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Chunk's advice to Nathan Drake: Don't piss off China

How many of you knew that the actor who played the distinguished truffling and shuffling Chunk from The Goonies is now considered one of the top 35 entertainment executives under 35 and looks like this! I didn't, nor did I know that by attending UCLA law school Chunk now has extensive legal advice to offer to various videogame characters with questionable habits.

These are all things I now know, thanks to Kotaku's clever post featuring Jeff B. Cohen answering legal questions from the Paperboy, Nathan Drake, Princess Peach and more. Check out all of the letters here, but my favorite is Cohen's advice to Mr. Drake regarding a few treasures he "collected" during his travels:

Also, please keep in mind that pissing off China is usually a mistake. They invented Kung Fu and have nuclear weapons. It is also generally a good idea to avoid legal entanglements with Turkey. Although it is a lovely country famous for its luxurious Turkish Baths it is also famous for its decidedly non-luxurious Turkish Prisons.

Thanks Bradonnn, for the tip!

Ghost Pirate LeChuck Tattoo made of Scumm and VooDoo

via Geekologie

Normally when I see a gamer tattoo I think to myself, "Yeaaaaah, I love games too and all, but I would really regret getting Three Starfox Moon inked all over my back." This tattoo, for obvious reasons, is an exception. First off, it's the pixelized Ghost Pirate LeChuck from the Monkey Island series, but more importantly it's my favorite and arguably the most badass version of the VooDoo Villain from the second game, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.

Anyway, props to the person who had the guts to get him inked all up and down their entire arm. I just hope they have enough VooDoo rootbeer available if they want to remove it! Wakka wakka wakka!

Thanks to Max Capacity of Analog Medium for this one!

Superhero knits by Mark Newport

Mark Newport grew up, like many kids, wanting to be a superhero. Inspired by his mother's handmade sweaters, Newport crafts full-body acrylic knit Superhero costumes that are created to explore the connection "...between childhood experience and an adult understanding of protection, masculinity, and heroism" while "...offering the space for someone to imagine themselves wearing the costume, becoming the hero."

I think these uniforms are truly charming. Newport has created familiar suits (Batman, Captain America, and a super long and stretchy Reed Richards suit of the Fantastic Four) as well as heroes of his own creation such as The Sweaterman and The Every-any-no Man. Check out his portfolio to see the full collection.

via It's Nice That

Cavern of the Evil Wizard game from the movie Big

I'm assuming all of you (well at least most of you, hopefully...) have seen that Tom Hanks classic Big, where a kid turns into Tom Hanks, and then Tom Hanks gets a lady friend and an awesome job at a toy company but still misses being a normal kid. It's a classic, and explains why most people attempt to do this whenever they see an oversized keyboard.

Anyway, in one of the early scenes of the movie, the kid is playing a text adventure game on his computer called Cavern of the Evil Wizard, which was never a real game and only put together for the movie. Brother Chow informed me a few days ago that some fellow over at BoMToons re-imagined and created CotEW for all to play online. Unfortunately I don't have too much experience with text adventures so I haven't gotten far, but it's a fun tidbit of culture to play around with.

Thanks Brother!

The Metreon is selling out (all of its arcade cabinets)

When the Metreon first opened in downtown San Francisco back in 1999 I was pretty skeptical. I remember Sony marketing the space as a some all singing, all dancing playground from the future, which ended up being just as futuristic as Dippin' Dots are to being the ice cream of the future. An IMAX theater, a Sony Playstation store, and virtual bowling for $2.00 weren't big enough attractions to convince me that it was worth my time, and gradually over the past decade the Metreon has become an awkard and failed attraction, currently being transformed into a "restaurant-centric" mall before it becomes overrun with cheap sunglasses kiosks and frozen yogurt stands.

Recently I've been browsing around the Metreon since my buddy Steven and I have made a habit to going to the movies at least once a week. Before the show starts, we'll spend a few tokens between the two rooms on the second floor. The first room is the claw-machine room (shown above) which harbors at least 20 (if not more) claw-machines and is always empty. The second room is the videogame arcade (featuring the aforementioned virtual bowling), a dim-lit mix of old arcade cabinets and steam-punk-esque decorations. But now both rooms as of a few weeks ago are entirely on sale.

Claw machine with plush South Park characters? It's yours for a grand. Sega Rally for two players? Under a thousand. Treasure Island Gifts? Well, that one isn't too fun but it's only $195. I mean I have to admit, the idea of having my very own House of the Dead 4 in my basement for $3,495 sounds pretty tremendous (if I had any money after that PS3 Slim, *sigh*), but it's a pretty sad sight that the Metreon is shaking off it's old gamer skin to make room for a Just Desserts. At least Point Break Live! will be showing there later this month.

KILL SCREEN - Looks like a good investment to me

I'll be honest. When my friend Nicholas Felton sent me an e-mail, saying that his buddy's project KILL SCREEN would be right up my alley, it took only a few minutes after I read the Kickstarter description to quick-click and donate. With what appears to be a super solid team of designers and writers, I can't *wait* to get my first hardcover issue of KILL SCREEN:

Here's what we're proposing -- a smart approach to a beloved medium led by folks who've written for the New Yorker, GQ, the Daily Show, Christian Science Monitor, LA Times, the Colbert Report, the Onion, Paste, alongside some lovely photos and even a poster or two! We promise to keep explosions to a bare minimum and limit fawning praise for Modern Warfare 2 to a giggle.

BINGO. Donate today!

The Astronaut, Yeti, Mummy Movement - It's Happening

As if I didn't have enough things to mull over during the course of the day, I've been planning/scheming/procrastinating on posting about my dissatisfaction with pop culture's exhausted fascination of Ninjas, Pirates, and Zombies for about two years now. I too think that all of these characters are "neat", but the surplus of Zom-ninja-rate themed paraphernalia and entertainment is rather tedious at this point, and frankly with all the other options out there, I think we can do better.

So, in a flurry of pent up frustration I called out to my fellow brethren across the web a suggested culture switch, from the Ninjas, Pirates, and Zombies of yesteryear to the noble Yetis, Mummies, and Astronauts of today. My cry turned out to be quite the small victory, resulting in two tremendous incidents:

1. We can more or less deduce from the below Facebook exchange that Yetis of War, Unreal Astronaut, and Mummy Complex are confirmed Epic titles in the coming future, right Mr. Bleszinski?

2. Flickr friend and talented illustrator Andreas Schuster has made my dream a reality in this incredible drawing, which will certainly go down in the history books as the artifact that moved millions in the Yeti-Astronaut-Mummy Movement of 2009 :

3. (NEW!) Dan Paladin insta-drew me his interpretation of a Yeti, Astronaut, Mummy party! Happy!

In other words, my Internet friends are the best ♥, and please, if any of you out there feel inspired to contribute and help us with this turnover I'd be forever in your debt.

UPDATE: Keeping track of all the signs of yetis/astronauts/mummys/-to-come...

• From n0wak: Sam Raimi to produce Yeti flick 'Refuge'
• From Chris & Nathan: Penny Arcade's "A Premonition"
• GameSetWatch: Metanet Offers 'Coming Soon' Pages for Office Yeti
• SPOILERS: If you play a certain awesome PS3 game, you'll know it when you see it.

You mean, I'm gonna stay this color? - Kirk Demarais' Cult Movie Family Portraits

Kirk Demarais' contribution to Gallery 1988's art show Crazy 4 Cult in Los Angeles is a tremendous set of family portraits from some of my favorite cult movie classics. All lovingly rendered in colored pencil, Demarais cleverly captures the spirit of The Emersons (The Lost Boys), The Torrances (The Shining), The Freelings (Poltergeist), and more.

Unfortunately my favorite of the bunch, The Johnsons from The Jerk, has already been sold, never to sit high upon my bedroom's mantle where it rightfully belongs. The Jerk was a Chow family favorite when I was growing up. It's a tradition between Papa Chow and myself that every year on my birthday he admits to me with a heavy sigh that I was really adopted (while of course, I'm not), to which I naturally reply "You mean I'm gonna stay this color?"

Secret Fun Blog via Brandonnn (reblog his tumble if you like!)

Videogames and the Female Audience

Most of you out there know that I tend to have a few strong opinions when it comes to the videogame industry and women. The last opportunity I had to explore these ideas publicly was with my post about "Girl Gamers" back in ye olde days of Destructoid, but unfortunately since I haven't really taken any time to sit back and reasses how I feel about the situation aside from small conversations with others who share my sentiment.

Thankfully there are folks out there like my trusty colleague Leigh Alexander over at Sexy Videogameland, who recently helped Daniel Floyd put together this video concerning videogames and the female audience. I think the discussion here is really terrific, and covers a large arena of theories as to why the game industry is as male-centric and testosterone fueled as it is today:

The only point where I have to quickly disagree with is Daniel's nod to Ubisoft for developing games marketed to young girls. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for bringing girls up as gamers ( I turned out alright... right?), but there has got to be a better way to expose women to gaming outside of painfully stereotypical titles like Imagine Babyz and My Weight Loss Coach. I mean, come on.

Tetris inspired fashion by Timothy James Andrews

According to Dazed Digital's interview with fashion designer Timothy James Andrews, his most recent collection titled "A-BLOCK-A-BRICK-TOE" is inspired by everything from Transformers, Mel Gibson's Apocolypto, and most notably Tetris. As is demonstrated in his piece above, Andrews works crystal patterns into his collection to create a colorful homage to Tetris, saying that he "...had great fun placing the beads together in a pattern, almost like playing the game!"

If it came between Andrew's outfits and Giles Deacon's Pac-Men heads, I'd probably choose the former to supply my wardrobe of high-end retro game fashion. What can I say, crystal pixels are pretty hot stuff.

Spotted on Style Bubble