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I’ve been waiting to mention this till the site came back up. This link was already mentioned on a number of other blogs and such, and is just too good to miss. It was offline for a while, but is back and ready to go:
If it weren’t for the video, I don’t think I’d believe this was for real…
The clip itself used to be longer, including a duet with Celine Dion before she was really well known. That seems to have been edited out for some reason. I’ll see about putting up the original.
I went and saw “The Aviator” on Sunday with John. Good movie, very interesting, just a tad long.
Before the film, we were treated to the trailer for the upcoming movie “Sin City”. As an aside, I just have to mention that I love movie trailers. There’s just something artful in managing to cram most of a movie into a minute or two. When it’s done well, anyway. The Sin City trailer qualifies.
You can see it for yourself here. Unfortunately it’s a very small, lo-res version, but you’ll get the idea. I’m hoping a larger version pops up online soon.
I haven’t read the (supposedly excellent) comic books it’s based on, but the visual style seems to capture perfectly the art I have glanced at from the comics. And the cast: Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Kate Bosworth, Josh Hartnett, Benicio del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Elijah Wood, Clive Owen, Rosario Dawson, and others. Worth seeing just for that alone.
The music in the trailer is amazing too. Thanks to the internet, I’ve figured out that the song is “Cells”, by a British band called The Servant. I’d love to get my hands on the instrumental version used in the trailer, but for now the $.99 cent track I got from Napster will have to do. You can hear it streaming here, in the right column of the page.
I have a usenet account at Easynews.com. They’re highly recommended, by the way. In the aftermath of the tsunami disaster in Asia, they’ve really stepped up to the plate. For every gig of data that users give up from their download quota, Easynews is donating 50 cents to Red Cross relief efforts. The maximum donation of $50,000 was hit a few days ago. Just over 100 terabytes of downloads were donated. 20gb of it was mine I think. Simply amazing! The number of deaths in this tragedy is enough to boggle my mind; I just can’t comprehend it. Thankfully, this 100TB figure hits the same level.
Thanks Brandon for the inspiration.
’04 has come and gone. I was going to write a part V entry of my favorite TV shows from the year. Instead, I’ll just list ’em. Lost, Stargate: Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica are three quality new shows. My current favorite on TV, including non-new shows, is still Arrested Development. Nothing else makes me laugh as regularly.
New Year’s Eve was fun. Kirsten and Brandon showed up on the 30th (mere hours after I returned to Oakland), we had dinner and visited Dave and Buster’s. Then on the 31st a large cadre of friends joined in: Amber, Justin, Dan, Brandi, John, Chris, Jesse and Tiffiny were all here at one point or another. Revelry was had by all. And the pepperoni bread was much delicios. Got so wrapped up in revelry that we almost missed midnight. And I am now in possession of far too many half empty bottles of various types of liquor.
Weather has been chaotic recently. New Year’s Eve soared into the mid 50s, even past midnight. I had the heat off and windows open. Very surreal. Today cooled off a bit, but still no sign of snow or anything resembling it. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.
I graduate in just a bit over 7 months. Then a job! I can’t wait really. But I’m gonna enjoy my few days before classes start up again this week.
Anyway, that is all. Gonna go catch some shut-eye. Less rambly in the future, I promise.
2004 was a year of greatness in video games. Unfortunately, it all came crammed in right at the end of the year, and I have no time to play them all… Here’s my favs, classified for no apparent reason:
Action game of the year: Halo 2 – Duh. 🙂 Despite the cliffhanger ‘ending’ and a few other minor problems, Halo 2 is still the best game I’ve ever played. Think about that. Ever. Even handicapped, Halo 2 blows everything else out of the water. Granted, it merges in my head with the whole ILoveBees phenomenon. But still. Halo 2 actually lived up to 95% of the hype it had going, which is worth an award by itself.
RPG of the year: The Bard’s Tale – I’ve commented on this game before. I’m still playing through the quest, but the novel magic and party system are really well executed. And any game that gives you bonus points for being ‘snarky’ in the right situation is A-OK by me.
RPG I haven’t had time to fully play yet of the year: Star Wars – Knights of the Old Republic II – I’ve played the first couple hours and liked what I saw. After I finish The Bard’s Tale it’s next up for serious play time. I beat KOTOR 1 in about a week, and killed Brian’s Xbox in the process. Hoping to avoid that this time around.
Bizarre game of the year: Donkey Konga – Picture DDR. With BONGOS! You play along with Donkey Kong on screen and try to match the rhythms. There’s a decent selection of recognizable songs, and getting a group together to play it is an unparalled experience.
Game I really want to play of the year: Call of Duty: Finest Hour – What can I say? I’m a sucker for WWII first person shooters, and this looks like a great one. I’d almost buy it for Michael Giacchino‘s music alone.
Today Brandon informed me that Metal Gear Solid 3 has a mode that centers around hunting cartoonish monkeys. If i had a PS2 I’d check it out for that alone.
I’ve written way too much tonight. I may not post for the next couple days, as I’ve got many people coming into town for New Year’s. Gonna be a blast! But stay tuned, I’ve still got TV and tech wrapup entries in me yet.
And now – packing.
This is going to be a far from inclusive list. Plus, I’m only including full albums that rocked. I’m not counting singles or individual tracks that I really liked. Might list a few of those at the end.
First up, a tie for Album of the Year.
Honorable mentions:
Those are the new in ’04 albums that rocked my world this year. Other music I discovered, but might not have been put out this year includes:
Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, No Doubt – The Singles, Splashdown (more on them in a feature post eventually), The Decemberists (particularly Billy Liar), Offspring, Bad Religion, and others.
