Firstly, congratulations on surviving 2016 and welcome to 2017.

2016 was certainly an interesting year, not just because of the number of shock celebrity deaths (RIP). It showed us there are flaws to every form of government, including democracy, and it gave us a world that proudly preys on our fear of "them" and "those people".

“There is a curse.
They say:
May you live in interesting times.”
---Sir Terry Pratchett

But my subject is actually much more mundane. I recently watched The Martian and following that, because it's still touted as a masterpiece, Interstellar.

I'm beginning to think I'm not really a sci-fi fan.

They were both nice movies, though Interstellar felt about 1 hour too long. The pace was slow, perhaps to give the audience time to absorb the beauty of space and the gravity (hah) of the situation. I liked that Murph (and Brand) was a strong female who was pivotal to the plot (and to solving humanity's plight) without serving a romantic role. The trouble was, as clever as the conceit was, there was too much gobbledygook going on towards the end that, given how realism had grounded much of the movie, came to its undoing as it gravitated (hah) too close to fantasy. The snippet where Cooper enters the black hole and transmits the secret quantum message to his daughter was particularly gobbledygook. Nolan has authored some clever stuff, and you're much better off appreciating his genius in something like The Prestige or Inception, both of which were also better served by their pacing and atmosphere. The music was starting to really grate after 2 hours and 50 minutes of ominous swell of strings chorus, and again (?) you have Hans Zimmer to thank. As usual with Nolan's movies, the quality of the cast was superb, especially in the actresses for Murph.

To its credit, Interstellar's slow pace gives the audience pause to think about what humans are doing to Earth, about the moral dilemma of a world crises - do we choose to turn a blind eye and hide in a shell of ignorance, or do we take the higher intellectual ground of saving the species, or do we bank on our empathy and fight for those we care for? The movie seems to support the last option, and we like to believe that it's empathy that makes us human - but as it questions even in the movie, so often an individual's empathy is short-sighted, given only to those we have contact with. Is saving the species, rather than the individual, the real moral high ground?

Space, the final frontier, said Star Trek, but Interstellar suggests that there is another frontier out there, beyond the three dimensions, that the humans will conquer. Time, the one thing that has always been constant in our existence, the one thing we cannot escape nor alter. But Cooper suggests that humans conquered time to deliver him the message for him to save mankind.

The Martian is a much lighter film in terms of its mood but also philosophy. Quite a few of the same cast appears, supported by a bunch of MCU veterans (especially the two who've recently appeared in Doctor Strange). Like Interstellar, it's a story of survival but on a one man scale. It's a movie of optimism, not only in the old Chinese adage that "the heavens will not give you a road that ends you", but one that also believes in a world where people will come together to save one man. It's a story that empowers nerds and scientists, if that needed to be done, although it is a bit incredible the amount of knowledge Matt Damon's character possessed to survive on his own. Reacting hydrogen with oxygen? I don't think I learned that in biology.

And at the birth of another year, let's commemorate the passing of the last with the poem endlessly referenced in Interstellar.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
--- Dylan Thomas

In a spasmodic moment of geekery, I have copied down three of the notable quotes that appeared in the first 2 episodes of Zetsuen no Tempest.

If this anime inspires everyone to read Hamlet all the better, because it's one of my favourite Shakespearean plays, highly recommended for indescribable amounts of teenage angst XD

I really need to find my Hamlet =(

世の中の関節は外れてしまった。ああなんと呪われた因果か…それを直すために生まれてきたとは
The time is out of joint: O cursed spite / That ever I was born to set it right! -- Hamlet

Spoken by Hamlet after seeing the Ghost for the first time. In Zetsuen it is frequently referenced: at the introduction by Yoshino-Aika and then Mahiro-Yoshino, and frequently quoted in part by Yoshino.

たとえ幾千幾万の兄があり、その愛情すべてを寄せ集めたとしても、おれ一人のこの愛には到底、およぶまい　
Forty thousand brothers / Could not with all their quantity of love / Make up my sum. -- Hamlet

Hamlet after the death of Ophelia. Yoshino after revealing the identity of his girlfriend.

怒りよ、火と燃えておれの脳味を干あがらせてしまえ！ お前の狂気の怨み存分に晴らさずにおくものか！いかに冷酷無残な仕返しになろうとも。
Translation: O anger, turn to heat, dry up my brains! Thy mad vengeance shall be paid by weight. However merciless and ruthless I must become.

1. O heat, dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt / Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye! / By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight / Till our scale turn the beam
2. O from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth.

Not a direct quote but rather an adaptation of one (thank you, O learn'ed one on Chinese forum HAHAHA). Original quote is from an angry Laertes after witnessing Ophelia driven mad. The second part of the quote is more likely to be original than adapted from Hamlet but I thought I'd put that in there. Aptly, Hamlet spoke it whilst witnessing Prince Fortinbras leading 20000 men to battle (and likely to death). Interestingly Fortinbras is a foil for Hamlet - they have the same backstory but Fortinbras is supposedly more brash and hot-headed, much like our main character Mahiro.

This was in the Sun-Herald two weeks ago (31 October) and I thought it was a nice little vignette:

The world-renowned environmentalist David Suzuki spoke at the Opera House last week, and presented a case that the planet is in the 59th minute of a suicidal path of economic growth.

(...) imagine putting one bacterial cell, which divides every minute, into a test tube full of food. This is exponential growth, which is the path of humanity when it believes in unlimited economic growth.

"At time zero you have one cell; one minute you have two; two minutes you have four; three minutes you have eight; four minutes you have 16. That is exponential growth and at 60 minutes the test tube is completely full of bacteria and there is no food left, a 60-minute cycle. When is the test tube only half full? Well, the answer, of course is at 59 minutes; but a minute later it is filled. So at 58 minutes it is 25% full; 57 minutes 10.5% full. At 55 minutes of the 60-minute cycle it is only 3% full.

"So, if at 55 minutes one of the bacteria said to its companions that they had a population problem, the other bacteria would be incredulous because 97% of the test tube would be empty and they had been around for 55 minutes. Yet they would have only 5 minutes left. How do we add even a fraction of 1% more of air, water, soil or biodiversity? We cannot. The biosphere is fixed and finite, and every biologist I have talked to agrees with me, we are past the 59th minute."

From a recent recap episode. At least Gintama mocks the frequency of its recap episodes. It's a Sunrise thing, ne ^_~ In this vein, Gundam 00 didn't have many recaps...or maybe I'm getting success erasing that anime from my memory =v=


1. 銀時：今も昔も俺の護るもんは何一つ変わっちゃねエエ
Gintoki: Even now as in the past, the things I protect has not changed a single bit.
Every now and then, Gintoki gets a Main Character moment like this XD

2. 土方：俺はただ惚れた女にゃ幸せになってほしいだけだ
Hijikata: I just want the girl I've fallen for to be happy.
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

3. 銀時：美しく最後を飾りつける暇があるなら、最後まで美しく生きようじゃねーか
Gintoki: If you have the free time to fantasise about a beautiful ending, why not live beautifully until that ending.

4. 銀時：こんなもんじゃ俺の魂は折りねーよ
Gintoki: This isn't enough to break my soul.

5. 銀時：手前らが宇宙のどこで何しようとかまわねえ、だが俺のこの剣、こいつが届く範囲は俺の国だ
Gintoki: I don't care what you bastards get up to somewhere else in the universe, but within the reach of my sword, it's my country.
Yappa main character da ne, what's with this abundance of cool lines that are so not a reflection on his character normally. This is how Shinpachi got fooled XD

7. 沖田：得るものなんざ何もねぇ、分かってんでよこのこと、だけどここで動くねーと、自分が自分じゃなくなるんでぃ
Okita: There is nothing to gain, I know this, but if I don't do anything right now, I won't be able to live with myself.
When he gets serious he comes out with scene stealers like these. Not fair XD

7. 銀時：魂が折れちまうんだよ
Gintoki: My soul will break.

8. 銀時：俺は自分の肉体が滅ぶまで、背筋をのばして生きてくだけよ
Gintoki: Until my body perishes, I will live straight-backed.

9. 桂：ヅラじゃない桂だ
Katsura: It's not Zura, it's Katsura
How did it even get to the top 10 Orz They even put in the "Zura janai, Ill Smith desu" line in there for good measure Orz Katsura has plenty of reflections on the ways of the warrior they could have used =0=;;;;;

10. 沖田：俺がいつ仕事なめだって？俺がなめてんのは土方さんだけでさ！
Okita: Since when have I not been taking my job seriously? The only one I don't take seriously is Hijikata-san!
Okita-san, you don't take anyone seriously until someone is really on the brink of death, and even then ==;;;;


According to Wikipedia, Hijikata was originally slated to be the main character, which would explain why the author keeps drawing parallels between Gintoki and him...I think it would be a lot more boring if Hijikata were main character (Hijikata: WHY?!) Because he's too...morally upright. You need someone who will hightail it like any other selfish human being sometimes ^_~ Besides, he's too serious.

Apparently Okita was originally designed as a girl. I think this series already has too many aggressive women and they're all starting to get on my nerves ==;; Besides, this sort of ruthless DoS in a guy in shounen is refreshing XD

The character popularity poll was surprising...I didn't realise Okita was so popular XDDD Hijikata lost out even though he has more scenes...then again, I think Okita has much better serious arcs.

And finally, a random page from a random chapter: he really believes he's being nice. Moron XDDDD

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Quote of the day: "The only difference between [Latham and Howard] is that one of them is infatuated with George Bush and the other infuriates him."