I've made a short promo clip for MPZ's occasional music maestro Paulo's new band Proving Ground's new album. It's nothing too flashy, it's just a little taster of what you'll get from the album. You can see the promo here. This seems a good opportunity to point out that if you have a band, website, or business that needs a flash like that making, that I am available for hire, so drop me a line. Meanwhile, check out the blog where I've added a couple of new posts this weekend!


By the way, before anyone complains I know there's an apostrophe in the wrong place in Proving Ground's album title. It's probably a rock and roll thing....... if you don't get it you're probably just not cool enough....

I've got round to updating a few things I should have done ages ago. The Flash Gallery is now up-to-date as is the archive of Back To The Drawing Board. You can also read the latest Blog Posts, with my thoughts on Beowulf and my musing on the Nintendo Wii's first year.

If you keep up to date with the news page then you may know about my umming and aahing about whether my decision to integrate the blog stuff with the general news. Although I think it's good to be able to see if the blog's been updated from here, I was worried that if I blogged too much, this page would become bogged down with blog posts which might be a pain if you're here to see cartoons and animations! So as a result I ended up just not updating the blog very often. I've decided therefore that I will update the blog much more frequently, but will only report on them on this page every week or so. Then you can see what I've been blogging about and choose which things interest you. So here it is, the first of these new Blog Updates.

Over the past few days I've been blogging my socks off so there should be something that interests you.

• Pirates 3: At World End- a rollocking good time or a load of soggy seabiscuits?
• 24 Season 7 trailer has been released- but is it time to call it a day?
• Mario Galaxy- the official MPZ verdict

Or just head over to the blog to read the whole darn lot!

[Blog Post] This week I got round to seeing Death Proof- Quentin Tarantino's half of the would-be double-bill Grindhouse. Infamously, after it tanked at the box-office stateside, it was cruelly torn apart and released separately outside of the US (and on DVD in America), provoking a lot of complaining from cinephiles across the world, put out that they missed out n the chance to see the full deal because the American audience didn't seem to get it. However in some ways I was only too happy to watch QT's half on it's own- partly because I personally prefer Tarantino to Robert Rodriguez (director of the other half), but partly because if these films exist in extended full cuts then that's the way I want to see them first. And so, on impulse I resorted to importing the US DVD, while it was still playing on the big screen over here.

[more]

[Blog Post] Pretty high up the list of 'things that I never thought I'd see' would be a Hollywood re-make of the Japanese cult movie Battle Royale. However while checking out some trailers online earlier, I saw a list of 'Future Films'- and there, to my surprise sat the US version of that very film. Surely this had to be a joke?



[more]

[Blog Post] All Children of the 80's it's time to rejoice! The single greatest cartoon series from the 1980's is to be finally released on DVD. Yep, come February 2008 (in the UK- US release, coming later), Fabulous Films will be releasing the Mysterious Cities Of Gold! Hooray!! For the unitiated MCOG was a Japanese/French Co-production about a young boy called Esteban who searched for the titular Cities in South America. Shown on the BBC in the UK (and Nickelodeon in the States) but unavailable since, the series has taken on an almost mythical quality and has become something of a Holy Grail of retro cartoons. And it had a awesomely catchy theme tune Basically It's the Citizen Kane of 80's cartoons.

[more]

[Blog Post] This week I found out there's to be an animation festival in my home town. This kind of thing happens all the time if you live in a major city like London or New York but it's not the kind of thing you really expect in my neck of the woods. But while this should be good news, note that I said I found out this week. The catch? The festival is in November- and submissions for entry into competition close this Monday. Nuts!

.....[more]

[Blog Post] If you're in the US and have access to the channel BBC America, then apparently this weekend is your first chance to tune in to ace British sci-fi Torchwood. Knowledge of it's parent show Doctor Who is not essential (although apparently it shows Stateside on the the sci-fi channel, so check it out if you can) although fans of that show will get extra out of it. American mags TV Guide and Variety have given it the thumbs up too. Basically think of a more serious, more sweary version of Men In Black meets Buffy and you'll not be too far off. It's very silly (in a good way) but it can actually do dark and adult surprisingly well too. Which when you consider it's a spin-off of a family orientated show, is all the more remarkable. Consult your local TV guides for airtime and details!

Incidentally for those of us in the UK, coincidentally the show just started a repeat run on BBC3, so if you missed out, now's your chance!

[Blog Post] OK, so it currently looks like the Uk's first dedicated anime channel Anime Central, will be launching on Sky channel 199 from this coming Thursday ( September13th) from 9pm. To begin with it appears the same six shows will be showing each night showing in 3 hour blocks which will then be repeated (so the same episodes will be shown between 9-12, 12-3 and 3-6am). Of the initial crop I can recommend Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (an awesome sci-fi, even if I have no idea what's going on half the time) and Full Metal Alchemist, but the other shows should all be worth a look too!

[more]