Bambi = The Walking Dead

Amazon, as we've all probably experienced, is a pretty powerful shopping site. When I look up something that I'm interested in, they never fail to suggest several other things that I might also like, based on my browsing and purchasing behavior. But they can suggest some really weird things sometimes. For example, yesterday a coworker commented on the irony of a purchase suggestion that he received from Amazon:

"Customers who purchased movies and TV shows might also be interested in this week's notable new releases on DVD and Blu-ray, including Bambi, and upcoming future releases, including The Walking Dead: Season One."

Bambi and The Walking Dead. Out of all the new and upcoming releases, this targeted email pulled those two together? We had a good laugh about the crazy robots Amazon uses to make their marketing and merchandising decisions.

But the more I thought about it, the more the connections began to form. When you get right down to it, the stories are the same: They both center around a strong and upstanding character who's world is forever changed by an external force. One faces hunters and a forest fire, while the other faces an unending zombie apocalypse. The character is forced to band with other survivors as they all struggle to find their place in the new natural order. They meet friends and make alliances, and they experience scary new changes in the world they've always known. Both stories are about the survival and growth of the characters.

So yes, from this literary perspective, these moves are actually a well-matched set. And maybe those robots at Amazon are a little smarter than we give them credit.


Now reading: Dreadnought by Cherie Priest

New Avengers Animated Show

Of all the other things I have to blog about, this one jumps to the front of the line. I'm sitting here eagerly awaiting the premiere of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes on Disney XD. Forget No Ordinary Family, this series is the real deal.

I got a sneak peak at the series this week when the network showed the 5-6 minute mini-episodes that serve as backstory to the real series. They serve to introduce the characters and set up the major plots for the show. And it's looking good. If you don't get Disney XD, the mini-episodes are all viewable on the show's website. Hopefully the full-length 30-minute episodes will be posted there too.

The show, so far, seems to be grounded in Silver Age Avengers storylines (Hydra is the primary criminal presence) tempered with modern influences, namely the Iron Man movies and a touch of Ultimates flavor. The characters are properly represented and characterized, and there are cameos aplenty, especially of villains.

The series is helmed by Jeph Loeb, so everything should be fine. We're in good hands with someone who knows the source material and understands superhero stories. And here, he won't be hampered by having to reach mass market audiences, the way he was with Heroes. This is pure comic book TV.

My favorite Avengers are present, namely Hank Pym and Hawkeye. Hank begins the show as Ant-Man, but I've already seen clips of him moving on to Giant Man. Hopefully they'll handle his characterization well and we'll see him quickly progress all the way to Yellowjacket and his mental breakdown.

The Avengers have always been my favorite comic book characters and super team, even years before Kurt Busiek and George Perez breathed new life into the book on their run (and as far as I'm concerned, the book ended when they left it). I really like what I've seen of this TV show so far. I can handle the modernizations they've done in the name of making the show connect more to the new live action movies and making characters a little less campy (ie, this version of the Grim Reaper is much less dorky, and Nick Fury is a black man like in his other modern incarnations). All that stuff is fine. The only negative comment I have is what they've done to Wasp. She looks a bit goofy.


Now reading: Revisiting the good stuff from Weis & Hickman - Dragons of Winter Night

Bad movies and boxer shorts

Father's Day, and I'm truly touched. My family loves and appreciates me, of that there is no doubt. How did they choose to show that this year? Well, my wife asked me what I'd like, and I replied that I wanted some new boxer shorts. Please excuse my vulgarity, but that was my answer. That, and I also let her know that I would be ordering a new roleplaying game in the coming days (see below).

From my sons, I received the following:

• the second expansion to Munchkin Cthulhu
• Little Debbie's version of Twinkies
• two decks of Yu-Gi-Oh cards
• two really awesome greeting cards about farts

Now, the details:

1. Munchkin Cthulhu 3: Unspeakable Vaults - This purchase means that there are only three fragments of the Munchkin franchise that we do not own: Munchkin 6: Demented Dungeons, Munchkin 7: More Good Cards and the one my wife & I really want, The Good, The Bad, and the Munchkin (western themed game). We are marketable that way. Hmm. I never noticed the similarity of "marketable" and "mark" before. We even have the new 'boosters' "Fairy Dust" and "Waiting for Santa", although the boys don't know it yet!
2. Little Debbie snack cakes - This was a very thoughtful gift from my oldest, but the story behind it pisses me off; see my supplemental post on the subject.
3. Yu-Gi-Oh - My sons each selected a pre-built YuGiOh Structure Deck for me from their vast collections. This way, I have two decks with which to practice my combat gaming. I'm up against two experts here, so this gift is a very gracious gesture on their parts. They want to make it easy for me to join in their hobby; I love it.

For me, Father's Day wouldn't be complete without a couple of bad horror movies. I treated myself to the newest episodes of Doctor Who, which, this season, is falling deeply into the abyss of suck. I also took in the scifi time warp movie Triangle. It was better than I expected, once you accept the fact that it's about a temporal anomaly, and therefore not likely to stand up to plot scrutiny. I also watched American Psycho 2, but I really don't want to talk about it.

My other Father's Day pursuit is the new RPG, Icons, by Steve Kenson, published by Adamant Entertainment. Kenson created this game to fill a void in the current array of superhero roleplaying games. While there are several great game systems out there for supers roleplaying (namely, Mutants & Masterminds), there weren't any games out there to address the need for "pick up" gaming - being able to roll in with friends and spontaneously play a superhero RPG.

Icons fixes this. Steve Kenson based this game on elements that he liked from all the various older games from the 80's and 90's. The thing I like best are random character generation and roleplaying Aspects (taken from the FATE system). I'll probably wax more poetically on this in the future, after I have a hard copy of the new game.

Now reading & drinking: Bimbos of the Death Sun and Legend Brewery's Brown Ale

Time and Relative Dimensions in Space

I'm behind on my book reviews and that stinks. I've been reading enough to fill my quota, but I haven't been making time to write the reviews. I blame it on the British. No really, it's their fault. I'm not jumping onto my European-invasion soapbox again. This is aimed directly at the British, rather than all of Western Europe, more specifically, the blame lies squarely on the BBC. And I guess Netflix isn't exactly free of blame either.

I've been catching up on Doctor Who. Lots of Doctor Who. Doctor Who was my favorite show during my teenage years. (I experienced the awesomeness of Star Wars as a kid, so I was past that.) Doctor Who had all the hardcore scifi that I wanted, twisty, expansive story lines, and just a touch of humor. And the most amazing time machine / space ship ever invented.

Thanks to the beauty of Netflix, over the last few months I've watched some of the older episodes from the first two Doctors, seen the first appearance of Jon Pertwee, which I'd never seen before, and watched most of Tom Baker's epic run, mostly for the nostalgia of my teenage years.

I'm about to watch the last season of the scarf and look forward to seeing the entirety of the Peter Davison run. Once I get halfway through his time as the Doctor, I'll be in all new material! That's right, I've never seen any of the stories about the sixth, seventh, or eighth Doctors. And all of that is just to get me warmed up to re-watch Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant! Maybe by then I'll have learned to love the new guy too.

So I'll get a couple of book reviews posted soon, and we've also played some great games recently that I'll have to post about too. But up next: Jim Butcher's Changes.

Now reading: The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks by Max Brooks

Power Ranger for life

Holy Crap! I just now looked at this article sent to me by a friend: a former Power Ranger has joined the UFC wrestling guild and challenged Jean Claude van Damme to a fight.

Ordinarily, I don't like linking to news articles in a blog post because a) they're of limited duration, and b) everyone else is linking to them on their MyFace tweets too, so they don't need to be covered by me.

But this one is special. Because, if you refer back to one of my earliest posts, you'll know that I'm a hardcore Power Rangers fan. Keep in mind, I was in college when Power Rangers originated, in 1992 or '93. I used to skip philosophy and religion classes in order to watch the show.

Jason David Frank was the first person to expand the ORIGINAL (and most awesome) crew of five rangers, taking up the mantle of the previously unknown Green Ranger. Only, in reality, he was a thrall of the evil Rita Repulsa and single-handedly defeated all five rangers — in part due to her mystical aid, but mostly because he was that stinkin' awesome. But just before Rita could kill them once and for all, he overcame her control and saved the team. Shortly thereafter he became the most pure and powerful ranger of all — the legendary White Ranger, and led the team to many a victory against Rita and her replacement, the evil Lord Zedd.

JDF went on to star in more subsequent incarnations of Power Rangers than any other actor, even taking on the role of archaeology professor / mentor to the group of rangers in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder.

And all this just pours right out of my experiential memory. I am such a dork.

But as far as I'm concerned, there's no one better to whip JCvD's ass. Look out Jean Claude - it's morphin' time!

(I apologize for the lack of images in this post. I wanted to add a LOT of them, but in searching for images, I started reading blogs and quickly got distracted.I haven't sussed it out yet, but there might be a new PR series (or maybe just a new season of PR: Jungle Fury) starting next month!

Now reading: Catching up on my pile of comics - Detective Comics, Ex Machina, Sword, and Doctor Sleepless.

Wonder Twins of the modern age: Waits & Perlman

Tom Waits and Ron Perlman were separated at birth. That's the obvious explanation. They were both born in 1959, which means they turned 50 this year. Okay, sure, they were born months apart (October and April), but what does that matter? If they're not biological twins, then they're a batch of mutant off-shoots of the Boys from Brazil. Now that I think of it, I'm sure that's the real answer.

Tom Waits has been making music for a long time, and it's good stuff. But I think we all agree that his greatest contribution to society was his portrayal of Doctor Heller, the designer of non-lethal, super-weapons in the movie Mystery Men.

Ron Perlman has been acting for a long time, and got famous for snuggling up to Linda Hamilton on a weekly basis. Now he rules Sam Crow's roost on Sons of Anarchy. Hell yeah.

These two men are the Wonder Twins of the modern era, full of vinegar and self-expression. Both are ruggedly independent, incredibly talented, and gravelly voiced. Blue eyes and strong countenances further point out the kindredness. Still, there are differences. I mean, clearly, Ron Perlman is the evil twin, while Tom Waits is the drunken, happy twin. And they're both among the coolest people walking the planet today. Happy 60th year gents! Keep on truckin'!

* Edit: corrected my math. Sheesh. *

Now reading: The Reel Stuff (a collection of scifi stories that had movies based on them)

Where in the world is Gamer-X?

Since I haven't update this blog in ages, I thought I'd tell you what I *have* been doing. I recently finished a hellish 6-week work cycle. This is one catalog that is seeing the light of day only by the grace of the gods.

Gaming
In addition to not blogging, I also haven't been doing much gaming. Both the D&D game that I play in and the one that I run have been on hold. My group managed to get together twice in recent weeks after a 2-month hiatus (as so often happens in gaming), so it's starting to move forward again. This week the group's strong-arm fighter found himself weakened by magic and then webbed in place my summoned giant spiders...it was neat. One player switched from a yogi/monk character to a much more fun swashbuckler character. It's a better character in general, and a better fit to the PC group. The other group I'm in is transitioning toward a new Mutants & Masterminds campaign. That'll be exciting! Supers is my favorite genre of roleplaying games.

I've been focusing all of my RPG time on a new discovery called Spirit of the Century. It's based on the FUDGE system and uses a strongly narrative-driven mechanic, which encourages player immersion and character-personality focus. This kind of mechanic is just what I've been wanting in an RPG! Lots of situation- and character-driven action, rather than focusing on a map grid. D&D is great, but its current incarnation is much too tactical for my tastes.

Spirit of the Century is a high-action game set in the pulp era, and is full of some of the most fun things like robots, intelligent apes, Nazis, and Nazi apes. It's long been established that Nazis and apes or monkeys make the best bad guys in movies and games. And this game has them both!

Non-RPG Gaming
This has been mostly Munchkin and Fluxx. They're both quick, entertaining, and I always have two or three willing players at hand. I picked up the new Munchkin Impossible not too long ago, and it's been more fun than I expected. Two days ago, I found my way into a copy of the newly released, and mostly back-ordered Munchkin Cthulhu! I can't wait to break it out and see how cultists and Things Not Meant to be Known translate into this fun, cheeky card game. Insanity is sure to ensue. And I just heard last night that Fluxx is soon-to-release Zombie Fluxx!!

Movies
Go see Grindhouse! See it before it leaves the theaters. It's the most fun I've ever had in three hours, well, in a movie theater at least. Afterward, my throat was sore from laughing and hollering during the movie! It is Kurt Russell's best performance since Big Trouble in Little China. There's even a scene where, as he's getting ready to wreak havoc, he looks right at the camera across the roof of his car, and gives us the treat of his shit-eating grin. Best car chase movie I've seen since I was a kid. And that's only part of the thrill. The double feature and filler stuff in between combine to create a truly fun experience.

Rodriguez and Tarantino fill a void in today's movie line-up. Letting other people make mock movie trailers really added to the fun. If nothing else, Eli Roth's mock-preview during the intermission serves to remind us all just how insane he truly is, as if Cabin Fever and Hostel weren't enough to convey the depths of his dark mind.

Also watched The Descent a few weeks ago. It immediately soared to the top of my list of Favorite Horror Movies Ever. Even without the monsters, the movie delivers a terrifying look at the characters' descent into madness. It was only afterward that I realized the title wasn't referring to the caving...

Reading
Since I haven't had time to watch TV, socialize, or game, I've been reading a lot instead. Here are the things I can remember.

• Books: Anansi Boys and American Gods by Neil Gaiman (both very, very good), Evil: An Investigation by Lance Morrow (interesting but repetitive philosophizing about the nature of evil in the modern world by a top journalist).
  
• Comics: first volume of Warren Ellis' Planetary (I'm hooked!), lots of current DC titles, and other Warren Ellis titles, namely Fell. Unfortunately, Marvel dropped NextWave: Agents of HATE. That was one of the funniest parody comics I've ever read. Check out the trades if you can.
  

Field Trips
The end of the school year is approaching, and that means class field trips. I've been to a botanical garden with the first grade, and spent the day at a summer camp with 80 third graders. I had to pass on the trips to the recycling center and local park.

So that's some of what's been up with me. Now I'm off to bed.

Playing on XM: something by the White Stripes

Pry it from my cold, dead hands

I was thinking today about Charlton Heston. I don't know why...it was just one of those random epiphanies that I often have in the excremeditation chamber (aka, the bathroom). What? That's where I do most of MY best thinking. It's been empirically shown that most brilliant ideas and breakthroughs occur while the in the "thinking position."

So, anyway, it occurred to me just what a glorious movie career this man has had, and I wondered what an impact those roles must have had on his personal outlook and psyche. Let's take a look and I'll show you what I mean.

Briefly, we're talking about a man who has played biblical figures Moses AND God. His "historical" roles include Judah Ben Hur, Michaelangelo, El Cid, Sherlock Holmes, Andrew Jackson, and the shaper-of-worlds Thomas Jefferson. That alone is an impressive list, and most of them were impressive performances.

And then there are his BEST roles, or they're MY favorites at least.

In Omega Man, Heston portrayed a man who woke up to find himself one of the last survivors of a vampiric plague. Luckily he was saved by a hot babe with a gun.

In The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, he was the malevolent puppeteer behind the throne, Cardinal Richelieu. A minor role in the films, but an important character. By the way, it SHOULD go without saying that these are the ONLY versions of the story to see. Seriously with the talents of Richard Chamberlain, Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, and Christopher Lee(!)...how could any other version compete? And that's not counting the beauty and stunning performances of Raquel Welch and Faye Dunaway!! Mmm...Faye Dunaway...

Soylent Green presented him as the man who uncovered the truth about the world's overpopulation problem. He also delivers one of his most famous taglines in this movie.

Planet of the Apes remains one of my most treasured boyhood films. Not only do we get gorilla cowboys and my first look at science fiction, but we get Heston's greatest moment in film history: his emotional breakdown on the beach at the close of the movie.

One of the best things about these movies is you always get plenty of Charlton Heston musing about his (character's) lot in the Grand Scheme of Things. It's roles like these that turn humble, so-so actors into brilliant men. Men who are capable of going on to lead the free world's gun club.

And, as an aside, all four of those movies are based on really good BOOKS...read them!

And that was pretty much the thought that came to me in an instant of neural explosions. I don't really know where these things come from. Maybe, standing there, head bowed and alone with my own inner musings, I just felt some kind of kinship to the man. Yes, you can take this from me when you can pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Wait, that's not where I wanted this to go at all. I just wanted to talk about Charlton Heston's awesome B-movie film career. Where'd that other stuff come from? *sigh*


Playing on XM: Los Lonely Boys

Johnny Bravo is top of cool

(Hey...would you look at that...a blog, and it seems to belong to me.)

I was working from home yesterday and in the background, my sons were watching TV and playing. Johnny Bravo (watch Cartoon Network sometime if you don't know who he is) was on and, in his sexy-Elvis voice, I overhear him say, "A lady doctor? Has science really come that far?" It was sublime.

A little while after that, my 5-yr old comes into the room declaring "I am the king of the underworld!" I was too afraid to ask where he'd picked up that charming phrase, or where exactly he'd been for the past 15 minutes, lest he go "Children of the Corn" on me.

And that reminds me, over the weekend we were going for a swim at the YMCA. Afterwards, we went for dip in the jacuzzi to warm up and allowed the 5-yr old to get in for the first time ever. The rule is that kids must be at least six to get into the boiling pot of people, and he's only three weeks away from it. So he tenderly works his way into the hot tub, ever so slowly getting used to the heat. He works his way in up to his chest, then stands up, complaining that it's just too hot. We respond with something innocuous, "Oh yeah?" And he says, "Well, it's too hot for my belly but it feels good on my things."

My wife and I quickly turned our heads away from each other, biting back our laughter. His "things." No way in hell was I about to ask for clarification.

Today is the birthday of one of my friends. We share an office at work and spend most of our days talking about comic books and their authors and artists, or flinging movie quotes back and forth. Today, being his birthday, he received a box of flowers....from his favorite watering hole. How awesome is that, for the local bar where you spend many an evening, to send you roses on your birthday? If it ain't Callahan's Place, it's danged close.

Playing on XM: Blazers...bluesy slide guitar

Doctor Who comes to Scifi!

Great news, for those who care. And likely old news by now, but I'm still all a-flutter about it. Scifi has picked up last season's new Doctor Who series, previously only available via BBC and mostly illegal downloading. Hmm...I wonder if iTunes has it?

I've been a fan of Doctor Who since my high school/Cro-magnon days. From what I've heard, the new series is awesome and Christopher Eccleston apparently fills the Gallifreyan shoes admirably. But what would you expect from the guy who goes out of his mind as young Ewan McGregor's roommate in Shallow Grave. (See it if you haven't...it rocks!)

Playing on XM: Hank III (and his twangy new 2-disc album is out!!)


Edit: Four episodes in now. Wow! Eccleston truly does a wonderful job as the excitable yet aloof Doctor. The first two episodes were lackluster for me, but they had a lot of groundwork to lay. Now that the angst is out of the way, the third and fourth episodes were fabulous. They feel very much like the Doctor Who stories of old. Joy!

WWBD?

Here's an old piece I've been hanging on to. I wrote this a couple of years ago.

I recently became a die-hard fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer! FX started re-running the show from Season 1. Charles, my neighbor, was recording them & offered to let me watch them. Being bored that night, I begrudgingly accepted. Four episodes later, I was hooked.

My first impression whilst watching the first episode was, 'This is sort of an occult power rangers!' Here's why:

• Set in small, suburban Californy town,
  
• Group of teens repeatedly saving the world,
  
• General population if oblivious to the goings-on,
  
• Fresh, teen-centric dialogue,
  
• Kick ASS theme music!
  

In the 2nd episode, one of her companions actually said, 'It's okay. Buffy's a superhero!' Another line I love is from Buffy (said full of teenage female attitude): 'Okay, I get it - you're EVIL!'
Make fun of me if you will. My motto is now: WWBD? (What would Buffy do?)

After writing that, I heard the phrase a week or two later as I edged my way into Season 2. Huh. I think they tried to use it as a marketing slogan that didn't really take off. Well, I'm still a big Buffy fanboy. Mostly for the characters and dialogue, but I still crank the theme music when I watch an episode.

Oh, how marvelous it was for Buffy to be a new experience, fresh and unknown. As a TRUE fan of all things horror, I avoided what I was sure must be a trite, niche-targeted, empty TV show. Boy, did have no clue! I don't need to talk about how COMPLETELY wrong I was in my ignorant assumptions.

This post also reveals one of my dark secrets: I love the Power Rangers. Well, the original show that is. I've tried to watch several of the modern incarnations, but none of them have the appeal and character as the original cast, crew, and what served for storylines. And yes, this is coming from the same person who avoided Buffy for so long because I doubted that it had 'soul' or value. Hey, at least I'm willing to admit my quirks.

Buffy may be the loftier, more 'literary' of the two programs, but the original Power Rangers still gets the award for having the best theme music EVER.

You doubt my word?