Show #050 Direct Download: 
Show 50 is also available in a lower quality format (in case you have a Nano or something) follow the link and add “LQ” to the end of the filename. It sounds much better as a 30 MB file, trust me.
“Even the Answerman is Wrong Sometimes” is based on a Japanese saying “Even a monkey falls out of a tree sometimes!”
We’ve been traveling a lot this year:
– Japan
– Michigan (twice)
– Boston (a bunch of times)
– roadtrip across America
– L.A. (twice)
– Baltimore
– San Diego
– Cedar Point
– Atlanta
– Erin commutes to Connecticut 4 days a week.
We’ve been watching:
– Nana anime & (manga)
– Le Chevalier d’Eon the anime as opposed to the manga. We love Chevalier and have to do a response to Dave & Joel’s review.
– Claymore
– Toppa Ten Gurren-Lagann (probably the breakout hit of the season)
Misc.
– Buy Otaku USA issue 2!
– Jason Thompson wrote The Complete Guide to Manga, available this October.
– Thompson also does a webcomic/doujin called “King of RPGs”,
– Thompson used the “Yakfist” example. Sadly, “Yakfist” does not exist! (Yet.)
– You can listen to 100 manga magazines in 60 minutes on the Mangacast
– Shaenon Garrity writes Narbonic and the Overlooked Manga Festival
– Speaking of “Yakfist”, the movie “Zebraman” was really awesome!
– We recently watched Ratatouille (Recommended)
Japanese Lesson for this episode:
– Hisashiburi da ne? (Long time no see! Or, it’s been a while! What every badass says to the hero from off-camera before making a big entrance)
– Sentai (guardian)
– Bakamono (monster) —> THIS DOES NOT MEAN MONSTER! IT MEANS “STUPID PERSON!”
– Shinpai Ja Nai (don’t worry)
– Tenshi Ja Nai (I’m no angel)
– Alien Ja Nai! (I’m not an alien!)
Noah Vocab:
– “Hackles” as in “His hackles stood up.”
On The Answerman:
– There will never be another episode of Weiss Krutz, Berserk, or Dragon Half.
– My moment of fame on Answerman’s column (yellow butterflies question — it’s at the bottom!)
– Alison’s relabeled Azumanga comic
– Our beef with him is that he said that AMVs are not legitimate art.
– Here’s the episode of AWO with Zac bitching about Otakon 2006.
– The March 2nd 2007 Answerman column that I read on our show.
AMV Related
– Our crappy archives
– Show link to the complaining about AMVs 2nd episode.
– We owed one to dokidoki.
– The winning “Does L Creep You Out” AMV from Anime Expo.
– The Princess Tutu Hol Om Mig Video
Auteur Film Theory and Art Theory
– The Auteur theory
– The Dada Movement
– R. Mutt a.k.a. Marcel Duchamp
– Young Adult Novel by Daniel Pinkwater, featuring “The Wild Dada Ducks”, it’s in the compelation “Five Novels by Daniel Pinkwater”
– The movie “Art School Confidential”
Things the Answerman Thinks are Unfunny but Ninja Consultants Still Find Hilarious:
– Lolcats
– All Your Base Are Belong To Us
– Tired Catchphrases
– Chuck Norris Facts
“sometimes”? 😉
What???
So I just listened to the podcast and will be emailing you shortly, but I have to know what happened to the top 10 list? Am I crazy or did you two not read it off?
-love your new fan-addict
Re: What???
You’re not crazy…at least not because of this.
58 minutes and all just a big tease!
Re: What???
That’ll be in Show 51. I was going to do a “To Be Continued” sound effect but got too lazy to find one.
Re: What???
Phew! I was wondering what happened.
The big bug
I hope you post a picture of the bug.
Re: The big bug
I included one picture as the album artwork for the podcast, if you’re listening in iTunes, but because you asked nicely, I’ve also posted the pictures in the show notes just now.
Re: The big bug
That is an amazingly awesome bug.
Also the Answerman sounds like a really annoying person.
Re: The big bug
nice podcast. very interesting discussion. The insect is a katydid. To really be geeky, it isn’t actually a “bug”
-One time wannabe entomologist
Scott Green
Re: The big bug
I dunno, I saw a lot of katydids in Michigan, and this was like three times that size!
AMVs and Answerman
Hey guys, Annotated Alchemist here. It was great to see you at AWA. Glad you’re getting the word out on good AMV’s (with the caveat that “90% of anything is crap”… true of AMV’s as anything else)
Couple bits here and there:
* Zac’s an auteurist? That’s weird for an anime fan, considering how much anime is television or OVA. Usually — though anime is often an exception — TV shows use multiple directors, making it difficult to identify any one director as an “auteur” of the series (and most people don’t consider individual episodes interesting enough to critically delve into). There’s an old maxim that film is the director’s medium, but television is the producer’s medium, since he or she is the consistent voice throughout a series (BTW, the saying goes on to say that stage is the writer’s medium, since the script is the only constant between multiple productions). So the idea that anime directors are auteurs… obsessive Anno-ism notwithstanding, I don’t buy it. Heck, how many series are identified by their manga-ka, like Rumiko Takahashi being the person behind Ranma, Inuyasha, Urusei Yatsura, and Maison Ikokku, even though she wasn’t involved with the anime at all?
* Granted, I do like Answerman, and sent in a rant back when he was doing those.
* Yeah, I did watch Princess Tutu entirely because of the great AMV.
Looking forward to your AMV lists, thanks…
Re: AMVs and Answerman
Welllll… for a lot of TV shows, you’re right, multiple directors make for a non-auteur show.
However, the show I worked on, Codename; Kids Next Door was very much in tune with the director’s sensibility. Even though there were two writers, and four Korean animation directors at any given time, ultimate creative control clearly went to Mr. Warburton, who was also the creator of the property. Cartoon Network was very hands-off and rarely made more than minor suggestions about the content.
It’s different for shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where the creator of the property has almost no say in the making of the cartoon, but arguably, many Cartoon Network shows like Craig McCracken’s stuff are kind of… auteurish.
A TV show like Twin Peaks and some HBO shows could also qualify as auteur works. IMHO
Re: AMVs and Answerman
Absolutely, but a lot of times, the person you’d call the auteur is the creator and/or producer, not a director. Think David Lynch on Twin Peaks, David Chase on The Sopranos, Aaron Sorkin on various indulgences of self-importance, etc.
From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
The Ninja Consultant style of arguing is to agree with every single point of their opponent, then arbitrarily adopt a different conclusion without giving much in the way of reasons why they have adopted said conclusion. As the life of the hipster is one of overused quotations, another way of putting it is to say “but this isn’t an argument, it’s just contradiction.” However, their unique take on this traditional method of attack is to append one trivially minor point or condition to the previously stated premises, with the always-unstated condition that this small point is supposed to somehow supercede or invalidate all the previous issues brought forth by their opposition, e.g. “my pants are not tight enough” or “but it sure is genius to take a song named Learning to Fly and setting it to Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise.”
Before herohigh’s wizardly ascension and after the technomage food module sacrament–otherwise known as “clown peanuts”–he conjured up six Easter eggs on the astral plane of Slaanesh, each of which bore hidden messages written in invisible ink made out of lemon juice. If you must know, the hidden message written on my egg was “F*** You.”
Re: From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
Seriously, Erin and Noah, why do you put up with this guy?
Re: From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
Because Carl Horn likes him?
Noah says it’s OK ’cause he has turrets.
Re: From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
Yes, but Carl Horn also claimed that Patrick Macias was a good writer.
Turrets? You mean, Tourette’s?
Re: From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
No, no — turrets, turrets! Missile turrets. Pointed at us. Probably on loan from Golgo 13.
But, yes — Daryl also has Tourette’s. Otherwise he would have been imprisoned a long time ago.
Re: From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
That explains a lot.
Re: From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
I should probably delete my comments of stupidity (I failed google’s spellcheck) but I want to leave in the Golgo 13 reference.
I enjoy how Mr. Macias writes! In the interest of full disclosure, I would also like another Otaku USA Magazine assignment.
Re: From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
Hey man, at least people *read* what we write…WINK!
->pm
Re: From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
I have no idea what you’re talking about. Wink.
Re: From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
LOL INTERNUTZ
Re: From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
I have no idea why you just called me “Classy” (ironically, I might add!) on your LJ when you were the one who came here and opened fired on everyone first. Because clearly, you set are the one setting the standards here.
– Patrick
Re: From the Field Notes of Daryl Surat (Historian):
You make a good point. Please consider my comments both here and there retracted. Obviously any issues I have stem more from professional jealousy than any legitimate beef.
Hey guys, I found Alison’s winning comic here. Oh and it’s “Shinpai shinai” because it’s a verb here. Otherwise it means “the worry doesn’t exist.” Didn’t like Mystery Men? I thought it was one of the most overlooked movies that year. Could just be me.
Oh, and if you ever want me to swing by for AMV related podcast just say the word.
Thankya!
Also way too many people have seen Mystery Men for it to be overlooked. I hated it because it used wide-angle close-ups of characters that were crazy. I didn’t like any of the characters, didn’t think there were enough jokes, and only enjoyed the super hero try-out scene.
Re: Let it be named!
So be it!
In honor of it’s choice of landing spots, it shall henceforth be called: CHAR, THE GREEN COMET!
Chip on shoulder?
Oh look, Zac listened to this episode. And I guess he’s Not Happy. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2007-10-19
Re: Chip on shoulder?
He sent us a nice voicemail, though! Maybe he’s gotten madder since then…
*hurries off to write apology*
Re: Chip on shoulder?
never can tell w/ those guys…
-The Angry Otaku
Re: HUZZAH! FINALLY!
Your icon is hilarious!
We posted another show today, btw.
As for your comment about other people – we’ve got an interview with Jason Thompson coming up next, sorry…