MS. ROBOT

Geishas go wild in Noboro Iguchi's scattershot sci-fi epic.

Above: two posters for Robo-geisha, or Robogeisha, as it was titled in the west. Only for the adventurous, this is low budget action gore, or maybe subversive shock sci-fi, or possibly transgressive black comedy. In any case, it’s about a pair of orphaned sisters who compete as assassins after receiving cybernetic implants, are separated and exploited by a powerful corporation, and eventually are thrown together in a final duel. You get sword fights, machine guns, sparks and bloodspray and explosions, a walking castle, copious miniature/computer/stop action efx, and lots of shakycam—aka the budget filmmaker’s favorite crutch.

If the whole bizarre counterculture spectacle is preposterous, well, you’ve been warned. Viewers generally react one of three ways—some like it; some want to like it because it will make them cool; and some dislike what they see as a sophomoric mess. We won’t say which we were, but we’ll note that even with the numerous references to films ranging from Godzilla to Ichi the Killer, Robo-geisha isn’t as clever as it thinks it is. The smartest aspect of it is that director Noboru Iguchi and cohorts managed to create their own cinematic genre. That, no matter how you feel about the actual movie, is pure genius. Robo-geisha premiered in Japan today in 2009.

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1918—Wilson Goes to Europe

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails to Europe for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, France, becoming the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office.

1921—Arbuckle Manslaughter Trial Ends

In the U.S., a manslaughter trial against actor/director Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle ends with the jury deadlocked as to whether he had killed aspiring actress Virginia Rappe during rape and sodomy. Arbuckle was finally cleared of all wrongdoing after two more trials, but the scandal ruined his career and personal life.

1964—Mass Student Arrests in U.S.

In California, Police arrest over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover and sit-in at the administration building in protest at the UC Regents’ decision to forbid protests on university property.

1968—U.S. Unemployment Hits Low

Unemployment figures are released revealing that the U.S. unemployment rate has fallen to 3.3 percent, the lowest rate for almost fifteen years. Going forward all the way to the current day, the figure never reaches this low level again.

1954—Joseph McCarthy Disciplined by Senate

In the United States, after standing idly by during years of communist witch hunts in Hollywood and beyond, the U.S. Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for conduct bringing the Senate into dishonor and disrepute. The vote ruined McCarthy’s career.

1955—Rosa Parks Sparks Bus Boycott

In the U.S., in Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city’s racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott resulted in a crippling financial deficit for the Montgomery public transit system, because the city’s African-American population were the bulk of the system’s ridership.

Cover art by the great Sandro Symeoni for Peter Cheyney's mystery He Walked in her Sleep, from Ace Books in 1949.
The mysterious artist who signed his or her work as F. Harf produced this beautiful cover in 1956 for the French publisher S.E.P.I.A.
Aslan art was borrowed for many covers by Dutch publisher Uitgeverij A.B.C. for its Collection Vamp. The piece used on Mike Splane's Nachtkatje is a good example.

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