MML Traffic #7 for week 4 - May

By Lawrence Lin


Table Of Contents Mailing List Stats For This Week

We looked at 120 posts by 59 different contributors.

Introduction

    Late and belated, the issue finally rolls out. Sorry about the delay - not having access to a computer on weekends really puts a cramp on writing.

1. Nausicaa.net Goes Down, Again

(5 posts): Nausicaa.net's technical difficulties, (update) Nausicaa.net's technical difficulties

Nausicaa.net died for the second time this year, and with a more serious problem then last time. Michael Johnson explained, "Nausicaa.net suffered a hard drive failure. . . the data appears to be intact (in other words, it does not appear to be corrupted or maliciously deleted), but the IDE controller on that affected Maxtor drive is dead so a data recovery service is now looking at it and will give us a quote on the cost of recovery. Their initial fee for looking at the drive and finding out what they can copy off of it is ~$300, and it will take between 3-4 business days. Their estimate for actually copying the data off of it is between $600 and $5,000, depending upon the effort needed to recover the data." As of this issue the site was still down, people wishing to send donations should contact Michael.

2. Animated Violence, or is that Violence in Anime?

(7 posts): Kiki and Totoro in JAMA's "violence in animation" study

Shun Chan pointed out a JAMA article about the amount of violence in G-rated animated films. According to their research, ""Kiki" and "Totoro" have the least amount of time devoted to violence (35 and 6 seconds, both less than 1 percent)." Greg Wallace commented, "I think I saw something on CNN that Tigger bowling over Pooh counted as "violence" in the study, so I'd take the whole thing with a grain of salt." The study doesn't specify which scenes are "violent", but Russell Watanabe took a (pun warning!) stab,
"Violence in Totoro: Mei squashes a "dust puppy" in her hands.

Violence in Kiki: Kiki pushes an innocent sugar cube into boiling "hot chocolate".

:) " Dave III saw that the study made its way into the News of the Weird.

3. The World of Nausicaa

(7 posts): Nausicaa world set-up

Bryon Lichtenhan mused about the landscape in Nausicaa, "My understanding is that The Valley of Wind is located near the shores of a normal ocean. The wind comes off of the ocean and blows in-land. Past the forest that is "behind" The Valley of Wind lies the Acid Sea...a totally different body of water (acid actually.) Finally beyond the Acid Sea, even further in land, lies the "Wasteland."" Jason Brinkerhoff scanned the world map from the Perfect Collection manga for viewing. This led Bryon to write, "I also wonder if Miyazaki played around with the set-up of the world for the movie version of Nausicaa."

4. Sydney Forest CD

(2 posts): Sydney Forest CD of Kiki OP/ED

Covered in the last issue, Marc Gregory posted his impression of the CD, "The package arrived with a "Disney Music Company" mailing label. And the CD itself is a CD-R with a printed paper label applied. . . . The booklet and traycard are nicely printed but these babies are custom made. @_@. . . for $7 it's still worth it. Just be sure your CD Player can play CD-Rs and use it with caution in car players."

5. Princess Mononoke VHS Release

(4 posts): _PM_ VHS release

Tom Wilkes spotted some info on the PM VHS release, "digital ad materials for a rental-priced VHS release of _PM_ do in fact appear already in the August list on BVHE's retailer site. Until the official release list is published, though, don't rely on this information." Expect official word about the VHS release to surface in the next issue. Unfortunately , the VHS will start as a rent-through, meaning it'll carry a price tag of $99.95 for a few months. It'll drop down to the $20 level during the winter. If you can't wait till the price drop Reel.com will sell it to you for $90.99. No news on the status of the DVD, though Tom pondered, "BVHE's plan may be to release a DVD version day-and-date with the *sell-through* VHS version "before the end of the year""

6. Mononoke: Reviewing the Reviewers

(16 posts in various threads): Ms. Kazenotani's Argentine Zen Hang glider Holiday, Manga Max (was: Re: Ms. Kazenotani's Argentine Zen Hang glider Holiday)

Winner of the prestigious "Strangest Thread Subject" award (it makes sense if you look at each word individually after reading the message), Paul Corrigan commented on an article by Andrew Osmond concerning various reviews of Princess Mononoke (a review of a review of a review so to speak), "Admittedly, many of the quotes were precious. Many others, though, were quotes out of context of otherwise fine articles, for or against." Paul continued with various examples and his take on them. Andrew responded, and to make things a bit more clear review text will be in teal, Paul's comments in orange, and Andrew's responses in brown:

[_Mononoke_] didn't strike me as nearly as intriguing as Akira, the underground sensation of several years ago. That was about a gang of delinquents who fought a giant in the future. I think. Anyway, it had lots of cool destruction, machines and guns.

The reviewer comes off as an ignoramus. In context, though, he was clearly being facetious; the rest of the article did go on to point out real problems with the film.

I've just had another look at Mr Hunter's review. I'm aware he's a respected critic, and I acknowledge the Disney comparison at the end. However, I think the rest is (my opinion) crappy. I don't think the quote - even out of context - makes him look ignorant; rather it conveys his amused contempt for the medium. He's reviewing schlock-culture, so let's put on the Dumb Hat. Actually, comments like '[Mononoke] is as meaningless as it is long,' and Hunter's bewilderment about - horrors! - an action film with no 'punishments' _did_ suggest to me that he'd missed the point. IMO, of course.

Hayao Miyazaki is a name currently unfamiliar to most moviegoers, but revered as a diety among those who spend much of their time playing arcane card games in the back of comic book shops.

Which unfortunately is true, as far as it goes (we on this list all know people like this, surely? :) )

I don't, actually. It's like saying Gene Wolfe is a deity for Trekkies. Laugh it up if you want - I think it's pretty insulting. (Which of course defines me as a humourless nerd, so one can laugh it up again.)

In the animated ecological epic Princess Mononoke the camera travels over landscapes with a clear, steady gaze, like a Zen hang glider.

It only got second because the "Zen hand glider" bit made me wonder if the reviewer hadn't seen _Nausicaa_ by mistake. :)

And how, pray tell, does a Zen hang glider differ from a common-or- garden hang glider, or the helicopters used in comparable live-action shots? Again, just found it silly.

Michael Wojcik added some great insights, the first on a reviewer tying together falling kodamas and cherry blossoms, "Falling sakura petals are the stock metaphor for the combination of pride and sadness evoked by the death of the young samurai warrior, and by extension for similar situations. It's an image predicated on human values and nation-building. The falling kodama represent the demise of the natural order, which is numinous and expressly outside the human condition.
Miyazaki may well have intended a visual correllation between the falling kodama and the stock sakura-petal metaphor, but I think it's meant as more ironic than mimetic.

The second on relying upon stereotypes, "In general, I'm very suspicious of Western critics leaning on the stereotypes. Kazuo Ishiguro complains about his reviewers going on about "cherry blossoms and carp in still ponds" - it's a cop-out, code for "there's some stylistic thing going on here but I'm too lazy to think about it (and it might just be my preconception anyway)". So I'd call it a fatuous line even if he had that scene and the standard metaphorical relationship firmly in mind."

Quickies

    Noel Vera posted his reviews/thoughts on Whisper of the Heart and Princess Mononoke. Ryoko Toyama clarified the Nausicaa age issue. Several Studio Ghibli films will be shown at an arts festival during the Olympics. Christian Link will sell you a tin of the candies from Grave of the Fireflies for $5.

Conclusion

    Thanks for reading, the next issue will arrive on Monday, really! Send your comments and questions here.

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