WW II bomb disabled in Belgium

Isn't it "funny" how the Second World War keeps affecting the lives of people even now?

Recently, in the Belgian town of Evergem, a bomb weighing well over 900 kilograms, dropped by the Americans sometime in 1944 to take out a German fuel depot (or so I heard) was found during renovation work at Total Company.

Lots of people from the neighbourhood were evacuated while the bomb was being defused.

If you can read Dutch, the following link may actually be helpful:
http://www.vrtnieuws.net/cm/vrtnieuws.net/nieuws/regionaal/Oost-Vlaanderen/070930_Ertvelde

Valkyries with attitude

"I've got your close-up right here!"

(Picture taken from Macrossworld.)

One Winged Angel - Live

The Final Fantasy games are known for their high production standards; not only in terms of game play, but also in terms of good stories, interesting characters, inspiring graphics, and great music.

The track "One Winged Angel" by regular FF composer Nobuo Uematsu from the climactic battle against Sephiroth in FF VII is very wellknown and popular among fans, for, I think, obvious reasons.

Because, you see, it's FRIKKIN' AWESOME!!

Here's a live performance of this piece:

Game Retrospectives at Gametrailers.com

The computer and video games website Gametrailers.com has been making an excellent series of retrospectives of wellknown game series, among which the Metroid series of games and the venerable "Final Fantasy" series, among others.

The retrospectives cover the entire history of these games, sometimes literally covering decades of gaming history in the process. The Final Fantasy series in particular has a whopping 10 episodes to watch!

Check it out at http://www.gametrailers.com/retrospective.php

Macross Intro

Here is the original Japanese intro to the Macross series.

Anime Goodies

I've always loved giant robots, from back in the age of Mazinger and Grendizer to the more "realistic" mecha anime, such as Gundam and Macross.














Check this one: http://www.yamato-toys.com/items/detail.php?gid=114

For those familiar with the series Super Dimension Fortress Macross, this particular vehicle looks vaguely like an F14 Tomcat but is something even cooler, namely: the VF-1A Valkyrie, a vehicle that can transform! Robotech fans will probably know it best as the Veritech Fighter.

It has 3 modes: fighter plane mode, "Battroid" robot mode and an intermediate "Gerwalk" mode where it basically looks like a fighter plane with arms & legs.

This particular model is the Valkyrie model flown by Hikaru Ichijo in the Macross feature-length animated movie Macross: Do You Remember Love?

Check this entry at Macross World for a video guide on transforming the toy, and here for some more pics. Oh, and here is a review.

Blade Runner is back!

Not that it was ever gone or anything, but I needed a catchy title. Blame me!

Expect the Blade Runner "Final Cut" out in December, in several different sets, the highlight being a briefcase - modeled after one Harrison Ford's character Deckard uses in the movie - containing no less than 5 discs, containing the new Cut and all the previous ones including the legendary "Workprint" version.

On top of that, there will be a documentary, several featurettes, and a special appearance by Bingo The Clown and his Exploding Gerbils!

OK, I made up one of the above. Guess which one! Win exciting prizes! (Yeah, RIGHT!)

Anyway, for those familiar with one of the top websites covering all things Blade Runner, I'm happy to announce that BRMOVIE.com has resumed activity and is constanly being updated by a team of corporate vat-grown cyber-enhanced ninjas as you read this!

Check this page in particular if you want to find out more about the new Final Cut edition:
http://www.brmovie.com/BR_Special_Edition.htm

Cyberpunk Review

Some time ago, I came across a site called CyberpunkReview.com.

As the name suggests, the site posts reviews of everything and anything remotely cyberpunk. Books, games, TV series, movies, you name it. People are also allowed to post comments.

http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/

More about Goldorak / Grendizer

I just wanted to mention a great website about all things Grendizer.

http://www.grendizer.net/

It's an Arabic site - as I mentioned in a previous blog Grendizer was big in many regions, including the Middle East - but fear not! It does have English text so reading it shouldn't be a problem. Which is great because this happens to be one of the best sites about Grendizer I know about. There's lots of stuff there, including the complete soundtrack.

Highly recommended!

George Lucas In Love

This one has been out for a while, but I wanted to mention it anyway. Inspired by the romantic comedy "Shakespeare In Love", this is a fictional dramatization of George Lucas' days as a struggling college student, and about the things that would inspire him to later make Star Wars... and this movie about a talking alien duck.

Running at about 8 minutes, this parody is great fun, chock full of inside jokes and references. Check it out!

Oh... And make sure you keep watching while the end credits roll... There's a bonus scene.

Things to dislike in computer and video games

I haven't actually blamed stuff in a while.

How about this one? FPS and/or action games featuring jumping puzzles!

I hate jumping puzzles. You know the sort. You have this action game, maybe a first person shooter, and since somehow fighting for your life and defeating your enemies isn't enough, you suddenly are tested at how good your reflexes are, when you have to make your way across some obstacle or series of obstacles, jump over bottomless pits, or whatever. And if you miss, it's reloading time.

What great fun!

No?

No, I didn't think so either.

This kind of game challenge originated in so-called platform games such as the Mario Bros. games and others such as Sonic The Hedgehog and its sequels and spinoffs. And in my opinion, that is where they should stay. Those games are all about that sort of challenge - reflexes, timing, that sort of thing. I'm not interested in that type of game, so it really is annoying if I have to deal with it in an FPS, or adventure, or whatever.

I think it's poor game design, or a misguided attempt to cater to all tastes.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut

Fans of science fiction and Really Good Movies, rejoice! Ridley Scott's masterpiece "Blade Runner" is about to be unleashed upon us in its "Final cut"!

Check out Warner Brother's official BR site at:

http://bladerunnerthemovie.warnerbros.com/

(You need Flash Player installed to view this or else you are, basically, seriously screwed.)

More on the Live action Goldorak/Grendizer movie

Here's a short "making of" featurette. Unfortunately it's in Italian without any subs, but it's still pretty cool to watch.

Goldorak live-action film trailer

In the 1970s, manga artist Go Nagai had enormous success with a series called "Mazinger Z". This was followed up by 2 other series, "Great Mazinger", and a series called "UFO Robot Grendizer". All of these series featured near-indestructible fighting machines that defended our planet from various evil forces.

Grendizer, while in Japan not as successful as the Mazinger series, was (and amazingly still is!) hugely successful in many countries in Europe and the Middle East. In France and Québec Grendizer became Goldorak. Generations of people, including me, grew up watching this series.

The trailer you see if from a bunch of Italian dudes who also grew up with Grendizer (or Goldrake as he is known in Italy) and I must say it looks pretty darn good!

I don't know what their chances are of ever making a full-length movie, but I hope they will pull it off somehow.

"Goldorak, GO!"

P.S. The Ultimate Showdown of Good vs. Evil! Grendizer vs Megatron! Who will win? I think you know who I'm rooting for.

Japan - Nightporter

I have a pretty varied taste in music - from specific pop songs over film music , electronic and new age to classical music.

This one has been a favorite over the years. Based on Erik Satie's "Gymnopédies" series of music, this song is absolutely drop-dead beautiful.

Adventures in toothbrushing

I never used to brush my teeth. For the longest time I used to brush my fingers instead!

But then I found the toothbrush instructions and realised my mistake!

... I'll just get my coat now.

Angriest dude EVER!

I guess everyone knows who Leonidas was by now. Even the average school kid who generally knows jack about history! Or about what is supposed to be common knowledge . Or geography. Anyway...

So Leo was this cool dude desperately in need of some serious anger management, who lead an elite force of 300 Spartans to stop the invading forces of the Persians.

A little known fact is that Leo did NOT die, but rather lived another 2000 years, and decided to start a chain of chocolate shops in Belgium!

So whenever you visit one of these shops, don't mention the Persians. He still gets worked up over that.

All together now:

"THIS IS SPAAAAAAARRRRRTTTTAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

Diablo 2 Commercial

I've been a big fan of the Diablo games ever since early 1997. Check out this great commercial made for the release of Diablo II.

Neuromancer - The Radio Play

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

Remember that line?

Check this site if you are interested in the 2003 BBC 2-part radio dramatisation of William Gibson's 1984 novel: http://piglet.ex.ac.uk/pallas/teaching/media/.

From there you can either stream it or download it as 2 mp3 files.

Meanwhile, I notice IMDb lists a Neuromancer movie project due in 2009.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037220/

I hope this time it's for real.

Cats vs. Pollution!

Move over, Batman! Here is.... The Cat!

In the 1973 Flemish-Belgian TV series "De Kat" (Dutch for "The Cat") a company called Af-Val (as in "afval", literally "Trash") is responsible for high-level pollution of a river near a small Flemish town called Holebeek.

One guy decides to take up the fight against this company - just talking to them apparently doesn't help - and becomes a sort of eco-terrorist/vigilante, trying to bring them to their senses and do something about the pollution. To keep his real identity secret, he calls himself The Cat, and wears a superhero-like outfit with a stylized cat mask. Think Batman, but without the cape. Or Robin! Uhm, anyway...

This was a pretty popular series on Flemish TV, of of several penned by writer/screenwriter Lode De Groof, and through reruns over the years, generations of people grew up with it.

This series was ahead of its time! Environmentalism, making people aware of the problems and dangers of industrial pollution, and the search for solutions, making life better for everyone.

To its credit, the baddies weren't cardboard 2-dimensional. (Well, not all of them anyway, but I'll get back to that.)

The initial bad guy of the story, the company's boss, a man called Oskar Dias, is initally very much opposed to The Cat and everything he fights for. However, as the series progresses he is forced to re-evaluate his views, and eventually reluctantly makes peace with The Cat and his growing group of merry rebels, after first his niece - and later on his own wife -willingly join them.

Unfortunately the series is dumbed down somewhat by the inclusion of Dias' Bumbling Henchmen(tm). While originally conceived by the series' writer as the company's strong-arm squad, some of these thugs are pure comic relief, and often seem barely able to tie their own shoe laces, let alone catch any intruders. Only on accasion do they shown signs of actual intelligence, and actually manage to accomplish their objectives.

Although the series supposedly took place in this nondescript Flemish rural town, in reality it was filmed on location somewhere in the sunny south of France. So what you see in the series is a Flanders that never existed, lending an almost surreal quality to the series.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0231882/

Ghost In The Shell - Music Video Anthology

I've been a big fan of the Ghost In The Shell series for many years. So far it has consisted of several manga, 2 animated movies, two TV series and one feature-length special based on the TV series. Other than that, there have been at least 3 games over the years, made for the Playstation, PS2 and the PSP. So anyway...

Recently I got me the "Ghost In The Shell Music Video Anthology".

http://www.beez-ent.com/products.php?sId=298

The set consists of a DVD and an audio CD. The DVD's main feature is a number of music videos using tracks Kenji Kawai's score set to bits of scenes and backgrounds that were used in the movie. Those make up about half an hour worth of material. Then there are 3 other separate clips in the extras section: basically 2 more clips, one of which is the "Follow Me" song (but this time without the singing voice), the bit with the toy basset hound dog you saw in the movie, and an interview with Kawai, which isn't particularly interesting. And that's basically it.

What there is certainly nice, and there are some brief unseen bits, small pieces of footage I don't remember seeing in the movie, or in one case, the yakuza bar/hideout but without any characters. Other than that they are just clips from the movie, sometimes with quotes from various literature appearing on top. A nice touch were the DVD's menus that were modeled after the orange-coloured 3D computer interface graphics and sound FX used in Innocence, and Avalon before it.

Other than that, the set comes with an audio CD that contains the complete Innocence soundtrack. Which is great! Unfortunately I had a copy already, but for those who happen to be looking for the album, well, it's included in this set, and it makes up, I guess, for the fairly short amount of content on the DVD. After all, the music is what the set is all about.

Other than that, the set has liner notes, a small booklet containing the English Lyrics from the songs used in Innocence, and 5 "postcards" showing screenshots from the movie.

Verdict: I have mixed feelings about this set. As the reviewer here states (http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/gits2videos.php) the DVD could, or maybe SHOULD have been a bonus disc to be included with the movie itself. Apart from very short clips of unseen footage there isn't anything new to people who know the movie.

What is there sure is nice enough. The clips and music are taken out of the context of the movie, and as such make good background video stuff to drool over, or run while you're doing something else.

Recommended for GITS fans who didn't have the soundtrack yet, or the completists who just want it all.