Movie: Transporter 2 Trailer

I don't care what people say, I loved the first movie. It's not the best movie I've seen but it was entertaining and I think the second will be as good.

Check out the trailer and see for yourself.

Movie: The Dukes Of Hazzard

I have to say, I'm not too proud of myself. I know this movie is going to be mediocre but while watching the preview for the first time, I was giggling like a little school girl.

You know, I loved The Dukes of Hazzard when I was a kid and I used to watch it everyday after school. I wanted to drive the General Lee, a 1969 Dodge Charger, so that I could do what they did on the show. Even now, after seeing the drift video, I have renewed my love for the car.

Hoping it's not going to be a total flop...

Personal: My San Diego Trip On Google Earth

Well, now that we have the tool, I thought it would be nice to try it out. So here are some places I went on my trip to San Diego.

Google Earth San Diego

If you do not have Google Earth, you can download it from here.

As of this posting, the download page is down. It should be back up soon.

Review: Batman Begins

Warning this review might contain some spoilers.

I finally got to see Batman Begins and I have to say it is amazing what they did with this license comparing the other Batman movies. I only enjoyed the first Batman and I believe it's because it was the first one. It does not come close to this new movie.

The cast was just perfect. I had my doubts about Christain Bale but he really pulled thru and was just great as Bruce Wayne and Batman. He had the perfect voice for Batman. Cillian Murphy was amazing as the Scarecrow, I love that villain. Can't forget Micheal Caine, he was probably the best Alfred ever!

They really managed to pull off a great story, it really shined! Especially that you don't see Batman before the second half of the movie.

Verdict: A+

Cool: Google Map API Released

Google, will you ever stop amazing me? Well, Google listened to us all and released an API to add Google Maps to our webpages or even the ability to add overlays to the maps. Developers have been hacking Google Map ever since it was released and now can officially make their hacks legal.

We will be seeing some interesting Google Maps addon soon from developers.

Seen on BetaNews

Cool: Google Earth

Google just came out with their Google Earth application which is similar of google maps but with some added features. It's actually a remake of the Keyhole application that they bought.

I've been playing with it and it's really fun. It has a lot of cool features like:

• Driving direction using placemarks
  
• Save map with information on it (placemarks, directions)
  
• Printing
• Tons of layer information
• Overlays
  

It's just fun to go from one place to the other to see the zooming out and zooming in effect. : )

Here is a little example, this file will zoom in to a stealth fighter. (You need Google Earth installed)

Cool: Mathmos Air Switch Lamp

Very cool, these lamps are controlled by moving your hand over them!

Cool: Zombie Dogs

Has science ever seen horror/zombie movies? It's never a good idea to bring people back to life... Well, scientists managed to bring back to life dogs that were scientifically dead by using a technique similar to cryogenation.



They should start testing this method on humans within next year!

Seen on Slashdot

Movie: Mark Hamill Robotech Interview

I don't know how I missed this, but somehow I did; Mark Hamill is doing the voice of "Commander Taylor" in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.



There's an interview with Mark Hamill on ShadowChroniclesNews.com
It's actually an interesting read, no information on the new movie...

OFA: Only From Asia

This is a new feature where I'll be posting some things, weird things that can only come from Asia.

And for our first Only From Asia story: Asian Fetish Cuisine



Do you know what this is? Maybe this will help...



Or maybe this...



That's right, a restaurant with a theme!

Be scared! Be very scared...

Seen on UselessJunk (There are more photos)

Fantasia: The List Is Out!

Ye, the movie list is finally out. I've looked thru it and I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed. There are still some good movies lined up but it looks more geared towards horror like movies. Also, it still at the Concordia cinema hall and I really hate it's seats. You constantly feel like your sliding off the chair. I miss the good old times when it was at the Cinéma Impérial.

Anyways, I'm sure it's going to be a great festival. And as promised, I'll be posting reviews and photos of the event.



Now, down to business, here is the list of movies I will probably go see. I will have the official list when I get my tickets.

Japanese:

• Ashura
• Kamikaze Girls
• Place Promised in Our Early Days, The
• Phantom Master: Dark Hero From Ruined Empire
• Ghost Talker's Daydream
• Survive Style 5+

Korean

• Ghost House
• Another Public Enemy
• Fighter in the Wind

European & North / South American Cinema

• G.O.R.A.

Hong Kong

• White Dragon

Square Jaw Theatre

• All

Japanese Short Films

• Kakurenbo
• Migakagami
• Pussycat Great Mission!

Yike's, what a list. Well, it's actually pretty standard, every year, I have a huge list. So I'll update when I have the tickets and the date that I'll be going to.

Blog: Superman & King Kong

There are blogs for those two films that you can follow as they film the movies.

Go see Superman

Go see King Kong

Found on The Cool Hunter

Funny: Foamy

It's funny, I've been surfing the web since it's started and I still find some new things: like Foamy, it looks like it's been out for a while. Anyways, this is some crazy animation. Very funny shit. I watched a lot last night. Please note that these animation are vulgar and not for little kids.



One of the funniest is the Tech-Support show.

Gaming: Tsuro

"It plays like a timeless strategy game similar to Go or chess". This a powerful statement, but the guys at Wizkids think they might have a classic in their hands. I first heard about this game in February and I was quite excited to see what they would produce. Not a lot of information was released then but I have just now found some new material.



Build your own Path without your opponents steering you in the wrong direction-or off the board! Tsuro is the quick-playing game in which directions can change as easily as the game plays. The rules are simple: You place your stones, select your tiles, and attempt to build a safe Path for your journey. The Paths of other players cross and connect, so the choices you make affect all the journeys across the board. Tsuro is recommended for 2-8 players ages 8 and up. Stay on the right Path-your journey begins here.

Benefits and Appeals

• Tsuro is fun, fast, and exciting!
• Elegantly designed and easy-to-learn rules
• Exceptional value?entertainment for the whole family

Contents

• 1 game board
• 1 Dragon tile
• 8 markers
• 35 playing tiles

Seen on Wizkids

Cool: Nasa's Nanosatellite

Remember SeaQuest? The show about a super submarine in the year 2032? Well, that submarine had these "Whiskers" which were satellites that would record and send data back to the SeaQuest.



Nasa must of seen that show because they've been working on a similar version. They have just demonstrated there Nanosatellites which are the size of a volleyball. They are free flying (in zero G I would believe) and have cameras mounted on them. They can be used inside or outside of the spacecraft.



Seen on Engadget

Cool: Messages In Real Time

This is really cool, there is a web cam set up to look at a computer screen. You type your message and you see it pop up in the screen seconds later.

Check it out: Reality

Personal: 10th Year High School Reunion

Wow it's amazing to see so many faces that you remember seeing in high school, except now you don't remember nobody's names. I felt bad, but at least I was not the only one. This has been one heck of a night, seeing old friends, discovering that they are now married and have kids, what a shocker!

A friend of mine made me realize that, deep down, nothing really changed. You could see during the night, that old gangs would hang out together. It felt like high school, minus the name calling. One thing I did notice was that most of the people that would make fun of me or my friends are now all friendly and when asked about the name calling, they deny, saying they don't remember doing that. Except for one that actually felt bad about that which was really nice.

Me and my friends weren't popular in school, we were the weird nerds that played roleplaying games and talked about Star Wars all the time. One thing to note is that by the end of our high school year, we had one of the biggest gangs in school.

Anyways, it was really great to see everybody. I have to say, that most haven't changed at all, they still had the same face. It was like nostalgia being there, it felt like high school again.

A great time.

New features

Hello all, as you can see, I've added a new feature: Tooltips. These will be used to add information to my links as sometimes images will go to websites and others show a bigger image. As it's not always clear, I've added tooltips to indicate what will happen when you click on it.

Let me know if this is a bother.

Asian Cinema

I'm a big fan of Asian cinema and I have to say, these past years have been becoming quite interesting for us fans. There is a lot more coverage of Asian movies and a lot more coming to our shores. The interesting thing is that they are quite different from country to country. You have Japanese cinema which is mostly sci-fi movies and anime. Chinese movies are mostly kung fu and silly comedy. Thai movies are relatively new to me, but what I can see is that they are very action packed martial arts movies. Korean movies are known for their amazing comedy movies. Vietnamese is mostly unknown to me. I've only seen a couple of Vietnamese movies and they are not very action oriented.

As you can see, each country has it's own strength and they are having more exposure here in North America. I have to say, I can't wait to see what movie will be shown at the Fantasia festival here in Montreal. By the way, the site for the festival will up by the June 22nd. I'll be making lots of reviews and taking lots of pictures of this event. I'll also try to get some reviews from friends.

Exciting times...

Movie: Mercury Man

Wow, I am really excited about this movie. I don't know exactly why since I have not seen any trailers yet but I think it's just because I've never really seen any super hero from another country. It will be interesting to see if it resembles our super heros.



Mercury Man is a Thai super hero movie that was made by the guys that made Ong-Bak. So this should be an action pack movie with lot's of pain!

Movie: Specter

Specter is a Sci-Fi Japanese movie and it looks like it could be good, in a low budget kind of way. : )



Anyways, you can check the trailer or the official site.

Found on Twitch

Movie: Tom-Yum Goong

Holy shit! I freaking dare you to watch this trailer and not wince and feel the pain these guys are receiving. I dare you!



Now I thought Ong-Bak had great martial arts in it but just looking at this trailer, Ong-Bak looks like amateurs trying to do martial arts.

This movie is going to bring pain, real pain!

• Other trailers here but site is slow.
• Official Website (slow)
  

PAIN!!!!!

Review: Howl's Moving Castle

This week I had the chance to go see Howl's Moving Castle at the theater. I have to admit, normally I know about every anime that will show up in North American theaters but this time, I had no freaking clue what this movie was about. But one thing is for sure, if it's made by Studio Ghibli, then it will be good. And Howl's Moving Castle has not disappointed me at all.



I have to admit, the story is strange; it has magicians, witches, warfare and of course, love. It is a very beautiful movie, the images, as all Studio Ghibli movies, are very tranquil and passive. This kind of art style always mixes well with the stories they are telling.

I will not go into the story as I do not want to spoil it and if you do want to know, I'm sure you can find it on the web. But trust me, the story is solid.

This movie has not let me down at all and is a nice story for kids of all ages. There is a bit of violence but not graphic violence, no blood like in Princess Mononoke.

Verdict: A

Gaming: Halo 3 To Support 50+ Persons In Multiplayer?

Wow if this could be true! Now this is only rumors so... You know, this could be just a pile of crap. There are other rumors like Co-op Campaign and more.

I'll be praying for most of these rumors to be true.

Seen on Kotaku

Cool: Star Wars Origami

That's right kids, paper is not only used to write on, you can create you favorite characters and vehicles from the Star Wars universe with it.





Who wouldn't want there own X-Wing or Yoda.

You can check out some diagrams on how to make some of these at the Star Wars Origami and ORiGAMi.

Cool: Game Commercials

GamePressure has a bunch (2400+) commercials of video games from all over the world. It's interesting to see how they defers from country to country.

Cool: DataTiles

This is very nice, Sony made these tiles which can be put on a special screen and each tile has a different function, from showing the weather, playing video to controlling other tiles.



It's a very interesting concept. There is a video of these tiles in action. You can check out the Sony's site on these but there is not a lot of information.

Seen on Gizmodo

Game: Guess The Google

This little game is so ingenious! I mean, it's so simple yet very addictive. Basically, the game gets images from the google image search and you need to guess the word used to find these images.



Go check it out.

Cool: SithSense

This is a cool Star Wars theme 20 questions game. What is really fun is the cameo of different Star Wars characters in the background. The interface is also very well made.

Go and check it out: SithSense

Movie: Rustboy

This guy is making a homemade 3D animation using off the shelf software and I have to say, it looks amazing!



Go check out his amazing work!

Movie: New War Of The Worlds Trailer

Check it out!

Movie: Deleted Magic

I did not get the chance to see this yet but it's a documentary which shows deleted scenes and alternate footage from the Star Wars movies.

Go check it out.

Tech: Compress A Full DVD In A Fraction Of It's Size

That is what students from a couple of Universities are saying. There software is capable of compressing a full DVD (menus, extras, the whole thing) in one file and is only a fraction of the size of the DVD.

Now this is nice and all, I haven't downloaded the software yet but I did check out the forums and people are giving it mixed reviews. Some say they good really good quality and others say it's crappy. Of course this is the first version and it can only get better. This is a software that I'll keep an eye on.

Go check out their website RatDVD

Cool: Inside A Tornado

This is amazing footage! This guy made these disk like recording units and put them in front of a tornado. We get to see it, up close and personal! Very cool.

It's a technological first. A well-placed probe fitted with 7 video cameras—6 with a 60-degree field-of-view designed to achieve a full 360-degree field-of-view (one failed during deployment, resulting in a 300-degree field-of-view) and one pointing upward—captures footage inside a tornado, providing visual data on ground wind speeds where the storm does the greatest damage. And Tim Samaras with his team of storm chasers are there to make it happen.

Very nice! Go check out the video at the National Geographic site.

TV: Spaceballs Animated?

It looks like Mel Brook's movie Spaceballs is going to be made into an animated series.



It could be interesting, I hope they don't screw it up.

Seen on Variety

Cool: Stealth Bomber Seen On Google Maps

Check it out!

Cool: Tie Fighter Computer Mod

This is really cool, this guy made this really awesome computer mod.



Its just amazing!

Go check out the article on ExtremeTech

Movie: George Clooney is Optimus Prime in Transformers

Well this is interesting, it seem George Clooney is going to be doing the voice of Optimus Prime in the Transformer movie.

I'm not sure if I'm ok with this. I was hoping they would use the original voice actors but as it turns out, they seem to want a totally new cast for this movie.

Seen on The Movie Blog

Cool: Tactapad

This is really nice. This could replace touch screen and add some extra features like two-handed amd tactile feedback.



Check out the movies, it's really interesting to see.



Seen on Engadget