Man, had a helluva few weeks.
First of all, I managed to squeeze in I am Legend at the theatre. Good flick. I was pleasantly surprised even though it deviated quite heavily from the book. They really handled the suspense and horror elements intellegently and effectively. I could see homage shots from various past horror movies but it never took away from what was happening in front of me so kudos for that. Will Smith was hulkingly huge in this movie. I suppose it fits the survival nature of his character and surrounding setting but he also plays the role of scientist which was less convincing. But, meh. I didn't mind so much about that. I don't wanna spoil anything so I'll just wrap up by mentioning the ending was a mixed bag but I could see why the choice was made. It's a choice that dramatically altered the meaning of the title phrase but, as a whole, it made the movie work. I could go into detail and pick out flaws in logic and whatnot but there's really no point. Good flick.
I also managed to squeeze in a day at Jump Festa last weekend with fellow artist Ryusuke. I was warned that it was just a merchandising op for Jump and Shueisha and skipped it last year but, y'know, I had a great time at the show. I didn't buy anything but they had enough things to gawk at that it made the trip more than worth it for me.
The inviting banner that almost warns you by it's size of the cash you can conceivably drop in the next few minutes. The great thing is, you don't have to spend if you don't want to. The show is completely free.
I'm used to long lines in Japan but this is ridiculous. Of course, the line on the right is for the show exclusive goods area while the line on the left is for entry into the general show. Talk about raking it in, eh?
A friendly but statuesque Naruto greets you at the door.
Along with the dude from Bleach.
Aside from the big displays, they had an assortment of sections for card games, video games and various subsidiery company booths. They also had a large stage for voice actors and artists to speak at but I missed all those since I got there late and the big names like Kishimoto and Kubo were due to appear the next day. It woulda been cool to put a face to the work but I don't think I could deal with the crowds that were guaranteed to come to see them talk. The most notable section for me was the original art galleries that were erected with actual pages and colour covers. Tight security and a no photo policy hampered any effort to take pictures of all that though. I was really surprised at the amount of artists working analog (aka pen and ink with dot-toner) and how much white-out was being used to fix mistakes. A large amount of cut-and-paste techniques too, like, digitally altering images, printing and cutting them out and glueing them to the final board. What you saw on the wall was exactly what was printed so the raw nature of everything was very refreshing. Pretty much everything you wanted to see was there and you were never forced to purchase anything.
Anyway, more photos in my flickr.
I'm kinda tired so I'll leave it at that. More updates soonish.
TAK
First of all, I managed to squeeze in I am Legend at the theatre. Good flick. I was pleasantly surprised even though it deviated quite heavily from the book. They really handled the suspense and horror elements intellegently and effectively. I could see homage shots from various past horror movies but it never took away from what was happening in front of me so kudos for that. Will Smith was hulkingly huge in this movie. I suppose it fits the survival nature of his character and surrounding setting but he also plays the role of scientist which was less convincing. But, meh. I didn't mind so much about that. I don't wanna spoil anything so I'll just wrap up by mentioning the ending was a mixed bag but I could see why the choice was made. It's a choice that dramatically altered the meaning of the title phrase but, as a whole, it made the movie work. I could go into detail and pick out flaws in logic and whatnot but there's really no point. Good flick.
I also managed to squeeze in a day at Jump Festa last weekend with fellow artist Ryusuke. I was warned that it was just a merchandising op for Jump and Shueisha and skipped it last year but, y'know, I had a great time at the show. I didn't buy anything but they had enough things to gawk at that it made the trip more than worth it for me.
The inviting banner that almost warns you by it's size of the cash you can conceivably drop in the next few minutes. The great thing is, you don't have to spend if you don't want to. The show is completely free.
I'm used to long lines in Japan but this is ridiculous. Of course, the line on the right is for the show exclusive goods area while the line on the left is for entry into the general show. Talk about raking it in, eh?
A friendly but statuesque Naruto greets you at the door.
Along with the dude from Bleach.
Aside from the big displays, they had an assortment of sections for card games, video games and various subsidiery company booths. They also had a large stage for voice actors and artists to speak at but I missed all those since I got there late and the big names like Kishimoto and Kubo were due to appear the next day. It woulda been cool to put a face to the work but I don't think I could deal with the crowds that were guaranteed to come to see them talk. The most notable section for me was the original art galleries that were erected with actual pages and colour covers. Tight security and a no photo policy hampered any effort to take pictures of all that though. I was really surprised at the amount of artists working analog (aka pen and ink with dot-toner) and how much white-out was being used to fix mistakes. A large amount of cut-and-paste techniques too, like, digitally altering images, printing and cutting them out and glueing them to the final board. What you saw on the wall was exactly what was printed so the raw nature of everything was very refreshing. Pretty much everything you wanted to see was there and you were never forced to purchase anything.Anyway, more photos in my flickr.
I'm kinda tired so I'll leave it at that. More updates soonish.
TAK
posted by TAK at 6:07 PM
