In an attempt to get back into the swing of working on my own blog (most of the time I spend editing and toiling over R’s blog, which has a new design up by yours truly), I’m going to write about what I’m into at the moment every Friday.

Design: I am seriously digging the design for logo of the new Prinny game R wrote about today. (see above) As I was editing his post, I could not get over how frickin’ adorable it is!  So wish I had that kind of creative freedom at work.

Music: I am about a year late into this, which is ironic considering I was in Japan when the album came out, but I have been listening to Rip Slyme’s Fun Fair album at work non-stop on my iPod for three days straight now!  Seriously it is the best thing to happen to my ears since…I can’t even remember!  The video for Speed King has been taken down from You Tube for some reason (seriously: from a design perspective that video was pure eye candy.  Also: DJ is friggin’ hot) so here is the video that should receive an award for most blatantly being in cahoots with Sony VAIO laptops.  It’s basically just a giant commercial. (Also: What is Maicching?)

Movies: Taking a break from my usual excessive Food Network watching, R and I watched Men in Black the other night.  It remains one of my favorite movies, along with Jaws and Jurassic Park.  Seriously!  Let me tell you why:
- pre-I, Robot-Will Smith
- Tommy Lee Jones
- witty dialog
- still-believeable-kinda CG effects
- comic book cred
- pre-Law & Order: CI Vincent D’Onofrio
- (my favorite) D’Onofrio’s character’s wife’s (yeah that was a mouthful) crazy bastardization of how to say “sugar water” (more like “shuhur wahdur.”) I quote this phrase more than you might realize (usually when watching Law & Order: CI)

TV: Wednesday night I watched the premiere of America’s Next Top Model (rooting for the transgendered Isis,  baffled by the behavior of Korean-Japanese-American Sheena for simultaneously saying things like “race doesn’t matter!” but then saying things like “you ain’t ready for this yellow fever!”), followed by Jurassic Fight Club because I need to get my weekly dose of Dinosaur George, and then I fell asleep (yes a show about dinosaurs fighting can be THAT boring), missed an episode of Project Runway, and thus had to avoid on the following day reading on how awesome the episode was on my regular blog reads. X(

Japan: I miss you.

Misc. Love:
- The Cho Show
- Staying awake past 10pm
- V8 Acai Berry concoction thingie–although I’m pretty sure a purple carrot doesn’t exist (or does it?)
- Wii Fit

Misc. Hate:
- Heroes
- Missing Project Runway
- Waking up at 2am and, after doing a series of scared jigs, seeing a freaking beetle fall out of my shirt

Well my friends, that concludes my first week of stuff that’s happenin’.  What have you got going on?

- Music: The Unfortunate Twist by Time Machine
- What's Happening Wednesday
- Comedy Central Loves Black People
- What's Happenin' Friday
- Cher to Play Catwoman

If this happens, I will be so stoked to see the next Batman film!

A studio executive said: “Cher is Nolan’s first choice to play Catwoman. He wants to her to portray her like a vamp in her twilight years.

“The new Catwoman will be the absolute opposite of Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry’s purring creations.”

Do we smell change, my friends?

Source: Cher ‘to play Catwoman’ in next Batman film (Telegraph)
Via Shakesville

- What's Happenin' Friday
- Disney Offers No Dental Plan for Fireflies
- The Catch-22 of Japanese Films
- Disney to Work with Japanese Animation Companies Madhouse, Jinni's Animation

OK, so we all know that Disney, or the pathetic shell of what used to be Disney, had to go back to the drawing board in order to come up with a less-offensive version of 2009’s animated The Princess and The Frog.

Watch the trailer and you’ll see an adorable Princess (albeit with straightened hair) avoiding kissing a way-too-eager frog. The animation is smooth, fluid and there is Randy Newman singing in the background.

Only the camera zooms out and you see this mess:

Really?

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and think about all the sidekick animals that tagged along other Disney Princesses:

Snow White: Forest critters. All teeth intact.

Sleeping Beauty: Forest critters. All teeth intact.

Cinderella: Mice with clothes. All pairs of teeth intact.

Belle: Possessed houseware. All teeth intact save for Chip, who had a missing front tooth.

Princess Jasmine: Tiger. All teeth intact.

Pocahontas: Hummingbird and racoon. All teeth intact.

Mulan: Cricket and a dragon. All teeth intact.

So Disney’s first ever Black Princess is accompanied by um, a toothless Godfairy? Sidekick? What the hell is this thing? Princess Jasmine gets a badass tiger, and Princess Tiana gets a reject from Thumbelina?

Nothing is ever going to be portrayed in a light that we can all agree upon, but this is just a slap in the face. (Not to mention that this is supposed to be New Orleans with a focus on Jazz, despite um, Randy Newman. So like, there was nothing in all of Jazz history that Disney found suitable accompaniment to a movie that takes its inspiration from the Jazz Age?)

I might still go and see the movie, if only for the fact that it’s in 2D animation. But judging from the trailer and what I’ve read up on various articles, I feel a major disappointment coming on from a studio who could be using this chance to redeem themselves for their extended past of misrepresenting minorities, plus the sheer lack of quality of the stuff they’ve been churning out lately (I’m sorry to say this but: I honest to God hated Ratatouille.)

- Saving the Whales? Or Leftover WWII Resentment?
- Music: The Unfortunate Twist by Time Machine
- What's Happening Wednesday
- What's Happenin' Friday
- Cher to Play Catwoman

Sweet Rain — see preview here

Does Japan need to think of audiences across the ocean when it comes to marketing films? According to this article from the Hollywood Reporter, Japan’s movie industry carries strength domestically but is starting to see a slight decline. U.S. film executive Bey Logan encourages Japanese filmmakers to think of audiences abroad in order to expand their markets:

“Japan is one of the most fascinating, contradictory and frustrating markets,” he said. “The biggest strength of the Japanese market is that it is so strong domestically, based on television shows that are already familiar to a Japanese audience, they do not travel outside of Japan.”

Consequently, producers do not even consider collaborations because they are effectively guaranteed a money-spinning product.

“They are not interested in the U.S., for example, because they are so strong at home,” he said. “But I was here in Hong Kong back in the 1980s when the industry was strong — and now it is much less strong.

“I would urge Japanese filmmakers to keep up their relations with outside companies because even though they are experiencing a boom at the moment, the time will come when there is a bust.”

Does this explain the reason why there are so many Western remakes of popular Japanese movies? I’m not sure how I feel about this statement–the reason why many foreigners enjoy Japanese movies is because they are distinctly Japanese, and aren’t interpretations of how Westerners think Japanese life is like.

It’s true that there many great films in Japan that probably will never be released overseas, and this may be due to lack of appropriate marketing. But it seems that there a slight increase in interest in Asian cinema, especially films that come from Hong Kong (despite that they are almost entirely all martial arts movies). So should Japan start making more kitschy Samurai flicks? Appeal to Western ideals of what Japanese entertainment should be like?

Source: Japan urged to take film abroad - The Hollywood Reporter

- Saving the Whales? Or Leftover WWII Resentment?
- What's Happenin' Friday
- Cher to Play Catwoman
- All Asians Have Beef With Other Asians
- Disney Offers No Dental Plan for Fireflies

Stich all dressed up for Halloween–photo taken with my cellphone last October

I am not such a huge fan of Disney as I was when I was kid–for one thing, the movies have progressively gotten worse and the storylines seem very desperate.  Japan, however, has continued to fully embrace Disney, possibly even moreso than average Americans.  One character that immediately jumps to mind is Stich from Lilo & Stitch, the little destructive blue alien with a love for Elvis. 

In Japan, Stitch has taken on many incarnations, even being adopted into the Japanese culture by wearing seasonal Japanese clothing.  I am kind of excited to hear Disney teaming up with Madhouse to create a Japanese Stitch TV show (cleverly entitled Stitch!). I’m excited because Madhouse is a famous animation studio that has created many amazing animated works, including numerous CLAMP animated series, and most recently Yazawa Ai’s huge hit Nana and Satoshi Kon’s Paprika.  I’ve always admired the work Madhouse puts into their productions, and am even more intrigued that the show will take place in Okinawa.

Disney is also in cahoots with Jinni’s Animation to produce another series called Fireball, which will take advantage of Jinni’s repitoure of extensive 3-D animation works. Jinni’s Animation produces a lot of music videos and commercials, and most recently had a hand in the opening credits for Takeshi Miike’s Sukiyaki Western (which contained a cameo by Quentin Tarantino).

I can’t say for sure whether this move will gain my respect back for Disney–Disney in America is certainly different than Disney in Japan–but it’s nice to see that they are branching out and actually thinking about their international audiences for once.

Source: Disney to work with two local animators - The Japan Times

- Saving the Whales? Or Leftover WWII Resentment?
- Music: The Unfortunate Twist by Time Machine
- What's Happenin' Friday
- Cher to Play Catwoman
- All Asians Have Beef With Other Asians

Note: This article is an edited version of the one I’ve written for my blog about my stay in Japan.

Yesterday I saw a screening of the Great Happiness Space, a documentary that takes place in Osaka, Japan and discusses the issue of male prostitution (and to a lesser extent, female prostitution) that take place in one particularly popular male host club (as they’re called), Rakkyo.

Each of the young men are interviewed, who live the lives of playboys and scam artists at the same time. An individual host can make up to the U.S. equivalent of $50,000 a MONTH, sometimes even over $10,000 in one night. Their regular customers, young women who spend gobs and gobs of money to get the attention of one man, are also interviewed. Both sides acknowledge the loneliness and emotional numbness that comes from frequenting such an environment.

The documentary does an excellent job by letting the interviewees’ actions speak for themselves. The crew, for the most part, stays out of the way–an occasional question is heard here and there. Ultimately, the young men and women in the film are strikingly honest, baring all for viewers to witness a side of Japan most would never even comprehend. The film is well-edited and cuts back and forth between various people in order to keep interest and show the different facets of sexualized Japanese youth. Overall, The Great Happiness Space does a great job keeping the film low key and straightforward, and you cannot help feeling for all of the men and women in this movie as part of a generation that is a bit lost.

I highly recommend it to those who want to see how confusing it is to grow up in this new generation of Japan, where young people grow up without really understand who they are. The male hosts often talk about wanting to “heal” or to help the women by doing what they do (comforting them, complimenting them, socializing with them, sleeping with them), which is a bit of a paradox because in doing so, the young men claim to lose their own sense of who they are.

- What's Happenin' Friday
- Cher to Play Catwoman
- Disney Offers No Dental Plan for Fireflies
- The Catch-22 of Japanese Films
- Disney to Work with Japanese Animation Companies Madhouse, Jinni's Animation

Title: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Release Date: May 25, 2007
Genre: Action/Comedy
Rating: 2.3/5
Trailer: Here

I don’t really care for the Pirates series, but my boyfriend went and saw the supposedly “last” movie of the series. Here’s what he had to say.
Read the rest of this entry »

- What's Happenin' Friday
- Cher to Play Catwoman
- Disney Offers No Dental Plan for Fireflies
- The Catch-22 of Japanese Films
- Disney to Work with Japanese Animation Companies Madhouse, Jinni's Animation

This post was meant for Memorial Day, but I was too busy running around to put it together!

One common theme in war is the power of art, which is produced by all parties involved. I created an extensive presentation for a peace studies class last year about the art of war because I believe that a lot of people miss how powerful visual images can be.

This site archives a lot of war-related art produced in World Wars I and II. Some artists are unknown but are remembered by their work.

Here is an extensive collection of Nazi Propaganda posters. Notice the similarities in style–realistic and no room for abstraction. Adolf Hitler was once an aspiring art student but hated the abstract and experimental movements going on in Europe at the time. When he came into power, he burned many pieces and arrested avant-garde artists.

Comic books were not spared from the war movement. In came Superman to help the attacks against the Japan.

Of course, anyone can be an artist and that includes victims. Here is a chilling collection of drawings made by survivors of the atomic bombings in Nagasaki, Japan.

Iri and Toshi Maruki devoted the greater part of their lives depicting war atrocities.

There are so many more war-related art out there, but if there is one you should absolutely know and understand is Picasso’s Guernica. The ultimate symbol of the atrociousness of war, Guernica depicts the civilian bombing of the Spanish by the Nazis. I have seen this painting used in many movies that depict the horrors of war, including the recent film Children of Men.

Memorial Day should be just that: a day to remember those who have fallen–soldiers and civilians alike, whether it’s a heroic death, pitiful slaughtering, or entire family lineages that were wiped out with the blast of a bomb. Everyone in one way or another has been touched by war, whether it’s the ongoing war in Iraq or a war that happened over 50 years ago. The only good thing to come of these is that, through the power of art, we can continue to remember the people that they affected.

- What's Happenin' Friday
- Cher to Play Catwoman
- All Asians Have Beef With Other Asians
- Disney Offers No Dental Plan for Fireflies
- Algorithm March...with Ninja!

Title: Hot Fuzz
Release Date: Apr. 20, 2007
Genre: Spoof Action Comedy
Rating: 5/5
Trailer: Here

Let me set something straight. I normally dislike spoof comedies. My youngest sister is obsessed with the movie Airplane! and watches it whenever it’s on TV (which about every 45 minutes or so.) Slapstick movies are funny sometimes, but usually are just a jumble of pop culture references blended together with vulgar toilet humor.

But Hot Fuzz. Now there’s a movie that’s got it right.
Read the rest of this entry »

- Comedy Central Loves Black People
- What's Happenin' Friday
- Cher to Play Catwoman
- All Asians Have Beef With Other Asians
- Disney Offers No Dental Plan for Fireflies

Most people lump samurai movies (especially black and white ones!) along with other classic action genres such as kung fu and the western. So I can understand why people who aren’t cinephiles might dismiss samurai movies as boring, dated, and hard to understand. And when the name Akira Kurosawa comes into play, some people might feel that his movies would be over their head.

To confess, I am one of those people who don’t like samurai movies. They are so cliched and dramatic to the point of being unintentionally funny. (Zatoichi is an exception: There is something insanely cool about a blind swordsman who pretends to clueless. Shh.) When my boyfriend bought the new Yojimbo & Sanjuro DVD collection, I found that I actually enjoyed these movies. They weren’t overly dramatic and the stories are simple, with a good message about men’s tendency to use violence to settle problems.

Sanjuro (if that’s his real name–he makes a dramatic pause and looks out the window everytime someone asks who he is, not to mention he gives different names in both movies) is an atypical samurai in that he is scruffy, rude and asks for money and food–something that (honorable) samurai are not supposed to do. In Yojimbo (”guard-for-hire”) he comes in the middle of a Western-like town feud between two gangs. Sanjuro flip flops from side to side to whoever outbids the other! In Sanjuro, the ronin (wandering samurai) helps out a bunch of young samurai who are trying to overthrow a rotten authority head. An excellent sequel, Sanjuro perhaps is the more “deeper” out of the two films in regards to its messages–and is also the more humorous one.

Yes, you heard right: these films offer something that isn’t associated so much with the samurai film genre: humor! Probably the best part about these films is that they are filled with dark comedy. Sanjuro himself is humorous in his gruff speech and mannerisms, something that contrasts with the clean and modest-speaking Japanese. There are a lot great comedic scenes that will catch you by surprise, if only for the fact that you aren’t expecting anything other than dramatic fight sequences in these sort of movies.

One example: In Sanjuro there is a scene in which the good guys have captured an enemy and stick him in the closet. Throughout random moments in the rest of the film, he politely comes out of the closet to offer some input to their plans, and then obediently goes back in! Comedic genius.

With their dark humor and great casting, Yojimbo and Sanjuro are perfect samurai movies for those who don’t like samurai movies. Put down Rush Hour and try them the next time you are looking for an action comedy.

- What's Happenin' Friday
- Cher to Play Catwoman
- All Asians Have Beef With Other Asians
- Disney Offers No Dental Plan for Fireflies
- It's Been a Crazy Two Months