Source Dorks is a pop culture blog written by a circle of friends who frequently meet to play games and geek out at Source Comics and Games in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Anime Network Online has the first two episodes of Gainax's new show Gurren Lagann. Gainax has best been known for works that sort of rethink or revise old anime tropes. Neon Genesis Evangaleon re-imagined the traditional giant robot mileu with religious underpinnings and contemporary teen angst (way better than it sounds). Their feature, Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise is a low-key drama about a fledgling space program -- a sci-fi flavored The Right Stuff. I'm a big fan of their FLCL -- perhaps their most navel-gazing and all around bizarre series.
Gurren Lagaan feels like straight up fantasy, with zany battles and a little bit of pre-pubescent fan service thrown in for good measure. And robots. Lots of giant, fighting robots.
The pilot, "Pierce the Heavens With Your Drill!" can be found under the "Giant Robots" heading at the Anime Network Online site.
so, if any of you see a fat man wearing red in your house tonight, no that is not santa coming a day late, taht is me stealing your wii and strapping it to my head.
I've always said that this song from Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas would make a great cover. I dig how the snake makes "deedle-deedle-dee" sounds when he plays the guitar solos.
Last night I had a dream about turntablists. I must be, subconsciously, preparing for the upcoming DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist tour. On that note, here's an old, but fascinating documentary about the "Amen" break -- the six most ubiquitous seconds of drums in pop culture.
The best flash dungeoncrawler you'll play today has to be Monsters' Den. Sure, the title's a little pat but you won't find more hack and slash per minute this side of Progress Quest.
If that isn't your style, you may enjoy this CCG-style game I keep going back to. Wolf will love it if he can get past playing with a random deck each time. (*correction: The game does allow you to build a custom deck. Sorry for the mistake*)
Of course, the best ASCII dungeoncrawler you'll play today is still nethack.
1. Blondie: "One Way or Another" 2. Bow Wow Wow: "I Want Candy" 3. L7: "Pretend We're Dead" 4. Feist: "One, Two, Three, Four" 5. Kate Bush: "Running Up That Hill" 6. Ladytron: "Destroy Everything You Touch" 7. Nancy Sinatra: "These Boots Are Made For Walking" 8. Portishead: "Sour Times" 9: Rainer Maria: "Ears Ring" 10: Bratmobile: "Panik" 11: Concrete Blonde: "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)" 12: Kim Wilde: "You Keep Me Hangin' On" 13: The Breeders: "Cannonball" 14: Heart: "Magic Man" 15: The Go Gos: "We Got the Beat" 16: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts: "I Love Rock and Roll" 17: Pat Benetar: "Heartbreaker" 18: Nico & The Velvet Underground: "All Tomorrow's Parties" 19. Kim Carnes: "Bette Davis Eyes" 20. Mickey: "Toni Basil" 21. Cyndi Lauper: "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" 22. Eurythmics: "Here Comes the Rain Again" 23: Bikini Kill: "Rebel Girl" 24: Elastica: "Stutter" 25: Cansei Di Ser Sexy: "Fuck Off Is Not The Only Thing You Have To Show"
I stumbled upon Toonami Jetstream the other day. It's Cartoon Network's web video service. The cool thing about this (compared to, say, major network feeds) is that it features shows not quite ready for prime time. Take BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo, an anime about an afro-clad hero who fights using his nose hairs to protect the populace from gangsters who want to force everyone to go bald. The show is seriously surreal and quite funny.
Also notable are Eyeshield 21 (a football drama) and Hikaru no Go (a show that gives Go lessons as it tells the story of a young player).
To me Toonami Jetstream is a clear sign that networks are loosening up to the idea of presenting foreign-made content with minimal (if any) localization. The Hikaru no Go lesson clips are subtitled for Pete's sake!
Anyway, the only downside to this service is that the episodes are only available for a limited time. That means the first episode of BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo and a good part of the Hikaru no Go episodes are no longer available. Lame.
When Mike was in town he mentioned that he'd finally seen The Seven Samurai. I promised that I'd turn him on to some other awesome samurai flicks. Thematically The Hidden Fortress might be the closest, but I'd probably rent Yojimbo and Sanjuro first. These are the flicks that inspired Sergio Leone's three Man With No Name movies, particularly A Fist Full of Dollars, which is a straight-up remake of Yojimbo. I also mentioned Throne of Blood, which is a samurai retelling of MacBeth -- total Shakespeare emo, but very awesome.
In our conversation I also mentioned that four of Kurosawa's early films had fallen into the public domain. Rashomon, Stray Dog, Sugata Sanshiro and Ikuru can all be streamed from the site. I recommend nabbing the higher quality divx files and streaming them to your Xbox 360 from your PC.
Portishead played All Tomorrow's Parties yesterday, revealing a much harsher sound. The change is welcome considering how fouled the trip hop waters have gotten. Deaf Indie Elephants has ripped mp3s of the band's three new songs. Their new LP is due in '08. Joy.
I've used this space to bag on the lame, new songs that made the cut in Rock Band. So now I'm putting my money where my mouth is. Here's a list of awesome songs, recorded in the last decade, that would make ideal downloadable tracks. Sure, most people haven't heard of half of these bands. But, you know what? It's about time they did.
Call the Lawyers:
1. Art Brut - "Formed a Band" - Duh, right? 2. Spoon - "I Turn My Camera On" - I wish so many of their songs weren't all sparse and piano-y 3. The Black Lips - "Veni Vidi Vici" - I find this song imminently singable 4. LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends" - There's a single edit that's a little shorter. It was a toss up between this and "New York I Love You" 5. Liars - "Mr. Your On Fire Mr." - Easily their catchiest song. They've been running from it for the past five years 6. Death From Above 1979 - "Blood on Our Hands" - I know, these guys are a trio. Sue me 7. TV on the Radio - "Young Liars" - Rock Band could use some nice, down-tempo tracks 8. My Morning Jacket - "Off the Record" - I always think Joe Jackson when I hear this 9. Wolf Parade - "I'll Believe in Anything"- I like the idea of everybody pitching in to sing this one 10. The Decemberists - "Sons & Daughters" - Jeez. I'm thinking that song about Los Angeles would be pretty hot too. 11. Raconteurs - "Steady as She Goes" - If they wanted they could get those versions of the White Stripes songs with bass parts added in by the guy from Redd Kross 12. Entrance - "Grim Reaper Blues" - Rock Band needs more psyche 13. The Sword - "Winter's Wolves" - I always hoped that Guitar Hero II would help blow this band up 14. Tool - "Schism" - For the prog metal geeks 15. The Mars Volta - "The Widow"- To make the Pitchfork guys scream. I really, dig this as a single 16. The Thermals - "Here's Your Future" - For guys who like Fugazi, Bad Religion, etc. 17. The Hold Steady - "Chips Ahoy"- I was tempted to pick something from the older record 18. Arcade Fire - "Wake Up" - What a racket you could make with this one 19. The Rapture - "House of Jealous Lovers" - Dance punk is perfect for Rock Band 20. Wilderness - "End of Freedom" - A little moodier than your typical track 21. The Ponys - "Exile on My Street" - A straight rocker. The vocals reminds me of Faith No More's first singer 22. Klaxons - "Magick" - I could do with their whole album as a download 23. Early Man - "Death is the Answer" - For the guys who can channel Ozzy 24. !!! - "Heart of Hearts" - Another dance punk jam 25. McLusky - "To Hell With Good Intentions" - Only a sample on imeem, but damn does this song rock. Albini.
Here's an imeem playlist with all of the songs: EDIT: Launch the playlist as standalone to hear the full tracks.
Next time: Songs That Need to Be In Rock Band: Part II - Something For The Ladies
I try not to let opportunities slip past me. It's not like I run around screaming, "carpe diem" or anything, but I am a bit of hedonism bot when it comes to granting myself things and experiences. Listening to Alive, the new Daft Punk concert record, makes me want to kick myself squarely in the ass for not finding some way, any way to see these guys in person. Serves me right for looking down my hipster nose at Lollapalooza.
Seriously. Cop this record. It's the closest thing you can get to cramming transcendence directly in your ear holes.
You can hear the latest single from The Breeders on their MySpace page. It's a languid, down-tempo track with a tantalizing but brief interlude of rockage . Oh, how I've missed Kim's sweet, sweet voice.
