Barking Space

Sleep Has Never Been So Easy to Not Get!

I spent this last Friday night and most of Saturday in a sleep clinic. It was much better than the last time, as I actually had a decent night’s sleep this past Friday night. The last time I was there was my first time, and I wasn’t used to the wires and straps they attached to me, so I had a very restless sleep.

This time was much better, as I was pretty tired to begin with, and controlled the schedule as much as I could to make sure I fell asleep as close to my normal time as possible.

The other great thing was that Mrs. J spent the day with me on Saturday, which was nice. There were four periods consisting of a half hour where I had to sit alone, in a dark room to see if I could stay awake.

That sucked.

But the rest of the time was spent watching television, or playing games. It was nice.

Three cheers for my wife!

You Call That Realistic?

I have a love of animation.

It is a pure kind of love. Not the dirty kind. Not the kind that Dave has for the Barenaked Ladies.

Animation is great because you are removing the risk of injuring people in filming of stunts. Not to mention that animation allows for a more seamless interface between people and backgrounds.

What do I mean by this? Well, let’s take Blade Trinity, for instance. A lot of the background was obviously computer generated. This goes beyond the fact that we know certain things cannot exist in our world (or can they?). The problem is that in some instances, the CGI is almost too realistic. Look at The Phantom Menace and let me know what planet would be as clean as Naboo. Seriously.

I am referring to genres like science fiction and fantasy, of course. Drama and comedy are a little different (although these have been effectively done in animation as well).

In terms of anime, movies like Ghost in the Shell or Princess Mononoke are incredible. Both have a great plot and incredible character depth.

In the end, that’s what it’s all about. You can have the most beautifully filmed movie with the best actors. But if the writing is akin to manure, then you are pretty much wasting your money on drivel.

The downside to anime is that it can be quite graphic, and the wardrobe of some of the characters is very odd. Once you get over that, it’s pretty amazing what you’ll find.

My recommendation for newcomers to anime is Blood: The Last Vampire. Perhaps not the most realistic sounding title, but it’s an exquisitely crafted adventure, and has some of the best character development and plots that I have seen in full length feature films. The animation is also amazing. Considering the piece is less than 50m in length, that’s pretty impressive!

Try some anime today! I’ll be reviewing anime movies and shows on here in the near future. I’ll also be focusing on some North American fare as well.

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