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.

Hercules vs. Michael!

In 1995, a new TV show called “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” (HTLJ) caused a sensation in TV world. Loosely based on the rich mythology of Ancient Greece, and, as the series progressed, featuring Norse and African mythologies and religions as well, up to and including the rise of Christianity.

It proved so popular it spawned 2 spin-off series, among which “Xena: The Warrior Princess”, a series that at one point surpassed Hercules in popularity, if memory serves well. The success of these shows also resulted in countless lookalike shows using a similar formula, among which a Conan series and the underrated gem called “Roar”, starring Heath Ledger.

But I digress. Back to Hercules & Xena! An interesting theme that at one point, both shows began featuring a recurring theme, a larger arc if you will, of the death of the old gods, Norse and Greek alike, while newer religions and godlike beings are rising.

Enter “Revelations”, one of my favorite episodes of HTLJ, where none other than the archangel Michael shows up, apparently plotting to destroy humanity, and start the world over anew. In this he enlists the help of his old buddies, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Naturally, ol’ Herc is not amused, and with his buddy Iolaus and the reluctant help of his half-brother, Ares, the Greek god of war himself, he decides to take on the archangel and his apocalyptic allies.

This is in - my humble opinion, naturally - one of the better episodes of this series. It has all the usual ingredients: lots of action, the series’ typical humor, the clashing of different mythological beings, cats & dogs living together... The works!

As it turns out, the episode is available in 7 parts on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuArF2jIWlk

The Skeletor Show

Someone told me about this one; it's called The Skeletor Show. A funny parody series obviously based on the old Masters of The Universe animated series.

Follow the daily life of the Lord of Destruction himself, as he manages his empire of evil!

Here's the link to Episode 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61E2eI4QqH4

One of my favorite moments is the intro to Episode 7. Ever wanted to see Skeletor do opera?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn_DU7qcMbg

(That's real opera, not the browser...)

There's 10 episodes so far, the latest one numbered 9.5.

Oh, and don't forget the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zBGW6CdlWo

My IMDb movie reviews

In those rare moments when I'm not plotting world domination, or working on my singing career, I sometimes indulge in writing movie & game reviews!

You can read the ones I wrote for the Internet Movie Database, where I'm known as "Sentinel-15", here:

http://www.imdb.com/user/ur0809041/comments

Enter The Smurf

In our ongoing series "Europe's contributions to world culture" I present...

Father Abraham & The Smurf Song!

The Smurf Song is basically, well, a song about the Smurfs. No, REALLY! The Smurfs, as you may know, are are creation of the late Belgian comic artist Peyo; Father Abraham dedicated a song to them way back in the 1970's.

You can hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Pl7Oa8BtY

Be afraid. Be VERY afraid!

"Father Abraham" is a Dutch singer, and is fairly well-known in Holland and Flanders. "Vader", BTW, is not only Luke's father, but is actually the Dutch word for "father". So, Vader Abraham!

Here's his site: http://www.vader-abraham.com/

Wubi - user-friendly Linux Ubuntu installer for Windows

I just learned about something called Wubi. Sounds like a new Furby or something similarly sickeningly cute.

What it is, is a Ubuntu Linux installer for Windows. The neat thing is that it doesn't require a separate partition, or even a boot disk.

You download it, you run it, and Wubi will create a virtual drive. Next time you boot you will boot into a menu where you choose between loading Windows or Ubuntu. Should you ever need to uninstall it, it works just like uninstalling a Windows app. You boot into Windows and run the uninstaller; you know the drill.

Check this site for more information: http://wubi-installer.org/

By the way, I learned about this on the latest show of DL.TV, an online tech show; http://dl.tv/

Optimus goes vegetable!

He's a robot! He's a potato! He's an... Uhm, what?!

Now I've seen everything!

A Mr. Potato Head version of Optimus Prime! Face-plate and other parts are removable, and there is a moustache included, which is funny since that kind of makes him look like Peter Cullen! Not sure if he'll be pleased with that, but hey...

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/9431/
http://www.seibertron.com/news/view.php?id=10436

I.M.P.S. Relentless

http://www.impstherelentless.com/tek9.asp

Last weekend I learned of a SW fan film project named "I.M.P.S. Relentless". Originally meant as a spoof on shows like "Cops" and other so-called "reality" shows, this is about daily life in the Imperial fleet.

Production values and SFX are surprisingly good, and could compete with the best of what's on TV nowadays.

So far there's been a trailer and 1 episode, both featuring narration by Peter Cullen.

Vangelis & The Web

I'd like to formally blame Vangelis.

You know, Vangelis, the famous Greek composer & synthesizer pioneer, highly regarded by intelligent people with refined taste in music! (Yes, I'm a fan. Why?) Not Vangelis the brick layer, not Vangelis the singing pony, not... Well, you know.

So why do I blame him? Not because of his music which I have always liked a lot.

No, I blame him because of his official website. Did you know he even had one?

Well, he does. Here's the link: http://www.vangelisworld.com/

Go to it and you'll find an announcement for his "upcoming" album Oceanic.

Oceanic was released in 1996... 11 years ago! Yes, folks, the page has looked like that for 11 years. It's never been updated. Never.

Even I am not that lazy! Sammit!

Transformers

Having grown up with Sci-Fi and anime often featuring giant robots, transforming or otherwise, I had been eagerly awaiting this live-action adaptation of the Japanese/American phenomenon known as Transformers.

Well, I've seen it several times by now, and I LOVE it! Seeing screenshots of the movie doesn't do it justice; you have to see these things in motion. There's lots of action, lots of humor - even though not always to my taste, to be honest - and we meet up with some of our favourite childhood characters.

Speaking of which, returning to his role as [the voice of] the iconic Optimus Prime is veteran voice actor Peter Cullen (http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=peter+cullen). I'd go to see this movie just to hear him talk. According to one reviewer, he "sounds like a cross between a badass action hero, the guy who does the movie trailers, and God" (http://allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:322407~T1) which I think is a rather good description.

The story revolves around an artifact called the Allspark. This "allspark" has existed in various TF continuities meaning different things or concepts accordingly. In this movie it is a device that... Well, maybe you should find out for yourself.

In the mean time, there's some really nice toys out, such as the one featured here:
http://powet.tv/2007/06/11/powet-toys-transformers-movie-leader-class-optimus-prime/

In fact, I got him myself! Blame me.

ShadowBlame Part 2 - The Return of The Sequel

OK, Shadowrun's been out for a while now. Guess what? It's been generally received as a disappointment. Well, duh!

According to the reviews I've read, it's basically a Counterstrike variant with a few twists. Other than that there's too little variation in maps. Too shallow, too short.

What a shame. Here's hoping they will do a new RPG adaptation one day.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=77198

Miss me?

OK so I didn't post for 9 billion years. Blame me!

But now I'm ba-aaaack...

ShadowBlame

The good news is, there's a new Shadowrun game coming up!

The downside is: it's going to be a shooter, not an RPG as you would expect for a game that was originally a pen & paper RPG in the 1st place.

It's like taking a tabletop wargame and making a word processor or something! Sort of. I guess.

The SNES RPG adaptation from the 90's was brilliant! IMNSHO of course! It just seems a waste NOT to take the RPG route here.

Anyway, at least the trailer looks cool enough. Check for that and more on the official site:

http://shadowrun.com/

Blame Runner

If Blame This was made into a movie, what would it be called?

But never mind that. A wellknown French terrorist who is known on Usenet as "Jules Verne" - the name is of course a tribute to the late French karate champion & ornithologist - used the game The Movies to create this homage to (or parody of) Ridley Scott's science fiction classic Blade Runner. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/)

The result can be found on Google Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5752010990124102238&q=blame+runner

If for some strange reason you happen to be French, go here: http://video.google.fr/videoplay?docid=5752010990124102238&hl=fr

Blame Lukas (not Lucas)!

Many people feel like blaming me, even when I'm not blaming them!

A truly fantastic situation which was celebrated a while ago with the creation of a line of disturbing items, which can be found here:

http://www.cafepress.com/blamelukas/

The picture is an old picture stolen from the FBI's Most Wanted (for Blaming) list, based on my appearance from back when, aside from a slight brain augmentation, I was still almost completely human!

This classic line of products was thought up not by me, but by a friend who is actually a [mostly] friendly AI construct program called Norm, who is currently running the NukeM-All killer satellite which was kindly funded by the Walt Disney corporation.

Blame ze French!

I would like to take a moment to intensely blame the French.

I find them very annoying because:

1. They speak French! Most irritating, that.
2. They live in France! Which means they occupy a lot of otherwise perfectly fine land.
3. They persuaded the People of Walloon to speak French too, wich is a pain in the... neck, since that means I have trouble figuring out what the hell those damn Walloons want anyway!
4. They replaced Dragon Ball Z's intro song with a horrible French kiddies song. I have never forgiven them for that! Damn you, Club Dorothée!!!!
5. They replace ALL TV series' intros with French songs. Those b*st*rds!!!
6. They tend to be weird. Anyone who idolises Jerry Lewis is weird. Oh yes.
7. See point no. 6