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September 29, 2004
Search Stray Dog of Anime
The Amazon listing for my book Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii has now been updated so you can search inside the book. I really like this feature, and had been bugging my publisher about getting it up, because I think it gives the book much greater functionality.
And in other book sightings (I'm still at the stage where these things excite me), Sarah and I found a copy of it at BookPeople when we were in Austin this weekend, and my friend Todd recently found a copy at a Kinokuniya in Tokyo.
Posted by brianruh at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2004
Manga Wanted Poster
The Mainichi Daily News has a report on the recent success of a manga wanted poster to bring a convenience store robber to justice.
Posted by brianruh at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2004
New Review
The latest issue of Midnight Eye is now up, and it includes a great review of my book, Stray Dog of Anime.
Posted by brianruh at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2004
Oshii Interview
My Oshii interview is now up online:
There is No Aphrodiciac Like Innocence: Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell 2
Posted by brianruh at 07:19 PM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2004
Are You Talking to Me?
This morning I did my second interview ever (i.e. someone actually wanted to speak with me). Ah, the benefits of being a local author. A few weeks ago I did my first interview for the local student paper, the Indiana Daily Student. Today it was The Star Press of Muncie. And tomorrow I'm talking with The Herald Times of Bloomington. The articles should be coming out in the next few weeks, and I'll post links if they turn up online.
Posted by brianruh at 11:02 AM | Comments (1)
September 17, 2004
GitS in NYT and SFBG, OK?
Another fairly positive GitS 2: Innocence review, this time from the New York Times. And a surprisingly negative one from Patrick Macias in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Posted by brianruh at 06:51 AM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2004
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence reviews
Well, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence comes out in theatres across the country tomorrow and reviews are starting to come in. Here are some of the good ones:
Chicago Tribune (3 out of 4 stars)
Village Voice ("You can call me fanboy, but this is the best anime I've ever seen.")
Austin Chronicle (3 1/2 out of 5 stars)
I'm sure we'll get in more tomorrow and in the weeks to come.
Posted by brianruh at 05:19 PM | Comments (0)
1-2-3-4
RIP Johnny Ramone.
Posted by brianruh at 06:41 AM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2004
Matthew Sweet Anime Videos
My previous post mentioning the song "Too Much Information" (which I haven't heard in many years, although I remember it as being kind of cheesy) got me to thinking about music videos in general. Does anyone know where I can download/purchase the videos for the Matthew Sweet songs "I've Been Waiting" (containing footage from Urusei Yatsura) and "Girlfriend" (containing footage from Space Adventure Cobra)? The few links I've found for the videos have been low-res and rather jerky RealPlayer files. Any thoughts?
Posted by brianruh at 01:10 AM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2004
Too Much Information...
I should have that Duran Duran song "Too Much Information" on repeat this evening. I'm surrounded by so much stuff, so I just need to take some time to get organized. Small steps. First I need to take in the CDs that have been piling up in the car -- from David Sedaris, to MTX, to Beck, to Husking Bee, to Hi-Standard, to Squirtgun, to the Weakerthans, and the list goes on -- and put them in their proper places on the CD rack that Sara so dutifully and kindly organized when she was in town a little while ago. Maybe from there I can move onto the massive organization task that is my office and actually make it functional.
Posted by brianruh at 09:10 PM | Comments (0)
Bloomington Urban Legends
Taking a break from my many readings for next week, I found out some interesting info about the Indiana University campus. Contrary to urban legend our library is not sinking, but we do have the world's largest collection of pornography.
Posted by brianruh at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2004
Starring Tom Hanks as Watanabe?
According to this article, there are plans to remake Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru and it says that the film is "being crafted as a potential starring vehicle for Tom Hanks." I am almost speechless with disgust.
Posted by brianruh at 08:13 AM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2004
Freaky! Outie!
I just found out that the first season of Home Movies, one of the best shows that ever ran on Cartoon Network, will be released on DVD in November. Rock on! (And the second season of Kids in the Hall comes out on DVD that same day.)
Posted by brianruh at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
Anime at Benihana
It looks like Benihana is trying to cash into the popularity of Japanese pop culture with an anime-themed television ad (albeit not a very good one).
Posted by brianruh at 10:43 PM | Comments (0)
Japan Misc.
A pair of interesting reports: one concerning the trend of selling candy and chocolate attached to CDs and DVDs (the article says one DVD was of a "TV animated cartoon lasting about 10 minutes" but it doesn't give the title) and the other on the four upcoming Japanese films about WWII.
Also worth checking out is the page for the upcoming conference "In Godzilla's Footsteps: Japanese Pop Culture Icons on the Global Stage." I really should go to this, as this is what I study and write about, but I can't figure out how to get to Lawrence, KS for the weekend. I'll probably keep working on it in some vain hope of going, though, so who knows?
Posted by brianruh at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)
September 08, 2004
The Real Underground Cinema
From a post on BoingBoing: French officials recently discovered a well-equipped cinema/restaurant in the catacombs underneath Paris. It had electricity, phones, a bar, even "a pressure-cooker for making couscous." (This last bit confuses me, as I have made couscous many times in the past and not once did I need to break out the pressure-cooker. In there some sort of secret Parisian way of making couscous that requires such a device?) Read the original article here.
Posted by brianruh at 10:49 AM | Comments (1)
September 07, 2004
Spread the Love...
I'm more concerned now than ever about a Bush re-election. I mean, my wife is pregnant and when Bush says things like "Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country," I wonder just what he envisions. (Interestingly, the official White House transcript of the event doesn't include this little gaffe. I haven't been looking, but does the White House make a regular practice of editing what Bush actually says in the official reports? A nice little bit of revisionist history they have there.)
In related news, Sarah and I found out last week that we're having a girl-type baby. (If only they sold this shirt in infant sizes...)
Posted by brianruh at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2004
Mechademia is Go!
I just got an email from Frenchy Lunning at MCAD saying that the contract to publish Mechademia has been approved. I'm really excited, as this will be the first journal to focus exclusively on anime, manga, and video games (and other logical extensions of the like.)
Posted by brianruh at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)