I Might Not Make Any Resolutions This Year, But Some Of YOU Need To…

Posted on January 2, 2014 by geelw

Yeah, you know who you are, you too many seats taken on public transit, loud music blastin’ and/or cellphone talkin’, toe-pickin’, generally nasty to see in public types who think everywhere is perfect for your personal palace needs. You kings and queens of disgusting behavior are so bad that Miss Manners would throw you over her knee and spank you. But yes, she’s too darn nice for that (although I do believe she may change her mind on a few fronts this year).

You folks with the icky habits need to clean up your act this year, but at home and not out in public where you can make people want to toss their cookies at you. There are a few other people who can take that same train to Politeville, as it Just. So. Happens to make an scheduled stop in the village of Common Sense. Read on for two more types of fellow travelers who need a nice vacation and some proper reeducation about living in the modern age… Continue reading →

It’s Quiet in Here… Too Quiet…

Posted on January 2, 2014 by geelw

For some odd reason, I have a bit of a block today. It’s not that I don’t have a pile of stuff to do here (he said, staring at his pile of stuff to do… which very politely sits there occasionally tipping its cap), it’s just that I’m almost literally at a loss for words. And when I can think of stuff, it’s as if it’s in another language. Bleh. Granted, you’re reading what I’m writing and therefore, I’m not at a TOTAL loss for words at all. It just that actual and more entertaining collections of letters and such aren’t coming out of the factory upstairs and that’s not a good thing at all. I’m not sure what the problem is, but I don’t think it will last long at all. I’ll run a self-diagnostic and post the results later. Or not. If things go as they should, this glitch will be shorter than it is longer and things will be back to normal soon.

Off to hit myself in the head with a hammer and see what happens. Back in a bit…

A Reminder of Unfinished Business, Courtesy of AMC…

Posted on January 2, 2014 by geelw

February 9th isn’t far away at all, especially the way time flies these days. That first half of the season ended on a pretty wild note of highs and lows for the survivors, so it’ll be interesting to see where things go once the last bunch of episodes this season roll out. I’m still NOT a fan at all of shows splitting up into waiting times like this, but it seems to be the new “normal” despite the big breaks in time that drive folks like me batty. Still it’s better than what AMC is doing to the final season of Mad Men, spreading out those final episodes over TWO YEARS, meaning way too much waiting around for a series of resolutions that will already be ancient by the time viewers get to see them. Oh well…

Review: BandFuse: Rock Legends

Posted on January 2, 2014 by geelw

Platform: Xbox 360 (also on PlayStation 3)

Developer: Realta Entertainment

Publisher: Mastiff Games

# of Players: 1-4

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

Score: A- (90%)

So, this took a while to get done, but that’s because BandFuse: Rock Legends isn’t a “game” in that traditional yearly franchise some of you were probably expecting. While there are indeed game-like elements to both this and Ubisoft’s solid Rocksmith (which has more game-y bits and pieces to it), I have to tip my cap to Realta Entertainment for coming out of the gate strong with a product that excels so well at delivering exactly what it promises in its first iteration that any future versions will most likely be in the form of add on DLC or disc updates as opposed to an entirely new product. Featuring what’s basically an entire guitar school in a box and thanks to some great yet simple tech, amazing lag free play, BandFuse is a must-buy for anyone looking to learn to rock out with the best of them.

Continue reading →

Random Film of the Week: Beyond The Poseidon Adventure

Posted on January 1, 2014 by geelw

Oh, why do I do this to myself? Well, because someone had this flick handy, read my review of the original and offered it up for review, that’s why. That and I’m issuing a shot across the bow to anyone thinking this rusty old clunker will be a good movie because of the list of stars (some of the fading and fallen variety). Anyway, thanks in part to the massive success of blockbusters such as Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Alien (among others) to by 1979, the star-studded disaster epic was pretty much dead in the water. However, Hollywood kept them coming for a little bit longer despite poor critical and audience reception.

Sadly, when original ideas started drying up, sequels to older crowd pleasers because one escape route that seemed to fail spectacularly despite stunt casting efforts galore. The great 1970 film Airport devolved into three miserable “look at the law of diminishing returns in action” sequels before crash-landing and for some reason, producer/director Irwin Allen decided to hold out for seven years to make a follow up to his smash hit The Poseidon Adventure. Well, he did get the seriously star-packed and seriously goofy disaster flicks The Towering Inferno and Earthquake made plus some TV projects in the interim, so he was a busy man. However, in the case of Poseidon’s second go, the result is pretty awful as a sequel, so seeing Beyond The Poseidon Adventure only comes recommended if you can mentally separate the two films and pretend this follow-up flick is a bad dream had by one of the survivors of the first movie… Continue reading →

Not To Bug You Or Anything, But EDF 2025 Is Only A Month Away!

Posted on January 1, 2014 by geelw

Well, give or take a few days. D3Publisher of America has launched the official site for Earth Defense Force 2025 today and while it’s still a work in progress, you can at least check out links to the YouTube channel and facebook page for the upcoming PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 only action game. I hope you didn’t get rid of either console if you’re a recent PS4 and/or Xbox One owner. This is one of those games that looks simple compared to the best last-gen releases, but once you pick up a controller and start playing, there goes a few hours where you could have been doing something else, but got VERY occupied killing gigantic bugs and even bigger robots and (wait for it..) DRAGONS! Yeah, for some reason there are dragons in this installment and they’re cheap bastards too. You’ll see.

Random Film of the Week: The Poseidon Adventure

Posted on January 1, 2014 by geelw

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

To many movie fans, Die Hard is one of the more unconventional holiday movies they gravitate to around that special time of year, spreading its most popular lines out as if they’re carols or random secret Santa gifts. Although it is a more “modern” classic, I prefer the New Year’s wake up splash that is 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure, still one of the best genre movies ever made in my opinion.

While it certainly wasn’t the first star-studded “disaster” movie made by Hollywood, it’s probably the one film fans are most likely to name off the top of their heads if asked. Forget the two lousy remakes from 2005 and 2009 and that completely wretched 1979 sequel, folks. The one works best as a one-off with an all-star cast (most of which buy the farm before the film is over) and an ending that basically says “we don’t need no stinkin’ sequels!” simply because you can’t top all the craziness you’ve just sat through… Continue reading →

The High Expectations of Low Resolutions and Vice Versa…

Posted on December 31, 2013 by geelw

So, yeah… another year over, another one on the way. If you’re one of THOSE people who year after year forces pen to paper or fingers to keyboard to type out a long list of resolutions and then 364.5 days later you’re sobbing uncontrollably on that crumpled up sheet of paper or all over your mouse, perhaps it’s time to take it easy on yourself. Yes, SOME folks can knock out resolutions like Ali in his prime taking on a tomato can, but real people tend to do stuff like fall of the wagon, backslide, slip up, trip up, cave in and other things that keep them from going all the way with tackling some issues. Lighten up, I say. Unless you’re dealing with a personal, vice or health issue where you NEED daily (or hell, hourly) support to keep the flame burning, many other resolutions are either useless or bucket list stuff that will just kill you if you go do them all in a year.

Me, I’d LOVE to go see some wildlife up close and personal-like in Africa or somewhere without bars between me and the fuzzy smelly creatures of the jungle, but finances and fear of being ingested by something or catching something else (or both) keeps me safe at home. Of course, seeing that video above just kicked my dream in the groin hard (d’awwww, BIG Kittieeeeeees!), so I’ll use that as my official check off of that little “goal”. You know, now that I think about it, I really SHOULD make up a list of things NOT to resolve to do in 2014 and pass it along to you dear readers out there in internet land. Alright, DONE. Well, not yet – I’m busy on some other stuff, but yeah… expect a house of ideas to pop up shortly…

PlayStation Plus Actually Pays For Itself In January Alone. Wow. (But…)

Posted on December 28, 2013 by geelw

That said, I think even Sony realizes the insanity of forcing PS4 owners to pay for the “privilege” of multiplayer gaming on their new console. Stick around until the end of this trailer and note how that stupid little thing about paying to play online is shoved in quickly at the end. Granted, they just hit you on the head HARD with the free games mallet and you’re already so dizzy you didn’t even realize you’d whipped out that credit card and signed up. The free games are MORE than worth that $50 and yes, Sony’s not kidding about that “instant game library” thing. The drawback to this is STORAGE space, as even though you get free cloud saves and a nicely sized HDD this time out (which is still small when you consider the size of some new games), you can’t access them should PSN go down for the count for a few days or even a few hours for simple maintenance.

Thankfully, the PS4 will play disc games and anything you have stored locally offline if the game has offline play. Anyway, I think they need to DUMP the requirement to pay to play MP games, as it’s NOT a privilege at all. If a game is made to be played online, any fee should be part of the price of the game, period. Asking people to pony up as part of a package is lame, even if they do get what amounts to a few thousand bucks a year in free content. Granted, having thee time to PLAY all those freebies AND buy and play NEW games requires either quitting one’s day job, renting out a TARDIS so you can go back in time to fire up a game, complete it and go back to start a new one and some other time magic. But hey, who can pass up FREE when the buffet is so tantalizing?

I’m Still Half-Dead. Here’s A Kung Fury Trailer to Watch (And Keel Over Laughing About)…

Posted on December 27, 2013 by geelw

So, I’m surprisingly alive, but I think I took a five-minute nod earlier. Anyway, this trailer for a Kickstarter funded film project is making the rounds and while it does pack a punch in few places, all that green screen work is a wee bit TOO perfect for an 80’s action flick. Yeah, yeah, it’s cheesy and hilarious, but somehow, the perfect mattes and effects seem more out of a full-motion video game than an intentionally awful movie that would have landed in a theater around 1987 or later. Granted, if this WAS a game project, I’d pony up a sack of pennies in a heartbeat (BOOM!). But as it is, this is going to make its target without a dime from me and make a lot of people smile in the process. Granted, this could end up like the next Snakes on a Plane if the jokes wear too thin, as what’s here is basically an expensive Saturday Night Live short film that’s stretched to what’s seemingly feature length. That said, you have to love the computer effects and Nintendo Power Glove with the finger tips cut off (those things were always too tight for adults unless they has kid-sized mitts) plus a few other things…