Drawn to Find a Spore Alternative

Sad that Spore is being delayed until Spring 2008? (or later? Much MUCH later?) Then you might want to check out this game. Drawn to Life is a project for the king of portable gaming, Nintendo DS.

In it you design your own characters, like in Spore, but this time you draw them yourself. It might be bad for those of us who are stinky drawers (I'm just kinda good) but various news reports promise alternatives like pre-made parts and shape tools. The drawn characters won't just be static designs but will be animated and will have collision detection based on the shapes drawn on the screen. There will also be user created weapons and vehicles as well as other objects that will appear randomly in the game. Unlike Spore's evolution simulation, Drawn to Life looks like a Paper Mario style game so it looks to possibly be even more fun than that other game.

Oh, who am I kidding? I still can't wait for Spore, but Drawn to Life game looks just as hot and it should be coming to us this September.

Spore is Delayed . . . Until 2009?

While most of my posts have been music videos, I've also been following this quiet little video game in the making called Spore. If you don't know what it is, Google it. I found out about the game in Spring of 2005. At that time people thought it was going to be released in the fall. But where is it now? Still in development with a launch date of possibly 2009 at the latest.

This will be the last Spore post I make until the game gets an official date. I am sick and tired of waiting even though I know the game will be worth it. I can't understand why it's taking so long but I accept that Will Wright, Computer Gaming God, knows what he's doing and needs time to work his magic.

That said, I'd like to make a proposal to him and all other video game developers:
DON'T SHOW DEMOS OF YOUR GAMES UNTIL YOU KNOW THEY'RE FINISHED!!!

arrrrg.

Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn and John

Young Folks is the new Crazy"and Peter, Bjorn and John are the new Gnarls Barkley. This song makes me want to do the pogo (but I'd look dumb doing it.)

I really like songs that are throwbacks to old music, especially 60s stuff. In the 90s there was even a genre born out of 60s throwback songs called Shibuya-Kei. It started in Japan but nowadays most music that would be classified as Shibuya-Kei, like Young Folks actually comes from the States and Europe. One of the foremost Shibuya-Kei groups (and one of my favorites) is the Pizzicato Five. Here's my favorite song of theirs, It's a Beautiful Day, as a bonus.

Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show

The scary thing is that this only looks like a parody.

Satoshi Kon's PAPRIKA

If Hayao Miyazaki is Japan's answer to Walt Disney, Satoshi Kon kicks both of their asses. His prior works include the films Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and the mind fuck of an anime TV series Paranoia Agent. Paprika is based on the novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui.



Notice the music? Susumu Hirasawa is back with Kon to provide another trippy soundtrack. I can't wait to see this in a theater . . . if one in Kansas City will have the balls to show it. It opens in America on May 25th.

On My Buy Pile

The Astounding Wolf-Man

This one really leaves me with mixed feelings. Yes, I am going to be buying this one. Hell, I might even start a pull for this. He's a werewolf and a superhero? I'm so there.

But what bugs me is that I wanted to do something like this! I'm so sick of the usual werewolf goes crazy and tears up the city thing and I'm not one for the nature lover or neo-vampire werewolves that seem popular. I love this idea but now I can't use it! At least, not obviously. I swear, if I don't get a move on things and get serious about my career then I'll find all of my good ideas being used by other people. Not only will I feel robbed but I'll also feel like a robber. Does that make sense?

ArchEnemies

I've known about this one for a little bit but now it has a trade paperback so I can read it without all the stupid advertisements!* This looks like a fun book indeed. With so many mainstream hero comics getting bloated on their own self-importance (HA!) and then getting tied up in irritating and pompous events (I'm talking about you, Marvel) I think parody and heroes-with-a-twist comics are much more appealing to me. Plus, when creators aren't bogged down by fifty plus years of someone else's continuity (AKA fan-boy shit) they can make much more coherent and fun stories.

Oh, but I'm supposed to talk about the actual story, aren't I? Silly me!

ArchEnemies is about a hero and his arch enemy who just happen to be roommates who hate each other even more. While neither good guy nor bad guy knows the other's secret, it looks as though things will get even more complicated before they find out the truth if the previews have anything to say about it.

I should also note that the writer of the series, Drew Melbourne, posts on a site I just discovered called Scryptic Studios
which is the first website I've found that focuses on the non-artist writer. His posts there tend to be a little rambling (at times incoherent, to be blunt) but his advice is sound even if its also a little self promotional.

*Side note: When will Marvel and DC and others quit putting ads in the books? I know they'll cost more but I think I might be ready to shell out more money for an ad-free comic. Better yet, when will they end monthlies and switch to a dedicated trade paperback system? I only read Fables in TPB because the ads in the monthlies drive me insane.

Rageh Inside Iran

The government seems to be pushing for a war with Iran. Granted, unless something severe happens (like the Ayatollah having a death wish for everybody) I don't think we'll be seeing an American-Iranian War but things are pretty hostile.

BBC journalist Rageh Omaar went to Iran to find out what life is like there and, for me, it was pretty surprising. I've heard that Iran is more liberal than it's given credit for but seeing it up close is really surprising. While on one hand you see that Iranians are upset with Westerners, especially in regards to Israel, they also show that they love Western (especially American) ideas and culture and want to be more connected with the wider world. Also, while the government there seems to be obsessed with Israel and America and creating a more conservative Islamic state (through deplorable means as we all know,) Iranian people have bigger concerns like...the same concerns we all have. (SHOCK!)

More and more I feel that our government and all other governments are too busy worrying about the problems in other countries when they should be focused on serving us, the common citizen. Also, while this film shows that Iran has a much more liberated culture than we tend to think they have, it makes me feel happy and blessed to have been born and raised in the United States. For all of the problems here, at least I know I can speak openly about them.



view video | Found via digg.com

Prince at Super Bowl XLI

When they said Prince was doing the Halftime show I thought someone had made a mistake. The-Artist-Formerly-Known-as-The-Artist is not the type of guy I'd associate with football. As a fan of the old MTV multi-celeb bashes up until the Janet Jackson* debacle, I was disappointed that it was just Prince at first. But then I saw the show.

WOW! This was the best Halftime show in years. Far better than the last one I saw, Paul McCartney in 2005 (Somehow I didn't see The Stones last year so I'm listening/watching as I type this.) Prince was in top form, his ladies were HOT but not skanky, the marching band was awesome and didn't give me flashbacks to my awful band years, and Prince has a collection of songs which was...well, that's where things get interesting.

Dave Grohl is either the giddiest guy in the world or completely pissed. I don't know why Prince did a cover of "Best of You" but it's now official: that song now belongs to Prince. The Foo Fighters can't have it anymore. They are banned from that song because they can't do it like Prince did it. (That and Dave Grohl ticks me off even though I like his music. He needs a little slap in the face by someone with better musical chops but I digress.)

Oh, and some football team from Indiana won a game and a trophy afterwards. That was nice too.

*Despite that, Ms. Jackson is still one of my future wives. And, yes, I'm NASTY!

Multi-eyes!!! (WARNING: Creepy Post)

I HAVE SIX EYES. WOOOOOOO!

No, no, I don't have six eyes, I just thought I did this morning. Aren't dreams weird like that? All of the sudden in a dream all sorts of bizarre things can happen and you'll accept them as if they're normal. But what's even stranger is that you can end up accepting things as if they're long established facts that even though they're impossible.

The dream had no plot, it was all about me having six eyes, three on each side in one row. I had no problem with this whatsoever. Most people didn't. It was just one of those things that could happen to people and I just happen to have been born with six eyes instead of the established four.

I have no idea where this idea came from. It probably stems from the same factors that had me dreaming that my mother had to go and get her stomach stapled to keep the acid in her stomach (caused by spicy tacos) from boiling up into her head and causing mumps, a disease in which so much fluid fills the lungs that the victim has to breathe through their ears.

No, I am not on drugs. As far as I can tell I am still sane (but don't crazy people think they're sane too.) I just happen to have a very weird brain that likes to tell me that having six eyes is normal.

Wanna know what's even weirder? When I woke up and realized that I only have two eyes like 99% of the population I was just a little disappointed.

Next week: B checks-in to Arkham Asylum.

Cowards

"Cowards" is a British comedy troupe composed of four guys or, since they're from the UK, blokes who go about doing what blokes do. It's like most of the dude comedy here in the US but, because it's British, it seems smarter and cooler even if it doesn't make you laugh out loud. It's a weird thing about me: enjoying comedy that doesn't make me laugh. Go figure.

COWARDS is brought to you by BBC Three

Link's Little Secret

Click the title to see. Normally I wouldn't post something like this but I like captioning things (yeah, that was my idea.)

Speaking of Link, I'm playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess right now. The bosses are too easy and the puzzles are too hard. I had to check a FAQ three different times to figure out what to do in some of the dungeons but so far I've beaten every boss on the first try. Without spoiling things, I've gotten past the third fused shadow dungeon so I think I'm halfway through. Overall I think I'm having more fun with this game than with the previous Zelda, The Wind Waker. Twilight feels more like a game for grown ups so I think that's a factor, but I could do with more color in the graphics. I've put it away for now but I was playing Kingdom Hearts II before Twilight and the graphics on KH2 alone sell the game just because everything is so damn pretty. The game itself has issues like overblown cut scenes and chaotic, button mashing gameplay, but it is made playable just on getting to see and explore various Disney story-worlds. I wish they'd make a Zelda game where you got to explore lands or worlds outside of Hyrule so that it had more variety in art styles and cultures, but if Shigeru Miyamoto doesn't want to do that then I won't complain.

I am promising myself that I will see Pan's Labyrinth tomorrow (since I might have missed the chance to see Perfume in theaters) and I'm planning on going to the Drink and Draw at the 75th St Brewery. I'm pretty nervous around booze I know I'll feel weird since I don't draw (anymore) so I hope I don't chicken out. I don't hang out enough with other comic people.

Crytome

Space Coyote Update

The artist behind the pictures I posted of The Simpsons and Futurama casts as anime characters is on a huge roll! Via her Deviant Art page Space Coyote announced that Bongo comics hiring her to do a manga parody comic. But what's more is that 20th Century Fox is contacting her as well (and not with a cease and desist notice!) If you didn't believe in the power of web 2.0 before, believe in it now!

The Simpsonzu

Here are two of the most popular fan-art pieces (two of the most popular pieces of art period, really) on Deviant Art within the past 24 hours.


The Simpsonzu by *spacecoyote on deviantART


Futurama: Super Happy Fun Show by *spacecoyote on deviantART

The artist is Space Coyote and I know next to nothing about her* except that she's Japanese by blood and probably American by birth. Space Coyote also has a web-comic (web-manga, really) called Saturnalia which sounds like a winner based on the title alone.

She also does commissions with a very clever web based quote system that does all the math for you to figure out how much an original drawing will cost.

Space Coyote's web page is the very-easy-to-remember SpaceCoyote.com. I'm putting her in my artists-to-work-with bookmark file. She's an artist worth keeping tabs on.

*I'm assuming she's female but, hey, it's the internet! You never know...

Courage

The Tank Man, made famous by standing his ground against a line of tanks during the Tianamen Square Massacre in 1989. The moment I stumbled upon this clip I knew I would post it. Yes, it has nothing to do with Christmas but I hope it encourages you to be bold for the next year. If he can take a stand against a tank and, with that, the entire Chinese government, then you can take a stand for yourself too.

Merry Christmas!

Miscellanious things: Featuring the work of Apricot

troupe by *apricot8585 on deviantART
NOTE: Edited to put art in the post. Show don't tell and all, you know?

APRICOT - There are many manga artists on DA and most of them, honestly, are not very good. The ones who are good, however, are often great. However, Japanese artist Apricot (listed as Apricot8585) stands out because her work has a decidedly unique and fresh look about it. While the manga look is obvious, it does not take a well trained eye to see that her work is significantly different from that of other manga and anime influenced artists. For one, she has an obsession with the color red. Almost every piece she makes is thick with cherry red color. However, what is truly significant in her work is the influence of the forefather of manga style, Ukiyo-e, the woodblock prints known as the pictures from a floating world. Her mix of classical Japanese art, along with occasional shots of Euro-American Art Noveau influences, makes her work feel fresh and sharp. Apricot seems almost dangerous because she is doing things that other manga stylists aren't. It's as if she's breaking the rules with her work and that's why she's exciting. She's making manga style works that reach the level of high art by embracing her influences instead of mocking or criticizing them. Apricot also stands out because she's one of the few Japanese artists on an English language website. Her English is getting better all the time and I hope it gets good enough that she can realize her dream of publishing English language manga.

Read an excellent interview with her on The Anime Blog and see her work on Deviant Art.

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Christmas is fast approaching and I've got most all of my holiday shopping done. There's only one present to go and I don't know what it will be but I have some ideas.

Writing wise I feel like I might be figuring out what I need to do but I worry I might be dawdling over something that I needn't worry about. There's a new character in my head born out of my examinations of past story concepts and finding that the same elements creep in over and over again. I don't want to be redundant but I know there are things that fascinate me and those are things I want to explore. Hopefully I'll find leeway to explore them in different ways. Werewolves, for instance, always interest me but I'd like to create and explore different concepts and realities for them rather than create one universe for them and only explore them that way.

I started more than I finished today--okay, I started three or four different pieces and finished nothing--but I still feel like I was actually productive. One piece was something that's been rattling in my head now for a while: a short comic spoof of J-RPGs like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. I also wrote a wandering piece on why I don't like Superman and why the idea of writing a Supes book fascinates me anyway but it's gonna need some work. I'm also working on that new character. All I can say is that he's the result of my worries of redundancy in that I decided to put a lot of the concepts that always come into my story worlds into him and his new world. I think it will be interesting but I'm also worried it may feel too weird. I did some searches today for help with character development and found a character sketch template to work with. It's helpful but I think it's high time that I created one of my own to use.

Most of today was spend puttering around Deviant Art and here's where things get tricky. Because I have a profile there now (which you've probably already know about) I'm seriously considering removing my semi-anonymous status from this blog. I think I've learned my lessons and am careful enough now to not go around publishing things that I wouldn't want people seeing. However, I'm pretty private so I worry about people getting the wrong impression of me, even though I also worry about the opinions of others way too much--geez, I sound emo. I'm 26! That's too old for emo! Anyway, I hope you liked my feature on Apricot. I'll do more of these in the future so look forward to them!

Bob Welch featuring Stevie Nicks - Ebony Eyes

When I first heard this song I thought it was the perfect theme song for one of my movie ideas. The lyrics don't quite match the idea but the exuberance of the music and that late seventies, early eighties sound captures everything I'm going for. The song would go well with an animated adventure along the lines of Heavy Metal or Rock and Rule (A nearly lost classic I happen to own on a legitimate two-disc DVD set. I'll tell you all about it someday. -B)

The footage itself comes from a concert called Cal Jam II. It was huge but, as you may have surmised, it wasn't Woodstock.

Review: Casino Royale

Starring Daniel Craig as 'James Bond'
With Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, and Dame Judi Dench as 'M'
Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis
Directed by Martin Campbell

Note: I'm cheating by copying a review I wrote earlier on MovieLens (see the sidebar.) -B

I'm not a huge James Bond fan but when word got out that this was going to be a big reinvention of the series that was closer to Ian Fleming's vision I was intrigued, even though I've never even read the Bond books or short stories.

Indeed, the movie is as good as everyone says it is. I can't say its the Best Bond film ever but if it isn't the best then its close. So many of the Bond films, especially the more recent ones, seem to go through the motions with easy to follow plots overly focused on the villains. This one, on the other hand, has its own unique rhythm. As we get to see Bond develop he becomes a brand new character to us which is aided by Daniel Craig's debut Bond performance. Craig looks a little too rough to be the Bond most of us think of and he hasn't got the swagger and thrust of Sean Connery but I think a few more films will seal him as the new face of Bond.

I liked that there were only a few gadgets, the only obvious one being a clever one that I can't describe as its a mild spoiler. The lack of the usual science fiction trappings were refreshing and I'd like to see the next few Bond films follow the grounded feeling of this film.

If I can't say this is the best Bond film then I can say that the opening sequence is the absolute best opening I have ever seen. One reviewer called it boring but I think he was just mad that there were no naked girls. Being a man, I missed the silhouetted vixens too but that didn't hurt the opening as we get to see Bond fighting and killing his way through a psychedelic world of playing card motifs. And Chris Cornell's Bond theme is a perfect one. It has the unmistakable sonic signature of a Bond theme but the rock roots and Chris's voice matches the rougher Bond world involved in the film.

Also, one has to mention the Bond "Babes" but here, at least in Eva Green's character of Vesper Lynd, we have a Bond Woman who, while not at all tough, still comes across as a strong and real person, not a bimbo or superwoman like many other Bond heroines.

And, like many other recent Bond films, there are lots of fun in jokes for Bond fans. One I caught was a familiar interior from one of the films in the final action sequence. Again, I'll say nothing since its a spoiler but the scene was rather elevating.

The only problems the film has are the shape of its plot and its running length. Personally, I prefer a plot that builds continuously up to the climax and conclusion but this film . . . well, I can't describe it well without spoiling things but it has an odd structure that can be difficult to follow. I actually enjoyed that it didn't take the usual route of most storylines but had the movie been shorter it might have taken some of the confusion away. An easier way around this would have been to let us viewers in on more of the story that isn't revealed until the end but that would have made things less surprising. Casino Royale doesn't have obvious flaws, just unusual choices made to tell the story in the way the filmmakers needed.

Overall, this was an unusual Bond film but a much more satisfying adventure than many of the others. At the very least we have the best Bond film and the best Bond actor since Sean Connery. If the next films stick with a similar storyline (I suspect that the new films will form an ELLIPSIS) then I am all set to go again.

One more observation: While the violence and sexuality in this film is not as intense as others have said it is, this is a film for grown-ups. I say that as a compliment.

Sunday Funnies

Okay, let me apologize for the title. While this is a post about comics, its about the type you find on a newsstand, not a newspaper. This started out as a reply to a post on the CCN message board by a local ghost-buster (which had nothing to do with ghosts.) He wanted to know what comics everyone was reading and I started to get wordy, as usual, and I realized that I was writing a blog entry so, here it is: What the Bombastic B is reading in comics:

Thanks to my unfortunate home situation, I have a lot of spare cash so I've been able to go to the comics store and buy at least one new comic for every week in the month. For the most part I stick with mini-series since they're easier to pick up since its just three to six comics to tell one complete story.

However, I've dived completely into and am now lost in Bill Willingham's Fables. It's my current comics obsession and has almost everything I like: werewolves (sorta), multiple worlds, magic in modern settings, boobs, sacrilege, a focus on characters over plot, and artwork that puts everything else in comics to shame just based on how its presented. I've bought every trade paperback including the new hardcover. However, I've stopped buying the individual comics until the next TPB comes out at which time I'll either pick them up again or just resign myself to trades. Fables, for me, might work better as a trade than as individual issues.

I'm also picking up lots of She-Hulk comics. Funny that, even though I'm a Hulk fan, I don't read the Hulk himself since I find most of his comics boring. The lack of jellyfish floating in the desert does it for me. She-Hulk, however, is way too much fun. Dan Slott does what I want to do with superheroes: he has fun with them. Nothing is too terribly serious here and Slott chooses to focus more on character (do you see a trend?) than galactic battles and funky villains. The book is weird and I love that.

The two mini-series I'm on are about to finish: Secret Six, Gail Simone's continuation of work on Villains United, and The Escapists which is a loosely based sequel to Michael Chabon's incredible novel, The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Both have been quite entertaining and I'll miss both. However, I'm hoping they both spawn full series if possible. I'd read them.

Last, but not least, I'm just starting out reading the new Juggernaut arc on New Excalibur. The book itself doesn't interest me as most anything X-Men feels ruined after House of M(ess.) But Juggernaut is a favorite character of mine and I want to see if he stays a good guy or goes back to evil as well as whether or not he'll get his powers back--or get new ones.

Heroes We Have Yet to Meet

Heroes is my official show of the 2006/2007 TV season. It's got all the superheroes you want without the spandex, code names, and steep $2.99 price tags that usually plague them. Like most of the other fans, Hiro Nakamura is my favorite and his actor looks to have a promising future. However, last night's episode revealed some other potential heroes who we haven't seen yet.

The names come from Mohinder My-plot-is-boring Suresh cracking the password on his father's computer, thus revealing his list superpowered humans both living and dead. Most of the names on the screen were of heroes we've already met. Some of them, perhaps all of them, are just throw away names and cities, but that has yet to be seen. I'm guessing at least one of them will be seen in a later episode.

• Byron Bevington (Marshfield, VT)
• Daniel Buzzetti (Greeley, CO)
• Tracy Chobham (Frostburg, MD)
• Paula Gramble (Monteith, IA)
• Curtis Hovsepian (Grant Pass, OR)
• Penkala Burton (Albert Lea, MN)
• Teresa Hue Pham (Shreveport, LA)

Some of you in the know can rest assured that I've already picked out my favorite person from this list. ;)

EDIT: I found four more names!

• David Berman (New York, NY)
• Adam Soo Hoo (Kailua, HI)
• Sparrow Redhouse (?, New Mexico)
• Amid Halabi (Los Angeles, CA)

Just so you know, I didn't find these on my own by any means. Here's a link to the best screen capture (so far) of the list.