STAR TOURS-IT'S A TRAP

Living out in California puts me close to DisneyLand. So, I WILL be making my way out to the park to check out the updated Star Tours!

It had been in need of an update for years which doesn't happen with Disney rides very often. However, they have been updating a few of their rides in the last few years, none of which I have seen the new versions of yet. Seeing this commercial got me a bit excited about Star Tours and going back to Disney again. I watched it about 5 times to see what I could see.

Then I recognized someone.

Other than fake Admiral Ackbar, I realized that I had met the actress playing "mom" before! Elena Eva, actress and better half of Dan Panosian (recent X-Factor artist). I did a quick check with him to make sure that it was her I was seeing... Yes! He said that she is a pretty big geek, and she had a great time hanging with Chewbacca. Nice!

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NETFLIX INSTANT REVIEWS : The Twilight Zone (TOS)

Click here for The Twilight Zone: The Original Series on NETFLIX INSTANT

This classic Sci-fi TV staple is a must see for any fan of the genre, Rod Sterling's anthology is, in my opinion, some of the best short subject features created for television staring the famous and soon to be famous cast of actors that would draw you in to these fantastic stories.

Now I'm not going to drone on and try to sell you on The Twilight Zone cause if you haven't seen at least one episode then you must be an extraterrestrial or some kind of crazed mountain person and you should be locked up for your own good.

Now I'm currently 6 episodes deep and have seen at least 2 episodes that I have no recollection of whatsoever (and I consider myself a fan and a TV junkie) and to watch them in HD, commercial free, is a wonderful thing to behold.

Black and White picture of course, the aspect ratio is set at the original 4:3 which is perfect for the ipad. Resolution for the most part is 720p but this highly depends on the connection speed, rare moments of lag result in a momentary dip in resolution and then in a few seconds it's back to 720p. it also looks great on the 50" 1080p plasma via the PS3 (thank you White Jesus for answering my prayers and giving me my PSN back.)

Also I should point out that NETFLIX on the ipad now feature subtitles on most of their content for the hearing impaired or for people who just dig subtitles.

The show is legendary and is a must see for anyone who enjoys great story telling and the occasional Shatner episode.

Gaming with my kid : Scott Pilgrim vs. World Review

Some people have a problem with letting their kids play any and all video games at age 4 believing it's detrimental to a child's development but I really believe there are important character building and problem solving skills that a kid can learned playing the right games.

here's one of my kids favorite games and what I believe she gets out of playing it:

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (PS3)
This retro side scrolling 2D beat-em up is simple enough so that most kids can pick it up and play with a parent or a friend. It's beautifully rendered levels and cute character designs are endearing. Level progression is tough on your own but with a second player it becomes a bit easier.

It's a great game that helps your kid understand teamwork. Before you dismiss me as a gamer nerd dad gone mad, just hear me out. It's a multi player game that requires my child to come to the aid of a fallen comrade and resuscitate them in order to progress to the next level. You can also team up to help one another in and some levels require to keep the enemies distracted while the other person runs around collecting coins that you can share in the store to upgrade your favorite character's attributes.

So you get team work, selflessness, counting, patience, hand-eye coordination and learning how to be a gracious loser, a skill that if you've played anyone online, many adults have yet to learn.

I really love this game and further more I love playing it with my child.
Review Score:

Grandaiza: 4/5

Baby No: 5/5

here's a glimpse of the game in action in case you where thinking about getting it.

PSN UPDATE 3.61

I restarted the PS3 and received a megssage to upgrade the firmware to 3.61, it's been downloading for about 2 minutes and it's at 10% so cross your fingers and wish me luck, I'm going into the void.


UPDATE:

I wasn't able to log on after the update, it's probably a security patch in preparation for the relaunch.

Sound the klaxon! The Playstaion Network is back online!

My wife was able to sign in on the PS3 PSN and play a Netflix instant movie this very instant. The only problem is that my daughter Is currently I'm possession of the ps3 remote watching her heinous Hello Kitty cartoon on my only console. (the curse of being a male in a house full of women...sigh)

UPDATE:

I'm still unable to log on to the network but Netflix is on the Ps3 is working at least, for now.

My thoughts on the "GREEN LANTERN" movie based on what I've seen so far.

I don't think Warner Bros. Pictures has a lot of confidence in the GREEN LANTERN live action movie that's coming out this summer cause they are releasing a lot of footage in a short amount of time and in my opinion they've essentially blown their load early. I feel like the studio has already given me the juiciest parts of the film in the Two trailers they've released so far.

Will I pay to see this in the theaters or wait for the Blu-Ray? Before I answer that I'll post the trailer and break down the things I like, dislike, my thoughts on what I know about this movie and then I'll render my verdict.



0:15: A nice shot of OA, a planet at the center of the universe that acts as the Guardian's home world with a nice shot of the members of the Green Lantern corps who act as police officers to the many sectors of the DC universe. To me this is actually reassuring, they would have done the movie a great disservice if they didn't establish the Corps in the film.

0:17: Parallax writhing and revealing what eventually is known as the Sinestro Corps logo. O.K. this would have been a delightful surprise for fans going to see the film but you've ruined that by including it in the first 20 secs. of the second trailer.

0:20: Sinestro for the most part looks and sounds good.

0:49: Ryan Reynolds seems to be doing a serviceable Hal Jordan, I'm among the many online who thought that Nate Fillon ( Firefly, Castle ) would have been a better choice to play a seasoned, wartime fighter pilot now experimental test pilot at Ferris Aerospace, but hell what do I know.

1:14: Hal on OA, great idea, I just hope it doesn't get reduced to a "gymkata" training montage.

1:30: Here's the thing that bugs me, Hector Hammond and Amanda Waller are the major villains of this piece. Waller has very little as far as history with the Green Lantern mythology unless they're turning her into the Sam Jackson of the DC movie universe, the character has no business in this movie. As for Hammond I can name a few more interesting GL villains that I believe would have been a better fit to the whole Parallax understory: Black Hand, Mongul, Manhunters, Krona, The Quardians. See than, now you have something that you can tie into the sequel with Sinestro as the villain.

1:55: Can't help it, I keep finding myself asking, where's the Justice league when the big "Parallax monster thing" attacks the Earth. I know it's due to the fact that for as long as I can remember GL has always been associated with the Justice League, especially when it comes to defending the earth from an evil giant alien cloud thingy. I know this is an origins story with no expectation of any other DC character cameos or mentions other than the GL corps, but I can't help but think of the Flash or Superman when I see Green Lantern defending the world from the cloud formally known as Galactus from Fantastic Four 2.

1:59 Carol Ferris looks hot!

Just a sidebar, I know someone had to have mentioned this before but why did they remove the white gloves and boots from the GL uniform design? It bothers me to no end. I loved the Carmine Infantino design, it really should have been left alone as an homage to the character and the man who designed the uniform.

ALL KNEEL, GRANDAIZA WILL NOW RENDER HIS VERDICT!

Sorry NETFLIX BLU-RAY for you and your little leprechaun friends Mr. Jordan.

Space Adventurer Cobra movie in the works.

The international edition of Variety has the first promo art for Alexandre Aja's film, now called Cobra the Space Pirate. The movie is still in the development phase so no casting news has been announced.

As A fan of the series, I can't see anyone presenting this movie to Hollywood without having the soul and humor completely sucked out of the final product by producers.

Aja, the director of Piranha 3D, The Hills Have Eyes and High Tension, bought the rights to the bestselling manga about a pirate who changes his own face and erases his own memories to hide from his enemies.

I just hope that this doesn't end with Buichi Terasawa committing seppuku in shame for selling the feature film rights to a Hollywood devil.


Cobra has a tentative release date of 2013 (Cover below):

The promo image gives me the impression that the whimsical aspects of the original property are out the window.

Here's Cobra as I remember the series:



Damn you Hollywood!

Super Fail #4 - Psycho Robin

For those of you who've lost touch with what's going on in the Batman books, let me give you the $2 tour...

Dick Grayson, aka Robin Numero Uno aka Nightwing is currently the Batman of Gotham City and his sidekick is none other than Damien Wayne, Bruce's kid that he fathered unbeknownst to him with Talia Al Gul, Ras Al Gul's Daughter evil bitch must have poked a hole in the bat condom, SUPER EVIL!!

Oh and Bruce Wayne is also parading around as Batman in a different costume getting into fights around the world and recruiting more Batmen, but we'll save that mess for another day.

Just to give you an Idea of what Richard Grayson has to deal with on crime fighting nights, here's how Damien aka Robin the 5th, deals with an inmate during a prison break:



Yes he's carving up Mr. Zsasz, the killer that marks his kills in his own flesh, not exactly what I expect out of a "Robin" but his psychotic episodes sure do make for some entertaining funny book reading.