From Wirebot:

Oh. My. God. I don’t even know if i need words for this. Their first foray into videogame mash ups, The Ocarina of Rhyme, got Team Teamwork(the masterminds behind the project) quite a bit of attention from the internet. Combining popular Hip Hop and Rap artists with music found in Ocarina of Time created such a weird vibe that actually, in some songs, worked.

Now they are back at it again, but this time tackling a whole different fan favorite: Final Fantasy VII. More »

Hiroshima from Tokyo: by bullet train (2 hours 30 minutes) Nagasaki from Tokyo: by bullet train to Fukuoka (4 hours) then by special express (2 hours)

There is a lot more to both these vibrant cities than that they alone, of all cities on earth, were once atomic bomb targets. But let’s be honest, we go there for one main reason. More »

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Perhaps the most relevant and topical of all of Akira Kurosawa’s films today, The Bad Sleep Well is an intruiging tale of corrupt businessmen, corporate kickbacks, and bribery.

And while we sit in the mire of a recession (as a result of similar actions mind you), Kurosawa here provides not only a deep and suspenseful story but also a film full of laugh out loud comedic moments. And we’re talking some seriously funny stuff here. More »

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Akira Kurosawa takes us on a journey through a gloriously reconstructed feudal Japan for an introspection on the reality of power and identity in his 1980 return to the samurai genre, Kagemusha.

As an aging ruler named Shingen passes on, his dying wish is for his death to be concealed for three more years until the army can overtake a strategic city. The estate’s principal retainers bring in a ragged petty thief to pose as a double for the late ruler, with only those closest to him aware of the hoax. The kagemusha (double), after being rescued from a death sentence, is reluctant to lose his identity for a warlord. After a change of heart, and learning that he really has no other options, the kagemusha is taught the finest details of the late ruler’s mannerisms, speech, and relationships. He must fool everyone, even a long-time doctor and Shingen’s mistresses and grandson, or the enemies will learn the truth and take down the estate. Through the kagemusha’s experiences of pretending to be powerful, being treated as a king and master of war, he learns what it is like to be the ruler but yet it is all false, and all the decisions are being made by the generals. It must have been a rather bizarre feeling for the kagemusha, but he knew he had a role to fulfill and everything was depending on him to be convincing enough. More »

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If a feel good story about beating the odds really fits your fancy, Swing Girls could be for you.

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This is an unscheduled post, but as of when I’m writing, America just lost a great hero. J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in The Rye, understood perhaps better than anyone what’s it like to be a teenager; and helped every generation since cope with its angst with the wit, charm and sympathy of his writing. I read Catcher in one day, and for a long time it was my favorite book; many can say the same, but personally, it also made me really want a kid sister. Years later I went to Japan and found I wasn’t the only one. So without further ado: the top five anime kid sisters of all time. More »

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I’m really grateful to have had the chance to see Kurosawa’s last film, Dreams (1990), at the New York Film Forum. Not only is it an incredible film–certainly one of his best–but it provides, if in a problematic form, a sort of answer to the two questions Kurosawa claims to have struggled with all his life: Why can’t people be happier? and Why can’t they be happier together? More »

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From Ningin: Mixr League Gaming fans, are you ready? Tomorrow marks the start of yet another one-day MLG match pitting Mixr bloggers vs. Mixr users. Looking at the official roster, only one thing is certain: Competition is going to be fierce. More »

This film is a treasure. Technically it shouldn’t be here, as it was made in Thailand and directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaraung (okay, I’ll stop making fun of my friends who get confused by Japanese names). But as a collaboration with bad-boy Japanese director Takashi Miike, it features superstar Tadanobu Asano in the main role with dialogue in Thai, Japanese and English. Last Life in the Universe (2003) is a crime film of sorts, but at the same time a penetrating look at cross-cultural communication (or the lack thereof) and how all human longing is, in some sense, romantic. More »

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Vivid and wild, Sukiyaki Western Django will dazzle your eyes, make you laugh, and might even make you cry. Takeshi Miike’s 2007 stunning spaghetti western features an all-star cast of Hideaki Ito, Koichi Sato, Kaori Momoi, and even Quentin Tarantino. This portrayal of western and samurai traditions come together in a fast-paced “wild east” action tale to wow your senses. More »

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