Two posts in under 24 hours!

God, do I spoil you people, or what?

Yep. I'm sneaking in here again because I forgot to mention something on yesterday's blog. Perhaps it was because the whole Hobbit catastrophe had me all shook up that this little notation was temporarily tossed out of my mind.


I had a chance to play the new next gen, big hit video game, Gears of War. I have to say, though I don't know if I would become as addicted to it as Oblivion, I was quite impressed. The look and settings in the game are spellbindingly stunning! There was a PVP level (player vs. player or one on one, if you will) that took place in a mausoleum / graveyard setting that was quite creepy, while at the same time, also very beautiful.

The game play isn't first person as I thought it was going to be, it's more of an over-the-shoulder perspective. The controls take a bit of getting used to as they're not you typical FPS settings. The creature AI is quite receptive to what's going on and they're as nasty as mother-truckers!

One of the things I'm most impressed about isn't the game itself, it's the commercial spot they have running on TV for it. A quiet, sad song by R.E.M. (Mad World) plays softly against graphic and action packed scenes from the game.


Ok, well, that was about it. But far be it for me to leave you with such a little snippet of a blog post. So here's another.......

ZANGZ'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT:

WWdN: In Exile
Wil Wheaton's not-so-temporary blog.
I mentioned Wil in my last blog. Though I was never a real Trekkie, I always liked Next Generation and was never as repulsed as a lot of Trekkie's were toward his character of Wesley Crusher. In any case, he's grown up and is quite comfortable in his geek skin. He blogs about quite a lot at his web blog. So if you're looking for far better geek banter from someone who actually has some fame attached to him, this is the place to check out.

Enjoy the rest of your Turkey Day.

Zangz.

The Reckoning of the Shire.

Had to pop in here and make mention of a horrible occurrence in the making of The Hobbit movie(s). It appears as though New Line Cinema, the movie company who were revitalized from it's stagnant, post Freddy Kruger state by Peter Jackson and his Lord of the Rings trilogy (which brought New Line boatloads of cash and nearly saved the pathetic movie company) has made the catastrophic decision to oust Peter Jackson and all involved in creating one of the greatest movie trilogies known to movie history from any sort of inclusion in the making of the proposed prequel to the trilogy, the Hobbit films.

It seems to be a matter of New Line trying to shill Peter Jackson out of some money it still owes him from The Lord of the Rings movies. Mr. Jackson feels that there may have been some questionable practices when it came to the accounting of the money owed to him by New Line. So he enacted a clause in his contract with them to audit their financial agreement from the trilogy.

Since he did so, New Line has taken offense and told him that he and his creative forces would not be asked to have anything to do with the Hobbit project(s).

It's interesting to see how many people in Hollywood are making career ending decisions lately. Whether it be Michael Richards and his racist diatribe in response to a couple of A-hole hecklers at a stand up gig or Mel Gibson and his drunken anti-Semitic babbling while being arrested for drunk driving, it appears the powers that be at New Line want to join the tardling party (yes, that is a word, not the most politically correct, but a word).

Anybody born with a brain and soul knows that Peter Jackson and his team are the only ones who can truly bring the works of JRR Tolkien to the big screen without if being pure crap. But New Line, under the spell of pure greed, think otherwise.

You can read about the whole silly debacle HERE with a letter Mr. Jackson wrote to a Lord of the Rings fan site.


On to more pleasant avenues.....

If you haven't seen Casino Royale yet, get off you lazy butts and do so! It is the best Bond movie to hit the silver screen in a long time. Don't get me wrong, I loved Pierce Brosnan as Bond and am saddened he won't return. But, the reinvention of the series is really a good booty-kickin' event and Daniel Craig delivers!!! I'm going to see it again this weekend when I drag my Mom to go see it.


You'll be seeing a new Podcast uploaded in the not too distant future. There are some scheduling glitches, so we may not be as prompt as we usually are. But, rest assured, a really cool Zangz's Pod of Geekdom will be up soon featuring a heated review of the new Bond pic, Casino Royale!


You know who's a real cool, out of the closet Geek? Wil Wheaton! A lot of fanboys gave him flack for playing the role of Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the guy is real down to earth and not afraid to "come out" on his love for geeky stuff like being a gamer. Might I direct you to a recent column he wrote about a recent gamer convention? Click HERE! Now, he's not refering to the REAL Gen Con I used to go to yearly when it was located in Milwaukee. He's reviewing a mere shadow of that con that's held in California and is related only by name (yes...still bitter). But, it's still cool that he's attending and enjoying himself. Very cool dude. BRING GEN CON BACK TO MILWAUKEE YOU GREEDY CORPORATE WHORES!!!!!!


Speaking of gaming, I've got another really cool session on the Star Wars Role Playing Game coming up this Saturday. There was a tense moment there when the game master, Mad Mario, was thinking about ending the game and starting something new. Though, I'd like to try out some new RPG in the near future, I'm way too addicted to my rogue character of Jodz Burdoz (imagine Kurt Russell from Big Trouble in Little China) to give it up just yet. Mad Mario decided to continue on with his Star Wars scenarios for a bit more. Huzzah!!!!!


I'm hoping everyone reading this will have a really good Thanksgiving and be able to cram as much food into their craw as humanly possible without any digestive catastrophes including regurgitation or a good long sitting on the porcelain god.

On that note, everybody have a great and festive Thanksgiving!

I'm outta here, like Michael Richards' career and New Line's IQ!

Zangz.

Scratching That Itch!

I've just arrived home form one heck of a fine and enjoyable evening! It involved some Guinness, a cigar and most importantly the new James Bond flick, Casino Royale!

After the producers over at Eon Productions turned the Bond franchise into a cluster-frack of a mess by unceremoniously ousting one of the best James Bonds since Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, we Bond fans had a major itch we needed scratched. We all heard rumors that they were going to reinvent Bond for the video game generation and get someone much younger. Names like Heath "Cowboy in Love" Ledger and Tom"Couch Jumper" Cruise were rumored to be possible replacements. Horrible images filled our heads as we saw our beloved 40+ year spy movie franchise crumble into fragments of rotting rubble and dust.

After what seemed like years, they finally announced a little known actor, Daniel Craig, as the new James Bond. A lot of Bond fans were repelled by the idea of a blond, shorter and "not as handsome" actor taking on the roll. Add to that the fact they were going to take the continuity of the series and frell it all up by starting the James Bond story all over while it still would take place in modern day times. I had my doubts, but instead of acting like a childish brat and threatening to boycott the movie, I decided to be a bit optimistic and took the "wait and see" point of view. Hey, I of all Bond geeks, understand that the 86ing of Brosnan was quite uncalled for and that he should have done one last Bond movie before they rebooted the series.

Well, I gotta tell you, I saw the movie tonight and must say that those stooges who've decided to boycott the movie are missing out on something quite wonderful. Casino Royale will go down in history as one of the best Bond flicks of all time. For me, it's right up there with Goldfinger and GoldenEye! Craig ROCKS HARD as a rougher, grittier Bond! There's far more characterization of the main characters (something Brosnan was fighting for while they were giving him invisible cars to drive). And the action sequences are less cutesy clever and far more brutal and all out balls to the wall kick-ass!

Let me break it down for you....

The story and plot work well as a way to show us how Bond became the double 0 agent he is. Though there is a little dragging here and there the story is put together well. However, the pace of the movie isn't as smooth as other Bond movies. But for those that have read the Ian Fleming novel, Casino Royale, you'll understand why they paced the movie that way. They tried hard to follow Fleming's novel as best they could while still providing us with something that's worthy of a good action / spy movie for the entertainment factor.

As I've said before, Daniel Craig makes a fine fledgling James Bond. He's far more ruthless and roguish than any other Bond before him. Both him and Connery are the only two Bonds you wouldn't want to find yourself in a bar fight with. With the other guys you'd think that maybe there be the off chance that you could maybe take them. But with Craig, you'd know you'd be in for a serious ass whoopin' followed by a hospital stay. Craig also plays it cool throughout the movie, even though his Bond makes a few mistakes here and there. He's classy yet rough. I'm gald I took the "wait and see" approach with him, otherwise I'd be eating crow like all the nards on the "I Hate Daniel Craig" message boards. I'm hoping he'll do more than the two or three he's contracted to do. And hopefully Eon productions won't treat him the way the treated Brosnan at the sudden end of his tenure.

All the other performances are top notch also. Eva Green (Vesper Lynd) is not only naturally beautiful, she's also got the acting chops to not be another Bong Girl ornamentation. Mads Milkensen is creepy and weasely as the bady, Le Cheifre. Dame Judy Dench is once again wonderful in the role of Bond's superior, M, even if it is a bit of a continuity glitch having her be M again. Not one sole in this movie had a bad performance!

I was quite a bit worried that I wouldn't enjoy this Bond movie when I heard that a lot of the usual trappings of a Bond film were omitted from Casino Royale. I always loved a lot of the gadgets and gizmo's he used in past movies. There's also no Q, no Moneypenny and no opening sequence where we see the white dots float across the screen. But after viewing this movie I understood why. This is Bond's first assignment becoming a double 0 agent. Perhaps we'll see a bit more of the Bond mythos revealed in the next couple of movies. As for the gadgets, there is a bit of techno coolness to this movie, but without the invisible cars, mini-copters and submersible Lotus Esprees.

There's also quite a few cool as frack action sequences that will have you holding on to the edge of your seats. All were excellently executed. I just wish the last big bruahah would have been a bit longer.

There's also a torture sequence that is quite graphic in Fleming's novel and I was surprised to see that they had the balls (pun intended) to actually portray it in the film. (Scratch that itch, buddy!)

Oh, and here's a pretty geeky observation I made. Towards the end of the film Bond is recuperating at some villa in Italy. If you are a die hard Star Wars geek, like myself, you should recognize the setting right away. It's the same place that Anikan Skywalker and Padme Amadalla get hitched at the end of Episode II. GeekGeekGeekGeekGeekGeek!

After the movie me and my friend, Spanky, sat and discussed our love of this movie over a good dark stout and some fine cigars that smoked quite smoothly. Hopefully you'll be hearing the two for us rave over the movie on my next podcast.

All in all, weather your a Bond zealot like myself or just someone who wants to see a great spy thriller, go see Casino Royale. They really did pull it off quite nicely!!!


In other geek news, I saw in the media the release of the new Playstation 3. Once again Sony was pulling the ol' "Lets under ship the amount so we can fail at satisfing everyone at launch time" game which of course created a frenzy. People were camping out days in advance of it's release. In some places there were riots and shootings in the lines waiting for the system. One person in my state got trampled underfoot for crissakes! What idiots! By summer they'll have more than enough of these things on the shelves. On top of that Sony has out priced itself by loading on a hefty price tag of $500 to $600 per system. Youch!

I, myself, am waiting to get my paws on an Xbox360 before I even start to think about purchasing a PS3. So for those of my friends and family that actually read this blog and have a vested interest in my happiness, you may want to band together and make a donation to the "Zangz's Needs a '360 Cause", since Xmas and my B-day are right around the corner. Hinty hint hint!


That's it for now. I'd link up all of this but it's nearly 1am and I still want to get a little snack in before I hit the hay.

Zangz .

Popping in Quickly...

Just popping in to make my usual announcement that there's a new Podcast of mine up at the AZCast.net site. It can be downloaded HERE.

This podisode's about enjoying the three Lord of the Rings movies. Not my best 'cast as I was slightly unprepared due to recovering from a nasty head cold. Hopefully the next one will be far better and less snott filled.


To be brief, here's a couple of points I'd like to catch you all up on.....

- I saw Borat last weekend. It's friggin' hysterical!!! If you go see it, I hope you don't have an aversion to scenes involving male genitalia.

- This Friday is the opening of Casino Royale. Though, it won't be the pulpish romp that I thoroughly enjoyed during the Connery, Moore and Brosnan years, I'm still really looking forward to it and seeing what Craig can bring to the table.

- I still haven't taken all of my Halloween stuff down yet. Consider it an act of defiance upon the upcoming crap-fest that is the holiday season. In reality, it's because I'm quite lazy.

- Lost is off the air until February! What da....? Do networks believe in full seasons any more?


Ok enough of that silliness. Here's another edition of.....

ZANGZ'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT

007 Bond Supplement
Here's a near daily update on what is going on in the world of James Bond. Whether it be the books or movies, there's news on it here at this blog-like site. The site master scours the press for anything Bond related, so it's updated quite nicely.

That's all for now. They'll be more general bafoonery later in the week, I assure you.

Zangz.

The Downward Spiral Into the Realm of Dankness Known as the Holiday Season.

Aww poop! Halloween is now done and over with. So, I'm currently coming down off of my spookosity high and it's a real nasty crash, I must tell you. No cold sweats, shakes or vomiting, but a hell of a lot of woefulness. The only things I see ahead of us are overly expensive holidays and a long 6 months of the freezing cold tundra taking over our weather system. This blows!

There's very little to look forward to, with the exception of the next James Bond movie, Casino Royale. Other than that, the holiday season always breaks out the saltiness in me. As I've mentioned before, the holidays always bring out the worst in people, especially the Yuppies. It's always the @#$%! in the BMW who is either moving at a snails pace in front of you or right on your tail behind you. An then when he/she drives by they have their cell phone in their hand without a care in the world.

Let's move on to some other nicer subject before I become all maudlin and snarky, shall we?


The news just broke that the Brothers Walchowskis (who brought us The Matrix and V for Vendetta) will be the ones to bring historic japanimation cartoon, Speed Racer, to the real life big screen. I remember originally Tom Cruise was interested in doing this movie as the title character. Thank god that fell through.

I have very fond memories of being a young lad and coming home from kindergarten and watching that cartoon on the local independent station while eating oatmeal with a boatload of cinnamon and sugar on top of it. I had weird food hang ups as a kid. What can I tell ya?


Sadly, the movie based on the uber popular video game Halo is on indefinite hold for now. Too bad since Peter Jackson was involved as a producer. The movie companies buckled like a bunch of wimps when it came to financing the project.


Speaking of man/god Peter Jackson (The man has a haunted attraction in his own house, thus he is of the god like echelon), there may be, not one, but two movies based on the J.R.R. Tolkein book, "The Hobbit". Please, please, please, please let Peter Jackson have a major power in these films. They shall be shat on form a very great height by us fan boys if he doesn't have some artistic say in how these movies are made. These could be something to really look forward to!


I played a bit through Evil Dead: Regeneration for the Xbox and thought it was quite enjoyable. A lot of the dialog is hysterical and the general creepiness of the settings were quite nice. Sometimes the game got a little frustrating, though. If your a big Bruce Campbell and Ted Raimi fan, I truly recommend it. Hopefully, I'll rent it again soon so I can finish it.

On a last note, before I check out the latest episode of Dr. Who, I want you to peruse this cute picture.....



This is a picture of one very happy child that I shall dub Solo Van Halen, son of my best friend, Goof. Ya see, already Solo Van Halen has delusions of his manly prowess as he is happily set all snug between two female newborns. Evidently, he's already plotting his adventures into puberty.


Ok, kiddos. I've got to get something into my system before the good Doctor appears with his buxom sidekick, Rose.

I'll find something to harp about later.

P.S. Look at my last blog entry as I was FINALLY able to upload a nice graphic with it. When I originally tried, Blogspot seemed to be having some issues with uploading pictures.

Zangz.