Cinemagram

I downloaded some new ap called Cinemagram, and it's basically just instgram but for animated gifs. It's pretty new so it's kind of buggy and the interface isn't the most refined, but it's a lot of fun.

Here's a gif I made two seconds ago:

Breakfast Ninja #coffee

Created with cinemagr.am

Longmire

Now this is a good show.

Longmire explores the adventures of Walt Longmire, a grizzled sheriff in Wyoming who is kind of a cross between Sherlock Holmes, Colombo, Wyatt Earp, and Yosemite Sam. The show has an interesting setting, clever storylines, a great cast, and an absolutely fantastic character. I've watched the first five or six episodes so far, and I feel pretty confident saying it's one of the best and most compelling shows I've seen in a long time. Anyway, I like it.

Our hero is played by Robert Taylor, an actor I've never heard of and I was surprised to learn was Australian when I looked him up. Honestly, this guy was so good and so convincing in the role that I assumed he was really some unknown actor from the American Midwest. Of course, it makes a certain kind of sense because Wyoming is kind of our country's Outback, but I'll still be damned if this guy didn't nail the role. Even more than just being convincing as an American, he's just a damn good actor, flawlessly playing a conflicted man who has layers upon layers of inner turmoil that we learn about as the series progresses. If this series goes on a few more years and this guy doesn't get an Emmy nomination, that would be a serious travesty since this guy is the real deal.

The rest of the cast is also a lot of fun, with a stand out supporting performance by the always fun and dependable Lou Diamond Philips as Longmire's best friend, confident, drinking buddy, and father confessor Henry Standing Bear. The performance by Philips is a bit strange at first since he takes on an affectation where he doesn't use contractions. I'm not sure if this was a decision made by Philips or if it's from the series of novels by Craig Johnson upon which the show is based, nor am I sure if this is a valid portrayal of how Cheyenne natives talk. I just now it's weird and sticks out at first, until you get into it and realize that Lou Diamond Philips is a phenomenal actor who knows exactly what he's doing and created a character who is at once alien and different by nature of his upbringing, but also honest, kind, and full of integrity. This isn't another cliched portrayal of a Native American as some kind of mystical know it all, but a real character full of quirks who simply happens to be Native American. Anyway, it's just nice to see Lou Diamond Philips again. Who doesn't love him? He's still handsome as hell and he still looks the same age he did back in Young Guns.

Longmire's deputies are played by a couple actors I've never heard of, and Katee Sackhoff, who was Starbuck on the recent remake of Battlestar Galactica. The two actors I've never heard of are very good, one of whom is very handsome while the other is fat and goofy, but both are fun and engaging. And if you've ever watched Battlestar, you know how good Katee Sackhoff is. I actually think she's gotten even more gorgeous since then, but unfortunately I can't tell if she's grown as an actress since her character isn't give much to do. In the first episode she was presented as an interesting and strong character, but as the series progressed they dropped most of that in favor of just sexing up the character. As a man, I didn't mind when they put her in tight jeans and kept having her shirt opened lower and lower, but as a viewer, I felt a bit cheated. There was actually a scene in a strip bar where she got some witnesses to share information after she danced on the pole. You don't have to be a feminist to have found that scene cringe-worthy, but luckily things never sunk that low again. But still.

About the stories, the best way I can describe them is that they feel like Law and Order: Wyoming, since this tiny little Midwestern county seems to have an inordinately high murder rate. Sometimes the plots seem a bit over the top and hard to swallow -- like the one where a Mexican drug cartel tries to set up a drug ring in the county -- but the best stories are the ones that deal with the local Indian reservation, since no other TV show in recent memory has dealt with those kinds of stories or those kinds of characters. If you're a Native American actor, you'll be praying this show is a hit since you'll be guaranteed some kind of speaking role by the time its run is over.

So that's Longmire. I'm not sure why I took so long to say this: Great show, check it out.

Blessed are the Geeks: Part-3-Athon

You may have noticed that my updates lately have been sparse, with my last three posts being memorials for the recent deaths of three notable celebrities. Or maybe you haven't noticed, in which case you can go suck it. Anyway, I'm posting this to let everybody know that this blog isn't dead, and, in fact, is about to get more active than ever because I'm currently working on a big project that's going to rock your world.

Or maybe you won't even notice. I dunno. In that case, go suck it.

Anyway, I've made enough headway on my project that I feel comfortable revealing my Blessed are the Geeks Part-3-Athon, where I'll be posting a new video review every day for the entire month of October. Last year I did my Zombiethon where I posted 31 reviews (well, 30, actually, since youtube took one of them down for copyright issues, but that's neither here nor there) of different zombie films. This year I'm going to post 31 reviews of different films that are the third part of horror/sci-fi/fantasy series for which I've never seen the first two films.

Why? I dunno. I thought it might be fun. So far, I've watched several and it's actually been excruciating. But hopefully the worse my experience is watching these films, the more entertaining my reviews will be. If you watch, that is. And if you don't, go suck it.

Anyway... stay tuned this October. And just to be fair, I'm really trying to make them all as short as possible, both out of respect for your time, and because they're a lot of work.

In Memoriam: Michael Clarke Duncan (1957 - 2012)

Oh no!

Celebrity deaths are usually meaningless, but every now and again, they hit hard and the whole world mourns. I'm not going to say that Michael Clarke Duncan was up there with Laurence Olivier or Richard Burton, but his talent was undeniable, presence on screen was magnetic, and his charm and spirit were even more gigantic than his six foot five, three hundred pound frame. Michael Clarke Duncan was one of those rare actors about whom I can honestly say I've never heard a single slur, insult, or negative piece of news. For somebody in the public eye, that's pretty amazing.

He died today after complications from a cardiac arrest at the young age of 54. He will be missed, not only by his friends and family, but by the millions of people who will never get to see another film starring Michael Clarke Duncan.

One Giant Loss For Mankind

Neil Armstrong: 1930 - 2012

Some men are too big for one world. They have too much heart, too much courage, and too much determination to be tethered down by something as simple as gravity. Neil Armstrong left this world once, and now he has done it again, but this time he won't be coming back. He'll be missed.

In Memoriam: Tony Scott (1944 - 2012)

I'm saddened to hear of the death of filmmaker Tony Scott, not only because my heart goes out to his friends and family, but because it means I'll never get to see another movie made by Tony Scott. The man himself may have passed on, but he leaves behind a legacy of some of the coolest and most ridiculously entertaining movies ever made.

Happy Birthday, Everybody!

August 20th is an exciting day to be alive, and an even more exciting day to have been born. I looked up famous birthdays today so I could make a cheap joke on my friend Justin's facebook page, wishing a happy birthday to some other person instead of him (I chose Fred Durst), and I was shocked by how many other cool people are celebrating their birthdays today. (And when I say "other cool people," I am of course referring to my friend Justin and not to Fred Durst.)

Anyway, here are some notable people celebrating a birthday today:

Justin Garret Blum: My best friend

Andrew Garfield: The Amazing Spider-Man

Alan Lee: All time greatest Tolkien (and over all fantasy) artist

Ray Wise: The world's most epic character actor ever

H.P. Lovecraft: Master of horror literature

Isaac Hayes: Musician, actor, writer, god of funk

Amy Adams: Actress, all around uber babe

John Noble: actor who should be in a movie opposite Ray Wise where they play the most intense brothers ever

Alan Reed: Voice of Fred Flintstone (and a million other roles)

Jonathan Ke Quan: of Indiana Jones and Goonies fame.

Demi Lovato: Actress, singer, dancer, prettiest girl in the world

Blog News Nobody Cares About

So I recently made note of a new a Jack Kirby-themed blog I added to my roll of recommended sites, but I have since removed it. At the risk of sounding like a flip-flopper, I read it in more in-depth and didn't like much of what the writer had to say or the emails he was posting from his or her fans. It's still a great resource for some outstanding Jack Kirby art, but it's also one of those sites that praises somebody more often than not by attacking somebody else, in this case, Stan Lee. There was just so much negativity against Stan Lee to the point at which they all but accused him of having absolutely no input on the creation of the Marvel Universe that it just hurt my stomach and made me want to sever any links (literally and figuratively) to this website.

You won't hear me taking too many political or ethical stances on this blog, but I certainly won't tolerate people bad mouthing either Stan Lee or Jack Kirby, both of whom I considering to be the premiere giants of the comic book industry.

That's all.

Kirby Dynamics

This isn't Earth-shattering news, but I added a new link to my blog roll over on the right: Kirby Dynamics, a super cool site full of super art by Jack Kirby. Check it out if you like this kinda stuff:

Some Games I've Played Recently

I normally don't like to review a videogame until I've actually beaten it, but I've come to the conclusion that I'll probably never beat another videogame again. The days are too short, I have too much to do, and games just keep getting longer and more complicated. Anyway, here are my brief opinions on some games I've played recently (and by "recently" I mean sometime within 2012):

Skyrim
If this game was fun, it'd probably be the best game ever. As it is, Skyrim is playable, interesting, and kind of addicting, but I dunno if I ever really experienced what I would call "fun" while I was playing it. To begin with, the controls and point of view are just wonky and never felt right. It's a first person RPG, but the field of view was so limited that I kept losing sight of the enemies, and the depth perception was weird so blocking and swinging with my weapon felt random. Most battles just turned into button-mashing-madness. There's also a third person perspective, but it's even worse and makes the game completely unplayable.

The graphics are wonderful, but honestly the environments all tended to look alike. One snow-covered castle in the mountains looked like every other snow-covered castle in the mountains. There were a few exceptions, however, where the game's locations were absolutely stunning. The characters and enemies also looked great and were animated well, but, again, they all kind of looked alike. But all complaints aside, this is a huge, epic, gorgeous game that looks pretty fantastic.

About the story I can't say much, not only because I don't want to spoil any of it, but because it's incomprehensible. I got pretty far and I do intend to finish this one, but I still have no idea what is going on, what the main plot is, or why I should really care. And just to be clear, I love fantasy novels and films and have read countless entries in the genre. This story just wasn't all that well written, so most of the dialogue sequences were boring and hard to follow, and I was never really able to understand the main conflicts going on in the game world.

But... it's a neat game and worth checking out if only because there's so much to do and so many things to see. And you get to fight lots of dragons. I say... rent it from Redbox.

Rage
First person shooter by id, the company who basically invented the genre, for whatever that's worth. This was another game that wasn't really embraced by the critics or gamers, but I thought it was pretty cool. It has probably the best graphics I've ever seen (no joke) and the gameplay (mostly shooting and driving) is solid and a lot of fun.


I don't have much to say about this one, other than that it's a pretty fun first person shooter. Check out the demo, or just buy it. I bet you can find it for ten bucks like I did. 

Blood Stone: 007
I actually beat this game!

This game took a beating from the critics, but I don't know why because it's actually pretty awesome. I think I remember them saying it's too short and too derivative of similar games like Splinter Cell: Conviction, and I can't really argue with those claims, even if what they consider faults I consider pluses. I like games that other people consider "too short" because those are the only ones I have a chance of beating. And Splinter Cell: Conviction is one of my all time favorite 360 games, so a rip-off of that game with James Bond instead of Sam Fisher is ok with me.

Anyway, this is a third person action game (with the occasional driving stage) set in an original James Bond story, complete with its own theme song, villain, and incomprehensible story. If you like James Bond and action games, give this one a try. I like it a lot, and I still log into the multiplayer every now and again, even though I'm awful.

The action is great, the story is clever, and the voice acting by Daniel Craig is fantastic. I even liked the driving stages, which a lot of critics complained about for some reason. 

The Witcher 2

Solid, fun RPG with great graphics, great gameplay, and very cool story. This is way more fun and interesting than Skyrim, but it is more linear and straight forward. There's very little exploration or crafting or the like, but the fighting is better and the story is way better written.


Check it out if you like action RPGs.

Mass Effect 3
I loved the original Mass Effect and thought it was one of the coolest games I've ever played (you can read my review here), but I merely tolerated Mass Effect 2 (you can read my review of that here). The first game was an awesome action game with a brilliant sci-fi storyline, while the second was just a rehash with slightly better control. I figured I'd skip the third game, but then I played through the demo and it was amazing. So I caved in and bought it. And Mass Effect 3 is pretty amazing too.

Sure, it's just like the first two games, but while the second game's story was lackluster and boring, this one is pretty epic and the gameplay is a lot of fun. The graphics are better, the controls finally feel right and live up to the promise of the first game's premise, and the story is awesome. I've heard a lot of people complaining about the ending, but I can't comment on that because I haven't beaten it, and at the rate I'm going, maybe I never will. But I'd like to.

Oh, and don't even think about playing this game unless you have already played the first game. Feel free ti skip the second, however, since it served no purpose and added very little to the overall storyline all things considered.

Great game.

L.A. Noire
Here's the concept for this game: What if you played a game just like Grand Theft Auto only you were a cop instead of a crook? And what if instead of it being really fun and exciting, it was instead incredibly tedious and boring?

All things considered, a police procedural game set during the L.A. of the 1950s is a pretty interesting premise full of possibilities, and searching the crime scene for clues, questioning witnesses, and interrogating suspects is actually a lot of fun. This game fails as a game, however, because there's just no variety, the gameplay is severely limited by the rules you have to follow as a police officer, and the whole story is so poorly written and conceived. Seriously, this game has one of the most profoundly stupid stories I've ever seen in a videogame, and once you make it toward the end you'll give up like I did because you just won't even care anymore.

However... it is fun for the first half or so, and the graphics and concept are really fantastic. Pick it up if you find it for under ten bucks maybe.

In Memoriam: Joe Kubert (1926 - 2012)

I Love Paul Ryan!

No, not that Paul Ryan, the imposter who was currently chosen to be Mitt Romney's running mate in the 2012 presidential election... I love the real Paul Ryan, who was one of the best comic book artists during the late 80s and early 90s. I loved Paul Ryan's art, especially his epic run on Avengers with writer John Byrne, but also Quasar, DP7, and even Fantastic Four, although the storylines were never up to the par of his artwork.

Anyway, whenever I hear about this other Paul Ryan in the news, I think back fondly on the real Paul Ryan, the one who drew thousands of comic book pages that I grew up reading and loving. So here's some Paul Ryan art, just for fun: