Dissatisfaction With Police of America

In the old days, you could summon a policeman if you were in trouble and expect to be assisted and rescued, as it should be. In TV and movies, cops hold their positions in high regard and the safety of the public is their highest priority. Good cops gone bad are brought to justice and police are compassionate, and caring toward the people they help.

           Why can’t real life be like this?

           In this modern world, if you summon the police, you’ll be lucky to escape unharmed from the people who are supposed to protect you. Women face the dangers of being assaulted by cops who won’t be touched by their peers. Men face the dangers of being beaten by cops for simple misunderstandings. Even worse, minorities face the dangers of being shot simply being a minority.

           I was pulled over a few weeks ago and as soon as the cop came to my window I yelled ‘Hands up don’t shoot!’ before handing him my license as slowly as possible. I’m a white female. He looked at me like I was insane and said little else. Being pulled over for a broken tail light is a simple problem and one I could easily fix. Would he have let me go so easily if I were a young black woman or man? Would I have escaped without becoming intimately acquainted with the barrel of his gun? Would I have escaped being dragged out of the car and slammed against the pavement simply for doing what I was told? That’s a hard question to answer. This country is slowly unraveling the high standards it fought so hard for, equality and freedom of speech being part of that base. The Amendments mean very little anymore. Police ignore you claiming your rights if you’re lucky.

           We live in a country populated by paranoid police. Frankly, even though I’m probably the safest simply because I’m a white female, I don’t feel safe. I feel angry, humiliated, and disturbed over what’s happening to my fellow humans who just so happen to be colored differently from me. Color means nothing; we have two legs, two arms, two eyes, and the ability to communicate. I despise what cowardly rats the police have become and what shame they’re bringing on the few cops who still love and respect their jobs, and do their best to protect everyone, regardless of color. I despise the laid back, lazy, and careless officials who refuse to bring these lowlifes to justice for the crimes they’ve committed.

           To shoot an unarmed, cooperating boy, regardless of circumstances, is a CRIME.

           To slam a defenseless, pregnant woman to the ground for trying to protect her child, is a CRIME.

           To randomly search with no justifiable reason or permission to do so and steal whatever is found inside, is a CRIME.

           To kill a man shopping in a store and carrying a TOY GUN, is a CRIME. What if you hadn’t heard these stories and had no idea what color these people were?

           The police are paranoid, brutal devils that need to be dealt with. At this point, I’d rather take my chances than ever call the police for any help whatsoever. I'd also rather be arrested for writing how bad it's gotten than stay silent. If I am arrested for this, then I'll just be another example of their advanced paranoia.

Princess Mononoke

Anime Reviews Special-Princess Mononoke

In the old days, man and beast lived in harmony with one another. But as time went by, and as most of the great forests were destroyed, the tender boundaries between the two began to collapse. Humans and the giant animal gods of the forests in the west waged war for the land upon which both depending on for life. Thrown into this chaos is a young exiled prince named Ashitaka, who seeks to discover a cure for the curse that is slowly killing him, and who strives to learn more of the mysterious girl living within the woods, known only as Princess Mononoke, or the Princess of Beasts.

Hayao Miyazaki never fails to astound, amaze, and downright inspire his millions of fans worldwide. Princess Mononoke came into a well-deserved fame in 1999 and was a staggering hit at the box offices of Japan, nearly toppling James Cameron's Titanic. It missed, but just barely.

It's the story of a young Emishi prince named Ashitaka, who sustains a deadly, albeit baffling curse after his struggles with a demonized boar god rampaging through the mountains. A strange ball of iron discovered inside the boar had poisoned him, driving him mad. Now, with the disturbing knowledge that his curse will slowly kill him, Ashitaka cuts his hair, signifying his permanent departure from his village as he journeys to the west, the origin of the iron ball. Along the way, he meets Jigo, a shady monk who tells him of the giant animal gods of the west, led by the Great Forest Spirit. He also learns of the legend that anyone who comes to possess the Forest Spirit's head will be granted immortality and that the emperor of the region has proclaimed that he will grant a hill of gold to anyone who can help him live forever. At the same time, an iron producing island aptly dubbed Irontown has been having trouble dealing with the wolves of the forest, led by the enigmatic and vicious Wolf Girl, a.k.a, Princess Mononoke and her mother, the wolf god Moro. The battle between the humans and the wolves takes a terrifying turn when a familiar face shows up with motives of his own.

This series is very unique in many aspects. It explores the human psyche in its most natural state; trying to survive and willing to go to any lengths to do so. The beauty of this, amidst several of Miyazaki's movies is that no one is really good and no one is really evil, with the obvious exception of Laputa- Castle In The Sky. Everyone in this movie is just human. But the aspect that really hits home is the environmental message in this movie and the fact that it's actually very subtle, which is rather rare nowadays. Either it's too bombastic, I.e, being shoved down your throat, or it's too subtle, in that you have to read a synopsis online to get it. This movie is the calm in-between white rabbit of its genre. It's rare, but it's not unheard of. You definitely get the environmental message, but it's downplayed compared to the imminent threat of territorial war looming over their heads. I also enjoyed the super-sized wolves that Miyazaki's wondrous imagination created. They're actually pretty scary. When it comes to wildlife defending its home, giant animals are a cool way to go.

So lets' take the characters. Since this is a Miyazaki masterpiece, I'm going to be especially thorough. Miyazaki is known for being a women's rights activist and it's even been said that the women's restrooms at Studio Ghibli are much nicer than the men's. As a possible result of this trait, the majority of Miyazaki's main characters are female, often accompanied by male secondary main characters. In this movie, it's the other way around, but the cast here is also pretty diverse. Even characters who have only a couple minutes of screen time are treated as though they're vital to the storyline, such as Ashitaka's fiance, Kaya. (She calls herself his little sister, but she's actually his betrothed. Just to clear up any confusion) The Wise Woman of his village, whom we only see for all of five minutes in total is so well developed in such a short amount of time that it feels like we've known her forever. Because the development is so rich already, it's possible to feel genuine sadness at Ashitaka's secret departure, knowing he will never again return there. Now, why don't we begin to carefully dissect this wonderful story?

Lets' begin with our main protagonist, Ashitaka, voiced by Billy Crudup.

He's actually the rare male hero in most of Studio Ghibli productions. As I said before, most of Miyazaki's characters are young girls. Even though he's unusual, Ashitaka still possesses the same strong will of many of his counterparts from other films, though he's still vulnerable and a tad naïve. He's clearly awkward in this new, unfamiliar setting and this is shown clearly many times following his departure. Having lived a rather hidden lifestyle all his life, he's unfamiliar with the ways of the outside world and believes it's possible for complete peace to spread throughout the people of the west and the gods of the forest. It's a nice idea, but in the end, it realistically doesn't entirely come to fruition. The Wolf Girl, San still refuses to accept the humans as allies and chooses to remain with the wolves in the end. Ashitaka himself is a skilled fighter and refuses to give up on finding a cure for his curse. Rather than live in constant fear of it, he even uses it to his advantage at times, often allowing it temporary dominance over him in order to try to convince people to give up their bitter hatred by showing them what it supposedly looks like. The curse takes the form of writhing black worms encircling his right arm. It's a black and purple bruise-like discoloration that's slowly spreading all across his body and reacts violently to the presence of the Great Forest Spirit. But it occasionally grants him superhuman strength and skill that, while providing him with a temporary advantage, cause the curse to spread more quickly.

Next, we have San and the wolves.

Here, we have San, voiced by Claire Danes, and her two brothers as well as their mother, Moro in the lower picture. It's implied that there were once many others in their pack, but that they were killed off by the people of Irontown. The wolf pelt that San wears is probably proof of this, as it more than likely once belonged to a pack member.

San is the human girl who was adopted as an infant by Moro, who scared away her human parents as they were 'defiling her forest'. Moro chose to raise San instead of eating her and now, San fights for the sake of her wolf family, unafraid to sacrifice her own life for her cause.

However, she, unlike Ashitaka, is far wiser in the ways of this ancient world and understands that her quest may fail. Even despite knowing this, she is undaunted in her goal. She is extremely aggressive toward humans, attacking them mercilessly until she can get past them. She threatens to slash Ashitaka's throat a couple of times and is understandably shocked beyond words when he weakly tells her that she's beautiful. Granted, at this point in time, he's barely conscious and is more than likely speaking on a subconscious level, but it's enough to make her pause and think. As for San's brothers, they are never named outright, at least in the English dub, but they are fiercely loyal to their mother and sister. San is often shown riding one or the other in her attacks against the humans. Their mother, Moro, voiced by Gillian Anderson, is a ferocious, yet sympathetic wolf god and supposedly the last true mature wolf god remaining. Fatally wounded at the start of the movie, she spends much of her time contemplating her death in order to prevent the invasion of a similar poison to the boar who cursed Ashitaka, as he originated from this land. Moro maintains a terse truce with Ashitaka for San's sake, though she states once that she would've killed him if given the chance. Moro understands that she and her dwindling tribe stand little to no chance against the humans and grudgingly accepts this fact, unlike her daughter. Although it seems like she would drag her entire tribe and San down with her in death, this is shown to be false as she tries to convince San to give up this violent way of life to pursue a happier one with Ashitaka.

The last character I'll discuss in depth is Lady Eboshi, mistress of Irontown, voiced by Minnie Driver. At first glance, you think “yeah, there's our bad-guy”. But like I said, there is no true good or evil here. Everyone is just human and Eboshi is no exception. Yes, she may seem like a villainess, but in reality, all she's trying to do is make her Iron business a success in order to better the region for her people. Most of the women in Irontown, if not all of them, are former prostitutes that Eboshi freed from the brothels by purchasing their contracts. She also secretly employs lepers to construct high-tech firearms for her, offering them clean housing, warmth, food and, most importantly, the sense of humanity. Everyone in the town respects her highly, especially the women who are immensely grateful to her for her help. Many times, the women of Irontown prove more dependable than the men as they actually manage to intimidate and drive away an imperial messenger. This may not seem like a big deal, but for the time period, it's borderline illegal, as women back then were expected to be submissive. I assure you, you will laugh yourself silly at their antics. Eboshi is a bit different. Stern, yet compassionate, Eboshi, is a very elegant woman who proves able to understand when something she does is wrong and shows the wisdom and knowledge to correct it.

The rest of the cast is phenomenally well developed, having taken Miyazaki a total of sixteen years to completely put together and polish. There is a small amount of CGI placed here, such as the demon worms that become the tangible form of Ashitaka's curse. But Miyazaki and his team are well known for their skills of the dying art called single cell animation where almost everything is done by hand. This allows them to keep the beautiful settings and rich colors that you just can't really duplicate through computer animation. Most of the older series hold true to this and it's fairly obvious to tell when you look at newer series. It's beautiful and often awe-inspiring, but it's just not the same. Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke pays a lot of attention to detail and character development, as well as story development. Simple scenes that don't have much influence are given as much attention as scenes that change the path of the story altogether. One scene that comes to mind is Ashitaka sitting with the men of Irontown and talking about the giant boar god, Nago, the same boar who gave Ashitaka his curse. You see a brief flashback through the man's tale of how Eboshi arrived to drive the boars away with her new weapons that spew flames and iron balls called bullets. An image of Eboshi standing above the devastated hillside fades to a grim expression on Ashitaka's face, preceding a shot of him gripping his cursed arm. Nothing is said those first few minutes, but the expression on the prince's face is all that it needs. You get the sense of the turmoil he feels simply through the animation.

Like all of Studio Ghibli's works, Princess Mononoke is a highly well-thought-out story stemming from the greatest imagination ever owned by one human being. If you're a fan of anime and haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. If you've seen his movies but somehow missed this one, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? UNDER A ROCK!?

Recommendations: This is Hayao Miyazaki's first PG-13 movie, so definitely for older kids. There's a shot of a complete decapitation, plus plenty of creepy or downright scary scenes that will undoubtedly frighten small kids. If you're going to show them Studio Ghibli material, start with Kiki's Delivery Service or My Neighbor Totoro. Wait a few years to show this to anyone under 16 years of age.  

Fooly Cooly (FLCL)

Anime Review- FLCL, Fooly Cooly

Anime fans out there, welcome to my first whacky installment of crazy reviews. Not that I care to change my opinions on matters I choose to write about, but you're free to critique me if you so desire.

Now then, Fooly Cooly, probably one of the oddest creations ever conceived by the human mind. Before I go into it, I want you to first think of the weirdest anime you've ever seen, multiply it three times...and then toss it into the trash can. Fooly Cooly is just that bizarre.

It starts with grade school kid, 12 year-old Naota. Obsessed with being an 'adult' (I stress that you will find no adult in this show who actually acts like an adult), Naota essentially has to solely carry the burden of his older brother Tasuku's departure to America to play baseball, leaving behind his slightly spacey and issue-ridden girlfriend, Mamimi. Naota goes to school in Mabase, Japan, where the town is overlooked by the giant Medical Mechannica plant on the hill, in the shape of an old-fashioned iron. He, as the narrator, says that this town is ordinary, that nothing ever happens.

He's about to get a very rude awakening.

Enter Haruko Haruhara. Breathtakingly gorgeous, gentle, elegant and softspoken; all words you would NOT use to describe her. Haruko greets Naota perfectly normally—for her. I translate this as smashing into him with her Vespa bike, illogically reviving him with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and then bashing him in the skull with her Rickenbacker bass guitar (in that order), only to call him 'useless' and speed away with a cloud of smoke.

And so, Naota's insane adventure begins.

The series just gets weirder from here; strange head bumps sprouting giant fighting robots, enormous mechanical hands grabbing the giant iron, guitars serving as baseball bats and flying machines and a guy with seaweed for eyebrows only add to an over-the-top mishmash of nonstop craziness from the moment you pop in the DVD.

(gasps for breath) Now, before you judge, I feel the need to point out that despite all of this nuttiness and seemingly useless info, the six episodes that make up Fooly Cooly are actually very well perpetrated. As an OAV, it didn't have as much time as many other series and luckily, the staff it employed knew how to stretch their talents to where they were best needed. I fancy English dubs over subs, so if a dub is terrible, I'll turn to the English sub instead, a good example being Angel Sanctuary. (I'm sorry, but even with Crispin Freeman in that one, I refuse to watch it dubbed) Fooly Cooly's dubs are actually very well done. They match the mouth movements accurately and, well, except in the case of Ninamori, whom I can't stand for some reason, everyone was cast fairly well.

Despite only having six episodes, the series spans out nicely. There's a lot of information to process and the only problem there is that you have to watch the series a few times to fully digest everything. But in this manner, there's actually very little left unexplained and I actually found myself wanting more when the series ended. Each episode features one of the characters as a temporary co-star working with, or against, Naota. The characters aren't exactly everyday people you may or may not have met before, but they become likable characters for the most part.

This brings me to my first problem. There are several characters I do have bones to pick with for a few reasons. These characters, whether they were developed or not, are noticeably one-dimensional and even at times, grating. Three characters, one of whom his name I don't think is even mentioned, stand out. The first being their school teacher, Nyushun (sp?) as they call her. She's spazzy as a sort of comedic relief, but after watching her wig out over a magazine article for close to a minute, you begin to wonder whether or not she's wanted by the men in white coats. She also has unbelievably rotten luck with cars, as two of them get destroyed in fights between giant robots.

The second character needs very little explanation; these are fifth graders and he's kinky and perverted thirty years prematurely. Whenever Naota, or anyone for that matter, gets kissed or even fondled by accident, he goes on a tangent yelling about said characters combined with a stream of “Smooch! Smooch! Smooch!” that will eventually drive you batty.

The third character grates on my patience in levels I didn't believe imaginable. Ninamori, the mayor's daughter. Even more obsessed with acting grownup than Naota, she takes it to dangerously annoying levels by constantly repeating “I don't think it's any big deal” as if to say she's grown up. Maybe I'm being too critical because in all honesty, her English VA was...well, I'm sure she's good, but this casting was downright wretched. Ninamori is supposed to be a friend and possible love interest for Naota, but she comes across as nothing but a preppy, spoiled, snobby brat.

Actually, those characters were my only problem. The rest of the cast is hilarious, one of them even popping in through a rather humorous South Park parody in episode 5.

As for the music and animation, since this is somewhat of an older anime, the art is actually pretty good. The colors are toned down to believable levels (with the obvious exception of the female characters' hair for whatever reason). The backgrounds, while not boasting heavy detail, are clearly well-drawn in panning images where detail is a must. Other than that, the series wisely ignores sixty per cent of the backgrounds in order to maximize character development. There is some noticeable CGI thrown in, but it's primitive and by this point, you barely even see it.

A running gag is that the fourth wall is routinely broken throughout the series, such as characters addressing how other characters' performances went, how to improve upon a particular scene and what main characters are supposed to know as opposed to supporting characters. Naota actually speaks to the audience at several intervals when Haruko does things that he has difficulty understanding. (I.e, impersonating Elvis—badly) Many references are made to other popular anime such as Gundam, Lupin III, and even anime itself, which is actually pretty rare since many anime shows don't actually acknowledge the existence of anime.

The music score throughout the show is catchy, upbeat, and fits the situations almost perfectly. My personal favorites are Runner's High, playing at Haruko's introduction and the last ten minutes of the final episode with the song I Think I Can, excluding the ending theme. This series has no opening theme to speak of and the ending theme is extremely long, well over six minutes in length and not very memorable. It's mostly still-frame shots of a yellow Vespa in various locations throughout Japan.

In short, while it's a rather old and, frankly, stupid anime, there's something strangely addictive and free about it, sort of like the writer went and rode a roller coaster again and again for an hour and then sat down and attempted to scribble down a story. You'll get plenty of laughs out of Haruko and as a bonus, to keep what little sense of reality it still has going for it, the show will even feature a few minutes of quiet, sane meditation, just to even out the complete and utter chaos that this series is famous for. Definitely worth the time and money spent on it. This leaves one question that even the cast in Mabase can't answer.

What IS Fooly Cooly?

Audience Recommendations: 16+. Plenty of slapstick violence, nothing too severe. Some intense moments might frighten little kids. Lots of raunchy jokes and some sensuality and/or mention of sex. Some slight nudity, typical panty shots, as well as a few bare-butt shots on Haruko's part. Whether or not she was aware of it remains to be seen. In any case, definitely not for young kids. Mostly for older teens and adults.

Side Note: Fooly Cooly (Furi Kuri)- the theory that Naota's father spends the entire series obsessing over. Means to inappropriately fondle someone's butt. You'll probably pick up on that or something along similar lines as you watch the show.