Monster Roll Looks Absolutely Awesome

On paper, Monster Roll seems like a perfect premise for a made for TV flick that you'd see on a channel like Syfy or made by the lowest common denominator of cheap cash in flicks, Asylum (Sharknado, much?), but this high quality proof of concept is something I'd like to see get made.

Created by Dan Blank, Monster Roll follows a group of sushi chefs standing up against an invasion of sea monsters, and a right to keep creating delicious sushi. Despite being out for about three months now, the short just got noticed recently and has been causing quite a stir, even garnering praise from folks like Duncan Jones (Director of Moon, Source Code) and others. Give them a like on Facebook if you like what you see, as these fine folks are planning on getting a Kickstarter going to hopefully make this project a reality. Check out the making of and faux-ficial movie poster after the break!

Nigiri By Judy Lee

Despite having a deceptively crude look to it, Judy Lee's thesis project is incredibly well animated and appealing, with a style that really reminded me of Michael Arias' (Tekkon Kinkreet) approach to character design and animating. Story wise, Nigiri is a fun little short about a man dealing with eating some 'painfully' fresh sushi, and his somewhat flawed approach to solving the problem.

The Story Of Sushi

This informational and heartwarming little short talks about how fish makes its way from the sea to sitting all pretty and delicious like on a nigiri. This project was created to promote a sustainable sushi restaurant in Oregon called 'Bamboo,' which relies on fishing methods that do not result in the depletion of certain species. The narrator threw me for a loop because I initially thought it was Leonard Nimoy, which blew my mind but didn't seem out of the realm of possibility (Remember his incredible Bruno Mars music video?). The actual voice actor turned out to be Jim Donaldson, and this 7 month project was directed by Vincent Peone.

This Is How You Market Sushi

Sushi is one of those foods that's amazing if good, or horrible if it's bad. There's really not a lot of middle ground. So if you run a sushi joint, it's important that you market yourself very carefully. And nothing says delicious like space sushi. Right...? Well, the folks at Sticky Rice in DC decided that Earth-bound promotions just wouldn't cut it, so they decided to launch a plate of sushi into space. Sure it's been preserved, and nailed to a plate, thus rendering it inedible. But it does make for one helluva impression.

Jiro Dreams Of Sushi

Magnolia pictures just recently released a trailer for a movie that at face value didn't seem quite interesting, but with this incredible trailer managed to pique my interest to 10,000%. Its a story about one man's absolute obsession, and quest for perfection in a craft that many consider to be an artform.

One concept that most great artists accept and have in common is that they acknowledge that there will always be something new to learn, refine and master. Jiro really comes off as one of these people, and I'm really looking forward to seeing just how obsessed he is over creating the perfect morsel of sushi sometime next year.