see you, space samurai

OK, so maybe it was spyware or something... my comp is back to normal, thank smeg. Otherwise things have been pretty normal around here, Hava's taking a literary criticism class, so I've been wolfing down her textbooks with [apparently irritating] veracity. I don't know why I dig that stuff so much - taking apart popular media to find/imbue meaning. Let's see, what else... B & I watched the first 2 discs of Samurai Champloo, and shucks howdy, is it AWEsome. Yoko Kanno's absence isn't even conspicuous after the first couple episodes, and you soon get used to the idea of hip-hop overlaying a samurai story (which I thought would be hard for me, sick as I am of hip-hop from being surrounded for years by the suburban white-boy hip-hop culture).

My other whole-hearted recommendation is Sin City, which we all saw last sunday - for the love of God go see it right now! While I can't say I've read the comic books (quote graphic novels unquote), I was a big fan of Frank Miller just from the Dark Knight Returns comic, and I think Robert Rodriguez's decision to give Miller enough creative influence to warrant co-director credits is the wisest ever made in a comic-to-movie adaptation. It makes X-Men look like just another action movie [judgement reserved on X2]. Most comics people I know who see this movie bring up hopes of aWatchmen adaptation... I dunno, I suppose it deserves it, but I think the reason Sin City succeeds so well is the high compatibility of cinema with Frank Miller's comic book style, which borrows liberally from film noir. Alan Moore can write a truly great story, but any movie adaptation will necessarily not feel like the comic. And that's my 2 cents on the issue.

Ahem. Okay, so anyway, that's what's in my brain lately. Time to go find more comic books [Vimanarama!].

Current Music: Ottmar Liebert, Leaning Into the Night