lensblog

For all my intentions of aspiring to be one of the digerati or at the very least an active netizen, I don’t seem to be doing all that well with regards to standing up on my little lensbox soapbox and ramming my opinions down people’s collective throats the way some seem intent on doing.

I don’t have anything news-worthy or shocking to write about. I don’t subscribe to extremist views or expound on the virtues of fellow netizens I hope to garner some small measure of favour with. Perhaps it is a character flaw. I am a pacifist at the end of the day, tending more towards neutrality than any measurable polarities.

As I have often said in the past and maintain now and into the future, I am simply ME. No pretences. No hiding behind online personas. Take me as I am or leave me be. I make mistakes like everyone else, including you, even if you don’t want to admit it.

It’s as simple or as complicated as that, depending on your point of view and I am at peace with your choice, no matter what it may end up being.

Moving on…

As is common in the history of my online existence, I have been through one of my many quiet phases; lost in concentration, usually over one thing or another. Sometimes it is work (or at the very least, due to the nature of my vocation, the mental fatigue that follows a day in the office). Sometimes it’s a game – both the XBOX 360 and World of Warcraft draw me away from this plane of existence on a semi-regular basis. Sometimes I just have nothing to add while I traverse the ‘inner universe’ we’ve created online – I would far rather absorb information in silent contemplation than spew forth misinformation while jumping up and down and drawing attention to myself.

Silence, more often than not, is golden. Barring that, duct tape is silver, a handy adhesive I often wish I could liberally apply to the hands and mouths, digital or physical, of those I encounter online.

I refer, of course, the the oft-spotted, much-reviled online troll. Frequently found in it’s preferred feeding/hunting grounds, the bulletin boards, forums and comment sections of just about every public site that allows user feedback and interaction.

I had a fair amount of spare time while working late shifts the last few months and I spent some time lurking in one of the local bulletin boards, MyBroadband.

If I had to paint a picture of “MyBB”, I think I could quite easily get away with Mos Eisley, the spaceport town on the planet Tatooine in the fictional Star Wars universe.

Obi-Wan, in his wisdom, described it as follows: “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy”.

In the interest of fairness, I suppose not all of MyBB fits that description. Just most of it. The worst part, though, has to be the dreaded PD section, “Philosophical debates”.

Do not enter here without either a strong constitution, thick skin or having your wits about you.

Here, you will face derision and mockery at every turn. Your faith, no matter what it is, will be questioned and torn apart, to be scrutinized by those with little regard for hurt feelings or one’s beliefs and passions. You can try and argue. You can supply evidence. You can write impassioned words and essays that would make holy men proud. But you will not succeed… the hunting pack will gather and surround you and eventually descend upon you in an ugly barrage of posts and retorts that speaks volumes about the cynicism in Man’s soul that has found fertile ground in which to grow and spread in the online metaverse.

Now and again you might find a glimmer of light, a lone wolf that seems to be fending off the pack, only to find that in order to survive the onslaught, this individual has almost become like them in his uncaring brutality and zeal. The wan light flickers and fades…

Coming up for air from that dark place, you might think to wonder into the Gaming sections, only to find similar situations, often written and perpetuated by the same individuals. Glancing over at the Technical forums, you are assaulted by the whining of those more intent on spreading their own miserable opinions that helping work towards a solution. New threads start only to be found by these sad souls who soon drown any hope of extracting useful information from the thread with their complaints, opinions and rants.

And yet I cannot seem to stay away…

Like watching a train wreck in slow motion, I find myself fascinated while simultaneously despairing for what could have been an amazing community of shared knowledge supplied  by some obviously great minds.

Will we ever have an online Utopia?

If the online metaverse is a mirror of our physical reality, I somehow doubt it.

I leave you, for now, with the following (apt) image…

“I’m turning Japanese, I think I’m turning Japanese, I really think so…” – apologies to The Vapors…

Recently, myself and John, a friend and colleague at work, were talking about anime and when we’d each first started actively watching anime. By this, he meant watching anime with the knowledge of what it was. For me, that discounts a good chunk of my childhood as although I’d grown up watching Robotech, it wasn’t until much later that I was able to link my favourite shows to the fact that it was not just another cartoon series.

I think the first active foray into anime and manga for me came while I was at college, working for the campus computer services department, one of the few departments to have access to the Internet in 1997. A classmate of mine that was also working there pointed me in the direction of the SUNET FTP server where I found an anime repository, with pictures, sound bytes and low-res video clips from shows such as 3×3 Eyes, Ah! My Goddess, Bubblegum Crisis, etc.

I downloaded many of those pictures in the time I was there and sometime that year I remember buying my first manga magazine from a store that used to sell old overseas publications by weight. That magazine had an article about mecha and referred to Robotech and Macross. It also mentioned shows like Akira and Plastic Little, and little by little I was drawn into the anime world. For some time, my main focus was on Robotech, recalling with fondness the childhood memories of running home from school to watch it on TV before settling down to chores and homework. Sometime that year, my friend Bruno brought over his VHS tapes of Macross Plus which we watched during breaks in our LAN games one weekend. I think, then, that I fell in love with anime (again).

Later, with access to the Internet, I put more and more pieces of the puzzle together to discover that other childhood favourites had also been anime. Shows like Galaxy Rangers, Saber Rider and Star Sheriffs and way way back in the distant past, I recall watching Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind while visiting somewhere.

However, my first real discovery of anime since the Robotech and Macross craze came with the discovery of the Ghost in the Shell movie in 1998. After that, a colleague of mine, Michelle, let me watch Ninja Scroll and unfortunately, Urotsukid?ji – Legend of the Overfiend, my first experience with the world of ecchi and hentai. I recall being rather shocked at what I’d seen and telling her as much when I returned the VHS cassettes to her the next day. She just smiled and shrugged, telling me that that sort of thing was normal in some anime. Thankfully I learnt that this was not the case and that there were indeed separate categories… though some series tended to border on crossing the lines between them.

I recall finding evidence of a planned TV series and spin-off game called Mission to Avalon, done by Human Code Japan, presenting a space colony cel-shaded anime adventure. I was obsessed with the project, downloading trailers, listening to the music, browsing through screen-shots… I even mailed one of the project artists, Sergio Rosas, sometime ago, when I suddenly saw the site go offline. Sadly, he informed me about the project’s demise and the fact that no further work would be done on it. Truly a pity as it looked as though it could have been quite good.

After that, I recall watching Akira, AD Police, and ultimately, I began collecting the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series and now after a few years I have every DVD except the OVA, the original mangas, the console games and the collectible merchandise, except for one figurine of Motoko Kusanagi, based on her look from the original manga.

In the meantime, friends have introduced me to series such as Trigun, Macross Zero and many more (thanks John, you’re officially my dealer of anime fixes!). I’ve also moved to Johannesburg and gained access to shops like Outer Limits and Animeworx.

Recently, through exposure to the Animax TV channel, I’ve come to see a lot more anime, though admittedly, I’m disappointed with the service the channel provides, considering how disjointed the sequence of the series shown are, let alone the constant repetition.

That said, it’s helped a little with my anime education and has pointed me in the direction of new shows for me to explore, such as Basilisk, Black Lagoon, Eureka Seven, Speedgrapher, Wolf’s Rain, etc.

These in turn have led people like John to take it upon themselves to properly educate me by letting me watch some of their fansubs and boxset collections… such as Burst Angel, Code Geass, Elfen Lied, Gun X Sword, Gundam 00, Hellsing, Kekkaishi, Mai Hime and Mai Otome, Mushishi, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, etc… in the hope that they can get me out of the habit of watching, in their words, badly dubbed versions of good shows, preferring the more purist route of watching the shows in the original Japanese with subtitles.

I hope to do proper reviews of each of them in time, something I’d promised a fellow otaku some time back.

So what is it about anime that makes it so appealing?

Honestly, I think it’s because, as a visual medium, it is truly entertaining and it appeals to a wide and varied audience. And, according respect where respect is due, the Japanese truly are masters of animation, blending stunning matte scenes, action sequences that defy the laws of physics, awesome 3d animation and modelling, and fantastic storylines with some of the most memorable characters I’ve ever seen.

The only thing that doesn’t always grab me is the soundtracks, though composers like Yoko Kanno have gone a long way to change my opinion with their solo work (Macross Plus and Macross Frontier, etc) and their collaborative work (Ghost in the Shell SAC, 2nd Gig and Solid State Society) with the likes of Origa, Ilaria Graziano, Gabriela Robin (though some may argue that Kanno and Robin are one and the same) and Tim Jensen.

Another brilliant composer that has come to my attention is Yuki Kajiura thanks to her work on the Mai Hime and Mai Otome soundtracks. And I’m sure there are many more out there like them.

Let me end on that note for now… More to come later when I have some more time and inspiration.

Update (20/7/2008) : I’ve added some Wikipedia linkage for those interested in looking for more information about the shows and artists mentioned here.