Dragon Ball Z and Naruto really, really suck

Eh, who am I to get all uppity about anime? For years I watched anything and everything, and that included a few episodes of Dragon Ball Z. Looking back, there was a lot of crap. And by a lot, I mean metric buttloads. And by metric buttloads, I mean somewhere in the neighborhood of hundreds. I'd pick up a title and watch the first few minutes, or maybe even the entire episode, and decide to toss it or give it a shot. Naruto was one of the ones that lasted about 2 minutes. In that time, it was quite clear that it was typical of a well-defined genre, replete with stereotypes and cliches. Dragon Ball Z is the same genre. Actually, Dragonball Z might've defined the genre. Another example would be Yuyu Hakusho.

In Japan, these shows and comics target a demographic of a boy somewhere around the age of 14. In my view, it's probably younger. While it may be argued that Japan's school system is heads and shoulders above the American public school system, there's no denying that these shows are for children.

As an aside, I think animation, anime, comics (sequential art), and manga have great examples that show what the mediums are capable of. There are plenty of adults, myself included, who watch/read regularly and, the field is populated with adults of great and varied talent that regularly tell great and varied stories. They are works of consequence and significance. From other things I've written, at least that much should be evident.

Back to Dragon Ball Z and Naruto, anyone can see the animation quality is very poor. Even if it weren't, the writing is poor. It's ultra-simplistic and has no bearing on reality, literally or metaphorically. With Dragon Ball Z, I know all the characters are flat and uninteresting. From what I read about Naruto, the characters are just a bunch of stereotypes.

A friend of mine argued that it promotes training and struggle. True. But does that require thousands of pages and hundreds of episodes? Not hardly. A single one-on-one battle might take 3-5 episodes, and that's just for a minor villain. Dragon Ball Z has no plot. Well, no complicated plot. It all revolves around some villain of the episode/week/arc. Some new flashy attack is learned, and then Earth is saved.

I haven't watched enough Naruto to know what their "training" entails, but I'm sure "flashy attack" training is replaced by "ninja attack" training. I recall reading about a ninja training school in Japan. A real ninja came out to demonstrate some of his skills for a school promotion. That seems like it'd be an important time not to mess up. He ended up embarassing himself and giving up. In short, I'm guessing whatever "ninja attacks" they're learning, there is no real world equivalent, and it may as well be a "flashy attack".

Another show I gave up on was Slam Dunk. It's a show about high school basketball. A single game might take about 4 episodes. One thing that separates Slam Dunk from Dragon Ball Z, though, is that I actually think I learned a good bit about basketball from watching it.

I find it absolutely appalling that a grown person could watch this dreck. It's even more amazing that they try to defend it as having any worth. Knowing it's fluff and admitting as much at least has some acceptance of reality. These shows just tend to spawn apologists. My friend is 23. Another friend is 27 (I think) who also loves the show.

A friend I had when interning loved Dragon Ball Z. He'd tape it every day and wouldn't miss an episode. I pointed out how crappy the animation was, how poorly the fights were choreographed, and how thoughtless the storylines were. The next day he came in and said he couldn't watch anymore. That seems like a rational response.

I guess what this is really about is that it's okay to like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto (and its ilk) when you're a child because you're expected to like childish things. I guess I won't go so far as to say that when you grow up you should cast it aside, but what really bugs me is people who defend it when it's quite obviously crap and they should know better. They are, with a straight face, saying that shows like Dragon Ball Z are great works of art that carry tremendous meaning. It blows my mind.

Elation

I can't remember if I said previously, but all the fundamentalists getting up in arms about evolution and "intelligent design" made me more than a little wary of all Christians... I had a rather lengthy discussion about it with a friend of mine (who happened to be very religious and pro-evolution). Clearly it wasn't all Christians... Up until shortly after that discussion, I'm not sure I really had a good grasp of Christian fundamentalism. Nevertheless, it warms my heart to see the non-fundamentalists distancing themselves from such unswerving zealotry.

Sky High

Well, I watched Sky High. It was fun, but I don't think it really added anything to the genre. Any of them, actually: teen comedy-drama, family movie, superhero. So in the end, I guess I'm still looking forward to the Invincible movie, if it ever comes out.

I just finished the fifth volume of the trade paperbacks (of Invincible). It feels like it's settled somewhat, into something a little more typical. Or maybe it's just that I've gotten over the initial euphoria of the concept and writing.

Alito

I was driving home and was able to catch some of the confirmation hearings for Alito. It was fortunate, too, because it had to do with religious freedom. One of the questions Alito was asked was, "Is freedom of religion also freedom to not believe?" and he responded with something like "Absolutely", which is very reassuring to me. He also said that he believes it's wrong to impose his own moral and religious views on others, although of course, he can't not, absolutely.

There was a case he gave a dissenting opinion for where a public school's students voted for a prayer prior to some event like graduation or a football game (i think it was graduation). His dissent was that the government may not give religious speech, but it also cannot impede religious speech. He treated the voting majority of the school (which of course voted for prayer) as individuals whose speech would be impeded if prohibited by the government. His reasoning was sound, although I disagree with it.

He also said, of the establishment clause, something along the lines of "It would be nice if decisions based on the clause did not turn on so fine a point."

All in all, I think he sounds like a good candidate and well-learned person, even if I don't agree with him.

The Mastermind of Mars

I started reading Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter of Mars series a while back, and now I've gotten to the sixth book in the series, "The Mastermind of Mars". Up until now, I can't say I've been terribly impressed with the substance of the books. Wonderfully creative, sure, but I regarded them as pure escapism.

This one in particular started out rather poorly, not only not starring John Carter (it'd be a Tarzan book without Tarzan, although not the first time Burroughs has done it thus far), but not even a person related to him or introduced in a previous story. But from there it goes on to what I'm writing about, which is science, religion, and extremism.

Our protagonist who comes to be named Vad Varo arrives on Mars and comes into the care of one Ras Thavas, master of the science of life and physiology. But Ras Thavas practices and studies his science in a very self-serving manner, purely for the intellect and the advancement of his science. Coldly, Ras Thavas says, "Sentiment is indeed a bar to all progress." Truly, in the pursuit of knowledge, he would sacrifice all save himself.

On the other hand, we have the Phundalians who blindly worship Tur, the scripture of the Turgan, and the high priestess Xaxa. From the book:

"He said that the Phundahlians maintained that Tur still created every living thing with his own hands. They denied vigorously that man possessed the power to reproduce his kind and taught their young that all such belief was vile; and always they hid every evidence of natural procreation, insisting to the death that even those things which they witnessed with their own eyes and experienced with their own bodies in the bringing forth of their young never transpired.

Turgan taught them that Barsoom is flat and they shut their minds to every proof to the contrary. They would not leave Phundahl far for fear of failing off the edge of the world; they would not permit the development of aeronautics because should one of their ships circumnavigate Barsoom it would be a wicked sacrilege in the eyes of Tur who made Barsoom flat.

They would not permit the use of telescopes, for Tur taught them that there was no other world than Barsoom and to look at another would be heresy; nor would they permit the teaching in their schools of any history of Barsoom that antedated the creation of Barsoom by Tur, though Barsoom has a well authenticated written history that reaches back more than one hundred thousand years; nor would they permit any geography of Barsoom except that which appears in Turgan, nor any scientific researches along biological lines. Turgan is their only text book--if it is not in Turgan it is a wicked lie.

Much of all this and a great deal more I gathered from one source or another during my brief stay in Phundahl, whose people are, I believe, the least advanced in civilization of any of the red nations upon Barsoom. Giving, as they do, all their best thought to religious matters, they have become ignorant, bigoted and narrow, going as far to one extreme as the Toonolians do to the other."

As you can see, it's quite blunt in its analogy to Christian Fundamentalism. It's probably no coincidence that "Phundalians", phonetically, bears resemblance to "fundamentalism".

As the book draws to a close, Ras Thavas is ordered under Vad Varo's suggestion to be restored to his laboratory "Only on condition that he devote his great skill to the amelioration of human suffering". Xaxa is deposed and dead, replaced by one of Vad Varo's friends, and the puppet statue of Tur is operated by Vad Varo's friends as well.

So what is Burroughs saying? Vad Varo and company appear to be people of sound judgement, so leaving the country and followers under their rule doesn't sound like a bad idea. A well-run monarchy is supposedly the best form of government. Clearly he says that science should be conducted with human interests at heart.

On religion, though, he appears to be saying that there is no harm as long as the right persons are in charge. Throughout the series, religion (of course not Christianity directly) is treated largely as superstition and flimflammery; a tool of those in power to keep people in control. It's not just in this book, but "The Chessmen of Mars", and the other books as well, to a lesser degree.

Diagonal parking

What's so hard to get? Every now and then I'll see some idiot bearing down on me, going the wrong way down a one way parking lot alley; one way because the parking lot wisely chose to use diagonal parking spaces. So why is it so hard to understand? Diagonal parking spaces are easier to pull into and out of. Front first. And then there are the people who park rear first into a diagonal parking space. Surely they've missed out on this great parking idea as well.

Maybe I should keep some flyers in my car to enlighten people of their folly.

It reminds of this woman who came up to me in a store where I was a computer salesman. "I can never use mice, they're so hard to use," she said. As it turns out, she was holding it upside down with the cord facing out the back.

Happy New Year!

Well, another year, another step closer to the grave. This particular picture I like a lot because it happens to make fun of the biggest douche in the universe. It was the work of a DrToast of the Fark forums.