Uh huh, finally a street date for Tenshi ni Narumon Volume 3, which according to the RightStuf listing is November 30th! Sure, that's eight months, but it's better than twenty-four!

--Leif

I can't express the almost dull excitement I'm experiencing about the imminent arrival of 'Hero'. Dulled only due to time. It has been nearly two years since the Chinese release in late 2002; Miramax has taken its sweet time in getting it released. But surprisingly it is hitting quite a few wide release theaters, unlike many other long awaited foreign films.

--Leif

Reuters:

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Toshiba/NEC plans to have its high-definition DVD hardware on retail shelves in early 2005.

The manufacturing partnership announced at a Tokyo showcase the last week of July that HD DVD players will be available next year in the United States and Japan. The Toshiba/NEC format is endorsed by the DVD Forum, an international association of 200 companies.

The rival Blu-ray HD format -- which is backed by 13 manufacturers, including Sony, Samsung, Philips, Dell and Hewlett-Packard -- is expected to introduce its players in the States by the end of 2005. Blu-ray hardware has already launched in Japan.

So far, the only home-video distributor to officially endorse one of the HD formats is Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, whose parent company, Sony, is a key proponent of Blu-ray.

Reuters/Billboard

Yes, I see it now: The cheaper one will win!

Really, that's usually how it goes. But considering the factors involved with this one I doubt that'll be the factor that gets it. Mainly it depends on the studios that adopt which standard. And a lot of it goes to early adopters, the people who actually own HDTVs to use these on. The general public won't even have to make a choice for several years I think, when HDTVs are a larger segment and people are no longer satisfied with Standard def DVDs.
By then I hope this will have all been decided.

--Leif

A 'shout out' to this white ninja fan art:

http://www.whiteninjacomics.com/fanart/fa-canada.shtml

And to Red Green fans... Everywhere?

--Leif

Previously 4Kids alluded to Tokyo Mew Mew actually being called Tokyo Mew Mew, but in their second quarter results press release the name is once again changed:

"We will be introducing exciting, new properties on the FoxBox in the fall of 2004, including "One Piece", "MewMew Power" and "F-Zero".

No loss on F-Zero, but chances are the least Mew Mew has to worry about is the name (Although now it's just laughable).

--Leif

As I mentioned, I went to see The Village a couple of days ago. I can't honestly say I saw the twist (Though I did have an interesting theory half way through the movie), but I find that Shyamalan's movies are much better enjoyed if wtached without even the expectation of a surprise ending.

Kind of funny about the plagarism lawsuit concerning Margaret Peterson Haddix's book 'Running Out Of Time'. Of course, that may ruin the ending for anyone who has read it.

--Leif

There's something I've been noticing in my travels to numerous public restrooms, for instance I went to 'The Village' on thursday, in a theater I had not frequented in some months. Take note: There're three primary aspects of a men's restroom; The toilet/urinal; The sink; The hand dryer. In my observation any combination of these can be motion activated. But never once have I seen all three automated.
In this theater the toilet was automatic, the hand dryer was automatic, but the sink had a handle.

Many combinations exist. The sink is automatic, and the hand dryer, but not toilet. Or the toilet and the sink, but not the hand dryer. Or perhaps the toilet and the sink, but there're paper towels.

So, what is it that makes every public restroom different, but none of them fully automatic? Costs involved? If so, how do they decide which to make automatic, and which to make manual? Logically, no one wants to flush a toilet by hand, but then the sink you must touch to turn on, and thus off again, exposing your now clean hands to the germs you just barely disposed of. The hand dryer seems safe enough, but what of electrical shock from the dripping water and those roundish silver buttons?

I guess some questions must go unanswered...

--Leif

This is Friday, AND the 13th! So, uh, that's about it.

--Leif

I missed this five days ago, but here it is:

Now that's spiffy! There're still a lot of hurdles to overcome in my opinion, but with all the developers signing on and the lower price point than the Sony PSP, I think Nintendo will pull another win in the handheld market.

--Leif

Well, apparently the big day is today; Doom 3 is finally hitting shelves. Not that I'm getting it, after all $45+ will surely go down to -$30 in a few months, and with my oldish card it would not run very swiftly at 1024x768. I probably won't even buy Resident Evil 4 this year.

I'm not sure if there're any formal reviews in yet, but impressions seem positive, and the graphics at least are a new landmark for PC gaming; At least for indoor enviroments.

Next month promises to be the biggest release this year though, as I think there're more people anticipating Half-Life 2 than even Doom 3. Maybe I should just buy the Doom Collection and forget about the rest of them...

--Leif