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In Memoriam – Satoshi Kon

It’s really hard to put down into words all the things that went through my head when I first read the news. Disbelief, numb shock, then tears. Probably like many other Satoshi Kon’s fans from around the world when they first heard the news.

Reading Satoshi Kon’s 2008 ANN interview was bittersweet; reading his final message was heartbreaking. My Japanese is very limited, but the basic gist came through – the pain that the cancer wrecked on his body and family; regret about unfinished work; gratitude to his family and friends.

Millennium Actress is and always will be one of my favorite anime films of all time – the story was profound, and exquisitely told. It moved me in a way that few other films have. Watching Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers cemented my status as a Satoshi Kon fan; watching Paprika renewed my love for this director’s incredible creativity and ability to tell stories that grab the imagination and take on lives of their own.

Satoshi Kon’s works will stand as lasting testimony to his unique vision. The world has lost a masterful storyteller – he will be sorely missed. My thoughts go out to his family and friends in the days to come.

Quote Seiho Takizawa:

ご冥福をナントカなんて書きたくない。

なぜ死んだバカヤロウ

Durarara!! Cosplay Around the Interwebs

Seeing this awesome image in the Boing Boing article “Spreading the Word About New Anime Through Cosplay“:

…made me want to check how many other cool cosplay pics there are out there for Durarara!! So I did. And Flickr, as always, delivers It’s really nice to see that Drrr!! was well-represented at this year’s cons!

Thumbs Up, Peace?

According to Spoon & Tamago, peace signs (or “the peesu” ) is going out of fashion in Japan and photographees are starting to favor a generic thumbs up instead.

…Definitely a bit of a bummer if that’s true, but I’d imagine that it would take quite a loooong while for the rest of Asia to phase out the infamous peesu.

Reading the Spoon & Tamago post definitely raised a more interesting question though: WHY do Asians like peacing out in photos so much? A bit of googling yielded this post from Stuff Asian People Like on the peace sign:

To show that they are indeed happy, asians outline their grinning chins with a “V” sign to draw attention away from their non-existant eyes. They also wouldn’t ever want to yell something while taking a picture because it would draw more attention to them. However, Asians are always stoked when a photo opp arises. In these situations, asians, instead of using America’s ludicrously awkward phrase, “Cheese,” will use the peace sign to show that they are indeed present in the photograph.

Not at all sure if I agree with that as an Asian, but since I don’t have any better explanations for this mysterious phenomenon, I shall leave the peesu to future ponderings…

The Deep Dark Secret Behind Spirited Away

Of all the hidden symbolism and meaning that I read into (or made up) from Spirited Away, I never thought that the sex industry would have anything to do with such a charming movie, but apparently it does! From cering.tumblr.com:

…I read interviews with Miyazaki. This was all put in intentionally. Miyazaki’s stories are filled with underlying themes and metaphors. He said he was tackling the issue of the sex industry rapidly growing in Japan, and that he felt children being exposed to it at such early ages was a problem.

Who would’ve thought?! Thanks tates for the tip!

Sharing is Sexy

I’ve been sneaking changes in to pixel ellipsis. Firstly, in single wallpaper posts I pulled out the “next post/previous post” navigational links and substituted in “related walls.” The relation isn’t always perfect, and sometimes it makes me go “huh?” But I think it makes for more interesting browsing, especially when it links to some of the older wallpapers in the pixel ellipsis trove.

The second change is pretty obvious. I removed the “Tweet This” link on single wallpaper posts since the shortened urls don’t seem to be working any more, and installed the awesome SexyBookmarks WordPress plugin to make sharing THAT much easier (and sexier) on pixel ellipsis. So share away, because it shows that you care