Random Ramblings LXXV

IN WHICH THE MERITS OF ROBIN WILLIAMS

So, to begin. I just now noticed, weeks after the fact, that I mis-numbered my 72nd and 73rd blog entries, because I am an idiot who forgot how to Roman numeral. I have now fixed that. Of course, that leads into the question, "Soufrière, why the hell do you label your silly blogposts in Roman numerals?" The answer… Ever heard of Sir Ron Lionheart? He was a let's player back in the day who was known for being absolutely insane (in a good way), and infamously numbered all of his videos in Roman numerals – his Ocarina of Time: Master Quest LP had "CC" parts. He disappeared from the internet about three years ago when his computer died. So I guess labelling my own blog in roman numerals is my little tribute to him. YES, the header line will make sense, below the jump.

My girlfriend has been bugging me for weeks that she wants to watch Mrs Doubtfire, because she'd never seen it and someone posted a bunch of gifs and macros from it the other day. Now, I've seen that movie at least twice. It's a good movie and I don't hate it by any means, but it's not one that I particularly care to revisit. No, not even for Mara Wilson (who I've always enjoyed watching and now reading; she also happens to be fairly close to my age). After checking Walmart twice and failing to find a copy, I agreed to check out Vintage Stock – a regional chain that specializes in secondhand things (kinda like Hastings back when it still existed, RIP). Unfortunately, there were only two options – a widescreen DVD with no extras, or a Pan-&-Scan DVD with all the extras. The P&S was cheaper and had extras, so we got that one. Well, she got it. I really didn't feel like paying for it because I had to buy other things at the store.

I've always been a fan of Robin Williams. Who isn't? …Okay, who isn't and also isn't a giant douche? That said, many of the "family" movies he did back in the 90's really are products of their time, and I rather doubt they've aged well. Lord knows Hook didn't. Of course, that may be my bias against Julia Roberts talking.

I was more interested in the copies of Only Yesterday they had just gotten in. Unfortunately, both copies I saw appeared to have floater discs. I didn't want to pay $22 (after tax) for a DVD and/or Bluray that might be scratched to hell before I even open the box. Shame, because I really really want to watch that movie. Partly because it's widely considered to be Isao Takahata's masterpiece (yes, that's even when you take Grave of the Fireflies into account), but also to stick it to Disney, who intentionally withheld the movie from North America for nineteen years.

Why did they do that?, you ask. Well, from what I understand, Disney banned OY from North America (yet sublicensed it to companies in Europe and Australia) because there's a scene where young girls discuss menarche (i.e. their first period) and they were terrified of a backlash from the Moral Majority types who would have pitched a bitch-fit to the media and Congress and possibly brought down the entire industry, or something. Normally, Disney would have just cut out that scene. Unfortunately for them, thanks to another American (of course) company hacking Nausicaä to the point of unrecognizability back in the 80s, Studio Ghibli makes localizers sign an ironclad contract that forbids them from cutting a single frame of any of their films. They had to reassert that clause when Miramax wanted to cut some of the more violent scenes out of Princess Mononoke to get it a PG rating; Harvey Weinstein got sent a legit katana with a note attached reading "No Cuts". Yes, he was very butthurt that Ghibli called him out. Yes, this incident is yet another reason Hayao Miyazaki despises the USA.

I also found copies of Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon Crystal. I plan to get both eventually, even if my only interest in the latter is to make fun of it. Is it wrong that I kinda prefer the name "Rini" to "Chibiusa"? I'm pretty sure no one in Japan names their kid "Usagi" (literally, "Bunny"). The DiC dub may have sucked donkey dong – I watched it 20 years ago and could tell it was crap then – but many of the name changes (for the main characters at any rate) actually had a good deal of thought put into them. The new English dub is fantastic, though. Yes, I've listened to the show in its original Japanese, and I can't say I'm a fan – sacrilege though it may be to say, I'm not a fan of Kotono Mitsuishi's Usagi, I think Stephanie Sheh does a better job, and I was actually a little annoyed that Mitsuishi was the only actor retained for Crystal (even though Aya Hisakawa [Ami] and Tohru Furuya [Darien/Mamoru] are also still active). They really should have just replaced everybody.

If you're enough of a masochist to have read this far, then I'll let you know that I've added another couple paragraphs to my latest installment of Mayor's Break Time. This chapter is shaping up to have an odd dreamlike quality to it, and by that I mean it's fucked up. I think I'm going to call it, "Everyone Is An Alicorn". The real question is, will it be enough to make Mayor Mare stop drinking her moonshine? Of course not.

Well, that's all I can rant tonight. Bye for now!