Samurai Bip-Bop

I recently finished watching Samurai Champloo. It took me forever to watch it all, mostly because I didn't enjoy it all that much, but being a Shinichirō Watanabe show I simply had to give it an honest chance. Cowboy Bebop is easily my all-time favorite anime series. Everything about it just screams coolness, so I had pretty high hopes for Watanabe's next project. I guess I just like science fiction and jazz more than samurais and hip hop. Cowboy Bebop was fun and colorful and imaginative and it had lots of cool ideas and outrageous characters and cool music. Samurai Champloo is mostly about people wearing kimonos and fighting with swords. Sure, every few episodes you get something cool, but mostly I didn't find it all that interesting. You don't even get a threesome in the end! Sure, we all know that Mugen likes them a little more voluptuous than Fuu, but he could do a lot worse. I think the show is just too Japanese for its own good. I even took the time to read the rather lengthy translator's notes that came with the episodes, but those just left me even more bored and confused. I think that these days it's a lame idea to make something that only people from one specific country can appreciate. The best thing about the world today is that if you make something special enough, you can reach anybody on the planet, in a way that ignores the concept of physical distance completely. When you put so much time and effort into creating something that only a relatively small group of people can enjoy, it's like you're putting that great big wall up again around yourself, not giving your creation a fair chance to get out there and touch the rest of humanity. I dunno. Maybe it's just me. I just really like the idea of stories and characters that could take place anywhere. Like, my least favorite brand of humor is the atrocity known as "ethnic humor". Whether it be black, Jewish, Greek, Italian or Iranian, ethnic humor is NOT FUNNY. It's always the same thing! "My family is so crazy! It's nothing like regular (i.e. caucasian) families! My mother is so overbearing! Our women are so different from other women! Regular people all have big splintery sticks up their butts, but we're all warm and authentic and we always get our way in the end!" The same exact crap, over and over again. It's so easy to do that most stand-up comedians who can get away with it don't even bother to try anything else. I guess what I'm trying to say is that people all over the world who have the ability to create really cool stuff should do so in a way that I can fully enjoy, otherwise I may get a little cranky. And nobody likes a whiny Jew. Ha ha! Us Jews sure are whiny! Sigh.

Michelle Monaghan doesn't have anything to do with Samurai Champloo.

Yesterday I watched Eagle Eye. I don't have much to say about it, other than that Michelle Monaghan is absolutely adorable. I love it how HD makes certain pretty ladies look even prettier. That's some very lovely skin she's got wrapped around herself. It was pretty hard to feel even a little sorry for Shia LaBeouf's character for having to hang with someone who looks like her. Also, from certain angles she looks border line retarded, which I totally dig. You gotta love dumb chicks. If it wasn't for them, there would be a whole lot more sex-starved dudes out there, running around and punching stuff. And we really don't need any more of those.