Well Studio 4C, creators of great anime such as Cat Soup and Mind Game have a new film that should be available sometime in July. It’s called Tekkon Kinkreet and below is a “pilot” for it. There is also a preview out there but it is not quite as impressive. If you do not know of Studio 4C I STRONGLY suggest checking them out, specfically the film Mind Game. Very original and wild plots/characters, amazing mixtures of various forms of animation and film.
Zubrówka. Unfortunately, “best” here means “highest quality while also affordable for the average drinker.” I am no vodka connoisseur but this vodka is very tasty and smooth. It goes down almost too easily with apple juice but I like it best neat. Here is the slightly scary flash website.
is tuna. No matter how you like, raw with some wasabi and soy, seared with some honey, etc., it is simply the best fish in the sea. Ruby red melt in the mouth translucent transcendence. Here is a horrible picture of some tuna that really does not do it justice. I shall take one of my own next time I have some.
Just in case you were wondering what it was, it’s a Czech beer called Kozel, the dark kind. The bottles do it no justice by the way. It is simply delicious. It’s flavour has been described as having everything from coffee to caramel hints. I’d say it is slightly sweet and fruity myself. Do not mistake it for a bitter from its dark color. So far I have not found a place that serves it on tap outside of Czech Republic. PLEASE let me know if you have any luck finding a pub that serves it.
Here is the official website.
Thought I should put this up here. A quick selection of snippets from the more “animated” parts of my films.
I’ve recently come by this album featuring Mike Patton of Faith No More, Dillenger Escape Plan, Fantomas, and Mr. Bungle fame. It exists happily between the hardness/obscurity of the Fantomas and the pop of Faith No More. He collaborates with many random people ranging from Anticon’s Jel to Norah Jones. Many good tracks that are a little scary and a little catchy. A lot of cynicism around LA and the modern world. At least that’s what I felt. Good stuff.
Yes, this time it finally looks true. This week’s episode of the insanely popular Japanese anime Naruto looks like it was the last episode of over a year’s worth of filler! This means that next week we will see Naruto grown up with a new outfit and hopefully a return to the original plot arch of the mangas! So for all of you who gave up watching the abysmal filler episodes, you can resume your watching at episode 221! Below is a picture from the preview for next week’s one hour special episode.
For those who aren’t familiar with Naruto and those just wishing to remember the days when they actually used to animate some amazing fight scene, check out this fight between Sasuke and Orochimaru. Let’s hope the new series has more episodes like this!
Well I went to see the London Premiere of David Lynch’s new three hour film Inland Empire last night at the NFT. Overall it was a good film but it probably requires an appreciation for Lynch’s style and a good amount of stamina to fully appreciate. That includes the ability to enjoy structural elements as expressive rather than grounding, an abundance of slow and mysterious dialog, several dark settings filled with beautiful suspenseful music, (thanks to Angelo Badalamenti once again) and perhaps the desire to make some sense of it all if not to simply enjoy the show. But this is nothing new.
Otherwise, Lynch has created the feature largely if not entirely on digital film. Apparently this is not for budget reasons but simply because he enjoys the “freedom” of digital film, the small camera size, the ability to take a huge number of takes very quickly with little regard to cost, and the crisp nature of the digital film picture with all of its quirks. Indeed there were many steady cam shots and loose, ill composed, seemingly improvised scenes that were not classical Lynch. I enjoyed them for the most part but it does take some time to get away from the feel of digital film. Personally, I enjoy the look of actual film.
Regarding the subject, it is another film along the lines of Mulholland Drive, set in Hollywood revolving around an actress and her ability/lack of ability to discern between her own life and the script of the film in which she is acting. It reminded me a little of the anime Perfect Blue in this regard. However, this plot becomes quickly entangled with that of another set in Poland involving another woman. To do a really poor summary and avoid spoiling or creating expectations, a lot of interactions between the two worlds occurs, attempts to break between or unify, an sort of abstract evil or unknown force appears typical lynch style with some references so a kind of cosmic karma, and ultimately things are unified or resolved, at least a little but.
Usually I watch the more unintelligible Lynch films with an eagerness to have a go at “figuring it all out” even if it is not meant to be “figured out.” This time I just didn’t really feel the need to and I think that took something of the seductiveness away for me. The three hour running time also holds back a critical eye, it just feels like too much of an overwhelming task to even attempt to understand literal connections. Instead you just lie back and immerse yourself into a dreamy hectic kind of… funk, not necessarily a bad funk but definitely not my usually response to Lynch’s work.
After the film Lynch was there to answer some questions. He did what I understand to be his typical avoidance of straight answers and literal explanations. He also does this crazy hand/finger wiggle thing when he speaks that I’ve seen him do before but I did not think it went anywhere near the level of wiggliness that I saw. Amazing. Some random television personality I did not recognize spewed out his favorite Lynch scenes and theories about what his commonly used elements mean and Lynch of course destroyed his attempts to form an organized “meaning to it all.” Pretty much your average stock Lynch interview. He also went on about transcendental meditation of which he is a keen supporter. Fair enough, although it is strange to see him promote it via a three minute summary of what it has done for his creativity that inevitably involves a lot of wiggling and new agey terminology. Don’t get me wrong, I love the man, and I don’t even have anything against TM, I just don’t think he looks quite as good talking about TM on stage.
Here is a fan trailer for the film.
