1 · bokurano manga -- I read the first volume of this last night -- it's a weird twist on the children-piloting giant-robot genre (who else but children pilots giant-robots anyway?) with a doom-laden upsetting atmosphere -- a bit like the 1st and 5th seasons of lost crossed with Alan Garner books -- I have to fiddle with DS dictionary but not too much and it is worth it thus farly
2 · garfield minus garfield -- during child-time I quite liked garfield, but apparently most people dislike him, in child- and adult-time, so they have erased him from the comics, and it looks like this:
3 · the suicide of Kazumi and Neil Puttick -- the details of this tragedy plus tragedy plus tragedy shows our bludgeon world in full effect -- the world/life/motivelessly malignant force/whatever it is had this family in its sights -- evidently not a fragment of grace is allowed
4 · here is a cat shelter for those who live near "swansea" -- I would choose to house the following cat were I to be living in (or near) "swansea":
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I also liked Garfield very much as a child and had many books. That site is interesting.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, he does seem to be hated by many. Not nearly as awful as Fred Basset, which always seemed to be intended for a very specific type of British person. Mind you, many people hate The Far Side too, and I like that.
There is a new cartoon starting soon from Genndy Tartakovsky, called Sym-Bionic Titan, which is "about three alien teens piloting giant mecha robots", according to the guardian guide. I know little about these things, and so I am quoting directly. The feature in the guide was about new animated shows aimed at adult (perhaps) entertainment.
I came across something similar to Garfield minus Garfield several years ago -- it still had the cat but had removed the cat's thought bubbles. So it looked like John would talk to Garfield and then Garfield would sit there staring at him. This current G-m-G has a very different effect I think, much more surreal, maybe less funny in the normal sense. It is curious to think about what is meant by no Garfield (whether Garfield consists mainly of the cat or mainly of the cat's thoughts) and also of the way the presence of a mute cat affects the tone of a strip.
ReplyDeletegarfield minus garfield is pretty harsh I think. it is like seeing life stripped of all comforting factors. garfield was obviously a sort of grace/solace/salvation-node for poor John (or is it Jon?) (even though he -garfield- was sarcastic greedy and violent)
ReplyDeletelasagne is not as tasty as garfield thinks it is.
and I like the colour fields behind the missing garfield.
ReplyDeleteAlexis, the Genndy Tartakovsky robot cartoon doesn't look that promising maybe, it is a shame that only japan can succesfully make giant robot "mecha" things and have them turn out well.
ReplyDelete(the main theory is that it is because of the war)
(ie loosing "the war" in unique atomic detonative ways)
(ie so they imagine up a suitable vehicle of power -- this is best shown in the 6 episode anime "GUNBUSTER - aim for the top")
it is a pity tarkovsky didn't get round to making a giant robot feature film motion picture
Okay. As I say, I know little about that particular genre, I was just passing on the information as your comment about children / robot piloting triggered a memory - something I had read recently.
ReplyDeleteI too like the colour fields behind Garfield. On reflection, despite being interesting, the idea of removing him and Jon talking to himself is incredibly depressing and rather horrible to poor old Jon. Far more crushing - up there with Sartre, Camus, Beckett, Malraux, Kafka perhaps. Interpret the silence as looking for an answer from God, and you could get Dostoyevsky in there too. There's a thesis in all that somewhere, surely.
Incidentally, along the lines of this Garfield talk, a bored Sunday afternoon television trawling into the hundreds channels brought me to the children area, and a Garfield show. Thinking it the old cartoon (which I did like) I thought I would leave it on for five minutes to reminisce. But, it was not the old cartoon with Bill Murray-esque voice (though it wasn't Bill Murray, and my youthful deduction uncovered that it was the same person who provided Peter's voice in the Ghostbusters cartoon), it was a strange 3D, computer generated abomination. Most modern children's shows are now done on computers it seems. Cheaper, quicker, preparing them for a life staring at screens.
As we have spoken of before, anime was only ever on the periphery of my interests growing up, though I know not why. However, I did see something recently, with a cat world, and the voice of Tim Curry as the King of cats, or emperor, and Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein, Everybody Loves Raymond). It was about a girl who enters the world of cats after saving one, and then has to escape. It was an odd but enjoyable little affair. The Cat Returns (I just looked it up).
Regarding your comment about the Japanese - watching the original Godzilla (Gojira) film made me realise what a massive impact that must have had (beyond the obvious, and into the cultural future).
You might also enjoy:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.4thletter.net/2009/06/and-now-darkseid-minus-new-gods/
This is cool!
ReplyDelete