Kingdom Hearts Updates

(1) What Kingdom Hearts 4’s Lost Master Arc Could Imply (GAMERANT)

(2) Quote from The Legend of Kingdom Hearts by Georges “Jay” Grouard:

“Tetsuya Nomura was born on October 8, 1970. He grew up in the south of the island of Shikoku in a city located in the delta of the Kagami River with a castle perched above it. From its forests, to its beaches, to its limestone cave, and of course its various capes jutting out into the Pacific, Nomura’s hometown is heaven on earth. It was like the Destiny Islands for the young man, who felt restless and dreamed of adventure and becoming an artist. His life has been marked by the many people he has met along the way. He became a protégé to several important creators who “connected” with his heart and soul so that he would never lose sight of how yesterday’s principles can guide the way tomorrow too. Having gone through his own Mark of Mastery exam over a decade, he ultimately became the Master of his own destiny: an exceptional architect. Through great selflessness, ingenuity, and cleverness, he was able to convince the biggest entertainment empire in the world to yield to his genius, giving rise to one of the greatest works of our time; indeed, one of the greatest because it is much more than a video game…”

(3) This is my KH3 tribute video. Each scene is from KH3 and was taken in-game (not from cutscenes). The track is “Music from 358/2 Days” by Yoko Shimomura. Can you name the land each photo was taken?

(4) Do think now that Rapunzel has been reunited with her family that the festival for ‘the lost princess’ has been repurposed as the festival for ‘the hero’?

KH3
The Old Mansion in Twilight Town

ATARI® Retro Box

Inspired by the ART OF ATARI® and Sim Train World 3 to create some original retro box artwork. I think something related to Kingdom Hearts is next.

Atari brings a powerful computer to your home TV. The system allows you to build a game library with additional Game Programs™ and controllers.

This carton contains the COMBAT Game Program™, which contains 27 action-packed game variations and 2 sets of remote controllers. Features on the Video Computer System™ are:

• True-To-Life Game Sounds
• On-Screen Scoring
• Difficulty Options
• Color on Color TV’s
• No Batteries Needed

Related
Isle of Wight: End of the Line (YouTube)

Weekend 566.0 (Black Umbrella)

(1) Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Vinyl LP Box — Translated Yoko Shimomura Interview (KH13 · for Kingdom Hearts)

(2) Why Did It Take 13 Years To Build The Elizabeth Line? | The Trouble With Crossrail | Spark (YouTube)

(2a) London’s railway of the future is finally here (Engadget)

(2b) Elizabeth line: London’s brand new railway has finally arrived (YouTube)

(3) Notre-Dame Cathedral Will Reopen by 2024 (Smithsonian Magazine)

(4) Bermuda “Hogge Money” Coin Sold For $96,000 (Bernews)

(4a) A quote from Bermuda’s Story by Terry Tucker:

“It was at that stage, millions of years ago, when the great winds blew our little limestone hills into the shapes they are to-day: the highest is only about 260 feet above the present sea-level. The so-called coral of which the islands are formed is in reality a true aeolian (windblown) limestone, formed of wind-driven shells and sand, with a small admixture of coral materials.”

(4b) The Earl of Southampton – Shakespeare’s Patron (No Sweat Shakespeare)

(4c) A poem by Nathaniel Tucker

Beneath my bending eye, serenely neat,
Appears my ever-blest paternal seat.
Far in the front the level lawn extends,
The zephyrs play, the nodding cypress bends;
A little hillock stands on either side,
O’er spread with evergreens, the garden’s pride.
Promiscuous here appears the blushing rose,
The guava flourishes, the myrtle grows.
Upon the surface earth-born woodbines creep,
O’er the green beds the painted ‘sturtians peep.
Their arms aloft triumphant lilacs bear,
The jessamines perfume the ambient air.
The whole is from an eminence display’d
Where the brown olive lends his pensive shade.

Weekend 556.0

I just finished maintenance on Playmobil365.com. My tribute project celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Playmobil is 9 years old! Updates included link hygiene, comment culling, platform hardening, etc. The BIGGEST update was retrofitting categories to EVERY post. This was an old ambition and finally used some downtime to tackle. There are a couple of vignettes and now you can easily isolate the posts and photos related to those stories. All of this was done as early preparation for a 10-year anniversary project (details soon).

If you’ve never visited Playmobil365.com there are tons of tributes to classic video games (Pac-Man and Sid Meijer’s Pirates), 80s bands and artists like A-ha, Pink Floyd, The Cure, Paul Simon and Howard Jones, Disney animation, artists, imagineers and theme park attractions, football clubs like Southampton, Morecambe, and Metz, writers like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, Jeff Bridges via TRON and The Big Lebowski, places like London and Bermuda, and Hayao Miyazaki, Makoto Shinkai, and Haruki Murakami and FINALLY pop culture references like the nod to Garth Marenghi and Stanley Kubrick.

DM me if you can name the movie tribute to Miyazaki and Shinkai and the book title of the tribute to Murakami.

>>> BONUS: Sweet, sweet, sweet tyre pron.

Speaking of…

There have been some significant 20th and 50th Anniversaries the last few years- Naruto, Kingdom Hearts, NY Islanders, and Walt Disney World.

2022: Year-in-review

A couple of paragraphs to close out 2022. This is the year I said goodbye to London and put an exclamation point on Kingdom Hearts. I spent a night in Gettysburg and a couple more in Paris. I crossed the English Channel via the Eurostar. I read the Brothers York and Faith of Our Fathers. I saw the Wilton Diptych at the British Museum and watched the Southampton Saints WIN under the lights against the Norwich Canaries. I tracked down stained-glass in Hereford from a Christmas card given to my mom and dad by our parish priest. I hiked to Towton, outside York, to visit a battlefield that was pivotal in the War of the Roses. I toured all of the northern cathedrals- York, Durham, and Lincoln. I also travelled to the very edge of Empire for a weekend in Penzance and Lands End. There were a couple of more Saints matches, including a memorable one in Cambridge for the Carabao Cup. There were three Championship League matches in Stoke, Norwich, and Sunderland. I hosted my brother in the spring and we went to Southampton, London, and Ramsgate. I also caught Football: Designing the Beautiful Game at the Design Museum before it closed.

My last couple of weekend trips in England were to Coventry, Exeter, and Bath. One of the highlights of the year was mass at the Cathedral Church St John the Baptist in Norwich.

My BIG birthday was at PNC Arena to see my beloved NY Islanders put a hurt on the Hartford Whalers Carolina Hurricanes and I was at the Bridgeport Islanders home opener. I also went to a Bridgeport Islanders game to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the NY Islanders.

Thames River Ride (1986) by Harper Goff. Scan is from The Art of Walt Disney World Resort

Kingdom Hearts Unanswered Questions

Sora, listen. The power of waking isn’t to go chase hearts around! Even if you do locate Kairi, you might never come home to us again.

(1) What is the wild card Luxord gave Sora for?

Sora: What’s this?
Luxord: A wild card. You’ve earned it. Hang on to it.
Luxord: Could turn the tables.
Sora: Play ya again someday, when we’re just guys.

(2) Who is Nameless Star in The Final World?

(3) Who is the fifteen-year-old girl that Lea and Saïx were visiting in Radiant Garden?

(4) Will Kairi’s Grandmother have a significant role in future titles?

(5) Why are Terra, Aqua, and Ventus in the Realm of Darkness?

(6) Who killed Strelitzia? (CBR.com)”

(7) What is Kairi dreaming about in the laboratory of Ansem the Wise?

(8) Master or Masters, Yozora, Xigbar, Pete, and Maleficent oh my.

Kingdom Hearts III