyone believing in God and people believing in God. After taking many programs dealing with race at Evergreen I understand now that the Bible can have more then one reason why it would have a question mark on it. Many used the Bible as a scapegoat of all the wrong that they have caused. People often use the Bible to feel good for the bad. The bible has empowered people to believing that owning slaves is fine because in the Bible slaves are mention and are apart of the books. The Bible has always been a controversial subject. The Black Eye Peas made it known by putting a question mark on the bible that it one sticky subject that we can’t ever get passed.
Different cultures are able to come together through music. I know when my family is happy and having a good time the Motown music is playing. The entire family is not only singing but dancing. Without even hesitating or thinking twice I can feel the love and the togetherness as my entire family is together. I can’t imagine a life without music. Its a main source of entertainment. In chapter two when the author mentions how Viet Nam’s government has a lot of power in controlling the music world. I think people in America would go crazy! Our source to getting music is through downloading rather thats getting it on iTunes or stealing it off the internet.