FLCL

October 18th, 2007 | researchmaterial

The dubbed version, and I can’t imagine it’s going to survive online for long — but if you haven’t watched it, you should (even in dubbed form — I prefer the subtitled):

25 Responses to “FLCL”

  1. FLCL is the best coming of age tale I’ve seen in a long while (it’s also wonderfully absurd, which helps as well). I do also prefer the subtitled version, but I think that it has one of the better dubs out there. I also love that there are only 6 episodes, yet they are incredibley dense, thus requiring multible veiwings before you can truly appreciate it.
    I could go on forever about how much i love this series, I haven’t even touched on the animation.
    Going to shut up now.

  2. I first saw FLCL, well, a part of it, late night flipped into adult swim in the middle of probably where the 2nd dvd would be. Completely confusing, completely blew me away. Not having really watched any anime before, it really completely blew me away.

    It’s worth getting the dvd set, there’s some bonus material that adds to the understanding of it all.

    Now I’ve got to watch it all over again.

  3. my cousin said it best.

    There’s a phalus thing coming out of the boy’s head, and then a hand grab and start smashing.

    yeah..

  4. I really didn’t need this today.

  5. If you liked the video, the manga’s definitely worth a look too.

    FLCL is a wonderfully compressed piece of work. There’s so much data to assimilate that it’s one of those extreme rarities in storytelling: Every time you see it, there’s something new you didn’t notice before. And if you space your viewings apart by enough time (say 6 months at a stretch), it’s like you’re watching a whole new animé.

  6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flcl

    – for those who, like me, are late to this party (in my case, probably because an invite was never intended!).

    D/Led for later viewing. Thanks for the tip.

  7. I am so in love with this series; it’s one of the saddest and funniest things I’ve ever seen.

    The manga’s excellent as well, dramatically more noisy art though. It turns off some people right away, but I like it.

  8. I’m impressed with how strong the dub is. Synch Point did a pretty fair job, especially compared with most of the crap out there. I’ll be directing all my friends to this, thanks Warren.

  9. Thank you for pointing this out. Never heard of it, but haven’t seen anything as good as it for a while.

  10. I grew up in a mining town with an 800 foot tall smoke stack, so I always kind of liked the visuals of the factory that covers the town with steam.

  11. I heard that the team behind this did it to unwind after finishing Neon Genesis Evangelion. I can see it.

  12. Why am I not surprised you’re a FLCL fan, Warren? And yes, in this case the dub actually *improves* the quality of the experience.

  13. One of the my favorites. Still surprised that it made it to the U.S. and has been so well received.

    It’s the music that sets the entire atmosphere of the series, it gives it that ambient feeling throughout.

  14. Just found out it’s also on Stage 6 in discrete episodes, higher quality, and a variety of ways:

    http://stage6.divx.com/videos/search:flcl

  15. Warren, have you seen Tekkon Kinkreet yet? I haven’t seen the dubbed version, which I think is on the just-released (in the US) DVD, but oh, man.

    The original manga was fantastic as well.

  16. Tekkon Kinkreet on Veoh, subbed:

    http://www.veoh.com/videos/v1251903xqTYHM2W

  17. Having shown great creative power in three quite different works–Royal Space Force, Evangelion, and FLCL–I wish mightily for Gainax to surprise people a fourth time…sometime.

  18. Excellent anime, soundtrack is also definitely worth picking up.

  19. ha ha, i watch flcl too. it’s so underground. i thought i was the only one. we can die together.

  20. If you love this, make sure to watch Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Same company, and absolutely incredible.

  21. This is one of those things where you have to watch all six episodes in one sitting (clocks in at maybe 2 hours total), stare slack-jawed for a few minutes, then re-watch it and suddenly everything will click and you’ll wonder how people can make anything quite so great.

    I’ve never seen any show, movie, comic, anything pack quite so much information into such a small space, completely aware that it’ll make pretty much no sense to anyone the first go-through.

    It’s pretty life-affirming stuff.

  22. I see Warren is now watching Tekkon Kinkreet on Voeh. But Comments are closed for that post.

    Some points about Veoh:

    1) It used to allow downloads of the source file. AVI uploaded = AVI downloaded. They’ve since changed that, Now AVI up = FLV down. Veteran users are up in arms. (Old files are still downloadable as AVI, but you can’t tell beforehand which.)

    2) It used to allow full-length viewing in that onscreen window. Now you must download their app. The window is all 5 minutes or less.

    3) If you download a file the CopyNazis don’t want you to have, Veoh’s app can ERASE it from your PC. So, take things OUT of the folder Veoh creates and put them in another one — ASAP. Then Remove the file from your Veoh library. Veoh won’t be able to touch it then.

    4) To find goodies, Video -> Recently Added and Video -> Run Length. Veoh has just cut a deal with CBS, so they’re cracking down on, uh, questionable material. Therefore, users are getting creative with filenames. It’s worth digging. Better than P2P!

    Have fun. While it lasts…

  23. FYI: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is on Veoh too.

    http://www.veoh.com/search.html?numResults=20&action=search&type=&fromSearchForm=fromSearchForm&search=Tengen+Toppa+Gurren+Lagann

  24. I love Furi Kuri, but it’s greatest strength might be the soundtrack. It’s such beautiful music.

  25. […] Yes, every episode concatenated. Originally found over at the hard-to-imagine-possibly-being-more-rewarding-as-it-was website of Warren Ellis. […]

Positive Reinforcement Therapy

Coilhouse - 20 Nov 09

This one goes out to Nadya, Zo, and especially Courtney Riot, our beloved creative director. Hang in there, babies.


Post tags: Coilhouse, Serious Business

?I?m bad? I?m a man? I HATE my penis.?

Coilhouse - 20 Nov 09

Well hello there!

PrimalScreeeeeamEEEEEAAYYYAAGH

Do you lack healthy boundaries? Are you guilty of the compulsive overshare? All-too-eager to share gory, palpating details with complete strangers that no one besides your own mother and/or proctologist would ever want to know?

Non-consensual rape anecdote telling. Tactical uterus hurling in lieu of real intimate contact. The “I wasn’t breast fed enough so now I need to publicly air my personal anguish to feel properly nurtured and validated” power point presentation. “Cry For Help” cutting (across the street, not down the road). Cloaking references to life-shattering trauma in Obfuscating Yet Ominous Faerie Singsong? (patented by Tori Amos).  “Fuck You Daddy, I’m a Suicide Girl Now!” blog posts. Spontaneous primal scream therapy in the supermarket. If you have ever attempted one or more of these maneuvers, chance are, you’re a TMI Avenger.

Relax. You’re among friends. And you’re gonna loooove Body Memories. A squirm-inducing, low budget indie film directed by the same fella who brought us one of the most fabulous independent documentaries of the decade, Body Memories is…

…one man’s journey inward to find meaning in his life. He becomes an archeologist of the soul, digging through the layers of his past. Evocative images blend with a riveting performance that uncovers family secrets and buried traumas.

Enjoy.

(More clips under the cut.)


Read the rest of “I’m bad… I’m a man… I HATE my penis.”


Post tags: Crackpot Visionary, Culture, Film, Gender, Sexuality, Silly-looking types, Surreal, Testing your faith

Miss Piggy?s Teaches of Peaches

Coilhouse - 20 Nov 09

Every time an issue of the magazine goes to print, things somehow turn Highly Inappropriate here at Coilhouse. This is apparent to anyone who was there on Twitter during the hours of our final revision deadline last night. And it’s only going to get worse before Issue 04’s out. So to celebrate, a video of Miss Piggy singing “Fuck the Pain Away” by Peaches. It’s that kind of day.

[via Shannon]


Post tags: Madness, Music, Puppetry

claytoncubitt: Will Blanche, ?The Newly Constructed Towers of...

Brian Wood - 20 Nov 09



claytoncubitt:

Will Blanche, ?The Newly Constructed Towers of the World Trade Center Seen From the South Side on West Street, May, 1973? (via These Americans)

See also: Mitch Epstein, ?West Side Highway, New York City? [looking towards World Trade Center] 1977

Percy Jackson trailer

Kung Fu Monkey - 20 Nov 09

Seriously, if I were 12, this would have melted my brain. I love this trailer.

JOURNAL: How to Break and Open Source Insurgency

John Robb - 20 Nov 09

Short Answer:  divide it.

It's long been my contention that Iraq was stabilized at an acceptable level of controlled chaos due to a happy accident by al Qaeda (in an attempt to expand/lead the loose insurgency in a new direction).  What did they do?   They blew up the Golden Mosque in Samara in 2006.  This act of symbolic terrorism did indeed disrupt social networks as anticipated, however the consequences were ultimately disastrous for the Iraqi open source insurgency.  

Baghdad_Ethnic_2007_late_smThe reason for this is it broke the dynamics of the open source insurgency in ways the US and Iraqi government's COIN efforts could not.  First, it created a permanent split between Sunni and Shiite insurgent groups/militias.  Coopetition ended.  Second, it motivated large Shiite militias to start an ethnic cleansing of Sunni areas.  This put acute pressure on Sunni guerrilla groups who were too small (by design to avoid US counter-pressure) to defend themselves against large militias operating in the open.  The result was an opening, very close to the one I described in my 2005 NYTimes OpEd, that allowed the US to convert Sunni guerrilla groups into militias that were not loyal to the central government (in direct contradiction to its COIN manual).   

It's a nice example of the dynamics of many to many conflict, social network disruption, and the development open source counterinsurgency.

See this excellent description at the blog, "Musings on Iraq" for more detail on the ethnic cleansing operations.  It also includes this money quote: "the majority of the Sunni insurgency gave up and switched sides to align with the Americans rather than face annihilation at the hands of the Shiite militias, Al Qaeda in Iraq, or the United States."

NOTE:  it's pretty clear from the above that social network disruption (either through attacks on symbolic targets or blood and guts terrorism) is like playing horseshoes with live hand grenades.  It's ultimately a losing strategy for advancing an open source insurgency.  Social network disruption is very likely to break standing order 6:  don't fork the insurgency.

Twitter Updates for 2009-11-20

Girl Farts - 20 Nov 09

LINKS: 20 NOV 09

John Robb - 20 Nov 09

Some random items of interest:

  • Vigilante militias in Rio are displacing the drug gangs -- favelas under the control of militias has grown from 108 in 2005 to 400 in 2008 (out of 965).  Why?  They have a better (albeit parasitic) conflict/business model than the drug gangs since they act as a substitute for missing public goods/services normally supplied by the government.  First, they provide a minimal level of security and conflict adjudication.  Second, they make more money than the drug gangs by "taxing" everything from propane to cable TV to the gray market.  
  • US gray economy estimated at $1 Trillion (not including criminal, outside of the evasion of taxes and regulation, activities) and growing faster than the "legal" economy.  
  • Proposal and wiki for an open source fabrication lab.
  • Somali pirates are expanding operations into the Indian ocean.  The combination of positive feedback loops (maritime insurance + rapid payoffs by crisis negotiators) and legal ambiguity (the biggest fear of a western navy and governments is that they might arrest a pirate -- prompting a massive/expensive legal tussle with few certain penalties and the forced extension of a visa to the former pirate once he is released from his short incarceration).  Is a franchise model for other locales possible?
  • Yes-we-can-secede
  • A business group in Ciudad Juarez asks for UN peacekeepers.  Hilarious. "Ciudad Juarez, population 1.5 million, has an average of seven homicides a day, with the total at 1,986 for this year through mid-October."
  • Seccession.net.  County based secession effort.  

Untitled Post

blissblog - 20 Nov 09

Yume no Byouin Project

Jean Snow - 20 Nov 09

Yume no Byouin Project

Beautiful (and simple) site design featuring the illustrative work of Yorifuji Bunpei. Via Paul Baron.