Lit Apropos of Nothing - ACKBAR IN CAPITALS - The Lit Forum Social Thread, v2.0.15

My lips are papal sealed.

 

Make 'em bleed, Jello.

 

Just watched Serenity. Gotta say, given all that I've heard about the film and Joss Whedon, I suspected the blood bath to be significantly greater. Don't get me wrong, though, I'm glad the majority of them got out of there in one piece (CooperTFN actually did me a favor by throwing me off). Oddly enough, the "last stand" scene reminded me of the finale of Mass Effect 2. I was having flashbacks to my "bad" playthrough, where every single one of my crew members died in holding the line . For a moment I thought that was where they were going with it. Glad it didn't play out that way.

As for the film itself, I really enjoyed it. A lot of the complaints I've read are valid, but I feel they stem chiefly from the change of medium. Truthfully, it did feel a bit jarring, going from the TV show to comic to the film. The former two are much lighter, much slower in pace, and much more focused on character interaction. Once Serenity gets going, it doesn't let up. I'd be really interested in knowing how those rough events were planned in the actual television series.

One thing I also noted was that Mal came off as much colder in this film than he did in the TV series. Interestingly, according to Mal's wikipedia page, he was originally intended to be that way, but Fox forced Whedon to "lighten Mal up". I can definitely see the difference.

Not perfect, but I'm incredibly glad it's there. A much more poignant conclusion to the series than the season one finale.

 

Might I recommend Cowboy Bebop, instantdeath? It's an anime that is quite similar to Firefly at times, though it predates it.

 

Something that I've heard great things about and plan to watch. I've seen a bit of anime, but not much, and haven't seen most of the classics (unless you consider Monster and Death Note modern classics; I love both of them myself.) It seems like the DVD sets are out of print, though. Not really a problem, since I can watch it online, but would like to have them.

One question about Cowboy Bebop. When it comes to anime, I usually prefer the subbed, since I figure the original will always be better suited by virtue of being the original. That said, for Cowboy Bebop, I've seen many people, even self-proclaimed Japanophiles, say the English dub is better. Any opinion on that?

 

Cowboy Bebop has without a doubt one of the best dubs out there, so unless you are actually fluent in Japanese go for the Dub.

 

I tested the demo of Crusader Kings II for two hours, and most of that I have just pressed buttons to see what they do. I am a Duchess in Northern Italy, married and with one daughter, have my council doing something and so on. I even tried to raise troops from some of my vassals and attack Genua to see how wars work, but the armies won't go there. Do I have to do something first?

I'm planning to buy the game. The biggest decision-maker was the ability to finally play as a Finnish leader. Even though on year 1060 they probably still wondered if they could eat rocks, and the difficulty level means that they won't rule in Finland for long (historically Sweden conquered the tribes living in Finland 1249). My only strategy-game experience is from Rome and Medieval II Total Wars, and in them most of my attention was in the war part of diplomacy, so I'm pretty noob in number-crushing.

 

Did you declare war? Have not playing CK II in ages but from what I recall that's what I tended to forget.

 

Oh you have to declare wars? Can't I just walk to their city and burn it, like I do in Total Wars?
Transferring the money to my Paypal account now, hopefully it gets there before the discount ends.

 

Sadly not you also have to watch out if you keep crushing your neighbors because the other nations will start to get suspicious and gang up on you.

 

I love nuking primitive nations in Civilization

 

Why nuke them? You et more value out of them by sitting battleships offshore and bombarding their cities down to nothing to grind xp.

 

My greatest love in Civ IV was sending my one troop out at the beginning of the game and destroying a civilization right at the beginning.

 

Cowboy Bebop was my gateway Anime. The movie does feel like the series, though it is a little slower paced, and the budget means the art is somewhat better.
You forgot the best selling point of Cowboy Bebop though- the music by Yoko Kanno.

 

I'll fourth Cowboy Bebop. I'm not usually an anime fan---Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is probably the only other anime series that I've seen in toto---but I watched Cowboy Bebop for the first time last month and greatly enjoyed it.

Edit: Fifth, then.

 

Try Big O. I also love SAC, and while I don't watch most Gundam, 08th MS team is stellar.

 

I'll agree with that. I don't generally like anime, but Cowboy Bebop sold me.

 

Anybody else a fan of Rooster Teeth? They have an awesome looking animesque series called RWBY on the way, animated by Monty Oum. Story details are scarce, but some of the writers of Red vs. Blue are working on it so I'm positive it will be amazing/hilarious/heartwrenching.

Here are the first two trailers: "Red" and "White". I can't wait for this to come out.

 

On the gaming front, I'm playing Phoenix Wright. On the anime front, nothing. On the Rooster Teeth front, nothing. If everyone on here is doing something, I'm probably not doing it.

 

You should try breathing. Scientifically proven to be beneficial to your health.