Traffic Spike on 5/9

So I was just checking my blog stats and I noticed a giant spike on 5/9, something that I had not anticipated:

Krunk4Ever! Stats

Going through my other stats, it turns out a particular set of search terms hit my blog that day:

5/9 Search Terms

Guess people were really looking for Mother’s Day comics. My guess is they landed on this Calvin and Hobbes strip.

I hope everyone remembered to wish their mom a happy mom day đŸ™‚

Dexter vs Death Note

Wow! Another blog post! I’m on a roll!

For those following my tweets, you may have realized I’ve become a big fan of Dexter lately.

I’ve read the Death Note manga during college, watched the anime series shortly after (it’s now streaming from Hulu), and recently rented the 1st part of the Live Action movie from Netflix. When it mentioned the god-complex, it triggered a memory from a Dexter episode I recently saw and then I started noticing similarities.

Of course, they’re far from being the same story, but here’s a very few similar points:

  • Both kill evil criminals and believes the world would become a better place.
  • Both are part of the task force who are investigating the serial killer.
  • Both Dexter’s and Light’s father were good policemen, though they played very different roles.

Of course there’s a lot of differences. Since I haven’t seen Season 3 yet and the series hasn’t officially ended, I can’t really say where it’s going. But Season 2 of Dexter moved away from the formulaic of 1 new kill per episode and more onto the focus of the investigation and capturing of the serial killer, which is what Death Note was all about.

Searching online, I found this article (from April 2007): ‘Dexter’ and ‘Death Note’: Pop-culture cousins? which basically mentions the same thing I have above. And the author says and I quote:

However, I’d like to point out the obvious: If you’ve been digging Dex as much as I have this season, there’s a good chance you’ll devour all volumes of Death Note, and vice versa. The series is available in most major bookstores.

Argggh, after watching the movie, I realized Netflix sent me part 2 inside a sleeve of part 1. I was wondering why the movie skipped a whole bunch at the beginning and what they were planning to do with part 2 after this ending. Then I looked at the DVD and it showed Death Note II: The Last Name

A lot of things have changed between the manga/anime and the live action movie. I guess it was inevitable since they’re compacting such a long series into 2 separate 2-hour movies.

<SPOILERS>

  • It’s a battle between L and Light all the way to the end. Near and Mello were never introduced.
  • They merged 2 plot-lines together: the syndicate that was imitating Kira and the newscaster that idolized Kira
  • Swapping with a fake Death Note was switched to a different character
  • + a lot more

</SPOILERS>

All in all, the movie was still very fun to watch. Like those who have read Harry Potter books and then watched the Harry Potter movies, seeing how the movie was altered from the original works was a bit disappointing. But if I had never read the manga, I probably would’ve enjoyed it greatly.

Using Cell Phone While Driving

So for those who follow my Twitter or Facebook status, you might’ve seen that I posed the question:

Do you think most cell phone car accidents are caused by talking on the phone OR trying to type/read text or enter a phone number?

This all started awhile back when I read this comic strip from Real Life Comics:

Cell Phones
Cell Phones

This got me thinking… does the hands-free cell phone law make sense? What exactly causes cell phone car accidents? Talking on the phone? Holding your phone while talking? None of those sounded quite right.

I sent the following email to Greg as I’ve indicated what I believe is really the culprit to cell phone car accidents:

Hi Greg,

Long time reader, first time emailing you. I read your comic strip about talking on the cell phone while driving awhile back and read the follow-up rant today, and just wanted to share with you my opinion.

Honestly, banning talking on the cell phone or holding a cell phone while driving are both illogical. Talking on the cell phone is not that much different than having a conversation with someone else in the car. Having a conversation in person or over the cell phone can be distracting, but learning to deal with that is just part of driving.

And like many, I personally drive most of the time with 1 hand anyway, so I agree that the hands-free cell phone law doesn’t quite make sense.

What I’m getting at is the law shouldn’t be about hands-free, it should be eyes-free. I could totally be wrong about this, but I think the reason why there are so many cell phone related car accidents is because people are taking their eyes off the road. This could be because they’re typing in a phone number or trying to search for someone in their address book. Worse, there are people who actually text while driving. A friend just brought up the fact that you can now surf the web while driving. Every driver knows that taking their eyes off the road is very dangerous. Just imagine the time when you’re trying to reach for something that you have to look away for just a few seconds.

Mirror’s Edge

I don’t actually own the game yet, but I’ve played the demo and I found it to be a lot of fun. You may then be wondering why I have a whole blog post dedicated to Mirror’s Edge. The main reason is because it ties in with a couple things I wanted to blog about but doesn’t deserve their own post at the moment.

I got the demo a few weeks back and it was extremely fun. As one of CAD’s sillies state: “I have never felt this much like an acrobatic asian chick in my entire life.

On the same lines, Penny Arcade also made a comic strip about Mirror’s Edge, but I didn’t really have much problems with the headaches, given that I’m pretty sure I’m quite susceptible to 3D motion sickness. For example, I was playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on Saturday and after just 2 missions (~30 mins or so), I felt a slight headache and had to stop playing. It could be that the demo was short and it didn’t have to time to get to me yet, but even with COD4, I was pretty sure I’d get a headache within minutes of playing the game, which I didn’t really get with Mirror’s Edge.

I was planning on getting it for the Xbox 360, but it looks like it’s going to come out on the PC in January, so I might pick it up then. PC games are usually cheaper to get and I’m not sure I’m willing to drop $50 on it quite yet, given that I heard it’s a rather short game.

Speaking of which, have you seen the trailer? Check out these trailers just to see how fun they look!

You can find more trailers here: Gametrailers.com – Mirror’s Edge: Reviews, Trailers, and Interviews

The music you’re hearing in all of the trailers are remixes of a song called Still Alive by Lisa Miskovsky. No, this has nothing to do with the Portal song by Jonathan Coulton.

You can also watch/download the HD version on Gametrailers.com. Someone also posted the mp3 for you listen: Still Alive.mp3 (Still Alive by Lisa Miskovsky – 4MB). I personally think the song’s amazing, especially with the piano keys, which for some reason makes me think it has some Asian background. I wonder if that has to do with the fact the main character you play as is Asian.

Graphic Novels

Whew, it’s been awhile since my last post…

So I was bored at work so I was reading random comic strips and landed on this Unshelved comic strip: Graphic Novels

After reading the strip, I thought to myself… does “graphic” in graphic novels refer to the fact it’s violent/sexual? I always thought graphic refer to the fact it contained pictures, a term to distinguish between comic book issues and graphic novels, which were more like books telling a full story.

According to Merriam-Webster, graphic is defined as: marked by clear lifelike or vividly realistic description

I confirmed with Ungsunghero that it does in fact mean graphic violence/sex. He said the term that means what I’m thinking are more along the lines of illustrated novels or picture books.

However, Wikipedia states there’s apparently some ambiguity in regards to this term:

A graphic novel is a type of comic book, usually with a lengthy and complex storyline similar to those of novels, and often aimed at mature audiences. The term also encompasses comic short story anthologies, and in some cases bound collections of previously published comic book series (more commonly referred to as trade paperbacks).

The evolving term graphic novel is not strictly defined, and is sometimes used, controversially, to imply subjective distinctions in artistic quality between graphic novels and other kinds of comics. It suggests a story that has a beginning, middle and end, as opposed to an ongoing series with continuing characters; one that is outside the genres commonly associated with comic books, and that deals with more mature themes. It is sometimes applied to works that fit this description even though they are serialized in traditional comic book format. The term is commonly used to disassociate works from the juvenile or humorous connotations of the terms comics and comic book, implying that the work is more serious, mature, or literary than traditional comics. Following this reasoning, the French term Bande Dessinée is occasionally applied, by art historians and others schooled in fine arts, to dissociate comic books in the fine-art tradition from those of popular entertainment, even though in the French language the term has no such connotation and applies equally to all kinds of comic strips and books.

In the publishing trade, the term is sometimes extended to material that would not be considered a novel if produced in another medium. Collections of comic books that do not form a continuous story, anthologies or collections of loosely related pieces, and even non-fiction are stocked by libraries and bookstores as “graphic novels” (similar to the manner in which dramatic stories are included in “comic” books). It is also sometimes used to create a distinction between works created as stand-alone stories, in contrast to collections or compilations of a story arc from a comic book series published in book form.

Just more food for thought.

Speaking of comics, did you see today’s xkcd: Moving

Moving

Did I ever tell you that I paid an extra month of rent to stay at my old place, just so that by the time I’ve moved in, my new place was internet ready? I had scheduled an appointment with Comcast and you know that always takes like a week or 2. So after I confirmed internet was working, I requested help from friends to help me move. While helping me move, they also noticed that I had a cable modem on the floor with blinking green lights.

VG Cats Sketch – SO CUTE!

So while I was working late tonight (till about 4am), I got bored easily and often needed to find things to distract me. I ended up on VG Cats site and saw this post: Professionals have standards.

Inside they featured a sketch drawn by Ian (artist of Three Panel Soul):

Ian McConville VG Cats

Three Panel Soul is a new webcomic I’ve been reading, though it’s been a hit or miss for me. Updates are pretty infrequent (sort of like VG Cats) and the jokes are a hit or miss. I do love their drawing style as everyone looks cute. I was introduced to TPS by Angel when I mentioned I missed Mac Hall (another webcomic by Ian) and she told me he’s drawing for a new one.

Aeris and Leo are just too adorable in the sketch!!! They are like in their chibi baby form! So cute! I wish I could hug and squeeze them!

They made wallpapers of it and I immediately made that the new desktop background for my laptop:

Speaking of cute, I recently purchased my first Woot Shirt. Some of you may have probably seen me wear it already: It’s Going Out Faster Than It’s Coming In:

It's Going Out Faster Than It's Coming In It's Going Out Faster Than It's Coming In

The t-shirt was definitely cute and only cost $10 when it was first posted. I like the little turtle and rabbit origami made from dollar bills.

Cute Cat Animation – Sequel

Thanks to Hjo3 for telling me a new cat animation is available:

Hey, BTW, a sequel was just posted yesterday.

Simon’s Cat ‘Let Me In!’
Simon's Cat 'Let Me In!'

A hungry cat resorts to increasingly desperate measures to get indoors.

If you miss the original cat animation, check it out here: Cute Cat Animation

I also wanted to point out the fact that if you append &fmt=18 to the back of a YouTube URL, you’ll get higher quality video. According to RayAlome, the 2 settings for the fmt tag are &fmt=6 and &fmt=18, increasing the quality and resolution. You can find out more information about these flags at: Higher Resolution Videos on YouTube and YouTube Tests Higher Resolution Videos.

Regular:
Video Resolution: 320×240
Audio Sample Rate: 22050 Hz

&fmt=6:
Video Resolution: 448×336 (higher encoding)
Audio Sample Rate: 44100 Hz

&fmt=18:
Video/Audio Format: MP4 (H264 with AAC audio)
Video Resolution: 480×360

The Boondocks – Guns and Violence

Thanks to RayAlome for sharing this comic strip with me:

the boondocks - guns and violence Huey – I don’t get this whole thing with video games.
Riley – What, you mean why you keep losing?
Huey – No. Everyone is worried about kids and violence, right? And kids using guns … So why don’t they go after the gun manufacturers and gun dealers instead of people who make video games. It doesn’t make sense.
Riley – Sure it does. Pretend you’re some stupid parent activist person … Who would YOU rather start beef with – some nerd who makes video games or some dude with a warehouse full of AK-47s?
Huey – You know … I’m actually MUCH more impressed by that point than I care to admit.
Riley – Of course. I’m deep. Just don’t tell nobody.