Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings!

Facebook

Ok, ok, you all win! I created an account on Facebook!

Bored

Oh my God! I can't believe how bored I am today! I can't wait to get back to work and do something meaningful!

Yo, Joe!

I've been a comic book fan for a long time and some of my most favorite characters are not superheros, but rather the men and women of America's special missions force: G.I. Joe.

IDW Publishing has picked up the rights to the comic book series of G.I. Joe following the adventures of the Joes from the 1980's era. The original G.I. Joe team have been around since the 1960's, and revamped a few times since the 1980's, it seems that the 3 3/4-inch figures have had an amazing staying power in the hearts and minds of boys (both young and old).

Over the last year I haven't really had much time for the Joes, or their Hasbro stable mates, the Transformers, but on a recent trip to the book store (I know, yes, print is dead) I found myself in the graphic novel section and saw that IDW had collected many of their 32-page monthly comics into a soft cover graphic novel. This practice isn't uncommon, but I think I've reached a stage in my collecting that single monthly issues are just no longer practical for me since after some 30 years (give or take a few) there just isn't space in the budget or the house for more books.

The best part about the new IDW series is that the great Larry Hama is come on board to help guide the series. Hama, for those who have been around for a long time, wrote many of the stores from the Marvel comic years and his name has been synonymous with Joe comics for years.

You can check out IDW's G.I. Joe titles and their full line of comics at the IDW website. And if you have an iPhone or iPod touch in your pocket, you will also be able to purchase IDW comics in digital forum using the IDW Comics application, available for free from the iTunes App Store [iTunes link].

Yo, Joe!

Two-Parters

You know what the worst part about watching TV late at night is? Two-parters.

Take tonight for example. I'm watching an episode of Stargate SG-1 before heading off to bed. I get drawn into the episode. I'm watching the show on Hulu, a free Internet video on demand service, so I'm not watching the time because I know that show isn't going to end at the top of the hour like it would if I was watching broadcast TV.

And then, all of the sudden...BANG! "To be continued" pops up on the screen with absolutely no regard for the fact that it is after midnight. I mean, I can't walk away at this point! Nope, I'm going to have to crack another can of Diet Coke, and sit back for the next 43 minutes and 53 seconds to see what happens next.

I just picked up to new music tracks over at the Apple iTunes Store. Finally, finally, Bear McCreary's works can be purchased from iTunes. While I already have all four seasons of the Battlestar Galactica soundtracks on disc, I sampled the tracks for Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel coming up on Syfy in 2010. (The pilot episode was released on DVD earlier this year.)

Since all of the Caprica music that has been released so far is all from a single episode, I'm reserving judgment on the music for the series. After all, I'm not a huge fan of the music from the Battlestar Galactica mini-series. (For the record, Mr. McCreary didn't compose the music, Richard Gibbs did.)

Anyway, long story short, if you like the drums in many of McCreary's Battlestar tracks, you'll want to listen to "Cybernetic Life Form Node" and "Zoe Awakens" as they have similar themes; not surprising as the show will deal with the rise of the Cylons. The foreshadowing musical queues in "Zoe Awakens" also reminds me of another McCreary soundtrack that I enjoyed; Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Wizkids Back In Action!

I was just clearing out some of my old bookmarks in FireFox and ran across the bookmark for WizKids games. When last we talked about WizKids, things didn't look good as Topps had closed down the company. (Topps owned the WizKids brand at the time.)

Since then, a group of people have purchased the assets of WizKids and reactived the company, which includes some of old company's employees, and more importantly to us, a number of the old games too!

The focus seems to be on getting the Hero Clix game(s) out the door at all costs to start generating some revenue. The good news for fans of Pirates of the Spanish Main and Pirates of the Cursed Seas games is that they are looking to get that franchise back up and running. Look for news about Pirates in the second half of 2010. I know that sounds like a lone time to wait, but I'd rather wait another year to get the game back than to not get the game back at all.

"Q: Do you have plans for Pirates of the Cursed Seas?

A: Pirates is a very valuable part of the portfolio of product lines NECA purchased. We are considering new configurations on the Pirates line and will keep you in the know as to how that is progressing. I don’t expect any major announcements until mid-2010 but long-term, the Pirates line is part of our plans."

You can get all the details about what's up at the company over at the new WizKids website.

Star Trek 2-Disc DVD Pack with Digital Download

Earlier this week I picked up a copy of J. J. Abram's Star Trek 2-disc DVD set. Normally I don't buy the 2-disc sets because I don't usually watch the bonus features, ok, I'm cheap, but this time I decided to spring the extra cash.

The 2-disc DVD set cost $24.99 at the local Target; the single DVD edition cost $19.99. For the extra $5.00 I got the bonus DVD and a "free" digital download of the widescreen edition of the movie from the iTunes store. It was the iTunes download that hooked me.

I wanted to try out the digital movie download scene before, but I stayed away because I like the flexibility to watch my movies on whatever device happens to be handy or the right one for the trip I'm going on. Normally, this means that I get the DVD and then rip it with Handbreak into a file that I can watch on a Mac, a PC, my Palm Pre...you get the idea. I had tried the digital download that was included with The Dark Knight, the latest movie in the Batman franchise. I didn't like it at all because you where limited to a Windows PC and Windows Media Player, and here is the kicker, you still had to pay for the download (it was $2, but it is the principle of the thing).

With Star Trek, you insert the bonus disc into your DVD drive, launch iTunes, and enter the special redemption code found inside your DVD case. Once the code has been validated, the movie download will start. The full movie is about 1.90GB and you should backup the movie to an external hard drive and/or a data DVD as you will only be allowed to use your download code once.
The digital download can be played on any iTunes Store authorized device including up to 5 of your Mac OS X or Windows PCs, any iPhone, and the iPod touch, the iPod Classic, iPod 5th Gen.

It's Twilight Time

I was talking to Jen this morning and found another reason to mock the Twilight Saga: apparently, the vampires don't actually bite people. They're friendly vampires, so to speak.

WTF?! Damn gay ass vampires. Besides, this one looks like a little girl with to much white foundation and red lipstick.

Travel Channel Ghost Adventures

Just finished watching the Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures Remington Arms episode, which was filmed over the summer in Bridgeport, CT.

You can read a little bit more about the show on the Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures website. I'm not much for shows, books, or movies about the paranormal or UFOs. My philosophy is that if it is real, we shouldn't be messing with it. If it isn't real, why waste your time with it. (I will say that I'm a fan of the first Ghostbusters movie; but I never really liked E.T.)

Needless to say, there wasn't much to report about the Remington factory that hasn't already been documented by historians. Additionally, they on camera folks did say that they where in a "rough part of town", but made no mention of all the homeless people who live in the area. So, at the end of the hour, I left like I had been watching one of the old Heraldo Revera specials about the Titanic and Al Capone rather than a scientific analysis to prove or disprove the existence of paranormal activity at the site. I guess I was looking for a little something more along the lines of Discovery Channel's Mythbusters where the results are either "Confirmed", "Busted" or "Plausible."

After watching the show, and knowing how bad the area is in terms of dilapidation at the site and the homeless folks who no doubt in habit the expansive facility, I'm going with "Busted".