Nausicaä Of The Valley of The Wind (1984/2005 English Dub):

Nausicaä Of The Valley of The Wind (1984/2005 English Dub):

“Warrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.”

After the Seven Days of Fire, the world was divided between tribes with an ever-growing threat: The Toxic Jungle. Only one place in the land is safe. A place known as The Valley of The Wind. Princess Nausicaä tries to restore harmony to this apocalyptic world. She discovers that the wind and irrigation in the Valley keeps them safe.

But, others have different ideas of what will bring peace. The Tolmekian Princess Kushana seeks to annihilate the other superpower tribe Pejite with a destructive weapon from the Seven Days of Fire, the Giant Warrior. It's a race against time as Nausicaä teams up with the Pejite Prince Asbel to bring peace.

Nausicaä and Asbel are kidnapped by Kushana, along with her father Lord Yupa. Tolmekia resurrects the Giant Warrior and does battle with the giant bugs (called Oms.) of the Toxic Jungle. Nausicaä, being a pacifist turns them back and is able to demonstrate that her way calms the Oms and in fact can restore nature.

It's a fantastic journey full of wonder, post-apocalyptic tech (Hover-gliders, robots, tanks, gas masks, flash grenades, and guns.), and Miyazaki's trademark environmental themes, and anti-war messages. It's not without violence, but there is also a message of hope and rebirth. A feeling that peace will come even when it seems like evil will win.

This was a bold message for 1984, and it's easy to see that Tolmekia and Pejite are stand-ins for the global superpowers in the Cold War, with the Giant Warrior being not a giant robot, but a nuclear arsenal. Its themes and story still resonate today, with the need to be in harmony with Earth, and with need for something like Nausicaä's pacifism and curiosity.

Today, part of what makes Nausicaä fun to watch for me is the 2005 Disney English voice cast, which includes Uma Thurman, (Kashana) Shia LaBeouf, (Asbel) Mark Hamill (Pejite Mayor), and Patrick Stewart (Lord Yupa). Princess Nausicaä is Alison Lohman. If you have time today, give it a watch! It holds up!

THE KARATE KID (1984):

THE KARATE KID (1984):

“A martial arts master agrees to teach karate to a bullied teenager.”

So, I guess because of the success of Cobra Kai, Netflix re-released The Karate Kid movies. I haven't watched it since I was a youngster...and I'm pretty sure that was a rental. So, I thought...what the heck? Let's see if this holds up. I liked Cobra Kai, and like karate movies.

But, the first thing I noticed about the movie was, it's mostly a family movie. Which is ok, but it means the karate doesn't start until Miyagi defends Daniel. Miyagi's scenes are really good, and his “training” (a.k.a. doing chores.) Daniel for the tournament mostly demonstrates the philosophy of karate vs. punches and kicks. Something which is lost in the Cobra Kai series later, but the show makes fun of anyway.

Johnny Lawrence on the other hand, has good punches and kicks. We don't really see him train with Kreese; Johnny only leads a dojo session once. But we know Cobra Kai's philosophy (“Strike first, strike hard, no mercy!”) and that makes him a bully. He tries to control his girlfriend, and get his gang to beat up Daniel. It's Miyagi who decides the the karate tournament is the best way to win Cobra Kai's respect.

If Daniel wins at the tournament, then he won't have to fight, because he'll have earned respect. So, we enter the tournament. A couple things. Daniel enters the tournament as a black belt, because Miyagi says he is. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't happen today. Second, you have to love the 1980s ending to this movie. Daniel wins after the power ballad. Roll credits.

All in all, it is a great movie. But, I definitely see it differently as an adult than as a kid. Which I guess is the point. It's a family movie. It really made me think about how necessary the sequels were, and the Cobra Kai series. As a kid, I just thought “Wow, karate!” As an adult, I just thought “Wow, Kreese and Miyagi are pretty messed up.”

I mean, sure Johnny's a bully, but he's a kid. He's just acting cool. Kreese is crazy. Miyagi, as kind as he is, has no problem bending rules for Daniel and struggles with implied alcoholism and PTSD. Pat Morita was a great actor, and he really added a lot of heart to this movie, I won't argue that. But it does make me realize how flawed even he was, which is I guess why the Cobra Kai series works.

So, would I recommend watching it? It depends how much you like family movies. It was good to watch with fresh eyes again. But as it is, I think Cobra Kai gives you enough clips to catch up, and is more emotionally complex. Basically, Cobra Kai is for adults, but Karate Kid is great...if you're a kid.

THE TERMINATOR (1984):

THE TERMINATOR (1984):

“A human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.”

The Terminator is one of the greatest sci-fi action films of all time, mostly thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger as the killer robot. Kyle Reese is sent to protect Sarah Connor from his rampage. And the cyborg doesn't spare anybody. He shoots up punks, anyone named Sarah Connor, cops, and even tracks Sarah down to a hotel where she thinks she can be safe. But, she's not, because the Terminator will never stop until she's gone.

Time travel shenanigans ensue though here. You see, if Kyle Reese wasn't sent back from 2029, then the leader of his resistance wouldn't be born. It doesn't really work out. But, oh well, the action is good. Plus, it gave us the greatest sequel of all time, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The cyborg comes back to protect John Connor, who will lead the resistance against the robots.

If there's one thing that dates this film, it's not just the robot puppets, it's the fear of machines and computers. I wonder if a film like Terminator would be as effective today. But, Arnold Schwarzenegger makes such a good monster killing machine that it's hard to look away. Definitely watch it, but for the great action scenes. Everything else is kind of stuck in time. But, I like that.

Dreamscape (1984):

Dreamscape (1984):

"A young psychic on the run from himself is recruited by a government agency experimenting with the use of the dream-sharing technology and is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of the U.S. president."

So, a lot going on in this movie. Allegedly, the dream tech is to help mental patients. But, in this movie we see: nightmares of a boy haunted by a lizard man, a cuckolded husband's dream, and of course dream assassins trying to kill the President. Not the best movie, but a weird one. Check it out. It's more like a general idea of a movie that someone just slapped together.

Short Story: The Pigmen

Intro: Well, I thought I'd celebrate my return by posting another original short story. This one is The Pigmen. It has many influences...among them George Orwell, (1984/Animal Farm) The Twilight Zone, and Pink Floyd. From my own alien experience, this story represents how medical professionals often see my body, according to me. Also, that the medical profession is run by piggy banks...unfortunately. I'd like to develop this story further actually...but until then, here's The Pigmen!

     

THE PIGMEN:

by Chris Bowsman

It was dark when I first saw the pigmen. I could make out only a hazy snout lit by torchlight. One of them drugged me when a green pill was forced down my throat, and bound my hands with force cuffs behind my back, while another boxed me around with heavy hands until my gut was visibly torn and I choked back bits of blood and vomit. The air around me smelled like dank piss. If the swine's wrecking ball sized fists didn't do me in, the stench would.

"Don't worry." sneered the pig behind me.

“We’ll improve you soon.” said the pig who was in front. Before I blacked out, I consciously shook my crooked fist in rage.

I awoke face down in a sea of filth with barely enough light to see the sewage spilling over me in this tunnel. Miraculously, I stood and dodged the oncoming torrent of mud and scum. Someone had cut me free…but who? A man in a dark cloak let out a strangled whisper. “The pigmen above ground don’t want us to reach the light.” He said. He took me by the force cuff and led me down the darkness.

A door whooshed open from behind. Through my blurred vision I could still see the giant chrome chamber,  full of sticky sacks hanging from the ceiling: The mutation chambers. I cut through them with the force cuffs, and we moved onto the roof, shaped like a trough and adorned with the high-flung banner of the Pig Empire: red with a black pig head.

A dozen soldiers greeted us and came out squealing, “Come out with your hands up!” Laser rifles pointed at us. We jumped down into the trough, and since the pigs liked that filth, they couldn’t spot us. We jumped a guard in one of the escape pods from before the pig takeover. As we flew out of sight, and cheered ourselves, we saw the Empire disappear.

Then, I knew what would finally do us in. It wasn’t greed that would destroy us. It was our willingness to stay in filth. To let ourselves be “improved” by drugs. To let them make us think we are ugly and stupid. As my vision blurred over, my comrade grew a snout and tail. So, the mutation had begun.
Thinking quickly, I threw the pod into a nosedive and crash-landed in the desert to throw him off. He bit me in the leg, and squealed, and I kicked him in the snout. That would be the end of him, I thought, and cleaned myself in the oasis, until I squealed in horror…  that I had now become a pig!

“If you didn't care what happened to me, 

And I didn't care for you, 

We would zigzag our way through the boredom and pain. 

Occasionally glancing up through the rain. 

Wondering which of the buggars to blame. 

And watching for pigs on the wing.”

- Pink Floyd, Animals, Pigs on the Wing Pt. 1