I love animals. I really do. For instance, cows taste really good when ground up and placed between two slices of bread with lots of fixin’s (as they say across the river). Honestly, i don’t think I’ve yet met an animal that I didn’t like better on a plate (cats and dogs notwithstanding, but that’s a cultural thing - I’m sure they taste fine).

PETA are animal lovers too. But they don’t love them enough to eat them. In fact, they are so averse to show animals their consumptive affection that they can’t even stand videogames that simulate eating animals.

And what does said videogame company say in its’ defense? Read on.

As the old saying goes: “If God didn’t want us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them out of meat.”

Since I mentioned my Xbox Live avatar yesterday, here’s what my digital doppelganger looks like. I mean, it’s sorta me - in a very superficial way. At least it’s wearing cargo pants and sort of a punk rock t-shirt, which is probably what you’d find me wearing if you bumped into me in the street. Not sure about the face though - sorta looks like an Asian John Lennon - which is totally not what I look like. I think the beard isn’t thick enough. My wife says it looks like me though, so I’ll defer to her judgement.

Oh, Voltron - why do you vex me so? This is the third time I’ve had to write about Voltron in the last week. It’s like a bad ex-girlfriend that won’t stop calling me. Do I have to file for a restraining order, Voltron? Because I will.

Oh, and I just filed for a Concealed Carry permit, so don’t come around unless you bring a posse.

From AICN Anime and Anime News Network:

According to Anime News Network, World Events Productions (WEP) attempted to serve Toei Animation with a law suit concerning the live action adaptation of Voltron on Monday.

While Toei produced Hyakujuu Ou Golion (King of Beasts Golion), the anime localized as “lion” Voltron and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV (Mechanized Fleet Dairugger XV), localized as “vehicle” Voltron, Koplar Communications licensed the rights to that original anime and produced the Volton localization.

The relationship between Kopar and Toei went to the courts in 1999 when Koplar’s WEP production company created the CG Voltron: The Third Dimension, leading to new agreements between the companies in 2000 , and future head-aches trying to suss out who had the rights to what.

Yeah, this is going to be a big seller.

The Article

Apparently the sinking economy has caused lots of Japanese to join the Communist Party. Now they are making a manga of Marx’s Das Kapital for your reading pleasure.

I had to read Das Kapital in college…and all I can say is maybe a manga will actually make it more interesting, but I doubt it.

Time to resurrect Senator McCarthy, the Japanese are trying to turn our kids into dirty Commies!

Winter sucks. Not only for people, but for the furry critters who live outside too (in other news, I have finally found the optimal position for my car vents to spew heat directly to the place where my hands usually rest on the steering wheel; go me!).

Often, furry critters who live outside will climb into the engines of cars that have recently been parked, seeking heat. They will then fall asleep in the engine.

Turned-on engine + furry critter = very, very, bad. VERY bad.

So here’s a quick something you can do to prevent this: before starting your car on a cold day, slap the hood with your hand. If you’re afraid you’ll hurt your widdle fingers, then slam your car door a couple times before starting up. The noise will ideally scare out any furry critters who are sleeping in your engine.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Yellow Menace.

Are you an otaku? Do you want your fifteen minutes of fame? Do you not care if millions of TV viewers see you on a reality show and make fun of you for being a huge dork?

Well AnimeExpo and MTV can hook you up!

Apply!

MTV wants big dopey fangirls/boys for their reality show True Stories, which apparently has been on MTV for ten years even though I’ve never heard of it. Not like I ever watched much MTV though (actually, does anyone still watch MTV??), except for a brief infatuation with Pimp My Ride back when I last had cable about five years ago.

It seems there are only two rules (you have to appear between 16 and 28? Most girls these days look 16 by the time they turn 11…).

Individuals must appear to be between the ages of 16 and 28 and must identify as a fanboy/fangirl.

I really don’t have it in me to be snarky about this, so I’ll let the original material speak for itself - suffice to say that religion and governments make really shitty bedfellows.

Last year the Chinese passed a law that gives Beijing the power to approve the reincarnation of living Buddhas or lamas, of whom the Dalai Lama is the highest in the Tibetan hierarchy.

In turn, the Dalai Lama has raised the possibility to forgo his rebirth, or to be reborn while still alive so that he, not China, can choose his successor.

Reincarnation, the migration of the soul from one body to another in a continuous process of rebirth so that lamas or senior monks can carry on their religious work, is a basic tenet of Tibetan Buddhism.

The current 14th Dalai Lama who is considered a reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, was discovered, through various forms of rituals and divination, while still a young boy, more than two years after the death of the previous Dalai Lama.

But while the issues of afterlife and rebirth seem like ones of strictly religious belief, for China’s rulers, they also involve the deadly business of political control over Tibet. The current Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize-winner, has become an international icon and the peaceful face of Tibet’s struggle for autonomy.

There is a fear among some observers that the Dalai Lama’s death could trigger even more violent uprisings than the recent riots that challenged Chinese communist rule last March.

Yippee…! Last night I booted up my Xbox 360 to play a little Far Cry 2 and was pleasantly surprised to see my old 360 dashboard morph into the much touted New Xbox Experience, 1full day before the expected launch date. As it turns out - everyone who signed up for the beta program, and not previously accepted, was granted access as of last night.

After creating a reasonable facsimile of myself in the new Avatar creation tool (much to the dismay of my wife who was a little creeped out by my anime-styled clone) I headed straight for the goods: the new Netflix integration. In case you hadn’t heard, Netflix has joined up with Microsoft to stream all of their on-demand titles directly to subscribers’ Xbox consoles. At their second-to-lowest subscription package, this means near-instant - and unlimited - access to streaming content straight from Netflix vaults.

While the selection of goods is a little on the pale side, at least compared to their full library, it’s an absolute steal at the price. Of course, you still get access to their DVD-rental service and can stream the content to your PC as well.

I don’t mean to make this sound like a damn infomercial, but Netflix support is without a doubt the coolest feature the Xbox 360 has going for it right now (I mean, aside from all the game-playing and whatnot). I can’t wait for less mainstream fare to become available - although Herzog’s Aguirre: the Wrath of God and The Short Films of David Lynch are nothing to sneeze at. And more HD programming would be welcome. But, other than that, nicely played, Microsoft!

And buh-bye pay-per-view!

Wasn’t planning on doing an all-kids day here at Yellow-Menace, but some days are like that. A hefty backslap to Kotaku’s Japan-based correspondent Brian Ashcraft as he and the missus welcome progeny number deux into the world.

Trust me when I say that 2 kids is where the fun really starts!

I’ve been meaning to get off my lazy ass and post these for a couple weeks now. My son is a rabid Ghostbusters fan. I picked up the Ghostbusters/Ghostbusters II DVD combo about 18-months ago and for whatever reason he promptly sat through the original film about twice a week for six months straight. He hums the incidental music to himself when occupied with other things and knows the name of every character, major and minor. Seriously - it’s scary.

So when Halloween time approached this year, when asked what he wanted to be for Halloween, his response was: Peter Venkman! Of course, being me - I procrastinated until October 29th before hacking out his costume in desperation over the course of two days. I fabricated a proton pack and proton accelerator out of spare shipping material lying around the office and computer cables from home and accented it with vinyl graphics I produced at work. I made the night vision goggles out of swimming goggles and two small sections of PVC pipe. Elbow and kneepads were purchased at Wal-Mart and the shirt, shoes, and pants came out my son’s wardrobe (tan utility jumpsuits for four-year-olds apparently aren’t a regularly stocked item at most department stores, so we had to make do).

The whole think took about 1-1/2 days to assemble from first tinge of panic to the last coat of paint.

More pics after the jump…

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