It’s Quiet in Here… Too Quiet…

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…

TWD_S4II_Poster 

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

Bandfuse_360_PackPlatform: 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.

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Random Film of the Week: Beyond The Poseidon Adventure

beyond the PA_MPOh, 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!

EDF_2025_banner 

EDF_4_HornetsWell, 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

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

poseidon adventure 1972_MPTo 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…

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…

In the Zone: “Chicken in a Can”

EM_TZ_Two“Let me tell you something… You know Santa Claus? Yeah. well… he’s nothing but a gawd-damn pervert!” Most of the mouthful of coffee I’d just drank ended up coming back through my mouth and nose ending up on the formerly clean table as I now struggled to breathe. It’s a good thing my eggs weren’t ready yet.

The waitress that seated me rushed over with a dishcloth and asked if I was alright as she wiped the table down, seemingly wanting to reach over and start slapping me on the back or testing her Heimlich skills. As she placed her other hand above my back, I managed to nod and signaled up at her with an “OK” sign while letting out a strangled “Oh, it just went down the wrong way…” she breathed a half sigh of half relief. “Oh, I thought the coffee was too hot or burnt or something. Hold on, honey – I’ll get you a fresh cup!”  She scooted off to do so and as I patted my shirt down with some napkins, I glanced to the left and behind me to see who almost killed me before breakfast… Continue reading

Random Film of the Week(end), Too: Suture

sutureA few weeks back on an otherwise fine Tuesday while I was at the library typing away on a review or something at the usual table I sit at near the DVD section, a man came in with a friend of his looking for a particular film. However, from listening to their conversation behind me (the gentlemen weren’t whispering), neither could recall the title. As there wasn’t a clerk in earshot at the time, my encyclopedic brain clued into things quickly when one guy said “it’s about this black guy with a twin brother who’s white or something like that…” and without turning around (hey, I was busy and decided to help them out so I didn’t have to hear them gab away), I chimed in with “Suture” and heard both their heads turn around with a cartoon snapping sound. Not looking up, I smiled. I tend to surprise people sometimes with my head full of useless know-it-almost range on certain subjects

One guy leaned in like I was his new best friend and said “YEAH, that’s it! HOW did you know that, man?” His clothes smelled like he just ate at the newly re-opened McDonalds across the street and had a cigarette afterwards. My nose hairs curled up something awful, and I offered up the following nugget of truth: I’d seen it back when it was released and a few times on cable a few years later. To which Mr. Tobacco Burger (who’d turned around so his head was now on correctly) offered up his own nugget of truth. “I’ve been looking for this movie FOREVER, man!” (Edit: Okay, partial truth) – I heard it’s SO strange… I like strange movies like that!” I didn’t want to spoil his mood, but I did inform him that he should either ask at the front desk or see if it was in the database. of course, two or more amusing things happened after that, but I’ll keep you in suspense for a bit… Continue reading

Back Up And On My Feet. Or Perhaps I’m Dreaming Again…

So, yes. I went to bed earlier than usual after the spending the previous 24+ hours awake and I’d like to think I got a great rest now. However, I popped up in bed at 5:44am wide awake and as it was still dark outside, a bit annoyed that I was up. Of course, I did what anyone else would do… got out of bed and turned the computer on. Which was (of course) a bad idea. As I am the KING of bad ideas, I didn’t turn down the chance to hold onto my title. Amusingly enough, it probably would have been a better idea to relinquish that crown temporarily because nearly everything I tried to do online failed. I think my PC was still trying to sleep, so stuff like posting comments on a few blogs I follow or poking around to see if the stuff I was trying to sell on eBay kept getting me booted around with a few error messages.

Then again, my home computer needs some major updating which I haven’t done on the slower connection there. My super updated (thanks to free library wi-fi) laptop was in the other room all bagged up and ready to go later and yours truly wasn’t about to go out there and take it from its snug case to play with for a bit (as I’d be tempted to poke around all those games I’ve got installed)…

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