Our latest (and late) Shamoozal short has been handed off to Joe for the ‘ol sound treatment. What that means is you can expect ‘Tactical Espionage Retail Simulation’ sometime this week. If you haven’t guessed it by the title, or the above image, this is obviously a Metal Gear Solid inspired episode. There have only been two GFG episodes, and the first ended with an MGS4 joke, so I promise after this we’ll move on from Metal Gear… maybe. No, don’t worry we will. Just wanted to let everyone know that it’ll be here soon.

Oh yeah, and I can’t believe it but the podcast is this coming weekend as well. I’m sure we’ll have plenty to talk about with this coming out only a few days before.

The Nostromo SpeedPad (aka the n52) from Belkin is a USB gaming peripheral for your PC. I picked one up during a newegg clearance sale a couple of months back, but never really got around to trying it out. Recently, while playing World of Warcraft I rerolled a new character and decided it might be a good time to try out the n52. Fast forward a few weeks and I love this thing, its become second nature for me to use.

The n52 is laid out with all the keys you would use on your keyboard to play games. There are three rows which by default are mapped to WASD and the keys that surround them on a keyboard. In the spot where your thumb rests there is a big orange trigger button and a D-pad that looks like the one from a 360 controller. Below the D-pad is a large button that toggles between different key-mapping schemes, however it can be remapped to do whatever you want and would probable make a good space bar for some people. It also has a click-able scroll wheel by your thumb which to me seems like a wasted button since I’m using my mouse anyway.

The MIT Blackjack story.
A superhero spoof.
A chub who wants the girl.
A refusal to serve in Iraq.
A team of diamond thieves.
ITS FRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDAY!

21 – Inspired by the true story of five students from MIT who train with one of their teachers, Kevin Spacey, to become experts in card counting. They go to Vegas to take the casinos for millions.

A buddy of mine sent these along to me, and I thought they were frigg’n awesome. You guys know what an Indy whore I am, so its going to be pretty hard to resist buying every box of this new card series set to be released soon in order to get these chase cards. There will only be one of these bad boys per box, so your chances of getting one is a little slim. I really dig these renditions of the Jones’ characters, and its only getting me more pumped up for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls which is set to be released May 22nd. Head on over to Patrick Schoenmaker’s blog for a few more Indy drawings as well as just some plain ol’ amazing art work.

More pics after the jump.

The Mist – based on a Stephen King story and adapted for the screen by Frank Darabont comes the story of a mist rolling into a small town. Thomas Jane and others hide out in a grocery store and start to see some crazy shit happen. Tentacles are grabbing people that walk outside and people are dying from some unknown beasts.

The Kite Runner – best friends in Afghanistan are split up when they’re young because one of them moves to the United States. Twenty years later the now Americanized friend travels back to see what has become of his childhood friend.

Completed on March 21st.
See ya next time!

Many of us on the Smorg have had Smash Brothers Brawl since day one and we’ve been itching to get together and duke it out. We never ended up picking an official night… until now! Join us every Thursday night at 8 pm (est.) and get in on the Brawl action with the Shamoozal regulars and yours truly. I know Thursday is a week away, but that will give you plenty of time to enter in everyone’s friend codes and go through the whole big approval process (seriously Nintendo?).

If you’re not a member of the Smorg and want in, don’t be shy. Just register and drop your friend code in the Smash Brothers thread and we’ll all be sure to add you. Hope to see everyone next Thursday.

A washed up Bodyguard.
A single mom takes her kids to meet the family.
Ghosts pop up in photographs.
Sound like a load of crap or some great cinema? You be the judge.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANSEL!

Drillbit Taylor – Owen Wilson is an out of work bodyguard who gets desperate and takes a job protecting three teenage dorky kids and also tries teaching them a thing or two about defending themselves. Written by Seth Rogen among others. Produced by Judd Apatow.

I’ve been meaning to update the Nerdlog for a little while now about Clay Kaytis’s most recent interview with animation master, James Baxter, at Animation Podcast. I think many in the animation industry agree that James is one of the living greats, and his work includes lead animator for Belle, Rafiki, Quasimodo, Moses, and most recently his work can be seen in the opening animation to Enchanted. To put it bluntly, James kicks a lot of ass. There are two parts so far with James (here and here), and they are both excellent as they offer an inside look to how James approaches animation, his thoughts on CGI, and some of his artistic influances. If you are interested at all in animation, you have to check it out!

It’s getting there. All shots with Hipster are done, and a few of the backgrounds have been dropped in. The backgrounds have been constructed from the get-go to be re-used from short to short. However, a new background needs to be created for GFG#2 which is really just a new angle of the front desk Grey is behind, and an extension needs to be added into the one shown above to include the store’s front door. These aren’t too hard to generate because most of the leg work is already done, and elements from older backgrounds can be repurposed. Its all coming together!