Goku13K Runs the World!!!!

Here we go again....

2009-08-06T22:43:00.002-05:00

Ok, so, I'm mixing things up. This will be a blog (hopefully) about my ongoing (hopefully) DnD campaign. I'm looking at getting a podcast set up as well, but we'll see how that goes. The first session is tomorrow, and we are kickin' it module style with Keep on the Shadowfell. I'll be meeting some of the players for the first time as well, so this should be interesting. Wish me luck!

TNA iMPACT! July 2, '09

2009-07-03T09:28:00.004-05:00

Welcome to my first iMPACT! review. The format is going to be very different than you will see on other sites, mainly because I disagree with the way most people review them. My philosophy is that the story is what is most important. That's not to say that the wrestling isn't an insanely close second, but neither can exist without the other. If you don't like the story you could care less about the wrestling, if the wrestling is sub par, you stop caring about the story. It's a double edged sword, and I'm going to focus on the half most people think about as an after thought. So while this will be structured semi-match like, the focus is on the story being told in interviews and in the ring. Let's begin shall we?

Quick recap from last week: The MEM(Main Event Mafia) have almost completely taken over TNA, Foley made some deals with the MEM and did a bit of double crossing, Samoa Joe joins the MEM and they expell Sting.

The show starts off with Kurt calling out Foley to the ring to answer for the double cross, booking Steiner and Booker Vs Team 3D for the spot at Victory Road instead of just getting the spot like the original deal. Foley's coming apart at the seams and I love it. The security really need to get new shirts, I mean it was mentioned within the last ep or so, so even they realize it. Also the get taken out in standard fashion, quick and painful. Even Foley knows they are useless now. This is doing a great job of setting up the MEM as the force that runs the company, which is where I hope this is going, because the story to take it back will be awesome. At the end of the sopt while MEM is beating down Foley, Double-J runs down to the ring with a guitar and clears it. Then a soon as Foley gets up, he gets it over his head, out of nowhere. The MEM are clearly very happy with where this is going. This was a great spot, lots of fun, and idd much to setup the night. My only issue is that Don West and Mike Tenay were trying to sell the guitar hit as Jeff picking MEM's side. I've been watching the last few weeks and know that is not an option what so ever with Jeff.... but then I thought the same about Samoa Joe.

Next a quick interview of Kevin Nash by Mike Tenay. The basic's of this interview is Nash likes money, period. There wasn't much else to the interview, so all I can hope is that it was planting a seed for something down the road, perhaps the Victory Road, don't know we'll see.

Next up is a long as hell recap of Slammiversary 7. It's been two weeks since the event so I really don't understand why it's here. Last week this would have made sense, but if I recall they had a segment of stills showing the recap, here it is video. I really don't understand the decision on this other than maybe a time filler.

Here we have another interview, Abyss is letting loose!!! Woohooo!!!! I gotta say I'm a huge Abyss mark, love him. Think that goes back to my Mankind roots when I was younger. Abyss seems like he is embracing the monster and is going after Dr. Stevie hard, and looks like he'll be tearing up the iMPACT Zone all night. Also can someone please send Lauren to some acting lessons.. please? Don't get me wrong, I love her and the character that she is carving out of stone...by hand..yea. I just don't believe it when I see her crying, sorry.

Next up, Cody Deaner vs Amazing Red....? Seriously why is Cody getting this push. Yea I know he lost... which considering the jobs Red has been doing since he got back was very thankful. The entire match I was just cheering for Red, and hoping he was going to win. The match was pretty good, with some nice spots. In the end I just don't get why Cody is around still. Is ODB injured and needs a break?

Abyss is going off still, destroying a set in the back. Security shows up with bats and Abyss just taunts them, beautiful. Who is the old dude? Did I miss something? He seemed to calm Abyss down for the time being.

JB!!! WOOHOO!!! JB talking to Jeff, MEM shows up. They try to sell Jeff on MEM cooperation. Jeff, like I knew would happen, throws it back in their face. Then he sets up a classic Founder match, JJ and AJ vs Kurt and Samoa Joe for the TNA Heavyweight Title!!! NICE!!!! That is classic JJ rules baby!

Quick interview with Jenna about Sharmell's challenge for Victory Road. I'm sorry but why? This is not a match that should be happening when you have a womens division that is filled with the absolute best in the business? Sure why not, oh now apparently Sojo Bolt is friends with Sharmell, that came out of nowhere. Ok, sure. Moving on.

JB with Kurt. Kurt is not happy about the match, big surprise. Booker asks Sharmell, to get Matt Morgan. Then JB comes in the best line I have heard in months, "Is this Jon and Kate around here? Unbelievable" HAHAHAHAH, nice one JB.

Rhino w/ Jesse Neal Vs "Showtime" Eric Young was a pretty nice match. Setting up Eric as the bad guy is proving to be a great angle. He pulls it off so believably. Jesse once again screws up Rhino's match. I just don't understand why he's still around. He just doesn't bring anything that interests me, never did.

Sharmell finds Morgan and they take off to go see Kurt. Kurt once again is leading him on. Heh, I love the Booker has to introduce him first. That was a great touch. Morgan doesn't look he will take too much more of this and he would be a bad person to have on the wrong side. Money is important to him, but pride will over come that quickly if this keeps up.

The Beautiful People w/ Madison Rayne vs Tara and Awesome Kong up next. I love the Knockouts division here in TNA. They are all excellent in-ring talent. I still have not seen a bad Knockouts match. After some back and forth Kong get's the win, and then Tara takes out a Tarantula and places it on Velvet Sky. Nice character direction. When Tara first came to TNA she didn't seem to have a character angle, now she does. Good stuff.

Angelina Love is freaking in the back, she apparently does not enjoy spiders.

Beer Money is coming down to comment on the next match, which is Team 3D vs Booker and Big Poppa Pump! Don West is kissing ass as usual. Bashir and Kiyoshi come out and attack Beer Money, then the British Invasion comes out at nails both members of Team 3D. Brother Ray is laid out in the ring and Booker is placed on top of him. I've got to say, the British Invasion is really making a great name for themselves.

Jay Leathal vs Jethro Holiday gets derailed by Abyss. Dr. Stevie is on the big screen and has apprently abducted Lauren. Abyss is being forced into going to therapy next week, this should prove interesting. Abyss is awesome on the mic. Seriously, just awesome!

Here we go Main Event!! JJ and AJ vs Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle. Definately filling time this episode, JB is doing in ring intros, wow. That's rare these days, for TV at any rate. Some great spots here, all in all a great match. Kurt wins when JJ passes out from the pain of a fully cinched in Ankle Lock!! Great finish setting up JJ as someone who will NOT quit. Very nice. MEM come down to the ring to work on JJ, AJ comes in with the Legends belt for the save but Joe comes back in and grounds him, now AJ is getting the once over. Behind the scenes, Morgan is taking out Daniels. Nash is about to hit AJ with the Legends belt and the lights go out!! Sting shows up out of nowhere and takes out the MEM. Kurt left his belt in the ring, that's a mistake. Sting grabs it, taunts Kurt and disappears. Great finish!

All in all, a very good iMPACT! If you have read any of my other reviews, you'll see I do NOT score no matter what. I feel reviews should be more organic and not be boiled down to a series of numbers. There were some great spots tonight, lots of big story pushes, and a huge finish. Good stuff all around.

Under Construction!!

2009-07-02T12:34:00.003-05:00

Yea, so I've been kinda derailed on the whole review thing. That isn't to say that I've stopped, just a re-evaluation of the plan. One big thing I will start doing is reviewing TNA iMPACT! as I have plunged back into the world of wrestling once more, and I love it more than I ever have before.

TNA is the fresh face that was needed in a world filled with 4!!! WWE Shows, who the hell needs to watch that much wrestling just to keep up with the story lines. Thanks, I'll go over to TNA where they care about their fans enough that they won't alienate them by changing the format (ie, going to PG only, etc.) so much it has regressed to the time wrestling almost died as an entertainment medium. Thank you Jeff and Dixie, if it wasn't for your company I would never have remembered how much I love the business.

Another thing that needs to change if this is going to work for me is I need to catch up. I am roughly 2 years behind on DVDs and games. Being that I am the type of person who actually wants to play ALL the at least decent to great and amazing games out there, it will take some time to catch up, but it'll happen sooner than later.

As far as DVDs go, there is a lot for me watch there as well, if you check out my collection DB I'm roughly 200 titles that I OWN behind. There is still the DVDs in my wanted section that I haven't even looked at buying yet, but soon.

I really want to review the new stuff as close to it's release as possible. But I refuse to forget about all that I will miss if I go to just doing that. It's not who I am. SO consider this a look back at whats out there, who knows, maybe I'll review something that you may have missed, or skipped because you did not think there was much there. So keep an eye out and if you don't see a review up, at minimum one per week, then feel free to send me an email, or better yet send me a tweet asking what's up. I'm always on, someplace, have a good one all!

Video Game Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the Nintendo Wii

2009-03-18T03:01:00.003-05:00

I've always really enjoyed the Harry Potter universe. It just really speaks to my whimsical nature. I can honestly say that I have from time to time wished that I was a student at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Too bad I can't say that this game fulfilled that dream. Don't get me wrong, there is a decent game here, unfortunately it is bogged down by sub par programming and unintuitive controls to be truly great.

Let's start at what I consider to be first and foremost the most important part of any game, the story. You would think this would have no problems here, I mean JK Rowling pretty much sealed that deal right? (PS, I was one of those people who loved Order of the Phoenix, one of my favorite of the series) Wrong, here's where things take a bad turn. The game is based on the movie, which is based on the book. So the means there are a bunch of things cut out from the move from the book to film, but for some ridiculous reason they also cut out things from the movie. For example, and I'm not warning for spoilers, if you haven't read the book or watched the movie too fucking bad, they've been out for years. Shit I just warned about spoilers by warning I wasn't warning about spoilers, cursed again! Anyway, Snape is teaching Harry Occulomancy, Harry get's good enough that he accidentally reads Snape's memory of Harry's father picking on him. This happens in the game but you don't see the memory, all you get is Snape telling you all of a sudden to get out, and Harry feeling sorry. WTF?? I know what was supposed to be there, hell everyone knows what was supposed to be there, so I guess the developers decided, "Eh, everyone knows what's supposed to be there, so why bother animating it". Fuck you, you lazy ass story tellers. Nothing pisses me off more than lazy story telling, especially when the STORY IS ALREADY LAID OUT FOR YOU!!! FOLLOW THE MAP YOU LAZY BASTARDS!!!

As far as presentation, it's terrific. Hogwarts is truly brought to life here, you will get lost at first if you are not using the map system. Everything twists and turns, with secret passages everywhere. They also got a good chunk of the film cast to return for the game and do their voices as well as get face scans to recreate their characters int he game. Why was all this detail spent on this and then skimp on the story? No idea, but I can't fault the presentation one bit. It feels like Hogwarts. The end. One little problem though. I know Hogwarts is full of secrets and whatnot, but I'm pretty sure students are not supposed to be falling though the floor. There are a few graphical glitches, but this is an EA production after all. No surprises there.

The controls are pretty good. You control your spells with different getures from the Wiimote and that all works fairly well...... out of combat. When you are in combat however, it goes to shit. You need to move to dodge incoming spells, but have to stop to cast, plus it's fairly frantic so you really need to keep your wits to pull off the right spell. All in all the controls are decent, but need more refinement.

On last gripe I have are the "Boss Battles". In all the end duels, during witch you control Sirius Black and Dumbledore, you have to lose the battle to continue the story, and you can't win no matter how hard you try. What the hell is the point in me getting all the way to the end to lose the damn game to win? What a load of crap.

In the end, if you are a Potter fan, at least rent the game, it's a decent companion piece to the movie. I just really hope the EA gets the next effort right or they lose the liscense not unlike they just lost the Lord of the Rings one. Here's hoping.

Video Game Review: Smackdown Vs. Raw 2009 for the Xbox 360

2009-03-16T01:59:00.005-05:00

The biggest problem most people have with wrestling games are that they are, for the most part, based wrestling. Some people just can't get around the apparent stigma of enjoying a little WWE from time to time. But if you can get around the exterior, you will find an excellent series of fighting games. That's all these games really are, and they have been working on their formula for years. Because of that the mechanics are pretty tight in SvR '09.

This is the best wrestling game I have played in recent years, for one simple reason. It's fun. It's fun to grab the controller and smash the shit out of someone with a steel chair, or climb to the top turnbuckle and crash down into your opponent. Plain simple fun. It's easy to pick up and play with friends, but takes a decent amount of skill to master.

As far as the gameplay goes you got lots to work with. There is almost every match type I could think of in this game. From the brand new inferno match all the way to the iron man match, you have lots to work with. A very cool new feature this year is the Road to Wrestlemania mode. In RtW you play through as different superstars with full stories, voice over, and unlockables. I particularly enjoyed the Undertaker RtW, which really had a cool old school supernatural element that you just don't see in the WWE anymore (Granted I haven't watched WWE for years).

What I'm trying to get at here is that you shouldn't write off a game because of it's subject matter. SvR '09 is an excellent example of an arena fighting game, and it is deserving of more attention than "Oh it's a wrestling game, I'm not gonna play that". Go give it a rent, you won't be disappointed.

DVD Review: Knocked Up Extended and Unrated

2009-03-15T01:42:00.003-05:00

Judd Apatow is my hero. He makes terrific movies, bar none. Knocked Up is the little film about the one night stand that got her pregnant. A great idea for a film, and an even better idea considering the cast.

Seth Rogen and Kathrine Heigl have great chemistry together and you actually can believe this girl will fall for him. The ever amazing Paul Rudd has a great part here, playing the brother in law, with the hilarious Leslie Mann as his wife. The cast really work well together and there is never a moment where you think this is a bunch of actors playing parts. You are truly drawn in and feel for these characters.

On top of having a great heart, this movie is hilarious. From the group of friends mimicking blow jobs while Ben (Seth) is on the phone with Alison (Kathrine) to the absolutely terrific Leslie Mann performing what I believe is the first female piss shiver on any sort of medium, you will laugh a lot. This is a really great film, and is well deserving of my praise, I'm that damn important.

On the special features side of things, you get a very heavy dose with this set. Roughly an hour of deleted and extended scenes, which have some really funny stuff that was cut in favor of other equally funny stuff. Then there are a bunch a featurettes on things like directing the stripper scene, and the missing roommate "Gummy". Or my all time favorite on this set, "Finding Ben Stone", which is a hilarious docudrama about finding the actor to play Ben Stone. Judd goes through all the pains of finding different actors to play Ben, and finding out that it won't work out, usually via a blow up on set between the two, then on to the next actor. All of which by the way are excellent, my personal favorite out of them all being James Franco and his truly massive blow up because he couldn't do a part he wrote for the scene. Excellent stuff.

You also get some gag reels which are self explanatory but still funny. Then we have the commentary track, with Judd, Seth, and Bill Hader, who was in all of two scenes in the movie but is from SNL so he get's a pass. Now I enjoyed the commentary well enough, it was informative when it needed to be, and really funny. But Judd calls on Bill through out the track to perform impersonations and comment on the movie in character. Which is funny at points but all in all, I'd rather you talked more about the movie instead of talking to "Al Pacino" about it. It was a little disappointing but still very redeemed by the fact the Judd and Seth are frickin' hilarious.

In the end this is a DVD that should be in everyone's collection. Not just because it's a great movie, but because it's a great movie to watch when people are over that you won't kill yourself over having to watch it again. Go get it and enjoy. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go roll some dice on the dance floor.

DVD Review: Extras Season 2

2009-03-11T06:24:00.002-05:00

I love British comedies. The horrible awkwardness that is everywhere in them is seen no where else in television. It's an awkwardness that you can't help but laugh at, and that's truly amazing. Ricky Gervais is back again as Andy Millman and now he as brought his sitcom to fruition and is ready to start filming. But, as usual, something has gone wrong and Andy get's set off makes a blunder, like for example, unknowingly telling a mother of a child with down syndrome to keep her child quite, or trying to avoid a kiss in a play.

All in all, very funny, very entertaining, simply a great piece from Ricky Gervais. Clocking in at 6 episodes (about standard for a BBC production), Extras second season is even better than the first, the guest stars this season, such as Sir Ian McKellen and Daniel Radcliffe, go even further than ones in the first with their characters with some truly hilarious results. This is a great series and you really should give it a go.

The special features on Extras are terrific, you have a 6 part documentary about the show, which is very entertaining and still gives you a good amount of info on the behind the scenes of the show. Some really good outtakes, and featurette on the Art of Corpsing (Laughing during a scene, and being unable to stop, really funny), and my personal favorite because I am an evil man just like Ricky Gervais apparently, Taping Nigel: The Gimpening. Which is a truly hilarious piece about the editor, Nigel, and the absolute horror Ricky puts him through just because he's a little bored. A few examples, taping Nigel up to look deformed or like a "prat-apillar", or using his head as a frame for a paper head. Truly hilarious, I laughed no stop during this featurette, which runs around 30min, which makes it all the better.

My last word is that along with the true version of the Office, Extras should also be in your collection. An amazing show, with a fair bit of heart. You will not be disappointed.

CD Review: Christopher Titus - Love is Evol

2009-03-09T03:41:00.002-05:00

Titus is back and freshly divorced. He is completely on his game through the entire show, telling anecdotes from his life, including divorce proceedings, meeting a new girl, making the fool in front of said new girl, and various other topics. I was honestly never not laughing while listening to this album. It's out now, so go pick it up and enjoy. Also don't be afraid to pick up his other albums, Norman Rockwell is Bleeding and The 5th Annual End of the World Tour as each of his albums are 95% minimum new material and even the stuff that sounds familiar is brought up in new light. What are you waiting for, go get it!!!

Web Series Review: Chad Vader - Day Shift Manager Season 1

2009-03-09T03:35:00.004-05:00

What do you get when you combine a Darth Vader costume with voice changing helmet, a grocery store, and a comedy troupe? You get Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager. Here we follow Chad Vader on his quest to rule the Empire Market with an iron fist. From the first webisode, you'll be hooked. Don't miss out on this, or I'll Force choke you. Check it out here

DVD Review: Good Luck Chuck

2009-03-09T01:40:00.004-05:00

You know, every once in a while you have to watch a movie that is what I like to call a popcorn movie. Good Luck Chuck is a popcorn movie, and that's not a bad thing at all.

Here we have the tale of Chuck, a guy who seems to be able to find true love for every woman he's with, except it's never with him. You can see where this setup is going. Fortunately, this hum drum plot idea is spiked with Dane Cook and Jessica Alba and liberal doses of T+A, especially in the uncut edition. What we have here is a classic return to the good old days of T+A comedy. On top of that this film has got a heart, all in all, a great popcorn movie that does not disappoint.

The extras on this disc are decent, we have a full length commentary with Dane Cook, the director, the producer, and the writer. Decently entertaining and funny. Then we have the Sex Matrix. There's a part in the movie where a montage of sex positions are playing and you can watch them at your leisure here, amusing stuff. The we have a Gag Reel, Ad-Libs, and Deleted Scenes, all of which are quite funny and you can see that the cast and crew had a good time on this one. Last but not least are a series of four features going over different little parts of the movie, from the penguins, the polymastia (Google it), and the Kama Sutra. A very nice little package of extras that complement the feature.

In the end this is a movie rent when some friends are coming over, there's a little here for everyone in your group of friends and will not be a bore.

Video Game Review: Avatar the Last Airbender for Playstation Portable

2009-03-09T01:19:00.004-05:00

I really wanted to like this game. Really I did. Avatar the Last Airbender is one of the greatest cartoons to come out of the western world in a very long time. Unfortunately the same can not be said for this game.

The story is a sort of side story/different universe tale about machines trying to take over for some unknown creator. All is revealed about midway through the game and the chase is on. All in all, it's not a bad premise, but the cut scenes are horribly done and are so boring I actually fell asleep during one. The potential was there, but alas, the product is not.

The gameplay is the true villain of the piece. Once again you can see the potential but the execution fails. This is your basic beat 'em up and it barely strays from that formula by adding RPG elements which seem to have become industry standard for any game of this type. Here it helps somewhat, but you will immediately work towards maxing out Aang's (the main character) skills that you will ignore everyone else until you've complete maxed him out and start, begrudgingly, upgrading your support staff. And it's a good thing too, because the final chapter is almost completely played with Aang alone.

The graphics are poorly done, "cartoon" styled, and make me want to cry at the complete misuse of the PSP's graphical ability. Solid colours with little to no shading in abundance. I can understand if the developers wanted to make this look like a cartoon, but you need the have the animation too back that up, and there is little to no animation here. All the backgrounds are static except for the odd object you can interact with, and are not anything to write home about.

In the end, leave this game far far away from you PSP. I wish I had.

DVD Review: Afro Samurai Director's Cut

2009-03-07T02:43:00.005-06:00

Ok, here we have an amazing anime, with a lot of soul and attitude. That attitude is brought across by great voice talent, and the animation to which the voices are put. The animation is really terrific, most notably during the series multitude of fight scenes, of which there are many. You would think that the fights would get tiresome, but each battle is it's own and has a different flavor. Samuel L Jackson plays the Afro Samurai and his side kick Ninja Ninja and really brings his all here. You can tell how much he actually cares about the source material. In the end, it really all comes down to the story, which is a little light. A lot of it is implied or assumed, such as the fact that the villain of the piece, Justice (Voiced by Ron Pearlman), was Afro's father's best friend, which isn't convey what so ever but in the viewing of the special features is made to be a big deal. All in all though, this is a story about revenge, and there the story succeeds. You can feel Afro's unending need to see his task through to the end, and his complete despair at what he must do at times to complete the objective.

As far as the special features go, it's pretty light, you get a new longer ending, and some extended scenes built into the piece, as well as a few features on the Making Of, the Music, and a character commentary by one of the Co-Producers. The feature as they are are decent and the behind the scenes gives you a good amount of insight as to where and how the project got started, but I can't help but feel as though there should be more here.

At the end of it all, all I can say is that if you are or are not a fan of anime, check this out, it doesn't disappoint.

Comic Review Round-Up: Week of March 6th

2009-03-06T19:58:00.006-06:00

Time for my first round of comic book reviews, they are built to be quick shots, so hold on tight.

Agents of Atlas #2: Not to sure where this series is going just yet, but I'm enjoying. Re-tasking classic cult character from Marvels past and throwing them into a storyline like Dark Reign was a dangerous move that appears to be paying off for the creative team. Keep watching this one, it's going to be a good ride.

The Boys #28: I love The Boys, and have loved it since issue one. As this is supposedly then end of an arc (huh, the last four issues were an arc?) it's pretty low key. Sure stuff goes down, but this isn't a massive battle like when Hughie punched threw the belly of a super by accident. We do get to see The Female and Frenchie (lol spell check just tried to change Frenchie to Frenchman, hahahaha) take out an entire squad of supers within a few pages, very cool.

Daredevil #116: The Kingpin is back baby! Here we get to find out what he's been up to since being leaving New York. Trying to turn a new leaf, Wilson is becoming what Vanessa, his late wife, always wanted him to be, a kind and caring man. Unfortunately that's not in the books for him and The Hand and Lady Bullseye show him, then set him off on a collision course with Daredevil, more determined than ever.

Dark Reign - Fantastic Four #1: What we have here is a blatant attempt to involve Marvel's First Family with the events of Dark Reign. Reed, as he is want to do, builds a new machine that gets screwed up when H.A.M.M.E.R. decides, with no rhyme or reason that I can gather, that the Fantastic Four are no longer register heroes and are to be taken down. OK, what? Right now, the next issue better give me something to come back to because it's difficult for me to come back after that blunder with the rules set by your own universe. Like I said blatant tie in, but that doesn't mean it won't be good.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23: Buffy continues to deliver here with a stand alone issue that teams up Buffy and Jonathan, yea that's right Jonathan. Very good writing here with the character banter. There's one point where Jonathan is running his mouth about various topics of geekdom, and I awesomely (r is it sadly) got every last reference. In the end this is a great little story meant to pull Jonathan closer to the inner circle of Buffy, Xander, and Willow, and it succeeds.

The Dresden Files - Storm Front #3: I love seeing my all time favorite novel series in graphic novel format. The art and character designs are bang on and the story is as engaging as it has ever been. In short if you haven't been following this one, pick it up, and the Welcome to the Jungle collection as well. Go on, go, NOW!

New Avengers - The Reunion #1: Now Mockingbird is from before I really got into comics that weren't just Spider-Man and Batman so I don't really now anything about the character. This is Marvel's answer to me and everyone else out there in my boat and the deliver. I really enjoyed this one, but I have to wonder if it's all going to be about Ronin (read: Hawkeye) and Mockingbird's relationship or if the Reunion bit is about how the New Avengers got back together after Secret Invasion, but either way, I'll be reading.

Thunderbolts #129: This is the Thunderbolts. Back to true form after Secret Invasion and with a mostly new team, as most of the crew was co-opted for the Dark Avengers, this book is as evil as it has ever been. Working as Osborn's black ops to compliment his Avengers, Thunderbolts is going to be a be a book to watch.

Secret Warriors #2: Nick Fury, the Agent of Nothing is getting ready for the battle of his life. With his team from the Caterpillar files are going to have a war on their hands to take down Hydra, who as it turns out owns and operates pretty much everything in the Marvel U, Habitat to Humanity and Greenpeace all the way up to the now defunct S.H.E.I.L.D. It should be very interesting to see where this goes, even more so with the reveal that Baron Von Strucker is back and the Supreme Hydra.

War Machine #3: You want battle? You wan the sound of one hundred guns cocking in your face? You want the God of War trying to gain you as a worshiper? You've got the right book. War Machine takes an entire army to the wood chipper in this one. I have to say the art in this book is magnificent. How the line artist and inker work together to show the different forms War Machine takes with such detail that you can almost see every last part he has used to put himself together is amazing. War Machine is a book to keep an eye one, especially is Ares sticks around a bit.

Deadpool #8: YES!!!! YES!!! OH MY GOD YES!!! I love Deadpool. Plain and simple. With Daniel Way at the helm and Paco Medina's art, Deadpool has never been better. Deadpool has decided that he is going to take out Norman Osborn because of a little gentlemens disagreement between them (He cost Deadpool a payday, bitch is goin' down). Wade decides the best way to do this is walk right in to Avengers tower and come what may. Gotta love madness. All in all, I command everyone kill everyone who isn't reading Deadpool, so either make people read the book, which they probably all ready are, cuz it's awesome, or you have to kill them, really the onus is on you. Oh I should mention this is the first of a cross over arc with Thunderbolts to be continued there next issue, so, yea you gotta read that too.

DVD Review: Superman: Doomsday

2009-03-06T01:04:00.003-06:00

OK, I'm going to be a little geeky in this review because the source material is near and dear to my heart, and that's the Death of Superman arc from the 4 Superman comics (Superman, Adventures of Superman, Superman: Man of Steel, and Action Comics...Starring Superman). Now I understand that they only had one movie to tell the story, but this is really a tale that needed more.

As far as the film stands, you've got a decent effort. A good movie, but not the greatest from WB Animation (The greatest is The Return of the Joker, a classic). Adam Baldwin makes for an excellent Superman, Anne Heche makes for a very good Lois, and James Marsters is an excellent Luthor. The animation is tight, and action is heavy, all in all, a good movie. The only issue I have is with the subject matter. There was so much more potential of it all. Instead it all gets boiled down to a Luthor-made, Superman clone (I suppose that is kinda like Superboy, but it's not) which is something we have see before, his name is Bizzaro. Now while what they do here is better than that particular storyline, I feel the movie would have been better served with Cyborg as the evil Superman. But I don't make movies for a reason and as the saying goes, if you can't create, then your a critic. I be damned.

The special features are where I got my true enjoyment out of this DVD. There is a commentary track from the creators (Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano among them), that makes for a decent listen, it's a great insight to a lot of the decisions they made, and overall fairly entertaining. The real treat is the 43 min documentary on the source material. With interviews from the creators of the Death of Superman arc and various others, this documentary goes through the thought processes and ideas behind the entire story. In fact if it wasn't for the incredibly stupid move on WB's part to stop the writers from doing the Wedding arc they had planned that year because Lois and Clark: The Adventures of Superman began that year and the shows producers wanted the engagement/wedding to happen on their show first (and they some how won) the entire wedding arc was scrapped. Instead we got what was and still is the most high profile comic book event of all time. Thank god for idiot executives! Also there is a quick look at the voice actors, and a DVD game I quickly left alone, there's a good amount of features for a 70min movie.

In the end, I'd say rent for sure. Only buy if you are a die hard like me, who owns every last contemporary WB/DC cartoon on DVD.

And there we go

2009-03-05T01:42:00.002-06:00

Well that's it, the first review is up, let me know what you think by letting me know via comments at the bottom or telling me on Twitter. Now I know it isn't very topical but I am very far behind in my entertainment, like I'm talking at least 2 years. But I will catch up in time and I'll be reviewing more current items. Until then stick with me, because you never know when I'll review something you missed, and you just might have to go check it out now.

DVD Review: Eureka: Season One

2009-03-05T01:06:00.005-06:00

Too put it simply, far too simply really, Eureka is amazing. If you have never done yourself the honor, nay the privilege of watching even one episode, you have done yourself a disservice.

The show is well thought out and executed, contrary to what you may hear on the commentary tracks, but more on that later. The show revolves around Jack Carter and his trials and tribulations as sheriff in a secret government operated town of super geniuses who are allowed to mess with pretty much any kind of science they decide to as long as they don't end up destroying town, which they of course do, by accident or otherwise, straight from the pilot episode. Now while that may see formulaic and predicable week in week out, you'd be dead wrong. Each episode builds upon the characters in the town and Carter's interaction with them, ending up with a core cast of eight or so that you end up caring for quite a bit by the season finale. Which is an incredibly ambitious idea, brought to life, and served with a lot of soul. Even the "bottle episode", which in case you don't know is an episode using standing sets and mostly main characters only to keep costs down for the series, is one of my favorite of the season. All in all, you can't get too much better than Eureka. In a bog of reality television, it is a refreshing breeze that you should check out immediately.

Now with the show it self taken care off, on to the DVD itself. Coming packaged in a biodegradable DVD case "Designed in Eureka" you know your off to a great start. The amount of special features is almost staggering. Each episode comes with at minimum one commentary track, some with a second track generally with Colin Ferguson, the actor who plays Sheriff Jack Carter. It is explained on one such commentary track that Colin was all ready and set to make commentaries all on his own and post them on a website he was going to create, Sci-Fi caught wind and he ended up making the commentaries with others and they were put out at first as podcasts, then made it to the DVD. Because of that the sound quality is not always the greatest, it never detracts from the enjoyment of these tracks. In every last track you can tell how much the cast and crew love this show, through their tales and events from the set, to the ribbing of each other, it's all there, and it's all fun.

Also on the DVD is the Webisode Hide and Seek, a cool little mini episode, some deleted scenes, and outtakes. There are even some quick, mock infomercials for products "Made in Eureka". All in all and very nice package put together for a great season set.

My final word is go buy this now, at the very least rent it. This is a show that deserves your attention more than most of the junk on television now. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Welcome one and all

2009-03-02T01:50:00.003-06:00

Well, I've finally gone and become a blogger, I feel unclean. Does anyone know a good detergent I could review? Oh yea, I guess I should explain the idea here, as you can see on the right, there is a basic (and hilarious, I might add) description about what this blog will be about.

Go on, read it, I'll wait over here.....................................................................are yo..no?

Ok, I'm not in any sort of rush.........................Still not done huh?

Ok well these people over here are, so you're just going to have to catch up Sam.

No I don't care, read faster and this won't be an issue next time.

Anyways where was I......... ah, right, I'll be using this blog to review things, whatever they may be. To give you an idea, I am currently playing Banjo Kazooie on XBLA, Avatar the Last Airbender on the PSP, Neverwinter Nights 2 OC (That's Official Campaign for the unaware), watching Eureka Season 1 on DVD (And when I watch a DVD I watch everything, I mean everything... except photo gallaries, those are boring as hell), I also try and check out new music, and I'm about to start re-reading the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, because it's just that damn awesome.

Now feel free to shoot me reviewing ideas, comments, etc. For example if there's a DVD you would like my opinion on, let me know, if I've seen it before, I'll shoot a quick review off, if not I'll see what I can do. So try and enjoy, my opinion is by no means the only one out there, but I'll be goddamned if it won't be the most entertaining, except for Zero Punctuation, that dude is awesome.

Hey look, my first one liner. Oh yea, reviews will come in different styles, one liners, paragraphs, and the uber rare full on review, those will not happen often, and it will have to be a fairly big deal for me to spend that kind of time on it. Granted my writing can kind of get away from me..... I mean jeez, look at this wall of text, this was supposed to be only quick welcome to the site..ugh that's brutal, gimmie a second......there that's better, you can't see it, but that was brutal before. Ok, so, yea..... later.