Cast Away Hesitation and Plunge into 2013!
I recently got a new notebook – a Hobbit-themed Moleskine plain-page notebook to review for CineGeek. The review is turned in and waiting for posting by my editor, so you can read my thoughts on the book itself at CineGeek soon enough. However, with all that said and done, I’m left with a question: What do I write in it?
It’s a fancy book. I don’t want to mar the pages with dribble, just to change my mind on the book’s focus a few pages in. Whatever I decide to put to paper, it must be consistent throughout the book. It should be a connecting theme from start to finish, and it should match the quality of the book.
I’m thinking Dungeons & Dragons notes.
My current notebook for my group’s campaign – over three years long and still going at this point – is out of pages. It fits the fantasy nature of the book. But it shouldn’t be JUST notes. No, this is a fancy book. This should chronicle the journeys and adventures of Casval Bidan – Paladin of Helm, Purple Dragon Knight of Cormyr, and Lord Warden of the Stonelands (bonus points if you can guess the origin of the character’s name). Or not. I’m not a good fantasy writer.
I have the same issue with a Gundam notebook my roommate brought back from Japan. I feel like I should fill that one with mechanical designs or mission logs or a mecha pilot.
Do you ever have that problem? The hesitation to put pen to paper for fear of ruining the entire book? It’s almost a metaphor for hesitation in life, if I were one to write something so introspective.
Last year, I made three resolutions: 1) post more here, 2) get a new job, and 3) stop interrupting people in conversations as often. One seems to be going. Two, not so much. Three is an ongoing process.
This year, I just hope to find something I enjoy doing, and not let myself get hung up on hesitations or laziness. In whatever you pursue this year, dear reader, I wish you the best of luck.
Have a great 2013, internet!
Life-Size Gundam Stands Tall (and Lies in Pieces) for Fandom
I am an unapologetic Gundam fan.
The video above (via Anime News Network) is of a dismantled full-scale replica of the main Gundam mech (RX-78-2 Gundam) from the original 1979 series Mobile Suit Gundam. In both the show and in real life, the Gundam stands almost 60 ft. high. In this display, however, the Gundam is in parts to allow people to get an up-close look at the famous mech that they couldn’t when it was originally unveiled as part of Gundam’s 30th anniversary.
Honestly, the part that keeps getting me is 1.15 minutes into the video, where people are actually sitting in the Gundam’s hand. That’s just awesome.
See the video below for the RX-78-2 Gundam standing tall, as well as a replica core fighter that serves as both jet and cockpit for the mech.
The show features mankind split between the Earth and giant, man-made space colonies, with war breaking out and a group of rookies and civilians getting caught in the middle with the Earth Federation’s newest weapon – the titular Gundam.
It was a ground-breaking show, ushering in the real-robot genre in anime as giant robot shows that focused on more methodical and realistic machines, character intricacies and the harsh realities of war. This is opposed to the hot-blooded and exaggerated nature of the super-robot genre, but even that’s not to say the two don’t mix (looking at you, G Gundam).
It’s awesome to see such a societal dedication to a fandom as to actually build this giant robot (albeit not functioning… supposedly). Sure, we have had mainstream societal dedication to fandoms before. Heck, Spider-Man and Mary Jane got married at Shea Stadium (thanks for screwing that up, Joe “Mephisto” Quesada).
Thankfully, locally, we’re trying our hand at real-life embodiment of the mechs of our youth. Nashville local special effects whiz Rick Prince is working on a life-size transformed Bumblebee (the Beetle, not the Camero). Rick is taking donations through KickStarter and hopes to unveil the project at this October’s Geek Media Expo in Nashville (disclaimer: I work with GMX). Hopefully Bumblebee 2.0 will transform.
What would you like to see from your childhood made into a tribute of your fandom?
SD Gundams Invade the Three Kingdoms
I guess adding a Gundam spin-off to the Dynasty Warriors game franchise wasn’t enough for Bandai. ANN reports that Bandai announced the anime adaptation of the SD Gundam model line based off of the famous Chinese story Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Titled BB Senshi Sangokuden, the model line re-imagines Gundams as characters in the story.
Some Gundam fans may still be carrying the stigma of the SD series, thanks to the completely CGI kiddy series Superior Defender Gundam Force. The SD line is also populated with parody series from the end of the ’80s – beginning of the ’90s, as well as multiple long-running model lines ranging from chibi-fying popular mobile suits from main Gundam series to modifying traditional Gundams to have a more fantasy samurai look. It’s that latter model line that’s inspired this new production, so to those Gundam fans dreading a rebirth of the CGI Superior Defender Gundam Force, don’t go into this with those same expectations and keep an open mind.
Random Gundam News of Week 08/09/09
Needed a post for this week, but I’ve been busy working on the new MTSUAC website and some random MTAC work. Luckily, more reputable news sources (thanks, Anime News Network) have come across some interesting tidbits this past week. Being the Gundam fan I am, I figured I’d do the fandom a service and spread some more of this news to the masses. Since the masses don’t read here, you few tried and true get this post all to yourselves.
Gundam Creator Directs Gundam Short Film
Being the large Gundam fan that I am, I kind of have to post this. Yoshiyuki Tomino, the original creator of Mobile Suit Gundam back in 1979 and thus giving birth to a Japanese cultural phenomenon, is being tapped to direct a Gundam short film. The film, titled Ring of Gundam, will be shown at Gundam Big Expo this August, Gundam’s 30th anniversary event.
Sadly though, I’m not too hyped about the film. It’s just a short film for an expo, which just gives off the idea that it’ll just be empty fanservice for showing off Gundams or maybe giving well-known characters some screen time, similar to the Gundam Evolve shorts. The Evolve shorts were enjoyable and even added some neat things (ex: Amuro’s white Zeta), but I’d prefer a real movie or a short series (what I’m hoping for Gundam Unicorn).
I’m not saying I won’t watch it, because I will most likely at first chance. I just get the feeling that it will be shallow, instead of it being any of what I really want from Tomino (explanation of Char’s character reversal between Zeta and CCA, please).
Also, the poster with the RX-78-2 holding a naked baby is creepy.
Shameless Plugs
