The Gaming Den

Maxus wrote:This has been a good weekend for entertainment.

I saw Kung Fu Hustle today.

Love the movie.

Heckz yeah.

I enjoyed Shaolin Soccer as well, even if it was a little less polished than Kung Fu Hustle.

Yeah, you can tell Soccer was done first with like 1/4 the budget. It's still good though!

I was playing Mario Galaxy 2 this afternoon. Some of the levels are pretty crazy, things "every time you jump, half the level vanishes and the other half reappears". More than once, after getting the star, I looked back at the level and thought "That was bloody amazing."

I intend to get Mario Galaxy 2 once I get through my broke period at the moment.

Heard about a movie called "Tokyo Gore Police" and from everything I've seen, it looks like the usual over the top, hyper-gory asian independent film. Pretty much what I expected, really.

there's a seen where two people are dueling with chainsaws...
That was pretty damned awesome.

I'm slowly watching some flick I dvred of HBO called "City of Ember."

it has BIll Murray as what seems to be a corrupt mayor in an underground city where no one knows about the real world. Some of the ways they run things is interesting. it kinda rocked my world that they show that they have few resources and so they use things like messengers and jobs that are chosen for you rather than ones you want. I like the idea that a fallout city relies on semi-socialistic principles.

Yeah, kids' movies often rock, when they're allowed to be what they are.

-Crissa

Had a feel-good moment today.

Near work, there's a used bookstore that I've been using since I started this job (about a year ago). Well, I went in today to chat and browse, and one of the owners gave me a bound edition of the first five issues of Haunt.

Autographed to me, by Todd McFarlane. She said he was at a conference and was signing these, and I'd been a great customer for the past year, so they'd grabbed it.

I read it before work. Probably going to keep it as a collectible.

The story's...allright, I guess. But what really gave me the warm fuzzies was the note thanking me for being a good customer.

Maxus: that's pretty cool. Todd mcfarlane can go suck it for all I care but the used bookstore awesomeness is awesomeness.

See... I still like McFarlane... I don't quite understand everyone's problem with him is. But then.. I think the last time I really saw anything of his short of a figure his company produced, was when I was 15...

MacFarlane suffers a bit from American MacGee syndrome:



But a lot of the Todd MacFarlane hate stems from people being Neil Gaiman fanbitches. MacFarlane screwed Gaiman in a deal over character rights, Neil Gaiman sued and won, and all the people who wear Sandman footy pajamas hate MacFarlane 4evar.

-Username17

Before my time, I think. I remember Spawn from the 90's, but never really read the comics.

The story in Haunt isn't grabbing me, but this is pretty much. A little wikipedia work says that McFarlane and another comicer named Kirkland collaborated for the story, and now Kirkland writes and McFarlane does inks and covers, so it might be interesting to try to follow up on.

I like the art, mind you. And the powers. But, eh...

oh,, that's Mcfarlane. Sorry, confusing him with the Cerebus dude.

He once said that whoever would write him a letter would get a signed copy of a Cerebus TPB. Apparently he was under the impression that people don't write when not on the computer. I wrote him a letter and so did my then roommate. Neither of us have yet received our TPB.

So, Dave Sims can suck it for all I care.

Granted, I am something of a Gaiman fanbitch. But, I don't care about the suit.

Yeah, I'm a bit of a Gaiman fanbitch too, but I never heard about the suit...

WHat's funny is that the best books that he seems to write are children's picture books and other books along those lines. sandman and Miracleman were both excellent. But he doesn't seem to do much else fine comic work.

His novels are good but again doesn't seem to do much of those anymore either.

So I have made my daughter a gaiman fan (see justcan't get around to calling her a bitch...) to books like Scary Alphabet, and WOlves in the wall, Crazy Hair, and Blueberry girl.

Spliced was actually pretty good. Enjoyable at least. I mean it's worst problems were incompetent scientists as lead characters and hollywood science. As for a moment that rocked me...Dren sprouting her wings. That was actually pretty awesome.

Cynic wrote:WHat's funny is that the best books that he seems to write are children's picture books and other books along those lines. sandman and Miracleman were both excellent. But he doesn't seem to do much else fine comic work.

His novels are good but again doesn't seem to do much of those anymore either.

So I have made my daughter a gaiman fan (see justcan't get around to calling her a bitch...) to books like Scary Alphabet, and WOlves in the wall, Crazy Hair, and Blueberry girl.

I have the Graveyard Book (and liked it), and read Coraline (and liked it), but haven't gotten to the stuff like American Gods.

Maxus wrote:I have the Graveyard Book (and liked it), and read Coraline (and liked it), but haven't gotten to the stuff like American Gods.

Personally, I think American Gods is excellent. However, it borrows a lot from Princess Mononoke, which I believe Gaiman was working on as a localizer around the same time. The ending is also a bit of a cop out.

The Graveyard Book, Coraline, Anasi Boys, and Stardust are all very fun and enjoyable books. I wasn't a really big fan of Neverwhere, though-Mieville's Un Lun Dun covers much of the same ground and is a lot more fun in the process.

neverwhere was done first as a tv serial for the BBC and that is much more enjoyable than the novelization.

I am having fun reading "Odd and the Frost Giants" right now.

Mieville is awesome. I keep wanting to read "The city and the city" but never find it in teh library.

The City and the City is really good. I don't normally read thrillers (for no reason in particular), so I don't know how it compares to other books of the same genre, but as far as it compares to his other books, it's excellent. One of its only real flaws is mieville's continued insistence on every single one of his character's use of "fuck" every other word that they say. It's not offensive or anything, it just honestly detracts from the word's efficacy in conveying strong emotions.

American Gods blows. Everyone is incredibly unlikable and the story doesn't go anywhere. Not only is the resolution unbelievable, but you don't even want the protagonists to achieve it.

-Username17

I disliked American Gods. I read it anyway though, so I guess I can't have disliked it that much. The Graveyard Book was ok. It was pretty predictable, but then it is meant for children. Still, other children's books do not suffer from this. Neverwhere was pretty good, especially the bad and shady guys. Sandman was great. Ok, some of the stories were a little weak and in others I hated the artwork but overall it is the best comic I read so far.

Now, I do have Good Omens. But that's more because I'm a Pratchett fan than a Gaiman fan.

But the essays in the back are nice.

http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/ ... preciation

http://books.google.com/books?id=MX4Suj ... &q&f=false

But Neverwhere made good TV. And I liked the actor for the protagonist, of course.

-Crissa