Friday, August 20, 2010

My Perestroika !



My Perestroika, a documentary film directed by Robin Hessman. It follows five ordinary Russians living in extraordinary times – from their sheltered Soviet childhood, to the collapse of the Soviet Union during their teenage years, to the constantly shifting political landscape of post-Soviet Russia. Using a wealth of footage rarely seen outside of Russia – including home movies from the USSR in the 1970s – the film combines an intimate view of the past with the contemporary lives of these former schoolmates, painting a complex picture of the dreams and disillusionment of those raised behind the Iron Curtain.

Believe it or not Thanks to random ad on Facebook, I was given the opportunity to see this wonderful documentary. I'm glad I did. It's real, raw and beautifully made. It was wonderful to be able to connect with my roots, this film has touched my heart, and made my day.


*Perestroika mean reconstruction, which is in reference to economic and political changes initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev*

The name of the song in the trailer is called 'Let There Always Be Sun' (Pust' Vsegda Budet) Music by A.I. Ostrovsky, Lyrics by L.I. Oshani performed by The Children's Choir of the Central House of Railroadworker.


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

FB Fan Page

Our Facebook fan page is official launched.^^
Click here to check out status updates on all my work.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy July 4th !

For the first time in July 4th history I got to see the Macy fireworks from two places simultaneously, it was spectacular. I finally had a chance to cook my veg. pineapple stir-fry recipe, not traditional J4 food, but it's nice to shake things up once in a while.

You can view the recipe on The Good Stuff -

Hope you guys had a great July 4th !

Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Catch- Fundraiser

  I had so much fun making this short film, I've decided to go ahead and make a full version, and try entering it in another contest. Alas, without the prize money from the Olympus Pen Contest, I have no funding. The trial version of the program I was using to create the film expired.

( ...danger danger...)

  In the spirit of american ingenuity, I'm throwing an online garage sale/fundraiser to to make this film possible. Don't want to buy anything, but still want to help out, then click the DONATE button below.


The Catch-Garage Sale/Fundraiser


Item 1-Forever 21 Black Dress- Brand New ! size L

LAST DAY TO BID ON ITEM 1...HURRY BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT

Item 2-Novelty Handcuffs- great for cosplay

Keep checking our page as we post a new items daily =D



Remember very donation counts...find out what happened to the ketchup??

Friday, June 4, 2010

Olympus Pen- Contest

It's been more then 10 years since I've made a stop-motion film.
When I heard about this contest from Olympus (http://www.youtube.com/user/getolympus)
I knew I had to get back into the game. I've had a lot of fun making this, I hope you enjoy it, if you want to see this as a full length feature, then click the like button and vote for me. =D


Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Princess and The Frog

The Princess and The Frog is a remarkably clever film, with interesting details and metaphors. For those who speak French, did you notice the puns? There are couple, among them is the character Dr. Facilier ( facil means easy french). When Tiana's father said don't take the easy way out, who knew he meant it literally. So Dr. Facilier = Dr. Easy, how ironic.

Previous Disney films have been known to contain mixed messages implied towards young women. It is true that these movies were created in a different era, and Disney has been trying to head in the right direction. What are interesting are the metaphorical representations of the characters Charlotte and Tiana.

Charlotte is a metaphorical representation for Disney’s previous films in regards to women. Charlotte a product of fairytale culture, she is a woman who is fixated on marrying a prince; and like all previous Disney characters she is a kindhearted person, and a loyal friend.

The protagonist Tiana is Disney's representation of a more modern woman. She is hard-working, driven, filled with passion. In the film, Tiana's goal is not finding Prince charming, but to accomplish the dream of opening a restaurant. Tiana conjures up the female role models of the 90s; strong career women who are willing to go above and beyond to make their dreams come true. As Tiana says, “I don’t have time for messing around”.

The two characters are representations of two extremes, Charlotte represents old Disney, Tiana represents a modern 90’s women. Where is the happy medium? Enter Prince Naveen. His character is a relic of the past, an old-fashioned playboy who is lazy and has no work ethic. Despite all this, he is a valuable character in a way that he brings two important lessons to this film. 1) To learn to live in the present moment this is reminiscent of the teachings of Eckhart Tolle. 2) That true love is something that inspires you to change to be a better person. Prince Naveen is the unlikely instrument that is used to point out the flaws in 90’s women work ethic. It is wonderful to have a dream and goals, but one must never lose sight of what’s important in order to achieve them. We are just starting to learn this as a society.

The film is reflecting of our current state mind. Disney may not have created the female figure representing 2010, maybe that’s because we as a society are just coming to terms with the past two decades. What is important is the larger message that is being sent. As Mama Odie said, We all need something. Prince Naveen needed to learn to stand on his own two feet, Tiana needed to learn to live in the present moment and not lose sight of what's important, and Charlotte will hopefully learn that you don't need to a prince to be happy. It’s Disney's attempts at portraying humanity, that we’re a kaleidoscope of people who have our good points and our flaws that we all need each other to learn and grow as people.



I want to personally say it was pleasure see a 2-D animated film from Disney after so many years. I think that it's about high time that Disney returns to its 2-D animation roots after a long hiatus.


TY to Tomm Moore for inspiring me to write this.



The Interview w/ Me & Mars and proof that I need a vacation

THE LATE NIGHT INTERVIEW WITH ME&MARS LIVE AT THE SBR STUDIO

I hope you enjoy my interview with the band Me & Mars. I'm going to be taking some time-off from Samurai Beat Radio duties, it's official I need to work on something else.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Animated-Shorts

After a long hiatus, I've finally found a program and started to re-master some of my short films that I made in high-school. So far I've had a blast, after 9 years it was an amazing feeling to see them on screen again. It brought so much joy =) Even though I wish I had done it sooner, I'm glad I'm doing it now. Although they were originally meant as silent films, it would be interesting to put in sound effects and music....now on to phase 2 =)

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Pangur Ban finally has a fan page on facebook

My favorite character from the Secret of Kells, Pangur Ban has his own fan page.

Check it out:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kells-Ireland/Pangur-Ban/159356954914?ref=ts

Vacation

After all the hard work put in at SBR I'm finally getting a well deserved break. =) Woohoo! now I can finally get a chance to kick back and do some art work.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Chatmonchy at the Cakeshop



photo courtesy of Samurai Beat Radio

Monday March 22- I went to the Cakeshop to see Chatmonchy perform. Yes, the Cakeshop is actually a music venue that sells cake. Then it dawned on me, that if I didn't work for Samurai Beat Radio I would probably never have gotten the chance to see a great Japanese rock band perform, interview Tomm Moore, Veronica Taylor, and director Tomino. Life can be very interesting at times.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Good things come to those who wait =)


After a really long time, my comic strip is finally copyrighted, official website coming soon. Patience is truly a virtue.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

From the SBR archives, interview with Yoshiyuki Tomino

The interview with the legendary anime creator/director, song lyricists, Yoshiyuki Tomino, the creator of Mobile Suit Gundam, live at New York Anime Festival.

Yoshiyuki Tomino was the main guest speaker at the New York Anime Festival; in honor of the 30th Anniversary celebration of Mobile Suit Gundam.


Click here

Monday, March 15, 2010

Tomm Moore live at the Samurai Beat Radio studio


Wednesday, March 10, 2010, I had the rare pleasure of interviewing Tomm Moore, the director of the Oscar nominated film, The Secret of Kells, live at the Samurai Beat Radio studio.

This was the first time that I've ever used the SBR studio for an interview, and the sound quality is excellent; it would be great if we could do all our interviews from there.

It was a magical experience, one that I will always remember.


Click here to listen/see full story

A special TY to Tomm for posting my interview on his blog Click here, and for everything else =)

Congratulations again on the nomination. Go see The Secret of Kells!

Welcome

I thought it was about time this freelance reporter from Samurai Beat Radio finally had her own blog. I'd like to Welcome you to my official blog this is the place where you can hear about updates on my artwork, see my interviews and article for Samurai Beat Radio and much more.