[1210] near-death hunting

console

< Piro >

"F33RU the CoffinRose BeastCake!"

Friday - May 29, 2009

It’s been a while since I’ve introduced some new shirt designs to the MegaGear store, but yesterday I posted four new designs suitable for wearing out and about, now that its warm enough to wear short sleeve shirts without putting your health at risk.

The first new design is one I’ve been working on for a while now - the CoffinRose Miho shirt. The idea for this shirt comes from some fan art Vaz drew for me a few years ago. I liked the drawing so much that I got his permission to use it as the basis for a new design. I re-drew Miho but kept the coffin and added some some flourish behind the image that blends into the Charcoal shirt I wanted to put the design on. The result is a larger-format design that requires the large format shirt boards to print to give the full image goodness. Miho and the coffin have a white underbase, so the details and the colors stand out well. If you like it and it pulls at your evil minion-ness, order away and I’ll make one for you. Ladies T also available, but on Sports Grey.

Also available is a fine art print of the CoffinRose Miho design, printed in full color in high resolution with archival inks on archival paper and signed by me (Vaz is no where near my printer, but his mark is printed there on the drawing).

The next design takes the Kimiko Lap Pour warning sign and puts it on a t-shirt. It basically says ‘Warning - if you are a public nuisance, very hot coffee will be poured into your lap.” This shirt is not just for all of you who have ever had to serve coffee to grumpy morning (or evening) customers. It is for anyone who has reasonable proximity to the Coffee Pot, a thermal travel mug full of coffee, a cup of Starbucks, a Styrofoam cup of sludge that is supposedly coffee or even a 24/7 coffee IV drip that is not afraid to use it. Special thanks to Kaki and Hanae-san for providing the japanese text. Ladies T also available.

The next shirt is from MegaTokyo itself - the BeastCake® bear, SweetBeast®, devouring some of the Tokyo Cake Shop’s indulgent, sugary, cakey goodness (rant link fixed - thanks CeCe!). It is one of Erika’s favorite hangouts and was recently also given a huge happy smile and thumbs up by Ping who declared it’s cake ‘mweally gwud!’ The shirt is said to taste good too, but that may have been because the sample shirt SweetBeast® ate was covered with cake. Ladies T also available.

The final new shirt is kind of an odd one... The Kimiko F33RU! shirt. For some odd reason, I found the idea amusing to no end, but that may be a result of too much exposure to japanese otaku culture over the years and the serious need to block any site that is located on the pacific rim. A good design does not require an explanation, but... Well, this one sorta does. It plays on the “Yukkuri” meme in which Yukkuri are the disembodied heads of characters from the Touhou video game series that like to float about and do things. There all kinds comics, MADs and even t-shirts for the meme. Even when mimicking a meme i'm fairly certain Kimiko would not be amused with having her head disconnected from her body, so I dressed her in black like a Noh theater stage attendant and have her emerging from a ‘respawn point’ in the street practicing her best engr33sh ... I didn’t say it wasn’t a little odd, but come on, it’s Kimiko just going with the flow and being, well, KYOOT. :P Ladies T also available.

Hopefully, you will find one of these new shirts and/or the fine art prints worth adding to your collection. As always, every purchase from the MegaGear store helps support Megatokyo, and we appreciate your support and willingness to wear our silly shirts.

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< Dom >

"Moving On, Moving Up"

Tuesday - June 2, 2009

[Dom] - 12:15:47 - [link here]

I went into Up knowing that I would cry. When I first heard about the premise at Wondercon in February, I thought "Wow, that's much more mature than I expected - I didn't think a Pixar movie would deal with death." Then Pete Docter and the other presenters showed a few of the comic scenes after introducing Carl and Russell, and my initial thoughts were washed away in a flood of talking dogs and big colorful snipes.

Two weeks ago, I'd already bought my ticket to Up when my mother died. After the funeral, I thought about the movie again, and remembered the first part of the Pixar presentation, the one about Carl Fredricksen as a widower with an unfulfilled dream. I thought back to the emotional depths Finding Nemo explored, and I realized that I was going to see my own parents in the movie.

Pixar's best work tells a story you can easily see yourself in, once you strip away the talking fish, animated toys, or other conceits that mask the universal nature of the narrative (this is why A Bug's Life keeps dimming in my mind as Pixar really comes into their own as a studio of storytellers). In those few minutes at the beginning of Up, I didn't watch Carl and Ellie Fredricksen - I watched a masterpiece of storytelling that depicted a loving couple's journey through life together, and when Ellie's story came to its inescapable conclusion, I found myself letting out all the emotions I'd locked away at my Mom's funeral. It was like I'd watched Mom grow old and die a second time, and it felt more real and immediate to me than her actual death at home earlier in the month.

I felt those same emotions well up inside me again just before the climax of the movie (I'm trying not to spoil TOO much for people who haven't seen the movie yet - what I've said so far has been public knowledge for some time), and even though the action and comedy were absolutely top-notch efforts from a creative team that is clearly one of the best in the world, I walked out of the theater in a thoughtful mood.

I thought about my Dad, one of thousands of Carls in the world, looking for direction in a life that suddenly feels rudderless, and about a house that can be bright and cheerful, yet cavernously empty at the same time. I thought about myself, I thought about my sister, and I thought about how this movie would be so cathartic for all of us, and help us in our own way. I told my sister as much - later that weekend, my sister text messaged me on her way out of the theater. She simply said, "You were right. I cried twice."

Thanks for the adventure, Pixar. It's played a big role in helping me move toward my next one.

It's been a rough year, folks, but there are 7 months ahead that can turn this puppy around. Watching up 2-3 more times will be a good start.