Bebop Musings

Thanks to Cori, something new to read on the site — and this time it’s a little love note to Jet Black, who does tend to be a bit neglected. Head on over to the essay and look it over. Leave comments or questions if so inclined.

I did always wonder about the names Swimming Bird and Running Rock. In Jet’s case, how someone steady/solid as a rock could be be “running.” Heh.

Thanks for the essay, Cori! I’ll upload the images to the site, then replace the links with the images — to avoid any possibilities of the dreaded red X — but I’m heading out on a short vacation, so it’ll have to wait until when I get back next week. ((Eek, it took me more like six weeks — I forgot! — but the images are now included.))

Slow times on the blog, so posting fluff. Maybe this guy should’ve been considered for the Spike part in the movie:

The broken cigarette just adds to it.

The actor’s name is Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

The folks over at TOR.com have a nice little community where, among other things, they host discussions on re-watching TV shows and re-reading books. Cowboy Bebop is one of the shows they discuss. If interested, check it out:

Madeline Ashby on Cowboy Bebop

I had a rash of spam comments that somehow got past Akismet, and in the process five comments that had been previously approved somehow ended up marked as spam. Fortunately I checked all the pages before I deleted the junk, but I don’t always do that.

Anyway, I believe I retrieved all of the comments, but if I did not, I apologize and hope you’ll repost.

And I have to apologize for the tardiness in getting it posted. It has been a very busy month for me and next month is going to be even worse. Eeek.

ANYway, please check out Trina’s Spike’s Julia and Spike’s Faye – Old and Young and weigh in with any comments and thoughts you might have on her observations.

I do recall reading somewhere that an anime convention is to have younger, more innocent characters depicted with larger eyes. It’s interesting, then, that Julia, Spike, Jet, and Vicious are represeted as small-eyed old fogies and Faye is not. She’s supposed to be anything but naive and she is, technically, far older than all of them.

Ed still wins out in the gigantic eyes department, though.

I’m delighted to announce a new essay: Jessica “Yahikochan” K.’s There’s Something About Blue. Jessica takes a look at the use of the colors blue and yellow in the series, especially in how they pertain to Spike’s memories. Thank you, Jessica!

Please drop by and read over her essay and, if so inclined, leave a comment as well.

I’m moving my son off to college tomorrow and then taking a much-needed break til around Sept 7 — in the wilds of Northern Wisconsin, where I’ll have no internet connection. Yikes! So if anyone has a comment in moderation, it won’t show up until I get back to approve any pending comments.

For visitors from the USA, have a safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend!

I’ve added a few new plugins to manage comments: format “quick tags,” a comment preview feature, and a plugin that will allow people to edit their comments for up to fifteen minutes after it’s been posted. Everything seems to be working, but let me know if there are any problems.

My online time is limited these days, so I thought I’d create a “sticky post” where others who run across Cowboy Bebop or related news could share it here with others.

Edited to add that the current big news is that there’s a “Live-Action Cowboy Bebop Film in Development at Fox.” The in development part strikes me as meaning things are still far more in the talking and thinking about it stage than anything else, but it would be…interesting.

Paul Binkley has sent in a great essay on the parallels between Cowboy Bebop and the folktale of Urashima Taro, which is featured in Session 18, Speak Like A Child. Please come read it here and leave a comment.

Thanks Paul!