Honestly, it’s a thematic coincidence
typed for your pleasure on 17 March 2007, at 5.47 pmSdtrk: ‘The owl service’ by Pram
This instalment has a theme! See if you can spot it.
+ Japanese company Marutake Sangyo Co., Ltd. makes and sells authentic-style samurai armour. Nice! I suppose owning one of these would be a more extreme/obscure version of being some RenFester or some LARPer, but damnit, I would like to be a samurai for Xmas. Or for Arbor Day, either one.
This armour’s nice! Yeah, I’ll have this one
They’re individually handcrafted, and as such, are extremely well-assembled. Which naturally means they’re, err, a bit pricey.
[05.25.35 PM] Zip Gun: Sure, I’ll sign up for some samurai armor; what’s $21000 anyway? I’d just spend it on CDs.
Kinda makes me want to play some more Samurai warriors 2 again, as that’s been my videogame heroin for the past couple of weeks. Imagine that. *goes off to play some more Samurai warriors 2 again*
*much later*
+ Speaking of Samurai warriors 2, Musou Orochi looks promising. Derek tipped me off to this a while ago; he’s thinking it’ll probably be Koei’s last musou-themed game for the PS2, and it looks rather mental. Combining apparently all the playable characters from all the Dynasty warriors and Samurai warriors series (serieses?), Musou Orochi will have over seventy characters, unless of course, they add more. Anything’s possible!
Essentially the theme is that all of the characters from the Dynasty warriors series, which takes place during the Romance of the Three Kingdoms era of ancient China, and all the characters from the Samurai warriors games, which occur during the Sengoku/Warring states period of medieval Japan, are collectively teleported to another dimension by the demon Orochi (I’m wondering if it’s the same Orochi of Japanese myth — I certainly wouldn’t put it past mythology-and-history-driven Koei). Apart from that, I know nothing of the game, apart from the fact that there will undoubtedly be non-stop fighting of an immense magnitude. Which is what one would expect of a game in the Samurai/Dynasty warriors line! No news yet if it’s going to be exported to the States, but since Koei’s released every other game over here, I don’t see why not
+ Speaking of Koei’s Musou series, the first game they’re releasing for the PS3 that almost has me wanting to purchase one of those overpriced consoles. They’ve teamed up with Bandai to create Gundam Musou. That’s right, Mobile suit Gundam scientifically crossbred with Dynasty warriors. It sounds like a fever dream, but it’s entirely true! When I’d first seen mention of this on 4chan‘s /m/echa board, I believed it to be some elaborate hoax involving Photoshop. But apparently it’s due out in Japan this month, and hundreds of mecha fans will soon be demolishing thousands of enemy mobile suits, in grand Dynasty warriors button-mashing style. Most impressive.
Looks like it’s got the Zeta Gundam, the Qubeley, Turn A Gundam and the non-canonical-but-very-ace Musha Gundam, among others. Roger that, and drooling now. Damnit Sony, drop the price on your PS3, so I can justify the purchase!
+ Speaking of robot samurai, the Japanese group tmsuk (quite a name, by the way) has developed Kiyomori, the world’s first mechanised samurai, as their flagship robot. Not as intriguing as a certain cluster of Synthetik women, but still rather ace. Besides, his walking technology could be used as a test bed for Androids and Gynoids; his gait, although slow, is more like an Organik’s, as he is able to stretch and bend his knees. You can check out some footage of him ambling about on YooChoob here.
Lovely design! The glowering red eyes are a nice touch! And as it turns out, they kitted out Kiyomori in armour made by Marutake Sangyo. Which would be an eerie coincidence, if I hadn’t discovered Marutake Sangyo through the Kiyomori site
+ And nothing at all to do with samurai — sorry — high-end DVD distributors Criterion have finally announced that in June, they’ll be releasing one of my top ten favourite films of all time, ‘if….‘, starring the godlike Malcolm McDowell. FUCK YES.
‘The whole world will end very soon…
black brittle bodies, peeling into ash’
That same month, they’ll also be releasing ‘La jetée‘ and ‘WR: Mysteries of the organism‘, which are two films I’ve been wanting to see for years, but zOMG ‘IF….’ SET CREDIT CARD TO PRE-ORDER
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March 20th, 2007 at 7.13 am
Better than Roddy McDowall.
Well, not better, I suppose, just different.
Ah, fuck, of course its better.
March 20th, 2007 at 6.41 pm
“If..” is a great film. I saw it when i was around 17.
i like the scene where Malcolm McDowell puts sugar in his black coffee. 😛
but i wouldn’t want to watch it again, now.
i think i prefer him old.
the bad/quiet/mysterious guy. or just bad.
he was always acting a dark character, McDowell wasn’t he?
March 20th, 2007 at 9.20 pm
SafeT –
Funny that you say that; when I was younger, I used to get the two confused. Malcolm was the one in ‘Planet of the apes’, you see. I, ah, hadn’t seen their names in print, so I never knew they spelt them differently…
Camilla –
If you prefer older Talcy Malcy, then you should rent ‘Gangster No.1’, as it’s a pretty intense film. Unless, that is, you have a weak stomach. Or you’ve already seen it. 🙂
I dunno; I’m more keen on his stuff when he was younger, as it seems that after the Seventies, every other film offer he gets is rubbish (‘Tank girl’, ‘Blue thunder’, that horrible Tv show with Rhea Perlman). But it goes without saying that he’s still one hell of an actor…
March 21st, 2007 at 8.58 am
hey, yeah, i’ve seen “Gangster No.1”. Paul Bettany was the young dude there… 🙂 (i do have a strong stomach)
March 25th, 2007 at 5.10 am
Added tidbit: Marutake Sangyo was the armorer for Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, an extraordinary film if you haven’t had the pleasure.
March 25th, 2007 at 10.17 am
Huh, those Marutake Sangyo people sure get around, don’t they?
I have yet to see ‘Ran’; it’s on my lengthy list of Films to See. I know, I have shamed my family. *eviserates self*