Friday, July 27, 2007

Mario Paint + Mega Man II = Childhood Nostalgia

Ah Mario Paint... how many hours did I lose to toying around with the music maker?




-nintendowiifanboy.com

I'm gonna go get some vegetarian chili before they get desperate and add meat.

Mustard: Who could ask for anything more?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Started Saturday morning. Finished up by Saturday night. I’m mighty impressed that Rowling managed to tie up as many loose ends as possible and yet the book did not come off in the least disjointed or feel forced. That is a major testament to her skills as a writer not to mention her planning of the series as a whole. She also proved the she could do just fine outside the normal HP school year format (though she does keep the time frame in tact). The story comes full circle. Characters finish their arcs in a satisfying manner. Some characters don’t make it. Some characters get surprising redemption. I was particularly satisfied by the conclusions of Snape and Neville’s arcs not to mention Kreacher's unexpectedly entertaining roles. The only knocks I can put in were that some of the deaths (and there are plenty) had a little less impact than others. I also thought she spent a little too much time with the Tolkein-esque journey through the wilderness. But in the end I have to commend Rowling for crafting a truly classic series of books which will entertain for generations to come. Oh and the absolutely hysterical and brilliant line by Mrs. Weasley in the next to final chapter. I’d also like to point out that (highlight to read): I was completely right in my July 21 review of HBP that RAB did in fact stand for Regulus Black (though Rowling even had the story behind that be unexpected and interesting).Sure after I posted that many people came to the same conclusion but I still have satisfaction of figuring it out when I first read it.Ha!

Now good look turning that whole thing in the seventh movie. Yikes, that’s a lot to squeeze in.

Watchmen casting news: complete non-A list actors. I have no problem with that. I enjoy Billy Crudup’s work and we’ll see how he works under all the makeup/CGI of Dr. Manhattan. Jeffrey Dean Morgan aka Denny will get to expand his range as he goes from Mr. Likeable to playing a complete a-hole in the form of the cigar chomping Comedian. Be interesting to see if the novel is actually adaptable.

News and Notes:

Simpsons! Simpsons! Simpsons! (“Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig, does whatever a Spider-Pig does.”)

I won’t lie, the new Reaper trailer had me laughing mighty hard. Damn you CW!

Ok, I get that Zemeckis is trying to push the whole CGI as actors thing and no doubt this all looks much better than Polar Express, but I do not understand why they decided to make some of the characters look identical to the voice actors with the lone exception of Beowulf himself. Honestly right now I feel like they did it just so they didn’t have to pay Russell Crowe a ton of money cause the character sure looks like him and not so much like Ray Winstone (who is actually voicing Beowulf).

Until next time:

“You can't kill me for being Krusty the Klown! I'm not him! I'm Homer Simpson!”

“The same Homer Simpson who crashed his car through the wall of our club?”

“Uh, actually, my name is Barney. Yeah, Barney Gumbel.”

“The same Barney Gubmel who keeps taking pictures of my sister?”

“Uh, actually, my real name is...uh, think, Krusty, think...Joe Valanchi!”

“The same Joe Valanchi who squeled to the Senate Committee about Organized Crime?”

“Benedict Arnold!”

“The same Benedict Arnold who plotted to surrender the West Point to the hated British?”

D'oh!”

Friday, July 20, 2007

I don't need your sycophantic laughter. I have some on tape.

Mustard: Like a flash in the pan, er…dark.

Emmy time! Look I’m not gonna go crazy in depth about Veronica Mars once again getting screwed. Or the lack of anything Scrubs. Or Rome. Or Studio 60. I’m just going to make a couple of quick points:

  1. So Two and a Half Men has become the new comedy that will always be nominated for everything. Seriously, it’s so good it deserved 7 noms? Fine. At least it’s not effing Yes Dear. Strange though how apparently the female cast members have suddenly stepped up their game to take 2 of the supporting actress nods? Guess it was a slow year.
  2. Ricky Gervais nominated for Best Actor? Outstanding. Extras NOT nominated for best Comedy? A travesty.
  3. Grey’s Anatomy and Heroes nominated for Best Drama ahead of Lost? A f$%#ing joke.
  4. 3 Grey’s Anatomy supporting actresses? Be serious.
  5. Kiefer Sutherland was apparently nominated for his work in the first 4 hours of 24. Because everything after that was pure crap.
  6. They seriously have not one but two awards for hairstyling? Further reducing all respect I have for the Emmys.

And that’s it for the Emmys. Thank you. Come again.

E3 a little underwhelming, no? Nintendo spent their entire conference showing clips of different news shows talking about the Wii. Then they spent a while on Wii Fit which I’m sure will sell a ton of units. But what about everything else? The announced Mario Kari Wii (with online play!) but only showed a short trailer. They almost completely ignored Smash Bros. The only really big info were the dates of Smash (Dec 3) and Mario Galaxy (Nov. 13). Metroid still supposedly coming out the end of Aug. Let’s see.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Really good. I’m getting used to the trimmings of the books that are increasing with each successive movie (as each successive book gained about 200 pages). The cast continue their strong performances. Alan Rickman gets just a smidge more to do than Goblet of Fire. Imelda Staunton and Evanna Lynch were note perfect as Dolores Umbridge and Luna Lovegood. Gary Oldman is excellent in his last role (depending on book 7) as Sirius. Some roles got trimmed to the point where it was almost distracting having as big a name in there. Helena Bonham Carter made an great Belletrix Lestrange but only has 2 real scenes. Not to mention Emma Thompson and David Thewlis came back for about 2 lines a piece. Ah well, it was a really enjoyable movie over all.

News and Notes:

Yes, I have in fact finished reading all 6 Harry Potters. Not too shabby for starting in June.

Bonds is now 2 away. Let’s just get this over with already, shall we?

It’s a little scary that we’re only a little over a month away from ND football starting up again.

Until next time:

“Bart, come with me. I'll take you to someone who will make you feel better.”

“Is it my rabbit, Cottontail? The one who went to live upstate?”

“He died, Bart. Dad buried him in the backyard. … But not in that order.”

Friday, July 06, 2007

You try finding a job with nothing on your resume but “Fake Ghost Pirate.”

Mustard…knew I left it around here somewhere.

So yeah, been a while since a real update. Ah the joys of summer. But anyways, let’s dive in…

Transformers – “One will stand. One will fall.” Yes, they actually included that line in the movie. Look, I’m coming right out and saying this is a very dumb movie. For the most part it makes little sense. But it’s a fun friggin’ movie all the same. Come on, you have a movie based off a toy line of giant transforming robots. The fact that I enjoyed the hell out of it is a testament to just how much this movie delivers what it promised: explosions and giant machines beating the crap out of each other. The human actors don’t matter for the most part. Sure Shia LaBeof is a likeable enough dork who manages to get a few funny lines in. I still don’t understand why John Tuturro is in the movie but he’s chewing the scenery like Jack Nicholson’s worst nightmare. Jon Voight is just there being Jon Voight. Bay made a brilliant move in bringing back Peter Cullen to voice Optimus Prime because those lines in any other voice just would’ve sound idiotic. In Peter Cullen’s voice it’s just the way Prime talks. And look for a minor cameo by Mr. Tom Lenk (Andrew from Buffy) as Analyst #2. Oh and the voice of Jazz is none other than Eddie, the brother from Family Matters. Who knew? Michael Bay is smart enough to not take this one seriously (see a part in the movie where a character actually says “This is like a 100 times better than Armageddon!”). My only grip is that they really don’t spend a lot of time with the “characters” of the Transformers. A few of the Decepticons literally just show up for the finale (and the uber-product placement Transformers at the end are asinine. Even in a movie like this where everything is product placement.) So go ahead, don’t worry about seeing anything other than sh%# getting blown up, and enjoy yourselves.

With Studio 60 ending I have to admit I’m a little sad to see it go. The last episodes just seemed to be Aaron Sorkin letting loose and not giving a damn since the show wasn’t coming back and I think it made for a much better, more natural flow to the show. Intelligent comedy is a hard thing to come by these days and this show pulled it off well even if it was on it’s soapbox the entire time it was doing so.

Flight of the Conchords – Not sure if it’s brilliant or just stupid. The manager character, Murray, seems little too much of a rip-off of Ricky Gervais’ agent Darren from Extras. But the music has been friggin’ hilarious.

News and Notes:

E3 fast approaches. Though this year it’s a mini-E3 look for some big news to still emerge. Check out the Smash Bros site which is updated daily. Some really cool stuff coming down the line on that game.

Now the Zelda is over I’ve moved on to Super Paper Mario. The first boss was named Fracktail. How could this game not be brilliant? Also on deck: Order of the Phoenix.

Speaking of which, I’m blasting through the first 6 books. I’m 3 chapters into book 5. I’m going to do it by the 21st. Only 1400 pages left to go!

Rangers picked up Gomez and Drury?!?! Holy $%@&!!! That’s it. If they can’t pull it off with these guys, they’re just not gonna.

Thanks to Erin I have joined the XM revolution. Ok, so maybe not quite a revolution, but being able to listen to the Mets game on the way home from NY made for a much easier trip.

Until next time:

“Matthew, don't take this the wrong way, but I love you.”

“Okay.”

“Did you take it the wrong way?”

“I took it to mean you're gay and you want me.”

Thursday, July 05, 2007