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Hey Babies, such a bad pachyderm am I. It’s been aaages, but never fear, chitlins, your ever-luvvin’ Elephant-Head’s been on the case to report all the fun going on around the Temple.

Our Beloved Apple has been besieged with Asian Film Festivals. Three different festivals in three weeks. We reported about the Subway Cinema New York Asian Film Festival, then there was Japan Cuts, and the latest Asiafest was the New York Asian American International Film Festival 2008 *phew*. Held at the gorgeous Asia Society, lovers of cinema from the East were treated to 9 days and nights of new and cutting edge films, panels and Q&A’s with filmmakers, and Egads do those folks know how to throw an afterparty! Look below for some pictures of some of the luminaries in attendance. Special blessings to the fabulous Clara Yun and Chris of Asian CineVision for keeping this pachyderm upright!

We made another sojourn off the island, this time in the quest for art. We made sure we ran to the Murakami exhibit at the fabulous Brooklyn Museum before it fled our shores. The artist takes a lot of guff for allegedly neither painting nor constructing his pieces himself, but I simply see Murakami as the natural successor to Andy Warhol, who made his fortunes elevating the inane and everyday into works of (highly commercial) art. The joy of all that mass-produced perverse, anime-esque goodness went straight to our hearts.

WARNING! The pics at the museum features material that may be considered adult, so please skip over if you are disturbed by plastic nekkidity.

YAY for Temple Visitors! We have our chats with the fabulous cast and director of The Wackness and a tête-à-tête with director and Beastie Boy, Adam Yauch about his latest opus, Gunnin' For That #1 Spot. Click their respective posters to share the luv.

And finally, yes, we do actually have some movie reviews, including our ever-luvvin’ Dollie Banner’s review of The Animation Show 2008!

Enjoy!

MG - 7.28.08

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I’ve been a bad, bad elephant. I haven’t kept up with reporting all the great things going on as I should be. The punctuality gods are going to take away my honey-roasteds any minute. I pine for your forgiveness acolytes and your understanding that sometime four hands just aren’t enough.

Gerron wi’ et, you! Here’s some stuff.

Still in the throes of the Mystic East we had the priceless pleasure of meeting a true legend of Japanese cinema. Thanks to the lovely Jenny Jediny & the good folks at the Film Forum we were graced to be in the presence of legendary star of such films like Yojimbo, Ran and Kill!, Tatsuya Nakadai as the FF began a retrospective of Nakadai’s best films running now through July 17^th. It was a fascinating chat with 75 year-old Nakadai who openly discussed about that film and his work with such great directors as Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi. He was funny and candid when answering a question I asked him about today’s Japanese actors and his thoughts on why they just don’t make ‘em like they used to.

I also attended a chat with one of the true innovators of modern Japanese cinema. Satoshi Kon joked following a screening of his anime masterpiece, Paprika (which we reviewed here), how surprised he was at having a retrospective after only having made four feature films. He thought he should quit now while he was ahead. The Film Society of Lincoln Center retrospective of the works of Satoshi Kon ran over the weekend and featured the entire Paranoia Agent series shown over two days. Kon is currently working on a new project that appears to star two characters featured in the background of Paprika. We couldn’t find out more, sadly, but we did shoot everything in the wonderful gallery of Kon’s painting and original film art (Special Thanks to Gabriele Caroti). It’s worth making the trip up to the Walter Reade just to see his brilliant artwork.

I promise to get highlights of both chats up soon.

Our darling Peter Tatara of the New York Anime Festival is trying to kill us. His announcement heralding the arrival of the creator of one of the Temple’s Anime paradigms, Vampire Hunter D, had our little lump of charcoal heart pause for a good three seconds. This September, Yoshitaka Amano is coming to the New York Anime Festival!

Oh boy, I think I need a defibrillator. Click on D to find out more.

In movie news, I’m going to let my faith in Hong Kong films speak for me when I voice my intrigue about Bangkok Dangerous. It stars Nicolas Cage, but is directed by Danny & Oxide - The Pang Brothers and seems an all-around volatile combination. Curious me.

Ch-ch-check out the Bangkok Dangerous trailer on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7jW6LtJwEI

And hey, we’ve even got some new movie reviews to peruse!  So click it 'n dig it, babies.

Enjoy!

MG - 6.30.08

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Hey Babies,

Just a quick word to inform y'all that the fair metropolis of New York City has been set upon by that sensational celebration of films from the other side of the globe, the New York Asian Film Festival. NYAFF v.7 has begun and much eastern-flavoured merriment and excitement ensues. Running from June 20th through July 6th, this year’s selection is a mixture of the fabulous, provocative and bizarre. According to the festival’s adorable creator, Grady Hendrix, all the kids seem to be piling in for the US premiere of “L: Change the World”, the sequel to the madly successful previous two Death Note live action films, starring Kenichi Matsuyama, as the eponymous eccentric forensics genius.

The premiere started off with a bang as your ever-luvvin’ Elephant-head made the acquaintance of a lovely Korean libation called Jinro soju. This gorgeous vodka-esque spirit was mixed into many apple martinis, cosmopolitans and other cocktails. The Jinro soju, along with copious amounts of free Kirin beer, made for a very friendly gathering at the NYAFF opening night party. We were very happy to run into the director of Jô Odagiri’s latest, “Then Summer Came,” the renowned playwright, Ryo Iwamatsu, who kindly posed for us.  See?

Besides the latest Death Note film, there are new contributions from Takeshi Miike (- featuring Quentin Tarantino {?!}), two pictures by Johnnie To, “Accuracy of Death,” starring Temple favourite Takeshi Kaneshiro as a Shinigami intrigued with the humans he’s sent to dispatch. Lots of great stuff, boys & girls, catch the festival while you can!

Click on the adorable “L” poster to take you to movie info, showtimes and tickets. 

More stuff on the way, dolls, stay tuned.

Enjoy!

MG - 6.21.08

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Look East, Young Elephant...

Well kiddies, what a lovely invasion we’ve been hosting from The Land of the Rising Sun! Last weekend we had our eyes filled with the Harajuku/Akihabara-influenced gorgeousness at First Annual Lolita & Maid Day at Kinokuniya Books. This week we had a wonderful double whammy from the Bleach movie screening (- thanks to the fabulous folks of Viz Media) and the screamingly-anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

 First, we stopped in at the special premiere screening of the debut feature film from our current favourite anime, Bleach: Memories of Nobody. The screening was attended by Bleach Producer, Ken Hagino and Bleach’s Character Designer, Masashi Kudo. There was also a special appearance from our favourite Gigai container, the fabulous Kon on hand to get much deserved fan luv. Each member of the audience was given a special Gotei 13 armband and all were challenged to shout their best “Bankai!!!” along with the creators for a filmed segment for TV Tokyo. There was a special video message to the audience from Bleach daddy Tite Kubo himself (- who treated us all to a mesmerising How to Draw Ichigo lesson). Kubo-sensei confirmed his attendance at the San Diego Comic Con. Producer Hagino-san gifted us with the exclusive announcement that the third Bleach movie would soon start production.

Much fun! See?

Today, we dropped in to the UniQlo shop in SoHo for a little trunk time with the creator of the legendary video game Metal Gear Solid. Hideo Kojima conducted an autograph signing for some 300-plus lucky fans to celebrate the arrival of the latest chapter in the MGS saga, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Allegedly the final go-round for one Mr. Solid Snake, Metal Gear mania manifested itself on our shores over two consecutive signings with Kojima-sensei and the lovely Yumi Kikuchi, the real life avatar of the game’s Raging Raven; the first taking place hours before at a midnight Virgin Megastore event. We saw many shrieking boys, one Solid Snake in our crowd, one Playstation 3 signed, a few Metal Gear NES cartridges, and a few dog tags and Ipods. The very gracious, genuinely humble Kojima-sensei shook hands and warmly greeted all comers despite obvious exhaustion.

Look!

(- Special Blessings to Taeko from NewYork-Tokyo.com for making our meeting possible)  

I don’t know what’s with all the good things from the Land O’ Mifune, but I’ll take it. More stuff coming, soon, kids.

Enjoy!

MG - 6.12.08

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Hey, Dearest Acolytes, so much going on round the Shrine. Crazy little bits of joy going on all over the place. Let’s hit it, babies:

Announcement about the Bleach: Memories of Nobody New York screening:

Bleach Character Designer Masashi Kudo and Producer Ken Hagino will be making a rare US appearance and speaking before the June 11^th screening. Sweetness.

We managed to take some time from our Devotions for some people watching down at the Kinokuniya Bookstore just in time for their first annual Lolita & Maid Fashion Day. Seeing all the lovely girls (- and boys!) dressed in their Victorian ruffley finest was a treat. Look! 

At long last, Groove Me has been updated on the Listen, Hear page. I’m so happy to share some of our favourite hymns and boogie-down anthems. This time we’ve included goodies from Go Home Productions, an Amy Winehouse remix, the Bleach Anime’s peppy OreSkaBand, Cat Stevens as a kitten, Mr. James Todd Smith (- I hear the Ladies Love him), some Daft Punk action, and the Japanese phenomena known as Gackt. (- Watch this space for a lot more news about this JRock wonder and some of his equally fab colleagues coming soon!) There’s other happiness on our CG Victrola, too, so Dig It, babies! Click here for Audial Fabulousity!

And last but never least; we have some New Reviews at the Zoo! Click on the titles for our latest Rants n’ Raves.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Sex and the City

Mongol

Take Out

Kung Fu Panda

Enjoy!

MG - 6.9.08

Shrine Messenger - Disney Edition

Hey kids, some Disney movie news for ya.

Why do I have a feeling that this little independent film will make a few shekels? Zac Efron, Ashley Tisdale, Vanessa (please keep your kit on) Hudgens - Here’s your High School Musical 3 poster.

Also here’s some other Disney fun that I’m really looking forward to. The good folks at the Mouse House have given us links to some Wall-E shorts: I think I’m going to expire from the cuteness. I can’t wait for this movie Go Pixar!

All in Quicktime cos that's how we roll:

WALL•E “Meets A Magnet” Vignette

WALL•E “Meets A Hula Hoop” Vignette

Enjoy!

MG - 5.23.08

Shrine Messenger - (Not as) Urgent Bulletin

Charlaine Harris Interview / Bleach Movie Screenings / Tite Kubo in San Diego

Hey kids, more news on the home front and from eastern shores.

I’m so excited for our first foray into literary tête-à-tête. In other words, we just had our first author interview! I’m even more thrilled that the person who graced us with that honour was the wonderful and fabulous Ms. Charlaine Harris, creator of the Sookie Stackhouse and the Southern Vampires Mysteries series. She couldn’t have been gracious, funny or delightful as we discussed Sookie’s latest adventure, From Dead to Worse, which just charted in at #6 on the New York Times Bestseller list in its first week on sale. She also talked about Sookie’s Hollywood debut as the new HBO series, True Blood, adapted from the books and produced by Alan Ball (American Beauty & Six Feet Under) and starring Anna Paquin as Sookie, makes its way onto television screens September 7^th.

Click on the piccy to go to the interview.

More Viz screenings! This time I don’t want you guys to miss out on the fun of catching another two night movie event as the first feature film from our insanely beloved anime series Bleach, unspools across America. Memories of Nobody follows Ichigo Kurosaki, a not-so-average Japanese schoolboy and part time Shinigami (Soul Reaper) as he discovers a mysterious girl called Senna, a Shinigami who may be the key to the destruction of the World of the Living and the Soul Society. Can Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and their crew save the Shinigami and save the world. Find out June 11^th & 12^th, folks

Here’s the tickets link: www.FathomEvents.com

Lastly, on the Bleach tip, here might be the last bit of new I post for a while. The San Diego Comic Con is coming, boys and girls. The biggest comic show in America and I had no intention of going until I just heard that the creator of Bleach, Tite Kubo is going to be appearing. It’s his first North American appearance and he’ll be introducing a screening of Memories of Nobody and partaking in other events throughout the weekend of July 24^th -27^th. There’s a “Bleach Day” happening on Saturday, July 26^th and for those dressed in their best Bleach attire at the con, you may have a chance to win prizes. Oh, the beauty. So I’m off to start hitchhiking now, I should get to San Diego by July 27^th…

Bleach Piccys (Courtesy of Viz Pictures)

MG - 5.22.08

Shrine Messenger - Urgent Bulletin!

Death Note Live Action Movie Screenings

May 20^th & May 21^st

Heads up, babies! For two nights across America, Viz Pictures & National Cinemedia is hosting screenings of the first Death Note Live Action movie.

Light Yagami, a brilliant student receives the power of gods when mysterious black book called the Death Note falls into his hands. The book allows him to anonymously kill any person whose name he enters into it and soon that power goes right to Light’s pretty little head. The police cannot stop Light, now operating under the name, “Kira.” and it seems the only one who can is an eccentric, reclusive sweets-addicted genius called “L.” Both young and exceedingly intelligent, the two rivals play a deadly game of cat and mouse as each tries to discover the identity of the other before more people die.

Children, RUN to see this! The live action version of the insanely popular anime - which we raved about here - is exciting, funny and absolutely thrilling. The two leads, Tatsuya Fujiwara (Battle Royale – Yay!), as the bored, arrogant Light, and Kenichi Matsuyama (Linda Linda Linda - more Yay!) as the shaggy haired, determined boy-genius, L, are both canny and clever and play off each other very well. Matsuyama is often hilarious, and Fujiwara is cool as ice as the schoolboy murderer; they couldn’t have been more perfectly cast. Director Shusuke Kaneko (Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and the best Godzilla film ever made, Godzilla: GMK!) does a wonderful job of capturing the excitement of the drama while giving us a wonderfully realistic rendering of Ryuk, the Shinigami (Death God) whose bright idea it was to toss the Death Note in Light’s path in the first place. Good stuff, folks.

Click on the Death Note for more info on what promises to be the most fun.

Seriously, go now!

Death Note Piccys (Courtesy of Viz Pictures)

MG - 5.19.08

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Hey babies, a little bit of back to basics for us after a couple of weeks of swanning about the fun and games of the New York Comic Con, the Tribeca Film Festival and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's beautiful Sakura Matsuri (– that's Cherry Blossom Festival to you, Gai-jin) featuring and unique and brilliant JPop, group, ZAN. We do have our exclusive Tribeca interview up with Daniel Lee, director of Maggie Q & Andy Lau’s latest martial arts epic, The Three Kingdoms. There are other interviews coming from there as well, but we have also managed to do a few reviews finally. So…

Click on the titles to read:

Our Exclusive Interview with Three Kingdom’s Director, Daniel Lee.

A long overdue addition to Ill-Literate: Author Charlaine Harris’ latest, From Dead to Worse.

Jane's Remembrances of Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Dollie’s look at Then She Found Me

Our listen to Noise

We Fall for The Fall

Amazing armour! That’s Iron Man. A blazing power! That’s Iron Man!

Here's some highlights of our Hanami at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden's Sakura Matsuri.

		Shin Ichikawa from ZAN playing three different 17-string Kotos - Most folks have trouble learning 6 measly strings