Foreshadowing?

I was reading some old Penny Arcade comics during lunch, and came across this one:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/12/18

I will be picking up Metroid Prime 3 tonight, and I have a bad feeling that I may have a similar experience... and yes, I stupidly pre-ordered it.

Wii Virtual Console Wishlist Part 2: Soul Blazer

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is one of my favorite games of all time. Since it's release on the Virtual Console, I have played through the whole game twice, finishing it the second time in about 7 hours. LttP was released in April of 1992 for the SNES, and after playing through it more times than I can recall, I quickly became hungry for another game that follows a similar formula. The game I ended up finding was Soul Blazer.



Soul Blazer was released in December, 1992 for the SNES. It was developed by Quintet and published by Enix. It is the spiritual sequel to ActRaiser, also on the SNES, and both are considered part of the "Soul Blazer series." While ActRaiser and Soul Blazer share a lot of the same gameplay elements, and one of the main characters even share the same name between both games, Soul Blazer is not considered a true sequel. 1994's Illusion of Gaia is considered the 3rd in the "Soul Blazer series", but once again, none of the games are directly connected outside of their gameplay elements and development staff.

The gameplay in Soul Blazer is a mix between ActRaiser and A Link to the Past. You control "The Hero", an angel sent by "The Master" to release souls imprisoned by King Magridd and Deathtoll. Deathtoll offered King Magridd gold for every soul that the King imprisoned. "The Hero" enters different areas of the world, and as he defeats all of the enemies on screen or all enemies of a certain type, a soul is released back into the nearby town. The released soul can be a person, a house, or even a tree or flower.

Gameplay is very reminscent of Zelda games, in that you view everything in an overhead perspective. The controls are fairly basic and consist of swinging a sword or using magic. You could switch to new more powerful weapons and armor that you find along the way or are given to by released souls. You can later return to old dungeons and defeat previously invincible creatures to completely release all souls from an area. While very basic, the level design and graphics were unique enough to make the game stand out, looking more realistic than the cartoonish and round Zelda. Soul Blazers greatest asset though was not gameplay, but the music. The game's score is one of the best to be found on the SNES, especially in the early days of the console.

The biggest thing standing in the way of Soul Blazer being released is Square/Enix. No games from the publisher have reached the Virtual Console yet other than ActRaiser, and with Squeenix porting and remaking their flagship Final Fantasy games left and right for the DS and PSP (where is my FFVII remake?) it is looking very unlikely that the Virtual Console will see games from the publisher. I could see Square/Enix opening their own shop on the Wii, making their own rules and pricing structure, but it doesn't look promising for the immediate future. Hopefully, when Square/Enix finally does release more older games, Soul Blazer will be among their list of games.

Wii Virtual Console Wishlist Part 1: Super Metroid

I have been wanting to do this for a while, create a list of my most wanted games that should come out on the Wii's Virtual Console. I finally started to compile a list of the games I want to see, and the game I want to see the most is Super Metroid, originally released on the SNES.



One of the reasons I want to see Super Metroid so bad is a little embarrassing for me to admit. The reason is that I never got to play the game when it was first released. Well, that's a bit of a lie, I have played Super Metroid, but only for a few minutes, and never on my own console. I have watched others play Super Metroid (selfish friends) but have never owned or rented the game for me to play. I have tried to do both before, but the game was either already rented (for 4 years straight) or it cost $70 in the store, even years after it was released. When I finally found it used for $25 back in 1998, my SNES finally died, and I returned the game, unable to find a good SNES to buy. I have never been able to play Super Metroid, and the Metroid games are some of my absolute favorites of all time.

So a little about the game itself. Super Metroid was released in the US in April of 1994. It immediately became a favorite among game journalists, topping many game of the year lists, and still appears on many "best games of all time" lists. The story takes place immediately after Metroid II for the GameBoy, and follows Samus across the planet Zebes as she hunts down the space pirates, after they stole the last surviving metroid from a research facility. The game used the largest cart released up to that point for the SNES, and provided a massive world for Samus t explore.

I was hoping and praying since 2001 that Nintendo would re-release the game on the GBA, like they did with so many other games, but it never happened. We did get the amazing Metroid Zero Mission which used Super Metroid style graphics to remake the original NES Metroid game. The GBA also saw Metroid Fusion, which introduced new mechanics to the game, but dumbed it down a bit for newer players to the franchise, with a large amount of hand holding for the whole game. Sadly, Super Metroid never got it's remake.

As I am writing this, I read the following story on Kotaku: CLICK HERE! It looks like maybe Nintendo will be releasing Super Metroid to coincide with Metroid Prime 3's release at the end of the month. Good news and bad news, as I will be busy with Prime 3, so no time for Super Metroid. I am a one game kind of guy, what can I say. Hopefully this means Nintendo will be making my dreams come true sooner than expected!

Next time on my Wiishlist (HAHA!), something a little more Enixy.

Wii Virtual Console Game of the Month: JULY 2007

Do you remember how great May was for the Virtual Console? Act Raiser, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fight, Kid Chameleon, Donkey Kong Country 2, all terrific games. June and July weren't so lucky. A few decent games showed up, like F-Zero X and Dynamite Heady on the last day, but overall, both June and July were rather disappointing. There was a bright spot though. The sparkling diamond amid the rest of the faded gems was Paper Mario for the N64.

Paper Mario was originally released on February 5th, 2001 in North America on the Nintendo64. Developed by Intelligent Systems Co, an internal Nintendo development team, the game is the spiritual sequel to Super Mario RPG on the SNES. Intelligent Systems Co had previously made most of the Fire Emblem games {Japan only :( } and most famously, Super Metroid on the SNES. It was released at the very end of the N64's lifespan, as the GameCube would be released at the end of 2001. Two sequels have been released; Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door for the GameCube and just earlier this year, Super Paper Mario for the Wii. You can find my review of Super Paper Mario by CLICKING HERE.

While both Thousand Year Door and Super Paper Mario used Mario's paper body for many great mechanics, the paper idea behind Paper Mario is almost entirely a visual aspect, and nothing more. The fact that Mario and friends are made of paper is only used as a graphical effect, and only once or twice used in gameplay or story telling. The world Mario lives in is mainly constructed of 3D polygons, but the characters and some items, like bushes and mushrooms, are 2D sprites, which when surrounded by the 3D items, give everything that "paper" appearance.

Paper Mario is titled such because of it's graphic style. Overall, the graphics hold up for a game made on a console 2 generations old. There are some clipping issues between the larger polygons, and many of the 2D sprites stand out more than the designers intended them to stand out. The biggest graphics issue is the text. The game is programmed in the N64's native 240i format, so when the Wii spits it out at 480p, the text is blocky, and sometimes hard to read.

Gameplay is very similar to most RPGs, but with an action twist. Yes there are turn-based battles and leveling up and items to collect, but instead of random battles or just picking attack or magic, Paper Mario gives you some additional control. You can see most enemies before a battle, even even jump on them or hit them with your hammer to get the first hit in. And once in battle, if you time your button presses right, you get extra hits on the enemies and can avoid or decrease the damage of their attacks. It's a mechanic that has been recycled in the newer Paper Mario games, and the GBA's Mario & Luigi games. It prevents the battles from getting too boring, but there are some issues where battle mechanics are concerned.

There are some balance issues in the game, specifically with the way you level up, and the strength of the enemies. When you level up (gain 100xp) you can raise your HP (hearts), MP (flowers) or Badge Points, or your accessory points. All of your special abilities are made active by equipping badges, which require badge points. You start with 3 points, and at level up, can raise your BP by 3, or your HP or FP by 5. Here is where the balance issues come into play. All of the cool abilities and powers require you equip more badges, which means you need more BP. However, without also increasing your HP and FP, the enemies will kick your butt. The logical approach, and in most RPGs, is to level up MORE to become more powerful, but in Paper Mario, once you gain a level, enemies give less XP, so after 2 levels, instead of 6XP a piece you get 1XP or NO XP at all from defeated enemies. This makes it impossible to get as strong as you would probably like to be. Instead you find yourself avoiding 99% of enemies instead of fighting, and when you do fight, you lose 25-50% of your HP. And that is nearly every battle. To compensate for your constant HP draining, healing items are CHEAP and coins come easily, but you can only carry 10 items, and you often would need to wade through and avoid lots of enemies on your way back to a store. This all could have been easily avoided if players were allowed to level up freely, and it would make sense even more, because you don't deliver more damage after leveling up, only get more HP/FP/BP. It seems very sloppy.

Despite my big gripe, the game is fun. The battles are fun, the story is simple, the game controls well, everything works very well together overall. If you can get used to the wacky balance issues and garbled text, then there is little else to detract you from enjoying the game. Although only 6 years old, this game feels older than it is, but not any less fun. I won't give a score to this review because I can't pick one. It's a 4, it's a 2, it's a 3, it changes depending on what aspects of the game I look at. Balance issues vs fun vs graphics vs timelessness, it isn't fair to give this game a number. It is the best game released in the past 2 months, so that should be more than enough of a clue as to how good the game is. And for only $10, how can you go wrong? When we look back, what matters most is that this is the game that lead the way for the greats like Super Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi GBA games, so I will gladly tip my hat to what ends up being a fun and enjoyable game.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: A Review

SPOILER ALERT! THAR BE SPOILERS HERE!!!

I was once like you my friends, a non-believer, a skeptic, a nay sayer if you will. I knew OF this Harry Potter boy, knew of his exploits, but did not care at all about learning more, reading the books, or seeing the movie that was going to be produced. I was put off by the crazy amount of coverage a children's book was getting, various products in the stores. It was an innocent time, may of the year 2000, a time of change for me. For graduation, my best friend of 12 years bought me the first gift he had ever given me outside of a birthday. Before he gave it to me, he made me promise that I would use it for it's intended purpose, and not just put it on a shelf or give it to someone else. The gift was a book. That book was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone. Less than two months later, he and I were in line for a midnight release of the fourth book. Needless to say, I was hooked.

Last week, the fifth movie based on the fifth book of the 7 part series was released, and it is a welcome addition to the existing movies and books, and the best amalgamation of the books/movies so far. The first two movies are very literal translations of the books they are based on, with the 3rd being the best stand alone film. I didn't much care for the 4th in the series, Goblet of Fire, neither the book or the movie, a low point in the series, but had great expectations for the Order of the Phoenix's turn to be put on the big screen, and I was not disappointed.


I won't even begin to give the back story to this universe, being 5/7th of the way in already. The latest chapter for the silver screen finds Harry being called a liar by the majority of the wizarding world, most everyone not believing him when he says that Lord Voldemort has returned from beyond. If having almost everyone think you are a liar and an attention whore isn't enough, Harry's friends and family have kept their plans a secret, and he is jaded. They have reformed the Order of the Phoenix, a group of wizards out to prevent Voldemort from taking power, but are hesitant to let Harry join them. On top of that, he nearly gets thrown out of school for protecting himself against Dementors, the Ministry of Magic is interfering at life at Hogwarts, he wishes he could both help and be with his God-father, Sirius Black, and Harry's biggest pillar of support, Albus Dumbledore, is ignoring him completely. It will be Harry's hardest year at school, both physically and mentally.

The movie does an excellent job of portraying the main plot points of the book, specifically Harry's alienation from his friends and the rest of the community, the Ministry's attempt to take over Hogwarts with Delores Umbridge, and showcasing how powerful Voldemort is truly becoming. Harry goes through a lot in a little time here, from being completely alienated, having his first girlfriend, being put into a leadership role, and finding out why he survived the night his parents were killed. While Prisoner of Azkaban showed the passage of time and the progression of the movie through small scenes with changing weather and seasons, Order of the Phoenix uses some classic movie cliches such as montages and spinning newspapers. As cliche as these are, they are well done, and make this more of a movie than a movie adaptation.


The toughest part of making this into a movie is turning the 870 page book into a movie children and adults could sit through, and more importantly, enjoy. Some plot points were changed, such as the Cho storyline and Graup, some minimized like the O.W.L. exams and Occlumency, and some removed completely like Quidditch and the Quibbler, but all the changes and exemptions worked EXTREMELY well. The "Weasly is our king" story can easily be started with the next movie for example, and St Mungo's and the additional Ministry and Grimmauld Place scenes would be a lovely addition to the DVD, but did not effect the final plot of the movie. Some other nice additions not found in the book are some of Ginny's reactions, and everything about Luna Lovegood was absolutely perfect. Luna was easily my favorite part of this movie.

The fanboy in me had a very hard time finding fault like in Azkaban (Lupin so easily could have explained the map, and no explanation about James Potter and pals), and Goblet (the final test was JUST a hedge maze, and Voldemort talked for only 10 seconds) but there were a few things to nitpick about. Little things showed up, like Dumbledore not having any glasses, but they were few and far between. My biggest "complaint" is about the scene in the Ministry around the stone archway. Only existing fans of the books/movies would truly understand what happened when Bellatrix yelled what she yelled, especially because what she said was hardly understandable. The only reason I knew what she said was because of the green light that came on screen upon her yelling the spell. I knew what she said, but what I actually heard was "acblagraaaa!!!!" Barely audible. A small thing that could have made a much bigger impact. In fact, I am split on whether I liked or disliked that scene because of the change made to what takes place on/in/around the stone archway.


This was an incredibly well done movie, and more than made up for the literal take on things from Goblet of Fire. Order of the Phoenix takes its place as my second favorite Potter movie after Prisoner of Azkaban. It is very mature (as it needs to be considering the subject matter) and the art direction is on par with Azkaban, and other films like Pan's Labyrinth and 300. I still say that the Harry Potter series would be better served in a TV series or made for TV mini series, but if David Yates directs Half-Blood Prince (my favorite of the books so far) as well as he handled Order of the Phoenix, then I will be first in line to see the next movie in late 2008. Ok, who am I kidding, I was going to be the first one there anyway...

4.5 starts (out of 5)

Images courtesy IMDB.com and Warner Bros. Pictures

The Numbers Game: Part 2

Microsoft must read my blog! See my previous post by CLICKING HERE!!! Microsoft just announced they extended to warranty on the 360 to a total of 3 years for the "red ring of death" issue. Hmm... I might be buying a 360 very very soon after all! Read the links below for the full story.

Source:
Kotaku
GameSpot
Major Nelson talking with Peter Moore (MP3)

The Numbers Game

It has been a while since I have posted because not a lot has been going on outside of work. All my TV shows are on summer hiatus (except for Top Chef) and no games have come out recently. But enough has happened recently for me to put together a little post. It's time to play the numbers game!

7/7/7- I don't know what its like everywhere else in the world, but the date of July 7th, 2007 is a HUGE deal in Vegas. Every store, every casino, has some promotion for 7/7/7 and it is getting rather annoying. Every sign I see, every newspaper and magazine and half the commercials on TV are about a sale or event. Strangest thing about this? Almost NO July 4th stuff being mentioned, its all about seven seven oh seven.

360- I want an XBox360. I never wanted an original XBox, as I always felt that Microsoft was just trying to take Sega's old position in the market and messing up things for Nintendo. I believe that MS has proven themselves in the market now, and the 360 seems like the right machine for me over a PS3. I currently have a Wii and Ps2 (DS and PSP and gaming PC too) and there are games that are 360 exclusives or coming out for both PS3 and 360 that I want, and a 360 is a clear winner between the two in my opinion. There are 2 reasons I have not went out and bought one yet. The first is price. I am rather certain that MS will drop the price at/after the minE3 this month, or by the holidays. I am afraid that if I buy one today, the price will go down $100 the next day, and I will be out that hundred. The other big fear I have is the number of broken 360s I constantly hear about. From red rings of death to A/V issues, to over heating to the things just crapping out, I cannot believe how many horror stories I have heard, especially recently, about the quality of the system. Check out the following story from DailyTech: the link! I will be buying an extended warranty when I get my 360, but I am very hesitant to pick one up because of the large number of bad stories that I hear on a daily basis.

10/1- Nintendo just announced October 1st as the release date for Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the DS. This is a portable follow up to the GameCube Wind Waker. It goes without saying I will be picking the game up, but it makes me want to go back and replay Wind Waker again on my Wii because Phantom Hourglass is a direct sequel to Wind Waker. I put in at least 50 hours when I first played this game, and don't know if I want to invest that much time into a game the 2nd time. I really want to play Wind Waker again, I do, but another 50 hours just to prepare myself for the sequel is quite a bit of work. I would have gladly done this in my younger days, and looking back, cannot believe how much time I was able to invest in games before having a full time job. I may replay it just enough to re familiarize myself with the story and characters and world, but not complete it, or go after every heart piece. I will probably just play the main story line and skip the side quests.

80s- Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s will be coming out mid July, and I am sad to say I am not excited in the least. The 2 Guitar Hero games are some of my all time favorites and my boredom rarely shows up now because as soon as I get fidgety, I pick up the guitar to play. But the set list of Rock the 80s has left me sorely underwhelmed. Maybe it is because I grew up IN the 80s, and didn't listen to that kind of rock as a kid. Of the whole set list (you can check it out on IGN by CLICKING HERE!!!) only 2 or 3 of the tracks are songs I know well enough to sing, and the rest are either "oh yeah, I have heard that before" or "I have never heard this song before in my life." I will probably end up renting it (thanks GameFly) but I can't imagine putting down $50 for songs I don't know or like.

8/27- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, has been pushed back a week, from August 20th to August 27th. Normally this would not be such a big deal to me, but I am taking some vacation time starting on the 22nd, and planned to dedicate a day or say to playing Metroid. Is it sad or pathetic that I am actually considering extending or moving my vacation time just so I can play Metroid more? I am being mature, don't plan on calling in sick or skipping, I planned this out so I would take vacation on/around the time a big game is released. The ultimate irony would be if I do move/extend my vacation, and the game sucks... I do not foresee that happening (I believe in you Retro) but all my worry and planning would be for naught.

W00t!- No numbers here, I realize that, but I did spell Woot with zeros instead of "O"s! I received the shirt I ordered during the last Woot-Off from Woot.com, the official Woot shirt, with screaming monkey proudly freaking out on the front. The shirt is a high quality t-shirt, and very comfortable (see picture below). The best part about the shirt is the instructional comic that came with it that tells you how to turn the shirt into a cape. You can view the instructions by CLICKING HERE, thanks to JesusFreke from the Woot forums for scanning the comic in. Shirt.Woot is written all over the package and it appears they will be launching a shirt site soon, similar to the wine.woot site released in the past year. Thanks again Woot.com for being the funniest friggin site around.

Click to embiggen

Touched by an Angel; you'll be hearing from my lawyer

The Buffy comics have been out on shelves since March (see my thoughts on the first two issues by CLICKING HERE) and I had myself a nice little Buffy DVD marathon back in March to celebrate 10 years of Joss Whedon giving us the true Buffy on TV. I have the Chosen collection of the Buffy DVDs, all 144 episodes in a single large box. I have been waiting and waiting for a similar release from Fox for the Angel DVDs, but 3 years and a month (1126 days, but who's counting) after the series finale of Angel, no box has been released, announced, or even rumored as far as I have heard. So after watching the TNT reruns lately, I finally decided to purchase a few seasons. I decided on seasons 4 and 5, as the 3rd season was just wrapping up on TNT.

In case I never mentioned this before, TNT has the WORST HD quality (picture is literally warped) and their editing of the show, both in scene editing (where the commercials air) and the visual editing (why get rid of the widescreen?) is something that could have been done by a high school student with free editing software, and that student would have failed his editing class. Yes, I am assuming his school had an editing class of some sort. Either way, TNT sucks at editing. They quickly kill the pacing set up by the episode's director, and some people's faces are half in the shot, or entirely gone in many scenes. Not wanting to deal with this horrible version of the show, I had Amazon send me the 4th and 5th seasons. New slim sets are out now (smaller boxes, less fancy) and only cost me $25 a piece. Great deal.

Let me start of by saying that my most favorite to least favorite seasons of Angel are 1, 2, 5, 3, 4, with 4 being my least favorite. After watching all 5 seasons again the past month or so, that order has changed. The 5th season is easily my favorite now, with 1 being 2nd favorite, then 2, 3, and finally 4 again. Let me say that I did not DISLIKE the 4th season, and absolutely loved that they were able to take EVERY single event from the previous seasons (mainly everything that happened to Cordy) and make it into a single plot device for bringing out the big bad. I did not dislike any season, but now realize how incredible the 5th season was compared to the others. This probably had a LOT to do with Buffy having ended, Firefly cancelled, and Joss being able to pour more of himself into the season compared to others. His lack of handsonedness is very clear in the 4th season.

The 5th season of Angel starts with Angel becoming the new CEO of Wolfram & Hart, the evil law firm that has been the thorn in his side since the first episode of the show. Angel and company sorta ended world peace at the end of season 4, long story short, and Wolfram & Hart decided to give Angel control of the LA office because of this. Almost everyone comes along for the ride as well, with Fred in charge of the science/R&D department, Wesley in charge of prophecies and mystic information, Lorne becomes head of the PR and entertainment side of W&H, and Gunn becomes a lawyer (they pump his head full of the law during his first week there). The deal Angel made before taking the job was that Connor be given a new life, a normal life, and his existence erased from everyone's memories. Hoping that they can make a difference by "changing things from the inside" the team jumps right into their roles at the law firm. Finally, Spike joins the crowd when the talisman he used to destroy the Hellmouth on Buffy shows up in a package for Angel. He starts off as a "ghost" but is recorporealized by mid season.

For the most part, the show goes back to it's "monster of the week" theme of the 1st/2nd season instead of the serialized storytelling from the 4th season. This is a welcome change, as the show flows much smoother than it did in the late 3rd and all of the 4th season. Yes, storylines carry over from episode to episode, but each episode is unique and can easily be enjoyed without having to know exactly what happened the episode prior. The writing for this season is superb. No character is ever "out of character" like in the 3rd and 4th seasons, and there is an equal focus on everyone on the show. The relationship between Angel and Spike is fun to watch re-evolve (they realize how alike they truly are, and have a good father and son chemistry) and everyone falls into their roles very nicely. There are also some incredible episodes in here, like "Smile Time", "You're Welcome", "Hell Bound" and of course, "Not Fade Away." Yes, there are one or two less than stellar shows (I am looking at you "Why We Fight") but there is nothing bad in sight.

It is hard for me to describe exactly what it is about the 5th season that is so spectacular. It is just like every other season, but everything about it is tight and done exceptionally well. Other than the story itself, there is nothing truly new here, it is the same show as the last 4 years, but everything is written, performed, and shown so well, that it quickly becomes the best of the series. This season has a certain "Firefly" quality about it, in that everything looks, sounds, and is done to perfection, with very little that is not enjoyable. The 5th season of Angel truly perfected the formula that Joss and David Greenwalt were after in the series' concept. The show not only went out on top, but it went out in a blaze of glory, fighting whoever else was trying to get to the top. Joss has said he wants to do a Season 6 comic in the relative future, and that brings me great joy (I do the dance of joy!). This season is just more proof that networks really has absolutely no grasp over what is quality programming and what is utter crap. Cancelling the show during it's best season could be viewed as some as a good thing (go out on top) or a bad thing (we want more). Either way, Season 5 of Angel is easily the best of the series.

Amazon.com: Angel Season 5 Slim set

lolcats

I will admit it, I am a fan of lolcats pictures. Memes can be fun folks. This one had be giggling:

Picture courtesy:
ICANHASCHEEZBURGER

See also:
Memecats

You get me closer to Richard Cheese

Into every generation a Lounge Singer is born.
One man, in all the world, a chosen one.
He alone will stand against the Old Spice executives, demons (inner ones), and the forces of bad music.

He is the Lounge Singer.

I FINALLY got to see Richard Cheese live on Sunday night, June 10th, and what a show it was! This was easily the best show I have been to in ages, and next to Billy Joel, the greatest concert I have ever attended. But fans of Richard Cheese already know that his concerts are the best, so why don't we just fill in those who are less familiar with the power of Dick.

Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine is a cover band/lounge singing/comedy act. Formed in 2000, Dick Cheese, as he prefers to be called, has had nominal success, especially with the alternative rock crowds, thanks mainly to the DJs of the alt rock stations playing Dick's material. I first learned of him from Preston and Steve on Philadelphia's now defunct Y100 back in late 2000 when the first album, Lounge Against the Machine, was released. The album contained lounge versions of popular songs including "Wrong Way" by Sublime, "Suck My Kiss" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, my personal favorite "Creep" by Radiohead, and what is arguably one of his most famous covers, "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. With a 7th on it's way, Dick already has 6 albums under his belt... or tuxedo jacket...

Enough about the past, you came to hear about the RECENT past, meaning Sunday night. As I said before, and you should already know, the show was AMAZING. It took place in AJ's Steakhouse in the Hard Rock Hotel, a place that ordinarily would hold roughly 30-50 people. I would estimate that there were 100-150 people present, but Dick's website says 255 tickets were available, and the only reason I doubt that number is because there isn't enough space in that room to fit that many people. This was a small, personal gathering, not a big concert, and Dick took advantage of this fact.

The band consists of Richard Cheese as the singer, a piano player, bass player (stand up, not electric) and drummer. I was only 3 feet from the stage, but everyone got to see the same show, more or less. The stage was small, maybe 15'x15', but Dick didn't spend a lot of the show up there, he wandered around the entire room (as you can see in the pictures below), singing to people directly (singing to women that is) and using the restaurant's features to perform. Dick climbed up into the booths along the back wall, walked on top of the serving station, and hung out at the bar quite a bit. He also had several costume changes as well. The songs and styles are not only very funny, but Dick himself is hilarious too. The show was many times less about the music, and more about the jokes and humorous situations. He plays a smarmy womanizer, and the women in the audience seem to enjoy the jokes just as much as the men. I have never laughed this hard in all my life.

This is supposedly the final tour before Dick puts down the mic and returns to... whatever it is he does when not performing, so I urge everyone to check out his touring schedule and see when he will be near you. They were recording a "movie" at this show, I don't know if this is a national thing or just a one time recording, but I can't wait to see what the movie will be. Tickets are usually only around $30, which is a steal, especially in Vegas. You can find links to his site and MySpace profile below, and I hope you visit them. Buy a CD or two, check him out on iTunes, just listen to his material and ATTEMPT to go see him before he "retires." Please don't leave us, Dick, you would be missed.

CRAPPY CELL PHONE PIX OF THE EVENT!

Richard Cheese on stage
Richard Cheese in the audience talking to woman
Richard Cheese standing on top of the banquet seating
Richard Cheese back on stage, new tux jacket
Richard Cheese with martini glass
Richard Cheese staring me down
Richard Cheese tshirt- the shirt is condensed into this shape!

Links:
RichardCheese.com
Richard Cheese's My Space

Wii Virtual Console Game of the Month: MAY 2007

NINJA GAIDEN

The month of May was a pretty good month for the Virtual Console. Act Raiser, Final Fight, Kid Chameleon, DKC2, all good games. My favorite for the month is Ninja Gaiden. The very close runner up is Act Raiser, and will 100% be the next VC title I download, but Ninja Gaiden holds a very unique place in my heart. Act Raiser brought a blend of sword swinging platform style and a "god game" Sim-City theme along with it. A fantastic game that should not be missed by anyone, but Act Raiser doesn't have the emotional reaction that Ninja Gaiden brings to me.

Ninja Gaiden, developed by Tecmo, was released for the NES in March of 1989. Two sequels follow, and the 2nd game, The Dark Sword of Chaos, is my favorite of the series, thanks in part to Shadow Clones and wall climbing. The game stars Ryu Hayabusa of the Dragon Ninja Clan. He comes home to find a letter from his father Ken (yes, Ken and Ryu, not a Capcom game). His father has left to go fight an unknown battle, and requests Ryu go to America with the Dragon Sword if he does not return.


The story telling is the first thing that set Ninja Gaiden apart 18 years ago. Not only did the game have a story, but it wasn't just text and a snippet in the manual. This game brought forth the use of the cut scene. Between each level (and at some other points) Ninja Gaiden presents animations to move the story along. We aren't talking full animation, but still pictures with limited movement and text, but at the time, it was something not done on this level. Getting to the next level to find out what is going to happen to Ryu, his father, and "the girl" (I won't ruin her name for you) is a huge motivation to move forward in the game. Doing that, though, is harder than some gamers may like.


Ninja Gaiden is a very difficult game. Growing up in my neighborhood, just getting to the 3rd stage was a testament to your gaming prowess. This was the game you played to show how good you were at games. I remember being 9 and beating Basaquer (finally) and my friends all sitting in awe. Little did we know the game only got harder from there! Ninja Gaiden has fast moving enemies, enemies with projectiles, lots of bottomless pits, tough bosses, and when some of these elements are combined, such as a projectile tossing enemy on the other side of a bottomless pit, the game can become downright frustrating.

In the early stages of the game, if you die (or game over and continue) you will restart at the beginning of the level. For example, if you die halfway thru level 2-2, you begin at 2-2, not at 2-1. For many of the first levels, this is a godsend. However, by the time you get to the later stages, dieing halfway through the level means replaying the past 10 screens, practically replaying an entire earlier level. This is one of the reasons that Ninja Gaiden is regarded as one of the hardest NES games around. It is not impossible to beat (I did, once, right before I got my SNES for the holidays), but you will die so many times, it will not be possible for some.


The actual gameplay is rather simple. The game is similar to Castlevania in that you wander around a level, hit candles/lights/hornets to grab power ups and power, attack enemies, and finally fight the boss. The mechanics are very similar, but Ryu controls much differently than Simon Belmont. One button attacks with the sword, another button jumps, and holding up while attacking uses your special power, all just like Castlevania, but the action in Ninja Gaiden is 5 times faster than the early Castlevania games. Ryu flips thru the air, runs, hangs onto walls, and slices quick, and could take Simon in a fight any day. Ryu is a ninja, and controls and moves like a ninja.

This game is not for the impatient, for the whiny, or for someone who hates their butt getting kicked. This game will cut off your face and serve it to you on a platter; it gets that hard. You will probably not even get to the 2nd stage (the 3rd screen in the game) your first play thru. Luckily, Ninja Gaiden on the Wii VC lets you continue even after losing your lives, so once you DO finally get to the 3rd stage, you can die and continue without restarting the entire game. I have had the game for weeks, and have only made it halfway thru the final stage. I can pick up any Mega Man game (even the X series) and beat it in 2-3 hours. Ninja Gaiden doesn't give me that bragging right. If you love platforming and action, and have enough control to NOT toss the Wiimote against the wall, then $5 is a steal for this NES classic.

4.5 Stars (out of 5)

Images courtesy of Tecmo, Nintendo, VGMuseum

Week in review: May 27th - June 2nd

SPOILER ALERT! THAR BE SPOILERS HERE!!!

Another wacky week this week was! Work was crazier than usual (long, sad story there) and the rest of life was no less crazy. Event wise, it was a big week though.

Sunday, May 27th: We saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End today. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but it was not nearly as good as the first, and just a little less fun than the second. My biggest complaint for the movie is it's flow. The movie just didn't flow well. Some scenes were long and drawn out, and did not flow smoothly into the next plot point. Also, the whole magical aspect of the movie (Calypso specifically) felt very Deus Ex Machina to me, and just having Tia Dalma be Tia Dalma, and not some supernatural force, would have been a better plot line in my opinion. The movie was very fun though, and a good ending to the first trilogy (don't tell me Disney won't be making 100 more). Don't leave until after the credits roll for a sweet final scene! I would give it 3 stars (out of 5).

Monday, May 28th: Memorial day, so I had the day off. Started playing Tales of the Abyss today. You can read my review of it by CLICKING HERE!!! I miss the days of sitting around all day, doing nothing but playing video games. There is not much I miss about childhood, but this is one thing. There is nothing more fun than just playing a game for 10 straight hours, not a care in the world.

Tuesday, May 29th: The House season finale aired tonight. This episode did not feel like a season finale to me, more like a November/December mid season cliff hanger. Yes, the end of the episode had Cameron, Chase and Forman all quitting or fired, and it was up in the air if and when ANY of them would return. But this didn't feel very dramatic or emotional to me. The episode mainly concerned House's resistance to change, which is something that I see 100% reflected in myself. I hate change and do not tolerate it well. Other than the cynicism and how rude/mean he is to everyone, I am EXTREMELY similar to House. I know that change is very hard and almost feels like a physical force for him to go against, so I am curious to see how things will turn out next season. None of my predictions for the season end came true, and while House is still my 2nd favorite show, it has lost some of it's charm. Let us hope season 4 is less like 3, and more like 1+2.

Saturday, June 2nd: We went to see Knocked Up tonight, the new film by "40 Year Old Virgin" creator/director, Judd Apatow. (CLICK HERE for IMDB info) I liked Knocked Up better than 40YOV, but I should point out I wasn't a huge fan of 40YOV like many. It was a good movie (40YOV) and Steve Carell is an incredibly gifted comedic actor (Daily Show-The Office, everything is great) but I never understood where the huge love from critics and fans came from. Knocked Up, however, is a fantastic movie. The long and short of it is this: an out of work stoner has a one night stand with an up and coming on air hostess for E!, and she winds up pregnant. They live completely different lifestyles and have next to nothing in common, but decide to have the baby, and even let their relationship blossom. Similar to 40YOV, this is not a joke-after-joke-after-joke style movie like Austin Powers or Anchorman. There is quite a bit of drama to be found, and it blends perfectly with the humor. There are 3 scenes that are an instant classic for me, one starring Ryan Seacrest, one in a hotel room here in Vegas, and one in the couples bed halfway thru the pregnancy. The cast is always wonderful. I was nervous about Seth Rogen handling a starring role, but he proved himself right off the bat. Katherine Heigl has always had star power, and I have respected her since her Roswell days (looking for those DVDs on the cheap, btw). Small roles by some great actors like Harold Ramis and Alan Tudyk round out the cast, with Apatow's own wife in the secondary female role. This may also help Paul Rudd get off the "that actor from that movie" list and get some name recognition. I highly recommend this movie to everyone... everyone over a certain age that is, because there should not have been 20+ 12 year olds at this film. 4 stars (out of 5).

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Even the smartest person you know can be the dumbest person you know. Even the changes in life sometimes change. Bad waiters/waitresses can ruin the meal, even if the food was amazing. Dunkin Donuts is FINALLY coming back to Vegas!!! I miss Rita's Water Ice. While walking to my car, I bumped my head on the sun... it is a little warm out there.

Why does every file have to be a PDF?!

Why does everyone think that every single file on a computer has to be a PDF?! At least once a day I either take a call, respond to an email, or read a question on a forum about someone wanting to take a file, ANY file, and turn it into a PDF. An architectural design to submit to a guy's boss, and the boss wants it in PDF. A picture file, a simple JPEG, needs to be a PDF for you to email it and your client to open it? Kinkos accepts ONLY PDF files and no other format whatsoever? Why do people believe that a PDF is the only file format that everyone can view?

You do not need to take a JPEG and convert to to a PDF in order for you to print it, email it, or show it to someone on your computer! I spoke to someone yesterday who wanted to do this (JPEG to PDF) because he didn't want the person he is sending the file to to "alter" his picture. And I mean picture. He is sending someone a picture! How does making it a PDF prevent someone from altering the file? Anyone who would have the ability to "alter" a JPEG has the knowledge to "alter" a PDF as well.

I am utterly confused where this desire to make every file into a PDF stems from.... any thoughts?

Tales of the Abyss: A mini review

I finally decided to start playing Tales of the Abyss this week. I am a huge fan of the Tales series of games, having first played Tales of Destiny on the PS1 when it was first released, and having played all Tales games released in the US since then. The Tales series is Namco's Final Fantasy, but has never reached the popularity of FF or Dragon Quest either here or in the east. Tales of Symphonia for the the GameCube is my favorite of the series, and was followed up by Tales of Legendia for the PS2, a game that was an enormous disappointment. Legendia wasn't BAD really, but the characters were very quirky (in a bad way) and over the top, and the fighting engine was not as polished as previous games in the series, and the story was rather lacking as well. My huge love of Symphonia and my disgust with Legendia made me somewhat hesitant about getting into Abyss (Abyss made by the Symphonia team) but I am glad I did.



The Tales games take your normal RPG conventions such as leveling up, buying items and weapons, learning magic and abilities, and combines that with a fantastic fighting engine. Instead of selecting a command from a menu, then waiting for your enemy to do the same, you have complete control of your characters movements and attacks. In Abyss's case, you move around the battle field with left and right, block with Square, press X to use a standard attack (up, down, and left/right give you different variations of the standard attack) and O lets you use your Artes, or special abilities (with up, down, left/right selecting different Artes). All of this is done 100% real time, no loading or waiting, and makes every battle something fun. Think of Final Fight meets Final Fantasy, or Street Fighter meets Dragon Quest.

Many battles are avoidable, as you can see your enemies as you travel around in the game. This is a great addition to the Tales series, and one of my VERY few complaints about Tales of Symphonia (my favorite of the series). When in battle, you are accompanied by up to 3 other party members, who take actions on their own. You can set up strategies for the other characters in the menu, and select specific actions from a menu during battle, but very rarely will you find yourself needing to tweak the other characters battle settings (except for Guys over use of Artes).

My only true complaint about the gameplay is the Artes system, or the shrunken list of abilities to gain. Symphonia had a long list of abilities that you could unlock, and the way to unlock most was to use the same abilities over and over again to unlock the ability. While this is done as well in Abyss, it is greatly lessened. Only about 5 abilities require you to level up existing Artes, and the overall list of Artes is not that great. Even the original PS1 Destiny and SNES/GBA Phantasia seem to have a longer list of abilities to unlock. Yes, you can upgrade each Arte to make them stronger or have special attributes (a tutorial my copy of the game refuses to load), but this felt tacked on more than anything. One of my favorite things to do in Symphonia was unlock these new abilities, and new Artes are not as common here in Abyss. While this does not hinder the gameplay in anyway, it would have been nice to see more abilities.



This is a story driven RPG, so even though there is a lot of action in the battles, this is still an RPG first. Tales of the Abyss tells the story of Luke, the son of noble blood, who is stuck living in his parent's mansion. He was kidnapped 7 years prior, and not allowed to leave the mansion since returning. One day, a pretty young girl named Tear comes along to try and kill her brother Van, who is also Luke's mentor. Luke and Tear clash swords, and somehow get transported halfway around the world. The main theme of the story is Luke learning about the world, as he has been kept sealed up in his house for seven years. There is your normal political intrigue, and good guys who are really bad guys stories too, but the main story follows Luke and his experiences. The characters Luke meets along the way are what set this game above others from the genre. Every character has a lot of personality, and is voiced extremely well (does Johnny Young Bosch live in a recording studio?). The story won't win any awards, but it is told very well, even if it insanely confusing for the first 4 hours or so.

Another award Abyss won't win is in the looks department. Generally, the Tales games are very heavily anime influenced, and the opening for the games (at least the 5 I have played) featured a fully animated anime opening. While the 2D sprite work and character and level design is top notch, the 3D engine is something that could have been seen 5 years ago. While superior to Legendia's ugly character models, everything is still very blocky and old looking. The three year old Symphonia has better visuals than Abyss, and while the engine had to be remade or tweaked to go from the GameCube to the PS2, I am surprised that the game does not look as good. I was not expecting Final Fantasy XII, but I am disappointed that the level of detail, especially with the character models, is so low. The visuals are not that important, but after playing games like Okami and Final Fantasy XII and Shadow of the Colossus, I expect more from late generation PS2 games.

My only other complaint is load times. On average, battles last between 10-20 seconds, and when it takes several seconds after a battle to load the game again, that is a pain. Also, saving takes a long time, up to a minute some times! Also, moving from one room to another, or scene to scene causes loading too, so add another 3 seconds there. Its is not much, but enough to get annoying when trying to explore. This loading tends to be worst on the overworld map, which is the worst overworld map I have seen in a long time. The camera moves SOOOO slow that you often get attacked by a monster running from off screen, and it is impossible to see where you are headed until you are there. I had to fight the urge to explore, because I was so easily lost, despite maps and a compass. Pulling the camera back and up would have made it better, but it is still the ugliest and most annoying part of the game.


At the end of the day, despite some graphical faux pas and a slightly boring soundtrack, Tales of the Abyss is a great addition to the series, and represents what Legendia could have been. Anyone who has yet to play a Tales game should pick up Symphonia on the GameCube first (or Destiny on PS1 if you can find it (you cannot borrow my copy)). While not the best in the series, Tales of the Abyss is a wonderful adventure that never gets dull. The plot moves at a good pace, you are never upset when it is time to enter a battle, and Luke and Tear will stick with you even after the game has ended.

Overall score: 4 Stars (out of 5)

Images courtesy IGN and Namco.

Week in review: May 20th - 26th

Still not over whatever has been kicking my butt. Couldn't eat lunch all week, and when I do eat, I cannot tell when I am full, so I either eat too little, or too much (Saturday night...). Hopefully I will be back to normal soon.

Monday, May 21st: Heroes season finale was both great and disappointing. The build up was great, but the actual ending was a bit of a let down. One of my theories came true, that Nathan would wind up doing the right thing and the bomb would not go off. That part I liked about the finale, but it was the most anticlimactic ending ever. Nikki just slamming Sylar once, and then Peter punching him a lot. Hiro showing up last minute, and everyone else just hanging around. This could have been a hectic scene, a huge battle with everyone's powers going ballistic. Claire could have been the tank and taken hits for everyone (when bullets and glass fly), Nikki could have been the bruiser and wailed on Sylar before Peter picked up her powers, Parkman on the sides yelling out what Sylar is thinking next to everyone else, and Peter finally pulling all the powers out at once and really getting into it with Sylar.

I still love the show, don't get me wrong. The themes in the show are pretty clear to me now, at least for the first season. Tim Kring clearly had a "what if we could have prevented 9/11" moment and wrote at least this season with that in mind. 5 years later (when series started) disaster in NYC with terrorists in the future, Guilliani being valorous in the face of disaster (now in line for White House), showdown in the plaza between two large buildings in Manhattan are all pretty clear themes to me. Also, paying homage (not ripping off) a lot of themes from famous comic series. Peter Petrelli/Peter Parker, Hiro a member of the MMMS, Stan Lee on the bus halfway thru the season, and many many allusions to things from Superman to Sandman to Watchmen (no, this is not a rip off of Watchmen!) I also like how all of the older characters (Hiro's dad, Petrelli mom, Shaft... I mean Mr Deveaux) know each other and have a connection to the powers. The preview with Hiro for the next season was a good tease, and I can't wait til this show comes back next season.

Wednesday, May 23rd: American Idol finale.... as I mentioned before, I never watched Idol much before this season. I watched the last season finale and a few episodes here and there with friends, but this was my first season watching the show. Last years finale seemed fun and wild to me, but this year, it sucked. And anyone who TiVo'd this show was pissed, as it ran over 5 minutes past the hour before revealing the winner. Not sure I will watch this again next

Short but long week this week with being sick. Let's hope this week turns out better.

We have nothing to Sphere but Odin Sphere itself

I keep debating on whether or not I want to buy or Gamefly Odin Sphere. For those that don't know, Odin Sphere is an action heavy RPG from Atlus for the PS2. It was just released this week in the US, and I cannot decide whether I want to play this game or not. You can read IGN's review of it by CLICKING HERE and GameSpot's take by CLICKING HERE.

I first read about the game back in February when Atlus announce they would be bringing the Japanese developed game stateside (that is what Atlus does best). The game is a 2D side scrolling brawler with major RPG elements. The visuals are stunning, with amazingly large detailed sprites that make it look like it was designed for PC/PS3/360. Not since Symphony of the Night 2D made me truly impressed. NIS developed games are very nice (Disgaea, La Pucelle, Phantom Brave) but never that impressive because the 2D sprites are still images, not moving and flowing like in Odin Sphere.

But the NIS games are what make me NOT want to play Odin Sphere. There is SOOOOOO much freaking character/item management to do, that my OCD shows up and makes me get my characters and items to their most powerful, and I completely miss the story. I am always afraid to advance the narrative in case I am not powerful enough or prepared enough. Yes, that is me being neurotic, but it never happened to me in the 8bit-32bit days of RPG gaming. I always try to level my characters up stronger than they NEED to be in RPGs, but with games from NIS, there is no limit to their power, so I just keep leveling up! One level makes no difference, so I try for 10 or 20.

Odin Sphere sounds like it has large levels of item management, including alchemy with items. Because of my need to be powerful and find EVERY item in a game and have the best gear(again, OCD) games with alchemy systems often frustrate me because of the amount of work I can do. I prefer less customization over more customization when it comes to games like this. If FFXII had a similar grid system to FFX, then I would have enjoyed it infinately more. Instead, I spent 20 hours in FFXII leveling up and getting 90% of the stupid board cleared with each character, and having every single character be identical in battle.

So the game looks like a lot of fun, but the high level of management is what is turning me off. Having put over 100+ hours into past NIS games (Disgaea anyone? (yes, this is Atlus, not NIS)), I know how sucked into a game I can get, and at some point some my enjoyment of it entirely. My fear is I will love it at first, then get so annoyed or sidetracked by the micromanagement that I will never actually finish the game, and wind up bored and annoyed. I still have Tales of the Abyss I have not started (love the Tales games) so maybe I should play that first and let Odin Sphere be the big summer game.... either way, I hope to get some good gaming in this weekend. I just have to find a way to not let the Virtual Console be the only gaming I get done.

Guitar Hero and Nintendo News!

This has been a good week for fans of Guitar Hero and Nintendo games, and it's only Wednesday! A few juicy bits out of Activision about Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero 80's Edition, and a release schedule for the summer/early fall from Nintendo is a good week for me!

First up, Activision has announced that this Autumn (still no date or month, but a season is better than nothing) Guitar Hero III will be released, and will feature wireless guitar controllers. I am a little nervous about this venture, as it may require even MORE batteries (thanks Wiimote!) and the potential lag between controller and game could seriously mess up your game. But if my buddy Travis's abilities with a 3rd party wireless guitar are any indication, I have nothing to worry about (5 stars on Hard on most songs he plays). The Wii, PS3 and 360 all get Gibson Les Paul models, while the PS2 will have a Gibson Kramer model. All the guitars will also have removable faceplates, ala the 360, so you can customize your guitar with more than the puny sticker pack that came with the first two games. They will also feature a "new button color design" that they say will give "an even greater authentic feel and rock experience." I say that means that I will need to relearn the controls a bit, and not be able to use my existing PS2 guitar for the game. That does not please me, but until more info (specifically, pictures and video) become available, I will attempt to remain optimistic.

Speaking of optimism, I like the track list released so far. The list released so far includes The Rolling Stones (Paint it Black), Smashing Pumpkins (Cherub Rub), Beastie Boys (Sabotage), Weezer (My Name is Jonas), Foghat (Slow Ride.... DUH!), and other tracks by Tenacious D, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Living Coulor, and Heart. Oh, and KNIGHTS OF CYDONIA BY MUSE. Hmm? What? Yeah, little excited about that last one.... A great list of songs AND bands so far, more on par with GH1 than GH2. You can read more about the announcement on Joystiq and IGNPS2. Now it is simply a matter of deciding which version to buy! I am thinking the Wii version will win out, assuming it has downloadable content.

One Guitar Hero game that I will have no trouble deciding which system to buy it for is Guitar Hero 80's Edition, or whatever name they are calling it this week. It will be a PS2 exclusive... ya know, until costly 360 downloads are available. The 2nd set of tracks available was recently announced, and it includes.... a bunch of songs I have either NEVER heard or have not heard in such a long time I can't remember them. I wasn't allowed to pick my music in the 80's, it was mainly easy listening, Bon Jovi, and whatever my sister had on. 7 year olds are mature enough to pick their own music, despite what my parents said. Songs from Skid Row, The Police, and Poison are found on the new list. You can read the actual list by CLICKING HERE and seeing what IGNPS2 had to say about it.

In Rock Band news, last week Harmonix said it will not actually cost you an arm and a leg to buy this game... because with only 1 arm, the game will not be playable. There's some logic for ya. They still will not say too much about the game (are developers actually going to give info at the min-E3?) other than it won't eat your pocketbook. Stop carrying around a pocketbook. You are supposed to be a boy. You can read his little blurb on Joystiq. Still kind of unsure about Rock Band, but I have faith in Harmonix (still playing the free Frequency demo on my PS2).

And finally, onto Nintendo and release date goodness. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will be released on August 20th of this year... wow, that is odd... that is the same week I am scheduled to take some vacation time... look at that... what a coincidence! The rest of their release list can be found at IGN by CLICKING HERE! It doesn't end there kiddies! Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy AND Phantom Hourglass were all confirmed for a 2007 release as well! Those last two games being confirmed by Reggie at the Nintendo Summit in Seatle recently. You can read a brief description of that day at GameSpot by CLICKING HERE, and the full speech by the Reginator at IGN by CLICKING HERE!

Ok, time to go buy some batteries. I better stock up.

Sweet Irony....

Quoting Engadget:

"We're sure somewhere Drew Curtis's head is exploding over this one: submitted for your perusal, one California State Senator Carole Migden -- former voter for a state bill that fines people for using their cellphones while driving -- rear-ended her state-issued SUV into a Honda sedan on Highway 12 in Solano County, today. While on her phone. The driver of the Honda was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, although the most painful aspect of this story is surely the jaws-of-life-biting irony. Then again, at least we know Midgen's heart is in the right place; like the cleaned-up drug addict invited to tell schoolkids to stay off the dope, surely this morning more than others Midgen felt all the more confident in having voted the way she did."

Original story found by CLICKING HERE!!!!!!

Week in review: May 13th - May 19th

Not a fun week folks. Got really sick Wednesday night/Thursday morning and it's still not gone away. Long story short, missed the Third Eye Blind concert Saturday. I have not had a good week here folks... but there were some highlights.

Monday, May 14th: Heroes was good again this week. The episode was a little predictable, as I could always tell what was going to happen next or later on in the show to some extent, but very well told and a good lead up to the season finale. I really like how all of the characters have finally come together and how some things have turned out much differently than I had expected. Lots of foreshadowing here too, especially where Hiro is concerned. And the similarities between the show and 9/11 are no longer subtle, they are outright blatant. More on that after the finale.... Can't wait for the finale.

Tuesday, May 15th: House annoyed me for the first 20 minutes, because it felt like a copy of last week's episode where he kept spouting off the same exact diagnosis over and over without even considering everything else. Yes that is House, firm in his beliefs, but it was annoying that it was the exact same attitude as the previous episode. Then, 20 minutes in, he gets proven wrong, and I understand why the first 20 minutes were done that way. As for the Forman issue, I liked Cuddy's offer to him, that was a nice surprise, but he still appears to be leaving. As for the whole episode, the whole whodunnit storyline was fun with figuring out who cancelled Forman's interview, with Chase once again at the end ending up being Mr Insightful. Season finale in 2 weeks (after the premier of On The Lot and Tuesday finale of Idol) so we will see what happens there as well.

Wednesday, May 16th: Criminal Minds season finale aired tonight, and I have mixed feelings about it. It felt too soon, time wise, to bring back Frank, it's only been a few weeks, not enough time for his getaway to really sink in. The fact he went after those that Gideon has saved was a good twist though, and finally explained some of the time I felt was wasted in past episodes with exchanges between Gideon and Hotchner. I also liked the fact that all the issues the agents have been having this year (Reid's drug problem and Morgan's issue in Chicago) were brought up to Hotchner and used to force him out of his position. This would have been a great season opener or next season finale, but it all felt too soon for this season.

Thursday, May 17th: Good night of TV (thank you DVR)! First, The Office. Great episode overall, and lots of great moments: Michael's reaction to Jan's surgery, everyone else's reaction, Pam playing along with Dwight, everything Dwight did, Jan's reaction to the news of what the interviews are for, and Ryan getting the call at the end. The best part though was the Schrute bucks scene, and the back and forth between Stanley and Dwight that had me rolling in laughter:

Dwight: Don't you want to earn Schrute Bucks?
Stanley: No. In fact, I'll give you a billion Stanley Nickels if you never talk to me again.
Dwight: What's the ratio of Stanley Nickels to Schrute Bucks?
Stanley: The same as the ratio of unicorns to leprechauns.

The Scrubs finale was more of the same, but a good episode overall. It felt more like a 2nd or 3rd season episode, but my complaint remains the same: the JD and Elliott love storyline is over and done with. I will be happy if they end up together, but it annoys me that they have played at this so much. Shows like The Office will play at people eventually hooking up, but they don't put them together and then rip them apart again constantly like these two.

Finally came the CSI season finale. This was another mixed bag for me. The whole angle of someone singling out a specific CSI and kidnapping and trapping them was done 2 years ago, albeit quite differently this time. I am very convinced that Sarah is dead or will die, because they have BARELY shown her all season, and I had a feeling for 6 months now that she was being written out in some way. Grissom losing Sarah would be a very different Grissom, and could take the 8th season to a few different places, something CSI needs desperately. The episode was a decent ride, nothing special at all, with the ventriloquist act being the dumbest thing I have ever seen on TV, and can't compare to the mid season Keppler episodes (especially "Law of Gravity") and I would love to see Liev Schrieber join the cast in Sarah's place, even if she is my favorite of the CSIs.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: No matter how old you are, when you get sick with a fever, you revert to a 5 year old. People who eat at Claim Jumpers for the first time say "WOW" and "OOH" a lot. NEEN JA GUY DEN! It is apparently illegal to park anywhere in my neighborhood. "The I am bigger than you game is fun! You can play it with anyone who's smaller than you!" It takes longer to put an elliptical together than it does to manufacture it in the plant. Old southerners speaking Yiddish is hilarious (thanks Christopher Guest!)

Week in review: May 6th - May 12th

Monday, May 7th: Heroes finally disappointed me big time. I understand the need to have Sylar and his mom go thru what they went thru, but did she have to be freakin crazy?!? All of her scenes felt like they were written two minutes before they started rolling film, it just felt awkward. The whole episode kind of felt like a waste of time to be honest. I kept waiting for the episode to get good, and it never did. I expected to be disappointed like this with the 5 years in the future episode, but instead the disappointment is here. Two more left, let's hope they clean up for the finale.

Tuesday, May 8th: Pretty descent episode of House this week. My prediction that House would try and find a hot replacement for Forman was confirmed, but I still can't decide how exactly they will end the storyline of Forman leaving and when/if he will return. The scenes with Wilson were fantastic, and the fact that he out-Housed House was great. Insightful Chase was also a nice change, but it made him forget to do his weekly confession to Cameron.

Thursday, May 10th: The Office was great tonight! Andy falling into the river was very funny. Seeing Michael act very human was a nice touch, you can tell he doesn't really want to leave these people. And Pam was great, loved her freak out at the end, and just her reactions to everything the whole episode. She was the one giving looks to the camera and making remarks instead of Jim. I think that showed how much she really loves him because she acted like him this week. As for Scrubs, it was great to see JD show some real emotion, and truly seem lost, instead of making jokes and just being immature. I can't remember seeing him act this hurt before. On the lighter side, his comment of "You have a problem sir! Seek Help!" to Old Young MC was hilarious. And the episode on the whole felt more like a previous season.

PLANS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD: Heroes tonight (Monday), House and AI tomorrow, elliptical machine arrives tues/wed, Third Eye Blind concert Saturday night, mom's birthday Sunday.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Cooking chicken on the grill is not as easy as some people make it seem. Marco's pizza is still freakin awesome, and Cane's is the best food in existence. Swimming at night with no lights in the pool is creepy. Firm mattresses make my arms numb when I wake up. My car is filthy. TNT has the worst HD quality of any channel in history, like watching thru a fun house mirror. My mother shouldn't eat salads. The 80 year old miniature version of Dolly Pardon shops at Costco, and her hair frightens children (and some 25 year olds too). My car's air conditioner only works well when its below 90 degrees. $2 a pint ice cream tastes much different than $4 a pint ice cream, and not in a good way.

Spider-Man 3: A review

SPOILER ALERT! THAR BE SPOILERS HERE!!!

In my review for the new Buffy comics, I compared the series and characters' return to an old friend that moved away, or a long lost pet suddenly returning and being just as good, or better, as before. I was hoping to have the same nostalgia meets fanboy meets utter glee feeling from Spider-Man 3, but instead I am left wishing that damn dog stayed dead. Nostalgia is both a welcome friend and a wish that things would return to the way they were. The fanboy in me is not loving this film. The utter glee only stopped by for about 2 minutes, then passed out and had to be dragged out the door. Just like the damn dog should have been....

So what went wrong? What went right (must shorter list)? Should the series have stopped at 2? Does Toby Maguire still encompass the character better than anyone else? Has the worlds biggest deus ex machina been created trying to fill the worlds biggest plot hole? Can a man go to the bathroom 3 times during a movie and not miss anything important? The answer to all these questions is "yes" but with a little asterisk after the "should they have stopped at 2" question. And also the "what went wrong" question, because "yes" is a bad answer to that...

Ok, so, first the good. Bruce Campbell should be in every movie. No, not every Spider-Man or Sam Raimi movie, but EVERY MOVIE. I heard the "monsieur!" and knew it was Bruce. I am glad that he had a larger role, even if it was just 5 minutes and a single scene. Stan Lee's cameo is also a hoot: two lines, but a big memory, 'nuff said! Yes, those are both fanboy moments, I admit. So what about "the good" that people who don't have OCD personalities will like? Not as much, but still some.

I really enjoyed the last 30 minutes, with Venom and Sandman and the big fight scenes. Yes, Mary Jane got abducted AGAIN, and Peter got his ass handed to him at first AGAIN, but the whole scene at the tower was fun. I almost wish the ENTIRE movie was based at that damn tower. It ALMOST made the other 110 minutes worth watching.... almost.... that almost was NOT a capital almost.... but it ALMOST was.... almost. I also liked evil Peter. Toby Maguire can play anything in my opinion.

My other big "good" from the movie was Topher Grace. I saw the movie with roughly 10 other people, and NONE of them liked the way Topher played Brock/Venom. I loved it. I hate the meathead, muscle building, dumb as a brick Brock. Eddie Brock to me, is a person who is a failure at everything he does in life. His competition in life is Peter Parker, from work, to women. Peter Parker is a loser, not a cool guy, and Brock is LESS cool than trip-over-his-own-feet Peter, LESS talented than wanna-snap-a-picture Peter, and LESS suave than never-had-a-date-til-college Peter. To be 2nd best to Peter Parker is a crap slot in life, and the way that Topher's part was played and written was EXACTLY how I want to see it. Whoever decided to write the part this way and have Topher play the part gets an A+ in my book.

The good ends there though. Lets start at the beginning, shall we? We shall. The beginning sucked. I was bored stiff for roughly the first hour of the movie. I like that the movie took place immediately after the last one, that part I liked. Aunt May pouring tea for 20 minutes is NOT how I want to spend my time. Also, May is a liar, because I have never been to an east coast beach that had an island in the ocean... The Sandman getting his powers scenes were pretty descent (except all of the weird 80s action movie music), but the rest of the Sandman story was crap. Cain Marko, oops, sorry, wrong comic, FLINT Marko did NOT kill Uncle Ben. Shut up. Yes, that is all fanboy talking. Well, mostly. The entire Sandman story after his origin scenes was a waste of time, nothing good doing, fanboy NOT talking. Less said about that the better, especially Sandman's ending. Also, Sandman cannot fly. Even if he was created just for this movie, the Sandman could not fly, and if he could, he couldn't control that flight.

Plot holes. Just going to say those two words again. Plot holes. Or things to fill the story that sucked might be a better name. Marko didn't kill Ben, NYC would never hold a "THANK YOU SPIDEY" day because Spider-Man has never been loved that widely, Spider-Man does not take off his mask all the time, even if he has sand in his mask, and sorry butler dude, but you exist only to say the single dumbest thing I have ever heard ANYONE say. Harry Osbourne is a freakin moron for listening to your words, and having it change his mind. I believe you cleaned the wounds... I believe you have seen the glider before... but there is literally no way in the universe, short of you being a top CSI investigator with the world's best lab that you could know that Norman's wounds were caused by the glider blades. And yes, I know what he could have said instead to convince Harry to do what needed to be done. "Harry, think for a moment... would Spider-Man, or PETER, your best friend, stab someone, stab your father? Would he bring the body back? Would he have the courage to be your friend afterwards? No, Harry.... Peter did not kill your father, and you know it!" That would have worked a LITTLE better... JUST A LITTLE!!!!!!

My biggest complaint, though, is that this movie felt NOTHING like the other movies. The original Spider-Man had a feeling to, a real emotion, one like most movies can't even hope to have a fraction of. This movie had no emotion. I never felt bad for Mary Jane, because she never even tried to talk to Peter. Almost all of my other complaints could have been overlooked if they had found that magic feeling from the first film, but it was simply not there.

Yes, many of my complaints are about the difference between the comic and the movie storyline, but usually they don't bother me because they don't change who the character is. These changes made Spider-Man a different character, and his universe a different and strange universe. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. Taking the fanboy completely out of the equation, I still did not enjoy this movie other than the big action sequence at the end. It had no soul, it was just another mediocre big budget movie. I could go on for another 10 paragraphs about my opinions on this movie, but I will leave it there.

Sony has announced there will be 3 more Spider-Man movies produced. The Lizard had better be the villain, because Connor has been in all 3 movies, and I can see it making such an amazing dynamic for the character. Or Mysterio, played by Bruce! Let's hope they can clean this up for the next one... please... please?

(pictures courtesy Columbia Pictures)

Eureka 7: Finale rebroadcast on Adult Swim

Adult Swim rebroadcast the Eureka 7 finale last night, one week after originally airing it, and it was aired in it's entirety! Eureka's monologue at the beginning and the REAL ending/epilogue included! It was a week too late in my opinion, but I am very happy that the episode was aired. However, I can't imagine how many people will never know it was rebroadcast, and either remain disappointed or never know the actual ending.

I am very happy that Adult Swim listened to my email and the others that were clearly sent, but it's almost too little, too late.....

Original story and overall impressions can be found by CLICKING HERE!!!!!

Week in review: April 29th - May 5th

I decided I would start doing a short week in review post to talk about the little things like TV show episodes, small things that may have happened that day, and what I have coming up next.

Monday, April 30th: Heroes aired the "5 Years Gone" episode tonight. Loved this one. Hiro and Ando wind up 5 years in the future, where the "bomb" went off, and now "special people" are treated as terrorists. Normally I dislike episodes where the story doesn't progress forward in shows like Heroes, but they do such a great job with the characters that I really enjoy them here. The Sylar twist at the end was great, and I like how they are handling the time travel aspect, something that can open more plot holes than many writers could deal with (see Spider Man 3). Only 3 more episodes left before the big finale, and I can't wait!

Tuesday, May 1st: I never watched American Idol before this year, and I was REALLY into it at the beginning of the season. Now I am not into it as much, and I don't know why. Long story short on this topic, I hope Blake wins, followed by Jordin, even though I think that Melinda will go all the way. Next was House, my second favorite show after Heroes. I like that they are back to the basics here, no more Tritter storyline, although I did like some of the gags and scenarios from that part of the season. The whole Forman storyline is a bit weak IMO, because I liked that he was becoming more and more like House, without being a misanthrope. I don't believe he will actually leave in the end. The last episode of the season may be his last day, and he may leave in that episode, but I fully expect him to come back. The farthest I expect the writers to take it is that he leaves at the end of the season, and House hires a new guy, or they go thru several new guys. The new guy(s) either fits right in or sucks the life out of the group. It may also be a super hot chick, that another theory I have. But somehow, Forman comes back to save the day and rejoins the cast. Or he never leaves.

Wednesday, May 2nd: Picked up the new issue of the Buffy season 8 comic. Loved it of course! Joss showed up in Buffy's dream sequence, a slayer was reading Fray, and Andrew is DEFINITELY gay. Only complaints are about the artwork so far. Sometimes I couldn't tell if it was actually Buffy on page, or another character, and with the Willow vs Amy scenes, I had some difficulty figuring out who did what. Other complaints are that we don't know who actually kissed Buffy, and that there is not more Giles! Overall, another GREAT read!

Thursday, May 3rd: The Office and Scrubs aired tonight. The joke of Dwight hanging up the "pervert" posters everywhere was great, as the picture was him with a mustache. The fact that Pam played that prank just convinces me more that she and Jim will eventually get close again. As for Scrubs.... what a mixed bag there! Yeah, the season has been lacking, save for the musical episode. Scrubs is suffering from the Buffy season 6 syndrome I guess, where everything is depressing, a major character dies, and the best episode is a musical. Keith proposes to Elliott in this episode (started to at the end of the last one). Elliott is still Elliott, and crazy as ever, and along with Dr Cox, the best part of the episode. I miss Carla though, it's like she is a 3rd string character all of a sudden. The episode ends with JD realizing he wishes he was the one marrying Elliott, and this both annoyed me and made me happy. I want JD and Elliott to be together, but this storyline is over! He told her he didn't love her YEARS ago, but now he suddenly does?!?!? No, I don't think so. It's JD wanting what he can't have, something I understand VERY well, but just drop it already! You can't keep going back and forth with these two! Either they WANT to be together or they DON'T! Oh, and with CSI... what is up with this show now? It has lost it's charm, no question. It has gotten weird lately. And the end, Grissom a murderer? Maybe.... we will see.

Friday, April 4th: A part of me died today. My boss surprised us and took us all to Spider-Man 3. I will be posting further impressions next week, but to put it briefly, I was severely disappointed. Between the horrible first hour, huge plot holes (and the attempts to fill them) and a total disregard for what made the first two movies so great, this one is best left unwatched. Full review next week.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Shigeru Miyamoto made Time's 100 most influential list of 2006, YAY!. The power went out at my house on Thursday night/Friday morning. Marco's Pizza FINALLY opened by my house and its as yummy as ever. My car will NEVER be clean. I am both very sad and very happy that a coworker has left my company. I like Gamefly's new availability system. Tales of the Slayer is a good read, but only for 2 or 3 of the 10 stories. The weather and temperature in Vegas is the weirdest in the world: it rained in half my yard, all of the neighbor's yard, not at all in the other neighbor's yard, and it was completely sunny out. Pugs still don't know how to shut up. I HATE doing laundry. My sister discusses metabolic system theories while her husband discusses Sesame Street at the same time... literally... he also won't stop yelling "AMERICA! F**K YEAH!" I blame Allofmp3 for that....