Friday, May 31, 2013

Alignments in Firefly

This is an old one, but I'm slow sometimes and only saw it recently and I must say it totally clicked for me. For those of you who have already seen this continue on your way.


Sunday, May 12, 2013

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Iron Man 3




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IM3 final from ColliderVideos on Vimeo. Spoiler free
Finally got out to see this, this weekend. After the The Avengers, writer-director Shane Black stepped into a very untenable situation with Iron Man 3.  While he had Robert Downey Jr., still my expectations for the third installment were pretty high.  But even though the cards were stacked against him, I’m happy to report that Iron Man 3 is more or less a success.  Not only is Black’s script very good and funny in spots, he’s also crafted some amazing action set pieces and created a villain that everyone is sure to be talking about.  Not sure if they'll like him, but they will certainly be talking about him.



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Before you think I’m giving Iron Man 3 a two thumbs up I’m not. Unfortunately, I have a few nitpicks that bother me, otherwise Iron Man 3 would be close to perfect.  Since this is going to be spoiler free I can’t really get into them.  At some point down the road I’ll post my issues, and I really think most of you are going to agree with what I have to say.


Finally, Iron Man 3 has some great twists and turns.  I strongly advise you to not read any reviews until you’ve seen the movie for yourself. What I can say is that I'm so glad they focused on the man and not the suit.

Final thoughts. I felt like I was a kid reading my first Iron Man comic during portions of this film. It really doesn't get any better than that for me.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Ray Harryhausen dies at 92


    I can still vividly recall watching Jason and the Argonauts on the Saturday afternoon monsterfest. The film had Jason fighting against dangerous harpies, a multi-headed hydra and arguably Harryhausen's most famous creations, an animated army of skeleton warriors. The swordfight between them and live actors took Harryhausen more than four months to complete.

    "Harryhausen's genius was in being able to bring his models alive," said a statement on the movie icon's Facebook page. "Whether they were prehistoric dinosaurs or mythological creatures, in Ray's hands they were no longer puppets but became instead characters in their own right, just as important as the actors they played against and in most cases even more so."
    A "Ray Day'' is now planned for June 16, to coincide with a 50th-anniversary screening of Jason and the Argonauts at the BFI in London, said Mark Mawston, a friend of the Harryhausen family in London.

    S Module Illustrations Now Available from WotC

    WotC has put the complete S series illustration booklets online as free downloads!

     

    Dungeons of Dread is the reprint of the classic S series modules (S1 - S4). This is a nicely put together package of some killer modules, that I never had the good luck of actually playing all the way through.

    If you are a fan of the printed word like I am you will have a real problem ripping out pages from the modules/reprint. WotC has resolved this dilemma by putting all four illustration booklets online for a free download. They look pretty good.

    What makes this even better for all the DMs/gamers out there is that you don't actually need to own any of the originals (or even the reprint compilation) to use them. Grab these downloads and use them to set up the scenes for some adventures of your own devising. Why let iconic D&D art like this go to waste?

    Friday, May 3, 2013

    Free Comic Book Day

    Since I'm still a geek/nerd at heart even though I haven't collected any comics for years this still gets me going.


    Free Comic Book Day  - the first Saturday in May each year - when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free* to anyone who comes into their stores. 

    *Check with your local comic book shop for their participation and rules.