The Digital Pugilist

A week in links (We've moved! version)

This commercial has been playing non-stop in my head for DAYS

Well here it is...my last post here at vox. 

It's been a fun three years here.  I'm a little shocked at how much time has passed since then, but it was a wild ride.  At the beginning I didn't know where I was heading with this blog, and truth be told I was just doing it on a whim at a friend's request.  Thinking back now, I really owe him for giving me that initial push.

My new website is called digitalpugilist.com.  I got the idea for the name after hearing the term "digital pugilism" on another website.  The phrase really stuck with me, and a few days later I did a domain name search that pulled up nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Seeing an opportunity, I quickly bought the domain name and now...here we are. 

The site itself is pretty straightforward.  It's still (more or less) the same thing here; a blog style format with a couple of nerdy posts and what-not sprinkled everywhere.  It's still new, so hopefully as time goes by it'll grow into something better.

I'll still come vist vox, though.  There's a lot of cool people around here.  I highly recommend checking out their blogs, especially people like (in no particular order):

fumi25 - Really cool blog that links a lot of nico videos!
Hangaku Gozen - Another blog by a Japanese lady living here in the states.  Always has something important to say!
Lauren - I was impressed with her layout design, but she also writes about really interesting things as well.
Kimura - This guy has the funniest stuff on his website.  His "quote of the week" posts are real pearls of wisdom, too.
M-----I - I think he's the most popular dude on vox.  I love his clever and quirky written posts!
Ross - If anybody inspired me the most, it's this guy.  His tech-based posts are very insightful and extremely useful!
Ivysgrandkid - This dude is the next best thing, mark my words. One of the best photo-blogs on vox.
Lonely Bob - I've never seen a more consistent blog than this guy's. He really loves thai food!
Workaholic Hostess - I love this blog -- I even had the fortune to meet her, and she's super cool. An awesome blog!
Kyoto Observer - One of the first neighbors I've ever had -- he always has something important to say.

Thanks everybody for being (and staying) my neighbor.  Apologies to anyone I might've missed -- you guys are awesome too.  And thanks to everyone who dropped by here too!  Without you guys I wouldn't have found the courage to start a website. 

Thank you everyone!  See you on the flip-side!

Farewell!

*****

Coming this fall: 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die
1000 and one video games?  That's quite a tall order...

Jim's Pancakes
Absolutely badass blog about a guy who cooks pancakes in a variety of funny and clever ways for his daughter every day.  With videos, too!

YouTube - 【マリオ64実況】奴が来る Part 3 (Second half) - Super Mario 64 Challenge
Funny video where a bunch of Japanese guys take on a challenge -- avoid the 1up mushroom at all costs.

WTF is HTML5 (Infographic)
Looks like Firefox is the most prepared, with Chrome following and Internet Explorer just blissfully unaware.

U.S., Japanese Publishers Unite Against Manga Scan Sites (Updated) - Anime News Network
Probably the biggest news this week (outside of the World Cup starting).  Scanlation sites are going to be in a world of hurt very, very soon.

OpenManga - the future of Scanlations and Online Manga - News
However hope is not lost.  Something very new and very big is coming on the horizon -- get hyped!

Treated Like Royalty « A Face Made for Radio: Helen McCarthy's Blog
Really awesome blog post about scanlations and the debacle between fan groups and publishers.  Really great read; highly recommended.

Super Mario Killed by BP! | Walyou
That's just sad :(

Surface area required to power the whole world by solar power on Photos:
...that's it!?

Change

By みっきー over at Pixiv

Finally at last, it's done.  Over.  And now that things are working, it's almost time to say goodbye.  The journey is almost complete, and I have landed in new territory. 

More news to come tomorrow.

Yotsuba Live Drama Announced (with pictures included)

Live Action Drama on the way!

This was some surprising news this week as well -- a live action Yotsubato! recently got the green light for a live-action drama this fall.  The news was announced over Kitagawa Eriko's twitter feed roughly five days ago.  Kitagawa Eriko is a writer who's worked on shows like Orange Days and Love Story.

The cast looks pretty solid, with the exception of Tazawa Arisu, the little girl playing Koiwai Yotsuba.  In the manga, Yotsuba is half Japanese, with blue eyes and green(!?) hair.  Tazawa doesn't quite fit the profile (even the writer was a little worried about that) but her audition charmed the studio enough to let her take the role.  She sounds promising.

I don't think an American could fit that bill (what with the Japanese language and all), but there's probably someone out there who has blue eyes and speaks Japanese, but I'll trust the casting directors on this one. 

However, I totally dig the fact that Hiroshi Abe is playing Jumbo, lol.  Jumbo is about 6' 11", and Hiroshi Abe is about 6' 2"...kind of a big difference, but I'm sure he can fill those shoes quite easily!  Whenever the show comes out, I'll be keeping an eye out for him too!

Monster Hunter / Durarara Crossover!

Izaya stumbles around while Shizuo looks on suspiciously in the distance

Anime meets game in a wicked crossover not even Capcom could have even foreseen!

Some early reports buzzed in today about a new Monster Hunter franchise that takes place in a certain Ikebukuro and follows a certain Izaya from a certain anime.  Looks like Durarara!!, doesn't it? 

The report also mentions that the game is scheduled for a late release this fall, and most likely will take place on the PSP.  No word on the pricing or which characters are playable, but from the looks of it you'll probably wind up playing one of the main characters (aka Mikado, Masaomi, or even Celty herself).

Looks pretty fun! 

Houkago Play: A Review

Can you guess what game they're playing?

Okay, first things first I know I've been a bit of a 4koma binge.  Not to say that I'm biased or anything, it's just that lately I've discovered a lot of good manga that just happens to be you know...4komas. 

Houkago Play (After School Play) is created by mastermind Kurosaki Rendou.  There's currently two volumes out in this on-going series: The first volume is about a high school kid / gamer and his tsundere girlfriend, and the second is about another gamer kid and his non-gamer girlfriend. 

Both stories are of the seinen mold; you won't find any of that shounen, bishoujo, power up into insanely over-the-top battles here.  Just two simple kids who happen to be in love and unable to find a way to express it to the other.

Houkago Play volume one was pretty short as far as most mangas fare, but I can't remember reading a story that was so quick yet so perfectly developed.  Being a gamer myself, I was able to relate quite often to his unexplicable shyness.  Especially during his snappy remarks to his girlfriend.  He really seems to be able to express himself during those small moments, to his girlfriend's chagrin. 

I found those moments really telling of his personality in a very subjective view.  Probably due to the fact that I could really relate to the boyfriend -- in my younger days, I definitely was this guy: a smarmy, cocky, asian whiz kid gamer who didn't talk much to anyone but had a lot of opinions. 

Personal note here: I was a very shy kid who didn't like to talk much.  Presentations in high school were a bitch too; I could've died in front of my class many a time, mark my words.  It was pretty bad until college, where I finally found myself.

As far as art goes, Houkago Play isn't really spectacular in any way.  There's not many detailed scenes, and hardly any panel goes by that doesn't have one or the other present in it.  The real gem here is the story development and the dialogue that goes on between these two. They never really say their names either -- a nice touch, and one that really makes this a story that could've been told anywhere and by anyone.

It certainly makes that climax a lot more personal, if you know what I mean.  Especially those kissing scenes!

Gantz Live Action Trailer!

Gantz is / was one of the most disturbing anime series I had ever watched.� It didn't sit well with me, but it left a strong and lasting impression in my mind.� As far as shows go, I didn't sit down and read the manga that it was based from, but I'm absolutely certain that if I had, I'd probably be off worse.

Still though, Gantz is definitely a show you can't afford to miss.�

The live action looks spectacular.� I'm not too keen on the non-slicked back hair version of Masaru, but the end product looks very promising.

Speaking of movies, I've been on a real movie-high the past few days.� I've watched Fish Story, I Sell the Dead, Air Doll, Man From Earth, and The Kingdom.� I still want to watch Symbol, too.� That one looks really good.� And then there's all these summer blockbuster flicks coming out as well, geezus.

Somehow, I managed to unearth an MP3 of the cover song "Fish Story" by gekirin.� It's been playing non-stop on my iPod ever since I got it.� This song is so badass!

FISH STORY／逆鱗　【PV】

�

New Mortal Kombat Movie?

MORTAL KOMBAT

Hat tip goes to Hoang, who linked the original article.� If this is a new movie, it looks 1,000 times better than the 90's version.� Can't wait to hear more about the on-going development (rumors say that it might make an appearance at E3).

A week in links (weekend pugilist version)

俺より強い奴に。。。

This summer is shaping up to be one of the biggest video game tournaments ever.  There's a lot of big majors going on soon, like Devastation, Evolution 2010, and the Electronic Sports World Cup.  I keep hoping as time goes by that fighting games will finally break through and be considered a real "sport"; a sport in the sense that two atheletes go head to head in a battle of wits and guts.

Just with controllers.

I mean, POKER is considered a "sport" (yeah right).  You don't see physically fit doods mashing it up there, do you?  And I don't mean to demean poker, as it is a relatively fun hobby, but there's so many random luck factors that just don't exist in fighting games, to be perfectly honest.  If anything, if you want to compare fighting games to another sport with random factors, you might as well add boxing to that list.

But anyway, I digress.  Evo is coming in less than a month, and it's about time to start kicking training mode in high gear.  There's still lots more to work on!

*****

YouTube - Wow Thanks Capcom/Madcatz
Flowchart Ken spotted in the wild -- now with crazy inputs too!

いまかよ！？ポルノ鈴木のEVO2007_第三部 _2/2‐ニコニコ動画(9)
Keep your eye out for the crazy desktop joystick!

s-kill > Blog > Dancing with the Stars, Street Fighter-Style
Reminds me of those old Tekken videos where they had two people doing crazy stuff in tandem a la this vid.  Cool stuff though, check it out!

is kotaku publishing porn today?
Best. Site. Ever.

the memory span of rats
This is so cute! lol

The RIAA? Amateurs. Here's how you sue 14,000+ P2P users
In short: don't torrent indie flicks.  The chance of you getting a lawsuit is threefold compared to 2005, the highest year on record for copyrighted lawsuits.

Robo Dance Wars « Robot War Espresso
Title says it all.

YouTube - Tekken 6 BR Techtrap By (KYSG)
For all you Tekken heads out there, watch this sample tutorial vid.  These setups are the worst I've seen in the 10 years of Tekken I've bore witness to.

The most ridiculous commercial I've ever seen

The most ridiculous commercial I've ever seen

If you don't know about "The World of Golden Eggs", I highly recommend you watch that show. Because this commercial is all up in that...yeahhhhhhh (lol). Just crazy random humor everywhere!

Where I've been the last week

Zany pixiv picture by artist お　う　り

I've been busy.  Census work wrapped up nicely last week, so I had a ton of free time to pursue a bunch of things I've been planning on doing (that and also playing a ton of Tekken 6).

I have a website now!  My friend Meico has been helping me shape it together, and it was only recently that it got completed.  There's still a few bugs to work out, but all in all it's mostly done and lacking content.  I'm not about to throw it out in the open just yet, but when the time comes, I will.

Am I going to continue using Vox?  I don't know.  I kinda like it here, but days go by where I keep feeling that I need my own website just to be taken more seriously.  I know that a lot of stuff I post here are just musings and not completely "A+" journalistic quality (air quotes and everything), but no one's waiting for me.  I have to move on out and climb up just to separate myself from the pack.

...But.

When it finally all ends, I'll be sure to let you know.  Probably something like those typical "we've moved!" kinda posts where it'll redirect toward another URL (lol).  All of the neighbors here will definitely get a hat tip from me also; there's too many awesome bloggers here worth checking out. 

Actually, people should be checking them out now.  Seriously, go check 'em out now!  So much more stuff to do...