Wil Wheaton on Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show

As promised, I finally got a chance to sit down and watch the Wil Wheaton episode of Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show (Season 1 Episode 10), so here are my thoughts. Wheaton guest stars as fictional super slimy Hollywood talent agent Moshi Schwartz, or Mushy Shorts, who is determined to get Kiko to sign with his agency, despite having never seen the show, because the buzz is huge. Instead Kiko dresses him in a flower hat, and they grow together until it is time for nature to pollinate his face, thanks to Panda who is dressed as a bumble bee, before spinning the wheel of fun only to land on "make a deal". Schwartz thinks this is his big break, only to learn that instead he is the winning contestant in a game show a la "Let's make a deal" and after choosing door number one, he is rewarded with a very hairy male order bride?!? Wheaton's running judemental commentary and on going cell phone calls arethe pretty funny, as are Unicow's on going dancing (humping) antics. Wheaton brings his own sense of comedy to the piece, and it works well with the typically zany antics of the cast. Another solid episode of free TV thanks to Crackle!

Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show

This is my latest discovery on Crackle and I have to tell you right now that it is awesome! Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show is an American made spoof of a Japanese talk show hosted by an over the top Japanese character named Kiko. The guest stars are actors, none of whom are expecting to be molested by Kiko's costumed pals: Unicow and Panda. In every episode they spin the wheel of fun for random entertainment. I was highly amused by the total randomness of it all. Here are the synopsis's for the first two episodes: S1E1: Lick Poop: Ichi! Ni! San! Shi! Palaentologist Rick Pope (Lick Poop) gets a bright, J-pop, Makeover when it comes to party time with Kiko. Talk to the hot dog! S1E2: Chief Itchy Balls: Unicow and Kilo get together for fun time with Chef Rick Bowles. A marshmellow man begs to be eaten, and Unicow sacrifices himself for fun! This may not be for everyone, but I appreciate their off the beaten track sense of humour, and the party time sings are funny as hell. Wil Wheaton makes a guest appearance in season one episode 10, which I will totally blog about once I have seen it! They have a full two seasons available online, and I will totally be watching all of it as fast as I can!

Merry Christmas

As the holiday season draws ever closer, I would like to take a moment to share my thoughts.  This is a special time of year when I like to look back and reflect on all of the wonderful people and opportunities that I have in my life.  I consider myself very blessed to have a such a happy, healthy, beautiful child to share the magic of Christmas with.  The Thief may have been naughty at times this year, but since she's right smack in the middle of the terrible 2's, I feel pretty confidant that Santa Clause will somehow still manage to find is way to our house this year. 
One entire side of my extended family will be gathering at my Grandparent's home on Christmas Day this year to celebrate the season and enjoy some quality family time with loved ones.  We aren't always able to all come together as often as we should, but we always make an effort at Christmas.  I have high hopes of seeing the other side of my family while I am home for the holidays, but we haven't made any concrete plans as of yet.  In my mind family always comes first.  I was raised to believe that family values are very important, and I can't emphasize enough how much the love and support of my entire family has meant to me over the years.  The holiday season is an opportunity for us to get together and share our appreciation, just relax for a few hours and catch up on what's going on in everyone's lives.
Friends, both old and new, are also a big part of the holidays for me.  Whether we see each other every day at work, or not nearly often enough,  Christmas is always a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with these friends, and offers an opportunity to express my gratitude.  All of my friends are incredibly generous, selfless, caring people that I appreciate immensely, that I wish I got to see more often. 

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe Christmas season, filled with love, cheer, and happiness.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Christmas Vacation: A Remarkable Discovery

Since the Holiday Season is upon us, I sat down recently to indulge in a little Christmas tradition of mine that has gone by the wayside the last few years. Of course, I mean a Yuletide viewing of that most beloved of Christmas movies: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. This has been my favourite holiday movie ever since it was first released in 1989. For those of you keeping track, I would have been 10 years old at the time. Chevy Chase and a stellar ensemble cast lead us on a fun and frantic festive romp that never fails to fill me with holiday cheer. The adventures of Clark Griswold and his wacky extended family tend to put everything in perspective for me. While much of the holiday trouble they encounter is self inflicted, they always persevere and manage to find the silver lining in every situation. Some of my favourite moments include: The remarkable Christmas light display that Clark creates for his family, Cousin Eddie's trademark holiday tag line as he empties his RV's septic tank into the storm sewer "Merry Christmas, Shitter was full." Clark's pool side fantasy, the Swat Team Invasion, and of course who could forget the squirrel in the Christmas Tree. These and many other moments in this film have always made me laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of the whole scenario, and having seen it as often as I have, I was under the impression that there were no surprises left in this movie for me. This last viewing proved me wrong. Right from the start of the movie, as the Griswold's are driving the family station wagon out into the country to obtain the perfect tree, I noticed something for the very first time. The young son Rusty looked very familiar. I suddenly knew that I recognized him from somewhere, but it took a moment before it dawned on me. I will admit that regardless of how many times I had seen this film, I had never thought to take note of the name of the young actor playing Rusty, as at the time, he wasn't immediately recognizable as someone I was familiar with from other roles. Fast forward 23 years and that has changed dramatically. I had to check the final credits to be certain, but Rusty is played by none other than Johnny Galecki. Okay, so that name may not mean a whole lot to some of you, but I guarantee that you will recognize the name Leonard Hofstadter, from The Big Bang Theory. This revelation floored me! Here was someone that I have I enjoyed watching every week on one of the top rated comedy sitcoms on TV, and while I knew he had appeared on Roseanne as Darlene's boyfriend, David, I had no idea that I had been enjoying his work for over 20 years. Galecki's current work with the ensemble of Big Bang Theory is hands down some of the funniest stuff on TV right now, and the Leonard/Penny/Sheldon dynamic is simply pure genius. This little discovery really made my day so I thought I should share. Merry Christmas.

Beer Town: First Impressions

For those of you not from the Kitchener/ Waterloo area, please allow me to share with you what everyone around here already knows:  We have some of the finest restaurants west of Toronto.  A large selection of these fantastic fine dining establishments are owned and operated by The Charcoal Group.  Last night I had the opportunity to sample the wares at the Charcoal Groups newest establishment: Beer Town.  Located in Waterloo Town Square, Beer town is a upscale public house with, as its name implies, a focus on all things Beer.  With 30 beers on tap, and 98 other varieties available by the bottle, there should be something to keep most beer drinkers happy.  While the focus seems to be fairly heavily biased towards various Canadian Microbrews, (which are fantastic, don't get me wrong!) there is also a strong selection of international beers as well.  The decor is modern, with a few traditional elements thrown in for balance, and the ambiance is very upscale urban trendy.  This may be a place that the local university students occasionally come to experience the wide selection of brews available, but the price point and menu are aimed more at the more discerning 30+ condo dwelling  RIM and Google employees that inhabit the core of  Waterloo.  The highlight of the experience is the various booths with dedicated taps located in the center of each table.  While not every booth has a tap, the ones that do are very popular.  It is my understanding that beer from these taps is billed by volume.  I will have to try it out for myself one day soon.  While I will admit that I struck out with the first 3 beers that I was hoping to find on the menu, after a thorough perusal of their beer list, I was encouraged to discover that there was at least 20 varieties that I had never tried before.  I quickly set about correcting that!
My first beverage, the Edinger Dunkel, a weiss bier of German origin.  Much darker in colour than most wheat beers, the Dunkel has a surprising light taste that is a pleasant surprise to the palate.  Available by the bottle, the Dunkel was a solid choice for wheat beer fans that are looking for a new experience.
My second beverage of the evening was also an offering from the Edinger Brewery.  The Edinger Weiss Bier, which the menu tells me, is ranked the #1 wheat beer in the world.  A cloudy, creamy, golden pint of delicious heaven, the Edinger Weiss has a crisp, clean taste that wheat beer enthusiasts will appreciate, and a strong, sharp finish that sets it apart from any other wheat beer I had ever experienced.  It instantly became my new favourite wheat beer.
Alas, I did not sample the menu last night, but everything that I saw come from the kitchen looked fantastic. 
I'll be headed back to Beer Town soon!

Ginger-Dead Man

Because we share a fixation for the living dead, and she's all kinds of awesome, I felt the need to share this lovely creation with all of you.
Made by Kelly of Taking Life Advice From Rappers, this little Ginger-Dead Man is her take to the traditional ginger bread cookie.
Apparently the cookie cutter has a press on the back side that indents the skull and  all of the bones for your frosting convenience.

I love him.

And he is delicious!

ISSUES - A Crackle Exclusive

Okay, I know I was a little down in Crackle in that last post, but I just found a Crackle exclusive web-series that more than makes up for it.
Issues is a 6 episode series that takes various animated super heroes and puts them on a live psychologist's sofa.  They are rude, they are crude, and they are absolutely friggin hilarious.  Each episode is only 5-7 minutes long, but there is a whole lot of dysfunction jammed into each of these webisodes.
The episodes are written and directed by Josh Cooke and Matt Oates, and Cooke plays the role of Dr. Ted throughout the series.
Various guest stars provide the voice talent of the disgruntled super heroes including Seth Greene, Ron Livingston, Rob Riggle, and Eddie Kaye Thomas.
Download the free Crackle app and check this series out.  You'll be glad you did.

Life after satellite Television.

I recently moved into a condo, and due to the various rules and regulations of the building, I have had to give up my Bell Expressvu account.  Now I could easily have simply switched over to another service provider, but I have made the choice to go without.
Not totally without, I don't think I could do that, but I won't be paying for HD programming any time soon.
So instead I turn to my trusty PlayStation Network, and it's free access to Crackle.
Crackle is online video streaming service filled with B (D) List programming, and a boat load of odd japanamation, that promises to at least satisfy my desire to have something on the television while I lounge on my sofa staring blankly at the screen.  While the programming is mostly crap, it is free, unlike Netflix, so that is a point in its favour.

The first show I attempted was Woke Up Dead, a comedy staring Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), Krysten Ritter (Don't Trust the B in Apt 23), and Josh Gad.
So far I am only 2 episodes in, but I am intrigued.  It is really more of a web-isode based series as each episode is only 3-7 min long.  Plot vaguely goes something like this: Dex  (Heder) wakes up dead after taking a pill at a party, drowning in his bath tub and being hit by a bus.   But he can still walk, talk, and interact with the living...so he's not a traditional zombie...

It is mildly amusing, and I will likely watch more of it when I have more free time.

What kills me is that all of the programming is in standard definition, and therefore looks terrible on my big HD TV.  Oh well.  I will get over it.

Advertising Genius

I just wanted to share this image with you, since I think it is a piece of advertising genius, all the way from 1987. I found it in an issue of Marvel's X-Men (Issue #213) that I was reading this morning. I am currently working my way through the entire back catalogue of the original run of X-Men just because I can. This advertisement actually appears as a half page ad on one of the advertising pages right next to a real ad. It alludes to a sub plot that has working its way through the series for at least 25 issues at this point, but has yet to come to a head. This is the first example of this kind of subliminal advertising that I have come across in this series, and I am really impressed with the concept. By having this piece masquerade as a real public service announcement in the pages of its own magazine, Marvel draws attention to what is obviously about to become a huge plot point in the series. I imagine at the time of initial publication this ad generated a lot of buzz and hype about the upcoming events. And that in turn would have sold more comic books. Genius, pure and simple.

The Life Of Pi

Last night I finally got the chance to see The Life of Pi in theatres, and let me just start out by saying that it was visually spectacular. Director Ang Lee has done a marvelous job of bringing together a creative team who have been able to work cinematic wonders with this fantastic tale. This film is not your typical Hollywood spectacle, it focuses on the trials and tribulations of a young Indian man lost at sea after the cargo ship he is traveling on sinks in the Pacific ocean. The largest challenge he faces, sharing his life boat with an adult Bengal tiger. Based on the book of the same name written by Yann Martel, The Life of Pi, is a very spiritual reflection on the effect of adversity and isolation on the human psyche. While it has been a number of years since I read the book, I feel that this cinematic portrayal comes close to doing it justice. As a stand alone experience Pi really is quite remarkable, if mainly for its visual aspects. The hardships that young Pi must endure throughout his unexpected exile are often breathtaking to behold, as are the few moments of serenity that he is able to find during his trials. But the true highlight of the film is his adversary, Richard Parker, the tiger. The entire film can really be summed up as an exploration of the relationship of man vs beast under conditions of extreme adversity. Of course, those of you who have read the book also realize that there are strong undercurrents of a a second theme, that of man vs himself, also under extreme conditions. While likely not for everyone, I found myself quite fond of the retelling, and while I was engaged in the narration of the story, there was a significant part of me that kept wondering how they planned on dealing with the epilogue of the novel, that unexpected twist that makes a reader question and re-evaluate everything that they have experienced up to that point. By keeping the epilogue in tact as strictly narrative, the film makers make the conscious choice to leave the viewer with only the image of Richard Parker disappearing into the dense tropical foliage, rather than portray any of the events of Pi's 2nd version of the events, Ang Lee preserves the cinematic integrity of the film. My recommendation: Read the book. Decide which story you prefer, then see the film as a homage to a wonderful piece of creative writing.

Stan Lee On Comic Book Men!

As promised, Stan Lee, the creator of the Marvel universe himself, did make an appearance on Kevin Smith's AMC show Comic Book Men last night.  Stan was being photographed for a charity event, and the producers decided to use Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash as the backdrop for the shoot. The store basically shut down for the day, and the staff had a private audience with Stan.  Which was obviously a dream come true for Walt. The whole event was remarkably reminiscent of Stan's appearance in Kevin Smith's movie, Mall rats, as in both instances Mr. Lee was bombarded with esoteric questions that only true super hero fans could ever appreciate.  This time around though, it was interesting to hear Stan's unscripted answers.  It was actually very endearing to watch Walt, Mike, Ming, and Brian sit down cross legged on the floor on the comic book store to listen to Stan tell stories and answer their questions.
Stan was incredibly poised, funny, and had a great sense of humour about the entire affair.  Stan dodged a variant of the age old question of "who would win in a fight, The Hulk, or Thor" by stating that whenever two super heroes fight in a comic book it is important to have the fight end in a draw so that the fans of both heroes are never disappointed. This way the fans will argue the fine points of the match up for years to come, generating further discussion, and interest.". Well played Stan, as this continued interest also sells more comic books!  During one of the round table cut away scenes, Kevin Smith described Stan as a living legend, a true ambassador for the world of comic books, and I know that I am inclined to agree with this assessment.  Excelsior!

Blogit App - A Fancy New Toy

I just downloaded a new blogging app, and wanted to take it for a test drive. So this post was published on my tablet with Blogit! The official Blogger app from Google has been driving me crazy ever since it was updated 2 weeks ago, and insists on hanging and freezing my tablet every single time I try to upload a photo from my image gallery, or edit an existing post. So while this post may not be super exciting to you, the reader...I think it's pretty cool. It seems a little odd to me that the photo appears as HTML in the body of the text, but I think when I publish it, it should be fine. Had some difficulty publishing initially, but after a delete & reinstall everything seems fine. Win. Perhaps I spoke too soon, it seems to have issues publishing when I include labels...otherwise works great...aha I think I solved the problem...apparently "!'s" aren't allowed in blog titles or labels...blogit wouldn't tell me that, it just refused to publish, but Blogger flagged them when I tried a work around...so there is my new fact for the day.

Super Mario Brothers - Before they were Super!

I found this advetisement in an X-Men comic book I was reading tonight (#187) from 1983 and it brought a huge smile to my face.
Long before they made their debut on the NES Mario and Luigi were just simple plumbers in this classic Atari 2600 video game.  Challenged by the nefarious turtles, crabs and flying thingies...I vaguely remember playing this title a few years after it was released, after I had gotten hooked on Super Mario Brothers for the NES.  I disticntly remember my younger self being like...wow this game is crap!  Now I look back on it and appreciate it for everything that it started.  Ah nostalgia...to think...this was 30 years ago!

Stan Lee on Comic Book Men!

Holy Crap!  I just caught the teaser for nest weeks episode of Kevin Smith's show on AMC, Comic Book Men, and Stan Lee himself will be making a special guest appearance at the Stash!

That is going to be amazing!  I will definitely be writing a post to comment on that once it airs!

A long time Kevin Smith fan, I just recently became a big fan of the show, and one of my big complaints was that Kevin never actually dropped by the store.  They finally remedied that tonight as the gang at the Stash hosted a live book signing of Kevin's latest book Tough Sh*t.  With Jason Mewes working security, there were a lot of laughs, and it was pretty amazing to see Kevin step into the role of negotiator / benefactor when an item from Walt's past came through the door.

These guys have one of the best jobs ever!

CM Punk and Yvette Nicole Brown on The Walking Dead: Part 2

Tonight's guest stars on The Talking Dead were  WWE Wrestler CM Punk and actress Yvette Nicole Brown of Community.

It was a very vocal episode, with both Punk and Yvette being very out spoken with their views on tonight's episode.  It was nice to finally see an episode where the guests are vying for camera time, both anxious to express their opinions on the series.  As much as I appreciate the inside insight that actual cast members can bring to the table, they are usually under a pretty strict gag order.

CM Punk was very well spoken, and had some crazy views, like stating that Merle was justified turning a walker loose on a restrained Glen as part of the interrogation process.  I suppose I can see what he was saying, but nobody messes with Glen!  That character proved he is totally bad ass tonight, both by refusing to cave to Merle's brutal interrogation, and then by taking out the walker while still secured to a chair.

Yvette Nicole Brown was also very well spoken, and she had some pretty great insight.  I loved the fact that when asked which Community character would be best suited to survive the Zombie Apocalypse, she had to consider before jumping on the band wagon to answer Ahbed. 
I also appreciated Yvette's view of Carl as an up and coming Alpha in training.  Carl is definitely maturing into a force to be reckoned with.  And he is making way better choices these days.

The background featurette that focused on how the film crew achieve the various zombie decapitations was also pretty cool to see.

OMG!  The special preview of next weeks season finale was incredible!   Michone meets Penny!  I agree with both CM Punk and Yvette, that Michone would have no problem decapitating a child should it come to that!

This episode was one of the best this season.  Great guests, great content.  A lot of solid fun!

The First Rule of Hot Tub.

I just wanted to take a moment to let the world know how much I appreciate my friends Alec Harmer and Sadie Wannamaker.  (Wanna-Harmer?, Harmer-Maker?)  Ever since they bought their house in K/W they have been hosting frequent hot tub nights on their back deck, many of which I have been privileged enough to attend.  Some are planned weeks in advance, others are brilliant spur of the moment decisions.
Last night was the latest of these events, a totally unplanned gathering of good friends that was the result of someone having a stressful day at work.  It couldn't have come at a better time for yours truly.  Its great to be able to unwind at the end of a long day surrounded by great friends. Regardless of who is in attendance, I have found that some things always hold true about these events.  The company is always fantastic.  The beer is always cold. And the one rule of the hot tub is always strictly enforced.

What happens in the hot tub stays in the hot tub. ;)

Thanks guys.

See you again soon.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2: Online Multiplayer: Create a Class: First Impressions

I have had a copy Black Ops 2 in my possession ever since the midnight launch just under two weeks ago so it's time to share a few thoughts.  Right off the bat, if you aren't a gamer, or don't play Call Of Duty, go ahead and skip this post!  Its not going to interest you in the slightest!
I have already logged about 20 hours of online game play, and it would be more if I weren't so busy at work right now.  I am currently level 20 on my first Prestige, thanks to the Double XP launch weekend.
First thing, the new Pick 10 create a class system is a really interesting modification to the game.  It used to be that a player got to choose a primary weapon w/ attachment, a secondary weapon, a piece of lethal equipment, a piece of tactical equipment and 3 perks (1 of 6 available from different 3 tiers) to aid in their goals.
With the new pick 10 create a class system, the player can choose to forego any number of their weapons, equipment or perks to select any combination of the above, plus new wildcard attributes.  The wildcards each take up one slot, and allow the player added options, like selecting a second perk from a tier, adding a second piece of lethal equipment, carrying 2 primary weapons, or equipping 3 attachments to a primary weapon.  The wildcards allow for almost limitless customization combinations.
I play Domination almost exclusively, and very early on I found a couple of combinations that work really well for my play style:

ASSAULT CLASS:
Wild Cards:
#1 Primary Gunfighter: Allows an extra attachment on my primary weapon.
#2 Perk 1 Greed: Allows two Perks from tier 1.
Primary Weapon: Type 25 Assault Rifle: A solid assault rifle with full auto capability, a must in my books.
Primary Weapon Attachments x3: Thanks to the Primary Gunfighter Wildcard.
#1: Target Finder Scope: An advanced  holographic scope that actually identifies targets in its viewfinder.  Incredibly accurate, and helpfull for mid-range distance kills with an assault rifle.
#2 Foregrip: Reduces recoil, increasing overall accuracy, very important when running with on full auto.
#3 Full Metal Jacket rounds:  The FMJ's add a big punch to the Type 25's ammunition, meaning it takes fewer slugs to put down an opponent.  Also in a quick-draw firefight, the FMJ's give you the edge over your opponent.

Secondary Weapon: FHJ - 18AA rocket launcher.  A vehicle lock launcher with 2 rounds, perfect for knocking enemy aircraft out of the sky.

Perks:
Perk Tier 1: x2 Because of the Perk 1 Greed Wildcard.
#1: Flack Jacket: A must in Domination matches, lets you survive an explosion or grenade blast without dying.  This is a huge advantage when capturing control points.
Perk #1 slot #2: Light weight: Allows you to move faster, handy when trying to get from point A to Point B.  Also, you take less damage from falling.
Perk Tier #3: Extreme Conditioning: Lets you run for longer durations, and when combined with light weight, you go like the wind, even when carrying a rocket launcher.
In order to run this load out I have given up my lethal equipment, both tactical equipment pieces, and a Perk 2 tier selection.  I don't find that I miss them at all.
Just for fun, I also created a perk heavy class modeled after something that one of the game designers likes to run with.  This class forgoes both primary and secondary weapons, in favour of speed and lethal combat knife kills. Nobody expects it, and while it isn't well suited to domination matches matches, it is perfect for quick and dirty Free-For-All matches.

Mortal Kombat Class:

Wildcards:
Perk #1 Greed
Perk #2 Greed
Perk #3 Greed

Lethal Equipment: Combat Axe:  Literally the only thing I am carrying other than the combat knife.  The deadly combat axe is an instant kill when it hits a target, and it can be picked up again and again.  While it is not the easiest thing to aim, it is pretty badass.

Perks:
Tier 1 #1: Blind Eye:  This keeps me off if enemy radar, making me undetectable to their U.A.V recon drones.
Tier 1 #2: Light weight: Allows you to move faster, which is always handy when you are running just hand to hand melee weapons.
Tier 2 #1: Cold Blooded: This makes me undetectable to heat sensing scopes, and target finders.  If they can't get a lock on you, some players will have a hard time hitting you.
Tier 2 #2: Scavenger.  This allows me to resupply ammo for any weapon I choose to pick up mid round.  Very handy if your stealth attacks are getting nowhere.
Tier 3 #1: Extreme Conditioning.  Sprint for longer periods of time.  Thus combined with Light weight, and no primary or secondary weapons allows for the fastest movement possible.  All most twice the speed of heavily weighted players.
Tier 3 #2: Awareness.  This boosts the level of noise made my enemies around you so you can hear footsteps etc through your source speakers.
Armed with only the combat knife and Combat Axe, this super speedy class is a lot of fun, especially on small maps!
So there you have it, all most limitless options for customization means that you can play this game your way.
BTW, you play, feel free to add me on PSN: DeaDPaN79 and we'll swap stories.
Now get out there and shoot some douche waffles!
Stay Frosty.

CM Punk and Yvette Nicole Brown on The Walking Dead

Did my research and it turns out that WWE wrestler CM Punk, and actress Yvette Nicole Brown will be the guest stars on tomorrow night's episode of Talking Dead after The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 7.  Fans of the quirky show Community will recognize Yvette as the actress who plays Shirley.  I haven't watched wrestling in 15+ years so I have no idea who CM Punk is, but as always, I am interested to hear what both of these guests have to say about episode 7. 

Wreck-It Ralph: First Attempt Salvaged!

For the record, I lost this post, by accidentally deleting it, then found it after rewriting it from scratch.  I am going to put it up, just to compare the two finished products, written hours apart.  See the other post for the images.

Disney has done it again. With a fantastic blend of nostalgia and sugar-coated fun for the whole family, Wreck-It Ralph is a set to be a another hit for the Mouse.

With a stellar cast featuring John C. Reilly (Wreck-It Ralph), Sarah Silverman (Vanellope Von Sweetz), Jack McBrayer (Fix-It Felix, Jr.), Jane Lynch (Sergeant Calhoun) and Mindy Kaling, there is alot to love about this film.

The plot is pretty heart-warming. The whole thing takes place inside the various arcade games down at Litwack's Arcade. Wreck-It Ralph, is a wrecker. He's really good at wrecking stuff. He is also the bad guy in the arcade game Fix-It Felix Jr. He wrecks an apartment building every game so that Felix can fix it with his magic golden hammer. The thing is, that Ralph isn't a bad guy. He's just doing his job. But, because he's different, the other inhabitants of his game treat him different. Instead of living with them in their building, he lives at the dump, surrounded by all of the bricks, and rubble created by destroying the building every day. He doesn't ever get to eat pie, or get invited to their parties. Poor Ralph is lonely. He just wants to be included. So when he sees that there is a party going on to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the game, he invites himself to the party, much to the chagrin of the other characters.

And of course, without meaning to, he wrecks it. This starts his quest to obtain a medal so that he can be a good guy like Fix-it Felix Jr. And I have to give special mention to Jack McBrayer, whose super sweet, ultra nice guy portrayal adds alot of fun to the film.

Ralph's quest to earn a medal take him from his own video game into the world of Hero's Duty, a modern FPS game where a platoon of super soldiers lead by Sargent Calhoun, tackle a swarm of ravaging cy-bugs each and every game. Ralph is in fact able to obtain a medal, but he soon looses it again when he is unexpectedly jettisoned out of Hero's Duty, and finds himself in a the saccharine sweet game Sugar Rush, a candy coated kart racing game, accidentally transporting a cy-bug with him.

He is soon introduced to Vanellope Von Sweets, a saccharine sweet little pop tart, who steals his medal in order to fulfill her own goals, namely of one day being allowed to participate in the Sugar Rush kart race.

Sweetz, who in the grand tradition of family movies, just wants to play in all the reindeer games, but because she's different (she's a glitch, and occasionally phases in and out of existence) the other racers shun and mistreat her. Eventually realizing that Vanellope is a kindred spirit, Ralph helps her build a kart and teaches her to drive. Meanwhile Felix and Sgt Calhoun are tracking Ralph and the cy-bug in an effort to return them to their respective games before the arcade opens for the day. In a hilarious sub plot, romance soon blossoms between these two protagonists. In the end, everybody gets what they want, and all is well with the world of the arcade, this is a Disney film after all.

Special mention to the fun video game based humour of this film. I know I appreciated it! Specifically the first scene, a A Bad Anonamous meeting for the various villains of the video game arcade, featuring appearances by Zangief and M.Bison of the Street Fighter franchise, Bowser from the beloved Super Mario Brothers franchise, Kano from Mortal Kombat, and Clyde, the orange ghost from Pac Man. There was alot of other fun references to video game culture that anyone with a working knowledge of video games can appreciate.

I also have to comment on the fantastic blend of animation styles on display in this film. Everything from a cute modernization of 3 dimensional 8-bit graphics for Fix-It Felix characters to the ultra realistic HD graphics of Hero's Duty are served up in a manner that they blend seamlessly, and everything makes perfect sense.

I actually enjoyed this film so much that I went back to see it a second time a few days later, and the second time around I took my two and a half year old daughter, the thief, as I thought she might appreciate it as her first ever trip to the movies. I consider this to be the ultimate stamp of approval for a film. And as the lights went down in the theatre, and the classic Disney castle appeared on the big screen, her eyes lit up, and she immediately leaned over to give me a kiss. Turns out, she liked it too.

Sarah Silverman on The Walking Dead Part 2

Okay, so I promised that I would write about Sarah Silverman's appearance on Talking Dead after last weeks episode of The Walking Dead.  Right off the bat I have to say I was underwhelmed.  I expect a certain amount of shock value out of Ms. Silverman as a comic, and I thought she may bring a little of this to her guest spot, but this was not the case.  She was introduced as having starred in the Disney Film, Wreck-It Ralph, and was pretty PG through the entire episode.
Really, the whole episode was underwhelming as there was not a guest appearance by a cast member...just some guy from a band I don't know...
Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

Wreck-It Ralph: Another Disney Masterpiece

The Mouse has done it again with another fantastic animated film.  There is alot to like about this fun, family friendly movie, and a big part of that is the stellar cast.  Featuring the voice talents of John C. Riley (in the title role of Wreck-It Ralph) Sarah Silverman (Vanellope Von Sweets), Jack McBrayer (Fix-it Felix Jr.), Jane Lynch (Sergeant Calhoun), and Mindy Kaling, the film has lots of humour that the kids will love, and plenty of references that will go right over their heads to land squarely in adults laps.
The plot is pretty adorable and heart warming. The whole thing takes place inside the various video game consoles down at Litwack's Arcade.  And all of its characters are the inhabitants of the various video games. 

In the opening scene, A Bad Anonymous meeting attended by a veritable who's who of video game villain's (including Bowser of Super Mario Brothers, Zangief and M. Bison of the Street Fighter franchise, Kano from Mortal Kombat, and chaired by Clyde, the orange ghost from Pac Man), we are introduced to Ralph.   He is a character from the game Fix-It Felix Jr.  Ralph is a wrecker.  It is his job to wreck an apartment building every game so that the game's hero, Felix, can fix it.  The thing is, while Ralph is the bad guy, he isn't actually a bad guy.  He is just doing his job.  But because he is different, the other inhabitants of his game treat him differently, except for Felix, who is always super nice to everyone.  Ralph is forced to live in the dump, amidst all the broken bricks he generates wrecking the building every game.  He never gets to eat pie, or gets invited to parties, and at the end of every game, while Felix is awarded a medal, Ralph is tossed off of the building to land in a mud pit.  Unhappy with this existence, Ralph embarks on a quest to earn a medal of his own in order to gain the acceptance of the other inhabitants of his game. In his search for a medal he travels to Hero's Duty, an ultra modern HD first person shooter, where he encounters Sergeant Calhoun, a tough as nails soldier who leads the assault on a horde of voracious cy-bugs.  Ralph manages to find a short cut to earn a medal and is soon after ejected from Hero's Duty, along with a rogue cy-bug.  He soon finds himself in Sugar Rush, a candy coated Kart racing game.  He quickly looses his medal to Vanellope Von Sweets, a saccharin sweet little pop tart who just wants to be a real racer, but because she is a "glitch" the other racers won't let her take part in the game.
Meanwhile Calhoun and Felix have set out to return Ralph to his game, and destroy the rogue cy-bug before it can multiply and destroy every game in the arcade.  Unexpected romance soon blooms between Felix and Calhoun.  Ralph soon realizes that Vanillope is a kindred spirit and offers to help her enter the big race, first building her a kart, and then teaching her how to drive.  Trust me when I say that heart warming hilarity ensues.  In the end, because it's a Disney film, everyone gets what they deserve, and they all live happily ever after.  Life lessons learned.

I actually enjoyed this film so much that I decided go back and see it a second time.  The second time, I took my two and a half year old daughter, the thief, because I thought she might enjoy it. This was her first ever movie on a big screen, my ultimate seal of approval.  As the Disney castle appeared in the opening credits, her eyes lit up and she immediately leaned over to give me a big hug and a kiss.  She sat through the whole thing, and was super excited by the candy land landscapes of Sugar Rush. Verdict: She loved it, and that's good enough for me.

Been There, Done That, Got Another T-Shirt!

That's right, it's November 13th, launch day for this years most anticipated video game: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

Once again my buddy Tim and I braved the November weather to attend the midnight release.  It had poured rain, here all day and the temperarure dropped to zero as tje night went on.  But we're hardcore.  We brought touques amd gloves, and once again camped out at our local Best Buy in order to be amongst the first to be able to play the game on launch day.

There were supposed to be three of us standing in line, but one of our friends bailed necause he didn't want to stand out the cold.  We wont hold it against him.  much.  ;)

This year we only had to stand out in the cold for about an hour, while there was a crowd, it looks like the inclimate weather kept alot of people home.  But not us!  We had wisely pre-ordered the game in order to get the free extra content: A sweet multiplayer map called Nuketown 2025, and as a added bonus we recieved a Black Ops 2 release day poster, and the official Black Ops 2 T-Shirt.

Ofcourse we then rushed home to play test this sexy new purchase.
After only about 3 hours of game play (Yes I played it until 4am) I have to say that I am pretty impressed.  So far I have only tried the online multipayer gameplay, but the whole experience is pretty slick.  More details to follow, once I have tackled the campaign, and Zombie modes.

Operation: Black Ops 2 successful.  Fun achieved!

Sarah Silverman on The Walking Dead

I just saw that Sarah Silverman is going to be the guest star on next week's episode of Talking Dead, right after the 6th episode of The Walking Dead.

I am curious to see what kind of insight she brings to the table, and just how much of her quirky sense of humor shines through.  She really is one of the funniest comics out there right now.

I'll be sure to post about her appearance.

Transformers 4?!?!?!

Big news for all of us Transformers fans today!  There will be a 4th film!

Michael Bay has just announced that Mark Wahlberg will star in the 4th installment of the Transformers movie franchise, scheduled for release on June 27th, 2014.

There are no details available on the plot yet, but my guess is that the Autobots will attempt to save the earth from the evil machinations of the Decepticons, (possibly lead by Galvatron?) resulting in some really big, very expensive explosions.  Ofcourse, it could also be that Unicron is set to destroy the earth, or maybe we are jumping forward to the Rodimus Prime story line.  OR - It could be a do-over.  Time will tell.

While Maichael Bay is single-handedly ruining my fondest childhood memories, i have to admit that I appreciate that somebody has finally put the Transformers on the big screen.  None of the movies up to this point have been well done, but 4th times the charm, right? right?

In honour of Rememberance Day, I would also like to take a moment to remember some of the fallen heroes who will not be appearing in this 4th installment of the franchise.

Jazz

Ironhide

Jetfire



Lest We Forget

The Wolverine! The Official Teaser Poster this time...

I posted an unofficial teaser poster for this film a while back, but here's the real deal.  The Wolverine is slated for the big screen in 2013.
Apparently the plot of this film takes place chronologically after X-Men: Final Stand, which is a bit of a surprise...but that may just be the rumor mill.  If that is the case, it leaves a lot of room for tie ins with the 2014 release of X-Men: First Class 2: Days of Future Past...which is very interesting...at least to me, since I am becoming a big comic book nerd...and I love it!
As a side note, it is interesting to me that Wolverine, who I consider to be a quintessential X-Man character, didn't actually appear in the X-Men comic book series until issue number 95, years into the publication.  (Not quite true, his actual first appearance as an X-Men is in 1975's Giant Size X-Men#1, which falls between the action of issue 94 and 95, but only the die hard fans will know what I am talking about at this point...). I recently decided to read all of these early comics, and I strongly feel that the series didn't really come into it's own until after the 2nd Genesis plot that introduces Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Jean Grey's transformation to Phoenix.  But that is a post for another day!

Adam Sandler - Comic Gold

That last Sandler post got me thinking of one of my favourite Adam Sandler moments that I haven't seen in quite some time.  Funny enough, it isn't a clip from a movie, rather it is a very early appearance at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. 
This is how he ended the set.
If you haven't seen it before...Enjoy!

Halloween Anecdotes or Why it is wrong for today's youth to attempt to streamline the candy acquisition process.

Tonight being that spookiest night of the year, when all the little ghouls and goblins are out chasing their dreams of massive amounts of candy, I thought I would share some observations that I made while I was handing out candy tonight.

First off, Trick or Treating in the city is way different from what it was like for me in a small rural village.  Namely, when I was a kid, everyone knew each other, so once you had recieved your candy, the game was always to see if the people could guess who you were. Really this was just an excuse to shoot the breeze with the neighbours, and your friends parents, while they tried to figure out which one of your cousins was dressed in the gorilla suit this time.  Sure this was a dumb game, and usually having one kid with you who didnt have a mask on was enough of a clue for the people in question to figure out who everyone in your party was. A mild case of guilty by association.  Still, it was fun - and because everyone did it, everyone played along.  Now, likely because I have moved to a different larger small town, and don't really know anyone outside my immediate neighbours, no one cares. Kids knock, say trick or treat, get their candy and leave. Gone is that sense of community. Secondly, I remember Halloween being a pretty big deal, I mean come on! Costumes, AND candy! What's not to love? I saw evidence tonight that today's youth are bored with the whole premise of having to work for their candy. Point in case. One young lady (12-14 years old, so still young enough to have every right to be out, but old enough to know the rules...) dressed in a pink princess outfit knocked on my door, then just stood there with her loot bag open waiting for me to give her candy. She failed to deliver on her part of the bargain as the treater. As the treatee, when I open the door, I expect to hear the magic words "trick or treat". This informs me, that I had better give the treater candy or else I run the risk of being subject to some heinous adolescent trick. These words form a formal verbal agreement between treater and treatee. I give you candy, you don't tp my lawn. Those are the rules. It is just what is done. Instead she just gazed at me with her bored, glazed over, just-give-me-the-candy-already eyes until I reluctantly deposited some smarties into her loot bag. I felt cheapened. And when she then said thank-you, I was a little taken a back, as this proved that she was not too shy to speak to a stranger, just that she was looking to streamline the whole candy acquisition process. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and the last experience I want to share, proves that I am not a kooky candy nazi with unrealistic expectations on the youth of today. Late in the evening I opened my front door to find a very young (18 months) little guy dressed as a lion. His dad was standing at the door as well, prompting him to say trick or treat. But all the little lion would say was "roar" in an adorable, tiny little voice. So darn cute! I had no issues giving him a double helping of candy, especially since I know that his dad was likely going to get a cut of the action. It's what we do after all.

That's My Boy - Adam Sandler takes the absurd, and finds the funny.

Okay, I want to get one thing out in the open right away.  I am an Adam Sandler fan, and have been for a long time. I am not ashamed to admit this.  I honestly think he is a very talented, very funny guy who has been able to carve out a pretty decent career catering to a very specific audience.  I have enjoyed Sandler since his early days on Saturday Night Live, and think his early films, Billy Madison, and Happy Gilmore, are pieces of comic gold. Granted, they are aimed at a very specific target audience, but for what they are, they are FUNNY!  He has perfected his loveable, kooky staple roles in films like 50 First Dates, Big Daddy, and Grown Ups. He has also flexed some very interesting acting chops in films like Punch Drunk Love, Spanglish, and Funny People.  However, this does not mean that I appreciate all of his work.  On the contrary, I think he has been involved in quite a few movies that have been just awful.  Jack and Jill and Little Nicky for example.  Wowzers, those were both unbelievably bad!
So I went into That's My Boy, expecting to be amused, but knowing to have realistic expectations.  I have to admit that my expectations were blown away in the first 10 minutes of the film.  Its not that the movie breaks any new ground, or showcases Sandler's talent in a new way.   Rather this film takes Sandler's personal brand of left field comedy so far beyond anything that he has produced to date, that you can't help but sit and laugh at the absurdity of the scenarios you are presented with on the big screen. 
The plot is pretty out there: Middle Schooler Donny Berger has a consensual affair with his hot older teacher which is eventually discovered and also results in an unexpected pregnancy.  Berger gains world wide fame and notoriety for his conquest while the teacher is sentenced to 30 years in prison for her actions.  The child of the union is raised by Donny's father until Donny turns 18, at which point he gains full custody.  Flash forward 27 years.  An older, no longer publicially revered Berger (Sandler), is destitute and in trouble with the IRS.  His son, Han Solo Berger (played by Andy Samberg), has changed his name to Todd and hasn't spoken with his estranged father in all most 10 years. Throughout the film it is made very clear to us that Sandler has not been a great father figure for his son.  He has made a lot of mistakes, many of which have had lasting repercussions.
The best thing about this film is that it doesn't apologize for what it is.  It embraces its absurd comedy, so much so that it borders on being a spoof on the genre.  Sandler's character is such an over the top, clueless douche waffle that it is often hard to think of him as a honest person with a full emotional spectrum, but once you consider that he is a product of his environment, you start to understand, and appreciate some of his choices. 
There are too many absurd circumstances to go into in detail, but I do want to make sure that I give Kudos where they are due:  A sly tip of the hat to the hilarious guest star role played by Vanilla Ice.  Yup.  There it is.  Vanilla Ice.  When he first appeared in the film, I thought it was just a quirky cameo, but it really is so much more than that.  He is featured in the film in a way that I never would have expected.  Here's where I admit that the first tape I ever purchased was in fact a copy of Vanilla Ice's To the Extreme, and at one point in my life I did know all of the words to Ice Ice Baby, so when Ice and Sandler go "rollin' in Five-point-Oh", I lost it.  Absolutely laugh out loud funny!
Ultimately, while I can definitely see that this film isn't for everyone, I laughed out loud a lot, and found myself wondering just how far the cast was willing to go for a laugh.  The answer...as far as it takes, and then some!

Taken 2: More of the same, but different, but the same...

Got out the other day to see Taken 2 featuring Liam Neeson.
I had some pretty high expectations for this film, since I enjoyed the first movie, but ultimately the film fell short.
The plot picks up pretty much where Taken leaves off, Neeson's character is still working private security, and the families of the men who kidnapped his daughter in the first movie have sworn vengeance.
Neeson's ex wife is going through a messy second divorce so Neeson invites both she and their daughter to join him in Istanbul after his latest security project concludes for a family vacation to help take their minds off of everything.
The bad guys track down the entire family, and this time they successfully abduct Neeson and his ex-wife while their daughter is able to elude capture.
Neeson, being a specialist in this type of international kidnapping scenario is able to walk his daughter through successfully locating where they are being held, through the use of a concealed cell phone like device.

The rest of the movie is really just a blur of car chases, foot chases, brutal hand to hand combat, and a couple of tough choices for Neeson's character.
Here's the thing, I really disliked what Liam Neeson brought to the role.  Yes, he is a big, imposing guy, even with the greying hair I buy that he could be working private security.  In fact, I totally would buy him as Jason Bourne, from the original novels, the older, more detached Bourne that Hollywood stayed away from in favour of Matt Damon's fiery younger version.  What I don't buy is that he loves his family.  The character is just so calm and detached from everything, that alot of the dialogue gets delivered in the same unemotiomal blank drone.  Perfect example, during the big car chase, Neeson is riding shotgun, shooting at the baddies while his 16 year old daughter, who doesn't have a license, drives the get away car.  She is having trouble operating the car to his standards, and he just sits in the pasenger seat droneing "Faster Kim, come on,go faster" for the whole 3 minuite chase sequence. Between this and all of the other references that the film makes to him being a total OCD nutbag, it is hard to develop any kind of relationship with tje character.  Ultimately the film ends up feeling like another American ode to freedom.  American's good!  Random Muslim terrorist types bad!
For my money, I think I would rather see A Good Day to Die Hard.

Iron Man 3 Trailer

I found this super sexy new trailer for the latest installment of the Iron Man franchise this morning and thought I would share.

I really enjoy Robert Downey Jr. in the role, and I think the potential for the this to be another fantastic comic book super hero movie is pretty high.

The comic book nerd in me wonders where it will fall into the whole Avengers timeline.
And who the villain will be this time around. Looks like the Mandarin will at least make an appearance. Check it out here.http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=5EjG-1U3wqA&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D5EjG-1U3wqA

A Walk in The Park

Today was a really great day to take a stroll through a wooded park in K/W and just reflect and enjoy the little things in life.

It was perfect for relieving stress and tension, since we all seem to have too much of that in our lives these days.

So I guess that's my advice for today: Go outside and experience your own little corner of the world.  Do some exploring, have a quiet adventure.  I can't guarantee that it will work for you, but it certainly always makes me feel better.

Cheers!

Wil Wheaton on Talking Dead

Well, I was right about the fact that a little name recognition goes a long way!
Will Wheaton's appearance on the Talking Dead tonight brought in a lot of traffic in here at wwwwd.  1226 hits in the last 3 hours to be precise.  So I would be remiss not to write a short blurb celebrating the appearance.
This week Chris Hardwick welcomed Wil Wheaton, and  Nick Gomez to the couch.  The topic, what else but Season 3 Episode 2.
Gomez, who played Tomas in tonight's episode, had a lot of interesting anecdotes to share regarding the filming of the episode.  It was also interesting that he was the secret cast member guest star tonight, since his character featured so heavily into the plot and action of the episode.  Despite the fact that tonight's episode will be his last appearance on the show, he certainly left an impression.  This is to be expected when you earn a machete to the skull from Rick Grimes!
It is apparent that Wheaton is a huge fan of The Walking Dead, as he seemed giddy to be on camera discussing the episode throughout the broadcast.  He wasn't actually called on to answer questions very often by Hardwick, doing most of his talking later in the episode - specifically to offer a pretty insightful commentary on the potential duality of Rick's current mindset in regards to the events of tonight's episode, ie killing Tomas, and leaving Andrew to die.  I also appreciated the take he had on Carl's actions this week, and I chuckled at the fact that he totally plugged Where's Carl (His own utube film) in his response.
To close out the episode Hardwick asked Wheaton  which Star Trek Captain he would prefer to have by his side in the event of a zombie apocalypse.  Wheaton's response:  James T. Kirk, cause he'd kick more ass. I certainly can't disagree with that logic.But who would win in a fight?  Rick Grimes or James Tiberius Kirk?

Laser Quest - Legendary Entertainment!

Got out last night with a friend for a truly entertaining evening of excitement. 
Our original plans for the evening had fallen through due to circumstances beyond our control, so we decided to try something that I haven't done in almost a decade.  Laser Quest!
We wondered in off the street to a completely empty lobby, thinking we were going to be out of luck...without enough players, there is not much point in strapping on a pack and attempting to play this family friendly form of laser tag.
Luckily the staff member behind the counter rushed us into the briefing room to join a big party that was about to start their first game.  We selected Codenames - Yoda, and DeaDPaN, two full grown adults out for an evening of fun, and walked through the airlock into the briefing room and found ourselves right in the middle of a pack of 16 screaming 10-12 year old boys...We had totally stumbled into a kids birthday party!  With only one other adult supervisor in the room we were seriously out numbered.  Yoda and I shared a laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation and decided to dive right in and enjoy ourselves.  The kids started chanting that they wanted to play kids vs adults (16 vs 3) despite the fact that it was supposed to be an every man for himself free for all.
Yoda and I decided to team up and watch each others back to increase our chances of survival...just to level the playing field...16 vs 2 aren't exactly the best odds.  We strapped on our packs and the first game was on!
Having never been to this location, we didn't know the layout of the combat zone, so we took it pretty slow, working our way around the perimeter until we were able to find a ramp to an upper level.  We traded laser fire with lots of small groups of kids, holding our own, but getting surrounded alot as we made our way through the maze.  It was hilarious, gangs of screaming children swarming 2 adults in the midst of a black light laser tag game.  I had total flash backs of Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother blasting his way through hordes of howling pre-teens in an epic game of Laser Quest!  It really was legendary.  Unlike Barney, Yoda and I had no qualms following the rules of fair play while fending off the advancing hordes of sneaky little ankle biters...sure, we did team up, but that was just common sense.  We spent the first game roaming around the combat zone, getting the lay of the land and destroying any pockets of resistance we encountered.  When the smoke cleared and the buzzer sounded signifying the end of the first match, we exited the combat zone only to discover that we had gotten pwned by the kids.  I was in 4th place and Yoda was in 7th.  It made me feel a little better to realize that the other adult, the father of the birthday boy had come in just ahead of me in 3rd place.
Round two added 6 more players to the mix, 5 more kids, and another adult mother, but we were taking no prisoners!  Yoda and I changed tactics slightly and found a defensible  mid level position that gave us clear lines of sight on four highly traveled routes.  We dug in and protected each others backs for the majority of the game, only moving on when the children had learned their lesson and stopped trying to assault our position.  All of those hours spent playing Socom, and Call of Duty really came in handy!  We were unstoppable!  It really did remind me of the episode of How I Met Your Mother when Barney and his bro team up for a Laser Quest challenge against a similar horde of howling tweens. LEGENDARY!
When the smoke cleared and the game was over I stood victorious at the top of the scoreboard, a full 200 points above the next closest player.  Yoda's ranked 8th overall, with an improved score.
We worked well as a team, and while we laughed about it later, it was a fun way to spend a night.  Maybe next time we'll invite a few more players our own age...since there is really only a very small glimmer of satisfaction to be had from besting a group of children at this kind of activity. ;)

Just so you don't actually think I am actually a  huge jerk I also want to share the following story:  For the record, I would like to note that there was also a younger little girl, who was maybe about 7 years old, playing in both games with us.  I assume she was a sibling to the birthday boy, as she stayed pretty close to their dad.  Any time Yoda and I encountered her, I would deliberatly let her tag me and not knowingly aim my laser fire back at her targets.  I wanted to make sure she was having fun and being included without feeling overwhelmed or picked on.  My own parental sense of fair play kicked in, and I hope she had a great time with her brother and all of his friends.  It actually made me think that I would like to one day take the thief out on an excursion like this, when she's a little older of course! 

Wil Wheaton on The Walking Dead?

It's funny how a little name recognition can go a long way! 
The interweb is apparently abuzz with individuals who are slightly misinformed about Mr. Wheaton's upcoming guest appearance.
A few of these people have wound up here at my blog...thanks Google!
So I figured I would write a quick post to better inform these poor misguided folks, just so that they don't get frustrated and start leaving me hate mail.
This Sunday Wil Wheaton will actually be featured on the AMC show The Talking Dead, an open forum discussion that airs after each new episode of The Walking Dead.  The Talking Dead features cast members, and producers from the show, answering fan questions.  They also occasionally invite celebrities who are fans of the series to come on and share their opinions and insight on the latest Walking Dead episode.  And this seems to be the case in this instance.
I'll be sure to watch this Sunday, and will likely blog about what Wil has to say...
So, sorry to dissapoint anyone who was hoping Wil was going to get the full Robert Kirkman treatment...not this time.
But...in the mean time, here's a fun image I have borrowed from Mr. Wheaton's tumblr page - who doesn't love a good Vegas Pimp Zombie Photo?  Thanks Google!



Also, in honor of The Walking Dead and Wil Wheaton, I have included this link to his short film: Where's Carl. Enjoy.

Sinister - A film that is creepy as hell!

Got out last night to catch a double feature on cheap Tuesday, and movie number one was the new horror flick Sinister starring Ethan Hawke.
As I have said before, horror films aren't my typical first choice for an evening of entertainment, but with Halloween fast approaching, I thought I would take a chance.
While I was expecting a Slasher flick, what I got was more of a supernatural psychological thriller.  And a good one at that!
The plot is solid, Ethan Hawke plays a struggling true crime writer who moves his family into the home of a family killed in an unsolved homicide in an effort to write his next novel.  His wife and children are unaware that their new home actually belonged to the subject material for his next book, and that 4 of the 5 family members were actually hung from the tree in the back-yard.  This hanging is actually the first scene of the film, and it gripes the audience right away, setting the tone for the film.
As they are moving in, Hawke discovers a box of home movies in the attic, a box that doesn't appear in any of the crime scene photographs of the house.  The box contains not only footage of the murder of this particular family, but 4 other grisly murders as well, spanning 5 decades, all with the same circumstances.  One child from each family is always missing from the murder scene, and often a rare demonic symbol is left somewhere at the scene of the crime.
This is where the supernatural comes into play in a big way.  Hawke enlists the help of a criminologist specializing in the occult, who is able to identify the symbol, and the creepy deity that is associated with it.  I dont want to name it, or include any images because it scared the sweet bejezus out of me.  And that's all I am going to say about that. 
The atmosphere in this film plays a huge part in building the suspense and raising the stakes on the creepy factor.  As the movie goes on and as day progresses into night, and back again, a pattern emerges that the audience can zone in on, taking advantage of the daylight to catch a much needed breather from the creepy night time terror.  There aren't alot of cheap thrills and chills throughout the film, but there are definitely a few moments that made me jump.
Lighting and its effect on the tone and mood also played a huge factor in the film.  I can say with certainty that it had an effect on my perceptions.  To illustrate, here's a quick run down of the narrative that was going through my head for the majority of the second half of the film:  "Just turn on the god damn lights!  For the love of god!"  "Seriously!  What the hell!  You are seeing creepy shit around your murder scene home in the dead of night, and you don't think to flick on the light switch?  For the love of christ, what is wrong with these people..."
All in all I was impressed with the film, it went that extra mile to make you think about the events it depicted, and when it did go for the shock factor, it didn't pull any punches...two words...yard work.
Now that's an image I just can't seem to shake!
See the film for yourself and see if it leaves a similar impression on you.  Oh, and let me know how you sleep afterwords.

Seven Psychopaths: A Dark Dark Comedy

The second film of last lights double feature was the new film, Seven Psychopaths, and I must say that I was very amused.
The trailers don't give much away, so I wasn't entirely certain what to expect.  But the stellar cast caught my attention, so I thought I would check it out.
What I got was a dark comedy that had some serious laugh out loud moments.  Be warned, there were not cuddly kitten falls off the back of the sofa funny moments. No, these were some sick, twisted laughs, and I must admit that I really enjoyed them!
Colin Farrell plays a screen writer, struggling with script for his latest film idea.  All he really has is a title:  Seven  Psychopaths.
Sam Rockwell plays his best friend, who attempts to give Farrell a bit of a push with his work...by...well, lets say...generating a little conflict in his life.
Walken and Harrelson also make appearances, as 2 of the 7 psychopaths...and each does a stellar job with the material.  This really is a film about a film, where the content of the lives of Farrell, Rockwell, and Walken's characters suddenly have tremendous baring on the screenplay that Farrell is writing.  They actually go so far as to brake the forth wall in one instance and have fantastic conversation about how the movie Farrell is writing (which is mirroring the movie the audience is watching to a certain extent) should progress from that point forward.  Some of the dialogue and commentary that they provide is fantastic!  It is not a device that I have seen in a lot of films, but as a comedic element it was certainly very effective.
A couple of times it was interesting the way they integrated the strictly fictional characters of Farrell's movie into the 'real life' events that the characters were experiencing.  Based on the title of both films, I expected to encounter 7 actual individuals, but this was not the case.
I really do see this more as a Festival piece than a solid piece of mainstream media, but it was certainly highly entertaining.  I don't think it brakes any new ground, and Quentin Tarantino will always do a better job with this type of violent, dark, yet disturbing comedic content, but Seven Psychopaths definitely holds its own.

The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor

With Season 3 of The Walking Dead set to air tomorrow night on AMC, I thought this would be a great time to share my thoughts on the first novelization to be spawned from this fantastic comic book series.
Credited to series creator Robert Kirkman and newcomer Jay Bonasinga, Rise of the Governor provides the origin story for one of the first arch villain's to be introduced into the series.  Philip Blake, also known as The Governor, is one of the most diabolical individuals encountered in The Walking Dead.  As portrayed in the comic book, Philip is the leader of the survivor community of Woodbury.  Best known for keeping his zombie daughter Penny chained on a leash, brutally raping Michonne, and arbitrarily hacking off Rick Grimes' right hand, Philip is portrayed as a sociopath who has no qualms about destroying the lives of others for his own twisted benefit.
  The novel provides all of the back story for how he ended up as such a sick, depraved son of a bitch.
  The novel follows the journey of Philip, his daughter Penny, his older brother Brian, and two of his drinking buddies, in the first days and weeks after the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse.
While Robert Kirkman is credited as an author on the novel, it is glaringly obvious that he acted much more as a consultant.  Despite sharing the mythos of world of The Walking Dead, the tone of the novel is just too far removed from the typical feel of both the comic book and the AMC television show, to have actually been written by Kirkman.  The interactions of the characters take such a backseat to the journey that in the end, the reader ends up questioning the shocking twist that is revealed at the end of the book.
I really don't want to go into spoilers here, but I will say this: Right from the beginning I felt it was odd that a novel focused on the life of Philip would begin with a chapter focused on Brian.
Fans of the series should read this story for themselves, just to form their own opinions.

The Walking Dead: My First Comic Book

So I just finished reading all of the existing issues of The Walking Dead.  102 issues in under 4 days, all while working a 40 hour work week.  I will be honest, it became something of a compulsion.  I just couldn't stop!  I got sucked in.
Another confession: Before this I had never really read a comic book.  I know!  Shocking right!  I have no problem admitting to the world at large that I am a full on super hero geek.  But comic books weren't  really something that I had access to as a kid, and while I certainly was exposed to alot of mainstream comic book super heroes in my youth, it was usually through either big screen movies (Superman, Batman) or cartoon adaptations (Spiderman, X Men).  While I always recognized that these characters had their roots in the comic book format, it was never really something that I chose to delve into.  (The one exception to this statement was Marvel's Wolverine: Origins Graphic Novel when I was in my mid 20's because like every other Wolverine fan out there, I just had to know...).

The Walking Dead has been a really wild introduction to this medium.  I was first introduced to the franchise through the fantastic television adaptaion on AMC (only 8 days until the launch of Season 3!!!), but the comic has actually been around since 2003.  The premise: Small town cop, Rick Grimes, awakes from a lenghty coma after having been shot while on duty only to discover that his world is now populated by hordes of shambling flesh eating zombies, re-animated by some unknown global (At least I assume global) catastrophy.  All of the modern convieniences that we have come to rely on are gone, (electricity, running water, telephones, the interweb, grocery stores, everything!) along with established government and social order.  Small pockets of survivours band together in an effort to increase their chances of survival.  Scavenging for food, gasolene, and ammunition and securing defensible living quarters have  become the keystone for the continued existance these individuals. 

What makes this series so interesting to me is the interactions between the various surviving characters.  While there are zombies throught this series, it is the human element that really stands out.  In a society with all of its rules stripped away, The Walking Dead really puts it's central characters under a microscope.  The choices that they make when faced by such hardships are what really define them.  They are all faced with hard decisions, and time and time again they are put in situations where they have to make choices that directly impact not only their own suirvivial, but the survivial of those around them.  People that they have come to feel responsible for.  Because of the breakdown of society, there is no law enforecement or judicial system, so everyone is limited only by their own sense of morality and what they deem as acceptable behaviour to ensure their own survival.  Each and every member of the "core" group has their own motivations for these choices, often in direct conflict with the choices of other members of the group.  It is the dynamic of these relationships that really kept me engaged throughout the series.  They core group also frequently encounters other groups of survivors who are working at cross purposes to their own desires, and this is when the fireworks really start. The scripts are really well done, and much more focused on the human element than I would have ever expected from a comic book.

 Ofcourse I would be remiss not to mention the fantastic art work of The Walking Dead as well.  Drawn entirely in gray scale, the art lends an incredible amount of depth and detailt to the post-apocalyptic world that the characters inhabit.  The tone that this black and white rendering adds to the project as a whole is quite incredible.  As a contrast all of the the cover art is drawn in colour, and I enjoy the flashes of insight that these isolated glimpses reveal.   I have included some of my favourite cover art throughout this post so you can get a sense of what I'm talking about.  While these are only 4 of the 102 issues covers currently availale, I think all of these images speak volumes. 

Now that I am caught up to the current issue, lightyears beyond the television series, I honestly can't wait for the next issue to be released...8 days and counting.  This is something I hope to be able to follow for years to come!

Time traveling execution victims makes for very, very engaging cinema!

Got out last night to see Looper with a couple of friends and I have to say that I was very surprised by what unfolded on the big screen.
What I thought I was going to see was a movie about time traveling assassins from the future.  Pretty friggin cool!
All of the trailers had lead me to believe that the primary focus of this film was going to be watching Joseph Gordon Levitt track down his older time traveling self, portrayed by Bruce Willis.  While this was certainly a big part of the film, there is another sub-plot that involves Willis' attempt to locate and kill the younger version of a future crime boss that over rides the cat and mouse plot that I was expecting.
While the concepts driving the film are far from new to the film industry, think 12 Monkeys, Terminator, Back to the Future, their are also some very strong undertones of the InFamous video game franchise.
Set in the not so distant future, Looper shows us a glimpse into a broken, poverty stricken society run by crime lords with ties to time traveling crime syndicates from 30 years in the future.  Looper's are the society's assassins, 20 something young men, contracted to kill and dispose of targets that are sent back in time from the future for ease of disposal.  The target simply appears at a given time and place, bound, gagged, and hooded, with the Looper's payment - 4 bars of solid silver, strapped to his body.  The moment the target materializes, BLAM! The Looper blasts them with a specialized shotgun, designed to be deadly from within 15'.  The looper then disposes of the body, which technically doesn't exist in their timeline, and waits for their next assignment.  Its a pretty friggin cool concept.  However, there is a big catch.  Every looper agrees to the fact that at some point they will be expected to assassinate their older selves, sent back from the future to be executed, hence 'closing the loop'.  So the loopers live large, reveling in the moment, wasting their money on drugs, women, and fast cars.
Joseph Gordon Levitt gives a great performance as a detached, torn young man, so very distanced from the morals our that society so values.  Bruce Willis is also stellar as his older self...brought back from the brink of death and addiction by the love of a woman, Willis is driven by motivations that the younger version of himself, Levitt, can't begin to comprehend.
Without giving away too much of the plot, I want to take a moment to touch on one of the most disturbing torture scenes I have seen in a long, long time.  Early in the film, One of Levitt's looper cohorts fails to close his loop, allowing his future self to run off.  The younger version of this looper is eventually captured by the crime syndicate and it is explained that they can't kill him because of the ramifications it will have on the future. While the older version tries to flee the city, his extremities suddenly start to disapear, and he suddenly finds himself the bearer of a very specific, very new, very old scar.  As time ticks on, more and more of his body is suddenly displaced and replaced with scar tissue.  The theory  being that while the syndicate can not kill the younger version of the looper, they have ways of keeping him alive while inflicting horrible amounts of very specific damage. I thought this was a really interesting and graphic way for the film to depict the direct results of altering the time space continuum...alot of the audience around me cringed as the scene went on and on...and while no actual violence or dismemberment were shown, everyone knew exactly what was going on.
It was very intelligently done.
That last statement can actually be applied to the entire movie.  There are no loose ends.  The film makers allude to very specific details early in the film, then as the film progresses, all of these concepts are brought into play.  It was great to see a time travel film that didn't leave us asking 'but what if...?' or 'are they now stuck in a continual time paradox?', or 'does this mean that we are now dealing with split and divergent timeliness?'  These are things I have often asked about other films, because it is the kind of thing I like to spend time pondering.  Looper answers all of your questions in a very direct, straightforward manner.  Which means that the writers spent the time to figure all this stuff out, they didnt just say 'ah well...who cares if this plot point doesnt make sense. Just go with it" And that I appreciate.

Every Girl's Crazy 'Bout a Sharp Dressed Man

Primer's Visual Guide to Understanding Common Suit0 Features

Stumbled Upon the above link tonight and it just so happens that it contains a wealth of information that I believe every man should be aware of. 

I urge all of you men out there to read the above article, as you will likely learn something that will come in handy down the road.

Most of the guys I know don't enjoy having to put on a suit, forget about knowing anything about how to properly wear one.
"How many buttons should they do up on their 3 button jacket?"
"How many vents should they have?" "How do they tie a full Windsor knot?"  These are all questions that either I have asked,  and heard asked by friends and family members recently.

I believe this lack of knowledge stems from our generations lack of respect for the suit in general.  Growing up, we all viewed suits as stuffy, restrictive, uncomfortable things worn only either by pretentious businessmen, or to a somber occasion like a funeral.  There were no fun, entertaining examples of reasons to put on a suit.

Now, in my 30's, I have learned to respect the suit.  And for this I would primarily  like to thank Barney Stinson.  Portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris on the hit CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother, Barney is almost aways sporting a tailored suit and is always calling on his wingmen to "Suit-up" for a night on the town.  Barney has taught us that suits command respect, and often deliver LEGENDARY results that may be otherwise unattainable! While I recognize that I am congratulating a fictional character for his approach to life, and that this series was in reality dreamed up by a team of writers in a board room at CBS, I would still like to thank the team that created Barney for their take on the impact of the suit in today's society.

Case in point.
I recently had the opportunity to "Suit-up" in Vegas, and head out on the town,  and I can 100% affirm that people really do treat you differently when you are dressed in a suit.

Special thanks to HFJ for classing up the entire event.

My Night With Lois Lane

While this story is a few years old, I think it's a good one, so I am going to share it, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.  So there.

While I was out on the road, touring a Broadway-style show, I found myself stranded in Livingston Montana with a couple of days off.  If you have ever been to Montana, odds are that you know there isn't a damn thing to do there...so I figured I was stuck, when all of a sudden a very interesting opportunity came my way.

One of my lead actor's, who also happens to be a good friend had made arrangements to meet an old acquaintance for dinner and asked me, and another pair of company members to join them.  No big deal.  Its just a dinner, right?  Well, as it turns out, it was to be a night to remember as the acquaintance turned out to be Lois Lane herself, Margot Kidder.

Brian had directed Margot in a show at Stage West years ago, and they had maintained a pretty good relationship over the years so this dinner invitation was a chance for old friends to get caught up, and her to be hospitable to some of his traveling companions.

Margot picked the four of us up at our hotel in her Suburban, with 2 very large, very energetic dogs in tow.

Our first stop was Costco to pick up enough food to feed an army.  2 HUGE Pork loins, and salad fixings, strawberries...groceries, and alot of them.

Next stop, the local pharmacy so Margot could fill her "prescriptions".  Margot was very open and honest with us all night about her battle with mental illness, and I have to give her credit for being a very brave, independent individual.  She is also very politically minded, and a huge supporter of President Obama.

We were under the impression that this was to be a very low key evening in.  The night started with a tour of her lovely, modest home, and included what I still consider to be the highlight of the event.  In Margot's 2nd story den, above the mantle I discovered a framed copy of the famous Daily Planet Newspaper Article wirtten by Lois Lane "My Night With Superman."  This discovery really made my night.  I have always been a huge Superman fan, and as if meeting Margot wasn't enough of a thrill, seeing this piece of movie history really made my night.  I asked Margot about the piece, and she told me that it had been given to her as a gift by one of the props people many years after the movie wrapped filming. 

Turns out that Margot had invited 20 of her closest friends over for a dinner party to celebrate our being in town, and had plans to prepare a huge meal.  Unfortuantely, Margot's idea of prepping a huge meal was to attempt to put the pork loins in the microwave to cook them...Bless her, she was pretty much useless in the kitchen, but has a huge heart. 

So three of us from the show, the drummer, one of the two lead actors, and me, the stage manager, slaved away in the kitchen for most of the evening cooking the meal while Margot and Brian regailed us with some fantastic stories, all of which I have promised never to repeat, I will say I learned some things about Christopher Reeve that night ;)

While we slaved away over the hot stove, we may have sampled a few bottles of wine...okay more than a few...

Eventually, mostly thanks to our drummer's kitchen wisdom, and my unparralled ability to stir a boiling pot, we were able serve a pretty damn fine meal.  We had set up 3 or 4 tables in Margot's living room on the main floor to accomodate all of the guests.  Margot's guests included a number of local artists and notables including author Maryanne Vollers, who wrote Ghosts of Mississippi.  It actually was a lovely evening, with alot of fun conversation, and only one beret wareing jackass, a local retired war correspodant, turned philospher who got raging drunk and insisted on attempting to make very long winded toasts every 15 minutes for the remainder of the evening.  Margot and Maryanne eventually told him to sit down and shut up.  Pretty funny.

At the end of the evening we (the same three that had prepped the meal) did the dishes and helped put the house in order.  My memory gets pretty hazy about this part of the evening as I was happily hammered, but I do know that I washed alot of dishes!  Since a few of us were in rough shape, Margot offered to put us up for the night, but as we needed to be back on our tour bus the next morning to leave town, she wound up loaning us her vehicle and one of the sober actors drove us back to the hotel.  Good times had by all, except maybe the douche waffle in the beret, but no one cares about him...