Factory or fantasy?

Joan Chen (top left) and Zhao Tao (above) star in Jia Zhangke's (top right) new film 24 City.


It is hard to tell the difference between fact and fiction in 24 City (24 Chengji), the latest project by leading director Jia Zhangke.

The film, which is now showing at cinemas throughout the mainland, was shot at the former site of a vast aeronautics factory in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Jia interviewed 90 workers after it was demolished to make way for an apartment block and relocated to an outer suburb a 45-minute drive away. His film is interspersed with fake interviews of recognizable actors like Joan Chen (The Last Emperor and Twin Peaks) and Jia's leading lady, Zhao Tao.

This was Jia's first feature film since he became a darling of art-house critics with his haunting romance Still Life (San Xia Hao Ren), which won the Golden Lion at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. He started 24 City the following year after hearing of the 50-year-old factory's demise.

He interviewed the workers himself and it was while he was studying the footage that he found it might be more emotive to incorporate it with a fictional plot.

"It is impossible to include all the interviews, most of which were segments unrelated to each other," he says. "So I added four fictional stories and then threaded them all together."

This story is really indeed a great impact, this would change everyones lives. I encourage everone to see and tell something about the movie.

Kohler Co.'s tours offer close look at this state fixture

By Mary Bergin

When I met Lowell Kappers in 2005, he was 69, had worked at the Kohler Co. for 44 years and had yet to truly retire. That was by choice, and not much has changed.

The Oostburg man used to wear an air-fed helmet to protect his breathing and plug his ears with cotton to dull the near-constant noise. He worked as a cast iron grinder until 1999. Now he occasionally leads visitors on tours of the factory.

These free tours are not quick glimpses of people at work from behind an observation glass. The Kohler tour is unusual because it lasts 3.5 hours and gets relatively close to the steam, dust and red-hot materials that are a part of the daily production of plumbing fixtures and bathroom furnishings.

This introduction takes visitors through the factory's pottery, brass and cast iron divisions. The sightseeing is scheduled during mornings, which is especially necessary in summer when the factory can get hot.

The pottery kilns, for example, average 2,450 degrees.

"Castings are a creamy white when they go into a kiln," Kappers says. "If color is embedded in them, it will show up at the end of the process."

The addition of decorative elements can be a delicate, painstakingly intricate procedure.

Although products from sinks to toilets are available in dozens of colors, Kappers says the majority of sales are for white, almond or biscuit tones.

We later watch "Herman," the monstrous robotic equipment that manufactures and moves one bathtub mold per minute, under the guidance and monitoring of humans.

"The molds come together like a ham sandwich," Kappers says, "filled with molten iron from beginning to end."

We stand near glowing-red tubs and watch enamel coating sprayed by hand.

"I call that a hot tub," Lowell deadpans.

Up to four artists at a time are at work in the factory. They use industrial materials and equipment to create unusual murals and sculptures through an Arts in Industry program.

As the artists and employees interact, they tend to gain insight and respect for each other's work.

The company has offered factory tours since the 1920s, says Cindy Howley, Kohler Design Center manager.

In 2008, 9,000 people took the tour.

Retired employees lead the tours. These individuals share knowledge from their average 40 years at the Kohler Co.

"We feel that if people see what goes into the making of our products, they'll be totally sold on the fine craftsmanship," says Howley, who coordinates the tours.

No more than eight people can take a tour to ensure safety. Participants must be at least 14 years old and wear close-toed shoes.

Video Game Review: RPG Fans Should Take the Time to Decipher ‘Avalon Code’

by BrianTT

CHICAGO – The development team behind the massively successful “Final Fantasy III” and “Final Fantasy IV” remakes for the Nintendo DS have joined forces with the creative minds behind the “Harvest Moon” and “Rune Factory” series to release one of the more creative handheld RPG titles of the year to date with the clever and fun “Avalon Code,” a game that may be far from perfect but is unique enough to warrant a look for all RPG fans.


“Avalon Code” has a lot in common with standard role-playing games but adds enough of its own elements to make it stand out from the pack. The basic structure of the RPG is enhanced by what is essentially a “collecting game” in which your character has to learn as much as possible about the world around him. How? By smacking good guys, bad guys, flowers, weapons, and anything else you can see with a giant book. Don’t ask. Just play.

“Avalon Code” is primarily an action RPG as your character (male or female depending on how you start the game) dives deep into an elaborate and engrossing story that still primarily involves combat. Your character finds a “Book of Prophecy” which only he can control and allows for a lot of unique player interaction.

By recording everything in the world around you, the “Book of Prophecy” can be used as a guide when the world you are in comes to an end. You are essentially both a fighter and a journalist. It’s enough to make someone who makes their living as a writer proud.

Throughout the game, the player slams the “Book of Prophecy” into weapons, creatures, whatever and can not only learn about their properties but adjust them. For example, if you have a sword in your book, you can modify its properties. But you can do it for people and creatures too, adjusting the way they interact with you.

The gameplay allows for an elaborate and immersive user experience unlike a lot of RPGs. Every choice that the player makes changes the storyline of the game. Even the gender assigned at the beginning creates a different experience. Choices make for minor, user-based differences, but “Avalon Code” is essentially a straight-forward RPG with creatures, quests, and dungeons (although the dungeon design creates for a mini-game experience that’s pretty cool, as the player has to complete a time-based task in each room to move on.)

As you play, you’ll have to use both your fighting skills and the codes in the book to proceed. The idea is that each item/person/creature has codes that you learn when you get them in the “Book of Prophecy” and then you can use your magical powers to mix and match. Players need to use the codes to adjust items to complete tasks or even adjust enemy attributes to make them easier to kill.
Avalon Code
Avalon Code
Photo credit: XSeed Games

I love the concept of the codes but the execution is another story. I found myself adjusting codes with no real result and was often unsure of what the heck was going on when I added or subtracted a code. It’s not as friendly or easily playable a user interface as it could have been. And I was never as drawn into the storytelling as I wanted to be, feeling more like I was playing a series of mini-games than a full adventure.

As for the visuals, “Avalon Code” looks great. The range of graphics on the DS is surprisingly large and “Avalon Code” is at the higher end of the spectrum.

“Avalon Code” may not be perfect but it’s creative and very impressive visually - two things you cannot say about a lot of recent RPGs. Gamers not easily attuned to the ups and downs of the genre may not want to start with “Avalon Code,” but people already love the RPG could fall for “Avalon Code” in a big way.

Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon

If you give a man a plough and a bag of seeds instead of a loaf of bread he can feed himself for months. Give a man a fishing rod instead of a fish and he can catch his own food. Give a man a copy of Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon to review and he’ll wonder where several hours have gone. Not all of it was enjoyable, mind you.

Like the previous Harvest Moon games, tolling away on a patch of raggedy land to create a fertile farm full of fruit and fortune is rewarding. The town has plenty of shops to spend your sweat-covered cash on while the townsfolk themselves are a curious bunch, often mid-conversation as you enter their homes and happy to let you eavesdrop. If watering and sowing crops starts getting laborious then you can also pick up a rod and go fishing.

Now here’s where the fantasy element comes into play. Not content with being a dab hand with a watering can, the game’s amnesia suffering hero can equip himself with a sword and shield and venture into caves. Unfortunately, Zelda this is not. These underground sections play more like a merciless version of Gauntlet with foes re-spawning and swarming around you until you find and smash up their re-generator.

Produce grown on the farm can be taken into the caves with you to top up your health, which is fine in theory but they don’t actually restore a decent amount. Worse still is the fact that every time you take a swipe with your sword (or any farming equipment, for that matter) your RP (Rune Points) are drained and if not restored will start ebbing into your health bar. Collision detection is way off the mark too, and annoyingly when you die - which is often - you can’t just instantly load up your last save and continue. Instead the game abruptly throws you back to the developer logos, forcing you to skip past the intro again to load up your last save. Madness!

It’s a shame that these underground sections are so frustrating as on the surface Rune Factory provides plenty of pleasure, with smoothly rendered environments, a whimsical music score and a care-free vibe. When a game is made up of two parts, one good and one bad, it’s a bit hard to recommend.

Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory

Rob Dyrdek has spent most of his life turning fantasy into reality. Even as a young skateboarder, Rob defied all odds by going pro at the age of 16. Since then, Rob has always believed that even the wildest fantasies are possible if you commit to making them real. Fans of MTV's Rob and Big know that he proves it by embracing, pursuing and achieving the products of his own imagination.

Although Rob may be best known for his eccentric pursuits (like owning a Mini Horse or his quest to travel through time), he is also an extremely likeable skateboarding icon blessed with shrewd business sense. Rob is a hustler, with a laundry list of business ventures he's trying to chase down. The MTV series Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory will follow the ridiculous action and comedy that seems to follow everything he takes on. Get ready to experience Rob Dyrdek on a whole new level.

Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory won't find our skateboarding hero lounging around and scheming at the familiar Rob and Big house in the Hollywood Hills. Instead he's commanding operations in a massive, 25,000-square-foot industrial -- and fully skate-able -- warehouse and office complex near downtown Los Angeles. This is the new home of Dyrdek Enterprises, the veritable nerve center and hatching ground for all of Rob's crazy schemes, business plans and uniquely ridiculous ideas.

Anything from zip-lines and giant skateboards, to trampolines and indoor blobbing can be achieved in Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory.

Somewhere between Diddy and Willie Wonka is where Rob lies as a capable entrepreneur with a comically offbeat way of realizing his own fantasy world and the new facility is the launching pad that will allow him to chase down his wildest ideas and whims.

But, you ask, will there be Drama? Of course there will be Drama! Rob's cousin and longtime assistant will be on hand in Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, still employed as Rob's inept and constantly put-upon assistant.

In addition to weekly visits to Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory we'll get to know the characters inhabiting the Dyrdek Enterprises warehouse. From Rob's slick manager to the blurred out maintenance man, to the blonde-haired "gangster rapping" receptionist, to the reclusive, socially awkward skate coach. . This is a cast of characters to say the very least.

Plus, expect to see well-known guest stars dropping in to Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, such as Danny Way, Johnny Knoxville, Pharrell Williams, Travis Pastrana, Ryan Sheckler, P-Rod, Steve Berra and Eric Koston, as well as the familiar couple we can thank for bestowing Rob on this world, his loveable parents, Pat and Gene Dyrdek.Get ready to visit Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, where strange and wonderful dreams come true.

Story Source: http://www.mtv.ca/tvshows/show.jhtml?id=13611

Rune Factory Frontier Review

Rune Factory makes its console debut in style

Marvelous and XSEED deliver a beautiful adventure/RPG exclusively for Nintendo Wii.

by Mark Bozon


We're quickly moving into the era of Rune Factory. While the series started as a spin-off from the traditional Harvest Moon franchise, we've seen nothing short of complete domination by the series since its start here in the US three years ago during its DS debut. It's all part of one big happy family (although Natsume isn't publishing it, so it isn't all happy, I'd imagine), with the two designs being extremely similar, but with no serious Harvest Moon effort in the last few years we're now seeing a shift to the farming/adventure experience found in Rune Factory. In its latest move, the "Fantasy Harvest Moon" has moved from DS onto the console scene, bringing Rune Factory Frontier exclusively to the Wii, and it's a great one to have on Nintendo's system.

Rune Factory Frontier is a great merging of numerous elements from both the Harvest Moon and Rune Factory designs, and it makes for a game that feels like an impressive, polished first effort for the franchise on Wii, and given the team's track record and obvious passion for their product, I'd assume it won't be the last Wii title with the Rune Factory title across it. Players kick off their adventure as Raguna, a young boy who took the lead role in the previous two Rune Factory titles on DS, and while a few key characters return, Frontier is entirely self-contained and needs no real back-story. You arrive in a new town, it's dying from a social/economic standpoint, and it's your job to make it a bustling metropolis with just the sweat of your brow.

Rune Factory makes its console debut in style.Rune Factory is still a Harvest Moon game at heart, so you'll be doing a lot of farming and animal management. For newcomers to the design, it might seem like an odd design (why do virtual chores?) but returning Harvest Moon veterans will feel right at home. After gathering a few tools from around town, you'll hit the fields, plan your crops based on the season, chop wood, gather food and supplies, cook, forge new items, learn medicine mixing, level up skills on your farm (on the fly, making the experience as seamless and intuitive as a Zelda-like adventure, rather than full-on stat-crunching RPG), capture monsters as animals, and further the world by giving back to the land. The game works in accelerated time, with one second in real time representing about one minute in Rune Factory, making for 24 minute days. In order to keep things from being a constant rush of "to do list" tasks, you can work well into the night, gain back your stamina fully with a quick trip to the bath house once a day, and time freezes when indoors and shopping. Basic stuff for vets though, right? On the other side of things, Rune Factory is a merger of not only farm/social sim, but also dungeon crawler. Raguna can level up in specific skills – everything from watering cans to hoes and axes, as well as swords, magic, spears, and the like – as well as overall, which will boost all his stats significantly. While the game is entirely open-ended as far as what you do on a daily basis, the main story itself will require both farming and dungeon crawling, though it's based mainly on the battling, with five main dungeons, bosses, and a main story arch that follows. There are specific instances where you'll need to farm or build relationships to advance the story as well, but the main roadblocks will come in the dungeons themselves. What makes Rune Factory so dangerous though, is the fact that there's just so much to do. You can befriend monsters and use them as livestock around your farm, repair and cultivate your entire chunk of land, focus on upping your skills in cooking, medicine, weapon/armor making, fishing, fighting, or further along the story and prosper the city quickly by dealing with a friendship meter on every main character and monster in the game, going as far as to marry and have a kid with a maiden of your choice. Any of the main "jobs" in the game could be used as a primary source of economy to fuel your experience, and while it's possible to max everything out, it could take 100+ hours to do it. This game is massive; if it had online connectivity for multiplayer it'd be a serious Animal Crossing killer for the more hardcore crowd.

Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory deleted scenes

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