A Fresh Start

So, I've created a new blog. I decided I wanted a somewhat different format for my posts and such, so here's the URL: The Random Thoughts of a Bored Person

Not Quite a Fail: Dragonball Evolution

I didn't watch Dragonball Z as a kid. It looked like a stupid waste of time. The art style was kind of weird, and the fight scenes took forever. However, other people my age found that exciting, and it became a huge franchise. I still stood by my opinion for most of my life, until quite recently. You see, some of my friends are huge fans of the franchise. Thus, I ended up watching the first three episodes, and they weren't too bad, but it wasn't on the top of my list to continue watching. I also started reading a fanfiction my friend wrote that made the series seem interesting again (read it here: Chemistry of a Car Crash (Warning: Chapter two contains explicit content and there is some language throughout, but besides the specified chapter, it is very well written and hilarious.). Also, I recently started watching Dragonball Z the Abridged Series. It was very hilarious, and managed to engage people who had never really watched much of the show. So, I've been immersed in Dragonball Z recently, though I had never watched very much. And I knew next to nothing about its predecessor, Dragonball, though it did look better than its more-well-known sequel.
So, when I found out that Dragonball was getting a live-action movie, and that it really wasn't just some stupid rumor, I wasn't sure what to think. I mean, out of all the animes out there, Dragonball wasn't one of the ones that I thought would translate well in live action. However, some of the creative choices they made impressed me, mainly with the hair. As you are probably aware of, the main character in Dragonball, Goku, has extremely spiky hair, which would not look good on an actual human. Also, as much as some people would like to disagree, Bulma's blue hair is not something people would be willing to accept in real life. Thus, Justin Chatwin, who plays Goku, only got tiny spikes in his hair, and Emmy Rossum, who plays Bulma, got a streak of blue hair in her bangs and in her ponytail. These changes are reminiscent of the original character designs, but don't look ridiculous, and I liked that. The huge fans of the Dragonball series were outraged, however, that they would dare change their looks like that. To them I say this: Over-the-top hairstyles in anime are there to show personality, not to show what the character would look like if the show was written for live action. So if an anime is transferred to live action, the human characters, at least, should have more familiar hairstyles. Maybe if they aren't human, their hair could be kept the same, but otherwise, no. It just makes most people not take the movie/tv series seriously. So I applaud the makers of this movie for this area.

However, the movie still looked pretty stupid. But those are fun to watch anyway, so I went with my friend to see it a few nights ago. After an opening sequence that gave expostition they gave in the actual movie anyway, we are shown Goku with some sort of liquid running down his face. I was not sure what it was. I was thinking it was tears, since I knew that his grandfather died (sorry guys, but if I knew that beforehand, then it probably wasn't much of a spoiler anyway...), so I guessed they were starting there, especially since some of the water seemed to be coming from his eyes. But then we cut to a fight with him and said grandfather. So I guess it was sweat. That's a pretty disgusting way to start a movie.

However, the rest of the movie wasn't that disgusting. I found myself liking the lead characters, though the villains were pretty shallow. I mean, there was no place for us to actually understand why Piccolo wanted to destroy the world, except for revenge for being placed in solitude for thousands of years by some old guys. But why did that happen? Because he was trying to destroy the world. I'm sure this was answered in the series, but it would be nice if the movie would make a more complex villain, like I'm pretty sure the anime did, considering the Piccolo fanbase. Also, his hench-woman is even blander than him. She says about two lines the whole movie, and for the most part, she's just sort of there. She fights, she wins or loses, and then she leaves. Yay.
But still, the leads were pretty cool. Goku seemed very awkward, and not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's still a lovable and original main character. I enjoyed Bulma's sarcastic attitude, and her backstory and motives were probably the most interesting. Master Roshi was a funny character, with his perverted tendencies and his mostly laid-back attitude. Yamcha didn't get very much screentime, but I think he was also a fun character that tagged along. The grandpa was pretty likeable when he was alive and not giving any expostion, but a lot of his screentime was used being dead and/or giving exposition. Oh well.

It felt a little rushed, but you have to give them credit, since they were trying to make a movie out of more than one-hundred episodes worth of TV. The special effects weren't perfect, but they were pretty good. The fight scenes could be a little cheesy at some points, and they definitely used slow-motion way too much, but they still kept my attention, and were pretty exciting. Plus, it was based off of an anime famous for its over-the-top fighting.
All in all, Dragonball Evolution wasn't that bad. It wasn't GREAT, but it wasn't TERRIBLE either. I enjoyed watching it, and it actually made me kind of want to watch the series. Now THAT'S an achievement.....

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid

(Disclaimer: This post is a JOKE. I am not necessarily a fan of the Twilight Saga, but I don't think of it as being anywhere CLOSE to being as bad as I write about it in the following post. Twilight will NOT kill you, unless someone throws it at you hard enough.)


This is one of the three new Entertainment Weekly collector's covers for the movie version of Twilight. The eyes in this picture are very creepy, and remind me of something, though I can't quite put my finger on it........................



HOLY CRAP! HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! IT'S RENA AND MION FROM HIGURASHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO CLAW OUR THROATS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is all.

Zac Efron to Play Light Yagami???????

There are many rumors flying about an American live-action version of one of my favorite animes, Death Note. The show is about a 17 year-old boy named Light Yagami, who finds a notebook dropped by a shinigami (death god) named Ryuk. This notebook, called a Death Note, can kill people just by writing down their names and thinking of their faces. Light starts using the Death Note to kill off all of the criminals in the world, planning to then become the god of it. Since the default death from the Death Note, unless written down otherwise, is a heart attack, the police notice, and try to find out who this killer that people call "Kira" is, led by the #1 detective in the world, L. The show is very addictive (I finished it in a week) and one of the most brilliant anime series I have ever seen. Anyways, one of the big rumors going around is that Zac Efron will be playing Light, and a lot of the Death Note fans are freaking out. When I first heard about it, I did too. But, after saying it out loud to my dad, I realized that it could work. For one thing, the roles he has played in the past don't prove that he can't play a more serious one. And besides, the roles he played are very similar to the person everyone else in the show still considers him to be, the nice student who is very popular with girls. Now his roles weren't really honor students, but they weren't dumb, either. The part of honor-student Light should be quite easy for him. But it's the part of Kira that would be new to him. But he can't be in light-hearted tween movies forever! And besides, the point of the story is to show how a really good guy could become a horrible serial killer. Light should be played by someone who is always seen as playing the "good kid" roles, since it would make the message more meaningful. Zac Efron seems like he has a lot of talent, and I believe he could do a great job as Light Yagami/Kira. Just because actors normally play Disney roles doesn't mean they can't play serious roles, too! If he is cast in this movie, it would be a great way to show that he has a wider range, if he does have one. And hey, if the movie sucks, as much as I really really want there to be a good one, just like I hope all of the other planned movies based on animes are good, at least we've still got the anime and manga!
But L better be amazing, because if he isn't, then I'll be mad.

Common Villain Characteristics

So, yesterday I saw the movie "Get Smart" (good movie by the way, though there is a man-on-man kiss and another scene that made me and my friends lose our appetites for a little while....................). When watching it, I started noticing some of the characteristics of the main villain. I then started thinking about common traits of many cheesy (and sometimes not cheesy) villains. Here is a list of some of them(of course, you can have some of these traits and be a very good person. Of course if you have all of these traits you can't be anything more than a decent person(just kidding)):

• They have gray hair (this doesn't necessarily mean they are old, they just have gray hair).
• If they don't have gray hair they are bald.
• Or they would actually be bald, but would have a gray wig.
  
• They will have a cat (usually the white fluffy kind).
• They play an instrument (usually a piano, organ, or violin).
  
• They like Ode to Joy and/or the song is played in the background when they do something evil and/or awesome.
• They are billionaires for no adequately explored reason.
  
• They wear a business suit.
• If not a business suit, then a cool-looking cape.
• They are very lazy.
  
• They have a signature laugh.
• They will swear vengeance if you scratch their face.
  
• They are often said to be very brilliant, yet don't seem to understand that the easiest way to defeat the hero is to shoot them yourself, instead of sending a minion to do it, or standing there while they give a long speech about friendship.
  

High School Field Trip

For a field trip, the 8th grade went to tour a nearby high school that a majority of kids were going to (though I'm actually going to a local art high school instead). We first went to the auditorium and got to see some of the school groups perform. Then the principal spoke. One of the things she talked about was the athletics program, which apparently had "every sport you could name."

Sports I could name:
1. horse racing
2. race car driving
3. cricket
4. dueling
5. walking
6. tractor racing
7. Olympic Diving
8. deep sea diving
9. water skiing
10. Battle Royale

Man, I really wish I was going to that school because of the great variety of sports available.

Suing for Copyright Issues or to be a Bully?

Apparently, J.K. Rowling went to court to prevent a book called The Harry Potter Lexicon from being published. This book was only going to have 10,000 copies printed. Why would she bother to go to court to prevent this book from being published? She says she is also planning a Harry Potter encyclopedia, and thinks that she wouldn't have the heart to continue if the book is published, probably because she thinks it wouldn't sell well because another one exists. But that is just stupid. The Lexicon wouldn't have enough copies to become too popular. Besides, it would only help the sale of her encyclopedia. If people love that book, they would want another one. If they think the book is crap, they would buy hers expecting it to be better.
I also read that she teared up when she was on the stand. England would have a new lake if she saw the amount of unauthorized books and fanfiction about her series. J.K. is just selfish. She can't stand the thought of having someone else's name associated with her amazing series. I sure hope I don't get sued for using the HP word in this blog without J.K. Rowling's permission.