In case you’ve been wondering about the extreme lack of posts, I’ll allow a picture to replace a thousand words:

Disgaea

Much has been said about this game, so I’ll let others do the talking (though this doesn’t preclude a review later, when I’ve breached the 150+ hour mark game-wise). One thing that I’ve noticed is that not enough people are giving love to Tenpei Sato, who did the musical arrangement for this game (the Arrange soundtrack’s “Etna Boogie” has become a heavy-rotation song on my mp3 player), nor to Tsunami Bomb, whose song “The Invasion From Within” is used to frenetic effect in one of the most enjoyable battles in the game.

Lemme toss out the links to some of the original wallpaper and the character art, as well as the 4koma manga panels whose humour only makes sense once you’ve played 30+ hours of the game and start dreaming in terms of totem-throw combos and rapid character-levelling in Jotunheim: Terrible Cold (5-3).

UPDATE: Found the personal website of Disgaea’s character designer. It’s in Japanese, so unless you’re fluent, there’s alot of guess-clicking involved, but his artwork is pretty neat (up to, and including his rendition of Hellboy)

Ah, Japan, source of many things odd and wondrous, like these anime-themed credit cards. Thanks, boingboing!

Sadly, the only picture I recognize is Ruri’s.

Oh my sweet lord. Kill Bill rocks. My faith in Quentin Tarantino is restored.

So many memorable scenes! From the opening battle in suburbia to the revoltingly funny assault on comatose patients and culminating in a classic swordfight in snow, Tarantino does not disappoint. Decent full-body-in-frame fights! Alex was dead on the money when he proclaimed that Tarantino knows how to create a world that’s skewed slightly cooler than this one. And the casting!

Go-go Yubari

Sweet, sweet Chiaki Kuriyama (most recognizably from Battle Royale, though from many other works as well). David Carradine’s voice is eminently recognizable to veterans of his work in Kung Fu (and the execrable, but still funny, The Legend Continues). But Uma is perfect, absolutely perfect as a vengeful killer stalking the people who wronged her. She still has funny feet, though.

My only compaint: FEBRUARY! AAAAAUGH!

Natsume Maya, I love you. She’s posted links to some japanese site devoted to Lego where someone has pictures up of some Lego Spider Tanks — both a Tachikoma from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and a Fuchikoma from the GITS manga.

Tachikoma, Fuchikoma

Check through the pictures! Both tanks open up to reveal a lego figure inside the command compartment.

My love for Tachikomas has been previously documented. This may provide just enough impetous for me to actually catch up with GITS: SAC. Spider tanks with ultra-cute personalities = adorable.

Via Insert Credit (soon to be added to the quick links due to sheer readability and coolness), comes a report of the creation of Plush Consoles, created by Zumi. Behold the cuteness:

Plus Dreamcast and Gamecube consoles

Zumi’s made three of them so far; including a plush PC Engine (there’s a cool throwback for you), a Dreamcast and a Gamecube. The Kawaii Dreamcast (scroll most of the way down the page for a picture) needs to be seen to be believed. And I think I now have gifts for people this Christmas…