King of Tokyo...A Smashing Good Time!

King of Tokyo has been out for a while now.  There's even an expansion.  I've played quite a few times now, and I completely understand why this game keeps flying off the shelves.

For those of you that don't know, King of Tokyo is a simple, fast paced game for 2-6 people in which players take control of a monster and battle other monsters for control of Tokyo.

When I teach the game, I tell people it's like Yahtzee, but I don't like Yahtzee and I love this game.  How is it like Yahtzee?  Well, you have six dice that you are trying to roll for sets, and you are allowed to roll the dice three times on your turn.

That's pretty much where the similarities end.

In KoT, the first player to reach twenty victory points, or the last monster standing, will be crowned the King of Tokyo and the games winner.  Monsters earn VP by rolling at least three of a kind of 1's, 2's, 3's on the dice, buy entering or starting your turn in Tokyo, or buy purchasing VP from the market.

Collecting sets of numbers not really your thing?  Well then, maybe you'd be better suited to go for the knock out victory.  Instead of collecting VP and rolling for numbers, you'll be keeping all the claws you can in the hopes of damaging your opponents.  Each monster starts with ten hit points...reduce that to zero, and it's so long King Kong.

Now, I know what you're thinking.  Six dice, ten hit points, should only take a couple of rounds to knock the scales off of Gigazaur (who is clearly not Godzilla...clearly).  Well, not exactly.  See, all the while your fists of fury pound away at your opponents, they could have the good fortune to roll hearts, healing themselves the whole time.  Then where will you be?

Unless, of course, they're in Tokyo.

Oh, did I forget to mention that you can't heal while your sitting there, racking up the VP in Tokyo?  Well, I'll mention it now.  You can't heal while your in Tokyo.

No problem, you say, I'll just use my claw dice to injure the weakest person.  After all, they can't all roll hearts.  Well, maybe that will work for you.  But good luck with that, you're going to need it.  See, the way attacking works is that the monster inside Tokyo attacks all the monsters not in Tokyo, while all the monsters not in Tokyo attack the one that is.  Which means, in a four player game, assuming no one has died, there is going to be a three against one battle all the time.

I know, I know, why would you ever go into Tokyo?  Well, that's how you earn VP, remember it's a race to twenty.  As I mentioned earlier, you get one VP for going in Tokyo, and two for starting your turn there, which means if your able to take and hold Tokyo for one game round you earn three VP.  Your almost there!

Yeah, you're thinking, but I'm going to die.  No, see, that's the thing.  Suppose The King (not King Kong) is in Tokyo and Gigazaur (not Godzilla) decides to unleash his scaley, clawy, fury on the King.  Well, the King then gets to decide whether or not he is going to stay in Tokyo, or relinquish his crown.  On the outside, he can heal, but he's going to have to give Giga those much desired VP.

Choices choices.  Like what to buy.  Segue...

So on the dice there are 1's, 2's, and 3's you can collect sets of for VP.  There are claws which hurt your opponents. There are hearts which heal you, unless you're in Tokyo.  And there are lightning bolts.  What are lightning bolts?  They're money.  Well, energy.  See, every time you keep a lightning bolt you get a little green cube which you can use to buy things in the market at the end of your turn.

The market is three face up cards.  All the cards have a price, energy cubes, and a power, ranging from extra damage, extra VP, extra healing, even earning extra money.

But here's the cool thing.  That seven energy cube power that is super powerful is staring you in the face, but it's the end of your turn, and you don't have enough cubes to buy it.  The guy to your left has six energy cubes, meaning if he rolls even a single lightning bolt it's his and your monster may as well sink back to the undersea volcano he came from.  All is lost!  Or is it?

It's not...

See, instead of buying something from the market, you can pay two energy cubes to wipe the slate clean.  All three cards in the market are taken away, put in the discard pile, and replaced with new cards from the market deck.  Now you may be able to afford something else terrific.  Or not.  See, it's random replacement so what comes out may be just as good or bad as what was there before.  But maybe it's just as good or bad in a different way, a way that helps you and not Captain Energy Cube to your left.  At least he doesn't have a rocket pack...

Rolling dice, buying powers, kicking tail and taking names, all in about 25 minutes...not bad.

Should you get King of Tokyo?  Only if you love fun.  Or even like fun a little bit.  Even if you hate fun...yes. Yes, you should buy King of Tokyo.

Hey, that's Tom Cruise! A review of Oblivion.

Now I'm not the biggest fan of science fiction in the world.  I think the last Sci-Fi movie I saw in theaters was Prometheus...and the guys at Red Letter Media pretty much sum up how I felt about that movie:

That isn't how I feel about all Sci-Fi, I loved the original Alien, the original Star Wars trilogy, and I'm a big fan of cyberpunk (but I love most things with a noir vibe), but I never give Sci-Fi the benefit of the doubt that I'm going to enjoy it the way I do other genre's.  Would I have seen this movie if my girlfriend didn't want to go?  Probably not.  Or at least I would have waited until it was on Netflix.  But she wanted to go, so I went, and...I enjoyed it.

Not a glowing review, I know, but I would recommend seeing it and would even see it again (though probably not in theaters as fewer and fewer movies seem to get me in a second time nowadays).

As far as an actual review goes, it's hard to talk about this movie without entering spoiler land, but I'll try and avoid actual plot points.

So let's talk about the plot in the most general terms.  It was both predictable and not.  What I mean is there are a few things that just don't sit right with you from the beginning.  Part of that may be because the trailer was awfully revealing (though possibly deliberately misleading), part of that may be because we have seen enough dystopian future movies to know not to trust what we're told at the outset.  For whatever reason, they feed you a bunch of information at the beginning and you don't buy it (none of us in our group of four did).

That being said, there were ways in which it wasn't predictable.  It's like if you were at bat in a baseball game.  You've seen a couple of fastballs, so you guess the next pitch is going to be a slider.  You get a curveball instead.  You knew it was going to be offspeed, you just didn't guess the exact pitch.  That's how I feel the plot twists came at you in this film.  You knew something was coming, and even had a guess that was close, but what really happens isn't exactly what you guessed.  I think that's a good thing.  It isn't enough to blow your mind, but it is enough to keep you engaged.  One thing I would like to point out is that I've heard people say the movie is confusing.  It's not.  At all.  It jumps around once or twice in an unexpected way and forces you to realize what you're seeing, but if you can't do that...go watch Avatar, I guess...

As far as the visuals go, the film is gorgeous.  No two ways about it.  There are a lot of visually striking scenes ranging from platforms in the clouds, flights through deep canyons, gorgeous desert wastelands, and lush forests (which I wasn't expecting but I'm not revealing anything major).  The scenes are pretty, the people are pretty, everything is pretty.

The people...the acting in this movie was...adequate, I guess.  At first it's all Tom Cruise being very Tom Cruise and letting you know Tom Cruise is in this Tom Cruise film.  Tom Cruise.  I didn't mind.  That's what I expect from a Tom Cruise movie.  As far as the rest of the acting, it's okay.  It gets the job done.  You understand what they're feeling, you understand what's going on, the plot advances.  Everyone does a fine job, but no one really adds anything special to their role, nor do they detract from the movie.  I guess what I'm saying is anyone, even Morgan Freeman, could have been replaced, but no one felt like they needed to be.  It was people reading lines and emoting.

So what I felt left with at the end of two hours was a film that did it's job telling an interesting story, one that I could even be bothered to see again, one that left me entertained, but not one that blew my mind or left me wanting more.  The group I was with didn't talk too much about the film after it was over, and not in the Star Wars Episode 2 kind of way in which we were struck silent with the horribleness we had just witnessed, but in a this movie is a neat little film in a neat little box with a neat little bow on top.  Enjoyable, just not much to talk about.  Like I said, I would recommend it as a fun summer flick, just don't expect it to change your world.

More than Meets the Eye - A Review of Love Letter

Love Letter, designed by Seiji Kanai and published by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG), is one of the biggest surprises to hit my gaming table...I was going to write, "in a while" but I'm instead going to write, "possibly ever"...so, possibly ever.  It is game number four in the Tempest Shared World Game Series, a collection of games whose locations and characters are part of the same created universe, supports 2-4 players, and plays in around 20 min.

The object of Love Letter is to get your letter to the Princess Annette while stopping your opponents from doing the same.  The entire game consists of a rule book, thirteen or so little wooden cubes used for score keeping, and 20 cards (16 game cards and 4 reference cards), all of which fit nicely inside a pretty little red pouch.

That's it.

Here's how you play:  In a two player game, you shuffle the cards, remove the top card from the deck face down, and flip over the top three cards face up so both players can see them.  Then you deal each player one card.  In a 3-4 player game, you skip the step where you flip over the top three cards face up.  Then each player is dealt a card, play moves to the left, and on your turn you draw a card, play a card.  You earn points by having the highest card in your hand when the draw pile runs out, or by being the last player standing in the round.  In a two player game you are trying to earn seven VP (red cubes), three/five, four/four.

That's it.

Doesn't sound like much, I know, but you need only play a few rounds before it's clear that there is more to this game than meets the eye.  Each character has a unique power, e.g. the Priest who allows you to peek at another players hand, or the King, which lets you switch hands with a player, and the way the cards interact is so interesting that players always feel like their decisions matter and constantly keeps them engaged.

Here's an actual example of part of a round I played recently:

My opponent played the Priest on me, which forced me to reveal that I had the Princess card in my hand, the highest number card in the game but her power forces the owner to lose if they ever discard her.  On my opponents next turn she played the King, which forced me to switch hands with her.  I ended up with a lower numbered card and she took the Princess from my hand.  Victory for her, right?  Nope.  On my next turn I drew a Prince card.  The Prince's power is to force an opponent to discard  their hand and draw a new one. Guess which opponent I chose?  In three rounds my opponent went from a mediocre hand to holding the top card in the game to eliminated.  This type of topsy turvy game play happens all the time, and it creates a great balance between strategy and luck.

I have played this game as both a two player and a four player game, and both have been tons of fun, although I think the game works better as a 3-4 player game because you have more options.  As an example, the Guard lets you guess another players hand and, if you guess correctly, you eliminate that player from the round.  In a two player game I guess the hand of the person sitting across from me.  Whom do I choose in a four player game?  The person I think is going to win that round?  The person currently in the VP lead?  The person who eliminated me last round?  Three and four player games let the card powers play off of each other and create dynamics that the two player game simply doesn't (at least not as often).  That being said, this game still plays really well with two players and I wouldn't hesitate for an instant to do so.

So there you have it.  Love Letter, which will probably set you back around $10 (totally worth it) or if you are buying a game online you may be able to tack it on for cheaper than $10 without paying extra shipping (that's what I did, sorry FLGS), is fast, easy (to learn and play, not win), and tons of fun. Worth every penny and then some.

Side note:  I don't normally sleeve my cards, but there are so few of them in this game and they all get handled all the time, so I am going to do so.  You may want to as well.

The Waking: A Tale of Two Mindsets

I was at Boston Comicon a few weeks ago and I picked up a copy of "The Waking" because I had read the first issue before, enjoyed it, and the reviews on the TPB were pretty good touting intelligence, a fresh new twist on the zombie story, a book that will have you on the edge of your seat, etc.  I can see that.  But I can also see this is a book published by Zenescope.  Yeah.  Cover time...

There is a cool concept here, and I'm pretty much going to tell you what it is, so *Spoiler Alert* I guess.  Basically, this little girl, the one on the cover, was killed and the murderer got away with it.  So the dad gets really sad, and starts to hate a lot, so people who were killed come back from the dead to kill their killers.  Apparently murder victims can never be at rest because of the harm done to them, but if they kill their killers, they will be.  But here's the thing, once the zombie kills the person it has come back for, it dies...like for reals.  So daddy doesn't want his little girl to kill the man who murdered her because he doesn't want her to die again.  He figures he'll just bring back everyone who was murdered and one of them will eventually get the guy who killed his daughter, but since she didn't do the killing she won't die herself, and they can be together.

Not a bad idea, I suppose, for a guy who can bring the dead back to life because he's sad, but if you think about it, doesn't that mean his daughter, murdered, will never find peace?  Maybe, but the topic was never addressed.  Other topics were however, but not with much enthusiasm or depth.  The obvious question is whether or not the police detectives, who serve as the protagonists of the story, should try and stop the zombies?  The line of questioning could serve to open the way for some pretty meaningful dialogue on justice, responsibility, the natural order of things, etc., but instead is summed up in about two panels.

Panel 1:  Female cop says, "I don't want to stop them because they're right." (Referring to the zombies...also, I'm paraphrasing.)
Panel 2: Male cop says, "Yeah, but it's our job." (Paraphrasing.)

And then boobs.

"Where did that come from?" you may be asking yourself. But remember, it's Zenescope, so take a great idea and the possibility to really tackle some issues, but imagine that idea was thought up by a fourteen year old boy.  So they let you know that the deep ideas, the good stuff, is there, but then the time and panel space needed to have any kind of meaningful discussion is instead replaced with a detective complaining about too much sex with his nympho wife (because there's plenty of that in this book...complaining, I mean) and shots of his wife naked in the shower...which really progress the story...yup.

There's other stuff too, like how we have four detectives as main characters, three males, one female.  The guys are all in dress shirts, ties, trench coats, typical city detective garb.  Our female detective, on the other hand, wears skin tight jeans and a top that is designed to expose massive amounts of cleavage...you know, the stuff professional women wear to work.  Not to mention that some of the dialogue comes across like it was written by a kid in high school who thinks it's a sign of maturity that he can make sex jokes with girls, while everyone over the age of eighteen lets out a heavy sigh, and everyone in the workplace files sexual harassment claims...

In the end, not to sound like a broken record, but it did come across as if there were two writers; one who thought of a cool idea and wanted to discuss some interesting ideas in an artful way, and the second who works for Zenescope and had to have boobs in a comic...cuz boobs are cool.  So, worth the $12.99 asking price?  Ummmm....I dunno...it's a cool stepping stone to some interesting conversation, but really, if you just read this review...I think you're set.  I will tell you this though, the TPB contains issues #1-4, and is a self contained, full story in it's own right.  The guy at the booth who sold it to me (discounted for the Con) said they're making more and the next TPB issue will be coming out...eventually.  I probably won't be picking that one up.

Dark Rain: A Review

I picked up Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story when I found it on sale at Borders not too long before they closed their doors for good.  I heard awesome things about it, and the book jacket was covered front to back, top to bottom in praises of the work Mat Johnson and Simon Gane put together.  Now I've read the book myself, and the feeling it left me with, when all was said and done, could best be described as, "meh."

Okay, first I want to talk aesthetics.  My copy of the book is gorgeous.  The book itself hardcover with the title of the book and Vertigo pressed into the cover.  The jacket is amazing too.  Nessim Higson and Daymon Gardner did an amazing job with it.  The image of the house in the flood, the map of New Orleans, glossy and textured over the house image, and the image of the man on the back, looking to the heavens as the sun sets (rises?) are all beautiful and eye catching.  The picture on the internet doesn't do it justice, you really need to see it for yourself.

As for the inside of the book.  The artwork is fine.  Simon Gane chose to use a lot of muted blues, greys, and blacks to set the mood of New Orleans just after Katrina.  It's dark. It's stormy.  People are sad, lost and there isn't much hope to go around.  The characters are expressive, and Gane is really good at showing the emotion, the turmoil of the characters involved. 

If I have a problem with the artwork it's that the backgrounds aren't very detailed.  Look passed the characters, the action, and you're going to see blank sheets of blue, black, and grey.  It's fine for the overall look of the book but sometimes I was looking for more.  It may have been done to keep the attention on the characters themselves, but Gane is so good with his expressions and actions I don't think it necessary.  The characters would hold up on there own.  Show me some of New Orleans.  Although, I have to admit, when there were backgrounds, such as a city under water or a couple of bodies floating in the water, they packed a punch.  Maybe that was the whole point; limit the use of detail so that the detail we get hits us harder.  I don't know.  You'd have to ask Gane.

As for the writing, I don't want to give away anything, so I'm not going to really get into the plot, but I have to tell you, when Johnson has a point he wants to get across, he does it with all the subtlety of a nine pound hammer.  It isn't necessarily bad, but I've seen it all before.  Our hero isn't really a bad guy, just a regular guy who made some mistakes.  Really though, he's got a heart of gold.  When he isn't stealing from other people.   The "scary black guys" with backwards hats and backpacks aren't bad guys.  They're the one's handing out food and water.  Like we didn't see that coming four panels away.  And then there are lines like:
"Governments just leaving them to die because they're black.  Most of 'em."
"No.  Because we're poor, black, and never vote Republican."

Not to say there weren't some touching moments.  One scene that got me in particular was of  a mother holding her infant child that had recently passed; knowing it, but trying her best to avoid dealing with it.

At the end of the day I'm not sorry I read the book, but really, if the chance came again, knowing what I know now, would I still buy it.  I'm not sure that I would.  The book has some talking points, I'll give it that, but it doesn't go out of the way to reveal anything we didn't already know, nor does it help itself with statements like the one I mentioned above.  I guess in the end I'll say this, if you can pick it up for $5-$10, it might be worth the time and money.  But for the $24.99 asking price on the book cover?  I'll pass.

It's Been a While

Moved to Laconia from Concord...it's better, still isn't the Apple.  What are you going to do?  I had a reading for my short story "Live Free or Die, Die, Die!" a few weeks back.  There is another one this Friday, Nov. 4, in Manchester.  I'll have to look up where...

Yesterday I dropped the dog off at day care and drove down to Sommerville, MA to take the Phase I test for the FBI to become a special agent.  I'm happy to report that I passed the test and will be contacted soon about moving on, meet and greets, interviews, etc.

I discovered a scar on my arm today that I didn't know I had, maybe an inch above the wrist.

Sommerville, I think that's how you spell it, I'm not going to bother to look it up, seems like a decent place for a college with a cool little downtown area, but driving in and out was such a pain.  Also, the building I was looking for was the end of the street because the street changed names three times in less than a hundred yards.  Who thinks that's a good idea?  It was a good thing I showed up earl for my test because I spent all that extra time just trying to find the building.

I have a training session for my new job today, from 2-9, then I start tomorrow from 8:30-1 as a telemarketer.  Because that's what all lawyer's really aspire to be, telemarketers.  I honestly don't know if I'm going to be good at it.  They want a positive, upbeat attitude all the time.  It's about energy, Energy, ENERGY!!! and I'm...not.  But whatever, I'm going to try it because I need some form of income, even if they don't provide health insurance.

I don't want to work Saturday's...

Occupy Movement

I've been reading a lot about the Occupy movement that started in New York.  Apparently it is spreading and there is now an Occupy Boston, LA, Chicago.

I've also been reading this website (http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/) and I recommend checking it out.  Some of the stories are heartbreaking, and unfortunately, all to easy to relate too.

Also, I found out there is an Occupy Albany campaign that I think I will look into.  One of my old college roommates, who lives in Albany now, is already there.  The next general assembly meeting is 5 o'clock on Sunday, October 9.

If you're interested in any of this, check out the following sites, as well as the one I mentioned above:

http://occupywallst.org/
http://occupywallst.org/http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Albany-NY/208683202530917

Here's my Money, Now Where's the Rest of my Game?

In a recent interview Witcher 2 developer Adam Badowski told Rock, Paper, Shotgun that he didn't like to see "gamers treated like dairy cows."  What he's talking about is DLC, and to an extent, I kind of agree with him.

I'm not against DLC at all.  I think it's a great way to add something new to a game and get people back into it.  But Badowski is talking about studios that are, to keep with the cow metaphor, milking every dollar out of their fans to the point where sometimes players are having to pay around $80 to get the full game.

Not always a bad thing. For example, Fallout 3 released four new missions after the game had been on shelves for a while, allowing characters to reach higher levels, explore new areas on and above the Capital Wastelands, and giving players a reason to jump back on a game they probably already devoted way too many hours too.  But the added material was new, something developed after the release of the initial game, the genuine article.

On the other hand there's L.A.Noire.  I loved L.A. Noire, but before the game even came out it was common knowledge that some cases, for whatever reason, had been cut from initial release and would not be on any of the three disks that came with the game.  That was in May.  Not long after that I checked on Live and there were 4 new missions to do, none of which, of course, were free to download.  Now there is a "Complete" version of L.A. Noire coming out this November.  That's six months later.  See, this is where we have a problem...cutting material out of a game so you can sell it to me later is just grimy.

Don't even get me started on Marvel v. Capcom 3 vs. Ultimate Marvel v. Capcom 3.  While I didn't purchase MvC3, I would be pretty upset if I had.

But I guess what it comes down too is DLC, at least in my eyes, was supposed to be a way to add a new aspect of a game that may have already been played out otherwise.  More and more, however, it seems DLC is being used by studios as a way to drain you of your hard earned cash, holding back on giving you what should be included in the initial release in order to drain you of more of your hard earned cash later.  To me, that's a misuse of DLC.

Just a Thought on Bullying

I don't know if this is true.  It's just a theory.

In high school I saw first hand the difference a good principal and leader can make.  My first year at the school I got a 97 average the first quarter.  The second quarter I was walking down the hall and the principal said hi to the kids who were in trouble all the time and had no idea who I was.  For three years I watched as students would be sent to the office only to be sent back to the classroom.  Nothing got better.

My sophomore year Br. Paul Beaudin became principal.  Now when students were sent to the office they had a good chance of being sent home, sometimes for good.  It was a private school and Br. Paul had the luxury of expelling troublemakers.  I saw a lot of kids who had been trouble in the past turn themselves around.  The whole school was better for it.

But it got me thinking about schools where the principal doesn't have that luxury.  Where did the troublemakers go?  On top of that I heard stories about parents defending their kids bad behavior, and from an outsiders perspective, it seemed as if the public schools in the area were edging more and more towards a climate in which teachers were afraid to discipline students for fear of being disciplined themselves.  Eventually, it wouldn't be worth it, and the inmates, as the saying goes, would be running the prison.

Granted I come from Schenctady school district, and not too far from that is Albany, a school that  counts stabbings the way other schools count missed homework assignments, so my perspective of the public school system is a bit skewed.

Now there is a national outcry to stop bullying.  Has bullying gotten worse in the past few years?  I don't know, I'm not in school, but I do know this, at least when I was a kid I got to go home at the end of the day and what I didn't have to see was a bunch of nasty comments on my Facebook page.  Not everyone today has that luxury.

But that isn't really the point.  I don't think Facebook is to blame.  So who is?  Well, I already said it: The inmates are running the show.  Teachers aren't just supposed to discipline students, they are supposed to protect them, but the two often go hand in hand.  How is a teacher supposed to protect one student when he or she can't discipline another?

You want to stop bullying, or at least reduce it because kids are kids and some bullying is going to happen, but if you want to stop serious bullying then the schools need to stop pandering to the bad kids and even more so the bad parents and give the teachers back their power.  Administrations need to step up or things are never going to get better.

But like I said, just a theory.

Just a Reminder About Gears 3

My game is pre-ordered, my batteries charged, and my lancer polished...Gears of War 3 comes out tomorrow.  G4 gave it a 5/5 and Game Informer gave it a 9.5/10, saying it was the best of the series.

I will be doing a review of the game once it's actually here, but thought it would be nice to remind everyone of the big event.

And I get to post the Dust to Dust video, which, like all Gears promos, is awesome.  The song, by the way, is Into Dust by Mazzy Star.

How Does This Guy Have a Job

There are 14 million unemployed people in the United States right now.  Why isn't Tom Coughlin one of them?

I thought for sure, if the Giant's organization had any self respect, that Coughlin would have been out of a job after that loss against the Eagle's last year in which they gave up 28 points in around 7 minutes to blow a huge lead in one of the most embarrassing losses in NFL history.  During the game the camera flashed to the sideline to reveal a coach being ignored by his players, ignored by his assistant coaches, looking utterly confused, lost, and hopeless.  "That just about sums up Coughlin as a coach," I thought to myself at that time.

The Giants, needing to win one more game to make the playoffs, sadly limped out of the season, playing like a team trying to make it home in time for dinner.  The Packers, the team the Giants would have kept out of the playoffs had they achieved a single victory in the closing weeks, went on to win the Superbowl.

"The pathetic way in which the Giants ended their season guarantees Coughlin won't be around next season," I told myself time and time again, hopeful the Giants would find a new coach, a new energy, a new life.

But no, as the season rolled near, Coughlin was still at the helm.  And today, the Giant's opening game of the season against the Redskins, saw the same old skipper driving the same old boat into the same old rocks.  The Giants looked pathetic, plagued by interceptions, blocked punts, and hanging heads, in their 28-14 loss.

From the looks of things it's going to be a long season.  14 million people in this country without a job.  Tom Coughlin is not one of them.  If you ever wanted proof life wasn't fair...

We Have Nothing to Fear But Everything...

Here is a link to a segment on FOX News (are they still calling it that?) about how video games are promoting a left wing agenda by teaching kids not to pollute, and using fear to do so.  A few comments:

1) If not polluting and making environmentally sound choices is a left wing only platform, maybe the right should reconsider the stance they take on the matter.

2) One of the points the gentleman speaking repeatedly makes is that the game uses fear to scare kids into making environmentally sound choices.  The irony in this, villainizing the game people for using fear while at the same time using fear by telling viewers that games are propaganda used by the left to brainwash you child into... i don't know, not polluting...is amazing.  Hello pot, meet kettle.

But this segment reminded me of something that has been on my mind lately.  Roosevelt told us "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."  Today the message coming from our leaders is, "Be afraid, be very afraid..."  Of what?  Everything.

Now I'm not saying that there wasn't fear mongering and propaganda in Roosevelt's day, lord knows there was, but it seems like it would be a nice thing to have a voice at the top telling the nation that we would get through the hard times, if we keep our heads down and work hard we would get through this.

I say it seems like a it would be a nice thing because I don't hear that voice today.  Who is the leader at the top telling us we'll pull through?  Today we have reactionary pandering to what ever sensational story happens to be filling the gap between real news (Speechgate, really?).

Today our leaders seem like reactionary cowards, and I wonder, how many great leaders throughout history have been cowards?

Be afraid, be very afraid...or don't.

Locke and Key is Not Happening...but the Jersey Shore Lives On...

I have been reading Joe Hills comic Locke and Key since book one, and it is the only comic that I own both in floppies (individual issues) and in hardback (every six floppies is grouped together like a chapter in the series).  It is an amazing series unlike anything else I've read, and everyone should read it, comic book fan or not.

Anyway, those of us in my circle that have read Locke and Key always talk about what an amazing movie or television series it would make.  And apparently someone agreed.  Director Mark Romanek apparently filmed some of the television series!!! News to me.  Here's the trailer below - and take it from someone who has read the book, it is VERY well done, and for the most part spoiler free.

This is awesome news!  Amazing news!  The best television news since The Walking Dead!  It's also not happening.  Why?  Because it was developed for FOX, the same brilliant people who canceled Firefly after only one season, put Fringe on Friday nights in hopes of killing it off, and is basically known as the place where great things go to die.  (BTW - Thanks again FOX for giving us Deadpool in the Wolverine movie and sewing the Merc with the Mouth's mouth shut.  Nothing like making sure the funniest character in the Marvel U can't talk!)

So basically a bummer, although the above trailer is so well done I'm hoping someone else picks it up or it goes straight to DVD.  Seriously, it would make an amazing series, guaranteed six seasons with each season having one big story arc and a bunch of little story arc's along the way, kind of like Dexter.

AMC, what was your highest rated show last year?  It wasn't Mad Men you say?  It was The Walking Dead?  The show based on the comic?  Well...if you're looking for another...I might know a good place to start...

And in other news - Abercrombie is paying the cast of the Jersey Shore NOT to wear its close next season...because that show is still on the air.

Bad Weekend for the Yanks a Sign of Things to Come?

Sooo, where to start...

How about baseball?  Congratulations to the New York Yankee's for taking over first place in the American League East on Friday night with a 3-2 come from behind win over their rivals, the Boston Red Sox.

Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox for remember that you own the Yankee's this year and taking frist place right back.

This is ridiculous.  With last nights win the Sux are 10-2 against NY this year, making it the first time since 2004 that the Sux will win the yearly series between the two clubs.  I mean, it really is terrible.  Remember when the Sux started the year 0-6?  Then they got to New York and by they time they left that weekend their record was 2-7.  It got as bad as 2-11 before they got better.  But the point is, the only team they could beat at the beginning of the year was the Yankee's, and they haven't stopped.

Sabathia - 16-2 against all other teams in baseball this year with an ERA in the 2's.  Against Boston?  0-4 with an ERA in the 7's.  What is going on?  I tell you what, I think C.C. is having Cleveland flashbacks on the mound because he's pitching like he's afraid and won't throw strikes.  Of course teams are going to light you up when you start every count down 2-0.

And as for everyone else?  Everyone else who?  Burnett peaked in game 2 of the world series against Philly and has been a losing pitcher ever since.  Hughes? 18 wins last year...sure, but how did he do after the break?  A couple of old men are stringing together wins, but their both just above better than .500, and a rookie, Nova, who's 10-4, but the Yanks can't seem to find a place for him in the lineup.  Besides, you want to send him to the mound in game 2 of any round of the playoffs?  No, I didn't think so.

Everyone, myself included, said the Bomber's were going to need another arm to get anywhere, but Cash thought he knew better.  Now everyone's got Boston winning the east and having the Yanks take on the Rangers come October.  I'm not sure it matters.  Yeah, we're winning a lot of games, but baseball is different in the fall, and one reliable pitcher isn't going to cut it.  The Yankee's should know that better than anyone else.

This is Why it Pays to Know a Little Something About Pop Culture

And by a little something, I mean the bare minimum.  "Why?" you ask.  The answer is simple.  So that you can avoid falling for pranks like this.

I suppose it would also allow you to pull a prank like this...but only on those with minimal defenses.

Seriously, this is awesome.

And how can you not know Bruce Wayne or Gotham City...seriously...

Although I would like to point out Wayne is a billionaire, not a millionaire...

See, this prank wouldn't work on me...

I'm going to go start disk 3 of season one of BTAS now...because I finished disk 2 (again) this morning...

Captain America: The Frist Avenger Review

Last night I went to see Captain America: The First Avenger and I have to say, I think it is my favorite super-hero movie of the summer.  I thought Thor was okay and way over hyped, I liked Green Lantern more than most people seemed to, and I didn't see X-Men: First Class because I have had no association with the X-Men since a few years ago I was having the comics pulled and, despite Marve's continued promise that there would be no crossovers, one day I opened up my newest issue to find myself smack dab in the middle of someone else's story with no idea what was going on and no idea when they would get back to the story arch I was reading.  But I digress...

The first thing I want to say about Cap is that one of the reasons the movie works so well is that Steve Rogers is such a likeable guy.  Rogers is a true patriot and more than anything wants to be on the front line fighting the Nazi's, not because he want's to kill them, but because he doesn't like bullies.  The problem is he's small, a 90lb weakling with asthma, so the army won't take him.  But he keeps trying, and eventually finds himself in a special group of soldiers - candidates for the Super Soldier Serum.

It's important that Rogers is such a good guy, because as we learn, the Serum doesn't just amplify your muscles, it amplifies everything about you.  A good man becomes great, a bad man becomes worse.  But Rogers is just the guy for the job, having been a small, bullied man his whole life, he knows the true value of power, and more importantly, he knows compassion.  Also, he's the bravest guy ever, never backing down from anything.  "Once you start running," he says, "they'll never let you stop." 

The character of Steve Rogers is in such contrast to the recent run of hero's - Tony Stark being a billionaire playboy who becomes a hero only after seeing all the damage he has done; Thor a god and heir to the throne, a spoiled brat who loves himself more than anything and has some growing up to do, etc.  Rogers is different, he is a hero from the outset, a man who want's to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.  There doesn't need to be another reason for him. 

While Roger's most endearing qualities could run the risk of making him appear naive, the movie does a good job of not letting the character come across that way (well, he can't talk to girls, but that's mostly because before he became Cap they wouldn't talk to him).  Rather, he is a man who knows what needs to be done and is willing to do it, no matter the challenge.  In light of the recent end of the American space program, with Kennedy's speech about America going to the moon and attempting other hard tasks "not because they are easy, but because they are hard," Cap's star shines even brighter. 

I don't want to spoil too much, so I won't get much further into the plot, but I do have a comment on the way the film was shot.  There is a point where Cap is going around fighting bad guys, and the movie jumps around from action sequence to action sequence.  It may seem like an unusual choice at first glance but the reason it works so well is that it is shot in the style of an old WWII propaganda film, the type of films where a voice over would read all about the brave men and women fighting overseas while showing you a collaboration of shots, tanks rolling, planes flying, someone raising the American flag.  The style wouldn't have worked for Spider-Man or Iron Man or Thor, but for Cap's origin, it is the perfect fit.

So that's my take on it.  I love a good redemption story as much as the next guy, but there is something refreshing and even inspiring about Captain America and the innocence with which he sees things.  Superman is called the boyscout, but as far as the movies are concerned, the boyscout hasn't had a strong showing since the 70's. It is great to finally see someone step up and fill the gap.

Umm, Maybe You Shouldn't Have Told the Post...Maybe

Morgan Webb of G4 has a new show called G4 Underground.  I am actually watching an episode right now.  It's abut a real life crime fighter, a guy going by the name Dark Guardian.  He's based in New York, seems to spend a lot of his time patrolling various rough neighborhoods in Manhattan, and mentioned in his interview that he was born and raised in Brooklyn.

The guys got guts.  He just approached a guy in Washington Park, an alleged drug dealer, and told him to take a hike or he was going to call the cops.  The guy left.  But Dark Guardian may have been able to hold his own if it came to blows, he's been studying martial arts for ten years and has a trainer, Mike, who helps him train every day.  Whether he's any good or not I have no idea since I'm convinced with the right editing I could look like Mike Tyson hitting a heavy bag, but I will tell you this, I wouldn't mess with him.

But here's something interesting.  Morgan Webb, who as far as I can tell only introduces the segments, I haven't seen her actually talking to anyone...but Ms. Webb said that Dark Guardian would only give G4 an interview if they promised not to reveal his "secret" identity.  I put secret in quotes because the guy doesn't hide his face at all, his only attempt at a disguise being a pair of very transparent goggles.  But there's more to it.  While the segment was still on I Googled Dark Guardian and found and article from the New York Post about a handful of New York crime fighters, Dark Guardian among them.  In the article, I learned that, as of April 11, 2010, Dark Guardian, aka Chris Pollak, was a 25 year old man currently living in Staten Island.  So really, preserving his "secret" identity was just a dumb something or other done by either him or G4 producers.  Either way, it's stupid.

Guardian isn't alone in the crime fighting business (I don't know about being alone in being dumb enough to tell your name to one major news source only to deny it to another later) and apparently there is a whole movement, which you can learn about at http://www.reallifesuperheroes.com/ and http://www.reallifesuperheroes.org/.  Say what you want about them, at least they're trying.

Yeah, that's him.  He wears a biker jacket.  At least he'll be safe if he trips on the sidewalk...

And Now, A Word From the Captain...

And to show our appreciation...

Remember kids...if it moves, shoot it.  Unless it's the Captain.

Good News for ME!

I don't know how many of you know this, but I submitted a story for an anthology of crime/pulp/noir stories coming out this November.  The book, the second in the series, will be called Live Free or Die, Die, Die! and my story (hopefully) will be titled the same.  It is published by Rick Broussard, editor of New Hampshire magazine.

I say hopefully titled the same because I entered my story to be the title story, and to get that position would be an honor and extremely cool (as far as I'm concerned).  The good news is that Rick e-mailed me the other day to tell me that my story is definitely in the book (yay!) and that I am actually in the running for the title story (double yay!).  I don't know if I'll get it or not since I have no way of seeing the competition and therefore have no idea where I stand, but really it's awesome just to get in there.

For those of you unfamiliar with New Hampshire Pulp Fiction, you can check out their website here, and you should also check out the first book in the series, Live Free or Undead (did I mention he's editor of New Hampshire magazine?).  I know you can find it in Portsmouth (which is where I found it) or you can look around for it.  That's what the internet is for.  I'm not doing all the work for you.

Anyway, as I said, the book comes out this November, and whether I'm the title story or not I'll be in there somewhere, so show your support.  I'll be reminding people when the time gets closer.

How Luongo Lost the Stanley Cup for His Team

First of all, congratulations to the Bruins for their first Stanley Cup since 1972.  I don't know if Boston fans could have handled another drought like a certain terrible baseball team once had...and you had to go through some pretty tough teams to put an end to the wait.  Also, cograts to Tim Thomas on being selected MVP, a trophy well earned.

Speaking of tough teams, just about everyone had Vancouver picked to be hoisting the trophy, for what would have been their first time in franchise history, at the end of the season.  In a year where so many teams were so competitive, so close in skill level in both the Eastern and Western conferences, and the playoff contenders weren't decided until the final weekend of play, Vancouver was the one team that seemed to have separated itself from the pack.  In a season where any team could beat any team at any time, Vancouver was the one team in the league expected to win every game.  Led by the Sedin twins, Vancouver was arguably the most consistent (winning) team of the year.

So what happened?

The series came down to goal tending.

As NHL on the Fly analyst Craig Button argued before the playoffs began, Luongo is not a Stanley Cup goalie.

Let's start with consistency.  Going into game seven Wednesday night, Luongo had two shutouts in the Stanley Cup Finals.  He had also been pulled twice.  The amount of goals he had allowed in three games at home: 2.  The amount of goals he had given up in three games on the road: a staggering 15.  Talk about inconsistency. 

How could the Vancouver fans, or more importantly their players, have any faith in a guy who can blank a team one night and then let pucks by him like they were covered in anthrax the next?  I don't think you can.  From a players perspective, when your goalie can at any time and without a moments notice give up four goals in five shots, you start to think and react with a defensive mindset.  Instead of battling for a close loose puck at the blue line, you start to think "I need to get back and play defense."  You stop taking chances, you stop being aggressive, you start worrying what the other guy is going to do to beat you instead of what you can do to beat him.  In other words, instead of playing the game to win, you start playing not to loose, and as anyone will tell you, that is a surefire way to defeat.

Luongo's inconsistency didn't just have an effect on Vancouver's state of mind as a team, which of course I can only speculate about, it had an effect on Vancouver's physical state of being as well.  No need to speculate there.  I watched it happen with my own eyes.  Eddie Olczyk made a comment with about seven minutes to go in the game about the Vancouver defensemen looking exhausted and being beat to every loose puck.  Tim Thomas also made a comment in his on-ice post-game interview about the physicality of the series taking a toll on Vancouver.

How does that relate to Luongo's poor performance?  See, it isn't enough that Luongo won three games in amazing fashion at home, because the Stanley Cup Finals is a long, hard, physical, seven game series...and people get tired.  It doesn't take a doctor to know that the best medicine for being tired is rest, and that is exactly what Luongo's three goals in eight shots in game six gave the Bruins players.  With a comfortable lead, the Bruins first, second, and even third lines all saw a little less ice time than normal in game six, while Vancouver's star players were still out there, grinding out every shift, putting two on the board.  But two wasn't enough.  So in the end, game seven saw a rested Chara, Recchi, and Bergeron for Boston, and a set of twins and one Robert Kesler tired, beaten, and, again speculation on my part, lacking in confidence.

Let me stop and mention something about the confidence of the Bruins here too.  Do you know what else happened when the Bruins top lines were on the bench?  The fourth line for the Bruins came alive.  Congratulations to Thornton and co. for really stepping it up when it was most needed.  They played hard, they put a lot of pressure on the net, they stood their ground against Vancouver's second and third lines.  But the most important thing?  It gave Boston coach Claude Julien confidence that his fourth line could handle more ice time in game seven.  I don't know if you saw that stats after the first period, but the fourth line guys had at least four to six minutes each...more time the first line guys (or the second, or the third) don't have to be out there, more time they can rest.  No wonder then at the end of the game Boston was skating circles around Vancouver.  By the time Luongo went to the bench with around three minutes to play it was almost no challenge at all for Boston to get the puck to the other end and score that fourth and final goal.  The Canucks were out of gas.

Finally, I just want to mention Luongo's remarks.  He said he didn't mean them as an insult, and if you look at the comment as a whole you can sort of see where he's coming from, but here's the thing, it just doesn't matter.  You don't trash another teams goalie.  The only hockey I ever played was at the street level, but even there, you didn't attack the other teams goalie, verbally or otherwise.  It would be very painful for you, even amongst friends.  You think the Bruins treated the Canucks like friends?

Not to mention Thomas.   I think Thomas is a great interviewee because his answers are well thought out and he articulates them well, and as far as the media was concerned he seemed to have brushed the comment aside, even joking around a little (pumping the tires).  But rumors from the locker room suggested he was actually pretty upset about what Luongo said.  If that was true, do you think it broke Thomas' spirit, or made him play harder?  No way to know, mostly because I don't know Thomas' true reaction to the comment.  But what I do know is that Thomas led his team to 5-2 and a 4-0 victories after the comments were made.  So at best they had no effect and Thomas just played to his usual awesomeness, at worst, Luongo helped build the wall that stopped Vancouver from reaching it's first ever Cup.

So there you have it, my take on how Luongo lost the Stanley Cup Finals for his team.  You could argue that players win as a team, lose as a team, that he needed more goal support, Raymond was out, blah blah blah...but don't, because in the end, Luongo, who so aptly pointed out that HE was one win away from the Stanley Cup, not the team, he very much said "I" in an interview before game six, let the team down.  HE, apparently, was two games away from losing it as well.