Virtual Adept

WANTED - Holy crap this movie was frickin’ A great. Not really super thrilled about the ending but almost everything else about this movie was great. Good to great acting, superb and completely over the top awesome special effects and stunts, a compelling plot, and hot hot Angelina Jolie. I was expecting The Dark Knight to be a shoo-in this summer for best movie of the summer, but I think it has a pretty high standard to meet after Iron Man and Wanted. Definitely see this if you like no-holds-barred action with plenty of gory violence. 9/10

RAMBO - speaking of gory violence, this is a slow starter with too much background info crap (and thankfully after watching the deleted scenes they DID edit it down some), but once the action starts, it’s completely great extremely bloody and extremely violent war action. What can I say about this that you probably couldn’t guess already? Rambo kicks some ass again. Definitely worth watching. 8/10

THE MARINE - some really cheesy acting, except for Robert Patrick (T-1000 in Terminator 2) who plays a compelling psycho bad buy. not bad as far as the action goes but why is it that every chance an action hero gets to actually get a frickin’ GUN for a weapon they instead choose to sick with their bowie knife? At least the babe is pretty hot. Worth a rent, not that great but watchable. 6.5/10

Just finished reading all my back issue Blue Beetle comics from #6 up through #27. This is a fantastic comic book. It’s got humor. It’s got action. It’s got a cool new superhero with cool new powers. It’s got teenage angst. Hot babes. And great cameos from other DC super heroes and villains.

The general gist of the story is that the old Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, had this ancient magical blue scarab, which he could never get to fully activate. After what happened to Kord during the Infinite Crisis, the scarab was somehow found by a Mexican-American teenager from El Paso named Jaime Reyes. The scarab somehow fused with Reyes and turns into Blue Beetle Armor with all kinds of cool super powers. Reyes still doesn’t know how it works, however, because the scarab talks to him in some weird language he can’t understand. But that doesn’t stop Reyes from getting drawn into the superhero world, especially when his home town of El Paso is threatened.

I highly recommend picking up the trades for this comic, if you like good superhero stories, especially “new superhero figuring out his powers” stories. I’d give this whole run a comics a solid 9/10. Well worth your time if you like superheros.

I run a Gamma World D20 campaign on RPOL. It’s a play-by-post RPG game, set in the Gamma World setting, and using rules from the D20 Modern, D20 Future, D20 Apocalypse, White Wolf’s Gamma World D20, and other sources. On the side bar under the “About” link you will find a link to the story so far. I will probably post some stories from my other RPOL games too eventually.

Installed a new version of the blogging software and it made some of my old posts look dorkity. I doubt I will have time to go fix them. So, ignore them I guess or don’t. Haha!

DARK HORSE COMICS
NOV070011    STAR WARS LEGACY #20     $2.99

DC COMICS
DEC070215    ACTION COMICS #862    $2.99
DEC070204    ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #9    $2.99
DEC070206    BATMAN #674    $2.99
DEC070223    BLUE BEETLE #24    $2.99
DEC070186    COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 9    $2.99
DEC070231    JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #13    $2.99
DEC070196    TEEN TITANS #56    $2.99
DEC070263    TEEN TITANS GO #52    $2.25
DEC078146    WORLD OF WARCRAFT #3 2ND PTG    $2.99

MARVEL COMICS
DEC072177    CAPTAIN AMERICA #35    $2.99
DEC072180    DAREDEVIL #105    $2.99
DEC072184    HOUSE OF M AVENGERS #5 (OF 5)    $2.99
DEC072202    MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 #5 (OF 5)    $2.99
DEC078103    NEW EXILES #0 (PP #802)    $4.99
DEC072213    SHE-HULK 2 #26    $2.99
DEC072168    SPIDER-MAN WITH GREAT POWER #2 (OF 5)    $3.99
OCT072128    THOR #6    $2.99
DEC072208    THUNDERBOLTS INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT    $2.99
DEC072162    ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #51    $2.99
DEC072165    ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #119    $2.99
DEC072188    WORLD WAR HULK AFTERSMASH DAMAGE CONTROL #2 (OF 3)    $2.99
DEC072227    X-MEN FIRST CLASS VOL 2 #9    $2.99
DEC072220    X-MEN LEGACY #208 DWS    $2.99
DEC072207    YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #2 (OF 6)    $2.99

INDIE COMICS
NOV073614    DOCTOR WHO #1    $3.99
NOV073473    HIGHLANDER WAY O/T SWORD #3    $3.50
NOV073448    PROJECT SUPERPOWERS #1 (OF 6)    $3.50
DEC073717    SILENT HILL SINNERS REWARD #1    $3.99
DEC073730    STAR TREK ALIENS SPOTLIGHT ROMULANS    $3.99

Witchblade TPB vol 1 (2008) - This is a misnamed trade paperback, sort of. First of all, this isn’t the first Witchblade trade paperback that was published. This is actually from Witchblade issues 81-87 ish (don’t have the book in front of me right now but that’s close). However, this is actually a really good jumping on point for anyone thinking about trying Witchblade and/or The Darkness comics after the renewed popularity of these Top Cow Comics series thanks to the video game last year based on The Darkness. Which, not coincidentally, since I’m a gamer, is how I came to discover the series. Witchblade is the story about Sara Pazini, who is the bearer of the Witchblade, an ancient artifact whose purpose in the universe is to insure that there is Balance between Good and Evil (Heaven and Hell, lets say, since “good” and “evil” are not so clearly defined in Top Cow’s universe). This trade paperback is a good intro into the series because it introduces a new cop-friend for Sara who gets to learn about the Witchblade and Sara’s place in this cosmic war, and so as a new reader you get to go along for the ride learning too. It’s pretty obvious that Sara has a previous history, but it isn’t too relevant to what is going on in this particular story. The artwork in this trade is superb, very sexily drawn with a really unique style and crisp lines and colors. I really couldn’t ask for more in terms of artwork. The writing is also excellent, with a plot that moves quickly splattered with lots of action and cool scenes, plus enough character discovery to learn about who everyone in the book is without feeling like you’re lost. I highly recommend this trade paperback as a great jumping on point for a really unique and cool comic book series. 8.5/10

DARK HORSE COMICS

DEC070045 CONAN #49 (MR) $2.99
SEP070094 STAR WARS DARK TIMES #9 $2.99

DC COMICS

DEC070194 BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #4 $2.99
NOV070191 BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #13 $2.99
DEC070210 CATWOMAN #76 $2.99
DEC070227 CHECKMATE #23 $2.99
DEC070185 COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 10 $2.99
DEC070230 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #18 $2.99
DEC070208 ROBIN #171 $2.99
DEC070218 SUPERMAN BATMAN #46 $2.99
DEC070220 SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #12 $2.99
DEC070288 WORLD OF WARCRAFT #4 $2.99

IMAGE COMICS

SEP072031 MADAME MIRAGE #5 $2.99

MARVEL COMICS

NOV072130 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #551 BND $2.99
DEC072173 AVENGERS CLASSIC #9 $2.99
DEC072228 CABLE DEADPOOL #50 $3.99
DEC072187 HULK #2 $2.99
DEC072185 IMMORTAL IRON FIST ORSON RANDALL GREEN MIST DEATH $3.99
DEC072186 INCREDIBLE HERCULES #114 $2.99
DEC072190 IRON MAN #26 $2.99
DEC072205 MIGHTY AVENGERS #9 $2.99
DEC072210 ORDER #8 $2.99
OCT072123 RUNAWAYS #29 $2.99
DEC072163 ULTIMATE HUMAN #2 (OF 4) $2.99
DEC072166 ULTIMATE X-MEN #91 $2.99
DEC072167 ULTIMATES 3 #3 (OF 5) $2.99
NOV078138 ULTIMATES 3 #3 (OF 5) CHO VAR (PP #799) $2.99
DEC072226 WOLVERINE ORIGINS #22 $2.99
DEC072189 WORLD WAR HULK AFTERSMASH WARBOUND #3 (OF 5) $2.99

INDIE COMICS

DEC073719 ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #4 $3.99
DEC073441 BLACK SUMMER AUXILIARY #3 (OF 7) (MR) $2.99
DEC073373 PIRATES VS NINJAS II UP THE ANTE #8 (OF $3.50
NOV073455 RED SONJA #30 $2.99
DEC073535 ZORRO #1 $3.50

DARK HORSE COMICS  
  
DEC070024 BPRD 1946 #2 (OF 5) $2.99
  
DC COMICS  
  
DEC070197 BOOSTER GOLD #0 $2.99
DEC070184 COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 11 $2.99
DEC070192 GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #5 (OF 9) $2.99
DEC070198 GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY #5 $2.99
DEC070229 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #21 $2.99
DEC070217 SUPERMAN #673 $2.99
DEC070242 WONDER WOMAN #17 $2.99
  
MARVEL COMICS  
  
NOV072129 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #550 BND $2.99
DEC072181 FANTASTIC FOUR #554 $2.99
DEC072201 MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #6 $3.99
DEC072206 NEW AVENGERS #38 SII $2.99
DEC072229 NEW EXILES #2 $2.99
DEC072209 NOVA ANNUAL #1 $3.99
DEC072232 PUNISHER FORCE OF NATURE (MR) $4.99
DEC072212 PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #16 $2.99
DEC072169 SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #7 $4.99
DEC072164 ULTIMATE IRON MAN II #3 (OF 4) $2.99
DEC072225 WOLVERINE #62 DWS $2.99
DEC072224 X-FACTOR #28 DWS $2.99
DEC072221 X-FORCE #1 DWS $2.99
  
INDIE COMICS  
  
DEC073733 ST TNG INTELLIGENCE GATHERING #2 (OF 5) $3.99
  
  
  
 Cover Price: $72.78

This is this weeks’ list prior to visitng shop, will edit to remove stuff he doesn’t have.

DC COMICS

NOV070202 BLUE BEETLE #23 $2.99
NOV070167 COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 14 $2.99
NOV070182 GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #4 (OF 9) $2.99
NOV070197 SUPERMAN BATMAN #45 $2.99
NOV070199 SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #11 $2.99
NOV070171 TEEN TITANS #55 $2.99
NOV070248 TEEN TITANS GO #51 $2.25
NOV070219 WONDER WOMAN #16 $2.99

IMAGE COMICS

JUL071951 FRANK FRAZETTAS DEATH DEALER #6 (OF 6) (MR) $3.99
AUG072030 SPAWN GODSLAYER #6 $2.99

MARVEL COMICS

OCT072079 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #548 BND $2.99
OCT072132 ASTONISHING X-MEN #24 $2.99
NOV072147 IRON MAN #25 $3.99
NOV072162 MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 #4 (OF 5) $2.99
NOV072171 ORDER #7 $2.99
NOV072195 PUNISHER #54 (MR) $2.99
NOV072175 SHE-HULK 2 #25 $3.99
NOV072118 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #50 $2.99
NOV072120 ULTIMATE IRON MAN II #2 (OF 4) $2.99
NOV072123 ULTIMATES 3 #2 (OF 5) $2.99
NOV072153 WORLD WAR HULK AFTERSMASH DAMAGE CONTROL #1 (OF 3) $2.99
NOV072185 X-MEN #207 MC $2.99
NOV072191 X-MEN FIRST CLASS VOL 2 #8 (OF $2.99
NOV072167 YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #1 (OF 6) $2.99

COMICS

OCT073408 HIGHLANDER WAY O/T SWORD #2 $3.50
SEP073528 NEW BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON ZERO #5 $2.99
NOV073298 PIRATES VS NINJAS II UP THE ANTE #7 (OF $3.50
SEP073508 RED SONJA #29 $2.99
NOV073641 STAR TREK ALIENS SPOTLIGHT BORG $3.99
OCT073620 STAR TREK YEAR FOUR #6 $3.99
NOV073233 STARSHIP TROOPERS #5 $3.50

Be sure and download Microsoft’s “Apology” free Xbox Live Arcade game “Undertow” today or tomorrow latest from Xbox Live. Even if you’re just a Silver Xbox Live subscriber you can get it. This is free only until Sunday, so get it fast!

Well folks, I have now read issue #546 of Amazing Spider-Man, the new now thrice monthly comic featuring our (well, my) favorite web-slinging super-hero. This starts off the Brand New Day story arc. Effectively, Spider-Man has been given a complete re-boot. We’re back to a younger, freer, single Peter Parker now. But, of course, he’s still got problems. One of which is, a lack of a job and no money. Bumming at his old Aunt May’s again, Spider-Man’s life is now filled with familiar old friends. Friends like… Harry Osborne?!  Well okay, so we really have no good explanation how all of this really came about (except for the end of One More Day, but even then the explanation isn’t exactly detailed or satisfying), but I’m willing to take it on faith that more explanation will be forthcoming. And who is the mysterious new red-headed Super Heroine, Jackpot? (yeah, that’s sarcasm, if you follow ASM you’d have to be an idiot not to know who).
All in all, #546 really kicks off the new and “improved” Spider-Man with a bang. Great writing, awesome art, and some really cool backup stories. So basically, I highly recommend this issue, especially for anyone looking for a good jumping on point for reading Spider-Man.  You can even read the first few pages of the issue over at the MySpace Comic Books site, with their One More Day Preview feature.

Recently I got the new 5-disc Blu-ray version of Ridley Scott’s epic cyberpunk thriller, Blade Runner. Blade Runner is my #1 movie ever. Why? Because the vision of the setting was so vivid and unique for its time. Blade Runner practically invented “cyberpunk” for a film genre. Sure, it was based on the ideas of SF writer Phillip K Dick, but there is no denying that Ridley Scott added his own vision to the project and IMHO that’s what made it special. The scenes where they are in the air cars flying over the city were just amazing. The whole concept of mankind inventing a sentient slave race, and the moral implications that entails. The blend of cultures shown in the film showing how the world really shrinks over time. The bit about how the animals are almost extinct and how people trade in “fake” animals (bio-genetically engineered). And the ending was just almost perfect (not the theatrical release version but the director’s cut version that did not throw in the “happy” Hollywood ending). Comparing the novella to the film, etc. there’s just so much to like, and it’s a movie you can pick up new things every time you see it. There’s a lot going on there and very little of it is explicitly stated. One other thing that made this movie awesome was the sound track. I don’t often buy the CD of a movie’s sound track, but the Blade Runner soundtrack is a must have. Incredible!