Firstly, the pronunciation….. Kage is pronounced “ka-gay”. I originally decided upon the name of Kill the King (same initials!), but being an avid Naruto fan, I went down that route.
The Kage is the leader of a village and a person of great skill and power in the world of Naruto.
Literally translated, it means “shadow”. I like how it rolls off the tongue, the implied power of such a status and I like to give a nod to something that I genuinely love.
So, Kage is “ka-gay”. I did contemplate the use of “è” to help with the pronunciation, but I decided against it.
Originally intended to be a story, told through music and writing (I’ve got a roadmap for the story, characters and even parts of music recorded!). However, I have a great personal life and it takes over sometimes, plus the original writing was becoming cheesy (writers anywhere want to help??), so I took a step back and concentrated on just the “brand” of KtK, hence the bazillion images of the skull and cross-bones logo that appear here.
I’ve always loved the idea of having my own personal t-shirt “brand”, I love what other places have done (especially Johnny Cupcakes), and inspired by the simple basic logos and stories of start-ups, I figured why not give it a try myself?!
The vision of Kill the Kage is simple, to make t-shirts and eventually build a whole universe around the name, logo and story. But to be more than just another t-shirt company, to have people contribute to the universe, to share the story, to get involved and be a proud member of something unique.
That’s a big vision, it won’t happen quickly, it might not even happen at all, maybe I’ll just print t-shirts and wear them myself? Maybe I’ll continue writing and recording stuff and posting it here and no-one will care. That’s not important though. It’s my creative centre, anything I do will come under the banner of Kill the Kage and it will always be connected to anything and everything else that carries the name or logo.
Questions, comments, abuse or anything else can be sent through multiple avenues. You can just respond to posts via this tumblr page, you can email thekage@killthekage.com or you can tweet, just look for @killthekage .
![nathantdean:
suicideblonde:
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Fits Perfectly into Quentin Tarantino’s Movie Universe and Influences the Entire Filmography
By now, most Quentin Tarantino fans are aware of the connections interlaced throughout all of his films. John Travolta’s Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction is the brother of Michael Madsen’s Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs, Harvey Keitel’s Mr. White worked with Alabama from True Romance, the plot basis for Kill Bill is described as the synopsis for a TV series in Pulp Fiction, etc.
Now the epiphany that Eli Roth’s character of Donny Donowitz aka “The Bear Jew” in Inglourious Basterds is the father of the movie producer Lee Donowitz in True Romance has inspired a truly mind-blowing theory that the rest of the films (chronologically speaking) in Tarantino’s filmography take place in a world where [Inglorious Basterds spoiler] World War II came to an end when Adolf Hitler was brutally murdered in a movie theater by the Basterds.
This initial connection was brought up in an article on Cracked, but a poster on Reddit (via David Chen’s Twitter) has more eloquently summed up what this means for Tarantino’s movieverse:
As it turns out, Donny Donowitz, ‘The Bear Jew’, is the father of movie producer Lee Donowitz from True Romance – which means that, in Tarantino’s universe, everybody grew up learning about how a bunch of commando Jews machine gunned Hitler to death in a burning movie theater, as opposed to quietly killing himself in a bunker. Because World War 2 ended in a movie theater, everybody lends greater significance to pop culture, hence why seemingly everybody has Abed-level knowledge of movies and TV. Likewise, because America won World War 2 in one concentrated act of hyperviolent slaughter, Americans as a whole are more desensitized to that sort of thing. Hence why Butch is unfazed by killing two people, Mr. White and Mr. Pink take a pragmatic approach to killing in their line of work, Esmerelda the cab driver is obsessed with death, etc. You can extrapolate this further when you realize that Tarantino’s movies are technically two universes – he’s gone on record as saying that Kill Bill and From Dusk ‘Til Dawn take place in a ‘movie movie universe’; that is, they’re movies that characters from the Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, and Death Proof universe would go to see in theaters. (Kill Bill, after all, is basically Fox Force Five, right on down to Mia Wallace playing the title role.) What immediately springs to mind about Kill Bill and From Dusk ‘Til Dawn? That they’re crazy violent, even by Tarantino standards. These are the movies produced in a world where America’s crowning victory was locking a bunch of people in a movie theater and blowing it to bits – and keep in mind, Lee Donowitz, son of one of the people on the suicide mission to kill Hitler, is a very successful movie producer. Basically, it turns every Tarantino movie into alternate reality sci fi. I love it so hard.
My mind…
Woah…](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4uw9gSZmJ1qz9qooo1_500.jpg)
By now, most Quentin Tarantino fans are aware of the connections interlaced throughout all of his films. John Travolta’s Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction is the brother of Michael Madsen’s Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs, Harvey Keitel’s Mr. White worked with Alabama from True Romance, the plot basis for Kill Bill is described as the synopsis for a TV series in Pulp Fiction, etc.
Now the epiphany that Eli Roth’s character of Donny Donowitz aka “The Bear Jew” in Inglourious Basterds is the father of the movie producer Lee Donowitz in True Romance has inspired a truly mind-blowing theory that the rest of the films (chronologically speaking) in Tarantino’s filmography take place in a world where [Inglorious Basterds spoiler] World War II came to an end when Adolf Hitler was brutally murdered in a movie theater by the Basterds.
This initial connection was brought up in an article on Cracked, but a poster on Reddit (via David Chen’s Twitter) has more eloquently summed up what this means for Tarantino’s movieverse:
As it turns out, Donny Donowitz, ‘The Bear Jew’, is the father of movie producer Lee Donowitz from True Romance – which means that, in Tarantino’s universe, everybody grew up learning about how a bunch of commando Jews machine gunned Hitler to death in a burning movie theater, as opposed to quietly killing himself in a bunker. Because World War 2 ended in a movie theater, everybody lends greater significance to pop culture, hence why seemingly everybody has Abed-level knowledge of movies and TV. Likewise, because America won World War 2 in one concentrated act of hyperviolent slaughter, Americans as a whole are more desensitized to that sort of thing. Hence why Butch is unfazed by killing two people, Mr. White and Mr. Pink take a pragmatic approach to killing in their line of work, Esmerelda the cab driver is obsessed with death, etc. You can extrapolate this further when you realize that Tarantino’s movies are technically two universes – he’s gone on record as saying that Kill Bill and From Dusk ‘Til Dawn take place in a ‘movie movie universe’; that is, they’re movies that characters from the Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, and Death Proof universe would go to see in theaters. (Kill Bill, after all, is basically Fox Force Five, right on down to Mia Wallace playing the title role.) What immediately springs to mind about Kill Bill and From Dusk ‘Til Dawn? That they’re crazy violent, even by Tarantino standards. These are the movies produced in a world where America’s crowning victory was locking a bunch of people in a movie theater and blowing it to bits – and keep in mind, Lee Donowitz, son of one of the people on the suicide mission to kill Hitler, is a very successful movie producer. Basically, it turns every Tarantino movie into alternate reality sci fi. I love it so hard.
My mind…
Woah…
31st May 2012
Reblogged From nathantdean
Notes: 8866
The Kill the Kagé skull was initially inspired by the classic point and click game Grim Fandango. Certainly the original sketches show it more than the final product, but that’s where I drew the inspiration from.
White print! Looks better than I expected, need to do a few things differently, but I’m getting there. #killthekage (Taken with instagram)
New template, new printing!
Finally, the first ever Kill The Kage t-shirt is printed!!
New lessons learnt, but it’s great progress : D
More soon, new colours and hopefully better quality prints.
Firstly, the pronunciation….. Kage is pronounced “ka-gay”. I originally decided upon the name of Kill the King (same initials!), but being an avid Naruto fan, I went down that route.
The Kage is the leader of a village and a person of great skill and power in the world of Naruto.
Literally translated, it means “shadow”. I like how it rolls off the tongue, the implied power of such a status and I like to give a nod to something that I genuinely love.
So, Kage is “ka-gay”. I did contemplate the use of “è” to help with the pronunciation, but I decided against it.
Originally intended to be a story, told through music and writing (I’ve got a roadmap for the story, characters and even parts of music recorded!). However, I have a great personal life and it takes over sometimes, plus the original writing was becoming cheesy (writers anywhere want to help??), so I took a step back and concentrated on just the “brand” of KtK, hence the bazillion images of the skull and cross-bones logo that appear here.
I’ve always loved the idea of having my own personal t-shirt “brand”, I love what other places have done (especially Johnny Cupcakes), and inspired by the simple basic logos and stories of start-ups, I figured why not give it a try myself?!
The vision of Kill the Kage is simple, to make t-shirts and eventually build a whole universe around the name, logo and story. But to be more than just another t-shirt company, to have people contribute to the universe, to share the story, to get involved and be a proud member of something unique.
That’s a big vision, it won’t happen quickly, it might not even happen at all, maybe I’ll just print t-shirts and wear them myself? Maybe I’ll continue writing and recording stuff and posting it here and no-one will care. That’s not important though. It’s my creative centre, anything I do will come under the banner of Kill the Kage and it will always be connected to anything and everything else that carries the name or logo.
Questions, comments, abuse or anything else can be sent through multiple avenues. You can just respond to posts via this tumblr page, you can email thekage@killthekage.com or you can tweet, just look for @killthekage .
Trial printing!
Not as easy as I thought, paper templates are soaked, so acetate ones need to be made next. Letting the results dry out to see how the good parts have come out, then i have to test how well it washes……not a quick easy process, but nothing good comes easy right?
It’s all about learning.
T-shirts soon!
Long live the Kage….
perfection.
Getting there!
