The Re-Gifters
Mike Carey
Sonny Liew
Marc Hempel
Released: 06-13-07
Clubbing
Andi Watson
Josh Howard
Released: 7-11-07
I finally got around to reading the next two installments in DC's Minx line So let's get cracking!
Re-Gifters: This is definitely a book you don't want to guess the moral lesson by the cover or title. In fact the title is mostly just cleaver and has little to do with the main character and the life lesson's shes going to learn throughout the course of the book. Some times I wonder if Mike Carey is just toying with comic book readers and is actually better than he's coming off as. This book was good, it was not great and it was no P.L.A.I.N. Janes but it was still rather enjoyable. It's about Dixie a Korean American who is basically competing in a Hapkido (Korean Martial Arts) 
Tournament and her journey to get there. She's dealing with emotions of love, anger and fear as she tries to find her Ki (Soul) and win the tournament. The art is good and actually works really well for the story, due to the inking some of the characters become unrecognizable if they don't make another appearance until some pages later. My main grip with this book is that yes I know it's for a young girl but that doesn't mean you write down to your audience. Look at Harry Potter, it's written for children but she never writes down to their intellect. I think the editors probably got a hold of the script and said no dumb it down they'll never get what you're talking about and so we got a mediocre story trying to teach way to many lessons and no surprises because they had to be hinted upon so heavily that literally they took up several pages. Worth a read and for 9.99 it's still worth the buy if you're looking for a quirky love story with martial arts at the center. Score 8.0
Clubbing: Being a fan of not only Andi Watson but also of Josh Howard I became very interested in how this book was going to turn out... until I read it. The team up was great, the art and story complimented each other perfectly and I would love to see what they could do on a creator owned project rather than this heavily editor interfered project. The beginning was useless and by the way it's the catalyst to get us where we were going. Also the title is mis-leading since it's referring to a golf "club" owned by Lottie's (The Main Character) Grandparents. At the start of the story Lottie gets rejected from a club for using a fake ID and for some reason this gets her picked up by the cops, it's not really explained because I'm sure the actual story was way to long for the format the books are in and so we get a half ass beginning, good middle and way to short end. Basically Lottie has to stay the summer working with her Grandparents and mystery ensues. Also I don't think mystery books for young girls is Andi's cup of tea (There's a pun there since the book takes place
in England) it really didn't take Nancy Drew to figure out this mystery since he practically tells you right off the bat. It was another prime example of writing down to the audience rather than just writing a good story that everyone could take something from. Some plus to the writing were the narration and dialog, and the Art was top notch Howard is really coming into his own and should be picked up by one of the big 2 or at least let loose over at Image. Overall I'd give this book a 6.9; it's in the parking lot, its just driving past a lot of good spaces.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Minx Comics - Double Review!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Aveeno - Body Wash
Finally! A body wash review! I originally tried this product due to my Girlfriends sister sending it to me to try. I must say I like the product a lot and it's even Hypoallergenic for those of you with skin problems which is a growing phenomenon here in the the states. Not only does the soap not leave a smell on your body but I just feel really clean after washing. That's always been my problem with Body Wash, it still feels like it's on your skin even after rinsing it off multiple times. So no left over soap feeling, good lather, and no scent. Really the only negatives for this product is it's bottle. The top is nice and large so when you start to run out you can flip it over and actually have it balance on it's own, but the problem with that is the cap fills up with so much cold water that when your not paying close attention in the early hours of the morning you can dump a nice gulp of water on yourself. Frankly it wakes me right up because I'm like, "What the hell was that?" But who remembers this stuff when showering? Not I. So after many, "What the hell was that?" moments I stopped turning the bottle over which brought about another struggle.
When I was in college I had a class taught by a lawyer, hold on now this story is going some where so stay in your seats dammit! Any who, so he was great for stories since there's only so many ways to teach people how to protect their intellectual works of art and not get screwed out of a lot of money i.e. the guy who designed the Rolling Stones logo for free and has received jack all for it to this day. One story went like this, a Man made a meeting with Crest the makers of toothpaste and said, "Give me a million dollars and I'll increase your profits by 10%." they of course asked, "How" and he said, "Give me a million dollars and I'll tell you." Well they said no because giving a million up front with nothing proved is not really a smart business move. Well finally Colgate said yes and he asked them, "How much toothpaste does the average person use." the answer is about an inch of toothpaste. Long story short he told them to increase the diameter of the opening by whatever amount and people would naturally use more toothpaste thus needing more toothpaste and increasing profits. Well Aveeno has a large opening and it's impossible to get the right amount, I'm constantly pouring to much out or not enough which causes me to use more anyways.
Overall it's a good product but it's not cheap and you don't get as much for the price as you do with the other Body Washes and like I said you go through it pretty quick too. Unfortunately I haven't found anything else I like better so I will keep using it because to me it's worth the cost, but I can't say the same for everyone else. Product rating 7.5, try it you may be surprised.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Movie Review Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Directed by: David Yates
Screenplay: Micheal Goldenberg
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Glint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman and Imelda Staunton.
So the fifth Harry Potter came out last Friday on the 13th, BOO! Yeah right whatever. So in my efforts to stop Transformers from making money I went a saw Potter. In retrospect I wish I hadn't gotten free passes to Die Hard so that it would have been that much closer to beating... trying to beat Transformers, but I got passes to Transformers too so I guess it didn't matter. Way off subject let's get to the movie at hand shall we?
Story: The story was, um, well it was okay. Personally I thought the last film was better and I have enjoyed each movie more than the last but I don't think this one topped any of the others. Something that was seriously lacking from the movie were the Scenes between Harry, Ron and Hermione talking and hanging out. There was literally one scene in the whole movie of them hanging out and it ended with everyone awkwardly laughing. Another complaint I have with the story/movie is that it felt like a sequel. The reason people like Star Wars and Spider-Man is because they feel like individual movies and that's what makes great series or trilogies is that each movie tells a story and has a clear beginning, middle and end. The movie in general just didn't seem to do much, it was like there was too much source material to work with and the writer didn't know what to take and leave.
Sound: Music was great, sound effects were awesome, I mean really how do you mess this up now a days? I did have one complaint where the music didn't drive home the emotions that it could have, it really fell flat at a crucial scene.
Look/Style: I may not care for what the director did with the movie but I loved the style, if they could take the director of the last movie and this one and put them together I think they could make a fantastic six film. The CG was top notch and I loved the smoke effect they did when the Wizards were fighting and Voldemort's look was cool especially in a three piece suit. So once again Potter comes through on the graphics.
Acting: It was good, I mean everyone has their roles down so it's pretty hard for them to screw
it up at this point. I would like to have seen more of Ron and Hermione, both had a major lack of screen time and were reduced to cheesey dialog to help build there hinted upon romance.
Overall it boils down to the story, we know the sound, look and acting are going to be good so really at this point were just checking out the story. And this one fell a little short, it had good parts heck it even had some heart but the emotions weren't there that the other movies had. (Spoiler Warning) When Sirius dies I felt nothing, I was like okay... and? When Harry kicks Voldemort out of his head and there showing all his happy moments and Harry's showing his great strength I was like wow this is very good, the music was just hanging out instead of driving the scene home and making it a traumatic and great scene. It was still good enough to see it in the theater and that's not just my stop Micheal Bay from being successful champaign talking.
Sound - 8
Style/Look - 9
Acting - 9.5
Overall - 8
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Tranformers: The Movie, The Review
Transformer: The Movie
Directed by: Micheal Bay
Written by: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Peter Cullen and a bunch of other people whose careers deserve to be punished.
Welcome Lee, from Under the Asian Influence!
So, I was recently asked to "guest" review the new live-action Transformers movie for my friends blog which specializes in reviewing everything you could possibly review. Having recently seen the movie, I thought it would be a good chance for me, a self-proclaimed old-school Transformers fan, to get a few things off his chest about this new adaptation of the franchise. I'm sure you've heard it all before, the good and the bad, but I think you'll find that my opinion is a little bit of both.
Most people going to see Transformers are probably interested in seeing it because they're fans of either the cartoon series, or fans of the animated movie. However, their is a large demographic of fans out there that refuse to see the Michael Bayified version due to his unforgivable changes to an already well-established and entertaining franchise. I was more than ready to join the boycotter's due to some of these said changes I had read about previously; Bumblebees is a Camaro, Optimus Prime has cholo flames painted on his truck, Megatron is now a Raptor jet, etc. That being said, my overall curiosity managed to get the best of me and I had to assess the damage first-hand.
If you don't know the story of the animated series, then never fear, because it's been changed completely and you won't have to have followed the cartoon in order to understand any of the movie. Now, the Autobots (good-guy robots led by Optimus Prime) are in a race against time against the Decepticons (bad-guy robots led by Megatron) to find the Allspark cube, which is basically responsible for creating the Transformers. Anything the cube touches, instantly becomes a Transformers. Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving) plans to use the cube to control all of Earth's technology and of course use it to take over the planet. The problem that the Autobots and Decepticons have is trying to locate the Allspark. That's where Sam Witwicky (Shia Labeouf) comes in. Sam is an almost typical, socially-awkward, neurotic geek that happens to have a very important Arctic-exploring Grandfather, Archibald Witwicky (William Morgan Sheppard), who actually discovered Megatron frozen under a lake of ice. After a mishap of activating Megatron's navigational system, the coordinates to the Allspark cube are imprinted onto Archibald's glasses. This is never really explained in detail, so you gotta just shrug your shoulders and say, "whatever". The Autobots locate Sam by finding his profile on eBay in which he's trying to sell some of his Grandfathers old things, the glasses included, and Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) explains Sam's role in this intergalactic battle. Sam's dad promised him that if he got two A's in school and saved $2000, then he would get a car for him. Less than impressed with the overall selection of used cars, Sam decides to purchase an older yellow Camaro for $4000 that just seems to feel just right. Little does he know, the yellow Camaro is really his Autobot guardian Bumblebee. Sam uses his new ride as a means of impressing the hot, popular chick at his school Mikaela (Megan Fox) who never even knew Sam existed before he gives her a lift home. Sam seems to really understand where Mikaela is coming from, and they share a moment together. Whether they like it or not, they'll be spending a whole lot more time together with the Autobots and their battle with the Decepticons over the Allspark cube. There are some other, less-relevant, additions to the storyline revolving around some young brains Maggie (Rachael Taylor) and Glenn (Anthony Anderson) assisting Defense Secretary John Keller (Jon Voight) in finding out what the cause behind the electronic disturbances are. They don't realize to the near-end of the movie that it's the Decepticons hacking into their computers in order to find out everything about Archibald Witwicky and Sam in order to locate the glasses. Also, we follow around some soldiers that were attacked on base by Decepticons and only a handful survived the assault. The survivors consist of Sergeant Epps (Tyrese Gibson) and Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) among others. They need to get back home and help defend the country against these giant robots, of course after learning what they are and why they're here. Also, the FBI and a special government division, Sector 7, seems to know everything about the cube and these robots from another planet. Therefore, the FBI, led by Agent Simmons (John Turturro) is after Sam and Mikaela to keep them from interfering with official business.
I think it would be best to just get all the things that I disliked about the movie out of the way, in order to end the review on a note that talks about some of the more positive aspects. I knew a thing or two about the live-action Transformers before I even watched it, and the problems I had with it were already beginning to pile up. I was bothered by the fact that they didn't use more of the well-known robots from the series in the movie, instead opting to use newly created ones such as Ratchet on the Autobots, and countless more for the Decepticons (Bonecrusher, Barricade, and Blackout for example). I also wasn't a big fan of the decision to change a lot of these robots into things they didn't transform into originally. Bumblebee being a Camaro being the biggest offender and Megatron being a Raptor jet came in close second. I was willing to forgive these choices in film making in hope that they wouldn't compromise the movie too severely. In the end, I got past it and just let it go. However, I still hate the fact that Michael Bay decided to give these robots moving lips when they speak. Sure, it may make sense from a "realistic" standpoint that they'd need them to annunciate words, but who cares about realism when we're talking about 20-30 foot robots here! It just looked stupid! I thought John Turturro was a terrible choice for the hard-talking, strictly-business FBI Agent Simmons. He was more of a parody of this kind of character, making me wonder who in their right mind would take him seriously? I didn't like the slapstick humor they did with the Autobots, such as the scene where the Autobots follow Sam back to his house in order to get the glasses. They hide around the outside of the house from Sam's parents and even trip over a power line. It sucked and I would've rather the Autobots been taken more seriously. Last, but certainly not least, I hated the fact that the Allspark cube seemed to transform everything it touched into a Transformer, more specifically a Decepticon! I saw my beloved X-Box 360 attack some jerk on the street in the last act of the movie, and instead of thinking it was cool, I just thought, "F@#$ing STUPID!".
Now, lets talk about some of the better aspects of Transformers. I did think the robots looked pretty cool, and the animation behind the transformations looked really good with incredible attention to detail. The best part of the movie for me, was the fact that Peter Cullen re-prised his role as the voice of Optimus Prime. The man was responsible for giving Optimus life in the series and the animated movie and so it only seems a necessity that he continue doing the voice for him. The final action scene, which was pretty long I might add, was visually entertaining and overall I had a good time watching the robots throw down. I enjoyed Shia Labeouf's performance as Sam. Seems people either hate this kid or just love him, and I'm more inclined to join the "love" side, but I thought he was funny and really pulled the reigns on dragging the rest of the movie out of the crap storyline. Overall, I'd have to say Transformers wasn't as big of a pile of garbage as I was expecting, but the same word kept popping into my head, over-and-over: disappointing. You have to know that a sequel is in the works, because not only did the ending warrant one, but it's a cash-cow at the box-office. I'm hoping they work out a story that doesn't revolve around finding a pair of glasses in order to save the planet. (Lee)
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Live Free or Die Hard aka Die Hard 4
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Directed by: Len Wiseman
Written by: Mark Bomback
Starring: Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Maggie Q, Justin Long and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
So I had a very nice vacation and now I have a whole slue of things that need to be reviewed and shared with the public! I've chosen the latest installment in the Die Hard Franchise, and no I'm not going to once again type the entire title again because you should have already read it twice before getting to this point! The difficulty of this review is choosing how to review it. Do you review it as a Die Hard movie and how it fits with the series? Or just as a movie that you hoped would keep people from watching Transformers and preventing Micheal Bay and company from making a sequel and give Bay his second flop, his first being the Island. That's off subject a bit but still relevant to Die Hard 4.0 as some call it. So let's do both, first as a Die Hard movie then just as a summer movie.
I think everyone can agree that this movie doesn't really feel like a Die Hard movie, it's PG-13 rating pretty much saw to that also the fact that it had no involvement from anyone on the first three movies and the fact that it's been twelve years since Die Hard with Vengeance which made Samuel L. Jackson an even bigger star (before everyone was tired of him) So really as a Die Hard film this movie fails. The plot is bigger than the person, the danger never enough to kill our hero, and most of the comedy done by supporting characters rather than Willis himself. I'm sure there's a thousand other reviews just bashing this movie because of this so I will not dwell on it.
As a movie I have to say I really liked it. The explosions were nice and I could see what was being blown up (unlike Micheal Bay) The comedy made me laugh and actually not hate Justin Long for once. Really they could have made this just another Bruce Willis movie and I think people would have gone and seen it. Timothy Olyphant (Upcoming Hitman) did a great job as the villain. He just has that look for the perfect Bad Guy which will probably keep him type casted which is too bad since he's a really good actor. Cyril Raffaelli (District B13) was also badass in the movie and they were able to film his "Parkour" style to look amazing. He was like a superhero bouncing everywhere and never using wires. Kevin Smith makes a cameo more than likely due to him working with Timothy in "Catch and Release." and tries to pull off a Baltimore Accent. He fails at the accent but at least he has a few chuckles that make the awkwardness of the scene worth it. It's also worth mentioning that Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays Willis' daughter, actually has some acting chops on her and is easy on the eyes. She was also in Death Proof and has another movie in Pre-Production so hopefully we'll see more of her... not like that you perverts!
So overall I would say this movie is good, but not great. I'm not going to bore you with the plot since it doesn't really matter you came here to see if it was any good not to find out the plot, everyone knows the plot. Stop the bad guy save the US... from Transformers. I'd give this movie a solid 8.0 in fact if the R rated version is released on DVD they'll get my money again, and once last thing he does say Yippee-ki-yay Mother Fucker but this a gun shot at the same time as the 'F' Word, but at least it made it in there in some form.
Sound/Music - 7.0
Look/Style - 8.5
Acting - 9.0
Overall - 8.0
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Highwaymen - Wildstorm/DC
Highwaymen #1 (2007)
Wildstorm/DC Comics
Release date: 06-20-07
Yes another Comic Review, but I haven't had time to do anything else other than catch up on reading. Tonight, yeah it's night time, we have "Highwaymen" #1 from Wildstorm Comics / DC Comics (Parent Company if you didn't know) Well for starters I have been trying to get into Wildstorm books since the relaunch of the Wildstorm Universe that made it apart of the 52 worlds that exist in the DC Universe. I have found little hope in this. Books like "WildC.A.T.S" and "The Authority" with their long delays aren't enough to keep me interested, but books like "Midnighter" and "Deathblow" have kept me lingering on in what could have been one of the funnest Comics Universes of all time. So How does "Highwaymen" fair? Not very good I'm afraid.
For starters I would only give this book a 7.0. The art saves it a lot and the dialog fits each character, even if their interaction with each other isn't believable 80% of the time. Basically the books about these two Older Guys that use to do crazy services for Clinton. Now they're old and someone has stolen something that Clinton felt was his biggest mistake he ever made. Yeah, yeah we get it, the book was filled with bland Political Humor that screamed "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" ripoff. So someone steals this piece of paper and sends a security message to one of the Old guys and he's off on the trail to figure out what's up because he loved Clinton so much, also this is in the near future and Clinton is dead... yeah that's a dumb sentence isn't it? Well keep in mind it's not my idea so back off! So the Main Old Dude likes to wear all white with a blue tie (Just look at him as a really, really, really poor man's knock off of Elijah Snow from "Planetary") the other is an African American man that drives a bus... Did I mention that the first guy is White and totally rich? Someone is definitely playing to stereotypes too much.
Long story short the people that stole the item know that they're looking into it's theft and the White dude is trying to get the Black dude back on "The Team" for Clinton... yup they love him that much that they are willing to perform a Black Ops in his name. The action in the book is pretty cool, the White guy does the shooting and the Black guy drives the car and they make up the perfect team. There's a bus scene were he's driving a bus full of Elderly people trying to lose the Clandestine People who would have them dead, and the even Older People crack sex jokes for like 4 pages! Yeah that's funny to read now but to actually read it is boring and not worth the attention. Also they have a secret base that no ones been to in years, yet theres a brand new "Dodge Charger" sitting there. I know it's in the future but the car is drawn to look brand new, yet the Black guy has to change the oil, the tires and everything not bolted down in the car. I'll pick up issue 2 just to see where the story is going, but right now it's trying a little too hard to be "Planetary" rather than it's own thing. Hopefully Wildstorm will put out some good books to pick up its dwindling fan base and keep me from dropping them off my read list. As always check out for yourself, you never know when something will strike a chord with you. Here's some pages for everyone to check out!
Art - 7.0
Layout - 7.0
Characters - 7.0
Overall - 7.0
Read More......
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Under the Asian Influence
Hey Check out my Review for The Host (Korea 2006) over at Under the Asian Influence!
Be sure to check out all the other great Asian Cinema Reviews while your there too!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The Black Diamond - From Ait Planetlar
The Black Diamond
Issue One
Shake Hands With Danger
Created and Written by
Larry Young
Art by
Jon Proctor
From AIT-PLANETLAR
Released Date
06-13-07
This is as Indie as it gets. I had never heard or seen anything from this company before randomly picking up this book. I'll tell you one thing this company is it's best self promoter. Black Diamond is about a highway that has no rules, anything goes, no speed limit, no laws. It was designed to keep the dredge of society away from everyone else. The problem with keeping everyone on the road that's dangerous is that occasionally they fly off the side harming the people that are meant to be safe. Unfortunately to get the whole story you'll have to read the Zero Issue titled 'On Ramp' but they do a great job of printing a review of that issue in the first issue. Cleaver huh? It's a great review from ComicTreadmill.com.
They too have a review of the first issue which is unfortunate for me since they probably have a bigger reader base, but they come off a little biased loving the Author and Company just a little too much. So on with my review!
I would give this book an 9.5, it wasn't perfect but it was really freaking good. It had a little too much 'Car Jargon' to the point that I didn't know if the car had really existed outside the world of comics, but I liked the fact that I stopped paying attention around the time the Main Character did too. Basically this Orthodontist's wife gets kidnapped because her Father designed the Black Diamond. The Army is taking control of the road again using excessive force to get the job done. The part that doesn't really make since is that the Wife's brother is a cop and he gives the car to the Husband and sends him to get her back... Yes it's a more interesting story for the boring guy to go see what he's made of, but its kinda hard to swallow at the same time. The Art is amazing and the Team chooses interesting angles and panel designs that really fit and make the book stand out. Honestly the quality of this book, was not independent. It far surpassed the norm of Indie comics, if it had been printed on better paper (which may have been intentional as a throw back to early comics) I wouldn't be able to tell it apart from Marvel Icon's Criminal in comparison to quality. It will be hard to find this book and Online is probably your best option unless you have a local shop that takes a gamble on Indie's. I was able to find both Issue 0 and 1 at MidtownComics for a decent price plus shipping making it a little harder to swallow but trust me this is a book you won't want to miss. This is one of those books people will be talking about how good it is a few years when they released the seventh printing of the Trade Paper Back. I'm glad I found this book before it became the next 30 Days of Night, where the first issue sells for 80 to 120 bucks due to it's popularity and low print numbers. Check this book out, and see the potential that not only this book has but more than likely the company too.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
1408 (2007)
1408
Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom
Written by: Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander
& Larry Karaszewski
Based on the Short Story by: Stephen King
Starring: John Cusack, Mary McCormick, Jasmine Jessica Anthony and Samuel L. Jackson
Released by: Dimension Films
Like many movie goers this past weekend I went and saw the only movie that was remotely interesting out in theaters, that wasn't an Animation or a Foreign Film. I wasn't expecting too much from the Film but at the same time I had high hopes fortunately it didn't let me down... Well some parts did but we'll get to that later. If you can't decipher what the movies about from the trailer let me once again give you the basic plot summary for the millionth time, since apparently Hollywood did not do it's job. John Cusack's character Mike Enslin is a writer of Haunted tourist sites to but it frankly. He stays in these "Haunted" mansions and other interesting places over night to experience why they are spooky and to see if there's a haunting. He gets a post card telling him not to spend the night in room 1408 (1+4+8=13) a nice touch if I do say so myself. So after some research he becomes interested in the room and tries to book it. Eventually he gets the room but not before hearing Sam Jackson (So to be Nick Fury in Iron Man way to go Marvel :P) the Hotel Manager out.
Jackson goes into the long history of Deaths and accidents that have occurred in the room since the Hotel's opening with Cusack mocking him believing it to be the usual selling technique he's become acquainted with in his profession. Jackson's Character is unable to sway him, and is forced to let Cusack stay in the room. From there the room really takes a psychological twist and dives into the mind of Enslin (Cusack), pulling from it his deepest trauma the death of his Daughter. Really there's nothing more to say about the movie plot because the rest you'll need to see and it's not my job to ruin the movie for you, unless of course it's a bad movie in which case I will most definitely ruin it so that you won't be tempted to see it.
I like several things about the Film, everyones acting for one was very good and Cusack carries the movie by himself and does so very well. For practically staying in one room the entire time never did I find myself bored or uninterested in what was happening. It did a great job of keeping the intense feelings and making you uncomfortable watching several of the scenes. I loved the fact that Cusack's Character relied on his voice recorder almost like a crutch. He uses it to talk himself up and to keep his fears in check. I think a lot of Stephen King's works have this element in it and it almost always translates well onto film. Just thinking of one scene in particular where he's talking into the recorder makes me want to slap down another 11 bucks and see it again. So take some time and see it before it's beaten out of theaters by Summer Blockbuster after Blockbuster. And please don't see Transformers send a message to Hollywood and tell them you won't stand for the Murder of a franchise.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Straylight Run - The Needles The Space (2007)
This week Straylight Run's second CD came out. I'm not going to bore you will all the band's history, if you want something about that I would check wikipedia I'm sure they have every boring detail written down in even more detail then really needed. What I can say is that this album is leaps and bounds better than their first CD. The first CD's only good songs were the songs from the internet EP/Demo that the band released to get everyone interested in their sound. As for the second CD throw out everything you know about the band and start expecting Indie, light rock singing. After the first two songs I was instantly comparing it to Headlights, Rilo Kiley and several other bands that I still can't come up with. The CD is strong but not without it's weaknesses.
The first five songs stand out and yell "Single, Play me on the radio now!" I really could not choose which one I would send to the stations first. The sixth song is good but it's political and frankly no one's saying anything new. Everyone wants to criticized the president but no ones saying anything we haven't heard before and probably done better. I'd rather there be a political song taking personal responsibility about letting GW in the White House rather than bagging on what an idiot he is. Unfortunately it's still a good song and I found myself just ignoring the message the second time around and just really enjoying the hook and music. This is another CD that has a strong begin but a weak end. Like I said the first six are great, but the next five felt like filler and didn't stand out like the start of the CD did. Thankfully tracks 11 to 13 saved the CD from being another lack luster attempt from the band. Something I did enjoy was that there were move female vocals on this CD and that they were good songs. The last CD didn't have much of her vocals even as background and when she did sing it was like she didn't care about what she was singing. This CD however she had some catchy lyrics and interesting songs to go with them. A major weakness for this disc though, is the fact that it alternates from Male to Female vocal songs, literally going Male then Female and back to Male. I understand that they were probably trying not to establish either as a dominate voice on the CD and frankly her voice is so good that any record exec looking for the next Rilo Kiley or what not would probably make her the lead in a heart beat, but that would ruin the band. So the alternated when really they could have done One Male, a couple Female, then maybe alternate and finish with some Male Vocals. I sat there wondering how long they were going to keep it up and it finally brakes at track 7.
I would give this CD a strong 8.5, like I said it's not without it's weaknesses, but it has a lot of strength's that help it stay afloat in the overpowering Music scene today. Another great thing about this CD is that you can buy it for $8.50 on Smartpunk which is where I purchased my copy. I know a new CD that doesn't suck for under 10 dollars? Heck I bet other places might even have it as cheap without the shipping but hey it's still a heck of a deal. If you enjoyed the first album tread lightly with this one. Do not go and listen to the first album and then think the new one is going to be riding the same boat because it won't be, but hey even then I think you'll probably still really enjoy this CD.
RGX Bodyspray from Rightgaurd
So like most of the Men in America when Axe Body Spray came out to the Market I tried it... and ended up really liking it. Now ever since they changed the bottle and how and formula I have been searching for the next "Axe." I've tried Tag, I've tried Right Gaurd's Sports spray, and I keep giving Axe a try. So then I stumbled across RGX which I had completly forgotten. I was actually looking for Old Spice's "Ahoy!" which I'm still interested in trying.
As for the RGX, I was completly surprised by it. Not only did it have a nice, but not over powering smell, but it lasted through out the day. I've even noticed when I'm really working up a sweat that it's working harder too. So far I've only tried "Chill" because frankly I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was, but I'll be sure to run to the store and waste some more money on RGX.
Why? So you don't have to! So look for a future review pitting RGX against AXE, Tag, Blade (Looks like it's made by Axe to me) Old Spice and frankly any other Body Spray that I might put on to attract the ladies. Wink Wink. So for now I'm giving RGX a solid 9.0 because I haven't tried the other scents, as for Chill it's getting a 10.0 because it's holding the Championship Belt right now. Here's the commercial because we're all about substance and possibly filler.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
DC Comics Countdown - The First 6!
Today we're taking a look at DC's first 6 issues of "Countdown", their newest weekly series that tackles the entire DC universe and no doubt will bring us to the next "Crisis" to plague the companies books. So far I would give the series a 7.0, I'll give my break down at the end. For now let's go through issue by issue.
51 - 50 The first issue didn't really impress me, but I had to give it the benefit of the doubt since 52's (DC's last weekly series that just concluded) first issue didn't wow me either I let it slide and gave them to the next issue. Also Kubert should not do large team shots. Not a single hero looks interesting or detailed but at least they didn't get George "My style hasn't changed in twenty years" Perez to do it. The story was a little confusing it felt like I had missed something in-between 52 and Countdown . Issue Fifty was better, since the writing is changing from book to book with only Dini to map everything out I think it'll make for a lot of So-So issues. But anything with the Joker, that's handled by someone who knows the Joker is good. Also Jimmy Olsen has Elongated Man's powers? Or possibly Plastic Man's who knows they haven't said yet. We also get the established pacing of the Flash's Rouges, The Monitor's, The Anomaly's, Olsen and Mary Marvel. The books tell part of each story and then moves on to the next. The back of the book is the History of the Multi-verse as told by the Monitors. Kurbert's Joker Cover is awesome, if they put that on a shirt or poster I'm all over it, simply Bad Ass!
49-48 The story picks up and we find out that Duela Dent the Joker's Daughter from another Universe was not suppose to be killed by the Monitor, none of them have names and they all call each other brother and sister which gets creepy after a while. Overall this issue was lack luster. 48 was actually pretty good. As you can see Lightray one of the New Gods dies, and Superman pretty much shits his pants. He actually asks Jimmy, "How can a God die?" like Jimmy's going to be, "Well you see Clark once a life ends..." Also they explain why Superman wasn't there to stop it. Please writers you don't need to write "convenient" story's on why Superman wasn't there. He's in like 5 books at once just read an issue of Superman and say he was there. Also I think we'd let it slide since it's Superman, not "Everywhere at Once Man." Jimmy apparently has the Flash's powers in this issue as he saves a group of people. Then the dying New God zaps him and I'm thinking he's given him his powers but we'll see. I think the fact the Jimmy's got two different powers might be why he has to Die. Cover was horrible again, it looks like Superman's looking into a reflection rather than a dead body in a hole. Two different perspectives happening on the same piece of art? I would say so. I thought his Dad taught art? I guess natural talent wins every time.
47-46 Not only is this one of the best covers ever, but it's also one of the sexist. Again give me a shirt, a poster a statue and a wall paper pronto! In this issue Black Adam has his powers back and gives them all to Mary Marvel! What? Yeah you read that right. Teth Adam is no longer Black Adam. Too bad the art inside isn't as good as the Cover. I don't know why DC has there most mediocre artist draw there biggest books. That was always the problem with 52 you'd get a decent artist then 7 issue of "Meh." 46 introduces us to Forerunner the weapon of the Monitors, I almost typed Guardians since they seem to be a mixture of the Guardians and Marvel's Watchers. Forerunner hands Jason Todd and Donna Troy there asses, which sucks because I was actually starting to like Jason Todd's character even if they made him way to chatty. But no he wasn't as cool as when he kidnapped the Joker and was beating the hell out of him.
I'm not super impressed by this book yet, it hasn't earned my money and I might not get it anymore. The writings a little inconsistent from story to story and they keep trying to recap what happened in the last issue. The pacing is slow on some parts like the Monitors and the Rouges which stinks because I like the story I just wish they'd have learned from 52 and realize that not every character has to be in the book each week. The covers are 50/50 right now, if Bene's hadn't done the last 2 I would probably say they were mediocre at best. If you want to read these books you'll have to track down the single issues since DC's dumb and won't Trade Paper Back them until the series is over thinking that people will still even want the trades when its over. Probably ever comic store on the planet has enough back issues of the book so it shouldn't be too hard to get it and catch up on the looming disaster that you can't get a feel for yet. DC's trying a little to hard to give you that feeling of what's going to happen next rather than writing a good story that just naturally does it. Hopefully that won't force feed it as much in the coming issues. For more Wallpaper goodness check out DC's homepage.
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