A Little Air Bending about Avatar before the movie comes out

So, the (Avatar) The Last Airbender movie is coming out in a week, and we're a tad excited.  More than a tad.  We are ecstatic but trying to keep our deisre for an awesome movie from creating impossible expectations.  We talked a little bit about it and thought we'd share our geeking out here with you.  We love you that much.

TMIA: I'm going to take this opportunity to grouse that this movie should have been the one that got to be called Avatar, and the other one should have had to change its name.

ST: Indeed. I'm not one to impugn James Cameron's character, but what a jerk. His movie could have been called any of a dozen names, but no, he had to insist on Avatar. But Avatar was already a TV show called "Avatar" when he started making his movie. But he has the "Intellectual Property Rights" to the name because he registered for it as a movie name first. What a jerk. I just hope the Avatar movie blows the Avatar movie out of the water...

TMIA: I hope so too, though I think it unlikely. (I think I'm glad book titles can't be copyrighted.) Then again, family-friendly can surprise the box office out of left field sometimes. (Crossing fingers.) Have you seen much of the promo stuff? What is your gut reaction to what you know or have seen or read about the movie so far?

ST: Well, I'm sure the action will be very cool, but some things I've read about the movie have disturbed me. For one, they're changing the way they pronounce Aang's name to make it more "accurate." I don't think it can be inaccurate if that's the way the series creators wanted it pronounced. Also, Shamalan (totally spelled that COMPLETELY wrong) said he took a lot of the humor out because there wasn't time for it. Sorry, but the point of the series is that it's HILARIOUS first, an action show second. And what purpose will Sokka serve if they take a lot of the humor out? He's the guy with the boomerang and the sense of humor. If you take the humor away, he's just the guy with the boomerang.

TMIA: Yeah, I'm a tad worried about Sokka, too. The director said he's a more grounded character from the beginning. I have no idea what that means, but apparently it means he's very useful. Useful is nice, but we need Sokka's goofiness to balance out the seriousness. (It was one of the genius things the orignal creators built in, all of these characters and set-ups that balanced each other out.) And we need that progression from comic relief character to maturing and responsible tactical genius because without it, how will his character change and grow? Apparently, the director also wanted to axe Oppa and Momo, but his kids basically told him NO. Way to go, kids.

ST: I was SO WORRIED about that. I kept searching the previews in vain for Appa and Momo (they are really important characters, as they are Aang's only living link to the Airbenders), but when I went to Iron Man, I FINALLY saw Appa briefly in one of the previews. Yay for the director's kids!

TMIA: What do you think about the "controversy" around the director changing the ethnicities of the characters?

ST: I'm not really bothered by the ethnicity changes. Aang always looked white anyways; Sokka and Katara's actors could stand to get a tan, but I never understood why they were so dark in the cartoon if they lived on the South Pole, which is not noted for its sunny weather. I miss the fact that it appears that Iroh is not a jolly fat man. He looks much more serious and worse, skinny, in the previews. How can we relate to a skinny Iroh? I'm not sure we can, especially if he's not a FUNNY skinny Iroh. But I still have high hopes for the movie.

TMIA: I guess I thought Aang was middle Asian. I thought the darker skin tones of Sokka and Katara's tribe was supposed to indicate that they were similar to the Inuit tribes. Also, Iroh's skinny? What in the world? They couldn't just pad him out at the beginning and then, I dunno, follow the story and then let him be skinny at the end?! I'm trying to keep my expectations low, but I really do wish this movie turns out to be great. And that Aang's actor's voice doesn't start to change before the filming is done . . .

Are you a fan of Aang and friends?  Are you going to see the movie in the theaters?  You should.  Hope to see you there.

Yes, again with Darker Than Black

Well.  Wow.  The sudden ultraviolence means this title is definitely not for everyone.  The series in general keeps you off balance, and the early inclusion of several scenes of hideous and unexpected gore was definitely a successful part of that strategy, but, ewwwww. 

The problem is that unlike other shows, there isn't necessarily warning that things are about to get unbelievably gross, and sometimes, you can't look away because, you know, important plot is happening.


Other ways they keep you off balance:

• killing people who seem important
• inexplicably letting others live
• the most excellent two-episode story arc
• the way the inhabitants of this world don't have everything figured out

That last one is my favorite.  Ten years ago the world changed for these people.  Things they thought were givens (laws of science, common sense, etc.) got tossed out the window.  Or over the wall.  These people are trying to figure their world out on a fairly basic level, and there are a lot of guesses and lies running around.  Even stuff everybody who knows knows is wrong.  It's subtle and breathtaking.  Bravo! 


Because of all this, it feels much more immediate, engaging, and compelling, and you as the viewer must participate because they are not going to spell things out for you, and when they do, the truth may or may not be involved.  Monologues and info dumps can be "full of fail."  Pay attention, or else you miss all the great nuances, contradictions, and bunny trails that make this show a jaw-droppingly great ride.


Up through volume 4 where I am going to stop because I wish to own this series and meticulously pick apart each and every episode to analyze how the story-telling and world-building are so awesome.  I wouldn't want to know the ending and let that influence my obsessive re/watching.

I wonder if I should wait to read this tantalizing novel until after I'm done with the series . . .  Anyone heard anything about it?

I love being a nerd.

Are there any shows you stopped watching partway in so you could start over obsessively?

People talking about a manga I love: Banana Fish

I do love Banana Fish, so I direct you to the beginning of an ongoing round table at Manga Bookshelf in case any of the following apply to you:

• You like Banana Fish.
• You enjoy hearing different opinionated and intelligent people talk about something they enjoyed interacting with.
• You don't have any idea what Banana Fish is or if you would like to read it but are always looking.

If the first option above applies to you, and if you haven't read Shaenon Garrity’s Overlooked Manga Festival post about it, go do that now.  Someday, I shall marathon this series in all it's awesome 80s glory, and I will LOVE it again.

I LOVE KEKKAISHI

I think I've figured out that the main reason why I love this series so much: the sibling rivalry. 

In this series, a mark appears on the body of the person who will succeed as the next head of the household, and a while back it showed up on the apathetic-toward-spiritual-battles middle son who wanted to be a baker of impossibly crazy cakes when he grew up, not a clan leader.  The dedicated, hard-working, ambitious oldest son was baffled (along with the rest of the family) and angry.  He left, joined some slightly shadowy otherworld organization, doesn't really keep in touch.  It's all quite awkward and strained and embarrassed. 

As time in the story passes, the middle son finds his sense of responsibility and starts working harder and comes up with a plan to stop the madness (he's still working on the details).  He misses and looks up to the older brother, but the older brother doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with him.  It creates a unique, gentle, realistic, and sympathetic tension I really haven't found anywhere else.

I do like the action and adventure, the intrigue, the mistrust and backstabbing, the mystery, the unrequited feelings, the actual and stunning deaths, the mysticism, and the character growth, but it's the quiet, domestic drama in the background that really makes me love this series. 

I wonder if this affection stems from my similarly awkward (sans the supernatural shenanigans) relationship with my older sister who really wanted nothing to do with me for years. 

I just feel for the poor main character, and I wish his brother wouldn't hold all this against him, if that's what he's doing.  I wish they could just be friends, but as a person, I understand that they have grown apart.  And as a  reader, I am privy to more about his older brother than he is.  I understand the whole looking-up-to-the-guy thing (he is pretty powerful and awesome), but I don't know if I can trust him. 

I want to believe he's one of the good guys, but he's ambitious and his motives are, at best, murky.  We don't really get inside his head, so we're only able to build our picture of him from his actions and words (which mostly take place in very delicate and highly charged political situations which sort of preclude frankness).  It's maddening and kind of brilliant. 

I want the author to keep pulling Kekkaishi off with this quietly sad internal tension.  I want, somehow, for the two brothers to be reconciled and trust and love each other.  I want their relationship to become strong and beautiful.  Or is that my relationship with my older sister I'm longing for?  I guess it doesn't really matter. 

I want the older brother to be one of the good guys.  I also don't want him to die.  I really don't want the main character to get him killed.  I want an end to jealousy and resentment.  I suspect I am wanting a lot of impossible things here, but I don't mind.  As long as this story is compelling, I will stick with it and love it.  Even if it has an unhappy ending.

I'd also like the anime to be great.

Dragon Ball, public morality, and a graphic novel about Bertrand Russell

This article is just pretty darned funny. Read it out loud for increased humor value.  It also raises some serious issues about graphic novels, schools, the importance of informed librarians, parental involvement, censorship, and all sorts of other issues it's always important to discuss.

It's #1 of the Paperback Graphic Novels.  "LOGICOMIX - AN EPIC SEARCH FOR TRUTH, by Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos H. Papadimitriou, Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna. (Bloomsbury USA, $22.95.) The life of the philosopher and logician Bertrand Russell, and his passion for mathematics, is recounted in this graphic novel."