So…Was I expecting more? I guess I was. After all, two awesome fucking games worth of story built the legend of Max Payne…how hard should it be to take just some of that and slap it on the big screen? Apparently too hard. While there were a few small alterations that I thought were forgivable, this movie was a giant turd sandwich. The worst part to me was it didn’t even bother to accurately follow the story from the first Payne, which could have EASILY been a great movie given the right director/writer combo to put it up. Instead, as usual, some shitstain has to “make the story his own” by changing things around. Either that or they didn’t think that the American movie audience would be able to follow the original plots.
Something else that made me upset, you had the fucking cast to do it! Max, Mona, BB, Lupino, Bravura…the bitch head of Aesir! The movie looked right too! The only thing missing was story story story. Fuck it…it’s not worth anymore of my time.
By running Apple Software Update you should see iTunes version 7.7 now available for download. Even though the App Store doesn’t seem to have a direct link on the iTunes storefront. A simple search for Super Monkey Ball will let you get to the App Store tab.
With this single move you can download and purchase a shit tonne of goddamn applications. Free apps include (finally) AIM, Facebook App, MySpace Mobile App, eBay App, IGN Game reviews, NetNewsWire, Evernote, and all sorts of little games and productivity applications.
Pay software includes, Bejeweled, Super Monkey Ball, OmniFocus, Band, and christ there’s too much to name. Seriously, tomorrow is going to kick all forms of ass when the 2.0 software is avaiable.
Or you could just download the 2.0 iPhone update yourself, right now.
Of couse, I can’t guarantee that that update will work properly, and it is known that updating your iPhone or iPod touch with 2.0 software will wipe the phone and attempt to restore from a backup created just before the wipe. The backup checks what is available and authorized in your iTunes library for the restore so make sure (if you do this) to update using your main iTunes library.
This program is an example of why the App store and iPhone combo is going to be awesome.
KORG will finally come through on a product that I’ve searched for but have never been able to find from any vendor. Congratz Korg, bully!
There’s no information on pricing or when these things will be in my possession. (at least the keyboard, and maybe the drumpads, whoo hoo). Click image for original article.
Update!!
They should be out around christmas time at about 100 bones each!
WARNING - Though it sounds at the beginning of the video that the amplitude of the recording will surely blow your fucking ears in, it’s, in reality, just a poor compression on the video. It will play at a reasonable level when it does get started. NO NOT FEAR!
I am totally fucking excited to see this come out. First the DS-10 virtual synth from Korg, then this home brew sample scratcher. Awesome! Definitely check out that video.
The interface reminds me of a mini-version of the JazzMutant Lemur or Dexter. So as long as you can overcome the smaller screen realestate, you can have a similar touch-based music interface box, though it’s not multi-touch, and probably not very customizable. So scratch that (pun intended), I guess the only real comparison between this and the JazzMutant offerings is they both deal with music controls and both sport similar-looking interfaces. Still very exciting.
After doing a bit more research on this project, it seems that there’s more here than meets the eye! Along with the scratching and loop triggering, there’s MIDI output via the Nintendo DS’s wifi radio, as well as the ability to utilize the DS’s built-in microphone to live-record audio clips for use in the software! Shit, if I had this little thing on the train, I’d probably miss my stops, for fuck’s sake!
The ProjectMix I/O is M-Audio’s answer to the more expensive Digidesign (despite being part of the same company, AVID), Tascam, and Mackie control surfaces. It gives you a flexible audio interface and motorized fader-based control-surface. I’ve debated making the leap in purchasing this thing on several occasions. I don’t have any need for it now, but seeing how M-Audio likes to drop driver support for certain products, I’m glad I didn’t pick it up.
It’s safe to assume that the ProjectMix I/O is one of (if not) the flagship devices M-Audio makes currently. OS X Leopard (10.5 to be exact) was released October of 2007 and M-Audio still has not provided support for the operating system. It seems odd to me that a company that has such a partnership with a software manufacturer could be “caught with it’s pants down” when it’s new, much publicized, operating system is released. No doubt M-Audio was given advance access to the pre-release copies of Leopard as to allow them to release updates to their product lines. Why a company as prolific as M-audio is in the Mac Pro-Audio field would not be able to write a driver update for their flagship hardware devices after over a year is beyond my sphere of understanding.
I’ve already come to grips that I won’t be able to use my much-beloved Omnistudio Pro USB anymore, since they’ve stated they have “no plans” to support it into OS X Leopard. Fine. It’s an older device; gone discontinued since 2005, I believe. Sucks, but I can take it. How the hell is anyone to have any confidence with this company when you can’t be guaranteed to have drivers prepared for your $1500 recording device a YEAR after an operating system is released. For fuck’s sake, point-releases are coming through (already 10.5.2 and 10.5.3 on the way) and nothing. I don’t envy ProjectMix owners.
Currently, I’ve been experiencing problems with my FastTrack Pro USB interface that I purchased to replace the OmniStudio (I believe in second chances). The audio will drop out after functioning normally for an arbitrary amount of time. I don’t know if it’s a problem with the device or with the driver software that M-Audio dutifully provided, several months after OS X Leopard was released. I like to know if there’s a company out their more trust worthy than M-audio to fill the void on reliable audio interfaces. I hear bad stuff about everyone else’s products like Tascam, Lexicon, Focusrite, etc, (minus Pro Tools rigs, but I hear issues regarding the software required to run them, plus I want be able to use software other than ProTools), maybe this is all their is? All I can do is tune in and wait.
I thought that I would contribute to the historical record and shoot some fat, dead fish in a barrel with a new project. I always find it amusing to reminisce over the fuck-ups of the past, especially technology fuck ups.
I was browsing some of the now defunct video game systems on Wikipedia when I ran across a flop from the mid-nineties that I used to talk about and lust after when I was a kid. The 3DO looked promising on paper, until you read the price.
Looking at things now, jesus, what a piece of over-promised shit! And if that wasn’t enough, 3DO attempted to release another system, with even more hype than the first. This is a tech demo from a trade show, featuring the possible “next-gen” 3DO that never was released. It features a “Shooter” theme but it doesn’t represent a game, nor a realtime performance of the actual 3DO “M2″ hardware, but a fat, nutty wad of pre-rendered dogshit.
This is an other “tech demo” from the same show.
Who knows if it was running realtime or not. I guess they did need to back up their visuals with actual horsepower to sell their software back in the day like they do now. (snark)
All I remember being released for the original 3DO was demolition man, and though it looked sort of good (visually) compared to what was offered from Nintendo and Sega at the time, why the fuck would anyone pay for it? For $700 bucks at launch time they really could have served themselves better by putting a bullet in their heads. Instead, they suffer through a prolonged massacre at the hands of their competition, then decide to regroup for another ass fucking with the “M2″. By comparison, for expensive as the Neo Geo was, at least it had great games. It seems so clear now how fucked these guys were out of the gate. It’s a pity they got so far.
There are those moments in your life (increasingly so, now that the Internet is so ubiquitous) were you may experience something for the first time, only to find out later that the opportunities to do so are drastically limited, or worse yet, in your ignorance, you discover that you will never experience it again. This is case with myself and kung fu cinema.
I really didn’t start watching and buying movies until the end of the 90’s, about the time when the modern-classic age of hong kong cinema was coming to and end. China now had possession of Hong Kong and many famous directors had fled for fear that their craft would be handicapped in some way by the political shift that was taking place. The great films of the 80’s and 90’s had already made their mark on the collective soul of chinese action cinema, and I was seeing it all for the first time.
The Prodigal Son
Out of the movies I’ve seen, “The Prodigal Son” film stood out. It stood out from the thousands of films because of it’s technical merit and because the respect for the chosen technique, featured in the story; Wing Chun.
No…not the band Wang Chun, or whatever…Wing Chun is a close-range Chinese fighting style. It is the style that Bruce Lee had been proficient in prior to creating his own forms. The secret behind the style is that the practitioner can defend and attack at the same time, without wasting energy with wild movement. Whether or not it could stand up to a Brazilian Ju-Jitsu onslaught (see “no”) is not my concern. It is a poetic style and lends itself well to being the featured art of a kung fu film.
Here is a scene from The Prodigal Son, which is, in my opinion, the finest technical fight scene I’ve ever seen in a film:
The fight scene is masterful in adhering to the rules of Wing Chun and not only is it fast, but it’s technically flawless. Very cool. That’s one that benefits from a slow-motion viewing or two.
Along with the riveting action sequences and technical accuracy there’s a great story and some comedy too. As with most Hong Kong action cinema you get a little of everything. One second someone’s wife could be getting raped, and the next there’ll be a fart joke. Couple this with the fact that the bad guy always gets killed/defeated and you now have the principle reasons why I love kung fu movies.
With the tone of recent martial arts action movies out of China turning, primarily, to tragic themes (Curse of the Golden Flower, Hero, Fearless, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, to name a few), I miss the old care-free days of “Cantonese comedy”-infused films.
Just for fun, here’s the final fight scene (complete with shitty dubbing and ass-hair-burning musical score)(watch for the headbutt, awesome!):
Fucking Sweet
The actor in the first fight scene on the bridges, who is practicing Wing Chun, is Lam Ching Ying. Who died in 1997 from liver cancer. So he was long dead by the time I even saw this movie. Sucks that he’s not around to school the next generation of action stars.
Here’s a great page detailing the life and death of a great kung fu action star.
I know I’m opening myself up for attack on this one… but since you all post stuff about games, movies, and whatever else it is that makes you get hard-ons, I’m posting my deepest, darkest fetish… New Kids on the Block are getting back together… and they’re having some sort of performance/news conference tomorrow morning on the Today show.
YUM-O! I feel like a twelve year old girl again… minus the acne and bad hair.
If I turn up missing — it’s likely because I skipped town with the fine honey on the left. (Sorry JT ;) )
;) )