Hoglovin' Weekend!

I'm sitting here starting my 5 day weekend off with a nice cold bottle of Octoberfest and later I shall enjoy a nice bold cigar. I plan to live the entire weekend in full fledged hedonism! It's been quite a while since I had more than 3 days off at a time and I had to use Labor Day weekend as a special excuse to expand the weekend by two days to engross myself in some very well deserved relaxation and fun!

Now, don't get the wrong idea. It's not going to be me running around my apartment naked with one of those dual beer holder hats on my head (like every other weekend). This weekend is special. Here in my hometown of Milwaukee, we're celebrating the 105th anniversary of the Harley-Davidson Company. Thousands of Harley riders/owners are converging on this fair city to celebrate in a state of black leather, beer guzzling glee. And who be it for me to not assist them in their pursuit of sheer happiness? Very close to the Zangz's Vault of Geekdom Headquarters is where a few good street parties will be taking place. Again, I feel I must assist in this endeavor! Hopefully, I may be meeting some old friends down and around these happening's. So that's what I got going on this weekend.


That gaming weekend I spoke about in the last blog didn't pan out quite as expected. We wanted to play Arkham Horror, but apparently the host didn't get the game ready before hand. So, we attempted to set it up quickly so we could get playing but our attempts were futile as setting up this game will suck at least 7 to 8 hours of your life away even before you start playing. We decided to ditch Arkham Horror and play and old card favorite Nuclear War which was a blast. An oldie but a goody.


Recently I rented a '360 game called Overlord which is a switch on most fantasy RPG's. Instead of playing a hero, you play the evil villain. You have the help evil minions you spawn and it combines action and a slight bit of real time strategy. I think I would have really gotten into this game if it weren't for the fact that it didn't have instructions with it and manipulating the correct minions for particular tasks was a complete mystery without the guide. So I played as far as I could go and enjoyed what I did accomplish, but it lacked without direction.


Ok, here are some movie reviews...

White Noise 2 - Let's see... Nathan Fillion and Katee Sackhoff (awesome smile!) in a supernatural thriller? I'm frackin' there! Though it's not the greatest horror flick in the world, it certainly fairs far better than its predecessor. Just to see Nathan and Katee goof off on the set in the behind the scenes footage was cool enough for a fanboy to rent it. Mal vs. Starbuck!

Next - This Nicolas Cage action/Sci-Fi/thriller that revolves around precognitional powers (word I made up!) and a terrorist plot isn't half bad. Though it's not half good either. Then ending goes all goofy and leaves you wondering what the hell just happened? Did the bad guys win or does our hero have another chance. If so, why the hell didn't they show it? It's another one to check out in a rental situation. It will keep you interested enough, but it's not an owner by a long shot.

The Host - Frack Dragon Wars! This is a pretty cool Korean big monster movie that Dragon Wars could have pulled from. It's not the most happy of endings, but it isn't as childish as Dragon Wars was. There's no pretty boy or stunted dialog. Rent this one over Dragon wars any day.

Batman: Gotham Knight - Hot on the theatrical release of The Dark Knight comes this little animated, straight to video gem! It features 6 separate Batman stories, each with a different animation style and created by different writers. I have to say that I was very impressed with each one in its own way. If you're a big Batman fan, you must buy this DVD!

Family Guy: Blue Harvest - The popular animated TV series lovingly lampoons the greatest movie of all time... Star wars, Episode IV: A New Hope. It's one of the most funny homages to George Lucas' galactic wonder. If you're a Star Wars fan or a admirer of great pulp culture humor, you'll definitely want to check this one out. "Don't get to penisy, kid"

Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight - The thought that kept ripping through my head as I watched this Dungeons & Dragons story was, "Geez, couldn't they have created much better animation for this feature?" It's not horrible animation, mind you. But it's not that far off from what you would have seen on 1980's Saturday morning carton shows. They feebly try to compensate with using computer graphics to animate the villains of the film, large, humanoid lizards. but, the effect becomes more detracting as the lizards look good, but everything else is a poor man's Hannah Barbarra. 'C'mon! Doesn't D&D influenced media deserve far better? I'm sure Senator McCain has this puppy in his rental club's queue.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - Being a video game geek, I just had to check out this documentary about two rivals fighting for the world record of arcade style Donkey Kong. Mostly I'm a counsel gamer due to arcade games always kicking my ass. But I still had to glimps this movie. Though I really enjoyed this movie it should have been retitled, "Billy Mitchell is a Big Jerk Wad of a Donkey Kong Player" since the film spends most of the time portraying the one player as a egocentric nard and the other player, Steve Wiebe as the poor innocent underdog. That's the way I felt when I first viewed it, but I'm guessing the documentary's makers got a sniff of a potential angle to their story and went with a bit of a biased opinion. Sure I liked it, but I'm starting to get a little suspect of documentary makers. Worth a peak, but keep your head.


Ahhh......as I sit here in the Vault of Geekdom Headquarters I can hear the rumble of a few Harley's flying down my avenue. Unlike a lot of my friends, I find it a very welcoming noise.... ok, maybe not at 3 am on a work day morning it's not so great, but I am enjoying the rumble right now.

I'm bringing this one to an end. Stay Vertical!

Zangz.

If there were a statement to completey lose my vote, this would be it...

You really want to go there, McCain?!?!?!?!

I can't believe I actually put you in a much brighter light than ol' "G.W." Well, now you completely lost my full respect, as well as a potential vote.

Read what Grandpa Walton was quoted as saying..........

"It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others."

Oh reeeeeaally......

I'll let you know that as a regular RPG player, I don't live in my Mom's basement at this time. However, thanks to your buddy G.W. and his wonderful care of our economy which seems to be driven by his oil/gas lovin' buddies, I may be living there quite soon.

So, now I know I'll be left to vote for a candidate who'll frell us over with higher taxes for special interest groups rather than yet another turd who's intolerance to the geek community seems to be the same as the rest of the socially elite minded, frat boy mentality.

I totally have nothing but mad love and respect for any American soldier who has served this country, whether it be as a POW or otherwise. Whether it be for a war that the left wing media tolerates or dubs unjust! I don't read too much into anyone's propaganda when it comes to those who serve! But, your hate speech to us gamers was completely uncalled for.

I certainly wasn't totally pro-Obama until you spewed out that dumb-assed drivel.

Sorry I had to reduce this blog into a political rant, folks. But, I'm tired of the stereotypes and pure hate that we gamers face day to day.

Note to fellow gamers and geeks: Come November, VOTE WITH A BULLET!

Zangz.

(Additional note to Senator McCain: Don't worry, no one reads this thing anyway. It's not like you've lost oodles of votes on my behalf due to your pure intolerance and stupidity)

Cthulhu commeth....maybe....sorta...?

Only a month and a half until Halloween season begins!!! Can you believe it! I know I shouldn't be prompting Mother Nature to summon up the cold weather of Old Man Winter so soon, but I'm already getting a serious jones on for autumn to show up.

I've already got my whole Halloween horror movies picked out from September through October in my on-line movie rental club's queue. In addition to that, I'm slowly but surely downloading Haunted Attraction videos at YouTube.

I don't know what the Halloween plans are for this year. We usually make it up as we go along, but hopefully there will be more than a few Haunted Attractions to visit and perhaps a party to go to. Who knows, I'm just hoping I get my annual fix of creeposity this year.


I finished yet another one of James Patterson's Alex Cross mystery thrillers. This time it was "Mary Mary" where starlets and women who are high powered Hollywood executives are being brutally murdered throughout L.A. It was nice to see Cross out of the political intrigue he was involved in with the last book and back into psycho hunting of his good old days. I'm hoping that further books will also bring him back to his pathologist talents rather than hunting down terrorists. Terrorists being the villains in books is getting to be too frackin' common place these days.


My gaming group has been on hiatus the entire summer while game master, Mad Mario and his wife, Hope, work on their new digs. And of course I've been lacking in running my own Call of Cthulhu (CoC) game which has my group grumping and complaining a lot. It's deservedly so since I haven't run a game in 2 years. It's hard to put together a mystery/adventure for characters that have become practically immortal with boatloads of percentage points. Well, maybe something for the Halloween season.... perhaps.

Speaking of Cthulhu gaming, Roberto Del Amorte is threatening to run a game of Arkham Horror. It's a very involved board game that supposedly takes 2 hours to set up and a few more to play. Like CoC, it is based in the world of horror author H.P. Lovecraft. I've always wanted to play this game since Roberto got it (a couple of years ago). We'll have to see what transpires tomorrow.

And still speaking of Cthulhu, apparently an independent film company is going to be releasing a modern day telling of Call of Cthulhu. Quicktime users can check out the trailer HERE. I'm not sure what to think just yet. It looks kinda scary but lacks in creepiness. Wait and see!

And still speaking of Cthulhu, I'd like to put together one of my podcasts on the subject for a Halloween episode. I still have to squeeze one in on GTA4 first. Right now my plate is full.


Lucky for you all, I don't have a lot to drone on about today. So enjoy you weekend and stay vertical!

Zangz.

Lobsterized!

We'll I'm a bit on the well done side of things today as yesterday I got a little too much sun than I wanted at a company picnic. I'm not too bad off as I'm just a little loberstery, but not in any discomfort. I can remember a trip to Arizona I took about 15 years ago where one whole side of my neck got scorched and I had to put about 15 layers of aloe salve on it just to feel somewhat comfortable. The problem with the salve was that it was a deep blue color and when my burn started to flake the salve stained my sunburn. So I had this odd looking red sunburn with purplish-blue flakes. It looked like I had some sort of radiation poisoning for the remainder of my vacation. Ahhh, sunburn memories....good times. Good times.

On to more geekified news....

I've hit a snag with the Conan game I've been playing. I'm at a point where I have to climb up a cliff while rocks fall down and pummel me. There doesn't seem to be any way to avoid the rocks as it seems the designers have timed it perfectly so once you reach the second tier of the cliff, a rock knocks you back down to the bottom and takes a good amount of hit points away. There's no timing for it either. As soon as you reach that second tier it seems to set off the designer's little rock booby trap. So I've temporarily put it aside and finished off Quake 4.

Quake 4 is a real fun FPS and looks great, but is a little on the short side when you compare it to the original epic PC games. They really need to beef up these FPS games and give us single players something to chew on for quite a while!

Now I'm back to GTA IV. I FINALLY got through the Packie bank robbery mission that had me stumped for quite a while (First Hint: Don't be so obsessed with killing off every cop you come in contact with in your retreat. Just follow your fellow robbers letting them take the lead. Second Hint: Take cover and try and take out a squad car or two. That seems to clear the way at times. Third Hint: When finding a vehicle to take off in once you come up from the subway, be sure to go to your right after you open the cage door. There's a sturdy SUV waiting for you right there. Use it as your getaway car. I made the mistake of running down the wrong street trying to find a car while taking several hits from many cops on my trail. Once I found one, it was a crappy minivan that couldn't take that much damage and it blew in a fiery blaze with my fellow bank robbers still in it, just meters away from the safe house).


I'm also catching up on episodes of one of my favorite new shows, Burn Notice through renting them on DVD. I have one episode to go to finish off the 1st season.

See promo HERE.

What happens when a spy gets set up and is abandoned by his Government? He hangs out in Miami and hooks up with a psycho ex spy/ex girlfriend and his beer guzzling buddy to go on his own side missions helping needy people. This show has a great mix of many fun as heck attributes we've all seen in other shows! First of all it has a touch of The Equalizer, a dash of The A-Team and a dab of McGyver. And it also has Bruce "Man God" Campbell co-starring as his boozed up sidekick. That fact right there gets it major Zangz's Points! And you can slap on a few more Zangz's Points with the presence of actress Gabrielle Anwar. On top of all that it's very cleverly written while at the same time not at all being to deep or dark. It's a lot of fun and if you like the aforementioned shows, I highly think you'll like Burn Notice 'cause it's better than any of those!!!! Its second season has started on the FX network and the 1st season is on DVD.

In other reviews, here are a couple of flicks I checked out recently....

Solstice - This supernatural thriller with a young, beautiful people cast was just that... a supernatural thriller with a young, beautiful people cast. Though it took place in the swamp region of New Orleans, there wasn't anything even remotely creepy in this "thriller". What few "spooky" scenes there were, it wasn't anything we've already seen done far better in movies like The Grudge. Booooring. (veiw trailer HERE.)

Dragon Wars - Apparently this flick was a frggin' big-assed deal over in it's homeland of Korea. The filmaker was a first time director who, formerly was a Korean comedian. Basically, gaint dragons of Asian legend come to wreck havoc on Los Angeles. they are led by an ubber-generic, Darth Vader wannabe. In the end (yep, I'm gunna give away the ending here).....
.....a pretty-boy reporter and the beautiful "chosen one" save the day, but not without the lead female "chosen one" character giving her life up for the greater good. Her very last scene was one that was so poorly dialogged that I nearly wanted to vomit. You'll have to witness it yourselves for the overly mushy, hopelessly generic statement.
One thing barley saving this film was the 20 minute battle sequence that takes place between the evil dragons and the LAPD down a busy street, smack-dab in the middle of Los Angeles. Otherwise, I'm not sure this Korean flick translates well to American audiences. (view trailer HERE)

Resident Evil:Extinction - Simply said, if you liked the last two RE movies, you'll certainly like this one! I think it's the best of the three. Zombies chasing humans across the dessert with Milla Jovavich and Ali Larter in tow can't be screwed up too much. Lot's of well choreographed violence and action ensues throughout the flick. Definitely a thumbs up for this one. (view trailer HERE)

Jumper - Fun, yet extremely short, sci-fi actioner. I think this puppy clocked in under 90 minutes. It's a fun, pop corn flick with Hayden Christensen (Anikan Skywalker/Darth Vader) and Samuel L Jackson (Mace Windo) going up against each other (again). Defintley worth a peek, though it won't re wright Sci-Fi or action movies. (view trailer HERE)

Mimic - This 1997 horror movie was one of my favorites and I thought I'd see it again just for poops and giggles. Even though director, Guillermo del Torro (one of my favorite directors) detested the way producers revamped his vision and considers the film an abomination to this day, I really like the flick. I think it's well thought out and the creatures were very well imagined. Horror fans need to check this one out. (view frightening scene HERE)

Day Watch - Though its predecessor was pretty frickin' interesting to watch, this Russian film about two clans of vampires doing secret battle against each other is a complete mess! The introduction of the film gives it some promise, but from then on it's just a plot that has been crapped upon from a very great height. Maybe Russians have a different way when it comes to story telling and plot cadence, but this thing just didn't make any friggin' sense what-so-ever. While viewing, my co-hort, Roberto fell asleep. I fast forwarded the last 45 minutes of the movie since I was lost anyway. Unless you're a Russian vampire fan, you may want to pass on this! (view trailer HERE)

The Seeker - A fantasy film aimed solely at the Harry Potter crowd. I had a bit of trouble getting into it as there is a lot of the back story to everything going on that is not told. A bunch of aging magic users find the "Chosen One" (yep...another one of those!) in a 14 year old boy. They then go up against The Rider. It's never really explained who this Rider is. He may be an evil mage or nasty wizard or darkness personified. Just call him the Big Bad Guy. Dr. Who fans will appreciate that he's played by Christopher Eccleston. Deadwood fans, such as myself, will like the fact that Ian McShane palys the part of the mentor/good mage in this film. (view trailer HERE)


Well I gotta get scootin' as I have yet another cookout that will involve meat, beer and hoepfully cigars. See you all later and stay vertical!

(Note: If you or your friends are interested in obtaining Zangz's Points here on my Blog of Geekdom, you can either send money c/o Zangz's Blog of Geekdom or buy me stuff like Xbox 360 games or perhaps a PS3, while a widescreen HD TV will get you loads of Zangz's Points)

Zangz.