The rise and fall of Kings...

This is another in my long list of television series executed too soon...  Firefly for it's edge of the universe style and brilliance, The Sarah Connor Chronicles for fun and twisted toying with the time space continuum that would give many fits, Journeyman for being the spiritual successor to Quantum Leap, Life for the excellent presentation of zen in it's everyday life of a cop.  But Kings has a very different distinction for me... It actively incorporated spirituality into its central storyline.  As King Silas says, "It's unpopular to talk about God..."  and I get the feeling that it is very true on the network landscape... thus leading to the shows ending.  The show was filled with fantastic performances of every stripe, Ian McShane as King Silas Benjamin in particular...but also Christopher Egan as Captain David Shepard.  Now if those names sound familiar, it's likely with good reason...the entire series was imagined as a retelling of the David tales.  You know, the young man vs. Goliath and the immense army, the Prophet Samuel telling him his destiny to come to the throne, all those great stories... too bad only a few of them got to be told.  The re imagining of these tales into a modern era is intriguing... especially with the concept of the Kingdoms holding sway in the invented world the characters inhabit.  The "crafting of the dynasty" is something that while not a frequent subject in the early episodes, becomes a big focus later in the series.  Another of the keystones of the series was the mysticism connected to faith in their world, but what impressed me most about it was how subtly it was incorporated into the show.  It was often small things, the passing breeze, a blown out candle, all covered with a excellent eye to photography.  There are many breathtaking little moments captured on film for this show.  it is sad to say it didn't reach nearly as much of an audience is actually out there, which may have fallen all over themselves for imaginative re-tellings of biblical stories.  Fortunately the series ended on decent point for a finale, though more stories would have been better.  And the series is available to interested parties who may be interested in it with its release on DVD.

A for amusing...

So, it may seem like a bit off my beaten track to say that I was HIGHLY entertained by Easy A.  It's a light comedy with a ton to recommend it, not the least being the slew of highly favorable reviews... all of which I can get behind.  Emma Stone has fantastic screen presence and a sense of dry wit that infuses her character in all the best ways.  And while I thought that she was exceptional, many of my favorite scene were stolen by the "Parents" of the feature.  Stanley Tucci, Thomas Hayden Church, and Patricia Clarkson are all hysterical and had me in stitches while sharing the screen with their youthful counterparts.  The thing that struck me most about them was how genuine all their interactions were.  They felt like a genuine family playing and having fun with each other, and it carried off the screen to the audience.  I'm not sure how much of those reactions were scripted and how much were improvised, but congratulations need to go to Will Gluck, and Bert V. Royal the director and writer respectively for getting such excellent performances from the cast.  For anyone who appreciates good genuine comedy, this film is very much recommended. 

The Golden Avenger....

With Iron Man 2 on it's way to homes all over, thoughts on the newest series focused on the Golden Avenger spring to mind.  Writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador LaRocca have been the driving forces behind the Invincible Iron Man title..And one of the best main stream teams out there for comics, definitely one of my favorites at the house of Marvel, just behind Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (who have been taking Marvel held B & C list heroes into cosmic scale events and crafting epic sagas around them).  There are a lot of brilliant ideas in The Invincible Iron Man, and one of my favorites is the way Fraction allows the readers into Tony Stark's head...his fears of falling back to his drinking, his fears about what happens if his Iron Man technology falls into the wrong hands... most particularly, his fear of the Iron Man tech becoming cheap and replaceable.  The hardcover collection of the first 19 books of Invincible Iron Man is particularly fine.  Beautifully illustrated and telling some of my favorite stories I've read in some time...Tony dealing with an opponent who manages terrible acts while staying practically a ghost, while being hunted by one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the Marvel Universe.  Still, my favorite story comes during the middle of the book, where Tony teams up with everyones' favorite neighborhood hero Spidey dealing with a major terrorist attack against Stark Industries, and a underground supertech pipeline.  Not the superhero bits that come through, but the way Peter Parker gets to the genuine feeling under Tony Stark while trying to comprehend the tragedy that's befallen the people who work for him and he protects.  Then there's the final story as Tony is on the run from Norman Osbourne and literally losing his mind.  It's a brilliant take on the ramifications of the Extremis storyline Warren Ellis wrote not too long ago, and it's fantastically put together.  This is a book I highly recommend to anybody who loves good story lines.  It helps to have Marvel Universe background info for details on what's going on, but it isn't particularly necessary since Fraction gives you most necessary info as the characters are presented.  

The Season begins...

So the new network season began (for the most part) last week.  As a mediaphile I feel an urge to jot down notes on the series that have either had my attention or caught it.  That being said, I'll begin with Sunday.  Boardwalk Empire: This is the new kid on the block, and it's catching peoples attention quickly.  With a period piece set in the Prohibition and Steve Buscemi, a fantastic character actor, leading the charge plus setting it on HBO this seems like the show that folks are going to be keeping their eyes on.  The characters are vibrant, the settings are fantastic, and the dialogue is terrific.  There's a lot of good here that hopefully will grow as the series continues.
Chuck:  One of my favorite series.  Season four looks like it'll be as much fun as the previous ones.  I'm looking forward to the CIA figuring out they have no idea how to run a big box store... and the development of Chuck and Sarah getting their relationship of equals on more even footing.  Plus there's Casey (the always fantastic Adam Baldwin), how's his life going to change now that his daughter is in the picture?  The first episode is adequate to set up the rest of the season, but it's going to be the rest of the series that lets us see how things go. 
Castle:  Ah, the modern Moonlighting, with the fun loving author and the driven police-woman.  It's a challenge for me to articulate the reasons that I enjoy these stories.  It's not just cause Nathan Fillon is one of my favorite actors on TV and has been for awhile, it's the sense of fun and joy in the macabre and strange he seems to bring to each case he works with the NY cops, then there's the home life with his hysterical actress mother and his terrific young daughter (in the show that is).  Having Castle as a suspect in the season opener thus leading to another amusing interrogation, is just gravy.  Still one of my favorite shows for this season.  
The Event:  Not sure what to think of this show yet.  Government conspiracies, and terrible events have it feeling a little bit like Lost, but with sci-fi overtones showing up late in the episode.  Going to save my judgment on this one til later in the season, when I've got a little more to think about it.
Undercovers:   JJ Abram's latest.  Fun little show.  Not a lot to it yet, but we'll likely see a lot of character development and history revealed as the series progresses.  Hoping the show will be more like the earliest ALIAS than the later seasons.  All I can say thus far is the first episode was entertaining.
Bones:  Another long running investigative show, focusing a little bit more on the science and the characters than many of the investigative series.  At 6 seasons, the long running tension between Booth and Brennan is getting a little weak.  The new season seems to be pushing that Booth is moving on, and Brennan is just now realizing how much her work with Booth and the FBI, made a difference to all the people around her.  It'll be interesting to see if these revelations have any kind of long term affect on the characters.
Fringe:  Back to the the series set in 2 different universes.  There's nothing about this show that I don't like.  The season opener has more mad science, lots of fun little reveals around the second universe, and just a glimpse of what is going back in our world.  Walternate is fun and scary, Olivia has a fantastic escape scene all in all one of the best openers yet this season.

Smallville:  The final season is barreling forward with out even LOOKING at their brakes.  There are a couple great reveals, though the conversations with Jor-El are getting weaker quickly.  Still, John Schnieder's return at the end of the episode, was heartfelt and touching.  Still, unless someone has been following the show since it's beginning and knows DC comics... it'd be difficult to follow all the storylines going through this show.
Supernatural:  Moments of brilliance with a majority of average.  The initial presentation of Dean's new life is fantastic, but the monster of the week this time around is weak   Bringing in new hunters this early in the show feels way too rushed.  Hopefully there will be some better material down the line, but the first episode while fun, isn't nearly so strong as stuff we've seen before.  I'm still looking forward to what else may show up through the season though.

MOG-World

So, Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw is now a published author in addition to the game design and web journalist credits to his name... As a fan of his web journalistic stylings I figured it'd be a fun time checking out his book.  I have to say it's an odd mix of styles... feeling at times, very similar to Terry Pratchett's Discworld series along with a great little send up on MMORPGer's (as the author calls them), going so far as thanking Blizzard Entertainment for three months he'll never get back.  Taking advantage of his general knowledge of the gaming development process, his natural knack for sarcasm, and the concept of progressively developed systems; Yahtzee's novel moves along at a brisk pace and kept this gamer giggling throughout.  With that in mind, Mogworld, is still in a very niche market for it's target audience.  Aiming for gamers and fantasy enthusiasts and taking advantage of Mr. Croshaw's reputation in the former community to contribute to 'buzz', the novel is definitely not going to be for everyone... it is, however, a fun time and a pretty quick read.  I hope to see more from Mr. Croshaw, but until then I'll just join the rest of his fan base over at the Escapist for his weekly gaming tirades.

Words of Warding...

A short time ago I found myself perusing the bookshelves of the local bookshop and came across The Warded Man, by Peter V. Brett (also known as The Painted Man in some other publication areas).  It's the first in a series of fantasy novels the author's calling the Demon Cycle and if the quality of his writing continues improving I'm sure they're going to be seriously good novels.  With a solidly building fan base, I have hopes that the series takes wing and is a HUGE success, since the quality of the characters, and the story development is excellent through the first work.  The Desert Spear, the second story in the series is out on the market now, with a 3rd hopefully under works.    From first appearances in the next novel the main concern I have is that there may be  a glut of characters throughout his novels, which can create problems with plot focus.  Said plot focus problems are the main reason I left behind the Wheel of Time series Robert Jordan wrote, which is being finished by another author with Mr. Jordans passing.  While a breadth of characters can create some great point of view moments to project the readers all around the world that the author has created... too many and a single novel can loose cohesion and the readers can get lost in the shuffle from place to place.  Still, The Warded Man is a fantastic first novel, and seems to me to have been an excellent exercise in world building.  The concepts and places in the story are fully-fleshed out and vivid...and the world filled with wonders and horrors at the same time.  While the story is fully focused in a fantasy setting, the quality and characters would well and truly make it an excellent read for just about anyone.

Reaching the end....

Halo: Reach is the culmination of almost a decades worth of gaming.  A series dedicated to using classic sci-fi and gaming tropes that has seen its true development in the growth of its multiplayer community.  Centered around a faceless figure known as Master Chief John-117, the games allowed the player to a great deal of association with their protagonist by keeping him helmeted throughout gameplay a concept further extended into the closing chapter (from Bungie, the company most responsible for the games development) in Reach.  Bungie has developed a deep and beautiful graphics engine for their games and as a gift to their fans, with the completion of the Forge engine, have created an almost infinitely customizable and craftable game that will see a great deal of play for a long time coming.  I enjoyed the game series, mostly through my eyes as a reader and someone who appreciates stories, and the crafting of Reach as an "initial" bookend for the story saw some great moments.  The fact that the series has a even deeper story when connected with the Forerunners tales in the game, and the Marathon series of games that Bungie created spoke well to me, even when it doesn't for some of my friends.  While I hope that the games that will likely come after this, will probably not see the same level of depth, the potential for the series to grow does exist, who knows what may come after this.  For many, the best results of the Halo series may be all the related media into which it's extended.  One of Halo's Machinima (digital puppetry) series Red vs. Blue, has seen enough growth and a lot of brilliant content that has extended into film and internet media that it's almost more well known than the series that spawned it.  And one of director Neill Blomkamp's most known pieces was a series of Live Action style Halo shorts, that saw a great deal of use just prior to his film District 9, and similarities can be seen in the two media styles that very positively affect each other.  My greatest hope is that we continue to see new growth in media and storytelling through the many platforms inspired by Bungie and their Halo series.

Classic sci-fi comic stuff...

Ah Netflix, how you spoil me... always finding something interesting and new/old to watch.  Here I'm back to write a bit about a bit of Comic book history from the 1982 film Swamp Thing....a great little Wes Craven pic.  While the story is the stuff of classic comic book origins, and may not be some of the best written material ever, the performances are great...and it's one of the classic pieces of F/X work.  F/X specialists should make films like this one an essential for study, with fantastic practical effects and prosthetic work... showing that while computer generated effects may be what everyone looks for, there's a lot more to special effects than what can be done on machines.  Not necessarily a classic piece of film, but there are a lot of redeeming features worth examination.

Fractions of illumination

Brent Weeks is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors...  I loved his previous Night Angel Trilogy... a fantastic little paperback series published under the Orbit imprint, a company that seems to be going out of the way to get great fantasy stories out to the people who love them.  His characters are vibrant, detailed, and troubled...all of whom tend to get under your skin and keep you thinking about them.  These qualities in his writing are also visible in his first installment of his new Lightbringer series.  Both series have unique and deep "magic" systems, standard in fantasy series but often one of the elements that stands to set one writers series from the others.  The Black Prism, follows 3 focus characters...keeping the cast limited and allowing for development of the environment, setting, and character, preventing us (the readers) from getting bogged down with extraneous characters.  Any reader of The Night Angel series, will be aware that Mr. Weeks isn't afraid too pull the occasional fast one or misdirect, and he's more than willing to do so again in this new series, and though this one may cause a headache or two for the reader...it's still a very satisfying read.  Hopefully we'll see more fun developments as the series develops. 

Zen or something like it....

Just before the writer's strike in Hollywood in 2007-08 a a nifty little show appeared on NBC called Life.  Centering around police cases in and around Los Angeles and police officer Charlie Crews (played by the fantastic Damian Lewis).  Now there are and were a TON of police style shows around it... so what made this one different?  For one... most cops in cop shows haven't spent 12 years in Pelican Bay for a crime they didn't commit.  Then proven innocent by a crusading attorney, he gets his shield back and a serious settlement from the city of LA.  The series only made it for a short run for it's first season, followed by a second that hit a minor snag when Sarah Shahi needed to cut her time on the show for her pregnancy, but both had a lot of really fantastic episodes, an wonderfully developed characters.  Charlie is a fun and troubled spirit... who survived as a cop in prison through learning new skill sets, and working on developing a Zen philosophy towards "Life".  Partnered with Sarah Shahi's Dani Reese he skillfully uses his unique perspective to solve many crimes around the city, all the while trying to find the people who lead to his original incarceration.  As short lived as the series was it had wonderful characters, story and some brilliant photography.  I love this series, and highly recommend it to folks who enjoy good drama series.  It is one of the few shows that originated around the 07/08 Writer's Strike that actually got enough of a heads up for an actual resolution when the series ended.

Sometimes the best good guy... is a villian.

The Conqueror's Shadow is a fun bit of independent fantasy based around a specific conceit:  The villain isn't always JUST a villain.  Corvis Rebane is Ari Marmell's focal character and we are introduced to him at the height of his power before skipping ahead 17 years.  Ari uses the "skipping time" conceit to show us the characters at differing points in their history and to explore further depth of character.  As a frequent reader of "high fantasy" style stories it often seems easier to create remarkable villains than it is heroes, and it seems this author took that style of writing to heart, by crafting his "world-conquering despot" into an anti-hero.    While the 2 concepts of conqueror and hero often feel impossible to reconcile, Mr. Marmell builds his characters history well through his development and flashbacks finally showing how a man so battered by the system he lives in comes to decide that breaking the system to put it all together again is the result.  While the story isn't terribly original, it is a fun and quick read.. independent of the frequencies of trilogies and series that are so popular these days.   The novel is excellently written and developed, much like his previous "fantasy" style outing with Agents of Artifice for Wizards of the Coast's Magic the Gathering line.  Well worth checking out at your local library or picking up as a quick paperback if you're looking for a read that won't leave you high and dry waiting for the next installment.

A new kind of Monday Night sports...

Monday Night Combat... a recent addition to the Xbox Live arcade cabinet, has taken a fun bit of time from me over the past couple months...  The concept is a nifty little blending of Team Fortress style class play and Tower Defense.   The game knows where it got it's ideas from and has worked to build on them, adding class specific skills that improve for each player with cash earned throughout fights.  With 4 player co-op online and 8 player competitive there's a lot of fun to be had for a bit of investment.  Playing with folks you know can allow you to develop deep strategies and tactics for taking on the Mass numbers of robots that will assault your Money ball... your defensive home base.  The fact that the game has both local and online co-op is really why I like it.  The potential to play in both formats is something I really hope to see more of from Xbox live.  It's been my primary complaint of the 2 XBL games I've been playing recently that both formats aren't covered.  Since being able to play with your friends online and at home is a fun concept.  The play style of MNC is fun and fast, with some hilarious voiceovers by the games announcer, making it well worth trying.  I'd definitely recommend the demo for anybody looking for something fun and silly.

Robert Rodriguez and the cinematic time machine....

Watching Machete today I was amazed at Robert Rodriguez' sense of cinematic history.  The movie feels very much like it was just opened up at a theater from a old roll from about 30 years ago.  The movie is ridiculous and strange and very entertaining...every bit what one would expect from the trailer included with Planet Terror and Death Proof.  A word of warning though folks... this is just as much a Grindhouse flick as the previous films... Intense and over the top violence, scantily clad women, fast cars and chases... all the classics... yet this movie had me wondering... why wasn't the Expendables more like this?  I mean it was cool enough for me (the Expendables), but still I didn't figure on it beating out the fantastic Scott Pilgrim vs. The World?  If the all star action cast had a bit more direction and feeling behind it like this fun Grindhouse film, I'd have been less put off by the idea.  Now all that being said, Machete...  while being a lot more fun than it's most recent Action Film predecessor, suffers from standard action flaws... There's very little in the way of actual plot and the characters are Caricatures of people.  There is some nice development of character with a couple of the female leads that I enjoyed, but most of the males...including the title character never really have anything similar.  Yet I had a far more enjoyable time watching this movie than I did with the Expendables several weeks ago.  Setting this movie with Planet Terror for a double feature would be a highly entertaining experience, one that I'll likely look to try once it's out on DVD, or Streaming media.

Equilibrium

This is one of those cult movies that folks either know about and love, or haven't really heard about.  Released in the shadow of "The Matrix", it has as deep a story and at least as many awesome fight scenes.  Christian Bale and Taye Diggs turn in some fantastic performances in this film, as well as a tragically short one by Sean Bean.  The film focuses on a futuristic dystopian society where human emotion and feeling has become the great boogie-man of society.  Being blamed as the cause of wars and injustice it is suppressed by most people by a drug regimen and enforced by a societal arm called the Tetragrammeton.  These are the basics... but the film has so much more than just a great sci-fi story and action.  This movie was my introduction to Kurt Wimmer, a film writer and director with a huge sense of visual style.  He also helped pen Street Kings, an incredibly violent cop actioner, that's still one of my guilty pleasures and Law Abiding Citizen, a movie I really enjoyed until the last 4 minutes just seemed to fall apart...
Equilibrium has all the best parts of story throughout it, which is why I often find myself recommending it to friends.  There's hope, tragedy, familial drama, espionage, sacrifice... and brilliant use of imagery.  It's one of my favorite films of the past decade... and I highly suggest you check it out.  But do yourself a favor and stay away from Ultraviolet (Wimmer's next directorial piece)... the story is too uneven and not nearly so solid as his last outing, though the visuals of it are intense and inventive.

Recettear: A bizzarly entertaining experience

Another game on the menu for today, a tongue in cheek little RPG based around one of the staples of the genre:  The Item Shop.  I know it sounds bizarre, and in many ways it is...  but entertaining as well, full of a self-aware humor and sense of fun.  A story about a girl has to start hawking gear in a fantasy society in order to pay off the mortgage on her home/shop, Recettear is primarily based around said shop and gear.. A fun little conceit of the program is that the city in question also has an Adventurer's guild...which you can search for gear to sell in your shop by outfitting Adventurer's in either your shop or on the fly.  The dungeons are short and simple, randomly generated and fun...and you fill your pockets quickly.  A surprisingly fun little diversion, and something different from the standard hack & slashes or turn based games we see.  It's a well designed little game with a bunch of fun aspects to it... the keyboard controls are decent, but the game does really well when played with a game console style controller.  Well worth taking a look at if you're into something RPG styled but with a little different feel to it.

Resident 4vil...(3D)

So, I'm having a hard time deciding where to start with this small treatise, so I suppose I can just jump in anywhere.  First off... if you are not a fan of bullet time and it's flagrant abuse in films... do not see this movie.  Seriously.  In my guesstimation that if the bullet time sequences were left at regular speed you'd drop between 15 and 20 minutes of film time.  It really just feels like one more thing to try and take advantage of the 3d effects, which fails utterly.  In Avatar (to date the only 3d movie that's actually used the tech relatively well, IMO) 3d was used to add fullness and depth to the environment... and I hope that such is the case in the next 3d film I'm looking forward to (Tron: Legacy). Whereas many of the weaker 3d films just use them for standard "shock" effects.  The only 3d effect in the entire film I enjoyed was in the opening credits where raindrops bounced off names in the title sequence.  Secondly, I have a hard time reconciling the films with their titles...since aside from a couple names, very little of the series to date is in any way related to the thrilling horror series that originated it.  There's not a lot that can be said about any of the acting in the film... there's just not much for the actors to work with... which is a shame, since the cast is pretty decent.  The movie feels uneven to me... the Alice assault that has been in all the trailers is in many ways a high point, and the films final act is pretty unfulfilling since it's a standard "cliffhanger" like the previous two.   Thus I'd say the film, while likely to succeed as an action flick, isn't worth most folks time unless you've really gotten into the movies (don't laugh... such people are out there).

Tragedy, Triumph

Sons of Anarchy made a fantastic return to FX last night.  Reminding us that there are worthwhile programs full of drama and character that aren't related in any way to police procedural formula.  I've been following the show since it's premiere and it's been constantly surprising me with the drama and human character.  If you haven't taken a look at the show so far, I highly recommend you do, toss it in your Netflix cue and take a look... or see if they've got it at your local video store if that's where you look.  The story lines for the Sons started Shakespearian in scope and progressively expanded and become more impressive, and when combined with the immense talents of the cast, the terrific Katey Segal as Gemma and Ron Perlman as the fantastic Clay, patriarch of the Sons...It creates a weekly experience of unparalleled drama.  I'm not going into any kind of detail here on what goes on throughout the series, 'cause if you follow my recommendations, you'll check it out and I want all of the beautiful and terrible surprises to be there for you... So, give SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original) a try... you may find something unexpected.

Taking advantage of Elseworlds...

Ah, the alternate dimension trope.  A classic of all science fiction, fantasy and comics, with quite a few video games besides.  It's one of the primary elements in a new gaming experience, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.  I've always been a fan of the webheaded wonder, and knew that this would be a game I'd like trying,  I DIDN'T figure on how varied the folks who put it together really would make it.  Each of the variants on Spidey feel very distinctive and fun...yet retain the wise-cracking mania that's such an essential part of his charm.  The control scheme they developed is slick and quick to learn, but with a lot of room to play with to build combos and change up your play style.  The most likely negative comment folks are going to see about this game are the similarities they made to another archetypal hero, who also got his game on last year.  I am of course referring to the fantastic Batman: Arkham Asylum.  Where Bats had his "detective" vision to aid him, Web-head has his spider sense.. which functions in a similar way, pointing out villains, weak spots in the environment, and pick ups for each level.  Speaking of levels, talk about a visual feast... these are some seriously vibrant and fun environments the player gets to speed through, each with it's own villains, challenges and a couple secrets... Though there's no grand city to web your way through aiding civilians in sandbox style like we've seen in the earlier generations of Spider-Man games, Shattered Dimensions has something those games could often use... direction.  Oh... and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fun voice acting throughout...props to Neil Patrick Harris, Dan Gilvezan, Josh Keaton, and Christopher Daniel Barnes for playing the Friendly Neighborhood Wall-crawler well. 

CASTLEVANIA: Harmony of Despair

As it's become increasingly clear to me over the years, I am a child of the video game age.  I enjoyed pumping quarters into the old arcades in my hometown and working towards the next goal, playing a little bit better next time.  One of the first games I remember like that was Castlevania.  I never made it to Dracula in the original... so Simon Belmont never managed to take the blood sucking fiend down until I played Castlevania 2 on my home console years later..  Still there was something about Castlevania Harmony of Despair that makes me reminisce about those early days of playing.  Probably because playing as the "Simon" style character, the single player game was super challenging.  That's not a criticism.. just an observation, but this new game has something entirely new.... a multiplayer experience.  Up to 6 people at a time whupping Draculas butt.  That was fun, but only available if you buy the game... no opportunity to try out its single shining aspect in its demo mode.
It would have also been a much superior game if there were some more variation between the single and multiplayer systems of play.  And finally... my primary criticism... NO local multiplayer?  I don't get that.  It'd be a ton of fun playing with 4 other people in the same room, but no you can only play with others over XBoxLive.  It's the exact opposing flaw I found in the Scott Pilgrim vs. the world game.  I guess it must be a real challenge to program both styles of multiplayer system into a single game.  To sum up... while there are opportunities for fun in this one.. don't grab it unless you're a BIG Castlevania fan.

Dreams that come...

So in this posting I'll be putting my thoughts up on Eric Nylund's Mortal Coil series... Mortal Coils and All that Lives Must Die.  I found Mr. Nylund's work after reading his imaginative development of the Halo universe for Bungie.  And having tried out these two novels, I've got to say, for a chemist he's got a heck of a talent for writing.
This series takes advantage of the new "Urban Fantasy" trend that's been developing over the last 8 years or so and combines it with traditional story fare of the hero's journey, temptation, meetings with monsters and gods, and most other tropes of the sub-genre.  While the story isn't necessarily exceptional, it is fun and with the development of some very entertaining villains, does bring some feelings of apprehension for the characters living it.  One of the things that spoke the most to me, was the finales of both pieces...primarily because while they do end each story, they don't end on a saccharine high note.  So... while the books are entertaining... don't go into them looking for a great many twists or surprises.  There is also a fun Reader's Guide to go with both books... If you can manage to tempt a friend or two to read your copy or grab one from the library, I'd imagine you could have a great discussion about your shared thoughts on the stories.

And The WORD is....

Transmetropolitan...  that's the word of the evening for my posting tonight.  One of Warren Ellis' more profound works and one known by most comics afficiandos already.  Still I thought, since I've got my copies in front of me it's as good a time as any to get many of my thoughts down on the matter.
I dig the hell out of this book.  Spider Jerusalem is one of my favorite characters ever, and not just for his Gonzo larger than life approach to everything, or his basis in Hunter S. Thompson, but for his single-minded dedication to his Truth (and yes, he means it in the traditional Platonic sense).  Facts that are beyond reproach and inevitable when one takes the time to think them through.  I understand that Spider is a faint analogue for the authors own point of view to be brought across to his audience (and so should you), but that doesn't make any of the things he talks about any less important.  The way we treat the lost in our society, the terrorism of religions and the political power struggles of our world are all addressed in a roundabout way in a dystopian world that, while we wouldn't necessarily want to live there, can certainly be recognized as a possible future.
For comics folks... this is essential Warren Ellis work.  All his black humor and inventive use of analogy is here for display.  And with 10 volumes of Graphic Novels full of material?  That's a lot of things to say.   I'll likely cover more of Ellis' work in this blog at later dates...  and while TransMet isn't my favorite of his works... It's definitely worth more than just a once over.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (The media phenomenon)

Okay folks, here it is, since this is my inaugural post within the blogosphere I figured I'd make it about something near and dear to many of my obsessions.  Bryan Lee O'Malley's brillant little treatise on nerd culture has grown fantastically from it's comic roots.  With the help of Edgar Wright, it's become one of the most fantastic yet underviewed films of the summer.  I can't imagine why... A stunning feature with a tremendous soundtrack and visuals that take the breath away, and some seriously fantastic performances from some really gifted actors.  Am I gushing a little much?  If so I don't apologize... since the only thing that Hollywood seems to acknowledge these days is the amount of money a film makes at the box office and a estimated gross [to date] of 26.2 million dollars, brillance seems to me to be a bit snubbed by those who could really use it.  Still...I imagine if you're reading this you've likely seen it already... so, let's move on shall we?

Now don't get me wrong... I am very much a comic guy... but while I adore Mr. O'Malley's graphic novels, the licensing out of his characters and titles to the video game industry was nothing short of fantastic.  Many thanks to the wonderful folks at Ubisoft who brought us this great little nostaligia fest and bit of fantastic multiplayer mayhem.  Only one gripe really occurs to me... while the same console multiplayer is great, ONLINE multiplayer is the name of the game.  Social gaming on any and all systems with friends over long distances is often much easier than getting them all in the same place... so why was this aspect denied to us.  I may never know, but I will hope for it as I play when I can.  I really love the old school design and and feel of the controls, leveling, and even the enemies and I am confident that when I can actually get multiple people to sit down at one console to play together, the experience will be truly EPIC...  but for now I will while away the hours finding old things in my library to rant about and pull people into...

In short...  Thanks Bryan for the great times at the movies, the fun comics, and the great game.  I dub Scott Pilgrim vs. the World in all it's forms:  Incendiary.  Doesn't mean much from a gamer I suppose... but we're your demographic.  Thanks for the good work.