Anime Viewing Schedule for November 13, 2010

Here's what we will be showing at the Club Meeting this weekend:

Noon - 12:50   Asobi ni Iku yo! 1-2

[Source: Wikipedia] The story revolves around Kakazu Kio, an ordinary high school freshman living in Okinawa. A girl with cat ears appears before him during a memorial service for one of his family ancestors. The girl calls herself Elis and claims she is an alien. Before long, fanatical alien worshipers and a mysterious government agency are in hot pursuit of Elis, but Kio's childhood friend Manami — who wants to follow in her father's footsteps in the CIA — captures Elis. Kio finds himself having to protect Elis from everyone. The episode starts with three members of different factions listening to a special newscast about an alien message, the first part of which has been translated to mean "coming to play". One of the members is then called to battle aboard an enemy ship. She successfully infiltrates the ship and disarms the Captain. The situation is disrupted by a UFO passing too close to both ships. When the same member comes to, the enemy captain detonates the ship. Later, during a memorial service for one of his ancestors, Kio Kakuzu finds a cat-like alien sitting at the buffet table. The alien introduces herself as Elis, and the two have a short conversation before Kio accidentally drinks beer and passes out. The next morning, Kio wakes up with a hangover and finds Elis sleeping half naked next to him in bed. Kio's startled cry wakes her up, and she heals his hangover with a handheld device. Manami Kinjō and Maki Itokazu then visit Kio, and upon seeing Elis half naked and with cat ears and a tail, they misinterpret the situation, thinking that Kio brought a girl home and forced her to cosplay all night. After discovering that Elis is an alien, they both abruptly leave without saying why. Kio goes on a walk to gather his thoughts and runs into Aoi Futaba, who asks Kio on a date. Aoi is interupted by a man in a car who she names as her Uncle. He offers her a ride home. It is later revealed that Manami is in recruiting to become part of the CIA, Aoi is a Momiji for the Immigration Bureau of Japan, and Itokazu is the leader of an organization of SF fans called "Beautiful Contact", and they are all given orders to eliminate Elis.


12:50 - 1:15  Shiki 3

[Source: Wikipedia] Seishin works on a novel called "Shiki", which describes the undead. Natsuno goes to school and meets his best friend, Mutou Tohru, along with Ritsuko. He hitches a ride with them to Mizobe, where they later meet up with a fellow classmate, Masao Murasako, who intensely dislikes Natsuno. Masao has an estranged relationship with his family. Natsuno remembers how he did not want anything to do with the villagers since he moved here, until he met Tohru. Meanwhile, Toshio still cannot find a source to the anemia-afflicted victims. His childhood friend, Mikiyasu Yasumori, brings his wife Nao, who is worsening from anemia. Toshio questions Mikiyasu if his workers or clients have been behaving strangely, and Mikiyasu tells him that his family met the Kirishiki couple a few nights ago. Seishin meets Kirishiki Sunako, who claims to be a fan of his essays. She hints at knowing his attempted suicide in the past. Nao passes away the next day from her illness. Masao arrives at Tohru's house to announce her death and discovers Natsuno staying over. He almost gets into a fight with Natsuno before Tohru breaks them up. Tohru goes outside to get a soft drink and meets Tatsumi, who is the Kirishiki's steward. He ominously tells Tohru that he will be meeting him again very soon.


1:15 - 2:00    Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari 8

Kenshi Masaki is a 15 year old boy that unwillingly traveled from his homeland on Earth to the alternate world of Geminar. In Geminar, the countries usually wage wars against each other by using the Seikijin, humanoid weapons that were originally discovered within ancient ruins. After being deceived by a mysterious organization to participate in an attempt to assassinate Lashara Aasu XXVIII, the young princess of the Streya Empire, he ends up captured after he relucts to kill her when he had the chance. After Lashara and her servants figure about his situation, they decide to give him aid. Disguised as Lashara's servant, Kenshi moves with her to the Holy Land, a virtually impregnable fortress that serves as an academy to train Seikijin pilots selected from around the world. With his kindness, tenacity, and being gifted in a wide range of skills that vary from cooking and cleaning to advanced techniques of survival and combat, Kenshi eventually becomes a celebrity in the academy, becoming the object of affection of many female students and making some of the male students envious of him. However, the same organization who deceived Kenshi is secretly working behind the shadows inside the academy, and a widescale conflict which will engulf the entire world of Geminar is about to begin.

2:00 - 2:50   Umineko no Naku Koro ni 23-24

[Source: Wikipedia] In 1998, Ange interrogates relatives of the Rokkenjima murder victims and hires a boat captain to take her to Rokkenjima, discovering Sakutaro's torn remains as well. In 1986, the cousins are informed of Kinzo's test from the hostages in Kuwadorian and are forced to lock Gohda and Kumasawa in the storehouse to keep them from interfering. Jessica and George are individually tested by Ronove and Gaap, respectively, and instructed to choose which of the islanders will be next to die: themselves, their true loves (Shannon for George and Kanon for Jessica), or everyone else. Jessica chooses herself for Kanon's sake so that he may live his life to the fullest, while George chooses everyone else as he is willing to go so far for his love for Shannon to be accepted. Unwilling to leave the hostages in the dungeon, however, Jessica and George defiantly engage their respective demons in combat. Jessica and George are about to land their final blows on their opponents when Gaap teleports the two into each other, killing them both as their magically-empowered attacks collide. Temporarily resurrected by Ronove as a favor, Jessica calls Battler at the guesthouse to warn him of their enemies' magic. Meanwhile, the hostages are able to break out of Kuwadorian, but are killed off one by one on their way to the mansion until only Kyrie remains. Before she too is killed, Kyrie calls Battler as well and tells him to believe in witches. Afterward, Maria is sent off to take her test when Battler receives another phone call, this time from the newly revived Beatrice, and heads off to confront her, discovering Gohda and Kumasawa dead in the storehouse along the way. Beatrice gives Battler his test: to remember a sin he committed six years ago. However, Battler is clueless as to what that may be, much to Beatrice's frustration, prompting her to take her anger out on Kinzo by spontaneously killing him. Having lost her interest in the game, Beatrice decides to abandon it by deeming Battler unqualified to be her opponent, revealing that his birth mother was not Rudolf's first wife Asumu as he had believed, and claiming that he is not Kinzo's grandson Battler, the only one eligible to fight her. Questioning his own identity, Battler fades away, and Beatrice retires to the newly opened Golden Land with Maria. 
 

2:50 - 3:15    The World God Only Knows 1

[Source: Wikipedia] Keima Katsuragi, a second-year high school student, is an avid bishōjo game player. He is known on the Internet as "The Capturing God (落とし神, Otoshi-gami^?)" for his legendary skills to be able to "capture" any 2D girl in games. However, in his actual school life, Keima is known as otamegane (オタメガネ), a derogatory portmanteau of the two words otaku (オタク) and megane (メガネ-"glasses") and is considered nothing but an intelligent yet gloomy geek with glasses. At the start of the series, Keima receives an e-mail offering him a contract to "capture" girls. When he accepts it, thinking it is an invitation to a game, a demon from Hell named Elsie appears. She asks for his cooperation to help her in catching runaway spirits. These spirits hide themselves inside the hearts of girls', and Elsie suggests that the only method to force the spirits out is by "capturing" the girls hearts—making them fall in love with him and filling up the gaps which the runaway spirits hide in. Interested only in 2D girls, however, Keima is appalled by the idea and refuses the assignment as he has no romantic real life experiences whatsoever. Nevertheless, with the contract already agreed, Keima has no choice but to help Elsie no matter what as they will be beheaded if they fail. While the series focuses on Keima and Elsie adventures on capturing spirits, the series also makes fun and parodying common and popular cliches about dating sims, anime character stereotypes and pop culture.

3:15 - 4:15    Club Meeting and Announcements
-  Anime News
-  Cosplayers
-  Convention Coverage
-  New Anime Releases
-  And other interesting stuff...
  

4:15 - 5:15    Katanagatari 6

[Source: Wikipedia] Shichika Yasuri, the main character of the story.After living on a certain island in the country of Tamba for the past twenty years, he is sought out by Togame with a mission to find twelve unique swords. As a practitioner of the Kyotōryuu school of swordplay, he does not use a single sword when fighting, instead using his hands and legs as his primary weapons. In a sense, he is actually a physical fighter, but since he uses hand-chops, he considers it to be an art of the sword. The reason why he practices Kyotōryuu is because the Yasuri family has no talent in handling swords, which dates back to as far as the first head of the school, Kazune Yasuri. He is in love with Togame and will do anything she tells him to do; however, he sometimes considers her orders a hassle. After defeating Hakuhei Sabi and retrieving his sword, Shichika also inherits Hakuhei's title and becomes known as the strongest swordsman in Japan. His catchphrase is "but before then you'll be torn to pieces". Togame is a self-titled strategian. She arrives on the island where Shichika resides in order to seek his help with finding the final twelve swords forged by Shikizaki Kiki. Her father was Takahito Hida, the leader of the last rebellion and also one of the people Mutsue Yasuri had killed back then; this makes Shichika the son of Togame's father's killer. The reason behind her seeking help from Shichika is that he has no reason to keep the swords for himself and she believes that people who work for love can be trusted the most; that is why she tells Shichika to fall for her. She has a habit of saying "cheerio" while punching Shichika.

5:15 - 6:05    Occult Academy 4-5

[Source: Wikipedia] The story revolves around Maya, the daughter of the former Headmaster of a private Japanese academy dedicated to the study of the occult, and time traveling agent Fumiaki Uchida, a mysterious young man who travels back in time from 2012. In 1999, Maya returns to the Academy, both for her father's funeral and for her goal to destroy the Academy, as she hates everything occult. Occult Academy is apparently situated in Nagano, as the Matsushiro Underground Imperial Headquarters are shown to be nearby.^[4] In episode 10 the acedemy was actually Maya's Christmas gift therefore giving her a reason of not destroying the school. Maya successfully assumes her father's place as the academy's headmistress. She later meets Fumiaki Uchida whom makes his appearance from the future. Having no luck in finding the Nostradamus Key, Bunmei meets Mikaze Nakagawa at the diner she works in. Meanwhile, people are mysteriously disappearing around the city.


6:05 - 6:30    Shinryaku! Ika Musume 1

[Source: Wikipedia] Angered by the pollution in the seas, a squid girl named Ika Musume comes from the sea and declares the invasion of Earth at a nearby yakisoba stand, but isn't taken seriously due to her small stature. When she goes to plead her case, she is mistaken for a waitress, which puts the responsibility of invading the world into perspective. When she breaks a hole in the store with her tentacles trying to hit a mosquito, the store manager, Eiko Aizawa, puts her to work in order to pay for the damages. Later, Ika meets Eiko's little brother, Takeru, who goes to great lengths to pretend to be a squidperson so he can be Ika's comrade. During a rainy day where there are few customers, Ika takes the opportunity to try and take over the stand, but is overpowered by the eldest sister, Chizuru. As punishment, Ika is forced to use her own ink to make Squid Ink Spaghetti, which becomes popular.


6:30 - 8:00    Eden of the East - Movie 2: Paradise Lost

[Source: Wikipedia] The story of political and subversive intrigue in the series finally reaches endgame. Even as the law enforcement net tightens around Saki and her fellow Eden of the East associates over alleged terrorist activities, the complex web surrounding the mysterious Mr. Outside is finally untangled as the remaining Selecao attempt to outmaneuver one another. Takizawa's memories and identity are also finally revealed including his association with a former Prime Minister and his request to be the King of Eden.

Trois Petits Points

Le Loups Garous Trailer

Le Royaume

"Le Royaume" (The King and the Beaver), Student graduating film 2010 at Gobelins, L'école de l'image.

Written, directed and animated by Nuno Alves Rodrigues, Oussama Bouachéria, Julien Chheng, Sébastien Hary, Aymeric Kevin, Ulysse Malassagne & Franck Monier.

Music by Mathieu Alvado.

Mardock Scramble

Warning: NSFW (Nudity)

Mardock Scramble promo http://www.kohiore.com (c) Tow UBUKATA

Released November 6, Japan

Here’s the trailer for Susumu Kudo’s Mardock Scramble: The First Compression, the first of three planned films based on a series of cyberpunk novels by Tow Ubukata.

The story revolves around a down-and-out teen prostitute in Mardock City named Rune Ballot (voiced by Megumi Hayashibara). One day, she’s picked up by an ambitious casino manager named Shell who gives her everything she could want. Renewed by a false innocence, a false past, and now the false life Shell has given her, Ballot feels grateful. However, she can’t help but be curious about why he’s done so much for her, so she does some research about his past on a computer. This turns out to be a mistake which will change her life greatly. When Shell finds out what she’s done, he attempts to burn her to death by blowing up her car.

Due to the high crime rate in Mardock, a new law called “Scramble 09” has given police carte blanche to take extreme and otherwise illegal measures to revive crime witnesses. With this in mind, they allow a professor to bring Ballot back from the brink of death by reassembling her entire body with reinforced synthetic fiber. When she finally wakes up, her confused mental state eventually turns toward revenge as Shell is revealed as her killer.

Source: Official website via Affenheimtheater

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Exclusives

Nothing get's our mimo-hearts racing like 2010 Comic-Con Exclusives, so Alec & Sucklord roamed the floor during "Preview Night" to get a look at all the great designer toys, artwork, and other exclusive releases at SDCC! 

Empire Magazine Reveals First Look at Tintin Movie

[Source: EmpireOnline.com] Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson have chosen Empire to reveal the first look at The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. Headed our way next October, the film adapts the enormously popular books by Hergé in performance-captured, 3D form.

Our exclusive and specially-Weta-created cover is a riff on the iconic image of Tintin (Jamie Bell) and his dog Snowy picked out by a spotlight as they are running. Then we have a couple of stills from the film, one showing you Andy Serkis’ Captain Haddock and another with Haddock and Tintin adrift at sea and signalling for help.

“With live action you’re going to have actors pretending to be Captain Haddock and Tintin,” says Peter Jackson. “You’d be casting people to look like them. It’s not really going to feel like the Tintin Hergé drew. It’s going to be somewhat different. With CGI we can bring Hergé’s world to life, keep the stylised caricatured faces, keep everything looking like Hergé’s artwork, but make it photo-real.”

So what can we expect from the story? Here’s what Spielberg told us. “The first part of the film, which is the most mysterious part, certainly owes much to not only film noir but the whole German Brechtian theatre — some of our night scenes and our action scenes are very contrasty. But at the same time the movie is a hell of an adventure.”

The film also stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Thompson and Thomson respectively (“When people first heard that bit of casting they thought that we’d gone barking mad,” says Jackson. Adds Spielberg, “The Thompson Twins can’t be clones of each other. Nick and Simon provided all the differences we needed to foil for each other. They have a wonderful moment in the movie where they start to have an argument about whose sidekick is whose.”) and Daniel Craig as Red Rackham. It also features Cary Elwes, Toby Jones, Mackenzie Crook and Daniel Mays.

And for those of you thinking really far ahead, what has Jackson got planned for his Tintin adventure if and when the planned sequel happens? “One of my favourites is The Seven Crystal Balls, so that’s the one I’ve always been thinking of,” he says. “I also really like the Eastern European ones, the Balkan ones like King Ottokar’s Sceptre and The Calculus Affair. I think it’s a terrific setting for a thriller, the weird Balkan politics and the mysterious secret service agents. I think the Moon ones are terrific, but they’d be good for the third or fourth Tintin film, if we get that far. We want to keep his feet on the ground just a little bit longer.”

For much, much more from Spielberg, Jackson and their entire cast, pick up the new issue of Empire, today. Or better still, order your copy online now!

For a full preview of this month's issue - click here.

The Story of Tezuka Osamu

We found this wonderful website featuring the Life and Times of Tezuka Osamu, creator of Astroboy, Kimba the White Lion, and Black Jack. He is also known as the "Godfather of Anime." The website is in English with plenty of photos and facts covering not only his illustrious career in manga and anime, but his childhood upbringing and influences upon modern day animation. It's a great site if you are doing research on him. To check it out for yourself...

CLICK HERE

There also flash games available, but those are in Japanese. With some careful scrutiny, you should be able to figure out the rules for each. The game BANG! is a card matching game.  A card is drawn for you and you must match it with one of the face down cards above. You only have a few seconds to match as many as you can. It's a little more challenging than you may think.

The Best Video Games Available Now

Fall is here and the weather is slowly getting colder. What does that mean? It's time to stay inside, get warm and play some video games. Here are the best video games available right now.

Read more...

Awesome Figures

[Source: aicn.com]

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION ANI*STATUES SHIKINAMI ASUKA ~BALLERINA~ & REI AYANAMI ~BALLERINA~

Based on original illustrations by Yoshiyuki Sadamato in his Art Collection “Camine,” the female Eva Unit pilots wear pretty outfits and come with exclusive diamond image bases that connect together so you can display them as a matched set.

Rei sits 4 ½ inches tall (1/7 scale), and was sculpted by Kouei Matsumoto.
srp $69.99
Available in FEBRUARY

Sculpted by Kouei Matsumoto, the Asuka is nearly 9 inches tall (1/7 scale).
srp $69.99
Available in MARCH

MAGICAL GIRL LYRICAL NANOHA THE MOVIE 1ST ~ NANOHA TAKAMACHI –EVERYDAY WEAR- ANI*STATUE

The main character of the hit property Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, NANOHA TAKAMACHI is a spirited young girl who accidentally stumbles upon a magic user from another planet in The MOVIE 1st.
The schoolgirl comes equipped with her Raising Heart wand and Fate’s ribbon, as well as interchangeable parts let you display her in Device Mode! Nanoha stands 6 ½ inches tall (1/8 scale) atop an exclusive base.

srp $69.99
Available in April

© NANOHA The MOVIE 1st PROJECT

MANAKA DE IKUNO!! ~ KOMAKI MANAKA ANI*STATUE
FromRPG parody Manaka de Ikuno!! FINAL DRAGON CHRONICLE GUILTY REQUIEM, a spinoff of the To Heart 2 series, comes the class representative turned sorceress, KOMAKI MANAKA

Komaki is 8 inches tall (1/8 scale) floating on her specially designed base.

srp $69.99
Available in MARCH

© 2009 Leaf/AQUAPLUS

AYRTON SENNA -50TH ANNIVERSARY- FINE ART STATUE
The second in an extremely limited series of sporting figures from Kotobukiya, the legendary icon of Formula One Racing returns in an all new commemorative Fine Art Statue commemorating five decades since his birth: AYRTON SENNA – 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Senna stands 13 inches tall, and his special base is decorated with the Senna Foundation’s 50th anniversary logo and serial number. The logo is also prominently displayed on the anniversary packaging, making this a truly one of a kind commemorative Fine Art Statue.

srp $199.99
Available in JANUARY

© ASE - Produced under license from INSTITUTO AYRTON SENNA.

ONE-SHOT BUG KILLER!! HOI HOI-SAN ~CHANGE OF COSTUME~ PLASTIC MODEL KIT

Stand 4 1/2 inches tall, and the set is comprised of approximately 150 pieces, including three sets of eyes so Hoi Hoi-San can look straight ahead, up, or down.

srp $39.99
Available in MARCH

ORE NO IMOTO GA KONNANI KAWAII WAKE GA NAI ~ KIRINO KOSAKA ANI*STATUE
Coming to you straight out of the popular Ore no Imoto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (“My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute”) franchise is the secretive and mature young girl KIRINO KOSAKA

Sculpted by Takaku & Takeshi, Kirino stands over 7 inches tall (1/8 scale) on an exclusive display base. Don’t miss out on your cute and smart otaku sister!

srp $59.99
Available in MARCH

STAR WARS EMPIRE STRIKES DARTH VADER ARTFX+ STATUE
Darth Vader has a standard stance standing tall with his hands at his belt, though he does come with bonus arm parts for alternate poses. And, like the other ARTFX+ Statues, he has magnets in his feet for display on the included base

ARTFX+ Statues are fun-to-assemble pre-painted snap-fit kits that can be easily put together in seconds without glue or modeling skill. Darth Vader stands approximately 8 inches tall (1/10th scale)

srp $44.99
Available in MAY

TM & © DC Comics (s10)

MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS KOTOBUKIYA COLLECTION
X-FORCE X-23 FINE ART STATUE

Sculpted by Erick Sosa, X-23 stands approximately 11 inches tall (1/6 scale) perched atop a New York City building rooftop.

srp $159.99
Available in MAY

Marvel, Wolverine: TM & © 2009 Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. www.marvel.com. All rights reserved.

MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS KOTOBUKIYA COLLECTION
X-MEN DANGER ROOM SESSIONS ROGUE FINE ART STATUE

Based on a concept from the artistic pair of Manuel and Leo Silva

At nearly 12 inches tall, Rogue is perfectly in scale (1/6) with the other Danger Room Sessions members Wolverine, Psylocke, and Sabretooth. Sculpted by Erick Sosa, the X-Man is completed by her amazing Sentinel face base on top of a mechanical projector. Every mutant in the Danger Room Sessions series is mounted on a unique Danger Room holographic environment with translucent parts that glow with a built-in LED light in the base.

srp $174.99
Available in JULY

Marvel, Rogue: TM & © 2010 Marvel Entertainment, LLC and its subsidiaries. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. www.marvel.com. All rights reserved.

MARVEL X BISHOUJO COLLECTION BLACK CAT BISHOUJO STATUE

Black Cat stands just over 9 inches tall (in the new Marvel x Bishoujo 1/7th
scale) atop an exclusive display base consisting of a miniature building in deep perspective and an adorable plush Spider-Man. Sculpted by Takashi "GILL GILL" Tsukada, Black Cat is taking this Bishoujo line to all new heights!

srp $59.99
Available in MARCH

Marvel, BLACK CAT: TM & C 2010 Marvel Entertainment, LLC and its subsidiaries. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. www.marvel.com. All rights reserved. 

*

The newly announced 100th figure in the Revoltech possable figures line will be Evangelion's Unit 01 with a based depicting the angel Sachiel

AME-COMI HEROINE SERIES: CATWOMAN (V.2) BLUE SUIT VARIANT PVC FIGURE, DESIGNED BY PAITOON RATAN • SCULPTED BY JONATHAN MATTHEWS

In a cool blue suit, Catwoman is on the prowl for the purrfect diamond. This variant version of Catwoman is based on classic colors from the 1960s.

Packaged in a 4-color window box with J-hook, this non-articulated PVC statue stands approximately 8.25” high and includes a display base.

On sale June 15, 2011 * Statue * $60 US

AME-COMI HEROINE SERIES: BATGIRL (V.1) BLACK SUIT VARIANT PVC FIGURE, DESIGNED BY UDON STUDIOS • SCULPTED BY JONATHAN MATTHEWS

What’s black and yellow and classic all over?

Batgirl in her variant costume! Due to popular demand, Batgirl buzzes with brilliance in her variant costume of traditional colors.

Packaged in a 4-color window box with J-hook, this non-articulated PVC statue stands approximately 8.25” high and includes a display base.

On sale June 15, 2011 * Statue * $60 US

Jeff Bridges Talks 'Tron' Sequel at Comic-Con

Jeff Bridges, star of the original 1982 flick 'Tron,' unveils early test footage from the film's sequel 'Tron: Legacy,' at Comic-Con in San Diego. The film, also starring Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund, is due for release in 2010. (July 27)

Disney's Trick or Treat

Clasic Animation

Kim Possible Halloween Episode

This is a KP episode entitled "October 31st." While in the process of fighting Drakken, Shego, and Killigan, Kim accidentally has a strange bracelet attached to her wrist. She discovers that the bracelet grows every time she lies, leading to embarrassment when she tries to get out of a series of engagements to attend a party with Josh Mankey.

Watch the Episode 

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 (Part 2 of 2)

 Day 31 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

The Haunted Mansion - Audio Tale

This album was released way back in 1969, I got my first copy of this record (yes it was a record…ahh vinyl, the good old days) back around 1977 or so. While it is a Disney tale, it was one of the scariest stories I had ever heard when I was a kid. Hope your nightmares are just as pleasant. 

“Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. I am your host – your ‘ghost host.’

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

FireBreather the Movie

An animated CGI film by Cartoon Network, to premiere November 24, 2010, 7:00PM/6:00PM Central Time. The film is co-executive produced by Hester, Kuhn, and Julia Pistor, written by Jim Kreig, and directed by Peter Chung (Aeon Flux,Phantom 2040).

Kafka's A Country Doctor

[Source: aicn.com] Koji Yamamura is considered one of the greatest independent Japanese animators of this generation. Born in Japan in 1964, he has been crafting animation since age twelve by combining traditional drawings with mixed media such as modeling clay, still photography and painting. Yamamura has fashioned entirely distinctive, stunningly imaginative worlds with free-spirited creativity: trees grow out of heads, birds dream of fruit, and children are swallowed by whales.

Koji Yamamura first garnered major international attention in 2003—when his universally acclaimed Mt. Head received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film. Yamamura is the only Japanese animator (besides the legendary Hayao Miyazaki) to ever receive such an honor.

KimStim is proud to present a collection of Yamaura’s most remarkable works for the first time in the U.S., including his latest masterpiece Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor — a nightmarish, virtuoso drawing-on-paper rendering of the famed short story and winner of seven Grand Prizes at major animation festivals worldwide.


Part One


Part Two


Part Three

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 (Part 1 of 2)

 Day 30 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Chainsaw Maid

THEY are coming for your FLESH and BLOOD! Now the last hope of the family rests on a sexy faithful MAID! Witness the most brutal clay-animation you've ever seen... if you dare!  Bwahahaha!!!

The Bear Wit Project - Blair Witch Parody by the Muppets

Comic-Con 2010 Day 4 Highlights

 Day 29 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Chris Evans as Captain America!

[Source: ComicBookMovie.com] Here is the cover of this week's Entertainment Weekly featuring Chris Evans as Captain America - in costume. Update: More pics added.

 

New Video Clip from Tron Legacy

The Scooby Doo Project

Comic-Con 2010 Day 3 Highlights

 Day 28 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Pulp Muppets

Comic-Con 2010 Day 2 Highlights

 Day 27 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Free Double Feature at College of DuPage, Oct. 27

Shaun of the Dead

&

Zombieland

 Free Admission and Free Popcorn

Come in Costume!

When:  October 27, 2010, 6-10 pm

Where:  MAC 153 (College of DuPage Campus)

And see a special showing of our movie: "Living with the Undead"

Click Map to Enlarge

Comic-Con 2010 Day 1 Highlights

 Day 26 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Animation in Starts and Stops, Simplified

Cecil offers water to a neighbor in the short stop-motion animation film “Dried Up.”

[Source: NYTimes.com] By Peter Wayner, Published October 20, 2010

For Stuart Bury, Jeremy Casper and Isaiah Powers, the path to a student Academy Award for their stop-motion animation cost less than $1,000, although it did require four months of often constant filming in Mr. Powers’s basement.

The animators, all of whom were students at the Kansas City Art Institute at the time, built the sets and the dolls out of found objects and material rescued from junkyards, staying up late to animate the items by shooting still images of their set and moving the objects a few millimeters before shooting again. “We had to share the room with other people who had their winter clothes down there,” said Mr. Bury. 

The co-directors of “Dried Up” won the 

silver medal in animation at the 37th 

Student Academy Awards in 2010. 

From left, Isaiah Powers, Stuart Bury 

and Jeremy Casper,

But despite the long hours — by Mr. Bury’s estimation, “well over 80” a week — all three said that the production was much easier with the low-cost software that any aspiring filmmaker can buy — in their case, a $275 program called Dragon Stop Motion. 

Their efforts paid off. The six-minute film, “Dried Up,” the story of a man’s quest to bring hope and life to a drought-ridden town, won the silver medal in animation at the 37th Student Academy Awards in 2010, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 

“It still comes down to a ridiculous amount of work,” said Mr. Powers. “But it’s really nice when the new computer software is so streamlined. It’s nice to work with it instead of fighting it.” 

While putting together stop-action animation can still be tedious, the process is now easier than ever. The art form is familiar to anyone who has seen a Wallace and Gromit short or last year’s movies “Coraline” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” 

To simulate movement and expression, animators bend or twist their objects ever so slightly between shots, a painstaking process that makes it difficult to achieve consistency from frame to frame. But now, software can help remedy that, with programs that help check the alignment of the camera and the lighting of the scene while letting the animator flip between recent images to see if the items are moving realistically. 

That part of the process — synchronizing the shots — was what made it difficult for amateurs to make a good movie. “We have one really solid product, and we make it reachable for a serious college or high school student, considering the gadgets that kids have these days,” said Jamie Caliri, a stop-action film director and a founder of Dragon Stop. His co-founder and brother, Dyami, is the software programmer. 

“I really enjoy putting the real tools into someone’s hands. I wouldn’t buy my kid a plastic guitar,” Jamie Caliri said. “I also use the product. That’s part of our story about how we sell it. I won an Emmy last year.” The award-winning animation in question, the title sequence of the “United States of Tara,” took six weeks to shoot after four weeks of preparation. 

Software like Dragon Stop Motion is making animation even simpler. Children, adults and professionals alike can construct elaborate stories with their toys, paper goods, found objects or sculpture, and the computer organizes the images into a film. Some filmmakers are even beginning to build three-dimensional movies using special rigs. 

“An animator who used to shoot six seconds a day can now shoot 20 seconds a day,” said Paul Howell, the founder and director of Stop Motion Pro, another software package. 

“Young kids can make a film in their room and distribute it and have half a million people view it,” said Mr. Howell. “Very young kids can have huge audiences for their work. Not long ago, it was impossible to consider someone that young having access to an audience that large. Students of the art can find hundreds of stop-motion films on video-sharing sites like YouTube, many of which are constructed by children who are younger than 10.” 

Mr. Howell also says that many schools, and even some medical centers, are using the software to tell stories because it lets children express themselves when traditional words fail them. 

The filmmakers used a homemade 

camera rig for moving shots.

“It’s become the software of choice for working with autistic children,” said Mr. Howell. “They’re uncovering issues that they’re finding hard to talk about conventionally or by writing down, but they’re quite comfortable making a film about it.” 

The basic version of his product, Stop Motion Pro, begins at $70, but more sophisticated editions, which offer higher definition and the ability to connect with high quality digital S.L.R. cameras, can cost up to $295. A number of other programs are on the market at prices that range from free to hundreds of dollars. 

While many of the free versions are adequate for experimentation, they usually only offer a limited collection of features. 

The older version of AnimatorDV from Wroblewski Multimedia, for instance, is available at no cost, whereas the newer version, AnimatorHD, comes with a free demonstration mode that shuts off some features after a minute. iStopMotion, a program for the Mac, offers a demonstration mode that works for five days. 

The more sophisticated Dragon Stop Motion package includes a number of features that simplify the tasks done by a computer, allowing an animator to concentrate elsewhere. One button on the keyboard toggles between the last frame and the current image captured by the camera, a common task when an animator wants to ensure that any moving object is seen to move properly. 

Other options help control and balance the lighting to ensure that the images have consistent hue and saturation, a problem that is even more of a challenge in stop-motion animation than in other types of filmmaking. 

Synchronizing the sound with the images is also difficult, especially when a clay mouth must approximate the way a real mouth moves. Dragon Stop Motion manages a list of frames and plots the audio tracks with the associated sounds or phonemes, making it much simpler for an animator to adjust the size and shape of the mouths. 

Other programs bundle a database of common sounds that can be added with a click. Diarmuid Brennan, the chief executive of iKITSystems, which distributes iKITMovie, created his software after his 12-year-old son became frustrated with the lack of options for adding sound to movies. The current version comes with over 2,200 sounds. 

Mr. Casper on the set of “Dried Up.”

“We have 15 to 20 different types of footsteps, like walking on gravel or walking on concrete,” he said. But with a clientele of children, the library of sounds goes beyond that. “There are 20 different burp sounds” and 20 different sounds for passing gas. 

His software for all 2,200 sounds is either $69, or $80 bundled with a Web camera. Mr. Brennan says that his product was originally intended for children who made movies recreationally, but he found that schools were interested in filmmaking as an educational tool. Creating an animated lesson, he says, requires diligence and a thorough understanding of the topic at hand. 

“If they’re dissecting a frog, they can do it in clay and animate it,” he said. “When a child creates a project to explain something, because it’s methodical, they’ll never forget what they’re explaining.”

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