(no subject)

[prog]

W'sup. I am on the bus now. It's air conditioned!

My rashes are gone, and so my hands look deeeee-zgustin, as every little red welt has transmorgified into a hanging strip of dead skin, making me look like I'm holding a coupla white pompons. Rah rah rah. ("Pompon" is the AP style-guide spelling for the things that cheerleaders shake at you. That are made of plastic, and not part of their bodies. AP style-guide spellings may be the only hard facts I recall from getting my journalism degree.) (You know what? I just now made the connection between the words degree and graduate in this context.)

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Volity-the-technology continues to forge ahead, even as Volity-the-mysterious-other-thing grinds in circles, but at least it's moving, eh? Anyway, the Java client is getting rather scary-close to usability... man, that'll be something.

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TV TALK! Things that have been on my TV lately:

* The Hudsucker Proxy. I remember this as being the first movie I rented in my first by-myself apartment in Bangor. I couldn't finish it, at the time. Jennifer Jason-Leigh's character(ization) made me feel pain, with her put-on Brahmin-ish accent and telegraphed-from-the start love-interest role, and by the time they rolled out the Wise Old Mysterious Black Man (Who Is Also The Only Person Of Color In The Movie) I said uggggh and turned it off. But I've heard so much about it since then that I told Tivo to gwan record it when I saw it blip by on HBO. As predicted, I liked it more this time. The annoying bits still annoy me, but the funny bits, which just seemed bizarre to the 1996 jmac, are actually very funny to the 2004 jmac, and I was pleased as pie with the surreal twist at the end.

* Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies. I got this game for free, sort of, at the EB at the Galleria during a recent video game acquisition trip; they were, unbeknowst to me, having a three-for-two deal, and I grabbed this off the shelf when the clerk told me to go pick out another game. A nice find; it's a more-or-less flight simulator. The emphasis, of course, is on blowing shit up and evading radar-guided missiles and such; this is fun, but I wish that there was a mode where you can just fly the jets around. In my fantasy-land, there is a PS2 version of SubLogic's Flight Simulator II, where you can just fly around the whole country in a small plane, for its own sake. Also adventure/exploration games where you move a li'l guy or gal around on an interesting quest, and there are not button-mashing monster-battles dropped in every time you find a new area. (What about what about Vice City? Yes, you can wander and even fly around a whole (small) world there, but when you are exploring, you're not actually playing the story. I'm still looking for a marriage of the two. Spider-Man 2 is a step in the right direction.)

* Adult Swim. I lost patience with Aqua Teen Hungerforce as soon as I saw it for the first time a coupla years ago, because, I think, it was the first cartoon I encountered which was clearly made by people my own age, drawing from shared childhood memories (as opposed to pre-1970 childhood memories, which are visible on everything from the Ren & Stimpy era and theretofore). I mean, the main characters are a parody of the puppets from TV ads for McDonalds Happy Meals, way back when Happy Meals were new; around 1980, I guess. (Do they still have Happy Meals?) The show seems to be the result of some guys farting around with Flash, pulling gags straight out of the Obvious Bag, filling in the rest with animated versions of funny conversations they had while eating lunch that same day. And of course I laugh like ape-monkey at most of it. Hurr hurr hurr. Since I seem to have gotten over the shock, I promoted it from one red thumb (which I assigned it a long time ago) to one green thumb. (What is he talking about? It's a Tivo thing.)

(I lie. The first cartoon I saw by people obviously my own age, as I noted at the time, was Whatever Happened to Robot Jones. But since that was actually set in the 1980s, with little-kid characters, it was definitely a more gentle introduction to this scary notion.)

I also demoted Sealab 2021 from three greens to two because it's been kind of awful lately. One recent Sealab hinged on a reference to The Infinity Gauntlet, a silly Marvel Comics crossover miniseries from circa 1990. Having gotten over the creepiness of seeing my own childhood reflected back at me through TV cartoons, I actually thought this was kind of cute, but that's about all it had going for it. I'm sure there's a major contingent of fans who wishes they just put the show to bed when Cap'n Murphy was taken from us, and post regularly to message boards about this.

The jury is still out on The Venture Bros., which I could crassly describe as being something like a super-lewd version of The Tick cartoon, except better than that. I've given it three green thumbs for the time being, but it's strictly probational.

Comments

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I like ATHF in spite of myself; it's got a kind of innocent charm in its idiocy. Sealab, however, I watched two minutes of and immediately loathed. (Perhaps because I never saw Sealab 2020?)

Incidentally, Merriam-Webster's unabridged has "pompon" listed as referring to an ornamental ball or tuft (as of yarn, etc), and "pom-pom" refers to that entry; whereas the collegiate has "pom-pom" with that meaning, and "pompon" refers the reader to it. (Only the collegiate has the additional meaning of the cheerleader accesory. Which, apparently, cheerleaders do not simply shake: they flourish them.)

[prog.livejournal.com]

I had never even heard of Sealab 2020, which is strange, given my history. But the first couple of seasons of 2021 are actually quite clever... lately they've just sunk a bit much into self-reference and other not-even-trying non-humor bits.

(Compare to Harvey Birdman, which I know to be funny precisely because I grew up with all the lousy 1960s/1970s HB cartoon characters that it savages; I'm not sure it'd be half as funny otherwise.)

[emotionalgoat.livejournal.com]

Do you also like Space Ghost? From reading reviews it seems to me that if you like one, it's a rule that you don't like the other one. I don't have broadcast TV, I have a TV, so we only watch DVDs and videos. I used to really like Space Ghost (especially Cartoon Planet, not so much Space Ghost Coast to Coast), so now I'm curious about ATHF.

I use the word "pompon" for everything from a fluffy ball on the end of a hat to the thing a cheerleader flourishes. It's just easier to say, and it's a good general word for every fluffy ball in the world. I'm sure that back when I used to read the dictionary for fun I must've used these arguments and talked myself into not using "pom-pom," since I'm the only one I've ever heard use the word "pompon." It's just Language Snobbery, I guess.

[jazzfish]

Also adventure/exploration games where you move a li'l guy or gal around on an interesting quest, and there are not button-mashing monster-battles dropped in every time you find a new area.

Would ICO qualify for this? Maybe not; the exploration is A) all in small discrete areas, and B) mostly geared towards puzzle-solving, which is like monster-bashing only less frenetic. Seems like it might be, well, not closer but differently close to your ideal than Vice City et al.

[prog.livejournal.com]

I loved Ico but it's exactly what I had in mind when I wrote the above. Same with Prince of Persia. The exploration is wonderful, and the puzzle-solving was OK. And both games frequently drop into "Oops, monsters have appeared, now I must press X and wiggle the left analog stick until they leave". I tolerated this in both cases because it worked into the story, at least...

What I really want to see is a console adventure game that has no action sequences... and still works.

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

i love aqua teen. not sure why, but somehow many phrases and lines have entered my vernacular.

i love harvey birdman. to see what classic HB character will get the treatment this week is one thing about sunday that makes me forget i have to go to work on monday.

and yes, i love sealab 2021. it has it's moments, even in the crappiest episodes.

i do hate brak, however.