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Tuesday, December 25, 2007

REVIEW: Ishirô Honda's Latitude Zero

NEW YORK, December 25 — Finally, a Special Edition Double DVD of Latitude Zero (aka "Ido zero daisakusen") has been released in the United States (Release Date: December 11, 2007). It was released by Tokyo Shock, a subsidiary of Media Blasters.

Latitude Zero is an underwater tokusatsu adventure by Ishirô Honda, the director of Gojira. It's a sci-fi film centered on Latitude Zero, an Atlantis-like underwater utopia. It's a classic Toho Studios production.

First, I want to address the matter of the packaging. The packaging is pretty stripped down for a "special edition". I was hoping for more extras and liner notes, instead the box was filled with Media Blasters advertisements. This advertising stuffing included a fold-out catalogue and a DVD of trailers. It was disappointing.

When "cult" films such as Latitude Zero are transferred to DVD, they are frequently victims of poor packaging and stripped down DVD authoring. Media companies just produce these DVD releases with very little creativity or care. The Latitude Zero release follows this trend of bland packaging and presentation.

Tokyo Shock could have paid a writer and a graphic designer to create an interesting booklet and box cover. It would cost very little money to produce.

Let’s get back to the film...


Crew of the Alpha submarine.

Before I reviewed this film, I read a lot of internet reviews on Latitude Zero. Many mainstream movie reviewers gave this film a bad review. However, I don't think it's really that bad. Latitude Zero has its problems, but it's a decent film. It is just misunderstood.

I understand that Latitude Zero is not for everyone. For many mainstream movie goers, many standard Japanese tokusatsu films (such as Gojira) are perceived as too weird and sometimes incomprehensible. Guys wearing large rubber monster costumes are still a little alien to western audiences.

However, Latitude Zero is just a step beyond the standard tokusatsu fare. This film was Honda's attempt to create a mixture of a western style sci-fi adventure with Japanese visual effects. He was trying to target both an American and Japanese audience simultaneously.

Capt. McKenzie (Cotten) catches a bullet with his bare hands.

The cast was a unique mix of western and Japanese actors. The most notable western actors were Cesar Romero (The Joker from TV's Batman) and Joseph Cotten (Citizen Kane). They are joined by Akira Takarada (Gojira: Fainaru uôzu, Gojira, and Kingdom Hearts Video Games) and Masumi Okada (Brother Michael from TV's Shogun). Takarada is veteran Godzilla actor and a staple of Toho Pictures. His tokusatsu career spans the entire history of Godzilla films from the original 1956 Godzilla film to Godzilla: Final Wars.

The movie was also filmed in English, and many of the Japanese actors had to learn English. Some of the Japanese actors had the English script broken down into phonetic katakana in order to learn it. If you listen carefully to the Japanese actors, you will hear extra syllables and trailing sounds at the end of words. This is mostly due to learning English from reading the katakana phonetics.

Mutant humanoid bat henchmen.

The story of Latitude Zone begins in the Pacific Ocean. A research team is lowering a deep sea diving bell into the ocean. Two Japanese scientists (Takarada and Okada) and an American journalist (Richard Jaeckel) are diving into the deepest part of the ocean in order to study temperature shifts. An underwater volcano suddenly erupts, and their deep sea diving bell crashes to the bottom. They are quickly rescued by Captain Craig McKenzie (Cotten) and his uncanny submarine crew. After the rescue, the Alpha, McKenzie's submarine, is quickly pursued and attacked by the Black Shark, Doctor Malic's (Romero) submarine. An action filled underwater pursuit begins.

If you are fan of early sci-fi films, Latitude Zero will be a bizarre cinematic treat. Most of Latitude Zero's story deals with the concepts of a utopian society and the miracle of scientific progress during the early 20th century. The film portrays science as both a destructive force and a nurturing one. The ambivalent feelings toward scientific progress are a familiar theme to many sci-fi movie fans. In many respects, Latitude Zero is very similar to The Thing from Another World (1951), Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965), and Forbidden Planet (1956).

Giant griffin versus a submarine.

This film also has a good helping of Kaiju fun. It is an Ishirô Honda film after all. The crew of the Alpha battles humanoid bat creatures, giant rats, and a large furry Griffin monster. Many kaiju fans will also recognize the orchestral score. Music for the film was provided by Akira Ifukube, composer for most of the Godzilla films.

Latitude Zero does suffer from some pacing issues. The exposition scenes are painfully slow in the movie. Honda tried to stuff a political message into the long dialogue scenes, but it was completely awkward. He was trying to argue that the Cold War has tainted the noble pursuit of scientific research and human governments could not be trusted. It was a little too didactic, and it was a drag on the story.

In the end, Latitude Zero is not for everyone. However, if you enjoy a bizarre cinematic sci-fi experience, I highly encourage you to pick-up Ishirô Honda's Latitude Zero.

Ohh... Did I mention that they have girls on trampolines!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Mister Gray [EDITED]


NEW YORK, December 13 — It was a frost covered Thursday night. Everything was either slushy or covered in ice. I slowly made my way to the train station with cautious steps. I rode the subway train to 14th street (near Union Square) and disembarked the train. I walked a few more ice covered blocks north to Tibet House (near 15th Street and 6th Avenue).

Tibet House was hosting Sacred Earth: Places of Peace and Power, Martin Gray's new gallery show. I fought the icy elements in order to attend this gallery opening and book signing. Gray had traveled all over the planet in order to photograph the world's most sacred sights. He had some fascinating work. Many of his photographs focus on Buddhist and Eastern subjects like Buddhist statues, temples, and sacred mountains. His work interested me.


As I was leaving, I did run into Kyra and Ganden on the stairs. They are two of my dearest friends. I talked to them briefly before going home. It was good to see them again. At least my ice storm gallery trip ended on a good note.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Happyfunsmile Christmas: New York Anime Festival After After Party!


Happyfunsmile at Forbidden City

NEW YORK, December 12 — Brian and the entire crew at Happyfunsmile rocked the Forbidden City Bar and Lounge (14th Street & Avenue A). This was their last performance of the year, and they were in great form. They played three fantastic sets of Okinawan pop.

Peter Tartara, the Programming Manager of the New York Anime Festival, declared this the "After After Party" of the convention. I met up with Peter and Petrina at the bar. They introduced me to Newton, another alumni of Central Park Media. They were very cool. We traded anime convention war stories with each other. It was great fun.

After the first set, Ame, Detour Noir Studios writer and artist, rolled into the bar with a couple of friends. They joined me at the bar. We enjoyed the Happyfunsmile music with hard liquor and good food. Happy Holidays to Happyfunsmile and everyone at the Forbidden City!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

The New York Anime Festival: Hard Drinks and Harder Karaoke, Part 2

NEW YORK, December 9 — After the ending ceremonies of the New York Anime Festival (December 9), some people took the party to the Forbidden City Bar and Lounge (13th Street & Avenue A). This is the so-called "After Party". The bar had half price drinks for everyone with the New York Anime Festival badge. This badge discount gave everyone a quick and cheap infusion of alcohol.

New York Anime Festival After Party at Forbidden City.

The post-con gathering consisted of con attendees, cosplayers, dealer room merchants, and volunteers. Party goers came to the bar as individuals or small groups. I tried to corral everyone with con badges around the tables in the back of the bar. Most of the party goers were strangers, but they quickly became fast friends.

After some heavy drinking, the group quickly moved over to the karaoke bar across the street. No, it was not my idea. The group was pulled by the gravitational forces of the karaoke machine. It was against my better judgment, but my better judgment was impaired by several Jack Daniels.

Looking for the perfect karaoke song.

The karaoke bar was extremely small, and they only had one karaoke machine hooked up to several televisions in the bar and lounge area. The bar supplied us with little yellow post-its. We wrote our song selection on the post-it and gave it to the bartender. The bartender put the post-its on a board. All requests were placed in a single queue on the board. As song came to the top of the queue, the bartender punched the song numbers into the karaoke machine, and he handed out the microphones.

The first song was free, but each additional song was $2. I put in my song and waited for quite a long time. The queue was freaking long. In the meantime, Jess, a cosplayer, got her song on the machine. Jess and a few other otaku got together to sing Weird Al Yankovic's "White & Nerdy". It was a surreal experience.

Otaku singing "White & Nerdy".

When my song came on, I rocked the bar with Harvey Danger's "Flag Pole Sitta". I was jumping around and screaming the lyrics with a drunken confidence. Shortly after I exorcised my karaoke demon, I took a short rest. After a few more songs, we all left the bar and went home. It was a hard rocking finish to an awesome weekend.

And yes... this round of karaoke was also fueled by drinking.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The New York Anime Festival: Hard Drinks and Harder Karaoke, Part 1


NEW YORK, December 8 — The New York Anime Festival was a very cool anime convention. Peter Tatara did an amazing job with putting together this convention.

I could only attend the very last hour of Saturday's show (December 8). I was stuck at work until 5:30 PM because of an insane amount of paperwork. After work, I raced over to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center with all haste. I got to the convention at roughly 6:30 PM. I got a little lost, and I had a tough time finding the registration.

After all the pain of getting my badge, I walked around the convention looking for the Otaku USA panel. I ran into Angela, Mandisa, and Dan from the local Metro-Anime club. They seemed to be shopping happily. They had the anime con game down to a science. I talked to them for a little bit.

Otaku USA panel. Left to Right: Joel White, Dave Riley, and Daryl Surat

After some searching, I found the Otaku USA panel and stayed for the very last minutes of the panel. After the panel ended, I got to meet-up with some friends. The group consisted of Dave Riley (Fast Karate for the Gentleman), Joel White (Fast Karate for the Gentleman), Daryl Surat (Anime World Order), Erin (Ninja Consultants), Patrick Macias (Otaku USA), and Matt Burnett (for tax reasons).

After the convention, the group met up with other very cool cats including Noah (Ninja Consultants), Chris Oarr (ADV Films), Zac "Answerman!" Bertschy (Anime News Network), and other members of ANN. Patrick took his leave.

Karaoke All-Stars. Left to Right: Daryl Surat, Erin, Noah, and Joel White

The rest of the group found it's way to a local karaoke bar in Koreatown, NYC. Everyone took turns rocking the mic. It was a crazy round-robin of embarrassing 80s pop hits and hard edged rock-n-roll classics. Erin rocked the Bon Jovi play list, while Chris belted out some great classic rock hits. I worked some Steppenwolf. Noah, Zac, MCBurnett, and Joel also rocked the mic pretty hard. There were awesome performances from everyone. It was a night of All Stars Karaoke players.

Our voices were fueled with a powerful mixture of Japanese snack foods and alcohol.


The Ninja Consultants: Erin and Noah. The fiercest tag team since Demolition.


However, we were all humbled by Dave Riley, the grandmaster of the mic. His Kung-fu was in top form. Pai Mei would be proud of Dave, his spiritual disciple. Dave sang everything from Back Street Boys to the JAM Project.

Masters of the Wu-tang school of karaoke.

We rock hard so you don't have to... to be continued (Part 2).

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Takehiko Inoue's Mural at Kinokuniya Bookstore


NEW YORK, December 2 — Takehiko Inoue, the mangaka for Slam Dunk and Vagabond, painted a mural for the recently renovated Kinokuniya Bookstore (across from Bryant Park). The Inoue appearance was a Viz publicity event, which was closed to the public. Only press was allowed access. You can read about the event here: Takehiko Inoue Graces NYC’s All-New Kinokuniya Bookstore With Vagabond Mural.

Last Sunday, I did get the opportunity to see the fully completed Inoue mural. It was a pretty amazing Black-and-White painting from Vagabond. The details were stunning. The hands, eyes, and tsuka (translates as "sword handle") details were especially masterful.

If you are near Bryant Park, you should check out this mural.

Related Links:
Takehiko Inoue (Official Site)
Wikipedia: Takehiko Inoue
Viz Media, LLC.
Kinokuniya Bookstore

Saturday, December 1, 2007

REVIEW: Akira Kurosawa's Drunken Angel (Criterion Collection)


NEW YORK, November 30 — The folks at Janus Films and Criterion Collection recently released the latest high-definition digital transfer of Akira Kurosawa's Drunken Angel (released November 27, 2007).

As part of their standard production, Drunken Angel is a masterfully authored DVD with an amazing accompanying booklet. The packaging reminds me of old rock albums that were accompanied with original artwork and great liner notes. Packaging and good liner notes are slowly becoming a lost art with cheap DVD releases, Thinpaks, and direct downloads.

The Criterion DVD also has great extras like old archive interviews with Kurosawa and commentary by Donald Richie. Donald Richie is the author of A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History.

Drunken Angel's Criterion Collection Packaging and Liner Notes.

I have to confess that I'm a huge Akira Kurosawa fan. I have most of Kurosawa's movies in the restored Criterion Collection editions.

Drunken Angel is not characteristic of Kurosawa's later samurai movies like Rashômon or Seven Samurai. It's closer in tone and content to his earlier films dealing with post World War II Japan such as Stray Dog and Ikiru. It deals with many of Japan's post war problems such as crime, disease, and poverty. These themes are the pillars of Kurosawa's early noir classics.

In many ways, Drunken Angel is a precursor to Kurosawa's more famous Ikiru. Ikiru is one of my all time favorite films. Both films deal with issues of fatal diseases and poverty in Japanese society. Drunken Angel seems a little raw in comparison with Ikiru. In this film, Kurosawa was still looking for his own voice and style. Some scenes seem like pale imitations of Italian neorealism and Russian silent films. There were also some scenes that didn't seem like Kurosawa at all. (Note: Both of these styles are hugely influential on Kurosawa's own directorial style.)

The main story centers on the two main characters played by Takashi Shimura and Toshirô Mifune. Both Shimura and Mifune play notable samurai in Kurosawa's Seven Samurai movie. In Drunken Angel, Shimura plays a drunken doctor, who treats poor patients in his small clinic. Mifune plays a gangster that is diagnosed by Shimura with a deadly case of tuberculosis. Shimura directly confronts the gangster with his illness.

Shimura's directness was shocking to a Japanese audience because of Japanese medical practices at the time.

In the 1940s and the 1950s, it was common for Japanese doctors to lie to their patients about deadly ailments like cancer and tuberculosis. Japanese doctors believed that news of a fatal disease would be like handing a death sentence to a patient. The news would impair a patient from living the rest of their lives with any sense of normalcy. Kurosawa often criticized this medical practice in his early films. The practice of concealing fatal diseases prevented Japanese society from dealing directly with the problems of poverty and poor health.

In post war Japan, many Japanese died of deadly diseases from poor living conditions, poor hygiene, and polluted water. Disease and hygiene became very serious issues, and Kurosawa explores these issues in Drunken Angel.

If you don't mind some of the raw elements, I recommend that you watch Drunken Angel. It is not one of Kurosawa more polished films, but it does not disappoint. The film has passionate performances from both Shimura and Mifune, and Kurosawa's directing and editing are emotionally powerful.

Related Links:
Criterion Collection: Drunken Angel
IMDb: Akira Kurosawa
Wikipedia: Akira Kurosawa
Wikipedia: Tuberculosis

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Del Rey Manga panel at Kinokuniya

NEW YORK, November 3 — On a gray November afternoon, I visited the new Kinokuniya book store near Bryant Park. Kinokuniya is a worldwide chain of Japanese bookstores. This particular store was recently opened for business, and it had some nice features. The book store consisted of three floors of merchandise with a very big section of manga and anime on the second floor. It also had a cute little cafe area with packaged sandwiches and desserts.

Del Rey Manga panel. Photograph courtesy of Peter Tatara.

The main reason for my visit was a lecture panel given by Del Rey Manga. Del Rey Manga is the US manga publishing branch of the Random House Publishing Group. They localize and market hit manga titles such as Negima and Tsubasa.

Panelists included: Dallas Middaugh (Associate Publisher), Tricia Narwani (Publishing Associate), Ali T. Kokmen (Marketing Manager), Caron Harris (Production Manager) and April Flores (Associate Publicist).

I attended the panel with members from Detour Noir Studios, my newly formed graphic novel/animation studio. We were interested in hearing the process of Del Rey Manga's operation, and they were very detailed about their process. They even discussed the uses of five-color cover art versus the standard four-color American publishing standard. I found the panel to be very informative.

The Del Rey panel also heavily pushed Jason Thompson's Manga: The Complete Guide. They mentioned it almost twenty times throughout the discussion. Thompson, a regular contributor to Otaku USA Magazine, covers all the manga reviews for Otaku USA. Check out his manga reviews in the latest Otaku USA. They are very informative and insightful.

At the end of the panel, they opened the floor to questions. Most of the questions were focused on the creative side of the manga industry. I assume some audience members wanted to break into the industry as Original-English-Language Mangaka. However, the panelists only handled the publishing side of Del Rey Manga. They had very limited knowledge of the creative aspects to the manga industry. Some of the audience seemed disappointed at their answers.

Cosplay Day. Photograph courtesy of Peter Tatara.

In addition, it was Cosplay Day at Kinokuniya. Customers got a discount on merchandise for cosplaying. There were quite a few Naruto cosplayers and cat girls at the book store. Kinokuniya's promotional gimmick was further perpetuating the addiction of cosplay.

Finally, I ran into Peter Tatara, Programming Manager for the New York Anime Festival, and his girlfriend again. New York City is really a small place (overcrowded with over 8 million human beings). I guess our interest just overlap, and we just run into each other at anime/manga events. He was involved with promoting the New York Anime Festival. It was really cool to see them again.

Photographs courtesy of Peter Tatara.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Happyfunsmile Halloween!


Happyfunsmile at Forbidden City

NEW YORK, October 31 — I celebrated Halloween at the Forbidden City Lounge. However, it took me almost forty-five minutes to fight my way through the New York City Halloween parade.

If you never experienced the New York Halloween Parade, it is another world. Basically, it's a huge outdoor cosplay party with millions of people. The parade stretches across a good portion of Sixth Avenue. It's so big that it usually spills over to Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue.

The pedestrian traffic was really brutal. I was tiptoeing through the crowd. I had to push and elbow my way out of the parade. My limited Jiu-jitsu skills became very useful in the crowd of cosplayers. I was lucky to get over to Forbidden City.

I did come across one girl who was dressed as Pris from Blade Runner. She had one large band of black eye shadow. She also had the teased out blonde hair. I didn't get a picture of it. I was too busy fighting my way through the crowd. Damn, I should have tried to get a photo of her. Ohh… well.

Happyfunsmile, a local Okinawan pop band, played a special Halloween show in front of the Forbidden City bar. The space was really tight, but they managed to rock the house. This was my second time watching them perform. They were great.


Peter Tatara, his girlfriend, and me.

I also had the chance to drink with Peter Tatara and his girlfriend. He was cosplaying as Urahara from Bleach. Peter is the Programming Manager for the New York Anime Festival. He recently got Patrick Macias as a guest for the festival, which is pretty awesome. New York City anime fans will get to meet the man behind OtakuUSA.

We had a few drinks and enjoyed the music of Happyfunsmile. Overall, it was a very cool night.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Hangin' out with Junko Mizuno



NEW YORK, October 11 — I got a chance to hang out with Junko Mizuno, female mangaka and designer. She did a book signing at Kidrobot, a specialty toy store in New York. Mizuno spent an hour and a half meeting and signing toys for fans. She was very cool and gracious.

Junko Mizuno is famous for her kawaii noir style of art. It's a nightmarish mixture of mo-e cuteness and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Her most noted works are Pure Trance and Junko Mizuno's Hell Babies. Her designs and characters are also used in action figures, t-shirts, and other types of merchandise.



The store was extremely small and the line was not too long. It had a cozy feeling about it.

I went to the signing with my friend, Micheal, but he wasn't a fan of her work. He came to take pictures anyway. I'm not big on autographs, so I didn't get on the signing line. We just hung out near Junko Mizuno's signing table while she signed books, toys, and sketches. We just talked about manga and met rabid fans of Junko Mizuno. Overall, it was a very cool experience.


Junko Mizuno interview on Japanorama

Monday, October 8, 2007

Laziness and Humidity

NEW YORK, October 8 — Damn, I've been really lazy lately... Grrr. It doesn't help that the weather in New York is hovering in the high 80s (degrees Fahrenheit) with humidity in the 80% range. It's October! Frickin' October people. I think Al Gore was right about the whole global warming thing.

It also doesn't help that my custom built PC is constantly over heating. It makes the whole place five degrees higher than the outside temperature. Don't ask about the cooling system. It works. I've pushed the limits of air cooled systems. The next step is the water/liquid cooled units. I'm fighting the urge to move to a liquid system. If I have a cylinder of water near my desk, I might get the idea to drink from it.

I've fallen into procrastination mode. I've got to fight my reckless laziness. I've got to be more productive! Here is a picture of my desk:



I'm working on my current graphic novel project. I didn't pencil the work. I'm doing layouts and inking.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Slow Death of Little Tokyo


Kamikaze Anime, Storefront


LOS ANGELES, September 17 – I went looking for anime and manga during my trip to Los Angeles. I started with the most obvious location, Little Tokyo. I was puzzled by the lack of video and book stores in the area. My friend said that the area was hit pretty hard by the poor economy. The number of Japanese specialty stores was shrinking. Some stores moved away, and other stores completely disappeared. In addition, many second and third generation Japanese Americans were moving away. The Japanese Californian population is very scattered.


Wall of Manga, Kamikaze Anime


I did manage to find one anime/manga store. It was called Kamikaze Anime. It sold mostly imported manga, region 2 DVDs, J-Pop, and anime merchandise. The store had an impressive wall of manga displayed in the back. It was pretty cool. They also sold Japanese school uniforms. The uniforms were a little big for Japanese school children, but they were perfect for American cosplaying otaku.



Ready to Wear Cosplay, Kamikaze Anime


Even the Japanese malls were pretty bare and depressing with closed stores and unlit windows. The place felt neglected. The only anime related store in the mall was a Sanrio store. I'm not a big fan of Hello Kitty, but I had to check out the Hello Kitty garbage cans. There is a huge Sanrio store in New York that I have never visited. Yet, I feel strangely compelled to go to the one in Los Angeles. Creepy…


Sanrio Store, Little Tokyo Mall


I think Sanrio stores are like cockroaches. They will survive anything… bad economies, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and even Global Thermonuclear War! Joshua…


Shall we play a game?

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The Asian American Arts Alliance's Soundfest 2007


The Jack Lords performing at The Asian American Arts Alliance's Soundfest 2007


NEW YORK, August 15 — The Asian American Arts Alliance's Soundfest 2007 (August 11, 2007) rocked the fat ass. It was truly a pan-asian festival. The festival created an open atmosphere at Chinatown's Columbus Park. The acts ranged from Indo-Jazz to Hawaiian Rock. It was a truly unique amalgamation of music.

It was all ages. Young Adults, senior citizen, and little children enjoyed the rock and jazz music. Very cool... I look forward to the next Asian American Arts Alliance's Soundfest.

Some of the highlights were: The Jack Lords, HappyFunSmile, and Slanty Eyed Mama.

More Info on The Asian American Arts Alliance:
www.aaartsalliance.org

--
James Leung Man-Fai

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Photon. The Light Shines!


NEW YORK, July 31 — Since the school year is about to start, I am getting teary eyed and nostalgic about my childhood. Wah ha ha. I remember a laser tag game called Photon in the 1980s. Photon was basically the "Cowboys and Indians" game with plastic electronic equipment. It consisted of receivers (chest module and helmet) and pistol shaped emitters. The emitters were fired at the receivers, and an alarm would be trigger by the receiver system. This indicated a hit, and eliminate the player from the game. It was the coolest thing since the Pet Rock.

There were Photon game centers everywhere. At its height, there were 45 photon arenas across the United States (not including the rival, Worlds Of Wonder's Lazer Tag).

Due to the lack of interest, Photon declined in popularity and died a slow painful death. However, there is still hope! A single functioning Photon arena still exists in Laurel, Maryland (near Washington, D.C.). It's called XP Laser Sport. It's only open to groups through reserved appointments.

Another Photon group is building a new Photon arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They are still constructing the arena, and they are soliciting donations through Paypal. Their official website: http://www.photon-qei.com/

The Photon craze also spawned a television tokusatsu show, which had a short run. On Saturday mornings, I remember getting up at 6:00 AM to watch this show. They always showed it with the Saturday morning cartoons. It consisted of an international cast and a uniquely Japanese production. The production quality was consistent with 80s tokusatsu shows like Kamen Rider Black. The bad costumes, bad make-up and awful special effects really bring me back to the 80s.

More Information on Photon:

Ohh... Did I forget to mention Photon chicks?
--
James Leung Man-Fai

Monday, July 23, 2007

Sleepy Hunger.

NEW YORK, July 23 — I'm not sure if I'm sleepy or hungry. Maybe, I'm both. I found the perfect remedy to these vile primitive cravings. The Sushi Pillow. It's sushi. It's a pillow. It's a sushi pillow. The Original Sushi Pillow.

"Salmon Nigiri" by the original sushi pillow


They have different styles of sushi pillows like rolls, nigiri, and appetizers. The prices range from roughly $40-$70 per pillow. There is also a Summer Special on the Original Sushi Pillow website. It's FREE SHIPPING within the United States. Now, there's is no excuse not to have a sushi pillow.

The "Salmon Nigiri" is my favorite sushi pillow. I like the fat lines that ran through the salmon piece. It is down right cool, jack.

"The Edamame Body Pillow" by the original sushi pillow


A close second is the "edamame body pillow". I need to get the "edamame body pillow" to complete my entire bedroom set. Don't ask me, "Why a full grown man needs a body pillow?" I just do, okay!




--
James Leung Man-Fai