Sweet criminy... the new SCOTT PILGRIM trailer looks AMAZING! This film is either going to be a huge success or a huge flop (I'm hoping for success!). With it's unique integration of videogame references (hit combos, extra lives, defeated enemies bursting into coins) it immediately says this is NOT the real world. Will the general public "get it"... or will it fail to find its audience and become an eternal cult classic?

Unlike the thematically divisive KICK-ASS, I have a strong feeling this will breakthrough. It's gushing with a sweet style that appeals to both young men and women. With director Edgar Wright at the helm, it's sure to be a quality project.

I'm rooting for this big time. Next TWILIGHT? I sure hope so. :-) There's a LOT to love about the Scott Pilgrim universe.

For the last 2 weeks I've been steadily playing basketball in my new shoes: the Nike Cradle Rock Lows in the Steve Nash 'Home' colors. I'm a bit old school in my shoe tastes. I like my shoes to look like shoes (sorry, not into that pseudo-sci fi flywire stuff). So when I came across photos of the Cradle Rock Lows, I KNEW I had to get a pair. Thing is, you can't purchase them in the USA.

Steve Nash has been wearing them for the majority of the 2009-10 season. Rajon Rondo wore them during the first half of the season (he even had a nifty blue pair for the 2010 All Star game). And yet they can only be purchased from retail outlets in Asia and Canada. I ended up buying mine from Taiwan via eBay. And I absolutely love them.

The White Nash editions cleverly use the PHX Suns Purple and Orange colors on a white shoe. There are plenty of nice touches like a shiny patent white leather on the front and back edges of the shoe, the "(re)fresh" nike logo and purple plaid detail on the tongue, and orange lace holes. It's got the old school basketball styling of many of Nike's Skateboarding shoes.

Performance-wise, I found that it took about 2-3 hours of gameplay to break the shoes in. But after that they felt very comfortable and stable. The puffy tongue and lacing system kept my foot firmly in the shoe (I found it helped to use the outer lace hole at the top to keep my foot in place). The "cushlon" foam felt as reactive as my Nike Zoom shoes with a little more spring upon impact.

I love these shoes so much that I'm debating whether or not to buy another pair (or two). While every other player is sporting their Kobe IV and Kobe V's, I'll be happily playing in my Cradle Rock Lows.

It's pretty cool how certain songs will forever be linked with memories in your life. For me, many of those happened during my years in College (from 1996-2000). It's during that time that I found myself exposed to tons of music that I wouldn't typically listen to. You're around so many different people with passionate tastes that want to share their favorite song of the moment with you. Once in a while, you end up discovering something that resonates with you for a lifetime. Below are a few songs that instantly bring me back to College. Links to playable tracks are found below.

CRIMSON TIDE Theme & Madonna FROZEN: My roommate, Ankush, had this odd ritual of looping these particular songs on his computer to sleep to. Every evening I'd be listening to this stuff BLARING as I'd go to sleep. After a while, I kind of dug listening to them (even though I still have a hard time seeing Crimson Tide as appropriate "nap-time" music).

Prodigy- BREATHE: This was something I just heard and instantly fell in love with. As a dude raised on hip-hop, I wasn't big on Electronica or Drum & Bass... but the Wu-Tang-like Sword Slash Sound FX and menacing beat would immediately get me amped up. I completely forgot about this song until Jerry mentioned Orbital's music. I mistakenly thought Prodigy was Orbital (sorry!) but it ultimately got me to search and find this track. Still love it.

Cake- THE DISTANCE: Once again, my taste in hip-hop can be easily seen in my love for this track. I fell in love with this song the moment I heard it. I was SHOCKED to find that Ankush ended up buying the CD it was on (Fashion Nugget). I loved the album so much that I bought a copy for myself and now consider it an all time favorite.

CRIMSON TIDE THEME:

MADONNA-FROZEN:

PRODIGY- BREATHE:

CAKE- THE DISTANCE:

I've downloaded and played a bit of Gaijin Games BIT.TRIP RUNNER. Despite getting my butt kicked and stuck on level 1-11, I'm enjoying it immensely. It's easily the best game in the Bit.Trip series since the first Bit.Trip game, BEAT. This fourth game in the series continues to experiment with the conventions of the Rhythm Video Game genre while simultaneous exploring the evolution of Video Game design.

With Runner we are starting to finally get into forms of game design that are are a bit more literal. Rather than controlling a blob or square of pixels, the player gets to control Bit.Trip mascot Commander Video. Different buttons allow you to make him jump, slide, kick, and super jump through various levels. Unlike the platforming games of inspiration, you cannot control the speed or direction of the playable character. Keeping with it's rhythm gaming roots, the speed is dictated by the music.

You'd think that such limitations would make the game easy, but it quickly becomes anything but. By forcing you to focus on the timing of button presses, Gaijin tests players' limits of patience, rhythm, and timing. There are no deaths. If you screw up, you're automatically sent back to the beginning of the level. This infinite loop of retries puts you in a hypnotic state that BEGS you to try once more while angrily swearing at the game's cruelty.

The game brought forth a point that I think many have forgotten; that many of the better platforming games are abstractions of rhythm inputs. When playing Super Mario Bros. and Ninja Gaiden on the NES, I'd often find myself in "the zone"... calmly feeling the game levels and breezing through them despite their initial difficulty.

It's a challenge that I wholeheartedly take on, once more.

BIT.TRIP RUNNER 1-11:

SUPER MARIO BROS:

NINJA GAIDEN:

On the surface, the language of American and European comics appears  to be the same. But a quick study of them both reveals that, although  there is some obvious overlap, the two kinds of comics have different  approaches to comic book storytelling.

To illustrate this, I am posting pages of Jodrowsky and Boucq's  BOUNCER (top 2 images) to compare to Palmiotti, Gray, and JH Williams  III's JONAH HEX (bottom 2 images). Artists Francois Boucq (France) and JH  Williams III (USA) are widely regarded as the best in their comic  markets. Although Williams is best known for his more superhero work on  books like PROMETHEA and DETECTIVE COMICS, his beautiful collaboration  with Palmiotti and Gray gives us a wonderful opportunity to compare  comic book pages of a similar genre: that of the Western.

For convenience sake, I found the best pages of both comics that were  already posted online... so they may not be the perfect representation  of either work. But, as both artists use a similar approach to figure  work, it's effective to compare them.

The most obvious difference is the placement of panels. In European  comics, it is rare to find panels overlapping. Panel-to-panel  storytelling adheres to a strict linear approach. One panel leads  logically into the next. Also, panel shapes tend to stay rectangular in  shape and it's rare to find characters or objects breaking the panels'  borders.

By comparison, JH William's Jonah Hex work often breaks up the pace  with panels of different shapes and sizes. You also have moments where  panel-to-panel progression occurs over two pages rather than a single  page. And there are various moments where panels overlap others.

Which is more effective in telling the story? That's open for  discussion. For me, Boucq's more sobre approach gives the scenes he  illustrates clarity and focus. In contrast, JH Williams page adds a more  visceral energy to the page that is difficult to convey in the strict  panel-to-panel approach of Boucq's work. Boucq's work feels like  a beautiful orchestrated piece of Classical music. JH Williams' work  feels more like some great Jazz with a improvisational solo bit thrown  in for good measure.

As a kid, I was a HUGE fan of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). I got mine way later than most (in 1988). My first video game purchase was Bubble Bobble. As a whole, my game purchases were dependent on two things: Nintendo Power game reviews and how much I loved the Box design. Back then, I'd buy most of my games at Fedco and Adray's Electronics. In both places, the game boxes were prominently displayed in a locked glass case (kind of like jewelry). If you were really interested in buying a game, you could ask a sales representative to unlock the glass case, pull out the game you were interested in... and you could STUDY the box so that you could decide if you were going to plop down the cash necessary to buy the game. Of the many games I bought and/or rented these are, hands down, my favorite NES box designs. All images were found on the wonderful cover archive at Moby Games.

GRADIUS (1986): Most of Konami's game had a sophisticated look to them. Gradius is the best example of this. The artwork stands up with the best in Science Fiction art of the time and it just screamed with menace and cool.

NINJA GAIDEN (1989): I LOVE how the flames complemented the flames surrounding Ryu Hyabusa. It's also an effective contrast to have the yellow and red flames surround the blue costume of Ryu. One of my favorite depictions of a ninja, ever!

BIONIC COMMANDO (1988): This is one of the rare NES game covers that tells a story. That was the main reason I rented the game. Too bad the game was so freaking hard. It was also very jarring to see the game graphics are way more red and green than blue.

GOLGO 13 (1988): As a kid raised on James Bond films, I loved this cover. The box was printed with silver ink and really stood out on the shelves. Seeing the hot looking girls in the game screenshots on the back and rumors of a sex scene convinced me this was a must buy!

CASTLEVANIA (1986): Another beautiful Konami cover. I just realized that the layout is very similar to Gradius. Great name for a game, awesome logo design, and just spooky enough to peak a kid's interest.

METALSTORM (1991): I loved robots. Metalstorm had the coolest looking robot I'd seen on any NES cover (Metal Gear was a close second). It helped that you got to play as the robot... but I was mad the robot in the actual game was a boring brown color.