I'm a 22 year old pharmacy student, and of course public health issues are one of my interests, but I often feel more drawn to astro physics (the fraction of it that i can wrap my brain around), anthropology, food, and languages. My greatest aspiration is to travel the world and gain a better understanding of the language and food of wherever I go, cliche as that sounds, but not as a tourist, or a "traveler," which is in essence a glorified tourist, but as a person with business. I'd love to meet people from all over, but i'd hate for them to feel obligated to enlighten me on exotic bits and pieces of their culture.
I'm pretty sure I'm straight, but my feelings for Jackie Chan seem to extend beyond a manly admiration for an action star. Some of his 80's movies are amongst my favorites ever.
That said, I love watching martial arts be it in performances, the ring, or movies. I've practiced it since I was a child, but I've never been interested in actually fighting. Oddly enough, I happen to love watching fights; especially all the emotions that go with it.
I love all forms of animation for how creative it can be in expressing certain emotions. For instance, in Anime, characters seem to close their eyes when they smile, indicating contentedness. Even though no one does that in real life, it manages to get its point across.
I have a particular grudge against moe characters of every variety. On an unrelated note, I have an inexplicable hatred for Quentin Tarantino. Well, not completely inexplicable.
Everything you wrote is true, but Yuen Biao is simply a much better, more athletic stuntman. He's the one guy who has actually done several stunts for Jackie Chan, that the latter couldn't complete by himself.
Plus, as great of a martial arts actor as Jackie was, he is also one of the worst human beings and biggest assholes in the industry. He is almost like the Hong Kong Troy Duffy...except he is big enough that he can get away with it.
As for MMA, I'm mostly a fan, but I used to be an amateur boxer, and presently do BJJ. I've also done taekwondo (totally useless), karate (mostly useless), as well as sambo and Muy Thai. (very useful, but I didn't do it for long enough)
I've also been betting on the sport for the past five years, so I have to keep up with what's going on.
Competing in it makes no sense unless one is an amazing phenom with exceptional physical strength and grappling, none of which remotely apply to me!
And MFA? Is that a famous museum? Near where I live in SoCal, we only have the Norton Simon and Huntington. Both are very good, but not world-famous caliber.
I'm in my 3rd professional year, getting through P&T which luckily wasn't as bad as I thought. I used to work retail but moved into hospital this year to spice it up. Retail has its days alright...I dreaded going into work sometimes
Hey there, was cruising the forums and noticed you were a fellow pharm student. I guess my name gives away my similar career choice. How's learning about all them drugs? This year really decreased the amount of shows I can watch :(
The two little characters in my opinion serve their purpose properly. What you interpret as stillness created by their presence, I see as a factor to create that sense of unease and indifference that the doctor feels. When I started watching this movie I realized that whenever the doctor is angry in his mind but is not expressing his anger and uneasiness his head grows extremely big (look at him in the scene where he wants to kick the door of the pigsty) as a symbol and as you may have realized he's the only character with these drastic changes in his figure. It's as if all those unexpressed feelings are gathered and piled up in his head. I sense the bitterness of the comments the black characters make and it might be due to the fact that I've seen lots of theatrical shows in Japanese (mostly Kabuki sounds monotonous to many people but after a while when they get used to it they can tell the slight differences in tones). So in particular that sarcastic comment about gods helping him sounded bitter and sarcastic to me. It's as if he's bitter but is not willing to or is even to timid to express it completely.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me :) I enjoyed reading "Metamorphosis" a lot and I hope you enjoy it as well. It's one of the greatest books I've read and I plan to read it again soon.
I just read your review on "A Country Doctor". It's an interesting review from the point of view of somebody who's read the story before watching the movie; however I thought I'd share my opinion about this short movie as someone who had not read the story before watching the anime.
Generally I haven't come across many people who'd have the same interpretation of Kafka's works. His works being surreal and dream like make it possible for each individual to have totally different images of the environment and characters. Many people feel that Kafka's stories start in all normality and end in surrealism but at times I think maybe the world that Kafka is picturing from the start is not really that normal but since no element of surrealism is pointed out yet, many would imagine that the story is set in a "normal" world. I don't know if I'm explaining it properly but after reading "Metamorphosis" I was left with this feeling that the so called "normal" world of the characters might not be the "normal" I imagine. It might be at another surreal level, a level that Gregor's condition would not arouse a sense of surprise and etc. In that sense I think maybe the fact that "A country doctor" starts in a rather surreal world is really how this world might have been. It's not only confusing but it makes all the symbolism and surrealism that follows even more understandable to me. It's as if from the start it is telling us to leave aside the normal logic we use in daily life and submerge ourselves in the movie's world. As an example, the fact that the conscience of the doctor is portrayed as two characters separated from him makes it easier (read faster) to figure out the doctor's character. He has a conscience knowledge but does not use it often or maybe he's too weak and afraid to use it. Those two black and small characters show up in short fractions of time, very timidly hiding behind the doctor's figure most of the time. He lets people use him and deceive him. He refuses to act on his own free will until it's too late and when he finally decides to act conscientiously those black characters disappear. That's maybe the first time we see the doctor show real emotions and his anger is easily shown.
In your review you mentioned something about how his frustration when he kicks the door is not properly shown. Well I had not read the story but when I saw that scene I felt that he wanted to kick the door out of anger (The first long leap he has) but then he refrains from doing it but he kicks the door in frustration anyway. It's as if his timidness to take action based on his feelings overpowers him yet again but not completely. That's how I felt about the scene although it all really made more sense as the story proceeded.
Sorry for the long post and thanks for your review. After watching the movie it was interesting to read your point of view.
Honestly the only thing I hate about School Days is how people swoon over "Nice Boat" as "greatest scene in anime of all time". SD was not that bad in overall but I just want to make fun of people who actually liked it.
Just like you mentioned, it is a SEXIST show as it is under seinen demographic and the infamous "girl-of-the-week" theme even though it doesn't happen in every episodes. Most hatred on School Days only aimed at "Nice Boat" hype.
SD is a one of few harem show which the hero is a playboy rather than a loser geek(Yes, I'm looking at you Love Hina). It may not the best opinion about SD you might ever found but this is my only personal honest opinion about the show.
I saw that Sword of the Stranger was unlicensed so I tried to download it from Anime-Stop. When I was extracting it it had some weird error =/. So, I failed you. I failed you and your recommendation. Do you know of any unlicensed TV series that may end my (nearly) year long hiatus? I've only watched 1 new show per season, so things have been slow for me XD. Welcome to the NHK is licensed =/.
About that director or whatever guy - I've seen his popular 4 shows, but I didn't add the other 3 or whatever because I saw them in English and I don't think I was paying attention to them years ago. I really loved English Nausicaa so I picked it up more recently and paid attention, so that's why I added it ._____. So good hehe.
mm, I was about to download Sword of the Stranger since it is unlicensed, but your recommendation gives me more confidence it is good - thank you. Besides NHK, I've never heard of any of those other shows, so I'll need to research.
It looks like you check out, so I will approve your join request. Welcome to the Critics and Connoisseurs club.
Feel free to have a look around and become familiar with what the club has to offer. When you get a chance, have a look at the club rules from the top of our homepage and in the club FAQs thread. If you have any questions, you may ask an admin or refer to the club FAQs thread.
Hope you enjoy your time being a member of the club. ^^
Thanks a lot! :D I was really surprised when I watched it again, since the first time I saw it, I might have been fifteen or younger, and I didn't think about the themes at all, just sat back and laughed my ass off.
