adorable rockets

Yes, yes Bakamonogatari was the knock-out hit of last season and quite possibly the last five years. So why am I wasting my time on what I should be bemoaning as typical J.C. Staff dreck, instead of waxing rhapsodic?

Two simple reasons:

1. Bakamonogatari deserves more than a quickie post dashed off from the hip.
2. A contrast between Railgun and A Certain Magical Index provides a unique opportunity, unparalleled in the annals of anime, to contrast two shows with near identical moétic goals but very different moétic results.

I dare say that even after only one episode Railgun is an almost unqualified moétic success, while Index failed to retain my interest for even ten episodes. Of course what’s most fascinating about this comparison is that we have not only similar goals, with contrasting results – we also have the same source material, the same studio producing the show, even many of the same characters. It is a near ideal laboratory to study the success and failure of moétic technique, and even to gain some insight into the evolution of this genre/school of art. Yes my dear readers, this is once again an entry in the service of moé.
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Transform and roll out!

Cupholders are an optional accessory.

NECCO headgear (Networked Environment Command and Control Operations)

Just a little something I've been musing on. Starting to gather steam, but first there is something called Starlight I need to finish!

I mean that most literally. It’s been too long since an action movie left me with my jaw on the floor.

Transformers is no deep epic, nor is it even a very coherent summer blockbuster. It makes Independence Day and X-Men look nuanced and tightly plotted. Nonetheless it delivers big on three key fronts. Firstly, robots go boom. And boom. And BOOOOOOOOM!!! Really, it’s awesome. Secondly all of the plot we care about is driven by the humans who develop as some really unique and memorable characters. Finally, it’s still the freaking Transformers, and when Optimus intones “One shall stand, one shall fall,” chills went up my spine.

Go forth and enjoy it on the biggest screen, in the loudest theatre you can find. I recommend the Arclight’s Cinemascope geodesic dome in Hollywood. Be warned, I think I strained my eyeballs, and I brought eye-drops to put in half way through the flick. You heard the man – roll out!

Technorati Tags: Transformers

The World to Reverse is a unlikely little pairing of hobbyist visual novels, fan-subbed as part of an annual fan-subbung of visual novels contest (say that three times fast). As I mentioned before, the majority these works serve as socialization simulators. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that – on the contrary it’s a fascinating, innovative use of the medium and I plan to continue that train of thought when I get back to the rise of Moé.

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Nowadays mostly she just makes doll dresses to give to cousins, nieces, and sundry little kiddles. Mostly.

Sometimes Rocket moonlights as a fashion consultant.

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Studies for Sunshine…

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I doodled these up back when I heard they were re-imaging the original Trek…

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Of course if you give a geek a cookie… or a sketch pad as the case may be… he’s liable to go an keep sketching. The prequel fantasy is entertaining enough, but every hot blooded young man who wants to follow in J Tiberious’ footsteps longs for an agile little ship with which he can make a name for himself patrolling the edge of the Neutral Zone..

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Ojingogo is a pleasantly quirky little romp through the imagination of Mathew Forsythe. In a lovely series of long format and frameless pages we follow the episodic adventures of (what else?) a spunky little girl and her giant stone robot though a dreamy fantasy world.

Questionable off the cuff fanart…

I find his treatment of the illustration medium as a physical component of the word irresistibly endearing. The robot (perhaps more of a golem) plods about with an open mouthed stoicism that is simultaneously pitiful and alarming, and delightfully recalls Myazaki’s Laputa servants. The heroine herself is primarily distinguished by her sausage like lower appendages, yet that makes her no less delectable.

I find very few web comics or art comics satisfying for their emphasis on concept or atmosphere over story, yet Matthew offers just enough of the latter to recall some of the most treasured picture books of my childhood – Barbapapas and a dimly remembered Portuguese story about an ardvark seeking to escape his kin.

What are you waiting for? Go and support a starving artist!