Super Mario Bros. Movie's Best Act

I can tell you straight here that this scene is the best act in the new Super Mario Bros. Movie... Bowser singing his heart out in this tragic tale of unrequited love.

Baymax!

 What a pleasant surprise! I've loved Baymax since Disney's Big Hero 6 movie!

Everyone needs a big hero ●—● Watch the new trailer for Baymax! and stream the Original series starting June 29 only on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/ZeAjxYZkCE

— Disney Animation (@DisneyAnimation) May 20, 2022

Artwork for “A Scary Pumpkin Story”

Here are the artwork used for my short story “A Scary Pumpkin Story” posted on my Random Shuffles blog. It’s about a killer Jack-O’-Lantern that came alive...

I drew these using Paper by WeTransfer with the iPad Air and Apple Pencil.

Apple Apple 7

Inspired by today's news about Apple vying for James Bond film rights.

Lemmings with a Touch

If there's ever a reason to buy the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar it's Lemmings. Now if Twitter will just let me center the embed. Grrr...

This may be the best app I've ever built pic.twitter.com/Z9WJi7e74G

— Erik Olsson (@valross2) December 11, 2016

Family Ties

Just watched a few episodes of Family Ties and the comedy is still as fun as I can remember from way back in the 80s.

It's all about the sloths

When I first saw this Zootopia trailer I couldn't help thinking how familiar things are with the government agencies (I'm sure this IS the intended message) albeit a little exaggerated. The movie's got awesomely 99% fresh the last time I checked Rotten Tomatoes.

Skylight Time-Lapse

Feast your eyes on some awesome skylight time-lapse.

via TreeHugger.

The "I'm Your Father" Meh

Do you think the "I'm your father" from Star Wars had been overused as a joke over the decades since  the movie? When I saw it in one of the Toy Story movies I thought it was funny. But then, that was never the first nor the last time it would happen. And... here's my version just before the goat hands over the torch to the monkey.

A Ride with Paddington

Take a ride with Paddington Bear.

A photo posted by @ionbuck on Jan 26, 2016 at 8:31am PST

Awaken by the Force, here is my take on Star Wars Episode VII

It felt like years since I’ve watched a movie in a cinema and if there’re any MUST watch movies this year, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has got to be one of them. I could forgo Spectre but I can’t miss this - just because everyone was saying Luke Skywalker will succumb to the Dark Side in this movie. I had one too many times argued against it. Nonetheless, the best way to find out was to watch it! 

The movie started off just like any other Star Wars with the standard opening sequence and the crawl text introducing the episode. You can also expect to have at least one very dusty and hot desert scene. :) 

With such a title, one would most certainly come to realise it was about the rise of the Jedi… heck it was how each trilogy started off anyway. The newbies in the movie did a great job portraying their first steps from trying to escape the past to the discovery of the Force.

The story was something you would come to expect of Star Wars - lots of stuff about the Force, lots of tension between the Republic/Resistance and the remnants of the Empire now known as the First Order, X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter battles (I was hoping 30 years would bring new fighters but I guessed wrong), weapon of mass destruction and the journeys of new (and young) characters. I was glad there was BB-8 - no doubt just as fun to watch as R2-D2. There was even an oversized Gollum-like Snoke that was, coincidentally, played by Andy Serkis.

It was a good move to bring back the veterans, namely Han Solo (oh yes! My favourite actor Harrison Ford may have aged, but he still portrayed Han Solo well), Princess (now General) Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2 and, of course, Luke Skywalker. This would then certainly mean the continuation of the Skywalker family thread. And this was what the marketing of the movie was leading fans to think of - Luke’s turn to the Dark Side by not having Luke Skywalker in the trailers except for one scene that showed his robotic arm on R2-D2’s head.

And out of 5…

4/5: If you are a Star Wars fan, you would love this and there is no doubt this movie is better written than Episodes I, II and III. 

4/5: Anything with Star Wars, you can expect excellent CGI. One note - BB-8 is real. If you just came out of a cave, you can even purchase BB-8 from somewhere out there.

4/5: If you are an action fan, you will never feel bored in this movie. Action right from the beginning. Blasters blazing, trademark light sabres humming and hissing, classic X-Wings and Tie-Fighters battles and X-Wing trench run-like scenes.

4/5 Overall: Star Wars fans will love this. It’s Star Wars at one of its best though there are plot holes that I can’t quite fill up (but if I talk about it, then it will be spoilers). Maybe these were intentional?

3/5 Overall: Non-Star Wars fans might be puzzled about what was all the hype about and might not appreciate the continuity of the movie from previous trilogies.

Errr… so… did Luke Skywalker follow his father’s footsteps? Did any of the veterans die? That’s for you to find out!

The Story About Pixel and Low Poly

Embed from Getty Images

Can't help thinking that if pixelated games (there's even a movie) are flooding the gaming industry, what would be next? Low polygons? Will it be a repeat of the cycle all over again?

Embed from Getty Images

Turquoise Smurf

When was the last time I shared something Smurf? I couldn't remember but can't help but to share this. Angry turquoise Smurf that I came across via flickr blog's "Catchy Colours: The Turquoise Selection":

中秋節快樂!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival (and that's what the translation say in the subject)! Took this photo at Jaya Shopping Centre - The Heart and Soul of PJ. I suppose it was the heart and soul of Petaling Jaya once before but after a few visits since its launch, I'm quite worried that it might not last because it's always (too) peaceful there.

There are just too many shopping complexes these days and there might not be anything that makes Jaya special. Thankfully there's TGV cinemas there and I'm glad the place still looks clean and nice. I really want the place to succeed because, after all, it brings back much memories (all good ones, I'm happy to say) before the original complex was demolished and finally rebuilt to what it is today.

A photo posted by @ionbuck on Sep 27, 2015 at 7:45am PDT

Nose Hair, Fart Kung Fu and Slug Battles

I thought I've lost my mind when I was watching through Disney XD's snippets of two of its anime - Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and Slugterra. The former has its characters fight with nose hair and farts while the latter is a fight between good and evil... with some bad ass mighty serious slugs.

View image | gettyimages.com

I was totally lost for words.

Spectre Will Return

If you're a James Bond fan (especially the Sean Connery - George Lazenby - Roger Moore era), you would know that SPECTRE is a prominent criminal organisation in the film franchise. It's unsurprising that the people behind the Daniel Craig reboot would bring the organisation back, much more updated, no doubt.

Official press release and latest trailer:

A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE.

The trailer has all the Bond elements and implies an unusual connection between James Bond and the villain. Can't wait.

Batman v Superman Comic-Con Trailer

I've been meaning to post this a few days ago since it came online but time wouldn't allow it. Finally, here it is for those few people who do visit this site, and who still have not watched it. It's definitely much more than the teaser (pretty oxymoron if you search the meaning of "teaser") a few months back:

What could be the cause of this versus between two of DC's greatest superheroes? Why is Wonder Woman in the picture? And what is the all new Lex Luthor's plot? I dare not speculate.

I would share with you X-Men: Apocalypse and Deadpool teasers, too, but there's no official ones on YouTube that I can find. Bummer.

Transformers: Devastation Brings Back the Gen 1 Guys

It's amazing that someone out there actually do know there are people that love the first generation Transformers after Michael Bay's "devastation" of the series with his own version. Hence, the upcoming game Transformers: Devastation by Platinum Games and publisher Activision. The short story from its official website:

Optimus Prime and the Autobots face off against classic Decepticons when Megatron discovers a way to harness the enormous power of Plasma Energy to Cyberform Earth. Fueled by the Plasma Energy, the Decepticons are stronger and more powerful than ever. Can the Autobots stop them?

Based on the trailer, it's a hack and slash kinda thing in 3D with cell shading. I'm not into this genre but would love to play the original Transformers. Unfortunately, it's only available on Windows, XBox and Playstation platforms. None of my current Mac nor iOS platforms are included in the launch. I doubt there will be a Mac but one can hope a mobile port to iOS (and if there's iOS, most likely there will be Android) in the future, no? I'm quite sure the current generation of hardware can cater to those graphics. Well, I'll just watch the trailer again and again while waiting for an eternity.

The game will be released to those lucky people on 9 October 2015.

Crime Scene Investigation ends run with 2-hour finale, leaving behind in its wake lacklustre CSI: Cyber

Along with the rest of the world, I became a CSI fan. I tagged along to become a CSI: Miami and CSI: New York fan as well. The two spinoffs ended earlier and now, after 15 seasons, it's the original's turn. What better way to go than with a 2 hour long finale, bringing back Gil Grissom (oh yes, my all time favourite character among all the CSIs and its spinoffs) and Catherine Willows.

Meanwhile, the CSI legacy continues through CSI: Cyber albeit not a very popular one. Current CSI leading man Ted Danson is set to join the second season. I've just watched the premiere episode and was not very impressed. There wasn't anything to differentiate it from typical crime dramas even as cyberspace goes. The first three CSIs were already very high on tech. I get it that it's got some very big shoes to fill but it looked like it's still searching for the right size.

All the best in the next season. I'd hate to see a year without any CSIs. 

via CSI Files.

Yeah, baby! What fun it'll be to solve another crime with this crew. #CSI pic.twitter.com/kR3MpPVVdM

— Marg Helgenberger (@MargHelgen) May 13, 2015

What's to be of Spotify?

I'm a little worried the past few days reading about Spotify's losses over the years and (possibly evil) Apple's move to convince labels to leave Spotify's free streaming service as Beats relaunches. To make matters worse, numerous artists are complaining of insufficient compensation and are starting to leave the streaming service. But according to Time, not everyone can pull a Taylor Swift. So there is still hope.

Spotify had almost been my only source of music for over a year save for the occasional songs that I purchase from iTunes. There's been no regrets ever since I signed up for Maxis' discounted Premium Spotify service. I've been able to listen to most (remember that not every artist/label participates, unfortunately) of my preferred songs offline and best of all, choose which songs to play, on the go. Hence, there is some truth to Torrent Freak's claim that Spotify does convert listeners (not necessarily pirates!!!) of its free version to premium subscribers. Sadly, the conversion rate is still far from profitability.

I sure hope Spotify's situation will improve despite all the challenges it faces. Perhaps its imminent video streaming music could help.

Update 16 May 2015: No need to worry. Spotify is not going to remove its free tier. According to The Next Web, a Spotify spokesperson said the tier IS working!