This blog is not actually dead, it has just been hibernating.
This year has been pretty mental for me, on a personal level. Work life has been hectic, and a series of real life tragedies have left me and my better half exhausted. Add to that the fact that I’ve been trying to get some other projects off the ground (more of that to come soon) and it has sadly meant that this site has been neglected. But that doesn’t mean I’ve been completely static.
I’m sure most of you are aware of the tragic news earlier this year of the passing of anime director Satoshi Kon. I was hugely honored to be asked to contribute to Anime News Network’s week-long retrospective of his works, for which I wrote this piece on his darkly comedic classic Tokyo Godfathers. It was a tough but fun article to write, and something I’m very proud of, and the fact it was published on the day my partner lost her father to the same cancer that took Kon’s life made it a strangely poignant event for me.
Also over the past months ANN have published my reviews of Welcome to the Space Show and Mamoru Oshii’s Musashi: Dream of the Last Samurai, both flawed but still interesting movies that are worth checking out.
Words not enough for you? Then thanks to the magical nature of the internets you can hear my voice too. Back in August Scott Spaziani was kind enough to invite me back onto his podcast “Otaku in Review” along with my good friend Ed Sizemore of Manga Worth Reading. The topic was genre, and the result of putting me and Ed together is that we will ramble on about our love of science fiction until someone stops us. like the two old geezers we truly are. Actually, It was a pretty fascinating discussion, covering more than just manga and anime, and well worth a listen. For something a bit briefer and more lighthearted check out my “20 Questions” interview with Sean Russell over at Anime 3000. Warning: my contain the most offensive curse word known to science.
And finally, something a little different. After a break of about 12 years I’ve got back into one of my old obsessions: DJing. Check out some of my mixes over on Soundcloud under my Shinohara Heavy Industries moniker.
So that’s what has been happening over the last few months of apparent inactivity – but keep an eye on this site, as hopefully it should be springing back into life on a more regular basis – I’ve got some interesting anime and manga reviews lined up for the next few weeks, so don’t go far.
