Little Superstar

I’m not going to lie - this clip kinda makes me lose my appetite. I’m not sure why. There’s something Lovecraftian going on here that humans are not fully equipped to understand. That said, he’s kind of cute, ain’t he?

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If you live anywhere near me, in Southwestern, Ohio, chances are you’ll be sitting indoors watching it rain, shaking your fist indignantly skyward in an impotent display of rage, and damning the sky-gods for ruining your holiday weekend.

So - when you’re done doing that (and assuming the sky gods haven’t roasted you with a well-placed thunderbolt for your mortal impertinence), here are a few things to do with your three-day weekend.

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A self described ‘film enthusiast, [...] passionate student of Eastern philosophy, and an admitted Nipponophile’ Patrick Galloway is the author of the book Stray Dogs and Lone Wolves: The Samurai Film Handbook out now from Stone Bridge Press.

Mr. Galloway was recently kind enough to chat with us regarding his new book, and future plans.

Yellow Menace: Congratulations on your book; it’s a real hoot.

Patrick Galloway: Thanks! I was going for “hoot.” Also “romp,” “blast,” and “brilliant, informative read” (laughs)

YM: Well, you certainly succeeded!

PG: Thanks. Thanks a lot.

YM: Can you tell us a little about yourself? I read a little on your background from your site. What spurred your interest in Japanese film?

PG: The short answer is Akira Kurosawa, but really it goes back to my teen years and the discovery of Eastern Philosophy, particularly Hinduism and Buddhism. These teachings had a profound effect on me, and made me want to learn more about the cultures where they thrived. Buddhism led me to Zen and Zen led me Japan. However it wasn’t until the late 1990s that I finally discovered Japanese film.

YM: Wow…consider me impressed! I’ve been watching Japanese movies all my life, (thanks to my Asian Dad) and I found plenty to learn from your book.

PG: I wish I had an Asian dad! Sure would have helped writing this book. But I’m an obsessive type. Once I get into something, I can get pretty monomaniacal which tends to shorten the catch-up period.

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Here’s a little treat - back in 2004, Mazinga and I interviewed actor Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead, The X-Files, The Devil’s Rejects) at GenCon 2004 in Indianapolis. It’s truly one of the best things that’s ever come from running the site - Mr. Foree was a gracious and charming interviewee, and I was happy to have stumbled across it while digging through our archives to get started on the new Ghost in the Shell Episode Guide. One note…when we conducted the intervew, we were still called Destroy-All-Monsters.com, so you’re not confused with all the “DAM” stuff.

I also don’t have the photos we took with Mr. Foree handy, but the interview is still a worthy read. Enjoy!

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My brother has been bugging me for a while to record a commentary track for the website, and last night we found ourselves hanging out with nothing better to do than drink beer and watch Enter the Dragon…and record the experience for posterity.

A word of warning - this is easily the world’s worst commentary track. There are factual errors out the wazoo, and it does nothing to honor the memory and accomplishments of the late Bruce Lee. In fact, listening to this commentary track will do nothing but ruin Enter the Dragon in your memory for all eternity, much the same as The Phantom Menace ruined the entirety of the Star Wars franchise for me.

If you want to cross that threshold, then be my guest.

Yellow Menace DVD Commentary Track - Enter the Dragon

(’Right-click’ to save to your computer / Runtime: 1:42:28 / 36mb total)

(Note: this was recorded while watching the Warner Brothers Two-Disc Special Edition. I doubt there will be any problems if you watch this with another version of the film, but just an FYI…)

Disclaimer: The first ‘Mummy‘ was the only movie I’ve ever walked out on. Hated it. No wait, make that really hated it. As for the second, I never saw it. But this - this looks cool. Not just ’cause it’s about ancient China, not just ’cause it brings Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh into the Mummy fold. It actually looks like a pretty cool movie. We recieved a bevy of preview shots of the flick so you can judge for yourself. Here’s the poster - you can see the rest after you click through…

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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 be pulled from their release slate. Two months later, Newtype Magazine - perhaps the highest-profile anime publication on the US market - ceased publication, citing the cost of licensing the Newtype brand from Japanese publisher Kadokawa Shoten.

As bad as these events are, they only serve to highlight a growing downward trend in the anime industry. The clouds have been on the horizon for some time. Media watchdog site ICv2 recently claimed that sales of anime DVD’s have slid as much as 20% per year since 2006. The cause of this decline has been ascribed to everything from an aging Japanese populace to digital piracy.

And yet, Japanese animation is more popular in the U.S. than at any time in its history. Anime cons in the U.S. like Anime Expo draw upwards of 40,000 attendees per year, while American production companies regularly turn to Japanese animation houses for inspiration or input. And to further cement the ‘anime alliance’ between the U.S. and Japan, animation powerhouse Disney recently entered into a highly-publicised production deal with some of the best animation studios in Japan, including Madhouse and Toei Animation.

So what’s the deal? Is anime going the way of the dodo - another pop-culture trend doomed to the wastebasket of history? Or is it a vibrant, fan-driven industry in the midst of tremendous growing pains? To answer some of these questions, we turned to cultural observer / lecturer / writer Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.

Mr. Kelts graciously took time out of his schedule to conduct a brief interview over the past week.
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There have been plenty of Hollywood remakes of Asian films over the years, but one genre that’s largely escaped the notice of Hollywood’s production machinery is anime. Over the last few years, however, Hollywood has been snapping up the rights to animated series left and right. Some of these re-makes sound promising …and some, not so much. Here are seven high-profile re-makes that Hollywood has in the pipeline.
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