Dyson's Fear 3.0

I expect to be owning a Wii in the near future

Why?

Labels: video games

posted by Jason @ 12:23 PM 0 comments

I guess Jerry Lewis is out...

I'm not going to quote the whole thing, as the title says it all:

Amitabh Bachchan gets top French honour.

Huh? No kidding.

Labels: pop culture

posted by Jason @ 10:54 PM 0 comments

The Host

Coming March 9th...

Labels: movies

posted by Jason @ 1:29 PM 0 comments

Media rundown

Yeah, time for one of these again.

Watching: On DVD - Makai Tensho: Samurai Reincarnation, Future Cops, Return of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), Invincible Iron Man, Swords of Vengeance: The Fall of Ako Castle, Executioners, and more episodes of Ultraman. On TV - Stargate Atlantis, Smallville, BSG, Heroes, and The Dresden Files.
Listening (to): The Aquabats.
Reading: Asian Cult Cinema by Tom Weisser.
Playings: Cold Winter (which I've completed), Super Monkey Ball Deluxe, and Final Fantasy XII.

Labels: media rundown

posted by Jason @ 11:28 AM 0 comments

I'm sick of fandom

Yeah, I've said it before, but now I think I'm really done with it. (And I think I've said that before.) I'm sick of people taking offense of critical thinking. This isn't taking offense at a differing opinion, which is still pretty stupid, this is taking offense at suggesting that something isn't perfect.

While I'm not going to bother linking to it, I suggested (almost word for word) in a thread on RPGnet (yeah, yeah, I should know better) that we Firefly/Serenity fans might be better off with the little we have, as Whedon's track record with TV series is uneven at best. For this thought, I'm chastised and dismissed.

Mind you, we're talking about people who refer to people they don't know, haven't met, and will never meet by their first names. We're talking about the fans who call Joss Whedon 'Joss', or Richard Dean Anderson 'Rick', as if they were best friends. We're talking about people who think that Whedon is perfect, and suggesting that he's anything less than a god is blasphemy.

I guess what I'm talking about is fan entitlement and misplaced attachment. We're talking about people who self-identify with their adoration of the geekier edges of pop culture, and not by their own achievements. We're talking about the people who think that the achievements of their WoW character actually mean something, and actually propel them into some kind of elite. Which they aren't.

I can't have conversations with these people, as there is absolutely no depth to the conversation. You either mindlessly adore, or you're 'the enemy'. There is no middle ground. These people make me ashamed to enjoy what I do, and because they're so prominent in geek circles, I've been forced to ostracise myself because I don't want to deal with these freaks. I can't game anymore because I can't find the normal people amongst all the emotionally crippled, pseudo-intellectual peons that make up the unclean face of geekdom.

I'd say that I hate geeks, but I'm fully aware that I'm one too. That said, I don't self-identify with my interests, I'm just highly aware of them. Others identify me with them, but they're not what I consider my defining traits. I'm reminded of Gabriel Kroener (check out his demo reel), the obnoxious Trek geek from the first 'Trekkies'. He behaved exactly how these people do, but he had the chance to see his behaviour from the outside, and changed. Now he's a well-adjusted, married guy in the special effects industry (with Zoic studios, the people behind the effects on BSG and Firefly) and seems to self-identify with being a professional with geek interests, instead of being just a Trek fan. Kudos go out to that guy, and I wish that more people would get the opportunity to see exactly how they act from the outside.

Also, I wish that somebody'd drop 25 million bucks on my doorstep, too.

Yeah, like that'd happen.

(Update, 4 hours later: I happened to find this site, a Godzilla fan site, and I just figured it's a perfect example of what I dub 'fandumb'. The most astoundingly dumb part of it is this rambling, full page butchering of international copyright law. Why do such a great deal of other G-Fans have to be such utter knobs?)

(Update #2: Apparently, my spell-checker prefers 'offence' over 'offense', but personal aesthetics prefer 'offense'. Neither one looks right, but 'offense' looks less wrong.)

Labels: pop culture, rant

posted by Jason @ 9:20 AM 0 comments

For your Hero sandwich, to be eaten in your House of Frying Daggers...

Appropriated from the soon-to-be-former Kaiju Shakedown.

Labels: pop culture

posted by Jason @ 10:44 PM 0 comments

Future Cops

Well, here's another Asian film that defies descriptions, it's Wong Jing's star-studded Future Cops.
That said, it's nowhere near as good as any of the other description defying Asian movies I've attempted to describe in the past.

Basically, this one asks a very serious, potentially life altering question:

What if the characters from Street Fighter were cops from the future, and they had to come back to the past in order to pretend to be high-school students in order to protect the kid who will become a judge in the future?

I'll let the brain swelling go down before I continue.

Better now?

Okay.

Anywho, for the record, you really don't need to know what's going on in the trailer. Basically, the movie is exactly what the trailer shows, zany hijinks bookended by over-the-top action set pieces. There's even a scene where the characters enter a game of Super Mario Bros.

Yes, Super Mario Bros.

If you're familiar with Wong Jing's movies, and actually like them, you'll like this. It's mo-lei-tau comedy taken to it's extreme, especially when you consider the completely insane premise of the film. My question is what did Wong Jing have on these people? I mean, it's almost a who's-who of HK talent circa 1993. You've got Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Simon Yam, Charlie Yeung, Aaron Kwok, Richard Ng, and Chingmy Yau.

Well, I know what he had on Chingmy Yau, and it's what a lot of guys wanted to have on her. What ever happened to her, anyways?
I really don't have an opinion on this movie. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Do I think it's good? Hell, no. Do I think it's one of the stupidest premises to ever defecate on the silver screen? It's up there, yeah. Do I think anybody else will like it? Dunno, hard one to guess, but most likely not. Would I recommend it? Probably not, but I felt that it was well worth the 7 bucks I spent on it, and I'm not ashamed to add it to my collection.

If anything, I've got a better opinion of this movie than I do of Saviour of the Soul. Mind you, I went into this one with lowered expections, and went into the other with far too much HK fanboy hype. It's a bad, bad movie, but one I kind of liked. So take that as you will.

For a completely different take, read this.

Labels: asian pop culture, movies

posted by Jason @ 4:46 PM 0 comments

Two quick video-game questions

1. Why the hell is Super Monkey Ball so beloved? I bought it yesterday, and it's harder than hell. Katamari Damacy it's most definitely not.

2. Why the hell wasn't Cold Winter a bigger success? It's got a great story, and the action is quite satisfying. Maybe it's the Warren Ellis video-game curse that also sunk Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising.

Labels: video games

posted by Jason @ 8:17 AM 0 comments

Wait? You mean to tell me they're allowed in the first place?

This article, from MSN/Sympatico, made me scratch my head.

Ont. minister says cellphones shouldn't be in class

24/01/2007 11:05:32 PM

Ontario's education minister has added fresh fuel to the debate over cellphone use in schools.

Ont. minister says cellphones shouldn't be in class

On Tuesday, a Toronto trustee called for a ban on the devices which can allow users to take photos, send text messages, chat and surf the Internet.

Toronto District School Board Trustee Josh Matlow speculated that cellphones could be misused in the classroom. He said phones equipped with cameras could be used to take photos of examinations or even to search the Internet to search for answers.

"If I was taking a test I could go on to Google and get the answers pretty quickly."

Matlow said he has also heard reports of students "going into locker rooms in other cities and taking photos or videos and putting them on the Internet."

Rick Johnson, the president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association, says teachers and school boards are struggling to catch up with technology.

He agreed that text messaging and camera phones can take cheating to a new level.

Johnson said school boards may have to develop policies to establish rules for cellphone use in schools, but said at the moment it's up to schools and teachers.

It utterly blows my mind that the question is being asked. Of course they should be banned, just like any other electronic devices or, for that matter, the chewing of gum. I mean, we wouldn't be questioning the use of a portable DVD player would we? Granted, cellphones shouldn't be banned outright, but they shouldn't be allowed in classes. That's just a no-brainer.

It's like the mind-blower my mother told me years ago. When she was in college, they actually allowed people to smoke in class. Granted, it was the early 70s, but still....

Labels: news

posted by Jason @ 11:59 PM 0 comments

If only I'd known...

Yesterday was Shinichi 'Sonny' Chiba's 68th birthday. So, I guess, a happy belated birthday to him is in order.



The above pic is from Shogun's Samurai: The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy, if I remember correctly, as I don't remember that costume in Samurai Resurrection which I just watched the other day. I could very well be wrong, though.

Labels: pop culture

posted by Jason @ 11:49 AM 0 comments

Heroes

Well, that was a day well wasted. I just got myself caught up on the entire run, so far, of Heroes which has spanned about 12 hours (counting time running around.) Man, what a great show, and I'm glad I spent the day catching up. I've just downloaded all the webcomics, sorry, 'graphic novels' and ploughed through Hiro's blog. I'm about as caught up as caught up can be, with the exception of the comics.

Anywho, consider this a ringing endorsement of the show, and it's definitely worth the hype.

Also, it looks like I'm the only person to catch the TARDIS in the background of one episode.

Labels: TV

posted by Jason @ 10:41 PM 0 comments

The real reason Eccelston quit

Granted, only about a handful of you are going to get this, but it's pretty funny for those who do.

Labels: TV

posted by Jason @ 11:11 AM 0 comments

Blog update

I've added a link to Denis McGrath's blog, Dead Things on Sticks, which basically deals with Canadian TV related topics. Denis is a good guy, and someone I've corresponded with a few times while he was a producer at Space: the Imagination Station. He's now taken up writing full time, but he still does know Canadian TV intimately.

Labels: update

posted by Jason @ 11:09 PM 0 comments

WoW, I was sort of expecting Cartman

Here's the real Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins. Not what I expected to be, for starters, he looks normal.

Also, for those who have no idea what I'm talking about, check this out. (I won't bother to imbed it.)

Labels: video games

posted by Jason @ 5:30 PM 0 comments

You gotta love Jack Black

Y'know, the more I hear about the guy, the more I appreciate him. This is one of those stories.

From the CP, by way of MSN/Sympatico:

Black turns film role into reality, invites boys to perform with Tenacious D

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - Jack Black turned his "The School of Rock" role into reality when he plucked two preteen musicians from obscurity and asked them to perform with his rock band.

Black played a teacher who turns his class into a rock band in the 2003 comedy, directed by Richard Linklater. The 37-year-old actor-musician was touring New Zealand's South Island with his two-man band, Tenacious D, when he spotted the boys performing for money in central Christchurch on Monday.

Impressed, Black asked the young duo to open Tenacious D's Christchurch gig on Tuesday, according to media reports.

Drummer Max Tetley, 11, and guitarist Alex Philpott, 10, said they didn't sleep the night before the concert and had practised their song - Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" - only about 10 times before the performance.

"We'll be scoring heaps of chicks," Christchurch's the Press newspaper quoted the duo as saying.

Labels: pop culture

posted by Jason @ 12:35 PM 0 comments

First media rundown of the year

Yep, first one, and I'll make it brief.

Watching: Supernatural Season 1, Shogun's Samurai: The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy, Ultraman vol. 2, Crank, Wasabi, Empire of the Wolves, Makai Tensho: Samurai Resurrection, and Stargate Atlantis season 3 on TV.
Listening (to): Traci Lords' 1000 Fires.
Reading: This and that, and some Sengoku.
Playing: Not much of anything, work's been taking up time, but I took Grandia III and Clock Tower 3 out for a spin.

Labels: media rundown

posted by Jason @ 11:55 PM 0 comments

So that's why that Trek convention smelled that way...

Labels: pop culture

posted by Jason @ 11:13 PM 0 comments

Crank

My god, what did I just watch?

I loved it, but man....

More when I get a coherent take on the film.

Labels: movies

posted by Jason @ 11:04 PM 0 comments

Jay's first Penny Arcade reference

I'm not a regular reader, but I probably should be. Hell, why not? I'm going to add Penny Arcade to my links list. Anywho, I present this:

Labels: comics

posted by Jason @ 8:16 PM 0 comments

Okay, I tried...

I tried watching Dragon Boys. I really did, but it just wasn't very good. It wants to be HBO. It wants to be Hong Kong. It really just ends up being bog-standard CBC. (I'm watching the Maritimes feed, in case you were wondering.)

I haven't been this disappointed since I tried to watch the Blade TV series.

Labels: TV

posted by Jason @ 7:43 PM 0 comments

Blog update

Y'know, I've decided to prune Robin Laws' blog from my links as well.

Why?

Because he's boring, and seems to take his game designer status a little too seriously these days.

For that matter, Justin Achilli's and Wil Wheaton's are gone too. Justin doesn't do much with his anymore, so there's no point in keeping, and Wheaton's gotten as boring as Laws.

Labels: blog update

posted by Jason @ 3:31 PM 0 comments

Sociopathy is painless

The more I read internet boards, the more I realize that humans are naturally stupid. Now, it could just be that the internet is just a magnet for concentrated stupidity, which I might not be too far off in thinking, but I think that the law of averages must apply to it. If the gross level of stupidity on the net is to be taken at face value, then humanity is naturally stupid.

Personally, I don't think I'm all that intelligent, but from what I've seen, average intelligence seems to be lower than mine.

What's the point of this rant?

Not quite sure. I think I just had to have the mental equivalent of a shower after visiting the IMDb. Man, is that place a cesspool.

Oh, and a welcome to my repeat visitor from China. Xie Xie. Thank you for visiting.

Labels: rant

posted by Jason @ 12:17 AM 0 comments

Oh, Bit-torrent, thou hast failed me

Well, I guess it's my fault for trying to find a copy of Traci Lords' album 1000 Fires, and all I could find was porn... which, I suppose, makes it kiddie porn since, apparently, ALL of her work was done underage. I've heard good things about the album, and I guess it's lost to time now.

Update: Heh, never thought to check Amazon, considering how they never seem to have the rare stuff.

Labels: music, tech

posted by Jason @ 10:36 PM 0 comments

Hooray for ACTRA!

The Canadian film industry is having troubles due to the strong Canadian dollar and ACTRA threatens to 'illegally' strike. Boo-hoo! We're not getting paid enough, so let's scare off the remaining productions by threatening to strike instead of actually talking*. Way to go ACTRA, great job of killing off potential work there. We're proud of you.

Granted, people rightfully should be compensated for new media stuff, be paid fairly, and should get raises, but that's what negotiations are for. All threatening to strike does, in this case, is scare productions away. I'm generally pro-union, but sometimes unions just don't think things through... like this time.

(*Yes, I'm aware that they relented on the strike talk and went back to the table, but it's still not a smart thing to do in the current economic climate.)

(Note: I've brought it back now that others have made far more inflammatory remarks than I have.)

posted by Jason @ 3:15 PM 0 comments

Blog update

I'm removing the link to City on Fire.

Why?

It's really gone downhill, and Ningen21 is an annoying little prat. It's become a mouthpiece for Asian cinema fanboy prattle, and well, that sort of crap got old years ago. 10,000 Bullets is a more coherent, if less polished, place for such things with Kung Fu Cinema and LoveHKFilm being as excellent as they ever were. There's no place for the pointless City on Fire anymore, and I hope that the site dies out leaving the superior ones to pick up the mantle.

posted by Jason @ 1:25 PM 0 comments

Ever wonder about the Japanese porn industry?

Well look no further... well, unless you want actual porn that is.

Midnight Eye feature: Company Matsuo and the World of Japanese Adult Video

Labels: asian pop culture

posted by Jason @ 11:06 PM 0 comments

I just don't get it...

Somehow this search brought up a link to my blog, yet when you do that search, it does not bring up a link to my blog. The thing is, I can totally understand why it would as I have talked about CatIII movies in the past. I just don't get how you'd get a direct link to here from there.

Update (like 2 minutes later...): This search, however, puts me at #4. Stupid Yahoo.

Update (like 30 seconds later...): Of course, now that I did the latter search, the former search now brings up my blog at #4. Gah.

Labels: tech

posted by Jason @ 10:54 PM 2 comments

Happy Belated Anniversary to this place

Hey, I just noticed that I've been blogging for just over four years now. Man, that's a lot of time and effort wasted. :)

posted by Jason @ 6:57 PM 0 comments