A whole lotta nothin', and then some.....

Once again it's been a week with no big news in the worlds of the fantastic. So I'm not going to have a heck of a lot to blog about. But that's a good thing since I've become addicted to the TV series Doctor Who that comes on in ten minutes. It's my Friday night crack-cocaine!

First on the agenda, I finished the John Constantine novel, ,War Lord by John Shirley. It was a decent read, but by no means a hit out of the park. It only quasi-captured the true feel of the comic book, John Constantine: Hellblazer. The character himself was well represented, but out of his traditional element. Instead of investigating some creepy demonic happenings within his ancient town of London, Constantine finds himself smack dab in the middle of the Iraq war trying to fend off a plot by a secret fanatical, right wing, war mongering sect. So of course readers will have to trudge through Mr. Shirley's personal political beliefs to get through the story. Although it's a short book, it's not what I'd call a real page turnin' kind of book. You're not really wondering, "What the frell is gunna happen next?!?!?!" The climax isn't really all that much of a spectacle. In fact it's covered quite quickly, yet in the grand John Constintine tradition of him being a bit of a weasel, he comes out triumphant. So in that respect, you do get a bit of a chuckle.

If you're a big John Constintine: Hellblazer fan, than by all means, pick up this paperback. If not, go read the DaVinci Code again. Right now I've moved on to the fantasy novel, Sister of the Dead which is the 3rd book in the Barb and J.C. Hendee created Dhamphir series. In short it's the stories of a female half vampire / half human vampire hunter within a medieval, fantasy realm. The books are quick reads that are easy to get into, something that is quite missing from the fantasy literature genre. I'll let you know what transpires.

Now on to something else....

I know what you've been thinking. Let me guess, you awoke this morning with a shocking jolt out of your slumber wondering, "What summer blockbuster movies is Zangz really looking forward to?!?!?!?!" This quagmire has been burdening you all day, hasn't it? Well, let me put your minds at ease so you can enjoy the weekend. As I mentioned in a former blog post, there isn't a frack of a lot to really jones over this summer......

Last summer we had SW, Ep. III: ROTS (I'm not spelling that out for those of you dullards who don't know what that stands for) which blew away the whole summer movie experience. This summer we have very few points of light to anticipate. I personally have only two movies that I'm even remotely jonesing for. That would be Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and the Kevin Smith opus, Clerks II. Other than those two, there are very few summer movies that even remotely interest me. Xmen III and Superman: Returns could be interesting, but only time will tell. The third installment of Xmen is rumored to already be a big steamer. We'll have to wait and see. Some will hype MI:III, but Tom Cruise makes me nauseous, the nutty bastage! Then there's the DaVinci Code. But, I've already read the book so I know what happens. But that will be fun Sunday afternoon movie to take mom to. But, I really don't see a huge movie event until the next Indiana Jones flick graces our silver screens. Otherwise, with the absence of another Star Wars or Lord of the Rings movie, there's little else to really anticipate in movie experiences.

Sadly, this all I have for you this week. Tune in next week when there may just be an equal helping of fun, frolic, silliness and pure, unadulterated despair.

We'll all see you then.
Zangz.

Villainy

Well, spring has finally sprung here in my hometown. And far be it for me not to enjoy the evenings warmth than going outside this evening and enjoying a nice stoggie while watching the Harleys rumble by and viewing a big beautiful orange moon over the lake.

As I enjoyed this evening's end of the week relaxation ritual I started to contemplate on something that has been rotting around in my noodle for quite some time. What makes a really good genre based villain? After all, every good fictional hero has to have an equally decent bad guy. Bond had Blofeld, the Jedi have The Sith, The Doctor had the Master, Batman has the Joker, the list goes on and on.

But I think that what makes a particularly good nasty-ass is one that has issues that we, ourselves, can relate to that seem to take over and make these villains what they are or have become.

One of the greatest villain origin stories that I have ever read was in a one shot, Batman comic written by famed comic scribe Allan Moore called "The Killing Joke". It is a reworking of the Joker's origin story. It stays true to the original story where a low life criminal named Napier, falls into a vat of chemicals during a botched robbery (foiled by Batman), turning him into the pale faced, green haired clown prince of crime, freak of humanity we all love to hate. Yet, it's slightly different than the story of Napier being this chronic low life who's always had his hand in organized crime as many of Batman's writers have always envisioned him. Instead he starts out as a very down on his luck stand up comedian who is doing the best he can to follow his dreams and provide for him and his wife. He is a character that is doing the best that he can, but never seems to get a break in life. Society is always kicking him when he's down and kidney punching him when he's not looking. Once he's at the bottom of the barrel and reached the end of his rope he is led to take drastic measures and team up with a bunch of thugs who are going to break into a chemical plant. The rest is comic history. He was at one time just an honest guy, trying to make a place for himself in this world.

Of course I can't talk about great villains that start out on a decent path and our led down a dark well of evil without talking about Star Wars' Darth Vader. Once a young Jedi who wanted to do good for the galaxy becomes frustrated that he's not moving up the Jedi ladder as quickly as he wants. Add to this his slightly warped ideology of how the galaxy's government should work, a personal love life that seems to tear at him and a diabolical mentor who manipulates him and, in time, you get a biomechanical Sith lord.

I find these baddies far more intriguing than the average' "I want to rule the world" supervillains. Mainly because there's a small piece of us inside them before they succumb to villainy.

Real life villains are what are real scary. A real life villain may be motivated by greed or revenge or sadism, but don't see that they're evil. Most fool themselves into thinking that backstabbing, manipulation, destroying the lives of others to better themselves is perfectly acceptable and are just stratagies to try and survive. Do you really think that the CEOs of Corporate America wake up one morning and say to their trophy wives at the breakfast table, "I think I'm going to lay off thousands in my company so we can afford that house in the Hamptons."? Of course not. They truly believe that they are doing good for their company and the economy of this nation, when in reality they're just trying to save a buck for themselves and their board members.

On a smaller note, I think everybody has that one friend that is wonderfully talented in self promotion and manipulation. They also have that distinct talent of making you feel small and worthless by giving underhanded compliments so that they can feel better about themselves. They seem to feel that they're still being really good friends. In reality, their just villains.

I guess I prefer the crazy, fictional masters of crime rather than the real life sucubi of the human species.

Well, I don't have much to comment on. It's been another slow week in the realms of geekville. But I do have another edition of.....

ZANGZ'S BLOG OF GEEKDOM'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT

TAPS: The Atlantic Paranormal Society
"Dude, RUN!"
I know we're nowhere near Halloween season, but I thought it would be fun for you all to take a peek at the official website of TAPS. TAPS is featured in the reality based Sci-Fi Network's TV series, "Ghost Hunters", a personal favorite of mine. These aren't the usual song and dance psychics who shill people with real unearthly problems. These guys are a non-profit organization who investagate and also debunk hauntings around the East Coast region. If you haven't watched the show you need to check it out on Wednesday nights. In the meantime check out their website, it's fun and informative and you will see what a really closed knit group of down to earth folks they are also.

That's another week and another $30 out of my pocket and into my gas tank (speaking of villains, someone is getting rich off of that.)

I'm Zangz and I'm outta here.

Town without Pity / World without Pitney

You may find yourselves scratching your heads wondering why a blog that regales you in Sci-Fi nonsense, while the closest thing to music news is brainwashing you with how great Type-O-Negative are, would bother to mention the passing of an artist who might be considered a "middle of the road" crooner. Well let me explain.

Being a fan of extreme, loud, aggressive Rock'N'Roll the mass majority of my life, I never thought I would become a bit of a Gene Pitney fan. Well, it goes like this. About 13 years ago I worked for a media company that had music artist, Gene Pitney as one of it's clients. So, those of us who worked there got to see and hear a lot of Gene Pitney material. For some reason I ended up enjoying his music. I found it catchy and endearing and easy to grow accustomed to. Case in point, he grew on me. Most of you might not know who Gene Pitney is, but I bet you've heard a lot of the music he wrote. "Hello Mary Lou" sound familiar? While Ricky Nelson is best known for that song, it was Mr. Pitney who wrote it. He also collaborated with the likes of Burt Bacarack (Sp?), Hal David, Carol King, The Beatles, Del Shannon, Roy Orbison, Phil Spector, George Jones, Randy Newman, Marc Almond (Soft Cell) and the Rolling Stones. His solo career also gave us some great Americana tunes like "Town without Pity", "The Man who Shot Liberty Vallence", "It Hurts to be in Love" and "Something's Gotten Hold of my Heart".

Though, he was far bigger in Europe than he was here in the States, Pitney loved performing and touring everywhere. He had a big, subculture fan base that would travel miles to see him live. And a few years ago he was inducted into the Rock'N'Roll Hall of Fame, well before even the likes of Black Sabbath were. So he's up there with Sabbath, Skynyrd, Elvis, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Stones, Stevie Wonder, The Who, Simon and Garfunkle, Wilson Pickett, Tina Turner, Johnny Cash, Jimmi Hendrix, The Doors, Frank Zappa, Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Paul McCartney, The Boss, Clapton, Aerosmith, James Taylor (big frellin' yawn!!!!), Ramones, AC/DC, U2.... (big gasp of air! I'm not linking all those people. Google them ya lazy bastages!). Just think, Gene's in the same league as all these other artists, yet few realize what part he's played in Rock'N'Roll.

I was lucky enough to briefly meet him many years ago. The manager of our local branch knew that I liked working on Pitney's projects that his PR people would bring in for us. One day I'm working in the back room and get paged by our manager to get up to his front office STAT! We'll I'm thinkin', "What the frell did I mess up this time?" I walk into his office and see this silhouette of a figure standing against the backdrop of a sun drenched window. There's no one else in the office at this time. Assuming that it was my manager about to holler at me about something that wasn't my fault, I answered, "Yes, what's up?" The figure turns around and it's none other than Mr. Pitney himself. I blast out with a "GENE PITNEY!!!!!", like I'm one of his groupies from the '60's. The rest of the employees come into his office giggling at my expense. Gene, accompanied with his PR agent, was in town for one of his son's weddings and wanted to drop off some material he needed work on. He was in good spirits and very cordial. He seemed to be a very nice and down to earth guy. Not very affected by both past and present fame. He was a guy's guy.

Sadly, while on tour in Wales, he passed away in his sleep this past Wednesday morning. I have to admit, I'm slightly vaclempt. Most of the media giants paid no attention to his passing. There was no mention on E! News or ET. I found out from my former co-worker, Carlo, through an Email. The Rock'N'Roll world has yet to realize what a subversive icon it has lost!

So those of you who are fans of iconic, Rock'N'Roll songwriting, hoist a few this weekend for Gene and the loved ones he's left behind.



On to the geekiness......

Here are a couple of things I forgot to mention in my last couple of blogs....

• Today, after my friend, Mr. Salty, was finished vomiting out a whole diatribe on how Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime II is a steaming pile of dren compared to the first Operation Mindcrime, he reminded me of a major plot flaw in the game "Star Wars, Knights of the Old RepublicII: The Sith Lords". Apparently, the game was rushed and left a major plot hole that I totally forgot about. There is a situation that takes place at the end of the game where you are to blow up an entire planet. However, the remote droid you are to do this with is last seen being held hostage by an assassin droid. Well, after this situation presents itself, the game returns to your character's current predicament at the climax of the game. The climax and final battle take place. You, if successful, ride into the sunset apparently leaving the planet safely with the planet still in tact and the remote droid still held hostage. Huh? Oh, you never get to see the rest of your crew again, but are told of what happens to them in the future. So I guess the programmers were hurried to get the game out and never tied up lose ends. I did end up enjoying the overall game, but the ending blew total Krate Dragon chunks!
• Second on my, "I forgot to tell you guys about this" list is the pirate themed birthday party I soooo enjoyed a few weeks back. My friend, Iris was turning over another year and her husband, Dr. Roberto DelAmorte, threw her a big shindig that included both pirate and pop-culture quizzes, beer, remote control cars, beer, a blindfolded session of Halo, beer, and a fog machine. How frellin' cool was that dren? Very frellin' cool, indeed!!!!! I give a toast to Roberto for his ingenuity and creativity and a really good time. Iris toasted him with something else that night, but we're not going there. Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge. Know what-I-Mean, Know what-I-Mean.

And now for something special. A quick preview of the video game I've been talking about for several months now, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Since Roberto has a Xbox 360 and rented the game, Oblivion, last weekend while I was over at the DelAmorte pad, I got to see a bit of it being played. Holy Dren! This thing is awesome!!!!!! I have to admit, I was watching it on a HD big screen TV, so the graphics were at their highest level. Being able to watch grass sway in the wind has never been that wonderful. Visually it's pretty brilliant. The gameplay seems even easier to get into than the previous game. For a video RPG, that's pretty darn decent! We only got to traverse a short distance between townships, but what I saw was beautiful. The NPC's were more than decent and didn't sound fake when going through their dialog. Being able to play a mini-game to boost their confidence in your character seemed a lot better than relying on Jumma Juice as in the last game. The only worry I have for the game is the fact that there didn't seem to be a lot of diversity in the landscaped of the game. Again, we were traveling between two towns so maybe that particular area is only green grass and trees highlighted by a few ivory white, Greek ruins. I'm hoping it delves into the same variety of the world in Morrowind, Oblivion's predecessor. In Morrowind there were deserts, medieval townships, swamps, rocky mountain ranges, arctic islands, surreal cities and small fishing villages. There was always some area that was completely different from the last place you visited at every turn. I'm hoping that Oblivion isn't stuck in the rut of grassy fields and trees all over it's vast world. A real good, epic RPG needs diversity in it's lands to really immerse you. But, from what I saw, I'm hooked and hope to get a Xbox 360 much sooner than estimated (by current financial accounts, that would be sometime around the 7th of Never).

Ok, on to the next subject... summer movies! What am I looking forward to this year. Well, last year at about this time I was chomping at the bit for SW, Ep.III:ROTS, but this year is a barren wasteland when it comes to great genre movies. Sure, there's X-Men: The Last Stand. But, I've heard that the script is a steamin' pile of dren and Bryan Singer has little to nothing to do with it this time. There's Singer's current project, Superman Returns which looks interesting, but doesn't really grab my nards to a state attention formation. The DaVinci Code looks like a fun little romp. But I've read the book and know the story and that's half the fun. So hopefully there will be some movie that pops out and becomes a fun surprise this summer. Otherwise, the summer movie's are going to be a big bust.

There is one movie I want to see that comes out real soon, Silent Hill, based on one of my all time favorite survival horror video games. Aparently it stays close to the game when it comes to the visuals. From what I've seen of the trailers and previews, they're right on the mark.

Ok, Dr. Who is on and I got to get my Rose fix going. So let's hoist one in memoriam to Mr. Gene Pitney and then I'm outta here.

Mazzletov!!!!

Take care.

Zangz.