I just came over some amazing oil paintings by the American painter Michael Hussar.
Someone buy me these for christmas, pretty please..?
(I really want the Hans Hemling portrait, Daddy’s Girl and Cherry Pie!)
For more awesomeness, click here.
> So, you like..?
Hello guys! Long time no see.
As some of you may know (or not), Silent Hill is getting a sequel.
Well, that’s not all.
It’s gonna be in… *drum roll* 3D! Gasp!
(You may have known that too… Sorry, I’m just showing my excitement here.)
The very fitting name for the new movie; «Silent Hill: Revelation 3D«.
Here’s a quick description of the plot from imdb:
«Heather Mason and her father have been on the run, always one step ahead of dangerous forces that she doesn’t fully understand, Now on the eve of her 18th birthday, plagued by horrific nightmares and the disappearance of her father, Heather discovers she’s not who she thinks she is. The revelation leads her deeper into a demonic world that threatens to trap her forever.»
It’s due to be released sometime in 2011.
Hoping for a ton of new, epic monsters and of course some quality screen time with our beloved Pyramid Head…
Posters by Shoolery Design
Just wanted to spread some good news with this little post.
Look at it as my way of wishing you a good weekend.
> Are YOU excited about the Silent Hill franchise?
When I was in Birmingham a year ago, I met this artist, my teachers friend.
His name is Chris Graham, and he’s insane.
We roamed the streets of Birmingham and ended up in some indian restaurant fingerpainting with really spicy sauces.
Good times, good times.
Anyways, here’s some of his glorious art:
For more craziness, check out his myspace.
Chris, come to Norway!
I recently remembered this animator that caught my eye some years ago, and figured I’d tell you a little bit about him (although there’s not much to find out there on the world wide web… Mysterious guy.)
Anyways, Kazuto Nakazawa is a 43 year old Japanese character-designer and director of numerous anime series and video games.
His directorial work includes “Parasite Dolls”, the anime sequence in “Kill Bill volume 1”, and various shorts like “Hairy Tale” (watch it all, you’ll be surprised for what it was used for) and “Comedy”.
In addition to his work with anime, he designed the characters of “Tales of Legendia” and was the animation director of “Devil Kings”.
Tales of Legendia
Throughout his career, he’s worked as an animator, providing key animations to anime such as “The Animatrix”’s «Kid’s Story» and «A Detective Story».
He also animated the music video for the Linkin Park song «Breaking the Habit» as well as the two first opening sequences for one of my favorite animes, “Blood +”.
WARNING: Some violence, fighting scenes and epic spurts of blood is followed below, heheh…
I first noticed his work from Kill Bill and Animatrix, and I was impressed by his unique, sketchy, shaky style. I think his animated sequence in Kill Bill must be my favorite part of the movie (and of his work) and no matter how many times I see it, I’m still amazed.
I absolutely LOVE it.
> What’s YOUR favorite anime?
> Did you like Nakazawa’s work?
Sources:
Wikipedia, Kazuto Nakazawa
Anime News Network, Kazuto Nakazawa
I just found these awesome series of toys by these cool guys.
This is the new, second series called «Heroes and Villains», and it includes «junk-food loving octopi, brain-oozing zombies, and ninja grandmothers«.
Come on, click for full size!
Be sure to check out the first series as well, «Originals».
«Mary had a lamb
His eyes black as coals
If we play very quiet, my lamb
Mary never has to know…»
– Evanescence «Lose Control»
It’s the early 1930s England, a few years before the Second World War broke out. A teenage girl named Jennifer is forced to work for the Red Crayon Aristocrat Club: an unruly, cruel society formed by the children of the Rose Garden Orphanage. Children are creepy. Very creepy indeed.
Rule of Rose is a survival horror game for PlayStation 2 published in 2006.
It uses psychological horror elements throughout its distorted storyline and timeline, and uses, as in Haunting Ground, a canine companion for the main character.
Guys, the enemies. They’re just… plain WEIRD. At some point, you are actually fighting an Imp Chicken. What’s not to love here?
The trailer released for E3 is simply stunning.
I know it’s a little bit long at 6 and a half minutes, but I promise you, it’s really good.
Rule of Rose raised controversy in Poland, where the Ministry of Education raised questions concerning its appropriateness for minors (the game was rated 16+) because of the themes of child violence and sexuality. In the US it was said to involve “erotic undertones involving a cast of female minors”.
Due to this controversy, it was not released in the UK, only in Japan, US and Europe.
I hope they will re-release it one day (preferably on Xbox 360, heh…) where they will have more time and a bigger budget to work on the combat-system that was left a little rough, and much criticized.
> What do YOU think about survival-horror games?
Sources:
Rule of Rose wiki
Wikipedia, Rule of Rose
Did you know that Abra, Kadabra and Alakazam was targeted by conservative Christian groups as representing anti-Christian aspects of the franchise?
Oh yeah. A pastor from Palm Beach, Florida refered to the symbols on their head as “a pentagram” and claimed the symbol on their chests were representing Nazi Germany’s SS-symbol. (And while we’re at it, I noticed something weird researching this case. Check out the Kiss logo.)
Also, an Israeli “psychic”-magician, Uri Gellar, who claimed to bend spoons with his mind, sued Nintendo saying Kadabra’s Japanese name was an “unauthorized appropriation of his identity”.
Geller sued for 100 million dollars, but lost.
Sucks for him, I guess.
The madness doesn’t stop here, people.
The Pokémon Jynx was claimed to be a negative racial stereotype of African-Americans.
Jynx design was then changed from being originally black, to purple. They also had to recolor Jynx as dark gray rather than black in the manga.
But racism is not all, several animal groups have tried to ban Pokémon, saying it resembles cockfights, and is promoting animal cruelty. *sigh*
In Saudi Arabia in 2001, they banned the Pokémon franchise, claiming it encouraged gambling and promoted Zionism. Some other outspoken, fundamentalist Muslims claimed that Pokémon was a Jewish conspiracy that was intended to brainwash Muslim children to make them renounce their faith. These same groups claimed that the word «Pokémon» is a phrase that means «I am Jewish«.
And of course, the “Evolution vs. Creationism” conflict was also commonly brought up.
> What’s your view on this? Do you agree with any of the statements?
Sources:
Bulbapedia
Wikipedia, Pokémon, Video game controversies
Controversy, oh, how you never cease to fascinate me.
For as long as I can remember, controversial “stuff” have always caught my attention.
It can be anything really, but as long as it says “Explicit content, not for the faint of heart” I’m pretty much sold.
So why do I like these kind of things?
I think it’s because I’m always looking for something new that can awake emotions within me. Recently I watched a Serbian film called… well, “A Serbian Film (Srpski film)”, and my oh my was I shocked.
It’s the first feature film directed by Srđan Spasojević (quite a bold move, If you ask me) and the film was released to great controversy in terms of its graphic and often sexually explicit violence. It is also said it had to suffered nearly 4 minutes of cuts to gain an 18 certificate. We are looking forward to the uncut version…
Tim Anderson of the horror review site «Bloody Disgusting» likened the movie to “having his soul raped” and dissuaded anyone reading his review from ever seeing it, writing: “If what I have written here is enough to turn your feelings of wonder into a burning desire to watch this monstrosity, then perhaps I haven’t been clear enough. You don’t want to see Serbian Film. You just think you do.”
Srđan Spasojević responded to the controversy with: “This is a diary of our own molestation by the Serbian government… It’s about the monolithic power of leaders who hypnotize you to do things you don’t want to do. You have to feel the violence to know what it’s about.”
It’s been a long time since a movie made me gasp in disbelief, but this one sure did the job.
(I actually had to watch some brain-dead MTV-show afterwards to clear up my mind before sleeping, and trust me, I’M NOT EASILY STARTLED.)
Now you’re probably thinking I despised this movie. Wrong, I loved it.
As soon as it comes out, I’m going to buy it (and make some poor souls watch it with me again, heheh…)
Oh, and the theme-song is awesome.
If it was up to me, I would show you tons of clips from my collection of sickness, but since I can’t tell who will read this blog, I won’t. I can imagine it wouldn’t be received well with my teachers, with this being a school-blog and all.
For all I know you may be a 13 year old boy looking for something illegal to watch. I don’t want your mom finding out and giving me a hard time, you know…
(I’ll still show you the trailer, though. Shh, don’t tell her.)
THE TRAILER BELOW CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT AND SHOULD NOT BE VIEWED IF YOU ARE EASELY OFFENDED BLABLABLA AND ALL THAT JAZZ.
There, you’ve been warned.
> What is the sickest movie YOU ever saw?
> What is your view on these kinds of film?
Sources:
A Serbian Film IMDB
Wikipedia, A Serbian Film
Today, I finally finished Bioshock. It’s been a long time since I first started playing it, and frankly, I adored it. To me, it’s an great example on how far the game-industry has developed from simple two-button games with almost no plot at all, to this epic story. Many will fume over my love for this game, but there’s just so many things that grasp my fascination, from the fantastic scenery, creative characters, and freaky children to the small, pessimistic fortune telling-machines that come up with fortunes like: “Look at the bright side: maybe it’ll be quick and painless.”
Medical Pavilion, the hub for all medical business, was responsible for treating all illnesses and health-related problems in Rapture.
Cohen shows the art of music
Many may think that there hasn’t been taken much thought in videogames, the way things look, sound like and how characters act, speak and even move. This is actually carefully developed by hundreds, maybe thousands of people, all specially educated in the new and growing artform that is videogames.
For instance, if you look at the buildings and interior design of Rapture, you will immediately see the heavy influence of Art Deco, a style that rose in the early 20th century and that is seen as elegant, classy and modern. Rapture is a post-World War II world said to have been made in the 1940 – 1950’s. Already here you can see that they have used the designstyle that is up to date with the world you are playing in, as well as a stunning soundtrack featuring Bobby Darin’s beautiful “Beyond the Sea” amongst other classics from the 30’s throughout the late 50’s. I strongly suggest you take a look at the Bioshock’s wiki page to gain more insight to how much work and story that was put into this game, it’s amazing, really.
Old poster in the Medical Pavilion
Houdini Splicer
The whole concept of creating a world out of your own imagination is really something I could see myself working with and making a living out of. However, I know it’s a though market out there, and I have great doubts that I will ever succeed out there with the masters of videogames. But we are all allowed to dream, aren’t we?
> What do YOU think of Bioshock and the art of videogames?
Sources:
Bioshock wiki
Wikipedia, ArtDeco
This is my blog.
Makabrakadavra 