Comments for Ben Hourigan http://benhourigan.com Melbourne's indie novelist Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:55:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Comment on Kiss Me, Genius Boy by What's important to you at home? | Ben Hourigan http://benhourigan.com/writing/kiss-me-genius-boy/comment-page-1/#comment-59159 What's important to you at home? | Ben Hourigan Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:55:34 +0000 http://benhourigan.com/?page_id=1802#comment-59159 <p>[...] Kiss Me, Genius Boy [...]</p> [...] Kiss Me, Genius Boy [...]

]]> Comment on Raarrgh! Why Conan the Barbarian sucks by Ricky James Moore II http://benhourigan.com/archives/2011/08/31/raarrgh-why-conan-the-barbarian-sucks/comment-page-1/#comment-59158 Ricky James Moore II Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:41:00 +0000 http://benhourigan.com/?p=1479#comment-59158 <p>Frankly, this descent into lameness began with L. Sprage de Hack. The guy is to RE Howard as Robert Jordan is to Tolkein: a shitty knock off with none of the zest or drive, but a whole lot of unecessary verbiage and illogical plots added in.</p> Frankly, this descent into lameness began with L. Sprage de Hack. The guy is to RE Howard as Robert Jordan is to Tolkein: a shitty knock off with none of the zest or drive, but a whole lot of unecessary verbiage and illogical plots added in.

]]> Comment on Do you need to be a good writer? by Ben Hourigan http://benhourigan.com/archives/2012/03/26/do-you-need-to-be-a-good-writer/comment-page-1/#comment-59157 Ben Hourigan Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:56:00 +0000 http://benhourigan.com/?p=1811#comment-59157 <p>I choose to use American spelling.</p> I choose to use American spelling.

]]> Comment on Do you need to be a good writer? by cjs http://benhourigan.com/archives/2012/03/26/do-you-need-to-be-a-good-writer/comment-page-1/#comment-59156 cjs Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:54:00 +0000 http://benhourigan.com/?p=1811#comment-59156 <p>Nice little piece. I couldn't help but alert you to the fact that unless you are American, which I know that you are not, you have misspelt apologised. No biggie of course.</p> Nice little piece. I couldn’t help but alert you to the fact that unless you are American, which I know that you are not, you have misspelt apologised. No biggie of course.

]]> Comment on In praise of Hayao Miyazaki by Ben Hourigan http://benhourigan.com/archives/2012/03/27/in-praise-of-hayao-miyazaki/comment-page-1/#comment-59155 Ben Hourigan Wed, 28 Mar 2012 01:00:00 +0000 http://benhourigan.com/?p=1819#comment-59155 <p>Artistic license? Apologies if I misrepresented for the sake of simplifying the post. It's brought some other good recommendations out of the woodwork. Interesting that you mention Patlabor, as Mamoru Oshii has been mentioned. A fan in the US also mentioned Satoshi Kon (who I haven't watched since Perfect Blue), and Makoto Shinkai, whose work I'm not familiar with but will try.</p> <p>I also love Isao Takahata's movies for Ghibli (Only Yesteraday, Pom Poko--haven't seen Grave of the Fireflies yet--silly me), and note that actually, Whisper of the Heart isn't Miyazaki-directed (oops). That one was done by Yoshifumi Kondō.</p> <p>And although I would recommend reading the manga instead, I do suggest you check out Monster, which is an adaptation of the series by Naoki Urasawa (whose 20th Century Boys is even more unmissable, IMO).</p> <p>Also, stuff like Bleach, DragonBallZ etc. bores the hell out of me, too.</p> Artistic license? Apologies if I misrepresented for the sake of simplifying the post. It’s brought some other good recommendations out of the woodwork. Interesting that you mention Patlabor, as Mamoru Oshii has been mentioned. A fan in the US also mentioned Satoshi Kon (who I haven’t watched since Perfect Blue), and Makoto Shinkai, whose work I’m not familiar with but will try.

I also love Isao Takahata’s movies for Ghibli (Only Yesteraday, Pom Poko–haven’t seen Grave of the Fireflies yet–silly me), and note that actually, Whisper of the Heart isn’t Miyazaki-directed (oops). That one was done by Yoshifumi Kondō.

And although I would recommend reading the manga instead, I do suggest you check out Monster, which is an adaptation of the series by Naoki Urasawa (whose 20th Century Boys is even more unmissable, IMO).

Also, stuff like Bleach, DragonBallZ etc. bores the hell out of me, too.

]]> Comment on In praise of Hayao Miyazaki by Felix Pels http://benhourigan.com/archives/2012/03/27/in-praise-of-hayao-miyazaki/comment-page-1/#comment-59154 Felix Pels Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:28:00 +0000 http://benhourigan.com/?p=1819#comment-59154 <p>To be fair, I wasn't asking for necessarily 'as good', my criteria was 'in the same league as Miyazaki, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Beebop, GitS:SAC, Patlabor, or Planetes'. It's a fairly broad range, with Miyazaki's environmental tales of young women with flying contraptions in one corner and GitS sci-fi philosophising in another, and Patlabor's 'meditative detective/political intrigue which just happens to have mechas in there - also, sometimes a comedy' in another.</p> <p>Clearly Miyazaki is absolutely at the top of the heap when it comes to animation as a medium, or just straight up film. I just want more anime of the kind that has great ideas and characters rather than constant fan service and drawn out, yet poorly drawn, action sequences like most OVAs. Bleach, I'm looking at you (though as little as possible, since you were a complete waste of my time).</p> To be fair, I wasn’t asking for necessarily ‘as good’, my criteria was ‘in the same league as Miyazaki, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Beebop, GitS:SAC, Patlabor, or Planetes’. It’s a fairly broad range, with Miyazaki’s environmental tales of young women with flying contraptions in one corner and GitS sci-fi philosophising in another, and Patlabor’s ‘meditative detective/political intrigue which just happens to have mechas in there – also, sometimes a comedy’ in another.

Clearly Miyazaki is absolutely at the top of the heap when it comes to animation as a medium, or just straight up film. I just want more anime of the kind that has great ideas and characters rather than constant fan service and drawn out, yet poorly drawn, action sequences like most OVAs. Bleach, I’m looking at you (though as little as possible, since you were a complete waste of my time).

]]> Comment on In praise of Hayao Miyazaki by Andrei Buters http://benhourigan.com/archives/2012/03/27/in-praise-of-hayao-miyazaki/comment-page-1/#comment-59153 Andrei Buters Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:46:00 +0000 http://benhourigan.com/?p=1819#comment-59153 <p>Yeah, it feels like I haven't watched a decent anime in years. It's so hard to find the cream. Although I have heard good things about Michiko to Hatchin, and Summer Wars convinced me that there's life in the old girl yet.</p> Yeah, it feels like I haven’t watched a decent anime in years. It’s so hard to find the cream. Although I have heard good things about Michiko to Hatchin, and Summer Wars convinced me that there’s life in the old girl yet.

]]> Comment on Kiss Me, Genius Boy by Do you need to be a good writer? | Ben Hourigan http://benhourigan.com/writing/kiss-me-genius-boy/comment-page-1/#comment-59152 Do you need to be a good writer? | Ben Hourigan Mon, 26 Mar 2012 07:03:04 +0000 http://benhourigan.com/?page_id=1802#comment-59152 <p>[...] Kiss Me, Genius Boy [...]</p> [...] Kiss Me, Genius Boy [...]

]]> Comment on A response to PayPal’s censorship of erotica by Lichen Craig http://benhourigan.com/archives/2012/03/09/a-response-to-paypals-censorship-of-erotica/comment-page-1/#comment-59150 Lichen Craig Wed, 14 Mar 2012 04:14:00 +0000 http://benhourigan.com/?p=1785#comment-59150 <p>Thank you for your thoughtful article, Ben. My novel "Gentlemen's Game" contains a rape scene, not for titillation but to show the brutality of rape as it really is. I fear that it would have eventually been amongst the casualties of this kind of short-sighted policy. I see today (3/13) that Smashwords is reporting that Paypal has reconsidered. Le't hope it sticks.</p> <p>Lichen Craig http://lichencraig.blogspot.com</p> Thank you for your thoughtful article, Ben. My novel “Gentlemen’s Game” contains a rape scene, not for titillation but to show the brutality of rape as it really is. I fear that it would have eventually been amongst the casualties of this kind of short-sighted policy. I see today (3/13) that Smashwords is reporting that Paypal has reconsidered. Le’t hope it sticks.

Lichen Craig http://lichencraig.blogspot.com

]]> Comment on A response to PayPal’s censorship of erotica by PayPal reverses position on erotica censorship | Ben Hourigan http://benhourigan.com/archives/2012/03/09/a-response-to-paypals-censorship-of-erotica/comment-page-1/#comment-59149 PayPal reverses position on erotica censorship | Ben Hourigan Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:35:15 +0000 http://benhourigan.com/?p=1785#comment-59149 <p>[...] A response to PayPal’s censorship of erotica [...]</p> [...] A response to PayPal’s censorship of erotica [...]

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