Everyone's favorite Beach Boy, John Stamos, Drunk on Australian TV

I tried to pick out my favorite quote to post here, but was unable to. Eat your heart out, Mike Love.

Nintendo Announces WiiWare

Well, Nintendo finally made the announcement that everyone knew was coming eventually. Today they announced that original downloadable content will be available for sale on the Wii Shop channel, under the name WiiWare. Wii owners may already be familiar with the big WiiWare button in the shop menu.


Unfortunately, Nintendo stated in their announcement that the first WiiWare content wont be available until early 2008.

The concept of wii development being open to developers small and large thanks to the low cost and risk of electronic distribution is certainly promising. Lets hope that the late launch of this service means that Nintendo is really taking their time to do things right.

Rock Band Drums

Game Informer Magazine published an "artists rendition" of what the rock band drums are going to look like based on a prototype that Harmonix let them play. Check it out:


The text on this image is a little hard to read, so I'll go ahead and tell you that it says that the red pad on the far left is your snare and the yellow, blue, and green pads to it's right serve as multipurpose toms or cymbals. The yellow pad is usually the hi-hat when needed, and the green pad on the far right is often the crash cymbal. The set comes with real wooden drum sticks.

Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)

Due to lack of recent postings:

I just paid off my house (finally) and only have 3 fish left to catch (a golden rod is within my grasp!).

I still have to find 2 fossils before my museum has a complete collection. If anyone finds a Dimetron Tail or Pteredon Tail, I will pay you many, many bells.

July is almost here, so the bugs are coming out! Ready your nets!



I hope this renews your interest in Animal Crossing, but I understand if it doesn't.

(Animal Crossing for Wii coming soon!)

Miyazaki Sightings Across Athens!

A few days ago, Grant, Blake and I discovered a miracle on my car via a splatter of bird poo on the passenger side window.

The Virgin Mary? Close.
The Night Walker from Mononoke; observe:



In addition, the very next day I attended a wedding featuring (apart from the bride and groom) a Totoro cake.



ZUH.

Must see film: The Two of Us

It's rental recommendation time.


This week's recommendation:

The Two of Us

I just watched The Two of Us (original French title, The Old Man and the Child) and I must make this post. I had been awaiting the release of this film since I learned of it's existence earlier this year as it's story sounded wonderful and it stars one of my favorite actors, Michel Simon. This is an absolutely beautiful film. I won't waste our time with plot or such nonsense. All I will say is that it is filled with joy, laughter, and humanity. It captures the mischevous companionship and love of a boy and a grandfather, as well as the forgiveness of ignorance in the face of love. Very rarely are we lucky enough to see something this special. So do make sure you see it.

Game night!

Playing Puerto Rico: the wonderful game by Andreas Sayfarth.
Dick.

At least someone is putting their Wii to good use!

What we have here ladies and gentlemen is precisely what this blog was created for. Bask in it's nerdliness.

The Battle of Forsyth

Forsyth Park in Savannah, Georgia is the home of a quarterly battle to the role-played death for some two hundred regular participants and just as many spectators. Weapons may take any form provided they are forged only from duct tape, foam, bubble wrap, and cardboard. Two teams are created, X's and triangles are painted onto bodies, groups are separated, and the people charge. Any who fall on their front or back are eliminated, and the last team standing wins.

Anyone wanna go?

NYT Ozu Article

It was nice to see on the front page of the electronic New York Times today an article relating the new Ozu collection released by Criterion.

This collection includes five of his later films, including Late Autumn. Awesome.

I won't continue when you can just read the article.

Trash Talk for Xbox 360 -- A Joke and Call for Response

I suppose at the time when Halo 2 for the Xbox came out I decided that if (1) I had the voice of a seventeen year old girl and (2) I had the ability to play the game very well, then I would spend my time playing online and observing the ridicule of male players as some ditz cheerleader apparent outplayed them at their favorite game. Now, with Datel's Trash Talk 360, the first half of my dream can be realized in the form of sixteen different recorded phrases available to me at the touch of a button.

That's correct, for the price of $39.99 USD one can purchase a product which allows the recording of up to sixteen voice samples (presumably all consisting of a teenaged girl saying phrases such as "Um, did I, like, just kill you?") and their subsequent broadcast live via online gaming with just a press.

Interestingly enough, as much as this scenario is a joke, it is also the only practical use I have been able to come up with for the TT360. That is, unless one were mute, in which case prerecorded trash talking would be essential for online play in the live-o-verse. Last time I checked, though, speaking took approximately the same amount of effort as pressing a button on a device called a Trash Talk 360.

In short, Trash Talk 360 is a contraption of ideas demanding jokes, debate, and questions -- of both philosophical and practical nature -- be made on its behalf. I'll leave that for the comments board, though.

DVD Sale Alert or, Don't Do What Blake Don't Does

So I am obliged to tell you all about a DVD sale going on this month at Barnes and Noble, and it is BTGOF. Thats buy two get one free if you wanna be a dick about it. I am also obliged to tell you that you shouldn't do what I did, and that is buy DVDs when you're supposed to be saving for rent (SORRY CHRISTY). The point is, if you're like me and you're usually a netflixer, this is a great chance to own 3 good movies on the cheap. So you know about the BTGOF right? Yes you do. Well you should also know that all DVDs that are 39.99 are 10% off as well. What does this mean? Criterion releases of some of my favorites are finally at reasonable prices! WITNESS MY SAVINGS:

Playtime by Jacques Tati
I was giddy when I saw that Criterion was re-releasing Playtime with a fancy new 2 disc set full of Tati stuffed features, the best of which is obviously Cours du Soir. It is essentially a short film made to make up for the lack of Hulot in Playtime. Wonderful stuff. Too bad its usually really expensive right? SAVINGS.

Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu
What else can be said about Ozu? He is truly one of the masters of the art. He has made some of the most delicate films I've ever seen, and now I can finally own one of my favorites. They are all wonderful, but Tokyo Story in particular has such a deep wish for decency from humanity that it stands as his masterpiece in my opinion. Thank you savings.

The Lower Depths, both the Jean Renoir and Akira Kurosawa versions
Two vastly different films by two of my favorite filmmakers based on the same source material, this is a wonderful release. Renoir's film has one of my favorite Gabin performances and is very lighthearted considering the subject matter, and Kurosawa's film is one of the darkest (and funniest) black comedies ever made. Two fantastic films for the price of less than one thanks to savings.

Now you know about the sale, and I hope you have more sense about spending money than I had. If you do not, you should check back in this coming week as I shall have the first in our series of rental recommendations. Tonight I leave you with a late night snack recommendation: Frito Lay Peanut Butter on Cheese Crackers and Diet Sprite. The verdict: pretty good.

Newish Comix

So I haven't been keeping up with things recently, and hopefully you haven't either or this post does no one any good.

PICK UP THESE COMICS, or books:

Alright, so the last actual comic that Jim Woodring released, The Lute String, is pretty cool. Pupshaw and Pushpaw get sucked out of the Unifactor and into another world that's real crazy and terrifying (nothing new there) by this Krishna-esque character (Little Skook) but they also somehow manage to get into our dimension, and they they terrify some children. I think I picked this up at Bizarro, but you can find it online. -Japanese release only- Press Pop also just released "Frank: Color Stories," which is, from what I can tell, Vol. 1 of the Frank collection entirely in color? And Seeing Things finally came out in paperback.



Also, I was trying to find a video of some Jim Woodring animation for you, but couldn't. This is the first in a DVD compilation of Frank inspired Japanese animations (the only one I really like on the whole DVD).

There is a new trade of Angry Youth coming out in September. It just collects the last 5 issues (6-10). Angry Youth 2/11 is out. Johnny Ryan also just printed the second self-published Klassic Komix Klub a few months ago; it's pretty funny. -Available at johnnyr.com-



There was a new book illustrated by Jules Feiffer that came out at the end of last year, The Long Chalkboard. It's cute enough, but I'd buy it used online for a couple of bucks if you have to get it. Fantagraphics is currently getting together a ton of Feiffer's work and republishing that, which is more exciting.

Speaking of reprints, Fantagraphics is also reprinting Walt Kelly's Our Gang. I think they're up to a second trade collection.

AND

New Tales of Old Palomar 2 is out. Human Diastrophism (2nd volume of Palomar) is out now, too.
Vol. 8 of The Complete Peanuts is out in October.
And a new volume of Krazy & Ignatz is out, "A Brick Stuffed with Moombins."

I was on Press Pop's site the other day and I saw some new Chris Ware thing. Not to pooh-pooh, but it better not be anything like the last couple of releases from him. I don't know where this accumulation of pretension is going to lead, but it can't be anywhere I want to go. Someone who can read Japanese should investigate and get back to me; just curious.

And finally, some funny hands:

Five Most Anticipated Games of 2007: Blake's list

2007 is almost halfway behind us, and boy is my wallet tired. For an industry in such a state of Limbo (the surprise success of the Wii, the slow Xbox 360 adoption rate, and the near-disaster of current PS3 sales), we have seen many fantastic releases already this year. Crackdown and Forza Motorsport 2 have both far exceeded my expectations, and WarioWare: Smooth Moves and Super Paper Mario meant that I occasionally had a non-virtual console reason to power on my Wii in the first half of the year. The DS remains strong with Hotel Dusk, Pokemon, and Planet Puzzle League. The PS2 had Chulip. Wowsa. But where is the beef, you might ask? Calm yourself, dear friend. Let me show you the beef. Here are my five most anticipated games of this year.

Note: my sincerest apologies for the IGN watermarked image. I know, I feel dirty too.

5. More Brain Age

Brain Age is certainly my most played DS game to date. Though I've spent much time solving ludicrous murder mysteries with Phoenix Wright, getting told about constellations named "DUUUDE" and the importance of muscles in Animal Crossing, and tapping out the beats of "Material Girl" with the Elite Beat Agents, nothing is in my DS more often than Brain Age. That the sequel promises MORE Brain Age is good enough for me.

4. Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed makes it's way onto my list for it's pedigree; this game is made by the team that created last generation's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. That game had some of the best platforming and environmental puzzles of it's generation and Assassin's Creed looks to up the ante in all respects. The art style looks tasteful, the level of detail looks plentiful, and the gameplay possibilities that come with being able to scale any terrain look vast.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has much to live up to. First and foremost it is the first Zelda game to grace Nintendo's most successful system since the days of the Famicom, the Nintendo DS. Perhaps more importantly though it follows closely in the footsteps of what many consider to be the greatest Zelda game yet released, Twilight Princess. I am included in those many. Phantom Hourglass looks to take the series in many new directions with it's extensive use of the DS hardware and touch panel as well as a more "treasure hunting" styled adventure that should mix up the relative linearity of the more recent entries into the series. Eiji Aonuma has never been afraid of experimenting with the Zelda formula, and the game's delay should have helped give the game the extra level of detail and polish that makes Zelda games feel like Zelda games. All signs are looking up for this game, and we will find out how the final product holds up once it is released at the end of the month in Japan.

2. Halo 3

You don't get a screen for Halo 3,

because you should be playing the beta damnit.

If you've played the Halo 3 multiplayer beta you know why this game is so high on this list. All of the disappointment I had with Halo 2 looks to have been made up for with the third entry into the series. It is big. It is stupid. It is very, very fun.

1. Super Mario Galaxy

In all honesty, I have never been quite as excited about any game as I am about Super Mario Galaxy. The first time I saw the game I was watching the live feed of Nintendo's E3 press conference last year, drunk on champaigne with Grant and Stephen. We let out yells of amazement before our jaws hit the floor. When they showed the title of the game, we were stunned. This was the game we had all been waiting for. The result of 10 years of Mario experiments within Nintendo, this game is being billed as the successor to Super Mario World. However, it is not Mario's presence in the game that fuels my excitement. It is the sheer level of wonder present in each moment of the game that has been displayed thus far. The playable demo at E3 last year, though brief, already showed more wonder than most games can ever hope to muster in their entirety. The trailer shown at this year's GDC was even more fantastical. This game, the first proper entry in gaming's flagship series in more than a decade, looks to show the imaginative heights that the medium is capable of. Here's hoping it lives up to it's potential.

Honorable mentions: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Mass Effect, Burnout 5, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, My Sims (Wii version), Grand Theft Auto IV

Worrywort Award: Team Fortress 2. What would have been on this list without a doubt seems much less compelling without grenades. Please prove me wrong Valve!

Hungover impressions

After a night of hard drinking, homoeroticism and karaoke, the best way to relax is by playing Settlers of Catan on Xbox Live with 40 year old dudes at 5 am after you wake up feeling sick. The community around Catan on Xbox Live shows that there are people on the service who don't call everyone "fag" or "noob". In fact, everyone seems quite polite and eloquent. Sadly, they are also a sad reminder of what may become of those who write for this blog when they get older.

So, Forza 2 is the best racing sim to date. The racing in Forza 2 is very complex but somehow also easier and more forgiving than Gran Tourismo or the GTR series. The racing line of the first game now only appears in the easy mode and has been replaced by a line that only shows where you should brake. This holds the players hand without practically doing the entire race for them, like the line in the first Forza did. The AI in the game is remarkable when compared with other racing games. In Gran Tourismo, the AI drives in one line, which they stay in regardless of how you are driving. By following this line and simply passing the pack, you are able to win races more easily or in some cases, not stand a chance at all due to the AI driving perfectly every time. In Forza 2, the AI makes mistakes, drives agressively, and passively which makes every race feel different. I first noticed how dynamic the AI was when I was having to retry a race over and over again when I was driving a car with lower acceleration than the rest of the pack. I had a car with good handling and top speed, so I was able to maneuver around the pack during straight aways and pull to the front. When I would keep an eye on the pack behind me and I would pull in front of them whenever they would try to pass. Most of the cars would back off, fearing the penalty they would get for bumping into me but some would drive into the back of my car, sending me spinning off the road. In Gran Tourismo the AI doesn't really notice you exist, so this is a VERY welcome change.

And the game has got some hot dick.

Album Impressions: Pullhair Rubeye by Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan

As a fan of animal collective, I expect each new release they put out to throw me a curve ball, after all they are an experimental pop band. This is especially true of their various side projects which at times steer more towards the experimental than the pop. The latest side project release on their Paw Tracks label was recorded by Avey Tare, who on Animal Collective's last album Feels emerged as the band's primary singer and songwriter, and his wife Kria Brekkan (aka Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir) who was a member of the band múm.

Every song on the album was composed and recorded with Avey on acoustic guitar and Kria on piano and alternates between surprisingly straightforward folk songs and somewhat droning instrumentals. What's unusual about this album is that the couple decided to flip the tracks backwards and release them that way. Although using backwards tracks is certainly nothing new in the realm of experimental music, what makes this such an unusual choice is that these songs were obviously not composed to be played backwards, and the couple seems to have just made the choice to release the album backwards on a whim.

In the pre-internet era of popular music a band could perhaps release a backwards album and perplexed fans would either have to take it or leave it. The relationship the internet has allowed fans to create with this music, and the resulting fan backlash against the backwards release is perhaps more interesting than the music itself. Many fans had already heard bootleg versions of songs from the album that the couple had performed live. Writer Mark Richardson on indie rock taste-making website pitchfork media awarded the album a 1.0 on their arbitrarily precise to the first decimal point 1 to 10 rating scale, stating that the backwards versions reduced the album to a novelty ambient soundscape barely worth listening to. Avey Tare can even be found defending the album on a fan message board. Of course computer technology has also enabled fans to easily re-reverse the songs so that they play forwards again. In fact, I downloaded the album and the tracks had already been flipped for me.

So, now that I've explained the context of this album, what's my opinion? Well, although listening to the intended backwards version is sort of cool for a little while I greatly prefer the forwards version. Would I buy the album in it's current form? No. Hopefully these songs will be released at some point in the future in their original form, and Avey Tare has stated that it is a possibility. Then again, these songs don't really need to be released forwards, as surely any fan who is nerdy enough to want to hear them is smart enough to find a way to acquire this album and reverse it. In any case, I'm glad technology has enabled me to listen to these songs however I choose.

What does it sound like? Well, I could describe it to you, but when people do that they usually end up sounding really pretentious. Instead you should listen to this mp3 of the song "Lay Lay Off, Faselam":



Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan - "Lay Lay Off, Faselam" (forwards)