Christmas Cheer!

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

As I get older, more busy with work, it’s harder and harder to put time in the blog. I do love this blog though, posts just come in spurts. I am able to keep up my Twitter account active though, but I’m still waiting for a magic Twitter-like service with (cheap or free) SMS access in Vietnam.

Anyway, it’s nearing Christmas time (what, 2 months to go is plenty close enough for wish lists!) and this also means I’ll be returning to the US for my yearly vacation.

What I really mean is that it’s time to buy stuff! I’m mostly focused on getting some books, but here’s what I have planned for the credit card:

For sure:

image UFC: Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights (DVD)

In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules
The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy

image Giro Indicator Sport Bike Helmet

Maybe:

The Art of a Beautiful Game: The Thinking Fan’s Tour of the NBA (Sports Illustrated)
When the Game Was Ours
The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition

image Baseball – A Film By Ken Burns (1994)

image Rock Band 2 (Playstation 2)

Already Purchased:

The Bald Truth
Arcade Mania: The Turbo-charged World of Japan’s Game Centers

image Tupac: Resurrection (DVD)

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04.11.2009 Books/Comics, Sports, Video Games No Comments

Shopping Fun!

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Batman: The Dark Knight The Joker 1:6 Scale Deluxe FigureNFL Legends Series 5 Steve Young Action Figure (Mcfarlane)Pocket Retro Game Emulator (Dingoo A3200)Street Fighter IV Ken FightPad for Xbox 360 WD TV HD Media PlayerAdidas LA Galaxy Rep "Beckham 23" Jersey

My recent purchases! Of course, since I live in Vietnam, not going to get them for a while until I return to the USA.

Clockwise, from top left:

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24.08.2009 Books/Comics, Tech, Video Games 2 Comments

X-Men Origins: Wolverine [REVIEW - Spoiler Free]

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

x_men_origins_wolverine_posterIf you’re not aware, the big news regarding the piracy scene and movie industry lately was the Internet release of an early workprint of Wolverine, which won’t be released in US theaters until May. The workprint’s basically close to DVD quality, but missing some effects, perhaps 15 minutes of footage, and doesn’t have its own music in there- I read a comment on VCD Quality that said the music was taken from Transformers and is in there as a placeholder, a common practice for works in progress.

As someone’s already been fired for reviewing this, I don’t want to stress how much of a pirate I am, but I will say that I did argue whether I should download it. I had read an article a couple of weeks ago that discussed Gabe Newell’s (he’s the head guy at Valve, makers of the Half-Life franchise and the Steam gaming service) thoughts on piracy, and he felt that a lot of piracy comes from people just not being able to get what they want when they want it. An example he gave was with regional releases- if you’re in the UK, you might have to wait an extra few months for its official release (even if you’re willing to pay) there when you could just pirate the US release right now.

This is what influenced my decision. I didn’t know if I was so into viewing a unfinished version, but then I looked at Megastar’s release calendar, and you don’t see Wolverine listed at all (movies are often listed 2-4 months in advance, so it’s not that Megastar lists later). Some movies come to Vietnam theaters quite quickly; Watchmen came here one week after the US release. But others take quite a while; Dark Knight came 6 weeks after the US release, and Slumdog Millionaire is finally coming here at the end of April, over 4 months after I watched it in the US, 5 months after it was first released in the US, and 1 month after it will have been released on DVD. And a good quality bootleg of that has been available since January, thus greatly negating the motivation for moviegoers here to want to wait it out.

Taking those into consideration, and some positive impressions of the workprint I’d read, I decided to check it out.

I liked it. Wolverine really surprised me, and this is coming from someone who had no particular inclination to go watch it before this. I really thought it would be a dud.

I don’t want to go into extensive details or give you my rating for it, since it wasn’t a final version, but here are some notes:

  • The music, even if it was taken from Transformers, fit the movie well enough. Wasn’t a problem. So I imagine the final version with the real music will be good.
  • Intro parts of the movie to introduce the character were very well done.
  • Liev Shreiber as Victor Creed was a great character. He’s fleshed out well here, while in the comics and cartoon, I tend to think of him more as a dumb Wolverine knockoff.
  • It’s cool to see the partly finished special effects. You can learn a little bit more about how movies are made. I know that some movies have released green screen versions of their movies (Sin City), but maybe this is something more and more action movies should consider doing.
  • The plot is much more complete and well thought out than I was expecting. It made me want to rewatch X-Men and think about how this all connects, and there are a lot of appearances from other comic characters.There’s also an emotional depth that I think is deeper than in any of the X-Men movies.

Knowing that this version isn’t complete and there’s potentially more footage actually excites me. Instead of watching this and thinking, well, I’ve already seen it, no need to see it in theaters, I think of this version as more of an extended trailer. So while before this pirate release, I really wasn’t interested in the movie, now I definitely want to see it whenever it comes out to Vietnam. Will go invite the team at work as well, I think they’d really enjoy it.

See the official trailer below:

Update, May 18, 2009: Ended up seeing Wolverine in its premiere weekend at Vincom in Hanoi. Since I originally posted this, I, like Jin and Tu, now believe the leak may have been a PR hoax. Of course, I am not sure why (why release an almost-final version instead of a half finished version with promise) or how they could get away with such a thing (think of their partners), but Wolverine has done pretty well at the box office, so maybe it was quite brilliant. The ironic thing is that Fox initially said that the leaked movie was quite different from the final one, and that’s what made me see it, knowing I could see an even better version once it came out to theaters. The reality is, the two versions are essentially identical. I wasn’t going to see it in theates once I found this out, but ended up giving up my money when I was hanging out with a friend in Hanoi, and there was nothing else decent we could see. In the end, I did like the movie- I gave it a 7/10

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07.04.2009 Books/Comics, Movies, Reviews 2 Comments

My Torrent Guide for You

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Yes, as I have said before, I am a digital pirate.

I won’t try to defend myself. In some ways and interpretations, it’s stealing, and I admit to it. At the same time, I do buy stuff, though much less so since I’ve moved to Vietnam and been surrounded by piracy along with more limited work wages. But still, if you take any machine that I have, whether it be game console like the XBox 360, or DVD player, I guarantee that I have bought at least the average amount (also called the “attach rate”) that a customer will buy for that machine, and most of the time, much more so. I’ve bought many games, dvds, and even music cds that I never opened or played.

Torrents do have its more “gray” uses, though. Like watching basketball when it is impossible to do so in your country (Vietnam). Or checking out old tv shows or games that aren’t really sold anymore. Moving on
.

Torrents, What are and How to:

A torrent is basically a file that points to other files. Almost like a map. If you download a torrent, you actually haven’t downloaded anything, just directions to some files. You actually need something that can figure out how to read those directions, like uTorrent.

Download ”Torrent – Powerful BitTorrent Client

utorrent

If you’ve ever downloaded files with your browser, think of uTorrent as a download manager for torrent files. It knows how to find all the files you want. I don’t want to get too detailed on how to set it up, but here are some general tips once you’ve installed it.

Setting a download location:

utorrent003

Once you have uTorrent installed, go to the menu bar (up top), click on Options and then Preferences. (You can also click Ctrl-P).

utorrent004

Under directories, choose a location for your files (this is where the actual files will be stored. Remember this directory. Click OK to save.

Back to the uTorrent interface, look at the bottom, right:

utorrent005

You will find some funny numbers with D: and U:

D: means your download rate, U: means your upload rate. Normally, if you don’t change these settings, uTorrent will use all your bandwidth, which could upset your housemates, wife, etc., and interfere with normal internet usage. You can adjust these by right clicking on the D: to adjust the download rate (I suggest 10-20 kB/s) and then U: for the upload (match the download rate if possible).

Oops, one more thing. When you download torrent files from your browser, make sure when you get prompted if you want to download or open them, open them. Downloading them will do nothing, so open them like I show you below. If you have uTorrent installed, uTorrent will automatically handle it for you from there.

utorrent006

Torrents, Where to find:

Here are my recommendations, the sites I use:

General/Everything:

From movies to music to ebooks to games to tv shows. If you’re looking for movies try axxo or klaxxon in the search- results with those tend to be legit. The Pirate Bay is likely the most famous torrent site out there, but I much prefer Mininova and BtJunkie. You can also try Demonoid, but it’s not easy to get an account there.

Anime:

Comics:

Games:

Sports:

Other:

Last Notes:

Since many torrents link to files that are considered piracy or illegal, you do have to think about whether you’re ok with that. Depending on where you live, there may be repercussions. Mike, for examples, does not torrent anymore now that the various industries have started suing users. If you want to make sure there’s no chance of legal consequences, just don’t torrent. Simple.

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31.03.2009 Books/Comics, Movies, Music, Tech 2 Comments

Punisher War Zone [Review]

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

image image  Usually, right after I watch a movie, I’ll go visit IMDB to rank it and then I look at the Message Boards to see what everyone else is saying. You see a lot of the typical BS forum stuff, but normally you do get a decent sense of real criticisms of the movie as well, and that makes me think sometimes, “Hmmm, maybe I overrated this thing”.

And so with Punisher, it might be a little like that, especially because I gave it a fairy high 8/10 ranking.

Some of the criticisms were:

  • Ultra, possibly pointlessly violent
  • No character development
  • Lousy plot

All of these things are true. At the same time I don’t give out high rankings that easily either, so I must be crazy?

I’m a big fan of Garth Ennis’ Punisher run. I’ve read all his issues, and I’m guessing, so has Kyle. And this movies gets at the core of the character that Ennis portrays: mostly silent, deadly, serious, extreme.

There is no inner conflict. There is no need save the city (as in Batman with Gotham City). Just pure punishment to the world’s evil. They all die, but absolutely no collateral damage.

Ennis writes his Punisher in way that you can watch the movie and feel like you know what Ray Stevenson’s Punisher is thinking in the movie. You understand why he did this versus that, and that he knows it was a dumb movie, but sometimes he has to do it this way


For me, War Zone is a live action look into Ennis’ Punisher. It sometimes feels like a cheesy 80’s action movie, but it works. It entertains. It’s brutal Rated R.

8/10 on IMDB.

Trailer:

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01.03.2009 Books/Comics, Movies, Reviews 1 Comment

Batman RIP (The Grant Morrison Run, 655-658, 663-681) [Review]

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

mini-2008-11-29_16-08-26-534 And so it ends.

I hate giving spoilers or clues about plotlines, but just look at the title, R.I.P, and it doesn’t take a lot to guess theme of this newest Batman plot arc.

I hadn’t been reading Batman for a while (being in Vietnam for over 2 years is part of that, but downloadable comics have helped me catch up), but I did first learn about the Grant Morrison run a few months ago.

Reading about it on Wikipedia, the plot sounded ridiculous: Bruce Wayne’s new girlfriend Jezebel Jet (Morrison does make fun of her name himself), a teenage Robin imposter named Damian, more from Ra’s al Ghul and Talia, a group of Batman wanna-bees, Bat-mite, and a bunch of strange, perhaps interesting developments to the core history of the character. Interesting as in crazy. But is it good? Keep reading.

Kyle wasn’t a big fan, and I swore I would hold off, but I finally just decided to check it out last week, and now have completely caught up on his 23 issue run (655-658, 663-681) and the conclusion of the RIP story arc.

And like I said, Kyle didn’t like it. He didn’t like it in terms of the parts he’d read. But he hadn’t read the end.

I started reading it, and I felt the same. A little too far out there, and little too out of character.

But the end.

Amazingly, the end makes it all work. Any doubts, any personal suspicions, Morrison puts it all together, but leaves enough room so you have to see what’s next. The ultimate value of a story like this can only come from what’s coming next, and I hope Morrison is staying on for a while longer to define and make sure his vision for this new concept is faithfully followed.

It’s something worth checking out, and while I am still not completely sold, still a bit wait and see, it is interesting.

In terms of the art, I liked Andy Kubert and Tony Daniel’s art on this run quite a bit- they reminded me of Jim Lee’s run at times 6 years ago without quite the statue-esque pose feel that hurts Lee at times.

Strangely, the one issue that stood out beyond 681 seemed to came out of nowhere, and to this point has never been mentioned again, issue 666. It’s a future Elseworlds-like story, a combination of Batman Beyond and The Dark Knight Returns.

Also, issue 663 might be good to check out if you liked Morrison’s work on Arkham Asylum nearly 20 years ago, it’s another single issue stand-alone story.

Some of the covers throughout the run:

mini-2008-11-29_16-07-25-967

mini-2008-11-29_16-06-54-490

mini-2008-11-29_16-07-54-497

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02.12.2008 Books/Comics, Reviews No Comments

Catwoman (DC) V2 1-75 [Review]

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

I’d heard great things about the Catwoman revamp from Darwyn Cooke and Ed Brubaker (Cooke only stayed on for the first four issues, but redid the costume and logo, while Brubaker did 3 years worth) a long time ago, and I’d even bought the first trade, but it hadn’t struck me as all that special. Nothing bad, just not so interesting.

Then, for whatever reason, years later, I decided to give it another chance last month, starting with the first 24 issues.

I kept reading after that, all the way to the end.

The early issues of Catwoman take away a lot of the super powered insanity you see in the other Batman universe titles; it’s not about super heroes or villains here, it’s about Selina Kyle and her friends. More character driven then superhero driven.

It works. It feels different, but as you read more and more, you’ll really like the difference in storytelling.

This is the reverse of the Batman titles. I’ve been unhappy with the Batman series’ for a long time, and this especially hurts because I’m such a big Batman fan. I think Batman, whose appeal partly lies in the fact that he seems to be the most realistic of the superheroes (You could be like Batman if you were in similar situation, while you could never be Superman), is very unrealistic. Batman is supposed to be a “What If” in an extreme situation, what could happen. Yet, when you see so many people in masks just being super villains or heroes, it doesn’t feel like the extreme created a Batman, that’s just how things are.

In Catwoman, though, Brubaker keeps a realistic feel to it, though I’m not sure that’s quite the right word. It just seems smarter, and not for your average teenage reader. You feel like you’re delving more into each character, rather than watching them fight all the time. You’ve got Selina Kyle, her best friend Holly, noir detective Slam Bradley- the focus is always on them as people. There’s something that you can identify with and understand.

Unfortunately, as Brubaker ends his run, this focus, and the quality, go away as well. While there are some interesting plotlines over the next 40 issues, with Will Pfeifer primarily in control, Catwoman slowly becomes like every other comic- event driven, not character driven. It feels like a generic superhero comic. The Catwoman series was cancelled in mid-arc earlier this year, but once you get to issue 75, you can understand why- it’s not so bad, just not good.

My recommendation: Follow Brubaker’s run from in issues 1-33 (the Wargames issues are worthless, though that’s probably how I feel about all crossovers), after that read until you find it boring. There’s no recovery in quality over time, it just falls away.

Some of the covers from the series (software courtesy of ComicRack- not ComiCrack)

 

2008-10-05_12-05-08-818

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09.10.2008 Books/Comics, Reviews No Comments

The Dark Knight: First 6 Minutes Footage

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

I think I’ve already seen this, I think Kyle showed me this a long time ago, but it was taken down (bootleg camcorder footage in a theater). I think it’s even in a previous post of mine.

Nonetheless, watch this hopefully more legal (have not watched, speed to slow for me at home) version:


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08.07.2008 Books/Comics, Movies 1 Comment

Batman Gotham Knight (DVD) [Review]

Friday, July 4th, 2008

Batman Gotham Knight is to the upcoming Dark Knight movie what the Animatrix was to the Matrix movies: sharp, anime inspired animated shorts featuring different takes (from different creative talents)and different stories surrounding the subject material. (by the way, isn’t it great that for once, a sequel doesn’t add on to the original’s name for franchising/marketing reasons? Batman Begins: The Dark Knight would be bleh.)

The visual look varies throughout each short (each about 12 minutes long), some feel more anime inspired than others, but overall you very high production values, fluid animation, good CG. The look in terms of the style is definitely not related to the Batman: Animated Series, and whether that’s good or not is up to your personal style.

The DVD is all new material and is meant to be, in at least a superficial sales-boost way related to the Dark Knight movie- they’re both released in the same week or so. David Goyer, one of the screenwriters for Batman Begins, writes one of the stories, a look at Scarecrow post-Begins storyline.

For me, the stories didn’t really excite me. The presentation is extremely stylish, but there’s no real depth to the characters or actions. You don’t really learn anything that’s important to the core of the characters, showing a new side of Bruce Wayne or Batman. If I were to compared these to the Animated Series, these stories would rank in the middle, basically be average or perhaps slightly below average episodes.

I would have preferred stories from Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, the big driving forces behind the Animated Series, even though you’ve got a lot of big names associated with this project.

I think kids will like it because of the flash and action, but the violence is more bloody than what you’d find with a TV cartoon.

Worth a rental, but that’s it.

If you really want to see quality, check out Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (still in my mind, the best Batman movie) or of course, the Animated Series.

More information and the trailer follows:

From: http://www.warnervideo.com/batmangothamknight/

Batman Gotham Knight is a fresh and exciting new entry into the Batman mythos, spinning out of a 40-year history in animation including the EmmyÂź-winning Batman: The Animated Series, widely considered a pivotal moment in American animation.

Six standalone chapters, each with stylish art from some of Japan’s greatest anime visionaries, weave together into a larger story that follows Batman through his transition from beginner to The Dark Knight.

Chapter-by-Chapter Synopsis

In “Have I Got a Story for You,” Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Josh Olson (“A History of Violence”) tells the story of how chance encounters with Batman by a group of youngsters leave each kid with a very different impression of the Dark Knight.

In “Crossfire,” acclaimed novelist/comics writer Greg Rucka tells the story of Gotham City police having to get over their distrust of Batman – while under fire from the mob.

In “Field Test,” writer Jordan Goldberg showcases the incredible high-tech arsenal Batman commands and reveals that there are some things even Batman won’t do in his pursuit of justice.

“In Darkness Dwells” takes Batman into the Gotham sewers to face “Killer Croc,” a deformed thug who seems even more monstrous after the Scarecrow, and his fear toxin, makes a resurgence, in a story by David S. Goyer, co-screenwriter of “Batman Begins.”

Award-winning comics writer Brian Azzarello explores an early chapter of Bruce Wayne’s training in “Working Through Pain,” showing how a mysterious and exotic Indian woman named Cassandra introduced Batman to techniques that would help him to conquer the physical and spiritual consequences of what he does.

Finally, in “Deadshot,” four-time Emmy Award-winning writer Alan Burnett ties together threads from all the Batman Gotham Knight chapters, as Batman must thwart an unerring assassin whose love of guns and disregard for human life lets him cross lines that even a Dark Knight shies away from.

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04.07.2008 Books/Comics, Movies, Reviews No Comments

Carl Landry is…. Hammerhead?

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

I’m honestly surprised that no one seems to have made this connection

Carl Landry (http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Carl-Landry-461/stats/) is Hammerhead (http://www.marvel.com/universe/Hammerhead)

1213369688 440px-Hammerhead

I suppose now that I’ve put pictures of them side by side it’s not so obvious, but I’ve always thought to myself whenever I saw pictures of Car Landry, whoa, that’s a big forehead. That’s coming from someone who has one himself.

The visual connection, while it was always there, took me a long time to figure out I was thinking Hammerhead the whole time.

Carl Landry (from NBADraft.net):

Shows good mobility running the court 
 Tough nosed player who fights hard every game 
 Does an excellent job of obtaining space in the post where he gets his body wide for guards to make easy passes 
 Post footwork, shooting touch and soft hands enable him to convert most opportunities in the paint 
 Offensively Landry is crafty as he will use a number of fakes to get his defender off balance and draw fouls 
 Back to the basket skills are quite advanced, displays a nice jump hook and turnaround jumper 
 Shows mid range shooting ability from 14-16 feet that he makes with regularity 
 Underrated post passer who is unselfish and sees the floor well 
 Quality rebounder in his area 
 Fundamentally sound as he understands how to read where the ball will go on missed shots when boxing out 
 Upper body strength enables him to finish after contact occurs 
 Basketball IQ is solid as Landry understands what his strengths are on the court and rarely goes outside of his comfort rang

Hammerhead:

Powers
Portions of Hammerhead’s skull and skeleton have been surgically replaced with a nearly unbreakable steel alloy, making him extremely resistant to physical injury; in particular, his head is virtually impervious to physical damage.

Abilities
Hammerhead is an exceptional athlete and hand-to-hand combatant, although his most frequent battle tactic is to charge his opponents headfirst. Although thought dim-witted by many, he possesses a keen criminal mind and is proficient in the use of most forms of firearms, especially machine guns.

As players, in their respective domains (for Hammerhead, the game of comic book crime), they’re similar too- physical, athletic, intelligence, big a** heads.

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25.06.2008 Basketball, Books/Comics No Comments