Christmas 2013

Fun and family and lots of good cheer
Has made up my holiday season this year
I sit here and realize there's one more thing to do
To share some of that good cheer with all of you
So as midnight rolls 'round, I just want to say
Merry Christmas to all and a happy holidays

Movie Reviews - Ironman and Hulk: Heroes United

I usually enjoy the stuff that comes out of the Marvel Animation Studio, even if I think that the Marvel live action films, and the DC animated films are typically much better. The films to be released through the Marvel Animation Studio are typically good, but not really great. Their best, I think, was Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, which is the only one of the films that I was anxious to own after seeing it online. It was great, based on a handful of comic stories about an alternate future where Ultron conquers the world. In fact, Marvel Animation Studio seems to be most in its element when they are adapting a storyline from the comics. Both of their Ultimate Avengers titles were rather above average, even if they were based on the Ultimate Universe version of the story, which I am just one step above full-on detesting. Understanding this, maybe this movie would have been better had it been a direct adaptation of a comic story as well, rather than an amalgamation of one and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, specifically The Avengers movie. The reasons why I think this movie is an absolute stinker (spoiler: I didn't like it, now you don't have to read the rest if you don't want to) are pretty numerous, so I'll be breaking this down by category.

Another of My Patented Holy Crap Moments

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved the Nick shows by Dan Schneider, from Drake and Josh all the way to Victorious. Yeah, I'm pretty old to be into these shows at this point, but I can't help it. I will go to my grave proclaiming that iCarly was one of the most fun shows on TV during its run. My favorite two Dan Schneider characters are by far the brash, loudmouthed, but loveable Sam Pucket from iCarly, portrayed by Jennette McCurdy, and the naive and adorable Cat Valentine from Victorious, portrayed by Ariana Grande, so when Sam and Cat got a spinoff, aptly named Sam & Cat, I could not have been happier.

Then the most recent episode of Sam & Cat turned out to be a Laverne & Shirley tribute, complete with a remake of the "skipping scene" in the episode's opening, and appearances by both Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall, including a fantasic ending scene where the two sitcom legends proved that they can still deliver on the physical comedy, even at their ages, and suddenly I was happier. It was wonderful! I squeed. More than once. And I'm proud of that.

Check Out This Eighth Grade Exam from 1912!

Found this randomly while surfing the web. Actually take this exam straight out of the past and see how you stack up.

Musings, Thursday 11/14/13

So I'm coming up on the end of my periodic, unscheduled rewatch-Buffy-athon, which happens maybe every three to five months, and once again I am left with a bittersweet feeling, because, as Q from Star Trek: TNG tells us (he was probably quoting somebody, but oh well), "all good things must come to an end". Every time I rewatch this show, which is probably my favorite show ever ever, I remember this...

...And then I remember that the story is still ongoing in comic book form, and the sense of joy returns unencumbered :D

AwesomeJohn22's Guide to Skyrim Mods

I haven't done a whole lot of Skyrim content on the blog, but that certainly doesn't mean I don't want to do more. I've covered a couple of really great quest mods, reviewing them, but  Skyrim is probably my favorite game ever because of the mods, so I figured that I should give the mods a little more love. Skyrim wasn't the first Elder Scrolls game that I ever played, but it was the first that I played with mods, and now I simply can't imagine the franchise without them. So here is my list of the ten (ish, I haven't decided on the number for sure) Skyrim mods that I find essential for anyone's playthrough. Note that this list will not include things like the Unofficial Patches, as they are no-brainers. Another no-brainer is the fact that, because Skyrim needed to be viable on many different gaming systems, it doesn't look as good as it could, and a PC gamer should consider downloading some texture mods.

Also of note is the fact that this isn't a top whatever list. I don't consider any one of these mods better than any others on this list. They are all equally essential in my book.

Movie Reviews - Thor: The Dark World

I was one of the few moviegoers who not only really enjoyed the first Thor movie, but thought it was right up there with the rest or its Marvel movie counterparts, including Iron Man. Sure it was simple and predictable, but so was Iron Man in many ways. Did anyone watching that movie not know who the villain was after ten minutes, really? In terms of predictable movies, yeah Thor was moreso, and Thor: The Dark World followed in the footsteps of its predecessor in that regard. There was literally nothing in this movie which surprised me. Nothing. This doesn't mean, however, that I didn't really love seeing these very predictable things happening on screen (bar one or two, but we aren't supposed to like those).

TV Reviews - Dads

So Dads is the other sitcom to begin this season that I've paid regular attention to (I sadly haven't seen more than the pilot of The Crazy Ones, but I do intend to catch up). From the people who brought us Family Guy, Dad's is a live action sitcom marketed as the funny interactions between two young men and their oddball fathers. This is really well set up in the Pilot, where one of our lead characters, Seth Green (I know he has a name, but he's Seth Green to me now and always) has to deal with his lazy, too-open father coming to town and eventually moving in with him. Meanwhile our other lead, Phoebe from Friends' Brother (I genuinely don't remember this character's name, or the actor's for that matter), has to put up with his quirky wannabe businessman father who already lives with him and his wife.

I wanna say first off: I don't like the Pilot much at all. Yeah it follows the premise of the show to a t, but it just isn't very good. Seth Green's father ruins it for me. He is just too unlikeable in this episode. The best thing about this episode is the best thing about the series so far by a wide margin: our third lead, Brenda Song, who has probably been in other stuff, but who I know as London Tipton from The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, where she was also usually the best thing. Whereas I often find the father's unremarkable and unmemorable (Phoebe's Brother's father being worlds better than his counterpart), Brenda Song, and her interactions with Seth and Phoebe's Brother are memorable and enjoyable. Seth Green and Brenda Song are both great deadpan actors with really good comedic timing, and their obvious future potential romantic relationship is credibly set up.

The two characters are both very cynical, but despite the similarities between the two, there are enough differences that their interactions are always very interesting. This is the kind of show that I like, but that I don't like enough to give my full attention to in every scene. It's the kind of show that I put on in the background while surfing the web, or writing, or building a deck for one of the Trading Card Games I enjoy, but I always pay attention to the scenes where Seth Green and Phoebe's Brother are being irresponsible at their video game creation job, and Brenda Song steps in the put things back on track, or where Seth Green says something horribly inappropriate, and Brenda Song steps in to put him in his place. These scenes are great, with plenty of variation. In fact, I really wish that the show were about these three, and kept the fathers in reserve for guest roles, like other sitcoms do. The interactions between the fathers and their sons aren't bad, but they aren't great either, and I really question if the show can even survive under it's original premise. Still, I think it is decent overall, with some great dialogues, and deserves a shot. I give Dad's 6 out of 10.

TV Reviews - The Goldbergs

Been a while since I've posted here, again *sigh*.

Anyway, The Goldbergs. When I talk about the classic sitcoms from my past that I really love, this is what I'm talking about. The single-camera series based on the youth of series creator Adam F. Goldberg, pulling inspiration from the video he took of his family as a boy (the way the Adam character does in the show) is a classic sitcom masquerading as a modern sitcom. It reminds me of several family sitcoms of the '80's and '90's (as it is clearly designed to do) with a splash of The Wonder Years (which is not  a sitcom as far as I'm concerned, but a dramedy) thrown in for good measure, in that it takes a look at a time one generation behind today, and is narrated by the main character. There is not a character in this show that I don't like. The mother, Beverly, is an evil genius with a heart of gold, meddling in the lives of her family, married to Murray, an outwardly loud and uncaring but inwardly loving working man who does everything for his kids, just not so intrusively as his wife. Adam's sister Erica is just like her mother, in a more reserved way, always playing a part in events from the background. Adam's brother Barry is delightfully odd. Adam's grandfather (Beverly's father) is an aged ladies man with so much style and some of the best lines on the show. Adam himself is the perfect narrator, always watching the world around him and taking stock of everything in it, while still growing and dealing with the issues of youth, his perspective still changing and evolving before the viewer's very eyes.

The elements of this show come together astonishingly well. I have been thoroughly entertained, tickled, and touched by every episode of the show so far. The acting is impeccable (Wendi McLendon-Covey has never been better as Beverly), and the chemistry between these on-screen family members feels real. Absolutely nothing is forced. There has hardly been a scene which felt unnecessary, from Pilot to present. I love this show more than I can find the words to describe here. In fact, after Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., this is my top pick for best new show of the season. Could this show be better? Yeah, there are still a few elements which need to be refined. While I like Erica, I often feel she could be even more involved in things. Yes she's always there, playing a part, but she has gotten far less screen time devoted to her character than I feel anyone else has, despite the second episode focusing on her pretty heavily. Also some of Barry's antics are less funny and more awkward. These, however, are barely complaints, and based on the quality of the show so far, I expect these issues to be hammered out pretty fast. I award The Goldbergs a well-deserved 8.5 out of 10, and recommend that anyone with a love of the situation comedy check it out before they fall too far behind.

I know, I know, this was a short review, but don't be so sad! I'll be posting a review of either Dad's or Sleepy Hollow within the next few days, maybe even tomorrow!

Let's Play Pokemon Storm Silver Intro - Let's Go Fishin'!!

Just a little something I've been working on. Find the playlist here.

Happy Anniversary Peanuts!!!

That's right, today in 1950 the comic strip Peanuts first graced society with brilliant and heartwarming humor-laden social commentary told through the innocent and relatable eyes of some of the greatest child characters in history. With over 17,000 total strips, Peanuts  is easily one of the longest-running and most influential comic strips in history. It set a standard for daily comics which still affects how such comics are produced to this very day. Thank you Charles Shultz for so many wonderful years of laughter and heart, and bittersweet-ness and nostalgia. Oh, and for Snoopy. That dog is awesome.

Peanuts continues to rerun, rightly so, in newspapers to this very day, and I sincerely hope that it always will. We love you, Peanuts. The world would be a little darker without you.

 

 

TV Reviews - Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Okay, okay, I've put this review off long enough, though honestly I'm not sure what I can say about this show. Everyone and their mother has already said something about it, and thankfully the consensus seems to be that the show was really good. Super-short review, I completely agree with this consensus. I really loved the show. When I heard about it, and heard who would be spearheading it, I worried that it would be too Marvel, and not Whedon-y enough, or vice versa. Thankfully my worries were completely unfounded. This show reminds me so much of the Avengers movie on a smaller scale. It has great characters, made to shine even brighter by those great Joss Whedon character interactions, good humor, lots of surprises, and oh so much wit. The show, while clearly being a Marvel show, also features all of the hallmarks of a Joss Whedon show as well. All of the characters are fun and likeable on their own, and yet still become better and stronger characters when brought together as a whole. Anyone who has seen one of Joss' shows knows that this ensemble writing is really the greatest strength of any of his productions, and in this area, the show simply does not disappoint.

This show features many of the other Whedon hallmarks as well. It has a plucky, strong female character with a sassy, snarky wit in Sky, who is easily my favorite character so far, it has a hero in Ward, it has the cute, mousey tech chick in Simmons, whose almost symbiotic relationship with her counterpart Fitz makes for some of the funniest geek dialogue since Big Bang, and you have the mysterious backstory with a character attached in Melinda May. And then there is Coulson, a character who Whedon obviously loved writing, evidenced by the Avengers movie. Coulson may have died for real and come back, or he may have had his death faked, but either way he's back, and he's just as awesome as he ever was. He's calm, knowledgeable, and capable, and every time he says or does anything, it has a true feeling of weight to it. Not to mention his bitchin car. It even looks like this show will use actors from past Whedon shows, as his shows usually do. In fact an actor from the Buffy spinoff Angel already appeared as early as the first episode in the role of Mike Peterson, the "Hooded Hero".

Which brings me to my next point, in fact, that as much as this is a Whedon show, it is also a Marvel show. It exists within the established Marvel Cinematic Universe, making near-constant reference to the events of that universe in the Pilot episode. The anti-S.H.I.E.L.D. actions of Sky are a result of the cover-ups of various super-related events, most recently the events of the Avengers movie, known in-series as the Battle of New York, and the team's first case is indirectly related to the events of Iron Man 3. The Marvel Cinematic Universe isn't always great, but it has always been, at least, good, and has proven to be a lot of fun, and if the show continues to do things as well as it has so far, we'll be able to visit that universe weekly. This show does so many things right. The effects were great for TV effects. The characters are likeable and interesting and rich, and yet virtually all of them have these secretive backstories which the writers can have fun filling in over time. The rules of the world of the show have already been well established, and yet the vastness of the universe in which the show exists leaves the show open to take virtually any direction that the writers and producers may wish it to take.

If I had to fault the show on anything, it would be that...uh...hmm...I can't think of anything. And this is coming from the guy who insists that nothing, nothing, is ever perfect, even within the realm of it's own franchise. You know what, kiddies, I think maybe I was wrong, because I genuinely can't think of a single thing to fault this show on. Every action of the characters, every line of dialogue, everything felt necessary, and not a single moment felt wasted. This may be the best all-around new show to air in a long time, and while I won't go so far as to say that the show as a whole is perfect (I'm sure there'll be some dud episodes down the line), I will go so far as to give the show a preliminary rating, based on the pilot episode, of 10 out of 10. Seriously guys, this is a big deal. I think the simple act of typing that just melted part of my brain...

Updates! Hurray!!!

So while my mind continues to process the various degrees of awesome that the new fall television season has blessed us with, I've decided to go back and give some updates on some of the shows that I've reviewed on this site so far, now that they have been out for a while, and when I say some, I mean all! We'll start at the very beginning (it is, after all, a very good place to start) with one of the most disappointing new shows that I have had the displeasure to watch in recent memory: Family Tools. Ah, Family Tools. Didn't that get cancelled already? Because I don't remember hearing anything about it in forever. I watched it a couple more times, and while a few more of the jokes hit home in episode two than did in episode one, episode three was another bore fest of stale, poorly ripped-off humor and themes. My rating of this show has actually gone down from a 4 to a 2 out of 10, as all of my (very small amounts of) hope for the show going forward drained away very quickly.

Based on my review of the show, however, I think we all saw this coming, so let's move on to the next show I reviewed, Weird or What?, with the original Captain Kirk, William Shatner. I gave this show a good review, saying that it was an interesting sort of introductory look into the realm of supernatural phenomena, and that it evoked one of my favorite shows to just turn on on a boring day and watch: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction?. My opinion of Weird or What? hasn't changed at all. I still catch it from time to time, as I still catch reruns of Fact or Fiction? from time to time. It is a good time-killer show, and, as I said before, a great way for people to see if the supernatural investigative genre is the thing for them or not. Weird or What?, congrats on retaining your above above average score of 8 out of 10.

Teen Titans Go! and Marvel's Avengers Assemble also retain their scores of 7 out of 10. I don't like either show as much as their predecessors, but I still find them to be interesting enough substitutes, and the TTG! episodes are more consistent now than they were in the beginning already. TMNT is actually pushing above it's 9 out of 10, just a bit. It had an amazing season finale only recently, and is already starting up again with new episodes on the twelfth of next month, giving the fans exactly what they want, and building a larger fanbase at a steady pace. It doesn't hurt that I just saw Sean Astin, who voices Raph, live at a Q and A at Wizard World Ohio last week. Still, Samwise aside, the show is great, consistently great, and I can't wait for more.

As a Batman fan, my review of Beware the Batman, the newest animated foray into the Batman universe, was pretty harsh, but I'm happy to say that I'm liking it more as time goes by. The newest episode revealed that Ra's Al Ghul will be featured in the series. As long as he is done well, this will open doors to include other long-standing and better-known Batman villains, like the Joker and Harvey Dent, just less-frequently and in bigger roles, and I really like our "mad villain" character, Anarchy, who manages to be Joker Lite and a badass physical threat, something that Joker rarely is. However, I am still only enjoying the series in a way similar to how I enjoyed The Batman. It is satisfyingly action-packed, but still lacks the deep, thought-provoking storylines and strong mystery elements of another animated Batman series that comes to mind. It also has still yet to develop the character of Batman at all. Yeah, we know him by now, but he's still the title character. He needs to have development, and the show never seems to give him any. It does, however, continue to show potential, so I have bumped my rating of Beware the Batman up to a 7 out of 10 rather than a 6.

And that's it, guys, that's every TV series that I've reviewed so far on this blog, but I still hope to review many, many more, as well as actually start to post more varied content here eventually. I also want to do what I did with Turtles and review some stuff that's been around a little longer, though not too long, so look forward to that.

TTFN!

Musings, Friday 9/27/13

So many new shows these past few weeks, so little time to review them. Not to mention all of the ideas and images swimming in my head after seeing them.

I've also been re-watching Firefly on Netflix, which hasn't exactly opened any holes in my schedule.

*sigh*

Well, anyway, expect reviews of the biggies to be forthcoming, starting with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. within the next few days, followed by reviews of Dad's, The Crazy Ones (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Robin Williams in one show, squee!!!), Sleepy Hollow and The Goldbergs within the next few weeks.

Videos for All Y'all

First up, I've got a new playlist going on called HealthQuest (if anyone tries to put a hashtag in front of that, I will hunt them down), where I document my, well, quest to, well, get healthy.

I guess that didn't really need explaining...

Anyway, HealthQuest can be found here.

Also, if you are interested at all in Pokémon, you should check out this video, and subsequently the other vids by the YouTuber who made it. Tamashii is adorable, and her videos are always logical, well-crafted, and interesting. Don't believe me? Then watch the vid and see!

Musings, Friday 9/6/13

So rumor has it Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion have both been talking about reviving Firefly.

My mind = blown

*UPDATE*

Looks like it's a Dark Horse Comics series. Not quite what I was hoping, but certainly squee-worthy.

Holy Crap!

'N Sync at the 2013 VMA's!


That is all...

Video Game Reviews - Skyrim Mod: Falskaar

Everyone who knows Skyrim, especially modded Skyrim, knows Falskaar by now. This mod is like nothing that we've ever seen before from a free DLC. And it is DLC. While it is not an official add-on, it is on the same scale as one, to the point that it is being treated as one by the modding community. In fact, the mod, which includes its own landmass, voice-acting and questlines, is so large that it comes as a .esm file just like Dawnguard or Dragonborn, and is designed so that it never needs to be removed, like an official DLC doesn't. There are two areas within Skyrim which are altered by the mod, and neither change alters performance in the slightest, and while on the island of Falskaar the bugs never get any worse than those inherent to the Skyrim game engine. This mod is so huge that I'm still not 100% through it, though I have completed the main quest and a good majority of the more prominent side quests. However, because it is so big, I'm going to have to go about this a little differently. We're going to break this review down a bit and look at the design of Falskaar itself, from the land to the presentation, then the characters and acting, and then finally the quests.

My Rating Scale

So my rating scale might seem a little odd. I never give tens, and say that sevens are high and eight and nines are something special. I just wanted to explain this a bit for anyone who is confused. My rating system goes from zero to ten, not one to ten, scaling everything down. Also, unlike most people, great isn't a ten, perfect is a ten, so if something manages to be a perfect representation of itself it will then, and only then, score a ten, which doesn't happen often, if ever. In short the scale looks like this:

0: Not worth anyone's time, should not have been made, and, in my mind, doesn't exist (Jersey Shore, etc.)
1: brings something worthwhile to the table, but still pretty horrid
2: Your average crap
3: Not entirely terrible, but I won't be dealing with it a second time
4: A bit below average, but still worth paying mind to if it is part of a greater, better whole
5: Just on the cusp of average
6: Absolutely average
7: Better than average. You should take a look
8: Much better than average. You really should take a look
9: Exceptional. Definitely take a look
10: Perfection, at least within the sphere of its existence

I also place heavy emphasis on how much potential a reviewed material shows going forward within its own franchise. This can add anywhere from half a point to three points, but will likely never yield a score of ten.

Movie Reviews - Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Well this is it guys, this is the big one. This is my most anticipated movie of the year. I've said many times on this blog that I am a huge fan of the Percy Jackson series of books, but that so far I have not been a fan of the only movie release. Percy Jackson is a series that is not as well known in pop culture as Harry Potter, or even Twilight, but I really feel it should be (in the case of Twilight much more so). It builds a comparable world, and tells comparably grand stories, and while the stories are based very definitely on Greek myth and are therefor arguably less original than the Harry Potter stories, I don't think that this matters, as I feel that the art of expanding the myths into modern times takes a special talent all its own. Just as I largely attribute the widespread popularity and recognition of Harry Potter to its fantastic movie franchise, I attribute the lack of awareness of the Percy Jackson series to its poor first film. Many who saw the film and recognized it for what it was, a half-baked attempt at a cash-in, were driven away from the series as a whole. This is not my theory, this is a fact, backed by readings on several sites online. While Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief was pretty good as a popcorn movie on its own, it wasn't a good movie by any stretch. Now, don't get me wrong, what they did right they did right, but they got far less right than they did wrong. I understand that movie adaptations of books are going to be different, but the adaptation of book one was just unjustifiably too different. It reminds me of the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: it simply focused most of its time on the wrong details.

Sea of Monsters fixes this, mostly.

Musings, Wednesday 8/7/2013

Six hours thirty minutes and counting until I go tonight to see Sea of Monsters. Gods of Olympus, please let it be good.

Musings, Tuesday 8/6/2013

Only one more day to go until Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters hits theaters. I plan to have family take me as a b-day present, as my 26th is this Friday. I really hope it's as much better than the first as the trailers have led me to believe. If it isn't it might ruin my b-day week. Either way, a review will be forthcoming.

Musings, Sunday 8/4/2013

There's this building on a distant hill that I see from time to time as I'm driving around. It looks like a castle, and I keep having this urge to go take a closer look. Of course that's because I really want to clear it of bandits...

Thanks, Skyrim.

TV Reviews - Beware the Batman

I loooove Batman. I love superheroes in general, but Batman is definitely one of my favorites. Naturally, whenever a new animated Batman series is announced, I toggle pretty rapidly between excitement and skepticism. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, will ever surpass Batman: The Animated Series as a TV Batman. Nothing. Ever. There have been other good TV Batman series. The old live action show with Adam West and Burt Ward was campy fun, and The Batman and Batman: The Brave and the Bold both had their good points and bad points, but Batman: The Animated Series is as close to perfection as we are ever going to get, and it spawned its Superman counterpart, Justice League, and Justice League: Unlimited all of which ranged from being better than average to being great. However, watching these old shows gets less exciting with time, and eventually a Batman fan just wants more Batman, and so now we have this new series, Beware the Batman, which, rightfully, has been garnering some pretty mixed reviews.

Musing, Friday 8/2/2013

I noticed earlier today that I really pay a lot more attention to the beauty of nature these days. To be fair though, it's because I have an unnatural desire to ground that nature down and mix it into a potion...

Thanks, Skyrim.

Movie Reviews (Sorta) - Man of Steel

So I've been wondering for a while, since basically the day that this movie came out, if I should bother reviewing it. I knew that this was the movie that everyone was waiting to analyze, and I genuinely wondered if I would have anything new to say about it. The result is this very late excuse for a review, which I'm going to make into more of a stream of consciousness about the movie. Maybe if I structure it a little less than most of my stuff, something profound will come out.

Video Game Reviews - Skyrim: Helgen Reborn

It's been a good time recently for unofficial Skyrim DLC. The modding community for the fifth game in the Elder Scrolls saga has not calmed down a bit since the game came out in late 2011, but only recently has it become truly remarkable. Bethesda Sotworks has announced that there will be no further official DLC for the game, giving modders free reign to finally make the big changes and additions that they have been envisioning since the game was first released, and to finally release the big mods that have been years in the making, knowing that there will be no more DLC in the future that they will have to adapt there work to support. Of course the most impressive of these megamods is the rightfully praised and popular Falskaar, the first unofficial DLC to feature a working, full-scale landmass, questline, and a full cast of brand new voice actors. It is a milestone for the Skyrim modding community. To make the large, open world of Skyrim seem like it truly exists in a larger world, the provinces surrounding Skyrim do exist in-game, if only in a very rough, unfinished state. The existence of Falskaar gives players hope that these lands might one day be made complete. Falskaar is by far the best all-around mod on the web for Skyrim, and I don't think that anyone could argue that, but we aren't here to talk about Falskaar today. Today, we are here to talk about a mod from back in May of this year that I feel has the potential to rival Falskaar and other such mods as a DLC alternative: Helgen Reborn, by Mike Hancho, known to his friends as Balok.

TV Reviews - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

I loved the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I was growing up. I had several of the old VHS tapes, and I would watch them over and over, and the TMNT action figures were some of the first that I ever actually collected from the store, unlike Transformers which I primarily bought from garage sales. I loved the characters, even if they were simple and stereotypical and a complete product of the times (cowabunga anyone?), and what passed for science in the show was laughable at best and totally suspension-of-disbelief-shattering at worst, but there was just something about the premise that worked. I also wholly believe that this show is responsible for my unnatural love of pizza. I enjoyed the live action movies as well, both of them (third movie, what third movie?). Needless to say I get excited whenever something TMNT is announced (unless it has Michael Bay's name on it).

Toy Reviews - Megatron Week

Been a while since I've posted here, so let's mark my return with something big. Check out my newest series of toy reviews here.

Toy Reviews - TF Prime Voyager Megatron

Toy Review - TF Generations Wheelie

Musings - The Movie North

So I've been watching a bunch of the Nostalgia Critic lately. One of my favorites is his review of the movie North, starring Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, and a whole bunch of other very recognizable names, including Reba McEntire, Kathy Bates, and half the cast of Seinfeld. If you've never heard of it (and are therefor a luckier person than I), it's about a kid, played by Wood, who decides he can't live with his parents anymore as they don't realize how good a thing they've got in him, to quote Willis' character. Rather than take the advice of Willis, who plays a guy who plays the Easter Bunny at North's favorite place, North decides to give up on his parents, and he divorces them. The courts allow him to do this on a kind of experimental basis, but only if he can find new parents before the end of a finite period of time. North travels the country and the world to find a new family, leading to a parade of the most blatant and offensive cultural stereotypes in modern cinema, and maybe cinema in general. Literally everything is a stereotype, including shots early on of him father's workplace, a pants factory, where apparently they set up themed rooms to test the pants in real world conditions. North doesn't find any new parents, deciding instead to return to his original parents, and just at the climax, he wakes up, as everything was a dream the entire time. This movie is terrible. My ethnicity is actually depicted positively in this movie, and I still feel offended. If you want a true impression of how bad this movie is, watch the Siskel and Ebert review, or the Nostalgia Critic episode.

We aren't here to talk about how bad this movie is, though, we're here to talk about the fact that I think, in a weird way, it actually makes sense. Stay with me guys, seriously. North is a young kid, right? So likely he doesn't know much about other cultures, or even his dad's workplace, beyond the bare basics, some random rumors and stereotypes, and what he can glean on his own. As the entire movie is just a dream, and told from North's point of view, it's very likely that the world within his dream would be made up of these stereotypes, right? Even Willis popping up several times in the role of the "mysterious mentor" makes sense, as the real Willis gave North some advice just before he passed out, and it explains why North, but not his parents, grow throughout the movie, as North can't imagine how an adult might change and grow, since he isn't an adult. The strange out-of-nowhere villains who show up later in the film make sense too, as dreams are strange, confused places where your fears become fully realized, tangible things, often resembling people or objects from your life.

It makes sense, but it doesn't mean that this movie is any good. It is still terribly written, unfunny, and one of the most blatantly offensive things ever written, let alone put to film. Acknowledging the existence of stereotypes is much different from perpetuating them, as this movie does. Ebert was right to say that this movie makes you feel unclean just thinking about it. Don't watch the movie, and don't let your kids see it ever, but if you want to laugh at something awful, check out one of the reviews mentioned above, or find a rifftrax. I'm sure one exists somewhere. This isn't the worst movie ever (Manos Hands of Fate and Garbage Pail Kids still jointly hold that dishonor), but it's definitely up there on the list, even if it does manage to be a pretty interesting look into a child's psyche, even if his psyche is horribly offensive.

Toy Review - TF Prime Thundertron

Webseries Review - Star Trek Continues

As a Star Trek fan, I, for lack of a better word, hunger for new Star Trek stories, and so I pay attention to all of the best Star Trek fan series floating around the turbulent sea that is the internet. While many of them have faced some severe issues, two in particular continue to put along, with episodes coming out as often as possible for a non-profit service: Star Trek Phase II and Starship Farragut, both set in the universe of the original series. Phase II continues the saga of the original Enterprise and her crew, while Farragut (my favorite of the fan series, btw) focuses on another Constitution-class ship. While both of these series still periodically release episodes, they are inconsistent and far-between. Recently, another webseries focusing on the adventures of the Enterprise and her crew was announced, Star Trek Continues, a series featuring the talents of more professional actors than the run-of-the-mill fan, and support from some great writers and special effects people. As a more focused, professional production, STC also promises more timely releases. Just recently, the first episode of the new series was released on the Star Trek Continues YouTube channel, and I finally had a chance to check it out.

More Percy Jackson Talk - Which Percy Book is Best?

So obviously I like Percy Jackson. Don't feel bad if you hadn't realized, it's not like I ever write about it ever. Anyway, discussing the new Percy Jackson trailer the other day got me thinking: the original Percy Jackson series is over, the story complete, so it's possible to judge the individual books and how they benefit the series as a whole. I mentioned in the same post that the second book, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters is probably the weakest book overall, and it got me wondering which book I would consider the strongest, which of course got me thinking about how I would rank the other four books in the series overall.

TV Reviews - Marvel's Avengers Assemble

I've said before that I love cartoons. Based on the cartoons I've talked about here before, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out that I also like superhero stories, and like everyone I've been mostly impressed with the recent live action Marvel Comics movies. So based on the evidence, it can't be hard to conclude that I was a fan of the recent cartoon series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Also, because I'm sentimental as all getout, you can probably figure that I wasn't very excited when EMHs was cancelled in favor of a new Avengers cartoon meant to more closely resemble the Ultimate Spider-Man series that currently wastes thirty to sixty minutes of good airtime every Sunday morning on Disney XD (Glob, I hate that show). Well, kiddies, it turns out that the two part premier episode of Avengers Assemble is up online, and I've found the time to check it out. Short story: it's pretty good. Long story: well, keep reading because it gets pretty complicated.

Trailer Reviews - Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

I've mentioned before on this very blog that I'm a huge fan of Rick Riordan's various mythology-inspired fantasy series, the Greek ones in particular. Of all of the fictional properties that I invest time in, his two Greek series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus are close to the top of my list, and Percy Jackson is probably my favorite fictional hero. So like many fans of Mr. Riordan's work, I was sorely disappointed by the first attempt to adapt the Percy Jackson series into a film. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, the adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, written and directed by my least favorite director aside from Michael Bay, Chris Columbus, was a failure on almost every account, and for good reason. Don't get me wrong, from a technical standpoint the movie was pretty good, and the acting was good from every actor who actually took the job seriously, but the directing was choppy, the movie was filled with gratuitous celebrity cameos, and large portions of the plot were changed either to transform the movie into a standard action movie, or to blatantly replace the Greek mythological imagery with more recognized Christian imagery. It was barely even fantasy by the time it made it to theaters. The characters were cast older than they were in the book (though I can't complain about that much as Logan Lerman looks and sounds exactly as I'd picture Percy Jackson), and some characters, the way they were written and directed, barely resembled their book counterparts at all (I'm looking at you Annabeth). Clues and references to the overreaching plot of the series and important recurring characters were omitted completely. The crew went for what was easy: sex jokes, pop culture, CGI action, and familiarity, and it just didn't do the amazing book any due justice.

See what I mean? That's a long list.

The writing in the first movie was so bad that it seemed likely that if there was a sequel it would be even less recognizable as a Percy Jackson and the Olympians story than the first. I consider myself an expert at filling plot holes, and I had no idea how they could fix the franchise after this movie. I was devastated, and yet I still desperately wanted to see Percy on the big screen done well, so I decided that, if a sequel was greenlit, and as long as Chris Bane-of-My-Existence Columbus wasn't involved, that I'd keep an open mind. For awhile it seemed that the sequel was coming, but then it seemed that it wasn't as Chris had left (huzzah!) and they needed writers, so I stopped paying attention. Then, just recently, I decided on a whim to take another look and discovered that the movie was under production. After digging some more it became clear that the new writer, Marc Guggenheim, was backpedalling and fixing as many mistakes as he could. Important characters missing from the first movie were to be introduced, characters who were gratuitously cast were recast properly, and that overreaching story that I mentioned had been ignored was to be introduced and followed. Once I read enough to avert the majority of my apprehension, I even made a video on my YouTube page asking fans of the books to give the movie franchise a second chance. I knew the movie was set for a 2013 release, and so I waited patiently for a trailer. It wasn't long before I got one, and it looked pretty good, but this was little more than a teaser trailer. I wanted a full trailer, and just this past week I finally got what I wanted.

Now understand something before you read this next part: I love all of the books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. That being said, there is a certain blessing to having to set the series on track at the second installment, because of all of the books Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters is the weakest. Don't get me wrong, it introduces some important characters and plot elements, and develops others, but it is almost a direct rehash of the Odyssey by Homer, with some Jason and the Argonauts thrown in for good measure. All of the books draw heavily from Greek myth, but this one is close to the original, and it's a story that many people already have some knowledge of. That makes this movie the perfect place to introduce those missing plot elements. Understanding this, when I saw the second trailer, the first story trailer, I was overjoyed. It looked like my high hopes for the movie were in fact justified. The setup in the movie is clearly quite a bit different than in the book, but that's just because they had to work with what Columbus left them. The trailer, which felt like a letter to the fans saying "hey, look, we're fixing it", showed right away that the characterizations had been improved, that the Greek mythological elements were being included, and that the story that the fans know and love was in fact going to be told. There are changes from the book, clearly, but they don't seem any more substantial than in other recent fantasy adaptations, including The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. The trailer even confirmed that the movie has Nathan Fillion in it. Nathan Freakin Fillion!

Am I 100% confident that this movie will be great, that it'll set the movie franchise back on track? No, I can't be, because the movie isn't out yet and I therefor haven't seen it. However, based on the trailer, I've gotta say my hopes are certainly rising, and my recommendation regarding this movie remains the same as in my video: fans of the series need to give this movie a chance. If this movie is good, and yet the fans ignore it, there's a chance that it'll kill the film franchise dead, and I don't think that's something that the fans want to happen. I certainly don't. Of course my opinion isn't the end all be all. Check the trailer out and see what you think.

Musings, Tuesday 5/28/13

Oh Amanda Bynes, I miss the sane version of you. Please come back to us. Until you do, every time I think of certain portions of my childhood, I feel dirty. In a bad way.

Toy Reviews - Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Optimus Prime

Toy Reviews - MU West Coast Avengers 3-Pack

Toy Reviews - Superman from Man of Steel

Videos - Elder Scrolls Online First Impressions by YouTube's ForceSC2strategy

Looking forward to this game sooooo much, as I'm a huge Elder Scrolls nerd, and now I'm looking forward to it even more after seeing this great video.

Movie Review - Star Trek Into Darkness (SPOILERS)

So I went to see Star Trek Into Darkness again today. It's a jam-packed movie that I really felt would require two viewings to absorb everything. I was only kinda right, though (I guess I retained more from my first viewing than I thought), but I'm still glad I went. Either way, I'm now confident in my ability to review this movie and do it justice.

Videos - Star Trek Into Darkness First Thoughts

TV Review - Teen Titans Go!

I may be twenty-five and look twenty-one (and proud of it), but in many ways I'm still a kid at heart. I collect action figures, I play games, and I absolutely love cartoons, from Transformers, to the DC Comics Animated movies and TV series, to anime, to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (yes, I'm a Brony, and a huge Lauren Faust fan), but there are few cartoons I've enjoyed more than the old Teen Titans series from a few years back. That show was amazing, from an utterly perfect voice cast, to great stories, to animation that could move fluidly between action scenes and comedic scenes, to an utterly brilliant mix of said comedy and action. It was pretty much perfect, taking queues from seemingly every great cartoon to come before it. When it was cancelled, I wept (inwardly, I am a man), and when I heard that it was being revived as a more comedic show, I was cautiously optimistic, but was my caution warranted? Yes, but not nearly so much as I would have thought.



Showin' the Mom Love

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there! Spent a day with two of my favorite moms today. First I went down to see my mom, and we caught her up on the current season of Doctor Who, which was awesome. Then I went to see my grandma and grandpa, and we watched Tiger win at golf (which put us in bad moods, as we are not Tiger fans), so we cheered ourselves up by watching dumb movies. Mermaids, with Winona Ryder and Cher, which is just weird, Nine Months with Julianne Moore and Hugh Grant, which was funny, only because it was so bad (probably because Chris Columbus directed it), and then Jerry Maguire, which is actually a pretty good movie. It was a great day filled with great people. I hope the rest of you out there had a great Mother's Day as well, whether spent with your mom, spent as a mom, or spent remembering a mom fondly.

Musings, Weds 5/8/13 - Evening

How many wolves could a werewolf wear if a werewolf could wear wolves?

Videos - Too Cool to Describe

Check this out. So awesome!

Musings, Tues 5/7/13 - Evening

I just love Rick Riordan's modern fantasy stuff. Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, the Kane Chronicles, they are all fantastic series. I can't wait for October when the next Heroes of Olympus is out. Of course sometimes something great happens that makes the waiting easier, such as the crossover between the two Greek series and the Kane Chronicles that was released today with the paperback edition of the final book in the Kane Chronicles. Not only did it feature Percy Jackson, my favorite hero from Greek Mythology (see what I did there?), but it was action packed, funny, and even (I think, cross my fingers) set up for an even larger crossover down the line. All of the clues are there. If I'm right, if this actually happens, I think I could die happy.

Yeah, I'm a little older than the series' target audience, but I don't care, I love mythology and by extension I love these. I even hear that Riordan is working on a series based on Norse Mythology, my most favorite mythology of all! Epicfanboysquee!!!

Movie Review - Iron Man 3

So I went to see Iron Man 3 this past Sunday. Love it or hate it, pretty much everyone is talking about it, saying either it was the best of the trilogy, the worst, or just meh. Since everyone else has something to say about the movie, I thought that I'd get my two cents in. Now originally I'd planned to give my first thoughts, but I found that really hard to do. This movie just needed thought about, so I decided to take a couple of days and do just that.

TV Review - Weird or What?

My mom (who is pretty awesome, btw) grew up watching the original Star Trek with family, so when she had kids she shared Star Trek with us. I'm the only one who really got into it, but it was still cool. Point is, I grew up watching William Shatner on TV, so maybe I'm biased when I say I just love the guy's onscreen presence. Sure, he's over the top, but there's just something about him. Yeah, he's been in some other stuff since Star Trek, but I never really got into any of that, and recently he's only really done bit parts in various series. So, when I heard that The Shat had a new series on SyFy, even if he was just hosting, I got very excited, and for the most part, I wasn't disappointed. Still, this may just be my bias again, as I love weird phenomena even more than I love Bill on TV, so let's really break this thing down and see if it's as good as I thought the first time through.

Musings, Sat 5/4/13 - Evening

I think that if I ever strike rich I want to recreate some of my favorite sets from my favorite sitcoms, particularly the house from That 70's Show. I love that series.

Musings, Sat 5/4/13

I just saw a commercial for adoptuskids.org where the dad is getting ready to climb a ladder, and he says "You know my motto, safety first." The family looks on him indignantly and recall a time when several wild animals infested their basement and the same man went down after them with only a laundry basket rather that call animal control, to which the dad responds "It's a new motto."

Now I want to see a show about these people, because that's just funny.

TV Review - Family Tools

As a kid growing up in the nineties, I loved sitcoms, and I still do. I watched sooo many sitcoms. I got the trailing edge of the eighties coms, and I got to see the beginnings of the greatest sitcoms of the nineties and the early millennium, several of which set the stage for the sitcoms of today. I watched Friends when it was new. Before that, sex was usually talked about as if it were a PSA, and characters were almost always related, or at the very least living under a single roof, or going to the same school. Restaurant scenes were pretty rare. Friends changed everything, and ever since, everyone has been trying to change things just as much. While I admire this, I miss the classic sitcom. I miss The Cosby Show, Family Matters, and Saved by the Bell. I even miss Full House, though it pains me to say it. Most of all, though, I miss Home Improvement.

Intro to Awesomeness

Hello everyone! Welcome to The AwesomeBlog. Here I plan to talk about everything that I care about. Most of you will considers this to be ungodly boring, but hopefully someone somewhere will get something out of this.

No topic is off limits here. I will primarily focus on toy reviews, the occasional movie or TV review, or review of another product, and little bits and bobs about my life, but then sometimes I'll talk about love, or longing, or current events, or whatever. Just anything that crosses my mind.

Though this will mostly be a place for me to document what matters in my life, I do hope that others will get something out of it too, so please, give it a read.

If I can figure out how, which is a stretch since I know nothing about this site, I'll also be posting stories, video, and my terrible webcomic here, so yeah...