For those of you who don’t know, I co-wrote the video game ASSASSIN’S CREED II. A very exciting gig to be part of.

Just last week, one of the sequences I wrote solo was released as a DLC (Downloadable Content) – and to promote it, a trailer was released.

You have to watch it. This is very cool.

I love seeing all my dialogue and action scenes rearranged into trailer moments.

My favorite is a line taken from the beginning of the sequence — when Ezio hears he’s going to be helping the very sexy Caterina Sforza. And being the horndog he is, says: “I think I’m going to like this mission.” — But for the trailer, they build up slowly to it, using all these incredible action shots: Boom! Boom! Boom! And then cut to Ezio, smiling knowingly:

“I think I’m going to like this mission.”

Title up: “AC2: The Battle of Forli!”

It’s a fun mission.

Go play.

Um, as you may have noticed, I haven’t really given Subverse much love this year. It is what it is.

But I invite you to take a gander at my new and very exciting (and very different) new site. It’s an Image Stream, that I curate with my friend Donovan. It’s kinda deep.

Peruse here, friends: DoJo

And whatever happened to Elina Löwensohn? She was too cool and so beautiful. 

I got to rent her video tapes at Kim’s Video once, 12 years ago when I was but a lowly video store clerk. I told her I was a fan. She was surprised I knew who she was, and hung out and flirted with me for a few minutes. Made my day!

This is a music video from an Israeli singer named Oren Lavie, with some lovely uplifting stop-motion. Utterly charming…

There’s a page all about how the video was made: here. It notes: 

* Some of the bed sheets used in the video were taken from Oren’s own bedroom and are now considered collectors items, worth at the moment not very much and therefore used as bed sheets.

Here’s a trailer for a film called “Sita Sings the Blues,” that was animated by a woman named Nina Paley. 

Here’s the description:

“Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Indian epicRamayana. Set to the 1920’s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as “The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told.”

Very excited to see this movie. It plays on WNET PBS in NYC on March 7, then at the New York International Children’s Film Festival (NY), on March 14.

The website’s here.
And here’s a great NY Times article all about it too.

Feist singing her song “1, 2, 3, 4″ on Sesame Street, changing the words to better fit. But it already seems as if it was always meant to be right here…

And you must check this out too: A small scene has leaked online, and it’s adorable.

You can really hear Eggers’ voice in the writing. And it has that casual, psychedelic feel of the old “Little Prince” film from the 70s. Just a kid chatting with his imaginary monster, the way any kid would.

And, though I know some people aren’t too excited that Jonez chose to use animatronic puppets for the Wild Things, I personally think it’s great. We’re so used to seeing everything done with CGI these days, but you just can’t beat the reality of old school, man-in-a-suit muppetry. It’s Big Bird, who’s just so clearly, physically there standing in front of us. He’s literally keepin’ it real. I applaud that.

This week’s eclectic mix moves from soul to hip hop, through big orchestra to singer-songwriter lushness. But each track has that sticky funk, that gets in your head and makes you want to groove. Whether they’re singing about the stickiness of good lovin’, that makes you want to hang around for more – or the sticky good greenery you want to roll up and huff and puff – these ten tunes are gonna get in your soul, and keep you coming back for more.

Sample the tracks individually, or download a Zip File (78MB) of all the tracks here.

1) So In Love – Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions

2) Rosebud – SA-RA Creative Partners

3) You Know, You Know – Mahavishnu Orchestra

4) Les Fleur – Ramsey Lewis

5) 2 Wicky – Hooverphonic

6) River Man (Nick Drake cover) – Shawn Lee

7) Honey Bee – Jessie Mae Hemphill

8) I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl (Nina Simone cover) – Nikka Costa

9) Kiss (ft. Will Oldham) – Scout Niblett

10) Everybody Loves the Sunshine – D’Angelo

11) Abstractionisms – Q-Tip

12) Who’s Got the Weed? – G. Love and Special Sauce

(c) Images this week by Siege.

At the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines, inmates have found the perfect way to pass the time: memorizing the dance choreography to American pop anthems of the 80s. The crowning achievement has to be their rendition of Michael Jackson’s ”Thriller” video, complete with a guy in drag playing his date, while they’re surrounded by hordes of unruly undead (performing pretty awesome zombie dance moves!).

Now, is it just me, or at the beginning when that “couple” is suddenly surrounded by a thousand orange-jump-suit clad zombies, and the trannie girlfriend is acting all terrified – well, it’s really a little scary, isn’t it?