The dancing Tokyo Trooper

Months ago, an individual dressed in a storm trooper costume started dancing in the streets of Tokyo, Japan.

You’ll be surprised to know that the man beneath the plastic helmet is actually Danny Choo, son of fashion icon Jimmy Choo. You won’t be surprised to know, that this wasn’t the career path Danny always wanted.

Growing up in London, Danny was set to follow the footsteps of his father. But something was missing: passion. More than anything else, Danny Choo loved toys, figurines, Star Wars, electronics, and of course, dancing. That’s why he dumped the aspirations of the runway and made his own way to Tokyo.

In Tokyo, he created www.dannychoo.com, a site that features everything “geek cool,” including toys, figurines, and videos of him, dressed as a storm trooper, dancing to the beat of numerous disco hits. Believe it or not, the site is pretty successful—averaging 2.5million users a month.

When questioned about his son’s chosen career, Jimmy Choo said, “It’s something special.” The shoemaker never failed to express how proud he is of Danny.

When asked “Why do you do this?” Danny Choo, the self professed “king of geeks,” said “To make people happy and it also makes me happy at the same time.”

This type of story only happens “In a galaxy far, far away” (Well, actually it’s just in Tokyo).

Playing God

Will Wright, the creator of The Sims, has turned the story of evolution into one of the most ambitious computer games in history: Spore.

If you think about it, who would want to play a game that has no winner and no ending?

You can judge Will Wright for many things, but you can’t fault the man’s ability to design top-selling video games. In fact, The Sims is the best-selling video game in history. The graphics are mediocre, at best—but, the idea is radical, fresh, and most of all impossible. That’s exactly why game designers consider him a living god. And now, he wants to make you a god too.

Wright’s newest game is titled Spore (Doesn’t sound like much, does it?). At the beginning of the game, a comet crashes into the earth carrying organic material from outer space—this comet, as the game implies, bought life to earth.

Now, your job is to cattle this life form through its single-celled stage until it’s ready to crawl onto land. At this point, you get to decide where the eyes, the ears, the limbs, and the other appendages will be placed on your character—Let your imagination take control! After that, your creature learns to eat, reproduce, and eventually, communicate with other creature tribes. For the finale, you get to travel to outer space to meet other sentient beings.

My comment: you can't turn the story of evolution into a video game without wrestling some serious questions. Wright should be careful in treading the line between ‘great game’ and ‘religious blasphemy’... Right now, I'm thinking... great game!

The Sopranos taxi advertisement

This “mobile advertisement” (literally) drove around the streets of New York earlier this year. Last March, the taxi was auctioned off in the 6th annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event, which took place in West Palm Beach, Florida. Proceeds were donated to the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital.

Advertising is such a competitive industry nowadays, and you have to make use of all the advantages you can get. Quoting from one of my favorite movies, “Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you'll notice you've got their strict attention” (John Doe, Se7en, 1995).

Well, maybe Kevin Spacey was referring to something different, but the quote still fits.

Samuel L. Jackson in Titanic

Yes, it’s Samuel L. Jackson reprising the role of Leonardo DiCaprio (Jack Dawson) in the mother of all tear-jerker films: Titanic.

I must say, Jackson adds some much needed style and spunk to the role. Play the video, to see the great performance of the man who showed us Shaft, Jackie Brown, Mace Windu, and now Jack Dawson.

Props to the guys from minimovie.com!

Do you really want to know KFC’s secret recipe?

A new web video that exposes KFC’s cruel treatment of animals in their factory farm house is now downloadable through the internet (Play Video below article). What would Colonel Sanders say?

Kentucky Fried Chicken or Kentucky Fried Cruelty? We’ve all heard rumors about how our fast food gets prepared; we’ve heard about the Wendy’s customer that had a human thumb in his shake and the bionic chickens that came from… Well, that was KFC too. But this one takes the cake, because this new expose is backed by a well-known actress Pamela Andersen.

How I found the video. This is a great example of shrewd internet advertising. I was browsing through an ad website, when I saw a link in the side panel of the page. It showed Pamela Andersen with her bosom censored, which had a message overlay: want to see my new video? (Yes, it was very enticing). I clicked the link and to my surprise, it was a link to her official petition against KFC –which, although less interesting was also worth my time.

The petition exposes animal cruelty in the KFC slaughter house located in Moorefield, West Virginia. In the video, the chickens are so crippled that they can’t even walk. They are forced into tanks of scalding hot water where they are completely conscious –hence, they feel a tremendous amount of pain.

The petition titled Pam Andersen’s Kick the Bucket campaign will attempt to boycott KFC until they agree on better preparation procedures.

Now, this complaint may just become hot air –in the Philippines food preparation is maybe ten times worse and no one does a damn thing about it. But I think it is the responsibility of these big companies to ensure these types of problems don’t happen. They specialize in food; they should –by all means– do everything over the boat. After all, a better public image will always be met by better sales.

Other than that, I think Colonel Sanders is turning in his grave.

Judge blocks Harry Potter Encyclopedia

Last Monday in New York, a judge ruled against a website operator who wanted to make an online Harry Potter encyclopedia. U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson ruled that it would cause author J.K. Rowling “irreparable injury”.

The Judge ruled in favor of the author. In addition to blocking the proposal, Stephen Vander –the website operator– was also fined over $6,000. Rowling filed a case against Vander and his publisher RDR Books in 2007.

Vander and RDR argued that the book should not be blocked, because it was protected by the “fair use” doctrine, which allows commentary and critique of literary works. But Judge Patterson disagreed, saying that the publishers bridged copyright infringement, as well as a host of other accusations.

In a related press release, Rowling said “I took no pleasure at all in bringing legal action and am delighted that this issue has been resolved favorably,” the Brit author stated that she wants to create her own encyclopedia about the Harry Potter series.

Lets Play Mind Games

Yes, the era of thought-controlled video games has arrived.

During the late 70s, the Atari made Americans couch potatoes. This paved the way for a host of other video game consoles during the 90s: Nintendo, Sega, and PlayStation. The cardinal rule for game consoles is to top off its predecessors. And with the recent releases of the XBOX 360 and the PlayStation3, the possibilities for the video-gaming industry seem limitless. Case and point: the Emotiv EPOC headset.

The Emotiv EPOC headset is the world’s first Brain Computer Interface (BCI). It’s a component that will revolutionize contemporary video games. This headset detects and processes real time brain activity using a device that measures brain electricity. It picks up over 30 different expressions, emotions and actions.

With this type of technology, games can be thought-operated as opposed to finger-operated.

Think about it.

See the CNN article here.