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30 Apr 07 – 30 Apr 07
Still sick. But I can't complain; my garden is in full flush, I have a good job with fun co-workers, and I'm blessed with a huge amount of entertainment.
It's worth the occasional cold.
28 Apr 07 – 28 Apr 07
And I'm back. The trip was precisely fine: informative and uneventful. I didn't have a great time—I never like changes to my comfortable life, and yes that worries me on occasion—but nothing remotely bad happened.
'Twas strange, though, being in a company town. Cedar Rapids is mixed zoning, strip malls glaring at industrial plants that sit a block away from quiet neighborhoods. About half of the light industrial buildings I saw had Rockwell Collins signs out front. There's no huge corporate complex, and all the buildings are flat and wide as a lake. I don't think I saw a single three-story building anywhere outside of downtown.
If I headed a company like that, I'd want a campus. I'd build tall buildings with style, not a bunch of cookie-cutter industrial parks.
But then, I'm not heading a company like that. Perhaps it's good that they don't spend money on that sort of thing.
22 Apr 07 – 22 Apr 07
I'll be travelling on business this week, so expect few updates to this site.
To completely change the subject, if you ever get the chance to watch the Taiwanese film The Puppetmaster, be prepared for an excruciating documentary style in which every shot lasts, on average, three minutes. And in which the theme appears to be "Look at my horrible relatives and tragic life."
21 Apr 07 – 21 Apr 07
I'm back from an anime and manga panel discussion at the Smithsonian. I sat literally a few feet away from Monkey Punch (creator of Lupin III), Mitsuhisa Ishikawa (president of Production I.G.), and Ryuhei Kitamura (live-action movie director). A few random notes:
- In one month in 2007, 250 manga magazines are published in Japan, and 750 volumes of manga are published.
- The average manga reader can read two pages of manga in ten seconds. As a result, manga writers know how to write fast stories. This constrasts with typical slow Asian live-action films.
- Ishikawa: When I show violence, I show how it hurts.
- Monkey Punch: In manga, each panel is equivalent to one word in a sentence, so that many panels are strung together to form a complete thought. In Western comics, each panel is its own concept, which can be much more restrictive (and wordy).
- Ishikawa: Children want to experience a world that's slightly beyond their own. So, fantasy, but not wild fantasy. This was a signature of Disney films pre-Katzenberg, but Pixar is bringing it back.
- Kitamura: I was asked about the best ten films of last year. My number one was Cars, because it was just such a solid movie.
- Monkey Punch went to the San Diego Comic Con in the 70's, and found that Americans hated manga, especially the "weird glassy eyes." So he got together about ten big names in manga—including Osamu Tezuka and Go Nagai—and they all went to the 1980 Comic Con. This made a big splash and was a major initial turning point in manga acceptance in America.
- Astro Boy (the character) is quite similar to Mickey Mouse.
- The best thing Japanese creators do is take many influences and harmonize them.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion was huge in Japan, while Ghost in the Shell (the first movie) was not so much. But they were both big in America, which fueled success back in Japan and led to the recent Ghost in the Shell projects.
- Sam Raimi has said that the flying sequences in the Spider-Man movies are based on the flying sequences in Nausicaa.
- Ishikawa: The hardest thing about his job is just not failing.
Interesting stuff.
17 Apr 07 – 17 Apr 07
After watching the first episode of an amazing BBC documentary, "The Secret Life of The Manic Depressive," I've made a few key realizations.
- Most of my major life decisions are driven by pride.
- I crave fame.
- My reach exceeds my grasp. I start many grandiose projects when I'm feeling great, only to feel overwhelmed when I'm feeling down.
- I'm not manic depressive or bipolar, but I have some mild symptoms.
So, what am I going to do about it? It's midnight and I'm laying in bed, typing this into my laptop. I've found no conclusions yet. Perhaps sleep will help.
11 Apr 07 – 11 Apr 07
I admit it: I'm frustrated with my progress on many projects. I haven't had the energy for much beyond playing Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on my Wii or watching anime. That worried me until I realized I just started a new job (okay, technically re-started, but my responsibilities are quite different). Nevertheless, I feel like my creativity has ground to a halt. I usually love to write, and I can't write for five minutes.
Meanwhile, as you may notice from the sidebar, I've been reading the Rurouni Kenshin manga. It's fantastic. Tightly plotted, inspiring, and thought-provoking.
And yet, in each volume, the creator frequently apologizes for its sloppiness, for the rushed writing, for the resolutions that disappoint the fanbase. Even great creators think poorly of their own works. It's encouraging. Maybe I'm not in such a bad spot.
9 Apr 07 – 9 Apr 07
I'm increasingly sympathetic to the Butlerian Jihad. While I don't plan to abandon email any time soon, I'm worried by fellow humans' reliance on technology. If a fact is unknown, people rush to Wikipedia or Google. Those I know over forty are noticeably better at mental math than those under forty. People don't memorize, except through massive repetition; they worship St. Google.
Are we allowing ourselves to grow more stupid?
8 Apr 07 – 8 Apr 07
We all hear stories of ordinary people achieving greatness, of the man who rescues children from a burning building, or the female CEO who's still Mom to four kids. Yet I look around at bus drivers and fast food service (heck, "service" anywhere), and most don't even reach beyond mediocrity.
We're surrounded by images of average people. Eight-hour workdays. Goofy men who pretend to be handymen but can't fix anything. Children who mostly exist to fire quips at their parents.
The more we hear a message, any message, the more we believe it subconsciously.
Are we all limiting ourselves to averages?
4 Apr 07 – 4 Apr 07
Everyone you meet is terribly insecure.
3 Apr 07 – 3 Apr 07
I'm one of the more organized people I know. I'm usually early for things. Tonight, I'll attend a regular meeting of the SF/F Writer's Group of which I'm a member. There's only one story to critique, and it arrived in my mailbox several days ago.
I still haven't critiqued it. I'm going to take it out to the patio now and redline it.
I tell myself that critiques are important. My actions speak louder than my thoughts.