IMCML

This fills me with rage.

2010-09-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

Fail. Just fail, wow. I am at a loss for words.

www.tfaw.com/Profile/Steampunk-Palin-One-Shot___369878

What really bothers me is how comics were a major force in getting me into steampunk. I feel so betrayed. Now excuse me while I go Red Lantern and start vomiting blood.

NES stop-motion

2010-06-25T20:40:00.001-07:00

Cool toys:

2010-06-24T05:04:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I like youtube

2010-06-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

New features are fun to play with. Except when they are Fischer-Price level features. This is only a test.

Have some Nintendo History

2010-06-17T14:31:00.001-07:00

Being E3 is going on right now and the stuff Nintendo looks amazing, how we take a trip back to the past. to the origin of "Nintendo Hard"

Nintendo unveils the 3DS

2010-06-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/06/15/nintendo-unveils-the-3ds-which-puts-3d-gaming-in-your-hand/

Can’t say we didn’t see this one coming. Well, Nintendo themselves announced that there was a 3D version of the DS in development a few months back. But it’s finally official with a E3 2010 debut and it’s just about what everyone imagined.

The secret of the 3DS is the glassless LCD panel that can toggle the 3D on and off. This puts the option in the hands of the gamer and allows previous titles to work just fine with the new hardware, although only the bottom screen is a touchpanel. A motion sensor and gyrosensor are included, which should spur new game capabilities and functions. An analog stick is a must with a 3D gaming and so the 3DS will be the first Nintendo portable with the input device.

The 3DS has three cameras: One on the inside for video chatting and two on the outside, which work in stereo for 3D photos.

The 3DS’s glassless screen can even playback 3D movie content and Nintendo has partnerships with Disney, Warner Brothers, and Dreamworks. No word on specific movie titles just yet.

Nintendo has lined up 21 major gaming studios to support the 3DS. These partnerships will bring everything from Rock Band, to Metal Gear Solid, to countless other hit titles to the portable gaming device. If there’s one thing that clear, gaming houses are fully supporting this platform, which pretty much guarantees its success.

The coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!

2010-06-03T04:10:00.000-07:00

Click here to read an interview with the guy who made this game.

The Human Centipede Review.

2010-05-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

This was filmed right when i got home from a viewing party with friends. I think a stiff drink is barely the least of things you need to make it through a viewing of this. Having friends around gave it a RHPS vibe, but way wrong.
my review of the human centipede, view party edition! not for the faint of heart.

Ever since the Iron Man, everybody wants da robot heart. Iron Man 2 Review.

2010-05-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

How could I miss this film? Not possible. So here you go with a review. Also, bonus photo dump for teh lawlz.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJAD8oBItvM

HOLY CRAP! Simon Belmont in Super Mario Bros?????????!!!!!11???!!11oneoneoneeleven

2010-04-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

So I was minding my own business on teh internetz when I found to a flash version of Super Mario Bros. Big deal, right? NOPE! Here you can play as one of several BELOVED characters of the NES era. Link, Sammus, Simon, Mega Man, that dude from Contra, and even Mario himself; they are all there. Everyone has unique abilities suited to their character. Simon uses the Vampire Killer and can double jump, HIGHLY useful in SMB. Sammus can roll into a ball to plant bombs. Stuff like that. Their abilities can be upgraded with mushrooms and fire flowers. It is so much fun. All the secrets are right where they should be. A nice improvement to the original gameplay is that you can scroll back a screen. all in all, an ace game for anyone that remembered the 80s as when we had to blow in our game carts to make them work.

Super Mario Crossover

Oh hell, I am leaving you some bellydancers getting done goth, nerd core
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDuSAMKn_Zo

Fun with Legos

2010-04-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

Let the Mother Fucker Burn.

2010-04-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

the roof. the roof. the roof is on fire. we do not need any water. let the mother fucker burn. burn, mother fucker burn.

the neighbor's house burnt down around 3am. so i did the christian thing and video recorded it so i could upload it on youtube. it is what jesus would do.

Prototype for Dr. Octopus' arms developed in Germany

2010-04-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

This company is on the cutting edge of engineering robots and machines that replicate the complexities of bio-mchanicalness.
This particular robot arm is designed to manipulate objects the way a human hand can.

www.festo.de for more neat videos and such.

Nintendo goes 3D!!! (again)

2010-03-27T01:01:00.000-07:00

Remember the Virtual Boy? If you don't, don't blame yourself. It was only on shelves for about a year, and was considered a colossal failure.

Fast forward 15 years or so, and Nintendo is trying it again. Only this time, the screen(s) won't be all red and black, like the Virtual Boy was. It'll be full color-awesomeness!!! EXCITEMENT!!! It's called the "3DS" (a 3D DS obviously). I'm happy. But what about all the poor saps who bought a DSi or will be buying the soon-to-be release DSi XL? Sucks to be them. Mine's gonna be in 3D Suckas!!

Here's the current wiki article on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_3DS

The Nintendo 3DS (tentative title)[1] is an upcoming handheld game console produced by Nintendo. The handheld will succeed Nintendo's current Nintendo DS series, which primarily shares the handheld market with Sony's PlayStation Portable.[2]

The Nintendo 3DS will offer games that utilize 3D effects "without the need for special glasses" and is also backwards compatible with Nintendo DS and DSi titles.[1]

The Nintendo 3DS will feature the same accelerometor technology that is currently found in today's Wii remotes and various mobile cell phone devices. Using this technology, you will be able to "look around" the room or 3D playing field to view hidden objects and add depth to your gaming experiences.

Declining to give information about pricing or launch dates in the press release, Nintendo will reveal formal details about the Nintendo 3DS at the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo.[1]

Asahi Shimbun speculated in its hardware report that the 3DS may take advantage of parallax barrier technology by Sharp Corporation will be the basis of the 3D in the handheld. It is currently already in use by several mobile phones in Japan. [3]

Nintendo expects the console to be released during the fiscal year ending March 2011.[1]

I drawded a pikshur

2010-03-27T00:42:00.000-07:00

I love to draw. I don't have much time to draw lately, so I'm getting a little rusty. But a friend asked to me to draw Samus aiming at a Metroid. So voila. There it is. I hope he likes it.

I have something Vanzetti covets :)

2010-03-27T00:31:00.000-07:00

I received this as a gift from a friend for helping him with some computer issues.

There is no date anywhere in the book, unfortunately. But he tells me that he got it in a box filled with other books from the 1800's. After doing some research on t3h int3rw3bz, I found that the publisher (Hurst and Co. of New York) only existed between 1871 and 1919. I also found some versions of the book from the early 1900's (1901 to 1910) that had full color-illustrated covers. Mine does not have that, so I assume it's a little bit older. But I can't know for sure.... Anyway, it's a fantastic gift from a good friend and I bet Vanzetti wants it.

Neener Neener, haha. :)

Is Disney Steampunk? You would be surprised how much so.

2010-03-24T05:28:00.000-07:00

Pro-tip: They have been steamy for almost as long as they have been around.

The Green Hour - Montmarte review

2010-03-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, a yummy absinthe! Have fun with the importing, lawlz.

Tim Burton's Disney's Alice in Wonderland review

2010-03-09T18:13:00.000-08:00

Not just a kid's movie, but exceptionally serious. Shocking I know, or maybe I am reading too much into it. YOU DECIDE!

When it comes to pirating...

2010-02-19T14:41:00.000-08:00

I must stand by the musicians and artists. I want them to get paid so has to be able to live another day to make more art for me to enjoy. Stealing from the record and movie companies puts more money in my pocket and less in theirs. Yes, times are tough and frankly, it is WAY too easy to download a movie that looks really cool and is not even out yet. So the big bad corporations do things like push DRM and warnings and such. I think they just shoot themselves in the foot. You buy a new computer game and you can only install it a fixed amount of times. Shit happens and your computer is fried, so you install and again, and your comp dies, or you get a new laptop. Now you have to call up the company and go through who knows what sort of voicemail hell to get the approval to install the game you bought.

The companies are retarded. Something must be done. Hell, I am thinking of hoisting the jolly roger now.

Now for your visual aid.

The following is your prescribed dose of awesome for the day.

2010-02-15T20:30:00.000-08:00

These guys can (and should) post here. Their geekness is well over 9,000.

Happy Singles Awareness Day!

2010-02-14T07:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know how this day can be for us, but these will certainly cheer you up.

How much would you pay for a used NES?

2010-02-14T06:07:00.000-08:00

I still have my beloved NES from my childhood. I do not care how rough times are, that is something I would never sell. I am that emotionally invested. That is how I am, and some of you as well. Not everyone is like us, to some it is just a toy and needs to go.

SO when you put one up on ebay and get over 13 grand something is up. I read on in this here. http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/old-nintendo-system-sells-for-13-105/1389101

I knew it had to be bundled with some rare collectors cart. The thing is, none of us knew something like that even existed. All the game I had we fun and pretty popular. Super Mario Bros, Castlevannia Contra... stuff everyone played.

I ask you guys, how much is your NES collection worth? Anything super rare?

In which I discuss Objectivism, Ayn Rand and Popular media.

2010-02-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

I found this on the old el jay and it brought up some interesting ideas I had not considered. As a scientist I feel compelled to replicate this experiment. In fact, I could get all my supplies at 3 stores, and I bet they could be found in the same shopping center. Just a quick trip to Petco (for the fish tanks, hamster and the series of tubes), Gamestop (for a Big Daddy action figure) and Boarders (for a copy of The Fountainhead ). What the hell am I on about about? This.

Horrible, horrible news regarding 'Spider-Man 4' :(

2010-02-11T02:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/urgent-spider-man-4-scrapped-as-is-raimi-and-cast-out-franchise-reboot-planned/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

They fired Sam Raimi and the whole cast :(

Dylan Baker will never get to be Lizard.

:'(

A Trip to the Moon

2010-01-18T12:33:00.000-08:00

So I got in the mood to watch this film and asked my friends if they add it on DVD. I was instead informed by Luke that it could be downloaded as it was in the public domain. Yet another reason to love 100 year old films. Being a silent film i decided to add my own soundtrack, courtesy of Vernian Process. A pox on youtube for forcing me to cut it up into two parts.

The Green Hour - Herbsaint

2010-01-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

Oh look, some poor absinthe that is technically NOT absinthe. PS it sucks. I am only doing this for completeness.

Wolverine and the Spooky Kids

2010-01-10T15:14:00.000-08:00

While reading Uncanny Xmen #519 the last thing I thought i would read would be an off the cuff reference to Marilyn Manson. I direct you the oval circle below

The Green Hour - Obsello

2010-01-03T15:44:00.000-08:00

Today I review a fantastic Spanish absinthe. Also, mucking around with new video editing software. I know I need help.

The Green Hour - La Fee

2009-12-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

A day late, but here is what I popped my absinthe cherry with. MMM, I like this one, despite the odd color, but the louche is PRETTY. Plus it is yummy, and that, in the end, is the point.

The Green Hour - Le Tourment Vert

2009-12-20T15:35:00.000-08:00

this time a french absinthe of a color not found in nature. does it fail? sorts!

The Green Hour - St. George Absinthe

2009-12-13T16:36:00.000-08:00

I have finally decided to start my absinthe review series. I figure I can do one a week, that will give me something to do, something to focus on. I have a ton of ideas on other episodes down the line. I suppose concepts are easy when they are on a subject near and dear to my heart. So here you go, and let me know what you think. How is the off the cuff review or would something more structured be better? Let me know, rate, comment, sub, whatever!

is steampunk a sub-culture

2009-11-25T18:48:00.000-08:00

i had a hell of a night getting beaten down by popular media. first there was a poor showing on ncis: los angeles. they could have called it anything, but wanted some realism and picked "steampunk" /sigh. then some friends got wise to snot topic was starting a steampunk line. i had known this for a while now and well... that clothing line was just sad and disapointing. what happened next was a heated discussion on a friends my spaze's status comments. the bomb dropped. steampunk was not a sub-culture. the following is a direct message i sent to a friend regarding the event and my nerd rage. names have been changed.

i mean, what DOES make a sub-culture? unique fashion, music, literature, maybe even films. oh shit, goth has all that. so does steampunk. are their steampunk clubs? i would not say right now. not regularly. sure malediction society could be said to have started as one, but only now is it really catching on. but it is only catching. i bet in 1975 there were no goth clubs either.
sure, anime is an obvious inspiration to steampunk. but anime did inspire all the comics and films. howle's moving castle and steamboy are great. they did a lot.
how did wild wild west and briscoe country, jr be inspired by anime?
what about video games? how about the entire final fantasy series? especially 1-6. skies of arcadia. and there are a ton of little flash games coming out all the time. luke sent me a link to a kick ass one.
what about literature? jules verne, obviously, but damn near any good bit of victoriana is a source. and william gibson's "the difference engine" i always tell people steampunk started out as a genre of literature rebelling against cyberpunk. instead of having the future now, what if the present was in the past? from the concept everything else flows from.
everything from league of extraordinary gentlemen, abney park, to the god damn horrible van helsing film.
steampunk IS young. sure i was into forever really, but only now are people dressing like it. trust me, no one was as surprised by that than me. it was a neat feeling to not be "the only one".
i can go on and on. i think i am done venting. i seriously need to relax.

thoughts, comments, concerns, please share them.

V the remake. why god, why?

2009-11-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

i spent the weekend before watching the original mini series as well as the final battle in order as a re-freasher course. i was entirely way too young to have watched it but did that stop me from enjoying it? hell no. so anyways, the original was a poignant tale of the dangers of fascism and how it could happen again. sci-fi elements were only tacked on to compete with star wars. great cast (robert englund as a retarded V named willie, yes fucking awesome), acting that was ok for tv and honestly the story rocked. the subplot of having the grandson of a holocaust survivor pretty much joing the V version of the hitler youth spoke to me. despite growing up hearing grandpa's stories of how grandma got gassed he still joins. why? he gets seduced by the power of it all.

why do we need a re-make?

starts off with the world waking up to the visitors in their spaceships turning on the biggest jumbotron and their leader Anna (short for dianna? hmm?) pretty much saying "oh hai!" stupid teenagers commenting on how this is just like the movie independence day and that movie was just a rip off of any number of other sci-fi films. your attempts at being meta fail. so now we have just a straight up invasion story. hell, ed wood did the same thing with plan 9 from other space. whereas the original gave you a little bit of foreplay before the big reveal (i have zero sympathy if this is a spoiler. the original is 20 years old) that the visitors are actually bipedal space lizards bent that want to TAKE OVER THE WORLD. but here, we get the reveal at the 45 minute mark.

it is not all fail. the subplot i am enjoying unfold is of the catholic priest of a ghetto parish who ministers to drug addicts and homeless. he has a crisis of faith as his church pews fill overcapacity. absolute proof of extraterrestrial life does not obliterate faith; it drives people them to examine what god means to them, the existence of god and actually strengthens their faith. WTF? i am a skeptic to the core. extraordinary claims better have extraordinary proof to make me believe them. watching a spaceship come out of the sky leaves little doubt. so until i see angels fight space lizards... one more thing, someone i doubt most any would have noticed or cared about, but the vatican makes the decision that the visitors are proof that we are all god's children being made overnight seemed WAY to rushed. the vatican NEVER does anything that dramatic or fast. especially as something as re-writing thousands of years of tradition. space aliens invalidates all sorts of theological tenants. anyways.

so what do have now? a pre-existing underground movement of humans up against a pre-existing visitor sleeper terrorist network that paved the way for the giant space ships?

i give up. until next time.

ps gerbals are safe, for now.....

Nintendo introduces the "Super Guide"

2009-10-19T00:23:00.000-07:00

Can't beat a level? Let the SUPER GUIDE beat it for you!

Sounds lame? You must be a gamer.

http://www.destructoid.com/using-mario-wii-s-super-guide-makes-miyamoto-regretful-152141.phtml

"When a players dies eight times on one of the game's 80 stages, they'll have a chance to hit a green "Super Guide" block. This will trigger a video in which you'll watch Luigi play through the stage. This isn't designed to give away all of the game's secrets -- it won't show you hidden paths or all of the hidden coins, for instance.

It will however give players the opportunity to see how the stage could be completed. At any time, the player can jump into the action and take over, which would give them the opportunity to let the game itself guide them through some of the nastier sections. If the player decides, letting the game complete the level will allow them to move to the next stage. "

"According to Miyamoto, there are a few disadvantages to using the "Super Guide." Players who persevere and decide not to use any "Super Guide" blocks will be awarded with something special (like some cool indicator on the game's title screen), where as those who rely on them will miss out. There's another downside to using the guides -- shame."

"I find that when [the "Super Guide" block] does appear," he says. "I kind of feel regretful and guilty that I've let that happen. So I've often found that playing the game, when that happens, it kind of inspires me [to say] 'I've already done this bad, now I have to clear the level on my own.'"

Nintendo Burlesque? With Nitzer Ebb?

2009-10-19T00:15:00.000-07:00

http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/nightlife-and-events/video-game-burlesque-with-memb/

Sometimes the universe swirls and congeals multiple awesome things together in a brief moment of simultaneous awesomocity.

This is one of those times.

Lou Albano: R.I.P.

2009-10-19T00:13:00.000-07:00

this.

2009-10-03T06:54:00.000-07:00

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbCHfETkXD8&feature=player_embedded

9 movie review, Stichpunk saves the Post-Apocalyptic World

2009-09-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

lawlz at my hair.

Green/White/Red Ranger Danger

2009-09-03T02:27:00.000-07:00

Tommy's a UFC MMA fighter now. Will his opponents disappear when he punches them in the chest? We shall see...

story: http://www.tmz.com/2009/09/02/green-power-ranger-white-ranger-jason-david-frank-mma-ufc/

Disney acquires Marvel: The beginning of armageddon

2009-08-31T02:26:00.000-07:00

Reuters: Disney to Acquire Marvel Entertainment

I hope everyone realizes that this means no more Marvel fan art. No more Marvel fan fiction. No more Marvel fan-made youtube videos.... Disney are notorious for pulling Disney-related videos from youtube, claiming 'copyright infringement'. They even pull their own trailers.

So this is the beginning of the end folks. Say goodbye to a once great company.

It has been swallowed by the beast.

Turtles Forever!!!

2009-08-29T00:41:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_Forever

A new direct-to-DVD movie featuring.... get ready.....

..... the ORIGINAL 1987 turtles AND the 2003 turtles..... It's a crossover. The two universes collide and there will be EIGHT turtles. It will also feature Bebop, Rocksteady, Tohka, Rahzar, and KRANG (among others). This is pretty sweet.

You can hear some audio clips of it here:

Theme song HERE:

Thor - God of Metal

2009-08-21T01:03:00.000-07:00

AI Tested on 'Super Mario Brothers' Game

2009-08-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

AI Tested on 'Super Mario Brothers' Game
Eric Bland, Discovery News

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/08/17/super-mario-brothers.html

Aug. 17, 2009 -- Human players might have defeated Bowser decades ago in the original Super Mario Brothers video game, but a new competition is pitting computers against Koopa Troopas to save Princess Toadstool.

The contest is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of artificial intelligence programs.

"Basically we need a good way to compare different artificial intelligent techniques," said Julian Togelius, an assistant professor at IT University of Copenhagen and who, along with his colleague Sergey Karakovskiy, is organizing the competition.

"Computer games have a design that is relevant to humans, are fast paced and well defined. And besides, everyone loves games."

The computer programs will pit Mario and his brother, Luigi, against the same Goombas, Piranha Plants and Bullet Bills that human players have confronted for decades.

The specific levels, however, will be new to human and computer players alike.

Togelius has developed a random level generator that will create dozens of new, never-before-seen levels. To the possible chagrin of frustrated human players, the original Super Mario Brothers levels would likely be too easy for a computer, said Togelius.

Togelius will keep the exact number of levels a secret to both man and machine until shortly before the conference, when he plans to play every computer-generated level himself to test its difficulty.

For humans, with our enormous amount of cultural information acquired over a lifetime, learning how to defeat Bowser and rescue the Toadstool Princess can be a relatively easy proposition. "It's actually really unfair to the computer in one sense," said Togelius.

There are two broad approaches that Togelius expects programmers will use to keep Mario safe.

The first is artificial evolution. Computer programmers create many different controllers, let them loose on the game, evaluate their effectiveness, eliminate the worst controllers and reproduce the best controllers. Artificial evolution is effective, but time-consuming.

Another technique is called temporal difference learning. Say Mario is next to a short pipe with a mushroom shaped Goomba approaching from behind. Mario can can squish the Goomba or jump over the wall. With temporal difference learning, the AI plays out both scenarios, finds the best one and then applies that to the next scenario. The computer learns from each situation as the game progresses.

Robert Baumgarten is a Ph.D. student at Imperial College London developing his own Mario AI with another approach.

"I gave it all the basic instructions, but I don't really know what the AI would do," said Baumgarten. This technique is called pathfinding, since the computer finds its own way once these instructions are programmed.

At first Baumgarten's AI liked to run fast and constantly jump over enemies, and occasionally into pits. A few tweaks to his program corrected the program, and the computer stopped jumping into holes.

Baumgarten's AI also had some pleasant surprises. Without programming, the AI learned to grab the shells from defeated enemies and use them to destroy other enemies.

"This nice behavior sometimes just appears," said Baumgarten. "We try to optimize the behaviors that will lead to success."

The competition will be decided by the AI that can complete the most levels. The winner will be revealed at two upcoming conferences: the Games Innovation Conference at the end of August and the IEEE Symposium on computational Intelligence and Games in early September.

Green Lantern: First Flight Review

2009-07-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

People will look back at the summer of 2009 and think "Wow, that summer Green Lantern was everywhere and it kicked ass!"

Not only is the greatest comic book event cross-over Blackest Night centered on Hal Jordon and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps but we also get this straight to home relase.

What we get here is an origin story of how Hal Jordon got his power ring, joined the Corps, and revealed to the Gaurdians how corrupt Sinestro really is. Honestly, how stupid are the little blue guys ? The guy is named SIN-es-tro. Sounds too close to sinister to be a good guy. He has that supervillian moustache. You know he up to no good with that thing. He has red skin like teh satan! and lastly, he is left handed. The only Lantern that is left handed. Goes with the whole sinister thing too.

Back to the plot, Sinestro crafts a plot to overthrow the Gaurdians because frankly, their inaction and bureaucracy is not enough to establish order in the chaotic universe. So he will order things, by his might. Through the Weaponers of Qward he gets an ultimate weapon, powered by yellow power. The one thing the Lantern's green rings are weak to. Will the universe be ruled by Sinestro's iron fist or will Hal Jordon prevail?

As a fan of Green Lantern there were plenty of nods to the books. Lots of blink and you miss them cameos of Corpsmen. Carol Fenris as Hal's boss is adorable and I chortled with every "Poozer!" out of drill sargent Kilowag. My fave fan momment was Sinestro donning his yellow uniform, complete with Paralax symbol. I really wish they got a little deeper into the whole yellow = fear and green = willpower mythology, but there can always be room for that in a sequeal.

In the end we get an action filled story of a man showing what the human strength of will can do in the face of terror itself, as a space-cop. WUUUUUUUUUt? Yea, sounds weird but it works. A non-fan can instantly get into this. It plays like Star Wars meets Men In Black, but fun.

See this thing or else Rage Kitty will vomit acid blood in your face.

Iron Man & Wolverine Anime Teasers

2009-07-25T01:42:00.000-07:00

Marvel Entertainment Inc., has partnered with renowned Japanese animation studio Madhouse (Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers) and multiple-Eagle Award winner Warren Ellis to create four all new anime versions of classic Marvel Super Heroes. Get an exciting first glimpse of IRON MAN and WOLVERINE, two of the planned four series!

These Marvel Anime TV series are being created as a way of merging the beloved Marvel Super Heroes of western culture with the bold animation tradition of Japan. The resulting product will be four visually groundbreaking anime series featuring popular Super Heroes redesigned and repurposed as emerging from the fabric of Japanese culture. The series is expected to begin appearing on the Animax channel in Japan in spring of 2010.

wolverine

......uhhh ooookkkk.i really dont know what to say about that..whats up with wolvies HAIR??

iron man

WOW now that looks amazing..do we even get this channel?? anyone know? cause i have to see that one

Turtles in Time.....in 3D?

2009-07-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know, this is a remake of an old SNES game

It's pretty cool but... There's something about 2D sprites that give me a warm and fuzzy feeling that this one doesn't give. That's probably just nostalgia.

I noticed that the bosses have health bars now. I don't know how I feel about that. I like the element of surprise in not knowing exactly when a boss is going to die (although they turn red and blink really fast, so you definitely have a clue).

And Leatherhead doesn't have a cajun accent :/ I found that part very disappointing.

What do you think? Talk about it HERE

My Mission

2009-06-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

I have found it. I have already been performing it, and i am pleased.

I am writing a sci fi lately, "satirical", and i find... I have llready applied my method. Again, i am pleased.

What exactly is the mission you say?

(yes you do.)

It is to inform you how futile it all is, how pointless. There is no "meaning of life".

Not even reproduction. Not even survival. Not even life itself.

Here's why:

Meaning: Word, human, maybe 50 000 years ago.

Of: Word, human.

Life: Word, human.

There you go. Bubble popped, and that right in your dreamy little face. There is no "meaning". Universe existed before "meaning". There's none. It's. Thats all. It's.

Thats what you're to, you're. Thats what you always will be untill you aren't.

Thats your "meaning".

Thats what you work for, sleep for, laugh form, just to pass by. Then nothing. You wont even know that you die, thats the definition of death. There is no "conciousness" death.

Why?

Conciousness: Word, human.

Just forget it.

Accept it.

And NOW that we know, why all the seriousness?

I say funk everything out, no politicians, everybody naked, i dunno, legalize public cannibalism, have fun! Fuck people while walking around and browsing the store, or something.

Next time we will discuss intelligence, how it developed by an unfortunate accident, and how religion is an even more unfortunate result of such.

We will also look into how the universe as of now, and all its matter, including you and me, are still the "big bang" since "time" simply is that movement of energy, and that the energy itself has always remained the exact same entity, only w a different density.

Somehow.

Well...

Sucks for us that the universe existed before our brains did.

Who says our brains are JUST capable enough to grasp the universe?

You?

The professor? :D

:)

Gah Lak Tus

2009-06-09T02:05:00.000-07:00

I've just read the "Ultimate Galactus Trilogy" which I borrowed from a friend (Thanks Andy).

I have very mixed feelings about This new version of Galactus. Let me first say that the trilogy itself was awesome. Any story that incorporates Ayahuasca, Necronauts, Zero-Point Energy, the Multiverse and a planet-devouring entity is AWESOME. That should pretty much go without saying.

But with that being said, the 'Ultimate' version of Galactus just seems wrong.... For any newbs who don't know about Galactus, he's the "devourer of worlds". He's a God who destroys life who acts as a counterpart to the 'Creator God', sort of like the Yin to Creations' Yang or the Shiva to the Hindu Vishnu... Well.... in the old days (1970's to early 2000's), he looked like a Native American God of the Mayan/Aztec/Toltec/Olmec persuasion:

Now... the 'Ultimate' line of Marvel comics introduces a new universe in which the super heroes/villains are different than they are in the 'normal' Marvel Universe. (ie. the Fantastic Four are all teenagers, the silver surfer has wings, Beast has a lion's face etc...). The old version of Galactus will still continue to exist, but The new 'Ultimate' version of Galactus is not a Mayan/Aztec-looking God... He's a 'hive-mind' comprised of hundreds of thousands of city-sized insectoid robots.....wtf? I mean.... that's pretty cool.... I guess.....but......IT'S NOT GALACTUS!! To be fair, Marvel was aware of this fact, so they decided to call him "Gah Lak Tus". Nice try Marvel, but that's pretty lame....

I would have much preferred if they had called this 'hive-mind' something else, like... "Devourus" or something. Then I could say: "Galactus is awesome and Devourus is pretty cool too". But NO.... now, I have to say "Galactus is awesome and Gah Lak Tus is pretty cool too". Say that with me.... "Gah Lak Tus" (make sure you pause between syllables). Does that make you feel like a tool bag? Yeah me too.

As for the actual trilogy itself, it's pretty great, actually. I would recommend reading it. Just pretend "Gah Lak Tus" is Galactus, and all will be right with the world.

A Living Pokemon In Real Life?

2009-06-04T01:23:00.000-07:00

This thing is real. Look it up.

It's called the "axolotl"

It's my new favorite animal.

Ridiculously Awesome Games Announced at E3

2009-06-02T04:24:00.000-07:00

Oh my god!

Resident Evil and Metroid look AMAZING!!!! They don't look like 'typical' video games, they seem to be more immersive, like you're "in a film", almost.

Wow.

For an extensive list of all the new games being unveiled at E3, see peterparker's Microsoft E3 report here and the Nintendo report can be found here

Keep on the lookout for the upcoming Sony report at the forum

..

Wii 'Punch Out' Review

2009-06-01T00:13:00.000-07:00

If you like the old Punch Out games, I can almost personally guarantee that you will LOVE the new one. It totally feels like the old-school Punch Out style, but with updated 'pretty' graphics. It's the same old system of "wait for the opponent to do something weird (wiggle his eyebrows... shake his body... etc...) and then counter it, get a star... repeat.... stars give you the "super punch" ability to fuck shit up.... you know how it goes.

I haven't even bothered to play with the nunchuk. It's too much fun to play with the sideways wii-mote old-school NES style.

My only minor gripe is that they only added two new characters (one of which is a brand new character named "Disco Kid", the other one is an old Nintendo favorite who has decided to enter the ring with Little Mac. I won't tell you who it is, but you can click here if you're dying to find out.). It would have been nice to see a few more new faces, but the old characters have been given a complete make-over (while remaining true to their established 'personalities'. For example, The Great Tiger's jewel still flashes and he disappears and reappears in puffs of smoke, you punch King Hippo in the stomach and once he falls down, he can't get up, and Bald Bull still has the good 'ol "Bull Rush"), but there's so much new, extra stuff added in that it's almost as if you're fighting all new opponents. Almost...

Overall, I'm completely satisfied with the new 'Punch Out', and I feel that it's a perfect addition to the series. They got the engine right, and the graphics are fantastic (funny cut scenes too). Here's hoping for a sweet sequel with new characters.... *crosses fingers*

Here's what some of the top game critics have been saying about it:

the story of OHMer

2009-05-30T04:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/19633781/detail.html

INDIANAPOLIS -- With gas prices up another 20 cents Tuesday, an Indianapolis man is happy to not have to worry about it.

Patrick Roth uses a fully electric car to take his daughter to school and run errands, 6News' Jennifer Carmack reported.

The car may look like any ordinary Ford Escort, but a closer look reveals that it's anything but. Roth didn't buy the car that way. He built it himself.

"I have taken out all of the components to the internal combustion engine and replaced it with a big electric motor and a bunch of batteries," Roth said. "Essentially, I've turned it into a 100 percent electric vehicle."

Roth said he got the idea while driving his Lexus hybrid. He thought that since the Lexus can go partially off the battery, he could get a car to run solely on electric power.

"I found myself constantly trying to trick the car to run on the electric motor as much as possible, which got me thinking," Roth said. "Why not just have a second car that's purely electric?"

There are electric cars on the market, but they aren't cheap. After a lot of research, Roth tackled the conversion himself.

"It works great, actually. I've tested it on the highway up to 70 mph," he said.

Roth said he checked with both his insurance company and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and found that his converted Escort is legal.

Instead of hitting a gas pump every week or two, he just pulls the car into the garage at night and plugs in.

"In the equivalent, it works out to what it would cost me if I were paying 75 cents a gallon at the pump," Roth said.

Roth spent about 10 weeks building the car, a project he contends just about anyone can do.

"If I can do it with no mechanical ability and no engineering degree, no electrician's degree, then certainly anyone else can do it with basic skills," he said.

Roth bought the car specifically to convert. The cost of the vehicle and the conversion was about $13,000.

Click here to see how he did it: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3155482

The greatest competition in the history of man? I think 'yes'.

2009-05-29T00:37:00.000-07:00

ComicCon San Diego 2006 & 2008

2009-05-23T00:26:00.000-07:00

The monitor is from 2006 and before I changed my name. Me and Stephanie are standing in the DC booth in 2008 as I point to the second monitor.

Is it the mild, maritime air? The fact that San Diego is a "healthful" city? I don't know. But for some reason it's the base for this really big convention. It's a mass-mind experience where you're swimming in the pop and anti-pop and thinking about your allegiances... Yes, being a professional nerd has it's many concerns. I've been twice. Once in 2006 and again in 2008. Both times I had two words on the mind: portfolio review. It has it's protocol. The first time I rolled into town it was in our beloved burgundy van and I was late to drop off my Marvel submission. I raced through the booths, dodging otaku, steampunks, what-have-you, and arrived sweaty and beaming. I was ready to charm if necessary. The fellow didn't need to look at the work, he quietly accepted it, no problem, I would get my chance at a meeting. DC Talent Search too. My name was on the monitors the next day. Affirming. That night we slept in our van for the first time (something we would soon know well) and I visited the local gym before entering the hall. Not to work out, just shower. I moved away from LA after three years in and for 2008 I flew to San Diego and stayed at a proper hotel. In line for a meeting I sat beneath an enormous banner of Samurai Girl and smiled to myself that I'd been in LA long enough to befriend the young woman who played the best friend character, Cheryl. Then they came around to glance at the portfolios in our laps to make sure we were in fact ready to even ask for a meeting. The reviews themselves had a tone resonating positive: keep going. But this year I had it in my head that I was going to give a manuscript to a certain alternative publisher in the impromptu fashion. Without even a look the offer was refused. Too hectic. Slightly crestfallen, I brooded in the hotel hot tub. The next day another DC monitor bore my name and I had a meeting with a Vertigo/Minx editor. The critique helped and I left feeling that much closer to the level of participation in the industry I crave. When I wasn't absorbed by career advancement, killing time, I was testing brush tip markers, getting art prints signed, talking to other creators, and getting photos of minor celebrities and cosplaying folk. You end up seeing or doing something pretty rad just milling around the convention without a specific goal. I wish I could've slowed on down and gotten a copy of Twilight signed and seen Tori Amos autographing Comic Book Tattoo... plus seen the Eisner awards. But all in all, there's simply too much at this nerdsplosion to take in. I skipped 2007 and I plan on skipping 2009 but beware, I plan to nerd-out again in 2010.

OMG it's sooooooo good

2009-05-21T05:13:00.000-07:00

This song makes my testicles dance:

If your testicles/clitorii were dancing while watching that, then check out these bad mamma jammas:

http://www.myspace.com/goldenshowergs
http://www.myspace.com/thetwilightdivision
http://www.myspace.com/unkleremis
http://www.myspace.com/8bitphilharmonic
http://www.myspace.com/ftftunes
http://www.myspace.com/swampyboy
http://www.myspace.com/anamanaguchi

A short review of the new Terminator movie

2009-05-20T23:51:00.000-07:00

I went to the midnight showing at Bowtie last night. If you were expecting the war with the robots, you'll get a great taste of it, and with 2 more movies eventually coming out, you'll be delighted.

But let me say, about 20 mins into the movie, while in a post apocalyptic city, when you see a decrepit sign of a toy store, it has John Wayne Gacy's clown face on it. Fuck'n shweet. Unexpected, but fuck'n shweet.

Along with beautiful effects, giant human harvesting robots, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and of course Gacy's face, the story was surprisingly brilliant and captivating. To me, an avid fan of all Terminator movies, this is by far the cream of the crop. It's better than Iron Man by a long shot, so expect to change the blog name after seeing it.

Like I said before, I'm not giving away plot elements, a synopsis, or spoilers, the only reviews I'm gonna do are movies that you should blatantly go out and see. And this is one of them.

Looking at the world was very reminiscent to Fallout 3, if your familiar with the game, and I'm a sucker for post apocalyptic anything.

You'll love it. It's just about everything you expected. It's a battle, but as they said in the movie, the war is far from over, so for the big war, I'm sure you'll have to wait for later movies. But go watch it, it's still most certainly worth the 10 er 12 bucks.

Hasta la vista, baby.

-Remo Is Error

Dr. Michio Kaku discusses "the physics of Star Trek"

2009-05-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.popsci.com/entertainment-amp-gaming/article/2009-05/warp-speed-possiblewe-ask-string-theorist

Here's a brief excerpt:

-----------------

PopSci: Let's talk about some concepts that are familiar in the show and that you talk about in your book, like teleportation. There is a scene in the movie where Kirk and Sulu are falling without a parachute, and they have to be beamed up; Chekov decides he has to do it manually. Unlike "The Next Generation," which had "Heisenberg compensators," the movie doesn't mention the Heisenberg uncertainty principle (the more precisely you locate the position of a particle, the less you can know about its momentum.) I know there has been success in teleporting atoms, but will we ever be able to teleport a human?

Michio Kaku: Well, quantum teleportation already exists. For the past 10 years, we've been teleporting photons as well as atoms of cesium and rubidium and terbium. The world record is 1,800 feet, across the Danube River. I suspect very soon that we will be teleporting molecules. I wouldn't be surprised if, in the coming decades, we are able to teleport DNA, or maybe even a virus. But beyond that, it starts to get very difficult. You have to entangle two atoms, they have to vibrate in unison, and that is very difficult beyond the molecular level. But, Star Trek takes place in the 23rd century, so maybe by then we can teleport 100 trillion cells, which is about the number of cells in a human body.

-------------------

To read the rest of the interview with Dr. Kaku, click here: http://www.popsci.com/entertainment-amp-gaming/article/2009-05/warp-speed-possiblewe-ask-string-theorist

For those who don't know who Michio Kaku is, he is a super awesome dude who built an atom-smasher in his garage when he was 14 years old (no lie). It was his science fair project. He also faught in Nam!

I highly recommend his books: Visions, Hyperspace and Parallel Worlds. He has lots of other books that I haven't read, so I can't comment on them, but the three above-mentioned are super easy to read and very well-written. Go to mkaku.org and learn all about Dr. Kaku!!!

As mentioned previously, he is super awesome.

Star Trek Review

2009-05-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

caution, lens flare may ruin your experience. it did for me.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCpMlEUAh_8

Remo's 8 Bit Blog Clutter

2009-05-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

Tonight there will not be an 8 Bit Game G8 as Remo's 8 Bit Game G8 is beginning to look like Remo's 8 Bit Blog Clutter. It has been over a week since anyone has posted and I'll be watching patiently in my leather sofa drinking martinis and wearing penny loafers with dimes in them (since I'm worth far more than copper) for a post that is not mine. With talented staff such as ZEGH, Vanzetti, Rebo, and the like whom I know skimming through the forum have oodles of entertaining and laughter dripping tid bits to share, I want to see them here, where this is. The last I checked, wanting to nail Flo, the new Black Lanterns, and absolutely astonishing MSPaint artwork are just overflowing with greatness. So share them, here, on the blog part, for the love of Demiurge.

I'm going to have Rumsfield fetch me some caviar and Grey Goose before I watch Millionaire Matchmaker on my 500 inch OLED organic television. I have that kind of money. Don't doubt me. I'll buy your mothers house and the bloody bank it's mortgage belongs to, and send her to India on a row boat to live with the leapers.

Try me.

All your base are belong to me. Peon.

All about MANIAC MANSION!

2009-05-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

To learn ALL ABOUT Maniac Mansion (and to read the rest of this week's Game G8), click here: http://ironmanchangedmylife.com/blog/?p=92

Monday Night Game G8 One Day L8

2009-05-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry Rebo, no Pac Man this week, I'm collecting a bunch of niftiness and make'n a special out of it, so woot woot!

1st and foremost, an interview...

Tonight's interview is with Nick Perrin of 8-bit Philharmonic. He's a beatbox'n (though no fan of hip-hop) 8-Bit-hoven who mixes classical intellect with Nintendo class. He's learning to draw manga, thinks music theory is way overrated, and enjoys drink'n liquor str8 when the plan is to get drunk (apparently years of taste-bud-destruction have made it easy). Check his page at www.myspace.com/8bitphilharmonic

My favorite song - "The Belmont Legend" (Castlevania)

*-* When did you form your band?

Some time over a year ago. I had just got into university and there was this videogame shop in the town where I found a whole slew of NES cartridges for sale. I took a list of them and downloaded ROMs to see if any were worth buying to play on my NES clone. This one game, Destination Earthstar, had a catchy main theme that got stuck in my head (the game itself was terrible). While recollecting this theme one day, and probably inspired by Video Games Live, I imagined it as an orchestral piece. I swiftly headed back to my computer and started working on an orchestral adaptation of the repetetive little loop from Destination Earthstar, and when it was done, I liked what I had done so much that I decided to begin a whole project of remaking 8-bit tunes into symphonic pieces. Thus 8-bit Philharmonic was born.

*-* What University did you go to?

I'm currently at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. Throughout my whole life I've been terrible at school, just in general. Always had problems, and it's still the case in university. And I don't just mean it casually like most people say it, I mean actual academic failures and whatnot. Luckily, the more music-related courses I get to do each year, the better I seem to do. In first year of university I thought I was going to study English since I had enjoyed writing so much in high school and won the creative writing award and all that jazz... but by the end of that first year, I had spent more time learning about, listening to and composing music, that it was obvious what I should switch to start studying. Let's not forget that was also when I formed 8-bit Philharmonic ... All the support from fans made the decision easier :D

*-* What is your music background? Band members?

8-bit Philharmonic is just one guy and some powerful virtual orchestral instruments. I'm Nick Perrin, the arranger behind it all.
My musical background consists of a few years playing trombone, teaching myself piano and listening to lots and lots of film and classical music. In fact, when I started 8-bit Philharmonic and released the first bunch of tracks, I had almost zero music theory knowledge. Everything I had just set out to learn myself, even ear training. Not until this year have I taken a course in music theory. Of course, by that point I had learned almost all that was taught in the course via the internet.

*-* How do you describe your music to people?

"Symphonic arrangements of traditional Japanese classics" XD
I explain it more in depth after they've had a listen. Unless those people are gamers or VGM fans, in which case I gush about it right away.

*-* What does your name mean?

8-bit Philharmonic: A "philharmonic" is a music lover, or a way to reference an orchestra. Coming up with this name when I started this project was a no-brainer. I love 8-bit, and "my orchestra" plays it. Case closed!

*-* Wat got you to make this music and not a "regular" band?

What got me to make this music - and this might sound cheesy - is the sheer brilliance of so many 8-bit works of NES games. There is so much music tucked away in hundreds of titles with nameless composers, so much that is ignored and looked down upon just because it's "beeps and bloops", but the music itself is awesome. Since the NES had limited sound hardware, the tunes could only ever have three notes playing at once. The composers then were forced to be creative BECAUSE of the limits. What came out of that are some of the best pieces of music in videogame history.

So, when I would listen to these pieces, after a while I stopped hearing the 8-bit piece itself, and I began to hear a greater, more complex and full and engaging piece, the full potential of what could be built on and expanded from the pre-existing rhythmic and harmonic structure. Essentially I wanted people to listen to the music, say "this is amazing" then find out that it came from an 8-bit chiptune. Mainly I knew that there was music lost to time and breaking consoles and I wanted to recreate its power.

I didn't need to start a regular band because I already compose a lot of stuff. Thing is, arranging 8-bit pieces actually made me capable of writing my own orchestral pieces. Before that, anything orchestral I did was garbage. Now it's the genre I mainly compose in.

*-* What's stopping you from performing live?

Performing live for me is impossible... until I can afford to rent an orchestra haha. Otherwise the show would be pretty boring, a guy on stage with a CD player going "okay so does anyone here remember that obscure but awesome 8-bit track from when you were kids? I made it into a symphony! Like that guy Mozart! No? No one...?" That's really all there is to it, unless I can figure out a way to make an interesting live show with other musicians out of it. Performing live is something I love to do, I'm a beatboxer. I've done big shows, little shows, shows with an acapella group, etc. so getting up on stage and entertaining the crowd is not the issue - I just don't have a van big enough to kidnap the whole Toronto Symphony Orchestra yet.

I wouldn't mind collaborating with some musicians in a VGM-related band who play live though.

*-* Who or what are your influences?

My influences, for this project at least, are a slew of classical and film music composers. Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Scriabin, Alkan, Howard Shore, John Williams, Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Dario Marianelli and more.

Lest we forget the many 8-bit composers of yesteryear, them too. Problem is they were often credited only with short nicknames so I couldn't possibly name them all.

*-* "...for this project"?

There is of course the 8-bit project, Daedatheus, mentioned in the final words (http://www.myspace.com/daedatheus ). There was also a "progressive symphonic post-black metal" (quoted from someone on a forum ages ago attempting to put it in a genre) one-man band called "Haunted Era", which was one of my first musical projects ever. You can find some of that music at http://www.myspace.com/hauntedera .

At one point in high school I worked with a friend on a prog-rock-electro-funk-whatever project, another genre-defying band called "xNTP". The name represents the Myers-Briggs typology tests. I'm ENTP, he's INTP, thus the "x" in front of "NTP." In the end it just turned out like some good old rockin' videogame music. We never really took it anywhere but the music still exists, check it out at http://www.myspace.com/xntp .

In terms of everything else, I work on music for amateur films and games where I can. The thing about being a musician is that in this day and age, the music industry is so different from what it used to be. The internet is almost entirely to blame - your music career starts as soon as you start being a musician. I may be studying in university but it's only for a degree, life experience, and music study. My music career has already begun and it's something I'll be working at during and after university until I can make a living from it!

*-* What do you use to make your music?

In terms of software, I use Logic Audio, EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Gold Pro XP, izotope oZone 3, and Sound Forge. My hardware is basically my computer, an M-Audio Audiophile 192 audio interface, and a pair of Yorkville YSM-1P's for monitoring. The monitors are fairly new though so I don't think any of the current tracks on the Myspace were made on them.

*-* What's your favorite game system?

My favourite game system? I should probably answer NES to coincide with my music, but really, either the SNES or the N64. Too many great and groundbreaking titles on each. To this day I still play Smash Bros 64 (you can play it online! challenge me to a game sometime and I'll whoop you). Most of my favourite gaming experiences have been on PC though, admittedly.

*-* What is and what was your favorite games? Why?

My favourite game right now, at this moment, is definitely Shadow of the Colossus. This is a game that sounded so ideal to me that I bought it a few months ago and I don't even have a PS2. I just didn't want it to disappear from the shelves before I could grab it. I borrowed a friend's PS2 and played through it.

The game is so utterly beautiful and does things with its storytelling that ONLY videogames can do, finally illustrating another step in the evolution of videogames as an artform. The soundtrack by Koh Otani is also incredible and gets repeated listens from me on a regular basis. I highly recommend this masterpiece of a game, but know that you're getting into a very artsy experience that requires patience and an appreciation of the subtle.

Plans for a movie of this game have been announced but it's being written by the guy who did the new Chun Li movie, so I'm not holding out much hope haha.

*-* Name ten songs on your "iPod"?

Actually I have a Creative Zen touch from like 4 years ago, and it's still going strong. 10 songs you might hear on it if you pressed "random":

Artist - Song
Borknagar - The Presence is Ominous
Rahzel & Kenny Muhammad - The Four Elements (I'm a beatboxer!)
Biosphere - Green Reflections
Revived Power - Koh Otani
3rd Piano Concerto - Rachmaninoff
Dreams of Triumph (remake of "Beginning") - Konami & Michiru Yamane
Some OCRemix track :)
Anduril - Howard Shore
Joy Inside my Tears - Stevie Wonder
Firebird Suite - Stravinsky

*-* Any last words?

Everyone out there who appreciates, remixes, or writes 8-bit music - keep the stuff going strong! There is so much excellent art in those old grey cartridges, renew it and present it to as many as you can.

I've tried my hand at writing 8-bit, doing my best to emulate the styles of true 8-bit games. Check it out at www.myspace.com/daedatheus . Unlike 8-bit Philharmonic, I don't plan to take the 8-bit project anywhere really, it's just for fun. But who knows what might happen.

Also - 2 albums to come from 8-bit Philharmonic in the future include a symphonic album and a megaman string quartet compilation. Stay tuned!

Keep it 8-bit,
Nick

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He's got two songs ("Hard working Moles are Good Moles" and "The End.") on a SUPER MARIO RPG compilation album "Heavy Troopa is Ready to Launch!" from gamemusic4all.com.

"This compilation is a tribute and celebration of the amazing and wonderful game Super Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars. this is a three disc album that recreates nearly all the songs and scenes from the 1996 Nintendo/Squaresoft game. There are many amazing and diverse artists and bands lending their skill to commemorate this pinnacle of video game entertainment . . ."

Album covers -

I can has the album for free? Actually, YES! It's free to download! Go here - http://gamemusic4all.com/heavytroopa.html

Nick, thank you for yer time, and keep kick'n some Smash Bros ass!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Upon ravishing and raping the internet for some 8 Bit criteria, I've stumbled upon a documentary I'm rather eager to see. It's an 8 Bit documentary (fitting isn't it?) that completely fell under my radar. I'm ashamed of myself.

As the site (www.8bitmovie.com) reads -

"8 BIT is a hybrid documentary examining the influence of video games on contemporary culture.

A mélange of a rocumentary, art expose and a culture-critical investigation, 8 BIT ties together seemingly disconnected phenomena like the 80’s demo scene, chiptune music and contemporary artists using machinima and modified games.

Produced in NYC, LA, Paris and Tokyo, 8 BIT brings a global perspective on the new artistic approaches of the DIY generation which grew up playing Atari and Commodore 64.

Some of the artists featured in 8 BIT include Cory Arcangel, Bit Shifter, Bodenstandig 2000, Bubblyfish, Mary Flanagan, Alex Galloway, Glomag, Paul Johnson, John Klima, Johan Kotlinski, Nullsleep, Joe McKay, Tom Moody, Akiko Sakaizumi, Eddo Stern, TEAMTENDO, Treewave and Carlo Zanni.

With the help of media critic Ed Halter and new media curator and writer Christiane Paul, these very recent artistic strategies are put in the historical context of modernist and postmodernist discourse and examined as potential examples of a transition into fresh, uncharted territory.

8 BIT insists that in the 21st century Game-Boy rock, machinima and game theory belong together and share a common root: the digital heritage of Generation X. "

As soon as I get my grimy little hands on it, legally or not so, I will post a review. Here's the trailer for now...

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78mZVgLye5Q

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next! All about MANIAC MANSION!

In 1987, Lucasfilm Games (now known as LucasArts) released a Commodore 64 classic that to this day is still a favorite among gamers (and a pioneer to modern gameplay) video game legend. It introduced multiple endings, multiple user selected characters with multiple attributes (There were seven characters, Dave you played as by default, and your choice of 6 others, each with their own skills. Dave Miller, Michael F. Stoppe, Syd, Bernard Bernoulli, Wendy, Razor (sexxy punk chic <3), and Jeff Woodie) and critical clues contained in numerous cut scenes. SCUMM, or "Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion", was a game engine created for and named after Maniac Mansion by LucasArts. The kick ass part about it... it was used for ten years after the fact to make 13 other original LucasArts titles, epic.

The plot summary is as follows -

"It has been twenty years, to the day, since a mysterious purple meteor came hurtling out of the sky and made a large crater in the front lawn of a huge Victorian-era mansion belonging to the Edison family. Dr. Fred, his wife Nurse Edna, and their son Edward "Weird Ed" Edison were reclusive people who left the house very rarely, but the meteor's arrival brought about a strange change in Dr. Fred and the family were seen even less, and even their mansion has fallen into disrepair. Lately, patients from the local hospital have begun to disappear without trace.

Now, a local teenage cheerleader, Sandy Pantz, has been kidnapped. Dave Miller, her boyfriend, saw her being carried off to the Edison's mansion and has gathered a few of his college pals on a rescue mission to invade the mansion and save Sandy. The player could select the friends from a group of six, and the game would play somewhat differently depending on which friends were selected. The game was a parody of the horror B-movie genre, featuring a secret lab, disembodied tentacles, and an evil mastermind."

Deeeeelicious! Shit, they even had a tv show based of it. You remember? Back in 1990?
It aired for 3 years, 3 whole seasons! Ya baby! (Why so excited? Nostalgic win? YES.)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CutaNxxS8N8

Hahahahhahah, while I'm posting videos, check this old-school 8 Bit GamePro tv show with a Maniac Mansion mention. Miss those days????? Me too. HOLY CRAP, Treasure Master?!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msJ_ynFvcTA

There have been a number of references throughout the years in other various games, even in Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind (remember the random ass Charles the Plant?) Also, do you recall the Purple Tentacle in the hidden bonus stage from the SNES version of Zombies Ate My Neighbors? That's from Maniac Mansion. Even in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure, Purple Meteor appears on a shelf in the office of Indiana Jones.

There's a fan release from 2004 called Maniac Mansion Deluxe, which runs under Windows. They enhanced graphics and music, even fixed some bugs and did some changes (such as a slightly harder puzzle to remove the paint blotch on the fourth floor, if you'd played the game, you'll know what I'm talking about) Get it here - http://www.bigbluecup.com/games.php?action=detail&id=401

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That's all I feel like typing for now. Maybe I'll post l8er this week out of boredom... or to post the stuff I miss placed on my computer that was going to be here this week. We'll see.

And STILL...

"Geek"

2009-05-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

"The word geek is a slang term, noting individuals as "a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, etc." Formerly, the term referred to a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken, bat, snake or bugs." - Wikipedia

Interesting. Thought you'd like to know.

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Also the Playmates Toys website had the following statement:

“Following the success of the ‘TMNT’ theatrical release in 2007, Mirage licensing and Imagi studios have begun work on a new live-action TMNT film for 2010. It’s the turtles like you’ve never seen them before! Shellalicious!”

By "Shellalicious", I hope they mean "Go Ninja Go!" kick-assness. If it's as horrible as the Dragonball Z and GI Joe movies look like they're destined to be, I'm moving to Morocco far away from Hollywood's nostalgic wrong doings and living with a camel convoy.

Playmates Toys recently removed the mention from their page, so I'm guessing we'll have to wait for some ever popular viral marketing before we find out more.

Talk'n bout new movies coming out, also in development:

- He-Man
- RoboCop
- Red Sonja
and a Deadpool spin-off

Interview with 8-bit artist "FTF

2009-05-07T02:36:00.000-07:00

For 'Remo is Error's interview with the 8-bit artist "FTF" (and the rest of this week's "Game G8", click the pic or click here: http://ironmanchangedmylife.com/blog/?p=86

The Monday Night Game G8

2009-05-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, lemme agree with the Wolvy movie being a bust, but then again, I hated all the X Men movies.

"Well, what would you prefer? Yellow spandex?". My answer, yes.

Back to this thing here, tonight we discuss a "dead" SEGA hero, a GOOD superhero movie, an interview with an 8 Bit musician, some other stuff, and of course, some videos for your lazy ass entertainment.

First and foremost, bow your heads and let us pay homage to a long forgotten hero.

When we think of SEGA, we think of the cute and charismatic blue hedgehog named Sonic. But years before Sonic, SEGA had another mascot, a little monkey boy named Alex Kidd.

He was a boy from Aries that lived on Mt. Eternal. He was a BMX racer, he was a puzzle solver, and even a ninja beating badass. Sporting a red jumpsuit and big ears, he helped put SEGA on the map, but after Sonic broke onto the scene in 1991, he was left with mere cameos in games like Sega Superstars Tennis and Segagaga (Where he works at a video game store. You can't fight ninjas behind a counter! Shredder doesn't fight the turtles with a bar code scanner and a flashy name tag at Walmart dammit!) So in loving memory, I commemorate today, May 4th, as Alex Kidd day. May he rest in peace, eating the fruit and mushrooms of 8 Bit heaven. You will be missed. Probably by only a few. But you will be missed never the less.

Captains Log, April 30, 2009 11:05pm

After coming home from roundabouting with my comrade dressed up in a jester costume, I went home to relax and use up some Microsoft Points on the 'ol 360 and watch a movie or two. I stumbled upon a movie called "Special". At first glance on my shitty little tv, I thought it was one of those stupidity and ignorance exploitation films (like Bubble Boy, judging by it's cover). Never the less, I clicked the preview button and watched out of boredom-ridden curiosity. And to my surprise, I was captivated, and realized it was far more than what I was expecting, thus, I DLed, (FTW). With movies like the Watchmen, X Men Origins: Wolverine, and Hancock invading theaters these last few years claiming to be like no other superhero movie out today, along comes a shy, unpublicized diamond in the rough (that to my surprise came out 3 years ago). Let me tell you my friends, THIS is the one super hero movie which lives up to that claim.

The story follows Les Franken, a meter maid whom volunteers to take an experimental drug called Specioprin Hydrochloride (or "Special") for some extra pennies in his pocket. After just one day, he notices he has "super powers", and a short-epic and brilliant story pursues. It's an amazing movie. And for me to say amazing takes quite some oomph. It was like the first time I read (that's read, not watched) A Clockwork Orange, I couldn't put it down for the life of me. 'Special' had my eyes glued to the television. I held my piss in for the hole movie, never pausing it once the entire hour and 21 minutes it blessed my screen.

Now usually in reviews, people tend to write out the plot, explaining what they saw, scenes, criteria, blah blah blah, but oh no, not me. I want you to watch it. Rent it on DVD, watch it on XBox Live, just make sure you see it. You will be intrigued, I promise you.

Oh, don't expect flashy CGI, amazing stunts, or the biggest celebs, it's not that kind of movie. If you have any intelligence what so ever, then you know damn well you don't need that garbage anyway to make a decent movie.

Here's the preview...

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd55qv3iN7w

In response to the interview, "Yeah sure I'll do it, nothing better to do until later tonight. :P
Never seen the site before, but I just checked it out and it's pretty rad." Yes my friend. We are Rad.

Jerry started his musical endeavor as a toddler when he got his first keyboard. In 2006 he kicked his talent into full gear and started kicking some 8 Bit music ass ever since. He wants to do live shows, he wants kids to stay of drugs, and watching himself turn pink in a GIF really turns him on. Check out his page at www.myspace.com/ftftunes.

My fav song, "Thunder_Storm"

Musical Backround:

"Well it started off with me and my brother doing some joke techno back in like early 2005 when we discovered FL Studio. Then I kinda started using the software more and more and started learning more and more about music. From there I mixed around a bunch of styles, always a mix of trance with some 8-bit esque instruments. And that's when I started really listening to chiptune, I had heard it a few times before but never really payed too much attention. This was amazing to me and I wanted so badly to be a part of it. I continued on with FL Studio until the beginning of 2007, at this time I was the only one left in FTF. I began trying out other software around this time, such as Milkytracker/Famitracker and ACID Pro. And when I was trying out all this software, I began using nanoloop, which didnt last long but brought me to LSDJ. From then on I havent gone more than a week without using my Gameboy... and from what I can tell I'm getting significantly better with each track."

Description of Music:

"If they have never heard 8-bit music, I usually don't even bother. But most of the time I refer to it as IDM, not really sure how else to define myself."

Influences:

"Well I know I don't sound too original when I say this... but Sabrepulse would probably be one of the biggest. He was the one that I started listening to EVERY day, and his music was one of the main reasons I got hooked on 8-bit music. But along with this, I had also discovered local artists from my area such as Fighter X, KGHB, MC Firedrill, and Circles that got me started on 8-bit."

(Too original? It's Sabrepulse!)

Why 8 Bit:

"Haha. Well I've been in quite a few "regular bands", but my 8-bit stuff is the only thing that has really kept solid... mainly because I dont need to rely on other band members. (Although my new grindcore/rap band I'm in is going nicely. :P)"

Grindcore/Rap? Shweeeeet:

"Well it's pretty fresh, just started it with a friend like 2 weeks ago... we just got a drummer and we already have like 6 songs.
The myspace for it is http://myspace.com/whereteethmeetflesh, we should have a fixed version of (the vocals and volume of the vocals need to be fixed) the song we have up either tonight or tomorrow if you wanna check it out."

Live Performances:

"Well this is something that has really bugged me, I havent ever played a real venue. My main reason for this being that I am quite broke like all the time, and lack what I would consider "necessary equipment". I'm currently planning on buying a Kaoss Pad as soon as I get the money. I've had many chances to play shows before, but the only ones I've been willing to play, something has always gone wrong. I have played parties before, but that is about it. I have decided that as soon as I get that KP I am planning on playing shows regularly."

(Live performances) "...should get it next month (the KP)... cause I've already spent my next two checks. :P" Expect him soon, and go see 'em you chair ridden bastards!

Direction for the band:

"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.
I would also like to start playing shows on a regular basis."

Favorite Video Games:

"Ever since they came out, I've been addicted to Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow. I guess I would also have to say the Metal Gear series, Sonic 1-2, Super Mario 3, and I'm a huge fan of Tetris. :)"

Favorite Game System:

"I'd have to say it's a tie for me between SNES and Sega Genesis."

(in 'yo face Playstation, in 'yo face XBox)

Meaning of Band Name:

"Haha it's been so many things that I just decided to tell people it meant "whatever you want it to" when they ask that question. Back when it wasn't very serious and I made trance, the original name was Fancy Trancy Fresh (name idea came from Freezepop)."

Song Meanings And Themes:

"Well my newest album "Tempest" has been themed after storms, mainly made up/impossible types of storms. I think most of my music strives to either be something funny or something really epic/hard."

(expect epicness, wootness)

Musical Tools:

"Pretty much the only things I use anymore are either a DMG and LSDJ (probably gonna start syncing 2 copies soon), and Propellerhead's Reason software. I do also use Gameboy Camera and Milkytracker."

10 iPod Tunes:

"Haha, my iPod was actually stolen not too long ago. But I'll just name 10 chiptune songs I've listened to a lot lately:
-Enclosed Twilight - Kyotosapian
-Amiga Blitz - Moral Edge
-The Manhattan Transfer - Sabrepulse
-music - SHE
-WE LIK BRK - Shirobon
-Sting Operation - Anamanaguchi
-Megaforce - Fighter X
-Operation Blackout - Nordloef
-See Me Rock - USK
-Can't Hide Your Love - Kola Kid"

(Trolls steal iPods... you little thieving bastards)

A few last words...

"Stay in school and stay off drugs? Ha, I don't know.? None other than I got a new album out now, dont even bother looking for my old stuff cause this blows it away. And I'm working on some very epic stuff at the moment.
Oh and if you don't hate me already: The game."

Booking info:

"If you wish to contact me about booking a show, just send a message to this myspace or email jrcthefunk@hotmail.com. I'm down for almost any gig. :)"

You can download "Lions, Tigers, and Polar Bears" and "Imagination Exploration" in their entirety in his blog. Buy his new music or die a painful death!

Thank you Jerry for your time, and thank you for the tunes! - IMCML

And now, for some brain numbing visual entertainment.

The first video is a wet dream come true, Sonic and Mario fighting side by side, I need a napkin!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMyPYwHKnmo

You've seen the Super Mario Bros. movie, you've seen Mortal Combat, now embrace... MINESWEEPER THE MOVIE!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHY8NKj3RKs

I love you all. May the force be with you.

remosantuccione@yahoo.com

Wolverine Orgins Review

2009-05-04T04:14:00.000-07:00

and here is my review from...comicbookmovie.com(review section)

Wolverine Origins... A-
OK, so the movie opened good with young james as a kid. Within the first ten minutes in the story there is a twist of who is Logan's real father is. BAM. Then the credits hit. I personally liked how they did the credits.
seeing wolverine and sabertooth fighting side by side in all the great american wars..but by the end of the credits you can tell there is a bitter rivalry brewing between the two characters. it reminded me of the "watchmen" credits.not a bad thing.

after all that stryker finds wolvie and sabertooth locked in jail so he recrits them and you get to see deadpool and the rest of the weapon x team..but there not called that because at this point wolvie is not weapon x yet..agent zero.awesome, wish i saw more of him.

deadpool well at this point he is not deadpool but all i can say is.ryan renolds was the pefect choice..funny as hell and his opening action scene when it was "his turn" perfect!! he needs to be in his own movie..again i wish i saw more of him as as this character..the reason im saying i wish i saw more of them,because after the second "misson" we see..wolvie goes his own way. sabertoth takes it personally and the team go there seperate way.the hunt is on to find wolvie..this movie was fast paced, good story, i think gambit was great also..i know alot of fan are complaning about gambit and his "jumping powers"
but personlly it didnt bother me.because NONE of the "x-men" movies
were right,let alone perfect.so why would i expect THIS one to be.all and all the movie was great i though weapon XI was done ok..if they disfigured his face why wouldnt' they use this, end fighting scene the perfect time to have "deadpool/weaponXI" wear his red and black mask? and if anyone actually stayed until the "END CREDITS" were over they would learn that DEADPOOL IS NOT DEAD..NOR DID THEY KILL HIM OFF!!

..i left out alot of the key plot points..like the murder of wolvies first love,and many others because i think people should see this movie with an OPEN MIND..i am a true comic fan have been for 15 years. so dont think i have no idea what im talking about cause i do. ohh and there is a surprise cameo i DID NOT EXPECT..go see it so the X-MEN FRANCHISE DOES NOT DIE..
-peterparker420

X-Men Origins: Wolverine review

2009-05-04T01:50:00.000-07:00

tl;dw version:
kids will like it, if you dug the xmen movies, you will dig this, too many characters means too little screen time for them, and deadpool was awesome till they ruined the character at the end.

"shush!"

X-Men Origins: Wolverine spoilers (also titled: "why this movie sucks")

2009-05-04T01:19:00.000-07:00

X-Men Origins: Wolverine spoilers (also titled: "why this movie sucks")

SPOILERS

The first half hour is stupid. Wolverine pretty much just stands around while everyone he loves/cares about is getting killed because he's a pussy and he doesn't want to fight/kill anyone.

So halfway in, he finally gets angry and starts killing people, starting with an asian sharpshooter dude, I'm not sure who he was. The movie gets kind of cool at that point, but I put emphasis on "kind of", because there are sooo many things wrong with this movie....

First of all... the Blob and Emma Frost are each in it for about 5 minutes each... lame. Gambit is in it for maybe 10 minutes. Cyclops is in it for 5. They're not important to the plot and seem to have just been stuck into the movie to make the trailer seem cool. The majority of the movie is actually Wolverine being hunted by Stryker and Sabretooth. They are the main villains. And all other characters are completely secondary.

The worst part is Deadpool....what the fucking fuck? He's in the beginning of the movie for like..10 minutes and then he's "killed".... turns out he's actually being transformed into weapon XI, after which point he returns for 5 minutes again at the end of the film. Wolverine decapitates him, so say "goodbye" to a Deadpool spinoff (unless it's a prequel).....a prequel to a prequel....hfswtf? (holy fucking shit, what the fuck?)

Hold onto your hats folks, it gets stupider....

Sabretooth is now officially Wolverines brother (they have the same father, the mother/mothers is/are never discussed). They changed Wolverines name from "James Howlett" to "James Logan" And get this... Wolverine actually GIVES CONSENT to becoming Weapon X.

Stryker: "Hey, Wolvie....do you want adamantium in your bones so you can fuck shit up...."
Wolverine: "Okay!"

Patrick Stewart is in it for about 20 seconds at the end.

Fuck.

This.

Movie.

/endrant

King Hippo 2009

2009-05-04T00:09:00.000-07:00

More Punch-Out!! News & Previews

the new Punch Out comes out May 18th in North America. Woo hoo!

Monday Night Game G8, 2 days L8

2009-04-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

I should apologize for being l8 on this post, but since it's the first one and nobody was expecting it, I'll save my breathe. This is the launch of Remo's Game G8 - facts, nostalgia, and other useless to life information that the 8 Bit world has and has-had to offer will be meaninglessly streamed here every Monday, or late Tuesday (since both days are just about the same thing to me) for your viewing pleasure between pron surfing and checking your myspaces. L8er it'll accumulate into interviews with random 8 Bit musicians found on myspace and reviews on emulated NES, SNES, SEGA, ect games long forgotten (or for a few of us, played yesterday.)

So enjoy, any tips or ideas, send 'em to my email address remosantuccione@yahoo.com

(insert deity here) knows, I might use 'em, or ignore them completely.

Let's start with some fun facts shall we?

We shall.

Did you know that Nintendo started it's enterprise more than a century ago? It was back in 1889 when the great grandfather of the current Nintendo president, Fusajiro Yamauchi, founded "Nintendo Koppai". Of course they weren´t making videogames back in 1889, they started out making special playing cards called Hanafunda ( or "flower cards"). All the cards Fusajiro produced were tenderly hand made using the bark of mulberry or mitsu-mata trees. The Hanafunda deck consisted of 48 cards divided into 12 different suits, one for each month of the year. Instead of numbers, the cards had symbols like the wind, a deer, the moon, or the chrysanthemum. Different combinations of symbols and suits were worth different points. The most popular Hanafunda game was a simple matching game that could become very complex. This game was taken very seriously by many players (think about that kid in middle school that cried for 2 days straight when one of his Pokemon foil cards bent in one corner). The cards were sold in Nintendo's own shops in both Kyoto and Osaka (more so in Kyoto). In other regions, Fusajiro sold other cards with different symbols, like swords and mountains. At first the Hanafunda cards were only used as a domestic amusement, and Fusajiro didn´t sell large amounts of the handmade cards (hello, they're hand made). But after a while the cards began to be used in gambling, eventually leading to the Yakuza (The Japanese Mafia, in case you've been under a rock for a ridiculously long time ) to use the cards in high stake gambling games. Since all the professional players wanted to start a new game with a new fresh deck, Fusajiro suddenly had problems keeping up with the demands, leading him to train apprentices to mass produce the cards.

The company grew, and eventually Fusajiro retired in 1929, leaving Sekiryo Kaneda in charge (which after his marriage with Fusajiro's daughter, Tei Yamauchi, got the Yamauchi surname). By now Nintendo was the largest playing cards company in Japan. Sekiryo Yamauchi established a joint-venture partnership named Yamauchi Nintendo & Co.

Now, in 1949, Hiroshi Yamauchi (the current president at Nintendo) took office as president instead of his father Shikanojo, who ran away when Hiroshi was only 5 years old leaving him and his mother Kimi alone. He knew he wasn't welcome by Nintendo's employees, so he started firing all the old managers and many of the old workers to make sure that there was no one to question his authority. Devious little fuck. He then changed the company's name to Nintendo Playing Cards Co. Ltd. (or Nintendo Karuta Co. Ltd in Japan) in 1951.

In 1959, Hiroshi struck a deal with Disney to let Nintendo produce playing cards featuring Disney's characters. With the aid of successful TV ads and a good distribution system through many big toy and department stores around Japan, the cards sold more than 600.000 packs that same year. Chu-Ching! ( that came out sounding like a Japanese pun. It's not. )

In 1963 they changed the company name to what it is today, Nintendo Co. Ltd. and started to manufacture games and toys instead of playing cards. New products were produced, for instance portioned instant rice, which sadly became a failure. After that Hiroshi opened a "Love Hotel", with rooms rented by the hour. (interesting fact, Hiroshi himself was a huge costumer, even though he was a married man. Oh, and his wife knew about it, and ignored it completely.) Another of Hiroshi's projects was "Daiya", a taxi company which went well, but after having to negotiate with far too powerful taxi driver unions wanting higher salaries, benefits, etc, he closed the business. Eventually he closed the hotel too, which I'm sure would be the most hop'n cosplay whore house in little Tokyo.

Now that I've bored you with some Nintendo history, let's go back to the American thing, sitting on your ass and watching some videos.

The first two are French prankster Rémi Gaillard doing some live action Pac Man and Mario Kart. This inevitably made him an instant personal hero. I would say don't try this at home, but, I won't. I will say this though, don't try this unless you have a good amount of cash in the bank for bail.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIrvpn3k9A4

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MytfhzcSF-Y

And this, which is just fun to watch, whether you are high on life, or high on narcotics.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkYVazguJCY

And remember kids,

SPIC part 5, Astonishing X-Men Ghost Boxes

2009-04-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

now in vlog form

IMCML member appears on G4TV

2009-04-13T05:50:00.000-07:00

Our 'Top Fop' Vanzetti was caught dancing with a buxom woman in L.A. whilst at an Abney Park concert.

He can be seen for roughly ONE second on the 'G4 Underground' episode about Steampunk and Urban Spelunking. woohoo!

There he is in the glasses in the bottom, right corner:

To read Vanzetti's "Steampunk in Comics" series (SPIC for short), click his name in the right sidebar (or click here) and search through his blog posts.....I will compile them all in one place someday... I swear!

The full G4 Underground Steampunk segment can be seen here:

i hate you g4

2009-04-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

I do not have g4 on my satelite tier of channels. No biggie. Attack of the show is just meh anyways. However they got this show, g4 underground and they did a segment on steampunk.
With interviews with Abney Park (Gasp!)
Jake Von Slatt (Oh My!)
And recorded an AP concert in Hollywood (Oh my stars and garters!)

They edited out all the interviews with the concert goers. Humbug! not like I have some self-serving motives for being miffed in the matter. It could not be my spiel on comic books ran long and was little boring? Naw, could not be. That would be impossible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7PQDIf5l2g
in other news, happy zombie jesus day!

New music video courtesy of IMCML

2009-04-09T12:37:00.000-07:00

I tried to animate a proper lip-synching using Microsoft movie Maker.

It didn't quite work out as I planned.... Other than that, the video came out pretty well, and I'm like... 80% happy with it.

The music is by IMCML members Nairb McDuck (Ritz the Unsound Mind) and Remis is Error (Unkle Remis)

http://www.myspace.com/unsoundmind518
http://www.myspace.com/unkleremis

Enjoy:

Wolverine Vs Rorschach (in the pc vs mac style)

2009-04-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

I found this and thought, huh, how clever. Not balls to the walls hilarious, but funny none the less. If you are one whom enjoys it, there's Wolverine with the other Watchmen cast in the same style. Enjoy children, enjoy.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine has leaked

2009-04-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

Here is Fox’s official statement:

“Last night, a stolen, incomplete and early version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was posted illegally on a website. It was without many effects, had missing and unedited scenes and temporary sound and music. We immediately contacted the appropriate legal authorities and had it removed. We forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it. The source of the initial leak and any subsequent postings will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law – the courts have handed down significant criminal sentences for such acts in the past. The FBI and the MPAA also are actively investigating this crime. We are encouraged by the support of fansites condemning this illegal posting and pointing out that such theft undermines the enormous efforts of the filmmakers and actors, and above all, hurts the fans of the film.”

The movie officially comes out on May 1st, but for any torrent users out there, this is an EARLY RELEASE.

Happy hunting.

Zelda II Review

2009-03-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I beat Zelda II: The Adventure of Link again for the umpteenth time, and I decided to write about it. Well... I never did. Until now.

Zelda II is great. It combines the sidescrolling action of a game like Super Mario Bros. with somewhat of a fighting engine, and combines THAT with the open exploration and item collecting that the series has always been known for. Awesome.

When I say "fighting engine", I'm referring to the battle system. In every other Zelda game (up to 'Ocarina of Time' and the 3D era of Zelda games), you go up to a bad guy, you press a button on your controller and voila, the enemy is dead. Simple. Unless of course you're fighting a boss, in which case you have to repeat the process a number of times until the boss has been bested.

However....

In Zelda II, fighting requires intense concentration. Maybe this is where the game loses people. You see... if you just go blazing into battle with your button-mashing fingers blazing.... you're screwed. You're dead. Fade to black. Return of Ganon.

In Zelda II, you actually need to pay very close attention to what the enemies are doing at all times. For example, if a bat flies low to theground...watch out! There's a very good chance he might transform into a bat-humanoid thing that breathes fire at you. It's okay though, If you expect this, you can just put up your shield and it's no problem. Be vigilant. The best example however, would be the Palace Guard knights. These guys have swords which they can use to stab high or low depending on their whim (I'm pretty sure they were programmed to stab high or low randomly. There doesn't seem to be any order to their stabby-stab-stab chaos). They also have a shield which they can use to block high and low attacks, so in order to kill them, you need to watch for when they pull their daggers and then (very quickly) raise your shield (or lower it) to block their attack and then (quickly quickly quickly) stab them in the area that they are not currently blocking. Sounds tough? It is. And as you progress through the game, they take more and more hits to kill, but they also give you more and more experience points......which leads me to something I haven't mentioned yet....This game incororates RPG elements.

That's right folks.... ZELDA II is the one and ONLY game in the series to utilize experience points.

For some reason experience points are gained in the form of money. Instead of cellecting rupees, you collect money bags. So every time you grab a money bag you either get 50, 100 or 500 rupees (if memory serves me correct). You also get money for killing enemies. In later levels, the knights that you slay will give you over 1000 rupees each. These knights (and all other palace enemies) come back to life every time you leave the palace. So leaving and coming back in is a great way to build experience points. Whenever you gain the sufficient amount of experience to gain a level, you are asked to choose from 'health', 'attack' or 'magic'. If you choose 'health', your healthbar increases (that's right, NO heart containers). If you choose 'attack', you get stronger (you don't collect better swords in this game, you just upgrade using experience), and if you pick 'magic', your magic meter raises (similar to the magic bar in Link to the Past, you even fill it up with magic bottles).

The game is generally quite easy until later on, when you might get to an area and you're thinking "what the hell do I do now". In some ways, it's almost as ridiculous as "Castlevania II". Remember that orb that glows and looks really important, but when you try to touch it nothing happens? Do you remember buying the 'oak stake' and throwing it at the orb to open it up? No?!? Of course you don't. Who the FUCK is gonna figure that shit out?

Luckily, Zelda II doesn't really get retardedly hard until the very end of the game, at which point I would highly recommend talking to EVERYONE! Oh, and try walking through every wall in the later dungeons....cause ya never know....

I give Zelda II 8/10 deku seeds

i google you

2009-03-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

The first time I heard this song, I laughed of course. Nothing like mocking today's technologically literate, pop culture. But now, like most of Amanda Palmer's music (yes I know Neil Gaiman wrote the song, not AFP), it speaks to me. I relate the song to events in my life. Specifically. In detail. I listen to her songs and I think "I know THAT person in that song" or "THAT happened to me, just like that" and on and on.
Seriously, I have the following sentences come up in conversations with friends:
"OMG I love that new hat you wore in that pic on myspace"
"Oh yea, I read about that happening to you in your blog"
"Wtf, friend me already..."
Has the blogosphere become so ingrained in normal human socializing? I think it has. Twitter is only making this explode faster. I got my first random follower the other day. I have no idea how this person found me, I do not know her from Adam. DENIED. Do not get me wrong, Twitter is great. I am using it exactly as I intended to. The ability to drunk dial all my friends at the same time. It will also give me something to do when I am waiting for an airplane.

Oh, here is the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObuKyuEfobU

Marvel: Behind Closed Doors

2009-03-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

IMCML members 'peterparker' and 'vanzetti' have been collaborating on a stop-motion series a la "Robot Chicken".

It involves world domination and exploding soup, so gets ta watchin' PLAYA!

episode 1:

"Om3ga-Point" by Se7en Om3gatr0n

2009-03-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

It took me three hours, but I've just made a pretty sweet transformers music video (with music by Nairb McDuck aka Unsound Mind aka Se7en 0m3gatr0n, check it:

Building the Millenium Falcon

2009-03-09T02:27:00.000-07:00

Building the LEGO Millennium Falcon from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

thanks to Unkle Remis for finding this.

watchmen 2: electric boogaloo

2009-03-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

i left in a state of bliss.
the opening credits montage came straight out of the brain of zack synder. not only does it establish the fact that this world has super heroes, it also shows how gritty and grim things can get for the people who put on a costume and fight crime. it is not a normal thing to do, even here. and there are prices to be paid. yup, there are serious consequences to superherodom.. you do not get that in spider-man the musical.

i say this film is about 92 to 95% faithful to the graphic novel. this only shows how awesome comic book films can be when they do not stray from the source material. just look at the punisher films, they got progressively better as they followed the comics more and more. i understand they had to trim things down, that means all the secondary characters have been dumbed down to the status of cameos. shame really since it takes away from the human tragedy of putting a name and a face to the victims at the climax.

want plot synopsis? in a world where superheros really exist, wear masks, always have effed up personal lives. one night, one of them gets thrown out a high rise building and it is Rorschach to put together the retired superheros together and solve the mystery. and tragedy ensues.

some real mindfuck moments come from dr. manhattan waxing poetically on quantum mechanics, time/space, and the relationship of termites to humans. hence he never wears pants. seriously, who the hell is going to tell him to put some goddamn pants on. unless they want to get exploded all over their friends' faces. give it a second watch if it all goes over your head. when it kicks in, trust me.

now for fanboy squee momments:
Rorschach. everything scene he is in is an exercise in intensity and subtext. it takes a lot to act well and be expressive when wearing a faceless mask (see how hard ed norton rocked in kingdom of heaven). i think the reason why Rorschach is so popular with the fans is how singleminded he is. he needs to find answers, he breaks fingers till he gets them. real simple like. i personally thought it was cute when child rorshach beat the living hell out of the two older bullies. even when rorschach is getting attacked by mobs of swat, he puts up the good fight.. grats to him.

laurie, aka silk specter II becomes a bigger whore as things go on. maybe Rorschach is on to something.
her mom, sally... i am so in love with her. something like a cross of bettie page and wonderwoman. but more domestic with age. but still a total flirt. awesome.

the comedian is a total asshole. really. no joke. shooting a rioter in the back with a canister of gas was really sadistic and funny. however, i was the only one in the theather who laughed when he shot someone in vietnam. wont spoil who it was, but it was not nice. not nice at all.

i giggled everytime i saw dr. manhattan's penis. after a while, it even got on my friends nerves. i heard a few "GAWD, frank" my work here is done. i have never seen so much cock outside of porn. it was great. american films have no problem with exploiting the female form but when it comes to full frontal male nudity, oh nose, think of the children!!! guess what, the world did not explode. i guess it is ok to show blue wang. maybe next time, it will not be CG. fangirls can only hope.

ozymandias, aka adrian viedt, is a total dick. what do you expect from "the world's smartest man"? as he should be. honestly, every scene he was in was fierce and played a one-man ambiguous gay duo. not that there is anything wrong with that. i would not like to run into him in a dark alley. for a multitude of reason.

so if you wonder what the world would be like if superheros were real, check out watchmen.

Attack of the Megamanatee

2009-02-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

Crime should be practiced more

2009-02-08T14:23:00.000-08:00

Nobody practices at crime, i wonder what the worlds crimerates would be, if criminals put the same effort into their abilities, as law officials and the military does.

So far, in the world, only a very few criminal organizations have the same military capability as a government military force. They can be heavily armed, yes, but rarely as heavily as a real army. The mexican cartels are an example of criminals with the aggressive capabilities of a smaller government army.

But on the street level, the criminal is pretty much a noob compared to the cop, in most activities.

Take driving skills, for example. M-hm, say no more.

There are examples of that too, for example, which type of criminals DO have a pesky habit of getting away from cops? Illegal street racers, and they seem to be the only ones who more than often, do get away. Why? Practice!

Criminals who get so deep into the game, that they would be treated by special police, should go through weekly combat training, close quarter combat, urban warfare, field trips, the whole deal. That way, when special forces arrive, they are suddenly in for an even match. Criminals would be wearing bullet proof vests, and helmets, and goggles to protect their vision from splinters. They would throw flash-bang grenades at the cops, stun them, and take them out by the entrance, and take off in the swat-van, hop into the waiting helicopter and ACTUALLY get away!

Something holds them back.

It is most likely the hierarcical structure of the career of crime, how it builds itself up, as opposed to how you _enter_ a position directly, in a law enforcement career. A policeman enters a legitimate working place, with certain expectations, and a nicely fixed salary. A criminal enters his career, usually as a youngster, without any rights, and whos only expectations are to get some free weed from the surplus.

If organized crime organized itself further, down the ranks, to include even the lowest ranks, the street level runners, they would be able to keep better a better trained "staff", they would be less likely to lose people to prison or to gunfire, and in the long term, they would make more cash.

In the short run tho, like any change, it would probably expose them more. Organized crime survives, precisely, on its fragmented nature of organization, each branch functions on a completely autonomous level, the street level dealer sells how much he wants, keeps how much he wants, and sells to whoever he wants. Thats their security, cops can get the street level dealer, and maybe the guy above him, but rarely get much further unless a LOT of resources are put into the investigation.

Most illegal trade is only "traceable" one way, the way the goods go.

I wish the best for organized crime, it exists because the human species demands it to exist, it provides the products that are SO needed by our species, that people will die for it.

The only reason organized crime takes lifes, is that the offers they give, are forbidden. I'm not gonna go too much into morals here tho, but as long as certain craved services remain illegal, its only natural that someone should defy that, and deliver the goods anyway.

There.

I bet this blog entry makes my mother proud!

marvel 1602: new world, SPIC 4

2009-02-07T12:02:00.000-08:00

marvel 1602: new world greg pak/greg tocchini

while the whole 1602 series is just SLIGHTY ahead of what we would call steampunk, by a few hundred years and in colonial america, this particual book is spectacularly steampunk and it all thanks to to lord iron, this world's iron man.

col. america dragged nick furry's body into the singularity that pulled him from his time to this timeperiod and creating the age of wonders, early. that is where we left off in marvel 1602. now we have bruce banner trying to deal the fallout of being affected by the singularity, namely, what we would call the grey hulk. he tries to help some native dinosaurs; shame it takes the hulk to defend these brontosaurs from a pack of meat eaters. back in roanoke we have the budding romance of virgina dare, the first englighperson born in the new world (fact!) who is also a shapeshifter (as per legend!) with peter parquagh, former aid to bruce banner in his mission to find nick furry from king james I, but now printer's aprentice to master jameson. he is only now starting to demonstrate the powers he obtained from the spider who bit him that was affected fromt he aformentioned singularity. whew. it gets better. norman osborne is trying to buy the rest of island from the native (expect they were taught english by col. america and were told to never trust the whitemen. they will lie and break every promise they ever speak) with glass beads and james I sends lord iron, on load form spain, to bring in bruce banner who failed to bring nick furry's head.

who is lord iron exactly? well first of all he is a renassiance man. he makes da vinci look like he rides the short bus to inventor school. while experimenting on turning lead and iron into gold inside glass vials he invented high current capacitors. these "lightling bottles", as he calls them, have power enough to to run an exosuit. pretty snazy with the conquistador style helmet and sword on his hip. he looks like a robot knight. fucking awesome. and to keep it old school, the suit keeps his heart beating. seems in a war between england and spain, lord iron was captured as a P.O.W. tourtured and vivisected alive by bruce banner himself. right to his very heart.. tic tock indeed. so yea, he has a serious hard on for killing bruce banner. what is a superhero without a plucky sidekick? so lord iron has rhodes, a moor he picked up in spain and the only person who understands this severly anachronistic technology. if a capacitor powered, clockwork battlesuit is not steampunk enough for you, i will give you steampunk. at one point lord iron has to get somewhere REAL quick like. so he straps a flying mahcine with a lighting bottle engine to the back of the power suit. with rhodes piloting the contraption. and yes, rhodes is wearing goggles.

blah, blah, blah, back to plot. we have norman osborne manipulating the town to ban all withcbreed and indians, so he can get to the singularity. he does not tell anyone his plan, obviously, just convinces everyone witchbreed and indians are the samething. turns out, xenophobia wins again. /sigh. bruce banner does his whole internal struggle of the beast within. who is really the monster, bruce banner or the hulk? blah, blah, blah (40 years of this shit gets on my nerves, sorry). peter takes his great responsibility with his great power and does good. everyone fights at the end and things are resolved. bruce banner makes peace with himself. lord iron and bruce banners are buddies (after bashing the living daylights out of each other). virgina dare turns into a giant gryphon and ends the fighting by declaring peace or she starts eating everyone. you have to love teenagers and their myoptic views. so basically the english pack and go the fuck home whiel the witchbreed and the indians stay and make a new world. orderly.

despite being set in 1602 it gets 8, lightling bottle charged, brass cogs.

TVZ

2009-02-05T08:53:00.000-08:00

*zzzup!*

Welcome back, and give the "Gurus of Salsa" a big hand. Before we begin, let me just point out that we are working on a new title for the show, but to be honest, finding something intelligent to associate with a late night talk-show, is an oxymoron in itself.
Yeah, oxymoron obviously means your a moron thats been oxy'ed or something, but screw that, we're getting nowhere, our first guest tonight is - the prime minister! Please welcome the prime minister, hey!

Host: Have a seat, mister prime minister, please.

PM: Thank you, um, thanx!

Host: You just came back from abroad, didnt you?

PM: That's correct, i was at a meeting in Uruguay.

Host: What exactly do you do at such meetings?

PM: Not much, we talk, take notes, suggest stuff, you know..

Host: That sounds nice, did you guys figure stuff out?

PM: Yes and no, sortof.

Host: What do you do, as a prime minister?

PM: Nothing much, go to meetings, figure stuff out, type on my computer, answer phones, fax stuff, you know, politician-work.

Host: You run the country?

PM: Well... the country would probably run itself, thats what societies ultimately do.

Host: What do you mean?

PM: Well... you could theoretically remove every official department, one after the other, untill your down to individual families, and these families will build up their own social structure, and run as a society.

Host: But we'd go through lots of havoc and chaos, if we did that in practice.
PM: Yes, for a while, but then it would "level out", I think.

Host: That's nice.

PM: It is...

Host: But what about roads, and infrastructure, interconnetion and communication?

PM: It would become severely limited of course.

Host: Is that good?

PM: Sure, why not?

Host: How can it be good?

PM: Anything can be good, its just a matter of mindset.

Host: Eh... so... torture can be good? For the tortured?

PM: Of course, there's a benefit to anything.

Host: What's good about being tortured?

PM: To have experienced ultimate pain.

Host: What's good about famine and death?

PM: Easy, depopulation, easier life for future generations.

Host: What about sudan? Theyve been starving for decades in Darfur.

PM: Who says depopulation has to take the time you expect it to take? Sudan has a gigantic population, starvation has a lot more work to do in Sudan.

Host: Are you serious???

PM: Of course i am.

Host: How can you be our prime minister??

PM: Pfff, anyone can be a prime minister, just study hard, get into politics, and advertise yourself through pure charismatics combined with a good hit of luck or two.

Host: Uh...

PM: What's wrong?

Host: Nothing, nothing, we got one more guest waiting, but uh.... are you... do you even... uh...

PM: What?

Host: Are you being a prime minister of our country while at the same time fully aware of the futility and pointlessness of it?

PM: Yes, if you can figure shit out, I can. It's not really as "futile" as I made it seem tho, since you point out, there are tasks that are vital to a state, such as infrastructure and communication. However, it's all about "the now".

Host: Eh.. what...

PM: None of us care about the future, or the past, thats not why i am a prime minister.

Host: What..

PM: I need the country to run the way it does for me. Any transition for the better, will go through a phase of worse. That phase can last a generation, none of us want that. None of us want to suffer a generation of bad, to ensure a better future, for our descendants. Thats the "futility" of it, thats why we "never learn" from history. That's why "world war three" is inevitable, and will prove itself just as spectacularily horrifying as we have always feared it to be. We will always try to change the world before the span of a generation, so we can enjoy the change for ourselves, or we wont bother trying at all.

Host: Oh...

PM: Who was your other guest?

Host: Eh.. some danish actor, that lord of the rings guy... what the fuck his name now.... Aragorrrrn....

PM: Viggo Mortensen!

Host: Oh, of course, uh, please welcome - Viggo Mortensen!

*zap*

Squinting detective: Take... a look... at this....

Hot babe detective: What is that?

Squinting detective: This... is a lead.

*Rock'n Roll'ing scene-cut to the lab*

*Zoom in on corpse, squishy-squash snappy breaky noises, while the coroner digs inside its brains*

Coroner: I found this, inside his brain.

Handsome black detective: What is that?

Squinting detective: That... is a lead.

*cut to the interrogation room*

Suspect 2: Yo, I allready told you everything i know!

*Squinting detective is squinting really hard*

Suspect 2: Squint all you want bitch!

*zap*

And denn vee putte ham and carrott inde pot, and stirre stirre

*zap*

- minutes later, the building collapsed, burying over a thousand people in the matter of seconds.

How could a building fall down on itself, for no apparent reason?

An accident doesnt just happen by itself, it is a series of.. other accidents, that seem to have

happened by themselves at some point, but still, we will explore them all in:

Minutes from disaster!

Or was it seconds...

*bzzz...*

Paku Paku Gobble Gobble

2009-01-30T14:50:00.000-08:00

history is totally cool

2009-01-30T07:27:00.000-08:00

When I was little, and went to school, I didn't give a shit. NOW, I do....

History is AWESOME now, I read up on shit all the time. I read up on Norwegian history, cus I'm from Norway, I read up on Spanish and Peruvian, cus I'm from there too, then I read up on places I'm not from at all, all of them, systematically, I want to know everything!

But then i also know, that all written history - is just that: Some dude (usually, most likely a dude.) wrote this. Not only once, but like a billion times over, in tons of languages, and in many different ways of expressing something.
This is especially problematic in Norwegian history, where you dont have to go very far back, before a lot becomes guesswork, and you have to look at drunken songs in order to reveal actual history.
If a drunken song is your ONLY source for an important battle, you know for sure took place, and the song goes on about "tens of thousands of men", what do you then write into the history book?
Such numbers have indeed been used in old sources, but the population of Scandinavia as a whole, at the time, would rarely allow for such armies to gather, its likely no such armies were raised untill at least well after the medieval era was over.
The only refuge against very "uncertain" history, somehow, at least for me, becomes to go further back, to when everything inevitably becomes uncertain by default.
My city name for example, Trondheim, both roots Trond and Heim are ancient. Heim means home, and Trond is a tribal name.
The interesting part is this: the region has ALWAYS been "Trondheim", even after we forgot who the "Trond" or "Trønder" was, even the vikings had probably forgotten, but they also used the same names. Same goes for Rogaland and Hordaland, of the Roga and Hordar. Estimates put the "activity" of these tribal kingdoms several thousand years back.
The "Dane" of Denmark, whos ancient name was "Daneland", is also of unknown ancient tribal origin. Nobody knows who the "Dane" originally was, except that they were, along with the Tronds, Rogar, Hordar, Svear and Götar, they were pre-nordic germanic tribes, who quite possible had the exact same language at this time, its possible that they did not even have had the time to develop regional dialects, as these became apparent as late as the viking age.

Their reality, was to hunt for food, and to easily blabber away with a distant man.
If a guy didnt understand what you talked about, he was most likely some sort of pre-romance tribal, or proto-celtic.

I read somewhere that northern scandinavia, and finland became inhabited by uralic people as early as the rest of the peninsula was inhabited by proto-nordic germanics, which is estimated to have happened between around 30 000 and 15 000 BC

Since that time, and untill around 1800 it has been a rough place, with lots of starvation and war, and this reality puts things into perspective. Norway wasnt always one, it was many, and they were all at war, norwegians killing norwegians all the time, and sometimes so much so, that it was written about by horrified monks all way south in england.

I like that.
We're so peaceful now, but we used to litter the ground with bodies, norwegian bodies, swedish, danish, celtic, english, saxon, french, spanish, egyptians, arabs, turks, you name it.
The Varangian Guard was made out of elite soldiers, from all over Scandinavia, who found brotherhood in their similar languages, their - by now - unique faith, and similar clothing and weapons styles. They quickly found a liking to the Byzantine emperor, and worked faithfully for him as his personal army of assasins, performing missions all over the middle east and north africa.
There are stories told about Varangian Guards coming home from service, wearing alladin-pants and turbans, bringing board-games and technologically advanced sabres and other treasures, filthy filthy rich or course, as the Byzantine emperor paid well.
Many prominent viking kings and warlords have travelled to turkey, to join and fight for the Varangian Guard, at some point in their life.

In return, turks, arabs and persians would enjoy thick fur coats and rugs, made from polar bear and whatnot, and the spanish and portuguese - to this day, enjoy north atlantic codfish as a delicacy, dried to preserve it, as it was brought to them by the vikings.

But i like the killing and mayhem.

I wonder if its possible to calculate the ammounts of lives taken by viking raiders, only driven by expansion and greed. Harald Hardråde's decision to invade britain wasnt very more noble than "It WOULD be cool, no? To invade them? Come on guys!"
Harald Hardråde was quite possible more messed up, as a person and political leader, than George Bush, as he actually went into battle himself, and got himself killed away from the country he was supposed to rule.
With disastrous effect of course.

There were a lot more public execution, torture and humiliation in the old days.
I wonder how that was acceptable then, and not now. Its still done in some countries, people there seem okay with it, to some degree. They did it here, and here we are, descendants, they obviously survived such cruel exposure.
Its interesting to note, for example, Trondeheim used to have heads on stakes around the city, at first facing out, to warn visitors into behaving, later, as the city grew, they were faced inwards, to keep the people in check.
Norway has only been rich since 1960, before 1960, Norway was a shithole.
Thats cool tool.

I read about kid-gang-wars in the 1920's, where kids in Trondheim would go to war against each others, w rocks, and bows and arrows, and often get seriously injured.
In the 1800's, there was a unit of city guards, armed with a huge morning star. Thats nice.
People were poor, probably starving, another thought i find interesting.

If you got nothing to do some day, now you know what to do :)

gotham by gaslight, SPIC part 3

2009-01-29T15:06:00.000-08:00

gotham by gaslight by brian augustyn/mike mignola

we all know dr. thomas and martha were gunned down before their little boy bruce and he grows up living a life of wealth and privledge. then he puts on a fancy suit and becomes batman so that tragedy never happens to anyone else again. what if that happened in the late 1800s? bruce returns to gotham after a grand tour (obviously, training in combat, studing deduction, etc) and cannot wait to do some real good in the gotham's streets, as the dark knight. he does great work, twarting dynamite wielding safe crackers, muggers, the whole criminal element and the newpapers make note of the giant bat haunting the city. the one thing batman misses is jack the ripper returning to public life in 1889 gotham. the police are under tremendous public pressure to find the ripper and put him away. they find some evidence on their prime suspect, bruce wayne. while searching wayne manor they find a bloody knife, how they missed if you set the grandfather clock in the study to exactly midnight/noon the door to the batcave opens up. bruce is put to trial with the shakiest of evidence like a gin-soaked, crazy cat lady and coinsidence as evidence from D.A. harvey dent. despite console from bruce's beloved "uncle" jake bruce is convicted of being jack the ripper. the only people who belive he is innocent is his butler, alfread pennyworth, and inspector james gordon. from his cell bruce gathers what evidence and clues he can be fed from his friend gordon, newspaper clippings, "ripper" letters, photographs, whatever. all that bruce can conclude is the gotham murders are being committed by the same individual in the whitechapel murders, one year ago. in passing looking at a picture of his father's cival war medical detatchment he notices the flag for the unit has the same symbol on the murder weapon. now bruce has his own short list of suspects. he has alfread easily break him out fo jail (way to go G.C.P.D. letting your biggest convict practically walk out...). batman is on the streets and just in time to stop the ripper from murdering another "unfortunate" woman. a chase through the pooered areas of gotham ensues. watching batman chase him down, swining on ropes while avoiding hansome cabs is a real treat. nothing is more "batman" than him flying out of the mike mignola darkness. the chase ends with batman calling out jack the ripper at the cementary. the big reveal is how "uncle" jake is really the ripper. turns out he was always in love with martha, bruce's mother. when he confesses his love to her, she laughs and mocks him. the heartache breaks his mind. he grows paranoid. pychotically so. to him, thomas, his friend from the war, who helped him in getting into high society and a career. even their little brat of a son, bruce was in on the joke. so he had a theif assasinate the family. or as much of the family he could. martha's laughing never stopped. batman takes off his cowl and tells him he is not laughing. at this point, crackerjack gotham PD shows up to save the day, ie take batman and the ripper to jail. jake does not go quietly and takes out a knife and swipes at batman, hoping to take him down in a blaze of glory. gordon is there and shoots him in mid-swing, giving bruce only a flesh wound. jake dies and gordon lets batman run off to fight crime another day.

this only gets 3 brass cogs. batman DOES have his utility belt. that is worth 3 cogs, right?

bonus points for a cameo from this world's joker.

master of the future by brian augustyn/eduardo barreto

now this story is full of steamy goodness. take the opening shot of the batcave, the batsuit rests on an elaborate brass stand, i bet if you pull a lever it suit dresses bruce. like in ironman. we see bruce with a buddy at boxing match. on a lark, bruce, the dapper dandy of gotham gets in the ring and advices his friend to bet heavily on him. i do not care how big the other guy, but he is just doomed to get smashed by batman in a boxing ring. gordon waxes poetly about how much he needs the batman. thanks to him catching jack the ripper, he is now comissioner and the mayor is planning an american discovery exposition, celebrating science, technology, progess, and the dawn of the twentieth century. the next the day the town council is entertaining ideas for the expo. they interview buffalo bill cody about bringing his circus but they think he is too savage for such a cosmopolitan city like gotham. as the concil bickers about what would be best for the expo and the city, from the window repels down a man in a milatary uniform, cape, and a sword on his hip. he derides the concil's view on the future and demands he be given control of the city. he is the master of the future. the man of tomorrow. he is alexandre lerol. if his demands are not met he will burn gotham to ashes. SWEET! an old-timey super villian. dirk dastardly would be proud of his moustache! he jumps out the window he came in from and dispears, leaving the city concil to ponder what to do. bruce starts his investigation. during a night time, secrect meeting lerol meets with some gothamite to confirm his plans for destroying the city using his "solar lens". he leaves the meeting, once again leaping out a window, this time we see him reach a ladder suspending by something in the clouds.
the next day the expo starts, there are hot air balloons to ride, sky buckets, zeplins, tesla coils, pavillions for balls, and everything else one would find at a fair. while the city council make their rounds of the preparations a self powered gatling gun on wheels opens fire on the workers and mayor. he dives for cover as bruce throws a shovel at the machine destroying it. he feigns being clumsyness in the throw and the mayor finds a letter in the rubble of the machine. "you ignored me. the city burns. you die. the master"
in the morning the mayor gets dressed for opening day and lerol kicks the window glass in, shoots the mayor's butler and kidnaps him to his airship. GANGSTER! lerol gives the mayor a tour of the ship. the salon here, the command bridge there. and introduces him to the pilot. a clockwork robot named signor antonio diavolo. he has a moustace painted on his face and wears brass goggles. how cute!!!!! once the airships flies over the fair, lerol engages the solor lens. looks like a giant telescope and works the same way. except he points one end at the sun and the other end at the expo. works kind of like burning ants with a magnifing glass. but large scale. works real well actually. lerol pulls a max zorin and drops the mayor out of hsi airship, right ontop of the glass ceiling of the main fair pavilion. bruce makes his way to a mock-up davinci flying machine as alfread finds him tosses him a suitcase with the batsuit inside. everyone is too buisy with the ragign fire to notice duck out and suit up. and fly, up, up and away. even he is impressed it works. now to catch up to the giant airship firing sunlight at the city. batman boards the airship, pirate-style (ARR!). he duels lerol, and antonio accidental gets broken. lerol actualyl cries that hsi friend is "dead" awwww :( the pilotless ship starts to list and they break a gaslamp in the process. their duels travels all over the ship but there is no pilot to monitor the boiler temperature that is slowly rising. the airship explodes, batman escapes whiel lerol's fate is unclear. batman deducts the frontrunner to be mayor was lerol's accomplice in what turned out to be a simple insurance scam. he gets arrested and the day is saved.

eff it, 10 brass cogs. airships, telescope guns, gatling gun robots, robot pilots, flying machines, goggles, uniforms, what more could you want?

boycott all mass media (not really)

2009-01-29T01:48:00.000-08:00

Just hate it with me. Not all of it of course, but the vast majority of it. Most of it. Let's say.. 99,9987% of it.

I hate movies, series, games (and people) i haven't yet gotten to known. I am more than happy to prejudge something. In a videostore, i judge movies by their cover.

"You can't judge a book/movie by its cover!" yes you idiot, you can! example!

This is clearly a low-budget movie, who cares about budget. Budget only counts if you are hoping for huge visual effects. We will get to the lack of good visual effects in some other blog, i have a "hen to pluck" with the gelatinous crap excuse for lava in the "Return of the King" movie.
It shows the main characters actors name, at the top, while the director takes a step back, and hides underneath the movie title. Message: "We spent very little money on this movie, cus the best stories take place in normal real life." The title is purely symbolic, there aren't 7 virgins in this movie, in fact, there are no virgins at all as i recall. This movie does what movies rarely do: They make your ordinary drama realistic enough to "fall" for it. If a man chases you with a knife in real life, you shit yourself, if a man chases another man w a knife in a movie, you wait for the special effects explosions, UNLESS - its REALLY believable, and you actually expect the knife man to kill his fellow actor.
This movie, like many euro movies, stay more slow and realistic, but capture the viewer - on a personal level - more than special-effects-ridden movies ever hope to do.

This is another example, but American, so not to pit euro against american when it comes to pop-culture styles (even tho the reality often IS euro vs american..). Again, it gives the same message. In this case, not even the director or actors names are on the cover, only 3 smiling indians, and a very general title "Smoke Signals" that tell you absolutely nothing of the story. There are no smoke signals in the movie. Its about people, its a story. Its a very good movie.

THIS is a glaring example of stupidity at first glance. "But, its SUPPOSED to be stupid! Duuh!" shut up you imbecile. The title letters, big and cartoony. If i want cartoons, im paying 45 krones for a comic book, that will actually contain some quality, not 350 or whatever, for this piece of shit DVD.
Two hot chicks in the background. Wow. I got internet porn. Two dressed chicks as well, i guess these would be the conflicting babes vs nerds or something. I've actually seen this movie, but my mind has blocked all memories of it. Look, a doggie, i bet the dog provides funny scenes, in the shape of well trained little actions by the innocent little actor-doggie.

what can i say... "No, he's not, you retard. He's an actor, and a poor one at that." Okay, the good movie also sported the actor's name, but theres a difference: the good movie uses a completely unknown actor, he deserves some fame. HARRISON FORD is well known, its not necesary to beef up the letters to that size, they knew, but still they did it.
"is the President of the United States."
WHY do they write that? First sign of a crap movie, is one that - from BEFORE you even watch - treat you like a retard.
"Here, allow me to help you, you stupid stupid person: Harrison ford is president of usa in this movie. air force one is, as you may know, the presidential flight. This movie is about the president, and his flight, and the perils that may occur during this flight."
Idiots.
The LETTERS show: "HARRISON FORD" and "AIR FORCE ONE", the IMAGES show: HARRISON FORD, and AIR FORCE ONE. Just in case your too stupid to figure out wether or not you wanna watch it yet.
(Don't watch it, here, i'll gladly ruin it for you: The president makes it at the end, the bad guy (some east-german or something, played by Gary Oldman) is thrown off the airplane, to Harrison Ford's painfully awkward: "Get out of my plane!!")

I may be an extremist on this field, if it was up to me, Hollywood would be reduced to knitting socks, for all eternity. But don't get me wrong, its not ALL Hollywood, but anywhere that culture gets mass-produced, for example "Bollywood", trillions of movies, all united by ridiculous dance-and-sing scenes, that we all know, are less than realistic.

I can't wait for the sing-and-dance scenes in this one.
Or this one.
I havent seen any of these movies, but i know they both got traditional sing-and-dance scenes. How charming!

I've yet to catch a "Nollywood" movie (go look it up, you ignoramus!)
but in the spirit of avoiding all lame-ass mass media, at the best of my effort, I am in no hurry.
My point is, MOST media today falls into the stupid-ass category. Avoid most media.
Now im gonna go watch tv.
See, here's the thing: I'm smart enough to withstand the enormous stupidity thrown at me from tv and other media. ARE YOUUUUUU????

steampunk in comics part 2, league of extraordinary gentlemen vol. 2

2009-01-17T16:06:00.000-08:00

the league of extraordinary gentlemen by alan moore/kevin o'neill.

well then. last we left our party of heros there were funny lights on mars. in reality they were the muzzle flash of escape pods from mars. seems these martians (turns out there are several sorts and even 2 humans, one uses a flying carpet, seriously) got their ass handed to them in a war and are now looking for a new home. one with less resistance. hey how about earth, it is right there and such. giant bullets the size of buildings land across england so what happens? people go and gawk at the damned thing that fell from the sky. a door opens up and out slithers a slimey martian, looks like a giant brain, with tentacles, a beak, and giant black eyes. maybe the martians are bad mother fuckers, maybe they got sick of being watched like monkey at the zoo, or maybe they planned it all along; they attack. their cyclopean, heat ray weapon simpley waves past the crowd and they all catch on fire. men, women, childen, dogs. everything. the league standing a safe distance away take cover and they still get singed. hyde goes into one of his epic rages and wants nothing less than to eat the brains of the martians and shit down the hole he would make in their faces. they make a tactical retreat to the bleak house inn nearby to observe the alien invaders. that night they hunker down and watch the army engage the enemy. they are promptly fried to oblivion. and hawley griffin is revealed to have snuck out the house to parley with the martians. while they cannot see him, he communicates with them with figures drawn in the sand. a plot. to take over the world. the knave! the next morning, the martians obliterate bleak house and the league take a coach back to headquarters in london. on they way they see refugees. who ever heard of such a thing in england? they take a meeting with the new M, mycroft holmes. yes, the brother of THAT holmes. counter-attack plans are hatched. mina stays at HQ and studies everything they have on mars while the rest go back to spy on the martians. as they make idle conversation the coach stop. a martian tripod is set on them and stomps on them, like an AT-AT in star wars.

back at hq, mina is assaulted by griffin. even kicks her in the stomach till she vomits, slams her face in her own puke, and made to say "im a stuck up little tart" one of the most disturbing scenes in the whole series. he also nabs maps showing all british gun placements. the boys return and find mina beaten. hyde is pissed. fucking pissed. after a spot of tea, mina is alright. M splits the team in half, their headquarters is compromised and he devices a plan. nemo and hyde take to the nautalist in london while quartermain and mina are sent to find a weapon to defeat the martians. the next day, a tripod attacks a train bridge but nemo and the nautalist manage to blow it up with cannon fire. there is only one survivor from the train, james grey. fascinated by the sub, he promises nemo he will build one of his own.
mina and alan are looking for this secret weapon in a field in the south of england, when they approach a forest they meet teddy prendrick, he is, like, a crazy person, who tells them about a devil doctor who was thought to have died on his island, but it was a cover up by champion bond. he warns them of the doctor's people, how they walk on all fours and scavenge for food. but up close, they are animals. and he runs off, like a crazy person. as they enter the woods, alan, the great white hunter, swears they are being watched, possibley stalked by some big game. lions, tigers,bears. something. that is impossible, this is england afterall.
london is on fire from tripods, too far inland for the nautalist to do any damage. more people flee london.
mina and alan find an inn and spend the night. alan bitches that he hates when they check in undercover as a married couple mina gets the bed and alan gets the floor. mina calls poppycock and invites to her bed. alan, a little self conscience over their age difference and mina tells him how she read ALL about him when she was young. convinced of her intentions they screw. real steamy.
the next morning hyde dresses and steps on the top deck to find the sub, mired by a red weed that has congealed the river thames. i wonder where those pesky martians got the idea of doing something to the river. that rat bastard griffin! mina and alan continue thier search for the doctor and his weapon. once again alan gets that feeling of being watched. mina does not really notice, she just gets horny again and they go at it, propped up against a tree. unfortunately, they are interrupted by a bear dressed in human clothing, and then a tiger, and even an elephant and a badger. what the hell is this? wind in the willows? they tell the duo they are going to take them to the doctor themselves. hye takes a coach back to the leagues museum headquarters. in a drawing room, he sits down to read the paper and enjoy himself. he then mentions he can see griffin in the very room. that griffin is only being quiet and that griffin thinks hyde is bluffing. "but im not, griffin. i promise you im not. you have my word has a gentlemen."
griffin cries foul as hyde begins to beat him and then rape him. as he whistles a jolly tune. mina is avenged.

back to the woods of anamorphic tour guides....
while the rest are roughly human sized, they now meet a toad, wearing a tiny toad-sized suit, driving a automobile. holy shit, this IS the wind in willows. he guides them the rest of the way to meet alphonse moreau, M.D. he has a hut in the middle of these woods, surrounded by his "children". pig-men, baboon butler, giraffe guy, mice men, a lady gander, a cat wearing only boots, a mad hare, and god knows what else he has cooked up. dr. moreau explains how he was relocated to these woods and continues his experiments in creating these hybrids. the duo tell the doctor they need h142, as per champion bond. lickedly split, he gets right on top of getting them whatever h-142 is.
hyde has nemo and their coachmen over for dinner in the museum. dinner conversations turns to why dr. jekyell has not been around.. right around since the martians popped up. hyde insists if he was around, he would probably get them both killed on account of him being a pussy, a good laugh is had by all (actually, just hyde) and spot apears on hydesshirt. a red one. it starts to grow, and miraculously on the table cloth, the room, everything. hyde says it must be griffin's blood and he is in the other room. i guess invisible men turn visible when they die. an army of tripods marches on london and only have to cross a bridge over the thames to wreck new carnage.
mina, alan, and dr. moreau wait for a military train to take h-142 to london. they load the crate containing the creature and off the duo leave as well, pondering what could it be. maybe a dragon or who knows really. champion meets them in london and asks if the container was damaged. when verified it is fine, bond orders his soldiers not to shoot them. how very strange. bond, visibly nervous, sweaty, and uncomfortable tells alan and mina h-142 is being made ready for transport to the martians and that everything is under control now. the league reforms in whole as they watch the bridge with all the tripods on the other side. h-142 is not ready yet for delivery by cannon (wut?) and they need to buy some time. hyde decides it is up to him, he shares his feelings for mina to her and have one the sweetest moments ever. he walks across the bridge, twirling a cane and humming to face martian tripods. they burn him down with a heat ray, but is that going to stop him?
i think not. he grabs breaks the leg off a tripod and bashes it in the cockpit, punches thru the windshield and greets the martian with "hello old chap. hello. welcome to england" and eats him. i am sure hyde is not minding the horrid taste anyways. the rest of the tripods panic and all heat ray hyde and the wreck of the fallen tripod. now that does down hyde. a hero perishes, but the bridge is blocked and the martians are stuck on the other side. perfect timing as british cannons fire h-142 at the tripods. mina asks bond exactly what kind of hybrid that was. anthrax and streptococcus. germ warfare in 1898. bond tells the lague how the cover up will go down. the common cold killed the martians and anyone people still in south london ( not everyone got out ) were killed by the martians. nemo is furious over the idea of germ warfare and its indiscriminate use on people and quits the league, vowing that as soon as he can clear a path for the nautalist thru the red weed he return to his family and to never be called upon by them again.
that fall at a park named after hyde, mina breaks up with alan.
the real steamy highlights of the book are seeing the nautalist in all its glory. you have tentacles grabbing people out of the water, salvaging martian technology, using retractable cannons, and cabins more luxurious than anything in her majesty's navy. no real point in machine pistols against a tripod, but a nuclear submarine, yea that can do some damage.the army still wears pit helmets and goggles and did i mention the engineered virus that killed the martians? while it had less steampunk elements, it just went hardcore with victorian literarry elements, what is had was ginormously steampunk. also, int he back there are directions on making your own origami nautalist. awesome. oh and a board game you can play with your friends and some dice. plays kind of like "life".

i give it 7 brass cogs.

steampunk in comics, part 1 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

2009-01-13T16:16:00.000-08:00

welcome to steampunk in comics week! what the hell is steampunk you might ask? somesort of really angry punk rocker with steam coming out of his ears. not at all. technically i would call it a sub-genre of science-fiction that is a reaction to cyberpunk, another sub-genre of science-fiction that has a setting of neo-victorian, retro-futurism. basically, what if the computer age started 100 years before the creation of the silicon transistor. there are difference engines (mechanical computers) in every office building, your next door nieghbor is an inventor of steam-powered cars and you travel across long distances in airships. and everyone wears goggles. how i got into steampunk were a few comics 5 or 6 years ago; only now am i realizing steampunk is more than just a litterary movement, but now involves an underground music scene and its own fashion. now that is out of the way, let me start at the begining. at least for me.

the league of extraordinary gentlemen by alan moore & kevin o'neill.

i love victorian literature. there is everything from the best deductive detectives, vampires, flesh golems, white rabbits, invisble men, amoral dandies, and submarines. what if they all met? had adventures? and used clockwork machine pistols? sign me up! from the first page you know this is a fantastical place. a wide shot of a bridge from dover, england to end in france. looks every bit the typical superhighway construction project of today, except these cranes are powered by steam. so we start with wilhelmina murray, last seen fighting count dracula in transylvania, set by a government agent to put together a special team to resolve a special problem. god save the queen! next stop, egypt. mina ends up in a shitty, dive opium den to find allan quartermain. man is this going to be bad. he is too old, past his prime and sucking too well on the devil's dick. however he still has that killer instict and shoots some of the crazed mob intent on raping our dear, poor mina. the outrage! the tragedy! the escape to the docks where they get re-enforcements from captain nemo. no, not the disney version. this is the sikh, british hating, science pirate. did i mention he has a nuclear powered submarine? so he takes out an automatic harpoon gun and watses the mob chasing our heros. now for a quick trip under the sea to paris. something about murders in the rue morgue. not again :(

the trio's guide here in paris is non other than auguste dupin. mina gets all tarted up and is set as bait. shame allan goes to a chemist for a bottle of laudium and when he returns, mina has vanished. yes, the dope fiend has been gulled by the murderer! after a short search, furniture starts flying thru windows. this has to be it. mina's intended cliet, one dr. henry jekyll is not himself. something is certainly wrong with him. he has changed. he is not henry anymore. but edward. edward hyde, 12 foot tall simmian mountain of rage. some quick thinking from a sober quartermain and another team member has joined. or is that two more? next step is to solve mysterious immaculate conceptions at an S&M boarding school. hate to ruin the surprise but where else would an invisible man hide after faking his own death?

now that we have our team together time to get to the heart of the matter. the only container of cavorite has been stolen by the yellow peril himself. the devil doctor. fu man chu. what on earth could he be doing with the very thing that makes air travel easy and possible? since this is some serious steampunk action going on, it could only mean one thing. airships. an armada to destroy imperial britain. he is kinda bitter about the whole opium war thing. and hong kong. and who knows what else. he is a supervillian after all. does not take much for the league to destroy his airships and most of his men ( mostly by mr hyde tearing limbs out of sockets and nemo's guns ). whee. our heros have saved the day and get a raise and some time off as per thier boss, champion bond. bond. hmm, why is that name so familar? could he related to someone? champion is a spymaster.... nah. could not be. anyways, where was i? oh yes. so bond takes the cavorite for safe keeping. except he takes it to his boss. m. head of intelligence under the crown. no, not dame judy dench, but professor morriarty. what a twist! but wait, it gets better. the invible man took the iniative to ditch the victory party and trailed bond to moriarty's office. what does the neploean of crime want with cavorite? airships. duh. he wants to wipe out whatever is left of fu man chu, east london be damned. yup, more supervillian action. i love it. thanks to inivible man's recon, the league knows some stuff is about to go down. how do they get up in the air? nemo, the wile e. coyote of the group happens to have a spare hot air balloon inside his submarine, the nautalist. as they rise up to intercept moriarty's airship that is already bombing limehouse, fu man chu counter-attacks, with surface-to-air cannon and warriors flying on kite backpacks. it looks like one of those chinese scroll things, but with more fire. and random body parts flying. the league really comes together and lets loose on both fu man chu and moriarty's men. hyde and nemo do their tank and spank thing, while mina and quartermain track down the cavorite they get ambushed by moriarty and some goons. after a scuffle, mina smashes the cavorite engine and the canister of cavorite starts to float and moriarty leaps into the air, catches and rises up, up, and away into the ether. airships go boom and the league escapes to their balloon. yippie! the day is saved!

my head spins whenever i read this book. we have suped up revolvers, gattling harpoon guns, nuclear submarines, airships, edison/teslaton power companies, modern freeways to france over the channel, and goggles. lots and lots of goggles.how steamy is this? i give it 8 brass cogs out of 10.

Nintendo planning friendlier approach to game difficulty

2009-01-13T04:55:00.000-08:00

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/nintendo-planning-friendlier-approach-to-game-difficulty/1278610

"The days of getting stuck in games could be gone altogether, if a patent filed recently by Nintendo comes to fruition.

Nintendo's idea, made public in a patent application this week, hinges on making demonstration videos available to players while they're playing the game, either as a thumbnail view or a full-screen animation. Players could interrupt the demonstration at any point, taking control back to continue playing without assistance. Think of it as a tutorial guide that lasts throughout the entire game.

It also proposes to let players start playing at any point during a game -- a feature that's in many games already, but typically only unlocked once a player has already completed those levels. Just like skimming a newspaper article for the juicy bits, this would allow players to tackle games, in their entirety, at their own whim."

I think this is a fantastic idea.

We've all used game guides, gamefaqs and Game Genie/ Game Shark to skip levels.

We all have friends and relatives who refuse to play video games based solely on the idea that they're "too hard". They pick up a game like 'Zelda: Twilight Princess' because everyone tells them how awesome Zelda games are, and then they want to smash their controllers when they can't figure out where to find the boomerang... or how to find a key.... etc... and then they just STOP playing the game altogether out of frustration.

Well, now they don't have to! Now everyone can play.

I seem to be the only one who likes the idea however... everyone in the IMCML community seems to be completely enraged at the idea:
http://www.ironmanchangedmylife.com/forum/index.php?topic=225.0

I don't see a problem. Nintendo are geniuses. They know what the deal is.

Uber Crapfest

2008-12-29T09:22:00.000-08:00

Dragonball:

This looks like a mix between 'Power Rangers' and 'Fantastic Four 'with the production value of 'Walker: Texas Ranger'.

And shouldn't Goku be Japanese?

FAIL!

.....speaking of characters who don't match their supposed ethnicities, have you seen the girl who plays Chun-Li? She isn't even Chinese! WTF? And the movie doesn't have Ken or Ryu in it? WHAT?

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

Well... at least we have "G.I. Joe" to look forward to.

Ray Park as Snake Eyes? Yes!

Oh wait a minute.... Joseph Gordon Levitt plays Cobra Commander..... kill me now....

Attention: Fans of comic books (and irony)

2008-12-21T03:44:00.000-08:00

Hi. I'll keep my introduction swift. You can call me Nairb McDuck. Max Rebos real-life brother. Once upon a time, I would fill a santa hat with miscellaneous sweets and hand them out to all the delinquents at school. These days, not much has changed. Instead of delicious candy, I offer my words, and instead of a santa hat, I have this here blog. Gather 'round so I can tell y'all a story that is sure to chill your bones and instill you with a deeper appreciation for the lack of comedy (for lack of a better word) in your universe as opposed to mine. Hold on tight. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

*Ahem*

Okay, so my life is hilarious and ironic. Unreasonable and ridiculous events occur on an aggravating basis and I've come to expect it; the lack of karmic balance in my corner of the universe has remained constant since I was old enough to pick up on such things and as much as it pisses me off I try my best to go with the flow. I'm sure that this is no different from many of you so you should know what I'm talking about.

However, last night was a little different. "Why was last night so special?" one might ask. Allow me to explain. In one of my many adventures across this fair land I've managed to accidentally stumble across a modest pile of comic books. The when and where are insignificant. They sat in my backpack for a few days until I finally unpacked them and placed them amongst all of the other old stuff I've been collecting in the corner of my room (i.e. vinyl, old books, etc.). Last night I decided to do a bit of research online and I found out quite a bit of information on these comics. Most of them are from the late seventies, specifically 1977 and 1978. They were in pretty darn good shape so I suspected that at least a few of them might be worth some cash and it looks like I was right. I calculated a rough estimate by looking at a couple different resources and the number I came up with decent. It wasn't extraordinary but it was something.

But there was one comic that eluded my attention. I didn't notice it at first, which is ironic in itself because I'm a self-proclaimed Star Wars geek of sorts and this was an original Marvel brand Star-Wars comic. In fact, there were four of them. One through four. So, I looked them up. In comparison, these comics are all nearly identical except for one striking detail: the fourth issue features a square around the price tag (which is thirty-five cents) rather than a diamond, which is featured on the other three. Because of this minor aesthetic difference, this particular comic book is worth over one thousand dollars.

Part of my brain was ecstatic. Thoughts and fantasies of bills being paid, Christmas gifts being bought, and chocolate soy-milk being gulped flashed past my focus like high beams on the thru-way at night. But I knew better than this. I walk in these shoes every day and I adhere to the most influential fundamental law that governs events in my life: irony. So after inspecting the comic up and down I found what I was looking for. To be short, the comic is in beautiful condition given its age; there are no creases in the paper, all the pages are intact and the color is far from fading away, but what makes all of this so common place and predictable is that there are no staples in the binding and the actual comic is not attached to the cover, so (unless I'm wrong) it's pretty much worthless.

ZOMG.

All of the other comics in the pile have their staples. Some of them are in questionable condition but if you look at the edge you will find those goddamn staples right where they're supposed to be, doing what they're supposed to do.

I'm pretty sure there is nothing left to be said. My life is hilarious and ironic. Unreasonable and ridiculous events occur on an aggravating basis and I've come to expect it; the lack of karmic balance in my corner of the universe has remained constant since I was old enough to pick up on such things and as much as it pisses me off I try my best to go with the flow. I'm sure that this is no different from many of you so you should know what I'm talking about.

*Sigh*

Ice storms suck hardcore!

2008-12-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

So I've been crazy lately when it comes to this website lately, and I apologize for that! But I have an excuse for the past few days because NY and the northeast in general got slammed with a huge ice storm and we haven't had heat and hot water since Friday night. We had electricity but the Stockade Inn lost theirs and thats where we pick up our signal from. So no internet.

But on a nerdy note I found out that Twilight 2 (aka New Moon) is already having some issues being made. They got rid of the current director, are possibly changing the actor who is playing Jacob, and yadda yadda yadda. I did see Twilight... it was good... there is no way it could have possibly been as good as the book but I was happy. If nothing else that movie is 2 beautiful hours of eye candy. A huge chunk of that book is feelings and emotions and thoughts and they had a really hard time portraying that. But I was pleased. I also just started reading the newest vampire craze by Charlaine Harris... the Sookie Stackhouse series. So far so good.

On a non-nerdy note I'm in the process of converting to veganism. Today is day 13 and I'm doing pretty good so far. I got a little pissed at the company who makes "Veggie Cheese" and throws milk in there just because they feel like it! Technically I'm not a vegan yet because I haven't removed all animal products from my life, but I'm working on it. And the more research I do the more I am determined to continue down this path! Wish me luck.

punisher: war zone review

2008-12-07T15:11:00.000-08:00

i was rather concerned with this new punisher: war zone movie. i am still traumatized from watching the dolf rungren film in the 80s (as an 80s action film it was perfectly fine, but to call it "the punisher" fucking FAIL). the last punisher film with thomas jane made up for that abortion of a film. sure it deviated from the comics a greta deal but did a great job of keeping the spirit of the thing. the trailers for war zone looked full of grade A cheese and i was not looking forward to this. till i got the call that a reliable source saw it and it was good. i had to see it for myself.

i love it when movies start off in the middle of things. the punisher has already been out for a bit and everyone knows he kills criminals dead. that's all he does. like the terminator. sure the police "offically" are trying to catch him, but deep down inside, they love him. he can do the things they cant do. paying the price they wont. he even takes sick glee in the creation of jigsaw (slight comic deviation, but acceptable). jigsaw at the plastic surgeon smacks of the joker in tim burton's batman. let this be a lesson to all plastic surgeons, if you ever have to operate on an insane and deformed criminal, just save time and inject that needle full of air into your arm ASAP. i also do not remember jigsaw having A) a brother and B) said brother being a cross of hannibal lector and the joker.

at least they did a great job of making all these evil doers rememberable and with a unique reason for you to hate them and cheer ol' frank castle on as he puts out their lights. everyone from the stereotypical mobster with his fuck up, emo, coke-head son (oh do not get me started on him. i think it is a him. cannot be too certain with emos) to the carribean parkour catburlars. the sheer amount of gore and vicera flying in the air is on a new scale of awesome. the only place to see more human gibblet pieces in an a B grade horror movie. heads were exploding every other minute. it was great. this was blooder than every other marvel studios movies, combined.

some weak spots i found were the expressedly cheesy parts. hanging from the chandlier, spinning and shooting mobsters by the roomful in slow motion has been done to death. no more, i beg of you. jigsaw's pimp walk with patton-esque speach. and frank's little talk with a priest at what looks to be limelight in new york city (party monster, yeah!). all that i could do without, but what do you expect in a balls out action flick? wherehas i know why punisher has microchip and understand that dynamic, it leaves the non-comic book fan a little in the dark. they are left wondering why he is helping punisher so directly.

personally, i felt the climax of the film was not in the last 15 minutes, but in the first 30. you see, punisher is not out there to punish the bad guys. he is so guilt ridden from his family's death he really punishing himself by fighting a war that will never end, hoping that one day either some street punk gets lucky or a good guy is there the day he fucks up. he is only human.

i give it a bloody thumbs up on account i sliced my thumb open on accident shortly after watching it.

ps fanboy momment of the year is the brad street hotel. if you know, you know.

We may not be able to "Watch the Watchmen" ?

2008-11-22T01:34:00.000-08:00

from http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/08/fox-lawsuit-wat.html :

Who watches Watchmen? It won't be you, if 20th Century Fox has its way (at least not until Fox gets a taste of Warner Bros.' action).

In February, 20th Century Fox sued Warner Bros. over the rights to the DC Comics Watchmen franchise -- insisting that Fox still had a claim on Watchmen after failing to develop the graphic novel into a film.

Fox sought an injunction to stop production until the rights dispute was cleared. But, these big court cases can drag, and director Zack Snyder hustled Watchmen along -- getting a three-hour first cut of the film in the can before any legal action could be taken.

A federal court in Los Angeles on Monday refused to dismiss the Fox lawsuit -- meaning Fox can proceed with an attempt to shut down Snyder's movie in court. The ruling offered no comment on the quality of Fox's case or its potential for success, but clearly the judge found enough merit in the rights claim to let Fox's lawyers take it up a notch.

I am now A+ certified to haxx0r yer pooter b0x

2008-11-15T02:15:00.000-08:00

I passed part one of the test (A+ Essentials) in September with a score of 705 out of 900 (78%)

And two days ago (November 13),I passed part two (220-604, Depot Technician) with a score of 825 out of 900 (92%)

I did much better on the Depot exam (92%), because it focuses on the hardware, and I didn't have to answer all those annoying over-the-phone-computer-tech-support questions.

So now I am officially A+ certified! Huzzah!

So my husband McGyver...

2008-11-07T02:57:00.000-08:00

... has finally "fixed" our interwebs. I don't know the details but I do know there is an $80 wi-fi adapter and a hob-nob antenna sticking off our apartment window. (Similar to the images in the last blog, minus a swiffer). So I can finally tell you about all the amazing graphic novels I've been reading! Firstly, I read Locke & Key by Joe Hill... who is an INCREDIBLE horror writer and is rumored to be Stephen King's son. FYI, Joe Hill totally trumps Stephen King if this is true. If you haven't read Heart Shaped Box yet I highly recommend you go out and get it right now! But anyways, as soon as I saw he had something to do with a graphic novel I had to read it. I finished it on my lunch break at work. INCREDIBLE!!!! It's only volume one and I can't wait for more!!!

Secondly I finally got to read The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button. Which was very good. Another quick read and interesting story. Which is going to be a new movie starring Brad Pitt. I thought it was great. I'm very interested in seeing what they do with the movie.

And thirdly, I got to read The Fountain, by Darren Aronofsky. So incredibly beautiful. The illustrator is Kent Williams and I was so completely blown away by the images. Really a moving piece of art. Apparently it also is a movie, which I have not seen yet... but it's def. on my wish list!

And lastly, and from a completely different sector of nerdom... TWILIGHT IS COMING SOON! November 21, 2008 we will finally be able to watch the film version on the most incredible vampire saga I've read in a long time. I love the promotion they're doing with this movie, and I honestly don't think they could have picked a better cast. Edward looks amazing... for lack of a better word. And from what I've seen from the previews they are trying very hard to stay as close as possible to the novels. The soundtrack just came out too, which is a Barnes & Noble exclusive but has been so popular they ran out of copies! There is also a movie guide chock full of pictures and some movie magazines have dedicated entire issues to the upcoming movie. Is anyone else as excited as I am about this incredible movie coming out? I have a feeling we're going to be going to a midnight showing!!!! And no, I'm not dragging my husband with me just a bunch of the girls but with this kind of movie it's probably better that way!