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| Sunday, November 15th, 2009 | | 7:00 pm |
The Return of Tanuki!
From Las Vegas, that is. We were very busy, here are some highlights of the past week: 1) Our anniversary dinner was at the Eiffel Tower restaurant in Paris casino. Warning: VERY EXPENSIVE (as in, game console expensive) but Super Awesome Good Food, Service, and Amazing romantic nightime view of Vegas. Many style points were achieved by dining here. Excellent wine, too, which completely failed to fuddle my senses, because I picked up the check and looked at it afterwards. :P 2) We saw Cirque Du Soleil's "Ka." "Ka" is pretty cool and has some neat martial arts themes, very spectacular acrobatics, and this unbelievable giant moving stage. Tip: Do not watch "Ka" drunk. It will confuse you. ;P 3) Hoover Dam was fun. I did not locate Megatron or Sector 7. Not for lack of looking. :P 4) Good places to eat in Vegas: Paris. Cheeseburger Las Vegas (Planet Hollywood). Green Valley Station (in Henderson, Nevada outside Vegas-very nice). 5) Bad place to eat: Stratosphere Buffet. Minette has not yet stopped complaining about the Bad Smelling Menudo she sampled there. 6) South Point Casino has a bowling alley where you can bowl for $5.50 per person (that's including shoe rental). However, the casino is very, very smoking, which is a downcheck for me. 7) I won $3.30 playing a slot machine! Go me! 8) Bonus! On our way back, we swung by L.A. and picked up ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dragonluk who was in town. She stayed over with us. We took her to dinner at Farmer's Market (Monsieur Marcel's, the spiffy outdoor French restaurant) and today went to LACMA and the Tar Pits before dropping her off at Burbank Airport. Fun stuff! Current Mood:  good | | Sunday, November 8th, 2009 | | 10:31 pm |
| | Friday, November 6th, 2009 | | 3:47 pm |
Ah, accomplishment :)
I have completed all my work assignments through Nov. 13. I now look forward to my anniversary trip next week with a clear conscience, untroubled by Office Thoughts. Current Mood: pleased | | Thursday, November 5th, 2009 | | 2:04 pm |
Feeding Tanuki's Green Lantern Geekiness
Ah, DC comics. Your shameless marketing ploy has succeeded in sucking me in once again. I was about to discontinue picking up the "secondary" comics of Blackest Night focusing on particular heroes. (For example, "Blackest Night: Wonder Woman"; "Blackest Night: Blue Beetle" etc.,etc.). Then my local comics store owner told me that DC is handing out free plastic power rings from all of the eight Lantern Corps as promotions with these side stories. Needless to say, I am back to being hooked. I now have the Black Ring (ugh) that came with Blackest Night #1, and now have a Sinestro Corps Yellow Ring (cooler) from the Dooom Patrol issue I bought. To my surprise, the new Doom Patrol series by Keith Giffen is really quite good. Needless to say, I want a green ring for myself. I'd like a complete set, to be honest and want to get a Blue Ring for ebenbrooks of course. Anyone else looking for Rings? In fact, for next Halloween, I would really like to do a Green Lantern costume. Eben got me an awesome power battery replica which would make a great prop last Xmas. However, I'd have to see if someone could stitch me together a Guy Gardner vest or something similar. I don't feel I have quite the tummy anymore to do a tight-fighting standard-issue GL spandex bodysuit. (At least, not without a dictatorial exercise regimen or terminal embarassment.) Sigh. Current Mood:  geeky | | 8:48 am |
Twa, trois...hoo boy
As a journalist and editor, I saw something on the local news today that made me cringe in sympathy and horror. The entertainment report was talking about a controversial episode of "Gossip Girl" involving a threesome. When the little graphics box appeared beside the entertainment reporter, it read "Menage a twa." The news team cracked up. "Isn't TWA out of business?" said one. "I think they meant 'trois'" said another. I just cringed. I would hate to be whoever prepared that graphic. We all make spelling mistakes, but that's really bad. Especially on TV. Current Mood:  embarrassed | | Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 | | 1:05 pm |
The new "V," what do you think?
On a whim last night, I decided to tune in to the premiere of the new "V" remake on ABC. Now, the original "V" in the 1980s was a big deal when I was in high school...I still remember how we talked about some of the creepy plot twists in the series and I liked its political commentary. I think whether one saw and liked the original 80s version will make a big difference whether one likes the new "V." Unlike "Battlestar Galactica," which tried hard to take off in several significantly different, grittier directions than the original, the new "V" seems a bit like an economy version of the original--same basic ideas, but compressed so they can get to the sinister aliens vs. human resistance stuff more quickly. I think that's where the new one suffers in comparison. The special effects and revamped production design is quite good (I like the running joke about how all the Visitors are fashion-model hot). The cast are mostly unmemorable, though I like Scott Wolf and the two actors from Serenity/Firefly. An area where the new "V" suffers is story development and political allegory. The original was a neat sci-fi parable about fascism, collaboration and totalitarianism, and how it could happen in the modern U.S. The original took time to establish several characters, make them sympathetic, and then show how some became unlikely heroes and some truly vile collaborators, sometimes with good intentions. That was effective. The new "V" doesn't do this nearly as well, because in order to move the plot faster, they give away too soon that the Visitors are evil. The attempt to set up a human resistance ALREADY IN PLACE BEFORE THE ALIENS ARRIVE, plus the story's lame not-very-subtle attempts to connect the Visitors to economic problems, Al-Quaeda, 9/11 and the Iraq War (apparently all bad events of the past decade are secretly the Visitor's fault) struck me as, well, dumb. And plagiarizing the far more clever and witty John Carpenter film, "They Live".) My biggest problem is that the original "V" had a great character who lent powerful drama and allegory to the series...the grandfather who is a holocaust survivor who did not trust the Visitors. I still remember the scene where he teaches the kids defacing Visitor propaganda to spray the WWII "V" for Victory instead. (Hence the title of the series and the tie-in with the whole fascist allegory.) In the new one, "V" is a symbol the aliens encourage kids to tag walls with "To spread the message of peace." (Facepalm). Arrgh. It doesn't work nearly as well. It seems to me that the current writers really botch their allegory due to lack of historical knowledge. Those who forget the past are doomed to make weak remakes, I guess. Plus, when you give away the Visitor's big secret halfway through the pilot (I won't reveal it here, I suspect most of you know it already) and THEN try to set up sexual tension between humans and Visitors in a couple of subplots...well, let's just say it kills the romance, oh new "V" writers. Still, I'm willing to check out a few more episodes to see if they can get over the rocky pilot. There's definitely some interesting potential. But unless they come up with some fresh approaches that aren't as dumb as some of the plot elements in the pilot, I'm iffy about "V"'s potential for success. Anyone else see it? Opinions? Current Mood:  contemplative | | Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 | | 9:20 am |
L5R fans! Check out "Iron Empress!"
The other night, I was channel surfing and came across a show on the local Korean channel called "Iron Empress." It was pretty cool! I recommend it to L5R fans. Now, I have no idea what the overall plot was. So I will tell you just a few things that were going on during this show: The evil Liao Emperor is attempting to conquer Goreyo (Which I presume is Korea). His Evil General With Bad Hair And A Freaky Eyepatch attacks the Imperial Palace trying to capture the young Emperor. The Dowager Empress (Dowager? Hah! She looks a bit like Michelle Yeoh in her 30s, wears armor with lion dog shoulder pads and fights with a bow and sword) is not putting up with this and leads the guards in a huge battle with Bad Hair Eyepatch's villains in the palace. Apparently, she's the one who put out Evil Bad Hair General's eye in the first place. Mayhem, sword swinging and jumping around ensues. Emperor escapes in disguise protected by Noble Guard Dude and accompanied by Chubby Courtier. Bad Hair Eyepatch chases him, fights Noble Guard Dude and overpowers him. Chubby Courtier tries to pretend to be the Emperor but doesn't fool Evil Bad Hair Eyepatch. Luckily, the Dowager Empress shows up on horseback at this point, goes Orlando Bloom with her archery on the bad guys, challenges Eyepatch to a duel, stabs him in his OTHER eye (yow!) and kills him dead. Now in the NEXT half-hour (lol) Evil Liao Emperor (You know he's evil because he's got slick black hair and wears a red chain-mail shawl) is travelling to the battlefront for some reason or another. Noble Guard Dude gets his guys together and launches a surprise attack on his camp, setting it on fire with burning arrows. More jumping around sword mayhem and much burnination. Show ends with Noble Guard Dude chasing Evil Liao Emperor to the beach. Oh, yeah. There was also some deal in the middle with a bunch of Mongol-looking dudes who put a little kid in a cave with a bear to see if he's the Chosen One. Kid's mom (who was pretty fine-looking) gets pissed, grabs a knife and holds it to Mongol Dude's neck saying if Kid dies, she's giving him a really close shave, if you know what I mean. Then a very bad Special Effects Bear Costume comes out of the cave with the cute little kid tottering behind. Mongols hail him as Supreme Awesome Cute Little Kid of Bear Mightiness. (No, I have no idea how this related to the other bits). Whee! Did I know what was going on? No! But it's very entertaining in a campy way...like Xena meets Crouching Tiger. And like I said, all the costumes make for great L5R character visuals. Fun stuff. If anyone tracks it down and can tell me what's going on, that would be helpful. :) Current Mood: amused | | Sunday, November 1st, 2009 | | 9:10 pm |
Dum dum dummmm....we watched Twilight
So, on Halloween, Minette and I stayed in and watched "Twilight." Yes, the "Twilight" of the Six Gazillion Teenage Female Fans. And what did we think. Hmm...here's a few impressions. 1) Minette does NOT think Robert Pattinson is hunky at all. Her reaction was "What was all the fuss about?" The fact he spends most of the first half of the movie looking like he's going to vomit on Bella doesn't add to his allure. 2) The first half is, well, awful. Incredibly awful dialogue. There was absolutely nothing that convinced me that Edward and Bella were attracted to each other in any believable way in Part 1. He sounds like a dysfunctional stalker with a tendency to throw up. Minette kept hitting me and telling me to stop laughing. I couldn't. How could I when Edward flees science class looking like he's going to vomit and Bella sniffs herself to see if she stinks? 3) Now here's the weird thing...the second half is actually a pretty watchable teen vampire-esque flick. The "vegetarian" vampire family are oddly endearing (I like the bit when they try cooking while watching Food Network, cause they have no idea how.) The baseball game is also amusing. Aside from the parents looking a year younger than the kids, they were actually kind of OK, in a 90210 glam kind of way. The bad vampires were fairly entertaining too. 4) Other odd thing...in the second half, once they are actually dating Edward and Bella are entertaining to watch as a couple. It's getting to the "together" point that is just unwatchable. 5) I like the Native American werewolves. They're OK. Much more likeable than Edward, too. 6) Actually, most of the secondary characters are kind of fun and likeable. I like Bella's Dad and her non-vampy friends at the high school. Actually, I could see her going out with, well, just about any boy in the movie except Edward. I also liked how her Dad kept slipping her cans of pepper spray before she went out on dates. 7) Oddly enough, I don't think Robert Pattinson or Kirstin Stewart are to blame for my criticism either. They are perfectly fine in the second half of the movie (I keep repeating this, huh?) To me, the biggest problem is the setup is so awful in the first half. I wonder if that's the director's call? Watching Edward and Bella get together is like the bad scenes with Anakin and Padme in "Star Wars." Only more so. With no lightsaber battles. Or Ian McDiarmid as Darth Sidious. 8) Oh, and I am always a bit irked when vampire mythology is changed just so your main characters can conveniently spend time together. Vampires don't ignite in direct sunlight, they "sparkle." More guffaws. 9) But...the vampiric power stuff is pretty well done actually. The leaping, scrambling up trees, super strength etc. is done pretty well, and looks cool. 10) Washington state looks really nice, too. I wonder if I'd like living there? Overall? Eh, a B-/B or so. C- for the first half, B/B+ for the second half. You know what's funny? I'm much more interested to see the sequel. More of the Native American werewolves (who were more interesting anyway) and I hear Dakota Fanning as a vampire. I'd be willing to check it out when the teen hordes lose interest. Say, in a decade or two? :P Oh, and here's my Tanuki interpretation of every Edward/Bella scene in the first half: BELLA: Hi, I'm Bella. You are strangely moody and attractive. Edward: AH! Get AWAY! I think I shall BARF! (runs away) BELLA: (Chases him) What's wrong? Am I so repugnant to you? 'Cause you really wind my watch, if you take my meaning. Edward: N-no! That's just it! You are too...DELECTABLE! You smell like pot roast! I love pot roast! Get away, before I make you my pot roast! BELLA: I trust you. You won't make me pot roast. Now get over here and kiss me so we can risk terrible danger for our love. Your struggle with with the dark abyss of pot roast cravings really turns me on. Never leave me! Turn me into a vampire, you pot-roast loving British hunk of man! Edward: I...can't....stay...away...POT ROAST!!!!! (Smooching noises) SIX MILLION TEENAGE GIRLS: SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! Minette: (watching) I don't get it. (Hits Tanuki) Stop laughing. Me: BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Pot Roast! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Current Mood: amused | | Thursday, October 29th, 2009 | | 3:27 pm |
Blackest Night 4, GL 47 and Alan Moore
Wow, I'm doing lots of reviews lately. How did I get so many going at once? Maybe it's the sheer volume of "Blackest Night" related comics coming out. It is kind of nice to be able to read developments in a big crossover story arc once a week instead of once a month...as long as they're good. Luckily, most of the ones I've read have been good so far. "Blackest Night" 4 takes the spotlight off of Hal (who's been teleported off Earth by the Indigo Tribe) and focuses it on Flash, Mera and the Atom (Ray Palmer) as they try to rally Earth's superheroes against the Black Lanterns. While there's a fair amount of action in this issue (including an appearance by the JSA), a lot of it is character development of Barry and Ray. I wasn't too happy when they brought back Barry, but I'm liking him in "Blackest Night." Probably his best scene is when the other heroes are suffering insecurity because they feel they aren't in the same tier as Supes, Bats and Wonder Woman. Barry, in exasperation, tells them to stop dithering and be, well, like Hal. "God help me for saying it," he grumbles, "and if you tell him, I'll deny it, but BE LIKE HAL! Stop worrying and act like you were born to kick Black Lantern butt!" Nice touch. :) Atom has some good scenes too. Ray is cool because he uses his shrinking power in very cool ways, like adjusting his belt to shrink everyone through a phone line to escape the Black Lanterns. I like it after they come out woozy on the other end and Mera says, "I wish one of us could fly." Surprisingly good banter in this issue. Oh, and the Black Lantern power charge reaches 100 percent...and Black Hand summons the Black Lantern Big Bad Hidden Boss to Earth. His identity has been revealed on several sites already; if you want to know who it is, shoot me a message. GL 47 covers what's going on with Hal and the other various Lanterns after leaving Earth. Best part of this is all the character and background info on Sinestro; it's really neat stuff (He has a FIRST NAME? Really?) Geoff Johns is also doing a nice job starting to slot in the other Lantern Corps into the big picture; for the first time I see where the Red Lanterns fit in! Huh! How about that. Oh, and ebenbrooks will be pleased that Saint Walker is his usually totally cool self. :) One more tidbit: Apparently someone asked Alan Moore what he thinks of all this Blackest Night stuff, he wasn't very nice in his response. What do you think? Link here: http://www.thegreenlanterncorps.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9890Personally? I have huge respect for Moore, and I love his Swamp Thing and Green Lantern stories. But I think he's being unfair, perhaps because of his very bad experiences with Marvel and DC in the past. It doesn't seem reasonable to me to pick on Geoff Johns for using Moore's stories for inspiration when the characters Moore made iconic-Swampie and the GL Corps--were in turn created by people other than Moore. And wasn't Watchmen originally developed with the Charlton Comics superheroes in mind (Question, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle)? Again, I think Moore is being colored a bit by his own professional bitterness. But he did write some of the best GL short stories ever. Thoughts? Comments? Current Mood: geeky | | Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 | | 8:09 am |
Tanuki's weekly "Heroes" review (Spoiler-minimal)
I'm really enjoying this story arc! If they can only hold it together and give it a good finish, that will be excellent. 1) Good episode, clearly moving us on to further plot developments. Biggest surprise for me: I liked the Invisible Sylar/Matt subplot this week. (Perhaps because my guess from last week seems to be turning out correct). But I still would like to see Matt pull himself together. 2) The story of the healer teenager was really sad and poignant. However, though I thought it was well done, it would have been better if they had established earlier he had a bad relationship with the locals. That part seemed introduced a little too suddenly. 3) This was a episode where I was wishing Mr. Bennett would step out of Redemptive Nice Guy mode and go all bag-and-tag on the awful deputy and his crony. Oh well, Samuel filled that role nicely. Yikes! 4) Hmmm....is Samuel the Magneto of "Heroes?" Minette and I keep speculating about him. We don't think his motive is altruistic. Minette's theory is that his own powers grow stronger as he gathers more people with abilities into his carnival. Great character though, he has made this season the most enjoyable for me since the first. 5) The Claire and Gretchen stuff was hilarious. The tribute to slasher films was just enough to make me chuckle through the whole thing, and the fact that to Claire, this was a relatively normal series of events played off very well against the hysterical sorority pledge. :) Hooray for Claire for figuring out what was going on and being tough and effective! 6) I'm a little worried about the direction the writers are going with the whole Claire/Gretchen thing. Right now it's pretty funny and entertaining, but it could easily go off the rails and turn into a "Let's exploit Hayden to bring in the 18-25 year old Drooling Man demographic." I really hope that doesn't happen. 7) I've said it before...the smaller cast and more focus on 1-2 subplots each episode is working so much better. Good job, Heroes writers! Current Mood: pleased | | Monday, October 26th, 2009 | | 2:32 pm |
Champions...I think I'm done
I tried to play some more "Champions Online" this weekend. As much as I wanted to like a game that would allow me to play online with Stride and Mikesama, I think I'm just going to let my free trial run out. While I really, really, really like my character and her awesome gun-fu powers (and wish I could port her over to COH), I just don't like the missions in Champions. There's no feeling of getting better as I level up, just dozens of haphazard menaces crawling around every zone, some of which I plow through, others that repeatedly kill my character over and over, but seem to be necessary to beat in order to move to another zone. I think my all-time low was the mission that required me to destroy five items. Each item spawned a ghost who was absolutely impossible to beat. I died every time I fought one. Finally, I finished the mission easily....by running up to an item, destroying it, ignoring the ghost until it killed me, then continuing after respawning. It doesn't feel...superheroic. It feels...cheap. I also am baffled because the designers seem to have made the game arbitrarily incomprehensible. Why, for example, is my character barred from buying Heal boosts? The game doesn't explain what I need to do to purchase them, it just says, "You haven't met the requirements." Which is hellalame compared to COH, where you are GIVEN health boosts in the tutorial. With no way to heal or boost my character, how am I supposed to beat some of the arbitrarily powerful monsters alone? Especially as it's extraordinarily hard to even talk to someone in your zone, let alone invite them to team up with you. Also, apparently the Champions Universe and its guest stars are supposed to be a big deal. When a giant green monster called Grond appears, apparently I am supposed to be impressed. But all I could think was, "Wow, what a cheesy Hulk ripoff." I find myself thinking this a lot in Champions Online: "What a cheesy Rikti ripoff." "What a cheesy Vazhilok ripoff." "What a cheesy Alpha Flight ripoff." I should be saying "Wow! How cool and superheroic I feel!" That is not happening. Champions just feels...cheap. Half-hearted missions, half-hearted coding, half-hearted effort all around. And it shouldn't...these are the people who created City of Heroes! What happened? Honestly, the game feels like a Facebook app. Only worse, because some Facebook apps are playable and fun...and Champions Online just comes across as tedious. Super heroics just shouldn't be tedious. I'm sad about this. The poor quality of the game is just astonishing to me given the people who created it. But I'm going back to City of Heroes, where the villains and zones have personality, the equipment and enhancement systems make sense, and the missions feel like I am Fighting the Forces of Evil, not just killing XX number of villains to collect YY number of items. Again. And again. And again. Also, why on earth are there no safe zones in Champions? It's very annoying to have your screen covered with boxes of dialogue while talking to an essential contact, hear some wandering monster (I just can't bring myself to call them supervillains. They're just orcs in different pixels.) beat up my character as I furiously try to close windows so I can fight back. Shame, Cryptic. This game play experience is really below your reputation. Current Mood:  disappointed | | Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 | | 3:28 pm |
My review of this week's "Heroes"
Hmm, this is getting to be a regular Thing. Since cahwyguy mentioned it, I will do another one! As I've mentioned before, this season's big advantage is that it's not suffering from the pacing problems of previous seasons. It seems like the writers have settled into a formula that works. Starting with a slow but pleasant introduction to the new story, they've been building up momentum gradually. As of the last 1-2 episodes, they seem to have hit a nice turn of speed and the engine is humming along nicely. But enough car metaphors! What does Tanuki like and dislike about this episode? 1. I've spoken highly of the Carnival and its characters. They continue to do wonders for the show, with their creepy ambiguity, neat powers and unclear purpose. This ties in to my satsifaction with the Amnesiac Sylar plot, which has been the first Sylar plot in about a season-and-a-half I've really liked. The "Hall of Mirrors" sequence and the Ernie Hudson confrontation were very well done and disturbing. I also liked the rifts developing between Edgar and Samuel over the Lydia thing. And you just know the carnies are going to be sorry, sorry, sorry for taking Sylar in... 2. Emma. Emma has given back "Heroes" that warm empathy with the cast that seemed to be forgotten after Season One. In Season One, I didn't just like that Micah could pull money out of ATMs by touch...I liked his complex relationship with his mom and dad. Hiro wasn't just cool for his time travel (which WAS cool) but for his comic-book idealism and gentle goofy geekiness. (Gee, who do I identify with? I'll never tell). That kind of thing has returned with Emma in this season. Her relationships with Peter and now Hiro are really nice to watch. It makes the show seem more its own original thing, and not just an "X-men" or "Watchmen" knock-off. Which is important! 3. Noah. Who'd have thought our favorite killer spy dad could be repentant and still interesting? Mr. Bennett has normally only been likeable when protecting Claire , but having him kind of go to bits after his divorce and having Claire help him realize he needs to change has worked better than I expected. The scenes with the poor crazy healer kid worked very well. 4. We're getting "scream" scenes worked back in gradually. Peter+stopping time+shotgun: Waaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!! That was a kick in the teeth! Bads (Not so much Bads, but "hmmms") 1. Hiro was great this episode, but they really need to wrap up the brain tumor suspense soon. Get him healed up and back to being the master of space and time. (tap tap tap foot impatiently.) Oh, and let's get some ANDO RED LIGHTING going!!!! (Though I have confidence we'll have more whiz-bang in the story arc conclusion) 2. Worry about next week: I've mentioned while I like the Amnesia Sylar bit, I loathe the Sylar In Matt's Head subplot. Really, I dislike it a lot. We saw some previews with some VERY icky implications. No more Sylar in Matt's head. More Baby Touch N' Go!* *Pure Speculation: But what if Amnesia Sylar permanently becomes Nathan...and Matt becomes permanently evil? Now that would be kind of interesting. But we still need more Baby Touch N' Go!** **Ah, they'll never let Zachary Quinto go. Unless "Star Trek" earns him enough to buy out of his TV contract. Current Mood: geeky | | 2:40 pm |
The oddest news I've read today
Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against the Machine members complain about their music being used to interrogate prisoners at Guantanamo Bay: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usattacksguantanamomusicprisonersEthical considerations aside, it can't feel good to hear that your music is being used by CIA sinister dudes as an effective instrument of torture. That's just not flattering. Reminds me a bit of the Vogon poetry in "Hitchiker's." (I was reading Douglas Adams books while I was sick this week.) Current Mood:  bemused | | Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 | | 9:20 pm |
Green Lantern Corps 41 (some spoilers)
Well, that ol' Blackest Night just keeps getting blacker...but man, is it an excuse for my favorite Greenies to do some cooooool stuff! :) GL Corps 41 focuses on, well, every one of the 8-9 main POV lanterns except Hal, John and Sodam Yat (Sodam is still off-camera...they need him back ASAP!). Everybody else is on Oa, fighting the outbreak of zombie Green Lanterns from the crypts. Guy is beating the crap out of dead Ke'haan and Bzzd; Kyle is getting the crap beat out of him by dead ex-girlfriend Jade; Vath, Isamot and Kilowog are simultaneously beating the crap out of dozens of Black Lanterns and getting the crap beat out of them; Arisia lays some serious crap-beating on her zombie family; and Soranik and Iolande take no crap whatsoever when rescuing patients in a hospital. Holy crap, that's a lot of crap! Great issue. Peter Tomasi has two gifts: 1) He has a real knack for conveying the maximum appeal of relatively minor characters with just a few words of dialogue or a frame or two of art. My absolute favorite part was when Soranik, evacuating the patients, sees Kyle about to be killed and hesitates, and Iolande shouts at her "GO. NOW!" I love me that Princess Iolande, that, her cape, and her habit of flying around on a comfy green energy sofa. She's awesome. Oh, gift #2) Tomasi has a sick, sick, sick, twisted mind. However, he, like Geoff Johns, uses this power for good, to tell awesome stories. When you figure out where the Black Lantern Kiddies came from? EEEUUUUUUUUWWW! OK, I must now sort my list of Goods and Bads. Let's start with the Bads: ... Well...none. Moving on: HEY EBEN! I SUGGEST YOU STOP READING HERE!!!! The rest of you may: ( Read more... )Good Stuff! I am stuffed with Geeky Green Lantern Goodness. My only concern with "Green Lantern" overall: Something has to be done with John Stewart. This moping over Xanshi's destruction-Fatality thing is going on waaaay waaay waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long without any development whatsoever. I get the feeling neither Tomasi nor Johns really wants to do anything with John Stewart; it's more like he always gets pushed into a corner in favor of the cool kids. But they really need to do SOMETHING with him. Current Mood: geeky | | Monday, October 19th, 2009 | | 6:59 pm |
Champions Online review
OK, since I was home very sick today, I was able to pass the time and try out "Champions Online" after resolving some computer bug issues this morning. What does Tanuki, a diehard "City of Heroes" player think? Let us take the path of good and bad Frogurt, and I will share my impressions. 1. Counter-intuitive (that's bad) The game was created by former members of the City of Heroes team, and there are many similar mechanics. However, I have to say the Champions Online interface is a lot less easy to figure out than City of Heroes. I was into several missions before I realized those wacky little items I was picking up had to be fit into slots to buff up my character. (shakes head). Given how long the tutorial was, some in-game character couldn't have mentioned it to me? 2. Character Creation and Powers (that's good). I did enjoy the character creation system a lot. It's more open than City of Heroes, so if you want a gunfighter/martial artist, you can do that. That was cool. Costume design was similar to COH, Minette was a bit annoyed when she found out that there are two female physiques, "really busty" and "Playmate of the Year Busty." That said, I really liked the outfit and weapons I gave to my gun-fu female adventurer, Indigo Hawk. Also, characters are really, really dynamic in Champions Online...I was getting a kick out of my character whipping out two pistols, blazing away, and then cartwheeling as she shot enemies surrounding her. Thumbs up there. I also REALLY approve of the basic super-power recharging your other powers when you use it. 3. Tutorial and missions (that's bad). However....I feel City of Heroes really takes the lead when it comes to game world and missions. Champions' tutorial is an alien invasion and has a nice epic feel to it...but it drags on, and on, and on..... I also notice a theme. 1) Tutorial: Kill a lot of alien invaders. 2) Canada: Kill a lot of ice zombies. COH has two major things going for it: 1) the feeling you can move around freely and a true sense of epic scale to the city. Even though I went to Canada, the zones feel tight. The missions feel too much like a "hunt and loot" cookie cutter so far. In COH, you feel like the missions are a real comic book plot. 4. Graphics and sound (that's mixed) It's not too bad. The cell-shaded look is very comic-esque (I found out you can remove it if you want, which is good.) Cut scenes are lengthy, perhaps too much so. Listening to spoken lines is amusing. 5. Overall? I'd say Champions has more of a feel of an "arcade MMORPG" than COH. Enemies pour out of the woodwork, you spend a lot of time running, blasting and fighting. But...I'd say Champions Online loses out in three areas. 1) Tech support...it's pretty darned poor, and it took 3 hours for me to upload the patch so I could play. 2) Missions....COH tailors your first missions to your origin, Champions just plops you down among the Canadian zombies whether you are Hulk-esque or Rorshach-lite. After my 70th or 80th zombie battle, I was like, "Can I go back to the U.S. yet?" 3) Lack of teamwork...normally I LIKE being able to play solo, but there are so many wandering monsters around I was really wanting some help on some of the missions. It's not bad. But I find myself saying "Boy, I wish COH would copy some of these features" rather than "Time to switch over!!!" (I do have to say, Indigo Hawk is teh sexay and dangerous lookin'. Rawr.) :P Current Mood:  awake | | 10:55 am |
Yuck
I feel like someone has kicked me in the head with a very slimy boot. Current Mood:  sick | | Sunday, October 18th, 2009 | | 5:05 pm |
Champions not so super so far...
[ Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<lj-user=mikesama>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.] <lj-user=Mikesama> was kind enough to give me a 14-day free trial key for Champions Online. Unfortunately, I went to the web site, registered, and logged in the key...and the game client didn't download at all. Though the site is counting down my trial as registered. Sent a ticket asking for tech support 2 days ago...no response.
Not really impressed with the game or company so far....too bad, as a lot of them used to work on City of Heroes, a game I still enjoy. Looks like unless DC Universe Online has lots of Green Lantern goodness for players, I'm not likely to jump ship on super-hero MMORPGs yet. | | Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 | | 9:58 am |
This week's "Heroes"
I didn't get to watch this week's "Heroes" episode until yesterday, but it was worth the wait. I mentioned previously that the slower, more gradual buildup of plot this season has been working better for me than past story arcs' pacing. Well, this episode combined the slower pace with a couple of great plot twists. Very effective! I really think focusing only on 2-3 of the main cast each episode is working much better. We see more story development and get a better feel for what's going on that way. Things I liked in this episode: 1) Mean Ernie Hudson! Ernie Hudson, like bacon, serves only to improve things! 2) Confused Sylar is much more entertaining to watch than Invisible Parkman Brain Sylar. 3) Emma is a great character, and a welcome change of pace from the other cast members. I love all the music/color/sequences, and enjoy her interaction with Peter. 4) The Claire mystery twist was great. Well done for not following the expected route, Heroes writers! And I have to admit, I really like Gretchen. She cracks me up. More of the low-key character development moments is really, really, really improving this season. Oh, and Danko's STILL dead! Hurray!!!!! 5) The carnival gets better and better. I'm kicking myself for not getting the "Something Wicked This Way Comes" parallels sooner. This episode slapped me in the face with it. Great stuff. Things I didn't like about this episode: 1) Hmmmm.....the psychiatrist helping Sylar seemed mainly motivated by plot rather than any logical or emotional reason. And I liked the psychiatrist character, especially sniping with Ernie Hudson. (Yay Ernie!). It's just it felt like, "Well, I know you are a brain-eating serial killer...but I will help you because I feel sorry for you and we can't move the story forward unless you escape." Phooey. Just some random Tanuki observations: 1) Why is it I enjoy the show so much more when Ali Larter isn't making apperances? 2) I do kind of miss Micah and Mohinder, though. Mohinder's character has been badly misused in previous seasons by the writers, but I really like him nonetheless. 3) The carnival KEEPS GETTING CREEPIER! With waffles! Exactly as it should! 4) I'm realizing I really am not enjoying the Parkman/Snarky Invisible Sylar scenes. I'm sick of both snarky Sylar and poor-me-I'm-misunderstood Sylar. Let's stick with Confused Sylar for a while, he's infinitely more tolerable. Current Mood: pleased | | Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 | | 2:05 pm |
"And Another Thing..."
Some people who read my blog may ask, "Where did Tanuki get that goofy sense of humor that is one of his trademarks today?" A big influence was Douglas Adams, author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." As a small boy, I checked out these books from the Panorama City Library during summers spent with my dad, read them...and spent hours laughing hysterically. (See, you can blame Douglas Adams, bless him, for all the weirdness that comes forth from me. Don't you feel better now?) :P I bring this up because Adams' books were a huge influence on me and my own writing/Gaming/general goofery/etc. Sadly, his last novel in the series, "Mostly Harmless" ended on a huge depressing downer. Now, apparently there is going to be a sequel. How? Douglas Adams died some years ago. Apparently, Eoin Colfer, author of the "Artemis Fowl" books, has been invited to make an attempt. Now, I'm not sure how this is going to turn out. I liked Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" but his sense of humor tends to be a bit more cynical and evil-minded than Adams was. I also worry because he says he didn't try to write the book using Adams' trademark style, which to me is what makes "Hitchhiker's." On the other hand, Adams' own last few books weren't really all that fun, forgive me. So I'm curious. I might split the difference between curiousity and worry and see if I can check it out from the library. Now, I can think of VERY few cases where a deceased author's beloved property was well handled by a successor. But one can hope. More here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091008/stage_nm/us_books_hitchhiker Current Mood: curious | | Monday, October 12th, 2009 | | 2:49 pm |
Shameless COH self-promotion
Recently, the COH MMORPG has come out with some new graphic enhancements for characters. ebenbrooks and I recently did some redesigns. Holey cow, our characters look cool now! I should explain that we both have lightning-themed characters. My tanker, Storm-Chaser, has electrical sparks running up and down his body that arc into his sunglasses. By playing with the color palette, I shifted the lightning from white to a glowing golden plasma-like color. Man! It's keeeeeeen. :) Eben's character, Lady Typhoon, is an electricity thrower/storm controller.Using the new tools he changes the lightning from a thin, purple bolt to a glowing, multi-bolt with a spectacular corona effect. Wooooo!!!! I must pester him to post some of the screen captures he took. It is just cool stuff. I am sorry that my own COH skillz are not up to the task. But trust me. Our superheroes look gooooood. :) If I can get him to post, I'll link. Current Mood: geeky |
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