Ali

Travel

Sat, 23 May 2009 11:16:03 GMT

Been quite busy lately with leaf stuff and travel.

Did a three city trip to the US around GDC and after that I had to travel to places like Munich for Modern Warfare 2 and Helsinki for a Finfacts press tour that lasted for 5 days.
Inbetween we had some local events(not all of which I attended) and next week all going well I should be in the US again for a 10 day stay around E3.

Should be fun, its been a while since I did the E3 thing(for several reasons) so I am looking forward to heading back to LA now.

Star Trek

Wed, 06 May 2009 23:08:24 GMT

Despite some iffy parts and stuff I didnt like all that much I can say I thoroughly enjoyed the new Star Trek movie.

Buddha Collapsed Out Of Shame

Sun, 03 May 2009 21:10:17 GMT

Wonderfull movie yet depressing in a lot of ways.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1094627/

Unusual use of kid actors to criticize the adult Taliban, 7 December 2007

Author: Jugu Abraham (jugu_abraham@yahoo.co.uk) from Trivandrum, Kerala, India

This is an unusual film, but not a film that can be considered a major work of cinema. The Iranian film is shot on Afghan locations very close to the spot where the fundamentalist Muslim Taliban destroyed the centuries-old rock hewn gigantic statue of Buddha. Had it existed today, it could have been a modern wonder of the world. Hence the title--"Buddha collapsed from shame". The film location probably has not a single Buddhist--at least officially. It is habited by gentle, peace loving Muslims terrorized by fundamentalist Muslims. Women are forced to wear burkhas--to cover their hair. If the women use lipstick, they are brutally punished, even stoned to death, after being given water to drink before they die! Girls are not allowed to attend school, while boys are. The film begins with the documentary footage of the destruction of the Buddha statue.

The film is an interesting film for several reasons. It is directed by a 19-year-old girl--daughter of a famous Iranian director. Like Sofia Coppola, her family must have encouraged her at every step.

The movie is equally interesting because a Muslim director is criticizing the Taliban.

The most valuable part of the film is that the criticism is indirect as perceived from a child's perspective. The entire story is told by a lovely, persistent, young girl child who yearns to learn to read and attend school, and makes intelligent use of her mother's lipstick and four eggs taken from her home to attain her aim in life. Her mother is away, working. (I guess here shades of director Hana Makhmalbaf's personal aspirations are mirrored, though she led a much better life than the Afghan girl.) The film is a wonderful example of use of kids in world cinema. What credible performances!

Yet there are problems with the film. Many sequences seem to remind you of "Lord of the Flies". There is a sequence where the girl child ties a baby with a rope and leaves for school--but this scene is never followed up. There is another scene where the girl rings the school bell, and no one in the school seems to notice her action. Humour takes its toll on credibility. Yet Hana needs to be commended for her brave and intelligent work.

Its been a while

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:56:56 GMT

I dont post enough here.

GDC came and went, was fun with a few frustrating personal parts parsed inbetween.
Went to New York afterwards and went to the Carnegie Deli twice there.
Came home jetlagged and sick and since then I have been working on GDC articles and contacting companies for E3.
Will be of to Munchen for CoD WaW2 later this month and almost right after that to Helsinki for a few days for Alan Wake amongst others.
End of next month I will be in the US again for E3(havent done E3 in a couple of years out of principle).

Oh and I gots myself a DSLR camera.

Lets play avoid the 1up

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:32:59 GMT

A little depressed right now

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:15:32 GMT

A time in my life which I asumed was far behind me reared its ugly head again.
Ill deal with it to the best of my abilities so I hope everything will be ok soon.

In other news there is GDC next month and I will do a tri city trip around that one.

Arrive in LA on the 19th and from there I head for San Francisco on the 22th.
After GDC on the 29th I will be of to NYc to be back home on April second.

40 Years worth of thanks

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:10:11 GMT

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/12/40_years_worth_of_thanks/?s_campaign=yahoo

The panic pack

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:41:28 GMT

Two games of your choice with every new PS3 hardware purchase(temporary Sony promo)=140€ retail value.
300 on Blu Ray=30€ retail.

Price of the PS3 with the movie and your choice of two out of games like Fallout 3, Resistance 2, Motorstorm 2, LBP, Singstar, Buzz, Fifa09 etcetera=299€ tax included.

This is living.................................................in panic mode.

Gimme my miles and fuck off bitch

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:53:16 GMT

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Visit online right now to learn more about The Great Land. From glaciers to the gold rush, from kayaks to cruiseships, this website is full of great ideas for any schedule, any budget, any interest, any time of the year.

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Beyond Your Dreams. Within Your Reach.^®

Our Moscow nights are cold

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:24:29 GMT

Without your love to hold.
and I dont know where to go.
There is nothing here but snow.

Been in Budapest for a few days now and I observe the same thing I have seen in all previously communist countries.
A weird mix between old Soviet style history and US style consumerism.

Hard to describe but insanely intresting to experience for someone who witnessed old style Comunism when he was a young teen traveling trough those countries on his way to Turkey.

Yesterday at the choclate factory

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:34:47 GMT

In the cantina they always have a few newspapers lying around and of course the front page had the US Elections on em.
Someone with a marker had written God Bless America on em.

Its not just the American people who won with this presidential election.

Personally I am not naive enough to believe any big changes will come for the US nor for the rest of the world(Israel and Cuba policies being perfect examples) but the mood worldwide has changed and that can only be a good thing.

To commemorate this day

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:11:51 GMT

I propose we all watch Boss Nigger and Blazing Saddles back to back

You guys know what to do on tuesday(if yer American that is).

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:58:56 GMT

Dont give me any crap about ooh we are lost anyway or(more importantly :) ) we will win anyway.

Shut up and VOTE.

DO IT.

Happy 20th birthday Sega Megadrive.

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:00:45 GMT

Time flies.

Sweet

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:14:29 GMT

Pretty groovy interview if I do say so myself

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:57:26 GMT

And I DO say so myself because none of you fuckers will.
Ungratefull bastards.

http://games.kikizo.com/features/sega-am2-vf5r-interview-oct08-p1.asp

Hahahaha, enjoy the(long)read peeps.

It was a pleasure conducting this interview together with Zerochan.

One of the last greats has past away.

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:44:05 GMT

RIP Paul Newman.

May your altruism live on trough your delicious 2000 Island(twice as many island`s as other salad dressings) dressing.

New RPG by Rieko Kodama and Yuzo Koshiro?

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:17:19 GMT

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN.

DO WANT NOW.

Back home after just over two weeks in Japan.

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:15:10 GMT

It was a fun trip despite getting things fucked up by the Shinkansen troubles.
Lost time we should have spend in Nagoya and Osaka because of it so I will have to find a way to get back asap to make up for that.

Its been an intresting few days

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:48:46 GMT

Japan so far has been great.

Its always fun coming here and so far this trip has been no exception.
Zerochan and I got in on Tougeki(Arcadia Cup) as press and watched some great fights on SSF2X and VF5R and Comiket was certainly an experience.

My task there was to take pics of cosplayers, A job that was forced upon me and which I reluctantly caried out.

In Japan, its been a while

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:58:37 GMT

Smoking is still crazy cheap here yet it gets harder to smoke in public.

Funny contradictions, they should up the prive of cigarettes.

Need sleep

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:12:42 GMT

Monday I woke up around 3.30pm, did some chores, followed E3 the press conferences a bit and then close to midnight I received an assignment with a deadline of 9am tuesday morning.

Finished it to a satisfactory degree and couldnt sleep afterwards, when I finally was starting to get tired an old friend decided to drop by and we hung out for a bit, got back home early evening and was wide awake again(at this point I was awake for about 28 hours).

Finally around 11.30pm I fell asleepafter having been awake for around 32 hours straight.
Barely 5 hours later I woke up again(around 4.30am wednesday morning), had to take a pee and couldnt get back to sleep so at 5.15am I crawled out of bed, put some coffee on had some breakfast and followed whatever new info I was receiving from E3.

Today I had to call my Sony reps, send some emails and finish up some work related loose ends.
Afterwards I ended up going shopping, having food, came back home checked up on more E3 related things and lo and behold it is suddenly 1.12am thursday morning.

If I stay up for three hours and 20 minutes more I will have slept a grand total of 5 hours in a 72 hour timespan.

Not a good thing, reminds me a bit of Leipzig a few years ago.

Its been a while

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:17:31 GMT

In more sense then one.
Havent had a LJ post in quite some time AND I havent been to Japan in over two years.

Yesterday however I booked the below itinerary and today I am posting on LJ(woohoo).

Flight details

Your outgoing flight : Brussels - Tokyo

+
Wednesday 13 August 2008

AF 7188 - Tempo

- 20:36 Brussels, Brussels Midi TGV Railway St (ZYR) - Belgium

Check-in deadline : 20:21

- 21:50 Paris, Charles de Gaulle (CDG) - France

+
Wednesday 13 August 2008

AF 278 - Tempo

- 23:35 Paris, Charles de Gaulle (CDG) - France - Terminal 2F

Check-in deadline : 22:35

- 18:00 Tokyo, Narita (NRT) - Japan

Your return flight : Tokyo - Brussels

+
Thursday 28 August 2008

AF 277 - Tempo

- 21:55 Tokyo, Narita (NRT) - Japan - Terminal 1

Check-in deadline : 20:55

- 04:15 Paris, Charles de Gaulle (CDG) - France

+
Friday 29 August 2008

AF 7179 - Tempo

- 09:40 Paris, Charles de Gaulle (CDG) - France - Terminal TN

Check-in deadline : 09:25

- 11:15 Brussels, Brussels Midi TGV Railway St (ZYR) - Belgium

With my JRail pass this edged out on almost 1500€.
Auch, its about 300€ more then I expected to be paying so I will have to be frugal in Japan(for referance, 1500€ at current exchange rate=2,335.60 USD).

Looking forward to meeting some friends in Japan again and whatever high profile interviews I can secure between now and then.
I will check out the crazy fanperson fest called comiket while wondering why I decided to skip LGC and go to Tokyo during the hottest time of year.

Stuff

Wed, 07 May 2008 20:11:39 GMT

Received an early birthday present from a friend in Japan.
A limited edition Uniqlo UT Sega vintage TShirt with Akira on it in all his polygonal VF1 glory.
Cool stuff.

There is no E3 worth speaking of anymore and definitly no E3 in May yet this month doesnt seem to have lost any of its impact in the games industry.
Sega, Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Konami, Activision, Eidos, Capcom etcetera have events going on all over the world causing over stressed editors at mags and websites to turn to me for additional help.
I can live with that, its easy money and doesnt require me to fly to LA and stay there for far too long at hotels at my own dime.

One of the things I will be covering is an event in Oslo, a city I have never been to before so that should be fun.

The organisers are promising the following: An entire camp, filled with tents, camp fires, drunken soldiers. It'll be like stepping onto a movie set! They will have 50 uniformed vikings, many of them on horses, acting out an actual battle. They have an actor for Conan, live entertainment, an orchestral performance of the soundtrack and much more. And when the night falls we will head into a dungeon underground and celebrate in a Stygian harem! There will be TV cameras there, there will be celebrities and 400 VIPs.

Kinda sounds like the Killzone 1 launch party 4 or so years ago.
Cool stuff.

Overworked but enjoying it so far.

Juvenile

Fri, 02 May 2008 23:43:17 GMT

Growing up I never saw a reason to laugh with words like Vagina or Penis, not even the word Intercourse made me laugh like my classmates seemed to all the time.

Yet as I aproach another birthday later this month I seem to finally get that juvenile sense of humor.
A truck Carrying A.N.L plastics or a street called Gouden Regen Laan(Golden Rain Lane) near the Fishie residence bringing a smile to my face are recent examples.

Then ta bit ago while playing Bioshock on hard with Vita Chambers disable this happened(apologies for the picture quality, didnt realise my primary cellphone camera was set to VGA):

Ali

Travel

Star Trek

Buddha Collapsed Out Of Shame

Its been a while

Lets play avoid the 1up

A little depressed right now

40 Years worth of thanks

The panic pack

Gimme my miles and fuck off bitch

Our Moscow nights are cold

Yesterday at the choclate factory

To commemorate this day

You guys know what to do on tuesday(if yer American that is).

Happy 20th birthday Sega Megadrive.

Sweet

Pretty groovy interview if I do say so myself

One of the last greats has past away.

New RPG by Rieko Kodama and Yuzo Koshiro?

Back home after just over two weeks in Japan.

Its been an intresting few days

In Japan, its been a while

Need sleep

Its been a while

+Wednesday 13 August 2008

+Wednesday 13 August 2008

+Thursday 28 August 2008

+Friday 29 August 2008

Stuff

Juvenile

+
Wednesday 13 August 2008

+
Wednesday 13 August 2008

+
Thursday 28 August 2008

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Friday 29 August 2008