"Public Enemies"

After the exams slacking around the house and splitting my free time between Japanese and my shadow priest is not as productive as would one expect so I better try to get things here back on track. But enough about me, "Public Enemies" is a good start for this batch of updates.
I usually try to keep the reviews short and snappy so I will say it at the beginning: I got a little disappointed. Maybe this is what you get for letting the hipe-wave reach you. The trailer and Johnny Depp's participation made me expect something breathtaking. Well, the movie isn't bad, on the contrary it is awesome but not that awesome...
The presentation was really fabulous. They have captured the sandy gold and the tarnished silver of the times of the Great Depression. Time and Life are slow and sluggish with John Dillinger (Johnny Depp)'s gang being the storm breaking the monotonity. I really felt like I was watching that era. The aspect of how the FBI is established is also presented nicely although Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) 's quiet ruthlessness is not as epic as some ending lines accounted it to be. For those the movie is a must see on big screen. I felt I can touch the walls wrapped in tacky wallpapers, the cars, the old woolen overcoats... The story is also classy gangster story... Then what is wrong. Well, they try to make the story too sad and heavy, and to me they overdid it. Instead of suspence and incoming dread I got slightly bored and found myself waiting for the inevitable and somewhat disappointing ending.

Alternative Salvation

So me and my roomie saw the new "Terminator". And we couln't avoid questioning the severe lack of logic on few levels in humanity and machines alike. We came up with an alternative ending that might have been more enjoyable. It is quite spoilerous so I advice not to read the following if you plan on seeing the movie.

T-800 is conviniently trapped in metal. John Connor rushes to the motionless body of Marcus Wright. In desperation he grabs two electric cables and tries to resuscitate his fallen friend. Unfortunately T-800 is slowly getting out of his metal case and trying to break free. Sadly for Connor his attemts are futile and he turns in time to get impaled by T-800. T-800 drops the dead body on top of Marcus and requests following procedures for restoring order in the battle ravaged factory.
Outside the Resistance team escorting Kyle Reese and Star looses John Connor's communication signal which informs them of his current deceased state. Barnes calls for immidiate retreat and everyone gets to the choppers. When slightly away from the Skynet Central, Barnes notices Star holding something in her little hands. On his query about it she reveals the detonator to the explosives set by John Connor. She then gently presses the button unleasing a heavy explosion at the base of the Skynet building. It is followed by several smaller explosions leading to the building's destruction.
Instead of an inspiring speech as conclusion we have the following scene: Several years later the Resistance lead by Barnes and Reese is still fighting to free more regions from Skynet's control. Our heroes are gathered at an underground laboratory freed from Skynet. We witness how the pregnant Star and Reese take their farewell. She steps back to stand next to Barnes and Kate Connor. Reese takes a position in the middle of a strange machine which pulsates with energy. Barnes and Kate wish him good luck. By Reese's words on the screen fading we understand that he is on his way to the past to protect our future. And wooohooo we have the movie linked to the privious ones. Unfortunately the producers need to make two more movies so my ending would be rejected...

On "Twilight" and Furry...

I finally saw "Twilight". A true test to my perseverence. Well, I can't say much good about it, and I don't want to be too hard on its flaws. It was frankly mediocre. I was really annoyed how all the characters tried to make Bela like them, even Rowling didn't force the people to lick up to Harry that much. So enough about that and to make this post more meaningful here is next batch of comics. And my editor will quite enjoy those for they are furry.

"Better Days" I enjoyed. In past simple for it recently finished the story. It was a story not always happy and one that had its ups and downs. It was a story about life. The life of a brother and a sister and their broken family. The art is not amazing but decent enough and if you are a little on the furry side you will probably like it even more. The new comic again drawn and written by Jay Naylor is called "Original Life" and is just starting so there isn't much to talk about it.
"Sequential Art" is done by Phillip M. Jackson and I like it more than "Better Days". Possibly because of the finer art and the more refreshing and entertaining cast and comedy story lines. It is the story about an artist, his roomates- a cat and a penguin and the squirel girl they find on their attic.
"DMFA" is probably the one comic I should have started with. "Miss Mab" as it was originally called was what showed me the wonderous world of furry. The comic is about the adventures of Amber's - the authors' characters from an online furry game. The art has evolved a lot from its early years and the Dan and Mab have had quite a lot of adventures since the start of the series.
So this is for today. Hope you don't think I am an weaboo now.

The Big List p.4

So the next portion of this course will consist of two "World of Warcraft" related comics and a fresh light 3-panel comic for dessert.

"Dark Legacy Comics" started as a series to entertain the guild the author's Warcraft character - Keydar is in. The art is simplistic but fun, the humour is extremly fresh and deals with the daily plight of the casual Warcraft player. I usually find this comic very refreshing among the "1337" gaming comics.

"Manic Graffiti" fits the same category as the above. Though the art is unique probably because of its eastern origin. As opposed to "Dark Legacy" we are shown both the Alliance and Horde's point of view. The comic takes a little time getting used to the style but for every Warcraft player it will be a fun thing to check.

"Three Panel Soul" is the epic continuation of "Machall" which followed the college mishaps of two friends. Frankly I loved "Machall" during my high school years and was very sad when it ended. Because of that, Mat & Ian's next project "Three Panel Soul" was an enjoyable surprise. The new comic is on a whole different level. The art is amazing, the colour pallete is usually fixed in the shades of grey and they manage to nail the humour in the confining format of only three panel comics. Amazing work.

"In Bruges"

A well told story, mate! This film really surprised me. I expected an action flick deserving redicule. Instead it turned out to be a fresh and pretty sad tale about life and how to deal with the consequences our good and bad decisions produce. The setting is astonishing. Bruges indeed sports an atmosphere like you have been stucked in the timeless continium of a fairy tale. While some people enjoy it, some people find it immensly boring and dull. So is the case with our leading character duo. The master assassin and the troublesome student, forced by their boss to lay low after a not-so-perfect job. Sadly the trip turns problematic. Well... you see the guns on the poster, don't you? The act is grand and all the girls can rejoice for Colin Farrell had ample opportunities to show his cry/sob skills. The OST is even more grand and entangles you in the timeless Bruges while not forgetting to put you on the edge when the guns are waved around. Not to miss the English in the movie... well it is simply fockin' Irish, mon!

The Big List p.3

A little late but... Anyway today we meet three very bizzare comics. Some of them are long prooved leaders in the web comics agenda.

-So Dueling Anologs is one of the most senseless comics I hold in the active list. It takes one of the most strange and obnoxious looks at the gaming news that come out. Somehow it keeps me intrigued what next retarded move the author and artist Steve Napierski will be in satirizing the gaming ways of life.

- Penny Arcade by now, my friends, has become an established media of its own. Through the years Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, hidden behind the aliases and the comic's main characters Tycho and Gabe, have shown the world you can make a living out of a web comic. The current art is one of the comic's trademarks, and Gabe friquently recieves proposals for producing promotional short strips for new game titles. The strange and bizzare humor can be a little too much to take in at first, but by now the comic has a huge dedicated fan base that adores it. And it seems I am one of those poor sobs :P
- VG Cats is the third power player web comic with gaming as a main theme for tonight. The two leading characters are based off Scott Ramsoomair's two kitties that take on the roles of various computer game personas hence the name VideoGame Cats :) The strips are usually very obscene and action packed. I simply love this comic, maybe because of my adoration for cats .

Big List continued...

So to prove mainly to myself that I can do something on shedule here are the next three Web Comics. We have two established works and another one very pleasing to the eye, to the man's eye at least.

- So Ctrl+Alt+Del is another of the so usual gamer roomate web comics. And most probably there will be a few more of the above mentioned kind joining the list :). The art is decent, as it is with most web comics that pass their first 4 years... The main characters are enjoyable, the story arcs usually move nice and tight but... sometimes the humor is rather wordy and can get a bit annoying reading the long chat bubbles. And recently the story has hit the depths of drama. Nowadays I check it more out of habit but if it is in the active list then it is at least worth a look ;)

- A personal favourite among the web comics I follow. The "Order of the Stick" my friends is classic. Don't let the stick figure art fool you. That is one of the most unique characteristics. This web comic follows the adventures of a disfunctional Dungeon & Dragons party. The epic story tempered with the amazing main cast and the witty takes at the sometimes faulty 3rd edition game rules is a must read from the very beginning.

- And here is something juicy. "Atland" 's art is very entertaining and plays special emphasis on providing the female characters' with proper amount of booty. The setting is an imaginary fantasy universe where we follow the mishaps of strange quartet of heroes on their bizzare adventures. A well told tale indeed.

The Big List

So let's get this over with:

- Ned is a beautifully drawn web comic dealing with a universe where deamons waged war against the human world and the powers high above. Due to some major advantages the deamons managed to conquer most of the known universe. As mentioned the art is sweet and modern and the story about the main duo of freelancing demons is exciting and well paced. Recently the updates are slower.
- WTF Comics is the first honorary mention. At present the comic is a little more than dead. The art is moderatry decent but as expected from a non-professional artist it has its weak points. I enjoyed the story based on the Everquest universe quite a lot. It is respectful of the source but offers a lot of innovation and bizzare humor towards this very old fantasy universe.
- Applegeeks is another well established web comic. Recently Dark Horse made a deal to publish the series. Good old Hawk grew to be quite the artist and you can see that if you stroll through the achives. Ananth provides a story filled with classy humour for two roomates and the difficult and good times they have. A usual setting for a web comics but performed to near perfection from this duo. Applegeeks also sports Lite short comics format which is updated almost daily and usually refers to recent news or events.
So guys those are the three comics for today. Enjoy :)

What's up?

Hmm... I think it is high time I returned to this place. I've been both reluctant and eager to produce stuff for this little endevour of mine. One of the things that annoyed me was the fact that when I write a slightly bigger article it usually stretches all down and leaves the impression that it is f*cking long and possibly discouraging to read. So I tinkered with the available designs and I seem to enjoy this new colour theme too much to leave it. I think I will stick to the tight column format of the blog for two reasons:
1. As mentioned above I like the look.
2. If I think of myself as columnist this might allow me to be less reluctant to produce stuff more often and on a tight shedule. So basicly the column format will be a blessing and a challange - to create meaningful and witty short posts :)
See ya soon! (I hope.)

Goblins Comic

I guess G is the magic letter in this project. The next comic on my booked list is the Goblins Webcomic. Again we are in the field of games... This time the fantasy wolrd is based on the Dungeon & Dragons Pen & Paper Roleplaying Game. Mr.Hunt presents us with an interesting cast of heroes. Or more appropriate a term is monsters. Sick of their miserable role as lowly and easy encounter for upstart heroes the last survivors of our Goblin tribe decide to change their fate and become real heroes. With a lot of humour and wit our champions manage to hold their ground and continue on the path of rightiousness. The comic is lighthearted and funny but doesn't stop to follow a deep and complex story. We see that more often the real monsters are not inside little scally bodies but in pinkskin vagabonds that favor false appearances. Although more a writer than artist Mr.Hunt has continued to improve his art to the current state that provides a decent vision to the events that transpire. So again anyone enjoying the genre of fantasy is welcomed to pay a visit...

'09

So it began. Many holidays were celebrated. I got older, and not a bit wiser... I am again in my usual January Hell (Term) Period. And as I am slacking and avoiding studies, I might as well try to compose some "intersting" posts in hopes of moving closer to producing anything a bit "funny" and "creative"...

So enough with the emoish post and let's get cracking... or watch more lolcats...

Merrymaker

As usually the one week mark is a month :P. Basicly I want to wish all my friends and family a very merry holidays. Let's forget for few days, all the daily chores, work and study worries and to have few days of tranquil rest and alcoholic relaxation. I hope the new year will bring much joy, fun and money (cause they always get in the way) to each one of you.

Holy Merrydays for all!

Stefan

"Quantum of Solace"

Retrospectively with "Casino Royale".

So last week I watched "Quantum of Solace" and this week I came around to seeing "Casino Royale" for a first time. I decided to give a glance at them here as well. Basically "Casino Royale" had the goal of showing us the new super secret agent / spy who is either enlisted with his code 007 or directly adressed as James Bond. I somewhat enjoy Daniel Craig's personification a lot! Contrary to Pierce Brosnan we got a new even tougher (emphasis on tougher), more primal, more vulgar and more efficient (in most cases) Bond. So let's see how "Quatum of Solace" tries to add some more shades on out super-spy portrait. While the first movie sticks more to the traditional and stylish spy-movie tricks for building suspence, witty dialogue and well placed action (awesome, needed to add that), in the second one I enjoyed the flow of events even more. It was faster, the action scenes were rough and realistic (most of the time) and the suspence chapters fited perfectly in between. Some may tip this as a downside but while watching the first movie I felt I was left behind on a lot of the stuff. I mean at points the variables kept pileing up. In the second movie events don't lack sudden unexpected turns and still in the end a good chunk of loose treads are solved, while we are left with ton of more stuff to be tackled in the undoubtfully coming sequel. For that matter I say that "Quantum of Solace" fits nice in the tracks the "Casino" build for the new series. So we covered the agent and the action. What else we have there... the girls are nice... I don't need to linger here much, you will see them for yourself anyway. The main vilain is even more sleazy and unnerving and is... how should I put it... evil. The ruling shadows behind him still manage to evade the light most of the time, though Bond's flashlight is always close behind.

Gu Comics

I just had to start with the one webcomic that introduced me to this medium. I found Gu Comics back in my high school years when "World of Warcraft" was released. It surprisingly filled a gap I didn't know existed in me... the joy of seeing role-playing game funny or stupid moments portraited in a caricature way. Through the years Gu Comics have gained a faithful circle of readers and Gu Comics' creator William makes sure we keep up with news from the world of entertainment industries beside the usual computer game humour. His graphic style have become unique through years of practise and is another of Gu's trademarks. Updated almost every weekday Gu has become one of my check-every-day pages. I recomend it to all interested in computer games, especially MMORPGs, and everything else going around in the back of entertainment industries.

Tracks...

... life never seems to get onto the ones you imagined. So anyway this is a quick update to show that I am still alive. Thankfully Nikolai and Ivan decided I am too much fun to miss having around so I permanently found a living quarter for now. As usual time is not enough with school and work , and suprisingly good amount of classy computer games (going out this month) eating it away but I will try to realize few of the ideas swirling in my head. One in particular will reveal my geeky side. After my webcomic bookmarks passed over fifty I will start a little research upon why each one of them has gotten my attention and share with you which ones will remain there and get a place in the little link tag to the right. Cheers, to all the dawgs and kittehs checking this rant!

Dawn...

The morning light revealed two vague shapes moving slowly along the coast. Both were tall and male. The slimmer was also taller. The skin of that person was way smoother and pale in comparison to that of his companion. The winds have made it parch and the sun has burned dark colours onto it. The waves ended their jorney at the persons' feet. Slowly pacing ahead in slight disunison the men broke the smooth sand before them. Both left tracks behind that the waves quickly came to engulf and dissolve. The slimmer person's tracks were more shallow and the path behind him was shorter. As the men continued on their way the older man seemed to talk to the younger one. Who heard the words, some of them hit him deep in his mind and soul,... many words of wisdom. But while listening, the young man decided to keep his eyes and ears open to see the everbright light embracing the world, to hear the sound of the sea gently wispering and to feel each grain of sand passing under his fingers... in search of words of his own.

Seafloor...

As always I suck at fulfilling my goals and promises. So again almost another month without an update. At least life goes on... Even without me posting seemingly senseless rants about this and that. Good for the world or I would have been the doom of us all...

And indeed life has been going on. Work is going fine but when back home I somehow manage to occupy myself with everything but not checking my studies left for the summer. And living like a hermit crab doesn't let you have enough time to focus on stuff like that. Or so I delude myself. After leaveing my former residence I really felt like a squishy little crab wondering what happened to his old cozy shell. I have been fortunate to accomodate two temporary shells so far and I must say it was and is fun. On the side not I really like to thank Neda and now Nickolai and Ivan for their hospitality. I want to assure you that I will try to force myself to grow my own carapace around this squishy body of mine so I can bear the harsh currents of the our ever so turbulant sea...

Till next we meet, or don't...

Working the studies...

Status: Epic Fail
Let's review this terms score for now: BAD!
And while trying to master my studies for this term's end is a challenge itself, combining it with getting a job might be not my wisest decision. But well from my experience in MMORPGs greater challenges reap greater rewards. Though I am not so sure if I can solo this :D

Misery...

So this week I again failed with a proper update. And it is about time I start following my dad's years-old advice: "When you know it's your fault, don't point out excuses!", and compiled with my "even when you have a reasonable one" is how I have always remembered it later on in my childhood. So see ya next week wearing something proper I hope...

Snuff...

Time can be so slippery and intangible. This meaning the previous week was a busy one that allowed me little time to think and write something fun, at least on the little trip I toped the week with I realised hamburgers and snuff don't mix well.