Musique 1 : Black M - Eternel Insatisfait

People are quite surprised when they find out that I love to dance, I really love hip hop/dance hall and look up several YouTube videos to learn new moves. One of my favourite choreographers online is Guillaume Lorentz and through his vids I discovered a new French artist: Black M.

Vid: Guillaume Lorentz // At Greek Salad // Black M (O.V.N.I)

Black M is a French rapper and singer-songwriter of Guinean descent. He grew up in the 7th and 13th arrondissements of Paris and is famous for his membership in the French hip hop collective Sexion d'Assaut. Black M uses many punchlines and onomatopoeias in his works. You can hear that in the O.V.N.I. track.

French rap has always been appealing to me. Some other loves for me are Stromae and Manau. So when I heard O.V.N.I. through the vid I needed to check more of his work out. And I found a real gem. 

Enternel Insatisfat has 19 tracks with a African Remix of Je Suis Chez Moi as the bonus track. Which gives me good value for the €25,99 I paid for this vinyl. When it comes to this artist, none of his songs sound alike. It's a good mix of rap and mellow songs. 

I could try to dissect the songs for you but you just need to listen to it. All the tracks of the album can be found on YouTube but if you want to start with a light one check out the song: Enternel Insatisfait. 

Review: Blade Runner - Final Cut

During my stay in the Netherlands it gave me the opportunity to see this marvelous Sci-Fi movie on the big screen. Normally I wouldn't go to the theater back home, because Belfast has spoiled me with cheap cinema tickets and perks which you do not get in the Netherlands. And the countless time they pissed me off by dubbing Disney movies and making me go to a different town to see the original version because people just don't understand English that well.

Sadly I haven't seen the original release of this timeless movie, because I was still in diapers back then. ;P But I must admit a bit of Dutch pride comes with this movie. Rutger Hauer is part of the cast and I always though he was an amazing actor who got discovered by Hollywood. I've seen a lot of Dutch films he starred in like Soldier of Orange, Turks fruit & Escape from Sobibor. And I have a bit of an old-man crush on him. He still has the most stunning blue eyes ever. ;)

Sadly trying to find people with a similar taste in movies has been a challenging part in my life. As someone once told me when I showed him the movie, that the special effects sucked and he didn't understand that for 1982 the special effects were acceptable. But then again he liked the Total Recall reboot better than the original, so what does he know. ;)

So off we went to the special viewing of the movie in the Verkadefabriek in 's-Hertogenbosch. The Verkadefabriek is a performing arts theater which occasionally shows art house movies who never get released in the normal cinemas. The room it was showed in had these large yellow couches that could have been a little more comfortable but it made due.

Blade Runner is a modified film adaption of the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick (great book, try to read it once).

Plot (from Wikipedia):
The film depicts Los Angeles in November 2019, in which genetically engineered replicants, which are visually indistinguishable from adult humans, are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation as well as by other "mega-corporations" around the world. The use of replicants on Earth is banned and they are exclusively utilized for dangerous or menial work on off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and killed ("retired") by special police operatives known as "Blade Runners". The plot focuses on a desperate group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles and the burnt-out expert Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment to hunt them down.

Roy & Pris

Blade Runner is an action movie but it has a lot of narrative levels weaved into it. Maybe that is why it original reception wasn't good. People weren't used to reading between the lines, but I think the screenwriters did a wonderful job and luckily the movie received the credit it deserved but just years later. 

The themes are about religion and moral implications of genetic engineering. And those are themes that really interest me. How far can you go with genetic engineering when you cross the ethical line?

The difference between the Final Cut and the Director's Cut aren't that large. In the Final Cut they tried to make the images and sound as good as possible and eliminate the smaller mistakes of the film. Lucky for us, spectacular new CGI was avoided. So serious changes of the movie aren't noticeable. That is how you do that George Lucas.

I really enjoyed my evening and the movie. And I managed to dig up the second hand copy of the album when I went to Nijmegen the next day. ;) Now I can listen to Vangelis when relaxing on the couch. 

Review: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call

I love the Final Fantasy series. I have many versions on several different platforms, even purchased Final Fantasy V on the Kindle a few weeks ago.

So I got this game for my 3DS XL five days ago and already spent over 6 hours on it. The good thing about this game is that it's portable. I took it with me when getting my morning tea & scone at the Dock or while I was waiting for my friend in the park. That is why I always have preferred the Nintendo handhelds over the any other handheld, even the smartphone. The games are fun and more entertaining, it doesn't need lifelike graphics for me, when the entertainment value is high I am sold.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call is the sequel to the rhythm action game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy for the Nintendo 3DS. It retains the "theater rhythm action" gameplay in which players use the stylus to tap and hold notes while fighting enemies. 

Failing notes results in the loss of HP, with the stage ending in a Game Over if the party's HP is depleted. There are three different stages: the Field Music Sequence, Event Music Sequence and Battle Music Sequence.

So in the Field Music you either travel the map with a chance to summon a chocobo or travel an airship and if you time your notes right can travel great distances before the song is over.

The Battle Music stage is where you beat enemies and obtain treasures which can be used in the stage or upgrade your characters.

For the Event Music stage you will unlock the movies from various Final Fantasy titles and you can view them in the Theatre. I still get goosebumps when I see the opening movies for Final Fantasy XI and XIV.

The game has over 200 songs and more than 60 characters and has a special versus mode that you can challenge others to a music duel. So you will play the same song and aim to get a higher score than you opponent. while inflicting statuses to them to make it harder.

Everything is done in increments. The player must to play single player mode songs and earn points to unlock every game mode, as well as options within each mode. The same goes for songs.

My current team consists of Cloud Strife, Prishe, Y'shtola & Balthier. I started out using the buttons more then the stylus but button-style playing is impossible when you go to advance and expert mode songs. Also I was afraid I would rip off the top of my analogue stick like some of the players in Japan (they have this issue with Super Smash Bros. on the 3DS). And the 3DS is designed for stylus abuse. 

The level of the character has nothing to with the skill of your opponent. I managed to beat a lvl 99 with my level 14 because my status trigger were lucky and I had more criticals then he or she did.

I really really love this game. Shame I never had to chance to play the previous version but I will try to get my hands on it one day.

Review: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

First of all I want to thank you for 1000 page views *bow*. I hope you enjoyed reading my reviews and other ramblings and hope you will continue to do so in the future :D.


Today I will be reviewing: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

From left to right: Rei, Nagisa, Rin, Haruka & Makoto.

What can I say I love sports-anime/manga. It all started with Slam Dunk and since then I've followed several series like Prince of Tennis, Eyeshield 21, Mr. Fullswing, Cross Manage, etc.

The anime is based on a novel written by Koji Oji and focuses on four boys participating in a swimming tournament.

Plot:
When they are in elementry school Rin, Nagisa, Haruka & Makoto are in the same swimming club. Haruka claims he only wants to swim freestyle but eventually joins in the Medley* race after much convincing of Rin. The boys win the race and they bury their trophy like a time capsule. Rin announces that he goes to Australia to train to become an Olympic swimmer, a wish his dad held but never achieved.

*Medley is a combination of four swimming styles into one race: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle.

Rin and Haruka accidentally meet the next year when Rin visits his family for Christmas and he challenges Haruka to a race but ends up losing. Frustrated by his loss he never contacts his former teammates and continues his training in Australia. Haruka shocked by Rin's reaction quits the swimming club and team completely falls apart.

In highschool Makoto, Haruka en Nagisa are reunited and revive try to revive the school's swimming club with the help of Rin's sister Gou. Participation in schooltrainings and competition require 4 members and Nagisa gets a track-and-field-member to join the club. But during the practice training they find out he can't swim.

Rin decides to return to Japan to enter highschool and forces Haruka to race him once again, resulting as a win for Rin. But Rin realises Haruka has not been in shape and is angered by his lack of training and says his victory is meaningless like this. Haruka is shocked by his loss but turns to his teammates with the wish to swim together in the Medley.

The boys of Iwatobi swim club train hard together to enter the national swimming competition in order to beat Rin in the Medley race.

Sadly I've only seen 11 of the 12 episodes so far. And the final race will be battled in the last epi that will be released next week by one of the fan-subbers. Not that I would have spoiled the ending to you guys ;).

It's a shame the series is only 12 episodes long but I think it's just the right amount to tell the full story. What I find very funny in the series the boys look like regular pretty boys when dressed but are muscle packed when in their swimming gear. A lot of fangirl-service is provided in those shots ;).

Also the characters are pretty interesting. They all have very girly names ;).

Haruka: he rarely smiles and always thinks about swimming, he even tried to climb in a fishtank at the store xD. When they club went to buy swimming gear for Rei he ended up buying the same pair of swimming trunks as he already owns, claiming they fit him better while the rest of the group sees no difference.

Nagisa: Very high spirited and is not afraid to speak his mind to much frustration of Rei at times. He is the cute one of the club.

Makoto: Haruka's best friend, he is very nice and takes care of others but is also a big scaredy-cat and hides behind Haru for protection. Makoto developed a fear of the ocean when a person he admired died in a typhoon.

Rei: loves everything thats beautiful and is a very intelligent boy. He didn't want to join the swimming club at first because he said swimming wasn't beautiful enough but when he sees Haruka swim he finally joins. Doesn't know how to swim but learns the Butterfly later on in the series.

Rin: Haruka's rival and former teammate. Despite his self-proclaimed rivalry towards Iwatobi, he demonstrates concern of them, especially Haruka. 

Free! has a very large fanbase and because of it's popularity it was made into an anime-series. I've seen the fanfictions and fanart appear regular on Pixiv (a Japanese social site) and was thrilled when the series was released. I'll have to watch the final episode from my new home in Belfast but the series went on my must buy list when released on DVD and that will be around Febuary 2014.

Free! is a fun series to watch, especially for those who like sports & pretty boys. I highly recommend it.

This will be my last review for the time being. I am moving to Belfast and I don't know when I will have a computer or a steady internet connection. 

I'll see you in the future ;)!

Review: Vassalord OVA

By chance I stumbled on the Vassalord OVA on youtube. So I explored the internet to find a good fansub and found it with my trusted fansubbers Aarinfantasy.

The OVA is based on a josei (ladies comics) series written and illustrated by Nanae Chrono. 7 volumes of the manga have been released as with four drama cd's. The OVA was released in spring 2013.

Plot (with courtesy of Wiki):

Vampires Charles J. Chrishunds (Charley) and Johnny Rayflo have a strange relationship. Charley is a cyborg vampire mix, and a vampire hunter for the Vatican, while his master Johnny enjoys a playboy lifestyle. While fighting crimes involving vampires, Charley struggles to control his lust for blood and for Johnny, while Johnny (previously known as Addie before becoming a vampire) delights in seducing his servant and attempts to deal with issues from his own past. Johnny cares about Charley (also known as Cherry and Chris), and the feelings don't seem to be one-sided.

While the OVA is put in the fantasy, comedy, supernatural & shounen-ai catergories, the shounen-ai (Boy's love) value is very low opposite the manga. While Charley feeds on Rayflo to still his hunger the element of lust between the two characters is left in the middle. I miss the taunting and tempting that Rayflo does that drives Charley of the edge many times in the series. 

Oh Rayflo, you slut.

For the OVA they used the story of the first chapter of Vassalord, and because this chapter stands on itself don't really need to add anything else to finish it. The relationship between Chris (I know they call him Charley in the OVA but I am more used to the manga version were everyone calls him Chris) and Rayflo is clear, Rayflo turned Chris in to a vampire and Chris refuses to drink other blood than his masters. They battle on of Rayflo's ghosts of the past in order for Chris to recieve priesthood.

The animation compliments the typical style of Nanae Chrono. While its not a one-on-one copy of hers, it comes very close to it. The typical bickering and comic-relief appears in the OVA paired with the dark atmosphere Vassalord usually gives.

The voice-actors for Chris and Rayflo are well known in the world of anime. Ryotaro Okiayu (Chris) is best known for Byakuya Kuchiki (Bleach) and Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist) while Keiji Fujiwara (Rayflo) is known for Maes Hughes (Fullmetal Alchemist), Leorio (Hunter x Hunter) and my favorite Shiro Fujimoto (Ao no Exorcist). The pair worked together on Fullmetal Alchemist and I found them the ideal choice for this OVA, especially Keiji because his freaking out makes me giggle every time.

Sadly the episode was only 27 minutes long and while you can put more in to the story it would have just been putting too much information without adding to the value of it. It's just the fangirl in me that wants more.

Maybe Production I.G. is testing the waters with this OVA, seeing that the fanbase will be significantly smaller than with regular animes. But I do hope they will make it into a regular series so I can see my other favorite characters of the series. They did give me a small glimps at the end of my all time favorite madman 86, so a girl can only hope.

Animation: 4,5/5

Voice-cast: 5/5

Story: 3/5

The world of darkness isn't scary. 

Review: Oblivion

I must admit I am not a Tom Cruise fan.

Why?

I don't like the fact he is part of Scientology. I've seen that cult destroy lives of people in my personal circle and he just advocates it like its the best thing in life to get. Ofcourse for you Tom, you can pay your way out.

Since that dreadful version of War of the Worlds I haven't seen a movie starring with Tom so this one was the first since 8 years I think. During WotW I prayed so hard that the aliens would zap his daughter...she was  intensly annoying.

Anyhow back to the main topic: Oblivion.

Music in my opinion was badass, my applause to M83 (a French electronic/shoegaze band from Antibes). The director, Joseph Kosinski, showed us already in Tron: Legacy how well electronic music goes with a movie. And through this movie he added a new band to my playlist.

The movie also contained some new nifty toys that me and my friend really liked. My favorite were the drones. They are well developed and deadly with maximum force.

The movie itself was quite interesting, although Sally was very fake in my opinion but I won't go to deep into this, or I will spoiler the movie for you. But when my friend pointed out that this movie has a lot of similarities with the 2009 British science fiction drama Moon during the break, the rest of the movie became really predictable, to my dismay :/.

Overall it was a decent movie with amazing scenery shots but compaired to Moon this movie is inferior to it. If you never seen Moon then you will quite enjoy this movie and will be pretty surprised at the end :).

Rating: 3 out of 5

I am open for discussion on the movie. Just e-mail me at vandersloot @ home.nl

Review time!: Iron Man MarkVII Revoltech Kaiyodo

When ordering figurines online I always rely on official sites instead of Ebay. It may be more expensive but I want 100% guarantee that my figurine is the real deal. Sadly Ebay has a lot of copied products outthere and you will be spending your hard-earned money on a fake.

This time around I pre-ordered the Iron Man MarkVII from Revoltech (Kaiyodo) through Hobbylink Japan (http://www.hlj.com/). They have this nifty new option called online warehouse that let's you store your pre-orders for 60 days until you are ready to recieve them. My Hot Toys Captain America came from them a few months ago and overall I am happy with the service of HLJ. If I don't order through HLJ, I will order through Archonia (http://www.archonia.com/mangashop/en/). Both companies carry different shipping options while HLJ will use EMS-shipping for the more expensive merchandise. For the little stuff you can use the snail-mail option, it's cheap and it gets to you eventually.

So now back to Iron Man.



As all Revoltech figures this one is displayed with various fitting pictures of the legal parties involved in the issue of this item and explosions :D! It's not Iron Man if it doesn't blow shit up.

Now comes the joke that made me fall for this figure. The awsome-sauce-amazing flight pose as I have pointed out below.

 

But alas to my dismay. There is no way you can keep this pose on display :(. Figma give you the cool clear plastic holders that can help you pose your figure in all sorts of aerodynamic and acrobatic poses. But Revoltech only gave me standard *le sigh*.

Though I give the thumbs up for Revoltech for adding a container for the bits and pieces you recieve with the figure. I have food containers hidden under my bed full with body parts of my collection. My cat Bailey tends to run of with anything that looks like a toy to him and will have me chasing him around the livingroom for me to get my precious parts back. Look at the cool blasters, I can do pew-pew now.



There he is Tony Stark in his full armored glory. Revoltech puts little bits of protective plastic between the joints to save the paintwork but calls for bloody murder to get them out. Did I tell you I love to smell of fresh plastic in the morning?



Overal the paintjob is nicely done, he got a bit slacky at the back but I can over see it, it's only a slight bit. That is also a point for spotting a fake product, the fakies have absolutely horrible paint jobs, it really looks like a five-year-old that doesn't know how to color within the line. And ofcourse the quality of the material. This figure feels solid, the joints very sturdy and you can shake it with your might, no bits will fly off. Yes I put my figures through some abuse when I get my hands on them.

Here comes the pose I wanted him in but sadly no way of displaying him like this unless lying him down on his belly in my cabinet (which looks a bit silly in my opinion). Maybe one day I will revert to my inner-child and skip across the room doing the Buzz Lightyear with him but that will have to wait until noone's home or I will be checked in the closest mental institution.



Fly with me Tony!!

When I tried to mount him on his stand, Iron Man suggested me he wanted to do the Limbo.
Hilarity continued and soon it became frustration because he kept toppling over. Luckily I could fix it by clicking his feet in the right position.



And there his is with his lasers, pew-pewing away the bad guys. I am quite happy with him, being an Iron Man fan and all.



Smexy close up of his paintjob.



And here you see him dwarfed by Cap in his display space. This Iron Man is the Avengers 2012 version so it's fitting he gets a spot next to Cap.



Probably in May I will recieve my Hot Toys Avengers 2012 version of Iron Man (the same size as Cap) and I will be needing to find a new space for these bad boys. They don't really fit in between my anime related merchandise. But for my Iron Man needs I will have to do with the upcoming release of Iron Man 3 on the big screen in April.