Just when you thought you’ve seen it all, in arrives the new Street Fighter branded condoms. I have no idea if this is just a novelty but the packet is pretty humorous. I had to pixelate out the image myself on good ol’ Photoshop in case I offended anybody but if you’re sick enough and want to see the image without my photoshopping handiwork, go to the source below. Hadouken!
Source: Destructoid
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So in news to me that was utterly random, it would appear that Jackie Chan has a secret hobby he’s been hiding from us. He trains fish! Check out the video below:
As always, Jackie Chan never ceases to amaze his audience.
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A little nugget of information has emerged from sources within Pyongyang over the aftermath of North Korea’s campaign at the South African World Cup. After their 2-1 exits to eventual Quarter Finalists Brazil, the dear leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ordered for them to stand up on a public stage at the People’s Palace of Culture and be grilled for six hours by 600 top government officials, sporting professionals and athletes for not winning the Wold Cup. This is all for a team ranked 103rd in the world.
Oh but the punishment doesn’t end there. The clearly headstrong team coach, Kim Jong-Hun, has not only been kicked off the team but been expelled from the Workers’ Part of Korea. What’s worst is he’s now reportedly been forced to become a construction labourer on a building site in Pyongyang. And as if you thought it just couldn’t get any worse for him, he’s been charged with betraying General Kim Jong-Un, the son of the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, which has raised fears that he could be executed.
All of this came about after they’d lost 2-1 but been praised for a good performance against Brazil. They then decided to broadcast the first ever live foreign football match on television to the nation for the second game against Portugal. In a match which eventually saw them humiliated 7-0, commentary stopped halfway through the game and the match went unreported in the next day’s newspapers. They finally lost 3-0 to Ivory Coast.
Two of the team’s Japanese born players avoided this public humiliation as they flew straight to Japan after the World Cup ended. According to the Chosun Ilbo South Korean newspaper:
In the past, North Korean athletes and coaches who performed badly were sent to prison camps.
Considering the high hopes North Koreans had for the World Cup, the regime could have done worse things to the team than just reprimand them for their ideological shortcomings.
Well when put it that way, I guess you can count them lucky. If only such a public questioning was possible for the England team then we might very well win our next major tournament.
Mechs are plain and simply the ultimate wet dream of any self-respecting kotaku or tech geek. There’s nothing that can describe the pure awesomeness of an armoured humanoid figure standing taller than the average building raining all amounts of hell on it’s intended recipient. Well it seems that our dear friends over in the Far East have taken this wet dream and decided to turn it into a reality with what appears to be little more than an arms race for the greatest mech ever constructed.
I’ve posted in the past about the real life Gundam in Tokyo before on T.U.S but it appears other inventive individuals have taken to this as a geek off challenge. Ever since the mega Gundam was built in Tokyo in 2009, there have been many many models built since to rival this behemoth. So below are just some of my favourite to date (click to enlarge any of the photos):
Bandai’s RX-78-2 Gundam, Tokyo Japan
On March 11th 2009, in order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Gundam anime series, Bandai built this mammoth of a 1:1 real size scale of their famous RX-78-2 model Gundam. This epic figure that towered over Tokyo reached a staggering 60 feet into the air which approximates to the same height as a decent sized city block. However it doesn’t just stop there, the head of this Gundam actually moved and emitted lights and lasers from over 50 different places on it’s exoskeleton along with 14 jets of mist for special effects. Quite an awesome feat to live up to. (NB, it must be noted that this mech was only up for a few months but is due to be relocated to another place in Japan, now equipped with a Saber!)
UPDATE (10/08/2010): A very cool time HD time lapse video has been thrown out onto the internet and wow is it stunning.
Chinese student Bi Heng’s ‘Kwansformer’, Beijing China
This 9.7 meter tall giant of a mech was constructed from the remains of a “Jiedang CA10 military truck”. It in fact was constructed by a 26 year old student for his class project at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) and took just one semester to complete. The Mech was designed and based around the famous Chinese general, Guan Yu and copies the same “Green Dragon Crescent Blade”. Heng now aims to create a series of Kwansformers which include the Monkey King and the Beijing Olympic Torch. So far he has been offered money for his current Kwansformer but has rejected it citing, “Trasformers are a cherished memory of the post-80s generation, but these people are still not rich enough to buy my work.” However at a cost of around $43,000 to build, if this at least doesn’t get him an A then I’m not sure what will.
Tetsujin 28, Kobe Japan
The 60 foot tall Tetsujin 28-go was erected in honor of it’s creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama for which Kobe is his birthplace. This mech aside from it’s sheer awesomeness has done more than just look awesome. It’s apparently having a profound effect in Kobe, a city devastated by the Great Hashin Earthquake (1995), as that it’s bringing in millions of tourists that would not otherwise have come. So mechs really can be a force for good.
Optimus Prime, Beijing China
Now for a mech with a more western twist, there now stands a 40 foot tall Optimus Prime looming over Beijing. Built across from the Green Dream Park in the Northwest of the city, this Optimus Prime was built entirely from recycled parts, that’s 5 truckloads of recycled parts apparently and weighing in at over 6 tonnes. So yup, think of this as the environmental mech helping to save the world one tin can at a time.
Shoichi Nakamoto’s Z-Gundam, Okayama Japan
Another product of an inspired youth was born in the hillside of Okayama. Shoichi Nakamoto’s largely unknown Gundam is impressive in that not only was it built single handedly, it’s large and complex enough a structure to house it’s own little cockpit. Yup, that’s right, you can actually sit in this mech and with a number of gears and levers, may one day pilot the giant suit.
So which is your favourite? Let me know on Twitter, Facebook or in the comments section below. Personally, my favourite is still the RX-72 in Toyko. It’s a mammoth of a beast and if rumours are true that they’re adding a Saber to it’s hand, well that’ll do me just fine.
Sources: Weird Asia, Pink Tentacle, Bitter Swee, AsianBeat, Danny Choo, Mechadamashii
In the bustling and crowded city that is Hong Kong, physical space is very much at a premium. Living space in particular in this city at least is as precious vertically as it is horizontally with towering apartment blocks and offices dominating the Hong Kong skyline. One apartment in particular however stands out above all else in this densely populated urban metropolis. It belongs to Gary Chang, a 47 year old designer whose turned his tiny 7th floor apartment into a fully fledged 24 roomed living space.
Here is a video taken from the Discovery Channel showing Gary Chang and his amazing apartment: (to skip the intro, jump to 0:40)
This is a biography of Mr. Chang’s life as taken from the New York Times:
Mr. Chang, 46, has lived in this seventh-floor apartment since he was 14, when he moved in with his parents and three younger sisters; they rented it from a woman who owned so much property that she often forgot to collect payment.
Like most of the 370 units in the 17-story building, which dates to the 1960s, the small space was partitioned into several tiny rooms — in this case, three bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a hallway. Mr. Chang’s parents shared the master bedroom (though when they first moved in, his father lived in the United States, where he worked as a waiter at Chinese restaurants in various cities). His sisters shared a second bedroom, and the third, almost incredibly — although not unusually for Hong Kong — was occupied by a tenant, a woman in her 20s, whom Mr. Chang remembers only for the space she took up.
Mr. Chang slept in the hallway, on a sofa bed.
…
Mr. Chang was then working for the P&T Group, an architectural firm, and living in a rented room near the University of Hong Kong, where he had studied architecture. His mother suggested that he take over the lease on their old apartment, “because the rent was unusually low,” he said. Instead he bought it, for about $45,000.
He had been itching to tear down the walls since his teenage years, when he sketched new designs for the family home, and he then began in earnest. In the last two decades, he has renovated four times, on progressively bigger budgets as his company, Edge Design Institute, has grown. His latest effort, which took a year and cost just over $218,000, he calls the “Domestic Transformer.”
Source: NY Times
The apartment is as stylish as it is functional and really is, quite amazing.
If you know me or you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I’m a massive fan of Hayao Miyazaki and his work at Studio Ghibli. The latest release from the legendary animation studios, The Borrower Arrietty is due to be released in Japan on July 17, 2010. Film creator Hayao Miyazaki is handing over the directorial reigns to a new and upcoming Hiromasa Yonebayashi for his directorial debut in this one and will be taking a supervisory role for the film.
The film takes it’s inspiration from Mary Norton’s British classic novel, The Borrowers, of which I grew up reading the books and watching the TV series. So this one will definitely be one on the must-see list.
Here are two sneak peaks into the next Studio Ghibli animation.
Will definitely be looking forward to seeing this one.
Source: io9
Quite possibly one of the best songs I’ve in forever, this is a brilliant song by singer songwriter Sam Hart. It’s been around the internet for a while so I’ve no idea why I haven’t come across it before. Either way, you should definitely check it out along with all his other songs.
Lyrics:
V1:
You be my princess
I'll be your toad
I'll follow behind you
on rainbow road
Protect you from red shells
wherever we go
I promise.
V2:
Noone will touch us
if we pick up a star
If you spin out
you can ride in my car
When we slide together
we generate sparks
in our wheels and our hearts
Chorus:
The finish line
is just around the bend
I'll pause this game
so our love will never end
Let's go again
V3:
The blue shell is coming
so I'll go ahead
If you hang behind
it'll hit me instead
but never look back
cause I'm down but not dead
I'll catch up to you
Bridge:
Don't worry about
Bowser or DK
Eat this glowing mushroom
and they'll all fade away
Chorusx2
to the mushroom cup
and the flower cup
and the star cup
and the reverse cup
walalalalala
walalalalalawaluigiiiiii
COPYRIGHT 2008
Music and Lyrics by Sam Hart
Supervillain Song:
The rest of his songs are also awesome so definitely check them out at his youtube page here.
Source: Geekologie
An awesome short film done by young asian film maker, Freddie Wong. This short film lasts just over a minute but demonstrates the use of lights with camera’s performing long exposures. In it Freddie depicts a street gunfight of epic proportions using nothing but clever camera tricks and many LED lights.
Click the jump for the superb demo of light warfare.
Freddie gives a short tutorial and a behind the scenes video demonstrating how you could make your own “Light Painting”.
“The idea behind light painting is that if you open the shutter, you can draw lines by moving the flashlight around in front of the lens. So hold the shutter open, get in front, and try drawing something in the air. If you have a camera flash, you can have someone stand in place, and flash them. Then have them hold still and draw around them. Experiment!”
Source: Freddiew.com
Also make sure you check out the rest of his videos which I might add, are also pretty awesome and can be found here!
These are the works of Kumi Yamashita, an astonishingly amazing artist whose use of light and shadows is quite truly breathtaking. It may look like just a series of simple shadows, but with such complexity and meaning behind the images, it’s easy to be taken aback with the talent on display. Here are just a few images I picked out which really caught my eye. She doesn’t just perform art with shadows but also with thread art and scratching on credit cards. Quite simply amazing.
Source: Kumi Yamashita
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Gracing the Tokyo skyline this summer in Tokyo will be the opening of the new Gundam statue to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Gundam franchise. The 1:1 scale Gundam is of the classic RX-78-2 and will have sounds, lights, smoke screens and moving parts to top it all off.
Rather than regurgitate what most blogs already say, I’ve added in the relevant articles below so skim through those for more images and videos of the Gundam in action.
However this definitely demonstrates Japan’s love for all things anime and mecha so if you’re planning on going to Japan at any time, drop this little guy a visit.
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In probably the most seemingly ludicrous piece marketing to be released by a tourism agency, the KTO (Korean National Tourism Agency) are set to announce it's catchy new "H1N1 New Strain Influenza Cash Relief Program".
The South Korean tourism board is set to offer NT $100,000 (New Taiwan Dollar) to any Taiwanese Tourists who catches the potentially lethally virus whilst on holiday in Korea. That equates to roughly just under £2,000 or about $3000 U.S.
This seemingly absurd piece of publicity does have some logical roots. The peak season in South Korea’s Tourism industry is just starting to take off and with the current economic climate the way it is, a slump in these coming summer months could damage businesses in this years winter months. Therefore by offering an almost compensation like scheme to attract visitors to travel, the hope that tourists will make full use of Korea’s flourishing theme parks and historical attractions.
There are some catches though as you have to be flying via Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, China Airlines, Eva Airways or TransAsia Airwayski. That and clearly you can’t be a stop over flight as that won’t go against the point of the scheme. Either way, if you don’t die and do end up contracting the virus whilst in Korea, start applying for that extra holiday spending money
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Ok so I’ve posted up a few weird stories, notably all from our friends in the Far East. However this one just strikes me as being odd, very odd. It appears to be yet another prime example of the Government in China covering up what it sees as a flaw, or at least the local county officials appear to feel that way.
Villagers in South West China will be waking up to the sight of not a brown and barren mountain but rather a vividly painted green one. And I mean vivid, it’s about the same shade as the Hulk. When asking the workers who were spraying the mountain what the reason for all this was, it appears that they weren’t given any reason. In fact upon further investigation, nor did the people who were supposedly in charge at the Fumin County Forestry Department. All they said was that they were just obeying orders from the top.
The best guess has been that the 470,000 yuan (£34,000) paint job appears to have been part of an effort to make the country green. Very green. Although it seems they misread the memo translating “environmentally green” to “colour green”. That or according to confused local villagers, an attempt to bring better Feng Shui to the region considering how the Forestry departments offices actually face that side of the mountain.
Now correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t Feng Shui revolve around Mother Nature and the way of balancing energies in an environment so that it gives good health and fortune? Spray painting a mountain green really doesn’t seem to be very natural at all. I guess that’s China for you.
Source: New York Times
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Now I’m not usually one to comment about the Wildlife and Nature that roam around our blue planet but this one definitely caught my eye. Jellyfish, not just any jellyfish but ones from Japan continues to evolve into something that I pray we may one day witness as the real life epic faceoff that is between Godzilla and Giant Jellyfish.
Increasing in Japanese waters, Jellyfish like the one in the photo are slowly overruling the seas. A combination of over fishing and more nutrients in the sea are to blame according to Discovery News:
Jellyfish are normally kept in check by fish, which eat small jellyfish and compete for jellyfish food such as zooplankton, researchers said. But, with overfishing, jellyfish numbers are increasing.
These huge creatures can burst through fishing nets, as well as destroy local fisheries with their taste for fish eggs and larvae.
Anthony Richardson of CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research and colleagues reported their findings in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution to coincide with World Oceans Day.
They say climate change could also cause jellyfish populations to grow. The team believes that for the first time, water conditions could lead to what they call a "jellyfish stable state," in which jellyfish rule the oceans.
The combination of overfishing and high levels of nutrients in the water has been linked to jellyfish blooms. Nitrogen and phosphorous in run-off cause red phytoplankton blooms, which create low-oxygen dead zones where jellyfish survive, but fish can't, researchers said.
"(There is) a jellyfish called Nomura, which is the biggest jellyfish in the world. It can weigh 200 kilograms (440 pounds), as big as a sumo wrestler and is 2 meters (6.5 feet) in diameter," Richardson said.
Richardson said jellyfish numbers are increasing in Southeast Asia, the Black Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea.
That said, if i was to *touch wood* bump into one of these beasts of the deep, I would 100% dirty the ocean in the only way I see possible. I doubt any amount of urine is going to save you from that sting. Now for some more images I fished out from the internet (it had to be said.):
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