Bilk

What in the world is Bilk?

It is a new malt liquor developed by a company in Hokkaido. Bilk = Beer + Milk... how brilliant! This news item says 30% of the ingredient is milk, which was added to the hops, malted barley, and yeast before brewing. "Great beer taste with a hint of milk flavor" or so the company claims... Yum, can't wait to try. Or not.

Tekkon Kinkreet

Last week we went to Shibuya to see Tekkon Kinkreet, a film based on the excellent comic by Taiyo Matsumoto (published in the US as Black & White). It's the story of two violent street kids, Shiro and Kuro, fighting to protect their town from yakuza and real estate developers. The adaptation was surprisingly successful, with beautiful artwork and a great techno soundtrack by the band Plaid.

This is apparently the first major anime feature to be directed by an American, Michael Arias (a producer of the Animatrix). PingMag ran a nice interview with Eiko Tanaka, president of the production company behind this unique film.

Here is the official trailer, and here is a different trailer, which appears to be from the earlier incarnation discussed in the PingMag article. None of this footage from this older trailer was used in the final film, as far as I can tell. Both styles are fun, but I'm glad they went with the 2D look. It feels a bit more faithful to the comic book, I think.