Sunday, February 2, 2014

Today's Daily Double: Irrelevant Faux News Versus The Faux News Threat

In the red corner, we have Frank (The Butcher on Broadway) Rich and in the blue corner, we have TNR's Ike Chotiner. Both are flailing at Roger Ailes, the Darth Vader of Faux News. The Butcher proclaims Darth Vader to be a dead man walking and Ike holds that even a dead rattlesnake contains live venom. So that is today's Great Debate. If this is (fairclick on "Back To Directory" to return to the starting point. Thanks be to Vannevar Bush for giving us the idea of hypertext.



[ -- Bracketed Numbers -- ]

Gungrave [Animated Series]

This is a series I need to find time to rewatch as it has a constant dark presence over your typical quiet hero protagonist. It is similar to Berserk as far as personality and the theme it aims for. From the creators of Trigun I can see their style in some of the concept design. A worthwhile series that stands well on its own separate from Trigun.



Brandon Heat and his friend Harry are orphans on the streets surviving by thieving and other means. They soon gain the attention of high rise gangsters and gradually move up the chain of command. Throughout the series we see their friendship tested and evolve to become something neither of them truly saw coming. Betrayal is the main theme, but the series also includes survival through gaining power and the question of how long before it finally corrupts.

Best Anime Series (Contains Spoilers)

* BERSERK (9.5/10)



Our hero, Guts, is unsure of his purpose, until he meets the charismatic Griffith, the leader of a band of mercenaries and whose grandiose plans include conquering the world. He also encounters Casca, Griffith's loyal, female subordinate. After joining Griffith's group, Guts believes he's found a true friend in Griffith. But Griffith seems to have a different perspective on friendship. Feeling unappreciated, Guts leaves Griffith and the group to seek out his destiny. What follows is a poignant tale of loss and betrayal. While watching the relationship between Guts, Griffith and Casca unfold, my emotions ran the gamut. In the end, I was left speechless. Berserk starts off choppy, and the ending is unfinished. However, its profound impact destroys any negatives.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Rewind: Berserk

I've debated featuring Berserk for several weeks now. Each time, I backed down before I could even type the title. Why? If I'm completely honest with myself, I realize it's shame. I watched something I shouldn't have.



Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that I shouldn't have watched Berserk just because I'm a Christian. Yes, it's explicit, but sometimes, truths can be shown better in something rated TV-MA than TV-G. Nor am I passing any other sort of judgement on Berserk, good or bad... partially because it's been too long since I watched it. I'm just relating my experience, take it or leave it.

Let's talk about Bringing Kids to Restaurants

Is this a military thing?Since our direct experiences of military communities occur in regions we are otherwise unfamiliar with, sometimes we're not sure whether certain behaviors are examples of military culture, regional culture, rural livin', etc.Or maybe this is just Velcro Generation Parenting? Like, just what people do now? I mean, using smartphones wasn't a thing in the place we lived BS (before soldier) but that was probably more the decade than the zip code.



PICTURE THIS: a Friday night at the end of a rough week. Somehow you and a favorite MilSpouse have managed to convince BOTH of your partners to go out to a restaurant together.

Ojibwa Grandmother chant

OJIBWA GRANDMOTHER CHANT



A Poem by

Rewind: Berserk

I've debated featuring Berserk for several weeks now. Each time, I backed down before I could even type the title. Why? If I'm completely honest with myself, I realize it's shame. I watched something I shouldn't have.



Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that I shouldn't have watched Berserk just because I'm a Christian. Yes, it's explicit, but sometimes, truths can be shown better in something rated TV-MA than TV-G. Nor am I passing any other sort of judgement on Berserk, good or bad... partially because it's been too long since I watched it. I'm just relating my experience, take it or leave it.

Gungrave [Animated Series]

This is a series I need to find time to rewatch as it has a constant dark presence over your typical quiet hero protagonist. It is similar to Berserk as far as personality and the theme it aims for. From the creators of Trigun I can see their style in some of the concept design. A worthwhile series that stands well on its own separate from Trigun.



Brandon Heat and his friend Harry are orphans on the streets surviving by thieving and other means. They soon gain the attention of high rise gangsters and gradually move up the chain of command. Throughout the series we see their friendship tested and evolve to become something neither of them truly saw coming. Betrayal is the main theme, but the series also includes survival through gaining power and the question of how long before it finally corrupts.

Gungrave [Animated Series]

This is a series I need to find time to rewatch as it has a constant dark presence over your typical quiet hero protagonist. It is similar to Berserk as far as personality and the theme it aims for. From the creators of Trigun I can see their style in some of the concept design. A worthwhile series that stands well on its own separate from Trigun.



Brandon Heat and his friend Harry are orphans on the streets surviving by thieving and other means. They soon gain the attention of high rise gangsters and gradually move up the chain of command. Throughout the series we see their friendship tested and evolve to become something neither of them truly saw coming. Betrayal is the main theme, but the series also includes survival through gaining power and the question of how long before it finally corrupts.

Best Anime Series (Contains Spoilers)

* BERSERK (9.5/10)



Our hero, Guts, is unsure of his purpose, until he meets the charismatic Griffith, the leader of a band of mercenaries and whose grandiose plans include conquering the world. He also encounters Casca, Griffith's loyal, female subordinate. After joining Griffith's group, Guts believes he's found a true friend in Griffith. But Griffith seems to have a different perspective on friendship. Feeling unappreciated, Guts leaves Griffith and the group to seek out his destiny. What follows is a poignant tale of loss and betrayal. While watching the relationship between Guts, Griffith and Casca unfold, my emotions ran the gamut. In the end, I was left speechless. Berserk starts off choppy, and the ending is unfinished. However, its profound impact destroys any negatives.

Gungrave [Animated Series]

This is a series I need to find time to rewatch as it has a constant dark presence over your typical quiet hero protagonist. It is similar to Berserk as far as personality and the theme it aims for. From the creators of Trigun I can see their style in some of the concept design. A worthwhile series that stands well on its own separate from Trigun.



Brandon Heat and his friend Harry are orphans on the streets surviving by thieving and other means. They soon gain the attention of high rise gangsters and gradually move up the chain of command. Throughout the series we see their friendship tested and evolve to become something neither of them truly saw coming. Betrayal is the main theme, but the series also includes survival through gaining power and the question of how long before it finally corrupts.

Animes I Like Part 1

Ok, so a couple of people at my school have asked me for my complete list of animes and my thoughts on each one, so here we are:

I'm breaking this into parts, because, like the big nerdy otaku that I am, I have watched ALOT of animes, and to keep this from being one long ass post, I'll just use genres.


Gungrave [Animated Series]

This is a series I need to find time to rewatch as it has a constant dark presence over your typical quiet hero protagonist. It is similar to Berserk as far as personality and the theme it aims for. From the creators of Trigun I can see their style in some of the concept design. A worthwhile series that stands well on its own separate from Trigun.



Brandon Heat and his friend Harry are orphans on the streets surviving by thieving and other means. They soon gain the attention of high rise gangsters and gradually move up the chain of command. Throughout the series we see their friendship tested and evolve to become something neither of them truly saw coming. Betrayal is the main theme, but the series also includes survival through gaining power and the question of how long before it finally corrupts.