Happy New Year!

Family, friends, work, and the recent holidays have kept me busy and away from blogging, so I wanted to spend this quick free time to wish everyone a prosperous and healthy New Year!

Here's some quick tidbits on my hobbies and interests during the time I couldn't post here:

Comics: I am seriously behind in my comic reading since about October(?), and the only book I read on a timely basis is 52. I've even cut my visits to my LCS from weekly to bi-weekly. With the major holidays behind us, I'm hoping to go back to my regular Wednesday visits.

Movies and Television: I haven't been to the theaters much, and the only movies I've seen at the theater since the summer were Rocky Balboa and The Good Shepherd! I have been watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD, and have finished the first season, and I am currently about halfway through the second.

Music: I'm listening more to Netcasts (Sorry, the "P" word has been personally banned...) than music recently. I got a whole bunch of CDs for cheap before Tower Records closed down, so when I have the time, I'll rip those to .mp3. Speaking of MP3, My MP3 player went on the fritz, and I can only listen out of the right headset at the moment...

Gaming: Games I've played recently: MtG, WoW, Nightfall, EQ2, Star Trek: Encounters, Dyansty Warriors 3, Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows, Pirates CSG Online, Titan Quest, and Puzzle Pirates. Games I've dropped recently: WoW, EQ2, and Titan Quest. Games I've come back to recently: Pirates CSG, HeroScape, and EVE: Online (a three year break on this one!). I've been giving serious consideration in buying a XBox 360 within the next several months. Gears of War looks seriously wicked!

Again, I would like to wish everyone a happy new year, and may your casual time be spent with lots of fun!

8^B

Guild Wars Nightfall Funnies

I've been spending more time having a blast with Nightfall. The wide open spaces, the heroes, the quests and missions, and the humor. The humor?!? Yup, ArenaNet seem to be a lighthearted bunch of folks (God bless 'em for that!) who like to sprinkle their games with "easter egg" pop culture references or little bits of quirky humor. Part of the fun of playing with the Guild Wars series is finding these little snippets. Here's a few I found this weekend:


I found this Inscription on a focus item and had to salvage it. If you're a fan of the Seinfeld TV series you'll catch this reference.


Another Inscription, it'll be hard to find anyone who doesn't know this reference to the scene between Cuba Gooding Jr. and Tom Cruise from Jerry Maguire.


I received a quest to rescue one of my heroes who was captured by the enemy. I LOL when I read the description for the quest rejection option!


Ok, I wasn't really playing for 12 hours straight (I just left my character logged in while did some real life stuff), but I thought it funny that ArenaNet was concerned enough to remind me how long I could have been playing!


After just being rescued from a hellish prison, what's the first thing Koss wants to do? Go out and get some "perfomance enhancing" elixirs! I love the reject option description.


I can now hear the theme music playing in my head...

I'll post more yuk-yuks when I find them. You're a bunch of goofballs, ArenaNet! :)

8^B

Tags: Gaming Guild Wars Nightfall

Lost in Elona...

Where, oh, where, have I been? Well, I've been vacationing on the sunny isle of Istan! For those who don't know where that may be, it's located in the latest Guild Wars PC game release, Nightfall.

I've been an on and off player of Guild Wars since its initial release back in the spring of 2005. I was attracted to the game for its "No monthy fees" setup, the Magic: The Gathering style of skill management, and gorgeous graphics. After it's initial release, the game has seen a free update and two Stand-alone "expansions".

The latest Guild Wars release, Nightfall, is light years beyond it's previous two releases. Heroes, Inscriptions, templates, graphics, and gameplay make Nightfall the game to get. I've been spending most of my play time either customizing my heroes or getting my existing characters to the islands to unlock their heroes.

I have to admit I needed to take a "Mental Health" day from work just to play Nightfall. Other than that, I've only been able to devote a couple hours per night to play. So far, I haven't even been able to leave the island, but that's typical of my casual PvE playstyle. I like to stop and smell the roses...

If you see me in game, say hello! I play a variety of characters, all with the Chi Qin surname. So if you see Szechwan Chi Qin, General Chi Qin, Mu Shu Chi Qin, or Bharak Ali Chi Qin, that's me!

8^B

Tags: Gaming, Guild Wars, Nightfall

I'm with Future Hiro!

The Heroes TV series is kicking all sorts of ass! What started off as pedestrian storytelling has now picked up in pacing as the individual heroes' storylines now begin to intertwine. Nikki/Not Nikki is hooking up with That Bastard Nathan, while Mimic Peter is running around with Professor M looking for Destiny Isaac, and Wolvie Claire is dishing out the vengeance on a much deserved creepo. Poor Telepath Matt, where will he end up? And Hiro?!? Future Hiro, or should I say Kyle Reese/Cable/Hiro makes a kick-ass entrance!

Heroes has been picked up for the rest of the first season, so it'll be interesting how the current arc will transition into the rest of the season. I'm certainly along for the ride!

8^B


Tags: TV Heroes

The WTF?!? of the Week: "The Meat" Action Figure

If I had a What the Fuck?!? of the Week, this week's entry would be The Meat Action Figure from the Rocky line of action figures by Jakks Pacific. That's right, folks, they've made a side of beef into an action figure! I can see it now, "Mommy, Mommy! They have The Meat figure! Can I have it, please? I want The Meat!".

Munchkin No. 1 and I were cruising the local KB Toys store this weekend when I ran into this thing. Actually, it was the Rocky logo that first caught my eye, but while going through the figures, I did a literal double-take when I found The Meat. This figure was so "out there", I had to get it.

The Meat has ZERO points of articulation, and it doesn't even have a display stand to hang the carcass. It does comes with a "bloodied" meat jacket for the Paulie figure to wear. Now that I think of it, I guess you can have the Paulie figure hold up the side of beef while the Rocky in Training Gear figure pounds on the slab...

I can see these selling out in specialty shops (for the novelty factor), but clogging the pegs at mass market stores...

8^B

Tag: Toys Action Figure Rocky The Meat

New Comics for the Week

Here's my interest list for this week:

Pull List:
Uncanny X-Men #479
52 #23
Green Arrow #67
Green Lantern Corps #5

Strong Interest:
Annihilation #3
Escapists #4
Devi #4

8^B


Tags: Comics Comic Books

Mag Warriors are Magnificent!

I first saw the Mega Bloks' Mag Warriors line of poseable magnetic action figures at a Target last year. I thought they were cool, but I didn't bother buying any. At the time, I was fascinated with the Xevoz line of poseable figures, and I didn't take the time to actually examine any of the Mag Warriors.

Flash forward to the present, and while browsing for Heroscape stuff at a Walmart, I happened upon a Mag Warriors Dark Portal set clearanced down to $10! Naturally, I picked up the set along with the other clearanced set, Doom's Gate. I took these sets home and discovered that these little guys are very well made, and best of all, they are extremely poseable! I had to get the rest of the figures!

Unfortunately, with at least year since their release, finding any Mag Warriors from the first wave would probably be hard to find in stores. After visiting a couple of stores, I found it to be true. Mega Bloks has moved on to another wave of figures, and for some odd reason, they've repackaged the line to be placed next to the Magnetix building sets. I get the "magnetic" thing, but these are action figures....

In dire need of a "Mental Health Day" from work, I decided to spend the day visiting all the major chain stores and toy stores I could reach within the city to get the new figures as well as any from the first wave. The new waves of single figures were easy to acquire, but the ones from the first release were a bitch to find. I ended up finding all four initial figures at two different Kmarts (the only two in the city).

All I need now to complete my sets are the two figures that come with mounts! I don't know if they've been sold out, or if they haven't been released yet. I may also go back to Kmart and pick up the rest of the first wavers to be used for army building.

8^B

Tags: Toys Gaming Mag Warriors Mega Bloks

Heroes Snags A Dedicated Viewer

Last week's premiere of NBC's Heroes wasn't quite as exciting as it was hyped up to be. Maybe the expectations were too high, or (from what I read) maybe because it was really only "half" a premiere (I guess this week's episode would be the second half). In either case, I wasn't "wowed" when I saw it last week, but given that it's comic book show in disguise, I decided to give the show another chance and watched it tonight.

Tonight's episode rocked! The characters were better developed, and the story flowed well. If the premiere was indeed split into two episodes, NBC made a mistake. I'm sure there were many of last week's viewers who are probably no longer watching the show because of the "incomplete" story of last week's episode. That's too bad.

Right now, my favorite characters are Hiro (Super Hiro!) and Mohinder. Hiro is such a supergeek, I can oftentimes relate to the guy (uh oh, geek alarm!). The guy is too funny. And it seems this week, there's more to his powers than just 'portin. As for Mohinder, he has no powers (at least not yet), but I like the character. I can see him being the Professor X of the group if/when they are assembled.

I'm glad I stuck around for the second episode, as it has me looking forward to Monday nights at 9pm. That reminds me, isn't 24 (the 6th season coming this Janurary) on Monday nights too? Arrrgh!

8^B


Tags: TV Heroes NBC Comics Comic Books

Blade TV Series Cancelled

Damn. I just read on the CGS forums that the Blade TV series has been cancelled. Well, at least it lasted one season. Actually, I'm not quite surprised of the cancellation, considering it was on a cable channel which has a hard time finding its own identity. The only bummer is that the show "ended" on a cliffhanger of a season finale, and the show also left some plot points unresolved. Let's hope another (better) channel picks up the series.

At least the Blade comic book started last week...

8^B


Tags: TV Blade Comics Comic Books

Comic Cover of the Week: Ramayan 3392 AD #1

Virgin has launched their comic book line at a great pace. I don't normally read Indian-based stories, but I currently read The Sadhu, and have started to read Devi. The fledgling company has released a new series, Ramayan 3392 AD, which is basically a "retelling" of India's greatest legend.

This version of the epic tale couldn't have started off better than having none other than an Alex Ross cover painting! The cover has such dynamic action, that you can't help yourself but pick up this book off the shelf. This is why Ramayan 3392 AD deserves this week's Comic Cover of the Week!

8^B


Tags: Comics Comic Book Virgin Comics Ramayan 3392 AD Alex Ross

New Comics for this Week

New comics for the week have arrived, and my interest list is pretty big compared to previous weeks:

Automatic (On my pull list):
Amazing Spider-Man #535
Eternals #4
52 #21
Action Comics #843
Batman #657
Justice League of America #2
Teen Titans Go! #35
Wizard Magazine #181

Stong Interest:
Blade #1 (Re-Order from last week)
Civil War: X-Men # 3 (Re-order from last week)
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #3
Ninja Scroll #1
DDP Quarterly 25 Cent Issue
Ramayan 3392 AD #1
The Sadhu #3

Mild Interest:
Captain America #22
Civil War: Frontline #6
Ultimate Spider-Man #100
Red Sonja: Monster Island One-Shot

8^B

Tags: Comics Comic Books

Wiggin' Out!

Ok, It's been a while since I posted anything here. I just want to let you know that I'm still alive, it's just I've been distracted and having fun with my new Digital Audio Player (DAP), the Sansa e250. Well it's not technically new, since I bought it earlier this year, but I just haven't busted it out of the shrinkwrap until a couple of weeks ago, since I did not want to start using my new one until I found a decent case for it (I've been using my wife's cheap DAP in the meantime).

Well, Best Buy had a 5 piece traveling set for the Sansa on sale, and I went ahead and bit the bullet and purchased it. The Sansa is a nice little player. Music, Video, Photos, FM Radio, and Recording all for only $149 (at least that's how much I paid for it at the time. It's probably cheaper now). I also bought a 1mb Micro-SD card for it, to up the storage memory to a total of 3mb.

As much as the music lookup services are fast and convenient, I've found them to be innaccurate as well (mostly typos). Being the total anal-retentive that I am, I have been manually tagging all of my music files these past couple of weeks. I've also been ripping some of my CD collection to .mp3s, and burning my online music purchases to CD and back to .mp3 (I refuse to utilize either the ACC or the WMA format).

In addition to all the ripping and burning, I've been scouring Google for good album art images for my music. I've been trying to find the bigger versions of the pics and resize them down to 200x200 which is aesthetically just right for my Sansa. So far, I've been able to find most of the images online. The only ones I haven't found are for some of my older Beethoven CDs (I ended up taking the pictures myself).

This DAP has also got me on a music buying binge! I've been browsing MusicMatch and iTunes online, and hitting the B&M stores (just in time for Tower Records' $9.99 CD sale!).

It has been an addicting and fun experience!

8^B


Tags: Music

New Comics Thursday

With the past Labor Day Holiday, the New Comics Releases has been delayed one day to Thursday (today). Here's my interest list:

For Sure (On my pull list):
Uncanny X-Men #478
52 # 18
Detective Comics #823
Nightwing #124
Outsiders #40

No Doubt (Strong interest):
Mystery in Space #1
Beowulf #1
Lone Ranger #1

Uhhh, Maybe (Mild interest):
All New Atom #3
Nitrogen #1
Snakewoman #2

8^B


Tags: Comics Comic Books

I Received My Guichuan Today!

I received the latest Pirates promotion in the mail today! The massive 10-master, Guichuan, is truly one big ship! All of the pictures of the Guichuan I've seen on the 'net were solo pics, with no pics to compare it against other ships, so I was surprised to notice that the ship arrived as a set of oversized cards! The image above shows the comparison with a regular Pirates card.

As for stats, this is one costly ship at 30 points! You'll be bringing this guy only for the huge naval actions. When you do bring her out, she's a competent gunner with average short rangers and above average long rangers. When it comes to abilities, the Guichuan is pretty powerful as a hauler, with the abilities of Ghost Ship, Junk, and Treasure Ship.

In addition to the ship, we also receive a crew card, The Headhunter, a special version of the crew originally found in the Pirates of the South China Seas set. This version of the vile crew member has a specific ability tied to the Guichuan, Headhunter's Domain.

In all, for 12 game packs of Davy Jones' Curse and some shipping and handling, you get a cool ship and crew. It's worth sending in those packs!

8^B


Tags: Gaming Pirates Pirates of the Spanish Main

New Comics for Wednesday

I received my New Comic release list from my LCS pretty early this week! Here's the books I'm looking forward to:

"I've got you now!" (on my pull list):
52 #17
Action Comics #842
All Star Superman #5
Justice #7
Teen Titans Go! #34
City of Heroes #15
Wizard Magazine #180

"Stay on target..." (Strong interest):
X-Men: Fairy Tales #4
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #2
Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon #1

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." (Mild interest):
Trials of Shazam #1
Battlestar Galactica #1

8^B


Tags: Comics Comic Books

New HeroScape Sightings

For a game that promotes its non-collectibility factor, HeroScape's figures and terrain sets are certainly very hard to find. Whether its Hasbro's spotty distribution, or simply the game's popularity, yiou're lucky if you can walk into a Walmart or a Target and find these sets on the shelves. I was lucky last week to find a boatload of new (and old) stuff!

At my nearby Target, I was able find all sorts of Wave 5 figure sets. Also on the shelves are the Thaelenk Tundra terrain sets and the Raknar's Vision: Heroes of Lindesfarme figure sets. I picked up the Tundra set (I'm a sucker for terrain sets), and will return later to pick up the figures (if they're still there).

At the nearest Walmart, they didn't have any of the new sets, but they did restock on Wave 1 figures galore! I was never able to get the Heroes of Bleakwoode figure set, and I was not going to pass up this opportunity, and got two of these. I also got two sets each of the Grut Orcs and the IX Roman Legion, a set of Snipers and Vipers, and a Heroes of Laur set. What was even cooler was The Road to the Forgotten Forest was clearanced at $15.00 a pop! I got all of this and placed them on layaway (except for the three RTFF), since my wife would kill me if she saw me walk into the house with all of this shit.

There were no castle set at either location (cry), but the Walmart had the ID sticker on the shelf, so it's coming. As much as I hate Wally World, I'll have to stake out the store for those castle sets...

8^B


Tags: Gaming HeroScape

All Quiet on the Pirates Front?

Yeah, its been several weeks since I last posted Pirates stuff on the blog. Am I no longer playing the game? Have I lost interest? On the contrary; I've actually been pretty busy when it comes to Pirates. So what have I been doing Pirates related?

Data entry: As you may know, I'm writing a quick and dirty database for my Pirates cards. At the moment, I am populating the database with card entries. I haven't completed the inventory portion yet, I'm just entering all of the info on ships, crew, and treasure based on the cards that I have (about three long card boxes worth).

Modular gaming board: My interest in creating modular gaming boards goes back before Pirates, back to when I used to collect and play Warhammer Fantasy. Once I got out of that hobby (it's just too damn expensive), the idea to create modular gaming boards dropped out of mind. It wasn't until I was recently browsing through some gaming terrain websites that the concept of creating a modular game board for Pirates came to mind. Why not? I asked myself. So, I've spent the last couple of weeks brainstorming, designing, and gathering materials for my new "project". I'll keep you informed with how well (or bad) things go.

8^B


Tags: Gaming Pirates Pirates of the Spanish Main PotSM

Comic Cover of the Week: 52 #16

Wow, two weeks in a row where 52 takes the Comic Cover of the Week! With this issue, the artists at DC utilize light and shadow in a very effective way. Also, the poster in background clues us in to who Renee Montoya and the Question are facing against. With the flowers in the foreground and the weapons ready to fire by the characters, a bit of irony is thrown in for good measure. Those guys at DC really know how to make great covers, and it just gets better every week! Kudos to them!

8^B


Tags: Comics Comic Books DC 52

New Comics for this Week

Another week of new comics is arriving tomorrow, and no annoucements of any major cross-over event books being delayed today! (jab, jab) I got my list of new arrivals for tomorrow, and here is my interest list:

Is the Sky Blue? (On my pull list):
Eternals #3
New Avengers #23
52 #16
Batman #565
Justice League of America #1

My Glass is Half Full (Optimistic interest):
Heroes for Hire #1
Birds of Prey #97
Wonder Woman #2
Sadhu #2

I'll Pay You Next Tuesday... (Mild interest):
Flash #3
Warlord #7

8^B


Tags: Comics Comic Books DC Marvel Virgin

Mann is "The Man".

When it comes to crime dramas, Michael Mann is the best director of the genre today. The guy can take a "cops and robbers" flick and provide it with story, detail, characterization, authenticity, and just plain coolness. Thief. Heat. Collateral. Sure, he can direct a great movie outside the crime drama, just take a look at Last of the Mohicans, The Insider, Manhunter, and Ali. But it's the urban crime noirs that he excels at. His latest venture, Miami Vice, is another such movie.

I just saw Miami Vice this past weekend, and I have to knock myself in the head for not seeing this sooner. I even saw Taladega Nights before Miami Vice, which is a shame (Don't hate me too much, I had no choice in seeing the Will Ferrell dreck of a movie). After watching the masterpiece of Heat back in the mid ninties, I promised myself to never miss a Mann film, but I didn't expect to wait so long before seeing Vice.

Maybe it was the marketing, the less than stellar word of mouth, or the low box office after its release, but I was hesitant to see Miami Vice, and was actually beginning to doubt the brilliance of Mann. I don't know why, but I just felt that way. But this weekend, I decided to go see Miami Vice before it at least is removed from the theaters (which may be pretty soon by looks of the Box Office numbers).

I don't know what other people are smokin' up their pipes, Miami Vice is an excellent movie. From the main leads to the supporting characters, the actors excelled in portraying seasoned cops under deep cover and serious "we ain't playin'" crime lords. There is no establishing introductions to the characters, they are just there. At the start of the film, it's obvious that Crockett and Tubbs have been close knit partners for a while, where they can communicate to each other by looks alone. The baddies are equally as good(bad?). In one scene, Jose has his back to the camera, but you don't need to see his face to know that this guy is pissed and is contemplating his next move. And Montoya? He doesn't even have to speak (which he barely did). All that's needed are those piercing eyes of his, that seriously say, "Don't fuck with me".

The actors aren't the only excellent characters in the movie. Miami, Havana, and Columbia are also living, breathing characters on the same level as the actors, but that shouldn't be a surprise considering that Mann is at the helm. He can bring a locale or cityscape to life like no other. Even the freakin' clouds (and the planes that pass through them) tell a story!

It's known that Michael Mann is a perfectionist when it comes to his movies, and it shows, down to the little details. Admit it; If Bay directed this movie (and I only use him as an example due to many people incorrectly comparing Vice to Bad Boys), Crockett and Tubbs would have been using cell phones instead of the sattelite phones Mann had the characters use. Right? Right?

When it comes to firefights (and what's a Mann crime movie without one?), Michael Mann can really get down to the nitty gritty with the visuals and the authenticity of the audio. It's nice to see someone spray their submachine gun on an open target but miss because he's too damn far to make a submachine gun effective. It's also nice to hear gunfire matching the actual firearm instead of using canned gunfire sounds (the only other director I know that did this was the late John Frankenheimer).

Mr. Mann, I will doubt you no more.

8^B


Tags: Movies Michael Mann Miami Vice

Comic Cover of the Week: 52 #15

This week's Comic Cover of the Week is DC's 52 #15. When a comic publisher sells a cover stating that "Someone dies!", they most oftentimes pull a "bait and switch" on you with the story within, and said character craftily or sneakily escapes the clutches of Death to fight crime another day. Not this time! DC really pulled the plug on Booster Gold! He didn't go out quite the way the cover implies, but Damn! There's no missing corpse to debate over this one.

Of course, there are some (me included) who think that the Booster who bought the farm isn't the one we all know and love....


Tags: Comics Comic Books DC 52 Booster Gold

Upcoming new comics I'm interested in

I received my weekly email of new comics from my LCS. Here's my interest list:

Of Course! (On my pull list):
52 #15
Nightwing #123

Interesting.... :
Catwoman #58
Green Lantern Corp #3

Maybe, maybe not:
Ghost Rider #2
Civil War: X-Men #2

There seems to be lots of new books coming out this week. Unfortunately, not many that interest me, so it'll be a small week of books for me tomorrow. I'll make sure to supplement my books with Pirates stuff. :)

8^B


Tags: Comics Comic Books DC Marvel

Comic Cover of the Week: Superman #655

It's not often that we get a comic cover that contains word balloons on them anymore. It seems that word ballons on a cover are a part of the Silver Age, and that's why this week's Comic Cover of the Week goes to Superman #655.

This month's cover to the Boy in Blue is pretty interesting. It certainly brings back memories of books I read when I was younger, when word ballons were pretty much a norm. And it not just the word ballons, but it's the fonts used on the text that evoke a response from a potential buyer. It looks like the direction DC wants to take their titles to with their One Year Later "relaunch" is working, if they keep up with "retro" covers and stories. I'm along for the ride!

8^B


Tags: Comics Comic Book DC Superman Comic Cover of the Week

No new comics for me until Friday

I won't be able to go my LCS today, and will not be able to pick up my pile until this Friday. As a result, I won't be able to post my pulls until then. The Comic Cover of the Week will not be posted until Friday as well.

8^B

Tags: Comics Comic Book DC Marvel Comic Cover of the Week

You know, for kids!

I was late to the Coen Brothers fan party, and did not become a fan of their movies until I recently saw The Big Lebowski last year on DVD. After seeing that great film, I went and saw Joel and Ethan Coens' other great films such as Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou, The Ladykillers and Raising Arizona.

For some reason, I never got around to watching The Hudsucker Proxy. I don't know why I didn't devote any time to watch it, it's just one of those movies that you go "hey, that looks good, I'll have to see it some time," but never do. This afternoon, with Munchkin No. 2 sleeping in one arm, and the remote in the other hand, I was flipping the channels until I got to the Independent Film Channel (IFC), which happened to be broadcasting The Hudsucker Proxy. Well, now's my chance, so I sat down on the sofa, and started to watch.

I really enjoyed this movie. It was stylistically like The Big Lebowski with its blend of fantasy and reality, carefully crafted dialogue, larger than life characters, and not to mention a dream sequence. All this mashed into a quirky, funny pic.

Tim Robbins was great as Norville, the wide-eyed and naive man with a dream, and Paul Newman chews the scenery as the conniving and scheming Mussburger. Jennifer Jason Leigh really steals every scene she's in as the fast talking, career minded, Archer (man, I've been a fan of hers since Flesh & Blood!) .

It seems that in every Coen Brothers movie, you have to get into the movie and make sure to carefully watch and listen to every scene, since the Brothers like to put in extra stuff in the frame and dialogue. My nephew came over while in the middle of the movie, and he seemed to enjoy most of it, but he did interrupt me with quite a bit of "what's this..", "why did he...", "who's that..." questions that took me out of the movie experience. Oh well, I still enjoyed it, and plan to rent this (or buy it if it's a decent DVD) in order to catch all the references and moments. I recommend you do the same if you haven't seen this excellent flick.

8^B


Tags: Movies The Hudsucker Proxy Coen Brothers

More Pirates stuff at Target

It seems that one of the nearby Targets has resupplied on Pirates gaming stuff. They had the Special Edition boxes, Pirates tins, and Davy Jones' packs. I was able to get the following:

- Special Edition box with Drowned Man ship
- Special Edition box with Electric Eel ship
- Pirates tin with sunken ships cover
- Pirates tin with battling ships cover (new for me)
- 2 Davy Jones' Curse game packs

I opened one of the Pirates tins (the sunken ships), and I did not get a single rare card. I did get quite a few uncommon however. Here's the breakdown:

Spanish Main
- 048 HMS Belle of Exeter (uncommon english 3-masted ship)
- 105 Cannoneer (generic pirate crew)
- 064 Thomas Gunn the Younger/Musketeer (common english crew)
- 056 HMS Lord Walpole (common english 3-masted ship)

Revolution 1
- UL006 Hades' Flame (common pirate 2-masted ghost ship)
- UL028 HMS Nautilus (common english 3-masted schooner)
- UL094 "Diamond" Nelson Turner (common american crew)
- UL113 Captain (generic english crew)

Revolution 2
UL066 - Firepot Specialist (uncommon french crew)
UL082 - Philadelphia (uncommon american 2-masted ship)
UL072 - Louisiana (uncommon american 4-masted schooner)
UL119 - Helmsman (generic french crew)

Revolution 3
UL009 - Tiger (uncommon pirate 2-masted ship)
UL066 - Firepot Specialist (uncommon french crew)
UL073 - Saratoga (uncommon american 4-masted schooner)
UL127 - Explorer (generic english crew)

8^B


Tags: Gaming Pirates Pirates of the Spanish Main Pirates of the Revolution

Pirates' Ship of the Week: Golden Medusa

The Golden Medusa "crosses the T" to fire her portside cannons.

Name: Golden Medusa
Set: Pirates of the Revolution
Card Number: 003/UL003
Rarity: Uncommon
Number of Cards: 3

She sails the "Ocean Blue".

Ship Cost: 15 Points
Faction: Pirates
Number of Masts: 4
Cargo Capacity: 4
Movement Range: S + L
Cannons: 3L/2L/2L/3S

Very effective cannons!

Ability: Schooner. This ship's crew cannot be eliminated unless she sinks.
Link: Lady Baptiste
Flavor Text: Lady Baptiste embodies all the best qualities of Robin Hood, with the Golden Medusa as her swift sword. Her crew serves for honot, above even gold.

With Medusa's swift movement, the French won't catch her...

Notes: Welcome to my first Pirates' Ship of the Week entry, the Golden Medusa! A very well made ship, the Golden Medusa has firepower, speed, and a determined crew. This ship will be a beast to defeat one-on-one.

When the Revolution set first came out, I wasn't a fan of the schooner design (I'm a square rigger guy), but when I put together this 4-master, I've actually grown fond of the design. I'm glad that schooners have crossed over to other sets.

8^B

Tags: Gaming Pirates Pirates of the Spanish Main Pirates of the Revolution PSM PotSM PotR

Cover of the Week

Here's my comic book Cover of the Week: The All New Atom #2. Yeah, I admit it's not a spectacular layout. It's not even an above average drawing. The reason its got my pick this week is because it strongly reminds me of the cover to Llyod Alexander's book, The Castle of Llyr. If you've never seen the cover of the book, it basically has the armed hero, Taran, going after a weapon being held down by a giant cat. Ok, there's no cat on the Atom cover. It's the two extreme sizes of the characters that brought up the fond memory of the book I read as a kid.

8^B

Tags: Comics Comic Books DC Atom

Quiet week for new comics

I just received my weekly new comics list from my LCS last night, and as they stated, it's a pretty small comic release this week. Going through the list, I have to agree. Here's my interest list:

Oh Yeah! (my comic pulls this week)
Moon Knight #4
New Avengers #22 (reorder. I didn't get mine last week)
Uncanny X-Men #477
52 #13
Detecticve #822
Outsiders #39

Hmmmm.... (strong consideration)
Marvel Team-Up #23
All New Atom #2
Creeper #1

Meh. (light interest)
None this week.

8^B


Tags: Comics Comic Books DC Marvel

Pirates pics and stuff

Like the pic? I've been busy the last couple of days getting ready to take pictures of my Pirates of the Spanish Main ships. I've always liked dioramas as a kid, and I've had the urge to set one up with the ships I have ever since I first saw the game packs last year. This weekend I finally motivated myself to doing it. I'm also thinking of maybe doing a "Profile of the Week" for the pirate ships, and using the pics to supplement each profile. We'll see.

In addition to taking pics, I've also been busy working on creating an Access database for my Pirates cards. It's taking a while, as I plug away little by little on a daily basis. So far, I've created the lookup tables, several queries, and created the crew table and form. Next, I'll be working on the ship, treasure, and event tables and forms.

As far as new packs, I got a couple more Pirates of the Revolution packs from Walgreens this morning, and I pulled one of my personal "Holy Grail" cards: John Paul Jones! Woohoo!

8^B


Tags: Gaming Pirates Pirates of the Spanish Main Pirates of the Revolution PSM PotSM PotR

My first Super Rare pack!

I've read about these packs on all the Pirates boards, but I never thought I'd ever pull one, but I did tonight! What's even cooler is that I got it from one of the packs from the new Pirates tins! The super rare pack was from a Pirates of the Revolution game pack, and I'm not complaining. Here's the breakdown of the packs:

Spanish Main
106 - Captain (generic spanish crew)
049 - HMS Dover (uncommon english 4-masted ship), no abilities?
014 - Windjammer (uncommon pirate 3-masted ship), this is weird: A fort ability in a set that preceded forts....

Revolution 1
UL055 - La Danae (common french 2-masted ship)
UL115 - Captain (generic french crew)
UL092 - Kikowa (common american crew)
UL077 - Boston (common american 3-masted schooner)

Revolution 2 (my super rare pack!)
UL141 - Asp (super rare pirate 3-masted galley)
UL142 - Star of Siam (super rare pirate 2-masted galley)
UL143 - Wesley (super rare pirate crew)
UL144 - Chainshot Specialist (super rare pirate crew)

Revolution 3
UL092 - Kikowa (common american crew) Another one?!?
UL053 - La Belle Etoile (common french 3-masted schooner)
UL015 - Jean Laffite (rare pirate crew)
UL059 - Le Bon Marin (rare french 1-masted ship
UL135 - Shipwright (generic american crew)

Being the collector that I am, I probably won't punch these out to play until I receive another super rare pack. Let's hope I get more from the tins!

8^B


Tags: Gaming WizKids Pirates Pirates of the Revolution PotR

Well, that sucked...

I'm "on-call" for work this week, and I was working on a job when I noticed that Stan Lee's Lightspeed was playing on the tube. I totally forgot about the movie, and I would have missed it had the TV not been on the Sci Fi Channel. I took a few moments from my work to see how the movie went.

Geez, what a craptacular movie. How could Stan "The Man" Lee stamp his name onto this dreck? It may have worked better as a comic book, but the acting and camera work flat-out sucked ass.

I was watching the scene where the big baddie snake dude was going through the hospital, looking to kill off a knocked-out James Bond Jr. (ala Elle going after the Bride in the hospital from Kill Bill Vol. 1). What's up with Snake dude? I had the volume on the TV down pretty low, but it looked like he was uttering philosophical quotes while snappin' the necks of the hospital staff. Ok. and when he gets to 007's son, he cranks up the "radiation". Why not just snap his neck too? Unless he wanted him to live, meh, it was just bad.

Speaking of Bond Jr., for a guy hooked up to all these cables and radioactive equipment, why the hell is he laying on a cheap-ass cot? The springs on the cot were easily visible! Oh right, this was a direct to cable movie, AKA NO BUDGET, NO PRODUCTION COSTS.

Fortunately, I was busy fixing something for work, and I didn't have time to devote my attention to the dreck on the television. I did occasionally look up to the screen every once in a while, hoping to see something better, but no, just more crap (BTW, the cinematographer loves those close-ups). Crap, crap, crap.

8^B


Tags: Stan Lee Lightspeed Sci Fi

Goodie Wednesday!

Here are my purchases for this week:

Comics:
Xena Warrior Princess #1
52 #12
Nightwing #122
Wolverine Origins #4
Warlord #6
Action Comics #841
Amazing Spider-Man #534
Batman #655
Highlander #0

Gaming:
Pirates of the Spanish Main x2
Pirates of the Crimson Coast x2
Pirates of the Barbary Coast x2
Pirates of the South China Seas x2

On the comics front, I didn't receive my New Avengers for this month. The weekly email from my LCS indicated shortages of this title (and Blank Panther), and it looks like I was one the regulars that didn't get a copy. I'm not sweating it though, since my LCS is pretty good when it comes to reordering and replacement. They even go so far as to replace copies which were damaged during shipping. So, I'm pretty confident I'll get my copy by next week or before then. I just have to avoid spoiler sites and boards...

If you've been reading the blog the past couple of weeks, it will come as no surprise that I got more Pirates packs. I got packs from most sets except for Pirates of the Revolution and Pirates of Davy Jones' Curse. I didn't get any Revolution packs 'cause I have so many already from the tins, and I didn't get any Curse packs 'cause there weren't any at my LCS!

Cover of the Week

With last week's Catwoman cover, I decided it was fun enough to do a Cover of the Week from the regular hauls I get from my LCS. For this week, it was a tight decision. It came down to either Action Comics #841 or Batman #655. I liked the media-like cover to Action, but in the end, the Kubert art won me over. The Batman cover has that grim feel, but not the Bat-Dick seriousness.

8^B


Tags: Comics Comic Books Marvel DC Dynamite Wizard Pirates Pirates of the Spanish Main PSM PotSM

New comics for this week

Tomorrow is New Comic Wednesday! My LCS sent me an email with all the new releases for tomorrow, and here's my interest list:

No Doubt! (on my pull list):
Amazing Spider-Man #536
New Avengers #23
52 #12
Action Comics #841
Batman #655
Nightwing #122 (about frickin' time!)
Teen Titans Go! #33
Wizard Magazine #179

Looking Good...:
Birds of Prey #96

Ehhh, Maybe:
Nothing this week.

We'll see tomorrow what other books and stuff (Pirates?) my LCS will reel me in with.

8^B


Tags: Comics Comic Books Marvel DC