I downloaded the subbed Casshern live-action movie several months back. Only reason I haven’t posted it here is cuz the subs won’t encode into flv format. Oh well. I finally got around to watching it with some friends by streaming it from my computer via s-video cable. 3 friends were present but only 1 of them stayed awake for the whole movie and he didn’t like it. All he wanted to see was action but that’s not what this movie is all about. Does that mean it was a bad movie? Fuck no!

The special effects techniques are the same as 300 (although this came out long before that). I don’t have a single complaint as far as that’s concerned. Everything blended in perfectly and didn’t look unrealistic given the subject matter. I was actually in awe of some scenes cuz it just looked unbelievable. The designs were just amazing. I can only imagine what it would look like on the big screen (lucky japs) or in an IMAX dome. I think this movie would be best seen in hd, 1080p preferably. I still have a CRT tv. 27 inch. Gonna be changing that in due time though. Looking at Samsung’s HL-T6189s as a future purchase. With 3d, digital backlot, cg, and motion capture technology making their way to the mainstream, I wanna be ready.

I didn’t watch the US release dvd. I downloaded a torrent of the jap version with subs which means mine was uncut. From what I’ve been hearing, the US version is heavily edited and the subs are different and simplified for ease of readability. That’d mean the story is probably gonna differ if that’s true. If you’re familiar with the old Casshan anime, you might as well throw your memories out the window cuz this movie is nothing like that. Only thing that’s the same is the title character. Everything else is different. Where the anime was about robots deciding that humans were the biggest threat to the preservation of the Earth and we needed to be eliminated accordingly, the theme of this movie is about human coexistence.

Sure, like most movies, it has its holes. Some plot points are hard to follow while others don’t make any sense at all as the movie progresses. The big action scene (Casshern’s debut) takes place about an hour in and is pretty short. There’s only 2 other big scenes: in the middle and at the end. The thing about this movie is that the director is trying to make a point about human coexistence but you won’t realize that till the very end which has a very surprising and well thought out twist. Scenes jump around frequently. One instance, you’ll be in the present. The next, you’ll be in the past and segues aren’t very smooth all the time. Some parts drag on and don’t seem to progress the story at all but all of that is for a reason. Everything wraps up at the end of the movie. And I mean everything! If you were in the dark about something, for the most part, it gets explained.

I admired the denouement which I think could also serve as the climax. It’s very dramatic. No action, just pure dramatic exposition done very, very well to the point where I like the technique so much that I might incorporate it into my own future works. Really, it had a similar effect as The Sixth Sense. Overall, I’d recommend it (original subbed version). Don’t expect all this crazy action cuz it just ain’t gonna be there for you. Like I said before, 3 big scenes, that’s it. Everything else serves to advance the theme. Acting is believable. Action scenes are well choreographed but too short. Clearly some of them serve a bigger purpose than to just wow the audience but those purposes aren’t always explained. Other events in the movie aren’t explained either as far as relevance to the plot. That’s about the only weakness to the movie. Some things just plain and simply aren’t explained. They happen but the director doesn’t bother to tell us why. Or even how in some cases.

But putting those things to the side, it won’t take away from the enjoyment or understanding of the movie. You can interpret certain things your own way and still know what’s going on although the writer should have taken care of the details. The director may have even slighted certain scenes specifically for you to do that as well. Who knows. Either way, I think it was a really good movie. I’m not saying great or excellent. Just really good and that’s not a bad thing at all. 3 and a half out of 5 stars if that helps. Special effects, action, drama, style, and a positive theme to cap it all off. I mention style because even though the movie is full of robots and shit, they still drive cars with designs from many decades past among other stylistic touches. If you can get your hands on an uncut version and have an open mind (and a quality hd tv), you should enjoy this.

I just installed RealPlayer 11 a few days back. It has a Windows Media Player feel to it now. It basically has a similar skin and gui which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Player size doesn’t reduce horizontally like before. Drop down menus at the top will always be in full view unless you go into theater mode. Not too thrilled with that cuz I used to reduce my player size when playing mp3’s. Now I’ve got this big ol’ bar sittin’ on my screen. It also lets you scroll through the video in real time. Before, you could scroll but the video didn’t follow. Now you can (depending on file type). I do like that feature. You can burn dvd’s now (in RealPlayer plus via plugin) but I haven’t used that feature. Yep, I got a cracked plus version. Ain’t hard to find and no worries about the player losing functionality if it connects to the net. Works fine.

A big feature they’re trying to promote is that you can download web video. I tried it on a few sites but YouTube is the only one it worked on. Not to say it won’t work on others but since that’s the main one, yeah, it’ll download YouTube video to your computer. Being that those are in flv format, guess what? It plays flv files now. That alone is a great feature that more media players should look into (playing flv files) but I prefer flvplayer because it provides more playback info. They also promote the ability to transfer vids to an iPod but that’s something I’ll never be able to test since I don’t have, or want, one of those.

Also, when playing vids, you can fast forward and rewind in 2x, 8x, and 16x speeds, unlike before. Most people warn you to avoid RealPlayer but it’s been my preferred media player since the beginning. It doesn’t do everything, but it does most of what I need in a media player. I’ve also got wmp11, QuickTime Pro, and PowerDVD Ultra installed so I’ve got all those to fall back on if I run into any probs. Why do I have all those on my computer? Cuz no one player does every single thing I want it to do.

Scott Hall fans wanting to see his recent match in AAA can watch it right here on my site. Just click the pro wrestling link to the right. Or click here to watch the vid directly. I got some changes coming up to the free vids section so some links are gonna get switched around in due time. But for now, you can see that match absolutely free (it’ll always be free) in medium quality. No need to speak or understand spanish to enjoy it either. He came out to NWO music with Ron Killings and Sean Waltman. Gotta admit, I was marking out just watching it. Whether you like the guy or not, you can’t deny his name value and place in the biz. He’s had very well documented personal probs but he still looks good. Last time I saw him was in TNA but like everyone there, he wasn’t used right. He does some smaller shows here and there in the states but I’d say this was his first nationally televised, big league match in a while.

Click here for a slideshow of pics and here for wallpaper. Click here to watch the video.

I’ve been wanting to go to this auto show for years now. No one wanted to go with me cuz no one gives a shit about cars like I do. Nothing new. I have no friends that are into all the hobbies I’m into. Friends? Yeah. Friends with hobbies in common? Not many. I flew solo and lucky for me it was my day off and I had the next day off too. The thing opened at 10a but I slept in and eventually walked in the front doors about 2 hours later. I was sidetracked by SeaWorld’s new water park: Aquatica. I stopped to take some pics there before I parked and shit. Parking was posted as 10 bucks, which I was fully prepared to pay, but the attendant charged me 6. She did ask what event I was coming to see so I guess the price was dependent on that.

I parked up on the 4^th level and realized it was windy as hell and kinda chilly. Good thing I brought a hoodie (which I never used btw). I brought my tripod too (never used that either). Depending on the size of the event, they let you park at the convention center but apparently there was multiple events going on in both of them so they utilized the parking garage just in case shit might fill up (I guess). Some people was like “Fuck the shuttle! I ain’t waitin’. Let’s walk.” Shit, man, that was a long ass fucking walk. Guess they didn’t know. Just cuz you can see that big ass fucking convention center don’t mean that motherfucker is close.

Hopped on the shuttle and had to endure listening to this dumb ass white bitch talkin’ dumb ass cracker bullshit that ain’t even worth mentioning. You can hear a little of her talkin’ shit in the first vid when I’m on the shuttle. Just fucking retarded ass banter. Talkin’ like a fucking valley girl, Paris Hilton type, stupid blonde stereotype shit. I can’t stand bitches that talk like that. Guess they think cuz famous Cali bitches do it that that shit is in. Bitch, talk in your regular voice before you got up on that stupid ass bullshit. A nigger ain’t gonna see you as nothin’ more than a piece of hit-and-run pussy talkin’ like that. And a dumb one at that. Dumb bitch.

Gladly getting off the shuttle upon arrival at the front door, I snapped some shots on my way to buy my ticket. 5 bucks with a student id. There’s plenty of other discounts too but I ain’t gonna explain all that shit here. Took a piss cuz I was holding that shit for a while and figured I’d do that GM Experience first cuz it was closest but opted to go inside and check shit out first. Damn hall was a lot bigger than I ever woulda thought. Immediately I knew I wouldn’t get to see everything. If I woulda got there when it opened and had no plans on taking pics or vids, then yeah, I woulda soaked it all in. But me being a pic-taking freak, it just wasn’t gonna happen. I know next year to give myself 2 days to do everything I wanna do.

I stopped to fill out some contest shit (didn’t win a goddamn fucking thing) and made my way down to the very far end and planned on working my way to the other end. Where I ended up, they had some fucking Ferrari’s, Lambo’s, Bentley’s, Royce’s and shit…I didn’t get all geechy and shit like some people. Ain’t my fucking car and ain’t never gonna be, what am I gettin’ all excited about? Still, I could appreciate a well designed speed and luxo machine. All the exotic and super-expensive cars was in that back area. Lots of classic cars too. But the highlight was when I ran into Robert Nathans on my way out of that area. He’s the top dog of IBIZ Wax products. Never seen or heard of him before but there’s no doubt that he’s a salesman. I taped one of his sales demos (video 2) and he’s an interactive, hands on guy. Has 100% confidence in his product and for good reason: cuz it works! And if I endorse it (cuz I saw it firsthand), then you truly know it does.

I didn’t buy any of his product at that moment in time but I’ll get some later cuz I got some damn love bugs on the front of my car that’ve been sittin’ there for a bit. Need a car wash too. And a vacuuming. Shit, I need a straight up good detailing. But I want that product used on the exterior though. May and September. Boy, those months suck! He was humorous and even abrasive at times but you know what? That’s a salesman for you. He even plugged an upcoming QVC appearance (and here I am doing the same fucking thing albeit free of charge): 12/4/07 between 7a-8a. Don’t know what his tv persona’s gonna be like but if his demo is anything like what you see here (spray paint on the car and all), it’ll be entertaining and informational.

From there, I walked around taking more pics and vids. I was expecting the car girl models to be more like magazine cover bitches or using Asian and European style but instead it was typical yip-yap Americans. Don’t get me wrong, the talent was great. Most of those chics were top notch. And it was mostly all chics that I saw hockin’ wares, reiterating the fact that women are being exploited to sell cars via their looks. You see it in your local car commercials all the time. Even at the dealership. Hot bitch trying to make a sale based on her legs and tits hangin’ all out and shit. But them bitches don’t think about that shit, now do they? They just want that paycheck at the end of the week. Now, I ain’t hatin’. If you got it, use that shit. But just know that by doing so you’re being exactly what the male species in charge wants you to be: eye candy. So don’t fucking complain about your position in this country when you validate it every second of every day. Like I’ve said in past articles: Old men in the media? Plenty. Old women? Hardly any.

The concept cars I had time to peep of note were the Ford Shelby GR-1 and the Mitsubishi Eclipse Concept E. That Shelby was just chromed the fuck out and super aerodynamic and that Eclipse was just tight as fuck. Especially that paint job and profile. Nice. I only completed 2 halls before it started getting late. I stopped to grab a bite and of course shit was expensive as hell. $5.50 for a fucking hot dog and a .99 cent size bag of chips. But I gotta be real with ya, that fucking hot dog was good as fuck! One of the best I ever had. Fuck Armour, Oscar Mayer, Ball Park, and all them other motherfuckers. The OCCC is high on that toplist now! And that’s the honest fucking truth.

But there was a prob and I’m sure anti-immigration people will just love this one. Total came out to $5.50 even, right? I gave the fucking dumb old dothead bitch 6 bucks, right? Stupid ass bitch couldn’t understand my order for one. Had to keep repeating myself and that shit was getting frustrating. She couldn’t speak english for two. So how the fuck she gonna count money, huh? Talkative ass cracker bitch stepped in to complete the order and shit and had to speak all slow and calm for space case to understand it enough to ring it up. Idiot ass shouldn’t even be doing that type of shit if she ain’t fuckin’ qualified. But here’s what’s fucked up. I gave space case that 6 bucks (a 5 and a 1) and dumb ass fuckbrain gave me back $5.50! I was like, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

If I was the dishonest type, I woulda took the money and ran. But since I’ve done that type of work (more specifically, I’ve done her exact same job in the exact same place) and know the importance of register totals matching up to receipts, I gave her back the 5. Shoulda seen the look on her face. She knew she fucked the fuck up big fuckin’ time. And I’ll bet any amount of money she fucked up like that before with other people. Giving money away and shit cuz some piece of shit let her old dottie ass work the register and she can’t tell a 5 from a fucking 20 and shit. I ain’t mad at her. I got beef with the fucktard who hired her. How the hell she even fill out the fucking application? Somebody else did it for her ass? What about the fucking interview? How the hell did she pass that one? If she was a temp and she can’t speak fucking english, how the fuck she gonna understand what the fuck people want to eat? And how’d she pass their hiring process? She should be serving the food, not the cash. The whole thing was bullshit.

When I got done with that, I had 2 more halls to go and it just wasn’t gonna happen. I did a little more videotaping and called it a day. On my way out, I found out there was some comedy and step show going on in the Linda Chapin Auditorium related to the Florida Classic weekend. Oh yeah, mad pussy was out there. Mostly jailbait though. And since they were all black, plenty of cops were around too. They just go hand in hand, don’t they? I only managed to snap one pic cuz I didn’t want nobody thinkin’ I was tryin’ to get shots of all them young girls (dressed like skanks) and shit. But the one pic I did manage to take says it all when dealing with a black event.

I bailed outta there, hopped on the shuttle which cruised around to the north concourse to drop off and pick up, got off and went to my car in the now empty parking garage, and went home. Didn’t get to test drive or tinker with shit or climb the Jeep rock climbing wall. But there’s always next year and I’m definitely going and giving myself 2 days to enjoy it fully. Concept cars were off limits obviously but mostly everything else you could get in and play around with just like at a car lot to see how shit works, fits your bod, and tickles your fancy. Lots of contests and presentations (by hot ladies). There’s the interactive aspect like kids day (featuring the pedophile dream job of Ronald McDonald) and the Spyder demo ride. No keys in any cars for obvious reasons. Some cars even had the knob removed from the gear shift for the overzealous. Lots to do. Recommended? Of course, but only if you’re a car nut or have a general interest like me. Otherwise, there’s nothing for you here…except cashiers giving out the greatest prize of all.

On a final note, I probably pulled off my greatest practical joke ever by convincing certain friends of mine that I won this Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera. Monte Patterson, representing Ultimate Motor Works of Longwood, FL, assisted by giving a videotaped (using my smartphone) message of my bogus contest win. He totally skewered my last name but that’s perfectly fine. I still got the desired result. The video was the icing on the cake as it validated the entire joke (because my friends didn’t believe me at first) and they fell for the whole thing and are still in the dark as I’m typing this. Morons think I sold the car already for 200 g’s and I’m sittin’ pretty right now. What a bunch of fucking idiots! The cat’s out of the bag now but that’s only if they read this. Thanks again to Mr. Patterson. Couldn’t have done it without him.

Earlier today, on my way to the Central Florida International Auto Show at the Orange County Convention Center, I caught a glimpse of SeaWorld’s new waterpark; Aquatica. My friend told me about it a few weeks before but he didn’t have any info other than Busch Entertainment, along with moving their corporate hq here, was building a new water park in Orlando. Like we needed yet another one to add to the 5 already in the Central Florida area. Jeez, talk about oversaturation (no pun intended).

I saw something colorful I never saw before when I was exiting the Beachline Expressway to get on I-drive and just knew that’s what it was. I didn’t think much of it at first. I kept on about my merry way but the photog in me made a u and I went into a construction entrance to snap a couple shots. Hell on wheels, lemme tell ya. Dusty as fuck too. Got shit all on my lens and everything. Got the hell outta there and then went into what’s gonna be the main entrance and stopped just short of the guard shack. Got about 4 good pics before the security guard’s fat ass started wobbling his way towards me, waving his arms in an effort to get me to stop shooting. I just nonchalantly got in my car and drove off without incident. I ain’t worried about none of them motherfuckers. What the fuck is someone in his shape gonna do? Shit, that’s what. You’ve seen these old, fat, crippled, blind, retard security personnel. You know what the fuck I’m talkin’ about.

Got shots of everything visible except for one water ride. I was just about to get the shot but that guard showed up and fucked up my shit. No biggie. The construction workers know what’s goin’ down but apparently the powers that be don’t want anyone else to. But I got balls and will do whatever to get that shot. Every time! The joint is supposed to open in Spring 2008. Their slogan is “A place where fun is as endless as the sea itself.” Technically, that’d be the ocean itself but hey, they know better than me. They’re all connected anyway so whatever. These thumbnails’ll give you an idea of their current progress and a general idea of what to expect. Click a pic for a larger image.

**UPDATE** (5/7/2008)
I’ve actually taken a trip to Aquatica and you can read up on my experience, see pics, and watch a video by clicking here.