Archive for August, 2008
Roland Kelts on demise of Japanese publisher Yohan
When Japanese publisher Yohan went belly up earlier this year, its’ passing was scarcely noted in Western media. Not that I would have expected any of them to run with the story – but Japanamerica author Roland Kelts points out that Yohan’s death is the tip of the iceberg revealing a disturbing trend towards cultural [...]
‘Queer Eye’ director Max Makowski to helm Voltron flick
Who could bring style and grace to the Voltron live-action adaptation better than Queer Eye for the Straight Guy director Max Mankowski? NO ONE. I *dare* you to refute that. When I think of giant multicolored lions that combine into a large humanoid mecha in post-apocalypse NYC, I think of persnickety grooming tips and bitchy [...]
UK tour company hires Japanese guide to assist Beatrix Potter fans from Japan
The 2006 Beatrix Potter biopic Miss Potter, which featured Renee Zellweger as the titular Miss Beatrix Potter, was such a hit in Japan that the Mountain Goat Tours company – which ferries visitors around various Potter-related locations in the UK – has hired on a permanent Japanese tour guide.
Junko [Ishiwata] will now become a firm [...]
Miyazaki trounces ‘Dark Knight’ at Japanese box office
Despite their best efforts, The Joker and Two-Face couldn’t bring down Batman, but leave it up to a Japanese goldfish to put him in his place.
Hayo Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s latest effort Ponyo on a Cliff By The Sea has raked in a respectable $93 million in the last month, while Christopher Nolan’s sophomore Batman [...]
Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto to attend NY Anime Festival as Guest of Honor
I don’t really watch Iron Chef, or its’ American spin-off Iron Chef America, anymore. Really, once you’ve seen a good dozen or so episodes, there’s just not much more to see – although the end products are uniformly fascinating, if frequently unappetizing (stay away from the ice-cream machine!)
That said, I was happy to see that [...]
Fuck Scientology – a disclaimer
I noticed with some dismay that Google adSense served a banner ad for the Church of Scientology earlier today. Unfortunately, Google doesn’t offer tools to filter contextual ads, so I am unable to prevent these ads from showing up on the site.
For the record: I consider Scientology and its membership to be fucking lunatics – [...]
Japanese man seeking aid for snake bite arrested
A Japanese man seeking medical attention for a venemous snake bite was taken into custody when it was discovered that the snake that poisoned him was only one of fifty-one illegal venemous snakes in the man’s collection. Legal hijinks ensued.
Nobukazu Kashiwagi, a 41-year-old port worker, was bitten on his finger by an eastern green mamba [...]
Benny Chan to reverse-engineer US thriller ‘Cellular’
Usually the Asian-Hollywood connection runs East-to-West, but Hong Kong director Benny Chan is going against the flow with a planned remake of the 2004 Kim Basinger film Cellular. While the original wasn’t all that great, I can see how it would serve as a template for a decent Hong Kong action flick. Chan has already [...]
South Korea captures sexy North Korean Spy
When you’re a hot female spy, you can always rely on good ol’ sex appeal to get the job done – a lesson apparently not lost on 34-year-old Won Jeong-hwa, a North-Korean refugee who turned out to be an enemy agent.
According to prosecutors, Won confessed that she was a trained North Korean spy.
Originally, the [...]
iPhone girl – still employed, alive
Those of you worried about the cute-as-a-button iPhone girl (a 21st century Rosie the Riveter if I ever saw one) will be heartened to know that she hasn’t been fired, nor has she been summarily executed by the Taiwanese government for divulging trade secrets.
No, according to China Daily, iPhone girl is still employed by [...]
Yakuza now ‘the biggest private equity firm in Japan’
As much as I complain that American corporations are run by a bunch of crooks, I suppose I’m lucky I don’t live in Japan – where the corporations really are run by crooks.
Japan’s powerful yakuza organised crime syndicates are mounting a widespread and “infectious” assault on the country’s financial markets that may have left hundreds [...]
Yellow Menace Theater – Gamera vs. Guiron
Going to Dragoncon, BRB
Tomorrow me and husband are going to wrestle the cat into her carrier (I know that doesn’t sound like a big job, but she’s 10 pounds of pure hate), drop her off at Mom’s, and take off to Dragoncon, one of the U.S.A.’s largest sf/fantasy conventions in America. We’ll be back Monday, September 1st.
If you’re [...]
Dragonball Z Trailer Out October 17th
Just in case you are DYING to see the trailer for the new, undoubtedly earth-shatteringly fabulous live-action Hollywood version of Dragonball Z, be reassured- the preview will be attached to the new movie Max Payne, which is released into theaters October 17. The movie itself comes out April 10th.
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=48229
Just look at what’s-his-name in the picture [...]
Veronica Mars investigates Astro Boy
Kristen Bell, ex-star of UPN’s teen mystery program Veronica Mars, has signed on to play – well, someone – in the upcoming CGI Astro Boy flick. I’ve never seen Veronica Mars, though it comes highly recommended – now that the series is running 20-odd bucks on Amazon I might have to pick it up.
I’m actually [...]
