Death of the Undead and then Dead Again.

Howdy all.

I totally zoned out and forgot to mention some musical notations in my last post, so here we go...

There's a bit of sad news concerning a local band that I've fallowed for a few years. The Psychobilly band, Psychomania have officially called it a day. I talked with the one known as Vince Claw and he said that there were some "creative differences" concerning if they should drink the blood of victims before the victims die or right after. Then there was the whole argument of when you spill the virgin's blood into the middle of the pentagram that's drawn on the floor with the chalk made from bones of the departed, do you summon a demon from the fifth level of hell, or the 6th? None of them were on the same page with that quandary either so they split and returned to their respected graves. It would be nice to seem them do some sort of reunion show some cold, dark Halloween. Who knows. This band was way too twisted to break up! Further proof that there is no god.


Now in better music news concerning dark, spooky music! My favorite band, Type-O-Negative, have posted the track listing to their upcoming opus, 77 minutes of pure dark and twisted joy, Dead Again. It goes as follows.....

1. Dead Again
2. Tripping a Blind Man
3. The Profits of Doom
4. September Sun
5. Halloween in Heaven (with Lycia's Tara VanFlower)
6. These Three Things
7. She Burned Me Down
8. Some Stupid Tomorrow
9. An Ode to Locksmiths
10. Hail and Farewell to Britain

I can't wait to hear Halloween in Heaven! These guys are underrated and brilliant and I'm counting the days 'till March 13th when it hits stores. Whether they believe it or not, they've yet to disappoint!


You want to hear how my luck works? Not 10 minutes ago, I swear to friggin God (the one that hates me.) there was a ring at my apartment door. Not the buzzer from the lobby! The one from the actual door to my Vault of Geekdom! I answer it and there, standing before me, is a very cute brunette in a cute skirt and high heels holding, and I shat you not, a six pack of micro brews. It was suddenly like god decided to give this poor sod a shot of decent luck.

Then it all came to a quick and sharp end as the girl looked at me quizzically and then looked at the apartment number and said sheepishly, "Oh... I'm sorry I have the wrong floor. I'm so, so sorry!" She wasn't the only one!!!! I told her that it was ok and that I, myself, have spent twenty some odd minutes trying to make my key work in the lock of the wrong floor apartment before I noticed I was on the wrong floor, but my humor must have eluded her as she jumped onto the elevator and walked right the hell outta my life.

Frack You, God! You cruel bastage!!!!!




In one last note, you'll be happy to know that the latest episode of Zangz's Pod of Geekdom is up and running. This episode is about bringing comics books to the big screen. Enjoy if you can.


That's all I can think of now. Until next time, stay vertical!

Zangz.

Lost in Oblivion

I know it's been a bit of a stretch between posts. I apologize for that, but I've been immersed in the Xbox 360 game Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The thing is so vast end endless, I may never blog again. Well... that's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it?

To quickly update you on what's going on in Zangzville....

I finally got up enough courage to activate that dating service present that friends so wonderfully and sadistically gave me. We'll see what transpires, but don't expect me spill any details about it here until, possibly, this whole experiment goes through it's natural paces. I don't kiss and tell. I mostly rub and flounder (whateverthehellthatmeans?)


There's been a bit of a lull in my podcasts also. There's been some technical issues that needed resolving. It looks like it could be "a go" for this upcoming week. Check back then.


It's closing in on my birthday and to tell you the truth, I still feel as though I'm in my 20's rather than my mid to late 30's. See, folks, if you play video games as well as collect action figures well into your adulthood, you'll feel as young at heart as I do. You may never get to date anyone ever again, but you'll die alone feeling young at heart. So, there you go.


The people over at New Line Cinema are still being a bunch of dorklings about the Hobbit movies. One of the head honchos is still forbidding Peter Jackson from having anything to do with the project(s) since the Jackson camp filed a grievance about the payment procedure New Line used to pay him (i.e. they hosed him out of some of the fundage from the Lord of the Rings movies). So this head nimrod has issued a statement proclaiming that Jackson will be kept away from the Hobbit project. Let's face it, folks, here's how the formula works...

Hobbit movies - Petter Jackson = severe suckage! 'Nuff Said.


Here's a quickie "Get Well" wish for my good friend Roberto. Roberto had some surgery done where surgeons replaced the left side of his brain with his knee cap... or something to do with one of his knees... I'm not quite sure what it was, exactly, but the source of the problem had something to do with some drinking and a staircase that could have been better navigated whilst sober. So we here at the Blog of Geekdom wish him well and a very speedy recovery.


I'm done for the evening. And I'm not gunna link anything this time. Look at past blogs you lazy bastages.

I'm off to Oblivion.

Zangz.

First Lame Babble of 2007.

Whew, what a frackin' week it's been! Lots of stuff to deal with at work. For a four day week it's been pretty hectic. I'm glad it's over for now. But, of course, Monday shall come with a vengeance! Well, poo on Monday!

My good friend Roberto, who you may have heard if you've ever bothered to check out my podcast HERE, has complained that there has been a recent absence of a post at my blog. So both he (and a few bottles of bock beer) have influenced me to post something up here tonight.


So what does a geek like me, who isn't a Brad Pitt or a Donald Trump, do when some close friends get him a free 3 month subscription to an on-line dating service for Xmas? I'll tell you what he does. He dives into the dark abyss of rejection and immanent failure with reckless abandon! That's what he does. What do you have to lose outside of dignity and hope? Both are so frellin' overrated, aren't they? We'll see what happens. This could get ugly.


Is anyone else out there sick and tired of these horrific (not in the good way) remakes of classic horror movies? Anyone see the remake for The Fog? It blew! The Amityville Horror? Not that great. But there is one horror remake that looks slightly promising! Halloween! Now, I know that the movie Halloween is sacred ground for many a horror movie fan and that any studio that wants to remake it is bound to frell it up completely. But let's take into consideration who's going to be at the helm of this project. Rob Zombie. Who better to give a bit of reimagineering magic to this classic than a true fan of the horror genre itself? It sounds as though he's not going to try and pull a new revamped look for Michael Myers either. He wants his mask to look as original as the spray painted white William Shatner mask they used in the original flick.

They have Malcom McDowell playing the part of Doctor Loomis and Tyler Mane as Michael Myers. We'll see how this progresses. Please, Rob, don't let the studio screw up one of the greatest horror movies of all time! I know you have a love and respect for this movie. Don't let the sudio dweebs ruin it for you!


And finally, Lucas, Ford and Spielberg are getting off of their butts and have a set shooting schedule for Indiana Jones: 4! They'll start shooting in the summer of this year for a summer of 2008 release date. I'm really hoping that this one can contain the same magic that the last three possessed! People are questioning if a not-too-young Ford (Ford is older than Connery was when Connery played his father) is really going to be able to pull it all off as the resourcefull Dr. Jones. Hasn't anybody heard of Lucas owned ILM? They can pull off many miracles. And if I were going home at the end of the day to Callsita Flockhart, I'd be able to pull of many wacky stunts well into my 60's!


Oh, by the way, I did pull a full weekend go Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivioon on the Xbox 360 last weekend. It's like crack!

That's all I got in me for today, kids. I'm plum tuckered out and need to get in a few rounds of Perfect Dark Zero in on my '360 before hitting the sack. Thanks fer lettin' me borrow this puppy, Roberto!


'Till next time, have a good one!

Zangz.

The Fat Man Does Good by Zangz!

Well, I guess I have to eat a bit crow here. My last post was quite the rant about how Xmas bites it hard as a holiday and how I'm not much of a Xmas kind of guy and that getting an Xbox 360 out of relatives was looking like nothing more than a pipe dream. There was also that smarmy comment about the band Stryper looking like a bunch of bumble bees.

I admit it. I was in quite the Ebeneezer Scrooge mode and must apologize to those of you who might hold the holidays near and dear to your hearts (and also to the throng of outraged Stryper fans). For I was visited by three ghosts on Xmas eve who all reminded me what the true meaning of the holiday should mean to me......

Getting a bunch of money for an Xbox 360!!!! That's right kids, the "Family Donation Xmas Fund to Buy Zangz and Xbox 360 Foundation" came through in a pinch and come this weekend, I'll be playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in a zombie-like addictive game mode type of vibe. Ahhh... ya just got to love Xmas.

Other good news that has come upon this holiday is that my favorite band, Type-O-Negative, have moved up the date of their next recording opus (Tentatively titled: Dead Again) from their original date of the 7th of Never to the 13th of March! It may take them a while to record an album, but once it comes out it is worth the wait! I'll be looking forward to that.

More fun news.....

You may have noticed a slight change here and there to the format of this blog. Blogger.com has upgraded their system so I took advantage of it and added / revamped some of the things you see in the column to the right of this blog. Nothing too crazy, but you'll notice that as you read these blogs, I'll be ever present, watching you. My eye's shall be burning into your skulls, consuming all your thoughts, loves, hatreds and dreams. Bwahhahahahahaha!!!!!!

Well, I'm going to continue to enjoy my day off and bum around a bit. Hopefully I'll jump back in here before the end of 2006. If not, make sure you have a great and safe new year!

Zangz.

Fa La La La La...La La La.. Blahhhh!

Here we are, knee deep into the holiday "cheer", just a scant amount of days before ol' fat-ass leaps down the chimney and regales all the good boys and girls with loads and loads of gifts galore. Then there will be the kids tearing apart their gifts while at the same time screaming at the top of their lungs and running around in a sugar induced sense of spastic hysteria.Ahhh... Xmas.

Lets face it folks, Xmas is strictly for two types of people... 1) The people who are wealthy enough to not have to worry about Xmas doing serious damage to their financial stability, and 2) The church going faithful. Now, I'm certainly not Donald Trump and I haven't been to church in years, unless you want to count funerals, baptisms etc. So pardon me if Xmas isn't exactly that big on my list. As you all should know, I'm a Halloween man myself. And I'm still coming down off of that high. Also, the prospect of getting an Xbox 360 for Xmas this year looks bleaker and bleaker. So basically, some spoiled little bastage, who's father is probably some corporate leader and is responsible for a bunch of lay-offs this Xmas season, is living in Yuppieville and will be getting his video game counsel and stocking full of games and ol' Zangz will be sitting there with a bunch of new socks. Grumble Grumble Grumble......

I know, I know. There is a "reason for the season" as I recall the 80's hair band Stryper used to sing (hey, didn't they dress like bumble bees?). Let's just say I won't go into some diatribe on my personal religious beliefs and leave it at that.

Call me a Grinch or a Scrooge all you want, but at the end of the day Xmas just blows! It allows those that are blissfully happy to be even happier and those that are down in the dumps, lonely and financially strapped to feel like pure crapolla. 'Nuff said!

So what good things do I have to say about this time of year?

• I am happy to say that all my Xmas shopping is done and over. Now all I have to worry about is wrapping the buggers. I am quite pathetic at this. Relatives and friends know when they've gotten a gift from Zangz as the wrapping is all disjointed, catywhompus and half-assed. Hey, I do my best!

• I have also been able to take a couple of days off to unwind from a busy couple of work weeks. So I'm laying back, doing my blog here on a Friday afternoon after sleeping most of the morning away. This afternoon I'll wrap gifts while watching one of the Lord of the Rings movies.

• One of my favorite beer companies has come out with a winter lager that is always quite scrumptious this time of season.

• There's going to be a holiday party coming up that I annually attend that should be a rollicking good time. There's going to be a chance to auction off cruddy Xmas gifts we receive with play money we win at contests throughout the evening. Which is great since I'll have a ton of socks to unload.

I'm going to have to get going now as I've been trying to publish this post at the same time, apparently, that Blogger is doing some sort of work on it's server and going from a beta version of this website to a final version and I'm having all kinds of problems posting this friggin' thing. Hopefully they'll get their act together and I'll be back for more grumbling at a latter time.

God I hate Xmas!!!!

Zangz McScrooge.

A Lil' Something for the Stocking.

Since were closing in to that holiday when a big fat creepy old guy breaks into our homes puts presants under the tree then sneaks up to our bedrooms and watches us while we sleep, fighting his every urge to put his hands around our necks and start to squeeze.......

Ok, maybe I've gotten off the topic here and am skating on some twisted ice, I'll get to the point. Here's a pre-Xmas gift for you all..... the newest post of Zangz's Pod of Geekdom Podcast. This one is a big clue as to what to get that special geek in your lives.... if you have a pants load of cash to spend on him/her. The next generation of video game counsels that have hit the store shelves. Roberto DelAmorte joins me again as we review the Xbox 360, Wii and PS3. You can find it by clicking HERE!

I'm hoping to pop in here right before the Holidays and post about.... sumthin'. We'll talk soon!

Zangz.

It's Up!!!!!

The latest edtition of Zangz's Pod of Geekdom is up and posted right HERE!

As I've mentioned before this post revolves around a review of the latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale. It gets pretty interesting as I have special guest, my friend Spanky, on to help me review the movie. I hope you enjoy it!

I have to go and gawk at Ali Larter on Heros right now.

See ya.

Zangz.

Tossing the Twenty Sider in the Star Wars Universe

Last Saturday I had the tri-monthly joy of hanging out at Castle De Baleywah (That's Mad Mario and Hope's apartment) with a group of friends for a gaming session with the Star Wars Role Playing Game. Our gamemaster, Mad Mario, always comes up with thrilling fun filled scenarios with lots of twists, turns, action and nasty villains to do battle with.

Everybody always brings lots of grub to shovel in our craws as we roll the dice, take hit points off our character and babble on about the latest episodes of Dr. Who and Battlestar Galactica or how frackin' excellent the new James Bond movie is.

Things usually take a turn for the bizarre once we start to crack open the mass quantities of different beers that we've brought to the game. This usually leads to flying off the beat and path of where Mad Mario was originally aiming the scenario to go the way he had meticulously planned it out. In the end everyone always has a darn fine time of it all! After the 4 to 9 hour gaming session we usually relax and talk about.. well... episodes of Dr. Who and Battlestar Galactica or how frackin' excellent the new James Bond movie is.

Since I've mentioned a few times before in these blogs about the character I play (Jodz Burdoz) in the game, I will not bore you with it again. Suffice it to say, he's a rogue-like captain of a smuggling vessel called The Naughtier Vixen that has a crewload of odd characters all going on missions that get them into some form of intergalactic and political intrigue.

I've decided to post a recent recap of one of the last scenario that Mad Mario ran. And the neat thing is that it's in his own words as he emailed us all a recap of the game. So without further yammering on, here's Mad Mario.......

A few notes.

M

Notes for the Star Wars scenario:

" Cargo and merchandise "

Reaching the Bastion space station #56 in the pursuit of the criminal Kamino geneticist Saji and the Ogres, the crew of the Naughty Vixen discovered very quickly two things. One that the Kamino and the Ogres were not the only residents on the space station.

A small ionic signal coming from a ship moored at the lowest point under the station. A ship called the Hounds Tooth belonging to the nefarious Trandoshan Bounty Hunter Bossk.

And two...

A powerful energy emission was detected on board the station as well which was mysteriously duplicated moments after they arrived in the system.

Managing to physically connect secretly to the Hound's Tooth they soon learned that the second emission was their friend D who decided to make his appearance and help funnel the Ogres who were near the generator and the lowest part of the station.

But when D arrived on the station the “ other “ D arrived on board the Vixen. Learning now that there were two of them and this one seems to be some kind of elder the crew moved quick. But somehow D got left behind after he funneled the Ogres on board the cargo hold of the Houdns Tooth and learned that his father has now entered the Star Wars universe with the intention of destroying it.

With the Wokiee and the cargo now on board the bounty hunters ship and the good D now making it to the Naughtier Vixen the heroes headed back to Coruscant.

However Quarren Mercenaries hired by the Trade Federation were waiting in ambush and before they could land they were attacked by not only the Quarren but a hidden forty Vulture droids. Immediately they broke out of the Corsucant system. Buzz near the Hoth system and Jodz to regions unknown.

Deciding that Rigal-7 would be a good place to meet after Buzz left the Ogres in cryogenic freeze thanks to some heavy cash being sent to a band of smugglers on the ice world; Jodz fell into a bit of a trap with three killer Twi'Lek mercenaries named Bambi, Thumper and Rose. Who were looking to hold him hostage.

While waiting for the Wookiee and managing to get out of the killer hot tub with his new friends they decided to lay low for a while.

But as things go, nothing stays calm forever.

Intoxicated with a mind enhancing beverage the Bothan somehow accidentally obtained an encrypted series of commands that look as if they originated from the computer of the Supreme Chancellor himself. An executive order that is somehow transmitted through a very sophisticated network. Technology that is highly advanced much like the Kamino.

Reaching Rigal the Wookiee thought he'd give Rose a try in the Fiore sandpitt and when it went well, the Trandoshian crashed into the wrestling pit Squib gun blasting. Desperately trying to save their friend, the Bothan was all but killed as well as Jodz himself.

When the rest of them arrived the battered Wookiee was gone.

Burnt blasted and wounded after his fight against the trio, A grisly end was intended for our heroic Wookiee Buzz as Bossk dragged him back to his recently acquired ship; but a timely intervention by the Twi'Lek Mari changed that and when Bossk went for his gun; the Twi'Lek cop shot him through the head.

Now resting in their personalised Bacta tanks the heroes ponder these new series of events.

Look for the crew of the Naughtier Vixen returning January 2007 in: " Ogres on Ice "

Now, that may not have made any sense to anybody, I still thought I'd be fun to show all of you reading this how friggin' intricate Mad Mario's games get. Pretty frackin' cool isn't it?


Real quickly I wanted to mention that I saw Casino Royale for the second time last weekend dragging my family. They all loved it. Both my Mom and sister, Dizzy Lizzy, thought Daniel Craig was very sexy.

Speaking of Casino Royale, keep a watch on my podcasts for the next installment of Zangz's Pod of Geekdom where my opinionated friend, Spanky, will guest star and we'll go at it reviewing the movie. It should be up soon!

This afternoon I think I'm going to watch one of the Lord of the Rings films while this evening I'll be indulging myself with a game of Munchkin with friends.

On that note, I'm getting some lunch in me. Take care.

Zangz.

Two posts in under 24 hours!

God, do I spoil you people, or what?

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


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

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

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


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

ZANGZ'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT:

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

Enjoy the rest of your Turkey Day.

Zangz.

The Reckoning of the Shire.

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

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

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

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

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

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


On to more pleasant avenues.....

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


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


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


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


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

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

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

Zangz.