Mark Hamill in the Magic Kingdom, 2014
In June 2014, Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World received a visitor from a galaxy far far away … or in real life, London, where Star Wars Episode VII was in production. Yes, Mark Hamill attended Star Wars Weekends, participating in a motorcade and being interviewed by voice actor James Arnold Taylor, Ben Kenobi in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Luckily for fans who didn’t attend, Hamill’s interviews were taped and uploaded on YouTube for all to enjoy. Here they are:
Show 1, June 6, 2014
Posted online by Inside the Magic, June 6, 2014. More of their coverage of Hamill’s visit here.
MouseSteps video:
Show 2, June 7, 2014
Posted online by Attractions Magazine, June 8, 2014.
Show 3, June 8, 2014
Posted online by MouseSteps / JWL Media on June 9, 2014.
In the first show, Hamill wore a shirt with a design by his son Nathan. Here he is wearing it at Star Wars Celebration Europe II, in an interview with Warwick Davis, from July 28, 2013:
Posted online by PC Games, July 30, 2013.
Go, Go, Go! Astro Boy!
On my birthday this year, Jerry Beck–animation historian and the new president of ASIFA-Hollywood–surprised me on Facebook with a tribute drawing from a special childhood hero, Astro Boy (known in Japan as Tetsuwan Atom), along with his guardian and mentor, Dr. Elephun, created by Osamu Tezuka.
Here’s the Japanese opening to the series:
And the English-language opening, with lyrics by American producer Fred Ladd:
Bastian Says “No” to Humdrum Books
Bastian Balthazar Bux, the young hero of Michael Ende’s Die unendliche Geschichte / The Neverending Story, is particularly choosy in the books he likes to read. Here’s why:
- “Reluctantly Bastian’s thoughts turned back to reality. He was glad the Neverending Story had nothing to do with that.
“He didn’t like books in which dull, cranky writers describe humdrum events in the very humdrum lives of humdrum people. Reality gave him enough of that kind of thing, why should he read about it? Besides, he couldn’t stand it when a writer tried to convince him of something. And these humdrum books, it seemed to him, were always trying to do just that.
“Bastian liked books that were exciting or funny, or that made him dream. Books where made-up characters had marvelous adventures, books that made him imagine all sorts of things.” – Dutton, 1997, pg. 21.
How about you? Are these the kind of books you prefer to read?
What keeps Star Wars alive?
Today Steve Sansweet posted a blog entry regarding Disney preparing new Star Wars merchandise for its stores.
While reading it, this popped out at me:
“With the merchandise being developed, it became the job of Jonathan Storey, a 22-year Disney Store veteran, to prepare the Stores and the Cast Members. It was a task that the vice president of Stores for North America took on with relish, since he’s been a huge Star Wars fan and major collector since his childhood growing up in the small seaside town of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England.
“He’s also a kindred soul, believing like me that Star Wars merchandise played a huge role in making the franchise the cultural phenomenon that it is today — one celebrated by three generations of fans. “The movie was ahead of its time, but it was actually the toys that gave Star Wars its staying power,” Storey says. “I had nothing else to keep it alive, so I played out every conceivable story line. As a child, I think I rescued Princess Leia at least a thousand times.”
The Magnificent Dragon Gate
One of the benefits of Facebook is learning from friends who share similar interests. Recently one shared a photo of this exquisite Dragon Gate of Harlech House in Dublin. For details and more gorgeous pictures of the gate, see this article by “Pinar”, “Mythical Dragon Gate Protects Home.”
Harrison Ford in France, September 1977
On September 20, 1977, Gary Kurtz, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford appeared on a French TV show, Spécial Cinéma, hosted by Christian Defaye. On May 16, 2014, Bertha Rand uploaded a video of Ford’s part in the interview. Here it is:
http://youtu.be/5SbGxjKc9jU
This clip is also available at Les Archives de la Radio Télévision Suisse.
What if AKIRA was live-action?
On May 9, 2014, The Akira Project posted its amazing trailer, a live-action homage to Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira. Who can believe this fan-made effort can be so … professional?
Caution: Material is PG-13.
From their online posting:
The Akira Project is a crowd-sourced, non-profit project meant to create a live action fan trailer of AKIRA, the renowned manga-turned-anime film from the late 1980′s; a stunning example of both mediums as art forms. While Hollywood has been working on a live-action Akira movie for a few years now, we, as fans, wanted to take a shot at making our own adaptation. A chance to stick as close to the source material as possible. A chance to do Akira justice.
We launched an Indiegogo campaign in July 2012 as part of a crowd sourcing effort to make this project come to life. Many people contributed not just financially but offered their time and talent to help the production that was shot in Montreal, Quebec from November 2-5th 2012. What started out as a simple idea between two guys having a beer (Hey! It’d be cool to see Kaneda ride his bike around Neo-Tokyo!), became a global endeavour, filled with adventures and hurdles, involving more than 40 artists in 12 different countries.
After a year and a half in post-production, we are proud to present the project to Akira fans the world over. We hope to have done justice to the timeless work of Katsuhiro Otomo and look forward to, someday, seeing the full scope of the Akira story translated to the big screen as a live-action.
For more information: www.akira-project.com
Facebook: fb.com/projectakira
Twitter: twitter.com/Project_Akira
Production company: www.cineground.com
Contact us at: info@akira-project.com
Music:
1. Score: Icarus (Deus Ex Main Theme) – Michael McCann (iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/ica…)
2. End Credits: Kaneda’s Theme Remix – Le Matos : (http://lematos.bandcamp.com)
Shot on RED Epic-X with Kowa Prominar Anamorphics, Cooke MiniS4, Leica Summicron-C.
Partners: CineGround, GreenGround, EZ Designs, Location Snap Shots, Studio Nora, Badpen Studios
Producer/Director: Nguyen-Anh Nguyen
Director of Photography: Jan Belina-Brzozowski
Visual Effects Supervisor:Santiago Menghini
Production Designer: Laura Nhem
Kaneda Shotaro: Osric Chau
Tetsuo Shima: Xavier Yuvens
Yamagata: Simon Li
Kei: Judy Wong
Production Manager: Aurélie Bernos
First Assistant Director: Andreas Mendritzki
Line Producer: Aonan Yang
Editor: Arnaud Faure
Sound Design: EchoLab.TV
Sound Designers: Gavin Little, Joe McHugh:
Post Production Supervisor: Simon Allard
Executive Producer: Osric Chau
Associate Producer: Santiago Menghini, E. Nova Zatzman
The Colonel: George Manley
Lt. Yamada: Simu Liu
Special Forces: Steve Kasan, Phi Huynh, Minh Thuy Nguyen,
Jean Mai, Giancarlo Talarico
Number 26/Akira: Anh Tuan Truong
Clown Gang Biker: Luong Chun Wai
Biker: Ranga Rajachandra
See full credit list here.
A Girl and a Fawn
On June 7, 2013, Brad Herring uploaded a video of his daughter’s encounter with a fawn. This is their story:
“We were unpacking the car from a canoe trip when this fawn stumbled across our front yard and into Maya’s arms. The fawn had a good sense about Maya and followed her every step. They were inseparable from the moment the met. Maya knew it needed its mother, who we believe was off eating and recuperating from the birthing, so she led it back to the woods until it finally hunkered down. We have not seen the fawn since.”
“Update: we saw two doe and two fawns in our neighbors yard yesterday and then again a fawn and doe in our backyard today so we are pretty certain that she was found. Everyone please take breath!”
Filmed on a GoPro Hero 2
Music: Yes I know – The Black Lillies
