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Heinlein talks

Published on January 3, 2018Leave a comment

I came across this video thanks to File 770, following the bread crumbs back from a post about the latest rightwing sf writer making an arse off himself. Heinlein is arguably the ur-Puppy, in that most of their beliefs can be traced straight back to them. Heinlein would’ve known better than to insult sf readers on social media or pick public fights with other writers willy-nilly though. He could actually write, had to be able to write stories that everybody — rather than just those who ideologically agreed with him — could enjoy, or he would’ve had no income. Johnny come lately coat tail riders like Jon Del Arroz on the other hand seem to want to sell books as a way to stick it to the libs, rather than on their own merits. Buy this book and annoy Mike Glyer or something.

The problem with any of the Puppy authors is of course that everything they’ve done was done before and better by writers like Pournelle, Niven and especially Heinlein. If I wanted to read a rightwing tract masquarading as science fiction, I’d read them and still get a chance at a half decent story too. No wonder the Correias and Torgersens of this world are so salty: they can’t even buy the respect they feel is theirs even if they have the sales, because nothing they do is all that interesting or novel. They’re just copies of copies of copies of Heinlein. You’re better off reading the real thing.

Who knew the key to me enjoying Nickelback

Published on August 10, 2017Leave a comment

Would be cute anime girls? Yes, I’m disappointed too.

Worrying about Valerian

Published on April 5, 2017Leave a comment

Is it just me, or does this trailer sound too Hollywood?

To be fair, Luc Besson has already created a perfect save for the absence of the heroes themselves Valerian et Laureline movie in the form of The Fifth Element, but I’m still worried about how well the actual Valerian et Laureline movie will do. There are so many danger signs here. Most worrying is that the actors playing Valerian and Laureline look and sound dreadful here, but equally worrying is the plot as shown in the trailer, which looks dreadfully generic.

Which might be a fakeout, as the movie seems to be loosely based on Ambassador of the Shadows, from which it borrows its setting. The original had an ambassador kidnapped there and Valerian but especially Laureline coming to the rescue, chasing the kidnappers across all sorts of exotic, alien settings. In fact, Laureline did most of the heavy lifting there, with Valerian absent for long stretches. I have a feeling that won’t be the case in the movie.

In all, I’m somewhat skeptical that one of my abso;ute favourite nerd things will be translated correctly into film, but hopefully it will at least be a decent summer blockbuster to go see with the cow-orkers.

Why you should watch Youjo Senki in one scene

Published on February 28, 2017Leave a comment

Japanese salaryman turned ten year old warrior mage in an alternate, 1920ties Germany uses his/her little girl voice to obey the letter, if not the spirit of international war crime law, then bombards the undefended capital of the enemy. So edgy you can cut yourself, but the series so far manage to balance Tanya’s coolness and bad-ass attitude with how sick (s)he is not to mention how fucked over by the god that landed him/her in this predicament. This could’ve been fodder for the anime reichwing, but the occassional Trump meme video notwithstanding, it seems to have managed to escape that fate, even though blonde, murderous under age girls are like catnip to that crowd normally.

Why you should watch PreCure

Published on November 15, 2016Leave a comment

‘Nuff said.

Futari wa Pretty Cure is the first series in the PreCure franchise, which so far has had one 48 to 50 episode series coming out each year since 2004. Each series stands on its own (with the exception of the occasional sequel) but follows the same formula: two or more young teenage girls encounter cute (but usually annoying) mascot animals who give them special powers to fight evil. They use their powers to fight increasingly powerful monsters while encountering various more mundane troubles in their daily lives, but through the power of friendship and the occassional flying kick overcome them, to ultimately triumph over the Big Bad pulling the strings in the background. A typical magical girl/mahou shoujo franchise, one which is incredibly popular in Japan but almost unavailable in its original form outside of it (at least in English speaking countries). You may however have heard of Glitter Force, which adapted one of the series into something supposedly more palatable to American tastes.

True, the PreCure series are aimed at kids and are rather formulaic plotwise: Pretty Cure has to overcome some everyday challenge or adversity, the monster of the week shows up halfway through, they fight and defeat them, cut back to their ordinary lives and the resolution of the problem they faced; rinse, repeat. Personally I don’t mind this, as the execution of this formula is done decently, the characters are likeable and there’s enough “candy” in the form of well executed fight scenes to keep me interested. Not something perhaps to sit down to watch for, but more than good enough to have on while still being able to do something else. And, as you can see, when the animators are on point, they’re on point, like Tatsuo Yamada here in these excerpts.

The original Futari wa Pretty Cure series is available on Crunchyroll (but not in the Netherlands!) while Glitter Force can be found on Netflix. Videos via Sakugabooru.