Studio Ghibli: Animation Powerhouse

The film's box art

I've heard Studio Ghibli called the Disney of Asia.  While I agree with the high praise, I don't really think that this is a like-for-like comparison.  Diseny makes films for children and the "children in all of us."  Studio Ghibli makes films for general audiences that just happen to be animated.  During the studio's genesis in the 1980's, Studio Ghibli blazed a trail later followed by Pixar, focusing on inventive, original stories.  Gone are the "royals" who have their every wish granted.  These animated films focus on normal people thrust into extraordinary situations.  Studio Ghibli made movies that appealed to children, but had enough ideas and themes for adults.  This formula kept families coming back for more, and made Studio Ghibli critical, though not commercial, darlings in America.

And you thought your
commute was crazy

Last week I watched the classic Spirited Away.  Warning: I wouldn't recommend this film for children under ten years old.  It contains many scary images including the protagonist's parents transforming into pigs and a faceless demon who eats a few of the film's supporting characters.  Not exactly Disney material; unless you count the Black Cauldron.  Yes, Disney killed Bambi's mother and traumatized a generation of children, but death is a natural part of life.  A faceless demon that gobbles up anthropomorphic spa workers will likely cause many nightmares and sleepless nights for anyone under the age of seven.  Also, the film's serious tone contrasts with most American produced animated films that rely on humor to advance the story.  I don't remember laughing once during Spirited Away.  It's the only animated film I've seen that surpasses the vast majority of live-action adventure flicks.  This film tells a story with a tone more like a live-action film than a goofball cartoon.  

The cover lets you know
this won't be a happy film

Earlier this week I watched the Studio Ghibli classic Grave of the Fireflies.  Set in the final days of World War II, the story chronicles a brother and sister's struggle to survive after their mother dies in a firebombing.  The DVD contained an interview with Roger Ebert about the film.  In it, Ebert noted the that using animation, rather than real actor's, increased the emotional impact of the film.  Instead of the audience focusing on a young actress playing a starving child in the film, the animation allowed audiences to focus on the experiences of the characters and ideas of the story.  An interesting idea that might explain why movies like Toy Story 3 pack so much emotional punch.  I would not recommend this film for kids unless you are looking to scar your children for life.  In the opening 15 minutes, you see the children's mother burned, dying, and covered in bandages like a mummy.  The DVD case might say ages 3 and up, but there is no way I am showing this film to my kids.

Children in terrifying situations 

Grave of the Fireflies will tear your heart out.  It's amazing how Studio Ghibli puts so much emotion into its animation cells.  Not only would I call this one of the greatest animated films ever, it's also one of the greatest war films.  The film focuses on an aspect of the war sadly, largely forgotten.  The film shows us what war did to families and the pain it inflicted on the civilian population.  Despite a number of films focusing on German civilians garnering commercial and critical acclaim in America, films focusing on the Japanese remain conspicuously absent.  This only makes Grave of the Fireflies more culturally and historically significant.  I plan on watching more of Studio Ghibli's movies over the next few weeks.  Anyone who enjoys animated films should certainly checkout their catalog.  Most of the films aren't well known in the United States, so tell your friends.




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The Xi Jinping Era: Cheng Li's New Reference Book for Chinese Politics

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

Anyone interested in China has probably gotten their hands on this book.  A good deal of fanfare accompanied its release, and several of my favorite podcasts featured recommendations of the book.  So, does it live up to the hype?  Yes.  However, unless you're a serious China watcher, I wouldn't pick this one up.

This book is dense.  Like really dense.  It took me a long time to get through it.  In hindsight, I should have read all of the book's conclusion sections first, and then just read the chapters that interested me.  Much of the book's content consists of information about the composition of committees and governing bodies in the PRC.  Other than the noteworthy individuals, most of the names went in one ear and out the other.  However, the extensive profiling of politicians will make it possible to refer back to this book.  I expect to use this book when the next party congress happens.  This is the best reference book for Chinese politics.  The names of politicians, committees, and departments are indexed, making it easy to find information.  

The book's author

Cheng Li insists his approach to studying Chinese is quantitative because he uses numbers and charts.  Like many "social scientists," he cloaks his work in the cloth of science, even though nothing about it is scientific.  Adding charts and a large about of statistics, while useful, does not make something scientific.  

In the decades to come, prior generations will likely view this book as a great snapshot of foreign understanding of the inner workings of Chinese politics.  Xi Jinping's consolidation of power has revolutionized Chinese politics, and I must give great credit to Cheng Li for trying to make sense of post-collective leadership in China.  I must give him even greater credit for not shying away from the fact that Xi's revolution poses great dangers to the established orders both inside and outside China.   

Chungking Express: A Unique Cinematic Masterpiece

One of the film's posters

The seminal film Chungking Express paints a wonderful, cinematic portrait of isolation in densely populated Hong Kong.  The urban jungle metaphor has an added layer because Chungking is the Cantonese word for Chongqing (a city in west central China) that also means jungle.  To be up front, I have been searching for a copy of this film for years.  I finally secured a copy from the New Orleans Public Library.  The film is split into two halves, each chronicling the recent break-up of a Hong Kong police officer’s relationship.  Don’t get confused, the two officers in the film aren’t the same person.  Luckily they don’t look alike, and their stories have almost no overlap.  Certainly an unusual structure, but for this film it works.   

The facade of the actual
Chungking Mansions

The film takes its name from the legendary Hong Kong slum Chungking Mansions, smack-dab in the middle of Kowloon’s Golden Mile.  The images of the building’s tightly packed corridors and improvised factories inside of cramped, converted apartments juxtaposes amazingly with the loneliness felt by the main characters.  It’s amazing how well the film conveys this feeling, and I can’t really express all the ways that it does it.  The director uses a lot of longshots, quickly turning the camera to capture the characters’ movements as they dart around small rooms filled with boxes, beds, and tables.  You just have to see it for yourself.  It gave me a claustrophobic feeling.    

The film’s amazing music distinguishes it from other “artsy” films of the 90’s.  The soundtrack features both instrumental and pop tunes to great effect.  One warning; get ready to hear the song California Dreaming more than you ever thought possible.  But the payoff from the song and story just make its repetitive use even better.  For the first time in years, I am considering buying a film’s soundtrack.  I was blown away by the music. 

Two of the film's protagonists

While my wife was not a big fan of the film, she enjoyed seeing the film’s stars at the beginning of their careers.  Many of the actors and actresses went on to have very successful careers in the Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Chinese film industries.  One of the actresses even does a song on the soundtrack, lending credence to the stereotype of Hong Kong cinema producing multitalented stars.  

  

I find it extremely difficult to articulate why I loved this film so much.  With film being such a visual media, it’s impossible to describe the tone and visual style of the film.  And that’s why the film is so amazing.  I can’t really describe in words why it’s so special.  The makers of this film produced something that only the magic of cinema can achieve. 

      

Stock Google image of 
Chungking Mansions' ground 
floor

Unlike other film’s set in the world’s most dynamic city-state, Chungking Express is a view of the city looking down on the lives of its people, instead of from street level looking up. 

Note: I previously wrote a blog about the actual Chungking Mansions from which this film takes its name.  Here’s a link

http://chofficespace.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-mansions.html

The Three Body Problem: Beleive the Hype

The Book's Cover Features the Pyramid
from the Novel's VR Game.

It seems like people can’t stop talking about The Three Body Problem.  Winner of the 2016 Hugo Award, this book details the well-trod topic of humanity’s first contact with aliens.  The book courted controversy from many outspoken science fiction authors and critics.  Many felt that the book simply won awards because of organizations shoehorning in diversity instead of its merit.  While I can’t speak to the other nominees for these awards, I can say that The Three Body Problem deserves great praise for its originality and scientific concepts.  Yes, the “diversity is super good and necessary” thing has probably gone too far, but this book deserves the recognition. 

The book’s author is Chinese and all of the main characters are too.  Thankfully this saves us the trouble of reading/watching aliens destroy New York City for 4,000,000^th time.  The story opens during the restless days of the Cultural Revolution.  According to the translator, who was featured on the Sinica podcast, the book’s publisher altered the progression of the story so that the flashbacks appeared toward the middle of the book. They though publishing a book on the 50^th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution and featuring the period as a backdrop might result in undue scrutiny.  Frankly, it’s amazing these parts made it into the book at all.  I’d bet that if the book was published today, just a few short years later, some of these flashbacks would have been cut. 

I enjoyed reading a book that approaches such a common plot from a new perspective.   In some ways it’s a retread of Childhood’s End and other similar stories, but the book is never held back by this.  The book’s true originality comes from the computer game featured in the story and the alien world.  The parts of the book set in these two settings stand head-and-shoulders above anything I have read recently.  The sections set in the “real world” are less interesting.  The characters are two dimensional and even China itself seems flat.  I understand not including things that might date the novel, but there is almost nothing that fleshes out the setting.  Other than a passing reference to the CCTV Building and Tiananmen Square, this novel could take place anywhere.  The main character, Wang Miao, passively observes the story.  We learn very little about him.

       

If the Chinese characters in the story are two dimensional, then the foreign characters are simply lines.  The stereotypical dialogue makes them laughable.  A British military officer who appears at a meeting utters only one line, “To be or not to be.”  This line caused me to laugh while I read the book.  It’s interesting that the author of the novel writes dialogue for extraterrestrials more realistically than foreigners. 

Despite some literal shortcomings, no reader should miss this book.  The ideas and interpretations in the novel never fail to amaze.  I think the ideas in this book will keep readers talking about it for decades to come, just like the works of Phillip K. Dick and Arthur C. Clarke.  It’s less about character development and prose and more about thinking of humanity in a new light.  And in the end, it’s the ideas that make a story worthwhile.  

P.S. - the second book in the series isn't good.  Don't waste your time on it.  Just read the Wikipedia page and move on to book three.

Antoine's: Dining in the Presence of History

Menu

Some places become such important institutions that they take on a life of their own.  Antoine's is certainly one of those places.  The oldest family owned restaurant in the United States, almost anyone who is anyone has dined at Antoine's including Pope John Paul II, several presidents, and fictional magazine personality Alfred E. Neuman. 

One of the "krewe rooms"

Located in the hustle and bustle of the city's French Quarter, Antoine's features dining rooms themed after several of the city's most prominent Mardi Gras parade krewes.  The rooms feature memorabilia from their respective krewe and ornate chandeliers.       

Depiction of Rex Parade floats

One of the restaurant's best kept secrets is its lunch special.  You get three courses for around $20.  We weren't able to find this menu online.  Possibly, they don't advertise it.  The best part of the lunch special is the cocktail deal.  You can get a featured cocktail for 25 cents each (limit three).  Make sure to ask which cocktail is the featured cocktail, because they will not stop you if you order the wrong cocktail.  We ran up a bill doing this.  The novelty of getting three cocktails that cheap makes it worth the cost of admission.    

Oyster sampler. Oysters
Rockefeller in the top center

Softshell Crab

Ramos Gin Fizz

Antoine's is the birthplace of the legendary Oysters Rockefeller.  Named after Rockefeller because its so rich, the dish's green color represents the color of money. Oysters Rockefeller has been a mainstay of Antoine's menu since its creation.  Our waiter allowed us to get a sampler of Antoine's oyster dishes as an appetizers.  It was a great way to introduce ourselves to the menu.  Not only did I order oysters as an appetizer, I also got oysters as the first course of my 3 course meal deal.  I had the charbroiled oysters, soft shell crab, and ice cream sunday.  

Delicious

Our dinning room

Enjoying the finer things

Corridors with history

Wine cellar

Early Times...good choice

After eating we checked out the restaurant's different rooms.  The place is sort of a quasi-museum and features amazing photos of the restaurant's famous patrons.  Antoine's also has a legendary wine seller with a window facing out onto Royal Street.  As amazing as the food was, getting to look around the restaurant cemented Antoine's position in the pantheon of the city's best restaurants.  

Make sure to reserve your table at Antoine's during your next trip to the Crescent City. 

Dapper like the Harry S. Truman, Mad Magazine's own
Alfred E. Neuman

  

Ghost Fleet: The Book Everyone is Talking About!

The Cover

Ghost Fleet, by P.W. Singer and August Cole, is a novel about a future war between the United States and China.  In the vacuum left by the death of Tom Clancy, authors have rushed in to fill the void with cutting edge military thrillers.  Ghost Fleet succeeds by using something that Clancy’s works had in spades...realism.  It excels when it focuses on the world in which the book takes place rather than the characters in the book.  The book is set at an indeterminate date in the near future.  The Communist Party has been swept away and replaced with an extremely meritocratic regime consisting of business and military elite.  This political transition occurred after the Chinese people became fed up with the corruption and ineffectiveness of the communist party.    

Published in 2015, the book references contemporary events in China, such as a holographic Xi Jinping expounding his Chinese Dream.  Besides referencing a two-child policy implemented by the new regime, nothing seriously dates the book as of this point.  Several interesting ideas make their way into the novel.  For example, an American insurgency on the Chinese occupied Hawaiian Islands and the use of a space laser to shoot down enemy satellites.  The most chilling aspect of the book is the Chinese military’s use of hacking.  The Chinese easily disable an American military overly dependent on technology.  The apathetic United States failed to prepare for a war that the Chinese were clearly fighting before the first shots were even fired.  It just goes to show that you can complain out intellectual property theft all you want, but at the end of the day, what we’re really doing is arming and transferring technology to enemies of the United States. 

Iraq-Style Insurgency in Paradise

I love the book’s fearlessness in confronting how future technology will change what it means to be human.  We’ve reached a point where technology can and will be implanted into the human body.  Increasingly people will need to constantly stay “connected” to be competitive for jobs, education, etc.  I’ve noticed that many recent science fiction movies and books side-step this issue.  In most films and books, technology is still something that you can just turn off.  In truth we never even turn off our cellphones anymore, because we feel that we can’t be out of contact.  What will life be like when they just implant the functions of the phone into your brain?  I find it incredibly unsettling that people will begin getting technology implanted into their bodies, and I think many other people do as well.  I tell myself that I’ll never do it, no matter how common it becomes.  The true of the matter is that when others begin doing it and reaping the benefits, such as faster access to information and interconnectivity, the rest of us will likely have to adapt or die.  In Ghost Fleet, many of the characters have technological implants.  What I found so realistic about the implants in the novel was that there are multiple types of implants serving different functions.

The book is ripe for a film adaptation, but I don’t expect one anytime soon.  With Chinese influence in America’s entertainment industry growing, it’s unlikely any major studio would touch a property that depicts a post-party China launching a preemptive attack on the United States.  Releasing that film would make the studio the target of cyber attacks and quickly get the studio locked out of the lucrative Chinese market. 

Oh well, the book is always better than the movie anyway.           

The Galloping Ghost: Say "Game Over" to Boredom

Outside on the street

Everyone has a favorite classic arcade game.  Some people love Pac-Man or Frogger or maybe even that foulmouthed, orange ball Q*bert.  My personal favorite is Robotron 2084.  Not only was the use of two joysticks innovative, the sound effects still hold up through my rose tinted glasses.  Whatever arcade game you loved in your youth, the Galloping Ghost probably has it.

You used to find arcade games everywhere.  From the ice cream parlor to the video store, you couldn't go anywhere without finding a cabinet ready to eat your unwanted quarters.  And what mall didn't have the ubiquitous arcade, dimly lit and filled with brightly colored screens.  Wow!  How times have changed.  Some of my fondest childhood memories include my father and I playing Tokyo Wars at the local mall and trying to beat the legendary, Konomi classic Turtles in Time.  Thank God someone is preserving these outdated relics of the past.  Remember that overweight, unemployed guy in his late 20's who always hung around the arcade pumping quarters into Mortal Kombat II so that he could get the high score and enter his name as ASS.  Well, for one day I got to be that guy.  And it was awesome

A Smash TV cabinet is on the
corner.  The game is loosely
based on the film Running Man

Way out in the badlands of the Chicago suburbs, the Galloping Ghost has managed to collect many of the greatest arcade games under one roof.  Unlike the "barcade's" that have become popular with the millennials, the Galloping Ghost charges a $20 flat rate per person.  For just $20 you can play until 2am.  Also, the fact that they don't serve booze keeps the atmosphere family friendly.  This place has made Brookfield, IL a pilgrimage for novice and hardcore gamers alike.  Overtime the Galloping Ghost's legend has continued to grow.  After gaining fame as the Mecca for vintage arcade games, it appeared on several notable Youtube channels, including Cinemassacre.

With so many great games in one place, it can be overwhelming.  The first game I played was Street Fighter.  That's right.  I didn't say Street Fighter II or Alpha...just Street Fighter.  I'd never actually seen a Street Fighter cabinet before.  The game is borderline terrible.  It's still a tournament fighter, but you don't have the ability to pick your character in the game.  You're stuck playing with Ryu.  A prime example of the sequels being superior to the original.  The game's terrible quality is certainly surprise considering it comes from video game juggernaut Capcom.  

I have fond memories of
playing Afterburner at
River Falls Mall

Don't be surprised if the unlimited continues result in the urge to settle some old scores.  I fulfilled a childhood dream of beating Sega's arcade classic Afterburner II.  As a child, I always played the motion simulator version at River Falls Mall.  I also had the Tengen version for the NES.  I've always wanted to beat the game but never seemed to have enough quarters.  Let's just say that around level 15 the game gets cheap...incredibly cheap.  Dodging missiles basically becomes luck until you beat the game at level 23.  I probably got my $20 worth on just this machine.

The Galloping Ghost also has a ton of movie and TV tie-in games.  Some great and some not so great.  I personally love the beat-em-up classics of the early 90's that dominated my trips to the pizza places of southern Indiana.  Of course they have the Konomi classics TMNT: Turtles and Time, X-MEN, and The Simpsons.  Only one of which ever got a home console port.  Shame!  

GREAT

Alien vs. Predator 
Finally got a chance to play the legendary, arcade-only Alien v. Predator.  Considering its reputation, it's crazy that this was my first time ever even seeing the machine.  It more than lived up to the hype.  Few things are as satisfying as taking a flamethrower to a xenomorph.

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs 

Even Capcom's lesser known games from the 90's are classics!

It's as awesome as it sounds.  A classic beat-em-up that you've probably never heard of.  And to top it off, it shares a cabinet with Aliens vs. Predator.


Sunset Riders 
Love beat-em-ups and the old west?  Then this is the game for you.  It's great to experience a 90's wild west property that doesn't have a giant mechanical spider.

Capcom vs. SNK
I love Capcom's Marvel vs. Capcom and Marvel Superheroes games, mainly because of the Marvel heroes.  However, this underrated tournament fighter actually plays smoother and is more fun.  I imagine it's because they didn't have  to shoe-horn in the Marvel Heroes' moves.  Even if you are like me and don't know any of the SNK characters, check this one out.     

NOT SO GREAT

A relatively rare Real Ghostbusters cabinet.  

The Real Ghostbusters
Poor graphics and weak game play hold back this arcade game from achieving the greatness that the franchise deserves.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi 
This Atari made game isn't as well known as its vectrex fore bearer.  And there are several reasons why.  Going with an isometric perspective is almost always a bad decision.  In hindsight, Atari should have stuck with Vectrex graphics for this sequel.  No matter how advanced technology gets, I will always think that Vectrex graphics are the future.

Donkey Kong 3
Some people consider this a hidden gem, but I have little love for this overblown collector's item.  While the terraced playing field was innovative for the time, spraying bug spray up a giant monkey's butt isn't my idea of a fun game.  Also, the game play is as unforgiving as my critique.  A rare miss for the Big N.

NEXT TIME

Original Star Wars cabinet
featuring vectrex graphics

Metal Slug 
A good portion of the back wall is taken up by Neo Geo machines that contain about 5-6 games each.  The downside of this is that all the Metal Slug games are on one machine.  There also seemed to be a line to play these arcade classics.  Next time I make it to the Galloping Ghost I will make sure to beeline for this machine and play a couple rounds of SNK's immortal franchise before the crowds really start pouring in.  Everyone knows that the Neo Geo versions are the best and that no home port can truly do the franchise justice

If you are going to the Galloping Ghost, I recommend that you get there early.  Word on this place has gotten out.  It was packed just a few hours after opening and many of the best machines had developed lines by the time that I left.

This place is basically an interactive museum.  The next time you're in the Windy City, skip the bean and take the train to the Galloping Ghost.  You won't be disappointed.