My First Anime

I have had a bit of a Rankin and Bass Renaissance as of late and wanted, nay, needed to watch some of my old favorites. You may be thinking of the classics of stop motion that get played every holiday, but these are not what I was craving. I was looking to the traditional animation they did back in the 70's and early 80's. I loved these movies as a child and why not great stories, catchy tunes, likable characters, and the safety blanket that was Rankin and Bass gave it all a good coating. I still enjoy these films for the same reasons today, (you try and get The Last Unicorn opening song out of your head). One thing I noticed when I was watching the credits of these films though was the amount of Japanese animators, producers, directors, ect. As a kid I just assumed this all came from the magical place that non Warner Brothers, non Disney animation coalesced from, probably somewhere on the west coast. I think that with the amount of animators from Japan these films that I liked so much may have actually been the first anime that I was exposed to and loved. Of course these films are not considered anime in the traditional sense, they are commissioned and distributed by an American company and are the retelling of western novels. However the animation was reminiscent of the early anime series that any fan of anime that is more than 22 years old remembers, like Sailor Moon, Voltron, Knights of the Zodiac, Lupin the Third. The stories were handled with care and while aimed at children retained enough of their substance for adults to enjoy as well, the voice acting was well done for the time, and the characters themselves showed enough expression in form and voice that you could empathize with them. The stories themselves also contained some elements that a child couldn't grasp as the time such as the unicorn losing herself in a different form, or how a ring could corrupt so easily. I just think it funny that all this time I thought of my self as a anime fan and I had no idea that I got my start so early. In truth my first real "anime" was Akira, and I saw that when I was 8 years old. At that time however the Rankin and Bass movies had already been deeply rooted in my mind and may have helped me to realized that animation was deeper than Bugs Bunny or Micky Mouse. Im Alive!


Above is a charater from The Last Unicorn, below is a character from Galaxy Express 999(by Leiji Matsumoto) I am always remned of one or the other when I watch them, I think for me it the eyes and the long hair that seem similar in the character design, to my knowledge Leiji Matsumoto was not involved in the character design, but watching his series as well remind me of the Rankin and Bass style.

Hi!

Done and done

A sad fact.

People are stupid.


Let that sink in past the initial reaction for a moment and think about the phrase. People (more than one usually 5 or more) are stupid (unintelligent, ignorant, panicky, illogical). Its a sad fact of life that we as a species lose our fucking minds when we are in a group together. Now, I am not saying that you the reader are stupid (hell you are reading this so IQ of 125 + assured,) or that I am stupid. A single person can be highly intelligent, logical and can understand the reasonable arguments for a differing point of view. However, once you get people in a group we become sheep. Often one person can lead a group of people like sheep, this is how pointless riots start, looting, hate crimes, we dont think. This has been hard wired into us since before civilization, and we are still as stupid in groups as ever, we have not grown out of it.

"But" you say "Surley all out scientific achievements show we are nt that primitive any longer." Ahh but those are achievements of individuals, and it still has to get through the panicky group mind that its beneficial for us as a society. Some great advancements dont make it that far because we are idiots. Stem Cell Research, due to a few people advising large groups that this is morally wrong, has been retarded by this thinking. Western civilization had a thousand year halt on progress due to the rise of Christianity and the Dark Ages. But surely you think religion would be a cure for this, that all the good works it has done and inspired show a cure for our herd panic. Nope, for every mother Theresa spreading good will, you get a spanish inquisition. Reading this is not going to change a thing, however realizing this about ourselves is a first step in change. So next time you see a riot or a board of education passing a referendum to put stickers about creationism on science text books, just remember that people are stupid.

OH for fucks sake........

So I was going about my adult life happy as a clam. I was on my way to a bloody vampire movie when what do I see? A poster for http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020938/ . Now its no secret that children are some what of a....lets say....major annoyance to me, if not more. But why does there need to be a baby movie? This is not a cutesy comedy either, its a documentary on four babies growing up. So the people who will see this are gonna be parents already, or people who stalk children for a living (you see them at every gathering insisting to hold any child in sight, as if its a right guaranteed by the social contract.) Either way the human infant progression is no mystery to them, unless these children are from a different planet then the only change will be culture and thats a completely different documentary. The messed up part of this is that parents are gonna take their children to this, that makes sense "honey look that was you in a earlier development cycle!" My main problem is that this country has gone baby crazy as of late, the tv shows (john and kate plus 8, while on the subject I cant stand people gaining a level of celebrity just because they had the offspring equivalent of a litter. Wow you had a unnatural amount of children at once, now fuck off to the back yeah.) The pregnancy, of which the mtv show about several girls that are teenager who are pregnant, i caught part of this show and it seems to offer positive reinforcement for reproducing early.

I do not plan on having any children, if you do its your choice and you are entitled to make that choice and have the opinion that this was the correct course of action. However I am tired of people acting that it is a forgone conclusion that everyone loves kids, has no problem accommodating them at ones own inconvenience, no I dont want to hold the baby, no I dont want to watch your kids, no I will not sit quietly while your kid screams during a movie I paid to see and you sit idly by. I value my time and sanity over your childs "freedom" or "self esteem". I have said before but I state again its your kid its your choice, but if it interferes with my life and others it becomes everyones issue and by your inaction I will act.

Constitution Fastidiousness

Soooo.....

Whats been in the news?

The taco bell dog died?
Whats the matter its Nacho dog......


Billy Mayes died, that I am a little upset about, however consider the following.....

What if there was a billy mays ghost?
Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to the booming "Billy Mayes Here!" and then he gives you a 30 second - 30 minute pitch on your new haunting (amount of time depends on the time of day, sunshine haunting ain't cheap.) I personally couldn't wait until I saw the deals he would throw in, Chain Rattling, Wind howling, Moaning, Double your offer and bring in Jack Lalane once he dies? Oh man, It would be a little awkward if you had a sham wow in the house though.

Ahh and there is the ever popular debate on health care, guess what, I don;t give a fuck. They could go either way and I would not feel a thing...... hmm lets see who is most concerned about this? People with too much time on their hands (admittedly I fall in this section, but dont care) and old people many of who fall in the first category too. No matter what happens some one is gonna feel like they are eatin g a shit sandwich and thats just the way things are. There is never going to be a universal health care system that is free of copay's, deductibles, reviews of medical necessity(especially this guess what you don't get medial equipment fully covered because you want it to be, there has to be a reason someone is paying for your shit) ect. Also to all the people who complain that health care is going to become a bureaucracy, news flash what do you thing health insurance companies are, of course dependent on your contact they can be quite lenient or strict, but all the same they review the policy and give you a thumbs up or down depending on policy. So please we have more important shit going on in this country than this so take a step back breathe and use some fucking logic before your mouth activates once more.

On a personal note, is it just me or is the friend of the people Apple becoming more of a dick than Microsoft lately? I mean they have been suing the crap out of independent companies making non apple PCs that run osX that were purchased outright. They have been denying apps from their app store that are awesome ideas but apple doesn't like the slight loss of control over the os (commodore 64 app, google voice, proper google latitude) trying to make jail breaking illegal for fucks sake, its my iPhone let me void the warranty if I want to. And of course there is the good ol Apple tax price gouge on all their hardware (the components and software don't cost NEAR what they sell for.)

On a happier note, Orange and Cream soda from Jones is the shit!

Western Civilization

Now the following my seem odd for posting this on a blog site considering the following subject matter, but this is my blank space on a wall and I am gonna post my thoughts to the world. i am not a teenager, I am in my early twenties, however I must say that I feel especially concerned about a good majority of my so called fellow "generation".

My main concern is the lack of sophistication of today's youth. While there may be a large amount of information available online that could enrich the understanding of the world and its culture, it is not utilized. It seems that there is a generally devolution of the need or want to explore something outside yourself, instead we are fast approaching the eventual implosion in our own self interests. It seems that more and more often challenges to anyone's world view is not met with a open conversation or debate, but a heated defensive diatribe about why what you are presenting could not possibly be correct. For example pro-choice/pro life Christians/science (come on you get enough of one religion in a room they all have a issue with some part of science not just evolution)This disturbs me because younger people have, in my experience, been the most stubborn of the advocates for their chosen belief. In this age with easy and freely available information I would hope that people would be more open to all sides of a argument, but the opposite is happening people are researching their one and only stance soo deeply and only finding arguments against the counter point not seeking understanding. Now I am sure there are people out their that are intelligent enough to hold a open discourse with that does not degrade to a shouting match, but on the net no one hears them. A braying ass is louder than a reasonable voice on the Internet.

Another part to this issue is that their seems to be a dumbing down of the country. In the news important issues are pushed aside for celebrity bullshit, who the fuck cares if the Jonas brother made a abstinence pledge! By the way i would not be surprised if they went on tour in Europe and were found in Amsterdam after being missing for a week stoned out of their minds with ever STD known to man and few that aren't and a hooker bill that could choke a whale. But I digress, fake news takes away from real news and when real news finally gets air time do we get all the details, no we get the interpretation of the details by a panel of reporters or for fucks sake Joe the plumber. Four to five talking heads "discussing" (read: talking at each other, not hearing) about a general degradation of the Arctic shelf for 4 hours is not reporting, its stroking your ego and doing a disservice to the public that is unfortunate enough to view this shit. No one jive a rats ass what Ann Coulter thinks about this shit, present the facts and do your job, Walter Cronkite didn't seem to have an issue neither should you. If you must express your opinion, give the facts of the story then do an editorial, its that simple. This current media system is not aiding the public in staying informed in any way shape or form. This filter on all information (through the television and print at least) does not aid to open discourse about issues that matter ( what dog president Obama is getting is not an important issue, sorry ASPCA) an it will not aid us in growing as a society or individuals. So on the news front please attempt to get your information not from someones opinion of the situation but a source that does not attempt to dumb down or spin the story to the needs of the reporter or the company that they work for.

It also seems that we as a country are reverting in our group mentality, more than ever we should be discussing our place in the world and how we affect it, but at the slightest mention that something may be incorrect in our military policy, our foreign policy, you are accused of being any number of things that happen to be the buzz term of the time, right now its socialist. On the topic of all forms of government they all work on paper pretty well, socialism, Communism, capitalism,all are good choices its people that are the problem, people become corrupted, people lie cheat and steal and that causes a poor image of the government that the wrongs happen to have been committed under. This form of discussion where one side covers its ears and does not hear will not aid us as a people at all we need to listen. Our thought processes seem to be moving backward as well, for example attempting to teach intelligent design as a science, seriously? INTELLIGENT DESIGN IS NOT A SCIENCE, there is no empirical proof, no testable theory, or thesis, but if you bring this up to anyone who supports it they don't want to hear it, TAKING SOMETHING ON FAITH IS NOT SCIENCE BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE IT TO BE TRUE IS NOT SCIENCE, ITS FAITH PLAIN AND SIMPLE I would like to present this saying "I can hope in one hand and shit in the other" and I would have proof of the shit. The very fact that this was considered in this country to be taught to our youth is near lunacy, and don't think "teaching about creation is gods will" that's all well and good but guess what some people would rather learn about science in science class than religious teachings that may or may not be their own. Also we need to grow some thicker skin, people walking on egg shells for something as simple as the mention of sexual intercourse or the human form, ITS A BASIC GENETIC IMPERATIVE AND BODILY FUNCTION, IT FELLS GOOD, ITS NOT DIRTY, DEAL WITH IT. The fact that we have to make sure no one is offended at all times is not serving anyone, what if some one was offended by the heart transplant, or the television and we reacted as we do today? Silly Questions? Not really, stem cell research, cloning, and any other of numerous advances are or may be on hold cause it got up someones ass. These advances are a good thing, learn to think outside yourself and maybe you would see that, just because you don't need them it does not make them evil or wrong.

I believe that we need another renaissance a free flowing exchange and collaboration of ideas with little fear of retaliation, or religious intervention. Think what would happen, every one open to new information, with knowledge in all subjects shared by the masses working to personal and global goals and aspirations. It seems that after some one is out of school they stop learning, or seeking knowledge, you should never stop seeking self improvement and let noting stand in your way. If you happen to come to a realization about yourself, your belief, or the world around you, congratulations epiphanys are hard to come by and though it may change your like, its better to live your truth than the truth thrust upon you by someone else.

Well that was another rant that I had not planed but their it is, as for the youth of America I would hope they would have open minds enough to make the future brighter, unfortunately half of them will be like their parents that pounded their own belief structure onto the blank slate of their child. Although the current trend in music needs to fucking stop this cookie cutter (heh) emo shit sucks. Go out read some philosophy, look at some views that challenge your and learn about them and find if they are so wrong.

My Opinions

Id like to make a little change to the format today and express some personal opinions of mine.

In my speaking with people I will, generally, be candid with my responses and opinions. Frankly I still hold out hope that we as a society have evolved (were not intelligently designed)to the point where the free exchange of ideas and philosophy could be share with out fear of a attack on ones character or a madman packing a chest bomb blowing up your recreation center. However people on the whole are doggedly determined to prove that belief wrong every single day. Now I'm not talking about the news daily goings on of the world, really I don't take those into consideration when making this statement, no this is all people i converse with face to face or at least have the misfortune of reading their thought process online.

So, you may ask yourself where am i going with this, and to answer that I wanted to give some examples of the disheartening crap that I have encountered on my normal routine. So about my views, I don't believe that I force them on anyone (at least not the major ones, I might jokingly go back and forth with you on a video game or movie), however once I make a statement about my own world view that conflicts with someones point of view they react negatively.

For an example my stance on children, I have a strong dislike for kids, don't get me wrong I wish them no harm, however don't stick me with a kid and expect me to light up like a fucking Christmas tree either. It inevitably happens when i am at a gathering and someone starts talking about their kids, or worse yet pull out the pictures, like clockwork the question is posed to me what my opinion of kids is or they offer me the picture. When asked my opinion I state I don't like kids, or if offered a picture I will glance at it and hand it back.Here's how the situation proceeds from here:

Situation 1-I state i don't like kids and immediately i get one of 3 reasons, the playful "Oh you'd like mine".... the frown/snear......or my favorite the interrogation "Why don't you like kids?", I state my views and they will attempt to swade me to the love of kids side, the kids are cute argument is a classic. Guess what they are not cute, puppies and kittens are cute in fact I would go as far to say that most other mammalian offspring have a huge edge on the "cute" factor at 4 weeks post birth than then any human baby has. After this they will either relent and Ill have a awkward moment or two with that person every once in a while based on this exchange, or they will say "Oh you'll change your mind when you have kids." Unlikely. While im on the subject, parents can fuck off if they dont control their kids, if your child is doing something to disturb me or my personal space and you are taking no action to correct the action (this is at a minimum 5 minutes of the action going on) I will say something to them, I will never touch a child, only words except in the extreme say they steal from me then I will stop them. If they are tugging on me pulling at my property messing with my purchases at a store or disturb me at a restaurant, guess what your child's freedom takes a back seat to mine. I'm an adult you are an adult and are responsible for your child, but I am responsible for me and will voice my objection to their action and funny thing this is the point when most people decide to be parents. Fucking deal with it, you wanted to reproduce have fun with your life choice.

Situation 2- If i get shown a picture of a kid or kids I don't find it exciting and I wont comment on what lovely kids you have or ask about them, I will look at the picture and hand it back to you being polite. I don't refuse to look at the pictures you want to take the time to show me your family, thank you for the gesture, don't get pissed when I don't respond like everyone else you show that picture. I have one exception to the above statement, I don't want to see your ultra sound pictures, I have some x-rays at home if I want to see some amorphous black and white pictures, thanks, Or I could got online and look at ultrasound of the 100 billion other human fetuses that are online, because guess what its a fetus in gestation, its identical to every other one in the world unless somethings wrong. Also I myself don't fawn over a pregnant person because they are pregnant I don't view it as a miracle, in fact I fully define the fetus for what it is, a parasite, (look up the definition of parasite and tell me if im wrong.) Again I don't go around punching expectant mothers in the stomach cause Im a heartless bastard, but I don't ooh and ahh over the situation either.

With the above situations I am in no way belligerent or rude in making the statements and I don't wish any ham on children or their parents. Its your choice to have kids, I do not have to, however, tolerate children for the sake of them being children in a public place where its not warranted (I avoid chuck E. Cheese for this reason.) How ever I'm fucking sick and tired of kids in movies, again its your choice to have kids so you get to stay home if they cant keep quiet during a film, or in a restaurant don't let your kid cry and carry on your conversation.

On to the next main point of contention I encounter, and this one is more seldom than the one above actually. Religion/ Evolution, cause for some reason either topic leads to the other in all my conversations. Now to give you a background on myself, I feel evolution is the only logical explanation for the proliferation and variety life in form and function, the story of creation and intelligent design are little more than fiction to me (except.) For religion I don't follow any doctrine currently I can see no proof for any of them however I do leave leave an open mind to all views and data that can be supported, haven't found any for organized religion other than people seem to like to take time out of their lives to sit quietly and listen to some one who's not a comedian for a few hours a week, go figure. Now on these topics I only get one of two responses, the first is the debate. Now the debate I never want to get into and it is the most likely to draw other people into the conversation, because the more people that argue against you the more wrong you are, yeah that's how it works. I generally will brush all of it off unless pushed and I have to be in the right mood to get pushed there. After the debate I get the "Im sorry you feel that way." "Ill pray for you" and the one I have heard once "You're going to hell." yeah threats work.

In the above situation there is no winning this you both consider the other wrong at the start and I have yet to have anyone relent while speaking with them. For some reason the lack of agreement to their world view seems to incense them. Again I explain my point of view for thier understanding I don't attempt to convert them that's not my "mission" (pun intended.)

The last issue I have goes more to what I encounter everyday. My sense of humor is often not appreciated in many circles. I can usually take any event and make it a joke for my self and others, I never seriously say the phrase "Too Soon?" After a statement, Guess what if it makes me laugh mission accomplished and I will not apologize for attempting to make myself happy. Now when making the joke in my mind I do take into consideration the crowd on if I let it out or not and if I have to internalize it then I may show a smirk. Often on one of these smirking occasions the party closest to my with inquire what I'm thinking, now if I think they can handle it I will issue a warning before proceeding and go on their response however if it is some one I don't know or knows has a more vanilla sense of humor than I do, I keep my mouth shut. However if they wanna hear it, that's fine the more the merrier, and they may get offended but they asked to hear it. I believe the moment we are able to joke about something, it doesn't diminish the even but it does help us remember it in a fonder way helping us move on or discuss it openly depending on the situation.


Wow, that was cathartic, didn't mean for that to go on for as long as it did, but the above is my world view. Its ok to disagree with me, and its ok for me to disagree with you, that's what makes us individuals. I hope at one point we as a race can exchange ideas such as these openly, with out fear of repercussions. Until that day thank you for reading if you got this far, and stay tuned for more.