I Got Out Of The Restaurant Business Just In Time

Well, maybe we’re not quite to the point when we no longer need human servers…

Snow White And The Seven Leafe Knights

“Pretear” was something recommended to me by Netflix because of all my ratings. It kind of falls under the category of “magical girl” which is precisely what “Sailor Moon” is. I can’t say I’m usually a big fan of this type of anime, “Sailor Moon” being the major exception because it was my very first anime ever. I thought I’d give this a chance, though, and I’m glad I did. Japanese anime comes in three basic flavors: many seasons, many episodes (“Sailor Moon” was five seasons long with 200 episodes total); more typical 26-30 episode series; super-short 13 episode series. There are also 4-6 episode “mini-series,” but I’ve only had one good experience with those (“Macross Plus“). Anyhow, “Pretear” was only a 13 episode show, so it felt a little more like a short story than a whole novel. Short story and magical girl don’t taste that great together because there’s usually a long animation of a transformation of some sort and then a flashy battle with the monster. The action was majorly toned down in this show in order to emphasize the characters more. This was a good move, although at first the characters in the show were mostly just annoying.

Another anime convention I’ve noticed: Almost every show starts off funny/silly/ridiculous. This section can last up to 70% of the entire series which then turns gravely serious for the last several episodes. This show was exactly like that, except the beginning frivolity was confusing and not entertaining for me. Once the more serious business started taking place it got much better. After the first disc (of four) I almost canceled the rest of them because I didn’t want to waste my time on a bad/boring anime (“Lain” anyone?). I’m glad I didn’t cancel, though, because the rest of the show kept getting better with each episode. It wasn’t a great show by any means, but I enjoyed it as the nice little story it was. The weirdest part is that it was marketed as a re-telling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. For me this was a huge stretch, considering that the only parallels are that there is a girl with who meets seven friends/helpers and that she gets kissed while “sleeping” at one point. In other words, don’t watch this show if you are excited about a new version of the fairy tale. But anyway…

**** out of *****

Jane in Progress

I’ve talked about my love for television before; I’ve discussed how I’ve developed a great appreciation for the medium since starting with something I wish I could forget. One of my first true loves of TV was “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” I started out resisting this show despite it being one of my friends’ favorites, but once I was in college and actually sat down to watch it every week I started mildly enjoying it. Its campy mix of humor, horror, and teenage life was still a little hard to swallow. That is, until I saw an episode entitled “The Body.”

I can remember it now: sitting on my bed in my dorm room, knees up to my chest, wrapped in the Magic Blanket, hoping Punky wouldn’t come back, and being complete enthralled by probably the best episode of network television I’d ever seen at the time. Needless to say, from then on I was a huge fan of the show, and I’m a proud owner of the box set of Joss Whedon’s masterpiece. While catching up on episodes I’d missed in my early, misguided, and naive dismissal of the series I began to notice that each of them was, in fact, not written by the same person. I now realize that the same writer almost never writes every episode of a television series (I actually can’t think of any shows like that at the moment).

Then, when I started my addiction to the internet, I found a website called Whedonesque that gives daily updates on Joss Whedon, his projects, and anyone who was involved with any of his projects. This is where I was directed to a weblog written by one of the writers from “Buffy,” Jane Espenson. Her blog is one of the most interesting things that I read on the internet. It’s mostly a course, for those wanting to get into the television writing business, on how to write spec scripts and submit them. She also talks about what she has for lunch every day just as a fun little addition. Reading her blog, entitled Jane in Progress, has become a way for me to have insight into the world of television that I never thought I’d have. She talks about comedy writing, over-used phrases/situations, technical specifics concerning script formatting, and what it’s like to work with different people in the business. And now that she’s on the writing team for “Battlestar Galactica” I’m anxious to see what she has to say about working on that show.

The road to this find was a long one, but I’m so happy to know about Jane’s blog. I think if you have any interest whatsoever in television or film, or Hollywood in general you’ll be able to find something you’ll like. Oh… and it hasn’t ruined my enjoyment of anything because I know too much behind-the-scenes stuff. Reading what Ms. Espenson has to say has only improved my appreciation of scripted audio-visual media. Check it out and hopefully you’ll enjoy too!

“About” Page Updated

About Three Suns Of Thra has been updated to include the names of all contributing members. There are only three now (including myself) but hopefully there will be a few more in the coming weeks/months.

Thanks to b1ngo and now mythezza (Wind in the Wires) for their contributions.

Man Pees His Way Out Of Avalanche

Short but funny article. Best line, “Rescue teams found Richard Kral drunk and staggering along a mountain path four days after his Audi car was buried in the Slovak Tatra mountains.” ARTICLE

The Puppet Master Dance

Been wondering what good ol’ Pool Eyes has been up to lately? Well here it is:

Reks, I think this will even give me nightmares.

Time Spying, No Spying, Scary Spying

“Watches so minimalist they lack time function.”

 

For some reason I think it would be fun to live in a house like this, especially if you had to paddle to a separate pod for breakfast.

 

These are actually stuffed-animal-disguised binoculars. So if you want to spy on someone without them knowing your identity now they’ll just think some creepy, locust-eyed pig is looking at them.

Another Worthy Kirainet Reference

Why can’t our “Don’t feed the ____” signs be more like this?

What If Your Desk Was Your Computer?

This would definitely be a space saver.

Silent Cylon, Johnny’s Return, Another Superman, and Future Closets

I don’t know what the general opinion is of people I interact with, but my opinion of Kevin Smith is… let’s just say it’s not that great. I’ve moderately enjoyed a few of his movies despite the terrible acting in some of them (the only thing groundbreaking about Clerks was that is was successful and then touted as revolutionizing film somehow). I think he’s extremely popular amongst the nerd community, however, and this really is just very surprising to me. I didn’t have any negative thoughts about him either, until I watched the commentary on the director’s cut of Donnie Darko. It contained great commentary by Richard Kelly (the director) but his co-commentator (Smith) made himself look like a huge idiot/fraud that knows nothing about making movies other than “point the camera at the people and make them talk.” I was ashamed for him, especially when Kelly kept spitting out all this profound, excellent, thought-provoking information about his film-making process.

Anyway, the sad news I came upon today is that Kevin Smith will be directing an episode of Battlestar Galactica in its final season. I just don’t know what else to say. I’m very disappointed. (By the way, the above picture does have relevance… it’s Tricia Helfer (Number 6/Caprica 6/Gina) from BSG.

 

Now for some off-setting good news: John Williams is in talks to compose the music for the seventh and final Harry Potter film! His score for the first movie was great and he really knows how to create a memorable theme. He’s also getting ready to start scoring the new Indiana Jones movie in October.

 

 

 

 

For those upset by the choice to cast someone other than “Smallville”’s Tom Welling in the latest feature length Superman movie, you can now rejoice that he is mostly likely going to be in the Justice League of America movie. Well, kind of, at least. This movie is probably going to be all done in motion-captured CG just like Beowulf. So his likeness will be in it… and his voice and body movements. Why are they making movies like this again? Aren’t they good at integrating the CG elements with real actors? I think it’s going to be strange to have two movie Supermans at the same time. And two movie Batmans (Christian Bale said he will have nothing to do with the JLA movie).

 

 

Finally, pending its arrival, I will be viewing the freshly released (from the Frog?) chapters of R. Kelly’s masterpiece, “Trapped In The Closet.” I saw the first 12 chapters a while back, expecting them to be terrible. And, oh, were they terrible… delightfully terrible! I can’t remember seeing anything more ridiculous and entertaining with such repetitive music ever before in my life. And he seemed to take it so seriously. If you have access to the first set of chapters you must watch the commentary where you get to see R. Kelly in a fake movie theater watching his work and then turning back to tell you how important it was for Bridget to have a midget hiding under the sink! I’ve heard, unfortunately, that this new part of the story is more aware of its silliness. I think R. Kelly’s seriousness was part of the charm of “Trapped In The Closet.” Expect a full review of these new chapters after I’ve seen them.

More Tax Payer Dollars Wisely Spent

This seems like a waste of a good prop to me. I’m thinking about going to the Oakland Airport for the hand-off, as I’ve always wanted to meet Chewbacca. Light Saber Send-Off

Another DS Instant Classic

The perfect companions!

 

At the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) there isn’t much of the Japanese inspired cos-play, but there is some! I don’t know if our lovely princess should be wearing a backwards baseball cap.

Is this funny, or sad?

Why do many young Americans have a difficult time pointing out the United States on a map? (I actually feel bad for her, should I?)

Beefy Dudes And Chicks Are Back

I can’t believe this story is out today since Jason and I were just watching this show at Finn McCool’s last night. Based on the popularity of recent shows like “Most Extreme Elimination Challenge” and “Ninja Warrior,” it looks very likely that “American Gladiators” will be returning to television sometime soon. While it would be interesting to see old favorites like Blaze, Nitro, and Storm in their present form, they are instead holding auditions for new gladiators. You can download the application here. They also intend to focus more on the contestants than the previous incarnation. Let’s just hope that we can watch replays on the Zonk-a-strator again.

The Short, Tragic Life Of The Goomba

If Web Comments Happened In Real Life…

Watch this.

New Dark Knight Images

Images available thanks to Movieweb.com.

Lifehacker

This is a blog that I read very regularly. A lot of the content is nerdy/techy, but sometimes they have something on there useful for anyone who wants to make their lives easier or more efficient in little ways. There are often suggestions on uses for various household items like vinegar or lemons, but they also have cool ideas on how to make better use of various software, money saving ideas, or tips on how to be treat others well. I find something interesting every day and I highly recommend checking it out.

 

Lifehacker.com

High Drama

I know this video is so 6 months ago, but I recently re-found it and wanted to make sure everyone has seen it.

 

Super Bell

The internets are abuzz with the news that Kristin Bell (title character from “Veronica Mars”) will have a recurring guest appearance on the hittest of hit shows from last season “Heroes.” She’s got something to do with Claire and her father, blah blah. Most importantly, however, she’s been offered very cool, significant TV roles lately. She recently turned down an arc on “Lost” because she didn’t want to move to Hawaii (she has dogs to take care of… lots of dogs). She’s also in a movie coming soon called Fanboys about Star Wars geeks and a Judd Apatow movie called Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Another reason for her “Lost” letdown: She will be starring in a musical version of Legally Blonde as Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon’s character). She’s professionally trained in musical theater and has a lovely voice. You can hear it, if you’d like, in the wacky (and funny and good) musical Reefer Madness.