Friday, December 28, 2007

Tatiana the tiger, RIP

As anyone with a TV or internet connection has heard, a Siberian tiger named Tatiana was shot and killed on Christmas Day after she escaped from her enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo and mauled three teenagers, killing one.



This is off topic for Same Hat, but I felt like posting a Tatiana memorial after getting back to SF and reading more of the depressing details about this mess.

Last December, Evan took some pictures of Tatiana at the SF Zoo to use in a new piece-- coincidentally just 4 days before she mauled one of her keepers! (That attack was determined to be due to negligence on the part of the zoo, and they were fined.)

Here is Evan's fantastic photo-illustration that came out of those pics from last December:

Click here for details, and here for more of Evan's art.

LABYRINTH by Shintaro Kago

Here's hoping everyone had a good solstice/christmas/holiday/whathaveyou. I've just gotten back from a week of visiting family, and am now working on a bunch of new posts for the long New Year's weekend (including a 2007 mega-retrospective)!

As a belated gift, here's the newest Shintaro Kago scanlation from our buddy Anonymous K. Dude's using his holiday break to crank out even more Kago comics to share with us. (I guess that makes him the ero-guro Santa?)

As with the previous Kago strips, Anonymous K did all the scanning/translation/editing on these, and we're simply sharing the wealth.



The rub this time is mazes and visual illusions and jokes, so we've kept the pages pretty large. As with before, Labyrinth is not graphic or gratuitous, but nudity/sexual imagery permeates throughout and make it NSFW.

Enjoy! and leave feedback for Anonymous K in the comments... I know he appreciates it!


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Once you're done, read this: Translator's Note

Monday, December 10, 2007

NEWEST UMEZU FILM ADAPTION: Orochi!

Quick post regarding cool news I plucked from Twitch (the best blog for fucked up international SF & horror films-- and they update about 30 times a day!).

It looks like another Kazuo Umezu manga is getting the film treatment... this time it's the Orochi series.



Twitch provides more details:
"Norio Tsuruta will direct the film and Hiroshi Takahashi (If it had a Ring in the title he was a part of it), who has worked with Kazuo’s material before, is providing the screenplay.

And now for the talent in front of the camera. Yoshino Kimura [Sukiyaki Western Django] will be playing two separate roles, the older sister Kazusa, and her own mother. The younger sister Lisa will be played by Noriko Nakagoshi and the mysterious girl, Orochi, will be played by Mitsuki Tanimura. Taro Yamamoto [Battle Royale] plays Kazusa’s boyfriend.

And here’s the storyline of this series from 1969 and 1970. We have our two sisters, Kazusa and Lisa. For Lisa, no matter what she does, her sister Kazusa has done it better. Lisa is always told that she’ll never be comparable to her sister. As any sibling rivalry is wont to do it results in feelings of jealousy and vengeance. As Lisa grows she learns to hate and at times lashes out at the sister she once loved. A tragic accident sets things in motion and so appears the mysterious young girl named Orochi."


As with previous Umezu adaptations notwithstanding some cool parts in the first Tomie movie! (Whoops, that's lack-of-sleep talking!), I have a feeling that they're gonna mangle the source material and go with a direct-to-DVD-esque film. We'll see.

If you want a refresher on what amazing heights an Umezu adaptation can aspire to (I think I mean this both earnestly and ironically, somehow), check out our friend Clay's video review of the 1980s Drifting Classroom adapation. OH GOD, THE HORROR?



Sunday, December 09, 2007

OLD NEWS: SF ZINE FEST

THIS IS ME CLEARING OUT THE OLD POSTS I HAD KICKING AROUND:

San Francisco Zine Fest 2007 was held back at the beginning of October, but I hadn't made time to blog about it until now. SF Zine Fest is an annual gathering of indie/self-published zines covering comics, art, poetry, etc. It's like Alternative Press Expo but without such a heavy focus on hand-knitted wallets, Ugly Dolls and bigger publishers. This year it was held October 5-6 in my neighborhood, less than two blocks away, so I stopped by a few times to see friends and prowl for cool new zines.


(Click image above for the full details of the event)

Overall, the number of exhibitors at the event was pretty small (and a good chunk were selling lame/shoddy books I wasn't into...) BUT I managed to snatch up a batch of really great ziness for a small amount of money. Like APE, it's also a great chance to see friends and scope out new cartoonists that haven't YET gotten as much recognition as they deserve.

I didn't want to feel like a totally uncreative/useless loser, so I left about 20 copies of a minizine I threw together last month called YOUR SEAT IS MY BEHIND on the free table, and was happy to see them all picked up. (That mini is a compilation of self-introductions written in English by my Japanese high school classmates, from back when I was 16 and lived in Saitama for a summer).

SOME PICS:


The view from above. Not a lot of exhibitors total, but tons of gems mixed in with the crap.


Me, Jason Shiga, Derek Kirk Kim


Jason is excited about something. I learned that SF would be losing DKK to Portland :(


Jenn and Hellen Jo checking out the Sparkplug Comic Books table.


BEST PURCHASES/DISCOVERIES:

STUFF BY CALVIN WONG!
I'd met Calvin previously when he dropped by our group table at APE 2007. I knew he was a cool dude, but I didn't put it together that he's an illustrator and cartoonist until seeing his stuff at zine fest. I don't know how I missed him, but he is a guy that you need to check out.


I bought the first two issues of the comics zine Ortolan (edited by Robert Syrett and includes collected drawings and strips by their group of friends) along with a beautiful screenprint. There is something really natural about Calvin's lines that make them poignant and direct but not twee. Here is what the print looks line in my growing hallway of dorky coolness:


On Calvin's section of the XIP.NU collective site, you can sample two of his comics from Ortolan, called Simple Humble Neighborhood and Holy Shit It's The Future. These two are probably my favorite comics I discovered this year-- no joke!

Also, Calvin's done an insane illustration of Gargamel especially for Electric Ant #1... it's not to be missed!

MARI NAOMI's ESTRUS COMICS 5

Estrus Comics 5 is out-- in a new format for this all kissing edition. A supremely fascinating and charming read. One of Mari's first kiss comics will be featured in Electric Ant #1! What else can I say about this?--- Mari's comics are great so just go freaking buy it now, okay?

PAPERCUTTER Issues 4-6

Papercutter is a relatively new comics zine from Tugboat Press, and each issue features 3 short-to-medium stories. The stories have ranged from impressive to somewhat mundane, but every comic is presented in a detailed, well-designed manner.

Notable comics include a Mourning Star side story by Kaz, a charming collaboration by my friends Laura Park & Julia Wertz, and some shorts by Vanessa Davis, Liz Prince and others. The look and feel of PAPERCUTTER is basically what a comics zine should aspire to, and I'm definitely gonna pick up the older issues (along with upcoming issue 7).

BLUEFUZZ the Hero by Jesse Reklaw

A fantastic short comic, mixing a sortof epic fantasy story around the dim-witted Bluefuzz. Like LOTR-meets-The Odyssey but with a goofy blue guy with an overbite at the center of it all.

The cover was hand-painted onto a scrap of wallpaper sample, and mixed throughout the B&W book are color pages with children's storybook paintings of Bluefuzz. SO RAD!


ART BUREAU 13 & 14
An art/interview zine edited and published by by Bert Benson.

Featuring Kyle Pellet, Swamp Donkey, and others.

I heard that SF ZINEFEST may be held again in late Spring 2008, to fill in the gap by Alternative Press Expo being moved back until November. It'd be tight to have a chance to pick up new stuff, see friends and hand sell Electric Ant #1!