2014-02-22
Why I didn't continue my Project 365 this year
After doing Project 365 (where you take at least a picture a day for a year) from 2008 through 2013 (cf), I decided to not continue it on into this year. Since Project 365 is what got me into photography in the first place, I feel like writing a little bit about why I didn't continue mine. Ultimately there are two major reasons for it.
The first reason is that I'd become more than a little bit tired of going out into grey days and bad weather in order to get a picture. Having done this for six years I think I've more than proved that I can do it if I want to; I just don't want to any more, especially since on bad days Project 365 easily turns into a grind. By the end of 2013 I was really tired of it and I think it showed in my photography on such days.
The other reason is that I want to genuinely experiment with some things, for example black and white photography (I have a vague plan to spend at least a month shooting only black & white in order to train myself to see good B&W pictures). The problem with real experimentation in the context of a Project 365 is that if you are really experimenting and trying to learn something new, you can fail totally and spectacularly and wind up with no usable pictures for your project for that day. Project 365 half-encourages experimentation, but it's safe experimentation, experimentation where you're pretty sure that you'll wind up with a usable picture even if it's not spectacular. I want to do more wild things than that (and I don't want to do two rounds of photography in a day, one focused on a Project 365 picture and then another on the real photography I want to do).
Also I have to admit that I've spent basically every day since January 1st 2008 carrying a camera around and thinking at least a little bit about photography, and I'd like to see what it's like to not do that (and especially what it's like to routinely bike places without my camera bag on my back). The results so far is that it's liberating and I sometimes miss taking pictures.
(I'll see how weird it feels to bike without a camera bag when the weather is actually biking weather.)
Checking in on the Winter 2014 anime season midway through
It's time for the usual midway check in on my early impressions of this season. I don't think that this is a really strong season so far and it also feels kind of odd to me; despite watching a reasonable number of shows I've wound up somehow feeling that this season is a slow one (perhaps because many of the shows I'm watching are packed into the weekend with basically nothing coming out during the week). This is tempting me towards probably unwise ideas, like say trying to get into the frequently praised Hunter x Hunter.
(A less ambitious version would be giving Gundam Build Fighters a try.)
Things I'm still watching:
- Sekai Seifuku - Bouryaku no Zvezda: This is being generally fun
and funny with periodic additions of pointed commentary and weirdness.
As I hoped it's playing the absurdism straight but not seriously and
managing to be surprisingly charming in the process.
- Witch Craft Works: This was a surprise midseason pickup after I read
enough praise of it to push me over the edge. I have to tell you that
what people say about it being entertaining is true; it doesn't aspire
to being deep but it is both funny and clever. Part of the enjoyment
for someone like me is watching it thoroughly invert the usual gender
tropes of this genre in all sorts of ways.
So far the Tower Witches are never not funny.
(One of the reasons the show is genuinely funny is that it doesn't overplay its hand with jokes. There's no standing around extending the joke or repeating it to make sure you got it; the show brushes over the joke and moves on.)
- Noragami: The execution continues to be very well done and the
twists of the story are reasonably surprising and interesting
(Nora's story was not was I was expecting and is in some ways worse
and sadder). Hiyori is the clear best character of the show and is
really what makes it.
(One sign of quality execution is that Hiyori has more than one out of school outfit. Sometimes she has more than one in a single episode.)
- Seitokai Yakuindomo season 2: It continues to reliably hit my funny
bone and in fact makes me laugh on a regular basis.
(I admit that I'm watching this somewhat slowly, as there's no plot anticipation or 'what will they do next' to make watching it feel urgent.)
Perpetually on the edge:
- Space Dandy: This show is more or less the humour equivalent of a
decently well done action show. If it sounds like I'm making excuses
for Space Dandy it's because I am. Overall I feel that the show is
much better at the small stuff than assembling it into an interesting
and compelling framework.
(To be unkind, this is much more Kids on the Slope than Cowboy Bebop.)
- Robot Girls Z: It turns out they got a new joke or two for the second episode. It's probably amusing enough for me to finish it (so far I've seen one of the three sections of the second episode).
Dropped:
- Nobunagun: My gut is unenthused about this and I've learned the
hard way that I should trust it. I think the problem is that I'm just
not that interested in any of the characters or what's going on. That
the show keeps doing crazy things can only carry it so far.
(I'd say that the show's low animation budget is showing but to be honest it did right from the start. I was just willing to overlook its use of style to cover the lack of actual animation in the early days.)
In shows carried over from last season, both KILL la KILL and Log Horizon are still doing excellent work. Both have reached the point where stuff is really starting to happen and Log Horizon especially is coming through in all sorts of interesting ways. If I ranked them here they would both come before anything from this season, with KILL la KILL first.