10. August 2008 by Ria.

First of all, I would like to say thanks to all of you that subscribe to my feed, and also by e-mail. Next, thank you for all who leave comments on my blog, they are greatly appreciated. As you already know, I have completed 3 anime series, and I’m eager to pick up a couple more for review.

I’m halfway through Mushishi, Spiral, and Trinity Blood, and I plan to complete them all very soon. I would like to finish Hellsing, however Netflix has a major shortage of Vol 3 in stock, so I’ll have to wait a bit.

As you know, Naruto is a lengthy series, and it may take a while to complete it, but I have no intentions of dropping it. Why should I, it’s so damn hilarious! The question now becomes, do I have room to take on another lengthy series? And then there’s Bleach which I’ve decided to drop. Why? Because I saw most of the episodes last summer before I started this blog, and I really don’t want to watch them again, “Sorry Bleach Maniacs.”

I’m also dropping Fruits Basket, ’cause I started losing interest by the second DVD. Besides, there’s only so much Kyo I can take. And since I know what happens in the end, I won’t continue my reviews on it. Now that clears up room for me to throw a couple new series in, and these are the ones I’ve chosen…..

I love action packed series, and I’m really looking forward to this one.

Full Metal Alchemist

Another action packed anime show. Now this series is a bit lengthy, but I know I can handle it, especially after dropping Bleach.

And for all of you girls (and some guys too) that love Yaoi/Bishonen, I will be reviewing Gakuen Heaven. As you know, I completed Descendants of Darkness not too long ago, and from now on expect me to always have at least one yaoi show to review.

I won’t be reviewing all three of these at one time, but will slowly work them in with the others over the next couple of weeks. Expect me to start with Full Metal Alchemist since it’s the longest of the three. Bye for now!

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27. June 2008 by Ria.

The best thing about anime shows is that it depicts several different characters with contrasting personality traits, to make the show more appealing. I would say that the most successful anime shows revolve around the good v.s. evil theme. Not only is it good entertainment, but internally, we all identify with the same struggle.

The second most prevalent theme in anime has got to be the good boy v.s. bad boy theme, where the good guy is always getting left out for one reason or another. When I think of this, two shows immediately come mind, Inuyasha, and Fruits Basket.

In Inuyasha, Kagome turns a blind eye to Hojo, a rich and handsome kid in her class, to go run after the broke, stupid, and sword crazy Inuyasha, to help him in his quest to become a full demon, even at the expense of her own life.

Next, we have Fruits Basket, where the meek Tohru Honda finds Kyo, the big mouth, out of control kid with anger issues appealing, while the sweet, and mild mannered Yuki gets left out in the cold.

These two shows are fun to watch, not just for the laughs that they provide, but through them we get a glimpse of the adolescent life, where young people are still mystified, and are desperately trying to find out who they are.

The good guy is usually praised, because he adapts to the social norms of society. He gets good grades, doesn’t jaywalk, and knows how to treat a lady. The bad guy is usually some juvenile quick tempered fool, and who knows, maybe he’s in love with two women like Inuyasha is, bringing more drama to the table.

It takes a lot of emotional maturity to be able to accept the kindness that the good guy has to offer, which is why these scenarios are often played out in the adolescence arena. Rarely will you see an anime show where the stars are in their mid twenties, and are left dealing with such matters.

Since young girls don’t really know the concept of what true love is, the gravitation towards the “bad guy” really has more to do with the need to experience life in a different perspective, from the rebel’s point of view. He may be loud and overbearing, but he’s usually very passionate about his beliefs, whatever they may be.

For Inuyasha, it was getting all the pieces to the shikon jewel, so that he can be a full demon, not half, which means total acceptance from at least one race of beings. For Kyo, it was beating Yuki, and being included into the zodiac family after being shunned for years. You will notice that as the anime series unfolds around bad boy characters, they’re usually depicted as victims mistreated by society, leading you to empathize with them, and overlooking their shortcomings.

So then, a girl’s attraction to a bad boy should be interpreted as compassion, sympathy, and curiosity, even though she may think she’s in love. As far as which one I would choose to be with, I must say neither. I’m an old broad, and don’t go for boys anyway.

While it’s true, no woman (in her right mind that is), would go out with someone that is quick-tempered (especially since that can lead to violence), I must say that any guy that’s dealing with anger issues well into adulthood is not a bad boy, just someone who needs to go see a good therapist.

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20. April 2008 by Ria.

Now we all know Charlton Heston kicked the bucket more than a week ago, so let’s have a moment of silence for him…………………..Okay, enough of that. Now, I’m not the biggest Heston fan, but some of the movies he starred in are my favorites, and I just want to list a few of him here.

BEN-HUR

Remember when American Movie Classics used to air this movie 50 million times around the Xmas holidays? I didn’t have a problem with that, I’d rather see this movie than It’s a Wonderful Life over and over again. Now Ben Hur is long as hell (over 3 hours), but well worth it. Its the story of Judah Ben-Hur’s vengeance against Messala, the Roman commanding officer who betrayed him, and tried to destroy his family. This Messala guy is a real jerk, let me tell you about some of the things that he does.

First, he throws Judah’s mother and sister in jail, and when they became lepers, Messala releases them out into the street. Then, Judah gets sent to the gallows, where he almost lost his life. But because of his strong faith in God, he survived, and got his revenge on stab-you-in-the-back friend Messala by owning him in a chariot race, and the mom and sister were cured of leprosy at the same time Jesus was dying on the cross.

Excellent movie, but I wouldn’t have entered a chariot race with Messala, I would have just beat the snot out of him, taking comfort in knowing that after I finished with him, he would no longer breath the same air with me ever again. Now its true that Messala died when he was trampled by his own horses, but he could have won that race, why take chances? 

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

You want to know what makes this film great? Its Yul Brynner, I’m telling you, there was one sexy man, so if anyone has his phone number, let me know. That tan, that bald head, oh my goodness! Okay, let me calm down now, yes Yul Brynner rocked, but it was those awesome special effects that made the movie 1st rate.

Staffs turning into snakes, and the red sea splitting in two so that the people could escape the Egyptian army? See, they never would have given me a part in that movie, ’cause there’s no way in the world I would have walked in between a divided body of water. I would have just stayed behind like a sucker to be captured by the Egyptian army.

Another show of supreme special effect dominance, is when Moses is climbing the mountain, and runs into God along the way, who engraves The Ten Commandments right in front of his eyes.

PLANET OF THE APES

This is the best Heston movie ever in my eyes, in fact, I’m a big fan of all the Apes sequels even though Heston was only in the first one. Heston is Taylor, an astronaut traveling out in space searching for “something better than man.” I’m sure he regrets making that statement, because his ship crashes onto a planet inhabited by apes in the year 3978, and they just happen to treat humans like crap.

Another great movie, but the setting should have been more consistent with a planet that exists in the future. Where are the computers, the IPODs, the cars, the high gas prices? Instead, this futuristic planet looks like it was slapped back to the middle of the Stone Age with horses, simple stone houses, and humans that can’t talk?

Now I fault the producers for being so cheap, and for not giving us the Jetson-type setting that would have been perfect for this film, but a terrific plot, and excellent acting can override a miserly production crew anytime. Yes, Charlton Heston was in some of my favorite movies of all time, so what are you waiting for? Stop surfin’ the net, get off your duff, and rent some movies, and at the same time, we can honor the man who starred in some of the greatest films of all time.

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