Hamish Downie’s News Sushi #140: Morsels of News From Japan and Beyond

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Editor Note:It is Friday and that means it is time for the World Famous, soon to be Intergalactic Famous, News Sushi from our very own, Hamish Downie. Hamish brings us a decidedly different slant on Pop Culture as viewed through the lens of a non-native living in Japan.

Thank you (ありがとうございました) Hamish, for your insights.

こんにちは！Which means “Hello”!

「またきんようびね！」

Let me start this off by hoping for a speedy recovery for Keith, one half of our fearless leaders, the Two Gay Geeks. Thankfully, according to Ben, Keith is getting better, just slowly.

A few weeks back, I interviewed Brimo Morales and I’m happy to say that their film “Scared Vision” was successfully crowdfunded. I look forward to promoting it when it’s out on LesFlicks.

My short animation, “The Last Anomaly” has been doing pretty well on the festival circuit. It’s received a couple of Best Animated Short nominations, and it’ll play at Homo Humour this weekend in the UK (I interviewed festival director Lee Campbell recently). It’ll also be at the rescheduled Gilbert Baker Film Festival, which I’ve been helping out with some interviews for 5 Questions With.

Over on YouTube, my first Marilyn video just passed twenty thousand views, which is wild. My latest video is on Greta Garbo. One of the most enigmatic film stars of celluloid history, Greta Garbo went on a permanent hiatus from films in the early 1940s, only making the briefest of cameos in the 1980s with “Garbo Talks” with Carrie Fisher. But, what if she had made more movies? There were many offers over the years for her to make a comeback, including one that she was very serious about.

Vikki Ann is back to act as Garbo, with the talented Bob Werley along to be her sparring partner in a scene.

My friend, before they passed, wrote a beautiful (true?) ghost story based in Kyoto. I asked Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc to help me bring this story to life (with the help of some AI art):

How much would you spend on a trading card for a game where it provides no advantage? The owner of this rare pokemon card is hoping that someone will pay 200 million yen, no bids yet, signaling that the fans think this is a touch overpriced, still it’s amazing to look at:

More: https://soranews24.com/2023/02/10/200-million-yen-for-one-pokemon-card-tokyo-card-shop-knows-what-its-got-wants-nine-figures/

I’m not one for all this “crazy Japan” stuff, but this really takes the cake… or should I say Doughnut. Krispy Kreme’s Japanese stores have just released “Pastrami Donuts”, just in time for all of those of us who have gorged ourselves on Valentine’s Day chocolates. Click the link, as it has to be seen to be believed!

More: https://soranews24.com/2023/02/11/pastrami-donuts-krispy-kreme-japan-has-crazy-palate-cleanser-after-all-that-valentines-choco/

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