Open Your Eyes – Wire Car

Would you like to try and drive my Toyota Corolla?

If you think this is done through visual effects or graphics play, take a load of this:

Amazing, isn’t it? Images copied from http://ffffound.com

Gimme Some Tunage: Remembering George Harrison

I can’t deny the fact that I am a Beatles fan. And although I enjoyed the voices of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, I actually had a major crush on George Harrison. Always at the background with rather unsure eyes, he was the most handsome Beatle of all. Haha.

Obi would say he had the worst teeth among the four, but who cares?

It wasn’t until I started searching for facts on the Fab Four that I found out George was the quite the favorite by their fans. I also found out that he was the first among the four Beatles to succeed with his solo career. I wonder why? Haha.

Obi said that only George Harrison looked good in a beard. John, Paul, and Ringo looked stupid with them. I kinda agree. Haha. And yeah, George Harrison died a handsome old man. I wish I could’ve met them.

Okayyyyy… I won’t blabber on any further. Here you go, George Harrison, may rest in peace, with Here Comes the Sun and While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Both videos were taken from the Prince’s Trust Concert of 1987. Artists with them in the video were Elton John, Phil Collins, and Eric Clapton.

Gimme Some Tunage: Ringo on Quitting Vices

Was on YouTube the earlier, looking for music videos from the Beatles. Turns out a lot of the videos posted there were just made by the fans so that the songs they ripped from their CDs would have a video.

But yeah, you’ll still find original music videos from waayyy back. One particular video I found was that of Richard Starky a.k.a Ringo Star of The Beatles. This song was about quitting vices. It’s rather funny. The song and the video, I mean.

So without further ado, I give you the vocal stylings of Mr. Ringo Star with The No-No Song.

Open Your Eyes – Images

Image courtesy of mindsink from Tumblr

Gimme Some Tunage: Yellow Matter Custard

Thanks to Martin for sharing this from youtube.  Featuring Neal Morse on guitars and keyboards, Matt Bissonette on bass, Mike Portnoy on drums, and Paul Gilbert also on guitars, this Beatles tribute band is simply amazing!!!

To give you a taste of their cover of the Beatles’ songs Good Morning, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Magical Mysetery Tour, here are Yellow Matter Custard.

Let’s Talk Movies: Games to Live-Action

It isn’t enough that Hollywood producers are taking anime movies and turning them into live action, American adaptations that suck the life out of every anime fan in the planet, they had to do games too.

In the past we’ve had movies like Streetfighter and Mortal Kombat to entertain us by bringing into the big screen game characters we all know from the games we’ve played as kids.

I, for one, am not an avid gamer. But I’m pretty familiar with some of the characters. Familiar enough to know how some characters were really not represented well.

But lately, more and more games that we grew up to as children of the 80’s and the 90’s are being turned into live action films as well. What movies do we have in line?

Streetfighter: The Legend of Chun-Li – Scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2009, this supposedly action-packed movie is stared by Kristin Kreuk as the main character Chun-Li. Chris Klein, Neil McDonough, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Moon Bloodgood are to play Nash, M. Bison, Balrog, and Maya respectively.  Now I really don’t know if it’s just me, or doesn’t anybody else in the casting department notice how Kristin Kreuk doesn’t look Chinese at all?

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time – Scheduled to be released in 2010, this movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as THE Prince of Persia. Not sure about how the story would go, but I agree with what my friend said about how Jake Gyllenhall just doesn’t quite cut it to be the Prince. We were thinking more like Dr. Suresh from Heroes, but with a leaner body.

Tekken – Scheduled to be released late 2009, this film adaptation stars Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (from Mortal Kombat) as Heihachi, Chiyaki Kuriyama (from Kill Bill) as Xiaoyu, and Luke Goss (from Hellboy 2) as Steve Fox. The entire cast list can be found on the movie’s iMDB site. A Japenese girl plays a Chinese character. Wow.

Metal Gear Solid – Scheduled for 2009, not much information has been revealed about this movie except for some rumor that Christian Bale will play the part of Snake. Obi says he does look like Snake in the game. So what the hell?

Halo – One of my friends fried his xbox 360 because of his addiction to this game. One site says it’s scheduled to be release summer of 2009. I’m not quite sure if it’s the same movie I saw in iMDB that says it’s scheduled release date is 2012. No cast list indicated anywhere as of late.

Two game-based movies previously reported to be on their way come 2009 are rumored to be on the rocks. Castlevania, a game created by Konami for the old Nintendo family computer, and Spy Hunter, an arcade game from way back 1983, are both said to be hitting rough patches at the moment. However, no news has been confirmed yet, considering that there are still reports that these movies will air sometime this year.

Rumors of a World of Warcraft movie has been going around as well. Some WoW gamers have expressed excitement over the said news, but some express fear of having their favorite game butchered in its movie adaptation.

Gamer or not, you’re sure to have come across these games or have friends who are into playing these games. Tell me something, do you think movie adaptations are killing your favorite games?

Let’s Talk Movies: Anime to Live-Action

Since word has been told that the hit American-made anime Avatar: The Last Airbender was going to be turned into a live-action movie, people have been speculating who the casts were going to be. And when the four main characters of the movie were finally casted and announced, a huge uproar has been heard from fans all over the world.

This has brought into the light several other anime-turned-live action movies that were said to be poorly casted.

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender (2010) – Lead characters Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko were casted with white actors Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, and Jesse McCartney respectively.

2. Dragon Ball Evolution (2009) – Lead character Son Goku is portrayed by Justin Chatwin, and secondary characters Bulma and Piccolo are played by Emmy Rossum and James Marsters respectively.

3. Cowboy Bebop (no release date yet) – Lead character Spike Spiegel is to be portrayed by Keanu Reeves.

No offense to white actors on their acting prowess(?) and sellability. But most of the characters in these movies are clearly Asians. So why cast white people? Can’t they find Amerasian (American-Asian) actors that fit the shoe better?

Not to play the whole race issue again, but movie-goers watch these movies mainly for the story, not the actors. Of course the acting is going to be a factor to the audience’s satisfaction, but people who’ve followed the anime long enough will be raising eyebrows on the casting choices.

Let’s go through some of them one by one, shall we?

Jesse McCartney – I don’t quite think this dude will be able to portray angsty, angry, emo Zuko avatards of all ages have come to love.

Jackson Rathbone – Too pale to be Sokka. I don’t think any amount of tanning will turn him into a shade of brown closer to what Sokka’s color is. Not to mention the fact that he didn’t really get much rave reviews for his acting in Twilight.

Justin Chatwin – I’m not going to play the he’s-not-Asian card here because Son Goku’s an alien, and therefore doesn’t really have a specific (white or yellow) race. Although you have to admit that he makes Son Goku look gay and incapable of saving the world. He’s too, I dunno, teeny-booper-ish?

Emmy Rossum – Sure she’s hot and she’d cut the part. However, their new character design of Bulma removed her trademark, cyan-colored hair. That’s like taking the stripes out of a zebra.

James Marsters – No comment on this, Piccolo’s going to be heavily made up so it doesn’t really matter who the actor’s going to be.

Keanu Reeves – Now, I won’t talk about his becoming Spike Spiegel as a problem because he’s white. I don’t recall any specific mention of Spike’s race in any of the Cowboy Bebop series. But he’s just not that good in acting. He’s got, like, the acting prowess of a wooden plank.

But this is just me talking. What do you guys think?

Other animes turning into live action flicks in the near future are Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ninja Scrolls, and Afro Samura. The first two movies are to be directed by reknowned director Steven Spielberg.

Afro Samurai is said to be released this year, Akira and Ghost in the Shell in 2011, while Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ninja Scrolls, and Afro Samurai still have no release date as of late.

My friends who have watched the anime movies wish the producers goodluck in turning Akira and Ghost in the Shell into actual live action movies. No cast listings have been mentioned on the first four movies mentioned above. On the other hand, Afro Samurai is rumored to be played by Outkast’s Andre Benjamin, who now goes by the name Andre 3000.

Seriously, why can’t they just leave the anime movies as they are? Are American movie writers running out of ideas so they just choose an anime of their liking and making poor adaptations of it? God, it’s like taking a precious childhood memory and breaking it right in front of your face.

I’m not an Asian rights activist, nor am I a famed movie critic. All I am is a movie-goer who makes sure that the movies I watch are worth every goddamned peso I spend on them. I just don’t see any promise to these new movies, considering all the ill reviews and controversies surrounding its casting.

What do you think about all these shenanigans?

Love is…

Image courtesy of Overflowing from Tumblr

Don’t you agree with what the image says? I know I do. And yeah, you’d have to pardon the cheesy posts. It’s a week before love month and I guess I’ve been bitten by the bug earlier than other people. And after watching Juno last night, I’m just kind of in a mushy mood. A certain quote in the said movie made me realize that I’ve already found the one person I want to stick with.

My “Something Cute” for the day…

So I’ve developed the habit of looking for something cute online. My somethign cute for the day comes from lunchbagart from Tumblr. Here are two of his works which I found really, really cute. I am sooo inlove with Calvin and Hobbes.

Aren’t they just adorable?

Letting Off Steam

It’s one of those days where I’m just so angry at any and every little thing.

Especially one person. God. Can I hit him, please?

Have you ever felt annoyed by the mere presence of a person you hardly know? An annoyance so intense you’d like to punch their teeth in but can’t because they did you no harm?

That’s what I feel right now.

The mere sound of his voice irks me. Like a chihuahua barking. All bark but there’s no serious threat in that bark. He’s often the butt of jokes here at the office. But when he tries to spit out a retort, he ends up sounding sooo effin’ lame that I grit my teeth to stop myself from saying it out loud.

Not that the entire office doesn’t know it yet, but he’s lame. I pity him, or at least pitied him before. but not enough to not be annoyed.

Gah! I’ve wasted enough time on venting. I think this should do for now. I just needed to let this off before my agression takes over and I turn thoughts into actions. Hahah.