I hope everyone has a Happy and candy-filled Halloween! Also, Dia De Los Muertos, one of my favorite holidays, is two days away! Huzzah! For a quick post, here's the trailers for some movies I love to watch around this time of year. Enjoy!
The Omen (1976)
Army of Darkness (1993)
The Howling (1981)
The Crow (1994)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Underworld (2003)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
For an added bonus, here's one of my favorite scenes from Young Frankenstein:
And for another bonus, here's a song for the holiday!
Guten Tag, my faithful readers. It’s October and you know what that means: Oktoberfest! And you know what Oktoberfest means: Beer!
Lucky Germans...
It’ll be a quick post today as I only have four beers to try courtesy of World Market. Although I have no German beers to sample, I’m curious about ones I do have. Particularly, as two of them are fall seasonal beers. I don’t know about you but Autumn beers tend to taste particularly well in my book.
As the Germans say, Prost!
Kona Brewing Co. Fire Rock Pale Ale - Although the hops scent is strong with this one, I also smell a sweet fruity smell as well. It has a bitter taste when it hit my tongue. The aftertaste is not too bad though as it has an almost coffee-like flavor overall. As I go along, either I’m getting used to the taste or it’s losing its bitterness as it sits.
Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat - The cinnamon-y smell hits your nose quickly upon opening. Unlike how I usually drink my beers (pop the cap, drink), I actually followed the instructions on the side of the bottom to pour the beer in a glass until ½ inch remains, swish the remains around for a bit then pour into the glass to “release the flavor”. The spices (cinnamon in particular) in the beer give it a real sweet flavor as it goes down quite smooth.
Harpoon Brewery UFO Pumpkin - As the name suggests, it has that spiced pumpkin smell to it, reminiscent of a pumpkin pie. Although I was expecting a little more of a spiced kick to it, the taste is overall smooth with only a slight spiced flavoring. I do like the label design, very appropriate for the season.
Lucky Drink Co. Lucky Buddha - I gotta be honest, this is probably my favorite bottle design ever. It’d be one thing if they had Buddha on the label but the entire bottle is shaped like Buddha! Although the beer is brewed in China, the smell reminds me of a Corona or any Mexican beer for that matter. The beer goes down quite smooth, but it really reminds me of a Corona in taste as well. There is a slight fruitiness I detect, but just barely.
Jacob’s Best O’ The Bunch! - Although Lucky Buddha’s bottle design is the best in this bunch (and all the others before it), in terms of actual beer, I have to give it to the Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat. The sweet taste and smell might make it an autumn staple for me alongside Buffalo Bill’s Brewery Pumpkin Ale and Woodchuck Fall Cider.
I'll admit that, growing up, I never played Mega Man that much. (Or Rockman as he's known in Japan) Mostly because I didn't own a Nintendo. (Sega Genesis for Life!) But I did know him through other means, mainly through the Saturday morning cartoon as seen here:
As with most cartoons in the 80's and 90's, the animation in the intro
was vastly superior to what was in the actual cartoon.
I also had the action figure from the cartoon as well:
It wouldn't be until much later in life that I finally got to play Mega Man X and Mega Man Legends, finally giving me a much needed dose of the Blue Bomber.
Then Capcom, developer company and owner of the Mega Man franchise pulls this shit...
Mega Man Legends 3 was not only announced in 2010 but also had a strong fan community as the developer allowed fans to choose the design of new characters. Unfortunately, in the following year, the game was cancelled without much of a reason why.
It seemed that Capcom was trying to squash Mega Man's involvement in any game as no future games have been announced and Mega Man was suspiciously absent from Marvel vs Capcom 3's roster despite appearing in the last two games.
Although, it seems that Capcom might be getting off their ass with announcement of Mega Man as a fighter in the new Super Smash Bros.
Fortunately, Keiji Inafune, Co-Creator and Lead Designer of Mega Man all the way from the beginning, has the fix for us.
After quitting from Capcom, a company he's worked for for 23 years, he started his own company Comcept. Seeing as Mega Man is the legal property of Capcom, Inafune is dead set on giving us his spiritual successor: Mighty No. 9
Yes, I know he looks like Mega Man with serial numbers scratched off but that's the point. If Capcom isn't going to give us a new Mega Man game, then Comcept will give us a game that's true to the style and spirit of the Mega Man games.
On August 31, 2013, Inafune and Comcept put up a campaign on Kickstarter, the crowd-sponsored funding website, to help fund the game. With a goal of $900,000, Inafune pleaded with fans to help support the game.
In 24 hours, the game reached its goal. As of this post, they've collected a total of $1,629,900!
However, you can donate as the campaign still has 26 days to go. With each stretch goal, the reach of Mighty No. 9 grows larger as the game was only going to be released on PC. Now, because of the continuing donations, the game will be on Mac and Linux. And, knocking on wood, if it reaches a goal of $2,200,000, the game will be released on PS3, X-Box 360 and Wii U.
Even though the game's existence has only been announced a few days ago, there's been a plethora of fanart out on the web already, so I figured I'd close the post off with some of my favorites.
This is a whammy of a Beer Thoughts post as I have nine beers to review, all of them from either HEB or HEB Plus. Ranging from “I’ve been longing to try this beer” to “This beer sounds so fucked up, I have to try it”, these brews are a motley bunch. Without further ado, let’s boldly go where I’ve never gone before(Taste-wise that is).
Goose Island Honker’s Ale - Dedicated to my friend, Anthony “Goose Man” Guzman, I try these first two beers. When opened, it has a dark, but not too overpowering hops smell. The taste is actually quite smooth and much sweeter than I anticipated for it being labeled a “bitter”.
Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale - As the name suggests, it has a slight wheaty smell when sniffed. Very smooth taste with a bit of both fruit and wheat flavoring to it. A fine companion beer to the Honker’s Ale.
El Hefe Weizen (No Label Brewing Co.) - The smell is like a stronger version of the Urban Wheat Ale, almost similar to cooked wheat. The flavor of this beer has a very wheat taste but overall, goes down smooth. It does have a very slight aftertaste, but not enough to detract it.
Rahr & Sons Texas Red - It has a “dark” but kind of sweet smell, if that makes any sense, like burnt caramel. Although, there is an aftertaste, its taste reminds me of mocha and is quite delectable to my palate. It reminds almost like a light version of Wychwood Brewery Hobgoblin: Same type of taste but weaker flavor than the Hobgoblin.
Woodchuck Summer Cider - Brewed with blueberries, this apple cider has a sweet but tart smell. The blueberries don’t stop at the smell as it has a strong blended flavor of both fruits, making it very sweet and refreshing to boot, something I don’t get with most alcoholic drinks.
Flying Dog UnderDog Atlantic Lager - It doesn’t really have a very particular smell aside from a light hops scent. I can taste the hops, but rather than give the beer a bitterness, it has a slight fruit flavoring, making it a bit sweeter than expected.
Flying Dog Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout - Remember the beer I said was “so fucked up I have to try it”? This is that beer. Brewed with actual oysters, this is defiantly one of, if not the strangest beer I’ve ever seen or tried. It doesn’t smell like seafood, more like a strong coffee smell. It tastes rather like an ordinary stout, dark and slightly bitter. However, there is a slight sweet aftertaste, but nothing that tastes of oysters. Bit of a disappointment as I thought this would be the beer you could dare someone to drink.
Third Shift Amber Lager (Band of Brewers Co.) - Smells a bit sweet, but reminds me of Miller, Bud, etc. (your usual domestic beers) It’s slightly sweet but altogether, reminds me of Budweiser. It’s very smooth to drink, though.
Lobo (Pedernales Brewing Co.) - This beer has a strong dark, almost fruity smell. It has a citrusy taste, but like its smell, it’s a little bitter. It goes down smooth though with no distinct aftertaste. Again, like Third Shift, it reminds me of the more standard domestic beers.
Jacob’s Best O’ The Bunch! - I‘m not sure to label this a tie, but of the actual beers, I have to give it to Goose Island Honker’s Ale. I really should remember the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” as just because the beer is labeled a “bitter” doesn’t mean it will be bitter. I was quite surprised at its pleasant taste and will definitely be looking for this one again. It wasn’t technically a beer, but I have to give this brew props as my other pick for Best O’ The Bunch is Woodchuck Summer Cider. Like I said before, I don’t usually have my thirst quenched with beer, but this one was very refreshing and would be great to drink on a hot summer day. Get it while you can before Summer leaves us for another year.
I’m going to take you all on a journey. Way back into the mystical year of 1990. Home Alone, Total Recall, and Dances With Wolves were dominating the box office. (Tremors also came out that year as well.) Everybody’s boom-boxes were blasting out Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” and MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This”. The internet, still in its infancy, seemed liked the way of the future, vast realms of cyberspace ripe for exploration with near-unlimited potential.
Or, at least that’s what I picked up from the latest comic I’m reviewing, Batman: Digital Justice. In its defense though, the creators behind it way back in 1990 couldn’t have imagined the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Hell, Napster would’ve seemed really out there at the time.
Before I get into the comic itself, I’m going to explain the specific genre that Batman: Digital Justice falls into. During the 80’s, there was an explosion of literature that showed a highly advanced but grim future. A future where corporations were in charge (like nowadays but worse), resistance fighters taking on the corrupt, rival hackers using virtual reality avatars to wage battle in cyberspace, and it’s always raining.
Elements of cyberpunk have crept in nearly all forms of media from film and TV to video games and fashion. To wrap your heads around the style of cyberpunk, look no further than Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic, Blade Runner.
While Blade Runner doesn’t really have much to do with computers and cyberspace, Los Angeles in the future is spot-on for a typical cyberpunk setting. Tall imposing buildings, clear separation of classes, merging of different cultures, rain, it has it all. Even William Gibson, author of one of the quintessential cyberpunk novels, Neuromancer, was awestruck by the world of Blade Runner.
“BLADERUNNER came out while I was still writing Neuromancer. I was about a third of the way into the manuscript. When I saw (the first twenty minutes of) BLADERUNNER, I figured my unfinished first novel was sunk, done for. Everyone would assume I’d copped my visual texture from this astonishingly fine-looking film.”
-William Gibson, “Oh Well, While I'm Here: Bladerunner”
For the record, Neuromancer has one of my favorite opening lines: “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
DC Comics, being no slouch when it comes to bandwagons, decided to dip their toe into the cyberpunk end of the pool when they released the 1990 graphic novel, Batman: Digital Justice.
I'd first heard about the book from my library's beat-up copy of Tales of the Dark Knight: Batman's First Fifty Years 1939-1989. I'll admit I'd didn't read much of the text when I was younger, but the book had an awesome collection of covers and scenes from various Batman comics. I remember, though, that the last chapter discussed Batman's future and it spoke about the then-up-coming Batman: Digital Justice.
Written and illustrated by Spanish artist Pepe Moreno, what’s particularly interesting about the book that it was created using only computer technology. Now mind you, this is 1990, art tablets weren’t invented yet. Microsoft Paint wasn’t invented yet! So, Mr. Moreno only had what was available at the time. While it looks very outdated nowadays, I have to admire the creator’s and book’s ambition.
(WARNING! THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD! Spoilers for a twenty-three year old comic book, but spoilers nonetheless)
The book takes place in Gotham Megatropolis, “sometime into the next century”, where police officer Jim Gordon, grandson of Commissioner Gordon, is noting that the Servos, robot sentries meant to replace the human police force, are using deadly force on perpetrators. And by “deadly force”, I mean shooting them with a Gatling gun until there’s nothing but red chunks everywhere.
As Gordon tries to figure out who might behind the Servos’ violence, he finds himself attacked, both physically and technologically, as every time he uses his ID card (for the elevator, bank, etc.), some mishap tends to happen. Eventually, most of his allies are killed off by the Servos’ puppet masters, with only Robert Chang, a skateboard punk that Gordon unofficially adopted, by his side.
The Servos are actually one of the many tools run by a small group, led by the mayor to control the population. However, they all answer to an even higher source.
After coming home to his apartment ransacked, he finds an old box of his Grandfather’s possessions including the original Batsuit that Bruce Wayne gave after he retired. Combined with this and coming across a broken statue of Batman in the park, Gordon decides to don the Batsuit himself and take down the establishment.
Now, this is where it gets kind of weird.
Stories of Batman’s crime fighting soon becomes the talk of the town and Gata, a Lady Gaga-esqe musician, gets pissed that Batman is stealing her thunder. In response, she decides to become Catwoman as “the cat is the natural enemy of the bat!”. I swear to God, she says that.
After an attempt on his life by the Servos, Gordon and Chang are saved by Batman’s old computer who sends a Batmobile hovercraft to give them a lift to the original Batcave. There, they find out that the original Batman programmed his computer into a powerful A.I., laying dormant until Gotham needed its help again.
The reason for the Bat A.I. is that Bruce Wayne saw that crime would eventually become virtual as the Joker created a computer virus to wipe out Wall Street.
Donning a new Batsuit modified to take on the Servos, with Chang becoming his Robin, they launch a full-frontal attack on the secret group that runs Gotham while the Batcomputer takes on the group’s benefactor: the Joker virus that evolved into an equally powerful A.I. with Joker’s personality.
Although the story went to some weird places, especially with the Joker Virus, I was very fond of it overall. I’ll admit, I have a deep love of all things early 90’s, and this fit the bill quite perfectly. That being said, there was some hokey dialogue here and there (I’m looking at you, Gata!) but it captured the usual cyberpunk technobabble you’d expect.
After having read The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, I understand how myths can be a source of inspiration even generations after the myths were first told. One of the themes Batman: Digital Justice covered that I appreciated was, appropriately enough, the power of myth. By the setting’s timeline, Batman had become nothing more than a legend. However, as Gordon’s escapades as Batman become more public, Gotham’s populace feels hope for the first time as it seems that true justice is being carried out.
I can tell it was made during the short-lived “cyberdelic” movement, spearheaded by infamous drug guru of the 60’s, Dr. Timothy Leary. He, and others in the movement, believed that the internet, and cyberspace in general, would become a stepping stone in the next stage of Human evolution, not the gateway to porn and cat videos that we know today.
Now, I come to the art, which if you’re considering picking up this book, is either going to make or break your decision. I found the artwork to be…odd at times. Gotham in overhead shots looks more like a circuit board than an actual city. I also noticed that Moreno cut some corners with the artwork by reusing some figures in different panels. In a crowd shot, there’s one guy who apparently has a clone with red hair.
This is clearly a shot of cyberspace, right? Nope. It's Gotham from a high angle.
I did like how the Joker virus looked, being a collection of shapes that resemble the Joker’s face. On the other hand, The Batcomputer’s Batman avatar looked like a weird stretched-out pixilated version of Batman’s head. Also, I thought Chang was a girl at first, he looked very feminine when he first appeared.
Overall, Batman: Digital Justice wasn’t a bad read. Dated, for sure, but not horribly so. I’d recommend it for cyberpunk fans or die-hard Batman fans to complete their collection.
But if I had to pick between alternate futures of Batman, there was another piece of Batman media that had a distinctly cyberpunk setting. Now, what was it called? Oh, yeah. This.
Long time no see! Sorry for the lack of updates but with real life (and lack of motivation :P) wanting to jump me at every turn, it’s been hard trying to put up a post recently.
But the show must go on! With nothing but a six-pack from the dark heart of World Market at hand, a keyboard in front of me and a song in my heart, allons-y!
Victory Prima Pils - It has a peppery hops smell to it when opened. Slightly bitter at first taste but goes down smooth. Strange that when I let sit in my mouth to taste it, it has a strong aftertaste but when I drink it normally, it doesn’t taste as bad.
Alaskan IPA - Has the same smell as the Prima Pils but more mild. Very smooth taste with a bit of a hoppy kick. (Holy crap, this is a huge milestone as this is the 200th beer I’ve tried! )
Left Hand Brewing Co. Sawtooth Ale - It smells a bit like mocha, sweet but dark. Tastes quite smooth to the taste buds. It still has a bit of a mocha taste but it’s not overpowering enough to distract the overall smoothness of the beer.
Deschutes Brewery Twilight Summer Ale - Has a very slight hops smell, I had to really put my nose to it in order to smell it. It has a pleasant taste with a fruity smooth flavor. Like the smell, it has a very slight aftertaste as well.
Baja Brewing Co. Cabotella - Despite being a Mexican beer, it doesn’t have the skunky smell that comes with cerevezas, more of a domestic beer smell you get with Miller or Budweiser. Although it has a light aftertaste, it’s goes down quite easy with a mild flavor.
Blue Moon Agave Nectar Ale - Surprisingly, this one does have the skunky smell I expected with the Cabotella. However, it smells more sweeter than a Corona does. The agave really stands out in the flavor as it gives a uniquely sweet taste to the beer.
Jacob’s Best O’ the Bunch! - I’m going to have to let Sawtooth Ale take the award as I was really fond of the dark mocha flavor it had over the others. It had the right balance of flavor that went beyond my expectations. But the Agave Nectar Ale and Alaskan IPA both take a close second as they both had a unique taste I never tried before with other beers.
As I posted last year, I attend RealmsCon, Corpus Christi's premier anime (but really at this point it's more of a pop culture with strong anime overtones) convention on a fairly regular basis. Now in the last few years, the guest list for RealmsCon has usually been one big name guest and a bunch of unknown or lesser known guests following in his or her wake. For example, the big guest last year was Crispin Freeman, a well-known voice actor in the anime/video game scene. After that were a few voice actors whose only roles of note were some obscure animes and Wizards 101.
But this year...
I don't know if the convention organizers got a huge budget increase but...Holy Crap, look at this list!
1. Jonathan Joss - Best known as the voice of John Redcorn from King of the Hill. He was also the Indian who was hanged in the remake of True Grit. This'll be his third year at RealmsCon.
2. Quinton Flynn - A renown voice actor most know for voicing Raiden from the Metal Gear Series and Axel from the Kingdom Hearts games.
3. Vic Mignogna - Another voice actor with a huge list of credits. He is best known for playing the voice of Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. However, I know him best as the voice of Broly from Dragonball Z.
Also, I met him at RealmsCon 2009 and he signed my copy of Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
4. Verne Troyer - Mini-Me from the Austin Powers movies. 'Nuff said.
5. Rikki Simons - Artist and Colorist. Most known from his work on Invader Zim, not only as an artist but as the voice for GIR the robot, who, I argue, is the most popular character on the show mainly for being insane. Merchandise with GIR's image is still being sold in Hot Topic to this day.
6. Richard Horvitz - Voice Actor extraordinaire and a very prominent part of my childhood. He is the voice for Zim in Invader Zim, Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Daggett from Angry Beavers and Alpha 5 from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi, indeed!
And now my favorite bit of dialogue from Invader Zim featuring both Richard Horvitz and Rikki Simons:
Now we move onto what I call The Crow Corner:
7. James O'Barr - Creator of The Crow comic book and, in my opinion, a staple of RealmsCon guests as he has appeared at every RealmsCon I attended and even autographed my copy of the The Crow.
8. Rochelle Davis - She played Sarah the little skateboarding girl in The Crow.
9. Jon Polito - Played Gideon, the pawn shop owner in The Crow. I know him also from The Big Lebowski, The Rocketeer and Miller's Crossing.
10. Tony Todd - Played Grange, Top Dollar's right-hand man. He is most known for playing the Candyman from the Candyman movies and recently played The Fallen from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and the Coroner from the Final Destination movies.
11. Ernie Hudson - Sgt. Albrecht in The Crow but I know most people know him better as Winston Zeddemore from Ghostbusters. I swear, I screamed in joy "OH MY GOD!" when I saw his name on the guest list.
Moving out of The Crow Corner, we come to our last but not least guest.
12. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa a.k.a. Shang Motherfuckin' Tsung from Mortal Kombat! A very prominent movie from my childhood. I did the most fangirly squee when I saw he would be coming to RealmsCon.
