Don LaFontaine

In a world where movies need trailers to inform the public, one man can make a difference...

You know him as the Movie Trailer Guy, the Voice of God, The King of Voice-overs! This is a short documentary/interview with the man himself. Check it out.

The nature of Monkey was IRREPRESSIBLE!

This is one series I fondly remember seeing on the BBC in the early 80's. Based on an old Chinese story, and no doubt very familiar for all the Dragon Ball fans out there...

On farmland no one can hear you scream!

I've heard about alien technology, but this is ridiculous!

Ridley Scott introduction at the Jules Verne film festival

The recent Final Cut version of Blade Runner was shown at several film festivals all over the world, including the Jules Verne Adventures Film Festival. Unfortunately director Ridley Scott couldn't be present, but he recorded a little introduction speech for the audience. So check it out, and oh, make sure you watch it until the very end...

Blade Runner - The Revenge of The Final Reloaded Cut

Those who know me know that I'm a big Blade Runner fan.

This year, after what feels like a million years of waiting, the "Blade Runner: Final Cut" has been released.

Among other things, a bunch of technical shortcomings of both the 1982 "original" release and the 1992 Director's Cut version have been corrected while the movie's audio and video were enhanced & improved upon.

The result is well worth checking out, even if you have already seen the movie a 145 times (as I have).

The website Digital Bits has put online an extensive article on the Final Cut DVD set(s).

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviewshd/bladerunnerfinalallver01.html

Best steampunk rocket design EVER!

Not many people know this, but the space race was started by the French in the late 19th century!

At one point in his career, writer/inventor/pro kickboxer Jules Verne commissioned Alexandre Gustave Eiffel and his army of mutant spiders to build him a rocket that, if finished, would have put the French on the moon. Which would have made them impossible to live with. Wait - they're already impossible to live with! Well, never mind.

But anyway, the project was ultimately abandoned due to financial reasons, and the Eiffel tower ended up as the landing beacon for aliens, as we now know it to be.

No, really!

Not for the squeamish - Singapore officials rap

Soooo... who thought this would be a good idea?

Still, there's some morbid pleasure to be had watching it - a bit like watching a train wreck.

This reminds me of a funny thing that happened to me! (Aren't you glad?)

I once got invited by my local branch of the Flemish Public Employment Service to what eventually turned out to be a recruitment movie for the Belgian army.

Apart from footage showing off the raw mechanized death power that is the Belgian army, it featured some obnoxious kid rapping away, that all but caused spontaneous spastic seazures with half of the unsuspecting people who turned up.

Strangely, I didn't sign up.

Some thoughts on Highlander

I've always loved Highlander. I loved the first movie foremost, but I also quite enjoyed the TV series. Unfortunately, the movie sequels have been of varying quality, putting it mildly, even though I still manage to enjoy some of them.

The latest one in the series of HL films, Highlander: The Source, is sadly the worst of the lot, IMNSHO. It throws much of the established mythology out of the window, the fights aren't very exciting, and the villain is more weird than menacing. There is little wit or humour to be found either.

It's a shame because I like the series a lot. I like the cast of the TV series (although I wish they hadn't killed off Connor in the previous movie) but it's just not a very good film.

To be honest I got me the DVD anyway because:

• It was sold cheap (unsurprisingly)
• I wanted to keep my collection complete. (Of the movies anyway.)
• Because that's the sort of insane person that I am! Blame me.

Anyway, just to have something non-depressing to include in this post, here's the final moments from the final episode of the IMO rather excellent TV series.

Just Thinking About (The) Internet

One more thought about the Internet. THE Internet. Why are people calling it "the Internet"? Doesn't that suggest there are other Internets? Maybe that's what got Dubya confused when he mentioned the Internets!

Why not just refer to it as Internet? That's what they do in Holland and Belgium, BTW. Don't ask me how I know! I could tell you, but then I'd have to blame ya!

Internet Shocker!

Research by British scientists has revealed that the Internet is indeed a truck after all!

According to Intelligence reports the Internet can often be encountered when cruising the highways of Transsylvania!

Here's a photo of the Internet sitting between unsuspecting regular trucks.

Dominion Tank Police

In the early nineties, inspired by the success of Katsuhiro Otomo's mindblowing Akira, a wave of anime releases started being released in the West. One of the companies involved was Manga Video, nowadays known as Manga Entertainment.

In around 1993 they realeased a line of anime titles including Akira, Fist of The North Star, Project A-Ko and a hilarious OVA ("Original Video Animation") called Dominion Tank Police, based on a manga by Masamune Shirow, of Ghost In The Shell fame.

Dominion Tank Police was a funny series about a police force that used tanks as patrol vehicles, usually causing more damage than any bad guys could ever hope to. What's more, the English adaptation had a great cast of voice actors that made the series even more fun.

In the clip you see the adrenaline-pumping intro Manga Video animation, followed by the English intro for Dominion.

Even more Goldorak stuff

For the 2 people reading this blog - possibly counting me & myself - it should be clear by now that I'm into anime. A LOT!

Here's the French intro of UFO Robot Grendizer AKA Goldorak.

For an alternative intro check here! Or here for a more recent version. (I know, confusing, huh?)

Blame This gets gaming counterpart

I just started up another blog, dedicated to games, gaming, gamers, the mating rituals of mutant cucumbers, etc.

So if you're into computer and video games, be sure to check there every now and then! Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Highlander The Anime

Did you know there's an anime Highlander movie out?

It's called "Highlander: The Search For Vengeance" and was made by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, whose team has been involved in tons of stuff including Cyber City Oedo 808, Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, and the Animatrix segment called Program.

If you like anime and Highlander this just might be worth checking out.

For more information check this Wikipedia entry. There's also an official site with a trailer. Check Sci Fi Weekly for a review.

Let's dance safely!

Here's an (in my view, anyway) oddity from the 80's. I don't know very much about the group "Men Without Hats", or the meaning behind this song, or the clip, but I've always found it intriguing.

I'm not sure what though. I always found the singer interesting; he looks permanently pissed off about things, which is a trait I can surely admire, since I am myself permanently pissed off about certain things! But I digress...

There's an interesting anachronistic contrast in the very 80's synth music versus the medieval surroundings we see in the clip. Remember that movie "A Knight's Tale"? This clip, and the song, would have fitted in perfectly!

Humongous Game Demos

Today I downloaded a demo of the PC game "John Woo Presents: Stranglehold".

It was a whopping 1.96 GB!

I guess that, as games and software in general are getting more sophisticated and take up more space, it is only to be expected, but this is getting ridiculous. Especially when you consider that some of us do still do not have unlimited download capacity...

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