Jon Furniss

After all the hype, we were very excited to see the Wachowski brothers’ supposedly cutting-edge adaptation of what was probably anime’s first big successful franchise here in the U.S. back in the 1960’s.

While the plot line of the film was barely groundbreaking, I thought the visual style and CGI effects were quite impressive. Colorfully fast paced. It might be too much to handle for some people (epileptics, for instance)…

The races were a lot of fun to watch; zig-zagging turns, the crescendo of roaring engines, somersaulting vehicles, loopy tracks, exotic scenery, the raging saboteurs, the flashing lights… vaguely reminiscent of the pod races in The Phantom Menace, but with more sugary goodness. It’s definitely like a “live cartoon,” and it’s a great family film in all its cheesy retro glory. We left the theater feeling dandy!

And yes, while I thought that the film had outstanding visual kinetics, I felt that somewhere in the pool of special effects, the characters themselves seemed to fade into all the lights and noise. The movie certainly appeals to a younger audience, as it seems that most of the scenes struggled to jump-start your attention and just couldn’t “sit still.” But then again, it is a kids’ movie. The story was “cute.”

Oh, and does anyone else think it’s weird to hear Speed say “shit???”

All in all, it was fun, exciting, and entertaining!

- Joyceline

• Ever since I started working at an underwear / lingerie store, I’ve been thinking about boobs a lot. I’m usually very quiet and reserved, and I find it quite liberating to be able to brazenly ask a complete stranger what her cup size is. One of my co-workers insists that I’ll eventually be able to discern a woman’s exact breast size just by looking at her. Neat party trick.
• I need to become more active again. I think about wheelchair basketball players, and one-legged marathon runners, and that guy at art school who broke his leg and used his skateboard with his crutches, and I suddenly feel compelled to go out there and somehow utilize my youth and agility and healthy appendages to their full 21-year-old potential. Pole-dancing, anyone?
• I’m pretty sure I want to be cremated. I read about a body that had to be exhumed, and when it was exposed, an extremely foul and toxic odor escaped into the air and killed whoever opened the casket. I wouldn’t want to do that to anybody.
• A portion of my extended family left this evening to go visit the Philippines for a few weeks. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I’ve set foot on the motherland. I need to start saving up.
• Sometimes I wonder if I’d be a good lesbian lover. Particularly, sexually.
• My most recurring dreams / nightmares involve me being pregnant, getting into a car accident, or somehow screwing up in school.
• Existence. Has. Been. Hard. I am at a point where I feel like I am finally recovering from a terrible, terrible chapter in my life, like having been trampled by a herd of wildebeests, dragged up a tree by a leopard, and then sodomized by a rhinoceros. Time heals all things though, right?
• I need to start shopping for Mother’s Day. I want to surprise my Mommy with something awesome and impractical and unconventional and borderline useless but still really cool. Her bedroom is pretty dimly lit, and instead of garden-variety incandescent lighting, I thought maybe she should just hang this on her wall.

- Joyceline