OD Interest breakdown.

Since I had a good whinge recently about diarists not writing about their interests, I’ll write a brief description on each-one I’ve added to my profile. I’m not so into the surveys and lists that circulate on OD and have never done one, but always one to be different, I think this would give a far greater insight into my character rather than the colour of my eyes…

Anime & Manga
I think I’m well and truly past the addiction or religious ferver stages, and firmly established in the ‘way of life’ mode of loving anime. A healthy portion of this diary is dedicated to my feelings on the various productions I’ve seen, and I’m only watching more and more. I don’t watch any free-to-air television at all, and though I do enjoy films and the occasional deadhead movie featuring running, jumping, bashing and blowing things up, I don’t dedicate nearly as much time to them as I do to anime. I identify with anime on a level that I do not with any other artistic medium. The various artstyles are to my tastes, so too the narratives and subtle sub-themes. My tastes range from some of the most cliched and outrageously funny series’ to the severest of minimal and abstract productions. At present the foremost type of anime I look for is character drama, most predominantly found in shoujo (anime for girls).
Manga I actually don’t get into at all. When I see the Japanese artstyle, I really do prefer it flowing and moving, with life given to it by voice. While there are plenty of brilliantly drawn manga works around, they simply don’t interest me. Part of this may also be influenced by my own reading habits, where I would rather read novels than comics.

Audioscrobbler
I came to Audioscrobbler through the side-door, Last.fm. Once upon a time I wanted to list all of the CDs I have in my collection (it’s a geek thing), but could find no easy online database available. Last.fm logs everything I play in winamp at home, so that will suffice. I have a lot of music that doesn’t get ripped to my mp3 player and its mirror on my HDD, so what appears in the list isn’t my complete collection, only what I most regularly listen to when at my PC. I also playlist while I’m downloading and away from my computer, loading up tracks that I’ve played on my iAudio 30gig mp3 player during the day – these of-course cannot be logged directly as they’re on a portable device.

Australia
I live here. I love living here. Makes sense.

Cyberpunk
Years ago my older brother put me onto William Gibson, and I absolutely identified with it. While he tends to read more core sci-fi and I do read a little, I tend to read more real-science (fiction) and space-opera, which he doesn’t read at all. Nevertheless, Cyberpunk is where we meet. That being said, our science-fiction reading backgrounds probably explain why he favours the more aggressive Neuromancer series which mind you I do love with a passion, but I actually favour the more human and spiritual Virtual Light series, which he thinks is OK, but doesn’t get excited about. While Masamune Shirow may have created the original Ghost in the Shell comic, I never took to them. It wasn’t until I saw Mamoru Oshii’s vastly different interpretation of the sub-text of Ghost in the Shell that I fell in love with its universe. In this way, I sense that Stand Alone Complex has been more influenced by Oshii’s presentation philosophies rather than Shirrow’s, even if they are originally his characters. In any case, Ghost in the Shell would be one of my other great Cyberpunk loves. There are others, but these two stand out the most.

David Eddings
What on earth has happened to this man in recent times? The Redemption of Althalus was corny enough, but The Elder Gods??? I read the first book and that was enough for me.
The journey begins with the five books of The Belgariad, then the five of The Mallorean, then Belgarath the Sorcerer. Polgara the Sorceress was alright, but didn’t engage me as much as Belgarath, and the Rivan Codex while being very interesting, probably doesn’t count as a novel. I have read the Elenium and the Tamuli, but I wasn’t too impressed with them. Some of the characters were fantastic, but I think already from the end of the Mallorean, Eddings seems to want to tie everything up a little too nicely. The Belgariad especially though is a charming series of books. Some may argue that the premise is cliched and the ending predictable, and for the most part I agree. For me, The Belgariad isn’t about the narrative at all, it’s about the setting and the characters. When I read and re-read this story, I have a great sense that the world of the novels is merely a stage on which these brilliant characters can perform. From the beginning you know everything will turn out alright, but as with anime, there always can be more to a work than its literal meaning and narrative.

David Lynch
What a master. I haven’t quite gotten around to seeing all of his films, but Mulholland Drive on its own deserves an interest mark from me. I really did enjoy Lost Highway which is a lot more playful, but Mulholland Drive I felt really was a lot more articulate and graceful. A lot of people are confused by Lynch, but truth be told, everything I’ve seen of his has made perfect sense to me. I love abstract and minimalist works though, and especially watching anime, I’ve learnt to let an entire piece unfold and give me a complete picture before trying to overtly understand it. In this way I find Lynch’s films to be quite easy to understand and quite powerful.

Firefly
Aaah Firefly. It’s a bittersweet thing you know. Portions of this series is tarnished by the attitudes of broadcasters, portions are lesser than they could be because Joss Whedon still hasn’t finished being playful in some aspects, which I don’t mind at all. Nevertheless, the parts that do shine and that I identify with, I really do enjoy. Firefly is one of those unique presentations much like many anime and cyberpunk works, that takes a particular turn of mind to appreciate and understand. It’s fairly culture specific, so many who aren’t into certain genres and mindsets won’t identify with it. That being said, I’m sure there are plenty of sci-fi and cyberpunk readers who hate it just as many as there are those that love it. Put simply, like everything I love, there’s more to Firefly than what’s on the surface.
Serenity the movie though, I did not like. I wrote about it somewhere in those entries, you’ll have to find it yourself.

Games
Here’s a strange one for you.
As more time passes, I find myself playing fewer and fewer games, spending less time playing and reading about the games themselves i.e. previews and reviews, and more time reading about the actual industry, its business behaviour and the product creation process. From a business perspective you can examine any industry, but games are something I’ve always enjoyed and I suppose still do, but as I’ve written before, in the face of other things in my life that offer much more reward, most games simply cannot compete. Most of my games reading is actually over at Lost Garden, where programmer Daniel Cook, known on the site as Danc, regularly commentates on design processes, business models and much more. <a href=http://www.gamasutra.com>Gamasutra is also a great resource for in-depth information on hardware management and many coding and design principals.
When it comes to actually playing games, a handful of favourites would be Myst, The Longest Journey, Eternal Darkness, Katamari Damacy/We Love Katamari, Electroplankton, Ossu! Tatake! Ouendan!, Donkey Konga, Space Channel 5: Part 2, Halo: Combat Evolved, Animal Crossing: Wild World and Metroid Prime: Pinball.

Ghost in the Shell
Under this banner falls all of the animations that have been created: Stand Alone Complex (including 2nd Gig – officially all 52 episodes are the same series), Tachikoma no Hibi, Ghost in the Shell the film, and Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2. It’s no surprise that Mamoru Oshii was a senior adviser for 2nd gig, and it really is his flavour that permeates through every work in the GitS universe.
This series is about a whole lot more than simply cyborgs and the most primary questions raised by A.I. It’s a difficult thing to sum-up in one paragraph, but Ghost in the Shell is deeply spiritual and a lot more human than it appears on the surface.

Japan
All hail the motherland. Mind-you, not everything about Japan is fantastic, like every nation on the planet, they have their historical atrocities and cultural failings like the rest of us. Still though, being a huge fan of anime has driven me to research more about their culture than I usually would, and there are many delightful things about these beautiful people, their history and the land they inhabit.

Katamari Damacy
Already listed as a favourite game, Katamari stands as one of the most innovative creations ever in gaming history. What’s better than its simple yet effective gameplay, is that it captures some of the sheer enthusiasm and positivity so often found in comedic anime. Far too many games are about saving the world, killing things and driving cars. While I don’t mind a small dose of that stuff, Katamari Damacy came at time where developers and publishers weren’t promoting much else – it was and still is a breath of fresh air, and a joy to play.
Aside from all of that, the J-pop soundtrack rocks!

Last.fm
See Audioscrobbler above.

LEGOs
I always wondered about the pluralisation of Lego – I don’t quite agree with calling them Legos with an s. I always thought it was one Lego, two Lego sets, much Lego…
I grew up with Lego, and it’s been a constant in my life from Duplo to Technic. These days I really get into Technic, having accumulated the Silver Champion F1 supercar, this seasons Ferrari Enzo supercar, the Street Bike, a 4×4 (which is actually only a 2 wheel drive – but a 4×4 in appearance), and an old blue pneumatic universal set, currently configured to a truck with a claw-arm on the back. I love constructing Technic, and the newer sets have been designed so cleverly, they’re a joy to build. Once in a while I do also buy a standard Lego set: the white exo-force mech which has been re-built as the custom wasp aircraft from the website, and the Star Wars B-Wing to name a couple.

M*A*S*H
Like Lego, Mash was another constant in my life, something I grew up with. My parents loved the show, and I’ve always remembered watching it with them. Seeing it again now that I’m a lot older, with the exception of some of the earliest episodes, I still greatly enjoy them. I’ve never been to a warzone, so I can’t comment on how much of it is completely departed from the truth, but I don’t think the show was trying to be historically accurate anyway. I very much like the premise of having a largly vibrant and optimistic cast of characters set in a brutal and unforgiving environment. They reveal their vibrance, weakness and bare humanity.

Mahjong
Something I wouldn’t normally write about, but perhaps it’s because it’s a little hard to find enough players to play regularly.
No this isn’t in reference to solataire Mahjong on a computer, this is the real deal, Chinese rules with wall building, calling out of tiles and sets, wind rotations and full points exchanging at the end. The only thing we don’t do is play for real money. Mahjong is one of the most enjoyable table-top games I’ve ever played, a game I enjoy whether I win or not. My older brother taught me how to play, and in summer we and a few other friends often get together for a game here and there.

Mamoru Oshii
The first group I started here on Opendiary – yet to take off, but hopefully one that will gather members in the future. Mamoru Oshii is the legendary director of Ghost in the Shell and Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2. He wrote Jin-Roh and his other works include Patlabor the movie 1 & 2 and the Polish live-action film Avalon. He was also a Senior Supervisor for the Production I.G. series Windy Tales, a series which further shows his very serene and contemplative nature. From a personal perspective, Ghost in the Shell (the first film) and Jin-Roh, (directed by Hiroyuki Okiura, character design and key animation supervisor for Ghost in the Shell) stand as my two most favoured films of all time, with only a tiny handful of live-action films reaching the heights of Oshii’s sense of atmosphere, one being Steven Soderbergh’s 2002 minimal remake of Solaris.

Melbourne
I live here too, that being convenient as Melbourne’s in Australia. Love it.

Minimalism
See diary front page.

Nintendo
By no means to I hate Sony or Microsoft. Each manufacturer’s hardware is capable of specialising in different areas, and all three companies have many great titles available for their system. The reason why I pay particular attention to Nintendo is that their design philosophies suit my own personal tastes. I have all three current generation consoles, and while I haven’t purchased an Xbox 360, I’m sure when the right time comes I will, along with a PS3 at some stage. The Wii is the only next-gen console that really has me excited, as it continues to push Nintendo’s philosophies of different gaming. I have many favourites on the Cube, and there have been a lot of great titles like Chibi Robo on it which promote totally different ideas to the norm. I wouldn’t call myself an old-school Nintendo fan, but rather a new-school fan of the purest form. I like where Nintendo are going with their strategies, and though I’m not entirely convinced the rest of the world will be right there with them, I for one certainly will be.

Nintendo Wii
I’m a believer.
After my Australian midnight-launch purchase, the Wii has proven to me that it is a superb piece of hardware with an input system that really works. Of-course how well the controller is implemented will rely totally on developers, but everything I’ve purchased and played so far is intuitive, effective, and most importantly a whole lot of fun. After breaking sales records around the world, Nintendo hope to broaden the market by being approachable to non-gamers, and nothing could make me happier. I don’t have 40 hours for every game now, and while I’ll commit that much time to a wonderfully immersive experience like Twilight Princess, my time is often better spent on other things.
What I like the most about the Wii though, is that its design principals are directly in-line with Nintendo’s philosophy of getting people to play games and enjoy them together. Wii Sports, Rayman and Monkey Ball have seen people in my peer group play and enjoy games that previously would never have wanted to play games for their life-long divorce between input and game mechanics. The Wii has eliminated one very important barrier, as now when implemented properly, what one does with the controller simply makes sense to the corresponding action displayed on screen.

Science Fiction / Fantasy
This interest is kind of inevitable in the face of loving Cyberpunk, Ghost in the Shell and David Eddings. I also enjoy good sprinklings of Sherri S. Tepper, Greg Bear, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Raymond E. Feist and Steven Brust to name a few. As for popcorn and coke movies and shows, Star Trek’s alright in small doses, episodes 4, 5 and 6 of Star Wars are good value, of-course there’s Firefly, and a whole bunch of PC and console games, so many I can’t keep track of them, which are themed in the ever popular (read: easy to write for) settings of sci-fi and fantasy.

Wine
As of January 2007, I finally feel acquainted enough with wine to call us good friends, or perhaps even lovers. It sounds corny to those who don’t love wine, but when one really begins to appreciate wine, its true character becomes evident, and you realise that drinking, tasting and savouring wine really is involving. It’s one of the finest things in life.

Yoko Kanno
The goddess of music.
This is the second interest I created on Opendiary. Yoko Kanno is one of the most versatile and talented musicians of our time. The styles in which she’s exceptionally talented in include classical Japanese, classical (European) orchestral, jazz, blues, rock, accoustic and electronic. In Cowboy Bebop alone there are heaps of styles with amazing tracks all over it. Add Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and you cover some of the most articulate electronic music you’ll ever hear, often inspired by Bjork’s acclaimed albums Post and Homogenic among others. She did the soundtrack to the brilliant film Mizu no Onna, and the live-action film of Honey & Clover, as well as many other Japanese productions.

Yoshitoshi ABe
The third and final interest I created. His works in chronological order from first to most recent are: Serial Experiments: Lain, Neia_7, Haibane Renmei, Texhnolyze. With the exception of Neia, the others form the absolute top ranks of my anime collection, joined only by Stand Alone Complex and Honey & Clover. This one man contains a creativity that is so in-line with my own sense of reality that it’s uncanny. After all of his works (again, except Neia), I always feel that here is a man creating anime specifically and just for me. Haibane Renmei is my all-time most favoured series, and the other two stand as the best abstract works in anime to date, without anyone else even coming close to their ultra-high quality. Yoshitoshi ABe is one of the extremely rare creators that is truly doing soemthing different to the norm in anime, and his creations do not contain the staple character and premise cliches that so many productions are comprised of. I’m keen to see what he has for us in the future.

So there you have it – a reason for everything on my list. Of-course there are a whole stack of other interests I could add to my profile like specific films, books or productions, but with the few exceptions of Firefly, Ghost in the Shell and such, I prefer to keep the list as short as possible. These are perhaps some of the foremost interests I have, those I’m most passionate about, while some simply stand as quirky insights to my character like Mahjong and Mash.