Sunday, July 31, 2011

July 31st Update

I spent the last week packing, and yesterday moving in to my new apartment. It is awesome here. I'm using my nice TV and Wii in combo with Netflix to catch up on a ton of shows. Right now I'm almost done with Joss Whedon's newest show Dollhouse. I would say it is his worst show so far (no humor and the main actress has little range), but it is still an interesting and above average TV show.Today I'll be going to Bat-Comics, this cool comic shop in town that I hear is amazing. Besides that things are boring...now. I'll post again with a review of something within the week. Later.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

July 26th Update

Barely anything here. Beat the main quest of Fallout 3 finally. FYI, will no longer post about boring days. Deal? Deal.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

July 25th Update

Nothing much happened yesterday, except for going to the dentist. I currently have braces on, and will be getting them off on August 17th. My mom thought it would be a good idea for a dentist appointment to clean my teeth. I could go on and on with a tirade about dentist drills, but I'll just say it was unpleasant. I have sensitive teeth.

Right now I'm starting on Genshiken 2, so expect a review when I'm done with it. I also started reading the Marvel classic The Secret Wars from way back in the day. Enjoying it so far. Later.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Last Airbender Review

This review is a response to a person on Netflix's site who highly reviewed The Last Airbender, and was seen as "helpful" to many.

I have seen a 5-star review of this movie here on Netflix that many have found helpful, and in the words of Samuel L. Jackson, "Oh so you're finished then. Well allow me to retort."

I do not have a problem with Zuko's reveal of being the Blue Spirit done too early or Aang being betrayed. I don't have a problem with what they cut, overall. The problem with this rank pile of flying bison feces lies with:

A) The bending. Not only is their now a large delay between when you move and when stuff happens, but the film is largely inconsistent on how much motion each action requires. This isn't a problem with changing stuff from the show, but of making the fight scenes lifeless and dull. The show's action was breathtaking because of the speed and grace of which it unfolded, while in the movie it looks like a crowd doing interpretive dance while they wait for the magic to start.

B) The actors. Every single performance in this film with the exception of Dev Patel and that guy from the Daily Show is wooden and boring. I keep expecting the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew to show up with the card that says, 'Dull Surprise!".

C) The Earthbender revolt scene. First off, the change from metal barge from in the middle of the ocean to a quarry is so idiotic that I temporarily go mute every time I think of it. Again, the change isn't the problem, it's the plot-hole it creates. When Aang pointed out they could use coal to fight in the show, it seemed like a bright idea and it was easy to see how the earthbenders were demoralized and the Fire Nation thought it was a good idea. When the Gaang points out in the film that, y'now, quarries are full of rocks and dirt, it seems like they're the only sane people while the Fire Nation and earthbenders are dumber than the rocks in said quarry.

Overall, the previously mentioned reviewer is not wrong. What he/she stated was an opinion. It is one, however, that I believe needs to be taken with a spoonful of cynicism. You can listen to her review and agree, and my day won't be any worse for it. I am however allowed to speak my opinion as loud as she does, and it is this: The Last Airbender is an abomination to film, cartoons, and art as a whole and M. Night Shymalan is a hack.

July 13-14th Update and Angel Beats! Review

Update for both days: nothing. I have been incredibly boring of late, but that will soon change. Next Saturday I'm moving in to my apartment, and stuff shall be odd from then odd.

Angel Beats! Review: I'm not gonna synopsis this because I already did before. This anime is based of of a light novel by Key Visual Arts, the people behind Air, Kanon, and Clannad (The last of which I haven't seen). I really liked Kanon, and think Air is alright. What they do best his heart-string pulling melodrama. They allow for small moments of relief and laughter, only to fuck your feelings in the ass soon after. Kanon is 2nd saddest anime I've seen, second only to Grave of the Fireflies. Now that I've seen Angel Beats! I have a suitable #3. The biggest difference between this and their previous works is it is much heavier on humor. To really break it up, the animation is amazing, the voice-work is top-notch, many of the characters are memorable, and the story is both original and heartbreaking. The flaws here are that some of the characters are either forgettable or flat out annoying (I'm looking at you Ayato Naoi!) and most of the dialogue humor is hit-or-miss. (The slapstick is generally funny.) Overall I would say it is really amazing, but for it's defects not as good as Kanon. Also, I've heard it compared to Haruhi, which I think is much better. Haruhi is something someone only vaguely into anime can watch and enjoy incredibly, while the same cannot be said for Angel Beats! Haruhi played with and made fun of the general anime tropes, while Angel Beats! plays them so straight that it is unable to transcend the genre. It is still however really great, and highly recommend it to all who can stand the tears. Later.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

July 22 2011 Update

A little late, yes, but I seriously just woke up. The BeBop marathon went well, and we had a blast making conversation during the ending credits of each episode. Now that I've seen the series again, I think my favorite episode is Cowboy Blues (Cowboy Andy is amazing.) and my least favorite is Brain Scratch. Not sure why on that one, it's just kinda dull to me. After that we watched a little Ouran High School Host Club (HILARIOUS), and then watched some Atop the Fourth Wall until about 5:30am, and went to bed. Not much to say about the day, because that took up all of it. Anyway, I'll have more to talk about later today.

Bang.

Friday, July 22, 2011

July 21 2011 Update

Yeah yeah I'm a little late, I forgot to publish the draft. Quit your whining.

So...yeah. Today was a bit boring. I sat at home and played games and watched shows. Here's what I saw/played:

Fallout 3-One of my favorite games ever, but the thing is I have a bit of a short attention span, and because of this playing this game or Oblivion is hard for me. I'll make a character, play some side-quests for a week or two, then move on to a different game. Then when I start to play again months later, I want to make a very different kind of character, so I start over. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. However, this time I seem to be sticking to it more than usual. Mostly because I need something to do while I archive binge on LEOG. Also, today I finally completed my favorite side-quest for the first time: The Wasteland Survivial Guide. I know for some reason I lot of people dislike Moira and her quest, but I love it. She's really nice. (Y'now, except for making you get irradiated and stuff.) Also, I've been wanting to try the older games in the Fallout series, 2 in particular, but I have a problem running them on my computer, likely because of Windows 7.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2-I'm a HUGE Potter dork. I went and saw this the day I came back from camping, and forgot to tell you all. I cried. Like three times. I haven't cried in a theater ever. Loved the movie, despite what I felt should have been in there, but you have to admire an adaptation using what it used, not admonish it with what was left out. We all have our own movies in our heads of how we would adapt something. Most times they're not as good as the one on the screen, and we just can't tell. (Except with the Last Airbender. I'd rather see my grandma's adaptation of it more than M. Night's again.) Overall,  2nd or 3rd favorite HP flick, behind 5 and maybe 3.

Rise from the Ashes Dub-Not done with it yet, and I just gotta link you guys and say it's a voicing of case 5 of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney with professional actors being used. Here you go.

That's all for now. Tomorrow I'm hosting a Cowboy BeBop marathon at my house with my friends. The entire series! W00T! Later.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Slender-Man related post

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING SLENDERVLOGS: MARBLE HORNETS, DARK HARVEST, TRIBE TWELVE AND MLANDERSON0. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Yeah, so after being offline for 5 days, I return to find HUGE updates one four of my favorite Slendy-vlogs. I will respond in turn to each.

Marble Hornets Entry 44: HOLY SHIT. One of the scariest entries yet. You'd think knowing that the Operator they're showing is just a mannequin would lessen the scary factor. It doesn't. At all. Also, we see his title for the first time, so the assholes who keep saying the creator's word on the matter isn't canon can shut the hell up. In this series, it's the Operator not Slenderman. Get over it. Overall, one of my favorite entries so far.

Tribe Twelve Formspring Document 1995: For those of you who don't know, about a month ago Tribe Twelve's big update included a envelope not from the series' own Observer, but from HABIT from EverymanHYBRID. It seems Milo was seen as a kid by Dr. Corenthal, and thus began the greatest crossover ever. Some think this crossover a terrible idea, but I say it's fan-tucking-fastic. On Noah's formspring (link seriously read it even if you don't watch the series, he's a laugh riot) he got a message from someone with a link to a mediafire account that held a pdf. It was the notes of Corenthal's visit of Milo. I thought it was cool, and can't wait for more.

Dark Harvest Log Entries 16 and 17, as well as my_final_betrayal: This series has been moving slowly for a while, but that doesn't bug me much. The entries were a bit boring, but they were supposed to be. The other one though? Bricks were shat.

MLAnderson0 Curtain's Up: I quiet like this one. The series has been taking interesting turns as of late, and this just confirmed what we thought.

On an unrelated note, I'm moving into my new apartment on the 29th. Another post tomorrow, bye.

July 20th 2011 Update

Yeah, so. I got back from my family camping trip to Fort Bragg. It was cool, pretty fun. Did the basic stuff: checked out a few beaches, roasted marshmallows, saw Slenderman, and even kayaked up a river. Sadly something on the trip broke my new kindle, and tomorrow I'm sending it in for repairs. However, it did give me the time to start and finish Geoff Johns' run on JSA. Which is pretty much all of it. For those of you who don't know, the JSA or Justice Society of America was one of the 1st superhero teams, from around WW2. In-universe they are the inspiration and moral compass for the Teen Titans and the JLA. Geoff Johns is a comic-book writer, now famous for several works (Green Lantern Rebirth, Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Night, Brightest Day, Flashpoint) making the Green Lantern and Flash the central focus of the DCU. He's an excellent writer in my opinion, and is both loved and hated for never forgetting a single thing of the past when writing. His run on JSA was, in my opinion, incredible. He developed the characters into being much deeper than I had first seen in first stories, and made me care about each individual member of the JSA. (Except Obsidian...because fuck him) I'm starting his other more recent series, "The Justice Society of America", right now and it is really good. I've noticed with him how, when I saw Stargirl on the Justice League cartoon, I thought her a bratty and annoying character. Now she's freaking awesome, and may be my favorite JSA hero. (I say 'may' because I'm LOVING Cyclone right now.) Overall, I would definitely recommend anyone who likes comics that don't focus on the hero's powers, but on the people behind the cowl, to buy this right now. See yah.

((Small note: I will argue in the comments over this statement-Fallout 3 is better than Oblivion))

Thursday, July 14, 2011

July 14th Update, FMA Brotherhood and Durarara!! Reviews

Update
Today was a waste of time. I went to get the money for the lease, and didn't realize the bus didn't go by my bank anymore (really recent change) until it was about to leave the city back for my hometown. I was pissed to say the least. The only good thing about that 2 hours on the bus was I had just downloaded the Red Vs Blue Revelation OST and was listening to that while reading. I really like it, especially Sarge's Blues and Agent Tex.

Durarara!! Review
This series is...weird. I'll try to summarize as best I can. It, like Baccano, is based on a series of light novels by Ryohgo Narita. Both series share a large cast of interesting and badass characters, and a flair for the hilarious and bombastic. And while I love Baccano dearly, it pales in comparison to Durarara!! Why? Because for all it's grit and style, Baccano is hollow. There's no real moral, message, theme, or motif. It never makes you stop and think what happens over, or question one sides morals over the others. Durarara!! does. Basic idea: take real life district of Tokyo Ikebukuro, and add in several dozen characters with conflicting interests, allegiances, and philosophies. These people range from modern Dullahan's from Celtic myth to a mad scientist whose specialty is sociology to a lone shark's muscle with a hair-trigger temper with enough strength to swing telephone poles as bats and skin that stops bullets. The animation is great, the soundtrack vibrant and fun, and the action is incredible. The biggest strength lies in the aforementioned characters however, as each interesting enough for an entire series based around them. My favorite is probably Shinra, as his romance with Celty is both funny and heartwarming. A definite buy for anyone who like Baccano and a rent for everyone else, highly recommended. It is airing on Adult Swim.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood review
I just finished with the show, so I'll be brief. If you haven't seen the original anime, it's on Netflix so go try it. It is one of the most famous anime in the last decade, and a gateway drug for many people my age. It did, however, stop following the manga halfway through. Brotherhood is a remake that stays very similar to the manga. Because of this, each has it's own unique take on the premise. I will not say one is better than the other, both are incredible. The original had a major tone shift halfway through, while Brotherhood is poorly paced at first. I personally prefer Brotherhood, because I love it's villains and it's takes on Mustang and Hawkeye, which are noticeably different from the first. Also I love Ling. I know KTChamberlain disagrees with me on this, but to me he is a very human character with a distinct arc and a lot of depth. Plus he's hilarious. Overall, I recommend it higher than 99.5% of the things I watch. Please comment with your thoughts to which side of the debate you way in on.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

July 12th 2011 Update

I'm doing this midday because I doubt I'll do anything else of import for the rest of the day. Went to Lakeport, got my braces re-tightened, hung out. However, I just finished watching episode 8 of Angel Beats!, the newest to come out dubbed. So far I was just liking the show. The animations great, it's pretty funny, and I like a couple of the characters. BUT HOLY SHIT. The action this episode was incredible, the premise exciting, and I didn't stop worrying for the well being of a character the entire time. It's been a while since I've seen an anime that's kept me at the edge of my seat the entire time. I now completely recommend it to all anime fans, and if you heard it was a Haruhi ripoff, you heard wrong. The female protagonist is somewhat similar in appearance, and at first in personality and goals as well. But as the series goes on you begin to realize they could not be more different. Yuri (may be spelling that wrong) is a girl who in life had a traumatic experience that made her feel helpless, and now in the afterlife is condemning any deity that would let it happen or its servants. Haruhi is a normal, intelligent, realist who wishes the world was weird and somehow has the ability to make it so. Haruhi is much more energetic, and her abuse towards the Brigade more screwed up because it's the real world and it means something. Yuri is generally bored, and more scheming, and her attitude towards the Battlefront is less callous because its the afterlife, and dying is nothing.

Okay rant done. Before I go for today: A) I'm signing the lease for an apartment in Chico on Friday to live in during college. B) I can't update this weekend, I'll be camping. Be back soon with a review on Durarara!!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

July 12th 2011 Update

Got the next part of my SacAnime costume in the mail, just one piece left. Boring day overall. Played some Oblivion, made a new character who was a custom class mix between an alchemist, wizard and thief. So far, he's a blast to play.

Did a little backlog reading of a webcomic I shall review soon. Nothing really to say, today was boring as hell.

GENERIC END OF DAY THING
Watching: Venture Bros. Season 2
Listening: LEOG (here, V2 Issue 12.5)
Reading: A Clash of Kings, Green Lantern (v4 Issue 5)
Playing: Oblivion, TF2, Minecraft

Out of the Box-Intro and Spider-Man #74

INTRO

Unlike a lot of friends I have, I never grew up reading comic books. There aren't any comic shops in my county, and there weren't that many comic readers that I knew. So when I started watching Linkara's Atop the Fourth Wall, and wanted to really get into comics, I asked the biggest comic nerd I knew, my cousin Michael. He sorted through his collection, and gave me a bunch of doubles and things I might like in a small box. Here I will read and type my thoughts on these comics. I'm still new to both company's continuity, so if I make a mistake, just comment on it and I'll change it (after I fact-check your answer of course). At the end each comic will be rated either (from best to worst): Onto the Shelf, Back to the Box, and Into the Garbage.

SPIDER-MAN #74
Like a lot of Spider-Man fans (he's my 2nd favorite superhero), I know a bit about the Clone Saga. It lasted over 2 years (very long for a comic event), and while many early stories were decent to good, it ended up being a large pile of failure (for clarification watch this and this.) And despite no apparent mentioning of clones of any kind, today's comic is indeed not just a part, but the penultimate issue of the Clone Saga.

The comic begins with a monologue in these really cool red gradient text boxes, talking about how The Daily Bugle says all heroes are gone, and this is leading to more crime from villains coming out of the woodwork. Combining the color of the boxes, the several decent snarky lines in the boxes, the mention of 'hyper-senses' and you know, the fact the book is called Spider-Man, you'd assume that the hero stopping Bolt is the neighborhood friendly superhero. However, the second I turn the page I see a two-page spread of Daredevil attacking the villain. This is kind of clever, with everything he said being applicable to both Spidey and Daredevil...until the remember the snark. As far as I have seen, when Daredevil's out kicking ass, he doesn't do witty banter much. And yet both the thought bubbles and fight dialogue contradict this. Oh well, I guess the cleverness of the twist and the stupidity and retrospect kind of cancel each-other out.

DD knocks the villain out, and then interrogates him until he learns that some guy named Fortunato (It's seriously always bolded like that.) has captured our favorite web-slinger and is going to kill him in front of all the criminals in the city to show he's in power. Jump cut to the meeting itself, where Fortunato reveals that he and the rest of the criminal masterminds of NYC have allied themselves with Hydra (Some terrorist group), and has captured the web-head who has plagued them for years. Only 2 problems: A) he says every criminal mastermind in NYC, but I don't see the Kingpin anywhere. B) Spidey is revealed in a two-page spread that I need to turn on it's side. LAME. Thanks to Spidey's inner monologue, we find out that the big guy, Jimmy-6, is the son of Fortunato and Spidey saved his life and is letting him crash at his place and now Jimmy-6's doing nothing to help him. Raise your hands if you think Jimmy-6 will betray his Dad and save the day! I'm typing with one hand now, and I haven't even read the rest of the comic yet.

Fortunato  reveals he has captured Tombstone as well, and because he dared to attack Fortunato will execute him and one person from each of the bosses' territories, because if they try to betray him he will do it more, tenfold. One problem: since when do people like Hammerhead and Thorpe give two shits about innocent lives? Whatever.

First post-July 11th 2011

For the first post, an explanation: This blog chronicles the random thoughts of one nerd, Roy Hankins. The only real purpose it serves is to vent frustration and geek out on the things he loves. You have been warned.

So today was cool. I got in the mail my first purchases as an adult: a Blue Lantern Ring, a Blue Lantern t-shirt, a stethoscope, a lab cote, and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. The scope and coat are half of a costume I'm putting together for Sac-Anime in September. What is it? Go to Sac Anime and find out.

My computer has been doing this thing today, where EVERYTHING buffers as slow as it possibly can. At first I thought is was Dell fucking with me with shitty hardware, but low and behold it did the same thing on our Wii's Netflix, so I guess the buck stops at Mediacom. Bastards.

GENERIC END OF DAY THING
Watching: Season 1 of Lost (2nd time through it all), Star Trek TOS (1st time, trying Trek out)
Listening: Turnabout Musical (here), Small Favor (10th Dresden Files Audiobook), LEOG (here, V2 Issue 10.5)
Reading: A Clash of Kings (Sequel to A Game of Thrones), At the Mountain of Madness (Wanted to try more Lovecraft), Green Lantern (Every issue by Geoff Johns), Transmetropolitan (...just google it)