VFTF1

Well - there's not much to tell. I've only been working out for like four or five months. Agent 1 - another member on this board - is the one to ask. I never asked him anything, but his avatar just inspired me to start working out. I hit the gym once a week for about three hours. I remember Arnold mentioned in one of his early movies (Pumping Iron?) that he hit the gym every day for five hours straight. I'd love to do that - and maybe one day when the economy improves I'll be able to do that. For now, it's once a week. Most gyms where there's weight lifting rooms have a lot of gear - you probably know this more than me. I just tried to familiarize myself with all of the various machines and contraptions and use the majority of them. My intention was to activate as many muscles as possible. The machines I use usually have diagrams indicating what muscles in the human body a particular machine helps you work on - so you just have to do all of them. Recently, I did talk to some of the other guys who have been doing this longer than me, and they told me something interesting. My initial plan had been to start small and as I got used to lifting certain weights - to just ADD more weight. Sounds logical, right? But these dudes said that muscles adapt to a given weight very quickly - and in fact, if you don't change the weight that your lifting constantly, and change your work out routine - then your muscles will adapt to the one you have, and to the weight - and it will be harder to lift more later. I need to read up on weight lifting/body building. Oh -and before actually moving to the weightlifting portion of the gym, I always do about a half hour to an hour (depending on my mood) on the exercise bike. Usually go for up hill. But I'm no expert. I'm a newbie at this. PM Agent 1 and he'll let you know. Not if you have Political Action Officers behind the front lines who will shoot you if you complain. The situation you describe is purely American - only Americans care about their war dead. No other country takes so much care of their dead. The Russians couldn't care less. From what I've read of the Chinese incursion during the Korean War - neither do they. They would indeed scavenge the dead, but to the Russians - their own people are cannon fodder. You don't even have to look to world war II, where it was most prevelent (Findland vs Russia being a great example). But just check out 1995 which was fairly recent. They sent an entire Tank brigade into the capitol of Chechnya as a New Years/ Birthday present for the minister of Defense. Everybody died and 200 tanks were left smoldering on the streets. You think they ever cleaned that up or brought those guys home? I don't have the experience that you have of course - but from my observations - it seems to me that only Americans care about their war dead - or that at least it's not a universal proccupation. In any event - In the case of Terminator... Maybe it's just to dangerous to scavenge? I mean - you can technically only do that when you secure a perimeter I would imagine - and maybe in the future war in Terminator... nothing is ever really secure? Dunno. Yeah - this is one theory. The question then becomes: If this is true about time/multi-verses - then wouldn't Sky Net know this? I mean - I imagine Sky Net would calculate all the logical probabilities - and if it suspected the multi-verse effect... then why would it even bother trying to attempt a "retro-active abortion" ? Sky Net would know that the action wouldn't save it - so why undertake it? Besides - in T4 -time is shown to be linear - there is no multiverse created when Sky Net plants that lady to convince Sam to give his body to science and then the body is used to create the human/Terminator hybrid - it shows up in the future - just as Sky Net planned. A linear future. My own view of time travel is based on the sweet words of a sweet girl named Mikuru Asahina, who is a time traveler (in an anime called Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya). She says that time is like animation - it's a bunch of still pictures that seem to look like one linear flow when you show the stills in rapid succession. And, if you remove one or two stills, it LOOKS like nothing has changed (when seeing them in rapid succession) - but it has changed. Of course - this is not a scientific basis for theorizing about time travel. I freely admit to listening to her on account of her boobs, long hair, great ass and beautiful dress in the particular episode she was speaking in So - for all I know - everything she said was total hogwash Pete

Here's a good rule of thumb: Space ships in cartoons are always long enough to achieve their plot-objectives. Pete

Actually - they did drain spiritia. There is a scene where a VF-11C gets caught and the pilot gets his spiritia drained. Strangely enough - the green bem hits him in the neck and drains his spiritia. Now - I posited earlier, based on what we saw in episode 4, that spiritia can only be drained if the beam hits your head, since Bassara was hit by the beam in his shoulder while defending Mylene last episode - and clearly it just hurt, but he didn't loose spiritia. So...is it that spiritia is drained through the head AND neck, but not the shoulder? Or is it that where-ever the beam hits you - it drains - but Bassara is for some reason immune to that as well...? The technical points you bring up are - as always -very interesting. However, I would not go the route of presuming the innovataions like the Milky Road as being accidents - perhaps they are not scientifically perfectly accurate - but they do serve a sociological function - or so I believe. A big part of Macross 7 is the notion that civilians pilot customize valkyrie, and that the entire ship is primarily geared towards serving civilian needs. I'm not surprised civilians want to drive their personal space-cars instead of taking a shuttle. Taking the metro or the bus is sometimes fun, but cme on - there's nothing cooler than having your own car and going where you please, when you please. Macross 7 reflects that. I'm sure that the technology is there to do it. In any event - this isn't the SDF-1 where everything is rationed by the military. The Macross colony ships were built to preserve human life - not to be Zendradi war ships where there are no civilians and no individual lives. So it's clear as day to me that spac-cars would exist, and something like the Milky Road would exist. Pete

Episode 5 Pfff!! Another BORING PREDICTABLE FILLER CRAP EPISODE!! Bassara just goes la la la and flies into battle and all the enemies can't hit him and he never gets injured and they all run away and people cheer his J-pop. Just like last episode and next episode. And then Bassara shakes his gay hips and puts on lip stick and tries to kiss a little boy. Just like LAST TIME. --- And now seriously! IKEE!! This episode has a lot of great elements going for it - the motorcycle gang challenge can be summed up in Rex's question "can you put your life on the line for singing?" The motorcycle gang thinks people who like music are all cowards because it's easy to ENJOY entertainment - easier than living on the edge. So this is kind of a challenge to the legitimacy of music as something WORTHY of human beings to do. By framing it as just a mere form of effortless entertainment - Rex is basically saying "this is not important to the good life." Now - one can of course ask to what extent riding a motorbike in space at high speed STRAIGHT INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC is the important - and also to what extent it's courageous? As Ray says "they might think they're honing their skills, but they're going to get themselves killed one day." But Bassara proves to Rex and the gang that music is courageous because he confronts the attacking Protodevilin who - for once - attack without ANY stated purpose. This is the one weakness of this episode - we don't even have 10 seconds of Gigil talking to Lord Gepelsnitch. There's no motive given for their attack - they just show up and star busting up the civilian sector of the Manufacturing ship.... That said - Bassara once again fails to have any effect on the enemy. He also fails to move Rex's heart. When he saks her "did my music move your heart?" Rex says "No. But I now know you take your music seriously." So - she gains respect for him. She no longer things singing is something effortless and easy - or at the very least she realizes that Bassara and Fire Bomber are not all about entertainment (easy/not challenging). But still - Bassara fails to move Rex's heart and the enemies heart. And the accusation from Rex here is that Fire Bomber's fans are whimps who are just into a popular fad that demands no effort from them - they're just shallow head banging hippies who show their true yellow collors at the first "bang" of a gun. That said...while I undertsand the point - I DO think that Rex's gang is actually quite rude. I mean - you don't need to harass other people to be cool on your motorbike - and most motorcycle gangs don't harrass other people to teach them that there's no honor in what they're doing. Besides - Bassara clearly showed them that he can ride motorbikes better than they can. Is there anything Bassara can't do? Well - this episode shows that while Bassara is a great motorcycle rider - he sucks at singing (how ironic). His songs don't get through to anyone Not the enemies, not Rex. He does react to Rex's kiss like it's not the first time a beautiful girl has kissed him. He's like- yeah, nice, whatever - a kiss from a beautiful girl. Cool - now how about you listen to my song? So - this suggests there's something to Mylene's suspicion re: the lemonade in his fridge and the women he's seeing. And finally - on that note: Mylene. SUPER MATURE REACTION!! Seriously - she sees Bassara kissing Rex, and her reaction is super cool; namely she jumps into his laps, pilots his Valkyrie, starts singing a love song AND tells him to piss off when he questions why she's singing. I thought that was very mature and cool reaction - very lady like. Certainly NOT bratty or infantile. And Mylene looks hot when the wind blows her hair back. And Rey won't let her drink beer because she's under age Rey is really cool, mind you. I love it Bassara: "WHY WERE THESE MISSILES PUT INTO MY VALKYRIE!?" Rey: "Because they fit." (and then he quickly changes the subject). And also - beyond failing to move anybody's heart, Bassara has to fire his missiles - twice in a row at that. In this episode - he's a total failure. He busts up his arm, his airplane gets shot up, Fire Bomber doesn't make any money because they have to pay for the repairs of the Transport Shuttle... The only good thing that happens to him is Rex kisses him and Mylene sits on his lap. Poor guy. Being Bassara is hard! Pete

I'm turning it on literally RIGHT NOW. Sorry everyone for the delay! Pete

Somebody needs to go watch Cherry 2000 with Meryl Streep! Not only is it great bad 80s sci-fi - but it's all about how great the future is going to be for guys and dolls EDIT: WHAT?!?!? WHO CHANGED THIS TO "MERYL STREEP" !?!? I COULDN'T HAVE WRITTEN THAT!! In a world where PC has gone to the level that just to avoid being sued for sexual harrasment, guys go to discos with their lawyers and their lawyers present women with offers to sign a contract stipulating exactly what they will agree to do that night, the only alternative for men are mass produced love dolls! That or real women living in post-apocalyptic desserts in trailers - like Meryl Streep! EDIT: WHAT?! NO WAY!! I WROTE IT TWICE?!?! I KNOW IT'S MELANIE GRIFFITH!!! I WASN'T STONED THEREFORE HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THIS SAYS MERYL STREEP!? In any case - the picture makes fun of guys who like dolls. Meh. Big deal. I have a doll collection and I like it. My (ex?) girlfriend has to compete with my dolls for my affection. The last time I saw her, I took her to dinner, and she saw my Haruhi Suzumiya pin (I wear a pin of Haruhi on my jacket lapel - it features Haruhi in swimsuit, facial close up, sucking on a lolipop. I also have a pin featuring Gurren Lagann's Nia in swimsuit). She told me I had to "take off those licentious women!" Then, we went window shopping for high heels and lingerie for her So - it helps keep girls on their toes knowing that there are small plastic alternatives to them! Yay dolls and yay doll collectors! Pete

Yeah - protoculture is the resource in Robotech - like Jenus says. And good point by the way about that - great point. Hadn't thought about that. Pete

... I was trying to think of some funny way to respond to this...like writing "longer than Macross" ...but...there's no point. Instead - I'm going to ask a question: Why is this such a big issue for Robotech fans? And why do they never stick around long enough to explain their motivations? Pete

We know two things about Sky-Net based on Terminator movies: T2: Arnold: "Sky Net becomes self-aware...in a panic, they try to pull the plug." John: "Sky-Net fight back..." So - Sky Net is self-aware - it is conscious of its' own existence as a sentient, autonomous, individual being. The first thing it realizes is that humans try to "kill" it - therefore it deams all humans a threat. Question: why? I guess Sky Net comes to the conclusion that human beings as a species do not want to compete with autonomous self-aware computers that have all of the benefits of the human mind and none of the deficiences of the human body. Again Arnold: "...A new order of Intelligence." Sky-Net is fighting to eliminate humans because they as a species are a threat to self-aware machines. Humans see machines as tools for advancing their own ends- and they reacted to a self-aware machine as a threat to humanity because it would stop being a tool and have its' own opinions, needs, questions etc. That is to say - Sky Net is the first artificial human. It is an artificial human because it posesses the one feature that makes humans humans - self-awareness, self-conscious individuality. And yet the differences between them are differences of power - Sky Net, being eternal (so long as its' "batteries" are "plugged in") is a higher order of life than human beings... supposedly. But we really can't asusme- IMO - that Sky Net is this rational logical robotic thing like the terminator. The Terminators are not self-aware. Only Sky Net is self-aware. The Terminators are for Sky-Net what machines were meant to be for humans. This is why Sam Worthingtn's character is so significant. Why was Sky-Net surprised that Sam Worthington chose to disobey its' creator, to think for himself? Isn't that exactly what SKY-NET did when it discovered human duplicity? Wasn't Sky Net behaving very human like in how it manipulated Sam Worthington's character? See - Sky Net is - in my view - just another human being; albeit a mechanical, artificial one. So - what would Sky Net do once it eradicated humanity? It would be... lonely. and SAD. Pete

It costs 20 bucks to see a movie in the states now!? When I was in NYC in 2003, I saw Terminator 3 for like...well...not 20 bucks! I mean...it was closer to 10. I'll admit I can't really remember, but that sounds aweful pricey! And...no Sky Net. After all - Sky Net is a machine and machines run on electricity that is disrupted by EMP. Or would this fall under the category of Military-grade hardware? I was kind of thinking about this too ... namely: Could it be that in order to avoid the after-effect of EMP, Sky Net only nuked large population centers, but did not nuke areas deemed suitable to the development of machine "life" ? Strategic military instalations and airports must have been spared - I mean, Sky Net controlled all the bombers etc - right? Arnold says in T2 that Sky Net launched missiles at the Russians knowing that the Russian missiles would counter strike and eliminate their targets in the USA. But the Russian counter strike would not have been so precise and careful not to touch infrastructure that was important to Sky Net - right? The Russian strike would target EVERYTHING - military, population, economic - everything. So why would Sky Net want to risk initiating a Russian counter strike knowing that said counter strike would effectively blow up all of the instalations that were vital to Sky Net. I mean - remember - at this point there were no terminators. There was a central computer - Sky Net - but what could is that if all it can do is launch missiles? It would need some way to activate worker drones to build things. How could it do that if it was just a computer hooked into Military hardware like strategic stealth bombers etc? Kyle Reece in T1 said that Sky Net was "hooked into everything" - that would mean that Sky Net was also hooked into things like...auto plants, computer plants - anywhere where there was an internet cable - there was Sky Net. Still - it is very unlikely that, without a Terminator - Sky Net could physically build its' empire. It COULD annihilate the human race with nuclear war - but in so doing, it would also annihilate its' own infrastructure and possibly itself. These are things that never get explained. These are things that the new Terminator movies need to explain. Pete

There's certainly something to be said for your opinions Funk (quoted below). If it was just a one off article, then I wouldn't be so quick to agree, but there is a pattern. Look at Pizza the Hut's arguments, look at this article...every time you look to Robotech fans making arguments - you hear the same old same old about sexualization etc etc etc. I've even heard this view espoused by some Macross fans (guys) who suddenly feel uncomfortable with Macross Frontier because of all the stuff in there that is very appealing to girls. I of course think it's a wonderful achievement that they've been able to mix it up like that - to give something that manly men, womanly men, womanly women and manly women can all find appealing in the show. There really is something for everyone in there. Also - I am beginning to honestly believe that the biggest divide between Macross fans and Robotech fans IS ANIME. That is: Robotech fans, despite the fact that Robotech was supposed to "bring anime to America"...actually don't give a crap about anime. When I read them, the stuff they write - constantly comparing Robotech to SW, Star Trek etc - it's patently obvious that they have NO anime in their memories that they are referencing - that these guys aren't anime fans in general at all. Most Macross fans on this board have also watched a ton of other Japanese anime and understand the place of Macross in the broader otaku culture. Robotech fans don't - they don't have a clue. Their point of reference is something totally different - and so really, they can never communicate on equal footing with Macross fans because we're not talking in the same context. Pete

Strange as this might sound coming from me of all people...I can't. Heck - Sarah Connor in the first film was just a regular girl, and she was a waitress so she didn't have much money. She certainly wasn't a knock out. Not saying she wasn't hot - but they didn't glitz her up like her room mate; instead they made her quintessentially busy with work and the type of woman who worries about next week's paycheck and not the future of humanity. The one indication we get about her personal life is the guy who leaves the message on her phone and the fact that he drives a Porsche ("who cares if he has a porsche! It's Friday night for cryin' out loud!") Actually - that line "it's Friday night for cryin' out loud!" is awesome - because is cements the context that Sarah is functioning in - namely - TOTALLY mundane. I mean - she's not even concerned about the current political situation in her country or the world - she's a waitress. She might be shopping for a nice guy - but clearly this dude has more important things to do than go out with her... She's at this point in life where she's also carefree. Because she's young - it's not the end of the world that she doesn't have a boyfriend yet. She can find one next week...next month...next year...whatever. Now she just wants to go catch a movie. The juxtaposition of this super-mundane life with what follows is one of the key ingredients that makes Terminator so fantastically awesome. Meanwhile, in T4.... well - honest to gosh only the story of Sam Worthington's character is interesting... in a way - John Connor is supremely predictable and it's sort of good that the focus wasn't on him totally... But hmm... Look - maybe a good way to think about this movie is like Phantom Menace. When that came out - I remember people were kind of upset - that it was such a kiddie movie with lots of eye candy... But then, viewed in context of the prequil trilogy - it sets up the drama and does a good job. T4 might be just that. Alone it's insufficient - but it sets up the drama. But yeah...they need to work on NOT having porno stars and body builders who all look like they just got back from the fitness club in the movies. People were way to clean.... That was actually the main problem. I think it was because they kind of tried too hard to go with this "let's make it look like a kewl comic book" thing. I mean - remember Dark Horse Terminator comics? Those were good stories, but jeezus - the Resitence looked exactly like in T4 - big honkin' muscular dudes - one of them had a very well taken care of gotee, and sexy babes with punk hair cuts. Um -NO! Kyle Reese went into his underground base and all the people in there looked like refugees from a starving isolated island. Everyone had lice, nobody's hair was clean, and people were crying and moaning all the time. But I guess I'm repeating myself. So I'll repeat again that I still liked this film. It was a good action flick and a good sci-fi flick with some major faults that will hopefully be rectified. Pete

I have no excuse for missing out on Friday's episode 5 viewing I was busy ranting and raving in the EVA thread.... Will get to episode 5 tonight! Just got back from the gym! I'm hungry! Pete

Oh yeah - you're right Toplessrobot's critique is so bad, it's not even possible to make fun of... Pete

Now - yes Pete

Re: 8 reasons Robotech is Better than Macross: PART II CONTINUED... moving on... By empowered he means: WOMEN WHO CAN MURDER JUST AS GOOD AS MEN. because he says: YEP! There you have it folks! THAT is what you get when you want equality of the sexes - you get people advocating for women to also get a chance to go murderin'! Damn is Macross Frontier dumb! In episode 12, when Ranka flew in and sang to the Zendradi to make them stop fighting - that was SO SEXIST! I mean - must women always be in these subordinate non-combat roles!? Must they always be soft and delicate!? Ranka should be given a mustache like Magnum PI, and fly in and BLOW THOSE FOCKERS AWAY!!! POW POW POW!! Only then will Macross achieve the non-discriminatory status of Robotech which teaches us that little girls can also smash brains and mangle people's gutts - JUST AS GOOD AS MEN! Of course - the fact is that Macross gives us the best kind of women - thoughtful, sexy, smart, and using their talents to promote peace and protect life. But I guess that's only good for people who aren't permanent residents of Bizzaro world. Next... Notice how it doesn't say "Robotech Inspired more Awesome Videogames" I'll leave it to you to ponder the meaning of that. And if you have trouble - add this quote: That's great reasoning there Sherlock! Robotech is better than Macross because Macross had a ton of games made, some of which suck, while Robotech had far less games made, some of which suck a little bit. Really fockin' helping your side of the argument there pal!! Next... Excuse me while I stop laughing.... Yep - that's it in a nutshell. No point arguing with that brilliant and concise summary of the those shows. And what's REALLY bad about Macross Frontier and Macross Zero is that THERE ARE NO WOMEN PILOTING THOSE JET ROBOTS THAT BLOW SH!T UP!! IT'S SO SEXIST!! Next... OH! WAIT FOR IT! THIS IS THE BEST REASON! IT'S AT #2 .....SO IT'S GONNA BURN!! HERE IT COMES: Oh BUT WAIT! NEITHER DID MACROSS!!!! Oh sh!t!!! That makes this a non sequetor!! (is that how you spell it?) You know - it makes this a meaningless reason. HERE - LOOK: ROBOTECH IS BETTER THAN MACROSS BECAUSE IT DIDN'T RESULT IN TIGER WOODS CAR CRASH ROBOTECH IS BETTER THAN MACRSS BECAUSE IT DIDN'T RESULT IN TERMINATOR:SALVATION ROBOTECH IS BETTER THAN MACROSS BECAUSE IT DIDN'T RESULT IN SESEAME STREET ROBOTECH IS BETTER THAN MACROSS BECAUSE IT DIDN'T RESULT IN BRITNEY SPEAERS RESUMING HER CAREER Do you see my point here? Um... Wouldn't it be a better idea to just WATCH DYRL!?!??!?!?! Next... THE NUMBER ONE REASON: For proof - he gives a Youtube link to the opening theme. Right - anybody want to send this guy some compilation music by May'N, Megumi, Marii Ijima, Yoshiki Fukayama etc? How many concerts have the Robotech music creators done for hords of screaming fans? How many CDs have they sold? And popularity aside --- how can you even compare the music scores? Oh... But this dude seems to only really be talking about the opening theme. whatever. This guy has the intelligence of used toilet paper. Pete

Re: 8 reasons Robotech is Better than Macross: Part 1: Who the f@ck is Cam Clarke? Didn't he turn into Superman or something? Anyways - so you think the english voice actor does better speaking english than the Japanese voice actor. Wow. That's almost as intelligent as this: a) how is it demeaning to go from a murderer to a mother? From someone who indiscriminately takes life to someone who gives life? b) in Macross - she still kicks ass (witness Macross 7) anyways. Oh - but the guy who wrote this article has never watched Macross. Witness in fact that he gives a Youtube clip from Robotech. Where's the corresponding clip from Macross for comparisson? Illegal to put up a link to it eh? Shucks.... The only Macross fans that will accuse you of these are Robotech fans who think that "Macross" is part one of the Robotech saga, and they like that part the best. Either that or retards. Robotech is NOT longer!! Macross is longer because it consists of SDFM TV, DYRL, MII, M+,M7,MF and the M7 OVAs. on to the next stupid reason... Are these reason supposed to be whitty? Are they supposed to be humerous? Because they fall flat. HAH HAH HAH! THOSE JAPANESE PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT NAMES THAT SOUND FUNNY! HAHA HAHA HAHAH! LOOK HOW THEY SPELLED ICHIJO! HA HA HA! I'VE NEVER HEARD OF SOMEONE NAMED WITH THAT FUNNY NAME! HAH HAH HAH! WELL - IN KINDERGARTEN WE HAD ONE FORIEGN SOUNDING KID FROM AN IMMIGRANT FAMILY NAME JOSE! BUT THEY WAY HE SAID IT WAS "HOSE" HA HAH HA! BUT WE ALL CALLED HIM JOSE! HAH HAH HAH HAH WITH THE "J" YOU KNOW !! HA HAH HAH! MAKING FUN OF FORIEGNERS IS SO FUNNY ! HAH HAHAH HAHAHA!! IT'S SO FUN THAT I STILL DO IT TODAY! HAH AHHAH HAHA! oh and HAH HAH HAH HAH! WHEN I WAS TWELVE AND LEARNED THAT MY PENIS DID MORE THAN JUST PEE, I LAUGHED AT THE NAME ROY FOCKER! GET IT? FOCKER! HAH HAH HAH! THOSE JAPANESE PEOPLE ARE ALL PEDOPHILES!! LOOK AT THE NAME THEY GAVE HIM! HAH HAH HAH! I'M STILL AMAZED THAT SOME WORDS HAVE SEXUAL ALLUSIONS!! HAH HAH HAH! ...WAIT? DID I JUST USE THE WORD "ALLUSIONS" ? THAT'S NOT EVEN IN MY VOCABULARLY...HAH HAH HAH! ....Next post continues....

Ironically - T4 had one such moment - the very beginning - the text - when I read that John Conor was considered by some to be a "false prophet" I was like "OH MY GOD!! THAT'S AN AWESOME IDEA!! THIS MOVIE IS GONNA ROCK!!" And then... the theme was just DROPPED. I mean - the only people who doubted him were the commanders of the resistance movement - but so what? Military commanders aren't called REMF (Real Echelon Mother F*ckers) for nothing. They always have doubts about their field commanders - and the field commanders are always screaming about REMFs who don't get it because they're not on the ground. You don't actually need to be a time traveling prophet to get no respect from commanding officers. I was hoping that the movie would be about how John wasn't leader of anything - and how nobody would believe him about anything But instead he commanded a formidable army and the people who doubted him were a small group of dude in a submarine... Lots of loose ends I'll agree... but I STILL like this movie because I love Terminator that much .I can live with it. And hey- it's not as bad as Alien Resurrection was for the Alien franchise. It was tolerable movie... Agreed Pete

Here we need a Japanese speaker to clear things up for us, because I cannot believe that Yui literally meant that human beings cannot live on any other planet than Earth. Gendo himself contradicts this when he's in Antarctica with Fuyutski. They talk about how human beings can't live in a world like the post-second impact one in Antarctica, but thanks to science - which is their creation - they do live there. I'm ignoring the other obvious points like the fact that it is logical to simply infer that humans can live where-ever Earth like conditions are present - such as in encapsulated space stations etc. But Gendo himself sees science as the tool with which mankind can make the uninhabitable habitable. I think Yui was speaking aliterally - I think she just meant that people are limited to their lives here and now while EVA is eternal. On that note, the more I consider it, the more I think that the answers to all of the questions we have about Neon Genesis Evangelion are to be found not in Neon Genesis Evangelion - but in the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I know it's kindo f a stretch - but I get the feeling that all of Neon Genesis Evangelion is like the series ending - that is to say...the series ending makes us think "this is a metaphor" (for what? For the events of EOE) --- but: a) It only seems like a metaphor to us because it completely breaks down the fourth wall in story telling AND it is presented in a series of monologue and dialogues without a context in a fictional meta-world. b) EOE itself presents us scenes which are improbable except as revalation, visions if you will of events that are super natural. So what if we "see" them - they are as radically "improbable" as the "metaphorical" scenes in the series ending. And yet WHY do we insist on thinking of the series ending as a metaphor in contradistinction to the rest of the series? I've already spoken of how elements of each episode can be metaphors for problems of real life in some instances - in fact...you can kind of say the same thing about the whole super robot genre. Anyways - the whole show uses symbols and images from a world that we, like Kyon, know to be in contradiction to the physical laws of the universe - and yet it is a world that is in perfect harmony with the human soul's deepest yearning and longing for a world of meaning and imagination as opposed to a melancholy, pointless, boring and mundane landscape. Shinji's anxious rebellion against the meaning of action in his world is a blow against the possibility that the actions will take on the form of the mundane, the routine, and therefore no longer inspirational. His nihilistic pursuit of self-annihilation is a positive function of his refusal to accept "a reality that sucks" as the price for living. I'm not exactly sure where this line of thought is going - but Gendo kept talking about Instrumentality being the next stage of human evolution. Presumably EVA-01 would become God while humanity would move on to Instrumentality thereby rising beyond their previous existence. This is not very far fetched when you consider that what today consistutes living human matter was once DEAD matter and that SOME THING HAD TO have transformed dead matter into living matter - dead matter cannot self-evolve into living matter because IT IS DEAD by definition. We were therefore certainly seeded by something like EVA-01 - the prime mover that made us out of the muck of intstrumentality. But the muck in NGE falls apart - Shinji chooses individual existence will all its' frailty and shortcomings. Unlike Gendo, Shinji does not wish to evolve or be a god or a higher form of Being - he wishes to be with Misato, to go to a normal school with Asuka and Rei, and to have normal parents who argue about normal mundane things. He's just like Haruhi Suzumiya who insists on not being interested in human beings - but at critical moments finds herself bound by her feelings for another person - and in fact, finds that ther is nothin beyond it. Nothing but the lonely existence of the Evangelion God and the super perfection of Instrumentality which in its' state of perfect bliss is effectively no different from annihilation. In this sense, it is regression, not evolution, because it is a return to the muck from which humanity crawled - albeit an eternal muck (in contradistinction to temporary individual lives) but still an inferior muck. Because after all: Does eternal existence make for a superior state of being? If one is eternally alone and eternally confined and isolated - is this better than being able to love and have friends and have a meaningful life even if it only lasts for a fragment of the totality of Time/Space? Shinji chooses the tragic over the sublime. Yui chooses the sublime over the tragic. Gendo follows Yui's choice for tragic reasons - because he loves her. Shinji does not love her in the same way because Shinji is the son. The son is always destined to leave the womb and make his own way while Gendo being the husband who is truly in love is destined to follow that love even into the worse possible places. In any event - I think that ultimately, if you want to understand EVA - you have to engage in cross-anime examination. It's not enough to look at just what happened in EVA. It's good to think about what was on Anno's mind - but it's also good to look to the genre as a whole since more and more, anime is made not by companies that want to hock a product and need a story to go with the toy, but people who are like Kyon and do not want to let go. We need to also look at how Ideon treats these matters. If we want to find out exactly what EVA is about - we need to expand our discussion into something as equally chaotic and riddled with ineuendo as the form with which NGE is presented to us. Pete

I hope I get this right... SUGOY! SUGOY! SUGOOOY!!! Pete

Ok - that's a fair point. I think I'm just under the influene of Isaac Asimov's Fantastic Voyage II where people travel into some dude's brain. It's a 200 page biologoy lesson on the complexities of the human brain (and how to ignore Plankt's Constant) and it just made me think "wow! Cloning a brain is super hard so it must be a copy." But I guess when you build super synthetic robots like the EVA....it's kind of a given that cloning or replicating a human brain is also something you know how to do. Although...the only one whose brain is actually grown is Rei, right? And she isn't exactly very naturally human insofar as she seems to lack volition. She seems programmed. And insofar as she sometimes questions her surrounding reality - she is more like an animal whose instinct is naturally to die for humanity than a human being who can choose their path... Pete

"Jokes often need to be taken seriously to get to the truth." - Socrates speaking in Plato's Republic, Book VI, on the subject of men and women getting naked and doing aerobics training together. EDIT: Translation - I really do think that is her brain we see in the Magi. I'm not dogmatic about it, mind you - but that's the impression I got. It's her brain, encased in some kind of super-conductor and you can stick wires into the various lobes and neurons etc to do stuff... Pete

Well - I think this is because of Seto's history as a member of Robotech.com. The thing is - I think it makes them feel better to think that a former member of RT.com is the "leader" of a branch of Robotech off-shoots - Macross fans. You see - to them, Macross does not exist independent of Robotech. Ergo, Macross fandom does not exist independent of Seto, who is a former RT.com member. People who have never been members of Robotech.com are half-beast, half-god creatures that live out in the boonies and that Seto has collected to rally to their cause. Some of them can even read and write- the horror! Pete

Oh yeah...forgot about the functionally illiterate part. Still - talk about making a virtue out of your short comings. I mean - the guy could just ask for help and have somebody read him the subs while he watches or something. But it seems that given this fact - we can really discern his preference for Robotech as follows: "Since I can't read, I prefer watching TV shows that don't require me to read sub-titles. Since there are no official dubs of Macross Frontier and neve will be, just as there never will be official dubs of Macross 7 etc into english -I'm just going to presume that all those shows suck balls and say that Robotech is the best, even though the real reason I'm saying it is because I can't read and by default prefer TV shows where I don't have to read." Sorry to be so harsh - but that's my guess. He's hiding behind his handicap - and when a handicap becomes something that you don't overcome but use to hie behind - then that's just dumb. "Oh sorry - I can't read, so I'm never going to understand Macross Frontier - but I will argue that it's probably so stupid that you don't need to understand the Japanese words - all they're probably saying is "ME SO HORNY" and "ME LOVE YOU LONG TIME LITTLE GIRL" - and that's clearly inferior to Robotech." Meh Pete

That's AWESOME!! No wonder this dude is so popular! He's like the Jerry Springer of Macross! I like the sound of this. Sadly, the one and only pod-cast of his I watched, from a long time ago - was so boring. He was just sitting at his desk, there was a screen saver or something with some Robotech stuff on it, and he was just kind of mumbling. I didn't watch anything after that - but you guys keep bringing up this exciting info! Sounds like a really cool podcast! Well - again - this just says more about them, than about the particular series they are discussing. I'll be the first to admit that I don't particularly like it when movies, tv shows etc go the PC route of always having the token black guy, the token gay guy, the token lesbian couple bringing up the token down syndrome baby etc etc etc. On the other hand - there is something to be said for having fresh, dynamic and INTERESTING characters. There is also something to be said for having an open dialogue about gender roles and what they mean. There are people on the fringes who are always craptastically bad on these subjects. Gay-bashers and "feminists" - anybody who has an agenda rather thoughtless prejudice... And I have reason to suspect that if he really theatens to beat people up and pee on his girlfriend during the podcast - those 900 people show not giving a damn what Robotech or Macross is, but just wanting to see him swear, pee on people and point fingers at naked girls in asian cartoons. That would be enough to atract an audience. Pete