July 1999 – Azure, Azure~

The Three of Mana

Post published:Wednesday, July 28th, 1999
Reading time:1 mins read

Seiken Densetsu 3 is more than keen, says me. Angela, with Hawk and Lise, are my chosen party (though renamed appropriately). It’s interesting how engaging is this game, as SD2: SecretÂ of Mana didn’t really grab me inordinately. The GB SD game (renamed Final Fantasy Adventure over here) was playable, I suppose, but, again, didn’t do much to my brain. I’ve never seen SD1, so I can’t comment there. The fighting system in this game is a bit peculiar; a sort of liquid turn-based realtime Legend of Zelda setup. Whereas Secret of Mana and the GB game were simply a realtime Zelda-ish system, this has an added “fluid turn” system, making things a bit awkward. The character is wandering around, freely, in realtime, but is only allowed to attack once every few seconds. Hm. I imagine I’ll adjust, but it’s a bit annoying at the moment.

Nevertheless, this game grabs me. I dunno what it is. . .

Cheers to Neill Corlett, Lina`chan, Nuku-nuku, and SoM2Freak — it’d be nice to have their skills, I must say.

The Real Thing

Post published:Wednesday, July 21st, 1999
Reading time:1 mins read

My word — Trent’s new single is… accessible. It sounds at once more pop-metally than I’d ever associate with nin (other than in the PHM era) and portentous of something “important.” I’m really curious, now, about The Fragile.

Strictly on an associative standpoint, it almost sounds like Trent is playing Faith No More songs and being produced by Richard D. James — although I mean this in a better way than it sounds.

I like the splendid, ironic bitterness in Starfuckers, Inc., now that it’s actually sunk in. Hehe — he plays the part well, too. I was wondering why the heck he did put the Carly Simon reference in there. I missed entirely his sarcastic tone.

Hehe — probably his most obviously “political” song. It’s hilariously, bluntly witty, when I read the lyrics.

Hi, there.

Tarzan

Post published:Saturday, July 10th, 1999
Reading time:2 mins read

Really dug the characterization of Jane in the recent Disney incarnation of Tarzan. Actually, the whole thing was surprisingly well-handled, with the only strong gripe, allowances made for the traditional sigh-enduing Disney touches, being the segment from about five minutes into the film (once baby Tarzan is found and picked up by his ape mother) until Tarzan is an adult. That whole bit of the movie — about fifteen or twenty minutes’ worth — could have been completely excised, to no detriment (rather, to an improvement). Like that they kept the Weissmuller yodel (though it’d be near-impossible to not do so by this point). No “Oongawah”s, however.

I’m certainly no expert on the character or on Edgar Rice Burroughs in general, but wasn’t Tarzan supposed to actually be somewhat of an English gentleman (contrary to his depiction in the old JW films)?

I don’t mean to go out on a limb here — ahem — but I’d say that Disney is starting to come back, somewhat, in the cartoon department. After the first four of their “new” movies there was a deep lull. Mulan seemed to be a turning point of sorts, and Tarzan appears to be following its lead. Both strike quite a bit from the established and annoying formula. The “experimental” films made between Lion King and now have apparently paid off in a sense.