Wednesday, 31 August 2022

Legacy of Gorbachev


Yesterday, on the 30th of August, 2022, Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union and the man who opened Russia to the rest of the world, passed away at the age of 91. Like him or dislike him, he will be dearly missed. And the saddest part is that his legacy of Perestroika and Glasnost have died with him amid the Russo-Ukrainian War.

As a tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev, here is a comic featuring Mikhail Gorbachev making cameos in video games. The top image is from the MSX version of Gorby's Pipeline, and the bottom image is Zangief's Ending from the Arcade version of Street Fighter 2, which makes more sense given that Gorbachev's obituary happened on the day of the 35th Anniversary of Street Fighter.

Dasvidanya, Gorby. Zangief's fans will never forget your cameo in Street Fighter 2.

Saturday, 27 August 2022

Variations of a Polygon Man Introduction


Even a malevolent polygonal head like Polygon Man knows that Microsoft and Nintendo needs to suffer his fury for their bad business ethics. In fact, Sony still can never forgive Nintendo for their 1991 betrayal that nearly killed off the PlayStation before it could even be conceived. So if you are unhappy with the unethical business ethics of Nintendo and Microsoft, perhaps joining forces with Sony would be a better option, even if Sony sometimes behave like a jerk just like Polygon Man.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale © Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Thursday, 25 August 2022

BurgerTime 40th Anniversary Tribute


Today marks the 40th Anniversary of the launch of BurgerTime in Japanese arcades. While BurgerTime may not be as fondly remembered as Pac-Man, Space Invaders or Donkey Kong, it's legacy was more than enough to guarantee its main character Peter Pepper cameo appearances in the films Wreck-It Ralph and Pixels. Even when Data East, the original owners of BurgerTime, ceased operations in 2003, G-Mode continued with Data East's legacy by designing new entries for the series.

Happy 40th Anniversary, BurgerTime! Here's to many more years of beefy goodness!

Thursday, 18 August 2022

Out Of Time


Remember when I uploaded a comic about the sands of time running out for YouTube? Well, it turns out that comic was right all along, and I fear this is just the beginning of even worse things to come. Even if YouTube alternatives exist, we might not even have sufficient time to become Internet celebrities on these YouTube alternatives, for the day will come when we all have to be on the run like fugitives...

Saturday, 13 August 2022

Territorial Woes


Author's Note: This comic is about the 1961 War for Goa between India and Portugal. This was the story of the situation.

In 1947, India was granted independence from Britain. However, a few areas of the Indian subcontinent were still under Portuguese rule. Attempts by the British and Indian governments to convince Portugal to relinquish control of their exclaves turned out unsuccessful because the dictatorship in Portugal at the time kept rejecting peaceful negotiations. As a result, war between India and Portugal was inevitable. India won that conflict. Britain felt that the situation could have been solved peacefully. But then again, it was the fault of the Portuguese dictatorship for turning down all the peaceful means in the first place and averting unnecessary bloodshed.

On a side note, this comic about a footnote in India's history is also dedicated to India's 75th anniversary of their independence from Britain. Glory to the Commonwealth!

Tuesday, 9 August 2022

Stronger Together


Author's Note: The title of this comic is based on 2022's National Day theme song and is also found on the Singapore flag featured in this comic. And yes, that is the top of the SAFTI Military Institute Tower featured in this comic.

Need to know more? Below is the 2022 National Day theme song, Stronger Together:


All in all, in these dark times, we will be Stronger Together. Happy National Day.

Tuesday, 2 August 2022

Archiving Woes


Nobody will understand the pain archivists go through because Internet censorship has no respect for fair use, fair dealing and other rights granted by the First Amendment. But I do. Especially when I'm working to archive the past.

While the copyright authorities in some countries consider archiving the works of various artists, musicians and content creators legitimate because it meets the requirements for fair use or fair dealing, in other countries, archiving the works of various artists, musicians and content creators is illegal to the point anybody who violates copyrights could be classified as a domestic terrorist. Therefore, to say that preserving the past is a criminal act and fair use is illegal, I would answer that question by saying "Well yes, but actually no."

Then there's the complications of hostilities with unfriendly countries. For example, in response to sanctions, Russia's copyright authorities had to decriminalize software piracy. Imagine launching a full scale assault on another country, only to get embargoed by other countries. What would you do to circumvent sanctions? I would not encourage intellectual property piracy, but it would be necessary if it is against copyright owners from unfriendly countries. Unfortunately, some countries have weaponized their copyright laws to oppress netizens of various nationalities, including their own netizens. Germany and Japan, two countries that committed terrible war crimes in World War 2, and are still unrepentant of said war crimes to this day, are turning copyright regulations such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) into weapons to be used against freedom of expression, artistic freedom, fair dealing, fair use, and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. No wonder Russia, China, and whoever is on the side of those two countries are so antagonistic towards democratic countries, and that's because the democracies let Germany and Japan off so leniently in spite of the harsh punishments inflicted upon them. Maybe we should study the real history of the main copyright management societies of Germany and Japan, and you will learn that these copyright management societies have troubling history by having roots in darker times. It gets worse when in 1945, the Japanese government ordered classified documents to be burned up. And said burning of documents is why not only is Japan denying war crimes to this day, but the search for Amelia Earhart was made more difficult because it's possible potential clues of Amelia Earhart's whereabouts were among the documents that were destroyed by the burning of classified documents. In other words, if you were an archivist in Japan on the day they formally announced their surrender, you would be saying "Woe is me!" as you helplessly watch documents get burned up because among the documents could be incriminating evidence of your country's war crimes as well as possible whereabouts of Amelia Earhart.

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