tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36343122429234878182024-03-19T13:29:56.619+09:00JapaneseCultureGoNow!tokyo coin-locker headspace stuff by andrez bergenAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.comBlogger288125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-71609004455489769602016-01-22T12:32:00.004+09:002016-01-22T13:03:29.355+09:002016 round-up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb9xocwuOGP-Z4d39c3W1hg2kx8nCGfWHLXTZATznW693-ao2YuzlE2LLJwmx1tBi6ujk2DvU-gJl8prQ2TWMxuSKt2D2e_SZ5_28zMaiz15dwBXmVrs37e2otlhIUTkKu-CoU9795YCaG/s1600/Small+Change+front+cover_art+by+Alec+Goss_Roundfire+Fiction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb9xocwuOGP-Z4d39c3W1hg2kx8nCGfWHLXTZATznW693-ao2YuzlE2LLJwmx1tBi6ujk2DvU-gJl8prQ2TWMxuSKt2D2e_SZ5_28zMaiz15dwBXmVrs37e2otlhIUTkKu-CoU9795YCaG/s320/Small+Change+front+cover_art+by+Alec+Goss_Roundfire+Fiction.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Ahem</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">. It's been a while.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In
case you missed the </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">memo</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> (via my far more regular blog<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://andrezbergen.wordpress.com/">here</a>), my new novel <em style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0mm;"><a href="http://www.roundfire-books.com/books/small-change" style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px; transition: all 0.18s ease-out;"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Small Change</span></a></span></em> has
just been published via <span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0mm;">Roundfire
Fiction</span></span> in the UK, and it features <span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0mm;">Roy Scherer</span></span> and <span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0mm;">Suzie Miller </span></span>from the <em style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0mm;">Tales to Admonish</span></em><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0mm;"> </span>series:
think a mix of noir, horror, mirth, and homage.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One
homage, clearly from the cover art and title alone, is to the great <span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0mm;">Tom Waits</span></span>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">On January 14th I
put the finishing touches to <span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0mm;">novel
#6</span></span>, and sent it off to a prospective publisher: <span class="yiv5645854425"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0mm; padding: 0mm;">1970s crime-noir-pulp tipping <span id="yiv5645854425yui_3_16_0_1_1452732165399_6986" style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px;"></span></span>67,598 words,
including the glossary at the back of the book, <span id="yiv5645854425yui_3_16_0_1_1452732165399_7116" style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px;">partially based on my current
comic book series </span></span></span><em style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0mm;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/tristaandholt" style="font-style: inherit; outline: 0px; transition: all 0.18s ease-out;">Trista
& Holt</a>.</span></em></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><em style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></em></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">Its title is <i><b>Black Sails, Disco Inferno</b></i>. Keep an eye on the novel’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blacksailsdiscoinferno">Facebook page</a> for updates. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr_V4MO6M8CwEC5H6XRwVp2VdmkAS1BVldrgot3M4H4DOz1LVNpdWGB9dvG5__OoVCAQzuzB2lztqcOutaPox8RDuhPvjky30a-SZpLsq8LFAfg4ctqWmSk_ifJVHEGYB7dgMPkL1TCPc7/s1600/MAGPIE+-+3D-MAN+ON+THE+LOO+-+ISSUE+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr_V4MO6M8CwEC5H6XRwVp2VdmkAS1BVldrgot3M4H4DOz1LVNpdWGB9dvG5__OoVCAQzuzB2lztqcOutaPox8RDuhPvjky30a-SZpLsq8LFAfg4ctqWmSk_ifJVHEGYB7dgMPkL1TCPc7/s320/MAGPIE+-+3D-MAN+ON+THE+LOO+-+ISSUE+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">Otherwise? </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">My collaborative comic book project with Australian artist F<b>rantz Kantor</b> – <b><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/magpiecommix">Magpie</a></i></b> – is in full flight. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqd7Ufg15zBa6VJGyed6SGBjHr9sXjWVIu5axwaNINfnJDljHoDe-e9Oj-zKd7f9H7XGNQtATqm6vsUe3rmnDet-y53E01b2JvUMQ-iEbPkpkfmfe_O-lf3rxVVaKTDpWodAwD2reS9DtX/s1600/Magpie_ThumbsUp_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqd7Ufg15zBa6VJGyed6SGBjHr9sXjWVIu5axwaNINfnJDljHoDe-e9Oj-zKd7f9H7XGNQtATqm6vsUe3rmnDet-y53E01b2JvUMQ-iEbPkpkfmfe_O-lf3rxVVaKTDpWodAwD2reS9DtX/s320/Magpie_ThumbsUp_001.png" width="304" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">We just finished Episode 2, but the first one, introducing our fledgling character Maggie, will hit newsstands in Australia in February 2016, inside <b><i><a href="http://www.comicoz.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html">Oi Oi Oi!</a></i></b> #7.
I think the fact that we both have strong, inspiring daughters (Frantz has three to my one!) accounts for some of the direction we’re pursuing here. This is hardly some wallflower, despite first impressions. As Frantz put it in an interview we just did, “What a pleasure to work on a smart female protagonist! Like Margo Channing said [in <i>All About Eve</i>]: ‘Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!’.” </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">In this series we’re paying homage to, nodding, winking and piss-taking everything – from Roy Thomas to <i>Ghost in the Shell</i>, M.C. Escher wrestling Russ Manning’s <i>Magnus, Robot Fighter</i>, and on into mass-media current affair programs, even <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i>, <i>Fantastic Voyage</i>, and <i>Lost in Space</i>. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">Look out for the first installment of <i>Magpie</i> inside <i>Oi Oi Oi!</i> #7, at the beginning of February in newsagencies across Australia. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPdaciu8kvVCbWVz1j_t7VsyG5pRfGccCdqEagU-ues_qMhyTxiJKESWuu0ojJShBJZNx-576Zba7MC1A_eceSN3MrImBMdCPEwRWWC-9xoigIQ7Hk-F3pHpGvJ8Jaq3pC0mFLBaxKpTC5/s1600/Magpie_art+by+Frantz+Kantor_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPdaciu8kvVCbWVz1j_t7VsyG5pRfGccCdqEagU-ues_qMhyTxiJKESWuu0ojJShBJZNx-576Zba7MC1A_eceSN3MrImBMdCPEwRWWC-9xoigIQ7Hk-F3pHpGvJ8Jaq3pC0mFLBaxKpTC5/s320/Magpie_art+by+Frantz+Kantor_3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">Issue 1 has already scored some very nice feedback from Greg Hatcher @ <b>Comic Book Resources</b> (“Cute and funny and really quite gorgeous to look at – Frantz Kantor is evoking the Mad-era Wally Wood…”), <b>Comics Alliance</b> (“Magpie offers a humorous take on a superhero world, and Kantor’s art is nothing like what we’re used to in traditional superhero comics.”), <b>Comic Crusaders</b> (“The art looks fantastic!”), <b>Sci-Fi Jubilee</b> (“This new comic strip is great!”), and Jason Bennett @ <b>PopCultHQ</b>: “Stunning work… from these talented creators.” </span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx3ko4vdXlUyh7LPfRjZu6oBOAo51hj8y5kQpAGmKQRUME4ikD36weFSC0PwlePg8_j0C8f89eJX7KdTBBuumWXAfEhyphenhyphenFEsBDKRHif-DqDIJz8axbKNXGGhf9Rr_RsQTOehGUQPZQecIAB/s1600/12006446_10153537131551183_2950608744433811903_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx3ko4vdXlUyh7LPfRjZu6oBOAo51hj8y5kQpAGmKQRUME4ikD36weFSC0PwlePg8_j0C8f89eJX7KdTBBuumWXAfEhyphenhyphenFEsBDKRHif-DqDIJz8axbKNXGGhf9Rr_RsQTOehGUQPZQecIAB/s320/12006446_10153537131551183_2950608744433811903_o.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">Also out next month, this time in the U.S., is my redux-version of <b><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/tobaccostainedmountaingoat">Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat</a></i></b> – with me again doing art chores alongside the script. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">The comic’s currently being printed up by <b><a href="http://www.pnpublishing.com/comics/tobacco-stained-mountain-goat/">Project-Nerd Publishing</a></b> in America, but you can pre-order both versions <a href="http://pnpublishing.storenvy.com/">here</a>. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">Aside from being over-excited about <i>Magpie</i> for 2016, I’m looking forward to seeing how the latest short film from Tokyo’s <a href="http://www.production-ig.co.jp/">Production I.G</a> (the creators of <i>Ghost in the Shell</i>) goes on the international festival circuit.
It’s called <i>Pigtails</i>, directed by Yoshimi Itazu (character designer and chief animation director on <i>Miss Hokusai</i>), and I worked on the English subtitles — mostly naturalizing the translation and giving it a bit of zing. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijhjj_x5LSK1d0guUqWoounTpukoH70ns7o_G4BbzhiGrMJDYjb8lvqetnF0e1EVrewPXXrZFtjdYUZbewM3oH3PRkTd4MRDeRLx-dNkzy7vSqwv3IDvNqzHLwYJyI4TnlrxY-qmXlH6h4/s1600/213650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijhjj_x5LSK1d0guUqWoounTpukoH70ns7o_G4BbzhiGrMJDYjb8lvqetnF0e1EVrewPXXrZFtjdYUZbewM3oH3PRkTd4MRDeRLx-dNkzy7vSqwv3IDvNqzHLwYJyI4TnlrxY-qmXlH6h4/s320/213650.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">Finally, music-wise, I still do stuff as <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/little.nobody.andrez.bergen">Little Nobody</a></b>, even though I decided to quit the DJing side of things under this name in August last year. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">However, thanks to the very cool Nicolas Lutz, who runs <b>My Own Jupiter</b> in Europe, I’m about to release a double-vinyl LP of Little Nobody tracks made over the past 14 years here in Tokyo.
It’s called, appropriately enough, <i><b>This is Tokio</b></i> — and you can tune in to the tracks <a href="http://www.deejay.de/MOJ03_-_Little_Nobody_-_This_Is_Tokyo_2x12_-_2x12inch__213650">HERE</a>. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">I’ll let you know when it’s finished being pressed-up and is ready to drop — again in the new year. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; padding: 0mm;">And here’s an interview I did with Tarita Weber @ <a href="http://www.saywhatmag.com/little-nobody-this-is-tokio/">Say What?</a> magazine.</span></span></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-13177918169375749222014-11-27T16:57:00.000+09:002014-11-27T16:57:14.794+09:00 BULLET GAL: The Kickstarter. What is it, and why bother?Hey, it's been a while between posts here — sorry 'bout that.<br />
<br />
Like a zillion other people, their flying monkeys and the odd enterprising pet, I currently have a <a data-mce-href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/underbelly/bullet-gal" href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/underbelly/bullet-gal"><strong>Kickstarter</strong></a> campaign running.<br />
<br />
Verily,
this is something everyone I know on social media like Facebook and
Twitter would've realized by now — sorry, mates. I tend to harp a lot.
Anyhow, disclaimers and apologies aside, here's a sneak-preview of the
promo video thanks to the cool cats at <a data-mce-href="http://www.underbellycomix.com/" href="http://www.underbellycomix.com/"><strong>Under Belly Comics</strong></a> in Canada, who're steering the fundraiser:<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/underbelly/bullet-gal/widget/video.html" width="480"> </iframe><br />
<br />
I
overly harp, as I mentioned, because (a) this promo video is a
knockout, and I want for this to be a success in order to repay the
trust and support that Under Belly has thus far provided — as they do
for a lot of other indie outsiders — and (b) I love this project.<br />
<br />
But of course I should.<br />
<br />
I'm biased as all hell, so don't listen to me. I hope you <em>do</em> listen to people like Shawn Vogt (<a data-mce-href="http://shawngeri.blogspot.jp/2014/11/my-review-of-12-issue-bullet-gal-comic.html" href="http://shawngeri.blogspot.jp/2014/11/my-review-of-12-issue-bullet-gal-comic.html">who reviewed all 12 issues of the series at <strong>Weird and Wonderful Reads</strong></a>), or <a data-mce-href="http://fanboycomics.net/index.php/blogs/steven-w-alloway/item/4383" href="http://fanboycomics.net/index.php/blogs/steven-w-alloway/item/4383">Steven Alloway at <strong>Fanboy Comics</strong></a> and <a data-mce-href="http://scifijubilee.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/bullet-gal-6-review/" href="http://scifijubilee.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/bullet-gal-6-review/">Paul Bowler at <strong>Sci-Fi Jubilee</strong></a>, both of whom just reviewed <em><strong>Bullet Gal</strong></em> #6.<br />
<br />
<a data-mce-href="https://andrezbergen.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/mitzi-gun-3_bullet-gal.jpg" href="https://andrezbergen.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/mitzi-gun-3_bullet-gal.jpg"><img alt="Mitzi gun 3_BULLET GAL" class="alignright wp-image-1515" data-mce-src="https://andrezbergen.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/mitzi-gun-3_bullet-gal.jpg?w=300" height="220" src="https://andrezbergen.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/mitzi-gun-3_bullet-gal.jpg?w=300" width="418" /></a><br />
<br data-mce-bogus="1" />
Plus the <a data-mce-href="http://australiancomicsjournal.com/?p=2276" href="http://australiancomicsjournal.com/?p=2276"><strong>Australian Comics Journal</strong></a> and crime novel reviewer <strong><a data-mce-href="8th%20Wonder Press" href="https://andrezbergen.wordpress.com/wp-admin/8th%20Wonder%20Press">Elizabeth A. White</a></strong> makes (I think!) great cases. Ta, mates.<br />
<br />
We now have 70% pledged funding, which equates to <strong class="block h4"><span class="money cad no-code">$3,502</span></strong>, thanks to 79 incredible individuals.<br />
Even so, that leaves a somewhat giddy $1,498 that still needs to be bid before the <a data-mce-href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/underbelly/bullet-gal" href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/underbelly/bullet-gal"><strong>Kickstarter campaign</strong></a>
is successful, and we need to accumulate this within 13 days. The big,
somewhat leading question here is why? — one reason I chucked the word
in the title of this entry.<br />
<br />
Well, there's the story: More nods and
winks than you can poke a long stick at, an homage too many, and tongue
kind of firmly in cheek — beneath other levels of hardboiled noir,
crime, sci-fi, abstract expressionism, the surreal and a superhero romp
gone wrong. And for those interested in my other work, this is a
stand-alone link between the novels <em>Depth Charging Ice Planet Goth</em> and <em>Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?</em><br />
<br />
The
character herself, Mitzi, is obviously a special one for me and I'd
dearly like to see her get beyond the limited-edition comic we're
currently publishing monthly in Australia.<br />
<br />
Feedback to the 12 issue run of <em><strong>Bullet Gal</strong></em>,
which is being collected together in this trade paperback, has been
nothing short of amazing, and I'm still awaiting the savage critiques.
Aside from two pieces of such, the rest has sat exceptionally pretty so
far as I'm concerned. <strong>The Cult Den</strong> referred to the series as "a warped masterpiece", <strong>Spartantown</strong> said there's "nothing like it in comics", while <strong>Sequart</strong> wrote it's "consistently impressive".<br />
<img alt="" class="wp-more-tag mce-wp-more" data-mce-placeholder="1" data-mce-resize="false" data-mce-src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" data-wp-more-text="" data-wp-more="more" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" title="Read more..." /><br />
<a data-mce-href="https://andrezbergen.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/bullet-gal-excerpt-sample-63.jpg" href="https://andrezbergen.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/bullet-gal-excerpt-sample-63.jpg"><img alt="BULLET GAL excerpt sample 63" class="alignleft wp-image-1518" data-mce-src="https://andrezbergen.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/bullet-gal-excerpt-sample-63.jpg?w=300" height="224" src="https://andrezbergen.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/bullet-gal-excerpt-sample-63.jpg?w=300" width="359" /></a><br />
To further my cause, I've been able to write rambling pieces for <a data-mce-href="http://graphicpolicy.com/2014/11/19/kickstarter-spotlight-bullet-gal-kickstarting-and-scratching-the-comic-book-kingdom/" href="http://graphicpolicy.com/2014/11/19/kickstarter-spotlight-bullet-gal-kickstarting-and-scratching-the-comic-book-kingdom/"><strong>Graphic Policy,</strong></a> <a data-mce-href="http://pulppusher.blogspot.jp/2014/11/bullet-gal-hardboiled-wonderland-and.html" href="http://pulppusher.blogspot.jp/2014/11/bullet-gal-hardboiled-wonderland-and.html"><strong>Pulp Pusher</strong></a>, <a data-mce-href="http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.jp/2014/11/indie-spotlight-andrez-bergen.html" href="http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.jp/2014/11/indie-spotlight-andrez-bergen.html"><strong>The Next Best Book Blog</strong></a> and <a data-mce-href="http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/11/16/never-mind-the-dada-sweating-blood-bullets-and-creativity-in-a-comic-book-fiasco/" href="http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/11/16/never-mind-the-dada-sweating-blood-bullets-and-creativity-in-a-comic-book-fiasco/"><strong>Bleeding Cool</strong></a>.<br />
<br />
I also did extensive interviews on <em>Bullet Gal</em> and the ideas behind the series with <a data-mce-href="http://wethenerdy.com/an-interview-with-andrez-bergen-bullet-gal/" href="http://wethenerdy.com/an-interview-with-andrez-bergen-bullet-gal/"><strong>We The Nerdy</strong></a>,<a data-mce-href="http://comicbuzz.com/2014/11/andrez-bergen-chats-with-comicbuzz-part-1/" href="http://comicbuzz.com/2014/11/andrez-bergen-chats-with-comicbuzz-part-1/"><strong> ComicBuzz</strong></a>, and <a data-mce-href="http://8thwonderpress.com/2014/11/12/catching-up-with-andrez-bergen/" href="http://8thwonderpress.com/2014/11/12/catching-up-with-andrez-bergen/"><strong>8th Wonder Press</strong></a>.<br />
<br />
<span class="userContent">And
you know what? There are so many artists working now or who've
previously worked in comic books that I love. Five of the current crop
are <strong>David Aja</strong> (<em>Hawkeye</em>), <strong>Mike Deodato</strong> (<em>Original Sin</em>), <strong>Walter Geovani</strong> (<em>Red Sonja</em>), <strong>Ben Templesmith</strong> (<em>30 Days of Night</em>) and <span class="text_exposed_show"><strong>Steve Epting</strong> (<em>Captain America/Velvet</em>)... and all five of them this week supported the <em><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/bulletgal" href="https://www.facebook.com/bulletgal">Bullet Gal</a></em> <a data-mce-href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/underbelly/bullet-gal" href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/underbelly/bullet-gal">Kickstarter</a> on Twitter. Just wow. Thanks, lads, and hats off.</span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /> </span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Finally?
A further doff of the boater to the 76 people who have pledged
financial support to the trade paperback, and the people who've helped
spread the message of this silly project or ours. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">You <em>all</em> seriously rock. That's why.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-17762451373472574422013-12-15T09:00:00.000+09:002013-12-15T09:00:41.933+09:00Kmye Chan: Not Just a Flash in the Artistic Pan <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRLsMujK9QxtRpntzAgeBKc9_zLMz0b_J4ixs1_OZIYTjHlfUbvR0M7TNwcxRdwKn5v-qO4PfDskE1XFoYNsMM1Z24Tt4zh9IDm9a5ognbwkUCvP2oWdH2JNks0gGGw8mX-cf_71C394ii/s1600/Kmye+Chan_Dancing+Puppet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRLsMujK9QxtRpntzAgeBKc9_zLMz0b_J4ixs1_OZIYTjHlfUbvR0M7TNwcxRdwKn5v-qO4PfDskE1XFoYNsMM1Z24Tt4zh9IDm9a5ognbwkUCvP2oWdH2JNks0gGGw8mX-cf_71C394ii/s1600/Kmye+Chan_Dancing+Puppet.jpg" /></a></div>
Unless you’ve had your head buried in one very deep sandbox, you’d have
noticed that Japanese art, film, music and fashion has had a huge impact
on the stylings of its Western brethren. <br />
<br />
With this in mind I
occasionally yack with foreign musicians and creative types about the
influence of Japan on their own art, and this month I placed the
spotlight on French artist <a href="http://www.kmye-chan.com/"><b>Kmye Chan</b></a>, with whom I’ve been liaising about
a potential book cover (it's called <b><a href="http://depthchargingiceplanetgoth.weebly.com/"><i>Planet Goth</i></a></b> and will be published in 2014 with Kmye's 'Dancing Puppet' painting, left, on the front).<br />
<br />
The artist's name itself was a giveaway: Kmye CHAN.<br />
<br />
Chan in Japanese is an honorific suffix originally used for babies, but
these days employed to refer to anyone with an endearing quality, be the
individual a super-cute grandmother or a zany seal (look up <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tama-chan">Tama-chan</a>
online for one example).<br />
<br />
Kmye is an amazing painter, someone who has taken the obvious influence
of manga and rendered it anew in a style also reminiscent to me of
American comic book artist Steve Ditko. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8-s72JY9ET-7GPYoxXZYmBVuy3SjEYLMYYhzpSu6FciBHq81GOm8nTtfs3SS0OBxICuInzfNyYtbuUdPL2UD825JBvEnUF4DBzqFe0Aa192lIU8jxOKRbbvEF_h3BWn8txAabQV0u_24N/s1600/Yukito+Kishiro+Gunnm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8-s72JY9ET-7GPYoxXZYmBVuy3SjEYLMYYhzpSu6FciBHq81GOm8nTtfs3SS0OBxICuInzfNyYtbuUdPL2UD825JBvEnUF4DBzqFe0Aa192lIU8jxOKRbbvEF_h3BWn8txAabQV0u_24N/s320/Yukito+Kishiro+Gunnm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><b>Who are your favourite manga artists, and which stories did you most enjoy as a fan?</b></i><br />
<br />
“My favourite would easily be Yukito Kishiro — reading <i>Gunnm</i> [<i>Battle Angel Alita</i>]
was a turning point in my drawing life. Both the artwork and plot were
something completely new and out of this world, so far as my
fifteen-year-old self was concerned!<br />
<br />
“I love Ai Yazawa (<i>Paradise Kiss, Nana</i>) for her bittersweet shōjo
characters and quirky linework. Graphically, I am also always amazed by
Kaori Yuki’s art... When I started drawing, her work was my ultimate
reference since I collected her manga and art books! And last, but not
least, in my teenage years I was a massive <i>Rurouni Kenshin</i> fan [by Nobuhiro Watsuki] — this series still occupies a sweet spot in my heart and I happily read it over and over again.” <br />
<br />
<i><b>So you obviously would you say you’re more influenced by shōjo (girls) than mecha (giant robot) manga. Are the two compatible?</b></i><br />
<br />
“That being said, I have read and loved my share of mecha/kaiju manga:
Neon Genesis Evangelion has been a staple in my manga collection. Of
course, both are compatible — they are different but both equally
enjoyable. I would actually love to see a mecha manga storyline drawn
with a typical shōjo manga style. That would be an interesting twist!”<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfJjikxEWlWgH-Clb30h66LUk_CZsrPE9gYphkQPFm94yg2PP_NtiGY7rzvwEaAU96FDrSXKThE_Kz-rsAKhaoBbE4VdK9LE2qPYY2F6u9speP3no54BVDl4r-PH0cK1_Eon6dpoVsIxJ/s1600/Neon+Genesis+Evangelion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfJjikxEWlWgH-Clb30h66LUk_CZsrPE9gYphkQPFm94yg2PP_NtiGY7rzvwEaAU96FDrSXKThE_Kz-rsAKhaoBbE4VdK9LE2qPYY2F6u9speP3no54BVDl4r-PH0cK1_Eon6dpoVsIxJ/s320/Neon+Genesis+Evangelion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
“My artwork is undeniably more influenced by shōjo manga — you can see
this in the flowing clothing and hair, the highly detailed, decorative
style that is typical of shōjo has always been something I have been
fascinated with. There is something inherently beautiful about it, where
shōnen manga style [aimed at teenage boys] in general is more focused
on reflecting action and movement.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>READ MORE OF THIS INTERVIEW @ <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/12/kmye-chan-not-just-flash-in-artistic-pan.html">FORCES OF GEEK</a>. </b></i><br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-49283214782553384082013-11-11T06:25:00.000+09:002013-11-11T06:26:31.701+09:00A Battle Royal バトル・ロワイアル<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIR7UdtvfFWkoxXrT92CIqnB-Hdk3WFxaP33vCSGU2FVbKibMYp-rZ6lUp2bMxs8Fr5XAyHN7XENqGzSqWaEirIMp7vDGad1CfhFLlliMrpDN_TjwyuQmo7ZdZy58NQoy4TvLKNpy2j5oU/s1600/Battle+Royale+manga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIR7UdtvfFWkoxXrT92CIqnB-Hdk3WFxaP33vCSGU2FVbKibMYp-rZ6lUp2bMxs8Fr5XAyHN7XENqGzSqWaEirIMp7vDGad1CfhFLlliMrpDN_TjwyuQmo7ZdZy58NQoy4TvLKNpy2j5oU/s400/Battle+Royale+manga.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>
You've likely already heard the rumours — forget what you think you know about <i>The Hunger Games</i> franchise since it's pretty darned blatantly sourced from better film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266308/" target="_blank"><i>Battle Royale</i></a> (2000).<br />
<br />
Thing is, that's in turn based on Kōshun Takami's 1999 novel, and there's a manga series of <i>Battle Royale</i> that was published from 2000 to 2005, illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi.<br />
<br />
But let's get back to the cinematic outing. <br />
<br />
This violent, often wildly hilarious — and disturbing — gem is p'raps
not quite so obscure now, thirteen years on, as when it was first
released in Japan. <br />
<br />
<i>Battle Royale</i> would've made a far more fitting obituary for its director <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0297935/" target="_blank">Kinji Fukasaku</a>
rather than its lesser sequel three years later — which in fact his son
Kenta polished off after the director's death at age 72. <br />
<br />
You certainly couldn’t take style, content and inspiration any further a
field from Fukasaku, Sr.'s earlier adventure schlock-romp <i><a href="http://iffybizness.blogspot.com/2009/12/legend-of-8-samurai-1983.html" target="_blank">Legend Of 8 Samurai</a></i>.<br />
<br />
So clear your frazzled <i>Hunger Games</i> brain.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7wvo8msNTgX6uHn3ETMELP-RR5zTzwBuk3lVUHHavWCvcXPqI8Rwd8bOp4ORGbuvq4HZUtjU-7enpOJkY7i8adQDCzAuZ9J7w_7YBo0clmG6QrbVSY_26r72fFbDcmdFcV6yseExhZK-D/s1600/battle+royale+class+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7wvo8msNTgX6uHn3ETMELP-RR5zTzwBuk3lVUHHavWCvcXPqI8Rwd8bOp4ORGbuvq4HZUtjU-7enpOJkY7i8adQDCzAuZ9J7w_7YBo0clmG6QrbVSY_26r72fFbDcmdFcV6yseExhZK-D/s400/battle+royale+class+photo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
It’s a not-too-distant future.<br />
<br />
Japan is again a fascist state. An
arbitrarily-chosen bus full of high school kids are knocked out with
sleeping gas, kidnapped, then shipped on to an isolated island — where
they’re informed by their embittered former teacher Kitano (<a href="http://www.kitanotakeshi.com/" target="_blank">'Beat' Takeshi Kitano</a>) that the only way they will leave said island is by killing all their classmates — or by ending up in a body-bag themselves. <br />
<br />
In order to enforce this mandate, each student is shackled with an exploding collar, à la <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103239/" target="_blank"><i>Wedlock</i></a>,
and Kitano punctuates the students’ plight with a well-aimed penknife
to one of the girl’s foreheads, thereby launching a battle for
self-preservation.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>READ MORE @ <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/11/a-battle-royale.html">FORCES OF GEEK</a>. </i></b><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-39222740642711128092013-10-12T10:48:00.000+09:002013-10-12T10:48:02.190+09:00All Roads Lead to Nihonbashi (日本橋)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjoBwPUn2Wmak8LmVhLW-CbaxjcmjbmFCRzuo0D6uY1MmTLJkuckfKvOro2J9YzCz5pUIxPkE_TZYKUmq0YBNfMRnGnPyORqKL_F7gpit8pVajEofCm_yd9crSyDZzBSxwCKmhqRXEquQ/s1600/IMG_0457.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjoBwPUn2Wmak8LmVhLW-CbaxjcmjbmFCRzuo0D6uY1MmTLJkuckfKvOro2J9YzCz5pUIxPkE_TZYKUmq0YBNfMRnGnPyORqKL_F7gpit8pVajEofCm_yd9crSyDZzBSxwCKmhqRXEquQ/s400/IMG_0457.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
It's funny how you can live in a place for a decade and miss a lot of what's right there nearby.<br />
<br />
It's autumn, the weather's been glorious here in Tokyo (here read cool
that the scorching summer we just went through), and the leaves are
starting to turn colour-wise.<br />
<br />
A couple of days ago I was on tight writing deadlines, but it was superb
weather again so I decided to skip out and finally go explore the area
in central Tokyo around the Nihonbashi, literally Japan Bridge — which
was built a century ago in 2011, but rests on what has been a vital
conduit spot for this city since the 17th century.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3634312242923487818" name="more"></a>And I'd never even seen it before now except in <i>ukiyo-e</i> woodcuts by Hiroshige. <br />
<br />
Japan Bridge is also the setting and title for a 1956 movie — <i>Nihonbashi</i>
— by the great Japanese director Kon Ichikawa.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmttqoiusgFNyyyKNdEc9dfAjcI-NN9TVxqa9d5oiaEkK4BzNCkkq61Puq-dAUA7LT4tNJq_oEbHHrxyRXs0BmpJJNKwMt0MPxwG_qDGCY9ft8c6t4cE1H6nsjINT8Esve5pPb-ToFIwZp/s1600/Nihonbashi_1956_Kon+Ichikawa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmttqoiusgFNyyyKNdEc9dfAjcI-NN9TVxqa9d5oiaEkK4BzNCkkq61Puq-dAUA7LT4tNJq_oEbHHrxyRXs0BmpJJNKwMt0MPxwG_qDGCY9ft8c6t4cE1H6nsjINT8Esve5pPb-ToFIwZp/s320/Nihonbashi_1956_Kon+Ichikawa.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
Ichikawa's first film in
colour tells a riveting yarn of two geisha fighting for control of
the Nihonbashi area, along the way brushing kimono with ghosts, murder,
infanticide and flying daggers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Read more of this piece and glimpse a swag of additional images @ <b><a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/10/flash-in-japan-all-roads-lead-to.html">Forces Of Geek</a></b>.</i></span><br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-20923244485516279342013-09-19T17:49:00.000+09:002013-09-19T17:49:21.062+09:00Production I.G: The Little Details<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIzZXre41Metd4zBc2lpRAg09peU2UjqoXK7SgFaixltCLQ20HCkljoZ0-pOER8dG0EmeJ5zD8MPt_TYfPe1f4WiXmHSBvAns22fftq53uhcvZQ-4aygguFbFAQNemXLB4zB2Shj5V1fE2/s1600/Tokyo+Marble+Chocolate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIzZXre41Metd4zBc2lpRAg09peU2UjqoXK7SgFaixltCLQ20HCkljoZ0-pOER8dG0EmeJ5zD8MPt_TYfPe1f4WiXmHSBvAns22fftq53uhcvZQ-4aygguFbFAQNemXLB4zB2Shj5V1fE2/s640/Tokyo+Marble+Chocolate.jpg" width="449" /></a></div>
<br />
A long time ago, while conjuring up some superbly detailed artwork, my friend intimated that God resided in the details.<br />
<br />
Not being Christian <em>per se</em>, and without a religious
millimetre illuminating anywhere on my body, I didn’t have a clue what
this guy was on about, or which dippy deity he referred to. The only
thing similar I’d heard was that Old Nick (you know, the Devil) was in
those same details.<br />
<br />
Which rendered me somewhat confused.<br />
<br />
That is, I until around 16 years ago — when I first watched Mamoru Oshii’s enthralling anime feature <em>Ghost in the Shell</em> (1995).<br />
<br />
While the original manga pages — titled <em>Kōkaku Kidōtai</em> in Japanese, written and illustrated by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masamune_Shirow" target="_blank">Shirow Masamune</a> — pushed quirky as much as cerebral, light-hearted and a trifle perverted, this animated movie interpretation by Oshii, of <em>Patlabor</em> fame, was dark, a tad more intelligent, and the most innovative cyberpunk romp since <em>Akira</em> (1988).<br />
<br />
It also led to an <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/oct/19/hollywood-ghost-in-the-shell" target="_blank" title="Hollywood is haunted by Ghost in the Shell.">obvious</a> Wachowski siblings’ homage with <em>The Matrix</em> in 1999.<br />
<br />
Truth is, <em>Ghost in the Shell</em> knocked off my cotton socks to
hammer home the studio behind the film — Production I.G — as my
favourite Japanese anime company. It’s a lofty perch that I.G retains
nearly two decades later.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBlPE2QjOC1r4hAHf8mOz0Au6Qg46gfMSw2XI0ysuQzw3pIlh_xv-ld0ULDE9pG4yqZGsK1310sidkgoXAiycUiNQqQ2Rw1CH_BYOgfRZfbrIH2iD8VZOs1bvgm_Yngv-zWxGPVPFC-rcv/s1600/9940-key.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBlPE2QjOC1r4hAHf8mOz0Au6Qg46gfMSw2XI0ysuQzw3pIlh_xv-ld0ULDE9pG4yqZGsK1310sidkgoXAiycUiNQqQ2Rw1CH_BYOgfRZfbrIH2iD8VZOs1bvgm_Yngv-zWxGPVPFC-rcv/s400/9940-key.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Here’s where I get to lob in some silly puns relating to the
introductory ‘theme’: God knows I.G deserves it, and by Heaven above
they go for the jugular of those little details, glean ‘em, tweak ‘em,
and quite often leave you gob-smacked, gasping for more with each
successive experiment in style, form and technology. Halle-<i>bloody</i>-lujah.<br />
<br />
To start with, there’s so much damned depth to I.G productions.<br />
<br />
Not just the background animation or those aforementioned little
details; it goes beyond the superlative character designs, the tight
direction and slick production values; the depth lingers somewhere
beyond this production company’s penchant for risk-taking along with
clever marketing panache.<br />
<br />
They’ve got to be doing something right to have established
themselves at the forefront of the severely stiff competition that is
the Japanese animation industry, and further to have maintained that
position.<br />
<br />
Likely this has to do with the talent involved at the studio.<br />
<br />
<i>READ THE REST OF THIS 2-PART <a href="http://www.madman.com.au/news/productionig/"><b>PRODUCTION I.G OVERVIEW</b></a> — PLUS A BRAND NEW <b><a href="http://www.madman.com.au/news/kenji-kamiyama-interview/">INTERVIEW WITH KENJI KAMAYAMA</a></b> — @ MADMAN. </i><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">...with thanks to Francesco Prandoni @ I.G and Ben Pollock @ Madman.</span><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-70492194418405451262013-08-24T11:35:00.002+09:002013-08-24T11:37:10.959+09:00Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa? is now published<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUG-787vzFdb2yCbgvR7AeS8CNv58tbkq87fbKbWAutAob63VEgP6ZAKqqRhQRNZPzhqiZ5ba1qPa-8QNPD-Z9rrolvB9GZfxpslCghLAaxJvuvrTo96TfiUqsjMfUMmabNJw_NyfQjo8P/s1600/Cover+Art+%7C+Who+is+Killing+the+Great+Capes+of+Heropa+%7C+June+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUG-787vzFdb2yCbgvR7AeS8CNv58tbkq87fbKbWAutAob63VEgP6ZAKqqRhQRNZPzhqiZ5ba1qPa-8QNPD-Z9rrolvB9GZfxpslCghLAaxJvuvrTo96TfiUqsjMfUMmabNJw_NyfQjo8P/s400/Cover+Art+%7C+Who+is+Killing+the+Great+Capes+of+Heropa+%7C+June+2013.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Over the past year I've been working on this new book, novel #3, <a href="http://www.perfectedgebooks.com/books/who-killing-great-capes-heropa"><i>Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa? </i></a>— which brings together such disparate elements as 1940s and '60s comic books, a sci-fi/dystopia, pulp influences, and hardboiled noir trying desperately to skulk somewhere beneath the coattails of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.<br />
<br />
Anyway, it was supposed to be published via Perfect Edge Books in the UK on September 27th this year, but has sneaked out of the blocks early and is now available from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Killing-Great-Capes-Heropa/dp/178279235X/">Amazon UK</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Who-Killing-Great-Capes-Heropa/dp/178279235X/">Amazon USA</a> —<span class="userContent"> in paperback form at least (the eBook will probably come out late in September). </span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent">I still can't believe it's out there, and of course I can't resist hawking it here!</span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">There are Japanese elements to the book, after all. Key character Midori, a.k.a. <b>Prima Ballerina</b>, is of Japanese descent. </span>Lead character <b>Pretty Amazonia</b> (pictured here, conjured up by artist Juan Saavedra), is a hybrid of super-powered girls' anime characters from things like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon"><i>Sailor Moon</i></a> and <a href="http://iffybizness.blogspot.jp/2010/07/heartcatch-precure.html"><i>PreCure</i></a>. She spends free time kicking round a manga volume of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Candy"><i>Candy Candy</i></a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPHHCBXTnHz6Wwj4UW8s9lN0zAkeFTAzHezFUvzjT5W0wA_rDXDiGjgCXkwuiA_uW5Ak0x7-7PuLpFf-qlgnIoM2u9hhZWKki_dRXxx3xH36XI5qp85CMEqzqlru6bf2A-hNGSE5w6ClkU/s1600/Pretty+Amazonia_Juan+Saavedra.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPHHCBXTnHz6Wwj4UW8s9lN0zAkeFTAzHezFUvzjT5W0wA_rDXDiGjgCXkwuiA_uW5Ak0x7-7PuLpFf-qlgnIoM2u9hhZWKki_dRXxx3xH36XI5qp85CMEqzqlru6bf2A-hNGSE5w6ClkU/s400/Pretty+Amazonia_Juan+Saavedra.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
And she gets around in a ship named the <i>Magnetic Rose</i> (check out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsuhiro_Otomo" title="Katsuhiro Otomo">Katsuhiro Otomo</a>'s 1995 anime <i>Memories</i>).<br />
<br />
There's also a cameo by another character that plays on the Fuchikoma 1-man tanks used by members of <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ghostintheshell.wikia.com/wiki/Public_Security_Section_9" title="Public Security Section 9">Section 9</a> in <i>Ghost in the Shell</i>.<br />
<br />
So, Japanese refs and hawking aside, I'm pretty buzzed about this one and hope you get the time at least to check it out.<br />
<br />
While the price (for the paperback) may seem a little steep, just remember it's 473 pages, with 35 illustrations. And it makes a great door-stopper.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-7250986372574191962013-08-10T00:22:00.002+09:002013-08-10T00:24:46.799+09:00BREAKING CAMP: Running School Camps in Japan is Weird<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ63bZqzJuaCdA1O5KTgmt64-bgwRUYOPuv1TL5z7VA4UtPHw1wLcepy2W5oSkwR2v2b6v4e46Z960PYcIMMIk4oAMaBMnhKs3yU_7nai5gjJESLCHeFu0vENEpQzKjPT4gXAy-G6cDJL7/s1600/Yamanaka+Lake+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ63bZqzJuaCdA1O5KTgmt64-bgwRUYOPuv1TL5z7VA4UtPHw1wLcepy2W5oSkwR2v2b6v4e46Z960PYcIMMIk4oAMaBMnhKs3yU_7nai5gjJESLCHeFu0vENEpQzKjPT4gXAy-G6cDJL7/s400/Yamanaka+Lake+01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Last week, after twelve years in this country, I did something for the
first time that's apparently quite the lure for English teachers in
Japan, mostly because of the bonus-extra cash — going on a school camp
during summer vacation.<br />
<br />
In this case it was a three-day affair, attempting to teach a bunch of
junior high school girls I'd never before met, without any idea of their
English language level and no access to a PC, whiteboards, textbooks or
a photocopier.<br />
<br />
The lessons were conducted on the tatami-matted floors of their shared
rooms at an inn near Yamanaka Lake, and my particular group of nine
included the rowdiest and more stubborn members of the entire camp. I
had one kid constantly questioning everything we did—sadly in Japanese
rather than the language we were supposed to be practicing—along with a
grumpy scowler, a girl who thought she was a bird, rivalries, and mood
swings galore.<br />
<br />
There were tears almost as often as there was laughter.<br />
<br />
To top things off, one of the Canadian teachers had a meltdown, locked
herself in her room, and refused to teach—meaning the other four
instructors inherited that class as well.<br />
<br />
Joy. <br />
<br />
Being stuck teaching 13-year-olds from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm every day had
me climbing the walls—and fired up to do something creative. Like drink a
lot of beer from the convenience store located a kilometre away down a
road in the middle of a tiny village with no streetlights.<br />
<br />
<b><i>READ MORE @ <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/08/breaking-camp-running-school-camps-in.html">FORCES OF GEEK</a> </i></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-46014777338087989232013-07-26T16:10:00.002+09:002013-07-26T16:12:58.445+09:0012 Years in Tokyo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0oM9ctwaMhNcW0F9g3k_8frBN-5yRyTHfPUqWEAk7PfEj03-5CwbsqzHWmXTzfLJz1Mi3Pr9H33cdA-e-HL36hTG0drEo19KonpQIsHvDZlo0xt9d8QFjHmpS4MlHPeWloi5SwHTfzhZu/s1600/avalon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0oM9ctwaMhNcW0F9g3k_8frBN-5yRyTHfPUqWEAk7PfEj03-5CwbsqzHWmXTzfLJz1Mi3Pr9H33cdA-e-HL36hTG0drEo19KonpQIsHvDZlo0xt9d8QFjHmpS4MlHPeWloi5SwHTfzhZu/s400/avalon.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Yep, I'm still a bit stunned—today is my twelfth anniversary of living in this country, so I've been away from Melbourne (my old stomping ground-cum-home town) for well over a decade now.<br />
<br />
The plan was originally six months. <br />
<br />
When I arrived on July 26th, 2001 the world was, clich<span class="st">é</span> as it might sound, a different place.<br />
<br />
It was the year Stanley Kubrick's and Arthur C. Clarke's <span class="st"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_%28film%29"><i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i></a> (1968) was supposed to take place, but didn't.</span> <br />
<br />
That July the World Trade Center attack in New York was still over six weeks away, Junichiro Koizumi had just become prime minister of this country while George W. Bush had been kicking back in office in the U.S. for seven months. John Howard (shudder) had run Australia into the ground for six years already.<br />
<br />
Wikipedia had been online for just six months, the first <i>Harry Potter</i> and <i>Lord of the Rings</i> films were released and Jean-Pierre Jeunet directed <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A9lie">Amélie</a>.</i> In 2001 Japanese cinema was also on a roll: the great Mamoru Oshii (<i>Ghost in the Shell</i>) delivered up live-action deep-thinker <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalon_%282001_film%29"><i>Avalon</i></a>, while anime-wise we were blessed with two brilliant films by Hayao Miyazaki (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirited_Away"><i>Spirited Away</i></a>) and Satoshi Kon (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Actress"><i>Millennium Actress</i></a>). <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ3LPQWwQ_X5RwPumZxUzyAPiXXFaIlq3aX6wqkA28FcAKTjSTYa0CX8CUr9ib3LBnH8SaQ3J6sf3d5WCxV4AxEiFdvvz0lK8KdDYPOk69zH2SVP1qdme9UIXIGQ8aU9OUV76U_7IANrKJ/s1600/CONDIMENTAL+OP+front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ3LPQWwQ_X5RwPumZxUzyAPiXXFaIlq3aX6wqkA28FcAKTjSTYa0CX8CUr9ib3LBnH8SaQ3J6sf3d5WCxV4AxEiFdvvz0lK8KdDYPOk69zH2SVP1qdme9UIXIGQ8aU9OUV76U_7IANrKJ/s320/CONDIMENTAL+OP+front+cover.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
Personally? I was still running my record label <a href="http://www.residentadvisor.net/record-label.aspx?id=1920">IF?</a> and doing odd tracks as <a href="http://www.beatport.com/artist/little-nobody/69970">Little Nobody</a>, but became more focused on local food, sak<span class="st">é, travel and journalism. I found myself living in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin-Koiwa_Station">Shin-Koiwa</a> here in Tokyo, in a place called "Hikari Mansion"—named, perhaps with perverted jocularity, in line with <br />the Japanese concept of a ‘mansion’: myriad apartments thrown together in the single building, with each separate flat containing one or two tiny rooms and a more compact bathroom. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="st">I worked for the rather evil Nova franchise teaching English to pay the bigger bills, and did articles on the side for <i>The Daily Yomiuri</i>, an English language off-shoot of right-leaning Japanese newspaper <i>Yomiuri Shimbun</i>.</span><br />
<br />
Twelve years later I'm married and I have a gorgeous daughter in Grade 2 at elementary school—who recently did the bloody brilliant cover art for my latest <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Condimental-Op-Andrez-Bergen/dp/1782791892">book</a>.<br />
<br />
Some things have stayed the same, like the sticky late-July humidity that assails Tokyo every year, like now, but I'm today not going to whine. It is, after all, part of the charm of the place.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-48802210209410126302013-07-11T07:03:00.001+09:002013-07-11T07:03:14.262+09:00Big (Screened) in Japan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3932E6tKivqIl9YO-6j1vYj7-WA0oX5-5Orxsam541iIkUO2-rPtf0ieFyxoRL1Kil54Jr3VEceynVBfo9bLJC7j7zehx5RUzC4Z_rFSotcJEstuNQFaZuT1SFb4DDhcxnZoSDubmDRT/s1600/Star+Trek_Japanese+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3932E6tKivqIl9YO-6j1vYj7-WA0oX5-5Orxsam541iIkUO2-rPtf0ieFyxoRL1Kil54Jr3VEceynVBfo9bLJC7j7zehx5RUzC4Z_rFSotcJEstuNQFaZuT1SFb4DDhcxnZoSDubmDRT/s400/Star+Trek_Japanese+poster.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<br />
While here in Japan we're often forced to wait an absolute eternity for
blockbuster movies from abroad to hit the screens — just as an example <i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i>
doesn't arrive until 23 August, making this the last country listed on
imdb.com to screen the sequel, three months after even Iceland — there
are some home-baked goodies to keep us entertained.<br />
<br />
It helps, of course, if you're into anime and manga, which I most
certainly am, and 2013 is bubbling with big-screen versions of some
titles you may've heard of before.<br /> <br />
For starters there's something out later this month (July) courtesy of the great Katsuhiro Otomo, the genius behind both the <i>Akira</i> (1989) movie and manga, and one of my favourite Japanese comic book short-story books in English: <i>Memories</i>.<br />
<br />
If you've never picked up this weighty tome, you should, since it's a
250-page compendium of shortstories veer wildly from surprising twists
verging on <i>Twilight Zone</i> to silly slapstick, but it’s the title-tale ‘Memories’ that always grabs me.<br />
<br />
A space salvage vessel with a cranky crew finds a drifting Marie Céleste
with plush carpets, chandeliers, empty books and homicidal robot
watchdogs — not to mention a mummified cadaver reaching out from beyond
the grave.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPbEtZuUaOwMbnBfaK1ejI5VSc795jqXwyUZVz2LDxIESJs6jMDLpIBetaOCqncQKyUyoDeGFy_49cQnMHgshLxmLm-DBSyeDvIwOMtDXq58bTa1NM1hQ5ZqC_Pb1OONbnfFGkeieQOCiU/s1600/katsuhiro+otomo_short-peace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPbEtZuUaOwMbnBfaK1ejI5VSc795jqXwyUZVz2LDxIESJs6jMDLpIBetaOCqncQKyUyoDeGFy_49cQnMHgshLxmLm-DBSyeDvIwOMtDXq58bTa1NM1hQ5ZqC_Pb1OONbnfFGkeieQOCiU/s400/katsuhiro+otomo_short-peace.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
With his new film <i><a href="http://shortpeace-movie.com/" target="_blank">Short Peace</a></i>, Otomo has negotiated with Shuhei Morita, Hiroaki Ando, Hajime
Katoki and Kōji Morimoto to produce a four-part short story omnibus,
apparently based at least partially on Otomo's 1979 manga of the same
name.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>READ MORE @ <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/07/big-screen-in-japan.html">FORCES OF GEEK</a></b></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-30747173921812540602013-06-26T18:42:00.000+09:002013-06-26T18:42:02.732+09:00Two New Books Now Available<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAC67xUA9u9x5hhi0Li_wmj_WdJ5murDNbpWjr7PKXjjLxwdLcr6vJiMi9135GekBQQVvOFyW8v-IVQNnkOoueFnGu48kQydZouvED5zOO70dKuqO2lQ6Xn19w3Hjli14B4Jhyphenhyphen9-YqBa56/s1600/HEROPA_wraparound+cover_24+May+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAC67xUA9u9x5hhi0Li_wmj_WdJ5murDNbpWjr7PKXjjLxwdLcr6vJiMi9135GekBQQVvOFyW8v-IVQNnkOoueFnGu48kQydZouvED5zOO70dKuqO2lQ6Xn19w3Hjli14B4Jhyphenhyphen9-YqBa56/s400/HEROPA_wraparound+cover_24+May+2013.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Quick update, since I’m over-excited as always when these things
happen—my next two books are available (early) to order through Amazon.<br />
<br />
Yep, I'm being greedy/self-indulgent (tick applicable) and publishing two of 'em. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Condimental-Op-Andrez-Bergen/dp/1782791892/"><em><strong>The Condimental Op</strong></em></a> collection, officially out in July, is already in the hands of some of my mates if not yet my own, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Who-Killing-Great-Capes-Heropa/dp/178279235X"><em><strong>Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?</strong></em></a>—due
out in September—is now available for pre-order.<br />
<br />
Just click on either
novel’s moniker to go to the associated Amazon page. Both even have
heavy discounts for any aspiring early birds.<br />
<br />
And I’ll love you to death as a bonus.<br />
<br />
What have either got to do with Japan? Well, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Who-Killing-Great-Capes-Heropa/dp/178279235X"><em><strong>Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?</strong></em></a> has very little—aside from lead character <b>Pretty Amazonia</b> (pictured here, conjured up by artist Juan Saavedra), who's a hybrid of super-powered girls' anime characters from things like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon"><i>Sailor Moon</i></a> and <a href="http://iffybizness.blogspot.jp/2010/07/heartcatch-precure.html"><i>PreCure</i></a>. She even spends time reading a manga volume of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Candy"><i>Candy Candy</i></a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPHHCBXTnHz6Wwj4UW8s9lN0zAkeFTAzHezFUvzjT5W0wA_rDXDiGjgCXkwuiA_uW5Ak0x7-7PuLpFf-qlgnIoM2u9hhZWKki_dRXxx3xH36XI5qp85CMEqzqlru6bf2A-hNGSE5w6ClkU/s1600/Pretty+Amazonia_Juan+Saavedra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPHHCBXTnHz6Wwj4UW8s9lN0zAkeFTAzHezFUvzjT5W0wA_rDXDiGjgCXkwuiA_uW5Ak0x7-7PuLpFf-qlgnIoM2u9hhZWKki_dRXxx3xH36XI5qp85CMEqzqlru6bf2A-hNGSE5w6ClkU/s400/Pretty+Amazonia_Juan+Saavedra.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
And she gets around in a ship named the <i>Magnetic Rose</i> (check out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsuhiro_Otomo" title="Katsuhiro Otomo">Katsuhiro Otomo</a>'s 1995 anime <i>Memories</i>).<br />
<br />
<br />
And there's a cameo by another character that plays on the Fuchikoma 1-man tanks used by members of <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://ghostintheshell.wikia.com/wiki/Public_Security_Section_9" title="Public Security Section 9">Section 9</a> in <i>Ghost in the Shell</i>.<br />
<br />
Otherwise, this is a novel <span class="userContent">paying equal homage to 1930s/40s noir by the likes of Raymon<span class="text_exposed_show">d
Chandler and Dashiell Hammett as it does to sci-fi/pulp and the silver
age 1960s Marvel comic books by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Roy
Thomas, Barry (Windsor) Smith, John Buscema, and their ilk.<br /> </span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Set in Melbourne.</span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Condimental-Op-Andrez-Bergen/dp/1782791892/"><em><strong>The Condimental Op</strong></em></a> is a<span><span> collection of noir, surreal stories, comicbook asides,
hardboiled moments, fantasy, dystopia, sci-fi, snapshots of Japanese
culture, and the existentialism of contemporary experimental electronic
music—bringing
together recent short stories, older material, new
comic book art, and a range of pop-culture articles written
about music and Japan from 1999 to 2013. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span><span>Included are articles on <i>bon odori</i>, </span></span><span class="st"><i>saké</i> and <i>fugu</i>, along with reviews of Japanese flicks by Satoshi Kon and 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwURnhVlNuA_OWhOZAaNfkVZNklEvyt9CnH1sowtT_ad3R2ckuy_uhwQZ1PCAj8z6Z5zddheS-3TAl1UqZiq0BTciRcBwzhRjrvPOA_q18-a8r2yurVJrOTf72sXA5YDy37_NI9Awnim-/s1600/CONDIMENTAL+OP+front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwURnhVlNuA_OWhOZAaNfkVZNklEvyt9CnH1sowtT_ad3R2ckuy_uhwQZ1PCAj8z6Z5zddheS-3TAl1UqZiq0BTciRcBwzhRjrvPOA_q18-a8r2yurVJrOTf72sXA5YDy37_NI9Awnim-/s320/CONDIMENTAL+OP+front+cover.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span><span>Plus there's a minor spotlight on the joys of working on English subtitles for a feature by <a href="http://iffybizness.blogspot.jp/2009/12/mamoru-oshiis-assault-girls.html">Mamoru Oshii</a>.</span></span><br />
<span><span><br /></span></span>
<span><span>The cover art is actually by my 7-year-old daughter Cocoa, and I love what she did here.</span></span><br />
<br />
BTW, hats off to my awesomely indulgent publishers, <strong>Perfect Edge Books</strong>, and to all and everybody who’s read (or bothers to read) either tome mentioned here. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-58306663255219004262013-06-08T06:38:00.000+09:002013-06-08T06:38:56.920+09:00Aussie-Made Madmen Dishing Out Japan<span class="userContent">Just did an interview with the very cool people @ <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=48390358477&extragetparams=%7B%22directed_target_id%22%3A0%7D" href="http://www.facebook.com/madmanent?directed_target_id=0">Madman</a> Entertainment in my hometown Melbourne—with their opinions on all things Japanese including anime and Akira Kurosawa. It's up at <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/06/aussie-made-madmen-dishing-out-japan.html">Forces Of Geek</a>. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKbl4HTigi1W9spcA-s48eIeplixJabtVdvomseyEA2B_Fc9GCQMpllVnza7vl3lvjjSU_3hZjIDnBn2WEu3JHbsT6qlafcwsGAFotxBt6uu_IqRnLSe6vqyPjiJ3wrM3lGvcmsEVH7bxD/s1600/Actors+Revenge+Still+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKbl4HTigi1W9spcA-s48eIeplixJabtVdvomseyEA2B_Fc9GCQMpllVnza7vl3lvjjSU_3hZjIDnBn2WEu3JHbsT6qlafcwsGAFotxBt6uu_IqRnLSe6vqyPjiJ3wrM3lGvcmsEVH7bxD/s320/Actors+Revenge+Still+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span class="userContent">Here's a sample or two:</span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
"Australia has had a long history with Japanese cinema, TV and anime
even if we didn’t always realise it at the time.<br />
<br />
"For many years TV has
been a window on Japanese culture through shows like <i>Monkey Magic, Shintaro, Star Blazers, G-Force</i> and <i>Astroboy</i>; and also culturally adjacent shows like <i>Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers</i>.
I think this has made Australia more receptive to seeing media from
Japan.<br />
<br />
"Also, for cinema, the growth of the Japanese Film Festival over
the years demonstrates the popularity of the cinema here."<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw45yL1TVYCTp4Zv5S-dV6e-sFaNYkIZdbP68DpyE5WKX5qptSV2QzITO0CT5mPpWOLmlnivEhQep0xJ3Ce81Drng9x-TIoy5FFAznf36Z6F35KLpBZdttTJg8Wu_4ENjLnJpba3Z9xUbh/s1600/ghost_in_the_shell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw45yL1TVYCTp4Zv5S-dV6e-sFaNYkIZdbP68DpyE5WKX5qptSV2QzITO0CT5mPpWOLmlnivEhQep0xJ3Ce81Drng9x-TIoy5FFAznf36Z6F35KLpBZdttTJg8Wu_4ENjLnJpba3Z9xUbh/s320/ghost_in_the_shell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
...and...<br />
<br />
"The most ubiquitous name is certainly that of [Akira] Kurosawa. His breakthrough film <i>Rashomon</i>
[1950] was so well-regarded that the first Foreign Film Oscar was
created just for it. He gave us samurai films and helped inspired
countless spaghetti westerns. <i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>"The Hidden Fortress </i>and <i>Sanshiro Sugata</i> even helped shape <i>Star Wars</i>." <br />
<br />
Read the entire piece <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/06/aussie-made-madmen-dishing-out-japan.html"><b>here</b></a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-10902758059711703992013-05-13T17:30:00.000+09:002013-05-13T17:32:43.270+09:00International Artists Yack About Japanese Anime <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnM1UjdV488BMI0W-EY4tOwpYjWoIzH-RKLTppLQD_duuPlBFZ04fAkGJy_nslZbS3xkqALUbHDnlBDRafzITnTAd4mwoasVBAKJvKXNJQkyusWyjGPQjvAQsZsEuhNJqFqZRXi9AvqVBn/s1600/akira.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnM1UjdV488BMI0W-EY4tOwpYjWoIzH-RKLTppLQD_duuPlBFZ04fAkGJy_nslZbS3xkqALUbHDnlBDRafzITnTAd4mwoasVBAKJvKXNJQkyusWyjGPQjvAQsZsEuhNJqFqZRXi9AvqVBn/s400/akira.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
In last month's <i><b>Flash In Japan</b></i> we set the stage by asking a
few upcoming international artists to tell us their thoughts on
Japan—from manga through to the country's culture—and you can read Part 1
<a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/04/big-on-japan-fistful-of-international.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
These people are all young, pushing the perimetres of comic book and
sequential art along with visual stills, and they're ones I worked with
closely in the development of an upcoming noir/comicbook novel, <b><i>Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?</i></b>, out later this year through <a href="http://www.perfectedgebooks.com/" target="_blank">Perfect Edge Books</a>.<br />
<br />
So, for the merry month of May we're continuing our insightful yack,
this time focusing on that bastion of global fascination: anime.<br />
<br />
"Japanese animation is always years before any other country, and of course I absolutely love it," says Spanish artist <a href="http://carlosgomezartist.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Carlos Gomez</a>. "Overall? I think the best animation is seen in movies—like Katsuhiro Otomo's <i>Akira</i>."<br />
<br />
"I don’t think an '80s child in the West didn’t get exposed to anime in one form or another," agrees Gomez's Australian peer <a href="http://thesoldierlegacy.com/" target="_blank">Paul Mason</a>.<br />
<br />
"I recall <i>Astro Boy </i>and <i>Voltron</i> being my favorites as a
kid—though I can’t say anime really influences my work directly in
themes, I enjoy the Japanese flair in terms of the animation frame
rates: The fast action speeds create such a high impact, plus I’ve
always admired the camera selection choices and framing methods utilised
in some of the better anime action films. The Warner Bros West/East
animation co-production <i>Batman: Gotham Knight</i> had some fantastic
example of this, and the storytelling approaches that the Japanese
directors used, and the illustration/compositional choices within the
segments, really hooked me. I think the marriage of Batman’s mythology
and persona, with the Japanese flavour, really suits the ronin/samurai
tradition, thinking and visuals of the character."<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGUHFXVM5v0KhEn9jIzsKYxaghQzZ0fV29jxXEI9eFfoYcCGkRqTm4FKvtoEiOJNRe7T_fiDifgsEFlVVrpwqUOlQewJS2N8RBk8DnXqBZ75LPJpsiz15WpUuBhULmcclRQJ4FS4T-3kfr/s1600/BULLET+GAL+by+JGMiranda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGUHFXVM5v0KhEn9jIzsKYxaghQzZ0fV29jxXEI9eFfoYcCGkRqTm4FKvtoEiOJNRe7T_fiDifgsEFlVVrpwqUOlQewJS2N8RBk8DnXqBZ75LPJpsiz15WpUuBhULmcclRQJ4FS4T-3kfr/s400/BULLET+GAL+by+JGMiranda.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
Spaniard <a href="http://jgmiranda.daportfolio.com/" target="_blank">Javier 'JG' Miranda</a>
(see <b>Bullet Gal</b> picture at right, from <i>Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?</i>) isn't quite so enamoured—not really. "I don't usually watch anime,
mainly because I think the animation in the widespread series—such as <i>Naruto, Bleach</i>, even <i>Dragon Ball</i>—is
a bit lacking due to the huge amount of work that a single episode
needs, and the scarce time they have to prepare it. However, when
talking about Studio Ghibli or some OVAs, you see the amazing quality
these studios can achieve. That said, I have been a real fanatic of <i>Dragon Ball, Dominion Tank Police, Slayers, Rurouni Kenshin</i>..."<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><i>READ MORE @ <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/05/big-on-japan-fistful-of-international.html">FORCES OF GEEK</a>. </i></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-56796698995771356372013-04-24T06:44:00.000+09:002013-04-24T07:06:01.039+09:00Southern Cross: Character Design Competition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDw7nZrn__wW5VXwSKAqiFZRzC_xJikELEibgmWodyVUc9iTV8C3AjjgXz6oJbwhNON9LJQ60OmQ1Os8WDX91i9pRpCgAPMrloYvNPS_LWd90Lx0MZwwH-qFbEt7ZjEdiiX9QuPtq-PSDv/s1600/Southern+Cross+by.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDw7nZrn__wW5VXwSKAqiFZRzC_xJikELEibgmWodyVUc9iTV8C3AjjgXz6oJbwhNON9LJQ60OmQ1Os8WDX91i9pRpCgAPMrloYvNPS_LWd90Lx0MZwwH-qFbEt7ZjEdiiX9QuPtq-PSDv/s320/Southern+Cross+by.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My next novel, <a href="http://greatcapesheropa.weebly.com/index.html"><i>Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?</i></a>, is a crossover homage to things comic book, pulp, sci-fi and noir—pretty much all the genres I dig—and the central character here is Jacob Curtiss... who moonlights as superhero Southern Cross.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Given the comic book nature of the romp, which will be published later this year by Perfect Edge Books, and the fact it's partially illustrated, I decided to continue the exploration of the comic artist angle by <a href="http://www.facebook.com/notes/who-is-killing-the-great-capes-of-heropa/southern-cross-the-character-design-competition/561622017193341">setting up a competition</a>. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This comp is open to anybody with a pencil, and the 5 winners will get copies of the novel once it's published. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The key point is free-range interpretation, something that's important to me. <span class="yiv2232350525yui_3_7_2_42_1363986136306_231 yiv2232350525yui_3_7_2_21_1365462890900_239" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1366747446554_6648"><span class="yiv2232350525yui_3_7_2_42_1363986136306_232 yiv2232350525yui_3_7_2_21_1365462890900_240" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1366747446554_6647"><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1366747446554_6646" lang="EN-GB">I like
the idea of disparate visions of the same person — it's the way American comic books,
after all, work in the real world. Bryan Hitch's perception of Captain America
in 2009 was far different from Jim Steranko's in 1969.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We're getting some great entries only days after beginning (the comp closes on 30 June), including the hilarious caricature of a man-and-his-dog (above) by <a href="http://www.facebook.com/idrawdogs">Claudia Everest</a> and the more Iron Man-inflected style by </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=576821439&extragetparams=%7B%22group_id%22%3A0%7D" href="http://www.facebook.com/craigbruyn?group_id=0" id="js_4">Craig Bruyn</a> (below, at bottom)</span></span>. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One of the artists, <b>Tomomi Sarafov</b> (she did this gal-version of Southern Cross, along with another piece), wrote about the process <a href="http://tomomi-sarafov.blogspot.jp/2013/04/southern-cross-character-design.html"><b>here</b></a> at her blog.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxzP6rK0JH3qIJbBH2H_hVnGddSZsB6l8cyDymHUdwXryiosCN-2DSSEfokxvs4FBht_Ez85iMorraaFLXDxIMdt3wp6IHPet5P7TlcDcudlByWr8mLhlasUwIoOJzKp-Y39vA-nGV2gi1/s1600/Southern+crossess2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxzP6rK0JH3qIJbBH2H_hVnGddSZsB6l8cyDymHUdwXryiosCN-2DSSEfokxvs4FBht_Ez85iMorraaFLXDxIMdt3wp6IHPet5P7TlcDcudlByWr8mLhlasUwIoOJzKp-Y39vA-nGV2gi1/s320/Southern+crossess2.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Anyway, if anyone else is at all inspired, you can hit <a href="http://www.facebook.com/notes/who-is-killing-the-great-capes-of-heropa/southern-cross-the-character-design-competition/561622017193341">this link</a> and find out what the competition is all about.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">By the way, for those of you (a) with long memories, and (b) Australian, this isn't the first Southern Cross superhero character. I've recently been chatting with esteemed veteran comic creator <a href="http://thedarknebula.com/">Tad Pietrzykowski</a> who nicely filled in the gaps. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Yes, there are at least three other Southern Crosses out there. Mine [the <a href="http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=512">Golden Age Southern Cross </a>by Tad, with Glenn Lumsden], Dave de
Vries' <a href="http://www.comicvine.com/southern-squadron/4060-55728/"><i>Southern Squadron</i></a>, and one at <a href="http://cultfictioncomics.tumblr.com/">Cult Fiction Australia </a>that I don't
know the status of. Under the copyright law, no one can own
the name "Southern Cross" exclusively. We can all retain copyright on our own individual Southern Crosses—artwork, logo, et cetera—as long as none of us try to impinge upon anyone
else's version... which none of us are interested in doing, so it's all
good."<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">I
guess Australia doesn't have too many iconographic logos to stick on
the chest of union suits. Hey, wait... maybe I should've gone with Captain
Vegemite.</span></span></span>?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[1].[1][4][1]{comment561622017193341_6200788}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[1].[1][4][1]{comment561622017193341_6200788}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[1].[1][4][1]{comment561622017193341_6200788}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[2]">Anyway, I
initially created my version of S.C. in high school in 1981/82, when I still had great aspiration to be a comic book artist/writer</span></span></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"> and </span></span></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1366747446554_6512">mostly frustrated that Marvel Comics didn't have
an Australian superhero. After procrastinating, I</span> finally sent a concept design (and pitch) to Stan Lee in
the mid '80s—after which Stan got his secretary to write back that he loved the idea and was hand-passing this on to then-Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco... who sadly was not so inspired in the follow-up letter, knocking back the character in no uncertain terms (if politely).</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8EJiGo_Qpn4ZGyTl5ygz65HDWw1nxvZU_HP7aDB2Ml0sEqV83QQl1xNUcNc5jvq0lSHgmaKt2-siOixPVb85nXe3wbITZbFN58HV83eCGi06gafiuI1nYCZEIhgXGsxxW5uzNUZGroz3H/s1600/Bruyn+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8EJiGo_Qpn4ZGyTl5ygz65HDWw1nxvZU_HP7aDB2Ml0sEqV83QQl1xNUcNc5jvq0lSHgmaKt2-siOixPVb85nXe3wbITZbFN58HV83eCGi06gafiuI1nYCZEIhgXGsxxW5uzNUZGroz3H/s400/Bruyn+2.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[5].[1][4][1]{comment571506829547162_6357541}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"></span></span></span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1366747446554_6512"><br />At which time I stuck him in a drawer and sat
on the character... until last year, when I started dreaming up a novel
that pays homage to 1960s silver age Marvel stuff (<i>Heropa</i>) and decided
to resurrect him the bugger.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1366747446554_6512"><br /></span></span>
<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1366747446554_6512"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">But until the book comes out (around September?), it's definitely worthwhile exploring the other incarnations of an essential cultural icon—cast in tights—and seeing how different people explore the superhero medium from an Aussie and/or foreign perspective.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-32820125876853293792013-04-06T07:43:00.001+09:002013-04-06T07:45:21.107+09:00BIG ON JAPAN: A Fistful of International Artists Croon The Country's Cultural Praises <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8nZku72hOwWk1y1uMFFDTbJBUEoU5MtGJsoYk0kiXlZdxNiJ_BAyLLeOMx0BFMSfoyNkWU4TxkfVCP8yAQYheZHZL3ESXMJrAaxv6GD5CFdTapGpn_e9XaSluRKrqkCrnFy6y8IRgDsyh/s1600/Pretty+Amazon_by+Juan+Saavedra.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8nZku72hOwWk1y1uMFFDTbJBUEoU5MtGJsoYk0kiXlZdxNiJ_BAyLLeOMx0BFMSfoyNkWU4TxkfVCP8yAQYheZHZL3ESXMJrAaxv6GD5CFdTapGpn_e9XaSluRKrqkCrnFy6y8IRgDsyh/s400/Pretty+Amazon_by+Juan+Saavedra.png" width="310" /></a></div>
Recently, I've been doing my best to mimic a literary ostrich since I've
had my head buried deep inside assembly of the next novel.<br />
<br />
Trouble is I have trouble picturing a big bird with a hardback and a pair of spectacles, wrapped in Harris tweed.<br />
<br />
And I say assembly, because this brute not only deconstructs 1930s
detective noir/pulp and 1960s Marvel comic book lore, but renovates them
together as a conjoined tome over 100,000 words in length — stitched
together by 35 images from 28 artists. <br />
<br />
It's the way comic books, after all, work in the real world.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3634312242923487818" name="more"></a>Bryan Hitch's perception of Captain America in 2009 was far different from Jim Steranko's in 1969. Then compare and contrast John Buscema's chunky-thug idea of Conan the
Barbarian in 1980 with the lithe, laddish figure originally put out by
Barry (Windsor) Smith a decade earlier in 1970.<br />
<br />
But now I'm geeky nitpicking. If I haven't lost you already, I swear
I'll try harder, there are some pretty pictures still to come, and a
bunch of other people take the verbal reins.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_1edXpFEz4-mF9sAhtp1UDwdCva4KGvbf1YehPExvKp8dJ7YI096x18NLEv5JC8skCAJAXpePZ9yGHcwbE8dEHT0Fa1qg0ED0JoAuKqJsbJ2JpIUHRa4zSDRkxLqTOKeFpzeHwGTYM2O/s1600/Come+Out+Swinging_Andrew+Chiu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_1edXpFEz4-mF9sAhtp1UDwdCva4KGvbf1YehPExvKp8dJ7YI096x18NLEv5JC8skCAJAXpePZ9yGHcwbE8dEHT0Fa1qg0ED0JoAuKqJsbJ2JpIUHRa4zSDRkxLqTOKeFpzeHwGTYM2O/s400/Come+Out+Swinging_Andrew+Chiu.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<br />
For now, suffice to say, this train of thought (the wayward one about
comic book art) inspired me to ask artists from Australia (<b>Paul Mason</b>), the UK (<b>Harvey Finch</b> and <b>Andrew Chiu</b> — see picture at right), Italy (<b>Giovanni Ballati</b>), Russia (<b>Saint Yak</b>), Spain (<b>Javier 'JG' Miranda</b> and <b>Carlos Gomez</b>), Canada (<b>Fred Rambaud</b>), Mexico (<b>Rodolfo Reyes</b>), Chile (<b>Juan Andres Saavedra</b> — see picture above), the Philippines (<b>Hannah Buena</b>) and Argentina (<b>Maan House</b>),
amongst others in Japan and America, to get involved drawing characters
and events from the book — and then let their hair down for a
rambunctious tête-à-tête together here.<br />
<br />
All in all?<br />
<br />
Putting together the novel has been like taking Lego and Meccano and
making the pieces function together as a futuristic-retro superhero romp
that mixes and matches 1930s Art Deco architectural lines with the
gung-ho Soviet formalist propaganda style, twisted into '60s pop art
sentiment and the huge influence of Jack Kirby. <br />
<br />
Anyway, <i><b><a href="http://greatcapesheropa.weebly.com/">Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?</a></b> </i>will be
published via Perfect Edge Books some time around September, but what
I'd like to share with you over the next couple of months of this column
are the insights and opinions of some of the fascinating, talented and
truly cool visual artists I've had the opportunity to touch base with —
while attempting to keep the bulk of these within <b><a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/04/big-on-japan-fistful-of-international.html">Flash in Japan</a>'</b>s obvious perimeters: focused on, well, the Japanese archipelago.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>If interested, you can read Part 1 of this interview @</b> <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/04/big-on-japan-fistful-of-international.html">FORCES OF GEEK</a>.</i> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-87666456219131372712013-03-08T16:45:00.000+09:002013-03-08T16:45:57.708+09:00STAR TREK: Darkness in Japan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiChUDhJO6gkgm6lR39JsLuyNir0yF4PKRcXNqOABcCwsS-fliB8Vi0U0nhMAcbFi7SJwt-QCoJW21AlwPFHXRsauMPLCcTg5RVqrLBqORB-WTfwePhei4pgAzUwerhV_AiyM8VaIbD21cc/s1600/st09poster_jp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiChUDhJO6gkgm6lR39JsLuyNir0yF4PKRcXNqOABcCwsS-fliB8Vi0U0nhMAcbFi7SJwt-QCoJW21AlwPFHXRsauMPLCcTg5RVqrLBqORB-WTfwePhei4pgAzUwerhV_AiyM8VaIbD21cc/s400/st09poster_jp.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
With the new <i>Star Trek</i> movie <i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i>
scheduled for release in the ’States in May (but not till August here in
Japan), I thought it timely to flick back to a spot of “research” I did
prior to the screening of J. J. Abrams’ first reboot of the franchise
in 2009.<br />
<br />
Research telling me, at least by May four years ago, that only one in seven citizens of Japan had heard of <i>Star Trek</i>.<br />
<br />
I knew this then because I finished personally quizzing 60-odd people.<br />
<br />
The margin of error was (and still is) completely open to contention,
since I interviewed people only in Tokyo, my test subjects were limited
to anime production staff, students of English, techno DJs and
musicians, and the ages stretched from 15 to 72. <br />
<br />
I’ve since had arguments with a bunch of people, all foreigners, who
contest the findings (well, they've argued and I've thrown up my arms in
surrender), but they have yet to do similar research and I guess mine
still stands up okay.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1nQjcBHtOb-A2dbsyEKBut_MfqbEbY2GOC7vdQinqxmnR0oCTXcVIHZsmAaBWgeM9JFwYHI12A2I4DwibM6O8s4Xy4IbRwi7JX5I_pSl4i1Y7kQKwoI7e2rNejaIo9Wso4aBv10Fr0N7g/s1600/Star+Trek+billboard+Ginza.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1nQjcBHtOb-A2dbsyEKBut_MfqbEbY2GOC7vdQinqxmnR0oCTXcVIHZsmAaBWgeM9JFwYHI12A2I4DwibM6O8s4Xy4IbRwi7JX5I_pSl4i1Y7kQKwoI7e2rNejaIo9Wso4aBv10Fr0N7g/s320/Star+Trek+billboard+Ginza.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
Apparently there was a <i>Star Trek </i>boom in Japan in the ’70s — the
evidence is there in online artwork and blogs — but either most people
forgot by 2009, or I picked the wrong target audience.<br />
<br />
The one-in-seven figure was itself a stretch, since two inclusions in the ‘yes’ category confused <i>Star Trek</i> for <i>Star Wars</i>. One time, when I asked the ongoing main question (“Have you heard of <i>Star Trek</i>?”)
my tipping-the-scales 72-year-old English student Hashimito-san
declared “Of course!” — and thence proceeded to enact a spritely
air-lightsaber cut-and-thrust routine.<br />
<br />
Read more of this article @ <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/03/star-trek-darkness-in-japan.html">Forces Of Geek</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-71091132904813216232013-02-16T13:17:00.001+09:002013-02-16T13:20:16.019+09:00Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikLjgbfcQ78AHzBqtmTqkzWActIp96a81xyjBlUtRxgzIBcVpPFZb2GQzeJHZyPvP-XJofKNTkfPAd8ESx66Ss2ifn6RXPV54lm96gNvw2VZ1y-FktMflA_W1syY7o0YCHqfr0z2q5TpYI/s1600/Southern+Cross+motorbike_by+Fred+Rambaud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikLjgbfcQ78AHzBqtmTqkzWActIp96a81xyjBlUtRxgzIBcVpPFZb2GQzeJHZyPvP-XJofKNTkfPAd8ESx66Ss2ifn6RXPV54lm96gNvw2VZ1y-FktMflA_W1syY7o0YCHqfr0z2q5TpYI/s400/Southern+Cross+motorbike_by+Fred+Rambaud.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Other news — namely re: writing.<br />
<br />
I just signed the contract with <a href="http://perfectedgebooks.com/">Perfect Edge Books</a> for my anthology <a href="http://thecondimentalop.weebly.com/"><i>The Condimental Op</i></a>,
and it’s now in production.<br />
<br />
This baby should be published in 4-5 months.<br />
<br />
We're cobbling together noir, surrealism, comicbook asides and
dystopian, hardboiled moments colliding with snapshots of contemporary
culture. Think 1989 right through to 2013.<br />
<br />
You will even find some of the articles about Japan that have appeared on this blog, in <i>Geek</i> and <i>Impact</i> magazines, or at <i>Forces Of Geek</i>.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, on the subject of novels, I just got a great review for my last one <a href="http://www.amazon.com/100-Years-Vicissitude-Andrez-Bergen/dp/1780995970"><i>One Hundred Years of Vicissitude</i></a>, with big thanks to Dan Wright @ <a href="http://www.pandragondan.co.uk/apps/blog/pandragon-reviews-one-hundred-years-of-vicissitude">Pandragon Reviews</a>.<br />
<br />
And I’ve received some more fantastic artwork for <a href="http://www.facebook.com/WhoIsKillingTheGreatCapesOfHeropa?"><i>Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?</i></a>
(my upcoming dual homage to 1930s-40s noir and 1960s comicbooks chiefly produced by Marvel) from Canadian artist Fred Rambaud (see above, with Southern Cross on the
motorbike) while Mexican artist Rodolpho Reyes is putting together
still more.<br />
<br />
If you’re curious, you can stay abreast of things <a href="http://www.facebook.com/WhoIsKillingTheGreatCapesOfHeropa?">here</a>. <br />
<br />
You can also read about some of the early '60s comicbook influences at my <a href="http://andrezbergen.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/1960s-comicbook-influences-who-is-killing-the-great-capes-of-heropa/">other blog</a>.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-169061468387706512013-02-08T12:35:00.000+09:002013-02-08T12:35:34.430+09:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqfSlsughsvcavMdK4i20_FomRS0x3l0Dds6lEW7dG02UFFgvxJSOwoPcaDpFuky7Aw9OcaV0qGCvr6F_5bIaNK6YhsPSyUqMZhE75kT_xJUtiuH-0W3WG86ZOqMBq3uhg2E-og36jOqLf/s1600/totoro+and+shed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqfSlsughsvcavMdK4i20_FomRS0x3l0Dds6lEW7dG02UFFgvxJSOwoPcaDpFuky7Aw9OcaV0qGCvr6F_5bIaNK6YhsPSyUqMZhE75kT_xJUtiuH-0W3WG86ZOqMBq3uhg2E-og36jOqLf/s400/totoro+and+shed.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
One morning about two months ago, at around 10:00 am, we had a surprise: a bunch of guys in <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happi" target="_blank">happi</a></i>
jackets and white pants that looked like they were nicked from
cricketers paraded past our apartment here in Okusawa, chanting and
huffing and puffing like a troupe of big, bad wolves.<br />
<br />
Over their shoulders they lugged a long, twisted up thing that resembled
a skinny, beige dragon with a cute mush, and my wife Yoko calmly
advised that it was the beginning of today's festival for Okusawa
Shrine.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3634312242923487818" name="more"></a>And this was a snake, not a dragon. They weren't gearing up for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_of_the_Snake" target="_blank">Year of the Snake</a>. No. I'm blessed to live a few hundred metres from a religious house dedicated to snakes.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHNjT9gozg7PWfgV2hXNFTnqerpgi1Z_kRN1KTBca8Bxba8maIhR-33x3pwE-lm67k1v_-psqdDcocEO_Dv2nGockfjk80A817PTsfSWw9AHMY9fy7YDRARncojhoZfsndhzH-QomQRH77/s1600/Okusawa+Snake.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHNjT9gozg7PWfgV2hXNFTnqerpgi1Z_kRN1KTBca8Bxba8maIhR-33x3pwE-lm67k1v_-psqdDcocEO_Dv2nGockfjk80A817PTsfSWw9AHMY9fy7YDRARncojhoZfsndhzH-QomQRH77/s400/Okusawa+Snake.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
About five minutes' walk away, nestled amidst an array of beautiful old trees that look like the enormous cypress from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Neighbor_Totoro" target="_blank"><i>My Neighbor Totoro</i></a>, Okusawa Jinjya is a traditional <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto" target="_blank">Shinto</a>
oasis - er, shrine - that’s obviously not only venerated by the local
population, but beloved as well, if the queue right around the corner
and down the road last January 1 was any indication; then again, that's
typical at shrines during the wintry New Year period.<br />
<br />
At other times at Okusawa Shrine you’re just as likely to encounter elderly women in kimono playing <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koto_%28musical_instrument%29" target="_blank">koto</a></i> instruments to nobody in particular, or children in spectacular traditional costumes celebrating their birthdays. <br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Read more of this article if you're at all interested @ <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/02/snakes-alive-okusawa-shrine.html">FORCES OF GEEK</a>.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-77415076344440562152013-01-11T18:00:00.001+09:002013-01-11T18:00:11.722+09:00Got'cha, GATCHAMAN! G-Force is Go! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8_TZ8tTlZBp1Wzsf4a1scUC3ZLpYFTJ4a4fJ-F81qhESXI2eoaFNlwXval_ipnSkJxyKpJfDkLZhii33u1z2q3t5CSIiV_jaV-QQ4-7yMMrg8k_JbuxsDoVG98mP-PUFEKY5jd-1KEjS/s1600/Gatchaman+anime.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8_TZ8tTlZBp1Wzsf4a1scUC3ZLpYFTJ4a4fJ-F81qhESXI2eoaFNlwXval_ipnSkJxyKpJfDkLZhii33u1z2q3t5CSIiV_jaV-QQ4-7yMMrg8k_JbuxsDoVG98mP-PUFEKY5jd-1KEjS/s400/Gatchaman+anime.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Last month, I got to be a gaijin extra (think a refugee running amidst
fire and rubble) on location for the live-action movie adaptation of
1970s anime series <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Ninja_Team_Gatchaman" target="_blank"><i>Gatchaman</i></a>, aka <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Planets" target="_blank"><i>Battle of the Planets</i></a>, or <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-Force:_Guardians_of_Space" target="_blank">G-Force</a></i>.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure if it's because I'm Australian, but this doesn’t mean too much to me.<br />
<br />
The Japanese obsess regarding the 1972 anime <i>Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman </i>(<i>Science Ninja Team Gatchaman</i>) created by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatsuo_Yoshida" target="_blank">Tatsuo Yoshida</a> (<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casshan" target="_blank">Casshern</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_Racer" target="_blank">Speed Racer</a></i>) and most Americans I know are wild about the repackaged and slightly Westernized 1978 version <i>Battle of the Planets</i>.<br />
<br />
While I dug the earlier <i>Speed Racer</i>, I was far more into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiyuki_Tomino" target="_blank">Yoshiyuki Tomino</a>'s <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Suit_Gundam" target="_blank">Mobile Suit Gundam</a> </i>from
the same period — which grants me an excuse to stick in a picture here
that I took in October of the 115-foot RX-78-2 Gundam statue in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odaiba" target="_blank">Odaiba</a>.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Still, I was acquainted enough with this other series minus Gundam (the
storyline goes that G-Force — a fistful of kids dressed up in bird
costumes — protects Earth from planet Spectra and other attacks from an
international terrorist conglomerate of technologically advanced
villains), to think this would be a hoot, and grabbed the chance. <br />
<br />
It was being shot outdoors in the evening in the expansive ruins of a
huge abandoned paper mill in Takahagi-shi in Ibaraki, about 2 hours from
Tokyo — and under 100 km from the leaky <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_Nuclear_Power_Plant" target="_blank">Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant</a>.<br />
<br />
This place was wild — a photographer's dream (if we weren't otherwise preoccupied).<br />
<br />
READ MORE @ <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/01/gotcha-gatchaman-g-force-is-go.html">FORCES OF GEEK</a>. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-74215994638551310342012-12-28T10:41:00.000+09:002013-01-04T11:37:41.160+09:002012 Round-Up + Gerry Anderson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Brs3_MIQ4JUOqSIcUf9506ZrrwBYuORdlSq87JD_ZvDeRlWcbSsSttYy3fJzRavA9cgTfgQHlK3yB4zkkwmNtvtpvmkqVR4OsPnp0snYE8xBkSEwyOGj7KDF6TGhunzWwRtuT7GyKAtn/s1600/ellisClothesChange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Brs3_MIQ4JUOqSIcUf9506ZrrwBYuORdlSq87JD_ZvDeRlWcbSsSttYy3fJzRavA9cgTfgQHlK3yB4zkkwmNtvtpvmkqVR4OsPnp0snYE8xBkSEwyOGj7KDF6TGhunzWwRtuT7GyKAtn/s400/ellisClothesChange.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Which brings us to the end of another Year of the Dragon, which is actually my year of birth — and what a year it's been here in Tokyo, as well as elsewhere I'm sure.<br />
<br />
Over at <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2012/12/best-of-2012-part-one.html"><b>Forces Of Geek</b></a>, head-honcho Stefan asked us to submit our <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2012/12/best-of-2012-part-one.html"><u>Best of 2012</u></a> lists, which I did and I'm going the put an excerpt of that list here:<br />
<br />
<b>Best Movies of 2012</b><br />
<i>The Avengers</i>, <i>The Dark Knight Rises</i>, <i>Rust and
Bone</i>, <i>The Master</i>, <i>Django Unchained</i>, <i>A Letter to Momo</i>, <i>Evangelion
3.0</i>, <i>Helter Skelter</i> and <i>Dead Sushi</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>Best TV Shows</b><br />
<i><span class="yiv1075568179st">Smile PreCure!</span></i>, <i>Sekai no Hate Made ItteQ</i> and <span class="yiv1075568179st"><i>Kamen Rider Wizard</i>.</span><br />
<br />
<b>Best Song </b><br />
Si Begg — <i>UFO Original Soundtrack</i><br />
<br />
<b>Best Blu-ray/DVD Release</b><br />
<i>Captain America</i> and <i>The Dark Knight Rises</i>.<br />
<br />
<br />
You can check out a whole wad of other cool contributors' ideas for the greatest bits and pieces of 2012 over at <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/">Forces Of Geek</a>, so take the time to investigate.<br />
<br />
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It's been a great twelve months for me personally, with the publication of my second novel <a href="http://www.amazon.com/100-Years-Vicissitude-Andrez-Bergen/dp/1780995970/"><i>One Hundred Years of Vicissitude</i></a> (a surreal/slipstream/noir account of Japan from 1929 into the near-future), finishing a third novel (the comicbook/noir <a href="http://greatcapesheropa.weebly.com/"><i>Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?</i></a>), and having a few short-stories published via <a href="http://www.shotgunhoney.net/2012/07/come-out-swinging-by-andrez-bergen.html">Shotgun Honey</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pulp-Ink-2-Chris-Rhatigan/dp/147817336X"><i>Pulp Ink 2</i></a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crime-Factory-Hard-Labour-ebook/dp/B009NOW6ZQ/">Crime Factory</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Weird-Noir-Various-Authors/dp/1909348058/"><i>Weird Noir</i></a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Solarcide-Presents-Nova-Parade-ebook/dp/B009Z3167Y/">Solarcide</a> and <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Off-Record-Movies-Charity-Anthology/dp/1291093672/">Off the Record 2</a></i>.<br />
<br />
Next month there's another anthology I get to be involved in, and it's called <a href="http://all-due-respect.blogspot.jp/">All Due Respect</a>, from the rather respected noir short story website run by Chris Rhatigan. <br />
<br />
In the American and Japanese summer (winter in Australia) in 2013 we should also have out the anthology I'm doing with Another Sky Press, called <a href="http://thetobaccostainedsky.weebly.com/"><i>The Tobacco-Stained Sky</i></a> — which focuses on the noir/dystopic, near-future Melbourne explored in <i>Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat</i>.<br />
<br />
More news as soon as I know.<br />
<br />
Closer to home — ie. here in Japan, this month I also got to be a gaijin extra (think refugee running amidst fire and rubble) in the new live-action <i>Gatchaman</i> movie, aka <i><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Planets" title="Battle of the Planets">Battle of the Planets</a></b></i>.<br />
<br />
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<br />
It was filmed at an amazing, abandoned paper mill in <span class="fbPhotoTagList" id="fbPhotoSnowliftTagList"><span class="fcg"><span class="fbPhotoTagListTag withTagItem tagItem"><a class="taggee" data-hovercard-instant="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=107775972578292" href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Takahagi-shi-Ibaraki-Japan/107775972578292?ref=stream" id="js_3">Takahagi-shi, Ibaraki</a></span>, the temperature was about 1</span></span>°C, and there were aliens galore (getting coffee, as in this picture). The movie should be released next year.<br />
<br />
Music-wise I just released (yesterday) my latest Little Nobody EP through IF? Records ('<a href="http://www.junodownload.com/products/little-nobody-behind-the-meme-claw/2106032-02/">Behind the Meme Claw</a>'), with remixes from Detroit legend Alan Oldham (DJ T-1000) and Sydney's Biz and Sebastian Bayne, and I remixed David Christoph's track '<a href="http://www.beatport.com/track/sandman-little-nobody-remix/4021277">Sandman</a>' for We Call It Hard Records earlier this month. I've additionally had the chance to remix Chicago's Lester Fitzpatrick, and that'll be out on vinyl in 2013.<br />
<br />
The melancholy thing was winding it up with news yesterday of the death of the great Gerry Anderson, the man behind such landmark series as <i>Thunderbirds</i>, <i>UFO</i> and <i>Space: 1999</i>, along with one of my favourite sci-fi movies, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064519/"><i>Journey to the Far Side of the Sun</i></a> (1969). <i>Thunderbirds</i> is equally huge in Japan — I picked up my ready-made Eagle Transporter at a very cool toy emporium in Akihabara — so I know a lot of people here will be sad as well. <br />
<br />
I just wrote a piece on the man for <a href="http://slityourwristsmagazine.com/2012/12/29/syw-staff-picks-best-and-most-influential-people-of-2012-ongoing/">Slit Your Wrists!</a> magazine, but check out the incredible visual set-shots from <i>Space: 1999</i> and <i>UFO </i>over at Gavin Rothery's <a href="http://www.gavinrothery.com/my-blog/?currentPage=129">site</a>.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Reading-wise, it's been a superb year.<br />
<br />
While I tend to gravitate towards old loves like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett and the '60s Marvel comics scripted by Stan Lee and Roy Thomas, writers that've made an impression over the past 12 months include Josh Stallings, Shuichi Yoshida, McDroll, Nigel Bird, Paul D. Brazill, Guy Salvidge, Yukito Ayatsuji, Tony Pacitti, Julie Morrigan, Chad Eagleton, Gordon Highland, Chris Rhatigan, Jay Slayton-Joslin, Gerard Brennan, Liam Jose, Chad Rohrbacher, Heath Lowrance, Dan O'Shea, Ed Kurtz, Kristopher Young, Patti Abbott, Matthew C. Funk, Julia Madeleine,
Caleb J. Ross, Phil Jourdan, Michael Gonzalez, Craig Wallwork, A.B. Riddle, Andrew Nette, Haruki Murakami, Tony Black, Richard Godwin, Mike Miner, Erik Arneson, Joe Clifford, Court
Merrigan, K. A. Laity, Carol Borden, W. P. Johnson, Benoit Lelievre, Luca Veste, Renee Asher Pickup, Dakota Taylor, Jessica Taylor, Laramore Black, Richard Thomas, Jonny Gibbings, Mckay Williams, and Martin Garrity.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
I've probably missed someone vital, so apologies in advance!<br />
<br />
Art and comics-wise you can do no better than check out Drezz Rodriguez (who does <a href="http://www.el-cuervo.com/"><i>El Cuervo</i></a>), Michael Grills (<a href="http://runninwithagun.ca/"><i>Runnin’ With a Gun</i></a>), Nathan St. John (<a href="http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/12/24/baja-comic-noir-idw/"><i>Baja</i></a>), Marcos Vergara (<a href="http://www.marcosvergara.com.ar/search/label/La%20mesa%20habitual"><i>La Mesa Habitual</i></a>), <a href="http://www.andrewchiu.co.uk/">Andrew Chiu</a>, Harvey Finch (<a href="http://harveyfinch.com/"><i>Logar the Barbarian</i></a>), Denver Brubaker (<a href="http://thecheckeredman.com/"><i>The Tales of a Checkered Man</i></a>), fellow Aussie Paul Mason (<a href="http://pm-comic.blogspot.jp/"><i>The Soldier Legacy</i></a>), <a href="http://giovanniballati.blogspot.it/">Giovanni Ballati</a>, <a href="http://saintyak.deviantart.com/">Saint Yak</a> and <a href="http://www.davedrawsgood.com/">Dave Acosta</a>.<br />
<br />
Anyway, enough rambling. Have a great new year, all the best for 2013 whatever you're doing and wherever you are, and as they say here in Japan: よいお年を (yoi otoshi o!). <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-45975872395590829282012-12-08T19:28:00.000+09:002012-12-08T19:28:23.594+09:00Flash in Japan: CAPE CAPERS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have a wee confession to make. <br />
<br />
Even though I live left-of-centre in the heart of Tokyo (actually
Setagaya, about 25 minutes by train from Shibuya), lately I haven’t been
thinking about Japan at all.<br />
<br />
My brain has shelved lingua franca, ignored the neon signage, sushi
train restaurants, the manga and anime - heck, even the saké.<br />
<br />
Instead, I’ve had my head stuck in comicbooks.<br />
<br />
And, yes, I do put the two words together (“comic” + “book” =
“comicbook”) since I recently saw Stan Lee’s rant on Twitter about doing
so.<br />
<br />
No that I’m having a go at Lee regarding said rant.<br />
<br />
What he said rang true, and the truth is I’ve been pretty much a life-long fan of The Man.<br />
<br />
My next novel, which I actually just finished writing this week (I’m still editing and tweaking it into better shape) is called <i>Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?</i>...and
it’s an homage to what Stan Lee established at Marvel in the 1960s -
the so-called Silver Age of comicbooks - aided and abetted by creative
types like Roy Thomas, Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, Syd Shores, John and
Sal Buscema, Barry Windsor-Smith, Artie Simek, George Roussos and Sammy
Rosen. <br />
<br />
<i>If vaguely interested, you can read more about the whole caboodle @ <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2012/12/flash-in-japan-cape-capers.html">FORCES OF GEEK</a>.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-7274224824010489882012-11-11T21:03:00.001+09:002012-11-11T21:05:49.048+09:00Undervaluing the Great Kiichi Nakai<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
If we had a “Most Underrated Japanese Actor” category here, 51-year-old <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0620018/" target="_blank">Kiichi Nakai</a> would easily qualify - although the guy has been nominated for, and in fact, won a swag of Japanese <a href="http://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/" target="_blank">Academy Awards</a>, including best actor.<br />
<br />
He also happens to be the son of the late <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0755401/" target="_blank">Keiji Sada</a>, one of Japan’s more venerated stars of the silver screen before his untimely demise in 1964 at just 37 years of age. <br />
<br />
As an actor himself, son Nakai blossomed as the sensational focal-point of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275362/" target="_blank"><i>Fukuro no Shiro</i></a> (<i>Owl’s Castle,</i> 1999), possibly Japan’s most underrated, must-see silly ninja movie. I love <i>Owl's Castle</i> for the story, for the action (even with its CG hiccups) and mostly for Nakai at his over-acting, endearing best.<br />
<br />
I even ended up nicking an image and using that for the cover art of one
of my Little Nobody LPs in 2009, the long-windedly titled<i> <a href="http://dead-channel.com/releases/channel026-little-nobody-i-have-become-so-many-people/" target="_blank">I Have Become So Many People I Don't Know Who I Am</a></i> (this is a quote from the movie). By the way, that's a free download, so go grab it if you want. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4axF6ORfd1M0OG5M_U0RfIWnpKAeew-3mzXw38YhkQcQF3so1qaf_7R4qbJiryyd468r5DMSPEm7RGOsqsPdUNvwSu-vreRwOOlYO2-i0gG63eBkOmAchRyHA6jZQp1X4ynGN71u4fIU4/s1600/Little+Nobody+-+I+Have+Become+So+Many+People+FULL+ARTWORK+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4axF6ORfd1M0OG5M_U0RfIWnpKAeew-3mzXw38YhkQcQF3so1qaf_7R4qbJiryyd468r5DMSPEm7RGOsqsPdUNvwSu-vreRwOOlYO2-i0gG63eBkOmAchRyHA6jZQp1X4ynGN71u4fIU4/s320/Little+Nobody+-+I+Have+Become+So+Many+People+FULL+ARTWORK+copy.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
While he was nominated for his role of the principle ninja in <i>Owl's Castle</i>, Nakai had previously won the Japan Academy Best Supporting Actor award in 1994 for the drama <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111170/" target="_blank">Shijushichinin no Shikaku</a></i> (<i>47 Ronin</i>), directed by the late, great <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon_Ichikawa" target="_blank">Kon Ichikawa</a>. Five years ago, Nakai sparkled in his supporting role in the high-profile Takuya Kimura (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMAP" target="_blank">SMAP</a>) vehicle <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0997157/" target="_blank"><i>Hero</i></a>, for director <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1039140/" target="_blank">Masayuki Suzuki</a>, and he was also the mad, somehow sympathetic bad guy opposite Mansai Nomura in<i> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383543/" target="_blank">Onmyoji 2</a></i>.<br />
<br />
<br />
You can read more about Kiichi Nakai in my article @ <b><a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2012/11/undervaluing-great-kiichi-nakai.html">Forces Of Geek</a></b>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-66820762753733945242012-10-19T06:44:00.001+09:002012-10-19T06:44:50.384+09:00100 Years of UnderpinningsThis week my new novel surfaced on Amazon USA, and will be out shortly via Amazon UK and Amazon Japan.<br />
<br />
After the big earthquake and tsunami in the Tōhoku region north of
Tokyo last year, I felt like I very much wanted to give something back
to Japan, my home for the past 11 years – a place that’s equal parts
inspiring and puzzling, a fascinating collusion of kitsch and cool, with
a history ten times longer than that of my home town, Melbourne.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://andrezbergen.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/space_invaders.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-414" height="120" src="http://andrezbergen.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/space_invaders.jpg?w=150&h=120" title="space_invaders" width="150" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/100-Years-Vicissitude-Andrez-Bergen/dp/1780995970"><em>One Hundred Years of Vicissitude</em></a> was originally an idea I toyed with in 2007, and then shelved while I finished off <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tobacco-Stained-Mountain-Goat-Andrez-Bergen/dp/0984559701/"><em>Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat</em></a>.<br />
<br />
<span id="more-410"></span><br />
Some of the original notes did make it through to the final version,
but at least 98 percent was written between September 2011, and April
2012 – and the tone is completely different.<br />
<br />
The novel was swayed as much by family (my late grandfather Les, my
wife Yoko and my six-year-old daughter Cocoa figured significantly in
its composition) as it is by my two ‘home’ towns of Tokyo and Melbourne.<br />
<br />
Aside the essential story of identical twin geisha, war, death and
saké, other things weighed in on the mix and I’ve decided to outline
some of these <a href="http://www.elizabethawhite.com/2012/10/15/one-hundred-years-of-underpinnings-by-andrez-bergen/#.UIBuo4V9n2c">here</a>
– as they deserve all the kudos they can get – so, if you’re curious at
all, read on at the website of esteemed noir/crime/mystery
reviewer/journalist <a href="http://www.elizabethawhite.com/2012/10/15/one-hundred-years-of-underpinnings-by-andrez-bergen/#.UIBuo4V9n2c">Elizabeth A. White</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-59779073489393870252012-10-15T03:30:00.001+09:002012-10-15T03:40:00.355+09:00100 Years of Vicissitude (published)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLVqM5gGRQB4E4AbPZBT74jyBpfe3Q_Jy2INCnBfSGgsZ3d1RWs8jDaEo6jfF1pr-ceEdMyc628ytF5F5HnVrtwn76MqPviT38fiYLquRHHENL3QRwvsy4o08oPmfySJa3sH3HW-EsiySc/s1600/100+YEARS+FRONT+COVER+hi-res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLVqM5gGRQB4E4AbPZBT74jyBpfe3Q_Jy2INCnBfSGgsZ3d1RWs8jDaEo6jfF1pr-ceEdMyc628ytF5F5HnVrtwn76MqPviT38fiYLquRHHENL3QRwvsy4o08oPmfySJa3sH3HW-EsiySc/s400/100+YEARS+FRONT+COVER+hi-res.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
Hey, mates,<br />
<br />
Yep, it's now confirmed – my second novel <a href="http://www.amazon.com/100-Years-Vicissitude-Andrez-Bergen/dp/1780995970" rel="nofollow"><b><i>One Hundred Years of Vicissitude</i></b></a> has just been published and is available as a paperback through new imprint Perfect Edge Books.<br />
<br />
The novel is available <a href="http://www.amazon.com/100-Years-Vicissitude-Andrez-Bergen/dp/1780995970" rel="nofollow">here</a> via Amazon USA – only $12 @ the moment (a $6 discount) in case anyone is… <i>er</i>… vaguely curious.<br />
<br />
The Kindle version isn’t yet available, and orders through <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Years-Vicissitude-Andrez-Bergen/dp/1780995970/">Amazon UK</a>
and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/100-Years-Vicissitude-Andrez-Bergen/dp/1780995970/">Amazon Japan</a> take a little longer. Still, friends of mine in
Scotland and San Francisco already have a copy – though I haven’t seen
one yet.<br />
<br />
What’s the synopsis?<br />
<br />
Roughly-speaking, this is the story of identical twin centenarians born on
the first day of the Great Depression, one of whom loathes the other;
it’s a purgatorial tour through twentieth-century Japanese history, with
a ghostly geisha who has seen it all as a guide and a corrupt
millionaire as her reluctant companion. Thrown into the milieu are saké,
B-29s, Lewis Carroll, Sir Thomas Malory, Melbourne, <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>, and a dirigible – along with the allusion that Red Riding Hood might just be involved…<br />
<br />
Some of the action also takes place in Melbourne as this is 5% a sequel/prequel to <a href="http://anothersky.org/asp/in-print/tobacco-stained-mountain-goat-andrez-bergen/" rel="nofollow"><b><i>T</i></b></a><b><i><a href="http://anothersky.org/asp/in-print/tobacco-stained-mountain-goat-andrez-bergen/" rel="nofollow">obacco-Stained Mountain Goat</a></i></b>, which is actually available as a free PDF/epub.<br />
<br />
Anyway, if you're bored, take a look-see. And the pretentious-sounding title is tongue-in-cheek, fear not...
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634312242923487818.post-89661882468074552852012-10-06T12:53:00.002+09:002012-10-06T12:53:58.982+09:00Incredible Zorori<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW1zDK1eLlx1h1MponAogzQEESQac2hBgWBH_i6mbqMlK5wfSaq2k9TDbMtP-C_yJ_pUSGdx3CMX46prbB6tkKILD-TFLk719puOba5ErKDZ6v-DHWy8jqJzv7Q7sD0yHkXSkQQuYNSXyV/s1600/Zorori_Book_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW1zDK1eLlx1h1MponAogzQEESQac2hBgWBH_i6mbqMlK5wfSaq2k9TDbMtP-C_yJ_pUSGdx3CMX46prbB6tkKILD-TFLk719puOba5ErKDZ6v-DHWy8jqJzv7Q7sD0yHkXSkQQuYNSXyV/s320/Zorori_Book_1.jpg" width="230" /></a></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
<br /></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">He's a fox, he wears a Zorro mask, has 'Zoro'</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">
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</style> as part of his name (we'll
forgive the missing 'r'), the blighter gets up to mischief, he
unleashes belches and farts, and even has his nose shot off by a
laser...</span></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
<br /></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">How was I ever going to be able to resist <i>Kaiketsu Zorori</i>, aka
<i>Incredible Zorori</i>, a character created by Japanese writer/illustrator
Yukata Hara, a man who also apparently wrote a tome called <i>The Famous Fried Chicken Primary School.</i></span></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
<br /></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">To be honest, I was all set to do something this month that segued into a
surreal Japan, the twisted lives of geisha and/or a warped afterlife,
to coincide with the publication on October 16th of my new novel<i> <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/100-Years-Vicissitude-Andrez-Bergen/dp/1780995970" target="_blank">One Hundred Years of Vicissitude</a></i>. </i></span></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
<br /></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">But my daughter Cocoa just got back from the public library with her
latest batch of the adventures of her hero Zorori, and I of course sat
down to read over her shoulder. Surreal it is - comic adventures through
a world populated by madcap animals and oddball beasties.<br />
<br />
Cocoa has a lot to get through, and you can read more about Zorori @ <a href="http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2012/10/incredible-zorori.html">Forces Of Geek</a>. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07382827974781689590noreply@blogger.com0