Montréal Geek

Weird stuff i read about

2011-11-08T14:26:00.005-05:00

Okay, so they approved internet browsing at work.

And here's what I've discovered, while reading www.oddee.com, and then read about on wikipedia:

(Jack) Nicholson was brought up believing that his grandparents, John Joseph Nicholson (a department store window dresser in Manasquan, New Jersey and Ethel May (née Rhoads, a hairdresser, beautician and amateur artist in Manasquan), were his parents. Nicholson only discovered that his "parents" were actually his grandparents and his sister was in fact his mother in 1974, after a journalist for TIME magazine who was doing a feature on Nicholson informed him of the fact.[8] By this time, both his mother and grandmother had died (in 1963 and 1970, respectively). Nicholson has stated he does not know who his biological father is, saying "Only Ethel and June knew and they never told anybody",[8] and has chosen not to have a DNA test or to pursue the matter.

I also stumbled upon this lovely human being: H.H. Holmes, the first documented serial killer in USA.
Enjoy!

Blast from the past #1

2011-10-04T00:14:00.002-04:00

Here's a good old classic from Avail.

(Just click the flashy blue Avail, dummy)

What they're up to now: Some dude from their band has been doing some awesome alt country, which seems to be all the rage right now (see Lucero, Drag the River). For the life o' me I can't find his stuff right now.

PS: I fucking LOVE Lucero, and Drag the River's alright too, cool guys! Singer from All (originally in Descendents) is in there too, for y'all old punks out there trying to keep touch.

About time

2011-10-03T23:16:00.006-04:00

Alors, pour rester dans l'esprit du dernier blog, on va parler un peu de ce qui se passe à Montréal, côté musique!

Ce jeudi, à l'Hémisphère Gauche (L'Hémi pour les habitués), Dayglo Abortions + invités. Je les ai jamais écoutés, j'y vais surtout pour faire le party avec mes chums qui tiennent Subsistance vivant depuis maintenant 10 ans.

Vendredi au Foufounes Électriques (Foufs pour les fendants), Endast lancent leur album. Ça risque de faire très mal aux tympants.

Ensuite, Mercredi prochain, soit le 12, encore au foufs, Cobra Skulls + Invités. Parmis ses invités se trouve Nothington, un band sur lequel j'ai un gros kick en ce moment.

Alors, jeunes délinquents, vieux solitaires et rebelles immortels, on se voit dans une salle sombre très bientôt!

Fun fact: Big James, chanteur de Endast, est aussi l'auteur du premier Morning show sur Youtube: Voici.

Pouzzafest Review dans ta Face (et tout mon weekend aussi)

2011-05-23T11:11:00.041-04:00

*Rediger au travail, pas de clavier francais vu que FedEx respecte pas full full les lois du Quebec vu que c un geant americain, corrections a venir*

Ta-Bar-Nak.
What a night. Fuck that, what a weekend.

Je sais meme pas par ou commencer. Par le debut? Dac-o-dac.

Vendredi. Au travail. D'habitude a la fin de la semaine je suis "pu parlab", grace aux centaines d'imbeciles qui m'appellent depuis lundi, et j'ai besoin de 2-3 heures de musique, une caisse de 6 et une bonne sceance de masturbation pour faire sortir le mechant.

Mais pas ce vendredi. Non! Y fa beau en TA apres avoir mouiller toute la semaine, je viens de me trouver 2 partners pour le Pouzzafest, je fini bientot, et j'ai un nouveau chapeau.

Fin du shift. Hop! dans la bus (what's up quebec!), du Rancid a fond la caisse pour me primer encore plus. Direction: SoundCentral pour acheter ma passe de weekend!

1 heure plus tard, pu de billets. Petite panique. On me dit de m'essayer au 2100 st-urbain et que mon chandail de stormtrooper est nice. J'aime la marche, y fa beau, y fa chaud, let's go!

J'arrive au 2100, il y reste plein de passes. Jva t'en prendre une! dit-il avec un peu trop d'entrain et de joie (Jva tellement etre un gros mononc cave plus tard dans la vie). Direction: pointe de pizza bacon, et Underworld pour rencontrer Carolyn et Clarence. J'ai un desir intense de me souler mais Underworld est un "dry venue".

Patience, jeune Padawan.

Premier Bracelet.

Dans la rue en train de m'goinfrer, je rencontre ma 1ere partner, Carolyn. Completement soule elle m'annonce qu'elle boit depuis 15h00, tout en degustant une Pabst. Elle et ses amies doivent finir leur bieres avant de rentrer, je les laisse dehors pour l'instant.

Deuxieme bracelet.

Il est presque soir deja. Un band joue sa vie pour une quinzaine de personnes. Je consulte tranquillement l'horaire du week-end pour la 1ere fois quand on tire sur ma manche. 2eme partner au rendez-vous, c'est Clarence, toute souriante et toute seule, qui me donne un hug. On discute un peu des bands, et je realise que j'en connais ptete... 3? Clarence et Carolyn veulent voir les memes bands, j'imagine que c'est de la bombe!

Le band termine, un autre se prepare, la salle commence a se remplir. Les gars de Brixton Robbers arrivent completement chauds. Ca va faire mal dans le pit! Je realise soudainement en regardant encore l'horaire que Bad Astronaut joue au Foufounes dans 10 minutes! Je disparais en vitesse (jva revenir a 11h!) et marche les fesses serrees.

Troisieme bracelet.

La terasse est remplie de monde qui sont capable de supporter l'attitude de merde des bouncers en echange de musique potable. Le gars qui fait la porte aime aussi mon chandail de stormtrooper. Je monte les marches, febrile et exciter. Pour moi, le weekend vient officiellement de commencer. J'entends la foule qui chante les paroles avec le chanteur.

Je m'achete 2 bieres, me trouve un petit coin (la salle est pleine) et oublie tout le reste de la planete l'instant d'un show. Joey Cape est en trance. Il nous avoue qu'il realise pas vraiment ce qui est en train de se passer. (Pabst a la main) "I'm fucking in my favourite fucking city in the whole fucking world, with my favourite fucking band, playing the best fucking crowd, I'm not really grasping all of it... Sucks that with this band I can't really get drunk but... ah fuck it (boit sa Pabst, tout le monde cheer).

Fin du show, retour a la realite, je fini ma 6eme biere et je marche vers l'Underworld. Ya du monde quand meme chaud dans les rues hehehe! Je rentre au UW... le party est pogner bin raide. C'est plein. Je cherche mes gens... Nick est dans le pit. J'y vais!

Tse des fois ya des trou du cul dans le pit qui trash tout croche pi qui font tomber tout le monde? Bin stai nous ca. Je me rappele monter sur ses epaules a un point, et lui qui m'avertit plusieurs fois (tu vas te faire mal man t'es-tu pret?). Je pense que c'est a ce point que j'ai perdu mes clefs.

Le show termine. G un mini-blackout a partir de la. Je me dirige vers l'Abreuvoir, aller voir Claudia. Je me rends compte que le pti cling cling de mes clefs me manque. Je realise qu'il ne me reste plus que mon porte-clefs Chewbacca lego. Panique. Je retourne au UW, tout est fermer. Misere!

Je prends une chance. Mathieu couche chez son frere depuis 2 semaines vu que son appart est en reno, mais il habite a 3 coins de rue de moi. Il est dans l'autobus, il s'en va coucher chez lui! Il va venir me rejoindre a l'Abreuvoir! Asti que chu plein de marde.

L'Abreuvoir, je suis couvert de sueur de moi et d'autres. Je pu. Je m'en calisse. Je trouve la gang. Je commande une pinte. La vie est belle en CRISSE. Matt arrive. Quelqu'un me renverse une biere dessus.

Je me reveille sur le futon de Matt. J'ai tres tres mal a mon index gauche (encore aujourd'hui d'ailleurs). Je vois mon porte-clefs vide. J'ai un rush de souvenirs de la veille. Je pense a mes chats Willow et Peter Parker qui doivent avoir faim.

Les boys commencent a m'appeller pour le hockey. Pas de clefs pas de stock de goalie. J'appelle Underworld, on me dit de rappeller a 5h, apres le menage. Matt appelle un ami pour ses "services".

Gros bat dans un appart, en regardant Ninja Turtles 1. Je suis un itinerant pour la 1ere fois de ma vie: mes parents sont a New York avec mes spare, je porte le linge de quelqu'un d'autre et ma carte guichet marche pas, je dois queter a mon ami. Matt me dit quelque chose de profond. J'atteint un niveau de zen intense pendant 4 secondes.

16h50. J'appelle Underworld. Ils ont trouver DES clefs. je sais pas si c'est les miennes. J'arrive!

Ce sont mes clefs. Soulagement intense. Retour a la maison. Douche, change de linge, nourrit les chats, BBQ chez Jocelyn: Acte de presence. Retour au foufs.

4em bracelet.

Carolyn est deja en train d'y boire avec ses amies. Ellest ont hate a The Queers que je deteste. J'ai pas mal hais tout les bands ce soir-la, mais la bonne compagnie m'aide a supporter le tout. Caro part apres The Queers. Je vais parler a Clarence, elle jase avec 3 gars d'un band d'Ottawa. Instant bromance avec un des dudes qui commence a me bousculer. Il est ivre, tres ivre. Il rit de mon chapeau (oouuuuh I'm fucking handsome I play in Gaslight Anthemn). On chug. Ya un show a l'esco dans 30. On marche. On se bouscule. J'adore ma vie.

Show excellent, la salle est pleine, crisse que les bands doivent tripper. Je me rappelle pu grand chose. Clarence a mal a une cote. Le gars trop chaud part dormir dans la vanne. Clarence et les 2 autres s'en vont boire de la biere chez elle. Je sais pas pourquoi, mais je decide de partir chez moi. J'ai froid. Je marche les bras dans mon t-shirt.

Dimanche matin. Je me leve a 14h12. Je sais pas vraiment je suis ou. G meme pas faim. Douche, brossage de dents, flatte mes chats en checkant facebook. Message d'un ami qui vit pas trop loin (viens-tu fumer un gros bat?). Je me rends compte que j'ai perdu ma carte de credit. Je l'annule. J'accorde ma guitare, je monte sur Mont-Royal et je commence a marcher vers l'ouest en grattant. Pit-stop au guichet, un pti peu d'argent, un panini au thon, plein de belles filles dans la rue. Ptite game de NHL, et je pars rejoindre Clarence pour la derniere soiree qui s'annonce EPIC: Roller Starter!

5em bracelet

Jase avec du monde que connais surtout a travers les shows. Bois des quilles de Molson Dry. Brixton Robbers embarque, le monde se rapproche, ca dechire. Couch Addiction reveille le ska dans le coeur des gens. Ensuite, delire intense. Roller Starter. La salle est plus que pleine. Le pit est intense. Ca skank, ca chante, ca stage dive, ya un gars en chaise roulante qui fait du body surfing.

J'ai une petite tristesse pour tout mes amis qui n'ont pas pu venir.

Je perd ma gale de coude. Je m'en rends compte seulement quand le band a fini de jouer. J'ai le bras en sang. Mon chandail blanc est tout tacher. PUNK ROCK! Je vais chercher des napkins au bar pour m'essuyer (car tout le monde me defigure et ca me gosse), j'achete une derniere biere, je blague avec un gars qui vend de la merch.

Je rencontre une amie, ca doit faire 3 ans je l'ai pas vue. J'ai croiser une de ses amies la meme semaine (whatup Idiotfortier.com!) et je trouve ca extremement drole.

Je sors dehors. Il pleut. Retour a la realite. Clarence veut continuer le party avec Brixton Robbers. Je la joue sage. J'attrape un taxi sous la pluie. Je rentre chez moi, traine sur facebook un peu, joue avec mes chats, prend une douche, et me couche, un sourire immense aux levres.

Merci a tout le staff de Pouzzafest qui ont dut travailler tres tres fort pour rendre beaucoup de gens tres tres heureux.

Sunday Night end of the earth

2011-03-13T22:30:00.004-04:00

Hello hello young and old denizens of the under-web, welcome to a much ignored corner of the virtua-web.

I was just listening to a bunch of songs while walking and thinking of getting drunk, and I stumbled upon this song:

Common Rider - Where the Waves are Highest

I remember buying that split because I was really into Against All Authority, and I also liked to find shit that looked rare. I was more into buying demos and live albums than real albums. I think it's because they were harder to find, and with my comics collecting background, it's the sort of thing that gives me boners.

Anyways. I remember putting the cd on and being hit with that song, and just falling in love with it right away. It was far from the kind of punk I was listening to in those days, but it hit home on the first word.

And when it surprised me 10 minutes ago on the street, the same wave hit me again, about 5 years later. I loved the feeling.

Maybe that's what I'm chasing these days by getting back all the old albums I used to listen to in my room during highschool. My grades were bad pretty much the whole time, just enough to pass, and that would piss off my parents, so they'd ground me hoping I'd do homework.

Instead I just listened to all these albums, read the lyrics, learn them, smoke a joint out the window... sneak out the window.

Those were good times, different than the good times of today.

I guess I'm looking for the pieces of nostalgia I hid away in all these songs growing up?

Warhammer pt.1

2011-03-09T08:07:00.004-05:00

Good morning, folks!

Today we present you, scum of the lower levels of Montreal, with some fine painting jobs by Warhammer connaisseur Nicola Ferro and also one by Christian Couture of Montreal city.

Stay tuned for the next display of war paint skills...coming soon !

Blood Knight paint job by Christian Couture

Background art and photos by Justin Guenet, eh.

BRAP !

Diablo 2

2011-02-23T00:50:00.004-05:00

Alors voici mon nouveau projet, des noms de monstres dans Diablo 2 qui pourraient être des noms de groupes de métal de France.

Je vous présente aujourd'hui l'archer de la mort ardente

Fuck Marvel

2011-02-22T22:47:00.003-05:00

I know, I know.

You see, the first comic I ever picked up was a Spider-Man in french. I was 10. I've never stopped since.

I used to read ONLY Marvel. But after 16 years of reading comics you start to wander.

And especially after all the CRAP Marvel has been putting out. I won't start to make an elaborate list because I'm lazy and chatting with a tattooed chick at the same time as writing this, but let me say:

fuck all their events.

DnD 3.5 Human Subrace

2010-09-14T22:41:00.002-04:00

I recently started playing DnD 3.5 again and wanted to create my own race of humans to play a Barbarian from the North.
Here is what I came up with, hope you like it!

Northern Humans (Norths)

Rumored to be descendents of a tribe of smaller Frost Giants, the Humans of the North (Norths) are tough, superstitious, quick to laugh and quick to anger.

A love for their land and shamanistic rituals define their culture.

Their national sport is drunken wrestling on ice.

Their hair and beard ranges from white to blue, and so is the color of their skin. For this they are often mistaken for teenage frost giants.

They like to showcase trophies of their skills. Frost Giants teeth and bones, mammoth pelts and horns, polar bears skulls and such decorate their clothes and homes.

+2 constitution –2 intelligence.

Harsh conditions have made the northern humans tough.

It has also made them isolated and resistant to change.

Medium Creatures.

Land speed is 30 feet.

Low-light vision: They can see twice as far as regular humans in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail.

This is because for 6 months a year, they live in the dark of night.

Weapon familiarity: Norths have weapon focus with Greatmaces and Heavy Picks. Their combats againts Frost Giants and their prospecting explorations within ice caves led to them adopting these weapons in their daily lives.

They ignore penalty from difficult terrain when on ice or in snow or any other condition created by cold. Living near the northpole has made them adapt their movements to their environments.

+4 racial bonus on fortitude checks against harsh conditions created by a cold environment. Their bodies have been tempered by the aggressive climate.

-2 against harsh conditons created by a hot environment.

+2 on saving throws against cold spells.

+1 racial bonus on attack rolls against giants.

+2 racial bonus against frost giants.

+4 dodge bonus to AC against monsters of the giant class.

-4 to appraise

+2 to climb

+2 to intimidate

+4 to survival

-4 to swim

Norths may not start the game with additional languages besides Common and their own tribal language. Living in a secluded area makes for few contacts with the rest of the world.

Northern Humans do not get the bonus feat and skills that regular humans do.

Hockey cards!

2010-03-15T15:41:00.004-04:00

Well, just when I was starting to be good with my money.

My friend who's been collecting for years knows I like to collect stuff, that I like hockey, and that I haven't been spanding a lot of money lately.

He's been pushing for me to start collecting with him.

I might just start, too. I always wanted to get back into that hobby, looking for the signature card or for my favourite player.

But it's so expensive!

I'm used to the Magic the Gathering ratio... 15 cards for 5 big bucks, with 2 rares and 2 uncommon FOR SURE.
That's 1:15 chances for an ulra-rate, 1:15 for a gold (or a holographic), 2:15 chance for a silver.

I want to compare value, or my chances, before i start. If I'm going to waste money on a new hobby, I want it to be worth it!

I look at the hockey card insert ratios for exemple, to help me decide.
Magic the Gathering box: 36 booster packs of 15 cards, so 540 cards per box.
Out of these, you'll have 36 ultra-rare FOR SURE and 36 rare FOR SURE.
72 of my 540 cards will be worth it.
But it's also a different thing we're looking at. Those rare cards were usually also better to play with. I'm not going to play with the hockey cards, they'll be on display.
I don't even know how to calculate my chances...
Let's say i divide 1 by 15, that's ,06.
And then what?
Let's keep that number for now, I have no clue where I'm going with this.

Well actually let's just put it at 1:7.5

If I look at the Upper Deck series 2, they have a shitload of different crap, ranging from 1:8 to 1:30... Signatures, rare rookies, a piece of a shirt attached to the card... sounds like fun.

I have absolutely no clue where I was going with this, but I might just start buying hockey cards again! Yay!

Interests

2010-03-09T13:41:00.003-05:00

Funny how this blog always reflects my current interests.

If you scroll down you'll see video games, comics, youtube videos, D&D...

One thing i haven't talked about a lot is my love for board games.

I play them a lot, and i have many friends that enjoy them too.

Recently my good friend Marc got Agricola for x-mas. I won't go into the details of the game but i must say it's one the funnest board games i've been given to play. Even on the first play, everybody could get a chance to be competitive.

I'm currently in the business of designing board games.
I've been working on a card game for about a year now, all i have left to do is print cards and playtest it.
I've also been working on 3 different board games with 3 different people, most are stuck are the same stage, the one where i have to stop just throwing ideas around or doodling and start... ya know... building stuff.

Hopefully with school ending soon i'll have a burst of motivation and produce 1 game before 2011, at which point, you, my dear lonely reader, will be the first to know.

Besides me. I will be the first to know.

NOthing

2010-03-08T16:08:00.005-05:00

Spring's here and I can smell it.
Or is it all the dog poop uncovering?

Used to be that we'd have ice from November to the end of March.
I started playing hockey too late. At 25. During global warming.

So my season lasted from the beginning of January to the end of February. I was getting good at ice skating too, so i'm sad that i won't be able to practice anymore. I could brake on both sides real hard, and I can make sharp turns on my comfortable side, even cross-skate.

Maybe i'll buy some rollerskates, and prance around.

Cause that's what you do when you have roller skates. You prance. On asphalt. With cars rapidly going by, and old ladies in your way. And dogs barking at you.

But you get to look really cool and move effortlessly, probably while wearing awesome sunglasses.

You really need the sunglasses though. Because you can't let them know. You can't.
They can't see.
They can't see the fear.

The streets of montreal are as defaced as the surface of the moon, or as the craterous face of a pulpous teenager. One moment of distraction, and you're sent flying headfirst into cheese-gratter pavement.

The face-raper.

I can already see it. Just like those fire adds with that scarred woman. My face. No lips, no nose anymore. One eye is missing, a dark gap is taking its place.

My skull is deformed. One part of it is perfectly flat, the place where the initial impact occured.

And besides, I used to skateboard. My mind has been fully influenced to think that roller skates are gay.

Video Games Update!

2010-03-02T12:03:00.002-05:00

Hey!
Haven't been here for a while.

So since the last update, I bought Modern Warfare 2, Dragon Age, MAG, Greed Corp...

Modern Warfare: Bandwagon extravaganza!
I played Modern Warfare 1 a lot on the internet, so i knew i was gonna be sick of the 2nd one really fast. I still bought it, for 30$ from a guy at work because it is in french.
The missions are really cool, the multiplayer is horrendously fast, arcady, and addictive, but my favorite mode is Spec Ops. Basicaly you have a series of short missions that you can finish within a time limit, or within a set difficulty to get different scores, and you can do them with friends.
The multiplayer i found incredibly frustrating... Whenever i'd get killed it seemed like i was just at the wrong place at the wrong time... Someone turning the corner to find me crouching around, and they happily shoot me in the back for an easy kill...

Dragon Age Origins: More of the same!
I played KOTOR 1 & 2 a lot, so i thought i would really enjoy this game. Unfortunately, it did not have the same lasting appeal as the Jedi franchise. I love that kind of game, but i did not even finish the story mode. The reason? Boring fights. I really like the story and the system and the graphics, but the battles just didn't cut it for me... Normal difficulty was too easy, so i upgraded to Hard... which was... too hard... my whole party would die save one character, fighting just normal critters, and when i would reach the boss i wouldn't have any potions left, so i'd have to fight him on easy.

MAG: Socom meets BF2!
I played the Battlefield series a lot, so i knew i would love this game. You don't die of 1 shot, you can't run very fast, it's not too arcady.
The focus of this game is on teamwork and strategy, not to just kill and maim as fast as you can.
For exemple, it's really worth it to put down your gun and start reviving your allies when you're attacking or defending a base... it makes for a violent neverending onslaught.
If your crew doesn't work together though, and 5 guys just decide to leave and help another squad, you really suffer from it...
My favourite game lately!

Greed Corp: pretty but with no personality.
I play a lot of board games so i thought i would enjoy this game a lot.
Suffice to say, it's a very, very basic game, with 1 type of unit, 3 types of buildings, and 1 type of vehicle... and 1 way to win. The missions are okay, the different levels let you think you'll be able to adopt a different strategy than what you usually do, but really you can't...
The multiplayer missions are won by the player that doesn't do any mistakes all game.
Not worth 10$ IMO.

Back to school

2009-11-20T00:59:00.006-05:00

Here's a dude working out and flipping off Muscle Cat.

Here's a Draconian being grumpy in the morning. It's either the ones taking over the world as we speak, or the Dragonlance ones. You decide.

Well, at 25, after a 4-year break, i decided to go back to school. This means that i started doodling again, and that i am exposed to a whole new class of douchebags (no pun intended. Fuck you it was totally awesome.)

I guess school fees give you the right to walk and talk like a bitch when you're a girl, and to think you're an awesome and super-intelligent dude when you're a man. When you're a man you also get to walk around with a smirk, dreaming of being a high-impact warzone journalist.

One dude wears a tophat.

This other girl makes me think of my cat.

And this one other guy always argues respectfully with a 56-year old man in school, about really unimportant stuff.

When you have a blog you can also say oh yeah i have a blog, i have many interesting interests and need to be creative in my life. I guess i'm an artists. The internet is my canvas and the words, my paint.

Say that to chicks they are bound to let you smell their hair!

Stupid fucking cyclists

2009-11-20T00:55:00.002-05:00

Why do cyclists cut me off when the light is green for me, and when i hit on the brakes to SAVE THEIR LIFE they flip me off? In a collison between me and him, i would be the winner, what with being incased in a tonne of METAL while this DICK only wears spandex or a hoodie of a indy band. I think mythbusters should do a slow-motion episode of it. With explosions. And that dude with the stach driving the WIN car

PS3 Games

2009-11-18T17:49:00.003-05:00

As of my last post in July, i was the proud owner of a PS3, only owning Skate 2.

I am, since then, fucking sick of that game. However i purchased Resistance, call of Duty 4 (1), Fallout 3, NHL 10, inFamous, Batman, Crystal Defenders, Burn Zombie Burn, Critter Crunch, and 3 on 3 NHL Hockey.

Resistance is shit and Call of Duty was stupid since i already played the crap out of it on PC, but i bought them with Fallout 3, used, for 80$. Figured it was a good deal since Fallout was still being sold at 69.99$ at that time.
Fallout 3 was more of an emotional purchase for me as i am a huge fan of the first 2, and also of Morrowing and Oblivion. I spent 40 hours to finisht it but haven't been back. My friend however is fucking addicted and has finished the game on 2 occasions and has about 80% of the trophies. There's a lot to do on that game and if you're looking for a dolar/lenght of game ratio, this is it. There's also not 1, 2, but 5 expantion packs.

inFamous, same story. Bought it used for 40$ like 2 weeks after the game came out, played maybe 1/3 of the game and got bored. Haven't been back since.

NHL 10 is really sick, really fun, and really frustrating. I mean, i'm doing one-timers, dekes, passing around, using the board, puck doesn't go in. This douchebag comes next to my goalie, passes it to him. The PC-controlled goalie goes ''Aaaaaah SHIT i didn't train for THIS'' and just taps the puck with his stick. The opponent will just slapshot the puck and it'll go in, without fail.

it seems that the game rewards ugly-ass goals.

But it's addictive. So addictive.

Batman so far is AMAZING. Bought it used for 40$ again. There's so much to say about this game. I'll make it simple. Did you like Splinter Cell? Did you like the fighting in Assassin's Creed?
Well, the game is like Splinter Cell, the fighting engine is like in Assassin's Creed, only you are BATMAN.
Makes everything at least 6 times cooler.
Don't ask me the complex mathematical sequence i used to get the 6x factor, your brain's not overly active enough to get it.

As for the downloaded games, Burn Zombie Burn is the biggest waste. Tons of games like that are offered for free on the internet, and you don't even get trophies.

Crystal Defender, same shit, but at least you get trophies. Only buy it at 2 am when you're not working the next day and your girlfriend is and you're bored with the games you own (that's what i did).

NHL 3 on 3 is really fun for a gamer night party game, and only 5$!

Critter Crunch is another game type that can easily be found for free on the internet, but it's only 8$, there's a lot to do, cool trophies, the art is really cool, it's been recommended by pennyarcade.com AND my girlfriend played it like 20 minutes, so it was definetly worth it.

Overall i love the PS3, but sometimes it crashes when i'm trying to leave an online game. Poo.

Super-Fast Stairs People

2009-11-18T17:47:00.001-05:00

i hate people who are really good at going down the subway stairs fast. Because they have such an attitude about it. They have that little smirk as they go really fast past me and i can't keep up.

Skate 2 Review

2009-07-18T20:05:00.005-04:00

Hello folks and desperate review seekers (for indeed, you must be VERY desperate to end up here, in the most isolated corner of the internet).

Well, i must say, after being disenchented with gaming for the past few years, i've decided, after a jealousy-induced shopping spree, to become the proud owner of a PS3.

And boy, have i been missing out!

The whole ordeal started when i stumbled upon what i first mistook for skateboard videos.
I soon realised - to my surprise - that these were in fact short clips made using the Skate 2 videogame, made with the downloadable filmer-pack.

ARG!

I HAD TO GET IT!

You see, i've skateboarder from 1995 to 2005. I was never really good, but it's the only physical activity that i would do during 3 seasons a year, enjoying snowboard during our Québec winters.
And with this sport of course came the many Tony Hawk Pro Skater games.

I would sit with a fellow skateboarder friend, in his parent's basement with the lights off, all night long riding together in free skate mode. We'd find a spot, tear it up as realisticly as we could, and then move on. We would comment our landing, our smooth 180s, if a double-kickflip down 20 stairs 'looked' fake.

If you too were one of these persons, then my friend, you NEED Skate 2.

I purchased the game the night before a day off from slavery where my girlfriend woul also have to work, just to make sure i could fully appreciate the game. I plugged the time-consuming demon in the wall and TV, eroticly inserted the game in the console, opened a cold beer, turned off the lights, and skated away.

In 2 days, i cumulated 15 hours of gameplay, to my pets' frustrations.

First impression: smooth, pretty, realistic, entertaining.

A deeper look however reveals some frustrating habits.
First, there's the new ''meathall'' feature. Your biggest bails get you money. You can can get scores on especially violent bails. You can even see wich bones you fractured. This is entertaining at first.

Then, you start skating. The game is realistic, so you can't pop everything all the time efortlessly like THPS. This is okay. But bailing from failing to ollie on a sidewalk and having to watch you fall like a mongo-newb in slowmotion is incredibly frustrating after 4 hours of gameplay.

The controls are pretty cool. The left analog stick controls the movements and direction of your skater, and the right analog stick controls your feet. Think NHL 09, with the right control stick instead controling your hockey stick.

By the way, the in-game tutorial helps a lot. I couldn't figure out how to do tailslides and bluntslides, my 2 favourite, until i checked the video and looked at the precise gesture you have to make.

For exemple, an ollie will have you bring the stick down, and then up quickly. To make a kickflip, if you ride regular, would have the same movement but instead of directly up, you move the stick slightly to the left. Opposite when you ride switch, and from up to down when you ride Nollie or Fakie. It's so precise in fact that it can prove frustrating when you are making a video and need a specific flip trick in your sequence and keep getting the wrong one.

But, something makes it easier. Waypoints. I think that's what it's called hehe. Basically you can stop riding at any place in the world, place a little invisible waypoint with L1 and down arrow, and skate on. If you need to return to that specific point, you press L1 and up arrow, and are returned there instantly. You can only place one though.

I was making a little sequence, doing a shuv-it down a flight of stairs, then poping a smooth bs 180 kickflip on a curved bridge, and finishing with a bs boardslide down a rail. For some reason, i kept doing varial kickflip instead of the real kickflip. I would not even land that i would be returning to the waypoint to try again.

All and all, a very addictive game for skateboarders. I do not recommend it for people that don't give 2 damns about the extreme sport however, as the game can be very frustrating and not very spectacular when you compare it to THPS. No 60-foot drops doing a Madonna just to land on an overcrook, jumping from a ledge with a Laser flip onto a rail doing a feeble.

But for the retired skateboarding, this is heaven.

My cat's a whore

2009-06-27T01:35:00.003-04:00

Every morning i get up, and both my cats are at my feet.

They are purring, they are meowing, they are rubbing slowly and intently against my bare legs.
Rocjy'll take nips at my ankles, and Willow will get up on her rear legs, reach for my hands and try to lick my fingers.

And then i feed them mushy food, and all is over. They leave me alone. I start the coffee machine, take a shower (yeah right), eat and/or head to work.

But then i get home, and she's there...

Letting go of a fat, affectionate, intentionate purr.
Half-squinted eyes...
She throws herself on her back, and starts to stretch all four.
Then she might arch her head and try to take a glimpse at me,
or will lick her neck fur-coat, desperate for affection.

And frankly, it's disgusting.

I feel like she's a dirty whore, trying to get all the attention she can get.

You have to understand that we found these cats in the country.
They were stay-away kittens rummaging the farm land in search for sustenance when we found 'em, kit'nap 'em and proceeded to save them from their fleece curse.

So she owes me and my girlfriend her life. She might be trying to express gratitude for the gesture, i don't know.

I just can't communicate with her.

Madman Comics!

2009-06-18T21:05:00.014-04:00

Hello everyone!

So, as you can see from my father's previous blog, we've both been busy to my brother's needs.
Poor little bugger got in a car accident 2 days after his 20th birthday, and apparently if he had been in anything else than the car he was in (Land Rover i think), he could have been cut in half.

So, good job Land Rover!

However, since my bro is stuck in the hospital, I've finally been able to make him read comics.
He's never been interested in them at all, but he really liked the show Heroes.

My first pick for him was Astonishing X-Men, by Joss Whedon. I just finished it, and it was great. I thought... everybody likes X-men, here's a critically acclaimed book, and on top of that, it was written by someone that wrote tv shows.
He thought it was stupid at first, but kept reading, and really liked it at the end. He asked for Volume 2, wich i don't own yet.

I recently just started buying online again, wich i promised myself i would never do again, seeing how i maxed out my credit card buying Elfic Dice and Super-Hero statues...

But then, I discovered Amazon. How can the books be so cheap!

I've since started a crusade, ordering dozens of TPBs and HCs a month, from all companies.

And i discovered this:

Madman Comics.

The dude's from Snapcity, fights with yoyos, slingshots and disc-guns.

He's portrayed in vivid colors, drawn amazingly, and has the innocence of San Goku.

You have to understand... Madman is timeless. I could have been reading this 10 years ago, or i could have discovered this 10 years from now, and I'd still have a crush on him.

There is a certain feelings that settles on my shoulders when I'm reading the comics. Like an ancient Owl telepathicly inducing my brains will all of my most cherised childhood memories that i thought lost forever.
There's a certain honesty, style, innocence permeating from the pages and the vibrant colors that anyone with an open mind can enjoy.

I suggest you get Volume 1, give it a try. I'll never regret it!

Life and evrything

2009-06-12T10:09:00.002-04:00

Last week my son (Étienne's brother) had a car accident and even though he had serious injuries it could have been much much worse.

I know it's a cliché but such occasions only reinforce the importance of what is important in life.

It's simple: love your friends, love your family and show them you do.

The uncertainty of DnD

2009-06-05T15:21:00.003-04:00

There's something I really like about DnD, that keeps me coming back for more, both as a DM and a player.

By the title, you have probably guessed... uncertainty. Another important factor would be improvisation.

DnD is the root to all video games, but something that video games will never be able to emulate. The DM, instead of the computer, makes all the difference. Players remain players in both universes.

What i mean is that, a player of video games has a limited options and actions available to him, that might or might not work in his environment, cemented in codes. The fact that a DM, human, is running the game instead of a program, allows for much rule-bending. For exemple:

In one of my games, in our earlier adventures, one of my friend was playing with a Ranger that had 2 light crossbows. Okay, now we know, you can't do that. At the time we didn't know, and it was just so cool. Anyways.

At one point, they are climbing a cliff while running away from a patrol of Lizardmen. The Barbarian climbs quickly, tosses a rope down to the Ranger, who in turn tied it up around his waist. The idea was that the Barbarian would lift the Ranger up while the Ranger covers their back with his crossbows.
Already, this is pretty cool.
Then, eagles who were nesting in the cliffs started to attack the party. At one point the Barbarian dropped the rope. Now this is where D&D really starts to differ from PC games.

The Rogue asks me if he can drop a crossbow to try and get a holding on the cliff with his free hand. Cool idea, so i made him roll a reflex check. Passed.
The rogue then asks me if he can try and catch the falling crossbow with his feet! Even cooler!
DO you get it? DO YOU GET IT?

You can actually convince the DM to change a few factors of the game. And if the DM is willing, well it makes the game even more interesting. Linear adventures are possible in D&D, but it's everything between point A and point B that make it the game that it is.

Now if you excuse me, i have a fighter-based Prestige Class to design. I'll post this here when i do it.

K tnx bye.

Deadpool in Wolverine Origins

2009-06-04T12:41:00.001-04:00

Weapon Eleven is NOT Deadpool in Wolverine Origins. They clearly state that the ''Deadpool'' is a project's name, a sort of gene pools to gather all sort of mutant powers, and that Weapon XI is their master weapon, the final project. If they choose to stay true to comics (but they never do), Deadpool will in fact be a dismissed body, a failure, abandoned in the ''deadpool'' facility. An early try. Wolverine is Weapon X. Why? Because he is the 10th attempt at an ultimate weapon. Sabertooth would be a Weapon # also. Alpha Flight maybe also? Who knows? Department H is up to a lot of things in the cold and desolate Canada of Marvel Comics. So quit telling me Deadpool shoots lasers, has diamond swords coming out of his arms, can teleport, cannot talk (?) and has bad tattoos. Deadpool's a fucking lunatic who shoots guns and cuts bullets YES, and in the comics CAN teleport but with the help of a device. End of similarities. And let's hope they disfigure him in his stand-alone movie.

Now that i think of it, i bet they made sure Weapon XI couldn't talk to specify that it can't POSSIBLY be Deadpool. He's known as the ''Merc with a mouth' for a reason.

Nuff said.

GRIDLINKED

2009-05-29T15:12:00.003-04:00

Combine a kilometer long dragon made of flesh and circuits and who can travel instantaneously across the universe, intercept any communication between computers and create creatures of flesh for any purpose (and it is a crazy liar);

add a Japanese master who is 400 years old and who has survived Hiroshima;

incorporate a government agent that is so powerful that future historians will argue about his existence;

pour a totally fucked up separatist who wants revenge for the death of his no less fucked up sister;

and why not a few golems and amped up mercenaries.

You have the ingredients of a novel that is interesting and frustrating.

Interesting because the plot is inventive but frustrating because sometimes you wonder what the hell is going on and the end and most deaths (and there are quite a few) are anticlimactic. For example, Mr Crane, a seemingly invicible Golem is destroyed in a figth that takes something like 2 lines.

But Asher's work remains a page turner even if some of the characters survive impossible odds. He has a lot of imagination and his inventions are credible as are most of the protagonists.

A good read

8/10

THis is awesome!

2009-05-22T09:17:00.001-04:00

New Star Trek

2009-05-22T08:49:00.003-04:00

So i was sitting in the theaters, in front of an Imax screen, my girlfriend next to me.
I'm not a big fan of Star Trek, but just the fact that my girlfriend was watching this was an achievement in itself.

Opening sequence. A space battle over a planet. The camera pans down to show us the chaos raging. My girlfriend leans towards me an whispers: ''That shot is cool!''

I lean back slowly, and whisper back: ''It's cooler in Star Wars III''
I am of course refering to this:

I rest my back on my chair, satisfied. She looks at me with questions marks in her eyes, and i think: ''Thank you, Star Trek. Now she will watch the episodes with me for sure''.

And that's what it felt like the whole movie. Like they tried to make Star Trek feel like Star Wars.

Like my said friend, however: ''Sorry, no lightsabers. You lose. Bye.''

New City of Heroes expension

2009-05-17T01:12:00.004-04:00

Hi all, it's been a while.

Let's jump straight to the point.

I tried City of Villains a few years back, loved it but not enough to pay the monthly fees. So after a trial period, i ditched it.

Now, a few years later, it seems that the game is still being played. And they just released a new expansion pack: The mission architect (say this out loud with a very ominous voice).

This apparently lets you (the player) create missions for the game, adding endless content to the game.

It was also said that in the 24 hours following the release of this mission architect, more content was created by users than what had ever been created by the makers of the game since 2004.

First. The makers of the game are pretty proud to announce this, but i think it makes them sound lazy.

Second. How many really, really bad missions created by weird stupid kids were uploaded? I bet this dude made one:

Granted, i would play his.

And last, and certainly not least:

City of Heroes has achieved everyone's dream: in releasing the mission architect pack, they actually succeeded in making people pay a monthly fee, on top of paying for the mission architect pack, to literally do their job for them.

Now folks, this is a pretty spectacular feat. If someone would be willing to pay me to do my telemarketing job for me, i'd be in heaven fornicating in clouds.

Because, you see, you might think that paying a monthly fee will ensure that programmers are working tirelessly to produce more in-game content, missions, items, territories. You know, like WoW. But no! In CoH, they were working on way for you to be able to do this stuff, so they wouldn't have to!

Amazing!

Who's stupid enough to do this? To actually pay a monthly fee to be able to add in-game content regularly, what the monthly fee should be covering in the first place?

Bewildering i tell you.

Off to bed. I'm going camping and woodsballing with 10 buddies for the rest of the weekend. Sure beats going through a mission created by a weird lonely 12-year-old where you probably have to... go in the sewers to... kill demons with bad gramar. I don't know. I don't care.

DARK YOU SAY????

2009-05-01T17:04:00.003-04:00

holy macaroni,

I thought that Scar Night was a dark novel, with vampire angels, poisoners and assassins.

That was NOTHING.

Iron Angel the second book of the trilogy takes place mostly in Hell, but an Hell so terrifying with such terrible beasts and gods that it's a wonder I was able to sleep at night.

Imagine a dark red maze at the bottom of a pit. The maze is made of alleys and houses, alleys and houses made of human souls. Alleys and houses that bleed when attacked, feeding demons and machines that run on blood.

Blood flows in canals and kilometer long blind worms made of demons desire nothing but to devour souls. But the worms can see, the demons pass along the worm the thousand eyes of a slain god that was killed by Menoa a thousand years ago. And those are mild compared to the 500 hundred feet high fighting machines

Our poor friend Dill, the clumsy angel of the first book is caught by the bad guys and it does not go well for him or the human race for that matter.

And just when you think that there is a small ray of hope, the end leaves the reader faced with a terrible vision.

Dark, dark, dark, dark. but a great read, a real page turner. Can't wait for the next one which is supposed to be out at the end of summer. Darn!

9/10

Long time no see!

2009-04-21T15:52:00.006-04:00

I know, i've been away. To all 3 people a day that visit this page an average of 2 minutes, i'm sorry. I've just been pretty busy.

It's a lie. I've just accumulated so many geeky hobbies recently that it has been impossible to keep up with all of them.

For exemple: My Savage Sword of Conan tpb sits in my bookshelf, half-finished.

I've read only a chapter of the last Dragonlance novel i bought.

I'm 3 games away from entering the playoffs with my NHL 2009 team.

I'm still at stage one of designing my own collectible card game.

The list goes on.

But there's a good reason.

At 25, i started playing D&D, and i love it.

I've been playing Magic for a couple of years now, slowly enticing all my friends to start playing with me, making them spend hundreds of dollars on the cardboard crack.

They all became quickly obsessed, and a weekly game meeting was the norm. Everybody knew the rules, or thought they did.

I speak in the past term, because i retired from the TCG around 6 months ago.

I couldn't take it anymore. I tried. I really did. I sat through what seemed like impossibly long games, made only longer by all the arguing and debating of the rules, fueled by the fact that every single rule in the game can be broken by one card or another.

So here we were, in my friend's new appartment, drinking booze, watching the hockey game and playing magic. I was sitting at the table quietly, sipping on rum n coke, watching the game unfold. To my right, the monster i created: a lawyer, playing magic. To my left, another monster: the sports dude who simply cannot wrap his head around the fact that everybody's different. Both drunk.

And I sit there, as they once again argue about: does a creature tap before or after the attack phase. Can you regenerate a creature you suicided. How can a Counterspell make sense when you use the stack: if the counterspell resolves before the spell, what does it counter?

It's finally my turn. I've been sitting there quietly for 5 minutes. Count 60 seconds in your head. It's pretty long, right? Do it again, 4 more times. My turn. I have a few options available. I could attack either player, i could boost a creature, i could just summon something. After about 6 seconds of mental debate, I chose the later, for no consequences from either sides.

After i put my creature on the table, i announce that my turn is over. The jock turns to me and says with some aggressivity: that's it?

At this point, i knew i was never going to play again. I finished the game not really doing anything great, since i was just testing a new deck, playing against guys that always use the same one. The guys thought it was drunk talk. I haven't played since.

And so i was left with an empty black hole in my life. All the hours that i spent looking at cards online, talking startegy in forums, building, deconstructing, analysing and testing my decks were now empty and scary hours of lifetime that i could use to do anything else. Like, for instance, concentrating on my finances, looking to go back to school, take a walk outside.

So you understand that i had to look for a new geeky obsession to fill my life, and fast!

Now, what is as time-consuming, nerd-associated and geek-points-awarding as Magic: The Gathering? Dungeons and Dragons, without a doubt!

And so my friends, this is why i haven't been posting a lot. Between rules clarification, book reading, character creating, adventure-writing, map-drawing, scenario-contemplating, game night organisation, and geek-recruiting, i don't have that much time left.

I still read comics, play NHL 09, play real hockey - Ice and Ball - spend time with my girlfriend, get drunk with my friends, workout. So, sorry to say, but the blog is kinda left back a little.

Mind you, whenever something grabs my attention, it'll end up here. Or if people actually start asking for more stuff hehe!

G'day

scar night

2009-04-16T11:23:00.002-04:00

DO YOU LIKE DARK NOVELS?

If so you will be served by this book (the first of a trilogy) by Alan Campbell.

It is set in a city that is held by chains over a chasm where demons and gods roam.

If you have read China Mieville, you will probably find that the city and its inhabitants will remind you of New Corbuzon.

Cambell describes a world where a 3000 year old angel has to drink blood on scar night to survive. Why scar night? Because when she drinks blood she dies, resuscitates, sees what she has just done, stabs herself, creating new scars. It starts every month or so when a black moon rises.

A world where an young angel falls in love with the assassin sent to train him, where sould are sent to hell and where poisoners seek revenge.

Where priests are afraid that their god is building an army of the dead to climb up the chasm to claim more souls.

Where some humans have found the way to immortality only to be cut, have their bones taken out and be buried in the desert.

Etc, etc, etc.

I am in the middle of the second book which is even darker and I highly recommend the series

9/10

to crush the moon

2009-03-17T14:35:00.004-04:00

Bizarrely the last book of the Queendom of Sol series reminds me a bit of the last book in the Lord of the Rings series. It also does remind me of the end of the Foundation series.

Lord of the Rings because at the end the remaining heroes go on a sort of quest across mountain ranges, through impossible weather, and survive against all odds; and Foundation because in a robot resides the key to the situation at hand (in this case the end of the human race).

Of course there are no elves or hobbits in Crushing the Moon (thank god!), and the robots are malevolent (they overrode the asimovian conditions), not benevolent like Daneel, but the whole ending had a sense of déjà vu, augmented by the fact that there are 2 endings, à la Lord of the Rings (who has like 46)

BUT the book reads very well and the story is very interesting: we are in the final stages of the war between house servants and the last humans, who live on the crushed moon and are back to being mortal.

Old king Bruno (about 3000 years old) is brought to the rescue by his son’s best friend (or to be more precise by the last remaining copy of the best firend of at least one of the copies of his son) in order to find a solution to the war and save what’s left of the human race.

We also learn why and how the earth was destroyed (Murdered Earth as it is called) and what happened of the colonies, all well written and based on possible science.

All in all a very good ending to a pretty good series:

8/10

My first ever D&D game

2009-03-15T23:53:00.002-04:00

So.

The 4th edition came out, and with it came a chance to buy all the 3.5 books for cheap! I was able to get the 4 main books for 20$, pretty good considering that when they came out years ago, each one of them was 45$.

My girlfriend has been out of the country for the last 2 weeks, plenty of time for me to read the books and learn to play. But since i'm lazy i didn't completely read 'em, just the essentials to have fun.

And in between phone calls at work, i started designing my first adventure. A cool little story with a plot and a twist.
Then all my friends pretty much said they wanted to play evil.

So the workload got a little bigger. Creating a new adventure and a bunch of monster races was fun though, so it didn't feel too much like work hehehe.

The night before, people came over and created their characters, a process than can take up to several hours, especially for a first player. I was very surprised at the amount of people that showed up for the game, since D&D is the ultimate geek step!

To sum up the characters, and their handler:
I was the DM, so no characters or NPCs here.

My first friend, a lawyer in real life and the one that read all the combat rules for me, created a centaur ranger, and created a skill (Read the Stars) that only he can use. Basically, once a night if he can see the stars, he roles a 1D6. On a 1, all the party has -1 on saving throws the next day, but a 6 gives them +1 on all!
He became the leader since he had more charisma.

Second friend, a telemarketing dude who enjoys sci-fi and fantasy, was playing a Half-Demon Warlock. He's really the head of the party, thinking about good courses of action.

Third friend, a guy who always wanted to play so he could be a ninja, made a Human Rogue with skills in acrobatics and intimidate more than lockpicking or anything. Driven by mischief, he enjoys putting the party in difficult spots and trying acrobatic jumps to show off.

Fourth friend, a firefighter and amazing hockey player, was a Half-Vampire Fighter. He was the fearless fighter, often in difficult spots but always pulling through.

Fifth friend, a sports apparel salesman, was playing an Elf Rogue. Archer and lockpicker, he enjoyed doing stuff that a DM does not foresee.

The adventure went as follows: The group had been front-liners for the army of a rampaging Orc War-Lord, pillaging the human lands for decades now. Growing tired of little games, he hand-picks our ''heroes'' to become his private strike team. Their mission: To infiltrate a Lord's mansion and steal the Horn of Fog possessed by the human. This will give the Orcs an advantage in taking castles, hiding from the archers in the fog. The Warlord equips the team with weapons and adventuring tools, and tells them they can take all the loot they want. A 50 gold piece bonus is waiting for them if they bring back the head of their enemies. Those who don't will face 10 whips.

The funnest part of the adventure was right at the beginning, a complet surprise to me, the DM.
The group had to get on a raft and travel down a river until they could find a proper place to land. I put a Balance check of 10 to not fall in the water when you get on the raft, and a Swim check of 10 in the water. I also had put a Squid in the river if someone would fall. I didn't think much of it, with the DC being only 10.

Well, our Centaur leader gets on the raft just fine, along with the Warlock. The Fighter on the other hand, slips on the wet wood that makes the raft, and falls in the water! The Squid grabbed him right away, and started squeezing.

Seeing the fighter didn't come back up, the Rogue decides to throw his rope in the water for the fighter. No time to take off the Grappling Hook. A Dex check makes the throw perfect, and the Fighter was able to grab the rope. A strenght check from the Rogue and the Centaur who was helping him had them pull the Fighter back on the raft, along with the squid. Everybody misses their shot at the squid, except the Elven Rogue who hits the monster right in the head, almost killing him.

Memorable moment: The human rogue is tired of holding the rope. He tries to intimidate the elven rogue next to him into holding the rogue. The check fails. The human simply lets go of the rope, losing it in the process! Good laughs there. '' Take the rope! No. Allright, too bad! ''

The Centaur decides to use his natural weapon (Hoof, 1D4) to attack the squid. He misses critically, falls back down heavily on the raft. Balance check for everyone. Everyone falls in the water!

The Fighter decides to bite the squid's tentacle, who releases its grip after squeezing 1 HP out of him. He swims back to the surface. A ink cloud in the water signals to the party that the monster has fled. The Centaur came close to drowning, but after a short while everybody was back on board.

They finally found a good spot to land. The human rogue felt he had to redeem himself in the eyes of the elf, and attemps to front-flip out of the raft and on dry land. He fails miserably, landing right on his ass, while everyone started laughing. He tried to intimidate everyone into silence, wich didn't work.
After that, they started to follow a trail in the forest. Unknown to them, that was actually a trail for wolves! The Rogue was walking in the back, and was able to hear a pair of the animals before they were caught flat-footed. A failed check to handle the animals had one of the wolves jump at his neck, almost killing him in one blow!
Rogues went to the woods, trying to get ranged sneak attacks, while the fighter started doing his thing.
Memorable moments: the human was caught behind the centaur and could not get a clear shot. He decides to attemp to jump on the centaur's back, and then leap to the wolves. He miserably fails his jump check, jumps too low, and hits the horse ass hard! Good laughs there too.

The wolves had 2 of the villains almost dead, and so the party decided to take 24 hours and have the centaur heal them. The Fighter went exploring by himself. While he was gone, the human robbed the warlock, who had collected wolf teeth. He took the teeth and threw them in the woods, and ran to where he heard some noise. Turns out the fighter had found an old shack, where a zombie was sleeping. The fighter single-handedly killed the zombie, and the stench of the rotten corpse had the human take a fortitude check. Yup, failed again!
Memorable moment: the human is vomiting because of the stench, while the Fighter cuts the head off the monster. The head rolls to the human's feet, only to have him throw up again. Haha!

After that, the group re-joined. After an hour's walk, they arrived at a village in a clearing. The village looked abandoned. While the party was deciding about how to loot all the houses, the human left by himself and entered a house. Pitch-black, he wasn't able to see a giant spider, but laid his hand on it, revealing the insect as big as a cat!

The other players were actually contemplating burning him alive in the house, but instead chose to explore another house. 2 spiders as big as men attacked them, almost killing the centaur and the fighter with their poison. The centaur was still able to kill both of them however.

The human had run out of the house, and the warlock lit a torch and burned the first house with a bunch of spiders in them. The centaur then proceeded to burn all the houses in the village.

Memorable moment: the fighter is almost dead. The centaur rushes in the house to save him, trying to push the spider away, only to be himself poisoned hehe.

All in all, everyone had tons of fun, can't wait for the rest of the adventure!

Weird

2009-03-05T14:42:00.003-05:00

In my quest to find D&D material to prepare for my first ever real game, and i stumbled upon this weird piece of fiction.

First thinking it was a humourous comic, i quickly realised it was a serious piece, put together by our nice little christian friends.

Enjoy!

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

Lost In Transmission

2009-02-26T15:46:00.002-05:00

I just finished book 2 of the Collapsium series by Wil McCarthy

As expected it is much better than the previous book, The Collapsium.

We are once again in the middle of immorbids who have to colonize a planet because they once were bad kids.

But things are REALLY not going as planned.

The economy is breaking down, some people have DIED, and there is almost no hope for the future (of course there has to be SOME hope because there is a third book in the series).

At the same time there is prologue and an epilogue where we see glimpes of a war against home aplliances.

This book is a real page turner, a lot of things happen and most of them come as a surprise.

Of course there is the usual hard science not always easy to understand: "(...) even impervium breaks down at thirty megawats per square meter (...) a fraction of a fraction of that energy slips in between the pseudoatoms and the heat kicks the electrons right out of their quantum wells. the whole thing reverts to sillicon (...)" but McCarthy is showing off far less often than he did in the 2 previous books I've read.

The main characters are still there, bascal (now a king), xmary and conrad and there are very funny moments such as when the one-hour old princess tries to seduce conrad (yes she is one-hour old, as births are quite special on the planet Sorrow ... hint: a lot of kids are named Mary Faxborne).

A fun read: 8/10

PS Why the hell do they create such stupid covers ????? I look like a dumbass every time someone picks up a book on my desk

The life of Regar the Ruthless

2009-02-25T16:30:00.005-05:00

Regar the Ruthless is an old man, for its time period. The medieval times were dangerous, and gray hair was seldom seen. Regar had long and white hair, a white beard, eyebrows that showed both determination, strenght of character, but also a little sadness from deeds done in the past.

There are no accounts of Regar's youth, of how he landed in Calradia, or of how he earned the acronym ''Ruthless''. The first sightings of this historical character were registered in the land of the Nords, where he, alone, approached many villages, recruiting individuals. Promesses of loot, battles, glory, travelling, rewards were made to the men fit to fight. A few farmers, bored young men and villagers with nothing to lose, chose to follow him.

The Ruthless characteristic of Regar soon became apparent. When his group grew in size, so did his aggressivity. At first happy with fighting looters and bandits, he then started looting villages, often right after asking the people of that village if they wanted to join him! Some saw it as the first trial of their journey with Regar... to cut down your own wife and steal your brother's riches.

The travels of this group took them everywhere around Calradia, from the snowy steps of mountains to the nordic seaside. Trading and looting seemed to be the way Regar made his fortune, slowly. He started recruiting experienced troops and individuals in taverns of many towns, until he was finally captured by an army of Nords, happy to bring his pillaging rampage to a stop. Regar however, escaped a few days later, only to be recaptured right away. His fighting spirit still intact and a testimony to his survival instincts, Regard escaped from the Nords' claws numerous times in the following days, until he could reach the safety of Vaegirs lands.

His renown got him a request from a Vaegir lord: to follow, with his personal army, the army of the Lord and join in the sieges of many keeps, wich Regar happily did. He played an instrumental role in many of these battles, one time almost taking over the keep in a single wave of pure aggressivity.

And this is where Regar stands, for now. Happy to be of service to the lord, wich gives him plenty of missions and shows him plenty of action over enemy walls and fields.
Patiently bidding his time, proving his worth to the lord, until he can finally prove his allegiance and obtain his own little piece of land to defend.

He was asked many times to do deeds that would result in declarations of war from the Khergits. However, he has refused to partake in those actions. Not for the sake of peace, but because he loves to recruit Khergits in his group. With time and experience, they can become dangerous horse archers, essential to his cavalry-heavy army.

He has started looting and attacking Swadians also, when times are hard or when he needs money. Adept at trading and training, Regar is a seasoned traveler and war-monger. Much has yet to be discovered about the history of this timely individual from our archeologists, especially about the rest of his life.

A little is known about his battle skills, however. It seems Regar preffered to fight by his men's side, very rarely not joining them in battle. Favoring a fast, unarmored horse, a jousting pole for taking down the enemy cavalry, he rides at the helm of his formation. He was also deemed very dangerous with his Halberd. One of his favorite plans of actions was to select a hill, post his archers and footmen on top, and sneak behind enemy lines with his cavalry to exercise a pre-emptive strike against unlucky archers and soldiers in the back of the line. One swoop of his blade was often enough to cut off a man's head.
He would then return to his designated hill to come to the aid of this fellow men against cavalry, slowed down by the ascension. Always keeping in movement, he would cut through archers and crossbowmen when they came into shooting range of his foot soldiers.
He was also know to carry a beautifully adorned metal shield and a morningstar for 1 on 1 fights. He would give the honor of a dual to the last survivor of an army, stepping down from his trusty steed to deliver the final blow, cracking the head of the remaining individual.
His mace was also used to knock soldiers unconscious instead of killing them, for the sake of taking them prisoner, later selling them into slavery.

He proved his bravery many times over during sieges, climbing over a keep wall, only to face down a dozen enemies with his shield. He would charge at archers with his shield high and bring them down with his morningstar. Known to fight up to 3 men at a time, he was also an accomplished archer. He is seldom seen taking down an enemy horseman's mount with a bow when the coward would not give up and was hard to catch, and then delivering the final blow from his horse.

-The Calradia vault of artifacts and history.

Chicken

2009-02-25T15:08:00.002-05:00

The best chicken in Montreal?????

Ramados, on Rachel, a couple of blocks east of St-Laurent

You get a charcoaled chicken (take the spicy sauce, it's not that spicy), with a MOUNTAIN of succulent fries, rice and salad, bread, a small portuguese pie, an a soft drink for less than 10$.

And it's amazingly good.

There is often a long line but you can call in advance (514-849-1803), there is a line for orders and one for people who did not order, the whole thing served with a smile by Maria who calls everyone mon chéri.

Now, instead of waiting 15 TO 30 minutes for your order (I've seen the line go outside once) it might still be 15 to 30 minutes if you call, but so what, you feel like an habitué when you are in the quick(?) line.

Every time I go there (once a week) I first of all want to go on vacation in Portugal and second I buy an extra dozen of those great little custard pies that Beurre's brother, Decal, wolfs down like there is no tomorrow.

Please don't give me that dry St-Hubert crap or those animals that once were chicken that they serve at KFC ... I want my Ramados!

Mount & Blade Review

2009-02-23T16:18:00.004-05:00

People of the gaming community!
Addicts of RPGs!
Fans of the Total War franchise!
I have good news!
Good news indeed!

Recently, my prospector friend Goran has unearthed a gem of multiple facets, of untold value! Previously unknown to me, this little piece of treasury has already been discovered by gamers and labeled a cult classic.

Populace of the internet, i give thee... Mount & Blade!

First introduced to me as ''A very cheesy, fun little addictive game'' by Goran, as he was striding on a green and open field on his black horse, 7 peasants running to his side.
''It looks like Oblivion'' I said.
''What?'' Replied Goran... He was concentrating on the computer screen and barely paying any attention to me. Males of the human species, you see, are not adept at multi-tasking.
A few warcries made me turn back to the screen. In the distance, 6 or 7 footmen were charging. My friend's hero picked up the pace, the horse going in a gallop. The warcries were getting louder. As he swoops by the enemy, he takes out his sword and swings at his left left side, delivering a killing blow to his hated enemy.
''Wait... much more cooler than Oblivion. You can't do anything when you're on a horse, you have to step down to fight''
''Oh.. Yeah, look. Very cheezy, like i said''
I watched as Goran moved some distance away from the group of footmen, got down from his horse, and proceeded to continue the fight on foot. The rest of his group were following right behind, some of them throwing javelins and rocks. He rushed in with his shield high, blocking the first shots and replying with his sabre, cutting down a few enemies.

Before long, the sounds of battle were changed to... hard throat yells of victory from his comrades, celebrating their victory, arms in the air. Sweet!

The graphics were not that great, actually a little bit older than Oblivion, but they felt right. The gameplay was smooth, and the collision recognition perfect.

After that, a screen appeared, showing us what loot he had aquired, how many prisoners he could capture (to later sell into slavery), and how much experience him and his comrades received. A character screen showed us what Goran looked like with his present armor, wich stats did he want to improve as well as his abilities. (Stuff ranging from power strike to horse archery to looting). After leveling up his character, we were transported to the map of the world.

A bird's view showed Goran and the number of his troops (8 + 5 prisoners), traveling around the country side. These soldiers were actually recruited from nearby villages. There are 4 factions in the world, and your actions decide if they will become allies or enemies. Loot the village or escort a caravan?

There are also tracks left by your horse, shown as arrows pointing in the direction you are going. Colors also show how long ago you passed there. The size of the arrows show how large the group was. This is all influenced by your tracking skill. I learned later during my own gameplay that you can recruit heroes in taverns (cheezy, yes) that have party skills. I have a monk good at healing, a tracker and kind of archer wh0 doesn't really do anything.
Since I had a good tracker on board, i was able to find giant yellow arrows on the ground, telling me that a large army was there not too long ago. By following the tracks i was able to catch up to an army actually laying siege on another town, and i was able to lend my hand in.

And let me tell you, it's even cooler. We started charging the wall, going up a ladder, my friends falling to the ground in cries of agony as archers were picking us out. Shields, my friends, where are yours?

When we finally took the wall and the courtyard, we took the castle. The allegiance of the keep actually changed to the color of the lord that took it! The lord was pleased with my effort and offered to give me a quest. I have now been following his army around and going on recon missions for his campaign, helping in taking 2 keeps! The Nords now HATE me.

Altogether, a great game. Character evolution is always important, and in this case you can see it first-hand, you are completely responsible for it! I went from being a looter and pillager to being a trader, to now being a mercenary at the command of a force of almost 40 men. You get to pick if you want your villagers to become archers, footmen, horsemen, although a good mix of the 3 is recommended. I started as a scruffy-looking guy with a ''Lame Horse'', no helmet and just a leather shirt and rusty axe, to a knight with fur armor, a speedy horse, metal greaves. I just bought a huge pole, jousting-style, and a helmet with those cool flat tops. I want to buy one with huge wings but they are too expensive.

I'm also told you can even capture towns and castles yourself and become a faction, receiving taxes and defending your properties. I think you can also try to seduce ladies, more on that as i discover the game more and more!

I strongly, strongly recommend this game!

Here's a few screenshots. The Map, the party meny, and my knight.

From Montréal Comics

la crise frappe l'industrie du jeu vidéo

2009-02-23T09:52:00.002-05:00

Midway, les créateurs de Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe et autres jeux populaires vient de se placer sous la loi de protection de faillite.

Quand même surprenant quand on sait que l'industrie du jeu vidéo surpasse celle du cinéma en terme de revenus annuels

Soembody somewhere has made a lot of monnnnnnney

Dark Avengers revealed!

2009-02-21T12:19:00.003-05:00

Spoilers ahead! But that's why you're here, right?

Dark Avengers # 1---------------- 5/5

I was like... Hmm. ANOTHER Avengers title by Bendis. This guy really likes to make teams. I mean... this guy LOVES to make teams! It all started in the good old Avengers title. Then they were disassembled. The book was rightfully named Avengers: Dissasembled (Cap used to shout Avengers Assemble! when going in battle, remember? It's been so long. We miss you Cap.)
Then it became New Avengers. Then THOSE guys broke up during Civil War. Then the Mighty Avengers AND the New Avengers were created.
ALL of those titles were written by Bendis.
I wanted to pick up the title though, to know what that super-american-Iron-Man was all about.

What a pleasant surprise! This title is awesome! Well, all it does pretty much is showcase the new roster for yet another Avengers team, classic Bendis Avengers recipe.
First we are shown a double-splash page of all the new members. I like splash pages, people.

My first reaction was exactly this: Mkay... Quicksilver in a new suit, Sentry, Ms Marvel in her old costume, some dude in an Iron-Man armor, Ares, Wolverine... but he looks taller and less hairy than usual, Hawkeye and Spider-Man wearing his black costume.

Woa!
Waitaminute!
Isn't Quicksilver completely off the map with all the mutant crap AND Inhuman crap he's involved with?
Isn't Sentry a good guy?
Isn't Miss Marvel with the Mighty Avengers?
Isn't Iron Man now an enemy of the state, War Machine... at war? Who's this guy?
Ares i can understand...
Isn't Wolverine in more titles than marvel-y possible? Why's he standing like he's got something up his ass? Why's he so tall? Why des he have a tattoo?
Isn't Hawkeye... Ronin? (Sometimes I really really hate you Bendis)
Isn't Spider-Man in the New Avengers? Is he still wearing his black suit? Because in his own title he's got the red n blue thights on...
Mister Bendis, you have some explaining to do!

Allright, so the issue starts with Norman Osborn contemplating his new new S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carrier. He doesn't like the red n gold colors of Tony Stark so he's getting it repainted. Oh yeah, and he's remaining the organisation H.A.M.M.E.R....
Then he fires Miss Hill.
Then he talks with Bullseye... Tells him they are moving to Avengers tower.
Ms. Marvel is invited to Avengers tower. She is drawn standing like a slut. I know she's wearing a thong but nobody stands like that. She is basically told to get the fuck off the team, and that Ares and Sentry are staying with the Avengers. So if she's off the team, who's the babe on the cover?
Moonstone! Norman Osborn's other team leader. She was field leader in the Thunderbolts but was recently decomissioned. Osborn shows up at Thunderbolts Mountain with a costume of Ms. Marvel. OOoooh! I like where this is going!
We are then shown Venom, absolutely HUGE, being fed Skrulls. Yeah. Then he receives a pill from Osborn, goes into shock, and then reappears looking quite normal... So this is actually Venom on the cover, NOT Spider-man! I like where this is going more and more! And he's shown in the classic pose when Spider-Man first discovers the black suit, back in Secret Wars... Nice little touch there.
After that, we see Daken Akihiro. Who? Haven't you been reading Wolverine Origins, that really baddly written and poorly drawn (for a Marvel comic anyways)? He's Wolverine's son. He's got 2 claws, healing factor, a tattoo, and Teenage Angster. Only he looks more like he's in his mid-twenties though. Bad temper and mutant genes run in the family i guess... He is recruited for his fighting abilities, and also to ''tick off his dad''. Hehe!
Then, we meet Noh-Varr. Who? The guy that looks like Quicksilver? Well, a quick research on wikipedia lets me know he used to be Marvel Boy. Weird. Then i remember that he was that asshole during Civil War that declared war on earth. During Secret Invasion he changed his mind. Osborn is actually giving him what he needs: a second chance. As the new Captain Marvel.
We are also shown how Osborn gets to open the Iron Man armor vault, so that means that the American Iron Man is actually Osborn! Sick!
And from what I gather, Bullseye is the new Hawkeye. Makes sense.

So this issue is actually quite enteraining because of all the changes it offers. And you get to see Norman Osborn's plan unfold. He's going for something big. He's in power, and he wants to piss off some people...
We are also shown Dr.Doom battling Morgan Le Fey, so i gather he's going to be playing a big role soon.

All in all, a cool read, a perfect introduction point. Not as cool if you are not too familiar with all the characters showcased in the issue.

One thing leads to another...

2009-02-18T00:15:00.004-05:00

Well, i'm a big fan of lolcats, and i'm a big fan of random cat videos from the interweb. Some people find it funny, some people find it gay, others will think it's weird. I just think it's distracting. I like being distracted. So here goes! An innocent search and a mind desperate for cheap entertainment can lead to all kinds of interesting videos on Youtube.

So first, The Real Garfield. Look at how he is sitting. Look at his facial expression and eyebrows from the side shot. My favorite part is when he turns around and uninterested, turns back to the tv.

The next one is Ninja Cat. I chose Hitchcock's Ninja Cat because i like the soundtrack. More dramatic.

The third one, shown below, is Talking Cat. Although he is not really talking... It kinds of makes me think about those crazy christian zealots talking in tongues...

And so, the next video doesn't bring us to Sarah Palin, but to this weird young lady: Crazy Screaming Christian at some jesus camp.

Now THIS was pretty entertaining. It also makes me think about Crazy lady screaming at skateboarders?

Lastly, this woman makes me think about Coach Hines, here's my favorite video of him.

January 2009 Marvel Comics Reviewed

2009-02-08T20:29:00.004-05:00

Before we start, cool stuff to check out:

Iron Man Armored Adventures

Looks okay. Kinda sick of The Mandarin though... What about the Living Laser or Spymaster?

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

I hope it's better than the first one... wich sucked balls dry. Civil War though? And i think i saw Cable? Nice!

And now, on to the comics.

Avengers: The Initiative #20 ----------------2/5

An alright issue if you've been following the book, not really worth anything if you haven't, except maybe for Hank Pym fans (are there any?) or for a little follow-up on Secret Invasion repercussions. Not really anything to say here.

Captain America #45 -------------------------------3.5/5

A good read as always, not a good point to join if you are interested in starting to read this series. A lot of action, good writing, okay art that fits well. Sadly, not a lot of background info is offered on the current villain Bucky is facing. The writer makes us feel like we should know him though, an we are salivating for details as we read on and on. A cool little venture into the past of Captain America is opening up. I do feel like it's taking more and more time for things to happen in this book however.

Incredible Hercules #124--------------------3/5

I've been following this book since Herc took over the Hulk title during World War Hulk, and have been finding myself going back for more every month. The Hercules/Amedeus Cho combo is working great. The present arc showed signs of slowing down for the writer, but a good amount of action and mythology saves the day. A surprise ending makes me buy the next issue!

War Machine #1-----------------3.5/5

A perfect place to jump in on a new series, just as I did! You don't need to be familiar with War Machine's past, nor did you have to be reading Secret Invasion to know what's going on here. A good recap is offered anyways.
Basically Rhodes as had a good power-up lately, and is back in action. Think Iron Man without the shiny armor. The issued deals with his new power level, what he's about, and in wich direction the title's going.
Fighting injustice like all heroes, except War Machine goes in war-zones and fucking shreds to pieces terrorists, war-mongers and mercenaries. We also learn that his power-ups is probably going to be temporary.
In the recent past, our ''hero'' received a hard hit that cut off his arms and legs and tore half of his face off, but Iron Man was there to offer him something different to save his life. Now more machine than man, Rhodes is using his new abilities to the fullest while waiting for a new body to be grown for him. But... he manages to exchange words with Norman Osborn, who happens to be one of the most powerful man in the world right now, and for retribution, steals Rhodes' new and waiting body! What a dick!

What If? Secret Wars--------------------4.5/5

I don't know why, but i love What If?s. That, and i loved Secret Wars. That, and i love Dr. Doom. That, and i love the Celestials. Wich makes for a pretty fun read. Pick it up! What if Dr. Doom retained The Beyonder's powers? Not saying anything more!

Wolverine #70 ''Old Man Logan'' --------------4/5

Great, great run right now. Great writer, great idea, great penciler, inker and colorist! Kind of a What If... A good peek in a possible timeline, yet another one where the heroes lose. Not as desastrous as Age of Apocalypse, but close. We finally learn why Wolverine won't pop his claws in this gritty future, and i'm happy to tell you why.
During the night where all the villains launched their massive cooperative attack on the heroes, everyone was asking where Wolverine was. Turns out, Wolverine thought he was fighting all his most dangerous villains, as shown on the cover.
Wrong!
Mephisto, of all assholes, was manipulating Wolverine with his illusions, and so Logan killed ALL of the X-Men. All the teams, all the members, all his friends. That's pretty BIG. And also pretty far-fetched. First of all, wouldn't logan be able to ''smell'' his enemies a little bit better? I guess that if Mephisto can fool Spider-Man's spider-sense (tm), he can fool Wolverine's Logan-sense (not TMed). But to say that all of the present mutants wouldn't be able to defeat him?
He looks severly beat up, granted.
After he realises what happened, a sad Logan walks in the woods alone, looking for a way to end his misery. He sees a railroad track with a train coming. He puts his neck on the track, and the train hits him dead on! Since he has an adamantium skull, it doesn't decapitate him... But you can imagine that being dragged by a train, from the spinal cord, against metal and red-hot metal wheels for several hundred yards is enough to put you through serious pain... Sick! I love it!

Well, due to my short attention span, i'm kind of tired of writting this blog. I will finish later this week however.

And also, from February and on, will write my reviews when i just read the issue and details are still fresh in my mind. Quality should rise! I will also offer spoilers for people who want to know what's happening but don't feel like reading the comics.

Hulk Vs. Reviewed

2009-02-06T12:47:00.010-05:00

I've been buying Marvel Animation features ever since they been putting a lot of efforts in 'em, starting with Ultimate Avengers.
I was pretty pleased with U.A. The second one sucked though. Big time. And then the Iron Man one was pretty bad too. I was going to buy the Doctor Strange one also, but then i saw a cover showing him with a mystical two-handed sword and knew i wouldn't like the movie.

Then i saw this trailer:

And i thought... hey, looks like they might get the characters right for once! And it's not drawn like the faggy X-Men Evolution! I'm definetly checking this one out.

And so i did. A good double feature, packed with action, cool scenes, and winks at comics.

Hulk vs Wolverine was the one i liked the most. First of all, Logan's attitude and voice is perfect. How he moves, his body stance, makes me think of the good old x-men tv series (can't wait for them to go on dvd, see video at bottom of post!).

Hulk is also well portrayed, and finally they leave Bruce Banner almost completely aside. I know he plays a big role in Hulk's existence, but the real-life movies sucked because too much attention was put on Dr. Banner.

The bad guys are also well drawn and sound right, except maybe for Deadpool. I'm a big fan, and so more judgmental i guess. I think that his voice should be more gritty, but his attitude is just right. Except that he doesn't do anything useful in the movie, wich is a huge letdown. But still, a very funny character in general. I don't really understand why Omega Red is there though... i thought he was Russian?

Hulk vs Thor is also really cool, lots of characters from Asgard are shown, and character portrayal is very well done also. My favorite scene is when Hulk punches Thor through a mountain, but not with one single hit. No, Thor's back is to the rock, and Hulk keeps punching, punching, until it digs a tunnel all the way through hehe.

You also don't really have to be well-versed in Marvel lore but it helps. Some stuff you will ''get'' only if you read the comics. I was surprised to see blood and that level of violence. In both movies you watch Hulk pummel the unconscious bodies of both Wolvie and Thor without them trying to defend themselves. If i was a kid i'd be slightly disturbed. Then again, i didn't grow up with the internet since i was born.

All in all, a good pick and a worthy addition to your collection!

90s X-Men tv series:

Spider-Man 90s tv series just for fun!

NHL 09 Nordiques update!

2009-02-04T14:30:00.015-05:00

Well well well, here we are once again, to Bassam's pleasure.

Another 15 games later, now 30 in the season. What has changed for the driven and newborn Nordiques? Much!

We are first in the league with 52 points for 30 games played.

Washington is second with 42 points in 33 games played.

Team record is now at 25 wins - 3 losses - 2 overtime losses. I would have had 2 more losses, but NHL lets you restart games without any consequence, so there are 2 games that i did because i lost both 0 to 1. First game, with more than 40 shots on goal on my side, and the other team had 2 shots on goal and 1 puck got in at 15 seconds from the end.

The other game, same story, except for some reason one of my players stole the puck from my goalie and put it in the net at 20 seconds from the end, instead of letting the goalie freeze the puck! Weird! But i will talk about retarded NHL 09 situations a little bit later. Now, on with the stats!

First of all, not happy with my team and instead of playing around with the lines (i do that a lot), i decided to switch the team completely around. Some of you might ask why i am not happy with my team when i am leading the league by far. I am simply not happy with the fact that none of my players are even close to being in the 1st spot for goals!

First, i thought that i was playing pretty good defense wise and didn't need a player like Dion Phaneuf gobbing up so much of my allowed salary (he was something like 6 millions a year). So i traded him for Roberto Luongo. I thought that a strong and constant goalie would help the team a lot instead of 2 rookies. I kept the two rookiers mind you, and sent the one with the lesser potential to the minors.

Then i went to the free agents and got myself Vincent Lecavalier and another big winger (Gougeon). Since i do a lot of checks, i thought that a big center would be more productive. I also traded Malkin and Backstrom for rookie defense players to lower my salary cap so i would get more profits. All these changes were done right after the last blog.

Gougeon is another one of my friends i made into a player. To be fair i had them all built with a stat of 81, and some of them have more of a weakness or strenght rather than be all around. Gougeon is a 6'4, 200 pounds center who is not really agile but excells in checks and accuracy.

I also finally found how to get in fights, and 5 fights later found out how to punch!

So the new lines are presented in this order: LW-C-RW.

Not much has happened in defense except that my rookies are faring pretty well.

I also just changed the lines prior to writing this because 3 of my players were on a cold streak.

Gougeon-Koivu-Lecavalier (3 centers on line 1!!!)

Michalek-Turris-Ryan (Turris has been producing steadily)

Dufort-Fraser-Kotalik (Dufort was on the first line but recently got a cold streak)

Sterling-Craig-Okposo (Okposo scored within 20 seconds of being on the team, and has been rather quiet ever since)

Koivu is my Captain, Lecavalier and Komisarek my Assists.

Lecavalier, who had no points before i recruited him, is now in 3rd place with 32 points in the NHL. He is in 8th place for goals with 15, and has 17 assists.

Koivu has had somewhat of a slowdown lately, that's why i sent him back on the 1st line.

He's still first in the NHL for assists with 21 but Malkin and many others are right behind him. He's the second for +/- with a +22.

Gougeon is leading the NHL in Short-Handed Goals with 5 and has an accuracy of 21.57%, the best in the team. Lecavalier has 4 SHG and leads the team in shots on net with 91.

My 2 star defenses, Fistric and Komisarek, have 113 and 102 hits respectively.

And finally, for my goalies, Luongo (who has been very disapointing considering the goals he gave away) has an save percentage of 90.59% and 2 Shut-Outs. The rookie goalie Johnson has a SP of 92.37%!

All and all i've been having much fun with NHL 09, but i realised something about the difficulty levels.

They are not about the level of difficulty your opponents will have. Hard just means it's going to be harder to cope with the stupid A.I. of the players.

The most frustrating thing would be - by far - when an opposing player comes flying to the net, stops right between the two face-off circles, and just sits there. Your players will start trying to pry the puck away from him, tackle him, pokestick him. These, very very very very often, result in an elbowing or charge penalty, and a pokestick gets you a slashing or tripping penalty. Or sometimes 4 players will be on him trying to get the damn puck and all of a sudden he will wristshot your ass into oblivion!

Another annoying thing that happens, partly due to my own stupidity, would be when i get the puck with one of my wingers but i'm in center position, and the center player will skate to his position right in front of me or exactly where i am standing at that time, stopping me in my tracks!

Well, enough bitching for now. I will have some Marvel comics reviewed by next week!

To my defense

2009-02-04T01:41:00.004-05:00

To answer my dad's last post, i will be perfectly honest.
I reacted slowly and poorly to his shot.
I suck at breakaways and get nervous.

Now for my defense, here are a few stats:

My father is in his 50s, has been playing hockey for most of his life, has also been in leagues for most of his life playing at least once a week and is a cherry picker (granted he plays with people half his age so i get it that he doesn't want to sprint everywhere like a mad man).

I'm 24, been playing street hockey since i'm 22, been ice goalie and skating altogether since... well... around the start of January.

So you might understand that i did not have a really good chance at stopping this puck from hitting the back of the net.

You might think that i did not cover my angles right, was not watching the right part of the body, was not mentally prepared nor confident enough to make the save.
And you would be absolutely right!

In the meanwhile, let me just say this:

Hockey's friggin' great. I've been watching it more and more seriously for the past few years, been playing it more and more regularly also.
The few times a month i get to play, is also the few times a month i get to see many of my friends, do some outdoors activity, and downright have some good, manly fun.
Oh, and also enjoy nature.

Here's a few pictures of where we play:

And i know the name of this blog is Montréal Comics but we don't talk a lot about comics, but my reading habits have changed a lot since 2006 where i was most active. I do however plan on going back to my monthly reviews of as many titles as i can afford, so watch out for January reviews anytime soon.

See you on the ice!

HUM

2009-02-02T17:30:00.002-05:00

I noticed that

my son

the goalie

with the fancy equipment

has not reported

on how I fared on a breakaway

against him

last Friday

Hint: the old man still has great MOVES!

Marvel title we should check out

2009-01-28T12:17:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone,

so i was just browsing Marvel.com and saw the next War Machine issue announced... #3 to be exact.

I could not find an image of the cover, but it shows Ares taking an axe swing at Rhodes.

War Machine vs Greek God of War? Sweet!

As i was reading, direcly on marvel's website, about the upcoming issue, i kept finding more and more reasons to buy that title, starting from #1.

First, apparently War Machine has had somewhat of a power boost lately. He can now incorporate machinery and weaponry into his body and armor to heal/improve himself, and is now part robot permanently.

The write is also planning something big with him and Norman Osborn. I'm definetly picking up this title now!

And by the way, while looking for pictures of him, i found THIS:

War Machine in Iron Man 2!!!

Another strange tale from the real world

2009-01-27T13:22:00.002-05:00

Scientists have discovered a 5mm jellyfish that is technically immortal!

The story, from telegraph.uk, here.

Budapest

2009-01-26T15:31:00.007-05:00

Je sais que la plupart des gens qui lisent ceci n'ont peut-être pas les moyens de prendre des vacances en Europe, mais si jamais ... Budapest est une superbe ville, pas chère du tout.

Budapest a été formée à partir de 3 villes: Buda, Pest et Obuda. Buda et Obuda sont sur des collines et Pest (prononcer PESH) est dans les plaines.

On y parle le hongrois et en tant qu'ancienne capitale de l'empire austro-hongrois, on y retrouve une grande quantité de monuments et de villas somptueuses.

Mais comme le pays a vu ses ressources et même sa superficie grandement réduites par les guerres et l'ancien régime communiste, la ville est par endroit quelque peu en décrépitude.

La ville vaut quand même la visite, par exemple la vue des collines de Buda est imprenable. Le château royal (jamais habité) est également superbe et le soir, des rives de Pest offre une des ces vues inoubliables que l'on retrouve à Portofino ou Florence par exemple.

Il y a également de nombreux musées, dont le musée des horreurs, l'ancien siège social de la police secrète. Nous étions à Budapest le soir où les musées étaient gratuits, pour une nuit et c'était très impressionnant de voir la quantité de gens en file à chacun des musées.

Étant un pays pauvre, la Hongrie n'est pas dans la zone euro et on s'amuse beaucoup à calculer le taux de change puisque qu'il faut compter environ 180 florints pour un dollar canadien ... des heures de plaisir!

La bouffe n'est pas chère (environ 12$ pour 2 pizzas, un verre de vin et un coke, sur une terrasse - bon le serveur nous a oubliés dehors mais comme c'était une belle soirée chaude, on n'a pas vraiment souffert) et les plats locaux sont intéressants quoique plutôt lourds.

Les gens sont en général très sympathiques sauf les vieux communistes qui travaillent dans les lieux publics: vieux airs bêtes blasés, de vrais caricatures.

Ma blonde et moi aimons marcher dans les villes que nous visitons et nous pouvons dire que presque partout dans la ville il y a de quoi de beau à voir. Un peu exténuant par contre d'escalader Buda par 34 degrés de chaleur.

La langue est par ailleurs peu évidente. Jo a appris que pomoc! veut dire à l'aide! et évidemment hurlait cela à toutes les 10 minutes (elle le fait encore mais moins fréquemment).

Le premier soir, je me suis retrouvé devant 2 signes: ferfi et noy qui indiquaient les toilettes ... je vous laisse le soin de trouver lequel est lequel.

Une des attractions que nous n'avons pas visitée: les bains. On retrouve un peu partout de ces fameux bains de style turc, à l'architecture grandiose et aux nombreux services. Mais on a passé l'âge de se promer en maillots.

Ne pas manquer non plus les ponts, la place des héros et les petits pickpockets de 5 ans qui font semblant d'être affamés (ou peut-être le sont-ils vraiment)

Donc: belle ville, gens sympathiques, peu chère

2009-01-26T00:08:00.004-05:00

Here's a little update of my dynasty, for people who actually find this entertaining (i'm looking at you, Bassam)

Well, after 15 games, the team's stats are 12-2-0-1. Not too shabby!

The 3 defeats were these games: Toronto 3-1, Tampa Bay 6-5, Capitals 2-0.

The 15th game was against the Canadiens, Nordiques won 3-1.
Habs fans will maybe like to hear that Ovechkin is their Captain, and Biron is between the pipes.

Despite this amazing number of victories, Les Nordiques are 2nd in the NHL. The pesky Rangers (who we haven't played against yet) are 1st, maybe because they played a good 4 games more.

Here's my lines so far, goes like this. C-LW-RW.
Malkin, Fedotenko, Bureau.
S.Koivu, Dufort, Kotalik.
Backström, Michalek, Boyes.
Turris, Bell, Tukonen.

For Defense:
Phaneuf and Larente.
Johnson and Vlasic.
Cury and Komisarek.

Goalies are Smith and Johnson.

The coach is Elvis Gratton.

Koivu has the most points and assists in the team, with 15. 3G-12A, +11. He is the 7th in the NHL for points.
Malkin has 14 pts, 7G-7A +8.

The two goalies are both young rookies with amazing potential, competing against each other for the starting spot. Smith has the most skills right now, and the most ice time.

M. Koivu was traded early during the season, since he didn't harvest any points after 6 games. He was traded for Tukonen and Kotalik, 2 so-so players who had great potential and are getting better every game.

You are probably wondering who Bureau, Dufort and Larente are. They are custom made characters representing my friends, who i play hockey with in real life.

Philippe Bureau is actually my little brother. I'm a goalie playing for Atlanta who only started in 1 game, my father was the coach of my old team.
P. Bureau was originally playing offensive defense but since he is not very heavy he couldn't do checks properly (wich is the essence of my def), and was moved to the first line. He has a precise, although somewhat weak, shot.
Jonathan Dufort is a good all-around, explosive player. He has a lot of acceleration, is good at decking, and has an amazingly precise shot.
Joffré Larente is a defensive defenseman, good at blocking shots and passes. Somewhat slow on his skates, he is however very good at passing the puck.

I'm now thinking about trading Boyes and Bell, who both have a good shot but are frustratingly slow. I'm probably going to try to get some rookies to lower the player salary overall, and make more profits. I'm 30th and last in the league for profits!

Weird tales from the real world

2009-01-23T18:34:00.001-05:00

Nazi scientist's secret project to create Aryan race of twins comes to fruition?

Directly from Telegraph.com!

THE COLLAPSIUM - WIL MCCARTHY

2009-01-23T16:48:00.007-05:00

an interesting book

mccarthy brings us back to the world of the wellstone, where matter is malleable and a fax machine is used to make copies of humans

where a king and a queen from the Pacific islands reign over almost a hundred billion humans

where, because of the fax technology, humans are immorbid, meaning they can live forever but can still die if an accident happens and there is no stored copies of themselves, they are also always in perfect health and can be of any colour they want and have as many limbs as they wish

where armies of robots (or humans) can be instantly created as long as there is enough raw matter available and a fax nearby

where the prince, fed up with the fact that there are almost no chances he will become king because of the immorbidity of his parents, decides to start a revolution by affixing a balloon on top of a log cabin and travelling through the galaxy

i have mixed feelings about this book

i loved the ideas put forward in the previous book and used again with great success here. there are also some great characters involved

but the queen and the king are way too perfect and the revolutionary act, while interesting does not justify hundreds of pages

at the same time, there are 2 endings and the second one is really clever, an excellent link to the next book of the series (lost in transmission)

in fact the book suffers from one the most common ills of sci-fi, characters that are too perfect

still i really enjoyed the way mccarthy describes a society where people almost never die, where resources are unlimited and where young people have almost no hope of replacing their elders

plus, once again, a great ending

7.5 (out of 10)

Random Spotlight #2

2009-01-22T19:12:00.005-05:00

Random Spotlight #2, on Sin-Eater!

(First one was on Crystar)

Sin-Eater, is very well described at this here link.

I first learned about him in a crappy Venom issue that my friend has, where he fights Venom with Bazookas and Machine guns. He is also way, way bigger, probably jacked up on steroïds (geez, what those bad guys are willing to do).

The real reason i like this character though, is because he was in a very memorable 3-issue run in Spider-Man. His second appearance in the title, offered something more than just brawls and guilt that the Wall-Crawler no-brainer issues usually showcase.

Spider-Man was at the time battling the always dangerous Electro, when he was confronted with a Sin-Eater very, very different. The man (Stanley Carter) that first wore the mask was now walking with a cane and suffered severe brain damage during his battle with Spider-Man, and he now stutters. Spidey is taken aback by this, thinking he probably forgot to pull his punches on him, wich can hurt a lot since our hero has the proportionate strenght of a spider.

Guilt of course started to work on Peter Parker, and so he was not able to properly fight Electro, thinking he could damage him permanently, even kill him. Electro, who realised this quick enough, took advantage of this.

But the most striking part of the 3-part arc is the ending... Quite sad and unusual for a Marvel of the time i would say...

I suggest that any Spidey fan get his/her hands on these issues:

The Spectacular Spider-Man # 134-135-136

***Spoilers to follow***

During the arc, we and Spider-Man realise that Sin-Eater and Stanley Carter are 2 different personalities.

At the end of the arc, we find Sin-Eater in full costume, backed to a wall, holding his signature double-barrel shotgun, holding a boy hostage.

The boy somehow gets free, and the police shoots down the villain.

Spider-man then runs to him, to ask why he did that. We find out that Stanley emptied the shotgun, without his Sin-Eater persona realising it, effectivily leading up to his death, this way ridding the world of Sin-Eater.

Stanley Carter, a hero?

Keep readin'!

What i learned about Customer Service

2009-01-22T13:13:00.002-05:00

First, you never EVER want to work on a monday. People are downright mean.

Second, when people ask for your help in understanding something, they don't really want to hear an explanation. They want to know it was a mistake. An error. They don't want to be told ''It's very simple'' or ''These are all legitimate fees''. Because it insults their intelligence.
You know you got a client like that when they cut you off as you're trying to explain to them what they want to know.

Thirdly, old people are not bad with cellphones and current day technology. Sure, the learning curve is longer, but you don't ever, ever want to fuck with their bills. Because in their times, a dollard was a big thing. So if the system fucks up their balance of 70 cents, you better fix it mister.

Fourth...ly? Young people, like me for instance (between 18-25) think they are smart, think they found a mistake on their bill, think a lot of things when they call a company to complain, and hate, HATE to be proven wrong. Maybe their parents shouldn't have let them win so much at Monopoly when they were kids.

Fifthly (lol), what is it with the mentality that if you bitch enough, that if you yell enough, that if you threathen a company enough, you will get what you want? I do not understand this. And what pisses me off is that, it works.
But just so they don't get what they want TOO easily, i'll argue with them for 20 minutes about nothing. Just for the sake of it.

NHL 09, second period

2009-01-21T16:16:00.006-05:00

Well, this is a little follow-up to one of my previous blogs about NHL 09, and also an introduction to my latest dynasty. I'm also going to try and post the development of my dynasty on this blog, for people's entertainment.

First, i played a LOT of NHL 09 in the last weeks. Perhaps... too much. On my first dynasty on the normal setting, i'm right around the end of the season. The reason i didn't go all the way to the Stanley Cup is that i lost about 3 games in the last 40, and the majority i win 5-0 or 7-2, something like that.

Also, the shoot-outs after overtime are completely impossible to win. I CANNOT score for some reason. Maybe i just suck?

Anyways. So i started a new Dynasty on Hard, with continuous OT instead of stupid shoot-outs. I re-created the Québec Nordiques. Big fan here, grew up watching them, used to live on the south shore of Québec City.

To have them in the right division, i had to replace a current team. I chose to remove the Ottawa Senators. Not that i hate them, but i just couldn't bring myself to remove any of the other teams, Sens being the team i care the less about when we play against them. Let's get some rivalry going, people!

I went for the fantasy draft, so that evil clones of players don't appear in the NHL, and played my first game with the new Nordiques this very morning. Since NHL 09 included their logo, home and away jersey, the team looks damn good on the ice.

The opening game was against the penguins. I had an equal goalie rating, and my stats for defense and offense lines were a good 5 points above theirs.

Since i play a pretty good defense in that game, i was able to obtain a victory, on home ice, for season opening, of 3-0!

I don't have my roster list with me, but i can tell you that my 1st draft pick was Malkin. My 2nd pick was a young goalie having an average overall stats of 77, but a very good potential of 93. With my facilities boosting home morale and a practice schedule focusing highly on goalies, he was able to start the season with stats of 87!

For my 3rd draft pick i was able to get the guy on the cover of the game, Dion Phaneuf, making sure my defense will be at the top of the league.

For the following picks i ditched Saku Koivu for his little brother, hoping to get the two Koivu together at some point during the season. I'm a trade-heavy GM.

I also want to point out that Saku sports a Thoughness of 99 in the game!

For the rest of the draft i aimed to recruit LWs and RWs with a high accuracy, and Defense with lots of speed and checking. I soon grew tired though, and did an auto-draft for the rest of the rosters. I'll have to clear and trade after a few games since i have way too many captains, and a player salary of 54 millions, resulting in only 2 million $ in profits.

I like profits, gentlemen. I think it influences how many times during a season you can upgrade your facilities. This also makes me think that never have i seen a game with so few available information on how the game exactly works.

This being said, my goal with this season is of course, to win the Stanley Cup, and thus re-enact the many days of my youth i lost, winning the Cup with the Nords on hard in NHL 94.

Rosters and trade info to come!

Fantasy shmantasy

2009-01-21T00:09:00.012-05:00

Heheheeeee,
hope everyone liked my dad's introduction.

Even if i know future contributor Meor One will come to fantasy's rescue, i feel i have to say something myself.

Thing is, fantasy is not for everyone.
Thing is, fantasy can be divided in many, many categories.
It is NOT limited to elves in trees, dwarves in mountains, and barbarians from the north. Sometimes elves live in caves! (Sorry, i mean.. Drow)

Anyways. It is unjust of my father to say that fantasy is only for retarded children, and then give Eragon as exemple.

I know how he feels though, i don't read a lot of fantasy myself since i feel it repeats itself a lot. Dragonlance original trilogy is a classic though.

I do understand why they put Science-Fiction in the Fantasy department though... i think. But if you ask me, Horror fits more in the Fantasy section... well, supernatural horror at least.

But, to make everyone happy, there is a mix of the science-fiction and fantasy styles that i am particularly fond of... Cyberpunk.

SitOne of the often overlooked series, of couse, would be Shadowrun.

A variant of D&D mixing technology, a dirty future, evil corporations, elves, orcs, magic, implants, and... well, you get the idea. Think LOTR meets Blade Runner. I heard many a great things about this universe, and if i was geek enough to play D&D regularly, well i'd be playing Shadowrun instead.

I was personally introduced to the universe through the Shadowrun game on the Sega Genesis, of all places.
My mind would get an erection whenever i'd see this:

Ooooh yeah... So much fun.

Well, there's nothing much to say, i just had another blast from the past while writing this here post and HAD to put up pictures of that Sega game.

I do like posting pictures.

Allright... let's put one more picture.

Because i was just about to forget, the master of the cyberpunk realms would not really be Shadowrun, but more accordingly Warhammer 40,000.

Space Marine in his battle suit with battle standard

Does that make you SALIVATE or WHAT???

For anybody not familiar with Warhammer 40,000, it is the futuristic version of a tabletop war game called Warhammer, simply.

But it is oh, so dark.

A huge selection of races, mythology, weapons and vehicules are already heavily described all around the net, and it makes for hours of fun discovering this insanely huge and popular universe. There is simply too much to say about this tabletop game, videogame, painting hobby, comic book and novel world to fit in one blog.

And hey, is a chainsword cool or what.

PLEASE !

2009-01-20T17:29:00.004-05:00

Everytime I look for a new sci-fi book in a library, I always end-up p***-off because stupid librarians classify sci-fi with Fantasy!

Fantasy uses friggin dragons, magicians, sorcerers and other stupid characters. There is ALWAYS a good magician loosely based on Merlin and a bad magician loosely based on Raspoutine; plus a prince, a beautiful princess, a wisdomly king, a motherly queen and all sorts of stupid characters who usually get changed to an animal by the bad guys early in the book only to be brought back by the prince/magician/king/princess or queen. And I forget that the dragons usually speak and are misunderstood by the villagers because it just ate their sheep.

Mind you I loved the Lord of The Rings books and movies, but they are well written and directed, and even if they have the usual characters, they interact grandly.

I kno, there is also terrible science-fiction like Star Wars and other disguised Fantasy books that just happen to happen in the future. But those books are Fantasy, not sci-fi, just check the list of characters!

Sci-fi is anticipation of future societies, of inventions, of galactic races, of faster than light travel, of catastrophies and drama on a galactic scale. Yes I've read sci-fi books where there were dragons, but the last one was composed of 5 kilometer long semi-metallic spheres and could control space-time. Take that Eragon!

Good sci-fi is not easy to read, it requires imagination and intelligence. Fantasy crap can be understood by any first-grader.

So PLEASE LIBRARIANS, CREATE 2 CATEGORIES SO I DON'T SPEND MY TIME FIGHTING NAUSEA EVERY TIME I AM LOOKING FOR A GOOD ANTTICIPATION BOOK

QUELLE EST LA MEILLEURE SÉRIE DE SCIENCE-FICTION JAMAIS ÉCRITE?

2009-01-20T17:10:00.002-05:00

Je lis de la science-fiction depuis environ 40 ans(!).

Le tout a commencé par The Martian Chronicles de Ray Bradbury et s'est poursuivi avec des centaines de livres.

Présentement je lis The Wellstone de Wil McCarthy, lui-même partie prenante d'une série.

Les gens me demandent souvent quel est mon auteur préféré et sont toujours surpris d'entendre que je ne nomme pas les Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert et autres auteurs "classiques". Bien que ces pionniers aient beaucoup fait pour faire avancer le genre et que je les recommanderais à ceux qui veulent apprivoiser la science-fiction, ce sont des auteurs qui ont été éclipsés ces dernières années.

Mon auteur préféré est Dan Simmons, qui a écrit selon moi la meilleure série de science fiction à ce jour, les Hyperion Cantos, 4 livres d'une profondeur et d'une imaginations extraordinaires basés sur la poésie de Keats. Je n'aimerais pas rencontrer le Shrike dans une ruelle!

Il (Simmons, pas le Shrike) a également écrit une courte série où des post-humians s'amusent à être les dieux de l'Olympe, capturent la bataille de Troies et l'amènent sur une autre planète!. Un des livres commence avec un bibliothécaire du 19e siècle couchant avec Vénus. J'espère qu'il publiera une suite à Illium qui se termine avec Achille montant l'Olympe, seul, pour affronter Zeus.

Voici mon classement des meilleures séries de science-fiction

1. The Hyperion Cantos, de Dan Simmons

2. The Confederation Universe, de Peter F Hamilton. Une saga galactique où les morts prennent possession des vivants. Al Capone est un des personnages principaux et est un bad *****.

3. The Golden Age, de John Wright. Un futur crédible, très très très différent de notre époque.

Je n'ai pas encore commencé Saga of the Seven Suns de Kevin Anderson qui semble très prometteur.

Fondation et Robots de Asimov et Dune de Frank Herbert ou encore la Saga Ender d'Orson Scott Card n'apparaissent pas dans ma liste car bien que chacun des premiers livres de ces séries soit excellent (surtout Ender's Game et Dune), le reste est plutôt faible.

J'aimerais bien recevoir vos commentaires à ce sujet.

A drool of old-school

2009-01-20T14:29:00.007-05:00

His name is Crystar, the crystal warrior.

Bought this book for 50 cents in a used bookstore a bunch of years ago, and it turned out great!

A kind of weird fantasy, medieval epic story, involving kings and knights, family and long-time enemies!

The art is pretty cool also, looks painted in water colors or something else. I don't know, i'm not a painter.

I recommand it to people who like classic orc vs elves or medieval tales and are open-minded enough for a new twist in the style!

All things MARVEL

2009-01-19T00:38:00.017-05:00

Ahhhh, it feels right.
This is why i started writing blogs in the first place...
Back in 2006, i was reading comic book reviews on the internet, and i thought... hey, i can do that.

Write comic book reviews.

But first! HULK VS

Does it look, sounds, feel right or WHAT?
The voices sound really cool, except maybe Deadpool's one. I heard he's supposed to sound like a hangover Demie Moore. Or is it Demee?
The animation looks slick too, and there's evidence great supporting cast looks to boot. Awesome.

Do want.

LORD i love lolcats.
Aaaaand that's enough moving pictures and images for now.

Let's get back to our first topic of discussion, comics. And mainly, Marvel comics.

Big fan here, ever since i bought a Spider-Man comic at the local grocery store for $2. It was in french too. I still have it. It's bagged and boarded in one of my 8 quintessential x-large carton boxes.

I have been following Marvel titles pretty regularly since around 2004 now, and there's a few titles that have grabbed my attention. Mind you, i went crazy during Civil War, i bought EVERY title that had the banner on it for the whole event. Now i'm not as rich as then, what with being out of the elders' den and owning a car and whatnot. So i have to be more selective in my readings.

Here's a bunch of series i like to read:

First and foremost: NOVA

I was never a big fan of the human rocket, to be honest. I always liked his looks, even with the mullet, but i never payed much attention to him.

During Civil War, there was also the cosmic event Annihilation. Great series, i highly recommend it. There i got to know Nova a little bit more, and a huge change in his power settings made him way more interesting.
***Spoiler alert***
To read spoilers, simply click, hold, and roll over with mouse over covered text. It concerns the Annihilation storyline.
Basically, the entire Nova Corps got decimated by the Annihilus forces, and Richard Rider was the only survivor. Previously, the Nova Force was divided amongst all the Nova members, but now that R.R is the onlyrecipient for that power, he is exponentially more powerful. Think... slightly under SilverSurfer's class.

Anyways. His solo series has been AMAZING, the art is always cool, the writing is quite good too. It shows the usual series slow-downs when it gets around issue 20, but i'm still hooked.
A good pick-up for marvel fans, cosmic adventure fans, and people into comics just looking for a good read. Look for the TPBs for back issues, simpler to find.

P.S. while looking for pictures of Nova, i stumbled upon this website, where they explain Marvel classics with playmobile dudes! In french yes, but still cool to see hahaha!

Second series: Thunderbolts.

Aaaah... Thunderbolts. This series REALLY got a nice boost right around Civil War. This is where i started reading it. I got some back issues before CW but didn't like 'em. No, you really need Norman Osbourn at the head of that team to make it interesting. That and an amazing writer. I highly recommend the CW run and issues up until now. The rosters have just been heavily turned around, so i don't know what is going to happen.

Also, you might want to check out Zemo: Born Better. A mini-series focusing on Zemo, who is being thrown into the past to visit each of his ancestors.

That being said, enjoy the reads!

Other good series would include Captain America, who has been simply amazing from #1 of his latest run, Avengers: Initiative, who played a good part in Civil War and a huge part in Secret Invasion and always had good art. For Deadpool fans like me, the new series is alright, but not up to par with the delicious Cable/Deadpool series and its 50 amazing (and some not-so amazing) issues. Incredible Hercules replaced Incredible Hulk's title after World War Hulk (more like New York War Hulk) and is really different from other Marvel titles, with a huge emphasis on Greek Mythology still being present in the modern age. Wolverine: Old Man Logan is a great What If? run and fans should pick up the tpb when it comes out. Another cool mini-series i found is called X-Men and Spider-Man. It's a 4-part mini-series (with the last issue still to come) that takes places around a different time period in each book, and really uses and connects past stories well, even if sometimes they are more than 20 years apart.

And to be a little fair to the Distinguished Competition, a great, great run of Green Lantern just came to an end: Synestro Corps.

I HIGHLY recommand the 2-volume tpb that just came out. Even if you are not a Green Lantern fan, if you like cosmic chaos, you should pick up this book.

Simply EPIC.
Art: amazing.
Scenario: really cool.
Colors: out of this world.
Pick it up, folks!

That's about it folks, i'll see you next time i have something to say!
Do not despair, at least i leave you with good news.

Readings for the lazy and easily distracted

2009-01-18T18:45:00.013-05:00

Hello again, dear inhabitants of this virtual reality.

I am stuck in my little cubicule, on a day i should have had off, but i didn't check my schedule right, and now i came in for work.

I don't even know what's going to happen. I think they'll file it as over-time, or give me a random day off to compensate for their ''loss''. Heh.

You're probably wondering what this has to do with the blog's title.

Nothing.

I just had to get it out.

Now, for the actual blog's subject.

As the title inclines, i like to read but i am easily distracted or bored. If the book is too complex, i litterally fall asleep in my seat.

If a part is too boring (hello, Legend of Huma), i simply quit and never think about it again.

I have been concentrating on small books, easy to read or full of short stories. On some occasion i have devoured bricks (Hello, Dragonlance original trilogy) but what's most frustrating is that i've been staying away from psychology, history and science-fiction novels because i know i won't be able to finish the books.

Well, i just discovered a series of cool little books, cheap to buy and easy to read! Sure, they have some spelling mistake and they are not as deep and complete as a full blown volume would be, but as an introduction to a subject, they are great.

I am currently reading ''A brief history of the Vikings'', wich i purchased for $5 (canadian) at Chapters. They have a plethora of books and so i also grabbed ''The Crusades'' and ''100 years war'', wich i haven't yet touched, all part of their ''A brief history of'' series.

The books are published by Robinson, and i highly recommend them for people who would like to learn a little bit about history but are not ready to make a full commitment about one subject.

Basically, for people like me, who like to know tons of little facts about lots of subjects rather than be experts in one field.

Jack of all trades, master of none, as a DM would say.

-Thanks to Meor for spellchecks.

NHL 09 Review

2009-01-17T18:25:00.000-05:00

Hello folks, welcome back.

I'm not even sure ANYBODY's reading me hehehe, what with Internet being virtually infinite and me writing a blog about once a year.

Good news people: I just got a new deskjob, and i hate it, so i'm more inclined to slack off/blog.

Well, on my last blog i believe i was talking about the DS.

Well, i just traded it for a PSP and i'm very satisfied with it. I wanted to buy NHL 09 on PSP but they stopped making hockey games back in 07, so i bought it for PS2.

Only $33? Sign me up!

Back in my house, opening the new game, all exited. I remove NHL 06 from the PS2 and insert NHL 09.

New menu, new interface, very promising!

Anxious, i go and do an exhibition match, get the feeling of the game.

Little did i know i was in for a surprise! The new analog controls are made to simulate the hockey stick like never before. You don't just push a button to do a slapshot, you pull back the right analog stick and flick it up. You can fake shots and wristshot that way. To do a pass, hold R2 and flick the analog stick in the direction you want.
Same commands for the poke checks.

Sounds easy? Not when you have been playing NHL games since 94!

Instead of trying to get used to the new commands, i quickly go into custom commands and switch the controls to what i'm used to, plus some tweaks.

After the exhibition, i came to the conclusion that, all that EA did for NHL 09 on the PS2, was update the rosters and stats of players, tweak the dynasty mode a little bit, and change the controls and interface.

The gameplay is almost exactly the same (hurray for that) except that it is much more hard to score with one-timers. You will do the most beautiful pass jugling in history, the goaler will stop it easily.

But if you slapshot from the blueline, there is a chance that it will find the back of the net.

I was at first frustrated with this, but it forced me to find new ways to score.

For example, a slapshot from the blueline, if stopped, will rebound from the goalie. If you have another player coming at top speed in the zone, he might be able to catch that rebound, and automaticly put it in the net.

Backstrom was quite good at that i found.

The animations between plays are the same, goalie saves are the same, player behavior is a little different though.

I created a new team for my Dynasty, of course. I did the fantasy draft and everything, because i find that when i create a team and select players from a team and THEN start a dynasty, you'll have the Crosby on your team AND the Crosby in the penguins team. If you remove the salary cap, you can have two Crosbys on the team! Stupid, right?
With fantasy draft, at least every team has to do the draft (even drafting your created players) and so there's no evil clones roaming around in the NHL.

Yeah!

So anyways. $33 is a good deal for a PS2 game i find, if only to have the new rosters available and to play with the new analog controls, wich i am not doing.

I am still addicted, watching my Dynasty grow. If anybody is wondering what my team is, I called it the Miners (wich sounds like minors and is confusing my friends) and they play in Val-d'Or, wich is a small city in the province of Québec. I was thinking of doing a second montreal team, or even re-create the Québec Nordiques, but i thought that a Val-d'Or team would be much funnier.

After a lot of struggling in the first half of the season, i was able to make important trades and am now in the first position for the play-offs. I cannot afford to offer good contracts to my star players right now, but drafting is so fun anyways.

See ya!

What bugged me or amused me in the past month

2008-01-23T00:13:00.001-05:00

Heh!
Funny, i was going to Futureshop to buy myself some new games for my freshly aquired Gameboy DS. Met some people from high school there. They asked me why i was there, i answered ''Just buying a couple of gameboy games''.
One of them started laughing, saying: ''That sounds like the activity a 23 years old man would do!
Then i asked him why he was there, and he answered proudly ''I'm buying a new computer!''.

Now. The real funny part is that, since i know the guy, i know he's buying a new PC for the purpose of playing games.
Is it really more mature to play higher-quality games, and spend more money doing so?
Yours to discuss.

I was in the business of shopping for a handheld a few weeks ago, because i live about 1 1/2 hours away from my girlfriend, if i take the bus and subway. With all that time lost doing nothing (reading on the bus gives me headaches) i thought that i could get a nice PSP or DS to amuse myself, and have some entertainment when i'm at my girlfriend's and she's studying.

Being unemployed, the price came as an important influence on my decision. Also the fact that my brother had a PSP a year ago and i didn't like playing on it, mainly due to the analog stick being kinda sloppy. And finally, i owned pretty much every game system and gameboy from Nintendo, since the NES.

As for the price, at Futureshop (where i shopped online) the DS was $140and the PSP was $200.
Go DS!
I went to the closest Futureshop, and they were all out of consoles. I found one in a GameBuzz shop for $125, and i bought Orcs & Elves for $25.

Not so bad, I'd say. I got a DS and a game and was still $50 under the PSP price!

Well, i finished that boring, uneventful and empty game in just under 6 hours.
And it's not fun enough to restart on hard, wich i did out of boredom. I thought i'd be playing something similar to the ultra-oldschool Eye of the Beholder wich captivated me and my friends for hours when i was 10!
No race selection, no class selection, no choice when you level up, 4 available spells. Wow.
Frustrated by the fact that my DS was sitting on my shelf for a full week, i looked around on the interweb, reading reviews and looking at screenshots for different games, so that i wouldn't be screwed again.

And of course upon arriving at the shop, i looked and re-looked at all the games, not knowing wich one i was going to pick, second-guessing my pre-made choices. And then i picked the ones i came in for.

Puzzle Quest - Challenge of the warlords (a sort of Bejeweled RPG) and
Geometry Wars Galaxies (Asteroids on acid),
and it came around $55 in total.

And i must say, i am utterly captivated by the first one, amused and challenged by the second one. I am quite happy with my two choices, been playing them endlessly for the past 2 weeks, exhausting my DS battery several times and ditching the much-loved Oblivion just to play some more.

Puzzle Quest can seem pretty boring if you just look at screenshots, but i decided to give it a chance since i play a lot of puzzle games on the internet. Needless to repeat, i am now completely addicted. This game is captivating (and somehow repetitive), fun and even pretty hard at some points. Like a true RPG, sometimes it's best to just give up on a boss for a little while, and go around to train a little. This games makes it easy for such battles and grinding, since you can do instant battles instead of the story mode, and you still get to keep the gained XP and Money.
I must say though, that people around me now seem to think i am losing my mind. I have often said that i hate machines, and that they are plotting against me, especially the X-box.
Well, this game is outright cheating, right in my face! It seems to be especially lucky at getting good combos and such.

Geometry Wars is completely challenging and addictive. A little game of several levels, each more ridiculous and hard than the previous one. The controls are intuitive and easy, and i'd estimate my learning curve for them at about 12 minutes hehe. You control a little jet just like in Asteroid, and are put in some levels like squares or stars. Waves, and waves, and waves of enemies shaped in different geometric forms attack you or just fly around, each has its own way of acting. You also have a little robot that flies around following you, and with the money made killing enemies, you can buy new behaviors for him, like one that shoots behind you while you move forward, or one that just circles around you, smashing enemies that come too close. This little robot can also gain XP and evolve, becoming more effective.
You have to earn Bronze, Silver or Gold medals on each level wich gives it a good replay value.
The only downsize so far is that the game can become very slow sometimes, since the screen is packed with so much details. These details also get very confusing sometimes and that instant of confusion on your part results in your frustrating death.
Also, now my thumbs hurt a lot hahaha.

On another note, what the fuck's up with all the cops in the subway stations of Montréal!

Let me elaborate.

The bus passes and fares have been steadily going up at least a quarter a year for the past few years. When i arrived in Montréal, taking the bus was $1,25. 7 years later, it costs me $2,75!
A student bus pass is now $36 (can't remember what it used to be) and for regular adults it's $65. So, like a lot of people, i go to the pharmacy and i buy the student pass, even if i'm not a school. The clerks don't demand the special Bus Student I.D.
The thing is, a lot of people buy the student pass now, and the bus company is losing a lot of money, i guess.
To counteract this, at rush hours, cops with a very serious expression are standing around, looking at your card when you use it. If you get caught using a student card and you look suspicious, they ask for the student I.D. pass. If you don't have it, it's a good $200 fine.

How nice of the cops to be catching all these criminals! I truly feel safe now that i know they are in subway stations instead of on patrol!

Putting the mix back in COMICS!

2008-01-09T23:40:00.001-05:00

Hey!

Here's my first official blog for blogger.com.
By that, i mean that all the previous posts were copy-pasted from my Myspace blog.
Don't laugh!

Anyways.

I have been stricken with insomnia and unemployment for almost 2 months now, and as any person with half a brain might expect, i have lots and lots of time to think about everything and nothing.

Also, an unclean amount of free time to browse the intamaweb, re-re-read all my favorite comics, re-play video games, and complain about lots of shit.

All of this, gives me material to write on this here blog. So, without further delay, here's what i came here to ''talk'' about.

FIRST!
Does anybody still enjoy reading comics, or do they buy them so that they can bitch about everything in it with their online forumial community?
I have been browsing several forums lately, and geeeeeez is there a lot of people unhappy with the current state of comics!
If you don't like today's comics, just buy back issues already!

I, for instance, am not very difficult with comics. Maybe because i like them. Maybe because i LOVE them. Maybe because i don't stop every page to think about what makes sense and not, or how i would have handled the development of the story.

I just take it like it is.

Don't get me wrong, i don't like everything about every comic i read. There's some stuff that i don't like, and some comics that let me down. When that happens, i don't get the title anymore.

But i am a big believer of second chance.

Wich is why i am going to give Spider-Man's ''A Brand New Day'' a try.

I understand why a lot of people would be angry about this. Totally erasing Spidey's continuity of the past... what, 20 years?
But let's be honest, most of it was not very memorable anyways. What i am a little bit frustrated about is Spidey's idendity is secret once again. I thought that this turn in Civil War was cool, and giving the character a brand new direction.

What i think is really funny is that, a lot of people online that have been bitching about ''Brand New Day'' are the same that have been bitching about any Spidey change for the past 2-3 years since i've read their posts. Why are you pissed? It's back to BEFORE they made all the changes that you hate so much!

A little bit about DC now.
I am just now starting to read DC comics, being somewhat of a marvel zombie and marvel fan since as long as i can remember.
Black Adam is what sucked me in, and now i like to read the classic Batmans and Booster Gold.
I am looking forward to all the villain-related issues they will release soon enough.
But what i really want to say is that, i bow to DC.
I bow to them, for creating such a hype about their COUNTDOWN series.
And i bow to them because their idea is so stupid, it's genius.

Invert the issue numbers.
I mean, instead of going 1-2-3-4, the issues go 4-3-2-1.
Undoubtedly creating a sense of urgency and importance.
Genius.

Well, this lack of sleep and brain activity is really imparing my ability to formulate sentences based on thoughts inhabiting my brain.
I think it's time for me to stop this blog.

Hopefully someone somewhere understood something.

Bigfoot Paintball Review

2007-12-03T03:26:00.000-05:00

Original post 01 Oct 2007

Okay, here's the deal. I am writing my own review, but there's a more professional one at the bottom, that i found on another website. So you can just scroll down to the ***** if you want.

I've been shooting my friends and co-workers with paintball guns for the past 7 years now. Me and my buds have this twice-a-year game since like 2002 and we always go to Bigfoot Painball. I am trying to watch my language in case there's younger readers, but i am very tempted to use the term, ''Bigfuck Paintball''

It's the only place i ever went, and everybody's favourite. But i've noticed a steady decline of quality since my first time there around 1999.

First time i went there, i immediatly fell in love with their maps. It is said that Bigfoot Paintball is the biggest outdoors Paintball terrain in Canada, and i believe it. Various types of fields are offered. From the islands-and-bunkers map called Waterworld, to the high-grass and small hills terrain of Cambodia, to the dreaded one-sided hills and exciting medieval castles populated with underground tunnels.

The qualities end there. From the unfriendly, over-zealous, in love with themselves, too young, unqualified crew to the just-bend-over-and-take-it prices and policies, this organisation is decomposing like a putrid carcass.

Over the years, i have watched assholes-in-training become super-head-master-i'm-the-top-shit-here. I know this, because they have this hierarchy that you can simply attain by doing initiations, not by being very good at paintball or very good at serving the customers. In fact, that last part, i'm pretty sure they don't mention it to their employees whatsoever.

Newcomers wear the yellow shirts. They are usually shy, try to act cool, say lame jokes, but still try to do a good job. Orange shirts is when you earn a promotion i guess. These staffers are sometimes friendly, sometimes total assholes, always trying to sell you shit. They understand that if they want that blazing red shirt, they need to play by Bigfoot's rules.

Finally, the dreaded red shirts. Often wearing desert camo tactical vests, with their nickname proudly written on it, walking around like they own your life. They are not here to help you. They are here to help the boss make more money, by lubing your waste-processor-exit-hole, and by helping the orange shirts understand how to make you drop the soap. I have also noticed that they same the same lame jokes. Everybody. And they've been saying them for the past 8 years at least. But enough about the staff.

The preparation. They ask you to be there around 8 am, so that we can start playing at 9. Except the map they give on the website is very plain and devoid of useful information. That's what they do, remember that: they make things look simple and easy. The place is situated in a little village 1 hour or plus from Montréal. So you have to leave at 7. Usually, we all meet up at 6 am for team breakfast. That's pretty early. But then, at around 8:30, they announce that they will start explaining the rules.

They go over the regulations pretty quickly, but then start to explain all the cool, nifty, cheap packages offered to you. Bigger guns, better ammo, that kind of stuff. By the time they are finished and you are served, dressed, armed and ready to kill, it's 10. All over-priced, if you ask me. Don't expect to have fun if you don't spend at least a 100 big fat ones.

And so it begins. You first walk to a designed cemetary, where you will go when you die, waiting for your next game, talking with the other casualties about how you got shot up the ass while going up a ladder. By a friend. Then the group proceeds to the designated terrain. Then you play. Then you walk back to the cemetary. And repeat. I remember one year, a friend of mine got frustrated because he said we ''are doing more walking than playing. We're paying to take a healthy walk through the woods''. We actually negotiated with our judge, so that we could simply stay at this terrain when we died, and we immediatly re-played when the game was over. This let us play 4 games in the time we could normally play 2 rounds. We were able to negotiate, because the judge was a yellow shirt, just starting. So he still clinged to the illusion that customer service was important to Bigfoot Paintball. That, and he must have been 16, so maybe we were intimidating to him.

This blog is getting way too long, and i still have lots of complaining to do, so i'll just let you in on a big fat lie they say.

Since 1999, they've been saying that it's the last year you can by a life-membership. EVERY YEAR for the past 8 years they've been saying that, in order to motivate people to buy them. That's a lie, and i hate liars. Also, now they introduced the VIP life-membership. For a small fee, they will actually pretend to care about you. This let you literally cut into line when it's time to pay. They give you this little bracelet, and when they see you at the members-only counter, they'll leave their post to help you. My friend who is a member but not a VIP, was left waiting for 10 minutes however.

So, overall, this place is a GREAT place to play, awesome terrains and very cool scenarios, even if very often, one team is over-powering the other simply because of field advantage. However, the organisation is crumbling, the staffers are recycled schoolyard bullies, the guns and masks are cheap and everything is over-priced. My mask's glass was all scratched, and with the money they are making from fucking people over, i'm pretty sure they can afford better equipment maintenance.

Here's another good review i found on the internet, if you feel so inclined.

****************************************************

The biggest field in Canada, and also one of the worst when it comes to customer service. I will admit that most of the staff is really nice, acting professionally 95% of the time. However, the two owners are a very good example of how callous and rude a pair of individual quickly become when life puts them in charge of something. I was a regular customer for more than 7 years at this field and saw many thing go wrong.

The price per case is probably the highest in Quebec, starting at 120$ for 1000 rounds of El-Cheapo (Midnight for example). If you want something of a higher grade because your marker needs it, then 140$ is what you will have to drop (Blaze for example) in order to get semi-decent paint in your marker. Rental prices are horrible if you do not want the old Tippman everybody gets and that is, at best, a poor excuse for holding a bottle of CO2. For example, a friend of mine rented a Spyder with nitro (WOW!!) for 100$ extra. At the end of the day, he said he wanted to buy the marker but they would not give him a credit for the 100$ he had already spent on the rental. For a good laugh, link to their site and look at the "Navy Seal" package for 229$, where somebody has managed to attach a tube to a Tippman so it looks (and probably wants to act, check with its psychiatrist) as a bazooka. They describe this contraption (my translation): "Marker developed for army forces training (pity the fool!) combining a high performance marker and a rocket launcher". A squirrel would be more dangerous throwing peanut shells on a rainy day. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that for this price you also get a walkie-talkie. Would have been a good idea to give two instead, so you don't spend the rest of the day talking to the radio instead of talking using the radio. Strangely one could possibly have the strange idea that they only give you one so somebody else would also spent 229$ through peer pressure. Of course, a fellow reviewer said that they were not in the business to make money, so quickly go check on their site to buy Oakley's boots "Elite Special Forces Standard Issue" for a mere 350$ while supplies last.

As a member of a larger group, I was often required to get there around 7:30 in the morning , but the game would not start before 10:30. They are horrible from an organization point of view, and while the opening speech dedicated to the new players is supposed to define security, they will tell people during those speeches to do things that grossly go against to the most elementary rules on security. For example, somebody who gets killed should walk with his marker in the air to the safe zone. No problem there. Of course, if you are dead then you cannot talk, so if somebody talks while he is dead shoot him repeatedly in the head. I had brought a 12 year old kid with me that day, and I was watching him play from the safe zone since I was eliminated. We were playing in the fort, so the kid gets nailed climbing a ladder. However, he was shot so often and so repeatedly that he panicked while on the ladder, neither going up or down but just screaming "I'm hit! I'm hit!". I told him to get down and walk out, but he was probably too panicked to listen. Then the guy 2 feet away from me points his marker my way and says I should shut up or he will paint me. I just left the safe zone and went to pick up the kid before he gets injured. Good thing Rambo did not shoot, because I would have hated to call the police on the field for assault. They also said that if you think you shot a guy and he does not call himself dead, then next time shoot him 10 time to make sure that he won't be able to wipe the bruise. But hey, are you a man or not?

I saw their "pro" team play against beginners. That was so funny, you hear these guys talk about how their "pro team" goes to big tournaments in Toronto and compete, but they always forget to mention that they get their butts handed back to them on a silver plate every time. One should keep in mind that participating in a tournament does not make you a "pro", but making a living out of it does. If you want to be a pro, then start acting like a pro and train, because cleaning used equipment with a rag for 9.95$/hour hardly qualifies. The best part was when they were giving each other high fives for winning against beginners in army fatigue playing on what they call the "speedball" field, which is nothing else than a junkyard filled with barrels and giant tires. The fact that they had angels, timmies and cockers against Tippman was probably not a significant factor in them pulling this awesome win against a bunch of people who probably had 2 hours of paintball experience all together.

The scenery is fantastic and will probably provide one of the best setting one can imagine for outdoor play. The fields are diversified, large and numerous and will provide you with the whole spectrum of physical challenges during your play, from a spectacular forest to swamps to hills. There is also some man-made structures that are very interesting if your play is more scenario oriented. The food is also great and fresh, plus they have a beer permit on site for those of us who must drink a lot of alcohol to forget the fact that the intimate communion one can feel with Mother Earth by spending a beautiful day in the woods can easily be lost if the place in question is owned by two shaved monkeys.

I will give it a four, because the trees and the staff are very nice.

Socially Unadapted

2007-12-03T03:25:00.002-05:00

Original post 27 Sep 2007

What IS IT with people?

Don't they understand that if they stand in front of the subway doors when i'm trying to get out, they can't get in either?

Don't they know that when they stop to talk directly at the exit of the escalator, it blocks the way out and the flow of people will just end up overwhelming them?

Don't they KNOW when they are walking downtown that there's probably 2 million people walking behind them, and if they stop walking all of a sudden someone will run into them?

Don't they know that the other person behind the counter isn't a fucking MACHINE and that if you YELL at them, they'll probably be PISSED at you and do some nasty SHIT to your food?

I call them Socially unadapted. Those individuals that should be living on their own in a secluded area, for the greater good of mankind.

This fight is not over. It has just started. If you get an elbow in the back while talking to your friend, it's probably because you are standing in some heavy-foot-traffic area and most likely blocking the only way in or out. And i WILL be unpleasantly rude to you.

Thor 3 reviewed!

2007-12-03T03:25:00.001-05:00

Original post 14 Sep 2007

Thor 3. **** (4 stars out of 5)

Wow!
No, wait. Let me get this straight...
WOW!

You know, i was reading issue 1 and 2 and thinking... sure; the pencils are good. The inking is fine. The colours are really well done. Even the letterer is doing a cool job!
What is this series missing so far? Well... some action, or at least a fast-paced story!
I remember telling myself i'd wait for 3 before droping the title, because i already saw Iron Man on the cover.

Now, if you know a minimum about Civil War, you know that Iron Man cloned Thor and used it/him (wouldn't want to offend any clones out there) for his little power-trip, and Black Goliath ended up with a hole in his chest the size of... well, it was pretty BIG.

I can safely say that every Norse God fan out there was just dying to know how the REAL Thor would react once he'd come back from the dead.

I don't know how he knows all of these things happened, since he was dead. Let's just say gods work in mysterious ways.

What i'm trying to say is that this title should have been strapped with a Civil War Initiative banner. And a FUCK YEAH banner right under it. Because this issue kicks ass.

Billion-dollar-worth warsuit ass, actually.

First things first.
The pencils and inkings are great. Thor actually looks heavy. Pissed. Not really mystical, but that's okay. And he's BIG. The colours are a little dull i find, but the story takes place under the rain. It actually helps the mood towards the end. The letterer does a real good job at making us feel Thor speaks in this cool way that only gods can pull off.

Second. The pace.
It's great. No bullshitting around. I found the last 2-3 pages a little bit TOO fast actually, but that's fine with me. After all they gave us 2 issues about Thor having real-estate problems.

Third. The spoilers!
I find that a story needs moments. Know what i'm saying? This one is full with it.

Thor visits New Orleans. He wonders how could his fellow heros could let this happen. He is sad, so sad.

Then womaniser Iron Man shows up and starts his little Registration Act routine, and hopes that Thor would be on his side. GREAT sequence of dialogue, i find. You're not sure if he's honest or just trying to seduce Thor since he's got long blond hair.

The explanation. Thor explains to Iron Man why he won't join his crusade. And boy, is he righteously angry. EXACTLY how you want to see goldilocks right now.

Then, the fight. Wow. God vs man, do you think Tony really stood a chance?
I found the EMP mystical lightning a little bit hard to swallow, but still. That came afterwards. I was mesmerised by the great book i was holding in my hands.

The biggest moment i found was when Iron Man was thoroughly beat up. I couldn't help but feel a little bit of pity for the guy. Especially since i read that last issue of Civil War Frontline. This guy sacrificed his friendship and trust with a lot of long-lasting friends for what he believed was right. And here he was, losing yet another buddy.

And the issue ends in a splash page that makes you say out loud: ''Ooooh F yeah!''

Dunno if that's the kind of review you wanted, but that's all i thought about writing.
Gotta get back to work now.
That's all folks!

Mavel titles you should pick up or avoid!

2007-12-03T03:24:00.000-05:00

Original post 12 Sep 2007

Here we go, i have a little free time again. Not really, but anyways. Appreciate my rebellious and slacking nature!

So here's titles i think you should pick up if you are curious:

DAREDEVIL: BATTLING JACK MURDOCK

The story of Daredevil's dad! Pretty cool huh? I read the first issue and it was allright.

DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER BORN

Of course, a critically acclaimed classic. Based on Stephen King's notorious work. The art and colours are friggin' great. I stopped at around 4 because it's not really my cup o' tea, but there's no reason why shouldn't try it. Or are you waiting for the TBP?

SUB-MARINER

How long has it been since Namor had its own title? Big repercussions from Civil War spark a rebellion in Atlantis!

TERROR, INC.

For something completely different! The issue starts with his origin story so you don't get confused (i know i would have been) and it's a pretty cool story. I wish the whole issue was just about that. This guy gets cursed and his body is constantly rotting, so he has to attach new body parts time and time again. And it's not restrained to human body parts!

ASTONISHING X-MEN

Everybody tells me this is THE mutant title to pick up. I don't, but you should!

Diner time, that's all folks!

August Comics Reviewed.

2007-12-03T03:23:00.002-05:00

Original post 12 Sep 2007

Well, i don't have anything urgent to do at work this morning, so figures i'll try to review as many comics from August as i can before someone throws something my way.

Before i start, the official Iron Man trailer is out, and it's pretty friggin' sweet. And on Marvel.com you can see some conceptual art from the upcomming video game. Let's just hope Iron Man is more useful in his own game than in Ultimate Alliance.

IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN 11 ****

Just when i thought the series was about to go nowhere, they give us this great issue! I have no idea where the writer is heading, but i bet it's something good. This series rarely disapointed me so far and the art is cool. SPOILERS: Antman gets captured by that agent of SHIELD who hates his guts, since he's in the hospital after getting hit by Hulk. The SHIELD agent kidnaps him and proceeds to torture him 'cause he hates him so much! He event puts on the Antman suit and goes INSIDE our unlucky ''hero''! Saved by Iron Man, Eric O'Brady (is that his name?) double-crosses both the SHIELD agent and the Cat Burglar in order to appear innocent!

NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI 4 ***

Don't be fooled by the cover, you won't see any of these characters in the issue. But the drawings are still very cool and the story very interesting. This is one series i reccomend, and it will be worth it to buy it in TPB. The Illuminati continue to explain and explore certain Marvel Universe plotholes and to fix problems! I would have given it 4 stars but we didn't really need these filler pages of heros talking about marvel women in the beginning. Classic Bendis crap to make the characters talk about mundane stuff to make 'em appear more human. SPOILERS: Someone mentions that a super-powered Kree (that kid we saw in Runaways during Civil War) is emprisoned somewhere after having declared war on Earth and that if they could convince him to join our ranks he could do some great work as Marvel Boy. Every member of the Illuminati has it's shot and own way to try to convince him. I especially like how Namor approaches him: He just kicks the crap out of him, telling him he could never take over the earth and he's just a spoiled brat.

THOR 2 **

Thor is back on earth! Very disapointed so far! The drawings are great, but the storyline is really dragging. I'm gonna pick up 3 to see how Thor interacts with Iron Man. I mean... the man cloned him and had him kill one of his friends and double-crossed everyone else... SPOILERS: Thor resurects Asgard in Kansas or something, and is alone in his big castle. He has to re-awake every Asgardian god whose personas are sleeping amongst the generale population. Sounds familiar? Did you read the last title of Eternals? Yup, it's the same thing.

WORLD WAR HULK 3 **

Honestly, i don't really remember that issue. That means it wasn't memorable. I am really disapointed in this whole event so far, and i don't like JRJR's stuff, so 2 stars for this sucker. I am waiting for 5 though, wich i think will be pretty cool if all the fighting they announced really takes place. SPOILERS: It's time for Dr.Strange's attack on the Hulk. He first tries to calm him with his astral form and some spells, wich obviously don't work because Mr. Hulk is PISSED OFF. He gets his hands broken by Hulk while in Astral form and it breaks his REAL hands, explain to me what's up with that. Anyways, at the end of the issue Dr. Strange releases an ancient evil to take care of Hulk. I kinda want to see what's going to happen next. But since all the other titles are already past that point, my bet is that Hulk beats Strange without any problem.

INCREDIBLE HULK 109 **

What a boring issue! Amadeus Cho continues his crusade to help Hulk, even though Hulk beats up everyone. The art is allright, nothing special. The story is dragging along. Will Marvel fuck up yet another hugely promising event? SPOILERS: Hulk captures everyone he beats up and puts Obedience disks on them, the same ones that he received when he was on that other planet. And he is building a huge stadium for everyone to fight in, i believe. Let's hope the next issue includes a lot of SMASHING.

NOVA 5 ****

Allright. This issue gets 4 stars instead of 3 because I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE HELL THIS IS GOING! Art is not so bad, but the story really keeps you guessing what's going to happen! SPOILERS: Richard Ryder is almost dead. Gamora is controlled by that alien lifeform and is looking for him. Some of the Nova force is dispensed to a Kree female so that she can defend Richard Ryder from Gamora, but she uses the powers to attack the aliens that want to kill her people. While she's away, Gamora finds Richard and infects him with the same hive-biotechnological-alien-thingy that is controlling her. So yeah, what the hell's going to happen next? I love Richard Ryder, don't kill him please!

OMEGA FLIGHT 5 *

I think everyone in the comics community can agree that this is a HUGE letdown, especially for canadians. I HATE SCOTT KOLINS. I hate his old style, i hate his 'critically acclaimed' new style. I think people say it's good just out of pity. And please, Michael Oeming, take a break. After fucking up a classic title and stuffing a team full of random characters (Beta Ray Bill wants to help the canadian government? But he's an alien! And isn't his race looking for a new planet or something? I think that's a little more important!). The only cool thing in there was the Wrecking Crew. SPOILERS: Well, everybody beats up on everybody. Turns out the Wrecking Crew was powered up by some ancient devil. Guess what? It's the same race that Beta Ray Bill fought against. I should have seen this coming months ago. So there's a huge fight, Wendigo goes berserk and Totema or whatever her name is calms him down. The new Guardian redeems himself and Beta Ray Bill sacrifices himself to stop the demon invasion. Sounds like a lot of cool stuff is happening, but you've seen all that kind of stuff in the good old saturday morning cartoons of the 80s.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 543 **

Pretty cool story arc, but i think it could have all been said in 2 issues instead of 4-5. The cover might seem like the biggest lie ever, but i think it's about Spider-Man burying Peter Parker. SPOILERS: So in this arc Peter Parker, not Spider-Man, beats up Kingpin within an inch of his life, and transfers Aunt May to another hospital. This was all illegal and so Peter Parker is going all emo, saying he is now a criminal, the very thing he has always fought about. Boo-fucking-hoo. Everybody dies around him, why should he care anymore. I'm surprised he hasn't gone psycho yet! It's definetly time for a good old Spider-Man arc or this character will lose the little credibility he still retains.

Allright, i have to go do some work now, so on a quick note, this repulses me!

SPIDER-MAN/RED SONJA 1

Yes, you are not tricking you. Spider-Man and Red Sonja. I looked through that issue at the comics shop and it looks completely stupid. Spider-man travels back in time or something, and i guess he'll fight Red Sonja but they'll team up to fight a greater evil.

July comics review part 1, now with spoilers!

2007-12-03T03:23:00.001-05:00

Original date 25 Jul 2007

Hello true believers, and welcome to my 'Whenever-i-feel-like-it' comics review! This time i will do it in two parts, since i have a lot of shit to cover and i have to do it sneakily at the job since i'm supposed to work!

I'll never be productive! NEVER! I prefer reproduction anyways. It's what i was born to do. Ask your girl, she'll tell you.

So, without further delay, and in no particular order (i'll never be organised, NEVER!)

GHOST RIDER 12-13 *** and ***** respectively

Considering this series was beginning to suck, it's nice to see a little change. I think they changed the writer, or else Danny Way just woke up to be like usual: fucking great. We see some classic ol' inner turmoil between the Spirit of Vengeance and Johnny Blaze. Good ol' John wants to go help the heroes fight Hulk, while Flamehead don't give a rat's ass about the chaos of World War Hulk. Issue 12 ends in a cliffhanger as Ghost Rider arrives face to skull with the Emerald Behemoth. ***SPOILERS*** Issue 13: Dr.Strange monitors the fight from afar, tries to determine if Ghost Rider has a chance to win. Hulk bashes Ghost Rider's face in after one fatal mistake, and promptly KILLS Johnny Blaze! Released from his eartly host, the embodiment of every biker dream, THE Ghost Rider unleashes a fucking big hellflame on Hulk, who survives easily. Ghost Rider stares at Hulk and we are reminded by Stephen Strange that he is the Spirit of Vengeance, and that he protects only the innocent. The issue ends up in an even cooler way, with Dr. Strange saying like that to Iron Man: And we... are far from innocent'. Fucking cool.

HEROES FOR HIRE 11 ****

Oooookay. Humbug just acts plain WEIRD in the whole issue, due to the alien insects present on the planet. If you like that character, check out that issue. ***SPOILERS*** HE fucking beheads an alien insect kid with his bare hands! I'm buying issue 12!

INCREDIBLE HULK 108 ***

To date, the most boring issue with the WORLD WAR HULK banner on it. But wait for more development. Oh yeah, Hercules rock!

IRON MAN 19 ****

Another perspective of what you read in the main title of World War Hulk, not very necessary, but still cool. ***SPOILERS*** I like that issue cause shellhead gets his ass handed to him, plus he has a fucking cool armor! If you want to know why the nanobots failed, read The Initiative tie-in!

SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN 39 **

Eddie Brock, you pitiful, small man... You see, Mr. Brock sold the Venom symbiote to some bidder (completely ridiculous and a total disregard of his discontinuity since they are merged on a molecular level after that whole fucking cool Planet of the Symbiots thingie back in the 90s... unless i missed something more recent, wich i most certainly did) (and Scorpion bought the suit, of all people) because he has cancer i think, and is trying to raise some money for treatments. He's quite happy when he learns that Aunt May is in a coma in the same hospital as him, and his demented, symbiote-affected mind (poisoned mind? Venom? Get it?) tries to convince him to do the obvious and just kill the old bag once and for all, exacting a sweet, sweet revenge on Spidey. Anyways, i think she came back from the grave as much times as Petey himself. I read the next part, and i drop the title.

SILVER SURFER: REQUIEM 1-2 *****

I looooooooove the Soaring Sentinel of the Spaceways, and i am quite satisfied with this series so far! Big annoucement, big sad feelings from Norin Radd, free to roam the multi-verse, but still trapped within his own mortality. The vocabulary almost does justice to Stan Lee, the storyline is great, and the art is straight out of some Mythos issue, wich is great. I love his interaction with Spider-Man in issue 2, and Spidey's look with his eyes completely black. ***SPOILERS*** Silver Surfer is dying of some unknown cause due to the very fabric of his silvery skin, if i remember well. He pays a visit to Reed Richards, stays a little to talk with Spider-Man (who wouldn't), feels nostalgic about his adoptive planet (that's earth!) and then intends to take a long last look at his home planet, and his undying love, Zenn-La. No action, just a fucking great book.

Well, i just got caught by 4 people in 4 minutes doing this blog, time to do some work.

Silly geek, comics are for kids!

A blog about blogs?

2007-12-03T03:21:00.002-05:00

Original post 05 Jun 2007

Heh.

I don't know how it all started... That whole blog phenomenon. Or why it's called blogging. It... blogges the mind! Or is it boggles?

Anyways. I like blogs. You can read about anything, from anyone, all you need is internet access. And then one day i decided that i too was going to play the blog game and start ranting. That's what my first blog was about. Things i hate. It mysteriously disapeared from my profile i just noticed. Weird. But anyways.

I then started to do a blog about comics, inspired by Brian Labelle's Civil War review. And then i thought i was addicted to the shit, and on top of that i didn't have anything to do at work so i started to write all the time.

Thing is, most of it was crap. So i started browsing through blogs on myspace today, looking for inspiration. Then i realised, most of the stuff is exactly that: about nothing!

And a lot of people read those. I don't know if it's because they received an invitation and felt compelled to leave a comment. What a devious technique in order to earn Kudos! Some of those "most popular blogs" were about this dude who's sitting on his couch and has trouble with wires... I mean, how bored are you! hahaha.

Maybe it's because humans are always trying to find something that they can rely to, that they can identify with. Anything will do. Oh, this person eats the same breakfast as i do! 2 kudos!

Kind of pathetic. But then again, who am i to judge? I get drunk alone playing Titan Quest and Battlefield 2...

While we're at it, might as well tell you about my personal life... I've always had a thing about mythology. Maybe that's why i don't take today's religions seriously... But anyways. And i'm still trying to find a purpose in life, revolving largely around comic books. I like to write short stories or ... gasp... blogs, and i've had some nice comments about one or the other so i thought - hey, maybe i should become a writer! And the first tip i read was: read a lot. So there i am, reading my old unfinished Dragonlance novels, and buying books about mythology. I like the egyptians and greeks, mostly. So if anyone has a good starting-point book to suggest, feel free to... suggest!

Wow! Way to talk about nothing... a true blogger!

Have a horrid day everyone.

P.S. What the hell does Exanimate means anyways.

One Page Filler Man!

2007-12-03T03:21:00.001-05:00

Original post 21 May 2007

First things first: I love Jim Mahfood!

There. I said it. I first discovered this unique artist with Marvel's Peter Parker: Spider-Man # 44-45, Spider-Man: Tangled Web # 19 (hilarious meeting between The Rhino and The Grizzly) and Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #9 wich was hilarious! Favourite quote: ''The artist is not paid by the Skrull!'' I was surprised to see that these were written with Bendis, wich i HATE.

His styled toned down for the mainstream, not as close as his notoriously over-pacted and energetic panels and close attention to irrevelant but hilarious details. I know he has more independent comics published, but you'll have to do your own research since i'm lazy. I'll give you this to help, though: Grrl Scout and Zombie Kid, wich i didn't read yet.

Here are the covers, can't seem to make 'em work like pictures:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v166/beurpool/mahfoodspidey2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v166/beurpool/mahfoodspidey.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v166/beurpool/mahfoodff.jpg

So, that was the first reason i picked up the One Page Filler Man book at the shop. The cover caught the corner of my eye and I instantly recognised his nefarious drawing style.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v166/beurpool/opfm.jpg

I immediatly bought the book, without even peering inside. At my friend's place, after a little bit of pot and a little bit of beer, i proceeded to shamelessly read the book from beginning to end. Hilarity ensued! I wasn't familiar with Mahfood's previous small body of work with the characters, but it doesn't take long to adopt them. A little kid who constantly eats ice cream, and has t-shirts that change names every panel. A superhero thirsty for adventures who tries to be the exemple as much as he can, but he is clearly demented. Think Deadpool without the evil. Think old-school Spider-Man, without the intelligence. Random ramblings and spectacularly imprevisible affirmations abound. There seems to be no plot at all, but i don't even care, it's so freakin' good.

Mahfood's tried, tested and true ''Botched'' style of drawing is indeed, stylish. Overly dynamic poses seem to bring the already larger-than life character to unprecedented dramatic mountaintops. And if you pay attention to every little detail, you will see some stuff other people would not have seen. Read it a second time, you'll notice even more stuff. Kind of like Birdman!

My best exemple would be the changing t-shirts i mentioned earlier. One Page Filler Man's sidekick (can't remember his name) sports them throughout the tale, and it's basically a different slogan every time you can read one. Except when the duo comes back home, he sports a t-shirt he first wore earlier in the book, symbol of his return home, i would guess. I bet if i were to write every word of his t-shirts on Google i would discover a pletora of underground artists. Another example is the t-shirt Danger Doom. Most fans would think he wanted to make a reference to X-Men's classic Danger Room while dodging copyrights. But avid beats amateurs would already know it's in fact a reference to rap artist Metal-Finger Doom, a man obsessed with Marvel comics and Dr. Doom in particular, sporting the metal mask as he works the turntables.

In conclusion, i strongly suggest this book if you like geeky jokes and simple storylines, as well as slightly abstract humour and dynamic nonsense!

Rambling and Comics

2007-12-03T03:20:00.001-05:00

Original post 17 May 2007

There was this girl in the subway this morning.

She was wearing leggings so tight, it looked like she was naked.

And she pulled it off. The legs and ass on that girl, i could have followed her all day, blankly staring at that perfect pound of round flesh bouncing around. Wow.

I wanted to walk up to her and just say: 'Hey, nice pants, sweet cheeks... butt cheeks!' Haha i'm lying. I just wanted to say: 'Sweet pants, nice ass!' But i didn't. I didn't feel like being slapped was going to make my day any better, so i just kept my mouth shut and my eyes open. It's still in my mind, that perfect pair of buttocks, and it is surely going in the Spank-bank, as Rich would say.

Enough with the daily perversions, here's the two last week's comics review AND recap, since i read the comics yesterday and i remember what it's about! (Can't you tell i got nothing to do at work?)

(Oh yeah, there's a new Fantastic Four 2 trailer on www.marvel.com. Jessica Alba looks skinny. Why? WHYYYY? You were perfect!)

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #540: ***

So much anger... So much violence... So much darkness... All this to justify Petey's return to the black suit? Yeah, okay... Well, Spider-Man is pissed, and looking for the sniper that shot Aunt May, looking for the guy that sold the sniper to the hired killer, and looking for the man who hired him! Of course, we, as readers, already know that Kingpin ordered that sweet retribution. During the issue we get to see Spider-Man aknowldege that he has murderous intentions, and that Aunt May just fell into a coma. He also learns who ordered to put the trigger, and it doesn't disturb him one bit. He just has to sneak into the prison where Kingpin is kept to exact sweet revenge. ***Spoilers*** On Marvel.com you can get wallpapers, and one of them is Spider-Man pulling the sheets over someone who just died. Who could it be??? ***Ramblinb*** Okay, one or 2 issues back, Spidey goes back to the Chrysler Building to grab his old back costume, that he left in a web bag some time ago, in case he ever wanted to wear it again, so we learn. Except that Spidey's webbinb is supposed to disolve after 3 hours so that no one can learn how to reproduce it! But! Now his web is shot from his wrists like in the movies, it's not his web cardrige anymore... Colored me confused, as they say!

MARVEL ZOMBIES: DEAD DAYS #1: ***

More Marvel Zombies stuff! With yet another take on a classic cover, Zombified. This month we get a super-wide cover. Each side expands to make it as large as 4 covers, enough to make the rendition fof X-Men #1 Jim Lee's classic 4 alternate covers! This story takes place before the first Marvel Zombies appearance, immediatly after the first people get infected with an alien disease. Pretty cool and quite evidently here to satisfy fans and close loopholes! The clerk at the comics shop told me the original Marvel Zombies series sold out up to the third re-print, and the trade paper-backs sold-out up to the second! I'm glad i got almost all the appearances from Ultimate Fantastic Four and almost all the alternate covers, each more delectable and classic than the previous! ***Spoiler*** We learn that Magneto is the cause of all of this, that the Avengers were the first to be infected, and we see a little more darkness in the soul of Reed Richards and Henry Pym! Are ALL smart guys turning evil these days?

NEW AVENGERS #30: *****

Slowly becoming my favourite series, with a cast of cool characters (except maybe for Spider-Woman, she's lame!). The art by LEINIL FRANCIS YU is quite simply mesmerizing (dunno how you spell that), and the attention to detail is spectacular. Bendis' work is better here than in Mighty Avengers, but he tries to sneak a few thought balloons in here, wich suck, since he adds ( and ) to them, confusing the confusion in my confused self. The story is quite good, with some twists and turns that i did not see coming, and for once the cover really represents the story! A few let-downs for me were the total absence of focus on the Silver Samurai, and the fact that ***SPOILER!!!*** Hawkeye is now Ronin. Completely stupid. The guy can shoot good, doesn't mean he's a ninja! BUT it sheds some light on that underdog of comics, and ties in with Fallen Son #3. ***Spoilers*** More on this Dr. Strange illusion stuff that has been taking place for 3 issues now. More on this Iron Man Is Lonely stuff, and the person they came to rescue from The Hand and Electra stabs Dr. Strange with a Katana. The team is beaten up. All seems lost. Can't wait for the next issue!

NOVA #2 : ****

Dammit! Now i'm really pissed! That issue was really cool and i missed #1! Not a lot of action, but a lot of other cool stuff. ***Spoiler***Richard Rider comes home after saving the universe from Annihilus, only to have neo-nazi Iron Man show up at his parent's crib with a strike squad of cape-killers. He asks to speak with Richard Rider, obviously want the new powerhouse on his side. Except Richard Rider is not the same as he used to be. He's shocked to learn about the registration act and the way the New Warriors are seen now, pissed that they discarded his warning messages about the Annihilation wave, makes fun of Iron Man (favourite line of the month, goes something like: While i was away, i led the resistance, pulled Annihilus inside out and saved the universe. What have YOU done, Tony?) and takes care of an old nemesis of his. The issue ends in a GREAT way, with 4 of the Thunderbolts coming to Richard Rider's house to investigate, obviously without Tony Stark's consent. Can't wait to see Nova's reaction to Penance, his old friend now turned completely screwed up and psycho, that Tony ommited to mention, of course. That sly, sly Mr. Stark. I voted for him as best villain of the year!

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #7: ***

Great art, cool story, but not a must-see. More on Frank's obsession with Captain America.

THUNDERBOLTS #114: ****

After the relatively action-empty 2 last issues, this one is violent, packed with combat and action, and quite good! The art is not bad either, gives a unique mood to the title. I'm not saying anything besides Steel Spider = fuck yeah, just pick it up! (When i was a kid i had his first and only appearance, always found him really cool. Glad to see him back and about!)

WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #14: **

I don't know why i'm still reading this. To know about Logan's son? The story is boring, the art is really bad, and i'm trying to save money! Droping it after this story arc!

CABLE & DEADPOOL #40: ***

Aw naw! Cable's back, and it only brings confusion to the friggin' title that was getting so good. Deadpool wins at Strip Poker, but we can't even see Outlaw's boobs. This title is very confusing but i still want to read #41 to know what happens next. Big changes for Cable, maybe? Even bigger than him recovering his telekinesis/telepathic powers after volunteering to be a alien conscience's host? AND! The struggle! Will he sacrifice himself to save humanity once again, or is he just too tired of that old game? Will he sacrifice Rogue, on her deathbed, as well?

CIVIL WAR: FALLEN SON - CAPTAIN AMERICA #3: ***

Hawkeye is back, but he doesn't want to be Hawkeye anymore. No, Tony Stark would rather have him as the new Captain America! And that deadly accuracy would come in handy with that Vibranium Shield! A short confrontation with Patriot and the new Hawkeye (reflecting Cap and Hawkeye's old friendship) and further exploration of the 'Iron Man is lonely and needs a drink' theme. Pretty cool. I don't know why, but i don't like John Romita Jr's new style at all.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #3: ***

Oops! A sudden surge of interest in that title! Could it be that Frank Cho's sexy females are quite helping? Yes! And the story is a little better, with the thought balloons slowing down. And a sexy steamy scene with Dr. Pym and Tigra, interupted by S.H.I.E.L.D... Awwww.

MOON KNIGHT #10: *

Just as bad as the last 8 issues. Title droped. 'Nuff said.

UNCANNY X-MEN #486 : ***

Conclusion to the year-long arc that leaves the Shi'Ar empire and this X-men team split and scattered. ***Spoiler*** Charles Xavier's powers are back, Corsair dies (!!!!!!) at the hand of his own son Vulcan (!!!!!), half of the x-men team becomes the Starjammers as they are left stranded on a distant planet with the inter-stellar crew (!!!!). Pretty neat!

X-FACTOR #19 : ****

Wow. I wish i started reading this from #1. Pretty cool series. Dark detective story, with a sense of humor and... mutants! Quicksilver's demander plan and new powers, an ALMOST revelation to the other mutants of who is REALLY behind House of M (Quicksilver watch out!) and battles in Mutant Town.

Make Mine Marvel!

A few comics reviewed, just for Angus.

2007-12-03T03:19:00.001-05:00

Original post 08 May 2007

Hey hey hey! I got nothing better to do at work, so why not catch up on my comics review blog that i'm always too lazy to do! (Why make an effort when i can just go over to Karim's, smoke pot and play Magic all night? I swear i just heard someone say 'Loser' in the background...)

I have to drop some titles now, 'cause i want to save money and Planet Hulk is comin' up...

So without further delay (i love to write that), here goes:

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #20: **

My my my. If i didn't pay nearly 5 perfectly good canadian bucks for this, i'd clean my ass with it. This issue is bad. I hate the art and the story. The only consolation is that they did not TOTALLY discard that whole 'The Other' event that took place prior to Civil War, regarding that weird humanoid-spider-alter-ego. When this arc is over, i'm droping the title, and so should you!

INCREDIBLE HULK #106 : ***

Okay people, bear with me. Planet Hulk wasn't THAT good, but it was still pretty fucking cool. This issue wasn't THAT good, but they are installing the mood for the up-and-coming major marvel crossover event (what they call an Annual these days) that will kick your ass into next week, hopefully. Pick it up if you feel curious! I know I am!

IRON MAN #15-16-17 : **

So much disapointment with this title so far. It sounded promising after Civil War, with big-time changes in the world of Tony Stark. But nothing fucking happens! Oooooh so he's at the head of SHIELD and runs it like a company... Oooooh so he makes fun of ex-director Hill. OOoooh he redesigned the Hellicarrier to match with his armor. What did you think was gonna happen? That they'd try to boost the story's almost absent action by doing this, and by bringing back an old-school villain like Mandarin? EXACTLY! I gotta admit though, the scene where he kills the people that came to rescue him is pretty fucking sweet. You'd think he'd just be a frail old man without his rings, but he's still fierce as ever. Going for another 'technology versus mysticism' brawl i fear! Another title dropped!

MARVEL ZOMBIES/ARMY OF DARKNESS #1-2-3: ***

Nifty! More stuff about Marvel Zombies! Who knew this even that spun out of Ultimate Fantastic Four would be so friggin' delicious? (Brain-delicious)! The franchise seems to be running out of ideas already though, throwing Ash from the cult series Evil Dead in the fray. Direct crossover from his own series, where i'm told he dies in the last issue. The first book of this arc was really interesting, but not as funny as Ash should be. The second one is just as good and weird, just not as good as the previous M.Z. stuff. It ends in a fucking cool cliffhanger though, wich is ruined in the third book that seems to lose a little bit of what makes it thick. I'm still going to buy #4 though! SPOILER: Ash gets his brains eaten by a zombie Howard the Duck! Awesome! But then you learn that it's Ash from the Marvel Zombies dimension, not the Ash from our (?) dimension. Anyways. Just read it to understand.

SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1 : **

Nothing special about this. Classic 'looking back at the past' kind of story, focused half on Petey and half on M-J. I liked how they show that despite everything, the couple is still very much in love.

THUNDERBOLTS PRESENTS: ZEMO - BORN BETTER #1-2-3-4 : *****

Pick it up! Wow! Baron Zemo is hurled through time, direct consequence of the events that took place in Thunderbolts' Civil War story! What's cooler than a former villain-turned-do gooder thrown in the past to witness and influence his family's story and lineage unfolding before his very eyes? With a very in-depth narration from Zemo himself, that sheds some light on what's quickly becoming one of my favourite characters (Dr. Doom, watch out!) Is he REALLY trying to be good after all? Seems that he is starting to despise his great family heritage, that would have not been so great if he had not been present in his past to influence his future that is actually his present!

CIVIL WAR: FALLEN SON - NEW AVENGERS #1-2: ****

First issue featuring Wolverine and an awesome artist (forgot his name, he works on New Avengers also, sounds asian). Good mix. Good story. Good dialogue. Incredible art. Pick it up, fool! I would have given this a 5-star rating, but #2 is VERY Disapointing. Focuses on Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman (the one with the red suit), and has almost nothing to do with Captain America if i recall.

FANTASTIC FOUR #545

Okay. I DIDN'T pick that one up, but i did pick up the Black Panther issue it ties in with. Now i have to pick this one up. I didn't think that the new Fantastic Four team would be cool, but hey, Black Panther and the Thing... that's cool! Plus there's Galactus the Devourer and Silver Surfer the Soaring Sentinel of the Spaceways righto n the cover!!

SILENT WAR #1-2-3-4 : *****

Ghaaaa! I LOVE INHUMANS! Right on time with my Black Bolt statue, this issue was delectable! I was a little afraid about the turn of events that issue #2 was heading, but the folks at Marvel pulled it off. MAJOR changes for the Inhumans and it's royal family! We love change, right? Howzabout Black Bolt's dark side, Medusa's betrayal AND the official declaration of WAR from the Inhumans towards the USA! Fuck. Yeah.

WOLVERINE #50-51-52-53 : ***

Grrr... Boasted as THE fight between Logan and Creed... Presented as T HE event that will change the way Wolverine and Sabertooth would interact... back in issue #50. As i knew, they barely fight, nothing of consequence has hapened yet. They DO show us a kind of event that seems to be taking place a few thousand years ago, about this race of Lupine... Cat-like warriors with hairdo that ressembles Wolvie's. Please, please don't fuck up this character more than it already has! Let me remind you that now Logan has a cloned sister (X-23) and a long-lost son. It's kind of pushing the envelope. Don't fucking tell me Logan and Creed are the only descendents of a long-lost race of primitive cat-warriors PLEASE! I'm sticking with this title until it's resolved, and then dropping it.

X-MEN #197-198 : ***

Bah. Picked this one up to know where Cable was, since he vanished from the pages of Cable/Deadpool. Rogue is dying from a weird disease and this alien thingie is attacking Providence, Cable's little Utopia made of broken pieces of a machine that came from the future. Seems that little island is ALWAYS under attack. Give the man a break, he's our savior for mutant's sake! Not very good issues. I love the way Iceman is drawn though. There's some kind of uneasy romance building between him and Mystique and that's weird. But hey, she can be anyone you want! That makes for some pretty kinky stuff. Good enough for me. Dropping this tittle after the mile-stone X-men #200... Unless the next event, Decimation, proves to be good.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS #1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 : ****

Surprisingly fun since issue #1, and now evolving into a monthly comic! I will NOT be buying that one, but i recommend the trade paper-back for some good old-school mutant fun.

CABLE & DEADPOOL #37-38-39 *****

Okay. I confess. I'm a huge Deadpool fan. And so should you. I was pretty fuckin' happy to see Deadpool back in the spotlight (Cable's in about 5 panels in the last issue, that's it) and tring to earn back his name as 'The Merc with a Mouth!'. Hilarious and original stories, especially issue #38. Sticking to that one for the 3rd year in a row! I lost the early issues and i'm going to buy them in trade paper-back since it's so good. Best stuff to come out in a WHILE. Except maybe issue 17 to 35. Most of them were bad.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #1-2 : *

How could they do it? I'm not talking about Marvel sticking a naked woman on their cover and throught issue 2 without censorship...I mean, here's a chance to rebuild the freakin' team for the 18293th time in 4 years (Thanks, Bendis! You don't have a clue what you're doing, are ya?) and put a cool cast of characters. The art is cool and the women are sexy, with big muscular legs and gracious figures, the colors are vivid and seem to jump straight in your face. BUT! You can leave it to Bendis to FUCK UP yet another classic title! Thought-balloons are back, and so far it's NOT a good thing. It was a little better handled in issue 2, but still sucks. Dialogues are bad, and the plot has a classic Bendis feel to it: have out-of-this world characters talk like ordinary people to give them some kind of realism. Dig up something classic for old-school fan-boys like... i don't know... maybe Moleman attacking New York? That should make 'em buy the title! AND THEN! Make something completely fucked up and devoid of sense happen just to grab the reader's attention! Like what you ask? Maybe like having Iron Man implode on itself only to be transformed into a luscious semi-flesh-metal female! A clone of The Wasp at that. Finally we get to see SOMEONE naked! And that woman is... a new and upgraded version of Ultron??? Would have been a surprise if they didn't spoil it on the website about 3 months ago. How does this happen? He'll figure a stupid excuse of an explanation by issue 5 i guess... Another series droped, so soon too!

MOON KNIGHT #7-8-9-10 : **

Come oooooooon Marvel, you didn't have to do this! Not to Moon Knight! First of all, take out that Civil War / The Initiative / Casualties of war banner from the cover page. It has NOTHING to do with that. Second, you could at least be a little more original with the covers! It's exactly the same except they switch the character on them, for each appearance they have. And what an astonishing appearance at that! All of the characters featured on the covers don't even appear more than 5 pages, total! And the story seems to be going nowhere! Thanks for destroying a cult-classic, AGAIN! Another title droped! Although, having the nemesis make Moon Knight swallow is own teeth is kinda cool...

And by the way, the new Ghost Rider series SUCK. #1 was bewildering, #2-10 should make good material to start a fire. To burn down the other crap comics. Kidding, i couldn't do that.

Well, the mailman's here, time to do some work. See ya in the funny books!

Just Fucking Live

2007-12-03T03:17:00.000-05:00

Original post 14 Feb 2007

Live. Fucking live. Throw yourself out the window kinda live. Because as far as we really know, there's only this plane of existence. Don't fucking waste your days wishing you were someone else, or lose your nights chasing away dreams. Just enjoy the fucking moment.

Just a little something i had to get off my mind.

Bi-Monthly quick comics review. More than 25 issues!

2007-12-03T03:15:00.001-05:00

Original Post 04 Feb 2007

Allright, so instead of just picking my 3 favourite issues i'll add a little list of the comics i bought and those that are worth picking up... And since i'm lazy, this changed from a Weekly to a bi-monthly blog hehehe

I had a bunch of comics on reserve, so there might be issues from a month or two in the past.

X-Men First Class #4-5 "****"

Great comics! I was skeptical when the serie started, because i'm not a huge fan of mutants... But these two issues were pretty good. Set in the past, when the x-men were sporting matching uniforms and Beast was not blue and furry yet. The 4th one is featuring Dr. Strange, and the 5th has a participation from Thor. For those that like one-shots, or good laughs, i'd definetly pick up #5.

Batman and the Mad Monk #5-6 "*"

I recommend that you stay away from that complete mini-series. Boring art, uneventful story. I have nothing more to say.

Mythos : Ghost Rider "***"

Staying true to the Mythos arc, the pages of this book have colorful paintings, and the one-shot story is pretty good too. Notable Quote: "It's God who creates all of our tragedies, but it's the devil who makes us care"

1602 : Fantastic Four #4 "***"

For fans of what-ifs! a 5-issue mini-series that features the Fantastic Four in... you guest it... 1602! With hilarious olde-english dialogues and interesting takes on classic FF characters like Dr. Doom and Namor, and even Medusa.

Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs Nighthawk #1 "***"

I never bought or read a comic featuring them before, but felt like taking a chance and wanted to see some action, plus i always give mini-series a chance. I liked the fight scene and the setting of the story, but the art did not impress me. I suppose fans of these two heros or fans of batman vs superman stories (that's how it feels to me) will want to pick up that issue!

The Irredeemable Ant-Man "*****"

So far this title lives up to my every expectations! With a complete story, great, feel and pace, a good mix of action and humor, and unpredicable development. Not too late to jump in the serie!

Agents of Atlas #6 "*"

Bad story, from #1 to this last number. It was actually a relief for me that the series finally ended. I bought #1 because it seemed entertaining and i'm a fan of Machine Man. All of the other numbers were terrible, and i kept buying them expecting something cool to happen... #3 made me laugh a little, but that's it. No pickles.

The Immortal Iron Fist #2 "****"

Now that's a cool story! Fanboys of this underdog, if you aren't already buying this arc, do it! You get to see glimpses of past Iron Fists, and there's a twist in this issue that kick-starts the story. With a classic appearance by Luke Cage and Hydra!

Spider-Man The Reign #2 "**"

More classic tales with a twist! Like i said in my last blog, this whole arc feels like an outrageous plagiarism of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns, but still features cool drawings. Very violent, featuring tons of villains!

Eternals #6 "***"

I had a lot of expectations for this whole arc, and so far i have been quite disapointed. #1 to 3 are fun, but the pace seems to slow down with every issue, and by the 6th i have lost interest...

Doctor Strange The Oath #4 "****"

I really like this whole storyline so far. Cool drawings, the pace of the story can be a little slow, but so far i am turning into a Dr. Strange fanboy!

Civil War : The Return "**"

I bought this one because i pick up everything concerning Civil War. I am also a fan of Quasar, and the variant cover was featuring him. The book contains a story about Quasar and one about The Sentry. But the thing is, they are not really stories, more like explanations of what the hell's hapenning with these two dudes and what are they doing to influence Civil War. Not a must-see unless you want to know absolutely everything about Civil War.

Wolverine #50 "*****"

Yeaaaaaaaah! Must-see! For once, the cover does not lie about it's content. Marketed as the issue that would contain the final Logan vs Sabertooth fight. Ultra-violent, face paced, packed with snikts and slashes! Also contains a very original one-shot story of a kind of re-enactment of Wolverine's first appearance in the pages of Hulk back in the days (Incredible Hulk #180-181 to be exact, wich weres published in 1974 and are now worth $135 and $1325 respectively, judged with www.comicspriceguide.com ). The story also somehow connects with the unfinished Ultimate Wolvie vs Hulk within it. Pretty neat issue!

Moon Knight #7 "**"

I always felt dragged towards Moony, and i don't know why. The art in this book is incredible and the action insanely violent, but the story is not as good as you might expect. Featuring Spider-Man on the cover and about 6 whole panels, and boasting a "Casualties of War" banner for pretty much no reason, except that you see Steve Rodgers (sorry, Captain America) in the last page. I guess they really need the money, but you don't have to buy this book.

Punisher War Journal #3 "***"

Still featuring awesome art, but less action and dark humor, this title is a must for Punisher, Captain America and Civil War fans!

Iron Man / Captain America "***"

An interesting issue devoted to giving some depth to Civil War. Pick it up if you are a fan of either character or Civil War, but stay away if not!

Bullet Points #3 "****"

What-ifs are IN these days, let me tell ya! And this one is astonishing so far! The writer really explores the marvel universe, and finds ways to transform certain characters into other just as important individiualsVery freaky, neaty, unpredictable-y. SPOILERS AHEAD: So far, Steve Rogers wears the Iron Man armor, Peter Parker turned into the Hulk, and last but not least, Reed Richards is now boasting an eye patch and is boss of S.H.I.E.L.D., all this because of one bullet!

Annihilation #6 "*****"

Fuck yeah! Cosmic battles! Universe-wide ramifications! Nova! The Kree! Annihilus! Galactus and Silver Surfer! Action and unexpected turns, good art and great ending to a good arc that lasted all year. Amazing cover and great kick-off for new cosmic character series. I definetly recomend picking it up!

Silent War #1 "****"

Things are not looking good for the United States in Marvel comics... A civil war from our spandex-sporting friends, two universe almost destroyed (check Annihilation), Atlantean terrorist cells, Wakanda considered a threat, and now, The Inhumans make their first move in the war they declared on the US a while ago. I'm a big fan of Inhumans, and i suggest this book. I think it was published a little too early, though. The story seems to take place after Civil War, and the Mr.Fantastic-Invisible Woman couple seems to be back together. Oh well. Great drawings and original story exploring the mythos of the Inhumans a little.

Ultimate Civil War: Spider-Ham #1 "***"

Nostalgia alert! With a funny feel and a great concept, and several full pages of ham-renditions of heros. The fantastic Four's one is ASTONISHING! Pick it up if you are open-minded!

Ghost Rider #94.

Haven't read this one yet. It's a print of an unfinished issue from more than 10 years ago, fans of the flaming skull will be be delighted for certain!

Wolverine Origins #10 "****"

Woa! This title is true to what it promised: explore Wolverine's back story plot holes to the fullest! SPOILERS: Featuring Omega Red, Wolverine's son (!), and the apparent death of that dude with a cool mustach who's now in Shield. I think his name is Dum Dum.

Black Panther #24 "***"

This issue was kind of confusing, printed too late, and seems to have been written solely to close plot holes in the Civil War series.

Warhammer 40,000 Damnation Crusade #1 "***"

Pick it up if: you are Warhammer 40,000 geek like me, or a sci-fi fan, of a "dark future" reader. I always had a crush on space marines, and this title explores their universe. The art is not bewildering, but not ugly either. Very dark and intriguing.

Fantastic Four #542 "**"

Very boring, completely unrelated to Civil War even if it had a banner. Sporting an amasing image of the human torch, who barely appears this issue. Solely for fans of The Thing.

The New Avengers #26 "****"

Since this title will apparently die off after Civil War to become The Mighty Avengers or something, it explains what the hell's hapenning with HawkMan and the Scarlet Witch. Very interesting, with great art.

What If? Featuring X-Men, Age of Apocalypse "***"

To quote Deadpool: "Not really THE Age of Apocalypse, more like AN Age of Apocalypse". A must-have for What If? fans, since it's actually a What-If? of a What-If? when you really think about it hahaha. Great images, amazing colors, and compeling story.

What If? Featuring X-Men, Deadly Genesis "***"

This story is one of the darkest Marvel publications that have recently been published. I had a lot of trouble keeping up with the story since i know nothing of the original storyline from wich it derives... Still quite interesting. With yet again amazing art and colors.

Well, that's it for today folks! I don't know if that's really helpful to anyone. If you'd rather read an actual review of the comic's content, head on to Brian Labelle's blog (he's in my top friends). The great great comic shop where i obtain all my comics and lets me put them in a bin when i don't have enough money is http://www.carsleyscomics.com/ in Montreal. Make Mine Marvel!

Cubicule Confinement

2007-12-03T03:14:00.001-05:00

Original Post 30 Jan 2007

This is a prison. Everywhere i turn, i see gray walls. There is no sun light, only artificial neon brightness. Every day is a fight. I must not fall asleep. So i drink coffee. Cheap, disgusting coffee. Poor more sugah into it. And chug that hot brown liquid.

This is a nightmare.

A guy at work asks me what are my goals within the company. I fight the urge to answer... i don't give a fuck. I look at him straight in the eyes, and raise my shoulders. He raises his eyebrows, puzzled. What do you want to do here, he asks again. I tell him, we'll see later.

Truth is, i don't plan on staying here very long. It sucks. I hate it. It's depressing. But the pay's good. So i keep telling myself, just take it. Bend over and take it, and think of the money they are pouring down your throat at the same time. I'm getting sandwiched, holding on to whatever i can, take it as long as i can.

It's gonna sound gross, but i do it for my dad.

He thinks he's doing me a favor, bringing me to his company, giving me a good job with possibilities of advencement. He doesn't know i plan on leaving as soon as i go back to school. He doesn't understand that i'd rather be cleaning dishes at the hospital, with the boys, where we could fart and talk sex and drink whiskey in the locker room, or party all night and come totally wrecked the next day and people would laugh and move on.

Well, my diner is over. Time to go back to pretending to work and like it. I'll go drink some more coffee, listen to some Leftöver Crack in my headphones, and wonder if it would be fun to play on Guitar Hero II.

''Cubicule Confinment, waiting for retirement'' - Kings of Nothing

That weird guy on (in?) the bus

2007-12-03T03:12:00.000-05:00

Original Post 24 Jan 2007

Everybody has seen one. A weird guy on the bus. It is inevitable. Especially on the night bus home from downtown. And believe me, i've seen more than my share. When you get in the vehicule and the driver is clad in leather, you know you're in for a good time.

That sounds nasty. Village people nasty.

Anyways. Usually these guys entertain me, are somewhat amusing. But the one from last night, was kind of annoying, and a little scary. Since i've been in this type of situation more than once, i've developed a sixth sense that detects 'em. They walk onto the bus, and i immediatly know they are going to be trouble.

Guys, think of this as our chicks radar.

So i just got on the 211, the bus i've been taking for about 7 years now. I was tired from my day of work (had to stay late), so i go straight for the back, a seat on the side of the window, so that i can lean on the wall and sleep for about 45 minutes. But then i see this guy walk in.

Big glasses like Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys, a dark blue hat that goes over his eyebrows, a mouth missing a few teeth. A long, brown winter trenchcoat, and a balance that suggested he's been on the booze. He sits down a few seats from me.

I usually make a mental note here.

The bus goes, i lay my head on the window, and promptly fall asleep.

I wake up to a loud ''JESUS!'', eyes wide open, ready to leap into action. I turn to my left instinctively, and sure enough, the weirdo is on his feet. He must have stayed put for about 5 minutes, judging from where we are in the bus' trajectory.

''JESUS! Jesus loves me. He's the only one who does. And he loves you. Everything i do in life is shit. I am a bad man. But Jesus loves me.'' I figure he's just a drunk religious fanatic, and try to go back to sleep.

''I am a terrorist''

I open my eyes, and intently stare at him. He's laughing.''I'm sorry'' he says, staring at nothing and nobody. ''I'm sorry. That's a joke. Jesus loves you''. Unvealing a Bacardi bottle from a hidden pocket in his coat, he arcs his back, his face now facing upwards, promptly puts the bottle to his mouth, and starts chugging. I could see the friggin' bubbles of air in the bottle, as he was drinking his booze.

I once again try to go back to sleep. I close my eyelids, and let myself go.

What must have been 10 more minutes, and some more loud rambling. At this point, i start to watch the crowd, and smile at the scared faces. I smile, 'cause i'm a little bit scared too. The bus finally arrives at the drunk's destination. He gets on his feet, stumbles to the door, and says: ''I love you all''. This did put a smile on a washed-up, recydled hippie's face.

And in my mind, i think... maybe that's the only reason for these weird guys' existence. To make people smile, at the end of the day. Smile 'cause we think we're lucky we're not one of them. Smile because they act funny or look different. Smile of relief because they are leaving the place. I lay my head on the window once again, close my eyes, relax, and think of all the wackos i've seen on the night bus.

And i smile.

Waiting for the printer

2007-12-03T03:10:00.000-05:00

Original Post 23 Jan 2007

I'm at work, waiting for the printer.

Actually, i'm waiting for the computer to send the files to the printer, who must then recognise all of them and then do his job of, you know, printing stuff.

I've now been waiting for 30+ minutes.

My first thought when i realised that was something like: ''We waste so much time every day of our lives, and often we don't even realise it''

Thing is, how can time go wasted? Every second has its utility.

For example. While waiting for the printer, i browsed Myspace, read Mystery Cookie's new blog, and started writing this one. There were some things done.

When you're waiting for the bus, that seems to be the biggest waste of time of all of eternity. BUT! Aren't you pondering, as much as you are rambling about the driver being late on its schedule? Maybe without even realising it, you are reviewing your day, thinking about what you are going to do once you get to the destination, or other more interesting stuff, like what's for supper, is she naked right now, and what the heck's the deal with Green Goblin these days!

Have you ever caught yourself thinking? It's the weirdest thing. Happened to me a few times. You're just walking home from the bar on a Thursday night, and all of a sudden you realise that tomorow you have a job interview. Without even willing it, you were planning your up-and-comming day!

Well, the printer should be done by now. Anyways, what i just realised is that, your brain will never let time go wasted, for he's always working.

Except when you're watching reality TV.

Weekly Comics Review

2007-12-03T03:09:00.000-05:00

Original Post 21 Jan 2007

Hey geeks and nerds, and welcome to the first blog of Weekly Comics Review. WOW! Two blogs in one day you dare ask? I know! I'm totaly bored!

Let's not delay the show more than needs to, and start with my 3rd favourite comic from the week of 2007-01-17. Actually, i didn't pick up much this week, so i'll mix comics from last week too. Also, i pretty much only read Marvel comics, so there ya go. Also, i missed several issues wich were sold-out, like Spider-Man: Reign #2, Thunderbolts #110 (ARG!) and some more wich i am too lazy to write. I'll also try to keep the spoilers to a minimum.

3. Cable/Deadpool #36

Not the greatest art, as a matter of fact it completely sucks compared to what they add at the start of the series. Not the greatest story either, it pretty much sucks, and that title has been giving felatios around the clock for at least 10 issues now. BUT i am a die-hard fan of both Cable and especially the Merc with a Mouth, so i'm pretty glad to see him back in the spotlight, instead of being just a plot device. Sounds like the writer is laying ground for some up-and-comming cool shit.

2. Incredible Hulk #102

Personally, i always liked the emerald behemoth, but never bought the title, until Planet Hulk kicked off. The story arc had its ups and downs, and kind of let you wondering how it would end, wich is a good thing in my opinion. This issue ended in an awesome way, and that is why it is in the number 2 spot. Also, in two issues is World War Hulk starting, wich gives, to me, even more importance to this book.

1. Fantastic Four #542

Wow! Number 542! I would never had picked up a FF title, except there's this big bright blue banner (4-hit combo!) on the cover, with big bold CIVIL WAR letters. Turns out, this is pretty much my favourite issue of the whole month! The coolest idea is clearly Reed Richards going to see one of his old enemies for advice and a second impression on his calculations. It's pretty much him bragging about his intelect for the whole issue. But, turns out Mr. Fantastic gets lectured by this nemesis, and i couldn't help but find this hysterical. With BIG teasers about the outcome and consequences of Civil War. Hardcore readers will most definetly want to pick this one up!

And while we're at it, i'll also put my top 3 DISlikes of the month, maybe make some people save money.

3. Spider-Man: The reign #1

Actually, this issue is not bad at all, and sounds pretty promising, with awesome colors, a cool drawing style, and a fresh take on Spider-Man. Only, it's a blatant COPY of The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller's AWESOME look into the future of Batman. You can still pick up the book, wich is strangely original in his unoriginality. J.J.Jameson really surprised me, but i didn't like the fact that Peter kills someone on his first night back in town.

2. Ghost Rider #7

What a huge let down. The drawings look like they were made with crayola by some kid from Stamford. That's right, a zombie kid with his hands blown out by Nitro, so he had to draw with his eye-socket that was empty because his eye melted in the heath of the explosion. It is not on the first spot of dislikes because the ending was preatty fucking cool. But so far, this whole series is pretty bad. I'm giving it a chance until #10, then pulling out like a man about to cum, having sex without protection with a girl he really doesn't want to have kids with.

1. Sensational Spider-Man #34

What a REALLY huge let down. I was getting ready to see Black Cat being pummeled by The Rhino, with hopes of a boob popping out. You think her nipples have long, silver hair on them? That would ruin it. Anyways. They got me all pumped up about a big fight last issue, and guess what, there's no friggin' fight. I think it lasts 2 panels. You'd think a drunk Rhino would be cool, but instead they choose to focus on Felicia's emotions, and this whole arc is about the women in the life of Spider-Man. I think Peter Parker is not even in this issue! If i wanted to read such boring things, i'd pick up Mary-Jane loves Spider-Man or whatever it's called. HUGE disapointment. Kids will have to jack off to images of the Black Cat riding her bycicle instead of her doing jump kicks legs wide spread.

A lazy attempt at comic blog part 1.

2007-12-03T03:04:00.000-05:00

Original post: 21 Jan 2007

Well, i'm bored on a sunday afternoon, and just finished reading a bunch of comics. I always read Brian Labelle's blogs, and am somewhat anvious of his easy-going writing style.

Figured... if i wanna get better at writing, gotta start now, right?

I'll start with something that might remind you of my first blog, "things i hate". I'll call it, "Things i hate about comics".

Don't get me wrong, i freakin' love comics. I'd have sex with one if i wasn't afraid to get paper cuts on my fleshy ornament.

Well, first things first, what the FUCK is that independent music add doing right in the middle of my comic book? This surely can't help the CGC grade and is a horrific mood breaker as i get intimate with my life-companion.

I like to underline and bold and italic words. It's fun.

Seconds things... second, in about a year i found not one, not two, but three Marvel comics with pages completely fucked up inside. One issue basically didn't have staples and the pages just fell off to the ground. It felt like a wound. The other two issues contained pages that were simply torn up. Like an freakish apendicite scar in my comic book collection. I heard a rumor last year that Marvel is using a dictionnary's stapler machine to bind their comics, and i don't know what to think about that.

BUT, on the other hand, Civil War is fucking great. I'm spending from 50 to 400$ a month on comics, and it feels good! And for those that would say that i'm crazy for spending so much money on comics, well, aren't we all crazy? I used to spend that much money on pot, and i stopped at 19 so that i could afford my comics. Spider-Man helped me quit drugs, literally. You can look at that old issue of Spider-Man drawn by McFarlane where he talks to kids about drugs, and you would understand everything about me. Just look at the cover. Would you smoke that cover? Nah!

I've always been a sucker for Marvel Annuals, trying to collect every issue of Evolutionary Wars and the likes. Onslaught is a bitch to find, by the way. And for the first time in my life, i have the means to afford something like that, and it is actually taking place in the present. Plus, it's the biggest cross-over EVER, with ramifications and consequences "that will hopefully be felt for the next ten years", to quote Joe Queseda. I'd be in freakin' HEAVEN, if such a thing existed.

This is getting long and i don't know if it's interesting, so i'll stop this here. That's why it's called Part 1 anyways. On a finishing note, my favourite issue of the whole Civil War arc would probably be Civil War #3.

Well, excelsior, 'nuff said and all that!

Things I Hate

2007-12-03T02:36:00.000-05:00

Original post: 25 Oct 2006

I'm bored, and tired. But i refuse to go to sleep.

So here's some thoughts.

Things i hate.

I hate that you have to put a capital i for yourself.

I hate people who pretend they are something they are not.

I hate people who fall in love too easily. To me, that's just called sexual attraction.

I hate girls who proclaim themselves bitches, pretend they are bitches, or go out of their way to be a bitch. I fucking hate you. Give me a smile, talk to me nicely, or get the fuck off my face and go jump off a bridge, give the world a break. Nobody likes you or your little false bitch attitude. I hope you die fat and don't fit in a coffin.

I hate people who hate fat people.

I hate religions. All of them. Just a bunch of freaking lies. This is the oldest and best thing they found so far to control people. The only thing that comes closer is television. They are the same, and i hate them just as much. People worship these things, people that appear within these subjects, true or false. I want to spit on people who dedicated their whole life to either of that crap. You just wasted your existence. Like that bitch on E.T., or a priest or a rabbie that bases his life on the writings of someone else, written some thousands of years ago.

I hate the concept of "soul" that everybody buys way too easily.

I hate people who act good just to go to "heaven", not to help people around them. You are being secretly selfish and would go to "hell" if such a thing existed.

I hate guys who think they are more manly when wearing pink. You are not, every other guy in the room hates you, including the other guy wearing pink because he thought he was going to be the only one like this.

I hate people who think they "get" me, or you, for that matter.

I hate people who judge me based on how i look.

I hate anorexics. George Carlin said: "Only in America can a disease like this exist: I don't wanna eaaaaaaaat!"... Fine! Stop eating and die already, bitch!

I hate women who read magazines and take tips and tricks on how to be more lovable, more beautiful, more "acceptable to the public". Fuck off. Magazines and television are ruining your life, giving you even more stuff to hate about yourself that you can come up with by yourself, and make you buy all kind of stupid shit you don't need like a new style for every freaking season.

I hate people who hate people.

I hate myself?

I hate jocks. Some of them are nice though. Then, i hate those big mother fucking assholes who think they are in some kind of teen movie.

I hate that big fat fuck at the Coloseum who couldn't serve me correctly, thought he was the funniest guy on earth, couldn't work a fucking pop-corn machine, and sprayed some kool-aid in my pop-corn. I fucking hate you. Why the hell did you do that for? You think i didn't notice you ruined my freaking 10$ pop-corn? (I hate how expensive it is now!) I didn't feel like complaining, but i should have. I was satisfied to see that you weren't working there anymore the next time i went. Asshole. Go fuck something rusty and die. Slowly.

Maybe i'll put some more things i hate later. In the meantime, you guys go ahead and tell me what YOU hate! I bet you guys are gonna say you hate ME, and that's fine, i believe that everybody's entitled to his/her opinion. But just so you know, i hate you too!

And last but not least, i hate grumpy old people. You're about to die, smile!