flog tlog is go!

It begins!
My official blog for all things film and telvision.
I'll generally be talking about stuff I'm into or have viewed lately, be it old or new.

First off, the other day I watched Studio Ghibli's Pom Poko (and it was a free rental on account of colourful St. Patrick's Day costumes) and it was awesome. Hayao Miyazaki may be one of the greatest people in the world; people say he's the Japanese Walt Disney, but he makes better films and instead of racism it's socialism. As long as he keeps making his no-plot-just-make-everything-awesome films, the world will be good.

On the TV side, there's another Japanese product - the animé series Samurai Champloo, which was created by Shinichiro Watanabe, the same guy who brought us the amazing show Cowboy Bebop, which I love like a little square-headed son.

Samurai Champloo is very similar to Cowboy Bebop, but instead of being set in futuristic space, it's set in ancient Edo Japan. The (loose) plot follows three characters in their search for a samurai who smells like sunflowers (I don't know why yet) - Mugen, a restless, carefree criminal, Jun, a reserved samurai, and Fuu, a young but indepedent girl. Despite being a period piece, Samurai Champloo doesn't exactly stick to the facts concerning history - but you don't really expect it to, what with the soundtrack comprising mainly of hip-hop.

However, Samurai Champloo does contain a lot of detail about Japanese culture, as opposed to Cowboy Bebop which was much more Westernised. Samurai Champloo is a great show, although for me it doesn't quite reach Bebop heights - but I am only six episodes in at the moment, and loving every second. A good way to describe the difference is to say that Samurai Champloo is to hip-hop what Cowboy Bebop is to jazz. I just prefer jazz.

In new releases, there's 300, which is considerably less Japanese but with just as much disregard for historical accuracy. It's also the gayest movie since Top Gun. And not very good. But if you like that sort of thing, you'll love it.

Out.