The Nightly Show at it's Worst

Here's the Real Deal with Bill McNeil. I like Larry Wilmore and at times I like the Nightly Show. Yes, it's no Colbert Report but the Colbert Report was like a golden unicorn that farted Legendary set Items from Diablo. It's a rare animal that we'll probably never see again. Hell, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert is no Colbert Report and it's the same guy!

Anyway my point is that the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore can be lots of fun while still being very entertaining. It can also be a screeching shit show that makes me want to put a boot through my TV. Last nights episode where a couple comedians huckle and chuckle over Bill Nye trying to explain why science and exploration is important to all of mankind was definitely in the screeching shit show category.

I'm really hoping they do something to the format of the Nightly Show. The panel just doesn't work, even when they get knowledgeable people who seem to actually care about the things they're discussing they're usually drowned out by pseudo celebrities that are just trying to get themselves over so they can promote a film or a show. It doesn't generate serious debate and often it's not entertaining at all. The whole thing is weak tea.

Nose to Nose

Border Links

‘Empire Records’ 20 Years Later: A ’90s Movie Unstuck In Time. Yikes... here's another one of those things that makes me feel hella old. Much like the Goonies or Clueless the cult of Empire Records has grown substantially over the last few years. Just more proof that the generation of kids stuck between X and Millennial should be called the Nostalgic Generation. We get nostalgic over anything. The stupider the better. Empire Records is a terrible movie that no one saw in the theater but I'll be damned if every Rex Manning day there aren't a dozen posts in my facebook feed about it. And I'll be double damned if I don't hit like on every one of them.

Damn the man.

LEGO Dimensions: The Kotaku Review. I'm not going to lie, I'm having a really hard time not running to the store and buying this right now. There's pretty much only two things keeping me from doing that. First, it's my son's birthday in about a month so if I'm going to drop $100 on a new game I should probably wait. Second, I kind of want it on the WiiU, a system I don't really have but have thought about trying to get the family for Christmas.

It's funny I was looking at some older posts a few days ago and I noticed that I blasted the WiiU a couple different times and now it's totally the system that I want. I'm definitely in a mode where I'd rather play Splatoon or Super Mario Maker than a new Halo or Uncharted game. Weird, huh?

18 People Who Are Clearly Having ‘One of Those Days’. These are funny. That is all.

Carl’s Jr. Border War Burger. I'm really confused with Carl's Jr commercials these days. Am I supposed to be eating the burger or having sex with it?

Things I want: Toyota Gundam Auris

Remember the commercial for the Toyota Camry Sport Edition where the woman says the car feels really grounded to the ground? Yeah this commercial for the Toyota Gundam Auris is pretty much the exact opposite of that.

If everything works out the way my wife and I would like it to (obviously a pretty big if) we might be in position to buy a new car in 2016. The Gundam Auris doesn't exactly check all the boxes for what we're looking for in a new family vehicle but who cares? GUNDAM.

Halo 5: A Hero Falls

Did you know there was a new Halo game coming out in like a month? I didn't. Or maybe I did. I don't really know. I guess that kind of ambivalence says a lot about the game... or me. Probably more about me.

It wasn't that long ago when I was THERE when a new Halo game came out but now? Now, I'm too busy worrying about how I can afford to buy my son Lego Dimensions AND Skylanders: Superchargers this Christmas. MAYBE if it was coming to PC along with the Xbox One I might be able to gather some enthusiasm. Can you imagine the shit storm that would happen if they shipped a nerfed version of Halo 5 to the PC geeks? Or worse they didn't nerf it and it blew away the Xbox One with higher textrures at 1080p and 60fps? Now that would be something for this snarky blogger to get excited about.

New Jessica Jones teaser

So the last Jessica Jones teaser was basically just a title screen that told you when the show was premiering. This teaser gives you a short glimpse at the character. Apparently she likes to drink and she hates alarm clocks. Knowing what I know about the comic series that this show is based on, I'm guessing Jessica Jones is going to be quite the shock to fans who only know Marvel properties through the movies. Lets just say parents aren't going to be clamoring for more Jessica Jones merch for their kids.

The Post Where I Complain About Emerald City Comicon Again

@emeraldcitycon What is this PAX?

— Kevin Newburn (@KevinNewburn) September 23, 2015

If you haven't heard 2016 Emerald City Comicon tickets went on sale on Wednesday. 4-day passes sold out in less than two hours and 3-day passes sold out in a little over 24 hours. That kinda sucks.

Now don't get me wrong, tickets to the event are still available. After the 3-Day passes sold out I bought tickets to each day individually but the difference between the 4 day pass and buying individual tickets was about $40 per person, since I'm going with friends and family it cost me an additional $80. The scuttlebutt on the internets is that the new owners of the convention, ReedPOP, significantly reduced the amount of passes available this year to drive people into the more expensive single day tickets. Considering 3-Day passes last year didn't sell out for about 8 weeks it's easy to imagine that is exactly what happened.

I didn't buy tickets right away because I assumed, like a moron, that I had a few weeks to gather my funds. I really didn't want to put tickets on the credit card and we're right in the middle of refinancing the house so I thought waiting until our new budget was set was the smart option. Oh well, live and learn right? I guess next year I'll have to set my alarm to buy tickets the second they're released.

I'm hoping this isn't a bad omen for ReedPOPs management of ECCC. It's quickly become one of my favorite events and I just want it to get bigger and better, not bigger and worse.

Descent Links (it's a pun)

Ta-Nehisi Coates to Write Black Panther Comic for Marvel. Hey new Black Panther! One of my favorite creative runs on a comic title is Christopher Priests run on Black Panther from way back in the late 90s early aughts. I'm hoping this one is just as good.

A lot of the Marvel Reboots coming from the big Secret War have sounded like more of the same thing just with a slight twist or change in creative team. Kinda like giving Malibu Stacey a new Hat. This book might not be an earth shattering change for the Black Panther but it's one of the few new books that I'm really excited about.

Devon Star Wars Watch. That is a gorgeous watch, and I'm not a watch guy at all. I haven't worn a watch since like 1992 when I saved for months to buy this super cool divers watch that was just like the one Dirk Pitt wore. I lost in less than a year and have never even thought about buying another watch. Watches are stupid wastes of money and this Star Wars one is the stupidest waste at $28,000 dollars! Imagine losing that.

‘Seven’ Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker Looks Back At What’s Inside The Box, 20 Years Later. Man, Seven is a good movie, hard to believe its been 20 years Look at how young everyone looks in that picture. I mean Brad Pitt is some sort of space mutant that hasn't aged at all but Kevin Spacey is a baby!

Hands-on with the Sublevel Zero preview build—it’s Descent, and that’s great. This game looks like fun.

Blackalicious: The Blowup

I stumbled across this video for the Blackalicious song The Blowup and omg, it's the greatest thing ever. How it only has 60,000 views I have no idea. Spending too much time on the internet I've seen a lot of these mashup videos but I don't know if I've ever seen one as good as this. Whoever edited it is a certified genius.

Turn up the bass on your laptop or tablet and bump this like it was the Humpty Dance.

10 Bloopers That Made It Into The Final Cut

Screen Rant put together a pretty entertaining list of bloopers that made it into the final cut of movies. Most of them have to do with people getting hurt unintentionally so I was kind of surprised the left out the scene in Lord of the Rings where Viggo Mortensen kicks a helmet and breaks his toe. Still a good list. I think the one from Midnight Cowboy was my favorite.

Pizza Rat, Pizza Rat, does whatever a Pizza Rat Does

Look at that rat, he's so cute. He thinks he's people. Wait, he's stealing my Pizza! Someone stop that rat, I got that at Famous Original Ray's!

Waste of Time

Via LoadingArtist

WWE Debuts of WCW Legends

Here's a fun list for anyone that watches or used to watch the pro graps (that's what the cool people call professional wrestling these days). One of the best things about the old Monday night War between the WWF (now WWE) and WCW was the surprise debut of a wrestler from the other promotion. you still see that on a smaller scale when WWE signs a guy from the indies but it's not quite the same.

On a related note, WCW legend Sting wrestled in the main event of last nights WWE PPV. It didn't go well. Sting took a couple bumps no 56 year old has any business taking. It's being reported that he suffered a serious, possibly career threatening, injury when WWE Champion Seth Rollins powerbombed him into a turnbuckle. I guess it's commendable that Sting was so game to make this a special match but someone in the WWE has to be able to step in and tell them to dial it down a bit.

Here's hoping he makes a speedy recovery, I like my pretend violence to stay pretend. Seeing guys get hurt, especially legends like Sting, is awful.

Lego Dimensions Launch trailer

I'm not going to lie to you, this trailer might have just cost me $100. How can I not get this? I mean, how can I not get this for me son?

No, screw it. I want to play this stupid game. I was going to wait until Christmas rolled around to see if I could get any black friday deals but I don't think I can wait that long. This Midway Arcade expansion pack is what really sold me on this:



Would you look at that set? The guy has a coke and is going to play defender. You know who love to drink coke and play defender? This guy. Plus it comes with a Spyhunter car? I LOVE SPYHUNTER. If you could somehow turn the car into a boat too, I think I'd sell a kidney to buy this.

Happy early Christmas Me Logan.

Sharks Rule

Link-nado

G.I. Joe Creator Sues to Regain Rights to $100 Million Copyright. Good luck buddy. Maybe he'll get a settlement out of this but so far creators doing work for hire haven't had much luck in the courts getting ownership of their creations back. This case is a little different as the GI Joe creator says he independently came up with the idea of the original GI Joe doll and THEN he pitched it to Hasbro. I don't know, I'm just a simple caveman, your world frightens and confuses me...

The Oath Keepers Are Ready for War with the Federal Government. And now onto some guys that think they're GI Joe. Have you heard of the Oath Keepers? These guys are nutso. They're the literal interpretation of the 2nd amendment taking up arms against the government to protect the constitution. Warning, this is a super long read but I think given the current political climate it's well worth the time. Just remember the next time some kid is shot by a police officer because he was holding a toy guy that just a few months ago these guys drew guns against federal officials at Cliven Bundy's ranch and not one of them was arrested. USA USA USA.

Director Richard Donner On The Legacy Of ‘The Goonies,’ 30 Years Later. Another really LONG read, sorry about that. Still if you feel like getting your nostalgia on you could do worse than spending 15 minutes reading about The Goonies.

‘Firenado’ caused after lightning strikes bourbon-filled pond near Jim Beam facility. You know the old story; bourbon warehouse is hit by lightening, bourbon spills into pond, lightening hits pond, pond ignites into flames, wind causes fire tornado... it's really a tale as old as time.

The 1980s in Home Video Games

Here's a fun chart I found on the interwebs this week. It's a breakdown by year of every video game console and classic computer released in the 1980s, minus a couple really obscure nonsense systems that nobody remembers. They also took the added step of including what country the system was released in so you don't get all confused about never seeing any Sinclair Spectrum +2s at the Sears on Aurora.

Man 1982 was really your money year. The 2600, the 5200, Colecovision, the Commodore 64. That must have been a tough year to be a nerd on a limited budget. Back in 82 I'm pretty sure you could buy a car for the price of a Vectrex.

Cats Vs Zombies

Well it looks better than Fear the Walking Dead. I kid... kind of.

Pixel Gun 3d: The Review

A few weeks ago my son introduced me to a new game (yep, that's a thing that happens now) called Pixel Gun 3d. It's funny, Minecraft is so popular that there's this whole subgenre of minecraft rip-off games. Basically take any game you've liked in the past 20 years, make the graphics look like Minecraft then take your dump truck to the bank and collect your monies. That's the long way of me saying that Pixel Gun 3d is basically Call of Duty set in Minecraft.

Like any good mobile game (did I mention I was playing this on the Kindle Fire HD 7?) the game is free but if you want to actually have any fun in the game you've got to pay, more on that later. The game has all the basic first person shooter modes: Team deathmatch, Capture the flag, a campaign mode everyone ignores... It even has levels ripped from popular games. The fact that I recognized a couple but I haven't played a popular fps in a couple years leads me to believe all the levels are ripped off from something. It's dirty pool from the designers but as a player I kind of like the familiarity. The controls are pretty decent too. It took a few matches to get used to them but once you do circle strafes for everyone!

One of the most successful and addicting parts of playing shooters like Call of Duty is leveling up and getting more gear. Pixel Gun handles this by rewarding players with coins and gems whenever they finish a match with a win or complete a level on campaign. It's pretty standard fare for a mobile game. If I had to guess I'd say I played the game for an hour before I was able to afford one new weapon. Eventually I caved and spent a couple dollars to get enough coins or gems to grab a few different upgrades. I don't mind spending a dollar or two on a game I'm going to play a lot. So no big deal. Of course once you buy cool gear you get put in matches with other players with cool gear so the games get a lot harder, making you want to buy even more cool gear, right?

Long story slightly shorter, Pixel Gun 3d is pretty fun. It's not going to kill you to try it out. I mean, I'll probably kill you. In the game. Not in real life of course.

HARDCORE: Official trailer

About a year ago I posted a "trailer" for the movie Hardcore. Turns out that wasn't really a trailer as much as it was a short film intended to raise some cash to actually make the movie Hardcore. Well it was very successful so the movie got made and now we have the real trailer.

I'm not 100% sure I could actually watch this for 90 minutes but its cool to look at for a couple minutes on youtube. I mean at this point even I'm getting kind of sick of Superhero movies and remakes of classic action flicks from the 80s. At least the writer/director of Hardcore is trying something new.

LADYBABY「ニッポン饅頭 / Nippon Manju

Have you heard Ladybaby's newest album? You can get the new CD+DVD for just 1,200. I'm not sure if that's yen, dollars or units of the blood of lost souls but either way it seems like a deal.

Underpaid Links

Dragon*Con 2015 Favorite Cosplay. As someone that's put together their fare share of cosplay galleries I can hands down attest tot he fact that Dragon*Con has the best Cosplay. This gallery from our friend Norman is as impressive as it is long.

Sasha Banks, The New Day, And WWE’s Black Revolution. Since Vince McMahon has run the WWF/WWE (30+ years) there have been only one black wrestler to hold the top belt. Plenty of black wrestlers have held the other title belts but the Rock (who some argue that in this context he isn't Black enough, whatever that means) is the only one to be the chosen face of the company. That's a pretty awful track record.

I Went Undercover to Find Out What It Takes to Be an Underpaid NBA Cheerleader. Over the last few years there have been a lot of stories about how being a professional cheerleader sucks. I don't doubt them one bit. However, if there are a thousand girls willing to take your job are you really underpaid? There's sort of a supply and demand thing going on here, if the job's not worth it you shouldn't take it. Maybe they should all unionize.

Hands-on with the iPad Pro, its keyboard, and its pencil. I give Apple a ton of flack, most of it stems back to how awful the original Mac was compared to the Apple IIgs, but the IIgs was buried while the Mac was pushed to the moon all because Steve Jobs didn't really like computers. Also Apple fanboys are the worst. Anyway, this new iPad Pro and the pencil thingy it comes with actually has my interest. I know they're not really doing anything that hasn't been done before but as an artist I really want to play with it. Sitting on the couch watching NXT drawing comics on my tablet eating a big block of cheese. That's the dream right there.

New Jessica Jones trailer... kind of

Earlier this morning Netflix posted this teaser trailer, which isn't even a teaser trailer it's more of like a video press release, for Jessica Jones. Which was originally called Alias: AKA Jessica Jones, then AKA Jessica Jones and now it's just Jessica Jones. In another couple months it's going to just be called JJ.

Ok, I'm rambling.

Netflix plans on releasing a new Marvel superhero based TV show about every six months and if they can maintain the quality of Daredevil WOOOWEEE they're very quickly going to have an amazing superhero catalog. We're smack dab in the golden age of Superhero movies, it looks like we're on our way to the golden age of Superhero TV shows as well.

Suck My Surface

Man I have been buried today. During lunch I was able to read up a bit on the big Apple thingamadoo but that's about it. Here's a pretty funny cartoon about the new keyboard/cover thing they've got for the new iPad. They also are giving the Apple TV aps, and the iPad a stylus. Welcome to 2012 Apple!

I'm taking my talents to the Adult Power Wheels Racing Series

I haven't been super happy at my job recently, I'm not actively looking for a new one or anything but I've been entertaining the thought. Professional Power Wheel Race car driver might be right up my alley. I don't mean to brag but I came in third in an indoor go cart race once, I got a trophy and everything. Also I'm pretty good at Mario Cart.

So who wants to sponsor my team? I'm going to need someone with a ton of cash a a history of making bad decisions.

Hey, wha?????

This is me right now, trying to kill shit with a sweet ass throwing star and then some damn bird swoops in and snatches it right out of the gdamn air.

A Tradition of Links

The Ten Weirdest Unsolved Vehicular Mysteries. I'm pretty sure every one of these would make a great Clive Cussler novel. In fact I believe a couple of them already have.

Also, kinda scary how many unrecovered nuclear weapons there are out there.

PAX Prime 2015 in pictures: Cosplay, cartridge art, and classic gaming. Lots of cool pictures from PAX to be found in this article. PAX is one of those things that always looks like a lot of fun but I've never actually tried to go. I'm not the biggest video gamer anymore and I haven't played a tabletop game like Magic or D&D in well over a decade. Still, maybe next year when tickets go on sales I'll try to get a pair. Even if I decided not to go at the last minute I could always sell them.

The Inside Story Of How The First MTV VMAs Created A Tradition Of Making Censors Sweat. This is a really nice long form article on the MTV Music Awards, how they came to be and what they meant to the network in the early years.

The end of Aqua Teen Hunger Force marks the end of an era for TV animation. I guess we're really firing up the nostalgia-machine today. This look back on ATHF and the early days of Adult Swim is pretty interesting. I don't catch as much Adult Swim as I used to but I did stumble upon the ATHF finale last weekend and it made me a bit wistful. It's funny just how influential those early Adult Swim were, stuff like Archer, Bob's Burgers, Rick and Morty all seem to owe a great deal to Space Ghost, ATHF and Sealab 2020.

New Boba Fett Trailer... kind of

Some uber-fan out there edited together a bunch of Boba Fett footage from ROTJ, spliced it with some killer cosplay, added a bit of special effect magic, sprinkled the whole thing with love and made a really killer Trailer for the not yet announced, but come on you know it's coming, Boba Fett movie.

I'm not a huge fan of Disney just buying every intellectual property they can get their hands on but in the case of Star Wars how can you not be a fan of what they're doing? This is as excited as I've been about Star Wars since The Admiral Thrawn trillogy blew open the doors to the expanded universe. Anything can happen.

Back to the Future in 1.21 minutes

Some glorious net nerd decided to take it upon themselves to edit the Back to the Future trilogy down to 1.21 minutes. It's certainly worth the short amount of time it takes to watch. If I had to pick a nit the only thing I would say is that it doesn't capture the plot of Back to the Future II very well.