The Sixth Gun

The Sixth Gun by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt is a comic published through Oni Press. As of this writing there are 10 issues released, and 6 of these have been collected in a trade paperback form.

This comic was recommended to me by a local artist. He expressed how much he really enjoyed it and recommended highly that I should read it as well. After some back and forth, I decided to try it.

The Sixth Gun is set in the Old West, full of cowboys, horses, guns, zombies, ghosts ... you know, the usual. It follows Drake Sinclair, a mysterious figure, who is introduced to us when he goes out to a hanging tree filled with spirits. From this moment, you know that it's going to be very different than your normal way out West epic. Next, we are introduced to Becky Montcrief, a young woman who is looking after her ailing step-father. Their farm is being watched and something is about to go down. As he is lying on his death bed, he tells her to destroy the contents of a box that he gives to her. However, before he can explain why this is so important, they are attacked and out comes a gun. When the gun fight is done, he is gone, the gun is left behind, and Becky picks it up, which binds this gun to her.  Turns out that there are six special guns in this world that, after the person who owned it is killed and the next person touches it, will only work for that one person, and no one else without hurting them. The guns have unlimited ammo, and are very specific in what they do. Becky's gun is a type of psychic compass, giving clues to where they should go next, and who is coming to attack. Soon, Drake and Becky are being chased by the owners of the other 5 guns and their newly resurrected leader, "The General," a corpse of a man who is desperate to get his gun back.

What works well about this story is the fact that it takes a western and combines it with such elements as mystery, magic, and even horror. Yes, the "horror" isn't that scary, all things considered, but it does have corpses  rising from their prisons, and zombies, and giant creatures attacking, and ghosts. So, yes, there are several examples of horror represented. It works, however, that these elements come together to form a really well done story.

The art by Hurtt is very successful in giving a lot of good detail and really bringing out the emotion in the characters. It never ceases to amaze me how some artists can pull a realistic feeling panel or panels to make you feel part of the story, while others spend a lot of effort to make sure that every panel is perfectly still, almost statuesque. Of course, this is based on taste, and the art here fits the story extremely well.
The Sixth Gun covers a lot of ground in six issues. The fast pace keeps you wanting to read it, even though you know that it's coming to an end. I was very saddened when I reached the end, and realized that I now have to make a decision to either buy the floppies or wait and get the next trade. It's a tough call, but I do recommend at least picking this one up to give it a whirl.

This comic is rated as a T for Teen, Ages 13+
Retail price for the trade paperback is: $19.99.

--MGS
More information

hetalia

 All right first real post.

In the anime Hetalia all the countries of the world have human forms. I'm going to talk to you about the main characters Germany, Italy,  and Japan. First I'll talk about Italy. He is the main character. He is a complete moron who the moment he goes in battle waves his white flags that he mass produces. You can't help but feel sorry for Germany because Italy hardly ever goes to his own house. You can't help but feel sorry for Japan
 because he is very peaceful but has to deal with Germany and Italy.



-adevlupes

Sucker Punch: The music

After walking out of Zak Snyder's stunningly engrossing movie, Sucker Punch, a couple of  things struck me immediately. For one, I didn't immediately know how I felt about the movie. It was so much like a video game in one respect, so theatrical in another, and so over-the-top it was hard to process. My mind almost hurt from trying to pin point  that one starting point that was needed to help begin the processing. The second thing that was most apparent was just how important the music from the film helped to create this visually stunning and immersive world. The music really helped to act as a voice to the scenes, almost an odd narrator of sorts, one that speaks not in words and phrases, per se, but in musical lyrics of old, mixed with music that was both in your face, and some how completely essential.

Okay, so that being said, one needs to ask, how is the music in this movie? Or more importantly, what is the music in this movie?

The soundtrack is made up of re-imaged versions of older songs. There is nothing that is original to the film. This choice is very dangerous, as people will always have opinions of how a remake of a song should be handled. There are purists who believe that there should never be a remake of anything and that it was perfect the first time, and then there are people like me, who find remakes to be interesting at times, frustrating at other, and confusing at other points. I think that a remake can either show the strength of the original, or help to expand of some of the moments that stood out and maybe fix others. In any case, remakes are, as stated earlier, a dangerous road to go down.

Since Sucker Punch is such a specific film, it needed a specific soundtrack, and from the moment it opens you know that this movie is going to offer something different.

The opening song is a redo of the 80's song "Sweet Dreams," originally sung by The Eurythmics. This is no 80's version, though. No, what we have here is a mixture of sadness and discontent, of loss, and of hopelessness. It's beautiful, while it pulls us into a dark place. It is sung by the movie's star, Emily Browning, who has a wonderfully fitting voice for this film. Once the organ kicks in, the mood is complete, and you are lost in song. In the film, this song plays over the opening scenes of sadness and despair. It's perfect.

Top Chef: All Stars Finale

*SPOILER ALERT!*

18 chefs from previous seasons begin. Tonight it came down to the final two: Richard Blais and Mike Isabella. Both chefs have proven to be tough competitors throughout the entire season. Tonight was no different.
We started off the night with the two remaining chefs preparing for the final competition. There were no twists and turns for the final competition. The judges wanted the chefs to showcase what their futures as chefs would be like by having them create their own restaurant. Of course the chef's needed help in running their restaurants; cue the entrance of 15 of the eliminated contestants from the season. To make things interesting, the contestants had to prepare an amuse-bouche for each of the remaining two chefs. In a blind taste test, Richard and Mike tasted all 15 and then picked their top 3 dishes. The dishes selected determined their sous chefs. Richard ended up with Spike Mendelsohn, Angelo Sosa, and Antonia Lofaso while Mike ended up with Tiffani Faison, Jamie Lauren, and Carla Hall. The two teams had an hour to plan their menus and then 5 hours the next day to prep and cook for their restaurants. Richard chose "Tongue and Cheek" for his restaurant name. Mike chose "Iz" based on a nickname his friends called him.
There were 2 round of judges. The judges seemed to have more postive comments about many of Richard's dishes sans his dessert course. But thanks to some clever or more so not-so-clever eavesdropping by Spike, Richard was able to tweak his course for the 2nd round of judges and the result was much better. Mike's dishes on the other hand, seemed to start off a bit weak but then ended strongly.
Both chefs delivered quite strongly which led Tom to say that it was the best food of any finale. It ended up in a tie in regards to the courses. The first two courses went to Richard and the last two went to Mike. The judges literally had to get nit-picky in choosing the winner.

As a final surprise for the two chefs, family members of each joined them for the final announcement. The winner of Top Chef: All Stars was....


Richard Blais!

I felt that Richard deserved to win. He worked really hard throughout the whole competition. When he didn't win a challenge, he would work harder the next challenge. I think the judges made the best decision.

-Adonor

prologs

Allllll righty then i am adevlupes and I'm very geeky for my age. I will probably be blogging about the following:
Pokemon games
random fantasy novels
anime
Scott pilgrim
cons
so yeah
also Mario games
I'm probably going to have some of the shorter posts.

-adevlupes

Greetings and Salutations

Howdy!

Things I am likely to post about:
books
comics
TV
movies
music
random crafting

Just so you know, I have no shame about my taste in these things. I like to read genre fiction and fluffy, stupid Regency romances at least as much as (and often more than) I like to read well respected literary fiction. I watch cartoons and Project Runway and Food Network. I cry in movies a lot - more than I cry in real life, actually. I listen to music that my husband kindly tells me is more suited to 14 year-old girls. I make stencils of geeky things and then paint them on t-shirts, and I build our costumes every Halloween and con.

So you've been warned. Let there be no aghast stares when I post something about the joys of re-watching High School Musical or about an upcoming Panic! at the Disco concert.

Warnings aside, welcome to our shiny new blog. Take your coat off and stay a while.

Al

Introducing the younger Geeky/Nerdy Sister

That's me! So I'm the younger sister.  I'm 23 and a graduate student studying for a Master's in Library Science. I'm focusing on Youth Librarianship. I don't know exactly where my geekiness truly begins. As far as I can tell, I've been pretty geeky and nerdy ever since I was little. It's just who I am.  My brother has certainly played a huge part in my geekery especially recently. Being that I have more free time due to my classes being all online, I have more time to get involved in Geeky things. I have been reading a lot of graphic novels lately (Thanks to my brother) but I don't mind this at all. Being that I'm aiming to work as a Youth Librarian, I need to read graphic novels. Graphic novels are quite popular nowadays. I'm don't want to be one of those stuffy, old librarians that don't like graphic novels; that consider graphic novels to not be books. I keep an open mind. I believe that anything that gets a someone to read is an accomplishment in itself.   You might think that my brother literally drags me into these things but you'd be wrong. I'll geek. I geek. I have the capacity to geek.
This is me in a nutshell pretty much.

So yeah. Bye and stuff (for now).
-Ronda (Adnor)

introductions

Hello people reading this blog. There I said hi that's enough social interaction for today.

adevlupes

Why I wanted this

As of late, I have been reading too many graphic novel, trade paperbacks, and comic collections. I am not sure why I haven't put much effort into reading non-illustrated books, but this is what is making me excited at the moment. Sure, I'd love to read that copy of Vonnegut's Mother Night that is in my bag on the floor, but I am just not ready to yet. When will I? Who knows, I go through phases. One day, comics, the next it could be just about anything. Maybe it's the ADD in me (which is my standard excuse) or maybe it's just because (also a standard excuse).
In any case, I have decided to put all of my thoughts down on different things geek, books, comics, music, movies, outfits, (etc., etc., etc.) and I am bringing my family (down?) with me. And why not? We are all geeks here, and they should be heard! Right? Indeed!
So, here is me: a 34 year old father who has been married to his wonderful geek wife for almost 13 years. I wasn't raised in a family of geeks, my father and mother were your standard straight and narrow parents. Where did I pick this up from, you say? Well, I am not sure. Maybe it was the first viewing of Return of the Jedi my parents took me to when I was 6 years old. Watching Jabba on the big screen and seeing a Lightsaber battle is something that has stayed with me my whole life. That movie was bigger than life to my little kid self. I guess, if there has to be a moment in time, then this would be it. From here it's all [down?] up hill from there. Seeing ET, a year earlier also had its impact. Seeing Gremlins and being terrified for my life, seeing Back to the Future and wanting to travel through time, seeing the Goonies and wanting to go on a huge adventure, or just seeing Batman come to life, anyone of these moments may have been that one moment that kick-started me. I, however, am not here to psycho-analysis my background. I don't really care to walk down those lonely streets again, and I don't care if the love of the Starship Enterprise has anything thing to do with my mother! The point is, I am where I am because of those moments. And now, I have passed my geekery to a new generation in both my younger sister and my son. Between my wife, my sister, my son, and myself, we are a family of geeks who have something to say.
Now onward, to Mordor (or to the nearest computer terminal)
--Michael (MGS)

Behold My Test Post

Forsooth, this is a test post. Admire it and despair, ye mortals!