Daily Dose of Awesome: Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age by Holst

Daily Dose of Awesome: Priests Who Sound Like Christopher Lee

I was down in Florida this past weekend to attend the baptism of my niece (which is, alas, why I haven't been able to post as of late).  As we were there for several days, we went to church there as opposed to attending the church my family normally goes to.

Within seconds, I was wowed by the voice of the Florida priest.  He had one of those distinctive, deep, powerful voices that was befitting of the material.  Honestly, he sounded a lot like Christopher Lee.  As Christopher Lee is one of many actors with an awesome voice, it should come as no surprise that I got a huge kick out of listening to the man preach.

I don't care what your religion is, or if you even follow a religion for that matter, but you have to admit, having a preacher who sounds like Christopher Lee is pure win.  I think we need more priests with such distinctive voices.

It also makes for a draw as the church we went to was packed.  So clearly, I'm not alone as far as thinking that this is a great way to appeal to a wider crowd.

Daily Dose of Awesome: Megashark vs Mechashark

Daily Dose of Awesome: The Nom Nom Song

Daily Dose of Awesome: The Dream Lord

One of the highlights from the fifth season of Doctor Who was the episode called "Amy's Choice".  This was in no small part due to the presence of the one time villain played by Toby Jones who dubbed himself the "Dream Lord".  I loved this villain.   He was just so creepy and disturbing.  While he's a delight to watch throughout the entirety of the episode, it's his initial scene seen here where he really gets to shine.  It's so fun watching him screw with the TARDIS crew's heads.  I've watched this scene several times and it still sends chills up my spine.  It's great stuff.  While I'm not sure how it would work, I would love to see this villain make a comeback somehow as he really stood out to me.

Daily Dose of Awesome: Dog Changes His Mind

Daily Dose of Awesome: The Room

God bless this goofy movie.  I should make a point to say that this entry will differ from other ones in that The Room, cinematic opus of Tommy Wiseau, isn't awesome in the traditional sense; but more awesome in the fact that it's so awful.

The dialogue is laughably silly at times, and it's not helped by the fact that many of those lines are delivered with Wiseau's bizarre accent.  The movie will randomly cut from a scene to an exterior shot, only to go back to the same place we were before.  A lot of the lines were dubbed over, badly I might add, so a lot of the delivery sounds unnatural compared to what we see on screen.

The movie follows Johnny, a banker who is in love with Lisa, his future wife.  He dotes on her, buying her nice things and generally treating her well.  Alas, Lisa doesn't love Johnny and begins to have an affair with Johnny's best friend Mark.

It's a bit of a thin plot.  In fact, Wiseau runs out of story about 20 minutes in so events will just repeat themselves.  Characters will have multiple conversations about the same thing and Mark always has the same perplexed reaction when he discovers Lisa is making an advance on him.

This movie really has to be seen to be believed.  As horrible as it is, you'll find yourself engrossed by its sheer ineptitude.  It's one of the most entertaining things you'll see and if you can a group of friends together, I promise you will have a blast.

The movie has become a cult classic and some theaters still have showings.  I haven't been to one myself, but from what I read it is a time to be had.  Heckling is encouraged and people throw spoons at the screen as well as toss a football around in the aisles (the characters in this film really love to throw the football around).

If you haven't seen the movie yet, do it.  It really is beyond words.




                

Daily Dose of Awesome: Tom Waits/Cookie Monster Mashup Round 2

Daily Dose of Awesome: Riddle Me This

'Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia' book review

You can read my review here.

Pros

- Incredibly well put together hardcover edition that will look great on your bookshelf

- Chock full of content. Fans of the series will get all kinds of "behind the scenes" material that gives them a deeper look into the mythos of the franchise.

Cons

- It isn't particularly newbie friendly. If you're looking for a primer on the franchise, this may not be what you're looking for.

Overall

This book was very well put together and gives fans of the franchise a ton of cool stuff to peruse through.  It's a great addition to your library.  If you're not familiar with the franchise, you may want to borrow a copy before purchasing as it might not resonate as well with you.

Click here to join our Patreon campaign.

Daily Dose of Awesome: Tom Waits/Cookie Monster mashup

Daily Dose of Awesome: Shatner of the Mount

'Predators' movie review

You can read my review here.

Pros

- The movie does a great job of building up tension, even in regards to plot points that you may already know ahead of time. It really pulls you in and makes the viewing experience that much more entertaining.

- The cast all do a good job with their characters.  Even actors who seem out of place like Brody and Grace hold their own as their respective characters.

- We're given a deeper look at the Predator's culture and see them operate in a similar capacity while changing up enough that it doesn't feel like a rehash.

- Fantastic action sequences.

Cons

- Few of the characters are actually named, forcing you to mentally fall back on archetypal descriptions.

- Needed more Danny Trejo

Overall

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.  It delivered exactly what I had hoped it would.  It actually captures the spirit of the original while also doing it's own thing.  If you liked the first movie, this one actually manages to live up to that standard.

Click here to join our Patreon campaign.

If You're Rich, It's Your Own Bloody Fault

Income inequality has become a major issue in recent years.  From the perspective of the working class, it makes sense.  Our salaries and wages are stagnating while the rich get richer.  It doesn't help matters when they turn around and say that we're entitled for wanting to be able to make rent and pay for food.

Interestingly enough, rich people have weighed in.  Celebrities, most notably, have gone on record saying that they don't think that it's a fair system and that the distribution of wealth needs to be fixed.

The common response to this is "well, give it to charity".  Hilariously enough, they don't have a counter-argument for this.  They just shrug and go on spewing talking points.  To be fair, a lot of them do give money to charity, but there are a lot of worthwhile causes and these celebrities can clearly afford to give more.

But let's put charity aside, what they say that they really want to do is take their money and give it to other people.  I'm not sure where they got the idea that they needed the government to do this, but it simply isn't the case.  If you want to give your money away, there's nothing stopping you.

Again, Indiegogo, Kickstarter, Patreon, GoFundme, Fundrazr, if they wanted to, Zach Braff, Russell Brand, Thom Yorke, Warren Buffett, and Joe Hill could bankrupt themselves on these sites.

Here, I'll help get you started, here's a link to my patreon

http://www.patreon.com/egonlongshanks


Is that not enough? Here's another one

http://www.patreon.com/marzgurl


And another

http://www.patreon.com/user?u=145828


And another

http://www.patreon.com/lordkat


And another

http://www.patreon.com/thecinemasnob


And another

http://www.patreon.com/amaipetisu


And one more

http://www.patreon.com/nicolashamel


How about a couple of GoFundMe campaigns?

http://www.gofundme.com/g9wkc8

http://www.gofundme.com/fl0xc4

http://www.gofundme.com/cmyl9s


And an Indiegogo for good measure

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/atop-the-fourth-wall-the-movie#home


There, go nuts!


On top of that, there's paypal.  Or, they could buy things for random people off of their amazon wishlists.  It would be a nice surprise for the recipient and it would pump money into the economy as opposed to just letting it sit idle in a purportedly over sized bank account.

By their own logic, this would do wonders for the economy and it would alleviate them of the burden of wealth that capitalism has bestowed upon them.

Sadly, they won't do it.  For all their talk, the fact of the matter is that, deep down in places they don't like to talk about at parties, they like their money.  They like having multiple houses, a fleet of cars, a bowling alley in their basement, and an in-home movie theater.  Having all of this in and of itself isn't a problem.  They did, after all work for it, but it comes off as disingenuous to complain about wealth and how it needs to be redistributed and then decline when the opportunity to redistribute said wealth is placed right in front of you.

Heck, if these celebrities really felt like they were too rich, they could simply ask for less money.  Do you really think that a studio would argue if George Clooney or Tom Cruise responded to an offer with "No thanks, that's too much money for me.  I'll do it for a third of that"?  They'd be all over it.  The overhead would drop, allowing ticket prices to come down and it could even result in raises for the behind the scenes crew.  Not only would it help the problem that they are trying to address, but it would make the celebrity in question a stronger icon for the idea by living up to their own message.

Instead, they argue for more money.  From a business standpoint, there is nothing wrong with this, but again, this is a mindset that they denounce.

If you like being rich and want to revel in your success, that's fine.  If you can't stand by while people starve and want to give it away, choosing instead to live a modest life; that's fine too.  In fact, it's incredibly commendable.  You can't say you're in favor of one and do the other, however.  Could you split the difference and find a healthy middle ground? Probably, but even then, the rhetoric and level of commitment would have to be changed to reflect that.

Daily Dose of Awesome: Dog Fails Obedience Test

The objective is simple: to get the dog to run in a straight line.  The caveat is that the path is lined with food, treats, and toys.  Now, a few of the dogs do quite well.  The Golden Retriever on the other hand..well, you'll have to watch.  Was the addition of "Yakity Sax" necessary? Probably not, but it works well enough.  The video is still funny and adorable either way.

Daily Dose of Awesome: Batman vs. Godzilla

Daily Dose of Awesome: Theme Song to M.A.S.K

OK, I've never actually watched this show (or heard of it for that matter).  However, Pat the NES Punk, an internet personality, mentioned this in passing on a live stream a few years ago, saying that it was awesome.  I decided to check it out and came to the same conclusion.  I summed it up on twitter as being "cheese-tastic" and honestly, that word sums it up perfectly.  Just listen to it and you'll see what I mean.  It really is quite glorious and it's a blast to listen to.

Daily Dose of Awesome: Mastiff Takes a Swimming Lesson

Daily Dose of Awesome: 'Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" Broken Light

How the Government Can Increase Revenue Without Raising Taxes

Our government seems to be in a perpetual state of financial crisis.  The debt is piling up, we have unfunded liabilities up to the stratosphere, and our obligations continue to grow.  Seeing as revenues are already going up, you would think that the priority would be to cut wasteful spending and to pull back a little on some programs.  For reasons beyond my understanding, that is out of the question.  The only option seems to be to give the government more money.  Liberals say that this means tax hikes, but that doesn't really need to be the case.  You can keep tax rates the same (or even lower them) provided you find new ways to bring in money.  I myself have come up with several methods over the years, so I figured I would put them forward in a more official capacity.


Crowd funding


This seems to be the big trend on the internet.  There are Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Patreon campaigns, and Go fund me campaigns all over the internet.  If people believe in a project or a person, they will willingly throw their money at it.

So, why not tap into that mentality?  If the federal government put out an open call for donations to go towards the military, medicare, social security, or the debt; I have no doubt that people would throw some dollars at it.  The individual contributions may be small, but the beauty of crowd funding is that those small contributions pile up quickly.

You could do this on the state level too.  Have campaigns for better schools and roads, or higher pay for teachers and police officers.  There are some who actually want the government to have more of their money.  This would be the perfect chance to let them give it away.

Obama has been criticized for always going on fund raisers.  While there are times where this has resulted in bad optics, the problem isn't so much that he's out raising money, it is that he's raising money for useless things like campaigns.  Just think how different things would be if all that money went towards worthwhile endeavors.  You'd be able to fund the programs that need it, pay down debts to free up more capital, and improve the overall quality of life for people across the country.


GreaterGood Style Website


I believe I've mentioned this site before.  In any event, I'm a huge fan.  They raise money for all sorts of causes like literacy, fighting breast cancer, diabetes research, rain forest preservation, and a few others.  They do this through ad revenue generated by daily clicks.  Each individual click may not amount to a lot, but with click counts in the thousands, they have been able to do a lot of good and fund all sorts of humanitarian endeavors around the world.

Granted, the government has had problems with websites in the past, but I think that this is a great way for people to support the programs that they like.  If you're passionate about education, you can click that button.  If you want to get the debt paid down, click that button.  You could also do an "across the board" approach (like I do with Greatergood) for maximum benefit.

Like the crowd funding, this can be done on both a state and federal level.  It doesn't cost people any money out of pocket and companies would be willing to jump on for the promotion as well as the PR.

Over time, seemingly insurmountable goals could be overcome just by having people click some buttons on their computer screen.



Online Video Monetization


As a way to reach out to younger voters, Obama (as well as a few other politicians) have taken to putting speeches on YouTube.  It makes sense as it allows their ideas to go viral and spread to people who may not have otherwise heard them.

It would make sense to take advantage of that and monetize those videos for added revenue.  Much like with the previous suggestion, it's driven by ad revenue and hits, but it is different enough that I think it stands as its own suggestion.

If people can make a living off of YouTube, just think of the kind of money that the President of the United States could pull in.  He has millions of followers on Twitter alone.  Heck, I think even his detractors would watch.  Either they would want to hear what he has to say so that they can rebuke it, or they would just watch knowing that it would help balance the budget a little quicker than it otherwise would have.

This could, in turn, result in tax cuts (be they personal or corporate) later on down the line, allowing the private sector to flourish as well.



Wipeout


I think, personally, that this is the best idea of the bunch.  Admittedly, the potential gain isn't as great as the others, but it makes up for it in other ways.

I pitched this idea on Google + a while back and think it still stands as a worthwhile plan.  Follow me on this.  You get 12 Congressional Democrats and 12 Congressional Republicans to compete on "Wipeout" for $50,000 to go towards the program of their choice.  I'm guessing the right wingers would put it towards something military related or the debt while lefties would put it towards a social program.  In any event, it's a guaranteed win for America as one of the candidates has to win.  On top of that, we'd get to see officials attempt to cross wacky obstacle courses; getting hit, thrown into pools, and falling down a lot in the process.

Regardless of what end of the political aisle you're on, this will bring a smile to your face.  Considering how grim things have looked in the recent past, this will provide a vital morale boost.




People talk as if balancing the budget and paying down the debt are impossible tasks, but with the right mindset, it could be done with minimal intrusion on the already taxed taxpayers.

Daily Dose of Awesome: Daicon IV Music Video

Daily Dose of Awesome: Star Trek vs Star Wars

Daily Dose of Awesome: 'Jump' by Kris Kross

Daily Dose of Awesome: The Hero Your Hero Could Smell Like

'Joyland' by Stephen King novel review

You can read my review here.








Other articles


New 'Joyland' Information Released

Stephen King Appears on the 'Today' Show to Promote 'Joyland'

Dark Tower Movie Articles

Ron Howard Wants a Crack at Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' Series

I came across an article on CHUD saying that director Ron Howard is interested in adapting Stephen King's Dark Tower series to film.

You'll recall that for a while, J.J. Abrams had plans for the series, but decided to bow out after deciding that he couldn't do the series justice.  Along with Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Akiva Goldsman are said to be the ones who will be working behind the scenes.

Rather than do a series of movies, the plan, according to the rumor, is to have the movie act as a sort of pilot for a television series.

This is a weird plan, I must admit.  I know both have their pros and cons (movies give you a bigger budget, but TV gives you more room to tell a story) but by straddling the fence like this, I don't know if you're going to please anyone. 

The only similar example I can cite was Buffy, but that wasn't planned that way and while the show does make a few vague references, the film isn't really considered "canon" and both stand on their own.

Another thing to consider is time. As readers have pointed out, adapting a story this long takes a lot of it and you can't hide the age of your actors. That being said, there are alternatives *coughanimatedseriescough*.

According to the rumor, Universal is the studio who will back the project.

Nothing is official as of yet. Chud is a reliable movie news source, but I haven't come across anything else that confirms the story as of yet.  Something could come of it, and maybe it won't.  Given the history of this franchise and attempts to bring it to film, I'm leaning towards the latter, but we'll have to wait and see.

Edit:  A writer at Aintitcool posted an article on the topic, so it seems the story is making some waves.

Universal Acquires Rights to Dark Tower, Announces Plans for Trilogy and TV Series




J.J. Abrams Announces That He's Off the Dark Tower Project


*Originally published on 11/13/09



An article was posted at aintitcool saying that J.J. Abrams is dropping off of the film adaptation of the Dark Tower books.

For a long time, I figured this was just stuck in development hell, but than I found out that he was simply putting it on hold until he finished with his televsion series, Lost.  I have read rumors that this is the last season, so with that in mind I started to become curious as to whether or not this would take shape.

I'm not surprised, but I'm a bit disappointed at the same time.  I was curious to see if he could pull it off, and if so, how would he go about it?  With Abrams no longer attached, it will most likely be a while before something comes of this.  It may die out, or it could be like the Dragonball and Watchmen movies where it takes a decade, but it does finally get done.  If this is the case, let's pray it's closer to the latter than the former in terms of quality (in fairness, DBE wasn't nearly as terrible as I thought it would be going in).

Quint, the author of the article, states that an HBO series would be a better fit and I have to say that I agree.

Following up on yesterday's announcement that a new Dark Tower book may be on the horizon.  The article elaborates saying that it would take place between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla.






As a special treat, I'm going to post a video of a Q & A King did for a recent book signing in Dundalk, MD a couple of days ago.  You know, I used to live in Maryland.  I actually wasn't too far from Dundalk...Fate is mocking me ladies and gentlemen.

The crowd is a bit hard to hear, but the poster was nice enough to add text boxes so that we would know what questions were being asked.  King is surprisingly funny in front of the mic.  He also makes some pretty big announcements like a possible HBO series for Under the Dome as well as other projects like the Cell film.

I mentioned before how it was a pretty big week and it seems to only be getting bigger as far as King news goes.







The Dark Tower Casting Call

*Originally published on 10/27/09



If you look on youtube, you will find several fan made "trailers" for a possible Dark Tower  movie series.  Some are more well done than others.  Most just take footage from other movies and cut it in such a way that it looks like it could actually be from the book.  With the possibility of the book series coming to the big screen, I thought it would be fun to try and cast this puppy.  It's not going to be easy, but we'll see how things turn out.

Roland:  A lot of the trailers have Clint Eastwood as Roland.  This makes sense as King himself said that he had Eastwood in mind when writing the role, more specifically Eastwood in the old westerns.  Sadly, I think he's too old.  If there were just one movie, he might be able to pull off a decent job, he was actually really good in Gran Torino, a film that I didn't expect to be able to take him seriously in at all, but there are 7 books so it will be a huge undertaking.  As such, we'll have to find someone younger.

Though he plays a great cowboy, alas Sam Elliot is also too old, maybe they can work those two into some sort of supporting role.  That would be pretty cool.

I'd suggest Val Kilmer, but that's only because he was so great as Doc Holliday in Tombstone.  As awesome as Holliday is, personality wise, he's not a whole lot like Roland; they're two completely different characters.  Wyatt Earp on the other hand... you know, Kurt Russell could be pretty good now that I think about it.  He's not too old and he's no stranger to the cowboy genre.

I like Christian Bale, but he may get tired of playing in franchises.  Also, I worry that he'll go back to his Batman voice for Roland.  If he just talks normally, he could turn in a strong performance.

Jake:  The trailers I saw had Haley Joel Osment.  I can't think of any other child actors to be honest, and he does have acting chops so I'll go with it.  He's kind of faded from the limelight so it would give him a chance to get back into film.  What was the last film he was in? AI?

Susannah:  Halle Berry was the fan pick.  She is an oscar winning actress, on the other hand she botched Storm in the X-Men movies and starred in Catwoman.  Maybe Abrams and crew can get a better peformance out of her.  I don't know if she can pull off Detta's personality though.  If only Samuel L. Jackson had a distaff counterpart, that would be perfect.

Eddie:  There are a slew of great actors who could take this role.

Edward Norton would be great in the role.  He tends to play likable characters with a bit of a sense of humor and his characters do tend to have issues, so playing a coke addict wouldn't be beyond his abilities.

Hugh Jackman would also be good.

I've heard a few people suggest James Franco.  That would work too, he can act in both serious and comedic movies.  He's also played a drug addict before, though it was pot not coke and it was played for laughs, still, I could see him pulling it off.

Oy would most likely be CGI, that's really the only way I can see him being pulled off.

Now who would play Walter/Flagg/the man in black?  I'd say Jamey Sheridan for consistency, but he doesn't look anything like he did back when he played the role back in The Stand.  I got it, Brad Dourif.  He's getting up there age wise, but I'm certain that he could pull it off.

Blaine would have to be voiced by Corey Burton. He's done the AI thing a few times now, voicing Brainiac in the Superman cartoons as well as voicing Red Tornado in The Brave and the Bold, but he's still really good at it and he can bring out all the creepiness that Blaine has to offer.

What say you readers?  Who would you put in the roles of these beloved characters?  I'm curious to see who others have in mind and it should make for some fascinating discussion.








What Would a Soundtrack to the Dark Tower Sound Like?

*Originally published on 12/11/09


While it's true that J.J Abrams has dropped out of the Dark Tower project, putting the movie back in development hell for who knows how long and sadly, there is still no word on any sort of animated series, it's still fun to sort of brainstorm and think about what a possible adaptation would be like.  I did it before with the cast, but lately I've been thinking about the soundtrack.  I think it goes without saying that Hey Jude would be in there, but as for the overall score, I wonder which artist would be best suited for the project.

There are a lot of great composers out there to choose from.  John Williams has created some great stuff, but I don't know if his style suits the mood of the overall series.  Danny Elfman is a versatile musician who's work covers all sorts of genres.  He'd do a great job I think.

James Horner has done some great work over the years.  The soundtrack to Glory was freakin' amazing and having worked on that film, as well as Wrath of Khan and the upcoming Avatar, he's not intimidated by the epics.

I wouldn't mind reuniting Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.  The soundtrack to The Dark Knight still blows me away every time I listen to it.

While fine composers all, none have really worked on a project this big.  While several franchises have gone on for several movies, I think that the only film series to have a scope this big to date would be the Lord of the Rings trilogy that was released a few years ago.  Composer Howard Shore did a great job with the score to that series and I think he could do a great job with this as well.
Whatever composer gets hired will probably need a little bit of help.  They need to get musicians who dole out epic tracks on a regular basis and for that I have two suggestions.

The first is Nightwish, I've mentioned them a couple of times before but I think they'd fit here.  Their music has always had an epic fantasy feel to it and even one of their songs, 7 Days to the Wolves, was inspired by the series. I don't know if I'd include that track, it's a good song but it's a little too on the nose.  Still, I think they'd be happy to come up with an original track or two.

The group I think best suited for this though is E.S Posthumus.  Who is E.S. Posthumus?  That is a good question.  Truth be told, I only discovered this group a mere few days ago.  Their music is described as epic classical with orchestral and electronic sounds.  All you really need to know though is that they rule.  Listen to tracks like Pompeii or Ebla, that style of music would be perfect.  You could make the argument that it suits the trailers for the films more than the actual soundtrack, and you would have a point, but I think that it would work really well in film as well.

What say you constant readers? Who would you like to see score Mid-world should the series ever get adapted in some way, shape or form?







Dark Tower Casting Rumors Abound, Christian Bale's Name Thrown into the Mix

Moar Dark Tower Updates

Entertainment Weekly Speculates on Possible Dark Tower Casting Picks

NBC Puts the Kaibosh on the Upcoming Dark Tower Adaptation

Dark Tower Adaptation Travels to HBO

My Top 5 Villains from Doctor Who

I'm making my way through the past seasons of the popular BBC relaunch of Doctor Who, and thoroughly enjoying it. The show is known for creating some classic villains so I thought I would jot down some of my favorites from what I've seen thus far.



1. The Beast

It's the freaking devil! What more needs to be said? Yeah, the writers waffle a bit, but for all intents and purposes, that was the Lord of Darkness right there.

A part of me honestly feels like they played this card too soon. I mean, after you take on what was very well the literal embodiment of evil in the universe, acting as the inspiration for every devil like figure across cosmic mythologies, Daleks and Cybermen don't really seem to pose as big a threat.

Still, for a one time villain, he sure does leave an impression and easily ranks as one of the Doctor's biggest baddies. Not only is the thing powerful and evil, but it forces the Doctor to challenge his own perceptions of how he thinks the world works.

While the Doctor brushes off some of the Beast's claims, he never really comes up with a valid counter-explanation for what that thing really was.




2. Daleks

The Daleks are the Doctor's most iconic foes, as well as one of the most popular. You go in thinking that they look stupid and that their voice will just become grating, but they still manage to be rather terrifying in their own right. I certainly did. I didn't think I was going to be able to take these upside down garbage cans on wheels seriously. Yet, they managed to showcase why they are such a fearsome foe and became one of my favorites. When these guys show up, you know things are going to get bad.



3. The Sentient Sun
This is another one time villain that appeared in the episode "42". It managed to overtake members of the crew, allowing them to scorch people to death merely by looking at them. It had that same demonic eldritch abomination vibe as the Beast, but it was different enough that it stood out.

It also made for one of the show's greatest reveals as the Doctor finally figures out what's going on and unleashes said exposition dump in an intense, dramatic, and rather horrifying way.

Much like the Beast, this idea is one that seems to challenge logic. The Doctor chides them for not scanning for life forms, but really, why would they? It's a sun and it's generally accepted that life can't exist that close without protection of some kind. The crew is vilified, but the idea that a star could achieve sentience is not one that often comes to mind.



4. The Ood

While the Ood are generally peaceful and very pleasant, when they go bad, it's rather horrifying. Once you see their eyes go red, you're pretty much screwed (scrOod?).

I honestly didn't expect their return appearances to hold a candle to what we saw in their debut where they were possessed by an ancient, demonic force, but "Planet of the Ood" managed to keep them just as creepy while giving them a different motivation and fleshing out their species quite a bit.




5. Max Capricorn

This guy only appeared in one Christmas special, but I really dug him as a villain. Not only did he have that evil ham thing going for him, but he also had no desire to let the Doctor talk his way out of it. Every time the Doctor would try to work some angle, Capricorn merely told him to shut up and ordered his host robots to kill him.

Granted, the Doctor still managed to stall long enough for his then companion to come to his aid (something even Capricorn lampshades, giving credit to the Doctor in pointing out that for all his talk, the Doctor didn't waste a word), but I really respected the fact that Capricorn wasn't having any of it from the Time Lord.




Final Thoughts

With so many villains, fans may be wondering where aliens like the Silence, or the Cybermen, or the Weeping Angels are. They are certainly good villains, but they didn't leave as big an impression on me as these five did.

For as long as the show has gone on, it is no surprise that the writers managed to come up with so many great villains, but as of now, these are the ones that really managed to blow me away.

The Top 5 Nostalgic Cartoons That Should Get a Modern Re-launch

Popular culture has been on a bit of a nostalgia kick as of late. Shows that adults grew up on are getting newer, more modern presentations whether it be in television or film.

The "Ninja Turtles" cartoon from a few years ago proved rather popular and the relaunch of "Thundercats" was generally well received as well. Even "My Little Pony" has managed to make the leap to the modern age with the popular "Friendship is Magic" series. It just makes you wonder what other franchises of old could make for great new shows in the modern age.



1. The Real Ghostbusters

I started watching this show again and it really is quite amazing how well this show holds up over time.

It just makes me want to see a modern take on it. Animation has gotten crisper and more advanced over the years and the moral guardians aren't as obsessive as they were back in the day.

I think that we would be able to keep all of the things that made the show great while still taking advantage of the progress that has been regarding animation, not just from a technological standpoint, but from a societal viewpoint as to target audiences. The creepy aspects could be played up to a greater degree.

One thing that would need to be changed is to remove Slimer from the picture entirely. He was the bane of that show and was the cause of its demise. It only makes sense to remove that particular weak link.

The beauty is that you could reassemble most of the cast. Get Michael Reaves and J. Michael Straczynski to head up writing the scripts and get as many of the original voice actors as you can. Maurice LaMarche and Frank Welker are still active voice actors and Arsenio Hall isn't doing anything. While Lorenzo Music is, sadly, unable to reprise the role, Dave Coulier should be able to take on the role of Venkman.




2. She-Ra: Princess of Power

It shouldn't come as a surprise to hear that I never got into She-Ra. It had that stigma of being "girly", but more importantly, I never really got into He-Man in the first place, so it would stand to reason that I would be generally indifferent to She-Ra.

However, with proactive female protagonists being in demand, it seems like a good time to bring her back into the fold.

Much like with RGB, She-Ra can take advantage of the higher quality animation that is seen nowadays. Her action sequences will be far more fluid and the writing will also be held up to a higher standard.

Considering that She-Ra's world was generally considered more interesting than He-Man's, writers should have no problem crafting an epic fantasy series that can appeal to a wide audience.




3. Legend of Zelda

This was never a show, per se, but there was an animated short that acted as a back-up for the "Super Mario Bros. Supershow". It was rather cheesy.

I'm not too familiar with the games, but I think an animated show would fare rather well. The franchise has a loyal fanbase and a series like this would allow newbies like me to get acquainted with the rich mythos that the series has developed over the years.




4. Dungeons and Dragons

I can't help but notice a pattern in a lot of my picks. In any event, Dungeons and Dragons would make for a fun series. You'd have a band of adventurers going on a different quest each episode. Each character would have a distinct personality, allowing for character development and banter; and the show can either develop an ongoing story or just show self contained, one and done stories that feature the band being hired by different people to do certain things.

Much like with Zelda, I'm not too familiar with the game, but it is something that I have become interested in lately and a TV show would give people their fix.




5. Voltron

OK, I'll admit, I was having trouble coming up with another franchise. I didn't even really watch it as a kid, but it could work out well enough. If nothing else, the concept of a relaunch of Voltron should be good for a chuckle.

The Top 5 Restaurants That Need to Deliver

When it comes to delivery, the two big options always seemed to be either pizza or Chinese food. Lately, a few more have been added to the list, with Jimmy Johns delivering deli sandwiches and Burger King even experimenting with the concept of offering delivery services.

As I do enjoy my food, especially when it's brought right to me, I thought that I would throw out some suggestions for food chains that should add delivery services as an option for customers.



1. Subway

As mentioned before, Jimmy John's changed the sandwich game up by bringing the sandwiches right to you. If Subway aims to compete in the long term, they should also offer delivery services so that fans of their tasty sandwiches can enjoy the benefit of not having to go get it.




2. Taco Bell

If you're jonesing for fast food, but don't want a burger, there's Taco Bell. If they delivered, it would help them keep up should fast food delivery become a thing. It would also broaden customers' options in terms of food choices as opposed to just having another burger place offering delivery.



3. McDonald's and Wendy's

Burger King is experimenting with delivery, so it stands to reason that its competitors, should do the same. Not only does this ensure that Burger King keeps its game up in terms of delivery times and food quality, but it gives the customers options in case they are craving a burger or sandwich from one of the other chains.



4. Applebee's and Other Bar and Grille Style Restaurants

A lot of these places offer online ordering or curbside service. Really, delivery is the next step. As chains like this aren't quite as prolific as fast food chains, the availability might be limited, but for people who are only within a few miles of a chain restaurant such as this, such a service would act as a boon.



5. Dunkin Donuts/Donut Chains

People like donuts, whether it's from Dunkin' Donuts, Tim Hortons, or Krispy Kreme, they always make for a nice tasty treat. It would be even better if you could have donuts brought right to you.

Now, much like with Pizza Hut's $10 minimum for delivery, I assume that, were this service to be offered, that you would need to buy at least a dozen donuts. It wouldn't make much sense for a chain to go out of their way to deliver one or two donuts, but if you're having a group get together and you want to provide something to snack on, having donut shops deliver could come in handy.



Final Thoughts

If one thing is clear, it is that people like food. Even better than that is food that is brought right to your door. It's become the backbone for several food chains and its a wonder why more places don't try it.

Not only would this provide more jobs, but it would give consumers greater options when it comes to in-house dining. This would generate more revenue as people who may not feel like going out will utilize your services.

It's one of those circumstances where everybody wins, and how often does that happen?

The Top 5 Reasons to Buy a Kindle or Other E-Reading Device

With e-books becoming more and more popular, there are many vocal dissenters who say that "real" books will always be inherently superior. While I enjoy having physical copies of books as much as the next person, having a Kindle does have its advantages.



1. Saves Space

I love bookshelves. I hope to one day have a book collection that spans multiple shelves so that those who visit can look in awe at my library. Sadly, space occasionally becomes an issue and not everyone has room to store a warehouse full of books.

While it may not be as visually impressive as a large shelf, a Kindle allows you to own a vast collection without needing to worry about storing it.



2. Lower Prices

In this tough economy, people have to save where they can. For book lovers, an e-reader will allow you to do just that as e-book prices are lower than hardcover books and are usually slightly lower than paperback books depending on the title.

Even better, some books are free. That's right, free, having a cost of 0 dollars and 0 cents. If you're a fan of classic literature, you can make out like a bandit as these are often the titles that go for nothing. I downloaded "War and Peace" for nothing. Will I read it? I don't know, but it was free, so I figured, "what the heck?" I also downloaded "Frankenstein" even though I didn't really like that book when I read it. Free swag is free swag, and this allows you to partake in some.




3. Great for Travel

If you fly a lot, you will love the Kindle. It reduces your bag weight significantly, especially if you're the type to bring multiple books on a trip. If you're a fantasy reader, this will save you the hassle of hauling around one, if not more, doorstopper novels.



4. Durability

While I would recommend getting a protective cover for your e-reader in any event, these do tend to take a bit more of a beating than paperbacks do. You don't need to worry about tears or folds when carrying it around with you.



5. It Saves Your Spot for You

No need for bookmarks here. If you go back to the main screen, then click on the title of the book you were reading, it will take you to the last page you were on. No longer will you need to worry about folding pages or finding something to hold your spot when you need to get up to do something.



Final thoughts

People are more than welcome to prefer physical copies of books. As said before, I fall into that category myself, but there's no denying that e-readers have some definite benefits that should not be so easily dismissed.

Daily Dose of Awesome: Batman TAS Recreation of "The Dark Knight Rises" Trailer

The Top 5 Pixar Movies

This is going to be a rather tough list to compose. Pixar has done so many good movies that I think it'll be hard to figure out which ones go where. I have a feeling that 5 slots won't be enough.



1. Wall-E

Oh, what a gem this movie is. I think the fact that this movie stood out to me as much as it did really acts as a testament to the movie's quality. The movie manages to tell a story with no dialogue for a pretty much the first half of the film, and it succeeds in spades.

The movie, as well as the title character, are just flat out adorable. I find a hard time believing anyone can't be won over by this movie.




2. The Incredibles

As a fan of superheroes and comics in general, it's no surprise that I enjoyed this movie as much as I did. While it does parody the tropes of the genre to some extent, it also works as a genuine, bona fide superhero film. Comic fans can pick out nods to works like Watchmen, X-Men, and Fantastic Four, while also respecting the fact that this film stands on its own and lets the characters develop their own quirks and personalities. Credit also goes to Jason Lee, who did a great job as Syndrome.

With Pixar building their films into franchises through sequels, I hope that they do the same with this one as the superhero film lends itself to multiple movies. The characters are rounded and likable enough that we do want to see what happens to them as they continue their fight against crime.





3. Toy Story 2

The original Toy Story was a fun, lighthearted, piece of whimsy. It overdid it on the 'Narm" at points, but all in all it was a good movie. This movie kicks it up a notch in every respect. Character development, story, emotional poignancy, humor, it hits it out of the park in every respect.

When Jessie first emerged, I kind of hated her. I figured she was going to be the most annoying thing in the movie. Though once her back story was revealed, she had me hooked and I had a new found respect for the character.

Toy Story 3 was also quite good, but I think this movie had a better balance of funny and poignant where the third film may've gone a bit too far in the latter direction.

I considered saying "the Toy Story trilogy", but that would've been a cop out.




4. Ratatouille

We just watched this a few days ago and it was highly enjoyable. If you can work past the whole "hairionnette" thing, I think you'll find it rather entertaining. The animation is superb and the two main characters develop an entertaining rapport despite not being able to talk to each other.




5. Finding Nemo

This was the hardest slot to fill. There were so many contenders, Toy Story 3 and Up, being the big two. Ultimately, I went with Finding Nemo. It has been a while since I've seen it, but I remember it being a blast to watch.



Final Thoughts

Some may be disappointed that "Up" wasn't on there, as several people cite it as Pixar's best. There was a time where it probably would've made the top 5 list. Heck, it probably would've ranked in the top 3, but the more Pixar movies I see, the further it falls down the list. It's not that Up was bad, on the contrary, it's quite good; it's just that the other movies are so good and won me over to such an extent that Up just comes up a little short. As I said in the list though, it was a major contender and is definitely a film worth checking out.

The Top 5 Most Underrated Animated Series

1. Batman: The Brave and the Bold

When the show first premiered, I wasn't all that interested. The fact that it was aimed at younger viewers was all well and good, but that had no appeal to me as an adult. I tried watching an episode once, just to be sure and it didn't really grab me.

Upon hearing that one episode was going to feature G'nort, my favorite member of the Green Lantern Corps, I decided to give it another chance. It was a blast and it paved the way for me to get hooked on the series.

Look, I was spoiled on "Batman: The Animated Series" too. I am well aware of the high bar that that show set for comic fans, but trust me, this show is good. Yes it's more fun and lighthearted, but that's part of the appeal.

It embraces it's comic roots and manages to entertain you while telling great stories. They're presented in such a way that kids can follow along, but there are plenty of geek references for the older crowd who is more familiar with comic book lore.

As to whether or not it's better or worse than TAS, I honestly think that the two are so different in tone and execution that you can't compare them. The important thing is that this show is very good and is well worth your time.





2. The Real Ghostbusters

OK, I'm biased here. I freaking love Ghostbusters. I love the movies, I loved the recent game that came out, I would sign up without hesitation if such an organization existed in reality.

I grew up watching the cartoon, but hadn't for some time. In college, I decided to check out a few episodes and the show holds up really well over time. The characters are, more or less, seen the way they were in the films and we got some great episodes early on.

Sadly, executive meddling took over and the show was watered down. They even went so far as to make Slimer the main focus, which irks me to no end as the animated incarnation of the spud is incredibly annoying and stupid.

Still, those early episodes were something else. Time Life released a box set with the whole series so fans can go back and enjoy the series to their heart's content.




3. Venture Bros.

Words can not express how much I love this show. Being on Adult Swim's line up, this isn't family entertainment the way the other shows are, but for older viewers, it's amazing. I honestly cite it as one of the best shows on television right now. You could take it a step further and argue that it is the best thing on TV, but that is a matter of personal preference.

If you're interested, I suggest starting from the beginning. There are so many in jokes as well as oddball characters that if you try to jump in during the third or fourth season, you will most likely be completely lost.





4. Avatar: The Last Airbender

The release of the live action film brought up a lot of discussion about this show. After hearing good things, I decided to check it out. This is one of the few things that actually lived up to the hype for me.

There was an ongoing story, as well as a unique and fleshed out world, the characters were well rounded and likable, there was a solid dose of humor, and the action scenes were exciting. If that's not enough to sell you, Mark Hamill and Clancy Brown voice two of the villainous characters and basically use their Joker and Lex Luthor voices. You wouldn't think it, but it works out perfectly. Hearing Long Feng talk made me all happy inside.

The show's only three seasons long, but it tells a complete story. I have no doubt that the film was awful, but I highly recommend checking this series out as it is a joy to watch on pretty much every level.




5. Gargoyles

A lot of people say that this was Disney's answer to "Batman: The Animated Series". If this is the result of trying to cash in, I'm not going to complain. The writing was top notch, there was great character development, and the stories were intricate. Even seemingly stand alone episodes would have ramifications or get mentioned later on down the line, making it seem like things that happened really mattered.

Sadly, the second season was rather long, so when it was released to DVD, they broke it up into two volumes. This wouldn't be so bad, but the second volume has yet to be released and it doesn't seem like there's going to be one.

There was a third season as well, but from what I hear, fans are fine with ignoring that batch of episodes.

While you won't be able to get the whole story if you watch it on DVD, I still recommend checking the show out. It blew me away when I started watching it.

The Top 5 Tabletop RPG's I'm Interested in Playing

I've never gotten around a table to partake in a role-playing session. While I knew about D&D, it didn't really grab me and I didn't think anyone I knew played it. I've recently become intrigued by the hobby and there are a few games that have caught my eye.


1. Dungeons and Dragons

I said that the game didn't grab me before and that I didn't think anyone played. As it turns out, people I knew did play, it just never came up. I've been watching a couple of campaigns online and they really got me interested in the game. It looks like a blast and it was only after I became interested in this game that the other games caught my attention.




2. Ghostbusters

As a huge ghostbusters fan, I'm, of course, interested in playing this game. It's a bit older, and a bit on the expensive side, but it's a must have. From what I hear, it's very well put together so it might even be worth the money.

If they wanted to release a new edition of the game, or if some other company wanted to take a crack at it, that would be awesome, I'm just saying.



3. DC Universe

Between the big two, I'm more of a DC guy, so it's no surprise that this outranks the Marvel RPG.

To my understanding, there are two versions floating around. A series was released a few years back and DC released another handbook with new ones to come. I'm not sure if they are related, if it's a second edition, or if they are completely independent, but I wouldn't mind giving both versions a try to see how they play.

Unlike DCUO, this allows the players to play as their favorite characters and go up against some of the major villains from the DC Universe.



4. Outbreak Undead

This is something of an "indy" title. To my knowledge, the book is not sold in stores and is only available through the eponymous website. The long and short of it is that it's an RPG centered around the zombie apocalypse. You and your friends have to survive the horde as the world unravels around you. It's a perfect way to perfect your zombie plan and it seems like a fun game to play in general. Unlike other RPG's, everything you need is in one book, making it much easier for newbies like me to jump into the fray.



5. Marvel Universe RPG

I'm not a big Marvel reader, though I do dabble in the line, picking up a few titles here and there. Even so, I would still like to try this game out. Marvel has a pretty solid cast of characters and you could come up with some entertaining adventures with the source material.



Final Thoughts

This list was fairly easy to make as these are really the only RPG's I'm interested in. I've seen others for things like "Supernatural", "Smallville", and "Game of Thrones"; but in the case of the latter, I haven't read the books and as far as the two former franchises go, they didn't really scream must buy to me.

Daily Dose of Awesome: The Ladies of ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com Sing "Part of Your World"

Also, be sure to check out the Nostalgia Chick's full review of "My Little Mermaid" as it is quite funny.  You can watch that below.

The Top 5 Reasons Why the X-Men Make No Sense

X-Men is one of Marvel's flagship titles, and while I'm a fan, I can't help but notice that, once you give it some thought, the ideas presented don't make a whole lot of sense.


1. The Metaphor Falls Apart

From the get go, the X-Men were supposed to act as an allegory for oppressed minorities, African Americans and gays specifically. It preaches a message of tolerance and acceptance for those who may be different from you.

It's a nice message and all, but the parallel doesn't really work. Being a mutant isn't as simple as skin color or sexual orientation. Unlike those birth traits, mutant abilities do pose a threat. 

As I mention, Cyclops can level a building by looking at it, Magneto can manipulate the magnetic field of the entire planet, and Professor X is a telepath who can not only read thoughts, but control them as well.

Xavier's plan to teach mutants to control their powers and use them responsibly is great, but the idea that humanity's fear is based solely on their own prejudicial nature is just goofy. 

It's even worse because nobody calls them on this. At face value, Senator Kelly has a point, but the writers go so far to turn him into a straw politician that any ambiguity is lost. 


It would be interesting to explore those elements because while the comic may have been created to act as a morality play about bigotry, there's far more at play here than simple short-sightedness on mankind's part.



2. Some Superpowers are OK and Others Aren't?

The Marvel Universe is populated with meta-humans who are granted powers that normal people can only dream of. As part of the allegory, it's said that humans hate and fear mutants. Sometimes, it's because of their appearance, while other times it's the powers themselves that instill fear. 

This idea is undercut when you have characters like the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and Captain America running around. They have similar powers, but they are loved by the patrons of New York, while the X-Men are jeered. 


Because of this disparity, Marvel tries to keep the two separate, but they do intersect and it still stands as a very bizarre issue in terms of story.



3. Cyclops' Power

The idea of shooting beams from your eyes is a simple one. Unlike most characters with this ability, Cyclops has no control over the beams and they fire whenever his eyes are open. The only way to stop it is through ruby quartz in his visor and a pair of custom made sunglasses for day to day wear. 

How they figured that out is baffling enough, but the real kicker is that the only other way for Scott to stop the beams from firing is to close his eyes. 


These beams have been shown to be quite powerful. He can level a building with no trouble. While they make a point to say that the beams are "concussive" as opposed to heat or laser based, I still find it hard to believe that such power is held back by his eyelids. It can tear through brick like a hot knife through butter, but a thin layer of skin is more than enough to contain it? Sorry, I call shenanigans.



4. No More Mutants

When the "House of M" event ended, the Scarlet Witch rewrote reality declaring that there shouldn't be any more mutants. While this did, in fact, rob several mutants of their powers, there were still a couple hundred who kept theirs...How? She said "no more mutants" not "only a couple of hundred mutants". Shouldn't they have all lost their powers? You could argue that it would mean the end of the series, but why bring it up in the first place if you're just going to ignore it completely?



5. Sentinels

The Government doesn't have the money for this.  Even if they did, this is not a feasible use of tax dollars and no one would actually sign off on this sort of program.

Daily Dose of Awesome: 1966 Batman Intro Done With Legos

Daily Dose of Awesome: Dragon Ball Z Abridged

Some time ago, I stumbled upon something referred to as "abridged" series.  Basically, some people took different anime series, and redubbed their own lines for comedic purposes.  They would exaggerate character traits, poke fun at plot points, and add some of their own jokes and running gags in for good measure.

Interestingly enough, Vegeta is more or less the same.  He's still pretty sadistic and proud, but really, the only reason his traits get amplified is because all the other characters are so idiotic or insane that he really has no other rational response.  Yeah, Vegeta's the straight man, and it works beautifully.

While there are quite a few out there, the one that really grabbed me was the abridged series for Dragonball Z.  I've heard good things about Yu-gi-oh Abridged, but I haven't checked it out yet.

I enjoy the source material, but I also know that there's plenty to poke fun at, and this team (known online as TeamFourStar) does a good job with it.

Their iteration of Nappa as a psychopathic moronic manchild has become especially popular, to the point where the writers decided to have him reappear as a ghost simply so that they could keep their unique Vegeta/Nappa dynamic going after he was killed early on in the series.  I also got a kick out of their interpretation of Guru.  Almost every line he delivered had me busting up laughing.  Somehow, the running gag where Raditz constantly gets dumped on for being a weakling never gets old.  It hasn't been as apparent now that the series has moved on to the Frieza arc, but the writers still manage to get a jab in now and then.

While I think that you do need to be somewhat familiar with the source material to get all of the jokes that are made, there's enough beyond that that I think that even people unfamiliar with the show can get a good laugh out of it.

You can find all of TeamFourStar's videos here.  I spent most of yesterday getting myself reacquainted with the series, even checking out their abridged versions of some of the movies, and had a blast.

Oh, speaking of the movies, so far, they've done a good job merging the movies into canon, impressive considering the movies almost went out of their way to make plot holes when taking the series itself into account.  This series makes somewhat frequent references to Bojack, a space pirate antagonist, and Cooler, Frieza's older brother.  Not only does it make for some nice jokes, but it makes for some nice continuity building.

The Top 5 Things That Would Have Made Ghostbusters: The Video Game Even Better

Ghostbusters fans have been waiting a long time for a decent video game adaptation. They finally got one a couple of years ago. It was written by Aykroyd and Ramis and featured the main cast from the movie to lend their voices to the respective characters. It was fun, exciting, and just one big love letter to the fans with its nods to continuity and other iterations of the franchise.

Still, there were some things that could have made it even better. Being something of a Ghostbusters nerd myself, I figured I would take it upon myself to throw these ideas out there. It's probably a moot point by now, but what the heck? I'll do it anyway.




1. Side Quests

As the game wanted to put more of an emphasis on story, the developers didn't give the game a "sandbox" type of game like you would see with games like "Fallout" or "GTA".

I get it, but I still think it would've been cool to be able to roam around a bit more. Heck, if you really wanted to keep the focus on the story, you could have the side quests get unlocked by beating the game.

Then, you could pull a "Fallout" and drop the player back into the game after the final boss is defeated so that they can roam around and continue to enjoy the game without having to go through a complete reset.

Not to mention the fact that such quests would make for some interesting downloadable content. All you'd need to do is come up with a map, some ghosts, and a miniature, self contained arc and bam, new level. It would give the game developers profits and it would give fans more time to enjoy the game.




2. Vigo Fight

You had Max Von Sydow reprise his role as the villain from Ghostbusters II, you had a level at the museum, and the mood slime played a prominent role in the plot. Why was there no Vigo fight?

We fought Slimer and Stay-Puft/Gozer (actually, I wouldn't have minded getting a mini-boss battle with Gozer in its original form, but that's another issue), surely, the team's second biggest threat warrants more credit than this.

Unlike the other ghosts, Vigo could have just attempted to serve his own agenda or pay the team back for his earlier defeat. It would've been a break from the guardian bosses and it would've been a fun moment for the fans.




3. Co-Op Multi-player on Story Mode

When this game was announced, the first thing that popped into my head was that running through the story with friends was going to be a blast. You'd have your group running around, catching ghosts, trying not to cross the streams. It would've been awesome.

While there is such a mode on the Wii version, one is not available on the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions. They have online multi-player, but it is its own separate thing. As I haven't played that yet, I can't comment on how good it is, but it's still a shame that we couldn't get multi-player for the story mode on the other two big consoles.




4. More Gear

As you advance through the game, you collect money that can be used to purchase gear and upgrades for your equipment. They give you a decent amount of equipment, and it was setup so that your pack would be maxed out by the time you reached the final stages of the game, but having more options would've allowed players to customize their weapons and try out different things. It would add a level of replay value to the game, giving players more chances to enjoy it while still giving them incentive to keep playing despite having beaten it at least once, if not several times.




5. More Character Interaction

Your character remains mute throughout the games entirety. It was amusing, and they did manage to give him a bit of personality, but it still would've been nice to be able to throw your two cents in. Maybe have dialogue options like some of the early RPG's like KoToR and Mass Effect. Again, it would add a level of replay-ability to a game that, while still fun, doesn't really bring much in the way of new material upon a second play through.



Final Thoughts

I had a blast playing Ghostbusters. It allowed me to live out my childhood dream of busting ghosts with the team and it was quite satisfying to see such a well designed product for the franchise. Still, as good as it was, there were some aspects where it could have been made even better.

Top 5 DC Universe Original Animated Movies

*Originally published on 4/19/11




Both Marvel and DC have found quite a bit of success releasing direct to video animated movies. The DC ones have generally been better (though being a DC guy myself, I'm somewhat biased), but the question remains, which are the best. In the interest of fairness, I won't include the DCAU movies, though I do recommend "Mask of the Phantasm".



1. Wonder Woman

I'm a relative newcomer to the Wonder Woman fandom. I only started reading the comics after hearing good buzz about Gail Simone's run (which I enjoyed and recommend). For all the talk about how Wonder Woman can't hold her own movie, this feature manages to counter that sentiment in spades.

The characters were fleshed out, the action scenes were spectacular, and it gave the character a chance to shine. The movie ended on an effective sequel hook, but sadly, it looks like it won't happen since the DVD was somewhat disappointing in terms of sales.

Even so, this was a good movie, and I still feel like it's the best that the company has put out thus far.




2. Green Lantern: First Flight

This movie chronicles Hal Jordan's first adventure as a Green Lantern. As his origin was already covered in depth in "New Frontier", the producers decided to have the "origin story" take place before the credits even rolled. This enabled them to move on and tell a full story. It's a tactic that worked both here and in the live action "Incredible Hulk" reboot, yet Hollywood doesn't seem to use the tactic enough, choosing instead to tell origin stories repeatedly.



3. All Star Superman

I had high hopes for this one as I was a big fan of the comic. Like with "New Frontier" a lot had to be cut out for time, but it was still a darn good movie.

As the comics were fairly self contained, the movie comes off as a bit episodic, but they managed to tie it together well enough that it didn't feel too jumpy.



4. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

While I enjoy the solo adventures in terms of superhero stories, I really like seeing them all come together to take on larger threats. This movie enables us to see all of our favorite DC heroes in action.

This was supposed to be a DCAU movie originally, but it got delayed and when it was released, they decided to tweak it so that it stood on its own. You can still clearly see the ties though, so you could call it DCAU "canon" if you wanted to.

The action was top notch and I really enjoyed James Woods' voice work as Owlman. He pretty much stole the show and made the villain one of the creepier ones in recent memory.




5. Justice League: New Frontier

I haven't read the comic yet, though I hear that quite a lot was cut. As far as comparisons go, I'm operating blind, but I did enjoy the movie. The animation, voice acting, and story were all well put together. It could have used a bit more Keith David, but hearing him voice the villain was still highly enjoyable.




Final thoughts

There are other movies set to be released over the course of the next couple of years. So, in time, this list could be rendered obsolete. As it stands now, however, this is how I would rank the top releases so far.

Daily Dose of Awesome: Australian Shepard Puppies Herding Ducklings

Want to comment, but overwhelmed by cuteness.  Just watch.

Top 5 Tricks to Successfully Pull Off an All Nighter

I don't know why, but all nighters seem to have a certain allure. Whether you want to go out and party or you just want to be uber-productive and work through the night, people seem to have romanticized the idea of staying up all night.

Now, as someone who has lived the nocturnal lifestyle, I can tell you that it isn't all its cracked up to be. Honestly, I much prefer sleeping regular hours on a regular basis and would highly suggest sticking with that.

However, if you are going to pull an all nighter, there are some things you can do to improve your odds of being successful as opposed to throwing in the towel and turning in at the halfway point.




1. Keep Food and Drink Handy

Since your body won't have the chance to recharge via sleep, you'll need to find other ways to refuel. Food and drinks will help with this. Now, a lot of people go the route of energy drinks or sodas and other sugary stuff. This will help keep you awake, but you also risk crashing.

Another problem is that if you frequently attempt this, your body will develop a tolerance for it. There were points where drinking a can of soda did nothing for me to the point where I was able to go to sleep mere minutes after finishing it.

You could use other beverages that don't rely on sugar and caffeine to help sustain yourself if need be.

Food is also important. You don't want anything too heavy, but junk food isn't always the best bet either. There's the obvious nutrition problem, but again, it doesn't guarantee you the energy you need to endure that long night.




2. Sit Up Straight

It sounds odd,but the last thing that you want to do is get comfortable. The instant you get comfortable, you find that your eyes will start to get heavy and it will only be a matter of time before you find yourself dozing off.

You will need to fight that urge because it will hit you hard and fast. Once it starts, it's hard to stop and even food or drink might not be enough to save you.

Try to avoid couches, recliners or beds. Sit in a desk chair, while you may still find your eyes getting heavy, sitting up in that position is not as conducive to sleep as others.



3. Move About Every Once in a While

You'll want to get up and go every so often. It will help keep your body active and it will give you a surge of energy as you become more mobile. Sometimes, just the simple act of getting up and stretching is enough to negate any fatigue you might have begun to feel.



4. Keep Yourself Busy

Watch movies or television, work, listen to music, find something to pass the time and keep your mind off the fact that you should be sleeping right about now. I would advise against reading. Normally, reading is an activity that should be encouraged, but in this instance, it can work against you.

You'll want to keep your mind focused on other things as this will give you something to concentrate on and keep you from wanting to turn in for the night.




5. Keep the Lights On

Darkness lends itself to sleep. Even if you are in a dark room with a computer or television on, it's easy to want to doze off. Keeping lights on will make it more difficult for you to transition. It can also grant you the illusion of "daytime" so that you can better trick your internal clock into avoiding its natural urge to go to sleep.


Final thoughts

So, there you have it. While I don't really recommend all nighters as they tend to do more harm than good, if you are so inclined to attempt one, these should help you plow through to make it to daylight.