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You Got Metal in My X-Men, or How I Made Two Posts in a Row About the X-Men Theme Song

2011-07-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Believe me, I could write blog posts about the X-Men theme song every day if I wanted. Well, I'd probably run out of material eventually but still much much more could be said about it. Anywho, I figured I may as well also share this awesome cover of the theme song by the power metal band Powerglove. This isn't by any means new, and I've known about it for a while, but I feel that more people should know about it and this band. They do covers of a lot of video game and cartoon theme songs so you should check them out if you're interested.

You Got Your Concerto in My X-Men, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love YouTube

2011-07-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

Mostly because I needed a nostalgia hit, I went onto YouTube recently to watch the intro the the 90's X-Men animated series, but much to my chagrin the first result that came up contained the picture, but no sound! But the music is the best part! It was then that I noticed this disclaimer underneath the video:

NOTICE This video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by WMG. The audio has been disabled.

I'm not sure as to why the Warner Music Group would want the audio removed from the video, and I'm not here to argue that. They can do what they want with what they own the rights to. Sure, I think it's dumb, but if that's their prerogative then sure, whatever. This is the internet, you can find anything if you try, and there are other videos on YouTube that have the full intro with the sound intact anyways.

After finding the version of the intro with no sound, however, I came across this hilarious version of it where someone placed classical music over the video, seemingly in response to the WMG's actions. I thought it was so funny that I couldn't help but share it, and I have to say, the classical music does seem to give the show a more erudite quality.

Green Lantern Secret Ending Re-enactment

2011-06-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

Press The Action Button and J-Mac Presents bring you a dramatic re-enactment of the last scene in Green Lantern. Enjoy.

Isaiah Mustafa Wants to be Luke Cage So Bad

2011-06-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Isaiah Mustafa, best known for being the guy who convinced me to buy Old Spice brand body wash, recently released this video of himself playing the part of Luke Cage in order to convince everyone that he is perfect for the part. This has been a long time quest for Mustafa who has been talking about wanting to be Luke Cage ever since he came into the public spotlight. While I don't think the character of Cage is a good fit for a solo flick, I could definitely see Mustafa play the character in a supporting role in another Marvel film.

Chaos in Surf Nazis Must Die

2011-05-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

Surf Nazis Must Die is an exploitation revenge flick designed to be escapist entertaiment. If you're looking for a theory to attack the film with, then perhaps you can consider how the theme of chaos is addressed.

A fruitful analysis of the film comes from contrasting the two main forces: the Nazi gang and the character of Mama. The decision to place the gang's activity near water may seem arbitrary. However the element of water fits into the groups grander philosophy. Historically, water has come to represent chaos. Both the Nazi gang and Mama harness chaos to reach their goals.

The gang seek power through rebellion. Mama is already powerful because of her personal rebellion. Her strong will is established early in the film in the scenes of her butting heads with the nurse. The tragic murder of her son serves only to harden her resolve. Any pretense of the "nice old lady" motif is thrown out the window with the gun buying scene.

Despite Mama being a single entity her power overshadows that of the gang. Mama is a solid log while the gang are brittle sticks made ever weaker by their infighting and paranoia. It is for that reason that the Adolf and his girl take the passive role in the climatic chase scene. This shatters the logical pre-conception that two able bodied gang members would easily be able to take down an older overweight women.

In desperation, Adolf and his girl flee into the water, their comfort zone. Yet even their they are bested by Mama, the women who has so thoroughly channeled chaos to her own ends. She embraces revenge by injects just the right amount of emotion. She does not over do the emotions so has to cloud of focus. Rather she stays on course and finds herself with a sense of closure by film's end.

Wierd Gitch in Mortal Kombat 9 DLC Trailer

2011-05-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

Netherrealm Studios has released a trailer for the first batch of Mortal Kombat 9 DLC. It's pretty standard stuff. Though one abnormality has caught the attention of eagle eyed fans. At 1:17 into the video Scorpion performs his Klassic fatality on Sub-Zero. You can see that Sub-Zero's blue costume inexplicably turns gray.

What does this mean? Some secret Smoke transformation? Proof the Klassic Smoke will be in the DLC pack? Likely nothing so fantastic. It's probably just a glitch. In fact, a similar palette swap bug occurs fighting against the hidden Ninja Kombatants. I've never done it myself, but through the power of Youtube I can show you such an occurrence:

It's strange that Netherrealm would leave an obvious bug in the trailer. I'm sure if the bug persists, then Netherrealm will patch it up. It's kind of ironic that a series which is famous (or infamous) for palette swapping to create characters has a bug revolving around that very practice.

Who Proofread This? - Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero

2011-03-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

I know when you think of the pinnacle of PS1 games you think of Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, right? Well I think I may have found a flaw with it, as crazy as that sounds. While reading the bullet points on the back of the box, and not laughing at all at the flowery marketing speech employed, I noticed a grammatical error. The second bullet claims that the game will, "...push your system to it's limits." I have no doubt that this is what led to Midway's filing for bankruptcy twelve years later.

Wait, What? - We Dare Trailer

2011-02-24T15:23:00.000-08:00

Believe me, words fail to describe this trailer. I don't even know what to write about it except if you're an attractive swinger the Wii is now a viable option for foreplay.

Update 2/28/11

So apparently Ubisoft has blocked the above trailer in the United States because they have no plans to release it here. Shocking. Anyways, I recommend you check out this version of the trailer which does a better job of describing what myself and others were probably thinking while watching it.

What's In The Box? - Bod Body Spray Pack

2011-01-19T17:21:00.000-08:00

You Got Psych in my Twin Peaks...

2011-01-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

I recently got done watching episode 75 of the USA series Psych. Why would I watch an episode of Psych you ask? Well this episode, titled "Dual Spires," is unique in that it's a complete homage to the much beloved 90s television series Twin Peaks. Seven of the cast members from Twin Peaks were featured in the episode, which has the main characters, Shawn and Gus, solving the murder of a young girl found dead and wrapped in plastic. Sound familiar?

Now I've only seen maybe an episode or two of Psych in the past, but from what I've seen of it I've never been too interested. Detective shows such as Psych and Monk often follow similar structures to work with their one hour, generally stand-alone story format, and as a result get very repetitive and boring to me. This episode does not break the format and flows as any other episode of the show probably would, the main difference that this episode is backed to the brim with references to Twin Peaks.

From the very start of the episode we're given a reference to Peaks when Shawn remarks to Gus that he's found silent window blinds on the Internet invented by "some woman from Washington," in the early 90s. And they're off ladies and gentlemen. From there on out the viewer is bombarded with references to the David Lynch series ranging from the obscure to the obvious. From the Sheriff's name being Andrew Jackson, rather than other former US President Harry Truman in Peaks, to a woman walking around town carrying and talking to a log. But wait! She's just talking to her grandson who's obscured in the frame behind her! Pretty sneaky Sis!

Overall my opinions on the show Psych haven't changed much. The writers sat down and made another episode of Psych; it just happens to have a lot of Twin Peaks references. It was a little strange that the main character, Shawn, was able to continue to crack jokes and do back-and-forth with his partner Gus despite the gravity of the situation they were in (a young girl being murdered) but I assume that's just par for the course with the series. If you're a big fan of Twin Peaks, like myself, you might enjoy it to see how many references to the show you can catch yourself (a long list of which can be found on the episode's Wikipedia page), but it probably won't make you appreciate Psych anymore than you already do.

Check It Out - Party Down

2011-01-15T16:41:00.000-08:00

The cancellation of Party Down is among one of the greatest television tragedies, up there with the cancellations of Arrested Development and Firefly. While it only lasted for two short seasons of ten episodes each, it's packed with clever writing, and cast members such as Adam Scott, Ken Marino, and the gorgeous Lizzy Caplan, among many celebrity cameos including a great one by J.K. Simmons. The show gives a comic look at the lives of Hollywood wannabees who are stuck in dead-end jobs with a catering company as they struggle to get ahead. Upon the show's cancellation last year it was taken off of Netflix streaming, but now both seasons are back up for instant play. I'd recommend fans of shows like 30 Rock or just laughter in general check it out as it's a great series that will be missed by all its fans.

Dark Knight of the Soul Interview Part 3

2011-01-15T11:09:00.001-08:00

A quick glance at this page's last 10 posts will show a fair degree of coverage for Spider-Man the Musical. I guess it's safe to say that we are a bit obsessed with the show. And while I can write all day about the production, the simple fact is I have very little background in musical theater. But thankfully, I have a friend who knows quite a bit about live theater, especially in regards to super heroes.

That man goes by the name Ryan L and he runs a website called Dark Knight of the Soul. The site chronicles the Batman musical that was to be produced back in the 1990s. I urge you to check out his site; as it is the definite source for information on this lost chapter of Batman's history. I have previously interviewed Ryan twice on this website. I recently contacted him for interview number three, in which he gives his thoughts about Spider-Man The Musical.

waufreak89: Recently the show has been delayed for a fifth time. What effect do the numerous delays have on public opinion of the show?

Ryan: There has been no other musical like “Spider-Man”. If it succeeds, it will be a triumph. It will really be a triumph. If it fails, well, you can probably forget about “Carrie” and “Dance of the Vampires” and all of the others. “Spider-Man” will be the greatest flop in the history of musical theatre. So, of course, it’s enormously risky. Maybe we have to be more patient…

waufreak89: The several injuries suffered by actors have been well documented. Do you feel it is irresponsible to keeping a run a show that clearly has safety issues?

Ryan: I would if that was the case. But I have now heard that the show is safe, otherwise there wouldn’t have any further performances.

waufreak89: Do you feel Spider-Man the Musical can ever make it's money back on ticket sales alone? If not, do you think they can recoup through other means such as merchandising?

Ryan: Well, I heard that it would take five years of sold out performances to recoup. And that was when the budget was $45 million. I have no idea what they could do. I don’t think mounting other productions would help either. It would make it even more difficult. The album might help though. Might…

waufreak89: What do you think of the character of Swiss Miss? Do you feel it was wise for the show producers to invent a new villain when Spider-Man has such a massive rogues gallery to pull from?

Ryan: I don’t know if it was wise or not. We’ll see in about a year’s time. But I wouldn’t have invented a new character, no. I would have used a famous character and done something new with it.

waufreak89: Do you feel the negative press surrounding the musical hurts chances of other super hero musicals being produced in the future?

Ryan: Oh, absolutely! When “Dracula” opened in 2004, the critics were comparing it to “Dance of the Vampires”. And it was the same with “Lestat”. There were a lot of comparisons being made. And because of those three productions, I don’t think we’ll ever see a vampire-related musical on Broadway for at least ten years. If “Spider-Man” fails, and “Superman”, if that ever transfers, you can probably forget about “Batman” completely.

The Loss of Innocence in Beware: Children at Play

2011-01-14T11:43:00.001-08:00

Beware: Children at Play is one of the more controversial films produced by the trash-tastic film company known as Troma. The focal point of the controversy is found in the film's finale in which a group of adults systematically murder a park of cannibal children. To be honest, I find the backlash against the film to be largely unwarranted. The children slaughter sequence is far from the most graphic sequence I've witnessed in a film. I guess to the average Joe the concept of killing children crosses a moral line, but for my own part I can digest the message in a more intellectual context. Perhaps my lack of revulsion to the scene is due to my reading of the film as a commentary on the relationships between sexuality, violence, and childhood.

Our main antagonist is Glenn, who we first meet at the tender age of 8. During the camping scenes, it is made clear that Glenn has a strong bond with his father. Their connection is put to the ultimate test when the father is a caught in bear trap. Glenn must then watch his father die slowly over a three day period. This event has a profound impact on Glenn's psyche. The stress of watching his father die mixes with the Anglo-Saxon rhetoric that is spewed by his progressively delusional father. By the time the father finally breathes his last, Glenn has found a bastion of mental safety in the Beowulf tale. Rather then accept the reality that he lost his father, he throws himself into the role of Grendel and adopts the cannibalistic traits of said character.

In typical mythic fashion, the audience does not witness the formative years of Glenn's life. Instead we fast forward 10 years where we can see that Glenn has amassed a cult following. His choice of children as his disciples is logical for two reasons. Firstly, they are extremely malleable, especially in the hands of the very charismatic Glenn. Secondly, they are around the age when Glenn lost his innocence. His kidnapping and brainwashing of the children is an active attempt to revisit the horror that so completely changed him. In these recreations he has the power. He has the chance to extract a measure of revenge on children that would have had a normal life, the kind of life that was denied him.

One of the most jolting scenes occurs when Glenn rapes a tied up women. To some, this sequence may feel completely out of place. To others the scene is nothing more then a gratuitous off shot of the violence in the film. To me, this scene shows how Glenn's actions are driven largely by his misplaced libido. Being abandoned at the age of 8, Glenn was far to young to begin exploring his sexual drive. As he reached puberty he found himself will no adult presence to put his sexual urges into perspective. So Glenn dumps his sexual frustration into the only practice he has a degree of skill at: cannibalism.

There are several unsettling connections between the act of sex and the act of cannibalism. They are both activities that give into animalistic urges. They are both intimate acts that occur between two individual. They both carry a degree of violence. To contrast, cannibalism is an act of death where as sex is an act of life. In that regard, Glenn's handling of his sexual drive through cannibalism is a clear perversion of what should be a natural human instinct. It is prove that Glenn is mentally deranged and as such is not completely responsible for his actions. Does his diminished mental state excuse his actions? Of course not. But it does add a whole another complex and tragic layer to his character.

I would like to think that the unsettling feeling that viewers get while watching Beware: Children at Play is not really from the shocking finale. Maybe, just maybe, audience members are subconsciously thinking about what I have just spelled out in this post. They are realizing that the true point of the film is to showcase the death of an 8-year-old's innocence and his horrifically misguided attempts to find solace in violence and sex.

Why Bond 23 Should Not Feature Quantum

2011-01-11T17:21:00.000-08:00

A release date Bond 23 has been set to November 9, 2012. This is great news considering just months ago it appeared the franchise was on indefinite hiatus. The mixed reaction of Quantum of Solace should place some pressure on the Bond producers. This next film really needs to be a big hit. Not just interms of gross, but also critically. The film has to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Bond series is still a relevant and viable franchise.

If the producers are to make a better film, then several changes must take place. For my own part, I want to see a complete removal of the Quantum organization. That isn't to say Quantum should be disregarded forever. There is always the opinion of furthering that story-line in later films. But in the immediately future, in Craig's third outing, I feel we need a stand alone villain.

Truth be told, I view the Quantum organization as merely a water-downed version of SPECTRE. That view is largely tainted by my disgust over the legal issues that prevented SPECTRE from being used in the newer Bond films. As interesting as the character of Mr. White is, he is most certainly no Ernst Stavro Blofeld. I feel that overall, SPECTRE is a more engaging organization.

My personal indifference to the Quantum organizations concept is not my sole motivation for wanting a stand alone villain. There is in fact a precedent in play. Look back at the first three Bonds films and you will see this pattern emerge: the first two are about SPECTRE, the third is a stand alone villain. And not just any stand alone villain, but Auric Goldfinger, arguably the benchmark for what a great Bond villain should be.

Am I saying I want to see a Goldfinger knock-off in the next film? Absolutely not. What I am saying is that the Bond series is just as much about stand alone villains as is it giant evil organizations. Creating new, over the top villains is large factor it what has keep the Bond film series alive for 49 years. If Bond 23 features a stand alone heavy, then I feel it will take a giant leap away from the lukewarm reception of Quantum of Solace.

Big The Cat Has Broken Me Mentally

2011-01-06T16:52:00.001-08:00

The first time I played Sonic Adventure was on the Gamecube port. Recently I purchased the PSN port and thought I would enjoy playing through it again. It was quite fun, until I got to the Big The Cat levels. It was at that moment that all my repressed memories came flooding back. I recalled, in vivid detail, the hours I spent trying to catch a freaking frog. I remember now what I knew all those years ago: The Big Cat was a huge misstep in the creative process of Sonic Adventure. I am still baffled that the Big The Cat levels made it into game. I understand the development team was going for variety. But at what cost? I will go so far as to call Big The Cat's levels a game breaker. I am almost certain that many a gamer beat the other 5 characters levels only to walk away when faced with the crippled fishing simulator.

The Big Cat stages are utterly bizarre. At least all the other characters move through the level. They have a linear progressive that provides players with incentive. I have no incentive with Big The Cat. The quest to find Froggy is cute and all. But any empathy I may feel for the situation is shattered because of the game play. The boring repetition of the fishing simulation allows my mind to wander. I begin to ask questions. For starters, what doesn't Big just jump into the water and grab Froggy with his hands? The obvious answer is because it undermines the whole fishing simulation premise, but that is just the problem. If the producers have to insert the fishing simulator in such a contrived manor, then why do it all? They honestly could have done anything with the Big character. Why fishing?

Why does Froggy escape after every level? This is espically infriuting. If by some miralce I manage to win my war against the horrendous camera and slugish controls, then my only reward is to watch my "prize" slip right out of my hands.

The sickest part of this whole affair is that I won't give up. Now that I've started Sonic Adventure again I have to play it to completion. There truly is something wrong with me.

Jon Favreau Dropping Out of Iron Man 3 Could Mark Beginning of End

2010-12-15T14:26:00.002-08:00

Jon Faveau has announced that he will not be directing Iron Man 3. I feel this could mark the beginning the end. Granted, I may be jumping the gun. But my fears are based on prior cases. When it comes to superhero films, the third installment in a series must always be handled with care. It seems that many franchises took a turn for the worst with the third outing. Look at Superman, X-Men, or Spider-Man.

In the case of Superman and X-Men, a change in director came with the third film. Is it coincidence that a new director brought about a less then stellar film? Perhaps. I know it's unfair to damn the new director before he has even been announced. But the reality is that it's tough to step into a project that is so much the vision of another director. Especially since the Iron Man movies are part of the grander Avengers film series. The new director does not have much wiggle room. He has to keep the feel of the first two films or he risks not ruining just Iron Man 3, but other films in the Avenger's series.

I wish Iron Man 3 all the best. But at the same time, a massive failure would not shock me.

New Thor Trailer Highlights An Issue With 3D

2010-12-10T17:42:00.002-08:00

Marvel has released the teaser trailer for Thor, which is set to hit theaters in May 2011. I must say I'm digging what I see. It appears the 6 credited writers and directer Kenneth Branagh have been faithful to the material. No easy task considering they have to fold the film into the "Avengers movie series". I am especially curious to see more of Anthony Hopkins as Odin.

I am deeply bothered by the phrase "2D in select theaters". Now generally speaking, I'm not a fan of 3D films. But I accept that they are norm these days. That said, have we really reached a point where 2D takes a backseat to 3D? Why on earth does a movie like Thor get a wider release in 3D then 2D. I can understand a film like Avatar, a project that was made to be 3D. But as far as Thor goes, I honestly can't understand why 3D takes precedent over 2D.

Conan's Latest Spider-Man Musical Send-Up Is Inspired

2010-12-08T07:25:00.002-08:00

Conan O'Brien has taken to parodying Spider-Man the Musical. His latest skit can be viewed above. Apparently Spider-Man the Musical producers sent Conan a "friendly" bouquet of flowers/lawsuit threat. That did not stop Conan from producing the second parody. This time around he focused on the injuries the show has been suffering. This send-up manages to top the last. It's kind of pathetic to think these two minute parody skits are in many ways better conceived then the musical itself.

Spider-Man Musical Debut Plagued With Problems

2010-11-29T08:49:00.001-08:00

Well dear readers I guess hell has frozen over. After what felt like 80 years, Spider-Man the Musical finally hit Broadway in the form of it's first full scale preview show. How did it go? Short answer: pretty rough. There were no less then 5 technical snafus, the biggest of which left Spider-Man hanging awkwardly over the audience for a painful 60 seconds. Word is that other aspects of the show didn't fare much better. Apparently the plot is confusing and the is music bland. An article I read even said some audiences members walked out. Now I trend softly when it comes to reviewing an event I did not witness with my own eyes. However based on the multiple sources that are reporting and a general understanding of how troubled this production has been, I have little reason to doubt all the negative press.

The way I see it, this project is pretty fucked. Marvel is fucked. Spider-Man is fucked. Bono and The Edge are fucked. This whole sad saga has reached it's shitty climax. The only way they can salvage this debacle is by taking advantage of the 30 or so days before the official debut. They need to make radical repairs to every facet of the show. However given the scope of problems, I feel their efforts, as noble as they may be, are tantamount to putting a band-aid on a cannon ball wound.

Now I am never one to kick somebody when they are down. I have nothing but respect of the people that worked on this show. That may surprise some of you readers, especially those who have read my other Spider-Man the Musical articles. I have long conveyed a negative attitude towards this show but I never once channeled my negativity towards the cast and crew. Save for Julie Taymor, who as director deserves to take the brunt of the blame. The reality is that all those cast and crew members are people just trying to make a living. In their own individual way they tried really hard to make this thing work. Even Julie, who's eccentric nature seems to straddle the fence between genius and lunacy. But all the individual effort in the world could not save this mess of a show.

Over these last few years we have witnessed a wide array of setbacks for the musical. But as diverse and bizarre as these setbacks got they have a common element: disorganization. This show was mismanaged from day one. The fact that a show with no real direction got this far is nothing short of astounding. Was no one along the way awake enough to realize the show should have been shelved? After the second or third delay, did it not become apparent that more gestation was needed? I truly believe that if the producers had put this project on hold then end result would have been much stronger. Sure it would have taken longer; but when it comes to a $60 million show, would you rather have it done right or done quick?

Why Spider-Man The Musical Deserves To Fail

2010-09-29T19:34:00.001-07:00

I feel a bit guilty my dear readers. Guilty because I've failed to live up to a promise. In a video posted on this site I promised that we would be a source of information regarding Spider-Man The Musical. And please believe I wanted to deliver on that promise. I wanted to give up-to- date recaps of the show preparation. But I just don't have the will. I've missed several developments as they came about. Sure I hit the biggies like the Good Morning America performance. But generally I've neglected the smaller notes.

Personally I've been keeping up on developments. I read an especially interesting article about how screwed Bono and other producers will be if the show tanks. I read said article with a sizable amount of sadistic glee. As much as I would love to deny it, I want the musical to fail. I want this thing to be a complete trainwreck. Such desires make me guilty. It's not like I want to see careers ruined or see a company that I love lose million of dollars. But I need to see it failure because it doesn't deserve to succeed. Along the way it has lost the right to be successful.

I guess Spider-Man The Musical has broken me. It has taken me on an emotional journey that is astoundingly complex and I haven't even seen a single second of the show. The true show, the real spectacle, has been watching this ginormous clusterfuck plodder along. I still have a vivid memory of the first time malcolmchaos7 told me about the show. It was way back in 2007. At the time I thought it was a joke and lo and behold it has become just that.

At this point the quality of the show doesn't even matter. The production could be a masterpiece and the endeavor will still leave a bad taste in people's month. There is virtually no way that Marvel can profit off this show. They won't even break even. Sure in the long run they will recoup the 40 million. Slowly but surely the money will come back. Through t-shirt merchandising or DVD sales of a taped performance. But having to turn to other avenues to recoup the loss speaks volumes about the mishandling of this project. When your musical can't make its money back on ticket sales alone then you have made some bad business decisions along the way. After at least 4 years of production many questions remain. What took so long get the ball rolling? Why was so much money spent when results weren't being see? Why did the producers start eating into their budget without having a clear plan?

When it comes to production, in any medium, the first step is always planning. Marvel should of have had a set idea on paper BEFORE they started shelling out the money. That is fact. You don't just give an open checkbook to some people and say "have at it".

In the end this show will not be remembered most for it's exotic costumes or lavish sets. It won't be remembered for the actors or the music of Bono and The Edge. It will be remembered first and foremost as a shining of example of Marvel's inability to handle money. This show is Marvel's folly and it must live with fact until the end of time.

Katy Perry Sesame Street Controversy Shows Parental Stupidity

2010-09-25T21:09:00.001-07:00

So parents are up in arms about Katy Perry's appearance on Sesame Street. The source of controversy is the "revealing" outfit she was wearing. I must say that I don't really care much about Katy Perry. Nor do I really care that much about Sesame Street. What I do care about is stupid fucking parents. Any parent who objects to the segment is a moron. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, I get that. And I myself am not a parent so I can't put myself in their shoes. But what I can do is ask a simple question. What is the message that I'm supposed to take away from these over reacting parents? Do they want to believe that breasts are damaging to the mind of a preschooler?

I guess that makes sense. After all, most babies have NEVER been exposed to breasts. I've certainly never heard of a thing called breast feeding. No wait I get it. I see it now. What the parents are asking for is quite reasonable. They just want all adult female characters in preschooler schools to be titless. We have to cast flat chested woman. Or better still let's just slice the boobs right off of them. That may sound extreme, but we HAVE to PROTECT the children. I've read statics. I know that 100% of children who see a clothed breast will go commit crimes.

All joking aside, toddlers are not going to look at the segment in a sexual context. Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE FREAKIN TODDLERS! Honestly I feel like a fool for having to state the obvious. If your preschooler is watching Sesame Street and thinking sexual thoughts then it's not the show producers fault, it's the parents fault. Clearly the parents are doing something horrible wrong. Why the hell am I raging so hard against this? Well because this is the kind of bullshit that leads to the nonsensical PC garbage that comprises a large amount of our "entertainment". I am all for protecting America's youth. But in this instance parents are just way off the mark.

Spider-Man The Musical Content Hits Public - Concept Art and Full Song

2010-09-11T15:30:00.001-07:00

The 7-10-10 edition of Good Morning America featured several segments covering Spider-Man The Musical. This was a noteworthy event if only for the sheer lack of material that been released on the musical. It feels like the production has been in development since the dawn of time yet Marvel had little to show. For the longest time, the only content on the official website was a couple minute long interviews and 30 second music loop. Thankfully, the GMA feature gave us some long overdue insight into what the musical has to offer.

Julie Taymor was in studio and Bono and The Edge joined live via Satellite. The three shared some nice details about the project and Julie showed some concept pieces.

First up were two images of sets. Julie stated the goal was to design "pop-up sets" as can be seen in the images below.

Next Julie showed some Villain costume. The image below features the iconic Green Goblin (left) and the newly developed Swiss Miss (right). I must say that these costumes look a lot more at home in Power Rangers. With all those green spikes, Goblin kind of looks like a plant man.

Personally, I find the costumes to be rather wonky but I guess the true test will come during the show when the costumes are in motion.

The main event of the coverage came in a live performance of a song. Entitled "Boy Falls From The Sky", the piece has a very distinctive U2 feel.

Overall, thinks are looking pretty good for the production. With all the money that has been invested this news to be a not just a hit, but a runaway hit.

Avengers Teaser Trailer - An HD Letter "A" Like No Other

2010-08-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

Found this teaser trailer of the upcoming Avengers film, which is of course a reboot of the British TV series... wait, what? It's about comic books? Interesting. Oh, well here's a really pointless video of Samuel L. Jackson talking while an "A" spins in the dark. Enjoy.

Mactastrophe Episode 1 - Frozen Video

2010-08-03T19:42:00.001-07:00

Why Arkham Asylum Owes Batman Begins

2010-07-31T16:49:00.001-07:00

Since it's release in August of 2009, Batman: Arkham Asylum has garner great critical acclaim. And rightfully so, the game is a masterpiece. It's a well constructed, faithful, and loving adaption of the Batman mythos.

One of most well received elements of gameplay is the silent predator mechanic. The game mode encourages players to use stealth, to hide in the shadows. Rather then running headlong into a room full of goons, Batman is most effective when he picks them off one by one. This trailer showcases Silent Predator gameplay:

I adore the silent predator mechanic, it makes the game a delight to play. It truly puts you in the role of Batman, allowing you to clear a room with a keen detective mind and a shattering arsenal of gadgets and strikes. The concept is great but it's not original. In fact Batman Begins, released in 2005, utilized a very similar mechanic. Take a look at some game play:

I'm not drawing attention to the similarly in order to ruffle feathers. I'm not insinuating that Arkham Asylum "ripped off" the mechanic. To do so would be ludicrous. Arkham built upon the idea, improved it.

Batman Begins received mediocre reviews. As such it has become somewhat forgotten. But I will say that anybody who enjoyed Arkham Asylum may want to take a look at Batman Begins.

Video Game Review - Austin Powers: Welcome To My Underground Lair (GBC)

2010-07-30T16:45:00.001-07:00

When it comes to movie licensed games most take the obvious route. An action movie becomes a first person shooter. A driving movie becomes a driving game. But Austin Powers: Welcome To My Underground Lair takes a unique approach.

It is a Gameboy Color game designed to emulate a PC. You turn it on and are greeted with a desktop interface. Clicking icons will take you to various mini-games and applications.

What Kills The Game
It's novelty wears off quick. The quirky, faux computer angle is neat for a short time but will drive many people away. That's assuming of course you're not repelled immediately by the game's premise. This is a novelty title, one who's audience is extremely niche.

Why I Love It
I've probably spend more time playing this game then anybody else in the world. I enjoyed exploring all the features. I played the mini-games over and over again. I found the secrets in hidden in the dos section. I even composed a short story on the crude word processing interface. There is quite a bit of depth to the game. If you dig exploring applications then this game may be worth your time.

Video Game Review - WCW Backstage Assault (PS1)

2010-07-29T16:45:00.001-07:00

Wrestling games should be simple. You get some wrestlers in a ring and have them fight it out. WCW Backstage Assault breaks that formula. It is a game in which wrestlers fight in backstage areas. No ring is present.

What Kills The Game

The graphics look awful. I'm not the kind of guy that puts huge emphasis on graphics as I know they do not directly make or break a game. But in this game it's unforgivable, as the previous game, WCW Mayhem, looked a great deal better. This game is a big step back graphically. The character models look smudgy and some, like Jimmy Hart, appear anorexic.

The backgrounds are not much better. All the areas feel so square. In essence each place is a big box with some wall decorations and few weapons laying on the ground. Visually, nothing pops in this game.

Why I Love It
I get a big kick out the physics. The collision detection is hyper sensitive. If a wrestler has an item knocked out his hand it will often come down and smack him in head. This will cause the model to spaz out.

Glitching the models is great unintentional fun and probably the only reason I played this game as long as I did.

Cast of the Avengers Movie Feels Like It's Missing Something

2010-07-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

When I saw the confirmed list of actors and the characters they will be portraying in the upcoming Avengers film I couldn't help but feel that the team seems rather strange to me. Of course there is the obvious fact that Nick Fury and the Black Widow aren't members of the Avengers, which is explained in the movies as the Avengers being a SHIELD project, but I don't think that's it. It could also be the absence of Ant-Man and Wasp, but I don't think it's that either. I think what bugs me about the ensemble is the lack of female characters in the group.

Joss Whedon as a writer/director/whatever-else-he-is is known for creating diverse ensembles of characters which generally include equal male and female members. Maybe it's the fact that he's the one directing the film, and in my mind when I hear his name I automatically think of strong female characters like Buffy, Zoe, etc. which irks me when I look at the cast. It seems to be heavily stilted towards strong (literally) male characters.

Sure, Scarlett Johansson is there but does anyone really care about her Black Widow that much? In Iron Man 2 she was rather boring and felt crammed in there, as she does again in this film. The Black Widow from the comics is a no nonsense, commanding type of person and I didn't really feel that coming across from Scarlett Johansson.

Strangely enough I don't feel that the answer is cramming more characters into the movie either to even it out. Sure, I would love to see She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, or Miss Marvel on the team but I would also want them to get a fair amount of screen time, and more characters would just clutter the movie. Just think of how bad Fox's X-Men franchise is at throwing characters all over the place just to have them in there. I just thought of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and shuddered.

The problem, therein, lies in the fact that it's much harder for a movie which is a couple hours long and cost millions of dollars to include the same amount of content that decades of comic books have built up, even in a rudimentary form. The characters which make up the team now, aside from Hawkeye, have all been set up in their own films or at least another film in Nick Fury and Black Widows case. Hawkeye gets a pass because it's not really hard to explain that someone is a really good archer. I just did it, and it took one sentence. Characters She-Hulk and Miss Marvel probably aren't going to get their own films, and require too much explanation to be shoe-horned into another film.

Actually, take back what I just said. She-Hulk could have totally been in the Avengers movie. Audiences have already seen enough of the Hulk to know what he's about, I think they could wrap their minds around a simple origin such as her gamma blood transfusion. Her name is also very simple, and conveys that she is a she, and she is also a hulk. She-Hulk. Makes sense.

I'd like to end by saying that I'm not pre-judging the Avengers film or condemning the cast. I think the actors they have gotten together are amazing, and seem to be perfect fits for the roles (aside from Scar-Jo, or at least from what she showed in Iron Man 2). Who knows, maybe there will be more characters included that have yet to be mentioned. The thing still is two years away. We may not even be watching movies in 2012. Maybe we'll all have hover skateboards.

Walking Dead Comic-Con 2010 Booth Looks Awesome, Gory

2010-07-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

Over at BloodyDisgusting.com they have a few pictures they took of AMC's booth for the upcoming TV series Walking Dead, based on the zombie comic by Robert Kirkman. The booth seems to be a recreation of some sort of violent zombie apocalypse scenario. What I want to know is if this is representative of the level of violence the show is going to exhibit. Hop on over to check them out for yourself.

Captain America and Thor Posters Revealed at Comic-Con 2010

2010-07-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

In an article oddly timestamped April 30, 2009 as of my writing this, Yahoo! has revealed what it claims to be an exclusive look at some new posters for the upcoming Captain America and Thor films. The new posters are going to be distributed at Comic-Con this weekend, and attendees will have the chance for the actors to sign them. As of now not much has been seen of what Captain America is going to look like in his upcoming film. I recommend checking out their website for a look at both posters and clicking past the break where I scrimshawed some words of my own about the posters.

Captain America looks like Captain America. He's got the shield and blue and white suit with a star. Interestingly he's carrying a gun, but he did used to carry one back in WWII so it's not that big a deal. It's a little strange that his helmet doesn't have his trademark wings on it but it's not a huge loss if they don't show up.

Also, Thor looks like Thor.... yep.

Overall if you're concerned greatly at this point about the way the characters look you need to calm yourself down. Try not to judge the finished product until you've actually, I don't know, seen some footage from it. We were all skeptical of Iron Man before that came out and it turned out to be the best comic book to film translation we've seen to date. Let's give Marvel the benefit of the doubt that they actually know how to handle their own characters and that these new films will be up to snarf snuff.

And yes, I carved the above into whale ivory as well.

Video Game Review - Goldeneye: Rogue Agent (PS2)

2010-07-19T03:23:00.001-07:00

If you owned an Nintendo 64 then it'd likely you've heard of GoldenEye 007. Released in 1997, the game was groundbreaking and to this day holds up in the quality department. The game never had a sequel in the strictest sense. Video game company Rare, the makers of GoldenEye, released a spiritual sequel with Perfect Dark. The game was built on the same engine but featured new, original characters.

No one really expected another GoldenEye to me made. But then in 2004 GoldenEye: Rogue Agent saw release. It's title is deceptive in that it has nothing to do with the movie GoldenEye or the N64 game.

In the game you take on the role of GoldenEye, a rouge M16 agent who has aligned himself with the forces of evil.

What Kills The Game
It falls flat on it's concept. The premise has much promise but game is just lacking. Much of that is due to the rating. The game has a T for Teen rating. It would have benefited greatly from an M for Mature rating. It's rather weak to be playing a rogue agent who is just shooting people. What we have here is a guy who's been wronged, a guy that is furious. An M rated game would of allowed him to cut loose. He would have been able to take all his experience as an agent and apply it to twisted revenge tactics. I think that darkness would have given this game the edge it needed to overcome the shadow cast by it's name usage.

Why I Love It
The game makes stellar usage of the James Bond license. Several familiar faces pop up. Goldfinger, Dr. No, Odd Job, Pussy Galore, and Xenia Onatopp. Being able to interact with classic Bond characters in a fresh way is a novel concept.

I truly enjoy this game and feel it got a bad rap. A sequel was planned but poor sales axed that idea. Which is a shame as further installments would have created wonderful character mash-ups of classic Bond characters.

Video Game Review - That's So Raven (GBA)

2010-07-18T02:47:00.001-07:00

There is no reason I should like this game. I didn't watch That's So Raven. I don't really like Disney. The game was bought for my sister. She didn't really watch the show either. Why on earth do I own have this game?

I don't know the answer, but the fact remains I do. And despite a sincere indifference to this game I find a sliver of charm to it.

What Kills The Game
It's very existence seems rather pointless. Yes I know that TV licensed games are a big deal. But honestly this game accomplishes nothing. The levels follow the classic "collect items and dodge enemies" formula. With the plethora of titles using that formula this game does nothing to stand out from the pack. Therefore the only real draw becomes the show's license. Fans may pick this out purely out of show loyalty. But the mainstream will ignore it.

Why I Love It
I adore it's cheese factor. At the end of the day it's pretty harmless fun. It's not bogged with bugs or anything. It just lacks a real point. If you can get past the flimsy premise and focus on the game play then this game is an all right way to pass some time.

Video Game Review - WWE Crush Hour (PS2)

2010-07-17T02:42:00.001-07:00

To call WWE Crush Hour strange is an understatement. It is easily one of the most bizarre video games to use the official WWE license. It's a demolition derby game in which wrestlers drive weapon stocked vehicles around in an attempt to kill each other.

What Kills The Game
It's quite pointless. Sure blasting down superstars is fun, for a while. But soon the who thing becomes a chore. The season consists of derby after derby. There is no real drama. It's just a series of battles until you reach the big boss. I never completed the game fully as I saw no point. But the fact I even played this game puts me a head of most. I don't blame fans not picking this title up. Hell the box art alone is enough to drive sane people away.

Why I Love It
The cheese factor. Everything about this game is beautifully absurd. It's like a joke you and buddy develop in conversation, only this thing was produced and sold.

My favorite bit is the cars entrances. Yes that's right, the cars enter the stadium with music and video. That part alone made this game worth the purchase.

Video Game Review - Singularity (360)

2010-07-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

Singularity is a first-person shooter developed by Raven Software and published by Activision that was released recently for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. It combines elements of other established games and adds a few interesting devices of its own to make a fresh, enjoyable gaming experience that is well worth your time. You could stop reading right now since you already know I approve of it, or you could continue on past the break to find out why exactly this game is good (and for my award winning humor as well).

Developer Raven Software is best known for developing both X-Men Legends games, Marvel Ultimate Alliance (the first one, not that travesty of a sequel), and more recently X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Wolfenstein. With such an impressive catalog of games under their belt, its a shame that publisher Activision did practically nothing to market Singularity. Can anyone honestly think of a single ad they saw for this game anywhere? It seems as if Activision didn't bank much that this title would do well, but so far it's received high praise from many sources.

The game is set on an island off the coast of modern day Russia, Katorga-12, where a special ops group of United States soldiers are sent in to investigate a disturbance that is messing with satellite footage of the area. Once there they discover that the island was home to experiments revolving around an element dubbed E99 back in the 1950s which has time bending properties. Long story short, timelines become damaged forcing the main character to travel back and forth between the 1950s and 2010 in an effort to correct history.

You progress through the story Half-Life style through the eyes of the silent protagonist in a linear fashion from start to finish. There are no defined missions or levels, as you are constantly on the move the entire game. This is a very visceral game that puts a lot of effort into atmosphere and design for a great pay off. The island is populated by Soviet soldiers, but also a variety of mutant monsters. There is enough variety in enemy types and frequency in which you see them that you never really get bored or sick of a particular one. A very similar game, Dark Sector, had the problem where you fought the same types of enemies constantly to the point where the end of the game dragged on quite a bit.

The gunplay is very smooth and the weapons have a good weight to them. Besides guns, however, you have access to an item called the TMD (Time Manipulation Device) which as it sounds, is a device which manipulates time. Combining elements of plasmids in Bioshock, Issac's RIG in Dead Space, or the gravity gun in Half-Life 2, it's a multi-use tool that comes in handy to slow down/mutate your enemies, reconstruct broken objects, pick up items, and as a close quarters weapon. Basically there are many, many uses for it, and the game's storyline hinges on it.

I should mention that this game is incredibly violent, which isn't surprising coming from the people who developed X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Battles end in enemies with limbs blown all over the place, and set pieces revolve around multiple people impaled on spikes and gore strewn about. Your TMD has a crucial force push melee attack which when used in close quarters range literally blows the limbs and heads off of regular soldiers.

Generally the multiplayer on story driven first-person shooters can feel very tacked on, but in Singularity's case it's a very different game. The multiplayer is class based, similar to Team Fortress 2, that pits human soldiers against the monsters of Katorga-12. There are four different classes for each team, and the two sides seem well balanced against each other. What makes it very interesting is that besides being able to pick a team and a class, players are also given the choice of individualized upgrades such as improved damage, faster energy recharge, etc. This leads to many different playstyles and unique gameplay. Based on which improvements a person has chosen, it may be hard to judge the best way to fight them.

The whole package of Singularity is so good that I found few things bad with it. Some of the gameplay mechanics dealing with time manipulation can feel really contrived and the multiplayer could use some additional modes besides team deathmatch and command point capture, but that's all I can really think of. This is definitely the best game I've played in a while. I'd very much like to see another Singularity game (if only a multiplayer version), but due to Activisions unwillingness to promote it that may not happen. So if you're reading this and you're interested, go out and buy a new copy of the game, not a used one, to show Activision you'd like to see more quality games like this in the future.

Turns Out Batman Was Spider-Man This Whole Time

2010-07-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

Found this on Geekologie.com earlier and felt it was worth sharing. Seems that Batman's origin isn't as simple as once thought based on the back of this foreign toy. Try not to be eating or drinking something while reading this or you may choke while laughing out loud. But seriously, I really wish "Doctor Jackstraw, The Abnormal Drug Trafficker" was an actual Batman villain.

The Last Airbender's Biggest Probem Is Tone

2010-07-12T16:21:00.001-07:00

Take It Off - I Sell the Dead

2010-07-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

Saw 3D The Traps Come Alive... and Franchise Looses Integrity

2010-07-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

I like the Saw franchise. There, I said it. The series has managed to hold onto a gritty blend of police investigation and violent traps that although outlandish, remain plausible. The series has never delved into the supernatural or impossible, and has therefore created an air of seriousness about it. That's why when I heard that Shock Till You Drop found out the next installment of the franchise will not be called Saw VII but Saw 3D The Traps Come Alive I died a little inside.

Maintaining the Roman numeral numbering system for the franchise is what gave it some of its integrity. This new title sounds hokey, and jamming 3D into the title of your movie does nothing but really date it and make it age poorly. The new titled is also confusing, and based on precedent from other movies, makes it sound like this is only the third movie in the franchise. It would have been much better to have kept the title Saw VII and made it very clear in marketing materials that it was in 3D.

Horror films are notorious for having bad subtitles (such as Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood), which at least Saw managed to escape by simply numbering it's sequels. The first movie title that popped into my head after seeing the title Saw 3D The Traps Come Alive was Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys. That's not a good thing. I'm not saying that particular Puppet Master movie is bad, just that the title makes the film sound like a joke. Like how I laugh every time I see Anal Destination, err I mean, 5nal Destination.

Presentation is key to marketing anything, and the title is likely one of the first parts of a film people are going to be exposed to. If you were to walk up to someone who had seen neither Schindler's List or Weekend at Bernie's and asked which sounded like the more serious movie based on title, I highly doubt anyone would choose the latter. If you were to do the same with the titles Saw VII and Saw 3D The Traps Come Alive I don't think there would be much choice of the latter here either. If you want to be taken seriously, you need to present yourself seriously.

Based on the amazing ending to Saw VI I'm really looking forward to the next installment of the franchise. I'm definitely not going to judge the content of the next film just based on its tragically stupid title, but its not exactly a boon either.

Shyamalan's Biggest Twist: Last Airbender Box Office Return

2010-07-08T01:39:00.001-07:00

Since it's release, The Last Airbender has garnered universal hatred among critics. Be it professional reviewers or bloggers; fans or non-fans. Just about everybody is saying this movie blows. For my own part, I haven't seen it. I probably will, at some point. For the record I am a huge Avatar fan. The series is one of my all time favorite shows. The movie, regardless of it's shit factor, can never take away my love for the Avatar TV series.

The finger of blame rests solely on Director M. Night Shyamalan. The film has a myriad of weaknesses: wonky dialogue, wooden acting, a confusing plot. All of the faults trace back to Mr. Shyamalan. The once well respected director has become a target of ridicule in the last few years. His latest handful of cinematic outings have been meet with vehement disgust. The Last Airbender seems like the lowest point of this fall from grace.

But here's the thing. This little mess with Last Airbender, it has a twist. Yes a big old Shyamalan style twist. While people bash this movie six ways from Sunday, they contiune to turn out to see it. The exact reasons are unclear. Perhaps it is loyalist fans who are willing to ingore harsh reality and accept ths movie as it is. Or maybe it is the morbidly curious. The same bunch of folks who turn out to see every "Worst Movie Ever Made" (a moniker that is as overused as it is pointless).

Reasons aside, audiences are going and as a result the film has already made $74 million. At this rate, the film is all but certain to make it's $150 million budget back. This turn of events is above Paramount's expectations. When the first film of a planned series does finically well, then the sequels are virtually a given. The quality doesn't matter. If quality mattered then Paramount would have stepped in a fixed the film before release. The cold hard truth is they could care less. The film is based on a mega popular TV show. A show largely aimed at children, one of Hollywood's most prized and impressionable demographic.

In the long run, critical response means nothing. We, as a collective audience, like to thing it does. We truly want to believe that quality matters. But artistic integrity will bow down to profit. That is just the nature of film making on the Hollywood level. Once Last Airbender recoups its budget, Paramount will greenlight the next film. Why not? They have little to lose. Even if Last Airbender 2 is a critcal flop, the same mass of people that turned out for the first will return. Delusional fans and bad movie lovers are insurance that The Last Airbender will be a complete film trilogy.

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Paramount will scrap The Airbender series. Maybe they will put it on haitus until another director can come along with a fresh new reboot. But I really doubt it. I am almost certain that in a few months Paramount will release an offical statement confirming Last Airbender 2. And if that happens then M Night has succeded in pulling off his greatest twist of all.

Take It Off - Singularity (360)

2010-07-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

Unboxing videos seem to be very popular nowadays so I figured, "Hell, I'll make one." So I did. Expect more in the future.

Video Game Review - WWE Survivor Series (GBA)

2010-07-04T22:36:00.001-07:00

There are a lot of wrestling games for portable consoles. The bulk of them are awful. WWE Survivor Series is one such awful game. When I bought it I sort of knew it would suck. But I wanted a portable wrestling game and figured Survivor Series would be as good as any.

What Kills The Game
This game is all about repetition. It starts with the entrances. Every wrestlers enters the exact same way. Yes their entrance themes are different, but the walking animation is identical for every single wrestler.

I find this unforgivable. Entrances are big part of pro wrestling, they help define wrestlers' personalities. If the development team couldn't make different entrances then they should of just scrapped them all together. Did they really think I would enjoy watching the same animation OVER and OVER and OVER again. After a couple playing sessions, I took to just skipping the entrances. Why should I waste my time?

The repetition carries over to the moves. It's sort of unfair for me to fault the game for having a small number of moves. I know that spatial limitations prevent this game from having anywhere near the number of moves on a home console game. But still, there are ways to make less seem like more. This game fails at that. Everybody handles the same. I feel like choosing wrestler is really just an exercise in pallet swapping. Should I pick Shawn Michael or Kane? Answer: It doesn't freaking matter; everybody plays the same. What in the hell is the point of choosing?

Why I Love It
I'm a sucker for midi music. I adore crude instrumental versions of songs I am familiar with. I am also a lover of professional wrestling entrance themes. This game combines those two passions so naturally I latch onto that.

I must admit it's a tad hypocritical of me to praise the entrance music after bashing the entrance movements. But honestly I see them as separate entities. So much so that I went out of my way to rip the songs from the game so I could have them on my computer.

When music is the only saving grace for a wrestling game, then something is wrong.

Video Game Review - Blasto (PS1)

2010-07-03T22:33:00.001-07:00

It saddens me to know that this game has slipped into obscurity. Despite its flaws, Blasto is full of potential. If the game spawned a series then the following installments would have surely brought improvements. It could have turned into a classic franchise that would still be thriving today.

Yet this game stands alone, no sequels followed. The negative reviews contributed to the lack of a follow-up. But surely the biggest blow was the tragic passing of Phil Hartman. His voice acting made the game special. Hartman embodied the character of Blasto and without him there was little reason to make a sequel.

What Kills The Game
It's really hard. Much of that difficulty comes from lack of direction in the levels. Often you'll find yourself wondering around lost. This leads to mounting frustration. You feel the game has abounded you; even the simplistic directions are absent.

The humorous tone of the game helps distract from the taxing game play. But no amount of jokes can cover-up this games interactive shortcomings. Extended playing of this game will almost certainly lead to anger. I suggest taking this game on in short sessions so as to avoid mental breakdown.

This is not the kind of game to pop in on a whim. You need to go into with the right mindset. You need to be focused, otherwise the game will defeat you. You can't be passive, you must play with aggression. Be aware of your surroundings and prepare for a lot of trail and error.

Why I Love It
Phil Hartman's voice acting. His delivery is top notch and breathes life into the lead character. I never get tired of hearing Blasto's brilliant pieces of dialogue. I guess that's good considering how often the dialogue repeats. It's not that the lines are small in number, it's just that you spend so much time lost that repeating dialogue is inevitable.

The voice work is so entertaining that I find myself wishing this project was a straight animated film. In that way I could enjoy the world of Blasto without having to wander blindly in confusion.

Difficulty issues aside I still hold a fondness for this game. It has a enough charm to warrant, at the very least, a passing look.

Video Game Review - Batman Dark Tomorrow (Gamecube)

2010-07-02T22:30:00.001-07:00

Some games have a lot of potential, in pre-production they have a grand blueprint that should surely yield positive results. But then somewhere in production things go wrong. For one reason or another the final product is shit. Batman: Dark Tomorrow is prime example of this.

There have been many Batman games over the years with varying results. Some blow, some are decent, a mighty few are even great. Dark Tomorrow had some special going for it in that it had the comic book license. Many Batman games have been released with a movie or TV license, those games could only utilize material directly from their licensed movie/TV show. But Dark Tomorrow had the whole 60+ years of comic history to play with, that is A LOT of raw potential and in some respects they ran with it.

What Kills The Game
The controls in a big way. Players have no control over the camera, instead the view cuts around at random points. Every time the camera shifts so do the controls. So you can start running up with the up button only to have up suddenly shift to left. It's disorienting beyond belief and will cause you to get hit time and time again.

Another game breaking aspect of this mess is the way baddies are dealt with. After knocking them down you have to cuff them. Trouble is they only stay down for a few seconds. When you get to areas with 5 or more guys attacking, you are pretty much screwed. On top of this you our forced to watch a small unskippable cutscene every single time. If you play this game for any extended period of time you get so fuckin sick of seeing Batman cuff guys. Play it as long as I did and you will have Bat-cuff nightmares.

Why I Love It
The story is pretty tight. The cutscenes are beautiful and the character models are crafted with great care. The voice work is also top-notch, not boasting any "big names" but still finding actors that fit the parts nicely. It's clear that the game developers had the best of the intentions with this game. The production values are great and if this was just an animated movie then it would be a superhero classic. Yet sadly this is a game and the gameplay elements suck hard, so this project fails.

As much as it pained me to play through this game, I wouldn't take it back. I feel a morbid sense of pride in knowing I beat this game. I am a member of an elite group, a select few that can say they braved the horrors of Dark Tomorrow from start to finish. It is for that reason that this game will always hold a special place in my heart.

Video Game Review - The Land Before Time Big Water Adventure (PS1)

2010-07-01T23:45:00.001-07:00

Oh The Land Before Time. The title brings to mind some cherished childhood memories. The original film is a masterpiece, the relentless onslaught of sequels not so much. But I'm not talking about the movies here I'm talking about a game: The Land Before Time Big Water Adventure. Based on the 9th movie in the franchise this game saw release back in 2002.

What Kills The Game

The game is comprised of multiple levels each with the same two goals: reach the end and collect all the tree stars. For the most part the tree stars are easy to reach, being on a ground level or accessible though a simple jump. But occasionally the stars are quite difficult to snag. Now I'm all for challenge as it's a key component to quality gaming but challenge level must always be weighed against target audience. This game is clearly marketed towards very young children. The are several moments that I, a 21 year old, find frustrating. Such moments must be outright maddening for many young children.

On another note, the game really looks like shit. Yes I know this is a PlayStation 1 game and that it's made for kids but that's no reason for having it look the way it does. Everything seems smudgy and the backgrounds feel really phoned in.

Why I Love It

I have a sister that is in high school and we often play video games together. This is one of the games in our collection that we just love to laugh at. It's fun to pop this bad boy and an get some cheap chuckles off the silliness of the whole affair.

Video Game Review - Mortal Kombat Special Forces (PS1)

2010-06-30T23:41:00.001-07:00

Released in 2000, Mortal Kombat Special Forces was Midway's second action-adventure Mortal Kombat game. The game is infamous among MK fans for being the worst of the worst and truth be told it's hard to argue. The game is ridiculously bad. It is the kind of game that's a chore to play through and for the sake of my sanity I never beat it completely.

What Kills The Game
In this case it's a mutilated plot. The game started to come together in 1996 and at the time it looked quite promising. John Tobias, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat Franchise, was leading the project which set to explore the characters of Sonya Blade and Kano.

The plot of the game had The Black Dragon (a terrorist group lead by Kano) stealing a nuclear warhead. Special Forces agents Sonya Blade and Jackson Briggs were given the task of stopping Kano and his crew. A simple premise, but one that lends itself nicely to an action game.

Unfortunately Mr. Tobias left Midway causing the project to lose focus. As a result the plot was scrapped and completely reworked. Now the game opens with 4 Black Dragon members escaping from prison. You play as Jackson Briggs aka Jax and you must hunt down all 4 Black Dragon members.

The game just consists of level, boss fight, level, boss fight, level boss ect. And while that's pretty standard for video games I can't help but feel I'm wasting my time when playing this. The plot is never really pushed along. After each level you have a brief video where Jax talks to headquarters, but nothing is really at stake. The game just oozes repetitiveness and that droning nature is amplified by the piss poor level design.

The game is just so blah that you wonder why it even exists. While Mortal Kombat Mythologies contributed to the Mortal Kombat cannon, Special Forces just feels slapped together. It is clearly a project that ran away with itself but had so much money put into it that the developers had no choice but to release it in order recoup some dough.

Why I Love It
The absurdity of the game. That sounds a tad abstract so let me elaborate. When you dig below all the bad this game is covered in, you get down to a novel charm that can't be overlooked. Horrendous game play aside you still get the chance to control Jax and shot down baddies with guns.

This game could have been so much more but the mere fact it exists at all is something I can appreciate.

Video Game Review - Mortal Kombat Mythologies (PS1)

2010-06-29T23:38:00.001-07:00

When it comes to video games, few characters are more bad-ass then Mortal Kombat's Sub-Zero. I mean think about it, he's a ninja that shoots out ice projectiles. That is bad-assery to the 10th power.

That being said it should come as no surprise that when the creative team behind Mortal Kombat decided to produce spin-off games based on their characters, Sub-Zero would be at the top of the list for the treatment. His game, entitled Mortal Kombat Mythologies, saw it's North American release in 1997. Breaking from the fighting game standard of Mortal Kombat, Mythologies is an action-adventure side-scroller. The player guides Sub-Zero through side-scrolling levels, bashing down baddies and collecting necessary items.

What Kills The Game
The controls are quite bothersome. The game takes the classic MK fighting engine and brings it into to a platformer environment. The result is very clunky. Punching, kicking, and blocking work well enough but the real issue is the turning. Enemies come at you from both sides of the screen however you character can only attack from the side he is facing. In order to attack enemies on the other side the player must press a button to turn. While turning Sub-Zero is open for attacks so quite often enemies will get cheap shots on you. If you play the game long enough you will find yourself adapting to the damned turn button but that still does not make it any less infuriating.

The other big issue I have with the game is the death traps. In first level there are pillars that come down and crush you. Logic would indicate you avoid being squashed by running under the pillar before it drops but NOOOOO, that pillar will just squash the fuck out of every single time. The only way to bypass the pillars is to preform a kick or punch just before the pillar thus causing it to drop on nothing. Then as it comes up slowly you can run past. The trouble is while kicking or punching to set if off you will often push yourself right under the pillar. It takes a bit of practice to master passing the pillars but that dedication seems hardly worth it. You just end up wishing you could run past them like your gut tells you to.

Why I Love It
The cutscenes really do it for me. While playing the levels is at points frustrating, the cutscenes make it worthwhile. The videos are shot using live actors and while the performances are far from Oscar worthy they do the franchise justice and bring some freshness to the game. I am especially fond of Richard Divizio as Quan Chi.

I should note that due to technical reasons the N64 version of Mythologies lacks video cutscenes. Instead it uses pictures and text to push the story along. It is for that reason I find the Playstation version of the game to be far superior as it is the only version with the cutscenes in all their glory.

With the cutscenes being the only real saving grace of Mythologies curious fans are better off just hunting the videos down. Not that hard considering they are all over the internet. In fact you can see them right below:

Video Game Review - Doom II (XBLA)

2010-06-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

A little less that four years after the original Doom was released, the sequel, Doom II, was recently released on XBLA. For $10 (or 800 msp) not only do you get all the classic Doom II maps, but also nine new ones made by developer Nerve. And don't worry, the double barreled shotgun is back as well.

If you played Doom on XBLA, you should know exactly what to expect with Doom II. The interface is exactly the same as the first; bland yet functional. Multiplayer is available over Live, as well as four player splitscreen just in case you get trapped in a time portal to the late 90s. Leaderboard support gives you the option to watch recorded playthroughs of other players runs which comes in handy when trying to navigate some of the game's unforgiving maps. The real meat in potatoes, however, is in the single player.

Doom II is a very frustrating game in parts, especially so in the higher difficulties, and this console port is the same old Doom II countless people have probably sworn at after a monster closet opened up right behind them in the past. The brand new maps from developer Nerve are just as if not more unforgiving then the originals. They definitely have a distinct feel to them that the id developed maps do not. I remember getting Half-Life vibes from the first few Nerve levels, which is a very very good thing.

There are also two avatar rewards that are available in Doom II. One is a black t-shirt with the Doom II logo on it that you get simply for beating a level. There is also a space marine suit that is unlocked once beating the new episode. I know that the space marine suit sounds really awesome in concept, but it looks kinda crappy when worn.

I'd definitely recommend this port to any Doom II fans. The new levels are totally worth trying out, and it's nice to have the originals in a digital format you can pick up any time and play. Also, The $10 price point makes it an easy game to justify buying.

iPhone App Review - Coin Free

2010-06-17T17:01:00.000-07:00

E3 2010 Won't Let Me Sit Down

2010-06-16T17:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, the Wii has been around for four years, but now all three major players are in the "motion controls" game, the Xbox with Kinect (should have stayed Natal if you ask me) and the PlayStation Move. Thankfully the motion controls are optional with the Xbox and PlayStation, whereas with the Wii it's pretty much their whole schtick, but they're still moving the industry in a direction that refuses to let me sit down when I want to play a game.

I don't know about you, but when I play Xbox I'm not sitting straight up in a chair with the controller directly in front of me. Sometimes I like to lie down. Other times I like to put my legs up and hold to the controller off to the side. The point I'm getting at is that when I play games I like to sit anyway I like, knowing that as long as my hands are on the buttons everything's all good. But here comes motion controls which want me to hold out my arms pretending to be holding a steering wheel (that's you Kinect), or waving a remote/dildo hybrid around like a jackass (that's you Wii). When did video games become so much work?

Now people will probably say, "You're just really lazy if you think motion controls are too much." You know what's lazy? Buying a video game that has you run in place while an avatar on screen runs. You know what's available pretty much anywhere? Solid ground you could be running on for free. Or how about a video game where you block soccer balls. Maybe you could just buy a soccer ball. So pretty much any sports game is out of the question because if you really cared about athletics, you'd be stupid to buy hundreds of dollars of electronics to pretend to do things that are completely available to most people all the time. It's not laziness when I want games to remain games and sports to remain sports.

Then there are motion control games that aren't about sports, and involve things such as holding out your arms and pretending to hold a steering wheel. Try a little experiment right now and hold out you hands and pretend to drive without holding anything for ten seconds. Now imagine how horrible that would become if you kept that up for an extended period of time. Yea, not fun.

People may also say, "If you don't like them, then don't buy them." Is that really what the game companies want? Me, a loyal customer, to not buy their product. Sure, they're trying to obtain market share and not be left out of the game, but at what cost. Publishers and developers can only afford to make a limited number of products a year. They can't risk dividing their market, and excluding their heaviest consumers. Let's face it, motion controlled games are targeted towards the casual audience which is named "the casual audience" for a reason. They're not the ones spending a significant amount of their discretionary income on video games.

It's not that motion controls are a completely horrible concept, it's just that the technology isn't there yet to make it worthwhile and it's implementation is often underwhelming. There just aren't many novel uses of the idea, and most motion control games don't even come off as anything more than glorified tech demos. Maybe one day if 3D technology improves, and we can get some Minority Report type stuff going on it could be more appealing. I'm just concerned that this fad will take away from the development of games I actually care about.

Also, I like to sit down.

New Goldeneye Game Is Insult to Brosnan Era Bond

2010-06-15T19:57:00.001-07:00

My Thoughts on Mortal Kombat Rebirth

2010-06-11T02:56:00.001-07:00

Official Mortal Kombat Rebirth Youtube Page

Superman 1940s Animation Review

2010-06-09T00:37:00.001-07:00

10ft Playstation USB Cord Review

2010-05-28T18:59:00.001-07:00

You can purchase the USB 2 pack by Clicking Here.

Red DualShock 3 Controller Review

2010-05-27T17:00:00.001-07:00

You can purchase a DualShock 3 Controller by Clicking Here.

Captain America Serial Review

2010-05-26T18:03:00.001-07:00

Since the Captain America Serial is in the public domain, you can Click Here to watch all 15 chapters.

Spider-Man The Musical Update: Taymor talks budget, Reeve talks costume

2010-05-19T20:48:00.001-07:00

In a recent New York Times article, Spider-Man musical director Julie Taymor discuses Spider-Man The Musical's massive budget. Many have been critical of Ms. Taymor for allowing the budget to balloon to $52 million with very little to show for it.

It is worth noting that The Lion King, a previous Taymor musical, also sported a hefty budget. That show went on to be one of the most celebrated Broadway shows of all time. Can Spider-Man achieve similar success? Time will tell.

In other Spider-Man musical news, MTV.com scored an interview with Reeve Carney and his band. Reeve revealed that he was getting fitted for his costume right after the interview. Reeve appears fully behind the project and his band mates seem to share his enthusiasm. If the show becomes a hit, then Carney will be looking at some wonderful exposure. Reeve is already testing the waters outside of music with a role in the upcoming Tempest film adaption.

Movie Review: Iron Man 2

2010-05-15T10:48:00.002-07:00

With much at stake for the Marvel film universe, Iron Man 2 debuted in theaters last weekend; did the sequel meet its high expectations? Did it lose its focus with a slew of new characters? And what about Mickey Rourke's parakeet? Details after the break.

All in all, John Favreau returns and does an excellent job with Marvel's character with the highest energy projection rating.

Upon finding that Iron Man 2 would utilize Whiplash as a character, I was delighted. Then, I found out he would also be the Crimson Dynamo, which confused me because, well, seems like they're burning two villains that could easily carry a movie of their own in one fell swoop. However, it's hard to argue with results, and any doubt I had as to the successfulness of this venture were (more or less) silenced upon viewing of the movie. Now, it's debatable as to whether or not that silence was a result of shock at, err, whatever that ending was, but I'll let you decide when you see the movie yourself.

This kind of thing throws me off, because what's cool about these Marvel owned flicks is that they're really giving the comic book reading public exactly what they want - Iron Man looks just like he should, War Machine looks just like he does in the books, as opposed to the X-Men and their leather body suits. The combination of these who characters really betrays that tendency.

I will tell you, however, while being an action flick, and having quite a few good action sequences, there's plenty of build-up to a crescendo that never really happens.

Iron Man 2 is an enigma in that while maintaining a fair amount of action, plot development takes up a significant amount of time in the movie, time when you'd expect them to be tying up loose ends that were being laid out earlier on in, I don't know, a climactic action sequence. Remember, those scenes may well show up fairly frequently, the thing is, they're so well crafted you'll find yourself wanting more while plot points are happening.

Another thing: the film sets you up to love Tony Stark in the first forty-five minutes, and this is one of the most entertaining parts of the flick - this makes it all the more difficult to bear when one gets to the meat of the movie and you fucking hate everyone. By the end of the film, everyone's whining about something, and frankly, it becomes hard to sympathize with anyone except for Sam Jackson's Nick Fury, and then, you're confused, because he's playing the role of Yoda more than a hardened get-the-job-done-no-matter-what style war vet. All in all, it feels like there's too much going on for a good portion of the film - I felt like I needed a pen and paper to take notes.

But, Iron Man 2 gets the most important thing right, and this is what makes it a good sequel - not better than the original, mind you, but a good sequel - It takes the new characters in different directions and splits stage time properly while being all about Tony - and that's what an Iron Man movie is supposed to be.

Great performance, as usual, by Robert Downey Jr., who plays Stark absolutely perfectly. Don Cheadle did a good job with Rhody, much more believable than Terrance Howard, who could overact his way into being fired from a shampoo commercial - and Scarlett Johannson, was, well she was in skintight leather, I couldn't tell what was going on with her performance.

If anything, Iron Man 2 is entertaining, and if you can look past minute deficiencies in the way Whiplash/Crimson Dynamo was represented (which, honestly, you leave the theater feeling was necessary), and the character development soup, you will really enjoy this flick. There's a lot of room for geeking out, too - from Captain America's shield making another appearance, to a little Thor preview (don't leave right away - stay until after the credits).

Dark Knight of the Soul Interview Part 2

2010-04-27T22:07:00.001-07:00

So a Batman live show is in development. The news broke a few days ago and upon hearing it I was immediately reminded of the never produced Tim Burton Batman Musical.

Back in July I posted an interview with the Dark Knight of Soul webmaster AVD. The website explores The Batman Musical which was scheduled to be produced back in the 1990s. If you've never checked the site out then I encourage you to swing on over. You will surely enjoy reading about this unique chapter in Batman's history.

Today I present a follow-up interview in which AVD discusses the impending Batman live show.

-------

Waufreak89: The live show is not set to be a musical but rather an "elaborate arena production". Do feel this is good route, or do you think a musical would have been more appropriate?

AVD: I think a serious legitimate musical would have been a lot more interesting. I think it could have been something like “Sweeney Todd” or “The Phantom of the Opera” and not just some spectacle or whatever they’re producing now. You think about it. You’ve got the Batman name, Jim Steinman who’s sold over a combined 100 million records, then maybe a hot name for the Joker and some unknowns playing Batman and Catwoman. It was genius. The films did great business. Imagine if that audience came to New York to see the show.

I don’t know about you but this new development doesn’t sound anywhere near as exciting to me.

Waufreak89: The recent Batman films have been dark in tone, where as the live show is targeted at kids and family. Do you find this kid-friendly approach refreshing or do you think they should gone darker instead?

AVD: It depends what their market is. If they wanted to treat it as a serious story, and not just something like "Batman & Robin" which, by the way, was something I thought we'd moved away from, I think they should make it dark, gothic, romantic, brooding, all of that. It always seems to do the Batman character the most justice.

Waufreak89: Alan Burnett and Stan Berkowitz are working on the script. Do you think they will succeed in taking their inspiring work in animation and transposing it into the vastly different medium of live performance?

AVD: That’s an interesting question, because I thought Disney succeeded in doing just that with “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King”, but then we got “Tarzan” and “The Little Mermaid”. So there’s always that risk. Ultimately, I think, if it’s going to be just a little touring show like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” back in the 90s, it doesn’t really matter, does it?

Waufreak89: The show is said to feature multiple villains. Are there any villains you would especially like to see?

AVD: Joker, Catwoman and Two-Face are my favourite characters, but I would actually like to see Ra’s Al Ghul, Bane or even the Mad Hatter.

Waufreak89: Lastly, do you think there is a chance we will ever see a Burton Batman Musical? Or has time and interest just slipped on by?

AVD: It’s not impossible. A lot of people thought Andrew Lloyd Webber wouldn’t go through with the “Phantom” sequel. But if they were to do it, I hope they wouldn’t go the same route as “Spider-Man”. I’ve now heard the budget for that show has bloomed to around US $52 million which, if you ask me, is preposterous. They’ll need to sell out every night for the next 5 years just to make back their investment. I think “Batman” could be a lot cheaper and more experimental, like an opera almost. “Batman Returns” is still a beautiful film to look at and it’s not exactly traditional Batman imagery.

Spider-Man Musical Update: Cummings Drops Out, Budget Increases

2010-04-27T16:03:00.001-07:00

On April 25th it was announced that Alan Cummings has dropped out the Spider-Man musical. Bundled with that news was the annoucment that the show producers are no longer seeking stars for the project. Instead they go with new faces, such as Reeve Carney who has been cast as Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

Yesterday an article on hollywoodnews.com revealed that the budget for the show is now at a whopping $51 Million. This show is turning into a huge gamble. If it tanks, it's going to tank on an gianomous scale. Hopefully the show can live up to the hype and make's it money back, otherwise Marvel is going to have a hard time swallowing this loss.

Joss Whedon to direct Avengers Movie?

2010-04-14T12:50:00.001-07:00

It would seem Mr. Joss Whedon is a major contender to direct the much anticipated Avengers movie. An article on MTV.com discuses the rumor and cites two qualifcations which make him a solid choice:

He wrote some issues of the Astonishing X-Men comic series

He has a talent for working on projects with ensemble cast

Both valid points MTV, I'll give you that. For my own part, I think Joss is an inspired choice.

Ya see the thing about Joss is he's cultivated a rabid fanbase. The type of fanbase that will eat up any project he is working on. If that fan base migrates over to the avenger project, then the already massive following will grow stronger.

The fact of the matter is The Avengers movie is a big gamble. Marvel has spent millions of dollars making the movies that set the ground work for team-up flick. It's been a bold move that, to date, has mostly paid off. But the true test comes when Avengers finally hits theaters. If it's a hit, even a mild one, then we could usher in a near era. The success of the Avengers movie would serve as confirmation that establishing a cinematic continuity is a worthwhile venture. If the movie tanks, then Hollywood will second guess the whole notion of superhero movies. The genre could lose the precious ground that it has gained steadily ever since coming out of the the late '90s dark age of superhero films.

By the very nature of movie making, the director is the one blamed for failure or praised for success. If Joss takes the director's chair then I wish him the best of luck. He'll truly have the weight of the comic world on his shoulder.

Iron Man II Viral Update: Accutech Video Launches

2010-04-13T12:35:00.002-07:00

Sorry I'm late posting about this, I was refreshing the my web browser over and over, waiting for updates on the latest updates on the Iron Man II viral campaign, eating microwave beef and bean burritos. This news may be a few days old, but it's after the break.

It's a new video, and a new press release from Accutech, a subsidiary of Stark Industries. I'll let you watch the video and read the press release yourself, since they're both so awesome (and here).

I'd like say I find it odd that whoever is behind this site thinks it's feasible that Stark would allow a company of his to sell the technology behind his Iron Man suit. Seems to me someone with a basic understanding of technology could reverse engineer this tech, add a few rockets, and have a suit of their own.

It's also funny the way they paint the New Stark industries as a humanitarian company - these weapons of immense power will be used by "peacekeepers" - read: Military Police. I wonder if this is going to be a common trope in the Iron Man series - Stark is trying to not sell weapons, but, well, that's what he knows how to make.

That would be particularly interesting since Iron Fanboys know Accutech, founded by Gilbert O'Connor, appears in the comic book mythos.

Stark Expo Makes Me Doubt That Life Has Value

2010-04-03T15:25:00.002-07:00

Well, it does. Want to know why?

Then read after the break, natch.

Okay, so for those of you who are unaware, Stark Expo appears to be the beginning of a viral campaign for Iron Man II, or, as I like to call it - AC/DC: The Movie! (Featuring Iron Man). You get the idea - it's Stark Industries meets world fair.

I will begin with the observation that the video, which can be seen here, which introduces us to the notion of stark expo, looks creepily like a similar video made by a company which recently purchased Marvel, and, by proxy, Marvel Studios.

It's a long video, I understand if you don't watch the entire thing - but EPCOT (the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow) was set up to be a large world fair; according to Walt Disney himself, an "experimental prototype community that will always be in a state of becoming." Now, I could liken that to Neitzsche, but before one can make a joke about fascism and the eery war-like planning going on in his little Florida panic room, Walt continues - "It will never cease to be a living blueprint of the future, where people actually live a life they can't find anywhere else in the world."

Look at the Expo grounds on the viral site and you'll see a stunning similarity between the two - "Spaceship Earth" could almost be mistaken as similar to that globe - the circular pathways, the theme, all fit together. And, tickets will be available soon to Stark Expo!

Now, it is crucial to note in this context that I do not believe that Disney World will turn itself into an amusement park to celebrate Tony Stark in May. That company is too evil and brooding and, let's face it, uncool to bother. Whenever I imagine the relationship Marvel has with Disney I picture Mickey Mouse slapping Joe Quesada around a little, then telling him he only does it because he loves him. I do, however, feel that this is just the beginning of a long and tenuous era for Marvel fans, in which we will be forced to endure what I will call a "Disnification" of our favorite heroes. Not necessarily brainwashing, but right on that cusp between outright fucking with our minds and making us wander.

Of course, the first Iron Man movie clip, happens to take place in this Experimental World Faire of Tommorow Today featuring Tony Stark. This clip is exclusively available here, of course.

I'm going to go drink whiskey.

Download It - MegaRace Soundtrack

2010-03-28T17:40:00.001-07:00

A while back I reviewed MegaRace, a terrific MS-DOS game that is great for many reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason this game is a gem is the amazing chiptune soundtrack by French composer Stéphane Picq who also did soundtrack work on games such as Lost Eden. I felt that it is a shame it is so hard to find the music from this game online so I have taken it upon myself to upload it, so go ahead and check it out if you're interested. The songs are only just shy of 18 minutes back to back but what a great 18 minutes they are. However, if you want to experience the whole package you could head over to GOG.com and download the whole game!

http://www.mediafire.com/file/5jewm3dmlyt/MegaRace.zip

iPhone App Review - iGraveDigger

2010-03-25T17:01:00.001-07:00

[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/AYHMrnsA]

iPhone App Review - Lie Detector

2010-03-19T20:47:00.001-07:00

[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/AYHMrnUA]

Spider-Man Unlimited Episode 1 Commentary

2010-03-19T13:30:00.001-07:00

0:24 - The episode has barely started and it already has a satellite going through a "warp drive engine". I know this show set out to be different from Spider-Man TAS. But is it to much to ask for something more traditional before the strange shit starts in.

0:35 - How did the satellite record itself blowing up?

1:00 - I like Rino Romano's take on Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

1:55 - The title theme is alright. Sort of generic, but it fits the tone of the show. And by that I mean bizarre.

5:15 - Why doesn't John Jameson have a co-pilot? He is such an egomaniac that he must go it alone. Seems like a dumb move to me.

7:51 - Hydro-Man? No such luck, just a fire hose.

11:10 - A new nano-bot spider suit, eh. I'm sure that concept sold a lot of action figures.

12:02 - What is it with this show and the lone wolf mentality? First John Jameson, and now Spider-Man. I know this is Spidey's show and all. But if I lived in the Marvel universe and had to take a dangerous voyage to an alien world, I would be open to bringing some backup.

14:57 - "Perhaps he's a bestial" Well whatever floats his boat.

15:44 - AHHHHH, FURRIES!

16:03 - As I look at four beast people sitting atop hovercrafts, I can't help but wonder aloud, "This is supposed to be a Spider-Man show right?"

18:35 - That stealth mode may have came in handy earlier.

20:10 - That Tony The Tiger joke made me chuckle.

21:22 - Nice cliffhanger. I would be pumped for the next episode if I didn't already know it takes a turn for the worse.

iPhone App Review - Slingshot Cowboy

2010-03-11T16:01:00.001-08:00

http://blip.tv/play/AYHMrlsA

Spider-Man Musical Loses Evan Rachel Wood

2010-03-11T08:07:00.001-08:00

So get this, just hours after we posted a video discussing Spider-Man The Musical, a legit piece of news surfaces. Evan Rachel Woods, the actress signed to play Mary Jane, has dropped out of the project. This can be considered a big setback. But on the bright side they have plenty of time to find a replacement. Rumor has it the musical is looking to finally start in October of this year.

What The Hell Happened To... Spider-Man The Musical

2010-03-10T19:02:00.001-08:00

PS3 Bug Fixed - I Got Caught Up In The Madness

2010-03-01T18:57:00.001-08:00

I was reading over my previous post about the PS3 bug and realized I jumped on the crazy band wagon. I agreed that a freebie download would be nice compensation for the fiasco. That's ridiculous and unnecessary. The problem was resolved in less then 48 hours. That's not enough downtime to warrant a monetary gift for all that were effected. I also said that somebody would get fired. Yeah, that won't happen. What the hell was I thinking? In the end this little debacle will remain an infamous moment in Playstation history. A footnote and nothing more. Yeah it sucks that some people lost trophy data and game saves. That much I agree with. I feel for anybody that lost data. As I've said before, losing data really sucks. But PSN is a free service and the problem got resolved promptly enough. For my own part I hold no ill will towards Sony.

PS3 Owners Speak Out About The Bug

2010-03-01T12:37:00.001-08:00

The Playstation community is furious due to the bug that is wreaking havoc on PS3 consoles. The bug effects only older (non-slim) PS3 consoles. Further info on the bug can be found on the official Playstation blog.

Sony has promised to resolve the issue within the next 24 hours. But that promise hasn't stopped PS3 owners from speaking out. What better place to vent then on the official Playstation blog. Let us look at some of the comments:

That's a nice sentiment. I concur that a freebie may help mend fences with jaded gamers.

This comment has a more threatening tone to it. Though in my opinion such anger is warranted. I can tell you from first hand experience, losing save data sucks. It sucks hard. I would never wish it upon anybody. That's the reason why I periodically back up my PS3 game data. You can never be to safe when it comes to data storage.

This comment is especially venomous. Thought again, I'm hard pressed to disagree. To Sony's credit, I'm sure they're amassing as much man power as posisble to fix the issue. What makes me curious who is going to shoulder the blame once things cool down. With a fisaco like this, somebody has to be at fault. Best case sceanrio that unlucky someone gets a stern talking too. More likely they will lose their job. This whole incident could very well just be a computer glitch. But in such cases somebody has to suffer public punishment.

The comments above are just a small sample of PS3 owners exercising their right to free speech. If you want to check out more comments, then head over here.

Movie Review - The Crazies (2010)

2010-02-27T17:30:00.000-08:00

The Crazies (2010) is not a zombie movie. The original from 1973 is also not a zombie movie. I repeat, they are NOT zombies movies.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, The Crazies (2010) is a remake of a movie of the same name written and directed by George A. Romero in the period between Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead that included films such as Martin and Season of the Witch. This iteration, however, is directed by Breck Eisner with Romero credited as a producer. The real question is how does it stand up to the original? Well, find out after the break.

The Crazies (2010) stars Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell as the sheriff and doctor respectively in the small town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa. A virus winds up in the town's water supply which causes its inhabitants to go insane and kill each other leading to a military quarantine of the area. The two main characters remain uninfected, obviously, and attempt to make their way out of the town to safety through the bloodthirsty infected and trigger happy military.

Generally I find remakes of horror films to be bland, uninspired clones of the originals such as the dreadful My Blood Valentine 3D. Whereas the original My Bloody Valentine was a great movie that left big shoes to fill for its remake, The Crazies (1973) was nothing to write home about. I can safely say that I enjoyed this remake to the original movie, which is tantamount to blasphemy in my book. It managed to bring the story into a modern setting without getting in your face with pop culture, and ramped up the action greatly. The acting wasn't over the top and it manages to make you care whether they make it out alive.

This movie is far from perfect, though. More than one scene follows the "character goes into a barn alone looking for something, finds nothing, hears scream, runs out" formula and it uses stingers with fake scares far to often. If there is one genre staple I would like to see diminished in horror movies it's stingers with fake scares. Or even just stingers in general. If you need to rely on a sharp sound effect to convey horror you're not doing a good job of engaging the viewer with your plot. They can still serve a purpose, but they need to be used sparingly, and as a way to accentuate a scare, not force it.

I do need to mention that this film is in the running for what I think is the best onscreen kill of 2010. The way Timothy Olyphant's character dispatches one of the crazies in his unborn child's bedroom was incredibly bad ass. I'm not going to give it away, but hopefully you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it. Also, I enjoyed the ending thoroughly. Reminded me of the way Return of the Living Dead ended. Highlight past the colon for spoiler: bleak.

In closing, if you're a fan of infection/quarantine movies in a similar vein as the 28 Days Later series you should definitely check it out. It's not a great movie but it's worth a watch. If you're looking for something enjoyable to watch in the theaters right now I'd say go for it. If you're on the edge there's no problem waiting for it on DVD, as there isn't much benefit to seeing it on the big screen.

I Bought Mass Effect: Galaxy and I Didn't Even Get a Stupid Shirt

2010-02-25T13:56:00.000-08:00

Way back in June of 2009 when Conan O'Brien was still on television and people rode mammoths to work EA Mobile released a Mass Effect iPhone game called Mass Effect: Galaxy. It is not a fun game. Mass Effect: Galaxy is a top down shooter that struggles with loading issues, accelerometer senesitivity, and being an all around boring game to play.

Now I'm not here to complain all about Galaxy but rather one particular aspect of it. On the main menu there is a "Mass Effect 2" option which prompts you to sign up for, or log into an EA.com account to sync your iPhone game with it. Once completed, the screen prompts you that a reward is waiting for you in Mass Effect 2 on completion of Galaxy. This message got me very excited to get into Mass Effect 2 and see what kind of unique item or situation would be waiting for me due to my purchase and eventual completion of the iPhone game.

Well guess what, there is no reward. Your "reward" is a fleeting mention by Jacob (the main character of Galaxy) in Mass Effect 2 that he killed a bunch of Batarian terrorists on the Citadel once. That's it!? I wasn't expecting much but that's a complete middle finger to everyone who bought Galaxy. So much for showing some love to the people who support a franchise you own no matter what medium it's on EA.

Batman: Under The Red Hood Marks Animated Debut of Jason Todd

2010-02-12T07:42:00.001-08:00

DC and Warner Brothers have announced Batman: Under The Red Hood as their next direct-to-video animated feature. The film is set to explore the death and unlikely resurrection of Jason Todd. And it is Todd's presence that makes this feature especially noteworthy. Why? Because Todd has never before appeared in an animated project.

For the unaware, Todd was the second character in the comics to take up the mantle of Robin. His tendency to back talk Batman earned him scorn from comic readers. In a now infamous stunt, DC had Todd beaten near to death and let readers vote on his fate. They chose to kill him. Years later he was resurrected. I'm not going to summarize that, mainly because I'm unfamiliar with the details of the arc.

What I do know is that the DCAU continuity did folded aspects of Todd into their version of Tim Drake. Mostly notably the origin story. The result was a hybrid that had much more in common with the comic version of Drake.

As a hardcore Bat-fanatic I believe that any Batman animated project is a wonderful thing. That said, Batman: Under The Red Hood has an extra specialness to it. It's covering ground never before tackled in Batman animation. And that makes me ever more eager for its release.

Mac Rant - $84.53, The Price of Power

2010-02-01T10:30:00.001-08:00

So my Mac power cord bit the dust recently. Since the lack of a charger renders my computer useless I had to go ahead and pick a new one. The price tag: $84.53. Good heavens.

Do you think that's enough Mac? New Macbooks start at $999. If my math is correct that means the charger is almost 1/10 the price of a computer. Why so much for a charger? Just for the heck of it I did a quick search of Dell power cords. They seem to start in the $20 price range. So what are you saying Mac? That your power cord is worth 4 times a Dell power cord?

Of course since it's a Mac product I had no third party alternates. I even found an article talking about a lawsuit Mac filed against third party cord makers. Real classy Mac. Heaven forbid somebody else makes a little money off your technology. Lord knows you don't get enough cash from you ludicrous over priced software and hardware.

I guess the moral of the story is don't break your power cord. Otherwise you might have to take out a second mortgage or sell all of your organs to cover the cost of a replacement.

Movie Review - Turtles Forever

2010-01-27T11:00:00.001-08:00

The initial release of Turtles Forever slipped under my radar. I guess that's no big surprise considering I haven't watched much of the 4Kids TMNT series. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against it. From the small bits I have seen it does appear fun and well put together. One of these days I plan to set down and work through the series.

But enough about my too watch list. On to the review:

At first glance Turtles Forever may appear to be a shameless promotional venture. But it is in fact more. Much more. It is a celebration of all things Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A lovingly crafted, surprisingly emotional nostalgia trip.

Multiverse stories are far from new. But this project is s rarity in that it combines two stand alone interpretations of the same material. If you had asked me years ago if I thought such a crossover could happen I would said no. On a business side there are lot of forces at work:

Mirage owns the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics.
Fred Wolf Films owns the rights to the 1987 series.
4Kids owns the rights to the 2003 series.

At that is to say nothing about the airing rights, which fluctuate with time. With so many companies in the mix it seemed doubtful a crossover arrangement could be worked out. Yet in this case the stars aligned and thank goodness they did because the result is a real treat. I want to extend a thank you to all parties involved. Thank you for putting the fans first. More companies caught up in rights issues should take this approach. In other words, don't allow profits to overshadow what's right for the fans. Give the people what they want. The 1960s Batman DVD Release Debacle case comes to mind.

Any way, back to the special. The story is straight forward enough. Worlds Collide. Villains cause havoc. The Turtles team up to stop them. In the last 20 minutes the story takes an interesting twist that increases the scope of the danger. The pacing of the story is great. At no point did I get a sense of drag. It hooked me early and kept me focused.

The interplay between the Turtles is genius. It's not just a barrage of one liners. The 2 groups act as foils for each other. The '87 Turtles are presented as goofy. The 4Kids bunch are more serious. Much fun is made at the expense of both teams but at no point does it break into total mockery. Despite their difference the Turtles band together. In that respect I feel this episode is a commentary on character flexibly. A notion I highly advocate.

My only grip with the special is the voice acting. It's solid across the board. But none of the 1987 cast returns. From what I've read this was due to 4Kids being a non-union company. Having all or at least some of the '87 cast return would have lent another layer of meaningfulness. I especially miss Cam Clarke as Leonardo, since he was always my favorite.

If you have at any point in your life enjoyed a Teenage Mutant Mutant Ninja Turtle product then this special is worth watching. You will likely leave feeling the same way I did: thoroughly entertained.

Weird Al to Direct New Movie for Cartoon Network

2010-01-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

Renowned parody artist "Weird Al" Yankovick announced via Twitter and his blog earlier today that he is going to direct a new live-action movie for Cartoon Network that isn't a sequel to UHF. So far he has said little about it other than the fact that he has written it himself, and will feature a young, high-school aged protagonist. Shooting will most likely begin later this year, so we shouldn't expect it until 2011 at the soonest.

I'm excited about this new project as I've been a lifelong fan of Mr. Yankovick and his work. While I'm a little upset that the show isn't going to be about him I have faith that whatever he does will be a laugh riot. Hopefully he turns a critical eye towards the tween, high-school drama of today and delivers the same satire we've all come to love from him over the years.

The Walking Dead Shambles onto TV

2010-01-21T13:54:00.000-08:00

Recently AMC greenlighted the production of a pilot episode for long running horror-comic The Walking Dead. Frank Darabont, most well known for directing Stephen King film adaptations The Shawshank Redeption and The Green Mile as well as The Majestic, is tapped to direct this adaptation of Robert Kirkman's series.

The big question on my mind is whether or not a television series set in a zombie apocalypse will work, especially one that is on a basic cable channel such as AMC. Don't get me wrong, AMC has brought us great series such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad, but can they get away with the graphic violence and tone that a horror series would require? As much as I would like to see this show be great, I think it would find a better home on HBO or Showtime. Despite that problem, however, there is a lot of potential in a zombie apocalypse television series, more so than movies, because of the ability to tell longer stories with more developed characters. Zombies movies often feel to rushed, and are filled with genre cliche's that cut down on screen-time by rehashing what audiences are already used to. This series has a great opportunity to be a breath of fresh air in a rather stale genre.

Gamestop PSP Case Review

2010-01-17T16:01:00.001-08:00

On Conan, the Tonight Show, and Jay Leno

2010-01-15T18:44:00.002-08:00

I have to say something, America. I'm embarrassed.

I'm not embarrassed as a fan of Conan. I love Conan. I always have, and I always will.

I'm not embarrassed as a fan of the Tonight Show. It's a program with an awesome, powerful history.

I'm not embarrassed as a fan of late night television in general. I still think it's the best television available.

I am embarrassed, however, to be a part of the first generation to let their late night icon fail.

Conan is the most talented late night host this decade has seen. That's not an opinion. That's a fact. He has a more devoted following than any other, and, whether or not you want to admit it, he has better material.

This isn't even about that, though. It's not about Conan vs. Letterman, or Conan vs. Leno.

Well, maybe it's Conan vs. Leno.

You know what this is? I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Leno never did well under a show title without the word Tonight because people don't like him unless he's the successor to Johnny Carson.

That's right.

Everyone knows the power behind Tonight. Everyone pines for it. It's been Conan's dream, Letterman flipped his shit when he lost out to Leno for it, Leno obviously needs it back.

This is why I'm embarrassed. How, in Christ's name, can we as a television watching community, as a people founded upon the principles of self-reliance and liberty, allow this to continue? Conan has earned his right to host this show. More than most. I remember the days his contracts barely lasted two months at a time. Do you not remember that?

Do we forget so easily how much that man fought through to gain acceptance, while Leno was handed a crown - a crown his square, cylindrical head, with his jagged jaw, could barely maintain?

Do we not understand the implications of this action?

Conan will be deemed the first Tonight Show "failure." A man with ten times the talent of Leno, a man rivaling Letterman, a Tonight show legend - do we, as a nation, not understand the precedent that will follow?

Conan was chosen to lead a show few are chosen to lead. Now, remember, NBC reserves the right and privilege to muscle out future hosts. I don't believe they have the right to do so. I don't believe NBC chooses Tonight Show hosts. They may technically, but, I'm sorry, NBC didn't choose Conan, America did.

A board of exacs didn't deem Conan the king of Late Night, we did, every time we tuned in.

And now, they're fucking with us.

They're fucking with our decision.

I'm embarrassed we've let them.

I'm embarrassed we let them win.

Why the Mass Effect Film Has Me Worried...

2010-01-15T14:30:00.002-08:00

Mass Effect, the hit rpg/third person shooter/ all around awesome game produced by the geniuses at Bioware impressed a lot of people, not the least of which was me. I'm not impressed, however, with the man who managed to option the movie rights.

Firstly, let me say I don't think Mass Effect is a game that will transition to screens smoothly, or, well, in an entertaining manner. Mass Effect, the dialogue options, and the choice of those options itself, gives the game a cinematic feel already - one that won't be properly captured in two hours. Firstly, there's the problem of compressing the sheer material - the game took me 26 hours to finish, personally. We've seen how this translates in most video game movies - Doom anyone? It usually results in huge plot holes, plot changes, and a general lack of depth. Mass Effect created an entire world of subcultures to delve deep into, and explore - for instance, without a basic understanding of the Rachni War, the mission on Noveria seems out of place. The film will no doubt have a hard time making this expansive experience fruitful to moviegoing audiences.

Secondly, there's the problem of special effects - I was really impressed with the work Bioware did, and I'm sure most of it will look just plain silly on the big screen where realism is expected. If the film is entirely CGI, it'll look cheesy, and if it isn't, well, those sets are going to cost a lot of money I doubt this film is going to have, especially based on its sole producer thus far - but I'll get into that later.

Thirdly, there's the problem of customization; film companies can't customize the main character to fit the basic needs of each individual character in the audience. Mass Effect was able to effectively give everyone the movie they wanted - whether their character was the typical action hero soldier, or a ruthless infiltrator handy with a sniper rifle. Personally, if Commander Shepard is a softy, which he invariably will be, I'll be upset.

Lastly, and most importantly, is the fact that Avi Arad apparently has the rights to the film. Need I say more than Generation X?

I do? Well, how about Spider-man Unlimited?

Tell me I don't need to bring up Bratz: The Movie.

If Avi Arad has proven one thing to fans time and time again, it's that, above all else, he loves to sell toys. They're a gold mine, it's true. But, Mass Effect need not be a film dedicated to the sale of Commander John Shepard action figures, and Ashley Williams dolls.

I know what you're going to say already. "Avi's been producing good Marvel movies as of late." That's ignoring the fact that, as an independant producer, after leaving Marvel, he has had less and less sway in what the content of the film is and more and more of the distribution side.

I think I've spoken my peace. If I end up eating a lot of dirt when all this is over, I'll actually be happy - happy that Mass Effect got the movie it deserved. I hate being right in situations like this. Remember, though, when the Mass Effect movie becomes a giant toy commercial, the way Batman Forever or Robosapien: Rebooted did - this starts with the man who started the transition of this franchise to film.

2010-01-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

Hitfix reports that Jackie Earle Haley (best known recently for playing Rorschach in Watchmen) is being eyed by Warner Bros. to play Sinestro in the upcoming Green Lantern movie. This addition adds to an already staggering list of characters that are said to appear in the film including (but not limited to) Abin Sur, Kilowog, Tomar-Re, the Guardians of the Universe, Legion, Hector Hammond, Guy Gardner, Clark Kent, and of course Hal Jordan. There is also apparently another, yet unnamed, villain that will appear in the movie.

This movie runs the risk of pulling a "Spider-Man 3" by throwing way too many characters at you without giving any time to flesh them out. Don't run to the bomb shelters on this one unless news breaks that Topher Grace has been casted as anything in the film, especially if it's a character who wears a mask because that thing will never stay on.

And trust me on this one, the moment a grainy still of Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan is released we'll be the first people to report on it. Now that's something you can take to the bank.

Why Spider-Man Reboot Should NOT Be An Origin Story

2010-01-12T17:55:00.001-08:00

PTAB Supports Conan O'Brien

2010-01-12T11:40:00.001-08:00

"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" -Network

Picture via http://www.sirmikeofmitchell.com/

RIP Spider-Man 4, We Hardly Knew Ye

2010-01-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

Don't plan on watching another Spider-Man movie starring Toby Maguire and directed by Sam Raimi because the Associate Press reports that both men have left the franchise. Sony plans to reboot the series in 2012 with a new cast, and is scrapping the current screenplay for one written by James Vanderbilt.

Really, James Vanderbilt? That guy is very hit or miss with his screenplays. Hit being Zodiac, and miss being that travesty of a movie Darkness Falls. Can he do Spider-Man justice by writing a movie focusing on Peter Parker in high school? But then again, it's not like he has a tough act to follow. The first three Spider-Man movies were a gross portrayal of a very unique and rich cast of comic book characters that eschewed cannon and got too caught up in creating vulnerable villains. I say as long as Sony Pictures has the rights to make Spider-Man movies there is no reason to be surprised when they suck.

Joytech Analog Controller Plus Review (PS1)

2010-01-10T16:01:00.001-08:00

Malkovich/Vulture Rumor Makes Me Happy

2010-01-10T06:38:00.001-08:00

According to Screenrant.com, John Malkovich has basically confirmed his involvement in Spider-Man 4. I am pleased that Vulture is getting a film adaption and pleased further still that Malkovich is in the role. It's a logical choice and one that will bring in some positive energy to the film. If the writing is faithful to the character then all should be well. That's asusming of course the studio doesn't cram in more villains. In my opinoin they should stick with Vulture and maybe one more supporting villain. Any more then two is asking for trouble. Besides, a talent the level of Malkovich deserves a sizable amount of screen time.

Awesome Video: Sweet Dreams Cartoon Montage

2010-01-08T23:15:00.001-08:00

I recently rediscovered this masterpiece of a video. Using Marilyn Manson's cover of Sweet Dreams and an amazing array of cartoon footage, this video highlights the sinister edge that exists in a medium often mislabeled as "just for kids". Kudos to MrSawyer88 for the hard work. This was clearly a labor of love.

Learn Your ABC's With Mega Man Characters

2010-01-08T08:31:00.001-08:00

A new Once Upon A Pixel video, produced by Destructoid, teaches you the alphabet using Mega Man characters. Do I ever wish that this was how I learned the alphabet instead of that old boring way that didn't involve robots. I recommend checking it out as it's very clever and well drawn, however, due to technical difficulties involving embedding videos you have to click here to see it.

New Netflix/Warner Bros. Deal Has Its Ups and Downs

2010-01-07T07:28:00.000-08:00

CNET reported that movie rental service Netflix recently struck a deal with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment to greatly expand their catalog of movies available for online streaming. To gain such licensing rights, however, Netflix had to agree to put an embargo on Warner Bros.' DVDs and Blu-Rays for the first twenty-eight days after their release, in order to encourage retail purchases of their titles. While this may seem to be a steep cost, I think that this deal is a great one for Netflix in the long-run.

If there is one thing that Netflix desperately needs its better movies in their Instant Watch library. Don't get me wrong, there are great movies worth watching on Instant Watch right now (such as Black Christmas), but for every good movie there are at least nine awful ones. This is no doubt because it is much easier for Netflix to attain the licensing for a slew of junk titles than select good ones due to studios relying on retail sales of their better properties.

Most likely, the future of Netflix is expanding their online streaming service and pulling back on snail mail rentals. While they must have some deal set up with the USPS to cheaply mail disks all over the country it still has to be costing them a pretty penny to keep that service going.

Personally, I have no problem with Netflix having to wait twenty eight days after a Warner Bros.' movie release to be able to mail them out to customers, if it means that a greater selection of movies will be available on Instant watch. Think of it this way. How many DVDs would you be getting in the mail over that twenty eight day period? Five or six if you're really good about watching them as soon as you get them and sending them back? Then think of how many Instant Watch movies you have at your disposal and how you could theoretically watch them non-stop all day long. Also, how often do you get new release movies from Netflix when they're released? Oftentimes new release movies are bogged down in wait times so you don't get them for some time after their release anyway.

This is a great deal that I hope other movie distributors will follow in the future. While Netflix may have started as a by-mail DVD rental service with a small scale streaming function, the balance is shifting to the opposite, and it is deals such as this that are helping make Netflix and even better deal for consumers.

8-Bit Left 4 Dead Is Worth Your Time

2010-01-06T13:22:00.000-08:00

Recently a group of fans released an 8-bit version of Left 4 Dead that is both faithful to the original game and to the NES era in general. All four of the original game's characters and campaigns have been translated into 8-bit style, as well as the special infected. What really impressed me is the attention to detail such as including the first and second tier weapons, dual pistol wielding, midi versions of the game's soundtrack such as the safehouse music, and the inclusion of a shove button. The whole package feels incredibly true to the original game and is really a sight to see. Due to technical limitations of the NES, however, the game is only playable by two players at most, but that shouldn't be a dealbreaker. So definitely check out the game which is available free of charge at Epic Ruth Games.

Movie Review: Zardoz

2010-01-04T11:37:00.001-08:00

Zardoz is a textbook cult film. Bashing it is easy, as the film has many failings. Yet amidst those failures are some great ideas. If Zardoz is guilty of one sin its is being overambitious. The film samples a lot of ideas and in the process failures to fully develop any.

You don't have to be a film scholar in order to pick out Zardoz's main themes. Religion, mortality, sexuality; they are primal issues, ones explored time and again in cinema. To it's credit Zardoz has a fresh presentation of the themes. As a morality play, it is unlike any I have ever before witnessed. It's a trippy film . The narrative is erratic and challenging to follow. Even observant viewers will have trouble piecing everything together. Let me try to hit the basics.

The film is set on earth, in a possible future. We begin in the Outlands, a desolate home to two groups: The Brutals and The Exterminators. The Brutals make up most of the population. They are destitute peasants, whose existence is quite miserable. The Exterminators are hunters that prey on The Brutals. The Exterminators are loyal to their god, Zardoz. They have been hand picked by Zardoz to massacre The Brutals, an act they engage in with gusto. Periodically, Zardoz makes himself visible in the form of giant flying stone head. During one such visit Zed, an Exterminator, sneaks aboard the head. He is taken The Vortex, the home of The Eternals. The Eternals are the immortal humans that control all that happens in the world. The presence of Zed causes a great upheaval in The Eternals' society.

I won't summarize further as to do so would be detrimental to the viewing experience. If the above paragraph has you even a tad intrigued I encourage you to check the film out. I only ask that you go in with an open mind. Close minded viewers will become instantly frustrated. The film has many "what the hell" moments. Scenes that may make viewers hit the stop button.

Yet if you can overcome instinctive snobbery then you may just find a new film to love. I for one count myself as a Zardoz fan. I'm not hung up on its shortcomings. I can look past them and see a truly unique story. And uniqueness should never be taken for granted in an industry that relies heavily on rehashing.

Movie Review: Generation X

2009-12-30T16:56:00.002-08:00

trust me, you won't be surprised, but you can read it after the break anyway.

So, Generation X was an hour and a half long pilot for a show of the same name, which, amazingly, never happened.

I'm being sarcastic, and it's obvious to any poor sap that has ever seen this movie before.

It follows the lives of Jubilee and the five other students at the Xavier "Academy" which Emma Frost and Banshee run, and yes - about half of them are made up characters.

The film is rife with the melancholy that was the mid nineties, I have to say. Very melodramatically avante garde, and that's not helped by the obvious lack of acting talent present.

Also, interestingly enough, well, it looks, feels, and tastes like a bad parody of Batman Forever. It uses odd lighting, green and blue hues at night, and features a villain who quite obviously took his cue from Jim Carrey as Riddler.

I'd avoid watching this one, unless you're a masochist.

I'd love to say more, but I might ruin the experience for others - I really don't want to ruin the awful surprises and twists in store.

Movies You Should Watch: Black Christmas (1974)

2009-12-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the season I thought it would be prudent to recommend not only a Christmas movie but an amazing, suspenseful horror movie in its own right. Keep in mind that I'm speaking about the 1974 original and would NOT recommend the 2006 remake. Hit the break to find out why this is a movie YOU should watch.

The film takes place in a sorority house just before Christmas time when most of the girls have left or are in the process of leaving for the holidays. Complications arise when the house gets continuing phone calls from a mysterious pervert, one of the girls is having problems with her boyfriend, and another has gone missing. All the while the remaining girls are stuck in the sorority house while unbeknownst to them there is a killer stalking them.

Black Christmas was a pioneer in the horror genre that predated John Carpenter's Halloween by four years. While it isn't a complete slasher film, it uses suspense rather than gore to create fear within the viewer. There is actually little blood in the film and there are very few killings. The fear comes from the fact that the film is grounded in reality and hits home with the viewer. This less is more approach also works when showing the killer on camera as you will hardly forget the few times you see him/her. Also, if you're a huge fan of great endings like I am I think you'll enjoy this.

In an attempt to keep these posts short and sweet here are some bullet points to seal the deal:

Margot Kidder plays one of the main characters. 'Nuff said.

PSP Digital Comic Reader is Nifty

2009-12-28T07:21:00.001-08:00

So I've been playing about with the recently released Digital Comic Reader for the PSP. I haven't purchased comics yet, but I did snag the free samples. The program is wonderfully functional. I feel it's everything it promises to be. I can't honestly point to any technical issues. Stylistically it's straight-forward and streamlined.

The number of titles at launch is pretty impressive. Several publishers are on board with Marvel leading the pack. I really hope DC joins the fray. If Batman titles popped up then I wound seriously consider shelling out the money to get some issues.

The future looks bright for this service. I encourage all PSP users to give it a look.

Movies You Should Watch: Mutant Chronicles

2009-09-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, not everyone has the time to read a drawn out movie review, especially of a mainstream movie that they already know from other sources whether it's good or not. Therefore, I've come up with this new post concept, "Movies You Should Watch", in which I'll highlight a movie which I feel has fallen under the radar, or deserves more recognition. The first movie I have chosen is the recently released Mutant Chronicles, so hit the break for my spoiler free rundown of it.

Mutant Chronicles is set in an alternate universe in which a mysterious machine landed on earth in the distant past. Because of the machine's ability to turn regular humans into super-powerful monsters, it was sealed underground by a religious order and over the centuries forgotten about. Flash forward to the future where four corporations wage constant war on the planet for dominance, and for some reason humanity has developed steam based technology rather than electronic. A battle between two opposing corporations accidentally unleashes the long dormant monsters upon the earth, which quickly begin turning the human population into mutants using the machine. It's then up to the leader of the religious order which originally sealed away the machine (Ron Perlman) to put together a team to destroy the machine once and for all.

If the above summary didn't already whet your appetite for this movie allow me to drop some bullet points on you to seal the deal:

Steampunk. There are airships that fly using coal engines. How bad ass is that?

Ron Perlman, and John Malkovich are in it. Sure, Malkovich doesn't have a lot of screen time, but he's still a welcome addition, and any movie that has Ron Perlman in it is a movie I want to see.

The action pretty much never lets up from start to finish.

Who doesn't love a good dystopian future?

So for the above reasons I want you to go watch this movie right now, and tell me in the comments what you think. I guarantee satisfaction unless you're some horrible mutant yourself with no imagination.

Spider-Man Back In Parade

2009-08-17T10:51:00.001-07:00

http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.9210.Spidey_Returns_to_Thanksgiving_Day_Parade

Earlier today Marvel gleefully announced Spider-Man's return to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. After an 11 year hiatus, the Spidey balloon is finally back in the line-up. I willing admit this news makes me smile. It will be nice to have Spider-Man flying high again, thought I couldn't help but notice Marvel.com's article left out something. The article discusses the previous use of the Spidey balloon but fails to mention two of Marvel's most ambitious parade endeavors.

I speak of course of the 1987 and 1989 Parade floats. Two lovely experiments I previously reviewed on this blog. If you read those reviews then you know I think not highly of the floats. I ripped into them pretty hard and while I may have went a bit over the top, my general disapproval is sincere. The parade floats looked good on paper but the execution was poor; and as much as I fault Marvel for allowing them to happen I give them some credit for only doing it twice.

I guess the lesson here is that when it comes to Marvel characters and parades, giant balloons are the way to go. Anything else is bound to end up like this:

Movie Review - G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

2009-08-06T15:51:00.001-07:00

I just got back from a special showing of G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. I didn't think I'd be seeing the film in theaters but a free opportunity arose and I took it. Overall I enjoyed the movie, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I went into with a fairly pessimistic expectations but what I witnessed shattered those negative feelings.

I must say outright that I know little of the G. I. mythos. Sure I've seen episodes of the old cartoon and I own a few toys, but I was never "in to" the franchise. So naturally my opinion of the movie will vary drastically with many hardcore fans of the franchise. I don't know enough to gauge when source material was mismanaged, I can only draw conclusions based on what was on the screen.

The action sequences are what will bring most audience members to this film and in that department this movie delivers big time. There is a refreshing variety to the action sequences. With the many locations around the globe and the size of the cast, the action never gets repetitive.

While action is great, more important to me is characters. I have to care about what's going on otherwise the explosions and car chases are just pointless noise and light. The acting is solid across the board, I can't point out a single performance that drags the piece down. My personal favorite performance is Joseph Gordon-Levitt's take on Cobra Commander. I found myself captivated by his voice pattern and speaking style.

The narrative is tight and no scenes feel like a waste. The main story carries through to a satisfactory conclusion while also allotting time for subplots, often taking the form of flashbacks. Their are a healthy handful of plot twists, some that hardcore fans will see coming. My general unfamiliarity with the series allowed me to be surprised by all of the plot twists.

I have no real complaints for this film. It's a solid piece of work and it's worth checking out.

New Wolverine Anime Design Has Fans Polarized

2009-07-30T12:15:00.001-07:00

Marvel has put out a trailer for the upcoming Wolverine anime series. The most intriguing aspect of the trailer is Wolverine’s character the design, which has generated some interesting fan response.

A quick read of the Youtube comments shows fans split between love and hate. The polarized responses don’t surprise me as the design is a radical departure from the comics.

In this case fans reactions are tied into their feelings of character flexibility. Generally speaking, purists hate the design and the more open minded are willing to give it chance. I myself fall into the later. I’m waiting for the first episode before I pass judgment on this long haired Wolvie.

I Was Too Harsh On Iron Man Armored Adventures

2009-06-15T22:04:00.001-07:00

Back in April I put up a review of the Iron Man Armed Adventures pilot. To give the abridged version I was pretty harsh on it. I found a lot of faults and the bulk of my complaints stemmed from the so called "Teen Tony" approach. The show is now well along into season one and at this time I feel compelled to comment further.

Despite the tone of the comments in my pilot review post I have nothing against playing with super hero material. Some of my favorite super hero stories are ones that go against "cannon" or "tradition". There is entertainment to be found in all super hero media be it the books, shows, or movies. All these projects celebrate our heroes by adding to their mythos. It is okay to dislike a particular take on a hero but you can't deny that each take adds something to the hero (for better or for worse)

My initial reaction to Armored Adventures was that a young Tony was a bad way to go. I felt that the only Marvel hero who worked well in a high school environment was Peter Park. But then I got to thinking: I am a guy who enjoys Batman Beyond, a show that purists could easily label as blasphemy for placing a high schooler under the cowl. I am also a guy who recently started loving X-Men Evolution, a show that takes the bulk of the X-Men team and places them in high school.

If I can so easily embrace other high school based super hero shows then how can I bash Armored Adventures for working the same angle? The answer is I can't, it's extremely hypocritical. I must embrace the fact I enjoys all super hero stories. Be them dark or light-hearted, kiddy or adult, serious or funny, whatever they are I embrace them all.

Armored Adventures has set a clear premise; that being teen-aged takes on Iron Man characters. If purists can look past that and judge the show in it's own framework then then there is a lot of praise to be found. If nothing else the show creators display not only an understanding of but also a love for the source material.

I encourage anybody reading this to give Iron Man Armored Adventures a try. You may like it, you may not. I ask only that you don't let a purist mentality be your only guiding factor. Look at the show for what is then decide what you think.