Reggie Blogged

New Year's Resolutions: No, Thanks

2012-01-02T04:58:00.001-05:00

Christmas 2011 was awesome and the new year is upon us. So what did I resolve to do for 2012? The same thing I've resolved to do every year: not a single thing.

A long time ago, I asked a co-worker what her new year's resolution's were for the new year. She told me she had none. She said if people wish to make changes, they can start them right away rather than wait for a new year. Her advice has stuck with me ever since as I have not made a single new year's resolution since 2002.

There's nothing really wrong with new year's resolutions. It's just that, 9 out of 10 times, they always get broken. I've never kept a single year year's resolution that I've made and I can't even remember what half of what them were. Most of them were probably broken in a week or less anyway.

Just what is it about a new year that makes us so eager to change ourselves or strive towards new goals? Does a new year bring a fresh start? A chance at a new beginning? Even now, I still can't answer those questions.

Why do new year's resolutions get broken so easily? Is keeping them too much work? Often times we strive to achieve too much and end up accomplishing nothing as a result. Set small goals first, get those done, then move on to bigger things.

As for making changes in the new year, you don't have to wait for a new year to roll around to shape your life up. If you want to change, change now. Like Thomas Jefferson said, "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today."

Christmas Eve Unwrapping

2011-12-24T23:00:00.000-05:00

When I heard everyone was going to open a gift on Christmas Eve, I thought that only extended to my nieces and nephew. Turns out everyone meant everyone. My sister has been crocheting for a while now she's she's good at it. She's so good that she made everyone in the family a scarf. It's ironic because I was thinking about buying a scarf but now I don't need to. Like a store bought scarf, this baby keeps my neck nice and warm and it has a sweet pattern to boot. I can't wait to try this thing out.

Virginia Beach: Year One

2011-12-20T06:08:00.000-05:00

On December 20, 2011, after a long road trip, I arrived in my new home, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Hard to believe it's been one year. It's a been an interesting year at that. I got to know my two nieces and nephew, growing more as an uncle as a result. After a lot of searching, I landed a nice job, making more money than what I did in Ohio and I work with some excellent people. I lived through my first hurricane and experienced a very low level earth quake. I saw the beach for the first time in my life and it was AWESOME.

Virginia Beach is a fantastic city. Town Center, the area where I spend a lot of my time, is a great place to shop. The Ocean Front, where the main Virginia Beach is located is absolutely beautiful and is a wonderful place to walk up and down. Despite the fact that many of the people in this city have no business being behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, I really do like living here.

A year may not seem like a lot of time but when I stop and think about it, it really is unbelievable to me that I've lived out one year of my life outside of Dayton, Ohio. I was determined to build a life for myself here and I've done just that. It's a good life, too. I have a good job, a wonderful family and I've made new friends. And yet, for all the things I've seen and done here, I'm still adjusting to my new home. So I guess I've still got some growing to do. I suppose there's no where else to go but forward. Just when you think you have everything in life figured out, it drops a new text book on your desk for you to read. It's true what they say, you really never stop learning.

First Thanks Giving in VA Beach

2011-11-26T03:28:00.001-05:00

Well I made it through my very first Thanks Giving in my new home of Virginia Beach. (Is it still considered "new" if you've lived somewhere for almost a year?) Thanks Giving is one of my favorite holidays. You get to good food (REALLY good food) and be with the family. I got to thinking back to when I was living on my own in Ohio. Two of the five years that I had my own place I celebrated Thanks Giving by myself. It certainly wasn't bad. I ate well and enjoyed the day off but it was still a bit lonely with my immediate family being so far away. I never really felt like imposing on anyone else so I declined any extended offers to have dinner with anyone else. This year, for the first time in years, I got to see all of them for the holiday.

Speaking of family, I got a call from my good friend Justin Moses back home in Ohio. I've known Justin since we were kids, so he's practically family to me. We talked about gaming related stuff but it was just great to hear from him. I keep in contact with all my friends from home on Facebook, but it's still nice to hear the voice of familiar people.

Hope everyone had a happy Thanks Giving. I know I did. I'm only bummed I missed the Macy's Thanks Giving Day parade. I hear one of my favorite video game characters made a guest appearance. Not only that, he was leading the floats.

Walk About

2011-10-07T15:27:00.001-04:00

One of the first things I did when I moved to Virginia Beach was go for walks around the neighborhood. Almost a year later, walking around town is still one of my favorite things to do here.

It's so peaceful to just walk around the area, listening to music, looking at my surroundings. Despite the fact that I'm still getting used to life here and that I still feel like an outsider, VA Beach is a very comfortable to walk about. Going out walking does a great deal to help me think, relieve stress, and it's just plain relaxing. Oh, and it's good exercise, too. Can't forget that.

I've decided that the best way to adjust to my life here is to take one day at a time. I'll deal with the uneasiness when it comes and just keep pressing onward. Nearly a year ago, I knew that moving here would be a big chance to take, but ultimately, I'm glad I took it.

Well, it's a beautiful day outside and I've got the day off work, so I think I'll do some walking.

Still Adjusting

2011-09-30T05:48:00.000-04:00

It's been nearly a year since I moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia. My father asked me some time ago, if it really sank in that I lived in VA Beach. At the time, I told him no and he responded by telling me that it could take a while before I fully adjust to living here. Even after being here for almost a year, I'm a little surprised that I'm still not 100% used to where I live.

The first time I moved I was too young to really remember. I was born in Cleveland, Ohio and my family moved to Dayton, Ohio a year or so after I was born. So despite being born in Cleveland, Dayton has always felt like my true home. I really like VA Beach, but since this was my second out of state move and with me now being much older for it to impact me, I'm not completely sure how to deal with some of these feelings.

When I'm not busy working, I get plenty of time to stop and think and it often hits me "Wow, I'm really living my life somewhere other than Dayton." I've said it before and I'll say it again. Making this move was not an easy thing for me. I guess some people deal with these things better than others, but speaking from my own personal experience, when you live one place most of your life and then you go somewhere else, that takes some time to get used to, much more time than I originally thought.

More than anything, I feel like an outsider. I walk down streets I've been down so many times now and go to stores I've been in over and over again and I still feel like an alien. I don't feel like this all the time, but it just bugs me that I that way at all and I can't wait for this feeling to go away. There have been times where I've run into people that know that I'm not originally from VA Beach. I'm not sure if it's from the sound of my voice (no, I don't have an accent or anything), or I'm just that transparent that people can tell right away.

Without saying too much about my job, I will say that I work with some terrific people and they were among the first friends that I made when I moved. Like the people I knew and worked with in Ohio, they are becoming like extended family to me. Yeah, that might make me sound like a clingy, emotional idiot, but one of the main things I learned in church is that family isn't all blood related.

Lately, I have been missing my friends, my extended family in Ohio a lot. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about them. So if any of you happen to be reading this post, know that you're in my thoughts and that I miss and love you.

Before this post sounds too overly negative, let me say that I do really enjoy living in VA Beach. It's a wonderful city. I get to see my nieces and nephew, father, sister, and brother-in-law, I make far more money than what I did in Ohio, and I've met some more great people. I guess it'll just take more time before I truly feel like I've adjusted to this new life.

What to Do

2011-09-20T02:02:00.000-04:00

It's been nearly 3 months since I made a post on this blog. Part of the reason for not writing anything here is that I've been busy writing on my gaming blog. The other reason is that I've been struggling with what I should write here.

When I started this blog back in March of 2008, it was primarily a comic-based blog, but since my interest in the medium had decreased so much, there hasn't been a great deal for me to talk about on that front. For a while, the blog did see a lot of activity regarding non-comic based posts before I made my move to Virginia Beach. But now, well, as I said, it's been a sizable gap since the last post.

I'm not entirely sure what I should dedicate this blog to. I think my father and sister have far more interesting things to blog about in their lives than I do. That's not to say I think my life is dull. Far from it. I guess it's just easier to write about gaming because I'm so passionate about it. I do still keep an eye on the comic industry so I could chime in on what's going on there. Or I could just continue to write about the things going on in my life. Should I write about what I like, or about what I think people would prefer to read about? Maybe I could do both.

One thing I have deiced on is to get out in the open why I'm so fed up with comics. There will be a nice detailed post about that coming up. I've also got some stuff to say about my life here in Virginia Beach and how I've been adjusting to it all. So while I haven't posted for some time, this blog is far from dead.

Going on 30

2011-06-30T17:15:00.000-04:00

I don't usually like to make a big deal of my birthday but people tend to make some birthdays more special than others. 13 is a magic number but 16 is seemingly even more important, but not as much as 18, which marks you as an adult while 21 let's (legally) you drink and partake of the wonderful joys of hangovers (never been one to do that).

So what does 30 get you? Well I really don't know, but lots of folks view it as a sign of that you're really getting old. But from everything I've seen and heard, 30 is the new 16. I mean, I don't particularly look or even feel that much older. Most people are surprised when I tell them my age. While I don't mind getting older (too much) it does serve as a reminder that our time on this Earth is limited. That makes me stop and think about what I've done with my life.

I don't have any major, grand scale achievements to my resume, but when I think back on my 20s, I did do two pretty important things. One was moving out and living on my own for the very first time. I got a lot of experience and grew even more of a backbone. The other was becoming an uncle, which is one of the best things that's ever happened to me and one of the most important titles I'll ever hold in my life.

It seems like my teenage years breezed by but my 20s moved at a snail's pace. And yet, I can recall being a teenage as if it were yesterday. Playing GoldenEye in the basement with friends, a bunch of us in the car driving around. Good times, good times. I made some new friends in my 20s and had a blast with them, too. I'm sure the 30s will hold some good memories as well.

Getting older also makes me think about things I'd like to do with my life. There are still so many things I haven't done. I'd love to check out Europe, visit New York, get some stories published and more. I'm not sure when those things will happen but I do want to make them happen.

The one thing I really hate about my birthday is when people sing it to me. This tends to happen at the numerous places I've worked. I've only been at my current job for two months and I work on Saturday (my birthday) but very few people there know it's my special day. So maybe I'll be spared the embarrassment of being sung to. Maybe.

Book Haul

2011-06-27T20:10:00.000-04:00

Like most people, I've always been a fan of Mickey Mouse. He's one of the few cartoon characters that's achieved the same iconic status as Bugs Bunny. I'm most familiar with Mickey's animated exploits, having never read any of the Mickey Mouse comics. When I saw Mickey Mouse: Race to Death Valley, I just knew it would be something I'd want to pick up.

Despite the title, Race to Death Valley packs numerous Mickey Mouse comic strip stories from the early 1930s. There's also some nifty bonus content including some very kind, lengthy words from Mickey fanatic Warren Spector of Epic Mickey fame. I've only thumbed through it so far, but this is looking like one very impressive book. This book marks the first time Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse strips have ever really been collected. With nearly 300 pages it may take me a while to read through this hardcover. The side of this one actually says "Volume 1." If that's an indication that there's more vintage Mickey Mouse comics to come, I hope Disney and Fantagraphics Books deliver the goods.

Who doesn't love The Far Side? If I had to pick 5 of my favorite newspaper comics, The Far Side would easily be in the top 3. I've actually got a number of Far Side books in my collection, but it's actually been more than 13 years since I've bought any Far Side material. I think the last Far Side book I bought was The Far Side Gallery 3. Barns & Nobles had some good deals on their books and at under 9 bucks each, it really was tough to pass on these.

The PreHistory of The Far Side is interesting not only because it contains commentary from creator Gary Larson on nearly every page, but it also features some of his rejected strips and even some artwork he did as a child. It's also one of the thickest Far Side books I've ever picked up, being very close to 300 pages. Of course, it has nothing on The Complete Far Side books, which are heavy enough to be doorstops. Maybe I'll get around to picking those up someday, but for now, I'm fine with what I've got. I'll probably read through The Far Side Gallery 2 first because it's a bit thinner than PreHistory.

DVD Haul

2011-06-10T03:00:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I'm still buying DVDs when Blu-Ray is all the rage. You wanna make something of it? I digress. While I usually stick to games for my entertainment, like anyone else, I enjoy a good flick or animated series. As I've said before, my interest in comics has waned considerably and continues to do so. Amazing Spider-Man continues to be an unfunny Joke, the changes and constant renumbering/relaunching of Ultimate Spider-Man are aggravating, and with DC's we're-not-calling-it-a-reboot-but-it-really-is-a-reboot-of-nearly-the-whole-DC-comics-brand announcement last week, it's that much easier to stick to animation when I want to get my super hero fix.

I was a huge fan of Grant Morrison's 12 issue run of All-Star Superman. The blend of retro elements from past Superman stories with more modern material made for one of my favorite stories I've ever read about big blue. The animated film version was written by Dwayne McDuffie, a huge contributor to the DCAU's Justice League Unlimited, one of my all-time favorite cartoons. Sadly Mr. McDuffie passed away one day before All-Star Superman hit the shelves back in February. I still can't believe he's gone and I may get teary eyed when I watch those creator's segments on my Justice League DVDs since I'm in the middle of watching the DCAU all over again. Since this was one of his last works, I figured I owed to myself to pick it up. I never met the man, but from what I've read and heard, in addition to be a superb creative talent, he was an all around nice guy. R.I.P. Dwayne McDuffie.

As much flack as Jeph Loeb gets these days, he did turn out some fine stories before he lost his creative steam and even some after that. I actually enjoyed his Public Enemies arc on Superman/Batman when I read the trade back in 2007. I thought the animate version of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies was even better than the comic it was based off of. Heck, even Jeph and artist Ed Guinness called Bruce Timm and co and told them they loved the film. If I recall the next arc after that one had something to do with Superman discovering Supegirl. I never did read that one but since I dug Loeb's first Superman/Batman story, I figure I may enjoy this animated version. That and and my brother-in-law told me it was awesome.

I'm ashamed to admit that I was not sold on Batman: The Brave and the Bold when I'd first seen what the art would look like. It was already clear that it would not be like that Batman of the DCAU, but when I caught the Christmas episode, Invasion of the Secret Santas!, that was all it took to convince me. I later found out that some of the same creative minds of the DCAU worked on The Brave and the Bold. Seeing Batman team up with and fight some pretty obscure characters from the DC world and Batman's history is pretty cool and I rather like the art style, which has a Jack Kirby feel to it. Neil Patrick Harris singing as the Music Meister in the musical episode, Mayhem of the Music Meister is the worth the price of admission alone. Considering what a box set of 13 episodes will cost you these days, I think $14.99 for both parts of season one is pretty good. I'm kinda bummed that there are no extras on these DVDs, but with over 600 minutes and 26 episodes of campy Batman goodness, do I really need more to watch?

I have yet to see a Hayao Miyazaki anime film that I didn't like. I haven't seen everything he's done, but what I've seen, I've really enjoyed. Kiki's Delivery Service is a movie I've been wanting to check out for a some time now. Every time I go to Best Buy I always walk by it, pick it up, look it over, put it back and go on about my business. Well I finally made part of my collection and it's actually the first Miyazaki film I own (everything else I've seen by the man was owned by friends). I think my nieces may like it too so I'm gonna try to sit down and look at it with them on Friday if they aren't out and about.

At the Beach with the Family

2011-05-28T20:44:00.000-04:00

It was one of those rare instances where nearly everyone in the family had Saturday off (Charles unfortunately had to work). I had originally planned to stay home and game all day but changes my plans because hey, who knows when we'll all be fortunate enough to have the same day off work.

Instead of going to the main Virginia Beach, we went to a beach that was about 15 minutes away from the house. It was my first time being to this particular beach and the first time I'd been to a beach that had way more than a handful of people. Kids and adults were having fun in the water, people were fishing, riding jet skis, ya you know, all the good fun activities you can do when you're that close to the ocean.

As always, the beach, no matter which one it is always impresses me. The view was phenomenal, the ocean crashing against the shore, the sound of the waves, the smell of the water, I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.

I watched my nieces and nephew play around in the water. Despite being only a year old, Samuel shows no fear of those crashing waves. He didn't even cry when some water got on his face. Nakiah loved to tube around in the water. I think she stepped further into the water more than any of us.

I actually did get my feet wet but I only wet so far. That whole not-being-able-to-swim thing could get messy. Still it was great to stand in the water if only a small part of me was in it. The water hitting my feet as I listened to music on my MP3 player and stared out at the ocean, man, that was awesome. I'm still cleaning sad out of my shoes and my bag. We'll probably be vacuuming the stuff up for some time but we had so much fun today. It was one of the best Saturdays I've had in a very long time. Definitely gonna have to do that again.

Stormy Weather Aftermath

2011-05-26T04:54:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, May 24th, we had a brief but nasty thunderstorm here in VA Beach a little bit after 4 PM. The winds were so strong that I feared rocks or even tree branches might have flown through the windows. My mom was on her way home in the middle of the mess but she made hit back safely, save for being drenched. My sister was out with her kids and she made unscathed. Same with my father.

I was getting ready for work when the storm came. The power kept flicking on and off when around 4:30, it was finally knocked out for a good, long while. It wasn't just my neighborhood that was without power. A good chunk of VA Beach was without electricity. There wasn't much to do at my job because the back up lights don't give you much to see and there's only so much you can do when your power is down. I was at work for about 2 hours then was sent home.

The power gradually came back in different places. Streets lights were also off in certain intersections. Combine that with many folks in VA Beach not knowing how to drive and crossing a street becomes very risky business. I have to say though, it was one of the few times I encountered some generous people behind the wheels of a car. There have been times I've had the signal to cross and idiots have pulled out in front of me, nearly making me lose a limb or worse.

We had Papa Johns Pizza for dinner with candles lit. Fortunately, we had some flash lights with batteries so seeing where we were going was not a problem. The real struggle for me was finding something to do with no electricity.

I was a bit sleepy so it was one of the rare occasions that I climbed into bed earlier. It's been taking me a while to fall asleep lately and it was after 10 when I laid down. When I woke up, I was annoyed when I looked at my clock to find out that it was only ten minutes until 12 AM. The power was, of course, still out. I think I begrudgingly fell back sleep a little while after that realization.

The second time I woke up, it was going on 3 AM. Still no power. I did have my sansa fuze + MP3 player to listen to and I was listening to some music on that to help get me to sleep, but when you're a night owl, going to bed early is hard. Staying asleep is even harder. There was also my DS to keep me occupied. I finished Gunstar Super Heroes after about an hour of playing with one of the characters. I didn't feel like finishing it with the other because one of the stages had irked me enough for one night.

I'd heard of people reading books in the dark with the aid of a flashlight. Never thought I'd do it, but I was done gaming for the night and I had some reading I'd been wanting to catch up on. So I passed an hour's worth of time reading a Guinness Book of World Records book (more on that in my other blog). As much as I enjoy gaming, the company of a good book is quite nice and even better when you've got some good tunes to hear. It was probably one of the best parts of doing without power, the other being dinner with my mom, dad and two nieces, something I don't get to do much of since I work a lot now.

I didn't want to completely drain my MP3 player's batteries or those of the flashlight so when the chirping of the birds became more frequent and daylight ever so slowly crept in, I went to sleep for the third time. I woke up a little after 10 and the power was back on. That had to be the longest I've ever gone without power in terms of bad weather. As bad as it was, it was a cakewalk compared to the people who were struck by that twister in Missouri. Some people still don't have power, but at the very least, many of us do have our lives.

MP3 Player Upgrade

2011-05-19T03:34:00.000-04:00

I've been aware for some time now that my first MP3 player, the Philips GoGEAR Vibe was much too small in terms of storage space. 4 GBs may seem like a lot but for someone that has a super extensive selection of music, 4GBs just wasn't going to cut it. There was also the issue with some skipping on songs. For a while, the skips on happened with certain songs but it worsened as I made new playlists. It got to a point where songs that normal wouldn't skip had multiple skips in them, which, understandably made enjoy my music that much more difficult.

Since I've been working for about a month now, I've been able to afford stuff again (which is oh so nice) and a top priority for me was replacing my old MP3 player with a superior model. After doing some browsing in Best Buy, I was disheartened that the prices for even 32 GB MP3 Players and 16GB iPods were rather steep. Even with what I make now, $230 and up is a lot to pay for a portable music player. That's like video game console money right there. I had just about given up when an employee recommended the SanDisk sansa fuze + 8GB MP3 Player.

Now I usually prefer to do some research on something before I buy. Nevertheless, I picked up the sansa fuze + without doing any reading up on the device. On top of that, I'd never even heard of this particular MP3 Player until I went in the store that day. Though I've used some of SanDisk's products before and I'm quite pleased with how well they've worked, I was still a tad apprehensive about the sansa fuze. For starters, it cost more than the GoGEAR Vibe did, but offering more storage space, that's to be expected, but it wasn't as much as the more costly players. What sold me on buying it was that the sansa fuze + storage space could be expanded with the microSD card. I picked up the 16 GB micro SD card for a whopping total of 24 GBs of storage space.

The sansa fuze + is about twice the size of the GoGEAR Vibe, which kinda sucks because I adored the small size of that thing. It also uses touch on the bottom half as opposed to more full on buttons, which took some getting used to. I had some trouble navigating the menus and picking my music due in part to the shuffle being turned on and not knowing what took me where. Of course now I can use the thing without any problems.

I have to say, I REALLY dig this thing. The touch buttons rock and the amount of space on this baby is awesome. Unfortunately, there are a few nitpicks. The touch buttons, awesome as they are are pretty sensitive. If you want to listen to a song or hear a playlist without accidentally skipping to another song or going to another menu, you pretty much have to set the thing on lock. It can also take a while to load up after adding more content to it. After the the almost non-existence loading I had on the GoGEAR Vibe, I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to it. It's almost as bad as putting up with loading on games. But, the good overtakes very little bad, so it's really hard to keep griping about such things.

So what became of the GoGEAR Vibe? Well, I know I said I'd hang on to it for sentimental value, but my mom was thinking about getting herself and MP3 player and the thought did cross my mind to give her my old one. 4 GBs of space is more than enough for her and she's had very little problems with songs skipping. I told her that if she ever encountered any trouble I'd just get her a new MP3 player. I feel kinda bad that I only used my first MP3 Player for about 5 months, but I really needed something with more space and my first player served me well. Besides, it seems fitting that my mom should get my first MP3 player since she bought it for me in the first place.

Lego Architecture

2011-04-27T07:32:00.000-04:00

Legos were always my favorite toy when I was a kid. Building and playing with them were some of the best times of my childhood. Even as an adult they still interest me. I've been wanting to purchase some newer Legos to build and put on display for some time now but I haven't had the cash until recently. A newer set caught my eye, the Lego Architecture series.

Lego Architecture is more geared towards adults than children. These stylish sets are based off real word locals and even come with building prints that the actual buildings were based off of. Pretty nice bonus feature if you ask me. I don't know a lot about architecture, but I'm still very intrigued by this Lego series. There are sets for the Rockefeller Center, the White House, Willis Tower, the John Hancock Center and others. I probably won't buy every set, just the ones that really catch my fancy. As it is, these Legos are the ones I'm craving the most now.

Art: Astro Boy Showcase

2011-04-24T19:59:00.000-04:00

Astro Boy in artrage by cuson

Astro Boy by Teben-the-Every

Astro Boy by monk-art

Reluctant Hero by KicsterAsh

astro boy quickie by pyawakit

Astro Boy for CyberneticHero by AtomicTiki

Astro Boy by Dark-Jessa

Tetsuwan Atomu by Duhokama

More Complete

2011-04-23T16:45:00.000-04:00

The main reason I haven't been doing much blogging here and at my other blog in the last four days is because I've been working. Working, working, working, working and working.

Work is exhausting but I like my new job. Strange as this may sound to some, working makes me feel more complete. I'm actually enjoying Virginia Beach even more now. Being able to afford stuff again will be nice to and I'll be able to help the family with bills.

A while ago, my father asked me if it had truly sunk in that I'm living in VA Beach. In all honesty, I'm still getting used to it, despite having lived here for about four months. I guess it really takes time for some people to adjust to a new location when you've lived in one state your whole life. Though I have to say that I do really like it here. It's peaceful, the weather is (mostly) great and best of all, my family is here and it's great seeing them everyday, something I couldn't do when I lived in Ohio. I miss my friends and I really haven't made any new ones but I suppose the new pals will come in time.

It Starts

2011-04-17T23:19:00.000-04:00

Well tomorrow is my first day at my new job. Kinda hard to believe this will only be the sixth job I've ever had. I'm sure people my age have had way more jobs than I've ever had. I wonder if that means I have less or more experience because of it.

It feels like the first day of school. I'm still a bit nervous but not nearly as much as before. More than anything, I'm glad I'll be working again. During the months I didn't work, it felt like my new life was stuck on hold. I didn't think it would take a little over three months to land a job but, I'm just happy to have one.

In the words of a certain Italian plumber, "Here we go!"

Life Without Internet

2011-04-01T21:19:00.000-04:00

*Sigh* It really is true what they say. "You don't know what you got until it's gone." When we live with something that we like for so long, we become very accostumed to it, so much so that we can't ever imagine how we'd get along without it. And yet, when it get's taken from us, we just have to somehow get by. In this case I'm referring to internet service (as if you couldn't tell).

Perhaps for whatever reason, you couldn't pay your bill and your ISP cut you off. Or your connection just doesn't feel like working (I especially hate it when this happens). Maybe the folks that you signed up with are doing a lousy job. Maybe some drunken, wreckless peon that was behind the wheel smashed something. There are a dozen scenarios but they all have the same basic conclusion: life without the internet sucks.

As I already mentioned, we've gotten so used to the internet. We use it on a daily basis. To be without is hardly living. Sure, you're alive, but you're practically dead inside. OK, so it isn't that dramatic, but I think you see where I'm going with this.

Whenever I don't have net serivce, I feel like I'm missing out on what's happening in the world. "Watch the news on TV." Feh. I rarely watch TV as it is and I can get acces to dozens of news feeds with just a few clicks on the internet. Being an avid facebook user, the net is also my means of keeping in touch with my friends back in Ohio and other parts of the globe. Not letting them know what I'm up to or not knowing what they are up to is a real bummer.

We all have to cope without the internet at various times in our lives. I've done it more times than I'd care to but I always survive. It isn't the end of the world. It's just a huge downer and I hate it. You know, I was just reading a column about a man that had to do without his wi-fi service the other day. Now I don't have internet. I believe that is what they call "irony."

Simple Technology

2011-03-29T00:02:00.001-04:00

Most people are a bit surprised when they find out I'm not a tech junkie. I don't know the first thing about fixing a computer, I probably couldn't tell you what the latest brand of ipod is, let alone alone all of it's features, and I'd probably look like a baboon talking on a basic flip phone. I can appreciate advancements in the technology that we use in our daily lives, but at the same time, I could do without some of them.

These day, we have phones, Androids, BlackBerry, Robot, whatever name they go by, that let let you go on the internet as well as come with all the bells and whistles of a standard phone like video, pictures, texting, and all the others that I can't even think of. Usually, when I go on the net, I do it from my PC. I don't text nor do I even know how to text. Unless you can say it to my face, in an e-mail, phone me, or post it on facebook, I probably won't get the message.

I'm perfectly fine with DVDs. Yes, I've seen the super crisp, crap-your-pants picture quality of Blu-Ray, but I don't feel like forking over even more money for better quality when DVDs have served me well over the past decade. Besides, it's taken me a while to build up my DVD collection and I don't even want to think about how much money replacing those with Blu-Ray would cost. As long as my 20th Anniversary DVD of The Goonies still works, I'm a happy camper.

I also like my video game systems to be simple. Most PCs these days already have built in DVD playback and your standard DVD players are pretty cheap too. When I buy a video game system, I want it to play games, not be some high end super computer. Adding extra features increases the system's price and with the rising cost of game and console development, shelling out even more cash is something we could all do without.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all the extra added stuff we get sucks. I'm certainly not looking down on people who take advantage of all the features a super phone gives them. I'm merely saying that I'm fine with basic tech. Who knows, maybe someday I'll do a 180 and fully embrace advanced technology and end up texting like a teenage fool.

Why No Comic Book Love?

2011-03-23T20:09:00.000-04:00

Since I started this blog back in March of 2008, I've done a plethora of posts about comic books. Early on, I did talk about other things, but it didn't take long for this blog to be dominated by comic book talk and comic related entries. That has died down considerably and not without reason.

As far as just comic books go, my interest in this was gone down quite a bit. The biggest factor in all of this relates to Spider-Man. The character has always been my favorite super hero and twice I've been there when Marvel has run the character through the ground. The first was during the Clone Saga in the 1990s when the company attempted to tell readers that the Spidey of the two decades they had been reading about had been a clone. The second was at the end of 2007 where they had Spidey make a deal with Satan to save aunt May in exchange for his marriage. If you've never heard of the story, I'll save you the trouble and say just say that it's even more stupid than it sounds and far worse than the Clone Saga. Unfortunately the dark days of Spidey were just beginning. After Spidey made his demonic pact, things just kept getting worse with the protagonist being portrayed as constant idiot, lame new villains, bland new supporting characters and bad writing. For the last 3-4 years the regular line of Spider-Man comics have been an unfunny joke.

The worst part is, there doesn't seem to be a clear end in sight for this mess. We've yet to really be shown anything that make's Peter's new girlfriend, Carlie Cooper, a worthwhile love interest and no, having the entire supporting cast tell us how awesome she is does not count.

Did I mention the insane amount of variant covers? Since Spidey sold his marriage to Satan and became single, just about every issue of Amazing Spider-Man since #546 has had multiple variant covers, so this sort of inflates sales numbers, which are a far cry from what they used to be before this debacle began.

There's also talk that the comic industry is headed back to the 1990s and from the actions we've seen both DC and Marvel take, there is some truth to this. Captain American was killed a few years back. He's all better now. Batman was killed recently. He's also fine and dandy. Seeing a pattern? Shock value and gimmicks seem to be taking top priority over telling a good story just as it was in the '90s.

Johnny Storm, the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four has just been offed and FF #587 was the last issue because the FF book is going to be rebooted. The issue where Johnny died was also polly bagged, just like Superman #75 was when big blue was killed. I'm sure Johnny will have had enough chicken soup to get better in time for FF#600, which is when the "new" FF book will go back to it's old numbering, something just about every single Marvel book has done.

I'm tired of rape stories, fed up with people in power making decisions to take books back to "the good old days," and I am sick, sick, SICK of comic heroes/villains being killed just to make the reader gasp, or I should say try to make the reader gasp because many of us already know that death in comics is super cheap.

My disdain for comic books doesn't mean I'm completely done with them. I still think Tiny Titans is a fantastic book for kids and adults and I want to check out the Disney BOOM! line of comics like Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck and DuckTales. I still have some DC graphic novels I need to pick up and talk about and when I get the chance I'll give me thoughts on those. There are also things I'll being talking about that relate to comics such as some shows in the DCAU (DC Animated Universe), which is my all-time favorite series of cartoons.

New Spidey Costume Thoughts

2011-03-23T18:28:00.000-04:00

Yes, this is old news but whatever.

Everyone has had there say on the new Spider-Man costume for the upcoming reboot (regardless of what Avi Arda says, it IS a reboot). I honestly didn't think it was a bad-looking suit upon seeing the first picture. Then more pics came out and it got ugly. No, ugly is too nice a word. Rather than go into serious detail about the suit like everyone else has, I'll just let Jay Sherman sum it up for me.

Bullying the Bullies

2011-03-21T06:18:00.000-04:00

Last week Richard Gale, some 12 year old punk looking for his 15 minutes of internet fame thought it would be a good idea to bully 16 year old Cassey Heynes. Cassey endured one sucker punch and four jabs before he snapped and went Zangief on the 12 year old upstart. One doesn't have to eat a concrete sandwich to know that it doesn't taste good but I guess some people really are so stupid that they need to have an example made out of them. You can probably tell that I don't have an ounce of sympathy for the little snot.

The interesting thing is, Cassey was bullied for three years. That means that Cassey didn't go all pro wrestler on his attacker out of the blue. There was some build up behind this. Gale just happened to be the one that made Cassey say enough is enough. If the bully read TVTropes, he'd have known that you really shouldn't provoke nice people because when nice people get angry, it tends to be a lot worse than someone who's always mad. There was also that noticeable size difference, but from what the video showed, the bully wasn't very bright.

Bullies continue to be a problem on school grounds. When you have a problem that's as old as dirty, finding a solution is not easy.

"Just ignore it," is probably the most common advice on escaping a bully's wrath and the most pathetic. Cassey tried ignoring his bully and it clearly did not work.

"Stay with a group of friends," is also frequently given advice but there are bullies that could care less if your pals are with you. Not only that, you can't be with your friends all the time in school.

"Tell a teacher." Now teachers know that bulling is a constant problem and unless they are present at the time when the punches get thrown, they can't do anything about it until after the fact. All schools have a no tolerance policy on bullying and anyone caught fighting in any manner usually get suspended. I guess this is the best schools can do to combat bullying but in my personal opinion, I don't think schools really know how to deal with it at all.

The worst thing about being bullied is that if you even defend yourself by fighting back, you get put out of school for a few days. Stand there and take it and you get to stay in school but you're still a victim. What we have here is a no win situation because schools really don't know what to do to stop the bully problem.

Schools are freaking out because this video went viral and are now afraid victims will start slamming bullies on the ground. They act like this is the first time a bully has had a taste of his own medicine. Bully victim has been snapping for years. This is just one of the times where it was caught on video and became insanely popular. What the schools are missing is the reason it's so popular is because the lousy school system has never really fought back against the problem. Any kid that has been bullied will tell you that being a victim sucks and since the school won't do anything about it, these kids are starting to take matters into their own hands.

Now I like to avoid violence and as much as I wish bullying didn't exist, we all know that's not the kind of world we live in. So as it stands, kids have two choices. Stand up for yourself and get suspended. Take a beating and stay in school. Life isn't fair, but what else is new?

Vegetables are Tolerable to Me Now

2011-03-12T23:18:00.000-05:00

"Eat your vegetables so you can grow up to be big and strong."

How many times have we heard that one? When you were a kid, odds are you hated veggies with a passion. Whenever they were on my plate, they would be the only food that remained on my plate. Though I can recall one time where my mom really wanted me to finish the green food that I'd hoped I wouldn't have to eat, for the most part, my parents never really forced veggies on me.

I never thought I'd warm up to them, but I find eating vegetables has become easier over the years. I'm not saying I load my plate up with them or I eat them on a daily basis (because I don't), but whenever they are an option, I have been eating them.

Green beans, one of the my previously most despised veggies are now tolerable to me. I can eat greens pretty easily now, too. Broccoli, however, must have cheese on it or I'm not touching that it. Period. I'm still not fond of brussels sprouts either. Nearly anything else I'm fine with.

Window Shopping Sucks

2011-03-04T23:35:00.000-05:00

You're walking about in the mall, comic shop, video game store, or wherever it is you shop. Something catches your eye and you just gotta have it! Only you can't because you either don't have the cash or the money you do have in your pocket has to go towards something else. I HATE window shopping.

In these tough times there are probably more window shoppers now than there have ever been. I don't mind looking to kill time. That's what I call "Optional window shopping." But when I absolutely can't buy a thing and have to look at things I want to have like a prisoner behind bars, that's called "Sucks to be you window shopping!"

Of course what I also hate is my nagging conscience. The stores can't make money unless customers buy things and I tend to feel bad for doing so much window shopping these days. Gah. Now I made myself feel bad just writing about this. Meh.

Sail Over the Storm

2011-02-28T18:30:00.000-05:00

I like living in Virginia Beach, I really do. The weather is nice, it's peaceful here and most importantly, I love being with my family. Unfortunately, the next chapter in my life has been marred by an old nemesis I'm sure many of you are all too familiar with: financial struggle.

It's been a little over 2 months since I've been here and I've yet to find a job. I've lost track of how many applications I've filled out and I haven't even had a single interview yet. You'd think the job Market in VA Beach would be better than that of Ohio, but after all the looking I've done, I'm really starting to wonder.

This isn't the first time in my life I've been jobless but not having a job is easily one of the worst things that can happen to anyone. Not only do I myself have my own bills to pay, but I want to help the family with the house bills as well. And it isn't just that I need to work. I want to work. Not having a job makes me feel like dead weight because I'm unable to help out and that makes me feel useless. It also means I have far more free time on my hands than I'd like to have. Free time is nice but not when it's the only time you have. However, if I don't keep myself occupied, I go crazy.

Still, I've experienced what seemed like overwhelming odds before and I've come out alive. When things get rough, you just gotta find something to hold on to while your ship is being tossed around by the waves and sail over the storm, no matter how bad it may be. Storms may go on for a while but they don't last for forever. Soon or later, the sun will come up.

At the Beach, Take 2

2011-02-16T23:35:00.000-05:00

I went back to what I now believe is the main beach of Virginia Beach today. Originally, I had planned to walk along the shore, but the experience was marred by my shoes, which do not have flat bottoms. I suppose I'll have to get a pair of flip-flops eventually. Today wasn't really a day for that type of footwear, though. Despite being in the upper 50s, it was still somewhat cold when I got closer to the ocean. Still, what little walking I did was nice.

I got so close to the water that I could smell it. I would have liked to get closer but I didn't wanna get pulled in by the crashing waves and I really didn't feel like taking a chance on getting my clothes wet. Being closer to the ocean than ever before was awesome, even for someone who lacks the ability to swim. When it gets warm, I'll probably step in and get my feet wet.

Sometime ago, I saw a photo of the King Neptune statue. Since then, I've been wanting to see it for myself but I had no idea it was on the same beach I was visiting. Turns out the statue itself is pretty huge, in fact much larger than I thought, standing over 30 feet tall. It was really cool to see it up close and someday I'm gonna have a photo snapped of me standing in front of it.

Nearly an hour had passed and after multiple attempts, I was finally successful in forcing myself to leave. One day when it's much warmer, I'd like to spend a whole day there. After just two trips, I've fallen hopeless in love with the beach.

First Time at the Beach

2011-02-12T17:21:00.000-05:00

While out with my mom the other day, we went and saw one of the beaches in Virginia Beach. I didn't think I'd get to see the beach until it got much warmer outside but the area we were in was right by the coast. This was the first time in my life I had ever seen the beach. I was completely awe-stuck. Even though we only stayed for a few minutes, it was beautiful. Really, words and photos don't even begin to describe it.

To me, the beach was more than just sand and water. Much, much more. The ocean stretched on forever, the clouds seem to touch the water, the waves crashed against the shore. I could see boats and cruise ships out in the distance. The beach is hands down one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I could have easily spent hours there just walking along the shore.

I really can't say enough how spectacular it was and I can't wait to go back there. It seems like the perfect place to relax with a book or just listen to some music while staring back at the waves. The beach is simply breathtaking.

"So Where Ya From?"

2011-02-08T20:59:00.000-05:00

Well, if finally happened, although much later than I thought it would. While looking for an umbrella in K-Mart the other day, an employee asked me if he could help me out. I asked where the umbrellas where and he pointed me in the right direction. After that, he asked me where I was from. I guess he somehow knew I wasn't originally born in Virginia.

See, I figured I'd get asked that question much sooner, like say a week or two after moving to Virginia Beach. I also thought I'd get asked that question a lot more often. I mean, VA Beach is a huge tourist zone and new people float in and out of this city all the time.

Also, would having that question be asked by an insanely beautiful woman be too much to ask? (Sigh) Life is so unlike all the movies and sitcoms. At least for me.

Waiting in Public

2011-02-03T22:39:00.000-05:00

I'm in Lens Crafters on Wednesday waiting to be attended to so they can make some much needed adjustments to my glasses. It isn't a huge store and I went during the evening hours. There were only two employees in the place and only one other customer besides me in there at the time. Time I sat there waiting for them to get to me? Over fifteen minutes. Now I could understand if the place was swamped with customers, but it wasn't and from what I could tell, the worker was getting chummy with the customer, which is fine, but when you got people waiting, stow that stuff away and get to work.

I try not to be impatient when I have to wait in public places. I try not to let me body language or facial features show that I am bored out of my skull and sick of waiting around. Basically, I like to give the impression that even though I've been sitting around forever, everything is fine and dandy. But sometimes the act falls apart and I end up showing how I truly feel. If the employees are nice and apologize for the wait, I feel bad for being impatient. Still, I think I do an OK job of handling myself while I'm out in the public eye waiting. I mean, I haven't blow up or anything or had to be escorted out by security so I guess that counts for something.

Watch Your Mouth

2011-01-31T20:58:00.000-05:00

I'm not one to spout profanity and those that do, that's perfectly within your first amendment rights. However, I do believe in being careful with what you say around children and this is something I'm always being reminded of by Ava and Nakiah, my two nieces.

Again, I don't swear but there have been some words I've had to practice not saying while I'm around them. They haven't given me the full list (yet), but thus far, I've found that no one in the house is allowed to say the following.

Kill
Dead
Death
Die
Dying
Died
Crud

Yes, as silly as it may sound I'm not allowed to use the word "crud," which is actually one of my favorite words. Every time anyone in the household says the above words, we'll immediately get corrected for it. "You're not allowed to say that," Ava will tell us and we'll apologize. Being a gamer and death being a large part of gaming, I've had to replace my usual words of dying with the girl's term "done for." I wonder if "doom" is acceptable.

The funny thing is, this isn't something mom and dad taught them. No, they picked this up all by themselves and everyone in the house respects their wishes. I'm sure they'll probably grow out of it eventually and start using these words later on in life, but for now, I'm proud of them for putting a limit on what can and can't be said at such a young age.

I Still Like to Read Books

2011-01-24T22:07:00.000-05:00

No matter how far the internet has progress and despite all it has given us, I firmly believe there will always be a place for printed materials. I spend a great deal of time reading articles on my PC and as much as I love it, there's nothing like having a book or magazine in your hands. The feel of the pages, being able to take the book anywhere you want (I don't have a laptop yet), laying on the sofa, reading to your own music, it's all very relaxing.

Before the boom of the internet, and even after, one of my favorite things to read were video game magazines. I took them to school, to work, just about everywhere. I think the last time I had a subscription to a game magazine was when I moved into my first apartment. For whatever reason I didn't re-subscribe, but I still picked up magazines off the news stands and flipped through them. It wasn't until a few weeks ago when I saw a copy of Retro Gamer (a magazine I never thought I'd actually hold in my hands) that I was reminded of just how much I loved to read game magazines. When I'm able to, I think I'm gonna subscribe to Retro Gamer.

I've also got an extensive manga collection. It would be even larger but I'd put my money towards other things. The last manga I did pick up were the Mega Man Megamix titles. At $12.95, they run higher than what I'm used to getting but it was worth every penny. I still have to finish the interviews and character profiles from Megamix vol. 2 before I can move onto vol. 3. Now that I have a portable mp3 player, I'll be able to read Megamix while I listen to Mega Man jams away from my computer.

Further proof that books will always be around in print, just about any time I go into a Borders or Barns & Noble, there's a good chunk of people inside. Some things are just irreplaceable, even by technology.

They Grow 'em BIG in VA Beach

2011-01-24T01:33:00.001-05:00

My father and sister told me up here in Virginia Beach, the bugs can get pretty big. During the month's long time I've been here, I've seen more roaches than I'd like and most of them seemed about the same size as the ones I had seen in Ohio. No big deal, right? That all changed this evening.

It wasn't until I was about to go upstairs that I saw just how big the bugs here can get. At first I thought it may have been one of my nieces' toy bugs. However, as I reached my hand towards it, the thing actually moved. The thing was alive and that sucker was HUGE! I'm not exaggerating when I say he was a big as my thumb. I dubbed it the Roach King. Never in my life have I seen a roach, no, a bug so big! I ran for the bug spray and let him have it. I sprayed that sucker multiple times to make sure he died.

You know, now that I think about it, the roach could have been a female. Not that it hardly matters. I'm an equally opportunity bug killer. Unless that roach is helping around the house in some way, he/she is gonna get the spray. Worse part is, it probably won't be the last time I see a bug that big. And if I heard right, they get even bigger!

Toy Nostalgia

2011-01-15T00:07:00.000-05:00

For a while now, I'd been thinking about getting reacquainted with some of the old toys I grew up with. What clinched it was when my brother-in-law Charles brought home a ton of cars for my nieces to play with.

I think most of the cars were of the Hot Wheels brand, but there were also some from Matchbox. There isn't a single guy I know that has not played with cars at some point when they were children. As I watched my nieces play and look at the cars, I was reminded of how much fun I had when I was a kid playing with cars. It made me recall the famous Hot Wheels track Criss Cross Crash track.

It also got me thinking of another brand of toy car I loved. These weren't as popular as Hot Wheels, but I always thought they were still awesome in their own right. Remember the Turbo Tricksters? Pull 'em back and watch 'em speed off, or pop a penny in the back and watch 'em do tricks. I even have fond memories of sneaking those things into school to show off to my friends. Ah, those were some good times.

More than Hot Wheels and Turbo Tricksters, my all-time favorite toy has got to be Legos. There are so many different sets of Legos out today, but even when I was a kid, there was still a lot them. Sometimes I would just flipped through the Lego catalogs my sister and I got with our Lego sets, see other Legos and salivate over those. Of course our own collection was nothing to scoff at. We had fire Legos, police Legos, town Legos, Black Trons, and some of my absolute favorite, pirate Legos.

Lately, I've been thinking of buying a few Lego sets here and there to build and display. I'll mostly stick to smaller sets, maybe buy a bigger set every now and then. I'll probably buy some Hot Wheels cars from time to time, too. And yeah, some Turbo Tricksters.

Movies I Haven't Seen

2011-01-11T22:41:00.000-05:00

A few of my friends always respond in visual and verbal shock when I tell them I've never seen a film that practically everyone else living already has. I love movies, but I'll freely admit that I've always leaned more towards animation for my graphical entertainment that doesn't involve me holding a controller. So for no one's amusement but my own, here's a list of movies I've never seen. From old to modern day stuff. *Deep breath*

Right Stuff

King Kong

Casablanca

Pulp Fiction

Fight Club

Troy

Sin City

Iron Man 2

Scarface

The Godfather Trilogy

Cliffhanger

Gone with the Wind

When Harry Met Sally

Lilo and Stich

Full Metal Jacket

Bonnie and Clyde

Bride of Frankenstein

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Reservoir Dogs

Citizen Kane

Rent

Drunken Master II

Avatar

Braveheart

The Fly

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Warriors

Goodfellas

Fantasia

Unforgiven

Dirty Harry (all the movies)

Old Dogs

The Blind Side

The Great Debaters

Seven Samurai

The Terminator

Apocalypse Now

The Silence of the Lambs

Vertigo

The Shining

Alien

Aliens

Alien 3

Spirited Away

To Kill a Mockingbird

2001: A Space Odyssey

Gladiator

The Great Escape

The One

Kill Bill Vol. 1

Kill Bill Vol. 2

The Thing

Star Trek (2009)

Oh and by the way, this isn't even all of them. Not even close.

Back to My Own PC

2011-01-09T17:50:00.000-05:00

Over the last few weeks, I've been accessing the internet through my sister's and father's computers. I'd like to once again thank them both for letting me use them. They've got fine-working PCs.

Really, though, there's nothing like having your own computer to use. Kinda like that old saying. How does it go? Oh, yeah.

"There's no place like home."

Portobal Music Players FTW

2011-01-04T03:21:00.000-05:00

Once again I am late to the party. While just about everyone else I know has had a portable music player in some form or another (iPod, iPhone, etc.) for years, I wasn't able to get in on the act until a few weeks ago.

My mom, sweet lady that she is, let me pick out any on-the-go music device of my choosing. Originally, I had my heart set on an iPod. I'd wanted one for a few years now but when I went looking online for prices on how much green a meatier iPod would cost (80-120 GB), I had no intention of having my mom spend $250-$300 on little ol' me. Looking for an alternative, I settled for the Philips GoGear ViBE 4GB MP3 Player.

Let me just say that going out walking while I hear the music of my choice is AWESOME! Seriously. I know it may sound like I'm overreacting over a simple thing as an mp3 player, but as a huge music lover, being able to hear what I want, when I want is a Godsend. I don't know how I got by without one of these babies. I can exercise to Yuzo Koshiro's Streets of Rage albums, or go walking to various versions of Guile's theme from Street Fighter. It does go with anything, after all.

Nearly all of the music on my mp3 player is that of video game tunes ("geek music" as I often call it) and even though my storage space is only that of 4GB, I'm still able to get many of my favorite jams on here. In the event that I ever do fully fill the thing up (given my HUGE music library, this is more than likely to happen), I can just swap my playlists in and out.

Somewhere down the line, I'll probably get an mp3 player with more storage space, but for now, I'm pretty content with what I have. Even when I do upgrade, I think I'll still hang onto the GoGear ViBE. Sentimental value and all that.

New Guy In Town

2011-01-02T02:53:00.000-05:00

I've been living in Virginia Beach for two weeks now, and yet it still feels a little strange. I suppose it takes some time to fully adjust when you've lived in one place for most of your life and then you move somewhere else. I'm not sweating it too much. I might not look like it, but I'm a fighter so I'll survive.

Thankfully, the part of VA Beach that I'm staying in is really nice. The neighborhood is quiet, clean, and a lot of good stores are within walking distance. Speaking of walking, one of the first things I did during my first week here was take a walk around town during the noon/evening hours. I still had a lot going through my head and I wanted to familiarize myself with the town. After a few days at it, I was finally able to get back to my apartment without getting lost. Yaay, me.

The weather here is really nice. Yeah, it does get cold but not as cold as Ohio. Also, the spring weather shows up real early here. Today, it got up to near 60, something I noticed after I already had on all my warm clothes when I went out walking.

One thing I'm kinda bummed about having to do is get a new job and make new friends. Job hunting is never fun and I loved my previous job. I wish I could have brought it and all my co workers with me. Same goes for all my friends.

"I have to make new friends." That sounds sorta pathetic coming out of the mouth of a man who is twenty nine and a half years old. Just thinking about that makes me sigh. I'm keeping in touch with all my old friends via facebook, but I'll still have to go through the whole friend-making process again. Oh well, I know I'll make new pals. What would really be nice if all the cute, pretty, and or hot female friends I'll make aren't attached this time around.

Gaming with the Nieces

2010-12-31T03:17:00.000-05:00

Most little girls are into the usual things. Candy, dolls, coloring, etc. My nieces Nakiah (6) and Ava (3) are no exception, but surprisingly, more than anything else, they share an interest in what is easily my favorite hobby, video gaming.

My sister had already told me the girls were into video games but I never knew just how much until I had actually sat down and watched them play. I mean, the two of them are still very girly to be sure, but of all the things for them to take a liking to, gaming is the last thing I'd expect. My brother-in-law Charles is a gamer himself so that probably has something to do with it. At the same time, not every child is into what their parents are into, so it still amazes me that they dig the vid games.

Nakiah, is usually pretty quick to pick up on how a particular game works. If she loses a few lives, she may ask for help. Ava will immediately ask for help if she has trouble. I feel kinda bad for helping because I want them to be able to do things on their on, but I don't want them to fail either. So yeah, I get conflicted at times, silly as that sounds.

The best thing about my nieces being into gaming is that they are very flexible about it. They like old and new-school games. Perhaps it's due to their age but visuals are never even a factor on whether they can enjoy a title or not. So they can just as easily go back to watching their uncle R play some original Super Mario Bros. after beating each other down in Street Fighter IV.

Just as much as they enjoy playing, they like watching me play games as well. I wouldn't be fulfilling my uncle duties if I didn't show off the game skills for the kids.

Back Blogged: The Road to Virginia Beach

2010-12-28T16:24:00.000-05:00

Let me get the bad out of the way first. The trip to Virginia Beach was LONG. Even though we left a little bit before 10PM, we didn't arrive until sometime after 1PM. The funny thing is that my dad actually told me that we made good progress by departing at the time we did. By leaving during the night hours, far less people were on the road. Of course we still weren't spared the curse of idiot drivers. Some crazy lady merging on the highway nearly ran my dad and I off the road.

The trip also took a lot out of us physically. I'm not used to getting sleepy at 12 and 1AM, so you can imagine my surprise when my eyes get heavy and the rest of my body starts shutting down quicker than what I'm used to. I was also disoriented for the rest of the week, constantly forgetting what day it was. I ended up taking a few naps during the week to get my energy back, which is rare for me.

Now for the good. The sights were awesome. Virginia is loaded with wall-to-wall mountains that seem to stretch on forever. I wish I could have seen them during the day time, but even at night, they still looked pretty. Maybe I was so awe-struck because I don't see stuff like this everyday. I only wish I had a camera! The image above is one I pulled off the google search engine.

Back Blogged: Visiting Old Friends

2010-12-28T04:18:00.000-05:00

Before we left for Virginia Beach, we attended the Christmas service at New Life Worship Center, a place that has for years, been a second home to me. Most of the people there have known me since I was in Huggies so it's kinda hard to believe it's been nearly four years since I saw any of them.

We were surprised to find out that only a handful of people knew we would be coming. I mean, old friends coming to visit, you think that kind of thing wouldn't really stay a secret. We weren't expecting it to be, anyway.

In a way, most people not knowing we were coming made it that much more enjoyable. I don't think I've ever gotten so many hugs in my life. We were greeted with smiles, laughter, and love. I always draw strength from the people at New Life and the visit there was no exception. It was like no time at all had passed since we'd last saw everyone.

As I said before, the people at New Life are like family to me and they always will be.

Back Blogged: Last Day at Work

2010-12-27T01:25:00.000-05:00

Ah, the last day at work. The final hurah. If you despise your job with a passion, you're only more than happy to walk out that door and never look back. I guess that's the voice of experience because I once worked a job that I loathed for years, despite the good pay. Or it could just be the voice of common sense. But I digress.

December 17th, 2010 was my last day working at Boulevard Haus. I was only there for nearly 10 months but my time spent was memorable, thanks in large part to the people I worked with, many that I knew from my previous job at a place called Cena. Of course the new faces were just as awesome as the old ones.

Like any job, there are times were you just don't feel like going in to make the bread, but even when I felt that way, working at Boulevard Haus was still a good time for me, even when I was bored out of my skull or slammed with so much to do. Liking what you do for a living is very important to me so I'm glad I'm able to say that I very much liked working there.

My last day was pretty routine stuff. The thought crossed my mind that my co-workers might do something special seeing as how it was my last day. We were a bit busy so I figured they wouldn't really have the time for cake and what have you. I figured wrong. While I was talking to Ethan, one of the cooks, I heard the rest of my colleagues chanting my name. Didn't take a genius to get what was going on. After some reluctance, I finally walked out to find everyone smiling at me. We partook in cake, ice cream and I got a lovely card signed by everyone that sings a bit of Otis Day and the Knights' "Shout" every time I open it. Even though I didn't want them to do anything for my last day at work, looking back on it, I'm glad they did. It really is nice to know that you'll be missed by people you've known for years or even a few months. Makes you feel like you have value in other people's lives. If anyone from BH is reading this, know that the feeling is mutual.

The ride at BH was short, but sweet. I'll be lucky if my next job is half as fun as this one was.

Not "Goodbye." More Like "See You Next Time!"

2010-12-16T17:44:00.000-05:00

Due to the move taking place in a matter of days, this is the last night I'll have internet connection. So this will be the last time I blog in Dayton, Ohio.

The boxes are piled up and my one bedroom apartment of five and half years is looking pretty bare. It may not have been the most pretty-looking place but it was home to me and the neighborhood was really nice. Lots a good times were had in this place. Of course there were bad times too but mostly good, I'm happy to say. For my very first place, I think I did pretty well.

It isn't easy to say goodbye. I've had several people I've known over the years move and they'd had to say the word. Now it's my turn to say goodbye but I'm not gonna say it. I'll be keeping in touch with my friends via Facebook and I plan on coming back to visit when I get the chance. So instead of saying goodbye, because it really isn't, I'll say something else.

Until we meet again, in the words of an immortal plumber...

The People I've Known in Ohio

2010-12-09T04:22:00.000-05:00

The way things are going, I figure I have a few more weeks here in Ohio before I move to Virgina Beach for a new beginning. I've done a lot of thinking about the way my life has been over the years that I've lived here. I remember a lot of experiences but what I remember most is the people I've met.

Many of the people I've encountered have said they either dislike Ohio or hate it outright. Those that say that are perfectly within their right of free speech to say so. More often than not, the reason for not liking life in the Buckeye state is "There isn't anything to do." At least, that was the one I'd always heard. I never really understood that. Maybe it's because I'm one of those weird, old fashioned types that's fine with having things be super simple in his life. As much as I want to visit New York City someday, I'm perfectly fine living a "boring" life as I've got nice folks to share my life with.

The people you let into your life can have a positive or negative impact on you. I've had some people I've had to sever ties with, but for the most part, I've been blessed to know some truly awesome people here. When I was a child, my parents took my sister and I to a church called New Life Worship Center. During the years I spent there, I grew up with some of my best friends. A few of them are married now, but whenever I see them, we pick up right where we left off. Many people at New Life are like family to me, which makes the decision to move a tough one.

Some people say co-workers shouldn't be counted as friends, but over the last four years I've worked with some truly great people. It wouldn't feel right if I didn't call them friends. It feels as if I've known them all my life. A few of them even helped me land a job at a time where finding work is tough. To have some of them tell me that they'll miss me after having only known them for four or five months is pretty touching. Four years ago, when I left my previous job, my attitude was more along the lines of "So long, suckers!" That isn't the case with my current job. Though I'll still be keeping in touch with everyone via Facebook, it doesn't making leaving them any easier.

So, yeah, as much of a wuss as saying it might make me seem, one of the main reasons life in Ohio was good was due to fact that I had good people in my life. I've no doubt good people live in VA Beach as well. I mean, I've got family out there, so I already know it to be true.

Life Changes

2010-12-02T22:16:00.000-05:00

I've lived in Ohio all my life. Although I was born in the city of Cleveland, I'd always considered Dayton to be my true home and I thought I'd spend the rest of my life here. Funny how life throws you all sorts of curve balls and things don't turn out the way you'd expect.

In about a month or so, I'll be moving to Virginia Beach to start a whole new life. My father, sister, brother-in-law, two nieces and nephew live down there, so family is my primary reason for moving. My second niece Ava is 3 and I've never seen her in person, the same goes for my 6 month old nephew, Samuel. Sure, seeing pictures of them is nice, but I'd take seeing them in person any day, the same goes for my dad, sister, and brother-in- law.

The move does have me pretty nervous. Have to find a new place to live, get a new job, familiarize myself with a whole new city. I was scared about moving out on my own 5 and half years ago, but I knew it was something that I had to do. It was a good experience for me. I learned a lot and I'm sure I'll learn some new things in VA Beach. I feel like I need to take a chance and see what else lies in store for me outside of Ohio. It can be kinda tough to make a move like this when you're so used to saying in one place, but sometimes you just have to learn to let go.

It's sorta funny that I'm moving to VA Beach because I've never been to a real beach in my entire life. One of the things I'm looking forward to the most? Seeing the beach.

What NOT to Do When Writing a Comic

2010-11-22T19:04:00.000-05:00

As much flack as Joe Quesada has been given over his involvement with Spider-Man over the last few years (all of it deserved), those of you looking to break into the comic writing business and aspiring writers should actually be thankful. Why? Well in creating the atrocities that are One More Day and OMIT, he's show us that just because you can do something in fiction doesn't necessarily mean that you should. Through his awful writing and bad characterization, he's given us a prime example of things to avoid when looking to create a good story.

Despite knowing full well that a good chunk of the fan base loved and supported Spider-Man's marriage to Mary Jane, he went ahead and dissolved it because it bugged him that much. He thinks Peter is more interesting as a swinging solo. Or that he's more interesting with Carly Cooper, who's first name just happens to be named after his own offspring. Now again, I'll say I don't hate Carlie, but she was forced upon the reader and when just about every member of the supporting cast tells Peter that she's perfect for him, then you've got a prime case of Shilling the Wesley, and in the words of Sonic the Hedgehog, that's no good. On top of that, we're once more forced to endure the same old type of story notes we went through before Peter married MJ. Lame excuses as to why he's missed a date or was late. Why he keeps so many secrets from her ad infinite nausea.

I hate Guy Gardner, with a passion but, I know he has his fans and I wouldn't kill him off just to appease my personal disdain for the character. Likewise, Joe Q should have just learned to deal with Peter being married. But hey, the man taut us an invaluable lesson that some things just shouldn't be tampered with.

OMIT Part 4 Reactions

2010-09-09T20:16:00.000-04:00

This may very well be the worst part of OMIT, much like part 4 of OMD was the worst of it's four parts. It wreaks of author avatar by having Joe Q be the talking point through MJ, basically telling us that like the Spider-Marriage to move on. Move on? Like Joe Q did? And we're supposed to believe Carlie is the one for Peter? Don't make me laugh. I have nothing against the character. In fact, she's probably the only character in this whole BND era that I don't dislike. But in all her appearances, has she ever really been fleshed out? She seems about as interesting as brick (no pun intended). I dug Pete/MJ because they were opposites and opposites can and do attract. How are readers ever going to buy Peter being in a meaningful relationship that he'll stay in when the current man in charge has made it clear he doesn't want Peter married. Whatever relationship Peter will have in the future is already doomed to failure so why should I even care?

And boy howdy, has MJ been hit with character derailment here. She went from being one of the toughest women in the Marvel U to being an S-class wuss all so Joe Q could break them up. It's OMD all over again. Characters acting in ways they wouldn't in order to tell a sad excuse for a story. She breaks up with Peter because in here own words she "isn't strong enough" to handle him being Spider-Man. Some fat dude trying to kill her made here realize she's always in danger. So let me see here. She's been threatened by Venom, two versions of the Green Goblin, the Chameleon, Tombstone and who knows how many other super villains. In other words, she's been threatened by professionals and she still stood by Peter. But all of a sudden, she gets weak-kneed when some fat dude comes after her? Give me a freakin' break!

Oh and Peter feels "free" after he and MJ are done talking, going so far as to say it feels like a "brand new day." Sorry, Peter but you're still locked in a cage known as bad story-telling and when you'll get the key to come out, God only knows.

Why couldn't Paulo Rivera just draw the whole issue? Bad enough to endure crappy writing but Quesada's depiction's of MJ are just HIDEOUS! You cannot look at this image and tell me that it's right.

So the crapstorm of OMIT has ended. In the words of Andrew Reiner when he review C: The Contra Adventure and mirroring Gerard's review over at Crawl Space, I give this issue, nay this whole story "two thumbs down and two other fingers up."

OMIT Part 3 Reactions

2010-09-01T01:19:00.000-04:00

This should have been up last week but I was too lazy to get around to posting. That and I actually find myself tiring of talking about this mess. I said a good while back that I'd lay off of the new era Spidey bashing but now that I find myself returning to it with OMIT, I feel worn out. But, I didn't thing I'd be fair to stop in the middle so the show goes on.

The doctor has a talk with Peter about how aunt May's live was saved. The doc's answer? In his own words "love" is what saved aunt May. Love.

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Now let me say that I am a firm believer in miracles but the doctor actually saying that love saved a dying women out loud is so unbelievably bad that it HURTS! Heck, even having it written in a comic book is awful. Really, Quesada, this was the best you could do? Peter's love saved his aunt? This story was already wallowing in it's own suck with parts 1 and 2 but this arguably trumps your past efforts, if they could indeed be called such. It's as if each part of the story is competing to see which part can out-bomb the other. Since part 4 hasn't come out yet, I won't declare a winner but I digress.

It gets even worse. The doc isn't even going to look into the matter any further of how aunt May was saved. That's it case closed. He rushes on out of the scene probably because he wants to get as far away from this crapfest of a story as possible.

A nurse who works for the Kingpin informs him that Peter's aunt has managed to survive. So what does Fisk do? Why, he tries to knock off MJ and her aunt Anna! Obviously tubby doesn't remember the humiliating defeat that was Spidey, beating the absolute snot out of him in a prison full of a dozen convicts. In fact, he looks like he was never battered around at all, which raises even more question, but then I remember that Quesada does not do a little thing the rest of us call logic.

So the fat fool that made Spidey miss his wedding in the first part of OMIT tries to kill MJ and he ends up giving her a concussion, which Dr. Strange is able to heal. And yet he can't heal may's gunshot wound...

Moving on... Peter admits that unmasking during Civil War was huge mistake and he goes to Dr. Strange to ask him to make the world forget he is Spider-Man. Strange actually has to consult with Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man about this. Um, why is this? Someone that is master of the mystic arts should be able to handle some mind wipe spell without any help from those two. Whatever.

I was sick of this story when it started and I'm beyond ready for it to end. The only good thing I can say about part 3 really is Paulo Rivera's art continues to impress. It would have been better if Quesada drew nothing at all because his scenes are just painful to look it.

Bottom line, the story was bad when it started and it continues to be so. Let's just get part 4 over and done with.

OMIT Part 2 Reactions

2010-08-05T04:41:00.000-04:00

We've finally been "graced" with part two of OMIT after a two week delay. I'll get straight to the point.

The Good: We're actually treated to a touching moment where Mary Jane regrets telling Peter to give up being Spider-Man as it would be akin to having him give up part of who he is. It's probably the only good things about the issue that comes from Quesada.

Also good is Paolo Rivera's art. Again, this is one seriously talented artists and it pains me that he's been shafted with a story that just wreaks of anus. Someone please get this man on a good book.

The Bad: Boy howdy, is there bad. And while it may not be as bad as Satanic pigeons, evil bricks and falling fatsos, it will having you going for the aspirin. Lots and lots of aspirin.

The reason MJ wanted to get married? Kids! She wants to have kids! But because Peter being Spidey is similar to her abusive father with a shot gun (MJ's words), she doesn't think Peter and her will ever be able to bring a child into this world. So she'll stay with Peter because she still loves him but she doesn't ever want him to ask her to marry her again because she doesn't want to go through with being jilted again. Also, no kids.

Um, so according to MJ, the whole reason to get married is so you can have kids. You only wed to have children.

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I REALLY need to make an appointment with a wall so I can furiously bang my head against it because that doesn't make a lick of sense to me and makes Mary Jane look like a complete imbecile. And Peter, by extension, agreeing to these terms and essentially settling for less is just as moronic. These new revelations also make the Clone Saga even more convoluted (didn't think that was possible), because MJ was pregnant during that time. What's the PR line gonna be for that one? MJ just got fat for nine months?

But wait! It gets worse! You know how all those other chumps couldn't save aunt May from a gun shot wound? Peter saves her! With... CPR. What was the point of One More Day again?

To get more visuals from this story, check out this post from scans daily.

Again, not as bad as part one, but with one small ounce of good in this installment and a huge load of bad, the train still looks to be going full speed ahead to Suckville.

OMIT Part 1 Reactions

2010-07-23T00:25:00.000-04:00

22 years ago, Peter Parker married Mary Jane Watson in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. Many fans rejoiced. But not everyone was filled with glee. A man by the name of Joe Quesada thought that Spider-Man had fallen off track when he had gotten married and therefore, was not a character fans could relate to anymore. Even before Joe became the editor in chief of Marvel Comics, he had made known his disdain for the Spider-Marriage.

In 2007, Joey Q had finally set out to end what kept him awake at night (I'm not making this up, he seriously lost sleep due to the marriage of fictional characters) and ended Peter and MJ's wedding in the four part story called One More Day. OMD is widely regarded as one of the worst Spider-Man stories ever printed, if not the worst. Calling it an abomination sin would be a grave understatement. What's worse is that OMD led into Brand New Day and while there are fans that say BND is the best Spidey has been in years, you've also got fans that view BND as one of the darkest periods in Spider-Man history, some even referring to it as part of the dork age. Worse still is that there would be an eventual follow up to OMD, a story most fans would prefer never to revisit, but alas, if we were to find out just how and why Peter and MJ never wed, we would have to get the answers from One Moment in Time, OMIT for short (and possibly a jab at fans by Quesada)

Anything good about part one of this story? Paolo Rivera's art. I've been a big fan of his work and it sucks that he has to illustrate for such a crappy story.

And the bad? every-freaking-thing-else.

Right off the bad, MJ looks like the bad guy. We finally learn what she whispered to Mephisto and it is basically her saying she knows Peter will never agree to this deal, (even though ASM #545 clearly shows him agreeing to it, but then, logic got tossed out the window nearly three years ago in the ASM books) unless she asks him to, and she asks him to leave Peter alone, forever. Let's forget that Mephy has always screwed over those he made a deal with. Johnny Blaze anyone? I digress. So Mephy, presumably makes it seemed like the deal never happened.

Seeing as how Joe Q was the mastermind behind OMD and he'd be the writer, I never had high hopes for OMIT. I knew coming in that the story would be cluster-f bomb of epic proportions. But we're only at part one of the story and it. Is. BAD!

In a sorta, kinda nutshell, a devil pigeon (Mephisto) unlocks the police car door for a crook Spidey just caught and said crook gets free, causing all kinds of mayhem. This climaxes when Spidey goes after the crook, gets hit in the head with a brick, and the crook, which happens to be fat, by the way, lands on Spidey, knocking him out.

Excuse me, but Spidey has taken abuse from plenty of super villains up to this point and still remained conscious. Yet a brick and a fat guy KO him? Sucky writing at it's finest, folks! But hey, you don't have to talk my word for it! A lovely review for part one of OMIT over at Crawl Space does a lovely job, better than what I've done here, of picking this issue a part and giving the 411 for why and how badly it bombed.

Can you believe it? Part one of OMIT and we're already waist deep in this crap storm! And there are three more parts to go? Ugh!!!

My First JLA TPB

2010-06-15T16:27:00.000-04:00

I've been out of comics for a good while now. Its been months since I picked up an issue of Sonic the Hedgehog, Tiny Titans or Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. Money is still kinda tight and gaming has always been my first hobby love and given my declining interest in 32 page tales, it wasn't too difficult to cut back. However, I do still maintain a draw to comic books and getting discounts on trade paper backs does make it a bit more enticing to buy them in one of my favorite forms.

I had a craving for a Batman and Superman trade and there was so much of both too choose from. Then I spotted a few JLA books and realized that outside of the Death of Superman JLA tie-in issue, I hardly read any JLA stories. This is actually sorta surprising since Justice League/Justice League Unlimited is one of my all-time favorite cartoons. After much hesitation, I picked up JLA: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, which compiles various JLA stories from the silver age to the modern age.

Having read three of the eight stories in this book, I must say, it ain't too shabby. The first three tales shift League rotation membership and everyone gets a chance to shine, even Aquaman, who ends up being a key player in saving the heroes from Dr. Light in the third story, The Great Identity Crisis. I was surprised to see that Snapper Carr was an honorary League member much in the same way Rick Jones was for the Avengers in the earlier days. There's a story where Snapper betrays the League thanks both in part to the Joker who is in disguise and his own doubts of the League, feeling inferior to the heroes because he has no super powers. I find it of particular interest that he seemed to either forget or didn't mention that two members in the League, Batman and Green Arrow, have no super powers and that should have provided him some sort of stability but it looks like Mr. Carr chose fear over reason. Its a tale that leaves you something to think about when all is said and done and that's always a plus in my book.

JLA: Greatest Stories Ever Told may not rank among my personal favorite TPBs but it's still a fun read and I look forward to finishing it and picking up other JLA trades sometime in the future.

Dragon Ball Kai Coming to America

2010-05-13T16:45:00.000-04:00

Dragon Ball Kai, which is a more true to the manga adaption of the anime (leaving out much of the filler in the original run of DBZ) began airing in Japan sometime in 2009. Funimation now has the rights to Kai and is bringing it state side under the label Dragon Ball Z Kai. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I so knew this was gonna happen and it is the primary reason I refuse to buy the Dragon Box DVD sets. If I want to watch the more extended filler anime of DBZ, I have no problem sticking with Funi's remastered orange boxes.

As for Kai, I've watched some subtitled episodes and it's pretty good stuff. Funimation is not only redubbing the Z Kai, they also intended to use the original Japanese score for Kai, which, in my humble opinion, blows the original BGM for the Japanese version of Z out of the water. The first part of season one contains 13 episodes and it will be available on both DVD and Blu-Ray. The first set is due out on May 18th so if you've got some money to kill, by all means, pick it up.

Spectacular Spider-Man No More

2010-04-19T00:19:00.000-04:00

26 episodes. Two seasons. The Spectacular Spider-Man, the best animated version of Spider-Man has officially been canceled. I'd actually read the news on this last week and like many of you, I was angry and disappointed. This show was Batman: The Animated Series for Spider-Man fans. It was just that good and could have easily gone up to 65 episodes or more like series producer Greg Weisman had planned.

"But, Reg, we're getting an Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon in 2011!"

And because said cartoon is coming, this means the death of Spectacular. Why create another Spidey show so soon when they already had a the best Spidey show ever and an amazing crew handling said show? Does not compute.

At any rate, I'd love for Spectacular to be continued somehow. If not in animation, perhaps in comic form. I'd love for Marvel to just give Greg a comic to let him continue his work but, but it doesn't seem likely. Speaking of Greg, he really seems to be a "take it on the chin" kinda guy. Truly, he's one of the best in the business and just an all around great guy.

Ultimate Spider-Man will have to be one incredible show because Spectacular pretty much raised the bar for Spidey in animation. Lots of fans are already ready to bear their fangs at Ultimate, and it's not hard to see why. I mean, this show did kill off Spectacular and if a whole new crew is involved (which seems to be the case way things are going) then Ultimate could end up joing Spider-Man Unlimited as one of the most forgettable Spidey shows. I suppose we'll have to see how things pan out.

I'll be picking up the season two DVD of Spectacular whenever it comes out and I'll try to give Ultimate a chance.

R.I.P, Spectacular Spider-Man. I guess only the good really do die young.

OMIT

2010-04-15T01:30:00.000-04:00

So Joe Q and company are finally gonna get around to telling us "what really happened" as to why Peter and Mary Jane never did wed. Originally ASM #600 was supposed to explain things but for whatever reason, things were delayed. Quesada is once again taking charge of the writing duties. Anyone remember what happened the last time this man got involved with a Spidey story? Of course you do.

Personally, my hopes are not pinned on a reasonable explanation and they haven't been for the last two plus years. One More Day was without question one of the worst Spider-Man stories ever created and with One Moment in Time, it's being revisited. If Joe Q couldn't come up with a good way to split them apart, why on Earth should we expect him to come up with a plausible story telling us just why they didn't tie the knot? I think Joey is a decent artist (I prefer his earlier work) but he should leave the writing duties to others.

TOGA, TOGA!

2010-02-10T20:30:00.000-05:00

So I finally spotted a copy of Animal House on DVD last Friday for $8. I'd been wanting to check out this film for sometime after hearing a lot of good things about it. At first I thought it was made in the '80s, but no, the film actually came out in 1978, making it more than thirty years old.

Animal House tells the story of a rag-tag frat group called the Deltas, the worst frat on the whole campus. The Deltas are on their last legs. One more screw up and they are history.

As with most college films, I was expecting this one to try to teach me something, to instill some kinda knowledge into my mind. You know, maybe give me some kinda moral to walk away with. This is one of the few movies that did none of those things. In fact, it doesn't even trying to. If Animal House has some sort of message that I could get from it, that message would be that you have to stop and laugh yourself silly every now and then because the movie made me do just that.

Latest DVD Buys

2010-01-22T20:16:00.000-05:00

I'm not the biggest fan of fye, but they occasionally mange to have some pretty good deals doing on. Case in point, the two DVDs I bought home from them this week - Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time, and Animaniacs Vol. 3.

It astounds me how foolish Disney continues to be with it's properties. Kim Possible, one of the greatest western shows ever, and one of the best things that has ever had the Disney name attached to it, STILL has no season DVD sets in America. If you want your Kim fix, you either have to watch Toon Disney (or whatever the channel is called these days) or watch the episodes on YouTube. To this day, only a handful of episodes and both movies, the aforementioned Sitch in Time, and So the Drama are on DVD in the west. Regardless, it's nice to finally own A Sitch in Time. I'm hoping to get So the Drama as well. For now, I'm not holding my breath for season DVD sets.

Animanicas was a bit of a successor to Tiny Toon Adventures. I always liked Tiny Toons better, but I can't say Animaniacs isn't raw deal. The show had witty, clever writing that was fun for both kids and adults, the later half of the audience that may very well have gotten the best out of the show. This show was pretty famous for sneaking things past the censors. Some of it was subtle, but a lot of it was so blatantly obvious that you have to wonder if S&P ever saw the show or they were just asleep at the wheel.

Anyhoo, Animanicas Vol. 3 is actually the first DVD of the series that I own. For some strange reason, it was on sale for $14.99 while other volumes were higher. But Animaniacs is the kinda show that you don't need to watch in order to appreciate it. Outside of the first episode, you can come into the series at any point and enjoy it. In the words of Yako, "Good night, everybody!"

Groundhog Day!

2010-01-20T22:47:00.000-05:00

I care nothing for the holiday itself. They pull a giant rat out of a hole, and it matters not if he sees his shadow, winter will still continue for another 6 weeks. Now Hedgehog day, I can get behind. But I digress. I'm talking about the 1993 blockbuster comedy hit, Groundhog Day, staring Bill Murray.

If you've just come out of a bomb shelter or woke up from a coma, Groundhog Day tells the tale of a jerkish weather man named Phil Connors who finds himself trapped in a time loop, which just happens to fall on February 2, which is, you guessed it, Groundhog Day. Phil is the only one ware of the time loop so he uses it to do all kinds of things like sleep with hot women, start police chases, and steal money. He just decides to wrongfully take advantage of it because it doesn't matter what he does. Each time he wakes up, it's Groundhog Day again. And Again. At first, Phil is thrilled by the reoccurring events but the ride is short lived as he slips into despair. He searches for ways to end the time loop, mostly through repeated attempts of suicide but each one fails and he's back to square one.

Growing desperate, Phil confides in his coworker, Rita (which he also has the hots for). At first she's skeptical until Phil demonstrates the vast knowledge he's accumulated by giving her the 411 about people around him. Rita's skepticism soon vanishes and she opts to spend the rest of the day with Phil, later encouraging him not to look at the time loop as a curse. From there on, things get better for Phil. Not only does he change for the better, he escapes the time loop and wins Rita's affections.

Groundhog Day is not only a hilarious movie, but an inspirational one. Sure, its a hoot to watch Phil driving with a kidnapped groundhog, fleeing from the fuzz and punching out his annoying former classmate. All that stuff was fun for him for a while, but as mentioned above, he grew tired of that and wanted to escape. He was also unable to win over Rita because he acted selfishly. What I find really amazing about the romance aspect of the film is that, it wasn't until Phil put others first and helped them out that Rita really began to notice him. Phil had only done a 180 in a day's time from Rita's perspective, but for Phil, that took a lot of work, God only knows how much work. By acting selflessly, Rita fell for Phil.

The particular version of Groundhog Day that I picked up is the 15th Anniversary Edtion. I got it for $7.50 at Wal-Mart. There's some nice extras on here like directory commentary, documentaries and such. Some could argue for more, but I'm pleased with what I got. I meant to buy this movie about two years ago, but I never got around to it. I watched this movie a lot when I first saw it back in 1994. It's as great now as it was when I first saw it. Really, everyone should watch/own this one. It's dirt cheap and in my humble opinion, one of the best movies ever made.

Video Blogging?

2009-12-15T17:03:00.000-05:00

It's all the rage these days. I mean, everybody is doing it. Except for me. Because I'm not one of the cool kids. Yeah.

Really, though this is something I've given serious thought to over the last few months. It looks and sounds like it would be a lot of fun and it would more than likely be quicker than a written blog. Of course since I don't have a camera yet, it isn't something I'd be able to do anytime soon. Plus, I think I have one of the most boring-sounding voices on the planet. I can already see the YouTube comments pointing out my awesome suckitude vocal cords. But I digresss.

If I were to start video blogging, I probably wouldn't talk a lot about comics because I only read a handful of them now (my interest in them has waned considerably). Video games, on the other hand is something I'd love to talk about in videos and I've already got some ideas to keep it fresh and not seem like a lot of other video bloggers out there. There's other things I'd like to talk about as well, but that's for another day.

For those that read my blogs here, no worries because I've no intention of giving up my written blogs.

I am Mega Man, I'm Blue and Cyan...

2009-12-01T23:27:00.000-05:00

I've known about this for some time but I've never posted about it on my blog. So guess what manga is finally being localized and brought to America? Come, guess! Thanks for the update, Proto Dude!

Sailor Moon Abridged: HILARIOUS!!!

2009-12-01T20:26:00.000-05:00

Years ago (1995, if I recall correctly), I saw a single episode of Sailor Moon. I normally have a pretty good memory, but even I can't remember much about the episode that I did see. I remember the main character Serena/Usagi and Luna, the talking cat. That's pretty much it. Although now that I think about it, I do remember how little sense it made. Now it could be argued that anime in general can be really screwed up, but this was also the time when anime hadn't really hit it big in America so dubbing companies took far more liberties with this and mucked things up more than usual.

Flash forward to 2009. Anime is huge just about everywhere and numerous "Abridged" series are pretty much all over the internet. I thought I could get along just fine with Dragon Ball Z Abridged and Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged, but after watching the very first episode of Sailor Moon Abridged, I see that I've really been missing out.

Like many other Abridged series, SMA is a gag dub, poking fun at the English dub and the anime itself. This series easily rates up there with TeamFourStar's aforementioned DBZA series so mass props and kudos to the crew behind SMA for providing me with an unfathomable amount of laughs over the last few days. Despite not being a fan of the actual SM series, I still find SMA a hoot and I recommend it to anyone that likes to laugh. You can check out episodes on YouTube, or go to the official SMA website.

Here He Comes to Save the Day!

2009-11-21T22:01:00.000-05:00

For my money, the best version of Mighty Mouse was the 1980s Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures series. It lasted only two seasons, but it was a hoot, and one of the many reasons I got myself out of bed on Saturday mornings as a kid. The intro alone made the show worth watching and is easily one of my all-time favorite cartoon openings.

On January 5, 2010, the complete series of Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures hits stores. This 3 disc set is remastered and even has some of the original theatrical Mighty Mouse shorts. Personally, I'm beyond stoked for this DVD release and just may pre-order my copy.

Sweet Dragon Ball Kai Custom Cover

2009-11-11T17:57:00.000-05:00

No this isn't an official DVD cover, but it looks good enough to be an official one, doesn't it?

Since Funimation doesn't yet have the rights to Dragon Ball Kai, there's no word on when we'll see a DVD release outside of Japan, but I'm positive it will happen eventually, which is one of the reasons I'm passing on the Dragon Box releases.

My biggest gripe about DB Kai is that it doesn't use the newer animation style. As much as I enjoy Akira Toriyama's earlier art style for Z, if they were going to redo the series, they should have redone the animation as well. Is it asking too much for all of Kai to look like the intro? I suppose we'll see the newer style when we head towards the Cell and Majin Buu arcs.

Anyway, this particular customer cover was done by zhekalu over at VGBoxArt.com. You can view more of his work at the site and find more customer covers from other artists.

Think VIZBIG!

2009-11-06T18:13:00.000-05:00

Last week I picked up volumes 1 and 2 of DragonBall Z VIZBIG Editions. If you didn't know, the VIZBIG versions are 3-in-1 graphic novels of already released manga. There are some differences, however. Not only are they printed on bigger, better paper, some chapters are actually colored! Alas, not each colored chapter is colored.

I never really appreciated the value of these things until I actually bought them. These things looked nice enough when I looked through them in the store in the past, but actually having it makes a world of difference. I guess owning is believing, or something like that. This will probably be my definitive DBZ manga experience. $17.99 for 3 books ain't a bad deal. I actually paid $6.20 for volume 2 thanks to a coupon and my Borders bucks. (It pays to be a loyal customer.)

I know I'm repeating some of what I said in a previous blog entry, but if you're springing for DB and DBZ manga, get the VIZBIG editions if you can. You'll save some shelf space and get a lot of material in one book. Plus, the color pages are really nice. I can't wait to pick up more of these. I've enjoyed the first two volumes so much that I've decided to buy the VIZBIG editions of Rurouni Kenshin. Sometime in the future, of course.

My Anime Slump Has Ended

2009-11-06T01:09:00.000-05:00

For the longest time, I've been out of it when it comes to anime. Maybe it was because I don't watch much TV or don't have cable anymore, but for me not to be watching one of my favorite genres of entertainment, well, it felt like a piece of my soul was missing. Well, the void has been filled thanks to a few animes I've been watching over the past few weeks.

Since Dragon Ball Kai isn't available in the states just yet (who knows when it will be, but it WILL come to the USA, mark my words), I've been watching the fan subs. They weren't kidding when they said the pace of Kai was much quicker than that of the original anime series. The Saiyan Saga is wrapped up in the first 18 episodes. There are still some filler parts, but they are pretty short so I'd say we're looking at series that is less than 130 episodes easily. It looks nice too, but if they were going to redo the series, they should have just went with the newer art/animation style that we've seen over the last few years for DBZ (think the 2008 TV Special).

I'd always wanted to check out Slayers but I never thought I'd get around to picking up the DVDs or find a friend who had them. Luckily for me, I can watch the series for free on Funimation's own website! This show had me hooked from episode one and I just finished episode 10 today, where Lena and her crew fought what looks to be the series' first big bad. The last hack & slash/mage & wizard anime I can remember seeing and liking this much was Record of the Lodoss War.

There were 25 subbed episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood on Hulu when I first started watching it so I had a lot of catching up to do. I loved the first FMA series and I'm aware that it made some deviations from the manga (something the creator actually encouraged). Since I haven't read the manga yet, Brotherhood is perfect for me because it sticks very close to the source material. Like the series before it, it looks great, has a gripping storyline, lots of LOL moments, and the music is nothing short of astounding. It feels great to be back into anime again.

Old School Anime Music = WIN!

2009-11-03T00:58:00.000-05:00

When I listen to music, 9/10 times it's usually game music playing. I mean, I love all kinds of music, but game music (geek music as I like to call it) holds a special place in my heart. After the last few weeks, I'd have to put anime music right up there with it. Like game music, anime music of all types is awesome in my book, but I've developed a fondest for the old school stuff as of late.

I've listened to old anime music I'm familiar with like Robotech and even stuff I've never heard of like Cuite Honey. There have been a few let downs here and there, but for the most part, I've been pretty satisfied with what I've heard.

You know, if someone were to hear some of the stuff I listen to on ipod, they'd probably look at me like I was from another solar system.

Composer Shout Out: Yuji Ohno

2009-10-28T21:20:00.000-04:00

For my money, one of the best composers in the music business would have to be Yuji Ohno. This guys is mostly known for his work on just about anything that has to do with Lupin III. After the last few weeks, it's hard for me not to think of Ohno's compositions when Lupin comes to mind. (I've been listening to his various albums to get my jazz fix.)

Ohno's works are primarily jazz-inspired and even some of his earliest efforts on Lupin music in the '70s is still considered extraordinary. Not only has he covered music for the various Lupin series and movies, he's also done music for all three PS2 Lupin games.

The man is also an accomplished musical genius even when he isn't working on music for Lupin. Tokyo City Lights is a jazz masterpiece.

If you want to hear some of Ohno's work, just check out this YouTube page with various uploads.

Dragon Ball Z: Got Milk?

2009-10-27T22:26:00.000-04:00

DBZ his a very popular anime, but you already know that. From VHS to DVDs and remastered DVD box sets, the series has seen multiple releases. The Funimation Remastered Box Sets
should have been the last of the DVDs that a DBZ fan would have to buy. Each box set contains over 30 episodes, is remastered and in 16:9. (you'd be surprised how many people bemoaned the cropping among other things), the option for English or Japanese voices, the option to watch in either language and mix up the American and Japanese soundtracks in your viewing, and only run you $34.99. Not a bad deal. All nine seasons are DBZ are available in this format. So that should be all the DBZ you need, right? You should be done buying DBZ DVDs, right?

And shortly after season nine dropped Funimation announces plans to release the Dragon Boxes. What are the Dragon Boxes? These were originally released by Toei in Japan of 2003 and where Japanese viewers chance to finally own the series on DVD, thought it was limited through preoders. Also, the viewing frames are in 4:3, the original viewing format, and the remastering is even higher than that of Funimation's Remastered Box Sets.

You may be asking "Why didn't Funimation just release this to begin with?!" Well, they had to go through Toei to do that and they just wouldn't have it at first, but that's now a thing of the past. The Funimation Dragon Boxes will be released in 7 volumes. Now here's the real kicker. While Funi's Remastered Box Sets only ran you $34.99 with over 30 episodes each, the Dragon Boxes will go for $79.99 ($55.99 in some places) with roughly 40 episodes per volume. Let me say that again in case you missed it. The Dragon Boxes are going to cost even more than the Funi Remastered Boxes. That's basically even more money for one season. Oh, but you get better remastered quality and full screen. Call me crazy, but I think that's a ripoff.

The messed up thing is, some fans are so hardcore and just have to have their stuff in perfect quality that they will shell out the cash for this without thinking twice about it. I mean, if you've got a disposable income, than that's great, but even if I still did have that kinda money, that's some bait I don't think I'd bite.

"But it's the definitive DBZ experience!" Yeah, sure it is, until Dragon Ball Kai gets a DVD release. What's Dragon Ball Kai? It's DBZ with much clear, smoother animation and coloring. Oh and much of the filler is removed. On episode 29, Vegeta has already teamed up with Krillin and Gohan to oppose the Ginyu Force. Where as DBZ was originally 291 episodes, DB Kai is looking to be around 100 episodes or so. So after you buy the Dragon Boxes and Kai shows up on DVD, how screwed over are you going to feel?

Hey, I love DBZ as much as the next guy, but there comes a time when a guy has gotta send a message to the money grubbers in charge and let them know they can't keep milking things like a cow. Poor Betsy is screaming for mercy.

Dragon Ball Manga Again

2009-10-22T02:33:00.000-04:00

I didn't begin reading manga until 2003 and the first manga I ever picked up were the first two volumes of Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Z. In Japan, the whole manga is known as just Dragon Ball. Despite already knowing a good deal of the story because I'd already seen the anime, the manga was no less enjoyable. On the contrary. I feel like I was able to get a much better appreciation for Akira Toriyama's art since it was in comic form.

It took nearly 4 years, but in 2006, I'd finally had the DB and DBZ manga in it's combined 42 volume entirety. This week, I decided to start reading it all over from the beginning. I'm already on volume 3 of DB.

The 16 volumes of DB that I own are the smaller versions with red covers with the old VIZ logo. These particular versions are completely unedited. When VIZ thought they could market the manga to an even younger crowd, they began censoring the DB and DBZ manga, much to many fans dismay. The VIZ Big editions of DB and DBZ, which collect 3 volumes of each respective manga in one big book are also edited. The editing mostly consists of middle fingers turned to fists, nudity (Bulma), and some toned down violence. It's a shame, but if you're buying DB manga, I recommend picking up the VIZ Big versions. The manga is printed on bigger and better paper and the covers are slightly improved.

Who knows, maybe one day VIZ will go back to unedited manga like they do for the graphic novels of Bleach.

Marvel Gets Mickey Mouse Ears

2009-08-31T23:52:00.000-04:00

In case you're one of the five people who didn't know. I don't know what to think of this.

Calvin and Hobbes 10th Anniversart Book

2009-08-25T19:00:00.000-04:00

Bet you didn't know I was a fan of this duo, huh? But really, who isn't a fan of Calvin and Hobbes? This is widely regarded as one of the greatest comic strips of all-time.

Yesterday, I picked up the Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book for $5.99 at my Borders. This book is pretty cheap and easy to come by. Originally released in 1995, this book isn't merely a collection of comics. Sure, you'll get plenty of laughs from the many daily and Sunday strips that are included here, but you'll also get a good dose of background info on the characters and inspiration of said characters from the author, Bill Waterson. Even though I own, The Essential Calvin and Hobbes (another great collection), the info from Waterson makes the Tenth Anniversary Book worth owning for me. Also, considering the original price was $16.99, the price I paid was a steal.

LIFE: Spider-Man Edition

2009-08-19T01:21:00.001-04:00

This was brought to my attention on one of the boards that I frequent. It's a fan-made Spider-Man version of the game of LIFE. If it were real, would you buy it?

SpiderFail

2009-08-08T19:46:00.000-04:00

In ASM #601, Spidey says he should maybe start a blog and call it. SpiderFail.org. Well what was written in fiction has now been made a reality. Just go to the blog. Right now. Trust me, it's really funny.

Oh, That Norman!

2009-07-25T23:36:00.000-04:00

Like I need to go into the details on this. I mean, really.

Super Hero Secret IDs & Their Friends

2009-07-23T16:30:00.001-04:00

I've always felt Clark Kent has had one of the poorest disguises of all time for a secret Identity. All he does is straight up his "S" curl so it isn't visible and put on some glasses. Well, also depending on the era, Clark is either goes out of his way to be a bumbling idiot so people don't suspect he's an alien from another world, or here's the non-clumsy modern version. Personally, I like both, but if Lois is indeed a star reporter then she'd have to see through that disguise. Let's be realistic here. No one is that clumsy unless they are trying to be.

I actually read a post on a message board that Lois finding out that Clark was Superman takes away from the whole dynamic. Seriously? The dynamic of making Lois look like a complete idiot who is unable to see what is right in front of her? I didn't miss that one bit. In fact, one of the few problems I had with Superman The Animated Series is that Warner Brothers didn't allow the creators to let Lois find out Clark's secret (In Superman: Doomsday, Lois had already found out and just wanted Clark to tell her himself).

Yes, these are fictional stories but they also contain some realism and realistically, if you're jumping off rooftops in long johns, there's a good chance a buddy or two is gonna get clued in on your extra curricular activities. People that really know you will find out. To think that they won't or for writers have them not be able to deduce this simply paints the hero's friends as morons. Now I'm not saying every friend of a hero should know, but a few of them should. It makes things more interesting.

Mary Jane isn't a detective like the late George Stacy and she was able to find out that Peter Parker was the very man he took pictures of. Really, Peter doesn't go to great lengths to keep people from finding out he's Spider-Man. Bruce Wayne has the whole playboy facade. Batman is the true persona. Peter is Spider-Man. Spider-Man is Peter. There really isn't much difference when Peter has on the mask and that's one of my favorite things about him. He doesn't have this fake image even though he leads a double life. That isn't a diss to the Dark Knight, I'm just saying is all.

In the Static Shock cartoon series, Virgil told Richie that he had super powers from the get go. I thought it was a great idea on the writer's part. Why would you keep something like that from your best friend? Later on, Virgil's dad figured out that his son was Static because he was captured by a villain who found out Static's ID (and subsequently found out Richie was Gear). The result? Virgil and his father were all the closer after that scenario. In Ultimate Spider-Man, Peter told his best friend, MJ, he was the web-head pretty early on. Again, brilliant.

Some will probably bring up the argument that the reason the hero doesn't tell his friends his secret is because they'd be at risk. Well, here's the counter argument. Shouldn't they have the right to know their lives are at risk? And if this person is their best friend, something like that, shouldn't be kept in the closet. Of course not everyone can keep a secret, so not everyone should be told, but everyone should be in the dark either.

Naruto's Family

2009-07-09T16:25:00.000-04:00

With everything going on in Naruto right now, I'm hoping Masashi Kishimoto will take some time to tell us more about Naruto's parents. Naruto is the offspring of the fourth Hokage, one of the most powerul ninjas to come out of Konoha. Naruto's mother (whom much of his personaliy stims from) was once a tomboy but matured into a beautiful lady. Kishimotot has, in a recent interview, expressed desire to tell a backstory on the fourth Hokage, so here's hoping how he met Naruto's mother will also be mentioned.

It sucks that Naruto didn't get to grow up with his parents, but he's still done alright for himself. I think they'd both be proud of him.

What If...

2009-07-04T16:54:00.000-04:00

Can you imagine Mary Jane about to meet Peter for the first time, deliver the famous words and then Gwen shows up at the door before she can knock? So many ways that scenario could play out.

Mary Jane: Um, hi.

Gwen (coldly): Hi.

MJ (looking back, feeling a bit akward): ....

Gwen: What are you doing here?

MJ: I've got a date with Peter Paker.

Gwen: Excuse me?

MJ: Just what I said, I've got--

Gwen: I know what you said! You actually think you're going to move in on my man?

MJ: OK.

1. Last time I heard, Peter was unattached.

2. Girl-who-gets-knocked-off-a-bridge-and-killed-and-loses-Peter-to-a-redhead says "what."

Gwen: Now see here! Wait, what?

Peter Parker Voted One of 10 Best Dads

2009-07-01T19:59:00.000-04:00

"Wait, what? Peter? He doesn’t have a kid! He’s not even married! God bless Marvel, right? Nah, I’m not talking about the core Marvel Peter, I’m talking about the one from Earth 982, MC2. The father of the Amazing, Spectacular Spider-Girl. A Peter Parker who lived through the Clone Saga, and had his daughter returned to him by his clone Kaine. A Peter who lost his leg during his final battle with the Green Goblin, and retired to be with his wife and raise his daughter. He became a forensic scientist, doing the right thing from a police lab instead of out fighting supervillains. He had power, but he had a great responsibility, to be a father to his daughter May. Whom he raised to know the values that drove him through his entire life, that created the heroic Spider-Man. And she went ahead and learned from her old man, carrying on his name and legacy as Spider-Girl. Sure, Peter’s initial reaction was that he didn’t want to see his daughter have the same life he did, he wanted more for her, like a good dad. But when he realized there was nothing he could do to curb her feelings on the matter, he did everything he could to help her become the best she could be. He’s an amazing and supportive father, the kind that raises a hero. In fact, he’s the kind who bred him, as we lead into my number three pick….

And to stand on my soap box for a moment, he’s the kind of character that fans can still relate to. Despite being married with a teenage daughter." -Gery Scherl

Couldn't have said it better myself. Ranking #4 on that list is no small feat. Peter beat out some pretty stiff competition. You should see who took the #3 spot.

Spider-Girl Saves the Day!

2009-07-01T19:37:00.000-04:00

Or at least she saved Amazing Spider-Man Family, anyway. The book was on the verge of cancellation but when Spider-Girl joined the anthology book, sales went up. The book will be relaunched and retitled as Web of Spider-Man and we can expect more adventures from Mayday. Looks like we're stuck with the kid. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Spider-Man: The Movie Game Music

2009-07-01T01:01:00.000-04:00

I usually don't post things that pertain to games in this blog but since this has to do with games AND Spidey, I figure it's all good.

The 2002 Spider-Man game, based off the Movie had music that was on par with the film it was based off of. Sure, it may not have been composed by Danny Elfman (he did the scores for the first two Spider-Man movies), but Michael McCuistion is no slouch in the music department. The man did work on music for some of the best cartoons of all time such as Batman Beyond, and Justice League Unlimited.

Despite what the album cover to the left says, there is no official soundtrack for the Spider-Man: The Movie game. One was never released and this is purely fan constructed, although very-well done and made to look as professional as possible. I always did enjoy the music from this game and it still rocks after all these years. So whether you're a fan of McCuistion's work, or you just want to hear some excellent music, this comes highly recommended.

Download

6-23-09 Comics

2009-06-23T20:15:00.001-04:00

OK, so no comics were actually released today, but I did go into a shop and pick up a couple of issues. It's been a while since I've given my opinion on the comics I've read and that's largely because I haven't bought anything new. Recession or not, I'm still going to enjoy one of my favorite hobbies.

Fun fact: I'm a huge fan of Chris Claremont's run on the Uncanny X-Men. I've only read the first two volumes of Essential X-Men, which reprints his work on 40+ issues, but I was highly impressed. The creators of the X-Men animated series of the '90s practically used Claremont's stories as a Bible for episodes, but I'm really getting off topic here.

Claremont's 16 year run on the X-Men ended with X-Men #3 in 1991 and he left (or was fired, I don't know the full details) the series. Unexpectidly, Marvel has given him a chance to do what he originally planned to do with the children of the atom all those years ago, had he not left the title.

X-Men Forever #1 takes place right after X-Men #3. Magneto is dead (yes, Chris actually killed him) and the X-Men are hot on heels of his killer Fabian Cortez. Cortez is clearly a force that you don't want to eff with. Dude has the ability to amplifiy your powers and in some cases, doing so can kill you. All by his lonesome, he pretty much trashes the entire team. It isn't until he attacks Jean (causing her Phoenix Powers to resurface) that he gets caught off guard and the X-Men hand him his lumps.

The writing and the art in the first issue feel very old-school. I'd geven go as far as to say this comic could have been written and drawn in the '90s and I probably wouldn't be too far off base. It isn't bad by any means, but I was expecting more for a first issue. Maybe I'm just being a bit too critical.

That being said, I do like the sub-plots going on here. Wolverine and Jean letting their mutal feelings for each other be known is heartwarming, even if it is like a knife to Cyclops back. Then there's Storm. When she touched Rogue, a piece of her got tangled up in Rogue's mind and Storm wants to talk to her about whatever it is that Rogue got from her. Needless to say Storm doesn't quiet seem like herself.

The best thing to happen this issue was what appears to be the death of Wolverine. Don't missunderstand, I don't hate Wolverine. On the contrary, he's one of my favorite X-Men characters. However, I have grown weary of so many writers abusing his healing factor to stupid levels. It's gotten to the point where he really can't be killed no matter what happens to him. We're talking Hulk-level regeneration skills here.

Anyway, if you picked up the X-Men Forever One-Shot, there's a short story that gives you a good idea of who Wolverine's killer is, as he was struck by lightning. If you guessed "Storm," give yourself a cookie. Why she'd kill Logan? Maybe he didn't like him calling her 'Roro. Or maybe Storm wasn't responsible for her actions.

As of now, I think X-Men Forever is an OK book and I'll be picking up the 2nd issue to see just how events pan out.

If you haven't been keeping up on the happenings in Ultimate Spider-Man (and really, you should be because it's one of the best Spidey comics out there), here's the lowdown. Magneto threw a hissy fit and destroyed New York, killing millions in the process. Spidey went looking for survivors only to end up joining those that are no longer among the living. That's what it appears to be, anyway. They never did find Peter's body in Ultiamte Spidey #133, just a torn mask.

Jonah Jameson spent much of his time writing negative things about the web-head. By his own admission, he always knew Spidey was a hero. In fact, he passed some of the chaotic time of the Ultimatium Wave watching Spidey do what he does best, save people. Jameson is always a more interesting character when he breaks out of that one-note phase that is Spidey bashing, something way too many writers get caught up in. Bendis portrays Jameson as a man of regret quite nicely here, even if it is a bit brief.

Mary Jane as a school news reporter. Loved it when Bendis introduced the idea a while back, love it now.

I've never had a beef with Immonen's art on Ultimate Spidey. In fact, I liked it the first time I laid eyes on it in USM #112. The cover he drew for Spider-Man: Requiem #1 has got to be one of my favorite USM covers, if not one of my favorite Spider-Man covers.

It's nice to see Bagley drawing Ultimate Spider-Man again, though I will admit, he's done better than his work in Requiem, what's here is sure to please fans and it works for me. Nice of him to share the art duties with Immonen.

Spider-Man: Requiem may not scream "MUST READ!" but it's an entertaining read, nonetheless. I haven't bought an issue of USM in a good while, but I've kept up on what's been going on so for me, I really enjoyed reading this because it was liking meeting an old friend.

What really concerns me is where the series goes from here. After 133 issues and this limited series, the book we be relaunched as Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (good grief, that title SUCKS) and Peter may not be the one swinging around in the Spidey suit. Makes you wonder what other changes will be in store. While I gotta give Bendis credit for having the spine to go through with something that could actually be pretty interesting (let's face it, Amazing Spider-Man now is nothing more than a rehash of an era that has long since passed, complete with dozens of out of character portrayls), I'm really not sure if I'll be staying on board. I want to because USM has been one of my favorite books since 2002. I'm giving Bendis a chance to impress me with this relaunch and I really hope he delivers.

Send in the Clone!

2009-06-20T20:16:00.000-04:00

The Clone Saga is one of the most heavily criticized stories in Spider-Man's 45+ year history. Originally conceived as a 6 month story arc, because of high sales, it was decided to drag it out for as long as possible, a move that would later come back and bite Marvel. This much reviled is not without it's fans, (which is something that cannot be said for One More Day). I admit that I've bashed the Clone Saga along with many others, but some really cool stuff did come out of it. Ben Reily may have looked just like Peter Parker, but he was still a very different person and he's always been one of my favorite characters. And Spider-Girl is living proof that you can get something good out of something bad.

Two of the men originally involved in the Clone Saga. Tom DeFalco and Howard Mackie have been given a chance to writer the Clone Saga as originally intended. Mackie actually put out some quality stuff on the Spider titles before he burned out on the '99 reboot and Tom DeFalco is one of the best men to ever write Spider-Man, so I've got high hopes for this 6 part mini series. If you want to hear from the writers themselves, check out Newsrama's interview.

Best. Photoshop Job. Ever.

2009-06-08T20:08:00.000-04:00

The Superboy Prime retcon punch from the Infinite Crisis mini-series. You hadda be there. Or you at least had to hear about it. It's widely regarded as one of the most thoughtless, poorly concieved retcons in all of comics and it stands right beside a certain Spider-Man story that will not be named. Sometimes the things that comes out of an EIC's head frighten me.

Still, my disdain for THAT Spider-Man story aside, this image is pretty hilarious.

Don't Be Fooled

2009-06-03T17:11:00.000-04:00

The image at right is an ad Marvel is running for Amazing Spider-Man #600. Notice Spidey's mask is covering a marriage invite. And it seems to be covering some names. All we can see is "Parker" and "son." This is either a pitiful attempt to get the many fans that Marvel irked by undoing the Spider-Marriage back into ASM again, another reality slap to fans of said marriage, or both. Either way, I'm not surprised.

For anyone actually thinking Peter and Mary Jane are getting married in ASM #600, I'm sorry to say, it ain't happening. The Spidey mask is covering the names May Parker and whatever Jameson's father's name is. Yeah, these two bags of bones are getting married. Well, they may be getting married. The way the stories have been so horribily telegraphed, Jameson's father is a dead man walking. He'll probably be offed so aunt May can beleive Spider-Man to be a "horrible" person (or even moreso since they've already brought back that overplayed aspect of her character with the reboot), make Jonah hate Spidey even more, and add yet another layer of guilt to Peter because he never has too many things to beat himself up over. See, Jameson Sr. will more than likely be killed in a battle that somehow involves Spider-Man.

Ugh. Guys, try harder next time, huh? And please stop with the lame fake-outs.

The Coming of a Spectacular DVD Release

2009-06-02T05:04:00.000-04:00

Mark your calendars for July 28th, true believers! One of the most anticipated DVD sets will release at the end of said month. The first season of the Spectacular Spider-Man will finally be on the shelves and if you passed up the individual DVDs containing 3-4 episodes, make sure you don't skip out on this one. There's still no confirmation of a third season, but word from producer Greg Weisman is that the first two seasons were well received and whatever network is hosting the show would be a fool not to greenlight more seasons. This is the definitive Spider-Man cartoon and anyone that loves this show needs to show their support by picking up this two disc set.

Facepalm!

2009-06-02T00:30:00.000-04:00

Star Trek TNG facepalm = WIN.

Youth

2009-06-01T20:02:00.000-04:00

For real? Maybe I'm getting old, which I don't mind too much (I'll be 28 next month), but I do find this panel pretty funny because, well, even I think there's some truth to it. Thoughts?

Dragon Ball Multiverse

2009-05-26T23:44:00.000-04:00

You're viewing the these images and thinking to yourself "I've never seen that stuff happen in the Dragon Ball manga!" Well you're right, you haven't. No it isn't a new work by DB creator Akira Toriyama, but it's the work of Gogeta Jr. and Salagir, two harcore DB fans. Dragon Ball Multiverse is a fan manga, taking place 20 years after the events of of Dragon Ball Z.

DBM is an excellent fan made manga. I should know, I just spent the alst hour and a half reading the first 119 pages. The art is so close to Toriyama-san's that you'd almost think he drew this himself. The manga is filled with many of the over the top DB fighting elements you've come to expect from anything baring the DB name.

As the title suggests, there are multiple universes in this manga, meaning there's more than one Goku, Vegeta, etc. It can be confusing at first but once you start reading, you'll get to sucked into to care about keeping track of who is from where.

For my money, this is easily one of the best fan projects to ever come out of DB. If you're a fan, you definitely need to check out DBM. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

The Spider-Marriage is Back in the Strip

2009-05-25T23:09:00.000-04:00

That's right, marriage fans! No longer a "swinging single," the Spider-Man newspaper strip seems to have pulled a Dallas, except this time, no one is really upset about it. Only a matter of time before it gets restored in the main Marvel comic line. Bet it.

Puny Parker is Amazing!

2009-05-21T15:24:00.001-04:00

Written and illustrated by Victor Cafaggi, The Amazing Adventures of Puny Parker is a web comic that taxes elements from Peanuts and mixes them up with Spider-Man. The art is cute, the writing is funny and there are all kinds of nods to various Spidey mediums. Some jokes will will go over your head if you're not a Spidey fan, but for everyone else, this is a very pleasant read.

You can check out the strip at Victor Cafaggi's blog.

R.I.P Mickey Mouse

2009-05-21T15:19:00.000-04:00

In case you haven't heard, Wayne Allwine, the voice actor of Mickey Mouse passed away at the age of 62. He had been voice the world's most famous mouse since 1977. The original voice actor for Mickey was Walt Disney himself. Allwine's imitation of Disney's voice was spot on. Most of the the Mickey Mouse cartoons I've seen were voiced by Allwine. 'Tis a sad day in cartoon history. R.I.P, Wayne Allwine.

Are Comics Returning to the Silver Age?

2009-05-20T15:06:00.000-04:00

I read a very interesting post at one of my regular hang outs and it got me thinking. I've copied it here because the original poster sums it up far better than I could.

"Ok, these days we've been seeing a lot of comebacks lately. Infinite Crisis. Hal Jordan as Green Lantern. The Phantom Zone villains, Braniac and a whole boat of Kryptonians in Superman. All of that bullshit Grant Morrison found at the bottom of the barrel to make Batman R.I.P and Final Crisis to begin with. Marvel putting Spidey back to what he was in the 70's, Tony in the old Iron Man armor, Secret Invasion, The Marvel Space Titles and etc, etc.

Now we have Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, coming back. Geoff Johns plans to do with Allen what he did to Jordan and remind us how cool he is. But unlike Jordan, who I hated until Johnss re-introduced him, the only thing re reminded was how cool the OTHER Flashes are than Allen. Yes, even the Golden Age Flash is cooler than Allen. Everyone knows how awesome Wally West is, and even Bart ALlen, Kid Flash, states outright, that people are making a big deal out of Barry's return

Allen is such a nancy boy, he finally comes back to life to be with his loved ones, first thing he thinks is: "I shouldn't be here, it must be a fluke. Anyday I can be dead again, need to get back to work and be a hero." The reason for his longtime partnership with Jordan: "I thought he was an arrogant sob who is a perverted jock maniac but then I found out he was a cop, meaning he was a figure of authority. And I respect those, so he cool". Look I didn't like Jordan, but all of the stuff Allen though was bad I think was cool! He hates all evil, so forget about him being cool with the Rouges (who are always have this ghetto type respect for the Flash and vice versa) And I've seen in other stories how much as a naggy tight ass dork he is. I'll go on record to say SUPERMAN has more balls and machismo than this guy and he's the boy scout, he sucks!!

And they want this guy to replace the more interesting, funnier, cooler Flash of 3 decades, Wally West, simply cause Wets has kids now and...he was the Silver Age Flash, so yo gotta give him props. Bullshit.

This whole nostalgia wave has been going for a while now but none so more than in comics, where it appears more and more obvious they want to go back in time to a more iconic time, which is pleasing a bunch of fanboys who are now editors, writers, artists, movie directors and all sort of big figures in the industry, but are alienating the much younger fans (80's-2K fans like me) and the newbies who's only exposure to the characters are through other mediums (games, television, movies).

Marvel did a retarded mini-series "X-Fernus" simply to bring back the New Mutants, when they can't get their Young X-Men to act right. DC has another Titans series dedicated to the old Titans (the ones from the cartoons plus Wally and Donna Troy) for no other reason but nostaligia, but they can't get their other two Titans series straight. Damien, Batman's illegitimate son, is getting groomed to become Robin, simply to indulge Grant Morrison's desire to return Batman and Robin to the cheezy era of the 60's (I swear that idiot is Joel Shumacher in disguise!!), leaving the poor other Robins out in the street looking for food and shelter Meanwhile, unless they're gonna be in a movie, creative people don't wanna touch characters like Gambit, Kyle Rayner, Azreal, Bane, Carnage, Onslaught, Danny Ketch and other cool character from the modern era, but they flock at whatever golden and silver age relic they can get their hands on cause they influenced their childhood.

When is enough is enough, is there really such a thing as too much nostalgia?"

-Elf With SillyHat

The writers of the comics are fans of the days gone by. No matter how you slice it, fanboys are running the show in comics. I'm not saying it's all gonna return to the 1970s in comics, but the imitations of past eras is more than present in a few of today's comics, Amazing Spider-Man being a big example. There are honestly times I feel comic writers are so focused on making their stories like that of past writers that they forget about trying to tell an new or interesting tale.

I love the comics industry, really I do, but I'd love for writers to take some risks. "But Batman and Captain America were killed! That's taking a huge risk!" Uh, no. They died comic book deaths. Both of them will be back. Bet it.

For every writer that is willing to try something new, I think far too many are stuck on playing it safe, which means things will grow stale. I'm a gamer from the old-school, but there comes a time, in comcis especially, where you've gotta stop living in the past.

Quickly, Robin! To Wayne Manor!

2009-05-14T15:44:00.001-04:00

The Batcave? Pff. Old hat. It's all about Wayne Manor, home to the delightful Batman and Sons web-comic. This may very well be the only place on the net where you can see Batman as a father to Dick Grayson (the original Robin), Jason Todd (the second Robin), Time Drake (the third and current Robin), and Terry McGinnis (Batman Beyond). Let me repeat that. Batman. As a father. Parenting all three Robins and the future Batman. Go. NOW!

IGN's 100 Best Animated Shows

2009-05-12T19:11:00.000-04:00

1. The Simpsons (1989)
2. Batman: The Animated Series (1992)
3. Looney Tunes (1930)
4. South Park (1997)
5. Beavis and Butt-head (1993)
6. The Tick (1994)
7. Family Guy (1999)
8. Futurama (1999)
8. The Flintstones (1960)
10. Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)

11. The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (1959)
12. The Ren and Stimpy Show (1991)
13. X-Men (1992)
14. Cowboy Bebop (1998)
15. Spongebob Squarepants (1999)
16. The Maxx (1995)
17. Animaniacs (1993)
18. DuckTales (1987)
19. G.I. Joe (1985)
20. Justice League Unlimited (2001)

21. Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003)
22. The Real Ghostbusters (1986)
23. Transformers (1984)
24. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969)
25. Robot Chicken (2005)
26. The Critic (1994)
27. King of the Hill (1997)
28. Home Movies (1999)
29. Speed Racer (1967)
30. The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008)

31. Muppet Babies (1984)
32. Liquid Television (1991)
33. Schoolhouse Rock (1972)
34. Robotech (1985)
35. Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)
36. Superman: The Animated Series (1996)
37. Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1994)
38. Naruto (2002)
39. Aqua Teen Hunger Force (2000)
40. Batman Beyond (1999)

41. Tiny Toon Adventures (1990)
42. The Powerpuff Girls (1998)
43. Samurai Jack (2001)
44. Battle of the Planets (1978)
45. Gargoyles (1994)
46. The Jetsons (1962)
47. Pinky and the Brain (1995)
48. Duckman (1994)
49. ThunderCats (1985)
50. SuperFriends (1973)

51. Death Note (2006)
52. Galaxy High (1986)
53. Freakazoid (1995)
54. Inspector Gadget (1983)
55. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)
56. The Venture Bros. (2003)
57. Invader ZIM (2001)
58. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983)
59. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981)
60. Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers (1989)

61. Count Duckula (1988)
62. Danger Mouse (1981)
63. The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958)
64. Dungeons & Dragons (1983)
65. Todd McFarlane's Spawn (1997)
66. Tom and Jerry (1940)
67. The Pink Panther Show (1969)
68. Popeye (1933)
69. Mighty Mouse (1944)
70. Pokemon (1997)

71. Johnny Bravo (1997)
72. Dexter's Laboratory (1996)
73. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (1995)
74. Underdog (1964)
75. Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1995)
76. Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984)
77. Jonny Quest (1964)
78. Dragon Ball Z (1989)
79. Sealab 2021 (2000)
80. Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983)

81. TaleSpin (1990)
82. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972)
83. Teen Titans (2003)
84. Spider-Man (1994)
85. Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (2004)
86. Astro Boy (1963)
87. Frisky Dingo (2006)
88. The Woody Woodpecker Show (1957)
89. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
90. Afro Samuarai (2007)

91. Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (2000)
92. Rugrats (1991)
93. Darkwing Duck (1991)
94. The Boondocks (2005)
95. Fullmetal Alchemist (2004)
96. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973)
97. The Smurfs (1981)
98. Clerks (2000)
99. MASK (1985)
100. Josie and the Pussycats (1970)

If you want to read into it further, click here.

There's a lot many won't agree with but I am glad many of my favorite shows made the list.

The Adventures of Spiderchibi

2009-03-03T19:43:00.001-05:00

More here.

Farewell, Hinata?

2009-02-27T00:22:00.000-05:00

Each week we get spoilers for the latest manga chapters of Naruto. One of the spoilers for this week was that Hinata was killed by Pain. Of course many thought this was fake, myself included. Surly the author wouldn't kill of my favorite female character in Naruto. Well, the truth hurts and it seems that's exactly what he did.

Naruto has had a crush on Sakura since his days in the ninja academy. She was the only girl he had eyes for and she couldn't see him for dust and at the start of the series, she treated him like crap. Why anyone would still be interested in a girl like that is beyond me. Hinata has had a crush on Naruto for the longest time and I'd always wondered if and when she'd admit her feelings to his face. Well she finally did. And she didn't just tell Naruto that she likes him. Hinata told Naruto that she loves him. Naruto is clearly stunned by her words. After this revalation, she is killed off panel right in front of Naruto.

I wanted to scream out "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" when I found out this once thought fake spoiler was true. Though I am (perhaps foolishly) hopeful that Hinata is still alive. I mean, characters in this series have survived fatal injuries when they should have kicked the bucket.

Hinata looked glorious in this chapter. Her speech she gave and her confession to Naruto were very heart-felt. He finds out that Hinata has loved him all this time and she's taken away from him in the blink of an eye. I think the last time I was this bummed when an anime manga character died was Maes Hues in Full Metal Alchemist. Again, that is assuming if she's dead. I really hope Kishimoto is screwing with us here.

Turtle Power!

2009-02-23T21:33:00.000-05:00

If you were a child of the '80s, you were probably into the kickin' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They had a sweet cartoon, comics, action figures, and sweet video games. These days, I'm still a TMNT fan. I've said all that so I could pimp this fine piece of artwork I found at Deviant Art. Hands down one of the best art pieces I've seen for TMNT. Ever.

Simply Spectacular

2009-02-21T20:44:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know I haven't blogged about anymore episodes of season 2 for Spectacular Spider-Man. I've seen every one that's been aired in Canada thus far through mysterious powers and by "mysterious powers, I of course, mean the internet. So I'll be reviewing episodes 3-5 right here and now.

Reinforcements

Like, the first season, I felt the third episode of season 2 is the weakest one thus far, but it isn't bad by any means. The fights were cool, but not as impressive as those seen in "Blue Prints" or "Destructive Testing."

In this episode, Spidey becomes aware that all of the tech that Mysterio had stolen is still missing. So he goes to Blackie Gaxton for info and runs into Patch on the way out. Those names will only be familiar to those who are die hard Spidey fans. Yes, they really only stuck around for the early issues of Amazing Spider-Man, but its still awesome that they were included in the show. When Greg Weisman said they were going to include as many characters as they could from the comics, no matter how small, he wasn't kidding.

The Sinister Six return for a rematch and instead of tackling him all at once, they attack in teams of twos. Spidey takes his lumps fighting each group, but he manages to be the last man standing in the end. But all is not right. Not only do five of the six escape, but Doc Ock's arms come and bail him out from Ravencroft, where it seems he's turned over a new leaf...

On the front of Peter's social life, Flash's injuries cause Liz to stop paying attention to Peter and focus more on her ex. On top of this, Peter's attempts to talk to Gwen are met with dismay because she's annoyed that Peter hasn't really talked to her since she kissed him the night of Thanks Giving.

First off, I'd like to say that, as much as I like Gwen, this is 2009. We're not living in the stone age where guys have to do all the work when it comes to getting the object of their affection. I've said it before and I'll say it again; Gwen needs to be more aggresive. It's going to be partialy her own fault when she loses Peter to Liz. Liz is making moves on Peter while Gwen just sits back and gets jealous. Of course this all makes for good drama, so its all good.

Also good was Mary Jane being the good friend to Peter like always. I think MJ is more of a good friend to Peter than he realizes. I sooooo want this show to get more seasons so we can see these two get together.

Sheer Strength

This episode concludes the Master Planner story arc, and man, it does not disappoint. The Master Planner is revealed to be none other than Doc Ock. I knew he was putting on a facade in the last episode. His master plan? To take over the world via computers! Does this madman know no end? He seeks to take away your video games, your music, and your porn! The fiend!

As if that weren't evil enough for the doctor, he has the Vulture and Electro kidnap Gwen in order to force her father, George Stacy into doing his bidiging in aiding them in world conquest. After battling Electro and foiling Ock's scheme, we seen an animated version of a scene that is all too familiar to fans that have read Amazing Spider-Man #33.

When it was announced that the Master Planner stoy arc would be adapted in Spectacular Spidey, I was thrilled, because I knew what that meant. We've seen tons of homage in this show but one thing fans have always wanted to see, its Spider-Man lifting a huge weight off his shoulders. What was a milestone event in the 1960s has gone one to be mirrored in not only tons of other Spider-Man comics, but comics in general. This time, however, aunt May's life isn't on the line. If Spidey can't lift that oversized weight, it will not only be curtains for him, but Gwen as well. So our hero gives it everything he's got and though the strain is taxing on his body, he lifts it.
Seeing this moment get animated was just great. Words don't do it justice. If you are a Spidey fan, you will geek out tenfold every time you see it.

Would you believe the rest of the episode was good? MJ playing match maker with Peter & Gwen, Flash milking his injuries to keep Liz close, and Detective Stacy's concern over the safety of his daughter, all good stuff. But really, the weight lifting scene really does make this episode and I was already highly impressed with everything I'd seen before and after this scene.

And how does Peter ring in the new year? Why from getting an unexpected kiss from Liz of course. Remember what I said about Gwen not stepping up her game enough? Well it just cost her.

First Steps

Schools back in session and so is Sandman. He's looking for his big score and he doesn't care if he's gotta smash Spidey to get it.

This episode also sees the return of Eddie Brock. At first, Peter thinks he's losing it because he catches glimpses of Eddie multiple times. Turns out Eddie is just making Peter freak out so he can lead him to where he burried the alien symbiote. Pretty clever for you, Eddie. Though Eddie was creeping me out with his lines here, which wasn't a bad thing. He refered to the symbiote as "the one I love" and he sounded especially scary when he crashed Flash's birthday party and left a message on the video recorder stating that they (meaning him and his alien half) would see Peter very soon. Snap. Venom is coming back.

Sandman was the best he's ever been on this show and that's saying a lot because he's been great since he first became Sandman. We got more creative uses out of his powers besides the usual hammers and he not only helped a little girl make a sand castle, he also saved the lives of crew members from a ship he made catch fire. There is some good in this character.

As of this episode, Peter and Liz are dating, much to the surprise of MJ, Sally (hate that broad) and the annoyance of Gwen. But all is not lost. With Harry Osborn's return we see that Peter clearly cares more for Gwen. See Harry is making some moves on Gwen, complimenting her on her hair getting longer and even asking her to be his date to Flash's birthday party (they doubled with Peter and Liz). You can see the jealousy on Peter's face when he notices how chummy Harry is gettign with Gwen. Will this become the next couple on this show?

Flash gets some good screen time here. He expresses interest in Sha Shan, invites her to his party, and is bummed when she doesn't show. We also find out that Flash got his nick name (for those not in the know, Flash's real name is Eugene) from Peter and nursey school and it wasn't because he ran fast. This revalation was shockingly hilarious. Flash and Peter were also best friends in nursery school. Why aren't they buds now? In Peter's own words "I guess people change."

I honestly think "First Steps" was the best episode of this season thus far. As awesome as it was to see Spidey lift that big weight in "Sheer Strength," I just think this episode was better all around. Lots of people are already saying "Sheer Strength" is the best, but I think a lot of that has to do with the aforementioned famous scene. Its a superb episode, but sorry, that scene alone doesn't make it better. "First Steps" had a lot more going on for it. Man, I really hope this show gets a third season.

A New Bond?

2009-02-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

Best. Poster. Ever.

V-Day

2009-02-14T15:32:00.001-05:00

Yeah...

Amazing Homage

2009-02-12T18:19:00.001-05:00

How many times has the cover to Amazing Fantasy #15 been replicated? I honestly don't know, but I'd wager it's been done more the even the Man of Steel's Action Comics #1 cover. Really, though, I never tire of the homage. Amazing Fantasy #15 has one of my all-time favorite comic covers. This Obama/Biden homage piece I found on deviant art is another one lovely addition. Only thing missing are some word balloons coming from Obama.

Noirsh Spidey Art

2009-02-10T16:05:00.001-05:00

With the Spider-Man Noir mini-series currently going on, I thought this would be as good a time as any to share one of my favorite pieces that was submitted on Deviant art. This is (obviously) a noir-like take on Spidey and a pretty awesome one at that. If you want to see more of ninjanik's art, check out his deviant page here.