Monday, May 21, 2012

This Island Earth Vs. The Sword In The Stone









* = Indeed it is Spidey, indeed it is...









See this guy? Would you trust him with your life?

WELL YOU SHOULD! He knows ‘Teh Scienze’ after all. First things first, happy early B-Day to my Bro-Lo El Cunado, ANT! I’m doing this because I know I’ll forget. On a side note CONGRATULATIONS to Ant for seeing & achieving by becoming a college graduate. Now Ant and I don’t get to hang like we used to, sometimes distance, responsibilities, and circumstances make life not so fun, that being said I couldn’t be prouder to call the guy ‘Brother’. He’s busted his ass to get this done, he’s stayed focused, he’s sacrificed, and he’s done it all in a tumultuous time. Stand up and take a bow my friend you deserve it. Oh and while you’re at it get your ass down to the cities so we can do something fun. Miss you brother.

Now that I’ve got the ‘squishy’ out of the way Friday night was a very quiet and intimate Movie-A-Thon. It was just Cassandra, Dangerous Dan (Forever now referred to as ‘Swamp Fox’), Steph, & Dark Dave. It was a good time, a bit strained at some points, and certainly not as wild as it usually is, but fun nonetheless. First up, after some episodes of Adventure Time, was The Day The Earth Stood Still (***** out of 5).

I had forgotten just how damn good this movie is. It’s certainly LIGHT YEARS better than the terrible modern version. The star is terribly charismatic and likable, it gets its point across without being preachy, and the special effects are quiet impressive for a film of that period. I was amazed about how we could make fun of parts of it, but at the same time all be deathly quiet and have a great deal of appreciation for it overall. THAT is how a great movie should be enjoyed with friends. It’s just a fantastic classic film. We also watched Forbidden Planet (** ½ out of 5). It had been LONG time since I’d set through this one. The thing that stands out the most, besides the over the top 1950’s machismo, is that it just doesn’t hold up all that well. And yes I know it’s Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ in space, and yes it has Leslie Neilson in it before he started to do comedy, and I too appreciate the young ladies skirt length, but damn it’s a boring movie. It’s sort of pretty to look at, I like some of the ideas involved, but overall this one just was ‘there’.

Another week another, one of the last, Rise Of The Runelords preview!
First up is the Warrior of Wrath, who is a Common. This one reminds me a lot of the old D&D Frenzied Barbarian mini, and that’s a good thing. It’s another VERY angry female warrior who is actually wearing functional armor. I dig the ‘plain’ paint job, the sculpt is functional, but what I really love is the face. It really does give the mini a feel of rage and fury. It’s as if she’s coming in with the finishing blow to cleave someone’s head off! For me this is a no brainer MUST BUY!
The other mini this week is Vraxeris an evil cloned Illusionist! He’s an Uncommon. I have to say I LOVE this mini! The paint job is sweet, the pose drips arrogance and a bit of danger with the nasty dagger at his side, and man o man is that face incredible. The sneer, the large nose, and the well painted eyes really make this minis shine. This is a mini that could easily be a PC mini for any Fantasy game, but could also serve easily as members of a Thieves Guild, or a Rogue Merchants, or even as an Elite group of body guards. And since it’s an Uncommon it won’t break the bank to purchase multiples. It’s another MUST BUY! This week gave us two great minis, and as almost all the slots are filled it makes me wonder what they’ve got left up their sleeves, as well as what’s next after August.

Speaking of Paizo, on Saturday I received my newest book in my Pathfinder Tales subscription, Tim Pratt’s City Of The Fallen Sky (**** out of 5), by Sunday evening I’d devoured it.

The last book had some really great characters, but I felt was very disjointed and sort of fell apart at the end. This one however was solid, really rock solid, all the way around. Maybe it’s the fact that we get to explore some of the stranger aspects of Paizo’s fantasy setting that really made this one for me. I also enjoyed the fact that the adventurers in the group where VERY different. We had a thief/ranger type who is as beautiful as she is unscrupulous, a morally ambiguous thief who is not at all what he seems, and our main protagonist a alchemist/explorer on the wrong side of a group of fanatical enemies. Throw in a lost city, an unkillable Barbarian, crashed space ships, a country ruled by a drug addled king and a secretive group ruthlessly hunting down ‘technology’, some snappy banter and you have a winner. I won’t say too much in case someone out there takes the time to read this little diddy, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. I just hope one day Mr. Pratt goes back to show us whether Skiver & Alaeron’s little plan actually worked. It’s a great read and I’ll definitely be stealing some of it for my home D&D game.

This will most likely be the only blog this week and maybe next week as well as we are in the midst of getting ready to make the sojourn south to see my family this week. I’m sure next week will be all about ‘recovery’. I’m simultaneous excited and terrified as this will be the first trip south in sometime not involving a funeral or a wedding. So I’ll have no contrived reason to be there other than just being a good family member/brother/son/uncle. We’ll also be heading to Pittsburg, where I was ‘pooped out’, to hit up Gebhardt’s Chicken Dinner!

For those that don’t know, the ‘Little Balkans’ area of Crawford county in Kansas is chock FULL of kick ass Fried Chicken places. It’s a cradle of fried chicken GLORY! And in my humble opinion all bow down to Gebhardt’s. My dad used to constantly talk about taking Cassandra there, and now it’s going to happen. It’s just a damn shame that Big Love won’t be there to chow with us. As we creep closer to our trip there is a sad reality setting in that he’s not around anymore. I’m excited for my nephew’s birthday, to cook with my brother, to see my sister’s house, to spend time with my mom, and to help out my grandma, but it’s no substitute for hanging out with someone who was my dad, but more importantly my friend. So I just have to suck it. I have to be satisfied with the time we had, and look towards what is the future. I have to build up those relationships that I neglected or put on hold to pour myself into my father. It makes it no less sad, it makes it no less difficult, it just makes it reality, of which I’m not a big fan.

GAH! I’m done with this, how ‘bout we end on a positive, well as positive as I get, it’s….

RANDOM CRAP!

- I finished season 3 of Adventure Time. I’m not going to review it or give it stars, because it is simply fantastic and nothing more needs to be said than that. I also have to point out that as a HUGE NERD; we are living in the Golden Age of Superhero Cartoons. This weekend we had a Green Lantern episode where Saintwalker got his Blue Ring and Battery from Mogo, there was an in-between DC Nation mini-cartoon about Vibe(!) fighting Professor Ivo and a break dancing robot, we had a Roy Harper intervention and saw the fate of Artemis and Kid Flash on Young Justice, Ultimate Spider-Man had Thor Frog Of Thunder (yes you read that right) and a big fight in Asgard, and on Avengers we had Beta Ray Bill! C’mon! As a comic’s geek I almost died. Saturday and Sunday morning are just fantastic!

- I got that haircut and man does it make me look different.

- We re-organized and cleaned up the well room/storage area in the basement. It’s amazing what a shelving unit will do. Now if we can just get the gaming shelves & wall book shelves up in the Office. That room looks like my inner Nerd threw up in there. There are board games, minis, books, foam swords, comics, & LEGO’s everywhere. Once we get those shelves up it shouldn’t be difficult at all to organize and get that room more functional.

I thought I had something more to say…Guess I was wrong…

“When new damage comes

It's a faceless poison

A new world order

It's new damage done

The wreck is going down

Get out before you drown

The wreck is going down

Get out before you drown

When new damage comes

It's a new word for plague

A new world order

A new word for hate

The wreck is going down

Get out before you drown

The wreck is going down”

* = Inflammatory? Yeah. True? Maybe. Funny? Hell yes!

4 comments:

  1. I miss pissing off the side of your balcony at the apartment.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the kind words on City of the Fallen Sky. There is a possibility that we might see more of Skiver and Alaeron. Nothing is definite yet, but there are some conversations about it happening.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr. Pratt,
      No kind words here, just honest appraisal of what was a fantastic read. I for one, eagerly anticipate you returning to these two characters. Thanks for checking out my blog!

      Delete