CHIMPY WEEK - DAY THREE
November 3rd, 2008 by Brack
Posted in Animation, Music | Tags: bangers and mash, chas and dave, Chimpy Week | No Comments »
CHIMPY WEEK - DAY TWO
November 2nd, 2008 by Brack
Posted in Animation | Tags: chimpy chimp, Chimpy Week | No Comments »
CHIMPY WEEK - DAY ONE
November 1st, 2008 by Brack
Posted in Stupidity | Tags: alive chimpanzee, Chimpy Week, fur real friends cuddle chimp | No Comments »
YouTube - Mr. Show- Monster Parties; Fact or Fiction?
October 31st, 2008 by Brack
YouTube - Mr. Show- Monster Parties; Fact or Fiction?.
Posted in Comedy, TV | Tags: Mr Show | No Comments »
This thing.
October 31st, 2008 by Brack
As punishment to everyone who complained about Jonathan Ross, they should have Paul Ross replace him in all his projects.
Posted in Stupidity | | No Comments »
One Outs - Episodes 1 & 2
October 30th, 2008 by Brack
From the folks that gave you Akagi & Kaiji comes another anime about gambling & mind games. This time with baseball.
Hiromichi Kojima, a star batter for the Lycacons team goes on a training holiday to Okinawa where he meets Toa Tokuchi, a grifter/pitcher who makes his money fleecing US servicemen in a simplified baseball game called One Outs. When Kojima’s underlings are successfully conned by Tokuchi, Kojima finds himself drawn into his mindgames.
If you liked Akagi and Kaiji you should check this out, don’t let the baseball theme put you off, it’s really about gambling and trying to get into the head of your opponents. Masato Hagiwara, who played Akagi, voices the similarly cold blooded Tokuchi.
And if the character designs of those two previous shows had put you off, well the good news is this isn’t based on a Nobuyuki Fukumoto manga. Shinobu Kaitani’s manga is a little more traditional in its character designs. Hence the frequency Tokuchi is shirtless in the OP. You wouldn’t get that with Kaiji! Where was my point? Oh yes, if you couldn’t get past the chisel noses and chins of the Fukomoto adaptations, don’t let that put you off this. Though if you were put off, you’ll probably be the sort of person put off by the character design for the character “Big Mama” in this. Yes, another difference is there is actually a female character in this.
It’s not the greatest animation in the world but Yuzo Sato is a master of wringing every last bit of tension from the script. Even though I know what happens after the second episode, it’s still an awesome cliffhanger.
Posted in Anime | Tags: Masato Hagiwara, One Outs, Shinobu Kaitani, Yuzo Sato | 1 Comment »
Asleep at the wheel of popular music.
October 30th, 2008 by Brack
OK, it appears I’ve failed to pay any attention to pop music since May this year.
What good albums have come out this year. I hear people talking about Deerhunter & Fleet Foxes, and I have no idea who they are. I didn’t even know there was a new Madvillain album.
Here’s what I’ve actually heard:
DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist - The Hard Sell
Goldie Lookin’ Chain - Under The Counter
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Kegawa no Maries - Faust C.D.
Kidz In The Hall - The In Crowd
Wale - Mixtape About Nothing
V/A - Tribute to Krauser II: The Metal Mix
The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
Spiritualized - Songs In A&E
Portishead - Third
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (actually 2007, but wide release this year)
NYOIL - Hood Treason (ditto)
And that’s pretty much it. What am I missing out on?
Posted in Music | | No Comments »
It’s Puroresu Wednesday!
October 29th, 2008 by Brack
Posted in Music, TV, Wrestling | Tags: beauty pair | No Comments »
Michiko to Hatchin Episode 1
October 28th, 2008 by Brack
Hana Morenos is an orphan living with a cruel foster family who treat her like a slave.
Michiko Malandro, is a dangerous escaped convict.
On March 17th, Michiko turns up to claim Hana and take her away.
This is the new Manglobe show, directed by Sayo Yamamoto and written by Takashi Ujita (presumably the Kazuyoshi Kumakiri collaborator). And it’s probably the only wholly original show in the autumn anime season (not an adaptation, sequel or remake).
Some folks have found the cruelty that Hana suffers in this episode a bit too much. True the family she lives with are horrible Dahl/Grimm Brothers-esque gits, but it’s necessary for the fairy tale ending to the episode. Michiko is a violent, gun toting criminal, and yet by the end of the episode she’s clearly a preferable parental figure than the hypocritical Morenos family.
OK, that’s the story. It’s fine, but you know what’s great? The animation.
Fantastic shot composition that makes great use of the perspective of items in the background paintings. Really solid looking characters, highlighted by a scene early on that moves the camera around the cast as they sit down for breakfast. Light! Shadows! Evil characters whose evil is physically manifested in their character design. Characters with lips! Graffiti! Colour that doesn’t look over-saturated and covered in vaseline, as at a least two acclaimed shows this season have. If you think any show this season looks better than this, you are no longer allowed to have opinions on cartoons. Unless you say Superjail. In which case you’d be right.
Oh and that Shinichiro Watanabe feller is pretty good at picking music too.
Right now this is the only new anime show that I don’t feel like I have to work at to enjoy. Except One Outs. Which I hadn’t seen when I wrote that sentence. More on that soon.
Go watch!
Posted in Anime | Tags: michiko to hatchin, Sayo Yamamoto, Shinichiro Watanabe, Takashi Ujita | No Comments »
INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH CHI
October 22nd, 2008 by Brack
Posted in Anime, Music | Tags: chi's sweet home | 1 Comment »