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February 26, 2005
NCTA Enrichment Event
For anyone curious about the NCTA Enrichment Event I said I'd be speaking at this summer, more info about it is now available online. I've never given a presentation to such an audience before -- it should be interesting.
Posted by brianruh at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2005
My DVDs
As a relaxing break to some of the stuff I've been working on recently, I thought I'd take stock of my DVD collection. I had tried a similar thing a couple of years ago, using a program (the name of which escapes me right now) that had a lot of information but was really kind of awkward to use. (In order to add a title to your collection you had to input the barcode number, meaning that you had to pull out each individual DVD from your shelf.) This time I tried the online site DVD Aficionado and I must say I'm impressed with the results. The interface is pretty easy, and I was able to get everything added in a short period of time. If anyone's curious, you can check out my DVD list at DVD Aficionado.
Conclusions? Well, I certainly have a lot of anime, but I knew that. But I think the list illustrates how much I need to branch out. Keep in mind that I have only added the stuff I actually own -- I have of course seen many more films than this.
Posted by brianruh at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2005
Saving My Readers From an Empty Page
I'm up far too late to be thinking about posting, but Sarah informed me that my blog page was blank, so I thought I needed to post something here. I love fatherhood, but it's really taking away from my blogging time.
I was thinking of going to Japan this summer for the Expo 2005 to see the Oshii and Miyazaki exhibits, but that didn't pan out. I was on the verge of booking a plane ticket, but then decided that the trip would be too expensive and that I was being selfish -- I didn't want to leave Sarah at home alone with little Charlotte to take care of all by herself.
As a consolation to myself, I just ordered some Japanese DVDs -- totally not the same, but I'm excited about them. I'll be getting the omnibus Killers (to which Oshii contributed a segment), Katsuhito Ishii's Cha no Aji, and Blister! (a film about otaku acquisition tendencies).
But my summer won't be totally anime-free. I'll be giving a 45 minute presentation at the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) 2005 summer enrichment event in July here in Bloomington. And I don't remember if I mentioned it here yet but I'm going to be a guest at A-Kon in June -- my first time to be a con guest!
Posted by brianruh at 03:23 AM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2005
Nobody's Innocent
Following up on my post about Innocence getting the shaft by the Oscars this year, Anime News Service has a link to an MSN Entertainment article about the films that should have made the Oscar list but didn't. Of Innocence, writer Sean Axmaker says:
Anyone who has seen "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" knows that that it is a more ambitious and adventurous film than the tongue-in-cheek "Shark Tale" and "Shrek 2."
I couldn't agree more.
Posted by brianruh at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)
SXSW this year
Based on a reply Carl Horn made to a post on Patrick Macias's blog, I thought I'd check out the list of who is playing at South by Southwest this year. There are always some great bands playing, and this year we've got anime fan favorites The Pillows. Also from Japan are Bleach (interesting chaotic punk -- I got one of their CDs for Christmas but haven't listened to the whole thing yet), Shonen Knife, and Guitar Wolf. Not that I'll be anywhere near Austin around the time of SXSW, but I like to keep up with what's going on.
Posted by brianruh at 08:27 AM | Comments (4)