Friday, May 11, 2012

Korra

Really like how Avatar: Legend of Korra is starting out. It has the same internal consistency and production values that made the original Avatar: The Last Airbender such a great show beyond its intended audience. Things like the intrepid usage of Chinese characters (intrepid because the show is aired on an All-American children's TV network and marketed primarily to American audience [with Asian heritage or otherwise] who may or may not relate to such exoticism) and detailed martial arts fighting sequences set high standards for all future Asian mythology inspired animations.

The choreography of Republic City is simply fantastic. The scale gives a cinematic quality to the animation.

V: Korra is good but it is missing a bit of charm. It needs time to get its feet, (it feels) very action-y. Also, it's missing some themes that made the original very compelling: (that of) these three children thrust into an adult world, and the subplots of all the secondary characters, like Zuko.











Monday, May 07, 2012

The Life of Eleanor Marx, whom translated Madame Bovary

.. and whom shared similar elements with the book's protagonist.

From FT
Rather than take the path of Ibsen’s Nora, who abandons her home in order to save herself, Eleanor had submitted to the fate of Emma Bovary, a woman consumed by her own desires.