Here's a fansub of "Salaryman Man," an animated short by Takashi Taniguchi about a salaryman superhero who battles an evil villain threatening to destroy a company president.
+ Video
Here's a fansub of "Salaryman Man," an animated short by Takashi Taniguchi about a salaryman superhero who battles an evil villain threatening to destroy a company president.
+ Video
+ Video
The Open Reel Ensemble adds a unique twist to the old-school art of reel-to-reel tape scratching, with USB controllers that manipulate the switches inside the tape decks and with solenoids that create vibrato effects by tweaking the speed of the tape as it passes over the heads.
The city of Hakodate, Japan has been producing official tourism videos unlike any you've ever seen before -- action-packed affairs starring famous landmarks as giant robots that battle a runaway mechanical squid hijacked by vengeful aliens.
The first video begins with an interesting factoid: According to a survey of 100 aliens, Hakodate is the number one city they would most like to invade.
+ Video 1
The invaders here are alien cephalopods from the planet Ikaaru, who seek revenge on the people of Hakodate for eating too much squid. The aliens hijack an enlarged version of Hakodate's tourism mascot -- a mechanical squid named "Ikabo," which was built by Future University-Hakodate (FUN) in 2007 -- and send it on a rampage through the city.
Angry alien squid from Ikaaru: "All they eat is squid!"
A pair of giant robots are called into action to protect Hakodate's precious historical buildings from destruction. Hakodate's Goryōkaku Tower transforms into a deadly fighting machine, while an enormous Chūkū Dogū (a treasured 3,200-year-old hollow clay figurine unearthed in Hokkaidō in 1975) awakens from a deep slumber.
Giant Chūkū Dogū wakes up
The city's star-shaped Goryōkaku fortress also joins the fight. After coming under attack, the fortress rises up from the flames and takes off like a giant spaceship.
+ Video 2
In the second video, the battle between the hijacked Ikabo squid robot and the Goryōkaku Tower robot rages on into winter.
+ Video 3
In the final video, the fierce battle appears to end as the Goryōkaku ship delivers a deadly blow to the Ikaaru spacecraft. But the fight has really only just begun -- another fleet of alien ships is fast approaching.
Hakodate appears to be under full-scale alien attack and its survival is in question. Visit Hakodate soon... before it's too late.
In his latest video, experimental media artist Daito Manabe choreographs a synchronized face dance for four friends by hooking them up to the Face Visualizer, a device which converts music into electrical impulses that stimulate the facial muscles.
+ Video
[Via: Daito Manabe - YouTube]
The HRP-4C, a walking, talking humanoid fashion model fembot developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), is ready for the runway. (Watch her strut her stuff.)
With 30 motors in her body, the 158-centimeter (62-in) tall, 43-kilogram (95-lb) HRP-4C can walk around and strike a range of poses.
The black-haired robot also has 8 motors in her face, allowing her to wow the crowds with expressions of simple emotions like anger and surprise.
Anger // Surprise
HRP-4C is scheduled to make her official runway debut in a special fashion show in Tokyo next week, though she will not be wearing any clothes.
But really, who needs clothes with a body like that?
[Sources: AIST, IHT, Daily Mail]
Marvelously deranged manga artist Shintaro Kago has set up a YouTube channel and started uploading bizarre animated shorts. Among them are his "Terror of golf course," which shows a golfer's unfortunate encounter with a peculiar hole on the putting green...
...and the equally absurd "Mermaid," which portrays a sea maiden with a surprise in her chest.
More at Kago's YouTube channel and website.
[Via Same Hat]
As part of an online marketing campaign for the Walkman media player over the past few years, Sony has produced over a dozen short videos featuring a stellar assortment of underground Japanese musicians cutting loose in the studio.
* * * * *
- Tucker
DJ/keyboardist Tucker shows off his mad cooking skills by whipping up a spicy blend of rhythmic kitchen noise topped with crunchy guitar. >>> Video
+ More Tucker: Clocks, toys & turntable // Oil drum, thumb piano, bass & keyboards // Guitar, bass & keyboards // Misc. items in aquarium
* * * * *
- Fuyuki Yamakawa
- Video
Armed with a bone conduction microphone and electric artificial larynx, performance artist/body musician Fuyuki Yamakawa drops a flurry of skull-thumping, mouth-tweaking beats.
* * * * *
- Tomo Yamaguchi
- Video
Wearing an assortment of tin containers, junk percussionist Tomo Yamaguchi crashes and bangs his way through quiet residential backstreets.
+ More: Studio solo // Collaboration with Tucker
* * * * *
- Goma da Didgeridoo
- Video
Goma da Didgeridoo plays the aboriginal wind instrument with a twist of techno.
+ More: Collaboration with chef Tucker
* * * * *
- Atsuhiro Ito
- Video
Atsuhiro Ito gets down with the Optron, a miked-up fluorescent light tube run through an array of effects pedals.
+ More: Collaboration with drummer Yoichiro Shin
* * * * *
- Taeji Sawai
- Video
Interactive media designer Taeji Sawai shows off his scintillating light-controlled sound generator.
+ More: Ito's Optron vs. Sawai's light-controlled sound generator
This captivating promo video for the ARROWS' "Karada no V" track (on the recently released AROI album) features footage from the award-winning "Frog in the Well" performance by the Okayama University Modern Dance Club.
+ Video
On February 10, Japan's KAGUYA (a.k.a. SELENE) lunar explorer shot video of the Earth as it passed between the Sun and the Moon. The probe's high-definition cameras captured a rare view of the so-called "diamond ring effect" seen from the Moon. The phenomenon is usually only ever observed during total solar eclipses on Earth, just as the Sun emerges from behind the Moon.
+ Video
This video shows the Sun emerging from behind the Earth, just as they are rising over the lunar horizon. The bead of sunlight peeking over the edge of the planet looks like a diamond on a precious ring.
[Link: JAXA]