On a star trek: Ulysses 31

A while ago I came across the name of this show, nothing more. I thought it sounded interesting so I got my hands on it, and started watching it. Little did I know that I have downloaded one of the everlasting anime classics, a truly legendary piece of animation. As the name suggests we are in the 31st century – so 1,000 years from now. Mankind seems to have gotten the hang of space travel and seem to have expanded into space. It is just after the all-new Odyssey is launched, when Ulysses – commander of the Odyssey – dares to defy the Gods in a rescue mission to save his son and a little girl.

Usually before I start watching an anime, I get a little detail about the overall plot. And it was only at the moment when I saw the actual spaceship the show centers around, when I had a serious flashback. I had seen this show as a small kid, but I never remembered the name, neither do I remember the show having ever aired again. Maybe it will joggle your memory too when you see the Odyssey.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find a higher resolution image. It seems the ship represents some of the bleeding-edge technology of its time.

So like I said, Ulysses defies the Gods in a rescue mission on the maiden voyage of the Odyssey, kinda making the Gods a bit mad. For that, the Gods (Zeus and all those chaps) transport the ship and its crew into an unknown part of space and wipes the ship’s databanks – so that Shirka, the ship’s computer, is unable to plot a course home (utilizing methods like star location, compensate for spatial drift, etc).

Also, the Gods put all of the crew except Ulysses, Talamakus, No-No and Yumi, into some sort stasis. However they also mention that if they find the Kingdom Of Hades and make it through, Odyssey and the crew will be allowed home.

Needless to say that Ulysses decides to do everything he can to bring his fellow crewmen, his son, Yumi, and the robot No-No back home, back to Earth. Obviously the Gods are not so fond of that ever happening so they plaster the possible routes toward the Kingdom Of Hades with traps that Ulysses should fall for. The journey is filled with emotions, strange new worlds, decisions, fights and eventually they learn to trust each other.

While the show is nearly 30 years old, it still holds up pretty nicely in today’s standards. The effects are pretty superb for a TV show at the time, the Odyssey is incredibly detailed and some camera flights are just sheer impressive. The AI seems to have a personality of its own but is always loyal and obediently executes commands given to the ship.

Not only is the show a good ride for kids and adults with lots of things to learn, for us adults it is also a ride of pure nostalgia and of a time that has come to pass. If you have kids and you want to show them something of a time when you as parents were young, this is the show to let them watch. I guarantee you neither you (if you haven’t seen it yet) and your kids won’t be disappointed about the voyages of the Odyssey, into this strange new world of the Gods. In other words, this is a show that even though fairly old, you won’t forget – no matter when you see it. A timeless classic that, I hope, went down in history books of TV animation and storytelling.

Ulysses 31
Created by: Jean Chalopin, Nina Wolmark, inspired by Homer’s ‘Odysseus’
Voices of: Matt Berman, Adrian Knight, Anick Faris, Kelly Ricard, Howard Ryshpan, Vlasta Vrana
Country of origin: France, Japan
Episodes: 26
Original run: October 10, 1981 – April 3, 1982

Next step of the ‘Step

tl;dr – laststep project has undergone changes, API has changed, UI has changed, and code is going open source for a small fee.

So just to give a little update on my project. Yes yes I know, I haven’t shown anything substantial apart from some screenshots and a YouTube… I know what you’re thinking. I have not abandoned the project, just made some changes to it – mostly concerning the user interface.

That’s right, I’m restructuring the UI to implement some new ideas I have, and when something is ready to show you, I’ll post it. While many things did work they way they should be, I have taken some things out and I can tell you that the API has changed, the one containing all the blocks to build your own apps. When I tell you that the API needed to change in order to make my new ideas work, that has to be enough for the moment.

Also, you might be interested to know that I have a distribution concept which kind of will reward me for the time and effort I put in, while you can have a look under the hood and modify everything you like… In other words it’s going open source, however you’d have to pay a small amount of money to get the actual code. I hope that philosophy won’t offend too many people.

Rest assured I am working on it – and I really want the final thing to be epic and not just a simple knockoff of things that already exist. So I am taking my time. Better that then producing second grade quality code and software – don’t you think?

That is all for the moment.

Ellis “Wanted!” Shirt

I am a big fan of El Cazador de la Bruja, and so, similar to Madlax, I had a shirt made. It features the “Wanted!” poster which at some point is given to some bounty offices. I picked it up today and it’s pretty awesome!

EVE Tool I made, an Item Database

The EVE universe is big and vast, over 150 light years long axis to be precise. The database behind the game is equally as vast from what I have seen, so I thought that’s a challenge. I sat down and had a look at how it all works, and the first thing I came across after some digging is a PDF file that shows the relations of everything in-game in the database. Looks a little bit like this:

You can find the actual PDF here.

After making sense of what is what, and what I needed, I started to construct a little network of PHP files that will ultimately work together to let you browse, display, and search for all available items/ships in game. This is the DB showing information for the Hulk:

So if you wanna have a look at the page itself, feel free to do so.

The CBSN Item Database

Comments and opinions are appreciated.

For science, it must be done.

You monster.

FAIL #27

Just seen on my way home.

Code Geass tribute: “Metal Gear Zero”

So today I sat down and decided to make a tribute to the anime I recently finished watching. It occured to me that the best music and intro type that can go with it, is that of the world-famous game “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty”.

It took about 13 hours to make, but I’m glad with the outcome. Also available in HD, in which it should obviously be enjoyed.

WIN or FAIL – you decide. So here goes.

Metal Gear Zero: Sons Of Liberty

Z for Zero

One man’s uncompromizing vision of the future.

Remember Remember The 5th Of November.

CCP Facebook’d me

Basically I only posted this photo of my 3-screen-setup on the forums, utilizing the new Planetary Interaction feature of EVE Online:

CCP Manifest seemed impressed, and said so in this post, in which he also mentioned I got featured on their Facebook profile.

See for yourself…

Evidently people like it =)

Normally it’s not cool to point the finger and laugh, but…

this time it really can’t be helped.

There is this EVE player, in-game he uses the alias “Daniel Jackson”. I’m not sure if there’s something wrong with him… Anyways. I’m going to show you something so above and beyond the worst FAIL tags known to man, I have to blog it.

First one. Last year, the makers of EVE (CCP Games) made a funny music video for the players of EVE, and ironically called the fictional music group “Permaband” (-> “permanently banned from the forums”). The song was called “HTFU” (Harden The F*** Up). You can see the whole work of WIN over at YouTube. So that you have an idea what the next thing is about.

“Daniel Jackson” posts THIS response:

There is little that can be said other than /facepalm… if you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

BUT! If this hasn’t made you lose faith in humanity yet, I’ll try again.

Here he ‘sings’ “Move Your Dead Bones” by Dr. Reanimator.

Your faith in humanity crumbling yet? No? Okay. Then I have to try my hardest If there EVER was a video, where after watching it, I want the world to end, the one below would be it. Not sure which song it is but I believe it to be from an anime I don’t know (yet).

If this still hasn’t shattered your image of reality, you’re free to check out his YouTube channel.