The Practical Fan

Dragonrim: The Perfect Game

2012-01-31T12:49:00.003-05:00

I've been playing Skyrim alot lately and loving it. I absolutely loved all three Dragon Age (Dragon Age: Origins, DA: Awakenings, DA2), as well as the DLCs. But neither game is perfect.

First things first, I don't like FPS. Not a fan. I like RPGs. I like the immersivness of them, the epic feel of the stories. Combat is way down on my list of things a great game has to have. Well it has to have combat, but I'm fine with fairly simple set up like Skyrim (although playing a rogue in DA2 was AWESOME!!).

Like I said, neither game is perfect. But combine the two? Now we're talking.

Dragon Age has the immersive story and character interaction that I love. You grow to depend/feel for the followers in DA. Their stories develop as yours does. Your decisions affect them, even to the point that you may lose them as a followers. Walking around town, they interact with eachother.

But Dragon Age was linear in it's zones. You couldn't just wander the countryside. Even though there were choices in how to play, it was still fairly rigid.

Skyrim on the other hand is HUGE and open. I've been playing for 100 hours and I'm not even 1/2 way through the main quest. There is just so much to do. Almost too much to do. But the interaction with the NPCs is pretty thin, even the ones that you can have as companions. Skyrim is lacking in that regards.

But Dragon Age isn't. Dragon Age is lacking in the size/openness of the world.

But Skyrim isn't.

So take the two games, mash 'em together and you have my perfect game.

Amalur: Reckoning And The Gold Demo

2012-01-27T10:31:00.002-05:00

So they recently released the demo for Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning. I went on XBox Live to download it. Wanted to check it out, see if the game would be worth picking up.

Turns out that the demo is Xbox Live Gold memberships only.

Seriously?

That's the stupidest thing I've heard.

Reckoning is not a multiplayer game. There is no online component (beyond potential DLC similar to Skyrim and Dragon Age).

So why the hell is the demo exclusive to Gold members only?

I have 0 need to pay for Xbox Live. I don't go online with my Xbox.

This just pisses me off.

Stupid.

I can't think of any reason to make a non-multiplayer game's demo exclusive to Xbox Live Gold members only.

i-heart-radio Not Being Loved?

2012-01-25T18:26:00.001-05:00

So back before the new year, couple months before, kept hearing ads (on the radio) for this new app called i-heart-radio. I'm sure you've all heard about them by now right? Anyways, the free radio app (which is basically Pandora) was going to be "ad free" until the end of the year. Was meant to let people try it out before they would either have to deal with ads or pay for it.

Well, started hearing the other day new ads for the app. Now it's saying "ad free until the end of April".

I don't think they got enough subscribers.

Come May, will it now say "ad free until the end of August"?

Podcast Are The Devil

2012-01-12T23:50:00.001-05:00

I don't like podcasts. I haven't listened to a single one.

I'm old school in that I like reading. I don't mind staring at a computer screen and reading an article (which is kind of funny since I'm against e-readers). Bill Simmons is my favorite sportswriter but I'm so disappointed that he went to doing alot of podcats. I loved reading his stuff but now it's so few and far between, but he does a weekly podcast. I just won't listen to it.

He puts an article up, I'm all over it, even if it's Basketball which I don't relaly follow.

But a podcast? Easy Skip.

The other thing that I don't like is video news on the internet. I'm fine with YouTube videos and that kind of thing, but if I see a news article and I click on it and get a video, I'm not even bothering to read it.

The other day on Yahoo, saw a headline about a picture, so I clicked on it to see the picture. The link brought me to a video of a newscaster talking about the picture, so I had to watch the video for it to come up.

Hate that.

I love technology. I love the internet. But I like to read. Watching is for movies. Listening is for music. Articles are for reading.

Brees Was A Good Trade For Chargers. Sproles Was Not.

2012-01-10T21:58:00.003-05:00

In a recent Snap Judgments on CNNSI.Com, Don Banks asked "and when will Smith's decision to go with Philip Rivers over Brees at quarterback in 2006 rightly go down as one of the worst personnel calls in league history?"

The answer?

Never.

Drew Brees is on of the top four QBs in the league, NOW, there's no doubting that (Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning pre-neck surgery, have to wait and see what happens when he returns). Rounding out the Top 5 would be Ben Roethlisberger or Philip Rivers. That same Rivers that Banks is saying was such a downgrade from Brees.

We have to remember some things about the decision to jettison Brees:
1- He was coming off major shoulder surgery and no one was sure if he would be the same (similar to what is being questioned about Manning now).
2- He wasn't the QB he is now back then.

Look at his numbers with the Chargers:
2002: 76.9 rating, 17 TD, 16 INT (his first full year), 8-8 record (4th in division)
2003: 67.5 rating, 11 TD, 15 INT, 4-12 record (4th in division)
2004: 104.8 rating, 27 TD, 7 INT, 12-4 record (1st in division)
2005: 89.2 rating, 24 TD, 15 INT, 9-7 record (3rd in division)

Decent. A year that showed what he was capable of, but not Top 3 QB numbers or results. During his time with the Chargers he led them to one playoff game and lost in the Wild Card round to the Jets. Where was the evidence to A.J. Smith that Drew Brees would someday break Dan Marino's passing record? Where wsa the evidence that this was a guy that would lead the Chargers to the Super Bowl?

GMs aren't fortune tellers. They can't see what the future will bring. All Smith can do is go off of the evidence before him. With the shoulder surgery, Brees not having been the greatest during his Chargers time, the availability of Rivers in the draft. What was Smith to do?

History will show that Brees is better then Rivers, at least right now, who knows what the future holds for Rivers. But really, there is no gurantee that if Brees had stayed with the Chargers the results would still have been the same. There might not have been a Super Bowl victory. There might not have been the passing record. None of that is guranteed

This deal wasn't the greatest trade in the history of the NFL. But it wasn't anywhere near being "one of the worst personnel calls in league history". Not even close.

For comparasion let's look at Rivers numbers:
2006: 92.0 rating, 22 TD, 9 INT, 14-2 (1st in division, lost to Patriots in Divisional round)
2007: 82.5 rating, 21 TD, 15 INT, 11-5 (1st in division, lost to Patriots in Conference Championship)
2008: 105.6 rating, 34 TD, 11 INT, 8-8 (1st in division, lost to Steelers in Divisional round)
2009: 104.4 rating, 28 TD, 9 INT, 13-3 (1st in division, lost to the Jets in Divisional round)
2010: 101.8 rating, 30 TD, 13 INT, 9-7 (2nd in division)
2011: 88.7 rating, 27 TD, 20 INT, 8-8 (2nd in division)

So where has Rivers been so awful? Four division titles is bad? Sure any GM would trade a Super Bowl victory for 4 division titles. But like I said before, there's no gurantee that Brees would have won a Super Bowl with the Chargers.

Let's look at Brees numbers when he joined the Saints:
2006: 96.3 rating, 26 TD, 11 INT, 10-6 (1st in division, lost to Bears in Conference Championship)
2007: 89.4 rating, 28 TD 18 INT, 7-9 (3rd in division)
2008: 96.3 rating, 34 TD, 17 INT, 8-8 (4th in division)
2009: 109.6 rating, 34 TD, 11 INT, 13-3 (1st in division, won the Super Bowl)
2010: 90.9 rating, 33 TD, 22 INT, 11-5 (2nd in division, lost to Seahawks in Wild Card round)
2011: 110.6 rating, 46 TD, 14 INT, 13-3 (1st in division, playing 49ers in Divisional Round this weekend)

Brees has become one of the top 3/4 (if Manning is playing) QBs in the league. But really how far off from Rivers is he? Like I said, there's no gurantee the same thing would have happened if he had stayed with the Chargers.

Using Banks logic that trading Brees away was so bad, it stands to reason that if he had gone to Miami that the same thing would have happened. He would have won a Super Bowl, he would have passed Marino's record.

Does anyone really believe that?

Now if Brees had done what he had done in New Orleans and Rivers had pulled a Vince Young in San Diego, then it would have been a bad move. But how much of the Chargers not advancing is to blame on Rivers?

Brees is damn good. Rivers is good. Calling the Brees trade one of the worst personal moves in League history is just dumb.

And I usually like what Banks said, but this one was just so crazy I had to comment.

Now the trade of Darren Sproles? That was dumb.

(the difference is that the evidence was there in San Diego that Sproles was capable of doing what he did this year with the Saints, trading him away was just stupid)

The reason the GMs for the Bears and Colts Got Fired? T.J. Yates

2012-01-08T15:23:00.003-05:00

T.J. Yates is the 3rd string quarterback for the Houston Texans. He had a 2-3 record in the games he played and he won the most important game in Texans history, their first playoff game on Saturday (last night).

So what does that have to do with the Indy Colts and Chicago Bears? Both teams fired their GMs but kept their coaches. This is important because it means the owners think/realize that the coaches did their best with the pieces they were give. And who gives the coaches those pieces? The GMs.

Back to Yates. Texans' GM Rick Smith drafted Yates in the 5th round. Was it to be a pure back-up or possible starter is unknown, but it is known that Smith assumed/thought that Yates would be able to play and win games for them. No one ever thinks they'll be that far down the depth chart due to injury, but have to be prepared for it to happen.

Indy lost Peyton Manning for the season and all they had was Curtis Painter. They didn't show the confidence in Painter right from the beginning, they went out and signed Kerry Collins to be their starter. And when he went down to injury, it was the Painter era and that had disastrious results.

Chicago lost Jay Cutler to injury and turned to Caleb Hanie, and the talking head opinion at the time was that Hanie would be just good enough to limp the Bears into the playoffs, since they were already set up well by Cutler. That never happened and it took the Bears GM awhile to give up on Hanie.

It's the GMs job to provide the pieces to field a winning team. The back-up shouldn't be as good as the starter but needs to be capable of winning games (see Patriots with Matt Cassel and Green Bay with Matt Flynn). It's the responsiblity of the GM to prepare the team's personal for the day the starter goes down. That means they need to provide the team with a back-up that will and can win games.

Both Indy's GM, Bill Polian (and son Chris Polian) and the Bear's GM, Jerry Angelo, failed to do that. That's the biggest reason they lost their jobs. The Indy situation was worse then the Bears. Indy's defense went down. This was a team built around Manning and what he was capable of doing. When he went down, the team wasn't the same. That's the fault of the GM.

You might say "But Kansas City had a similar situation. Matt Cassel went down and Tyler Palko was horrible". And you would be correct in mentioning that. The difference between KC and Indy/Chicago is that KC's GM is newer. Angelo and the Polians have been in their jobs for years, Pioli is on year 4. That gives him a little bit of leeway, but not much. There is no excuse for Polians and Angelo.

A 5th round, 3rd string QB cost two long-tenured GMs their jobs by highlighting how badly they had failed at it in recent years.

Lego Will Own My Soul

2012-01-06T09:35:00.003-05:00

So I've gotten the Lego bug.

I loved Legos as a kid. One of my favorite toys. I had a ton of sets but the funnest was throwing all the pieces together and coming up with my own designs: houses, spaceships, cars, etc.. I'd even make bases for my G.I. Joes.

I've always figured that playing with Legos helped lead me to my career choice, architecture.

I stopped buying 'em when grew up, much like other toys, and have now come full circle again, much like other toys. I would always stop in the toy aisles and check out the Legos and always had the urge to buy them, but it wasn't until recently that I gave in.

At first, when I heard about the upcoming DC and Marvel sets, I wanted to get into the Lego City stuff and build a huge city for my super heroes to fight in. But I passed on that idea because there just wasn't enough buildings that I liked. So then I decided I'd do a huge Kingdoms display and have two armies battling it out. Saw alot of older sets I wanted. And picked up a couple Kingdoms sets (anyone want to buy 'em from me now?) to get me started.

But it was going to be so expensive. Legos are one of those things that I will lose myself in if I'm not careful. There's alot of other things I want and not enough money (or house space) to get all the Lego sets that I felt I would need for my Kingdoms (and it would include some Pirates of the Caribbean sets, Harry Potter sets, and older Castle themed sets that would all fit together).

So I was bummed because wasn't going to be able to do what I wanted the way I wanted (which happens alot with toylines I'm finding).

Then I saw the Creator and Modular sets and fell in love.

Creator Buildings
Modular Sets

And then there's the Winter Village stuff:
Winter Village

Now I've missed 3 or 4 Creator houses, 2 or 3 Modular (which cost ALOT in the aftermarket) and 1 of the Winter Villages. Technically I've missed all except the Log Cabin and Hillside House, since those are the only ones have currently.

Out of the Architecture Series I only am interested in the Farnsworth House, Robie House and Falling Water. Those would look awesome displayed on my desk at work.

So with cost being an issue and having to limit myself I finally nailed down what Lego lines I'm going to collect. The Creator houses are sweet and fall in line with my career. The Modular sets are just amazing. The Winter Village sets fall along the same lines.

So I was satisfied with what my limited Lego purchasing would be (limited in number of sets, not cost) and then I saw this video:

They will all be mine.

I'm already thinking of what additional sets and mini-figures I'll need to complete my Lord of the Rings sets.

Luckily the DC sets didn't really interest me. But haven't seen the Marvel sets yet.

So much for having my Lego obsession under control.

The new X-Wing and Y-Wing sets are looking great.

/sigh

Tebow Is The New Wildcat

2012-01-05T13:20:00.004-05:00

Remember a couple of seasons (this is about football, the season spans multiple years) ago when the Miami Dolphins debuted the Wildcat to great success?

They demolished my beloved Patriots and used it to carry them to an AFC East title and the playoffs. The next year though, teams were ready for it and even drafting a "wildcat quarterback" (Pat White, who is out of the NFL now) didn't help. The wildcat has now become an occasional play used to try and surprise the defenses. Although how much of a surprise is it when the QB lines up in the slot (or is off the feed completely)?

So that brings us to Tebow and the success he's had since he took over as starter (although, the last couple of weeks have definately put a dent in that success and only helped reinforce why I think he's the new wildcat).

Tebow caught the other teams by surprise. He's a bad passer, worse then many of the back-ups that are out there (Tyler Palko, Caleb Hanie.. I'm looking at you). But he's just good enough that you have to pay attention to the possibility of a throw. His real threat is running. So when he first showed up behind center it was a surprise to the other teams and that's how he was able to lead the Broncos to victory. He was just good enough that the defense kept them in the games.

Not to take away from his obvious leadership abilities, which is what got his team to rally behind him. It caused the defense to play better and the offense as well.

But look whats happened the last couple of weeks. He's been stuffed. Teams are starting to figure out how to stop him. He's become one dimensional. They aren't fearing his passing abilities like they have to with Cam Newton and Michael Vick. Tebow is becoming the new wildcat. A fad, so to speak, that surprised people with how effective it was but once they figured it out, it wasn't as effective anymore.

During the draft hype leading up to Cam Newton being selected #1, I was pretty confused as to why Newton was #1 and Tebow was a shock that he got picked in the first round. To me, with what I knew going in (not a huge college football fan), they seemed the same type of QB.

But there is a difference. Cam Newton is a good passer. Tim Tebow is not.

The Fan Is Back

2012-01-04T15:43:00.002-05:00

After a lengthy hiatus, The Practical Fan blog is back. Over at Kitty's Pryde, where I'm Editor-In-Chief/Content Coordinator, I've been spending alot of time on comic books but I have thoughts and opinions (oh, I have opinions) about alot of other things. So this is where I'll be talking about those.

Look for alot of posts real quick in the next day or so, about my big Hobbit kick that I'm on, what my ultimate video game would be, my renewed love of Legos and even Tim Tebow.

Kitty Pryde is back!!

2010-04-01T18:10:00.002-04:00

Uncanny X-Men #322 marks the return of Kitty Pryde aka Shadowcat. For those that don't know, Kitty "sacrificed" herself at the end of Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run. The inhabitants of the Breakworld had sent a giant metal bullet straight at Earth (really scary to think about, it doesn't take a bomb to destroy the world, just a large rock sent from space) and Kitty was the only one able to save it. She phased it and the bullet kept going thru the Earth and on into space and beyond, where it phased thru other planets (as beautifully shown in the back-up in this issue).

So Kitty is a hero countless times over.

Magneto, wanting to show the X-Men that he has seen the error of his ways, uses his powers to bring the bullet back to Earth and destroys it, freeing Kitty. His way of apologizing.

Of course, this being comics, things don't go exactly as planned.

But the issue itself?

First the bad.

The art. I USED to be a Whilce Portacio fan. His stuff now, not so much. Why couldn't the Dodsons have done this issue? It would have been a thousand times better. His art is the only bad part.

The good? The rest of it.

Faction does a great job of showing how excited all the X-Men are at the idea of getting Kitty back. It shows, without telling, just how important she is to the team and mutants in general. He makes you really feel bad for Kitty, that she's stuck as she is after all this time and finally returning home.

It'll be interesting to see what Faction does with Kitty after Second Coming, how he gets her out of the problem she's having right now.

And I can't wait for the Lockheed/Kitty reunion.

I'm a huge Kitty Pryde fan and am glad she's back.

Cerebus back with Spawn

2009-12-16T22:59:00.002-05:00

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24060

Okay, it's just a reprint of #10 but still it's good news for those that never read that issue.

What an awesome issue it was, a tale of the woes of the comic book industry back in the day. This was right after Image had formed and creator owned stuff was the new topic of the day and how "limiting" work for hire was.

I haven't read it in years, but I remember it as a great read.

Forever Marvel

2009-12-16T22:47:00.002-05:00

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24084

First X-Men: Forever had Claremont picking up where he left off and now Louise Simonson is picking up where she left off on X-Factor.

Marvel loves to beat things into the ground don't they?

They went overboard with the Noir line of stuff. I mean, what's next? Moon Knight Noir?

Now a 2nd Forever title? Yeah, it's a limited series but come on...

X-Men Forever is just bad. It really doesn't have any redeeming qualities. What is the point of making X-Factor forever?

And what's up with the new uniform designs? Know damn well that if Simonson had continued with #65 there wouldn't have been new designs and those are some pretty modern looking designs, not like what would have been created back then.

And ditching the kids? Yeah, convienant ability to write 'em out.

UGH!!

I do like that she's doing away with the Cable/Cyclop's Kid angle, since as a co-creator of Cable (technically) she never planned that angle to begin with.

Speaking of Cable... I loved the old X-Force stuff but something always bothered me... Cable's first appearance was in trying to get Rusty from the MLF. But over in X-Force he said that he had been coming back in time to watch over Cannonball who he thought was an External (love how that storyline just up and disappeared when Liefeld left Marvel). So if he had come back to watch over Cannonball, what was he doing going after Rusty? Shouldn't Rusty have been the External then?

JSA All-Stars #1 Review

2009-12-15T23:22:00.000-05:00

So I recently just got caught up on DC's Justice Society series. Started with the Robinson/Goyer #1 and all the way up to when Willingham/Sturges took over. I love the JSA. Love the legacy and how it's about family and then became about "making better heroes".

I love Willingham's Fables and the only Sturges thing I had read as his novel, Midwinter (good read, I recommend it). So I went into this with an open mind.

My biggest complaint about the Geoff Johns run was the sheer number of characters in the book. I didn't think we got enough into the "minds" of characters like Cyclone, Judomaster, Citizen Steel, etc.. They were mostly background characters. We got bits and pieces but none of 'em got their moment to shine.

I loved that the art conveyed alot of the family and emotion of the team. How Hourman and Liberty Belle were always in contact with each other, even if it was just holding hands at a meeting, and how Citizen Steels cousins/neices/nephews were always showing up all over the place.

So I thought the introduction of a second book, splitting the cast, would be the way to go. Give 'em all more time to shine.

Now the book itself. The idea is that the the vets (Power Girl, Stargirl, Hourman and Magog... I'll get back to him in a sec) will take the "kids" and provide them training. Help them learn the ropes, learn to function as a "better hero".

That's a good idea. The problem is that alot of those that are the "rookies" have been around for awhile. Cyclone, Citizen Steel, Judomaster, Wildcat's son, etc.. they've dealt with Gog, the Black Marvel Family and other threats. They aren't rookies by any means.

And one of the leaders, Magog, he's the newest member of the JSA except for King Chimeara, the only true rookie on the team.

So the idea of training the rookies, makes sense to enable them to split the team, but it really is kind of flimsy. I think they should have gone with the approach Marvel did and just had teams on different coasts or something like that. Would have made a tad more sense.

Especially since two of the youngest members, Jakeem Thunder and Lightning (who is also a relative rookie compared to Cyclone, Citizen Steel and Wildcat) are on the "old" team. Mr. America is a relative rookie as well.

Oh well, I can live with that because the rest of the story is good. There's training, trying to form squads to handle different parts of a threat, some inter-team conflict. All the things needed for a good story are there.

And done pretty well. I enjoyed the read alot.

It was the art that made it hard for me to get into.

I don't like Freddie Williams at all. The art was detailed. But the figures were too angular for my tastes. I just couldnt' get into it.

He draws a horrible Cyclone in flight.

As a first issue, was enough to draw people in, even those that hadn't been fans of the JSA before. They do a good job explaining why there are two squads of JSA now and the cliffhanger ending is definately enough to make me want to come back for more.

Sturges does a good enough job to make up for the art and make me look past it.

My G.I. Joe Fanfic

2009-12-15T23:19:00.002-05:00

Yeah, fan fiction. Yeah I hate it too. But I finally decided to start writing and found a way that works for me. Always before tried novels and just went off on thousands of tangents and could never continue. Well now I found a way to handle the tangents and keep the interest.

Short spurts, couple pages long, out of sequance, multiple things going on at once, all in one cohesive universe with fan nods to all the other things Joe.

Hopefully it works out and people like it.

http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-joe-general-discussion/61938-troys-j-o-e-verse.html#

Ridley Scott's Robin Hood

2009-12-15T23:16:00.002-05:00

First I've heard of this. Watched the trailer on Quicktime's site.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/robinhood/

Definately got me interested. I'm a big Ridley Scott (and Tony Scott) fan and Ridley was responsible for three of my all time favorite movies: Legend, Gladiator and Blackhawk Down.

Will definately be checking this one out.

DC enters the Red Circle

2009-09-09T18:29:00.003-04:00

So I was kind of surprised that the Red Circle properties were the big announcement on JMS' (no I'm not spelling it out) entry into working for DC. Why these properties? They had failed before (last time being the horrible Impact line). So why did JMS want to do 'em and why in god's name did DC let him?

Oh yeah.. it's JMS.

So the idea is that JMS does this 4 "stand alone" stories and then other writers will take on the ongoing and co-features that the characters will appear in.

So these other writers have to hope that JMS pulls off interesting enough stories to make people want to buy the books without JMS' name attached to them.

Does that make sense?

No, not to me either.

So I read the 4 books.

Why on earth did this "project" get approved? Those books were horrible. Bad doesn't begin to describe them.

Boring characters. There were no hooks to make people interested in them. JMS also linked all the characters together.

Also, Didio went out of his way to say the books were going to be integrated in the DC Universe. So where was the integration? Instead of the Hangman being in Inferno, why not a mainstay DC character (and why do you need the Hangman when you have the Spectre??). When the Web makes his ad, wouldn't there be reaction from other heros?

So much for integration.

I don't see these lasting long. Yet another failed attempt at these characters.

Thanks for nothing JMS.

Vick and the Eagles.. not good

2009-08-16T20:17:00.002-04:00

I'm not going to get into the political/moral mess of whether Vick should be allowed to play football or not. Going to avoid that one completely. This is just how Vick signing with the Eagles is in a football sense.

For Vick, it's a good situation. He's got a no-nonsense coaching staff that will keep him on a uhm... uh.. leash, so to speak and can deal with the added media pressure having Vick around will cause.

It's also a place that has a good starting QB and Vick can sit back and relearn football and be used situationally.

But it's a bad move by the Eagles. They already have McNabb who has never been the most solid of pysches. The guy freaked when the Eagles drafted Kevin Kolb. McNabb is fragile, mental (and physical, but that's another story). McNabb is going to constantly be looking over his shoulder. He was benched last season for poor play, the move worked because it lit a fire under McNabb's ass, but what happens if he gets benched again and Vick gets inserted?

The first sign of poor play by McNabb and the Philly fans will be screaming for Vick.

Not a good thing.

I hate to say it, and this is the political/moral stuff creeping in, but as much as I wouldn't have wanted it to happen, the best place for Vick would have been the Patriots. The no-nonsense staff to deal with the media and keep Vick in line and there's no way that unless he got injuried you're going to replace Tom Brady.

But Vick signed with Philly and now McNabb is going to looking over his shoulder instead of down the field.

Brady's First Preseason Game

2009-08-16T19:58:00.001-04:00

So he played the first half. Looked good. Couple nice passes, real nice one to Moss. Bad interception but was hard to tell if it was underthrown or the receiver just didn't slow down enough. But 2 nice TD passes.

I liked that he did a QB Sneak. If there was going to be any hesitation on his part about mixing it up and worrying about his injury and leg getting twisted it would have been during that play. I didn't see any.

So seems as if Brady is back to his pre-injury form.

Also looks like the Pats picked up a new weapon in Julian Edelman, or as I like to call him: Wes Welker Jr.

The rest of the league is probably a little worried now.

Mini-Review of the RoC Artic Snake-Eyes

2009-08-16T19:50:00.003-04:00

I was going to avoid it at first. I didn't like it. The hood just seemed weird on a SE figure. Then I saw the movie. Okay, the outfit makes more sense.

Now I saw it in the stores. There was no hesitation, it was in my hand. The figure is awesome.

One of my favorite figures. It just looks like a snow commando should.

Great paint job, great looks. Yeah, it suffers the same fate as all those figures with the skirts, but I don't care. It's great.

The accessories.. He comes with a sword, a pistol and an ice pick for climbing. Wish he came with a rifle, but Marauder's can fix that.

The Resolute/ME Arctic SE ice shoes would have been perfect to put with this figure but that's okay.

But the backpack... OMG....

It's a string that runs thru it with 2 hooks on either hand. Yes, he can slide down the rope. There are knots near the ends so he won't go flying into stuff, couple inches away, so you can let him go and he'll stop before he hits anything (yes, I did test this real quick).

It's a new style backpack. It just doesn't go into the peg on his back, but it fits around him. More realistic. Also makes sense to help hold the backpack onto SE.

This guy gets a 4.5 out of 5. Iceshoes and a rifle would have made this a perfect figure.

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra Movie Review

2009-08-07T21:47:00.004-04:00

This is gonna be long.

4 out of 5

It did it's job. Walking out, some 8/9 year old kid turns to his father and goes "THAT WAS AWESOME!!"

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome a new addition (hopefully one of many) to the ranks of the G.I. Joe fandom.

From the previews and trailers I figured I'd enjoy the movie, I knew it would make a good action flick. What was up in the air was if it would make a good G.I. Joe movie.

And yes, yes it does.

I'm an old Joe fan from '82. Figures, comic books and the cartoon. I love the franchise and I welcome RoC to the mythos. Is it what I wanted and envisioned when I pictured Joe on the big screen? No, not even close. But the spirit and essence of G.I. Joe is there. Military action mixed with a little sci-fi and some character drama (yes, even if it's my least favorite part of the entire mythos, it's still there).

RoC had it all. Was some of it over the top? Yeah. Was some of the tech a little out there? Yeah. But then so are weather dominators and MASS Devices.

I really liked the movie, alot. I'll probably go and see it again (last time I saw a movie twice in the theaters was Return of the King), and this time I'll bring my nephews.

Non-stop action. Great one-liners.

I read the novelization and noticed ALOT that was left on the cutting room floor. And the ending was changed, I liked the novelization ending better, and the extra "scenes" that were in the novel would have helped out alot, especially at the very beginning at NATO Command.

So the good stuff, let's get it out of the way:

I want, no I NEED, the Panther and Rhino from the beginning. Those were some really cool vehicles and I want 'em. I'm now being "forced" to pick up a Typhoon Gunship and Steel Crusher, after seeing 'em in the movie the "maybes" for the toys became definates.

For the most part the actors got the parts down. I didn't really like Breaker, he seemed kind of squirrely, but the rest were good. I didn't think Tatum was as wooden as others have said. Ripcord definately wasn't anywhere near as bad as people were afraid he would be. Hawk was Hawk. Storm Shadow was a BAD-ASS, I mean a really bad BAD-ASS. Loved the look. Sleek, modern, cultured. Lee pulled it off awesomely.

Miller as the Baroness? Great job. She said alot with just a look or a single line like the one that she said when Storm Shadow killed DeCobray. Looked stunning and made a great villianess. She looked like she was having fun (up until the end anyways).

JGL's Rex/Doctor/Commander. Didn't really have much to show off his acting chops, but made a good pyscho villian. Freaky, scary, insane. Just how you want a villian to be.

Destro, I liked alot. I don't know why everyone is on this thing that he needs to be a big physical presence, he never struck me as that. Always struck me as more cultured then physical. And Eccelistein (sp?) is a dead ringer for how Destro looked in the Marvel comic when he took the helmet off.

The one I didn't like? Snake-Eyes. The costume just looked weird. The mouth wasn't what bothered me, it was the hard rubber top. It didn't show expression at all. Made the performance kind of bland and odd. Didn't help that he changed outfits more then a girl.

He must have made Scarlett jealous. And boy, was Scarlett hot. I would love a Paris Pursuit Scarlett complete with motorcycle.

Rachel Nichols did a good job as Scarlett.

And I liked Marlon Wayans Ripcord. Great character. He's what I figured he would be: the funny, sarcastic, wisecracking buddy that we all have that when the chips are down he's got your back and becomes serious.

The CGI wasn't the best, but it didn't end up detracting from the movie. The plot was solid, no major glaring holes (which even Oscar winners have). Great action sequances from beginning to end.

The Elite-Vipers and EELs looked great. I liked the Neo-Vipers better then I thought I would when seen on screen.

Zartan. Yep, can't wait for the sequal now.

What I didn't like?

The Duke/Rex/Baroness thing was kind of blah. Didn't really like it, but then I didn't like that part of the comics either. So no big surprise that I could have done without that aspect of it.

I didn't like the words "G.I. Joe" appearing on the camo they wore in the PIT.

Would have liked to have seen more of the PIT, the place must be HUGE.

Some of the dialogue was bad. I mean really bad. At the cheese level and dipping it's foot into the pool.

I didn't like Breaker. He just felt squirrelly and weaselly. Don't know why, but just didn't like him.

I didn't like the opening scene. I know why it was there, and accept and understand that, but I didn't like how it was pulled off. During that scene I started getting afraid that the movie was going to be bad, that scene just didn't sit well. I don't know if was the dialogue, the sets, the acting or what, but just something about it wasn't right.

Thank god the movie righted itself and got on track real quick.

Now the Accelerator Suits and the Paris Scene. I've always said I wasn't a fan of 'em and I'm still not, but damn that scene was fun to watch. The suits running and jumping everywhere, Scarlett weaving in and out of traffic on the bike.

What a fun scene that was to watch. Now just don't ever use the suits again and we'll be good to go.

All in all, it's a little better then I thought it would be. It's the type of movie I thought it would be, not earth shattering or oscar winning but just damn fun to watch.

I walked out and enjoyed the time. And I'll go back and see it again.

A Note on How I Review

2009-08-04T21:45:00.002-04:00

So I figure I should mention how I review things (books, movies, games, etc..).
I don't like doing direct comparasions. I let everyone stand on it's own and not look thru "tinted" glasses. Now, that's not saying that I don't judge by the standards of today. We know what a minimum level of graphics should be with the technology we have available today. But I won't ever directly compare Game B to Game A and judge Game B because Game A had superior graphics. Game B should be able to stand on it's own.

I may say Game B is like Game A, so you get an idea, but I won't judge Game B because of the way Game A is.

Same goes for books, movies, etc.

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra Video Game Review

2009-08-04T21:35:00.005-04:00

It's fun. Is it earth shaking, ground breaking or anything like that?

No. But it's fun. I'm enjoying myself playing it.

The best part, it starts up right after the movie. I think this story will end up serving as a bridge between the movie and the sequal (or cartoon or whatever the next incarnation of RoC is). For instance, the Baroness is a prisoner and she gets rescued and the Joes find a Cobra symbol and have no clue what it is. So storywise, the Joes just know that M.A.R.S went rogue, they don't know that M.A.R.S. is becoming Cobra.

Another good part, the M.A.S.S. device makes it's RoC appearance.

Another good part, the PIT playset is there. It's the Joes mobile headquarters, so even though it wasn't in the movie, it makes it's appearance.

Also, only past the first level and already have seen (thru communications) appearances by: Stalker (looking like the Resolute version), Tunnel Rat, Dial Tone (female), Wild Bill, Snow Job and Data Frame (not looking like the old Mainframe but kind of similar to his DDP appearance when he had that big ol' ugly tech suit, but not that bad).

The bad: the voices, horrible. Really really bad. Hawk's is the only one close to his movie. The rest are bad.

The communications interplay between Dial Tone and Breaker gets a couple chuckles.

The gameplay. It's Contra. You have one direction to go and you basically take down everything in your path. The targeting is pretty simple, just look in the direction of the enemy and shoot.

There's nothing that "out there" about it. Just move thru the levels, mowing down enemies.

Got to drive the Snow Cat. Driving is a pain in the ass.

It's a fun game. Nothing complex, just fun.

Graphics are fine. They're not meant to be works of art, they're passable. Definately not ugly, but not stellar either.

As for the complaint that there's no online play. I don't care. Doesn't bother me in the slightest since I don't play console games online.

I'd give it a 7 out of 10. Worth the 50 bucks? No, probably not, but then I don't think any game is worth that much, but luckily I had a gift card.

Origin of "blowing smoke up your ass"

2009-08-03T21:13:00.007-04:00

Guy at work sent this around today. Thought it was pretty damn funny.

My question, what kind of thought process begins and ends with the person thinking it's a good idea to pump tobacco smoke up someone's ass?

Mattel's Monkeying Around

2009-08-03T20:00:00.009-04:00

So have you heard this yet? Probably have.
Mattel's Monkeying Around

So where to begin with what's wrong with this...

1 - Not telling people BEFORE the show that they weren't making enough Gleeks to match the Wonder Twins set
2 - Not making enough Gleeks to match the amount of the Wonder Twins sets at SDCC
3 - "Finding" a box and just giving it out to a website at "random" (yeah right, does anyone believe that?)
4 - Just giving a big F-U to the fans with their explanations from "toyguru"

Look, exclusives are by definition "rare" and "hard to get" but this is just ridiculous. If you're a toy company and you release an exclusive figure and say it's only going to be available at the show, you damn well better make enough to go around. ESPECIALLY if it's part of a set.

What good is the Wonder Twins set (available online) without Gleek? It's just completely missing something.

And to top it all off, you limit people to 6 ON AN ITEM THAT IS ALREADY VERY LIMITED!! What the hell are you thinking? Limit it to 1 a person. HELLO!! It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going to happen to the other 5 and or 6.

EBay here we come and scalpers prices will go thru the ROOF!

Damn, nice way to work with the collectors.

Mattel just looks horrible, and rightly so. What a disaster. I'd be incredibly pissed off if I went to SDCC and bought a set expecting a Gleek and got none. And to then have to go and pay EBay Scalper prices (and hold on scalpers, I'll get to you on this fiasco later, I just have to look up the words to describe the way I feel about you...) to get something you were told you would get anyways?

Good way to lose the fans and the market.

Evony and the art of the ad

2009-08-02T20:51:00.005-04:00

So I'm sure you've all seen the ads for Evony, the free MMO game? If you haven't, where have you been? They're all over the place.

Isohunt had an add that was just a close up of some computer graphic boobs with "Evony" across them.

So because budget is tight and I don't want (and can't afford) a monthly subscription, I've been looking for free games to play online. I get bored with RPGs and such for the console/PC. Good for awhile, but I like talking to people well I play.

So I fell for the ads. It wasn't the graphic art of the hot babe, naw, it was really the idea of a storyline. The ads said stuff like "rescue your love", and they had pictures of hot babes.

So I said, "hey, why not", and checked it out.

It's fun and all. It's basically just a kingdom building game. You build your resources, build your town, build your army and attack others. That's it. Nothing new or groundbreaking. It's not bad, easy to use, somewhat addicting.

But there's no hot babes.

There's no "love" to rescue.

What the heck?

Well, I guess the ads do there job.

08/03/09 Update:

Saw this ad on IsoHunt today.

What kind of game would you think it is?

And another one:

I don't know about you. But I really want to play this game.

Oh wait.. I already do.

It just looks nothing like that.

Damn ads.

If the Sox World Series are tainted so is everyone else's

2009-08-02T20:26:00.000-04:00

So David Ortiz and Manny Ramariz apparently tested posted on the MLB 2003 list. And this affects the 2004 and (more importantly) the 2007 Red Sox World Series how? 104 people on that list, 30 ball clubs. Do the math. Chances are good that at least 1 person from every team is on the list, and there is probably many more then that that were juicing prior to 2003 when the scandals started.

If you’re going to call the 2004 and 2007 series into question, then you need to call into question every single World Series from 2007 on until whenever it can be determined that players weren’t using steroids (the 60s? 70s?).

Wasn’t it in 2005 that the more stringent testing policy went into effect? So that would seem to indicate that any series after 2005 is free of question, which would mean the 2007 Series is untainted.

So what about 2004? Like I said, if you’re going to call into question 2004, then you better call into question every series prior to that as well.

So you Yankee fans, do you really want to start coming down on the Sox, because all yours are tainted as well.

What is a Practical Fan?

2009-08-02T19:46:00.005-04:00

What is a Practical Fan?

You know the majority of the fans on the brand-specific message boards that go nuts over the littlest things? Those aren’t practical fans.

You know the ones that go absolutely nuts about price increases (we all hate ‘em but…) without listening to the logic of why it had to happen? Those aren’t practical fans.

You know the ones that go nuts if a new version doesn’t match their ideal version (which was probably out in the 80s and is really only ideal because it’s immortalized in a memory) in every single detail? Those aren’t practical fans.

No offense to anyone that matches those descriptions.

A practical fan is just as much a fan of the property as any of the more rapid (and vocal) ones. A practical fan just realizes that sometimes things happen that are beyond their control and try to look for the positive in new releases or whatever.

A practical fan will listen to logic when it’s presented, may not like the conclusions but at least listens and understands that there is a wider world out there and more concerns then just what the fans want.

A practical fan understands that the loud fanbase on the message boards is a very small amount of the larger fanbase, it’s just more vocal.

Most fans, and there’s nothing wrong with this, are incredibly passionate about their brand/franchise/whatever. Sometimes very rigidly so. A practical fan is just as passionate, except they are tempered with the ability to listen to logic and to adapt.

Fandom isn’t black and white, there’s lots of shades of grey. A hardcore fan doesn’t see it that way. A practical fan does.

Now this is talking in absolutes. No one is really an absolute. I tend to think that the majority of fans are practical, it’s just a very few that aren’t and those are the ones that seem to stand out the most.

Blackest Night#1 Review

2009-08-02T19:44:00.002-04:00

Blackest Night #1

Spoilers galore. You have been warned.

If you aren’t familiar with the DC universe and haven’t been reading Green Lantern (or at least keeping up with it) then you’ll be pretty lost as to what is going on here. I never read Blackest Night #0 so maybe that helps out, maybe not.

For instance, I know who that weirdo Guardian is that attacks the others. That’s Scar. But there’s nothing in this issue to tell you who that is or what her (that’s a female??) issue is. But man is she vicious, biting out the throat of another Guardian.

The whole thing is kind of creepy. Ralph and Sue Dibny are especially creepy. Geoff Johns does a great job of keeping their personalities somewhat intact (considering they’re zombies and evil now) but making them incredibly creepy and scary.

They do take down the Hawks too easily though, especially Hawkgirl. Spear in the back? That was too good a character for such a crappy death. I did like Hawkman getting his skull bashed in.

What’s the deal with Bruce Wayne’s skull? And licking it? Really didn’t need to see that in such detail.

Ivan Reis’ pencils are great, but nothing spectacular. Seems like a “house” style, like what I’m used to seeing in a big DC event. The work is nice and he does an amazing job on the pages where Hal shows Barry all the heros that have died since Barry “left”.

I won’t mention how I wish they had left Barry Allen alone. The guy had probably the greatest and most heroic death of any hero ever and they bring him back. /sigh

Martian Manhunter makes his “dramatic” return. The surprise is gone because I’d already seen some of the toys and that ruined the surprise of some of the Black Lanterns (Martian Manhunter, Superman-2 and Aquaman). I’ve always liked the Manhunter. But he’s always been too powerful. Sucks that you have to read about the fight in Green Lantern’s comic.
I hate being forced to buy other comics to get the story that starts off in event comic.
I’m a little worried that they’re making too many Black Lanterns. I know the heroes are supposed to face overwhelming odds, but the pace the Black Lanterns are being made, the heroes won’t be facing just overwhelming odds they’ll be facing catasphoric odds.

Not bad for a 1st issue, sets up the greater conflict. I didn’t like that you had to know who all the players were before hand, it relies too much on us either getting other titles of Blackest Night #0. That’s not always a good thing to relay on the reader having all the pertinent information before hand.

TPF Rating: 7 out of 10

Good enough to buy the next issue. Not good enough to make me sit on the edge of my seat waiting.

On Record For the G.I. Joe Sequals (and yes I think there will be some)

2009-08-02T19:43:00.003-04:00

I would just like to go on record as to what I think the plots of the next two G.I. Joe movies will be, pure guessing on my part, I don’t have any insider knowledge (but if someone wants to give me some, I’ll be more then happy to accept it).

G.I. Joe #2 – Will be a more “classic” look (letting all the hardcore fans of ARAH get their day in the sun). A Joe will get captured (probably Duke, cause that’s what Duke does). Flint and Lady Jaye will be the new big Joes that show up. Duke will get injected with the nano-mites and will be made to fight the Joes but he’ll rebel agaist the control and we’ll find out that the nano-mites can’t make you do something you wouldn’t already be inclined to do (hence the Baroness still being bad even when not controlled by the nano-mites). Storm Shadow will return and become a good guy (blah). The main plot will be around Cobra Commander’s latest “take over the world” invention, which of course the Joes destroy.

G.I. Joe #3- Cobra Commander’s starting to lose focus. His troops have low morale (this gets into the whole thing of what happens when evil always loses, see the posting on that topic…), they’re questioning his leadership. All that kind of stuff. So Dr. Mindbender (who’s got a cameo in the first movie and has slowly been working his way up the main character ladder) comes up with the idea of creating the ultimate genetic soldier using the nano-mites and DNA. What CC doesn’t know is that this ultimate genetic soldier is also supposed to be the ultimate leader. And so Serpentor is introduced into the RoC universe. The usual stuff happens, Serpentor triumphs and gets his butt kicked at the end.

Now, I’m no Serpentor fan, but I think it makes a logical progession based on what the main focus and main tech of the new RoC Cobra organization is.

Only time will tell if I’m right.

Of course this is all null and void if the movie bombs (which I don't think it will)

Evil Needs To Win

2009-08-02T19:41:00.000-04:00

So I think evil needs to win.

I don’t mean for real, but in the movies/comics/toys/books/etc..

What kind of threat is an organization that gets it’s ass handed to itself after every episode? How are we supposed to take the threat seriously when we know that at the end, the good guys (no matter how down they appear to be) will always rise up and save the day. Sure, someone may die, but they usually die in a way that saves the day.

And who would want to work for an organization what that kind of track record?

“Why do you want to work for Cobra?”
“I saw that you almost succeeded with the Pyramid of Darkness, the MASS Device and the Weather Dominator. I want to be part of that.”

So I think that evil needs to win now and then. They need to defeat the good guys. Not just during the middle act, but at the end act. Every once in awhile, not all the time, because that has the same effect. If evil wins all the time, then there’s no reason to root for the good guys because we know they won’t win. But every once in awhile, the evil mastermind’s plan needs to work.

Not just kill a major good guy, they need a decisive victory.

I’ll settle for them getting away with stealing something, just as long as the good guys don’t recover it at the end, I mean that’s a start anyways.

But let the bad guys win now and then. It’ll make it that much more satisfying the next time the good guys get a victory, it’ll have meant something.