06/01/2012

Summer In The City

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

It’s Friday night, and instead of being out and about, I’m here at home. On the computer, with Mystery Science Theater 3000 playing the background. Episode 501, Warrior of the Lost World, FYI.

And to keep it extra classy, I’m enjoying a few helpings of yuzu flavored rice wine, aka the Typhoon Lounge special. Guess you could say that it was a long week, but truthfully, I’m still recovering from?

“Is that chiptunes?”

Last weekend was the 6th annual edition of Blip Festival New York, and of course, I was there for every last beep and boop. This time around, I was reporting on the behalf of Kotaku!

Perhaps some of you caught my day one and day two micro reports already? If not, please check them out! Especially Omodaka from night #2, which I still can’t stop thinking about.

Anyhow, my entire festival recap just went live, so please give that a read as well!

I think it came out fairly decent. Unfortunately, due to purely technical reasons, it’s a bit lighter on the audio visuals than originally planned, due to a hard drive failure, but that’s just how it goes sometimes.

Also had to keep things relatively brief, and therefore wasn’t even able to touch upon the after-party; aside from being the sweatiest ever, at any show, got to witness cTrix give birth to “chip swing”, as Asif put it best. And a pro-tip: that last pic that Ben Mason makes an excellent desktop wallpaper?

BTW, took a few pictures of my own, but not many. Simply didn’t have the chance, since I mostly busy assisting Chris with the camerawork. Plus the lighting conditions were damn near impossible to deal with. But once again, Instagram to the rescue!

Like many, I was not found off the venue this year. But at least it was neat, being so close to where I first lived in NYC, right next to the SVA dorms. Meaning I could at least enjoy my fave slice in the city?

Here we have the man, and the madness himself, Nullsleep?

Here’s the best shot I have of the aforementioned (in the beginning of my big Kotaku recap) dude with wolf ears and cape, fiddling around with a SNES/Super Game Boy/Game Boy Camera during minusbaby‘s set?

Game Boys for sale?

When Bit Shifter kept saying beforehand that “You’ve NEVER seen anything like Omodaka before”, holy sh*t was he not joking or exaggerating a tiny bit?

As also noted in my recap, Monodeer impressed the hell out of everyone, and there’s little doubt that he’s the next big thing in the chip scene (it also helped that everyone was wearing his shirt, due to it’s ultra rad logo, which I picked up for myself as well)?

The best part about interviewing Jenn is how the entire scene was reminiscent of the opening to Saturday Night Live?

Here we have MisfitChris closing out the show. Loved his Famicom Disk System ladden visuals!

For the very last song, all the performers got on stage for on last dance, which is why Bit Shifter is so blurry?

It Makes EVERYTHING Look Like A Cable Access Show!

Yet, as much as I’ve grown fond of Instagram, there’s a new girl in town, and her name is InstaCRT. As the name implies, it pictures look as if they’ve been captured off the screen of an old school display. And that’s because that’s EXACTLY what is happening; there’s no filter action going on here, but the real thing!

Here’s how it works: you take a picture with your iPhone (or load images from elsewhere onto it), activate the app, which sends your pic to someplace in Sweden I think. Where it appears on teeny, tiny CRT monitor. Which a SLR takes a screen cap of, and which then sends the result back into your iPhone’s app. Brilliant isn’t it?

It’s basically my new favorite toy, so much so that I recently started another Tumblr dedicated towards it! Here’s a sampling of what’s gone up thus far?

EDIT: Bonus pic, of Nintendo’s brand new superstar, Non-Specific Action Figure (from their pre-E3 presentation)?

Let’s All Go See The Atrocity Exhibition (Let?s Make the Teacher Have a Miscarriage Club / Henge / The Big Gun)!

Summer is almost here in NYC, and despite not being a fan of the heat and the humidity and the smells, there’s no better time to be in the city. Why? Because that’s when the New York Asian Film Festival takes place! The official site was just relaunched today, and man are there some amazing flicks on tap.

It’s hard to say, but at this early point, the one film that tops my must see list would have to be Doomsday Book. It’s a Korean flick about zombies, a Buddhist robot, and a giant meteor in the form of an 8 ball that a little girl conjures up?

So, I guess it’s admitting once again that I totally dropped the ball with my NYAFF coverage last year. Once again, sorry about, was going through some heavy stuff at the time (it’s hard to keep track of show times when you’re in the midst of a break-up). But I’m working with the festival to ensure that this year’s will be the most robust ever!

Your New News Guy

Speaking of coverage, perhaps the biggest week in all of gaming goes down next week: E3. Will I be addressing it here? Actually, my plan is to finally tackle the MASSIVE backlog of wacky links and pics, which is beyond overdue. The last time I did so was literally last Christmas.

Though to keep abreast of current news, especially all the E3 headlines, there’s always? the Fangamer Podcast. For those who haven’t been keeping track, there’s been a recent changing of the guards. The man in charge, Gerritt, recently stepped down, to concentrate on being a father. His wife Jen is expecting, literally any minute now!

The show as a whole is being restructured, so I figured it was perhaps best to step away as well. Especially since my ever-increasingly schedule has made the podcast a hard commitment to maintain (I was gone for a solid couple of weeks recently, due to being in Toronto and all). But I’ve been asked to stick around, to produce a regular segment in which I recap gaming headlines from the previous week.

Given how much I enjoyed the monthly news recaps, and being connected to the podcast as a whole, how could I say no? I’ll also be back, live for special occasions, like the still scheduled Persona 4 game club. Anyhow, my new deal starts sometimes this week, so keep your eyes open for that as well!

EDIT: Since it?s probably going to be a little while till my next update, may as well pass along the following now:

Maybe Kojima-san Can Sign My Finally Sign My VHS Copy Of Weekend At Bernie’s

Hideo Kojima is coming back to NYC! Like last time, he’s in town to celebrate another UNIQLO X Metal Gear collaboration. Specifically, the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary line, which finally makes their debut on American soil.

The bad news is that the selection is fairly paltry when compared to the entire assortment that made its debut in the Japan back in April (I believe most of them made it over to the UK as well). Absent is the one design I really wanted. Oh well?

On the plus side, Kojima is bringing Yoji Shinkawa along, so that’s something at least. According to this, both men will be at 5th Avenue Global Flagship store this upcoming Friday, on June 8th, between 6 and 8 pm. Then, on the following day, they’ll be at 34th Street store, on June 9th, between 4 and 6 pm.

The shirts themselves will go on sale at the 5th Avenue location when that stores opens for business that morning on the 8th, and the same goes for the 34th Street locale on the 9th. They’ll also be available at the SoHo locale as well, though no autograph sessions on that end.

This upcoming week is gonna be crazy, and I normally don’t do autographs, but might bend that rule in this instance. Why not, right? Too bad I don’t have something really cool from both men to sign. Like a copy of Policenauts, or Escape From New York (the latter at least I can get in a pinch).

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