m

• Ursula K. LeGuin comments on Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea),
  
• Magscape
  Magnetic wallpaper. I am so getting this if I ever have kids.
• Batmobile History
  So expensive.
• New species of sea urchin discovered on eBay
  Is it bad if all I can think about is how this variety of uni tastes?
• Flickr: Disney Animators in the 50s
• RPG Motivational Posters
• Snakes on a Plane
• How to make Bunnies out of Vienna Sausages
• MacPro
  Finally, a professional level desktop Mac using Intel Processors. Like the whipped Apple fanboy that I am, I lust after it, but after the harsh lesson handed to me by my MacBook Pro, I think I'll wait until Rev. B.

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Equality Now is Joss Whedon's favorite charity, which is focused on works to end violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world. They are currently having screenings of Serenity around the world with proceeds going to Equality Now. The Bay Area charity screening of Serenity is tonight (June 23rd, 2006 11:59pm at the Bridge Theater at 3010 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94118).

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The The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is presenting an exhibit devoted to the Art of the Storyboard throughout the months of June and July. Included in the exhibit are segments from the boards for the pilot episodes of The Yogi Bear Show, The Alvin Show and The Flintstones; as well as examples of the work of Warner Bros storymen, Warren Foster, John Dunn and Mike Maltese.

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1pm to 9pm. The Archive is located at 2114 Burbank Bl in Burbank... just a few blocks East of Buena Vista. Admission is free, but a donation is requested to help support and expand the Archive Project.

Got Questions? Ask a Ninja. Kinda reminds me of Strongbad, but with a Ninja instead of a Mexican Wrestler, and using Reallife video instead of Flash animation.

Alex Halavais, a professor at the University of Buffalo, gives his students a final gift as he shows them How to cheat good, a comical blog entry featuring such gems as:

5. Malaprop big words

Make sure you pick a word that sounds impervious and use it incorrigibly, or inventorate words. We’ll be udderly convinced of your genuinity (not to mention your precedential potential). Snuff said.

Myers Motors has resurrected and improved on what was formerly known as the Corbin Sparrow electric car as the NmG (No More Gas) . At $24,900, it's a much cheaper alternative to the $105,000 Tango electric car (the electric car George Clooney drives). I drove a Xebra (from Zap!) at the Maker Faire, but the NmG goes much faster than the Xebra, making it actually capable of being driven on the highway at 70-75 mph, and because the NmG is classified as a motorcycle, it qualifies for using the HOV/Carpool lanes.

What happens when you pair the body of an Ariel Atom and the AC Propulsion Electric Motor? You get the Wrightspeed X1, an electric car capable of 0-60 in 3 seconds.

EW's Ten Best Car Chases of All Time. I don't really agree with the list, because while I think some of the classic car chases are great, some of the best movie chase scenes are now within modern films -- but we sort of take them for granted now -- where's the fun car chase scene in the Transporter with the BMW 750 vs the Peugeots? or the wonderful chase through the Los Angeles subway system in the modern remade Italian Job? Pick almost any Jerry Bruckheimer film, and it's probably got a good car chase in it somewhere.

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The financial success of this film pretty much guarantees the making of an X4.

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The Good

• King Kong
  Maybe someday Peter Jackson will make short movies again, but I doubt it.
• Reservoir Dogs
  This movie is little more than an hour and a half. Made back when Tarantino knew how to edit.
• Almost Famous
  Great movie. Awesome performance by the cast on this movie. A niche movie about rock and roll and groupies.
• Blackhawk Down
  I enjoyed it, although some of the elements of film are gruesome. Apparently the film was made in Morocco.
• Vertigo
  Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak in Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece.
• Hotel Rwanda
  Brutal and compelling. Don Cheadle stars as Paul Russebagina, who manages to house over a thousand refugees in Hotel Milles Collines during the Rwandan genocide. A good movie, but probably not something I could watch again.
• The Mask of Zorro
  Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas. A really fun movie, but the backstory runs way long.

  The Funny
  

• Along Came Polly
  Jennifer Aniston and Ben Stiller in a toilet humor romantic comedy. Ben Stiller plays a insurance agent whose wife (Debra Messing of Will and Grace) ditches him for a scuba instructor (played by Hank Azaria) on their honeymoon.
• The Wedding Crashers
  Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson and Christopher Walken are great in this movie. Rachel McAdams is super cute in this movie.
• Jackie Brown
  An adaptation of an Elmore Leonard book, it's a good caper movie with snappy dialogue that feels very Tarantino.

  The Unwatchable
  

• Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
  I've decided. I don't like Charlie Kaufman scripted movies. I think it's the internal monologue of the character (who is always a loser) that just transforms a 2 hour movie into a 2 hour pity party. Because the characters are often so unlikeable, it's hard to have any sympathy for them.
• Brother Bear
  In the making of feature of this movie, it was revealed that this film was only made because Michael Eisner, happy with the success of the Lion King, asked whether there were other animal movies on the process and green-lighted Brother Bear. The result is an all-too-generic Disney movie with singing animals.
• League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
  This movie felt like a B-movie, despite the A-movie budget.
• I, Robot
  Asimov is rolling in his grave over this adaptation. And of course, the evil robots have red eyes.
• Minority Report
  The special effects are neat, the movie is based on a Phillip K. Dick story, but it could have been any generic Tom-Cruise-gets-betrayed-by-someone-and-is-on-the-run movies.
• Bourne Supremacy
  I expected good things, having really enjoyed watching the Bourne Identity, but as far as sequels go, it wasn't anywhere as interesting as the original.

  The Sleeping Potion

• From Hell
  Johnny Depp (Jack Sparrow), Heather Graham (Felicity Shagwell), Ian Holm(Bilbo Baggins) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) in a movie adaptation of a graphic novel about Jack the Ripper. Despite the cast and the performances, this one put me to sleep rather quickly.

  Posted by Michael Huang at 04:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Download Pirate Baby's Cabana Street Fight 2006 [video link] by Paul Robertson

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Similarities to McCafferty's books, which include "Sloppy Firsts" and "Second Helpings," were first spotted by readers. They alerted McCafferty, who in turn notified her publisher. Crown alleges that at least 40 passages "contain identical language and/or common scene or dialogue structure."

It's not irrecoverable (after all, Rob Liefeld still works) but as an artist or a writer, do you really want to be known as that person that copied some other famous person's work? At the end of the day, your reputation is the thing that follows from one work to the next.

Posted by Michael Huang at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kim Chan (below), who is typically the proprietor of a hole in a wall Chinese restaurant (or in the picture's case, the owner of a futuristic flying Chinese restaurant junk)

Or James Hong (below) who is usually in a black suit typically owns a Chinese restaurant that is either being extorted for money or the one doing the extorting.

The general rule casting directors seem to follow for these two actors is if you need a friendly old Chinese restaurant owner who helps the characters, you hire Kim Chan. Nothing bad usually happens to Kim Chan's character, although it's not uncommon for him to be beaten up and left for dead. If you need an old Chinese guy to be either the victim or the villain on TV or in a movie, you hire James Hong. James usually doesn't get beaten up or killed, and quite often he's the man the heroes need to stop. Because of his stiff demeanor, he's often cast as an ambassador/diplomat, a triad boss, or a businessman (usually of ill repute). James as been in numerous televison shows as the Chinese man/grandfather/gangster boss.

Victor Wong (above) was the stereotypical eccentric old Chinese man -- he usually got to play Grandpa or "supernatural" type characters such as a fortune teller. He died in 2001, so Hollywood currently needs a new eccentric old Chinese man.

Other Asian men in Hollywood in the extended. Everyone on this list has been on film and television for over twenty years, with over half of the actors having been born in the United States. These actors, mainly Chinese and Japanese have played several different ethnicities that are not their own, including Thai, Phillipino, Tibetian, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Korean, Hawaiian, and Irish.

Continue reading "Hollywood Casting of Asian Actors for Dummies" »

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Darth Vader/corkscrew, Yoda/wine stopper, C-3PO/foil cutter, R2-D2/bottle opener.

I'm not so sure about the Yoda wine stopper though -- he didn't work too well on Luke.

Posted by Michael Huang at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Band of Brothers

by Hbo Home Video

Highly Recommended

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Ringers - Lord of the Fans

by Sony Pictures

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The manhwa even pokes fun at itself later when the girl asks Geon-Woo what he thinks of Jun Ji Hyun (who plays the girl in the movie).

Posted by Michael Huang at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Your basic Spock-like personality here, seeking a woman with a personality somewhere in the Deanna Troi to Subcommander T'Pol range. will consider B'Elana Torres to Kira Nerys types depending on extenuating circumstances. No tribbles, please.

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Entries are due by April 14th.

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• American Fusion
  English, Mandarin and Spanish, all in one film.
• Linda Linda Linda
  How a girl band in Japan is made.
• Red Doors
  Dad becomes a monk, his three daughters rethink their lives and loves.
• A View From Topaz
  A documentary piece on a Utah internment camp, using home movie footage taken during those days.
• Punchcards and Pre-Occupations
  The shorts program.
• Eve and the Fire Horse
  9-year old life as a Chinese-Canadian
• Memoirs of a Sudoku Superstar
  Shorts Program
• Americanese
  an adaptation of Shawn Wong's novel American Knees

Posted by Michael Huang at 08:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Instead you can find Natalie Rapping on SNL's site, but the monologue is nowhere to be found. The monologue pokes fun at her role in Star Wars and in how she handles fan boys.

Definitely very different from her "V for Vendetta" interview at the Comic Con last year.

Posted by Michael Huang at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

What happens when a group of college students decide to follow the law and drive the speed limit on a highway?

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As Starfire expresses (in her own Starfire way) that there isn't a single movie to satisfy them all, and that at least two movies will be necessary to satisfy their tastes. What two movies could be matched such that all the Teen Titans could be happy? Assume that Starfire doesn't care what she watches, and that the Teen Titans have access to all movies.

If you can match the movie with a theme, even better.

My answers after the jump. Feel free to list others.

Continue reading "Double Features the Teen Titans Would Watch" »

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Friday evening ota, littlestar and parakkum and I went to DeAnza to watch a presentation of the Oscar-nominated animated film The Mysterious Geographic Adventures of Jasper Morello, with a talk by the director Anthony Lucas.

My notes are in the extended entry.

Continue reading "Talk: Anthony Lucas / Jasper Morello" »

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Imitation Stargate used by International to promote their MXT truck at the Chicago Auto Show.

Attempting to use imitation Stargates for off-world travel may result in bodily harm, never arriving at your destination or worse, capture by the Goa'uld.

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SF author Pam Noles' essay entitled Shame, a memoir on Earthsea and the bastardization that was the Sci-Fi channel "Legend of Earthsea" miniseries.

WARNING:The rest of this entry contains spoilers on Star Wars. Though I feel the statute of limitations has passed for this, you probably shouldn't read any further if you don't want to be spoiled.

Continue reading "Race in Science Fiction" »

Posted by Michael Huang at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This project sort of happened as a result of needing a S-Video to Composite Video (for my Project: Apple PowerBook in a Car). In the United States, the current trend is to make the car more like a living room. With that in mind, what living room can be considered complete without a TiVo?

I want to point out that while this does work, it could have been any device that I could have chosen to plug in, I just happened to choose the TiVo because it has S-Video in and it allowed me to evaluate my PowerBook's performance and utility in the car. This could have easily have been a PS2 or Xbox360 or any other piece of electronic goodness one can find hooked up to a living room television.

For more thoughts and pictures about this project read on.

Continue reading "Project: The Real TiVo to Go" »

Posted by Michael Huang at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The British aficionados of the series provided torrents for each episode within a few hours of each broadcast. Many fans in the US picked them up and watched them; so did many people in Australia.

While you might assume the SciFi Channel saw a significant drop-off in viewership as a result of this piracy, it appears to have had the reverse effect: the series is so good that the few tens of thousands of people who watched downloaded versions told their friends to tune in on January 14th, and see for themselves. From its premiere, Battlestar Galactica has been the most popular program ever to air on the SciFi Channel, and its audiences have only grown throughout the first series. Piracy made it possible for "word-of-mouth" to spread about Battlestar Galactica.

Source: Mindjack: Piracy is Good? How Battlestar Galactica Killed Broadcast TV

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Battlestar Galactica - Season One (2004)

by Mca Home Video

Battlestar Galactica is probably one of the best series on television right now, mostly because of its well-built suspenseful narrative structure. Unlike a lot of other shows, you're pulled into the story right away and mesmerizingly held until the final credits roll.

I'm glad it's on DVD though because I hate commercials and being able to plow through 4 episodes on a DVD is a godsend.

Posted by Michael Huang at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gamebridge AVC-1400 USB 2.0 Cnct Xbox PS2 To Pc Xp SP2 2K SP4

by ADAPTEC

PC monitors don't do the color blending that a television set does, so the resultant image had brighter colors and a crisper image. Before the GameBridge, the only way to play console games on your monitor was to custom design a cable specifically for that system and that monitor, or to invest in a expensive video card that had RCA inputs. Even with all that, one could only play the game on the monitor, it couldn't do what the GameBridge does, which is to record your gameplay in realtime.

My evaluation unit was the the 1400, the version without the TV tuner.

Package Contents:

• USB 2.0 cable
• Video Input Cables
• Adaptec GameBridge
• Case for the GameBridge
• Install CD

What Exactly is the GameBridge?
The GameBridge is a new video capture device specifically aimed at gamers. It takes in standard RCA inputs and outputs it to your PC monitor through a USB 2.0 interface.

Device Size and Weight The GameBridge device is small and incredibly lightweight. This device is smaller than an iPod and probably smaller than your cellphone. It's easy to just shove the GameBridge in your pocket with the cables to take it on the go. The GameBridge uses software encoding to transform your video input to MPEG-1/2, which means the faster your PC is, the less you'll notice the video encoding process churning away in the background.

Software
The GameBridge includes a program to output and record the video from the device, which has a large and easy to use interface.

Conclusion

I'm quite impressed by this little device -- being able to record video has never been so easy or so quick, and I can see a lot of possibilities for this device, as people not only use it to share movies of their favorite game moments, but as a quick and easy way to transfer their old home movies into a digital format. Adaptec's new GameBridge is the best device I've found for connecting and playing console video games on the PC. As a bonus, it can record both screenshots and video while you're playing. It's small, affordable and simple to use, and will be a valuable solution for those gamers looking for an all-in-one media entertainment system for their PC.

Continue reading "Review: GameBridge AVC-1400" »

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LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Actor Pat Morita, whose portrayal of the wise and dry-witted Mr. Miyagi in "The Karate Kid" earned him an Oscar nomination, has died. He was 73.

My memories of Pat Morita have always been tied to "The Karate Kid" and the Mr. Miyagi role. I never saw the first movie in the theaters (though I did see The Karate Kid II at the theater), but I must have seen it a dozen times on video through jr. high and high school either in class or in reruns on TV. Growing up, there was a severe shortage of male Asian-American role models in media. You had the kid who played Short Round (from Indiana Jones) and you had Mr. Miyagi. And then you had the whole slew of male asian american actors who were generically cast as bad guys -- yakuza, triad, old chinatown gangsters. To have an Asian-American in a major movie role be a good guy instead of a villain, it was a pretty big deal at the time. I remember asking my dad after we had seen the movie if he knew karate -- and I remember being disappointed afterwards that my dad would never be as cool as Mr. Miyagi. I've since realized that my dad is cool for other reasons, but knowledge of martial arts is not one of them, and that for all the things Pat Morita does in the movie, well, he doesn't actually know Karate either.

Growing up, having seen the Karate Kid, lines were quoted throughout my childhood, and being in Southern California, we all knew where certain scenes of the movie were filmed, most notably the mini golf place, because it was the closest location to where we lived.

Pat Morita gave Asian-Americans growing up in the eighties a role model, and reinforced the idea through these movies that fighting is not a solution. He survived spinal tuberculosis as a child (with which he was told he would never walk), and the Japanese Internment camps. We'll miss you Mr. Morita.

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Gundam is one of those classic Japanese animes that gets reintroduced every couple of years to a new generation of kids (who then go out and buy the plastic models of the latest series). Gundam in the United States is relatively unknown (though gaining popularly due to exposure on Cartoon Network). Their toys and models, once limited to Japanese specialty stores can now be found at almost any major retail store with a toy section.

Gundam Seed is the most recent incarnation of Gundam, and keeps the themes from the classic series while changing the characters and setting. The character design is more shojo than shonen, which can be off-putting to some, and the show does have a habit of recycling battle animation sequences. The technical issues aside, the story is interesting and addictive. It's the best rehash of the Gundam series yet, and the art style is contemporary enough to introduce young fans who may be put off by the original series' dated look.

In the Cosmic Era 71, a war is underway between the genetically modified residents of space, and the natural born humans of Earth. The Earth Alliance has been developing secret weapons on a neutral space colony, which have been discovered and stolen by the ZAFT. A young man named Kira Yamato is forced to become a Gundam pilot in order to protect his friends in the war.

Verdict: Highly Recommended

Continue reading "Gundam Seed" »

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The 13th Warrior

Watching the film, I couldn't help but think of Braveheart which has some very similar moments.

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The road racing segments are fun to watch, and features lots of racing and drifting down Mt. Akina (it is Initial D, after all).

Since the film is basically compressing 12 volumes of Initial D, characters are cut/changed, and story events are combined or changed in order to create an adaptation that makes sense.

Posted by Michael Huang at 07:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)