my.bicycle

I'm less of an Adobe evangelist than I used to be, since they slacked on Photoshop for OS X for 100 internet years, and have failed to really innovate for several revisions of said product (caveat: I'm waiting to get a copy of Photoshop CS, and am inexplicably hopeful). Its ridiculous that they didn't adopt user-defined key shortcuts FOR EVAR . Ah, but this was going to be a request, not a rant or whine. So: Anyone here toying with Adobe Atmosphere ? I'm pondering abusing the educational discount, just to see what it does. It seems like, well, everything .

Two short and fun quizzes: You're the United Kingdom! You're a much weaker person than you used to be, but you still act like you did when everyone looked up to you.  Despite this, you're probably a better person than you were when you had so much power over those around you.  Though you do have a strange fascination with jewels and monarchs, which lets you play in castles, but also end up leading a sort of tabloid lifestyle. You really like the Beatles, even more than you like Oasis. Take the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid You're Watership Down ! by Richard Adams Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits. Tak...

I admire Marc and Mike for their cunning 1992 stunt against Oliver North . Truly classy and full of verve. Since neither of you guys has Comments support on your page, I'll fawn over it here. Though Mike notes, " Great God was that fun, Marc. I know we live in different cities now, but we should do things like that more often, " don't you sometimes feel like you're both together, but in an entirely different country?

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Death penalty for Japan cult guru : His crimes included ordering another sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, in 1994, which killed seven people, and the killing of several wayward cult members or their relatives. But it was the Tokyo subway attack at the height of the city's rush hour, which most shocked Japan.

This year's Tokyo Game Show will be open to an even wider range of participants and guests than last year. The Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) has announced details on the 2004 Tokyo Game Show. This year the TGS will take place from September 24 to 26 at Tokyo's Makuhari Messe convention center. The show will be open to the public on February 25 and 26, while February 24 will be for press only. Tickets will be available in advance for the price of 1,000 yen ($9.11) or 1,200 yen ($10.94) at the counter. This Year’s Tokyo Game Show aims to expand its coverage of the gaming industry outside of the traditional platforms and hopes to go in to such areas as network games and mobile phone games. CESA also hopes to call in more exhibitors who don’t directly develop games but who do support the industry, such as chip makers, peripheral makers, Internet service providers, and game developer schools. Continuing last year's trend, the show hopes to bring in...

What ever happened to the Neverhood gang? I just realized that I got them confused with Neversoft, who make Tony Hawk's Pro-Skater and Underground titles. It looks like they haven't done anything since Boombots. Casualty of Gamespot's remarkably harsh grading? Everyone who actually bought the game seems to hold it in high regard, when one compares the official GS score to the User score. Update: Ask and I shall receive, apparently. Doug TenNaple has quit with games and is doing movies and comics. A group within the Neverhood crew tried to make a go of it as Monkeytropolis , but it didn't work out.

Because I had the day off, I saw two movies today, pretty much sweeping the emotional spectrum. First was Love Actually , which I saw with my wife. It was great. Hands down, the smartest, funniest, most complex romantic comedy I've ever seen. I was expecting a chick-flick, and worse, a Christmas-themed chick flick (opening in February here). However, when Richard Curtis ' name was revealed in the opening credits, I was suddenly infused with hope for the movie. He's responsible for the writing of Blackadder past Season One; you know, the good stuff . By and large, Love Actually is a typical comedy-romance; to some degree it was formulaic. However the dialog is hilarious, the pacing is brisk, and the editing is challenging to keep up with. The music used in the movie was spot-on as well. I give it a big, fat recommendation for watching with yer honey. Though I further recommend waiting to take your potty break until after Rowan Atkinson's scene, which is apparently (...

Fætal : Yes, sir. May I have another? (found two steps away from DeathBoy )

What does Bush find so incredibly threatening about homosexual marriages? Bush urges amendment on marriage - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics : 'All Americans should be concerned when a president who is in political trouble tries to tamper with the Constitution of the United States at the start of his re-election campaign,' Mr. Kerry said yesterday. Something I didn't previously know, from the article: In 1996, Congress overwhelming passed, and President Clinton signed, the Defense of Marriage Act, which legally defined marriage under federal law as the union between only one man and one woman. Update: The BBC demonstrates the British gift for subtle understatement: " Bush accused of anti-gay stance " Update: JP pipes up .

Tuesday, February 24 will be a day of coordinated civil disobedience : websites will post Danger Mouse's Grey Album on their site for 24 hours in protest of EMI's attempts to censor this work. DJ Danger Mouse created a remix of Jay-Z's the Black Album and the Beatles White Album, and called it the Grey Album. Jay-Z's record label, Roc-A-Fella, released an a capella version of his Black Album specifically to encourage remixes like this one. But despite praise from music fans and major media outlets like Rolling Stone ("an ingenious hip-hop record that sounds oddly ahead of its time") and the Boston Globe (which called it the "most creatively captivating" album of the year), EMI has sent cease and desist letters demanding that stores destroy their copies of the album and websites remove them from their site. EMI claims copyright control of the Beatles 1968 White Album. Danger Mouse’s album is one of the most "respectful" and undeniabl...

Seattle Weekly - tech: Recasting the die : This article talks about how the internet has reinvigorated tabletop gaming. It's a good read, though I was hoping it was going to tell me how to run a pencil and paper game across an instant-message application. It mentions Steve Jackson Games , and has a quote from Evil Stevie himself, but doesn't go so far as to mention how SJG has embraced the internet, such as transforming their former dead-tree magazine into the best online gaming mag, evar: Pyramid . Or the fact that their beta test process is open to all subscribers, and is debated in their hosted forums. (That does it, I'm going to renew my subscription.)

" Nokia CEO concedes N-Gage sales slow ; Jorma Ollila concedes sales of his company's game deck have been disappointing." -- in other news, I concede that the sky is blue. ' Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila made to a Financial Times reporter during a 3GSM prebriefing. The topic? The N-Gage. "The sales are in the lower quartile of the bracket we had as our goal," Ollila told the FT reporter.' Uwe Boll , the German who inflicted House of the Dead on us, #28 on the Bottom 100 Worst Movies of All Time , is wrapping up "Alone in the Dark," starting "Bloodrayne," and is lined up to make a Far Cry movie next. This calls for the cinematic equivalent of "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything." Uwe, d00d. If you can't make something respectable... (both via gamespot ) Update: Penny-Arcade's Tycho rants more extensively and eloquently on the Uwe topic than I've managed.

"Happy Sabrina" ...This movie-widget and homepage (too disturbing for work) fit in nicely with the running weird sheeeit from Japan theme. The shots of solitary cosplay in public make me think the guy is getting the same kind of visceral thrill that comes from streaking. Not that there's anything wrong with that. To clarify though, most Japanese people have the same look on their face about this that you're probably wearing. If you're not yet weirded out, here's a thong-backed shot .The subject line comes from a clasic caption from jwz (thanks, slinka!)

For the people who are still drinking the Apple Kool Aid (like me), here are iChat tips and tricks , and then some .

Take this popular (though a little old) Insanity Test . (Warning: Audio)

Warren Ellis ' pre-Columbine, unpublished Hellblazer .

Marc writes that the Bush II regime wants to take the (intentionally) largely unskilled fast food and reclassify it as a manufacturing job (NYT, free reg required) . Classifications matter, the report says, because among other things, they can affect which businesses receive tax relief. "Suppose it was decided to offer tax relief to manufacturing firms," the report said. "Because the manufacturing category is not well defined, firms would have an incentive to characterize themselves as in manufacturing. Administering the tax relief could be difficult, and the tax relief may not extend to the firms for which it was enacted." Having read Schlosser's Fast Food Nation , this is doubly troubling. Once for Marc's stated concern, which is that the current US regime wants bigger numbers in more desirable jobs, and are basically sodomizing the numbers to do so. The other concern would be that it gives any more advantage to an already overindulged corporation stru...

Here is Casshern , a "live-action anime" with an intriguing trailer . Useful info from Eternal Gaze : Live action Casshern movie, an adaptation of the Shinzo Ningen Casshern anime TV series(...) Incarnations: 1970s live action super hero programme 1973: 35 episode anime TV series. 1993: 4 episode anime OAV series in 1993. It looked familiar, and now I know why; this is an adolescents' cartoon that's being given a gritty update, à la Batman's first two cinematic treatments. Very exciting. I'm reading the Japanese site, a pre-caffeinated process that is open to much definitional slippage, and it appears that Kiriya Kazuaki is managing the story, photography, and directing. Previously he was in charge (Japanese google-cache, FWIW) of the group doing Utada Hikaru's most recent (read: "best") music videos: Sakura Drops, Traveling, and Final Distance . This gives me new hope for what otherwise could be another schlock aidoru-movie. (I encountered...

Lisa Jonte and MP Mann's Arcane Jane , a webcomic in the vein of Kiki's Delivery Service as rendered by Matt Wagner (via Girl-a-matic )(Thanks, Justine!)

This is not Knoppix-for-Windows-fans, but BartPE , a CD-ROM bootable version of Windows may be useful in all kinds of data-recovery and diagnostic situations. (via ShellExtensionCity )

This service offers an autoconverter from Atom to RSS . Readers using non-Atom-compliant aggregators may now use the new link provided in the sidebar. (via Lockergnome's RSS Resources )

Barenaked Ladies is using exclusive Red-vs-Blue footage in their concerts . Usually when people find out I like BNL, they make a poo-poo face. Now I can say, "No, they're cool. They use existential parodies of war, made from videogame footage , in their concerts. And it's funny. And they've got an RSS feed . So they're cool ." (via fark )

http://www.traffic-island.co.uk/">Traffic Island Discs is a radio programme about music, people and spaces. We roam the streets looking for people wearing headphones, stop them, and interview them while recording whatever they are listening to. The result is a half hour tour of an area of London, heard through people's personal tastes and rhythms. (via Futurismic )

The Maxim UK issue featuring Christina Aguilera's pool photoshoot, the bikini briefs she wore (mistakenly referred to as a "thong" -- it's not a thong; hiking my shorts into my ass doesn't turn boxers into a thong), and some of the water she sat in (in a small sealed tub) are for sale on eBay . (via fark ) Update: the auction's gone. I peeked back one more time, and the seller was posting a number of backpeddling comments about how it wasn't guaranteed to be the same panties as the ones from the photoshoot, etc, etc. If there's anything worse than used bathwater and panties, it's FAKE used bathwater and panties. Sheesh.

The JSDF troops deployed to Iraq will be stationed in a new, high-tech compound , part " Fortress of Solitude ," part Korean bang . (via fark )(yes, this is a duplicate of my Futurismic post; I'm rationalizing it since this blog has been on a Japan tear lately...)

I'm a fan of Elf Only Inn, so I was sad when it went on hiatus. I had meant to check back in, but apparently flailed the Snooze Bar, since it came back with new stuff in November .

Coca Cola's Japanese branch will soon be making a beer - flavored drink. Since I'm a fan of somewhat more flavorful beers , I'd argue that most Japanese beer only qualifies as a beer-flavored drink. This one has less than 1% alcohol though, so it is to beer as "Hi-C Orange" is to Odwalla orange juice. (via fark ) And just to compensate for the subject line: Hyakugojuuichi ! (Turn up those speakers, space-monkeys!)

iDuck USB Memory Storage Device

An aged museum of sexual oddity in Japan . Yes, they're weird. Yes, they're uncommon. No, they're not popular. (...or they'd be common. Yes, somehow the weird j-stuff is flowing heavily this week.) ( random LJ via Tribe via TheOtherMichael )

Bastard Pop is the mixing of two or more songs with each other, and/or adding new content to the mix. This is still just catching on in the US, from what I hear, as opposed to Europe where it is old news. The recent, oppressive activities on the part of copyright industry are likely to blame. Or maybe there are just so many versions of Missy Elliot's "Work It" that the average human can hear on the road to finding gems like Freelance Hellraiser's "Just Can't Get Enough Pills," Dsico's "Block Rockin' Woman," or the anonymous, joyful Eminem vs. Magnum P.I. mashup " Without Magnum ." To those humans, I feel their pain, but say unto them keep digging long enough, and you will find gold. Friends in San Francisco have been able to attend BOOTIE! ( photos , photos , photos ) - a club event championing this outlaw music form. The last one was on Feb. 10th, and the next one will be Wednesday, March 10, Cherry Bar & Lounge. ...

Wired News: If You Come, They Will Build It - Few things get my motor going more than Legos. Reasonable, friendly news coverage with professional photos of Legos are as welcome as they are rare.

The Technoman track, from Infrared Riding Hood reminds me a lot of Strongbad's techno " The System Is Down... " (go to the musical note menu) . DPH is featuring all manner of odd, independent musicians all this week. Get over there and find something you like! Update: I really like Thalassocracy's Fever Dreams .

Japanese Giant Boner Festival . I don't know where this festival is, and I suspect it's real (not some product of an industrious photoshopper). (via The Stealth Tribe )

A good list . (thanks, TimK!)

Photoshop farkfest of Disney changing pwnership . (via boingboing )

I enjoy Powell's Review-a-Day feature , which send a review each day to an address of my choosing. I get mine on my phone, which frequently provides me with a brief read when I've forgotten to bring a book with me somewhere. R-a-D is a frequent source of insight into things that I would otherwise not be reading. The Buying of the President 2004: Who's Really Bankrolling Bush and His Democratic Challengers -- and What They Expect in Return by Charles Lewis ( A review by Gerry Donaghy ) In a publishing season that has seen the number of George Dubya books published explode exponentially (love him or hate him, the man is a publishing gold mine), it is quite refreshing to see what, in my opinion, has to be one of the most non-partisan books on politics out there. The Buying of the President 2004 by Charles Lewis and the Center for Public Integrity is essential election time reading. To set the stage for the upcoming elections, Lewis examines the many mistakes that ...

Things that I'm about to read, but haven't yet. (Using my blog to bookmark later stuff): Technorati generates a listing of the most-blogged items on Amazon . StandAlone RSS aggregator for PalmOS (though Plucker seems to do a similar thing for free with HTML) O'Reilly Conference notes: Why tech/dev/research teams need more women on them . Things I've Looked at But About Which I Haven't Formed Anything Clever to Say For those who are interested, Hedr's Book List . On the other end of the scale, good christ, can't we go kick North Korea's ass, please ? Crimes against humanity, and biological weapon research, ga-fucking-lore. If Saddam was in need of having his people liberated, Kim Il Jong's subject are all up for free trips to a buffet and a day-pass to Disneyland.

(via p-a )

Ghibli's next film is Howl's Moving Castle , based on a western novel . Out in November here. (via Japan Tribe )

This guy rants about DRM better than I can. (via boingboing )

Finally, a shop for all my wayward needs .

TV ad-vert-is-ments that should be real: Turnpike Films: Spots (thanks, JP!)

What is RSS? - Lockergnome's RSS Resource I enjoyed this happy, though slightly flippantly ended response to the common question "What is RSS?" I hope it becomes just "Subscribe" as a link on pages, and that proper RSS handling happens soon. On my Mac, clicking on an RSS feed in Safari drops me into my separate aggregator ( NetNewsWire Lite ) and opens the Add New Feed dialog with the link in it. Now if someon could point out to me what the MyYahoo! RSS module is, and how I can use it, I'd be obliged to go back to that site instead of directly into Yahoo! Mail everyday.

(via fark )

Pierce Brosnan may not be coming back to the role of 007 for the 21st James Bond film. I'm probably the only guy who liked Dalton better than Brosnan in the role. (via fark , which now has an RSS feed )

Cory Doctorow has released the text of his " eBooks are Neither E nor Books " speech for free, under a Creative Commons license -- before even he left the stage. (via futurismic )

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Second Gig (Season 2) is just about to have its DVD release in Japan. There is also good news for American fans: Bandai is distributing it with Manga Video come June 27, 2004. There is also a promotional site planned, but its currently only a placeholder . (thanks, m. christian )

Slashdot | Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo Released : Great! Another game that won't run on my less-than-one-year-old PC. This sub-thread points out There must be about as many PC's that can actually handle this game as there are macs. It's not like my dad's P-II 400 with a matrox G200 is going to be able to handle this. That's actually an interesting point. The specs on games these days are pretty insane compared to the average PC in the family home. Even if a family has a, say, 1.4GHz machine in the home (and I'd guess way less than half of homes is at that level), it probably has a really crappy video card in it.. or even on-board video. This means that 90%+ of machines out there can barely play these games at 20fps in 640x480. Given this, it really seems like the PC games industry is propped up by gaming die-hards.. whereas the console gaming market is propped up by everyone who owns one. Perhaps we should all remember this when we start bitching about the g...

Turning 51 tomorrow. You may now insert tried and true reflections on mortalityin the form of homilies about aging well, the beauty of autumn, a mature perspective on life, and how while one blossom from the tree falls, another blooms, and all that crap. I just read in Patrick O'Brian: "the caution of the elderly, proverbial" or something very like that. I'm not elderly yet, but getting more cautious. It's a desire not to screw up so much as in the past. One cliche I fully embrace, like a grandma kissing a hallmark card from her granddaughter, is "If only I knew then what I know now." This cliche is not however fraught with Hallmark-card-style sentim entality, but is instead redolent of regret, ruefulness, even remorse. If I get into that mood, reflections on my past become one long HOmer-Simpson-going-"DOH!" Man if only I'd known how to speak to editors, record producers (John Hammond Sr for Christ's sake! He wanted to make a record wi...

Bitter late than never: Jedi's lie | Anakin gets examined by Qui-Gon for midichlorians. When Anakin asks why he's being examined, Qui-Gon lies to him, saying he's just checking for an infection. Why not just say, "I'm looking into something," or "I'm curious about your lucky nature," or anything other than just outright lying to him. And if Anakin's so down with the Force, why can't he tell the old dog is lying to him? Midichlorians | The Force that Obi-Wan promoted in 1977 was an egalitarian, come-one-come-all affair that anyone could benefit from. Now it's based on some scientifically quantifiable critter that only a few people possess. So who's in the club, and who's out, George? Home Alone Syndrome | Star Wars, the first movie that came out, in 1977 managed to appeal to kids just fine. I know; I was 9. Why do we need to see a little kid's wish-fulfillment fantasy writ large this time, only included to so transparent...

An interesting, critical, and honest essay on copyright by Orson Scott Card. It is particularly of note, because Card relies on copyright to make his living; his insight on the motivation of large corporations in protecting "creator's rights" is funny, in a causing-crying-on-the-inside kind of way. If you strip out all the reason, and leave the rant and maniacal laughter portion of it, you'll be left with my take on it. The RIAA wants to sue anyone who is sharing a significant number of copyrighted songs on their machine. They've started. As is mentioned in this article , some people are not even aware they're committing a crime; KaZaA's interface and commercial availability make it seem to be some form of subscription service; it's certainly not unthinkable. If stopping file trading, and raising public awareness was their goal, one would think they'd be more interested in pursuing solutions , instead of spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt...

The Japanese X-Box campaign that focuses on delivering X-Box style pizza boxes has several problems. First, the actual X-Box is larger than a pizza box; someone might get on them for false advertising. There is a new zen koan here: "There is a shelf of poor construction in the used game shop, and an X-Box of infinite weight; how does the shelf remain standing?" Second issue: "The pizza will be split into four parts from the middle to mark an “X” on the pie. Customers can chose different preset topping combinations on each of the four separated pieces (including the interesting-sounding but very common egg and tuna or chicken teriyaki and mayonnaise combos; relatively normal toppings on pizzas in Japan)."

USA Today reports that software sales have been plummeting for some time , though they are careful to note that this is a retail storefront phenomenon. " On the software side, the messy numbers may suggest more about the state of retail than about the programs, maintains Jeffrey Tarter, editor of the Softletter industry newsletter. "If you go to a store with a particular product in mind, you almost never find it," he says. "Buying software online is about the only serious option if you know what you want." " What's more, virus protection software sales are up, but educational s/w sales are wayyyy down. The NPD -oid states that educational s/w doesn't lend itself to a constant stream of upgrades, and is frequently just used as a hand-me-down. Knowing what a large portion of the market young gamers play, and how computer-savvy they can be, it's hard to agree. It's more likely that educational s/w development simply isn't benefiting from ...

The Other Michael is a constant source for legacy technology; remnants of the past that appear in the present, standing out like a sore thumb in some cases, coasting under the radar in others. Most recently he pointed me at two items of interest: ElectriClerk , a prop for a Call of Cthulu game that is a mixed-signal of UI if there ever was one: it looks like the user-hostile, arcane machines from Terry Gilliam's Brazil, but has an Apple Macintosh at its heart. A working manual typewriter, modified to be used as a PC keyboard. " It works ."

In characters the same size as you see them here, Gamespot's DLX , has denied me the exclusive content for Dungeon Siege. Essentially, it appears I not only have to own the Dungeon Siege game and its "Legends of Aranna" expansion, but also have to be running Windows XP. It doesn't matter than I'm a Gamespot Complete subscriber. Can anyone explain this in a way that won't make me angry? I hope all five people that have XP, DS, LoA, and GameSpot access enjoy the patch.

Tower Records has declared bankruptcy: Over forty years later stiff competition from retailers such as Wal-Mart, Virgin Megastores and Best Buy, coupled with high lease costs, drove it into heavy debt. This was compounded by the growing problem of digital downloading and file copying which has been plaguing the music industry. BBC article It is difficult to muster sympathy when Tower, who has leased extensive floorspace in some of the most expensive cities in the world, trots out the Piracy bogeyman to blame. Instead, the whole record biz needs to look at a pricing restructure, roll-your-own album options. How cool would it be to have an iTunes kiosk in a record store that would burn a CD of the tunes you want, and spit out a customized cover? Instead we get DRM'd discs that will lock up our computers, and not allow us to listen to tracks in our own local MP3 libraries. The drop in sales is arguable according to some people, but even if it's true, is it any wonder that no-o...

46.153855 - Super Geek . I think there are points awarded just by being willing to finish the damned thing.

My soon to be nephew is 2 years old, and stalks the house taunting the word, CREEPER. With his eyes wide open, and his hands up in claw fashion, he makes his presence knows as one of the cutest creepy kids on the planet. I remixed his CREEPER taunt, and rubbed a little funk in it. --aub32 | page , song

10 Technologies That Deserve to Die was only a moderately interesting piece compared to some MIT TechReview pieces. However, the follow-ups in the forum are more abundant than expected. Trust outdated tech to bring out the hordes of luddite nitpickers...

Sony has introduced the Qualia line of goods for people with more money than God. The Shinsaibashi Sony Tower has the 6th floor devoted to this new line of technophile goods. The most impressive item so far is the Qualia 016 , a 69 x 24 x 17 mm (2.7 x 0.9 x 0.7 in) camera. It is apparently the realization of a 2000 prototype . I'm reminded of the only funny line in the "I SPY" movie trailer, where Owen Wilson exclaims something along the lines of, "In the spy world, size is everything! Except it's the opposite of the penis thing; for spy stuff you say, 'o! my god, that's so sexy; it's so small! '"

Promotional, life-sized pillow of DOA's Kasumi in a bikini. (via source )

I just finished Beyond Good and Evil (I played the PS2 version, though it's available on everything except WonderSwan). I still don't know what the title's reference to Nietzsche's treatise is all about. Maybe the French got confused when they were in their Marketing sessions? Apparently it didn't sell well in the otherwise swamped Christmas game market. I've read that it's marked down to US$29 for all platforms. If you haven't bagged it yet, I recommend picking it up before it's swept off the shelves. It's the most fun I've had playing a game since GTA, and I don't even have to feel weird about the kind of thrills it provides. There are several types of gameplay represented, and each of them feels well represented. The primary style is stealth gameplay, with some exploration relating to puzzle solution, and taking pictures. None of the puzzles was so difficult as to require checking an online FAQ, but some were a close call. The pri...

Fark has a photoshoppery thread of sci-fi technology in everyday life .

Dr. Henry Jenkins chimes in with more speculation about the role that media plays in our own creative development. In this case, how the empassioned creation of fan-fiction helps children to become better writers. (via MIT TechReview )

A tribe -friend asked me for some advice about getting into games. Here is that information in recycled form: First off, a non-negotiable attribute has to be artistic ability as well as basic computer skills. It is a simple matter to teach an artist how to use a reasonably complex graphic application and development pipeline; it is nearly impossible to teach an engineer how to draw if they're not interested in it. So prior to applying anywhere, the potential employee should be well versed in Windows use (Sadly, I've never seen a Mac or *NIX development house in nearly 10 years in this field; the *NIX situation may change, though). The standard paint application is Photoshop, though the primary focus is on results. If the applicant is skilled with a different application, such as gIMP or Painter or what have you, it isn't a strike against them. There is not yet a standard 3D application, though 3DStudio Max is close to being it. However, Alias ' Maya has offered...

What is the deal with the Official Heavy Metal website ? I knew that Kevin Eastman had bought the rights to the Heavy Metal imprint, but I didn't know that he was using the site to show galleries or drunk incidents with his friends (see inset), pix of his wife ( Heavy Metal: FAKK2 and Baberella's Julie Strain : Very Not Safe For Work ), poop jokes , and generally turning the effort into a somewhat sad feeling personal site. d00d, there's got to be more than this...

It is difficult to get excited about Star Wars lately. The prequels have not lived up to the standard set by the first three movies. Star Wars: Galaxies allows players to engage in epic waiting battles, or to sew sweaters for other players to wear while they wait through their fights. I'll pass. Star Wars games shouldn't be a spreadsheet-like contest of player HP versus the NPCs HP; it should be about skill. I want action! Walkers, gun turrets, stormtroopers, and all kinds of gorgeous havoc. Now it seems like that will happen, in Star Wars: Battlefront ! 1-32 players! Star Wars flavored mayhem! Time to get my geek on, this fall.

Boob beams . If this is what F.A.K.K. 2/Heavy Metal had been, the game and movie would have been.. um. Less of a bust? Just check the preview trailer . (via KINKY SciFi Tribe )

Cory Doctorow's new book is available. Eastern Standard Tribe , like Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom , is available in dead tree for a fee , or electronically for the price of the electrons on which it's printed. I've downloaded it, and am working to suss out Plucker , which may be the replacement for Palm Reader, since I can't seem to find where the free flavor of it has run off to. Wait. There it is .

I may have bought my Palm Tungsten T3 just a little too soon. The new Clie's are teh sexay . Well, not that I've used wi-fi more than once in the past year... I guess just want a cheap camera to snap pix, and an easy way to integrate them here. Once I get my bluetooth adaptor, I may be more inclined to explore. I saw a cheap digital camera at Midori Denka (electronics) yesterday; it was ¥12,000 and was only 1.2 megapixel with 32MB of fixed storage. However, the damned thing was 3cm x 4cm x 0.6cm .

I suspect I'm way late to the party on this one, but: Kaiju Big Battel !!! This definitely falls into the "Why didn't I think of that?" category. Cheesy professional wrestling meets cheesy robot-and-monster suits, meets even cheesier not-to-scale scenery. Destruction ensues.

Previews online for Appleseed (which looks like the comic in 3D, as opposed to the previous OAV, which looked like crap) and Ghost in the Shell: Innocence (3 trailers! And not one of them seems to have Kusanagi in it) which opens March 6. (via jeansnow ) Graphically gorgeous site promoting anime events in NYC . (via justin's links )

Is anyone still using the " http://feeds.blogstreet.com/39475.rss " RSS feed for updates? I hope not. For some reason, it appears to have stalled. Anyone who wants to generate another feed to track it can do so through blogstreet . However, if you have the ability to use the Atom feed , I recommend that instead; it's been consistently updated, and is the "official" Blogger syndication format. Resistance is futile.

Initial disclosure: I hate football, and couldn't care less about it. That said, intellectual property arguments continue to become less "intellectual" and more... what's the scientific term for "horseshit"? The NFL has sent cease-and-desist letters to Las Vegas venues that would host for-pay Super Bowl parties ( Yahoo News , az central ). In determining whether an event violated the NFL's copyrights, the league considered the location's size, whether TV screens were larger than 55 inches and whether people had to pay to get in. Some hotels have scrapped party plans entirely, while others are scrambling to accommodate the estimated 274,000 visitors expected to come to Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekend. In other words, as long as the place has crap equipment, and not providing the sport as a central event, the NFL isn't going after them. But isn't the attendance at the parties, of which the NFL claims to have only recently become aware, someth...

bad signal WARREN ELLIS Phrase of the day: "my inner Shatner" -- W (via bad signal mail list )

Gimme one o' those block-rockin' robots (It transforms, too). I wish Bionicle ( Lego ) would get with it and do something like this that doesn't look like crap .

Gamespot has begun a column called Rumor Control , which I enjoy. However today's listing makes it hard to take them seriously: RUMOR #5: EA has begun development on a game based on the upcoming Halle Berry movie Catwoman. Source: Too many to count--apparently this Ms. Berry is rather popular. The official story: "As you probably already know, EA makes it a policy not to comment on rumors."--Electronic Arts What we heard: Not much--just that the game will be released this year. However, two facts cast doubt on the story. First, the movie's July 30th release date is only six months away. That's not a lot of time to develop a high-profile film tie-in game, which usually take at least a year (unless it's Gods and Generals). Secondly, Warner Bros. is financing and distributing Catwoman. Two weeks ago, the studio re-launched its games division--inventively titled Warner Bros. Interactive--with the mission statement that the subsidiary would "focus on the c...

You can use Krazy Glue in lieu of surgical stitches. For when you’re, you know, too poor to go to the emergency room. Or trying to avoid explaining things to the police. The Renaissance Faire may not be the source of all your problems, but it sure as shit isn’t helping any. You’re probably doing something that bugs the next guy twice as much. Clam up and get on with your life. Powdered cocoa won’t put out the fire. Badnewshughes offers sound advice, apparently based on his own difficult experiences , all of which seem hilarious in vicarious retrospect. (via boingboing ) footnote 1: I'm willing to bet that Starchy could have used this list a little sooner in life. footnote 2: Yes, I only link to blogs that use the same template that I do.