Visionaries

"A whim, a thought, and more is sought. Awake my mind; thy will be wrought!" - Arzon, of the Spectral Knights, from the unfortunately short-lived 1987 animation series, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, roaring out loud, his magical chanting verse before unleashing his totem staff's power of knowledge. Always had find the "Visionaries" a staple of good ol' Saturday morning cartoon, with all the wholesome yet relatively enriching niche arc referencing magical elements. More sounds and visuals, here.

Harakiri School Girls

Harakiri School Girls is representative of Aida's work on young females, many of which are amputees. He contorts young, stifled bodies as if they were delectable treats ready for consumption (Edible Artificial Girls, Mi-Mi Chan is the most obvious example). In other illustrations, the women have stubs for hands and legs and sport nothing except dog collars. The artist's work makes its viewers see society's cruel misogyny — it comes as no surprise that Aida was a frequent political activist in college. Saw this on display during the Singapore Binnale late last year, and was quite frankly, blown away.

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo

Gankutsuou Opening Theme - The Count Of Monte Cristo One exceptionally well-done opening, what with the delicate fusion of the melancholic background music, and the excellent mildly dark visual images, just the right materials for one of the best anime of last year. Anyway, the soundtracks also packs some of the best anime scores ever, which was mentioned in an earlier entry.

Get A Life. Literally.

An Australian man who agreed to sell his “life” on eBay for $5,875 said on Wednesday he is prepared to go through with the deal if the buyer pays cash. Earlier this month, 24-year-old Nicael Holt posted his life for sale on the Internet auction site, saying the deal included his name, phone number and all of his belongings. “New life for sale!!” Holts entry on eBay read. He said he would also introduce the buyer to all his friends and “potential lovers (around eight which I have been flirting with).” The buyer would also “have access to a cruisy job in March delivering fruit.” Also part of the sale was a repertoire of six jokes, a fractured relationship with an ex-girlfriend and a four-week training course in becoming Holt, including surfing, doing handstands and fire-twirling skills. Bidding for Holt’s life started at $3.90 (that's A$5($6)) and ended late Tuesday at $5,875 (A$7,500). The winning bidder was identified as “ridderstrade.”

Delicate

Damien Rice at Four Seasons -Delicate - Exceptionally great performance by Damien Rice.

We Need This

Steam Punk Metal Horse

A Mechanical horse that trots and gallops on steel-pipe legs, under the impulse of a gasoline engine, is the recent product of an Italian inventor. With this horse, he declares, children may be trained to ride. The iron Dobbin is said to canter along a road or across a rough field with equal ease. Its design recalls the attempts of inventors, before the days of the automobile, to imitate nature and produce a mechanical steed capable of drawing a wagon. That was 1933 then.

Great Comet of 2007

Comet McNaught, also known as the Great Comet of 2007 and given the designation C/2006 P1, as seen from Ceres, South Africa on 20th January 2007.

"So many babies, not all of them dead, are being dumped in the bush that hyenas have developed a taste for human flesh," - he explains.

2000-Year-Old Ancient Warrior Preserved Intact Uncovered

RUSSIAN archaeologists have uncovered the 2000-year-old remains of a warrior preserved intact in permafrost in the Altai mountains region, the official Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily says. The warrior was blond had tattoos on his body. He was wearing a felt coat with sable fur trimmings and was buried in a wooden frame containing drawings of mythological creatures with an icepick beside him, the paper said.

Two-Faced Swine

Yeah, you are absolutely right, it's a two-faced, four-eyes swine. The pig is widely seen as a symbol of fertility in China. And, what with 2007 being the Chinese Year Of The Pig, the unique porker is considered to be a blessing. Although, of course, it won't actually be the year of the pig until February 18. The two-faced porker weighs in at 1.5 kilograms, comes with 2 mouths and 4 eyes, and was born in the small village of Quanzhou in East China's Fujian province on January 15.

You Will Never Ever Leave Home Without It

Brings back the haunting images of "Memento"...

Captain Al Cohol

The only comic for Inuits and it's a government sponsored promo on anti-alcohol campaign, featuring a recovering alcoholic alien? It it just me, or does that says something about the Inuits in the 70s? Anyway, this's just one of the many great stuffs that you can find on the COMICS WITH PROBLEM site.

Holy Fish, Batmani!

Ichthyologist Pablo Lehmann, of the Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul, has named the species Otocinclus batmani in a paper in the current volume of the journal Neotropical Ichthyology. "The name batmani, alludes to Bob Kane's hero Batman of the comic adventures, which had a bat shape for his symbol, referring to the single W- or bat-shaped vertical spot on the caudal fin", wrote Lehmann.

Hang On

Let's start the year with, well, some significant footage. Of death. New footage of Saddam Hussein's final moments reveals the former Iraqi president exchanged taunts and insults with witnesses at his execution. The grainy images are believed to have been filmed on a mobile phone. Unlike on the silent, official film showing a subdued Saddam Hussein, the execution is a charged, angry scene. In it people chant the name of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and tell Saddam Hussein to "go to hell", while the former leader mocks their bravery. The more interesting version, seemingly secretly taken from mobile phone camera, which also shows the moment that the gallows trapdoor opens, sending Saddam Hussein to his death. Saddam Hussein Hanging (The Uncut Version) In retrospect, the official version, released from the authorities.. Saddam Hussein Hanging (The Official Version) Clearly, Saddam impressively demonstrated demeanours that outrightly denied all possible kicks of seeing him roll into a ball before the hangman.