The Greatest Movie of All Time (or, My Awesome Long Weekend, Part One)

Okay, so I'm going to really try and blog more here, even if it means just cutting and pasting from my 1up page, because honestly, I feel really out of touch with some people who I don't get to see often. While it's not ideal, I do feel a little more in touch with them even if our only means of communication is blogging.

So anyway, I pretty much had the greatest long weekend of all time this last week. For starters, I only worked Monday and Tuesday, so that kicked ass. To make things even more kick ass, I went with Jess, Bill and Nathan Trimm to go see what is quite possibly the greatest movie ever made, The Transformers.

In all seriousness, the only time I've ever been this excited for a movie was for the Star Wars prequels. There are few things in the world of sci-fi that I dig more than Transformers. So, while I was excited, the fanboy in me was still a little nervous. Could the movie live up to my expectations? Honestly, I didn't think it would, so I set them kind of low. It wasn't because of the movie itself or anyone involved in the making of it, it's just that I'd been building up the idea of a live action Transformers movie in my head for so long, there was no possible way anything could live up to my expectations. Or could it?

Maybe it's because I went in not expecting much, but I'll be damned if I didn't love this movie. It had everything I could hope for- Giant robots kicking the crap out of each other, a couple of hot girls, more explosions than I could count and a pretty decent storyline. I really didn't expect to like it as much as I did. If I wanted to nitpick, there were a couple of small things that bugged me a little, but overall it was a great summertime action flick.

I'm not going to go into the plot or anything, because I suck at that kind of thing and the movie is still really new, so I don't want to unintentionally spoil it for anyone. I will say that the designs for the robots in the movie pretty much rule, especially the Decepticon character, Barricade.


Barricade was everything a Decepticon should be- Intimidating, brutal and mean as fuck. His alternate form was a police car, but the coolest thing about it was instead of having the typical "To Protect and Serve" slogan on the side, it said "To Punish and Enslave". Hell. Yeah. This movie ruled.

So, since seeing the movie I've been totally geeking out on all things Transformers. I've been rewatching my Transformers: Armada DVD's as well as reading the movie prequel novel, Ghosts of Yesterday. The novel is actually pretty decent and gives a lot of insight to the personalities of the different characters in the movie. It not by any means necessary to read to enjoy the movie, but I think it adds a lot.

On a side note, I'd also like to add that Nathan Trimm is seriously one of the coolest people in the known universe. I'd always thought he was a really good guy but had no idea he was as big of a Transformers nerd as I am, if not even bigger. That kinda rules.

Hello, remember me?

So, it's been a while since I've last posted on this blog. I'm not sure why, maybe it's because I've just felt like most of the people who read my blog weren't interested in or didn't know what I was talking about, namely video games, heavy metal and comics. That, and when I last posted I just felt like I didn't have much I wanted to share with the world. However, around January, I decided to start blogging again in my page at 1Up.com, where people who want to talk about video games and nerdery would want to discuss said subjects. You can find my 1Up page from the links in the sidebar.

Still, I've decided to give the PLW blog another try, so I made some changes and additions here with more to come. So, welcome to PLW 2.0.

So here's what has happened since my last post-

1. Jess moved into our new apartment on New Year's Day.

2. I discovered podcasting. Blog post regarding my favorites soon to come.

3. I married Jess.

4. We went on our Honeymoon in Las Vegas. A good time was had.

5. I moved into our new apartment. Hooray for getting out of G-Town.

6. I had a job interview that went really well and I thought I had it, but didn't get it. I'm bummed. They wanted me, but a vice president type decided they didn't want to spend the money on a new employee. I'm bummed.

So that's what's been going on. It's good to be back.

Special thanks to Sandy Landers for telling me to post more.

An open letter to someone I may or may not work with at either of my jobs...

If while on a break I'm off sitting in a corner reading a book, please rest assured that I'm not interested in any sort of conversation with you. I don't give a fuck about what you thought of the TV show you watched last night and I don't care how your day is going. I brought a book with me to avoid lunch time small talk. Please take my not so subtle hints of one word answers and grunts. Thank you.

How My Day is Going, 9/6/2006

1. So I've been kind of sick over the past couple of days. Earlier today I started to sneeze but couldn't get my hands up in time to fully cover. I swear I felt a phlegm missle fly out but have yet to find where it hit so I can clean it up. I probably owe somebody an apology.

2. I'm listening to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel on the iPod right now. It's finally occurred to me that I only like two songs on the album, The King of Carrot Flowers pt. 1 and Holland, 1945. I could never hear the rest of the album for the rest of my life and be totally okay with that. I think indie hipsters might be overrating this one a bit.

3. I can't figure out if my arch nemesis at work is just really stupid, or some kind of diabolical genius. Despite every hint I've dropped to let him know I can't fucking stand him, he seems to think we're friends. Not only this, but it seems as if he just knows how to push every last one of my buttons. Is he just really this annoying, or has he figured me out? To quote Nigel Tufnel, there's a fine line between clever and stupid.

4. I just saw on the news that one of those obnoxious investigative reporters got the shit beaten out of him by the people he was investigating. Yeah, the people in question looked pretty seedy and were probably guilty, but I did get a small sense of satisfaction seeing one of those dickhole reporters get their ass handed to them. I really hate that shit.

Animefest 2006, or why I'm now gay for Greg Ayres

So this Labor Day weekend I hit Animefest 2006. As per usual, it was a good time. I got to nerd out with my friend Kyle and totally OD on anime and all that goes with it. Needless to say, I had a metric shitload of fun. I checked out a couple of new titles in the video rooms, picked up a couple of DVD's and attended a few panels. Normally, I don't attend the panels, because they're usually on topics that just don't interest me, such as cosplay or voice actors telling suposedly funny anecdotes. Not that I think there is anything wron with these, I just don't find them particularly interesting. However, this year was a little different, because one panel titled "Fansubbing, Downloading, the Industry and You" caught my eye.

As with pretty much any topic, I have some pretty strong opinions on this and was interested in hearing what someone from the industry would have to say and their reasoning. The person leading the panel was a voice actor by the name of Greg Ayres and truth be told, I wasn't too familiar with his work. In fact, my initial impression of him at the opening ceremonies was that he seemed to be kind of a douchebag (Greg- If you happen to read this, I am so, so sorry. Please keep reading, it gets better, I swear). Anyway, the panel was on the topic of bootlegging and downloading free anime. What I appreciated the most was that Greg was a guy who actually had something to say, said it and made no apologies. As someone who works in the anime industry and has been lucky enough to meet many anime and manga creators, he has a perspective on the issue that most fans don't and was able to give solid reasons why downloading anime from the internet or buying bootlegged DVD's was not only bad for the industry, but flat out wrong.

I was really happy to hear someone come out and say in this kind of forum what I have felt for some time now. The excuses I hear for people who buy bootlegs or download (steal) music and anime are just fucking ridiculous. Things like music and anime are luxeries, not a right. You are not entitled to take something without paying for it just because you can. If you're going to give me the "well, it's too expensive so I should I pay for it?" excuse, my answer to you is tough shit. Find a less expensive hobby or figure out ways to get free or inexpensive music and anime. Last I checked, songs are still only .99 on iTunes and prices for anime continue to drop. Not to mention there are other options like Netflix, public libraries or borrowing from friends. But I digress, so I'll get back to the virtual humping of Greg Ayres' leg.

The best part of the panel was at the end when Greg confronted a guy in the front row who said he had no problem with downloading anime and had no intention of spending any money in the dealer's room. The guy in the front looked like the guy you probably knew in high school who's ass you really wanted to kick. Not because he was different, mind you, but because he was that bitter as fuck dipshit (I was originally going to say nerd, but I don't want to associate the nerds of the world with this waste of space) who sat in the back of the class making comments about how stupid everyone else was and how smart he was, never mind the fact he's in all basic classes and bringing home straight C's. Of course, I don't know this guy and I could be wrong, but that was the impression I got. Anyway, Greg looked him straight in the eye, told him exactly what he thought of him and flat out said he'd offer nothing in the way of an apology. I really wanted to yell out "FUCK YEAH!!", but I do seem to remember kids being in the room, so that probably wouldn't have been good.

I was really hoping I could maybe catch him at the bar and have a beer with him some time during the weekend, because he was definitely the kind of guy I'd love to sit and talk about shit with, because he didn't seem to be short on opinions or things to say. Unfortunately, that didn't work out, but I did attend another panel he did on dubbing vs. subbing in anime, which was also entertaining.

In closing, I just want give a big shout out to my new favorite voice actor Greg Ayres. Thank you for having something to say and the balls to say it. You truly did make my weekend. I hope you don't mind that I lifted a photo of you from your website.

www.gregayres.com

In Heavy Rotation- Music

Mayhem- European Legions: Mayhem, while notorious has been one of the more inconsistent bands in the Norweigian black metal scene. I think a lot of their popularity is based more on their antics in the early 90's than their actual music. However, their live album proves that there is some substance to Mayhem and they can put on one hell of a show. A lot of the material is from their album A Grand Declaration of War, which I thought had it's moments, but overall was just decent. However, the songs sound a lot better and a lot more raw live. I really wish Mayhem would tour the US, I'd love the chance to see them live.


Brian Eno- Ambient 1: Music for Airports: One of my favorite records to listen to at 4:00am on a Saturday morning. It's perfect music for contemplation of life while watching the night turn to dawn.

Hell's Kitchen- A Retrospective

So tonight will be the first Monday night I haven't had an episode of Hell's Kitchen to look forward to. It's probably a good thing, I still maintain that 99% of reality TV is for idiots and is bringing down our collective IQ exponentially. Still, I am human and will succomb to the more than occasional guilty pleasure. (And just a side note here, the person in the cube next to me is eating what appear to be Doritos in the loudest, rudest manner possible. Seriously, it sounds like an ill-behaved five year old with all of the rustling, smacking and horrible manners in general. )

So, if you don't know yet, Heather, who was my prediction from day one to win did in fact win. I don't think she was necessarily the best at any one cooking skill, but seemed to just be solid in all aspects. However, she was smart and by far the best leader in the kitchen, which is what put her over the top. If I go to Vegas, I have to definitely check out the Red Rock Resort, which is now where she is the executive chef.

While I was happy to see Heather make it through to the final round, I was disappointed she had to go up against Virgina, because that really didn't seem like much competition. Virginia had done nothing but dodge bullets throughout the whole series and was a consistent fuckup in the kitchen. I'm pretty much convinced that at some point she blew Chef Ramsay. If that is the case then good job, Chef Ramsay. Virginia was pretty hot. Still, I have to give Virginia points for giving Crotchrot (Sara) the royal screw in the final four. Crotchrot had gone out of her way to screw Virginia over a couple of times and it was nice seeing Virginia get the payback.

Basically what happened was that Virginia had won the challenge in that episode which gave her immunity from elimination. However, because of yet another horrible performance in the kitchen, she thought she wasn't ready for her own restaurant, so she said she would volunteer herself for elimination. However, Crotchrot also had a terrible service and was nominated for elimination as well. When Virginia volunteered herself, Chef Ramsay (probably remembering the hummer Virginia may or may not have given him) reminded her that she was safe from elimination and didn't have to leave if she didn't want to. It was there Virginia decided to give Crotchrot the ultimate screw and sent her home. I laughed my ass off.

I was disappointed to see that Keith, AKA K-Grease didn't make it to the final round. I tried to tape the episode that night because I went out, but the tape cut off before the end of the show, so I don't know exactly what happened. I do know that Keith copped a little bit of an attitude with Chef Ramsay, and he never, EVER takes well to that, so that's probably what got him eliminated.

All in all, it was a fun show and I enjoyed it this time around as much as I did last season, so I'm hoping it'll come back next summer. Now I'm looking forward to the new season of The Office and My Name is Earl, along with the new show Heroes. Hopefully this fall there will be something on worth watching other than Adult Swim.

Things that are bugging me more than they probably should...

Things that are bugging me-

1. I am the most useless softball player in the world. My team won last night, but all I contributed were two blown defensive plays and no hits. I apologize to my team, I know that you know that I'm not very good, but last night was awful, even for me. I'm sorry.

2. The B-52’s were a great band who had some great songs with some real substance like Legal Tender, Song for a Future Generation and The Deadbeat Club, but they’ll always be remembered for the ridiculous Love Shack, which would definitely crack my top 10 most hated songs.

3. Transformers: The Movie gave me unrealistic expectations for the millennium. The movie came out in 1987 but takes place in the year 2005. So what gives? It’s the year 2006 and I have yet to see any form of intergalactic civil war involving giant robots.

From the Obvious Files...

So Lance Bass of N'Sync revealed he's gay. Wow, this is some seriously shocking news.

In other news, I have long hair and like heavy metal.

How do I spell video game love?

With two letters- a D and an S. The Nintendo DS is by far my favorite video game system right now, by and large because of innovative titles like Brain Age.

Brain Age isn't your typical running, jumping and blowing stuff up video game. Instead, it was based on a series of tests created by Dr. Ryuta Kawashima designed to be a daily workout for your brain. The exercises consist of fairly simple tasks like reading aloud, simple arithmatic, counting syllables in sentences and such. Then, based on how quickly and how accurately you complete the exercises, the game tells you the age level your brain is working at. Then, as you complete the tasks from day to day, the game charts your progress overall and for each different exercise It sounds boring, but I swear it's not, it's actually very addictive.

Another cool feature is the inclusion of 100 different Sudoku puzzles. I'd never even heard of Sudoku until about a month ago, but now I've given it a try I see what the fuss is about. Like the rest of the game, it's very addictive and a lot of fun. Not only that, but after solving a Sudoku puzzle, I feel like the smartest man alive.

What I appreciate most about Brain Age is Nintendo's willingness to think outside the box and create a game that not only video game nerds like myself can enjoy, but something that people like my parents can also enjoy. I don't know how else to say it, but Nintendo gets it. While Sony is busy trying to show the world how big their technological wang is and Microsoft continues to churn out yet more WWII first person games, Nintendo is focusing on what matters most- fun. God, I can't wait fo see what they do with their Wii. (HEY-O!!!)

New Getter Robo- A PLW Anime Review

Alright, it's common knowledge that I loves me some anime and will not hesitate to completely geek out in coversations in which any reference to those sweet, sweet cartoons from Japan is made. I don't think it's possible to know me for long and not know that. However, I won't watch just any form of anime. I'll be honest, I just like stuff with sweet giant robots, ninjas and lots of blood and violence. For my admittedly shallow tastes, New Getter Robo is just what the doctor ordered.

New Getter Robo is a remake(hence the "new") of the classic series from the 70's, Getter Robo. In NGR, the earth is under constant attack from demons called the Oni. So to combat them, Professer Saotome creates a series of robots so completely badass that most people die trying to pilot them, so he has to find the right pilots. The first one he finds is Ryoma, a hot headed, down on his luck martial arts instructor. Next, he finds Hayato, a sadistic political revolutionary. Last, he recruits Benkei, a buddhist monk trying to atone for his past of violence and debauchery. Together, they pilot the Getter Robo, which is actually three aircraft that can be configured into three different robot modes. Getter 1 for overall badassery (piloted by Ryoma), Getter 2 for speed (piloted by Hayato) and Getter 3 for heavy hitting and underwater use. The three must not only learn to pilot the Getter Robo, but also learn to work together despite their conflicting personalities. It's cliche', I know, when when there are totally sweet giant robots kicking ass, I'm okay with that.

The disc contains episodes 1-4 (out of 13 total episodes) and they mainly focus on introductions of the characters and the crisis at hand. Episode one focus's on the introduction of the Professor Saotome, the Getter Robo and Ryoma, episode two introduces Hayato, episode three introduces Benkei and episode four focus's on them learning to work together. While there are a few choice moments, such as Hayato kicking the crap out of a bunch of Yakuza thugs in episode one or seeing what a psychotic bastard Hayato is in episode two, not much is really done to advance the storyline. This is pretty typical for this kind series, but things do drag a little bit in episode three and for the first half of episode four.

My interest in the series probably would have started to wane at episode three had it not been for the fact that this series has plenty of violence and blood, but also for the style of art the directors chose to go with. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, it's almost like the 70's anime style fused with the art of the Japanese feudal era. It sounds strange but it totally works and also gives the series a look completely it's own.

Overall, I enjoyed this DVD a lot, but I'll be the first to say it's definitely not for everybody. The plot (so far) is pretty shallow and the violence is pretty much non stop. But, if you like giant robots don't have a problem with copious amounts of blood and simply want to watch something that's a lot of fun, I'd say give New Getter Robo a try.

Holy crap!!!

Dawne is on AIM right now!! Do I give in to temptation??? AAAAARRRRRGH!!!

Can't decide...

head about to explode...

The Weekly PLW Hell's Kitchen Review- Rachel Can Fuck Off Edition

So after no Hell's Kitchen last week, I was really, really looking forward to this episode. With the red team starting to fall apart and the blue team seemingly starting to come together, things were getting interesting.

Well, it turns out after last episodes dinner service (in which Tom the New Jersey douchebag got kicked off), both teams still have a long way to go. It seemed that a big problem both teams were having with the last dinner service was that no one was tasting food before they sent it out, so Chef Ramsay set up a little taste challenge. He started off by presenting a table which included cheese fondue, pate', caviar and some sort of chicken kebab. Little did either team know that the fondue was made from melted spray can cheese, the pate' was from ground hot dogs, the caviar was from catfish eggs and the kebabs were made from frozen dinners. It was actually pretty funny watching everyone dig in and trying to see who could sound like the most pretentious food snob. The only one who seemed to give any indication that something wasn't right was Heather, who kept sniffing the kebabs and making a weird face. Finally, Chef Ramsay let them know what it was they were actually eating, and it looked like everyone felt like a dumbass, which led them into this weeks challenge.

The challenge for this week was a taste challenge in which each contestant was blindfolded and given earmuffs anf then given different foods to identify by taste alone. Victoria, the hot salad chef wound up winning the challenge for the red team (which now consists of Victoria, Rachel, Maribell and Sara the Whore), and the blue team (which is now down to Heather, Garret and the not quite as big of a douchebag as I originally thought Keith who still is kind of a douche) to clean the kitchen from the previous nights service.

The reward for the red team was quite possibly the worst thing for Sara the Whore's already unjustifibly inflated ego. They got to go on a photo shoot for TV Guide and were given the whole celebrity treatment and such with limos, champagne, etc... Sara just acted completely ridiculous through the whole thing and wound up farting during the shoot. Wow, that is one classy broad. Now, if she would have lit it, then I'd take back every bad thing I've ever said about her. But she didn't and she's still a cunt.

So the dinner service started and Chef Ramsay was determined to finally have a complete service in which all of the guests were served. Things started off badly for the blue team when Heather (probably a lesbian) got laid into from Chef Ramsay for starting to cook the pasta too early. I was starting to wonder about the blue team because this time they didn't seem to have it together. I think if Heather has one weakness, it's that she tries too hard sometimes. She was trying to help both Keith (douche) and Garrett (prison bitch) when they didn't ask for or even seem to need any help. Chef Ramsay also lambasted Keith (still a douche) for a dish that was sent back and it really seemed to rattle him. Still, the blue team managed to pull it together and complete their part of the service.

The red team, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of the blue team. Things started off smoothly for them as they got their starters out, but after a dish was sent back for having a hair in it, things started to fall apart. The hair was a black hair, and seeing as Maribell (also a douche) was the only one on the red side with black hair, it was pretty obvious who's hair it was, but she denied it and acted like a total retard. Speaking of retards, Rachel completely buckled under the pressure in this episode and was a consistent fuck up. For whatever reason, she couldn't seem to get anything right. Victoria (hot, but probably wouldn't go down)) for once seemed to rise to the occasion while Sara (who probably has some form of crotchrot) didn't fuck things up.

When all was said and done, the blue team had the better service and won the evening. Victoria was named best of the worst and given the task of nominating the people going to the chopping block. She picked Rachel because she had been a complete fuck up the whole night and surprisingly chose Maribell for the hair incident. Not surprisingly, Chef Ramsay eliminated Rachel.

One thing I really liked about this episode and Chef Ramsay in general is that while he's a perfectionist and a complete hard ass, he's also perfectly willing to give encouragment and praise when it is due. Keith, while slightly retarded, has always been pretty strong in the kitchen but had a bad night this time around and caught Ramsay wrath. Afterwards, Ramsay pulled him aside and asked Keith if anyone had ever told him he was a good cook. Keith said no, so Chef Ramsay looked him in the eye and told him he was a good cook and that he believed in him. I thought that was really cool.

All in all it was a another good episode and bye bye Rachel, don't bother to write.

Way to go out like a champ, Zidane...

So yesterday I watched the World Cup final between France and Italy in all of it's international glory. I used to keep up with European soccer quite a bit (I support Celtic and Manchester City) but will admit that over the past couple of years I've drifted away a bit. Anyway, I tried to catch as much as possible of this year's World Cup and my interest in soccer has been renewed.

One of the players I was most looking forward to watching yesterday was the frenchman Zinedine Zidane, who was well on his way to being remembered with the likes of Diego Maradona, Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff. However, his legacy now probably won't be remembered for being arguably the greatest player of his era, but for headbutting italian player Marco Materazzi like a dipshit. Apparently, it was because Materazzi made a comment about Zidane's mom. Not that sort of thing is called for, but really Zidane, what are you, twelve years old?

If you're not familiar with european soccer, let me make this comparison- Let's say next year in his last year as a pro, Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers make it to the Superbowl. The game is close and winds up in overtime. So let's say that during a play, Warren Sapp sacks Favre and makes some comment as they're getting up. In retaliation, Favre walks up to Sapp, kicks him in the nuts and is thrown out of the game. The last game of his career, in the Superbowl, Brett Favre gets ejected. That's what this was like.

So congratulations to Zinedine Zidane, you're one of the all time great players of the world's most popular sport and this is your legacy- headbutting some dude in the biggest and supposedly final game of your career and getting thrown out over a childish comment. Good show man, good show.