patokon blog

I know tons of people who outright hate horror movies and tons of those who dismiss them or never bother watching them. Well "Housebound" (2014) now on Netflix is one of those movies that shouldn't be dismissed.  My advice is to stop reading this now - especially if you're the kind of person that easily discovers spoilers in non-spoiler reviews - and just go watch this work of art. But if you still need convincing, read on.  Besides having some real creepy scares and a bit of "in your face" blood & gore (just a bit) this flick has a great story, a perfect plot, wonderful characters - including the main character - a hard case juvie that's given up on the world, a security guy who's a part-time paranormal investigator, and especially - well, I don't want to give away anything. Let's just say that every character has some great moments that make you smile, laugh out loud, or even cry - yes, cry! Okay. Now quickly go rent or buy your copy of...

Okay, I'm about to post some crazy $#!% so hang on to your ballbags. When living in Tokyo (and probably any other part of Japan), you get the opportunity to add a bunch of slashes to your skill set. Where in NYC, most of the people you meet are waiter/dancer, waiter/screenwriter, waiter/actor, most of the people I know are teacher/artist, teacher/voice actor, teacher/writer, or teacher/singer. Though according to my various targeted CVs I am a translator/interpreter, an artist/animator/illustrator, a writer/proofreader/editor/copywriter, and/or a teacher/lecturer, I've also been called upon to do voice work, motion capture work, and good-ole fashion acting. It started when I was asked to translate the script for a short animated segment and then was asked to do a test voice for one of the characters. The director, Yusaku Furuya  liked my portrayal and I ended playing a bucktoothed trailer trash yokel (my kinda guy) who joins his friend on a roadtrip a...

[Note: Check This $#!% Out was originally a seperate blog but is now a feature of patokon blog ] Since my kindergarten class where we had a guest teacher with a monkey puppet that spoke only French, I've been interested in the French language. My interest never went as deep as my interest in Asian languages, but deep enough that I have several dozens of books in or about French. My first French movie exposure was the stylish thriller DIVA . The opening opera scene still gives me goosebumps just due to the amazing singing of Wilhelminia Wiggins Fernandez . It would be another few years before I got to see Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita . A few years after that I saw the fantastic comedic horror (or horrific comedy)  Delicatessen , and the classic slapstick spy comedy, The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe .   I really enjoyed these two genres of French film, the comedy and the action thriller and always looked forward to finding new works by these actors and direct...

[Note: Check This $#!% Out was originally a seperate blog but is now a feature of patokon blog ] 10. The music is crazy addictive. From the opening song to Vaughn's big hit "Getting Rid of Britta" to Abed and Troy's version of "Somewhere Out There". Here's a bit from the song "Night Caps". A teaser, if you will.  "All my boys and all my peeps. Yeah! All my boys and all my peeps. Yeah! All my boys and all my peeps  like to wear night caps when they go to sleep!" And it only gets better. I already bought the soundtrack on iTunes. http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/community-music.../id391832272 9. You love Chevy Chase. SNL. Caddyshack. National Lampoon's Vacation, Fletch. Funny Farm (yes, I said Funny Farm). He hasn't been this awesomely crazy in a long time. When he did his signature move in the Kickpuncher episode, I was so happy I peed a little.  8. You hate Chevy Chase. You will love hating him even more as Pierce Hawthor...

[Note: Check This $#!% Out was originally a seperate blog but is now a feature of patokon blog ] What is OTR? OTR is the most awesome thing ever! Remember the scene in "A Christmas Story" when Ralphie gets his secret decoder ring and can't wait to decode his first message? For my generation, listening to radio drama wasn't big on our list of entertainment, but seeing Ralphie decode that message (however disappointing) was kinda cool. Little did I know, years later I would become quite the fan of OTR (Old Time Radio). I guess it might have been just a matter of time since I had listened to a few recordings of The Inner Sanctum, which was always good for a scare, I was a fan of Bogart's Sam Spade early on, and I was already into comic strips from the thirties and forties. As I grew older I would try to catch reruns of Burns and Allen, Jack Benny, and other shows which I didn't even know had started on the radio. Well, thanks to the magic of the INTERNET, I b...

I did the voice of Kenneth (in the hat), the kid, and the old man for this original animated DVD. It's a comedy called "The "Why?" Brothers". In the extras, I play the main character in a mock-umentary about a foreigner working in Japan who mistakenly uses extremely dirty language in several situations.  I originally got involved when I was asked to translate the script. I got very creative and extremely colorful with my metafers (ie. dirty language). I'll probably become as the go to guy for smut talk now. Here is a clip from the main deal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8I_m_039jE The language is NOT for the kiddies or the faint of heart! Here is a clip from the special features: I hope u rush out and buy it! BTW, if you know some Japanese but aren't familiar with the word "nikubo" it is literally "meat-stick" which is slang for... You figger it out.

Check out "Space Tyrants #1" for a cheap laugh! If you dig it, let me know!