10/30/2007 - Castlevania - Rondo of Blood Intro

Happy Halloween, everyone! It's my favorite "holiday" for so many reasons. Of course there's the costumes, the candy, and the horror movies, but it's especially cool when I lived in Las Vegas. Halloween usually marks the time when the weather cools noticeably, and after a summer of 100-degree-plus days, it is such a relief. Also, October 31st happens to be Nevada Day, celebrated with a day off from school! Thus, every kid in Nevada has a whole day to prepare for trick-or-treating. How cool is that?

So what's a cool video to celebrate Halloween with? How about one featuring a Halloween-themed video game? And what better than a Castlevania game? A lot of people say that Rondo of Blood was the best Castlevania game. I don't know about that, but it's intro is certainly awesome:



That certainly makes me want to play it. I have heard that it is one of the most difficult Castlevania games out there though. That's saying a lot, because the only Castlevania game I've been able to beat was Super Castlevania for the SNES (a truly great game, BTW), and that was considered one of the EASIEST games in the series! So if Rondo of Blood is on the other end of the difficulty spectrum, then it must really be scary.

10/28/2007 - Superman - The Helicopter Sequence

Despite all these new comic book movies out there using the latest and greatest special effects, Superman (1978) still remains a favorite of mine. All the praise in the world has been heaped onto Christopher Reeve's performance as Clark Kent/Superman and it is all deserved. Chris is the definitive Superman and no one else has come close. The way he carries himself in flight is a special effect all by itself. Take, for example, the second movie where the Kryptonian villains also have his powers of flight. The actors in those roles did the best they could, but they all seemed stiff and unnatural in flight. If you have the Superman Returns special edition DVD, you saw how Brandon Routh had to train underwater for his flight sequences. And yet, he still wasn't able to match Chris Reeve's grace and ability in the air.

Some have complained about his bumbling as Clark Kent, but I've always liked that performance. He really does act like two completely different people, and made his "disguise" feasible. The way he was able to just modulate his voice, stand with a different posture, and change his mannerisms really did give him an alternate personality that nobody would confuse with Superman unless you looked closely enough.

My favorite part of the movie has to be the helicopter sequence. I watched that so many times in my childhood and it still excites me today. While I don't feel the peril of the situation as I did before, I appreciate it for its technical prowess and as the greatest entrance of a superhero ever. As for the spectacular music, you can't do better than John Williams. Screw Star Wars, I think this was his best work in a movie. Just this sequence proves it. The music builds, and builds, and hits the high note during the famous shirt rip. And I just love how Clark's face is off-camera during the S-insignia reveal. The director Richard Donner knows that this moment was bigger than the actor, that it was bigger than the movie itself. This was about presenting a legend that future generations will experience.

10/27/2007 - Angry German Kid

Turn the volume down on your computer for this one, folks. If Germans were worried that Hitler would give them a bad name, I think they should be even more worried about this kid. Every time I watch this, I'm speechless. Being a computer tech, I cringe when I see what he does to his keyboard. I don't know if this was all an act, but even if it was, I can't imagine that the kid didn't strain himself making the video:



I do like his little song when the game is about to start.

10/26/2007 - Bricked but Useful

Apple is getting so big right now, that they don't seem like the underdog anymore. Their stock is at an all time high and today marked the launch of their newest operating system, Leopard. There may have been lines for Windows Vista, but I doubt that they had such enthusiasm and hipness as the lines for Leopard.

With the explosive growth of Apple, though, have come some growing pains. I mean, you know you're huge when you get monopoly lawsuits left and right. This was something that Microsoft faced all the time a few years ago, and now it's hitting Apple. The thing is, some of these complaints actually have a bit of merit. Apple's iPod has such a stranglehold on the market, that Apple can really get away with charging a premium on them. Just research what their profit margin is on each iPod, and you'll see what I mean.

What's really bad, though, is that Apple has begun to act like Microsoft too. For example, take the new iPod Touch... at first blush, it does seem to be the product for those who wanted an iPhone without the phone. Unfortunately, they got rid of so many of the software applications from the iPhone that you could not use it as a PDA. What's frustrating about this is that some of these apps that were taken out had nothing to do with the phone or camera hardware of the iPhone. Apple just took them out so that they'd have an incentive for people to buy the iPhone instead of the Touch. This is exactly what Microsoft did with their gazillion versions of Vista!

Also, what disappointed a lot of people recently is their recent firmware upgrade with the iPhone. If you made certain changes to your iPhone such as adding applications or unlocking it for other cellphone carriers, the firmware upgrade would "brick" the iPhone (disable its functionality altogether, making as useful as a brick). Now, Apple probably reserved the right to do this in their EULA, but I think I would be pretty mad if I spent all that money on a device that didn't work anymore because of a firmware modification.

Well, the guy in this next video didn't just get mad. He made a video parody of the situation:

10/25/2007 - Conan - fire alarm

I don't get NBC. You'd think that they would want to advertise it shows as effectively as possible. They had a good thing going with YouTube, the most popular video distribution site on the internet. They would provide clips of content to the site that were longer than a 30-second commercial, but not give away the full show. And that's fine... I mean you have expect them to want to make money. That's what iTunes was for. $1.99 a show may be a little much when you consider that a DVD of the season would cost less in the end... but it still proved to be a good strategy. The Office only became popular after people bought episodes on iTunes and began a word-of-mouth campaign. And showing some GOOD SNL clips would coax some people into watching the show when it's live.

This all seemed like the perfect setup for NBC. But I guess it was too perfect for them. They decided to flush it all down the toilet and start up their own video site called Hulu. WTF? In the process of doing so, they took down all their content on YouTube. That's right, no more "D--- in a Box". Not even trailers of their shows. Oh well... who said corporate executives were SMART?

Well, not only has NBC taken down their channel, but their filing DCMA complaints against anybody else who would post NBC show clips on YouTube. Well, I just want to get this clip out there before it gets the axe. It's of a recent Conan O'Brien show where he was supposed to begin a skit after the commercial, but gets interrupted by a fire alarm. If the sign of a good comedian is how well he/she improvises, then Conan is REALLY GOOD:

10/24/2007 - No Reflection Practical Joke

Normally, I don't like to watch shows purely showing practical jokes like the stuff they do on Candid Camera. Something about watching others getting made fun of behind their back just turns me off. I don't know... maybe it's from personal experience or something. However, there is something so very clever about this particular practical joke that made me smile:



As you can see, perfect strangers are led to believe that they are not casting a reflection, despite seeing the supermodel next to them casting her own "reflection". This is similar to how a certain special effect was pulled off in the Special Edition of Terminator 2: Judgment Day where you see Linda Hamilton drill into Arnold Schwarzenegger's skull to remove his processor. Not many people know, but Linda Hamilton has an identical twin sister. And now that you know, you can see how that practical joke was done and how this special effect was done:

10/23/2007 - leroy jenkins

This video has been out for a while now, but it holds new meaning to me now that I'm into online multiplayer gaming. For a shooter like Warhawk, teamwork is important, especially in the Capture the Flag mode. You can go Rambo on the other team, but more likely than not, you'll get your butt handed to you. If you are able to coordinate well with your teammates (with the included BlueTooth headset), then you can tell them hash out a strategy in terms of vehicle transport, air support, base defense, etc.

In MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing games), communication is even more necessary http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifbecause each player has different abilities and strengths. The biggest MMORPG out there is World of Warcraft, and while I personally haven't played it, I can see its appeal in providing sort of an alternate world where you really are "role playing" with a lot of other people online. Unfortunately, like the real world, one bad apple can ruin the whole bunch:



You gotta love how detailed the invasion plan is down to the calculation of probability of success. It makes the calamity of Leeroy's impetuousness all the more hilarious. For greater context of this video, check out Wikipedia's writeup of it.

10/21/2007 - all about Steve - Boom!

I have never seen a more persuasive presenter/showman than Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, Inc. If you've ever seen one of his keynotes, you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong... Apple products are great and practically sell themselves. But if anybody can make a PowerPoint... er, Keynote presentation exciting, it's Steve. People even say he has this "reality distortion field" that makes you believe whatever he is saying, and outside of his keynotes, you can begin to see the some of the seams of the products he touted. For example, I was convinced by Steve that the Apple PowerMac Cube was going to be a cool computer, but it turned out to be a flop. Also, I half-believed that the web-app solution for the iPhone/iPod Touch's third-party support would be viable. Boy, was I wrong!

Anyway, one of Steve's favorite things to do during his presentations (or specifically, while demoing a product during his presentation) is to say "Boom" after showing something cool. It's so succinct, that it really does represent the simplicity and gee-whiz factor of Apple products. Here is a montage of a lot of the "booms" that Steve has let out (ok, that didn't sound right):

10/20/2007 - Animal Videos (2 videos)

Normally, I'm not into animal videos, but these two fascinate me for some reason. I'm convinced that a lot of the more popular animal videos are ones where the animal featured is acting human somehow. It's as if we are amused by how a lower species can take on our characteristics or we see something in that animal that's recognizable of our own nature. Take this video for instance:



Here we have mama panda minding her own business, chewing on her food, probably daydreaming about something... and then, out of the blue, the SNEEZE FROM HELL comes out of her little baby, and it's like... DAMN.

This second video is amusing as well. Mac OS X has some pretty neat animations, but one of the most hypnotic ones is the Front Row animation which you can control using the wireless remote. Seriously, you can just turn that animation on and off for hours and still not get tired of it. Well, the cat owned by this Mac user is hypnotized as well:

10/17/2007 - TRAILER - "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" - Angry Video Game Nerd

October is definitely my favorite month of the year. The summer heat in Arizona begins to dissipate. The year is winding down. And it's Halloween time! That's right, it's the time of year when I can watch horror movies all month and not be considered weird. It's not that horror is my favorite genre, but as a guilty pleasure, it can't be beat! I've become so desensitized, that I watch horror movies now to appreciate it as an art form, rather than as an attempt to get grossed out.

James Rolfe, AKA the Angry Video Game Nerd, is also a horror movie buff and it shows... from his side projects with Cinemassacre.com to his reviews of two horror related games last year at this time: Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street for the NES. They were great game reviews that displayed James' talent as a filmmaker. They even included Freddy and Jason!

Well, this October, James is back with two more horror games: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween for the Atari 2600. Even the trailer for his TCM review is great (this is the Angry Video Game Nerd, so be warned for some harsh language):



The opening narration is a parody of the narration from the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre movie... an unforgettable beginning to a great horror movie. The game review even includes a parody of the Chop Top character from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2! Boy, I can't wait to see his review of Halloween. I hope he has an authentic Michael Myers mask.

Horror movies; video games based on horror movies; reviews of video games based on horror movies; reviews of video games based on horror movies by a nerd; reviews of video games based on horror movies by a nerd who is also a fan of the genre... it doesn't get much better than this.

10/16/2007 - The Simpsons/Star Wars mashup

Wow, I'm surprised 20th Century Fox hasn't sued anyone about this:



Actually, I'm even more surprised that The Simpsons crew didn't do this kind of intro themselves. It's quite well done. My favorite part is when Homer/Darth Vader does his girlie scream in the garage.

10/15/2007 - Invisible Tetris

If this video is not fake, then the person playing Tetris in this video is a god. In my prime I could beat the last level of the Gameboy Tetris, but that is NOTHING compared to the skill level of this Tetris player. It does help to know what blocks are coming ahead of time, and in this particular game, you see the what the next three Tetris pieces are, as opposed to one in the Gameboy version. I'm not sure if it would help me, but I'm thinking it's essential for this guy. Just look at what happens during the credits... the pieces fall and then turn INVISIBLE when docked in place! So he'd have to visualize what the board looks like while he is looking at what pieces are coming next AND doing it at inhuman speeds! His guy is to Tetris as Gary Kasparov is to chess...

10/14/2007 - Halo 3 Best Stick EVER

One cool thing about Halo 3 is its instant-replay and record feature. Apparently, with the feature enabled, the game constantly records your gameplay so you can instantly replay what you just did and save it to the hard drive where you can then share your footage online. That's something that really should be in every first-person shooter game because we all have had those moments where you get an awesome kill in and people basically have to take your word for it.

For example, I was playing Warhawk the other day and my opponent and I both used up our grenades, so it was going to be a pistol fight. Now, I'm not a noob at the game anymore, but I still tend to lose drawn-out pistol fights. I mean, sometimes it's hard to lock in the auto-aim while the other guy is strafing, while they seem to have no problem targeting me. Anyway, I thought I was a goner until I saw that he laid a proximity mine near to him. It appeared that he was trying to lure me to it, and if I had followed, I would have been blown up. These are smart proximity mines too, in that they don't get set off next to you if you are the one who laid it. So when I saw that proxy mine near his feet, I could have run after him and blow the both of us up. Yeah, it would have been suicidal, but a guarantee kill. Then I thought, why not just shoot the mine? Well, it was a one-in-a-million shot, but it worked! I got one shot off and it actually hit my opponent's mine and blew him in the process. Now, you have to remember that we were strafing like crazy and shooting a mine with a pistol can be difficult even if you're stationary. Needless to say, I was definitely proud of this kill, and I would have loved to recorded it, if that feature was available.

For that feature alone, I do have a little Halo 3 envy. Especially when I see some awesome Halo 3 kills. This one is especially cool:

10/13/2007 - Teabag To Fitness with Master Chief

I don't know who invented it, or in which game it was started, but the standard way to taunt your first-person shooting opponent after you've killed him/her is to "teabag" them. So what is teabagging? Well, simply put, it is crouching and un-crouching directly over your opponent's lifeless body? What does that signify? Well, it's a little obscene, so I'll let you look it up in the Urban Dictionary.

Now that I'm finally the owner of an online FPS (actually, it's a third-person shooter), I can tell you how satisfying it is to teabag your opponent after an awesome kill. Sometimes, it makes you an easy target, but you won't care. Just knowing that your oppenent is seeing his/her dead player being teabagged by you is worth getting killed over. Sure, they may go for a revenge kill, but if you kill them in the process, you can teabag them again for maximum pleasure!

With the release of Halo 3, G4 TV aired a parody of a fitness show featuring Master Chief. What is the exercise being featured? Why, teabagging, of course!



You know, that actually looks like it would burn some calories!

10/9/2007 - Mixed-up Sports Video

Just to set up this next video... Kevin Everett is a Buffalo Bills tight end who recently fractured his cervical spine in a football game against the Denver Broncos. He was temporarily paralyzed and there was fear that he would not walk again. Fortunately, he soon regained movement in his arms and legs and it appears he will be able to walk again in time.

Now, if you're a sportscaster trying to show video of this story, you'd probably show past video of Kevin Everett in a football game or perhaps footage of him in recovery, but check out what happens when something goes wrong in the editing room:



Ha! You know, what makes this so funny is that whoever that is that the cops are bringing into court HAPPENS to be in a wheelchair. And when the sportscaster says that Everett is moving his arms and legs, the guy in the wheelchair HAPPENS to start flailing and kicking his attorney. It would be hard to create a funnier news blooper even if you tried.

10/8/2007 - "after 100 times its still funny!"

If you are a student who dreads school, then I know that Sunday nights probably give you heartburn... you know, that sinking feeling you get knowing that you have to wake up the next morning after a weekend where you were supposed to relax but couldn't because you were probably doing homework instead. Well, I remember those Sunday nights well. What sticks out most in my mind is probably watching America's Funniest Videos when it was on Sunday nights. The concept of the show was simple. Send in your home videos and if it's funny enough, it will be featured on the show, and the audience votes for a winner who wins $10,000. It's definitely not high brow humor, but I could rely on it lifting my down spirits before starting another school week.

America's Funniest Videos was definitely a pre-cursor to what is now YouTube. You don't win any prizes for uploading funny videos, but you do get rated on by your peers, and really good videos can occasionally make it into mainstream media. Here is a YouTube video that would have definitely made it on AFV:

10/7/2007 - Wonderful World shadow puppet

Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls may not have been as great as the original Ace Ventura, but it had a great scene where Jim Carrey did these funny shadow puppets with his hands to the chagrin of his antagonist in the movie. Well, if you watched it and thought it was funny, you'll get a kick out of this shadow puppet display. It's not funny, but it is AMAZING:



I can only imagine how much practice it takes to get all those shapes down!

10/5/2007 - Michael Myers vs Jason Voorhees

October is probably my favorite month of the year. Mostly because the last day is Halloween and that means all the horror movies are shown this month. I'm a fan of all kinds of horror movies and slasher films in particular. The slasher characters are of particular interest because they are clearly evil and do evil acts, and yet you root for them somehow. Why is that? I'm not sure... It may be because they are shown as unstoppable killing machines and their "superhuman" abilities to take damage and come back for more elevates them to idol status.

Which slasher do I like the best? That would have to be Michael Myers of the Halloween movies. And that's simply do to the fact that I think his mask is the coolest of them all. Even though Jason Vorhees and I share the same first name, I never identified with him. The hockey mask is only a little scary and it's hardly unique. However, Michael Myers' mask is one that is really creepy, especially when you consider the fact that it's a William Shatner mask painted white. Freddy Kruger only has a burnt face and is too manic to be considered scary for me, and Leatherface is just plain grotesque (although the fact that he can RUN after his victims is pretty scary).

The original Halloween movie is definitely one of my favorite horror movies and is something that I must put on DVD ever year on the 31st. It's not scary or gory by today's standards, but it still has a great suspenseful atmosphere to it that you don't have in today's horror movies. Also, I just love the character of Dr. Loomis. Yes, it's a takeoff of the Van Helsing character of the Dracula novel, but it's still rather unique... especially for a slasher movie. While I loved the original movie, I was rather indifferent to the remake that came out this year. In fact, the only things I liked in the remake were the elements that were lifted from the original! I mean, they did get the mask right... all the other ones after Halloween 2 were pale imitations (no pun intended).

While Freddy vs. Jason was a decent movie in that it tried to present a gory showdown between two iconic slashers, I would have preferred that they make a Michael vs. Jason movie. Jason may be the stronger of the two (and he has a freakin' machete!), I think Michael would outlast Jason. After all, Michael was shot in both eyes in Halloween 2 and still kept on swinging that kitchen knife. Well, if they ever made that movie, here is what it would look like as a wrestling match:

10/3/2007 - Baby with Kungfu Face

This baby video is priceless... I think Jet Li has some competition!

10/1/2007 - Elite beat agents - Material Girl

This video is so wrong... in so many ways...