Anime news of personal interest

After wincing over another report about an anime DVD due to be released being somewhat different from how it was in Japan (I'm sure it wouldn't bother me as much if everyone else didn't treat it like the world is coming to an end), I noticed a tidbit that was a little more pleasant. The Canadian broadcast regulator has approved a digital cable channel that will focus on showing anime, a step beyond programming blocks and channels run by specific anime distributors. Of course, I'd have to get digital cable once the channel showed up, and for all I know I'd be picky about what it's showing... but I think I can be pleased, too, that other people in the country may also be pleased about it.

One more "RiffTrax" ambiguity

I got very worked up when I heard that some of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 writers were recording a mocking audio commentary for The Phantom Menace, and in the process stopped paying quite as much attention to news about the "RiffTrax..." but, in checking out an MST3K community, I did notice a recent post in which someone asked what "RiffTrax" people didn't care for. A few people complained that the TPM track was "too mean" to be funny, no matter that they wanted TPM to get a drubbing anyway... and for some peculiar reason, that interested me, and perhaps even lifted my spirits by some tiny degree. Of course, I've long believed that a good part of MST3K's humour is that it isn't a savage, unrestrained assault on the movies it presents.