Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex - 2nd Gig

Masamune Shirow is the reason why I came to manga.
A while ago now, a friend lend me the 2nd volume of Appleseed. That was the start of my love for Shirow's work that grew into my love of manga in general that grew into my love for anime.

When Ghost In The Shell was first released in France, in the brand new prepublication magazine Manga Player, it was a huge shock for me. I had been through 3 Appleseed volumes, Black Magic (Shirow's first work), so I was kind of used to his world: cyborgs, robots, guns, girls & obscure underlying politics. Or I thought I was.
With that first issue, you were sent without warning into a world where global network are a reality, were people have cyberbrains that can communicate with each others without wires, where the boundaries of the brains are more or less virtual as you can hack into someone and take control of him.
All that on top of the "usual" Shirow stuff ie intricate political background, convoluted plot and his trade mark strong characters & hugely dynamic drawing.
The kind of stuff that leaves you KO and have you read it again straightaway to actually understand what it's about.

Because bear in mind that this was 1st released in the early 90s, when internet was only a scientific network. The guy had already seen the future.

To say that there is a "before" and "after" Ghost In The Shell. The "you've read it here first" kind. The kind that makes you feel enlightened. By the time you reach the end of the Puppet Master story arc, suddently all SciFi becomes toned down, strangely simplistic...

Moving into the mid 90s, Mamoru Oshii adapted this manga into a film, which would lead to world fame. Being an adaptation, the movie was kept closer to Oshii's themes and was featuring a significantly different Major Kusanagi, tortured by her condition of cyborg and questionning what makes someone human.
Don't get me wrong: the movie is excellent, but was to me a significant departure of the original manga that I loved.

So I was therefore very happy when I finally got round to discover the 1st season of Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (GITS SAC), because that adaptation to a TV format kept very close to the manga, keeping the original characters and the aspect a bit more chicks with guns. You get fast paced actions, ground breaking cyber punk and on top of that the political side that actually makes most of the episodes being sorted in the background. You get fights, explosions, but the real solution is soften reached throught negociations or manipulations, because in a world of information, data is the key.
So this "1st gig" was an unbelievable success, keeping the original spirit of the manga, porting almost directly some of its side stories in its "Stand Alone" episodes, but also creating a brand new & excellent story line, with the Laughing Man case ("Complex" episodes). That with a technical level almost flawless through the course of the 26 episodes. Incredible animation, amazingly integrated CGIs, Yoko Kanno doing the soundtrack...
And that's not even mentionning the incredible boldness of the script episodes, tackling varied themes, and that don't hesitate to dwell on the Tachikoma's metaphysical reflexions or spend an entire episode based on a chatroom conversation (certainly in an attempt to reproduce the Shirow's famous footnotes)... Memorable moments are plenty here. Suspence & emotions are not left out either as our heroes come close to their demise and some sacrifices are made, showing you that humanity has a lot to learn from machines...
It even made me read JD Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye! (very good book BTW)

How do you follow up on that? Easy. By doing better.
The writing team this time called back Oshii for the starting point of the series. And created again a strong story that also resonnates to today's problems, as it has to do with immigrants & refugees and at first terrorists bombings...
As with 1st Gig, you'll have to be wide awake to fully understand the story which involves lots of twists & turns.
At some point you have 4 different groups that all seem to have different objectives. But who's really calling the shots?
It's often the case with anime, but I can't get tired of it: it's so nice to watch something that doesn't assume that you're some sort of retard... The counter part is that you have to pay close attention or you might miss a thing.

I thought that plot wise, the series was a lot tighter than 1st Gig.
In the first season you could feel that the authors felt a bit of the weight of the original material and had Stand Alone episodes often drawing story lines directly from the manga. Which isn't bad in any mean though.
But here, although you have some referencing to events in the manga, pretty much every episode is a least loosely connected to the main plot.
For an avid reader like myself, it feels fresher.
It also adds some background to the different characters that might have felt left out in the 1st season.
Everything adds up to a wonderful crescendo to the season finale with a rare intensity and that masterfully manages to tie everything back together!

Because here I am, at the end, and this end sends me right back at the beginning...
The beginning of the manga! Drawing directly from the presets of that first issue, a bit like a Star Wars Episode 3, the last moments of the series finally set those 2 seasons as a prequel to the events I read all those years ago. And manage to even give background and raise questions about it...
This could have been called "Ghost In The Shell Begins".

The loop is looped.
And I am having goose bumps again...

lol

Une nouvelle preuve que l'on peut rire de tout mais pas de n'importe qui...


"J'invite les Français à rallier mon ego surdimensionné", disent les sous-titres alors que Nicolas Sarkozy avait invité les Français à "s'unir à lui", le 22 avril.

Le traducteur et "l'ego surdimensionné" de Nicolas Sarkozy

"J'invite les Français à rallier mon ego surdimensionné". Des Français de New York ont fait un bond en lisant les sous-titres en anglais du discours prononcé par Nicolas Sarkozy au soir du 22 avril dans un sujet diffusé dans le journal de France 2 du lendemain, retransmis aux Etats-Unis sur des chaînes du câble.

Le dérapage dans la traduction a été aussitôt signalé sur un Web magazine à l'intention des Français de New York, French Morning NY. Et un élu des Français de l'étranger, Jean Lachaud, se serait plaint de l'incident auprès de France 2... qui a décidé de licencier son traducteur facétieux.

La responsable du service traduction de France 2, Claire Quidet, souligne dans un courrier qu'"il serait faux de croire (...) qu'il s'agi[t] d'un sous-titre anti-Sarko". "Il s'agit plutôt, souligne-t-elle, d'une blague de potache d'un traducteur un peu surmené, qui aurait pu s'appliquer à n'importe quel autre personnage, politique ou non, que le traducteur aurait eu à traduire dans sa partie ce soir-là. Il faut enfin rappeler que tous les traducteurs sont américains, et qu'en plus de ne pas être électeurs pour ce scrutin, leurs sentiments vis-à-vis des candidats n'ont rien d'aussi tranché que ceux des citoyens français."
Le Monde.fr

Un peu de politique?

Hop j'ai lu quelques articles dans le Monde qui m'ont beaucoup interesse:

Le 1er traite d'imigration et s'adresse a tous ceux qui pensent etre envahis: on a BESOIN d'immigres!!!

Le 2e de provocation presentant Plantu aux prises avec certains detracteurs de ses caricatures.

Le 3e et dernier des derives possibles d'un appareil judiciaire trop developpe...

Quelques grammes de reflexion dans un monde reactionnaire...

Dumb warnings.

I noticed earlier today that the label on my underwear was reading "Keep away from fire", which made me laugh out loud.

It also reminded me of the Dumb warning web site, which gathers this kind of warnings found on labels, user's manual, etc.

Examples:
Unknown Air Conditioner
Caution: Avoid dropping air conditioners out of windows.

Rowenta Iron
Warning: Never iron clothes on the body.

Unknown Batman Costume
Warning: Cape does not enable user to fly.

Ansell Condoms
Do not return used condoms to the manufacturer through the mail.

Unknown Toilet Plunger
Caution: Do not use near power lines.

And my all time favorite:
Swedish Chainsaw
Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals.


Check it out if you're bored, it's a good laugh!

Watch out for Superman!!

...They found kryptonite, he should definitely exist.


Original link from the BBC------------------------
'Kryptonite' discovered in mine

Kryptonite is no longer just the stuff of fiction feared by caped superheroes.
A new mineral matching its unique chemistry - as described in the film Superman Returns - has been identified in a mine in Serbia.
According to movie and comic-book storylines, kryptonite is supposed to sap Superman's powers whenever he is exposed to its large green crystals.

The real mineral is white and harmless, says Dr Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum.
"I'm afraid it's not green and it doesn't glow either - although it will react to ultraviolet light by fluorescing a pinkish-orange," he told BBC News.

Rock heist

Researchers from mining group Rio Tinto discovered the unusual mineral and enlisted the help of Dr Stanley when they could not match it with anything known previously to science.

Once the London expert had unravelled the mineral's chemical make-up, he was shocked to discover this formula was already referenced in literature - albeit fictional literature.

"Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide - and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns.

"The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite."

The mineral is relatively hard but is very small grained. Each individual crystal is less than five microns (millionths of a metre) across.

Elementary clash

Identifying its atomic structure required sophisticated analytical facilities at Canada's National Research Council and the assistance and expertise of its researchers, Dr Pamela Whitfield and Dr Yvon Le Page.

"'Knowing a material's crystal structure means scientists can calculate other physical properties of the material, such as its elasticity or thermochemical properties," explained Dr Le Page.

"Being able to analyse all the properties of a mineral, both chemical and physical, brings us closer to confirming that it is indeed unique."

Finding out that the chemical composition of a material was an exact match to an invented formula for the fictitious kryptonite "was the coincidence of a lifetime," he added.

The mineral cannot be called kryptonite under international nomenclature rules because it has nothing to do with krypton - a real element in the Periodic Table that takes the form of a gas.

Power possibilities

Instead, it will be formally named Jadarite when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year.

Jadar is the name of the place where the Serbian mine is located.

Dr Stanley said that if deposits occurred in sufficient quantity it could have some commercial value.

It contains boron and lithium and two valuable elements with many applications, he explained.

"Borosilicate glasses are used to encapsulate processed radioactive waste, and lithium is used in batteries and in the pharmaceutical industries."
------------------------

Today's Dilbert...

A perfect example of a "killer product"...

Un jeu de mots incroyable.

La, le simple adepte des jeux de mots tordus et de calembourg que je suis se reconnait un maitre.

Série Z from Les Cahiers du Football
"L'Inter Milan ne perd jamais" (maxifoot.fr). Forcément, Materazzi connaît par coeur les vices.

Par la meme occasion, une autre breve des Cahiers du foot qui est drole:
48 images / seconde from Les Cahiers du Football
"OM TV propose demain mercredi plus de 4h de direct à ses abonnés, de 19h à 20h55" (F365). Et les Marseillais n'exagèrent jamais.

:)

Une pensee...

Beaucoup disent que Tony Montana dans Scarface, regardant la TV dans sa baignoire geante, a influence pas mal de monde, en particulier des generations de rappers.

Bah perso en termes "d'influences baignoire", je n'ai vu Scarface que tres tard (y a 2ans) donc ca ne m'a pas influence mais c'est plutot Colt Seavers (L'Homme Qui Tombe A Pic), lisant son journal en prenant son bain dans son salon qui a marque mon jeune inconscient de l'epoque...

Chacun ses references.

See you space cowboy...

I was reading the latest edition of Anime Land, my usual anime magazine and they did an interesting feature on Cowboy Bebop, because it's being rereleased in France.

So they mentionned the end of it and described it and just as I was reading, I could see everything in my mind and had goosebumps (just as I'm writing this, I feel the same).
Because this ending might be the best ending I'll ever see in my whole life.
"Bang!"

If you know what I'm talking about, you may know what I mean, if you don't, just check this wonderful series out.

I'll have to carry that weight...

Tom Yum Goong

I have an Asian wave going on again.

Tom Yum Goong under its strange name is the latest of the new Thai star Tony Jaa who was put under the spotlight by the instant cult Ong Bak, a proud B movie that feature insane stunts & martial arts under the usual B "nonsense" (ie no plot).
Where do you go from there?

I didn't have great expectations for this, all I wanted was more of the same as Ong Bak.
But I have to say that this outing was a disappointment.
It really feels like after Ong Bak's success, they got plenty of money and didn't really know what to spend it on. So they set out to go "bigger", moved to Australia, got themselves some huge tracking shots, but all in all it falls flat.

I mean Ong Bak had a really thin script, but it still managed to hold itself together, evenly dispensing various action scenes (chases on foot or on tuktuk, fights, etc) and linking them logically.
Here, the plot is even more "nonsensic", it's hard to care about this elephant story, there's even less character development than in Ong Bak, you could cut all the 2ary characters out of the movie and see no difference. I'm not saying that I'd watch such a movie for story or characters for example. But here it really feels badly put together...
It would be OK if the action made you forget that but the set pieces feel too far apart and are reduced to "plain" fights, breaking arms or legs. Most of the stunts have been seen in Ong Bak anyway.
Obviously you get highlights and you still have the odd jaw dropping move: about 1h in you have a Muay Thai vs Capoeira fight that in itself makes the whole thing worthwhile. But other than that it's quite overblown... A shame...

I hope Jaa will get himself the right ccoperators in the future to deliver some truly great action...

Fearless.

I wanted to catch this one in the theaters but couldn't. So I finally got round to get the DVD.

So what to think of Jet Li's "last kung fu movie"?
It actually is his last "period" kung fu movie meaning that he will still do moves with "kung fu" in them but no more movies ABOUT "kung fu".
And actually having said that kind of sums it all up: this is a movie about kung fu, in the "old school" sense.

It tells you the story of the guy that tried to unify the martial arts in China.
So you get the classic story of the guy that is very arrogant at the start, practising martial arts without actually knowing what it's really about, but his actions will trigger events that will change his perspective on things and after redeeming himself he will be back and honor his status of "master".
For anybody that has seen 2 or 3 HK movies on the subject, this will sound very familiar.
But the point is not to be original here.
The fights are excellent, the direction is good (very clear), acting appropriate.

The movie is meant to be a statement: kung fu is the key, it enables to to improve yourself and if every body works in the same direction ultimately it's a vector of unification.
It might seem very naive, but for me it's a kind of "naive" that I have a soft spot for. ;)

All in all I really enjoyed it!