The Ukrainians fight not only for their country, but for democracy itself — “What will bring the end of the war? We used to say ‘peace’. Now we say ‘victory.’” Volodymyr Zelenskyy The Ukrainian people are fighting a war they did not choose against an enemy they do not want. The Ukrainians should be free to decide whether or not they want to…

Miyazaki’s “final” film is more a greatest hits reel than a proper swan song — SPOILER ALERT: Plot details for How Do You Live? and many Ghibli films follow. A major reason why Goro Miyazaki’s Tales From Earthsea didn’t quite land with me was because it lacked an original style. It felt way too derivative of the films of his father, Hayao Miyazaki. The elder…

Code Lyoko is an exciting exploration of virtual reality — SPOILER WARNING: Plot details for Code Lyoko will be discussed I first saw Code Lyoko during my middle school days. The perfect time, perhaps. The French cartoon began airing on Cartoon Network in the mid-2000s amidst a trend of anime-inspired Western cartoons, like Teen Titans, TMNT, and Avatar: The Last…

The Unification Church must reckon with its violent past — “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” Thucydides, “The Pelopponesian War” “What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?” Mohandas…

Slime family values — NOTE: For this review I played the DS version of Dragon Quest V in Japanese. I encourage anyone who wants to play this game to pirate it through an emulator. SPOILER ALERT: Plot details for Dragon Quest V and Final Fantasy IV follow. Dragon Quest V is a rip-roaring adventure…

From an American Ex-Moonie — I once read a book called The Middle East Crisis Factory, which was written by Palestinian Arab Spring activist Iyad El-Baghdadi and British-Libyan Arab Spring activist Ahmed Gatnash. The aim of the book is to look at the roots of the problems plaguing the Middle East and provide democratic, human…

Maybe the best video game movie ever! — The Super Mario Bros Movie is a pure sugar rush, like watching an exciting Saturday morning cartoon with a fresh bowl of Lucky Charms. I cannot think of any other film which has so perfectly captured the thrill of playing a video game. The Mario movie is a near-perfect celebration…

My other nominees include How To Play Football, Seven, and But I’m A Cheerleader — NOTE: This year, I decided to remove four of my selections from The Mind’s Eye series. The reason being that I discovered that these films were exclusively released on VHS. While home video recordings are not expressly forbidden by the National Film Registry, they are not prioritized, so I made…

Will human creativity survive the 21st century? — The Chef, the Runner, and the Chessmaster “Technopoly is a state of culture. It is also a state of mind. It consists in the deification of technology, which means that the culture seeks its authorization in technology, finds its satisfactions in technology, and takes its orders from technology. …