QUICK PICS FROM KINOKUNIYA

I have a confession (of sorts) to make to the Same Hat community: Until this weekend, I think I hadn't bought/read any new, non-Tezuka manga in the last seven or eight months?!

A travesty, right? As folks who follow my other random projects have gathered, I've been focusing a lot of my free time on creating zines and anthologies, hanging out with minicomics folks, and printing comics for friends at my little Risograph print shop. Perhaps it's a sign I'm getting older/lamer/jaded, but I simply got majorly burnt out on manga for a while there, and am just now coming back to the fold.

In re-starting Same Hat, I've been working to catch back up and rectify this... Sunday, I stopped by my local Kinokuniya, and picked up a series about which I heard great things:  Flowers of Evil by Shuzo Oshimi. I read the first volume last night and found it fun, deceptively simple and... psychologically disturbing. I'm stoked to read the next book tonight.

Do you have a suggestion for a manga I need to read, that came out in 2012?  Please school me, my friends!

Okay, so while shopping I snapped a few pics around Kinokuniya of things I like:

Magic Point and River's Edge, by the incredible Kyoko Okazaki. Her amazing body-horror/gender mindfuck comic HELTER SKELTER was licensed this summer by Vertical... it's one of my all-time favorite manga, and I'm stoked to get to read it in non-illegal, Vertical-ized format soon!

The reprints from 2010 of the late Satoshi Kon's manga, "Opus". I love the design of these two soft covers. Detailed scans here:

Ad for Usamaru Furuya's ongoing web serial "Bokuran no Hikari KURABU", on the back of the anthology Manga Erotics F. Pages from the series are online via the Japanese webcomic portal Poco Poco:

[Upcoming SH! posts: details on AkoTako, Poco Poco, and working with Gengoroh Tagame to publish his first ever licensed translation in English!]

OUT TODAY ON DVD: HOUSE!

Our buddy Brendan Ninness reminded me this morning on Facebook of some exciting pre-Halloween news... HOUSE by Nobuhiko Obayashi comes out on Criterion DVD today in America!



I've blogged previously about this this masterpiece of goofy surreal horror-- one of my alltime favorite films. This official and lush DVD include the following notables:

• Constructing a “House,” a new video piece featuring interviews with director Nobuhiko Obayashi, story scenarist and daughter of the filmmaker Chigumi Obayashi, and screenwriter Chiho Katsura


• Emotion, a 1966 experimental film by Obayashi


• New video appreciation by director Ti West (House of the Devil)


• New and improved English subtitle translation


• PLUS: An essay by critic Chuck Stephens

The main piece of awesomeness is simply having HOUSE available on a non-VCD, non-fan translated rip-- but I'm pretty stoked to see the interview with Obayashi and his daughter(!) along with a DVD-quality of his short film Emotion. For folks interested in learning more, Criterion posted a great interview with Janus Films’ Brian Belovarac about the process of "discovering" and releasing the film for English-speaking audiences.  Here is the excellent essay about the film by Chuck Stephens on the Criterion site.

You can watch "Emotion" on YouTube here.

JAPAN 2010 TRIP: BIG AX FESTIVAL

At some point last weekend between eating pizza, drinking beers in the park and eating indian pizza, my buddy Ramenate reminded me that I still haven't posted the majority of the massive stockpile of photos and dispatches from my trip out to Tokyo earlier this year. How true!

I have a knack lately with all the blogs, projects, brainfarts (oh yeah, and day job) I'm foolishly juggling of forgetting that coming up with an idea is like 10% of the actual work. I am gonna try to be better about this and post more goodies for you guys... How many times have I said that? BUT THIS TIME I MEAN IT :B

So anyway, Nate put me on blast for being lazy while we were inventing a kimchi bloody mary cocktail we're calling the "Gwangju Mary:

(so damn tasty! click above for the recipe)

Ready to prove him wrong, here is the next in a series of posts I've labeled Japan 2010!

BIG AX FESTIVAL AT BILLIKEN GALLERY

I had a short list of things set in stone for my Tokyo trip earlier this year that I specifically wanted to check out & photograph for Same Hat. One of the most auspicious was the BIG AX FESTIVAL, a month-long art show organized by manga publisher Seirinkogeisha. The exhibit was held in Billiken Gallery, and featured a huge set of featured artists; in fact, the month-long show was split down the middle with two separate openings and sets of artists. I was lucky enough to visit the final weekend of the exhibit with Nate, and see the 2nd half of BIG AX FESTIVAl (which featured original works by Same Hat patron saints Suehiro Maruo, Yusaku Hanakuma, Shintaro Kago, and many other amazing artists).

Billiken Gallery (Billiken Shokai) is a super cute shop in the highly fashionable and consumerist Aoyama neighborhood of Tokyo. For those that haven't had the pleasure, Aoyama is the 'hood further down the way from Harajuku, home to the crazy Comme des Garçons and Vuitton flagships, swank little eateries, and some of the hottest/fanciest ladies in Tokyo.


(photo by saripom)

The gallery space at Billiken Shokai is in the back, while the front half of the shop features American indie comics (David Bowing by Clowes, David B's Epileptic, etc) along with vintage vinyl figurines, tin toys, and other collectibles. The staff there was cute and polite, a juxtaposition to the wacky-ass art hanging for the AX show. I took a few photos (below) before they informed me that was actually frowned upon... and ended our time there by buying some autographed manga and pins for friends.

Check out the Billiken Gallery's exhibit blog for lots of pics of their ongoing exhibits; I have found tons and tons of contemporary artists to follow/stalk/read about from their blog! It makes me wish that the SuperFrog Gallery in San Francisco was 1/10th as, well, relevant for lack of a better word. Not to harp on this, but it's spaces like Billiken that underscore how much of a missed opportunity for Japan/Manga/Cartoon gallery space the New People building is in its current form.

ON WITH THE PICTURES! HERE ARE MINE:

By Yuka Goto, awesome artists of the Justice Corps series. She captures this art brut x nasty high school girl's diary aesthetic really well (and has a story called The Neighbor in the AX Anthology)


Paintings & prints mounted on the wall, manga by AX artists stacked for folks to peruse on all the tables!



BIG AX FESTIVAL t-shirt (not for sale)


Oh yeah, and every issue of AX to date (along with paintings by Maruo, drawing by Hanakuma)


Glass case full of AX/Seirinkogeisha artists pins, including sets by Suehiro Maruo.


Tsuge, Hanakuma, Hayami, and others! These pins were for sale (and are also available at Taco Che

I hope folks enjoyed this collection of photographs and details on the gallery. There are more pics on the Billiken Gallery blog, but it doesn't have permalinks to previous posts unfortunately. Just go back through the archives to February to see 'em!

I would definitely include Billiken Shokai on my list of Tokyo stops, especially if you're already over in West Tokyo at Harajuku or kicking it on the Chuo Line. I just added it to the Same Hat Guide To Everything for anyone planning an upcoming trip!

UPDATE ABOUT THE AX ANTHOLOGY FROM LEIGH AT TOP SHELF:

Hey guys,
Leigh here from Top Shelf. The AX book is indeed real, not to worry! It's available via direct order from our web site or at conventions. Unfortunately we had some logistical delays with the book moving through distribution channels, but Diamond has it now and will be distributing to comic shops, bookstores, Amazon, etc within a week or two. Sorry for the confusion and hope you enjoy the book!

The direct order page for AX is here, by the way (
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/ax-vol-1-a-collection-of-alternative-manga/645) and as Jose-Luis mentioned, we are in the middle of a big mail-order sale right now. Thanks everybody for all your interest and support!

NEW "MY NAME IS SHINGO" COVERS

On the always-hopping UMEZZ.COM blog, our favorite uncle Kazuo Umezuo has posted covers for volumes 1-4 of "My Name Is Shingo". These covers were designed by Shin Sobue and Hidenori Yoshioka and are part of the ongoing UMEZZ PERFECTION series of definitive re-releases from Shogakukan, celebrating Umezz's 50+ years in the business. All of the releases to date have been super fresh, and these don't disappoint. Check out the minimal spot colors and digital font treatment!

"HOUSE" FINALLY COMING OUT ON DVD

Exciting news for fans of psychedelic horror, one of my alltime favorite Japanese films is finally getting a proper DVD release (with English subtitles). Eureka Video is planning a 2010 release of cult masterpiece, HOUSE (aka HAUSU), directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi (director of the insane film adaptation of Umezu's Drifting Classroom).



It's been a bit of a challenge to track down, but lots of folks including me know this film from torrents that have made the rounds online. More recently, it was shown at a number of film festivals in the Fall of 2009. HOUSE is an insane and retarded piece of perfection- a visual distillation of most everything we at Same Hat hold dear aesthetically. Flying heads a la Bali Mystics? CHECK. Hand-drawn trippy backdrops and bursts of anachronystic, analog color sfx? CHECK. Singing babes and blood-spewing cats? CHECK. Carnivorous piano and Amityville horror? CHECK.



With help from Evan and Ryan G., we actually projected HOUSE on the wall of my apartment at my last birthday party. This article from the Village Voice helps give some context on this 1977 triumph (is that the right word here?). They say:

An uncanny prophecy of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 a decade later, this exhumed freaker conjoins New Agey schoolgirl farce and the cheesiest then-there-were-none haunted-house dynamic imaginable, while the painted backdrop skies suggest Teletubbies and the special effects run from solarized-video-absurd to cardboard-hilarious. The rum-stumble cast and crew obey no rules—the movie often seems to have two or three conflicting scores running simultaneously, and inappropriate freeze frames and pointless fades to black are the norm. The story isn't a story at all: A gaggle of sailor-uniformed schoolgirls (with names like Gorgeous, Prof, and Fantasy) head to a weird aunt's cheap-set house for spring break, and start getting minced up, one by one, into crude superimpositions, perambulating body parts, and rivers of blood that look like cherry Hi-C.

It's a real treat to finally get a proper DVD release of HOUSE, and it's my most-wanted film release of 2010. The Eureka Video catalogue doesn't give a specific release date, but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled.

Here's the Japanese trailer for HOUSE, followed by some stills. Enjoy!



UPDATE: As commenter Stephen mentioned, there are rumors that Janus/Criterion are going to be releasing HOUSE in the US as a Criterion DVD/Blu-Ray, as Janus was responsible for organizing the showings of the film at festivals last fall. The just posted this Q&A article on their blog too. That said, it's still sorta unofficial 'til they confirm or put it on their release schedule. Has anyone heard more specifics? (thanks, Stephen!) In the meantime, as Matt points out, Janus is taking HOUSE to independent movie theaters around the US in the Spring and Summer. More information is online here. I'll be at the April 17 show in San Francisco!

MY SHINTARO KAGO ORIGINAL!

I had the thrill of the year this afternoon, when my original Shintaro Kago illustration arrived in the mail! The large piece came packaged lovingly in a hard plastic folder and another plastic bag, then stuffed in a padded envelope hand-address by Kago himself.

The piece I bought is called Bikkuri Mokuziroku / びっくり黙示録 and is absolutely amazing in person. I can wait to get this puppy framed! Please enjoy the pictures below!

If you're still interested in snagging one, Kago continues to add new pieces to his original art sale page, which was recently updated to say that he will begin selling the original pages of Abstraction soon.

Based on the sales notes on his pages of pieces we already blogged about, I reckon that Shintaro Kago has made well over $3000 in just a week of selling his art to overseas fans.



DETAILS:



SIGNATURE:


And for size comparison (that's next to a copy of Vertical's Black Jack 7):


[If you bought an illustration from Kago, post your pics in the comments once it arrives!]

YOKOYAMA MURALS FOR NIKE HARAJUKU

I saw some cool pictures on the PictureBox site today. It seems that Same Hat favorite. Yuichi Yokoyama (Travel, New Engineering, Garden) was commissioned to create a massive mural at the NIKE flagship store in Harajuku. These photos taken from a NIKE HARAJUKU blog post:








This comes on the heels of his wall and store interior designs for the New People center in San Francisco. It seems like Yokoyama is turning into the go-to guy in Japan if you want to spice up

Since we're talking about PictureBox, it's worth noting that they now have some rad stuff by Takashi Nemoto for sale in their online shop, including a gallery exhibit poster from TrancePop, and two signed prints!
[Thanks to Jim for the head's up on the Nemoto stuff!]

WANT TO BUY ORIGINAL SHINTARO KAGO ART?

I'm back, babies! Just got home from a week visiting my girl friend, and also fighting off a head cold. With the holiday shopping season (?) right around the corner, I return to you guys will some awesome news.

Shintaro Kago is selling original B&W and color illustrations via mail order, and he's shipping to overseas folks! All the details are available on this page, which includes ordering and shipping instructions!

The pieces aren't cheap, ranging in price from 10000 YEN (~$115) for B&W to 30000 (~$330) for full color ones. Plus shipping. That said, this is a great opportunity to snag something direct from the man himself... and for what are totally fair prices (actually a big low considering the size of 10" x 14").

My wallet is a bit stressed out right now, but I decided to go for it and grab one and pinch pennies later. There are tons of amazing pieces, but I opted for an B&W one I could put on the wall and not have to worry about folks calling the cops on me:



If you're in the art/gift buying mood anytime soon, go check them out!

UPDATE! Since I posted this Kago has sold 3-4 drawings and started adding additional ones to the site for sale :) Keep checking back!

I'M IN A BOOK!

I recently had the pleasure of contributing a small written piece to THE UNKNOWN PORTRAITS, a new book of illustrations and stories by the art duo kozyndan! They are friends-of-friends, but I'm still not quite sure how I managed to sneak into the project. I just received my copy this past weekend, and it is a great looking book!



DETAILS ABOUT THE BOOK:

Originating from a found photo album unearthed in a Venice Beach thrift shop, kozyndan were inspired to create imagined personae documenting the essence of these lost photographs. This clothbound hardcover is comprised solely of small, detailed graphite portraits, each piece captures the surreal humour and irreverence that has become a trademark of kozyndan's distinctive style of artwork.

Illuminating select portraits are short stories inspired and imagined by a community of artist friends and writers including Pasha Malla, Mark "frosty" McNeill, Ryan Sands, Mariko Tamaki, Maggie MacDonald, Nick Flanagan and Porous Walker.

Hardcover. 8.5 x 8.5 inches.
150 pages. Over 100 illustrations.

You can buy a copy direct from their site!

For my part, I chose to tackle an illustration titled "Samurai Sam"... Their portrait of "Sam" features a charmingly lame white guy with horn-rimmed glasses, tombstone teeth wearing a yukata, and flanked by a stream of sakura swirls:


I decided to write up a faux-obituary for this imagined dude, with a number of self-indulgent Japan nerd references that folks will hopefully enjoy. Extra points to anyone who recognizes the last name:


It was a real treat to be a part of what turned out to be a lush and creepy book of illustrations. As part of the project, Kozy did small portraits of each contributor! Here is me, looking like a mentally-disturbed individual:


They even sent me the original art for my wall!


The pieces (done in pencil) are all really surreal, trippy and charming. (How do they get these details with just a pencil?) Here are a few of the other choice portraits:




Many thanks again to kozyndan for having me as part of this project, and hope folks check it out!

UMEZU UKIYO-E

Looking for that certain something to spruce up your home? How about a traditional ukiyo-e woodcut print of Kazuo Umezu's Drifting Classroom??

Our favorite and most energetic mangaka, Kazuo Umezu has teamed up with the Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints to create a series of limited edition ukiyo-e prints of his works, using hand-carved woodblocks.




The exhibit features not only the signed prints, but the carved woodblocks used in making the prints on display. If you're in the Tokyo area, you can check out the show at GAoh! Gallery, which opened on July 7 and runs until September 13.


Adachi printmaster in effect

Here are the actual prints (printed in runs of 300, each sells for about $475):

Drifting Classroom psychadelic ukiyo-e.


Hebi Onna (Snake Woman) works really well as a traditional spooky ukiyo-e.


Makoto-chan peeing with scenic views.


Check out the "GWASHI!" hand-written in script, haha.


This is the one I'd get if I could afford one...

And finally, here's a promotional video from the GAoh Gallery site, with images of the prints and Umezu singing (and hamming it up, what's new?). Enjoy!


According to Gigazine, there will also be papercraft toys of Umezu's Makoto-chan House available at GAoh! Gallery:


[via UMEZZ.com & Gigazine]