Michael Hopcroft

I got a chance to see the first bit of a little-known animated series called Phantom 2040.  The Phantom is a superhero from the jungles of -- somewhere -- called "The Ghost Who Walks" because he seems to exist everywhere in history. The reality is that the mantle of the phantom has been passed along the generations for centuries. And in this series, set in the then-distant future of 2040, the new Phantom emerges in a near-dystopian cyberpunk-style world. The newest son is a grad-school ecologist trying to save a global ecosystem that is rapidly disintegrating, which unknowingly pits him against a ruthless mega-billionairess and her psychotic son (who usually speaks as though he is conveying the wishes of his ever-present cat, especially when he is being excessively cruel -- in hi8s very first scene he murders his robot butler for no reason whatsoever).
 
In this episode, I found the style of the animation quite interesting and so different from the superhero-cartoon aesthetic of its times that I had to wonder where I had seen it before -- until I put my finger on the source. Which was the legendary MTV adult cartoon Aeon Flux. Those of us who were old enough to watch it will probably never forget the angular, languid look of the series. And while Phantom 2040 was aimed at a younger audience, it shares many themes in common with its predecessor. But while Aeon embraced and even relished the decay in her world (and her eternal rivalry with the powerful Trevor Goodchild), the Phantom is trying to reverse the decay and restore hope to a planet that has precious little of it left. 

I got a chance to see the first bit of a little-known animated series called Phantom 2040.  The Phantom is a superhero from the jungles of -- somewhere -- called "The Ghost Who Walks" because he seems to exist everywhere in history. The reality is that the mantle of the phantom has been passed along the generations for centuries. And in this series, set in the then-distant future of 2040, the new Phantom emerges in a near-dystopian cyberpunk-style world. The newest son is a grad-school ecologist trying to save a global ecosystem that is rapidly disintegrating, which unknowingly pits him against a ruthless mega-billionairess and her psychotic son (who usually speaks as though he is conveying the wishes of his ever-present cat, especially when he is being excessively cruel -- in hi8s very first scene he murders his robot butler for no reason whatsoever).
 
In this episode, I found the style of the animation quite interesting and so different from the superhero-cartoon aesthetic of its times that I had to wonder where I had seen it before -- until I put my finger on the source. Which was the legendary MTV adult cartoon Aeon Flux. Those of us who were old enough to watch it will probably never forget the angular, languid look of the series. And while Phantom 2040 was aimed at a younger audience, it shares many themes in common with its predecessor. But while Aeon embraced and even relished the decay in her world (and her eternal rivalry with the powerful Trevor Goodchild), the Phantom is trying to reverse the decay and restore hope to a planet that has precious little of it left. 

""O Lord, hear my plea. Destroy him. He maketh a blight upon the Land!"
"Don't listen to him. He's Crazy"
 
"Under the right circumstances, a producer could make more money with a flop than he could with a hit."
 
 

"The Eve of War" had shuffled into my Plexamp player on the way home, and I decided to spend the evening listening to the entire album. I've bought it on CD and on hybrid SACD (with both stereo and 5.1 mixes on the SACD layer), and my late wife's LP should be somewhere in the house.
 
 
 

If I may interject, I have a lot of experiences with false positives when I but something from a small publisher. For example, pretty much every sports simulation game I buy I need to give special permission to bypass the obvious false positive and save the files (simply because Microsoft thinks too few people have downloaded the file). I'm not surprised this is happening with TTRPG purchases as well.

I thought this would be an Internet hoax, but evidently it isn't: the creator of the immensely popular Dragonball series of manga and anime, Akira Toriyama, has passed away at the age of 68.
 
Even if the name is not familiar, gamers would have to have been living under very large rocks to be completely ignorant of Dragonball. Starting as a comical riff on the classic novel Journey to the West, it featured a strong but naive boy named Son Goku who is enlisted by a girl scientist to track down seven magical orbs which, when brought together, would summon the godlike dragon Shenron to grant the user one unconditional wish. Along the way, they encounter a string of eccentric characters and powerful adversaries like the totalitarian Red Ribbon Army, as well as a lecherous martial arts instructor who teaches Goku devastating techniques, which had him growing unimaginably powerful.
 
Fats forward thirty years. Goku has grown up, married, and sired a son, all the while remaining a big, lovable oaf. But then he learns the secret of his own past -- not only is he not really human, but he was actually sent to Earth as an infant to destroy the planet on behalf of the might Saiyan Empire. This is something Goku unconditionally rejects, choosing to protect instead of destroy and love instead of hate. This puts him in conflict with many ever-more-powerful adversaries, including the Saiyan general Vegeta who would become his great rival. A riff on a novel about the rise of Buddhism in Eastern Asia switched into a riff on the Superman mythos, spawning some of the most spectacular super-brawls ever drawn and animated.
 
Ironically, Toriyama was asked to write Dragonball because his previous series, the wacky comedy Dr. Slump, had gotten too weird in the eyes of his publisher. 
 
But his influence did not stop with manga and anime. He also had a role in the creation of such significant video games as the Dragon Quest franchise, Blue Dragon, and more. But it is Dragonball, and its enormous impact on global popular culture, that was his crowning achievement.

I thought this would be an Internet hoax, but evidently it isn't: the creator of the immensely popular Dragonball series of manga and anime, Akira Toriyama, has passed away at the age of 68.
 
Even if the name is not familiar, gamers would have to have been living under very large rocks to be completely ignorant of Dragonball. Starting as a comical riff on the classic novel Journey to the West, it featured a strong but naive boy named Son Goku who is enlisted by a girl scientist to track down seven magical orbs which, when brought together, would summon the godlike dragon Shenron to grant the user one unconditional wish. Along the way, they encounter a string of eccentric characters and powerful adversaries like the totalitarian Red Ribbon Army, as well as a lecherous martial arts instructor who teaches Goku devastating techniques, which had him growing unimaginably powerful.
 
Fats forward thirty years. Goku has grown up, married, and sired a son, all the while remaining a big, lovable oaf. But then he learns the secret of his own past -- not only is he not really human, but he was actually sent to Earth as an infant to destroy the planet on behalf of the might Saiyan Empire. This is something Goku unconditionally rejects, choosing to protect instead of destroy and love instead of hate. This puts him in conflict with many ever-more-powerful adversaries, including the Saiyan general Vegeta who would become his great rival. A riff on a novel about the rise of Buddhism in Eastern Asia switched into a riff on the Superman mythos, spawning some of the most spectacular super-brawls ever drawn and animated.
 
Ironically, Toriyama was asked to write Dragonball because his previous series, the wacky comedy Dr. Slump, had gotten too weird in the eyes of his publisher. 
 
But his influence did not stop with manga and anime. He also had a role in the creation of such significant video games as the Dragon Quest franchise, Blue Dragon, and more. But it is Dragonball, and its enormous impact on global popular culture, that was his crowning achievement.

I thought this would be an Internet hoax, but evidently it isn't: the creator of the immensely popular Dragonball series of manga and anime, Akira Toriyama, has passed away at the age of 68.
 
Even if the name is not familiar, gamers would have to have been living under very large rocks to be completely ignorant of Dragonball. Starting as a comical riff on the classic novel Journey to the West, it featured a strong but naive boy named Son Goku who is enlisted by a girl scientist to track down seven magical orbs which, when brought together, would summon the godlike dragon Shenron to grant the user one unconditional wish. Along the way, they encounter a string of eccentric characters and powerful adversaries like the totalitarian Red Ribbon Army, as well as a lecherous martial arts instructor who teaches Goku devastating techniques, which had him growing unimaginably powerful.
 
Fats forward thirty years. Goku has grown up, married, and sired a son, all the while remaining a big, lovable oaf. But then he learns the secret of his own past -- not only is he not really human, but he was actually sent to Earth as an infant to destroy the planet on behalf of the might Saiyan Empire. This is something Goku unconditionally rejects, choosing to protect instead of destroy and love instead of hate. This puts him in conflict with many ever-more-powerful adversaries, including the Saiyan general Vegeta who would become his great rival. A riff on a novel about the rise of Buddhism in Eastern Asia switched into a riff on the Superman mythos, spawning some of the most spectacular super-brawls ever drawn and animated.
 
Ironically, Toriyama was asked to write Dragonball because his previous series, the wacky comedy Dr. Slump, had gotten too weird in the eyes of his publisher. 
 
But his influence did not stop with manga and anime. He also had a role in the creation of such significant video games as the Dragon Quest franchise, Blue Dragon, and more. But it is Dragonball, and its enormous impact on global popular culture, that was his crowning achievement.

I thought this would be an Internet hoax, but evidently it isn't: the creator of the immensely popular Dragonball series of manga and anime, Akira Toriyama, has passed away at the age of 68.
 
Even if the name is not familiar, gamers would have to have been living under very large rocks to be completely ignorant of Dragonball. Starting as a comical riff on the classic novel Journey to the West, it featured a strong but naive boy named Son Goku who is enlisted by a girl scientist to track down seven magical orbs which, when brought together, would summon the godlike dragon Shenron to grant the user one unconditional wish. Along the way, they encounter a string of eccentric characters and powerful adversaries like the totalitarian Red Ribbon Army, as well as a lecherous martial arts instructor who teaches Goku devastating techniques, which had him growing unimaginably powerful.
 
Fats forward thirty years. Goku has grown up, married, and sired a son, all the while remaining a big, lovable oaf. But then he learns the secret of his own past -- not only is he not really human, but he was actually sent to Earth as an infant to destroy the planet on behalf of the might Saiyan Empire. This is something Goku unconditionally rejects, choosing to protect instead of destroy and love instead of hate. This puts him in conflict with many ever-more-powerful adversaries, including the Saiyan general Vegeta who would become his great rival. A riff on a novel about the rise of Buddhism in Eastern Asia switched into a riff on the Superman mythos, spawning some of the most spectacular super-brawls ever drawn and animated.
 
Ironically, Toriyama was asked to write Dragonball because his previous series, the wacky comedy Dr. Slump, had gotten too weird in the eyes of his publisher. 
 
But his influence did not stop with manga and anime. He also had a role in the creation of such significant video games as the Dragon Quest franchise, Blue Dragon, and more. But it is Dragonball, and its enormous impact on global popular culture, that was his crowning achievement.

I thought this would be an Internet hoax, but evidently it isn't: the creator of the immensely popular Dragonball series of manga and anime, Akira Toriyama, has passed away at the age of 68.
 
Even if the name is not familiar, gamers would have to have been living under very large rocks to be completely ignorant of Dragonball. Starting as a comical riff on the classic novel Journey to the West, it featured a strong but naive boy named Son Goku who is enlisted by a girl scientist to track down seven magical orbs which, when brought together, would summon the godlike dragon Shenron to grant the user one unconditional wish. Along the way, they encounter a string of eccentric characters and powerful adversaries like the totalitarian Red Ribbon Army, as well as a lecherous martial arts instructor who teaches Goku devastating techniques, which had him growing unimaginably powerful.
 
Fats forward thirty years. Goku has grown up, married, and sired a son, all the while remaining a big, lovable oaf. But then he learns the secret of his own past -- not only is he not really human, but he was actually sent to Earth as an infant to destroy the planet on behalf of the might Saiyan Empire. This is something Goku unconditionally rejects, choosing to protect instead of destroy and love instead of hate. This puts him in conflict with many ever-more-powerful adversaries, including the Saiyan general Vegeta who would become his great rival. A riff on a novel about the rise of Buddhism in Eastern Asia switched into a riff on the Superman mythos, spawning some of the most spectacular super-brawls ever drawn and animated.
 
Ironically, Toriyama was asked to write Dragonball because his previous series, the wacky comedy Dr. Slump, had gotten too weird in the eyes of his publisher. 
 
But his influence did not stop with manga and anime. He also had a role in the creation of such significant video games as the Dragon Quest franchise, Blue Dragon, and more. But it is Dragonball, and its enormous impact on global popular culture, that was his crowning achievement.

I thought this would be an Internet hoax, but evidently it isn't: the creator of the immensely popular Dragonball series of manga and anime, Akira Toriyama, has passed away at the age of 68.
 
Even if the name is not familiar, gamers would have to have been living under very large rocks to be completely ignorant of Dragonball. Starting as a comical riff on the classic novel Journey to the West, it featured a strong but naive boy named Son Goku who is enlisted by a girl scientist to track down seven magical orbs which, when brought together, would summon the godlike dragon Shenron to grant the user one unconditional wish. Along the way, they encounter a string of eccentric characters and powerful adversaries like the totalitarian Red Ribbon Army, as well as a lecherous martial arts instructor who teaches Goku devastating techniques, which had him growing unimaginably powerful.
 
Fats forward thirty years. Goku has grown up, married, and sired a son, all the while remaining a big, lovable oaf. But then he learns the secret of his own past -- not only is he not really human, but he was actually sent to Earth as an infant to destroy the planet on behalf of the might Saiyan Empire. This is something Goku unconditionally rejects, choosing to protect instead of destroy and love instead of hate. This puts him in conflict with many ever-more-powerful adversaries, including the Saiyan general Vegeta who would become his great rival. A riff on a novel about the rise of Buddhism in Eastern Asia switched into a riff on the Superman mythos, spawning some of the most spectacular super-brawls ever drawn and animated.
 
Ironically, Toriyama was asked to write Dragonball because his previous series, the wacky comedy Dr. Slump, had gotten too weird in the eyes of his publisher. 
 
But his influence did not stop with manga and anime. He also had a role in the creation of such significant video games as the Dragon Quest franchise, Blue Dragon, and more. But it is Dragonball, and its enormous impact on global popular culture, that was his crowning achievement.

"Remember: Walk without rhythm and we won't attract the worm. It will go to the thumper."
 
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when my fear is gone I will turn and face fear's path, and only I will remain." 
 
"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the Juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion."

"NO KILL I"

"NO KILL I"

Q: Surely you can play Lady Macbeth, Miss Maclaine?
 
A: It looks like one more way to obtain parenthood has been wiped out of existence.
 

Q: Why is everybody in the dining hall raising toast after toast to Nobody?
 
A: Justice will be swift! It will be painful! It will be Delicious!

Thor resolves to be nicer to his brother and not reflexively reach for his hammer at the mention of his name.
 
NT: Subtle signs that we'll be missing 2023 by January 15.

One of those situations where the alternate uniform is better than what the team usually wears. The San Jose Sharks rolled these out a few days ago:
 

My opinion of LALD would not be suitable for this forum. On the other hand, I love Golden Gun -- as a comedy as opposed to the action/adventure film they wanted their audience to think that was what they were getting. I especially like Bernard Lee's slow-burn take on M in the middle of all this insanity.
 
The first Bond movie I saw on its first run was The Spy Who Loved Me. The last was Casino Royale.

For the first time in decades, I got to see the classic Outer Limits episode "Demon with a Glass Hand", in which a man from the future must find a way to stop enemies of the Human species from traveling in time back to the 20th century, guided by the computer that has been grafted to him in place of one of his hands. It was not as good as I remembered it -- it was better.
 
People forget that before he became a legendary curmudgeon, Harlan Ellison was a great television writer, both in science fiction and in other forms. He wrote several episodes of the badly-dated detective series Burke's Law, whose premise of a police detective who also happened to be a multi-millionaire is ludicrous now.  He did contribute some well-designed murder puzzles to that series, and at the time producers seemed to enjoy working with him. He only stopped writing TV episodes when he clashed with the producers of Star Trek over his script for "City on the Edge of Forever" -- the changes to the script turned out to be superior to what he had originally written, but you never, ever tried to tell Harlan Ellison he was wrong.
 
Back to the episode, which combines a sense of claustrophobia (it is almost entirely set in a dilapidated office building surrounded by a field that prevents escape) with a cracking adventure. The protagonist constantly tries to ask the hand why he was sent back, where the object of his quest is located, and most importantly who and what he is. Robert Culp, who would go on to fame in series like I Spy and The Greatest American Hero, gives a splendid performance especially since he probably only had about a week to prepare for it.
The TV series featured some surprisingly well-written episodes even when the cliffhanger endings don't really fit the "guest villain" in question. Yes, the premise and episodes are full of jokes even at Batman's expense, but Adam West clearly rolled with it -- showing an uncanny ability to keep a straight face in even the most absurd of circumstances.

Kansas Fire Crews Find Burned Remnants Of Stolen Jackie Robinson Statue

"Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, the last Battlestar -- Galactica -- leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest. A shining planet -- known as Earth!"

Godzilla Minus One.  This movie is entirely in Japanese, with subtitles.  It's also really good--Skull Island good.  As most movies do, it fails a bit when it comes to the physics.  But that's not the point of the movie at all.

I spent the half hour after seeing The Boy and the Heron trying (unsuccessfully) to explain it to my mother.  The fact that I was in open-mouthed awe throughout and was completely enraptured with the movie did not make sense to Mom, who couldn't understand it. It was the same condition I was in when we saw The Green Knight.
 
To my mind, the complexity of the ideas and emotions Miyazaki was exploring through the actions of his protagonist is a large part of the appeal. There is a great deal of religion and philosophy involved in what is basically the story of a deeply traumatized youth in 1944 Tokyo, who hears his dead mother might actually be alive and unwisely goes into a crumbling tower to find her, reluctantly aided by a nature spirit in the form of a heron.  The young hero's trauma is realistic, vivid, and even includes a dramatic incident of self-harm, which earned my immediate sympathy. Once in the tower he finds it leading to a strange fantasy world, filled with marvels and terrors, in which he is forced to confront his trauma, his true nature, and the cycles of his life that he must struggle to escape (a very Buddhist idea, as the central idea of Buddhism is about finding a way to escape the endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth).
 
My mother will not want to see it again, I fear, but I do. I feel there is a great deal more to this film than even I was able to grasp on first viewing.
 
(As a side note, my attempt to explain the appeal of Godzilla Minus One was equally unsuccessful. Her thought that Japan needed to "get over" the war struck me as both odd and unrealistic, because as we are seeing now some pretty terrible cycles repeat if the cost of following them is forgotten).