Ani*Kuri15

While I await the viewing of Geinus Party Beyond, a collection of anime shorts, I’ve discovered Ani*Kuri15, an awesome collection of 15 one minute anime shorts by an impressive line up of directors made for the NHK channel.

While the official website that hosted them seems to be down at the moment, you can find these videos on youtube quite easily, though almost all of them don’t have english subtitles. But that doesn’t matter much, cause these videos are in the hands of some damn fine directors. Here’s a couple of my favourites…

A Gathering of Cat by Makoto Shinkai. I love this guy’s films, check out Voices of a Distant Star and Places Promised in Our Early Years if you can.

Invasion from Space – Hiroshi’s Castle by Shōjirō Nishimi. This guys a newcomer, but he was involved in the awesome Tekkonkinkreet and basically this short is a helluva lot of fun.

Project Omega by Shōji Kawamori. From the creator of one of my favourites The Visions of Escaflowne, this one is just fun.

Good Morning by Satoshi Kon. By far one of the best anime directors out there and one of my personal favourite filmmakers of all, this short is just… great.

Brief Update…

Well, I’m finally registered for the 48 Hours Filmmaking Competition which now puts several others at rest that I’m not going to forget and miss the deadline. And, I’m keeping up the blog posts to sooth the minds of a surprising number of people wondering why I had stopped.

So just to explain… I didn’t stop, I just got lazy.

You’ll find that this is a regular occurance on this blog. One moment I’m posting things daily, even several times a day and the next thing you know, I’m…

Some articles to take your mind off swine flu and robot armies

Space impact ‘saved Christianity’
A team of geologists believes it has found the incoming space rock’s impact crater, and dating suggests its formation coincided with the celestial vision said to have converted a future Roman emperor to Christianity. [full article]

Lost in Space
What really happened to Russia’s missing cosmonauts? An incredible tale of space hacking, espionage and death in the lonely reaches of space. [full article]

The LRV, America’s Nuclear Flying Saucer
“The operational mission design is six weeks’ duration at a nominal orbital altitude of 300 nautical miles, with a crew of four men,” according to the report. The weapons bay would hold “four winged weapons” that could be either launched or detached and parked on orbit. There are repeated references to the LRV launching weapons-carrying clusters. [full article]

Man, 84, fights off crims with groin kick
Ted Mazetier said he stopped Wednesday night to help two men with a disabled car when one punched him in the face and demanded his keys.

Mazetier said he kicked the man in the groin and the other in the belly. The two men fled as a passer-by stopped to help. [full article]

Bacon sandwich really does cure a hangover
“Bread is high in carbohydrates and bacon is full of protein, which breaks down into amino acids. Your body needs these amino acids, so eating them will make you feel good.”

Ms Roberts told The Mirror: “Bingeing on alcohol depletes neurotransmitters too, but bacon contains a high level of aminos which tops these up, giving you a clearer head.” [full article]

Some videos that I’ve meant to post about in the last few weeks but kept closing the window before finishing

Continuing on a love of Craig Robinson and porn. Here’s Craig Robinson in the lastest PG Porn video. Hilarity.

Probably the last Watchmen related thing I’ll post. Not that I’ve been posting much about Watchmen. Not that I really care. This video is amusing anyway.

The trailer for The Brothers Bloom is out and this is near the top of my can’t wait to see list of upcoming movies. Big love for Rian Johnson and Brick and the word is this is right up there. Check the proper HD trailer hereA.

And finally, coming back to porn, is Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno, which is now out with a second season. Green Porno is a series of videos where Isabella Rossellini reenacts the animal kingdoms mating ritual with cardboard cutouts. I remember when the first season came out and it was a bitch to try to watch it outside of the US but now its all viewable in any country and viewable here. Its awesome.

Articles and the such that I’ve meant to post about in the last few weeks but kept closing the window before finishing

Man Cuts Off, Microwaves His Own Hand
HAYDEN, Idaho (AP) – A man who believed he bore the “mark of the beast” used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said. [full article]

It took 90 minutes for Daily News to ‘steal’ the Empire State Building
In one of the biggest heists in American history, the Daily News “stole” the $2 billion Empire State Building. And it wasn’t that hard. [full article]

Galaxy’s centre tastes of raspberries and smells of rum, say astronomers
In the latest survey, astronomers sifted through thousands of signals from Sagittarius B2, a vast dust cloud at the centre of our galaxy. While they failed to find evidence for amino acids, they did find a substance called ethyl formate, the chemical responsible for the flavour of raspberries. [full article]

Sewing machine hoax hits S Arabia
Saudi police say they are investigating a hoax that has seen people rushing to buy old-fashioned sewing machines for up to $50,000 (£33,500).
The Singer sewing machines are said to contain traces of red mercury, a substance that may not exist.
But it is widely thought that it can be used to find treasure, ward off evil spirits or even make nuclear bombs. [full article]

Some things I’ve meant to post about in the last few weeks but kept closing the window before finishing

  • Bought a new phone… sexy Nokia N95 8GB. Old phone’s battery couldn’t keep a full charge going like a drunk teenager couldn’t keep it’s virginity at an after prom party.
  • Was left half a crayfish on the doorstep to my old house with a note attached addressed to me. Whoever did this has yet to reveal themselves and I wish they’d do so sooner. Images viewable on facebook here. Seriously, who the hell did this?
  • As of yet, haven’t registered for the 48 Hours Furious Filmmaking Competition, but according to the local papers, I’m challenging the whole region to beat me and my team. Something I’m pretty sure I haven’t said, but an have agreed to go along with anyway. Mind you, the challenge didn’t need to be issued out, cause apparently, several groups have their goals set simply to beat me. Charming.
  • Been still looking for regular media work in Auckland, though sheepishly slowly, I blame the recession, my lack of actually living in Auckland and the fact that I’m currently distracted by 48 Hours and 48 Seconds stuff and several music videos I should really get more ahead of.
  • Good friend and all around nice guy Tim Leslie got married the other week to his darling girl Lusi. Hope they enjoyed the wedding card and messages we left them.
  • Other good friends and awesome super couple Joe and Marama just had their baby daughter born the day. Two weeks overdue and an induction needed I think… I’m gonna refrain from making lewd comfortable uterus jokes… so congrats!

There’s so much more I know I’m forgetting to post right now, but this’ll have to do for now.

Updates, Updates, Blah, Blah, Blah…

Christ it’s easy to slack off on posting blogs sometimes… So what’s happened since the last time?

Went to The Kills concert which was awesome. They were, the venue was total crap and packed full of ‘hip indie’ kids which annoyed me to no end and the place was too small for the size of the crowd, but The Kills themselves were fantastic and thanks to some inside sources, we got to go to the gigs after party. Also got to exchange a hello with Jamie and snap a picture with Alison Mosshart who’s nothing but retardedly hot both on and off stage. But apart from that, was too much of a chicken shit pussy to talk to them in depth or anything.

Settled into new flat and it hasn’t been as insane as previously… hoped for or hoped against? I’m not quite sure at this point. But its good, but I’ll still be looking for work in Auckland, which at this point I should really gear up a notch or two on doing.

Had several setbacks last week, most prominently my current phone which has come to be my favourite phone of all the phones I’ve owned so far, started gargling death rattles and has pretty much up and died on me. New phone has been ordered and hopefully will arrive by the end of the week. Great timing on that one as I’ve actually got a need to establish quite a few contacts and phone calls with it.

And in the other more blog worthy news is that registrations for the 48 Hours Filmmaking competition opened last week and since then I’ve been asked on a daily basis if I’m entering again this year and the answer is yes. I’ll be entering in the Hamilton regions one final time, at least in a competitive level with the intention of winning. Of course, that’s not my main intention, but that’ll be a drive for doing it this year. If I enter in further years, in the Hamilton section at least, I’ll be doing it just for pure, retarded, fun reasons (ie filming myself naked for seven minutes singing the theme songs to 70s TV programs while churning a barrel of butter)… actually, screw it, that’s a great idea and it’s going on the ideas pile for this year.