Month: August 2005

  • CoH Roster: Rossum’s Fist

    This hefty mass of superheroics comes to Paragon City from an unknown locale and bears an unusual moniker. There are rumors of a scientist by name of Rossum who is delving into the creation of artificial persons, or robota, to take on the menial tasks that would’ve been performed by slaves in an earlier, less enlightened century. Rossum’s Fist could, perhaps, be one of these creations… or he could be intended for some other purpose entirely. He seems content to use his massive fists to punch the living daylights out of villains wherever he finds them. This hero is very strong, and seemingly impervious to many basic kinds of damage one can take as a hero in our fair city.


    His apparel would seem to be a patchwork of fabrics crudely sewn together, with a large letter “R” emblazoned on his chest. Could this be a stamp of ownership, perhaps? Nobody really knows.

    Having achieved a Security Level of only 13, he does not yet have a second costume.

  • CoH Roster: Arctic Ant

    Arctic Ant’s magical powers center on the offensive and defensive use of frozen water. He has achieved Security Level 20 as a superhero of the Blaster persuasion. While his struggle against the forces of evil hasn’t always been wildly successful, he perseveres with icy determination. His rage against villains is matched only by his sheer joy in flight.


    Here we see his original look, a striking bio-organic ensemble complete with frozen veins.

    Arctic Ant has recently changed his costuming approach, opting for a traditional tights-and-cape motif.

    Look for more of Paragon City’s finest in the hours to come!

  • Log in. Log out. Log in. Log out.

    Sign into system. Pick character. Log in. Pose. Change costume. Change again if necessary. Take screenshots periodically. Log out. Pick character. Log in…

    Etc.

    If I keep this up long enough, I’ll have at least a half dozen entries’ worth of material. That’s, what, three hours? That’ll get me halfway to the finish line right there. Woo hoo!

    Mind you, I still have to figure out how I’m going to present these entries. Brainstorming continues, though with the sorry state of my brain at this point I’m not sure “storming” is the correct term for it…

  • Fiction

    What do you get when you take a prolific composer and producer and have her rework some of her most familiar music, add some original material and release the album Stateside? You get Yuki Kajiura’s “Fiction.”

    Kajiura has a fairly distinctive style even apart from the fact that a lot of her songs’ lyrics are written in languages other than Japanese. And no, not all of the songs on the album are English either, as a couple of the tracks from the anime series Noir are represented here, namely “Salva Nos” and “Canta per Me,” albeit in renditions far more grandiose than the originals. The versions of “Key of the Twilight” and “Fake Wings” (from .hack) are fairly straightforward but no less enjoyable for that fact.

    It’s the lesser-known tracks that really make the album, though. “Cynical World” is pretty, peppy and dark all at once. “Fiction” and “Vanity” are a hauntingly beautiful pair of songs. “Zodiacal Sign” is a collection of what could be considered “action sequence” background music from another anime title, and “Open Your Heart” is sweetly uplifting, almost too sweetly perhaps, but by that point on the album one tends not to mind too much.

    Don’t let the fact that half of this album started life as music for anime series turn you away. Try the promo, which features “Key of the Twilight,” “Open Your Heart,” “Cynical World” and “Fiction.” Unless what you hear really turns you off, I wholeheartedly recommend this album to you.

    YK – Fiction promo

  • Sam Doesn’t Talk Very Well

    I’ve had some fun today making the text-to-speech software generate artist and album “voice overs” for the promos I’ve done so far, but these last two are definitely the most challenging and amusing yet. I had to come up with creative misspellings that the software would interpret in something resembling the way I wanted. In one case it took me most of five minutes.

    I don’t want to give away the identities of the artists yet, but believe me, when you see them you’ll understand why I had so much fun with their VOs…

  • Goal Reached!

    Blogathon made their 2005 goal of $50,000 in sponsorship donations! I think that’s worth an entry all by itself, don’t you?

    (The fact that I spent half an hour playing that castle game has nothing to do with the brevity of this entry. Honest!)