R. O. D. Read or Die

Is Read or Die something you should see? YES!!!!! Especially if you are into reading at all. Yumiko Readman is going to be your hero. (I don't know about the name. Maybe she was so into reading that she changed it.) I'm getting ahead of myself though. Let's go back to the beginning.

The first (of three) episodes started with a lightning wielding mad man attacking the President because he thinks that the White House is the Library of Congress. That take up the first minute and a half, and the President, who has just wet himself asks who the strange man is. The man simply answers I-Jin before the credits roll.

So this credit music is great because it brings up the feel of a 70's spy show opening music. It is intense with a lot going on, and it makes you feel like something exciting will be coming your way. Then we meet Yumiko.

We're three minutes into the show, and now we get to spend five minutes getting to know our main character. Every bit of spare space in her apartment is taken up with books. Even her phone has half a dozen books on top of it. She is woken by the phone, and we see that she has slept in her clothes with her glasses on.

After this, we spend the rest of the time watching Yumiko as she goes shopping. What is she buying? Why more books of course. She ends up spending almost all of her money and then has to make a deal to buy an old book, Immortal Beloved, on credit. Oh, I should mention that there is another woman that wanted the book, but Yumiko takes it instead.

So this doesn't seem like the story the opening theme music promise, but that will change as a swarm of insects sweeps down the street chasing everyone but Yumiko away. She's too wrapped up in her book to even notice them until a truck carrying paper crashes near her and knocks her over. That's when you discover there is more to Yumiko Readman that just books. She is able to control paper to make a wall to protect her from the bugs.

Not only can she make a wall, but she can make paper do just about anything. She discovers that the bugs come from another I-Jin on a giant insect. He wants her book, but she fights him off using her paper powers. It seems unlikely at first that the girl we just watched spend her day shopping for books could do this, but As you see her in action, you learn to appreciate her determination and power.

After she gets her book back using ribbon, we discover that she is actually an agent known as Agent Paper who works for the British Library. He takes her book for analysis. Her biggest concern is the book.

It is revealed the I-Jin are clones of important historical figures that have been granted super human abilities.
Agent Paper is tasked with figuring out why the I-Jin are interested in Yumiko's book.

Paper is teamed up with Drake Anderson who is her perpetually angry support team, and Miss Deep the woman who was trying to get the book in the first place. Miss Deep is a gun-crazy woman who can make herself intangible. Their relationship starts off roughly, but they grow to be good friends.

shortly after they meet, Yumiko loses her book to the "German Glider King" After their helicopter is destroyed, Yumiko uses her powers to turn the paper in her suitcase into a large paper airplane. they battle in the skies and the two ladies are able to defeat the foe. Yumiko is even able to make paper hard enough to stop a bullet.

That just takes you to the end of the first episode and there are still two action filled stories to go. I think that will be enough for now. Hopefully it will be enough to catch your attention and interest you in what happens later. It is definitely worth your time to see this anime. Let me give you one last reason to check it out.

#9 for Top 12 Picard Episodes of Star Trek TNG

Time travel has been a part of the Star Trek universe for almost since the beginning. The same can be said for parallel universes and overlapping of people. This can get confusing for characters and viewers alike.

This story only suffers because the writers don't know the crew well enough to understand what they are going to do. In fact, it seems like it is an attempt to force characterizations, at least for Picard.

While travelling along in space, the Enterprise encounters a lone shuttle craft far from any base or home star ship. After pulling the shuttle craft into a cargo bay, they discover that it is actually one of the shuttle craft from the Enterprise that is actually in the same cargo bay, and it has a single inhabitant-Captain Picard.

This Picard is disoriented and confused. His shuttle craft uses energy differently and although the Captain on the Enterprise does not believe this new Picard is himself, all evidence point to him being from very the very near future.

Investigations, show that the Enterprise is going to be destroyed in an antimatter explosion. It also shows that Picard fled the Enterprise before it exploded. This information causes Picard to be confused and distracted from his job of leading the ship. 

One of the great parts of this story happen when both Picards are walking through the ship talking about the situation, and how to solve the problem.

I won't say anything more about what happens except to say that Picard has to make a very tough decision in order to save his ship.

How amazing is The Amazing Spider-Man?

The difficult thing about comic book movies is that there is always a push for a new movie to be released. This means that there is going to be times when an actor gets too old for a particular role, and if you want a new movie, you are going to have to relaunch the series. This was the case recently with Spider-Man.

This has happened for good or for bad with a variety of franchises. Replacing Batman, has had it's ups and downs, and the new Superman didn't go very well. Marvel hasn't had many titles that have reached that point yet, so they are still looking to see what will happen as they have to relaunch to maintain popularity. (Let's just ignore the failed movie attempts from the 80's.)

So what do I think of the newest Spider-Man movie?

I think this is the best Spider-man movie that has been made to date. Tobey Maguire does a good job of being the web-slinger, but there is something wrong with the tone of those movies. They don't seem to take themselves seriously. (I know, how serious can you be about a story involving a man with spider powers? It's a delicate balancing act.)

I think the casting is as close to perfect as you can get. Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Uncle Ben and Aunt May are inspired. (When I first saw Sally in the kitchen, I started to have a moment where I though, "But Aunt May has..." and then I stopped that thought.) Emma Stone was a great choice for Gwen Stacy. I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw Denis Leary as Captain Stacy, but I was happily surprised about that casting choice. Oh, and Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man was a great choice.

Do you know what else makes this the best of the Spider-Man movies? The humor. When I saw the trailer, I knew that Garfield was going to be able to make me remember why I fell in love with Spider-Man. When I was young, I decided to be like Spider-Man, to be funny and sarcastic. I wanted to have a quip whenever I needed it. I didn't see that Spider-Man from Maguire.

There were a few small issues, but over all, I loved this movie. If you haven't seen this movie, you need to fix that. Go see the Amazing Spider-Man today.

#10 for Top 12 Picard Episodes of Star Trek TNG

Unification (1+2)

There are four episodes where characters for TOS (the original series) make an appearance in the "present." In Unification, we get to see Spock and his father, Sarek. Spock has been disappeared and been spotted on Romulus. Picard has been given responsibility for locating and returning Spock.

Picard visits and ailing Sarek, and the two of them resume the connection they established in Sarek where his Bendii syndrome has caused his strong emotional control is fading. (More about that later.) After finding the connection person to contact, Picard finds a Klingon ship to take him into Romulan space.

This two-part story has three amazing Picard moments. First, we have the scene with Sarek where Picard tries to draw information for the aging Vulcan, while still supporting him. I talked more about it in the last paragraph, so I'll leave it at that.

The second moment happens when Picard is trying to get in touch with Gowron, the recently appointed Chancellor of the Klingon High Council. Gowron is trying to cover up Picard's involvement in appointment to that position. So when Picard manages to talk to someone in the Klingon government, it ends up being an underling. Picard's reaction is amazing. Don't miss out on this scene. His righteous indignation is a must-see moment.

Third you get to see Picard as the Captain of the current Enterprise interact with Spock. This happens quite a bit, and it makes for some phenomenal drama. It cannot be missed.

Since I probably won't bring this up in the second list, since this episode has less to do with the crew, I don't want to miss the chance to talk about Spock working with Data and the two of them discussing what it means to be human-Spock uncertain why Data want to be human when Vulcans spend their entire lives striving for what he has, while Data wonders about the opposite dynamic.

There will be other great episodes on the way, so keep your eyes open.