🐘🎹❤️
Inspiration
“Daruma Girl” Austin, 2018
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Tonight I went with my friend Mikey to see The Night is Short, Walk On Girl at the theater and I was blown away! The movie is so fun and crazy, I found myself smiling ear-to-ear almost the whole time. The artwork was really bold and simple, and it was very inspiring. I have some new ideas on how I’d like my next drawing to look like. It’s funny how inspiration can come from some kinds of animation, but not from others. For instance, when I watch Ghibli movies, inspiration never comes to me, but with The Night is Short, Walk On Girl, so many ideas pop up in my mind.
I hope you had a nice day!
またね～
Texas Storms
“Storm Clouds” Cedar Park, 2018
Texas can have some crazy weather! Growing up in Southern California, we never had huge fluctuations in temperature or lots of rain, especially living near the coast. But here in Texas, it can sometimes get a little crazy, with intense thunderstorms, hail, and flash flooding. Today, we got a couple of short downpours at our house, but nothing extreme. Whew! It did look pretty cool though, as you can see from the photo I took on the way home.
This evening I started on a new sketch. It’s going to be something inspired by Lady Snowblood, and is kind of similar to a painting I did when I was in art school. But I’ll be doing this not in acrylics or oils but with pencil and then digitally. I’m not good at figure drawing so it will take some time, and by looking at reference photos. But I was inspired not only by the movie but also by some illustration books I was browsing through at the Kinokuniya the other day. Such neat art!
I hope you had a nice Monday!
またね～
Nacho Time
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/100 sec, ISO640
こなばんは。How’s it going?
Yesterday at the request of my sons, I had made a bunch of carnitas in our InstantPot, which we used as filling for burritos. Since I made so much meat (4 lbs!), there were plenty of leftovers so we decided to have carnitas again tonight, but this time we made nachos. The layers (from bottom up) were tortilla chips, refried beans (with water added so they were pretty creamy), cheese, carnitas, sauteed jalapeño and onion, more cheese, then repeat. Pop the casserole dish into a 350° oven for 15 minutes and they are done. For the finishing touches, we topped with cilantro, diced jalapeños, and sour cream.
By the way, do you know the origin of nachos? I didn’t until a few weeks ago. It’s very interesting! If you don’t know the history, here’s the Wikipedia article on Nachos so you can learn as well. Enjoy!
I hope you had a nice Sunday.
またね～
Lady Snowblood 修羅雪姫 (1973) – Movie Review
“Lady Snowblood” Cedar Park, 2018
This evening I watched Lady Snowblood – 修羅雪姫, a 1973 manga-based movie about a woman named Yuki whose purpose in life is to avenge her mother, who was raped and whose husband was murdered. The mother died shortly after giving birth to Yuki in prison, and the baby was taken by one of the mother’s prison-mates to be raised by a monk. This monk taught her how to be an assassin in order to hunt down and kill the four criminals who were responsible for her mother’s sad fate.
Meiko Kaji (梶 芽衣子) stars as the beautiful Lady Snowblood and is amazing in the role. Not only is she cold and mysterious, but her action sequences are convincing in their straightforward manner. There aren’t any marathon fight scenes, nor over-the-top acrobatics, but rather, quick and deliberate fight scenes.
But what makes the film special is that there are copious amounts of blood. I’m definitely not a fan of horror movies or grotesque imagery, but Lady Snowblood isn’t a typical gore movie. The blood gushes and sprays fountains in such exaggerated ways, that it’s not disturbing at all. The blood is also a bright red color, and thick like tempera paint. Because of this lack of realism, I didn’t mind the gory scenes (of which I am usually easily disturbed). In fact, I found it very entertaining, and I was looking forward to more of it! 🤪
Another special aspect of the movie is that the hairstyles of the 1970s are ever-present throughout (especially for the male actors), even though the time period of the movie is the late 1800s. That crazy juxtaposition makes it all the more fun for watching it in the present day. Coupled with the 1970s music, it’s a unique feeling!
I enjoyed Lady Snowblood quite a bit and am looking forward to seeing the sequel, Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance, which apparently came out just a year after the first.
An interesting note is that Lady Snowblood was the inspiration for Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies. It’s easy to see why he would be so taken by the film. The movie, and the assassin character, are very compelling!
