Two film reviews by Patrick Galloway

A new issue of The Asian Reporter presents two feature-length reviews by Patrick Galloway, crowd-pleasing author of Asia Shock and Stray Dogs and Lone Wolves. Galloway explores Satoshi Kon's Paprika and Fumihiko Sori's Ping Pong. Although Galloway caught Paprika at a special San Francisco International Film Festival screening, it is now in wide release, so look for it soon at a theatre near you. And if you're a Kon fan and you live in the Bay Area, come to a free screening of Millennium Actress this Sunday, July 1, with a talk by Gilles Poitras!

Stone Bridge featured heavily in the WaterBridge Review

The new issue of the WaterBridge review features a big interview with Haiku Apprentice author and Kiriama Prize Finalist Abigail Friedman, as well as shorter "Around the Rim" roundups of The Astro Boy Essays by Frederik L. Schodt (out next week!), Democracy with a Gun by Fumio Matsuo (out in September), and Travels in the East by Donald Richie (out in September).

Of course, our favorite thing Friedman says in the interview is this:

I found my publisher by word of mouth. Everyone I spoke with in Japan who knew something about the publishing world had good things to say about Stone Bridge Press, and about the publisher, Peter Goodman, in particular.

Book clubs and reading groups take note: it's easy to print out the interview and bring it to your next meeting!

Haiku Apprentice on Naturewriting.com

Naturewriting.com recently posted a review of The Haiku Apprentice, Abigail Friedman's amazingly insightful memoirs of being a diplomat in Japan and discovering the everyday world of haiku poetry. The reviewer took the book along on a camping trip to Yosemite. What a great idea! Here's an excerpt from the review:

I highly recommend The Haiku Apprentice. It is entertaining, educational, and inspirational. Nature writers will find much to think about and to try in their writing. Teachers will find some great ideas to use with their classes.

Gilles Poitras to Introduce Millennium Actress

As we mentioned earlier, Gilles Poitras will be introducing an amazing film, Millennium Actress, at the San Francisco Public Library on Sunday, July 1. Here's some more info!

Japanese Culture in Japanese Animation	Location: Main Library Koret Auditorium Address: 100 Larkin St. (at Grove) Library Sponsored Public Program Time: 1 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Description: Featuring: Millennium Actress (2001; In Japanese with subtitles.) - Director Satoshi Kon has paid a wondrous homage to Japanese films in the form of an interview gone unusual. In this film, a documentary filmmaker visits a famous actress who retired at the height of her career. As they speak, they, and the cameraman, are transported back to the early 1930s when she started her career, to the movies she played roles in and the events Japan went through during the years of the war and the peace that followed it. Kon is very much an auteur whose movies not only reflect his vision of storytelling but delight and at times, confuse the audience. However, the confusion is intentional on the part of the director and is very enjoyable to the viewer. There will be an introduction by Gilles Poitras, a writer specializing in Japanese animation, who will cover some of the Japanese cultural elements in the film. Afterwards, there will be a question and answer session. Cosponsored by the International Center. 1:00-1:30 p.m. - Introduction 1:30-3:00 p.m. - Film Screening 3:00-4:30 p.m. - Q & A Session

Harmony Gold at Anime Expo

If you're going to be in Long Beach next weekend for the HUGE Anime Expo, remember to check out Harmony Gold, the people behind the new Stone Bridge release The Art of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. The details (also check out the complete Anime Expo event directory):

ROBOTECH
Harmony Gold USA
Saturday, June 30, 2007 5:30pm to 6:20pm LP2
Going for the seventh straight year. Harmony Gold staff discuss past,
present and future ROBOTECH projects, including FUNimation's
ROBOTECH - The Shadow Chronicles. Special guests TBA.

Two Being Japanese American Events in San Jose

Gil Asakawa, author of the beloved book Being Japanese American, will be in San Jose for two book events on Sunday, July 1: a book signing at the JACL Youth Conference from,9-10am; and a talk and book signing at the Japanese American Museum from 1pm-3pm. What a day!



1. Book Signing
JACL National Youth Conference, Santa Clara University
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Immediately before and after the Closing Keynote Speaker (9:00-10:00am)
Proceeds from this Book Signing will benefit the Youth Conference.

2. Book Talk and Signing
Japanese American Museum - San Jose
Sunday, July 1, 2007
1:00-3:00pm
Please RSVP to:   mail@jamsj.org (408) 294-3138

Gil's talk, followed by a book singing, will be held at the
Issei Memorial Building's backyard (565 North Fifth Street).
**This event will be outdoors.**
Proceeds from this Book Talk/Signing will benefit the
Japanese American Museum - San Jose

--
Please contact Pam Yoshida for more information on either event:
info@nikkeitraditions-sj.com
(408) 390-3744

The Anime Encyclopedia on Active Anime

Activeanime.com, one of the anime industry's main online news sources, features Holly Ellingwood's review of The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised and Expanded Edition by Helen McCarthy and Jonathan Clements. Here's an excerpt:

For everyone who wished for an inclusive anime compendium that contained a large majority of the anime from Japan, here it is....a thorough collection....a weighty slice of media and cultural history that can be enjoyed on many levels.

Schodt, Horn talk manga and Tezuka on Forum

Fred Shodt, along with SBP friend Carl Horn, held an excellent conversation with KQED's Michael Krasny today on Forum. If you missed it, or just want to listen again, you can use a RealMedia stream or download the mp3.

Flavorpill Loves Astro Boy!

The current email/issue of Flavorpill SF -- super-hip tastemakers extraodinaires -- features the Asian Art Museum's "Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga" exhibit, where Frederik L. Schodt, author of The Astro Boy Essays, will be speaking along with Stone Bridge author Gilles Poitras at the spectacular Blast-Off! event on July 7 (yes, that would be 07/07/07...) and signing books on July 21.

Check out the awesome Tezuka art featured in Flavorpill and get ready to get signed!

The Anime Encyclopedia in Eye On Anime

EyeOnAnime just reviewed The Anime Encyclopedia: Revised and Expanded Edition, by Helen McCarthy and Jonathan Clements. Be sure to check out the entire review, but here are some delightful quotes:

It’s very much an obsessive work which infects those who enter it as an intended 10-minute skim frequently turns into an hour of possessed absorption.

...ideal for those who love anime as a whole and are eager to find out more.

Imagi excited about Tezuka exhibit, Astro Boy Essays

Imagi International Holdings Limited, the folks behind the amazing 2007 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, are still planning to release an Astro Boy movie by 2009. They are already working on a Gatchaman film for next year!

Their website recently posted a report on the new Tezuka exhibit along with a picture of Fred and Astro Boy. There is also a very intriguing image of Astro Boy underwater looking at other robots near an old shipwreck. Hmm...

Don't Fret, Robotech Fans!

After having pre-ordered The Art of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, some Robotech fans (and there are a lot!) have unfortunately received automated emails from online retailers stating that their books will not be available until August or later. We at Stone Bridge Press want to reassure you that The Art of Robotech will be available in late June -- once those retailers receive their copies, they will hopefully stop sending out these misguided emails!

The Astro Boy Essays in the San Jose Mercury News

Frederik L. Schodt just won't stop. Since the opening of the fantastic "Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga" exhibit at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, he has been all over the news! The Astro Boy Essays, his highly anticipated new book, is available exclusively at the Asian Art Museum until July, when it will be in wider release, but it's already on the lips of journalists and fans alike, as Mike Antonucci's excellent story in the Mercury News demonstrates. Right on, Fred!

Fred Schodt to talk Tezuka on Forum

Fred Schodt will discuss Osamu Tezuka and his book The Astro Boy Essays on popular radio show Forum with Michael Krasny on Tuesday, June 19.

Forum airs on KQED 88.5 FM in Northern California from 9 to 11 am and can also be heard online and later as an archived podcast. During the live airing you can call in with questions at 415-863-2476 or toll free at 1-866-SF-FORUM (866-733-6786).

And because we like you, here is a cool Astro Boy that you can make for your very own! You can download the printable PDF, then cut and fold to make a papercraft boy.

Astro Boy Essays in Publishers Weekly's "The Beat"

After a busy night at MATCHA, Frederik L. Schodt and The Astro Boy Essays appeared this morning on Publishers Weekly's comics blog, The Beat, where Heidi MacDonald calls the book a MUST HAVE! It is available right now at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and will be in wide release in July -- pre-order your copy from Amazon right now!

Also of note, Nicole reviewed The Astro Boy Essays for the Asian Art Museum's Tezuka blog, writing:

About a quarter of the way through Fred’s new book, I discover precisely what it is that appeals to me and just about everyone else involved in a serious discourse about Tezuka:

To the uninitiated, it can be disturbing to see children’s characters act like their adult counterparts in Russian novels: to be introspective, to agonize, to commit acts of both good and evil, and to even die.

Schodt in the LA Times and at the Asian Art Museum

Frederik L. Schodt is quoted in Michael J. Ybarra's Los Angeles Times piece on the Asian Art Museum's "Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga" show today. "Osamu Tezuka has been called Japan's Walt Disney. But his drawings aren't happy fantasies," Ybarra writes:

Even after 40 years of steady output, Tezuka kept producing more and was at work on several different titles when he died in 1989. His death, Frederik L. Schodt writes in "Dreamland Japan," "sent shock waves through nearly everyone under 50 in Japan. Most had been raised on his comics or animation and were still enjoying his latest creations for adults."


Schodt will be leading a tour of the exhibit and hanging out for the MATCHA event at the museum on Thursday, June 7. And the renowned DJ Tonk, direct from Japan, will be spinning. More info.

Schodt on SFGate

Frederik L. Schodt -- author of much-anticipated book The Astro Boy Essays -- was recently interviewed by SFGate's "Asian Pop" columnist Jeff Yang. Be sure to read the whole article, which focuses on Tezuka's electric humanism. Here's an excerpt:

...cultural historian Frederik L. Schodt's wonderful new book [is] an in-depth look at Tezuka's first and best-loved work.

"To Tezuka, robots couldn't do good or evil unless they're programmed by humans to be good or evil," says Schodt. "We're not hardwired: The power to decide to do good or evil is what makes us human."

Woodworking Tools in the Journal of Japanese Gardening

The Care and Use of Japanese Woodworking Tools, the legendary 1975 woodworking book which Stone Bridge recently brought back into print, is reviewed in the May/June 2007 issue of ROTH Tei-en's Journal of Japanese Gardening:

Every single page of this book is amply supported by hand-drawn line art that illustrates the tools and their uses...[a] useful, introductory-level book...

The Haiku Apprentice in New Hope International Review

The new issue of New Hope International Review includes a review of The Haiku Apprentice by Abigail Friedman. Gerald England writes:

It is the story of a literary and cultural voyage...one of those books that all practitioners of haiku should consider adding to their library.

Jina Bacarr to speak at La Biennale in Venice, Italy

Jina Bacarr, author of The Japanese Art of Sex, has been invited to speak at the historic and world-famous La Biennale di Venezia in Italy.

She will appear June 15 at the panel discussion "Nuove mappe dell’eros, storie, geografie, età (New maps of the eros: histories, geographies, ages."

The Japanese Art of Sex is available in several languages, including Italian as "L'art giapponese del sesso" and of course in English!

'Humphrey and the Whalers' or 'Hey, remember the 80s?'

We clearly weren't the only ones recalling Humphrey the humpback whale while a mother and calf were swimming up the Sacramento River. On May 17 the San Francisco Chronicle looked back on the turbulent mid-80s when an amiable whale successfully returned to the sea after becoming famous and boosting local business in the Bay Area.

Our favorite part of the story: "A TV anchorwoman wrote a kids book about the whale. (It was selling Wednesday on Amazon.com for 40 cents.)"
As of today, you can get a used copy of Humphrey the Lost Whale by Wendy Tokuda and Richard Hall on Amazon for $1.86, or a brand-spanking new copy for SRP $9.99 anywhere and everywhere books are sold.

Fred Schodt at Wired, KRON

Over the weekend we were treated to Wired Magazine's Lisa Katayama's report on Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga along with a TV interview of author Fred Schodt and museum guest curator Philip Brophy on KRON TV.

Read the Wired article

Watch Part 1 of 'The Marvel of Manga' on KRON
Watch Part 2 of 'The Marvel of Manga' on KRON

Frederik L. Schodt interviewed in Oakland Tribune

The Oakland Tribune and other Bay Area newspapers are featuring an excellent interview with Frederik L. Schodt about manga and its local limelight at the Asian Art Museum. Read the article.