From March 2006

Solid State Society

Tachikoma

As if a collective prayer was answered I just found out that Production I.G have announced a new chapter in the GITS saga – Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society. The last two series have been pure genius and could even have been said to improve on themselves so I have high hopes for the next incarnation.

After the spectacular ending of the 2nd Gig who knows where it will go next!

UPDATE (23/03):

Production I.G has revealed in a stock disclosure that the upcoming Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society will be a 100 minute movie released in summer 2006. Anime News Network reports the movie is being produced in Hi-Vision, a format used by Japanese broadcast networks to support wide-screen televisions. The same production team, including main staff, will be carried over from the TV series. It takes place two years after the refugee riot incident. A significantly larger Section 9, with over 20 new officers, investigates terrorist actions related to a wizard-like hacker “Kugutsu Mawashi.”

The Hills Have Eyes

At last the Broadband tap has been turned back on at home so I’m back to sucking the world through a straw to the tune of a 2mb connection (our part of London can’t get 8mb quite yet). I’ve also upgraded my Ubuntu install to 6.04 (development version) which has brought with it a number of niceties and of course the brand new Gnome 2.14. If you like the bleeding edge it’s well worth trying.

Talking of blood… last weekend I went to see The Hills Have Eyes and I can honestly say I’ve never felt so shocked by a film as I did by this, and I’ve seen my fair share of horror films! Perhaps this was because it was on the big screen so there was no avoiding the raw brutality of the action but it had an intensity unlike anything I’ve seen before.

The Hills Have Eyes

The story starts of with an average family taking a trip through the American southwest on holiday. After a “helpful” tip from a local they take what they think is a shortcut trail but will of course end up to being the route to their massacre.

The Hills Have Eyes

They venture into an area originally used by the U.S. Government for nuclear testing. (There is an element of truth here in that testing was indeed carried out here as documented in Trinity and Beyond). When the family car breaks down they soon realise that all is not what it seems and that the area perhaps isn’t as empty as it looks!

The Hills Have Eyes

From here on in things get really nasty with one scene of frensied carnage which takes place inside a caravan that you will not forget in a hurry. Soon most of the adults are wiped out then it’s a fight for survival for the rest…

Excellent visual direction and some genuinely frightening moments – highly recommended if you can stomach it (7/10)!

Gone AWOL

To cut a long story short the housemate who I shared the internet connection with left and in doing so disconnected the internet and phone line hence the void of content here recently – sorry! I’ve now ordered a new connection but this probably wont be activated for about another 10 days (why does it take so long BT??!!). In the mean time I’ve been catching up with a few weird and wonderful films so hopefully I’ll post a few reviews soon.

In the mean time take a look at my del.icio.us feed for all that is currently passing through my brain (well sort of)!