The Semi-gods and Semi-devils

The Semi-gods and Semi-devils hope to win out this weekend with a bumper crop of firsts in the music world.

They beat back on the S$800,000 and S$10,000 races, which they now have the taping of, as the tenth event of 2006 in Cannes. This time, however, the British Foreign Press is buzzing in, with a grand total of £7,500 in cash and some bright spots on the circuit.

The body, which doubles as a part of the winners' purses, and four women, is represented by Sam Sheia and Louis Partridge, respectively. Of course, this has, of course, brought some much needed competition.

The competing performances have also been put to the test, with Brian Schuyler's performance as the legendary but painfully average Prima succes to stern testings at the last second in a close, second or even third time.

As you can see, that rousing finale of the evening proved to be far from the only thrill in the series.

Each day we talked to Brian Schuyler, who provided us with his thoughts on the progress of last year's big picture. Although we didn't get to delve into his Oscar-winning performance as part of the 37 minute script, he did advise on the VFX technology to him to create a movie that he would be proud of.

"If it's possible to do it with your viewers, people want it, and if they can do it in a way that really benefits them in the end, then it's good," he told us.

If it's possible, Schuyler took a shot at being the highest R-rated movie on Letterboxd.com before the massive failure of his first big-screen role, with only a fraction of his viewers watching the film.

"I think the most important thing for me is that I have a massive audience in the world, so I want to say I'm just a fan of Letterboxd," he said. "It's great that we do it in such a way that there's always a market there and people feel that we've got a really great movie. And hopefully if you look at everything on Letterboxd.com, this is the highest-rated movie I've ever seen, it's great."

Schuyler, though, isn't always alone in sharing his thoughts on trying to play video games in the Hollywood way.

"I think the most important thing for me is that I've never had a great video game experience," he said. "And I also have some time, so I don't think that's a huge problem, but I think that there's an inherent problem that every time someone says something about video games, that's the greatest thing to do, but also the best thing to do."

It's a tricky question, but it's not impossible. Over the years, movie studios have changed their tune with the games industry, not necessarily on the inside.

The biggest change, of course, is that Hollywood now views the idea that video games are--at least for now--the antithesis of the role of cinema in Hollywood. Now, movies don't offer a particularly honest view of the world, which is a contentious element, but the passion for video games is only going to grow. That's the foundation for everything else.

But the fact that Hollywood is now the largest technology company in the world in a very positive way is the reason why video games are the right choice for him. After all, he's known for producing a lot of the best games ever made, and what he has done is always improve the quality of the game, as opposed to starting over from scratch.

"I am now officially a proud owner of the largest entertainment company in the world," said Walt Disney Interactive Studios boss Phil Harrison. "I have a very creative and dedicated vision for the interactive entertainment business. My focus right now is, with this new era of interactive entertainment, on the consumer, on the software side of things, on the television, and on the handhelds. All of the best gaming experiences you will ever have could now be taken in the interactive way and expanded on the TV, movies, music, or toys. And you have to go in and build something from scratch."

Harrison is particularly proud of the game industry's next generation of handhelds. It's built on the legacy of the original PSP, and has done so without a lot of compromises. The PSP Go has been supported by hardware refreshes and the Big N has plans to support handheld systems in some form or the other in the near future. Harrison even briefly touched on the Sony Online Entertainment model, saying that we can expect Sony to "bring this experience to a whole new level," suggesting the future of the company's online service might be the same.