Since I’m writing about a teen girl for ILZ, I thought I’d do a little study up but instead I found this and did a little throwing up.

I know I trust BUZZ Marketing.

At last, we’ve come to the promised land.

The puzzling PROLOGUE to I ♥ Zombies entitled LOST IN TRANSLATION is now available for your viewing pleasure and/or displeasure. Links to subsequent chapters will go live on the Table of Contents-like hub page as they become available. Artwork is an original design by me –an intentional mix of scrapbooking paper cutouts and digital photoshopping. Hey, I’m no artist!

Anyway,

Lemme know what you think. I’m hoping to really take advantage of the net serial format and your ideas, thoughts and questions could really help shape the story to come. I am not ashamed to say, this is my first full length story. Not ashamed, just really nervous.

After you read go watch the Showtime Original Series The United States of Tara. It’s written by Diablo Cody (JUNO) and stars Toni Colette as a multiple personality sufferer. Good stuff, not nearly as silly as the premise would have you believe.

 Hiya there my lovely Inu-tachi, why the long faces?

I have now officially passed  the cutoff date for “The New Year,” having just waved goodbye to the Chinese iteration this past weekend. Are there any other New Years I could use to stretch the release date on I LOVE ZOMBIES a little further?

My apologies to the threes of you waiting on my long delayed never-rumoured serial novel.  A lot of behind the scenes issues on the technical side have stopped the forward momentuming.

I considered posting something here to whet your appetite but I kind of want it consumed in its own environment like how an astronaut eats freeze dried ice cream in space and thinks it’s the bee’s knees but here on earth it’s just foul.

Thanks to everyone and anyone who watched F is for Film Episode 1 on YouTube (you know who you are,  hero) . Tell all your friends about us! Episode 2 F_THEDARKKNIGHT drops next weekend with the rest to follow every two weeks there after.  It was actually supposed to be the first episode chronologically but Speed Racer, which was filmed fourth, was so much tighter and more visually arresting. TDK is still pretty badass tho’ and features the first appearance of several running gags.

I just pitched the next episode from the new production batch, and I’m hoping we can go into production in the first week of Feb and have a faster turn around -now that we know what we’re doing.

On the Yochien Ronin front, Ying and I have written an odd new song. It’s probably going to be our next release if we ever get around to recording it. At gunpoint I would describe it as “a rocking sea shanty” or perhaps, “a spiritual drinking song”. I’m especially proud of the harmonies we came up with, something we didn’t attempt with any of our previous works. The lyrics are probably my most effecting yet. I just hope when translated they still retain their power.

Aside from the holy trinity, there are a few new things brewing here but it’s far too early to discuss them. Hopefully, I’ll have news on that front in the coming months.

Wishing y’all the best, Happy New New (possibly New) Year.

-b

Anyone see this singer Enomoto Kurumi? She’s produced by Bump of Chicken’s Fujiwara Motoh. I read a funny heading in Nikkei Entertainment Magazine which shortened Bump of Chiken’s Fujiwara Moto to the much less respectable sounding Bump Fujiwara. Sounds like a manzai comedian or even a female pro wrestler

Anyway I like Kurumi’s song, but her voice does nothing for me.

F is for Film Episode 1: F_SPEEDRACER is now up on the F is For Film YouTube Channel. Make sure to leave us a comment on the YouTube video since the other members of the team won’t see them if you leave them here. Thanks!

 Thanks for Waiting! Hopefully, it was worth it.

Translator’s Note: In the song the singer and his friend switch backpacks which becomes important when trying to interpret his lines about “the things which I left in your care” which presumably means the things in his backpack. He says he doesn’t need them which may harken back to his line about those things we carry with us  being fakes, and that the important thing is that they mean something to us, not that they have meaning. He’s basically saying, I could lose all those things and as along as I have you I can still be who I am. This is metaphorically speaking of course.

Bump of Chicken – Arrows

we pretended we were explorers on a great adventure, on a scribbled map
one lost child met another, in front of the area for nonflammable trash
with baggage packed full of all my most despised memories
“I’m never going anywhere, just bury me here,” I laughed.

of course we resemble each other, it’s just that kind of place.

we ask one another where we each came from, it’s silly
what were we thinking, telling each other how we got here.
I’ve been everywhere I ever wanted to go, underneath the clouds about to burst forth with tears.
I haven’t lost anything, but I feel somehow empty, and yet still…

I have to tell you, “It’s OK”
but I’m not OK, in fact I’m not moving at all. Ah, well…

What I found was real. Finding you was real.
If it’s something that’s going to get thrown away, I’ll hold it. So give it here.
I see, as long as I have this, I won’t ever go hungry
let’s leave this place together, let’s go.

we pretended we were explorers making new friends, in a sudden downpour
one lost child met another, and we switched backpacks
when we’ve been everywhere we want to go, and we’ve seen quite enough
we’ll climb those clouds, so close and yet so very far away.

we’re fooling ourselves about just one thing
and we both see it
if no matter what we carry with us, it will never be ours
then no matter how much it means to us, it’s fake
but that doesn’t change that it means something to us
that which I left in your care, I don’t need it
no doubt if you’re with me, I can be a lost child and still be true to myself
let’s leave this place together

we pretended we were explorers on a great adventure, underneath the clouds that had stopped crying
even though we were apart, we were still in front of that area for nonflammable trash.
I was shocked when we did it again, switching our backpacks
my baggage became packed full of wonderful memories

I have to say this right now
I have to say it to myself, to that part of me that can’t let you go.

It’s ok. What we found was real. Finding you was real.
I can’t throw it away so I take it with me, that time I spent as a lost child
those I met were alive, and so were you, laughing
You walked with me when I was lost. It’s not fake baggage.
With this, I think I can stay true to myself.
Let’s leave this place together.

Tears meet other tears and build this arc of song
if we meet again after I’ve been everywhere I wanted to go
without the baggage, we’ll cross that arc just two bodies
and climb that cloud, so close and yet so very far away.

Translated By: Brian Stewart & Takako Sakuma

I started working on F is for Film back in June of last year. It was supposed to come out at the end of the summer, but between a virus that wiped out my friend’s computer and our day jobs it got delayed until 2009. But the New Year brings new hope for F. Our YouTube Channel is open and the first glimpse teaser clip is up.

As usual, it started from a very simple idea = practice on camera acting with a cheap-o movie review/skit show. And then one day it took a turn for the bizarre.

I hope you enjoy. I’ll have more info on a release date soon.

Anyone else watch NHK’s annual Kouhaku Utagassen this New Years?

It was certainly a mixed bag. They trotted out the same decrepit Enka acts whose performances seem each successive year to be less about the songs than the garish costume oneupsmanship. But if anything the show belonged to Ohashi Nozomi who is just about the most angelic child performer I’ve ever seen. She opened the show and it was a smart choice. Also smart? Bringing on Nakama Yukie for hostess duties, although neutered of her usual character humor, she was competent and easy on the eyes. Her co-host Nakai-kun was also a cool choice because he spent most of his time ragging on the fly-by-night acts of the evening, suggesting in his dry manner that their fifteen minutes was up. Speaking of which…. the humor was painful. It’s hard to jump in when you haven’t lived with the trends for a year but, even still… this year seemed even more lowest common denominator than usual. Does Japanese comedy not evolve anymore? Is it just catchphrase after catchphrase combined with some kind of ridiculous furitsuke? I can’t choose the worst offender but the Gentlemen, or The Trannies (not the acts real names) were both unwatchable even in their limited roles. Again, thank you Nakai-kun. Now if only I could get you to stop singing.

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