While at the comic book store…

On the advice of a friend I checked out a new comic called Incognito recently and figured I’d pass that recommendation along to both of you who read this.

For those of you that need a name to be behind it, the comic is written by Ed Brubaker. He’s penned a slew of books, including Daredevil, X-Men, and Captain America. And yes - he’s the guy that killed Captain America. Brubaker also wrote Batman, but wasn’t behind that whole RIP thing at all.

Incognito - a five-issue creator-owned miniseries published by Marvel - is a bit of a departure for Brubaker, following the exploits of a former supervillain who was put into the witness protection program after testifying. It’s a little more complicated than that, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

Fortunately for the world at large, the villain in question (who goes by the name Zach…) doesn’t have his powers anymore thanks to a schedule of performance-decreasing drugs he’s forced to take.

Forced to take, that is, until he gets hooked up with some of those ’smoke all the pot you want and still pass drug tests’ herbs…and that’s where the story really gets interesting.

Incognito is a new look at the hero/villain dynamic and worth checking out. Issue 2 should be on stands now, and if you look you’ll find the first issue at the same time.

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Streak for Cash

Technically, it’s called Streak for the Cash but I’ve been calling it Streak for Cash too long and it sounds much better as a result. Anyway, for those “I hate sports” types, Heaters, and soccer moms who don’t know what Streak for Cash is about, I’ll fill you in.

Streak for Cash is ESPN’s version of pussy betting for sports fans, like myself, who are either poor or afraid to bet on sports because of how addicted and poor they may become shortly after they begin their sports betting careers. Streak for Cash is a game in which you try to pick winners for sporting events that ESPN gives you (usually at least 10 different options to pick from, from MMA to NBA to PGA) and if you just so happen to get 25 in a row then you win a million dollars. Sound too good to be true? Listen to ya boy Samuel

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Tags: ESPN, Heater, Popovich, Streak for Cash

S.Darko out on DVD April 28th

If only this movie would come out as a double pack with Fast & Furious 4, my dreams would all come true.

(And yes, we still have a blog)

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New Blu-Ray Reviews and What I’ve Been Playing

The X-Files I Want to Believe

Fox Home Entertainment / 2008 / 108 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 02, 2008
List Price: $39.98

Movie :

If you enjoyed the TV Series and the previous movie you can’t really go wrong with checking this out, with that said you might come away a tad dissapointed. I won’t go into the plot points but in my opinion the story written for this movie does not stand up to the first film and comes off as more of a plot for one of the X-Files shows produced for television. If you go into the movie expecting a huge spectacle you’re going to come away dissapointed. With that said though, if you go into the movie expecting what I’ve written you will find a pretty interesting little story that will at the least keep you entertained just to find out what it is that’s goin on. So this isn’t a bad movie by any means, it’s just not a great one.

Blu-Ray Picture :

As for the transfer of the film it kinda came off a tad bit soft in spots but overall was sharp and vivid with deep blacks and nice use of color. This isn’t a huge special effects type film so it’s not in the category of  material you would use to demo Blu-Ray to friends and family.

Supplements and Extras :

Deleted Scenes

Audio Commentary

Featurettes

Documentary

Gag Reel

Trailers

Interactive Timeline  - featuring over 80 video clip segments from “The X-Files” archives

Video Commentary (Profile 1.1)

Online Game (Profile 2.0)

Digital Copy

D-Box Enhancement

Bottom Line - If you are a major X-Files fan this is of course a buy and for anyone else it’s def worth a rent.

Burn After Reading

Universal Studios Home Entertainment / 2008 / 95 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 21, 2008
List Price: $34.95

Movie :

The basic set up of the film revolves around two of the most retarded characters I’ve seen in a long time, 2 gym employees played by Brad Pit and Frances McDormand who think they stumble upon highly classified CIA documents that belong to a high up in the chain CIA Agent.  What follows next is their brilliant plan to blackmail the agent, played hilariously by John Malkovich, so that ultimately the character played by McDormand will get the money needed for her plastic surgery…….  Yep you read that right and that’s what in my opinion makes the movie so great, the complete absurdness of the plot. Of course there are other stories being told throughout the movie that involve cheating spouses, the Russians, spy games, and a hilarious disscussion throughout the movie of what exactly it is that is happening by two senior CIA officials.

Now not everyone is going to like this movie though, it is very random and quirky to say the least and if random and quirky aren’t your thing then it’s probably best to just stay away for it would end up being a waste of your time. If complete pointlessness is your thing though you will probably really enjoy this movie and it’s characters.

Blu-Ray Picture :

Not much goin on here worth mentioning as far as ” Holy Shit ” Blu-Ray wow factor talk. It’s pretty much what you would expect from this type of movie which primarily takes place in office buildings, apartments, and occasional bed room scenes. The outdoor shots of Washington DC look nice when you get to see some of the sourroundings but they play a very little role in the film other then being the backdrop for where the story is set.

Supplements and Extras :

Not much goin on here at all just a few featurettes.

Bottom Line :

I would like to reccomend this to everyone but I think it might just be too quirky and pointless for some to enjoy or ” get ” for that matter. This is one of those movies where you’re gonna love it or absolutely hate it and of course for the slow minded ADD crowd ” Shut the movie off 15 min into it ”. Personally I loved it and found it to be hilarious and recommend it for those who enjoy stories about pretty much nothing at all. Is it worth a buy? Probably not, but I felt it was worth adding to my collection. For those who aren’t into ammasing a Blu-Ray collection I would say Rent It.

What I’ve Been Playing:

Call Of Duty : World At War

I just picked this up over the holidays and while not a huge fan of the Call of Duty games I gotta say I’m pleasantly suprised. The game looks amazing first off which should be assumed since it’s running off the Call of Duty engine which runs at 60fps and I’m a whore for 60fps. I know everyone is pretty much burnt out on WW2 FPS’s myself included but Treyarch managed to so far craft a pretty fun game. I play the game on Veteran difficulty and while that can be brutally frustrating at times the fun factor and just spectacle at whats goin on all around you really make you feel like you’re ” in the shit “.

Last night I got to try the co-op campaign mode with one of my friends and again while playing on Veteran we were dying pretty much every 10 seconds on certain parts the whole time we were just laughing and having a blast. I want to try and get a full 4 player co-op campaign going sometime this week to see if that makes it any easier on Veteran and I can only imagine the hilarity that would ensue from having a room full of sub-par FPS players trying to go through together on Veteran.

I haven’t yet tried the multiplayer so I can’t comment on that but I def want to give it a shot this week. So if any of you guys reading this have the game add my gamertag so we can play.

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Ash’s Best of 2008

Yes I normally don’t Blog on Tuesdays and yes I know I used my name, but that’s how we roll up in Canada…. rudely.

I encourage all the other Bloggers to post their lists as well. Please note I obviously haven’t seen every movie, heard every album, etc. So omission does not always = dislike (example: Left 4 Dead).

—————————————————————

Albums

8. If - Mindless Self Indulgence
7. Third - Portishead
6. When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold - Atmosphere
5. Rising Down - The Roots
4. Attack & Release - The Black Keys
3. The Odd Couple - Gnarls Barkley
2. Feed the Animals - Girl Talk

1. At Mount Zoomer - Wolf Parade


While I didn’t get into this one until recently, it’s easily the best album out of the bunch as far as a complete package.

To be honest, I liked certain songs from other albums on this list more than some of the songs on At Mount Zoomer, but almost every single album on this list was hit & miss this year (I’m looking at you Black Keys). Wolf Parade put out an incredibly tight package from end to end that made me give it the nod here. Good times.

Video Games

7. Fable 2
6. Gears of War 2
5. Grand Theft Auto IV
4. Braid
3. Rock Band 2
2. Prince of Persia

1. Fallout 3


Bethesda has done it again, only this time they took my favorite series of all time and brought it to the next gen, intact. A miracle considering my expectations. Sure the game isn’t perfect, but it is hands down the best game of the year, in a year with a lot of big contenders and a lot of big surprises.

Movies

7. Cloverfield
6. In Bruges
5. Iron Man
4. Pineapple Express
3. Let the Right One In
2. Wall-E

1. The Dark Knight


What’s there to say that hasn’t already been said? Chris Nolan knocked this one out of the park on almost every level, and Heath managed to put out one of the most memorable performances in the last decade as everyone’s favorite psychopath. Gritty, mature, and kick-ass, this one was an easy pick.

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Tags: Video games

Altgn’s Secret Santa is off to a ba humbug start

Deadline to send out gifts was December 12. Quite a number of jokers just mailed out their shiiiiit this week. I think some have yet to even mail them out. Nice.

As it stands now 19 of 39 people have received their gifts. We’re half way there, Mr. Glass Is Half Full.

Several impatient fucks have already opened their gifts but have graciously saved what they got, and who they got until the official unvealing on December 22.

Look for a thread on the 22nd to check out the festivities. Doozy has said if you don’t receive your gift by then he will personally buy you whatever you want and ban your secret santa. Sweet.

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“Remember When” is Good Listening

Pining for the 80’s? Need something to entertain you while waiting for the next Altcast? Want to hear some gaming geeks wax poetic on The Last Dragon, The Shield, Tombstone and of course Star Wars?

Then you should check out the “Remember When” podcast, hosted by Jay and Parris of UncleGamer / TalkingAboutGames.com. The hosts are knowledeable and have great chemistry and are pretty funny to boot. They also keep it pretty clean, so listening at work isn’t a problem.

Wow, I feel like I just did a Reading Rainbow book review.

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2 Moar Days!!!

…and then I am off on xmas vacation!

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Tags: christmas, Gerbil, vacation

I wish I were the Moon

I wish I were the Moon is a puzzle game where you must figure out all 8 endings by capturing objects in a picture and moving them around. Read more…

Slow HDTV sales impacting PlayStation 3 uptake

Slow sales of high-definition television hardware in the US is holding back sales of Sony’s PlayStation 3, as consumers feel the effects of the economic slowdown.

That’s according to analyst Michael Pachter, who also said that consumers had been opting for cheaper Xbox 360 console deals, rather than the more expensive PlayStation 3 offerings.

“There was likely some substitution of Xbox 360 for PS3 purchases, due to recent price reductions for the Xbox 360 and the bundling of the console with two free games,” said the Wedbush Morgan specialist.

“In addition, we believe that PS3 sales are being impacted by lower demand for HD televisions as a result of the recession.”

Sales of the PlayStation 3 during November were 6.1 million units, compared to 12.4 million Xbox 360 consoles.

However, Pachter believes that during the first half of 2009, sales for Sony will begin to look up as consumers show interest in exclusive titles and Blu-ray capabilities.

“We believe that several PS3 exclusives, notably LittleBigPlanet, along with focus on the Blu-ray will drive hardware sales over the next six months,” he said.

He also added that he expects December sales for the entire hardware market in the US to show further improvement over last year.

“We do not expect the recession to impact videogames in December; rather, we think that as Nintendo increases Wii supply further, Sony markets Blu-ray, and Microsoft rolls out its New Xbox Experience, hardware sales will show year-over-year increases in December.”

Credit goes to GiBiz - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/slow-hdtv-sales-impacting-playstation-3-uptake

Altblogger’s take on this -

Michael where are you getting your numbers for slow sales of HDTV’s, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why sales of Sony’s PS3 are lagging behind those of Micorosoft’s 360. IT NEEDS MOAR GAMES HUURRRDURRR. I do agree though that 2009 should see better numbers for Sony with some pretty huge high profile releases planned for the year.

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unWanted

I wanted to like Wanted.

I really did.

The cards were all in play: I was a huge fan of the comic, I really enjoy Angelina Jolie being hot, and Morgan Freeman would be my dad in a universe that made sense - coincidentally the same universe where Carlos Mencia is working at Taco Bell and gets punched in the mouth every time he tells steals a shitty joke.

And let’s face it, comic-based movies are getting a lot better. We got a decent Hulk movie, Iron Man set the groundwork for a solid sequel, Spider-man 3…well, let’s forget Spider-man 3.

Not every movie can be Daredevil.
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Thursday Joke #1

Nate walked into a bar and saw Kevin sitting there with a huge smile on his face. ‘Why are you so happy?’ he asked.

Well, Nate, I gotta tell ya… Yesterday I was out waxing my boat, just waxing my boat, and this hot redhead came up to me. Tits out to here, Nate! Huge tits! She said “Can I have a ride in your boat?” I said, “Sure, you can have a ride in my boat”. So I took her way out. I turned off the key and I said “It’s either screw or swim!” She couldn’t swim, Nate! She couldn’t swim!!

Two days later, Nate walked into the bar and saw Kevin sitting there with an even bigger grin on his face. ‘What are you so happy about today?’ he asked.

Well, Nate, I gotta tell ya… Yesterday I was out waxing my boat, just waxing my boat, and this hot blonde came up to me. Tits out to here, Nate! Huge tits! She said “Can I have a ride in your boat?” I said, “Sure, you can have a ride in my boat”. So I took her way out. WAY OUT, much further than the last one. I turned off the key and I said “It’s either screw or swim!” She couldn’t swim, Nate! She couldn’t swim!!

Three days late, Nate walked into the bar and saw Kevin crying over his beer. ‘What are you crying he asked.

Well, Nate, I gotta tell ya… Yesterday I was out waxing my boat, just waxing my boat, and this hot brunette came up to me. Tits out to here, Nate! Huge tits! She said “Can I have a ride in your boat?” I said, “Sure, you can have a ride in my boat”. So I took her way out. WAY OUT, much further than the other two. I turned off the key and I said “It’s either screw or swim!” She pulled down her pants and she had a COCK!! A huge cock, Nate! And I can’t swim!!

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Space, the final frontier…

So back in 1993, I bought my first Hallmark Star Trek ornament and that continued for the next 8-9 years. What started out as an innocent geeky obsession turned into a dangerous fantasy. You see, I don’t just hang these ornaments on the tree and be done with them. I connect them to a string of holiday lights to light them up. I lie back on the couch and pretend I am Picard or Kirk fighting Romulans on some imaginary epic space battle and then I tried to stick them up my ass. It was hard at first but year after year, it became easier. I am now comfortable with a string of lighted Star Trek ships up my ass that I can move around as far as the string of lights will let me without getting unplugged from the socket. Sadly, I had to give it up. Lets just say the inside of my anus is a burnt out husk from a short circuit in Enterprise NCC 1701-D.

Here is my collection:

Read more…

Tags: Gerbil, Hallmark Ornaments, Star Trek

This week’s gaming and movie releases, plus the most Pirated games of 2008

Only 3 more weeks left in the year and the gaming releases are slowing down to a trickle. For the 3 major consoles we only have two titles being let loose into retail this week. They are:

Playstaion 3

12/10/2008

Sonic Unleashed

Nintendo Wii

12/10/2008

Neopets Puzzle Adventure

and for the Xbox 360 -

Nothing….

Moving onto handhelds we have the PSP’s last release of 2008,  and 5 new titles for the DS.

PSP

12/10/2008

Dungeon Maker 2

Nintendo DS

12/10/2008

Slingo Quest, Cate West: The Vanishing Files, Drivers Ed Portable, Build a Lot, and Left Brain Right Brain 2.

This week’s Blu-Ray releases are probably the biggest news in the land of geekdom. Actually one release in particular….

Blu-Ray

12/09/2008

The Dark Knight

 OMGZ Christian Bale is sooo hot!

Lost Season 4

Horton Hears a Who

and for the rest of this week’s Blu-Ray releases you can check the full list here - http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=br_nf_2_more?ie=UTF8&field-releasedate=1y-7y&node=16295751&rank=salesrank&pf_rd_p=325297301&pf_rd_s=center-11&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=193640011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HRG6XJRDPV1QX2HB1VN

In other tech related news Microsoft has released two new colors for the 120 gig Zune just in time for Christmas.

  I have a Zune. I love it!  www.zune.net

Now for the list I’m sure alot of you came here to read, The Most Pirated Games of 2008. It really should read the most pirated PC games of 2008 but whatever. This list was compiled by Torrentfreak.com and in no way are these official numbers but they more then likely give a pretty good look into what went on in the GameZ Scene this year.

                           PC Game Downloads on BitTorrent in 2008 

Link to their story - http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-most-pirated-games-of-2008-081204/

No wonder why Crytek wants to shift focus onto the console side of development.

 In case anyone forgot Crytek’s president Cevat Yerli had this to say back in April of this year ” I believe that’s the core problem of PC Gaming, piracy,” “It was a big lesson for us and I believe we wont have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future. We are going to support PC, but not exclusive anymore.”

Way to go PC gamers! Keep on destroying your hobbie and don’t come on here commenting about how successful pc gaming is doing because of Blizzard and WOW, they are the anomaly of the PC gaming industry.

I don’t even know why I’m writing about this, pc gaming dead.

PS:

Only 17 shopping days left until Christmas!

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The Dark Knight cometh

Good movie.  Watch it.

Out on Tuesday.

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