Edshugeo The GodMoor

Yeah. There's a pun that won't be used a billion times today.

Anyway, new NIN album, The Slip, being given away as mp3s, lossless and even high def wav files at 24/96 (larger files via Bittorrent).

EW quotes that
Reznor has been in a ''prolific phase and we didn't want 'business' to get in the way of getting the art in the hands of the fans.''

NIN says;
as a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album one hundred percent free, exclusively via nin.com.

the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options - all free. all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.

for those of you interested in physical products, fear not. we plan to make a version of this release available on CD and vinyl in july. details coming soon.

Go get it, if you haven't already...

It's also licensed under Creative Commons

Labels: Awesome, bittorrent, downloads, good deal, music, youtube and other video

D-Addicts Chinese Series Of The Month for March is the excellent 2006 version of Louis Cha's (Jin Yong) Return Of The Condor Heroes. It's available on DVD in the U.S. as Condor Hero.

I eagerly await the long delayed update of Legend Of The Condor Heroes, which may show up this year.



The Unofficial Wuxia Series Of March are two shows: Young Zhang San Feng and Young Warriors Of The Yang Clan.

Young Zhang San Feng is also known as Taiji Prodigy. This looks promising. Plus, it's Dicky Cheung.




I may skip Young Yang Warriors. I just finished Warriors Of The Yang Clan, and while I thought there was a good story or two there, I was generally annoyed by how badly those stories were told. It was still enjoyable enough to watch and the cast, led by Ti Lung as General Yang Ye were pretty good, as were most of the fight scenes.



The movie Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (starring Gordon Liu and Alexander Fu Sheng) is based on the same legendary family, but was centered around a different son, than that series.





Nah. Actually, I'm gonna check out Young Warriors, too.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, Liu Chia Hui, movies, Shaw Bros., tv, youtube and other video

Happy Year Of The Rat. D-Addicts has another series up for torrent download. Genius Physician Ti Ying AKA Miracle Healers.



This in addition to the usual Chinese Drama Series Of The Month. Three Musketeers with Shu Qi (torrent link). As far as I can tell, it isn't based on Alexander Dumas' novel, though that wouldn't be a bad idea.

Labels: bittorrent, downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia, youtube

And I almost forgot to check D-Addicts for the Chinese Series Of The Month.
This month, it's Tian Long Ba Bu (Eight Steps Of The Heavenly Dragon), also known as Demi Gods And Semi Devils and also State Of Divinity.

I recently watched an 80's HK version of the Louis Cha novel starring Lueng Kar Yan, Felix Wong, and Shek Kin (Mr. Han from Enter The Dragon). I liked parts of it but disliked others, mostly the first third of the series before Lueng Kar Yan shows up and starts throwin' around beatdowns. This one is a newer production. Looks to be from within the last couple of years. Guess I'll add this to my download list.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia, youtube

Okay, it's not terrorism, continuing assaults on our freedoms, or way out of control illegal immigration, but still.

Time Warner said on Wednesday that it was going to start testing a new rate plan in Beaumont that would limit the amount of bandwidth each customer can use each month before additional fees kick in. Alexander Dudley, a Time Warner spokesman, said that the exact terms had not been set, but that packages would probably offer between 5 gigabytes and 40 gigabytes a month. The top plan would cost roughly the same as the company’s highest-speed service, which typically runs between $50 and $60 a month.

read more....

Labels: bittorrent, bullshit, computers, downloads, media, technology

Two TV series up at D-Addicts this month (among others) are Drunken Kung Fu, the Chinese Series Of The Month and Fox Volant Of Snowy Mountain.

At the moment, I know nothing of Drunken Kung Fu, but I'll be downloading it for sure.



Fox Volant is a 2007 series based on a Louis Cha novel. This novel is available in English, but has been criticised for a bad translation. Perhaps it will be re-done by Oxford University Press at some point. I hope they're still translating his works. I'm almost finished reading The Book And The Sword, which is absolutely wonderful so far.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia

NBC has ended their deal with Apple, no longer allowing downloads of their programs from iTunes.
Apparently NBC wants the service to charge $4.99 an episode rather than $1.99.
Also, they seem to think that the DRM on iTunes downloads aren't strong enough.

"Among its aims are to stop pirated material from being uploaded to iPods."

Now, the only NBC programs on iPods will be pirated ones. Idiots!
I still think $1.99 is too much, but it doesn't matter. I don't have an iPod, nor do I plan on getting one. The DRM crap won't work on my PSP, and that's fine by me.

The program I use to convert downloaded (not from iTunes) and dvds for viewing on my PSP also converts them to the iPod, XviD4PSP. And it's a free program. So if you want to take the latest episode of Heroes to work with you, it'll show up on usenet (look it up if you don't know) and the other usual places about a day later. When the accountants explain to the knuckleheads the damage being done, you'll soon be able to go back to your overpriced iTunes downloads... if you still want to.

Update: You might not want to. I haven't tried this yet, but it's supposedly easy, using RSS and torrents. I think there are risks using torrents that aren't there with usenet, but usenet is complicated to explain (TimDoc can help) and finding exactly what you want there, isn't always easy. Read - TV Torrents: When 'piracy' is easier than legal purchase.
Thanks James Hudnall.

Labels: bittorrent, bullshit, downloads, funny-ass shit, online retailers, ripoffs, solutions?

I vaguely recall this being the title of a barely watchable movie from, maybe, the 1990s, but I won't let any such preconceived notions get in the way of checking out a new Wu-xia TV series.

I don't know what it's about except that it's based on a Louis Cha (Jing Yong) novel from the mid 1950s. What's likely are kung fu mayhem, defiance of gravity, romantic complications, and perhaps yet another attempt by some evil bastard to infiltrate the Beggar Clan. Well maybe not the last bit, though it's been attempted in three series I've seen already, Demi-Gods and Semi Devils (1982), Legend Of The Condor Heroes (1983?), and Return Of The Condor Heroes (2006), all based on Cha's works.

The thirty episode series (fansubbed) can be sampled over at D-Addicts via a torrent. The download includes the soundtrack. It's a bit hefty at 16 GBs.

I actually have 2 more eps to go on Return Of The Condor Heroes.
I should be done tomorrow, at which point I continue watching the Anime, Jubei-Chan 2: Counterattack of Siberian Yagyu, before moving on to Heavenly Sword, Dragon Sabre (2003-ish), the third and final (?) part of the Condor Heroes trilogy.

Labels: Anime, bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia, youtube

I don't think there's any kung fu in this one, so I'll pass.
If I do download it, I won't watch it in public (PSP).

Info here.
Torrents here (first 10 episodes, with the last 5 coming soon, I think).
YouTube preview below (as of this writing)...

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, tv, youtube

This series is shorter at ten episodes than most of this genre (Wu-Xia), which tend to go on for about 30-50 eps. Don't know anything about this one (cast, story, etc.) except that it's widescreen, which will look good on my PSP. I also notice it's available (with English subtitles) at quite a few online retailers, at around twenty bucks, which isn't bad.

Speaking of interesting online deals, I noticed a price difference for the 1983 series, Legend Of The Condor Heroes at the global and U.S. site for YesAsia. The global.YesAsia site, which in this case mentions "United States - English" at the top of the page, lists the series at $162.50 for the fifteen disc uncut set. (I get to this site through a link at Kung Fu Cult Cinema).
The US.YesAsia.com site lists the English subtitled set (also as "uncut" and fifteen discs) at $73.50. I normally wouldn't spend $75.00 in one shot on a single DVD series, but this is sounding like a good deal to me. I may have to pick this up...

02/17/07 - ordered it a few days ago. The prices on the global.yesasia.com site adjusts once you setup your location.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, DVD, good deal, kung fu, online retailers, tv, wu-xia

Don't know much about this series, except it has Raymond Lam from Twin Of Brothers, which I liked as well as that guy from John Woo's Heroes Shed No Tears. Eddy Ko (Thanks imdb).

Torrent download and info at D-Addicts. Opening theme below via YouTube.




I've probably got enough of these Wu-Xia series that I could watch an episode a day (on my PSP, of course) and still not be finished in a year. Currently I'm watching Hero In Black AKA Wo Lai Ye (Here I Come), a Zorro like comedy that features Cheng Pei Pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Come Drink With Me) as an overbearing mother. I've recently downloaded 35 episodes of a Monkey King series that has Sam Lee in it.

This isn't all I watch. Before starting Hero In Black, I watched the first season of The Wire (My brother hooked me up with the first two) and I'll probably check out the second season next. Also recently bought the final season of Angel, and season one of Smallville, so I'll be looking at those eventually as well.

Update 01/24/07: I finished Wo Lai Ye last week. While not completely bad, it's the worst of these dramas I've seen, yet. I just didn't like the characters or their relationships to each other. Especially Song Dou's affection for the owner of the Top Chef restaurant. It contradicts his hatred for the greed of corrupt officials and the wealthy who live at the expense of the poor in his town.
She appears to share this sentiment, yet also shares the characteristics of Wo Lai Ye's sworn enemies. I found the ending unsatisfying as well.

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, PSP, tv, wu-xia, youtube

Available over at D-Addicts.com. A great, great series, though I've not read the Jin Yong novel (aslo called the Deer And The Cauldron), nor seen previous versions like the series starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, and Andy Lau. I did see Royal Tramp 1 & 2 starring Stephen Chow, but that was a long time ago.

Here's a synopsis from wiki.d-addicts.com/;
This production is a more recent, and somewhat more loose adapation of Jin Yong's last and most unique Wuxia novel "The Deer and the Cauldron". The story is centred around an uneducated street urchin Wei Xiao Bao, who was born and raised in a brothel by his mother. Through a series of misdaventures, he managed to make his way from the southern playground of Yangzhou to Beijing, the seat of Manchurian imperial power, and bumbling accidently into a fateful encounter with young Emperor Kang Xi. By hook or by crook, but also through a genuine concern and fierce loyalty towards his "mate" the Emperor, Xiao Bao found himself in the greatest of confidences and a complicated friendship of one of the most eminent monarchs of Chinese history. -- more can be found at Spcnet.tv

The complication comes primarily through his association with the anti-Manchu insurgent group, The Heaven And Earth Society. Wei Xiao Bao must weigh political (ethnic?) ideology and one set of friends against another as well as consider what's in the best interests of the country. Also, he'd like to accumulate seven wives. Hilarity and Kung Fu abounds. And there's also Chen Kwan Tai in a villian role...
Hi. I'm Chen Kwan Tai. You may know me from such films as Executioners Of Shaolin, Heroes Two and Iron Monkey (not the one with Donnie Yen).

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia

The upcoming TV series remake of the Jin Yong (Louis Cha) novel that gets remade every now and then. Here's a trailer from YouTube;



There's an anime series with the same title, but it's been misnamed as it's actually Return Of The Condor Heroes. A sequel by the same author. That story has also been published in comicbook form by Tony Wong as The Legendary Couple (at least in it's U.S. release). The English volumes were canceled before the story concluded.

The subtitled 1982 series Legend Of the Condor Heroes; Iron Blood, Loyal Heart can be found here (the torrents can anyway). As of this writing just the first four episodes are up, but more should be arriving, probably over the next coupl'a months. I've previously mentioned watching the first two episodes without subs. If you're into old school Shaw Bros. action, you'll want to check these out.

Not known to me til just now; Heavenly Sword, Dragon Sabre is the third part of the Condor Trilogy. Something I'll keep in mind as I have that series stashed away for future viewing (as well as the 2006 Return Of The Condor Heroes). I've read some of Ma Wing Shing's comicbook adaptation. That too was canceled early.

Labels: bittorrent, comics, dorama, kung fu, tv, wu-xia, youtube

D-Addicts is a torrent site devoted to drama series from parts of Asia (Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People's Republic Of China).

I go there mostly for the period kung fu/wu-xia series like The Duke Of Mount Deer (2000), Chinese Paladin, Heavenly Sword, Dragon Sabre, and more, but the site mostly hosts modern day romantic fare.


I recently finished watching Twin Of Brothers, which is the usual mix of flying kung fu (mostly arms flaying wildly and quick edits), special effects, romantic triangles, rectangles and what have you, and just a touch of tragedy. Highlights included Waise Lee (Bullet In The Head) as one of the villians, and a one episode appearance by Gordon Liu (Master Killer/36th Chamber Of Shaolin) AKA Liu Chia-Hui.

Romance Of The Three Kingdoms is not Wu-Xia, but is a historical drama based on an old novel. I would recommend it as a great story, but also as something that is often referenced even in fantasy based stories (including most of the ones mentioned above).

All this is to mention that this month's Chinese Series Of The Month over there is The Proud Twins. Don't know anything about it as I haven't watched it, yet. You could read this and that
for more info and then go here to download it (scroll way down).

Labels: bittorrent, dorama, downloads, kung fu, tv, wu-xia

D Addicts has an entire 58 episode series available as 11 torrents this month. Romance Of The Three Kingdoms is based on the novel of the same name which has also inspired a number of war strategy and fighting video games, including Dynasty Warriors 2 (which I have, but never finished) for the PS2. I haven't watched it yet, aside from a quick peek, nor have I read the source material, available here for reading or download. It looks like a mainland production (could be wrong) and I'm not sure there's any kung-fu. The vcds which are subtitled will eventually be transfered to my PSP (one by one) once I've run out of Chinese Paladin episodes, though I may watch the first season of 24 before I get to ROT3K.

To download torrents, You will need a Bittorrent client like this one.

Labels: bittorrent, China, dorama, downloads, tv

I've seen this web series mentioned in a couple of spots here and there, but it wasn't until an article in this month's Wired magazine that I decided to actually download and watch the two available episodes. Fan films have become increasingly sophisticated due to more affordable technology and in some cases the participation of folks who work behind the scenes in television and movies. Batman: Dead End is one such (and great) example. Star Wars: Revelations impressed a lot of people, and while it looked good, the story, the performances, and the performers themselves kinda left me cold.
Star Trek: The New Voyages is based on the premise that since the original series was cancelled early, we only got to see about three years of the "five year mission". The new series continues the original series with faithful reproductions of the original sets with stories, acting and production by a collection of enthusiasts.
The Wired article states that the first episode was done to see what they could do. It's not a bad effort. Not great, but not bad. It isn't until episode 2, "In Harms Way", that the show grabs my head with both hands, smashes it against a wall, picks my ass up and throws me out the window. Holy shit, it's that good! I mean, god-damn! It's got Captain Pike in it, and like I said before, Pike ain't no pussy.
The cast takes some getting used to. The guy who plays Kirk looks more like Jim Carrey, but doesn't do Carrey's exaggerated Kirk shtick. Spock is a little more effeminate looking than I'm completely comfortable with, and Bones isn't quite the borderline racist ("why you green blooded, half-breed, Vulcan piece of shit!"*) who looked like he rarely got any sleep that I remember from the old days. After a while, you sorta get used to these guys. New Voyages nails the old show and I think, maybe surpasses it a little in the second episode. I recommend watching the first episode just to get a feel for what's happening. If it seems too cheesy and you decide to turn it off, YOU STILL HAVE TO WATCH "IN HARM'S WAY"!!! YOU GOTTA!!! Of course, if you've never seen nor liked the original Star Trek, ignore me.

The series can be found here. On the download page, they say the first ep is unavailable, but both shows are downloadable as torrents. I recommend watching the Windows Media files first to see if you like 'em, and then downloading the DVD files if you must (those can take a while).

* Okay, maybe that isn't an exact quote. Been a long time since I caught the show.

Labels: Awesome, bittorrent, Capt Pike was a bad MuthaFucka, downloads, DVD, fun, independent film-making, movies, nostalgia, tv