davetheanalyzer

Already halfway through the year already. I might have said this before but it’s amazing how fast time passes by taking it a day at a time. I’ve been taking walks around sunset since it’s getting so hot but I have to deal with possible rain when I go out. Last Sunday, I checked my weather app and thought there was only a risk of a light sprinkle, so brought an umbrella along. There was a brief shower that came and went but on the last minutes before I began the journey back, it rained and this time came down hard. It was such that I could only look a few feet ahead of my shoes and the wind blew my umbrella about, making me fear it would be blown inside-out – wouldn’t be the first time that happened to me.

Fortunately, my umbrella remained intact and the rain and wind let up somewhat the last 3 to 5 minutes before I returned home. But my shoes, shorts, and parts of my shirt were soaked through. I changed out of most of my day clothes a few hours before bed and then decided to put my soaked t-shirt in the hamper too. My shoes were on their way out anyway, so my Mom used their soaked state as an excuse to toss them and for me to use the new shoes she brought that had been sitting near me for several weeks. They do feel a bit loose when I put them on but I’m quickly getting used to them. Maybe I should be more careful when rain appears in the forecast. Though I took another walk a few days ago without an umbrella only to have to start jogging back when it started drizzling, so I wonder how much I learned from that experience lol. In the meantime, I’ll continue to take walks whenever the temperature’s tolerable.

On Monday, I’ll finish draft 2 of the final We Will Hold On Forever chapters. I completed roughly 2-4 pages of rewrites a day and it was so much faster than doing the rewrite notes themselves. I’m going a bit slower with doing draft 3 rewrite notes for my original mon-inspired story. It’s mostly been thinking of smoother and more elegant replacements of clunky sentences and dialogue. There are times where I wonder if I’m not making enough substantive changes. But I surmise I’ll have that clarified if and when I show this original story to others for feedback.

I saw Ultraman Rising on Netflix. I became interested in Ultraman years ago because it had monsters reminiscent of Godzilla and I watched more series as they became available in the west. I was aware of the film off and on until it came out and I can say it was good. The film combined aspects of the Ultraman series with classic western storytelling. Not super original but it executed its tropes well. The story revolves around Kenji Sato, a cocky baseball player who inherited his father’s Ultraman powers. There’s classic family conflict between father and son, with the father’s Ultraman duty limiting his time with his family and the danger leading him to make them move to America altogether. The mother’s missing but I didn’t quite pick up on the details – I vaguely remember some mention of a flight that disappeared over Alaska?

I do like we see Kenji’s father’s supporting his son’s baseball career, even if as a TV viewer. Kenji must learn to take care of a baby kaiju which was kidnapped by the Kaiju Defense Force. This goes against Kenji’s personal goals and self-centeredness. The plot is quite fitting for an Ultraman property, though I wasn’t a fan of all the poop, pee, and vomit. It’s only when Kenji consults with a reporter acquaintance about how to deal with children that he starts teaching the baby effectively and through sharing his baseball love, grows a bond with her. This even affects his record on the baseball pitch, where he becomes more of a team player. His father coming along after the baby sustains an injury also mends the rift between him and Kenji.

It’s interesting that the classic defense force of any Ultraman series is the antagonist. The head of it Dr. Onda’s a sympathetic figure with his lost family, which seems emblematic of Ultraman, though there are plenty of antagonists who did bad things just for kicks. That kaiju are treated sympathetically and that killing them was considered bad in this film is also representative of many Ultraman series. I did like seeing the father’s Ultraman form and that he worked with his son, Emi, and her mother, who turns out not to be dead, to bring down Dr. Onda’s giant mech. Kenji hopping in to stop the self-destruct that would have killed civilians nearby shows he’s developed into the hero he needs and now wants to be. It’s interesting that Kenji’s color timer depends on his mood and if in the right mindset, it’ll never turn on. I do like they go to Kaiju Island at the end and that we learn Kenji’s mother’s got in contact and is on M78. If there’s a sequel, I wonder if aliens will be the subject, the nuances with them, and Kenji being half alien. There’s mention of child death and the gross stuff with Emi I mentioned earlier. With that in mind, if the film sounds up your alley, feel free to see it.

That’s all for now. Free Palestine and hostages on all sides. Until the end of July, see you.