The Geek Rant

Moving on

2009-08-27T02:00:51Z

This, I'm sorry to say, will be the end of Geek Rant on livejournal. Primarily because the title "Geek Rant" is something that is used about 15+ other places, and I wanted to do something slightly more unique.

I am, however, starting an all new geek based blog elsewhere. Multiclass Nerd/Geek!

I've moved over all of my old articles and already added some new ones (including a brief review of the G.I. Joe movie, and a review of the book "The Neverending Story").

Hope to see you all over there!

Comic Books: DC Comics and Alex Ross

2009-04-15T18:01:11Z

Alex Ross is, really, the Norman Rockwell or the comic book world. I can't get over his art. No other artist I've come across has made comic book characters seem so completely real.

I recently read the book "Mythology", and it's given me a whole new appreciation for DC comics. I say "whole new appreciation", in that I've never really had an appreciation for DC comics. I liked Batman well enough, but entirely because of "Batman the Animated Series" and Michael Keaton (and, later, Christian Bale). I never liked Superman, until I watched Smallville. But I think I've finally come up with a way I can enjoy it all.

I've heard comic books referred to as modern-day mythology, which is a statement I never agreed with. I believe, now, that that's because I always read Marvel comics. The way I can best enjoy DC comics is as mythology. It makes it make so much more sense! Mythology is supposed to go far beyond reality! I mean, let's look at them:

Superman: Essentially a God.
Wonder Woman: Essentially a Goddess.
Captain Marvel: Essentially a bunch of Gods.
Aquaman: Clearly an ocean God.
Green Lantern: Essentially a God.
Batman: Human, but still so badass that he can only be described as, minimum, Demi-God.

Superman goes so far beyond all other superbeings that, naturally, all the others have to be raised to be close to his equal. Even Batman can beat him at some points!

But, if I read all of this as mythology, rather than I would a comic book, than I no longer mind that there's no possible villain that could come close to beating them. They become like Loki, scheming constantly, winning small victories, but not amounting to much compared to the others until the end of the world comes.

If I read it as mythology, then I don't mind the fact that DC has next to zero continuity, because these are no longer the attempts to tell a true story! The continuity of that particular adventure is all that matters! The next adventure will have an entirely different continuity. It doesn't matter when these things take place or which supporting character is alive, or even the specifics of the hero's origin. They're modified to fit the current tale, and then discarded. In traditional fiction, I'd find that infuriating. In mythology, however, I can deal with it perfectly! Don't know why, but I can.

With this new frame of reference, I'm becoming much intrigued by some of the larger stories of DC. Not the individual issues. I couldn't possibly get sucked into those. But the over-arching stories, the cross-overs, the grand and epic tales the encompass the entire universe ... that interests me.

And, if they're illustrated by Alex Ross, than ever so much the better. Better than any writer DC's ever had, he can take mythology and make it seem ... human.

Video Games: Mortal Kombat vs. DCU

2008-08-02T08:11:16Z

In 1997, there was a game: Marvel Super Heroes versus Street Fighter. At the time, I thought it was an incredibly cool idea. At the time, I was also 16.

Now, I'm 27, and I still think it's an incredible cool idea. I loved the game, and I loved the concept. It only got better when they release Marvel vs. Capcom. That's right, Marvel Super Heroes versus a lineup of characters from all kinds of different Capcom Games. I mean, who doesn't want to see Mega Man take on the Hulk? Especially given that, when Mega Man beats an opponent he takes their powers?

"You're making me angry, Dr. Wily. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

Mega Man hulks out. Good times are had by all.

That being said, I held a vast amount of skepticism when I first heard of Mortal Kombat versus the DC Universe. Marvel versus Street Fighter made much more sense! I could picture Chun-li versus Spider-man, or Ryu versus Cyclops, or M. Bison versus Captain America. But, Batman versus Subzero? Flash versus Scorpion? Superman versus anyone? It doesn't make sense! Fatalities couldn't possibly work in a game like this. Plus, you have to severly dumb down, as well as pump up, a whole slew of character's powers. It's ridiculous! It'll never work.

So, I signed on, fully prepared to by angsty, angry Geek, shouting about how a project that isn't even finished is already horrible. Research, however, thwarted me.

See, I wanted to do some research so I could point out all the places where they went wrong. Unfortunately I can't find many. The more research I did, the more I really got into the idea. Now, it's something I really want to play. Hopefully, someone will buy me a Playstation 3 or an XBox 360. It could happen!

The game just looks fun. And, I'm willing to trust them when they say they've got a way to pull the worlds together. Until I see a finished product, I'm willing to trust a lot.

Oh, and the question about Fatalities? Yes, they have them. You can see them on Youtube. I saw Batman get burnt to a crisp by Scorpion. What they're doing is allowing all characters to perform Fatalities, if it makes sense for that character to perform Fatalities. That means, all Mortal Kombat characters and all DC Villains (Joker's already set to be in this game). Other heroes get Brutalities instead (non-lethal pummeling). All-in-all, it's been solved to my satisfaction.

Therefore, I will look to the future, with hope for this game, and watch it from afar, retaining my confusion, horror, and secret longing for the fact that Darth Vader and Yoda are in the upcoming Soul Calibur game. *sigh*

Meanwhile, I highly recommend Lore Sjoberg's thoughts on the upcoming game (see below). It's most definately worth your time to watch. Especially, if you've ever played Animal Crossing.

Movies: Hellboy II and The Dark Knight

2008-07-27T06:51:51Z

It Super-Hero Sequel Weekend here at Geek Rant!

Hellboy II - The Golden Army: To give you an idea of where I'm coming from with this thing, I loved the first Hellboy, and I've never read the comics. That being said, Hellboy II did not disappoint. It tells the story of how, in ancient times, Elves and Humans went to war against each other. The Elves had a Golden Army of unbeatable soldiers crafted to defeat their foes but, seeing the devastation these creatures wrought, he struck a peace with the Humans. He sealed away the Golden Army, broke the crown that controlled them into three parts, and gave one of these parts to the humans. They determined that the Humans would keep to the cities, and the Elves would keep to the forests, and there was peace for a very long time. Modern times roll around, and the Elven Prince decides he's had enough of the Humans destroying the world, and he's going to be rid of them. Enter Hellboy to save the day.

What I loved most about this movie was the sheer level and amount of costuming. I've gotten so sick of seeing a bunch of actors in front of a green screen. It was cool to see for the first couple of movies that did it, but now it just seems lazy. Especially when you can make a movie like this and have everything be so much cooler! Don't get me wrong, this movie used CGI, but they only used it would it would be literally impossible to do it any other way. And, when they did do it, I never really noticed. I never had a moment of "whoop, CGI-guy!" Your eyes were always so drawn to the art of all the rest of it, that you never thought about the few CGI portions. Let's have more like this!

Suffice it to say, this is much of what you came to expect from the first movie. A lot of great action, a lot of great laughs. Old characters return, but they're enhanced by some great new ones. Also, I loved the story. In the first movie, it was a more traditional "Good guy versus Bad guy" deal. In this one, I found myself not only empathizing with the bad guy, but I didn't even disagree with him! Sure, I rooted for Hellboy, but I wasn't far from rooting for the baddie either! All-in-all, just fantastic and fun. You have to see this if, for no other reason, than for all of the new and wonderous creatures that were created.

The Dark Knight: Jesus! This movie was intense! Literally, everything it ought to be. We've all seen the previews, we all know what it's about. Batman versus the Joker. It's everything I wanted and so much more. Heath Ledger puts Jack Nicholson to shame with his performance as the Joker (of course, no way anybody could have gotten away with something this dark back then). He goes full-tilt crazy even beyond what you're expecting him to do. This is true commitment to a role! There are times when he makes you laugh and there are times when he makes you shield your eyes, and those times are not mutually exclusive. I could go on and on forever.

Fights, special effects, makeup ... I'd say even story surpass Batman Begins. It's semi-long (2 1/2 hours), but any shorter would not have been enough. Which brings up another point I'd like to make:

Spider-man and some of the X-men movies were either ruined or nearly ruined (depending on who you ask) by the inclusion of too many plot lines. It's plan and simple overreaching, that doesn't allow you to fully explore each plot line's true potential. Beyond that, it's plan greedy stupidity. That being said, Dark Knight has at least 4 distinct plot lines, with several other sub plots, and each and every one of them is necessary. There's not a bit of it that I would say "If they'd just cut out that part it would have been such a better movie". Dark Knight is such a nice, tightly woven story that all of it is necessary, and nothing is superfluous. This is how things should be done.

My one complaint in this entire movie is Christian Bale's "Batman Voice". I swear, MY throat hurt listening to him, and there were times when he was essentially unintelligible. However, it was only here and there that it was noticed, and it's literally the only negative comment I have to make. Seriously, I know I've said this before, but drop what you're doing and see this movie! This easily makes it into the Top Ten Greatest Comic Book Movies, and possibly makes it into the Top Three. Go. Now.

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God, I've got to start talking about something other than movies I've seen lately, or I'm going to have to change the name of this thing. You can fully expect more talk about comic books or video games in the near future.

Movies: Street Fighter - The Legend of Chun-Li

2008-07-19T15:54:21Z

So, I've just heard word that, scheduled for February, 2009, there's another Street Fighter movie coming out. Don't worry, it's utterly unrelated to the previous VanDamme laden version (sadly, Raul Julia's last movie). That, of course, doesn't begin to guarantee that it will be good. The fact is that, as a movie based on a video game, film makers are not going to take it seriously. They never, ever do; even now, when we're creating video games that frequently have plots better most Hollywood movies. So, I don't expect much from this movie. By the same token, however, since I don't expect much, I'm also not going to get all up in arms about any mistakes they make in story. But, here's what I've heard:

THE STORY: It's going to follow Chun-Li's arc, alone. The fact is that Street Fighter's got something like a hundred different characters. You can't toss all of them into one movie and do all of the characters justice or have it end up being any kind of good. The last Street Fighter proved that. Meanwhile, Chun-Li has a personal plot line that, while not complex, is fine enough to base a movie around. Her father was a cop, who was killed by M. Bison. She's out for revenge. Fighting ensues. In the street, even! I've read people who are all up in arms over the fact that there's no Ryu or Ken. The fact is that Ryu's background sucks. He's a "wandering warrior". He travels around and enters Street Fighter tournaments. Then he wins and finds other fights. Woot. Not to mention that most of the character's backstories rarely involve other characters, except for Bison. Chun-Li would have no frackin' clue who Ryu was and, if she did, she really wouldn't care.

THE CAST: Kristin Kreuk (seen below) has been cast as Chun-Li.

Now, I liked her in Smallville (as Lana Lang) and she did perform some basic fighting through that series. Perhaps she's done more since the last time I saw her, but unless she's been training a lot, it's not going to be good enough to carry a whole movie. Something like this is going to be extremely dependent on the fight sequences.

Also seen is Michael Clarke Duncan as Balrog, which I keep going back and forth on, honestly. I do enjoy him as an actor, but having him in it is not a guaranteer of an amazing movie. However, I do love the mental image of little Kristin Kreuk (5' 4") fighting huge Michael Duncan (6' 5"). If the fight is good enough, that alone may be worth my time. None of the other announced cast has given me any reason to expect this to be anything worthwhile (although the is an actress who's name is Moon Bloodgood. How awesome is that?)

THE DIRECTOR: Andrzej Bartkowiak! You'll know that name from ... okay, no, you won't know that name. He's got four director credits on IMDB (not counting Street Fighter or tv shows). Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, Cradle 2 the Grave, and Doom. That alone tells you what were going to be looking at here. Of those, I've only seen Romeo Must Die. There's a reason I never bothered with the others.

MY HOPES: Ideally, they're going to focus on plot enough that it's going to be something worth watching, though I'm not expecting much in this area. Video Game movies now are what comic book movies used to be. Chock full of potential, but never given a chance. If you gave this movie a well known, dramatic director plus writer, then it would automatically draw a worthwhile cast.

As it stands, I hope they put Kristin Kreuk through rigorous training. I hope that we're not left with sudden, jerky angle, extreme close up, cut away every 1.5 seconds, fight scene, but actual, decent, well-choreographed fights. Plus, it's Street Fighter. You have guys throwing fireballs and flying through the air, and you can't escape from that. So, if you're not going to give us really impressive choreographed fights, then at least give us something amazing to watch. Alter physics and reality and give us a modern world fight that is, none the less, filled with the mysticism of legend.

There's no chance, whatsoever, that this is going to be good. But, if they work it right, there's a very good chance they can at least make it FUN.

Movies: Hancock and Wanted

2008-07-07T21:55:25Z

Turns out it wasn't as long as I thought. I ended up spending the weekend watching new (albeit extremely different) superhero movies.

Hancock: My God this was good! Even better than I expected, and my hopes were kinda high. The story is, essentially, what if Superman had a drinking/anger management problem (A.K.A. what if Superman were a Marvel Comics character). Hancock can fly, possesses super strength, and is nigh invlunerable, and does everything he can to do the right thing. However, with the drinking and his temper, he's found constantly damaging property, with a toll somewhere in the billions. Most of the city wonders if he's doing more harm than good. This all changes when Hancock saves the life of a PR man. To repay Hancock, he makes it his mission to make the city see Hancock as the hero he truly is. Of course, that also means turning Hancock into the hero he can truly be, and that takes a bit of work.

The movie is, undoubtedly, funny, but I'm not sure I'd categorize it as an out and out comedy. Will Smith does a stunning job giving us a hero who seems genuinely lost. This is a role that could have easily been turned into a two dimensional character, but Smith gives Hancock such depth that you know, almost right away, that there's more to this guy than the simple fact that he's, well, an asshole. The movie, as a whole, has a great deal more action and drama than I initially expected, and they cast actors who can play all the range that the movie demands. I laughed a lot, and even, possibly, teared up a little. So very highly recommended.

Wanted: Now, I understand that this was based on a comic book, but I've never read it, so I can't speak as to it's accuracy. However, reading the comic was not at all necessary to understand the world and what was going on in it. Wanted follows the adventures of a clan of assassins known as the Fraternity. They've existed since medieval times, and are still in force today. Their members are those very few amongst us with a particular set of special abilities. Their awareness and reaction time is infinitely superior than that of a normal human, which allows them to perform feats of gunplay beyond what anyone else on the planet can accomplish. This also makes them perfectly suited to their task, eliminating those who would become a threat to the natural order of the world.

This movie is about as far from Hancock or any other traditional "super hero" movie as you can imagine. It's been compared to The Matrix, but basically any movie that either alters physics or has a lot of gunplay is compared to the Matrix nowadays, so that doesn't mean much. It opens with James McAvoy (you'll recognize him from Penelope. You won't recognize him as Mr. Tumnus) going about his normal, boring, incredibly depressing life. He's soon found and recruited by Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, and told all about the Fraternity and how he's meant to be one of them. Honestly, the first half of the movie is a lot like "What if Chuck Palahniuk created super heroes". McAvoy tells off his bitch of a boss, and then proceeds to do away with all the other miserable parts of his life. Basically, what a lot of us would do if we found out that we don't have to deal with the people we're normally forced to. Whether or not you enjoy this movie will depend heavily on your tolerance for blood and gore. These are assassins. Their motives and methods are, by design, highly suspect. A lot of people die, and the movie doesn't hide any of it. You will see a number of bullets going through heads. In fact you will see bullets through heads at normal speed, in slow motion, freeze framed, and also in reverse (all of it very close up). If you think that will bother you, then you won't get nearly as much enjoyment out of the movie. Cassandra commented that she "liked" the movie, but all the blood and gore kept her from "loving" the movie. In terms of recommending Wanted? That's my only strike against it. If you're unbothered by blood, then you'll probably love it. If it tends to make you queasy, you'll come out not enjoying the movie nearly as much as you could have.

Movies: For May and June

2008-07-02T16:53:44Z

So, I have returned!

It's been a while, and I've seen a lot of movies during that time, so you get a whole bunch of quick reviews on all of them. Begin!

Speed Racer: For a while, anything the Wachowski brothers did was tainted by the, let's face it, pretty damn terrible sequels to The Matrix. However, I believe that they more than made up for those movies with V for Vendetta, so I came into Speed Racer pretty neutral. I have to say, I loved it! It was simply a fun movie to watch. We don't need complex plots or character motivations, we just need pretty, pretty cars going really, really fast in utterly improbable scenarios. Definately go see it!

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: I do believe that I liked this one even better than the first, but I'm still not sure. Story, action, special effects, acting; all of it was top notch. I always enjoy watching child actors grow, but I especially loved how much their characters grew (Edward especially!) from the first movie to this. Now, we all know that Aslan is a parable for Jesus or God or Faith (kind of depending on who you talk to) and watching the movie kind of made me wish that I didn't have that awareness. The movie was great, but any moment where the comparison was obvious, I found myself analyzing the movie, rather than just watching it and being into it. But, that's my thing, not yours. My thought is, if you liked the first movie, you'll like this one. If not, you may want to skip it.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Let me say, right off the bat, that if you don't enjoy Indiana Jones movies, you won't like this one. If you only kind of enjoy Indiana Jones movies, you probably won't like this one. However, if you LOVE Indiana Jones movies . . . well, I'm still not sure if you're going to like this one. The problem with a movie like this is that the original movies have such a cult-like fan base that it was going to be impossible to please everyone. I do give credit to the fact that this is not a movie that takes itself too seriously. This is, no more and no less, than a good, fun action/adventure tale. Utterly improbable, but if you don't spend a wealth of time examining it, a lot of fun to watch. My recommendation is to watch the first three, marathon-like, before going to see this one. Then you'll be sure to catch all the references and in-jokes. Shia LeBeouf is awesome. Harrison Ford is everything you've come to expect, yet older. However, he doesn't ignore his age. The movie doesn't try to pretend he's still a young man, but rather takes advantage of the fact that he's not. Generally, I recommend it, under the specific circumastances I've laid out, but it's certainly worth seeing it in the theatres, if you can.

The Incredible Hulk: Holy shit! If you haven't seen these movie yet, the get out there right now and find a showing! So much better than the first Hulk movie (and I didn't hate it with the passion others did) and possibly even better than Iron Man. They've got everything you've always wanted to see in a Hulk movie. Edward Norton is amazing! The most intense moments of the whole movie have nothing to do with the Hulk, but have to do with Banner, just trying to keep control. There's a moment, really early on, where you're just watching and practically shouting at the screen "Jesus, don't do that!!!" And it's just Edward Norton and one other person. Great fights, great story, great acting and character. This all going quadruply if you're a Hulk fan (the set up for another Hulk villain, The Leader, to name one moment). Plus a cameo from Tony Stark. My guess is that a bunch of people missed the bit at the end of the Iron Man credits, so this time they put it before the credits. So, just so you know, you don't have to wait until the end of the credits here. There, I've now saved two and a half minutes of your life. You can thank me later.

WALL-E: I love Pixar movies so much, and I think this is one of the best. You've seen the previews, you know generally what it's about. If you have kids, you've probably already seen it. If you don't have kids you should absolutely see it anyway. Adorable, fall off your chair funny, and incredibly intelligent. With a moral too! The previews are slightly misleading. I had gone into it thinking that the humans were the bad guys. Turns out, not at all. They're really pretty incidental chracters, actually. But, yeah, a lot of fun. Highly recommended.

So, I suppose that's it. I still need to see Kung-fu Panda and Wanted, but those may have to wait a bit.

God, it's been a good year for movies!

Movies: Iron Man

2008-05-12T07:36:28Z

So, I finally saw Iron Man, and I loved every second of it.

This was the first of the new movies being put out by Marvel Studios and it really, really shows. Rather than a board room of execs deciding "our movie will only be a hit if it has this", you had a group of people who love what they do and understand their fans.

As my fiance put it, it actually felt like a comic book. The story was complete and unto itself, but it revealed the possibility of so much more to the world. It left things open for sequels without necessarily being heavy handed about it.

Robert Downey Jr. was excellent as Tony Stark. I couldn't see anybody else in the role, now that I've seen him. Great supporting cast (including a nigh unrecognizable Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane) and, of course, amazing special effects.

My fiance knows almost nothing about Iron Man, and she absolutely loved it and can't wait for a sequel, so having encyclopedic knowledge of comic books is not necessary. If you do possess such knowledge, however, you'll find a thousand little things in there that you'll love! The subtle introduction of a man I have to assume will become the Mandarin; a nod towards Tony's alcoholism, that doesn't make it become the whole story . . . yet; a view of Rhodey's future as the eventual War Machine; the presence of S.H.I.E.L.D. ('nuff said); and you absolutely, positively have to stay until the end of the credits (this goes over a hundred-fold if you are a comic book geek. Prepare to geek out in a major way).

Also, Stan Lee's cameo? Priceless. Tony mistakes him for Hugh Hefner. Takes me back to watching Mallrats.

"Oh, lots of women. Jagger and me, we had a running contest to see who had the most. In fact, last time I checked, I was way ahead."

You should all check out this interview Lore Sjoberg did with Stan about his cameos over at Wired. Great stuff.

Anyway, long story short, go see this movie. Now.

Seriously, go, now, I'll wait.

Comic Books: New Avengers #40

2008-05-03T05:52:24Z

Just got New Avengers #40 in the mail. The only thing I have to say is Ho . . . ly . . . shit. And sweet Jeebus.

Now I've got to go back to the very beginning of New Avengers just to see how far back this goes.

Awesome.

Comic Books: Ender's Game

2008-04-25T04:51:52Z

So, I'm excited for Iron Man. I'm excited for the Incredible Hulk. I'm excited for the New Indiana Jones movie, and the new Narnia movie, and for Wall-E.

All of that pales to my current level of excitement.

Tentatively scheduled for later this year, Marvel will be releasing Ender's Game (and Ender's Shadow) in comic book form! I've known for a while that, though people keep saying a movie will be out soon, that any Ender's Game movie is a long time away. There's too many variables. Filming a large quantity of zero gravity scenes; having that many child actors that need to go beyond what even many adult actors couldn't handle . . . it's a lot to take care of (thus why, I think, it might be best if an Ender's Game movie was CGI).

However, with all these difficulties, I've been thinking for a long time about getting together with someone who can draw and creating an Ender's Game comic book. Fortunately, Marvel is doing the work for me.

Anyway, I'm too hyped up to form any worthwhile sentences and the moment, so just follow the link below and read all about it (plus pictures).

ENDER'S GAME IN MARVEL COMICS! WOO HOO!!!

Movies: Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland"

2008-04-23T03:55:47Z

I am Nostra-freakin-damus!

April 1st, 2006, I played a little practical joke. I posted a supposed IMDB entry about an upcoming Tim Burton film (full text of the post seen below). Those on myspace didn't click the link and took me at my word. Those on livejournal clicked the link and proceeded to berate me for my foul prank. I suppose that says something about the difference between livejournalers and myspacers. But, I digress . . .

The following is what I posted:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Full Cast and Crew for
Wonderland (2007)

IMDbPro.com offers representation listings for over 65,000 individuals, including actors, directors, and producers, as well as contact details for over 10,000 companies in the entertainment industry.
Click here for a free trial!

Directed by
Tim Burton

Writing credits
Lewis Carroll (novels "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass")

Cast (in credits order)verified as complete
Dakota Fanning .... Alice
Johnny Depp .... Mad Hatter
Kelsey Grammer .... Caterpillar
Alan Cumming .... Cheshire Cat (voice)
Edward Norton .... March Hare
Dame Judi Dench .... Queen of Hearts
Jack Black .... Tweedledee/Tweedledum
Steve Martin .... White Rabbit
Dan Aykroyd .... The Walrus
Colin Firth .... The Carpenter
John Lithgow .... King of Hearts
Martin Short .... Dormouse

Yeah, there's a lot more, but those are the names I highly recognized. I guess they actually also talked to Tom Petty about playing the Mad Hatter, but it turned out Johnny Depp was able to do it, so they went with him. Tom Petty does do some of the music (in collaboration with Danny Elfman, so that's going to be weird and awesome!)

Yeah, anyway, if you want to read the whole thing, here's the link.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, really I just somewhat modified the cast list for the old "Alice in Wonderland" cartoon. However, just yesterday I was trolling through IMDB and happened upon Tim Burton's page. Low and behold, look what I found is coming out in 2010.

Now, there's not much information yet, but the most important things are the story and the director. That's right, I totally called it. And I think it's perfect! Tim Burton + Alice in Wonderland = Awesome!

I just can't wait to see how much more I was right about. Stay tuned!

Miscellaneous: Lore Sjoberg Ratings

2008-03-30T19:42:07Z

Alright, seriously, if you guys haven't been watching this you need to. Right now. It all began, years ago, with Brunching Shuttlecocks, one of the most fantastic sites on all the internet.

Later Book of Ratings became a site all on it's own. After that, came Bad Gods, which is filled with random funny of all varieties. Now, Wired is including Lore's fantastic ratings on . . . well, anything and everything. Below are the most recent examples. After you watch those, go and get your self caught up on the rest of the entertainment you're missing:

Video Games: Marvel, Ultimate Alliance

2008-03-29T03:53:25Z

So, this is what I do when I'm bored:

Comic Books: A Brand New Day

2008-03-25T04:21:09Z

Okay. That's it. I've given it a shot. However I can't get my head around the travesty that is Spider-man, Brand New Day.

This is the fundamental problem with comic books. They're afraid to shake up the status quo. I'd become very excited by the evolution of Spider-man over the past couple of years. Let's take a look back:

* Spidey leaves the Bugle and becomes a Science teacher at his old High School. - Fantastic! Peter's growing up.
* Spidey meets Ezekiel and is informed that his origin is not strictly scientific. The spider was trying to give him the power. He's part of an ancient power. - This I loved. Some consider it a retcon, but I see it as a revelation of previously unknown information. I loved Ezekiel, I loved the Anansi tradition. I love it all.
* Spidey develops organic webshooters. - Eh. Always preferred the mechanical webshooters, and the story was . . . okay. It seemed like they were trying to bring comic Spidey in line with movie Spidey, when it should always be the other way around.
* Spidey joins the Avengers. - Finally! Peter gets some friends in the Super-human community. This was way too long in coming. Spidey gets overt respect from other heroes. *contented sigh*.
* Aunt May's house is destroyed. MJ, May, and Spidey move into Avengers Tower at Tony Stark's suggestion. - Have to admit, this made me all warm and fuzzy inside. Joking moments between Wolverine and Spidey? Great! Aunt May's relationship with Captain America and, especially, with Jarvis? Beautiful!
* Pete dies. Then evolves to become even more Spidery. - This is the point when I would have accepted the evolution of organic webshooters. It wouldn't have seemed contrived, but part of a larger evolution of powers. He's accepted the Spider. But what I truly love is all the help he gets along the way. Friends and heroes from all across the Marvel universe trying to help stop whatever it is that's killing him, then trying to help him understand the changes he ends up going through.
* Tony Stark gives Pete a new costume. - Pretty good. But a little too close to his previous transformation, so the new abilities given him by the new costume are a little . . . lost.
* Civil War starts. Tony convinces Pete to register and, as a sign of support for registration, to publicly reveal his identity. - While I thought that Pete's decision was incredibly stupid, I was fine with it because, in the real world, people do stupid things. So, I accepted it. But the real reason I liked it was that it was the ultimate shaking up of the status quo. Where could things go from here?
* Pete goes against Tony and the Registration after Bill Foster dies. - And, Parker Luck strikes again. Pete goes from being pretty good, to the worst he's ever been in his life. He, MJ, and Aunt May are on the run, and all of his enemies now know who he is and what he looks like. Bravo!
* Kingpin sends an assassin after him, hits Aunt May instead. Pete goes on a rampage. - Here's where things start to go bad. So much build up was put into Aunt May's shooting that it would be anti-climactic if she just got better. However J. Michael Straczynski wrote himself into a corner. Peter threatened Kingpin's life in front of a ton of people. If Aunt May dies, Peter kills Kingpin. So, Straczynski is left with 3 options. 1) Save Aunt May; 2) Kill Aunt May, make Peter a murderer; 3) Kill Aunt May, have Peter back out. My vote? Option 1 or 3. Much better than where we went.
* Mephisto offers to save Aunt May, in exchange for which he removes MJ and Peters relationship. - This was just . . . wow. Sure, have the offer. But then they refuse to accept. Or they accept and fight their way through it in a only a few issues. Instead they've created the Brand New Day. Harry Osborn is back from the dead, Aunt May is alive, MJ is not around, Peter has mechanical web-shooters again, and no one knows who Spider-man is, even those who knew before the unveiling. God! That's just . . . such bad writing.

Meanwhile, the Amazing Spider-man stories are great . . . if this were 1977. I like the new villains, but they should exist within the real world, not this Mephisto created monstrosity that erases all the best storylines of the past 30 years. Not only the ones I mention above, but Peter and MJ's wedding and marriage and Harry Osborn's descent and redemption. If MJ and Pete never got married, that changes every single storyline since. And not for the better. This is the dime store version of House of M. But it just won't go away.

There was a time when Straczynski was my favorite writer. However, he and Mephisto have erased everything he's ever done since he took over Amazing Spider-man, so I guess I'll have to look elsewhere.

I wonder how Joss Whedon's doing?

Welcome to Geek Rant

2008-03-23T20:46:37Z

Welcome everyone.

This journal is going to become a space where I can rant, complain, or inform you on the current going ons in the world of Geekdom. Because, truly, the internet doesn't have nearly enough Geeks online putting in their two cents on a plethora of issues.

My areas of expertise fall into the following:

* Books: In particular Orson Scott Card's Ender Series, the Harry Potter Series, Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality, and Jane Lindskold's Firekeeper Saga.
* Comic Books: However, primarily Marvel comics (IE: Spider-man, Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-men, Black Panther). I know very little about DC. I'm also a huge fan of Strangers in Paradise.
* Movies: Of all kinds, shapes, and varieties. Not strictly relegated to Science Fiction or Fantasy. Huge fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Serenity (not to mention, of course, Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia).
* Roleplaying Games: Especially "Dungeons & Dragons" and "Mutants & Masterminds".
* Webcomics: On a regular basis - Bad Gods, Comedity, El Goonish Shive, Full Frontal Nerdity, Courting Disaster, Misfile, Nodwick, Penny Arcade!, PvP Online, Sabrina Online, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Sinfest, 3 Panel Soul, Wapsi Square, and XKCD.
* Video Games: Both PC and Console games. Been playing since Atari but can't keep up much lately, as being poor has an affect on how many games and systems you can buy. Currently have in my possession a Playstation 2, a Nintendo DS, and my old Sega Genesis (plus, of course, my computer).

Expect more soon!