Good Site Drenched in Creepiness........

I know it is rare for me to pop in here in the middle of the week with and entry as of late. But, I felt that the blog has been lacking in a feature that I rarely do around here. So I'd thought I quickly shoot in here and do another edition of......

Zangz's Blog of Geekdom's Website of the Moment:

City of Shadows

Here's a site that caters to those of us who are attracted to the creepiness of an old city that has a lot of dark history to it. This site is dedicated in educating people in the history of Victorian London, England. God knows this spooky old city has had more than it's share of serial killers, ghosts and genuinely diabolical happenings during the 1800's. This site is quite the compendium for it's dark and gruesome history.

There's another subject I'd like to quickly broach. Keep your eyes out here for a possible big announcement from the Blog of Geekdom. I may be actually moving into the 21st century and expanding upon my already pathetic and sad media empire. I've got to do a bit more research on the subject and see if it's a possibility before I make a formal statement. So stay tuned.

Zangz.

All Mysteries of the Universe Revealed RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!!!!

Naw, not really, but do you see the extravagant lengths I go through to get people to read this friggin' thing. C'mon folks, throw a lonely geek a bone here. What's the worst that can happen? At the very least you'll walk away feeling a heck of a lot better about yourself.


I guess I should cheer up a bit since I did spend the entire day yesterday geekin' it up with a group of friends playing the Star Wars RPG. Our game master, Mad Mario had us rolling many a 10 and 20 sider in a gallant and successful effort to thwart off a massive attempt by the Speratists/Trade Federation to break Count Dooku out of a maximum security prison on the planet of Dantoonie. My character, a 12th level scoundrel, took out a Sith or two (of course that was well after a few other characters knocked the Sith thugs down quite a few hit points). But who's really keeping track?

It's always fun to noodle on about playing table top, pen and paper role playing games (RPG) since there's a boat load of people out there who have no clue as to what the frell I'm referring to. For those of you scratching your heads trying to figure out what I'm talking about, I'll refer you to HERE.

And yes! I'm still trying to get a date set for my game of Call of Cthulhu. It's up to the players at this point.

On to other points of interest...


I've been able to weasel out more time on the new Elder Scrolls game (Oblivion) for the Xbox360 while over at my friend's place. As I get further into it I can say that this is almost as addictive as the first...... Almost. I've said it here before and I'm going to say it again. Though, the graphics are years ahead of its predecessor, Morrowind, it is a bit lacking in the variety of landscapes that Morrowind had. This is a bit of a disappointment as one of Morrowind's high points was the visual variety in several different landscapes. But, I will admit that the game play will still keep me coming back for more.

On to the silver screen....


They're really going to attempt it! After years and years of deals, rewrites and legalities Alan Moore's Watchman is going to be making it to the big screen. How they're going to take Moore's very deep, superhero, socio-political thriller and turn it into a motion picture is beyond me.

Sure, Moore's V for Vendetta was a success at capturing the themes and messages in that graphic novel without damaging the overall story. Yet, I'm not too optimistic that Hollywood will be able to do the same for Watchmen. The story itself is deep, dark and epic. There's lots of important flashbacks, plots intertwining and character developments that work wonderfully in the book, but might be too much for a movie. They'll have to cut a lot from the graphic novel, which could easily neuter the power of the tale being told. We'll have to wait and see where this all leads.


Although no summer "blockbuster" has really smacked me up side of the head with grand delight as of yet (V for Vendetta came real close), I've have been hearing real good things about Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It sounds like they have captured the essence of the first film and built upon that. I've also heard that Depp rocks just as hard, if not harder, as our favorite pirate Jack Sparrow. So in a couple of weeks I may have found my favorite summer release, if not sooner....

The other movie I'm cautiously excited about is Superman Returns, which my friend Spanky is just piping at the brim to go and see. I've heard both very good things and marginally good things about this movie. If what I've heard is true and that this movie should be looked at as what Superman III should have been, then we have something to look forward to.

And on that note, I'll end this post with a bit of an interesting Geek fact: Did you know that Superman Returns actor, Brandon Routh is an admitted World of Warcraft freak and has probably spent many an hour playing the computer, on-line massive multiplayer role playing game. And he has an insanely beautiful girlfriend also. Perhaps there's hope for us after all..... NOT.

God I've fallen in love with Wikipedia!

Until next time, keep it clean, folks.
Zangz.

Whole lot o' 360 Goodness.....

Well, a few weeks ago I had a chance to really sit and play on my friend, Roberto DelAmorte's Xbox 360. Ohhhhhhh..... I needed a cigarette once I was done. Really, I'm actually toying with robbing some convenience stores to be able to purchase one.

Lemme tell you what I got to experience. I got to play a few hours of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I can honestly say it's the crack/cocaine of first person perspective, action based RPG's. So much so that Whitney Houston broke into my friends' home while I was playing it and tried to wrestle the cordless controller from me. But, seriously, I got to create a character, which in of itself was a myriad of insanely intricate choices. Then I played through the "tutorial" portion of the game. This involves breaking out of a castle's prison and escorting the King (voiced by Patrick Stewart) through the sewers of the city as he tries to evade a strange group of robed cultists. The tutorial is so smooth you don't even realize you're playing a tutorial. Other voice acting throughout the game is done by Lord of the Rings/GoldenEye star, Sean Bean and Wonderwoman star, Linda Carter. Pretty geek-a-fied, huh?

I also got to play a bit beyond the introduction of the main story a bit. The scenery and graphics are phenomenal, especially when viewed on a widescreen, HD TV which Roberto has (lucky bastage!). The combat is far better than it's predecessor, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The one and only worry I have for this game is the fact that the landscapes don''t seem to have much difference to them as they did in Morrowind. It's all grassy, hilly landscapes. No swamps, no deserts, no odd ancient ruins and not to much variety. Hopefully, if I get more chances to play this game, I will explore more of the insanely vast world that exists in Oblivion. Maybe I'll bribe my friend Roberto into being able to play more. Or maybe I'll sell my body to creepy old men on the internet to be able to buy an Xbox 360 of my own. Hmmmm.... decisions, decisions.


I also got to play quite a bit of Quake IV. The graphics of this first person shooter are pretty spectacular. It plays like many FPS games do. This one actually had a good amount of vehicle driving which you didn't see in the other Quake games. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Lot's of carnage and uber-violence that would turn the stomachs of many of the puritanically elite. Good stuff.


Even though I've been quite impressed with what the Xbox 360 has to offer so far, I do have some concerns about where it's going. Although it's DVD compatible it isn't geared for the upcoming HD DVD or Blue Ray DVD formats. That may hurt it in the long run. There's also the point of the very limited selection of games to play on it. It's been out for at least 6 months and we have less than 20 games for it. C'mon! What's the problem? Get cracking programmers! Where's the beef?


I forgot to mention that a few weeks ago I rented the game Area 51 for the PS2 and found it to be quite disappointing. It follows the cliches of most FPS games as well as being insanely frustrating. There were a lot of cheap shots taken by the AI. I got through most of the game, but completely faltered at a particular unfair and exhaustingly aggravating boss battle.

The only upside to this game was the voice acting by both David Duchoveny (X-Files) and Marilyn Manson (devil worshiping rock star). Otherwise, it was the a complete waste.


Rumor has it that while entertaining, Superman Returns isn't anything that spectacular. Though, geek I am, I'll still go see it.


Last Friday's Dr. Who finale was quite wonderful. The show always has a wonderful way of mezmorizing you with the characters. I don't remember the original series doing that. It was sad to see the current Doctor leave us and only getting a quick glimpse and funny "new teeth" remark from the new Doctor. The guy who plays the new Doctor, David Tennant had a brief role in the last Harry Potter movie as one of Voldermort's evil henchmen. So he's got quite the geek stature.

Very sadly, the actress who plays Rose, Billie Piper, has gotten a case of the "afraid to be typecast" bug from former Dr. Who, Christopher Eccleston, and will leave the series after this upcoming 2nd season (keep in mind that we Americans are a year behind the show which is shown and produced in the UK). Quite a disappointing decision, really. Both her acting and character were not only quite fetching, but also quite enjoyable and grew on us fans.


I'm still puttering around with ideas for my next Call of Cthulhu game, but the players have stagnated on potential dates for the game. C'mon people, let's come up with a date! I'm up for anything! If The Peej can't play, we can bring in the Senior Dr. Von Baverhousen if he wishes. Just, someone, email me. God.... I can't even get my players to email me anymore. Dear god, this blog has indeed become my only home of solace. Sigh... Oh, the life of a geek constantly seeps in loneliness.

Well, I'm off to rob a liquor store. Xbox 360, here I come!

Zangz.

"Doctor X" and other dumb play on words......

It's been a few, so lets get right into it.

I finally had a chance to see X-men III: The Last Stand. I heard a lot of different opinions about this movie prior to seeing it. Much like our president, it conjured many polar opposite feelings in people. Either people absolutely disliked it or thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Me? I simply thought it was a real good action / adventure movie loosely based on the X-men comic book. And THERE'S the rub, folks. From what I can tell, if you're a die-hard fan of the comic book, you'll absolutely shat a brick if you see this movie. The writers certainly create many liberal changes that differ greatly from what has happened in the comic. I mean, if they don't kill off major characters, they take away their super powers. I could see where this would passionately annoy the frell out of those that have followed the comic and invested themselves into the story and the characters.

Though, I was a comic geek, I never really got into the X-Men. I was much more of a DC, Vertigo and independent comic book fan rather than a Marvel fan. So I warmed to the characters of the X-Men more through the movies than the comic. So the major changes didn't effect me as much as they would have the comic book shop owner from The Simpsons.

Best I can tell you is that it's not as good as the previous two movies. This is the least favorite of the three. However, if you've only seen the movies and not read the comics you may want to check it out 'cause it still provides a good action packed romp with a good dose of socially conscience message of how we need to progress as human beings and stop taking the rights away from those that are different. Other than that, watching a few hours of Halley Berry and Famke Jenssen does not suck.

I also got to see a couple of cool trailers for upcoming films. Pirates of the Caribbean: Davey Jones' Locker looks pretty friggin' amazing and is the next big one I want to check out. Then there's Superman Returns which has me slightly intrigued. If director, Brian Singer can do for Superman what he did for the first two X-Men movies, we'll have a real treat on our hands!


So, the end of the current season of Dr. Who comes on the Sci-Fi Channel in a matter of minutes. I have to say that though the production value of this series isn't exactly top notch, the writing and characters are more than enjoyable! You can't help but enjoy the characters of The Doctor and his companion, Rose. Tonight's episode will end the tenure of the current actor playing The Doctor, Christopher Eccleston. While next season will usher in the new actor in The Doctor's role, David Tennant. It's too bad that Eccleston got the ol' case of "being typecast" fear and scooted out of the show after just one season. He was quite phenomenal as the Doctor and certainly put his mark on the franchise. To bad he chickened out just as things were getting good. Silly bastage! Hopefully this Tennant character will do just as good a job next season.


So far the reality show Supergroup rocks. The main theme of the show seems to be the other musicians have to work around Sebastian Bach's temper tantrums and tirades. This week's episode will have bassist, Evan Seinfeld (possibly related to Jerry according to urban legend) bach-slapping (he he, funny play on words) Sebastian. Can't wait.

I'm finally getting up the energy to put together another game of Call of Cthulhu, a horror based RPG that takes place in H.P. Lovecraft's 1920's Cthulhu mythology. My players have been getting quite restless since it's been over a year since I last ran a game. I'm workin' on it! I'm workin' on it!

Ya know, I'm not gunna link this one up. You guys are net savy. If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, Google it, fercrissakes!

Until next time, keep your feet in the ground, your hearts to the stars and whatever the heck else sounds incredibly cliche and cheesy.

See ya!

Zangz.

Three Day Weekend, folks.... Hoist 'em!

Another week come and gone and we're into a 3 day weekend! Whahooo!

On to the nerd stuff.

I promised you all a review of The DaVinci Code, which myself along with a few family members went to go see last weekend. First and foremost I have to mention that most of the critics were a bit nasty with their reviews for the movie. It is far from being a horrible movie as they would like you to think. It's actually quite enjoyable, especially if you've read the book. Keep in mind, most critics are bitter old turds who have little respect for anything that's not in black and white or in a foreign language.

For those of you with your heads in the sand, The DaVinci Code is a movie strongly based on the pulp, thriller novel by Dan Brown which is sort of a treasure hunt for the "Holy Grail" (except there's no Nazis or Sean Connery or fedora wearing thrill seekers). In Mr. Brown's novel, "the Holy Grail" is not the cup from which Jesus drank from at the last supper. It is Mary Magdalene who, according to Brown and many conspiracy therorists, was Jesus' wife from whom he bore a daughter. This has, of course, created an uproar among the religiously fanatical. Who can actually envision Jesus gettin' jiggy with it? Ewwww.

I'm not going to debate the possiblility of the whole "Jesus was married" debacle except to say that we do have to keep in mind that the Bible has been written and re-written many a time throughout both ancient and medieval times. So who knows what is true and what is story from it.

The film follows the book quite closely, changing a few small things here and there. It's still a very interesting piece of cinema. Especially if you've had the chance to read through the book. I'm not a quick reader. It usually take me a month to trudge through a novel. But The DaVinci Code took me two weeks. It was a slick, quick, fun read. Nothing less, nothing more. If you've read the book, the movie's plot moves a little quicker for you. If not, I can see where one might be a little lost at times and the plot may slow down for you.

There's some great things about this movie. Paul Bettany does a great job as the twisted albino assassin, Silas. The settings and cinematography are wonderful at capturing both the beauty and creepiness of Paris. Audrey Tautou is quite adorable and Ian McKellen walks away with this movie. Tom Hanks is good with what little his character is given. Jean Reno is always enjoyable as he is here. There are no horrible performances as critics suggest. Ron "OpieRichyCunningham" Howard does a fine job with the task of translating a somewhat confusing book into a movie.

I don't think there was anything I was horrificly disappointed with in this film. There was only one plot hole that I had a problem with. If you don't want to know the ending of the movie read past the darkness, if you've seen the movie or read the book or don't give a frell highlight to read....

Once Tom Hank's character realizes where the tomb of Mary Magdalene is hidden, it is not fully explained why it is where it is. The ending reveals that the tomb is buried under the Louve art museum. This may make a few people who haven't read the book more than confused on how it ended up there. The filmmakers forgot to point out the fact that the architect who designed the newer glass pyramid entrance to the Louve was a member of a secret sect who vowed to not only protect the sarcophagus of Mary Magdalene, but also keep it's hiding place a secret. That fact might have helped explain the fact of how it ended up at the Louve.

So, while not an extraordinary movie, it's still worth checking out. There are some good locations, performances and intrigue to check this movie out.

I'm hoping to see X-Men: The Last Stand this weekend. I've heard both very good and horrific things about it. Since sadly, this is supposedly the last one of the series (a mere three films in what could be a plethora of movies), I'm hoping that it does the franchise some form of justice since the first two were pretty friggin' awesome!


Two of my favorite shows had their season finales this week. I find myself having to wait a few months before I have some answers to the cliffhangers I was left with from both Lost and "24".

"24" ended with the main character captured by a Government he cheesed off last season. And Lost left a few main characters in a nasty situation while, at the same time, leaving us viewers scratching our heads, trying to figure out how the last scene was at all relevant to what is/was going on in the plot. I wouldn't expect anything less from both programs.

Personally I'm finding myself drawn more toward Lost than "24". "24" has been excellent the last few seasons, but I find it using a few of the same plot devices each season. There's always a mole among the heroes. There's always someone who has no clue as to what is going on taking charge. It's getting a tad stale. Both my friends Mr. Salty and Spanky think that this was the best season ever, I disagree. I felt that last season (2005) was a snot better. Just a small bugger, mind you. Not a full Kleenex sized one. I loved the way that this season started with killing a boat load of main characters (though, I'll my lonely geek sensabilities will miss the character of Michelle Dressler dearly). Other wise the season was good, but not fantastic.

Another problem I had was there was no sign of "Mini Skit Mandy", our Boba Fett of "24". The mysterious terrorist who pops in from season to season was nowhere to be seen. FRELL!!!!

The only problem I have with Lost is that it presents questions that are never answered. Weren't there polar bears on the island at one time? Well, what the frell happened to them? Wasn't there some sort of tree smashing, floating form of smoke that was thrashing about the island? What was that supposed to be and where did it disappear to? Now that Libby is dead, will we ever find out why she was at the same nut house that Hurrley was? If none of what I'm talking about makes any sense to you, then you need to awaken yourself and get the DVD of the first season of Lost and then when the second season comes out on DVD get that too. It's well worth it. Even though few questions are answered, it's still like crack-cocaine. Great TV!


I found out this week that a good friend of mine who's in the Navy Reserves is being sent to the middle east at the end of July. He'll be there for a year and a half (WTF?????). No matter how anyone feels about our country's involvement in this war, you have to give serious props to those that serve our country and put their lives on the line in the name of freedom and democracy. I can tell you that this friend is a good hearted person and every bit the patriot as he can be and is proud to serve our country. Be sure that your hearts and minds are with our past and present troops this Memorial Day weekend.


Since the idiots at the Sci-Fi channel decided not to show an episode of Dr. Who tonight (WTF????), I'm off to have a cigar. Enjoy the 3 day weekend and remember what and who it stands for. Be sure to hoist a few for those that both currently and have served us! Whether you side with the Dixie Twits or the likes of Rush Bimbo, shouldn't matter. Hoist 'em anyway!

I'm outta here.

Zangz.

This blog is such a waste of space, I don't even have a title for it......

I know. I missed a couple of weeks there, but, believe it or not, I actually get to slink out of my den of dorkiness and tare myself away from the Xbox and PS2 and actually have somewhat of a social life on the weekends.... once in a while.

I had a cookout or two to attend. And far be it from me to pass up food, beer and some good ol' trash talking. Yep. Another game of Munchkin was played. This time out I had my keister handed to me on a platter, much to the sadistic joy of my friends. Well, you can't win 'em all. Actually I can hardly win any. I think I've won twice in the 4 or 5 years that we've been playing. Though, I really enjoy the game, I pretty much blow at it. Go figure. At least there was no bloodshed, tears or broken furniture this time around. Well, that may not be entirely true as I though I saw a small, wet glimmer run down the cheek of our buddy Peej.


Can you believe it's been a full year since some friends and I were waiting outside, in line for the midnight showing of Ep.III. Time really does fly when you get older. Feels like it was just a few months ago that we were out in the cold, wet air salivating for a decent prequel movie. Well, we sure got it! It was THE BEST of the prequels as well as one of the best in the whole Star Wars saga. You can read my blog from that time here (Scroll down to "The Morning After"). Enjoy reliving the pure geek rapture that is the opening of a Star Wars movie!


I recently headed into my local used video game store and came out with the action RPG X-Men: Legends. So far, what I've played I've enjoyed, but it certainly hasn't knocked me off my rocker as it has for many video game magazine reviewers. It's a good solid action RPG that delves into team play and is all about smacking around bad guys while using your team's mutant powers and combos to thwart Magneto's evil mutants. If you've read the comics or seen the movies you'll probably get far more out of it than the casual player.

One of the things that bugs me a bit about the game is the fact that your team uses up a ton of health packs early on. You'll find yourself down to 1 health package between 4 characters with a number of nasty fights looming around the corner and no other health packs to be found anywhere. Oh, there's an abundance of energy packs all over the place, but when you desperately need some serious health, there are none to be found. If one of your characters die, it will cost you credits (money) to resurrect them. Which brings me to my other gripe, although there's a lot of credit tolkens to be found, they don't add up to much. At least not enough to let you buy a decent item you may need to purchase back at headquarters.

I'm finding the trick to getting stronger characters in this game is not necessarily taking them out in the field one mission after the next, it's having them practice in the war room constantly. This way they level up, receive credits, health packs and can practice combo maneuvers and other things that get our geek blood boiling. I'll let you know my final thoughts once I finish the game. Hopefully it will be a better X-men experience than the upcoming movie is rumored to be.

I'm also replaying another action RPG that I had borrowed to my friend Roberto a year or so ago. I forgot that I had it. Since I got it back I've been tooling around in the world of Everquest in Champions of Norrath. Basically, it's the EXACT same gameplay as the two Baulder's Gate games that are on the PS2. So, though it's nothing new or innovative, it allows me to waste a couple of hours in a hack 'n 'slash frenzy. Ya gotta love that!


Tomorrow me and some of the family will be heading to the movie theater to check out The DaVinci Code. I read the book and loved it. Bitter critics are chewing it up in the reviews. But, I've heard that if you've read the book, you'll understand more of what's going on in the movie. If you haven't, it could be a bit long winded and boring for you. Either way the whole controversy the subject matter has seemed to drum up is quite amusing to watch.

I'll let you know how I liked it.


Oh yeh. Tomorrow is the start of a new reality show that I just have to check out. Supergroup will air on VH1 and features Sabastian Bach of Skid Row fame, Ted Nugent, Evan Seinfeld of Biohazard, Jason Bonham of the band Bonham and son of Led Zep's John Bonham, and my personal fave, Scott Ian of Anthrax. They all get put into a house in Vegas for a week or so and have to write, record and perform live a couple of original songs. They call themselves Damnocracy! All of them are very strong personalities. All of them are very opinionated. Some of them are drinkers. Some of them are alpha male, right wing gun nuts (well, maybe one of them. Guess who?) Some of them have VERY short fuses............ Someone's gunna die.

I love both Scott Ian and Ted Nugent (Uncle Ted). Neither of them are very shy about saying what's on their minds and what their beliefs are. Both are politically polar opposites. Hopefully we'll have a little Hannity and Combs session with the two.

Though I admire Uncle Ted for the fact that he doesn't back down from his beliefs and tends to cheese of more than a few of those that are fanatically on the left wing (actually, he probably cheeses off a few of those on the far right as well..... all the more reason to like the guy), I was quite disappointed by his all out lack of respect when recently commenting on the late, great Darrell Abott. Shame on you Ted. (Actually, I should watch what I write. Ted is actualy in town here at a big ass gun show as I type this! I don't think he reads geekd out blogs though.).

That's gunna have to be another edition of my Blog of Geekdom for now. Until next time, Geek out, mutha truckers!

Zangz.

Evil Card Games, a Haunt in Peril and some Star Wars Stuff.....

Ya know, there's nothing like getting together with a group of friends and playing a less than friendly card game of Munchkin. If you've never played it before, it's a competitive card game that is based on the properties of a role playing game, yet has all the facets of an Enron scandal. The game encourages backstabbing, cheating, maliciousness, stealing, placing curses on your opponents and turning unspeakable monsters on them just when they think they're at their hour of triumph. I'm sure the game is responsible for divorces, jail time and a few secret holy wars in small countries.

Last night I enjoyed a game or two of Munchkin. My opponents tried to make me their whippin' boy but I found myself victorious, much to the chagrin of those that scorned me. I left my friends' home that evening with a "Don't let the door hit your keister on the way out!" farewell from one friend while another swore slow, painful revenge upon me.

Munchkin....... Good times.... good times.

So that's why you didn't see a weekly, Friday night post up on my Blog of Geekdom yesterday. I was out losing friends. The reason I didn't post something last week was due to sheer laziness. I apologize for the slackosity.

Now on to more stuff.....

It's looking less and less likely that my favorite Haunted Attraction, Terror on Rural Street, will make it's resurrection this coming Halloween. Sadly, the people who ran it, volunteered on it and built it have segregated into two factions.

"Group A" are accusing "Group B" of showing a lack of support in the Haunt, creating rumors and drama and tarnishing the name of Terror on Rural Street within the community. So "Group A" have decided to shut down the operation completely and screw over the charities, public, fans and Haunt enthusiasts that have visited the Haunt for the last several years.

"Group B"who may have not been as active in the Haunt as they should have been, are suddenly crying out and feel that they weren't given a fair shake or a fair say in the emotionally charged decision to toss the whole project into the garbage.

"Group B" wants to use the organization's remaining funds to re-boot Terror on Rural Street and start a new.

"Group A" wants to give away the remaining fundage to charities. Recently they have been using the money to pay their lawyers to keep Terror on Rural Street and the cash away from "Group B".

Oh what a pathetic, sad, tangled web we weave. It's so disappointing when ego and inaptitude ruin something so creative and fun. Personally, I say that "Group A" are being a bit egotistical and selfish about the whole thing. And though "Group B" want to continue on the tradition, it sounds like they don't want to put in 100%.

The best thing that could happen is that both groups mediate with one another, make up, work out their issues and continue on Terror on Rural Street (TORS) so everybody wins. But, something tells me that egos have been too bruised and ruined for that to happen.

The next best thing that can happen is that "Group A" deflates its ego, and gives "Group B" the funds to start up a new TORS. And that "Group B" actually puts in the time, initiative, professionalism and maturity to not only keep it going, but make it every bit as big of a success as it has been, if not more.

I loved TORS and it was a Haunt I hit every season. Last year there was a big void in my Halloween without it. It would be nice to see it continue.


In other news....

My friend, Mr. Salty informed me recently about Lucas Arts plans for a possible video game where you play as Darth Vader. It may take place shortly after the events in Ep.III unfold. They've been on a winning streak when it comes to SW video games for the past few years. If they continue to play their cards right and give the game a first person perspective where you get to hunt down other Force users during the purge of the Jedi using whole slew of Dark Force powers, this could be big hit! Hopefully they won't give Vader the cheap-o-reapo treatment that they gave Boba Fett and Obi-Wan in their previous titles.

In other SW news, it's official, SOLO SHOT FIRST!!!!!!! Yep. Lucas has finally relented and will release the very ORIGINAL first trilogy unaltered on DVD this September. You will be able to view the original trilogy as they were when they were first released in the late 70's and early 80's. We will once again be able to see the bad ass that Han Solo was when he blew away Greedo in the cantina. Not the PC version where Greedo shoots first and misses... at point blank range.

Well it's Saturday and I think I'm going to go and do some cleaning, organizing and other constructive things..... or maybe I'll just play Gauntlet: Legends all day on the ol' PS2.

"Blue Knight needs food!"
"What a gallant effort!"

Talk to you later.

Zangz.

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

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

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

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

Now on to something else....

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

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

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

We'll all see you then.
Zangz.

Villainy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'm Zangz and I'm outta here.

Town without Pity / World without Pitney

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

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

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

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

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

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



On to the geekiness......

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mazzletov!!!!

Take care.

Zangz.