Angry Video Game Nerd Taken Down from Youtube

If your default method of watching James Rolfe's Angry Video Game Nerd series of comedy reviews/skits is through Youtube, you may be surprised to see that his Youtube channel is currently down, with the viewer being greeted by a message stating:

This account has been terminated due to repeated or severe violations of our Terms of Service.

There's been a recent spate of videogame-related channel takedowns these past few weeks, as a result of some companies being more aggressive in their copyrights protection campaigns (notably Sega taking down various videos with content from the Shining franchise), but James Rolfe's channel being taken down is a surprise, considering how much money his channel has made Youtube in the past, and the fact that his usage falls under fair use (parody/satire).

This seems to be one of those automated takedowns, instead of Rolfe himself taking down the channel, due to the fact that the videos are still available in other videostreaming sites and Rolfe's own website, cinemassacre.com.

Update: The videos are back online. You can sleep well knowing that Youtube will not let your channel be the victim of automated takedowns if you're making them millions of dollars on yearly ad revenue.

Japan's Brave Robotics Create Actual Autobot

Well, technically it's just a Mini-con, since it's only the size of an RC car. But it is a true transforming robot that can be manually operated. It does everything you'd expect from an autobot: walk in biped mode, run in car form, transform from car to robot and back, and yes - it even shoots missiles from a hand mounted cannon. Only it's not so much a missile as it is a piece of plastic. But it shouldn't be too hard to outfit it with something that would at least harm a pet.

Make Your Own Domo Animation

For the uninitiated, Domo is the extremely cute (yet mischievous) mascot from NHK TV. Referred to as Domo-kun, the cute little brown mascot was the star of his own short animated clips that were used as interstitials by the Japanese station. Domo-kun is so popular that he became an overnight Internet sensation, and became the subject of thousands of memes, and fanvideos. But what if you want to create your own animated Domo short?

Create your own Domo animations, after the jump:

Watch Batman: City of Scars for Free

If you're looking for a free film to watch, without infringing on anyone's copyrights, then you may want to set aside a little bit of time to watch Aaron and Sean Schoenkefan's film Batman: City of Scars.

The fan film is not your run of the mill short, as it clocks in at 30 mins - long enough to be considered a TV pilot, and with production values that make it look good enough for network TV. It's still obviously made on the cheap, but it's one of the cases where the setting, the direction, and the camera work all help in hiding the blemishes inherent in low budget films.

Superman VS Hulk

It's just a fanvideo, but HOLY CRAP, man, HOLY CRAP. This is better than that movie where Superman wasted an entire movie just to fight a huge slab of rock. It's also better than that movie where Hulk spent a lot of his time not being shown, while Eric Bana made googly eyes and dramatic squints all over my goddamn movie screen. This is what a real Superman and Hulk movie's fight scenes should look like. I don't care if it's CGI and I don't care if there's no plot at all - these guys are strong as crud and can take as much damage as they can dish out. Let them USE IT IN AN ACTUAL FIGHT THAT WE CAN SEE. None of those crappy artistic fights that we can barely see because it's dark and there's shadows everywhere! Gimme muh superhero slobberknocker, man!

The models seem to be based on Christopher Reeve's Superman and the Edward Norton movie CGI Hulk, based on the hair. It's still unfinished, but the creator is hard at work on the third part. Who's your bet? Hulk could win if it was the World War Hulk, but I still pick Superman. Because he's my man, in a super kind of way.

Japan Turns Off Nuclear Power, Thousands March in Celebration

As of May 5, Japan is completely free from nuclear power after their Tomari nuclear plant in Hokkaido was turned off for maintenance. It was the last running nuclear plant after the 50 nuclear plants that have been supplying 1/3rd of the country's power for four decades have gone offline over a course of one year (since the 3/11 Earthquake that created a global crisis at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant.)

Thousands of Japanese citizens have taken to the streets with traditional koinobori fish banners that now serve as symbols of the anti-nuclear protest movement. May 5 is also Children's day in Japan, so the collective emotions and hope may have played a big part in the celebrations.

Keep in mind that a nuclear free Japan is probably temporary. Most (or all) of the plants may go back in service in the very near future, after passing new safety tests and gaining the approval of residents (who may be a little more lenient in the future once they see how high their cost of living will get when they have to resort to natural but very expensive energy sources, most of which they'd probably have to import from other countries)

Via: Crunchyroll

New Viral Campaign for The Dark Knight Rises

Current visitors of TheDarkKnightRises.com will be presented with a case file marked as "Anonymous Vigilante Investigation", which contains the Dark Knight's rap sheet, arrest warrant, and Wanted Poster.

The case file also includes an internal memo sent around the Gotham City PD, outlining the need to apprehend the caped crusader before "Harvey Dent Day". The memo is actually an invite for fans to join in on a scavenger hunt, with a string of global locations listed at which pictures should be taken and sent to the film's Twitter account.

Most of the locations are in the UK, so if you live near the areas, you need to get out there and start photographing the frig out of those locations, just so you can get the rewards and share it with geographically-challenged fans like me.

Black Widow Will NOT Appear in Iron Man 3

Black Widow’s involvement in Iron Man 3 was already hinted at (or confirmed) in past announcements, and the fact that the character is a non-superpowered secret agent/assassin seems to fit in well with Iron Man 3’s planned semi-realistic bent. But in a recent interview, Scarlett Johansson herself confirmed that the Black Widow will not be part of Iron Man 3. The actress clarified that she will be interested in a Black Widow solo movie, though.

“I think that you build this kind of character in the hope that the fans are like, ‘we want more,’” says Johansson. “I personally think there’s an awesome Black Widow movie in there. A kind of Bourne film that would take the whole comic-book genre in a completely different direction. It’d be awesome.”

“I’ve spoken to Marvel about it and Kevin Feige,” she continues, “and there’s so much story to draw from, I think it’d be totally awesome. But do I want to spend another three months shedding the manatee skin and squeezing back into that suit? Not necessarily, but it’s all worth it in the end!”

New Tupac Hologram Isn't Really a Hologram

The Tupac Shakur Hologram that performed alongside Snoop Doog in the recent Coachella may have received overwhelming praise from the Internet, for being such an impressive example of advancements in 3D hologram technology, but it seems that all the praise it got was undeserved if we're basing it on the reasons provided by fans.

Details from JK Rowling's New Novel

Publisher Little Brown has recently revealed some details about The Casual Vacancy, the new novel from famed Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. The new novel will be the British author's first novel aimed towards adults, and will have dark comedic undertones. The novel will run for 480 pages, and will ship on September 27th, 2012.

The book will be published worldwide in the English language in hardback, ebook, unabridged audio download, and on CD.

The Casual Vacancy Description, straight from the publisher:

Facebook to Put Yahoo in Its Place

It's no secret to anyone who follows the tech industry that Yahoo is in a decline, having lost the search engine market wars against Google, buying so many properties, only to close them down after finding out that the acquisitions don't make as much money as they expected.

Last month adds another notch to Yahoo's record of bad decisions, like, I dunno going after the Juggernaut Facebook on a patent issue, perhaps expecting the Social Media company to just settle in order to save money on the litigation process?

Well, it turns out Yahoo's gamble (and it is a gamble. Considering the situation) isn't working out too well, as Zuckerberg and his team decides to go on the offensive and file a lawsuit, in which Yahoo is accused of violating 10 of the social media giant's patents, with most of the patents touching a huge part of Yahoo's current business model.

The nitty gritty details can be found at CNET's report on the debacle.

Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs?

There's word going around that "Two and a half men" star Ashton Kutcher has been asked to play former apple CEO Steve Jobs in an indie film that documents the rise of the Apple co-founder.

The news came out of the blue, but it's not that surprising. One can easily assume that Kutcher got pegged for the role simply because he bears a striking resemblance to the late Steve Jobs.

Keep in mind that it's only a rumor at this point, and Kutcher himself has yet to confirm his role in the flick, which is entitled "Jobs." It's been said that the production for the indie film will start in May, which coincides with Kutcher's hiatus from his hit CBS series.

The indie movie will only focus on Jobs' early years, and not on the period after he returned to Apple and turned the company around. A different biopic from Sony will deal with that point in Job's life.

Google's April Fools Day Prank: Google Maps in 8 bit

It's April 1, fools! So it's once again time for all the people who are delusionalthink they're so clever to come up with April's fool pranks that nobody will fall for. Newsflash for everyone who has ever come up with an April Fool's Prank thinking that it's going to be the bestest sickburn ever - nobody falls for anything during April Fools Day.

Seriously, guys like you have run the whole thing to the ground that it's actually unfair for people who really had something noteworthy to say during April 1 - nobody takes them seriously anymore. Anywa,s Google has come up with their own contribution to the collection of non-news and non-events that will come out today. The difference is that even though it's just an april fool's prank, what they came up with required creativity and a real sense of humor: Google Maps for the Nintendo Entertainment System.



That is how you do it, dudes. A really good April Fool's Prank should be entertaining, so that people will still enjoy it even though they already know it's just a prank. Simply saying something that isn't true and then backpedalling with "APRIL FOOL'S!" is nothing special. Hell, it barely even counts as lying.

DC Nation: Superman of Tokyo

Cartoon Network's DC Nation is perfect if you're looking for animated shorts about your favorite DC Superheroes, especially ones that are not afraid to poke fun at Superman. This one is called "Superman from Tokyo", in which they try to show what it would look like if Superman grew up in Japan (note that it reuses scenes from a previous DC nation short called "Baby Superman")

The Man Behind the (Lamborghini) Bat

Last week, a video of a Batman driving a Lamborghini Batmobile and being pulled over by policemen spread on Youtube. Commonly known under the titles Lamborghini Batman or route 29 Batman, the video is fairly straightforward and lacks any controversial elements. Batman was polite to the officers, the officers just did their job (there was no offense, they just needed to check people who look suspicious) and they parted ways without any trouble once things got cleared up. People just liked the novelty of seeing Batman being pulled over.



But the Lamborghini Batman is no social misanthrope. He's not even a comic book geek on the way to a cosplay convention. His real name is Bruce WayneLenny Robinson, and he's a real hero.

Smack That Videobomb

This youtube video of a girl dancing to Akon's Smack That is a breath of fresh air amongst all the youtube videos of "girls dancing in front of a webcam" out there for a number of reasons.

First is that the girl is not wearing skimpy clothing. In fact, the clothes she's wearing is unflattering, so there's no room for pervy guys to think their little pervy thoughts (which is what majority of videos do to get a lot of view, take advantage of men's horndog tendencies).

Second, and more importantly, her little brother videobombing the crap out of her little silly dance. It's hilarious on its own, but it's also something that most people with a sibling can relate to, because it's either their the older one who's always being bugged by a little sibling, or they are the snooty little annoying brats doing all the badgering.

George Clooney Arrested in Washington's Sudanese Embassy

Hollywood Heavyweight, philantropist, and all-around Man Candy George Clooney was recently arrested at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, after the actor and his journalist father blocked the entrance as a form of protest.

The protest was planned after Clooney's recent trip to Sudan, with the former ER star feeling that the Sudanese government is not doing enough (or anything at all) to care for its own people.

The protest did not come as a surprise, since Clooney announced his plans to protest well in advance, probably as a means of giving people enough time to prepare in case they want to avoid being inconvenienced by an actor (or in case they want to see an actor who is not Andy Dick get arrested.)

Gallagher Suffers Heart Attack at Texas Club

Several watermelons were later brought in for questioning.

This Ryan Gosling Walt Disney Biopic is a Fake

The poster, which has been making the rounds on the Internet these past few days, is just a mock up done by French artist Pascal Witaszek.

Not that I have anything against the movie if it were true - Ryan Gosling is not in my list of Actors to Avoid, and I admit that I wouldn't mind watching a movie about Walt Disney's life - just make sure it has a part that shows Ub Iwerks' contributions, and also the part about Walt Disney's cryogenically frozen body coming back to life and murdering an entire town.

Heather Morris' Celphone Hacked, Pictures Leaked

Glee's Heather Morris joins Scarlett Johansson, Christina Hendricks, and Olivia Munn in the list of female celebrities who had their celphones compromised, and their private pictures stolen. But unlike Hendricks and Munn, Morris cannot deny that the sensitive(re: nude) pictures included in the leaked set of photos are fake, since the shots include her face.