The video game I’ve been working on for the past year and change gets released today. Twelve-year-old Steven would be pretty damn pleased.

I was very excited to stop by an arcade yesterday and see a new little fighting game by the name of Streetfighter 4.

Unfortunately, I have to say that I’m pretty mixed in the feelings department about the game. Why, why, WWWWHHHYYY did they have to make it 3D??? The game itself plays just like its 2D counterparts, but has a kinda-sorta cell shaded style that well…is lifeless.

Capcom always to me was the place to go for awesome 2D fighters. I’ll go to Virtua Fighter or blech…even Tekken if I gotta have 3D fighting action.  I can certainly understand if this was a Street Fighter EX kinda thing, but to call it Street Fighter 4 is crazy!

It was still a pretty fun game though. It plays solid, but it hurts just thinking of the fresh, crisp 2D fighters they could have had instead of this 3D nugget of poo.

Mom, I’ve never been more proud to be your son.

Two of my best friends are getting married today. I remember hanging out with Kevin at Cut and Paste as he inquired about that crafty cutie as if it were yesterday.

Best wishes, K+K!

I’ve been meaning to host a Brucesploitation double bill for quite some time now. The major obstacle has been narrowing it down and deciding which films to show. The Clones of Bruce Lee made the cut straight away, due partly to its meta qualities and also because it’s packed with an all-star roster of Bruce Lee imitators. Like a Brucesploitation sampler plate.

That leaves the other slot. Who’s it going to go to? Soul Brothers of Kung Fu? Enter The Fat Dragon? Bruce Lee Vs. Gay Power? Considering the clip seen above, I think it’s safe to say that, despite it’s tame title, Dragon Lives Again fits the bill.

It probably goes against the comic blog credo, but I don’t really keep a close eye on developments in the medium. I enjoy finding out about projects the same way one finds a forgotten twenty in a winter coat pocket. Discovering that Dave Cooper was supposed to draw a Donjon album, but didn’t, is more like finding that twenty’s tattered, moth-eaten remains.

Link courtesy of Journalista! Thanks for ruining my day, Dirk. Hope you enjoy your fucking vacation.

Illustration by Dave Cooper, heartbreaker.

It can be a strange experience watching two fandoms collide. I first heard about IDW’s plans to adapt Richard Stark’s Parker novels through a crime fiction website. They didn’t mention the name of the artist involved, which left me thinking it was going to be a hack job. I was mildly upset that I wouldn’t get a crack at the source material myself, as the Parker books are among my favourite genre novels. The comic websites I turned to for more information were the opposite of the crime ones, with the artist’s name front and centre and a lot of space taken up explaining the work of Richard Stark to the uninitiated. My envy turned into resignation after finding out that Darwyn Cooke was the artist involved. I can think of few artists more suited to the material and I’m looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.

“Real living is living for others.” - Bruce Lee.

As you can tell from my previous post, I watched Way of the Dragon earlier in the week in honour of the 35th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s passing. No matter how dated the movie surrounding him, there’s something so powerful about Bruce Lee’s physical prowess that just watching him move seems removed from time. My brain just isn’t equipped to handle it.

My Macho Movie Review co-host Nagy first brought the story of the fate of Bruce Lee’s family home to my attention. Hong Kong philanthropist Yu Pang-lin was determined to sell the property to help victims of the the earthquake in Sichuan until a worldwide outcry from martial arts fans changed his mind. Now he’s seeking approval to develop the home into a museum honouring Lee.

I have read dozens of news articles, blogs and forums concerning this story, and I’ve found only one that even takes into consideration the ramifications of this decision. To be fair, for all I know Yu Pang-lin will find alternate ways to contribute to the relief effort, or use the museum as a way to provide continual aid to people in need. And it’s probable that a museum dedicated to a globally loved icon like Lee would help create jobs and give a boost to the local economy. The long-term possibilities could very well outstrip whatever benefits turning the property into a parking lot would have entailed.

It’s not Yu Pang-lin’s decision that bothers me. He’s free to do whatever he wants with the property, and you can count me as one of the many who would love to see a permanent monument to Bruce Lee. It’s the knee-jerk reaction from Bruce Lee’s fans that has me confounded, with commentators initially vilifying Yu Pang-lin when he was going to let the property go on the market, then lauding him for reversing his decision to the point that some people were calling him a hero.

I have no idea how charitable Bruce Lee was, or, since he died before achieving the height of his fame whether he really had the chance to be. But I just can’t help feeling that a more fitting tribute to Lee’s cinematatic legacy would be to help those most in need.