Maybe it IS time for a reboot

I had plenty of gripes about Spider-Man 3. Pretty much anyone who saw the movie had 'em. Even so, I think that Sam Raimi was forced to cram too much into one movie and that he still does a great job with the franchise. From what I heard, he wanted to do 3 as mostly Sandman with the black suit added into the mix. Venom would come in the next movie. That would have been perfect. Would he still have had the cringe-inducing bad boy change coming from a hair flip or dance sequences? Maybe, but it would have been a better movie and the next one with all Venom would have kicked ass. So, 3 aside, I think the Spider-Man movies could have picked up just fine.

Seeing that the one coming out this summer is a reboot made me cringe as well. Come ON! I'm a huge Spidey fan but even I'm getting sick of the whole origin story thing. Between the movie, the cartoons, the iterations of the comic books and video games, I've seen that spider bite his hand so many times that I just want Uncle Ben to hurry up and get killed so we can GET ON WITH IT. Even with new actors, directors, and the whole bit, we could have just continued with more Spidey stories. The only reason to do a reboot is to give the whole thing a fresh look and feel. So...here's the newest trailer for this summer's Spidey offering...




I gotta admit, the teasers had me intrigued and this pretty much seals the deal. I like a good reboot. Casino Royale made James Bond f'ing cool again and Batman Begins...well come on. I don't have to mention how nerdgasmically awesome the Nolan Batman movies are. Looks like this new Spider-Man has plenty of promise. The Lizard looks great and the whole thing has that Spider-Man feel that still gets my geeky toes a'tappin'. Between this, The Avengers and Rise of the Dark Knight, it looks to be a great summer. Hell, I'm still pumped for Ghost Rider!

+3 on Research Checks

It's been a long time since I've been able to play much as far as pen and paper RPGs are concerned. Still, I love D&D as well as the World of Darkness games! How much do I love them? Read this interview on the D&D website to find out!

I completed this a while ago and forgot about it with all the other stuff going on. Also, I wasn't sure exactly when it would show up. But here it is and I am STOKED to be in any way connected to the granddaddy of all RPGs. Also, I have worked with Russell Davis and am friends with Matt Mayo. One additional layer of goodness....out three names together sounds like a cool sandwich. Maybe something with bacon and feta cheese.

I'm one happy geek

Yesterday was a big day for game releases. Actually, Tuesday is always a mini-event because new games as well as new DVDs are released so it tickles me on a few of my sweet spots. That sounds more than a little nasty, but you get what I'm saying. Nothing hit as far as DVDs that I wanted, but there were games coming out the wazoo!! And by that, I don't mean this guy. He's The Great Gazoo. I don't want anything that comes out of him.

Anyway, I was trying to decide if I should break down and buy a new game and, if so, which one. In the middle of that process, I checked my Facebook page and found a little somethin' that a reader whipped up. It's a Magic: The Gathering card featuring the Blood Blade! How freaking cool is this? Just the sight of it made my geeky heart skip a beat. Even stranger is the fact that I actually have this knife. Bought it at a con because I thought it looked like a Blood Blade. Coincidence? I think not. Actually, probably is a coincidence, but still a cool one. Thanks, Michael!

On the video game front, Alan Wake, Split Second, new Prince of Persia, and Red Dead Redemption were some of the releases that had caught my eye. I intended on getting Red Dead simply because someone FINALLY made a high quality open-world western game. The only thing that stayed my hand was the fact that I'm in the middle of some open-world goodness now (Infamous, Fallout 3, GTA 4 -- I know these have been out for a while, but I'm slow!!) and would like to wrap up at least one of them before diving into another. Alan Wake is about a horror writer who fights monsters, so that was a no-brainer. Plus, I think I can find a way to use that as a tax write-off. Research? While I was in Best Buy, the girl in the blue shirt wandering the aisles told me they had the Split Second demo set up on one of their plasma screens. I checked it out, fell in love with the idea of blowing up buildings while racing and dodging debris, and picked that one up too. Damn you, Best Buy Temptress!!!

The long and winding (and slippery) road

Back from St. Louis! Star Wars in Concert was great, although VERY crowded. I was expecting as much, but it's been a long time since I've been around that many people at once. I'm more used to the comforting coziness of a Pelegrimas-level signing event as opposed to something people actually want to go to. BAZINGA!! The concert was held at a stadium normally reserved for hockey games and such and the crowds filled the place pretty well. Once we finally got to our seats, we enjoyed the show very much. Anthony Daniels truly seemed to have fun with it and the HD screens looked impressive even from the next-to-top row. If you get a chance and you're a Star Wars fan, check this out. There are no bad seats, the music is awesome and the whole presentation just rocked.

I kidded before about my signings, but the one in St. Louis before my birthday was great. Thanks again to everyone who stopped by. I need to get back to work on more Skinners, so this will probably be the last signing for a while. It was great to leave off on such a high note. Fear not, however. I'll be arranging more later but if you can't make it to one of those and you've got a book you'd like signed, drop me an email and I'm sure we can work something out.

The drive home from St. Louis was much better than I'd expected. There were some storms that took a big dump on the Midwest (How's that for imagery? Take THAT, Poetry!!) and I was worried we might hit some rough patches along the way. The roads were clear right until I got to my own street. About a day after we settled in, we got some more snow. Driving around running errands got me back into the winter mindset. One disturbing thing, however. While I was still tentative and unsure as to how far I could go without the danger of spinning out, I still made the trek across town to my comic book store to get the stuff I'd missed while away. I made it there and back without incident, but I never once thought about NOT going. Are those roads cleared off? Will I get stuck somewhere off the main streets? Should I park somewhere clear and walk to the comic book store? All of these questions drifted through my head without being weighed down by the obvious one. Should I wait a little while until the plows roll through again? Such is the bane of my addiction. Then again, some pretty cool stuff came out so it was worth it.

Back to work!

...and stay away from downed power lines. Thanks, Roadblock!

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra was one of the few movies I wanted to see in theaters over the summer. I'm spoiled with my kinda-nice speakers and TV at home and can wait to see quality films without having to filter out the garbage that comes along with a theater audience. GI Joe just seemed like one of those goofy, explosion-riffic spectacles that should be enjoyed on a theater screen where the noisy audience actually adds to the fun. Well, I never got around to it but I finally saw it last night in the Basement-Plex. It wasn't long into it that I started thinking, "Wow. This is even goofier than I thought it would be." About five seconds later, I realized that made it a perfect GI Joe movie.

Let's face it. If it was a gritty film about elite commandos fighting a terrorist organization, this would NOT have been GI Joe. When I think of GI Joe, I think of sweet-ass laser weapons, flippin' awesome vehicles and dudes with dumb code names shooting at each other with no regard for collateral damage. If someone made a big budget movie loosely based on one of the plot lines I came up with when playing with my Joes in the backyard when I was 10, it would be pretty close to this one. Hell yes, I had plot lines! One of my fondest summer vacation memories was an ongoing battle incited by my Star Wars toys invading a GI Joe base. It was one of the most awesome crossovers my young mind could conceive.

Oh, and you can't forget the hot women in glasses. Ahhh, The Baroness. I've already talked about my youthful longing for her. So what if she was a cartoon? This was before the days when a young lad could Google "hot women with glasses" and come up with enough pics to sate any appetite. We had to use our imaginations. Plus, I was 10 or so. Hadn't graduated past cartoon chicks just yet.

Back to the movie. It was goofy as hell. Destro looked pretty cool, or as cool as a guy could look with a metal face. There was even a cameo by Dr. Mindbender. DR. MINDBENDER!! I thought that guy was a bit much even when I was a kid, but this movie went for it all. Plus, NINJAS! The director must have figured, "Hey, it's GI Joe. Bring on the lasers, one-man rocket sleds and giganto, goop-filled warheads." The grown man part of me was chuckling that I was watching this movie. The other part was secretly hoping to see parts of the Weather Dominator scattered around Cobra Commander's lab.

Tuesday -- Day of the BAT

A little while ago, I mentioned playing the demo for Batman: Arkham Asylum. The whole game was released today and I picked it up. Actually I was all fired up to go to a midnight opening at my local Game Stop so I could dig in right away, but the geeky part of my brain lost out to the part that was comfortable in my recliner while not driving around at 11:45pm. Ok, so that was a part of my ass instead of my brain but some might say the difference isn't too great.

I gave up the whole preordering games thing a while ago. More often than not, I could find them in Best Buy before my Game Stop people got around to unpacking them. Then there were a few times when they called me that a game I'd preordered was going to be in the next day, I went in and it wasn't there. That sort of nullifies the whole convenience aspect of the process. On the other hand, if they're offering cool bonus items for preordering, I'll cave in and plunk down $10 toward the price of the game. For Batman, they were offering a free bonus map full of skeletons and. . .well that was enough to sell me. I went to Game Stop and preordered.

"Do you want the deluxe edition?" the guy behind the counter asked.
Thinking I wasn't going to bother with a bunch of diagrams and a behind the scenes DVD which I'd probably never watch, I was ready to refuse. This is Batman, though, so I asked, "What's the deal with the deluxe edition?"
"It comes with a Batarang, a book, a behind the scenes DVD and some other stuff."
"Excuse me? A Batarang?"
"Yeah," the guy said as he showed me a picture of this huge, glorious bat-shaped box. "A life sized Batarang. It's plastic, but still pretty cool."
Let's just say the geeky part of my brain nearly spilled out onto the counter into a messy puddle.
The deluxe edition is more expensive, the Batarang isn't a collapsible metal crime fighting weapon, but it's still more than just PRETTY cool.
"Sold."

Cut to the happy ending: The game, so far, is already miles above any other Batman game ever made. It's fantastic. And here's me with my Batarang. Sure it's not as hot as Jessica Chobot or Olivia Munn licking random electronics or gaming stuff, but it's from the heart. Hopefully, the sequel's deluxe edition with come with a utility belt.

Slow Sunday

Megan's out of town this weekend, which leaves me alone with the dog. No big problem there. Unfortunately, walkin' the dog is pretty much all I've got going this weekend. Well, that and work. Always work. Could be worse. There could be NO work.

So I have to take Abby out yesterday morning and it's raining. If I open the door and she even hears rain, she wants nothing to do with it. What's the deal with dogs not wanting to get wet? Do they realize how bad it makes them smell? Where some people are still out partying early Saturday morning, I'm trying to find a dry section against my house and then convincing Abby to cop a squat there instead of her usual place. Let the good times rolllll.

Also, I'm trying to wrangle a spot for myself at next year's Comic Con. By the time the big show in San Diego rolls around again, the first 3 Skinners will be out. Maybe I'll have people wanting books signed. Maybe I'll be a huge draw. Maybe my publisher will believe some of this enough to get me in. I'll pay my own travel expenses! Pleeeeease! Ok. Enough begging. We'll see. Just to be safe, I'm going to work on a costume. I could go as Tombstone (the Spidey villain, not the frozen pizza). Or maybe I and the rest of the Nevermore crew could all go dressed as Multiple Man. Cool, huh?

NetflixTV

Yesterday, an update for the XBox came through. Fortunately, it didn't send my console into red ring oblivion. What it did do was allow me (and everyone else) to watch my Netflix stuff even easier than before. Just flipping through the choices for the Watch Instantly option, I stumbled across MI-5, The IT Crowd, a season of CSI that I hadn't caught the first time around and The A-Team!! As with most guilty pleasures, I waited until Megan was dozing on the couch before watching the classic adventures of Hannibal, B.A. Barracus, Murdock and Face Man. Perhaps it was the catchy drum line at the beginning or the rousing theme, but Megan snapped awake immediately at the opening credits for A-Team's pilot episode. Much to my surprise, she stayed awake and watched the whole thing. Ahhh, classic 80's TV. So pure. So riveting. Just like a car wreck with poofy hair.

I'd never seen The IT Crowd before, but was hooked from the first show. It's a BBC sitcom that's a combo of The Office and Big Bang Theory. Basically, nerds in an office. Since I'm a nerd with plenty of office experience, I can relate. Awesome show. The only problem is that each season is only 6 episodes long. Why can't those Brits learn how to over saturate and wring a good concept dry like us??

Another thing that showed up on the XBox update was a marketplace to buy crap for your Avatars. For those who don't know, Avatars are these little dudes you make and dress up that "represent your gamer personality on your console". At least, that's the official definition. I don't mind playing around with my guy and switching his clothes around every now and then. In fact, here's a snapshot of how he currently looks. See? I'm writing westerns so he's got a little cowboy hat. Real freakin' adorable, huh? Anyway, the new clothes and stuff just show up for free every week or two. Well, with this new Marketplace, you can BUY clothes for the Avatars! Wheeee!!! I know Microsoft is a corporation and not a charity. They're out to make money. I get the whole capitalism thing, but $5 for a freaking set of Gears of War armor? Some of this stuff is kind of cool, but DAMN! I'm more intrigued by the idea of winning new outfits by playing games. Or here's an idea. Every Achievement has its own little picture. How about being able to wear your favorite Achievement on a t-shirt? I'd pay a buck or two for a shirt that can display any Achievement I want, so long as I can can switch it up when I like for no extra charge. Eh, I'll just stick to the free clothes and hope to win some more. No need having my virtual dude dressed better than the real thing.

Today is new comic book day, so I need to get some work done and free up enough time to venture out for my Marvel fix.

Monday and I'm ok with it

Had a very nice stretch of time off, but it's over now. This weekend, Webmaster Steve came by for a visit and we didn't talk about anything remotely to do with mastering webs. I've gotten him hooked on Magic: The Gathering on XBox Live, so it was time for the real deal. Always ready to drag out my custom decks and life counters, I introduced him to the crack cocaine that is tabletop Magic. Holding those cards, savoring the art, flipping enchantments onto someone else's creatures, it all just feels so much better when you've got real cards instead of a controller in your hands. Very geeky, I know, but still very fun. Needless to say, Steve went home with some decks and the intent to teach his wife to play the game. Let's see how that works out. If she's anything like Megan, she'll be grateful he's not engaging in a seedier hobby and just indulge him for a few hands every now and then. Otherwise, she's in for a lot of whining and begging to appease him. Sound familiar Steve? Ba-zinga!! I can kid because I'm speaking from personal experience. Ahh, the trials that accompany the addiction that is Magic.

Today I start on a new manuscript. Nothing Skinners related. It's one of my Galloway westerns. Those are always a welcome change of pace. There's just something pure and elemental about a western. Gritty fun.

Played the demo for Batman: Arkham Asylum. All I can say is WOW! The fighting mechanics were simple and fluid, but had enough going on to keep it fun. Swinging around in the rafters, swooping down to kick thugs in the head, tossing the Batarangs, it just all felt like Batman! There have been so many crappy Bat games, but this one feels like a winner. Either that, or they just put all their effort into an awesome demo and let the retail version crap out. That would just be cruel.

Could've been worse

I finally got around to watching the Star Wars Spectacular panel from Comic Con. It was broadcast on G4 and moderated by Kevin and Olivia from Attack of the Show. I'm a big AotS fan, but I felt bad for the poor dudes trying to talk about their Star Wars projects while Olivia was flying around on a caffeine high. You had to see it, but she was playing with a wig and shoving it on top of a guy's head while he was attempting to talk about new content for The Force Unleashed. Normally, any man wouldn't mind having Olivia Munn that close to him, but she was a little overly-amped that day. Still, when I think about some of the other panels I've seen or been on, being molested by a hyperactive hottie isn't so bad.

Love you, Olivia. Next year, just rein it in a little.

Nerdo de Mayo

I caved in to the summer movie bug again. It happened when I was on my weekly sojourn to the comic book shop (It was a very good week by the way. I needed that to make up for the slow one a few back.) when I thought about Terminator Salvation. I knew there would be some midnight showings and figured I might as well turn my day into a full-on Nerd Fest. So I bought my comics, wrote my monster hunter pages, played some Gears of War 2 co-op, and headed out to the theater for some Skynet goodness.

Turns out those wacky robots are at it again! They just never stop trying to hunt us down and kill us. Super computer becomes self-aware, robots are designed that look like freaking awesome metal skeletons, they’re sent out to face the human resistance, wackiness ensues. This time, we finally get the movie all Terminator fans have been wanting. Well, sort of. Every Terminator flick has those cool flashbacks with the real war between humans and an army of robots shooting phased plasma rifles (in a 40 Watt range) at each other. And every time, I wished they would just make THAT movie. Salvation isn’t quite there because it’s set a little before the invention of plasma rifles, but it’s still pretty flippin’ sweet.

I especially like the way it’s filmed in a gritty, down and dirty style that makes the machines seem all steely and sharp and imposing and stuff. Seriously, it makes for a less flashy version than the shiny bots and glowing gunfire from those flashbacks in earlier movies. These robots really seem like killing machines put together by other machines to kill and hunt (not necessarily in that order) and not look pretty while doing it. The action was great and the effects were solid. I’m always happy to see movies where the director tries to make as many physical effects as possible as opposed to constant CG. I’d have to say my favorite aspect of the movie was the constant tribute paid to fans. There are all kinds of little bits and moments that nod back to previous installments. As a fan, I smirked at those and thought things like, “So THAT’S why Sarah taught him how to do that.” I don’t want to ruin any of those for you, so I’ll leave it at that. Oh, and there’s one part that was especially cool if you make sure to watch that first scene from T2 (the flashback opening) before hitting the theater. Nuff said.

As with any genre movie with time travel involved (didn’t I just say this for Star Trek? Huh) a few leaps in faith / rationality are required but that’s part of the fun. One strange criticism was that I was somehow expecting more Terminators. Is that crazy? All in all, this one is great summer movie stuff. I liked it a lot, but I still liked Star Trek a little more.

Oh, and someone won American Idol. I think it was that guy with the voice and...never mind. Obviously, I was busy.

Don't forget the true pecking order

I did see the new Star Trek and I did love it, but I'm not jumping ship just yet.

Comic book movies

So this summer seems kind of light on comic book movies. Watchmen came and went, but that’s not really a summer movie. There’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which I intend on seeing pretty soon. I’ve heard mixed reviews about it, but some of the bad reviews don’t sound too bad to me. Too many superheroes? Too much mindless action? What’s that??? Last year’s bumper crop would have been hard to top, so maybe Hollywood decided to tap a few other sources for ideas. Seems like it’s 80’s toys this year.

Transformers 2 is coming. I’d like to see that one, but I think I’ll wait for the DVD. Nothing against the movie or giant robots, but I’m not quite pumped enough to get off my butt and go to a theater. Giant robots are awesome, but let’s just hope they don’t have those robots peeing on anyone this time around. That scene in Transformers was like a kidney stone. Once it passed, everything after that was just BETTER. Ahhhhhhh…..

I’m actually pumped for GI Joe. I had two Transformers figures, but just about anything GI Joe. There’s not a lot of ways this movie could go wrong for me. I’m not such a purist that I expect the movie to follow all the jumbled back stories from cartoons, comics and whatever else. All I want to see are reasonable depictions of the Joes blowing stuff up. Even if this movie is bad, it’ll probably SO bad that it’ll be great. Just watch some Made For Sci-Fi Channel movies to know what I’m talking about here.

Huh? Snake Eyes looks great!
And Baroness….ahhh Baroness. I remember looking at her action figure as a kid. Then I’d look at her in comic books and on the little cardboard cutout file card on the back of her action figure’s box thinking, “Wow! Bad girls in glasses are HOT!”

I’ve got my tickets for Star Trek, so my summer movie season will start there. To make up for the lack of comic book flicks, here’s a sneak peek at the climactic battle sequence for Iron Man 2.

Leaving the Bubble

One of my favorite "Makes me look smart" quotes is from Lord Byron who states, "I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone." Quoting Byron actually makes me sound literary, right until someone asks me to quote anything else from Byron. Then it's back to quoting stuff I know like Star Wars, Highlander and Looney Tunes.

The reason I brought this up is because I find that I rarely leave my little comfort zone anymore. I'm busy, cranky, not a member of a lot of clubs, whatever. I think a lot of this just comes from getting older. Today's Cinco de Mayo, for example. Yeah, there's drinking, bars, parties and all that going on. I've never been a huge party guy, but I've got my own booze and the bars will be there when everyone else leaves. There was an episode of The King of Queens where Doug sabotages his wife's attempts to make new friends. Apparently, she wants to bring new people into their world and Doug wants to keep them out. He just wants to build a dome over his world and stay there. See, I can quote sitcoms without having to look them up. Anyway, My wife and I both related to that sentiment except we refer to our enclosed little world as the bubble. After an hour or two of being out in the world, we look to each other and express our desire to return to the bubble. People sense what aisle we want to go to in Target and swarm there. They even pick the EXACT spot of the damn shelf one of us wants to visit and they cluster tightly around that particular item like ants on a discarded ice cream cone. "Back to the bubble. NOW!"

And this isn't me just being paranoid. I've tested it! I've stood in the grocery store and eyeballed a section frozen veggies while thinking, "Damn those cauliflower stalks look GOOD!!" Sure enough, boom! Here come a few random folks or just one pushing one of those gigantic plastic fire engine carts to block the freaking cauliflower stalks!

So the summer movie season has kicked off. With DVDs, affordable home theater options and my well-documented aggravations at movie theaters, I rarely go to theaters anymore. Buying a DVD and watching it once is cheaper than going to a theater where a good portion of my time is spent praying for someone to shut up or turn their cell phone off. I don't own a colossal tricked out system, but it's pure bliss to sit on my couch with my cheapo surround sound speakers set up on clearance stands, watch a movie and NOT have anyone around me who doesn't have permission to be there. Megan is allowed and now Abby curls up on my lap and watches quietly while I rub her belly. How is that NOT awesome? Maybe this also makes me an old codger at the age of 37, but I'm cool with that.

The only movies that I still want to see in the theaters are the big summer action-tacular ones. X-Men Origins: Wolverine came out and I haven't gotten around to seeing that yet. I probably will in the next few days, though. This weekend the Nevermore folks and I will see Star Trek. There's no getting out of it. The tickets are bought and I will venture from the bubble. It should be pretty great. I don't mind seeing geeky movies in big crowds on opening day because the crowd is made up of geeks (like me) and the occasional innocent bystander who got dragged to the movie out of curiosity (like Megan). Either way, the crowd is there to see the movie and nothing else. No matter how much commotion is going on, when those lights dim and the movie starts, we all sit and watch. Why can't all movies be like that?

I'll let you know what I think after I return from my dramatic sojourn.

I've had a few

We've all been there, Trooper PF-139. Tomorrow is another day.

Thwip-aholics Anonymous

Hello, my name is Marcus and I've got a comic book addiction.

Like most other addicts, I remember getting my very first fix. It was an issue of Spider-Man where the Web Head battled Sandman, bought by ten year-old me at the convenience store that used to be within walking distance of my house. That was a great store, by the way. Not only did it have comics, candy and gum, but it was also where I would go to plunk my quarters into classics like Donkey Kong, Rastan and Defender. Man, I feel OLD. Anyway, I saw that wire carousel with the comics, picked out a few and was hooked. As the years went on, I graduated to other series, but mostly stuck with Marvel.

In high school, I dove in again with The Punisher, X-Men, more Spidey, Batman, Lobo, and a very wide array from all companies. Two things facilitated this: my first real jobs and the opening of comic book stores close to my house. Getting my driver's license made things worse. I just love comic book stores. They're like little geek cocoons where all the walls have cool posters, there are action figures in cases and busts of superheroes displayed like the great pantheon they are. I'm not the type of guy who really has "hang-outs" but I was a fixture in one comic shop from the middle of high school all the way through college. It got to the point where I helped unload the delivery trucks when they dropped off the new issues and my only payment was getting first crack at all those fresh, beautiful, clean, perfect. . . .sorry.

Money problems stepped in once I had real bills to pay and I was forced to go cold turkey. It wasn't easy. It was HELL, but I did it. I'd stocked up a good backlog and of course I kept every one of my older issues, including that first crinkled copy of Spider-Man from the days when I didn't know about bags and boards. Fellow comic fans know what I'm talking about.

My addiction kicked into high gear about ten years ago and quickly turned into obsession all over again. I had a good job and was able to maintain my hold list every week. These were the years when I fell in with a gaming group that not only reawakened my tabletop roleplaying bug with D&D and World of Darkness, but they also got me into Magic: The Gathering. Free samples of crack wouldn't have hit my wallet harder.

I weaned myself off of those things, got myself into shape and, apart from a few setbacks here and there, was doing fine. . .until yesterday.

My wife and I were out (she was there for the dice throwing, Magic card years) and I wanted to check out a local comic shop. I've been meeting the guys from Nevermore Paranormal (more on that later) at a comic store and felt the old cravings stirring deep inside me. Once I had a stack of comics in my hands, I looked to my wife and said, "Stop me before it's too late. Seriously." Maybe she thought the geeky fire in my eyes was cute or maybe she knew better than to grab the squeak toy from the hungry dog's mouth, because she didn't even try to stomp out the fire. I'm dipping my toe back into the comic book waters and will try to keep control of it.

Things will be better this time. I can control myself. I can quit whenever I want. I swear!!

I yam what I yam

When I saw this sketch on Attack of the Show, I knew I needed to post it here. I've been playing a lot of Street Fighter recently, but mostly Olivia Munn is dressed up as Chun LI while saying "panties". Immature? You bet. Great? Of course. So here it is. I'm a video game dork. Olivia is hot and this is MY blog! Those are all the reasons I need. Plus, "panties" is just a happy word, don't you think? Enjoy....

I just got tagged!

My Amazon exclusive Gears of War figure came in the mail. It's the one with the head frozen in mid-explosion after being hit by a round from a sniper rifle. Gruesome, but very cool. It also came with a set of COG tags, just like the ones scattered throughout both games. These, combined with the tags I got with the BSG box set means I have proper identification on both Caprica and Sera. It's the little things that make for some very big geeks. Oh well. Cheap thrills.

I also played the demo for the upcoming Lord of the Rings: Conquest. That's a game very much like Star Wars Battlefront, but in Middle Earth. Lots of huge battles. You can play as different types of soldiers and occasionally take the role of hero characters from the movies. Sound fun? It IS! Plus, there's split screen multiplayer so my wife and I will give the ol' controllers a real workout.

The Eagles beat the Giants today, which is cool. I'm not a die hard fan of either team, but I've been watching the Eagles this season. They're pretty impressive. Plus, my Dad's a fan so I went with them. Megan's pick all the way through to the Super Bowl is Baltimore. Her reasoning is that they're the Ravens and this year marks Edgar Allen Poe's 200th birthday. Some of the plays in that game did have the feel of being hexed by a renowned horror writer from beyond the grave. The Ravens did win their game yesterday and I'm not about to take anything away from Poe, so GO RAVENS!!!

Assorted geekiness

I played some Gears of War last night...with my wife! Not only did she surprise me by getting into Left 4 Dead, but now she starts whipping butt on Gears co-op. I never get sick of that game and playing with Megan is even better. It warms my heart to hear her swear like a sailor when she gets sniped or growl happily when she chainsaws some Locust fool. To top it off, she's using some of her Christmas gift cards to get a Nintendo DS. I have truly made a gaming geek out of her. Yesssssss.

This Tuesday, Battlestar Galactica season 4 comes out on DVD. Unlike other shows, BSG has maintained its high quality level. Sure, some of the last season episodes were boring and spent too much time with dreams and political crap, but it got back to the good stuff quickly enough. I'm willing to give any good show some slack, just as long as they don't stay slacked. Slacked? You know what I'm saying. I'll be springing for the deluxe version at Best Buy, because it comes with a pair of Colonial dog tags. Those will look great hanging next to my desk, or around my neck when I'm debating who the last Cylon might be. Frak yeah!

To make my shopping dilemma worse, the complete radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was just released. Since I was inspired to write by Douglas Adams, I couldn't pass this one up. Looks like I'll have to cut back on stuff like food and electricity for a little while to pay for this. I also tacked on a cool Gears figure on Amazon.com of a Locust drone in mid-head shot. Nice, bright red blood streams and skull chunks spewing from the neck and everything. Plus, it comes with some metal Cog tags. See a theme here? All I need is a pair of official Fringe earrings to complete my dork jewelry set.

Ain't she cute?

In other cool news, XBox has launched a new update to their dashboard and overall system which allows us to (among other things) create little people that look like us. Sure, they don't HAVE to look like us, but I get a kick out of seeing a little dude who looks like me in games. I don't care how stupid it is, but my Nintendo Mii has done everything from Olympic games to driving go-karts alongside Mario and Donkey Kong and that's pretty sweet. Simple pleasures, right? Anyway, here's my wife Megan's little XBox chick. She doesn't own a hat like that, but that's what wondrous virtual worlds are for. I'm just lucky to have married an actual female who thinks this is somewhat cool. See guys, they're OUT THERE!!!