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Thursday, July 25, 2002
WOW, I HAD NO IDEA HOW GOOD THIS SERIES WAS...
I couldnt call this an ode, cause i havent finished the series yet. Ever since i watched Trigun, ive been hooked on anime. Its not cartoons, way different than that. Cartoons have a bad connotation, something lowbrow and simple. Nuh uh, anime is what i consider to be a visual art. Animation at its finest... in most cases. Trigun stands up there as my favorite, cause of various reasons ill reveal later on. Cowboy Bebop is also one of my favorites. Its fluidity and really unique take on the cowboy/samurai sensibility is what drew me too it (not to mention the 1st ep when Spike pulled out some jeet kune do... so awesome "u rely on ur eyes too much"). Then, there was a drought of good anime series, mostly cause i havent been looking for any. By off chance i obtained this one series from my good friend James. I heard from another good friend, his roomie Don, that this was a kick-ass series. And he wasnt joking, it really is that good. Its none other than...
Noir. A pretty recent series that came out last yr or so. Noir has multiple meanings. In french, its means black or dark (i think...). Within the series, its a word that alludes to two maidens, harbingers of death. And it also refers to a codename used by the most successful contract killers within the underground. The story involves Mireille, a prolific contract killer, and also a knockout frenchwoman (corsican by birth). A pretty cryptic e-mail leads her to a young girl, who goes by the name Yumura Kirika. Thats the name she found on the school id card in the room that she woke up in one day. No memories of the past at all, jus an inherent knowledge of the underground and ways of the assassin. Their paths, guided by destiny, intertwine and soon they become the pair of assassins known as Noir. So far i cant say much on the series, since i only watched 8 eps... but the stuff ive seen are proof enough for me. A really good anime series hooks me in during the 1st ep. I had to get used to the kinda jerky pace of it... jerky as in slow, then fast, then slow. But, once i saw the scene were Yumura dispatches an enemy by hanging him w/ his own necktie, i was drawn in to the rest. Despite its dark mood and graphic implied violence, its intriques me. The relationship between the pair and their characters are really complex, and thats what i like best about this series. Mireille is an interesting character, a true professional scarred by a horrific past. But, Yumura is even more mysterious, and thats jus my style. No recollection of a past, and seemingly grappling w/ some sort of morality, even tho she doesnt feel any remorse in her line of work. In its trippiness, Noir reminds me a little of Perfect Blue. The animation is very fluid and very detailed. Very stylish as well, with nice contrasts between colors and such. And the overall storyline is very enjoyable, even tho its trippy and dark. I especially liked the episode entitled "Stray Cat", which involves a hit on a small town saint of sorts. The target is a weathered and beaten old man who works tirelessly for the wellbeing of the small town in the countryside of France. He is seemingly atoning for his sins, as he was a KGB agent who authorised the massacre of the Tartar minority population during the Soviet Union's heyday. Noir's client turns out to be a Tartar, obviously out for revenge. Meanwhile, Yumura takes care of a stray cat she sees in the alleyway. Turns out that the cat belongs to the "saint"... and Yumura decides the sooner she takes him out, the better. But, interrupted by the townspeople, she takes her leave instead w/ a childhood photo of the "saint". Finding more about his past, Noir realizes the ill-fated childhood of the "saint", who had to watch the murder of his family at the hands of the Tartars. Mireille sums it up by saying, "i dont know whats the cause and result anymore." (Oh, one other thing i forgot to mention on the original post. They had a real nice piece of imagery running throughout the episode, which was the gentle snowfall in the background. Snowfall, at least to me, depicts a certain purity, blanketing everything in white, w/ nothing gone untouched. And in this pure, haunting setting, the "saint" is trying to wipe his soul clean as well. I think its a nice touch.) I liked this episode cause it deals w/ morality, not a clear-cut right or wrong, rather a morality that can only be determined by the self. And it also alludes to circular causation. Not everything follows along in a linear cause-effect pattern. Some things go along full-circle, forever trapped in a vicious cycle. War, violence, revenge... most vices, go full circle. Thats y this episode stands as my favorite so far, and thats why Noir is such a good series. Not to mention the soundtrack fits the mood and the whole nature of the series perfectly. Yea, its real good stuff. Thanks James, its awesome. Well, more to come soon.
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
LAN PARTY GOODNESS:
Well, thats what ive been doin for the past 3 days... and im still a little bit tired. It was over at Gary's house in Chino, and u can tell it was in Chino for one very good reason... which will come later. Anyway, since i was one of the late ones, i got set up in the garage. It wasnt too shabby, excluding several uninvited guests... Chino is known to have a large population of cows, which meant lotsa horseflies, mixed in w/ some mosquitos. Those things were annoying as hell, especially when u turn a corner, line up a perfect shot... get bit, and get head-shotted urself. Doh. Yeah, thats basically what i did gaming-wise over at gary's; play up the counter-strike like there was no tommorow. At some times, it didnt seem like there was... cause we slept once daylight broke. I went back and forth from the lan party to home, since my aunt was goin back to Korea that Saturday. I wanted to spend some time w/ her family b4 she had to leave, especially w/ my lil' cousin. Shes taken quite a liking to me, maybe cause i whirl her around a lot... ehh. Shes a good kid, very talkative for her age. Sometimes i dont kno what to say to her. When it was time to say goodbye, i didnt really kno what to say to the lil' kid. That was the first time she didnt have anything to say. Ah well, my aunt and her family made it back safe, im glad. Hope to see them soon in Korea; quite a long time since ive been there. Anyway, i head on back to the lan party after that. There was a good number of ppl there, but due to the nature of the gathering... there was a good majority of sausage. At least a few girls dropped by, including Amy (James' Esperanza friend), Michelle (i didnt expect her, but always nice to have her around), and Christine, Byran's sister. The best part of the lan, well for me anyway, was when we had a good number of ppl playin cs on the lan. Especially when Shuan and Train0r were playin against each other. That was hilarious. I had an off and on couple days record-wise for cs, depending on if Gary's friend Jin was playing. That guy is good, he can awp pretty well... On sat nite, a bunch of the guys decide to play a little b-ball. It was alrite, considering there were no lights and i was playin in sandals. But it was fun; Don, Phil and Eliot were animals. I didnt really do much, but its all good. After that, it was Dennys time. Since its one of the few places open at nite, they jack up the prices during that time. So i decide to split a smothered fries plate w/ Shuan. And yes, it was a ripoff, there was no bacon on that thing. Worst smothered fries plate... evar. On the last day, we played a little bit of cs and headed over to Carl's Jr to get some lunch. I left the party feelin pretty good, but i was covered w/ bug bites all over my body. And in the weirdest places too... ehh. All in all, good get-together. Mad props to Gary once again, and the electric bill wont be $5000... hehe.
FOLLOW UP:
Being at a lan for 3 or so days can mess up ur biological clock. Most of my time today was spent recuperating and convincing my body to sleep at a decent time. Nothing much to do, jus catch up w/ some good korean dramas and such. The boredom reached a peak around 8, so i had to preoccupy myself w/ something. And what better way to do it than to tire urself out. Gotta keep the GUNNSSS well oiled, right? After doing a little light lifting, using the tips i got from Kenny, i was pretty exhausted. When i go back up to Berk and practice some wushu again... oh man will it hurt. Ironically, i turn on the tv and 2 shows were on about fear. One was fear factor... which is alrite except for the parts where u have to eat testicles, and the other was M Night Shalayman's? "Signs... of Fear", which was some sort of special. I took a light breather outside, and thought about the fears that plagued me for a moment. I havent thought to myself for awhile now, but i decided to tonite, for no real reason. The moon was in full bloom tonite, so bright it hurt my eyes. Ive had, and in some cases still do, a good many fears within me. One big one is heights, ive been afraid of heights ever since i went to the Grand Canyon. All the other kids would lean over real far down to see the magnificent view below, but i tended to stay back, real low to the ground. As with many acrophobiacs, its not the height that gets me; its the prospect of falling down that height. Now, im not as afraid, sometimes its a good rush to fall from that height... but thats only sometimes. Another fear is that of the unknown of the night. Ghosts, restless spirits, that sort of thing. When its all dark and quiet throughout the house, every shadow and object within a familiar room takes on a whole new aura. Walking down that dark hall, my eyes are wide open, my back always to the wall. Yea, but those are fears that make u twitch and pump adrenaline into urself, that threaten ur insticts to live and such. Other fears i have are those that reside deep within, naggin fears that are unsettling and always seem to turn up when ur alone. I have always believed that in this little world of ours, theres someone out there for everybody. A kindred spirit, some1 who u can communicate with on a different plane, and not necessarily with words. Sometimes its best to communicate w/ jus the feeling. I have always told any1 that theres some1 out there for them, no matter what. And being the optimist that i am, i believed that i would meet a girl like that. But, theres this little naggin doubt that says otherwise, which says to me that there might not be some1 like that out there for me, and i would live out my life without finding some1 like that. Not having been in a serious relationship, even coming close to something like that, that naggin fear does exist within me. Maybe i dont kno how to play the game, or its that maybe i still think there are rules. In any case, im still afraid that ill be a bachelor forever. Dont get me wrong, i dont want to be in a relationship for the hell of it. I want it to mean something.... eh, jus something stuck in the back of my mind. But, life is too precious to be preoccupied with this kind of stuff for a long time. Total time spent on thinking about this stuff: 10-15 min or so. Its nice to jus sit back and let ur mind wander from time to time (ie when writting a paper, in that lull between studying and sleep, when the wall doesnt seem as interesting as it was b4...). But, living isnt all about thinking. Well, i had fun for the past couple days, w00t. Not much good quality summer time left. More action, not so much thinking. Take care yall. More to come soon.
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