Author: Don

Beyond Tortalia

A bit of good news: Kunio Kato’s recent animated short, “Le Maison en Petits Cubes,” will be shown in theaters across the USA this month — amazingly, even in Wichita, albeit at the library. Kato is the artist who created The Diary of Tortov Roddle, which has my highest recommendation.

Update: It’s on iTunes.

Update II: “Le Maison en Petits Cubes” won the Oscar for best animated short film,

Update III: Here’s a short interview with Kato, with a brief excerpt from “La Maison.”

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And now for something completely different: “Peach Pie on the Beach,” with cheerleaders.

Early start

daffodils020909

These are some of the daffodils near my front steps as they were on this early February afternoon today. If winter doesn’t abruptly return, they could very well bloom within a week.

Medieval head-bangers

If the regional Renaissance Faires would bring in bands like Corvus Corax, I might start attending them again. CC’s “best of” album arrived today, and I’ve been listening to it continuously since I got home.

Grrr

I spent most of the weekend installing and tweaking a new theme. It looks fine in my main browser, but I just discovered that in Safari, there are suddenly ads on my site when you click on links to particular stories. Expect more changes.

Update: Fixed.

Grrr

I spent most of the weekend installing and tweaking a new theme. It looks fine in my main browser, but I just discovered that in Safari, there are suddenly ads on my site.

Let's get recursive

I’ll see if I can root out the offending code this evening, but the chances are that I’m going to be looking for a different theme. Don’t worry; Pyun and Potaru will remain.

Update: It turned out to be an easy fix. I just needed to delete a few lines in three of the .php files.

Quote of the week II

I can’t help comparing [Whisper of the Heart] to Revolutionary Road … not because they are similar but because they are opposites. Revolutionary Road explores the dangers of not having a dream (while thinking that you do.) Whisper of the Heart is about what it really means to have a dream.

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I haven’t spent much time on anime recently, and I don’t know when I will. My current obsession is a collection of fiddle tunes. (([Link deleted because of reported virus.] If you’re in the Kansas/Oklahoma area in September, go to the Walnut Valley Festival and drop by Carp Camp. And if you are building a website, don’t use frames.)) It should keep me busy for quite a while. I’ll be back eventually — maybe — but don’t hold your breath.

Random notes

I uploaded a couple of jigsaw puzzles of screen captures from Genji Monogatari Sennenki, here and here. Assembling the pieces is easy; the challenge is to determine whether the individual pictured is a boy or a girl.

The first episode of Genji is the prettiest thing I’ve seen since Saiunkoku Monogatari, but I think I’d rather read the book, a translation of which is sitting on a shelf in the next room.

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One more example why I have no respect whatsoever for American television: Moribito, which had been broadcast at an impossible hour, has apparently been cancelled. It’s a pity, because it is a good show for all ages and one of the best of recent years. Fortunately, the DVDs are being released by Media Blasters, and the book (recommended) is easily available.

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So there is a live action Cowboy Bebop with Keanu Reeves in the works. I’ve never seen Reeves, so I don’t know how much of joke that is, but if the music is not by Yoko Kanno, then I don’t give a damn about the movie.

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Update (1-21-09): I’m going to be away from the computer for a week. Things will continue to be quiet here for a while.

Fakes and fake fakes

Via Aziz, here’s a 1978 essay by that strangest of Episcopalians, Philip K. Dick: “How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later.”

This was announced back in April, but I didn’t discover it until just now: Dick is going to be Disney-fied:

KING OF THE ELVES (Domestic Release Date: Christmas 2012, Disney Digital 3-D™)
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Directors: Aaron Blaise, Robert Walker
Producer: Chuck Williams

Legendary storyteller Phillip K. Dick’s short story (his only experiment in the fantasy genre) becomes the basis for this fantastic and imaginative tale about an average man living in the Mississippi Delta, whose reluctant actions to help a desperate band of elves leads them to name him their new king. Joining the innocent and endangered elves as they attempt to escape from an evil and menacing troll, their unlikely new leader finds himself caught on a journey filled with unimaginable dangers and a chance to bring real meaning back to his own life.