Bizarre fun!

*Update correction: I knew I didn't understand Japanese lol. The guy who I mistakened as Goro is Nayochin, he does ads for Ghibli. You can read about him in Goro's blog (Nayo also updates for Goro now.) His nickname is pretty hilarious.
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/earthsea/blog/blog61.html


I'm beginning to think until summer my blog is becoming "the bizarre and fun facts" blog lol. I just keep coming across interesting stuff that other news sources haven't emphasized yet(cough Cartoon Brew).

This one blew me away. Bill Plympton is teaming up with Kanye West....again! In Time Magazine:

"ANIMATED KANYE
Scoop up a few Grammys? Check. Rant about the President on live TV? Check. Launch a line of preppy duds? Check. The next item on rap star KANYE WEST'S to-do list is to create a book in the style of Japanese manga comics with animator Bill Plympton. Plympton, best known for short films that appeared on MTV in the '80s, met West when drawing the raw, smudgy animation for the hip-hop star's video Heard 'Em Say. After the two hit it off, they decided to collaborate on a book based on West's lyrics for Simon & Schuster. Can a Kanye West line of baked goods be far behind?"

I'm a little scared and intrigued at the same time. Bill doing a manga? I mean if it was just a comic sure, but a manga....with Kanye West? I mean something like his regular comics such as the one in the new Flight 3 book. http://www.flightcomics.com (Sorry little ad there. I just love this anthology too much!)

And last but not least,
The website http://www.ghibliworld.com is just too awesome. They have insider information on Gedo Senki and just some really great videos and pictures.
Yikes my mistake this guy is actually Nayo-chin. He's a really funny guy. I swear if I ever met him I'll give him Pringles to ease his pain. I'll find a picture of Goro Miyazaki later. (Yeesh, even the video knew. I'm such a nutcase.)

They have a video where it shows he's a pretty quiet guy and seems to get along with Producer Toshio Suzuki very well (almost like a father figure).

http://www.ghibliworld.com/professional_suzuki.wmv

http://www.ghibliworld.com/makingofgedosenkitrailer.wmv

Squidworks comic Jam!

Friday I had a really nice and eccentric time with the Squidworks crew. We were guinea pigs to a new idea Stan created "Improv Cartoon Jam." It was really fun and got my creative juices flowing. You can check out the rules and what I contributed. Stan put who did what panel at the bottom of the comic. Be warned some of it is pretty raunchy lol. What do you expect from three guys and a girl?

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/StanYan/jams/series.php

I also learned how to make mini published comics by using cheap paper. Ingenius idea that I might use to sell my comic later on.

May 6 is Free Comic Book Day where you can get free stuff and support local comic shops. This year is a little special. I will actually be in one of the comics they are giving out. I'm part of the silver sponsor Comic Genesis: Generation booklet. Mind you, I have no idea how my comic will turn out in print. I made this special two page DayDream comic, but I had to smoosh it to make it fit. I will post the unsmooshed version on my website after FCBD.

The Disney Vault TV Funhouse spoof...(I hope you were able to see it)
And yes, half of it is true and half isn't (I'll let your imagination think about it lol)....keep extra close attention to the images in the back. One is from:
Who Framed Roger Rabbit of Jessica's oops
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096438/alternateversions
The other is the unknown, but interesting Fantasia censorship.
http://calvincrowe.tripod.com/fantasia/
Also Jeff has a much better description and post about the subject.
http://thoughtnami.blogspot.com/2006/04/truth-hurts.html

Noteworthy

Interesting stuff to look at during the week...

I love, chef and writer, Anthony Bourdain sarcastic and jaw- dropping travels on the show "No Reservations." He eats anything except he has not tried the greatly smelly and feared durian fruit. My god, I only ate a cookie that had the taste of durian and it was awful. I swear it smells like gasoline lol.

Well, in Monday's episode he visited Peru....and well he ate guinea pig. I'm a little surprised it actually looked like a pet store guinea pig not a wild one. They were so cute...before they were eaten. Yet, I'm still okay with it. It's part of their culture and is a much better life than in some lab getting experimented on. I hope Xiao Bao isn't reading this.

I saw a really awesome "Frontline" on PBS about Tiananmen Square and the famous Man in front of the tank. They will have the program online to watch. It shows the emotion and integrity of the people and the cruel tactics the government used (probably still today).

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/

I was going to write more tidbits, but the Frontline program pretty much blew everything away. Oh well, just a slight mention then:

• CLAMP (all four I believe!) coming to Anime Expo (so close yet so far :(
• Ramen Rube Goldberg...those crazy Japanese http://youtube.com/watch?v=1kvdq8cRNBM&search=ramen%20goldberg
• Death Cab for Cutie...you wouldn't believe this guy got away with it http://youtube.com/watch?v=wl3S64qUn34&search=death%20cab%20turnstiles

And a special thank you to my readers! Jeff, I'm very honored to be linked to your blog. I'm not worthy! Enoch, you're a much better writer and you still read my blog lol. I promise the California trip will be up...soon.

Strike! You're out!

Now a public service announcement (sorry I need to blurb about this):

Baseball opened yesterday and so did our RTD bus strike. It's odd how something so unrecognized and unappreciated could create such a mess for Denver. People usually hate being behind buses because of frequent stops. Now they realize how important buses are.

Our buses mainly comprise of downtown workers, school kids, and the poor. It's the cheapest transportation ($1.25) considering downtown parking fees ($5.00-$7.00). Traffic is heavy and most of my school parking lots are full. The light rail which cost millions to build is now shutdown. Thank goodness I have a car. I started driving to school mainly this year due to my late classes.

I support the strike in a way. The standard of living is so high that people need more money. On the other hand, where I work they make $7.00 more than the average employee. I have to do more physical labor, but they have to keep 50 people's lives safe.

Strikes are problematic and any problem always kicks the poor first. I hope this thing ends soon. So if you ride the bus, thank the bus driver. Please break and be courteous to buses. They're more important than you think.