Photos of Japan’s Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons by Keiichiro Yasugi

•November 1, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Japan and cosplay go hand-in-hand, so it’s no surprise that every year the gigantic Halloween celebration in Shibuya yields a mass of creative costumers. An often overlooked celebration in Kyoto, however, offers a just as impressive—and possibly more terrifying—assembly of costumes.

On the third Saturday of every October, Kyoto plays host to a recreation of the Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), where a massive swarm of Japanese ghouls and monsters are unleashed in pandemonium.

To recreate the legendary event of yokai invading the human world, Kyoto’s Taishogun Shopping Street (which already has dozens of yokai-themed shops and spooky sculptures) welcomes an event called the “Yokai Parade”, where hundreds of people dress up in amazing costumes based off of ghastly creatures from Japanese folklore.

Photographer Keiichiro Yasugi took some excellent pictures of the frightful night and showcased them on Twitter:

Photographer Keiichiro Yasugi: twitter.com/KeiichiroYASUGI / instagram.com/keyasugi/

👻💦

•October 31, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Makes me feel pretty good too bro 😛

DARK EMPIRE: The Destiny of a Jedi [fan film]

•October 27, 2019 • Leave a Comment

The first episode of animator Ian Wilkins‘ Star Wars fan series is here. Many years after the fall of Vader and the battle of Endor, members of the Rebel Alliance must once again defend against the Empire as they strengthen against the New Republic:

Dark Empire is a Star Wars comic book metaseries produced by Dark Horse Comics. It consists of a six-issue limited series written by Tom Veitch and drawn by Cam Kennedy.

Killing Joke – “Love Like Blood” [throwback]

•August 30, 2019 • Leave a Comment

No More Blog…Space!! [F]

•August 11, 2019 • Leave a Comment

I have run out of storage space to upload images! 3GB worth of uploads from 2008~2019 (RIP) I think is a pretty good damn fine run.

So, is now a good time for me to move on from this blog?

For an extra annual fee of $8.00, I can bump the maximum upload space to 13GB, and continue the longevity of this digital footprint of randomness, my sanctuary of procrastination, this politics and pornography free collection zone of whatever.

However, could my time be better served not in front of a screen? I am hesitant to make a decision. Not sure why that is. Something inside just needs to be communicated. Generosity, I feel, and a desire to be in touch with words and ideas as often as possible.

Was/is Dark in the Boy my bubble of creative gestation, or a crutch, stifling my creative thoughts and inner truth? …Does it sound/read crazy if I think I’m called upon to create something great? Will a random blog get in the way of that belief in myself? And is all of this simply TMI??? 🤔

*sigh* little hiccups in life. I’m a big picture kinda guy but these little bumps and scratches along the way shut my brain down, for real. Like, what if I have the makings for a bombass sandwich but have run out of butter?! That’s a transitional moment of panic for me OK!

…I’m thinking I should just pay the measly $8 and shut the front door huh.

Jewels in the Night Sea by Photographer Ryo Minemizu

•August 7, 2019 • Leave a Comment

I do not think I am allowed to post these images online, but I mean, I am a rebel 😎 and besides, the world must know of life’s unfathomable beauties!!

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Japanese marine life photographer Ryo Minemizu focuses his lens on some of the tiniest and most abundant life forms in our oceans. His series Phenomenons explores the diverse beauty and extravagant colors of plankton, and is shot amongst the dark waters of the Osezaki sea near Mount Fuji and other coasts around Japan, the Philippines and Maldives.

To capture the small creatures Minemizu sets his shutter speed to just a fraction of a second, while ensuring that his own movements don’t disturb the surrounding organisms.

“Plankton symbolize how precious life is by their tiny existence,” he explains. “I wanted other people to see them as they are in the sea, so it was my motivation from the beginning to shoot plankton underwater, which is quite a challenge. Most plankton are small, and their movements are hard to predict.”

Tornaria larva of acorn worms (Krohn stage) April 2016 Palau

Eudoxid of Enneagonum hyalinum. Eudoxid is sexual reproduction stage.

It’s a marine benthos, inhabiting sand or under stone. Adults are long and slender, grotesque. However, some larvae are beautiful like this picture, and they are floating.

March, 2012 Yakushima Kagoshima, Japan.

Amazing! I’m all about science fiction, but whenever there is a popular article about anything space related I scoff, because here on Earth is where the real mysteries of unknown life lie swim.

You can see more of Minemizu’s underwater photography on Instagram and Twitter, with prints from his Phenomenons series available in his online shop 🐟🐟🐟

Mike Tyson as Every Character in FAMILY MATTERS

•August 2, 2019 • Leave a Comment

What if celebrity X were absurdly cast in role Y? Deepfakes have it covered (is that a pun?) — Mike Tyson deepfaked in Family Matters:

The animated wonkiness and unease of uncanny valley, alleviates deepfakery into humourous territory, but make no mistake, deception is a powerful tool, both for entertainment purposes and lesser known agendas.

This footage of presidential contender Tulsi Gabbard appears to show a small blemish on her chin (a pimple or bug bite, perhaps) that suddenly disappears as she’s talking:

And, sharp vampire fangs!

Conspiracy theorists suggest MSNBC (producers of the footage) added the pimple to make her look bad, as the Congresswoman from Hawaii was talking foreign policy during the debate — specifically the possibility of America going to war with Iran. Important stuff, no doubt. The times are not amenable to even the most innocuous digital manipulation.

Bonobo — “No Reason” [music video]

•July 30, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Reminiscent of the best in-camera visual trickery of Michel Gondry, director Oscar Hudson’s music video for Bonobo and Nick Murphy’s chillwave track was created using forced perspectives with a small camera in a big set:

Director Oscar Hudson oscarhudsonfilm.com / Production Company Pulse Films pulsefilms.com / Executive Producer Sarah Boardman / Art Director Luke Moran-Morris lukemoran-morris.co.uk / D.P. Ruben Woodin-Dechamps rwdfilm.com / Producers Matt Posner, Rik Green / Set Decorators Sakara Dawson-Marsh, Lottie McDowell / Video Commissioner John Moule / Model Maker Robin Crowley / Special Thanks Angus Hudson […]

Oscar Hudson also directed Radiohead music video “Lift” in 2017, and it’s a pleasant trip:

🌩 Lightning at 1,000 Frames per Second

•July 29, 2019 • 2 Comments

The editing and overdramatic production music makes this look like a made for television commercial, but the captured lightning strikes are worth seeing scrawl to the earth:

Photographer Dustin Farrell spent over a month traveling some 20,000 miles for the sole purpose of filming thunderstorms around the United States. Using a pricey Phantom Flex4K high-speed camera he filmed lightning strikes at 1,000 frames per second, resulting in impressive footage that shows the remarkable complexity of electricity in the atmosphere.

Now this next compilation video, in my opinion, is a thousand-point-twenty-one jigawatts times more exciting: ⚡

Light Zoetrope by Designer/Artist Akinori Goto

•July 27, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Artist Akinori Goto came up with a truly wonderful take on the zoetrope — He uses 3D printing to turn 2D frames into a donut-shaped object. It looks like an abstract sculpture, but it reveals its animation when hit with a narrow beam of light:

Deepfaking Keanu Reeves (by Corridor Crew) + GIF Player Device Does One Thing — It Plays Keanu Gifs

•July 25, 2019 • Leave a Comment

But first; Keanu did something nice — ‘YOU’RE BREATHTAKING!’ Keanu Reeves surprised fan by signing yard sign:

Travelling to the set of his new Bill & Ted sequel, Face The Music, in Louisiana earlier this week, Keanu Reeves spotted a yard sign a local family had put on their lawn which honoured the actor with the words “You’re breathtaking.” The message is a reference to a viral moment from June, in which Reeves said the words to the crowd at the E3 video game conference — echoing a fan’s reaction to him.

Bill & Ted writer Ed Solomon wrote on Twitter that the 54-year-old had jumped out of their car after seeing the sign, and penned a sweet message to those responsible.

And something else Keanu related from one of my fave YouTube channels; deepfake Keanu stops a robbery with the power of kindness:

Bonus episode from the Corridor crew reacting to bad & great CGI (a great series):

“[…] if you’ve distracted the audience, you pull them out of this emotional suspension of disbelief, and you’ve reminded them that you are watching something that is fake.” ~ Niko Pueringer, VFX artist

And finally, because why not…

“I made this Keanu GIF player using an Adafruit PyGamer and SD card. It autoplays each GIF for 10 seconds before moving on to the next one. You can also use the L/R thumbstick controls to advance or go back. Add more Keanu GIFs by copying them to the SD card.” ~ John Park

STAR TREK: PICARD [first look]

•July 22, 2019 • Leave a Comment

It has been a long time since I have been excited for anything STAR TREK related. The new series is set for a 2020 release, and looks to be an amazing continuation of the franchise, with Sir Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Brent Spiner’s Data is back, presumably, as well as Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine.

Quite pleased.

Last thing ST I truly enjoyed was not the new films, or the new TV series Discovery, but a four-issue comic miniseries published in 2012 — Star Trek the Next Generation: Hive. I am definitely picking up some similarities in story elements:

In the distant future the entire galaxy has been completely assimilated by Borg and it’s king _ Locutus! The only hope for the future lies in the past, in the hands of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise as Picard faces off against the Borg collective in one final, terrifying, and definitive encounter!

Before that, IDK, maybe it was playing multiplayer Star Trek: Voyager — Elite Force

And how can I forget this sweet entry starring the lovely Alice Krige: