Back in July I told you about a project between Pixar employes and the organization known as Totoro No Furusato National Fund who’s work is to save the piece of land that inspired Miyazaki’s classic film My Neighbor Totoro. Around two hundred artists got together and made artwork inspired by Miyazaki’s own creations and are offering them up for bids so the organization can continue to battle the urban development that threatens the forest. Well online bidding for the artwork has begun so if you have the funds by all means head over to the website to place your bid, which you can do by simply going to the gallery and see what you like.
The links below will tell you more about it.

Ok so now I guess I hadn’t been paying much attention these last few days, crazy at work, but these almost slipped me by.
First up is a Eraserhead poster which is made for a screening of the film at the Alamo Ritz on september 1st to commemorate author Josh Frank, who’s book “In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre” features David Lynch’s epic art house landmark film quite a bit. The poster is made by Mark Pedini and is hand pulled silk screen on heavy paper. The thing goes for 25 bucks and should be on the wall of every serious Lynch fan out there.

The two others should go quite rabidly. Poster Mega Star Tyler Stout has produced a effin sweet Mad Max 2 poster in two versions, the variant is sold out already and the damn thing went up today. Billy Perkins designed a bad ass Mad Max poster, also in two versions. You can still, as I write this, get the variant of Perkins´ poster but the only way to get Stout’s regular version is by getting the set of the two designs together.
The posters were made for the screening of the two cult films as a part of the Rolling Road Show and Fantastic Fest at the Republic Square park in Austin on the 12th (Mad Max) and the 19th (Road Warrior) of september. Wroom wroom!

Created by Sam Raimi Darkman was presented as first a film character and then later published in comic book form. But Darkman couldn’t be more of a comic character or story no matter what its origins. Part superhero, part vigilante, part mad scientist, part man, part monster Darkman touches on the sort of storytelling extremes that practically beg to laid out in panel form. My friends were amused to see me take this out of the box as most of them aren’t big enough fans of the series to bother with something this over the top. But this piece cried out for my attention the second I saw it. I’m a huge Darkman fan, a bigger Sam Raimi fan, and a lover of over the top movies in general. 

Continue Reading "SIDESHOW DARKMAN EXCLUSIVE PREMIUM FORMAT FIGURE"...

This message serves as a reminder that a “NOT Safe For Work” (NSFW) article has just been posted.

Here at Twitch we strive to keep the site “Safe For Work” (SFW), meaning any unsuspecting visitors joining us during their lunchbreak should not get either full frontal nudity or extreme violence on their screens while their boss is standing behind them.

This means we’ve locked away the little amount of NSFW content that we have and as an un-registered visitor you will not see it.

We did not throw away the key though: if you register for a free account you can choose in your profile whether or not to have this content unlocked.

If you choose “Yes”, NSFW content will be displayed on the main page same as all the other articles.
And this time the NSFW content indeed features Sora Aoi (a.k.a. Sola Aoi, Aoi Sora, or Aoi Sola)...

Internet access on board trains is apparently a much better idea in theory than it is in practice.  Forty or so additions to the TIFF trailer park, new images and a high res trailer for Christmas on Mars, and assorted other bits and pieces will have to wait until I have a connection that works for longer than stretches of fifteen seconds or so.  I can’t believe I’m paying for something that works this badly ...

Now this is one of those films which I’ve heard so much about but have never actually seen, might have something to do with hockey not being popular here in Iceland. But this is a big cult classic film in the states and the Alamo Drafthouse will be hosting a screening for it at the Chaparral Ice-rink in Austin august 16th.
Artist Jon Smith apparently hounded the people in charge to make this poster because it’s his all time favorite movie. And the result is this baffling silk screen poster, yes it’s silk screened, that I’m sure is going to go down well with folks, I just wished I could see it up close and personal.
As always you can get this labor of love over at mondotees.com for 30 bucks. 

Back in May Todd posted images from the sales flyer for Shimako Sato’s K-20: Kaijin Nijû Mensô Den. It gave us a bit of an idea how the character design went but you cannot always get the clarity you want from scanning flyers.

Never fear. Jason Gray has noted over on his blog that the official site now has that same image from the flyer in full digital glory on its main page. Much clearer image. Much brighter. Much better. Now we can see some details in the costume. I’ve messed about with the image and tried to brighten it more, bring out more details.

And according to Jason, who did the English translation of the script, “I can say that Kaneshiro Takeshi fans are in for a treat”.

Set in an alternate world where ninety percent of Japan’s wealth is controlled by a small sliver of the aristocracy, the Fiend is a sort of Robin Hood figure who steals from the rich. Kaneshiro plays a circus acrobat falsely set up as the Fiend who must escape from jail and track down the real thief to clear his name with the help of a beautiful police detective who is being targeted by the real thief.

The first time I saw something by the ridiculously popular graphic artist Tyler Stout was the poster he did for the neo-grindhouse biker flick Hellride (or nu-grind as I like to call it). Later I found out that he has made some of most popular posters for the Alamo Drafthouse and of course I ended up buying some.
People have been drooling over the Hellride poster for some time now but it has been proven to be elusive to get. But it is elusive no more, well sort of. The film is set to screen at the Alamo in Austin soon and the good folks have created a silk screened version of it in two editions, one with the familiar orange flavor and a more limited metallic ink version.
The poster is 24″ x 36″ and goes for 30 bucks for the orange one but as of this writing the limited metallic edition is already sold out going from the starting price of 85 dollars to a whooping 190 in a matter of hours. See how popular these things are?

Get the regular version before it’s too late. If you like it that is.
You can click the link below to see the sold out metallic version.

Run! Don’t walk to secure your copy of Tyler Stouts Spaced poster made specially for the Spaced DVD release party thrown at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz next sunday the 27th. I know this analogy doesn’t really apply for the world wide web but in any case, if you like Spaced, Tyler Stout or kick ass posters in general let that mouse burn rubber to get yourself to mondotees.com cause this poster will be only available for very short time and in very limited numbers because most of them are going to be sold at the venue to be signed by Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Jessica Hynes.
The posters are 24x36, presented in three colors and printed on delicious cream colored paper. It can be yours, if you hurry, for 30 bucks.
Go get some!

The Creature from the Black Lagoon is one of the most popular collectible subjects in the history of the Universal Monsters. Almost anything of quality produced in his image sells out quickly. While this won’t be the last Creature collectible released by Sideshow (word has it a life-size bust will be announced soon) it is one that you should get your hands on if you’re a big fan. As of this writing you’ll have to do it through the secondary market or settle for Sideshows waitlist. I’d also expect a seriously limited Silver Screen Premium Format edition at some point.

Continue Reading "SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLES CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON PREMIUM FORMAT FIGURE"...

My Neighbor Totoro is my all time favorite Miyazaki film. This film gripped me like no other film of his and perfectly captured the feel of rural Japan and the beauty of its nature. Apparently Miyazaki was inspired to make the story by the 8750 acre forest that sits right outside of Tokyo by the name of Sayama Forest. For the past few decades the forest has been threatened by urban development and Miyazaki has been actively protesting this process for over a decade. This September the legendary filmmaker and Pixar have joined forces for the non profit organization ”Totoro No Furusato National Fund” to help fund the on going battle to save Totoro Forest. They have asked 186 artists to interpret or draw inspiration Miyazaki’s wonderful world and the results are over 200 pieces of original art, paintings, illustrations and sculptures, that will be sold at an auction at Pixar studios on September 6th.

The foundation has put up a website to promote the event and there you can see some of the artwork that will be auctioned off in September or you can simply donate to the cause to help preserve this piece of land that was the inspiration of a classic. 

I can’t afford much of life-size anything when it comes to collectibles. Life-size Star Wars? Maybe a bust, or weapon replica. But nothing affordable has ever grabbed hard enough to demand my attention, until now.... affordable may be in the eye of the beholder but I actually sold off a collectible to get this- something I never ever do. It was worth every penny. 

Continue Reading "SIDESHOW LIFE-SIZE SALACIOUS D. CRUMB"...

As a part of Alamo’s Weird Wednesdays they are offering a poster for their screening of the quintessential car movie Two Lane Blacktop. Quite a coinkydink since I just got the Criterion release of the film and the last T.O.M. featured classic car movies. Great minds think alike I guess.
This particular poster is by Alamo poster newcomer Casey Burns and as always you’ll find this 24x36 poster over at mondotees.com for only a measly 25 bucks. Wroom wroom!

[Mack - Swarez, lent a helping hand brother. Uploaded the poster for you. Cheers mate]

Over at Ryuganji Don Brown’s been eating his carrots again. His sharp eyes caught the fully revealed Takemajin character from Kawasaki Minoru’s Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit. It had been a few months since Blake interviewed Kawasaki and he told us about this new project, starring Takeshi Kitano as the hero of Japan. We do expect this film to be of the low-fi variety, what with Kawasaki’s canon; Executive Koala, The Calamari Wrestler and The World Sinks Except Japan to name a few. Low-fi or not the costume looks great and if Kitano really does don the costume and duke it out with the monster Guilala at the end of the film then consider me game.

While you’re at it you may want to head over to Robo Japan and read a review of the film from a political writer’s point of view. Guilala-no Gyakushuu Touyaku Samitto Kiki Ippatsu made its debut in Sapporo in conjunction with the G8 summit being held not too far away. A British reporter covering the summit thought it would be a laugh to see the film as he was covering the summit. Clearly he doesn’t get it but it gives us an idea what to expect from Kawasaki’s film. 

I’ll let him introduce himself when he’s ready but all you Twitch old timers out there are about to be visited by a familiar - and very, very welcome - face ...