Germans in the Woods from Rauch Brothers on Vimeo.
Heartfelt thanks to all military veterans on this day.
2 months ago
Godzilla from a Grunt's Perspective
By Kurt Schlichter
So, when it came time for our little girl to watch her first grown-up movie, I was torn between Saving Private Ryan and a film I have loved since I was a kid, Godzilla, King of the Monsters. Now, Private Ryan teaches important, practical lessons that every American should learn, like how to maneuver your infantry company across a beachhead under fire to wipe out a Nazi crew-served weapons bunker. On the other hand, Godzilla has a hideous dragon with radioactive breath. Tough call, but we decided to save Private Ryan for when she’s six – better late than never. (More)
AUM fifteen years later
Seeing as how I reviewed Kaplan and Marshall's "Cult at he End of the World" in the PG zine some years back, I thought this news to be pertinent. It also puts a reverse-spin on All the Cute.
Wasting bandwidth is fun
And I'm mean-spirited:
"She says in her profile that she’s 21 years old, but I’ve seen some speculation on the web that she’s actually around 14, which I tend to believe based on my hope that an adult would be able to come up with something a little more productive/interesting/relevant/useful."
Jaws...THE MANGA!
(from Patrick's blog)
This is just good stuff.
Patrick Macias posted a few scans of some vintage "Jaws" manga he picked up his last trip to Tokyo (click the link to see awesome scans):
http://patrickmacias.blogs.com/er/2009/11/gekiga-jaws-herald-comic-1975-part-one.html
Kamishibai Komeback?
Over at his Facebook site, good buddy and fellow U.S. fan-oyaji Neil Nadelman can't help but wonder if the anime business is gone for good.
I think it probably is. Digital technology has destroyed the anime (and entertainment industry) business model. The writing was on the wall the day Mosaic was released. But railing against the downloaders is pointless; only a fool would pay for something that can be had for free. The only way to return the anime business to profitability would be to destroy the Internet and return to using analog VHS media... which isn't going to happen, barring the collapse of technological society.
Unfortunately, that puts all of us here in the U.S. anime biz out of work (I'm writing SEO website content for ambulance-chasing lawyers these days; I've had about three hours of voice acting work in the past six months) and leaves the anime studios in Japan with no way to make money. Just as downloading destroyed the music business as we knew it, it will bring down the anime business, too. Unlike musicians, however, we voice actors can't fall back on live performances as a means of earning our daily bread.
Or can we? Perhaps kamishibai is about to make a comeback...
Why are sales of Anime down?
With all the cons out there and all the associated character goods being sold, it seems odd that sales of the actual DVDs and such would be at an all time low.
We've parsed this over at PSF and here Matt Alt gives some insight with help from Carl, Tim, and Uncle Steve.
P.S. Amazon sales must be booming...
Sing Along With STAR TREK
Ever wonder what the lyrics to the Bewitched theme song are? How about Mission: Impossible? Hogan's Heroes? I Love Lucy? Hawaii Five-O?
Wonder no more.
