BREAKING NEWS (FOUR MONTHS OLD EDITION)

SPEED RACER THE MOVIE:THE BLOG has footage of the updated Hollywood version of the beloved anime of yesteryear. Like lots of kids in the greater Philadelphia area I would get up and watch this over breakfast, and it holds a special place in my heart. I don't think this movie will win over very many old fans, although tons of people like me will fork over money to see it.* The whole thing looks like it was filmed in a psychedelic vomitorium, and all the actors speak English fluently (I think). I would have been MUCH happier if they'd filmed it in Japanese and gotten the old voice actors to over-dub it as frenetically as possible. God bless you Peter Fernandez!


*LIKE me. Chances are I will not be seeing this.

MORE BEARS!!! THIS TIME WITH KUNG-FU GRIP

Maybe I blog about animals a bit too much in here but as you know the Japanese love them even more than I do. Especially when they do something adorable, like stand on their hind legs or grasp their little heads in agony. This particular bear (not pictured above, by the way) lives in Hiroshima, and knows KUNG FU! He has a stick, and he knows how to use it!　It seems that hunters killed his parents and stuck the little guy in a zoo. These days he's biding his time, planning his vengeance. Asahi Shimbun has the story here: Video can be found here:

ANCIENT ANIME

"Namakura Gatana" (The Dull Katana) is not the oldest animated feature from Japan (that honor belongs to Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki), but it's certainly close. First screened in 1917, it was recently rediscovered sitting in a box in Osaka and is ready for screening once again、along with an animated movie from the following year, "Urashima Taro."

The Asahi Shimbun has the story here:

The Katana is NOT a Toy

Let the buyer beware..

Basically, if you are going to buy a crappy fake katana make sure you don't go around smacking things with it.

Ninja School

The Asahi Shinbun goes to Ninja School, and finds out that it's mostly white guys. Who doesn't love ninjas? The Japanese, apparently. It has, I suppose, become a bit of a cliche for westerners to gush about these masked killers but, like sumo, the locals just don't seem to go for it anymore. Too caught up in western sports, Japanese kids no longer have time for shuriken, water-walking and opinion polls. Opinion polls? No, seriously, wikipedia swears its true. Despite the best efforts of a handful of dedicated ninja, it seems to be going the way of the rest of old Japan (namely , although it is, apparently, still possible to meet a ninja on the street. Godspeed you black-clad death-bringers!!