Black Adder, Black Adder!

All I have to say is, wow...Rowan Atkinson can talk...and he's even wittier/funnier when he does! As most kids growing up in the US of A knew who he was but only as Mr. Bean. Little did I know this man has done some extremely witty things with his words...and he doesn't always look insanely stupid.

My sister was the first one to introduce me to the show Black Adder. I saw two episodes of the second series and was delighted with it. After two years and a bit of convincing for my Sihaya to actually let the DVD come through Netflix (and stop moving it down the list for other movies) we received and watched the first series. Followed by the second. Then the third. We are waiting the arrival of the fourth and last one but have enjoyed the show thoroughly. The seasons are short, the dialogue is quick, and the situations are hilarious. Good clean (or close to clean) fun for all! I highly recommend this series for those young and silly at heart.



P.S. I forgot to mention this guy is in the last two series also:

Breat of Fire IV

Much to the relief of my sihaya (I've been bothering them alot) I've found a new video game to attach myself to. And seeing that I'm playing a game from 9 years ago, this schpeel has already been done and this game has now faded in the minds of everyone who didn't really care about it in the first place. Which is exactly what it was, a forgettable game in a sub-par series.

The problem with the Breath of Fire series was that if you're not a big fan of dragons (which I actually am...to an unhealthy level) there wasn't really much else for you. The first one had the transformation capabilities of Karn (which only gave you three options) and Ryu. The second one had the transformations of the Shamans, Ryu, and the town building aspect. These two didn't do anything amazing for the C-RPG universe and the stories were pretty bland. The only one I felt was somewhat interesting (but the most frustrating of all) was Breath of Fire III. It began to change itself by adding mini-games to the actually plot of the story instead of adding them as side quests. It also added an apprentice/master system, where you could learn new skills from different teachers or you could acquire other skills from enemies. This installment began trying to spice up the genre a bit, I thought. However, it tried a little too hard by adding one too many mini-games that HAD to be completed before moving on to the next part of the game and this in and of itself took all that progress they had made and shat on it. I cannot describe to you the immense amount of rage unleashed when I was forced to walk across a desert by slowly moving forward and trying to figure out how many steps I needed to take to the East before I turned NorthEast. This very scenario caused me to put down the game for over a year (and picking it back up to finish the game also caused great anguish when I realized the ending was not worth all that effort).

Breath of Fire IV is much in this same vein unfortunately. The graphics are better, the storyline has had a very nice overhaul, and the minigames have been much more tolerable (though there are tons more of them). Nevertheless, there's nothing that truly sticks out to me and I've already screamed at the TV roughly around three or four times through 10 hours of gameplay. I think most of this is due to the odd camera angle, which is diagonal based though the controller is not. This makes walking up ladders and into doors extremely trying at times. All in all, this is a great game if you like staring at dragons and just need something to waste time that you're not too committed to (so you can put it down at any moment and never touch it again). For anyone else, just keep it where it was in your mind before I wrote this, in the stuff I forgot category.

I am the who that watches the watchmen

I went to go watch the Watchmen in the theaters this past weekend and I'd just like to make a comment on the movie. It didn't completely enamor me like 300 did (the same guy directed it) and I could definitely see elements from his style but it was surprisingly good.

I didn't expect much from it since Watchmen has a slow paced not very action packed story (that doesn't make it bad by all means, it's perfect the way it is) which usually doesn't transfer well to the big screen but Zack Snyder (the director) did a good job straddling the fence. He definitely kept it faithful enough to the graphic novel that fans could enjoy it but added enough action so that it would still be entertaining, even for those who haven't read it. I do recommend reading the graphic novel before you go see it.

Oh, and don't take the young ones because there is a full sex scene and a lot of Dr. Manhattan's blue penis and Miss Jupiter's boobies...

China v. Japan

So I've been on hiatus due to balancing laziness with studying asian and buddhist art history (I know, they're very VERY similar...in fact, some of you might think it's the same thing). I've especially been trying to get past India/Pakistan beginnings of Buddhist art into later versions of it from China and Japan (Korea hasn't peeked my interest yet even though they are a very key player in the history of Buddhism). Okay, now that I've given a background for my schpeel here it is.

I'm starting to find myself really shocked at how people in American culture praise all things Japanese yet think all things Chinese cheap and unappealing. I know American culture doesn't really help with things like cheap products from Chinese soil or the infamous slop we call Chinese food and all high priced trendy things such as sushi and video games coming from Japan but if you take a closer look at the two you'll notice quite the opposite.

For those of you not familiar with these two Asian superpowers, here's the lowdown. China is the vast empire that spans much of Asia with all those billions of people while Japan is a little fishing island that wasn't suitably populated for a few hundred years after China. Looking at their accomplishments, you'd see that China is the earliest known country to have created bronze and established cities and government centers. Japan is mroe famously known for innovating nintendo. China has given us movies like Hero, Once Upon a Time in China, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Japan is known for Pokemon. China is known for Bruce Lee. Japan is known for this guy...


Once upon a time in High School, I had a science teacher that absolutely hated the French because he said they stole all their good ideas from other countries (besides prostition all other things we know of as french are from other cultures if you think about it). Japan's the France of Asia. And China would most likely be Italy. You know, the place the reniassance happened in.

So to sum this rant all up, China is cooler than Japan in so many ways. At least China's DONE something besides make anime. I mean, it's pretty sad when the best film director you've had died ten years ago and no one has taken his place. So stop thinking Japan is chic, it should be China you're looking at.

Stop the epidemic! (Why ninjas are not cool)

Okay, I've been having this problem for a while now. And it's finally got to the point where I'm going to talk about it on my blog (get ready). I don't understand this American obsession with ninjas. I especially see it with 'nerd' cultures such as video games, comic books, anime, internet, etc. They use not only this word but the outfits for EVERYTHING and it's not cool anymore. I'm getting sick of things like Dr. Mcninja, Ask a Ninja, Naruto, and screen names like NinjaSquid, girlninja42, etc. Just because you add the word ninja to it does NOT make it cool! NO! Stop right now!

I just can't take it and it has nothing to do with bastardizing culture this time. Ninjas were just mercenaries in Japan so I have nothing against using their name for anything. I mean, mercenaries do anything for a buck right? Why not sell your title?

On another point they don't even look that cool. Samurai's had much more awesome outfits...At least they knew how to use color!

Anyways, I'm absolutely appalled at this overuse of ONE word. This internet thing needs more originality. Originality the word Ninja is slowly consuming with it's overuse!

Black Metal...the comic?

Anyone who has ever listened to (and appreciated) black metal can tell you that it's epic. Epic in a sense of ancient gods, gruesome battles, and intricate pagan rituals. Not all black metal fits in this but for the most part, it comes with the screeching vocals and double-kick drum beats that define it. This comic book was MADE for these fans. Anyone that has not listened to black metal or appreciated the amazing musical talent that makes it up will not really understand this book. However, if you are the type of person that emjoys these melodies of the dark then you will enjoy this book thoroughly.

The plot is about two orphans living in a foster home that find a sword. I won't go any farther than that because it would ruin anything else I say. It starts out kind of blah and childish. I first thought it was going to be more about making fun of kids with different musical styles, but by the 10th or so page it takes a different turn and engulfs you into an epic story.

I don't feel the artwork does the storyline justice since it harkens back to Genndy Tartakovsky's cutesy style (think Dexter's Laboratory). This also turned me off in the beginning since it seems to make the visuals a little less epic (I know, I keep using this word...great that you noticed too) than the reading. Nevertheless, there are a few scenes in the book that are done rather well and the artist has done a great job of telling the story in a dynamic way (you'd be surprised how hard it is to make a graphic novel READ in an epic way).

I highly recommend this book to anyone that even has interest in black metal. It's a great opening chapter to the epic-ness (I used it again) that is this genre and a wonderful way to introduce your local black metal fan to the world of comics.

Bed Time

A continuation to the short story I did a while ago:

The orbital pattern always caused the sun to glare through her window every time she tried to go to sleep. And every time she'd turn, pull the covers farther up her body and fade away. This time was different. Instead of dreaming she was getting a headache from trying to put herself to sleep. No matter what position she tried it wasn't comfortable, and in the end, she sat up and walked out of the bedroom.

The hallways were icy. Even with the carpeting and the imitation wood walls she could feel the cold chill of winter that clung to the steel structures that surrounded her little home. Wrapping herself into her night robe and donning her slippers she curled into her couch and touched the visual controller. Her wall lit up with the news.

"Eck." She touched the controller again and scrolled through the channels. "Nothing, nothing, nothing, boring, no." She finally settled for a classic movie and pulled herself farther into a ball.

The sounds of water flowing woke her from her soft sleep. At first she thought the Plasma was running the sound but opening her eyes revealed an old city street, no running water to be found. She looked around the room before heading down the hallway that led the living room to the bedroom. From there a puddle could be seen leading into the bath that sat in between the two. Running in she could see her waste recycling unit gurgling over with brown rancid liquid. Covering her mouth she desperately scanned the room for something to stop it. Rushing away from the disaster, she grabbed the closest Com and wired into the closest repair service she could find.

Hours later she sat, exhausted on her couch, the awful smell of wastes still in the air. She lifted the memo in her hand and read it one more time:

Wiring faulty and fried circuitry,
Should buy new unit
JBH Associates on Earth recommended.

She sighed and fell to the cushions...that can be taken care of tomorrow.