The Thing From Another World

thing 1950

There are rare times I approve of remakes; especially when it comes to ones that seem so close together. As a kid, I remember watching the classic black and white Thing with my parents and later, in high school I wrote a paper on how this movie related to the Cold War.

A reporter visits a isolated Air Force outpost in the far reaches of Alaska. A scientist comes to them requesting aid in investing a strange crash up north. The men go to investigate, finding some large and round buried beneath the ice. They uncover what appears to be a man with what appears to be a flying saucer. The take the frozen man back to the outpost, where it thaws and goes on a rampage, a monster from another world…

As far as old horror movies go, the classic Thing holds up decently well. There is some good atmosphere and music. James Arnes as the creature is pretty effective and he is pretty physically threatening as a big, lumbering creature. The characters are pretty standard for the times with a love story tacked on that doesn’t really add to anything. The movie is definitely a product of its time; there’s no blood, language, and the creature’s origin is really goofy when you find out it’s a “Space Vegetable”. In the end, it’s a decent old time horror movie that deserves a watch. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

‘Teenage Dream’ Co-Star Accuses Katy Perry of Sexual Misconduct — Variety

Actor-model Josh Kloss, who starred in Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” music video in 2010, has accused the singer of exposing him at a roller skating rink. Writing on Instagram, Kloss described his interaction with Perry: “It was Johny Wujek’s birthday party at moonlight roller way. And when I saw her, we hugged and she was…

via ‘Teenage Dream’ Co-Star Accuses Katy Perry of Sexual Misconduct — Variety

A Hidden Life Trailer

A Hidden Life is another movie coming out that is based on a true story. This one about a man that refused to be a Nazi. A literal Nazi by the way, in Germany during World War 2 this isn’t a metaphor or anything like that. He is taken from his family, tortured and beaten and refuses to do what he sees as wrong. The trailer seems cool, tho it won’t be a movie for everyone. I look forward to it hitting Netflix or Hulu personally. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dragonball Z: Broly, Second Coming

dbz broly 2

It’s really hard to live up the epicness of Dragonball Z: Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan which is still my favorite Dragonball Z movie but it was almost certain the mad Saiyan would return.

Videl, Goten, and Trunks are off on a fun little trip to search for the Dragonballs. When Goten starts crying, something is unearthed. After being defeated by Goku, Broly managed to crawl into an escape pod and find his way to Earth, getting frozen in some mountain ice. The sound of Goten’s crying  wakes up Broly and the rampage begins. Gohan comes to the rescue but he’s no match for the monstrous Saiyan in his Legendary form, it’s going to take everything they have to bring down Broly.

There isn’t much to say, Second Coming is a pretty flat sequel. There isn’t much of a story. Broly just exists to grunt and beat people up; he doesn’t even go full Legendary until the final minutes of the film. It was cool to have Goku’s ghost join Gohan and Goten in a Kamehameha and I did laugh my ass off when Goten pisses on Broly’s face. It’s alright to skip to if you want, there isn’t much you’re missing if you do. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Titans, season 2 trailer

well, I’ll give them this, it looks better than the first but that really wasn’t saying much. I like the bigger cast f characters including Superboy, Aqualad, Wonder-girl, and Krypto the super dog. Fans of the comics knew Deathstroke would pop up as the main villain sooner or later; I can’t tell what I think of his look yet. There are still some cringe worthy moments like Todd yelling ” Titans are back bitches!”. In the end, it looks like a improvement but not too great.

Angry Birds 2 (Mobile)

Angry Birds 2 is a lot like the first. You will be flinging at random structures to kill green pigs. Levels will inevitably get harder and harder and you will unlock new birds that do different things. Some will explode while others split into separate birds or fly fast to slam through targets.

The game is, in theory, simple and straight forward. Just chuck a bird through the structure and boom, stuff falls over and pig dies. Later on, however, it gets much harder. You will have to aim carefully to take out supports or push wheeled carts over and take things out that way. The game for me, however, failed to recreate the magic of the first one.

When the first released I remember being infatuated with it, playing for hours and draining my cell phones batter. This one looks better than ever and allows for plenty of customization but I just never had that strong desire to play. The game is fun of course and its good to kill a bit of time with, but for me, it just doesn’t do the same job. By all means, try it, it is fun, but it won’t likely be the nostalgia trip you were hoping for. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Howling – Fight Or Flight, Or Just Stand There — On The Subject of Horror

I kept having nightmares where Eddie Quist corners me in a room and turns into a werewolf. This scene plays over and over again and just like Karen White, I just stand there.

via The Howling – Fight Or Flight, Or Just Stand There — On The Subject of Horror

This is What you Want, This is What you Get

want get

First of all, I want to give a shout out to the author of this book, Jim Scheers, who I had the pleasure of meeting in person at the Weird and Wired Bazaar in Scranton a couple of months ago. Thank you for the advice and reassurance.

It’s the 1980’s and the punk scene is alive and kicking with loud, wild shows. For  nineteen year old Nick Leblanche these shows keep him sane from a cold life in suburban hell with his boring, nagging parents and his tedious office job full of gossiping idiots and pressure to stay there and rot. The music gives him a soul. At one of these shows he meet a quiet, sad looking girl named Victoria and from the on things start changing as the scene itself; the shows begin turning out of control violent as more and more skinheads begin turning up, making mosh pits into full fledged riots. Can Nick find himself amongst the chaos of his new friends and the scene he loves?

I have to admit, I was surprised how much I found myself reflecting back to my own age 19 and relating to Nick, growing up in suburbia and loving neu-metal myself. There is a lot of great imagery in the book and was very easy to put myself in the story. The story flows really well for the most part but I found a couple times in the second act where it slowed a bit but to no damning extent. One of the only minor complaints I have is that I wished there was something more extreme to end the second act to give the story a little bit more of a impact. All in all, it’s a really cool look at the 80’s punk scene and a good book I’d recommend. May the gaming gods bring you glory.