I saw a book on this guy a few years ago, didn’t pay attention to his name and had to do much research to rediscover Greg Irons. But how can I not help but feel affinity for a guy who worked in Underground comics and actually on one of my favorite films The Yellow Submarine, before reinventing himself in the world of tattoo? As for his death in BKK Thailand, soon after receiving “magic” protection tattoos: after seeing some cynicism expressed about this, may I offer an alternate view that perhaps the ink was only a final step before passing from this realm. Anyway, a great and interesting guy while he was here.

*Also want to note two additions to the film link here: Love Train of the Tenebrous Empire,which I’ve been following for a while; and the amazing UbuWeb, which I’m still exploring and will certainly be reposting from in the near future*

PATHS OF HATE long trailer from Platige Image on Vimeo.

It’s a difficult topic to write about. On the one hand you have Chinglish filled articles like this Xi Ya Ya expose. On the other, there is a lack of info from western sources. For example, passing a shop window in Beijing earlier this fall I saw some of the very cool Calabash Brothers mentioned here, but then can find no info on IMDB, and it’s only from ’87. Something tells me there are many holes from that source with international films – at least for now. I’ll stay with it though and report more when I can.

Also be sure to check out Golden Shoes (embedding disabled).

Caught this animated short on IFC late night a few weeks ago. Interesting animation, cool story and music. Starts out almost in a C. McCarthy zone but then goes much softer, still with it’s own important story to tell. Searching around on youtube (which I don’t recommend, as that title, as you can imagine is well used…) I did find this trailer for a DVD of which it was part. The voice over and black and white animated bits are what is relevant here, though I’d like to see the other work as well. I’ll be looking for more from German Andreas Hykade.

The Animated Heavy Metal Parking Lot from Leslie Supnet on Vimeo.

Different than her clip they ran on Twitch a few weeks ago, this is an animated version of scenes from Heavy Metal Parking Lot.

music: Trentemoller’s Snowflake

Here’s one resource page, and goodreads. A heavy hitter of 20th century outre fiction! Two other BBC articles on JGB references in music and as a Seer of the Atomic Age.

Finally found a great Ballardarian animated tribute. I’ll be doing more research on this filmmaker!

1934 Fetiche Mascotte is one of Terry Gilliam’s fav’s from Ladislaw Starewicz.

Interview about the piece.

The music seems sadly dated already, but if modern Eastern Europe is mysterious enough – Eastern Europe of the future is a shoe in. There is another trailer for Technotise: Edit and I at the Twitch site.

I’ve got to hand it to ya China, I was impressed by the opening ceremony! Photos from Boston Globe. Never mind you used the mind of director Zhang Yimou, who The Party had earlier banned the work of for seeming critical. I’ve enjoyed at least six of his films myself, and we won’t call this egg on your face (no pun). My country loves to first persecute, then later revere, it’s artists as well.

Consider me “visually stunned”…

Bio

Yumiko’s first ever drawing, at the age of four, featured a hyena devouring a zebra, while a vulture looked on. Her obsession with wild animals hasn’t abated – her Infectious Car Art is populated by pandas, octopi and tropical fish – but her style has certainly developed. These days, Yumi’s animals share the spotlight with her pretty and punky Japanese girls, intertwined with traditional Japanese imagery and American pop art stylings. Yumi’s art has hung on museum walls around the world, and is collected by celebrities and rock and roll legends. But she says “I’d rather my paintings hang next to rock star pin-ups than on museum walls. Ultimately I want to connect with people all over the world on that level.” What better way than on the blank canvas that is your car?

Interview

What’s the name of your Infectious art pieces?
Strawberry Milk, Grip, Impossible and Matching Geeks.

Describe your style in one sentence:
A mix of Japanese tradition and Western pop input, with the natural world intertwined to share the spotlight.

Your beautiful ladies really look like you! Are you drawing yourself over and over again in different scenarios?
I’ve never drawn myself in my work. They are someone else, but all with long black hair and dark eyes like me.

Why do you weave so many animals into your art?
I’m a big animal lover or maybe I should say, I’m an animal fan. Wildlife is the most passionate thing for me. It’s something I always learn from and it opens my eyes. My curiosity for wildlife never ends. It inspires a passion inside me to recreate what I see in my work.

What animal do you find most fascinating and why?
I have much love for predators, especially wolves and tigers. They are being hunted and I paint them because I have a passion to share their plight.

Who are your heroes and what are your inspirations?
My heroes are action stars Hiroyuki Sanada and Tony Jaa and Mirco Crocop, a martial artist. My inspirations are music, movies, old yakuza films, manga, American cartoons (Tom & Jerry, Disney), martial arts and wildlife.

Has the slightly erotic nature of your art – the bondage, the cosplay -ever got you in trouble?
That has been an unintentional aspect of my work that others have brought to my attention. It’s never gotten me in trouble, but I’ve always been thoroughly amazed by what some people see in my work. I don’t know what to say…

You’ve painted girls wearing Van Halen colored white, red and black dresses and have titles of paintings like (The Scorpions) “Rock You Like a Hurricane” – do you harbor (a not so) secret passion for hard rock hair bands?
Those guys are my heroes! I’m happy to be the one female artist that I know about who brings on the hard rock.

Could you describe your typical day?
I wake up at 5:30am, have breakfast, exercise, etc. I start painting at 7:30. Lunch is at 12:00. I go back to painting at 1:00 until dinner at 8:00. After I eat, I paint a little more for as long as I can. I’m in bed at 11:00.

Can you describe your process in creating a piece of art?
First, I make a sketch on a thin paper. Second, I trace it on canvas or wood board. Third, I paint with acrylic using a paint brush. Last, I draw in small details like animal hair with a drawing pen.

What was your last memorable dream?
I was Michael Scofield from “Prison Break”, captured in an office room by some bad guys. I fought with them to escape. Then I ran to a train station and jumped onto a moving train.

If you had to draw yourself a tattoo design what would it be and where would you have it?
I would get a tattoo of my cat Teddo who I had for ten years. We were like mother and daughter until she died from cancer. I would probably get her on an arm.

Would you mind telling us something about you that makes you blush slightly?
I feel a little embarrassed when I have a misunderstanding with English. I’m still learning so it can be difficult at times.

Are there any interesting projects coming up that you can share with us?
I’ll have some merchandise available soon and I’ll also be in some art books.

car decals from Infectious

myspace

and her personal site

I’ve only recently discovered this pop psychedelic creation of Guy Peellaert, and haven’t seen any of the actual comics yet. (great, another expensive hobby no one needs: collecting vintage European comics…) And sadly, I sense none will add up to be as cool as this animated sequence, a slow load but well worth it! I especially love the lampoon of the three major western religions included.

Wow! What a satisfying film. Great soundtrack; animation with occasional intricate layers, amazing use of negative/positive space constantly, at times simplistic, then lush and detailed at moments that point to a Persian pride. I was unfamiliar with the graphic novel but was completely drawn into the tale: Marjane Satrapi’s story, and a first hand account of the history of Iran over the end of the 20th century. A testimonial of The Individual against varying forces of ideology, repression, unsatisfying relationships, depression, and the rest. No bullshit Hollywood ending either. See a trailer at the main site which is a bit small, or a larger version on IMBD after sitting through an inane commercial – you know, American style… I urge everyone to see this film.

Here’s a link to his myspace page.

No animals were harmed, only slightly annoyed, in the making of this film. Make your own through the site!

I had a “what ever happened to” moment with this distinctive comic artist recently. I was a fan of ‘Stray Toasters‘ in the 80′s, apparently there has been some work on a film project – not sure how I feel about that, but I guess this would be the era in which to do it. If it does happen, hopefully they will keep it nice and dark. His main site. He’s also been working with Roger Waters, which is one of those “surprising, but not” discoveries…

Feeling old? Well that’s because you are-

I was sent the link to this site, it’s all in Japanese but I’m trying to figure out translation software, at least for the text bits. You can see many trailers linked here, again, no english subtitles, but it’s really cool stuff. My education continues…

Ganime is also the name of a kaiju mutant stone crab, controlled by Space Amoeba.

A few weeks back, I was with a friend in Oxford Comics in ATL and got some small press stuff. I was really taken by Jeffrey Brown’s ‘Feeble Attempts’ and as there are various coincidences in his path and my own I decided to write him. Not only did he write back, but agreed to do an email interview, since the podcast isn’t feasible for now. Here’s the result:

-When you were younger, what were some titles, both hero and indie/small
press that you really loved?

I started off with X-Men and every X-related comic – Wolverine, X-Force,
Excalibur, New Mutants, etc – along with a healthy dose of other Marvel
titles like The Thing, Spider-Man, G.I.Joe…from there I moved on to a lot
of the European comics coming out of Heavy Metal, especially Moebius, and it
wasn’t long after that I got started on my first alternative comics,
Eightball and Dirty Plotte.

-What was your experience like working with McSweeny’s? How were you asked?
How has it gone so far in terms of your ideal expectations?

Chris Ware edited the McSweeney’s comics issue, and so invited me to
participate. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with some
of the people there like Eli Horowitz, Ed Park, Andrew Leland…that issue
of McSweeney’s still manages to introduce people to my work, even though
it’s been a few years, so aside from having been a fan of McSweeney’s for
the past 7 or 8 years, it’s been a good experience that continues to pay
off.

-What was it like working with TAL (This American Life)?

That was another great experience, and my first introduction to really
working with an editor. Jonathan Goldstein was the producer worked with, who
happens to be a pretty good writer himself. We spent a few months working to
translate scenes from ‘Clumsy’ into prose that would read well on the radio.
It was actually a good way to somewhat deconstruct my writing style.

-In “Feeble Attempts” you reference working in a video store for a while.
Any other shlep jobs you’ve had to endure and would care to comment on?

I’ve had three jobs basically: a paper route in high school, working for
Barnes&Noble since I came to Chicago(managing the music department for about
five of those years), and in between I worked for the Wooden Shoe Factory &
Holland Bowl Mill in Holland, Michigan. My job there was to run the gift
shop while spending most of my time decorating Dutch wooden shoes and wooden
salad bowls, woodbruning windmills onto them and painting tulips on the
toes.

-Are you now able to maintain your lifestyle entirely on the fruits of your
own creative labor? If so, I think that’s completely amazing! If not, how
far are you from this?

In the past year or so I’ve made the transition to making my living from the
books. I guess it helps that I’ve got so many out…

-What was it like to come to Portland and do a reading for Powell’s? Other
impressions of Portland?

I actually did the reading for the Powell’s location here in Chicago, which
was a fun time actually, since I ended up improvising that after my original
plan to read something else got sidetracked by equipment problems. I did
sign at a store called Counter Media in Portland, and that was the last time
I’ve done a poetry reading. I had a good time in Portland, very laid back
and lots of nice people.

-Who do you think are some of the hottest indie comic makers today?

Anders Nilsen, Paul Hornschemeier, Gabrielle Bell, Kevin Huizenga are the
four that come to mind immediately, although there’s plenty more who maybe
aren’t as well known who are poised to make the move to the list, like Dan
Zettwoch, Dash Shaw, John Pham…

-Other than “Star Wars”, what are some films that turned you on?

David Lynch’s ‘Dune,’ everything from Terry Gilliam, ‘Evil Dead’, ‘Bottle
Rocket’…lately Michel Gondry’s films are among my favorites.

-What music are you currently loving? What is some music you’ve loved for a
long time, and maybe some stuff from your past that has fallen by the side?

Currently the new albums from Metric, Andrew Bird, Lavender Diamond,
Polyphonic Spree…old favorites would be Microphones(now called Mount
Eerie) and Neutral Milk Hotel. Fallen by the wayside would have to be
Fugazi, the one band from the distant past that made it on to my ipod if not
into heavy rotation.

-How did you get hooked up with Top Shelf, and what has been your experience
there?

Top Shelf initially passed on publishing ‘Clumsy’ but offered to distribute
for me. The book started selling too well and I didn’t have enough copies
left to meet demand, so Top Shelf took over publishing my books altogether
at that point. I’ve been pretty happy with Top Shelf…there’s been a couple
of times I’ve gotten a little upset with this or that, but in the end
they’ve really supported me and helped push my books a ton, leading back to
the ‘maintaining my lifestyle on the fruits of my labor’ issue…

Here’s a link to some other Jeffrey info and the Top Shelf site.

I often bitch about the ATL film scene (and Athens is even worse…) and people tend to not believe Portland’s to be superior when I try to explain this to them. That’s their problem: I definitely know better. Having seen some recently released powerful stuff before I left, I wasn’t surprised to find the same things playing here, plus various lingering gems now in Portland’s $3 theatre circut, but it’s really about the vast number of small but great films that also run here. TWO D+D documentaries have come out in recent months? WTF!
So I read about the Floating World Animation festival going on at the comic shop and headed down. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, but imagine my surprise when I found the event not only free and connected to another gallery full of illustrative art, but also with a free liquor bar! Goddamn, I love this town*

The program broke down into a first set of jewels under 10 minutes, then a retrospective on the influencial Adam Beckett, Hooliganship played live in front of a pseudo-Mario Bros. animated set, then another group of shorts put together by e*rock, but by then I was mostly tanked and talking with Pam Turner, Beckett’s biographer.
I can’t recreate the entire experience for you obviously, but here’s some info I was able to get on several of the animators presented: Joanna Priestly, Christophe Blanc, Howie Shia, Mariola Brillowska, Aidan Koch, Graham Annable, the supercool Rob Chiu, Vivian Wong and that’s all for now. You fuckers can do more research if you’d like from the FWC info provided, I’m too hungover…

I am pleased to report I believe I was among the first general admin. audience to view this film in ATL. Thanks CL. It’s not Miyazaki, but on par with that stuff: amazing plot with elements of childishness, quirky creativity, and all the tentacles and sacrine technopop you’d expect from quality SF anime. It also strangely links to my previous post, eveidence that I am either losing my mind, onto something, or both… See it!

Anyway, the UK and Ireland have banned what they see as an inappropriatey disturbing game from the envelope pushers at Rockstar, called Manhunt 2. Others are attempting to defend the game’s artistic merit and both sides end up looking sort of silly.
I can defenitely picture a future situation in which mental deviants are counciled through VR therapy, exploring darker recesses of their minds without anyone actually being injured. How long before America starts televising executions either through cable or online access?

A longtime favorite I could still watch 1,000 times more. But don’t let people tell you Wonderwall is an equal, it’s more like Magical Mystery Tour, i.e. not ‘all that’.

There really is some good advice given here that can be applied to finding lost keys, checkbooks, as well as lost selves. But one shudders to imagine any child conversing with a character dressed like this dandy, much less a chap who can vanish into his own yo yo, or sing songs about what might be behind your face. But when you think this tidbit was essentially made for a child who lived in a large urban area in the 70′s, these psychedelic characters are far less sinister than street reality was at the time.

Space Giants(Japanese title ‘Ambassador Magma’) came a few years later to the Americans, though the shows were created at the same time, and was after school afternoon programming during the week. The show itself was rather lame, but watch a few episodes linked to the intro in youtube to see how far your disbelief could be suspended with the lofi changeover of Gam from boy to rocket, not to mention Rodac’s ‘Fro. But I suppose it was the idea of having a whistle which could summon robo-saviors that could carry the show in a young boy’s mind. Love the jazz themesong and the way everyone is caught up with the story idea during the intro.

Here’s a link to a clip from another great film of his called ‘Conspirators of Pleasure’, though the actual clip doesn’t have any animation so I went with the other. He’s also done versions of ‘Faust’ and ‘Alice and Wonderland’. His most popular film in North America may be ‘Little Otik’ so I mention it as well in case it might ring a bell with you, reader.