a capella

A capella. My good friend wikipedia says, "In modern usage, a cappella often refers to an all-vocal performance of any style, including barbershop, doo wop, and modern pop/rock."

A capella really stands out to me when people take out the instruments from full-bodied songs, and perform them using only their voices and the occasional clap of hands.

I came across a very good performance of some classic game themes including Tetris, Super Mario and Zelda. Of course me being a U2 fan and all, I searched and found a unique A capella version of Sunday Bloody Sunday!







And my media studies course starts tomorrow at Vic which should be interesting...

street fighter iv

Street Fighter IV has just been announced by Capcom and is currently in development. This is happening 10 years after Street Fighter 3 was released in 1997, of course there were all those spin-off titles. Unfortunately Capcom have also said that the game is more than a year away from release. Platforms have not been determined yet, but you can probably expect some Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 treatment.

Ken and Ryu duke it out!


I haven't really played much of the Street Fighter series, seeing as my first console was a PlayStation. I've been hearing a lot of controversy surrounding whether the game should be 2D or 3D. And will it top Street Fighter II, the almighty beast? And I know this was announced a couple of days ago, please bear with me though as I work towards more timely posts. Next time, you will find the best gaming news right here, game announcements, controversies, the lot!

the office

I just recently finished watching the tv series, The Office on DVD. (the complete first series, the complete second series and the Christmas specials, 14 episodes altogether). I now see why it attracted all the attention, it deserved it. Ricky Gervais is brilliant as David Brent, and the other characters Gareth, Tim, and Dawn are excellent & actually believable also. The script was written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It's a comedy mockumentry with a pretend BBC crew filming the goings on in the paper company Wernham Hogg, in Slough, England. The humour is mostly embarrassment based and cringe worthy followed with long moments of silence. Although there are also smut liners, practical jokes and moments of idiocy.

The American version of The Office is airing at the moment in New Zealand on Thursdays at 10.00 TV3. It stars Steve Carrel as the boss from hell. Although there are a lot more episodes than the original, and the scripts are completely new, the characters and basic plot are retained. To me it feels over the top and unreal, for example the boss (Michael) fighting his own assistant (Dwight) and Dwight's desk moved to the bathroom as a practial joke, where somehow the phone is still working. I would still recommend the original, UK version of The Office. It was Ricky Gervais' rise to fame.

By the way that was not a official review! Just in case you think I'm going to be reviewing films and television shows. That would be fun, but it's best if I stick to one thing and do that well!

Free Love Freeway


David Brent Dance

the golden compass

The new movie for the first book 'Northern Lights' of His Dark Materials Trilogy is coming to NZ cinemas on boxing day! I can't wait! It stars Nicole Kidman as Mrs Coulter, Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel, Eva Green as Serafina Pekkala, and Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra (she actually looks like my idea of Lyra).

And now I'm reading 'Northern Lights' aka 'The Golden Compass'. The last time I read it, was 7 years ago! I've been thinking about how people remember books lately. It's really much harder to remember a book than say a film or a game because you are remembering visual images that were created in your mind. Food for thought, there must be a book about it somewhere...

Another pointless thought crossed my mind about time traveling. If time travel could one day be invented in the future, why haven't we seen any time travelers? Wouldn't they travel back to this present day? So does that prove time travel is impossible, or do the time travelers stay hidden to prevent anything from affecting their present time?

rant: 'The Golden Compass' is a boring title really, released only in America, Pullman should have kept the original title. But actually now that I think about it... I guess it matches up with the other two novels, 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass'.

The trailer below gives me goosebumps each time I see it!



extended trailer

ico

i recently finished ico a couple of weeks ago. ico was developed by team ico, who have recently made shadow of the colossus (which i still have yet to try!). it's a wonderful ps2 game with brilliant graphics and original ideas. The many game designers who admire ico, deemed me responsible to try it out. although the gameplay can get a bit repetitive at times, the story (although simple) is emotionally engaging and helped me play ico right to the end.

here's a fan-made video of ico (warning: contains spoilers! Don't watch if you are going to play ico later on)


there's a laugh-your-ass-off parody of ico from mega64.com



If you've got a ps2, you are hereby decreed to hire out (or buy) ico

red nose day

check out this hilarious vid! two of my heroes... Ricky Gervais & Bono.

Ricky Gervais Comic Relief 2007 Red Nose Day



of course, the real issue of poverty isn't a laughing matter. but the actors have humorously made fun of themselves in order to raise donations and awareness for this extremely worthy cause.


is it just me, or are lower case letters looking better these days?