Organic Parts in the Mechanisms

Last night's tweets;

Jacks are hazardous to awkward robots.
Espresso's bad for rusty metal joints.
In the future, nuns wear plastic habits.
To a shinier world Peg-leg Pete points.

I'd forgotten how useful the Jacks are in American McGee's Alice--once you have them, there's little reason to use anything else except the Vorpal Blade.

I played the "Crazed Clockwork" level, which is a level that most strongly reminds me that American McGee came from the id Software team that made the Doom games and Quake--apart from being the first developers to effectively create 3D games that made a player truly feel threatened by what was happening, the team was also distinguished by their efforts to convey situations and aesthetics that were completely fucked up. Lots of games have gore and demons, but there's something about the mutilated bodies and screaming skies in the id games that other companies couldn't quite accomplish.

Coming across the conscious March Hare, his body held apart by metal clamps that also keep him to a sort of washboard that electrocutes him and dunks him in water, and the Dormouse similarly dismembered on an operating table but only babbling about how he doesn't get any tea, succeeded in creating that fucked up id Software feeling better than earlier portions of the game. Alice's at first casual reaction is good, too, reminding us that we're in her head and she's becoming psychotic. It's one of the few moments in the game where the bad dialogue doesn't get in the way of the story.



I read a rather irritating review of Maria Holic on AICN to-day. In addition to having bad grammar and spelling, the review appears to have been written by a guy who doesn't understand a few fundamental and obvious things about the show, most notably its take on its young lesbian protagonist, Kanako. "Kanakao is not a rounded character who happens to be a lesbian. She's a lesbian, and that's the joke." Eh, no. She's awkward and horny, that's the joke. She's like Ataru from Urusei Yatsura only female. The only character who puts down Kanako for being a lesbian is Maria, a male character who's always dressed as a girl, the obvious hypocrisy of which is also a joke. This is all achingly obvious. The reviewer barely spends any of his lengthy review even discussing the title character. I was also irritated that he took the time to mention that Akiyuki Shinbo's tendency to shift frequently between different styles was nothing new in anime, as though this might somehow be a mark against the series. I suppose if a movie presented Nazis as villains for the first time, the novelty would be enough to overcome any other shortcomings?

I was kind of excited to see one of Akiyuki Shinbo's post-Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei series getting a western release (though I'm dreading the inevitably lousy English dub). I was surprised to learn Maria Holic would be first, as it was never particularly popular. I hope this makes it more likely for Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei to be released here, since waiting for official western releases of it might not even take longer than waiting for fansub groups who seem to be increasingly reluctant to work on it. I still haven't seen a fansub of the OVA from last October.

I also read the first story in the new Sirenia Digest to-day, "Apsinthian." A nice little vignette with sexy, mysterious sea life textures. A good thing to read.