the pillows Are Coming to Anime Boston

Waiting for this announcement to go public has been driving me insane. As I've stated several times before, the music of the pillows is one of the things that made the anime series FLCL so great. I've enjoyed much of their work beyond what they've done for series.

I look forward to what should be an amazing show. Anime Boston's announcement for the event can be found here.

Random Musing(s) #5

-Last week I finally purchased and read the final volume of the Akira manga. While the film adaptation is still stunning, its scope pales in comparison to manga. The biggest example of this is the priestess Miyako (pictured above) who while virtually invisible in the film, is pivotal to things in the manga. It’s a shame Dark Horse’s copies, while so-so in quality (I’m not a fan of translating onomatopoeia and flipping orientation) are out of print because Otomo’s six volume piece is amazing both in art and story.

-Over the weekend the 18th episode of Gundam 00 aired. I’ve been following this series rather closely and although I’ve had my suspicions that Mizushima Seiji was a decent director after finishing the first half of Full Metal Alchemist, the recent strain stuff in the plot has been downright amazing. It’s still got some elements of a Gundam title, but the differences the show goes for are the right ones to strive for. Mizushima is showing that he really know how to make the shit hit the fan. I suspect that when the break between seasons hits at the end of next month, waiting for October and the second half of the series is going to be nothing short of torture.

Sumoku on za wata

This is too awesome not to share.



Real content post coming soon.

Sapporo Snow Festival and Slightly Beyond

A standing goal of mine is to take a trip to Sapporo in the beginning of February some time to see the annual snow festival. While I’m unable to make it this year, the allure of trying to make it for the 2009 festival which will not only be at the same time as my birthday, but also be the 60th year of the event. Additionally, the festival’s start date and my birthday would coincide and I have never been anywhere that could be considered far from home during a birthday.

The snow festival is home to some amazing snow and ice sculptures. From massive dinosaurs, to famous landmarks, to anime and manga characters, to traditional Japanese cultural icons like daruma and oni, the creations in snow run a whole gambit of subject matter. Pink Tentacle recently did an article on some of the snow festivals across Japan, including some great pictures of some of the various sculptures and tips for ways that one can look up more photos. The link to the article is listed below.

http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/01/happy-fun-snow-creatures/

Two other stops I hope to make on this ideal trip into Hokkaido would be to the Sapporo beer museum/biergarten (A famous brand like that, you can’t pass up the chance to visit it) and the small nearby city of Otaru. It’s a small place, but it’s got some interesting sights to check out. Thanks to Takashi Shin’s vivid artwork in Saikano, I can’t help but be tempted to take a walk to the lookout point there as well.