Bleak

That's pretty much how I describe Dawn of the Dead, the recent remake of the George Romero original horror film which I just watched on DVD. The blood and gore are pretty nasty even for desensitized me, and the depressing ending revealed in the end credits made it all so meaningless. The interaction of the humans was kinda cool to watch though- sorta like Survivor crossed with Resident Evil. Well, that's one film I won't really be aching to watch anytime soon. If ever.

Heeeeey... Detective School Q's on! Just the thing to watch after a gory thriller... Nice, cheery anime. Ah.

Pocket Moviemaking

I just rediscovered the fun of making short films... using my cellphone. I guess I was a bit inspired by Untamed Cinema's Grayson short feature. My Nokia 7610 has of course a camcorder function, which allows me to take vids of up to 10 minutes in length. Along with the phone comes actual editing software with which you can edit your footage, make cuts, splice together various videos, add music, simple visual effects or transitions from clip to clip (fade ins and outs). It's actually pretty cool and I haven't really played with it ever since I got my phone. Well, I started doodling and playing with it today and it's pretty fun. It only takes the phone, some knowledge of editing and fooling the camera and some silly ideas to make up a phone video short feature.
Of course, I probably won't be able to make my own Lord of the Rings film, but who knows? Maybe I might even post them to kick off my new career as a cameraphone filmmaker. We'll see. Heheh...

Sudeki


The new action-RPG for the Xbox.

The world of Sudeki is a place sundered into two parts- one of light, and one of darkness, thanks to the depredations of an evil god (You just have to hate those evil gods). The world was saved by the coming of Four Heroes, each blessed with the powers of the light god, Tetsu. Now, generations later, the descendants of those four original warriors must find each other and take up arms once again.

The game puts you in the roles of these four heroes-Tal is a swordsman and warrior in the Illumina Empire's army. He's the son of a general but has to fight in the frontlines along with the other grunts. Unfortunately for him, his father blames him for the death of his brother, so that's a healthy bit of angst right there. Ailish is the princess of Illumina and one of the best magicians in the land- she's also a bit of a spoiled little rich girl... sorta like a cross between Zatanna, Lara Croft and Paris Hilton. Elco is the Imperial scientist and genius, and apparently of Latin descent according to his accent. He is a workaholic and dedicated to completing a new gadget that will protect Illumina and its allies from enemy attack. Finally, Buki is your sexy half-beast babe who starts off distrustful of the human races of Ilumina. Buki's priorities set her against Illumina at the beginning, but it's obvious she'll soon warm up to her comrades as the evil plot moves forward to endanger her homeland.

Sudeki's gameplay is a mix of RPG elements (levelling up, talking to townspeople, upgrading equipment) and realtime action. As Tal or Buki you fight in close, mixing it up with enemies using deadly combos and superattacks. As Elco or Ailish, the perspective switches from the usual 3rd person view to a first-person perspective very much like a shooter. Bolstering attacks are special Skill Attacks which are both graphically flashy and incredibly damaging. Sometimes you'll play as one character, but often and into the game you'll have heroes in groups of two to four. You'll only directly control one, while the rest are handled by the CPU AI (whose behavior and patterns you can tweak). Basically though, you'll probably find yourself babysitting your CPU allies since they tend to get overwhelmed by enemies.

So far, Sudeki seems to be a straight-up game... it's pretty linear; almost painfully so. There's always a map with an arrow to guide you to your next destination, and the game pretty much points the way to times when you need to use a special talent, such as Ailish's ability to dispel illusions, Elco's jet pack or Buki's climbing skills. Sorta like RPG for Dummies. Hmm.

Anyway, the game looks pretty good, with hi-res graphics, anime-ish characters and lush places to explore. It's still not as lively or as deep as better RPGs though. The voice acting is a bit on the down side, with Tal sounding like he's reading from a script, and Elco making bad Antonio Banderas impressions throughout. I'd mark it at just adequate.

With good RPGs in short supply on the Xbox, I'd say that Sudeki isn't really half bad. It looks and plays well, but nowhere near the caliber of more serious RPGs. But then again, it has a scantily-clad cat girl so I like it. Hoho...

Vampiric Ghandi

Ben Kingsley has reportedly signed up for a role in the videogame-to-movie translation of Bloodrayne. The Oscar Award-winning actor, known best for roles such as Mahatma Ghandi, will play the role of Bloodrayne's father- a vampire lord out to conquer the world. This may either turn out to be very cool, or sucky (as in the case of Jeremy Irons playing the hammy baddie in Dungeons and Dragons). Talk about changing the meaning of Hunger Strikes. Heh.
The upcoming Bloodrayne movie is based on the videogame of the same name, which features a sexy half-vampire heroine who fights Nazis and supernatural forces. Terminatrix Kristanna Loken has already been reported to play the title role. Also rumored to be in the running for a role in the film is actress Michelle Rodriguez.

HOLY Amazing movie trailer, Batman!


Too good to be true.

Remember Batman: Dead End? It was that Batman short film made by a budding filmmaker that wowed online audiences for its excellent visuals, action and painful dialogue. It was so good, comic fanboys all over wished that the upcoming Batman films had half as much attitude and feel as that short feature.

Well, this year's answer to Dead End is a movie trailer entitled Grayson, which is of course based on the character of Robin. The trailer's story is set twenty years in the future, after the Death of Batman! Dick Grayson's been living peacefully all this time with his wife and daughter, but something happens to bring the sidekick out of retirement and back into the shadows to avenge his fallen hero.
This trailer/short film is pretty mind-blowing. It starts off with an intriguing premise then slowly snowballs into scene after scene of dramatic vignettes, impressive fight scenes, intriguing dialogue and some quite jaw-dropping cameos from some other DC characters. It's all quite far-fetched and a bit on the melodramatic (and yes, quite a bit of energetic overacting is present), but after watching it if I had a hundred million dollars lying around, I'd give it to these filmmakers (a group calling themselves Untamed Cinema) so they could make the whole movie, and not just a trailer.

Really cool, superhero fanboy eye candy through and through. It's amazing what a bit of money, a lot of imagination, some leather outfits and a good eye for camerawork can do. Who knows? Maybe an Angel Ace movie trailer isn't so impossible... Heh.
To see this amazing bit of superhero pipe dreaming given 5 and a half minutes of life, click here.

BTW, if you can, try watching the accompanying Grayson Behind-the-scenes feature as well- hilariously amazing.

Happy Birthday Parents!



Today, my Mom and Dad turn one year older... together! Yep, as incredible as it may sound, my parents share the same birthday. How's that for a partnership? Mom's 68, Dad's 72. They've been together for at least 40 years. And if there's any good in this world, they'll stay together for a lot more years to come.

Happy Birthday, Mommy, Daddy. Love ya.

Cross-dressing Hero


The adventures of the first male ninjagirl are coming later this year.

Over the weekend I stayed at home working on pages. In particular, I inked the first four pages of Kunoichi Boy, my story destined for the pages of Questor Extreme Mangamania. Despite a long delay in the release of the next issues of both Questor and QEM, I have been assured that KB will indeed be on the lineup of manga stories in future releases.

I was pretty depressed when the mags seemed to stop and disappear, but now that it seems that things are going to start over again, I'm getting back into the groove. KB is one of my most unusual creations, and I am really excited to show off this title to readers. It's going to be an action-adventure with strong fantasy elements and of course liberal amounts of humor and romance... my models for the story will be my favorite anime and manga- Inu Yasha, Ranma 1/2, Ninja Scroll and Rurouni Kenshin... I'm not saying that KB will be as flashy as these titles, but at the very least I want the fun of these shows to be felt in Kunoichi Boy's adventures.

So far, I am not really sure how long my run in QEM will be. I'll be winging it, but hopefully readers will latch on the adventures of my ninja cross-dresser and we'll see the title go all the way to the end. Wow. That will be a first. Hehehe...

Street Fighter Perfect Collection

I got myself a copy of the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection today. The disc contains two games- Hyper Streetfighter II and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. The former brings together the various versions of Streetfighter II and allows you to pit different versions of the classic World Warriors against each other (from SF Champion Edition to the New Challengers). 3rd Strike is a port of the final installment of the underrated Streetfighter 3 series, boasting a large selection of fighters, amazingly fluid animation and rock-solid Street Fighter gameplay.

It's a great start to the DELUGE of fighting games coming in the next few months- King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, Guilty Gear Isuka, Mortal Kombat Deception and of course, Dead or Alive Ultimate and Tekken 5. Till the next wave of beat 'em ups arrives, I'll be brawling with Ibuki and the gang.

Look ma, no wires!

After a couple of weeks of waiting, I finally got my laptop upgraded with an airport card. Now, I have access to wireless internet! WOOHOO! This means I can go around pretty much anywhere in our office and stay online. Also, I should be able to surf at various WiFi spots in malls like Greenbelt, Glorietta and elsewhere. Pretty cool.