star wars holiday special

The year was 1978, and I was a wee young lad of only 6 years. That didn’t stop the merchandising monster known as George Lucas from burrowing into my brain, and addicting me to all things that were even remotely related to Star Wars. I’d seen the film (watch the trailer, and the second trailer), I owned more than a few Kenner action figures, and I was always thirsty for even a passing mention of Star Wars on television. Ah, the Muppet Show Star Wars Special was very good to me.

You can imagine my joy in December of 1978 as the previews for an upcoming holiday special started airing. Arrangements were made, Mom and Dad agreed to let my brother and I stay up to watch it, and there was absolutely nothing that could ruin what was bound to be the greatest Christmas special ever.

Okay, maybe one thing could ruin it. If you’ve ever accidentally walked in on one of your parents while they’re naked, and ran screaming from the scene to the kitchen where you attempt to gouge out your own eyes with a spatula, then you may already know the feeling of watching the Star Wars Holiday Special. I’m sure that millions of impressionable young children had to undergo years of intense therapy to get the images out of their heads. Horrific acting, goofy dialogue, disturbing Cirque-du-Soliel-ish holographic interpretive dance, and creepy animation made this two hour special possibly the most unsettling piece of television history ever.

Therefore, since this time of year always brings back the frightening memories of attempting to save “Life Day” for the Wookies, I felt it fitting to share the pain. So sit back, relax in a Clockwork Orange kind of way, and prepare to endure the terror that is…

The Star Wars Holiday Special

Click here to view

PS: Interesting trivia fact – the Holiday Special features the very first appearance of Boba Fett in the animated short.

anime day

An interesting day today. I’m doing a favour for a friend of a friend, the friend being Amanda (that’s her looking depressed below) and her friend’s name is Ryan.

He’s taking the broadcasting course at Kingstech, and he has a television interview project, so he asked if he could interview me. Unfortunately, he doesn’t want to talk to me about some deep theological issue, or biblical exegesis. No, he wants to talk to me about anime. However, I like anime, so let’s do the anime happy dance…

Anyway, that should be interesting anyway. At the moment I’m here at school, and everyone is grumpy because of all the papers and exams they have to do. I guess i should be thankful I’m a lowly B.Th. student, as my writing schedule is practically sparse by comparison. Please keep the students in prayer at this time of year, because some are really struggling both physically and psychologically to maintain health and sanity.

role call!

Okay, I just have to know! I keep hearing people mentioning my blog, or mentioning other people mentioning my blog. I’ll be telling someone a story, and they’ll say something like, “Yeah, I read that on your website.” So I want to do a semi-official role call and hear from YOU. So, I’d like you all to leave a quick comment to this post, and give me the following info:

1. Your name
   (just the first name’s fine, or the full name if you want)
2. Your location
   (generalities, not specifics)
3. If you know me, how do you know me?
   (eg: “I first met Pete at a Furbies-Anonymous meeting…”)
4. Why you read this website?
   (eg: “It’s 10 times better than a bran-muffin!”)

For example, I had no idea 40-days Amy read this (referring to one of my friends from our 40 Days of Purpose small-groups) read this site, and it was awsome to hear from her. So, come one, come all! I don’t care if you just use this page as a link to Walrus Giggles, or if you’re just here to use the #prosapologian web-irc page. I still want you to post a comment, and let me know you’re out there!

spirited away… far away…

I went to Kate-Lynn & Shelby’s final band concert of the year, and that’s always a pleasure. I love them both more than they’ll ever fully realize, and while I love having them come over and hang out in my domain, I also enjoy sharing their “natural habitat” – be that their home or school or whatever. Alyssa had a great time, and looks very forward to Evangeline Middle School next year, and getting involved in the music program there.

After the concert, even though I’d normally be thinking about getting some sleep, I decided I was awake enough to head on over to Jean-Marc’s place. Jean-Marc is considering the path that many education students before him have taken. Japan has a constant need for English teachers, and many education students will do a ‘tour of duty’ in Japan not as much for the money, as the experience. When Jean-Marc origionally told me about this, and that he wants to learn Japanese, I shared my love of anime with him, telling him that a great way to get a feel for the language is to partake of some of it’s pop-culture.

To make a long story short, I’ve created yet another anime-addict. He rented a couple of anime movies on Tuesday, and invited me over to watch one. So, last night we watch a film, which means I must now make two confessions. Firstly, if you’re an anime fan, you’re about to say “What?!” because every time I confess the following, that’s what I get. So, here goes. Until last night, I had never seen Hayao Miyazaki’s award-winning film, Spirited Away.

…

Okay, now that you have the shock out of your system, we can continue. Why hadn’t I taken the time before? Probably because of Disney, who was the North American license-holder. Call it the “mainstream-jibblies” if you want, but upon seeing the Disney label, a chill ran down my spine every time I saw the DVD staring me in the face. The same chill that I get when talking to someone about anime, and they bring up Pokemon or Dragonball as examples of the genre. (shudder) So last night I was happy with the fact that Kate n’ Berrs would no longer pick on me for not having watched this movie. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

This brings me to my second confession, which is going to seem even more shocking to most of my fellow anime-addicts…

I did not like the movie, Spirited Away.
(jumps into a foxhole, and trembles in the darkness)

I’m sorry guys, I didn’t. It was too surreal for me. It was just images strung together by a series of vagueries. Yes, I know it has won dozens of awards, but it just didn’t do it for me. Maybe I’m uncultured. But I really didn’t enjoy it. However, I DID enjoy spening time with Jean-Marc (and Dave, who joined us a little later), so it’s all good in the end.

judgement?

I started posting a rant earlier this week which, in retrospect, really wasn’t worth bringing up. I got an newsletter from ChristianCounterCulture.com – the first one I’d recieved since December of last year. The newsletter contained the following postscript…

Thanks for your prayers and support these past few months. Rumours of our “sudden meltdown” have been much exagerated. Lord willing, we begin a new season of newsletters next week. Among other topics, we hope to bring some balance to the brewing debate over “The Emerging Church” and “The New Perspective.”

I nearly choked when I read that. I set about documenting my own, personal experiences in reference to the alleged “sudden meltdown” to offer an alternate view on the issue. After composing the document, I had to get to work, so I left it open on my computer and vowed to finish and post it when I got back. Now normally I email works-in-progress to myself so that I can have a copy handy no matter where I am, in case I get stuck somewhere unexpected, or end up having to stay a few extra minutes at work or something. I didn’t bother doing that in this case. In fact, I didn’t even save the thing… just left it up there waiting.

By the time I got home, however, my desktop machine had died! It just completely croaked! Now, I’m going to troubleshoot this weekend, and try to find out what’s up, and what needs to be replaced, and I’m sure I’ll have little difficulty giving it CPR and jolting it back to life, but even if I do, that rant is gone forever. I was composing it here on the website, so it didn’t even autosave.

While I’m not entirely sure it was an act of judgement, that computer has been on almost 24 hours a day since we moved into this house last September (with the exception of the power outage) and hasn’t had any difficulties, and it suddenly dies the one time I don’t properly save a document. Anyway, I’ve decided not to persue that rant. The documentation is out there if people want it, and there’s plenty even on this little blog. You can go read Rob’s public apology, or search the net, or whatever.

My last word is simply this: I cannot understand why so many have sacrificed themselves on the altar of New Perspectivism. I pray that when Rob says he hopes to ‘bring balance’ to the debate, it will indeed be that – from both sides, as well as the middle-ground. I pray that this will not be a false claim, like so many others have already made – proclaiming balance, but manifesting none. We shall wait and see, and trust that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

subs vs dubs

Speaking of anime, I know I have fellow comic fans among my online circle of friends, but do I have any fellow anime fans? And if so, where do you stand on the whole "sub vs dub" debate? For the uninitiated, I’m referring to the subtitled versions of the Japanese programs versus the English-dubbed versions of the same. Personally, I’m a total sub-fan. I can’t stand the English hack-jobs done on some of the best anime. Not only do they have to change the dialogue to have it sync up with moving mouths, but they usually have to try and get their lines out ultra-fast. And where on earth do they find all those annoying, squealing girls to do the voices? Nope, I’ll stick to the original voice-actors, speaking in their native tongue, with subtitles any day.

I have some friends who appreciate the dubs just as much, however. Certainly my earliest experiences with anime were with North American dubbed versions, such as Battle of the Planets, and AstroBoy. Later, it was such hack-job classics as Robotech, Voltron and Transformers. I’m not sure when I became disillusioned by dubs, but I think it might have been Sailor Moon. Those annoying little "Sailor Says" clips at the end, and the absolutely HORRID voice of Chibi-Usagi (Rini in the N.A. version) that was like nails across a blackboard. In Japanese, she sounds cute! Not like a 30 year old throwing a temper-tantrum at all!

Anyway, if you’re an anime fan, I’d love to hear your opinion on this!

taking the edge off

What with all the drama and overwhelming business going on, I decided to try out a new video game. Being a major anime fan, I had obviously heard about Ragnarok, but I’d never actually given it a go. There’s a couple reasons I didn’t. Firstly, I don’t have the kind of time it takes to commit to getting really good at one of those games, and secondly, I’m always a little nervous about getting addicted to those MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). Pay-per-use is generally not kind to me.

However, after trying out the free trial, I’m really impressed. It’s cute, it’s funny, and it’s rules establish a level of good nature and morality. It’s something I’d be okay with the kids playing. There’s lots of quite helpful folks in there too. Today, for example, I met my new best friend, Bahomet (the one sporting the cool armor-visor). He’s a 15 year old from the states, and he’s been helping me learn the ropes, as well as how to earn experience and so forth. All in all, an enjoyable experience. The subscription costs are really reasonable too! Go check it out, but you’re not allowed to be better at it than me.

it’s not pink – it’s light red

Our raven-haired beauty has chosen to enjoy the summer by morphing into a stick of cotton-candy! Yes, Katelynn has dyed her hair pink. Here’s a before/after picture of her just after she rinsed. Pretty funky, hm? How on earth did I manage to let these people back into my life?! They’re insane! Ah well… hopefully Alyssa will wait a few more years before being this strange

name that tune!

Many moons ago, Tieren used to sing a song to the children, called The Eagle. I love that song, but neither of us can figure out where it came from. So click here and read the lyrics, and if you know the artist, or can give us some more info, please leave a comment. It’s driving me bats not knowing where this song came from!

they’re watching me…

Apparently, my dearly beloved wife has been inviting other folks to come read my blog. I guess I can’t complain, because I am putting myself “out here” for whoever’s interested. Despite that, however, I’m still generally a private person – which is part of my purpose in this blog: to get over that a bit.

Ah well. Whatchyagondo? Just remember…

LIME CAT IS NOT PLEASED