“That hair flick must have taken a lot of practice…”

WALK INTO CAMERALEGEND

I’m firmly convinced Chiwa Saito is Shinbo’s pet project, because hard as it is to top her role in Bakemonogatari, they’re trying their darn hardest here in Madoka as well. Episode 10 of Madoka will probably go into the annals of anime as one of the most ambitious efforts at infodumping ever in its history. For all of Madoka’s excess in visuals it’s really the beautiful stark simplicity of its storytelling that really captures the imagination. Now all that’s left to cement its place among the greats is the final act.

P.S:Nice fight there. Who said the series only did surreal? Not that it isn’t weird in its way…..

Macross Frontier YF-29 Durandal

The DX Chogokin toys from the second Macross Frontier movie were announced some time ago but I totally missed it. Proper photos have just been released though.

YF-29 Durandal Battroid
YF-29 Durandal Fighter
YF-29 Durandal Gerwalk

I got to say the machine is a little underwhelming. While it certainly isn’t ugly, it just looks like the VF-25 and the YF-19 from Macross Plus mashed together, only flashier than both in a bad way. A little too busy, perhaps. I quote:

In the production of Macross Frontier, the VF-171 was chosen as the main fighter of the New U.N. Spacy because it was felt that the previous main fighter, the VF-19 Excalibur, looked too much like a “hero” fighter…

This one looks more of a “hero” fighter to me.

The roots of the design is especially obvious in gerwalk mode. Compare:

YF-19 Gerwalk
VF-25F gerwalk

Of course, it could be I’m just bitter at how poorly the Macross Frontier series ended.

Also:

  • 1/100 YF-29 Ranka Lee Version
  • 1/100 YF-29 Sheryl Nome Version

Yuck.

Picture sources: Gundam Model Kits and Figures, Mech9.com, Macross Mecha Manual

When did Korean girls transform from fuddy-duddy to smoking hot?

I don’t have the answer.

But I distinctly remembered that the Koreans girls were once seen as the poor cousins of Japanese girls.  Japanese girls were the cute/sexy/hot ones while the Koreans girls were… well, motherly.  In a Kim Jong Il manner.

Is it the Korean dramas that sport ridiculously looking gay dudes who sent girls swooning over some stupid sit-up scene? A nefarious soft power projection by the South Korea gov? The vast improvement in skillsets of the Korean plastic surgeons? All of the above?

Anyway, who cares? A couple of years down the road, I’ll be too old to be looking at teenage girls prancing on the stage without feeling like a dirty old bastard. Might as well enjoy the ride it last.

Random Korean girl group

elemantary my dear watson

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I’m not Sherlock’s sidekick nor that shop you buy tissue paper from!

I was just ‘glancing’ through the list of torrents for the day when I came across eztv offering “Jeopardy: IBM Challenge” for download, coincidentally the game was brought up again during the end segment of video podcast ‘The Totally Rad Show”.  Naturally, this aroused my interest, so I checked out what exactly is going on… turns out, IBM had invented their latest AI, nicknamed Watson.

Being a non-tech head, I can only explain Watson is really er…smart.  Watching it compete against two of Jeopardy’s best players ever totally blows your mind.  I’ll give you a spoiler, Watson won.

No, it didn’t just win.  It blew away the competition.

You really gotta take your hats off to the folks at IBM for being able to create this…but on the other hand, you kinda wonder when it’s gonna come ‘online ‘ and set the nukes on us. ha!

The wiki entry says that Watson will be used for advancing medical science… but why just limit it to that?

Here’s a few TSC suggestions of our own :

  1. Let Batman finally have his Batcomputer!
  2. let it crack the DaVinci Code
  3. teach George Lucas how to direct movies
  4. show us the tactics to defeat FC Barcelona
  5. what women REALLY want from men
  6. run for our next General Election
  7. fansub all anime
  8. tell us if the world really ending in 2012?
  9. predict the Toto
  10. explain what does “42” really mean?

 

R.I.P. John Barry

In the midst of all the insanity of football transfer news over last night, I actually didn’t realise the passing of the great composer, Mr John Barry.

You won’t find me blogging much about music news as I know nuts about this subject, but Mr Barry is kinda different.  Probably best known for his works in the James Bond films, John Barry probably created what is best described as the “Bond Sound”.

Mixing a blend of horns, jazz, strings, brass (I’m not entirely sure what I’m listing here is even correct, so don’t get pissed if I got them wrong), his influence in the soundtrack of future Bond films which he does not even contribute can be felt.  (Don’t believe me? Check out the Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace songs.)

I guess I would probably want to list down one of my favourite soundtracks of all time. One that I actually bought (in cassette tape, no less) because I had a thing for a-ha when I was a boy, but ended up loving for the rest of the instrumental tracks when I grew up.

The album, as you would have guessed correctly by now, is “The Living Daylights” (1987).  The soundtrack would turn out to be Barry’s last contribution to the Bond franchise.  Fusing a bit of disco, a bit of classical music and  lots of that ‘Bond Sound’, this soundtrack when listened today brings a very retro-futuristic vibe to it.

I have included my favourite track of the movie’s soundtrack below, which I just found on youtube, which is I guess my way of honouring the passing of the great composer.

John Barry – The Ice Chase (from The Living Daylights OST)

JAMES BOND - ICE CHASE ( The Living Daylights )

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