i'm a big transformers fan. love the toys, and until recently had a huge collection, but couldn't bear to pack it all up and move it to a new place, again, so sold most of it off. i collected the comics up until #75 or so, and watched the cartoon religiously after school everyday (the original cartoon) when i was a kid.
time's passed and i've made it to my 30's but still look at sports cars and imagine how they'd look if they transformed into a giant robot and blasted the heck out of some evil jet plane. :D
along comes a new transformers cartoon, transformers: armada, and i along with countless other adult-children thought we'd give it a watch. i think to a person, we all hated it. but why?
i think it's part of the pokemonization of the u.s.
it seems like hasbro and others see all this money being made in japan, and instead of trying to do something that will be the next big thing, they just buy the rights to the japanese version and dub it in english.
i know the toys are originally japanese, but the cartoon from the 80's and the comic books were american, and they were awesome.
i'm not trying to dis anime, as i'm actually a pretty big fan. the thing about anime is that it's aimed at different age groups depending upon the content, but all of them share some qualities such as the 'superdeformed' or 'chibi' characters. this is a cultural phenomenon in japan and is hard to translate to english, or i imagine, any other language.
so, the new cartoon uses styles that are different from what we are all used to and different from what we _want_ to see. i think we would all love to see a cartoon done in comic book style.
this brings me to my other point. the japanese cartoon is aimed at a different demographic than the product in the u.s. in japan tf armada is aimed at young children who are just discovering there is something in the world besides pokemon, around 6 or 7 years old. the toys in the u.s. are aimed at kids, particularly boys, in the 10 to 12 years old age group. 4 to 5 years makes a huge deal in the level of sophistication one can use in telling a story.
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
food on airlines
(from my trip journal in may, 2003)
i'm just now on the third and final leg of my trip from the u.s. to italy, via iceland and england. i only left yesterday evening but i have gotten the oppurtunity to experience a lot of new things, not the least of which have been my in-flight meals.
the first meal was dinner on an iceland air flight from minniapolis to reykjavik. it was delicious. and, i'm just as surprised as anyone. it started with a small, fresh green salad- romaine, cabbage, carrots, tomato and radish. the main dish was a baked chicken breast in a tangy tomato sauce with large chunks of onion and green bell pepper, all next to a generous bed of rice that was instended to be mixed with the chicken and sauce. the dessert was a 'fun size' twix bar.
the next meal was breakfast. again, i was travelling iceland air, this time from reykjavik to london. this meal was started by a warm, multi-grain roll. the main dish was a cheese omelette with hashbrowns and green beans, all on a slice of ham. i expected this to be very greasy, but to my surprise it was quite edible. this was toppd off by a complimentary cup of fresh brazillian orange juice, and while the quallity may be in question, it certainly tasted fine.
my third meal was lunch. i've finally moved on from iceland air and am flying british airways. we had a choice of cheese or chicken sandwiches and i went with the chicken. it was served on a nice multi-grain whole wheat bread with romaine lettuce and stone ground mustard. maybe it's just an american thing, but i was surprised and happy to get a sandwich without mayonaisse. there were flavored tortilla chips, called 'poppadums'. they were black pepper flavored and would have been a little too spicey on thier own, but they came with an excellent dipping sauce. the dipping sauce was minty lemon flavored, and while i was willing to try it, but prepared to dislike it, i was once again pleasantly surprised. the dip was yoghurt based and strongly lemon flavored with just a hint of mint. the dessert for this meal was double chocolate pudding, but not the kind that bill cosby hawks, the kind that actually gets baked.
not a bad experience flying interanationally for the first time, even if i do pick out the least interesting part of the trip to write about first. but, you can imagine that if i enjoy the food this much, just how the rest of my trip must be going.
i'm just now on the third and final leg of my trip from the u.s. to italy, via iceland and england. i only left yesterday evening but i have gotten the oppurtunity to experience a lot of new things, not the least of which have been my in-flight meals.
the first meal was dinner on an iceland air flight from minniapolis to reykjavik. it was delicious. and, i'm just as surprised as anyone. it started with a small, fresh green salad- romaine, cabbage, carrots, tomato and radish. the main dish was a baked chicken breast in a tangy tomato sauce with large chunks of onion and green bell pepper, all next to a generous bed of rice that was instended to be mixed with the chicken and sauce. the dessert was a 'fun size' twix bar.
the next meal was breakfast. again, i was travelling iceland air, this time from reykjavik to london. this meal was started by a warm, multi-grain roll. the main dish was a cheese omelette with hashbrowns and green beans, all on a slice of ham. i expected this to be very greasy, but to my surprise it was quite edible. this was toppd off by a complimentary cup of fresh brazillian orange juice, and while the quallity may be in question, it certainly tasted fine.
my third meal was lunch. i've finally moved on from iceland air and am flying british airways. we had a choice of cheese or chicken sandwiches and i went with the chicken. it was served on a nice multi-grain whole wheat bread with romaine lettuce and stone ground mustard. maybe it's just an american thing, but i was surprised and happy to get a sandwich without mayonaisse. there were flavored tortilla chips, called 'poppadums'. they were black pepper flavored and would have been a little too spicey on thier own, but they came with an excellent dipping sauce. the dipping sauce was minty lemon flavored, and while i was willing to try it, but prepared to dislike it, i was once again pleasantly surprised. the dip was yoghurt based and strongly lemon flavored with just a hint of mint. the dessert for this meal was double chocolate pudding, but not the kind that bill cosby hawks, the kind that actually gets baked.
not a bad experience flying interanationally for the first time, even if i do pick out the least interesting part of the trip to write about first. but, you can imagine that if i enjoy the food this much, just how the rest of my trip must be going.
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