Now, if you haven't seen this movie yet,
WATCH
IT
NOW.
The movie is the Hollywood take on a Japanese light novel titled All you need is Kill, by Hiroshi Sakurazaka:
I read the light novel a couple of years back, by happy accident, in Japanese. Taking into account Hollywood's long record of not being able to adapt Japanese material in a "proper" way, I really didn't have high expectations for the movie.
How could I've been so wrong?! (cue Thorin-meme jokes here).
The film is great, perhaps one of the best Sci-fi films I've seen in a long while (Talking Hollywood-made films). The story moves forward at an adequate pace, with well-done action sequences and neatly balancing these with the exposition ones.
It doesn't repeat itself, get boring, or underestimate the viewer -for which I am really thankful-, making the experience into an enjoyable ride, with awesome high-tension moments (specially towards the third act's climax). It is, indeed, quite good; I'd wouldn't mind seeing it again at the cinema.
It's delightful when works like these one come to put the Sci-fi genre's bar high again.
Now onto the latest findings:
On the Design Front, the Guardian has unveiled a neat new site Called the Seven Digital Deadly Sins, located at http://digital-deadly-sins.theguardian.com/#/Grid
The site works as an interactive documentary. The theme? Well, it's on its name. I found it well designed, and interesting, and found myself guilty of a few of those sins. It deserves a visit.
A few days ago I came across a Korean animation series titled Ghost Messenger (고스트메신저). I was rejoiced while watching it, it's a good animated series, well-crafted on the technical side, and most importantly, it's Korean. Also, the soundtrack is wonderful. Here are the opening and ending themes,
The Opening Theme, Outsider-Connexion:
The Ending theme
(and this one is a marvelous jewel: emotional, well-crafted and perfect for the series),
이소라-Track9 (Lee Sora - Track 9):
Though Korea has a big deal of experience working as production house for other countries' animated works, it ironically lacks good material of its own. There are a few things, great things (Such as the movie Wonderful Days), but in general, nothing of the scale of the neighboring country's main cultural export, anime.
Ghost Messenger is a series targeted at a 12-14 year-old public. Inspired visually and story-wise by some bits of the Korean traditional lore. I'm really glad that Korea's finally taping into its potential for productions like this one. It's something I think is long overdue.
Nevertheless, even though I'm not comparing the series with the big-scale anime works of Japan, I found some things a little off-putting, like an overcompensation on the technical side.
Some of these were the transformation sequences, the character design, some of the limited animation, and the over-use of the smartphones as a weapon/plot device/sword/whatever-you-can-think-of-nobody-cares-anymore kinda thing. Anyhow, I reaffirm my belief that this is a good step for the industry here.
Now onto the musical findings. Besides the two, great songs above, I finally got my hands on the new May'n single, and as expected, I wasn't let down. Here you can listen to the TV-size version, acting as the M3: Sono Kuroki Hagane opening theme:
Leading us in with a smooth guitar arpeggio, the song treats us to a soft, emotional experience, without getting boring. This one is quite different from the energetic pop/trance stuff that May'n has us used to, and for me, is greatly welcome, making it one the best songs of this season.
M3: Sono kuroki hagane is one of Shoji Kawamori's latest affairs, and, up until now, something I'm pleasantly following.
From the commercial, mainstream side of things, I snatched the new Imagine Dragons single, title Battle cry. An epic, drum-lead work, it really gets your blood pumping, specially thanks to the work of Daniel Platzman (the band's drummer), the catchy melodic lead, and the assistance of Hans Zimmer, which comes to life in the orchestral bits. Too bad they wasted it on a Transformers movie, it'd have been put to better use on something else, anything, really.
Even so, I'm also quite fond of the previous theme for the saga, Iridescent, made by Linkin Park:
******
On a different topic, finals are over around here. I have finished level 5 of Korean language (Intermediate 1 - 중급 1), the exams were kind of hard, but I managed to pass them all, with pretty good scores as well. I must really say a great deal of me being able to do so might be thanks to our teacher, she's an awesome educator, and I bet she could so much more, were she not bound by the university's restrictions, many of which I think fall right into the non-sense category.
Now I'll go up to Intermediate 2, and closer to the level I need to achieve in order to do well at TOPIK and get at least level 3. It's been a fun ride, being in the class I've been, and I'm grateful it wasn't any other way; our class has such great chemistry (both socially and academically) that the teaches label it as the best class in the whole group of our Intermediate level. It's sad that we'll have to part ways from the summer class on, if it came to my decision, I wouldn't like for it to happen.
And finally, onto some musings.
Lately I've been reflecting on what being afraid to fail makes you do, and I came across the realization that I'm inside one of the best examples of an Atelophobia driven environment. A lot of the people studying through my scholarship program worries about failing, some studying to the point of exhaustion, others trying to come up with methods to learn faster, all of them stressing out about the worst possible outcome inside their minds, and all of them missing out on the good things going around them. I don't agree with a system that pushes you like this (though it can be subtle in its ways), hurting you in the process, even if that's not visible at first sight.
While out with a friend I commented on the idea, and she replied
- "Well, look around you. Where do you think you are? Look at everything that has accomplished!"
And then again, came the realization that I was, indeed, inside a bigger atelophobia driven environment (even if it is just one of the many different factors that make the system tick): South Korea itself.
Normally, I'm all in for the "The end justifies the means"- Machiavellian approach, but when it comes to something like this, I have mixed feelings. It's true, sometimes you can get amazing results, but What are you willing to sacrifice for those? And is it really worth it losing yourself in the process?
Finding balance is hard, but necessary,
Anyway, write you later,
