Happy Fathers yester-day

So father’s day was interesting. Amy asked the girls what they should get my father and they said “Lone Ranger stuff?” That was a fine answer. She then asked them what they should get me. They both chimed in “Heroclix!”

That’s cute. Not sure why they were thinking that, especially since I haven’t played in a month or so, but then again, I do play with them sometimes on the Gotham City map that’s set up in the Library. Nevertheless, I didn’t think they were going to follow through with that.

Did you know Five Below has Heroclix?

Nothing new of course. In fact I don’t think they sell anything that’s playable in a modern age tournament, but then again, a lot of the time I’m playing golden age (all sets) anyhow. They got me a box of Hypertime, and a box of Justice League. Lydia chose the Hypertime box because it had Catwoman on it and she expected her to be in the box.

I actually pulled some nice figures out of the Justice League box. There was a Batman and Robin duo figure I always wanted and a really powerful Emperor Joker…200 points, but way powerful. I think I may match him up with that Lex and Braniac figure I have some time.

Amy also got me a gift certificate for Comics Are Go! (and they have the best gift certificates ever….) and while they were there, the girls snagged bookmarks and the free All-Star Superman for me. It occurs to me that my girls have been in that shop more times than Amy has.

We took the girls to see Epic this weekend as well, and while I was there I noticed two previews for movies I want to see that I’ve been putting off. Superman and Star Trek are both coming to the palace. I’ll be heading there for both in 3d, 5.00 each.

Finally, if you were watching the parade in Avon Lake this weekend and you thought you saw me dressed as a zombie…you were right. I marched with the Lorain County Zombie Outbreak Response Team to promote their Zombie Walk in the fall – a charity event to raise food for the Second Harvest Food Bank.

I think I hurt my back with some of that shambling. You’d think I’d have finished that assignment for Angel Lite comics or gotten more work done on Violent Blue, being out of commission like that….

 

 

 

 

45

Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.

Every Wednesday and Friday

Judge Dredd

I finally got around to catching up with Dredd. Really, I was hoping to get to this earlier, but other films just seemed more pressing.

I had been told by several friends that this movie is “ultra-Violent”. See, the problem here is that phrase has been used so often it’s lost a great deal of it’s meaning to me. What actually qualifies as “Ultra Violent”?  It’s not just a bunch of shooting. To me there has to be some flesh ripping. The Expendables is a violent movie, but not really THAT violent. You see a lot of guns blazing and a lot of people falling down, but you don’t see a lot of blood. No red spray, no torn skin. Robocop…that’s an ultra violent movie. Lots of guns, and TONS of entry wounds and exit wounds. No one ever gets shot just once there, it’s always multiple shots, and multiple squibs going off and every one of those squibs is full of red karo syrup.

So Dredd? Actually, yeah. Ultra violent. Lots of head shots….actually lots of head explosions….gives Scanners a run for it’s money. I loved seeing the slow-mo flare hit the inside of the guys mouth and explode….definitely enough to satisfy the gore hounds as well as the action fanatic.

It’s a shame then, that this came out so close to The Raid : Redemption. They were in production close enough to the same time that I don’t think there was any copying going on, but really it’s the same story, though with more guns and the familiar comic book settings of Mega City rather than the generic apartment building we see in The Raid.

I do have to wonder why they choose this setting. It seems like it works against an introductory film, and keeps us from really exploring this world. It would work fine for an established series, but I think it holds the movie back a bit. And make no mistake, this IS an introductory film. Forget the Stallone Judge Dredd. That was sole a Sly vehicle where the only thing they really got right was the costumes (those costumes REALLY are better than the ones in this movie, but then again in the Sly film you only see them in those costumes for what, ten minuets?) and it LOOKED like a summer blockbuster movie. The sets had that….LOOK to them, the scale was just a little off and obviously painted. Something about it just hits your eye wrong (you see it a lot in those kind of movies -the Original Total Recal has the same problem). Dredd 3d looks real. Everything is gritty and stark and just.. better looking. (everything but the costumes…btu I digress….)

Really this film came out at the wrong time, and got lost amongst the Avengers and Dark Knight. That’s a real shame because it deserved a chance to really shine on it’s own and a release in the spring instead of summer might have given it a better shot a success.

Dredd is definitely worth a watch if you catch it on Netflix. Not sure it’s worth a buy unless you’re a fan of the series or really into violent Sci-Fi, but I’ll admit it would look rally good on the shelf right next to the unrated criterion cut of Robocop…..( and a film version of Violent Blue?)

 

44

Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.

Every Wednesday and Friday

Thank you Peter Cullen!

By now you probably know I’m a He-Man guy. That was my series when I was kid and it still is my favorite cartoon today (Not sure what cartoon they liked in Violent Blue. Hmmmm. I should explore that some time…..). Still, I watched Transformers and G.I. Joe, and always love meeting the voices behind the characters.

Peter Cullen has been the voice of Optimus Prime for decades….and that’s really saying something. he’s the definitive voice for the character so you can imagine how pleased I was to receive this through the mail. Thanks so much!

Netflix Movie of the Week #12: Grave Encounters

Reblogged from Simply Film:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8FBRATbJoA

As a self proclaimed film critic, I feel that it’s my obligation to force my favorite genres on the masses whenever I get the opportunity. With James DeMonaco’s The Purge hitting theaters this weekend, I thought I’d share with you a horror film that isn’t awful, in order to compensate for The Purge inevitably sucking like a vacuum-powered prostitute. With that in mind, I’d like to draw your attention to a film almost no one has watched, despite it’s being one of the better horror properties of 2011.

Read more… 368 more words

Great review on Grave Encounters here - a film we mentioned when we reviewd the sequel a few months back http://argocitycomics.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/grave-encounters-2/

Happy Birthday Amy!

Today is my wife’s birthday, and I wanted to do something special. This year our girls were both in ballet, which culminated in a recital where they danced to selections from the Lion King. We did get photos done, but I wanted her to have a portrait like no one else in that class, so I took my own photos and from those created this painting. Happy Birthday Amy!

(You didn’t think that all I could do was the kind of art you see in Violent Blue did you?)

43

Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.

Every Wednesday and Friday

Screwtape Letters part four

Part our of my Screwtape Letters series. And don’t forget, new Violent Blue tomorrow!

42

Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.

Every Wednesday and Friday