Those Japanese….

Here’s a video about the creator of Tenga, the Japanese masturbation device.

Note how serious he is when he’s describing the innards of the device. LOL. We can laugh, but he’s the rich one.

 

Amazing Mario Automation

Thanks to emulation, there are plenty of custom amazing Super Mario levels. Well, I guess the challenge now is to sync the sound effects on the level with anime songs. There are simple ones out there, but so far this one is quite amazing, considering it is 11 minutes long.

 

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Just watched it.
WARNING!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!

OK, first of all, WTF with the UFO and aliens? FBI? Roswell? As if I was watching a prequel to the X-Files, not an Indiana Jones movie. I was expecting a movie more about the solving the puzzles of archeology, but those scenes are very brief and Indy seems to already know the answers.

The movie is set in 1957. Urrgh. One of the charm of past Indiana Jones movies was the time period of the 30’s and the Nazis. Now it’s 1957 and the Soviets. Doesn’t feel right, especially when Indy going into the fake house. And then there’s the atomic bomb. Yup, Indiana Jones survived(!) an atomic bomb explosion, mushroom cloud included. How? By hiding inside a refrigerator. Yeah, I rolled my eyes too. Fiction is one thing, but come on.

Harrison Ford is a very good actor. He’s still charming and you can feel his excellent performance in the movie. However, you cannot just cheat age. Although there are plenty of action scenes, they just don’t feel the same.

Then there’s Mac. First I thought, hey, am I watching MacGyver? I thought he was Jack Dalton. Without much background story and character development (other than the similarities of his character and actions with MacGyver’s Jack Dalton), they turned him from friend to foe so quick that you don’t really care about him. You’ll be wondering why he’s there in the first place.

To really appreciate this movie, I recommend watching the first Indiana Jones movie beforehand (Raiders of the Lost Ark). If not, you’ll be like me, “Who the hell is Marion?”

So, what do I think about the movie? Great action scenes. Plenty of comedic and slapstick action scenes, the staple of Indiana Jones movies. Harrison Ford is great. The only problem is the plot and story itself. Alien and UFO just don’t go with Indiana Jones. I was hoping the movie to be more of classic archeology. In the end, it’s okay. I would’ve rather watched it on DVD/blu-ray at home instead if I knew about the story beforehand. Want to watch a great Indiana Jones movie? Get Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

Dave Rodgers on Napster

You can find Dave Rodgers’ hard to find rare rock album “Blow Your Mind” as non-DRMed MP3. Just search for Dave Rodgers in Napster. Highly recommended since the actual CD is only available in Italy (I had to import mine). Question is, why not iTunes?

On eurobeat side, Eurobeat Masters compilations are available on Napster too, although not as complete as iTunes.

I’m waiting for A-Beat-C to go digital via iTunes. SCP too.

 

New Kids on The Block 2008?

When I heard New Kids on The Block (NKOTB) going to perform live on NBC Today, I didn’t really pay attention. Maybe just some copycat new artist. Well, guess what, it’s the same NKOTB from the late 80’s. OMG. They’re still alive? So I guess they ran out of money or something? It’s unreal. Is the music industry so desperate? So we have Hollywood remaking 80’s stuff (believe me, there’s a rumor about MacGyver movie). Now we have NKOTB back. What’s next? Backstreet Boys? ‘N Sync? Vanilla Ice? LOL. Hey, who knows, maybe Michael Jackson is coming back too. Although it’s expected for US artists to do a “come back” whenever they ran out of money, I still find NKOTB being back to be too surreal, considering the time lapse. For those that needs to see this “man-band” pictures, check their flickr photostream.

At least with eurobeat, I can enjoy new compilation at least on the monthly basis, not having to wait 10 years+ for a new track. :p

 

iPhoto 08 Impression

First most notable improvement, events. In iPhoto 06, photos are first organized by “rolls,” and then you have to create albums manually on the sidebar. In iPhoto 08, organization is much easier since iPhoto will automatically create an “album” for you when you upload your pictures. They’re called Events. The arrangement of “events” is much easier to users then “rolls.”

Unfortunately, I found the “quick view” feature somewhat annoying. When I double-click a picture, instead of automatically go into editing mode, iPhoto only enlarge the picture. To edit it, I have to click on the edit icon. Annoying extra step. The picture adjustment features is better than 06 though, having clearly labeled sliders like shadows and highlights, and finally a dropper icon to choose a neutral color instead of command-clicking.

Although I still think Picasa to be the better software, I find it much easier to use iPhoto 08 compared to 06 thanks to “Events,” and haven’t touched Picasa ever since.

 

Food & Dessert

 

Anti-Drug Dog commercial parody

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

LOL
Here is the original:

 

iMovie 08 first impression

A lot of people criticized iMovie 08 when it was first introduced. While you could say that iMovie 06 was a simplified version of Final Cut, iMovie 08 is more like iPhoto instead of Final Cut. Unlike iMovie 06 where you deal with projects individually, iMovie 08 scan your library for all movies and treat them like a library, like iPhoto.

I already can see several editing capabilities being limited in iMovie 08 compared to iMovie 06. However, 1 thing that iMovie 08 performed admirably, is Youtube uploading. On iMovie 06, I can create a great short movie, but then I have to encode it twice, once to export the movie from iMovie 06, second during uploading to Youtube. Encoding videos takes time, plus iMovie 06 doesn’t have a quick preset for youtube. iMovie 08 makes this into 1 simple step, by simply clicking “Share,” then “Youtube.” iMovie 08 will automatically encode and upload the video in 1 go. I haven’t done any video editing on iMovie 08 yet, but the quick upload to Youtube is greatly welcomed.

Apple is focusing more on quickly processing your movie and sharing it instead of a video editing app with iMovie 08. Obviously Apple wants you to buy Final Cut Express/pro if you need a real video editing app. Luckily, iMovie 06 is available for download now, free for iLife 08 users.

 

Xbox 360 RROD

An Xbox 360 demo unit at my local Target experiencing the RROD.