PLANETDAMAGE

Couldn’t force myself to do a proper review on M dot Strange’s We Are the Strange cyberpunk-chiptune-stop-motion animation havoc yet, but we could just spare the whole writing part and let you do the watching and the talking, as M dot’s uploaded the original version of his movie (88 minutes!) to YouTube and he did this with 17 subtitled versions (from Japanese to Dutch, Polish and Brazilian Portuguese as well). Order the movie from Filmbaby or Amazon.

Kurt Wimmer’s Ultraviolet is being re-worked into an anime by Osamu Dezaki (Lupin III). The new version, Ultraviolet Code 044 premieres July 1st in Japan and according to ANN, it’s going to be a series, including Madhouse and Tezuka Productions animator and character designer Akio Sugino (who also worked for Black Jack and Golgo 13). Trailer above.

Ridley Scott returns to the SF world by directing Huxley’s Brave New World. “DiCaprio will play John the Savage, who lives a “natural” life on a reservation while the rest of cloned humanity is lulled into docility with sex, soma (drugs) and feelies (films that also involve the senses of smell and touch). He finally escapes celebrity to become a lighthouse keeper“, sez Times Online.

According to bloody-disgusting, David “they killed my Blade series” Goyer says a new edition of Dark City will be released on DVD and will probably have limited theatrical. You can expect FX upgrades, a redid score, longer cuts, lengthy interviews with parties involved and all this will be available via Blu-Ray as well.

A place of ROCK - Carl Zimmer’s Science Tattoo Emporium. How much of a geek can you get, really? (Thx, Dawe!)

Official video off the new album Walking with Strangers. Got this gut feeling that they should stick to live videos as those are miles better than the conceptual wonderland stuff they put out and also, Looking Glass is not the best track off WwS. Still, enjoy.

Google Trends is a tricky little bastard. It tells us the Philippines are the most interested in God, bukkake is common as bread in Italy and cyberpunk is practically dead, even when Hollywood pushes the Neuromancer project through the frontline trenches.

If it wasn’t enough for you, cover your eyes, I have something that is very much bordering on wrong. Variety (and right after that, a zillion sites) announced that Steven Spielberg directs a 3D live-action adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell with DreamWorks having the rights. The project is penned by newcomer Jamie Moss, whereas one of the producers, Avi Arad, was responsible for the three Spiderman movies, three X-Men movies and the Fantastic Four ones as well. No Japanese crew members announced.

I want to throw a contraceptive nailbomb on the planet.

Trippy, hallucinogenic, vivid, like your first gleeful hours with Photoshop. Exactly. The new Wachowski movie (fifth, if I’m counting director status) is a rework of Tatsuo Yoshida’s manga マッハ GoGoGo that got onscreen in 1967, arrives May 9th on the big screen. I was cautious with V for Vendetta, I’m cautious with this one.

As some people will already be aware, Ana took her own life on March 24th, 2008. It is with a sense of horror and great sadness that I am obliged to make this the first official statement on this, the Official Myspace profile for DESPAIR.

At this time, this terrible loss is still very raw: and it is difficult for me to put into words the conflict of emotions I feel. I will make a full statement in due course.

In the meantime, I would ask people to refrain from e-mailing us directly with questions about this subject: please allow us to deal with our grief privately.

If you wish to leave some message of condolence, I have opened the ’Comments’ board to allow you to express yourself in this way.

I have also uploaded what now becomes Ana’s final song with DESPAIR - ’Gash’ from the new DARKER WATERS compilation. The release date of this compilation has been changed to June 7th: the same date that we - along with many of Ana’s other friends - will play a concert in her memory at Shinjuku Marz (Tokyo Dark Castle).

The answer to the question ’Will DESPAIR continue?’ is ’Yes: of course’. As others of you may be aware, Ana had in fact already played her final show with DESPAIR in February: and Rieu and myself were already recording material for the new album without her. However, I had hoped and believed that one day she might return: something which can now never happen.

I will write in more detail when I can collect my thoughts better. Until then, please bear with us at this difficult time.

Thanks
JUDE (Despair)

Twitch sez:
Ben Hibon (Blinkink)’s Goldene Nica-winner post-apocalyptic ass-kicking piece of glorious animation called Codehunters goes full-length from its original nine minutes. (Register on the original CH site to get extra wallpapers, graphic content and downloads and while you’re at it, read CGSociety’s feature as well.)

The”big”Codehunters movie is planned to be a live-action one with producers Steve Barnett (300) and Roy Lee (The Ring), screen writer Kyle Ward (Fiasco Heights) and Ben Hibon, the director of the short movie you can check in the YouTube embed above. “A lone man with the ability to manipulate DNA directly”, says Twitch. This meme done in animé - awesome. Do it in live action, and it sounds very much like The Gene Generation to me.

Trailer of science-fiction movie about life in world populated by robots, life-like androids.

News from ANN:
Studio Rikka has opened the official Japanese website for its Eve no Jikan science fiction move and posted a trailer in high-quality and low quality versions. Yasuhiro Yoshiura (Mizu no Kotoba, Pale Cocoon) directs this “non-hard science-fiction” story about everyday life in a world populated by robots and life-like androids. The studio first screened this trailer at Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008. The English subtitle of the Eve no Jikan film title, which literally translates as “Time of Eve,” is written as “Are you enjoying the Time of Eve?”

order at allposters