North Korean Advertising At Its Finest
Here’s something you don’t see every day: a beer commercial from North Korea!
The comments from people who have actually tried the beer are mostly positive, although I am a little puzzled to learn (or maybe I shouldn’t be puzzles at all) that:
Generally, draught Taedonggang was not sold to foreigners.
After watching the commercial though (written, filmed and scored by Dear Leader himself, of course, with cinematography by Brilliant Comrade) that maybe North Korea should import a British advertising agency to go with their British brewery. ‘Cause that commercial was lame.
Cyborgs Need Love- I Mean, Water Too!
Our friends at io9 have posted a lovely little short film called Mirage, by a Korean filmmaker named Yougnwoong Jang, that I’m going to share with all our YM readers. It’s quiet, contemplative, and pretty to look at. I’m not really a big fan of 3D CGI animation, but this isn’t bad. It isn’t bad at all.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get something to drink.
Chinese airline planning ’standing-room only’ flights
Air travel is never pleasant - not in my opinion anyway. I hate being sealed into a gigantic, claustrophobia-inducing metal freight car and then hurled thousands of miles above ground level only to deal with hours of helpess anxiety and bad food (which is no longer included in the ticket, and must now be paid for separately thankyouverymuch).
Now one airline, Spring Airlines in China, wants passengers to do all this standing up for the duration of the flight.
Two words: fuuuuuck that.
By herding passengers onto the plane like cattle, the airline will be able to squeeze on 40% more people. They will still have to wear safety belts, however, although it sounds like they’ll be strapped in somewhat uncomfortably. “It’s just like bar stools,” Spring’s Zhang Wuan told China’s CCTV.”The safety belt is the most important thing. It will still be fastened around the waist.”
The bar-stool analogy is apt, since the only way I’d comply is if I were totally shit-faced.
(via Wired)
Homo sapiens’ primate ancestor may have developed in Asia, not Africa
Huh. After decades of scientific research pinpointing Africa as the so-called ‘Cradle of Life’, one scientist now points to Asia as the home of humanity’s common ancestor…which should do wonders for the demographics of this site, if you catch my drift.
If Myanmar, formerly called Burma, is confirmed as being the ancestral homeland of higher primates, or close to it, the discovery points to a circuitous migration route for some early primates, which must have gone to Africa and then come back to Asia.
Christopher Beard, lead author of the study, told Discovery News that the common ancestor to today’s humans, monkeys and apes “would have lived in Asia.”
“At some point later in time, probably only a few million years after Ganlea was alive, one or more primitive anthropoid primates, which would have been descendants of an earlier Asian ancestor, made their way from Asia to Africa,” explained Beard, a Carnegie Museum of Natural History paleontologist.
“There, they continued to evolve, and some of them eventually became modern Old World monkeys, apes and humans,” he added. “Living monkeys and apes like the orangutan that inhabit Asia returned there after evolving for millions of years in Africa.”
Recent additions to Netflix instant watch - The Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police, and more
Netflix just added a handful of goodies to their Instant Watch service, including The Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police, and the Thai horror flick Art of the Devil II (Art of the Devil I has been up there for a while, I think…).
Here are a few trailers in case you want to see what you’re getting into…
‘Robogeisha’ will be the best goddamn robot movie of all time
Transforming geisha. Shrimp in eyes. WHY ARE THE BUILDINGS BLEEDING?
CGI Appleseed returns to DVD
ADV’s re-release of 2005’s Appleseed, based on the Masamune Shirow manga of the same name, hits store shelves today. Full press release follows, though no BluRay is mentioned (boo!).
APPLESEED ON SALE TODAY
The Original Movie Back On DVD
HOUSTON, June 30, 2009—Sentai Filmworks is proud to announce the return of Appleseed to DVD! The groundbreaking anime thriller, which has been out of print for several years, hits store shelves today.
Appleseed was first released in North America by in 2005. Based on the legendary manga series by Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell, Dominion) and directed by groundbreaking filmmaker Shinji Arimaki (Bubblegum Crisis), Appleseed set a high-water mark for anime features in the 21st century.
Synopsis: Earth’s last city, Olympus, rose from the ashes of a global war on the backs of Bioroids, artificial clones who make up half the city’s population. Under the strict guidance of a supercomputer, humanity’s last survivors enjoy an idyllic peace, but only on the surface Human terrorists within the military seek a return to power and clash with the government’s ESWAT forces lead by the legendary soldier, Deunan Knute, and her boyfriend who is 75% machine. Retrieving the Appleseed will end the conflict, and Deunan alone holds its secret. The outstanding feature film based on the manga by Masamune Shirow (Ghost In the Shell), directed by Shinji Aramaki (Bubblegum Crisis), and produced by SORI (Ping Pong) features a soundtrack including Boom Boom Satelites, Paul Oakenfold, Basement Jaxx and more.
Appleseed (SRP $19.98 DVD) is a DVD-only anamorphic release presented in both English 5.1 and Japanese 5.1 with English subtitles.
DVD Product Details
Running Time: 105 mins.
Age Rating: TV 14 (V, S, L)
CAT: SF-AP001
UPC: 702727206627
Pre-Book Date: 6/2/2009
Street Date: 6/30/2009
Format: DVD
SRP: $19.98
Product specifications and content configuration subject to change.
Could Yao Ming’s left foot end his career?
Yao Ming, who suffered a broken foot on May 8 during a playoff game, now faces the possibility that his career could be on the ropes.
Rockets center Yao Ming’s broken left foot could be a “career-threatening” injury. Dr. Tom Clanton, the Houston Rockets’ team physician, told the Houston Chronicle on Monday that Yao’s injury “has the potential for him missing this next season and could be career-threatening.”
Yahoo! Sports first reported the Rockets and Yao’s representatives were concerned the 7-foot-6 All-Star would never play again. Yahoo! Sports quoted “multiple league executives, officials close to Yao and two doctors with knowledge of the diagnoses.”
Yao suffered a hairline fracture of the tarsal navicular bone late in a May 8 playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The team said last week the injury hasn’t healed and he was out indefinitely.
Hope this isn’t the case. Then again, sports careers generally have pretty short shelf-lives, so let’s hope Ming invested his money wisely.
Feng shui master Tony Chan hot for dead lover’s money
I haven’t been following the probate trial of deceased Hong Kong businesswoman Nina Wang, but by-golly I wish I had been. The details of the trial sound like a Shaw Brothers’ production of a Jackie Collins’ novel. Aside from the May-December aspect of Wang’s romance with feng shui practitioner Tony Chan (she was 69 when she shuffled off her mortal coil, he was 49), Chan’s testimony has revealed all kinds of nuttiness…
Over several days, the married Chan gave his eagerly-awaited testimony in court, describing his affair with Wang as an intimate one filled with nocturnal trysts, bizarre feng shui rituals including the digging of holes and burning banknotes, overseas trips and shared hobbies like flying model helicopters.
Lawrence Lok, a lawyer for the Chinachem Charitable Foundation representing Wang’s family, which lays claim to an earlier will, described Chan as Wang’s “toy boy”.
But Chan flatly denied this: “It’s not a sin to love someone 23 years your senior … age is not a boundary of love.”
The Foundation has claimed Chan’s will is a fake.
Under aggressive bursts of questioning, Lok suggested Chan lured Wang into giving him three “gratuitous” cash gifts each worth around $89 million, to heal her deteriorating illness.
“This is ridiculous, how am I able to rejuvenate a person,” Chan replied. “It is a gift to me. She addressed me as hubby and she loved me,” the crew-cut, stocky Chan added.
Indeed - nothing brings two people together like model helicopters and burning money.
Chinese Feds crack down on gold farmers
It looks like Chinese World of Warcraft carpetbaggers will have to find something else to do with their time; the Chinese government has moved to shut down so called ‘gold farmers’, MMORPG players who are paid to hoard in-game resources and dump them onto sites like wowgoldforsale.com (I’m not sure that’s a real site - I just made that up…). But waitaminit - doesn’t virtual gold account for half of China’s export revenue? At least it seems that way…
“The virtual currency, which is converted into real money at a certain exchange rate, will only be allowed to trade in virtual goods and services provided by its issuer, not real goods and services,” the Ministries said.
The Chinese government estimates that trade in virtual currency exceeded several billion yuan last year, a figure that it claims has been growing at a rate of 20% annually. One billion yuan is currently equal to about $146 million.The ruling is likely to affect many of the more than 300 million Internet users in China, as well as those in other countries involved in virtual currency trading. In the context of online role playing games like World of Warcraft, virtual currency trading is often called gold farming.
The most popular form of virtual currency in China is called “QQ coins,” a form of virtual credit issued by Tencent.com.
Tencent.com, which has about 220 million registered users — about as many as Facebook — is quoted in the Chinese government news release as “resolutely” supporting the new rule. The government justifies its ban on virtual currency trading as a way to curtail gambling and other illegal online activities.
One wonders how this will affect the in-game economies of games like World of Warcraft. Boing Boing speculates that this will lead to the practice of gold farming migrating to other areas of the globe, like Vietnam or Eastern Europe - and that the current model is dominated by Chinese WoW-tongs who control the exchange of goods across servers. Probably true. In fact, I’d argue this is a good reason all MMO’s should move towards EVE Online’s more mercenary, hands-off approach to resource management.
(via Kotaku)
