Archive for April, 2008
DVD Review: R-Point (2004)
Rating:
R-Point is a Korean horror film set in 1972, during the Vietnam War. What? Koreans in Vietnam? The average American viewer (like me) will probably be surprised to learn that the Korean government sent several military units to assist the American army during the Vietnam War. Since most movies about the war tend to [...]
Ten Reasons I Hate Yoko Ono
I’m sitting down right now watching Imagine, the John Lennon biographical documentary, and once again I’m reminded of my seething hatred for his widow, Yoko Ono. Here are ten reasons for said hatred (with assistance from my brother, who shares this hatred).
Bed in the studio.
Julian who?
John Lennon kiddie undies.
Single-handedly ruined what could have been a [...]
GTA = RPG?
Back when I was a news editor over at PlanetPS2, I floated an idea for an article comparing and contrasting the differences between Eastern (read: Japanese) RPG’s and Western RPG’s. The senior editor never picked up on it, but I still think it’s a contrast well-worth considering, especially with the volume of Western-crafted console and [...]
End of Evangelion DVD review
Yellow Menace celebrates both its relaunch and the anniversary of Neon Genesis Evangelion with a long-overdue review of the original series’ concluding movie, End of Evangelion, released theatrically in Japan in 1997 and on DVD in the US in 2002. Along with its companion piece, Death and Rebirth, the film represents a second shot at [...]
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth DVD Review
Note: As Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth retells [...]
DVD Review – Legend of the Black Scorpion
Rating:
Feng Xiaogang’s Legend of the Black Scorpion (aka The Banquet) isn’t the first Shakespeare re-make by an Asian director (Kurosawa’s Ran and Throne of Blood come to mind), nor will it be the last. But there’s no doubt in my mind that it is one of the best.
Benefiting from gorgeous cinematography by Zhang Li [...]
Buy stuff from Viz’ new internets store
Just like our website, Viz Media’s online store is sporting a new coat of paint. If you’re looking for some way to ditch that tax relief check next month, why not buy lots of anime-related stuff. I mean, bills? Only losers pay those.
Oasis’ Noel Gallagher insults former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra
I don’t care what anyone says, out of the top 5 live shows I’ve ever seen, Oasis were probably three of those. At the top of the Brit-Pop craze of the late 90’s, those bastards were un-touchable. Best Rock Band in the World? Too right, mate…
So anyway, defensiveness aside, I was pleased to see this [...]
A note on site avatars…
If you want a site avatar to show up in your comments, please be aware that we are using the Gravatars system for our site. If you’re not familiar with Gravatars, go here. It’s a nice way to create an internet-wide avatar that you don’t have to change every time you go to a new [...]
A warning (of sorts…)
The site’s current design is somewhat of a work-in-progress. I didn’t intend it to be so, but – the first version of the new Wordpress site had a few flaws that didn’t manifest themselves when I was developing it on the WAMP server on my laptop. When it went live, there was some wonkiness that [...]
Tag-team Sogo Ishii torrents – ‘Halber Mensch’ and ‘Burst City’
My favorite underground media outlet G-Pod (aka Grey Lodge) posted a pair of .torrent files for a couple of really cool Sogo Ishii flicks, Halber Mensch and Burst City. Ishii is sort of the proto-Miike, and these two videos are prime examples of his work.
Halber Mensch is a sort of concert film / video compilation featuring [...]
DVD Review – Masters of Horror: Imprint
Rating:
Showtime’s Masters of Horror series has a great concept: each hour-long episode is directed by a famous (or semi-famous) horror director. The roster of directors is international and impressive. John Carpenter, Dario Argento, Tobe Hooper, and Stuart Gordon all take a hand in creating the first thirteen episodes, and Takashi Miike’s Imprint is [...]
Yellow Menace Podcast – Episode 1: Getting Old and Live-Action Anime
Episode 1 of the brand-spankin’ new Yellow Menace Podcast. In this episode I talk about getting older, some upcoming Criterion DVD’s, BotCon 2008, live-action anime adaptations, and play some music from my brother’s band ‘The Waydowns’. The post-production’s a little rough, but I think it’s pretty good for my first podcast
Music Credits:
Opening / Closing [...]
Interview: Japanamerica author Roland Kelts
This past December, Geneon USA (formerly Pioneer Entertainment) shuttered its’ doors, leaving a significant number of anime titles without distribution in America. Fellow anime distributor ADV, which pulled out of a deal with Geneon shortly before their implosion, reportedly suffered issues of its own and rumors swelled that high-expectation titles like Devil May Cry would [...]
Japanese eggheads find use for menstrual blood
Scientists at several Japanese universities have discovered an application for menstrual blood, namely harvesting cells which could potentially repair heart damage. Which is ironic, seeing how my wife’s menstrual blood will no doubt be a factor in whatever stress-related heart disease I’ve got coming down the pike.
The initial findings of the study released last week [...]
