“Your complicated thesis intrigues me. Tell me more.”

broderic on September 16, 2008

Burn After Reading

After their Oscar winning triumph, No Country For Old Men, the Coen brothers come back with a dark comedy, their bread and butter. Some will note that the overtones of the movie resemble Fargo in its pitch black humor of money, murder and mayhem. Of course, you wouldn’t know with the ridiculous ad campaign on tv. It’s not a comedy, but a thriller with very light comedic touches.

What some would also note is how closely it also resembles one of their worst works, The Ladykillers. The archly dark comedy is there and the laughs seem forced from the setup to the letdown. It’s not a comedy, but a thriller with hamminess that’ll raise you cholesterol level.

It is mainly about money, and how that affects everyone. The lack of it drives two of the sillier protagonists. Having too much seems to be the wife’s and Clooney’s excuse for sack diving. John Malkovich is uptight because of being a rich, white guy of the intel branch. And every one is paranoid and acting wrong on misinformation.

I did not like it one bit. Because it reminded me too much of their later earnest comedies, The Ladykillers, especially. I was hoping for their early slapstick: Raising Arizona or Hudsucker Proxy. They’ve really evolved and matured. Now if I can get to understanding them again I’d be happier watching them in the theatre.

2 of 5 stars.

“‘You’re gonna be big, son. Bigger than… Say, Dave. What’s the name of that guy who’s really big?”

broderic on September 14, 2008

How do we think? What are emotions? What makes my personality different from yours? How is it that I am an individual with particular tastes, particular beliefs, and particular obsessions? Why are mine different than yours when you, like me, are flesh and blood, skin and bones, mind, body and heart?

The other day, my co-worker brought up the topic of OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. She related a story of a friend who she thought had it. I thought it strange. She thought it strange, too. All I could come up with is the physical imbalance of chemicals in her friend’s cranium causing a short circuit in the way this person thinks. This imbalance causes the friend to think obsessively on one thing even though they know it too be a curious way to behave. I found my self saying that it is inexplicable to understand what makes this imbalance of chemicals manifest itself as a thought to keep obsessing about a particular thing.

Pointing out the chemical imbalance is something my mom, a psychiatrist, would say. I don’t think that is all there is too it.

Our body takes in nutrients: protein, electrolytes, amino acids, and uses it to make our bodies function properly. Not only our muscles, but our mind and nervous system of which the brain is the primary organ. We all get them. Our brains and body convert them in a similar fashion. Yet, we turn up as individual personalities. How does this happen? And is it a matter of the difference amongst us at the quantum level?

I’m sure scientists have been searching for the answer. I’m also sure that this is a philosophical question too.

We are all human, but we are all different.

“You’re from Wisconsin. Artificial light is fascinating to you.”

broderic on September 14, 2008

Link of the Day [9.14.08]

Is liking anime sexy girl figurines a strange sexual fetish? Or does this article not get the otaku culture from which the figure collecting hobby arises from?

I get the feeling that the author is attempting to assume a provocative stance on the strangeness of a foreign culture being brought to our shores by the manga and anime industry in order to criticize it. He wants to point out how ugly it can be or how very strange the fetishism found in the otaku culture is. While he does make a point on how slack the censorship is in the Japanese culture, he makes it sound very prurient which I don’t think it is.

I don’t know. At times, it is strange, and at times, it is rather sexy. Yet, pornographic it is not. Unless you look at all the hentai manga and anime.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26639577/

“Did you commit any crime that was not SAT related?”

broderic on September 11, 2008

Link of the Day [9.11.08]

To comemerate the tragedy of seven years ago, let’s dive into one of the funniest conspiracy theories out there. I love me a conspiracy theory but this one is pretty dumb. The twenty dollar bill prophesied the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon? Please. Tphttt.

BTW, whatever became of that guy who masterminded it all? Didn’t he die in Abu Ghraib? No? Remember, this happened during a Republican presidency, and the mastermind is still out there all throughout a Republican presidency. Another fucktard Republican is trying to trick you into believing that the fucktard Republican party can protect you. They are only scamming you into believing that they are tight on the national security front.

I can prove it. Do you have a twenty?

http://www.foldmoney.com/

“Geek test!”

broderic on September 10, 2008

Link of the Day [9.10.08]

So. How do you find NewsRadio quotes? Google.

Here’s a tip: to search a particular site add “site:foobarbaz.com” to your search query. Of course, replace “foobarbaz.com” with whatever site you want to search for your term.

Today’s link is an example. Enjoy all that NewsRadio goodness! And post your favorites in the comments!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&
q=memorable+quotes+newsradio+
site%3Aimdb.com&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

“You can’t let Mr. James take away Matthew. He’s not his little puppet for his amusement. He has a very important role here.”

broderic on September 9, 2008

I just signed up for Nico Video. It’s some kind of Japanese site. I have no idea what it’s about. I think they are producing video and putting it up there. I just joined to watch Penguin Musume. No idea what it’s about. There’s even no fansub. Just yet. But I laughed at the first episode.

So how did I register? They have a spanish version of the site. I had to use the rudimentary spanish I know to register for a Japanese site. Some kind of weirdness is that.

“Dave, if by some incredible miracle Bill does come back, don’t tell him I put his coffee mug in my pants.”

broderic on September 9, 2008

Link of the Day [9.09.08]

That’s one crazy link, hunh? I know that it is better web etiquette to put an actual descriptive phrase for the link enclosed in those anchor tags, but I’m just continuing on with the grand tradition of the raw URL, because it’s the way it looks if I post via email. Keep it the same for both web-based or email-based posts and you don’t have to worry about the format. You do have to worry about the length of the line, because iPhone wraps it weird;.

Anywhoo, today’s link is to OtakuUSA magazine’s article on “Gateway Anime.” That’s anime that leads you to becoming a life long fan. It’s similar to how cigarettes or pot can lead you to harder drugs like crystal meth or special K. I know my gateway anime is Robotech. I did watch a few episodes of StarBlazers, but it was usually on crappy UHF and hard to get good reception, so it was tough to watch. And I did love watching Speed Racer and Kimba, the White Lion, but being so young at the time, I didn’t think about them being “Japanese Animation.” They were just some cartoon.

Robotech was different. You couldn’t wait for it to come on, so you’d hurry home to watch it or set the VCR to tape it. Then you’d watch it over and over. And not too long afterwards, you buy your first Valkyrie fighter. And it was cool. Next came the models. And finally, you’d get that first crush on a 2D girl. Oh, Lisa Hayes (Misa Hiyase in the original Macross), forget that lame Rick Hunter…

Hunh? Where was I?

Oh, yeah, Robotech was my gateway anime that started me down the anime fandom road. Not to mention School Rumble.

http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?
sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&
tier=3&nid=F15C3E187035436091591E5987742890