Today is “Talk like a Pirate Day“. Of course, as is well known, I am a Ninja. And since Ninjas and Pirates are mortal enemies, I do not celebrate.

However, as an anime fan, there is one pirate that I must deem worthy of praise. The greatest, coolest pirate in the history of all piracy.

And that is, of course, this guy.

Arcadia, HASSHIN!!!

Captain Harlock FTW. I want to say that the world needs more heroes like this. But there’s no point because none of them could ever be this awesome.

Sayonara.

Go to the website Career Cruising. Put in Username: nycareers and Password: landmark. The take their “Career Matchmaker” questions, and it’ll give you a list of potential careers that you might enjoy or be good at. Here are my top 20 results.

• 1. Desktop Publisher

• 2. Animator

• 3. Fashion Designer

• 4. Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator

• 5. Artist

• 6. Graphic Designer

• 7. Computer Animator

• 8. Medical Illustrator

• 9. Industrial Designer

• 10. Website Designer

• 11. Craftsperson

• 12. Potter

• 13. Interior Designer

• 14. Exhibit Designer

• 15. Historian

• 16. Dental Lab Tech.

• 17. Computer Trainer

• 18. Writer

• 19. Upholsterer

• 20. Manufacturing Machine Operator

As expected, the top entries are all art and design related fields. Though I’m a bit surprised that Comic Illustrator is even a possibility. I guess that means I gotta do what I gotta do!

But then we get down to #16, Dental Lab Tech. Umm.. what? That’s probably a very, very bad idea. I don’t think anybody wants me to be poking their teeth and gums with sharp metal instruments.

But then we have #17, Computer Trainer. This is someone who, I assume, trains computers. To do what, exactly? I’m not sure, but if it were up to me, I would train computers to take over the world. Bwahaha.

Sayonara.

So, the news is out and it would appear that this is finally happening.

Live Action Dragonball Z movie to film in Montreal.

A lot of people have been talking about this, making their jokes, and acting like this is some kind of big deal. Well, come on now. Let’s be reasonable about this.

First of all, is anybody actually surprised that there is going to be a Dragonball Z movie? OF COURSE there is going to be a Dragonball Z movie. Such a thing has been written in the stars for ages. This should really come as a surprise to no one.

Allow me to explain why a Dragonball Z movie is so inevitable. There are certain things about the movie business that we know to be true. We know that Hollywood will latch onto just about any material it can and make a movie out of it regardless of whether or not it would logically work as a decent movie. Case in point: There is a movie called “The Brady Bunch“. Do you all know what the Brady Bunch is? It’s an old sitcom about 3 brothers and 3 sisters and their parents who marry. And they made a movie about that. So if such a film exists, then it simply stands to reason that it was only a matter of time before a movie based on Dragonball Z were to be made as well. In light of this reality, there needs to be a Dragonball Z movie for the world to continue to spin!

Of course it’s going to be cheesy. Is there any reason to expect anything else? It just wouldn’t be Dragonball Z if it wasn’t at least a little bit cheesy. The alternative would be to make it really dark and dire, or just remove all the fantasy elements entirely, and I’m thinking that would be pretty stupid. For this to be a movie that really is “Dragonball Z”, and not just another martial arts film that happens to have that name attached to it, we’re all going to have to eat a little cheese. I have absolutely no problems with that. Just because it’s going to be cheesy, doesn’t mean it should not exist.

People think they are funny with all their punch lines about how it’s going to be nothing but 2 hours of powering up and 5 minutes of fighting, or other such nonsense. Ha ha. Very funny. I’ve only heard that 500 times since the news broke. Yes, and go ahead and make fun of how all the characters are going to be talking in Canadian accents too. That’s real original. Don’t let your limited knowledge of Canadian geography and the fact that other movies, such as “300“, were also filmed in Montreal stand in the way of a lame joke that no one wants to hear.

It’s frustrating yet amusing how people have been essentially making fun of this movie before a single frame has been shot. I suppose that sort of thing is to be expected in this day and age. But people are acting like they aren’t interested in seeing it at all, and that is the biggest joke ever. You will all be in line at the theater just like everyone else. Even if it’s a complete train wreck, you’ll be there, so don’t go and act like you won’t be. It’s Dragonball Z, and while I’m not going to say that it’s definitely going to be an awesome movie, I will say that they’d have to screw up awfully hard to make a movie about Dragonball Z completely devoid of any entertainment value.

So, I say, bring on Dragonball Z – The Movie. It doesn’t even matter if it’s any good. Let’s have it as cheesy as possible with insane martial arts, crazy costumes, and over-the-top dialogue. The movie will be made, and then we can all watch it and move on with our lives, knowing that it happened.

But what do I know? I coincidentally wrote this while wearing a Dragonball Z T-Shirt. Maybe I’m biased.

PS: It’s over Nine Thousand.

Sayonara.

Like I had said in my previous post, I was sick, but I still went to FanExpo for all 3 days anyway. I kept to myself most of the time, didn’t talk much, didn’t bother to show anyone my artwork, and didn’t really hang out with anyone before or afterwards. Despite that I was able to connect with a few old friends, tchat a little with some artists, and take part in some very cool panels. There were obstacles, but it was still a successful convention.

Highlights included:
– Voice Actors. Saw a panel with Veronica Taylor (Ash from Pokemon, April from Ninja Turtles), who was very nice, and another panel with Sean Schemmel (Goku from the Texas dub of DBZ), who is a very crazy and entertaining guy.

– Japanese Artists. Yasuhiro Nightow (Trigun), Daisuke Moriyama (Chrono Crusade), and Suzumi Atsushi (Venus Versus Virus) were there and had an decent discussion panel that wasn’t nearly long enough. They also took part in a sketch-off with Toronto’s own Alvin Lee of UDON’s Street Fighter comic. They each drew one of the other artist’s characters and the resulting artwork was incredible!

– Star Wars Guests. Temuera Morrison (Jango Fett) and Daniel Logan (young Boba Fett) had a panel together that was definitely worth seeing. Temuera even sang and danced Polynesian style for us.

– REBOOT! Reboot was certainly on people’s minds in a big way, what with the recent possibility of it coming back somehow. Creator Gavin Blair was there, and there was a huge amount of fan interest in the property, so things are looking really good! Speaking of looking good, check this out:

ReBoot cosplay. That’s so cool.

So, I saw some things, I bought some stuff, I had a good time, but I was still sick, and by the end of the weekend I was in a real bad way. I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more had I not been sick, but all things considered I had a good time.

Shawn Allison! I’m bloggin’ you out, boy! You officially fail at meeting people at conventions! This injustice will not stand. Prepare yourself.

Anyway, I’m still not feeling so good, so that’s enough from me for now.

Sayonara.

Some people say that anime should not be made into live action movies. While there is a lot of potential for things to go wrong, I don’t completely agree with that statment. In the right hands, anime can be the basis for a really awesome film. And here’s an amazing little video, made by some Spanish-speaking fans, that proves it.

Oh my God. I freaked out when I saw this. I want this to be a real movie so bad. This just looks awesome. Unfortunately, this is only a fan produced trailer, and no actual movie exists.

Captain Harlock is one of the all time classic anime characters, and one of the coolest characters of ever. This story is absolutely prime territory for a live action movie, in any language. If such a thing were ever to happen, with Harlock or any other famous character, I can only hope that it is done with the same quality and attention to detail as this clip.

There have been several live action movies based on anime released in Japan, with mixed results as you’d expect. As far as Hollywood goes, Speed Racer comes out next year, so maybe that’ll be the start of a trend.

Sayonara.