Toy Story 3

broderic on July 10, 2010

After releasing the very lyrical movies, Up and Wall-E, Pixar returns to the movie franchise that put them on the map. Excuse me, I don’t understand the appeal of the Toy Story franchise. I may be a simpleton and one of the few that didn’t find Toy Story 3 as another Pixar knock-out, blockbuster hit. My low opinion of the Toy Story franchise has biased me into not paying proper respect to the movies. I just can’t understand it.

RottenTomatoes.com has Toy Story 3 at 99%. I may have seen a different movie. Wait a second while I go read some of the blurbs there.

Okay, I’m back. While it does top the tomato meter, a lot of the blurbs give it decent coverage following in the previous movies’ greatness yet also acknowledging the formality of this final installment.

The movie doesn’t wow me like the other Pixar films. Even the ones I don’t regard highly, Finding Nemo and Ratatouille, I can find something to like. The Toy Story movies I find nada. Does this make me soulless?

What I find wrong with the Toy Story franchise is that they’re routine. Maybe the first installment might be a groundbreaker, but the rest I find unappealing. Yes, I know that their stories reflect how we grow up but that don’t mean squat to me.

The final movie just wasn’t impressive enough. It’s better than some other animated schlock, but not high in the Pixar patheon.

Most other Pixar movies give me hope that animated films can move beyond the kiddie movie ghetto, but Toy Story is the quintessential kiddie movie at least superficially. It drives me crazy that they don’t make it awesome. There was a point where I was hopeful that Pixar was gonna be brave and make the movie bold, but I knew that it had to have the happy ending.

That being said. The movie is solid story telling. Flawless in execution. Kids will like it many adults as well. Ho-hum.

3 of 5 stars. Plus a meh.

She Knows How to Use ’em

broderic on July 10, 2010

Was browsing through the bookstore tonight. I know, right? A Friday night and your humble narrator was at the bookstore. It’s my home away from home. I was just browsing the manga stacks picking up the second volume of Twin Spica, BrowserMetrics’ current nice read, when I saw the book of books, Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential!! Yeah, I know, right? Of course I flipped through it.

Hentai! But that isn’t the point of this post.

In the books, there was plenty of pictures of school girls in short, pleated skirts. Lots of Grade D zettai ryouiki. Hentai! But this isn’t the point of this post.

I am a leg man. They’re my favorite part of the female body.

What I noticed though from the book and what has been kind of making me sad is that Japanese girls have chubby legs. Their legs on average are not very shapely. That’s a shame considering that their country loves the skirt and loves the bare thighs. It’s a country that has coined a brilliant word for those bare thighs: zettai ryouiki — “absolute territory.” Think about that. A word to describe the flesh from the hem of the skirt to the top of the socks. Brilliant. Yet, their women have legs that don’t inspire leg men. Even my favorite, Nozomi-chan, her legs are not very shapely, which makes me sad, because with such a cute face, yumm. Lots of cute, cute girls. Lots of short skirts. Not too much shapely legs.

Perhaps my definition of great legs is completely different. Perhaps I’ve got too high standards. No. I’m sure my standards are too high.

But I am a leg man. They’re my favorite part of the female body. Make sure you have the legs to show a little skin. I’ll love you forever.

Now, with that said, I’ll be working on my girls in glasses post next.

Local Comic Shop

broderic on July 7, 2010

It takes me to the future.

I just finished reading the first volume of Bakuman. It’s not due out for another month.

Thank Kami-sama for the local comic shop. They don’t care too much about manga, but know that it has its readership so they just plop all the manga they get out. They usually have titles available a month or so before they should really ship. Pick it up and read it. You’ll be ahead of the class.

Back to Bakuman, which I liked. The story starts with two junior high students who befriend over manga. The smart guy, the instigator, wants to become a manga-ka. He finds the artist’s notebook and attempts to convince him to be his partner. There is a girl whom the artist has a crush on, and in convenient fashion, he’s proposing to her and blurting out his plans to be a manga-ka. The story reminds me a lot of Ichigo 100% without the panty flashes. I’m digging it a lot.

I’m on the look out for he next volume, which should’ve been at my local comic shop back in February!

Costs of cars adds up

broderic on July 6, 2010

I washed both cars this weekend.

Two of them.

But really, I wanted to detail them. Wash, clean, wax, shine. Both of them. But I have no inclination of doing a full detail, because the time spent is best used for sitting around the house and watching television.

In reality, owning two cars sucks. Owning one is terrible, but two is triply terrible. You have two too many things to worry about.

How are the tires on the car? How are the tires for both? Do they need to be replaced? What kind and how much?

How does the engine run? Is it service time already? What’s that squeaking when I brake? Why is the engine idling rough? What and how much?

It is a pain. On my wallet. On my time. On my peace of mind.

Happy 4th!

broderic on July 4, 2010

Independence Day! No more kings!

Except with the way we’re being ruled it feels as if a king would be much better. Fools all over the place.

No more kings!