Brawl Tells All

Seriously...

2009-07-03T20:44:28Z

You have such a big problem with a person, ignore them.

Come on!

Honestly, I think the person in question's making an effort. I'm giving him one chance, and he hasn't burned me yet. Of course he's never going to make nice with everyone, especially a few in particular, but get a life and ignore the guy if you can't stand him. Otherwise, it's just flame baiting.

Recommendations?

2009-06-04T21:12:17Z

I recently got a fourth generation iPod Nano. This the second iPod I've owned (the first being a year-old refurb Shuffle) and so far I love it. It's a fun little gizmo. The sound quality is great, and it's got a great video screen. My only problem is that it shuffles when you shake it, when unlocked. It's sensitive enough that if I'm walking quickly, it'll shuffle.

So I got a free $15 iTunes giftcard with a shell case I bought for it. For the last two weeks, I've been staring at that bloody card, asking myself what I should buy with it.

I'm asking y'all for suggestions. What I'm looking for is good stand alone episodes of TV series (sci-fi in particular) and some good music.

Thoughts?

More wonderful geek news

2009-06-01T17:28:36Z

If you've ever talked video games with me, you probably know that I ADORE the Lego games by Traveler's Tales. Star Wars and Batman are two of the most fun and purely enjoyable games I've ever played, and Indiana Jones, while not quite as good as the others IMO, is close behind. The games have a great sense of humor, awesome replay value, and can occupy my short attention span for hours on end.

Now, there's rumblings of Lego Rock Band, but the next game in the series has officially been announced.

Brilliant!

I just did a happy pee

2009-05-20T21:41:54Z

Anthology Avengers Assemble!

2009-05-19T14:03:56Z

You've seen the X-Men come together. The Supernatural world has exploded. Now, it's time for the greatest heroes on Earth.

It's time for the Avengers to assemble.

In the same spirit as our X-Men, Supernatural and upcoming Street initiatives, Marvel Anthology is looking to continue to fill out the site with titles featuring Earth's mightiest heroes. But, wait, the site already has Avengers, Avengers West and Force Works, what do we need?

This time, we're looking to put the spotlight on the individual Avengers. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye and more are all available for solo titles.

If interested, contact Erik Fromme at devillantern@yahoo.com or myself!

The Best SNL sketch this season...

2009-05-18T19:31:36Z

For you Trekkies...

2009-05-14T17:46:01Z

With the Star Trek simming group I'm a part of, we've established the foundations of a Star Trek RPG set in the new timeline established in the movie. Please check it out below. More information will come as we work more on it.

http://tenforward.slasims.com/viewtopic.php?f=381&p=154329#p154329

Have you always wanted to beat the crap out of me?

2009-05-12T14:13:23Z

If the answer is yes...

http://brawl2099.mybrute.com

Blogging

2009-05-04T21:58:28Z

I've decided to become a political blogger, inspired by this amazing young woman...

Politics

2009-04-30T18:10:38Z

A conversation/argument I was having last night got me thinking about politics last night. I'm going to get up on my soapbox for a minute, and I'm sorry if what I say makes you uncomfortable, or makes you mad, or whatever. It's politics. If I make you mad, you've probably made me mad. We're even, get over it.

I'll start by saying I'm conservative. I'm not right-wing. I'm not a Republican although I tend to vote that way. I'm conservative and I like to think I'm more moderate than most. I'll vote for the issues and candidates I believe in, not ones from a particular party.

Right now, for example, I'm finding myself believing more and more in rights for gays and unmarried couples, even though I disagree with the lifestyle (because of my religious beliefs). I enjoy listening to Hannity and Rush, even if I don't always agree with them. Hell, my favorite part of Hannity's show is when a "liberal" calls in to argue, and I find myself agreeing with points from both sides.

One of my problems with politics are extremists. I don't meant just people who lean to the far left. I mean people who lean to the far right also. Why? Because they're so blind to the other point of view that it's absolutely unbearable to talk to them. I find talking to political extremists is as bad, if not worse, than talking to religious extremists. As a Latter-Day Saint missionary (aka Mormon), I would come upon people so set in their ways that they were blind to the common ground we shared.

Common conversation:
"We believe in Jesus Christ also."
"Yes, but you believe in the wrong Jesus."
"What do you mean?"
"You believe in the MORMON Jesus. He's different."

I find myself getting into the same conversations with people when I discuss politics. "You're wrong because you believe differently than me." Yes, I do. I don't believe in big government. I don't believe in socialized health care. I don't believe in Obama, yet (I'm still holding the opinion of "cautiously optimistic" about him). Big deal. I'm sure if you were actually thinking rationally we could find common ground, and actually have a reasonable, rational discussion.

Another issue I have with the extremists is how blind they are to the issues. All I hear about is how "(Insert conservative pundit/politician's name) is wrong because they have an opinion." When I talk politics, I want to talk about the issues. I want to talk about the policies. I don't want to have a debate about people's opinions because they're OPINIONS. Tell me how you feel about an issue, not how you feel about how Hannity feels about the issue. I can tell you, I agree with Hannity fairly often, but I do disagree with the man. I usually agree with Utah Senator Hatch, but if he has an opinion about an issue I disagree with, then okay. I disagree, but I'm not going to yell and scream about how Orrin Hatch is an idiot because I disagree with him.

You know how Sean Hannity got his job? He voiced his opinions on the issues eloquently. You know how Orrin Hatch got elected? He spoke up about his beliefs and backed them up when the opportunity presented itself. And that's just as true for Obama, Biden, Pelosi and Reid as it is for Hannity, Hatch, Limbaugh, Beck, McCain, Palin, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

If you disagree with someone about an issue, great. But when your political opinions are completely founded on the basis that you disagree with someone, and not on your actual beliefs... Well, it's laughable and pathetic.

There's my two cents, and my opinion. If you disagree, GREAT! That's what helps this great nation thrive.

Oh, and Romney/Huntsman in 2012. Just sayin'.

Reading

2009-04-10T22:52:35Z

With the summer rapidly approaching, does anyone have any books to recommend? I'm going to start with Twilight, and then probably a Dresden Files novel, but considering I'll have quite a bit vacation time, I'll need at least one or two more.

Fast food folk song

2009-04-09T18:12:47Z

Watch the order screen closely and watch the full video!

I just peed a little...

2009-04-06T21:20:19Z

I just heard some of the GREATEST sci-fi news EVER!

Red Dwarf, one of my favorite sci-fi shows ever, and easily my favorite British import, is returning for FOUR NEW EPISODES next week.

Yeah, I'm a little thrilled.

Fantastic comics news

2009-03-18T16:41:48Z

DC announced the new regular Green Lantern artist this morning.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/030918-Mahnke.html

Doug Mahnke. HELL. YES.

That image is already my new desktop background.

Yeah, I totally want to write GL right now...

Brawl Tells All: JLA #50-51 @ JLU 2001

2009-03-16T21:29:14Z

Brawl Tells All: JLA #50-51 @ JLU2001
"Blackest Night" Parts 1 & 2 by Dino Pollard
http://www.carnaj.com/JLU2001/jla/jlatitle.htm (JLA Gatefold)

In my opinion, Dino is one of the strongest plotters in our community. One of his greatest talents is to come up with a story that is genuinely thrilling. Unfortunately, at times execution is lacking. In these two issues, that flaw in Dino's writing is sadly evident.

The part of the JLA (Superman, Batman, J'Onn J'Onzz, Zauriel) has gathered to debate a new member, the modern-day Apache Chief, Manitou Raven, while the other members of the team are scattered across the globe with various tasks. Suddenly, a threat that is left ambiguous strikes, MOVING the Watchtower, along with Superman, J'Onn and Zauriel, and moving the remainder of the team into a full alert status.

The Good: Dino does a fantastic job building a sense of dread. From what happens in these two issues, you know what's going to happen is HUGE. The character interactions are done pretty well and everyone's in character, something many writers seem to forget in team books like JLA or Avengers. Dino's love for Grant Morrison is evident as well, as he uses two Morrison creations (Zauriel and Aztek) here very efficiently, and very well.

The Bad: Why was this two separate issues? It was good, but it was also two issues of pure set-up. So far, we know the threat is big, it somehow involves the Green Lanterns/ Hal Jordan and the New Gods are a bit freaked out. There were no answers to the questions posed in the first issue. There was no action to keep things moving and progressing. These two issues would have been much better suited as a single, double sized issue. The first issue was great, and actually had me a bit excited for the story, but the second kept me on the edge of my seat and ultimately left me unfulfilled because at the end I still had no idea what was going on. If they had been combined into a single issue, I would have probably liked it a LOT more. Another issue is that there is very little character explanation. I know who Manitou Raven is, I know who Aztek is, but how did they get to this position in JLU?

Overall: I say this with a lot of respect for Dino. He attempts to write stories that few others would even allow past the "Wouldn't it be cool if...?" stage. Sometimes, he succeeds. Other times, he fails. I wouldn't classify this as either, but unless something happens to progress the plot next issue, it will head straight for the fail column. Ultimately, it comes down to an issue of pacing. If paced a little bit better, this issue would have scored MUCH higher in the end.

Rating: Three punches thrown of five. This arc has potential to be a great read and score higher, but the pace needs to be picked up. Two issues of set-up for a JLA arc is too much without any complimentary action/ answers. I'll be looking forward to the rest of the arc before passing final judgement. I hope Dino turns it around and gives us a great arc.

Thank goodness WB had two wits about how to treat Watchmen, so we didn't get this...

2009-03-06T20:00:50Z

Writing update

2009-03-04T22:53:42Z

I always like to post one of these whenever I see someone else do it. Thanks Munn.

Marvel Anthology- http://ma.bhyphen.com

Avengers- #2 will be out in the next update. This is one of my favorite books to write, with an eclectic but awesome cast. #3 will be an Avengers/Silver Sable throw down (seriously!), leading into a conflict with the Leader and one of the most bad-ass Avengers bad guys ever, IMO.

Uncanny X-Men- Almost done with #2 of this series. #1 was a blast to write, but this issue I've struggled with a bit. I'm getting my feet under me though, and you should expect this to be one of the best things I've ever written.

Amazing Spider-Man- How Fromme allowed me this trifecta, I don't know. We'll be re-presenting a director's cut edition of my MRev Spidey, which the crappy stuff cut out, for the first 14 issues, then will launch into the first all-new Spidey stories I've written in four years. I am absolutely thrilled about this.

DC Infinity- http://www.dcinfinity.ca

Superman: Man of Tomorrow- The first issue of this relaunched/refocused title just came out at DCI. Expect some classic Superman action, with some higher concepts, including a new Kryptonite Man, Bizarro, and Solaris.

Marvel 2000- http://m2k.omegacen.com

Web of Scarlet Spider- I will be finishing my last two Scarlet Spider issues. Issue #10 is essentially done, but it's short, so I'm struggling with submitting it or adding to it.

JLU 2001- http://www.carnaj.com/JLU2001/main.htm

Legion Worlds- I've got another issue ready to submit to Curt, I just need to remember to email it. I'm debating on the length of this run, but you'll see at least 6 issues from me here. I've also been helping JD Mathis, a new writer looking at Superboy, develop plots for Superboy. JD's full of great ideas, and I'm looking forward to seeing his first work.

Avengers 2000- http://www.ironrodstudio.com/AV2000/

Mystery project- I'm not going to say what this project is until I've got three issues in the bag. Ed and Erik know what it is, and Derrick obviously does too. I can say that I'm taking over an existing title, the cast will feature Hawkeye in the lead, and it's not the site's Avengers title. The cast I have is awesome, and the series itself provides plenty of action AND a shit-load of action. Past these first issues, I'm looking at some big-time shit to happen- Blastaar, Alkhema, alternate realities and a massively evil cosmic threat.

Holy crap...

2009-02-26T17:38:23Z

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Samuel L. Jackson has signed a NINE PICTURE deal with Marvel studios to play Nick Fury. In other words, Sam will be Fury in Iron Man 2, Captain America, Avengers, possibly Thor AND THEIR RESPECTIVE SEQUELS, *PLUS* a possible SHIELD movie.

Uhm... awesome!

Sam's agent deserves a bonus this year.

Fanfic challenge- cross-posted from HEROES

2009-02-23T19:23:58Z

Hey guys and girls (the few of you Y-chromosome challenged folks out there)-

We had a good chat going last night and one of the things we talked about was what fanfic was missing. We all had different ideas, but one idea (brought up by both Crosby and I) was that the community was lacking some real diversity right now. We didn't mean that the community wasn't diverse- far from it. We have a great mix of people, politically, racially, religiously, etc.

It used to be that you could go to MX and read Domino and Winter Guard, then head on over to MV1 for the newest issue of Triathlon and Power Man & Iron Fist, then Av2K for Swordsman... It just would go on and on. Now, every site has the core titles, but not a lot of diverse/weird stuff that used to be so wide-spread and, quite simply, fun.

So, what's the challenge?

I'm challenging every active writer to do a single issue (or more) story starring a second tier (or lower) character in whatever universe you enjoy most. Not only that, let's see them! Get them posted somewhere! Every site out there has some sort of anthology book for exactly this purpose- MO has Amazing Fantasy, MA has Tales to Astonish, DCI has Showcase, and so on and so on!

What do you guys think?

Tony

Return to me!

2009-02-18T22:25:02Z

As regular readers of my LJ may be able to tell, I'm a bit bored today. It's the usual Wednesday state for me. So, I got thinking this morning about fanfic groups I miss. Yeah, if you read this LJ, it sure seems like all I think about is fic. Not true. I just don't post my non-geek thoughts here. I post those on Facebook. Yeah... That's still pretty geeky.

So, what's my point? Let's talk fanfic groups. The groups I'm going to talk about aren't just ones that are dead, but also are some completely not what they once were that I want to see them back to what they once were.

The cop-out would be for me to say "I want to see MRev back." No. That's not true. The fun of MRev for me was running my own site and the level of collaboration I experienced there. I don't want that any more. I don't have the time, or the patience. The level of freedom I had there I more or less have now with Marvel Anthology, DC Anthology and DC Infinity (thanks Fromme, Tooley and Hintze). These are sites I genuinely want to see back from a readership perspective.

Marvel Volume 1- I've talked about this one before. Of all the defunct "core universe" style Marvel or DC sites out there, this is the one I'd like to see resurrected the most. Technically, if you ask the MV1 die-hards, they've never left. I want to call bullshit there. Does the site have any of its flagship books? Avengers? X-Men? Spidey? What's that? No, on all fronts? The only "flagship" book currently "active" at MV1 is Fantastic Four, which is admittedly pretty good plus a bunch of D- and Z-list titles, and the site hasn't had a regular release in months, if not a full year What's the point existing in this state? Let's see the old days return, the days of crossovers, massive releases, mocking each other in good fun, and making subtle innuendos about editors' sisters. This was the greatest site on the web at one time. Why not now?

Marvel Dark Design- Dark Design was one of the pioneers of the alternate reality site craze that popped up in the late nineties. These were the same characters, but they were different. It was a unique take on a universe we knew already. I'll admit, I was never a regular MDD reader, but I liked what I read there, and I liked the precedent it set. Why write the characters we loved in the same way? Why not take the basics and turn it into a frightening, twisted version? It was cool at the time and still is.

DC Future Shock- I know, there was Marvel FS and Image FS too. Why not include those? Neither of those sites were especially memorable to me. Nothing really stuck out. That's not to say those sites were BAD. They weren't, but compared to DCFS... I don't know. They weren't the world's greatest, know what I mean? I think the biggest factor was that DC itself did very little to explore the future legacies of their characters (I can count them on one hand- Legion of Superheroes, DC One Million and... hmm... Titans Tomorrow). DCFS had two series in particular I really enjoyed- Batman FS and the Flash FS. I can't remember the authors, and honestly I don't remember much of Batman FS's story. Flash on the other hand is one of the most memorable fanfics I've ever read, the story of a woman touched by the Speed Force named Alia Devin. I enjoyed everything I read at DCFS, and the world deserves another site like it.

Strange Tales- This puppy is a recent fatality, relative to the others on this list at least. Strange Tales was a group set in the "core" Marvel universe, but on the fringes. These were the dark corners that never saw the likes of Tony Stark or Reed Richards. The closest thing the site had to a series featuring an A-lister was Raz's Dr. Strange. It wasn't the first to take on this concept (that would be Marvel Dark Lore, iirc) but it was definitely the best. Most of the series are still out there and available, mostly split between the Marvel Knights Group and Omega, but they all lost a little something when the site closed down.

Ultimate Marvel & Marvel 1- I'm grouping these two together because they were fairly similar in concept. Take a leap forward of a short amount of time (I want to say between 3 months and a year), and tell stories from that point. The difference between this and what sites like Anthology is doing (see the X-Men line there, specifically X-Men Alpha) is that this time jump had no explanation of what happened. If Captain America was dead or Spider-Man only had one arm, you wouldn't have the story that it happened in. You'd have an explanation or maybe, if you're lucky, a short flashback, but not the actual story it happened in. I forget how long the time jump was, but it was fun. It was the same familiar characters and concepts, but there was something a little different. It's kind of important to note that Strange Tales actually was a former imprint of UM. If either site had survived to today, they'd be just another 616 Marvel site, but those initial stories were great.

Marvel Fast Forward- You know, see above, but change the gap into a matter of years rather than months. I believe it was 5 years. The great thing here is that the youth of the MU grew up in the gap. Generation X grew up and graduated (although they kept the Gen X name, something I didn't really like, especially since X-Force and X-Factor were available names). There was a new class of New Mutants, led by Franklin Richards. You get the picture. Otherwise, it was a lot the same as UM and M1, but definitely still fun.

DCU Dark Side- DCUDS was the brainchild of myself and Nate Charles, but I stepped back as soon as things got rolling. The idea was to take the core DCU, and amp up the danger. Magic was given an increased presence, and the bad guys won in a few places. It was the same DCU, but because of the events in the War of Kingdoms storyline, it was much much darker. It wasn't like Strange Tales, only using the D-listers (or lower). There was Batman, Aquaman, the JSA, and Superman almost happened. The stories were a lot of fun to read, and all of them that I read had a real dark tone, exactly what it was going for.

Pendragons- This great site is definitely not dead, but it's definitely waned over the course of several years. Founded by Barry Reese, it started as an imprint specific site (see below) based around the Marvel UK characters, but expanded to include the entire MU. The great thing about the site was in that expansion, it didn't lose sight of its original purpose. What started as a core Marvel universe site, became one of the most unique and fun fanfic sites out there. Hopefully, it'll get back on its feet and soon.

Any Imprint Specific site- I'm talking here about sites like Web Spinners, or Revolution X, or even MX and AV2K, pre-expansion into the entire MU. These are sites that were focused on one part of their respective universes. Web Spinners was Spider-Man centric, Revolution X and MX were X-Men centric, and Avengers 2000 was (duh) Avengers centric. These sites were all great, but the problem was one of two things- they would all either end up a) expanding into the entire universe they were based in; or, b) folding like a cheap suit. The X-Men line has been done to death and honestly Avengers is broad enough to include almost the entire Marvel universe, but I would love to see a site based around strictly Spider-Man, Gotham or space characters (from any universe) survive on a long-term basis.

Thoughts?

Holy crap...

2009-02-18T18:51:35Z

Probably the single sexiest bit of comic book art ever...

http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/02/18/blog-pulls-out-the-red-carpet/

Coldplay's new video (classic!!)

2009-02-18T17:40:14Z

Supernatural

2009-02-12T18:55:55Z

So, on a fluke, Ali and I decided to give a new show a try during the last week of my Christmas vacation. We actually disagreed on which to try (she wanted the Starter Wife, I wanted Supernatural) so... we tried both! Now, the Starter Wife was actually a lot of fun. At first, it seemed like a standard 90-minute chick-flick crammed a six hour miniseries, but it turned into a great Hollywood satire. Recommended but not the point of my post.

So, after we watched an hour of Starter Wife, we threw in Supernatural. Three hours of demon hunting and sibling bickering later, we'd watched the entire first disk and were putting our coats on to return disk one and rent disk two.

Supernatural is the story of Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles). When Sam was six months old, a supernatural force killed their mother and nearly killed both brothers and their father. This drove their father John (Jeffery Dean Morgan) to become a hunter of all things evil- demons, spirits, mystics, monsters, you name it- and train his sons to do the same. At the beginning of the show, Sam has been away at college, almost ready to graduate. A rift had been created between Sam and his father when he went away, and the two hadn't talked in years. Dean shows up on Sam's doorstep with bad news- their father went out on a "hunt" a while before and had since dropped off the map. With that news, Sam joins Dean to find their father, and, due to circumstances I won't spoil, hits the road with his brother to resume killing evil things.

This is the first time that I've thoroughly enjoyed horror. Ask Ali- I'm a huge scaredy cat. She won't cuddle me during scary movies because when I jump, I JUMP. About a foot off the couch, usually.

My favorite parts of the show is 100% the chemistry between the leads. Jensen and Jared could actually be brothers. Although they don't look much alike, they play the dynamic between sibling evil-hunters Sam and Dean Winchester wonderfully. Another great aspect of the show is the unique take the series often takes on mythology. I've heard of circles of salt warding off demons/ghosts, but shotguns with rock salt instead of pellets having the same effect? Nice touch!

My biggest gripe is that some episodes are too short- you can tell the episode, while not bad, would be better if they had a little bit more time to tell the story. As such, in those episodes, the resolution is often rushed. That's only a problem for a few episodes though.

If you haven't given this show a try yet, do it. Go out an rent the first disk. You'll get hooked fast.

Hulk Vs. DVD Review Part 1

2009-01-29T00:41:55Z

So, I took a chance today and bought Hulk Vs. 2-Disc set. The Wolverine and Thor films are completely separate, actually on each of the discs.

Today, I sat down for the Wolverine feature.

The first half of the film was a pre-X-Men Wolverine tracking the Hulk on behalf of Department H after Banner destroyed a small Canadian town. After a 5-10 minute throw down, the duo are attacked by Weapon X- Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red and, my absolute favorite part of this 40 minutes, Deadpool. WX wants to dissect Doctor Banner to create even better weapons than they already have. As often happens when the Hulk is involved, this doesn't end well.

The biggest problem was the length- just shy of 40 minutes. Of course, of that time, at least 30 were Wolverine and Hulk pounding on each other or on Weapon X. That nearly makes up for the brevity of the film. Another small problem is the fact that this isn't so much a Hulk story as it is a Wolverine story with Hulk guest-starring.

The best part? The voice acting, bar none. Fred Tatasciore plays the Hulk perfectly. Steve Blum is a fantastic Wolverine. The cast's best member is Nolan North as Deadpool. North is absolutely perfect as the Merc with a Mouth. Ryan Reynolds has a lot to live up to this spring to be equal to North's interpretation of the 'Pool-Man.

Overall rating- B. Could have been better if a bit longer.

Obama's cabinet disappoints the new President

2009-01-29T00:11:17Z

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/obama_disappointed_cabinet_failed

Yes, it's the Onion, but it's pretty blasted funny.