Favorites
Last Updated 6/21/2003

Movies

Desperado It's hard to believe this came out of Hollywood. An action movie that is strongly character driven. The chemistry between Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas makes the movie.
A Chinese Ghost Story A Hong Kong period piece with wire-fu and romance. Surprisingly well done. This link takes you to the IMDB and you have to enter the title. Suggestions for a ?
Kimagure Orange Road KOR: I Wish to Return to That Day. A very wistful conclusion to a great anime and manga series. The subject of recurring heated debate in rec.arts.anime.misc.
Maborosi A very subtle Japanese film that deals with themes of life and the acceptance of tragedy poignantly.
The Blade Iron Monkey was better. But The Blade possessed a little something special for me. It's a good fly-by-wire Hong Kong Kung Fu film by Tsui Hark. If it ever comes out on DVD, I'll buy it.


Movies (I'd like to see again sometime)

Idle Hands It's been a long time since a genuinely funny and silly horror movie has come out. I really appreciated the kind of humor in Idle Hands.
Army of Darkness A relatively early Raimi flick. Bruce Cambell camps it up, and does an excellent job at it.
Very Bad Things A controversial movie choice, here. It's a black comedy. Those who don't get that concept will see a very disturbing and sick movie. Things go from bad to worse, and I loved it.
Enemy at the Gates It's hard for me to forgive the unbelievable ending, but that's testament to how much I enjoyed the rest of the movie. Besides, Rachel Weisz is easy on the eyes.
Saving Private Ryan One of those movies that has scenes that'll stay with you forever.
Dancer in the Dark Quite the experience. You may have to be familiar with Bjork or Lars to enjoy this film. It's a very powerful, personal journey.


Music

Keiko Matsui A Jazz-Fusion pianist. She and her husband, Kazu, create some wonderful music, and put on a very fun, personal show. Their web page is as charming and personable as their concerts are.

Books

The New Way Things Work An excellent book by David Macaulay. I've spent many hours pouring over this wonderfully illustrated book. Also see Marshall Brain's website How Stuff Works.
Neverwhere By Neil Gaiman. I highly recommend this fantasy book. It's written by an author who had already established himself as a dominant comicbook writer with his "Sandman" series.
The Book of Jhereg By Steven Brust. A very witty and fun read. See the review at Amazon.

Magazines

Mangajin This was my favorite magazine of all time. It attempted to teach colloquial Japanese to an American audience. It succeeded wonderfully in that regard. Too bad it never had enough advertisers/subscribers. It's been discontinued.
Next Generation Next Gen was an all-platforms video game magazine that put an emphasis on independent reviews and activity in the industry. It's been discontinued and will be missed. I'll have to settle for Play.

Comic Books

Battle Angel Alita Battle Angel Alita. A comic book instead of a comic strip. This one has really drawn me in, so it gets a reference. See my disclaimer for the image (c) info.
Kimagure Orange Road Kimagure Orange Road. My all-time favorite manga. An endearing story about teenage innocence and angst. A love triange between a boy and two girls who are best friends. Quite dated by today's standards, though.
Blade of the Immortal Just awesome art and writing. Very detailed work and drawn from interesting perspectives.

Mascot

Claris Clarus the Dogcow. I still have one of the original MacDTS green dogcow pins.

Video Games

Tekken 3 The greatest fighter on the original Playstation from Namco.
Tenchu Fantastic stealth assasin game. I'd love to see a next generation version of this.
Ghost in the Shell Jumping Flash done right. Not to mention the top-rate cel animation.
Hot Shots Golf A very relaxing and fun game. And I don't even like golf.
Einhander A shooter that's worth keeping is a very rare find. Kudos to Squaresoft.


HomeHome.