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The newest, and likely the last painting of 2008, is here and it’s King of Mallow.

Here’s wishing everyone a happy and safe New Year.

io9 has a good link to a trailer for 9, and upcoming animated film that looks promising. They also linked to the short film which this project is based on, and I’ve got to say that it’s a really polished product and quite enjoyable. Check it out:

I just finished up my first online chess match with newtoy’s Chess with Friends iPhone chess client. The game took about four days and ended about a half-hour ago in a loss for me. I was playing with a friend I met here in Berlin a few weeks ago, though he was in the US during our game. Games are quite easy to initiate after you install the program on either your iPhone or iPod Touch, requiring only a free download of the application and free registration. You can either find a specific opponent or start a random match. I was hooked as soon as my opponent made his first move and checked my phone more than regularly for updates.

Some pros: Chess with Friends is free, has a great interface, and is simple. You can easily go through the history of the game and there’s a basic safeguard against making unwanted moves. Though I’ve yet to use it, the program also supports a “pass and play” mode for playing a game in person.

Some cons: Unfortunately, the limitation again background processes means you’ll only see that your partner has moved if the application is active. I also can’t seem to find a way to get a transcript of the game, which is one of the only ways I actually remember my mistakes.

Overall, I’m really happy that I was introduced to this piece of software and would certainly recommend it to anyone with an iPhone / iPod Touch. Equally, this is an open invitation to anyone with those resources for a casual game.

::iTunes store link::
::newtoy site::

The first Starcraft II battle report is up. A full game between two of Blizzard’s better players (one Terran, one Protoss) is online, with SII lead designer commenting. Besides the fact we actually get to see a full game, it was a pretty good one. Interesting new features: info overlays for observing/replays, high-yield expansions, zealots + charge = scary, player controlled Xel’Naga towers, control center as transport unit, new units (obviously).

Collection of quotes from fundamentalists taken off of message boards, books, tv etc. Has sections for conspiracy theorists and racists too. Website design is horrible, but content is grand, fortunately. I had problems choosing, but some samples:

“I’m glad to see there were no “abortion is OK if she was raped” replies. If she was in fact raped, she must play the hand that was dealt to her, accept it as God’s Will, and raise the interracial baby as her own.”

“You are banned. You are not a Christian for Christians don’t accuse brothers and sisters in Christ of being non-Christian.”

“I am a bit troubled. I believe my son has a girlfriend, because she left a dirty magazine with men in it under his bed. My son is only 16 and I really don’t think he’s ready to date yet. What’s worse is that he’s sneaking some girl to his room behind my back. I need help, God! I want my son to stop being so secretive!”

The Wrestler is Aaronofsky’s latest film. Mick Foley (aka Mankind) says it’s good. Well, it’s got to be better than The Fountain, so I’m optimistic.

Alright, only one painting that’s actually new. “Breakfast,” which I finished only a few short moments ago was a quick project. “The Cabinet of Cindy Calamari,” on the other hand, took much longer and was finished about two weeks ago.

There’s some other exciting stuff happening but I’ll hold off on presenting until it’s a bit more polished. Enjoy.

update::

Just finished up this one, called “Cut.”

io9 put up their list of worst science fiction remakes. While there were some expected inclusions (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), there was also something new for me…Turkish Star Wars, a.k.a. The Man Who Saves The World. here’s their blurb:

The culprit: Turkish censors, who wouldn’t let the actual Star Wars into the country, thus necessitating a quick-and-dirty remake, complete with clips from the real thing. Why the hate? It’s not hate in this instance, it’s love. This film is so cheap and badly made, it falls clearly into so-bad-it’s-good territory. And at the end the hero karate-chops Darth Vader so hard, Vader’s head splits in half, down the middle.

Luckily the whole film is on google video. Oh yeah, don’t miss the part where they use the theme from Indiana Jones.

Creative poodle grooming has finally crossed the line. Not sure what line–we can decide that later.
From here.

We don’t have any posts about Pandora Radio, but I assume this is because I am one of the last people on the planet to discover it. It provides streaming music through a browser player. Like last.fm, it uses a social networking scheme to suggest music that you might like based music you do like. The nice thing about Pandora is that it lets you create radio stations based on a set of artists you like. As far as I can tell, it keeps your preferences isolated to a particular radio station. This provides a lot of flexibility. You can make a station that only plays death metal you like, and another that plays only bizarre electronic music you like. The focus into particular channels is nice – it’s the difference between “shuffle all” and “shuffle genre”. The suggestion system is remarkably good. It let’s you provide feedback on any song it plays, so the suggestions get better over time. I recommend Pandora over Last.fm.