Audiosurf.

I checked out Wired's top 5 PC Games in 2008 and 1 title caught my attention: Audiosurf.

A game that promises to build a WipeOut-esque game out of any musical track you throw at it.

I remember a game I had on the Playstation called Vib Ribbon that had a similar concept: it created an obstacle course for a sort of rabbit that you had to guide through button combinations. And you could feed it any musical track you wanted. So you had an infinite possibility of levels. The graphics were all wireframe so it had a very strong character. It was great although the gameplay was very simple. But the point was more to keep your eyes & fingers busy while you were listening to music. It made you rediscover your CDs as it made you want to try some obscure stuff.

So the same kind of thing but with racing? I had to try...

And the actual game is much better than "just" a racing game...
It's actually a sort of combination of racing and Tetris. With a feel of Guitar Hero thrown in...
The racing track has several lanes and you get colored blocks on it. You have to collect those blocks to score points, but you hav to collect them by colors and cluster them at least 3 by 3s. Both colors and the speed of your vehicles are determines by the track. So you have to follow the rythm of the song to collect the blocks efficiently...

It's incredibly entertaining and it gets you to listen to your music as well...
Just brilliant!

8-Bit Jesus

A mad man remade some classic Christmas songs using the style of some famous NES game musics...
It's all 8-bits and it's totally brilliant!!!!

It's here: http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/video-game-inspired-music/8-bit-jesus-new-christmas-chip-tune-album/

I found it at Kotaku (as usual I could say...)

!!UPDATE!!
The full album has been released!
It rocks!!!

Here: http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/video-games/8-bit-jesus-full-album-release/

Un genie!!!

Dans le flux des blagues habituelles qui circulent par email, on a recu ceci: http://www.akinator.com/

Une espece de jeu ou un genie de la lampe devine un personnage auquel on pense.
Essayez avant de lire la suite, ca pourrait gacher... ;)

C'est marrant, j'aborde ce genre de trucs toujours avec une pointe de scepticisme, sachant que de toutes facons y a un truc derriere et avec cette espece de pseudo fierte que le personnage que je vais trouver de derriere les fagots plantera le machin.
Donc je l'ai teste en pensant a Tom Morello, guitariste de Rage Against The Machine et mon idole guitare-heroique. Connu mais pas forcement tant que ca.

Apres quelques questions bateau (homme americain musicien), le genie s'est mis a me demander s'il avait le crane rase (bah oui), s'il portait une casquette (bah oui c'est meme son signe distinctif!). La j'ai eu un "c'est pas vrai qu'il va trouver!". Le genie, sachant ensuite qu'il faisait partie d'un quatuor, a facilement reussi a lire dans mes pensees, pour meme me sortir une photo.
Wow!

J'ai reussi a le coller au 2e coup, avec Manji, samurai du manga L'Habitant De l'Infini. Mais apparemment pas de beaucoup car il le connaissait deja et en en refaisant un coup il l'a trouve...

Le comment se rationnalise biensur facilement et l'interet meurt vraiment apres le 1er coup, mais pour rien qu'avoir ce sentiment de surprise genre "il m'a eu!", ca vaut le coup!

Je crois que j'ai entendu dire un jour par Derren Brown (excellent "magicien" anglais specialise dans la suggestion) que ce qui comptait dans la "magie" c'etait l'aventure ("journey" en VO), le fait de faire douter les gens.
Le tour peut etre tout simple, ce qui compte c'est de surprendre.

En voila un parfait exemple!

Monkey: Journey to the West.

I was having trouble imagining what what kind of work could be spawned from the collaboration between Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett (who both previously collaborated on Gorillaz) and the Beijing opera...
I guess my main "worry" was that it would be too much "occidentalised". How could pop-style music fit with 1 of the oldest Chinese legends?
It wassn't really a worry as I can't call myself a purist or anything. I have enjoyed enough versions of The Journey To The West that might not have been entirely accurate... Hell even Dragon Ball is (at first at least) a spin off this legend!

Anyway the answer came with the 1st seconds of the show: the use of traditionnal instruments place the musical style as traditionnal Chinese music, with a hint of more modern and Occidental touches. But just so much to spice it up that's all.
As a whole, it's still pretty much a Chinese opera (or more the idea I have of one, as I haven't seen a real one so far...), deeply rooted in buddhism (as is the original story). And it was fully in mandarin (subtitled or more sidetitled) as well!

I feel it's very unusual to see such an uncompromised view as something that could be seen as another West-end musical. It only makes the whole experience more rewarding.

I feel to call this piece "awe inspiring" would even be an understatement.
The power of the story itself, seeing the monkey king punished by Buddha for seeking immortality and forced to team up with a priest and ua bunch of cast-outs to redeem himself, could already make anything look good.
But combined as it is with such designs, costumes, sets, singers/actors/acrobats it just reaches other levels. The Nirvana?

It's fun yet profound, action packed & contemplative at the same time.
The pictures shown, when all actors take a pause and stop for a moment, were beautiful.

The direction manages a few very clever tricks, using animations as transitions berween scenes and mixing it with the actual actors & sets. A times, characters also duplicate to carry a sense of agitation, etc.
Acting was impressive, along with the physical, gravity defying acrobatics. It was my 1st time seeing "live kung fu" and I had more than my money's worth. That sense of perfect control was also carried through to more quiet moments, especially with "flying" characters, moving gracefully through the stage.

The singing was also incredible. Again, very unsual compared to western opera standards. But incredibly impressive. Those guys (and girls) reach notes I didn't think I could hear!

I could go on & on & on about this, using superlatives... I'll stop here.
In case you didn't get the idea, it was an amazing (almost unbelievable) experience.

Auditorium

Guide a flux of particles through boxes that play a music track... And listen to the result!
A beautiful puzzle game!

http://www.playauditorium.com/

Le jeu chiant du prof Kawashikek!

Kek est vraiment tres fort...

J'ai tenu 11 niveaux...

http://blog.zanorg.com/index.php?perm=367

NES quotes.

As I was reading through Kotaku, I found this.

http://sydlexia.com/nesquotes1.htm

The 50 best quotes out of NES games. Being a SEGA boy in my early gaming days (I was the proud owner of an SMS), I haven't actually played any of these games.
Still it sends me back to those gaming days, as SMS & NES had similar games after all...

And also the comments are hilarious.
Check it out.

Ping Nunchuk Pong!

And who else than Bruce Lee to do such a thing?
It's obviously fake, but it's pretty damn cool!



I got that from Ain't it cool.

Rose & Camelia.

Simple concepts are often the best. Take 2 women. Make them slap each other.
Who needs more? :D

http://nigoro.jp/game/rosecamellia/rosecamellia.php

There's even a sequel!
http://jp.shockwave.com/games/arcade/actiongame/baratotsubaki/play.html

Found these thanks to Kotaku here and here.

Flash game.

10 cursors.
Each with a limited life span.
I don't know how many floors.
Over and over again.
Cooperate with yourself.
Genius!

http://www.nekogames.jp/mt/2008/01/cursor10.html

Indestructo Tank.

A silly flash game where you bounce a tank off helicopters...
I love it!

http://www.kongregate.com/games/ArmorGames/indestructotank-ae

Zack & Miri make a porno.

OK, it's already too late on a sunday night, there's school tomorrow, I should really be thinking about getting to bed, but I just saw the finest comedy of the year, I need to write about it now, otherwise I'll let it slip again and it'll get ridiculous. Like those words about I am Legend I read in january that I never finished. Or Bookhunter, a great comics I got at the Angouleme festival, also in January. Anyway.

To make a porno. Well I started with the end really. The finest comedy I'll see this year for me. No more no less. And not only because I don't plan to see any other... ;)

I'm not a major in Kevin Smith's movies, but I at least thoroughly enjoyed everything I saw from him. Clerks is of course cult, but there's always a sort of sweetness that's hard to shake from his movies, making them memorable, eventhough they might feel... I don't know, simple maybe? Not in a bad way though. Only, it's never going to be oscar material. But who cares? Fact is: I remember Mallrats better than possibly any oscarised movie I saw (actually maybe not because there are very good movies that get Oscars, but you got the idea). And I saw it only once.
It's got good (highly quotable) dialogs and likeable characters, what else would you need?

So Zack & Miri is more of the same, in a sense. It's somehow strange to say that this movie is all about swetness. Because at the same time it's pretty fucking rowdy, if you'll excuse my French. But at the heart, it is a sweet love story. And if that's fairly unoriginal, well it makes it up on the amateur porno side...
I posted about PG Porn some time ago. Well there's a bit of this, only it's not really PG here (you actually see boobies). There is some pitch-perfect "porn" acting, which I believe requires skill.
Think the scene in Clerks when Randall orders the videos? There's a bit of that as well. Taken to the feature level. So it's quite filthy. But the sweetness of it all takes it all over! (^_^)

I don't think there's anyone who can film some loveable characters like Smith can do. Everyone in this makes you wish you knew them. They're such a cool gang. I'd just want to go wherever they are and hang out with them. That's one thing that's a bit depressing: I'll never really get to know them. But man, they're so cool!

The cast is excellent, from the main characters (Helen Banks is sooo sweet and don't call Seth Rogen a loser...) to the slightest cameo (but how did Justin Long get such a low voice???). They carry the dialogs to perfection and they MAKE that movie.

Oh and the soundtrack is great also. Always nice to hear the Pixies.

So I had a good right laugh (I needed one), I went "aaaw!" and "eeew!" and I had a hell of a good time.
Thanks Kevin & your mates!

PS: Make sure you sit through the whole credits...

Quantum of Solace.

Casino Royale was a departure from the previous James Bond films. The later Brosnans, while I enjoyed the actor were getting quite ridiculous. So they got the charcater a more hard boiled, Jason Bourne-style. With success.

With this one, it gets a bit of the old Bond formula back, while keeping the edgy side of Casino Royale. And it adds up to a pretty good Bond.
So Bond gets a bit more like the one you remember from before. He travels all around the world, seduces women, kills baddies. In Casino Royale, he didn't really get his man, which was slightly frustrating, but was bold. Here he does get the villain, so it's back on track.

But the action keeps the raw brutality that sets these new films apart from the previous installments. It does remind of Bourne, but it still manages to be Bond.
And it's good!

So best Bond ever?
Well no, I still keep Sean Connery as my favorite Bond incarnation. But Craig is a good close second and this installment is a very good one.

C'est bientot Noel!

Donc un peu de pub pour une action sympatique, agreable et qui mange pas de pain...

http://www.monbeausapin.org/

Une pensee pour les morts...

En cette journee de commemoration, j'aimerai que plutot que d'honorer nos morts tombes pour la patrie, on honore plutot les morts tombes a la guerre d'une maniere generale.

Les Allemands morts de l'autre cote dans les tranchees ont eu la meme experience que "les notres". Et ce n'est pas parce qu'ils etaient "du mauvais cote", etaient "les ennemis", ou meme "defendaient les mauvais ideaux", qu'ils ne meritent pas qu'on se rememore de leur sacrifice a eux aussi.

Et ca nous ferait sans doute plus reflechir a l'horreur de la guerre plutot que de courir le risque de tomber dans une espece de patriotisme malsain qui ne provoquera que d'autres guerres.

La raison d'une telle journee devrait etre de se souvenir de la guerre pour ne plus jamais la refaire.

Litteral interpretation.

I like the concept... :D
I could think of a few weird videos that could give a great version following this...

Burn After Reading.

The Coen brothers are of those film-makers that do their own thing. They have their trademark, so not knowing a film, I think you could guess they made it.
Through their career, they have visited many genres and each time have marked it with their own sceal.

This time they are tackling the spy movie genre.
It's a movie that holds everything that you would expect from one of their films. Great script, witty dialogs, amazing cast (all well at their place and in great form, Brad Pitt is a stand out, but it shouldn't hide the quality of the others) and filmed with great skill.

It's a "spy comedy", but more on the dark side of their comedy.
I would put it somewhere between Fargo & The Big Lebowski. The characters are completely crazy and it makes a fairly simple story escalate to deadly proportions...
But all with laughs, as everything is so desperately absurd...

So it's great fun, a bit lighter than No Country For Old Men, sure, which could make it seem like a "minor" film in their filmography. Yet what's this thing about sort of dissing "funny" movies? Not serious, so not good enough?

Nonsense, this is a truly great Coen brew.

CubeCraft.

My sister pointed me to one of the coolest websites: http://www.cubeecraft.com/.
They create "cubic versions" of characters (form comics, series, etc.) so you can just print out the models they have, cut them and assemble them...

Genius! (^_^)

Scientific publications...

http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/

This site randomly generates scientific essays...

A few titles I got:
* The materialist paradigm of narrative in the works of Madonna
* The Genre of Society: Subconstructive discourse, capitalism and structuralist posttextual theory

It's great. XD

Yet, the paper includes references and seem argumented enough (it features enough gibberish to make you think someone knows what it's about)...
I'm told some of them were accepted as real ones...

I love this! :)

Don't shoot the puppy!!!

Games that have the simplest gameplay are often the most compelling.
This is no exception:
http://www.rrrrthats5rs.com/games/dont-shoot-the-puppy/

It's REALLY hard...
(and VERY cheecky)

Road kill carpet...

Sick or genius?

http://oooms.nl/road-kill-carpet/#more-48

As they say: "It’s a warm, soft, cuddly carpet that attracts you to take a nap on it. But at the same time it's a repulsive image of a car-flattened, bloody fox."
Nuff said... (^_^;

Thanks to Nawah for the link!

Une pensee...

Faut esperer que le Cremant ne change jamais de nom, parce que du coup ca deviendrait de l'ex-Cremant et qui acheterait une telle chose?

Footez-nous la paix...

Ce matin sur RTL, le debat c'etait: "ils ont sifflez la Marseillaise hier soir, ca vous fait quoi?". Encore une grande idee. Genre on veut pas jeter d'huile sur le feu.
Donc evidemment y a des bons "patriotes" qui ont exprime leur indignation, qu'ils se sont sentis insultes au plus profond d'eux-memes, etc etc blah blah blah.

Heureusement y en a quelques-uns qui ont dit aussi que c'etait ridicule, que ca s'est toujours fait, que c'est pas malin certes (mais bon on parle de supporters de foot quand meme la) et que bon c'est pas non plus la peine d'en faire un plat (d'ailleurs les autres pays font pas tant de manieres). Ca fait du bien d'entendre un peu de bon sens. En meme temps, bizarrement, les 2 auditeurs en question n'etaient pas francais (1 allemand, 1 tunisien)... Je sais pas trop quelle image ca donne...

Un autre truc auquel je pense c'est que bon on a gueule sur les musulmans qui se sont insurges contre les caricatures de Mahomet. Et la on fait exactement pareil !!
Mahomet, c'est quand meme un symbole de leur religion et de leur culture. On peut comprendre que ca soit important pour eux. Donc la dessus on leur demande de laisser couler, mais faut pas toucher aux hymnes? C'est pas un peu ridicule?

Du coup je sais meme pas quel resultat ca a fait, ce match.

Update: 2 liens tres interessants (le 2e est en lien dans le 1er):
* http://www.cahiersdufootball.net/article.php?id=2991

* http://www.lemonde.fr/sports/article/2008/10/15/le-stade-c-est-un-des-rares-endroits-ou-l-on-peut-encore-manifester-publiquement_1107329_3242.html

Hilton for president!

I cannot believe I'm saying that and it makes me almost feel dirty, but Paris Hilton IS genuinely funny:

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Th next is even better, thanks to the outstanding support cast:

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

But that doesn't mean I'm going to start watching the Simple Life...

I originally found this at the Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/09/paris_for_president/
That's very good...

PG Porn

"For those who love everything about porn, except the sex".
With a concept like that, nothing can go wrong... :)

http://www.spike.com/video/pg-porn-pg-porn/3041858

Death Race

Well here is a movie that doesn't pretend to be more than it thinks it is, but not less as well!
It doesn't fall into the category of those remakes that get watered down so kiddies can go and see it.

Sure, the story itself is a cliche. But you get what you're here to see: crashes, explosion and mindless violence (and cute girls). No nonsense.
It's well shot, spectacular, brutal.
And it does feel good. :)

It's also great to see that Paul WS Anderson nailed this one (after missing the mark on Resident Evil and Alien vs Predator...).

Certainly not the film of the year, but still a good ride...

Cats.

Silly, but it made me laugh... (^_^)

Pineapple Express.

It was a long time since I got to see a "real" comedy.
I have never seen any of the "Apatow gang" stuff so I was walking into unknown territory. Anyway I had a very good time.

It's strange how this made me feel like it was using a formula that used to be somewhat over-used at some point, but that I hadn't seen in effect for a long time. Only I can't really remember any movie in that category... (^_^; It's the kind of "action-comedy" that finishes in a good old bloodbath. A bit like Lock Stock or Snatch but the American way.
Anyway as with any formula, if it's well done, it works. And it's well done here.

It's well funny and the action is actually plenty and quite good! Yet it keeps a sort of wacky / despaired feel. So it manages not to break from the comedy part and also not turn the main characters into silly action heroes. Well in a sense they do turn out that way, but it fits, in a ridiculous way (Hot Fuzz did that somehow a few years back).
It's also a "pot movie" and it makes good use of the fact that the characters are high all the time... :) In a sense it accounts for the action parts...

The actors are top notch, with special mention to James Franco, but Seth Rogen does shine as well. They manage to compose very likeable character and work very well as a duo which is key in such a movie.

So it's a movie that might get forgotten when building you "best movies of all times" list, but that is still a very good quality laugh and well worth watching...

Bring it down! (no don't! - or just a little)

C'est marrant, dans la psychose qui s'est installee, avec les news qui parlent a present non stop de la crise financiere et tout le monde (enfin tout le monde... Seulement les gens "normaux", car les vrais responsables sont bien au chaud...) qui panique pour leurs economies, je suis pris d'une envie de rire. Je devrais pas, apres tout moi aussi je suis concerne par la crise, je cotise pour ma retraite, si ca s'effondre, je perds comme tout le monde.

Mais tout le systeme est base sur du vent, finalement y a pas grand chose qui a change depuis avant la crise, le gros truc c'est que oui y a des banques qui ont plongees mais la cause c'est juste que les gens flippent. C'est plus une histoire de climat. Si a cette seconde ceux qui jouaient en bourse changeaient d'attitudes, genre si on les mettais tous sous anti depresseurs (encore qu'il doit pas y en avoir des masses qui n'en prennent pas deja), bah tout se reglerait, tout remonterait...
Donc on peut voir les politiques lancer des appels deseperes en disant "il n'y a pas de raison de s'inquieter, tout va bien". Et en meme temps les medias rabachent et rabachent que ca va pas, que c'est la pire crise de l'histoire de la finance, que c'est foutu, c'est la fin du monde demain (fallait bien que quelque chose reussisse la ou le LHC a echoue)...
PANIQUE!

C'est tellement ridicule de voir ce mecanisme qui s'auto-entretient dans cette spirale de la peur que je suis pris d'une espece de jubilation quasi-morbide.
Et par dessus le marche, voir les etats les plus conservateurs, ceux qui n'ont eu de cesse d'essayer de dereguler tout ce systeme depuis des annees, se mettre a proner les nationalisations et a encadrer les transactions... Ca tient du genie!
Je devrais avoir peur, je devrais etre furieux. Au fond, je le suis.
Mais cette envie de rire de tout ca est trop forte...

Apres je souhaite pas que tout se casse la tronche... Mais une petite frayeur de temps en temps, ca peut aussi faire aller les choses dans le bon sens...

Hidden letters

An exercice for the eyes brought by Fwdemails.com...

It took me a while to find the O...

-----------------------
Can you find the C?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Once you’ve found the C……….

Find the 6!

9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999699999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999

Once you’ve found the 6…

Find the N! (it’s hard!!)

MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMNMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM

Find the |

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The O

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QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQQQQ
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQQQQ
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQQOQ
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQQQQ
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQQQQ
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQQQQ
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQQQQ
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QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ QQQQQQQQQQQQQ
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find Z

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ŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽ ŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽŽ
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find 5

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SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
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What people have to do to eat...

Totally by chance (althoug it was quite unfortunate), I came across the last minutes of Police Academy 4 on TV. And I was very surprised to see... Sharon Stone!!!
So surprised I waited the end to see on the credits that it WAS her, not some lookalike. It was.

Well I guess you have to start somewhere... (^_^;

Gali l'alligator...

Ca c'est du super concept de pub... Je suis fan!!! :)

Gali l'Alligator - 13ème RUE
by amilhi

Une petite pensee pour le gamin qui a chante ca... (^_^;

Which Palin?

A new input to the American elections...



I'd vote for him!

I know I'm not qualified to do so, but why not?

Wall-E

I almost missed this one.

It's strange, that I had somehow got bored with Pixar. You KNOW that each time they release a film, it's going to be excellent. Funny, witty, interesting for everyone, in the most noble sense of the term.
I have been blown away by so many of their movies. The last one was The Incredibles, which counts as one of the best superhero movie ever made (and that's not a small thing to say from me, especially looking at how many movies of the genere I have seen only this year... ;) ).
I heard Cars was great, but "nothing more" (!). So I let it pass. Too family friendly. I WANTED BLOOD! (^_^;
I did that for Ratatouille as well...
I was about to do the same for Wall-E. When someone would have eventually dragged me to see it, I would have kicked myself...

You have great movies. Those you can advise your friends to see.
And you have those movies that move you so much you know they'll be with you for the rest of your life. Some kind of milestone.
Wall-E is one of those.

Because of course it is everything a Pixar should be. But it is even more. On just a technical level, it takes (as usual...) the medium to new heights. But it's almost irrelevant compared to what it is.
It is funny & witty, very kid friendly, yet it manages to tackles themes that are very adult and to question our very way of life (at least in this part of the world). It also manages to find a way to depict humanity that is utterly cute yet completely horrible and scary.
And it becomes more than an "eco-fable", it is also on some sort of corporate slavery. How man could de-evolve... A bit like Brazil did. But in a cuter, lighter way. Yet the message stays...

Such ambition for most could see as a "kids movie" (I hate that conception that animation pictures should be for kids, then again it's more or less the case here) is mind blowing. Even if you're a Pixar fan.
So to see it succeed in such a way is just unbelievable.

And everything is so perfectly crafted, from the description of the derelict earth to the relationships between characters, all this almost without words (as the robots don't talk)!

To be able to resist this, not to even have your eyes water in some of the poetic scenes, you would have to be dead.

It's just cinematic heaven.

The end of the world... ??

Not quite. Not now anyway. :)

In the mean time, everything you need to know about the LHC in a glorious rap:



I had no idea the Beastie Boys had entries at the CERN!!

Citation du jour...

(au sujet des jeux videos)
Erwan Cario : Les achievements, j’ai jamais trop compris l’intérêt. Mais bon, si il y en a qui aiment...
...
vnz : Mouais, ça fait un peu comme si tu te baladais avec un badge « J’ai lu tout Stendhal ».

lol!

Source

The Cyborg Name Decoder

That's me:

Get Your Cyborg Name

(http://cyborg.namedecoder.com/)

Or as a monster:

Get Your Monster Name

But I like this one better:

Get Your Monster Name

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Hellboy. It was an outstanding superhero movie, with great characters, great design. Director Guillermo Del Toro also managed to adapt the comic in a way that he made Hellboy his own while completely respecting the original material. So just a little lighter, but stil with the Chtuluesque monsters.
The only flaw is that it came after Spiderman and was treating a bit on its territory, so it didn't felt as fresh as it should have.
Anyway a movie coming amongst my favourite in this genre.

So hopes were high for this sequel, as Del Toro was back on.
Well he followed on with the usual sequel rules: bigger & better, with great effect!

The movie follows the characters were the 1st movie left them. So people who tought that the first one wasn't dark enough, this one won't have you more satisfied s the tone is more or less the same. In my opinion thought it's a spot on mix of humour action and darker moments.
The production design is astonishing: the sets are varied and epic and you get to see a huge gallery of varied monsters (maybe more impressive than Star Wars).

The whole enterprise drips cool and poses like any superhero movie should do. It's like Ironman but with monsters instead of young billionnaires.

The action also takes it up a notch from the previous installment with some great set pieces and choreographies.
Ron Perlman still inhabits its roel perfectly as Hellboy and Luke Goss (previously seen in Blade 2) is a worthy (and bad-ass) villain.
The 2ary characters (especially Abe Sapiens) gets a bit more development, which is great and you get some very interesting new ones (Joahnn Krauss is excellent).

So Del Toro did it again, with a film in all aspects better than the first one (like Spiderman 2 was to Spiderman 1).
Bring on the 3rd! :)

Some art in writing...

http://fontpark.morisawa.co.jp/

A great idea this...
Thinking about it, since kanji already are sorts of drawings, it just takes the idea a bit further...
Very fun! (and cool and beautiful)

I have made mine (very quickly) here.

La brute.

Un petit jeu marrant style tamagochi mais en plus rigolo (parce que ca fritte): labrute.fr

Pas d'inscription necessaire, il suffit de trouver un nom...

Devenez mon disciple ici... :)

UPDATE: apres y avoir "joue" quelques jours, c'est vraiment sympa! Et les combats sont bien foutus (y a pas mal de coups), y a souvent du suspence, pour un peu j'encouragerait ma brute!

The Dark Knight.

I have always been a fan of Tim Burton's take on Batman and therefore has always been a bit protective about it.
So when Batman Begins was announced, I wasn't too enthousiastic, despite the fact that Christopher Nolan, one of my favorite directors, was set to direct and that the cast was stellar...
They wanted to kind of bury the previous films, I didn't like that... Sure, the last 3 need to be forgotten, but not the Tim Burtons...
Anyway it turned out to be a great movie, great reboot and well worth it. And it actually didn't tread on Burton's field, as it had a different vilain and all.

So they announced that they wanted to take on the Joker in the next one. That again arose a mixed feeling for me: this time they really wanted to redo something that had been done. And Jack Nicholson as the Joker was memorable... Why?
Again a sort of remake. It's annoying!

Well I got my answer. And I have to say that again, it was well worth it...
This time I can just tell myself that reboots in comic books are very frequent, so why should comic book adaptations in cinemas be any different?

Anyway the take on this is completely different from Burton's Batman. It is a complete reinvention. From the characters to the underlying themes. The term "masterpiece" is way overused these days, but it really springs to mind here.

It feels like a "true" Batman movie: you get the high-tech gadgets, the explosions, the fights but it also manages to be more than that.
It deals with icons and the power they have.
And by the end of the film, its complex and multilayered plot gain really epic proportions.

Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker has been much talked about and rightly so. He deserves to be remembered just for that one. Here, the Joker becomes more a thug, a gang leader (yet a genius one). He comes from nowhere. He's chaos. And you get sense of dread each time he's on the frame.

But this is a BATMAN movie, so you get to see Batman quite a lot (and Christian Bale is of course excellent) and his arc is very well handled and interesting. It's quite satisfying to think that for as many characters you have in this movie, they all get a worthy treatment. The story is incredibly well balanced.

And everything weaves into the final and bigger picture...

For something that is marketed as a "summer blockbuster", it is incredibly dark and demanding. And it feels so good to me that it actually works, that the public follows, as it's breaking records around the world! It's great! It might open the road to a new wave of "blockbusters"...

This is the kind of remake/sequel/reboot I like to see. Because it's not like anything that was done before...

As much as I enjoyed Ironman and am looking forward to Hellboy 2, if you only have to see 1 superhero movie this year, I'd say it has to be this one...

Hancock.

It's the superhero season...
It's a superheroic year actually, thinking about it...
And it's a good thing to realise that the quality of that wave is quite consistently good!

Hancock is an original character, which is a good change. The approach it adopts, using a sort of Superman that would have totally lost focus is also quite fresh.

It is carried very convincingly by Will Smith, portraying a surprisingly multilayered character.
That's the movie's biggest surprise actually: it turns out to be actually quite intimate and touching, without shying away from superheroic spectaculars...

It also uses an excellent twist and on that I have to say that I'm impressed in the advertising campaign that doesn't give it away... I always get annoyed at those trailers that give most of the film away.
I remember coming out of Golden Eye thinking "well everything was in the trailer". That's really annoying... That didn't happen here and to do so they had to refuse to cash in on a very famous (and talented and beautiful) actress appearing and having a central role in the story... It's brave! I like it! :)

So based on all these positive comments, is it the best superhero movie ever made?
Well I have to say it isn't.
This is mainly because, to me, the movie lacks a "real" villain. A superhero must have a nemesis. Ironically, the way the story turns out and the very reason why it is original, prevents this.
So in a sense it's a shame, but in another it's actually an asset... Strange.
Maybe I'll see it again and actually get a bit more enthhousiastic.

But somehow this time I didn't get my fix. Not completely.

Yet, don't be turned off: it's a worthy movie, well done, well acted and original in it's own right!
In these times of remakes and endless adaptations, it's something that has to be valued!

Wanted.

When 1st I heard about Wanted by seeing the trailer in the cinema, I thought that this could be a fun summer film. Something like the Bad Boys 2 or the Shoot'Em Up of the year. A movie fun yet dumb.

And it surely is fun.
It is an ultimate gunfest, with a 4 star cast. That's what the trailer promised and it delivers in style. But it also has a compelling story and it is a really angry and anarchic film.

It's a joy to see great actors taking part in that kind of projects because it gives so much weight to the characters. With Morgan Freeman, it goes without saying. Angelina Jolie is charismatic as ever. But also (and more importantly) James McAvoy (yes the one from Atonement!) who has to carry the metamorphosis of the main character...

It's one of those examples where everything comes together to give something that is more than the rest of its parts.

And I do believe that if Fight Club would be an action movie, it would be Wanted. And it's not a light thing to say as fart as I'm concerned, as Fight Club is for me up there amongst the 10 best films ever made.

Just in terms of style, it boasts some effects and camera moves that Fincher wouldn't be ashamed of... You get some crazy car stunts and a new milestone in gun fights scenes with the final showdown... I don't believe to have seen such an inovative use of slomo since Matrix.

And it also got it all. The cool concepts, the mythology, the scale, the crazy set pieces...
And it's so angry!
It's a good old kick in the balls (although rethorical). A middle finger held up high.

I read on AICN a review of 300 that said "If you watch this movie and go into a Taco Bell, and say to the cashier, “I need some extra sauce packets” guess what? You’re getting twenty sauce packets because your face will punch him in the brain.".
Well that's the effect Wanted had on me. Same as Fight Club actually (although I might be laboring the point... As a side note, I'm not saying this is better than Fight Club... They're 2 very different movies, but they share themes...).

It's so good to see a movie like that, I cannot believe my senses...
If there hadn't been No Country For Old Men earlier this year, I would have screamed "BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR" without a second of hesitation...

With The Dark Knight and Hellboy 2 still to come, the competition for the spot will be tough I expect...

Citation du jour...

"Que l’absentéisme ne soit pas confondu avec l’"absenthéisme", ce mot-valise inventé par Alain Créhange, l’auteur de "Le Pornithorynque est un salopare" aux éditions Mille et une nuits : "Doctrine religieuse qui affirme que Dieu existe, mais qu’il n’est pas là en ce moment.""

J'adore... :)

L'article d'origine (sur Rue89) est aussi interessant...

Firefox easter eggs.

For those of you who downloaded Firefox 3, try typing "about:robots" in the adress bar...

The Incredible Hulk

Well, the 2nd (and last for this year) Marvel movie is a bit of a disappointment for me...
It's strange because it is a quality movie.
It's well made, spectacular, has a good cast (especially the opposition Ed Norton/ Tim Roth)...
If any Marvel movie could be at least of that quality, I'd settle for this without any problem.

I guess that my problem here is that I enjoyed the Ang Lee version of Hulk very much and it was a much bolder movie. Both in style and in themes. It was a film about rage. And it carried that through.
Here, I had the feeling it was "just" a Hulk movie, I didn't really get into it as much...
But I guess it's just bickering.

As I said, if all the forthcoming Marvel adaptations could be of that quality, I'd have no problem... It's well done and perfectly entertaining.

Another interesting point: Marvel is already starting to create the kind of universe they did in the comics, when crossing over from 1 franchise to the others... And that's really exciting!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

That's a mouthful of a title...
So how does the 4th Indiana Jones compares to the 20years of expectations?

Well pretty good, I have to say. While it's not the best in the series (for me Crusade & Raiders come first...), it manages to revive the old Indy spirit and transpose it into another time. It's the 50's now, ennemies have changed, Indy has changed, fitting more his dad's shoes in Crusade. And it really works!

The movie manages to have a "classic" feel, while incorporating all of his director's latest tricks... And as far as I'm concerned, I always watch a Spielberg movie in awe. How does he manage to do what he does?
Just the opening scene, although quite inconsequential (although it does set the mood in a way: we're in for a fun ride), with a few crazy (but always relevant) camera moves, shows all the technical confidence he's capable of...

Other nice thing: Shia LaBeouf is definitely good: after carrying most of Transformers on his shoulders, he manages to pull off a tricky sidekick part. Chemistry is there with Harrison Ford.

1 little reserve that I had was that the movie kind of felt "stiched up" at some points. I wouldn't be able to really point anything in particular, but it felt like some scenes didn't seem to flow. Not like Crusade would, for example.
There were a few moments as well where I thought they were pushing things a bit, namely "it falls 3 times" and this monkey business... But that might just a bit far fetched because, I bought the nuclear blast! So I'll put that down to mood.

But other than that, there's so much to love...
The way this really feels like an Indiana Jones movie, yet feels different from the others...
The evolution of Indy...
The action set pieces...
The great cast...
I really liked where they took Indy's character. A sort of worn out hero, he still manages to give a good old fashion punch up in style... And definitely still got the magic, eventhough "it's not as easy as it used to be"...

It's great fun and you really don't see time pass. And when it's finished, you wish there was more...
Worth waiting 20 years... Worth taking that last ride.

Un peu de politique.

Ca faisait longtemps.
A lire et à diffuser...

http://www.lemonde.fr/opinions/article/2008/05/30/le-systeme-de-retraites-un-choix-de-societe-par-gerard-aschieri-jean-marie-harribey-et-pierre-khalfa_1051837_3232.html

Cette crise financière sans précédent qui affecte toutes les institutions financières (banques, fonds de placement et fonds de pension) confirme, une fois de plus, que seul un système par répartition permet de garantir les retraites pour toutes les
générations. Un tel système est fondé sur un contrat intergénérationnel. Les salariés actifs payent avec une partie de leur salaire, versée sous forme de cotisation sociale, les pensions des retraités, car ils savent qu'une fois venu leur tour d'être à la retraite, la génération suivante fera de même. Comme tout contrat, il ne peut reposer que sur la confiance.

Or, depuis des années, les pouvoirs publics s'acharnent à vouloir détruire cette confiance en présentant une vision catastrophiste de l'avenir pour justifier des mesures de régression sociale. Ainsi, le gouvernement actuel veut augmenter encore la durée de cotisation à 41 ans et même engager un processus d'allongement permanent de celle-ci en y affectant les deux tiers de la croissance de l'espérance de vie à
60 ans.

Il s'agit donc d'une rupture historique. Alors que, depuis plus d'un siècle, l'augmentation de la richesse produite, du revenu national, était en partie utilisée pour baisser le temps de travail, que ce soit de façon hebdomadaire ou sur toute la durée de la vie, l'objectif aujourd'hui est de "travailler plus pour gagner plus". Dans le cas des retraites, ce slogan se traduit par le dilemme, mille fois ressassé :
"Soit l'augmentation de la durée de cotisation, soit la baisse du niveau des pensions." En fait, les salariés ont l'une et l'autre depuis les mesures Balladur de 1993.

Depuis cette date, pour les salariés du secteur privé, ces mesures entraînent, selon le Conseil de l'emploi, des revenus et de la cohésion sociale (CERC), une baisse du pouvoir d'achat de la retraite du régime général de 0,3 % par an et de 0,6 % pour la retraite complémentaire, celui de la retraite des fonctionnaires baissant de
0,5 % par an. Ces baisses devraient se poursuivre dans le futur et le décrochage par rapport aux salaires s'accentuer. Selon le Conseil d'orientation des retraites (COR), le taux de remplacement moyen - le niveau de la retraite par rapport au salaire - est aujourd'hui de 72 %, il devrait passer à 65 % en 2020 et à 59 % en 2050.

Ces mesures ont aggravé les inégalités pour toutes les personnes aux carrières heurtées. Les femmes, qui ont déjà des pensions en moyenne inférieures de 40 % par rapport à celles des hommes, sont particulièrement touchées par l'allongement de la durée de cotisation et par les effets très pénalisants de la décote. En effet, à ce jour, seulement 39 % des femmes retraitées ont pu valider 37,5 ans, contre
85 % des hommes.

HYPOCRISIE SUR LES SENIORS

On mesure l'hypocrisie du discours actuel sur l'emploi des seniors quand on sait qu'aujourd'hui plus de six salariés sur dix sont hors emploi au moment de faire valoir leur droit à la retraite. En outre, les jeunes rentrent de plus en plus tard sur le marché du travail. Toute nouvelle augmentation de la durée de cotisation se traduira donc par une nouvelle baisse du niveau des pensions.

Hypocrite, cette solution est aussi dangereuse, car elle revient à rompre le contrat entre générations. Si les actifs paient les pensions des retraités, en contrepartie, les salariés âgés laissent leur place sur le marché du travail aux nouvelles générations. Cette exigence est d'autant plus forte que le chômage de masse perdure. Décaler l'âge de départ à la retraite revient à préférer entretenir le chômage des
jeunes plutôt que de payer des retraites.

En vérité, la solution au financement des retraites existe et elle figure d'ailleurs en filigrane de tous les rapports du COR. Elle consiste à mettre un terme à la baisse de la part salariale (10 points en vingt ans) dans la valeur ajoutée, la richesse créée par les salariés dans les entreprises, et à accompagner l'évolution
démographique par un relèvement progressif des cotisations sociales.
Est-ce possible ?

Le besoin de financement supplémentaire des retraites, par rapport à la loi Fillon de 2003, a été estimé par le rapport du COR de novembre 2007 à 1 point de PIB en 2020 et à 1,7 point en 2050. Personne ne peut croire que l'évolution de l'économie ne permettra pas de le couvrir. Un point de PIB correspond aujourd'hui à 10 % des dividendes versés aux actionnaires des sociétés non financières.

L'hésitation n'est plus permise : il faut rééquilibrer le partage de la valeur ajoutée en augmentant le taux des cotisations dites patronales et en réfléchissant à l'élargissement de l'assiette des cotisations aux profits pour y appliquer le même taux qu'aux salaires. Un tel rééquilibrage de la part des salaires serait compensé par une baisse des dividendes versés aux actionnaires et ne toucherait pas à
l'investissement productif. Il ne pénaliserait donc pas la compétitivité des entreprises.

La litanie sur le renchérissement du "coût du travail" n'a donc pas lieu d'être. La frénésie de profits au cours des trente dernières années, facilitée par la financiarisation de l'économie mondiale avec sa spéculation récurrente, sa prolifération de produits financiers et ses paradis fiscaux pour abriter fraude et évasion fiscales, frappe d'ailleurs d'illégitimité toutes les lamentations patronales sur ce point. Car ce qui est en train de délabrer les sociétés, du nord au
sud de la planète, c'est le "coût du capital", dans un double sens : ce qu'il prélève comme richesses devient exorbitant et ce qu'il provoque comme dégâts sociaux et écologiques devient inestimable.
C'est en ce sens que la question des retraites pose la question de savoir dans quelle société nous voulons vivre.

Gérard Aschieri, secrétaire général de la FSU ;
Jean-Marie Harribey, coprésident d'Attac ;
Pierre Khalfa, secrétaire national de l'Union syndicale Solidaires.

Juno

I believe this movie well deserves all the praises it got...

Not only it's a beautiful movie on parenthood, but it's one of the very best "teenager movies" (Donnie Darko is one of my favorites in that genre)...
It's very well written, with witty dialogs and doesn't shy away from its subject.
Sex, abortion, adoption can be quite heavy themes, but the movie confronts them through Juno's point of view, which is very forward and honest. Genuine.

Each member of the cast cast is incredible whether Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Mark Loring, Allison Janney or J.K. Simmons, they all inhabit their characters perfectly and deserve the highest praises. They hold the film on their shoulders.

It's a straightforward film that go straight for your heart and takes it.
I mean, Juno is like, so cool!

Sky Captain and the world of tomorrow.

Strange thing that right after seeing Speed Racer I get to watch Sky Captain, because those 2 movies in common that they create their respective worlds via CGI.
And despite the fact that Sky Captain is 4 years older, it doesn't show.

It's a sort of revival of the old 50's serials, with the brave hero, the slighly dumb blonde love interest and the german sounding villain that wants to destroy the world.
And all for the best!
It's well acted, it's fun, takes you to various exotic places and displays a wild imagery of retro-sci-fi.
Most of the movie is in sorts of sepia, faded colors and looks beautiful.

Between the action set pieces, you get you enjoy the romantic cat & mouse game of the 2 leads (Jude Law & Gwyneth Paltrow) which have a good chemistry and witty dialogs so it's always entertaining & fun.

It's also good to see a story that takes its time given the hectic pace of all actionners nowadays. You have time to enjoy the pictures (and the rest)...

It would be a shame not to.

Speed Racer

GO SPEED GO!

Man this film should't work.
It just shouldn't.
So many things are wrong in it! I mean it has an annoying kid that does stupid things, along with a chimp dressed up with clothes. How WRONG is that?
It's something that could appeal to 7 years old, but no grown man could actually even admit they could even bear to lay their eyes on such a thing. I think I'm a grown man.
Maybe not fully grown.
Maybe I have bits of 7 years old boy behind my hairs...

But the fact is I just dug the hell out of Speed Racer.
So the question stands: how did they do it?

Hands down to the Wachowskis, they seem like they just can't do half measures. So when they come to make a movie adapting a camp anime series from the 80's, they just don;t try to make it more than it is and set out to make a camp movie adapted from an anime series from the 80's. Only they push it to the maximum.
And I think that makes the difference.

Because ultimately they produced something I believe has never been seen on screen. They litterally made a live cartoon. Mind you, even CGI animation pictures might look more "real" than this.
Every inch of the frame is saturated with bright colours, costumes, props, backgrounds... Things get distorted, screen splits, multiple times.
You know those parts of Ang Lee's Hulk where he took this kind of comics style, well Speed Racer takes this and pushes it ten notches. As they go the Wachowskis invent a new visual grammar. Actually it's not quite new, because it's things that japanese animation has used for years, but it's the very first time this has been applied to live action, I believe. Like that anyway.

And it's cool, every frame of this spells C-O-O-L.
It all looks great.
And it plays great as well, the cast is incredible and all play it so straight, but it never go into any sort of parody. It's not a movie that takes itself seriously, but it's also to be taken completely at 1st degree. The tone just feels right.

It's a movie with integrity. It's so honest it would just be a pity to watch it cynically...

You never feel that it's looking down on you.
And athough you get an "annoying kid" (TM) with a chimp, they're actually not annoying. They're funny! Practical humour, sure, but no fart joke. Even George couldn't escape that.

And the story even manages some clever narrative tricks, that makes it entertaining although it knows it can't really surprise you...

Action-wise, the races are obviously the central point. They take the StarWars Episode 1 pod race to the cleaners (leaving just the Darth Maul fight worth watching in there...). The term "car-fu" actually lives up to its name in a sort of crazy mix of Wacky Racers and F-Zero / Wipeout... Fast, inventive, crazy, clear...

So yeah the Wachowskis have made an experimental crazy live anime for kids fully enjoyable for honest grown men. I really would like to know where they found how to do that...

GO SPEED GO!!!

Paranoia Agent.

I got a huge back log of stuff I want to post about, but can't take the time to actually write... I wanted to write about this in april.
I always have something better to do before (very important stuff like messing around on Facebook (^_^; )... I mean it's not easy to write so I got to be in the right frame of mind...
Anyway. Enough of that diva thing.

It took me nearly 2 years for me to watch Paranoia Agent. 2 years.
I was scared. I knew it would be tough. Its director, Satoshi Kon made Perfect Blue among other great things and his stuff has the tendency to be quite twisted. It's good, but you have to be... In the right frame of mind!!!!

So I finally found the occasion and dived in. And surprisingly, it wasn't that hard after all. :)

The term "masterpiece" has been so overused lately that it almost has lost its meaning. Yet, seeing such work, it genuinley springs to mind, reminding you of what it truly defines...

If you've seen Perfect Blue, you'll recognise the atmosphere straightaway. This sort of strange (paranoiac!) feeling that things are not as normal as they should be...
It actually starts right at the opening credit, as you see each of the main charaters (that at first you don't know) laughing out loud in a place that could actually a "perfect" place for a suicide (at the top of a building, in a burnt house, under water...)...
It's a series that is always trying a balancing act, keeping you guessing if the story that unfolds is taking place in the "real" world or a fantasy one.

From episode to episode, it carefully presents unrelated characters that yet all have one thing in common (on top of being all a bit twisted) and all get attacked by this boy with a baseball bat... Is he real? Is he a ghost? Or would he be a collective hallucination?
Yet, as the mystery gets thicker and the boy becomes "legend" (more and more people are attacked), the series starts exploring some side roads and the actual aim becomes quite clear: it's a sort of snapshot of Japanese society (and by extension ours).
It reflects and exposes our fear and insecurities in today's environment.

And of course it's not pretty, although it doesn't give into the bleak and always treats its subject with humour.
Still it's quite frontal and very provocative. See the episode "Happy Family Planning" which actually upset me quite deeply, but in a good, very stimulating way... Again you get the balancing act... You never really know if you laugh that you're not going to cry next second or vice-versa.

Seeing such an ambitious project unfold and succeed is a marvel. It's almost like you know what it's tryng to do, yet you get tricked anyway. Incredible.

And then there's the ending. As I thought I got it before the end, it still manages to steer into another direction and give a conclusion that manages to tie everyting up (including the society snapshot) but also push the concept beyond what I expected.
It even ties in the images of the opening and ending credits, which actually hold so many information about the story (that you actually discover bit by bit as you watch the episodes, if you watch the credits each time, that is... And you should!) that it made my head spin.

And yet I left this with the satisfying feeling that I had understood. Of course the ending is open and mysterious, yet I gobally got a good idea of what it was about.

That's maybe the most amazing feat of it all: to take this story, this incredibly ambitious concept and present it so at the end, people have understood!
When you think about it, it's so easy to do something confusing... A lot of movies and series try to put some confusing elements to actually prevent you from understanding something that is actually often quite simplistic.
But to make something complex and convoluted so naturally understandable, without looking down on the audience (because nothing is said, you still have to work it out yourself) that's something that requires a craft in storytelling that is truly exceptionnal.

Technically also, it's stunning. A lot of animation styles are used, always with a view to describe a character's point of view / fantasy. There are even points where at first I thought that there were some sort of defects but actually it turned out to be intended, as it was underlying something I hadn't understood at that stage...

All that defines a masterpiece...

Ironman

1st comic book movie of the year!

All critics I had read before going were pretty much agreeing on the fact that this one was "good but not great". I have to disagree. I couldn't see how it could actually better and I have to say I'm the first surprised by that.
I think it's how all comic book adaptations should be: cool & fun, but not completely shallow.

It manages to be light-hearted with very welcome touches of more serious stuff (Tony Stark is at 1st a merchant of death). It's not Lord Of War but it touches similar themes, while still keeping on the fun side. Let's not forget it's a comics adaptation.
Humour is good, well placed and well dosed, while the plot, although fairly unsurprising, is still well written and well paced.

The main highlight here is the cast.
Robert Downey Jr is a perfect match for Tony Stark, managing to naturally carry the different sides of the character: a thrill seeking playboy at heart, making him quite different from other Marvel super-heroes.
Also, although hasn't any super power of his own (just being a man in a suit), he still got a curse as what powers his suit also keeps him alive. In a way, he shares his heart with his armor, which is pretty cool and gives a lot of weight to his fights: if he pushes too hard, he dies... Obviously, that's the case for anyone, but I guess you got the idea: every super hero having a weakness, there lies his and it's a cool one...

The special effects are also excellent, they really nailed the armor and its possibilities. The action is on par and boasts some very cool ideas.

To conclude, I was fairly uninterested at start by the character of Ironman, but this movie, thanks to an excellent cast and outstanding design, made me care and I'll surely watch out for the inevitable (and highly desirable) sequel. I was expecting above average entertainment, it turned out to be of the best adaptations of a Marvel character, up there with Spiderman... For me that's not a small thing to say.

1 more thing, on the small detail things: you obviously get the usual cameo of Stan Lee, Jon Favreau, the director takes a small part of a body guard but I though I recognised Tom Morello as a afghan guard. I would have no idea what the lead guitarist of Rage Against The Machine (and a guitarist idol of mine) was doing there... I need to confirm that...

Edit: IMDb confirmed Tom Morello is in there, I'm quite proud of myself to have spotted him!! :)

CatZ (Z le chat)

Now that manga is well established, we start seeing comics from other Asian countries, which is great because there a are a lot of great artists out there.
So at the last Angouleme comics convention, I took a chance and bought a Corean one, CatZ by Ki-hyun Byun, on the sole basis that the drawings looked good and that it was a full story in 2 volumes, so I wouldn't be bound to yet another series if I liked it... (^_^;

So I read the 1st one and later bought the 2nd because it is a really good Manhwa.

The drawings are beautiful, full color, in a water paint style. They also have en identity of their own compared to manga. They have a sense of strong realism coupled with some expressions that are clearly "cartoonish", to great effect.

And then more importantly there's the story.
It follows a girl who gets a job of selling ice creams in a sort of Corean Disney land. She meets then befriends a strange guy who's disguised as a mascot, a forgotten super hero called CatZ. Or is he CatZ himself?
She wanders off in his world to fight P, his nemesis. In the mean time in the "real" world we follow 2 cops that investigate on a case where some children are being attacked and are subsequntly found to be mute, as if their voice had been stolen (which is what P does...).

As the investigation progresses and the characters develo, dreams and reality collide, to the point where you really don't know where to stand. Is the CatZ mascot the real CatZ? Is there a P really going around stealing voices? Is that all a messed up dream? Who would be dreaming by the way?
It's very cleverly written, very subtle, even with the final staying quite mysterious.

It's a dark journey in the mind of a youth trying to escape a reality that's too heavy to bear.
Definitely worth a read.

Langue de bois.

Je ne suis en aucun cas un fan de foot (encore que je sais apprecier un bon match quand j'en vois un) mais aujourd'hui e n zappant a la tv, je suis tombe sur une interview de Jose Murinho, ex-coach du club de Chelsea, qui devait affronter Manchester United dans l'apres-midi.

A la question "que doivent faire les joueurs de Chelsea pour gagner", le Jose (au passage il a l'air aimable comme une porte de prison...) a repondu par un speech de 5minutes pour dire en gros: "les joueurs savent ce qu'il faut faire, ils ont deja joue contre ManU, ils ont deja battu ManU, ce qu'il faut c'est qu'ils sortent sur le terrain et jouent au football, en marquant des buts."

Un bel exemple de parlotte pour ne rien dire d'interessant, que bien des hommes politiques auraient pu lui envier je pense... :)

Wildlife.

This is just stunning.



Drama like real life only can produce...

(Thanks Guigui for this!!)

Underworld Evolution.

The 1st Underworld was a pleasant surprise to me and since it was a direct setup to the sequel, I had to get to see it...
It's now done. :)

The 2 films work more or less as one as the 2nd starts exactly where the 1st one left us...

I thought the 1st one was a bit of a slow starter, with the best bits at the end. Here it starts off really well with a great opening medieval scene. And you get to see good werewolves. Not the kind where you actually only see the head or the upper body in the dark. No here you have full werewolves in the full light (of torches)!
And it carries on nicely with cool fights and monsters and more gore in 15min than the whole 1st one!

It's therefore a bit disappointing that the story loses momentum.
The thing I loved in the 1st one is that it gave you a glimpse of what suggested a rich and complex universe (the vampire society and politics, teh war with the wrewolves...). Unfortunately, in this one as the story develop they just reduce that to a single thread that for me lacked something.

It was still good but it didn't go beyond that...

But anyway, still a good series, still beautifully shot and still entertaining...

SPL.

I finally got round to see this movie that was quite hyped when it came out a few years ago. It was said it was announcing the return of the HK police movie golden age.
And I have to say, it doesn't disappoint.

Following the story of a dying cop that sets out to catch a mob boss at all cost,
the story is not really original in itself. It carries familiar themes of redemption and that you somehow need to become a criminal to catch one. But it's very well told, takes time to develop its characters (in line with Infernal Affairs) and always stays in very dark territories.
It's supported by excellent actors, lead by Samo Hung, Donnie Yen & Simon Yam.
Samo Hung takes an obvious pleasure to portray a truly evil mob boss, not his usual trade.

The fact of having such skilled martial artists as Hung & Yen (and also Wu Jing) also promises some good fights. On that point also the movie delivers. Having been influenced by Ong Bak, Donnie Yen, who choreographed the action, has taken a very brutal and dirty approach. This gives some gritty fight, fast & furious, mixing various styles.

Last but not least, the photography is beautiful, playing with colours and contrasts.

So yeah a excellent movie, happily mixing action & drama, whose quality traces back to the best John Woo's...

Interesting facts.

I did a dummy Google search on something I typed randomly, which turned out to be "nfff".

It returned:
National Fallen Firefighters Foundation
The National Federation of Fish Friers
Naked Freedom Film Festival
NEW FICTION AND FACTS FROM FINLAND

I wouldn't have thought there were so many NFFFs kicking around...

One Night At McCool's

2 words: Liv Tyler.
Another one: hot.
And a last one: fun.

In a way it's a movie to te glory of the dirty pigs all of us men are...
Who could say no to her?

Nothing's changed after this (but nothing ever changes after a movie anyway), but you've laughed and you've seen nice pictures... (T-T)
And you even might have wished you were John Goodman. Kind of.
Good cast, playing a varied bunch of losers, enjoyable script, good dialogues. All good!

To think I have a DVD player... No foutain though. Anyway.

kek

Aucun rapport mais j'adore:
http://blog.zanorg.com/?perm=45

j'aime beaucoup le reste du site aussi (http://blog.zanorg.com/ donc...), avec son Lemming et son vers et son menu qui fait de la musique (j'ai passe 10min a jouer avec)... :)

Roleplay.

Gary Gygax passed away this week, so as a tribute, let's remember those D&D games...
(Thanks Ninoune for the video!! :) )

S1m0ne

The 2nd movie by Andrew Niccol (who did Gattaca 1st and Lord Of War then) goes very well as companion piece to Being John Malkovich.
Both are indeed about recluse and misunderstood characters that use the fame of another to get through to their public.

Except that here, Viktor Taransky (the genius director that is so uncompromising in his vision that nobody go to see his movies) creates the "other one". He then gets caught at his own game, as he's convinced everyone that his Simone is real and the media carries on from there.
"What is real?" and "do you really control what you've created?" are important themes.

The movie has light moments, with the escalation of lies and the overblown interest of people towards a figure that doesn't exist (more ironically: the woman they worship is in fact a man!).
It also holds darker themes, as Viktor close to madness, being taken over by his creation. Brazil (no less!) comes to mind a few times.

Al Pacino's main performance is obviously a stand out, intense and true as usual.
The wonderful photography, with sharp contrasts and colour themes (as with Niccols other 2 movies) help bathe the picture in a very surreal atmosphere, where nothing ever "really" feel real...

From start to finish (up to the last little twist!), this movie rings true in our world, where image rules us all.

A Baby's Perspective on Sleep Training

Specially dedicated to all future and new parents around... :)

-----------------------
OK, here's my situation. My Mummy has had me for almost 7 months. The first few months were great--I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened.
Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep thru the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I've talked to other babies, and it seems like it's pretty common after Mummies have had us for around 6 months.

Here's the thing: these Mummies don't really need to sleep. It's just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep--they just don't need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan I call it the Crybaby Shuffle.

It goes like this:
Night 1--cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it's hard. It's hard to see your Mummy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it's for her own good.

Night 2--cry every 2 hours until you get fed.

Night 3--every hour.

Most Mummies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mummies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mummies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don't give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!!

If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT'S HARD! But she really does not need the sleep, she is just resisting the change.

If you have an especially alert Mummy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mummy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it. Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it.

BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with.
*My sleep sack tickled my foot.
*I felt a wrinkle under the sheet.
*My mobile made a shadow on the wall.
*I burped, and it tasted like pears (I hadn't eaten pears since lunch - what's up with that?)
*The dog said "woof" (I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL.)
*Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room.
*Too hot, too cold, just right--doesn't matter! Keep crying!!

It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am.

You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mummies' internal clocks.

P.S. Don't let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, NO milk will come out! Trust me.

Underworld.

I had no expectations on this when I caught it on TV and came out quite happily surprised, so I thought I'd post something about it.

The concept of the war between werewolves and vampires is a good one, with a lot of cool factor attched, but everything I read about Underworld when it came out was that it was nothing really special, so I didn't bother trying to see it.

Anyway now I have I can say that although it's far from perfect, it's not without qualities.
1st and foremost, I enjoyed the story (more elaborate than expected, with a nice twist that changes the pespective on the story) and the background given (the vampire elders, slavery of the lycans, etc).
The movie is also really nice looking, the gothic atmosphere very well rendered and the poses you expect are all there! The actors are not specially good (and haven't heard of any oscars given, so... ;) ), but good looking in the context and therefore appropriate.
Actually 1 standout: Bill Nighy as the @ss-kicking Viktor. One word: Cool. :)

The only let down is really that the action doesn't really delivers. Apart from bits of the final showdown (with Bill Nighy!) it's quite bland, which is a shame really.
Somehow, it's really good looking but not quite so when images are moving. It's far from horrible, but nothing groudbreaking. I think one of the main problem of werewolves movies is to make the werewolves. It's always tricky to make them believable so I guess they couldn't really go all the way in fight scenes, which you could have expected epic, but unfortunately aren't...

But overall it didn't spoilt it for me, so I'll actually try to see the sequel now...

Who's f$%£ing who?

This is one of the latest "internet phenomenons"...

As I understand it, it started with this first video from Sarah Silverman to his boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel (who has a talk show in the states but I don'y know him):



That's quite good already... But wait...
Said Kimmel answered with this:



Bigger budget, better cast... Good answer! :)

Yet there's nothing better than a good trilogy...
So to finish, comes this is "c#mming" right from the latest Kevin Smith shoot (which I'm really looking forward to btw!!!).

Feeling lucky?

Tonio pointed out to me to try to enter "find Chuck Norris" in Google...

You get what you'd expect but its still funny! ;)

Microsoft grammar.

I had a Microsoft update recently and for a while it as been featuring a Malicious Software Removal Tool.
A colleague of mine pointed out an interesting thing: what does the "malicious" adjectives refers to?
If it's to software, then you get a tool that removes malicious software which is good.

Now what if it actually referred to "software removal tool"?
Then you get a malicious tool that removes software. Probably the ones you most use on top of that!

Having observed Windows' behaviour for a number of years now, I think you can honestly ponder which of them is included... ;)

Maximum The Hormone

Musically, Japan has given me a few bands that count as the best things I've ever heard (The Pillows, Judy & Mary, Thee Michelle Gun Elephant not to name a few).

Maximum The Hormone came recommended by a friend that also had me watch the anime Death Note, for which they did the 2nd opening & ending. After being exposed to the latter, I took it to investigate a bit more on them, to find one of the most @ss kicking and original bands I have heard lately.

They manage to happily mix death metal, punk, J-Pop, J-rock.
Hard to believe but true.

3 of this four piece take lead singing in turn and each of their voice give a different colour to their music. The girl (and hard hitting drummer!) takes the pops parts, the "proper" lead singer raps and screech like a needle on a turntable with his high pitched voice, while the lead guitarist and his rockier and low voice takes the rest.
The bassist is too busy making his insane slap lines... (^_^)

All together, they redefine the true meaning of "rocking your socks off".

I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of death metal, yet they always manage to keep it fun always switching from style to style... Really impressive.

A very welcome UMO (Unidentified Musical Object) in a otherwise too peaceful musical horizon...
Rock is not dead after all!
Thanks Japan!

\o/
-\(^0^)

Planet Terror.

Well I would never have thought to prefer a Robert Rodriguez movie over a Tarantino...

But comparing the 2 parts of the Grindhouse project, you have to give it to Robert Rodriguez: he's the one who really embraced the concept of making a movie by the standards of the old gringhouse...
When Tarantino "disguised" one of his movies as a grindhouse one, Rodriguez just did one.

As a consequence, you get a story that doesn't make sense, unidimensionnal characters, defects on the film, a missing reel (at exactly the right time), nonsensic one-liners and all that jazz. But don't get me wrong, it's all this that make all the charm of this movie.
It's all done tongue in cheek, it's all for fun and there's no point refusing to go along.
Because it's all dirt, yes, but it's dirt crafted with a true love of the genre and therefore dirt of the highest quality.
It's a right laugh and it's cool, with a lot of completely crazy concepts and inventive gore.

For example, I could not understand what was the point in replacing a severed leg with a heavy machine gun. Well trust me, after seeing this, I can tell you it IS a cool idea! :)

There's also the fact that the cast is 5 stars (Josh Brolin, Bruce Willis, Michael Biehn...), they all take it very seriously, which adds to the experience.

Rodriguez is right in his element and can pull out his tricks without actually making it feel cheesy (things that could happen in his other movies) because it's supposed to anyway. This might just be for me his best movie yet.

Watch this beer in hands, with a few friends, you're sure to have a good time. :)

Hierarchy.

Thanks to Ian for sending me this universal truth:



Translated: "Those at the top looking down only see sh*t, while those at the bottm looking up only see a bunch of @ssholes"

Sweeney Todd - The demon barber of Fleet street.

I watched this latest Tim Burton movie a few days after seeing his Charlie and the Chocolate Factory again...
I have to say I couldn't have made a stronger contrast.
They basically show the whole range of the spectrum that Burton can do: on one hand an outstanding and intelleigent children movie that can also truly entertain adults (that's Charlie) on the other the darkest revenge movie.

Indeed, don't get fooled by the musical aspect of Sweeney Todd. Although it is a "proper" musical, meaning that at least 3/4 of the dialogs are sung, the song are never here for lifting the atmosphere...
From the 1st frames of the movie, blood rains on London and that 1st gloomy impression is not betrayed by the rest, the horror ramping up as Sweeney plots his revenge.

This is most certainly Burton's darkest movie to date. He has always had a taste for gloom, but most of the time his characters are some sort of romantic misfits. Here, Sweeney Todd is so absorbed by his vengence that he can't even see anything else, he's completely consumed by it. And along goes any kind of so said romantic characters that could be associated with him...

I didn't expect such darkness from Burton. Sure he did Mars Attacks! yet it's a funny movie. To see him come up with something like this when people had suspected him to "soften up" is a very nice surprise indeed!

Engrish.

Once in a while I have a look through my "archive" of funnies that went through my email in the past and rediscover some gems.

Anyone who has been to asian countries (especially Japan I'd say) might know that they sometimes have a "distorted" knowledge of english. In Japan one of the most common example is that they confuse "R" & "L", because they don't have those sounds in Japanese.
That often leads to funny or cryptic messages.

A website compiles them: www.engrish.com.

It's very good! :)

I have also a selection below:

No country for old men.

I am a great fan of Terry Pratchett and especially his Discworld novels. ANd in those, one of my favourite characters is Death. It has a kind of sympathetic feel to it. Just "something" doing its job. It has to be here, he doesn't specially enjoys it yet he takes pride in making sure it's done well.

In the Coen brother's latest, the character that will most certainly stay in everyone's mind will be that of Anton Chigurg. And that character could actually be an incarnation of Death itself. With a difference that makes him less engaging. He loves what he does.

Actually I read an interview of Javier Bardem (who plays Chigurg) somewhere and he said that he though his character was more an incarnation of violence. And it does make sense (not that I would doubt that he knows what he's talking about, after all he played the guy... ^^; ).
Violence is everywhere, unstoppable, thorough. That's what he is.

At some point in the movie people question if he's not a ghost. And you hear this stories that could be his doing but are way too old... Was he there? Or is he just doing the same old thing that other did before him?
To the point that later in the movie, you don't even see things, because you just know what happenned anyway. The same old.

You can only witness it or be a victim.
So to get all those point of views ad so we're not left with just that grim character, we also have the witness in the person of the aging sheriff (that has seen it all) and the guy that thinks he can get away with it.

As usual with the Coens (although here they were adapting a book, so they are not the only ones accountable for this), the characters are very well written and very engaging whether main or secondary. They are also played to the standard, with obviously Javier Bardem in a turn I'm not going to forget (as the "ultimate badass"), but also Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin that give him a good opposition (although they never share a scene).

One thing was that the movie is set in Texas and the characters have very strong accents, which pushed my laguage skill to the limit, so I couldn't fully enjoy the dialogs. Obviously, again as usual, they are excellent (from what I managed to understand). But this is only due to my own limitation and should be put to the cedrit of the Coen, that always scrupulously keep their universe coherent.

Along the same lines, the attention to the tinest details in the cinematography was also amazing, the way they manage to suggest things without showing it (the repertition of blood trails, the attention of Chigurg not to put blood on his shoes...).

It all adds up to make a fairly standard and unoriginal pitch still feel fresh.

It's a movie that gets your mind working after you've left the cinema, that you want to discuss... That's how good this is.

I Am Legend

I started 2008 on a big one.
I have heard about this for nearly 2 years now.
In a nutshell: supposedly the book it's adapted from is one of the best "vampire" books of all time (I haven't red it yet). And the adaptation took years and years to be made, the original had the reputation to be the best script ever written. But no one could do it.
And then it finally resurfaced and Will Smith was attached to it, with the director of Constantine directing. That produced quite a stir, with fans fearing that Will Smith would change the main character into a wise-cracking guy.
I had to admit that when the book is supposed to be 1 guy alone going crazy, that could be a problem.
Also, doing a "Hollywood blockbuster" based on that could lead to fabricated action sequences that would spoilthe whole spirit of the novel.

So I took good care not reading the book efore seeeing the movie, to reduce the chances to be disappointed to the minimum.

Well as a movie, just on its own, I have to say it's a pretty damn good effort.
The script also alternates quite nicely drama moments and action sequences that are handled quite well, that gives a nice rythm of tension build up then release then build up... There are plenty of memorable moments and the overall tone stays quite dark.
Having completely CG vampires seem a bizarre idea, yet it didn't really bother me.
More importantly Will Smith is excellent, with a very believable turn on a man alone. I just felt it rang true. He relly carries the film.
Ultimately it's what makes the movie compelling.

Now I have to read the book, to see the (apparently numerous) differences.
Even if it's much better at least I'll have been able to enjoy the adaptation!

Terminator versus Robocop versus Predator versu Alien versus Batman... Who's missing?

A welldone rehash of the Terminator and Robocop movies that makes the 2 unstoppable machines face to face...

TERMINATOR VS ROBOCOP THE MOVIE
Uploaded by AMDS

Made me think of the short movie Batma: Dead End that confronts Batman with other creatures. That's an actual short though and it does rock... :)



A good example where "amateur" works are better than "professionnal" stuff...

2007 Cinema round up...

This year was fairly quiet one and because I had less time to go to the cinema I just went for biggies.
As a consequence, I saw "only" 11 movies, which kind of defeats the idea of having my yearly "top 10".
Not only that but for various reasons I think that all of them were excellent in their own right. Not much of a mind bending set, mainly only straightforward rides, but still highly enjoyable (that's what cinema is for anyway!) and not necessarily dumb.

If I still tried to order them, it would give:
1) Spider-Man 3
2) Beowulf
3) The Bourne Ultimatum
4) Transformers
5) La Science des rêves
6) Zodiac
7) 30 Days of Night
8) Hot Fuzz
9) 300
10) Shoot 'Em Up
11) Death Proof

This year holds a lot of promises, with the Coen brothers returning, as well as Tim Burton... Exciting!