More JSA Here are some more shots of the various DC heroes that will be appearing on Smallville in a big ole two-hour movie. You've got Hawkman and Green Arrow having a heart-to-heart talk and also Dr. Fate and Stargirl -- who kinda looks like she was dragged along to this whole thing and isn't so happy about it.
The Mighty Thor
There's been a lot of casting news and hubub around the Thor movie lately but I'm still having some trouble getting into the idea. I mean, Thor is even a tough sell sometimes in comics when you get right down to it. Especially when he kicks it with other heroes. Like, him and Spidey hanging out? That's weird, man. Amiright? Anyway, Marvel big dog Joe Quesada is saying that Thor will redefine superhero films. Yay?
And finally… This is pretty damn funny AND makes me hungry all at once. Wonder Woman, not the secret pizza, of course. (** record scratch! **)
Awesome
If this e-mail exchange is for reals it's gold. Hey, even if it isn't, it's still damn funny.
COD: MW2 DLC = $$$
Have you played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 yet? I haven't picked it up yet but I think that may be the next game I buy (since no one sent me a copy to review). So, yeah, no shooting up of the n00bs and whatnot. Not for a little bit, anyway. Activision should be okay until then since they sold a metric fuck-ton of them already. With that said, they're looking to launch some downloadable content in the spring that will probably sell faster than tickets to a Free Bags of Money and Blow Jobs convention.
Choice
I don't know if y'all read that reallllly long post I tossed off up here yesterday. Not the one about Power Girl's boobs but the one re: Dragon Age: Origins. In it, I talked a bit about choice in games -- moral or otherwise -- and how it's a cool and sort of evolving topic in the art of gaming. Well, here's a good article to have a look at if you're interested in pursuing the topic a little further.
And finally…
Is it wrong that: a) I find this brilliant and b) can't stop laughing at it? (Via Topless Robot)
Fight Club I like director David Fincher's work for the most part (understatement). Se7en is one of my faves. And so is Fight Club, which is now 10 years old. Crazy, huh? Here's a great essay on the film's, uh, greatness.
Comic Books
The AV Club has their best comic books of the '00s. I gotta say, no Fables or Walking Dead seems weird to me -- am I wrong, more serious comic book graphic novel readers out there? Pretty hipster choices in there, as with their best games piece, too. Sure, BioShock and Portal are great games but please don't lecture me while you're picking them, thank you. Also, Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead = best games of 2008; do not = best games of '00s.
Ubiquitous Mass Effect 2 entry
Lots of news on this front. First, there are TWO awesome vids. The first teases the return of Tali, one of the beloved characters from the first game. If you played the original game, the video is guaranteed to make you go, "Ohhhh shit!" The second demonstrates an adept, one of the character classes from the new game. If you haven't played the original game, the video is guaranteed to make you go, "Ohhhh shit!" Moving along, there's also a story on how BioWare plans on churning out a shit-ton of DLC for Mass Effect 2. Sounds good to me considering the first game got one semi-decent DLC and one WTF? one.
Dexter
Do you like the voiceovers on Dexter? I know I do. Michael C. Hall, the dude that plays Dexter, likes 'em, too. He talks about his process for churning them out here. The best part: imagining him saying all this in his creepy/awesome Dexter voice.
Power Girl’s costume
If you look up at the top of this entry you'll see DC Comics' Power Girl. You'll also see a good portion of her boobs. Believe it or not, the pic I've chosen is tasteful among Power Girl pics. They get sort of ridiculous and even insulting sometimes. Well there's a reason, supposedly, and, short answer: it's about female empowerment. Not buying it? Neither is Comics Alliance. It's funny, I mean, I've always thought PG was sexy in that drawing-of-a-sexy-lady-in-a-comic-book kinda way, but it's pretty obvious they're leading with the boobs, no? Please stop with the patronizing explanation.
Tron You wanted a Tron video game? You got one! To me, a new video game makes more sense than a new movie, but there you go.
I’ve played about a day of Dragon Age: Origins (the game told me so) and a lot has happened in that time.
Keeping it spoiler free (because I really think you should play this game and discover what happens on your own) I’ve killed a bunch of stuff, talked (and grown) with my ever-expanding band of companions and continued slutting around the countryside of Ferelden with the hopes of stopping the major bummer of a full-on Darkspawn invasion known as a “Blight.”
It’s serious business, even with all the slutting around.
I’m sure you’re saying to yourself: “My friend, at a milestone such as this, it is time for some deep reflection upon your many long travels thus far.” (That totally sounds like you, BTW) And you’re right.
So: what have I learned so far?
Again, what with the non-spoilers thing, I can really only talk in broad strokes and generalizations – things you probably aren’t accustomed to reading anywhere at all on the Internet, so I apologize.
The main thing that starts to sink in as you play Dragon Age: Origins is dread. Deep, dark, deepening dread.
Where does it come from?
You would think it out of place in one of these epic fantasy tales of heroic deeds and elven maidens and whatnot, right? And, the thing is, for the most part, that’s what DAO is so far: a big ole ball of fantasy goodness.
My character is completely awesome. I don’t just mean that because he’s like Aragorn and the Knights of the Round Table combined -- with a little 1960s Mick Jagger thrown in for the ladies; I mean it in that I’m playing him to be an incredibly noble person, with bottomless honor and bravery and a willingness to back up all his friends no questions asked. Sure, I play it so that he basically can’t say no to rolling around with women – high born, wenches, elves alike – but he’s always honest about what’s going on. So basically, so far Dragon Age has been me and my friends going around on awesome adventures being awesome.
So why the dread?
Well, I think it seeps in there in a number of ways and on a number of levels, starting with the glorious and simple menu screen.
Let me set it up: We see two war-ravaged swords stabbed into the earth, abandoned – as storm clouds ominously churn above. The music is sad in the background. A drop of blood (almost mournfully) rolls off the guard of one of the blades. Unclear debris (bodies?) is strewn into the background. Is this the aftermath of an epic clash of armies that shakes the world? Is it one fought by a small brave band of companions, one that changes the world forever though none shall notice? Whatever has happened, it is over and it isn’t (entirely) good.
Here, watch and listen:
That’s the menu screen! What has happened here? There’s a reason they went with this one and not some sexy sorceress fire-balling a shit-ton of orcs hurlocks, right? Shoot, they could have even gone with the blood dragon Dragon Age motif (at the top of the entry) – that’s pretty sweet looking, right? But they didn’t. They went with this scene and it seems like it was for a reason.
Sure, at first, I was all like, “That’s pretty much standard fantasy code for the kickassery that is about to ensue – gimme!” But soon it felt like more. Soon, I felt the dread of impending doom and tragedy.
Maybe it was the clouds that started it. The clouds definitely can’t be a sign of anything good to come. Look at those! They’re all sepia and stormy and orange and roiling like a fire that’s going out.
Then the swords – chipped, abandoned, sad somehow. And bloody. (Keep an eye on the sword on the right for the blood drop…) It feels like they want to tell me their tale – to experience their tale – rather than just be plunder. How did they wind up here, forgotten? Who once wielded them? Was it/is it me? What happened?
Throw in the mournful tune, the plaintive lady singing – and then the build up to a pounding, ominous march that comes out of nowhere.
Dread, dudes. Dread.
And that’s just the menu screen.
Before I talk about anything grounded in the actual play of the game itself, I thought I’d draw your attention to a couple of side points related to the game that fill me with dread as well.
First off: BioWare describes the game as a “dark fantasy epic.” They don’t describe it as a “fun fantasy epic” or a “bitchin’ fantasy epic” or even an “epic fantasy saga” or anything like that. It’s their “dark fantasy epic” and they use the word “dark,” specifically.
Now, of course, they could mean that in a sort of, “it’s violent, there’s sex, people die but it ends on a heroic, happy note after it all” kinda way – but something tells me this isn’t the case.
That something is my second side point: Of all the possible (and probable) influences on the game (Tolkien, Jordan, Kay, etc.) the developers constantly reference George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series as the main one. That says a lot.
If you haven’t read these books, and you are a fan of fantasy, you should definitely pick them up. In a nutshell, it’s an unsentimental tale of a kingdom’s fall into anarchy through treachery and court intrigue – meanwhile an impending invasion by evil demon-like beings is coming from the north. That’s a simplification, of course but you get the idea. Main characters die on a regular basis and ugly things happen all over the place. More importantly: survival often depends on one’s ability to remain in moral gray areas, manipulating others to make bold moves and suffer the consequences while you reap the rewards. Notions of honour, heroism, glory (the usual fantasy fare) get characters schooled pretty quickly – if they don’t wind up dead in a ditch first.
This brings me to my next point about the dread.
Game narrative is evolving at an incredible rate currently. I’m not going to debate about what makes it up or how it’s created and blah blah – I’ll let the usual suspects do that. What I’m talking about in relation to Dragon Age is that I’m detecting a certain form of manipulation from the narrative that may lead to some very dark things in the tale.
BioWare tells some real bangers when it comes to stories. Yes, you get the usual epic plot arc RPGs require, but you also get character arcs that are just as epic. There are romances and friendships that hang in the balance of what you choose to do. And BioWare really, really has a knack for creating interesting characters. It makes the moral choices in the game (yes, I know the morality in games is artificial and all that but for the sake of this discussion – shut it) that much harder when you’re invested in the characters.
When I played games like Fallout 3 and Oblivion, I wasn’t finding this. Sure, your choices had consequences but it all seemed arbitrary. And the characters were usually ciphers, placeholders, fonts of info I needed. They weren’t characters, really. Do something good to someone and they probably did something good for you and vice versa. The game, the NPCs, everything meant as much as you allowed it to. The storytelling was very passive, in the background. If you let it affect you, it would, otherwise you could just run around, kill things, collect stuff and finish up the quests. Or not. Whatever.
With a Dragon Age, the game actively forces you to care about what you’re doing by throwing so much character and emotional beats that you can’t help it. The “Origins” portion of the introduction is integral to this, indoctrinating you in the game’s world. It takes an active approach to engaging you, as a film or TV show might.
So, where am I going with this?
Well – again without getting all spoilery – I think I’m being played. Manipulated. Hoodwinked. Had. I keep getting a sinking feeling that one of my companions is using my admittedly 2D Sir Lancelot-style heroism for their own gains. It’s not overt. Not yet. They don’t wink at the camera or anything like that. It’s just a feeling. A feeling of dread.
I feel like the game may not reward the standard fantasy hero in the standard fantasy manner. Time will tell. Ask me how it’s going after my next 24 hours of game time.
Much has happened since last I wrote. Twelve or so hours of action, actually.
There has been tragedy, tough moral choices, sex with elven (elfin? elvish?) ladies in waiting, family strife, betrayal, sex with hookers in a brothel, conspiracies, card games, scraps with the undead, intrigue, poisoning – and battle after bloody battle.
I’ve made a bunch of enemies. I’ve made a bunch of friends. And it’s the friends that I’m more interested in. The relationships are so deep and nuanced already. I’ve had one of my friends question something I’ve done and make me feel like total shit for doing what I did. My flirtations with one woman in my party have made the other jealous. Everyone questions my choices. It’s hard being the leader of a bunch of fantasy characters. You have no idea.
Maybe I should just go back to the brothel. It’s a lot easier there.
Dragon Age: Origins
I'm at about hour 12 of my playthrough of BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins and I'm not even close to finishing the first major quest. It's got me bouncing around the world, getting attacked, jumping into bed with hookers -- and loving every minute of it. The only thing I don't like about the game is that one day -- one sad, sad day -- it will end and I will finish the game. BioWare feels my pain. Helping to postpone the heartbreak, they've announced the second DLC for the game and I'm damn happy about it.
Left 4 Dead 2
Speaking of DLC, is the recently released sequel already lining up its own content pack?
Samurai Jack
Did you like Samurai Jack? I did. It was subtle, lovingly-crafted and very, very unique. I'm glad to hear that a movie of the cartoon is on the way.
Radiohead
Magazines are in a tough place these days. Bottom line: they need to sell magazines in a time where people don't buy magazines. That means sinking low sometimes. That means you need to resort to hyperbole and ridiculousness sometimes (just ask Entertainment Weekly.) Sometimes it's letting reality stars guest "edit" the mag. Other times it's running a countdown of best films and putting something absolutely stupid as the No. 1 while leaving off obvious choices. You need to rile people up. You need to shock them. If you're Spin magazine, you go and write an article on how Radiohead sucks but we just won't admit it. Like, basically, we're all angry and shit that they never continued on their The Bends-slash-rock anthems path to being the new U2 and we just pretend we like how experimental they are -- but really, stuff like In Rainbows and any post-OK Computer albums suck. The problem with that is then this dude comes along and totally disembowels your fake argument and makes you look like hacks. And, also, this.
And finally…
Here's that Hawkman from Smallville picture again -- except bigger. I can't get enough of it. It's terrible. He looks like your friend's grandfather trying to get off a ladder because you guys are "horsing around too goddamn much" and he's going to try and stop you. Like, as soon as he gets down. Whenever that is. (No, I don't know why his grandfather is on a ladder.) Apparently it's all for an episode featuring the Justice Society. I think it's going to have Doctor Fate and Stargirl in there, too. I don't know about Stargirl, but Doctor Fate isn't going to look much better than Hawkman, I'm thinking.
No-no If you know (and love) your baseball, you'll love this. But hey, if you love funny shit, animation and great (true!) stories you will, too.
Alien Legion Alien Legion was a cool, somewhat obscure comic book graphic novel series from the late '80s, early '90s. Basically it was the foreign legion in space with aliens and humans killing shit across the galaxy. Bonus: the commanding officer was half-snake. It was an enjoyable romp that sometimes did the whole thinly-veiled allegory for contemporary issues thing but overall it was about who these people (and aliens) were before and who they became after joining the legion. And it was pretty violent. You could probably pick up a whack of issues for next to nothing, I would think. And you might want to do it quick because, according to this article, they're looking to turn it into a film/franchise. Could definitely work.
Fringe
I haven't made my love of Fringe a secret. The show's characters and world appeal to me and I don't care who knows it. It's cost me friends and family to do so (it hasn't) but that's the way it has to be -- I am a passionate man in my passions. Now Fox is hoping to attract new viewers to the show with its latest viral campaign. It uses the mysterious (and bald!) Observers and they've been turning up across various Fox properties -- even NFL football! It's all gonna culminate on this week's episode. Sounds good to me.
Hawkman, unfortunately
Sometimes staying true to a super hero's costume can be a mistake. Exhibit A: Hawkman's appearance on Smallville.
Decade NME has released their top albums of the decade. Yeah, it's a little Brit-centric and, yeah, the Strokes are number one, but it's hard to argue the majority of the choices. Well, maybe Klaxons.
And finally…
The year 2008 was a year where Fallout 3 was released (along with Fable II, GTA IV, Gears 2 and other huge titles). And, still, I think Ubisoft's Prince of Persia reboot was my favourite. Maybe not overall, but as a concept from top to bottom it was genius. One of the greatest things about it was its enigmatic ending. An ending so unique, it's inspired debates ever since. Now Destructoid elloquently opens up the debate again -- and I thank them.
I ended up “buying” this one. Well, I used some Game Stop store credit to pick it up. I hate doing that but what can you do? Sometimes you have to live like the other half and all that.
I’m a fantasy RPG fan from way back. Like, pencils, paper and polyhedral dice way back. Yes, I’m a D&D geek and I make no apologies. Loving the shit out of that kind of stuff and talking and thinking incessantly about it has led to this point. “What point is that?” you ask? Getting paid to talk and think and write about that kind of stuff… FOR A LIVING. So, suck it.
So, yeah, Dragon Age: Origins – I picked it up. Considering the enormity of this sort of game (I’ve heard this thing runs close to 70-80 hours), you’ll probably get a few of these entries detailing my crazy (fake) adventures and whatnot.
To start, BioWare is all about RPGs. They’ve been doing expansive video game RPGs for years. They continually push the envelope with these things. It’s edge of the seat type stuff, yeah? RPG gold that has you obsessed after only an hour of play. If you compiled a list of best all time RPGs, I’m thinking they’d score a few in there. Maybe even the top one. I know they make my favorite: Mass Effect. Sure, that’s not a fantasy one but still, it’s BioWare at their RPG-loving best.
I decided to go with the standard: male, human, fighter. The vanilla of fantasy characters. I’m also a noble, but that was the only choice available. I’ve played about two hours and things are already hardcore addictive. The whole “origins” thing in the title is that the first part of the game sets up an origin for your character – and they have different ones depending on your race and social standing. I guess it really amps up the replayability. Without getting spoilery, my origin had some sex, some sweetness and lots of tragedy. I’m not even sure I’m finished my origin yet. Right now I’m hanging out with the King’s army and trying to complete a special task that will help me join this special group of warriors called the Grey Wardens. Their job is to fight all the bad shit in the world. Sounds awesome, right?
I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface yet but this weekend I’m pretty sure I will. I think I’m just on the surface. Or maybe above it in a sea plane or whatever. There’s still a shit ton of political intrigue, supernatural terror and crazy fantasy action to come.
Mass Effect 2 Yeah, yeah, I go on a lot about Mass Effect 2. Especially since it hasn't even been released yet. To be fair, the original is probably my favorite game (yes, my favorite) and this one is making that look like Pac Man, so maybe you can understand why I might be so damned excited about it. Also, I watched all the ME2 bits in this episode of Game Trailers.
John Cusack: Not as nice as you were led to believe
John Cusack is one of those dudes who plays the right kinda nice guy in films. He's not syrupy or a pussy, he's cool and funny -- like an older brother or something or a best man. But I've just seen too many moments like this one and now this one -- where he just seems like a dick with no sense of humor -- to believe he's actually like that.
Crazy Beatles This is a pretty cool alternate timeline that outlines what would happen if the Beatles got back together and accepted Lorne Michaels' legendary offer. I always wondered how cool it would be if they had. Now I have an idea.
TV
AV Club's list of the best TV series of the '00s is a little on the nose but, really, how can you argue with most of these? Although, I'm not sure I'd classify Buffy as an '00s show, to be honest.
I can't seem to find this anywhere else, but IMDB is a pretty good source: it looks like Colonel Tighe himself, Battlestar Galactica's (and Canada's) Michael Hogan is doing a voice in upcoming BioWare game Mass Effect 2 -- if you believe his IMDB page (which I kinda do.) Doesn't say who he's playing but maybe based on the close proximity to an upcoming Game Trailers TV (Thursday Nov. 12) piece on the 2010 title, it could be shady figure the "Illusive Man." Any way you look at it, though, Hogan = awesomeness. So, yeah, thought you should know.
Black Cat Some big rumors afoot in Spidey-ville. Here's the breakdown: it looks like one of the Wall Crawler's adversaries in the fourth film is going to be Black Cat. Sure, she's basically a Catwoman rip off, but a lot has been done and a lot could be done with her. As a character, too. (And I thank you...) Anyway, let's set our mood organs to "positive" for this, so far. The rumors get more specific with actress Romola Garai (allegedly) auditioning and (wait for it) Rachel McAdams as well. I don't know, Rachel McAdams as a femme fatale feline anti-hero? Meh. Not seeing it but maybe? At least she can act. And is cute as a button, of course. (I think my Canadian citizenship gets revoked if I don't put that in there -- it's bad enough I use US spelling.) Remember though, these are all rumors -- including Black Cat even being in the film. Still, as a love interest of Spidey's, 'Cat has the potential of impacting his personal and super-heroic life. That's the sort of stuff Sam Raimi liked using in the first two movies. Oh, all right, I guess he tried to do that in the third one, too.
Good.
Steven Spielberg and Will Smith's planned remake of awesome Korean film Oldboyhas (thankfully) been shitcanned. I'm not being a typical bloggy hater dude who's cheering because some obscure thing I like is not being made into a bloated Hollywood abortion. I do that sometimes but not now. Promise. I like Spielberg and have been known to like Smith on occasion, but there's just no way they would have been able to do this film. Sorry. They just couldn't. There's just too much over-the-top stuff -- and the twist at the end? Come on. No way. Let 'em do some other kind of fancy movie magic together. Some sci-fi or something like that maybe.
Mad Men
Did you watch the season finale of Mad Men this week? What did y'all think? Some huge stuff going on, right? Looks like next season is shaping up to be a doozy. Ambiguous enough for all you spoiler-free types? Good. Here's an interview/season 3 post-mortem with series creator Matthew Weiner. There's spoilers, by the way.
Fringe
So, J.J. Abrams is all cheery about Fringe taking some ratings hits thanks to being placed in a hyper-competitive timeslot, huh? Not sure I would be. Especially now that EW's Michael Ausiello is circling it and dropping the C word. Considering Fox moved the show to a night and timeslot that is killing it, I would say maybe they should take responsibility and move it back or somewhere better, no? Although, the almost-assured cancellation of Dollhouse is a good thing if you're a Fringe fan, I guess. After all, Fox does need to have at least one sci-fi show to hold up when everyone is crying over FireflyTerminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles Dollhouse, right?
Oh my.
What happens when Sir Ian McKellan drops in on the ladies from The View? Wow. Just wow.
Saboteur
Upcoming WWII open world game The Saboteur looks like a lot of fun. Instead of your usual one man v. the Nazis you... well... sure, you're still one man v. the Nazis, but this time you're Irish! And a saboteur! And you wear a leather jacket and a cool hat! Plus, you get to whore around Paris. Slap Nazis in the face. Shoot zeppelins out of the air. All that shit. And you get to do it whenevs and howevs you want. The game is launching before Christmas, which gives me some hope that it just might be awesome. Oh well, at the very least it'll be the best Irish WWII saboteur video game of the year -- and that's something, right?
And finally… Did you want X-Men 3? Yes, yes you did. Did you like the X-Men 3 you got? No, not one bit. But really, why was that? In a nutshell, the dudes who had made the first two films weren't involved in the third one. But what if they were? How would it all have turned out? Curious? Hmmm? (sorry) Well, X2 writer Michael Dougherty has revealed the direction in which he and original X-Men series director Bryan Singer were headed. Gotta say, I like it.
Mass Effect 2
Some more sweetness where Mass Effect 2 is concerned. This video has officially stopped me from being a Mass Effect apologist and launched me into "I told you so" mode. On top of introducing the Collectors and their scary badassery, you meet Legion -- a Geth (a synthetic life-form that were a major enemy from the first game) that is not only an individual but one that's obsessed with your character. That is just awesome. I don't care who you are. Now you guys apologize to me for not playing Mass Effect in the first place. And here are some screenshots, too, with minor spoilers if you're worried about that sort of thing.
HTTM
Sometimes the world isn't big enough for beautiful ideas. They spark brilliantly in the mind of some absurd, hermit dream engineer and tragically fade into obscurity never to be heard. It's a sad truth, my friends, but one we can all agree on. But sometimes, just sometimes, an idea filled with heart-crushing beauty explodes into the world with the force of a million shattered rainbows shattering. Well, that idea has found its time. That idea is a film. That idea stars John Cusack (among others). That idea, my dear little monsters, is Hot Tub Time Machine. Let the always wonderful Mr. Cusack fill you in on the whole breathtaking conjuration.
Wow. Why?
Life in 21st Century North America is harrowing to say the least, right? So many things commanding your attention, so little of it actually important to you. Who can remember it all? A phone number here. A waxing appointment there. You're bound to forget some stuff, ya? Keeping that in mind, let me remind you (you know, in case you forgot) that between 2003-2009, the Sci-Fi Network took corny 1970s Star Wars also-ran, Battlestar Galactica, and rebooted it into one of the most critically acclaimed television programs of the last decade. I'm totally fucking serious. It featured intense character drama and chewed around ideas of faith, rebirth, cyclical history, politics, idealism vs. pragmatism, among others -- all while presenting a subtextual debate on the U.S. led invasion of Iraq and the War on Terror. It was some damn fine television for the most part and, thanks to it, Battlestar Galactica means something good rather than this. So, yeah, that's my joke, BSG is memorable and a triumph. Anyway, Bryan Singer wants to reboot the original show for film, too, now. Yeah...
Clash of the Titans
I liked the original Clash of the Titans, but I'm sure a lot of that is just nostalgia. It's probably got some bad acting in places. And dated hair or whatever. Still, it had swords, sorcery, some Ray Harryhausen effects all up in it, greek mythology and a half-naked Ursula Andress, so there's that. Anyway, I'm totally cool with the possibility that this remake may be good. Here are some posters for it. Decide for yourself.
Jim Carrey
Yup, this is pretty much what you're going to expect from Jim Carrey's official site.
And finally… What's better than slave Leia? Two slave Leias sunbathing, that's what. (We would also except: naked slave Leia and slave Leia bringing me a sub and a drink.) And yeah, that's Carrie Fisher back in the day.
Prince of Persia
In case you haven't been, you know, awake in the last 24 hours, here is the trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I liked Sands of Time the video game a lot. It was a damn fine title. One of the best. Just ask Metacritic. And I like Jake Gyllenhaal. If it weren't for Secretary Maggie, he would be my favorite Gyllenhaal. And I definitely like Gemma Arterton. I don't even have a problem with them adapting the game into a movie/franchise in theory. But this trailer isn't showing me anything. It just seems really bad. Bad accents. Bad jokes. Just bad.
30 Rock? More like Zero Rock, amiright?
Ze Germans don't like ze 30 Rock. Shocking, ja? Nein. Wow, you mean a show rife with (North) American pop culture references, meta riffs and inside jokes can't be funny when it's translated into another language? Crazy.
Trek 2 So MTV tried to get J.J. Abrams to talk a bit about the next Star Trek film and he said some stuff but didn't say anything, know what I mean? That's not the issue for me, though. It makes sense he wouldn't have anything to say because, as far as I can tell, there's nothing to tell. The writers haven't even finalized an idea, let alone a script. No, what bugs me is this continuing (and growing) subtext that the press is perpetuating where Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman HAVE to remake/reboot/reimagine Khan. Why is this happening? I have no doubt that the team behind the films will ignore this but it still bugs me. Can't we just enjoy some new adventures based in the universe? Why do we need to remake something that has no business being remade? I know that everyone involved realizes that what made Star Trek the most successful film in the franchise was that it DIDN'T pander to geeks. I really hope this stops.
Hobbit
Sir Ian McKellan has read the script to the Hobbit film(s) and he approves!
Fallout MMO Last year-ish, there was news that Interplay was cooking up a Fallout-based MMO. This seemed like a no brainer, except, of course, that Bethesda owned the rights to anything Fallout-y and had just released the critically-accliamed Fallout 3. So, yeah, they were understandably mad, to say the least and lawsuits ensued. With the legal slugfest underway, we're starting to see what Interplay had in mind and, well, it looks like they get the whole post-nuclear war look the game is known for.
Diora Baird It's pretty easy to see why dudes like Diora Baird. That needs no discussion. And, actually, it would probably be creepy to discuss it anyway, so it's best we skipped that chat, my friends. When it was announced that Diora would be joining the also easy-on-the-eyes Rachel Nichols as Orions in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot, nerds jizzed in their pants the world over -- even before the various "scenarios" one might imagine occuring between the comely Misses Baird and Nichols in green make-up and little clothing. But again, it wasn't a surprise that Diora would be cast as a sexy green chick. But then a double decker surprise chop sandwich gets served up as J.J. not only cuts out her scene but he cast her as the Orion with the clothes in the first place. WTF?
Sci-Fi TV Here's an analysis of how science fiction shows are doing on TV this fall. I was happy to see that Fringe may not be in as much trouble as has been discussed recently.
Mass Effect 2 Check out this video of the upcoming BioWare title, which emphasizes combat. While I didn't hate on the original's combat as much as others do, this looks much improved. Also, if you know anything about the original, the new and improved (read: frightening) husks are chilling. I'm not really sure how you would make those more frightening than they already were, but I guess BioWare did it because I am NOT looking forward to that level at all, man.
Batman This is a great list of the top Batman: The Animated Series episodes. Can't say I can argue with it. And it makes me want to rewatch them all, too.
And finally…
Speaking of Batman, do you watch Community on NBC? If not, you're missing the funniest show on TV right now. Shame on you. This whole sequence based on the Caped Crusader isn't even the sixth funniest part on their recent Halloween episode.
