As from today, this blog will be modefied/altered to become a place to promote my work as a freelance writer.  Some of the articles/reviews posted here will, if not  already, have been moved to my other blog Diverse Japan, a place for all things Japan related and includes celebrity interviews, reviews recipes, and much more…  I hope you will visit and subscribe to it.

In the meantime, may I thank you for all your support regarding this blog A Nice Place To Visit.

Regards,

Spencer Lloyd Peet (Administrator)

Directed by the controversial filmmaker Sion Sono (Love Exposure), and reportedly based on a real life serial killer from the 1980s, Cold Fish is a film that breaks away from the normality of human existence and explores the depths of psychosis.  On the outside it appears to be a gory J-Horror flick bordering on black  comedy; on a deeper level it can be seen as a cinematic representation of the darker, tormented side of the human mind, which, in itself, is rather a disturbing thought considering Sono once claimed in an interview that Cold Fish is probably his most personal work so far.  Read more

Interview conducted by Spencer Lloyd Peet

“After working on High Kick Girl and Karate Girl, I feel that there is no difference between ‘real’ martial arts and what we did on those films.”  Rina Takeda.

She may be small in stature and unbelievably cute, but action star and real-life Ryukyu Shorin-ryu karate champion, Rina Takeda, is anything but a pussy cat. During filming she has taken falls which Jackie Chan would think twice of doing; and delivered lighting kicks that Bruce Lee would have had trouble deflecting.  Her outstanding martial arts prowess and lethal kicks and punches in films such as High Kick Girl, Karate Girl, and Kunoichi, which has left audiences wondering if they were for real, has won her a legion of fans and much praise from critics.  Her popularity rises from one film to the next and she is undoubtedly set for international stardom.  Read more.

On Sunday 8 May 2011, KG: Karate Girl had its international premier at the Prince Charles Cinema in London as part of the 4-day Terracotta Far East Film Festival.  The film’s main star, Rina Takeda, appeared at the venue as special guest where, prior to the start of the film, dressed in her karate uniform, she gave a brief talk.  Immediately after the film had finished, Takeda went back on stage, this time dressed in her school uniform as worn in the film, to give an impressive karate demonstration and displayed her skills with the nunchaku which was followed by a Q&A session.  The talented actress showed a lot of charm and charisma and definitely has star quality, but what about the film?   Read more

The latest issue of Cinema Retro (#20) is now shipping to subscribers in the UK and Europe. Highlights of this issue include:

• Cover story on Candy starring Ewa Aulin as the sexy teen nymph in an all-star fiasco that involved Marlon Brando, Ringo Starr, James Coburn and Walter Matthau. Dean Brierly examines how such a sure-fire project turned into one of the worst movies ever made.
• This issue’s Film in Focus is Earthquake, the 1974 blockbuster starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and many other familiar faces in one of the most successful films of the genre. Ross Warner reminds why the film remains a guilty pleasure and Thomas Hauerslav of the web site In70mm.compresents a fascinating look at the history of Sensurround, the Oscar-winning sound system that had more than its share of mishaps. 
• Nick Anez provides analysis of two Fox Westerns from the 1960s: The Comancheros starring John Wayne and Stuart Whitman and Rio Conchos starring Whitman and Richard Boone. Anez examines the startling similarities between the two films and debates if Conchos can truly be regarded as a remake of The Comancheros.
• Lee Pfeiffer has a sit-down interview with jazz great Kyle Eastwood and discusses his scoring of films with his father, Clint Eastwood. Kyle also recalls starring with his dad in Honkytonk Man and making a cameo in The Outlaw Josey Wales. 
• Gary McMahon looks at memorable films that have coped with the restrictions of shooting key sequences in confined places, from the legendary fight aboard the Orient Express in the James Bond classic From Russia With Love to Hitchcock’s Lifeboat and Huston’s Key Largo. 
• Cinema Retro music critic Darren Allison provides an in-depth tribute to the recently departed legendary composer John Barry.
• Matthew Field concludes his three-part interview with director Lewis Gilbert with discussions of Friends and Educating Rita.
• Herbie J. Pilato examines the good, the bad and the ugly among major films based on legendary TV series.
• Raymond Benson looks back on his top films of 1979 including Alien and Apocalypse Now.
• Cinema Retro honors famed film critic and documentary maker Richard Schickel at a special event held at the Players club in New York City.
• Gareth Owen pays tribute to Michael Powell’s long-neglected classic Peeping Tom. 
• Coverage and photos from the new book MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot
• plus the usual extensive coverage of the latest movie books, DVDs and soundtracks

Don’t delay- if you’re not already a subscriber, click here for information about joining the ranks of our supporters from around the globe.  Click here to subscribe directly through our Ebay affiliate.

Cinema Retro Official Website

Anime, J-Pop and Japanese fashion fan groups from around the country have decided to get together and create Heart Japan – parties in aid of the Japanese Earthquake Fund!

Their first event is taking place on 20th April 2011 at Vibe Bar, in the heart of London’s Brick Lane.

Live bands, DJs playing the best in Japanese pop, rock and electro, plus the chance to get your hands on a piece of original art by Bryan Lee O’Malley (creator of Scott Pilgrim) in a charity auction!

Other activities at the event include:

• Puri Kura” style photo booth by Cosplay Portrait

• Live Manga Art and manga portraits

• Fashion show

• Japanese girls’ dance performance by LDN48

• Cafe and bake sale with waitresses dressed in Gothic Lolita fashion

• Kid Kneival DJ set in the bar area (in support of the Nihon Kizuna charity compilation project).

Date: Wednesday, 20th April 2011

Time: 6:30 – 11pm

Location: Vibe Bar 91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL

Tickets: £7.50 advance, £9 on the door.

Dress code: No dress code but cosplay, lolita and Japanese fashion are encouraged.

Age limit: Over 18 only

Click here for more details.

Experience Japanese Maids Café, the first of its kind in London!

Book a reservation at 12pm, 2pm, 4pm or 6pm, relax and enjoy being served by real Japanese Maids serving a fusion of Japanese and European gourmet food.

Watch their dance routines and listen to them play traditional Japanese instruments.

Plus VJ namimo will be there stimulating your eyes and ears.

We hope to see you there!

£6 in advance or £10 on the door (Subject to availability)

then choose from our menu when you arrive.

Click here for menu and more details.

IFE: The UK’s largest food & drink trade event Excel London 13 – 16 March 2011

2011’s largest gathering of international food & drink suppliers will take place at IFE. From big brand suppliers to local & regional producers, over 1100 exhibitors from around the world will showcase thousands of NEW products.

IFE11 will be a feast for your senses, with an exciting range of events and special features taking place. Taste, touch, learn, and savour all this sector has to offer at the UK’s biggest food and drink event.

Readers of this blog who have an interest in Asian culture may like to try some Japanese tea tasting at the Kim’s Son booth. You won’t be disappointed!

Visit the official IFE website for more details www.ife.co.uk

The Monkees Pool It! Album

The Monkees have reformed to perform Live in the UK on selected dates throughout May. It will be the first time in over 12 years that the lads (Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz) have played on British soil. On Monday, 21 February the three-piece appeared on the TV programme The One Show to announce and promote the tour. Rumour has it Mike Nesmith will also appear but for the London performance only.

Micky, the band’s drummer and vocalist on tracks such as I’m a Beliver, Not Your Stepping Stone and Last Train to Clarksville, also gave a studio interview on BBC One Breakfast News on Wednesday, 16 February to promote his appearance in the West End musical production of Hairspray.

Tickets for the following tour dates will go on general sale Friday, 25th February:

Echo Arena, Liverpool – 12th May

Manchester Apollo – 14th

City Hall, Newcastle – 15th

Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow – 16th

Royal Albert Hall, London – 19th

City Hall, Sheffield – 20th

NIA Academy, Birmingham – 21st

Plymouth Pavillions – 23rd

CIA, Cardiff – 24th

Royal Centre, Nottingham – 25th

More details when available.

After the publication of his first book Timeline of the Planet of the Apes, author Rich Handley triumphantly follows up on its success with From Aldo To Zira: Lexicon of the Planet of the Apes – a 400-page encyclopaedia listing every character, creature, device, location, weapon and much, much more from the Apes universe which consist of the initial five films, the Tim Burton remake, the Live-Action and animation series, a variety of comic books, and a whole host of other adaptations and spin-offs. With a staggering 3,200 entries, no stone or scroll is left unturned. Even diehard fans will be amazed by some of them; Baboonjas, the psychic ninja cult from Ape City (a 4-issue comic miniseries published by Malibu Comics in 1990), and Deadeye, a rare scared-face, cigar-chomping gorilla bounty hunter resin “garage kit” are two examples.

Click here to read article in full at Cinema Retro.

http://www.hassleinbooks.com/

Rod Seling and Marilyn Monroe

In 1961, the most recognisable writer in America, Rod Serling, crossed paths with that of the most recognisable face in Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, for a TV project that would leave them both, and all others involved, disenchanted. You would think that this was going to be a match made in heaven, but as Keith Badman, author of the enthralling biography The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe – The Shocking True Story, discovered, this wasn’t to be the case and proved to be a very expensive lost cause.

Click here to read complete article at The Rod Serling Memorial Foundation.

Zojiyoji Temple in Snow

As the days grow dark and cold, all one wants to do is spend their hours at home in ease and comfort whilst watching the merciless snow flurry outside – but time is running out and Christmas gifts need to be bought for those still searching!

The Japanese Gallery would like to invite you to browse their selection of Japanese prints for truly beautiful present for your friends, family and loved ones in the comfort and warmth of their shop. Come and find inspiration through some selected masterpieces which are on sale for Christmas and see.

The gallery will be open 7 days a week from 10am to 6pm, also on the 24th December till 2pm.

During the festive season they will be closed:

25th and 26th December 2010
1st January 2011

The gallery will open again for the New Year on the 2nd January keeping their accustomed opening hours, daily from 10am to 6pm.  

They hope that they will have the pleasure of welcoming you to their gallery soon and wish you a merry Christmas.

For more information, please visit their website here

Japanese Gallery
23 Camden Passage
Angel, Islington
London N1 8EA
+44 (0)20 7226 3347
info@japanesegallery.co.uk

If you think you know everything about Marilyn’s life, be prepared to think again…

The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe

There have been many takes on the life of Marilyn Monroe, but in this exceptional, sometimes shocking, and painstakingly researched book, Keith Badman has uncovered long-lost (or previously unseen) information, to finally uncover the truth about the last years of her life, when her glittering movie career went into decline due to her increasingly erratic behaviour and dependence on alcohol and medication…

After five years of meticulous research, Badman explores precisely how she died at the age of only 36 and strategic ‘delays’ on the night of her overdose that indicate a cover-up, the truth about her rekindled relationship with second husband Joe DiMaggio, why Fox wouldn’t let her finish her final movie Something’s Got To Give, her horrendous weekend at Frank Sinatra’s Cal-Neva lodge, her distress at being imprisoned in the Payne Witney psychiatric hospital and much, much more.

Using private, previously unpublished itineraries and original eye-witness accounts, Badman also reveals just how deeply Marilyn was involved with John and Bobby Kennedy, and reveals the precise date of her first encounter with the president, thus ending a six-decade mystery.

This is Marilyn as you’ve never seen her before, and features a deluge of stories and facts that even Monroe’s most die-hard fans will be unaware of.

Keith Badman is the author of eight highly acclaimed biographies, including The Beatles After the Break-Up (1999), The Beatles Off The Record (2000), and The Beach Boys – The Definitive Diary Of America’s Greatest Band On Stage And In The Studio (2004).

Click here to order from Amazon.co.uk

Cinema Retro Issue #19

Cinema Retro’s seventh year of publishing has officially started now that issue #19 is shipping to UK and European subscribers. Subscribers in North America and other parts of the world will get their issues shortly after the new year, once the issues arrive from England.

Issue #19 is truly one of our best to date. Consider these highlights:

• We celebrate the Blu-ray release of The Exorcist with Matthew R. Bradley and Gilbert Colon’s in-depth interview with author William Peter Blatty, who discusses some fascinating aspects about the making of the classic movie. There’s also an abundance of facts and rare photos including a cover photo that is bound to give you the creeps.

• Todd Garbarini has an exclusive interview with the original cougar, Angie Dickinson, who discusses Roger Vadim’s quirky sex comedy/murder mystery Pretty Maids All in a Row, with Rock Hudson as a horndog high school counselor- who might also be a serial killer.

• Lee Pfeiffer celebrates the 45th anniversary of the film version of The Sound of Music by visiting the famed Von Trapp Lodge in Vermont, where he met with Johannes Von Trapp, son of Captain and Maria.

• Steve Saragossi presents an in-depth look at the career of an under-rated leading man of 60s and 70s cinema: Rod Taylor.

• In part two of Matthew Field’s interview with Lewis Gilbert, the famed director looks back on his “personal” films including the classic Alfie.

• Dave Worrall takes you behind the scenes at the James Bond Aston Martin DB5 auction in London

• Tim Greaves examines the off-beat 60s sex comedy Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush

• Phil Gavin looks back on the history of classic Hammer horror film posters.

• John Surles recalls his meeting with actor/singer Jimmy Dean and his role as Willard Whyte in Diamonds Are Forever.

• Famed character actor Shane Rimmer’s new autobiography

• S.O.S Film Industry – Gary McMahon culls comments from famed filmmakers who take issue with the direction of today’s motion picture industry.

• Adrian Smith covers Brian Clemens, director of many classic episodes of The Avengers, at his BFI tribute in London.

• Matthew Field covers Sean Connery’s appearance at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and gets to meet the Great Scot, who introduced a screening of The Man Who Would Be King.

• More on the world of 007 in this Bond-heavy issue: Gareth Owen and Dave Worrall spend a day with director Guy Hamilton and accompany him to an outdoor London screening of Goldfinger.

• Raymond Benson provides us with his choices of the ten best films of 1978.

• Darren Allison covers the latest soundtracks on CD

• Plus extensive DVD and film book reviews

Click here to subscribe