ho ho ho

The legendary symbol of new year depicted as an joyful benevolent old man who always wears red contrasting his white hair, eyebrows and beard is believed to be ready to make the children's wish real during the evening of Christmas Eve. 

Even though the popular western culture portrays him as an humoristic character having the latest gift manufacturing technology overrun by elves and reindeers waiting to fly outside, his origins are much older and vague than expected.

Nikolaos of Myra is thought to inspire the popular folk-legend of Santa Claus. He was a 4th century Greek Christian bishop of Myra (now Demre) in Lyrcia, a province of the ByzantineAnatolia, now in Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor.  He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In Europe (more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Germany) he is still portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes.


The tradition of him dwelling through chimneys reach back to the tales of Saint Nicholas tossing coins down a chimney when he found the windows locked.


Images of Santa Claus drawn by Haddon Sunblom for The Coca Cola Company’s Christmas advertising in the 1930s further popularized him giving rise to urban legends that it was the company to invent Santa Clause as he was wearing red and white to promote the company colors.

The figure has been criticized by some authorities claiming that he is a symbol of commercialism as he has become burdened with some of society's greatest challenges: materialism, corporate greed, and domination by the media.

Another debate  about his existence is that it is unethical to lie children that he is real and the children may lose their trust in their parents. However Dr. John Condry of Cornell University interviewed more than 500 children for a study of the issue and found that not a single child was angry at his or her parents for telling them Santa Claus was real. According to Dr. Condry, "The most common response to finding out the truth was that they felt older and more mature. They now knew something that the younger kids did not". 

The picture on the top was illustrated by American cartoonist Thomas Nast in 1881 in Harper's Weekly. It was colored later.

beautiful archaeologist returns

It's a well known fact that last Tomb Raiders installements never got the same quality as they had in the first games.

The game developpers launched a new Lara Croft game with her own title adding a completely new camera angle and gameplay on August 2010 exclusively for Xbox and a month later for PSN and Steam.

After all those years, the players are going to fall in love with Lara all over again.

The story which is the only downside of the game introduces us Totec, supposedly a 2000 year old Aztec deity as an excuse for allowing the players to experience one of the greatest parts of the game; cooperative gameplay, however the player also has the option to play a solo game which is also satisfying.

falling down

Eden of the East is (東のエデン Higashi no Eden ) a Japanese anime series which first aired in Fuji TV on April 2009.

Three months after the missile strikes in Japan on November 2010, a young Japanese woman named Saki Morimi visiting Washington D.C. in a graduation trip gets into trouble as a mysterious Japanese man, who introduces himself as Akira, helps her through it. The man appears to have no memory and is completely naked, carrying only a gun and a cell phone charged with ¥8.2 billion in digital money. While they are coming back to Japan, they learn that a new missile has hit their country.

The series has won numerous awards since its release, including the TV Feature Award at the 2009 Animation Kobe festival and the best television series of the year award at the ninth annual Tokyo International Anime Fair.

The opening theme of the first episode of the series is Falling Down by famous English rock band "Oasis".

 Oasis - Falling down by Han Branch 

rebirth of the gunslinger

Based on the story of The Dark Tower series written by American author Stephen King who is best known for his contemporary horror, science fiction and fantasy fiction novels, the first volume of The Dark Tower comic book series was released on February 2007 with Stephen King serving as Creative and Executive Director of the project.

The first chapter run of the series consists of 30 issues that make up five volumes illustrated by Jae Lee who won "Best New Series" Eisner Award, for Inhumans vol. 2 and Richard Isanove who won the Wizard Award in 2001 for his work on Wolverine Origins.

The first volume, The Gunslinger Born, introduces Roland Deschain who is asked to prove his new title as a gunslinger by completing a challenging quest; however before reaching the Dark Tower, Roland is yet to carry the weight of the consequences of his actions.

un petit gâteau coloré

Basically made from powder of almond, sugar and white eggs; macaroon is a round shaped cookie with different flavors such as chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, raspberry, caramel, lemon etc.


Once cooked and filled, the macaroons are put to one side for 2 days before going on sale, the time it takes to achieve a balance between texture and flavour.


This soft and crunchy confection had much debate about its origins, however the macaroon today known is called Paris macaroon and is the creation of Pierre Desfontaines of the French pâtisserie Ladurée, composed of two almond meringue discs filled with a jam layer.

traveling at the speed of light

Alphawezen is a german electronic ambient music band formed by Ernst Wawra (music) and Asu Yalcindag (vocals) in 1998.

 Alphawezen Speed Of Light by Piraat

fear of the unknown

Day and Night is a Pixar animated short film directed by Teddy Newton and released on June 18, 2010.

a shiny metal in a junkyard

The makers of web games Samorost and Samorst 2, Czech independent studio Amanita Design, launched a puzzle adventure point and click game called Machinarium on October 16, 2009 for PC.

The main character is a robot with various capabilities who wanders in a metallic city whose residents are mainly inorganic.

The game contains no dialogues, instead an animated bubble system is used to show feelings and thoughts as well as to encourage players to find answers to brain teasing puzzles. Once per level the player can receive a hint and when stuck the player can choose to play a minigame which reveals a walkthrough.

Those who have a sympathy for Disney animation Wall-E will surely like the main character, and those who like adventure games or looking for a different experience will hardly quit playing this beautiful art game.

It should also be mentioned that Machinarium won the Excellence in Visual Art award at the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival and the Best Soundtrack award from PC Gamer in 2009.

 Machinarium soundtrack by Tomas Dvorak by F1x

modern jungle book

The Graveyard Book is a children's fantasy novel written by the author Neil Gaiman in 2008. The book won various awards in 2009 and 2010.

The story is about a boy whose family is killed by a mysterious man and raised by the occupants of a graveyard where he learns the antiquated customs of his guardians' time and their extraordinary teachings.

Although the book is called a children's book, themes such as "a family killed by a mysterious murderer" and "a boy raised in graveyard" seem apropriate for adult readers, however after the introduction the story quickly moves into more child friendly story telling.

my heart is in economy, due to this autonomy

The English musical project " Gorillaz " depicting a virtual band which consists of fictional comic book characters released the album Plastic Beach on 3 March 2010.

Even though it is primarily a pop album, the animated members 2D (lead vocalist, keyboard), Murdoc Niccals ( bass guitar), Noodle ( guitar and occasional vocals) and Russel Hobbes ( drums and percussion) keep composing multiple musical genres including dub, hip hop, alternative rock and electronic featuring a number of musicians and music groups.

"To Binge (feat Yukimi Nagano)" is one of the noticeable songs of the album.

no more " go to jail ! "

The most played commercial board game Monopoly took its place at the stores as a deal card game.

The game can be completed approximately in 15 minutes with 2 to 6 person, however do not be deceived by the short game play, the game is highly addictive and great fun.

The are 110 cards which contain property, hotel, house and token cards in addition to exclusive cards such as debt collectors and deal breakers. 

Players attempt to collect 3 complete sets of cards representing the properties from the board game, either by playing them directly, stealing them from other players, or collecting them as rent for properties they already own.

The game contains similar materials to its original, but it is a different game with its own rules so you surely will have more fun if you play without comparing the game to its ancestor. Enjoy the deal game !   

moonbathe

Enjoy the Levi's commercial in 2006.

Artist: RJD2

Song: Horror

2D exceeds 3D

Today I Die is a bite sized art game created by Daniel Benmergui. The game has won the Nuovo Award, an award to honor abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development which advances the medium and the way we think about games, at the 2010 Independent Game Festival.

It is a beatiful and inspiring game which forces the player to solve it without any instruction, but in a poetic way. 

Today I Die is a solid proof that good graphics and complex storyline are not always necessary to satisfy the video game players.

The game is free and accessible via http://www.ludomancy.com/games/today.php

mirror images

Batman the Killing Joke is a graphic novel written by Alan Moore, drawn by Brian Bolland and published by DC comics in 1988.

The Joker tries to prove even the most logical people can go insane in one bad day and  he tries to provoke Batman by attempting to drive Commissioner Gordon insane thus creates a psychological battle.

Towards the end of the story The Joker tells Batman a joke:

"See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum...

And one night, one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more. They decide they're going to escape! So, like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moon light... stretching away to freedom. 

Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend didn't dare make the leap. Y'see... Y'see, he's afraid of falling. 

So then, the first guy has an idea... He says "Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!" B-but the second guy just shakes his head. He suh-says... He says "Wh-what do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I was half way across!"

lovable survival

For some people documentaries can be kind of boring, however the famous BBC series Planet Earth (2006) has surely changed the common tragic concept of survival as it showed interesting elements in an aesthetical way with its high definition visuals, inspiring music and the charismatic narration of David Attenborough.

In 2009 BBC presented another nature documantary series: " Life ". It shows the struggle between species which gives rise to specialised strategies and exceptional behaviors followed by an hard earned reward; the right to exist.

The series was shot in for years and the entire show is in high definition. The UK broadcast of Life consists of ten 50 minute episodes.

The documentary is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in association with the Discovery Channel, Skai TV and the Open Universiy. The orginal script used in British and Canadian versions was written and narrated by David Attenborough.

a vagabond, a ronin and a young girl

Samurai Champloo (サムライチャンプルー, Samurai Chanpurū) is a Japanese animated television series consisting of twenty-six episodes. The show was first aired in 2004 and ended in 2005, on the television network, Fuji TV.

Samurai Champloo was created and directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, whose previous work, Cowboy Bebop, was praised by the anime and Japanese television communities. The show was produced by studio Manglobe.

The series can be put into the samurai fighting, comedy-drama genre, however elements of hip hop culture like hip hop music, hiphop slang, breakdance and graffiti in the Japan's Edo Period (1603-1868) mixed with the brillant story and the well dispersed absurdity offers more than a common samurai anime.

satire and humour

Survivor is a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk, the writer of the award winning Fight Club which was later adapted to film.

The writer does not cease to critisize the horrifiying madness of the modern world corrupted by the false media, fame and popular culture thus questioning the complex issues such as death, morality, childhood, parenthood etc. in an unnerving and humorous way.

Limbo

Limbo is a puzzle platform game developed by independent Danish Playdead Studios released on July 21, 2010 on XBox Live Arcade.

The game was highy praised for being an aesthetic art game with horror genre elements in a minimalist presentation.

It was awarded Technical Excellence and Technical Excellence in Visual Art titles at the Independent Games Festival at the 2010 Game Developperes Conference.

psychedelic sounds

Thanks to his colloborations with Simon Posford (Hallucinogen/ Shpongle) , the record producer Ott made himself known to a greater audience.

Here is a psychedelic track from the album Blumenkraft (2003).

Ott - Somersettler by Neon Bookings