Genesis Climber Mospeada

In 2050 humans found themselves in the polluted Earth that one day got also invaded by an alien race of Inbit. Fortunately Mars and Moon have already been colonized by that time and people seeked refuge there. Since the Inbit have shown no interest in other planets but Earth people started to build up forces on Mars in order to recapture the Earth. However all attempts to fight the planet back failed.

In 2083 another Earth recapture force has been sent but proved unsuccessful too. One of the soldiers - Stig Bernard has survived and got to Earth alive. This is where Genesis Climber Mospeada begins. Within the first 3 episodes Stig meets other characters who soon become the members of his team. Together they head to the Reflex Point - the Inbit headquaters in order to destroy it.

Now let me assure you: this series is not your usual defend the earth from evil aliens thing. I may have already mentioned it somewhere that I don't like stories where evil guys attempt to destroy the earth or take over mankind for the sake of their evilness if it's not some trash zombie bloody movie and I wouldn't write about it here if it were it.

Instead the plot is deep and although the displayed situations are simple (especially for us sophisticated viewers of the xxi century) they portray people's psychology in an excellent way. It primarily concerns main characters but minor characters and basic population counts too. These are stories about love and friendship and honor and all that bullshit in people's minds that prevents them from being loving, friendly, honorable and all in all just happy persons. Just look around and see what I mean.

Sadly it is also that kind of movies where in the end 'good humans' win over 'evil aliens' and that's not what we we wanted in fact. I'll try to explain without adding too many spoilers to my review. Like I said the story is not straightforward and there is something behind the alien invasion. Actually each time there is an invasion there is also a question why. And if there is a fight the good question here is who started it and what would've happened if there was no fighting. In this case people decided not to care trying to understand what is what (as they usually do) and lost their chance to get a healthy planet and maybe something more. And all they needed was just a bit of negotiability.

On the other hand this movie is also an example of a lesson that should be taught to every alien force that plans to override the Earth: never ever try to become humans, to even resemble humans. If you want to create an ubersoldier make it a robot, cyborg, a beam of energy - anything but man. People might be the most suitable lifeform for this planet (I don't believe this is true though) but they are too unstable and their minds and psyche are too fragile.

However aliens made this mistake and started thinking like humans and were defeated. I felt sorry for them in the end: they followed the leader who decided for them the way they evolved and were abandoned because this was a wrong decision. I also wonder if the leader herself obtained some of human characteristics when playing with evolution. The way she decided to look, her inclination to rituals... And if she did does this mean that she will remain corrupted later on.

Now if we get back to main heroes we'll see that they actually are different types of personalities (they even have 'talking names'). Each of them has a story and most of them have a skeleton in a closet. Houquet Emrose (First name sounds like hooked and her surname probably has something to do with the fact that she rides pink mospeada) - a pretend tough girl with a sharp tongue who's afraid to express her true feelings. Stig Bernard (another adaptation of his name is Stick) - a broken-hearted stick-to-the-military-order soldier whose emotions and hard-headness run before his thoughts and reason. Mint Rubble (me in trouble) - a teen girl who lacked attention from her parents and is now obsessed with idea of getting married and living in her husband's house. Jim Warston (another adaptation of his name is Jim Austin) - a self-labeled coward who lived under this shell for years before he made up his mind and even when joined the team he continued suffering from emotional breakouts.

Among positive characters is obviously Yellow Belmont who is very patient and enjoys himself in both male and female forms with no complexes about it. Ray (Rei, Rey - "King" in Spanish) - a cunning and very resourceful young man with a nice sense of humor and what you call trickster way of life although sometimes he disguises his bad feelings with showy optimism. Too bad we never had a chance to learn about his story. It's hard for me to tell you about Aisha ("Queen", probably in some way related to H.Rider Haggard's "SHE" also this is the name of the youngest and most loved Prophet Mohammed's wife). If she was human I'd say she is a very quiet girl who would easily get things her way if showed her active part. However like all the other humanoid inbits she is now stuck in her form by all means.

By the way speaking about the characters I almost forgot to mention what actually is Mospeada. It stands for Military Operation Soldier Protection Emergency Aviation Dive Armor which is armour that transforms into a motorcycle and vice versa. Mospeadas and Armo-Fighter AFC-01 Legioss are primary mecha in the series and they're the coolest fighting devices I've ever seen. I'm fond of transformable exoskeletons you know. But I won't tire you with techie details. Instead I'll give you the link where all Mospeada mecha are listed with pictures included.

To sum it up this movie is a great work of a team of Shinji Aramaki (film director and designer), Yoshitaka Amano (artist) and Joe Hisaishi (composer who made soundtracks to most Hayao Miyazaki's films) who will later on make such famous movies like Final Fantasy, Vampire Hunter D, Wolf's Rain and Appleseed. Now Mospeada is widely known as part of Robotech series for which it was adapted. However if you decide to watch it I suggest that you find original Mospeada. You won't regret.

Genesis Climber Mospeada

Colors from dark to bright

I was raised in a dark apartment with massive brown soviet furniture and brown and yellow colored carpets (sounds scary I know). I would've hardly qualified for a goth in my early and mid teens but when in 2007 I decided to inspect my dresser I found out that for more than 5 years I used to buy and wear black t-shirts and dark-colored jeans and sweaters without even noticing it, my winter coat was black as well as my underwear.

Little by little with the help of my Hubby I started changing my colors.

Many things have changed this year. In the beginning I had to grow up quickly and since I was unprepared my thoughts haven't always been on the brighter side. Then when first alertness has gone I sort of hibernated and have been in such a state until now. Then I woke up and my first wish was to add some color, more colors, bright colors. And fortunately I have some magic items to make this wish come true. They are my hands, my brains and a set of crafty thingies:

I kind of rearranged them today. Will have to throw away the broken pink box after I get a new container for buttons and other random stuff and I also want to make a new pin cushion.

I have already started to add some colors into darkness. I get inspiration from crafty blogs and wonderful people I've met online. I'm glad to have a supportive husband. I'm going to change lots of things and make brighter and more positive surroundings.

p.s. I'll make more detailed photos of my new crocheted birdie tomorrow in the daytime.

Colors from dark to bright

Camera critters

It's almost midnight and I've been in a thoughtful mood for quite some time (you know stuff about life and other abstract things) but fortunately I decided to look through some of the photos I made this Autumn and thus I won't be posting anything boring like I wanted to. Hooray!

Here's the guy who distracted me:

Now who would think about philosophical issues when there's such a proud beaker who watches you from above? And this photo makes me proud too. To me birds are still tricky to capture for me and crows despite their seemingly I-could-care-less attitude become quite alerted when they see humans watching them.

And this is another portrait I'm proud of. And not only because of the detail. You see this is a huge grasshopper that sits on my hubby's hand. Now a terrible secret revealed: grasshoppers send shivers up and down my spine. I remember when I was a kid I enjoyed watching small grasshoppers but then something has clicked in my head and only a thought that such a creature can be around terrifies me. At the same time I find insects, particularly big ones amazing. So when I first saw this fellow my reactions were "Wow! What a creature" and then "Oh no that's a grasshopper!" However interest took over fear and I made a few shots envying my hubby who enjoyed communicating to the critter for all this time.

This is the last one for today. Can't say there is something particular about this spider but I just like it the way it is. Oh and also I seem to have missed a caterpillar that doesn't even hide on a stem.

Now before I go I'd like to make a promise to myself. I promise to sort and clean up all the photos that I've made in the past 3 years (oh oh) that are stored on my hard drive in great disorder. And when I'll be finding something interesting I haven't posted yet - I'm going to show it to you.

Camera critters

Pokémon: Gotta Catch 'Em All!

Between crocheting and knitting and some other daily routine I've been also watching the first two seasons of Pokemon series and it was fun. Actually it might be one of the best family-friendly animations I've ever seen. Despite all that nonsense comments about this series being violent I found it to be very kind, optimistic and funny.

I don't think it is necessary to say much about the plot - I'm sure most people must have watched the series or heard about it. Instead I want to share my impressions about the world and creatures that live in it. Imagine that you enter a forest and see lots of different critters that live on trees, under trees, in water and even underground. You can't miss them. They're not like your usual squirrels (although squirrels are fun no doubt) - they're big and colorful and despite their wide variety each one is a character. Some are friendly, others are grumpy, some would love to accompany you in your adventures, other will prefer you to stay away from their nests. And if you're clever enough you can communicate to them too.

I loved ghostly pokemons best of all. Don't know why human characters were rather afraid of them - to me they're the most fun-loving creatures in their world. One of my favorite episodes is when the small town is haunted by the ghost which is later revealed to be a ghostly pokemon. But the ghost exhists too and she's actually his friend. Hope this didn't sound confusing lol :)

As to human characters - they're pretty straightforward but nonetheless fun. The always hungry pokemon trainer Ash and his team vs the hillarious Team Rocket who love to digg hole traps and never get hurt after falling from any heights.

I wanted to write some about minor sides of the movie but I think I won't. Despite one thing: I will never ever forgive the film director for making the characters part with some of their pokemons in some way or another. For the sake of good or just because they messed something with plot - I don't care grrr. Just why would a person part with a HUGE bird that has just evolved into a powerful monster who can make a tornado by just flapping its wings?

But anyway, I loved the series very much and can talk and describe it for quite some time but its 1am here and that's a good time to go to bed. But before I do here's something I'd love to show you. Imagine my surprise when I was surfing the internet in search for some crafty blogs and found this lady who crochets pokemons. Now aren't they cute?! Ok gotta go see my dreams. And if I have something more to say about this anime - I will write it it my next post.

Pokémon: Gotta Catch 'Em All!

Itty-bitty crocheted Mice

I've had too many things to do recently and felt quite overwhelmed. But suddenly something clicked in my head and I found myself inspired for making things. So... I went to my favorite yarn store and bought some tasty multicolored yarn. Then I crocheted Mice. Curious, funny multicolored mice. And I plan to make more of them so that I'll have a flock of sheep and of mice too.

I also have several projects in mind. My fingers are itching and I'm anxious to start this one and that and that one too. You know what? Crocheting is addicting. Knitting is addicting. Yarn is addicting too. Oooh I've already had dreams about buying lots of yarn. Do you think it's mental??

Anyway I'm going to crochet some but I'll keep posting about my adventures too. Oh and if you're a handicraft addict too - be sure to check my Ravelry profile!

Itty-bitty crocheted Mice