Greetings and citations. Welcome to the amazing 4th installment of Intro Bananza! This week we look at my favorite Hannah-Barbara toon ever. No, not The Flintstones or The Jetsons, Secret Squirrel!
I love the whole spy-genre of the 60s. And this intro takes everything great about the cartoons and beyond. Those gadgets are so cool! But seriously, imagine if they tried to show this today. The main character actually kills a person right there in the beginning! And all the stereotypes! The Native-American one would probably cause a huge uproar. Not to mention he flashes us nine seconds in! But nobody could deny the cool sleekness of the gadgets. I dreamed of having a fold up rocket-car after I first saw this. And keen eyes can see that Morocco Mole folds up right into the briefcase. And what spy show is complete without him tip-toeing off at the end. Pure win!
By The Bastard Gamer
(He still doesn’t format the top of his posts properly.)
Fighters Month has officially begun. All throughout May I (Joel Holmes, not as my TBG character) will be reviewing the biggest titles in fighting game history. At the end of the month I’ll give my own personal video list of the top ten best fighting games in the world. Keep your eyes on Healing Touch
I’ll make this real quick. Starting at 5PM (Pacific), L.A. based webshow host “Jim” (of bushleague.tv) is attempting to set a new world’s record by playing the new Grand Theft Auto IV for 25 consecutive hours. At 6PM today, we will know whether or not he survived driving around Liberty City for over a day in real life (wonder how many days will have passed in game?).
Apparently live web feeds and updates are being provided at the website.
Also it should be noted that a real paramedic has been requested to stand by in case 25 hours of hooker killin’ makes him…well…dead.
While waiting in line for GTA IV at a gamestation in South London, a hooded man who was also waiting stabbed a passing 23 year old man repeatedly. 50-100 people were waiting in line while the asshole convicted his crime and many of them contacted the police. The victim was found a short distance from the gamestation and was taken and treated at a hospital for multiple stab wounds.
The cops are currently looking for a
light skinned black man aged about 21, 6ft 5ins tall, of medium build wearing a light grey hooded top
So, here is how it basically breaks down folks, you hop on the channel and you get some questions, and everything works out fairly well for the most part. You pick your answer, then you predict what answer will be the most popular, sort of like a GameFAQs Character Battle. So far I’ve got a 75% or so prediction rating, so that’s pretty damned awesome. Overall, Everybody Votes is something cool to check out every 2 or 3 days if you’re bored. I just kind of wish that the votes didn’t last an entire week and it was something you could do on a more daily basis.
“But Beeslo, some of us geeks don’t like movies. We are anime and videogame addicts, what gives?”
Yeah, yeah. Okay, well now seems a good time as any for us to take a break from the movies that grace the silver screen and focus our scalpels to videogame trailers that appear on our small 16″ TV’s in our parent’s basement. Its hard to say that GTA4 hasn’t been on everyone’s minds lately. First it was delayed last October and we were told we’d have to wait about 6 months for initial release. Thankfully for me, that 6 months went by rather quickly and tonight we will all be able to taste the goodness that is GTA 4! For those of you out there that felt like tonight couldn’t get here quick enough were treated to many trailers, clips and tv spots for GTA4 that were released over the past few months, which in the end only accomplished you wanting it all the more. Now thats great marketing.
Well here you go! Someone took the liberty of merging all four of the trailers into one video…someone made my job a lot easier!
Trailer #1 – “Things Will Be Different”
Our first vision of Liberty City, we are treated to many scenes showcasing the scenery. Nothing much more than that, but at the same time…anymore would have blown our minds. I remember when this came out, a lot of people (myself included) thought that this was in no way in game footage but instead a pre-rendered trailer a la Call of Duty 2. Man, were we wrong and thats what makes this brief trailer amazing. Bonus points if you can guess the homage being paid in the trailer when comes to the direction and music selection.
Final Grade: A-
Trailer #2 – “Looking For That Someone Special”
Another brilliantly done trailer, this time we are treated to a little more of our main protagonist in the game. Once again we are shown nothing but in-game shots (along with some cut-scenes) that just dazzle the eye and salivate the mouth. The music in this trailer also does a terrific job matching the themes and tone of the game.
Final Grade: B+
Trailer #3 – “Move Up Ladies”
Very much like Trailer #2, “Move Up, Ladies” features more of the main character but also starts to delve a little into the plot of GTA IV. The action scenes are appropriately edited with the music and the plot is leaked at well timed instances. We still know not a lot about the plot other than Niko has come to America due to false promises given by his cousin. Obviously he find that he’s gonna work hard to find his American dream.
Final Grade: B
Trailer #4 – “Everyone’s a Rat”
This final trailer leads into more cut scenes, but sadly it offers nothing new as far as plot goes…so I guess you’ll find that all out when you play it tomorrow. However, we are treated to a lot of awesome action scenes which are oddly edited to some Eastern European music. To me its all sorta anti-climatic. It does make you want to play the game, but it doesn’t leave you with frothing fevor to break into a GameStop before midnight and steal a copy. So I’d have to say its a rather weak final trailer.
Final Grade: C+
Well so there you go. Something to tide you over for…oh…at least 2 hours. See you in line!
Stay tuned for part 2 of this Trailer Anatomy…What? Part 2? Yep, there’s gonna be a Part 2.
So I accidentally came across this and while we have all heard this song millions of times over, I don’t think many of us have ever heard a live performance of it, especially sung by the man who wrote it, Jonathan Coulton. Enjoy.
(Tiny maids are good for those hard to reach places)
Last time we did an action mash up of Cowboy Bebop with Trigun. The result was an amazing AMV that actually had an original plot of its own. If you missed it, catch it right HERE.
This week, we look at a very special breed of AMV. Let’s take a fairly unknown anime, Hand Maid May and a pretty unknown musical number that is totally devoid of lyrics and then masterfully combine them into an AMV that once again forms a narrative. I had never even heard of this anime, but the AMV is done so well that I could piece together the story well enough do to the perfect editing and the terrific music selection. Its apparent lots of time went into this AMV as every scene is carefully matched to the beautiful music.
Remember, when you think of AMV’s, don’t think of Naruto randomly edited to Linkin Park, but instead think of the AMV’s such as this one that obviously were meticulously put together and obviously were created with such emotion and pride. These are qualities that become a true AMV.
If you enjoyed this one and/or would love to request one that you’ve found, click on the discuss button below or PM me in the forums with your suggestion(s).
Be sure to leave lots of feedback on the forum, and expect another episode on May 3rd! Remember, if you’d like to be a guest on the show for May 3rd’s podcast, just drop me, Link, a PM on our forums.
Bonus Game: Can you name those tunes used in the podcast?
Whomever guesses the most gets a shout out in May 3rd’s podcast! ^_~
Notes from Last Week’s Podcast:
- Nobody guessed all the songs from the last podcast, nobody even guessed. If you had one song right, you could’ve won! :o
By GamerChris and Panteraftw (What are the odds that neither of us have prepared a new comic?…)
With the busy schedules and exams coming up, GamerChris and Panteraftw were both unable to complete a brand new comic, even if their powers combined. Being one to let the show go on, GamerChris went into his old Badly Drawn Penguins archive and picked up an old comic which started off probably his second favourite story arc in the initial run of the comic. Enjoy.
Side-note from GamerChris: Both next week’s GamerChris’ GamerKaraoke and What’s So Wrong With?… are not guaranteed to appear due to schedules, exams and personnal issues on his end…
By: Rusty (It’s your one way ticket to midnight, Call it Heavy Metal)
In 1981 Heavy Metal was released. Based on stories from the magazine of the same name, Heavy Metal is a collection of six stories. All of which are told by the Loc–Nar, an astronaut killing green orb, which likes to tell stories about how evil it is to little girls. Read More…
By Mr.Death (What? Were you expecting, maybe, the Addams Family?)
Howdy cartoon fans! This week on another exciting Intro Bananza we look at the Archie show! Which one? Why all the ones I can find! All of these are bizarre! First up we got one from 1968 called, cleverly enough, The Archie Show.
What the hell is this? I’ll give you guys a minute to recover from the seizures you are no doubt experiencing. All better? Ok, first of all, what is with the backrounds? Apparently there were only constantly flashing colors in the 60′s, not any actual places. And that image at :21 must have had censors back then fuming. Archie is such a rebel! And their song seems to be a strange version of a Dora the Explorer activity. “Archie’s here! Betty’s here! Veronica too! Reggie’s here! Hey Jughead, where are you?” Not like they need him. The drumsticks seem to be giving a good enough beat without him. Although Jughead did show some pretty sweet ballet moves back there. Forget the drumming gig, you belong in Lincoln Center! And since when did you need a conductor for a five man band? Much less a dog?
Okay, there is your first one, but look for two more after the jump. Read More…
Well, not really. I’m not going to be posting any new Super Happy Fun Movie Times till May 2nd or 3rd when I review Iron Man. I’m sorry, but I’m just very busy. I hate to leave you guys with nothing though, so I’m going to both increase my blog’s traffic and help! Here is an older review on Gammera, one of my favorite Japanese Monster Movies. Feel free to leave feedback, I love hearing about this stuff from you guys. Click on the poster for the link.
