Reading Satoshi Kon’s 2008 ANN interview was bittersweet; reading his final message was heartbreaking. My Japanese is very limited, but the basic gist came through – the pain that the cancer wrecked on his body and family; regret about unfinished work; gratitude to his family and friends.

Millennium Actress is and always will be one of my favorite anime films of all time – the story was profound, and exquisitely told. It moved me in a way that few other films have. Watching Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers cemented my status as a Satoshi Kon fan; watching Paprika renewed my love for this director’s incredible creativity and ability to tell stories that grab the imagination and take on lives of their own.

Satoshi Kon’s works will stand as lasting testimony to his unique vision. The world has lost a masterful storyteller – he will be sorely missed. My thoughts go out to his family and friends in the days to come.

Quote Seiho Takizawa:

ご冥福をナントカなんて書きたくない。

なぜ死んだバカヤロウ

…made me want to check how many other cool cosplay pics there are out there for Durarara!! So I did. And Flickr, as always, delivers It’s really nice to see that Drrr!! was well-represented at this year’s cons!

…Definitely a bit of a bummer if that’s true, but I’d imagine that it would take quite a loooong while for the rest of Asia to phase out the infamous peesu.

Reading the Spoon & Tamago post definitely raised a more interesting question though: WHY do Asians like peacing out in photos so much? A bit of googling yielded this post from Stuff Asian People Like on the peace sign:

To show that they are indeed happy, asians outline their grinning chins with a “V” sign to draw attention away from their non-existant eyes. They also wouldn’t ever want to yell something while taking a picture because it would draw more attention to them. However, Asians are always stoked when a photo opp arises. In these situations, asians, instead of using America’s ludicrously awkward phrase, “Cheese,” will use the peace sign to show that they are indeed present in the photograph.

Not at all sure if I agree with that as an Asian, but since I don’t have any better explanations for this mysterious phenomenon, I shall leave the peesu to future ponderings…

Of all the hidden symbolism and meaning that I read into (or made up) from Spirited Away, I never thought that the sex industry would have anything to do with such a charming movie, but apparently it does! From cering.tumblr.com:

…I read interviews with Miyazaki. This was all put in intentionally. Miyazaki’s stories are filled with underlying themes and metaphors. He said he was tackling the issue of the sex industry rapidly growing in Japan, and that he felt children being exposed to it at such early ages was a problem.

Who would’ve thought?! Thanks tates for the tip!

The second change is pretty obvious. I removed the “Tweet This” link on single wallpaper posts since the shortened urls don’t seem to be working any more, and installed the awesome SexyBookmarks WordPress plugin to make sharing THAT much easier (and sexier) on pixel ellipsis. So share away, because it shows that you care

Wait by jubjub
Loved the exquisite simplicity and the subtle melancholy that this wall was able to convey through so few elements.

Da Ba Dee, Da Ba Die by Horseradish
Funk + soul + Spike of Bebop fame, what’s not to like?

Give Me Symphonies by ze
I’m obviously a junkie for simplicity, but the typography in this wall is also love!

I think Nodame Cantabile is the ONLY series where I’ve read the entire manga, watched all three anime seasons, and the live action series (to the Europe special). I may have to track down the two live action movies soon. I also started a Nodame WIP to attempt to fill the abyss in my soul… it’s sort of helping

Seeing this image in the ED sequence always tore at my heartstrings, so… love to Nodame and Chiaki, and why, WHY did such an awesome series have to end? Whyyy?

On top of all this tantalizing awesomeness, the trailer looked so jawdroppingly stunning that it took me a ridiculously long time to process the fact that this is a trailer for a NINTENDO DS GAME. I mean, seriously?! Really?! I actually have a DS – hands down DO WANT!!

Studio Ghibli, I didn’t think that you could top your previous levels of awesomeness, but clearly you’ve proven me wrong yet again…

From IGN: “Ni no Kuni: Black Mage“

And here’s a video of the actual moment of prophecy haha -

Does anyone else get a kick out of the idea of a mollusk prophet who can commune with the soccer gods?

P.S. ZOMG Germany beat England 4-1! AM SRSLY IN LOVE WITH THE OCTOPUS NOW YES I AM

From Gigazine: “Missed You…Twitter’s Fail Whale Welcomes Home Hayabusa Asteroid Explorer“