Stephen Foster

This is Stephen Foster.


This is his gravestone.

He's also known as the "father of American music". His songs, such as "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River"), "Hard Times Come Again No More", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer" are still played today; although, it's usually by elementary-school kids on a recorder.

Halloween: The Final Playlist

Oh, wow. Has it been thirty-one days already? I guess it has. And I didn't even use everything I'd uploaded!

I could either hold onto those for next year, or give them to you now (and think up something else weird and wonderful for next year).

That's what I'm gonna do.

Halloween Odds & Ends

Wait, what are we doing at a toy store, we're supposed to be trick or treating!


This was a film I used to see both on TV and in schools, based on a book of the same name, "The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches". Unfortunately someone doesn't have a full version online at all, so I have to rely on these two measly clips I could find from someone who bothered selling a print on eBay and had to show these as reference.


Yeah the animation's pretty bad and goofy here, but so is school!

Recycled footage from a Garfield special urges you on the safety tips this Halloween...


Donald's nephews certainly need some help from a pro.


Quick, get home in time for two classics on CBS-TV!


NSFW (or home)


One more thing before bedtime!

The Pee-Wee Herman Show (1981)

Not really Halloween material, but... it's perfect nightmare fuel!


And now a word from our sponsor!


Please don't be a Mr. Bungle!

Trick or Treat (1969)

The grim realities of the night before come back to haunt an individual hell bent on telling the authorities the truth over a tipped neighbor's trailer...

Buttons & Rusty in "Which Witch is Which?"

I was never a fan of these Buttons & Rusty specials (or the "Chucklewood Critters" series that manifested itself after wards), but here you go, a Halloween special with the critters.

While I'm thinking about music, I'm very disappointed that this fellow has not done the soundtrack for a horror film yet. Or, at least, some kind of action film.

Devil's Night!

Mischief night, or Gate night (also known as Devil's Night, Goosey Night, Cabbage Night and Mizzy Night in some areas), is an annual tradition in parts of England, Canada, and the United States; a night when the custom is for people (primarily teenagers and preteens) to take a degree of license to play pranks and do mischief to their neighbors. The most common date for mischief night is October 30, the day before Halloween.

In Detroit (and other places), it is known as Devil's Night. Let's see what kind of tunes we can get going for that.

Horror Movies

I don't know about you, but I love horror movies. And not that namby-pamby Saw crap, or Final Destination: When Rube Goldberg Devices Attack. I mean real horror!

Laughter is how humans let each other know it's ok. When people have a case of "nervous laughter", they're just trying to calm themselves down. All mammals have a little place in their brain that lights up when they "laugh".

Except cats, because they are evil.

Here's some Movie Trailers!

Get An Exclusive Spice and Wolf Coin When You Pre-Order from RACS!

While supplies last, every pre-order for the upcoming Spice and Wolf Season 1 Complete Viridian Collection will include an exclusive Spice and Wolf coin!

We are also making this offer retroactive for everyone who has already placed a pre-order for this set.

Supplies are limited (we only have about 100 coins), so if you haven't ordered yet, get your pre-order in now before they are gone! :-)

And thanks very much to our brand manager at Funimation for hooking us up with this great promotion!

Funi Admits DragonBoxes are Limited Editions

After much speculation and rumor, Funi (through a contact at ANN) has confirmed that their release of the DragonBoxes, the latest full iteration of DBZ, was a 'limited edition' release only. This means that the current 4 boxed sets won't be repressed, and no further boxes are likely to be released. At least that's what I think.

The reality is that regardless of whether Funi originally intended these to be 'limited' or not, the Dragonboxes have just not sold well, and what I think Funi is probably doing is discontinuing the release in favor of a new version in BD format next year. We have put the current DragonBoxes on 'stock on hand' status, but will continue to keep the older (but complete) orange box version in stock as long as we can.

Is it Extortion? You bet it is.

I've been having a little customer service fun with a rather prickly customer over the past couple of days who placed an order for a few figures last week, and then waited a couple of days after we shipped it to write in and tell us he felt like we should have applied the Octoberfest 10% coupon to it because he feels he's been a good customer in the past. No mention of any discount was made on the order or via e-mail prior to us shipping it.

At the time he placed the order our Octoberfest offer had been over for more than a week. I mentioned that his order did qualify for his recurring customer coupon (which he didn't use), and went ahead and applied his 5% coupon, but we had to credit him for the amount since the order had already been shipped and closed. He then got REALLY MAD and said he was well aware of those coupons, but did not use it because he expected a larger discount. I looked up his customer history notes and showed he has done this two other times in the past. He threatened to return the order if we didn't grant him the 10% discount, which boils down to about $20 bucks over what we already credited him.

I told him to return it.

He said a lot more than that actually, most of it pretty nasty, but I'm not going to waste time posting it here. I gotta tell you folks I'm pretty easy going when it comes to these sorts of things and will pretty much bend over backwards for any of our customers, but as soon as you start calling me names it's all over.

So the only thing I'm going to say here is that placing an order, letting us fill it, and then holding it hostage threatening to return it or charge it back if we don't grant you a big discount (i.e. refund) after the fact in an amount that is not currently being offered to anyone else is, well, a good way to get banned from the store for life.

Ya got that - Jack?

Boy, I'm glad it's Friday. :-)

Funimation Licenses Kuragehime & Sora no Otoshimono: Forte

Funimation has announced that they have acquired the rights to Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish) the 2nd season of Sora no Otoshimono (Heaven's Lost Property) which will be released under the name "Heaven's Lost Property Forte".

They will release both series on DVD in 2011.

Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish)
Amamizukan is an apartment complex where no boys are allowed. Kurashita Tsukimi, a girl who adores jellyfish, lives there happily with her friends who all have nerdy obsessions of their own. Their peaceful lives gradually start to change when a beautiful woman helps Tsukimi out of a pinch. She moves into the apartments -- but it turns out "she" is really a "he."


Sora no Otoshimono: Forte (Heaven's Lost Property Season 2)
Tomoki's peaceful life is far away in the past, now he has to deal with 2 angeloids Ikaros and Nymph along with his friends from school, each one of them very special on their own ways. Tomoki's dream about an angel warning him from the rage of heavens is getting very common at his sleep, then one day a new angel who has power up to the standard of Ikaros arrives Earth with the sole purpose of terminating Tomoki since his dream is starting to connect both realities, the Earth and the Synapses, a very powerful angel indeed.

Funimation's New Release Format

Funimation has decided to return to offering collector editions for anime titles starting in January, which will include a rigid box and a premium item. These premium editions will be available for the FIRST PRESSING ONLY and cost US$5 more than the regular editions that will be a plain cardstock box, slim case DVDs, and no premium item.

The first batch of premium first pressings include:

Black Butler Season 1 Part 1 DVD Collection (Eps #1-12)
Premium Item: TBA

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom DVD Collection #1 (Eps #1-13)
Premium Item: A bullet chain necklace

Sacred Blacksmith Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-12)
Premium Item: 32-page art booklet with centerfold

The two editions will be created for complete 13-episode series releases and for the "Part 1" of two-part (24 or 26 episode) series releases.

We will be shipping the new premium sets to all customers who pre-order these titles, and then whatever we have leftover until they are sold out, at which time we will switch to the standard editions at the slightly lower price, but we won't be offering the standard editions for sale until the premium edition is sold out.

In addition to the new premium sets, Funi will launch a new line for its anime titles called "Anime Classics." This will become their other 'end of life' label and will take it's place beside their S.A.V.E. edition economy sets as the final and last stage release version of a series. The first title under this label will be the Gantz boxed set being released in January.

The Shambling Menace

Someone told me about this, whereby Sears tries to explain their atrocious customer service. Such is life.

Yes, I know I'm late posting this. There have been things going on tonight that took up my time.

Phantom Rockers - "Rottin' In My Coffin"


Johnny Fever - "Zombie"

(I caught Johnny fever once. Dreadful stuff.)

Johnson Brothers - "Zombie Lou"


The Cramps - "Zombie Dance"

Evening Shopping in Akihabara

Evening Shopping in Akihabara at the Sato Musen electronics store:


Thanks to Sean for e-mailing!

Bandai Announces January 2011 Releases

Bandai has given us their January 2011 release schedule, and we now have it available on the store site for pre-order. Here's what's coming:

Hayate the Combat Butler DVD #8 (Eps #45-50)
Kurokami The Animation Part #5 DVD (BLURAY) (Eps #17-20) (English Dubbed)
My-Otome 0 ~S.fir~ DVD

Nothing new here except for the My Otome prequel, which I'm glad to finally see but think is priced a little steep for an 84 minute OVA (I had figured a $14.98 MSRP, not $24.98). Anyway, we priced it really low for you at RACS $16.98. It's strange to see Kurokami BD's still coming out, but that's due to the nature of the BD release having fewer eps per disk than the regular edition. Bandai never really had given us a satisfactory answer as to why the Japanese management made them release it this way (other than reimport paranoia), but we're not asking anymore either, are we? :-)

My-Otome 0 ~S.fir~
Years before the events of My-Otome, there was a secret princess that will one day become the queen of Windbloom. Because members of the royal Windbloom bloodline can unlock the hidden powers of the old technology, Sifr Fran is pursued by Aswad and Schwarz and even the Meister Otomes of Garderobe are under orders to kill her if she falls into enemy hands. Meister Otome Lena Sayers and her Otome friends must disobey orders if they are to save Sifr, but first Lena must release her true HiME powers with the help of the Blue Sky Saphire gem.



Hey, "you should know I'm an ally of justice!" :-) HEH.

TokyoPop Hires former CMX Exec

We all are aware of the declining fortunes of manga publisher TokyoPop. They have gone from a 40 issue a month company to a 10 issue a month company over the past 3 years, and have recently allowed much of their manga back catalog - even for ongoing series - to go out of print (to the consternation of fans and retailers alike). ICv2's Q3 2010 list of top selling manga properties show TokyoPop had only 2 out of the top 25 spots, with Alice in the Country of Hearts coming in at #11, and Fruits Basket at #15.

We'll, they have just announced that they have hired Asako Suzuki, who was formerly the Director of Manga for the now defunct CMX imprint, to be their Manga Line Editor. Suzuki will be handling most of the new Japanese licensing work at Tokyopop, including acquisitions. She will apparently also be involved in marketing as well, and will communicate with fans via Facebook and Twitter - you know, because there is no other freaking way to do it anymore. My suggestion is that she also talk to a retailer or two from time to time too, because up until now, TokyoPop has mostly ignores us - or at least tries to. Coming from working for a real company, hopefully she won't have too much trouble getting acclimatized to working for TokyoPop's schizophrenic culture and for DJ Milky (seen above) - who's ideas about manga (in spite of his massive ego) have always been well meaning but usually not well thought out.

WTF is up with your hair Stu? Dude...

So what does this all mean? How will things change at TokyoPop? When asked by ICv2 if TokyoPop might try to rescue some of CMX's unfinished properties, the answer didn't look good:

'Hopefully there’s something that will fit into Tokyopop’s line' Diaz-Przybyl said. 'We’ve had a very mixed track record with rescuing series, like the ADV titles we picked up: Tactics, Peace Maker Kurogane, Aria and Aqua. Fans loved it and we were really hoping to make some hay with them. They did fine, and there are different reasons why each performed a little differently. But those have not always been hugely successful.'

That's industry speak for 'no, re-releases don't sell well, so stop asking me...'

She also said something that I think sums up what TokyoPop is all about now:

'We need to pick the right titles at the right point in their life cycles.'

In other words, they will probably not pickup many new licenses in the future unless they think they will be big sellers. The days of a small percentage of hit titles subsidizing lots of marginal ones are over, and that's a real downer for fans who don't want to just read mainstream series like Fruits Basket.

Frankenstein was the doctor.

I have here a copy of Kingsley Amis' The King's English: A Guide to Modern Usage. He has this to say of Frankenstein:

Frankenstein (brilliantly named) is the eponymous character in a Gothic romance written by Mary Shelly in the early eighteenth century. He makes something like a human being from bits of dead bodies and gives the result life. The creature is fundamentally good, but after much ill treatment from mankind becomes the instrument of Frankenstein's destruction.

In the early twentieth century, when science and technology seemed t be spreading at a great rate, it was natural for writers to look for images of human invention over-reaching itself. The Frankenstein myth was pressed into service, but in a simplified or garbled form whereby the name of Frankenstein became attached to the monster. Those who talked about the danger that humans would create a deadly Frankenstein were sternly and regularly rebuked for linguistic impropriety by such as Fowler.

After a time, whether as monster or creator, Frankenstein was no longer to be found in newspaper columns. Perhaps he had simply gone out of fashion. Or perhaps, the whole question of how to refer to him had been made too difficult or cumbersome to handle. If the latter, it was something of a triumph for the sticklers.

Here's some songs by people who couldn't care one way or the other.



And here's a quick tribute to Deathrace 2000.

Funimation Reduces the Price of the Basilisk Complete BluRay!

Funimation has reduced the MSRP today on the Basilisk Complete Boxed Set (BLURAY) from $69.98 to $44.98:

Basilisk Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (BLURAY)

We have lowered our regular price from $49.98 to just $29.98, and the set is in stock and shipping at the new price today!

landscape quick color concept digital painting

Landscape quick color concept digital painting with a knight on a horseback. As I mention there will be more environmental concept scribble and here is another one of landscape or sort of seascape with some waves and rocky coast.
I was going to play more with perspective and do more building scenes, but I will save it for next time. This one surprisingly didn't take me as long as I think it would. Similar many of the concept I did, I start out monochromatic then finding the color scheme on step 3-4. I want it to be a cool color scheme to give it some sort of solitude in the setting at night. First I add the blue and work around with it until I get the variation of blue along with the correct values around the canvas, then I begin to add a little bit of the complimentary color, yellow, onto the image. Once you have more than one colors you should try to get them to balance by arrange one as dominant or primary, then secondary, then so on. As you do that, you will slowly seeing the color harmonize themselves. It can be difficult as it often did to me, but as you practice more and more, you will start to understand visually how you could get them to balance. But once in a while to get them off balance on purpose can get interesting result.

You can also read more tutorials and watch similar video of landscape painting tutorials such as environmental sketch concept digital painting (with video),drawing and painting environmental design magma fall, environmental concept tutorial ice-scape or arctic landscape.  Also this one point perspective city-scape tutorial involves perspective you can learn from.  And more landscape tutorials like Painting crystal cave concept, How to paint rocky bridge, and Draw and paint valleys environmental concept.  And the one that involve using of custom waterfall brushes is Painting with waterfall custom brushes.

Here is a quick blue scheme landscape concept:

Below are step by step landscape painting tutorial:




Here is a bigger size: environmental concept art tutorial

Hope you enjoy the tutorial, see you soon!
Peace!

More full length PREMIUM video tutorials

Skullwell Predicts

Oh! What a terrible copy. Go visit his site and see what it's supposed to look like.

Josh Alan - "Criswell Predicts"


Also, support Josh Allen.

Adventure Time: Hot Dog Princess Papercraft

Look at that looong body of the Hot Dog Princess, a character that appeared in Cartoon Network's Adventure Time. Download here.

Multivitamins

Each of us needs a balanced diet to ensure that our body is in a healthy condition. However, it is tough to follow a balanced diet since we sometimes prefer to eat just about anything available especially when we have a very hectic schedule. That is why we sometimes need to take multivitamins to supplement some of our vitamin needs. 

Aliens!

OK, I have a story for you:

Back in nineteen-mumble-mumble, I had a Halloween party and invited all my friends from school. Halloween parties are really great when you're eight.

My mom had gone to the library and borrowed a 16-mm projector and a copy of War of the Worlds. The original 1953 version. This was a one-reel "highlights" version, in black-and-white.

And Mom did not know how to get the sound working on the projector.

Actually, I'll bet there was no sound on that single reel anyway. But you can't get a bunch of kids to sit in the dark and watch a silent movie....

So, being inventive, she sat behind us, next to the projector, and made all the sound effects. Dialog, funny voices, you name it.

Man, the first time that heat-ray went off, she was back there yelling "NEROWOWOWOWOWOW!!!" and we screamed.

Prestigidination - "War of the Worlds"


Betty Johnson - "The Little Blue Man" (featuring a young Hugh Downs)


Sheb Wooley - "Purple People Eater" (1958)


The Misfits - "I Turned Into A Martian"

Cat Shit One - If RACS can't ship it, you should skip it!

Production company IDA Entertainment (another brilliantly run Japanese managed Anime firm) has announced that they intend to release Cat Shit One - at least the single episode that has actually been produced - on DVD and BD here in the US in December.

The big downer? It will only be available from Amazon. IDA says because they wanted to handle international distribution for this video on their own:

"that unfortunately means we are currently not interested in collaborating with other television, Internet distribution, DVD, or Blu-ray distribution related companies."

In other words, they're not really interested in market penetration, just turning a fast buck on the small amount of series content they've already produced.

Well IDA, for that (just like AniPlex) YOU CAN SUCK IT!

Actually, the problem with IDA's production of Cat Shit One seems to be a chronic lack of funding or investment interest in the project. It has taken them a year to produce one episode of the originally promised full TV series, and while they gave it away for free to Japanese audiences on YouTube, they initially blocked the video for viewing by North American fans - but will now be making it available (with the dub) in November. All hail IDA.

I suspect they are going through Amazon for distribution so they can utilize Amazon's 'press on demand' service, in which the DVD or BD is not actually produced until it's ordered. It's the ultimate poor mans video production service, but it would allow them to offer the existing episode on DVD without having to invest a lot of money in replication. If not, I bet the R1 version will be close the Japanese price, and if it is - well, epic fail.

IDA says they are still working towards a full 12-episode series, but considering their track record so far I'm not too hopeful they will be able to pull it off.

As for the 'Amazon only' DVD release? For this one, I recommend you catch it on YouTube and skip buying it on DVD until a complete series is produced. I think it's really time to stop rewarding companies for these stupid distribution decisions.

Hey, I just had a thought about what out new mantra should be:

If RACS can't ship it, you should skip it! :-)

HEH, I like that. Maybe we should start putting that in our advertising...

Media Blasters / Allegro Media Partnership

Media Blasters made the announcement this week that they have struck a deal with Allegro Media (a small entertainment media firm that hasn't updated the news section of their website since January) to handle sales and distribution of all Media Blasters Anime and movie labels starting in December. That includes everything published under the Anime Works, Tokyo Shock, and their other live action movie labels. Interestingly, Kitty (their adult Anime line and no doubt their most profitable) will remain in house and will not go out to Allegro.

Most of you guys probably don't know this, but Media Blasters closed up their New Jersey distribution warehouse over the summer (and sadly layed off all the staff there), and outsourced all of their retailer fulfillment to Brand X's wholesale warehousing and shipping service. That was shortly after they shut down their manga division. This transition has been one of the big causes of all the MB backorders and stockouts since July. Now, it seems, they will be moving their inventory again out to Allegro's warehouse over the next few weeks - all of this going on during the busiest selling season of the year. While MB was making a lot of promises to us back in September that weren't filled , I now expect the major stockouts and shortages to last well into January, which can't been good - especially over the holiday selling season.

Regarding the move, John Sirabella (President of Media Blasters) said that this arrangement:

"frees up Media Blasters to focus on localizing properties for the US market, developing new features and series, and producing the highest possible quality DVD, Blu-ray, and digitally distributed releases."

Really? And it has nothing to do with cost cutting due to declining revenue and market share? We'll, no one can ever say THAT publicly - except me - it seems. I've been around this business for a LONG time, and have seen a lot of Anime companies come and go. One thing I would make an observation about is that when a studio outsources their retailer fulfillment, it just means they are trying to cut costs, but when they outsource the outside sales function too, it usually means the company is either going down the tubes, or is no longer planning to pursue that aspect of the business. If you are interested in staying in the Anime business, you keep your sales function IN HOUSE. Period.

We were informed of Media Blasters deal with Allegro last Friday afternoon, before it went public on Monday. I was tempted to fire off a quick blog post to 'break' the news, but I decided to hold off for a few days - frankly because it was a little depressing and I just didn't feel like writing about it at the time. At the end of the day, I hope Media Blasters is not ending up just another casualty of the R1 downturn. Hopefully this is not the case.

Nowadays, MB is the only company left with the guts to license titles like Kanokon or Queens Blade. Come on John, stay with us man, the Anime community needs you.

Stuff

I do have some comments to make on Media Blasters deal with Allegro Media, with the new regular/limited edition packaging for Funimation releases starting in January, and on a few other recent news events. Should have some posts up about them in the next couple of days.

Godzilla and post-war Japan

Dr. William Tsutsui was recently appointed dean of SMU's Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. If you skip the first two minutes, you won't have to hear him say "ah" twenty-bajillion times.

Other from that, a good lecture.

Painting Light and Shadow study speed painting scene

Painting Light and Shadow study speed painting scene. This post is a study of light and shadow and how figures or objects in shadow appear differently from the figures or objects that get expose to light.

I am just taking an excerpt from the older post, color vs values artists tip and what was quoting from the great master Craig Mullins, "Decide what is in light and what is in shadow and don’t mix them up. Two major values, but if they are well thought out and designed and drawn they can look totally real. Think like that, but instead of making the light white and the shadow black, make the light a 7 and the shadow a 3."

Then look around from some images that have similar lighting situation and compose my own using some part of story I come up with. These guys are running away from something and alley would be a good place to put the kind of lighting into use. So one figure that was ahead run into the shadow of a building when he turns in the corner. And the rest still get expose to light as they just came down the street. I hope that make sense. =)

Here is the Light and shadow study speed painting so far:

Here are step by step process studying Light and Shadow:




Here is a bigger image: Painting light and shadow study

Enjoy!

More full length video tutorials

"The Dream" (by Chris Sobieniak, age 20)

Nothing spells "scary" than a peak at my horrid, yet stupid student film from back in the day I couldn't even get completed in time for a passing grade! Enjoy my stupid attempt at wrecking a Bolex!

Vincent Price

I'm sure you noticed Vincent Price a lot during our week of Poe. Well, today is the anniversary of his death, a few days short of Halloween. He was 92.

Vincent was a consummate actor who could not only chew on scenery, but swallowed it whole. I have to respect that. He's got an impressive filmography and I suggest you watch some of his work. So what if it's in black-and-white?

My mom met him once and asked if it would be okay if she gave him a hug.

"Madam, you may do what ever you please," he said.

I should put that on a T-shirt. MY MOM HUGGED VINCENT PRICE.

Plus, he could sing. Oh, what a lovely voice he had.

The wolves are still about

It's not a real full moon anymore, but it's close enough.

The Wolf Sisters - "Big Bad Wolf"


The Ghouls - "Weird Wolf"


Howlin' Wolf - "Evil"

Shugo Chara! Papercraft: Anna Coppola

Ana Coppola is thye eleven year old English character in the ninth season of the anime Shugo Chara! Believe In Yourself!. Download here.

Best Multivitamins

A multivitamin is a preparation intended to supplement a human diet with vitamins, dietary minerals and other nutritional elements. There are many many multivitamins in the market but which among them can be considered gthe best? BestMultivitamins.org can help you answer that question as it was created to conduct thorough research and analysis. They have found the best multivitamins based on five different criteria.

Costume Quest Papercraft: Reynold

Reynold is one of the main characters along with Wren in the adventure role-playing video game Costume Quest. Download here.

Website Submit

If you have a new website, the most important thing is to build up the content. Always update your site so visitors will always have a reason to come back. After that, it is important to build traffic. Your site has to be accessible on different search engines. All you have to do is submit your website link to a free web directory submission and your website will soon appear when you make a search.

The Monster Cereals!

COUNT CHOCULA!


FRANKEN BERRY!!


BOO BERRY!!!


FRUIT BRUTE!!!!


And yes, YUMMY MUMMY!!!!!

Part of your BALANCED breakfast!

BONUS:
What goes into the packaging and marketing of your favorite sugar-laced breakfast treats.

Ahhh! Full moon!

Yes, it's a FULL MOON tonight, and you know what that means...

Guess Who - "Clap For The Wolfman"


Magnolia Electric Co - "Werewolves of London"


Hutch Davie and His Honky Tonkers - "Gwendolyn and the Werewolf"

The Residents

These guys are The Residents. You have to know about them if you want any kind of geek-cred.

The story goes that they sent in a demo-tape, but never put their name on it. When the record company they sent it to returned the tape, it was addressed to "Resident". Since then, they have released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects, two video games, ten DVDs, and have undertaken seven major world tours.

You give a listen and see why they were rejected back in 1972.



That last tack is a Residents cover by Primus. Oh, you don't know who Primus is? Thanks for making me feel old.

2011 Calendars Now Available for Pre-Order!

We'll, after lots of consideration we've decided to take the plunge against a really terrible exchange rate and bring a few 2011 import calendars in this year. We've placed advanced orders for these, and they are now up on the site fore pre-order:

Angel Beats 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
Bleach A 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
Bleach B 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (B2)
Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
DragonBall Kai 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
Gintama 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
Hetalia 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import)(A2)
Ikki Tousen Xtreme Xecutor 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
Ladies Versus Butlers! (Redi x Bato!) 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
Maid Sama! 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
Mayoi Neko Overrun! 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
Naruto Shippuden A 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
Naruto Shippuden B 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (B2)
One Piece 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 2011 Calendar (Japanese Import) (A2)

We'll close the pre-order window on each as our allocation sells out in pre-order. We should start shipping these in December.

The Tiger Lillies

Someone needs to make an anime music video for Tokyo Godfathers using this song. Like, yesterday.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Tiger Lillies. Unlike Insane Clown Possie, I'll wager they understand how magnets work.

Here's a couple more of their songs; one based on the works of Edward Gorey and the other from a collection of perfectly dreadful child morality (mortality?) tales.

"ABC"


"Fidgety Phil"

Section 23 Announces January 2011 Releases

Section 23 has given us their January 2011 release schedule, and we now have it available on the store site for pre-order. Here's what's coming:

11 Eyes Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-12)
Ghost Sweeper Mikami TV Series Collection #2 (Eps #13-23)
Kampfer Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-12)
Koihime Muso Complete Collection DVD Boxed Set (Eps #1-13)

All sexy Anime series that fall right into Section 23's niche. Note that there are no dubbed shows on the list, and Section 23 seems to have settled into a routine of about one release per week - of course, at 12 or 13 episodes of something per week, it's really quite a lot of content coming in small economical packages. After their experiment with dubs over the summer I think they have discovered that in the current environment it's really hard to recoup the cost to dub a show. They may dub more shows going forward, but I'm sure they will choose which titles very carefully.

11 Eyes
Raised in an orphanage after witnessing his sister's suicide, Satsuki Kakeru's life has already been dark and cruel enough. However, when he and his friend Yuka are thrown into a alternate dimension called the Red Night, it takes a gruesome turn from bad to horrific. Now, trapped flickering between our world and the Red, Kakeru quickly discovers that he and Yuka are not alone, and that, together with the other so-called "fragments," they must defeat the malevolent entities known as the Black Knights. Facing monsters from beyond imagination, at the center of a deadly hunt, Kakeru's only chance of saving their lives now hinges on finding the power buried within himself and unraveling the mystery of his own origins and family. If he can survive long enough to do it! The horrors of the Red Night are just the beginning of the nightmare as shocking truths are exhumed in 11 Eyes - The Complete Collection!



Kampfer
Waking up transformed into a beautiful girl might be the stuff of some guys' fantasies, but when the suddenly effeminatized Natsuru is informed by a stuffed tiger that he's now a Kämpfer, a mystical fighter who has to fight other Kämpfers in female form, his life becomes a living nightmare! Putting aside the obvious "plumbing" issues, Natusru's best childhood friend turns out to swing the other way and SHE has a crush on his new female body. Not complex enough? Natsuru's school has separate sections for boys and girls, so he and she are now double enrolled. The rumor-mill has it that he's dating herself. And there are other Kämpfers attending the school who want to take her out, and he's not sure which ones mean "on a date" and which ones mean "permanently." Oh, and did we mention that some Kämpfers use SWORDS and GUNS?! Hormones, fists and other body parts will fly as the daring, new gender-blender defender must become a contender or die in KÄMPFER! - The Complete Series!



Koihime Muso
Before Hua Mulan, before Wu Zetian, China bore another great hero, one whose true name was lost to history… until now. Swearing vengeance after bandits destroy her family and village, a girl named Aisha takes the name Kan'u and sets forth on a journey that will take her across the ruins of a great nation, living not as a woman "should," but by the strength of her own sword and the steel of her own will. And as she travels, her courage and example become a beacon to other kindred souls: women who dare to shatter the shackles of their own traditions and take up arms, to become a force for change. Now, as a new world begins to emerge from the embers of the old, the face of evil must confront its ultimate nemesis, a girl who has become the soul of a new people. An epic battle for the fate of a nation will be unleashed in the complete epic collection of Koihime†Mus?!

Dreams

Via xkcd.

Slime Princess Papercraft

Here comes the cute Slime Princess from Cartoon Network's Adventure Time Princesses. Download here.

Acne Products

Acne can ruin a teenager's life. They're like a bad dream that just won't go away. More so if they leave those dark and nasty scars. You probably tried and noticed that most acne products do not work. Or, an acne product that works on another, does not work on you. Well, topacneproducts.org has reviewed and ranked to help you choose which actually works.

Sizza Papercraft Kara Arnold

Kara Arnold sure put quite an effort in customizing this handdrawn reptilian Sizza. Download here.

Phentermine Review

They say that Phentermine is literally the most popular prescription diet pill out there.  Generally speaking, Phentermine only works for a few weeks at a time.  And yet people take it for this allotted period of time, take some time off, and then they use it again. If you're not sure, make sure to read phentermine reviews. There are alternative to this diet pills that might actually be better. Make sure that you do an extensive research and consult your doctor before try anything out.

Box Can Papercraft: Scott Schaller

Phil's Box Can papertoy gets customized by Scott Schaller. Download here.

One point perspective city scape study

Here is a short tutorial on environmental concept sketch using one point perspective. Like I said before that I am going to do more environmental speed paintings (quick color sketches). Environmental involving perspective is probably one of the area I want to really be good at since I have not done a lot of them.


So far we have the following tutorials: Draw and paint Environmental concept Sand Valley, Drawing and painting environmental concept Magma Fall, Draw and paint landscape mountain rock, and Environmental concept tutorial Ice-Scape.  All the above are environmental concept sketches and paintings.  You can pick any video tutorials you like to see.

This one is a city at night study using one point perspective, it took me about an hour and a half painting and probably about a few more hours ref research and thinking. Like I usually do, I am focusing on the big shape first and foremost and line them up with perspective grid I drew up. After I got all the big shapes or elements in place, then I begin to work on rough detail to identify what kind of objects they are such as buildings etc. Here is the city at night quick color sketch.

One-Point Perspective.
One vanishing point is typically used for roads, railway tracks, hallways, or buildings viewed so that the front is directly facing the viewer. Any objects that are made up of lines either directly parallel with the viewer's line of sight or directly perpendicular (the railroad slats) can be represented with one-point perspective.

One-point perspective exists when the painting plate (also known as the picture plane) is parallel to two axes of a rectilinear (or Cartesian) scene — a scene which is composed entirely of linear elements that intersect only at right angles. If one axis is parallel with the picture plane, then all elements are either parallel to the painting plate (either horizontally or vertically) or perpendicular to it. All elements that are parallel to the painting plate are drawn as parallel lines. All elements that are perpendicular to the painting plate converge at a single point (a vanishing point) on the horizon.

Here is a sample of the one point perspective grid I used.

Here are step by step City environmental study tutorial:

Below as you will see, I move the horizontal line to the higher position, very close to the top boarder. As a result, the perspective will create a bird eye view camera angle image (looking from above). Then I placed the vanishing point is on the top right corner area instead of closer to the middle because it creates more interesting composition to the overall piece.



Here is the final speed painting image

For bigger image here: City night environment tutorial

Enjoy the tutorial! =)

More full length video tutorials