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245 days ago
I've been playing around with papercraft lately. Generally speaking, papercraft can be divided into three categories, Paper Models, Kirigami, and Origamic Architecture. Paper modelling usually involves taking a 3 dimensional object and polygonalizing it. Then creating the polygonal object using paper or cardboard. In some cases, such as Shin Tanaka's quirky designs, he creates 3 dimensional figurines by using clever paper curves. Shin Tanaka's Gritty . I'm working on this right now. It's more complicated than it looks! Kirigami is a lot like origami, except the use of small cuts is allowed. Cutting the paper is usually frowned upon by serious Origami practitioners. They're probably just looking for someone to rag on. According to wikipedia, Kirigami is also more focused on pattern design, rather than creating objects using paper. *yawn* Origamic Architecture is similar to a pop-up card, except more detail is placed on the architectural design of the ...247 days ago
Lets talk about the use of video games as a medium for sensitive topics. First off, the very controversial game titled Super Columbine Masacre RPG! which reenacts the events leading up to and following the Columbine Highschool incident. The game uses the RPG Maker program with a very traditional 3rd person overhead view and retro 16-bit graphics. The battle system, also, is similar to RPGs developed during the 16-bit era, with enemies appearing in first person view, just like Dragon Quest. The game attempts to humanize and explain the actions of the two gunmen, Ed Harris and Dylan Klebold, through flashbacks within the game showing the bullying and torment they experienced. Predictably, the reactions to this game were both mixed and extreme. At one end of the spectrum, gamers, sociologists, societal outcasts, and so-called media experts regarded the use of a video game to depict the psyche and motivation behind the two gunmen as vital and ...350 days ago
You can probably tell that I love watching movies from Hong Kong. Among the multitude of genres churned out by the Hong Kong movie industry, the late 80s to mid 90s was, in my opinion, the golden era of Chinese cinema. The amount of thought, effort, and money that went into making many of those movies was almost nonexistent, still they were able to produce solid and entertaining films. One of my personal favorites is a movie starring a young Jet Li and a mid-aged Jackie Cheung called High Risk (the illegal vhs dub was titled "A Man Called Bold"). In it, Jet Li plays an ex-Special Forces Unit member whose troubled past (wife and son exploded by a bomb on a bus that he was unable to diffuse) catches up with him. In an amazing turn of events, Bold finds himself in the middle of an elaborate jewel heist, the mastermind being none other than the bastard who blew up his wife and son. Anyways, that's not even the best part. The best part is when an African American hacker ...446 days ago
Hong Kong cinema. Fuck yeah! I can't get enough of it. I recently stumbled on a youtube octilogy of GameBoy Kids, starring Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok, Ng Man Tat, and Andy Lau's love interest Rosamund Kwan. The story revolves around Andy Lau, who plays a savant thrown into the midst of a vicious gang war for the head of the organization. It being a movie from Hong Kong made in the 90s, you can be sure there'll be plenty of wacky hijincks. In one scene, Andy Lau and Rosamund Kwan are stuck in their bedroom while a cadre of baddies are shooting at them from outside. To make their escape, they fashion a large slingshot and, while riding an inflatable orca, fly out of the bedroom and sled down a fallen-over tube. What the fuck. I also love the titles. "Lucky Stars Go Places," "The Dead and the Deadly," "The Supreme of the World of," and my favorite, "Vampire Settle on Police Camp." Literally Frightening! Literally!!!
447 days ago
The happening stars beautiful actress Zooey Deschanel with rap star Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg as estranged husband and wife who are fleeing from an airborne neurotoxin released by plants that induce suicide among it's victims. Do not be fooled by the title of this movie, not much happens in the movie. Still, I would give The Happening a very happening 5 out of 5, solely based on it's foreign release titles. "..In France and the French-speaking part of Belgium, it was released under the name Phénomènes (Phenomena) on June 11, 2008. In Spain, the film is known as El Incidente (The Incident). In most Latin-American countries, it is known as El Fin de los Tiempos (The End of Times). In Italy, it is known as E venne il giorno (The Day has come), in Hungary the title is Az esemény (The Event). In Bulgaria the title is Явлението (The Event). In Turkey it is Mistik Olay (The Mystic Event). In Russia the film got the title Явление (The Phenomenon). In Germany and Sweden the ...
