Weekend Review: Dec 22nd & 23rd

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Walking Dead (iOS)
We are still woefully behind on the TV show, but the first episode of Telltale's game is out for free as of this week. I actually bought the whole arc (5 episodes) on Steam earlier this fall. Then COD came out and I never went back to it. So dipping my toe into the iPad version is only problematic should I buy the thing twice. Which seems more than likely given my need for a couch based game in the evenings. My wife with her awful TV and I with my iPad full of zombie nightmares.

Gundam
My desire to assemble a massive Lego kit has been a driving force this Fall/Winter. Only stunted by the sky high prices that have been the sole barrier to my entry. $200-300 for a hobby is nothing to sneeze at. In steps Gundam, $30-40 and nearly as many pieces and time committed to assembly. I have slowly been putting together a real grade kit for the past two weeks. I love having an on going project like this. The end product is also a more desirably show piece for my study than Legos. That's right it's not my office or my man cave or the game room. I'm calling it my study now. Out with the ratty old futon and in with the wood paneling and antique stock ticker.

The Strange Talent of Luther Strode
I picked up this book on a THN recommendation this week and liked it a lot. It has a straight forward premise that ramps quickly into a strong story arc. It is ultra violent and has some of, if not the best, gory art I have ever seen. Blood is everywhere and the human anatomy is destroyed in hyper stylized way that is very pleasing to the eye. That makes me sound like a cereal killer. This book is not for the faint of heart, but it is a real treat otherwise. Right after I picked up the first issue of the follow up, The Legend Of Luther Strode, and now I am on the hook for that monthly.

Thundercats in 2011

No, this is not Michael Bay brutally dry raping more of your childhood memories in live action horror. Thundercats is coming in 2011 though, by way of Cartoon Network and animated by the same shop that worked on the Animatrix and Gotham Knights. I'm crossing my fingers that they can pull off the same feat that Warren Ellis did with G.I. Joe Resolute. Maybe that is asking too much, but I won't be watching it otherwise.

Resolute Weapons of Battle

Wanted: Weapons of Fate
What started as a comic that I didn't read and was made into a movie that was supposed to be no where near as good as the comic. Has now become a game that was a damn good rental. This game was a lesson in building two or three game mechanics that work really well and then running with them for 5 to 6 hours. The plot would be confusing if you had not seen the film and the voice over work is spot on enough to not get in the way of the action. It all boils down to curving bullets and Max Payne style bullet time mixed with cover mechanics. The cover mechanic feels on par with Gears of War and the addition of melee attacks over thin cover is very satisfying. By the time I got five hours the game began to stale, but thankfully it came to an end shortly after. Like I said killer rental.

G.I. Joe: Resolute
I first heard about Resolute after the live action G.I. Joe trailer was released and I was extremely underwhelmed. Other folks who were similarly distraught by what appeared to be a kick in the teeth to the franchise of our youth, posted Resolute previews in response. Resolute is written by comic author extraordinaire Warren Ellis. It has an anime feel and is mature themed for it's violence, but in general just tells a good story. The series is available on adult swim and all over youtube as well. It would great to see the series picked up as a follow up movie sequel, ongoing TV series or even just released on DVD or BlueRay.

Battle Royale
This film was brought up at our first D&D night, among many other topics, but for some reason it stuck with me. So the following day I found* a copy and watched it. The story is adapted from a popular manga and takes place in an alternative reality Japan. This Japan is a police state whose adults think is being undermined by the next generation of teens. So once a year they hold a lottery to select one 9th grade class to travel to an island and fight each other to the death. The last teen standing is the winner and their reward is there life. The film has big cult classic appeal and the none of the B grade special effects look bad enough to ruin the suspension of disbelief. Definitely worth picking up if your in the mood for some campy film fun.

Vacation in Review

Jesus's birthday is a great reason to take off from work and recharge the batteries. Consequently I took two weeks off the blog too, not that writing here is work, but I don't do well without a schedule. Waking up at 12pm every morning and staying up till 3am every night is not conducive to a lot of things it turns out.

What I did do was a ton of house work and maintenance. Specifically Kaden's nursery. Crystal is a planner, so when we decided to start trying for a baby, we decided to move my office and start painting. My current and old office are a dark charcoal gray so it took one coat of Kilz and three coats of yellow. By the time we rolled through the second coat of yellow Crystal was pregnant and sick. So, the room sat with two coats of paint until Christmas vacation. I also steam cleaned the rug, put up a new ceiling fan and purchased and assembled a bunch of furniture. Don't worry I plan on doing a fascinating nursery post in the future with pictures. I know you will wait with bated breath.

Aside from house work I played a ton of games. The list is long so I will do a seperate wrap up and review in a future post, bated breath etc. I also caught a few movies and watched two seasons of an anime called Code Geass all of which will be reviewed here as well. Lastly on the media front I picked up the new WoW novel Night of the Dragon which I am more than half way through and really enjoying. Expect a post.

Finally, seeing as it is a new year, some New Year's resolutions are in order:

- Ride at least twice a month
- Ride more miles in the current month than I did the previous
- Ride and camp more
- Try a new recipe a month
- Improve my writing
- Take more photos
- Improve my video editing (and post more videos)
- Lose weight (see riding goals)
- Take at least one grappling or BJJ class
- Read more comics
- Build an arcade
- Finish a 40k army
- Organize my workshop
- Back up my data
- Become a good Dad

Flash Game Fun
The best flash game I have played since the inception of the interwebs is Auditorium. Describing it in words does it a disservice, but the best I can do is to say that it really must be played to be appreciated.

A Knight Beyond the Wall

Batman: Gotham Knight
Similar to the Animatrix, Gotham Knight is a series of anime shorts inspired by a Hollywood movie. In this case Knight is five shorts that link Batman Begins to The Dark Knight coming out this summer. Unlike the Animatrix the plot of each short links in reverse to the one ahead of it. A tip of the hat to Memento in a way and very well done at that. The directors are not the all star cast that worked on Animatrix, in fact their notable titles include works I consider second tier (Gundam, Neon Genesis, etc). They did amazing work on Knight though. The art is top notch and the writing although not theirs matches the on screen perfectly. Oh and the voice of Batman is done by Kevin Conroy who voiced Batman in Batman: The Animated Series, very cool.

WALL-E
Last night Crystal and I had a dinner and movie date night with Japanese hibachi and WALL-E. I started taking 3D modeling classes the year after Toy Story came out, more for the drafting side of things, but my interest has been forever peaked in Pixar films since. WALL-E falls right in line with the rest of the amazing movies Pixar has created. It is story first then technology and even without a lot of true dialogue the characters are endering and adorable. There is a bit of a message in the story about humans destroying the enviorment and becoming too reliant on technology. It is probably a bit over the head for five year olds, a good message for ten year olds and teens and just a little too preachy for adults.

Beyond the Dark Portal
While I have yet to finish the next novel in the Warcraft series I am far enough in to recommended it to fellow lore nerds. It pays a lot of lip service to second tier characters that were not a big part of the lore previously. It is nice to get some more back story between Warcraft 2 and 3, but admitely is not the best book to date. Not yet at least, the first half of the novel is played out in Azeroth and the second half, which I just got to, is in Draenor. Hopefully there will be some more Deathwing parts, because he is my favorite character, and hopefully Kil'jaeden will make an appereance to interact with Ner’zhul.

Local MMA

One of my video game friends being a Richmond based MMA trainer is pretty rad (see Kevin's fight from February). Saturday I found out the most recent Ultimate Fighter winner went to my high school and graduated a grade ahead of me (even radder). I liked Amir Sadollah's personality and fighting style from the start of the show, but not until Crystal and I saw the finale and it was announced he was from Richmond did it click. Well for Crystal at least, she claimed she thought he looked familiar and I thought she was dilisional. A quick trip to his wiki page and we found out he was at the same high school as us for three years.

I was already rooting for Amir to crush C.B. Dolloway a second time because C.B. is a douche. His Richmond origin was just wood on the fire. Now we are both big fans, so hopefully he can handle the veteran fighters at 185. There is always the option to drop to 170 and become a big fighter at a lower weight. Only time will tell and when that time comes we will be watching.

Black Lagoon
It has been a really long time since I watched any anime, so when Black Lagoon arrived from the bowels of my Netflix queue I was excited. Well not excited to watch it right away, it sat for a week and a half collecting dust because I was otherwise occupied. When I did get around to watching it I enjoyed it though. I has big action, a weak story and lots of profanity, but is well drawn and animated too. Not a must watch, but a fun time none the less.

Camping
We had fun, more on this fun Wednesday...

My History on Two Wheels

I learned to ride a bike 21 years ago. My father does not know how to ride a bicycle or swim, but some how he taught me to do both. After few weeks of attempting to keep my balance my father told me that if I did not learn to ride he would go to my first grade class and tell them of my two wheeled deficiency. I pouted, I stomped, I cried and eventually I stayed in the yard long enough that day to learn.

From age five to age fourteen I had a pure appreciation for the bicycle as a means of transportation. Sure I would ride around in circles in front of the house with my friends, but my bike was the tool that allowed me to chase down the ice cream truck should I miss its siren call. The freedom to pick up and ride across the neighborhood to hang, without asking my Mom to bus me over in the mini van.

At fourteen I shed what I thought was my bicycle husk because my older friends were starting to drive. Skateboarding and cruising around town in a car were the orders of day. That mistake was rectified not three years later in my senior year when I started mountain bike racing. I was introduced to mountain biking by a neighbor and was hooked. Grant and I dawned our spandex and bought intro level hardtails. We raced for almost two years and road single track near every weekend.

Grant eventually lead the charge to what is now the third chapter in my riding story. Road bicycles seemed like a good way to cross train for mountain biking at first but soon became an obsession. Grant sold his first road frame to me (now frankenbike) and got a touring frame. This changed our cycling sense considerably and lead to the formation of pants Richmond (formerly CCP). We made new cycling friends, started touring and some of us started commuting (not me just yet). Cycling is now a way of life not just transportation or a way to get in shape. Although those are nice bonuses.

All this leads to the picture at the top of this post, as it was the inspiration for this light jog down history lane. It is a photo of my grandfather commuting to work that I keep on my night stand. He was a Libyan born Italian teacher turned Governor, once a political prisoner and finally an amazing grandfather. Even though I did not speak the same language as him and grew up in a different country, I like to think that he and I could have enjoyed a bike ride together. I aspire to do as many great things in my life as he did in his and keep this photo next to my bed to remind me of that goal every day.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate
When anime and cycling meet I get a smile on my face!

Site Watch
Fixed Gear Gallery is my daily dose of cycling hardware photography. Pretty pictures from a niche section of cycling that I will never fully appreciate. I like to coast so shoot me!

P.S.
It is Pi Day today, did you grab a slice?

Anime for Adults

No, I'm not talking about tentacle pr0n!

I have been watching anime since the end of high school and I have yet to find a definitive review site I trust. For the most part I have relied on box art, trailers and imdb descriptions to make my choices. Needless to say I don't always end up with the cream of the crop. I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly and might be able to share some insight.

Anime is an art form that is primarily derived from manga. In the US it is often presumed to be for children as the last animated film or show most American's watched was from their childhood. While some anime deserves such a label, there is a large amount that doesn't. A lot of anime has adult themes, heady concepts and morale struggle. This type of anime should not be missed or mislabeled. The following is a short list of titles that any adult should not be embarrassed or hesitant to enjoy.

Ghost in the Shell
The first GITS movie is outstanding. Over the top procedural action, the philosophical ramifications of artificial intelligence and political intrigue set in postcyberpunk Tokyo. The television series is much of the same, but tends to dive even deeper into the ethical issues to the point of confusion and convolution at times. The first film is a must see with sub titles, but I cheated on the series and watched it in dubs because of the overly complex dialogue.

Akira
The film that brought anime to the US, it was was shown in art houses across the country during the 80s and gave many viewers a taste for more. The film is based in a post apocalyptic neo Tokyo and focuses on a biker gang that gets mixed up in a military experiment. I didn't see this film until well after its original release, but I caught the same anime fever from it.

Cowboy BeBop
This series the pinnacle of anime for me. Film noir meets American jazz meets space bounty hunter saga. The art direction, music and writing are on par with any feature film I have seen. This is by far Shinichirō Watanabe's best work, although I am a huge fan of all that he has done.

Samurai Champloo
Another series by Watanabe that also evokes a strong musical presence coupled with fantastic animation. It is essentially a ronin story set in Edo period of futile Japan. The musical back drop is hip hop, fight scenes are timed to rhythms and set changes are transitioned through scratching.

Fullmetal Alchemist
Probably one of the most misleading titles listed here. It is a series about two kid brothers who attempt to bring back there dead mother and lose their bodies in the process. While the main plot seems to point to more mature concepts the series also is about two kids. Steampunk is the cats ass too, so check this one out.

Berserk
This is the hardest series for me to recommend because it ends in such a poor way. Every episode in the series is spectacular until the last two to three where the plot and series completely unravel. Due to financial constraints the 26 episode series end at 25 episodes. So whether or not the ill fated 26th episode would have wrapped everything up is unknown. It is a great series at its core though, based in medieval Europe with a focus on the super natural.

Ninja Scroll
This was the first anime I ever watched after hearing about it from friends at school. It had ninjas, violence, sex and beautiful art. I was hooked. Yoshiaki Kawajiri directed this film, but had no part in the crappy TV series that carries the same name. Be warned there are a few unnevering scenes that are not for the feint of heart.

The Animatrix
This is the most americanized film of the bunch. It was created to cross promote the Matrix trilogy and in my opinion is better than any of the three films. It is a series of shorts done by an allstar cast of anime directors. Watanabe, Kawajiri and Chung to name a few.

Site Watch
Merlin Mann is by far my favorite personality from Mac Break Weekly and his site 43 folders is something I check on a regular basis. It is a site about personal productivity, life hacks, and simple ways to make your life a little better. Good stuff, so czech it out!

New Love
We picked up a second DS (yes it is pink) for Crystal over weekend. For an added bonus I snapped a shot with the new skin I created for the M3DS Real we procured for our bundle of joy!

Kurosawa & Ouendan (Homebrewed Part 3)

Akira Kurosawa's films are considered classics, I watched my first (Rashômon) in a history of film course in college. One of my favorite anime series is based off his film The Seven Samurai and is appropriately named Samurai 7. So when I found out that a lot of his films that had passed into the public domain were collected and converted to be viewed on the DS, I jumped at the chance to watch them. I have Ikiru downloaded and loaded on my flash card, but I have yet to watch it. It comes highly recommended from my friends Grant and Erin so hopefully it does not disappoint.

The group that put out Kurosawa's works has also released a bunch of other films and media for the DS. Download at your own risk though as I can not guarantee they are in the public domain like I linked on the Kurosawa films. You may want to consider converting your own DVDs down to a portable size (.dpg) instead with this guide.

Update: The webmaster of moonbooks.net left a comment on this post letting me know that all of their content is in the public domain. That is great news!

Over the weekend I picked up Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2. It is the sequel to the Japaneses origin of Elite Beat Agents. While the menus can be a bit a confusing, unless you read Japanese, they are simple enough to experiment with and figure out in under 2-3 minutes. The actual game play is the real meat and potatoes though. It is a touch screen rhythm game that is synced with a variety of Japanese pop music (J-pop). The story behind the Ouendan is an agency of male cheerleaders who dress in uniform (see above) and assist people in tough situations by cheering for them to different songs. If you fail at the rhythm game then the people you are helping fail as well. Only in Japan!

Site Watch
The Escapist had a great series on gadgets last week. One of the articles that struck me as interesting was on nomadic (homeless) life with just a DS. It makes reference to bunch of great homebrew apps with in an unfamiliar context.