I ran across a link to the Vexille movie site today, so I thought I should remind myself to check it out. Cinematical says:

According to a glowing review over at Twitch, Vexille is about a future where android technology becomes forbidden once lines between technology and humanity cross. Everyone signs the UN treaty but Japan, who secludes themselves from the world, kicking out foreigners and masking themselves from electronic/satellite surveillance. After 10 years of seclusion, a Daiwa (Japanese robotic company) executive comes to meet with international politicians. Vexille, a female op based in LA, discovers the politicians dead, that the Daiwa is a cyborg and then must infiltrate Japan to stop the company and save the world.

Sounds good and the visuals look great! Too bad it opens in August in Japan… and who-knows-when in the states. Oh well, at least I can remember to look out for it.

Paprika, Satoshi Kon’s latest film played in the New York Film Festival where it won an Official Selection (as evidenced by watching the trailer in HD) and I missed it… Way back in October. Anyway, now the wait begins as the film won’t see a US release until May. May! That’s like 2 months away… Hmm… that’s not too bad, I guess…

I better remember not to miss this sure to be exquisite feature from one of my favorite directors.

(Thank goodness there’s Cinematical for the reminder)

Creating the advertising and signage for the movie Children of Men (which I remember really liking) must have been a ton of fun for the UK based Foreign Office. Being in advertising, this is the type of project I would have loved to have done as it was basically free reign to comment on today’s marketing and the directions it could go in the future.

I need to remember to save time from work to pursue some more fun projects.

(Via Kottke.org)

Saw this last night and all I can say is awful, awful, AWFUL. Holy crap this was bad. Robotech was one of my introductions to anime along with Lensman which I actually watched on Spanish TV under the title “Hombre Lente.” Although the Robotech series as Americans know it was mainly a butchered version of the Macross anime with additional completely different series tacked on for additional “generations”, this movie tries to reconcile all that plus the Sentinals stories which I don’t think ever were completely animated. But none of that matters, because this movie is just too terrible for words.

I should remember to at least look into movies a little before buying my tickets. Additionally, I should remember that the sound system at The ImaginAsian Theater sucks terribly.

(Update: Well, looks like the sound system was not to blame. Thanks for the heads up ImaginAsian! Now if only there’s a way for people to know beforehand whether they’ll be able to experience the full force of the ImaginAsian sound system… )

You know, I’ve always gravitated towards cartoons and the cast of characters that inhabit them. Sure, at the beginning it was lots of Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry, and the like. But then one morning while flipping channels waiting for Pole Position to come on, I came across Robotech on spanish TV and I was hooked on anime.

Anyway, despite the years of spending more time with foriegn animation, occasionally something comes along to remind me of the time I spent lying on my stomach on the floor inches from the tv watching Looney Tunes. Earlier this year, artist Michael Paulus did a series of 22 illustrations imagining what the skeletal structure of cartoons would really look like and now Hyungkoo Lee has gone even further by creating actual cartoon character skeletons out of resin, aluminum sticks, stainless steel wires, springs, and oil paint. Not only is it truly amazing, it also displays the odd underlying freakishness of children and things they gravitate towards.

I should try to remember that cartoon characters can be real!

Via Veer, NOTCOT.ORG, ResonTence, Talk About Design, BagelTurf, Observations of Life on Mars, and just about everyone else.

Wow! I have to remember to figure out how to buy one of these! Being a fan of the Ghost in the Shell movies and Stand Alone Complex series (not so much the mangas), I’ve wanted a Tachikoma of my own for a long time. This one seems like a prototype, but I really hope they go into production. I would definitely be in line to pick on up.

Here’s some video of it in action and the Tachikoma robot product page. Via Engadget.

I can’t remember (surprise) exactly how it came up, but yesterday while waiting for a meeting with some other people, I found myself saying: “Hey, remember that cartoon in the 80’s where that kid could transform into a red corvette?” Of course, someone starting singing “Little Red Corvette” while another person said: “You mean Transformers?” Surprisingly, though, someone else blurted out “Oh yeah! Turbo Teen!” Yeah, Turbo Teen!

It started to come back to me. So, this morning I did a quick Googling only to find that a lot of people with better memories than me were still talking about this rediculous 80′ cartoon that only ran for one year. I distinctly remember that my older brother hated it and would do his best to get me to change the channel, but really there was nothing else on… just Turbo Teen.

The premise goes like this:

Brett Matthews was just an ordinary teenager with a hot sports car until one stormy night, an accident caused him to crash into a laboratory where scientists were testing a fusion ray. Brett and his car were hit by a beam and as a result, the two merged into one. Though Brett still appeared normal, whenever he was exposed to heat, he would change into car form as he has now become the revved-up Turbo Teen.

Don’t forget the opening to Turbo Teen.

I ran across this animation in a post over on the excellent Screenhead blog. Evidently, these Gobelins folks have been churning out amazing animations for quite some time, although my French is pretty non-existent. Anyway, it’s definitely worth a look.

Don’t forget to check it out.