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Otaku no Video is a cult classic that every classic anime fan should see. It was partially based in the personal life of the original creators of Gainax, who started their careers as otaku during the late seventies and the beginning of the eighties. Anime was in its infancy. Anime was a very niche and tiny subculture – largely unknown to most people and considered a very nerdy past time.

The 80’s and 90’s were definitely the wild west days. Just about anything went and there was everything from animation, manga, garage kit models, costumes, military enthusiasts, martial art fans, and just about any other activity and product you can think of. Anime houses developed tons of these kinds of materials and products to see what would become a hit, and which would fall flat. It was an exciting era of great highs and tragic lows.

This is where Otaku no Video shines. It captures the rag-tag glory of those days. It does this brilliantly through the main character – a regular guy named Ken Kubo who is socially active, plays tennis, practices martial arts, has a girlfriend, has good career prospects, and is an all around ‘normal’ guy. He runs into his former friend Tanaka who is into animation along with some other odd characters. Ken gets sucked in and becomes less and less ‘normal’ and more infatuated with becoming the ‘King of Otaku’. In his quest to become the king of otaku, we watch him develop his garage company into something bigger by producing all kinds of new characters and products – all of which were things anyone of that era would recognize. Through the narrative format of following his journey, you get to see the insiders view of the business environment and working with those passionate coworkers.

Otaku no Video references TONS of culture of the time. The people, themes, and references were almost directedly related to anime culture and developments of the time. For those who found anime in the 80’s and 90’s, it gave an industry insider view into these events. Everyone at the time would have known just about every event that happens.

Recently I learned a few new things. One of the themes I picked up on related to the character Ken Kubo creates with his company: Misty May. It turns out, that too was related to a trend of the time: the incredible spinoff madness of magical girl shows started by Minky Momo. These deals created huge franchises that resulted in albums, merchandising deals, spinoff series, manga, garage and model kits, video games, fan creations, and just about anything else you can image. They were cash cows, and every studio wanted to try their hand at them.

So, it’s no wonder Ken’s company tries to do the same with their character Misty May. In fact, Misty May (above) bears a striking resemblance to Magical Emi – one of the many actual Minky Momo spinoffs:

This video by Kenny Lauderdale (who has some amazing coverage of early anime in his videos) gives some great insight on the madness and money behind the magical girl franchises at the time, which can help you understand what it is comically plausible that they launch a theme park in Otaku no Video.

Definitely give Otaku no Video a try if you want to see what anime culture was like in the 80’s and early 90’s before it became mainstream. Also check out some other videos by Kenny Lauderdale to learn more about the era as well.

Welcome to the “Galactic Menagerie,” a whimsical and visually stunning fan-made AI generated fake trailer that reimagines the classic Star Wars universe through the eccentric lens of Wes Anderson. This mashup brings together iconic Star Wars characters with Anderson’s trademark symmetrical compositions, pastel color palettes, and quirky humor.

If you prefer, you can try out an earlier generated AI re-imagining of the cult movie Alien as a Wes Anderson film.

Or, you can take an AI generated film making course to make your own.

https://vimeo.com/864191686

I was crushed to hear the famous London play ‘Woman in Black‘ was closing on March 4, 2023. The award winning and record setting Stephen Mallatratt adaptation of Susan Hill’s novel had been running continuously at London’s Fortune Theater since 1989. I have always wanted to see it, despite having made 2 trips to London and not having time to catch a play.

I saw the adaptation at Chicago’s Royal George Theater right before the pandemic and it was fantastic (The theater closed in 2020).

What I’m excited about is that the play is now on tour throughout the UK for 2023/2024. Not only that, but it appears to also be making its way across the US in 2023/2024.

Unbeknownst to me, it was in New York’s McKittrick Hotel and San Francisco in late 2021-early 2022.

Upcoming, it looks like it will be in New Jersey – Princeton’s McCarter Theatre Center October 13 to October 29th, 2023. It will be in the Herberger Theater Center‘s in Phoenix from Feb 8 to 25th, 2024. Hopefully they have some additional showings as well!

“The theatre is an operation with the scalpel, I think movie acting is an operation with the laser.” In this documentary, Michael Caine teaches the art of movie acting to five young actors, who perform scenes from “Alfie”, “Deathtrap” and “Educating Rita”. He shares all kinds of learnings, tricks, and ways to think about different kinds of close-ups, props, and a variety of other cool things viewers likely take for granted.

While this is likely dated now as framing decisions, camera technology, pacing and storytelling have changed a lot, I think it’s really cool to see what the actors are thinking when portraying a role and all the different kinds of methods and understanding they have.