Tron guy approves!
In the upcoming "Portal 2," the lead character, Chell, is getting a makeover. They stress that this isn't the final design, but I think I'm going to miss the ol' orange jumpsuit. Still, the co-op bots look cool, though I've yet to see any sign of the beloved weighted companion cube. I hope he doesn't hold a grudge when I run into him.
And while I still wonder about Half-Life 2, Episode 3, I see it's got an IMDB entry for 2011, though that could be meaningless. It also makes me wonder how Portal 2 would tie in to the Half Life saga, if the next HL game was over a year past Portal 2's release date. And I just now realized that this is the first time I've really expected some kind of resolution to a video game series I like. I'm from the bad ol' days where our heroes would be left without any kind of ending reward or cutscene, just a big "TO BE CONTINUED" followed by the closing credits. Then we never heard from the franchise again (I'm looking at you, "Blood II"). It was clever of Valve to change the paradigm.
I often get snarky about what's going on in the world of movies and entertainment. Sometimes, just the basic concept is enough to drive home some of the head scratching and/or bewilderment at the decisions studios are making. Here are just a few I ran across:
1. Jamie Foxx is scripting a movie adaptation of Laverne & Shirley.
2. Sony is developing a CGI Popeye movie in 3D.
3. A live-action adaptation of the anime Bleach is underway.
Well, #3 might not be too obvious. I'm not anime's biggest fan, but I do recognize what it does well, and that is something that really doesn't translate to live action, especially in the hands of U.S. filmmakers. I thought that the pinnacle of movie effects was going to be when they could adapt comic books to movies, and with "The X-Men," I believed that time had arrived. But in retrospect, I think the Bruce Timm & Paul Dini versions of DC's Batman, Superman, and Justice League blows just about every motion picture out of the water. I'd almost rather they take the money they wanted to spend on a Bleach movie and just use it to make a better dub of the original: Re-animate the mouths and write snappy, natural sounding dialogue (what can I say? That's what usually makes or breaks any story for me, and dubbed translations made to fit mouth movements generally don't result in quotable wordplay). Princess Mononoke showed that you could do a decent job with a good writer and talented vocals; free up the dialogue completely and maybe something even better will result.
In fake movie news, I'm sad to report that this trailer for 'Weird' isn't promoting a real movie. It is, however, awesome. Patton Oswalt as Doctor Demento and "The Al" himself as a record executive? Gary Cole as Al's dad?! Why isn't this in production?!!!
Before we get to the linkdump, I didn't want to say anything about health care reform, as it's big and complicated and controversial and what have you. But I figured everyone would be as surprised as I was to hear that Hugh the Borg is a 'hero of healthcare reform.' I still think he's 'the villain who destroyed how scary the Borg were,' but that's a quite nerdy topic for another day.
- If there can be said to be a good use for the singing Billy Bass and its many imitators, this is probably it.
- I'm glad this exists: The Daily Batman.
- I'm guessing there's some telling audio that's been edited out, but this sure looks like kitty has seen something truly astonishing.
- Perhaps it's astonished at every regeneration of The Doctor in realistic feline form. I gotta say, it works.
- Even though this is drawn in crayon, it involves alien chestbusters and beloved childhood icons (as well as some hard-to-explain-to-kids imagery), so you've been warned. And now, Alien Vs. Pooh. Even if it doesn't completely thrill ya, you should at least see this panel.
- We need another gravity puzzle game: Maya Blocks. Click to remove blocks to get the pile below the rope, but without knocking down the barriers on either side.
- Say you find hours just vanishing when you visit a website. Thanks to this site, you can now set a timer on how much time you'll waste... assuming you have the willpower to set it in the first place.
- Just in case you're like me and one of the last 5 people to see this, a guy used a program that connects you with random webchat strangers called "Chatroulette" and (language warning) improved a song to the experience. This moved the piano-pop singer Ben Folds to do the same thing in a live show.
- Bringing up the rear is Skyship Pepelac: It's a helicopter version of those old Lunar Lander type games, but with more obstacles as well as wind.