My fiance worked overnight, my brother is out of state, and I had a long week of work, so I decided to stay in last night, relax, and watch some good TV.
I re-watched the first five episodes of Cowboy Bebop, my favorite anime, and reminded myself exactly why I love that show so much. Those of you who have seen the show understand. Never seen the show? Pick up the first disc somewhere (Cowboy Bebop, 1st Session) and watch the fifth episode, “Ballad of Fallen Angels” (or better yet, all five episodes). Genius.
Cowboy Bebop combines great animation, compelling characters, high-quality script-writing, and amazing music into one fantastic series. The stand-alone episodes are fun to watch, but the stories about the main characters’ backgrounds set this series apart as a masterpiece. It is the kind of work that any storyteller (animation or live-action) should strive to achieve, and if you can even come close you will have created something great.
I also watched The Departed last night for the first time, which I also really liked. Scorcese does some genius work and this falls squarely into that category. The movie had me on the edge of my seat, in thrall waiting to find out what will happen next. I don’t want to give away any details, for those of you who haven’t seen it, but it’s definitely worth watching.
It’s amazing what you can find while watching late-night TV. If you need a super-size bottle to spray down your entire house for urine stains, you should work a little harder on training your pets. Or remember to aim for the toilet.
Here are a couple of classic clips from Tiny Toons I found on YouTube. I remember watching this when it first aired. It was genius then and it is genius now.
This week I’ve received some surprising news from my own odd bubble of pop culture (if you can call it that; most people probably don’t even know the people I’m about to write about).
My favorite fantasy author, Robert Jordan, has announced that he has been diagnosed with amyloidosis, a rare blood disease with a grim life expectancy for those diagnosed. His treatment starts at the Mayo Clinic within the next month or so. Hopefully there will be good news to come.
On a less grim subject, I often watch a show on G4TV called Attack of the Show. The whole cast is fun to watch, but my favorite segments have always been those with the co-host, Sarah Lane, or with Brendan Moran, a regular on the show. Last night, they announced that they are leaving the show this week so that they can get married and travel the world for 13 months. Up until now, they have not publicly announced their engagement (or that they were dating) and definitely did not mention their plans to leave AOTS and travel. Congrats to them, but I’ll miss seeing them on TV.