Ghibli Museum

Are any of you fans of Hayao Miyazaki ? You know, the mastermind behind Studio Ghibli, the animation studio that has produced classics such as Spirited Away, Ponyo, and Howl's Moving Castle?
Well, if you are, you might want to check out this BoingBoing article.

It seems that in a suburb of Tokyo you can find an entire museum dedicated to the works of Studio Ghibli. It is apperently very hands on (you can touch pretty much everything), and they have giant models and repilcas of props and characters.

They also appear to have English speaking tour guides, so if you ever find yourself in Tokyo, you may wish to head over and check it out!

Nintendo's 3DS

Now here's something you gamers might find interesting: Nintendo's newest handheld will come with 3D capabilities. And you won't even need any glasses! Check out this preview from E3 for some more info:

This new handheld will also have a 'background connectivity system', which can automatically seek and connect to wireless networks sending and downloading information in the background while in sleep mode or while playing a game. This connectivity system will also allow fellow 3DS owners to exchange and share content automatically in a 'Tag Mode' - similar to having a Pokewalker without having to wip it out each time you find someone else who has one.

Some of the games currently listed for release on the 3DS are:

Animal Crossing

Assasin's Creed: Lost Legacy

Kingdom Hearts 3D

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

Paper Mario 3DS

Star Fox 64 3D

and many more. Just check out the 3DS page on Wiki.

Being an avid handheld gamer myself, the entire idea of this console is mind blowing. This is the future, people! Sony and Microsoft are going to have to bring their A-game if they want catch up to Nintendo at this season.

I don't know about you guys, but you'll proabaly find me lining up for the midnight release of this thing - and I don't do that unless I really want it.

Cheers,

Jess

Teen Read Awards

Here's something for those of you who read novels along side the usual heaping dose of manga.

Indigo is hosting the 1st annual Teen Read Awards, which allows teens to vote on the hottest characters, the dreamiest kisses, and even your fave read of the whole year. There are various categories to vote on and you can even win prizes along the way.

I highly suggest checking it out: not only for the chance at winning prizes, but you just might come across some interesting books you haven't read yet.

Check it out here.

The Last Airbender

For those of you who are fans of Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender, you might (or might not, in some cases) be happy to find out that the live action movie came out yesterday, July 1.

I have provided the trailer for those who are interested:




While I'm not trying to get my hopes up - due to the long running history of movie adaptions - the effects look amazing, and the kid playing Aang is adorable in my opinion. I guess I'll have to wait until I see the movie to lay down any judgement.

Edit: Okay, my verdict is in: not worth it. I found it painful to watch. It lacked humour, personality, and continuity. And that just an overall general verdict - I won't even get into fan mode and tell you what was done to my much beloved Nick series. The only thing I found good about this movie was the graphics and some of the action sequences. But overall, definitely not worth the $14 I paid to watch it in 3D. But if you have your heart set on watching it, I'm not stopping you. But really, do not watch it in 3D. The movie wasn't actually made for it; it's a waste of money.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

I'm a fan of the Assassin's Creed game franchise, so I was quite excited to see the new trailer for the next game, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, released at the E3 conference the past week.
For those of you who are interested, here's the above-mentioned trailer.



The game is a direct-sequel to Assassin's Creed II and its story will take place shortly after the ending of the previous game, with Ezio returning as the main protagonist. It's the first game in the series to feature multiplayer mode. The game is set to be released on 16 November 2010.

Neighbours Night Out

Hey folks,

Join us for an evening full of fun, food, and friendship!
On Tuesday June 15th, 2010,6:30PM – 9:00PM, Courtneypark Branch Library will be holding a block party to promote crime prevention awareness through community building. Come on by for a variety of free events, including:
BBQ
Games and Activities (including video games)
Face Painting
Sketch Artist
Bouncing Castle
Crafts
DJ and Music
Balloon Animals
Animal Services will be bringing animals
Fire Men
Police Officers
And more!

I will be manning a table to promote CAMC, so come and visit if you stop by.

All the best,

Jess

Anime North Review

Hey folks,



I hope all of you who managed to make it to AN had a great time. I know I did. The costumes were awesome, and I'll be sure to show you guys some of the pictures I took at the next meeting. I didn't get to go to as many panels as I wished to but the ones I did went to were quite amazing.

If you ever manage to get a chance to go to a panel by Iris Gordon, I highly recommend you take it. I went to 3 panels conducted by her, and they were of university lecture material - I mean the good kind of lecture that keeps you engaged. One of her lectures concerned the Symbolism of Alchemy in Fullmetal Alchemist, another dealt with Symbols of Death in Bleach, and the last one was concerned with the psychological profiling of Death Note characters. It was all quite fascinating. If anyone wishes to know more about theses panels, feel free to ask me at the next meeting or email me. Oh, and there's a little blurb on Ms. Gordon here if you wish to find out a little bit more about her.

Feel free to bring anything you bought or took pictures of at AN to the next meeting.

All the best,

Jess