so i have a question...

So I just received my new computer for school and boy...I have no idea what I'm doing. It is a Macbook Pro and I have never really used a Mac before with the exception of long long ago. If anyone has any advice or any program recommendations please let me know. It could very well save me a lot of time. Thanks in advance.

hello again

So this is my first week back in college so things have been a little hectic to say the least. I do have 5 blogs that I am working on so I have the next couple weeks lined up to post. They won't all be comic ones like the past few but I do have a couple of those as well. I am attempting to stagger what I talk about and not have too many of the same things all in a row. I have 2 DS game reviews coming up, a PS3 DLG review coming up, and 2 comic reviews coming up. I also, towards the end of this week, will be switching the majority of my online work over to a new laptop so hopefully everything goes over well and I will have that figured out fairly quickly.

Once again thanks for reading to those of you who do and for all those in school, good luck. Thanks.

MARVEL ZOMBIES DEAD DAYS AND 2 - Comic Review

I love zombies. They are one my favorite creatures in any media. Give me zombie movies, games, TV shows, comics, anything. As long there are zombies in it I'm usually game. Marvel Zombies has been around for a bit now and I have browsed through a couple but just never had the extra cash laying around to get any. I recently scrapped some change together and checked out Dead Days and 2.

Dead Days comes right after the original Marvel Zombies but is a prequel and 2 comes after Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness which comes after Dead Days. The first thing I should point out is the these are not your kids comics. They are gory, violent, and at often times so hilariously cynical it makes me want to cry.

Basic premise is fairly straightforward: Alien virus infects super humans thus turning them into zombies however they are left with full brain function. In Dead Days they had eaten everyone in the universe and were trying to find a way to a new universe for more food. I don't really want to ruin anymore of the story by going into it so I'll leave it at that. It may be easier to start with the first Marvel Zombies to at least catch up in the story. I had read most of those before owning these.

As far as I am concerned though these are some of the best comics I have read in a very long time...and I have read almost all the Scott Pilgrim books. Pick it up check it out...bottom line...

10 out of 10

NEW RANT

So I was sitting at my computer reading the current news on Joystiq when it occurred to me that I am really sick of the way the industry is going. I was at first excited some years ago when the Wii was coming out. I thought that the motion controls would better emulate the arcade systems I had grown up with. Little did I know that all they would do was make it harder to play shovel-ware titles because the controls never work. I was so excited about the prospects of the Wii and at that time I hated Sony. I didn't want anything to do with Sony. I bought my Xbox 360 and was waiting to be able to find a Wii. Since that time I sold my Wii, and I sold my Xbox 360, and the only current gen home console I still own is the PS3. My g/f owns a Wii but she had that before I met her...so I won't hold it against her.

I already ranted about motion controls but this seems as good a way as any to break into the real rant. I had to start this way to emphasize I no longer have a 360 or Wii so most of the time I have to wait to try certain games. This is exactly what happened recently at a friend's house. I recently sat down and watched Limbo...or as I like to call it, A Violent Boy without His Blob, and realized that I really can't stand most indie games anymore. When indie games started popping up on the PS3 and the other systems I was so excited, due to wanting to make games all my life, but recently they have been all style and no substance. Don't give me a game and say well...what do you think it's about? That is just plain lazy. Come up with a cohesive story and explain that to me. SPOILER ALERT...or not. I don't want to sit there and think that this stupid kid was attacked by a giant spider in a forest that's chief export is bear traps and he has somehow died and the other little shadow people want him to relive this over and over.

Just because you make a game that is shadowy and to the naked eye looks like it should be super arty and super intellectual does not mean it is. I used to like art games and had a great time with Everyday Shooter and I even tried out echochrome but to me games like this are just lazy. I know it can be hard to write a story but don't just make a game function. Put some time and love into it for fuck's sake.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - video game review

So I just sunk about 3 hours into playing all the way through the new Scott Pilgrim game and I can only say that it was time well spent. The game plays much like an old school beat-em-up such as Streets of Rage. There is however a level system and based on your level you acquire certain moves you use to fight. Along with that you earn money and with the money you go into shops to buy items to raise your other skills such as strength, defense, and speed.

The games art is done by Paul Robertson, known for his work with the Drawn to Life games and his film Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006. His art tends to be on the chibi side with all his characters looking like little pixelated people. The music is all done in midi format so it sounds like a retro game. The music in the game was composed by Anamanaguchi which is a chiptune punk band. Everything about the games art and music style lends it back to retro games and it fits perfectly with the comic.

The game has 4 playable characters and you can play up to 4 player similar to a Castle Crashers type play. The game is filled to the brim with charm from the comic and I have never seen a licensed game live up to my expectations. It isn't too say my expectations are low, most licensed games just aren't very good. It just goes to show what a good art style, music choice, and source material can do for a game. As I said earlier the game is a beat-em-up. You go through each level based on an evil ex, fighting henchman and collecting cash to power up. At the end of each level you face off against an ex. These fights are great and the animations on them are stunning. I replayed most of them just to see them again.

There are online leaderboards for scores but nothing too major and I don't believe there is any online co-op to speak of. Minor complaint on an otherwise amazing game. At only $9.99 you owe it to yourself and your friends to get this game.

9.5 out of 10

Runaways - Comic Review

I have gotten a few new graphic novels recently to try and find some new good stories to follow and luckily on my last try I found a few. The one I'm about to talk about is written by none other than Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was more than happy to try this comic out as I have been a huge fan of his throughout the years on various projects.

To sum up the premise: The group of mutants are all children of super villains. They escape their parents and attempt to set up a super group of heroes. There is also a bit of time traveling involved to mix things up. I picked up the book "Dead End Kids". I have absolutely no idea where this fits in the story at all and at times I felt a bit out of place. However the stand alone story was fantastic mixing in time travel with a fair bit of action, a couple love stories including one that doesn't end very well, and some great art. This book is a must read. After reading this one I very much want to pick up the rest of the series and see where it goes.

I am always worried when I pick up new comics because I never know how far out of my comfort zone I'm going to get. Am I going to know any of the characters? Are they going to make up a tone of tech stuff I'll know nothing about? Things like that go through my head when I pick up new comics and I was very surprised to see a couple guys I recognized. Almost right off the bat you get Kingpin and the Punisher and that for me was just great.

I can't stress this enough. Runaways...great comic. Check it out.

8.7 out of 10

Shit My Dad Says

So as far as I am aware everyone who spends any time on the internet is at least partially aware of the Twitter of Justin Halpern...also called Shit My Dad Says. The basic premise is that a 28 year old is dumped by his girlfriend and he moves back in with his parents, of which his retired father is 73, and in my opinion one of the great philosophers of our day.

From the Twitter page Justin expanded out and actually put out a memoir style book of the same title, Shit My Dad Says. I picked the book up a few days ago and in just a couple hours had flown through it. I could not put the book down. The intro explains the whole premise of the book, the Twitter page, and from there we have stories from Justin's youth that he and his family had sat down to reminisce about.

The book is broken up into a series of 3 to 5 page stories with 4 to 5 pages of quotes from his dad in between. This form fits the book perfectly as I had read a bit of the Twitter and having the little backgrounds behind some of the quotes really lets you learn how he grew up and a lot about the father/son bond. I read this book in 1 sitting. At 159 pages the book isn't too long but I feel it is honestly the perfect size for someone who is busy but still would like to read a great book full of funny stories and once going through it actually feel that deep down there was a lot of love put into this book in both the writing and also in the father/son bond that you learn about.

Seriously if you haven't heard about this, get it. If you have it, read it. Bottom line...it's amazing and it deserves to be read by everyone...

10 out of 10

Might be having a huge update.

So awhile back I was part of a podcast called 2 Guys 1 Podcast with an old friend of mine. I sat down and talked to him last night and we might be starting the cast back up again. However we would be hosting it on both our blogs. The show usually ran between 30 and 60 min. long and was edited by myself. As I will be busy with school I won't be editing it this time meaning we may have more podcasts than before as I had a very limited schedule to do it last time.

Look forward to that in the next couple weeks once we get it all figured out and I should have a couple posts either tonight or very early tomorrow morning. Thanks again.

Big Update

Been busy getting ready for my re-entrance into the college life thus the site has been unattended for the past couple weeks. Since I have gotten all the hoop jumping done for now I have some free time to get some more stuff up on the site and I know I have been less than awesome at doing it as of late but I will do my best to get on a good schedule. I also just finished reading Shit My Dad Says the book and I should be able to post about that here in a couple days. Also got some comics read that I think will make a good review as well. Hopefully have those up by the weekend for all to read. Thanks.