Scott Pilgrim

So recently I started reading the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels. I had never heard of them in all honesty until I saw the movie trailer. From the movie trailer I found out one of my favorite indie animators, Paul Robertson, was doing the visual style and animation for the tie-in game. This got me intrigued as to what the comic is all about.

So far I have made it through the first 3 books in the series. There are 5 currently out and 1 forthcoming at about the same time as the movie and game. The first thing that I noticed when I started reading was that the comic comes off like a more pop-culture heavy FLCL. This by no means is a bad thing. This is just the way it feels for me.

The main plot follows Scott Pilgrim, a 23 yr. old bassist. At the beginning you learn all about his life and his ex's. From there we get to meet his 17 yr. old girlfriend Knives. Also to avoid anymore from there's I will just say at this point you get to watch his life spiral out of control as he meets a rollerblading delivery girl, her 7 ex's, and at numerous points watch his ex's talk mad shit about him. All the while picking up hints as to if he himself lives in a video game.

The comic is filled with homages to video games. Whenever a fight is finished the winner gets coins and the possibility of an item drop. There is also a very dry sense of humor going on in the comic. Most of the jokes are very in your face and they don't play around to be subtle. To me it comes off once again to be very much like FLCL with the over the top but still believable to an extent and all the pop culture references. It also plays around with the 4th wall and messes with the comic visually once again going back to FLCL.

Overall I would recommend this to anyone at anytime anywhere. It is a great comic filled with romance, drama, comedy, action, nerd humor and so on. Go out, get it, support it. Bottom line is...Scott Pilgrim is awesome.

10 out of 10

Insights from the POOH

So I like to read quotes quite frequently and as such I have posted a blog of quotes not long ago and I believe it is time for another one. Here are some quotes I like from Winnie the Pooh.

"Rivers know this: There is no hurry. We shall get there."

"Those who are clever, who have a brain, never understand anything."

"Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you suddenly know everything there is to be known."

"One advantage of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."

"Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along and not bothering."

Hope you liked these words of wisdom from a wise old bear. See you next time.

TV...oh...TV

I'm a sad sappy sucker at best but I just can't get over this oddity I have about me. I get so into certain TV shows and become so engulfed in the story that I hate to see it end. This has happened to me on numerous occasions throughout my life with certain shows. It happened with Daria and again with That 70's Show. I am no longer ashamed to say it has also happened with Degrassi. I don't fully understand why I do this or if this is even by any means ordinary. The reason I bring this up is that the g/f and I have found one that is going to prove to be a much more difficult show to pry ourselves away from.

Skins is a British teen drama. I know what you are thinking...just a Degrassi clone for Britain...wrong. The only way that this can classify as anything close to that is that it has 16, 17, and 18 year old people in the show. After that the similarities disappear. It follows a group of kids through sixth form. I have not done a massive amount of research but from what I can tell sixth form is kind of like a 2 year degree here. The characters all have massive personal issues to attend to along with family, school, work, and love issues. Each episode focuses on 1 character and shows what they go through and how they see the other characters.

Since sixth form only runs for 2 years after every 2 seasons you get a new cast. Due to some technical issues we have had to skip the first 2 seasons and go right to the second generation of characters but soon we will backtrack. The show sets you up to get involved with the characters and as soon as you do they are gone. Maybe I'm just a sad sappy sucker as I said before but I hate saying goodbye to characters. It's like saying goodbye to friends once every couple years and never getting to see how their character lived out the rest of their story. It makes me sad we can't have stories with full lives, stories that grow with us.

I got off track there but I do just want to say if you have the time to check out Skins. It does have a lot of cursing, drug use, and sex; so no children. Also if you ever feel this way about shows let me know. Hopefully I'm not the only person capable of becoming attached to a fictional character and their day to day adventures. One other thing is that as far as I know Skins is not airing on American TV as of yet and if it were to it will probably be edited. If you can purchase it go for it, if not I believe you can watch it for free linked off the Skins site here.