“Angels in America” is a miniseries by HBO which is based on a play written by Tony Kushner. It revolves around the various relationships of a group of people during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Without explaining the plot, let me just say that it is indeed quite an odd show. This adjective is also commonly used by his critics to describe Thomas Newman’s music – what a coincidence.

“Angels in America” seems like the perfect project for Newman. It is a drama at its core, but with quirky aspects to numerous scenes and characters. Thus, while Newman’s dramatic side can shine, he also brings his more unique side (such as in “American Beauty”) to the table, but on a larger scale, effortlessly merged with the orchestra…(Click title to read more)

I was kind of obsessed with WALL-E for a bit so I wrote up some sheet music for the main theme (The Axoim on the soundtrack).

http://omohide.com/WALL_E_Theme_Axiom.pdf

http://omohide.com/wall_e_theme_axiom.mp3

(leave off the www)

Since the summer has started I’ve been catching up on a few films I’ve been meaning to watch, and there’s one thing that I’ve learned about myself in the process. I would never make a good critic. The reason for this is that if I watch a bad film, I will probably forget all about it within seconds of leaving a theatre. If there is nothing memorable about it, then I would find little reason to waste more time writing or talking about it. So I would’t find much enjoyment in negative criticism that many others enjoy writing and reading. However, the opposite is true of good films. If I come home after watching a great film, I will probably promptly suscribe to the IMDB message board and continue to post and check it periodically. In other words, if the film is a memorable one, I’ll never really stop writing or talking about it. Films like “Princess Mononoke”, “Ratatouille” and “Shawshank Redemption” are found in this long list, and now “WALL-E” takes its place as the latest addition……. Click title to read the rest of this article….

(Note: Spoiler-free review) I sometimes have a preference for completed series because I think spreading out episodes weekly can sometimes dilute the impact of the storyline or direction. Regardless, sometimes I pick up on a series which I like and notice it’s still ongoing, and therefore I’m forced into that situation anyways. True Tears was one of those series, and it made me realize that there’s a positive side to ongoing series as well, which is that it’s kind of fun to …(click title to read further)

Well, the last episode of True Tears was subbed very quickly and I have to thank the folks at…er..w00f…fansubs…for their great work.

Probably the best scene, I think….
Now, as for the show, although I personally thought a Noe ending would have been consistent with the show as well, and that it made more sense considering the relative development of the plot and characters, that isn’t what we got in this final episode. Regardless, the episode doesn’t really play into any camp’s hands. It wasn’t a Noe ending, and yet the final scene between the two certainly had a lot of depth, with Shin admitting….(click title to read further)

Essentially, this episode seems to revolve around the old saying, “You don’t realize the value of something until it’s gone”. The series has been building up to the dance performed by Shin. When it happens, he is thinking about Noe and to Hiromi’s surprise, Noe is the one he is gazing at. And at the end, he is running off towards her. A lot of negative things have been piling up on Noe for the past while, and all of it reminds me of KGNE. Does that mean the writers are going to follow the trend and have a sad-but-not-tragic “parting of the ways” in the final episode? Well, I don’t know. I’m not going to pretend that I”m not biased towards Noe because she’s probably one of my favourite….(click title to read further)

With two episodes left to go, I suppose we can see the trajectory that the plotline will take over the remainder of the series. “True Tears” is a much more conventional series than some of the ones I call my favorites, but at the same time, I do find that I have developed a sort of attachment to some of the characters. What I’m trying to say is that I’m disappointed that it looks like there will be a “bad” ending for Noe. Now, we don’t know it for sure, but taking into account…..(click title to read further)

Upon a friend’s recommendation, I’ve watched a few episodes of a new show called “True Tears”. I have to admit I was hesitant at first because it sounded like a generic harem title based on an dating sim game (which I dislike - a lot), but after a few episodes, it’s not quite that bad. Generally, there’s a few tests I apply to any slice-of-life/romance/drama anime. My first basic and simple law of anime (Theowne’s law?) is that “As the instances of pointless fanservice in an anime increase, the chances of said anime being one worth watching approaches zero”. In this regard, “True Tears” isn’t awful but it still succumbs to that tendency every now and then…….(click title to read more)