I've been testing out Twitter with some updates and insights on the happenings of Muttpop and my own interests. If any of you are into the twitter thing, be sure to follow me at:

www.twitter.com/muttpop

My account is also linked to our info(at)muttpop.com email address.

I try to add a few shiny nuggets of Muttpop news to keep things interesting for those of you that care to follow!

I'm normally not one to get caught up in US Politics... but Obama continues to impress me with his actions of respect, grace, and humility. This is the first time that I can remember a US Presidential Candidate/President acknowledging and respecting others despite their political affiliation and/or personal beliefs. It is quite refreshing.

I was half expecting the end of George W. Bush's Presidential tenure to be punctuated with the WIZARD OF OZ song and dance number "The Wicked Witch is Dead!". But Obama and his team gave Bush and his position as President genuine respect. I found it really classy that President Obama and the First Lady saw off Mr. and Mrs. George W. Bush as they left via helicopter.

I love SOUL BUBBLES. Yeah, the name's pretty lame... but once I had the chance to play it on my Nintendo DS, the joy I experienced rivaled my earliest experiences playing OUENDAN (my all time favorite Nintendo DS game). This puzzle platformer succeeds in integrating the unique qualities of the Nintendo DS into a deep and enjoyable gaming experience that is perfectly suited for the on-the-go nature of the console. If you are looking for a relaxing and challenging game for your DS, I highly recommend SOUL BUBBLES (but keep in mind it's sold exclusively at Toys R Us).

GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE:

DIRECTOR'S DIARY:

Jerry's photos of the pack of Raccoons that visited him last night reminded me of the wacky fascination the Japanese have with Tanuki, the Japanese Raccoon Dogs. Tanukis are apparently mischievious shape shifters. You may find statues of them at your favorite Japanese store or restaurant.

For some reason Japanese folklore and art focus on the Tanuki's testicles. The gargantuan huevos are supposed to bring financial prosperity. Apparently the real-life animal have proportionally large testicles. With generations of artistic freedom, Japanase artist have exaggerated this feature to astronomical extremes. Tanuki ball are depicted as HUGE. I mean scrotum dragging on the floor huge; the kind that you can carry over your shoulder, drum music, or perform sumo matches on huge!

I've included some of the wackier examples of Tanuki ball sac syndrome below.

CES 2009 is up and running this weekend. That means we are expected to get a huge influx of information about the latest and greatest game coming out in 2009.

Nothing is better at showing my old school tastes than seeing what games have teased my pallete. Of the stuff I've seen thus far the games I am most excited about are the PSN (PS3 downloadable game) FAT PRINCESS and the Nintendo Wii remake of KLONOA: DOOR TO PHANTOMILE.

FAT PRINCESS is a Capture-The-Flag style game where you and your friends must attack an opposing team's castle and save the princess. The graphics are a wonderful mix of 3D and 2D style and the gameplay looks basic but deep. The awesome title of the game (which has received lots of flack for being so non-politically correct) is based on the fact that you can find pieces of cake to feed the opposing teams captive princess. The more cake she eats the fatter she becomes, making it difficult for the opposing team to carry the princess back to their castle.

KLONOA originally was released on the Sony Playstation. It's a wonderful platform/puzzle game that has a very devoted following but has yet to capture a larger audience. I have fond memories of owning and playing the game on the Playstation (and constantly regret that I sold it back to Funcoland many, many years ago... argh!). The characters and environments are some of the strongest designed in a traditional platform game. I wasn't a big fan of the levels length (puzzles and long levels is a very frustrating mix) but am really looking forward to seeing how the game will look with updated graphics.

At one point, Klonoa makers Namco were flirting with the idea of redesigning Klonoa based on some focus group tests. Considering how much I love Klonoa's original design, I am happy they kept his original design. I have included the "focus group" version of Klonoa below (it's the one on the left).

FAT PRINCESS GAMPLAY:

KLONOA GAMEPLAY:

There's been quite the buzz about "Slumdog Millionaire". It's gotten one of the highest ratings on RottenTomatoes. It's regularly found on Movie Critics 2009 Top Ten Lists.

After watching "Slumdog", I came out of the theatre in fuming anger. I found the movie to be completely irresponsible. It took the easy way with the language of film narrative, the viewers prejudice, and viewer experience to create an exploitative emotional experience.

In other words, "Slumdog Millionaire" was the movie equivalent of a really good prostitute. She knew all the ways to look good and please a man and mindlessly went through her masterful routine. While the majority of the US audience fell in love... I felt betrayed. I was duped into believing I was about to meet a fine Lady and ended up being with a beautiful Whore.

What makes it super frustrating to watch the film is to see the gobs of talent and craftmanship involved in making "Slumdog". From a purely stylistic standpoint, it's a beautiful film. Camera angles and direction are adeptly chosen to be beautiful and narrative. The cinematography was dazzling (but a little to close to the new Hollywood standard of rich blue and orange hues). The actors all gave marvelous performances.

Instead of using this amazing team to create a new kind of story, director Danny Boyle uses familiar exploitative story elements to convince the media and audience at large that the Indian backdrop is enough of a reason to hail "Slumdog" as something groundbreaking. It's all been done before; and "Slumdog" revisits the stories lazily. You have: the poor kids lured by male strangers with sweets into a life of violence, the friend who'd be loyal... if it wasn't for his greed, the innocent boy determined to find his lost love, a boy turning to evil after acquiring a powerful weapon. How can we convey a sense of loss? How about a really dramatic train scene where they try to hold hands as the person runs behind the train! How can we get people to feel the love this young boy feels for his first love? Make her hot, super hot! How can we get people to empathize with the main characters? Let's show them when they are super cute, charming children and torture them!

The movie is an efficient sum of all the tried and true dramatic visual and sound cues from previous films. It moves you... because you've seen it before. I wouldn't really mind the familiarity if the movie took you some place new. But it doesn't. It gives you the same good ol' Hollywood ending where everything concludes neatly and those left live happily ever after.

What do Indians think about the films portrayal of India? I found it to be a huge caricature of the Country. It took the darkest and poorest elements of the Country and made it the norm. I have no problem with exaggeration, but I felt that the way the film was marketed made you feel like the India in the film is the only India that exists. It reminded me of those old films about a safari in Africa where all the African tribes were cannibals with bones through their noses. People saw those film and thought that was Africa. I'm afraid people are going to see this film and think that this is India.

I'm glad I saw the film. It really brought about quite a bit of discussion. But I hated it. It was manipulative and disrespectful to it's audience and the Country and Culture that inspired it.