Sunday, September 8, 2013

Miley Cyrus Twerking And Why Many Of The People Complaining About Her Are Ignorant Lemmings!

I've been reading so much about Miley Cyrus and her twerking antics as of late, and I'm admittedly irritated over its constant attempt at permanence by the media. About how she is so blatantly doing things that are so insulting, racist, exploitative...

No shit...

She's a pop starlet, you geniuses! She is using the same marketing tactics she's been taught to use by the various entities she's worked with that have used the same tactics since the beginning of the business.

I just read a small article - on The Wrap, stating how she is losing a cover on a magazine over this.

Are people honestly this fickle, and hypocritical? I've always thought most human beings are like lemmings, in terms of any number of situations they find themselves in, but seriously. Why is Miley getting so much blatant idiotic hate over a set of behaviors that are done by any number of other people in the media. Why is she being forced to assume a standard?

First example, of why this is stupid.

Let's look at the song, aside from her own, We Can't Stop, she is performing with Robin Thicke, Blurred Lines...A song that clearly states he wants to domesticate a women, calls them animals, and explains that it's in her (their) nature. Mr. Thicke calls them bitches, and has an unrated version of the video with these women dancing topless and rubbing themselves all over him; including the giant foam finger that others argue Miley is using so poorly. Morons on Twitter also were sending tweets commonly paraphrasing this statement "..Miley he's a married Man!", when Mr. Thicke (again as stated) has quite a few gorgeous naked women all over him in the video below, his wife I doubt gives a shit about Miley Cyrus performing with her husband... 

I also didn't interpret any meanings with my statements, those were lyrics I stated...Not to mention it has a moment in the video that states with large balloons "Robin Thicke has a big dick" -- Come on people, think! He probably had sex with the main nude starlet in the video (yes that's speculative), delusion would be to assume he hasn't, or hasn't tried...For people to complain in tweets that he is married over Miley's performance, seriously borders on insane levels of stupid.




I'm not hating on the song, or the music, I listen to it, it has a catchy beat, with the obligatory rap, hip hop singer in the background speaking a line or two in between the melody...in this case "...everybody get up" and "Wooo!".

Sure, I'm not a victim and I listen to music like this all day long, like many of us do. But I don't point a finger at someone with such arguments as to say "She's in the wrong!" it's a damn performance! on a live stage. Truth be told, all of you watching these performances are begging for shock value, and something different. When you don't get those things over time, you don't support the artist. In truth a piece of me wants to grab some of these people and tell them they need to masturbate themselves voraciously until they forget to speak, because most of them have absolutely useless things to say about this topic (and most if i'm honest with my thinking and opinion are indeed useless). 

Point in fact (I seem to have a few on this subject), look at Nascar. Many people will argue that they are not there to watch cars make left turns all day...They go for the excitement of seeing epic car crashes.

I sometimes wonder why people delude themselves into thinking they have some kind of moral high ground. I don't! I know the things that make me an asshole, and I know that I have a variety of them to contend with. I am honest enough about those things to not include myself in a mob of people that think, for one second, Miley Cyrus was doing anything other than trying to suck your attention toward her; and succeeded.

Like any other artists on the planet. Some do it with amazing amounts of taste, I can agree completely, and many also don't attract a lot of negative attention. However, how many of those that don't (actually) last in the marketplace.

Let me continue with the same performance Miley gained so much negative attention on.  

2 Chains also performed. Now, I personally don't listen to his music, because I think it's the kind of music that is essential to the functions in my body toward killing my own brain cells...But that's me, it should not invalidate any of you if you like or love his music. Some Rap and Hip Hop I love, others I want to gag. 

But his opening in the same performance featured a lot of black woman that were only there to shake their asses in as many specific manners as were humanly possible. All of which were very large asses, I might add...

We see this in virtually every possible Hip Hop and Rap video ever made. Perhaps that's an absolute statement and I am making a generalization - Because I am not going to research this to prove my point, let me retract the absolute and make an educated guess that possibly 95-99% of all Rap and Hip Hop music has a woman in some form shaking her ass for the enjoyment of the viewer, or for the purpose of lyrics in the song about shaking asses. Cite my source? Every music video I have ever witnessed. Don't ask me to cite a source, no one cares, i'm using broad generalization from personal experience.

I'm also not making that broad statement to shit on that kind of music; I'm only using it as a partial example, within all music, that there are a lot of situations where woman, or artists, are shaking there asses. Why is Miley getting so much negative attention over this then?

Is it because she's white? Because she's such a "perfectly clean cut" little girl formerly of Disney's Hanna Montana? Is it because she has a tiny little ass that most people would argue is not at all useful for said twerking activities?

I don't know, and I don't really care;  I do think this always boils down to the two most important things in life as I understand it ...Perception and Expectation...Which if we default to a great movie quote by George Clooney will equate to the main item of importance in life, Necessity.

Getting to the end of my observational rant, I am being an asshole myself. Making a (potentially) hypocritical judgment of all the people pointing out the negative issues of Miley twerking at the VMA's, spanking an enormous black ass, laughing at it with her nose practically in it, twerking up against Robin Thicke, and so on. Because I think a lot of these people have absolutely no clue as to what they are saying. They are making a judgment on someone based on the expectations of the perception that Miley is supposed to fit, under their judgment and morality according to what they need her to be.

In truth, whether she is actually self destructing, or not; she is still a pop starlet using traditionally appropriate methods to shed her old robotically controlled, Disney mandated persona - as most starlets born and bred through their system historically have...

Some people may read this and think i'm being overly critical, that's fine. I think if those people also made those moral high ground judgments against Miley without actually understanding the point of a performance, or actually assuming that she is in the wrong, among many other wrongs. Then yes, I'm an asshole, and I think those people are idiots...Stop worrying about a starlet and go read a fucking book you lemmings.

Miley will do her thing regardless...

...End rant!











Friday, September 6, 2013

Random Question: "Hey Manny! Can You Tell Me About All Those Pics In Your Twitter Account? They Are All Pretty Cool! Thanks Joe D."

I'm going to start using Blogger a lot more to talk about the random things that I am not necessarily writing about for other websites. So I'm going to start voicing and blogging about the random, wacky comments, and odd questions I get on my facebook and Twitter. Some of them are funny, some are tedious and strange; others just catch me by surprise, and deserve to be shared with the world. 

To answer the question, I guess listing them is the quickest way to describe them. But here's the TL;DR answer: "They're all pics from years of convention appearances and travels." 

I'll go top to bottom column by column.

Here we go, are you ready?
Column 1
1. A friend and fan created a demotivational of me that reads "Mangod: What If God Was One Of Us"
2. Me teaching a friend martial arts techniques to use in AMT Guard @ Tekkoshokan in Pittsburgh, PA
3. Me in my "Orgasm + Donor" shirt I wore only once at AMA leading a massive panel in Chesapeake, VA
4. Me with my wonderful friend Todd Rogers, King of Video Games, sexiest man alive...I'd tap that!
5. Another great friend I met doing appearances through Virginia that became one of my buds, Greg Miller, he and I are "Black and Tan" like our beers!
6. An old employee and myself having some fun in Boston.
7. Chasing Kroze with a Bullhorn at a convention in Crystal City, VA (If don't know who Kroze is, you haven't lived)
8. Not fully visible me doing a ridiculous aerial dive onto a fellow panelist at the same event as in #7 

Column 2 
9. Me Yelling at Kroze with a megaphone @ MagFest, expressing my disdain for how manly he is! "KROOOOZE!" (which drove Robert V. Aldrich insane...derp)
10. Saying my goodbyes at the closing events of Anime USA in Crystal City, VA
11. Hanging with my Friend Edward James Olmos
12. One of my best friends Kim Cohan, "Kimmy", showing off her tongue at an event that I appeared in, Orlando, FL
13. Taking a photo with my bud Bo Hampton, amazing Comic Book Artist 
14. One of the worlds best Street Fighter Players Daigo Umehara
15. Giving out Prizes in Boston
16. Posing with Fans at SakuraCon

Column 3
17. Posing with Fans at Dragon*Con - Thing 1 and Thing 2
18. At a release party for Tatsunoko vs Capcom with Seth Killian and one of the best Street Fighter Players in the World, my friend Sanford Kelly, as well as "Kurasa", Jeff Blyden, and "Keits", Adam Heart, (two of the countries best players for the title being released).
19. Having drinks with one of my close friends and mentors, Richard Epcar.
20. Posing with an amazing group of my friends at an event in Orlando
21. Giving out more prizes to a great gamer in the Boston Area, Matt Townsend
22. Appearing at Tekkoshokon in 2009 licking the ear of it's chairman and my friend Jim Gogal, while Jeanie (his wife) tweaks his nips...
23. Taking pictures with more fans at SakuraCon in 2009 (I think...O_o)
24. I need to move this picture higher, my good friend and colleague Chris Smith

Column 4
25. Two of my favorite people in different aspects of the anime industry, Chinh Ly from Anime Remix, and Tommy Yune from Harmony Gold, before we got stinking drunk partying in Miami
26. Teaching MMA tactics as a self defense course with my wonderful friend and fellow martial artist, Joel Joly
27. Hanging with Brian O'halloran, also before getting stupid drunk
28. Recording a podcast in Ohio
29. Shooting at fellow nerds with Airsoft rifles @ an event in Ohio (and getting shot at back)
30. Hot tub time with friends after a convention appearance
31. SpookyFest 2008, too much partying messing with people that were drunkenly passed out in my after party at 6AM
32. Two of the most wonderful woman in my life that are not my wife, my mother, my grandmother, or my children. Diane Spyridon-Hetland and Natalie Wood-Faulhaber - if you don't know them, your life is not complete...

Column 5
33. I setup a domino table in the middle of a hotel hallway by it's elevators, started drinking, and turned the hallway into a party...
34. My good friend and colleague Steve Downes, who I love making snort when he laughs while eating my cooking!
35. My bud over at Cox Radio, Dangerous Dave! 
36. Leading a Panel, writing cosmically awesome things on the board...wait, nevermind, i'm on a rant of some kind.
37. Having drinks with fans at an event after-party
38. Dinner with friends and staff after a convention, throwing out the usual gang signs in a pose
39. Posing in Resident Evil Cosplay with some fans - I don't do this enough!
40. Posing with staff at an event in St. Louis

Column 6
41. Greatest weekend ever, I got to guest judge in the Kansas City BBQ Societies Florida State Tournament, eating more ribs and steak than I could possibly ever hope for in a lifetime!!! FAT AND HAPPY!
42. Presenting gaming awards with Dangerous Dave to little kids
43. Two of my favorite people, Michelle, and Sammy, your life sucks if it doesn't have a little of both in it.
44. Two more of my favorite people Richard and Ellyn Epcar
45. Random Convention, i've done 1000+ hard to keep track which ones they all are from photos...O_o
46. Spookyfest in Orlando
47. Random event appearance, somewhere...lol
48. Massive audience in Eyecon

Column 7
Same as Column 12

Column 8
Same as Column 11

Column 9
65. Uncensored & Unscripted @ AMA 2012
66. Some of my previously sponsored Street Fighter players.
67. E3, I love it here!
68. Gaming Event in New England
69. Pittsburgh, Tekkoshokan, I miss Jim, the Speigels, Ellyn, Hoagie! T_T
70. My audience in one of my panels at a convention in Ohio
71. Really Happy Gamers, winning tournaments
72. More Happy Gamers in Boston, Cheering! Winning stuff I'm giving away.

Column 10
73. After-Party with staff, fans, and a lot of friends in Ohio
74. Wearing a Wisconsin Cheddar Head with a friend before leaving for GenCon
75. Getting Bonked on the head by fans cosplaying Ice Climbers 
76. Gamer's cheering in Boston
77. Talking to the MC's Penis and seeing if it answers my cosmic questions while in main events, saying goodbye in closing ceremonies, Tekkoshokan 2010
78. My crazy game room in Virginia 
79. My bigger crazy game room in Boston
80. Sitting in a Panel discussion making a guest appearance in St Louis.

Column 11
81. Teaching Scorpion and Sub Zero how to really kick ass @ Dragon*Con
82. Getting some random cheering
83. Gaming @ GenCon
84. One of my panels full to the brim, doing my top 25 Mech's of all time panel
85. Pop'N Music, I suck at this...
86. More cheering fans! RAVE YOU LUNATICS RAVE! Your raucous noise warms my heart.
87. Leading an epic panel with my wonderful friends and colleagues Steve Bennett, Larry Furry, Kevin Mckeever, and Steve Yun "Teaching Anime, Gaming, and Comic Book Nerds How To Talk To Girls!" in St Louis...we were invaded by fangirls and I got covered in streaming paper...


Column 12
88. Leading a huge panel discussion on one of my books
89. Gaming fun at an event outside of Boston; the organizer ended up kidnapping someone, after the event was over, and leading a multi-county car chase by the cops...fun...O_o (all because he couldn't pay the event bills)
90. Big Smash Bros. Tournament I sponsored
91. Street Fighter Tournament in Brooklyn
92. Massive Street Fighter Tournament in Ohio
93. Leading a crazy 18+ panel @ AMA in Chesapeake, VA 2012
94. Tourney I took 4th in Tekken.  I don't compete as often as I used to, but I love competing in Tekken
95. A lot of us half naked and running around with Keith Apicary at SGC...You had to be there. If you haven't run around naked trolling masses of people with Keith Apicary, you haven't lived. Our friends from Life and Level are also in this picture half naked as well. Same guys got to zap me in the ass with a cattle prod that weekend, demonstrating my manliness...

So there's your answer, wow, um yeah, that's a lot of picks in that background image, a lot of wonderful memories. Hopefully I never have to list them again! O_o (EDIT-> the background on this twitter has been changed but many of those images are still there just in a different order).

Feel free to comment, share, tweet, rant, and rave...Well...less ranting and raving. @emanuelfcamacho



Tuesday, August 27, 2013

That Keyboard Sure Looks Sexy Right Now...

I've been writing a lot of material lately and trying to find continued outlets for my writing. Why, well, that question is better posed in terms of what for?

I have a lot of work on my plate, but I find that when I complete certain tasks in my day to day I still end up having a good amount of time left over. Even if my normal day to day is 19-20 hours. I used to occupy my time with a myriad of hobbies that were nice. But I find that I'd rather use my time more constructively and continue to cultivate other business opportunities. Truth is, I will never be happy with anything I do unless I am in a specific set of circumstances.

Teaching - I was never more happy then when I was in front of a classroom. I've been in front of many types of classrooms, from middle to high school, teaching biology, mathematics, martial arts, corporate training education, teaching game design at the university level, project management to private enterprise, even hundreds of panels and seminars on genre specific materials over the last 20 years...etc I love the feeling, I love being in front of a group.

However, I get frustrated with the mundane activity of repeating the same set of functions across a prescribed period of time, which eventually hypnotize me into a stupor.

Writing - I adore writing...I need to serve it like a master. My fingers are slaves to this function. In truth I'm not a writer, because I don't write. I'm a typist, yet that is not the conventional thing to say, even if the colloquial term is to state a process I do not do. Fine.

I've been writing any number of pieces for a variety of websites, and companies. Things i'm used to writing on a daily basis. But I have noticed that I have become embroiled in my writing. If I am not writing, something, I am uncomfortable. I notice that if I am not working on a book, editing someones work, or writing an article for a website, I will look for things to write about.

Is any of this making sense?

Am I rambling?

I notice that my writing has become far greater now than it was three years ago, and of course come to the notion that of course it is like a muscle I am constantly keeping toned. Yet I am wondering if lately I am overworking this muscle.

Will I eventually come to a point where I will no longer have something of value to share? Will I end up hitting a floor, where the ideas no longer flow, where I have evaporated them all away?

I don't know, I guess people who write, for whatever purposes they write, struggle with this as well.

I love to write, yet I fear I will soon find my limitation.

If I don't find that limitation, will I be able to always remain relevant...

These are the thoughts floating around in the grey spaces of my world...




Friday, July 19, 2013

Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox Review



Very little needs to be said about this animated feature film. However, I will try to put together some words of use. I usually go the route "If you are a fan..." vs "If you are not familiar with the comics..." etc, etc.  It doesn't really matter here.  

This is one of the best Animated Features DC has made to date. Among all the animated features between the two rivals DC and Marvel, much of the DC animated features are slightly (if not consummately) better.  I say this in reference to what I thought was atrocious on Marvels behalf - ULTIMATE AVENGERS, and ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2, with some of Marvels best work in the HULK VS... & IRON MAN: RISE OF THE TECHNOVORE set of films.



To be fair both I-II were really weak films.

But for the most part, we as fans starve until we get the next DC animated film. I'm still mixed over the recent BATMAN: THE RETURN OF THE DARK KNIGHT PARTS I-II films. I loved part 1, I am still extremely mixed over the 2nd, especially with some of the weird things we saw Superman do. SPOILER: Most folks are hung up on the Batman Killing Joker scene...END SPOILER (If you havent seen this film, what are you waiting for).

Flashpoint takes place within a comic event equally named "Flashpoint" which gives us a glimpse of Flash longing for a change from his past, but by actually accomplishing this change pretty much ruins the future - completely...

I have to dig through my comics to read Flashpoint again - without remembering much of the details I went into this film almost blind. I remember the general concept in Flashpoint, but none of the details...strange? I'm in the middle of a move, which makes it more annoying to find a set of comics that are boxed and stored away...

Perhaps its a good thing, because I was literally able to enjoy the film without the comicbook nerd judgement I always have when watching these types of films.

Let me state (if it's not apparent), It was an absolute joy to watch this film. There are elements of the Golden and Silver age variations of these characters quietly embedded in the storylines DNA. We know its there, but its not overt. The voices were done by mostly familiar artists. Among my favorite newcomers to the film were Kevin McKidd (Luscius Vorenus from the HBO series ROME) playing Thomas Wayne, Batman's father; dawning the cape himself. 

We also got to see a variety of characters from the Superfriends era of the Justice League, most notably, Black Manta among a cornucopia of Atlantean characters.



Here is a Youtube video with a Legion of Doom Roll call 




This is by far the bloodiest and most violent DC animated film I have seen to date.  DC spared no argument toward keeping censors at bay, taking on the killing of children as a plot point and aspect of shock value. It makes perfect sense, this is a world torn apart by war, and the characters we meet are extreme counters to what we know. Most favorably and gloriously created is the time-altered Batman Story (did I mention this already? O_o)...That I think everyone will absolutely love! I also get some screen time from one of my favorite characters, Etrigan, poetically I might add.

As much as I love Superman, I absolutely love how he did and did not play a major role in this film. Allowing all the other characters to shine in the spotlight, without a nonsensical explanation (or lack thereof) for his absence.

Overall, there is a lot I'd love to say, but shouldn't as the film releases on the 30th and I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I think I might have already stated too much. It is in my opinion, among DC's best animated films. It made me laugh, I felt like a kid again, marveling at the characters. I had moments of surprise when I saw characters I hadn't seen since I was very young, much to my personal glee. It moved me to tears with some of the very bittersweet moments between Flash and Batman. This is almost a perfect film. I found myself constantly thinking..."Too bad it's already animated, this would have been a perfect story to convert for live action...", potentially for a Flash entry, or a weird option for the Justice League film.  It's not a stretch to imagine this as GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT is what DC based the Ryan Reynolds version of GREEN LANTERN upon...Either way, I'm glad it was made.

I Think you will too...Comment, Follow, Tweet with me...

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Pacific Rim: Review



I loved this movie - It made me feel like a kid again. At the core of the film, that is pretty much what it is supposed to do - Everything else almost doesn't matter. It's hard to reminisce about films like a child, because I tend to analyze what I see, especially when our good hard earned "dinero" is thrown in...That being said, the film in my mind resonated two things - I expected both - A live action film of what I used to love playing as a teenager - "King of the Monsters"... And as my friend Shannon Baker put it "Godzilla vs Transformers" -- Now I use that phrasing loosely, but in effect, it's not too far off. A few scenes, regardless of how much, Mr. Del Toro stated (he wanted) to be away from existing Anime themes, was nearly impossible for us that know Anime and not see those themes (that obviously) inspired much of this film.  I loved seeing the launch sequence for the Llagers, seeing in my mind what "Evangelion" could be like in a live action setting (especially with the remakes still in the works).

I see, to a degree, what the live action "Gaiking"might be like (if it would have actually been made) . 

Overall, in terms of what was good with this film, it does exactly what its intended to do (didn't I say this already), make you feel like a kid by marveling at the crazy things that are on the screen.  It's fun, and it definitely delivers a great amount of wow factor, with the crazy amount of nods to a variety of genres that it throws it you.

-- The Bad --

There are very few general gripes I had with the film, one, I didn't walk in expecting Oscar performances... Anyone that does, you are deluding yourself without any purpose, and in so doing, are robbing yourself of simply a fun film. You might also simply be a pretentious hipster, and I'd warn anyone from watching movies like this with pretentious hipsters...Sorry, I'm extremely prejudiced against Hipsters (and Trolls), now you know.

In terms of some Sci-Fi concepts, there are a few things that (if you understand physics, or general amounts of scienctific concepts) will break you from the "moment" because your nerd brain (like mine) will say...that doesn't make sense...You have to jar yourself back into reality and just say..."it's a movie, who gives a crap, shut up brain!"

In general there were little developments into the characters with a few exceptions, and the focus of the development of the systems of the Llagers (themselves) left little reason for its existence, and acceptance. The best way I can describe this would be.  If Tony Stark was kidnapped and placed into a cave and told "here are a bunch of spare parts, make us a missile" and he brakes out of the cave with a fully functional Mark VII type Suit, we wouldn't really believe it, there would be a disconnect in continuity and the acceptance of what we see (similar problem happened in the 1st "GI Joe" film with the level of tech used in the film, it was not believable, and scaled back to levels of reality in the sequel - especially when compared to the Transformers films)... The tech behind the concept of the suits is gorgeous and marvelous, but the innovation behind it is so extremely futuristic and evolutionary that its not believable - especially when the rest of the world is still operating on what we see is normal tech - like the choppers in the film, (mostly) older Sikorsky type helicopters...This doesn't line up...expecially if you mix in the types of interfaces they were using to monitor the Llagers.  I won't spoil any scenes - but keep this in mind - Communications and Vital Signs...you'll know when you see it. While these things were complete and utter eye candy, the point is almost completely apparent to anyone watching the film.

-- The Ugly --

For me, this may seem like a big issue, for others it is no big deal...

The music. It was underwhelming. This film is the reason a word like "Epic" exists.  Of the hundreds of myriad films that are produced each year, this is the type of film most people will pay to see in the theater and not wait for a home based release.  This is the type of film that keeps IMAX and 3D film theaters open.

Why would the music be so plain and boring?

Let me back up a moment, the music, was fine. It was simply not Epic, at least not to me.

Imagine if "Star Wars" was not composed by John Williams...Imagine for a moment it was composed by someone else - chances are the "Star Wars" we know and love would not be "Star Wars"...The music in those films are so Epic that its played in 4th of July fireworks sequences

...That's Epic...

Score is quite possibly the 2nd if not 3rd most important ingredient in a great film - 1st being Acting ( and Story), the other in contention for 2nd/3rd (depending on the observer) is Visuals. If the acting is bad, most people hate the film, but if the visuals and the score can somehow keep you in the moment, the acting doesn't matter anymore (basically I'm describing a Summer Blockbuster) - can we honestly say films like "Star Wars" had great acting? Hell no...But we love those films don't we? What makes it that much more frustrating for me, I'm a bit of an audiophile elitist and I love being immersed in sound. The composer of this film has put together amazing work for Iron Man, Game of Thrones, and has worked with Hans Zimmer. So I wonder if his vision...rather "Ear" for the film was steered away by other controlling entities.

My final gripe, again, depends on the observer - this movie seems to have been converted in post for 3D - it was not designed as a 3D film, ergo, its an awful 3D experience...there were 3D scenes in the Coke Commercial prior to the trailers (that were excellent) advertising the fact we were in a 3D theater, on a much better scale than the 3D conversion in this film.  Had Mr. Del Toro designed this film with 3D in mind, most of the objects would have been thrown at the camera, not away from it as in most of the film.  So don't waste your time watching this in 3D. 

-- Overall --

The film is a great joyride through an old and classic film genre, with many nods in respect to a variety of the themes that help inspire and bring it to life. The action is solid, the Kaiju are over-the-top and felt amazing. The music could have moved me more, and could have been scored to be more epic and grandiose, but it suffices.The story is interesting and will captivate a whole new generation of young minds that will now be seeking all kinds of content on the genre of Kaiju films, games, anime, and the like...and for that Mr. Del Toro I thank you - just next time get someone like John Williams, Hans Zimmer, or Basil Poledouris-esque (R.I.P. Basil)! Perhaps just let this composer do his thing without compromises, yeh... (Del Toro micromanages the entire process...So I wonder if he was driving the composition to his tunes.) 

If you don't like giant monsters, robots, mechs, anime, have an imagination, or an inner child...don't see this film. If you go to the movies to see riveting award winning acting that can move you to tears and hangs you on the very words of the actor - like watching anything (say) Daniel Day-Lewis is in? ...this is not the movie for you.

If you want some mindless fun in a film worthy of your $30-40 bucks (factor in the junk food, and the obligatory round of DDR, Shooting game, or Pac Man for people like my bud Todd Rogers - who i'm sure will get a round of Pac-Man in before the trailers start) - then this is a movie perfectly intended for the theaters -- I recommend IMAX...stay away from 3D...