Sweet Tooth: Out of the Deep Woods

Sweet Tooth is your normal post-apocalyptic comic book that takes place after a huge sickness or plague that has wiped out many people on the planet, but nobody knows why. Oh, and it has a boy with deer antlers.

To me, this volume of Sweet Tooth never really accomplishes much. It is an interesting story, with mysterious characters in a mysterious setting. There was, apparently, a plague that wiped out the population. Oddities grew out of this, such as Gus, who is a normal enough looking boy, aside from the antlers on his head.


<SPOILERS>

Hetalia

I'm out of characters from Hetalia so I'm just posting this:

-adevupes

dr who

i really would write a post about doctor who episode 2 but i have no clue what the heck is going on






-adevlupes

Harry Potter 2 trailer

Bring on JULY 15th!

Enough said!

---MGS

A look at iZombie

I'm going to be honest; I am pretty tired of Zombies. Oh sure, I can sort of see the appeal and the interest in them, but there is only so much you can do with the storylines before it feels stale and overdone.


However, there are always exceptions. In my mind there are such things as Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead, because they bring humor to the situation at hand. In comics, though, you can't go wrong with The Walking Dead, which is more about the characters trying to live in the world that has been turned upside down, rather than about the zombies themselves. In books, World War Z is a must read, as it is what feels like a very real historical account of an event that hasn't happened. It is so well told that it you would swear that we all lived through it. 


So, while the whole zombie movement is, for the most part, lost on me, I still do dip my toes into the world from time to time. 


Case in point, iZombie. I had only encountered this title as a preview on the back of another series that I read. It interested me, a woman who is a zombie who must eat brains from time to time to survive, only when she does, the memories of the dead person become stuck in her mind, forcing her to deal with the problems that may have happened to the person during their life. It got my interest, but not enough for me to invest in the comics themselves. When I was looking for something new to try and read, though, I decided to give the trade paperback a whirl. 

"Well here we are again..."

I am not a hardcore gamer.


Now, hold on! Before you raise your hand in the back to make your case against that statement, let me explain. Yes, I do play games, which is obvious from the graveyard of games that litter my floor and boxes upstairs. That would be a tick against me, yes. Except, how many of those games have I finished? A lot? All of them? Would you believe almost none? 


Ok, so I then I hear you ask, why do I have so many games if I am not going to complete them? Well, to be quite honest, I am not sure what type of games I am going to be able to finish, and which ones I am just going to give up on, with the hope on returning to later (which almost never happens). With the expection of The Legend of Zelda, and several Mario games, and Uncharted 2, there haven't been a lot of success stories here. Not that I don't enjoy returning to these games again at a later date, but I mostly have to restart from the beginning, and hope to get through them. 


Unfortunately, Portal (part of The Orange Box) falls on this list.


Fortunately, Portal 2 doesn't.


I will say that Portal 2 joins the company of Ocarina of Time, Windwaker, Twilight Princess, Red Dead Redemption, and Uncharted 2 as being one of my top and favorite games. It might even hit the top spot, under a bit of soul searching. 


<SPOILER WARNING!!> 

New Weird Al

Enough said:

--MGS

"Thanks for your concern"

For the better part of my high school life I had one show to turn to. One show that put my fear of the government and its many conspiracies was the The X-files. Ok, so I didn't really believe that there were government cover up about event that may or may not have happened. For sure, it's fun to pretend, but at the end of the day, there is nothing there. Or is there? Ok, so maybe there are some things that I believe in, but not as many as I used to.

It definitely had one of the best theme songs ever. The moment I heard this, goosebumps would begin:

To look up and see it all

I often look up at the sky and feel exactly how I should feel. Small and insignificant. The millions upon millions of stars that I see will make a person just feel so lost. Imagine all these stars, all these planets, all that potential for life and new discoveries that I will never see and never experience. The universe is too big to even comprehend in my mind, but it is beautiful to look at and take in. Even the just seeing the moon lit at night shining in the night sky is amazing. Space is wonderful.

Here is a video that shows just this. If you don't feel floored by what the universe has to offer outside our world, then you should after this.


The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

--MGS

The Prequels: a look back

1997.


Florida.


The AMC movie theaters, at the Disney West End.


It's a crowded theatre, but one filled with electricity. On the screen, the orginal Star Wars has been re-released. As the anticipation grows, up through the trailers of coming attraction, including those of the next two Star Wars movies to be released soon, people are becoming more and more restless. Then the lights go out, the cheers starts and the music booms to a louder applauds and yelps! The moment has come! For those of us too young to have watched Star Wars on the big screen, the moment is finally here. I am surrounded by others who have also dreamed of this for years. The moments go by one by one, and we couldn't be happier! Quietly we quote along, knowing the dialogue by heart. We are that kids who watched it when we little, playing along with our action figures and homemade costumes. Those kids were once overwhelmed at the sheer joy of watching Darth Vader enter the ship in dramatic fashion and the wonderment of seeing Obi-Wan take out a lightsaber and slash the air around him. And the greatness of seeing Greedo shoot first. Wait, that's not right. Han shoots Greedo, argument over. Did that really happen? Oh well, it's still Star Wars and we are all still super excited in our chairs. This was a moment of pure magic for the geeks.


And then, that weird Jabba scene happens. You know the one, right after Greedo is killed, we get a scene that says exactly the same thing that that previous one just said. It shows Han talking over things with Jabba the Hutt, who is CGI, and looks odd. He sounds different and even a bit smaller than he looked in the original Jedi film. It's weird. The effects look weird. The scene just doesn't work. Even after all this time, and with updated effects, it still is out of place and seems ridiculous.

Maybe this should be an indicator. Maybe this should be the inkling that something is amiss, and yet, we are so excited to see this film that we let it pass! After all, the SW: Special Editions are still the old movie, just added with something more. We are so excited that it passes us up that there is a problem looming.


It's 1999. The year has finally come. The rumors had swirled for years that maybe, just maybe, Mr. Lucas was going to finally give us those prequels, giving us the back story about Darth Vader and his downfall as a Jedi. And now it's true. After all this time, we are going to see just how awesome Darth can be. This is going to be epic.

The Long Halloween

Batman has been through a ton in his life. He's lost his parents, his companions, and his life. He been broken, destroyed, and left for dead. He's faced villians that have ripped him mentally to shreds and others that have left him confused and scared.

With The Long Halloween, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sales gave him a villian that was challenging for him to deal with. This was because the clues didn't just lead to one person. Unfortunately, as the story goes on, it does appear that a trusted friend is the culprit. This disturbs him, above all other things. The mystery is engrossing and keeps you guessing up until its ending.

One thing that I must start off with is that this is considered to be noir in both its art and its storytelling. It does have a very old style to the art, with loads of shadows, and, of course, the murder mystery of who is killing these people. The images have hard edges and colors that are both muted and vivrant at the same time. There are some odd decisions made in regards to the character designs, so the art is a bit off putting, taking time to get used to. So, with this knowledge in place, I will say that noir is not my favorite type of storytelling, and this could have been a detractor for this book.

However, I really like this story. It's never dull, making you want to find out who the killer is.

(Spoilers follow)

"The Octopus was very scary" *

The Goonies.


In 1985 two movies came out that rocked my world. One was the afore mentioned Back to the Future. The Goonies has the honor of being the other film.

Sure, it's not perfect. It has some terrible moments of acting, blue screen work, storytelling, and character development. Sure, it's unbelievable at the best of times. Sure, its ending is the great and sappy happy ending. But you know what? None of that matters, because these kids were just like me. They wanted to go on an adventure. The only difference was, they did it!

"Be sure to drink to drink your Ovaltine"

Here were these kids, not too much older than me, and they were looking for lost treasure. Each one of the kids had a wonderful character trait, Mikey, the leader, had asthma. Mouth talked too much. Data was an inventor who didn't have working inventions. Chunk, the heavy kid, was the butt of jokes. 


But these guys weren't alone. They brought along Mikey's older brother, Brand, who wanted to stop them, the cute high school cheerleader, Andy, who Brand liked, and her friend Steph, the semi-plain looking, but fun companion. 
Unfortunately, the Goonies, named for the place where they live, the Goondocks, houses were being bought out by a wealthy land owner (and let's be honest, is there any other type?) . Living their last days in their homes, the Goonies found a map, a map to the lost treasure of One-eyed Willie, a local pirate legend story. This set them on their new adventure, for better or for worse. 

A look at "Marvels"

"Marvels," is one of those graphic novels that snuck up on me. I was at the library one day, and happened to see a book with the art of Alex Ross staring back at me. I liked it enough to actually pick it up, assuming it was just a drawing book of his work within the Marvel Universe. I didn't expect to do much than to leaf through it, be impressed and then put it back. 


My surprise came at the fact that there was a real story here. It wasn't just a bunch of reflections by Ross about his time and effort into doing these pictures, and about how great he is. No, instead, it has a story that is both engaging to read and enduring. This is powerful stuff by author Kurt Busiek, mixed with an amazing amount of art that helps illustrate it. 


"Marvels" is about just that. It's about when the Marvel Universe came to the world. It tells the story from the perspective of Phil Sheldon, a working man who is trying to make it in the newspaper business as a photographer. He is young and just beginning to get into living his life, getting married, moving into a new house, even going to war to do his time required of him. It all changes suddenly one day, however, when the superheroes of the Marvel Universe appear. It starts off small, but before long, they are everywhere. Phil will spend this time taking and gathering pictures about these people, giving him a reputation for having an eye and a gift for this sort of thing. 

hetalia (ugh... again?)

Today I will talk about South Italy, Greece, and Turkey.

South Italy was taken care of by Spain most of his life. He was almost sold by Spain to France and was kidnapped by France.

 Greece is really laid back and chillaxes all day. He sleeps a lot of the day and is super obsessed with cats. He tries to renovate but he keeps finding ruins.

 Turkey is super mysterious and wears a mask. That's it.

-adevlupes

hetalia (once again)

Today I will talk about Austria, Hungary, and Spain.

Austria is one of many people that live in Germany's house. He mooches off of him and doesn't really know how to do any thing.

Hungary is the person who has done most of the things for Austria and has stood up for him against Prussia.

 And Spain is just as helpless as Austria but can still survive on his own. He also took care of south Italy for a while

-adevlupes

Some thoughts on Tron: Legacy

This is a copy and paste of the review I wrote for Facebook. I will offer some additional comments at the end. 


"Tron: Legacy is an amazing movie. It has some of the most wildly imaginative spacial effects that there are to offer. The story is pretty well done, even though there are still elements that aren't original. Still, there is a lot there to love and that is the best about it. Is this movie for everyone? No. There are many who have looked at this movie and written it off. That is too bad. It is filled with adventure and really cool things to watch. It is a great revisit to some characters that we are familiar with, if you watched or remember the original, while giving us new characters to enjoy. Is there problems in the movie? (Spoilers, just in case) Isn't there always? One of the biggest problems I have is with the de-aging of Flynn. In the old days, they would have just put some makeup on Jeff to make him look oddly old, my wife would have complained about it, and we would have gone on with our lives. Now, with digital technology, we feel its something that we must use for everything, and, in this case, it doesn't always work. The major issue being that his eyes looks mostly off and his mouth seems weird. I am glad that they tried this route, but I wish it had been better. Also, we are given loads of introductions into this world, yet we aren't given a ton of time to get adjusted. That being said, when we are able to move around said world, it's amazing. I wish that there had been a bit more given to one of the characters, but maybe one day, if they follow this up, there will be more time. What worked? So much more. The games were awesome. The action is top notch. The surprises are really wow- inducing, and the ultimate outcome is a bit shocking and sad. The End of Line club is great, Daft Punk's score is amazing, and the little bits and pieces that they put in there for the fans of the original made me smile in so many ways. Yes, I feel this movie is good. I am so happy that this film turned out as good as it did, and I was able to return to a world that I loved as a kid and as an adult. I hope it does well, and we can get other movies."


This movie came out, made very little money, made very few waves, then disappeared. Why? Well, that's where it gets interesting. Or not. In any case, I think that it suffered from two major issues.

The importance of Back to the Future

I remember that day so well. My dad, being a physical education teacher, decided to give me this challenge: climb a rope at his school and get to see a movie. I hated that. So very much. To climb this huge rope to the top was a daunting task, at best. I had been trying to do it forever, only to fail. Yet, somehow, this deal seemed to be a motivator.

So what movie did I chose? What movie did my Dad take me to? He took my 8 year old self to see Back to the Future. When I got to see the movie, I was amazed. I remember just how floored I was by the very idea of time travel. Of course, I didn't understand why or what it was. It was just some kid who went back into the past. I loved it. If nothing else, I loved the Delorean. For years, I had no idea what that car was, but it was silver and it made noise, the doors lifted up, and it sparked and left a fire trail. All in all, I was stupefied.

So why, after all these years, do I still fall back on this? Yes, the nostalgia does play a huge part and just how wonderfully it holds up after all this time, even filled with full on 80's sensibilities and clothes, but there has to be something else. I think it's because even after all this time, I still can't wrap my head around the idea of traveling back in time.

For those who don't know the film, and if you don't I feel sorry for you, it is about Marty McFly, your average high schooler whose family seems plagued with bad luck. His parents are losers, his family is a mess, and his dreams are crushed. After he is able to go back in time, he meets up with his parents and almost is lost because of the changes he's made. In the end, he travels back home and finds his whole life has changed.

Next time, you wear it!

Doc Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd, has always been one of my favorite characters. He is a mad scientist type, who invents the time-machine to travel through time, solving some of the Universe's biggest mysteries. He's a blast to watch and somehow, when I was a kid, he was just so darn funny. His facial expressions and over-the-top acting skills are just dead on. Not to mention that hair.

Marty is played by Michael J. Fox, who just screams that aura of teenage years. You can really see this kid growing up in this time, in this place, in this world. He was the character that I most wanted to be like when I grew up (from this movie) just so I could go back in time! His "life preserver" vest was always something cool that, even when that fashion went away for good, I still secretly wanted one. And the fact that he could ride behind a car on a skateboard while holding on to the back bumper? Who didn't want to do that? He was a cool teenager! I was never that cool in high school.

hetalia (again)

Today I will do Prussia, Lichtenstein, and Egypt. Prussia is Germany's big brother. He is constantly making fun of Germany even though he lives in his house. Also when he learned to talk, he kept a diary and has never missed a day writing in his diary. Lichtenstein's big brother is Switzerland who is very protective of her toward Austria. And last but not least, Egypt doesn't talk at all.


-adevlupes

Soap operas are neither soap nor operas. Discuss.

The current decline of the soap opera is a tragedy. For me, soaps are bonding with my sister over long summers of Another World. Soaps are sick days spent bundled up on the couch with my mom, watching General Hospital. Soaps are evenings of dedicated YouTube searching, looking for the clip that shows John Paul and Craig finally, finally getting their sunset ending on Hollyoaks.

Soaps give me an almost giddy sense of nostalgia. You wouldn't expect them to give a lot of attention to continuity; characterization, motivation, and emotional arcs veer wildly from extreme to extreme, and aging is always subject to the whims of casting, so why would story continuity matter? But when I tune in to the weekly repeats of General Hospital on Sundays, I see call-backs to storylines and characters I remember from when my roommate used to watch the show thirteen years ago ... sometimes even from when my mom used to watch it twenty-five years ago. I can't even tell you how hard I smile when Robin Scorpio is on the screen, still played by the same actress I used to see when she and I were both eight years old.

I've also derived a lot of joy over the years from seeing actors from soaps go on to wider success. Every time I see Amber Tamblin in something, I think of Emily Quartermain, drunken teenager. At the height of her fame, I never admired Anne Heche more for any role than I did for her turn as good and evil twins Vicky and Marley. James Franco, Sarah Michelle Geller, Nathan Fillion ... so many successful actors started out on soaps.

Every time another soap gets cancelled, I feel a stab of disappointment. I can't help but hope that the soaps that are left keep going for many, many years. I want to see the absurd drama and sweet romances, I want to watch tomorrow's stars before they're stars, and I want to be able to look back and 'remember when.' Sure, they're melodramatic and unrealistic and over-the-top. But so are 'reality' shows.

Al

hetalia (cont.)

More Hetalia! The countries I will talk about are America, England, France, Russia, China, and Sealand. First up, America is an egotistical little moron who always thinks he's the hero. Also, the only thing he eats are hamburgers and he has no sense of taste. England has equal amount of taste and his pastimes include pointing out other people's mistakes, going to war with France and knitting. France is the one all the girls on the show fall in love with, and I seriously don't care about him. Russia only drinks ... vodka (who didn't see that coming?).China ... I don't really pay much attention to.  And last and very certainly least is Sealand, who just wants to be a country. He has a nice sailor outfit.

-adevlupes

Superman: Earth One

J. Michael Straczynski's Superman: Earth One is amazing. However, it is another take on the origin of our favorite Krypton survivor, so if that isn't what you want, then you might want to move on. Also, if you are Superman origin purest, well, you're not going to find a lot here that you are going to enjoy. If you give it a chance, though, you might be able to see the gold that is hidden within the pages.

I remember seeing the cover to this book at one time and I immediately assumed that this was going to be a Twilight version of Superman, with an emo, whiny, boo-hoo superhero who has too many personal issues. Imagine my reaction when I found out that this was not the case. Yes, he is a younger Superman, almost like the Smallville version, but looking younger. He is young enough to know that he has these powers, but he is struggling with the idea of not really using them for much, preferring to use them sparingly. Sure, he wants to do the right thing, but he needs to find out what exactly the right thing is. This Clark can at times be off-putting. He is making what look like selfish decisions while he does his soul searching. In fact, this Clark almost feels like Peter Parker, kind of stumbling through his decisions and sometime rash decisions. He is learning to become Superman.

There is a bit of Smallville background, which is fine, but doesn't have a huge amount of pages, as this is Clark's entry into Metropolis, using his knowledge and abilities to get the good jobs and opportunities. At one point he heads into the Daily Planet, his iconic home, where is given some advice to keep trying, to which he walks away. It shows that for everything that is super about him, this Clark is still learning and still just starting.

Then the world is attacked. He is now forced to make that final decision, does he finally reveal himself to be the hero he can be, or does he stand by and watch the world end?

Okay, so it's Superman, so there is no surprise there, but the struggle to get to that point is important, learning along the way his world's background in the process.

This is just a darn good read. I am not the biggest Superman fan; he's never been a huge draw in my comic selections. The movies are good, for the most part (Superman the Movie, Superman 2, Superman 2: The Richard Donner Cut are standouts, to be sure), and I have read some stories involving him in different situations, such as Red Son, or True Brit. I have even read the Death of Superman, A World Without Superman, and The Return of Superman, not to mention many different stories where Superman makes an important appearance in, like Kingdom Come. So, yes, I do encounter him, but I am still not a huge Superman person. So, with the cover showing an emo-looking Superman in a hoodie, and the promise of yet another reboot, didn't sound appealing, but the reviews kept saying otherwise. Now, I understand why. This is well written, well illustrated stuff. It keeps the reader wanting more, even when it comes to its end. You want to know more about this Superman. How is he different? What will he do when another supervillain threatens his world? These questions may be left open in the end, but the story before gives us enough for the moment.

So is this recommended? I say yes. It's a good read, and an interesting new take on a classic tale. Even purists should find something here to enjoy. One of the few complaints I do have with it is that it does feel like the first part of a much bigger story. However, there doesn't seem to be anything announced that will be following it up. While that is a bummer, this is a good first step.

This is a hardback edition retail price of $19.99

--MGS

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