... wha? Ok, Ok, I'm up

My video of Dali the Pug from Rio has been removed from YouTube for a copyright violation. It was the music. That's a first for me. Doubt it'll be the last.

I skipped the whole of 2008. Anything interesting happen?

Hello Kitteh

Whatever you say, mistress

Hoonds

Hey look! Funny dogs!

These fellas were on The King's Road in London. Fantastic jowls and lower teeth.


This big ole boy was on 43rd Street in Manhattan in July. Still a puppy apparently, but probably big enough to eat about 80% of the dogs on the island.


And finally this weirdo can probably be found most weekdays on the South Bank near the London Eye. A bit disturbing but the kids love it.

Who got game?

I actually read all the way to the end of this PopMatters piece on "The New Romantic Era of Video Games", and was rewarded with this high-larious video of a 22-month-old kiddie playing Wii Tennis. The article itself ain't too bad, although the writer avoids Romanticism's, well, romanticism, regarding who got to be a lonely tortured artist (ie pale geezers with impressive vocabularies and enough time on their hands) and everyone else who just had to get on with their shit. Games have a more democratic potential, I think. Someone just told me that a key emerging gamer demographic is, basically, grannies (check dis out). I played a racing game with a gang of 9-year-olds in favella Rocinha in Rio. And I think the Wii is more significant for creating/re-mediating a (newly commercial) space in which to play games - not immersively behind a screen, but actual real space in your real living room. Hence the very wee Wii player below. Still the essay has a cool title and some interesting ideas and he likeses his Wii so he's alright by me.

Balls!!

"Brit Makes Early Exit at Wiimbledon"

I mean, it's a very familiar headline - just one letter off.

Here's what happened. My first round draw was for 11am. Stoli and I were among the very first people there, and after much last minute kerfuffling and lots of other games starting I was told that I had a first round bye. Which was nice, except it meant I didn't get to play (/minor lower lip extrusion). Finally I'm called up and play one 3-game set against a stocky 30-ish geezer in a soccer shirt. I know, right? Weird. Anyway I win the toss and elect to receive, coz I gotz a wickeed cross-court return that is itself almost unreturnable.

I take the first three points, 0-40. I think he got one to make it 15-40 but my return was working and I won the game.
Next up I serve. Couldn't get the speed-serve to come up, not matter what I did. Goes to deuce, I get an Ad and a match point... but lost it, arse. Then he wins the game.
So game 3, my return is slightly rattled. The crowd is, well, crowding. We exchange points, goes to deuce. He gets 3 match points in a row, and I make it through each of them. But alas, not the fourth.



We stuck around for a while, but I have to admit to a mild gutting. Who wouldn't be? Still, a very silly day out indeed, and perhaps even a piece of gaming history. Have a look at the press coverage it got. Tips of headbands to Steve and Lane.

Wiimbledon is on! You can-NAHT be serious!

Big day tomorrow. This week I was fortunate enough to blag a spot in the first ever Wii tennis tournament, Wiimbledon. I think its about 100 people, tho something like over 500 wanted in. I have my Bjorn Borg wig and headband ready to racque'.

I'll put pics up on flickr over the weekend. I just hope I don't draw some 10-year-old wunderkind in the first round. Lolpic from Destructoid.

Paprikaaaaa!

It's rare that "I had the most bizarre dream last night..." leads to an interesting conversation, though perhaps less rare than the arrival of a genuinely interesting film about dreams. So while I know that the premise of Paprika, a new anime at the movies here, may not grab you right away -- dream machines blah blah -- I'm still going to tell you to go see it. Stoli and I did on Saturday afternoon and spent the rest of the day pleasantly weirded out. Plus I came across this photo somewhere and felt like posting it. Basically, it's gorgeous.



Here's the trailer.

GH updates by special request

...from Solanasaurus. She likes a bit of the old Guitar Hero herself and wanted to see this clip after I told her about it: an 8-year-old prodigy who can rock 95% of 'Psychobilly Freakout" on expert, sometimes with his back turned to the screen -- if you're wondering, I can get about 78%. Also included below in GH-related phenoms are vids of a double-necked axe being played on both sides of a split-screen at the same time by a giant slice of pizza, and a couple of custom song hacks for the game (which require a modded-PS2 and some 12 different free software tools, and Windows. I wish) -- "The Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother (choon!!) and "Duelling Banjos" from the movie Deliverance (inbred!!).

Fredo's Revenge

So this one was worth it to arouse me from slumber. The Alberto G./DOJ shite going on over here has been incroyable. And so much more to come...



In other news...
A rather time-consuming mission came to a close today, with only the de-briefing to go next week before I'm promoted to ABD status (All But Death/Dissertation). Woo. Hoo.

The Dancin' Decider

'The' blogs are all "my eyes have been scorched" at the latest video of B*sh gettin' down, posted here. But for some reason it kinda makes me despise him an iota less. La*ra is absolutely as lame as you'd expect though. The best evidence for this came in Brazil, where people with no legs are still expected to dance at the drop of a beat. Check her out next to Condi at about 0:43 in this one:

Regretty Mistakovich

For all the new parents out there.


I saw this cartoon in The Onion first and I have to say that this Wondermark strip is a reliable crack-up, even if it is somewhat derivative of the finest American comic strip of the last decade, Get Your War On. This one is from the most recent batch.

Anti-War, Pro-Kitten

A group I can relate to, and a nice meme-distribution model too:



Found at Adorablog.

Happy Zombie Jesus everyone!

A few days late but what the hell. Next year I want one of these made of chocolate.

Exciting new graphic novel

I've begun work on a new project that's something of a departure from the usual espionage, hiphop, politics and the like. Inspired by a new relative, I've cooked up a character-driven superhero epic that I'd now like to introduce to the world - HypnoBaby!



The next 300? Who knows...?