I’ve been going through my Red vs. Blue DVDs this week (Season 3 DVDs are available soon, as in July 11) and am still amazed by the ingenuity of these guys for taking a game that was designed for blood and violence, making it really funny, and making a nice little cyber-empire out of it. Of course, blood and violence can also be funny so I guess there was a fertile field to work with. I mean, the Strangerhood is funny, too. But RvB is brilliant because it was not a game intended for people to create these kind of movies. Sims 2 was. I’ll probably dedicate a whole entry just to the DVDs in the near future, but let’s talk video games.

I still can’t believe there’s a 24-hour channel dedicated to video games. Of course, I don’t get G4 so I don’t lose a lot of sleep over it or anything. There’s also shows dedicated to VGs on other stations. Anybody ever see this Video Mod show? I don’t get MTV2 either.

Speaking of 24 hours a day, we’ve been getting more looks at 24: The Game, including some video previews. I’ll be honest, I’m not looking forward to the game, so much, just to find out a lot of plot points that never were addressed following season 2.

Another game I’ve been considering getting, even though it’s a PC game, is Civilization IV. I’ve been playing Civ III again lately and quickly rediscovered what makes that game so addicting. Some recent articles have cleared up a few questions from E3. The upgrades really don’t come across all that much in still pictures, but the video makes it look sharp.

I passed on a similar simulation type game that I may now try because Pirates! is coming out on Xbox. Of course, there’s a line of games in front of it, so it may have to wait a while. One of those games is X-Men: Legends II. The first one is probably the best comics-based game I have played (don’t have extensive history, though) and really did a nice job with the characters and their powers.

Moving on to the games that I spend most of my time on… Are sports games contributing to a decline in televised sports viewership? I can see that. There are many times where I choose to fire up the Xbox instead of watching sports on TV. If it’s a team I care about, obviously that takes precidence. But if it’s an NBA game, MLB game, or even a WAC football game… I’ll probably choose to play rather than watch.

NCAA 2006 has one player’s approval. I was glad to see “number of dropped passes has been reduced including running backs dropping screen passes when they are wide open.” That was probably my #1 pet peeve with the 2005 model.

If you ever wanted to see Ron Mexico in video games, you’ve got your chance now, apparently.

I could probably go on all day. It looks like the second half of 2005 is going to be a good time for video game buffs.

“Blood is funny! Van is the winner!”

First off, is that how to spell hawking? As in “to sell with great haste.”

Second off, a few sites brought up the subject of selling comics on eBay this week. So, I thought I would rip off their idea, collect many sources, and try to pass it off as my own. Yep, just another quality Sock Drawer product.

This is a subject that I will one day need to deal with because there aren’t many places that can contain my massive collection other than my old bedroom closet at my parents’ house. Besides, I have a lot of crap taking up a lot of space. Really, do I still need Supreme #1 or multiple polybagged copies of the “Death of Superman”?

Another reason this comes up now is my friend Eric did some spring cleaning and found his old comic book collection. Unfortunately, it’s not that old, just from the 1990s. Anyway, he’s looking for me on advice on how to get rid of, what looks like, a couple hundred books. I got him into this mess by starting him on collecting back in high school, so I should probably help get him out of it.

The problem is, I don’t know how. This is not a process I’ve seriously taken any steps towards yet. I doubt he could take them to a comic book shop and sell them there. Shop owners mostly only seem interested in decades-old stuff or super-rare things from the last ten years. I guess eBay would be the next logical choice to go. But I’ve only sold a whopping two comics on the internet. What is the best way to unload your collection? Piecemeal or as a whole? It’d be easier to dump all of them at once, but wouldn’t the shipping prices shoot through the roof scare away potential buyers or proclude any chance of profit?

Basically, I’m going to pass the buck. Eric, and anyone else who’s going to sell their comics, head to eBay’s comic book section and see if anyone else has some of those same comics. If they do, use their strategy, unless the books aren’t selling. Then try something different.

For additional research, The Comic Queen has a weekly Ebay Comic Watch that spotlights some of the collections out there. Not only is it a great way to see what’s out there, but you can beg them to spotlight your auction. They were kind enough to include mine in a week of TV-themed comics.

When you do get around to sending away those comics, Progressive Ruin has some advice on how to ship your comics. If you got any more, please let me know. I’ve got hundreds of Image Comics first issues that need a new home.

“Sarge, do you want a few innocent bystanders to live, or do you want results?”

ESPN dumped the NHL earlier this month and is playing hardball with Major League Baseball. The four-letter network looks to be ready to dump anything that isn’t football. ESPN is up for airing more original programming. Makes sense. The numbers show that just about everything they’ve aired instead of hockey has done as well if not better. So, why shouldn’t they explore alternative programming options? Despite the backlash on this message board, this is a smart decision. Why pay all these enormous licensing fees for other people’s product that is getting you diminishing returns? Even if these new shows bomb, at least you didn’t drop hundreds of millions of dollars on it before even turning the cameras on.

Bad news: Even more commercials showing whining actors delivering whiny lines: “I just want to race, daddy.” Yeah, we know. Why do we need to hear you say that a thousand times a day? Didn’t you die? (Yikes, that was harsh. Better start getting ready for the hate email from NASCAR fans now.)

“You damn near killed my friend!”
“He ain’t quittin’!”

Now that I’ve seen Serenity and don’t have to doggedly avoid spoilers, (Although, I accidently read this comic strip, that was fortunately censored for the spoiler-senisitive. It’s fun now reading it and trying to fill in the blanks.) I’ve been reading reactions from Browncoats across the country. It sounds like a lot of the other screenings came complete with their own Big Damn Hero. River was in Houston, Simon in Toronto, Joss at Riverside (wherever that is), Kaylee was in Vancouver, and Book was just up the road in Indianapolis. Sadly, none at our showing. I don’t blame them, our theater was SMALL. Also, no one dressed up all that much like these folks. We did get a nice complimentary packet of goodies from the Southern Ohio Browncoats, I guess part of the Ohio Browncoats, but my internet connection is on the fritz at home so I can’t show you what they handed out.

There’s a lot of debate as to how people with no Firefly history will react to the movie. Here’s one non-fan’s response: “this movie has more heart than the last three Star Wars movies lashed together and dipped in hearty sauce.” Sounds promising, but they do have a strong history with sci-fi. A guy at AICN felt it wouldn’t translate well, other AICN reviewers loved it. I don’t think people will have too hard of a time coming into the movie cold. As long as they aren’t opposed to “space movies”, they should be okay.

Here are some reviewers that I actually know: Johnny, Myke, and Amanda who went to the Columbus screening.

I figured once I saw Serenity, I would be able to lose some of this tension, be able to relax. But I find I’m still nervous, since the big question is how will the general public react to it. I don’t really care, but it is kinda crucial to the future of this franchise. The price tag was a relatively cheap $40 million budget. The Firefly DVDs were in Amazon’s Top Ten sellers this weekend, and on sale for $30. I don’t know how long that will last. (While checking that out, I did notice Lost - The Complete First Season is set for release September 6.) I have a feeling, or maybe just desperate hope, that even if the movie tanks, we’ll get at least one more Serenity movie. Maybe it’ll be straight-to-DVD or a Sci-Fi special, but I think that the Browncoats are now a large enough cult to support one more job.

Okay, let’s address some theories and comments brought up by my last Serenity post. I’m gonna try that white text stuff again so that major spoilers aren’t accidently picked up by those who just want to type in a comment while guessing today’s quote.

“There’s a very fine line between not listening and not caring. I’d like to think I walk that line every day of my life.”
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The American Film Institute (AFI) revealed the top movie quotes of all time in AFI’s 100 Years. Overall, it was a pretty good list. Much better than that lousy Greatest American travesty Discovery Channel trotted out a few weeks ago. (Ellen Degeneres the 86th greatest American?) Basically, the list and subsequent CBS special that aired Tuesday night were to celebrate quotes that transcended their movies and made their way into everyday language. Of course, there were some exceptions that somehow made it onto the list.

16. “They call me Mister Tibbs!”, In the Heat of the Night, 1967
I’m sure they do. But no one has said that out loud since 1980, even if their last name was Tibbs. By comparison, every man who has ever put on a tuxedo during the last 40 years has said Bond, James Bond. Why that was six spots lower than than this one I have no idea. I missed the last hour of the CBS special so maybe it was explained there.
47. “Shane. Shane. Come back!”, Shane, 1953
This is the only one I look at and have no idea why it was even on the list, let alone the top 50. Even the people who talked about how great this movie was, didn’t mention this line.

While I think the majority of the list works pretty well, I don’t think this is a definitive list. Upon further research, the process to make this list seems flawed. People voted for the top lines out of a list of four hundred nominees. It doesn’t take a long time to look at that pool of quotes to see some problems. Some movies had no representation and others had bad lines as their choice.

DR. EMMETT BROWN
Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need
roads.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Universal, 1985

Not a bad line, but not the one you think of first when this movie comes up. “Hello, McFly!” or some other Biffism would have fared much better.

ACE VENTURA
All-righty then!

This is the first line on the sheet, I kid you not. I know they lined up these quotes alphabetically by movie title, but maybe people didn’t take this list seriously when the first guy spent part of the movie talking out of his ass… literally.

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t
believe. Attack ships on fire off the
shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams
glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser
gate. All those moments will be lost in
time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
BLADE RUNNER
Warner Bros., 1982

As good as Blade Runner was, I don’t think of it as a quoatable movie. And if it was, this wouldn’t be the #1 quote. They don’t even use this one during Blade Runner conventions. I don’t know if there are such conventions, but I do know that line wouldn’t be used.

INIGO MONTOYA
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You
killed my father. Prepare to die!
THE PRINCESS BRIDE

Not too bad. This or “Inconceivable!” would be my nominations from this movie. I only brought up this movie because it only had one to choose from. Very under-represented.

…I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet
kisses that last three days.
BULL DURHAM
Orion, 1988

Another under-represented one. This wouldn’t be the quote that resonates with the masses.

I’m sure I could talk about this all day. Anyway, here was my top ten, where they actually ended up in parenthesis.

(1) 1. Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn, - Gone With The Wind.
(17) 2. Rosebud. - Citizen Kane
(6) 3. Make my day. - Dirty Harry
(2) 4. I made him an offer he can’t refuse. - Godfather
(99) 5. I’ll get you my pretty…and you little dog too. - Wizard of Oz
(5) 6. Here’s lookin’ at you, kid. - Casablanca
(66) 7. Get your stinkin’ paws off of me, you damn dirty ape. - Planet of the Apes
(19) 8. I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore! - Broadcast News
(Unranked?!? Are you kidding me?!?) 9. Luke, I am your father. - Empire Strikes Back
(22) 10. Bond, James Bond

“Let me get back to you, will ya, Charlie? I got a guy on the other line asking about some white walls.”

I have been tagged for a super-power meme. Apparently, Lefty Brown is having his revenge on my for tagging him the last time and spelling his name wrong. I went back and fixed the typo, but I can’t change the past.

1.) If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why? (Assume you also get baseline superhero enhancements like moderately increased strength, endurance and agility.)

I’d like the ability to get monthly services for free. Think how much money I could be saving by not having to pay for cable, internet hook-up, Sirius radio, etc. That’s why the cost of living is so high. Stuff’s not expensive, it’s just we’re paying for stuff all the time.

2.) Which, if any, ‘existing’ superhero(es) do you fancy, and why?
I guess I’d go with teams: Peter David’s X-Factor, Giffen and Dematties’s Justice League, the New Warriors. Basically, these guys are a line-up of b-listers. Yet, when you put these scrubs togehter, the sum of its parts is greater than it’s whole.

3.) Which, if any, ‘existing’ superhero(es) do you hate?
Right now, there’s no character that comes to mind that I hate. I’ve seen too many “worthless” characters get a new life when the writer gets a hold of him.

4.) What would your superhero name be? (No prefab porn-name formulas here, you have to make up the name you think you’d be proud to mask under.)
Woodman. Aw, yeah. It don’t matter that my powers aren’t wood-related, it’s still good.

5.) For extra credit: Is there an ‘existing’ superhero with whom you identify/whom you would like to be?
I’d like to be Cypher. He could instinctively understand and speak any language. This was a kid who’s powers were worthless when he was with the New Mutants. But how many doors would they open in the real world? He even understood computeres. I don’t think I could handle anything more powerful than that. With great power comes great responsiblity, and I’m too lazy for being more than a linguist.

6.) Pass it on. Three people please, and why they are the wind beneath your wings.

“I refuse. This is why memes come here to die. Most of the comics bloggers I regularly visit have done it already, and the ones that haven’t … well, I don’t send along chain letters, and I’m not going to send this along. If you’re reading this and want to do it, be my guest - I like reading memes, I just don’t like sending them along. Sorry!”

That whole paragraph came from Greg Burgas, who was also tagged. That is a pretty close resemblence to how I feel, so I’ll just use what he said.

“How do you beat someone to death with their own skull?”

No Fan Film Friday today, cause nothing would really compare to the last two movies I saw, Batman Begins and Serenity last night. If you still need your Fan Film fix, check out Progressive Ruin’s take on fan obsession and the Star Trek: Hidden Frontier creators.

Okay, enough of the stinky stuff, on to Joss Whedon goodness. A couple weeks back, I was lucky enough to get tickets at Can’t Stop the Signal for a special advanced (three months in advance) screening of Serenity, the movie spinning out of the Firefly TV show. Moe, Jeff, Brad, and I walked in to the Northern Kentucky AMC theater about 25 minutes before the screening and there were no seats left. We split up and even sat on the floor. There was no way in hell I was going to miss this baby. Eventually, management found us some seats. Apparently, the evening’s sponsor tried to hog more of the seats than they were entitlted. Our late arrival meant sitting in the second row, staring up Mal’s nose but the vantage point rarely interfered with the movie.

There was a lot of energy in the room that got even higher when Joss Whedon appeared on the screen talking about what we were going to see, the process that lead up to it, and what would need to happen from here until the film’s official release date, September 30. He talked about how the fans’ devotion, as well as the cast and crew, was to be credited with the story getting life after cancellation. So the fans should get credit if the movie’s good. He also wanted us to trumpet Serenity’s praises if it was solid. If the movie sucked, however, it was the fans’ fault. And if they didn’t like it, this would be a time for quiet.

Good news, though. This movie soared.

Okay, maybe I ought to go to the “continued” section before I start blowing the movie for you and revealing River’s dark secret. Again, there are many ways, including next month’s Firefly comic book, to be prepared for Serenity’s September 30 release date. If you miss out, shame on you. It’s your own fault.

“What’d y’all order a dead guy for?”
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It’s usually not a good sign when there’s reports of problems surrounding a movie before it’s even finished, let alone before it’s even started. (Then again, Titanic had rumored production problems and it seemed to do okay.) As great as the first two X-Men movies were, we may see a Genosha-sized disaster next time Marvel’s merry mutants hit the screen.

It began with the first two films’ director Bryan Singer leaving to direct Superman Returns. That news didn’t concern me too much because to reastablish an icon that has been out of our cinemas for over 20 years is a great opportunity, as opposed to trotting out the latest adventure of the smaller characters you saw just a few years earlier. To replace such a huge, critically-acclaimed director, they hired some guy with only a couple of little movies to his name. I was concerned, then relieved when he left the project, then concerned when the new director tried to console the fans. Of course, there’s been tons of casting rumors, including the inclusion of new characters and the exclusion of exisiting ones. Apparently, there will be no Nightcrawler, who was one of the best additions to a cast ever. fan-drive petition against the film’s director. Despite all this, X3 is being rushed into production to get done before next summer’s release date.

Not only could a bad performance here damage the X-Men movies, but also potential spin-offs inclduing Wolverine and Magneto.

In other sequel news, no Katie Holmes for the next Batman movie. I bet most of you would like that. Despite some people’s negative feelings, this is a bad thing. Because Hollywood believes the romantic love interest is essential, they will recast the role and find someone else. More than likely, someone who will be louder, whinier, and more obtrusive. Think Kristin Dunst (sorry, Maderer) or Vickie Vale. Kaite Holmes did a good job of staying in the background for most of the movie. Also, her character was economical as it served at least two purposes (lifelong friend who can see Bruce changed by his parents’ deaths and jusitce department worker who allows us to another angle to the corrupt system) other than love interest.

And could we see Crispin Glover as the Joker in the next movie? Hello, McFly! Actually, as crazy as that sounds, that might actually work pretty well.

Finally, here’s a look at Marvel’s upcoming movie plans, including Nic Cage as Ghost Rider. He looks pretty good, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of a film they put together.

“Got any beer?”
“This is a school.”
“So that’s a no?”

In preperation for tomorrow’s special Serenity sneak-peek, let’s take a look at everyone’s favorite cancelled-before- it’s-time show: Serenity’s cast made the Entertainment Weekly Must list. That’s a good sign for publicity and marketing. I’m just hoping they don’t try to do too much more than what they made the TV show. Firefly was good, no reason to change up too much.

But changes do occur, and must, for the transition. But do you sacrifice one of your trademarks? For a potential 24 movie, they’re considering tweaking or losing the real-time aspect. I think that would be a foolish move. The shorter time-span would really increase the intensity for those of us used to seeing our terrorist plots dragged out for an entire season.

Non-TV related, random thoughts: here are some keys to making a good comic book adaptation and a look at Bruce Campbell’s Man With The Screaming Brain.

“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!”

Good news: Batman was #1 this weekend. Bad news: despite positive critical reviews, the weekend take lower than expected. Let’s hope that studios don’t look at this and think it’s more profitable when they make stupider movies.

As faithful as this adaptation was, there were some changes from the comics. But you can see bits and pieces taken from the works of Frank Miller, Denny O’Neil, even Christopher Priest. Christopher Nolan took the cream of the character’s 60+ year history, while still infusing his own takes.

The casting was top-notch. Christian Bale had many layers from dark and spooky to humorous and goofy with lots of points in between. I liked Morgan Freeman’s Lucius Fox, a blue-collar Q who wants to stay out of the know. Michael Caine was, no surprise, a good Alfred. Katie Holmes showing why she’s laminate-worthy. James Gordon finally got the respect his character deserved with a fantastic turn by Gary Oldman.

Click on the continue for my sequel musings and favorite moments from this movie.

“Well, face it. You’re not exactly normal, are you?”
“This isn’t exactly a normal world, is it?”
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