success break: REDcard

"you."

doodle break: squiggles with ウゴツール

I've stumbled upon a cute program that creates squiggle lines in real time while drawing!

The program is completely in Japanese, but it's simple enough to use.
Here's a video of it in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyFm4sv_vFY
and the link to the program at the creator's website
(which can actually just be found in the description on Youtube):
http://mclover.net/Program/Ugo.htm

lost item break: mall flower

success break: Mouth Glow

so apparently, if you say certain key words in Twitter that might relate to a product or service, there's a chance that an ad bot account will watch you. A little annoying, but it can be like a game to snipe them off the list with the block button once they appear. I had two watch me after by recent posts by saying, "multiregion DVD player," and "Blu-ray." Success.

movie break: Angel's Egg (天使のたまご)

I've been on a rather big Yoshitaka Amano kick lately and looking back upon his work, I discovered a film known as Angel's Egg. Originally released in 1985, Angel's Egg was a movie directed by Mamoru Oshii with art by Yoshitaka Amano and score by Yoshihiro Kanno. The story follows a young girl in her journeys collecting bottles of water in a surreal, dark and dead world. In her travels, she carries with her an egg, of which it is unknown at first what it contains. She soon discovers a man (who is seen earlier in the film) who eventually accompanies her.

Through out the film, it is unknown what both the girl and the man's names are, and there is very little dialog spoken. I'd rather not spoil anything, but more on the plot can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel%27s_Egg

I feel a little bad not knowing about this film until now, it's pretty intense, not to mention incredibly pretty. Kanno's powerful and sometimes unnerving music complements the surreal and fantastical designs of Amano perfectly. I've always been a big fan of Japan's animation from the 80's and early 90's; there's a certain amount of quality in them that feels lost in today's work. Currently there are no US releases for this film, but the DVD is available in Reigon 2. I'd suggest nabbing the DVD, but for those that don't have a region free player and would also like subtitles, it can be found on Youtube. How convenient.