Wednesday, October 22, 2008

New Watchmen Footage!

The 3rd Annual Spike TV Scream Awards, dedicated to the horror, sci-fi and fantasy genres of movies, featured a preview for Watchmen with some re-edit tid-bits from the previous trailer with some new footage mixed in to entice us. Prepare to salivate...

Also check out my previous posts regarding the highly anticipated Watchmen film, this article from io9.com regarding the length of the film (3 hours?!) and all the extra Watchmen featurettes at themoviebox.net (my favorite source for film trailers).


Saturday, October 18, 2008

Two Cool Things I Saw Today

The first is a music video using the same art style as the now famous Obama "Hope" posters.  Check out the artists blog here.
The second is a picture of the only man who really is "our on the only hope".  Enjoy.


Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.


Obama Rally Draws 100,000 in Missouri

It's ironic that in my last post regarding protests in Iraq, I posed the question, when was the last time you saw 50,00 Americans come together for a protest.  In truth it's only been a year or more.  The irony comes from this article by The Wall Street Journal covering today's Obama rally in Missouri which drew over 100,000 supporters.  Amazing!


Thanks, But No Thanks...

For all of you out there in net-land who still think the Iraqis are happy we are in their country...

The BBC reports on the 50,000 person strong protest that took place in Baghdad this week, in protest of the possibility of the US presence in Iraq being extended another year. When was the last time you have seen 50,000 people come together for a protest in America? Enjoy.



This video is ripped from YouTube post since they offered no embed code.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Obama Roast's Himself And Others At Memorial Dinner

Barak "Steve" Obama shined last night at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner, where he was asked to give the opening address. Obama took the chance to make fun of himself, his running mate Joe Biden, McCain, former opponents Guliani & Clinton, along with the media and sevearl other senators in the room. Obama really showed his lighter side and that he was able to shake off all the personal attacks being levied against him. This "stand-up routine" could be the death blow to the Republican campaign that we have been waiting for. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Turns out Senator McCain actually spoke first (added video below) and was amusing in his own right. Although he may regret the introduction he gave to Obama...

Bioshock 2 Trailer Leaked

A trailer for the sequel to the critically acclaimed Bioshock is apparently available after completing the game on PS3. Since the PS3 version of the original Bioshock is not due to hit shelves till November 4th, we must be thankful to the intrepid leakers out there for uploading this to the net, several weeks in advance. I fyou would like to know more about this award winning game and why it's emersive atmosphere captured the hearts and minds of gamers the world over...read here. The name of the sequel is Bioshock 2: Sea Of Dreams and it is slated for a holiday 2009 release. Below the trailer is some footage from the original Bioshock, just for the sake of nostalgia.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

StarCraft 2 is now a TRILOGY!

Flashback to 2001 with me...every afternoon after work me and my friends would link PC's, make ourselves a rum & coke in an old super-size cup and take out are frustrations all evening long in the original StarCraft title.  Ahh the memories.  Years later the original game still has a huge foothold online with thousands of players still choosing Starcraft over newer shiner RTS titles.  Now, as wee near the sequel's release, Blizzard has announced that the single player story mode was just too large for one game and there fore they are releaseing it in 3 titles: Wings of Liberty focuses on the Terrans story, Heart of the Swarm focuses on the Zerg, Legacy of the Void focuses on the Protoss.  For more info check out Kotaku's BlizCon coverage.




Friday, October 10, 2008

Legislative Panel Finds Sarah Palin Guilty Of Abuse Of Authority

Finally.

From the NYTimes article:
Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, the chief investigator of an Alaska legislative panel concluded Friday.  ...a bipartisan panel that investigated the matter, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain.


Never heard of Sarah Vowell?

Who is Sarah Vowell?  I had never heard of this writer before, but after her appearance on The Daily Show this week, she may very well be my new hero. I immediately went over to Amazon to see what else she has done. Turns out she has done tons of writing, audio CD's and was the voice of Violet in the animated feature The Incredibles. Time to set aside some reading time. Enjoy!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

The Politics Of Hate - McCainninites & Palintologists

So if you are planning to vote for the Republican ticket next month here are a couple of very scary videos of your fellow McCaininites & Palintologists lining up for their respective rally's recently. The things that come out of these peoples mouths are just astounding. Is it so hard to educate oneself? So difficult to seek truth? So challenging to challenge rhetoric? I am constantly amazed that people still come up with ways to justify voting for McCain and Palin, regardless of the tremendous and ever-growing mountain of reasons and information of why doing so would be a bad idea. But after watching these videos, I think I have some new insight into why Republican voters are so unlikely to change their thinking and opinions and turn toward the light of rational thought. Sigh...enjoy?

UPDATE 1: The first video is from Ohio, the second from PA.

UPDATE 2: Added video of McCain being booed at his own rally for assuring attendees that Obama is not a terrorist or an Arab or not to be trusted.



Saturday Night Live Thursday Update: AIG Bailout

I laughed so hard tonight during SNL that I may need to go to the hospital tomorrow, to check if I have ruptured something vital. Below are the two videos. The first is Really?! with Seth and Amy regarding the AIG bailout and the subsequent $450 million they spent on a retreat for their top earners last weekend. It's highly recommended you not be drinking anything during watching that skit, as it will most likely come out your nose. The second is the skit mocking Tuesday's debate between Obama and McCain. The second video is of course only funny if you actually watched this week, so for those who haven't seen it, I added the full length video of the 2nd Presidential debate too. Enjoy

Dead Space Animated Comic Videos - MUST SEE!

The producers of the upcoming (October 24th) Dead Space survival horror video game have also released a series of six graphic novels that act as a prologue to the games' story. However, in an effort to use every type of media available, they have also released an animated version of the comic. To clarify, its the actual stills from the comics, with a bit of camera panning, some lighting effects, really excellent voice acting and music to bring the comic to life in motion video. I have never seen anything like it with this high level of production value. Below are all the videos in order, each is about 5 minutes in length. Chapters 2-5 are available in HD, couldn't find the first one in high definition for some reason. I for one, would love to see other comics given this treatment; you just have to see it to understand. Enjoy!

UPDATE: There is also a fully animated Dead Space movie called Dead Space: Downfall coming straight to DVD this month, added the preview below. The movie tells the story of the ship above the planet (where the game takes place) call the Ishimura the comics tell the planet-side story.








Halo 3: Recon - New Prologue Campaign

It's official.  At the annual Tokyo Game Show yesterday, Micro$oft confirmed the new Halo 3 campaign called Recon from now free-agent .  It's unclear where exactly in the cannon timeline it takes place, but it is, at least, a prequel to the Halo 3 storyline.  To put that in perspective, the new Halo Wars RTS game takes place 20 years before the events of Halo CE.  The storyline of Recon will star not the Master Chief, but instead you will play as an ODST soldier, maybe several depending on the game play style.  ODST's or Orbital Drop Shock Troop are the bad-asses of the fictional space navy in the Halo universe and can be likened to the U.S. Marines in terms of how they are used/deployed.  During the first three Halo games they were the human marines always by your side helping you drive vehicles and such.  The only sad end to this story is that Halo 3: Recon will not be available till Fall 2009! I guess until then you will have to make due with the pics and video below.  Enjoy!

The pictures and story i picked up via Joystiq.com, they did a full review of the game announcements at the Tokyo Show.  If you're interested check out the full article.





Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Getting To Know Candidate McCain

The one thing the Republican party is very good at (and how it has one elections) is smear tactics and attack politics. The assumption being that if they can make the opposing candidate look equally as bad as theirs, then the decision between the two will be a "wash" and voters will be more likely to side with the one who appears "just like us"...a main street, Joe six-pack, that we all can identify with. The problem with this is two fold, especially in the current Presidential race. One, the Obama/Biden ticket is trying to take the high ground, steering away from and sometimes out-right refusing to participate in, mud-slinging and personal attacks. While this is a positive step forward, it leaves the Republican party with the ability to fill the vacuum with more anti-Obama rhetoric. I have personally seen this in action with long time Republican friends who are now fed-up with thier party's ways and would like to see change, but have been slowly moved back toward voting for McCain because of misinformation. Two, since the Obama ticket is focusing mostly on voting record and decision making and trying to stick to the important issues, many voters are not getting the full picture of just how bad of a decision voting McCain Palin might be. So I have decided to post some video and news articles from reputable sources, to give voters a clearer picture of MCCain and Palin. Check back on this one as I will continue to update it as I find more time. Enjoy!

Five myths about John McCain - Short video from Rolling Stone contributing editor Tim Dickenson that accompanies his latest RS cover story "Make Believe Maverick".

Why McCains Time With Council Of World Freedom, Matters - HuffingtonPost article by Sam Stein regarding McCain's time on the board of an organization that supplied arms and funds to paramilitary organizations in Latin America.

Below is the 13 minute documentary on McCain's involvement in the "Keating Five" Savings and Loan scandal, which CNN's fact checker's went over with a fine tooth comb and found to all be TRUE with no partisan bias.

McCain's anti-Asian sentiment has been documented by several media outlets, including the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times.


Friday, October 3, 2008

Whose Fault is it? - The Economic Crisis & The Newly Passed Bailout

In light of the blame game being played by both political parties in the debates and the utter lack of understanding by most Americans about how our economy got into the toilet and why, I decided to post this much needed info by Factcheck.org regarding who really is at fault for this current economic catastrophe.

The article is from Newsweek. Enjoy.

UPDATE: added short video clip about a recession being a necessary medicine for the fever that ails our economy; that we should welcome recession instead of continuing the same practices and trying to postpone it.

VP Debate - "The Reciter"

Well the verdicts are in on the VP debate (this one is even better, and here's another) last night and while everyone is amazed with the performance of Sarah Palin (and by amazed I mean, surprised she didn't wallow in complete gibberish throughout), it didn't make up for the fact that almost all intelligent people could tell she was just reciting talking points (sometimes just reading verbatim) and not answering any question, either directly or with any substantial specifics. Not only that but the fact-checkers have are having a heyday with her. Her answers all went something like this:

Moderator: What policies and plans will your ticket implement to effect positive change in the nation's floundering economy?

Palin: We're gonna' fix it! Believe you, me...us couple of small town American mavericks are gonna make big changes and ruffle feathers in Washington. You can count on that.

If "Still President" Bush is "the decider", I'm dubbing Palin "the reciter". Bellow are some pics, some clips and the debate in it's entirety. Enjoy!

UPDATE: SNL delivers another scarily familiar but utterly hilarious skit, this time based on the VP debate, and once again starring Tina Fey as Palin. She better win an award for the amazing performances she has given in the past few weeks as Palin.

UPDATE 2: Monty Python veteran John Cleese comments on how the republican ticket sounds like a Python skit and how "The Reciter" resembles a parrot.




CBS Post-Debate Poll:

Reactions:



Full Debate: