Pop culture roundup: Miyazaki! Bettie Page! Doctor Who: An Adventure in Space and Time! More!

The great anime director Hayao Miyazaki says he's retiring from film, but that doesn't mean we won't be seeing more of his art.
Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki appeared on Japanese television show Sekai-ichi Uketai Jugyo, where he was asked about Miyazaki’s plans now that he’s done with directing feature films. The answer was surprising: ”I think he will serialize a manga. From the beginning, he likes drawing about his favorite things. That’s his stress relief.”
Asked if Miyazaki likes “sengoku jidai no chanbara,” or samurai tales set in Japan’s Sengoku period, he said “That’s what he’s drawing now.”
...This wouldn’t be the first manga from the director, who also wrote and drew Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which became his second film, and the stories that led to the films Porco Rosso and The Wind Rises.


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Here's a trailer for a new documentary about pin-up queen Bettie Page, narrated by the late Page herself.



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And here's a trailer for the new BBC docu-drama focused on the creation of "Doctor Who" back in 1963, "An Adventure in Space and Time."



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British composer Sir John Tavener, once signed to the Beatles' Apple Records Company, passed away earlier this week.
In 1967 he fell into the Beatles’ orbit when his brother, Roger, who was undertaking some building work at Ringo Starr’s Highgate home, played the drummer a cassette of The Whale.
A dramatic cantata in eight sections, it was loosely based on the biblical story of Jonah And The Whale and intrigued Starr enough for him to play the piece to John Lennon. The pair subsequently decided that they wanted to sign Tavener to the band’s Apple label and Ringo attended the recording session for the album, participating in the shouting on the second piece, Melodrama And Pantomime.



Fab Friday: Vintage Beatles pics

In the studio.