American Idol Top 4 - Duets FTW!

What a strange evening. A bunch of mediocre solo performance and randomly awesome duets. I mean, no one brought the house down Adam/Allison Slow Ride style, but they did a pretty damn good job. 

Lee Dewyze - Kiss From A Rose

From the moment the song starts, I wish it was just him and the guitar and no stupid backing band ugh. No longer in it to win it, Lee? Oooh, but someone got tan this week. Not the best he's ever sounded either. Better in the chorus at least. Stop fucking up your moment, Lee. UGH. I'm annoyed. 

Randy - For him, he did nothing with the song, was just okay, pitchy in spots, was just okay

Ellen - Could have been more done with the song. That being said, Lee is so good and sang the song so well. 

Kara - Had a great week last week, everyone loves him, but one of the most difficult songs to sing, and he got lost by using the backing band, but he is still great

Simon - So many brilliant movies, songs and opportunities to find a song and make it original, that was verging on karaoke

Michael Lynche - Will You Be There

Most people should never touch an MJ song, but actually Mike can totally pull this off. His voice is good enough and I always feel like every song he sings is distinctly Big Mike. Damn, he has a great voice. One of our viewing party says that arrangement wasn't right for the song. I'm not a fan of most of Big Mike's arrangements, but you can't deny the quality of his voice.

Randy - Doesn't quite know what's going on tonight. Didn't love it for him, wanted an R&B song. Just all right.

Ellen - Was a fan of the choir. His goal should be to win, not be in the top three. Consistently good, always sounds good, was just a little bit predictable.

Kara - Wanted something more like Ready for Love or Woman's Work. She wants goosebumps tonight. Didn't feel that from him and knows he has more. Wants him to go back to those moments.

Simon - At least he gave it 100% and kinda felt that he meant it

Lee & Crystal Duet - Falling Slowly

OH THIS BETTER BE AWESOME.

Ok, kind of loving it. Yeah. I'm loving it. Wish they were interacting with each other more or one was at the piano like in the movie, but whatever, I'm into it. YES. Downloading it.

Randy - Great song by two great singers, could be a hit right now, amazing. That's how you do it.

Ellen - The new Captain and Tenille. God that was great!

Kara - One of her favorite moments of the entire season. Loved the interaction, the chemistry, the support, brought out the best in each other

Simon - A fantastic song (but...they didn't write it, Simon)

Casey James - Mrs Robinson

Oh god, please be good and don't use the backing band. MANDOLIN?! Effing awesome. Still has goat bleat, but ITS A FUCKIN MANDOLIN. Loving his take on this. Bleating aside. Good idea, good execution!

Randy - Starts making jokes about how the song is about Kara. Thought he sounded cool, wasn't jumping up and down, cool, laid back version of the song.

Ellen - Liked that he did something different, was hoping he went further, but liked that he changed it up, really smart, liked it

Kara - For her, this is him fighting to stay in the competition, cause he has difficulty being vulnerable and up front. Good choice. 

Simon - Personally, didn't think the song or the performance had the substance required on this important night, a little bit lazy. Could have made more of an impact. Gonna be tough. But have been some strange song choices tonight and that was one of them.

Crystal Bowersox - I'm All Right

This is already awesome. Love her. Oh god, do I need to vote tonight? I just want Crystal to win, that's all I really care about at this point. She gets so into it and is so good and come on, is the only real artist this season, let's be honest. Bongos breakdown! Badass. 

Randy - Definitely an artist. Wasn't his favorite performance, but she switched it up, made it fit her

Ellen - That just got Crystalized! Took the song and made it better.

Kara - Completely agree w/ Ellen. Made the song better, ARTIST.

Simon - Crystal is back in the game. 

Casey & Mike Duet - Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman

Casey doing the solo, awesome. Everyone playing a guitar tonight! How do the judges get to watch this? Odd. Mike sounds good. Damn. Yeah, he can out-sing Casey in his sleep. Harmony! Yay! Casey is so good at the guitar! Loves it! I MAY download this, it's possible. Very possible. That was cool!

Randy - Sounded really good, nice one

Ellen - Lesbian joke! Awesome!

Kara - Duets tonight were incredible. Better than all of the solos, was great.

Simon - Duets should have artist t shirts, a million times better than the solos, really well done

Favorite: Crystal

Least Favorite: Lee

Want to go home: Casey

Prediction for going home: Mike (but hope not!)

Grades:

Crystal B+

Casey B-

Mike B-

Lee C

Crystal/Lee A-

Casey/Mike B

See full post

Clown Science is Better than Insane Clown Posse Science: A+

I really don't like clowns. I'm not afraid of them, I just don't like them. Seeing a clown doesn't make me want to cry or hide, it makes me want to punch them in the stomach or hit them in the face with a cricket bat, although in all fairness this latter response is born out of playing too much L4D2. So when I was taken by a person I consider a trusted friend to a clown show, I was startled and unsure of what to expect. As the three of us loitered outside The Hayworth in downtown LA and peeked through the window to a room filled with colorful hand-made posters and plastic chairs, a clown in a blue blazer popped up from FREAKING NOWHERE and started doing magic at us.

I didn't react well.

We moved inside to loiter in the foyer before being ushered forward by the money-collectors, only to be greeted by a tall, comically-stern looking clown with a 'hall monitor' sash on and a pretty clown with intensely round eyes and a pad of post it notes. You gave her your name, she interpreted it into a flower, smiley face or shining sun and put it on your t-shirt. Friend Rob tried to be clever and gave is name as 'Turkey'. She stared at him with the same wide-eyed jaw-agape expression until he gave his real name. She wrote 'Rob' and stuck it on his chest.

We proceeded into the room we'd been spying through the window and were drawn to a child's sized plastic table and chairs with a cup of water and tiny paint brush on it. We were offered seats by an adorable-scamp sort of clown with a little dash of black under his eye (like those puppies, with the perky ears and the spot over his eyes, you know what I'm saying). He offered me the paintbrush and asked if I'd like to race - all through gestures, by the way. No one spoke, and when they used items, they did so without looking at them, the effect being strangely hilarious- and I said, hell yes, let's race. He pulled a Star Wars coloring book page of Jango Fett out and put it on the table and, knelt on the floor, removing his own coloring book page of clone troopers. Then he pulled out a spray bottle and a gigantic paintbrush.

They were water activated painting pages. Oh dear god. I feverishly worked the paper with my teensy tiny paintbrush while in three strokes he was done.

The bastard.

The night progressed along this vein, stopping by various stations while distinct clown personas showed us things or 'conversed' with us. Occasionally, we would be drawn aside and shown some sort of performance- from the gym teacher pat-pat (the hobo clown with the unicorn doll) or the guidance counselor Gary (whose sex-ed lesson became about his divorce).

Eventually we were led upstairs to the main event, the science fair. Traditional trifolds were set up around the room, each of the clown students standing in front of theirs, ready to provide demonstrations of their hypotheses. Now, in addition to the highly amusing demonstrations, vignettes would occur. Having gotten to know the the clowns in the previous two segments, we now got to see their relationships with each other, and they were hilarious, charming and sweet. Then the headmaster went around and each clown student had to present their work, and each was assigned a letter grade. This process was perfect, as it allowed the audience to see the exhibits they might not yet have experienced personally, although we could all tell the scoring process was not entirely kosher since the headmaster was clearly romantically interested in one rather sadsack young clown who gave a heart wrenching presentation on polar bears.

So, I like clowns, now. Even though I got shamed into sweeping for the janitor and then given detention for job theft and then detention for quitting my job and then detention for aggressive lewdness and then  detention for having too much detention. Clock, the Class Clown clown who had been on the detention stool and became my detention buddy, kept getting me into more and more trouble. This was to be a continued theme of the evening, as he proceeded to be a destructive force during the science fair going so far as to sabotage other students exhibits. He was hilarious, if a bit of a bastard. He in fact stole another clown's clothes and tried to accept his award at the end of the evening, and was only thwarted when said rival student appeared, still bound in duct tape.

Awkward.

The evening was hilarious. The character work being done by these actors is stunning, and they are wholly unrecognizable with their noses on. I know this, because I had met several of them in real life and had no freaking idea who I was talking to at any given moment. Especially Pat-Pat, portrayed by Negin Singh. Ridiculous.

If you live in LA and have the opportunity this 15th, I highly recommend going to Everybody Nose Science. It is immensely engaging, genuinely funny, and brilliantly observed comedy from a young and vibrant troup. A+. Blue ribbon. Bravo.

Here's the official write up of the event,

Everybody Knows A Science Fair, a playful and inventive take on the American educational system, runs this Spring for three Saturdays, April 24th, May 1st & May 15th. The interactive walkthrough will play as a durational one hour and a half piece, during which the audience will enter a space that has been transformed into a “Clown School” filled with clown students, teachers and administration. The first part of event takes us through part of a functional "Clown school", complete with a cafeteria where delicious food will be served, a classroom, the guidance counselor's office, a gym, and the headmaster's office. The centerpiece of the evening will be the “Clown Science Fair” during which audience will be able to, at their leisure, walk through an assortment of independently operating clown science projects. No mere spectators, the audience will also serve as judges of the science fair, and will each be issued an evaluation sheet on which they will mark their favorite pieces. In addition to the durational science projects, the piece will feature “clown happenings” every five or ten minutes, rehearsed clown solo or duo bit relating to the science fair at hand. Approximately twenty clowns will participate with projects, each clown proposing to solve a major world problem with their personal project. Recommended for ages 13 and up. Tickets are $10 or $7 with a student ID. Tickets can be purchased online here.

See full post

OHMYGOD I NEED 8 MILLION DOLLARS STAT [WANT]

okayokayokayokayokayokay, so there is gonna be a Lost prop auction and I DONT THINK I'VE EVER BEEN SO EXCITED TO SPEND MONEY

I mean, I'm not gonna, cause I'm a bajillionaire, but listen, some rich people, like Steve Guttenberg, spend their money on fine wine and art (Party Down reference - check!) and other people, like the professionals we know and spend time with, spend it on collectibles. But there has to come a point where one stops wanting to spend money on art prints and want the original. Stop buying replicas and get the one and only.

HERE ARE SOME ONE AND ONLYS I WOULD LIKE

#1 AND MOST IMPORTANT

ALSO THIS ONE IS QUITE IMPORTANT

If you don't know what these are, you're not a true Lost fan and our friendship is over. OVER. WHICH ONES DO YOU WANT THE MOST?!!?!?
Click here for the complete catalog. See full post

Lost Themed Haiku Contest

Dude. For the half second I thought I might have ended up with an extra pair of tix to Lost Live: The Final Celebration, my contest was going to involve Lost themed haikus, I kid you not. I'm glad Jimmy Kimmel is picking up where I left off. LET THE HAIKUING BEGIN!



[Fuck Yeah Lost!] See full post

Getting Down To It - American Idol Top 5 Recap

Fox doesn't have an effing group picture of the top five, so I have no photo to headline this week's recap. THIS IS WHY WE AREN'T FRIENDS, FOX.

...I'm only half serious. You're cool sometimes.

Anyway, this week's installment of American Idol was Sinatra themed and it was actually a pretty good decision. For the first time, it was made clear to me that certain contestants actually CAN sing and certain other ones, as much as I like them, just can't. And others can sing just fine, sure, but need to go home already cause they bore me. On to the recap!

Aaron Kelly - Fly Me To The Moon
Competant, sounded good enough, sure, whatever but I don't care
Randy -  Looking for who is in this to win it. Was worried but he did a really good job
Ellen - Also was worried, but cannot believe she didn't hear any country, felt like he really pulled it off, beautiful vocals
Kara - Good. Not as strong as last week. Thinks he will be here again. Needs more charisma.
Simon - Was a mouse to Frank Sinatra's lion. Corny vocals at the end. Didn't have the conviction. But a good thing is people like him after he performs.

Casey James - Blue Skies
"Sometimes its not about the lyrics, sometimes it's about the groove" - HCJ
Sounds kind of off at the beginning, let's see how this goes. But the sheet music on an ipad or whatever is effing awesome. Casey is so darn cute, but this proves that vocally, he just isn't THAT strong. Nice final note. Eruditechick says the performance is "God Awful."
Randy - Worst performance, pitchy until the last note, out of his element, knew it would be tough for him, about intricate melodies and singing with the band.
Ellen - Felt very stiff, no cool, not effortless, agrees with Randy and is sorry
Kara - Took him a long time to warm up into the song. But at least he held some notes, she's never heard that before. But he kind of sounds like a lamb sometimes, with the vibratto - YOU COULD HAVE TOLD HIM THAT AGES AGO!
Simon - He wasn't fantastic. Came over a bit embarrased and awkward. Didn't feel comfortable. Jokes about him getting kicked off. Yikes.

Harry Connick says he sounded better in rehearsal and it's hard to hear on the stage, but he did kill it two hours ago. Awwwe.

Crystal Bowersox - Summer Wind
Crystal is totally classic jazz singer omg her interaction with Harry is amazing.
She jumps into any genre they give her, she's badass. Ohmygod is she gonna cry again? Nice performance!
Randy - One of her more subdued performances, was okay, a little sleepy
Ellen - At first seemed like she was swallowing the words, then really started singing, wanted her to loosen up a little bit more, she has so many different sides, totally impressive
Kara - Out of her element, but she kind of liked it. Liked her phrasing. Showed that she could hold her own in that department.
Simon - Felt a little bit indulgent. First half too jazzy, second half a lot better. Wasn't one of her strongest performances. Has had two okay weeks, needs to go back to be in it to win it.

Big Mike - The Way You Look Tonight
Someone who can really sing! Yay! Oh this is good. Oh, we're grooving. Yeah I said grooving. Yeah. He can sing. Damn. Totally committed to the style. Awesome.
Randy - Mike is in it to win it. This is what he's talking about. Always sings it interestingly and well. Threw down the gauntlet.
Ellen - Seems to have the most comfort on stage. Showed that tonight, looked the part, sounded the part, really good
Kara - Found the drama in the song, took us on a journey, did everything right, but didn't lose himself.
Simon - Brought himself back in the game. Listened. Seemed like everyone worked together. Fantastic.

Lee - That's Life
Oooh, sounds good. In Lee's power zone. Continues to get cuter every week. I'm serious. Lee is having sex with someone. And he wasn't 3 weeks ago. I'm telling you. Oooh! I like this! Approve.
Randy - Loved it.
Ellen - If this was the last night of performances, he would have just won this whole thing
Kara - Asks if he thinks he can win. He says yeah. Says he needs to go home and write "I can win this thing" he needs the confidence, he can win this thing
Simon - Harry brought out his personality and confidence, loved that he gave it 110% and was by far the best performance of the night.

Did they totally forget about Mike?!?!! Who just went? And was awesome? Confused.

Top Two

 
Bottom Two

Going Home: I'm pretty sure it's gonna be Casey, but I WISH it was Aaron. Aaron doesn't deserve to be in the top 4. Casey isn't THAT great of a singer, but I like him and whatever, shhh.

Grades:
Lee A
Big Mike A
Crystal B
Aaron C-
Casey D+ See full post

MY FACE HURTS, LOST. THIS IS YOUR FAULT.

My personal highlights of this week's episode, The Candidate. My face still hurts from the tears. Ow.

"You saved John's life. Why can't that be enough?"

"Because its not."

"John Locke told me I needed to stay"

 "Locke can't kill us. This is what he wanted. This is what he waited for."

"James. We are going to be okay. You just have to trust me."

"Because it's going to be you, Jack."

"Aw, hell."

"There is no Sayid."

"I won't leave you. I will never leave you again."

"I was hoping maybe you could go first."

"I wish you believed me."

"I couldn't find you."

[Screencaps]

See full post

Simpsonized X-Men!

From Dean T. Fraser, the fella who brought you Simpsonized Lost characters, his latest installment - X-Men! Specifically Cyclops, Emma Frost & Colossus for your viewing pleasure.

Head to his website here and check out past Springfield Punx! This guy is awesome. See full post

Why Comic-Con Shouldn't Leave San Diego

There's been a lot of talk lately about Comic-Con leaving its home of 40 years, San Diego, and moving to another city when its contract is up in 2015. With official bids coming from Anaheim and Los Angeles, complete with Facebook pages failing to get anywhere near as much support as the Keep Comic-Con in San Diego page is getting, con-goers are beginning to get vocal about their opinions.

Needless to say, it's been frustrating. As a close friend to the convention and 22 consecutive year attendee, I find every argument for leaving San Diego to be completely invalid, and it has nothing to do with Nic Cage's hair being a bird. So I've decided to go point by point and explain exactly why anywhere but San Diego is bad news...and why anywhere but San Diego WON'T be happening.

Hotels
A lot of people are arguing that if Comic-Con moves to either Anaheim, LA or Vegas, there will no longer be hotel issues.
Allow me to clear this up.
Any hardship that comes with nabbing a hotel room will not change with a new city.
Downtown San Diego is all but shut down during Comic-Con, every hotel is filled with nothing but geeks, the restaurants offer themed menus, the bars throw geek party after geek party - some venues are even turned into events themselves like last year's Tron Legacy viral or Bear McCreary's taking over of the House of Blues.

This is because for 40 years, Comic-Con has been in San Diego and every year, predominantly over the last 15 years, as the convention grows, the city has subtley shifted more and more into dedicating itself wholly to nothing but Comic-Con for one week in July.
In LA, Anaheim or Vegas, the other tourists, the events, the activities, will not disappear overnight. There is no way in hell any one of those three cities would suddenly become Comic-Con only, all of the time! In Anaheim, there's the Disney crowd, in Vegas there's the Vegas crowd (::shudder::) and in LA, you're in LA, surrounded by - I repeat - LA. And staying in hotels that aren't downtown (cause you'll have to) means dealing with LA/Downtown traffic every time you want to come & go to Comic-Con. Yeah. No. And the Metro Rail service is a joke, useless unless you are staying at a hotel right next to a Metro Station.  Plus more convention space means more attendees which means, oh look, no more hotel space than there was before. It's not like the same number of people would be tackling the hotel rooms, you'd have to add, what, 30-40,000 more on top of the 125,000 that attend now? And if you think these hotels won't take advantage of the extra business by screwing you just as much as the San Diego hotels do, you're out of your damn mind.
So you have all the extra con-goers to compete with, in addition to the people who are in that city, staying in those hotels, for entirely other, completely non-related purposes.
Plus, in any of those other cities, you will most likely have to drive your own car to the convention from your hotel. In San Diego there are tons of Comic-Con dedicated hotels within walking distance of the con, much more than any of the other cities can boast. And cheaper? LA, Disney-town or Vegas cheaper than San Diego? Really? Come on.


Surrounding Area
Much has been touted about how cool it would be for Comic-Con to be in LA, Anaheim or Vegas because OMG there are comic stores in LA! and omg Disneyland & Downtown Disney! Oh dude, GAMBLING! I'm sorry, but if you want to go to Disneyland, GO TO FUCKING DISNEYLAND. If you wanna gamble in vegas, GO GAMBLE IN VEGAS YOU DUMBASS. And if you want Comic Con to come to LA so you drive to Melrose and go to Golden Apple (which, by the way, COMES to Comic-Con & happens to throw great parties) I just wanna punch you in the face. One of LA's "plus" points on its facebook page is "It's not as dangerous as you think." Okay, that's awesome and everything, but you know which city isn't dangerous at all and doesn't need to clarify this fact? San Diego. And frankly, I can't think of very many scenarios at all where I would somehow end up drinking downtown and when I'm at Comic-Con, I DONT WANT TO DRIVE. Anaheim talking about being "driving distance from Downtown Disney for an after-con drink" reads like its begging us to think its cool, when I'm sorry, it's just not. Why in god's name would I ever want to drive to Downtown Disney to get a drink? Oh, I guess when my only alternative is drinking in the lobby of the Anaheim Radisson, I'd be more inclined. And don't even get me started on Vegas. Nothing sounds more
nightmarish than walking along the strip or god forbid, driving from some cheapo, disgusting off strip
hotel to the convention center every day, in 101 degree weather, competing with day-drunks for my side of the sidewalk and night-drunks for mysad, geeky corner of the bar. How do you any of you think that would actually be appealing?! In San Diego, there is a long established shuttle system that we already know works, for those of you who got placed far away from the convention center. For the tens of thousands of us who are within walking distance, we can not only walk to the con, but we can walk to seaport village, Horton Plaza, or most importantly, the gaslamp district, an entire mecca of bars & restaurants that dedicated itself to us geeks for 5 days and allows for proper drinkage without the worry of any driving whatsoever, dealing with Vegas drunks, or wanting to kill yourself because you're in Downtown Disney with a bunch of kids and beyond confused mid westerners. Guaranteed if Comic-Con were in any of those other three cities, the main parties would absolutely require driving. I hardly consider going to a party in San Diego if it's outside of the Gaslamp district, let alone DRIVING distance. This more or less completely eliminates the after hours community of Comic-Con, which has become just as important as the convention itself. You lose the chance of running into professionals at the Australian bar or walking past some VIPS walking to the hotel from a studio party. You lose part of the magic.

More Space
Sure, the convention center is crowded, in the past ten years Comic-Con has blown up, but with more people, has come more space. And San Diego has proposed adding on to the convention center even more, just for Comic-Con, because really, what event is bigger? But I'm not even on the boat of adding more space to the convention, necessarily. I don't think the convention SHOULD get any bigger. I think 130,000 is plenty and even if the convention center goes ahead and adds this new space, I don't think that means more tickets should be sold. Every event has a cap, every event sells a certain number of tickets and if something is sold out, it's gonna be packed, it's just what it is. If it moves to any other city and a bigger space, more tickets will be sold and the convention will be JUST as crowded. Plus, have any of those other convention centers even handled an event of this size and magnitude? San Diego has had years of growing, preparing, learning. Comic-Con is not just another convention so I don't wanna hear anything about "Well Vegas has this, and LA has this!" None of them are Comic-Con and NOTHING can be compared to Comic-Con. It's its own beast, entirely.
Not to mention, I went to the Anaheim Convention Center recently, and I know it's technically bigger than the San Diego Convention Center, but it sure didn't seem that way to me. It was gross, low ceilings, horrible carpeting, terrible vibe, cramped spaces and I only noticed 5 halls. I don't want Comic-Con there. Blech.

The bottom line here is whatever your problem is with San Diego will NOT be solved by moving to another city, and if you really think about it, you know I'm right. San Diego is the city that has nursed this convention from infancy, raised it, helped it grow, nourished it,  it's EARNED the right to call itself Comic-Con's home. It's EARNED the revenue gained from the convention every year. San Diego Comic Con is precisely that - San Diego Comic-Con. Always has been, always will be. It's not in the desert, it's not in the middle of nowhere, and it's not in the same city where all the talent already lives. It's a chance for everyone, fans, professionals, talent, studio execs to get away from home and spend a few days in a gorgeous bay-side city, with beautiful weather in a vibrant area that practically radiates geek and only geek non stop from Wednesday to Sunday. When exactly during Comic-Con were you planning on going to Disneyland? Thursday during Avatar's 25 minutes? Or Friday when your favorite comic book writer is signing? Was it Saturday during Lost's final panel? Or Sunday, the best day to do the Dealer's Room? When were you planning on gambling? Instead of the Wrath of Con party? Or was it instead of random late night dining with the entire cast of Futurama? Or do you prefer that to the first public screening of Shaun of the Dead at one of the two theaters within walking distance, that officially marks a few geeks from England as bonafide superstars? And if you really wanna move to downtown, select a designated driver and leave the convention before Kevin Smith even goes on in order to make it to a party in Hollywood on time, then be my guest, but you're missing out.

Comic-Con is my favorite event of every year and I'm not alone in this. I almost feel like these arguments for leaving San Diego are injuring my baby. Appreciate what you have, offer suggestions to San Diego, to the con, but don't betray its home of 40 years, don't encourage the convention to move someplace that can only be worse.

With a 732 million dollar proposal to add on to the SD convention center and a pedestrian walkway over Harbor blvd that should be done by July, thus eliminating the cluster fuck that is crossing the street, I don't see Comic-Con going anywhere. I wish that all of you, fans, pros & press alike, join with me in supporting keeping Comic-Con in San Diego. It's not going anywhere, mark my words, but it might be nice to show the convention (the non-profit convention that is for the FANS and only the FANS, because they make no profit, people, let's remind ourselves of that from time to time) heads that we have faith in them, we have faith in the city that bore Comic-Con and we have faith that despite any problems that may arise, San Diego Comic-Con is and always will be San Diego Comic-Con, which always has and always will, truly have the best interests of the Fan at heart.

Looking forward to my 23rd San Diego Comic-Con this July (yes, I'm 24), and encouraging you to become a fan of Keep Comic-Con In San Diego on Facebook by clicking here and following their Twitter, @KCCISD, here

-Muse

P.S. Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons totally agrees with me :)

So you can see all sides:
-Stupid reasons to move to Anaheim, 8 from Anaheim and 5 from The Wrap.
-5 even stupider (I know that's not a word, shhhh) reasons to move to Los Angeles, from LA Weekly (This reads like the author has never been to Comic-Con and makes me want to throw my computer at a wall) See full post

Thoughts From a Girl Gamer - Prototype [By Konoko Bailey]

Not going to lie. At first I was NOT a fan! The dialogue seemed sub par, the cut scenes made me feel like I was being brain washed, the lighting is often too dark ,making you miss out on seeing some great kills. But a co-worker of mine insisted that I continue…so I did. Turns out the game isn’t half bad. Once your earn enough points to fully upgrade Alex’s abilities, the game takes on a new face. But let’s just start at the beginning…

Prototype is an action adventure game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Activision. Rated M17+ for it blood/gore, foul language, and inappropriate conduct. ;)

The game starts off with a cut scene of NY (Canal and Broadway to be specific). We quickly learn that 3 weeks ago a virus was let loose in Pen Station. Your character, Alex Mercer, woke up in a morgue with super human strength and abilities of unknown origins. There is a rapid spreading virus genetically altering humans into mega beast of all sorts. The military is trying to contain it the problem. And by “contain” of course I mean shooting to kill. Alex is caught somewhere in the middle, and often fights on both sides of this war. As NY descends in to chaos Alex searches for the truth...

Manhattan as we learned from “I am Legion” is a great place for an outbreak to occur. When all hell breaks loose just blow up the bridges and tunnel and it can all be contain! Presuming the infected don’t know how to use a boat of course. And if push comes to shove blow up the whole island….or want did I give away the ending of the game? Not quite, but you get my point. The game is hella predictable. Spoiler alert - The good guys are the bad guys, and the bad guys are the good guys. You of course find all this out through the progression of the game.

The dialogue gets a gentlemen’s “C”. I wanted it to be so much better, but it often fell short, and honestly could have just replaced words with grunting and inappropriate hand jesters.

More reviewing after the jump

See full post

New Interpol

Interpol has released a new song and you can download it on their website. It sounds like Interpol which is to say it sounds like Joy Division which is to say I like it. But maybe one day they can try to evolve their sound? Either way, I'll always have a special place in my heart for them and their suits.

See full post

Freakin' Twilight

Okay, back at Wondercon, this thing happened with Twilight, so you already know it's going to be ridiculous. What happened was, some footage for Twilight: Twiharder or whatever the next one is called was shown during Trailer Park. Half the audience screamed with pure swooning adulation that swelled with the kind of hormonal dissonance that makes chandeliers crumble into sand. The other, predominantly male half booed, more in reaction to the excited audience members than the footage itself. A high profile blogger even commented on the latter reaction and the studio representatives' cringing responses to it backstage, although he left out the bit about the squealing. So, if you weren't at Trailer Park, you might have read this and been like, "Woah, Twilight takes a hit!"

Well, no, Twilight didn't take a hit. The only way Twilight would take a hit is if they recast Larry David in the role of the main sparkly vampire with the hair. This event is in no way indicative of how Twilight is doing with its fans or within the world of the conventions. All this is indicative of is that fanboys like to harass fangirls, which I'm pretty sure we've all known since 2nd grade. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Really, if anything, this story is kind of awesome, because it shows that there were enough LADIES in the audience to even provoke a response from the male contingency. And at Trailer Park, no less, not even a Twilight panel, or Polly Pocket or whatever the hell else it is is being marketed at us girls these days.


God, I hated Polly Pocket. Anyway.


My roommate loves Twilight. Well, okay, my roommate loves Taylor Lautner's abdominals, and the most expedient way for her to get her fix is to watch Twilight (or look at her computer's background image). I'm not going to judge her for this. Much. I suck down the True Blood novels like oxygen, I'm not about to start pointing fingers. I'm not going to judge what someone loves on the quality of the writing or production values, on the casting or the demographic to which it's being marketed. I really don't have a problem with Twilight on any of those levels. High vampire romance with a lycanthropic element? Yes, please. No, my problem with Twilight is that the protagonist is useless. But there are a trillion articles you can read on this, though I would most fervently recommend Cleolinda's Twilight extrapolations over at her livejournal.


Kevin Smith once said:

How dare you pass judgement on those twelve year old girls who like vampires? They need to be encouraged because in six years they'll be eighteen year old girls who like vampires... don't poo poo it, it's- there's a plan, and it's working.


And he has a point. So what needs to happen, really, is Dark Horse needs to publish an ashcan 1-shot comic that chronicles the love affair of Buffy and Angel. Then they need to distribute it, for free, to the line waiting to get into Hall H for Twilight. Then they need to hire teams and send them to theaters when the lines start forming for the next movie's midnight screenings, and hand them out again. Because Buffy is what these girls are going to need once Twilight is over. Buffy is going to be their portal to becoming real people.


The Chosen one will guide the way. See full post

Get Back In Your Book [Photo]

The rest of the set, from Lissy Elle, can be found here See full post

Lost Alphabet, Edward Gorey Style

If you don't watch Lost, turn away now, BIG TIME SPOILER ALERT for everything up until now

TOR has written a poem about Lost in the style of Edward Gorey aka it's describes the death of 26 characters, in alphabetical order. Fuckin badass. Check out the beginning of the alphabet below, then click through for the rest!

The rest can be found by you clicking HERE! See full post