We want this.
We want this, too. Kuromi is our kind of Sanrio character.
* Birthday: October 31 (Halloween).
* Personality: Although she looks cruel, she is actually very girly. She loves handsome guys.
* Hobby: She enjoys writing in her diary. These days, she’s into romance stories.
* Favorite colour: Black
* Favorite food: Pickled leeks.
ANN is reporting a new round of layoffs at anime company ADV, which just recently started getting back into the manga publishing game:
An A.D. Vision (ADV) representative has informed ANN that the company has laid off 13 staff members from various departments of the company. “In October, ADV has laid off a number of positions, pretty much across the board. During the same period, we’ve also hired several new people. The changes in our staff levels and the allocation of staff across departments is a reflection of our priorities for the coming year.”
The move follows recent layoffs at both Funimation and Geneon. The anime business in America has been shaky for a while now, having matured quite some time ago, and facing increased competition from bootlegs, downloading and the other ills of the modern world. While these movies don’t mean it’s all over, it just means that adjustments will continue to be made.
Forget about the US Open, the World Series, or the Westminster Dog Show — New York is about to get a new competition which will knock the world on its Goth-Lolita clad ass: The World Cosplay Summit’s USa Preliminary round is coming to the NY Anime festival this December!
The New York Anime Festival (NYAF) today announced a major partnership with the World Cosplay Summit, the leading international cosplay event which takes place annually in Japan and attracts an audience of cosplay enthusiasts and professionals from many countries all over the globe. The World Cosplay Summit features the very best cosplayers in the world competing before famed anime and manga creators. Previous notable judges have included Leiji Matsumoto (Galaxy Express 999) and Go Nagai (Cutie Honey). Countries which participated in the 2007 World Cosplay Summit included: Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, and Thailand.
“We are focused on making NYAF a broad cultural event which embraces the many aspects of anime and recognizes its influence around the world,” notes John McGeary, Show Manager for NYAF. “This partnership is perhaps one of our most significant steps on the road to doing that. The World Cosplay Summit is nothing less than the Super Bowl of all cosplay. We’re very proud to offer American cosplayers the chance to have their costumes and talent recognized on both a national and international stage.”
Festival organizers note that the partnership will provide NYAF with the opportunity to stage the World Cosplay Summit’s Official USA Preliminary Round. The winners of the convention’s Masquerade will receive a free trip to Japan to represent the USA in the World Cosplay Summit Finals in Summer 2008. The New York Anime Festival is the only American anime convention approved to be part of the World Cosplay Summit.
NPR’s On The Media looks at the cultural impact of manga:
Manga is Japan’s ubiquitous art form; a kind of comic book equivalent that illustrates everything from tax preparation to hard-core fantasy. But it is its growing success outside Japan that’s highlighted its new utility, what Japanese politicians are calling ‘manga diplomacy.’ Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica, explains why politicians are recognizing the form as a powerful cultural export.
[Thanks to Kevin for the link.]
Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica, has thoughts on manga as a feminist issue, in comparing the number of “strong female characters” in anime and manga with real life gender roles:
Indeed, a foreign fan of manga and anime might be forgiven for assuming that Japan, creative nerve center for the artwork itself, is a global leader in gender equity.
Yet just last month, The New York Times ran a damning indictment of Japan’s actual treatment of women in the workplace, noting that in 2005, women held a mere 10.1 percent of all management jobs in Japanese companies and government. (The U.S. figure is 42.5 percent.) In the United Nations index of gender empowerment, a survey of 75 countries, Japan ranks 42nd, far below Asian neighbors such as Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. The article predicts dire consequences for a nation with an anemic birthrate and looming labor shortages.
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PR:
VIZ Media, one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has licensed the Shonen Jump DEATH NOTE anime series to Adult Swim for domestic broadcast beginning Saturday, October 20 at midnight (EST) on the network’s popular Adult Swim block of programming. New episodes will follow each week thereafter.
Shonen Jump DEATH NOTE is a suspenseful mystery, inspired by a 12-volume manga counterpart (published in North America by VIZ Media), and follows the adventures of Light Yagami, an ace student with great prospects but who is bored out of his mind. All of that changes when he finds the Death Note, a strange notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god named Ryuk. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals mysteriously begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal - or his life?
The unique storyline and complex characters, combined with visually stunning animation by Madhouse, made Shonen Jump DEATH NOTE one of the most popular anime series in Japan and anticipation for the North American release has built steadily since VIZ Media first began publishing the manga series. Shonen Jump DEATH NOTE also spawned two successful live-action films, set for domestic distribution this year by VIZ Pictures, and a plethora of related posters, toys and action figures. VIZ Media will further release Volume 1 of DEATH NOTE, containing 4-episodes, on DVD on November 20.
“The domestic broadcast debut of DEATH NOTE has been patiently awaited by fans across the country and we are pleased to team with Adult Swim to facilitate it,” states William Germain, Director, Animation Production, VIZ Media., “The mix of drama, mystery and action has already made the Shonen Jump DEATH NOTE manga a hit and the anime series takes the characters and plot to the next level with a captivating visual style. We look forward to fans tuning in each week for the latest adventures of L and Light as they struggle to outwit each other and demonstrate conflicting ideas about right and wrong.”
PR:
The New York Anime Festival (NYAF) today announced prominent online artists and performers Chris Hazelton, GeekNights, Juno Blair B, Lindsey Henninger, and Uncle Yo will be featured at its inaugural event, December 7-9, 2007 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. The New York Anime Festival, organized by the creators of the New York Comic Con, is committed to being an event which spans the anime world, and NYAF’s newly announced guests — podcasters, webcomic authors, and online illustrators — further expand the convention’s boundaries. Existing guests, including Kobun Shizuno (Co-Director of Evangelion: 1:0 You Are (Not) Alone), David Kalat (author of J-Horror: The Definitive Guide), and Yoshi Amao (founder of performance group Samurai Sword Soul), come from both the pop culture to traditional culture realms.
“I’m very pleased to welcome NYAF’s new guests,” Show Manager John McGeary said. “Chris, GeekNights, Juno, Lindsey, and Uncle Yo are all talented fans of anime and manga, and they’ve each turned their love into something creative. We’re very happy to give them this opportunity to shine.”
Anime News Networkreports that manga/anime sensation DEATH NOTE, will begin airing on Adult Swim beginning at midnight October 20th. The tale of a teen who fights evil with a death-dealing notebook has already been a worldwide hit in manga, anime, live action and novelized form.
[Via Blog@]
PR:
VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media LLC that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, has announced that it has licensed from Nippon Television (NTV) the North American theatrical and DVD distribution rights to the live-action feature film DEATH NOTE and its sequel, DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME, based on the DEATH NOTE anime and manga series which have gained massive followings in Japan and North America. VIZ Media is the exclusive North American publisher and distributor of the DEATH NOTE anime and manga series.
VIZ Pictures will open DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME in a series of special screenings at Austin’s Fantastic Fest 2007, September 20-27, and at the 2007 Vancouver Asian Film Festival, November 1-4. Theater information follows at the end of this release and future screenings will continue throughout 2008. VIZ Pictures also plans to release DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME on DVD in the summer of 2008.
PR:
The New York Anime Festival (NYAF) is anticipating a significant launch when it opens its doors to the public on December 7th, 2007. While show officials acknowledge that it is still too early to accurately estimate the number of people who will attend, the early enthusiasm and anticipation for a New York City based anime event is, according to John McGeary, the Con Manager, “Both significant, and very real!” He notes: “We have been getting some great feedback about NYAF and we’re excited about our show. One of the key things we want to do is expand beyond anime specifically to embrace many aspects of Japanese culture. This will make our show unique and it will certainly make it popular to a broad community. The audience for anime and manga is already huge. By featuring many different elements of Japanese culture while still focusing on anime and capitalizing on the enormity of our New York City fan base, I’m feeling optimistic that we’ll have a very busy and stimulating event.”
PR:
Today ADV Films and Geneon Entertainment (USA) announced a new distribution agreement. From October 1st on, ADV Films will be Geneon Entertainment USA’s sole distributor. ADV Films will handle all sales and distribution duties for the combined catalogue as well as certain marketing functions.
Geneon Entertainment (USA) is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based advertising giant Dentsu, Inc. Geneon is a pioneer of anime in America, having helped to launch Pokemon, Appleseed, and Akira on home video. More recent hits include some of the best-selling franchises in anime today, including Hellsing, Ergo Proxy, and the new hit series Black Lagoon.
“This is a great alliance,” said Geneon President and CEO Eiji Orii. “The efficiencies we’ll achieve ultimately will mean more anime for the fans to enjoy.”
Anime Expo was this weekend, with some 35,000 fans converging on Long Beach — down from last year but still a lot of cosplay. We don’t have time to read all the news and so on, but here’s a BUNCH of links — let’s meet back here tomorrow and catch up, okay?
§ ComiPress has ALL THE LINKS. Get a cup of coffee, sit down and GO!
§ Manganews has links and some headlines for a digest version:
§ Brigid runs down the major manga news here and here. Didn’t look to be anything heart stopping to this non-otaku’s eyes, although CMX is launching actual a new format for its latest M-rated titles, starting with PRESENTS by Kanoko Inuko and VARIANTE by Iquara Sugimoto. Many other new books from DrMaster, Go Comi, etc etc.
Picture above ganked from Japanator, randomly chosen out of what are probably scores of cosplay picture galleries going up as we speak.
According to one survey, almost 1 in 4 Japanese men between 30-34 is a virgin:
“There are 11 percent of people who gave an invalid answer to the survey and I bet you the vast majority of them would be virgins. And though there is also 65 percent who said they have had sex, that also includes the guys whose only experience is a single session at the brothel and nothing since, so there are a lot of virtual virgins in amongst them, too,” Watanabe says.
The Japan Cherry Boy Association currently boasts of 517 members whose ages range from their teens to their 40s. Many join the association in the hopes that women will visit its website and try to pick them up. Some members, albeit only a few, actually succeed in “graduating” from the club by successfully experiencing sex.
Some have found comfort in works of fiction:
Conservative virgins argue that they’ve had enough of real women and would prefer two-dimensional types such as those found in manga and anime, who are also not going to lead them to the pain of rejection.
We’ve been poking around lately trying to figure out if things like NYMPHET are normal fun for the whole family or outlets for more dysfunctional aspects of Japanese society; answering such a question is far beyond the scope of one little blog. However we have heard repeated mentions of a Japanese “sex crisis” as in many young women and men not having any. We also are reminded that lots of shojo(girls) comics are actually read by young men. (And girls read shonen.) Anyway, we dont’ have any answers…just throwing that out there.
[Found via Simon at Icarus]
Tickets for the 2007 New York AsianFilm Festival are on sale now, and as always it’s a mind boggling array of films. There are quite a few manga/comics tie-ins, and Grady Hendrix was kind enough to give us the low-down:
DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME - the big, fwapping manga turned into live action movies that are like Agatha Christie meets Edgar Allan Poe. And director Shusuke Kaneko will be here, too.
BIG BANG LOVE, JUVENILE A - the best gay men in prison movie ever made. And it’s based on a manga (ELEGY FOR BOY by Masaki Ato). Plus it has a rocket in it. Sort of LOVE AND ROCKETS for gay men.
DASEPO NAUGHTY GIRLS - based on a Korean webcomic. It’s a muscial about teenagers at Dasepo (Useless) High School who spend their days getting perverted. Totally fun, and sex-positive. The kind of movie where you leave wanting to lynch right wingers!
FREESIA: BULLETS OVER TEARS - yet another manga adaptation. This flick is pretty amazing but has a very low profile. The mange it’s based on is FREESIA by Jiro Matsumoto.
And then, not adapted from manga, there’s ZEBRAMAN which is all about superhero fandom:
And, of course, the terrifically racist, sexist, offensive, joyous AACHI & SSIPAK - one of the most amazing animated movies ever made.
Click on links for tix.
Compete looks at what people are searching for in Wikipedia, and the results may surprise you:
Anime (26%)
There is a tremendous amount of interest in learning about Pokemon and Naruto. Perhaps these are parents who want to know what their kids are going crazy over. My Mom didn’t know what “He-Man” was until I was a grown man reflecting on how silly Castle Grayskull was. My mom could have used Wikipedia in the 80’s.
Sex (16%)
What’s interesting about the top sex related terms on Wikipedia is that they do not appear to have gratuitous intent. The top terms include very straightforward inquiries on human reproductive ‘parts’ and basic concepts of what sex is and how it is performed. It appears many people are learning about what sex is and how to have it by referencing Wikipedia.
A Toronto Gay lifetysle website runs an interesting preview of the Anime North convention by looking at yaoi fans through a gay perspective:
But Kat Williams, a Toronto-based anime artist and author who organized queer panels at the convention for several years beginning in 2000, says she’s dismayed by the lack of queer content created specifically for queers at recent Anime North gatherings.
“[Last year’s Yaoi North] was pretty much straight girls squealing about their favourite [gay anime] couples,” says Williams.
Lai makes no bones about the genre’s objectification of queer men. “But yaoi men are as ridiculous as gay porn men,” she says.
Nor is she worried about the lack of gay activism at the conference. “We don’t discourage people being proud and out or talking about issues like that… [but] this is a hobby, an interest. Our purview is discussing cartoons. We’re not saving lives.”
Schwartz is all for straight anime lovers’ queer obsessions. “These people are our straight allies. They’re the ones who are with us at gay pride marches, and if they relate to gay media, then that makes me happy bringing them into the gay community.”
Did you ever want to be a Japanese schoolgirl? Well now you can in a new RPG called Panty Explosion!
In Atarashi Games’ Panty Explosion ($20) players take on the roles of psychic Japanese schoolgirls and battle nightmarish demons, ghosts, government agents and even each other. Like the typical “magical girl” manga or anime, Panty Explosion mixes the mundane and the macabre, the petty trials and tribulations of high school life and the life or death struggle against supernatural monsters. The rules encourage teamwork and creativity while focusing on friendship and storytelling. Anime and manga fans with an interest in immersive role-playing will be able to bring the experiences they have gained watching and reading their favorite magical girl sagas to this game.
Atarashi’s second gave is called Classroom Death Match, and ICv2 reports they also have a yaoi RPG in the works. You can go here and download a DEMO of Panty Explosion, which seemingly contains magic and monsters instead of crying in the bathroom, worries over monthly bloat, and shopping for knee high white socks.
You can also sing “Let’s play Panty Explosion” to the tune of “Master and Servant” by DMode!
ComicMix reports on a Broadcasting & Cable magazine report that the Sci-Fi Channel will soon begin airing a 2 hour anime block on Mondays, starting on June 11.
The schedule has yet to be set in stone, but they’ll be kicking off with Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, and airing Noein, Tokko, and Macross Plus for at least the following two weeks.
[TEKKON KINKREET made news both as the adaptation of a respected manga, AND the first Japanese anime film to be written and directed by Americans. It’s currently on a very limited release in the US. Guest reviewer IVAN BRANDON (NYC Mech, 24seven) sent us this review.]
I’ve always said that there are artists out there whose work should probably never be adapted. In most of Vonnegut’s work, for example, the joy of the experience depends largely on his voice.
In the comic book world, if you asked me to make a list of works I’d think were inadaptable in that sense, I’d put Taiyo Matsumoto’s TEKKON KINKURITO (Black and White, in the American printing) high up in the rankings. The world Matsumoto creates in TK is so specific and odd… the subtlety and nuance of his characters is unlike the work of any other creator I’ve read in comics or film. (To me, it’s the holy grail of kid characterization, murderous violence aside.)
That said, the preview footage I’d seen was intriguing, and the other night I went to see the US debut of Japanese STUDIO 4°C’s hand-animated adaptation, called TEKKON KINKREET, and written and directed by first time American film-makers Michael Arias and Anthony Weintraub, respectively.
And to whatever degree the task might be difficult, they take a hell of a crack at it.
The art style is its own animal, but as faithful a recreation of Matsumoto’s art as I think one could want, beyond him drawing every piece himself. Like the book, the visual POV is all over the place, capturing the scope and depth of an enormous and intricate environment from ground and air. The characters retain Matsumoto’s unique visual flair, completely unlike the preconceptions I’ve heard of what manga or anime “look like”, blending European and American influences into something completely new.
The real test, though, for any fan of the source work, is how the characters express themselves beyond their visual construction. This is the area I was most dubious about, and the area in which I was most surprised. There’s no telling what Matsumoto’s characters sound like in his own head… and as in any adaptation, no film’s interpretation will match the version a reader builds while reading it. But 10 minutes in, watching TEKKON KINKREET, I was stunned by how close it was getting to mine.
The movie’s arc is different than the comic version as the demands on Matsumoto in a weekly serial are completely unlike the demands of a 2-hour film. Where the book moves quickly throughout, there are spots the movie drags ever so, although visually there’s never a dull moment. And while the film hold a lot of the comic’s strengths, so too does it hold it’s weaknesses, and while both are enormously entertaining, neither’s a flawless creation.
But all in all the experience of watching the film is spectacular… the world is both bombastic and intimate, the characters nearly as strange and amazing as the first time I encountered them.
I’ve always said that there are artists out there whose work should probably never be adapted. Sometimes I’m happily wrong.
A couple of stories that illuminate this sometimes confounding activity. In Hawaii, the deck sums it up:
Passive fun isn’t for hard-core anime fans who toil to dress the part
and the story digs in:
About an hour and a half later, Sasaki says in her gentle voice, “So, anyone want to start on buckles?” The eight group members clear away dinner, head for the soda boxes and bring out … costume pieces. Half contain Styrofoam pieces that will become shoulder pads. The other half are full of vinyl pieces cut into arrow shapes that will become buckles for jackets — the main reason for tonight’s get-together.
MEANWHILE, Japan Times focuses on some new establishments in the Shibuya os Tokyo where you can pretend you’re in prison, complete with giant needles. Whee!
Each version of Alcatraz incorporated some variation on the basic theme, and the Shibuya E.R. seems to strike the right balance with its unique blend of (im)pure cosplay. In short, it is both a maximum-security prison and an emergency medical room where it’s Halloween every night and ghoulish jailers and macabre medics take charge. Talk about a spanking.
Fortunately, it is all just play. As soon as you step out of the elevator onto the second floor, you are in a holding cell. The doors are controlled from the inside, so you must wait until they are ready to admit you. Once inside, your induction will be “processed” by the resident on duty. The night nurse will be summoned to assist. It is her job to see that any potentially dangerous inmate in each fresh intake is securely handcuffed. Remember: good behavior will be rewarded, so be on your best or it might be you — or at your worst if you want it to be you.
After that, disinfection procedures begin. There are simply no words to describe the size of that needle, except for maybe “ouch!” Well, not really. It is big, but I don’t want to spoil the gag by revealing exactly what they do with it. You’ll have to go and find out for yourself.
As part of the imminent cell phone/iPod revolution many large corporations are sinking money into creating comics that can easily be morphed into cartoons or movies, or hybrids of the same. The flipside is animating existing comics into something more flashy, and we’ve had several people showing us their special software on iPods lately. Looks like the race is on!
Among these hybrids, the recent Fox Atomic Comics 28 Days Trailer is one example. Now here’s something a lot more complicated: Jonas Moore. We were alerted to it via an email from TheOneRing’s Michael Regina:
Heya, it’s Mike Regina, I’m working on a brand new project and want to tell you about it. It is called ‘The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore’ and stars James Bond & Resident Evil star Colin Salmon as the title character.
What makes this project unique is the format in which it tells the story, it is a relatively new technique using CGI, live action & 2D animation in a comic book style setting. All elements are meshed together to tell a great story set in an alternative England, where gaming has become a way of life, where characters and games are so realistic they seem to take on a life of their own.
A bit of poking around reveals animated photos, drawings, special effects and even some CGI for what might charitably be called a mishmash. We haven’t had time to actually watch or read or whatever it is you do with the thing. The spots are co-sponsored by Triumph, hence the motorcycle-heavy content, but we’re fine with Colin Salmon on a bike, to be honest. There are also actual comics on the site, with art by Mick Trimble.
We found this interview/PR with creator Howard Webster, and a blizzard of new media buzzwords ushers in the project:
“Branded content and fan generated content is a vast, evolving beast with huge metrics emerging from the web. The business models that drove the revenue big media agencies and global advertising agencies is collapsing, The easy relationship between big media buyers and media agencies and the net and gross fees that earned them massive paydays is thankfully dying.
It was, in my opinion, a snug cartel based upon suspect metrics that didn’t actually take into account how people actually interact with media. All it favoured was a justification of the media spend on the part of the manager who sanctioned it and the fees. In an effort to reinvent themselves the global media agencies are trying to claim they are now somehow experts in the field of branded content; the new content digerati. They’re not. In branded content terms they are the embarrassing father drunk at a wedding trying to look hip on the dance floor dancing to sounds of the 80s. The global media agencies are simply trying to copy what teenagers and web-heads are already doing in their millions with content on the web and are attempting to charge brand directors huge sums of money to do it.
Translation: Ads must look more like content in the future.
However, this hybrid format is not being embraced like a cuddly kitten, at least not according to this article in Macworld which says that “visual novels” are already the rage in–where else?–Japan but face an uphill battle in the US:
Visual novels feature rich color graphics and soundtracks with some of Japan’s best-known voice actors speaking character dialogue. They aren’t as interactive as games, but they’re not totally passive like e-books or movies, either. Visual novels often provide users with decision-making capabilities that will affect the story’s outcome. The pacing is slower than a game or a movie, but offers a rewarding payoff for enthusiasts who like the unique experience.
When visual novels are prepared for American audiences, the original Japanese language track and all the original story is maintained, but a subtitle track may be included so English speakers can understand what’s going on, which may turn off some casual users who don’t want to have to read.
Sometimes visual novels are equated with “dating sims,” a genre of largely erotic interactive entertainment where the goal is to disrobe a woman or to have sex, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Hirameki, for example, markets products safe for teens and others. In 2006, the company began offering Mac-compatible titles as well, first with a gothic horror novel called “Animamundi: Dark Alchemist” and more recently with “Yo-Jin-Bo,” a story set in feudal Japan. Both titles leverage Adobe Flash to achieve cross-platform compatibility.
Will the “visual novel” format ever take off? Maybe when it gets its own Griffith or Kirby. In the meantime it has two factors going for its eventual adoption here in the US: 1) advertisers will keep sinking money into it and 2) as goes Japan, so goes America. It’s inevitable.
ICv2 is promoting it’s new ICv2 Guide #42: Anime/Manga with a list of the top Manga and Anime properties via Bookscan.
ICv2 Top Ten Manga Properties
1. Naruto
2. Bleach
3. Kingdom Hearts
4. Fruits Basket
5. Death Note
6. Full Metal Alchemist
7. Vampire Knight
8. Absolute Boyfriend
9. Loveless
10. Tsubasa
And the ICv2 Top Ten Anime Properties for Q1 2007
1. Dragon Ball Z
2. Pokemon
3. Voltron
4. Naruto
5. Robotech Shadow Chronicles
6. Full Metal Alchemist
7. Hellsing Ultimate
8. Howl’s Moving Castle
9. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
10. Bleach
More in link.
Emile Hirsch has been cast as Speed Racer in the upcoming movie:
The actor most recently earned critical acclaim as the charismatic Johnny Truelove in the real-life crime drama Alpha Dog, and as skateboarding vanguard Jay Adams in Lords of Dogtown. He next stars as Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild, Sean Penn’s screen adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s bestseller, which is set for release this September.
Well, he’s got the eyebrows.
§ Tom Cruise will NOT appear in the WATCHMEN movie, says CHUD:
My source was right. While on the phone with Watchmen director-to-be Zack Snyder yesterday, talking about the pending release of 300, I asked him point blank about Cruise, and he confirmed that he and Tom had been talking about it. A lot. But that now it looked like Cruise would not be appearing in the film.
“He was interested,” Snyder confirmed to me. “I did talk to him about it for a while.” And would the role he wanted be Ozymandias? “That would be the role,” Snyder said.
§ UGO interviews John Ridley on his Wildstorm series THE AMERICAN WAY:
For comic book fans I think you can give a more detailed explanation about the concept of a super group used as agitprop for the government, but not in a Draconian way, an Orwellian way, not to placate the masses but to give people hope in the ’60s. It was a time of promise and peril; it was the fear of Communism and nuclear war and I think the government back then, they weren’t evil; they just wanted people to have hope. Even the space program, well, some people think it’s a big conspiracy. Nevertheless, the idea was to show that we could keep up with the Russians and we could surpass them. The American Way is the way to go.
§ A Batmobile sold for $200K at an auction after a fiercer than expected bidding war.
A shopper with $233,000 to spare went away with a vehicle fit for a superhero when a Batmobile from the 1960s television series “Batman” was sold at auction Tuesday.
The car was the sixth of an unspecified number built for the 120-episode ABC series based on the DC Comics hero, according to Coys auctioneers in London. Four or five bidders helped drive its price more than 50% above the upper estimate, said Chris Routledge, an auctioneer at Coys.
The car, which is almost 20 feet long, is black with scarlet lines to highlight its contours and winged chassis.
§ The Contra Costa Times offers a typical look at WonderCon, which starts today:
Even events without a link to WonderCon seek to profit from it. At Jillian’s in the Metreon, the Bay Area Fan Film Festival takes a cue from Sundance offshoots, premiering a Web-based sequel to fanboy fave “The Crow” on Sunday.
Jeff Bonivert, an Oakley artist and technical illustrator at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, plans to take his portfolio.
“I’ve been to every WonderCon,” the 52-year-old said proudly.
§ Every parent must read: The Chicago Tribune digs into how American youth gets hooked on anime!
When Rebecca was 2, her mother, Teresa, brought home a VHS copy of “My Neighbor Totoro,” a supernatural tale of a forest spirit who tries to reunite two young sisters after the youngest, Mei, sets off to find her mother. “[When] Mei screams her head off, I remember screaming with it,” Rebecca says. “My mom tells me I would just put in the tape over and over.” It wasn’t Teletubbies, and it helped set the standard for what she would later watch — most of it foreign. In fact, when you mention American animation around her or any other anime fan, with the exception of a few series like “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons,” they usually toss around adjectives like “brain-dead” and “childish.” Anime, on the other hand, deals with universal issues, says Susan Napier, a professor of Japanese studies at Tufts University outside Boston.
§ Somehow HEROES on NBC and SPIDER-MAN 3 are teaming up and you will see a seven minute scene of SPIDEY 3 but only if you watch HEROES. Or something like that.
§ TIME reviews 300:
The result is a gorgeous, dreamlike movie that’s almost too perfect. Every frame is neat and composed, like an oil painting, not a hair or a grain of sand out of place. All noise and dissonance have been digitally eliminated. It’s beautiful, but it’s more beautiful than it is real. Movies are invigorated by the tension between the director and reality, the struggle of the artist to tame the reluctant, intractable world, and that tension is missing from 300. If you’ve ever seen Hearts of Darkness, the documentary of the disastrous campaign to make a very different war movie, Apocalypse Now, you’ve heard Francis Ford Coppola say: “My movie is not about Vietnam. My movie is Vietnam.” Coppola’s protracted, Pyrrhic struggle against the jungle stokes the movie’s crazy energy. In 300 there’s not really much of a struggle. If 300 is the Battle of Thermopylae, then Snyder is the digital god-king Xerxes, and not the Spartans.
Well, this is disgusting. Basically, a “promoter” set up an anime con, promising the extra profits would go to breast cancer research, and the whole thing was a scam. The “promoter” cancelled the event and made off with all the money.
AnimeFF and its breast cancer awareness turned out to be a scam of ridiculous magnitude, affecting so many parties in the anime industry, including the integrity of the anime fans. Active Anime’s friend Adam of TheOtaku.com, who took his time from his busy schedule to promote AnimeFF’s “Tour For the Cure” convention experience this issue first hand as he was a guess at the convention that was held last January 13 – 14. TheOtaku.com, is putting pressure on AnimeFF’s parent company Duplicate Mass Industries as it is only posting documents and events that happened at the convention, and starting with the only AnimeFF representative Jeffery Borncamp. According to one of the posting, Jeffery Borncamp left the convention with the cash box and was never heard from it again. Duplicate Mass Industries is based in Columbus, Ohio. If you have any information on AnimeFF or Duplicated Mass Industries, please contact Adam at adam@theotaku.com, and visit TheOtaku.com for more inforamtion and to read the events that transpired at AnimeFF.
Manganews has more:
AnimeFF was founded with the purpose of leveraging the goodwill of the fandom community to generate money for breast cancer research, specifically the Susan G. Komen Foundation. With this in mind they launched the anime “Tour for the Cure” convention, with the idea that the entire proceeds of the convention be donated.
Needing help to get the convention started and help to have it promoted, they turned to a variety of people in the anime community, including Richard Stott, founder of the well-respected Anime Vegas convention, and the team over at theOtaku.com, who helped in a number of ways, including running an anime art contest. The winners of the contest were promised a number of gaming systems, donated to the con because AnimeFF’s parent organization, DMI (Duplicate Mass Industries) has ties to the gaming industry. MTV was even set to come out and video tape the cosplay parade.
Instead, the worst things that could ever happen in an anime con happened: Contracts for the convention rooms were not signed. The three day con was suddenly cut to a one day con. Event after event was canceled. Accommodations promised to the various con guest were never made available. Finally, AnimeFF representative Jeff Borncamp told the convention center people that the con was over with, while he ran off with all the registration money and dealer deposits.
From the folks who brought you New York Comic-Con The New York Anime Festival:
Announcing the New York Anime Festival!
December 7-9, 2007
Jacob Javits Center, New York City
The organizers of New York Comic Con are pleased to announce the Northeast’s new home for anime pop-culture. The New York Anime Festival will be held December 7-9, 2007 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.
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Enjoy cosplay, autographing sessions, panels, screenings and special events.
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Meet popular artists, creators, celebrities, special guests and new friends!
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Check out the latest in anime, manga/manhwa, graphic novels, books, comics, TCG games, video games, toys, costumes, and more!
Subscribe to the New York Anime Festival eNewsletter for the latest announcements and updates on the show. Each month, one lucky subscriber will win a pair of free tickets to the festival! Sign up early and increase your chances of winning!
[Thanks to IA for pointing out the link.]
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