Silights

A long time ago, in a suburb far far away

2010-05-14T11:39:00.001+08:00

Random badges

2010-05-13T12:37:00.004+08:00

Below are a set of badges I created based on various drawings Sleepyanimal has put in my notebook overtime. The dotted line indicates the edge of the badge. Please note that Poubelle International's name and likenesses have been used without their permission - Ben, Johan and Dean, I hope you guys don't mind.

Weather badges

2010-05-11T12:28:00.002+08:00

The Hong Kong Observatory never fails to amuse with its amazing array of symbols and weather descriptions - most of which turn out to be totally inaccurate. I've drafted up a couple of badges (1" tin badge template), to honour HKO's efforts.

Rage Quit

2010-04-29T13:18:00.000+08:00

Here are two versions of the same design, which I've called Rage Quit.

Rage quit is not something I suffer from regularly, but I have been know to pull the plug on the odd SF4 game when things have gotten too frustrating. I am more of a put the controller down heavily and walk away guy.

Update to Saam

2010-04-22T17:50:00.003+08:00

I've updated my draft Saam design (see below). This version is based on an Atari game cover tutorial I found. I'm going to further revise the look to make it more original and I'll change the character from Saam to something more space / arcade related. Stay tuned.

GunRave-Ribs

2010-03-17T10:54:00.000+08:00

This GunRave design is a homage to Nigel Tufnel's ribcage t-shirt in 'This Is Spinal Tap'. I've also included an acid-pink on white version, because acid-pink is my go-to colour at the moment.

This design is going in the 'possibles' folder for t-shirt prints.

Nu-rave City

2010-03-16T14:13:00.000+08:00

I love Ice Cream

2010-03-16T11:49:00.002+08:00

Five

2010-03-15T14:43:00.004+08:00

My design for five is dedicated to all the Ikea manuals that have made a useless, tool-phobic person like myself, look like a genuine handyman.

I've always respected the simple, yet careful and clear design aesthetic that Ikea manuals have. I also like the hand drawn feel the illustrations have. I've tried to capture that by using the pen tool for many of the lines.

The result is slight out of alignment because I'm still struggling a bit with perspective drawing. (The numbers correspond with the proper stroke order for this character.)

Guilty pleasure - Ninja Assassin

2010-03-15T11:43:00.000+08:00

Ninja Assassin is fun, exhilarating even, but leave your brain at the door.

Sleepyanimal and I managed to procure a copy of the Ninja Assassin DVD, which has just been released. We watched it last night after a lovely day relaxing and drinking beer with friends on a rooftop (I mention this because it put me in the perfect mindset to watch this film).

I've been curious to see Ninja Assassin since the fight choreography work was covered by /film last year (see it here).

The film's strength is in it's gory action sequences, which are kick-ass.

In addition, Rain, who plays Raizo (a highly trained ninja who has turned on his clan after they killed his childhood sweetheart), is surprisingly charismatic and is superb in the fight sequences.

The plot, however, is paper thin and the dialogue between the two europol officers (which is where the bulk of the 'plot' is delivered), is B-movie at best. Only Sho Kosugi, who plays the violent and cruel leader of the ninja clan, seems to understand the level of overacting required to push the movie's cliched characters through the wall of bad B-movie and back out the other side to great B-movie.

This movie is a guilty pleasure.

Now for sleepyanimal's opinion of the film.

Introducing the bassist for electric PANDA!: Bass Fuzz

2010-03-09T15:29:00.002+08:00

I am electric PANDA! Boom

2010-03-03T12:59:00.002+08:00

This design is a collaborative effort between myself and Sleepyanimal.

Adidas Originals ZX Runner

2010-03-02T09:58:00.002+08:00

Check out the Adidas Originals ZX Runner game teaser below and play it here.

I love the style of this game - I moonwalk everywhere.

Sei

2010-02-24T17:33:00.002+08:00

Kung hei fat choi

2010-02-22T13:44:00.004+08:00

I'm back after a nice break for Chinese New Year. Today's design features saam (three), in a space invaders theme.

I wanted to use a Tron-like perspective grid for the background, with it tapering away to a flat horizon, but I found it too difficult to get the angles right (there is probably an automated perspective tool that I don't know about). Anyhow, I opted for a simple warped grid instead.

I watched Star Trek last night (great film), which inspired me to use Romulan warbirds for the spaceships.

Once I've sorted out the perspective grid issue, I will probably revise this design with better texturing and original spaceship designs. It's a bit trashy, but I would like the laser fire to taper away from the eye (i.e. flip the perspective, so the ships are heading into the page), into a nice star shaped explosion. Ha ha ha

Yih

2010-02-12T14:18:00.003+08:00

This didn't turn out as I had hoped. My grand idea was to draw yih (two) in the style of calligraphy, and to then use the character as the joint for two bamboo plants. I've been playing around with textures, so I planned to make it look like an ink drawn scroll on parchment.

Looking at the finished product, however, I think I overdid the texturing. All the black flecks (meant to be ink splats), make the bamboo look photocopied, and the background grain lacks a deft hand (hmmm ... lets just not talk about the background colour). In addition, I ended up distorting the character's shape to make it look like part of the bamboo drawing.

That said, I am happy with the shape of the character itself, which is what I spent the most time on.

The character style is based on the calligraphy work of Chen Pengnian and the bamboo is based on Zheng Xie's drawings.

'T-Shirt War' video is really cool

2010-02-11T10:26:00.001+08:00

Via Wired

One step at a time

2010-02-10T12:49:00.006+08:00

Inspired by Simon Page's alphabattle contributions, I've decided to create a series of designs that reflect the meaning of the Chinese characters I'm learning. The purpose of doing this is twofold: to encourage me learn new and more complicated characters; and as a way to experiment with illustrator.

The design below, reflecting the chosen character and my current capability with illustrator, is very simple. As I was playing around with fonts, I decided to include the literal meaning. (If anyone is curious, the characters in red at the bottom left are my name in Chinese.)

Dodgy images

2010-02-09T16:32:00.004+08:00

I want to do a series of designs that both celebrate the dirty, neon lit, garbage strewn side of Hong Kong and reflect the reality of the people that live in these conditions (it's not just a Blade Runner set after all).

Here are a few concept images I've pulled together. They are a long way off what I want them to be, but it's a beginning.

I cannot get my head around Passion Play

2010-02-09T11:55:00.003+08:00

Mickey Rourke as a trumpet player, Megan Fox as an angel and Bill Murray as a gangster? Add to this the premise of: An angel under the thumb of a ruthless gangster is saved by a trumpet player down on his luck.

The whole thing doesn't make any sense to me. Fox as an angel - not really seeing it. Murray as a gangster - maybe. Fox under the thumb of Murray - no way! As for Rourke as a trumpet player - the only thing I can imagine Rourke doing with a trumpet is throwing it at someone.

I'm really curious to see a trailer.

Read more about the film here.

Two cool things to check out

2010-02-02T17:25:00.003+08:00

Verbatim Monster Battle
The Verbatim Championship is a contest of 'Media Monsters'. The site allows you to build animated monsters out of Verbatim office supplies and then battle them against other user creations. It's really fun - below is a photo of my Media Monster "PSY" celebrating a victory. Check out the site here.

Via Superpunch

Die Antwoord
I'll let you decide what to make of these guys. Check out their website here and give the video below a look.

Via BoingBoing

Game stuff

2010-02-02T11:00:00.005+08:00

The Last Guardian
Awesome - Sony has launched the official web site for Team ICO's The Last Guardian. Check it out here.

GNILLEY
Check out the hilarious video below for GNILLEY, where you play by screaming your foes into oblivion or shouting down obstacles in your path. The video is from the Global Game Jam Sydney 2010.

Via Kotaku

Quality review of Avatar

2010-02-01T10:46:00.003+08:00

Mike from Milwaukee, who created the famous video review of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (see it here), has turn his attention to Avatar. I have posted his brutally honest, two-part video review below.

Mike very succinctly sums Avatar up at the end of his review:

"The ultimate irony of Avatar is that for all the time and money spent to make this movie in 3D, the story and the characters were still stuck in one dimension."

Red Letter Media via /Film

A few good ideas

2010-01-26T12:18:00.006+08:00

Kandle
I like the Kandle because it looks like the book light I had when I was a kid (which I later strapped to the top of my GameBoy).

Amazon Via Gizmodo

Pictionaire
Pictionaire looks like the kind of the product that should be released in 2010. As I understand it, Pictionaire, which is being developed by Microsoft and the University of California Berkeley, is an adaption of Microsoft's Surface technology. The Pictionaire table uses overhead cameras to make digitise physical objects, allowing users to manipulate the digitised copies. Take a look at the video below, it's much easier to understand than any description I could come up with.

New Scientist via Gizmodo

GNOP
There is not much to Gnop, but that doesn't stop it being cool. It's Pong, but you play as the ball. It's surprising that this hasn't been done before (well, not that I have come across). Give it a whirl.

Bit Battalion via Boing Boing

Cool stuff

2010-01-20T10:56:00.006+08:00

Hong Kong Buildings

Hong Kong's older buildings have such a charming, unique appearance, which I think look great hand drawn. I'm going to print some t-shirts with some sort of hand drawn building motif on them, but I haven't got the design sorted yet. In the meantime, I've been looking for inspiration, which led me to Joel Prittie's fantastic urban monster art, in particular the image above. Check out Joel M. Prittie Awesome Blog.

Children's Books

On the subject of imagery that I think is inspiring, Sleepyanimal sent me a link to a wonderful collection of children's book covers. Above is an example, but I recommend checking out the whole set here (via Gawker).

Makers

Last, but certainly not least, I recommend that you add Cory Doctorow's Makers to your reading list. Although I haven't quite finished Makers (about 90% there according to my Kindle), I've thoroughly enjoyed the book so far. What I like most, is that Doctorow has imagined a future, not too distant from our own, and has filled it with exciting characters, interesting technological ideas and innovative and believable business models. Download it out here (by the way its free).

(Image via Tor.com)

Math + 3D Printer = Cool

2010-01-19T19:02:00.004+08:00

Bathsheba Grossman's math inspired sculptures, which are produced using a 3D printer, are totally cool. I find 3D printing technology really fascinating. I recommend reading through the Bathsheba Sculpture website, as Grossman includes a lot of interesting information about how the sculpture concepts are developed and the 3D printing process used.

Via BoingBoing

Kick arse Nexus One Unboxing

2010-01-19T10:12:00.002+08:00

(via Engadget)

Lord of the Logos

2010-01-18T15:06:00.004+08:00

This is such a cool book, I love metal inspired typography. My desire to own this book is, no doubt, heightened by the fact I've been playing more Brutal Legend than is healthy.

The blurb for the book is:

This book is a collection of work by Christophe Szpajdel, an artist whose fans in the underground black metal community worship him as the Lord of the Logos. It includes hundreds of powerful logos, each of which captures the force of this musical genre anew. Through his surprising use of aesthetic influences such as art deco and nature, Szpajdel has brought a new dynamic into the gothic visuality of heavy metal. This publication, which is done in the style of a black prayerbook, shows not only how he has succeeded in leaving his own visual mark on this music, but how he has also expanded the canon of forms it uses.

Find out more about the book here.

I can't wait for Future X Cops to be released

2010-01-18T09:58:00.002+08:00

Check out the trailer below for Future X Cops (Mei loi ging chaat).

Amazing! This films looks terrible, in a good way. My favourite part is where Andy Lau turns into one of the guys from Tron Legacy.

Adidas and augmented reality and Star Wars and Daft Punk and ... what?

2010-01-17T12:13:00.006+08:00

Adidas is doing some totally random, but cool things at the moment.

According to Wired, the shoemaker has embedded augmented reality codes into the tongue of five of its men's sneakers. If you take one of these upcoming sneakers and hold it up to your computer's webcam (with a special site loaded up), a small virtual world will appear, populated with digital people, city buildings, and Adidas logos.

You can control how the world is displayed by tilting the shoe - the on-screen world will change its angle and zoom in/out. Adidas also plans to eventually include three augmented reality game with the virtual neighborhoods. Developed by Dutch studio xForm, the skateboarding, music, and "Star Wars-like" games somehow use the sneakers as controllers.

Speaking of Star Wars, check out the latest commercial for Adidas' upcoming Star Wars-inspired Original Line. The Commercial is so strange and the collection of people so jarring, I don't know what to think about it.

Google versus China

2010-01-14T11:10:00.002+08:00

My friend HKHam posed a good questions yesterday (via Twitter): #googlecn sure had business problems in China, but surely being the world's biggest country's second biggest search engine still had value?

I find the Google versus China situation fascinating and things should heat up further once China’s official stance becomes clearer. In the meantime, like HKHam, I’ve been trying to get my head around the economics of Google’s actions. What on earth were the boys in Mountain View thinking when they decided to take on China?

From an ethical perspective, I totally support Google’s decision to cease censorship of its Chinese search engine. However, it’s clear that this decision was not made based on ethical (or political) considerations. Google has been censoring its search engine since Google.cn was launched in 2006.

Back in 2006, Google executives said they had weighed the positives and negatives and concluded Chinese Internet users were better off with the neutered Google than with no Google. For security reasons, they did not bring any other Google products containing users' personal information, such as email and blogging, into China.

At face value, this is a corporation placing an embargo on a Country, in retaliation for politically driven actions (alleged email hacking), to force policy change. You could, at a stretch, argue only a company of Google’s stature has the ability and influence to take such a stance against China - most other countries, at this time, realise it would be economic suicide to take such actions.

As nice as it is to imagine Google’s executives benevolently making decisions for the good of the world, that’s not what happened. First off, this is not how you do business in Asia, particularly China. Putting public pressure (via an English language blog) on the Chinese Government is sure fire way to have the great firewall slammed shut in your face.

Further, it appears that Google.cn executives were not briefed about Google’s decisions until the twelfth hour. This would suggest Google were not working closely with Chinese officials on this matter, rather this is a conscious scorched earth move from HQ and they have tried to keep their local employees clean to minimise the repercussions.

Ok, back to HKHam’s point. Google.cn were doing ok in China right? According to web analytics company StatCounter, at the end of 2009, Baidu held 56% of the Chinese market compared to Google’s 43%. Other agencies put Google’s share at slightly less, but even so, that’s a pretty good place to be, in a country with oodles of growth potential.

Google has argued that it’s operations in China were immaterial to its business. Ok, sure, but the business case for China is always about potential growth.

The difficult to measure nuance on Google’s position in China is the way many people in China perform searches. My ex-work colleagues in China would use Google.cn and Baidu interchangeably for simple searches, but if they were after something complex (we’re talking finance related products here, nothing political), they would access google.com through a proxy, which doesn’t show up in the search analytics results. Maybe Google is hedging its bets that as long as it is the global search leader, the Chinese people will find ways to access its product?

That said, it’s still hard not to be cynical are argue that this is a scorched earth move, aimed at buying Google some good will in the rest of the world. As Google itself has stated, the catalyst for all this is that the gmail accounts of a number of Chinese human rights activists were hacked. This means gmail’s security was compromised and its source code could have been copied and/or hacked. This is mission critical stuff. If Google becomes compromised, it will lose credibility and its global business model will go down the toilet. With that in mind, Google’s actions make pretty good sense from a business perspective, regardless of the growth potential in China.

China’s official reaction is yet to be made. Let’s see how this all pans out.

I don't know how Pogo does it - these are amazing

2010-01-13T10:24:00.002+08:00

Via /film

Wonderful Messy Sketches

2010-01-12T09:35:00.003+08:00

Check out Nebojsa Cvetkovic's wonderful messbook here.

Via Superpunch

Photo Review of Darling Spuds (by guest reviewer Sleepyanimal)

2010-01-10T11:20:00.003+08:00

That's how she rolls

2010-01-05T22:44:00.003+08:00

I just like the t-shirt in the picture, but if you want sex advice from D&D players, read about it here.

Cool t-shirts I've spotted recently

2010-01-05T21:31:00.005+08:00

Spock, Paper, Scissors by Raz
teefury via /film

Big Daddy Roth-style DeLorean by Goose
The Hundreds via Super Punch

Brutal Legend t-shirts by Mishka NYC

Mishka NYC via Kotaku

Cool Stuff

2009-11-09T21:37:00.005+08:00

They're Real

Threadless

Patapon Cons

Kyozo Kicks via Superpunch

Check out interesting iPhone backgrounds here. Via @Styra

Football Hero - amazing!

2009-10-29T22:15:00.001+08:00

via Kotaku

Science is a verb now

2009-10-26T14:39:00.004+08:00

I really like this t-shirt print and it's glow-in-the-dark to boot!

Created by Questionable Content and purchasable from Topatoco.

Photo Review of Salty Dog - Sea salt & malt vinegar chips

2009-10-20T20:40:00.004+08:00

Verdict: Excellent, definitely recommend.

Hong Kong and bad photography

2009-10-17T07:51:00.004+08:00

I’ve been thinking hard about what t-shirt designs to print. I want to do something that relates to Hong Kong, while I’m still living here, but at the same time I want the designs to reflect things I’m interested in.

The theme I’ve decided on is to try to present the images of Hong Kong that captured my imagination when I first arrived. The three that immediately spring to ming are: the bustling markets, in particular Tai Yuen market, which is next to where I live; the improbably plumbed apartment buildings; and the heavily signed, busy shopping streets, in particular Sai Yeung Choi St. Although I want to capture the overall magical aspects of these places, I also want to show the understanding I've gained of them through living here. I'm hoping to achieve this by including the bits you don't notice when you first look at them, such as the bent-over men pushing cardboard carts, the roasted sweet-potato vendors standing over their unprotected gas burners and the boys that play between the rubbish bags behind their parent's market stalls.

My plan is that these images will be simple, hand-drawn (basically outlines) and probably predominately black and white (I want to only use colour to emphasise an aspect of a picture).

I took the photo below as a guide for how my market image might look. I've overexposed the image to try to simplify things, so I can use the outlines as the foundation for my line drawing. I’m not very good at photography, so stay tuned for more bad photography as I build up a collection of images to base my drawings on.

Looking for inspiration

2009-10-11T17:02:00.006+08:00

Here is a bunch of cool stuff I've come across over the past few days:

1. This interview with Will Wright, where he talks about expanding into the "play industry." I think the concept behind Wright's Stupid Fun Club is fantastic.

2. The music video for Justice’s remix of “Let Love Rule” by Lenny Kravitz, directed by Keith Schofield. It's a refreshingly quirky video.

3. I really like the comic-book style cover McFaul Studio did for Computer Arts Projects - Issue 128. I'm thinking about incorporating a comic-style theme in my design of Silights.

4. These cool skateboard designs by Emil Kozak for LAB Kindergarten. I like his bold clear patterns and the 'do you remember' theme.

5. I think I need one of these t-shirts. The design is aptly titled 'Refill Required'. Glennz Tees via Gizmodo

Ha ha, the Milk & Coffee EVANGELION Project

2009-10-06T22:16:00.002+08:00

FYI - The coffee was horrible.

Photo Review of Honey BBQ Chicken Wings Potato Chips

2009-10-06T22:00:00.003+08:00

Verdict: I'm a professional, don't try these at home!

The Silights instrumentality project

2009-10-05T22:44:00.004+08:00

I’ve decided that working during the day as a corporate drone is not enough self-punishment. To address this, I’m going to take on several side-projects, which I will work on in my spare time.

The real purpose of these side-projects is to try to expand and develop my skills and experience in more innovate pursuits, with an ultimate aim of working in a more innovative industry in the future.

The five projects I’ve decided on are:

1. Silights re-design. In fairness, Silights does not have a design, so ‘re-design’ is somewhat of a misnomer. My goal is to draw-up several ideas, decide on an interesting and unique look for my blog and implement it. This probably sounds pretty basic to most people, but as I have never done anything like this before, it will be a challenge for me.

2. Weekly post about casual games and iPhone apps. This idea came about because I really enjoy playing casual games and ‘collecting’ iPhone apps, but I want to develop more of a critical eye about what works and what doesn’t. To force myself to be more critical, I’m going to try to provide a weekly commentary on the games and apps I’ve come across and am playing/using.

3. Make t-shirts. I’ve talked for years about making my own t-shirts, but have never actually done anything - but this is about to change. Once I move apartments (in the next few months), I’m going to pick-up a screen printing kit and print a few different t-shirt designs. I already have some ideas for prints and I’ve looking forward to seeing how they turn out. I envisage the first few attempts will be total disasters. I’ll make sure I take lots of photos, so you can all have a good laugh from the comfort of your browser windows.

4. Make an iPhone app. Similar to 2, my goal here is to draw up several ideas for iPhone apps and make them. I do not expect to make any commercially viable apps (though that would be nice), I just want to prove to myself that I can do it.

5. Make a simple computer game. I’m going to dream up, design, develop and create a simple 2D computer game. This project is the most ambitious because my programme skills are terrible (currently the only programming I do is designing excel macros in visual basic), but I also think it will be the most rewarding.

To force myself to be disciplined about recording my progress and for your entertainment, I will be posting a development diary for each of my projects. Don’t get too excited, as I have a somewhat onerous day job, I’m anticipating a long development time for these projects.

Why I hate Bobby Kotick's face

2009-09-30T16:00:00.004+08:00

Bobby Kotick’s recent speech at the Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference in San Francisco epitomises for me what is wrong about big business: it’s souless.

Kotick is open that he wants a company culture infused with skepticism, pessimism, and fear (which sounds like a rejected line from 'Wall Street'). Regrettably, Mr Kotick is not some small fry manager in soon-to-be-obsolete industry. Instead, as CEO of Activision Blizzard, he heads up one of the most successful companies in, arguably, one of the most innovate industries in the world.

Is Mr Kotick really that bad? Take these two quotes:

"You have studio heads who five years ago didn't know the difference between a balance sheet and a bed sheet who are now arguing allocations in our CFO's office pretty regularly." I acknowledge that resource allocation is fundamentally important to managing a project, but Kotick’s message is that managing the balance sheet is critically important, things like quality come second.

"We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games." This quote makes me so mad!

For more articulate commentary on Kotick see ars and Gamespot.

Amazing - D&D soda

2009-09-20T21:52:00.002+08:00

The picture says it all. Check out the official website here.

Thanks for the link sleepyanimal

The hiatus is over

2009-09-20T15:46:00.004+08:00

Following a work related hiatus from blogging, I'm back. My intention is to start regularly posting again.

For now, here is an awesome box of James Jean series mints from Giant Robot (via Super Punch). Stay tuned for more.

Ferris Bueller's Ferrari House Now For Sale

2009-05-27T10:28:00.002+08:00

According to Gizmodo, the stunning Ben Rose Home, which was Cameron's house in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, is now available for sale. I would love to own this house.

Did I say that

2009-05-27T10:11:00.004+08:00

Sleepyanimal sent me this great Guardian article, which reminds us of some of Cristiano Ronaldo's more memorable quotes, including:

On his best feature:

My body. I have a nice body (2007)

On Manchester:

At 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock in the night you can do nothing special. But in
Portugal it is different (2008)

Asked who Man Utd's best-looking player is:

Well, after me, my team doesn't have many gorgeous ones, honestly. A blond
and blue-eyed guy - there is none, is there? Difficult ... I'd say Patrice
Evra (2009)

On having a son some day:

He should have the same football genes as me so that he could follow in my
footsteps. If he looked like me, it would be even better. I will not say: "I
would like a clone", but hope our similarities would be easy to notice at
all levels (2007)

On being booed during away games:

If they don't boo me now, I think: "Why don't the people boo me?" It's
normal. I like it (2008)

On self-doubt:

It isn't always possible to play beautifully. But I think some players in
the Premier League basically always do - and I am one of them (2006)

On his taste in women:

I prefer them with a full set of teeth (2008)

And finally, a wee gem from former Newcastle owner, Sir John Hall, who described the club's relegated squad "rubbish" and "useless".

Brilliant - more Daft Punk

2009-05-17T23:29:00.002+08:00

I came across this piano Daft Punk medley on Super Punch. It works surprisingly well.

Via.

Back from the coal face

2009-05-16T09:40:00.005+08:00

Work has been tough down in the mines recently, so spare time and blog posts have been scarce. But I'm back with some computer game related goodness for you.

So, I've been playing some computer games recently.

Wolverine is one of these games. What Wolverine lack in storyline, frame-rate and finesse, it makes up for with brutality and gore. I concur with this review and these comments on the game. Basically, it's total dumb-arsed fun, but I don't recommend forking out your hard earned bones to play it. Play God of War again instead and wait for Wolverine to turn up in a bargain bin.

Plants vs Zombies is also a game I've been playing. This game is seriously addictive and runs on my Mac! I recommend this game as a great time waster and at HK$28, it's a steal.

Keeping with the computer game theme, check out this interesting photo essay from the Guardian: Gold farming: a real economy in the virtual world. I have many thoughts about the implications of virtual economies and the conditions the kids in the article have to live in, but I'll save these for a more considered post.

A moments silence, 3D Realms has closed and it looks like Duke Nukem Forever will never be finished.

Given that this game has been 13 years in development, I don't think anyone is too surprised by these turn of events. Even so, I would liked to have heard the big man say "balls of steel" one last time.

Wednesday is reading day - The Last Samurai

2009-05-06T21:47:00.003+08:00

Helen DeWitt's The Last Samurai is one of my favourite books.

The Last Samurai follows the relationship between Sibylla, a single mother of severe intelligence and limited social skills, and her son, Ludo, who is a prodigy of learning, with an intellectually-detached curiosity about the identity of his father. The novel get its title from Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai, which Sibylla requires Ludo to regularly watch, because she believes the film provides the male role models that he is missing.

The novel falls neatly into two halves. The first half describes Ludo's eduction - his search for knowledge and the pursuit of logic. The second half describes Ludo's search for his father and his application of logic to the realms of human emotion.

The Last Samurai is an amazing ride of ideas, which manages to be both profound and funny. This is a must read!

Remember the video that I said was seriously cool ... this is seriously cooler!

2009-04-29T21:43:00.002+08:00

Juice boxes that look like real fruit

2009-04-29T21:24:00.005+08:00

Tokyomango has a post about juice boxes that look like real fruit.

I love these juice boxes, which were designed by Naoto Fukasawa. I hope the designs gets commercialised, as I would love to sip strawberry juice from a box like this.

Katamari strikes back

2009-04-29T21:06:00.002+08:00

I came across this on Dueling Analogs. Quality!

Bananaz

2009-04-29T19:40:00.003+08:00

If, like me, you're a big fan of the artistic idea behind the Gorillaz, then you should check out Bananaz.

Bananaz is a 91 minute documentary, shot by Ceri Levy, which tracks the history of the band. The documentary begins in the late '90s at the birth of the concept band created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. You can find out more about the film here, or you can just head over to here and watch the whole thing. I've posted the trailer below to wet your appetite.

Total Tea

2009-04-28T23:52:00.002+08:00

Last Saturday, I managed to redefine the term drunken blowout. This is no small achievement for a person whose feats of drunkenness include drinking all the grog out the boardroom liquor cabinet at work, while watching football on the flat screen telly, and singing nessun dorma on a table in a bar in Sydney, as a tribute to Pavarotti.

What marked last weekend's escapade ahead of previous outings, was the impressive level of self-unawareness I managed to achieve.

So what happened? Fuelled by a few glasses of red wine and half-a-dozen beers, I devised a t-shirt company with some friends and brainstormed a few design ideas. This sounds innocuous enough, unless you observed the single-minded voracity with which I pursued the subject and the irritation I displayed at anyone who strayed from the topic in question. For my friends, I'm sure it was like being in the accoutrement equivalent of hell's kitchen.

If we skip forward twelve beers and throw in a few tequila shots, we get to the zenith of Saturday evening's activities. I could describe the bar I was in, but you would know it would be a lie. On Sunday I thought I recalled the bar accurately, however, enquiries confirmed that no bar of that specification exists in HK (consensus is that my memory combined the features of three bars I visited). It was at one of these bars that I failed my test in how to make friends and influence people. Although threatening to punch a friend is an acceptable and common activity in NZ when out with fellow corporate blood suckers, it's not an endearing or even appropriate past-time for non-corporate blood sucker friends in HK.

So what's the upshot of all this? A challenge to myself. I am going to try to go three weeks without touching a drop of alcohol - It's sad that I know this will be very difficult to achieve.

Anyhow, wish me luck and I'll keep you posted on how I'm going.

I'm Sorry Courtesy Card

2009-04-25T09:08:00.002+08:00

This is genius: I'm Sorry Courtesy Card.

Via NotCot

Drastic Celebrity Transformations = Sad

2009-04-25T08:57:00.004+08:00

LIFE's Picks of Week for this week include Drastic Celebrity Transformations. I followed the link expecting them to be amusing, but I found they just made me sad.

Amy Winehouse arrives at the U.K.'s Nationwide Mercury Prize ceremony in 2004.

Photo: James Quinton Archive/WireImage

Amy Winehouse attends the End of Summer Ball on Sept. 25, 2008 in London.

Photo: Jon Furniss/WireImage

Matthew McConaughey in "That's A Moray"

2009-04-20T20:27:00.003+08:00

I choked with laughter when I saw this on Super Punch today.

To the dude who thought this poster up - you nailed it.

Go here to check out more excellent McConaughey posters.

Daft Punk: The Game

2009-04-17T23:04:00.005+08:00

I came across Harder, better: Shane Brouwer's Daft Punk: The Game on Offworld.

The game, which is done in the style of an old-fashion platformer, follows Daft Punk as they attempt to recover their stolen samples from rival electro-duo Justice.

The game is dumb, but fun. Check it out here.

This is seriously cool ... no really, it is. Watch it now. Do it.

2009-04-16T23:09:00.005+08:00

/Filim posted the Star Wars Macgyver Mash-Up as today's VOTD.

Huh ... was that Sephiroth?

2009-04-07T22:03:00.007+08:00

I didn't know a thing about Dissidia: Final Fantasy until I saw this video on Giant Bomb.

This games features a real mash /mess of characters:

Heroes: Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy I); Firion (Final Fantasy II); Onion Knight (Final Fantasy III); Cecil Harvey (Final Fantasy IV); Bartz Klauser (Final Fantasy V); Terra Branford (Final Fantasy VI); Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII); Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII); Zidane Tribal (Final Fantasy IX); Tidus (Final Fantasy X)

Villains: Garland (Final Fantasy I); Emperor (Final Fantasy II); Cloud of Darkness (Final Fantasy III); Golbez (Final Fantasy IV); Exdeath (Final Fantasy V); Kefka (Final Fantasy VI); Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII); Ultimecia (Final Fantasy VIII); Kuja (Final Fantasy IX); Jecht (Final Fantasy X)

Plus: Shantotto (Final Fantasy XI); Gabranth (Final Fantasy XII)

According to Giant Bomb: "Dissidia is an action game for the PSP, developed by Square Enix as part of Final Fantasy's 20th anniversary lineup. Dissidia was released in Japan on December 24, 2008, and is scheduled for North American release in "mid-year" 2009."

I think Square have really lost their way with this release. Stay tuned ... I guess.

Nooo!

2009-04-07T20:36:00.005+08:00

According to /Film, Mandalay have picked up the rights to develop a big-screen live action adaptation of Full Metal Panic.

When will Hollywood realise that, except in rare circumstances, anime adaptions don't work? The subject matter and tone of most anime do not fit with live action and, generally, the source themes and plot have to be bastardised to make them palatable for mass consumption. Just leave them the way they are - How about writing an original script for a change?

To add insult to injury, High School Musical star Zac Efron is interested in starring in the project.

This makes me want to hurl my laptop at Hollywood.

Out and about (aka longest post ever)

2009-04-06T12:59:00.009+08:00

I'm usually really busy with work during the week, which means my weekends are typically crammed full of the all the tasks, chores and miscellaneous things I didn't achieve between Monday and Friday. Miraculously, I woke up last Saturday with a clear schedule. A day to do whatever took my fancy - what a treat!

First-off, I finally got round to setting myself up with a Twitter account. Twitter has been the talk of the town for a while and when HKHam declared that he had signed up, I decided it was time to get on the bandwagon. If you're a fellow twit, look me up, my user name is silights.

I'm totally addicted to Street Fighter 4 and, after a quick coffee run, Saturday morning presented the perfect opportunity to unlock all the characters I was missing. The game is totally rad, though, I suspect I'm giving myself RSI. Having finished the game with every character, I feel I'm almost ready to start playing online - to date my forays into online play have resulted in significant thrashings at the hands of people (i.e. teenage boys) with tags like 'Schpasm' and 'ZakDaSakAttack'.

After wasting half the day inside, staring at various screens, I felt the urge to step outside and get some pollution. Walking to Causeway Bay is probably shortening my life, but I needed to stretch my legs.

I stopped on the way to pick up some fruit for breakfast. The grocer recommended I take a banana because, apparently, they are "full of potassium". All I know about potassium is that it explodes when thrown in water, which made the bananas seem slightly dangerous and, therefore, much more appealing than any other fruit.

Next stop was Uniqlo, to check out the new t-shirt collection. Every season Uniqlo invites a range of designers and artists to design half a dozen t-shirts. The t-shirts are then sold for between HK$70 and HK$100. The designs are generally cool and I really like being able to purchase a nicely designed and produced t-shirt for under HK$100. I walked away with 10 t-shirts for myself and a couple of extras, which I've posted to friends.

I stopped on my way out of Uniqlo to admire an installation dedicated to Polaroid cameras. The information sheet was all in Chinese, so I don't really know what the installation was all about, but it looked cool ... blowout.

I then headed over to Times Square to check out Page One. Times Square had a great installation in the atrium by Chocolate Rain. The installation had all sorts of places for kids to climb and explore. To see the installation, I had to fight past a wall of parents who were looking on with relief as their children entertained themselves in the jungle of wooden alcoves.

I then bolted home, got changed, picked up Sleepyanimal and headed out to TST to meet DJ and TJ for a good old fashioned pub crawl. I wont go into the details of this part of the evening, as it has been articulately covered by Sleepyanimal.

I will, however, mention that we had the best snacks at the food stall on the corner of Hart Ave and Prat Ave in TST. Check it out if you need a feed after a few quiets in TST.

Qualcomm

2009-04-01T22:44:00.004+08:00

I came across Qualcomm on Super Punch.

Qualcomm has unveiled a revolutionary new technology to improve digital networks: implanting tiny base stations in pigeons.

However, as pigeons are a little vulnerable, Qualcomm spliced pigeon and wolf DNA to create wolfpigeons.

Unfortunately, wolfpigeons breed like crazy. Qualcomm has solved this problem with sharkfalcons, which prey on the wolfpigeons.

To keep the sharkfalcon population at bay - crocodeagles.

Brilliant. Check out Qualcomm's website for further information.

F1 Monsters

2009-03-31T21:54:00.002+08:00

I don't like F1, but I really like the above advertisment for Sky F1, which was created by 1861 United, Milan, Italy.

Fubiz via Notcot.

Bouncy Marae

2009-03-31T21:44:00.004+08:00

The New Dowse in Lower Hutt, NZ, has a excellent new exhibition: The Bouncy Marae. Here is the description from the New Dowse website:

"In her childhood, artist Inez Crawford (Te Whanau a Apanui) imagined that her local marae was a giant castle, and in her latest artwork she brings that fantasy to life as part of the Plastic Maori exhibition. Her giant inflatable Bouncy Marae is open in our courtyard for kids of all ages to experience - parental supervision required. Crawford uses the playful nature of this work to comment on the commercialisation of Maori art."

WTWTA Trailer

2009-03-28T09:10:00.003+08:00

The trailer for Spike Jonze's adaption of Where The Wild Things Are is up on Apple Trailers. As a child, I was a massive fan of this book. I'm really looking forward to the movie.

What song are you dying to cover?

2009-03-21T14:08:00.003+08:00

Last night, while enjoying a Sapporo king can outside Club 7 in LKF, TJ asked HK Ham and myself what song we would most like to cover. After much debate, which canvased the likes of Bowie, Survivor and The Doors, to name a few, HK Ham declared with finality that he would cover "Time After Time".

I never got to the bottom what song HK Ham was actually talking about, as TJ and I immediately broke into Cyndi Lauper and the conversation degenerated. Notwithstanding our failure to stay on topic, I think it's a good question.

What song would you most like to cover? I'm still thinking about my answer, but a few initial thoughts are:

- Money for nothing, Dire Straights
- Too young, Phoenix
- Anarchy in the U.K., The Sex Pistols
- Sex police, Supergroove
- London Calling, The Clash
- With u, Rain
- You look like rain, Morphine
- Heroes, David Bowie

Hmmmm, so many good songs, but would they be good to cover? Let me get back to you on this one.

Wednesday is reading day - Interface

2009-03-11T21:48:00.003+08:00

It's Wednesday - time to discuss what I'm reading. During the US Presidential election I picked up a copy of Interface, by Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George (who I understand is Neil's uncle). I've read a number of books by Neil Stephenson, including the excellent Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash, so I had high expectations. Unfortunately, Interface is a poor cousin of these must read books.

The central character in Interface is William Anthony Cozzano, a popular and intelligent politician, who at the start of the book is the governor of Illinois (hence why I thought it might be fun to read during the elections). Cozzano suffers a stroke while in office, which leaves him significantly incapacitated. To try to regain his facilities, Cozzano agrees to an experimental medical procedure, which involves implanting a micro-chip into his brain. The treatment is successful and, with his facilities restored, Cozzano agrees to run for presidency - much cyber-political intrigue ensues.

Interface is a tightly plotted book, which is typically my only criticism of Neil Stephenson's writing. The prose is very glib and the plot steams along at an enjoyable pace. Notwithstanding these points, I found the story dated, a bit predictable and very light in terms of science fiction and politic analysis - the micro-chip in the brain idea is not explored in any detail and the political side of things are left very high level.

Verdict: An unsatisfying read. If you enjoy cyberpunk fiction and have an interest in politics, grab a copy for a long flight. If cyberpunk and politics are not your cup of tea, I say give it a miss - instead, re-read Cryptonomicon or grab a copy of Last Samurai, which I think I'll talk about next week.

As Margaret Fuller said: “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.”

It's all in the name

2009-03-08T21:56:00.002+08:00

An unfortunately named plant in the park near my work.

A modestly named company near my apartment.

Techno-Dancing Joseph Stalin

2009-03-07T08:28:00.001+08:00

Not. Making. This. Up.

Via Kotaku

Wednesday is reading day

2009-03-04T21:40:00.005+08:00

It's Wednesday, which seems as good a day as any to talk about what I'm reading.

I'm currently reading Freakangels, which is a free, weekly, ongoing comic written by Warren Ellis (of Transmetropolitan fame) and illustrated by Paul Duffield.

Ellis' own synopsis of Freakangels went something like this: "I've written two hundred pages and I still have no idea what it's about ... it's retro-punk, it's near-future steampunk" and involves characters who are "living in a post-flood London that they might possibly have had something to do with." Comic-con 2007

The story unfolds through a string of tales that look into the life of each of the Freakangel characters. Ellis presents his characters in a warts and all fashion, which, for me, makes them seem more real and developed than the typical comic book protagonist. Underlying the individual character stories, is the larger mystery about what has happened to the world and what involvement the Freakangels' had in the disaster.

I read the first few issues in trade paperback form, but have since been reading it online - for free! I recommend reading it in chunks, as I find with individual issues I'm just getting into the story and it's over. Freakangels is a great read, so give it go.

For Si Crack

2009-02-24T23:06:00.003+08:00

Like a legendary BYC weekend. Gold. Si Crack's calling for the BYC.

Bring Back Jose

2009-02-24T20:24:00.004+08:00

I love reading football banter. I can spend hours reading the Guardian, Soccernet and Football Scout. However, since Jose parted ways with Chelsea, the banter surrounding the Premiership has lost a bit of its edge.

The rivalry between Jose and SAF was the best daily soap around. Checking the news for the latest quotes from the managers was as necessary and regular as my morning coffee.

Jose departure has left a void in the football columns. As demonstrated by Rafa, none of the current managers in the league are able to foot it with SAF's trash talking ways. To add salt to the wound, the Jose / SAF rivalry has been temporarily renewed with the impending Champions League game between ManU and Inter. Unfortunately, this will only last until 11 March.

My solution is that Jose should return to the Premiership to manage City. This would undoubtedly improve the performance of City (which they need) and it would make it easier for Jose and SAF to exchange barbs, thereby increasing the entertainment value of the Premiership tenfold. It's a win, win situation as far as I can see.

For those not versed in the ways of The Special One, here are two recent quotes from the man himself and a classic to finish the post off.

Firstly, Jose on why Chelsea's performance has dipped since he left. "Why have Chelsea suffered so much since I left? Because I left." Via

Secondly, Jose on why ManU are performing well. "When I was in England, Chelsea was the best team between 2004-06. That is why we won two consecutive Premierships. Manchester United at that time realised they needed to be better to win it and, in my third season, that's what they did. And they went on to win the Champions League." Via

Lastly, on what people should think of him. "Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one." Via

4 am, Hong Kong

2009-02-21T11:03:00.010+08:00

I love the feeling of getting home around 4 am after a great night out. Your ears are still buzzing from the music, head is bit light from booze, stomach full from a greasy feed and legs aching from dancing. The city is quiet at this time. I like to take a moment to let the memories of the evening drift past:

It started quiet enough. Sushi across the road. Two old Japanese guys next us at the counter, with two young women in boots. Trish notes "she is speaking in Japanese, it could be his wife." One of the young ladies in boots escorts her dinner companion to the bathroom.

Mark and I are thinking of flagging the night away. We fire up the PS3 and battle through a few rounds of Street Fighter 2. We decide to have a few beers. Then four games of Winning Eleven - Germany versus Australia. Mark wins them all. We have a few more beers. Trish drinks a lychee with vodka. I put Wipeout on with the music turned right up. It's like a scene from Hackers. We're fired up now.

We walk into the gig and its like something from 1996: Concrete floor, speakers stacked up in the corner, a smoke machine and green laser going nuts.

Doc Scott is standing at the bar, like some geezer in a pub watching QPR play. I stop and mentioned I liked his set. Intalex is playing in the background. I mention that I saw him in NZ, more years ago than he would care to remember. He says they're going there next and that it probably was more years ago than he would care to remember.

The music is awesome and the mixing is excellent. We cheer. The crowd look at us like we're strange, than start cheering too. It's a good night.

4 am. I need a feed, the tequila shots are making me feel worse for wear. A greasy noodle will fix things up.

Back home. About to go to bed.

I like the city at this time of night.

For Me

2009-02-18T21:34:00.004+08:00

This post is for me. My good friend JP sent me an email last week, which read as follows: "Saw this and thought of you."

Totally awesome. There was a time in my life when I would have killed for an eight foot tall space marine. Fortunately, that time has passed: I now live in a shoebox sized apartment in Hong Kong, so I don't have anywhere to put it, unless I turfed sleepyanimal out of the bed and put it there ... but that would be weird.

Ok, confession time. I still have a half painted and half-customised squad of Black Templar space marines under my bed, along with a full Citadel paints colour pallet, customising knife and other accessories. I will probably never finish that squad, but I can't bear to throw them away. Maybe one day ...

For B

2009-02-10T21:33:00.004+08:00

This video is for B. I know you're more of Marvel v Capcom guy, but when I saw this video, I immediately thought that you would: a) appreciate it; and b) understand what was going on.

The winning player in this video is Daigo Umehara, the number one SFIV player in Japan. For those not versed in the ways of Street Fighter, Diago (Ken) comes back from virtually zero health to perfectly parry every single hit of his opponent's super (impossibly hard) and then bust into his own combo to win the match.

Via Giant Bomb

Why do I point in photos?

2009-02-10T21:13:00.002+08:00

I always have ...

... and probably always will.

The latest gadget

2009-02-10T20:17:00.004+08:00

This is the funniest thing I've seen in ages.

Onion via Gizmodo)

The Interweb

2009-02-10T20:09:00.002+08:00

The video below provides the complete animated history of the Internet in just 8 minutes. It's really interesting, I recommend giving it a whirl.

(Gizmodo)

For HK Ham

2009-02-08T11:33:00.003+08:00

I'm doing a series of posts dedicated to things that remind me of my friends. This link is for HK Ham, who has a dislike for snakes. Try and peel this behemoth off AJ: Fossil of 43-foot super-snake Titanoboa found in Colombia.

LA Times via via

For Sprout

2009-02-08T09:46:00.005+08:00

The subject of Big Picture's latest post, La Princesse, is my little sister's worst nightmare. This one is for you Sprout.

It's a great collection of pictures and I recommend checking out the the comments section, as Peter Carr is responding to question. Excellent stuff!

This second picture is for JP. I bet you thought the same thing as I did when I looked at it - Tachikoma.

舞獅 - Lion dance

2009-02-03T21:53:00.013+08:00

Monday was my first day back in the office after Chinese New Year and marked my first proper experience of giving out lai see or red packets. Lai see are a monetary gift, traditionally presented at social and family gatherings, such as weddings, or on holidays such as the CNY. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits (my lai see weren't actually red, oh well).

In Hong Kong, it is traditional after CNY to give people subordinate to you a red packet on your first day back in the office. I had been warned about this and arrived at work prepared with a special lai see for my secretary and thirty red packets for other staff I work with (more than enough I thought). What I had not been warned about were the hordes of marauding staff that seek you out at your desk in packs to collect their lai see. I ended the day with only two lai see left! I will be more prepared next year.

To ensure a lucky start to the year, the office had arranged for a 舞獅 or Lion dance. The lion dance is performed to exorcise evil spirits and to summon luck and fortune. The performance began with the Hoi Gong or eye dotting, which is a traditional ceremony to bless and awaken the spirit of the lion. Two of our senior partners were invited to open the eyes of the lions by dotting the lion with red ink. The dotting was carried out to the soft beat of a drum, but once the dotting was completed the drums, gong and cymbal all broke into life and the lions began their dance.

The next part of the dance involved 採青 or picking the greens. Traditionally a lai see is tied to a head of lettuce and hung from the front door of the business. Since our office doesn't have a front door, the head of lettuce was hung in the lift foyer. As part of the dance, the lions consumed the lettuce and then showered the audience with streamers (which I think is meant to represent the lettuce leaves).

The lion dance then moved around our floor. A lion would stop at any desk that had a red packets hanging above it to consume the red packets and grant luck to the area (and if you ask nicely even stop for a photo). The office was quite a sight with red packets hanging above everyone's desks. Below is a picture of the lion providing a bit of luck to my desk.

Bastdards

2009-02-03T21:06:00.002+08:00

I came across this sign while hiking near Sai Kung.

The wait is over

2009-01-29T14:46:00.005+08:00

Square Enix has just released the first official global trailer for Final Fantasy XIII. Check out the trailer here.

The release date for the English version of FFXIII is April 2010. As with previous FF trailers, the cut scenes are epic, the English translation of the dialogue is dodgy and it unveils a new fighting engine (the street fighter looking combos are interesting). I'm looking forward to seeing a more polished trailer for this game later in the year.

Hong Kong Clubbing needs you!

2009-01-28T20:01:00.001+08:00

(HKClubbing)

恭喜發財

2009-01-26T17:01:00.004+08:00

新年快樂 - Happy Chinese New Year!

(The Big Picture)

Drank, 'cause that's how I roll

2009-01-17T14:45:00.004+08:00

The Giant Bomb guys were talking about Drank on their latest Bombcast. Drank is another terrible sounding addition to the already saturated 'lifestyle' drink market.

So what's the deal with Drank? According to its website it's "[t]he first EXTREME RELAXATION drink to hit the market."

And now for the drink's tag line: "Just slow your roll." Amazing, I got to get me some of this stuff.

Worst Idea Ever: Jackie Chan to Play Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid Remake

2009-01-14T22:23:00.003+08:00

Noooooo! Hollywood, please stop trying to remake 80s films!

I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the deal. Will Smith’s son, Jaden Smith, has been cast in a “refashioned” remake of the 1980’s classic 'The Karate Kid'. The film will be set in Beijing and, according to Entertainment Weekly, Jackie Chan will play Mr Miyagi and Harold Zwart (Pink Panther 2) will direct the movie. Read more about it at /Film.

I agree with /Film that this is the worst idea ever. 'Karate Kid' has already had to endure three terrible sequels. Why now subject it to such a horrifying remake?

Calendars

2009-01-13T22:33:00.004+08:00

While scrolling through Super Punch today, a humorous blog title caught my eye: Hot Blogger Calender. I was about to click on the link, when I noticed this totally awesome link near the bottom of the post: *Previously: Animals that will kill yo a$$ calendar.

This has got to be the coolest calendar ever. If only I had found this before Christmas. It would have made the ultimate stocking filler.

I was so distracted by the Animals that will kill yo a$$ calendar, I never made it to Hot Blogger. Shame.

The Piano

2009-01-11T17:41:00.004+08:00

Ambrose Bierce defined the piano as: "PIANO, n. A parlor utensil for subduing the impenitent visitor. It is operated by depressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of the audience." Mr Bierce clearly had never experienced this piano.

I came across this glorious specimen today in Times Square, as I was on my way to Page One.

With its red disposition and golden horse on the lid, it is clearly trying to compare itself to greater things.

Unfortunately, the only marquee car this piano reminds me of is CR7's after its interchange with the Manchester airport tunnel.

How about a bit of Ben Franklin?

2009-01-10T12:37:00.005+08:00

Super Punch is always full of such cool stuff. Check out these two great Benjamin Franklin images.

Ben Franklin as Michael Jackson in Thriller, dancing with zombie Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt

Link via Super Punch

Ben Franklin with a power fist

Future Ben Franklin by Eamon Dougherty via Super Punch

A bit of this and a bit of that

2009-01-07T21:01:00.010+08:00

Here are a few cool things and a few not so cool things I think are worthy of a wider audience.

First up, the not so cool

1. In the spirit of Silights' new colour scheme, these headphones, which Gizmodo described as "one pacifier short of a personal rave."

2. The Trailer for Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li ... terrible.

3. Hokkaido Rice Pizza and the crazy shop girl who came screaming out of the restaurant to stop me taking a photo.

4. This sweatshirt. The accompanying article is hilarious, I recommend reading it. (Via Super Punch)

5. The John McCain toy I found in my local comic shop.

The cool

1. Graffiti Creator is totally cool. I used it to create the Silights header (the poor quality is due to my technical ineptitude and is no fault of Graffiti Creator).

2. Apple finally axes DRM. Read more about the MacWorld announcements at Gizmodo.

3. My new Nike ACG Storm-Fit jacket. So '08s and so cool. Well I think so anyway.

4. The MacBook Wheel. Thank you Onion News Network.

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

5. These limited edition Obama action figures at Jailbreaktoys.com. (Via Super Punch)

09 - here we go

2009-01-03T15:40:00.016+08:00

Here are a few self-indulgent and largely materialistic things I'm looking forward to in '09.

1. Traveling. I currently have plans to visit Seoul in April and the UK in August. I also hope to make it to Tokyo and Beijing this year. So much exciting travel to be done, I can't wait!

2. Where the Wild Things Are. I am looking forward to Spike Jonze’s big screen adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic book 'Where The Wild Things Are'. There is a heap of controversy going around about the film, but lot of people are speaking out in support of Spike's vision, so I'm optimistic about its chances. 'Where The Wild Things Are' hits theaters on October 16th 2009.

3. Final Fantasy XIII. I'm a big fan to the Final Fantasy series and the latest instalment looks very promising. Read more about FFXIII here.

4. Getting some new threads, like these cool Jango-Pope t-shirts by 2once. (via Super Punch via Changethethought)

5. Picking up a few cool toys. I'm hoping to get my hands on these totally cool Metal Gear Solid 4 1/6 size figures of Snake and Raiden. Read more about them here and here.

Closing off 08

2009-01-03T11:39:00.009+08:00

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had enjoyable New Year celebrations.

I was lucky enough to be on a boat in the middle of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour as we saw off '08 and welcomed '09. In keeping with tradition, this was done in an appropriately inebriated fashion. Life is tough sometimes.

I'm not usually a fan of New Year's resolutions, but I decided to make a couple this time around. First up, is improving my woeful attempts at keeping in touch with friends. One email a year is pretty lousy. My aim for '09 is to send out at least two emails to everyone, so watch out. Second, is joining a football team and improving my fitness. I haven't really done any exercise since arriving in Hong Kong. If I don't watch out, I'm going to need to rename my blog Pielights.

Ok, I thought I would close out '08 with a quick note on what floated my boat in December:

1. Metal Gear Solid 4. Wow! This game blew me away. I rank MGS4 second only to FFVII in terms of Best Games Ever. My only regret with MGS4, was not being able to play this game with the boys, as the story is so good and completely ties up the threads of the old games. I have fond memories of all the boys gathering on the couch in our old flat on T-street to play Metal Gear Solid. We spent hours working our way through Shadow Moses and the game spawned a few nicknames as well.

It's strange to say this about a video game, but I found it very unsettling in MGS4 when you return to Shadow Moses. As you walk around the old base, the game feeds you lines from MGS and when you come to a security camera you had to avoid at the beginning of MGS, it falls off the wall from rust. I think anyone who invested hours in MGS will find this part of the game very eerie.

The game play in MGS4 is top draw stealth/action. It's enjoyable and challenging to play, and it gives you the flexibility to play it as a guns blazing, take-no-prisoners game, or as a stealth, don't be seen and don't kill anyone game. What really makes this game for me, is the rich story. I'm sure a lot of action game fans will find all the cut scenes irritating, but I enjoyed them. It does mean that at times you are doing more watching than playing, but in terms of an overall entertainment experience, I think the balance between action and story work very well. Hideo Kojima and his team have done a great job.

To sum up, MGS4 is a top draw stealth game, with a kick-arse story, wrapped together into a total entertainment experience. Trust me, check it out, though I recommend brushing up on the back story. If you're a bit rusty on the background, you can refresh you memory here.

2. Hot pot. The weather has turned cold here in Hong Kong (thank goodness, I found summer almost unbearable). It's been a pleasure to unpack my hoodies, jackets and scarves - there is nothing quite as comfortable as a hoodie. During winter, it's traditional here in Hong Kong to go out for hot pot (often referred to as steamboat). I love hot pot. For those that have not had the joy of hot pot, it consists of a simmering metal pot of stock (best with chili), which is kept in the center of the table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. Typical hot pot dishes include thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings and seafood. An array of dipping sauces is also provided, so you can combine your freshly cooked goodies with whatever flavoured condiment you desire. Yum!

3. The Dark Knight DVD. As I mentioned previously, I got the 2 disc set for Christmas, which I recommend. The movie is awesome and the extra DVD is packed full of fun, if not somewhat sycophantic, features about the making of the film.

4. Speedracer. My surprise film for the month was Speedracer. It was rubbished by most reviewers, so I gave it a miss at the cinema. I picked up the DVD on sale the other day at HMV and was pleasantly surprised when I watched it. I really liked the cartoony look and feel the film has, with over saturated colours and action scenes that are more about giving you an impression of what's going on, than conveying any real coherent sequence. If you gave Speedracer a miss an cinema like I did, I recommend checking it out on DVD.

Holidays are great

2008-12-31T11:48:00.006+08:00

Being on holiday is great. I slept in today, then passed on a shower in favour of baked beans on toast and reading the news online. Here is a round up of what caught my attention over breakfast:

1. Why are people considering Caroline Kennedy as a serious contender for Hilary Clinton's Senate seat? Kennedy has never financially supported a Democrat candidate (despite being worth an estimate $100 million) and she doesn't vote. In fact, she doesn't seem to have shown any real interest in politics until this opportunity came along. Crazy. Read more here.

2. Jaws 5 - Jaws in Space, t-shrit. Brilliant!

3. The Predator Rap

4. Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain asks for a $10 million bonus because his bank collapsed less spectacularly than some of the others.

5. New cellphone / watch: Phenom SpecialOps Cellphone Watch. Even the name sounds nerdy. These things will never be cool.

Great work Percula

2008-12-28T19:37:00.001+08:00

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