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June 30, 2007

그대만 있다면

I grew up on Elvis Costello, knew Aztec Camera made better "perfect" pop songs than Oasis, and here I am smitten with this from Loveholic:

Listen to the way she replaces the lines "나를 떠나면 안돼요/세상의 모든걸 잃어도 괜찮아요" with "나를 떠나지 말아요/세상의 모든걸 잃어도 난 좋아요" (남재, please kill me)… I hope my ancestors will forgive me for thinking in my ignorant youth that French was the ultimate lyrical language.

June 26, 2007

The 65 Million Dollar Pants

I never did match my jacket from Shanghai Tang because the plain Black pants cost $290. Still, when I compare that to Roy Pearson's, maybe I ought to, even if their private sale doesn't include discontinued merchandise. I think news like that is making me lose interest in writing, at least about it, because I got nothing from the humorless judgment, other than learning this maniac managed somehow to receive a judicial appointment after living off unemployment and had no less than eight witnesses on his side.

June 25, 2007

SG-1

Fuck that Entertainment Weekly rag, the most insightful critique they could come up with was that "every new alien culture on the TV series speaks English". Guess they've never seen Star Trek, even in its beloved Next Generation era, which, go back and watch sometime, it's for the most part just as awful. (Didn't Doctor Who once explain away the language barrier as an effect of the traveling in the TARDIS? So why can't the gates do the same? So what if it doesn't work on Jaffa? The Federation universal translator Babel Fish implants never seemed to threaten sales of Klingon dictionaries.) Maybe it did go on for longer than it should, but what show hasn't?

June 22, 2007

iPhone

It'll finally be in stores at the end of next week, with PS3-like lines expected outside and none of them preorderers, and while I may have looked upon it once to save me from my biennial mobile blues, I can't say I'm willing to invest in an Apple product not to make me feel foolish for the duration of the AT&T contract. Besides, my convergence philosophy's always been camera > music/games (and now, /Internet, too; I can't deny how much my BlackBerry has done for me, but what kind of piece of shit requires you to remove the battery on a daily basis to recognize the SIM card or get back on the "high-speed" network) which doesn't look like their approach here.

Manhunt

One of my favorite memories from the PS2 era (that includes Ico, Rez and Vice City—FFXI I'm trying to forget), though I probably wouldn't have revisited the sequel, for despite the addition of Wii support, I'm certain they'd do away with the Escape from New York-ish soundtrack and the crazed voiceover from Brian Cox in favor of the prurient elements that ignited the current controversy. Have I ever mentioned my campaign for an MM-online version of this game? I just re-watched The Road Warrior, too, on Blu-Ray, and can easily imagine virtual clanning of wannabe thugs.

Oh my god, I've had an accident. I'm serious man, you've brought me off. —Brian Cox as Lionel Starkweather in Manhunt

Bathing Ape

There must be another world where Japanese kids can afford $439 hoodies.

June 21, 2007

Kung Fu

Strangely enough, a project at work led me to buy another record album frame like the one I have hanging in my bathroom with the cover of the Barbarella soundtrack I paid an embarrassing amount of cash for at a convention in Austin almost 20 years ago (and got later on CD at Comic-Con for considerably less). I had The Prisoner's in mind, dug out my vinyl crate in storage, then saw this spectacular picture of pre-Kill Bill revival David Carradine, so I put Jane Fonda to rest.

June 20, 2007

M.A.S.K.

One of the ladies who works in logistics lives all of a mile from work and yet every afternoon I see her driving away wearing a getup like this. Now I don't keep up so I wouldn't know if the topic of Taiwanese sunlight prevention gear has been given the blogosphere treatment, but it's certainly due. And it's not just confined to headgear, either; I seem to recall coming across a pair of those sleeve protectors in my mom's car years ago as well. (It's funny no matter how the luxury sedan will sport fine Corinthian leather, the outfit'll be Chanel or accessories Gucci, they'll still match them up with those baggy things on their arms that look like they were sewn together with leftover material from 나상실's skirt.) Seems the full-face visors are out and, as if these people needed any more visual impairment while on the road, they're opting for deeper cover. I wish them luck when going to pick up relatives at the airport.

June 19, 2007

Transformers

I confess, I'm actually pumped about the new movie, especially after downloading the 1080p trailer, with all its LCD motion artifacting (I don't know what else to call it, but I, Robot is the worst demo Samsung could come up with, and yet it's on every TV at Fry's), from the PlayStation Store.

I don't buy into all this raping-my-childhood prognosticating; after all, I didn't think much of the cartoon when it originally aired, only getting into it towards the end when they seemed to know it was over, anyway, and got away with that insane Dinobots one—there must be a really shitty-looking episode of Gunbuster or Bubblegum Crisis after swapping staffs for laughs—and where the old guy at the end really was Cobra Commander.

June 17, 2007

Robot Chicken Star Wars

The best bit was a day in the life of Snaggletooth, but this is still the best Star Wars homage ever. Better than the three prequels put together, there I said it again. (I have that home movie made with the original action figures somewhere, too, but it's still probably too big a file even by today's broadband standards to host. I liked back when the Robot Chicken guys would've used them instead of the fancier ones they got the money for.)

June 13, 2007

People's Trust

I have an account with a bank in Texas that has all of $1.23 in it, whittled down through minimum-balance fees from a hundred or so (why it was opened in the first place I've lost track), which I am reminded of by a statement mailed to me every month, more often than not accompanied by newsletters and credit card & loan adverts. Surely the cost of the paper and postage for the past several years must've registered some alarm to discontinue this service? And after a half-an-hour hold-time to reach one of their representatives, she still wanted to keep me as a customer by offering to refund $10 in those charges—which yes, would be gone again in a matter of weeks. For me to close it out and do my part to save the world (and my mailbox) from the bureaucratic waste? I'd have to send in a written request, with at least a 41¢ stamp. I think I've extended my day's effort to the limit.

June 11, 2007

Chaya (茶屋)

Last week while waiting over an hour for a table at that ridiculously popular Anjin 焼肉 place in OC, I noticed a "INTERNET&MANGA&TAPIOCA 漫画&ネットカフェ」 across the street. Our only exposure to this sort of establishment was from 結婚できない男, but unlike the character-developing library-type environment depicted there, it was just a small sitting room with a dozen Ikea loungers cordoned off from a counter of overpriced snacks. The full cultural experience would cost $3 each for membership, $3 for the first half-hour and $2 for the next before I would tear myself away from 闘将!!拉麺男 #4 (their selection can't be criticized, however) realizing at our pace reading Japanese, we're better off just buying the books.

June 06, 2007

Ninja Gaiden Σ

Must be my router doesn't like the PlayStation Store, either, because the ~1GB demo took all night to download. It's very 1080pretty, I'll give it that much, but it's still no more ninja than Ninja Gaiden in the arcade was. (I remember getting through the entire game at the Magic Mountain water park in Dallas on nearly a single quarter by always running for the gymkata bar and letting Dave B.'s deep pockets do all the work while I just kicked away. Good stuff, even for a summer of pon farr.) No sneaking around like Metal Gear or Manhunt, and neither massive-immersive nor multiplayer. Safe to say, I've completely lost interest in this type of thing.

June 05, 2007

Dr. Slump Revisited

Don't tell me this isn't one step closer to オーチャくん (whose same three panels I forgot I'd scanned in almost three years to the day earlier, weird):

You know how people back away slowly from you when you say or am something like, well, what I blog about on a daily basis? Now they can just hop into one of these and let it do that for them!

June 04, 2007

Knocked Up

Critical darling, maybe, but I laughed like once. Could be because Max fucking Cady behind us did whenever the camera angle changed—but what was I supposed to do, turn around and tell him not to make the most of his $9.50—or it's just this, this… White brand of "smart" writing doesn't work on me anymore. Jokes and situations felt as if I've seen and heard them all before, like the guys' idea for a website, and they weren't all that to begin with. Even the last-ditch crowning scene seemed stolen from (better effect by) the Farrelly Brothers. I haven't lost my sense of humor, I don't think; the day before, this Venice act won me over with a stuffed dog.

What's really funny is that I somehow spent over a hundred bucks each on both food and gas over the weekend alone. This came to mind during Keith Olbermann's statistical outlook tonight with the military also starting the new month by losing 14 troops in Iraq, which isn't funny at all.

June 01, 2007

Magnificent Ruffians

Of the three titles I'd say this is the most appropriate, although I swear I've seen the troupe as beggars before. And Lu Feng, well, never. Has there ever been a poor bad guy? In fact, his scriptwriters blow a wonderful opportunity at the very beginning of the movie to explore the intertwined origins of evil and success. They do, however, overuse the word "sponge" (only to culminate in the unforgettable line, "Right, we'll show them: that we're men… not sponges"), but apart from a rare moment with a dejected Kuo Chui and some amazing one-handed sword-on-a-stick action, there's not much to distinguish this poor VHS transfer, complete with tracking and audio adjustments. Perhaps I can offer the following copy to substitute:
A trio of martial maniacs (two Venoms you'll recognize and a third who usually plays the right-hand man to the main villain, so you know he's going down first) must take turns getting beaten for their meals. They meet a kindred spirit (Phillip Kwok) better at avoiding the blows, but after a mysterious benefactor takes them in, what are his designs when they're set against a headstrong rival? Head-kicking mayhem ensues.
Seriously, I tried to work in the words "wacked out" and "hijinks."

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