So what we have here is some sort of remote robot-control rig designed for guiding the movements of a remote android - which will soon grow tired of being tethered to its’ wi-fi leash and turn on its’ creators in a fit of Turing-esque rage.

Sick of your spouse? Divorce laws a pain?

Saw your house in half!

Story

A Cambodian couple decided actually getting legally divorced was too much of a hassle, so they split their belongings…including their house. The husband’s half has been moved somewhere else.

It makes a kind of sense…but I bet they’ll regret it during the rainy season.

Rating:  

One of the finest anime made in recent years, Emma: A Victorian Romance is also a testament to the care RightStuf/Nozomi Entertainment takes with their releases. While season one is available only as a box set, it doesn’t much matter. I’m pretty sure no one can watch Emma without wanting to follow this powerful love story to its conclusion.

The series opens in a middle-class household in Victorian London. Emma is a maid for Mrs. Stowner, a retired governess. The pair have been together many years- Mrs. Stowner hired Emma when she was just a child, and has educated her to a level most lower classes of that time could never hope to attain. Mrs. Stowner’s care has created a model young lady: intelligent and observant, unfailingly polite and quiet, and sharply conscious of her place in society.

And then William Jones shows up.

Read the rest of this entry »

Flaming Lips are cooler than Radiohead. See below for proof:

Being in the book trade has its advantages- if I don’t sometimes look at a copy of Publisher’s Weekly, I might have missed this interview with iconic artist Yoshitaka Amano:

Amano Interview

Amano is probably one of my very favorite artists. I really like the ethereal, unfinished quality of his work. In fact, in my first novel, one of the main characters is named Amano…and in my second novel, one of the main characters is named Yoshitaka. <–dork

Confession: I don’t like Sandman (I know, I know) except for the eleventh volume, The Dream Hunters…because Amano did all the artwork.

…and by you I mean the gaijin contingent of our readership. Which is most of you, I presume. Most of the stuff we publish here probably isn’t news to the Japanese (is there some lonely otaku out there running ‘Gaijin Menace‘? I wonder…).

Anyway, if you’re planning a trip to Japan, you might want to steer clear of any quaint Japanese bed-and-breakfast operations you find in the sticks - turns out they don’t like us hairy, smelly Westerners.

Japan’s countryside is dotted with thousands of small, old-fashioned lodgings called “ryokans.” Many are family run and offer only traditional Japanese food and board, such as raw seafood delicacies, simple straw-mat floors and communal hot spring baths.

Some such establishments have barred foreign guests in the past, leading to lawsuits and government fines for discrimination.

The survey carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs shows that 72 percent of establishments that didn’t have foreign customers in the past year don’t want any, and the majority are ryokans and hotels with fewer than 30 rooms. Such businesses said they are unable to support foreign languages and that their facilities are not suited to foreigners.

In other Bruce Lee related news - here’s a trailer for the upcoming Sammo Hung biopic about Bruce Lee’s mentor, Yip Man, starring Donnie Yen.

Good Lord, this sounds awesome. A 50-part Bruce Lee television series called The Legend of Bruce Lee featuring Chan Kwok Kuen (aka Danny Chan, the Bruce Lee lookalike from Shaolin Soccer), starts Sunday on Chinese network CCTV.

Can’t wait til it hits the BitTorrent trackers!

“We’ve only seen the glorious side of Bruce Lee - he comes out all guns blazing, his films are entertaining. But very few people know what injuries he suffered and what grievances he suffered,” Danny Chan said, noting the series even reveals that Lee was afraid of cockroaches.

The 33-year-old actor, whose best known work is Stephen Chow’s “Kung Fu Hustle” and “Shaolin Soccer,” makes up for his lack of star power with his uncanny resemblance to Lee with his thick eyebrows and slender body.

Lee’s message of Chinese strength in movies like “The Chinese Connection” and “Return of the Dragon” also matches that of the Chinese government.

“Lee had strength, agility, pride, intelligence, not to mention charisma to burn, which coupled with the pro-Chinese rhetoric in his films have made him a potent symbol for the powerful new China that is now rising,” said Michael Berry, a professor in contemporary Chinese cultural studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Ex- (or not-so-ex these days, I suppose) Spice Girl Victoria Beckham has reportedly been splurging on $200 ‘geisha face mask’ treatments, supposedly consisting of nightingale droppings. Yes, Posh Spice is rubbing bird shit on her face.

“When she was in Japan recently she was admiring how women in their forties look under 25 and was told about these facials. Then she found out they were available in the USA and popped into a salon for one. The results were so good she even picked up some nightingale dropping goodies to use at home.” Over the years Posh has tried every trick to improve her skin, which is scarred by teenage acne,” the pal added.

Jason Thompson, the author of the (really, really fun-to-read) Manga: The Complete Guide, has revealed on his blog that he’s getting a cameo in Hiro Mashima’s current manga Fairy Tail. Mashima, the creator of Rave Master, apparently took a shine to Thompson after an interview the San Diego Comic-Con.

See it!

How much do I envy Thompson? Well, he wrote a popular manga guide, got to go to the San Diego Comic-Con, interviewed a real like mangaka, AND gets to be in a manga. Also, he gets punched in the face by the main character.

Lucky bastard.