Think back a bit. Try to remember all the Pixar movies that you've seen. Got it? Alright, out of all those movies how many featured a story centered around a female lead? Well, in case you can't figure it out, the answer's a big fat zero. Dawn Taylor at Cinematical blogged about an interesting article written on NPR.org written by Linda Holmes which asked Pixar the difficult and, as Taylor pointed out, unpopular demand, Please make a movie about a girl who is not a princess." The article aptly titled Dear Pixar, From All The Girls With Band-Aids On Their Knees is an open letter to the Pixar people to create a girl-centric movie which doesn't immediately fall into some stereotype. It's a good read and it makes quite a bit of sense to me. I mean, Disney has pretty much got that princess thing covered, do we really need to see more? How about a real girl, like Ellie? Anyway, cheers to Holmes for throwing the gauntlet down.

One of the hallmarks of popular game series Katamari Damacy is its playful and often perverse sense of humor. A Perfect example of this is on display in the recent Japanese trailer for the upcoming PS3 release of Katamari Tribute (due out in the U.S. this fall under the title Katamari Forever).



Western companies take note: This is how you sell games.

Who wouldn't want to see a Marcus Fenix puppet chainsaw a puppet Locust in the commercial for Gears of War 3?

Or how about a future Left 4 Dead 2 TV spot with a bunch of these guys swarming the screen.

So what do you get when you pair visionary pop-theater director Julie Taymor (The Lion King, Frida, Across the Universe) with Bono and the Edge from U2?

Spider-Man! On Broadway!

I remember hearing a while back that a Spider-Man musical was in the works but had no idea that it was this far along.

Julie Taymor has such an amazing knack for crafting vibrant and imaginative visual images. I cant wait to see her take on comic books. As for the music, I'm anxious to see how well Bono and Edge adapt their songwriting skills to Broadway.

Here is a video I found at /Film of the two rock stars discussing the project.


Most popular Broadway musicals eventually find their way to the silver screen. Maybe Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark will sing and dance its way into theaters in coming years.

If you are anything like me then, the whole time line issue/scenario from the Terminator franchise probably baffled you. I'm assuming that there are multiple time lines since that is seemingly the only way to explain things in this universe. How else could John Connor send the man who would be his father back though time. Someone at io9 was crazy enough to sort through all of this. If you view the end of each line as the beginning of the next one, i.e. the ending of a is the beginning of b, it starts to make sense.

Blueberry Garden, the winner of 'best independent game' at the 2009 Independent Games Festival, is now available for purchase for a measly $5. If your computer is nice enough to run this gorgeous title, skip that Whopper and Fries tonight so you can afford it.

I love U2. That being said, when I heard The Edge was one of the guitarists being followed and interviewed for a music/guitar documentary I was sold immediately. Plus, its got Jimmy Page and Jack White in it, as well. I gotta be honest, this trailer's got me hyped. Check out the trailer now, and the film itself on August 14th.

"This above all: to thine own self be true,....." - Polonius (from the play, Hamlet)

The above quote states what I believe to be the overall moral message of Sam Raimi's, "Drag Me To Hell". Here we have a character, a young woman, who has ambivalent feelings towards herself and where she comes from. Christine's a good person, but feels she has to appease other people, her boss, boyfriend, etc, rather than herself in order to be happy and get ahead in life. This behavior is, ultimately, her downfall. Christine feels the pressure one day and goes against her moral barometer, she denies a sick woman an extension on her mortgage, she "shames" the old lady, and it is this reason she must now suffer a curse. A very deadly curse. In three days time, a demon will come to take her soul and body to hell where she'll suffer for an eternity. The main focus of the film is, of course, her trying to rid herself of this curse by any means necessary. Will she succeed? Go and see it to find out!
I am in no way an avid fan of the horror genre like some, I think most of them suck, but I did enjoy this one. You might even say that I enjoyed it more than the directors previous horror films, "Evil Dead", "Evil Dead 2", and "Army of Darkness". One of the successes of this movie is that I actually sympathized and cared about the main character, Christine. And for a film to have any real impact it's important to feel for a character in crisis. Plus, like all of the Sam Raimi movies I've seen over the years, it was very entertaining. I can't deny this. It's loud, very crude, cringe worthy in some parts, obnoxious, and there are a lot of boo scares. You know? Boo scares? They're very popular nowadays.
However, in a horror film, personally, for me, boo scares aren't enough to make a film truly frightening. Something more is required.
This film, basically, just screams in your face in order to try and scare you, but I was never spooked. I personally prefer, and this is rare to find in most modern horror cinema, something a little more creepy, something with a little more subtly that builds up to a truly horrifying experience. This is one flaw I've found in all the Raimi horror movies. There's a lot of shock, but no fear.
Maybe I'm asking for too much though. Sam Raimi is the man behind the hugely successful "Spiderman" franchise, and he's been in the game a long time, so it's safe to say he's got a lot of pull in what projects he chooses to participate in and how they're executed. Apparently Raimi had a different vision of how this movie should be and went forward with that vision. He didn't want the same things I did. I respect that. He's being true to himself as a storyteller and filmmaker, I guess. Polonius would be proud.

Microsoft may have a big problem on their hands. It's been speculated that Microsoft recently revealed motion control device Project Natal may not perform properly with dark complected gamers.

According to bitmob.com, "When game consultant and former Newsweek writer N'Gai Croal gave Paradise a test drive, the game had trouble reading his steering actions. The footwork (gas and brakes) worked fine, but Croal couldn't steer his car at all."

Surely Project Natal was tested on people of all colors right? Umm...Yeah. I hope so.

Before you run off to tell Spike Lee or the ACLU you might want to take a look at this...



Looked like it was working alright for those gents. I'm still in awe that Natal works as well as it does now in it's pre-alpha stage regardless of how light or dark the folks that were lucky enough to play are.

On a personal note, I have felt the icy sting of video game hardware racism. When the Nintendo DSi launched Wario Ware Snapped! was the first title I downloaded from the DSi Store. I'm a big fan of the Wario Ware series and was excited to play the newest instalment that's main "hook" was that the game is played only using the Nintendo DSi's built-in camera. I was crushed when I discovered that the game wouldn't register my face. Apparently I'm so pale that I was blending in with the background!

Somebody get my lawyer...

I was always under the impression that Spike Jonze's dispute with Universal over his initial cut of Where the Wild Things Are stemmed from its lack of marketability. Universal passed because they thought the movie would be too scary for children. This is of course speculation, because, in fact, I thought it may be a bit too frightening for the little ones and this seemed the only reason Universal would pass on such a fan favorite. But apparently I was wrong. Kids love the trailer as can be seen in a recently discovered video on Vimeo. Who would have known? It's not like it was a children's book before.**end sarcasm.

Trailer Reaction from We Love You So on Vimeo.

This is the strange new trailer for the new Werner Herzog movie Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. That's right, I said Werner Herzog, the man who directed Encounters at the End of the World is directing this seemingly strange movie, which doesn't have a U.S. release date set just yet. This trailer seems so mysterious and I've a hunch may not be very revealing about what the actual movie may be like. Still, some of Nick Cage's deliveries in the trailer seem very comedic if not downright bizarre. But, I guess we'll have to wait to find out. It's not scheduled for its initial Belgium release until December of this year.

I recently stumbled upon a compelling article on the subject of Japanese mini-series Paranoia Agent (2004) that totally blew my case.

Writer Ben Hamamoto proposes that the show created by celebrated filmmaker Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika) "is a surreal and epic exploration of what it means to be Japanese, (in that way similar to Haruki Murakami’s “Wind-up Bird Chronicle”). It makes a case that the culture of kawaii (cute) was birthed by the atomic bomb and functions as a mask for Japan’s World War II atrocities."

Fascinating stuff. Read the whole article here and then go watch Paranoia Agent.

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been posting regularly in the last weeks. In the midst of changing the look of the site and fixing various bugs I haven't had a lot of time to do much else including set up podcasts. Rest assured that sometime in the coming week there will be new episodes of both podcasts. That being said, I have been able to watch some movies and play some games which I thought I would share as a kind of a catch-up for the last couple weeks. So let me entertain you with some random thoughts.


First, I saw Terminator Salvation. Which I must confess, I've been excited for ever since the teaser and even after I learned how the internet could actually ruin a movie. I'll admit at first I was reluctant, but the idea that we would see what happened at the beginning of T2 fleshed out with glorious detail in a new franchise became ever so enticing. But it may have been this excitement that ultimately led to me not liking the movie. Which doesn't matter all that much because on rotten tomatoes it seems to be doing fine among users. Which says to me that most people probably had a good time with this one. Those of us with high expectations, however, weren't so thrilled, which is highlighted by the discrepancy between user and critical reviews, 71% and 32% respectively. New fans of the series were positively thrilled, while old fans were positively pissed. Maybe, this is a sign that I'm getting old. The styles that I once loved are slowly falling out of style, and my favorite franchises slowly re-invent and re-position themselves to aggressively attack today's market. Which can't be all that bad, right? Terminator 2 was a healthy departure from the Terminator 1 model. So maybe it's just me, maybe I've outgrown this franchise. After all, I have seen 5 different actors play John Connor, six if you count the show.


Secondly, I saw Up. Twice in fact. Once the old fashioned way and once in 3D. Both versions had their merits. And although I completely agree with Adam's first impressions, I must admit this movie hit me like very few movies have. I wanted to cry, during some parts and had a blast during others. This movie was the best adventure movie since Sahara(I'm looking in your direction crystal skull). Before this starts to sound like a full fledged review let me just derail by conveying my innumerable excitement for the summer blockbuster that is Up. For me this movie signals something that Pixar has wanted to do for a while. Ever since the Incredibles, Pixar has been slowly making their movies more accessible to an adult audience. Who would have thought that a movie about middle age superheroes going through a mid-life crisis would appeal to children anyway? With Up the bar has been set even higher, and I must say that the integration of adult issues into to a movie aimed at a younger audience was pretty astounding. I think this might actually spur some interesting discussions at the dinner table. But it wasn't all so serious, in fact I don't think the second half was rooted in any kind of realism. Instead, it was pure adventure, which had me slurping soda and chewing popcorn faster than ever. Good times.


And the last thing I want to talk about briefly was a movie called Fear(s) of the Dark, which I watched over the weekend. It's a series of black and white animated horror stories, or rather scary stories. They aren't really horrifying, but are scary enough to make you afraid in a cerebral way, which to me is more bang for your buck, and totally merits the words inclusion in the title, because that's what you get, fear. It's not shock, horror or thrill, it's fear that haunts you and It reminded me of the Stephen Gammell illustrated Scary Stories. The movie is full of eerie folklore and would be a perfect ritualistic Halloween movie, alongside the Nightmare Before Christmas. Plus, it has great graphics. :)

All in all, it was a good week. So, hopefully, I'll be posting more often in the next couple of weeks. And as always, thanks for tuning in guys.

Okay so maybe it's not exactly coming soon, seeing as it's already been released. But if you're like me, that is, you don't live in a big city, then you're still probably waiting for this Norge gore-fest. Everyone loves zombies.

Video game powerhouse Nintendo kicked off the first official day of E3 with an ample software lineup set to please both their casual and "core" fan base.

The Kyoto-based game company opened strong with the announcement of New Super Mario Bros. Wii; a classic style Mario game that allows up to 4 people to play simultaneously. The title is a follow-up to best seller New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS and is set to be released at the end of 2009.

Nintendo shifted focus to their casual audience with sequels to two of the platforms most successful titles, Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort.

Wii Fit Plus is an expansion title to its four-million plus selling predecessor and will be offered at retail with the Wii Balance Board peripheral or sold alone for players who already own the original.

Wii Sports Resort, sequel to the popular title packed in with every Wii sold includes new games such as fencing, Frisbee, ping-pong and jet-skiing, to name a few. Wii Sports Resort will be packaged with Wii Motion Plus; a small peripheral that attaches to the wii-mote to offer more natural motion detection.

Both Wii-branded titles will be available this year. Wii Sports Resort is dated for July 26th; Wii Fit Plus was given a Fall release window.

Nintendo carried on the conference with a look at their popular handheld brands Nintendo DS and the newly released Nintendo DSi. Keeping with their theme of offering games for both their casual and hardcore-gamer markets, a large variety of games were shown. Tween and women skewed titles like Style Savvy and Woman's Murder Club: Games of Passion were shown along side fanboy-only games such as Kingdom Hearts DS, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

The newest addition to Nintendo's handheld family, The DSi had a small presence at the conference. Nintendo acknowledged the significance of user-created game content during the conference and announced three downloadable titles that are built around this latest gaming trend.

Flipnote Studio is a game that allows player to draw and animate their very own cartoons with the DSi stylus. WarioWare: DYI, the latest title in Nintendo's madcap mini-game fest puts players in charge of designing everything from the art, music and character animation. The last DSi downloadable title shown was Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again, a game that puts players in charge of designing various platforming and puzzles that can be share with others over the internet.

The conference took a bizarre turn when Nintendo President Satoru Iwata took the stage to unveil the Wii's latest hardware addition. The Wii Vitality Sensor is a device that attaches to the players index finger that apparently can measure vitals such as stress and heart rate. Iwata's vague announcement made no mention of specific games or a release date but iterated how the Vitality Sensor would help players "relax".

To close out the show Nintendo showed their commitment to their hardcore-gamer by showing an impressive lineup of fan favorites with two genuine surprises.

For the first time ever, a Nintendo console will receive a sequel to a 3D Mario game with Super Mario Galaxy 2. Historically, Mario fans have to wait years for a true sequel to Nintendo's flagship series. A holiday 2010 release date is being speculated, putting the the length of time between Super Mario Galaxy and it's sequel at only 3 years.

Nintendo showcased third party support for the "core" audience with Sega's The Conduit, a sci-fi first-person-shooter and Capcom's Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles. Both of these titles are rated M for mature, a rare find on the family friendly Wii.

President of Nintendo North America Reggie Fils-Aime closed the press conference with a shocking announcement. Team Ninja, developer of popular XBOX title Ninja Gaiden, are collaborating with Nintendo on a new title in the fan-favorite series Metroid. An action heavy trailer was shown for Metroid: Other M, which eluded to the game containing a mix of classic-style Metroid game play and first-person features similar to those found in recent Metroid Prime Series. No concrete date was given but a 2010 release was mentioned.

The industry-leading company may not have had the glitz and pacing of the Microsoft's E3 conference but had a strong show that included "Something for everyone".

I just finished watching the first new Tonight Show with, it's brand spanking new, but also seasoned, host Conan O'Brien. I was very excited, in my own subdued way, to hear that he would be taking charge when Leno left, and, after viewing this first episode, can safely say I was not disappointed. Conan's as good as he ever was. Great skits, and great interviews. I especially enjoyed Will Ferrell's rendition of the popular Jackson 5 ballad "Never Can Say Goodbye". Very funny stuff. And Pearl Jam gave a decent performance as well. It's amazing that those guys are still together. If Monday's show is any indicator of the quality I can expect on every show, every night, it looks like I'll be watching the Tonight Show more often than usual. Sorry, Letterman.