SGU Review Spectacular!

As I tweeted recently (as I'm sure you are all avid followers of my twitter account @RealJacobQuinn) I finished watching the entire series of Stargate: SGU a week or so back and since I am attempting to word out a writers block on a script what better time to launch into my review of the series.

Let's talk about about Stargate, since I'm sure there are at least a couple of you that clicked into this without really knowing what you were getting into. Stargate started as a less-than-spectacularly received feature film staring Kurt Russel and James Spader with Rolland Emmerich directing. The plot of the film is simple enough; technology unlike any the world had ever seen was unearthed at a dig site in Egypt in the early 1920's. Of course it's an American archeological team and of course the government takes it and hides it away. After decades they get far enough to realize that it's a device that can potentially open a wormhole to another planet, solar system, galaxy, universe...dimension? The possibilities are endless.

James Spader's character is a down-on-his-luck scientist who has a valuable understanding of ancient Egypt. He's approached to work on the project to help them read and translate the symbols on the gate. It takes Spader's character to get them there. In the end they open a wormhole, go through to a planet that is reminiscent of our Egypt. They fight an alien creature who had possessed a native of that planet and end up destroying his ship; thus freeing the locals. Spader stays behind to live with the woman he's come to love. He buries the stargate on his end and the American program is "shut down".

We then move on to Stargate SG1 where we learn that there are stargates all over the galaxy and each can be "dialed" using various combinations of the 36 symbols on the stargate. It takes 7 symbols to dial another planet, 8 to dial another galaxy and 9 to dial an unknown address hidden in the gate by The Ancients.

Enter, Stargate SGU.

Much like the original Stargate film, SGU involves a young, brilliant (unwittingly and uselessly) slacker named Eli Wallave, who discovers the 9th symbol needed to dial Destiny, The Ancients vessel of discovery. In an obvious attempt to be hip the show uses gaming as the seed through which the 9th symbol is discovered. The villain turned hero (sortofnotreallykindabutstillnotreally) is Dr. Rush played by Robert Carlyle; by far the most accomplished and well known actor of the cast.

The inaugural episode is filled with frontwards and backwards jump cuts in time setting up the events that transpired to get them to the ship. Once there they are forced to deal with two facts: the ship, being incredibly ancient is on the verge of falling apart at any moment and is unable to truly support the amount of people currently residing within her and the fact that they are billions upon billions of light years from Earth. Now you're probably wondering, "how can this show be any good when none of the original cast of SG1 is involved and they're just stuck on this old ship with no possible help from earth?" Nifty trick...they have these stones which allow people to transfer their consciousness into someone else's body, regardless of distance (or the fact that they're traveling at Faster than Light speed).

Besides some of the obvious plot holes and "quick fix" writer's tricks to try and get around some of the potential pit-falls that exist in so many sci-fi series, Stargate Universe (SGU) is a pretty solid show. Once they got past the constant, "we're all going to die at any moment because we have no food or the ship is flying into a star" type story lines they really opened up the potential for what this show could really be. They dip into the idea of "seed ships" which were sent ahead of Destiny by The Ancients to plant stargates on any viable world to work as a stopping points to replenish stores of food, water, etc. along the way as Destiny made it's hundred thousand year journey.

I feel compelled at this point to say that, I really did enjoy this show. It's fun and engaging and overall very entertaining. Can't ask for much more than that in series, but there are a lot of short-comings that invariably distract from the enjoyment of the show. Such as; a plot line of several episodes involving aliens who kidnap a member of the crew and alter her. They play that part of the story out, but they end up just jumping galaxies as the ship leaves one for the next, leaving those aliens behind. One alien race is traded for another, this one is mechanized drones programed by a long-extinct race to destroy any technology foreign to their own.

There are several very cool time-travel related episodes. One, for instance, involves the entire crew being cast thousands of years into the past when they think they've discovered a way to dial home using the power of a star to amp-up the gate, but a solar flare sends them astray. Their "other selves" found a colony on the planet and that small colony thrives into a society that spans generations. Leaving behind an amazing history behind, which many of the crew watches and sees their "other selves" living full lives filled with pain, suffering, love, friendship, family and amazing accomplishments.

It's through this and many other episodes that you, as the viewer, really begin to like and connect with the characters; not something common for me. As the series wound down the crew was faced with an impossible situation: the drones were bent on Destiny's destruction and had staked a foothold in every solar system with a star that was viable for Destiny to use to recharge it's batteries. So they decide to go into a hypersleep state and make the long jump to the next galaxy. But they're desperately low on power and if they're calculations are off by even a decimal they will run out of power in the void between galaxies and drift for a thousand years.

The final episode is a touching memorial of the main cast preparing to to into their sleep chambers and await the future they may never see (much like the show itself which was cancelled after just two short seasons and a total of 40 episodes). Tragically leaving so much unknown and unexplored, but that's what fanfic is for...right?

Like almost any show SGU could have been better in certain ways. I didn't appreciate they annoyingly predictable situations where the ship was either going to blow up or they were all going to die from lack of food or air or flying into a star (all plot lines from various episodes). Because they were boring and predictable. It was a nice change of pace to see characters actually die (since it almost never really happens) though I don't want to give them too much credit, it's none of the real main characters.

I would have liked to see what the team could have done with a third season. The ship, itself, is never really explored due to a lack of hull integrity and sheer size. They uncover random pieces of ancient technology that never really gets any screen time. It's things like that that disappointment me. Potential, wasted either due to a lack of vision or time.

Overall I would grade Stargate Universe - SGU a solid B+ for interesting plots, solid stories and overall concept. It would have been an A if it didn't have so many of the small negative points against it.

I hope you all enjoyed this review of the SGU television series.

Tb

Published Comic!

Here is a look back at the first comic I've gotten published with Ape Entertainment's online U.F.O Anthology! It's a love-story set against the end of the world. Hope you like!

Thor...was an amazing movie!

A truism in movie-going is “cater to your audience” and Thor, from Marvel Studios, definitely did that.

Not to be outdone in their catering, so did the theatre itself. Anyone who has gone to the movies in the last decade can let out a collective groan at the memory of more-than-one occurrence of sitting down to enjoy the main feature you paid to see and being forced to sit through twenty-plus minutes of previews. Often times, several of the previews are clearly not for the expected audience attending the movie (example: preview for Winnie the Pooh before Scream).

Thor had no such disappointments or annoyances. My screening had just four previews and all of them came to play. The first was an extended preview for the much-anticipated Green Lantern movie, followed by a preview for the new X-men: First Class movie, which I’ve seen, but was no less impressive. Next was an extended preview for the new J.J. Abrams/Steven Spielberg collaboration, Super 8. The fourth was for Captain America which was clearly a shameless plug for the connection between Thor and the upcoming 2012 movie release of The Avengers, but it wouldn’t be Hollywood if there wasn’t at least one shameless plug involved.

Thor, staring Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek, Red Dawn-2011) and Natalie Portman (Star Wars, Beautiful Girls) does well what so many comic book movies do terribly: it gives you exactly what you walked in expecting and manages not to disappoint or trip over itself to cater to a broader audience than just comic book fans.

The main villain in Thor is Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor’s half-brother. The secondary villains are the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. Granted, this may seem like an almost too-obvious choice in adversaries for Thor but Kenneth Branagh (director) does an exemplary job of not letting the story get away from itself.

Asgard plays a significant role in Thor, which is a visual treat. From a special effects standpoint the realms of Asgard, Jotunheim and, to what extent you need special effects, Midgard (Earth) are all portrayed wonderfully.

The plot of Thor revolves around the envy Loki feels for his half-brother, Thor’s own bravado and, in the end, reconciliation and acceptance.

To quote the friend I went to see Thor with, “Marvel really has gotten their act together when it comes to movies.” The last part of that statement is telling, “when it comes to movies,” which is true but also portrays the belief many of us harbor that Marvel Comics is out of sorts in how they handle business. But in the many-year ramp up to the Avengers movie coming out next year, Marvel has regained much of the respect it threw away with producing horrible movies like Daredevil and Elektra. It shows the importance of Marvel taking control of their product and putting it under the umbrella of Marvel Studios.

Overall Thor is an epic movie with plenty of action, adventure, destruction and visual pleasures; everything a movie-goer could ask for. It gets a rating of (out of 4)

Enjoy your movie-going experience!

Tb (JQ)

Reality vs. Surreality

We truly live in a world where this line is blurred, what with 24-hour "reality" television networks that focus on anything and everything from the benign to outlandish and idiotic. I mean, when un-celeb, celebrities can regain some semblance of stardom through so-called reality television, what has the world come to?

I want to blame Facebook and Myspace, Friendster, Twitter and those that came before it whose names I cannot even be bothered to remember much less "Google" to find the names of. I want to blame them for making the world as it is, but I can't. The minds of today's youth were destroyed long before Myspace and the rest were even a million-dollar glimmer in the eyes of their obnoxious creators.

I harken back to "Basketball" (Trey Parker/Matt Stone/Carmen Electra, if you've not seen it I highly recommend) where there was a line of dialogue I will paraphrase here; kids today have an attention span that can only be measured in microseconds...and it was a truism all the way back in 1998 when that film was released, even moreso today. I am a product of this technological system, I cannot deny this.

When left to my own devices I will chose to use technology to keep my attention more often than I will a book or a comic. Granted, the things I can do on my iPhone are more immediately entertaining and take little to no time to get into. Instant gratification is one of my many vices.

Another thing that's changed a lot since the boom of the technological age is alone-ness. Is one truly alone if they are connected to the internet? And by that idea, if one has a cell phone of any kind that has internet access is that person ever truly alone? I would argue that they are not.

Dictionary.com defines alone as, "separate, apart, or isolated from others" and if one has access to the internet, to instant messaging, to facebook, to twitter...are they actually separate, apart or isolated from others? It would seem not, wouldn't it.

If reality is what we can see and touch, smell and taste and surreality is dreamlike, unreal and fantastic...does it not stand to reason that these two ideas are constantly blurred with the world as it is today?

Think about it.

Forever indebted to your gracious readership,

Tb (JQ)

Dirty little secrets...

So I was...suckered? Convinced? Intrigued? Something like that, into watching Glee.

Damn you Netflix and the convenience of Instant Viewing! *shakes fist*...ok not really mad at them...kinda sorta totally love Instant Viewing.

But I digress...Glee.

So it was decided over the past weekend that we'd watch Glee, because my lady hadn't seen it but was intrigued. My response, of course, was to quote Community, "I hate Glee...I don't see the appeal at all." - Jeff Winger. But, it turns out, it's more like "my so called life" with singing than anyone on the show would admit.

It has the same melodrama and teen pregnancy and awful high school jocks and all the rest of it that nearly every show that has come before it (including the likes of Parker Lewis Can't Lose) has had. With the added benefit of singing.

The real tragedy of watching Glee is not in the enjoyment, which is kinda...inevitable, if only for the superfluous frolicking of several hot "wannabe teens" (meaning they're playing teenagers but are actually in their mid-20's). But no, it's not that, it's this: watching it made me actually conjure the thought, "I wonder what High School Musical is like..." Please, god, no.


I quickly removed that thought from my mind, cruciatus curse style, and have not since been inspired to do anything quite as stupid.

The truly flawed part of the show is that they have to create drama. And I'm not talking about the natural drama that occurs when the boys and girls in the group jump from person to person as their hormones fly out of control. No. I'm talking about drama of, "we have to place at Regional's or the club is finished!" oh, no!

I'm going to spoil the ending for you...they don't place at Regional's. A panel of "celebrity" judges votes against them in the most insane way possible. But, wait...the club doesn't get canceled!

Now, the why's and how comes of this are far too in-depth for me to go into here. But sufficed to say that I saw it coming without even trying to figure it out.

It's a cute show. Are they really singing? probably not always. Do I know even half the songs? Nope. But can I enjoy it as an entertaining conjecture of reality versus surreality? Sure.

So if you have Netflix, check out the Pilot. Give it at least that chance, if you like it...thank me later. If you hate it, feel free to blame me.

That's all for now,

Tb (Jq)

Kung Fu Panda 2 - Review

Well folks, I realize I've been away from the blog-o-sphere for a little while...but only actually, not really. Confused? You should be.

The majority of you who read my blog (aside, I'm assuming from my apparent fans in Hungary, Mexico and Germany) also follow me on Twitter/Facebook so you're already well aware of where I spend much of my writing time, www.8daysageek.com where I mostly do reviews of comics and occasionally review movies as well, like Thor and upcoming I will review Green Lantern, Harry Potter and Captain America.

But some things don't really apply to the site, like what I'm going to be writing about here. Kung Fu Panda, though geeky isn't necessarily within the sphere of interest to that demographic, but I digress.

So, Kung Fu Panda 2. The villain is a peacock, that should tell you something about what Dreamworks was going for there. The first movie, as you'll remember, takes the viewer on an adventure right along with the main character Po the Panda as he discovers his destiny as he becomes The Dragon Warrior.

In the second installment of the series Po is feeling pretty good about his role as Dragon Warrior and is more than up the challenge when Master Shifu sends Po and the Five out on a new mission. Unbeknownst to either of them Po was about to encounter a familiar (but not) symbol on the armor of the villains. Seeing the symbol triggers a series of vivid memories in Po; this happens throughout the movie as he continues to see the symbol at random intervals.

Several things are discovered throughout the movie: Po's mysterious past, how he came to be the son of a goose and what happened to his family and why there aren't any other Pandas.

Shen, the Peacock villain, is an albino...so right from the start he's got issues. I mean...seriously, the dude has an inferiority complex the size of the Pacific Ocean. It's this inferiority complex that causes him to create the first cannon, presumably the first in the world. His goal is to use this technology to take over all of China and within that action to destroy Kung Fu. And as a movie for children certain holes in the plot are simply overlooked, thus I will not exploit them here...it's not Citizen Kane, people.

Overall, Kung Fu Panda 2 is a very enjoyable movie with several really touching moments. The pacing is excellent, with a run time of exactly 90 minutes it never feels rushed. The connection between the main characters continues to grow, despite the fact that the members of the Furious Five, aside from Tigress, play a much smaller role in the movie. But in every fight scene Po is constantly using tactics and fighting styles that incorporate each of the members, showing the value of the team as a whole.

It's a fun movie for child and adult a like. I definitely recommend checking it out!

For now, I shall leave you with this last notion: go check out my stuff on 8daysageek.com, you'll enjoy it, I promise!

TB (JQ)

Sucker Punch...kicked ass

So I went out with a couple buddies of mine on last night and caught a showing of Sucker Punch. I'll be the first to admit that the reason I wanted to see this was not because I'd heard the acting performances or the writing was spectacular; far from it to be straight with you. From several trusted (internet) sources I'd read that the movie lacked substance...well, duh. If you went in to Sucker Punch expecting a movie of substantive quality, then you deserve to feel cheated, because you're an idiot.

Sucker Punch did exactly what I wanted it to do. It delivered on two main components that one looks for in a movie of this type. First, have hot chicks dressed scantily for my enjoyment. CHECK. Second, have some kick-ass fight scenes with said scantily clad women performing unbelievable acts with guns, swords, mechs, etc. CHECK. Sucker Punch delivered on both fronts, big time. And on top of that was the added bonus of seriously amazing visuals, like this arbitrarily-set-in-space scene. It's fabulous!









The visuals are combined splendidly with the action scenes in several over-the-top epic battles. They jump right into it with the main character, Baby Doll, fighting these three giant Asian stone warriors (picture below) and then move on to fighting Dragons and Orcs, Nazi's and Robots. There's literally no stone left unturned in this movie when it comes to something to kill.











The story leaves something to be desired when it comes to cohesiveness, though. There are parts that make less-than perfect sense, but if you don't let that bug you, then overall the movie is quite good. I'd easily give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Movie overload

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Return...of the king? Sure, why not.

So, it's been awhile. Yeah...sorry about that. A new schedule and some new events (like going to Hawaii) threw off my equilibrium for writing. BUT, I have returned, with gusto! Or, well if not with gusto, at least with a bluster.

Let's get right to it. A lot's happened since I last checked in. A lot of it pretty trivial, like the situation with the NFL. Some it it fun, like the NCAA tourney starting (and even though I still have 7 of my 8 Elite Eight teams and all of my Final Four, I don't feel confident about that with the way things have been going). And some of it has been tragic, like the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. I watched, as I'm sure many of you did, in horror as the footage from the quake itself came in and with the nuclear reactor scares, the whole thing is frightening on so many levels.

But to try and keep with the happy-go-lucky style of blog you, as readers, have come to expect I shall dive right back into the good stuff.

Since I've been gone a lot of my work has been published over at 8 days a geek, I trust you've all been keeping up with that via Twitter and/or Facebook but for those of you that are new to the blog or those that may have missed them, here ya go:

The first was Phonogram, which is a truly great British comic. I highly recommend it. The next was Blackburne Covenant, the first of my new style of article which includes picture inserts from the book as well as the introduction of my rating system based on a five-star scale. After that came Ultra which is a really good book. If you're a fan of digital art and have somehow missed this book, check out the article for a sneak peak and then I'm positive you'll want to run right out and pick it up. I followed that up by venturing into the dark side of Transformers and G.I. Joe in this Dreamwave production from the early nineties. The art is spectacular. Then I took a big step forward and ventured into mainstream with Superman: For All Seasons which takes a look at the man of steel from a new perspective. Next came my review of Random Encounter, the Viper Comic from a few years back. The guys over at Viper liked it so much they actually sampled it and put it up on their site! Check it out HERE. As you can see some of the coding got messed up in the transfer, but still...very cool! And last, but not least, my most recent article steps back into the mainstream with Marvel 1602. Alternate reality timestreams are fun! More to come! Bookmark the site, because aside from my awesome Bin Fodder featured articles going up every Friday, there's tons of other great stuff on the site!

Well now that I've overloaded you with information I feel obliged to just ramble for a bit and let all that soak in.

Spring is in the air, both metaphysically and actually (since it's after March 21st now). So what does Spring mean to you? I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

I started and completed a new script in the past two weeks (about 10 hours of total work put into it, mostly in two really long writing sessions). I like the idea a lot but I think the script needs some work. It's a first draft and I've turned it in to my editor so I should get some good feedback from him in the next couple days. There's also some really big things in the works, not specifically related to comics but definitely related to writing, stay tuned!

Let's see...what else. Well, C2E2 was this past weekend. Did you go? I didn't. For a couple reasons. First: with everything that's been going on I lost track of what weekend it was and timing just didn't work out. Secondly, because of the first part I never got around to getting my professional pass so I would have had to pay to get in...nuts to that! What's the bonus of being a published comic book writer if you can't reap the benefits. I would have liked to go; conventions are fun. BUT it will only inspire me more to go to Wizard World Chicago later this year and shop my wears...hopefully I'll have some wears to shop.

Ok...so at this point I've run out of things to say, or...at least, I've grown tired to rambling...for now. Don't worry, I'll be back soon and ramble some more!

Peace,

Tb

R & R ain't overrated

It's true...today is a seriously lazy day. Sure, I went in to the office for a couple hours this morning (something I truly regret and has left me forlorn) I persevere!

I have a couple new articles up on 8daysageek. I posted one on Wednesday night that talks about the death of Fantastic Four character The Human Torch and how comic book companies continue to kill off characters only to bring them back. So should readers really care? It also explores the opposite side of the spectrum where companies use the destruction of a character or characters for a larger purpose. Even if you're not currently interested in comics you should still check out the article...if only to support me! Haha, but seriously, it has some interesting points of view, which if you're reading my blog you clearly enjoy.

The second post went up today and like previous posts is my weekly review of an independent comic. This week it's White Picket Fences. You could say this was a homer move of shameless proportions since I know the creative team but I would say that the book deserves recognition as a quality independent title! The article reviews the mini-series and double-sized one-shot that have been produced thus far. It's a fun review, check it out!

You may be thinking, "that's a lot of work...where's the R & R you speak of" and you'd be right, thus far. But the rest of my day is gonna be all dinner and episodes of NBC's Community! Gotta rest up for the big basketball tournament tomorrow. Yes, I'm playing in it, not just attending some sporting event that I'm going to watch and thus need to rest up for. Sheesh!

If we win, I will let you know...if we lose, you will probably never hear mention of it ever again.

Alright, short one today.

Peace,

Tb (JQ)

Holy Crap it's cold out!

I consider myself a rather "rugged" guy when it comes to the elements. I don't care about rain or even snow for that matter. For the most part I'm totally at peace with the fact that I live in Chicagoland and we have relatively insane weather. For example: this past Monday it snowed, rained, hailed and snowed again all within the span of about two hours. *shakes head* We Illinoisans are a hearty breed for the most part. Though there is never a shortage of complaining from people who live here about the weather.

I write this blog not in complaint but in protest. Protest of wind. Wind is so unnecessary. I mean, what has wind ever done for me? Nothing, that's what. I mean, sure...summer breezes are great and I have fond memories of kite flying. But I have even more bad memories of Frizbee's going awry and perfect basketball shots clanging off the rim due to a random gust of wind. Winter weather would not be nearly as unbearable if wind would simply cease to exist. That is all.

Now, on to more exciting things! After a very productive and entertaining conversation with the guys over at 8daysageek I have been named Associate Editor and Contributing Feature Writer. See my profile HERE. Thus far my main contribution has been a new weekly series called Bin Fodder which reviews and discusses under-appreciated comics like Cyberforce and Blue Monday. (posts linked for your convenience!) There will be much more in the coming future as I get my website-writing legs under me.

Hmm...let's see...Ahh, well next week is my basketball group's annual tournament. I'm really excited about it because two weeks ago I got my sports goggles (yes, I'm a nerd, shuddup!) and thus far with practice at the gym and this past week's game they have improved my shot and my passing.

Alright, well that'll do it for today.

Peace,

TB (JQ)

p.s. 31 days till HAWAII!!!!

Angry Writer on the Loose!

Fully grasping the idea of how things are supposed to be is an idea that generally escapes and eludes most people. I can honestly say that it eluded me for a very long time. But times have changed. There’s an intelligent black man in the white house, instead of the ignorant whitey we had for so long. Sarah Palin is a villain. Marvel is making good movies. The Batman movie franchise is relevant again. The world is a pretty crazy place, clearly.

I’m here to tell you, it’s going to be OK. Global warming may ruin the planet for those unfortunate souls still alive in the year 2100, but that’s their problem, not ours. Be concerned with what you can control, not what you cannot. Now, don’t try and twist my words around and say “this guy is anti-environment”, no, wrong, stop it. Recycling takes NO EFFORT at all, and benefits the world incredibly. But I came across a facebook post today of a “friend” of mine who linked an article some woman had posted online talking about how they had “given up the fight” of being a vegetarian because she realized that her efforts were going unnoticed by the major food corporations. Ok, first of all…DUH! How stupid are you? I will quote from Community, “Believe it or not, I dropped out of High School because I thought it would impress Radiohead.” (Britta Perry) The same nonsensical idea applies to this woman’s article which I have refused to link in this blog because it is SO STUPID that it doesn’t deserve the readership of my faithful followers. The fact of the matter is that the machine of consumerism cares so incredibly little for the opinions and actions of the individual, and if you didn’t already know that, then you need to go to any gas station in America and attempt to barter over the price of your gasoline. Once they’ve stopped laughing at you they’ll probably ban you for life from the store.

The capitalist society is built on the idea of choice. You are free to have yours but maintaining a choice or even a belief because you think it’s going to affect society or events outside your sphere of influence (yes, typically this term is used in reference to nations and not people, but the rules still apply) then you truly need therapy for your MASSIVE FUCKING EGO. You cannot change the world. I don’t say that to be a defeatist, I say it to be a realist. The biggest things in the world that needed to have a world-changer have happened. You’re not MLK. You’re not Jackie Robinson. You’re not (whoever the first major professional popular athlete to admit being gay…or maybe you are). Stop thinking you’re important, because you’re just not.

Soap box conquered and squashed. On to more fun things!

So as some of you hopefully noticed I started posting articles on a new website as well last week, (www.8daysageek.com) and I will be posting another new article on this Friday as well. Last week I featured the much maligned 90s comic Cyberforce; truly unappreciated in its day. This week I will be featuring another rather unknown comic, Blue Monday. It’s an Oni Press book; creator owned, written and drawn by one amazing person (to be profiled in the feature). It’s a really great book and I hope you all check it out.

Hmm…what else…I had a really cool moment last Friday while working with Matt. We brainstormed an idea for about 2 minutes and within 20 minutes I had written the entire 1-page pitch. It was awesome. It helps that the idea itself is pretty amazing (more details to come once it’s in development).

Alright, that’s all for now. I should have another new post up on Friday!

Peace,

TB (JQ)

Manifest Freaking Destiny!

Hello my friends, welcome back.

As some of you know already I have recently began expanding the use of my writing talents to different fields away from just the blog-o-sphere. It started with my first published comic and has now moved on to writing for a website called 8 Days A Geek.

The site is a one-stop shopping experience for all things geek with articles on upcoming movies, comics, dvd releases and there's even a podcast series (download for free from iTunes). My first feature article for the site will launch my weekly series on comics called Bin Fodder. It will center around comics that either a) weren't necessarily popular but that I have a soft-spot for and enjoy very much or b) were amazing and everyone should know about it! This first week's installment comes from option A; as it reviews Cyberforce, the Top Cow/Image early 90's series. Check it out HERE! I'll be doing more things for the site as I get more settled, but Bin Fodder should be a weekly staple, so get used to it!

GREEN HORNET is out!!! I am very excited and will hopefully be seeing it sometime in the next week, so there will be a review with my name on it somewhere here in Internets land, I'll keep you posted.

Hmmm...what else. Oh, I heard they changed the Horoscope signs and apparently added one? Facebook and Twitter have been all abuzz with it today. What this tells me about the people in this world is that, to quote Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) "you [people] participate in the mass cultural delusion that the sun's apparent position relative to arbitrarily defined constellations at the time of your birth somehow affects your personality." Well said dear sir. Well said.

Alright, I think I'm going to make today's post a relatively short one and allow you to go off any explore the wonderful pieces of information I've listed above!

Peace,

Tb (JQ)

You've Been Derezzed

I know what you're thinking...holy crap, another blog after only a couple days. I promise this isn't someone else hijacking my blog and updating it more regularly, it's me...and I'll prove it, just you wait.

So I've been pretty obsessed for the last couple days with the Tron soundtrack. I've always been a fan of Daft Punk since their early days with the album Discovery. They have managed to consistently keep me coming back for more with hypnotic electronica sounds. I'm pretty sure they are the only group to survive through my many phases of musical likes and dislikes. Sure, like most people my age I have a healthy collection of trance and electronic music buried in the nether regions of my iTunes playlists but I rarely pull them out. There was a recent writing project I was working on that I really wanted background music for but found lyric laden music to be distracting so I made an entire playlist comprised of nothing but trance and electronica. Yes...nerdtastic I know. If anyone is curious I could share it with you, hah...like that'll happen.

Abruptly switching topics; I finished watching the first disc of the Japanese Animated show Last Exile last night and I must say, I'm intrigued. The story itself is compelling and visually it's outstanding. There's parts of the story that I don't fully understand, mainly because I believe the writers have created a storyline where some things just have to be accepted for what they are without explanation. For instance, the culture of the people. The armies battling in certain scenes (not pivotal to the story, from what I can tell) carry an idea of classic sea-faring battles with massive ships pulling alongside one another to fire their cannons and they refer to one of these massive air-ships going down as "sinking". Randomly thrown into the mix is a group called the "Guild" who are only briefly shown but seem to be some kind of overseer or, for lack of a better term, sheriffs of the battling nations. However, in their one scene they seem to be uncaring about the "inappropriate" battle techniques one side is using...if you're confused reading this, try watching the show. I took a lot of what I was seeing on faith; either in the idea that it would be explained later or in the idea that I just had to accept that certain things were how they were in this universe and would not ever be explained because the creators simply did not feel it warranted explanation. Long-story-short, the show is good. Thus far I'd recommend it, but don't turn on the subtitles. They don't match up with the English dubbing very well at all. I'm not sure if they're a more accurate representation of the original Japanese or just bad subtitling but it got confusing and annoying pretty quick. Another Japanese show I got the first disc is Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. Thus far from the first couple episodes I've watched I really have no idea what's going on...but I'm going to stick it out.

Ahh the beauty of Netflix.

I'm going to leave you on this note: I leave for Hawaii in exactly 50 days; Hell. Yeah.

Peace,

Tb (JQ)

A New Year; let us raise our glasses

Hello my friends,

I apologize, most sincerely for my absence. I often open my blog fully intending to write out a new entry but I find most times that I am simply at a loss for a proper way to express myself or filled with a doubt in the value of the words and sentiment I would be conveying by making a new entry. But I sit before you today with a new year ahead of me and a new idea of how to make this blog into a place where I can maintain my own sanity as well as a place where I can try and keep up with a regular schedule of writing to go along with my own creative projects.

So, on that note, let me begin. Much has transpired since my last entry. First and foremost; Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all my readers. I hope you all had a safe, happy and inspiring holiday season. And now we all dwell in the post-holiday doldrums that seem to always occur. I will say that this was one of the most low-key holiday seasons for me in recent memory, which was not unappealing. Occasionally, when I look at the pictures plastered all over Facebook, I will think back to my younger days when I was among those who drank to a level of belligerency and remember somewhat fondly nights spent in the basement of Matt Anderson's house with so many friends and acquaintances. So many people I don't remember and probably only met that one time because it was just one of those places. Parties were known to just occur and 20 people would be in that basement, playing pool, listening to some punk-rock and drinking the night away. New Years was regularly a big shindig. But, as is commonplace, people grow up and distances both physical and emotional start to set in. I can't even remember the last time the "old gang" were all together. The closest would probably have been a big party/festival last summer, but there were still several big pieces missing.

Dammit...see, I talked about my nostalgia trying to escape for the past couple posts and here it comes...sorry, I promise the blog gets better further down so feel free to skip ahead if you want.

It's not so much that I'm sentimental for the past...not anymore. I used to be that way. I was clearly a product of my musical taste. "Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?" to borrow a line from Nick Hornby. The fact is I enjoyed my youth. I think most people would say that they look upon their late teens and early/mid-twenties fondly. But I'm 30 now and my future is ahead of me, not behind me. I've accomplished more in the past year than I ever thought I would. I got my first professional writing work published and I re-found a great girl. I'm still trying to learn how to navigate some of the waters I am finding myself in (such as the fact that I had to just fire the artist I found to work on a co-op project Matt and I have been building for the last year or so) and where I need to start pitching new stories. But I'll find my way.

Ok, sentimental nostalgic stuff is OVER! Promise.

Time for some reviews. I'll start with movies I've seen recently and then work my way into previews for upcoming flicks you really should watch if you haven't already. So I finally saw Harry Potter a few weeks back. As I had suspected it diverged from book necessarily and made me wish I had continued my original trend of not reading the book prior to seeing the movie in the HP series. I will say though that the second part is going to be so action-packed and AMAZING, I really can't wait. The movie itself was very good. Though I would criticize the director for making the characters too "teenagery" and by that I mean, annoying mood-swings and outbursts and awkwardness. I get that they ARE teenagers and these things happen, I just think it's annoying and it could have been lessened. Next: Black Swan. I think if you like artsy movies you'll probably love it. I think it was an insane piece of crap. I'm sure it has it's merits and there's obviously some great acting involved from Natalie Portman, but there's a lot of things that make no sense in the story making it hard to enjoy the seriously hot sex scene between the aforementioned actress and Mila Kunis...that alone would warrant a Netflix instant-watch. Next: Tron - Legacy. Visually amazing and not to shock too many die-hard Star Wars fans into coronary's it actually reminded me of Episode I in the sense that it took them 28 years to finally get another Tron project to the theatres and they couldn't do better than this...really? I think, like Lucas, the director/writer fell in love with all the new technology and felt that the visual would outshine the rather lacking script. One saving grace is the kickass soundtrack by Daft Punk, truly amazing and they even make a cameo...I think.

On to the previews: this upcoming summer is shaping up to be one of the best in a very long time from Green Hornet to Green Lantern and Thor to Transformers as the big blockbuster potential hits. But I've also noticed some really cool under-the-radar type movies like: Battle: Lost Angeles and Sucker Punch both of which are due out in March 2011, most likely in an attempt to preempt the summer of giant films. And speaking of 2011 films I would be remiss if I didn't look back at 2010 and reflect on some of the best movies that came out.

I would be hard pressed to find a movie I found more intriguing or inventive than Inception. But rounding out my top five of 2010 would be: She's out of my League, Hot Tub Time Machine, Get Him to the Greek, Iron Man 2, Scott Pilgrim...ok yeah I know that makes it a top 6 list...like there's some rule about 5's and 10's.

I'd love comments on your top movies of 2010 and what movies you're looking forward to in 2011!

Peace,

Tb (JQ)