Sunday, January 24, 2010

Samurai Sunday!

As promised I'm back with a Sunday samurai extravaganza! Why samurai? Well why the hell not? Have you even seen Seven Samurai? Have you seen Magnificent Seven? Are you a fan of Last Man Standing or Fist Full of Dollars? Ever wonder why George Lucas loved The Hidden Fortress so much?

Akira Kurosawa is my homeboy. I heart Kurosawa films. In a time where action films are full of artifice and disingenuousness, watching a Kurosawa film brings to mind Italian Neo-Realism (I heart Federico Fellini as well) and naturalism in film. But my love for samurai movies and the culture of samurai fandom goes farther back to early childhood memories, such as Hachiman and his Thunder-cutter or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Usagi Yojimbo. More recent interests include Rurouni Kenishin and Samurai Champloo. So recently I also started reading Lone Wolf and Cub. Maybe soon I will also read Blade of the Immortal, which was recommended to me along with Lone Wolf many moons ago (wah wah wah waaaaaah). On a weird side note, I found an old Samurai Jack promo disc I was given at a San Diego Comic-Con years ago in a box among some old cd's. I think I'm going to keep Samurai Sunday going . . . beginning with a classic Throne of Blood!

P.S. here's a painting I began of Community Channel. Apropos of nothing.

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