Sharing my trip

So I've decided the best way to share my trip to Hong Kong with all my family and friends back home is to post it to this blog. Hope you all enjoy!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Preview: JCVD

I have no words for this. Just watch the video.


Monday, October 20, 2008

New Mediums:Vagabond

Often times I find myself engrossed in new art and cultural mediums. Sometimes in the broad sense, I've been studying Eastern religions lately, more often then not it's on a more micro level, simply a new artist, but in the same broader mediums I frequent. Sometimes I become obsessed with a new medium, and stick with it until it's complete, or becomes less attractive. Sometimes I don't find it subjectively pleasing and move on. Sometimes I get the chance to experience something, but then don't have access to further my interests. This could be for a multitude of reasons. Why am I explaining all of this? Well, I've been thinking about a regular subject I could write about for this blog. This subject seems flexible, and interesting enough to do just that. My only parameters will be: It has to be new to me, and it has to be art in some liberal sense. Other than that I won't limit myself. Why those two things? Because, I feel that new things will keep me from feeling a sort of staleness, and art is something I've been reflecting on a lot lately. Rather than bore anyone with philosophical jargon, I'll try to express my views on art in practice. Here I go...

So Saturday I'm in New York City, on a Philosophy field trip. I follow my friend Frank as we (21 of us) break off to find places to eat lunch. Frank is following Dan and Dan's girlfriend (sorry feminists of the world I forgot her name). They mention they are looking for someplace Asian to eat. After about 20 minutes of no luck we randomly come upon Kinokuniya, Manga distributor. Apparently it has a Japanese food quasi-cafe upstairs that is both excellent and cheap (for NYC). After eating an amazing panini and trying some not bad sushi with some sort of plum, I ask Frank if there is a Manga if I should consider. Frank being the connoisseur of anime that he is asks me about my interests, and eventually falls upon what he calls "the manga of his favorite manga artist," Vagabond. So I picked up the first chapter and read the first half wile waiting to get into the Museum of Modern Art.




The first thing I have to say about Vagabond is that this is amazing. It employs so many elements of art that I enjoy so much. The obvious comparisons are Cowboy Bebop, and Samurai Champloo, but also Edward Gorey comes to mind as similar in the drawing style. The use of cross hatching and other line paterns to create texture and to seamlessly integrate while differentiating a background from a foreground. The characters are serious for the most part. They are also violent, sometimes to a extreme. Humor plays a minor roll, but it is good when it is there, and not wacky/over done as some animes/mangas tend to be. I'll admit I've never really gotten into manga before, so I don't know what's typical. I like the use of colored art on only some of the pages. It ads emphasis reminiscent of Sin City (I've only ever seen the movie, as for the graphic novels: as Judd would say, "I hear it's good.")

The plot so far has been OK, I'm expecting it to get a lot deeper. Basically some samurai wake up after a battle surprised to be alive. They kill some guys and run into some thief girls who steal from dead soldiers, then they kill some more guys that are bothering them. I'm only half way into chapter 1, so I'm yet to be too critical about the plot. The action though has been more than to my tastes. The way the manga is set up, there is real drama. It's exciting. If you like exciting, with tons of violence and great drawing, I suggest you try it out.

I'll finish off my post with a rating. (Keep in mind that this is only an initial reaction. I may think this is amazing or sucks sometime in the future, and you may never know.) Vagabond as New Medium: 8/10