1/16/03 -- CB in Germany; more manga releases - Good news for Germans -
Germany's MTV has begun airing Cowboy
Bebop. Mwa-ha-ha-ha! Soon Bebop fans will rule the world, the world, I tell
you!! On the American front, fans can now buy the second Cowboy Bebop manga, Shooting
Star, in English.
Shooting Star is basically an alternate version of the Bebop story, from what
I'm told. I haven't read it yet, so I can't give any feedback on it. The character
designs seem... interesting. ^^; Site-wise, still working on the MP3 problem.
Sit tight, we may have a solution.
1/14/03 -- "This is not good, not good!" - Boy, just when you think these
sorts of problems are behind ya... JC tells
me that we're using an insane amount of bandwidth on the MP3s. All the MP3s are
currently down. It may just be time to take those buggers down permanently. Other
possible solutions to the problem are 1) that I require a password before people
can download the MP3s. Not my favorite solution, but practical. 2) That I take
down only some of the MP3s. This might be the solution that works best for me.
Originally, I had only intended the downloads as a supplimental to my episode
guide. I only really want to keep up the songs that actually played during the
series/movie. Of course, that's still a lot of material, so that solution might
not help. 3) Start paying for a dedicated server. HA! Not a chance. At $100 a
month, I really couldn't afford it. And though some of you have been very generous
with your donations (thanks for that, by the way), I don't think it's feasible
to expect that much through donations. We shall see.
1/13/03 -- Reminder. Don't forget that Cowboy Bebop starts at its new time
tonight and all this week. Tune in at 1:30am Eastern/Pacific, 12:30am Central
time. Check out the new shows on the block, too.
12/31/02 -- This, that, and t' other. - Lots of things to update on today.
For starters, KOHD will not be released January 3rd. Despite some announcements
otherwise, Columbia has apparently decided on April 4th as a release date, according
to several sources (including Fandango)
Kind of a bummer, that. I don't know why Columbia keeps moving the date.
I also wanted to point out an article appearing in the latest issue of Anime Invasion
magazine. It's Anime Invasion's interview with Shinichiro Watanabe, Toshihiro
Kawamoto and Yoko Kanno during thier visit to New York during the Big Apple Anime
Festival. Most of it is known information, but there are some interesting new
comments. Such as embarressment that the line "a new genre in itself" was seen
by American audiences ("Now it's in America, and we sound concieted!"), revelations
about "that thing under Jet's eye" ("I have... no idea") and Watanabe again
stating that there will be no more Bebop ("I just wanted to stop when it was still
interesting"). Worth a read. If Wizard gives me permission, I'll reprint the article
in full in my articles and interviews archive.
Another related item, Newtype USA printed a two page blurb about the upcoming
anime Wolf's Rain. I scanned them in. It might take
a little while to download. Basically, it shows the character designs and some
short descriptions (I don't know if you can read those on my scan or not). It
also mentions the style of music that Yoko Kanno chose this time - Brazilian.
Knowing her, it's going to be killer.
Finally, I just want to remind everyone that Cowboy Bebop will be off of Cartoon
Network (USA) for a little while. It won't return to the network until January
13th at 1:30am EST. From that point on, CB will play at that time on weeknights,
Monday through Thursday. Bye-bye, Saturday block. Their reasons for doing this
have already been discussed here, but if you still feel like griping/praising,
you can always do so on the forum. CB will be joined by two recently acquired
Adult Swim shows: Futurama at 11:00pm EST and Lupin the Third at 12:00am EST.
If you're interested in finding out more about one of the inspirations behind
the characters of Spike, Jet and Faye, I'd strongly suggest watching Lupin III.
By the way... Happy New Year, all! See you in 2003. ^_^
12/13/02 -- SEATBELTS REUNITE! - BBT pointed out this news story
from the Crown Jewels website:
Yoko Kanno's New Anime Series in Japan: Steve Sings!!!
We can't tell you too much about this because it's still "in the works"...but
one thing is for sure- Steve Conte is back singing with Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts!
The new animated series, entitled "Wolf Rain" takes place on earth after a future
ice-age. It will be animated by the same people who did Cowboy Bebop and as usual,
Yoko wrote the music, Tim Jensen wrote the lyrics and the Seatbelts played it!
Last month Yoko came from Tokyo to NYC to record Steve on three new songs at Soundtracks
Studio. They recorded a song called "Stray", and two versions of the title song
"Wolf Rain"... one with the Seatbelts and one with Steve solo on a nasty, funky
acoustic guitar. The sessions were engineered by the great Joe Chiccarelli who
was Frank Zappa's main engineer for 20 years and just recorded the new Elton John
album.
That's about all we know right now but stay tuned for more updates!
*/me writes down "Wolf Rain" as the next anime she absolutly must see*
12/11/02 -- Zippo lighters. How appropriate. - Nothing big today, I'd just
like to start by re-emphasising the fact that January 3rd is the only officially
announced date for the film. March, I found out, is totally bogus, so forget about
it. The real news I wanted to report was another US licensed item for CB: zippo
lighers. My favorite comic publisher, Dark
Horse, is the company licensing this item. Almost makes me wish I was a smoker.
:p
12/04/02 -- We put the "High" in "Hiatus" - Been a while since I updated,
eh? It's not that I'm getting lazy, it's that lots of things happen this time
of year, and I also got a seasonal job at Best Buy. Don't think I've been abandoned
the site or anything. ^_^ Anyway, in the interim, a lot of things have happened.
If you've been following the message board you'll have heard all of this already.
But if you only pay attention to the page itself, I'll enlighten you. First, Galaxia
was kind enough to report that Fandango now has a page about CB
the movie. January 3rd is the date, but that's only for the early New York/LA
release. There will be a wide release later on, but no one knows when. Some have
suggested March, but I'll believe it when I see it. Of course, the Best Sessions
were released on schedule, as reported here before. I haven't bought it yet myself,
but from what I heard there may be some actual changes in the episodes, other
than the sound and audio enhancements. I haven't confirmed this myself, as I said,
so I can't be sure.
There's also been a lot of things happening with Adult Swim, some of which I thought
I would mention. Other than the schedule change, which I've already reported,
AS has acquired some new programing. Specifically: Trigun, Reign
and Lupin III. At the moment, I'm working on finishing the Trigun site (that
I've been working on forever and a day) so that I can get those edits up as they
come.
The only other thing I want to say, and I realize it's probably a bit late for
some of you, is: Go see Spirited Away if you haven't yet. You won't be disapointed.
I was lucky enough for it to have gotten a two week run here in Lubbock. I saw
it four times. I almost went a fifth time, but I guess I figured it would be overkill.
:)
So much for being brief! This is why I prefer posting news as it comes, yeesh.
Hopefully I won't have to do a bulk report like this in future. Later.
11/06/02 -- This is a fun humor website. I hope you would enjoy it. - Two
bits of news that bear repeating: one, ANN
reports Tristar plans to show both the sub and dub print of Knockin' on Heaven's
Door in theaters, and that the film will be released January 2003. Which, if you've
been paying attention, are things we reported months
ago. Ho hum. (is trying not to be bitter that no one reads her news page)
In other news, and this is actually "new"s this time - ADV is planning to make
an all anime network. For basic cable.
Frankly, being a fan of animation from all over the world, I would ultimately
prefer an 'Animation' network that focuses on more adult offerings than Cartoon
Network or Toon Disney. (and gives home to such animations as The Maxx and Waking
Life, as well as the anime greats) But an anime network could work, if done right.
If nothing else, it will be competition for Cartoon Network, who will in turn
have to work harder for it's audience. All to the good, as long as CN can stand
the competition (and I think they can).
