Wednesday, February 04, 2009
-Hot Damn it has been forever since I updated this! So much has been going on since the last update....
-Ann had her baby boy a couple weeks ago, Carter his name be. I think that makes a grand total of seven nieces and nephews I have now. It's hard to keep track of all these birthdays. Speaking of life, the opposite of life is death....crappy transition aside, it was bizarre to discover a week into the new semester of classes that my music teacher suddenly passed away. I had him for a class a couple years ago, and was excited to have him again for my final semester. The campus didn't take long finding a replacement after a week off from the class, and we already have a substitute in filling in for the rest of the semester.
-Watched a few flicks since my last update. Dad and brother really wanted me to catch Inkheart at the theater with them. They're both really into fantasy films, but the trailer indicated to to be a little too watered down for my tastes, hence the PG rating. But I'm usually into most of Brendan Frasier's films so I reluctantly went. A part of me felt this could have been a better experience with a PG-13 rating. They could only do so much with the action and special effects with a PG rating, but luckily the film surpassed my low expectations and wasn't that bad. 6/10
Until a few weeks ago, I was completely unaware that Hulu offered movies to watch free of charge off their website too. They only have a limited selection of around 200 films or so to stream, but after browsing through their selections I got a feeling I may end up spending more time than to get my weekly tv fix of The Office, Family Guy and 24. To continue the trend of covering the very best in films somewhat related to wrestling for my wrestling podcast, I watched the 1980s classic, Body Slam, featuring Rowdy Roddy Piper as the main draw, along with another guy as the pompous agent just trying to make a quick buck and empty promises. He caught gold with Piper and his already signed rock band, "The Kicks" and combined both acts each night to ignite the "Rock 'n Wrestling" era of the 80s. A lot of the film was right up their in terms of cheesiness with 1999's Ready to Rumble, headlined with an interesting use of the remark "faggot" throughout the film with I feel probably won't fly in the film industry today. I had to struggle my way through this, and if it wasn't for a surprisingly good effort from Piper I don't know if I could have. To see what I mean go to Hulu now and try to survive the talk show segment of the film called "Ring Talk," I dare you! 3.5/10
Speaking of streaming movies, I finally started Netflix, which is replacing GameFly for me. If you recall previous blogs, GameFly was starting to irritate me with their consistently longer turnaround times. Second game in a row took three weeks to get to me, so I instantly sent it back and canceled my subscription for the $9 Netflix plan, mostly for the unlimited streaming to 360 option. Only thing I watched so far was The Comic Book Diaries, an indy film that is essentially Clerks in a comic book store......just not as good. I think of the entire cast only the lead was capable of a decent performance, and there was so many random and awkward camera cuts that threw off the pacing of the film and I lost track of the plot holes. It was bad, but being a huge Punisher and general comic geek I gave some of the film the benefit of the doubt, as CBD did get a few genuine laughs out of me, and a part of me is a sucker for these workplace comedies, so I think I'll be generous and rate this a 4.5/10.
I revisited a couple of my favorite comedies of last year on video this past week also. I picked up the Forgetting Sarah Marshall BluRay because it was only $3 more than the 3-disc DVD special edition (damn you digital copy!), and the BluRay version had some intriguing exclusive extras too. Sarah Marshall isn't a film that needs to bee seen in BluRay, but the extra features made it worth it. Throughout the film I could access instant video commentary, and for certain parts of the film there was random rehearsal shots/behind-the-scenes clips I could activate. Reminded me of what New Line tried to accomplish with its "InfiniFilm" line of DVDs. Also watched Zach & Miri again on DVD yesterday, which thankfully didn't force up the price with a Digital Copy disc. Forgot how Kevin Smith doesn't release Unrated versions of his films, and instead has a ton of deleted scenes, with Zach & Miri having over an hour and a half of deleted/extended scenes! Only thing I'm surprised about this DVD is the lack of a commentary track, as I'm use to most Smith DVDs having at least 2 or 3 of them.
-For the gaming scene, I spent a lot of the past couple weeks working through older games. Am about 9 hours into Fable so far, and I just finished the part where you had to rescue your mom out of jail, and it feels like I'm starting the final act of the game. Really digging it so far, and can't wait to finish it. A coworker borrowed me Killzone and I have been plugging away at that a little bit and am at the third level of the game so far. It looks remarkable for a four and a half year old PS2 game, but something is missing from the single player that isn't pushing me hard to plow through the campaign. Those were the two main games I played throughout January, and after having a grand streak, I finally went a month without beating a game. Which is bad because my buddy Matt and I tried to start a friendly competition to see who can beat the most games and he is already in the double digits after a marathon with 8 and 16 bit games he told me.
Did get a chance to play a handful of other games. After taking a break for a few months, a coworker and I resumed our online co-op campaign in Marvel Ultimate Alliance. We beat the Mephisto level, and I have 280 gamerscore unlocked for it thus far. Speaking of Marvel Ultimate Alliance, what happened to the sequel? I recall it being hyped up a bit last summer and seemed like it was going to come out in the holiday season last year and now it has completely went under the radar as I haven't read up on anything about it in months. I consider this a gain though, as hopefully I finally beat one of these Marvel hack 'n slashers in time for the sequel.
-I went on a bit of a binge catching up on Punisher comics. The new War Zone mini-series is amazing, though the new Punisher series that is replacing War Journal had a horrible debut. Here is my article I recently wrote for Robot Panic.
There’s a huge shakeup with the latest Punisher comics from Marvel. It took a couple months for me to finally comprehend the changes and see the final results on the newsstand as to where the Punisher books are standing today. Being a huge fan of Mr. Castle for the better part of the past 15 years, I thought it was my duty to do my best to clear the confusion of the changing in numbering and re-launches of new Punisher series within the past couple of months.
Punisher War Journal – Punisher War Journal was the series that saw Castle interacting mostly with superheroes and villains from the Marvel Universe. It was also the series that saw the Marvel events cross over into such as Civil War and Secret Invasion. Unfortunately, last month saw War Journal’s last issue (#26) released, which featured an interesting one-shot about Rhino stopping the Punisher from assassinating a group from recreating Stilt Man. Matt Fraction wrote the entire run of War Journal, and while I’m not a huge fan of the superhero side of the Marvel Universe, I did like Fraction’s take on how the Punisher crossed over with the likes of Spider-Man, Captain America, Rhino and others.
Punisher: Frank Castle (MAX) – The darker, edgier, explicit content-filled version of the Punisher that featured Frank going to war with gangs and thugs instead of superheroes underwent a name change. Starting with issue #66, the MAX Comics line of The Punisher will now be known as The Punisher: Frank Castle. This line will still be under Marvel’s MAX Comics branding and will still contain the uncensored language and gorier artwork that this line of Punisher comics has been known for. I would recap what happens here, but regrettably I am unjustifiably far behind reading through the MAX series. I own every issue of the MAX line, but am only caught up reading halfway through the Barracuda story arc at issue #33.
Punisher – A brand new Punisher series is starting with a brand new #1 (hence the name change of the MAX line of Punisher). Why? That’s simple Billy, because #1’s sell! This new series may be interpreted by some as a new continuation of War Journal as it still focuses on Punisher facing off against superheroes and villains, only with a new writer in Rick Remender and artist Jerome Opena. In this new story arc entitled “Dark Reign”, Punisher’s latest version of justice is halted by The Sentry, who proceeds to chase Frank into giving himself up, but Frank manages to distract The Sentry by threatening to blow up…wait for it…a hospital! C’mon Remender. Frank has his morals, and of course it is a bluff, but for The Sentry to even buy into Frank’s bluff to blow up a hospital is ludicrous! If this debut issue is any indication of what’s to come, then I’m not optimistic for its lifespan.
Punisher: War Zone – No, this is not an adaptation of the recent Punisher film of the same name (though fans of the ridiculous over the top violence in the 80s Punisher film should check it out now!). Guess you can’t blame Marvel for trying to cash in on some cross-marketing. Instead what we get is an amazing six issue weekly limited series that sees the return of the excellent combination of writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon, the same duo that crafted the legendary “Welcome Back Frank” limited series, which is still one of the best Punisher arcs I have ever read. The War Zone limited series is in essence the sequel to “Welcome Back Frank”, which sees the mysterious return of mob leader Ma Gnucci, who Frank thought he witnessed burn to death many years ago at the end of “Welcome Back Frank”.
The final issue has hits stores this week. I’m five issues through and can safely assure that the Ennis/Dillon duo hasn’t missed a beat since working together. They recapture the same magic they did prior right from the start in the opening pages of the first issue that sees Frank scooping in to rescue an unlikely ally at the most convenient of times, and in true Punisher fashion no less! If you were as big a fan of “Welcome Back Frank” as I am, you will not be disappointed. I am as hooked and involved in this series as I was with Ennis/Dillon’s previous work. Ennis is still the man at writing the Punisher, and this is a great send off for his last work on the Punisher after an amazing 60 issue run on the Max series. If you’re not one for the unorthodox style of the Punisher, or have yet to give the series a serious first read, than this is the perfect hopping on point (and go pick up the “Welcome Back Frank” trade while you’re at it!).
-Had a WWE Royal Rumble PPV party at my place a couple weeks back. Pretty good turnout as Dick, Dave, Paul and another co-worker Chris made it over. I was rooting hard for JBL to win the Rumble and face Michaels at Wrestlemania, as it seemed the perfect way to book one of the best thought out angles on television in awhile. Guess it was too perfect as Cena won and now they're having JBL/HBK at No Way Out instead....doh! Rumble match itself was awesome as always, and I think when the final entrant Big Show entered, I counted half the participants (15 entrants!), in the ring, which I think is a Rumble first! Santino's record breaking moment was easily one of the highlights of the Rumble. Another good Rumble PPV overall. In other storylines, I was intrigued to see WWE was possibly building up towards a Jericho/Mickey Rouric match at Wrestlemania, but it looks like Rouric has backed out, which sucks because even though he's an actor afterall, he was a trained boxer and received training from the WWE Hall of Fame tag team, Wild Samoans.
-A couple months ago when I was a guest on the Interactive Distractions podcast, we brought up the news item on EA dropping the Arena Football license. Recently, I threw in and played a little bit of the second Arena Football game that came out after being surprised to see the news item that the AFL was taking a year off from their regular season to restructure (yet oddly enough all AF2 regular season games will proceed as planned starting in March). I know the economy is bad, but after 21 seasons I thought Arena Football was starting to make strides in prospering with finally getting access and coverage on ESPN, and some legit videogames of Arena Football. I was never really a hardcore Arena fan, only caught a couple games on television over the years, but I think I'll try and follow it this year as every Arena Football 2 game will be broadcasted for free on their website this season. Any Arena fans around here?
-So how about that Super Bowl? First time since Super Bowl XXIX that one of the three teams I followed have made it in, and I was seriously wanting the Cardinals to win it. That fourth quarter was incredibly intense! I think I was insanely pissed off following the final Steelers TD for a good couple hours after the game. Had a great time watching the game with Rich, Rocket and Justin. I think that was the first time I did something with Rich in over a year since he moved to Mayville.
After the Super Bowl, we got some grand gaming in and we did a Madden 2009 tournament, where Rocket annihilated me in the first round. I'll use the excuse that it was my first time playing Madden 2009, but it didn't seem that different that 2008. Rocket won in the finals too over Justin. After that, we played a ton of Mortal Kombat vs. DC. I brought that over thinking it would be a fun party game everyone could get in on, and I was surprised at how well it went over with everyone. It was only the second time I got around to seriously playing it, but everyone had a blast experimenting with the new DC characters mixing it up MK-style. I was even surprised to hear Rich, Rocket and Justin all say they plan on buying the game now after our marathon with it.
-Last night I had the night off work and got a chance to do karaoke for the first time of the year! Got a bunch of coworkers and friends to make it out and had a great time. Since it was the middle of the week, the bar was pretty dead, but it made it a little easier to get up there and sing. I did take pleasure in wrecking some classic songs with my renditions of "Run to the Hills," "Detroit Rock City," and "Everything to Everyone." Just a great time overall, and had a pretty good buzz to boot which only made it easier to get up on stage and make a fool of myself. Highlight of that night was a few of my coworkers getting together to go crazy singing "Tricky" which got a few people to bust out dancing, and Dick starting a mosh pit while singing a New Found Glory song. Great times!
-Another crazy long entry done, have no idea when my next one is but it seems I'm starting to update usually every two weeks now, so we'll see how it goes.
-Ann had her baby boy a couple weeks ago, Carter his name be. I think that makes a grand total of seven nieces and nephews I have now. It's hard to keep track of all these birthdays. Speaking of life, the opposite of life is death....crappy transition aside, it was bizarre to discover a week into the new semester of classes that my music teacher suddenly passed away. I had him for a class a couple years ago, and was excited to have him again for my final semester. The campus didn't take long finding a replacement after a week off from the class, and we already have a substitute in filling in for the rest of the semester.
-Watched a few flicks since my last update. Dad and brother really wanted me to catch Inkheart at the theater with them. They're both really into fantasy films, but the trailer indicated to to be a little too watered down for my tastes, hence the PG rating. But I'm usually into most of Brendan Frasier's films so I reluctantly went. A part of me felt this could have been a better experience with a PG-13 rating. They could only do so much with the action and special effects with a PG rating, but luckily the film surpassed my low expectations and wasn't that bad. 6/10
Until a few weeks ago, I was completely unaware that Hulu offered movies to watch free of charge off their website too. They only have a limited selection of around 200 films or so to stream, but after browsing through their selections I got a feeling I may end up spending more time than to get my weekly tv fix of The Office, Family Guy and 24. To continue the trend of covering the very best in films somewhat related to wrestling for my wrestling podcast, I watched the 1980s classic, Body Slam, featuring Rowdy Roddy Piper as the main draw, along with another guy as the pompous agent just trying to make a quick buck and empty promises. He caught gold with Piper and his already signed rock band, "The Kicks" and combined both acts each night to ignite the "Rock 'n Wrestling" era of the 80s. A lot of the film was right up their in terms of cheesiness with 1999's Ready to Rumble, headlined with an interesting use of the remark "faggot" throughout the film with I feel probably won't fly in the film industry today. I had to struggle my way through this, and if it wasn't for a surprisingly good effort from Piper I don't know if I could have. To see what I mean go to Hulu now and try to survive the talk show segment of the film called "Ring Talk," I dare you! 3.5/10
Speaking of streaming movies, I finally started Netflix, which is replacing GameFly for me. If you recall previous blogs, GameFly was starting to irritate me with their consistently longer turnaround times. Second game in a row took three weeks to get to me, so I instantly sent it back and canceled my subscription for the $9 Netflix plan, mostly for the unlimited streaming to 360 option. Only thing I watched so far was The Comic Book Diaries, an indy film that is essentially Clerks in a comic book store......just not as good. I think of the entire cast only the lead was capable of a decent performance, and there was so many random and awkward camera cuts that threw off the pacing of the film and I lost track of the plot holes. It was bad, but being a huge Punisher and general comic geek I gave some of the film the benefit of the doubt, as CBD did get a few genuine laughs out of me, and a part of me is a sucker for these workplace comedies, so I think I'll be generous and rate this a 4.5/10.
I revisited a couple of my favorite comedies of last year on video this past week also. I picked up the Forgetting Sarah Marshall BluRay because it was only $3 more than the 3-disc DVD special edition (damn you digital copy!), and the BluRay version had some intriguing exclusive extras too. Sarah Marshall isn't a film that needs to bee seen in BluRay, but the extra features made it worth it. Throughout the film I could access instant video commentary, and for certain parts of the film there was random rehearsal shots/behind-the-scenes clips I could activate. Reminded me of what New Line tried to accomplish with its "InfiniFilm" line of DVDs. Also watched Zach & Miri again on DVD yesterday, which thankfully didn't force up the price with a Digital Copy disc. Forgot how Kevin Smith doesn't release Unrated versions of his films, and instead has a ton of deleted scenes, with Zach & Miri having over an hour and a half of deleted/extended scenes! Only thing I'm surprised about this DVD is the lack of a commentary track, as I'm use to most Smith DVDs having at least 2 or 3 of them.
-For the gaming scene, I spent a lot of the past couple weeks working through older games. Am about 9 hours into Fable so far, and I just finished the part where you had to rescue your mom out of jail, and it feels like I'm starting the final act of the game. Really digging it so far, and can't wait to finish it. A coworker borrowed me Killzone and I have been plugging away at that a little bit and am at the third level of the game so far. It looks remarkable for a four and a half year old PS2 game, but something is missing from the single player that isn't pushing me hard to plow through the campaign. Those were the two main games I played throughout January, and after having a grand streak, I finally went a month without beating a game. Which is bad because my buddy Matt and I tried to start a friendly competition to see who can beat the most games and he is already in the double digits after a marathon with 8 and 16 bit games he told me.
Did get a chance to play a handful of other games. After taking a break for a few months, a coworker and I resumed our online co-op campaign in Marvel Ultimate Alliance. We beat the Mephisto level, and I have 280 gamerscore unlocked for it thus far. Speaking of Marvel Ultimate Alliance, what happened to the sequel? I recall it being hyped up a bit last summer and seemed like it was going to come out in the holiday season last year and now it has completely went under the radar as I haven't read up on anything about it in months. I consider this a gain though, as hopefully I finally beat one of these Marvel hack 'n slashers in time for the sequel.
-I went on a bit of a binge catching up on Punisher comics. The new War Zone mini-series is amazing, though the new Punisher series that is replacing War Journal had a horrible debut. Here is my article I recently wrote for Robot Panic.
There’s a huge shakeup with the latest Punisher comics from Marvel. It took a couple months for me to finally comprehend the changes and see the final results on the newsstand as to where the Punisher books are standing today. Being a huge fan of Mr. Castle for the better part of the past 15 years, I thought it was my duty to do my best to clear the confusion of the changing in numbering and re-launches of new Punisher series within the past couple of months.
Punisher War Journal – Punisher War Journal was the series that saw Castle interacting mostly with superheroes and villains from the Marvel Universe. It was also the series that saw the Marvel events cross over into such as Civil War and Secret Invasion. Unfortunately, last month saw War Journal’s last issue (#26) released, which featured an interesting one-shot about Rhino stopping the Punisher from assassinating a group from recreating Stilt Man. Matt Fraction wrote the entire run of War Journal, and while I’m not a huge fan of the superhero side of the Marvel Universe, I did like Fraction’s take on how the Punisher crossed over with the likes of Spider-Man, Captain America, Rhino and others.
Punisher: Frank Castle (MAX) – The darker, edgier, explicit content-filled version of the Punisher that featured Frank going to war with gangs and thugs instead of superheroes underwent a name change. Starting with issue #66, the MAX Comics line of The Punisher will now be known as The Punisher: Frank Castle. This line will still be under Marvel’s MAX Comics branding and will still contain the uncensored language and gorier artwork that this line of Punisher comics has been known for. I would recap what happens here, but regrettably I am unjustifiably far behind reading through the MAX series. I own every issue of the MAX line, but am only caught up reading halfway through the Barracuda story arc at issue #33.
Punisher – A brand new Punisher series is starting with a brand new #1 (hence the name change of the MAX line of Punisher). Why? That’s simple Billy, because #1’s sell! This new series may be interpreted by some as a new continuation of War Journal as it still focuses on Punisher facing off against superheroes and villains, only with a new writer in Rick Remender and artist Jerome Opena. In this new story arc entitled “Dark Reign”, Punisher’s latest version of justice is halted by The Sentry, who proceeds to chase Frank into giving himself up, but Frank manages to distract The Sentry by threatening to blow up…wait for it…a hospital! C’mon Remender. Frank has his morals, and of course it is a bluff, but for The Sentry to even buy into Frank’s bluff to blow up a hospital is ludicrous! If this debut issue is any indication of what’s to come, then I’m not optimistic for its lifespan.
Punisher: War Zone – No, this is not an adaptation of the recent Punisher film of the same name (though fans of the ridiculous over the top violence in the 80s Punisher film should check it out now!). Guess you can’t blame Marvel for trying to cash in on some cross-marketing. Instead what we get is an amazing six issue weekly limited series that sees the return of the excellent combination of writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon, the same duo that crafted the legendary “Welcome Back Frank” limited series, which is still one of the best Punisher arcs I have ever read. The War Zone limited series is in essence the sequel to “Welcome Back Frank”, which sees the mysterious return of mob leader Ma Gnucci, who Frank thought he witnessed burn to death many years ago at the end of “Welcome Back Frank”.
The final issue has hits stores this week. I’m five issues through and can safely assure that the Ennis/Dillon duo hasn’t missed a beat since working together. They recapture the same magic they did prior right from the start in the opening pages of the first issue that sees Frank scooping in to rescue an unlikely ally at the most convenient of times, and in true Punisher fashion no less! If you were as big a fan of “Welcome Back Frank” as I am, you will not be disappointed. I am as hooked and involved in this series as I was with Ennis/Dillon’s previous work. Ennis is still the man at writing the Punisher, and this is a great send off for his last work on the Punisher after an amazing 60 issue run on the Max series. If you’re not one for the unorthodox style of the Punisher, or have yet to give the series a serious first read, than this is the perfect hopping on point (and go pick up the “Welcome Back Frank” trade while you’re at it!).
-Had a WWE Royal Rumble PPV party at my place a couple weeks back. Pretty good turnout as Dick, Dave, Paul and another co-worker Chris made it over. I was rooting hard for JBL to win the Rumble and face Michaels at Wrestlemania, as it seemed the perfect way to book one of the best thought out angles on television in awhile. Guess it was too perfect as Cena won and now they're having JBL/HBK at No Way Out instead....doh! Rumble match itself was awesome as always, and I think when the final entrant Big Show entered, I counted half the participants (15 entrants!), in the ring, which I think is a Rumble first! Santino's record breaking moment was easily one of the highlights of the Rumble. Another good Rumble PPV overall. In other storylines, I was intrigued to see WWE was possibly building up towards a Jericho/Mickey Rouric match at Wrestlemania, but it looks like Rouric has backed out, which sucks because even though he's an actor afterall, he was a trained boxer and received training from the WWE Hall of Fame tag team, Wild Samoans.
-A couple months ago when I was a guest on the Interactive Distractions podcast, we brought up the news item on EA dropping the Arena Football license. Recently, I threw in and played a little bit of the second Arena Football game that came out after being surprised to see the news item that the AFL was taking a year off from their regular season to restructure (yet oddly enough all AF2 regular season games will proceed as planned starting in March). I know the economy is bad, but after 21 seasons I thought Arena Football was starting to make strides in prospering with finally getting access and coverage on ESPN, and some legit videogames of Arena Football. I was never really a hardcore Arena fan, only caught a couple games on television over the years, but I think I'll try and follow it this year as every Arena Football 2 game will be broadcasted for free on their website this season. Any Arena fans around here?
-So how about that Super Bowl? First time since Super Bowl XXIX that one of the three teams I followed have made it in, and I was seriously wanting the Cardinals to win it. That fourth quarter was incredibly intense! I think I was insanely pissed off following the final Steelers TD for a good couple hours after the game. Had a great time watching the game with Rich, Rocket and Justin. I think that was the first time I did something with Rich in over a year since he moved to Mayville.
After the Super Bowl, we got some grand gaming in and we did a Madden 2009 tournament, where Rocket annihilated me in the first round. I'll use the excuse that it was my first time playing Madden 2009, but it didn't seem that different that 2008. Rocket won in the finals too over Justin. After that, we played a ton of Mortal Kombat vs. DC. I brought that over thinking it would be a fun party game everyone could get in on, and I was surprised at how well it went over with everyone. It was only the second time I got around to seriously playing it, but everyone had a blast experimenting with the new DC characters mixing it up MK-style. I was even surprised to hear Rich, Rocket and Justin all say they plan on buying the game now after our marathon with it.
-Last night I had the night off work and got a chance to do karaoke for the first time of the year! Got a bunch of coworkers and friends to make it out and had a great time. Since it was the middle of the week, the bar was pretty dead, but it made it a little easier to get up there and sing. I did take pleasure in wrecking some classic songs with my renditions of "Run to the Hills," "Detroit Rock City," and "Everything to Everyone." Just a great time overall, and had a pretty good buzz to boot which only made it easier to get up on stage and make a fool of myself. Highlight of that night was a few of my coworkers getting together to go crazy singing "Tricky" which got a few people to bust out dancing, and Dick starting a mosh pit while singing a New Found Glory song. Great times!
-Another crazy long entry done, have no idea when my next one is but it seems I'm starting to update usually every two weeks now, so we'll see how it goes.
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