Holiday Steam Sales
The Steam Holiday Sales – I copied the entire sales scraper into a spreadsheet and sorted the games from lowest to highest. Go nuts.
The Steam Holiday Sales spreadsheet
I updated today for the new sales price. 12/24/09
Wolverine: Origins Review
Note: There are more spoilers in the trailers for Wolverine: Origin than this review.
I will start with what’s good in this movie. The only positive of this movie has to do with the actors. Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber, both very talented, were excellent in their roles. They were both ferocious and intense, but became somewhat confusing in the storyline during supposed new twists injected into the plot for movie. Needless to say, not much else made sense other than their past growing up together.
Speaking of a story, how about let’s not have a story at all! The writers seemingly chose to throw out all source material at some point. They then sprinkled the film full of unnecessary cameos that were all half baked in a failed attempt to distract viewers. Gambit was in the film, but he had a lack of a certain Cajun accent. Young Cyclops was also featured and, apparently, he had heat blasts while young.
Also, what happened to Deadpool? I didn’t realize it was him until I read the credits. What really threw me off is the end of the movie. To those that have already seen the movie will know what I am talking about when I say that none of that nonsense happens. He and that “monster” at the end are completely separate. Best character of all time ruined in a poorly done origins story. Now what are they going to do for a Deadpool spin-off? We will never get Deadpool done right.
Sadly, let’s not forget how poorly done the CG was in major scenes. Take for instance the scene of Wolverine in the bathroom looking at his shiny new claws, but the claws are rendered with the brightest and shiniest filter in the world. Also, at one moment, they were shifting knuckles! After that, the blades even “slid off” his fists to magically reattach themselves seconds later. How lazy can you get? Was there no time post-production to have an eye for detail with this kind of enormous budget?
I did not go into the theater looking for mistakes related to his claws. It was that painfully obvious.
Flaming pile of hot, salty garbage.
Grade: F – (minus)
The Swine Flu Unleashed
Another year, another global mutant flu scare. Except this one carries avian, pig, and human viruses. How the hell does that occur naturally? I suspect an advanced biological terror weapon. Or worse, the pharmaceutical companies releasing a new thought-to-be controllable virus into the wild to help push sales.
More cases of swine flu reported; WHO warns of ‘health emergency’
“A potentially deadly new strain of the swine flu virus cropped up in more places in the United States and Mexico on Saturday, in what the World Health Organization called “a public health emergency of international concern.”
Maybe it’s to urge people to receive the flu shot as soon as possible. To scare them into buying into the hyped up pandemic. Sure, the flu shot will help, just like growth hormone therapy has been proven to help a child develop fully after puberty while spending thousands of dollars over many years. Note to readers: It doesn’t.
US declares public health emergency for swine flu
“As part of that, Napolitano said roughly 12 million doses of the drug Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to places where states can quickly get their share if they decide they need it. Priority will be given to the five states with known cases so far: California, Texas, New York, Ohio and Kansas.”
The Swine Flu outbreak does not seem natural. Perhaps it was either released on purpose by a certain terrorist group for biological warfare or accidentally released from a laboratory after many years of attempting to create a new type of deadly strain of flu. Maybe, as stated before, it was released by government agencies to increase the sales of flu shots annually.
We may never know the truth, but everyone should at least be prepared if there is an outbreak near home. Just remember: those cheap 3M breathing masks do very little in regards to protection. Chances are no one will breathe it in, but from the contact of the hands on surfaces. It is then transferred to the host as they scratch their eye, put their finger in their ear, or for many different reasons, put a finger in their mouth.
There are many ways people receive the virus, but it’s nothing to really worry about right now. This virus alone will not wipe out humanity. It’s best to just try to stay as clean if possible, but don’t overdo the hand washing and sanitizing, and be aware of birds, pigs, and other human beings that might look infected. Pray at the sight of bird holding a tissue riding on top of a sneezing pig.
Boosting the immune system is the best defense when possible. Working out, changing up the diet, and consuming vitamins are good lifestyle changes if anyone is truly worried. Speaking of the immune system and vitamins, why do people still buy Airborne? It’s absolutely worthless. Many people do not know about the class action settlement, but here’s a wonderful link to the enormous settlement.
“The makers of Airborne—a multivitamin and herbal supplement whose labels and ads falsely claimed that the product cures and prevents colds—will refund money to consumers who bought the product, as part of a $23.3 million class action settlement agreement.”
Though, Swine Flu has made an appearance before. Fort Dix in the year 1976.
It’s good reading material and we should always know our history.
President Gerald Ford was urged by panicky public health officials to vaccinate everyone in the country. A quarter of the country was vaccinated by the time the program was put down. We lived through that outbreak as well as many others. The Spanish Flu was over 90 years ago, we’ve come a long way in regards to treatment, medicine, detection, and quarantine.
Though, this swine virus wasn’t quite as worrisome as other outbreaks in the past. Why was there such a mad rush to have everyone in the country vaccinated? Could it be that flu shots are a falsely advertised product that do not help people, especially the elderly, 65 or older, protect themselves from influenza.
It’s true, the flu shot does little for the elderly. Research released several years ago showed that even though immunization has increased by a huge percentage, the amount of annual deaths has not dropped enough to give credibility to the supposed life saving inoculation.
The CDC does tout statistics involving flu related deaths, but are they real? Out of those thousands of people, many of them had complications due to other related illnesses and pre-existing conditions such as pneumonia, heart problems, pregnancy, and alcoholism, cancer, and dozens of other factors combined to decrease the chances of surviving.
It is a very small percentage of people that actually die from the flu alone annually. This does not justify a shot prone to heavy side effects to everyone in the country at the start of flu season.
When was the last time anyone remembers a relative coming down with a case of SARS or West Nile? It’s mass hysteria and the media fuels it by confirming locations where the disease has been detected. I do not care that they are actually informing the public of such information, but it’s not right when it’s only one man in a hospital bed waiting for the results.
One day, there might be a plague that will cause the near extinction of man. It’s inevitable. It may come from the doing of a lab or from a unnatural mutation after great exchanges between species that allows the virus to adapt to become a cross-species infection.
Also, here is a map using Google Maps that shows suspected and confirmed areas of the man-bird-pig virus.
Also, for a last mention, apparently the GOP fought to strip $900 million for pandemic preparation from the emergency stimulus bill. Way to go Republican party. A disease that sweeps the nation couldn’t possible cripple an already crippled economy any further. Way to play politics instead of responding to what might be in the best interest of the country.
GOP Know-Nothings Fought Pandemic Preparedness
“When House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who has long championed investment in pandemic preparation, included roughly $900 million for that purpose in this year’s emergency stimulus bill, he was ridiculed by conservative operatives and congressional Republicans.”
Here’s to another wonderful summer plagued by, well, yet another plague.
The War on Drugs is a War on People
The war on drugs is a war on people and peoples rights are being violated and you’re incarcerating and caging human beings often times who have are simply victims of the sickness of addiction, who have become sucked up in this giant war on drugs, which in fact is a crime against humanity.
The war on drugs is a war on people.
Innocents are being terrorized by law enforcement is almost news worthy. This happens more than most could ever believe, but this story made national headlines because it was a mayor with connections. People cared for once.
When a 12 year old girl is beaten about the face and throat after she cries out for her father because men are taking her by force calling her a prostitute, even though the description was for white adult women soliciting, the police still do not apologize or admit that they were wrong.
Police Get The Wrong House In Galveston, Allegedly Assault 12-Year-Old Girl
These are two stories that made headlines, but are just a droplet in the sea of the suffering of the innocents by the hands of those sworn to protect and to serve.
Know your rights. Know that they no longer matter. Now it’s even easier for an officer of the law to get away from controversy after making a terrible mistake.
Justice System. Is there justice in the system? Or is it just us in the system?
Brian Azzarello’s Joker Graphic Novel Review
Contains minor opinionated spoilers.
I was excited for this graphic novel. Brian Azzarello has done amazing work with 100 Bullets and Lee Bermejo has a very unique style. Never have I been so excited to see the Joker in a one-shot story before, but I’m not ashamed to admit that the excitement stemmed from The Dark Knight. The interviews that I’ve read and the scans I’ve seen made this seem as it were more of a sequel to the Dark Knight instead of a story revolving around the Joker. After reading, I feel that we have been misled.
Not divulging too much information, the best spoiler I could give without spoiling the story is the premise of the story. Joker has been released for reasons unknown from Arkham Asylum with a clean bill of health. Though, a lot doesn’t make sense in this story when you begin to realize that the fact that he was released was simply a plot device to speed the story up. No daring escapes, he simply walks out the front door.
I don’t mean to sound incredibly negative about the story, as a lot of liberties were taken with a few villains, such as Killer Croc, but I did like the ideas. Croc was stripped down from his mutant visage to his more original circus attraction persona. Albeit, I did like some of the ideas, don’t even get me started about the Riddler. I did find Brian and Lee’s vision of the Batman-verse fitting with a more human approach to the Gotham villains intriguing, the biggest change had to have been the Joker’s scarred and chemically ruined mug.
At first, like many, I immediately made the connection to the Dark Knight with the Joker’s permanently etched smile, but this artwork predates Christopher Nolan’s motion picture by at least three years. The Dark Knight was kept under wraps for a very long time with very little released revealing the Joker. Needless to say, this is a very good coincidence for the Joker graphic novel team. Sadly, it does not play as a sequel anymore than it plays a classic story of a once great, now washed up crime boss trying to regain his former glory.
Joker is told through the eyes of Jonny Frost as he witnesses the man he idolizes attempt to regain what he thinks he rightfully his: the throne of Gotham City’s underground organized crime. The bloodshed, carnage, and psychotic dialogue that ensues does seem a little over the top as, to me, the Joker isn’t necessarily about cold blooded murder. I can justify a few of his actions that are Joker-like, but Frost seems to justify more of what he witnesses first hand than a reader might want to acknowledge.
I feel the pedestal the Joker is placed in the eyes of our main character is a bit much and gets a little grating at times as he does not seem to understand the Joker, let alone truly relate to him. There are times I felt that the Joker wasn’t really the main focus of the story, but placed there because there is no other criminal as feared in the Batman series. It’s obvious why Frost is telling the story as what goes on in the Joker’s head undoubtedly frightens God himself. The writing in a first person Joker graphic novel would be twisted, bleak, difficult to write, and very mature.
I mean mature as in that the ideas and beliefs that the Joker has about life, religion, God, innocent lives, death, and what truly lies in the heart of a human being are all mutated and insane thoughts. To attempt to map the brain of a serial killing psychopath with a calling card like the Joker would be an incredible feat. Ultimately, the story would fail regardless because that is the Joker’s nature; the mystery should always remain behind those terrifying eyes. I do applaud Azzarello for passing the view to a nobody that wants to be a somebody, but the story feels overdone and uninteresting.
Looking back, I feel that anyone could have been given the Joker’s position and the story would have been the same. A lot goes unexplained and the ending doesn’t end with a punchline quite like other Joker one-shots, ie., The Killing Joke. After flipping the last page, I heard a dull thud resembling a rubber mallet. While the illustrations were beautiful and extremely well done, I felt that the story was a recycled mob short with special guests Batman and the Joker. Although, I feel that it is unfair of me to compare this to other Batman related one-shot stories. I admit it is interesting to see another side of Joker that we normally do not receive, which is the hardened criminal side with an extremely dangerous anti-social spin, there is no over elaborate scheme and very few lasting images.
I might have set my target too high for this to hit the mark given the recent success of The Dark Knight, but I would like to believe if it wasn’t for the movie, I would have felt the same regardless. The Joker is a difficult character to manage and to try to show a side of Joker that isn’t all about Batman and his over the top crimes was a ballsy move. I respect the ideas and artwork, but felt unsatisfied with this gory Joker vehicle.
Arrested Development Movie!
That’s according to star Jeffrey Tambor anyway, who yesterday told Steve Weintraub of collider.com that the much-rumored film is a go. Tambor said he talked to “AD” creator Mitch Hurwitz last week, who said it was on.
http://weblogs.redeyechicago.com/showpatrol/2008/11/arrested-develo.html
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