Just saying the name of one of the hotels where my wife and I will be staying in Russia this September makes me smile. Obviously I do not want to rush the summer, but knowing that a new country will be waiting for me later this year has got me excited. I love going to see new places and experiencing foreign cultures. Plus I seem to watching anything vaguely Russian related on television. For example, last night I watched an episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel, because he was going to be in Russia. To be fair, I usually watch him anyway, but to see him in a place that I will be seeing this fall added something extra to the episode.
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The latest episodes of the anime series Bleach have started a new story arc complete with new foes and I have no idea what to expect next. What I do know is that I will not be making a forty five minute drive to a movie theater that I have never visited just to see the Bleach movie that will be shown there tonight and tomorrow night only. I think that purchasing the DVD is probably less expensive and less stressful than making the drive.
I call today a success. I exercised, I read and I got a healthy amount of sleep. As long as I am able to do those things in a day, I am happy. Plus I suspect that all three of those things are going to be pushed aside Saturday and perhaps on Friday as well. Saturday is a wedding of a friend from work, but at the same time I can not take off from work to attend so my sleep that day will be extremely limited. Then on Friday we are going out to eat to celebrate a relative's birthday. Once again that activity cuts into my sleep time before I have to go to work.
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My favorite anime series Bleach has close to two hundred episodes and as of today I have only seen the first sixty four. On the one hand, I love the fact that there is so much more for me to see, but at the same time, that is some serious viewing time that I do not have at my disposal. Lately I have been considering canceling my subscription to Netflix, because something has to give. I have only so much free time and I think that reading is a better option than sitting in front of the television watching movies. Thankfully the television series that I liked watching have come to an end for summer.
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I got to listen to some music today with Panic at the Disco, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Kate Voegele being my choices.
A day later and I am still enjoying the debut album from Santogold. As of now my favorite track would be Anne. Something fresh and fun at the same time. Good summer music.
Work surprised me with a quiet first night back and I appreciated it. Now my hope is that stays true for the next two days. If that happens, it would be wonderful.
Even though there are many episodes of Bleach left to watch, I started another anime series called Shigofumi. The concept of letters being delivered from the dead is an interesting one. Plus it is a welcome change of pace from the mecha genre.
Thanks to online streaming sites, I managed to see three more episodes of Bleach this morning and with each new episode that I see, I become more and more impressed with the series. With all of the character development, it is easy to see why the series has lasted for eight seasons. Another strength is the ability to have a whole episode where neither of the two key characters make an appearance.
]]>At four o'clock this morning, I was witness to what had to be the first spectacular thunderstorm of the year. The forecast had predicted strong storms, but so often that seems to be an exaggeration, but that was not the case this time. More than a few times there was an all encompassing flash quickly followed by ground shaking thunder. It was a serious storm that lingered over my house for at least an hour. Since sleep was out of the question and I couldn't seem to concentrate on what I wanted to read, I counted the lag between the flash and the thunder to pass the time. Sometimes simple rituals from childhood are the most comforting.
Lately I have been reading some of Marvel Comics efforts from the late 1970's and early 80's. For me this is when I started reading comics and because of that initial exposure feel more than a slight affection for this era. Yes, many of the characters and stories feel very dated today, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying them. There is no denying that both Luke Cage and Danny Rand were products of 70's fads. Luke came out of the blaxploitation films such as Shaft and Danny was a nod to the martial arts craze at the time. Pairing these two characters together in a detective for hire scenario made for some great reading. I can't say that I was an avid follower of the title Power Man and Iron Fist when it was fresh on the stands, but this gives me a wonderful vein of stories to tap today.
I may have been somewhat hostile to the anime series Bleach when I first saw it, but all of that has changed now. Having seen the first sixteen episodes and a handful from much later in the series, I have grown to love it more than other series I have seen. I might even put it in my top five list behind Ergo Proxy and RahXephon. Both of the main characters, Ichigo and Rukia, have well rounded personalities and their interaction is so fun to watch. Then there is the strong supporting cast that keeps growing and growing with each episode. I can see why the series has lasted for so many years and I like having something so elaborate to keep my interest.
Rather than going to bed immediately after work yesterday morning, I spent some time on the couch watching some anime. On my DVR list of recorded programs, I had three episodes of Bleach and two episodes of Eureka 7 as viewing options. I decided to start with Bleach and move on to Eureka afterwards if I did not get too tired.
Now having seen some more of Bleach, I have to admit that it is starting to grow on me. Then again I probably should not have jumped to a conclusion about a series that has over a hundred episodes after seeing merely two of them. Yes, there are long fight sequences in Bleach, but there does seem to more story and characterization than what I saw in the other two episodes.
Lately I have been contemplating canceling my Netflix subscription. I like the service and the new unlimited streaming option is nice, but at the same time, I have to realize that I can watch a large quantity of anime online for free. Anime makes up a third of my viewing queue. The other two thirds are foreign films and documentaries. So with that in mind, I start to ask myself are foreign films and documentaries enough to keep the subscription? Maybe I am coming at it from the wrong angle.
February has gotten off to a great start on the exercise front and I want that trend to continue for the remainder of the month.
The Killers are still in heavy rotation for me and I think to myself why I always seem to be a few years behind the wave of what is good when it comes to music. I guess that that is another sign of me getting old. Plus I no longer feel the need to buy as music as I did when I was in my twenties. What I also find interesting is that when I look at the music portion of my Amazon wish list, half of what is there is classical music. With a mere two years of piano lessons twenty years ago, I can not say that I fully understand music, but I find the lure of classical music to be more than soothing.
]]>I think that my web access has returned to some form of stability again. I have no idea why it was failing and getting a busy signal when I called the 1-800 number for tech support was not encouraging. Watching my cable modem seemingly reboot itself was the definition of frustration for more than a few days. I am hoping that that is behind me now.
I watched another episode of the anime series Bleach and I am not sure if I want to see more of it or not. I am sensing a trend of one fight after another. There may have been fighting in Full Metal Alchemist, but I cared more about what happened to Ed and Al than seeing them fight someone. The two of them grew as people and came to understand their father better. I need character development otherwise I feel as though I am wasting my time.
For the first time in fifteen years, I played chess last night. Actually I played two different games against different people at the same time. I lost one match, but the other was a draw. Both of them taught me something about the game and I might start to play on more of a regular basis.
With the month almost over, I am not impressed with my workout record.
Ten days out of a possible thirty is not a good ratio. I had good
intentions, but the weather and other factors kept getting in the way.
My last two rentals from Netflix have not impressed me. First there was
the odd offering of The Draughtsman's Contract from Peter Greenaway that
missed me completely. From what I have read online, the movie was an
allegory of a certain era of British history that I do not know very
well so most of the in jokes were lost on me. Not knowing the
background made the movie tiresome for me and I usually enjoy his work
such as The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. I should really
watch that one again to refresh my memory of why I like it. I remember,
vivid colors and some graphic sex and violence, but I am not sure if I
felt for the characters or not.
The second most recent choice was the Japanese sexploitation film Sex &
Fury. My primary reason for renting it was that I had read it
influenced the Tarantino film Kill Bill. Now having seen it, I can
definitely see the influence with its use of a female lead seeking
revenge, but overall the movie seemed flat to me. Martial arts fight
sequences from thirty years ago pale next to what we see in cinema today
and that really dragged the movie down for me. Plus most of the acting
was very wooden.
To offset these two viewing disappointments, I sampled episode forty
eight of the anime series Bleach and I have to say that I enjoyed what I
saw. At the moment, I have no real idea what is happening, but I do
want to know more and I see that as a positive. My interest is there
and I am eager to explore the rest of the iceberg.