10 May 2003
showing a lot of promise
I caught the beginning episode of The AniMatrix, and I have to admit it was quite cool. I’m the first to admit that I was let down by The Matrix the first time I saw it. For that matter, subsequent viewings didn’t make me like it too much more. I’m not sure it was the over-the-top wire-fu or bad writing interludes, but something really overshadowed the great visuals and incredible premise for me. Keanu Reeves was more than passable for the role and Lawrence Fishburne was fantastic, but some of the lines they had to deliver (and their co-stars) went beyond cheesy, past camp, and well into the other side.
But the ani-Matrix shows much promise. The deeper ideas are more in evidence, and the visual style is even cooler than the original movie’s. Though it resembles in no small way the film Metropolis, itself no paragon of originality. Not to say it’s a bad movie, in fact it’s quite good. Don’t say that to an anime fan, though, as they seem to find it lacking somehow and will look at you the same way opera fans view “Jackass” watchers. Derision doesn’t start to describe it.
So I’m working on my website at the same time, and it too is showing some promise. The whole XHTML/CSS layout process is mildly arduous to adapt from my old, convoluted style of HTML, but ultimately I think it’ll be worth it.