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A DAY'S WORTH OF DRIVING LANDED ME IN NEO TOKYO
I'm sure everyone just loves that cowboybebop vector trace. Pretty nifty eh? Well it's time to move on from that piece and start something new. Because of Wed. events, I've found just the perfect subject.Yesterday started out wtih me waking up around noon for no good reason. My brother needed my help fixing one of the hard drives for his computer. The resulting scan disk and formatting commands ate up enough time to make me late on my schedule for leaving the house. My plan was to drive out to Scottsdale and apply for a job. Having already sent my resume, an associate from Scottsdale Insurance told me to come into the HR department and fill out an application. At around 3:20 PM I made the long journey out to Scottsdale, and when I arrived at my detination the time was 3:40 PM. Unfortunately, 3:40 PM meant that I arrived too late. The person who contacted me and told me to come into the office failed to inform me that the application process ends at 3:30 PM. So having spent more than half an hour driving North to Scottsdale, I had to drive back home heavily discouraged.
Feeling like my day had gone to a complete waste, I continued to head South on the 101 loop and decided to stop buy Atomic Comics. It's well known that I don't buy comics anymore, so whenever I go to Atomic Comics it's for the chance to purchase more of that yummy Black Lemonade. Sadly, no Black Lemonade would be turning my tongue black that day for Atomic Comics was sold out of the tasty beverage. It just wasn't my day. While purchasing a Jones Raspberry Lime Soda as a shoddy replacement for Black Lemonade, I noticed something on the wall. In Atomic Comics' DVD selection I noticed a familiar image.
"HOLY SHIT" I said aloud. For I had just seen the DVD case for Manie-Manie Meikyu Monogatari aka "Neo Tokyo." For those who don't know, Manie-Manie Meikyu Monogatari (Labyrinth Stories) is a movie comprised of 3 animated short films from Japan. Back when I was 12 years old... I saw the middle segment "Running Man" within a second season episode of MTV'S "Liquid Television." The image of the character, Zack Hugh, screaming in agony and terror as his own tele-kinetic powers tear apart his jet car / hovercraft has huanted me ever since. Years later when I moved to Arizona for a second time in my life, I was able to spot this image yet again but this time on the cover of a VHS tape in a local Blockbuster on 40th St. and Chandler. The box was labeled "Neo Tokyo" and showed that the "Running Man" segment from Liquid TV I so loved was 1/3 of a strange and entertaining animated film.
Up until yesterday, I had not seen a single copy of Neo Tokyo for 9 years. Of course I had to buy the dvd as soon as I saw it in Atomic Comics. Realizing what I had just acquired, the idea to find new screen caps to vector trace sprung into my head. Of course screens of my favorite segment, "The Running Man" were made. Here are the 4 which I'm considering for vector tracing. Leave a comment and let me know which you readers out there think should be recreated in vector graphics.
