Saturday, February 28, 2009

CHOCOLATE DVD REVIEW

A few months ago, a friend (Vic F.) recommended a Thai martial arts movie called Chocolate, about an autistic girl with photographic reflexes that learns martial arts by watching Tony Ja movies.

It sounded a little silly to me but I thought what the hell, I put it in my netflix Queue and passed it up for several months. A few days ago I finally got around to see it and while the plot is your usual martial arts avenge my master , mother , family spiel, the action is top notch, A great Saturday night popcorn flick and a definite must see if you even remotely enjoy martial arts movies.

Here's the NETFLIX LINK TO THE MOVIE

and the trailer

enjoy




enjoy

Monday, February 23, 2009

STREET FIGHTER 4: REVIEW

STREET FIGHTER 4 has become my new gaming obsession, while it may not be as technically complex as SF 3: 3rd Strike, the gameplay is still way above any other next gen fighter.

It's basic gameplay schematic is simple enough for a novice to jump in and hold his own against a more experienced player, but rich with super moves, ultra moves , combos and counters to keep a veteran like myself busy for weeks at a time with each character.

The netcode on the PS3 version ( the only one I've tried ...for now ) is superb, even with a "red" connection I experienced little or no lag. Also hats off to Capcom for having a setting that allows an online challenger to interrupt the arcade mode to come in and challenge you ( just like an old school SF2 machine, the best way to test your skills is fighting strangers )

my review, if you like fighting games ( especially the street fighter series ) this is a MUST BUY. I just advise anyone who plans to challenge people online to invest in a decent arcade stick.

9.5 out of 10


BONUS:

here's a nice video with some Ultra moves from the game, enjoy.


Sunday, February 22, 2009

1/2000 SDF-1



Yep, it's 1/2000 scale which puts it at about 2 feet long. Price is rumored to be 50,000 Yen. Yes, I am saving my pennies... oh boy!





Thursday, February 19, 2009

MACROSS FRONTIER VALKYRIES

Courtesy of Collection DX

Check out these nice images of the VF-25 Valkyries at the 2009 Tamashii Nations exhibit. They show nice close ups of the Tamashii - Exclusive fast packs. This also shows what that weird extra joint is in the fuselage. Check out the picture of Ozma's VF-25 in Gerwalk mode to see what I mean






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Looks mean in Gerwalk mode












































TOP 100 COMIC BOOK BATTLES: # 1

#1. Batman vs. Superman

The last book of the “Batman: Dark Knight” series was sub-titled “The Dark Knight Falls.” In this book, things take a turn for the worse for Batman in terms of public support when he finally kills the Joker while all of America is following the situation. Although Batman escapes police custody, his actions are not hidden from Superman, who determines that he must be brought in to take care of Batman once and for all.

It is hard to believe how much of an influence this Frank Miller series was, from the depiction of Bruce Wayne's parents' murder (and the pearl necklace of Martha Wayne) to the return to a yellow oval-less costume, but most importantly, to the relationship between Batman and Superman, as pretty much every writer featuring both heroes after this series used their interaction in this comic as their guiding light.

Batman views Superman as a government sell-out, but Batman also sees both men as dinosaurs in a new world. After Superman keeps a Russian nuclear missile from detonating on its target, the bomb still gave off a massive electromagnetic pulse that practically sent the United States back to the Stone Age. Superman is close to death from the blast before he sucks in some energy from a flower (the blast cuts Superman off from the sun, period, but gains power from flowers, which in turn collect energy from the sun).

Superman then goes to take care of Batman at the place where Batman was born, Crime Alley, where Thomas and Martha Wayne were gunned down. Superman does not know, though, that Batman has spent weeks preparing this final battle. First, he hits Superman with thousands of volts of electricity. Then he blasts Superman with ultra-sonic soundwaves. The startled Man of Steel is even more startled when Batman lands a clean punch on Superman, knocking him to the ground.

Superman quickly recovers and commences beating Batman up pretty badly when Green Arrow enters the fray as part of Batman's plan. The archer (now old and only having one arm!) plays his role when he shoots Superman with a Kryptonite arrow, developed by Batman. With the weakened Superman in his grasps, Batman delivers a chilling statement – "We could have changed the world…now…look at us…I've become a political liability…and…you…you're a joke. I want you to remember, Clark…in all the years to come…in your most private moments…I want you to remember…my hand…at your throat…I want…you to remember…the one man who beat you."

And at that moment, Batman has a heart attack and dies.

At his funeral, Clark attends (which some attendees find in poor taste) and as he leaves, he manages to overhear something strange – Batman's heartbeat.

Yep, Batman faked his death, and Superman is willing to go along with it. Batman formulated a plan earlier when Green Arrow notes that the government needed Batman dead. If that's what they needed, Batman figured, why not give them just that?

He is then able to proceed with his mission, but now in complete secrecy.

Until the next time he needs to pound some sense into Superman, that is.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

TOP 100 COMIC BOOK BATTLES: # 2

#2.Superman vs. Doomsday

“The Death of Superman” is unique amongst the comics on the list in the sense that it was written by four different writers and drawn by four different artists over four different comic book titles. Writers Dan Jurgens, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern and Jerry Ordway combined to tell the tale of the nearly unstoppable creature of destruction, Doomsday, and his fight with the Justice League and its most powerful member, Superman. Jurgens, Jon Bognadove, Jackson Guice and Tom Grummett, respectively, drew the storyline, which began when, after a month of pounding to get out, a green-clad monster escaped custody in “Superman: Man of Steel” #18.

The monster cut a swath through the country on his journey to Metropolis (he was guided by a tourist sign for Metropolis). The American branch of the Justice League responded to distress calls and arrived on the scene only to be completely decimated by the creature. Booster Gold's costume, which was made in the future, was shredded by the monster. Blue Beetle was throttled to the point of going into a coma. Fire, the Leaguer who could turn into green flame, was doused so thoroughly that she lost the ability to turn back into fire again.

Eventually, it became clear that only one person could possibly stop this creature – Superman. And Superman spent a battle lasting four full issues trying to do so, to no avail.

The story was told in an interesting fashion. The last four issues in the tale slowly reduced their panel-per-page amounts. “Adventures of Superman” #497 was done entirely with four-panel pages, Action Comics #684 with three-panel page, Superman: The Man of Steel #19 had two-panel pages until Superman #75, written and drawn by Dan Jurgens, was told entirely in full-page spreads. This gave an extra sense of urgency to the title, as though it was a snowball slowly turning into an avalanche.

Unlike most battles, there was little strategy for Superman to deal with here. Doomsday (as the creature became known) was such a sheer force of destruction that all Superman could do was to resort to the most brutal of brute force – to no avail! Whatever Superman came up with, Doomsday seemed to react to and to counter.

Finally, when the creature reached Metropolis, Superman made his last stand – his literal last stand. He and the monster stood toe-to-toe, pummeling each other viciously until finally, hero and villain both reared back all their remaining energies into one last blow – a blow that ultimately killed Doomsday, saving all of Metropolis from his rampage. However, the same punch also proved to be the fatal one for Superman, as well. He died in the arms of his fiancĂ©, Lois Lane, amid the ruins of one of the most extensive battles in comic book history.

Monday, February 9, 2009

TOP 100 COMIC BOOK BATTLES # 3

#3. The Final Battle in “Kingdom Come”

In the rather bleak future of “Kingdom Come,” a new breed of super powered being has made life very unpleasant on Earth. Ultimately, Superman is forced to come out of his self-imposed retirement to bring order to the world once more.

He and the remaining superheroes slowly begin to collect the various super powered thugs and criminals and start housing them in a prison designed to house super humans. Superman makes the hero Captain Comet warden of the prison, which soon begins to take on the nickname "The Gulag."

Meanwhile, Batman has infiltrated Lex Luthor's Mankind Liberation Front, where Luthor has a now-adult Billy Batson under his control due to mind-controlling worms in Billy's ear. Batman manages to take Luthor out of the picture, but not before Billy escapes.

The situation at the Gulag is deteriorating rapidly – as more and more prisoners are showing up, a riot appears inevitable, and eventually the inevitable takes place and Captain Comet is murdered. Superman and the Justice League show up to put the riot down, and Superman convinces Batman to help, as well, with his group of mostly non-powered heroes. At this point, though, Superman and Wonder Woman clash, as she wants to use deadly force, which Superman is not willing to use. This leads into the last issue, “Kingdom Come” #4.

The heroes of the Justice League (along with Batman's legions) clash with the escaped convicts, and two other factors enter the picture to make things even worse. First, Billy Batson finally says his magic word, "Shazam," and enters the fray as Captain Marvel – matched up with Superman. Second, the United Nations has decided to write superheroes off, and has authorized the use of three planes carrying nuclear bombs to be dropped on the Gulag to end the matter once and for all.

After a confrontation against each other, Batman and Wonder Woman team-up to each take care of one of the planes.


Superman, meanwhile, is having a hard time with Captain Marvel, who is saying the magic word constantly, each time bringing down magical lightning which he is using to assault Superman, whose weakness is magic. Their battle is interrupted when the last of the nuclear bombs is actually dropped. Superman argues with Captain Marvel, trying to get to Billy inside, telling him that it must be up to Billy to determine what happens with the bomb, as Superman cannot decide whether the bomb actually should be allowed to drop on them all. Finally, Billy breaks free of his controls and flies off to the bomb and, for the last time, calls down the magic lightning and detonates the nuke in the sky.


While the bomb still kills a number of the people below, Billy manages to save a great deal of the super humans, who have stopped fighting due to the blast.



Sunday, February 8, 2009

TOP 100 COMIC BOOK BATTLES # 4

#4.Miracleman vs. Kid Miracleman


When Alan Moore returned Miracleman (for clarity's sake, I'm going to refer to everyone by the "Miracle" name, even though in the early parts of this story, they were still called Marvelman, etc.) to comics, it was to a world that had vastly changed since Michael Moran was a young man and first turned into Miracleman upon saying the magic word "Kimota." This was shown quite clearly when Miracleman encountered his former compatriot, Kid Miracleman, who had gone mad with power over the years and was now basically a sociopath. After a brutal fight, Kid Miracleman accidentally says his magic word and reverts back to his alter-ego, the 13 year old Johnny Bates. Bates has no memory of his actions as Kid Miracleman and ends up in a state of catatonic shock.


After a good deal more issues of adventures dealing with the return of Miracleman, including the reintroduction of Miraclewoman and introduction of the benevolent teleporting aliens, the Warpsmiths, Kid Miracleman returned.


While Miracleman and Miraclewoman are busy in outer space, tragedy strikes back on Earth. The young Johnny Bates is now living in a group home, where other kids mercilessly pick on him. That was bad enough, but when one of the other kids goes so far as to rape Johnny, Johnny just snaps and turns back to Kid Miracleman and in “Miracleman” #15, one of the goriest superhero fights ever takes place.


Artist John Totleben goes into great detail depicting what it would look like if a superpowered sociopath just went nuts in London. Body parts are literally raining from the skies. When Miracleman, Miraclewoman and the Warpsmiths return, they are in for a dramatic battle that would end with even more property destruction and civilian deaths. Alan Moore is intent on showing what would be the case if superheroes actually fought each other in the "real world," particularly a psychotic being like Kid Miracleman. It is not a pretty sight.


After a pitched battle, Miracleman realizes that Kid Miracleman is better prepared and is stronger than all of them. Ultimately, it is the thinking of a Warpsmith that saves the day. All the heroes are stymied by Kid Miracleman's personal force field. However, one Warpsmith comes up with the idea of teleporting a piece of wreckage past the protective force field, into the body of Kid Miracleman, forcing Kid Miracleman to transform back into Johnny Bates.


At this time, Miracleman feels he has no other choice but to kill Bates, which he does, ending the threat for good, but not before Bates manages to kill one of the Warpsmiths, and not before the city of London was absolutely decimated, both in terms of casualties and property damage. And Alan Moore had yet another standout comic book story.



Saturday, February 7, 2009

TOP 100 COMIC BOOK BATTLES # 5

#5. Practically all of Marvel's Superheroes vs. Thanos

The mad god Thanos devoted his entire life (and since he has been resurrected at least once, his entire after-life) to pleasing the love of his life – Death. When Death decides she needs a champion once again, she brings Thanos back to life. In an attempt to please her, Thanos goes on a quest for the Infinity Gems; the powerful items that power the various Elders of the Universe.

After finally collecting all of the gems through various methods, Thanos brings them together to form the Infinity Gauntlet, a glove that, when worn, gives the user complete power over the universe. What Thanos does with the Gauntlet is the subject of the 1991 Marvel mini-series, “Infinity Gauntlet” by writer Jim Starlin and artists George Perez (issues #1-3) and Ron Lim (issues #4-6).

His first act, seen in the first issue, to impress Death is to kill half of the universe, which he does with a snap of the fingers. The remaining half of the universe, naturally, is not happy about this and sets about to try to stop Thanos. They are aided by a similarly resurrected Adam Warlock, who was Thanos' main nemesis back when they were both first alive.

Warlock helps organize an excursion of as many superheroes as they can gather (Doctor Doom, too) to attack Thanos at his fortress. Thanos, meanwhile, in another attempt to impress Death (as suggested to him by that wily devil, Mephisto) has used the Gauntlet to make himself fallible, so that the superhero army attacking him actually has a theoretical chance at defeating him.

The heroes leave in issue #3, and it is in #4 that the battle takes place. Thanos mows through the heroes like he's a hot knife and they're all sticks of butter. Cyclops is suffocated, Iron Man has his head torn off, Thor is turned to glass – it is not pretty. Finally, only Captain America remains, and in an impressive act of defiance, stands up to Thanos one on one. As Thanos gets ready to smite Cap, Warlock's real plan springs into action. The Silver Surfer swoops in at light speed to snatch the gauntlet away from Thanos. The whole attack was just a diversion so that Surfer could steal the gauntlet. Only the Surfer misses.

Thanos is irate that he almost lost it all (he casually kills Cap, too) and retreats to think things over. Luckily, eventually Thanos is defeated and Warlock gains the gauntlet, which he uses to change everything Thanos had done back to how it originally was, so everyone was back to the land of the living!