Sometime soon I'll be reviewing Clerks II. My early word: Kev did it again!
Also there'll be word on A Scanner Darkly, also a good piece of celluloid.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Saturday, July 22, 2006
TMNT Return
The ninja turtles never went away. I just grew away from the other versions that came after my beloved first series of cartoon turtles. The original comic book was, much as people will berate me for this, too grim for me. I like my happy pizza eaters over Raphael as Wolver-turtle.
I'm not sure what to think about this new movie but the trailer looks pretty damn awesome. I'd be saying that even if I'd never heard of the turtles before.Poor Michaelangelo!Read more at www.apple.com/trailers/...
Friday, July 21, 2006
Everything is Role Playing
I was in Borders Bookstore today just to have something to do when a copy of Werewolf: The Forsaken caught my eye. Like I've said before, I'm a werewolf nut so I had to look at it. Most of the story concepts aren't for me. All the pseudo-spiritual hoo hah and the fancy tribes all seem to get in the way of the monsters and mayhem but it's still interesting to look at. RPG books are fun in that they're guidebooks into other worlds and how they work that don't have a set hero or a storyline to follow other than everthing that has happened. And reading Werewolf got me thinking not so much about werewolves or fantasy worlds but about how much I want to get into role playing again.
I've never been a big role playing guy. I never played D&D until college and that was only a few times. I was in one campaign for a different system but it didn't last too long although I have a funny story or two about it.
To be honest, as fun as making characters is and as much as I like it when my guy is up to play, pen and paper roleplaying can be awfully boring. But at the same time it can be more engrossing than video game RPGs that are played alone or with Internet strangers. Pen and paper RPGs let you play with, if not your friends, flesh and blood people and without the restrictions of a strict computer program and a weak CPU.
I think I ought to look around and see if I can find some people to game with. I already know a few people who might be available or who know some people who might be available. Maybe sometime I can even be Dungeon Master again although I'll have to cool it on dungeons that feel like Donkey Kong levels and slapping the players around.
Really, I just miss having people to hang out with all the time like I did in college. That's probably why I want to try role playing again, even if it gets a little boring.
I've never been a big role playing guy. I never played D&D until college and that was only a few times. I was in one campaign for a different system but it didn't last too long although I have a funny story or two about it.
To be honest, as fun as making characters is and as much as I like it when my guy is up to play, pen and paper roleplaying can be awfully boring. But at the same time it can be more engrossing than video game RPGs that are played alone or with Internet strangers. Pen and paper RPGs let you play with, if not your friends, flesh and blood people and without the restrictions of a strict computer program and a weak CPU.
I think I ought to look around and see if I can find some people to game with. I already know a few people who might be available or who know some people who might be available. Maybe sometime I can even be Dungeon Master again although I'll have to cool it on dungeons that feel like Donkey Kong levels and slapping the players around.
Really, I just miss having people to hang out with all the time like I did in college. That's probably why I want to try role playing again, even if it gets a little boring.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Guardians of Luna
Werewolves are my favorite. They're the best monsters ever. Imagine being able to live a normal life for all but 12 nights of the year when you get to let that angry, snarling monster you keep trapped inside out to terrorize the chickens. Werewolves rock.
And when they get to be the good guys? That's the rock getting its roll.
Guardians of Luna is a new animated adventure show from one of the minds behind Batman: The Animated Series and, my all-time favorite cartoon, Gargoyles. Honestly, it sounds dangerously similar to White Wolf games but it balances that with robots. Werewolves AND robots? All right!
The show hasn't been picked up by anyone yet so it probably won't make it on our screens this fall or it might go into syndication hell but it sounds like it will actually make it to TV and I can't wait. Check the link in the title for a preview. I'm hoping someone leaks the video to YouTube.
And when they get to be the good guys? That's the rock getting its roll.
Guardians of Luna is a new animated adventure show from one of the minds behind Batman: The Animated Series and, my all-time favorite cartoon, Gargoyles. Honestly, it sounds dangerously similar to White Wolf games but it balances that with robots. Werewolves AND robots? All right!
The show hasn't been picked up by anyone yet so it probably won't make it on our screens this fall or it might go into syndication hell but it sounds like it will actually make it to TV and I can't wait. Check the link in the title for a preview. I'm hoping someone leaks the video to YouTube.
Friday, July 14, 2006
And Now I See the Lite
Earlier this week I finally got my hands on a gorgeous Nintendo DS Lite, a brilliant white gaming device that doesn't even need games to feel sexy. Seriously, the thing is so stylish that it is sexy. Give an average looking girl a Lite to hold and she will suddenly develop larger breasts, wider hips, a lean and mean waistline, and the longest and smoothest legs ever made.
Okay, that last part was weird but stay with me here.
I'd been debating getting one for a while. Earlier this year I was planning on getting a Playstation 2, something I still plan on doing before the end of the year if not the end of Summer. Even then I already knew that I wanted a DS because of the quirky game titles that Nintendo has been releasing and because it would be the system that would host a long awaited game, New Super Mario Bros. Aside from being Mario's return to classic sidescrolling (and away from his frustrating 3D career) NSMB looked to be the perfect compliment to the DS Lite. Of course it helps that they made their American debuts only weeks apart from one another. Either way I now own both and I'm very happy with them.
Sometime this week I plan on getting a new game, preferably one that I can play over the internet. The DS Lite is wi-fi equipped so I don't need to buy anything other than a game. Will it be Animal Crossing: Wild World? Mario Kart DS? Tetris DS? Metroid Prime: Hunters?
Okay, that last part was weird but stay with me here.
I'd been debating getting one for a while. Earlier this year I was planning on getting a Playstation 2, something I still plan on doing before the end of the year if not the end of Summer. Even then I already knew that I wanted a DS because of the quirky game titles that Nintendo has been releasing and because it would be the system that would host a long awaited game, New Super Mario Bros. Aside from being Mario's return to classic sidescrolling (and away from his frustrating 3D career) NSMB looked to be the perfect compliment to the DS Lite. Of course it helps that they made their American debuts only weeks apart from one another. Either way I now own both and I'm very happy with them.
Sometime this week I plan on getting a new game, preferably one that I can play over the internet. The DS Lite is wi-fi equipped so I don't need to buy anything other than a game. Will it be Animal Crossing: Wild World? Mario Kart DS? Tetris DS? Metroid Prime: Hunters?
Monday, July 10, 2006
Failure
Let me issue a warning: This is going to be another bit of rambling whining from me. I need to get this out so don't feel pressured to actually read this. Do, however, try to comment more. It sucks to put a blog out and get so few comments. One word responses are fine but I don't have a counter so I'd like to know that people are actually reading this.
So what am I complaining about? A lot of things.
Being an "anonymous" blogger is pretty troublesome. There are all sorts of things I want to talk about that I can't to preserve this wonderful mask that is "B." Either that or I can't find a way to talk about these things. I'm lazy so I don't want to take the time to do such things either.
Lately I also find myself increasingly unhappy with my own life. Again, a lot of this involves stuff that I don't even want to bring up out of fear that the wrong people with the right info will read this and respond accordingly. It is almost purely paranoid but its what works for me.
How can I sum this up? I know what I want out of life and I can't wait to get it, but I'm slow to do the work involved and sometimes I'm too lazy to do the work involved. A certain person especially tells me that I need to plan ahead and focus on the future to which I agree but when someone is harping on you it doesn't matter how much of it is true because that person needs to shut their yap and go find someone else to annoy.
There's nothing worse than wanting something and not knowing how to get it or even being afraid to get it. There's nothing worse than wanting to say something but being afraid to say it or being embarrassed to say it. If only we could be free of these limitations like time and reality and society. There are so many damned wall around us and they're made of various types of glass. They let us see what they want but they can't be raised or lowered. The walls have to be broken and the glass pieces that will be made are sure to be very sharp.
It's my fear of failure that does it. More than anything else I am afraid of messing up. I'm almost clinically kakorrhaphiophobic (say that three times fast.) And I'm afraid of embarassment too. That ties in well.
More and more reality is closing in on me. I'm beginning to give up on my real aspirations to settle and be like everyone else. EVERYONE ELSE IS MISERABLE. I feel badly now but I don't want to be like them. At least seeing that justifies my fears somewhat. But they say its worse to try and then fail then to never try at all and that sounds true.
But I also have this terrible conservative streak in me that is constantly telling me to be like everybody else. I suppose its an after-effect of being picked on and unpopular in school. I can't believe that its almost been a decade since high school and I still worry about fitting in. I'm a geek by nature. I don't want to fit in. But my instincts, which I cannot trust right now, keep telling me that someone will beat me up if I do what I want. That won't happen but I keep feeling like it's unsafe to do what I do or what I want to do. What if people don't like it? What if people don't want it? What if people ignore it?
What if I fail? What do I do?
My suffering is so petty but why does it feel so desperately strong?
So what am I complaining about? A lot of things.
Being an "anonymous" blogger is pretty troublesome. There are all sorts of things I want to talk about that I can't to preserve this wonderful mask that is "B." Either that or I can't find a way to talk about these things. I'm lazy so I don't want to take the time to do such things either.
Lately I also find myself increasingly unhappy with my own life. Again, a lot of this involves stuff that I don't even want to bring up out of fear that the wrong people with the right info will read this and respond accordingly. It is almost purely paranoid but its what works for me.
How can I sum this up? I know what I want out of life and I can't wait to get it, but I'm slow to do the work involved and sometimes I'm too lazy to do the work involved. A certain person especially tells me that I need to plan ahead and focus on the future to which I agree but when someone is harping on you it doesn't matter how much of it is true because that person needs to shut their yap and go find someone else to annoy.
There's nothing worse than wanting something and not knowing how to get it or even being afraid to get it. There's nothing worse than wanting to say something but being afraid to say it or being embarrassed to say it. If only we could be free of these limitations like time and reality and society. There are so many damned wall around us and they're made of various types of glass. They let us see what they want but they can't be raised or lowered. The walls have to be broken and the glass pieces that will be made are sure to be very sharp.
It's my fear of failure that does it. More than anything else I am afraid of messing up. I'm almost clinically kakorrhaphiophobic (say that three times fast.) And I'm afraid of embarassment too. That ties in well.
More and more reality is closing in on me. I'm beginning to give up on my real aspirations to settle and be like everyone else. EVERYONE ELSE IS MISERABLE. I feel badly now but I don't want to be like them. At least seeing that justifies my fears somewhat. But they say its worse to try and then fail then to never try at all and that sounds true.
But I also have this terrible conservative streak in me that is constantly telling me to be like everybody else. I suppose its an after-effect of being picked on and unpopular in school. I can't believe that its almost been a decade since high school and I still worry about fitting in. I'm a geek by nature. I don't want to fit in. But my instincts, which I cannot trust right now, keep telling me that someone will beat me up if I do what I want. That won't happen but I keep feeling like it's unsafe to do what I do or what I want to do. What if people don't like it? What if people don't want it? What if people ignore it?
What if I fail? What do I do?
My suffering is so petty but why does it feel so desperately strong?
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Christopher Volkman's Renaissance
Looking like a smash up between The Matrix, Sin City, A Scanner Darkly, and Blade Runner, Christoper Volkman's Renaissance promises to be the new darling of fans of high brow, high concept films. Click the title to watch the English trailer. It's GORGEOUS.
Dead or Alive - Teaser Trailer
Yes, it's a video game movie. Yes, it looks like crap.
Yes, I can't wait. This looks so wonderfully bad that it has to be good. (And it's probably this way on purpose too. No one is going to take this seriously.)
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Sports Nerds are Normal. Sci-fi Nerds are Weird.
Peter David, premier comic book writer and blogger, set off a hot discussion on his blog about the animosity displayed towards my--and most likely your--strong and proud geek community. He says: "where the hell does the media get off being snotty about fans who are dressed as Klingons when you can go to any Yankees game and see 1800 guys wearing jerseys that say "Jeter" on the back[?]"
I don't know. I'm weirded out by Klingons too but they're kinda fun. And it's always great when someone dresses up as their favorite character and actually pulls it off. But how many fat-asses wear Jeter's jersey? No one can wear that jersey and do it justice other than Derek himself. But somehow its okay to wear sports jerseys, the costumes of pro-sports, out in public but its weird to wear a Star Trek or Superman T-shirt--although sometimes the Supes T's are en vogue.
Many people see the love of science fiction and fantasy and all the related facets as childishness overgrown, symptoms of adults who haven't let go of or who haven't moved on from adolescence. This, for good and ill, is true. But can't you say the same for the grown man who still fantasizes about being a baseball star with his sports jerseys and fantasy football and steady accumulation of facts? And what about the man who has achieved that dream? For all his skill and talent, isn't it true that he is getting paid millions of dollars to play a game?
I don't know. I'm weirded out by Klingons too but they're kinda fun. And it's always great when someone dresses up as their favorite character and actually pulls it off. But how many fat-asses wear Jeter's jersey? No one can wear that jersey and do it justice other than Derek himself. But somehow its okay to wear sports jerseys, the costumes of pro-sports, out in public but its weird to wear a Star Trek or Superman T-shirt--although sometimes the Supes T's are en vogue.
Many people see the love of science fiction and fantasy and all the related facets as childishness overgrown, symptoms of adults who haven't let go of or who haven't moved on from adolescence. This, for good and ill, is true. But can't you say the same for the grown man who still fantasizes about being a baseball star with his sports jerseys and fantasy football and steady accumulation of facts? And what about the man who has achieved that dream? For all his skill and talent, isn't it true that he is getting paid millions of dollars to play a game?
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