Enchaîné à la technologie

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Yé ! / Yeah!
(iPhone 6, Caramel, 2015-07-06)

Rose of Versailles manga and other notable news

At Comic-Con, Udon Entertainment has announced that they will release the first english version of Riyoko Ikeda's classic shojo manga Rose of Versailles. The series will be released as two omnibus volumes in the second quarter of 2016.

The french version has been around for a while (published in 2002), so I am surprised it took so long to get it translated in english. Of course, the French had a special interest in this story (it's about the french revolution) but it's a superb story, drawn in a classic shojo style, so it should interest everybody. I've complained about this several time, but I really cannot understand why there are so few shojo manga from the 70s and 80s being translated in either english or french. There's a real goldmine of great shojo titles from that era that is left totally unexploited (mostly from the so-called Year 24 Group). Of course, I can understand publishers not willing to take the risk to release series that a often rather long (Riyoko Ikeda's Jotei Ecatherina is 5 volumes, Orpheus no Mado 18 volumes, Eikou no Napoleon – Eroica 14 volumes, and Suzue Miuchi's Glass no kamen is 50+ volumes !!) and in a style that might seem dated (but oh so beautiful!)…

Now, the question is: will Udon includes in this edition the more recent Rose of Versailles “Episodes” ? Or will it be in an eventual third omnibus volume? I hope they thought of acquiring the rights for those stories as well…

Strangely, Udon Entertainment is mainly known for their Street Fighter and video game related manga but they seems lately to venture into more traditional manga titles (and shojo, mind you). Now their catalog even includes a collection of manga classics (Jane Austen's Emma, Dicken's Great Expectations, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter) !

[ Sources: ANN, Udon ]

Ten Other notable news

• At the same occasion, Udon announced the release of Moyoco Anno's Sugar Sugar Rune also for the 2nd Quarter 2016 [ ANN ]
• Studio Ghibli's latest film, When Marnie Was There, earned over $500K in U.S. Theaters [ ANN ]
• Nintendo President Satoru Iwata Passes Away [ ANN ]
• Shigeru Mizuki's manga Showa: A History of Japan (1939-1944 and 1944-1953) won the 2015 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material from Asia [ ANN ]
• Mamoru Nagano's manga Five Star Stories will receive its first new volume in nine years this august [ ANN, Forbes ]
• Sunrise Announced at Anime Expo that it is working on a new Gundam TV series [ ANN ]
• Tokyopop has announced at Anime Expo that it is planning to begin publishing manga again in 2016 [ ANN ]
• Vertical announced at Anime Expo that it has licensed the publishing rights for, amongst others, the Attack on Titan: Lost Girls novel spinoff [ ANN ]
• The live-action adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell, starring Scarlett Johansson, is set to be released in march 2017 [ ICv2 ]
• Luc Besson has announced that his next movie as producer and director will be Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, based on the comics by Pierre Christin & Jean-Claude Mézières, which should see a release in 2017 [ ICv2, themarysue.com]

[ Traduire ]

Tsundoku

A few weeks ago, while browsing on Facebook, I discovered a new word:
This totally applies to me since I have several shelves (and piles on my nightstand) of books I want to read (mostly manga, but also several novels and a few non-fiction). I also have a (smaller) pile of dvds waiting to be watched… And yet I had swore to read more this year. I am getting lazy.

Another great occasion to enrich my vocabulary. Tsundoku (積ん読 or つんどく) is a word play on tsunde oku (積んでおく, “to leave piled up”) combining the kanji for tsumu (積む, “to pile up”) and doku (読, “to read”).

Sources: L.A. Times, Open Culture, Wikipedia, Wiktionary


[ Traduire ]

Image du mer-fleurie

Pied d'alouette / Larkspur
Ranunculaceae: Delphinium elatum “Triton Dark Blue”
(iPhone 6, Jardin botanique, 2015-07-05)

Découverte: trois nouveaux Taniguchi

Cette semaine, en feuilletant le catalogue des bibliothèques de Montréal, j'ai fait la découverte de trois nouveaux manga de Jirô Taniguchi qui avaient échappé à mon attention jusque là: il s'agit de Les Gardiens du Louvre (que j'ai déjà commenté tout récemment), du volume 2 de Contrées Sauvages (que j'avais annoncé déjà en juillet de l'an dernier) et finalement, le plus nouveau de tous, Elle s'appelait Tomoji.

Voir les détails après le saut de page >>

L'Image du chat-medi

Cendrine, la vedette
(iPhone 6, 2015-07-10)

Les Gardiens du Louvre

“Au terme d’un voyage collectif en Europe, un dessinateur japonais fait étape en solitaire à Paris, dans l’idée de visiter les musées de la capitale. Mais, cloué au lit de sa chambre d’hôtel par une fièvre insidieuse, il se trouve confronté avant tout à une forme de solitude absolue, celle des souffrants en terre étrangère, privés de tout recours immédiat au coeur de l’inconnu. Alors que le mal lui laisse quelque répit, il met son projet à exécution, et se perd dans les allées bondées du Louvre. Très vite, il va découvrir bien des facettes insoupçonnées de ce musée-monde, à la rencontre d’oeuvres et d’artistes de diverses époques, au cours d’un périple oscillant entre rêve et réalité, qui le mènera pour finir à la croisée des chemins entre tragédie collective et histoire personnelle.”

“Avec cet album en forme de voyage intérieur, Jirô Taniguchi nous invite à une traversée temporelle et artistique à la découverte d’un esprit des lieux, sous la houlette de quelques figures tutélaires, familières ou méconnues... Car le Louvre a ses gardiens.”

[ Texte du site de l'éditeur; voir aussi la couverture arrière ]

Continuez après le saut de page >>

Japanese movies at Fantasia 2015

This week the programmation for the 19th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival was announced. It will be held in Montreal from July 14 to August 4 and screenings will take place mostly at Concordia's Theatre Hall and Salle J.A. de Sève. This year the festival is offering a lineup of about 400 movies from 36 countries, including about 135 feature-length movies and 104 premieres! For more programming details you can check the festival's web page at www.fantasiafestival.com and the screening schedule [ PDF ].

Here our main interest is the Japanese programming (25 features and one short) but there are twenty-seven movies from at least five other asian countries (four from China, thirteen from South Korea, six from Hong Kong, one from Indonesia, two from Taiwan and one from Thailand). The programming includes also over an hundred animated features and shorts from many countries. As usual, it's a rich, strong and diversified selection bound to please anyone.

This year, it's a slim pick anime-wise but to compensate the festival will open with the Japanese animated feature Miss Hokusai, which will be introduced by director Keiichi Hara and screenplay writer Miho Maruho. To the utter pleasure of the fans, the festival will also close with the canadian premiere of the greatly anticipated live-action Attack on Titan directed by Shinji Higuchi and based on the popular manga by Hajime Isamaya. The other anime and manga-related movies of interest are the Lupin the Third live-action, the latest Mamoru Oshii (Nowhere Girl) and the latest Takeshi Kitano (Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen).

(Sources: Animation world network, Bible urbaine, Cult Mtl, Film school rejects and Métro)

Here's a list of all the Japanese titles (with links to full description):

Images du mer-fleurie

Liliaceae: Lilium davidii
Lis de David / David Lily
(Canon PowerShot S5 IS, Jardin botanique, 2015-07-05)

Images du chat-medi

La portée de 2015: Maman & Grisou
The litter of the year: Mother & Grisou
(Canon PowerShot S5 IS, 2015-06-27)

L'image du mer-fleurie

Pour nous faire oublier la pluie…

Superbe Ancolie bleue et blanche / Beautiful blue & white Columbine
(iPhone 6, Magog, 2015-06-18)

Criter's day picture

(Une dure à traduire… Omettons donc l'aspect Ozzie)

“Scram le cave. Tu vois ben qu'en c'lendemain d'la veille j'ai besoin de cuver ma broue!”

Ce wallaby de Bennett à l'air tout à fait décalissé de la vie…

( Canon PowerShot S5 IS, Zoo de Granby, 2015-06-17 )

Castle of Sand

This movie “tells the tale of two detectives, Imanishi (Tetsuro Tamba) and Yoshimura (Kensaku Morita), tasked with tracking down the murderer of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a rail yard. When the identity of the old man can't be determined, the investigation focuses on the only other clue: a scrap of conversation overheard at a bar between the old man and a younger one. (…)”

(Text from the Wikipedia entry)









WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot's elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.

Granby Zoo — photo album

Voici une sélection de mes meilleurs photos au zoo de Granby à la mi-juin
Here's a selection of my best pics from the Granby zoo last week

L'image du mer-fleurie

Bonne Saint-Jean à tous et toutes!

Ancolie rouge et blanche / Red & white Columbine
(iPhone 6, Magog, 2015-06-18)

Critter's day pic

“OK, le feluette, j't'ai vu. Maintenant, dégage et fou-moi la paix”
pensa le gorille N'Sabi en agitant son majeur dans ma direction.

( Canon PowerShot S5 IS, Zoo de Granby, 2015-06-17 )

L'image du mer-fleurie

Black Parrot
(iPhone 6, Ottawa, 2015-05-20)

Zero Focus

“Teiko (Yoshiko Kuga), a new bride in an arranged marriage, sees her husband off on a trip to wrap up his business affairs in Kanazawa in western Japan before returning to start a new project in Tokyo. When he disappears, Teiko goes to Kanazawa and ultimately to the ruggedly mountainous Noto peninsula to find out what happened to him. With the help of police and an investigator from her husband's company, she discovers a web of deceit (…).”

(Text from the Turner Classic Movies' article)








WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot's elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.

L'image du chat-medi

S'il vous plait! / Please !
(iPhone 6, 2015-05-31)