Archive for February 2013
Disney’s ‘Paperman’ short is a heartfelt gem
I’ve got a bit of a thing for animated shorts at the moment and so I find myself pretty lucky that Disney‘s Paperman has wondered into my domain.
Like Minkyu Lee‘s excellent Adam & Dog short, Paperman has also been nominated for best animated short film at this year’s 85th Academy Awards.
Telling a 1940’s love story in black and white with paper as a central theme, all the while blending traditional animation and computer graphics techniques, Paperman is nothing short of a wistful and charmingly brilliant revelation.
In fact, I dare say that there is more heart-felt emotion and characterisation on display here than in the majority of Dreamworks recent animated output.
Though I guess that’s not exactly a mean-feat or anything though is it?
Anyway, because I’m nice and not a toweringly evil bastard, I’ve linked the video for you to fawn over below.
Don’t forget to crank that sucker up to 1080p.
Paperman is currently nominated for Best Animated Short Film for the 85th Academy Awards and won Best Animated Short Subject at the 39th Annie Awards in 2012 (Adam & Dog won it the previous year in case you’re curious).
Minkyu Lee’s Adam and Dog animated short film is a triumph
I love animated shorts like this.
Minkyu Lee‘s Oscar nominated Adam and Dog is a compacted retelling of the Adam & Eve fable but with the titular slant of Adam making friends with ‘Dog’; the first of his kind seemingly.
Its modest fifteen minute run-time is over before you know it but within that quarter of an hour of retinal intercourse you’ll be exposed to some of the most gorgeously hand-drawn visuals you’ll have ever seen and a narrative tale that tugs on the heart-strings without its characters ever uttering a single word.
Turn off the lights, park your ass in your most comfortable seat and allow Lee to entrance you with one of the singularly best animated short films in recent memory.
Adam and Dog is currently nominated for Best Animated Short Film for the 85th Academy Awards and won Best Animated Short Subject at the 39th Annie Awards.
MMA News: UFC 157 Preview – Dan Henderson Vs Lyoto Machida
Dan ‘Hendo’ Henderson takes on Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida in the co-main event of UFC 157.
One of the more notable matches on February 23rd’s UFC 157 pay-per-view card is the one that pits wrestling brawler Dan ‘Hendo’ Henderson against Karate wunderkind Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.
Because the match is likely to be a barn burner and also because I know you’re all just dying to hear me talk shit on the matter, I’m going to do an analytical breakdown thing of how each fighter could achieve victory in just over three weeks time.
There will also be a prediction of the match winner at the end, but read the rest of it first though eh? I’ll know if you don’t.
The rest of it is after the cut.
New Assassins Creed title due this year; new character, new setting, new button to press
During its call to stuffy-suit wearing investors who probably don’t give a rodent’s anus about videogames outside of how much paper it can make them, Ubisoft confirmed that not only would there be a new Assassins Creed title (I know right? The shock. Please, try to contain yourself) but that it would showcase an all-new character (sorry Connor, better luck next time… Oh wait.) in an all-new time-period.
For the sake of innovation you can also expect to press a new button too. Pressing ‘A’ after all is so 2007.
Anyhow, i’m somewhat eager to see what the new setting is. Personally, I think they should pull the trigger on a Japanese setting for the next game and have you play as a ninja, slitting the throats of fat feudal lords and styming your pursuers with caltrops and stuff.
It would be great. Maybe.
What setting do you think would be a natural fit for the next ‘Creed game?
MMA News: Josh Barnett seemingly NOT headed to the UFC after contract refusal
So Josh Barnett going to the UFC? Yeah, that’s not going to happen now as Barnett’s manager, one Leland LaBarre, has communicated that the ‘Warmaster‘ has officially declined the newest contractual offer by the promotion.
Frustrated? Yep, I sure am; a veritable slew of entertaining matchups awaits the ‘Warmaster’ in the UFC’s HW division.
Fucking hell Josh.
According to LaBarre, money isn’t the issue; instead citing some “outlying issues” as the impuetus for the contract refusal, “We agreed on guaranteed compensation. In fact, we never even countered. We accepted their original offer. However, there are some outlying issues — one in particular — that as of this point we were unable to agree on.”
As you might very well guess, the house that Dana White help build had no comment on the situation, but with any luck, we’ll see them around the negotiating table again.
As far as what those issues are however, its anybody’s guess. Issues with the testing policy? Not being able to supplement his violent vocation with shows where he just pretends to beat the ever-loving shit out of people? Who knows.
What we do know however is that it’ll be a while until we see the catch-as-catch-can wrestling submission specialist returns to the Octagon. Barnett, whose record stands at a commendable 32-6, had his last dance in the UFC nearly eleven years ago where on March 22nd, 2002, he leathered the shit out of Randy Couture en route to a TKO victory to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion, only to have the title stripped off of him for pissing hot for banned substances after the bout.
His last fight was against the hilariously over-matched Nandor Guelmino during Strikeforce‘s swansong show in January, ending that particular confrontation in the first round with a suitably nasty arm and triangle choke.
As recently as last week, Dana White was optimistic that he could bring Barnett over to the promotion. So hopefully they’ll continue their chinwags and their chequebook scratching as the ‘Warmaster’ would match up pretty well with the majority of the HW division and would provide entertaining fights with the likes of Frank Mir, Roy Nelson and recently deposed division king Junior Dos Santos for starters.
What do you folks reckon; would you like to see Barnett doing his thing in the UFC?
Beastie Bay FINALLY hits iOS. It’s still free too!
With its Google Play exclusivity now in the rear mirror, Game Dev Story developer Kairosoft has at last brought the excellent Beastie Bay to iOS today.
Its addictive premise is simple; you and an animal friend of your choosing find yourselves marooned on a tropical island and in order to survive you must root around the island in order to find the requisite materials to fashion a home for the pair of you to live in.
Effectively a game of two distinct halves, you can research and develop new structures, harvest crops and even build tourist attractions to bring in the coin. When you’re not being all Kairosoft(y) and managing stuff, you can saunter out into the wilderness and its here that things get really interesting as like Nintendo’s celebrated money-printer, you can engage in turn-based battles with creatures that you have captured yourself; fighting with the turn based commands that you give them.
Naturally, you can nurture and upgrade your ‘beasties’ by building habitats for them on your island, researching new equipment for them to use, levelling up their stats and unlocking new abilities and special moves.
Look, the game is absolutely brilliant and better yet, its totally and ridiculously free so just buy it. BUY IT I SAY.
Beastie Bay is out now for free on iOS and the Android Google Play store.
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