Specifically, Michael (MP3), a rap acapella from Maniac Mansion. Jebus!

Thanks to easysay3k for pointing it out.

If somebody were to do it first, the Japanese are sure to be front in line. With all the advances in technology these days, it was only a matter of time until they (specifically Sakakibara Kikai) created a man-powered walking robot–mecha, if you will–seemingly plucked straight from anime and video games. This page has videos of the mecha walking/sliding/turning… it looks rather precarious. Then of course, a shooting example, as there is a machine gun in its left arm, but it only shoots those pink cushion balls, I do believe.

Anyway, I’m not a Japanese expert. I ran this page through my Japanese-speaking sister and she thinks it seems legit. It still could be CGI or just clever camera angles and simple robotics, but hey… it looks like the way of the future.

I don’t know whether to be frightened or think this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Like, ever.

Thanks, dirte, for the heads up.

This is blood for blood and by the gallons. This is the old days, the bad days, the all or nothing days. They’re back!
Marv, Sin City

Nothing better can sum up the premise of fan boy Robert Rodriguez’s latest film foray. Such is his devotion to this work that he gave up his Director’s Guild membership to have non-member Frank Miller co-direct. Rodriguez pal, Quentin Tarantino, also joins in the fun.

Frank Miller’s Sin City—and if there was any doubt of the source material, the opening credits makes no mistakes—is film noir revitalized. Busty broads, busted convicts, and busted heads all have their turn to shine, making this two-hour long movie seem like two minutes.

The film goes through four of Miller’s stories in the Sin City universe in a non-chronological order—”The Customer is Always Right,” “The Hard Goodbye,” The Big Fat Kill” and “That Yellow Bastard.” The world of Sin City is so dark, so depraved, touching issues regarding the most vile of human vices, that it’s definitely not a movie for the weak of heart, or unflinching morality. There are bad people in this film; bad people that do bad things to other bad people, and even innocent people, and if you can’t stomach that, I’m sure you can still catch the matinee for Miss Congeniality 2.

Let me tell you, castration is in the plural for this film.

Stunning, and other frivolous adjectives could easily describe the visuals used to bring this graphic novel to life. I’m not going to even go into it further, because seeing is really believing.

Not only was this an experiment in filmmaking, this was another way for actors to shine. Pretty hero-types John Hartnett and Frodo—I mean, Elijah Wood—are excellently cast against type. And of course, Mickey Rourke, who I last saw beating up Enrique Inglesias in front of Jennifer Love-Hewitt, does a lot more damage to the mooks littering the film—and manages to paddle some electricity back into a previously flat-lining career.

The rest of the cast doesn’t disappoint as they keep tongue firmly in cheek, delivering some dangerously cheesy lines with healthy aplomb. But it works. It all works. The men are manly, over-the-top macho, and the women… ah, the women.

Miller makes sure that all fantasies are covered—the women read like a list of every type a man could desire. From Alexis Bledel’s baby-faced innocence to Rosario Dawson’s commanding presence as Gail, no man will leave with at least one of his types featured. It’s interesting to note that all the women in the film but one play prostitutes, though the film won’t let you forget that these babes are no pushovers, as a certain climactic point illustrates in bloody mayhem.

Sin City is a treat for the eyes and for all moviegoers out there sick of the pristinely pure, politically correct offerings out there. This movie is raw, viciously violent, and pure movie entertainment.

Have fun, and keep your family jewels protected.

First pic is an oekaki from here and the second is a classic one, I remember seeing these years ago, but it’s still good.

Namco X Capcom is a turn based RPG that features 200+ characters from both companies like Ryu, Jin, Arthur, and KOS-MOS. I don’t know about the system, but the game was originally meant to be a Namco all stars RPG to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. The game will also have an anime intro made by Production IG.

IGN has more details

Sounds like serious fun to me. And how can you resist a game with our beloved Capcom characters in an RPG setting from the creators of Xenosaga? And with anime sequences by Production IG (same people who did the Kill Bill anime sequence)! It’s set for Japanese release in May 6. I hope North America isn’t being an ass and looking this game over.

Thanks, Delurio, for the heads-up. Screenshots found here.

A recent study in Adelaide is leaning towards the latter.

Compared with when their dressings were changed under the cover of painkiller drugs alone, the children reported much less pain when they were allowed to also play the computer game.

The average pain score with drugs alone was 4.1 out of 10, compared to 1.3 out of 10 with drugs and use of the computer game.

If this is the case, I wonder what it will mean to those anti-video game zealots who claim that video games lead to violent behaviour–I suppose now that these kids are still in the hospital, they can be easily restrained or treated for their erratic and abusive behaviour from playing these games. </sarcasm>

Microsoft has enlisted Hironobu Sakaguchi, credited with creating the legendary “Final Fantasy” series of role-playing video games, to make two games for the next Xbox game console, the company said Thursday.

Interesting news, especially around EA and 3DO founder Trip Hawkins’s recent prediction: My magic eight ball says [Nintendo] will be acquired by Microsoft within five years.” Of course, Nintendo officially denies any of these rumours.

Wow, I never thought I’d see the day. As a giant fan of the Final Fantasy series, and especially its beginnings in Nintendo, this news comes to be a little bit of a surprise. Sakaguchi is a legend and Microsoft seems determined to raise the stakes. And, well, might just get this non-Xbox fan to reconsider her position.

Hmm… the plot thickens.

Comic Book Resources first spread the rumour, and O’Malley responded with an enigmatic statement:

“There are movie rumblings. It’s pure chance, the divine whimsy of Hollywood, and I’m sure you know I never wrote towards that, and I continue to write completely divorced from the idea of this possible movie process, but it does exist and I’m not resistant to it.”

Finally, Joe Nozemack of Oni Press, publishers of the graphic novel, makes the rumour official and points to this link.

To say I’m excited is an understatement. In the volatile world of movie making, the negotiations, deals, what-have-you, may fall through. But I’m crossing my fingers because enormously talented individuals are involved here.

Oh, and I’m hoping they may decide to shoot in Canada and that I somehow get to be an extra. As is the wish of his seemingly endless internet acquiantances, I’m sure, but I digress.

BTW, Scott Pilgrim, Volume 2 is available at the end of February. Check it out! It will be awesome.

How many times have you asked “I like [this series], what else would I like?” The Anime Recommendation Database will help answer your question, and give you anime recommendations.

Genius.

OverClocked ReMix is a website dedicated to reviving the video and computer game music of yesterday, and reinterpreting that of today, with new technology & capabilities. This site’s mission is to prove that this music is not disposable or merely just background, but is as intricate, innovative, and lasting as any other form.

It’s become one of my favourite sites on the internet of all time. I love listening to re-imagined pieces of video game music in original piano compositions or conversely, classical music turn into club dance tracks! If you’re a composer yourself, or a remixer, masher, or whatever kids call DJs and other music producers these days, you can definitely contribute to OCRemix. And it’s great for us happy listeners, too.

What self-respecting game geek has never heard of Squaresoft aka Square Enix’s Final Fantasy franchise? The game has already spawned several offshoots and its twelfth incarnation is already in progress, solidifying the oxymoron of the name.

Its movie spin-off, Final Fantasy: Spirits Within, was a box-office flop for its dead-eyed CG characters and flimsy story line. However, despite this set-back, it hasn’t stopped their master CG movie makers from trying their hand at more cinematic Final Fantasy.

Enter Final Fantasy: Advent Children, a sequel of sorts to the wildly popular Final Fantasy 7 game (which is arguably the best Final Fantasy in terms of game play, music and story, next to FF6). While it’s being slated to be direct-to-DVD, it’s generating the buzz of a fanboy hyped theatre release. The official website has a 4 minute trailer for us to drool on, and for those who don’t understand Japanese, there’s a bit-torrent link to a movie containing both the fan subtitled version of the trailer and the American-release trailer. IMDB also has an official listing of the movie which names all the Japanese voice actors. Let’s hope the American dubbed version is half-way decent, else just default to the English subtitled version.

Don’t forget to check out Adventchildren.net, a very thorough fan-run website all about the movie!

It’s a neat little tool that converts all types of units in one little piece of software. Try it out!

From the article, Xerox openly talks about this technology, and Canon has also been cited but has been unavailable for comment.

It makes one wonder how many more secret government initiatives there are embedded in our office machines.

Thanks SEB.

via: waxy

Ah, Wikipedia. How wonderful are thee?

A small Internet phenomenon on Futaba Channel, the OS-tan (OS for Operating System, and -tan as an overly cute Japanese honorific for a person, specifically a child slurring “-chan”) or simply OS Girls are the personification of several OSes, most famously Windows, by various amateur Japanese artists. A pure fan creation, the appearance of each character is generally consistent across artists. OSes are almost always portrayed as women, the Windows girls usually as sisters, despite sometimes seeming the same age.

Wow.

Apparently, there’s also an entire sub-culture of this. I had thought that this picture was an isolated fan art incident, but apparently not.

Thanks, James

Now, apparently, this conditioning may actually have benefits in the “real world.” Sean Silverthorne, Editor of Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge, recently interviewed the authors of Got Game: How the Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever.

It’s an interesting read. Here’s a snippet:

Q: Today’s work environment is largely about team performance. Aren’t gamers loners?

A: This is one of the huge points creating the generation gap. Gaming is actually much more social than boomers understand. A lot of it is very social, done with friends, and now increasingly, over the Internet. Maybe as a result, gamers really value other people—more than people who didn’t play games growing up. They also firmly believe in a team environment.

But they’re not egalitarians—they believe someone should lead, they are generally happy to do it, and they have more skills than other people their age, more fluency with different leadership styles.

props: cameron

From The Gunbuster Index:

The war between mankind and the Uchuu Kaiju (space monsters) didn’t end after Noriko had disappeared in the final battle.
The military conflict between both combatants has been continuing on. No one can match the Uchuu Kaiju (space monsters)
in battle. The only exception to this is “TOPLESS”, the fighter group consisting of only children having supernatural powers,
and Buster Machines operated by them. Nono is a young girl fresh from the countryside and a candidate to become a space
force pilot. She meets Raruku who is the strongest member of TOPLESS. Nono adores her as her “Oneesama” (senior sister).
The Uchuu Kaiju are closing in on Mankind’s home planet once again. Nono fights them in order to aim for the top together
with her teammates, Nicola and Chiko.

For the uninitiated, Studio Gainax is most well known for releasing Neon Genesis Evangelion (aka Eva), the controversial–because it was deep in religious metaphors, Oedipal complexes, and uber-sexy under-age femmes–mecha anime.

If that doesn’t ring a bell, other popular offerings of Gainax include FLCL (aka Furi Kuri), KareKano (aka His and Her Circumstances), Nadia (aka The Secret of Blue Water), and the cult hit, Otaku no Video, which in essence is a mockumentary of anime proportions.

If those animes sound like your style, give Gunbuster 2 a try!

This conversation in Typographica suggests different types of typefaces to use instead of the default Courier font while you code for easier reading, use, and dammit, it’s just prettier. It started in November of 2003, but the suggestions still continue!

From the thread, I found the wonderful Anonymous font from Mark Simonson studio. I now use it in HomeSite, and how sweet it is.

Hat tip: kottke.

edit: Five minutes after I posted this, I found a sizeable resevoir of Programmer’s Fonts. Enjoy!

She gets Rasmus Rasmussen’s freeware WriteThis. From the site:

The tool generates writing exercises, based on a set of keywords and criteria. It can generate characters, locations, items and special rules, and you – the writer – have a specified number of minutes to combine these things into a story…

…WriteThis can generate more than 25 million different exercises and with each new version, even more are added. The current version is WriteThis 2.0 BETA, featuring some powerful new features — such as addition of custom exercises!

I like this program because it’s light, simple, and amazingly useful for what it is. And best of all, it’s free!

It’s an insanely well made parody of… well… everything anime. A fan may be able to pick out all the songs they’ve used, and some of the other series nods throughout the way. Anyway, if you want to have a good laugh, check it out.

Shop The States tries to fill the void with their personal mail forwarding service. The process is simple: they give you a personal American address, then you use that when you’re filling in your personal shipping information, they will receive your package and then e-mail you several shipping options to choose from, you choose one, and they ship it that day.

Until more online shops become more savvy and tap into the international market, this seems like a nice enough solution. Check it out!

You get Battle Royale — a controversial pulp hit that made the book a runaway best-seller in Japan, and spawned not one, but two films, plus a manga series.

Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie offering, Kill Bill, was littered with Battle Royale references–most notably, the casting (Gogo Yubari, played by Chiaki Kuriyama was in Battle Royale I, while Sonny Chiba who played Hattori Hanzo [the name also a reference to Battle Royale] was in Battle Royale II).

In short, the story is about a randomly selected class of Jr. high kids that gets put into a government “Program” where they are taken and put into an isolated island or location and are forced to kill each other, until one survivor is left.

The books, movies, mangas, as well as the translations for all three each have differing viewpoints to every aspect of the Battle Royale storyline.

It’s a sensational and violent story, but one that has deeper emotional and psychological touches. I urge you to check it out!

If Garfield comic strip is to Network TV, then Sinfest is the equivalent to HBO–the online comic strip is a funny, acerbic view on society, religion, and pop culture that regular newspaper syndication can’t handle. Creator Tatsuya Ishida doesn’t need syndication–the futility count is 11–because since 2001, he’s been churning (daily!) strip after strip following the irreverant antics of Slick, Monique, their friends and various religious icons.

Come on, who can resist a strip that has an excerpt from the Blaxploitation Funk Bible?