Mondo's Condos

Top 11's of 2011

2012-02-02T18:55:00.000-05:00

TELEVISION:
11. Pan Am
10. 2 Broke Girls & New Girl (My 2 new favorite guilty pleasures.)
09. Once Upon a Time & Grimm (or Fables the TV show)
08. Justified
07. Bob's Burgers
06. 30 Rock
05. Archer
04. Community
03. Friday Night Lights
02. Parks & Recreation
01. Louie

VIDEOGAMES:

11. Sonic Generations
10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (also Halo CE and Gears of War 3)
09. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 & Mortal Kombat
08. Killzone 3
07. L.A. Noire
06. Infamous 2
05. Little Big Planet 2
04. Assasin's Creed: Revelations
03. Portal 2
02. Batman: Arkham City
01. Skyrim

MUSIC:
11. Cut Copy - Zonoscope
10. Feist - Metals or female singer songwriters in general with St. Vincent (Strange Mercy), Florence + The Machine (Ceremonials) and Lykke Li (Wounded Rhymes)
09. Kanye West and Jay-Z - Watch the Throne
08. Foster the People - Torches
07. Red Fang - Murder the Mountains
06. Childish Gambino - Camp
05. Graveyard - Hisingen Blues
04. Radiohead - King of Limbs
03. The Strokes - Angeles
02. Thursday - No Devolucion
01. Black Keys - El Camino

MOVIES:
11. Captain America (Green Hornet, Thor, X-men, Green Lantern)
10. Our Idiot Brother (Cedar Rapids, Hangover 2, Bad Teacher, 30 Minutes or Less)
09. Crazy Stupid Love
08. Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows Part 2
07. Attack the Block
06. Super
05. Young Adult
04. The Guard
03. 50/50
02. Bridesmaids
01. Drive

I did stand-up last week!

2011-07-08T01:12:00.000-04:00

And it kind of looked like this:

Actually, it was exactly like that.

KILLZONE3 & BULLETSTORM

2011-03-16T18:15:00.000-04:00

2011 has been off to a slow start. I've only been concerned with two other game releases, Little Big Planet 2 in January and Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 in February. Come to think of it, there was only one cd and movie I was interested in each month also. It doesn't help that I've been unemployed all this time and limiting my spending because of that. The good news is I got a new job the same week Killzone3 and Bulletstorm were released, and to celebrate I rented them both.

Bulletstorm was the first target of my celebration. It's not a cover based FPS like most recent games of the genre, but plays more similar to Halo. The big gameplay change that sets Bulletstorm apart is it's "skill kills," which involved using an electric leash and your foot to push and pull enemies in slow-mo and kill them in creative ways. I had fun playing the game but I wouldn't recommend it for more than a rental, unless you really love FPS or racking up highscores.

Killzone3 was more interesting for me as a Playstation Move owner, but on my first playthrough with a standard controller was oddly disappointing. I'm pretty good at most games and while I enjoyed most sections of Killzone3, there were a few major gun-fights that I found incredibly frustrating. Not to mention the story rang completely hollow, its supposed to be this huge inter-stellar war against this unstoppable enemy but you generally feel like there is little at stake. My favorite games balance being challenging and enjoyable, but Killzone3 was too hard for me to really enjoy. With the Move, amazingly, all that changed. Well not the story, but the gameplay and control mechanics make this a must own for anyone with a Move.

Bulletstorm: RENT
Killzone3: RENT w/Move: BUY
Read more about each after the break.

Bulletstorm
Most of the advertisements for Bulletstorm parody other popular FPS in an effort to set it apart from them, but ironically much of the gameplay is borrowed from those games. The game is most similar to Gears of War, mainly because it was produced by the same company. The main characters are gruff masculine space marines who kill their way to doing whats right, even the main female character fits this mold which could be a step towards female empowerment or just poor writing. The battlefields are littered with small and encroachments for cover based shooting, which is odd because you don't have a way to take cover like in Call of Duty or Killzone, you can only duck or stand behind things like in Halo. After taking so much damage your screen turns red around the edges (a health indicator popularized by Halo)and the screen tells you to take cover, which is aggravating since you can't actually take cover. Certain in game actions take place as quick-time events in a style directly ripped from Call of Duty, and the final battle sequence plays out exactly like something from Infinity Ward.

While Bulletstorm is incredibly derivative at the base level, it does some unique things that make it fun. While the dialogue and plot are easily ignored, it is worth paying attention to for the ridiculous level of profanity that is thrown around like a 5 year old who just learned the concept of a "dirty word." Some of the things these characters say are just so absurd and far from being anything a person with an understand of sexuality or basic anatomy would say that it is kind of funny, unfortunately probably not in the way Epic intended. Actually, the best think about this game is the skill kills it so highly touts. I found it hard to be very creative with the skill kills, and for most of the game relied on a basic few to deal with enemies; but when you do figure out a really cool skill kill it immensely satisfying.

Killzone3
Don't get me wrong Killzone3 is a really good game; the graphics are impressive and there are enough variations in gameplay to keep you interested when the story fails, which for me it did. Basically there is a struggle for power between the government and private corporations on the Helghan side, and most of the ISA story is about two stubborn "break the rules to get the job done" types and there incompetent commander who repeatedly gets nearly everyone killed. I'm supposed to believe that a world of evil soldiers are brought down by two vigilante types that had just enough good luck and grit to not die all those times they're idiot of a leader tried to get them killed with his idiocy?

My biggest problem with Killzone3 is the difficulty, playing on normal I generally would have to unload on a helghast soldier to kill him. Its incredibly frustrating too battle your way through a sequence just to be shot in the back by a helghast you thought you killed, but you didn't because they're cockroach soldiers and they're everywhere and they hate to die. Seriously, it is just too hard to kill one of these guys. Scope in and shoot one in the head and his helmet pops off, but he's still alive and now you've alerted everyone to your position. And most of the "epic" gun fights take place with you crouched from behind cover trying to get a shot in while 30 helghast continuously unload on you. I had to play most major sequences several times, and while its one thing to be difficult any area of a game that I have to play through more than 3 times to get right can not be fun.

I think its a fundamental flaw in the gameplay that it is too hard to kill the bad guys, but then I got the Move hooked up. Now, I am the soldier. I point my Move and the gun swings with my movement, it handles incredibly, and correlation between my movements and what happens on screen allows me to be more accurate. Somehow I am just felling helghast, they just go down left and right. I am unstoppable. I hope in the gun of the tank and no longer have to worry about walking across the battlefield, the tank steer me to where I need to be and I unload on the helghast. A sequence that took me 5 frustrating attempts with a six-axis is beaten in one exhilarating sequence with the Move. The only problem I encountered was with how I held the two controllers, it was bit irregular and caused my shoulder to get sore after a few hours. That wouldn't be a problem if I had this:

Top 10 of 2k10: Music

2011-01-20T15:27:00.002-05:00

So I know this is a bit late, 2010 is almost a month gone, but I really wanted to take my time and write out a finite list that I will be satisfied with for at least a few weeks. The year in music was ridiculous and the plethora of options makes it hard to write out a top 10 overall, If could do like a top 5 for every genre that might seem more realistic. I'm only judging music I listen to, so no Janelle Monae or Robyn or The Tallest Man on Earth (they made some other bloggers lists) and even limiting it by that left me with near 30 awesome albums to consider. I managed to whittle that down to 20, and then put that 20 in order. So here's my top 10:

10. Sleigh Bells - Treats
09. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
08. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
07. Yeasayer - Odd Blood
06. MotionCity Soundtrack - My Dinosaur Life
05. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Brutalists Bricks
04. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
03. Black Keys - Brothers
02. Broken Bells - Broken Bells
01. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Instead of just writing excerpts with each album I thought it might be fun to make up some superlatives, and that way I can mention some of the other great albums that were in competition with these. Also, I'm just gonna make these up as I go along so sorry if any or redundant. And hey, maybe I'll use them next year.

Best Album of the Year: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Favorite Album of the Year: Broken Bells

Whoa, I'm Way Behind On This Award: Ted Leo, Black Keys

Guilty Pleasure (This Album Just Makes Me Feel Good): Sleigh Bells - Treats, Matt & Kim Sidewalks

Best Album to Party to: LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
Honorable Mention: Mark Ronson & The Record Collection - Record Collection, Ratatat - LP4

I didn't think I would Like This But then I totally did: Broken Social - Forgiveness Rock Record, Yeasayer - Odd Blood
Honorable Mention: Vampire Weekend - Contra, The National - High Violet, Marnie Stern - Marnie Stern

Best Hip-Hop Album - Kanye West - MBDTF
Honorable Mention: Ghostface Killah - Apollo Kids, The Roots - How I got over, Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot

Best Punk/Emo Album - MotionCity Soundtrack - My Dinosaur Life
Honorable Mention: Alkaline Trio - This Addiction, Against Me! - White Crosses

Best Soundtrack - Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Best Mixtape - jj - Kills

Top 10 of 2k10: TV

2011-01-15T03:12:00.001-05:00

Let me just say this up front, 2010 was a ridiculous year for television. I tuned in to around 25 different shows throughout the year, and most were great, which made it really hard to whittle that list down to a top 10. Let me just take a second to mention a few shows that didn't make it, one sentence each.

Honorable Mentions: Dramas:
House - This is one of my favorite shows on television, and it didn't make it in to the top 10, too bad it only got good late in the season with the arrival of Masters.

Parenthood - Sentimental dramas aren't really my thing, but the characters in this show are so well written and acted it's hard not to watch.

Dexter - I've been reluctant to finish this season because I don't really like Julia Stiles, not to mention she has to follow John Lithgow's amazing performance last season.

Weeds - It was nice to see the Botwin family on the run, they returned to the family dynamic that made the first few seasons so great.

Honorable Mentions: Comedies:
The League - This show is ridiculous, some of the best jokes of the year have come from The League, and it's not really about football.

Archer - H. Jon Benjamin is one of my favorite voice actors and he's hilarious as a spy, watch this on Netflix.

East Bound & Down - I was kind of late on watching this show, but Danny McBride is brilliant as Kenny F'in Powers.

Like I said, lot of good shows and that's not even the best of the best. Honestly, isn't having honorable mentions a cop-out? At least I kept them to one sentence...lot of commas though...no semi-colons, so there.

Anyway, Top 10:

10. The Office
The last season with Steve Carell as Michael Scott, and what a note to leave on. This has honestly been one of the funniest seasons since the series started, I live for the cold opens. Oddly enough Erin is becoming my favorite thing about the show, I thought she was annoying at first but now nearly everything she says or does is hilarious.
Favorite Episode: Costume Contest

9. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Most people will admit that Sunny hasn't been the same since season 2, but I feel like season 6 is back to form. Generally the episodes are all one shot storylines so it was weird to see some overarching plots through the season but I think it worked well to develop the characters some. Honestly what really made Sunny great was the writing, it's simple enough but I found most of the jokes funny in every episode.
Favorite Episode: The Gang gets stranded in the woods

8. Lost
THE FINAL SEASON, how many times did you have to see that on ABC? Really, season 1 is the best season of lost ever. Although, It was nice to see the story wrap up and finally have most questions answered. Were they? I don't know, Lost was a complicated show and its hard to wrap up a series like it in a way that satisfies everyone but I liked the ending...mostly.
Favorite Episode: Its hard to pick one because of the story so I'm going to go with Favorite Character: Desmond! (Aye, brotha.)

7. The Walking Dead
AMC, the movie channel mind you, is getting really good at making tv shows. I haven't read the comics so I can't compare the two, but I really like the story in Walking Dead. It might not be the most original thing ever, but its good.
Favorite Episode: Vatos

6. 30 Rock
Can I just express alarm at the fact that at one point 30Rock was my favorite show on television and now its number six for the year. Thank you. As Liz Lemon would say, "What the what?' It was actually a pretty good season too, its just that there were so many good shows.
Favorite Episode: Live Show (I know its not the best of the season, but seriously, they did a live show just because. How awesome is that?)

5. Modern Family
Modern Family is like Parenthood but funny, which sucks for Parenthood because MF is really funny. I still don't love all the characters but most have grown on me. I don't care for the goofball humor of Phil and Luke, but Cam and Mitchell (the gay couple) really make the show great.
Favorite Episode: Unplugged

4. Parks and Recreation
That this show has been on hiatus since early 2010 is a crime, the only bright side to which is that season two is on Netflix. I wasn't really sold on Parks&Rec after season one but I stuck with it and boy am I happy I did. This is one of the funniest shows on tv and thats not hard to believe given the cast.
Favorite Episode: (Limiting myself to ones that just came out in 2010) 94 Meetings

3. Community
There's not too much to say other than, COMMUNITY IS THE FUNNIEST SHOW ON TV AND IF YOU'RE NOT WATCHING IT YOU SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO HAVE CABLE. Also: I'm in love with Alison Brie, I'm in lust with Gillian Jacobs. Donald Glover should have been the new Spiderman.
Favorite Episode: Nope,
Top 5 Episodes of Community:
5.Aerodynamics of Gender
4.Mixology Certification
3.Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas
2.Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design
1.Cooperative Calligraphy - "Well tell your disappointment to suck it! WERE DOING A BOTTLE EPISODE!"

2. Louie
I can only call Community the funniest show on tv because Louie is so complicated I sometimes consider it a drama. Just like Louis C.K.'s stand up Louie will make you laugh out loud or look introspectively at what your beliefs, either way it and he are brilliant. Not to mention the show is remarkably well produced.
Favorite Episodes: Poker/Divorce or Pilot for laughs. God for life changing from an FX show.

1. Mad Men
Mad Men really had me going for a minute, it seemed like the plot had no direction. And yet, this season had some of the most interesting character development of the series, which is astonishing for a character driven show this far along in its series. Of course Don's dilemma of what direction to take his life after his divorce is interesting, but I really enjoyed seeing Peggy and Joan rise among the ranks of Sterling Cooper Draper Price.
Favorite Episode: The Beautiful Girls (whoo! Girl Power!)

Top 10 of 2k10: Movies

2011-01-10T22:22:00.001-05:00

2010 was kind of a weird year for movies, generally it felt like there weren't that many great movies released this year. It seems like all the best movies came out at the end of the year, but even so some of my favorite movies were released this year. Anyway, on to the list:

10. Black Swan
To be honest I haven't seen Black Swan, I'm not sure if I will. I don't really like scary movies, not that this is a scary movie, but from what I've heard I won't be able to stomach certain aspects of this film. But my own issues aside, I've hear this is an amazing film so I've made the 10 spot an acknowledgement spot of sorts. This list might be totally different if I actually got around to seeing: Black Swan, Exit through the Gift Shop, A Prophet, or The Fighter.

9. Jackass3D
So yeah, this movie isn't going to win any awards....probably. But If I go to a movie thats two hours long and I don't do anything other than laugh for those two hours, I say thats a great comedy. Also, this had to be the most interesting use of 3D since Avatar, and how often do you get to mention James Cameron and Johnny Knoxville in the same sentence?

8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Like the books, the Harry Potter movies have gotten better as the series progresses. As good as this half of the Deathly Hallows is it really just sets up the second half to be EPIC.

7. The Kids Are All Right
I don't know how, but The Kids Are All Right is the only indie film on my list...how'd that happen? This is a great film if only for the way in which it depicts women on the big screen. Not that that's all there is to this film; it's well acted, we written, and beautifully produced. Did I mention it's also pretty funny when it's not being overly sentimental.

6. Toy Story 3
Hey look, its a bunch of toys coming to terms with adulthood. I can relate to that.

5. Shutter Island
I'm still not sure that this actually came out in 2010, but wikipedia says it came out in February 2010. Anyway, how many films can Leonardo DiCaprio put out in a year that leaves you questioning the films ending? Two, apparently.

4. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
One of my favorite comics adapted by Edgar Wright (one of my favorite directors) and starring Michael Cera? Yes, please.

3. True Grit
I don't really like westerns, but this film one me over. Everyone in it is amazing at their roles and the Coen's direction is amazing as always.

2. The Social Network

1. Inception

Top 10 of 2k10: Videogames

2011-01-10T00:28:00.001-05:00

More like Top 5 of 2010. I'm not sure if it was just a slow year, or maybe I didn't play as many games because of insufficient funds but I can only recall playing a few great games released this year. Mass Effect2 is absent only because I haven't played it yet, but as far as I've heard it's great. I'd also like to mention that it was a pretty good year for downloadable content; Limbo, Scott Pilgrim the Game, and a lot of great game expansions were released. So even though it might not have been the best year for major releases it was a good year in gaming, and it looks like the lapse in 2010 will fuel 2011. The release schedule for 2011 makes my wallet cringe. Anyway, Top 5 Games of 2010:

5. Halo: Reach
I had mixed feeling about Halo, of course I enjoyed it but I don't know that its single player campaign is worthy of the praise it received from many reviewers. But honestly, I still play online multi-player all the time and that's what Halo is best known for. This game is the pinnacle of the series, it takes all the successes of the prior games and fine tunes them to a degree thats unrivaled.

4. Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain is less of a game and more of an interactive movie experience. The game follows the case of the Origami Killer, through four different characters each with their own storyline which is effected by your gameplay decisions. Their are sections that play like a normal game, but much of the player interaction occurs as quick time events in video sequences. The game has amazing graphics and really shows of the PS3's capabilities, but what really sets it apart is the story of the Origami Killer. The game is also releasing a patch that will make the game compatible with the new Playstation Move.

3 Gran Turismo 5
I've been looking forward to GT5 for a long time. Gran Turismo has set the standard for racing games with each iteration, and GT5 doesn't disappoint. The graphics are insane, the level of rendering is the closest to reality of scene from any game. Of course, there is a multitude of cars to drive and all seem to handle realistic, not that I'd know how a Lamborghini Gallardo really handles. The only problem with the game is its confusing menus, their laid out horrible and its a pain to navigate from race to race. Thank god, once you hit the track everything runs like a well oiled machine.

2. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Brotherhood is a direct sequel to Assassin's Creed 2, and continues the story of Ezio Auditore. The story is fine but it's the gameplay that hooks you. The missions aren't very diverse, but the assassination mechanics make it ridiculously fun to complete many of the missions. Along with completing the main storyline, you can also rebuild Rome and train your own league of assassins who will aid you with your missions. The multiplayer is pretty fun too, and there are few games that play similar (if any). Brotherhood is just a fun all around well made game.

1. Red Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemption is the sort of game you think when making an argument for games as art. Red Dead is the story of John Marsten, an outlaw who's been given a chance of redemption after being hired by the Fed's to hunt down his old gang. The story is incredibly well written, and the production quality is top notch. All games should be this good, and its not just fun to watch it's a great game to play. I spent my first couple hours of the game riding around the wilderness hunting deer and taming horses just because it was so fun. I didn't get into the multiplayer very much, but the main campaign provide hours of great gameplay which is still being expanded with DLC.

Top 10 of 2k10: Comics

2011-01-09T02:54:00.000-05:00

In 2009 I started reading comics thanks to KICK-ASS and Scott Pilgrim, and 2010 saw my obsessive compulsiveness blow throw a bunch of money as I dove head first in to the world of modern comics. I've toned it down now but I have read a lot of comics this year and here are my favorite series:

10. Justice League International: Generation Lost
JLI is a 26 issue series which has made it a bit over half way through it's run in 2010. Its one of my favorite superhero series that I read, and I was first turned on to it by another blog Everyday Is Like Wednesday. None of the main cast are really major players in the DC universe, and that allows for a little more liberty to be taken with the relationships between them. It gets a little soap opera like at times but its nice to see superheroes with a more human side.

9. DV8
A short series published by Wildstorm, DV8 drew itself out with slow release schedule and numerous cliff-hangers. In the future, a group of teenagers are given super-powers that mirror their strongest personality trait. Then they are dropped on an under developed human-esque world, where the locals treat them as gods. A few team up, others take charge of individual clans of natives, and eventually the clashing ideal of the different groups lead to a world war with the teens as figureheads. Its a short read but quite interesting thanks to all the questions it raises, though it doesn't answer many. The last issue makes it sound like there will be another short series that will continue this story, so I look forward to that in 2011.

8. Power Girl
It's hard to tell people you like Power Girl and not have them look at you like you're a pervert. I mean look at that cover. Whats the first thing you notice? You're probably wondering where two women found a seamstress who could fashion a garment strong enough to contain their...um...bountiful assets. But seriously, PG is my favorite DC character (that's not Batman) mainly because she's an alternate version of another character who has a sense of humor. She is some other earth's version of Supergirl, but something happened and now she's stuck in our world or something. But she makes the most of it and has developed a sense of humor as a coping mechanism to deal with the fact that shes not supposed to exist.The first 12 issues of the series were especially good, and while the series is still okay its mainly my love of the character that keeps me reading. But ignore that and read the first 12 issues.

7. Sweet Tooth
I really like Sweet Tooth, but I'm forcing my self to read it in trade as those are released. I have to admit the wait but trades is horrible, the story is so good I just want to pick up every single issue of the comic and get caught up. The story is set in a post apocalyptic world where a mysterious disease is killing everyone, no one knows much about the plague other than the fact that its onset was marked by numerous children being born with a deformity. The children of the plague each have a different deformity, but all are part animal part human. The many story follows a half deer boy who we call "Sweet Tooth" as he leaves the safety of his home in the woods after his fathers death. He's accompanied by a man named Jeppard, whose intentions are never entirely clear. Sure post-apocalyptic setting isn't the most original, but the characters make this book great.

6. Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour
Like I said, this series is the reason I got in to comics. It'd be higher up, but this wasn't even my favorite of the series. That being said, it does finally tie up all the series plots. It was a great year for Scott Pilgrim; the last book was released, the movie adaptation was released, and a really sweet 8-bit beat 'em up videogame was released to coincide with the game. And the soundtrack...oh the soundtrack. I'd feel stupid putting a soundtrack in my top albums of 2010, but the original music by Beck as Scott's band Sex Bob-Omb is amazing.

5. American Vampire
American Vampire is a new series that garnered some attention because it was partially co-written by Stephen King, though his storyline isn't the best part of the book. King rights the origin story of one of the main characters Skinner Sweet who is criminal that is transformed by some European vampires into the first American Vampire. Apparently, your place of birth effects your blood stream, or at least how the vampire blood reacts with your human blood. So, European vampires are what you would think of as classic vampires, they hate sunlight and can be killed with a wooden stake. American Vampires on the other hand can walk in the day light and have no known weaknesses. The primary storyline follows Pearl, a struggling actress who finally gets her big break in a film when she's paired in a scene with the lead actor, who eventually invites her to a party with some very important foreign film makers. Needless to say, Pearl gets a little more than she bargained for and we get an awesome comic.

4. Batman and Robin
Not everyone is a fan of Grant Morrison's run on Batman and the assorted Batbooks but I am not one of those people. Now that I've read some more of Morrison's current work I can say that I'm not excited by his overarching goals for the Batman canon but I love the way he writes his characters and I'm excited by the prospect of Batman Inc. So that was super nerdy and if you're reading this I'm sorry, but I think its illegal to read comics and not have strong opinions on Batman and whoever is currently writing the series. Anyway, lets talk about this specific Bat-series. Dick Grayson is Batman and Damien Wayne is Robin, and the two work great together. Dick is enthusiastic and makes Batman fun, he enjoys it whereas Bruce always seemed burdened by the cowl. Damien on the other hand is an asshole, and it's hilarious. I mean just look at that cover, you can get a sense of their attitude just from that picture. The art is great through out the entire series, and they have consistently some of the best covers of any series.

3. Orc Stain
I haven't mentioned the art of many other comics on this list but its hard to ignore in Orc Stain. James Stokoe writes and draws Orc Stain and it is amazing! The story isn't the most complicated but its fun and the protagonist One-Eye is pretty great. In a race of non-thinker, he is a thinker; One-eye understands that all things have a failing point and uses that knowledge to crack safes and wreak havoc on enemies. Issue 4 also introduces Bowie the Swamp Bamba who you see to the left, she's like a witch doctor...who kicks ass. It's hard to explain how awesome these characters are...but describing the interior are is even more challenging. The level of detail is miraculous and every issue takes hours to fully appreciate. I highly recommend this series, a trade collection was just released of the first 5 issues and everyone should buy it.

2. Chew
Every week I look forward to reading Chew, unfortunately it doesn't come out every week so I'm disappointed....a lot. Chew is incredibly well written, and the art takes some getting used to but once you reach a certain point you can't imagine it any other way. The story follows Tony Chu and FDA detective who's also a cibopath...or whatever it's called, when he eats things he can instantly sense their history. There was a plague, a variant of Bird Flu, that led to the ban of chicken. The FDA was turned in to a variant of Secret Service that enforces the poultry ban, and Tony is a lead detective. You can buy the first issue for a dollar at any comic shop, and that should be enough to reel you in.

1. KING CITY

KING CITY is about Joe the Cat Master, and his cat Earthling. Thats all I'm going to tell you. It doesn't matter, but this comic is AWESOME! Anyway, its in low distribution so there's hardly a chance you could even buy it if you wanted to. If you see a copy BUY IT! They might be releasing it in trade and you should buy that. I feel like a more in depth write is necessary but I struggle to find more to say than, HOLY SHIT JOE IS SO AWESOME! AND HE'S GOT THIS CAT, EARTHLING WHO HE INJECTS WITH STUFF. AND IT DOES ALL THIS CRAZY SHIT. AND ITS AWESOME. AND OH MY GOD, DID I MENTION IT WAS AWESOME!!!!

Top 10 of 2k10: Books

2011-01-08T22:33:00.001-05:00

More like book. I only read one book this year so it's automatically number one:

Mike Birbiglia is one of my favorite comics, when I saw his tweets that his book had been released I picked it up immediately. That this is the only book I read this year might sound bad; but I do read quite a lot, just not books. I have three books I've been reading off and on for the last year or two and I opted out of those for this, which wasn't a big deal cause I read it in two days. Not that it's a short read, I just found many of the stories so easy to relate to that I couldn't put the book down. Mike's stories are honest and personal, their the kind of moments that define a person and he shares those with his soft-spoken comedy style that makes most of them entertaining. Makes it entertaining? Well, in some cases it would be scary, if he didn't make it funny. My favorite chapter was a collection of three stories about Mitch Hedberg who is a shared comedic idol of mine and Mike's. If you have any doubts just go to the bookstore and read the inner sleeve, I know I made ten people read it when they asked what I was laughing at while I read this at work.

The KFC Double Down

2010-05-02T23:28:00.002-04:00

I wasn't going to blog about my experience eating the Double Down but I wrote a friend who is out of the States about it, and I liked what I wrote so much that I'm going to share. So here it is:

So I ate the Double Down on Wednesday. It was an experience, I got my friend Jeffrey to drive just in case I couldn't do anything after eating it. I got the meal and it came with fries and a Baja Blast. At first I just looked at it, it sitting there defiantly on my tray daring me to eat it. I couldn't believe it was really there and poked it a few times to be sure it was real, when I poked it juice leaked from the chicken. I pulled it out of its wrapper and held it in my hands, It's so intense you can't put it down after picking it up. The first bite was unbelievable, all you taste is chicken. Like an intense flavor of chicken, like if you were going to die and the last thing you wanted to taste was chicken this would be the thing you ate. but then you taste the bacon, then the cheeses of which there are three. Each bite after that slowly devolves from ecstasy into this overwhelming amalgamation of flavor which one can derive no pleasure from. Once you reach the half way point each bite is it's own momentous chore, and the last bite is the hardest. I had the last bite in my hand and was ashamed that I had reached that point, but I was also taking some pride in my own fat-assness that I could finish the whole thing. Physically speaking I felt fine after eating the DD, I got really tired but it didn't make me sick...immediately anyway. The most surprising thing for me is how full I was from such a small sandwich, I'd eaten a full meal of Chinese food on monday (General Tso's, Fried Rice, 6 Crab Ragoon, and an egg roll), and the DD was more filling. I don't know that I would ever want to eat it again, but a challenge was made that I couldn't eat the Regular recipe DD and then a Grilled DD in one sitting and I might have to show that person who they're talking to. If anything eating it only removed the mystique and left me disappointed that I didn't actually die from eating the Double Down.

MakerFaireNC

2010-04-25T23:55:00.002-04:00

IMG_2246, originally uploaded by MondoUNC.

The first MakerFaireNC was on April 25, and it was pretty sweet. A lot of local DIY vendors were on display and I snagged some pics of the more interesting displays which you can find on my flickr page.

In this photo DIY electronic musician Tom Karches is taking apart a theremin he built for $6 to show off how simple it is to make. He was really cool and gave me some links to other theremin how-to's.

DIY culture is something I've always wanted to take part in, and maybe now that there is a bigger community to get help from maybe I finally will. I took the first step and joined the local Arduino club.

Anyway, I've got some projects in mind that I'll hopefully be building later. I'll document those and post them here.

KICK-ASS

2010-04-19T23:34:00.001-04:00

I've been reading the KICK-ASS series since mid-2009, and I loved it. I started reading comics again sometime in '08 but KICK-ASS is the first series I read book by book. I found myself walking in to Chapel Hill Comics on Wednesdays looking for the latest issue (unfortunately they were often pushed back). The comics start off slow enough, a boy wonders why no one has ever been a superhero and tries his hand at it. It's a believable enough scenario and the world is real enough that its fun to watch what happens to KICK-ASS as he makes his first attempts at being a hero. Then Hit-Girl shows up and any realism the comic had is lost, Hit-Girl is a character that is too awesome to exist in the real word. Things escalate quickly after Hit-Girl shows up and the story of a goofy boy becomes this hyper violent swear fest that is incredibly fun. The comics stay somewhat grounded in reality as things play out (possibly not as expected) and are a great experience overall. They've got me back in the shops looking for more series to read; I've since picked up Scott Pilgrim, Y-The Last Man, Fables, The Losers, and a few others. Anyone I've talked in to reading it has loved it and I definitely recommend that anyone interested in comics (or violence) read this series; which was recently released in book form for around $20.

So here's the thing, I first heard about KICK-ASS on some film blogs I read; they were talking about how no company would touch a film that had a 10 year old girl swearing and slaughtering older men. Makes sense, but the comic creators found funding and made the movie anyway; a passion project it was called...so it had to be good. It was a big deal when they got Lionsgate as a distributor because many writers didn't think the movie would get anyone to pick it up. I remember thinking that was great news, but then photos leaked, then trailers, building to the inevitable thought "God, this is going to suck." But its a passion project I tell myself, they wouldn't ruin something they love....then I remembered Watchmen...*sigh* And that's the best comparison for KICK-ASS, like Watchmen it is a film made by people who care about the source material and did their best to honor it. I don't know why they made the changes they made, but like Watchmen some of the alterations to the end of the film greatly alter what made KICK-ASS the comic so great.

So is this worth seeing? YES, resoundingly yes in my mind. If only to see Hit-Girl moving on screen. Go in expecting a movie that is a loose adaptation of the comic and you'll be surprised how many in jokes and nods to the comic there are, you'll enjoy the film as its own experience and have fun. Do not go in expecting a 1-to-1 adaptation of the comic because you will be extremely disappointed almost immediately, even if you can let got of some of the minor alterations the ending will have you furious.

Here's what you do.
1. Buy and read the book.
2. Go see the movie.
3. Read the spoiler section below and let me know if you agree with comments.

Here's the trailer if that helps:

***SPOILERS & COMPLAINTS***
For starters movie Hit-Girl and Big-Daddy look ridiculous compared to their comic counter-parts.

Why give Kick-Ass nerve damage? I can't remember if they say it exactly, but they basically give him the superpower of getting his ass-kicked. Realism -1.

In the comics we eventually find out that BD was funding his escapades buy selling off his extremely valuable comic collection, and was nothing more than a deranged nerd who stole the youth of his daughter. In the movie they give him the noble conquest of seeking vengeance for his wife (who is dead in the comics) and while this is kind of a lame change I like it.

I did not like that fact that with this new story for BD came loser morals; while he might have been crazy, comic BD would have never used the drug money out of principal.

So Kick-Ass and Big-Daddy get captured in the film, and BD gets set on fire on webcam? The film spends all this time building up the battle between our heroes and the mafia their facing to the point where the whole world is watching the webcam feed of Kick-Ass' unmasking. This seems to go against the comic, while the action was always epic (at least with HG) the scale of it all was actually pretty small. Kick-Ass does get some small time fame, but he honestly couldn't have been more famous than that squirrel riding water-skis or any other internet phenomena.

Kick-Ass never kills anyone in the comic, honestly if I recall few heroes actually kill criminals and its a big deal whenever they do. So I'm supposed to believe the movie when it tells me that Kick-Ass mows down 3 men with a Gatling gun and doesn't have any emotional response other than to yell "Mother Fuckers!"???

Also did I mention that during that same scene Kick-Ass is flying a jet pack, consider all realism lost. And this is where my Watchmen comparison comes in to play. The endings in the comic vs the movie were so different they lead to two completely different meanings. Now in Kick-Ass the ending scene involves HG working her was through everyone and ultimately triumphing with the help of Kick-Ass, certainly not the most believable thing but it is relatively possible. Unlike the movie ending which is just so absurd and over the top that it completely undoes any of the believability of the rest of the movie.

I think its a matter of Hollywood giving us the same stupid fodder that America needs, Its the same reason they changed the ending of I Am Legend. As much as it pains me to admit, the average person eats up this over the top Michael Bay Hollywood movie shill and can't handle the darker more depressing stories provided in books.

Ok, maybe thats a bit of a rant, but only in a movie would you pretend to be gay to be a girls friend and when you finally tell her that it was a lie and you're really straight, she sleeps with you. In the comic Dave comes clean and gets his ass kicked, realism, that is what would happen in real life.

FH000006

2010-03-23T21:03:00.001-04:00

FH000006, originally uploaded by MondoUNC.

I shot these a while back while hanging out with Michelle and Katie at the State Fair. I love not knowing what I'm going to get when I get film made and this one had been sitting in my room for so long I'd forgotten what it was.

IMG_2012

2010-03-13T18:08:00.001-05:00

IMG_2012, originally uploaded by MondoUNC.

Just shot an odd assortment of portraits for David and Tripp. Some good stuff taken, not to mention its always nice to get paid.

TV is warning me of the perils of being a parent

2010-03-10T22:25:00.000-05:00

A bit preemptively too I might add. NBC's Parenthood has recently joined the ranks of dramedys Modern Family and Cougar Town, or as I like to call them "birth control." As if reality wasn't enough of a humbling experience as far as my inability to be an adult, these shows illustrate scenarios that I could never imagine tackling as a parent. The important thing is that along with all the drama and touching family moments, they can bring the laughs.

Cougar Town began airing in the fall of 2009 and stars Courtney Cox as a single mother and realty agent, and the show really plays on the idea of needing a village to raise a child, the child is 18 but the point still stands.This show has the most laughs for me because Courtney Cox gets away with being "Jules," the slightly-crazy single mother who is trying to relive the 20's she never had. The supporting characters are pretty well written and believable (if just a bit shallow, though that seems to be filling in with time) and the actors have great chemistry together. The interesting thing is that while the families in Modern Family and Parenthood are huge and have each other to fall back on, you really get the sense that Jules and her son have an intimate relationship and are emblematic of the single-parent families that are becoming more and more prevalent.

Modern Family began airing alongside Cougar Town and features a generic sitcom family, two married gay men and their adopted daughter, and an older man who married younger. Oh and I did I forget to mention that they're all one big family? Cause there's that too. The show gets to feature a few different styles of comedy thanks to the huge cast so there seems to be something for everyone, my favorite is the gay couple. It's not as funny as Cougar Town, but excels in its on way, and unlike CT its multiple perspectives allow it to provide insight and perspective on larger philosophies that parents might deal with. "Fears" was the most recent episode and did this best, If you're questioning this show I definitely recommend this episode and have embedded it at the bottom of this post.

Parenthood just started airing recently and so far has proven itself to be the most like a traditional drama. Like Modern Family, Parenthood is a large ensemble drama that follows one large family with each smaller nuclear family providing a different example of stereotypical families. But while Modern Family focuses on types of family by varying the age and gender of the parents, Parenthood focuses more on the different stages of parenthood. The main story seems to follow Lauren Graham as a single mother who has just moved back home with her adolescent son and daughter. Craig T. Nelson plays her father, who with his wife is seeing his children go through their own parenting experiences, the "end" of being a parent (if it ever really ends). The rest of the families present different times in parenthood but each with their own unique plots, which may be a little melodramatic but allows for some great acting in the more emotional scenes.While it's easy to compare Modern Family and Parenthood, the latter seems to be very different once you get past the size of the cast and similar premise and definitely has been added to my queue of shows to watch. (Also, crazily enough Dax Shepard is kind of good.)

Like I said, my favorite episode of Modern Family so far:

And here's the pilot to Parenthood, or as I like to call it "my new favorite thing with Lauren Graham."

DVD: 2012

2010-03-07T21:44:00.001-05:00

Watching 2012 reminded me a lot of when I first saw "The Final Destination," it was a fun experience but little more than elaborate misfortunes. To be honest I didn't really watch 2012 while it was on, I was at my computer reading the news and browsing Google Reader and looking up every 15 minutes or so to watch the huge disaster sequences. After a certain point with the "Final Destination" series they just became vehicles for delivering elaborate and gruesome deaths and they were good and fun for that, the "Saw" series took it to the next level being referred to as torture-porn, which leads to 2012 where the destructive sections are the best part and the rest of the story just moves us between them. I'm totally okay with that too, there are so many good movies that deal with the evolution of humanity pre/post armageddon, so there is nothing wrong with just having fun watching the world get destroyed.

The sad part is that while the big destructive sequences in 2012 are fun, I felt like they paled in comparison to the CGI effects of "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" which (spoiler alert) has a huge armageddon-esque sequence towards the end of it. I'm curious if I felt that way because 2012 is trying to blend these CGI effects into a real world, whereas Cloudy is a completely fictional and cartoon-ish world which lessens the burden of the designers. 2012 has to be intriguing without losing believability, a million little details go in to every explosion and earthquake, and while it tries to do so I don't thing the effects are all that believable.

The story is pretty much barely held together and you don't actually find yourself caring for any of the characters because they are so ineffectually written but no one is watching this movie for those things anyway. Watching the world get destroyed is fun but honestly I'd recommend you spend your time watching any one of the hundreds of good post-apocalyptic movies (*cough* Zombieland *cough*).

***SPOILER ALERT***
Humanity survives...crazy right? Never would've seen that coming. Actually, I just wanted to give two specific examples about how stupid these characters are.

When we first meet the kids John Cusack's character is informed that his 7 year old daughter still wets the bed, as if his ignorance proves he's a bad father. Not a big deal but towards the end of the movie the last thing this littler girl says about the whole experience is "No more pull-ups" or something to the affect that after having spent 2hours having the shit scared out of her as the world ended she has overcome her bed wetting problem. Wouldn't all that horrible stuff make it worse?

Also there is a point where John Cusack supposedly dies, or you're supposed to think he did, and I personally didn't care at all. Maybe it has little impact because it happens so early in the film you ask? Well simply put NO, because it happens again towards the end and I still don't care about him at all.

The 2012 Drinking Game
Wait your still trying to watch this movie? Well at least have some fun with it...

Imminent Danger-Take a sip of beer every time the characters are suddenly in peril.
You should be buzzed by the end of the first disaster sequence.
Fuck Darwin - Take a shot each time a character dies who should have survived in any other scenario. Take another shot if their death is sacrificial. And yet another shot if that death is even somewhat ironic.
          Woody Harrelson sacrificing himself to the volcano. Ironic because he loved nature. 2 shots
          Sasha sacrificing himself to land the plane. Smart pilot who should have otherwise lived.
                    Ironic because he thought he was safe. 3 shots
          How does President Danny Glover not survive? Oh he sacrifices his safety for his people, and then is
                    ironically crushed by the JFK aircraft carrier. 3 shots
          The greedy Russian dad who sacrifices his life to save his sons. Ironic because he dies in a selfless act
                    after leading such a selfish life. 2 shots
This plot makes no sense - Take a drink of beer every time there is some detail that only barely makes any sense whatsoever in the context of anything.
         Going camping in a limousine?
         A 7 year old wetting the bed matters why?
         Any of the sub plot with physicist Adrian, which has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the movie.
         Woody Harrelson happens to have a powerpoint queued up that explains everything that's going on?
         The doctor is also a pilot?
         An airplane full of cars?
         And so on and so forth, anything that if you think about for 5 seconds you easily realize is just bad writing meant only to move the story from one CGI scene to the next.

So, that's a pretty simple game. And it should get you sufficiently drunk The Darwin rule alone should have you blacking out before the credits roll, which would probably be for the best.

Editor's note: 2012 Drinking Game added on 3/13/10

DVD: A Serious Man

2010-03-03T19:16:00.001-05:00

Excuse my language, but fucking shit this movie is good. Theatrically released in late 2009, I feel bad that I only recently saw this movie on DVD (the release date of which was Feb. 9th) because if I had seen it in '09 this would have easily been on my list of top 10 movies of the year. Anyway, the film follows Larry Gopnik and his family as they go through some transitions in life that have Larry looking for an answer that his religious leaders seem reluctant (or unable) to give. Though most of the story centers around Larry's family and work troubles, we also see some of the smaller issues of his son Danny. Larry's plight had me thinking that he is a somewhat pathetic man, that if he would just stop being so polite and demand what seemed to be rightfully his then his problems would dissipate. Unfortunately with religion, and maybe Judaism specifically (I don't really know), its not that simple and so Larry looks to his religious leaders for guidance and that's where I found some of the best laughs in the film. For a movie that starts so slow, it is important that a viewer be emotionally invested in a protagonist. I think the Coens were successful with Larry, his frustrations were mine; I laughed (maniacally) as misfortune fell on those behind some of his troubles. Danny's portions tend to be more lighthearted and trivial but have the tendency to be equally hilarious, for example Danny getting high at his bar mitzvah is another comedic high point of the film. It's interesting how much the two characters situations complement each other, continuing with the bar mitzvah example the scene has added hilarity thanks to the way it was shot being borrowed from an earlier scene where Larry gets high. I'm trying to avoid using specific details in this review because I think it would make the film sound mundane and boring, but somehow its not despite being about things that many people deal with in their lifetime. This is definitely a must watch and if you don't find yourself instantly attached to Larry like I was, have some patience because once the film gets going you will become invested in this serious man.

DVD: Black Dynamite

2010-02-28T01:48:00.003-05:00

If that trailer doesn't sell you on Black Dynamite then I'm not sure what I can say to persuade you to watch this hilariously awesome kung fu blaxploitation satire. Its really just a fun movie to watch with plenty of laugh out loud moments. Some of my favorite moments are the on purpose accident scattered throughout, but the absurdity of the plot is the films greatest ally and worst enemy. The whole story moves pretty fast and builds in size to the point where in the final scene I was tired of the shtick, but I still enjoyed the experience overall. Michael Jai White says in the extras that they made the original trailer and had random quotes written for it, so that when the movie got picked up they had to write the story around all these quotes that had no context. Knowing that, it makes sense that the story is so convoluted. If you're willing to be taken on a crazy ride with some good kung fu and better laughs Black Dynamite makes for a good night of movie watching. It would probably be an excellent movie for a drinking game, I'm thinking take a sip of beer every time a character uses 70's lingo and a shot whenever an on purpose mistake occurs.

In theaters: SHUTTER ISLAND

2010-02-26T22:40:00.000-05:00

Shutter Island left me perturbed as I exited the theater earlier this week. It was a great movie and yet something didn't quite feel right. I went through a list of why I thought it was a good movie; Martin Scorsese's direction was excellent, the cinematography was beautiful, and nearly every actor was superb (I especially enjoyed Jackie Earle Haley's brief performance). Shutter Island is a good movie and I'd easily recommend it, I'd probably even buy a copy (if it was on sale, but only because I'm cheap). Ultimately it was the story that bothered me, its well written but I'm just not sure how much I like it. Without spoiling the movie all I can say is its good, go see it and you decide how good it is.

**SPOILERS BELOW**
So here's the thing, I never knew what to expect from this movie story wise. Sure you know its going to be good, Scorsese and Dicaprio are a proven team thanks to Departed, but I kept hearing this movie described as a horror film or a psych thriller. It tries to be a scary movie for the first 2/3rd of the film, what with its overly dramatic score that builds suspense every 5 minutes like that's its sole purpose, but nothing scary ever really happens.At that point, with a 1/3 of the movie left, the plot twist occurs transforming the film into a psych thriller. For whatever reason that felt cheap to me, I liked the story we were being lead on for those first 2/3rds and wanted that to continue and while the story takes an interesting twist I don't know that it was for the better. The twist reminded me of Identity except there it occurred at the very end and provided answers to an otherwise puzzling experience, here it just creates more questions and for me that's why it doesn't work. After the twist I wasn't sure about what I had just spend 2/3rds of the movie watching, I guess that's also why it works; now given what I know I want to see Shutter Island again.

2010 Updates

2010-01-19T02:32:00.000-05:00

It's a new year, and part of my resolution is to update more frequently. Its not really a secret that I want to write, either reviewing food/movies/television or some form of comedy; so I'm going to focus on that more while continuing to post any cool photos I take, or whatever I'm working on.

That being said, some ideas are:

Videogame demo reviews - I don't really have the money to buy new games all the time so I'll write about the demos of games that interest me. "Given the demo experience, should you/would I buy this game?"

On DVD - I have a blockbuster movie pass, so I'll write some movie reviews on whatever I'm watching, no matter how old. (Again, cheapness being a motivator here. I'll try and write about anything I see in theaters, though it might not be much).

Comedy - I've been writing jokes and sketches that I might share. I've also got some great party stories that people like. Not to mention anything else i can think of (like my internet dating article, which went over pretty well I guess).

Topical - I've got some cool ideas for magazine style topic pieces, a few working titles: Why do I still have a myspace page? Yes, I am narcissistic enough to be on twitter. Why I want a monome. Zombies, Wizards, Vampires, Werewolves, What's next?

So that's what I've got so far, come to think of it I'll probably try and do some music reviews too. If anyone thinks of a title for the recurring demo segment please post it in the comments. If you have any ideas for me please let me know in the comments or on twitter.

IMG_1860

2009-11-24T20:08:00.001-05:00

IMG_1860, originally uploaded by MondoUNC.

From my photoshoot with Aminal on the 23rd.

Why I can't have nice things...Like a Girlfriend

2009-09-30T00:23:00.004-04:00

or Mondo tries online dating, hilarity ensues.

I think this is my first comedic post, and by comedy I mean we're going to look at some aspect of my life and laugh. I've never been a "people person" and it's tough for me to meet people now that I'm out of school so my friends urged me to join OkCupid with them. My profile is somewhat entertaining because I wrote it to be amusing not to actually meet people. To a certain extent I would like to meet someone but this has really just become a way for me to entertain myself with pathetic attempts at talking to people. Here are a few of my faves:

First Girl:

Someone just winked at you!

If you'd like to strike up a conversation with her, simply reply with something short and encouraging, like "Thanks for the wink! What's new?"

A wink is a special gesture on OkCupid, limited to 1.5 per person, per day, per eye.

Enjoy!

Me:

Thanks for the wink, I'm still not quite sure what that means nor how to respond.

"What's up?"

Does that seem adequate?

Her:

Hello and what's up is what I meant by the wink. I hope that you are doing well this evening. I am tired from a long week and a long day today.

Me:

Lucky me, I had the day off from work so I got some cleaning done around the house, played a little RockBand with a friend and then capped of the night catching up on some TV online. So, yes, all is well with me.

Long weeks suck. Plans for the weekend? I'm hoping to go out with some friends tomorrow night and then catch some football on Sunday.

I'm sorry if this isn't at all interesting. I've unfortunately never had much contact with anyone on this site. the one girl i had an actual dialog with randomly stopped talking to me. My point is I'm never quite sure what to talk about.

Sorry if that was an off putting tangent, but I have a problem with honesty.

Needless to say she did not respond. I guess it was an off putting tangent. So there was another girl who had viewed my profile, so I decided to "wink" at her in the hopes of starting a conversation like the previous girl had tried with me.

Here's the message I sent her:

Subject: I tried winking but im not sure if it did anything
Message:So, I thought I'd strike up a conversation. I like stand up too, who are your top 5 comedians?

I'm sorry if this seems like a juvenile way to go about talking to someone but initiating small talk is not my forte.

This last one is probably the worst for obvious (stalkerish) reasons. I had exchanged a few emails with this girl and though she had a good sense of humor, so I took a shot at her feminist beliefs. It was nothing huge, I said "Ladies first (as a feminist I'm sure you'll love that)" and she apparently didn't. After weeks of not hearing back from her I send this:

Apparently I have a problem letting things go. Actually I'm just curios and would like to learn from my mistakes. Did I say something to offend you? Is that why you stopped talking to me?

Apologies if this seems stalker-ish, I'm a bit OCD.

Maybe my sense of humor just doesn't translate well to type, more likely I'm and idiot when it comes to actually trying to have real conversations with people (especially women).

I may leave the site but it is kind of fun. Besides I'll never get better without practice.

Bliss UNC Cupcakes

2009-09-14T02:12:00.001-04:00

Bliss UNC Cupcakes, originally uploaded by MondoUNC.

New product shots. This is one of my favorite ideas in a while.

PROTOTYPE and why sometimes you just have to let go

2009-08-18T23:21:00.006-04:00

The other weekend I finally had the opportunity to rent Prototype and was extremely disappointed with the game. I wound up taking it back to blockbuster after coming to terms with the reality that I couldn't get into the story and did not enjoy the gameplay. I was perfectly content to let that be the end of it, until I read this great article by ArsTechnica entitled "Why we quit," but now instead of returning it and never mentioning it again I'd like to point out the parts that I found frustrating. Maybe doing so will be therapeutic and I can rent Prototype again and give it a second chance, or maybe Infamous will finally be in and I can just play the superior version of the same game.

And maybe that's a good place to start, after playing just the demo of Infamous, no matter how often I tried to put Infamous out of my mind it was hard not to notice the similarities between the two. Infamous' lead character, Cole, is electric powered and the controls reflect this fluidity that you'd expect from a parkour delivery boy versus the barreling rhinoceros that is Prototype's lead, Alex. Everything about Alex is dumbed down and forced: the way he moves, his morality, even his dialogue. The only thing that has any finesse is the amazing cinematics that play when you kill someone in some of the most grotesque way imaginable.

Even the fun parts of this game aren't all that enjoyable. Killing people as horrifically as possible? Press one button and watch Alex have all the fun, or just do the same 3 button combo over and over. Quickly the funnest thing to do will be to grab random people off the street run up the side of the tallest building nearby and see how far you can throw them, but even this can be ruined when Alex has some problem with curved walls or even running straight. OK, maybe I was just being OCD, but I wanted to stand at the very top of the Empire State Building and every time i got up to the spire near the top Alex would do a backflip off the building and crush my dreams.

Well maybe I'll enjoy completing some of those missions that will unlock more of that story I don't care about...think again. The game opens with you playing as a god basically, you have all your powers and get to wreak havoc toward some checkpoints, until they send you to where the story began(you know, that boring part where you don't have all your awesome powers). The missions might be fun for a minute but let me explain what I recall of the few that made me quit.

1.Somehow I unleashed these "Hunters" and while they we're killed in 3 hits when you were all powerful they can now obliterate you, easily. Then you realize that the game would like for you to kill 20 of these hunters before it lets you move on.

2.There are some infected water towers that I need to get DNA from but if i get to close to them they explode and unleash hunters. I somehow missed that they'd explode if I got to close (one of the perils of having and SD tv, is that many games have text to small for anything other than HD) so I get bored and spend an hour or so karate kicking helicopters tell I get bored of that and try to figure out the water towers again.

3.I have to destroy some military patrols before they find my hideout. Alright, destroyed 7 patrol groups and then I die and get sent all the way back to the beginning?! Is this not the year 2009? Do modern games not have check points? I get that some people might enjoy this part or you might have needed to include it to extend gameplay but not providing a few more checkpoints turns something that might be enjoyable into an unnecessary grind.

There are things to enjoy about Prototype although it mainly seems to be mindless fun which isn't enough when Infamous is on the shelf right next to it. Alas, maybe I'm asking to much of Prototype. Penny Arcade seemed to enjoy it (I've embedded the comic below but here is a link too).

REVIEW: G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra

2009-08-14T01:40:00.006-04:00

I did manage to catch GI JOE on opening weekend and I personally enjoined it although it has gotten negative reviews from a few of my favorite critics(TV without Pity, Topless Robot, and Roger Ebert). It seems the general consensus is that GI JOE is better than Transformers 2 and after seeing both that is an easy argument to make. The movie is paced well and doesn't have any significantly distracting plot holes, except at the end when ice apparently no longer floats, which may be because it is so packed with action you're never really given a moment to try and process anything you've seen. The biggest flaw I found was that the movie peaks a bit early with the coolest action sequence taking place early in the film and afterward all the other scenes seem far less epic even though the stakes are supposedly greater.

I could try and nit-pick all of the minor things that were wrong, but I honestly didn't notice them while watching the movie so it seems unfair for me to do so, luckily Topless Robot already has and it makes for a great and hilarious read. GI JOE is one of the better blockbuster action movies of the summer, although that may be mostly because of how horrible Transformers and Wolverine were, I'd definitely recommend it for a family or just a fun popcorn flick. There is also a lot of potential for the sequel to be great, there might be a new director and maybe now that they've gotten the backstory out of the way GI JOE2 can feature the full JOE Vs. COBRA battle we all wanted to see.

All that and you're still not sure If you want to see GI JOE? We'll watch this video from Funny or Die, it's just as star-studded and way more awesome.

The Ballad of G.I. Joe from Olivia Wilde