Benjamin T. Collier's Blog

Sarcasm Frequency

Posted on April 23, 2013 by benjaminfrog

I think it surprises some people to learn that I enjoy South Park. The show gets pretty nasty at times. But the same people also wonder why I don’t watch Simpsons or Family Guy, since those shows seem like they should be right up my alley. The fact that South Park uses stronger language does not, to me, make it more offensive. Heck, in their last album Mumford & Sons dropped the F-bomb three times in one song, and these guys are favourites among Christians. (Turns out that song is also my favourite song on the album, but not because of the language.) It’s actually the use of the name Jesus as a curse that causes me to step away from whatever I’m watching. That too, happens in South Park, in some episodes more than others.

But wait, that lead-in went on a rant in the wrong direction. What I wanted to talk about was sarcasm.

The reason South Park appeals to me as much as it does, even more than any similar adult-humour cartoons, is that the show and I operate on the same sarcasm frequency.

Let me try to explain…

A person with a low sarcasm frequency only uses (and only understands) sarcasm once in a blue moon. Their equivalent to sarcasm is to say something they don’t really mean and then add “NO-O-O-T!”

The average person uses (and thinks in terms of) sarcasm only about half the time. They use it sparingly, without overdoing it, and they understand most of the sarcastic jokes given by the average person. These are probably the more psychologically balanced individuals.

And then there’s people like me, who think in terms of sarcasm so constantly that almost everything we say has a flavour of sarcastic wit to it, even when we are being genuine. For us, sarcasm sometimes becomes so integrated into our behaviour that the people around us can’t tell if we’re being sarcastic or not.

Roughly 95% of everything that happens in South Park is sarcastic. And even when the writers are being dead serious, that feel of sarcastic wit still hangs in the air. When I watch this show, I get it. Even when there’s nothing happening, I get it. A lot of people don’t, but that’s just the difference in frequency.

Now, I’m not saying that any particular frequency is better than another. We are all as God made us. Some of us can’t get all the jokes, and some of us put people off by never feeling real. South Park even did an episode last season making fun of people who overuse sarcasm. But you may be surprised to learn that I’ve discovered a frequency even higher than this – a frequency so high that I miss half of it.

The person I’m referring to is Joss Whedon. Or possibly the combination of Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard. Not sure. I discovered this higher frequency when I watched The Cabin in the Woods, which Whedon co-wrote with Goddard. I understood what the movie was, and I liked where it went. There was a time early on when I saw where it might go and I got excited and then it looked like it might not go there and then it went there and I was happy. And although I got most of the humour, I was keenly aware that I was also missing some. I could see the jokes from a distance, but not clearly enough to get it. I had discovered a sarcasm frequency so high that it was doubling over itself, creating a sarcasm within a sarcasm. Like a sarcastic Inception. To quote one of Whedon’s own lines, “That guy’s brain is a bag of cats.” It was beyond me.

Posted in Personal, Pop Culture | Tagged Drew Goddard, Joss Whedon, Sarcasm, South Park, The Cabin in the Woods | Leave a comment

Dragon Ball Z – Season 4 – (a TV review)

Posted on April 10, 2013 by benjaminfrog

Now it’s starting to get to my favourite period of the show. The Android Saga is where I started watching Dragon Ball Z back when it was on YTV, so it has particular nostalgic appeal for me, plus most of my favourite characters. The number one priority of this season is to point out the awesomeness of Trunks, but that’s not until midway in the season. The story actually starts off in an odd place.

The season actually begins with the return of Garlic Jr., the main villain of the first ever DBZ movie Dead Zone (see Season 1 review). It’s unusual that the show would make reference to events in one of its movies, and truth be told this mini-saga serves as little more than a filler. It may well have served better as a movie itself. As it is the pace is quite slow. If you were unable to watch Dead Zone before now then Mr. Popo recaps the events. Also Icarus is in the show for the first time.

The premise for this mini-saga is interesting. In addition to the premise behind Dead Zone, this time around Garlic Jr. uses something called the Black Water Mist to turn all of the residents of earth evil, taking all of their hidden, evil desires they’ve been resisting and bringing them to the surface. The depictions of everyone giving in to their evil desires is pretty amusing though; one guy attacks a car with a battle axe, another guy eats a vegetable, most people get purple eyes and sprout fangs, and Roshi is pretty much the same.

I think in Garlic Jr.’s position I would hire minions who don’t go out of their way to explain to the heroes the precise details of where he gets his power and how to stop him. I know minions are prone to do that anyway, but the Spice Boys put extra effort into it. Yes, that’s their name. (SPOILER ALERT) In the end Garlic Jr.’s final strategy is to open up the Dead Zone like he did at the end of the movie. Maybe this guy isn’t as brilliant as his maniacal laugh implies.

While the spoiler alert is still on: During the battle, Piccolo and Krillin both get purple-eyed and mercilessly beat the tar out of Gohan as part of an elaborate scheme to look like they’re beating the tar out of Gohan so Garlic Jr. will trust them. When their plan is complete they turn to Gohan with a clevor grin like, “Oh, you thought we were trying to hurt you? Psyche! You got Punk’d big time! See that camera over there?” And bloody, bruised Gohan laughs like, “Aaah, ya got me!”

(SPOILER ENDED)

There is a sense of the show maturing a little with each season. Season 4 is an interesting one, because it’s like the show went from a child to prepubescent and suddenly discovered how hot women are. There are two particular new female characters who get a lot of attention, and this season sees female nudity for the first time in Z – a tooshie on one of Roshi’s girly mags. There is teasing of more, but it’s only teasing.

I suppose it’s nice that Krillin is finally gifted with a love interest, though it’s weird that she looks exactly like Bulma, and it’s even weirder that nobody notices the similarity. Maron’s inclusion in the Dragon Ball universe gets even weirder than that, but that bizarre twist is for a later season.

One issue I have with the introduction of Trunks is the dense cloud of Smug that permeates the awkward battle of smack-talk between him and the villain. The duel of getting the last word takes a lot longer than necessary.

Question: How come Trunks’s sword is so much bigger when carried by a larger person, to the extend that it couldn’t possibly fit in that little sheath he has on his back? Is it because it’s like Sauron’s ring and magically adjusts its size to accommodate new users? Or is it just because the animators missed something?

Goku’s explanation of the Instant Transmission technique makes no sense. Basically it allows him to travel at the speed of light. Raditz from Season 1 could travel faster than that, and so can interstellar spaceships. I don’t understand why they didn’t just call it teleportation.

(SPOILER ALERT): There are plot holes in why they don’t take steps to prevent the Androids from appearing. The writers tried to patch this up with moral or philosophical dilemmas, but still left big holes. The Z Fighters could have used the Dragon Balls to find out where Gero was hiding and at the very least imprison him for past crimes. That’s my thought. Someone more violently inclined, like Vegeta, could probably come up with an easier solution, but I’m thinking Goku wouldn’t have a moral objection to imprisoning Gero.

(END OF SPOILERS)

Fun Game: Once the Android Saga starts, try counting the number of times someone says “you guys”.

Violence: When Trunks shows up he goes Kill Bill on everyone.

Nudity: Goku’s butt. Baby Trunks’ butt & junk. Butt and sideboob in one of Roshi’s girly mags. Maron is often provocatively dressed, but her parts are never bared, even during the carefully angled shot up her blouse. There is also a close-up shot of her chest swinging side to side.

Sexuality: Roshi (who else?) grabs one of Maron’s boobs, and while wrestling Chi-Chi to stop her killing someone also rubs his face on her chest. In the English dialogue Roshi asks Maron for kisses; in the Japanese dialogue he asks for a bit more than that. Later he tries to grab her but misses and makes out with a house plant instead. There is a game of strip poker, but again, nothing is revealed.

Oppressive content is down for the most part. There is more than one dream/nightmare sequence in this season that gets nasty. Two of the times they try really hard to convince you that it’s real, even to the point of having multiple points of view, and then surprise you with it turning out to be a nightmare.

Quote of the Season

“If she can’t love you for who you really are, try giving her a giant pearl.”

– Turtle

The History of Trunks

No, this is not a documentary on underwear. This is a one-hour DBZ special giving the audience an exciting glimpse into the origins of Future Trunks. Like Bardock: The Father of Goku, this is labeled as a movie, but you won’t find it in the DBZ movie collections because of its alternate format. If you haven’t watched Season 4 up to at least Episode 122 “Mystery Revealed” then me explaining the premise here will be a major (SPOILER ALERT).

The story begins with the death of Goku, which, given the history of the show doesn’t seem like it should be a difficult problem to fix. Shortly after Goku’s passing the Androids show up and kill off most of the Z Fighters, leaving only a teenage Gohan, and a young Trunks who is still learning to fight. Like Bardock, this is a fairly gloomy tale because we know how it ends. I found the action sequences in this story to be much more enjoyable, however. The image of an alternate future Gohan kept my interest.

I consider Trunks to be the John Connor of Dragon Ball, which would make this story like Terminator: Salvation. Except this time the would-be hero actually becomes a hero instead of remaining a helpless wimp for the whole movie and still needing others to do all the work. (I didn’t like Terminator: Salvation.)

I would say the best time to watch this would be in between Episodes 136 and 137.

Posted in Dragon Ball, Pop Culture, Review | Tagged Android, android saga, Christian review, Dragon Ball Z, garlic jr, Trunks | Leave a comment

The Easy Way

Posted on April 5, 2013 by benjaminfrog

Posted in Bite-Sized, Dragon Ball, Images, Pop Culture | Tagged Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Goku, Launch | 3 Comments

Chocolate – (a review)

Posted on March 31, 2013 by benjaminfrog

This seems like a good time to give my expert opinion on chocolate.

Actually, Chocolate is the name of a martial arts film I came across recently dealing with the subject of autism, so I took a look at it and wrote up a review for the White Rose Writers. To get directly to the review just click here.

Happy Easter!

Posted in Autism, Review | Tagged Autism, Jeeja Yanin, Martial Arts | Leave a comment

Dragon Ball Z – Season 3 – (a TV review)

Posted on March 26, 2013 by benjaminfrog

This is what it’s all been building up to. The Namek saga comes to a close with the climactic showdown between the tyrant Frieza and the heroes from Earth. Season 3 of Dragon Ball Z is regarded by many to be the pinnacle of the show. Future seasons maintain the intensity of battle, but Season 3 set the standard. This is where everyone sees the heart and soul of the show.

Prepare yourself for a long battle, because the fight against Frieza takes up the entire season. His goons are of no more use here. Opposing forces take their turns at seeing how they measure up against the tyrant but, like the past two seasons, the viewer is just waiting for Goku to show up… and he takes his sweet time. And when you start hearing people say something will take “minutes”, don’t believe them. A “minute” to them is several half-hour episodes.

There are occasional breaks in the intensity of the fight to deal with lesser plots going on in different parts of Namek, back home on Earth, or on King Kai’s planet, providing some much needed comic relief and change of pace and scenery.

Transformations are one of the great pleasures of this show, and Season 3 is most famous for that element. There are impressive demonstrations of landscape destruction during the battles, which would be upsetting if it was Earth, but being another planet it’s okay to be impressed.

Goku reaches new levels of badassery in this season, and shows some inspiring examples of how to respond to evil. His self-promotive words may offend though, depending on which version you’re watching. He puffs himself up a bit, but there are versions where he gets less carried away. The comedic Abridged version by Team Four Star paraphrased it as “I am the Alpha, and the the Ameega.”

Vegeta’s health concerns, raised at the close of Season 2 as an additional cliffhanger, are never addressed. So if you were hoping for closure on that then you’re tough out of luck. He just becomes fine all the sudden.

To save you some confusion, I’ll explain that the guy who makes a cameo appearance in Episode 97 is not Cui. He looks and dresses exactly the same, and says that his entire race was wiped out, which would imply that he’s Cui because if he’s the only one left then nobody else could look like that. But he’s not Cui. Then another member of his race enters the room. …I suppose that didn’t really help to make things less confusing.

Language: I heard “D*mn” and “My G*d.”

In an unexpected turn, Roshi at one point says “God bless him” and “All we can do is pray”, which might offend other groups.

Violence: Same as what youd’ve come to expect by now. The only notable thing might be the bloody, torturous and drawn out impalement attack that Frieza uses on someone. That’s not the only person he takes the opportunity to torture though. He’s a sick bugger.

Sexuality: While grabbing Chi-Chi to stop her from flying into space, Roshi rubs his face against her butt. He is then bashed in the nose.

Nudity: Vegeta’s butt. That’s all. There are some close-up images that might concern people, but it’s just a close-up of Frieza’s tail. Don’t panic.

Occult References: In Episode 103 “Pathos of Frieza” one of the characters demonstrates a form of divination called “Firemancing.”

Quote of the Season

“I wouldn’t want to be me right now, but I don’t have a choice.”

– Goku

Cooler’s Revenge

Cooler is one of my favourite character designs, so I wish I had more praise for the movie as a whole, but I don’t. There are some impressive moves, but the flow of both the plot and fight choreography comes at a boring pace. The choice of battleground seems unfitting for the kind of villains the heroes face this time around.

The premise of Frieza having an older brother interested me, but coming right after Season 3 some people might be less enthusiastic over the opportunity of seeing more of that particular species. People might be happy to know that the fight against Cooler doesn’t take anywhere near as long as the fight with his brother. He reveals his trump card surprisingly quick. He’s also got his own version of the Ginyu Force, called “Cooler’s Armored Squadron”, who are not as stylish.

Given the way the movie begins, it might be less jarring to watch it part way through Season 4, but the power levels of certain characters in this movie, plus Gohan’s hairstyle, means the best time to watch this would be right after finishing Season 3.

Posted in Dragon Ball, Pop Culture, Review | Tagged Cooler, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Frieza, Goku | 1 Comment

Your Highness – (a film analysis)

Posted on March 22, 2013 by benjaminfrog

I didn’t really enjoy myself the first time I decided to try this movie, and afterward I didn’t know how I felt about it. Then one day I saw it on again and I decided to give it another shot, and found myself laughing a lot more. Then I watched it a third time and was laughing practically the whole time. This calls for analysis.

Evidently this film grew on me, but part of enjoying this movie was coming to an understanding of exactly what the heck it was I was watching, which took some time and thought. Time and thought which may have been bypassed in a different state of mind, since I am pretty sure this is a stoner comedy, but my distance from that lifestyle has never hindered me from enjoying that kind of comedy before.

The fact is the reason this movie doesn’t quite make sense is that it doesn’t have a place in this universe. It is at its core a parody of fantasy epics, the kind they used to make in the 80’s, like Conan and Krull. The problem is, in the 90’s audiences lost interest in those kind of movies, and the genre died, until Lord of the Rings showed up, at which point the genre was redefined and everyone hoping to make a fantasy epic had to design it with LOTR as the standard, a standard which nobody could live up to (like the effect that Star Wars had on space adventure).

If I assume that Your Highness is spoofing 80’s fantasy flicks, then the quality of the action and special effects doesn’t fit, nor the amount of gore. It makes the most sense if I assume that this movie is a parody of what those kinds of films would be if they had continued to be made through the 90’s and were still around today. Thus, this movie doesn’t really belong in this universe but in a parallel universe with different movies.

Unfortunately, the only epic fantasy movies currently being made in our own universe are either considered too perfect to make fun of, or are the low-budget, made-for-TV flicks that are so bad that making fun of them feels too much like kicking a homeless puppy. Our universe lacks that sweet spot of B-epic fantasy movies that Your Highness needs in order to have a place here. But that’s fine by me. As I’ve stated elsewhere I don’t particularly fit this universe either.

The blending of the coarse language of adult comedies and the poetic dialect of fantasy tales makes for an entertaining combo that makes both feel equally ironic. I think this juxtaposition is the reason the obscenities don’t bother me in this movie as much as they normally would.

This movie is deceptively crappy in certain parts, which may be why the better scenes stand out more. The opening gave the impression that this was going to be low-budget. Then the first real action sequence occurred and I found myself unsure of what to make of all this. The FX are brilliant, the music is perfect and the action is well choreographed.

Zooey Deschanel makes a great princess. My favourite moments in this movie all have to do with her character (Princess Belladonna), particularly the dialogue between her and the main villain. Belladonna is the kind of princess I would go on an adventure to rescue. I would not, for example, go on an adventure to rescue Princess Leia – she is too annoying and not worth it – nor anybody named “Buttercup.”

Having said all that, there are some things that keep this movie from being perfect.

The main character (Danny McBride as Prince Thadeous) is far too difficult to like. I get that his character is supposed to be an annoying, self-centered jerk, but even as a complete jerk a main character has to have some degree of charm that makes us like them in spite of all their faults, and McBride doesn’t pull it off. He has his redeeming moments, but they are too sparse and far too late into the movie.

Additionally, adventure films like this (even comedic ones) are designed to make you want to join the heroes on the adventure, which for the most part this movie does, except for the Wise Wizard. That element significantly decreased my desire to adventure with them.

It’s almost pointless trying to do a Christian review of this movie, since I imagine most would stay away from it anyway, but if I gave this film a shot then there may be other Christians who would too.

The brunt of the nudity in this film is around the scene in the land of the “white people”, women who are naked but for minimal coverings of foliage and white mud. There is a significant character introduction that occurs here, as well as one of the coolest creatures in the whole movie, so it isn’t really skippable.

Sexuality is not so much acted out on screen as it is talked about. Part of the crudeness of the characters is their graphic references to sex which, again, is made humourously ironic by their poetic mannerisms.

Magic tends to stay fantasy based. I didn’t notice anything specifically occult except perhaps a scene with the manservant Julie pulling out his tooth and chanting something.

Gore is red and juicy. It’s surprisingly plentiful given the kind of fantasy epics that we’re used to, but it’s all the same shade of red and you can’t really tell one chunk of gore from another, which makes it overall less graphic.

In summary, I find this movie thoroughly enjoyable, though can’t imagine anyone I wouldn’t be embarrassed to watch it with. So I guess it falls under the category of guilty pleasure.

Posted in Pop Culture | Tagged Comedy, Danny McBride, Fantasy, Movies, Your Highness, Zooey Deschanel | Leave a comment

Deep Question #4

Posted on March 12, 2013 by benjaminfrog

What happens if you wave your arms in the air as if you do care?

Posted in Bite-Sized, Random | Tagged Phrases | Leave a comment

Strategic Prayer

Posted on March 4, 2013 by benjaminfrog

They say, “Don’t pray for patience,” because, “God will give you something to be

patient about.”

I’m amazed more people don’t think to pray for thankfulness.

Posted in Bite-Sized, Spiritual | Tagged God, Patience, Prayer, Thankfulness | 1 Comment

Dragon Ball Z – Season 2 – (a TV review)

Posted on February 27, 2013 by benjaminfrog

It took me a noticeably long time to get through this season for review, which says something about how much I was looking forward to watching this season again. I think I would enjoy it a lot more if the scenery of Planet Namek wasn’t so tedious. It also takes a while for the combat scenes to get good, and then they don’t last long enough. The season is used mainly as a set up though, a kind of teaser of the third season, which is a lot more epic.

The early episodes in Season 2 harken back to the original series, when the show wasn’t so much about fighting but about adventure. It’s also the last big hurrah for Bulma, as her role as one of the adventurers pretty much closes after this story arc.

It takes that giant a long time to get from his bed to the thing right next to his bed.

I related the plot of this season to the journey of Frodo and Samwise in Lord of the Rings. The two heroes the season focuses on the most, in this case being Gohan and Krillin, are not at this point considered to be the best warriors the good guys have to offer, but they are the ones traveling to a far away land (a whole ‘nother planet), evading imposing hostile forces as they navigate through unfamiliar territory. They reluctantly rely on a former enemy to help them against a common threat, the odds are stacked impossibly against them and they do suffer through a lot before the journey reaches its end. Gohan is even given the chance early on to back out of the mission and refuses.

Since you will no doubt be wondering, yes, Frieza is in fact a man. So is Zarbon. That may take a while to sink in. Zarbon’s voice at least gives him away as a male, but there is nothing about Frieza that suggests he’s a dude. We have only the word of his subordinates to tell us that he is male, and if he says so then they probably wouldn’t question that.

Mr. Briefs’ cat is creepy. It’s always looking at you and never blinks.

I’m watching these seasons on DVD, and for this season it is most obvious to me that the American dialogue has been changed from what I remember when I first caught these episodes on YTV all those years ago. For one thing, I distinctly remember Zarbon being Australian (I think he still is in a flashback in a later season). And when Goku gets back to fighting he suddenly starts talking like a news reporter. For the most part the “revised” dialogue fits the scenes very awkwardly.

Another negative note is that Season 2 is even worse for beating up on kids. If you thought Season 1 was bad, oh cripes, this is brutal.

In the midst of an otherwise pretty dark season though, they do add a lot of humourous elements to try and balance things out. Season 2 in particular is known for introducing one of the most infamously comedic villain groups in the series. Once they come in it definitely spices things up.

Language: It’s a bit coarser in this season. I found H*ll, D*mn, and B***ard, and at least three people flipping the bird.

Nudity: A couple of Saiyan butts. Bulma has a daydream about the good ol’ days and Kid Goku has his junk showing. There is a scene where Bulma gets a bubble bath but is covered by bubbles where it counts. She also starts off the season in the same outfit she had on where Season 1 left off. One of the villains spends his entire fight with his butt crack showing.

Sexuality: Roshi grabs a nurse’s butt.

There is also smoking, if that’s a concern.

Quote of the Season

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this whole ordeal it’s that I’m a freakin’ genius!”

– Vegeta

Bardock: The Father of Goku

This technically wasn’t a movie, but a 1-hour special giving background info on where Goku came from. The plot falls into the category of the kind of apocalyptic stories that find popularity with Japanese audiences. The hero, and the audience, both know that the world is doomed, it is simply a question of how to respond to this knowledge.

It is, of course, depressing, but what surprised me was how little action there is in it. A story as brooding as this is not what I was expecting from “The Father of Goku,” although he does have one epic moment that lives up to the title. The American voice acting falls flat here unfortunately.

Suggesting a specific time to watch this is tricky. It requires you to have prior knowledge of a certain event, but it shows the evil deeds of a villain who by that time has already gotten his comuppants. And showing more of the evil deeds a character has done after showing his punishment is something that doesn’t psychologically sit well with audiences. The only real perfect time to watch it would be in the middle of Episode 49 “The Prince Fights Back” – after Vegeta learns the truth about his home planet, but before he responds to that information. That’s a very small window.

Nudity: Bardock’s butt and Baby Goku’s junk.

Lord Slug

This is one of my least favourite DBZ movies. I don’t find the villains particularly interesting and, although the plot was potentially interesting, the way it plays out is not. Perhaps by now I’d seen too many of these movies already, and become familiar with their flow, so by the time this story reached its dramatic everybody-around-me-is-dying-and-I-can’t-let-them-down-and-also-I’m-shirtless stage I couldn’t help but laugh. The action is also lacking compared to other DBZ movies.

Yay! Icarus is back!

One point I give to Slug is that out of all the galactic tyrants in the Dragon Ball universe I think his soldiers have the coolest uniforms. And if you’ve gone through Season 2 then you know how important uniforms are to galactic tyrants.

The minion Medamatcha is disgusting, and would make a fun video game character.

Timing this movie is tricky. Gohan has his Season 1 outfit, but his Season 2 haircut. Given the brief talk of Super Sayians, and where they stop with it, it seems they intended this movie to be watched sometime during either Seasons 2 or 3. My recommendation would be in between the two seasons, since once the fighting in Season 3 begins it would be annoying to have to interrupt. You just have to imagine everybody back on Earth temporarily.