Requiescat In Pace, Satoshi Kon

Satoshi Kon passed away yesterday at the age of 46. He directed and created high concept animated feature films and television series.

His directorial debut was the beautifully twisted Hitchcockian thriller Perfect Blue in 1997. I saw it my sophomore year of college, and it’s stuck with me, like broken glass jabbed into my brain, since then. The way he dealt with the concepts in that movie, especially the creation and destruction of celebrity, are incredible.

He followed up his debut with award winning films like Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers. They’re less scarring, but still just as intriguing as his first film.

After those two, he took a break from the big screen to bring the bizarre Paranoia Agent to the small screen.

His last release was Paprika, which won him the most exposure for his mind bending works.

Kon was a visionary and an advocate of his medium. There were decades of work ahead of him, and the world is diminished by his passing.

Under the Floor

Remember that Austrian guy who kept his daughter locked up in a basement dungeon and raped her for years, resulting in seven incestuous children who were also kept in said dungeon?

Yeah, I’m trying to forget that one, too.

But, apparently there are people out there that felt that this gravity and human misery of this story could be best conveyed via a stop motion animation musical piece set to the tune of a Disney classic.

You can all blame Leslie for this.

Apparently I’ve become the repository of all things unsettling for my friends.

The Collect Call of Cathulhu

Remember the Real Ghostbusters? Back from when we were kids? Well, turns out that one J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5 creator) was the head writer and editor for the show, which explains why I have such fond memories of it.

One of the episodes deals with the Ghostbusters facing off against Lovecraft’s Cthulhu. The episode is full of name dropping references to characters from Lovecraft’s work and to his fellow writers of the time. Thanks to the wonders of the digital age (and next to no supervision of YouTube’s content), the whole episode has popped up for your viewing pleasure.

The Rabbit

Your slice of the surreal for the day.

Today is Ratcatcher’s Day

An all but forgotten holiday, celebrated nowhere save England, The United States and Australia. If you can even call it a celebration. It is a day of recognition for the exterminators of society.

So here, in honor of the day, and the source of its genesis, I give you the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

You all know I’m completely horrified of the Piper, yes?

Ben just made my day/broke my brain

This is the video for the Russian numetal band ANJ. The song is called Gorbachov, and it is a salute to the eponymous former Russian leader. To quote Ben it has, “Tits. Zombies. Blood. Rawk.”

GORBACHOV: THE MUSIC VIDEO – BIGGER AND RUSSIANER from Tom Stern on Vimeo.

On a personal note, when Gorbachev came to the National Civil Rights Museum here in Memphis, my friend Mahendra asked him how it felt to be the man who brought down the Soviet empire. Gorbachev didn’t smile. And he didn’t answer any more questions.

Chainsaw Maid

Zombies + Japanese Maids + Chainsaws + Claymation. What more do you need to know?

Hellboy 2: Prologue

Mars & Beyond

The Protomen – Hope Rides Alone

Flash video done as an intro to the Protomen’s website by the amazing Version Industries.

They are playing a show at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville in two weeks if anyone is interested. I’ll be there.

Nemo as directed by Yoshifumi Kondo

This Kondo pilot was one of several commissioned for the Nemo in Slumberland movie. Ultimately, he wasn’t the one to make the movie, but this short captures a unique and charming vision of the classic comic.

Moonbird

1959 Academy Award winner for Best Animated Short. This is an animation done by the legendary John Hubley and Faith Hubley to a recording they took of their two young children going on a hunt for the imaginary Moonbird.

One of my favorites.

Morning Brain Coffee

Good Morning, Plebs. Let’s break the goddamned world today, yes?

Adam Elliot

A few years ago I went to the Spike & Mike’s Twisted Animation Festival as it passed through Memphis (the first and last time it did this). I met Don Hertzfeldt and I saw this amazing animation series from an Australian named Adam Elliot. His did stop motion animation, much in Nick Park’s style, but with a serious tone. The series consisted of three shorts named Brother, Cousin, and Uncle. The shorts were stories told from the perspective of a grown man recollecting stories of his family from when he was a child. They are brilliant, brilliant pieces of work. They are funny, smart and bitterly truthful. I wish I could find one of them to post here, but apparently Youtube doesn’t like Oscar winning Australian animators.

Adam Elliot’s website is here. You can buy a DVD of all of his work through that site as well.