I got used to the new title pretty quickly

The Last Jedi should be fine.

To an extent I think how I finally feel about The Force Awakens will depend on how I feel about it's sequels.  Not unlike how BvS has effected my feelings on MOS.

I have feeling people are going be combing over this movie's Crawl to see what key phrase in it will turn out to be the title of Episode IX.

This is the first Star Wars title I dislike

Every Prequel title felt perfect to me from the announcement.  The Force Awakens I pretty much always understood.  And Rogue One was Rogue One.

But now Episode VIII will be

The Last Jedi

Number 1: Jedi has already been in a title, just two epsisodes ago they returned and now they're on the last one?

Number 2: The middle film title should be very verby, The Something Somethings, or The Somethinging of the Something.

Number 3: The middle film should also reference the villains in some way.

The people at GreedoSHotFirst seem to have a patter, no matter what they'll be snarky haters of the spin offs but blindly loyal to the Post-Lucas Episodes.  All while being not Prequels haters but still annoyingly dismissive.

Another post on Noir.

Last year I mentioned my revisiting of Noir, and then on Tumblr I went through it in Japanese with Subs for the first time.  I did all of it but either I forgot to post about the rest on Tumblr or forgot to Tag them.

One thing I forgot to talk about was how Noir anticipated not only my interest in Anime, but also my French Pulp Fiction fascination as well.  It was years after I already loved Noir that I first stumbled upon Paul Feval, and started reading articles on CoolFrenchComics.com

And the Les Habits Noirs lore with the emphasis on Corsica made me think of Noir, but so did the Secret Society themes in other works like those of Sue and Dumas.  And since CFC was talking about this stuff in the context of WoldNewtonUniverse style crossover speculation. I quickly developed a Headcanon that the Bouquets were descended from the Bozzo-Corona clan somehow.

Something else I want to comment on is how Noir is an interesting Anime to watch as a Christian, and I'm one who's views have changed over the years, but certain core points have not.  What I've become is a Universalist, the unchanging core is that God's Love is Unconditional.

Many times my fellow Evangelicals like Chuck Missler like to observe how The World often seems to understand the Problem, the Bad News, but is just lacking the Solution, the Good News, The Gospel, like this quote attributed to Socrates though I've yet to find it verified in a primary source.

"It may be that the Deity can forgive sins, but I do not see how."

The thing about Noir, and it may spoil it somewhat to say this, is that the original Soldats and Altena seem to to be well aware of the Problem, but are seeking a Solution that is totally twisted.  This aspect of Noir is I think a major part of why it appeals to me personally, though that was probably not the creators' intent.  But that is the nature of Art.

If you're curious what my view of The Gospel is you can watch the video below.

I'm attempting to revive my Shadowmen Lounge Message Board

http://z13.invisionfree.com/The_Shadowmen_Lounge/index.php

I made some new posts there recently, largely copy/pasting stuff form my blogs.  But it's easier to manage and follow a conversation on a Message Board.  And I like my Blog Posts to be conservation starters.

So for Blog Posts of mine that would be off topic there.  Feel free to share one of my posts on a Message Board you frequent where it would be relevant, and then let me know about it.

I'm planning to read The Hollow Needle and 813 very soon.  That should hopefully give me much to talk about.

I've listened to more Audio Dramas

I've highly recommended this overlooked medium of story telling on this blog already.  Talking about how scientifically it can help stimulate the Brain and make you smarter.

The prior two posts were all about DC Comics based products.  And while I have also listened to some more of those (a Batman Death of the Family adaptation, and a Long Halloween one) I figured I should show here how I've checked out some beyond that.

I of course years ago listened to the Orson Wells War of The Worlds broadcast.  It was entertaining, I don't have much to comment on about it.

I listened to much of the Radio Drama adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, up to the Mule.  I stopped there only because the story doesn't interest me as much once the Second Foundation stuff starts.  It's a good adaptation and I highly recommend it.

I also listened to and really enjoyed The Domino Lady All's Fair in War, fans of old Pulp Style stories should enjoy that.

I also listened to a Radio Play version of Carmilla, and it was great, the best adaptation of Carmilla thus far.

For the remainder of this post I want to talk about Rob Skiba's Seed The Series.  I just listened to the three Radio Drama episodes he has produced for it, which are supposed to equate to about half the eventual Live Action Pilot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDLCFTR-_nA
http://www.seedtheseries.com/audiodrama.html

Rob Skiba is a controversial figure, who teaches many things I disagree with.  But still I like Rob Skiba and I would like his project to succeed.  But I have a tendency to be disappointed by Christian Fiction, so I worry.

I try to keep my criticism independent of my Interpretations of The Bible being different, after all I enjoy endless fiction from people who don't revere The Bible at all. The entire lore Rob has constructed for this is built on assumptions I have come to reject, chiefly the vilification of Nimrod, but also the Hybrid theory itself.  But still since I actually enjoy stories that are Gnostic Allegories (like Utena and to an extent SAO), all of that is stuff I can accept.

So Spoilers ahead.

The main character is bland, and I'm generally not into such military centric fiction, it's an incredibly cliche approach for a work of Western Fiction.  And having so little from any Female Characters thus far does not endear me either.

This is nitpicky, but I can't help but notice that Rob seems to have forgotten when the U.S. entered Iraq.  This is dated to late 2002, the invasion was in spring 2003.  Maybe most people don't remember the build up to that war as vividly as I do, but for me that's a slight immersion breaker.  Of course my right to criticize such Anachronisms is forfeited since I wrote The Piano Maidens.

I myself as an aspiring writer have a tendency to do things like have my characters make Ghostbusters references, one of my favorite Anime is Lucky Star, that's what I like.  But the references made here were awfully generic and predictable.

Still, issues aside there is plenty of potential.  When he eventually records more I'll listen to em.  And I think these little Radio Plays could be very entertaining to someone who's tastes are different then mine.

Given the stated premise I'd heard from him about this before, about it being called Seed because he wants to start with small seeds and grow from there.  I do feel like he's started a little too big.  Meeting an actual Fallen Angel in the first episode is a pretty fully grown Tree I think.  And if he thinks viewers outside The Church (he said he wants it to have broad appeal.) aren't gonna get the Biblical References right away, he's grossly underestimating them.  Of course what he means by the references to Orion is fairly Esoteric, in fact I only know what he means cause I've listened to his "non fiction" ramblings.

I'm not saying it's a good idea to do a full bait and switch, make it seem not Christian at all only to suddenly go BAM here is a barrage of Bible Quotes.

I would use characters leading relatively normal lives.  In fact I'd do a High School drama, Western audiences look down on those often but I don't care.  I love, Buffy, Smallville, Spiderman, One Tree Hill, Pretty Little Liars and endless High School set Anime.

I'd have one main character who's a Christian interpreting what's going on to fit her Biblical World View, but hold off on showing anything to solidly verify her view is correct.  Make her have to actually have Faith.

And before encountering actual Old Ones, I'd build the supernatural aspects up more slowly.  I'd have Mages who practice Hermetic Magick.  Why favor Hermetic Magick?  Partly because I love Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero and like how it looks there.  And also partly because of how much I have enjoyed listening to the claims of William Schnoebelen about things like Transyuggothian Magick.  And I'd have at least one character claiming to be an immortal Alchemist in the tradition of Saint-Germain, Cagliostro and Althotas, but be ambiguous about if they're for real or not.

Basically, I'd start the show with the paranormal aspects being mild, and let it build up over time, a growing sense of escalation.

And of course my main characters would all be Lesbians.

John Devil Expanded Universe

I want to talk here a bit about my personal plans for expanding on the John Devil universe in future writings.  

My current recommended order for watching the Star Wars films

[Update 2024: Another old post I can't stand buy for several reason.  I do NOT support the broadcast order of Haruhi anymore and for Star Wars it's a very long story but I still say start with Episodes I-III.]

The thing about Critics is knowing how to anyalize what they say

I've always been a bit of an Anti-Critic person, especially the main mainstream kind of critics.  2016 was a year in which taking such an attitude became particularly controversial, some of my fellow DC fans claimed a silly Disney conspiracy in negative reviews of DC films.

There is no direct correlation either way in whether or not a critically received film will be one I also like.  But when it comes to Genre films it's clear many are inherently disconnected from most of what casual viewers care about.

What I've come to learn is that the key is in knowing how to discern what they say, why they did or didn't like it.

I watched one YouTube video where a guy gave a positive review of the Comic Book Trade Paper Back Batman Black Mirror. A comic I haven't read.  And I concluded from what he said that this is a story I'd hate and shouldn't bother with.  Meanwhile I've had the exact opposite experience listening to his negative comments on Grant Morrison's Batman run.  But on plenty other Comics I've agreed with this person's opinion.

I've had similar experiences listening to YouTubers talk about Anime.

Digibro had a video recently where he said the differences between different tastes in fiction is being different in what flaws you can tolerate and what flaws you can't.  I disagree however.  Because the thing with especially the Star Wars Prequels is that so very often what I love is exactly what the haters hate, I don't respond to the criticisms because those very things are why I like Star Wars to begin with.

Now I have not yet watched Sword Art Online.  It's an Anime I've been putting off watching, I've decided I will try it soon, I'm not sure what I'll think.  But I know more about it going in then I have few other Animes.  Mostly from listening to very negative opinions of it.  Here I do not really hear the same things I hear from Prequel Haters.

Not once have I heard a complaint be something that is exactly what I'm looking for in Anime.  Some are things I'm not bothered by, like Plot Holes, Incest, and general Anime Cliches.  But also much of it speaks to exactly what often frustrates me in Anime, from gratuitous fan-service, to pointless sexual assault.

However these critics do mention occasional good things, and some are things that might win more points from me then they would others.   And I already know I like the cast it's Dub has.  And I really like it's composer, Noir/Madlax to Madoka to Fate/Zero, all great Anime Music.

I notice that the people who hate SAO the most, often really liked Asuna as a character, and are upset at how she gets treated.  That is certainly something I can relate to.

So I'll give it a shot, I'm expecting either something I'll hate, or something I'll enjoy with heavy reservations.  If I feel like talking publicly about it it'll probably be on my Tumblr, where I'll use an SAO Tag, and/or SAO Hate.