Movie: 9 Trailer

I have just found this on the web. It looks awesome! This movie has won a lot of awards at festivals and Tim Burton and the director of Night Watch will be doing a feature film with Shane Acker based on this short film.

[ Links ]
Shane Acker website

[ Source: Twitch ]

Fantasia: Quicky Reviews

Man, I’ve seen a lot of movies and I have so many reviews to do. So here are a few quickie reviews:

 Phantom Master: Dark Hero From Ruined Empire
Well, this is the first collaboration between Korean and Japanese animators and I have to say, it was good. The quality of the graphics were very high standard. But the story lacked substance. Many times during the movie, I felt like I was missing information, like if there was another movie out there explaining things that this movie was not. But beside that, very enjoyable.

 

 Ghost House
Wow, a great movie. I just loved the idea of this movie. Also, a great date movie, as both parties are going to enjoy themselves. There is nothing bad I could say about this movie. The acting was great and the actress, Jang Seo Hee, was very cute. : )
There were a lot of funny moments in this movie, just great!

 

 

 Fighter in the Wind
A martial arts movie about a Korean who beats every Japanese Dojo. The story was great (based on a true story), the acting was good, the martial arts scene were amazing! If you like action movies and kung fu movies, you owe it to you to watch this movie!

 

 

 

 

 Tetsujin-28
I’m glad this was a free movie. I wouldn’t have paid to see this. It’s basically a movie for kids about giant robots. But they were CG robots and they stood out too much in the movie. It just felt like they were not supposed to be there. If you like cheesy B movies, then maybe you’ll like this, but for me, it was just too much.

 Survive Style 5+
Ya ok, this was one weird movie… You’ve got a hired killer from London, a 3 seconds orgasm hypnotism, a commercial producer with some very weird ideas for commercials, a guy who tries to kill his wife(?) and a father who is hypnotized as a chicken. That right folks, one weird movie. Was it good? God ya, I just didn’t understand the meaning of this movie, if there was one. : )

 White Dragon
Ok, this was pretty good. This is basically comedy in a kung fu movie. Surprisingly, the martial arts in this movie are top notch! And boy, Cecilia Cheung is one major hotty. Just to give you an idea of what kind of comedy you can expect: At one point in the movie, a women transfers her knowledge into Cecilia, well, during the scene, you see files transfer from one person to the other, just like in windows when you transfer files.

Movie: SHINOBI Trailer

It looks like a movie of ninja romance. Ya I know, yuck. But after looking at the trailer, I believe it could be good.

I think there will be enough action to satisfy pretty much anybody. Check out the trailer.

[ Links ]
SHINOBI website

[ Source: Twitch ]

 

TV: James Doohan Dies

This is a sad day for many “trekkies” as James Doohan, known as Scotty on the Star Trek TV show, has died on Wednesday morning.

Death was caused by pneumonia and Alzheimer’s disease.

[ Source: Yahoo ]

Cool: World Wind

A Google Earth like software made by NASA, World Wind is taking the Internet by storm. This application is more geared for experienced users but there are a lot more meat in this software than the one from Google; different kind of maps, 3D views, information on natural disasters, etc.

I have yet to try this application out but it seems very interesting.

[ Links ]
Site with resources for World Wind

Cool: Humanoid Robot HR-2

Wow, this little robot is quite amazing. For it’s size, it does a lot and it was constructed in only three months! It’s capable of speech, face recognition, mimicking movements and more.

Go check out the website for a video.

Humanoid Robot HR-2

Comic: The Comic Characters Database

Ever wanted to know something about a particular character in your favourite comic? Well, now you can find it easily by using this comic character database!

Coo: Here Is An Easy Way Of Learning Morse Code

By using a tree structure, you too can learn morse code.

Learn Morse Code

Movie: Ex Machina Movie?

It seems that New Line Cinema has optioned the Eisner-nominated comic book, Ex Machina. Very interesting news and if ever you find yourself in a comic shop, check this title up. It’s a very good political thriller about a super powered mayor.

[ Source: ICv2 ]

OFA: Love-Dolls On The Rise

Japan's struggling flesh trade is starting to bounce back -- literally, as it turns out, because a large number of its hottest workers are made of rubber, according to Weekly Playboy

Disturbing… Just disturbing.

Link to article found on MSN-Mainichi

Movie: Bruce Campbell Info

An interesting read, especially the part about a Bubba Ho-tep sequel. If you’ve never seen this movie, go to the video store right now and rent it!

Check out the story at FilmForce.

Movie: Duelist Trailer

Man, this movie looks like a real winner. The trailer does not show much, but it got style, lot’s of it. This is my kind of trailer!
I’ve always liked snowy scenes.

Go and see it now at the official website.

[ Source: Twitch ]

Cool: Google Moon

Google is at it again, they have just released Google Moon, an extension to their Google Map. With it, you can view parts of the moon, specifically where the moon landings occurred, exactly 36 years ago.

[ Source: Slashdot ]

Fantasia: Kamikaze Girls

OK, how can I start this review. This is one heck of a weird movie, but it’s also one of the best I’ve seen at this point. Japanese pop culture has really bad taste to us westerners, but after watching this movie, I couldn’t stop smiling. It’s a really beautiful movie.

Story:
I’m not going to go into the details, as I feel it’s better to see it without knowing too much about the movie. It’s the story of Momoko, a girl who is obsessed with frilly dresses from the Rococo period meeting up with Ichiko, a bad ass biker chick (she rides a scooter) who spits every minute. As you could guess, Momoko does not really get along with her, actually, she rather go through life alone, buying frilly dresses. They end up in a couple adventures together and end up being friends. If you want a better description, go to the Fantasia website.

Actors:
What can I say, I just loved the two main actors. Momoko ( Kyoko FUKADA ) was just too beautiful in her frilly dresses. She truly portrait the perfect little girl. She has a warp idea of what life should be, and discovers from Ichiko, that you should not go through life alone.

Ichiko ( Anna TSUCHIYA ) on the other hand really portrait the bad girl. From the moment you see her on the screen, you know that she will be a blast!

[-/+]Spoiler

One of the best moments in the movie is seeing Ichiko for the first time, it’s right when she gets off her scooter, you wonder “is that really a scooter? Is she really a biker chick? WTF?”.

 

Music:
I have to mention the music because I just loved it in this movie. A lot of it is because I listen to some of the groups that sang on this sound track, like: Tommy heavenly6, Yoko Kano and others who are eluding me at this moment.

Type of movie:
This one is hard to pinpoint, I would have to say comedy with a little drama.

Conclusion:
One of the best 100 and some minutes. It’s such an amazing movie, the pictures are wonderful and the characters are full of life.

Verdict:
 I give this movie and easy A+.

Links:
Official website (Check out the intro)
More on the story
Fantasia

PSP: Diablo II On The PSP?

Man, I almost flipped out when I read this. It seems in a Blizzard newsletter, they have asked the readers if they would be interested in having a port of Diablo II to the DS or PSP if it would include wireless networking multiplayer options.

There has been no official announcement as to whether there are any development plans for the Nintendo DS or the Sony PSP, but it shows that they are interested in the market especially after the release of The Lost Vikings and Rock 'n Roll Racing to the GameBoy Advance.

That would be really sweet and would make me rethink my “No PSP until next year” policy.

[ Source: PSPUpdates ]

Fantasia: Breaking News Review

I am glad my cousin convinced me to go as this movie was very entertaining. It’s the Chinese version of Die Hard! No joke, this movie is none stop action! A good thing as I was pretty tired when I went to see it and I was afraid of falling asleep but it kept me awake no problem.

Story:
The story is about detective Cheung tracking a gang through the streets of Hong Kong. But it all goes sour when the gang escapes and the whole fight was caught by local TV news casters. Embarresed by their failure, the police decide to use the TV media to help them regain some credibility back. That’s the git of it, there is more but I don’t want to spoil too much.

Acting:
I enjoyed most of the acting, Nick Cheung was great as detective Cheung, he’s one bad ass cop and I loved Kelly Chen as Inspector Rebecca, she reminded me of Colombo, very calm and, well, she has the same eyes : ). But the star of this movie is Richie Jun as Yuan, the leader of the gang. Wow, I loved all of his scenes. He plays a great bad guy.

Type of movie:
This is an all action pack movie. None stop action. There is some comedy, but just enough to not make it into a full blown comedy movie, just like Die Hard.

Conclusion:
A nice action movie, story wise, it could be a bit better but still a nice movie to sit through with some popcorn.

Verdict:
As an action movie and it’s little quirky moments, I give it an B+, it is worth seeing.

Links:
Fantasia movie site
Main website

Fantasia: 4 Movies In One Day Is Too Much!

Man, I’m tired, I’ve just came back from the festival after seeing 4 movies. Man that’s way too much. Anyways, I’ll be posting my reviews during the next couple of days. But one thing is for sure, all the movies I’ve been at this year, are all really great!

Cool: Optimus Keyboard (more)

There is more information on this keyboard; Primotech has gotten an interview with the founder of the company that made this keyboard maker,  Artemy Lebedev.

Here is a little snippet:

We've thought about the first "open-source keyboard". There will be an SDK and some user "keyboard studio" application which will allow keyboard to be customized for any mode or application in any way imaginable, from DVORAK to arranging letters in alphabetical order.

The keyboard should be on the market by next year with a price tag of $200 – $300 USD.

[ source: Primotech ]

Anime: Mai-Hime Second Season

The website for this anime is now up (it’s in Japanese) and offers some information on new characters. It looks like this is going to be in the past, so maybe it’s the story of the last group of  “HiME”.

I hope it’s as good as the last one. And for the people who never watched the original, it’s slow at first but by the middle of the season, it shift gears and gets really interesting! I recommend to everybody who loves anime!

Fantasia: Breaking News Tonight

Tonight I’ll be going to see Breaking News with my cousin. I really enjoyed Running On Karma and I’m sure I’ll enjoy this movie.

Look for a review during the weekend.

IBM officially kills OS/2, suggests switch to Linux

BIG BLUE has hammered the final nails into OS/2's coffin. It said that all sales of OS/2 will end on the 23rd of December this year, and support for the pre-emptive multitasking operating system will end on the 31st December 2006.

It’s finally over… Now if they would only release the source code to the community. Now that would be nice! I can only wish…

Seen on The Register

Cool: OLED Keyboard

This is a really nice concept and it seems there is a prototype of this nice keyboard. The idea being the buttons changes to match the best configuration for the app, be it Photoshop or Quake.

Very cool idea, but I’m sure it must cost an arm and a leg.

Photoshop Keys

Quake Keys

The Optimus Keyboard.

Utils: Very Cool Site With Tons Of Utilities

I found this blog written by Scott Hanselman (I think thats his name), he’s a computer programmer, anyways, he has this list of utilities and programs he uses on a daily basis. It’s a great resource!

Check it out: Computer Zen

Movie: A Few Good G-Man

This is an amazing machimina (videos made by using game engines) production! Check it out!

Seen on Otaku

Cool: Zoho Artform No.1

I had originally seen this a couple of days but it kind of slipped my mind. Anyways, I was just checking the web and found this again and after reading about it some more, I just had to blog this out to the world.

 

It's basically a metallic figure that you can pose any way you want. What's so special about it? Well:

• It contains 920 parts and 101 in each hands!
• There are only 25 made
• They are hand crafted
• You can pose it anyway you want!

Simply amazing! You can go see the website for more pictures. These pictures were taken from The Nonist.

Update: I have contacted the creator of the Zoho Artform and inquired about the price… It’s $30 000 euros and the first one was sold. He should have two more done in 8 months.

News: London's Bombing On Google Earth

The ABC has a News Map for the Google Earth application that recounts the London bombings. I want to extend my sympathies to the families who have lost there lost ones in this cowardly attack.

The map offers images and links to news stories.

OFA: Crazy Japanese Commercials

Holy !@#$, Japanese have the weirdest commercials!

Fantasia: Place Promised In Our Early Days Review

Wow, this movie resembles so much to Voices Of A Distant Star, Makoto Shinkai's first movie. The story is different, but the theme is the same. It's a very slow moving movie, but it still manages to keep you interested until the end.


Type Of Movie: Romantic. This movie is all about the discovery of love between the two main characters.

Story: Hiroki, Takuya and Sayuri make a promise, to fly to the mysterious tower that reaches the heavens. But they never went because of Sayuri, she fell in a coma and was sent to Tokyo to be treated. 3 years later, their promise and bond is still not broken, they are still determined to know the secrets of the tower.

Actors: Well, being an animated movie, it's hard to comment on the actors. Also, being a Japanese movie, it's hard to evaluate the quality of the voice acting.

Effects: Well the movie is very well drawn, with some beautiful drawn scenes of tranquility. It's worth it just to see the images.

Verdict: A
I really enjoyed the movie, it had a really nice touching story. It's hard to follow sometimes, but in the end you pretty much catch it all.

New Features: Website Thumbnail

As you have probably noticed, I have added thumbnail of outside link websites. If it's a bother, just let me know.

Fantasia: Ashura Review

You know, for this movie, I based my decision to see just on this image. I had no clue on what this movie was about. I saw the trailer just a couple of hours before seeing it. I have to say, it was not what I expected. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad movie, I actually really enjoyed it. It's just that there where a lot more of comedy than I expected.

Type Of Movie: Romantic Comedy. Surprisingly, there was a lot more comedy than I was expecting. But trust me, it's quite funny, great one liners. Everybody in the theater kept bursting into laughter!

Story: This movie is about Demons trying to bring forth their demon savior, Ashura, on the human plane. Of course, since Demons can cross over to the human plane, human warriors called Demon Wardens are the humans only protector. I don't want to say too much about the story.

Actors: The actors were quite good, especially the main character. I found him quite good when he did his shows at the theater. The rest was ok but not spectacular.

Effects: Well the effects weren't very Hollywood quality but still pretty good.
[-/+]Spoiler

At one point, when Ashura is awaken, her castle comes down, upside down from the heavens and shoots out fireballs and destroys the city under it. I really liked that part, the effects where really good and it was just great on the screen.

Verdict: A
I really enjoyed this movie and most of my friends did too, only one in 5 didn't really like it.

Fantasia: Place Promised In Our Early Days

I will be going to see this movie tonight. I think it will be good since it's Makoto Shinkai that's making it. Who is Makoto Shinkai you ask, well he is the guy who made Voices Of A Distant Star, a short 30 min movie but that showed the world what he could do. Voices Of A Distant Star was done entirely at home on his Macintosh.

I will have a review tonight, I hope, with a review of Ashura that I saw yesterday.


Here are a couple of reviews of Place Promised In Our Early Days:

• Twitch
• AnimeFringe
  

Fantasia: First Day

I almost didn't make it! When I left from my place, I hit a lot of traffic. I wanted to be in line at around 5-5:30pm. I got there at 6pm, no problem I thought to myself, I was going with some friends so they'll be in line. Nope, we all got there at the same time and I still didn't have my tickets! By the time I got them, everybody was inside the theater. We managed to find some seats but couldn't sit together.

One thing to note, getting the tickets the day of the movie is hell! The line does not move fast because you have people buying so many tickets that it takes a while. One guy, I think he bought like 100 tickets.

The Hall Theater has not really changed since last year, it's still the crappy seats! But they did tell us that Concordia have new seats, they just didn't install them yet. But the rest, video and sound quality, is very good.



I was quite in a hurry yesterday so I didn't take a lot of pictures. I'll get more tonight.

Cool: Jets At Transonic Speeds

Found these images not too long ago and I had to share them. They are high resolution pictures of planes as they past transonic speeds.



You can find more images here. There is also a little movie clip of a F14 passing transonic speeds.

Movie: The Duelist Posters

Here are some images from the Korean movie: The Duelist.





These images are amazing and I can't wait to see more of this movie!

Movie: War Of The Worlds Review

I finally decided to go see War of the Worlds and I was pleased by most of the movie. I have to say, I was quite surprised. I never saw the original so I cannot compare them but this version kept me on the edge of my seat, this is quite a feat!

The only thing is the ending, it felt very rushed. So rushed that you don't even understand what is happening until the very end when they narrator explains the situation. And it's a very weak explanation.


[-/+]Spoiler

Ok, so about the ending, WTF!? You have these super powerful beings that's been planning this attack for millions of years and they don't think of checking the water before drinking it? Like hell. And frankly, the kid should've died!

The ending might not be the best, but I really think it's worth watching this movie at the theaters. The social aspect of the movie (interaction between humans in the movie) is just amazing, it really feels like it's the end, it really shows in the actors. And the special effects are just incredible!



All in all, a good movie to go see.

Verdict: B+

Cool: F14 Model

A friend at work had this video of a F14 model plane with real jet engines. Really nice, it kind of makes me feel like I should finish my model plane that I had started when I was a kid. : )

Gaming: Orisinal

This website has some really nifty little cute games. Very kid oriented but it does have some games which can appeal to the older audience.

Check it out: Orisinal

Movie: Doom Logo

Here it is boys and girls, the official logo for the Doom movie:

Cool: Windows 1.0 to XP Screenshots

This is really nice as I've never seen the early versions of Windows. I'm glad I haven't had to work with Windows 1.0 and 2.0.

Check it out.

Cool+Weird: Female Mannequin Physics Demo

This is really cool, but it does start to be weird when you see the mannequin bend in ways that is not natural...

Check it out.

Funny: Top 30 Courses at Superhero College

This is really funny check it out!

Some samples:

• 21. SOCIOLOGY 118: Mortals and Dating -- Explore Safe Ways to Achieve Intimacy With a Mate Who is Not Bulletproof, Can't Fly and Wasn't Built to Take the Business End of a Super-Sized Orgasm
• 7. SEXUALITY 303: Knowing When "Faster Than A Speeding Bullet" Isn't a Good Thing