Watch a lot of late-night television, like me?  If so, you’re probably sick of all those Enzyte commercials they show during every commercial break.  You know, the ones with the creepy “Smiling Bob” guy?  Well, you won’t be seeing Bob or his commercials anymore.

The owner of the company that sells Enzyte was sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiracy, fraud, and money-laundering related to Enzyte.  Surprise: the product didn’t work.  Plus, he refused legitimate returns from customers and had a bad habit of overcharging customer credit cards.

Did you know you can actually buy a peripheral for your computer that allows you to use neural impulses to control your computer?  It can’t replace a mouse or keyboard yet, but you can create custom actions.  If if they can do that today, imagine what will be possible in a few years?

I found out a few days ago that Netflix and Microsoft have teamed up to provide downloadable movie to the Xbox 360. Netflix already allows its subscribers to watch some movies instantly through the Internet, but the service is only available through a computer using Internet Explorer. By providing the content through an Xbox 360, users can now watch movies instantly on a big-screen TV on their couch, instead of on a monitor at their desk.

I’m excited – there are movies in my queue that I could watch immediately, but I don’t like the idea of sitting in front of my computer for two more hours just to watch a movie. And since I already subscribe to Netflix and Xbox Live Gold, I will get the full set of new features for free.

I stumbled onto this bit of information on Wikipedia. Apparently, after work is finished on the next season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, the creators of the show (the three main male characters) will shoot a new pilot they have written. It’s titled “Boldly Going Nowhere” and it is kind of a spoof of Star Trek type shows, except it will focus on the everyday life aboard a starship. And there are rumors that Kurtwood Smith (Red Foreman from “That ’70s Show”) will play the captain.

Full information from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boldly_Going_Nowhere.

I quietly added a new page to my site not too long ago.  It’s under the “Misc” link and it lists a bunch of exclamations from Hermes, from the show Futurama.  You know, the character that has funny lines like “Sweet honey bee of infinity!”  Enjoy!

I haven’t been up to much with this site, but I have been trying to draw as close to daily as possible. Mostly, I’ve been drawing from references in anime, manga, and other random cartoons. Here is a selection of some of my better sketches (you can click on the images to bring up a full-size scan).

It looks like the creators of Venture Bros. are selling limited-edition t-shirts during the week after each new episode of season 3. They have already posted the design for the first one, plus the design for a bonus t-shirt if you purchase all 13 in advance.

In related news, the first episode of season 3 airs tomorrow night on Adult Swim. Watch it!

At last! Pokemon Puzzle League has been released for the Wii virtual console! You might be wondering why I’m so excited about a game with “Pokemon” in the title. That’s because this game, originally released for the Nintendo-64, is amazingly fun. It is so much fun, in fact, that I still have my N64 hooked up to my TV so I can play with my brother when he comes over. And the only game I own for the N64 is “Pokemon Puzzle League”, because I bought the system originally just so I could play this game.

The game itself is a repackaged version of “Tetris Attack!”, aka “Panel de Pon” in Japan. The goal is to line up three or more similar blocks in a horizontal or vertical row. When you line them up, the blocks clear from the screen, and blocks on top drop down. If you can then “chain” the blocks (so that the falling blocks make a new combination of similar blocks that will clear), you get more points.

The real fun of the game is the “2 Player Vs.” mode. Whenever you clear more than 3 blocks in a row, you drop some small “garbage blocks” on your opponent. If you can get chains, you drop large garbage blocks on your opponent. Playing someone head-to-head is addictively fun.

The Pokemon veneer adds to the game’s charm. I am not a fan of Pokemon; I sat through five minutes of an episode and had to turn it off. But in the game, the characters trash-talk whenever you clear enough blocks (“Stop wasting my time!”), and the Pokemon creatures make different noises whenever you get combos (“Alakazam!”). Even after playing this game for seven years, I still find the sayings funny when playing.

Anyway, I have already bought the game on the Virtual Console, so now I can pack up my Nintendo-64 and reduce some clutter by my TV. And it finally gives me a real reason to buy a couple Classic Controllers, which I might do tomorrow night.

Last night I watched Karas: The Prophecy, an animated OVA. The story is a bit slow and confusing, but the animation and visuals are easily one of the best I have seen in long time. The show uses a combination of 2D and 3D, but takes a much different approach than other animations. Much of the animation is originally 3D-animated, but then drastically altered using 2D techniques to finally achieve the final composition. Wikipedia has a good section on the production of the show, which summarizes the various 2D and 3D techniques used.

This DVD comprises the first half of the full story, which is concluded in Karas: The Revelation. It was actually a six episode OVA, but the U.S. release combined them into two movies. This first DVD is less than an hour and a half long, so they kept the pace moving pretty quickly.  If you want to see some amazing animations and fight scenes, add it to your Netflix queue (or try to find it at your local Blockbuster, if you’re still doing things the old way).

There is also an interesting extra feature, which shows several shots in different phases of production, including the initial bone animations (“bones” control a character and his movements), wireframes, render output, and then the final shot after post-processing. I was very surprised by how different the render output and final shot looked; the production team drastically re-worked some of the scenes to create the final look and feel of the movie, which is definitely unique.

A friend of mine has been trying to get me into the Flight of the Concords HBO show lately, but up until a few days ago I had only seen a skit or two while over at his place drinking. But then I decided to look up a few more videos on YouTube and I’m now I’m sold! I already bought the first season from Amazon.com, which should arrive later this week, I hope. In the meantime, I’ve watched these short clips a few times through and I crack up every time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FArZxLj6DLk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT5AQIlmM0I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY8jaGs7xJ0