The Post X-Mas Euphoria.

Ya know, for all the gripping and bemoaning I do every year about X-Mas and the X-Mas season, I usually end up having a decent holiday.

This year was uber-laid back. X-Mas Eve I went over to my sister's (Dizzy Lizzy's) place where me, my Bro-In-Law, my mom and sister had a nice dinner and then opened gifts. I scored some cigars and the three movies I asked for on DVD. I also got some money sent to me from Dad and I've already used it buying Saints Row 2 today. I haven't played it yet as I'm still rockin' through Fallout 3. I'm finding that F3 is slightly more limited than Oblivion and may be done with it soon.

I did take a break from F3 recently and barrelled through Halo 3. It was the first time I played through it. I found the action and environments the highlight of the game. But the single player campaign was a little on the quick side compared to its two predecessors. I'm glad I borrowed it and didn't rent it or buy it. I think the developers, Bungie, are getting a little too obsessed with the on-line, multi player modes of the game over the single player experience. Still, I found it really challenging and entertaining. Just wish it was longer.

Then on X-Mas we went over to our cousins' place. Their house was featured in a local magazine on how well they decorate their home during the holidays. There was good company and at the end of the evening I took on my cousin's little boy, Danny, in a game of Wii Batman Legos and got my ass handed to me on a silver platter.

I do have a bunch of geekified movie reviews coming up sooner or later. I just have to go over what I've seen and get my thoughts together.

I hope you all had some form of decent X-Mas celebration!

Short and sweet, this blog is (Zangz says in his best Yoda imitation).

Until next time, stay vertical!

Zangz.

Snow-ocalypse!!!!!!!!

There are twelve inches of cold, white death on the ground jam packed and encased in my hometown right now. The first really big snow storm of the season has fallen, and it will be followed by two more this same weekend! This is just the beginning. We have at least 5 more months of these kind of Mother Nature blessings to look forward to.

On my way up one, busy, city street on my way home from work I saw a slew of parking police jeeps, up and down the avenue, with their meter maid's ticketing any car that are parked, or stuck, on the curb. Merry X-Mas! Those that weren't being ticketed were being towed away into overly expensive oblivion.

I wish I had the money, brains and gumption to be able to pack up and head out to someplace with a warmer climate. Austin? Atlanta? Phoenix? Great cities in better climates, all of them. Sadly, they are void of the "Three F's" that keep me here in Milwaukee. Family. Friends. Fall. (The season. Not plummeting to the ground).

I know what's going through your heads right now, "But, Zangz, the Holidays are right around the corner. Surely that's worth a little anticipation and happiness?"

And I answer, "Nope. Though X-Mas is next week, these times before and after it are filled with turmoil and stress for your grand, geek hero... Zangz."

I'm not going into detail, but I can easily say that this is the 3rd worst X-Mas I've ever had. The first one was when my grandmother died of intestinal cancer one week before X-Mas. The second one was when I found myself unemployed right after Thanksgiving due to the usual culprit of corporate greed/ineptitude.

I'm not going to get deeply into why this is the 3rd worst X-Mas I've ever had, but stress has a frack of a lot to do with it!. And I've learned a few hard lessons this season. 1) There's no way you can please everybody all of the time, so stop trying to! 2) Realize that God made Zangz VERY, VERY, flawed and cursed. So much so that Zangz needs to double check, triple check, and quadruple check everything he does. Even if time doesn't permit it. 3) God hates Zangz!

This X-Mas I'm in a perpetual state of self loathing and pure, unadulterated stress. And today's events didn't help matters at all. In fact they tossed them into an abyss of pure nastiness. "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men" my behind!!!!

I hear you. "But, Zangz, aren't there any blessing that have come during this season? Aren't there any signs of hope?"

Actually there are two and their names are Emma and Melody. My best bud, Goof and his wife, Gayle, welcomed their twin daughters into the world this week. Kudos for them! Now the kids' older brother, Harrison, will have a handful to deal with. Hopefully that can be remedied with Goof buying Harrison boat loads of action figures as he grows older.


In other stuff.....

I finished off the first season of Pushing Daisies. The first couple of episodes had me hooked, but, sadly, I kind of got bored with it after a while. There's only so much of cutiness I can take. The show follows a pie maker who has the ability to raise the dead for only a short period of time. If they are resurrected more that a minute, something/someone else has to die in their place. He helps a local private eye solve crimes. If Tim Burton and Dr. Seuss got together to develop a crime thriller, this is what they would come up with. It's fun and different, but after a couple of episodes it gets kind of old. The characters are endearing (especially Olive. yummm). But, it's the same thing over and over and over again. I've heard that it has been cancelled already after a season and a half. Kinda sad, but understandable.


I've taken a break from Fallout 3 to finally play Halo 3. I've borrowed it from my very good friend, Roberto Del Amorte, and am finding it quite action packed and challenging with lots of great visuals to boot.


I've got nothin' else to blab on about today. So, if I don't pop up another post before X-Mas, I truly want all of you to have a far better holiday than I'm currently having.

And if you're wondering why I refer to Christmas as X-Mas... If you read my blog and have bad eyesight it looks like I'm talking about the X-Men rather than X-Mas. And the X-Men are far cooler than X-Mas, aren't they?

Until next time, as a very wise man once said, stay vertical!

Zangz is outta da hizzouzz.

And the darkness of a cold, black holiday season decsends....

I remember when I was a kid and I'd be really excited about the winter and holidays. I remember loving to go outside in the late afternoon before dinner and jump around in the huge snow banks as darkness fell. I would pretend I was an astronaut on the moon or some other strange planet.

I loved frosting cookies with my mom and decorating the tree and house in preparation of Santa arriving on X-Mas eve to bring me my Kenner Star Wars Death Star Tower, or my G.I. Joe Action Team Headquarters or my Atari 2600. I loved staying up late on New Years Eve to see the ball drop (insert your own puberty joke here______________.)

Outside of the material crap that X-Mas provided (Did I forget to mention the Six Million Dollar Man action figure or the Lone Ranger action figure or the Big Jim action figure I got several X-Mas' past?) there really was a sort of mysterious magic about the holidays. There was an energy that you could almost taste. Perhaps it was the two weeks off we got when school went into it's winter vacation period? Or maybe it was all the toys and treats that we were smothered with during the season.

One thing that I really loved on X-Mas eve, outside ot the presents, was that my family was all together on one evening. Mom, Dad, Sis, Grandma and Grandpa. We'd drink eggnog and chow down on cookies and open presents together.

X-Mas has certainly changed since childhood. Grandma and Grandpa are long gone. Mom and Dad are divorced. That enchanting, white planet that I used to romp around on is now nothing but dirty slush I have to shovel up and avoid slipping on. The air is bitter, cold feeling I don't remember having to deal with during childhood. Or maybe I just didn't care. Who knows. I don't see myself getting the Star Wars G.I. Joe Action Death Tower I got when I was a child this year.

Instead, I get to deal with cognitively challenged drivers who go 20 mph under the speed limit when there's an inch of snow, obnoxious yuppie shoppers and an economy that expects us to spend-spend-spend when none of us have anything to spend in the first place thanks a bunch to greedy CEOs of Fortune 500 companies that can STILL afford to get their spoiled brats animatronic dinosaurs for X-Mas.

Plop on top of all that the comfort and joy that has "blessed" us over the last couple of weeks. We've been hit with two huge snow falls this winter, the death of Forrey J. Ackerman AND Bettie Page, I've learned that two close friends of our family have cancer (one isn't going to make it and one caught it early enough) and you get a full tilt crapolla holiday season.

Here's hoping that some of you actually get to rediscover that magic of the season, and those of us that can't can at least tolerate the holidays.


On to more nicer subjects....

I've been renting TV shows I've missed like a mad man. I finished off Torchwood season 2 (goodbye Tosh and Owen. You shall be missed!), went though season 2 of Dexter (Goodbye Doakes. You were a D*&#$@ B!@%. You will not be missed.). And will start Pushing Daisies this weekend. Down the pike I have all of the original 1980's BBC shows of Robin Hood to check out. I loved that show when they would show it on public TV in the late '80's and early '90's. We'll see if it still holds up in my appreciation of it today.


I'm really rockin' through Fallout 3. This is a deep, dense, dark game that I really love so far. I do have a few complaints about it and can't say it is up to quite the standards of Morrowind or Oblivion (it's predecessors from the same production company). But it is till one of the best games I've ever played! Please check it out for your totally imearsive, open world, post apocalyptic, video game, role playing extravaganza! Once I've done pretty much all you can do in the game, I'll give a full review of it. Highlight for spoiler....

My understanding is, that you don't want to really go full force through the game with only the main quest. Start the main quest when you begin the game, then go out and explore the world, do a lot of the sub-quests and once you've found everything in the world, then go and complete the main quest. Otherwise you're going to miss out on an awful lot the first time around!


What am I listening to right this very second as I type this? Well, I'm going a bit old school and listening to Social Distortion, "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell" It's hard to believe that this was released 16 years ago. It stands up to today's standards as a great Rock 'N' Roll album! Don't tell me that you can't listen to "When She Begins" without rockin' out just a little bit.

Okay, I'm gunna check out the first season of Pushing Daisies. Hope it doesn't suck as much as this holiday season.

Bah friggin' Humbug, mutha trucka's!

Goodnight sweet Betty, we'll miss you dearly.

Zangz.

Nooooooo!

Say it ain't so!

More proof that god does not exist.

Zangz.

Zangz's X-Mas List!

I sit here at my computer this morning as throngs and throngs of goofball ding-dongs who have gotten up hours upon hours ago descend and attack our local malls and stores, looking for that holiday bargain, knocking over and trampling whatever poor soul who happen to get in their way.

I'm here in my Vault of Geekdom, safe and sound from the obnoxious behavior and horrible parking conditions. And that's the way I intend on staying for the remainder of the day. In fact, I'll probably be spending much of the day continuing to tackle Fallout 3.

For those of you family members and friends of mine out there braving the craziness who are asking themselves that all important question, "What should I get Zangz's for X-Mas this year?" I've come up with some ideas and some plans that will help aid you in you quest.

Here's how this works. You can stick with one plan or the other. Work from the options which define your relationship with me (Family or Friends). I'm assuming my family members in the Houston area will send the usual box of X-Mas joy, so these plans don't fall under their jurisdiction and are not obligated to follow any of the plans brought forth here. However, my local family are.


FAMILY PLAN A:

One Family member - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on DVD.

One Family member - Hellboy II: The Golden Army on DVD.

One Family member - Batman: Dark Knight on DVD (releases December 9th!).

(no blue ray as I'm not set up for the overpriced drivel as of yet.)

FAMILY PLAN B:

All chip in and choose from the following....

Saints Row 2 for the Xbox 360

or...

Fable II for the Xbox 360.


FRIENDS PLAN A:

Best Buy Gift Certificates!!!

FRIENDS PLAN B:

If you can think of something I'd like better than Best Buy Gift Certificates, or perhaps something more personal go for it.

I already know what I'm getting a few people. Others will take a little more effort.

That's it. Pretty simple, I think. I hope this assists you all. in your grand shopping endeavors. Shallow and void of what the holidays are supposed to be about? You betcha! Happy shopping.

Zangz.

Thank this!

I truly believe that having a great imagination is a blessing. Now, to be able to use that imagination and create something tangible from it is a grand gift. I also believe that to be able to take that imaginative tangibility and have thousands enjoy the hell out of it is a joy given from the gods themselves.

I am very envious of people that are able to do that. Comic book writers, fantasy artists, television writers, creators of anything Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Horror related media all fall into that category. Look at guys like J.J. Abrams, Kevin Smith, Joss Whedon, Russell T. Davies, Wil Wheaton and Neil Gaiman. All masters of the craft of geekhood. Hell, let's throw video as well as role play game designers into the mix. They're all getting to do what they love, make money from it and, very best of all, have throngs of lovers of the genres really enjoy it.

Sure, I have a bit of a pretty good imagination. But, to have the brains to take it to the next level has always alluded me. I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree. I'm far from the most talented. Heck, I can't even put together a timely podcast. I think that only two people read this friggin' blog, for god's sake.

Don't get me wrong. It's good to be a geek and have these wonderful, if not wonderfully strange interests. It just kind of stinks to not be able to be more immersed in them and actually consume more of my life.

I can't really dwell on this too much as I kind of get a little sad. What I do need to do is count my own blessings and be thankful for what I do have (see where this is finally going? Know what tomorrow is?).

What am I most thankful for? It's not my Xbox 360, not my James Bond movie collection, not my old comic book collection, not my boatload of video games, action figures or Halloween adventures.

It's two things.... FAMILY and FRIENDS! If all of those other really frackin' cool things suddenly went away, I'd know that deep down everything would be ok 'cause I have the support of my family and friends!

You just gotta look to the very base of what you're thankful for when you start to think too much about what you don't have.

I hope you get to have Thanksgiving with either friends or family members or at very least, someone you love.

I'll be posting my Xmas list within the next few days, so keep your eyes open.

Now go shove some turkey down your craw, fercrissakes!

Zangz.

The Quantum of Bunnies.

First and foremost, THIS is cool as hell. Thanks to Mad Mario for sending me the link. Lovers of James Bond (and bunnies) will friggn' love it. More so the Bond fans will love it.

And, yes! I am trying to put the word Quantum in every blog title that I post this month.


Ya know, Halloween is over and Quantum has been released. There's not a hell of a lot to spew on about lately. I guess there's the coming holiday of Thanksgiving. That will go pretty smoothly as my Bro-In-Law's mother usually puts together a pretty big spread that his whole family and my family usually cram our faces with.

The whole shindig is pretty smooth. We get there, talk for a while. Before you know it dinner is served with lots and lots to eat. After we're done eating, the turkey buzz comes on and we're all beat. The party comes to an end at a decent hour and we're on our way home to play more Fallout 3 and watch more Torchwood on DVD. ......er.......... I meant to say, keep in mind all the things we're thankful for..... like Fallout 3 and Torchwood!!!!!

I have been really enjoying the Fallout 3 experience. Since I last rambled on about it, my character has gone looking for his father in the post apocalyptic waste lands of a future Washington, DC. He's gotten his ass handed to him in several combat situations. He's currently smack dab in the middle of downtown DC trying to gain access to one of the last working radio stations. However, he's getting a pretty bad beating from a large group of super mutants. Rumor has it, if I complete this quest, I will have access to a cache of weapons and ammo as a reward. That'll be pretty frellin' cool if I can actually survive. That's what the large game guide said, anyway. I ended up buying it at a local bookstore since the game is mega huge! The book is like 15 lbs., 25 " thick and cost me $25. That's how big this game is. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. I'm sure I'll spew out more drivel on this beauty in many blogs to come.

I'm also in the process of renting the second season of Torchwood, a British produced Sci-Fi series that is best described as X-Files run amok. I've seen a few episodes now and the second season is every bit as good as the first. If you're a genre fan, you really need to check this show out ASAP!. Eve Myles.... oddly, cute as hell!


What music have I been listening to lately? Glad you asked. Strangely, I've been in a real powermetal mood for the last few months. Bands like Dragonforce, Helloween, Nightwish and Yngwie Malmsteen have been blaring out of my computer speakers as I blog and surf the web. Maybe it's the old '80's metal head in me, but there's something about music that is booth powerful, and yet, melodic that really turns my crank.

Family and friends can keep their eyes peeled here for my X-Mas list to make shopping for Zangz far more easy and painless!


Well, I got nothin' else right now. So I'm hoping all readers of this blog (the 4.5 of you) have a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. And enjoy the turkey buzz!

Zangz.

Bond is Back and kickin' all sorts of Quantumized A$$!

After a long week, Friday has finally arrived which usheres in the opening of the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

But first a notation about tonight's post.

If you haven't seen Quantum of Solace yet you may want to wait to read this post as some of the review could possibly hint at spoilers.

So, here we go...

My friends, Coreboy, Spanky and Spanky's lovely wife Alla joined me for tonight's festivities at the movie theater. We picked a pretty excellent theater to see it in. One with reclining comfy chairs that rocked along with a digital projector and surround sound. And best of all, one that let you bring in your beers to guzzle while you viewed the movie.

Though, we picked a good theater to see it at, we didn't exactly pick a good time. At the same mall that the theater was located, they were having a special X-Mas tree lighting ceremony. This brought out every god awful yuppie family in the entire township. All of them were doing their best to utilize their SUV's and screw up traffic and parking within the entire mall area. After about 20 minutes of driving around aimlessly I ventured to the top level of a parking structure and grabbed the first open slot I could find. Jeebus! Where's a Walter PPK when you need one?

I finally got to the theater and met up with Coreboy. We chatted it up until Spanky and Alla showed up. We then went into the lobby and ordered some food and drinks. They ordered some meals and sodas and, since I had eaten earlier, I ordered a Guinness in honor of Daniel Craig's second outing as James Bond. We then made our way to the theater and found our seats that Spanky had pre-ordered..... in the very last row.  No skin off my back.  I was just happy to be in a comfy, reclinable chair with a Guinness in hand. But, Coreboy wasn't impressed with the seating arrangements. Of course he and Spanky we smarmming at each other on into the beginning of the movie. It's a weird tradition for them to constantly banter back and forth with smarmy comments that hen peck each other.

We were still waiting for the meals to be ready when the lights went down for the previews. Spanky and Coreboy decided that they'd go to the lobby and check on the food, however, they really wanted to see the trailer for the upcoming re-boot of Star Trek that was rumored to be showing with Quantum. So they actually would run back and forth from the theater to the lobby after the start of each trailer to make sure they wouldn't miss it. Well they got back and stood in the side of the isle just in time to see it. I won't go into too much detail, but suffice it to say, it looks totally wonderful! And I'm not a Trekkie. Some great casting choices, excellent effects and wonderful set design could make this a "Zangz must see on opening day" kind of film. Summer of '09!

The food situation was settled and the movie had started. So here we go with my review of...

Quantum of Solace - I tried hard not to find out too much about this movie before I saw it. But, that's really friggin' hard to do when you're living in the prime of the information age.  I had read some not too spectacular reviews about the film and it sort of both grounded me and worried me at the same time. After seeing it's predecessor, Casino Royale, my expectations were a bit out of control at first. Casino is in a class of its own when it comes to both Bond films and action thrillers. It had a wonderful touch of characters you actually felt something for and some great storytelling also. But when I came upon some reviews for Quantum on the Internet my head came back down from the clouds. I knew I was going to enjoy this one, but at the same time, I realized it wasn't going to be a Casino Royale.

I know the questions you want to ask me...

Zangz, is this a great James Bond film?  Yep! It is!

Zangz, is this a great action film?  You betchya!

Zangz, is Daniel Craig as cool as hell as he was in Casino Royal?  Honestly, every bit as cool!

Zangz, is this the perfect sequel to Casino Royale?  Well, not exactly.

Lets get through some of the bad stuff first. I did have a few problems with the film. Unlike Casino, Quantum is a full fledged action movie.  There's not a lot of time for more character building and story development like there was in Casino.  I think a lot of fans are going to be hoping for that.  While this is the first time we've actually seen a continuation from one James Bond movie to the next (this story starts about one hour from the end of Casino), it doesn't exactly have the same feel.  This story focuses more on action rather than characters.  At least, far more so than Casino did.

And speaking of action.  Even though there were a lot of cool action sequences, the jerky, jump cuts, shaky-cam, MTV generation style of editing really took away from the thrills and excitement.  I'm sure there were some well choreographed sequences.   It's just too bad they were kind of poorly presented. Especially the opening car chase sequence.  It's so fast, it's hard to grasp what's going on.  Then before you know it, it's done.

I liked the title song, however, I wonder if it will hold up in the pantheon of all the other Bond songs. Will it stand out as one of the best in ten, twenty years from now?  I'm not totally sold on it yet.

And whats with the under 2 hour running time?  I was still getting into to the movie when it came to an end.

Those silly quibbles aside, Quantum is one Bondified love jones of ass kickery!  In this adventure we really get to see how effected Bond was by the death of Vesper in Casino.  He's a man on a self mission.  A man with a grudge!  He's not afraid of the consequences when he puts a bullet in the skull of someone who may give the British government leads.  Daniel Craig has already proven himself worthy of being Bond.  He, of course, continues the tradition here.  He's far more hardened and brutal than he was in Casino.  Very cold and cool as a cucumber.  I liked that.

The Bond girls are quite fetching, but aren't given anything really memorable or as substantial as former Bond girls had been given.  But, both do great jobs with what they're given.  Spoiler ahead! Highlight to read: One of them does a nice little homage to a scene from Goldfinger. Obvioulsy, she isn't in much of the film.

Of course Dame Judi Dench can do no wrong as Bond's superior, "M".  And it's great to see Jeffrey Wright return as Felix Lighter!  He may just be the best Lighter yet.

The villain is as slimy and greasy as they get.  He tries so hard to come off as such a nice guy and caregiver to the world.  But, in the end, he's just another greedy CEO who's a major part of a very powerful and sinister organization (no, not S.P.E.C.T.E.R. and not Smersh).

Speaking of this nasty organization, there's a way cool scene that reveals how they go about conducting their secret meetings.  And it's not at some huge, long stainless steel table in some secret lair nestled in a dormant volcano (though, that's pretty cool also).  It's conducted pretty much out in public.  Very, very clever idea!

There's a lot of very cool action in this movie (would have been even better without the speed that it is thrown at you), some good explosions and lots of fight sequences in which Bond deals out some seriously brutal blows that highlight the film.

A couple of more notations on the film.

Neither "Q" or Moneypenny show up in this movie. They have yet to be introduced in this new, rebooted Bond franchise.  I'm hoping that their characters will eventually be addressed as they're too loved and adored by fans to be complely left out of the loop.  I'm not really botherd by this yet.  But, if we get up to a few more Bond movies and they're characters are still not addressed, it will be quite disappointing.

The set pieces hearken back to earlier Bond films.  There's a cool hotel that is smack dab in the middle of the desert that looks more like one of the big ass secret villain lairs from the Bond flicks of the 60's and 70's.  Of course the cinematography and exotic setting help accentuate the whole spy thriller motif that is so prevalent in the Bond films.

Also note that you may want to give Casino Royale a viewing before you see this movie. There is a lot referenced of the former film in this one.  It truly is a direct sequel!!

Yup! I had a great time with this movie.  Did I have as great of a time with Quantum as I did with Casino?  Not quite, but Quantum of Solace is still a great Bond film and will certainly be beyond satisfactory for us die hard Bond geeks!

Well, it's late and I have to get up early for an oil change at my Bro-In-Law's garage.

Until next time, Stay Vertical!

Zangz.

Mad Mario's Review....

My good friend, Mad Mario, rented the animated movie, Star Wars: the Clone Wars. I kind of avoided it when it came out this summer since I heard it licked dead monkey nards. Apparently, Mario actually liked this film. So in a rarity here at Zangz's blog of Geekdom, I thought I'd post Mad Mario's review of the movie he e-mailed everybody. We'll make it a kind of opening, special guest review to my upcoming headlining review of Quantum of Solace that is coming up this weekend.

So without further adieu, I revert the blog over to Mad Mario's train of thought. Take it away Mario!

Hi there,

Normally I don't do reviews but I wanted to pass on one person's opinion on the new Clone Wars DVD that came out today. Having the day off I thought I'd give it a whirl and I have to admit: I liked it.

It's obviously for a younger and more current generation but some of the visuals are indeed stunning. My particular favorites were the wall walk the side of a bluff to get to a temple where the little glob is being held as well as the night fight with Dooku on Tatooine.

It's fast paced and although the characters look like warped action figures from Japan; the plot is more thought out than I expected.

A few perks are voice work done by Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, and Samuel L. Jackson

Essentially the trailers never gave a reason for the story except some bad guys, guess who, kidnap Jabba's son. Indeed, you don't get the idea of really who was behind it all until near the end of the film.

Certain departures from traditional Star Wars movies are the verbal narration & explanation for the beginning of the film, no trailing yellow paragraphs to read, as well as a more middle eastern styled soundtrack.

If you look at it as animation(Star Wars meets PIXAR) it's kinda cool. The young Padawan kinda grows on you and the troopers are kick ass. I guess what you can't accomplish with wires and human actors you hang back with CGI.

So, RENT IT, first and see if it's worth the cash within today's economic grind. I think you might be surprised. Something to watch while you're doing the laundry or if you're itching to be dazzled by lot's of color.

Which explains why I was drawn to it. " Look honey color and movement!!!!" Poor Hope....

Keep in touch kids & May the Force be with you!

Mad Mario

Ok, so that was Mario with his rather positive review of Star Wars: the Clone Wars. At least Mario is taking a different attitude than most who have seen this movie... who thought it licked dead monkey nards. Perhaps I'll get myself a viewing soon.

In quicky other news, family and freinds should keep thier eyes on my blog as that's where I'll post my X-Mas list soon. I'll keep it pretty cheap with different options for people to choose from. After all the one and only good thing about the holidays is the gifts we get..... and I suppose give......sigh......whatever.

Next up, a personal review of the heavily awaited Quantum of Solace!

Zangz.

The Quantum of Monkey Poop

My co-worker, Mr. Salty, commented on how my first post after Halloween is always a bash on the X-Mas season and he was looking forward to me doing my annual anti-X-Mas post.

Actually, this year, we do have reason to celebrate as there is a day coming up when both children and adults can revel in pure happiness, where families can get together and remember what is truly important to them, a day where hope and joy will warm the harts of both young and old alike, a day where we can all celebrate and hold the hands of our fellow man and not feel shame or sadness about anything. It's a day where a great gift will bestowed upon the masses.

Oh.... wait a minute. You thought I was referring to X-Mas, didn't you? Awww... I'm so sorry for the mix up. I was actually talking about November the 14th, the day that Quantum of Solace is released. You actually thought I was talking about X-Mas? No, no, no. X-Mas is a big pile of yuppie lovin' greed filled pure crap! A holiday solely designed for the greedy and religious. Besides, it was originally celebrated as the winter solstice and then stolen and warped into something completley different. So I apologize for the miscommunication.

Yep! Bah-Humbug mode is activated to full tilt and will be until well after the new year.

Yep. I'm pretty stoked about the next James Bond outing that's one week away. I've heard mostly good things about it. It's a very excellent action movie. Daniel Craig kicks major ass in this one. Both of the Bond Girls are quite desirable. The only thing I worry for is the fact that they may taken a lot of the characterization and story telling out of this one that was so wonderful and prevalent in it's predecessor, Casino Royale. Either way, I'm going to really enjoy this one! I made plans to see this with Spanky and Coreboy on opening night long ago so you'll be getting a full review sometime next weekend. I'm sure Spanky will find a lot wrong with it as he seems to find a lot wrong with many a great motion picture (he still can't stop harping about THE greatest movie of 2008 so far, Dark Knight).


I'm still having loads of fun playing Fallout 3, the post apocalyptic video RPG. So far I've discovered a band of "vampires" living in the old subways of Washington, DC, gotten my ass handed to me on a silver platter by a bunch of nuked up zombies, found a small town filled with land mines (that handed me the same ass on the same silver platter), explored a survival vault filled with nutter survivors out to slice me to pieces and a whole town built out of the remnants of old airplanes, buses and automobiles. My character even has his own little rusty, two level home there. The game is quite challenging, which is good. It has a kind of survival horror feel to it as meds and ammo aren't as easy to come by as other RPG games. You really have to scavenge and conserve your swag. I'll let you know how it's going in latter posts.


Though this isn't much of a political blog, how can I not comment on the history that was made this past week? The current administration has been ousted. And they have only themselves to blame. A country that is allowed to vote for it's leaders will sooner or later wise up and speak its peace about a leadership that has done nothing but put this country right into the crapper.

I can't help but be a little teary eyed when I think that this country has progressed far enough to have an African American as their next president (it'll be cool! Just like "24"!).

I grew up in a conservative household. Outside of the cruelty of other children, it was a pretty darn good childhood. My parents raised me to be a decent citizen. I was never beaten or forced into some weird, ultra-right wing religion. So I can say that I had a very decent conservative childhood. But, as I grew up and saw the real world for what it was, I slowly started to lean to the left. Then when 911 hit, I started to come back to the conservative fold. Not a Jesus Freak, mind you, but someone who understood that there was true evil in this world, and if you turned your back on it, it could eat you alive. Then I became unemployed and before I got a new job I saw how the greed of corporate America took way too many liberties, had a vice hold on the current administration and how they utterly fracked up the economy of this nation. It was time for a change. I guess I'd consider myself a progressive, independent, moderate.

However, here's an analogy I'd like to use. There's this zoo (the world) and there's a monkey cage there (the U.S.) and they've just hired on a brand spankin' new monkey cage keeper. his name is Barak. It's Barak's first day and the guy who's training him takes him by the cage and gives him a small can of water, a container of Palmolive and a toothbrush. He then tells Barak, "You know, the last two monkey cage keepers fed these monkeys lots of chili, lots of dark beer and lots of laxatives as a diet. This lasted 16 years and they never cleaned the cage. These monkeys have shat everywhere! It's in every crevice of every tile and on every surface of every fake Styrofoam rock. And you now how much monkeys love to toss their poop! You have your toothbrush. Get started."

I do not envy Mr. Obama's challenges ahead. I I hope to god he can truly give us some hope and change that the last 2 administrations refused to do.

Zangz's Blog of Geekdom would like to congratulate President Elect Obama on his historic win!


You know, Gary Busey is ass-crackers crazy. And he's on TV right now in the greatest reality TV show to grace this earth, Celebrity Rehab. It's on right now, so I gotta go and check it out.

Until the next James Bond weekend, stay vertical!

Zangz.

A Creeptastic, Spooked Filled Holiday for you All!

"Halloween's Coming, Halloween's Coming,

Ghosts and Goblins are after you.
Big Black Cats and Witches Pointy Hats,
Ooooo, Ooo, Ooo, Ooo, Ooo
BOO!"

The lyrics sound silly and sophomoric, but to this day I remember singing that song 30 some odd years ago at a school Halloween jamboree. I stood there with my senior kindergarten class in a small gymnasium surrounded by our parents and peers, a lot of us dressed in those cheesy, plastic, fire hazard-esque Ben Cooper Halloween costumes. I had Cooper's Batman costume which loosely tied in the back with easy to tear plastic straps, had baggy plastic pants and a cardboard-like 3 dimensional mask that had a big yellow "BATMAN" emblazoned across the forehead just in case I might have been mistaken for Spider-Man by someone of lesser pop-culture knowledge than I. I loved that frackin' costume! I wore it for 5 Halloweens in a row! (once I turned 30, mom told me to take it of and put it away........just kiddin')

I also loved singing that sophomoric song. When we hit that last BOO we put a heck of a lot of energy into it, hoping the scare the frell out of the audience. We were kindergartners. What the hell did we know. But, even at that young age I loved the spookiness of the song. It conjured up visions of dark, cloudy nights in a graveyard with the leaves twirling up off the ground as the wind blows between the graves. Even as a small Ben Cooper costume clad child, I kind of dug things that were spooky and creepy.

But the really big thing about Halloween at that time was scoring boatloads of candy during Trick or Treat. Me and my young co-horts, Ricky and Donny, would always try and plan out our route beforehand to hit the houses in years past that gave out the best loot. sadly our Mom's who would supervise us would of course slow us down. "No running, boys!"

As time passed and I grew older, my imagination started to get the best of me, as I wanted to get more out of the holiday than just candy. I started to do my own Halloween decorations for other Trick or Treaters that came to my house. I would get big drawing paper and cardboard and draw out several huge monster faces with big long fangs and always huge drips of blood drooling out of their mouths and down their chins. I would tape these pictures up all over the inside of our front foyer and front door. They's actually get some notice from people.

Weeks prior to Halloween we would play this Ghosts In The Grave Yard type of game and run around our back yards at night. We called it Spooky Time! We'd set up mysteries and treasure hunts for each other and pretend we were ghost and monster hunters.

I had also graduated from the Ben Cooper Batman outfit. That just didn't cut the mustard any more. I now had to be something scary. So my Mom made me a black cape and I'd go into her eyeshadow make up and pain my entire face with it. usually a pale blue to give off that undead vibe. Then I get some red grease pain and draw out a couple of drips of blood coming out of my mouth. Wallah! Instant vampire!

Myself, Ricky and Donny didn't need parental guidance to go Trick or Treating any longer so we went hog wild! We tore through the neighborhood looking for the houses that gave out the best in sugary goodness. And damned if we didn't run into that one house that had the old guy out front telling everybody he didn't have time to get candy and would dump a bunch of pennies into your bag. CHEAP FRACKIN' BASTARD! A pox unto him and his house!

As more years past and we were to old for Trick or Treat, I found a new passion in yard haunting. My Halloween decor had graduated from cardboard cut outs of monsters that I had made to Styrofoam gravestones and dummies with corpse and zombie masks on them bursting out of the ground by the graves.

I also started to get into horror movies of the time. Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, as well as a bevy of B-Horror slasher flix were being released on VHS for rental at the time. Every weekend in October I'd rent 3 of them and watch them on Saturday afternoons. A tradition I still try and keep to this day.

As the teenage years continued may Halloween gallivanting was limited to the annual high school drama club's costume party. Every year I came as a Heavy Metal rocker. Though, I loved the season of fall, I wasn't as invested into the holiday as I was as a child. The high school years were filled with other things to occupy my time.

Into my young adult years, my big Halloween event was dragging a few friends to one of the local haunted attractions. My love for Halloween was starting to grow back, but the group of friends that were around at the time weren't as enthusiastic about Halloween as I was.

A lot of my young adult friends and high school buddies moved on and off to other states, but in recent years I've been gifted in the fact that I've met a great bunch of people who love Halloween almost as much as I do!

The recent years have been loaded with Halloween escapades. Costume parties, haunted houses, pumpkin carving, horror movies! Good food and losts of wonderful seasonal brewskies The whole ball of haunted wax (wax from the ear of a decayed corpse, no less. Bruahahahahaha!)

This season isn't quite over for me yet. Later today there be some trick or treating for the kids while we adults eat some good food and hang out. Then tomorrow there's a Halloween costume party that, I'm told, will have an Adams Family vibe to it.

So here's hoping that you all got a chance to do something Halloween-esqe with Friends, family or loved ones this year! Happy Halloween!

Ok, on to some quickie Horror movie reviews. The last bunch of the season.

Nightmare Man - Another craptastic C-grade horror flick that uses rape as a shock tool. I don't mind the boobage, but do they have to go in that direction? I kind of had the same feelings on this as I did for Lake Dead (reviewed in the last post). This one starts out as a thriller, then moves on to be a slasher flick then finally a supernatural spin is put on it. The film doesn't know what it wants to be. The only cool stuff on this disc is the fun behind the scenes footage in the extras. Other than that, yo can pass on this one.

Crazy Eights - They actually got some quasi popular known actors in this one (Tracy Lords, anybody?). In a nutshell, its a ghost story that involves former child patients of a research facility / mental hospital. The story line was decent enough and there was some slight creepiness involved, but not a keeper. Again it's a "nobody gets out alive" type ending and the story kind of drags on a bit before anything really starts happening.

Tooth and Nail - Not exactly a horror movie, but more of a post apocalyptic thriller. Survivors of the slow destruction of the earth are holed up in a hospital. The usual tasks of trying to survive are hampered when a bunch of cannibalistic raiders start taking the small group one by one. Michael Madsen is the cannibal leader. He's always fun to watch if he's either ear tearing or ear chewing. Not a great flick, but definitely far better than some of the stuff I've watched this season. Worth checking out.


And speaking of post apocalyptic settings, Fallout 3 is proving to be quite addictive and challenging. There's a sub game involved that deals with picking locks using a screw driver and bobby pin. I have no clue as to how to master this feat. It is hardly explained in the directions. Apparently it's an important skill to have so I better load it full of experience points as I level up. So fare I've gotten my ass handed to me by raiders a couple of times. I even brought the difficulty level down a notch and it's still quite daring. A very good game so far!


Well, folks. That will be it for Halloween here on my Blog of Geekdom. After this weekend the dead leave back to dark places unknown.

Again, Happy Halloween!

Zangz.

IT HAS ARRIVED!!!

IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! IT'S OUT! I HAVE IT! ........

I haven't played it yet, but will start it up in the next 10 minutes. Reviews have been absolutely positive on it. Though it's been hailed as Oblivion with guns, I have the feeling it a whole other creature entirely. I'm sure I'll be blathering on about it in future posts.


Have you done something spooky yet? You only have a couple more days before the dead leave us. So do something creepy as soon as you can!

We'll talk later. I gotta go visit post apocalyptic Washington DC. See ya. Stay vertical!

Zangz.

Three Cheers for Halloween and All Hail Bah-Humbug!

Welcome back to the current spookfest that is Zangz's Blog of Geekdom! I'm your resident grave digger, Zangz.

One more fun filled week to go before the dead go back to residing in their crypts, graves and tombs until the next Halloween season comes to bless us with its supernatural presence. Be sure to enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause the crap pile that is the winter holiday season is waiting in the wings, ready to pounce with its cold weather, obnoxious people, crowded stores and malls and bank accounts with huge dents in them. First person to start singing "Jingle Bells" gets a grave shovel slammed to the side of their skull! I mean it! ALL HAIL BAH-HUMBUG!


Lets move on to happier, more harvest filled pastures, shall we? Last night I went over to my sister's house where my Bro-in-law and I went out on the front porch and enjoyed a nice big cigar and an Octoberfest and enjoyed the faux grave yard he has on his front lawn. While admiring the creepy little graves with store bought dummies popping out of the ground, we sat and talked about how Halloween decorations are coming very close to selling as much as Xmas decorations. Yet, we also noticed how many fewer yard haunts there are in our neighborhoods. I believe I brought this up last year on the blog also.

Outside of my Bro-in-law, there were NO other houses on the block that had any little set ups. You rarely have to build your own graveyards anymore as the Halloween decoration industry takes care of that for you. Fake gravestones have become more affordable. They now produce spooky, corpse like figures to stake into the ground. These are also at a far more reasonable price than they used to be. Halloween decor that used to be anywhere from $25 to $50 is now $10 to $20. So why aren't people taking advantage of this? Has there been a black hole of imagination of the people in our fair city. Let's get with it people! Get your lazy, unimaginative butts down to the local Walmart, Wallgreens or Target and pick some stuff up! The end of the season is nigh!


On to other Halloween related stuff. I went to my last Haunted Attraction of the season last weekend. I doubt I'll be able to fit in any others or drag anybody to them this season. So here's the review for...

Lister Effects Monster Mayhem - In a nutshell, this one was short but sweet. Imagine if you will a rather large, fun filled pizza parlor on the south side of Milwaukee. The inside has a nice little bar (however, they need to work on their beer selections) a game room and a big diner area with lots of cool '50's decor. And of course, the pizza is great! But, according to rumor and reports, the U.S. Government has installed a secret science base just below it. This particular evening we visited there was some sort of biological accident where most of the staff in the labs were turning into flesh eating zombies! Even though this haunt was pretty short it had a hell of a lot of charm. I think the best thing about this haunt was all the actors and actresses who were really heavily into their rolls. The whole thing was played off as an actual B-Grade zombie movie with lots of dark comedy mixed in to make it that much cooler. I don't know if this was a pre-fab haunt (one that was made by a company and then sold to the people ruining it) or if they put it together themselves. If they did, then I have to give them lots of extra props for being pretty frackin' creative! Could have been longer, but it was still fun as hell! I recommend it if you want to go out and have some good pizza and have some time to kill (pun intended) before you do so!


Let's close with some horror movie reviews....

Lake Dead - Maybe I'm getting a little too jaded, but I felt that Lake Dead was pure crap! It had EVERYTHING we've seen before in horror movies. The film fixates around a psycho family (very poor-man's Texas Chainsaw type group....without the chainsaws) who occupy a small inn close to a man made lake out in the woods. When a group of beautiful, young people arrive in a camper to claim the inn as their own all hell breaks loose and they become the hunted as the psycho family don't take too kindly to it. There's the usual torturous deaths of the young group, but what really bothered me was that the writers decided to use rape for shock value to an otherwise C-grade horror flick. Pinning people to trees or chaining them to the bottom of the lake is one thing, but when you bring up images of rape on women in a horror flick you've opened up a whole can of nasty shit. To put it bluntly, it was a very insulting and dumb thing to bring into an already schlocky pile of crap to begin with. Avoid this at all costs. (See trailer HERE).

Unearthed - To put it simply, this was Alien meets Tremors. A podunk town out west finds itself inhabited with some sort of creature that was accidentally dug up from an excavation site. The creature runs around tearing people apart. And who knew that alcoholic Sheriffs of such remote towns could be so hot. This one fairs slightly better than Lake Dead. Not the best, but I've seen far worse (Lake Dead). (See trailer HERE)

Dog Soldiers - If you're a fan of werewolf movies and you haven't seen this movie from England, you need to run out and rent this now. Though it won't go down in the pantheon of werewolf movies like American Werewolf in London, it's still one of the best I've seen. A bunch of British soldiers who are training with war games out in the dark woods of Scotland find themselves hunted by a pack of werewolves. They become pinned in a quaint little farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere. They're forced to fight for their lives against the beasts. Not only is this a very gory movie, it has characters you begin to care about. It may be a horror movie, but it focuses on the soldiers as a group and that is what makes it different. There's also a slight twist towards the end of it that I thought was kind of clever. It's a must rental for the Halloween season! (See trailer HERE).

Ok, I gotta go get some food then watch a few more horror flick and perhaps get going on Oblivion and finish up the Shimmering Isles' main quest so I can move onto Fallout 3 next week.

Your homework, until the next post, is to go out of your way to do something Halloween influenced and imaginative this week! If you don't come back with a report you'll fail the semester.

Stay vertical!

Zangz.

Halloween oozes from every pore.....

BOO Mutha Truckers!!!!

We are full force into THE greatest time of the year right now! The tree colors are vibrant, there's a nip in the air and many yards and homes are full of Halloween decor for all to gawk at and enjoy! I'm really hoping that all who read this (2.5 of you) are enjoying the season and letting your imaginations run full throttle. There are no age limitations to the magic of Halloween and the magic is certainly in the air this season.

We still have a good two weeks of Halloween to enjoy so make sure you do something Halloween influenced. Take your kids to a pumpkin farm or decorate your front yard to look like a graveyard or just sit back and enjoy one of the many wonderful Octoberfests or pumpkin ales that are out while listening to Midnight Syndicate or Type O Negative. Or, if you're really adventurous you could grab a group of friends and check out many of the local Haunted Attractions in your area. As a matter of fact, last Friday, a small band of our horde did just that.

Here are the ones we hit and what I thought....

Fin and Feather Haunted Trail - We went to this one last year and we were genuinely surprised at how much it scared us and how well it was put together. It's not a big, well promoted haunt like others. But it was still quite effective last time. This year was no exception. It's got everything from a pirate ship to a creepy little witch's hut in a graveyard. Sure there were a lot of the same effects and scenes that were there last year, but they still pulled it off quite well. This year they added on a second haunt called Lunatics Lodge. This indoor haunt has a lot of potential, but not a lot going for it quite yet. However, there's plenty of room to grow and get better in years to come. I'll keep an eye on this one.

The Dark Side - This is another haunt that we visited last year. Located on a farm, this event is three haunts all rolled into one all at one low price. This is nice since a lot of haunted attractions will have you pay additional fees per haunt. It's a pretty sweet deal!

1. The Haunted Mine Shaft - Though quick, this part of the attraction really made you feel you were in a creepy old mine shaft. Some good pop out actors and a few animatronics added to the fright factor.
2. The Haunted Ride through the Woods - This was probably the weakest part of the haunt as they fell into the same problem as last year, lots and lots of land to put up a lot of cool scenery and tableau's, but instead a lot of nothingness. Outside of a few small scenes, most of the ride was teenagers dressed in back, running up and climbing on the wagon and growling. That will work for a while, but gets stale after some time. The stereo effects and vibrations on the wagon itself were trey cool, though. They should research how to do it by checking out rides like THIS or THIS or THIS!
3. The Haunted Trail - This was just as good as the mine shaft! I believe they improved on it from last year as they had a very creepy graveyard and a rustic little cabin in the forest that has some unwelcome visitors.

The whole Dark Side event was quite lengthy which was awesome! However, they need to fill up a bit more of the event with actual haunted stuff. Every year they keep growing and learning more and more. Hopefully soon they will invest in some more scares in their haunted wagon ride.


Let's finish this Haunted blog with a few horror movie reviews.....

Boarderland - This is more of a gore fest-crime-thriller than anything horror related. Three high school grads (yet they all looked like they were in their young thirties) decide to go south of the boarder to party and whore it up before they go to college. Well, of course, they run into trouble with the local drug lords who are also part of a voodoo blood cult. There is nothing paranormal or spooky in this flick whatsoever. It's a movie where people are bullied, tortured and murdered by skeezy thugs. It made me more frustrated than scared. Not my cup 'o' tea, but if you're a fan of movies like Hostel, you may like it. (See Trailer HERE.)

Mulberry Street - This was an interesting twist on not only a therianthropy flick, it was also akin to many zombie movies. The story takes place in a post 911 borough of New York City where greedy land developers buy up the apartments and homes of the decent working class. Apparently there is a slight rat infestation problem with the area. Rabies is the least of any one's worries with these rats. Apparently people who are bit by them slowly turn into half rat - half human creatures who not only infest others with their rodent morphing curse, but also feast on the blood and guts of the living. Within hours of the first bite, much of New York is going mad with blood hungry rat people. This may seem like a cheap grade B horror schlock filled flick, but most of it is handled quite nicely as the characters all seem like very real New Yorkers. New York itself seems to be it's own character. I have to admit, I kind of liked this one. Not a repeated viewing type flick (like the original Halloween), but a good viewing for a dark night. (See Trailer HERE.)

And speaking of the movie Halloween...

Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN - I love the music and image of Rob Zombie, but I have yet to be overly impressed with his film work. House of 1,000 Corpses was pretty good, but not what I was hoping from him. It's sequel, The Devil's Rejects was another horror film that made me more mad than scared. I guess I'm sort of a pseudo fan of his films. I love a lot of the qualities of them and the actors he chooses for roles, but they're never a knock out of the park for me. When I heard that he was writing and directing a remake of one of my favorite, and all around greatest horror flicks, I cautiously anticipated the result. The film Halloween is hallowed ground to most Horror movie fans and shouldn't be trod upon likely. But, I knew Zombie was a huge Horror aficionado himself and hoped he would honor the core material. And after finally seeing his version, I have to say he did. Is it the perfect remake to a classic? Nope. But it has a hell of a lot of heart and soul....and blood. Lot's and lot's of blood! ...and boobs for that matter.

I have to admit I have a pro and con issue with how Zombie showed us how Michael Myers went from childhood to the grown up killing machine of today. I liked the way Zombie presented us with an interpretation of how it may have happened. It's his spin on the creation of one of filmdoms scariest killers. At the same time, I think portraying Myers as a cute little boy in his early days kind of took the edge off of "The Shape" we came to know and love from the original film. The fact that in the original film we only get a small brutal glimpse of him as a young kid left a good amount of mystery to the character that we could fill in with our own dark imaginations. That made Myers all the creepier! The fact that his whole childhood problems are revealed kind of takes the shroud of mystery off of the character. But still, it is an interesting interpretation of how things all went so wrong.

One thing I really enjoyed from Zombie was the casting. All excellent choices! Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Loomis, Tyler Mane as Michael Myers, and Scout Taylor Compton as the much younger Laurie Strode were all masterstrokes to the film. One of my favorites, Brad Dourif shows up as the town sheriff who's daughter is a target of Meyers. And speaking of his daughter, another brilliant little casting choice is that Zombie casts actress Danielle Harris as one of the hunted teens. Remember her as the little girl stalked by Michael Myers in Halloween 4 and 5? Well she's all growed up now... yep. All.......growed......up! (Roberto, rent this movie when Iris isn't home! Dirty ol' man portion of blog is now over). There are also a lot of cool cameos in this flick. Keep your eyes open.

Another plus to this remake was the many nods, tipped hats and homages to the original film that Zombie squeaks in there. I don't know if I consider this film as part of the original stories from the earlier Halloween movies, but it's certianly a very nice homage to them! I have to admit that I was kind of cringing about this flick before I saw it, but afterveiwing it, though I don't agree with some of the story choices, I really enjoyed it. I may have to pick this one up. (View trailer HERE)


Quick video game update: Fallout 3 shelves in 12 days. I can't wait! Yes, yes. I know Saints Row 2 and Fable 2 are also due soon, but those will have to wait a while as I'm really jonesing for the post apocalyptic, free roaming, blow it up extravaganza that will be F3!

That will be it for me today. There's a few more horror flicks and a few more video games and a few more beers for me to enjoy on my day off.

Just remember to have some creepy-ass, spooked up fun this weekend!

Zangz.