Monthly Archives: September 2008

Summer 2008 anime wrapup

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I picked up three shows this season, one of which is still ongoing and will be discussed at a later date. The other two were more like consolation picks, that is, picked since there’s nothing else really going on. I was pleasantly surprised by both shows, which turned out to be quite enjoyable, despite being slower than what I’m used to.

Natsume Yuujinchou

Natusme Yuujinchou follows Natsume Takashi, a guy in high school who can see spirits. One day, he’s going through his stuff and finds a book. It turns out this book is his grandmother’s and she wrote down a bunch of the spirits’ names down, which bound them to her service. Now he’s inherited it and along with a cat deity, goes off to return the names to the various spirits while trying to avoid getting killed for the book.

It’s actually a lot less action-oriented than the concept might seem. In fact, as the series goes on, there’s a lot less emphasis on the book, and more on Natsume’s interactions and dealings with the spirits and his relationships with other people. Since he’s usually the only one who can see spirits, he’s been an outcast since his childhood and has been shoved from relative to relative. There’s a lot of talk and exploration about loneliness and the differences and similarities between humans and spirits. The show is very episodic in nature and the various stories about the spirits are very well written.

Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto – Natsu no Sora

Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto is apparently a manga that’s had an anime adaptation before. This particular anime focusses on Sora, who goes off to Tokyo to train to become a mage. The nice thing about this anime’s setting is that it’s modern day Japan with the addition of magic. However, this isn’t the tacky magic that we’re used to like what we usually find in RPGs. This world’s magic is a lot like Harry Potter, but much more subtle and subdued, more for utility than combat.

The thing that people immediately notice about Natsu no Sora is that the backgrounds are ridiculously stunning. This is because the artwork is based off of photographs. Other than that, the story seems very slice of life. Keep in mind that this isn’t a slice of life comedy, so the first half of the series is really, really slow. The second half promises to be more coherent and full of dramas, but only as much as normal people usually do.

Wrapup

Both of these shows are thirteen episodes long, which is the perfect length for series like these that are slow and refreshing. They’re certainly not the superstars of the medium, but they’re worth a look at if you ever run out of material to watch.

What’s a Christian politician?

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As both Canada and the States are heading into federal elections, I feel the need to bring up my problems with both countries’ conservative parties. I’ve touched on my reasons for supporting Barack Obama or the New Democratic Party before and for the most part, my arguments were grounded in policy. I had also expressed my frustration at how quick other Christians are to jump in and blindly align themselves with conservatives. This was done, again, based on the policies that the candidates proposed. This time around, I want to focus on our conservative politicians from a different angle.

A lot of the time during election seasons, I will often hear at church the congregation being asked to pray for Christian leaders among our politicians. Of course, we never really go into how we could recognize a Christian leader in our government. How would a Christian MP do his or her job? Would they represent their constituents’ views, even if they were contrary to their own or would they vote based on their faith? Would they respect the democratic process or would they willfully obstruct and disrupt it to get the results they want?

To be honest, I suspect that when we Christians ask for Christian leaders in our government, we don’t actually want honest, accountable politicians, but just a guy who promises to vote against abortion and same-sex marriage. Do we seriously consider the character and integrity of who we’re considering to give our vote? If we don’t, then we’re being disingenuous when we pray for Christian leaders to rise up. Of course, if you’re fine with Christian leaders who aren’t principled, then I guess I’d have to concede that point.

And this is the problem that I have with the conservative parties in North America. It turns out that they aren’t accountable, they aren’t transparent, and they don’t have an ounce of integrity left intact. All of Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada and John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the Republican Party should not have the vote of any Christian that values honesty, integrity, and accountability.

McCain and Palin together have done nothing but lie about Obama’s policies and character, lie about their qualifications for the office that they’re running for, and lie about Palin’s questionable history and both of their poor track records as senator and governor. Their party has done nothing but smear and swiftboat the opposition since they’ve been in power. Their party’s politicians are constantly trying to evade subpoenas and investigations.

In Canada, it’s not much better. The Conservatives are the party that had a 200 page booklet published and distributed among their caucus detailing how to obstruct parliamentary committees. This is the party that runs attack ads on Stephane Dion using that retarded picture of him over and over again. I’d honestly expect snarky, mean-spirited ads to come out from the NDP more than the Conservatives.

These are the people that Christians support. Is it any wonder why most people don’t see us as people who value integrity and accountability?

PAX 08

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So I managed to pull off something that I’d never ever get to do: fly across the country to Seattle and go to the Penny Arcade Expo. The west coast is a really nice place. I enjoyed the weather there and the cities themselves are pretty cool. Hanging around downtown Vancouver and Seattle, however short it was, was fun.

So what exactly transpired there? The first thing that you notice as you head toward the convention centre is the increasing number of people sporting gaming and nerd t-shirts. You’ll overhear things like, ‘oh look, an xkcd shirt’, or conversations about Star Wars canon, or discussions about raiding in World of Warcraft, or shooting PA jokes at each other. The next thing you notice are the immense lines that form to get to the main events and the people lounging around in the lines, doodling in Pictochat, challenging others with DSes, or keeping balloons up in the air.

On the expo floor, I had a few exciting moments as I watched people play Starcraft II. That game looks absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait to be sending the little mans back and forth. I saw Animal Crossing: City Folk for the first time there and it expands on Animal Crossing to include a city sort of zone, which was very Sims-esque to me. I also managed to miss all the Dragon Age demos in the expo hall and had to settle for the toolset demon in the main theatre on Sunday. Other than that, I managed to pick up a Penny Arcade zip-up hoodie, a PAX 08 tee, and one of those awesome Katamari Damacy t-shirts that Panic makes.

I also attended the Fallout 3 and Spore demos. Those are two games that I really, really want to pick up. I’d only heard about the Fallout series before, but the demo of Fallout 3 really sold me on the concept and really drew me into the world and of course, the game looks stunning. I am now in the process of figuring out getting Fallout 1 and 2 working on my computer. There wasn’t much new that was demoed in Spore, since they just played through the cell and tribal phases. I was really looking forward to the civ and space phases, but I guess I’ll just have to wait for that.

But the best parts of the expo were definitely gaming culture and PA related. Ken Levine’s keynote is inevitably going to get compared to Wil Wheaton’s awesome keynote from last year. Unfortunately, I don’t think he did as well. He had a great autobiography of his own nerdery, but the end felt sort of rushed and I felt that he didn’t expand on what we were supposed to do as well as Wil did. There was no connection between his journey and our current state of nerd culture.

Following that and for the next two days, there were various Penny Arcade panels. Let’s just say that Gabe and Tycho are as entertaining and funny as they are over the Internet. The other thing that they are is that they are just as brutally honest. But these panels aren’t just for them to shine, it’s also lets the community do some really awesome things, like talk about the PAX Cookie Brigade or the Button Swap and bring up ideas and donations for Child’s Play.

Then there was the final round of the Omegathon. It wasn’t a spectacle like it was with the Minibosses doing Halo last year, but I felt that VS. Excitebike delivered the excitement of competition between the two Omeganauts. The most hilarious part of the final round happened before it started though, while everyone was waiting in the theatre and some music was playing. A bunch of people who managed to snag a Fallout puppet coordinated and had their puppets dance in a crowd together, and so for a good few minutes, the crowd was fixed on this troupe of Vault-Boys.

The last thing I need to talk about is the concerts. I was only able to make the Friday night concerts because we wanted to get up early for Sunday to make the line for the panels. This means that I saw The OneUps, Freezepop, and Jonathan Coulton, but missed Anamanaguchi, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, MC Frontalot, and the Minibosses. I’ll begin by saying that Freezepop is not for me, but they were alright, and they really made my respect for them rise by ending off with an epic rendition of The Final Countdown.

The OneUps, however, were just as awesome as I expected them to be. They had a set that included classics, which are very nice for the nostalgia, and some more obscure music from obscure games, which I enjoy for the variety. The nostalgia hit very hard for Metroid, FF6, Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, Street Fighter II, and Diablo. I did find it perplexing that one of my friends managed to not play any games that were featured and so, did not enjoy The OneUps at all.

Finally, we have Jonathan Coulton. Before, I thought Jonathan Coulton was a cool guy and really smart and funny. The concert changed that to be brilliant and a master performer. The way he worked the crowd was simply awesome. He had some really cool interaction with the audience, beyond just shouting stuff at us. He managed to rickroll the entire place not once, but twice. He delivered surprises to us while we cheered, like getting Felicia Day of The Guild and Dr. Horrible to do the vocals for Still Alive. Jonathan Coulton is a smart, smart, and awesomely hilarious man.

Basically, I pretty much blew one grand to fly over to Seattle for five days for this nerd party. The experience and realization that you’re but one person in this sea of the Internet community incarnate, united by its love of gaming and Penny Arcade fandom, was worth every dollar I spent. This thought was especially reinforced after it was all over, when we ran into other PAX-goers in airports and back on the forums where it all started.