Chotto deyô yo.

Lots of little things have been going on, particularly where Kirikou et les bêtes sauvages and Azur et Asmar are concerned. But more to the point, I've made this post to announce that I'm going to be taking a break from both working on the site and social/internet thing in general, probably until the 14th of August at least. There're just too much real work which has gone undone too long. Well, there always is, but something urgent has come up. I might use this blog as a way of writing up some exhibition/art reviews, but nothing else.

Oh, and I seem to have discovered the origin of the near-constant rain (and therefore flooding, and therefore mass disorganisation) which the British Isles have been experiencing this summer – it's got to be all that ruddy orgonite which all those hippies have been making. ^_~

Current music: Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle; Rokia Traoré

100th post! And some news…

Some good & bad news about Azur & Asmar which I received from Soda Pictures a few days ago. Bad news is that the UK cinema release will now probably not be until December; good news is they do plan on releasing both the original French & Arabic as well as a new English & Arabic dub. The wording also seemed to suggest that, as was the case with Kirikou, it may be a UK-made dub. This could even result in there being 2 different English dubs – a UK and a USA one – but it's still far too early to say anything for certain. The representative (who also runs the official UK blog) also mentioned that the dub will be "overseen" by Michel Ocelot – I have no idea what level of control this entails, but it's nice to know that at the very least he will have some kind of say in it. I would have e-mailed the Weinstein Company as well, to find out if things are still going to schedule at their end, but I can't find a contact link on their web site.

And now, if you just so happen live in one of most metropolitan places in the USA, there are couple of things going on right now which you might have already missed significant portions of: Tekkon Kinkreet & Animation Around the World.

Current music: 99¢ Whore – Master Engineer
While anything else about her may be nothing more than disgusting, this one song stands out as amusing and suggestive (and most bizarrely, even rather good music) in just the right amounts.

The new issue of Little White Lies has Tales from Earthsea (Gedo Senki) as it's 'feature film,' and both the magazine and its web site have several articles about animation in general. In particular, there's the in-print article Beyond the Fringe, which covers both Jan Švankmajer and Michel Ocelot (an unusual but nevertheless delightful paring) and online we have this mind-expanding interview with renowned animanga scholar Helen McCarthy. And to think that some people still believe that anime was invented by Tezuka… Pfft. However, I will still want to hit someone (hard) if there is not even one mention of Kawamoto Kihachirô or Jiří Trnka.

Current music: Rasputina – Child Solider Rebellion
The one song on their new album which I really like (going by samples on iTunes) – and though I really like it, perhaps even more than "When I Was a Young Girl," the majority of the album is even less interesting and more normal than Frustration Plantation. I guess it's not time to Quit the Forest just yet – not when I could be listening to "May Fly" instead of this.

Oh, and if you haven't heard, Tales from Earthsea is coming out in cinemas in the UK next month, in both dubbed and subtitled forms. I'm trying to read The Tombs of Atuan before that (the film is adapted/massacred from the next 2 books after this one) but so far I've only just finished Chapter 1 – which also happens to be the shortest in the whole book. o_o