Sapient makes pretty

For fans of Sandpeople (who are hear almost within range of outnumbering the group members themselves) there can be few greater joys than hearing a good solo project from the group.

Thankfully, Sapient is the driving force behind a damned good solo project that should be lauded frequently and vocally.

Observe:

6 cups, 1 box

All I want to know is, when is this going to be available at the student store? (And yes, this is a real product that you can buy with dollars.)

Oscar Nominations!

In announcing things that don't really matter news, the Acadamy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences released the 2009 Oscar nominees today, and they pretty much went exactly as expected.

Here they are (with some links to Vanguard reviews):

BEST PICTURE

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - The Reader

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Amy Adams - Doubt
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Taraji P Henson - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

BEST DIRECTOR

David Fincher - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant - Milk
Stephen Daldry - The Reader
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

BEST FOREIGN FILM

The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Eric Roth and Robin Swicord - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button;
John Patrick Shanley - Doubt
Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon
David Hare - The Reader
Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Courtney Hunt - Frozen River
Mike Leigh - Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh - In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter - WALL-E

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

BEST ART DIRECTION

Changeling
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Changeling
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST SOUND MIXING

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

BEST SOUND EDITING

The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - Alexandre Desplat
Defiance - James Newton Howard
Milk - Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire - AR Rahman
WALL-E - Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Down To Earth from WALL-E - Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman
Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire - AR Rahman and Gulzar
O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire - AR Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

BEST COSTUME

Australia
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters At The End Of The World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness - From The Balcony Of Room 306

BEST FILM EDITING

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST MAKE-UP

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory - Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Auf Der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon On The Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Weights that wear tights and shout at you (encouragingly)

Members of Gymbox in Bank, central London, can choose to lift any of five differently sized "human weights".

Wearing Lycra catsuits which label their weight, they sit on specially adapted machines and shout words of encouragement.

The "dumbbells" include two dwarfs – 32-year-old Arti Shah, who weighs just 4.5 stones (30kg) and 64-year-old Mike Edwards, who weighs 8 stones (55kg).

At the other end of the scale for those with stronger muscles is 24 stones (155kg) Matt Barnard, 37.

Gymbox owner Richard Hilton said: "A lot of our members felt that lifting metal weights was boring and not especially motivating.

"They said that they had no idea what they were lifting."

Full story at the Telegraph

Miley Cyrus colonizes another cultural outlet

Since the target demographic of this blog is tweens (obviously) I feel obligated to report on the imminent Miley Cyrus movie that is coming dangerously close to a release date.

According to the trailer, "Hannah Montana: The Movie" will involve the following elements (in no particular order): Tyra Banks, cows, a blonde wig, shoe fighting, agrarianism, soul patches, product placement, and shame.

To see these things in their glorious and horrifying element take a look at the (unfortunately un-embedable) trailer.

I'm already prepping my lawsuit for their shameless aping of my fan fiction.

Prop 8 The Musical

I know this is about a month old but, in light of Obama's moving inauguration speech about turning the country around, I thought this was an appropriate post for anyone that hasn't already seen this video.

Chrono Trigger: Timeless

After almost 14 years, countless overwhelmingly positive reviews and a status that borders on legendary, I can tell you there’s not much I can say about Chrono Trigger that hasn’t been said already.

The game was an instant smash when it was released in 1995, peaking the twilight years of the SNES. Fans and critics alike loved the concept, which took the masterminds behind Japan’s twin role-playing colossi, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, and fused them together to create a sprawling, time-traveling epic. They loved the execution even more.

Six years went by. Square decided to re-release the game for the ps one, complete with a vastly improved translation and an assortment of flashy new anime cutscenes from the game’s character designer, Dragonball’s Akira Toriyama. Gamers everywhere went ga-ga, myself included.

Now, with the treads of the Square-Enix remake machine running arguably past full power as they have since 2006, Chrono Trigger is back for round three, this time on Square-Enix’s perennial favorite, the DS.

This new, travel-friendly edition has all the bells and whistles included with the ps one release, plus a touch screen mode which unclutters the game’s battle screens, an improved (read: richer and more nuanced) translation and a goofy monster battling mini-game reminiscent Dragon Quest VIII’s monster arena, among a few other surprises.

And while I could spend this review saying what’s already firmly been established—that Chrono Trigger is without a doubt one of the best RPGs ever made, as many so fervently believe—that would be a proverbial waste of breath.

What I can tell you is this: when you have a host of next-gen games at your fingertips and you still find yourself gravitating towards a 14-year-old game that made its debut before today's run-of-the-mill gaming technology had really even been in use, you know it’s something special.

The remake angle is not a new concept for Square, who have been re-releasing past Final Fantasy’s and other titles since well before they gave Chrono Trigger another chance in the limelight.

But unlike even past Final Fantasy reworkings, Chrono Trigger has arguably retained its damn-near immortal status not because just because it’s good, but because it’s a game with personality and character.

Sure, there’s plenty of games that have great characters or an engaging story, but few can pump the kind of blood into a tale like this one does—a tale of friendship, heroism, and good old fashioned good and evil. Like revisiting a classic film, the straightforward charms of both the game’s characters and gameplay will bring a smile to the face of even the most jaded gamer, something few games can pull this off this well, even today.

So, can you really improve on a classic? That seems to be the question that Square-Enix is driving at (or attempting to) with the changes pumping blood through this new iteration.

The new translation is, for the most part, a much deeper and more subtle script that adds to the overall experience, if in a slightly superfluous way.

The ps one’s translation was perfectly fine, and in some cases even better—for example, the decision to eliminate Frog’s quasi-Shakespearean mode of speech, present in the ps one edition a la Vagrant Story or the PSP’s Final Fantasy Tactics redux The War of the Lions, is a definite tragedy.

However, this is a minor complaint amidst a host of new or improved features.

The DS edition’s touch-screen capabilities are a nice touch, as is the handy and ever-present map that occupies the lower screen. The sweeping score remains an aural treat, and the anime cutscenes, ported over from the ps one release, look cleaner and (for the most part) sharper than ever. Even the little pauses that cropped up in the playstation edition after winning a battle have been (seemingly) reduced, and drastically.

And while its important for those of you who haven’t played Chrono Trigger to know that it plays like a game that was made in 1995, that shouldn't be a deterrent. In all likelihood, games wouldn’t be the same today without the important innovations Square first unveiled here.

Aside from the game’s engrossing clockwork narrative, Chrono Trigger set precedents with its multiple endings, unique battle system (goodbye, random battles) and new game plus, a concept that allowed you to take your leveled-up characters and play through the game with them again. All of these concepts have since been used in countless other RPGs.

The best form of praise (or perhaps the most paid attention to) I can give the game, however, is that it’s still a blast to play. Now that Square has seen fit to re-release it for the next generation of gaming tykes, I only hope they too can look past age and experience firsthand all the heart and soul this game has beating inside it.

Chrono Trigger may be well into its own twilight years now, but believe me—it’s still got it.


Chrono Trigger
4.5 out 5 stars
Square-Enix
Nintendo DS
$39.99