Catalyst Castle

Totally not what I was expecting.

If you enjoy manga, and you're a fan of the BBC's show Sherlock, then I don't have to explain why this is awesome.

I only wish they hadn't tried so hard to make Watson look like Martin Freeman. That kind of nose just doesn't work on a manga character in my opinion.

Also, I found this little fan animation, which I thought was intertaining:

This video from Corning shows their vision of a near future, with new glass technology at the center of everyday life. I can easily picture this being a reality in the new system, when perfect minds could work out any problems with the idea, and perfect hearts would not abuse it.

I wanted to write a post about the quirks of the way the Japanese language is presented in anime, but a written article just couldn't convey what I wanted to share. So, I made a quick video instead. Enjoy!

Hey, everyone! It's been a while since I posted anything new here. As you know, I started a new blog on gaming almost two months ago, and since then I've been posting new stuff there twice a week. But I've been sorely neglecting my more general blog here.

So, this is actually related to my gaming blog, but it doesn't really belong over there and I thought my friends might find it amusing. It's sort of a "behind the scenes" post, if you will. When I was getting ready to launch Catalyst Games, I knew I had a lot of stuff I could write about gaming, but I was having a difficult time organizing my thoughts to write anything. I mentioned this to my sister and she suggested that I could try making an audio recording of me "talking out" my ideas, and then refer back to that while I'm writing. I tried this and it really helped! I didn't have a device that could make a strictly audio recording, so I ended up using my webcam to record myself. This had the unnecessary effect of making a video recording of my monolog as well. When I watched this later I was really amused by it - it's not too often that you get to watch yourself talk!

This might be a tad narcissistic, but it really had me cracking up when I watched it, so I'm posting the video here for you to enjoy. It is a tad lengthy (about 11 minutes). Also, the audio is a bit quiet, so you may have to turn up the volume on your computer. You can read the resulting article here.

My friend Kristen sent me a link to this video, telling me this was my theme song. I was quite amused, and hopefully you will be too.

Most fans of epic movies or the works of J.R.R.Tolkien are probably familiar with the new Hobbit moving coming out this December. You've probably seen this trailer for it, as well.



What you probably haven't seen is this very old animated version of the story. The whole thing is less than 12 minutes long. It is fairly entertaining in a nostalgic kind of way, though it bares about as much resemblance to the actual story of the novel as the popular Nativity Story does to the Biblical accounts.

I just saw this trailer for a video game in production called Final Fantasy Versus XIII. This game has been in production for a long time, and every time I see some new little clip from the game I get excited. It just looks so cool! Take this newest trailer, for example. I can't understand a word these characters are saying, but just the imagery makes me want to write a dark, epic, action-adventure story.

Check out this TED talk about a really cool game a public school teacher created to teach students about world politics and global community. This looks like an awesome activity for kids, and I have to admit I wouldn't mind playing it myself.

Anime Music Videos (AMVs) are a cool fusion of two things I like - anime and music. AMVs are quite popular among anime enthusiasts. You can find a lot of them on YouTube and similar sites. AMV contests are rather popular at anime conventions, and my cousin even won a prize last year at a convention for an AMV she made. For no particular reason, I want to share some of the AMVs that have really touched me.


WARNING: These are very sad, at least to me. If you're not in the mood to cry I suggest you skip this video feature.


The first one is an AMV done with the anime 5 Centimeters per Second and the song From Where You Are by Lifehouse. I think it really captures very well the theme of the movie. This is a great joining of a beautiful song with a beautiful anime (one of my favorites, in fact).





This next one is done with the anime The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (another favorite) and the song She is the Sunlight by Trading Yesterday.





This last one uses an anime called Rumbling Hearts and the song Goodbye to You by Michelle Branch. I've never seen this anime, but the AMV makes me curious to watch it. This video also made me realize just how much more dramatic impact the word "sayonara" has than "goodbye". The Japanese language is awesome. ^_^





I hope you enjoyed them, even if they did make you a little sad. Personally, I think they're beautifully done. If you've got an AMV you really enjoy, post a link in a comment to this article. Thanks!

I really like the song Half of My Heart by John Mayer with Taylor Swift. I know it's been on the radio for a while, but it was just recently that I really payed attention to it and something about it struck a cord with me.

The music video is pretty cool as well. I'll admit it doesn't quiet match up with my own thoughts on the song, but I still like it.

Here is the video for those unfamiliar with either the song or the video. Enjoy!

I think my favorite passage from the song is this one:


Are there any new songs that have really caught your attention lately?

My most recent obsession has been cleaning my room. It is a monumental task. When I moved back in with my parents a few years ago, I moved all of the contents of a small apartment into a single bedroom. What's more, I really didn't bother to settle in. Many things have stayed in boxes, and a lot of stuff has ended up being stashed wherever it was convenient at the moment. The result vaguely resembles the apartment of Yomiko Readman from the anime Read or Die, as seen in this video.



One thing I've discovered as I've been going through my stuff is that I have piles of old Watchtowers and Awakes that I didn't place. This really impressed on me the wisdom of the society's new arrangement for distributing the magazines. I'm looking forward to getting these issues placed and not acquiring another backlog of magazines in the future.

A week ago I got a hair cut. I went to a different place than I normally go, and they cut my hair really short! Considering that I love long hair, I was a little disappointing. It's not a big deal though. It will grow out, and at least I'll be able to go a lot longer between hair cuts.

Here's what it looks like:


And here's what my initial reaction was like:

I wanted to share some music videos I enjoyed recently. Both of them are from artists I'm not really familiar with, I just happened to see the videos and I thought they were very well done. The songs aren't too bad either.

This first one is for a song called Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie. This is an interesting take on stop-motion photography. I like how they use clothes, pillow, blankets, etc. to depict clouds and things.



The next video is for the song Get Up and Go by Broadcast 2000. This combines a couple of things I like. Free running is always fun to watch. I enjoy their use of black and white visuals with isolated objects in color. Their use of reverse, slow-motion, and fast-motion effects are cool too.



Did you enjoy these videos? Seen any good ones lately? Please share your comments below.

I thought it might be fun to share some videos on my blog. These videos aren’t mine, I just thought I’d share them ‘cause they’re funny. If you’ve seen them before, watch them again for another laugh. Both of these videos are Star Wars themed.




So there’s some very simple visual effects, combined with a familiar musical piece, creating a short and entertaining video. It’s the idea behind it that’s really clever, more so than the execution.




This one was obviously a little more difficult to produce, requiring extensive audio recording and editing. What a hilarious idea, and very well done!

See any good videos online recently? Please share by posting a link in the comments.