These are just a few quick and generic spot illustrations for Fat Possum Records.

This are a few finished drawings from a process book that I created a concept for. It's a mash-up of Godzilla, Canadiana, Calvin and Hobbes, and The Power Rangers.

Here's the antagonist baseball card to pair with Scotty Smalls. Both cards relate to characters in the movie The Sandlot.

-Scott

You see, the problem is - no one is certain that anyone else's credit is worth the paper it is printed on. Now the Fed will "guarantee" that paper so that companies will lend again. There will be no more fears that the company on the paper will go belly-up because we, the people (and our children and grand children) will cover if there is a default.

Another fine bailout - brought to you by Socializilla.

Socializilla - the friendly government dinosaur from the 19th and 20th centuries. The big (obese, actually) green mutated bastard is just trying to be a good, friendly neighbor and is here to help.

Keep your hands away from his mouth, as he can devour an entire paycheck, business sector or inner city with his helpful social policy.

Harryhausen...the father of Kaiju? You bet!

Before there was a certain nuclear Japanese giant lizard, there was a burgeoning monster boom happening in Hollywood. With the great success in the U.S. of early monster films featuring Ray Harryhausen's ground breaking stop motion techniques, Iwao Mori, the big time producer for TOHO studios, set forth to make Japan's entry into the giant monster film arena.

The first draft for TOHO's  monster film was called "The Giant Monster from 20,000 Miles beneath the Sea", hmm...maybe a little too close to the title of Harryhausen's 1953 "Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" . Despite the obvious title similarities and influence, TOHO's beast would eventually morph into the most well known monster of all...Gojira!

...and keep a man named Eiji Tsuburaya busy for quite some time.

Why do I bring up Harryhausen today???  Because today is the release of a few choice Harryhausen monster films on Blu-Ray. I am excited about this because I love these films and grew up watching them...forging my passion for all things monsters! I've seen these films sooo many times that seeing them in HD is for me...well...Exciting!

If you don't have a Blu-Ray player, get one if you can...it's only a matter of time before we'll see Japanese kaiju eiga classics appearing in Blu format. If you like films as much as I do, the HD experience is really worth checking out. So what if a recession is coming...bailout shmailout...we may not be able to afford food or gas, but at least you'll have movies in HD, right???

Oh Yeah...

The Cyclops at the top is new for the Kaiju Art Collection. I used the 2001 X-Plus 12" figure from my collection for the photograph. Cyclops is from Harryhausen's wonderful "7th Voyage of Sinbad" Click Here to see a larger verion. I hope you like it!!!

Oh yeah. There are yellow jackets as well. Tons of 'em. They built a nest the entire length of the chimney on our house. That's pretty sizable friends.

Hell, lets just throw in the black mold, radon, John McCain as president, imminent doom of a nuclear holocaust and call it a day. That would really be something to fear there.

I don't fear death. Painful death, some violation of my sanctity, sure, fear-worthy. Most people out there, regardless, still have some strange fear of dying. I think that it is due to this idea of legacy instilled in us. We must accomplish great feats be remembered.

Lets face it: you're just an average fuckhole.

You aren't going to be shit in your lifetime. If you're lucky you'll own a house, have a wonderful, loving spouse, a basket or two of beautiful children---and maybe make it to 40 without wanting to blow your head off. They'll be the legacy, that's for sure. Maybe your idiotic progeny will do something really great, like cure cancer, invent the impossible, save the world. Not.

Someone made an argument earlier in my days about how abortion probably killed off so many Einsteins; there's a sock to the gut! Let me do some calculations here... worthless douschebags in America... that has to be around 99%... so... factor that against the total number of aborted fetuses...

It doesn't matter how wealthy you are, smart you are, sanitary you are, beautiful you are, whatever you are: you're still a fucking douschebag. I guarantee that you, whoever you are, actually think that you know something about the world. And you don't. You don't know anything.

Everything around you is propped up on a lie.
This will take me years of explanation.

You see that screen in front of you? All those thousands of pixels? Do you know how it works? No? I'll go fetch an engineer. He'll explain to you something about liquid crystals, the amazing Internet, how a processor is a series of switches, electricity, blah blah blah. I don't even know myself how this "writing browsing magical porn music thing" works but it does. And he'll tell you exactly that.

What you need to do then is ask him, "Is this real?" He will say yes, that this thing is crafted from material.. matter, yah know? Then you need to ask him to prove it; prove to you that it is real. He will probably provide you with a wide variety of instruments to test its reality, but these will become subject to intense examination as well. Your rationality will fall apart with no sound anything to base your affirmations on. An infinite regress of hows and whys.

Ex. A proves B.
Well what proves A?
Z does.
As for Z
X and Y prove Z.
The what about X and Y.
No solid ground.
Not everything can be proven.*

"Well surely you must see them of feel them!" You will surely see and feel them, like, taste, smell, think about them. Then even your senses will be questionable. Have you ever had a dream before? One that you could've sworn was true; it was so real. You probably have. Your mind is programmed to go to autopilot on "reality." Given that, you won't be able to prove that everything around you is real, or that even you are real. You could just be having a really, realistic dream. Maybe you're God having the perfect dream.

Or maybe God just wants to delude you, and has provided you with this grand hallucination.

Who fucking knows.
I just know that you can't be that damn sure of your self.
Even my rant here, and my understanding of reality (or lack thereof), is based upon principles that I cannot prove.
I have doubt.
Oh the great Skeptic.
And I have
"I think therefore I am," or even "I err therefore I am."
If I'm right, I'm thinking. If I'm wrong.. still thinking right?

I'm conscious. As for the rest of you, who knows.
Probably just delusions or robots.

*This is where "faith" comes in. In order to measure, we must have a instrument to guide us. Some kind of beginning.. this is where most peoples' belief in God comes from. There must be a beginning, and God was just that. Well who created God? Its just as reasonable to assume that the universe has always been there. This is straying from the point though.

All of us have faith in something. I have faith that this keyboard that I'm typing on is real. I have faith in this supposed physical reality. If not, how could I reasonably interact without always second-guessing myself? At any given moment I might just fall through the floor, and end up in an alternative universe; I don't know.

We must all assume something to be real to build our foundation of knowledge off of. We have to make it real, even though we can never know if it really truly is.

I guess my point is that you don't know anything; but you must still pretend to know something to function in the world. So pick your start; and pick it wisely, so you don't make an ass out of yourself.

Especially don't fill the internet with poorly sequenced arguments.

"We must act now to protect our nation's economic health from serious risk," Bush said at a White House press conference.

Nancy Pelosi said last week that "it has to happen."

Okay, it happened.  Now what?

The "market" took an excrement to open the week.   That is some "thank you".

Truth be told, this is exactly what everyone involved in the passage deserves.  No hearings on the best solution to the alleged "crisis" were ever held.  No chance to review and debate priorities.  Just - NOW, FAST, HURRY - or we'll face some unimaginable calamity.

Well Monday came and went (a couple of Mondays, actually) and we are still here, perhaps with a few more years of work and savings to retirement, but we are still here.  The market still tanked.  Why?

Eurpoean market dives and bank failures over there reminded everyone that this is a "global crisis". 

Global - my rear end. 

We are now told that we were never told that this legislation would be a "panacea".

Good job Government.  Thanks for the box marked "guaranteed" on it.  We now know what is in the box - and based on the smell, I'm glad we didn't step in it.

This is a crisis of confidence in the USA.  Our government's fiscal policies makes less sense than one of those old Japanese monster movies.  The only difference is, no one ever defeats the US government "monster" known only as "Sociali-zilla".  Socializilla is a well meaning monster than gobbles up our bank accounts and inadvertently destroys our inner cities and industries with its droppings (regulations).   It snuffs out our ability to compete with others throughout the world because it accidentally stomps its big feet all over our cash-flow with taxation and well-meaning regulations.

Socializilla keeps getting bigger and bigger and then is more destructive to our cities than Godzilla on a rampage through Tokyo.

The latest DC Folly is a bailout or a rescue or whatever you choose to call it. 

I call it the "Irrational Stabilization Act of 2008".  No rational person could think that having more rules and programs by the same fools that made the old rules and programs could help us out of the current mess.  The government must make us continue to have confidence in them - however irrational that might be - in order to maintain a sense of stability in the markets.

Therefore, it is now to be referred to as only the ISA.

Just don't look at the DOW or your IRA/401K or your paychecks any time in the next few months.  The facts may get in the way of Big Brother's fiction.

In each 2-4 minute capsule review, Rolfe cuts to the moments of each installment's maximum silliness or smackdown awesomeness. See Godzilla in a 70's psychedelic head trip with hallucinations and a monster made of poo! See -- no, seriously, see -- Godzilla dancing an Irish jig for no discernible purpose! (I hope someone makes that last one into an animated .gif.)

This is all geektastic fun in itself, but Rolfe also adds cultural context and back-story trivia that movie nerds will love. For instance, I knew that "Godzilla" is an Anglification of the Japanese word Gojira, but didn't know that that's a mash-up for "gorilla" and "whale" -- or that it was originally the nickname of a thick-thighed Toho employee. Rolfe tracks down the urban legend that there are alternate endings for King Kong vs. Godzilla (as the "American" monster, Kong supposedly loses to the local favorite in the version that played in Japan), or the even stranger rumor that in the German version, it turns out Dr. Frankenstein made the monsters.

On the downside, Rolfe's tone is uneven, flitting between monster geek cinephile and ironic cultural commentator. Considering the source material, there's ample room for Rolfe to scale higher heights of weirdness, but he usually passes, as he's too busy digging crushed pagodas and man-in-suit wrestling. So it's not up there with MSTK 3000's take on Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. Still, it's ideal lunchbreak viewing if you're in need of a quick Godzilla fix -- and really, who isn't?

My wife had a doctor's appointment this morning, and I went along to watch our 2 1/2 yr old during her appointment.

Fortunately, the office had a little basket of kid toys - some children's books, random action figures - that kind of thing. Of course, N heads straight for the Duplo train set and starts laying out the tracks, finds all the trains and blocks and builds a little train set. (Have I mentioned that he likes trains?)

He also pulls out the Godzilla doll. Now, as far as I know, he's never seen Godzilla before. I taught him the word, and it was fun to watch him try to pick it up, using the word a few times to be sure he got it right.

Anyway, for the next 15 min. or so he just played with the train, restacking the blocks on the different cars, changing around the drivers. And then he picked up Godzilla again.

And started knocking over the train with him.

I'd reset the train on the tracks, and Godzilla would knock them down again. Again - N had never seen Godzilla before, and certainly had never seen him on TV or as far as I know seen other kids playing with one.

What is it about Godzilla that just demands that he start rampaging through whatever metropolis (or Doctor's office) he's in?

Godzilla wasn't able to make it to the festival itself, but he did celebrate by making a kite. He's pretty crafty so he could have made a really complicated one, but he decided to go simple with this round and use the pattern from Big Wind Kite Factory in Moloka'i, Hawai'i. [This is designed as a classroom project for younger kids, and if you pre-cut the string and use a hole-punch you can avoid scissors altogether. The original instructions have more detail, but no giant lizards.]

To start, Godzilla took an ordinary piece of paper. The original design was for an 8½"×11" piece of paper, but he used a slightly heavier construction paper because it had subtle glitter built in. Godzilla may be a monster, but he appreciates a good glitter paper.

He sat down and folded it in half width-wise. Apparently this is called a hamburger fold (as opposed to a hot dog fold, which is when you fold it so that it becomes long and skinny, like a hot dog bun).

The fold is on the right-hand side of the paper (on Godzilla's left). He folded a slight diagonal near that side of the paper. This formed the spine of the kite.

Then Godzilla unfolded it and admired the result.

He taped the fold together, because taping is fun.

The directions at this point say to tape an 8" dowel across the top. But cooking skewers are a lot cheaper, and he already had those in the cupboard because Godzilla is a bit of a gourmet chef.

This would cause a problem with kids -- not just the length, but the fact that it's a pointy object that would become a weapon in about 3 seconds if given to (our) kids. If this were done with children, I'd recommend chopping the end off to size before starting the whole kite-making. Godzilla, however, had a more unique way of making sure the stick was the right length:

The next step was to attach the string (unless you want to have a paper airplane. Our 8-year old did test it at this point, and it made fancy moves but didn't really fly very far....). You can use scissors, a hole punch, or your talons to make a hole in the spine to tie the string.

Now, in theory, you attach a tail. Godzilla skipped the tail part because he was afraid if he took any more time this blog post would never get written, and he went straight to the flying. Fortunately there was a nice stiff breeze in the living room -- just look how well his kite flies!

Edited 10/6 to add: I meant to mention that I used this kite design in an Inquiry workshop for teachers this summer.   Since you can vary it (or other kite designs) pretty easily -- using different weights of paper, changing the fold, adding weights -- it's a great opportunity for kids to create their own experiments to find out which kite flies the longest, the highest, etc.  That's Godzilla:  helping science students everywhere!

En pleno siglo XXI, la reputación de los big baits como herramientas para la captura de grandes predadores es indiscutible. El dinosaurio mutante "Gojira" ( Godzilla) es fruto del cruce entre un gorira 'gorila' y una kujira  'ballena'. Resultado: una bestia enorme de origen prehistórico y radioactivo. Ishida Godzilla es el nuevo swimbait blando cargado de poder, fuerza, realismo, con un tamaño, textura y aptitudes acuáticas diseñadas para la captura de grandes peces. No te confundas acerca de este señuelo monstruo: ¡pesca de piezas de trofeo!.

Haz 'click' sobre la imagen siguiente para poder verla a mayor tamaño:

Ver Tabla de Colores del Ishida Godzilla Swimbait

Enlaces:

¿Cuándo Emplear Big Baits?

Técnicas para Swimbaits

El Oscuro Arte de Pescar Grandes Basses

Swimbaitología

Chupa Chumino y Tha Guan Tao son el más famoso duo musical de rumba pop samurai en Japón: Farlopa.

El brillo de sus discos de oro se ha visto eclipsado por la repentina aparición de un grupo de macarrillas de Cornellá en el mercado asiático: Estopa. Tha Guan Tao, lider de Farlopa, ha caido en una profunda depresión que le ha llevado a ingerir alrededor de 15 rollitos de primavera en sus desayunos diarios y su hermano ha desarrollado un biceps del tamaño de un melón y no precisamente de rasgar la guitarrita. La salud de ambos se ha visto seriamente perjudicada por el estrés que les ha supuesto descubrir cómo sus grandes éxitos, sus cortes de pelo y hasta su nombre artístico han sido vilmente copiados, cual camisetas de basket de Gasol sacadas de un polígono textil en Fuenlabrada. "Sí, nos han plagiado todo tipo de jits... Nuestro primer éxito "Mazinger Love" lo convirtieron en "La Raja de tu Falda"... Cuando vayamos a España les vamos a hacer un Wuaka!". Por su parte, Estopa, no han querido hacer declaraciones a este blog y han cancelado la gira que iban a realizar por restaurantes chinos con ocasión del lanzamiento de su último material en el mercado nipón. "Mejor!, esos macarras no saben lo que es capaz de hacer la mafia china aparte de montar tiendas de todo a un euro y vender rosas en las discotecas... Si esto continúa así les enviamos un par de ninjas montados en un toro de la ganadería Godzilla. De esos que aparecen de repente de una nube de humo y te joden el show cargandose al público con estrellitas ninja." Seguiremos informando.

Are you surprised by these things?  Wait just a little while my friends and you shall see MUCH more disturbing sights...

Last seen at 3000 feet heading NNE.  Reward offered.

GalacticFederationofLight.org

Following directly from this summer's eponymous underrated film, actually the pilot for the TV series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars will debut tonight at 9 PM in the US on Cartoon Network (and in two days in Canada on CTV, and on the 25th in the UK on Sky Movies Premiere). It is set between Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith, and more precisely between episodes 21 and 22 of the previous 2D Clone Wars series.

Judging from its movie pilot, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is actually a really high quality show if you don't forget what it's supposed to be, which is something aimed primarily towards kids. It should be compared to other spin-off cartoons such as the Godzilla and Mummy ones, which it easily surpasses, but it still focuses mostly on action and childish humor.

You musn't forget that Lucasfilm wasn't trying for a perfect likeness of live-action when making this and thus, that the look is very intentional, not a result of "making something on the cheap" as the quality of the animation is actually top-notch.

So once again, this is a worthwhile watch if you enjoy the Star Wars universe and understand what that this is a show for kids first and foremost. The first season will consist of 22 episodes, and more than a hundred are planned for the series' full run. Official description follows after the jump.

Delving into an all-new adventure every week, Star Wars: The Clone Wars provides a high-spirited and richly expanded look into the Star Wars universe. In just the first few episodes, viewers will see the broad scope of the series, through characters and stories only touched upon in the live-action films.

"This is an enormously vast galaxy, and the Clone Wars affect almost every corner of it," explained Dave Filoni, supervising director. "We can finally show the adventure, heroism, treachery and intrigue that was happening throughout the conflict. Now that Star Wars is no longer constrained by the Skywalker saga, the possibilities are as limitless as the universe itself. I'm excited to take fans into aspects of Star Wars that haven't yet been explored on-screen."

Told in half-hour chapters, the weekly format gives Filoni and Lucasfilm Animation an opportunity to focus more intensely on individual aspects of the Star Wars Saga -- from the epic space battles and dynamic lightsaber duels to the noble philosophies of the Jedi Knights. At the same time, Filoni said, Star Wars: The Clone Wars will uncover new adventures and fresh perspectives on classic Star Wars conventions.

Among the stories explored in the first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars:

• Jedi Master Plo Koon -- a character barely glimpsed in the feature films -- rises to prominence as he discovers a mysterious threat that could cause immense destruction -- and the evil secret behind it.
• Ambushed by Ventress and her droid army, Jedi Master Yoda teaches his clone companions that the Force touches all living things and that hope is never lost.
• On a distant planetary outpost, a squadron of rookie clone troopers find themselves struggling to survive and also learn the meaning of sacrifice.
• The Bothan home planet of Bothawui, never before seen on screen, comes to the forefront as a heroic ally falls prey to the sinister plot of General Grievous, and his friends must fight to rescue him.
• Senator Padmé Amidala faces a life-threatening showdown with her nemesis, Separatist Viceroy Nute Gunray, the victim of ultimate deception by the leader of a desperate planet.

"The Clone Wars are a time of enormous struggle and also great heroism," Filoni said. "As a longtime Star Wars fan, it is exciting to be able to bring these stories to life, stories we've only wondered about. We're going to learn just why the Clone Wars become the stuff of legend in the Star Wars galaxy."

Star Wars: The Clone Wars debuts on Cartoon Network Friday, Oct. 3, at 9 pm. (ET/PT).

Planetary é uma das séries mais interessantes já publicadas, não só pelo seu enredo em si, mas como também pelas inúmeras referências injetadas por Warren Ellis na obra. Conforme combinado na semana passada a partir dessa semana apresentaremos as histórias de Planetary, separadas por edição. A partir de agora você poderá ver o que foi publicado em cada uma das edições: personagens, referências, homenagens diretas ou indiretas e um breve resumo de cada capítulo desta história.

Boa leitura.

All over the world

A primeira edição de Planetary começa exatamente com o recrutamento de Elijah, que é convidado por Jakita para participar da organização. Lá Snow descobre que todo o financiamento da organização é feito por um homem conhecido apenas como o Quarto Homem, cuja verdadeira identidade é desconhecida. Tão logo Elijah é apresentado ao Baterista à equipe parte em sua primeira missão, um complexo secreto em Adirondacks onde somos apresentados ao Doutor Axel Brass e ao “Floco de neve”, a representação física do multiverso, ou melhor, um portal para outras dimensões, criado por Axel e seus companheiros na década de 40. Nesta edição é contada a história de Axel Brass, sua equipe e sua luta para impedir uma invasão extra-dimensional de uma equipe de heróis que vê o Floco de neve como um vetor para destruição de sua própria dimensão.

Comentário: O legal nessa edição é identificar às homenagens a era de ouro e prata dos quadrinhos que Ellis faz. Doc Brass, por exemplo, é a representação de Doc Savage, um herói criado na década de 30. Doc Savage era um físico, médico, cientista, inventor, pesquisador e aventureiro nas horas vagas, que tinha poderes quase sobre-humanos, treinado desde criança nas artes marciais e possuía ainda memória fotográfica. Foi um sucesso nas publicações de super heróis. Além de Doc Savage Ellis homenageia personagens como Tarzan e Fu Manchu, além da própria Liga da Justiça (repare nos heróis que invadem nossa realidade).

Island

Nesta edição a equipe de Planetary é enviada a misteriosa Ilha Zero, no arquipélago japonês, para resgatar um grupo de fanáticos, que chegou ao local sem permissão. Mas porque as pessoas precisariam de permissão para ir até a Ilha Zero? Simples, o local está repleto de esqueletos de monstros gigantescos. Os monstros teriam aparecido na Ilha após Hiroshima ter sido atingida pela bomba atômica. Elijah, Jakita e o Baterista têm que encontrar os invasores da Ilha Zero e tentar retirá-los com segurança da ilha, que é patrulhada por uma milícia, cuja missão é impedir a humanidade de descobrir a existência da Ilha Zero.

Comentário: Island é uma homenagem aos filmes de monstro japoneses. Os esqueletos das criaturas que aparecem na Ilha são baseados em monstros que aparecerão nos filmes de Godzilla. Entre os monstros que aparecem nesta história estão:

- Mothra: Uma mariposa gigante que apareceu em alguns filmes de Godzilla e ganhou seu próprio filme em 1961.

- Ghidorah – um monstro de três cabeças é o segundo esqueleto a ser avistado na ilha. Ghidorah foi um dos maiores vilões dos filmes japoneses

- Godzilla: o grande ícone dos filmes “monstruosos” também aparece nesta edição e tem sua carcaça visitada pela seita que invade a ilha.

- Rodan: um híbrido entre dinossauro e dragão. Rodan é o monstro que aparece voando sobre a ilha ao final da edição.         

Dead Gunfighters

Uma das histórias mais bacanas da série. Dead Gunfighters tem sua trama ambientada em Hong Kong e os primeiros quadros já dão o tom cinematográfico da história que nos apresenta o policial fantasma Shek Chi-Wai. Nas páginas iniciais o policial detém uma gangue em quadros dignos dos filmes de John Woo, perseguição de carros, vidros quebrados e ação em câmera lenta. Toda a ação é observada pelos três integrantes de Planetary, que estão investigando o caso. Ao longo desta edição descobrimos que o policial foi assassinado em uma emboscada e procura por vingança. 

Comentários: Shek Chi-Wai não é o primeiro policial fantasma das histórias em quadrinhos. O mais famoso personagem nesse estilo é o Espectro, herói da DC Comics, mas a Dark Horse também já entrou nesta seara de fantasmas armados sedentos pro vingança com a sinuosa Ghost, personagem criada por Eric Luke.

Strange harbours 

Em Strange harbours somos apresentados a Jim Wilder, investigador particular que trabalha para Anna Hark, filha de um dos parceiros de Doc Brass, apresentado na primeira edição e líder de um império multinacional. Jim Wilder investiga um atentado terrorista contra um dos edifícios da corporação Hark, que foi explodido por uma organização chamada Floco de Neve. Durante a investigação Wilder se depara com um crime em andamento e sai em perseguição ao assaltante. Durante a perseguição Wilder acaba entrando no local da explosão, onde a equipe de Planetary está estudando um misterioso objeto. Wilder toca acidentalmente o objeto e desaparece, para surgir, segundos depois, inconsciente com uma cicatriz gigantesca no peito. Ao despertar Wilder é interrogado por Jakita e Elijah, que descobrem que o objeto transformou Jim Wilder num super humano.

 Comentário: Strange harbours introduz novos personagens e faz uma alusão ao Capitão Marvel, famoso herói da DC Comics. Que, após um encontro com um mago, acaba recebendo super poderes. Contudo em Planetary o mago é substituído por uma nave alienígena. Ellis deixa a referência ainda mais clara ao colocar a cicatriz no peito de Wilder no formato de um raio.              

The good doctor 

Em “O bom doutor” reencontramos Axel Brass, o médico resgatado em Planetary 1. Nesta edição Doc Brass e Elijah Snow passam uma tarde sentados a grama conversando sobre a vida, o tempo e a passagem dele, inclusive descobrimos que Axel e Elijah nasceram na mesma data, 01/01/1900 e sobre a corporação Hark. Ao final da conversa descobrimos que Snow e Brass têm muito mais em comum do que imaginamos. É uma edição sem muita ação, mas apresenta Ellis em um dos momentos primorosos de Planetary.

Comentários: Nesta edição Axel e Snow mencionam Jenny Sparks, personagem de Authority. Brass também fala sobre uma luta contra alienígenas que na verdade são os Demonitas, arquiinimigos dos WildC.A.T.S, grupo de heróis também pertencentes à Wildstorm. A capa de The good doctor também faz alusão às capas de Doc Savage, inclusive na tipologia e arte utilizada.

It’s a strange world

 Nesta edição descobrimos que uma expedição de astronautas alemães, fez uma viagem espacial durante a guerra fria, em 1961, antes dos americanos irem ao espaço com as missões Apolo. Através do Baterista, que narra a história para Snow, ficamos sabendo que nessa viagem ocorreu um acidente que transformou os quatro astronautas alemães em super-humanos. Nesta edição os agentes de Planetary confrontam William Leather, um dos quatro astronautas que agora possui poderes flamejantes. Misteriosamente Leather parece já conhecer Elijah. 

Comentários: O principal foco dessa edição são os quatro astronautas e sua transformação após o acidente. Ellis faz aqui uma homenagem ao Quarteto Fantástico da Marvel, onde quatro pessoas passam pela mesma situação. Mas enquanto os personagens da Marvel decidem ser heróis, os Quatro em Planetary na verdade são os vilões da história. William Leather seria o equivalente a Johnny Storm, o Tocha-Humana.

To Be in England, in the Summertime

 Um pouco do passado de Jakita Wagner é contado nesta edição, mais especificamente seu relacionamento com Jack Carter um mestre nas artes místicas que vivia na Inglaterra. Logo no início da edição acompanhamos a equipe de Planetary indo até o funeral de Carter. Descobrimos que o baterista pode reconhecer também sinais de magia e o trio segue investigando a morte de Carter e adentrando a vida do mesmo, através de uma história contada por Jakita.

 Comentários: Jack Carter é John Constantine cuspido e escarrado. Nesta edição, desde a capa, Ellis trata do universo sombrio, místico e perturbador de Hellblazer, publicação do selo Vertigo. No funeral de Jack Carter temos várias homenagens como à série Monstro do Pântano de Alan Moore, Sandman e outros personagens.

The day the Earth turned slower

 A história desta edição começa nos apresentado a presença radiante de Allison. Uma mulher que foi vítima de experimentos científicos na década de 60, em uma estação de pesquisa conhecida como Science City Zero. Os agentes de Planetary encontram a mulher, justamente para investigar o que sobrou da estação científica e ouvem o relato das experiências que transformaram pessoas em aberrações. O trio descobre que na estação científica Allison foi morta e ressuscitada pelos cientistas e tornou-se uma forma de vida radioativa desde então, com prazo para expirar em cinqüenta anos. A mulher conta que resolveu denunciar as atrocidades cometidas no local para se redimir e redimir a memória de todos que foram torturados naquele local.

Comentário: Essa edição homenageia os filmes antigos de ficção científica. O próprio título da história faz referência ao filme “O dia em que a terra parou”, que narra o ataque de alienígenas. Além deste filme na capa e na própria história Ellis apresenta uma mulher gigante que é inspirada no filme “A mulher gigante”, de 1958 que foi refilmado em 1993 trazendo Daryl Hannah no papel da protagonista.

Planet Fiction 

Quais são os segredos do passado da organização Planetary? Quando Elijah foi recrutado foi informado de que os agentes de campo sempre agiram em trio, mas quem era o predecessor de Snow? Nesta edição conhecemos a história de Ambrose Chase, um homem com o poder de criar uma espécie de campo de força e de controlar o tempo. Descobrimos que Ambrose é um dos sobreviventes da estação científica Science City Zero e que Chase foi morto em uma missão enfrentando uma organização comandada pelos Quatro.

Comentário: Ambrose Chase parece ser o líder de campo do Planetary antes de Snow entrar na equipe e usa vestes brancas iguais as de Snow. Esta edição lança apenas algumas pistas a respeito da identidade secreta do financiador e mentor do Planetary, Fourth Man.

Magic and Loss

 Logo no início da edição nos deparamos com Elijah Snow está no laboratório dos Quatro, que foi descoberto na edição número seis da série, e são mostrados ao leitor alguns itens familiares entre os leitores da DC Comics. Em um canto vemos amontoados uma bateria de energia, uma capa, braceletes de ouro e uma capa. Descobrimos então a origem dos objetos. Uma criança alienígena é enviada a terra para escapar da destruição de um mundo. Um alienígena recebe uma fonte de energia para patrulhar o universo. E uma amazona é enviada ao mundo dos homens para compartilhar seus conhecimento e sua tecnologia. Entretanto estes heróis têm destinos trágicos na história, destinos orquestrados pelos Quatro.

Comentário: Uma homenagem a três dos personagens clássicos da DC Comics: Super-Homem, Lanterna Verde e Mulher- Maravilha. Ellis subverte as origens dos personagens e mostra o que aconteceria se os heróis tivessem chego a um mundo secretamente dominado pelo mal, que evita de qualquer forma o surgimento de uma oposição ao status quo.

Cold World

Nesta edição Elijah Snow está à procura de respostas e ele as terá a qualquer custo. A história começa com um flashback de um novo personagem John Stone, um agente secreto, enfrentando uma organização criminosa liderada por mulher que se denomina a Noiva. Neste flashback vemos o primeiro encontro de John e Elijah em 1969. A história avança no futuro e Snow e Stone se encontram novamente. Dessa vez o membro do Planetary está atrás de respostas a respeito de sua organização, pois desconfia de seus companheiros. Quando Stone cita o Guia Planetary de 1931, a conversa com Stone traz a tona memórias bloqueadas de Elijah que então afirma saber a verdadeira identidade do mentor do Planetary.

Comentário: A história de Cold World é um típico cenário de agentes secretos, no melhor estilo 007, com intrigas, traições, e vilãs gostosas. Entretanto John Stone lembra Nick Fury, o líder da maior organização secreta da Marvel, a S.H.I.E.L.D. Isso se Nick Fury tivesse a elegância de um James Bond. John Stone é um personagem importante na série e voltará a aparecer no caminho de Elijah.

Memory cloud

 Memory cloud é a edição decisiva onde finalmente descobrimos o passado de Elijah Snow e os mistérios que envolvem Planetary, inclusive o protagonista descobre a identidade do mentor da equipe. Nesta edição Elijah coloca seus colegas de equipe contra a parede, depois do encontro com John Stone que revelou alguns segredos que haviam sido apagados da memória do protagonista. Após uma conversa esclarecedora é declarada a guerra contra os Quatro.

Comentário: Memory cloud encerra o primeiro arco de histórias de Planetary – o segundo arco encerra na edição 26. Aqui vemos Ellis ligar com maestria os acontecimentos citados até agora e lança um novo desafio para a equipe. Voltar as suas origens e enfrentar, declaradamente os vilões da história que até o momento tiveram apenas um papel importante, porém de coadjuvantes na história.

Por enquanto é só. Na próxima semana apresentaremos no BNBlog o segundo arco de histórias e o confronto final dos membros de Planetary com Os Quatro, que promete abalar as estruturas do mundo. Qual o objetivo secreto dos Quatro e como a equipe de Planetary enfrentará os vilões a partir de agora?

Zita Johann chorou de tanto rir ao ler este Post

Passo, sempre que acho que tenho algo importante para postar, uma hora - eu disse UMA HORA! - olhando para essa "folha em branco". É, eu realmente não tenho nada para postar - Nothing to Say, como aquela canção dos Kinks - mas mesmo assim sinto uma necessidade muito estranha e homossexual (vocês sabem que foi uma piada) de dissertar sobre o nada.

Bem, esse papo de "ahh eu não sou criativo ahh vou postar vídeos engraçadinhos ahh sou analfabeto" é tão construtivo quanto eu sou simpático. Eu não sou simpático.

Nesse momento, enquanto eu estou pensando em escrever coisas de qualidade para que os meus estimados leitores gostem e indiquem para os seus amiguxos - cristãos e saldáveis -  , lembro que não tenho compromisso nenhum com vocês, já que vocês NÃO EXISTEM!

Então vamos às noticias:

À algum tempo atrás, não a muito tempo nem numa galáxia muito distante, foi colocado um anuncio de um possível "jogo que até os pingüins podem jogar", seguido de uma imagem de um muito distinto representante dessas aves, no site da Prope, estúdio de Yuji Naka (um dos criadores da série Sonic). Muito se especulou sobre o tal jogo, que estaria sendo produzido em conjunto com a Sega, e nesse presente-passado do pretérito perfeito, foi anunciado do que se trata o tal.

Let's Tap (óbviamente "Vamos 'Batucar' - na minha livre tradução) não se trata de um jogo onde o jogador (quem sabe um pingüim) tem que batucar na mesa do bar acompanhando o samba, enquanto toma um mé. Let's Tap é um jogo de, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS, minigames para o tão mal visto e mal falado Wii. O seu nome vem da forma como ele será jogado: não será preciso nem tocar no wiimote. Este será colocado em cima de uma caixa e o jogador (quem sabe um pingüim) terá que "batucar" nessa (a caixa) e o wiimote, o controle em forma de falo mais amado por 9 em 10 garotas no mundo, detectaria essas vibrações. Uma boa pedida para você usar aquelas caixas de papelão que vivem ocupando espaço em suas casas, já que vocês não as dão para aqueles mendigos que as vende. E o jogo já vem com DUAS CAIXAS DE PAPELÃO! Fotos do tal lá no NowLoading, já que estou com preguiça de linkar tudo D:

Me parece interessante, além de altamente amarelo.

Nerdatualização: Saiu o trailer, aqui. Acho que é só...

Falando nas coisas da turmixa do sol nascente:

Vocês já devem ter visto mas vou postar mesmo assim: versões "fodamente" polonesas de pôsteres japoneses dos filmes do Godzilla, lá do Nipofilia.com . Isso já havia sido feito, aqui, mais com os filmes do (mestre) Kurosawa.

Ninguém faz versões alternativas de pôsteres como os polonesês, mas acho que eu devo ter roubado esse comentár...

Amanhã vamos gravar o Adjacente Cast número 01, que deveria ser o 02. O que gravamos semana passada "melou", como vocês podem ver aqui. Tudo bem, ficou uma merda mesmo... espero que dê tudo certo dessa vez [...]

Los grandes predadores, no tienen problema en atacar presas de gran tamaño. Al contrario; en ocasiones un big-bait puede despertar el interes de los mayores lucios y basses. Una larga porción de alimento que requiere emplear poca energía para ser capturada supone demasiada tentación como para ser pasada por alto. Por esa razón, Ishida ha creado el nuevo Swimbait Godzilla...

¿ Cuándo emplear ' Big Baits ' ?

• En condiciones de aguas frías, cuando los sentidos de los predadores de sangre fría están disminuidos. En estas circunstancias, como durante determinados momentos del invierno, colores como el " J.G. Lunker Secret " están especialmente recomendados.
• Los días de viento o con las aguas algo movidas.
• En condiciones de escasa luminosidad, como a primera y última hora del día.
• Con aguas algo tomadas, un señuelo grande vibra mas intensamente y emite ondas de presión que son mas fácilmente detectadas por los predadores.
• Los días de gran actividad, para discriminar ataques de ejemplares menores.
• Cuando las presas naturales del bass sean de buen tamaño. Con buena visibilidad y aguas claras procura imitar el color de los peces de los que se alimentan los predadores. Para ello Ishida ha incluido varios colores traslucidos como el ' Alburno Illusion Spain ', super eficaces en estas circunstancias.
• Siempre y cuando quieras atraer la atención de los mayores predadores que nadan en una masa de agua. Emplea colores estimulantes con este objetivo.

No lo olvides: el gran Godzillasaurio mutado ‘ King of the Big Baits ' sembrará el terror entre los grandes basses y esox…

Enlaces:

Swimbaitología

Butch Brown: Récord de Bass a Swimbait

The Hollywood strip was a biz of a zoo - what with all the excited tourists clicking away furiously at talented "Celebrity Impersonators" performing impromptu on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame" - and a long line of curious gawkers forming a line across the street for a taping of the Jimmy Kimmel Show.

So, the opening-night jitters of a handful of popular filmmakers stirred up the pot a bit.

In spite of the fact director Roland Emmerich  rolled out a string of big ticket hits in recent years - "Godzilla", "Independence Day", "The Day After Tomorrow" - a negative pre-show buzz  hinted that the new offering might fizzle at the box office once the word leaked out.

Shortly after the curtain fell - a large part of the under-thirty audience settled in  - for what I thought was a bit of a celluloid disappointment.

The plot - what there was of it - was rather thin.

In the opening scenes a witch doctor has a "vision" about a prophecy which summarily comes to pass.

Before you can say - "plot twist" - a young woman with penetrating "blue eyes" (spoken of in a legend) is snatched up from their midst by a warring tribe from a land beyond the Great Mountain at the "eye of the snake".

Yeah, it's all pretty mysterious mystical stuff!

Our young hero - played by Steven Strait (no idea whether he is or not) - gathers up a handful of the tribe's best to track 'em with the ultimate aim of returning the woman with the soulful eyes to their village safe.

Along the way the savages encounter intriguing tribes of various stripes and persuasions in far-flung regions of the globe that have yet to be explored and mapped for future posterity.

During these entertaining segments, the popcorn crowd is riveted to their seats, as the myriad quirks and ancient rituals of these mysterious peoples unfold in captivating enthralling ways.

The cinematography is lush.

Subsequently, the images touch and hold the theatre-going public in their magical thrall, and are heightened by a stirring soundtrack at times reminiscent of one that resonated so hauntingly in the "The Gladiator".

Unfortunately, Mr. Strait looked like he was dropped into the prehistoric past straight out of suburbia, replete with muscled bod sculpted at Gold's Gym.

Unfortunately - he lacked the acting chops and basic prerequisite screen persona to carry the project - primitive or not.

In contrast, the supporting players were fairly capable, and succeeded admirably in their characterizations where the lead player failed.

The special effects were DYNAMITE!

10,000 B.C. is really much ado about nothing - but fun, nonetheless - to journey along for the ride with the Encino Man.

There are 53 stages of the game which take you through extremely similar urban, canyon, countryside, and cave environments. Although the urban areas are almost exactly the same, they are completely destructible. After completing some levels, the entire city will be nothing but rubble and debris. Just about every mission is the same, you're dropped into an area and you must kill everything that isn't from this planet. Enemies spawn in a few different ways. They can be on the level already, they can be dropped from "mother ships" or walking fortresses, or they can come out of hives that they dug in the ground.  You are just fight a few giant ants here and there, no, you're fighting maybe 2-300 giant ants or spiders at a time. Their shear numbers are very overwhelming and if you aren't careful you can be surrounded and killed quickly. It can be intense seeing hundreds of bus sized ants charging at you on the horizon but its extremely satisfying when you fire a rocket into the fray and ants are tossed into the sky.

One of the main aspects of the game is the weapons. There are approximately 156 guns, most of which are just more powerful versions of the last one. There are different classes of guns: Machinegun, shotgun, sniper rifle, rockets, grenades, and special. The guns are randomly dropped from enemies so it's not easy getting all of them. A lot of times i found myself focusing on the gun drops more than the enemies and got myself killed (although you still get everything that you picked up in the level if you die). I can't really say there is a "best" weapon in the game because some weapons are better for different enemies. Snipers are good for taking out the giant robots and explosives or machine guns are good for swarms of ants. There are special weapons which are things like sentry guns, mines, and lasers.  Some levels are set up perfectly for "farming" weapons from enemies. One in particular you have to destroy large holes in the ground where spiders endlessly spawn. All you have to do is stand next to the hole, and when the spiders spawn you just kill them as they come out. After about 30 minutes of that, destroy the hole and there will be a ton of weapon drops lay there. The weapons are scaled the difficulty you are playing on so you won't get any good weapons unless you are playing the harder settings.

There are 5 difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, Hard, Hardest, and Inferno. When you start a new game, you basically have to start on easy or normal because you start out with very low health and very crappy weapons. So after you complete the easier settings you have the right equipment to move on. Thankfully they put 2 player co-op in the game because Hardest and Inferno are insane. My friend and I beat it on Hardest but Inferno is just too much. We had the most powerful weapons in the game but some stages were just too much. (I think we have maybe 5 left to do but they are just too frustrating so we stopped.)

Overall i this is a good game. I definitely recommend this game but it's best played with a friend because alone it just becomes monotonous. The lack of content and variety in this game is its main flaw. It could've been such an awesome game if they had just made a few more giant aliens. I would love to have fought a giant centipede or a giant moth or any other giant bug/robot for that matter. Also the achievements are pretty lame. You get them for beating the different difficulties so there are only 5 achievements to get. But for a $20 price tag i guess i can't complain and the hours of fun it brought my friends and I, i say you should at least buy it used. I give it a 6.5 out of 10.

(I actually had some trouble finding this game since it didn't hit the mainstream. But thankfully there are more gamestops where i live than there are Starbucks so i just searched each one. Other might not be so lucky in finding it.)

-Jim

Don't try to salvage giant alien robots, because Terror of Mechagodzilla is

The Greatest Movie EVER!

Review in a Nutshell: The final entry in the 'Showa' Godzilla series, Terror of Mechagodzilla boasts the return of Ishiro Honda and a darker, more somber tone than many previous films.  The seriousness is a bit of a mismatch with the silver jumpsuits and the fan-blade butt dinosaurs.

This movie contains:

Mad Scientists.

Cyborg Technology!

Astromen from Outer Space.

ROBOT DINOSAURS.

The neelster calls ass.

Everyone knows this is the Japanese revenge plot for Hiroshima and Nagasaki and pretty soon Godzilla will be called to New York to eat stockbrokers and their ilk; because Godzilla loves eating custom tailored suits and man purses.  Maybe that's not funny enough but everyone knows that the Japanese are the only ones with the magic flute that summons Mothra.  In other words...the US is fucked and the hollywood liberal elite will be moving to Canada.  Hopefully, they can take the b-list celebrities with them because we're all sick of the grotesque sight of Kathy anywhere near our flat screen tvs.  She may cause cancer in high definition; that's my hypothesis...I'm not testing it.

But in happier news.  Hey fucktards...Buy stocks now.  Make money or let me make money.  I love making money for a click through my etrade account.  I would like to thank the American taxchumps for greasing my wheels the last week.  On the day of the AIG fubar I bought that shitty stock (they're a bunch of retards).  I divested completely on monday from a combination of hooters, starbucks, and the beach and doubled my mula.  Fun stuff.  That moola is going to the bank to get turned into 1's; then straight to the strip club(s) to make it "rain on dem hos" (courtesy of some random douchebag).   Mwahahahha capitalism rules.  Now that all stocks are devalued to crap (maybe more so by the end of the week) my long term positions mean I might own a couple of companies by the 4th quarter...um...maybe not.  Domme arigato Mitsui!