Info on Nick Mullins

Hello everyone. As you know, I'm a very avid skater. I like to keep up with what's going on in the culture and the scene. A couple of months ago, Steve Berra told the story of Nick Mullins on his wildly popular skate website, The Berrics . Nick is a promising young skater who fell ill and had to have an operation for a Staph infection which was spreading to his heart and lungs. At this point, the doctor's had given him a 1% chance at survival, but pulled through the infection. After this operation, Nick began recovery and began to lose his eyesight. It is suspected that during his hospital time the infection made its way to his eyes. According to Berra in his latest video update on Nick's condition, he's had one operation of the four now needed. During all of this, Nick's hospital bills have been building up and becoming increasingly higher. In response, Steve Berra and the Berrics are having T-shirts printed to help support Nick in his struggles. 100% of the money will go toward's Nick's medical bills. The Shirts look great and it's for the best cause I've heard of in a long time, so why don't you all check it out? The shirts can be found at the Berrics website in their online store, The Canteen . If you're looking for more information on Nick, it could be found on http://www.youtube.com/user/cky2k04. There are videos which update his condition and even Feature Nick himself speaking about what's been going on.

P.S. I wrote a review for the Brutal Legend demo and my stupid mac crashed or something, now it's gone. I might write another,I might not. whatever.

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Demo Rundown August '09 : Wet

I could always go for the obvious "Wet" joke, but I've heard it a lot already. I'll pass.

Wet (Wetwork) : A euphemism alluding to hands literally wet with blood.


Wet is an interesting piece. The Demo has a very Tarantino/70's exploitation charm, about half a ton of old school film grain and crazy saturated colors to help set the tone. The graphics themselves aren't the greatest, but the game is sort of cartoon-y, so it works.




You play as Rubi, some badass chick with an unknown [likely generic] backstory
trying to retrieve a case from a man named Simmons, who just ripped someone off in a cliche crimeworld deal. The demo has you chase after Simmons to take the case for yourself.



It plays like a common hack & slash/action shooter. You run around, shoot/stab/acrofuck all the bad guys with style. After a tiny tutorial in which they teach you to to shoot while doing different actions, you're thrown into the game with a slew of enemies. One of the scenarios include enemies coming out of three doors in a huge courtyard. You are to kill the enemies and make your way to the gate mechanisms over each door to destroy them. What's the fun in that? Stab, slash, slide and shoot to your heart's content, then close the gates.



A scene came up which I didn't expect to see involves a cutscene shows a guy charging Rubi and her shooting him in the face with her face becomes drenched in his blood. With an insane look in her eye, a mad rush of red engulfs the screen and you're right back on the attack. Now you're tearing through enemies with sub machine guns and faster sword attacks. puddles and streaks of white represent their blood amongst the red backdrop and no less than a shit ton of enemies come run at you in this corridor.



The next section has you running about trying to reach Simmon's once more, which leads into a huge car chase scene. You will shoot enemies from their cars as a QTE sequence takes you from car roof to car roof as Rubi gets closer to her target.



the demo also continues the trend of East meets West themes in pop culture. The environments are really very Asian inspired while still having a Western feel throughout. The music stands out as well, blasting all kinds of Rock music over the action scenes.


Overall I thought the demo was pretty fun. It's a very Kill Bill meets Stranglehold meets Shoot 'em up experience. The shooting could use some work, the crosshairs were a bit small for the screen and I kind of have a problem with games where crosshairs are just a marker for a general direction of where your bullets are flying. That aside, the game is about style. The demo doesnt demonstrate any groundbreaking aspects in any sense, it merely takes a tried and true genre and gives it a fresh, new and pretty coat of paint

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Demo Rundown August '09

Mini Ninjas


Mini Ninjas is a flowery, fun for everyone type game which follows the story of young Ninja Hiro as he tries to save his ninja clan friends from some generic evil. I didn't really pay attention to all that.

the aesthetic of the game is such that they make the dirty, violent job of being a ninja cute by over inflating everyone's heads and making them about 2 feet tall. The colors are vibrant and lush. Also, instead of copious amounts of blood which spills from dying enemies, they instead morph into cute little animals.


the game features simple hack'n'slash combat mixed with pick up items and magic ninja spells . There's one power in which hiro can possess animals, which stands out because I thought it was cool. everything else is your standard ninja equipment : Shurikens, smoke bombs, etc. it also seems that as hiro saves his friends, the player gains the ability to play as them on the fly and use their abilities. the two included in the demo are Futo, a Hulking Hammer wielding brute and Suzume, generic Kunoichi.


Overall I couldn't really get into it. It's cute, it has ninjas, but I just didn't very much enjoy it. I didn't see any incredible amount of depth within the porduct




Batman Arkham Asylum



When i first heard about Arkham Asylum, I thought "oh, another batman game. that can be cool". Little did I know that it would be the best Batman game I've played to date. the game has a great, dark aesthetic which fits the world of Gotham City extremely well.


The demo starts with Batman Hauling the joker into Arhkam and the chaos starts from there. The demo throws you immediately into hand to hand combat with generic inmates 1,2 and 3 to get you acquainted with the beating the utter shit out of people. the feel of combat is great. When you hit someone, the impact is massive, great attention to detail.

Afterwards you are introduced to other aspects of the game such as detective mode and stealth gameplay. Detective Mode (reminiscent of detective tools in Condemned) allow batman to assess the environment and the things you can do in said environment. Stealth is the essence of Batman's power and integrates well with the combat. All of these aspects blend well and improve the experience as you work your way through various enemies and situations.


The demo is painfully short, about 25 minutes average. It keeps you begging for more. One thing I find cool is that 2 voice actors from Batman the Animated Series Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill return to their roles as Batman and The Joker respectively. Overall it looks like a fantastic experience and i can't wait to get ahold of it.







Lost Planet 2



Truth be told, I didn't like the first Lost Planet. It was rigid, stiff and incredibly difficult with little to no reward. The co-op demo for the sequel isn't much different. The scenario is that you can team up with 3 friends and wreak havoc on a giant monster (from the inside and out). the map contains a slew of weapons, VS robots and those spawn nodes from the first. Basic gameplay remains the same and they give you everything you need to try and take the monster down.


It didn't change my perspective on the series personally, but i did find a lot more fun in playing with a friend, which can be a selling point for any group of gamers.

Personally, I'll pass.



I would talk about section 8 as well, but I absolutely disliked that game. It was like an incoherent, lame version of Tribes, Halo, F.E.A.R. 2, MoH Airborne and Call of Duty. In a phrase, it's blown.

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Just Some Art

Heyo. I plan on writing entries about 2-3 more Japanese Movies, but that will come later. For now, I just wanted to post some art I've done over the years

All of it was drawn by hand, then scanned and put into photoshop for coloring.


Also, I'm trying out a new "Listening to" format. what do ya think?



Jack Skellington



Invader Zim's Gir






This is a year's old picture of Goku. I drew this like, 7 years ago, give or take, and decided to work with recently



This is Bumblebee from the latest TF show, Transformers Animated

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Have You Seen? ...

Currently Listening To:
The Clash Overpowered by Funk
Album : Combat Rock


2LDK?



I've been watching movies almost every week with my gaming community. We call it #Frag Dolls Movie Night! About a year or two ago, I was on a huge Violent Japanese movie trip where I wanted to watch everything Japanese/Asian exploitation cinema could throw my way. I stumbled upon tons of the stuff and always wanted more. I recently dipped back into my [small] collection of violent foreign movies and rediscovered a gem. I purchased a 3 DVD box set named the Danger After Dark collection, in which 2LDK was apart of. 2LDK (2-Bedroom, Living Room, Dining Room and Kitchen), is the product of an idea from Producer Shinya Kawai for Directors Ryuhei Kitamura and Yukihiko Tsutsumi. The idea tuned into the Duel Project, a competition in which the guidelines were:

• Make a feature length film with two principal actors battling it out
  


• Film in one main location


• Complete filming within a week's time.

Kitamura's end product was Aragami, which I have yet to see. Tsutsumi's piece is one laced with violence, a twinge of that feeling you get while watching The Odd Couple and wraps it in black comedy.


The films starts as Nozomi and Lana, two actresses trying to make it big, arrive home and the tensions start to rise. They are both auditioning for the lead role of a film named "Yakuza Wives", so right away there is a point of contention for the two struggling actresses. You see the false sincerity resonating from both women in their interactions (the voiceovers of their inner thoughts don't hurt,either).


The relationship Tsutsumi creates in his characters is very reminiscent of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple. You have Nozomi, a small town, quiet, reserved, neat freak whose nitpicky complaints would drive just about anyone crazy. She even goes as far as to label what to belongs to whom in the fridge. Lana is the complete opposite. She's loud, slightly airheaded, messy and seems to have no inhibitions when it comes to furthering her career. She's also shown to be bit of a gold digger, wearing expensive clothing and jewelery.



The groundwork is all laid out and the conflict is made more interesting by the fact that they're both also competing for the attention of the same guy. Their argument becomes a little less trivial and a lot more dangerous as each girl reaches her boiling point. This is where the movie starts to get twisted, but in the best way possible. The ladies soon come to blows in a brutal, estrogen powered deathmatch. They do things to each other that nobody could possibly survive. The violence itself becomes a vehicle because the brutality borderlines the absurd.



This is a decent movie for any fan of ridiculous violence coupled with dark comedy. It's a very well done considering the conditions under which it was made and is overall enjoyable. Even if you end up not liking it, it only takes about 70 minutes of your life so you really don't have much to complain about.

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Overpowered by Tweets

Currently Listening To:
The Sounds
No One Sleeps When I'm Awake
Album : Crossing the Rubicon




Social Networking in this 2.0 heavy world runs rampant like yellow fever. Twitter, as most of you know by now, is the latest to reach mega popularity around the world. It's been about a year since I caught the hype bug. Since then, I've clocked over 500 posts. It's been kind of hard for me to come up with things to post, so I just haven't. I thought this was a good idea so this is what I'm rolling with. These are just a small number of tweets I've made in the past year which I think Stand out. *Note* They aren't really in chronological order as the dates will indicate

I voted. Will you stop raping my front page with all your "Cause" shit? I did my part. Cobra Commander '08 bitches 5:55 PM Nov 4th, 2008 from web


I’m seeing Max Payne tonight, lets see if its any good 7:59 PM Oct 17th, 2008 from txt - It wasn't

At a movie with a bunch of ghetto as fuck people. I swear someone is getting shot tonight10:55 PM Oct 17th, 2008 from txt

Billy Mays might just be of some use for once.6:57 PM Jul 7th, 2008 from txt - Bought some Mighty Putty that day to epoxy some things. Totally didn't work and just stunk my room up

I never thought I'd have this thought so soon, but... fuckin teenagers man... God. does that mean I'm old now? 4:57 AM Jun 28th, 2008 from web

Today’s the day! KILLOLA!! Gotta get the show on the road1:12 PM Sep 20th, 2008 from web - Saw a lot of good mates that day and Met Killola.


Deaf and a bit drunk after that. Amazing show!!12:15 AM Sep 21st, 2008 from web

“I dont wipe my ass because I don't want dudes butt raping me"8:46 PM Nov 24th, 2008 from web

So I watched a movie/tv show episode thingy, and it had a raw dog as fuck on-screen abortion. 4:32 AM Dec 18th, 2008 from web Takeshi Miike's episode on Masters of Horror Imprint For all you pro-choicers out there. Hell, enjoy it too, pro-lifers.

Is it bad that I'm hyped to wear my captain america new era tomorrow? Lulz1:19 PM Feb 5th from txt - Goin to New York Comic Con

OMG comic con. So much fun! This is great. There was a guy playing the accordion and doing mario tunes5:13 PM Feb 6th from txt


Video of Renegade Accordion playin tunes in front of the Jacob Javitz center

I just got my first whiff of the comic con funk. Bleh. Nerds are allergic to showers4:08 PM Feb 7th from txt

Mini confession : When I'm on my board I sometimes hear The power of love by Huey Lewis and the News in my heard. BTTF ftw2:02 AM Mar 4th from web

Stuck in a backyard with my friends cause of a locked door. FML... 10:05 PM May 16th from txt

Ok, So California's Prop 8, Florida's Amendment 2 and the like, What the fuck 2:25 PM Nov 5th, 2008 from web

Pure and utter ridiculousness, I can admit. Also, it's hedonism at its best and very worst. I'll continue to take it at face value and learn not to care that I'm a tool for using Twitter. Besides, all the cool kids are doing it ;)

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Some Have Their Machinima... I got this

Currently Listening to:
Julia Nunes
Odd



How's it going fools? Hope people who actually read this blog are well. This previous Saturday Night, a couple of friends and I went to go see Julia Nunes aka the youtube ukulele girl. She's a lot of fun and talented.



Good tidings Julia Nunes. Her music and other stuff can be found on her youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/jaaaaaaa

Now, onto the game stuff. As the title says, some people enjoy making or watching machinima (animated filmmaking within a real-time virtual 3D environment - mostly using video games technology, for any the rest of y'all). I have been talking about messing around with the idea of a skate skateboard video ever since the first came out. Thanks to EA's new and improved skate.reel, it was very easy to gather all the footage I uploaded (other than the fact that FLV files dont like to work with anything). The best part was putting it all together and the entire editing prcoess. I love getting technical that way. Here is the final product of my little venture. Enjoy!

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