Greetings, Freejacks!

Apologies ahead of time.  This installment will be shorter than you are used to.  See, I’ve had—

Hey!

Quit cheering.  It’s rude.

Anyway, my plate has been extremely full lately.  Between my hours changing at my job, my parents coming for a surprise visit this weekend, and having to put extra hours in on my web comic “The Draconia Chronicles”, I barely have time to sit and chat with you fine people.

Why are you laughing, now?

So, I wanted to share with you an exquisite little British show that just came out on DVD here in the US that anyone who can declare themselves a true geek should fancy.

I’m talking about “Spaced”.

Anyone who loved Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz should love this show as well.  Four of the lovable Brits who are responsible for the movies above are also responsible for this instant classic of a show – Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, Nick Frost, and Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson).

The plot is simple – Simon and Jessica play Tim and Daisy (respectively).  Both of them recently became in need of a place to live.  After a chance meeting in a diner, they decide – despite not really knowing each other – to pose as a couple in order to meet the criteria necessary for a cheap flat (that’s what they call apartments in the UK) that has just become available in the classifieds.  The series, which only lasted two seasons, follows their lives as they deal with the crazy and surreal situations that keep popping up episode after episode.

What makes this show a must for the geek crowd is the fact that it’s filled with geek moments and references to a lot of the pop culture you and I squee over endlessly (okay, maybe just me).  In fact, one episode is directly responsible for the creation of Shaun of the Dead.  And at just under $30, it’s one of the more reasonably-priced British imports we’ve seen in some time.

“Spaced” is an awesome series, one that will make you laugh constantly.  At the very least, you’ll be pointing at every other moment in each episode, saying “Holy crap! That’s awesome!”

Or you may suddenly find yourself in a random, slow-motion shootout using your hands as guns.

 The Don doesn’t think dogs can look up either.  Let the aerial attacks begin.

Ever been within inches of a passing semi truck on a busy freeway, whipping past at 70 mph? Even in your car, you get thrown around like a leaf? Yeah, that was SDCC for the remainder of the weekend.

While I’d love to share pics, I’m still on borrowed time — my flight back home departs TODAY, thus I can write to you all, but I have roughly 500 pictures to sort, weed out and organize into a functional blog. In the meantime, let me tell you all — California rolled out the red carpet, and I had THE BEST — excuse me, *ahem* THE BEST time at a convention since the Blizzard of 2003 during Katsucon. That’s no small feat.

This was geek Mecca. Direct your prayers of Dr. Horrible and new episodes of Eureka just south of the setting sun, folks. While no show is perfect, and Murphy’s Laws prevail, I will say that the positives of the experience far, FAR outweigh the negatives. In other words, don’t feel bad. Everyone else is broke too.

So, in the meantime (while I’m 30,000 in the air for several hours) here’s my take on:  FIVE THINGS I LEARNED FROM SDCC.

(1): No one in their right mind should ever move an event or convention from San Diego. It’s PRIME real estate. I’m not the man behind the wheel, so there’s no telling what the future holds — but I will say that San Diego embraced the convention with open arms, and there was PLENTY to do and see beyond the convention walls. Go to lunch at the Tin Fish restaurant. Get around on the trolleys. Check out the best damned reuben ever at The Field.  Speaking of fields, the Padres play at Petco Park right up the street (say what you like about the Padres.)  Even the train station is a photo op waiting to happen!

(2): Your Mileage May Vary.  And oh, did I rack up a few.  Now, you can actually stop and get a breather throughout a good portion of the con, you just have to be… creative about it.  And not have any hangups about sitting on cold floors, corners of huge displays or just around the corner of an artist table.

(3): You have to be extra special, determined or crazy (or maybe a heady combination of the three) to actually get the Rare Collectable Merchandise Given Out Only At The Con Wherein You Must Stand In Line For Several Hours For The CHANCE To Get It.

(4): Besides, there are scores of people hired just to hand out free flyers.  Save the earth, collect them all!  I bet you could fill a phone book with all the mini posters, cards, flyers, and extra bits.

(5): Some personal tips to share with you all:

-Bring a camera, and break a bank book on batteries.

-When you’re done packing, open your bags again, take out half the stuff you packed.  You’re not going to need it.

-Say “yes” to whatever absurd means it takes to get there, short of risk to person or possessions.  This place is worth it.

-Water.

-Plan ahead.  There is for even the regular attendees, four whole days worth of events to attend and people to see, things to buy (or have a conniption over whether TO buy) and while you CAN do it all in a day, if you’re around for the whole thing, space it out.  Get some rest.  Eat hearty.  Because TONIGHT WE DINE IN — *ahem*

I’ll be back with photos, folks!  Sorry for the delay, but right now it’s time for me to say goodbye to perpetually sunny San Diego!

(Oh yeah, and there was an earthquake yesterday.  Most bizarre damned thing I’ve ever experienced.)

…Which, depending on your outlook was either a disaster or a success for this blogger.    So, the previous night, we capped off with a bender — and paid the price in the morning, being too tired or too hungover to risk fighting the crowds — and the crowds are struggle!

But I spent my afternoon in style, with the crew of Lava Punch, including Alex Ahad!  I hope to try out his demo for his game, “SkullGirls” tomorrow.  Likewise, there will be mad scanning and photography to show at the end of the day tomorrow.  Prepare for the weekend media blitz, when I return.  Somehow, I’m seeing Friday & Saturday as a non-stop affair.  Which is cool, considering I must have slept at least… 12 hours today…

Greetings, Copper Tops!

So, there’s this little superhero flick that came out last weekend that you may have heard of – The Dark Knight? Some of you may have even seen it. In the off-chance that you didn’t, I sucked it up and took a bullet for you all.

That’s right, I watched the latest Batman film directed by Christopher Nolan, and I passed the savings onto you.

I’ve run into a slight problem with this review that I haven’t run into with my movie reviews so far. Problem is, this film has had a butt-ton of hype surrounding it. A lot of that has been due to the unfortunate demise of Heath Ledger. But that alone has caused almost everyone under the sun to spew gallons of hyperbole about The Dark Knight. The past few months have been nothing but Oscar buzz about Ledger’s final full performance. And since I am a consumer whore (and how!), I’ve been soaking in pretty much every ounce of it – from reviews to interviews to behind-the-scenes stuff. All of that makes it hard to right a proper review without it being tainted.

That’s why I’m going to approach this review a little differently; I’m only going to touch upon certain key elements that I really liked or hated.

Ready?

Here we go…

The Plot:

Likes – I feel it was a lot tighter than the plot of the first film. Obviously, part of that is due to the fact that we’ve gotten the origin out of the way. The plot is grim and gritty. In fact, it feels more like a crime film with a couple of loons dressed as weirdos than a superhero film. I think that’s one of the things that makes it incredible.

Dislikes – At two hours and thirty minutes, the movie just feels too long. There is some fat in there that could have been trimmed. There are points where the plot feels like it’s plodding at a turtle’s pace. The scenes themselves were great. Just wish they had gone faster.

The Acting:

Likes – Do I need to say it? Everyone else already has. Heath Ledger’s Joker kicks ass. He nailed every nuance of the character. I read one reviewer say that Ledger’s Joker makes Nicholson’s from the first Batman film look like Cesar Romero from the ‘60s TV show. I think that is an accurate description. That’s not to say that everyone else did a bad job. Far from it. Every actor in The Dark Knight is fantastic. Another notable performance was Aaron Eckhart, whose performance as Harvey “Two Face” is the most accurate portrayal so far. Even Maggie Gyllenhall impressed me with how much better her Rachel Dawes character was over Katie Holmes. Still, all of these great performances are dwarfed by Ledger. He steals the show here.

Dislikes – To be honest? I really don’t have anything to say here. But if I have to say something… random street witness number three was horrible. Who screwed up on that casting?

Characters:

Likes – There have been complaints that there isn’t enough Batman in his own movie. I disagree. See, the thing about Batman is part of what makes him tick – what makes him who he is – is his Rogues Gallery. Batman wouldn’t be Batman without his villains. Kind of like how clothes make the man. Okay, nothing like that, but you get the idea. Other people groaned at the fact that yet another Batman film has two villains. While I do agree that, in the past, cramming two villains in your Batman flick has often been that film’s undoing, that isn’t the case here. Dent’s transformation is very organic, and serves the Joker plot perfectly. It’s not like before where you have two separate villain plots vying for screen time and then BAM – the two join forces to pee in Bruce’s oatmeal. The Joker uses Dent as a means to an end. And in that lies the brilliance. As for the other characters, each one continues to be captured perfectly by its particular actor or actress. And I was especially impressed by how Rachel Dawes was better used in this film. She wasn’t just a love interest. She was given a lot more to do that helped further the plot.

Dislikes – Like above, not much negative to say here, though I will agree that I wish Two Face had a little more screen time.

Action Sequences:

Likes – Holy crap! The action in this flick makes the first film look like Daddy Day Camp. There were some beautiful sequences in this film.

Dislikes – I would have liked it if the slower portions of the movie hadn’t spread the action scenes out so much.

Odds and Ends:

Likes – The cameos and actors that I was pleasantly surprised to see in this movie – Anthony Michael Hall, Nestor Carbonell (Batmanuel (<=== how funny is that?) from the live action Tick TV show), Eric Roberts. It was great to see these underused and underappreciated actors get some decent screen time in such an awesome movie. Oh, and Cillian Murphy returns as the Scarecrow for a small scene near the beginning of the film; the fact that this movie really felt more like an action/crime drama than a superhero film. No kidding. I felt like what I was seeing on the screen could have been going down in the middle of another film, like Heat. And I loved that.

Dislikes – I’m not one of those folks who can’t stand the gravelly voice Bruce Wayne puts in his Batman persona. I think it’s pretty cool. But, I have to admit that even I was starting to get annoyed by Bale’s throaty verbalizations by the end of the film.

Overall, I think this movie is miles ahead of the first film. A lot of reviewers have been comparing The Dark Knight to The Empire Strikes Back or The Godfather, Part II. It’s definitely a darker film, as almost everything built up in Batman Begins is systematically torn down in The Dark Knight. But this is one of the main reasons why I love this film. That, plus all of the other positives I’ve listed are enough to make the negatives almost unnoticeable. I will say that The Dark Knight is probably one of the best films of the year. I definitely plan to see it again, only this time in IMAX.

Now, if the IMAX showings would quit selling out.

The Don thinks this town needs an enema. Of hugs.

Otherwise known as the first day of the convention!

Hey readers, coming to you live from after the convention!  It’s 2am, Thursday morning of SDCC, and ALREADY it looks to be a phenomenal event.  The best of comics, animation, illustration, video games and more are front & center in sunny San Diego for — and I’m really avoiding hyperbole here — an epic, auspicious event for all of geekdom.

[0] San Diego itself deserves mention for being an absolutely BEAUTIFUL piece of real estate.  I’ve been to many, many conventions; this one is loooong on looks.   Also — and bear in mind this was the exception, not the rule — most of the registration lines were very quick and despite the sheer scale of it, for a pre-registered guest, the wait never exceeded an hour’s time.  Most of the convention center staff; much less the staff for SDCC itself seemed pretty open and receptive.  If there was a place to be, they’d point it out.  If there was somewhere someone wasn’t authorized to go to, it was handled quickly and fairly.  Kudos to San Diego for making the show a true EVENT.

[1] Did you know, I have an entry in the Street Fighter Tribute artbook by Udon Comics & Capcom?  Please ignore the shameless self-promotion, and pay attention to an encyclopedic, 320 page monster of an artbook, with nearly EVERY notable artist in the world today — from Udon’s inner circle, to most online artists, to even the likes of Jorge Gutierrez (El Tigre!)  Simply marvelous!

[2] It’s telling that the video game creators man one of the main entries to the convention floor.  Capcom, Square/Enix, Konami, Activision, Sony, Microsoft, all within spitting distance of each other, and it isn’t until you’ve plowed through the first five or so minutes of people that you reach the television and animation venues.  Just an interesting note — by all means, there are enough people to really, REALLY fill in  the space.

[3] There is no number 3.

[4] This will be a day-to-day update affair.   I’m VERY excited to upload and post pictures for you all to see!  This is more or less one of the great geek Mecca of the world, so it’s not just one minor day’s post worth of material.   I’ll be back tomorrow night with more on SDCC!  If there’s any questions you all want to ask, I’m all ears!

Hello, loyal Spwug readers!

Katy and I apologize for not posting much recently, things have been crazy at home.

This is not a post saying that Spwug is ending, because it’s not. Nor is it a post saying that Katy and I will be posting more, because that’s in the air.

However, it IS a post saying that in a week or two, there will be a call for writers! If you’ve ever wanted to write for a geek culture magazine, here’s your chance!

Just keep an eye on this space, and I’ll have the details up as soon as I can.

Thanks!

San Diego Comic Con is a week from today, and DOODI’MSOEXCITED!  Got a lineup of artists to meet, apparently Seth Green stalks the halls in a Spidey costume… I’m sure there will be some big announcements, and the hallways will be chock-a-block with cool folks.  I also get a copy of the Street Fighter Tribute artbook that I submitted to!

Next week, I’ll give you the pregame show and maybe a few words from San Diego, as it’ll be the first time I’ve ever visited.    Look for me next week, on Wednesday (seriously!)

Greetings, Hong Kong Cavaliers!

You know, I really enjoy our time together.  It’s just you all and me.  Long, lingering stares.  Romantic whispers.  Tender touches.  Restraining orders.

Hey!  What the Hell?!?

What the Hell indeed.  Hellboy, that is.  As in, I saw Hellboy II: The Golden Army this past weekend, and I wanna tell you about it.

Hopefully, the five of you who read my articles are familiar with the character Hellboy and the self-titled comic book series he comes from.  But just in case, here’s a quick rundown:

Hellboy is a demon who was summoned as an infant by Nazi occultists to help them win World War II.  He was “rescued” by the Allied forces and raised by the US government, eventually becoming the top paranormal investigator of a secret, US government agency.

Now, I further hope you’ve seen the first movie.  If not, I’ll wait here while you do so…

 
…

 
*checks watch*

 
…

Good Lord, could you hurry up?  I haven’t got all night.

Okay, so the first flick was a pretty fun-filled romp of awesome, right?  It took what we love about the Indiana Jones flicks (hero versus Nazis with the world at stake), injects it with some supernatural kick-assery (that is so a word), and adds a big, red demon with a big, not red gun as its hero.  Then it ups the action and adventure up several notches.  Bake for a half hour.  Serves several million in box office receipts.

Now, how does the sequel measure up?

It’s like Guillermo del Toro (the director) opened up the floodgates of the imagination and forced it to spew all over film stock.  Then he handed it out to theaters and smoked a huge cigar in celebration.

The basic plot is this:  Long ago, the inhabitants of the realms of fantasy and the jerk humans of reality waged war.  The King of Elves had an unbeatable Golden Army made to eliminate the humans completely.  The bloodshed was so severe that the King regretted his decision.  A truce was made, and in a small bit of Lord of the Rings double-taking, the King of Elves split the crown that controlled the Army into pieces, giving one to the humans and keeping two for himself.  The terms of the truce gave the cities to the humans and the forests to the mystical creatures forever.  This did not sit well with the Prince, and he went into self-imposed exile.  Present day, and the Prince has returned to seek vengeance after seeing how destructive and greedy the humans have become.  He plans to recover the pieces of the crown and control the Golden Army, wiping out humanity for good in order to save the creatures he feels need protecting.  There is one problem – a certain large, red demon with a large, not red gun plans on stopping him with the help of his team mates.

This film was quite the ambitious project, larger in scope and in story than the first film.  This is just one of many ways that it surpasses its predecessor.  Characters are fleshed out and given more to do.  Even perennial favorite Abe Sapien gets more screen time than the first one.  And this time he even gets a romantic sub-plot.  There is just so much going on in the area of character development that I never felt like anyone got short changed.  Every character – villain, hero, and minors – had their chance to shine.

All the actors hit their marks on this go round, and they do it well.  Ron Perlman is Hellboy.  He’s a natural at it, and it shows.  Selma Blair gets more to do and we get to see some incredible growth in her character.  With Abe Sapien, Doug Jones proves that he is the only man in town to go to when you need an actor in a suit.  He even gets to do his own voice this time!  And many of you may try to gag yourselves upon learning that Seth MacFarlane does the voice of new team member and ectoplasmic entity Johann Krauss.  Better to direct those efforts at laughing, because MacFarlane is perfect for the character.  He even has some of the best funny lines in the film.  Even the minor characters, like Jeffry Tambor’s  BPRD director Tom Mannin, make the best of the screen time they are given.

Let’s not forget the villains.  Luke Goss and Anna Walton are amazing as Prince Nuada and his sister Princess Nuala, respectively.  Goss, in particular, brings intensity and nobility to his character.  Walton manages to hold her own as well, giving us a character that not only provides a romantic foil for Abe, but also serves as a centerpiece to the main conflict.

That’s one of the great things about Hellboy II – del Toro doesn’t give us a standard villain.  What this film has is a character that exists in a grey area, much like Magneto in the X-Men comics.  Prince Nuada isn’t evil.  He’s just trying to protect his fellow mythicals; save them, even.  He is a tragic hero in his own right.  It’s this complexity that is another key ingredient to what makes the sequel exceed the first installment.  The lines are not clearly drawn, and even Hellboy finds himself torn.  He’s just like the creatures he’s fighting against, trying to defend a people that reject him and are frightened by him.

Del Toro handles all of this beautifully, combining the social commentary with a well-paced plot, incredible special effects, character development, and some gorgeous fight and stunt scenes.  It’s those ingredients and the execution that make this film an awe-inspiring spectacle.  They are also what make Hellboy II better then its predecessor.  Don’t get me wrong – I love the first film, but the second one just outperforms.

Plus, it taught me one valuable lesson:

Humans suck.

 
The Don has fought his inner demons.  Then they made up and had pie.

Honey, I’m home! The gig at PiQ magazine didn’t end up working out, so it’s time to come back to the gig I love – dissecting the sprouting and burning of the anime/game/manga world.

This week’s topic is one that bridges the burning and sprouting worlds. As Gainax co-founder and master of bounce Yamaga Hiroyuki told a Fanime panel introducing a fresh Guren Lagann, “Boys love drills.”

It’s true, too – going all the way back to Getter 2 with Drill Missile and up to Guren Lagann on the burning side. Some time in the last few decades of anime, drills became a staple of the sprouting side of anime, too – attached not to robots, but to hair. It’s a fascinating crossover phenomenon that appeals to both sides of a growing young Japanese boy.

Drills on robots are relatively easy to explain – they were easy to animate in the old days. Draw a few frames of a drill spinning, and you’re set for the next 26 episodes. It’s also very dramatic to see a drill kicking up a storm of sparks against the armor of an enemy robot. Plus, it’s a surrogate penis, and boys love those things.

Drills on girls, on the other hand, take a bit more explaining. For example, take a look at a couple of girls with different forms of iconic drill hair: Houjou Reika from Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun (whose hair isn’t nearly as drill-heavy as that of others, but is important for the sake of discussion later), Karin from Street Fighter Alpha, and the Archer from Disgaea (who is so identified with her drill hair that in Disgaea 3, she actually says “Doriru!” as one of her combat noises).

Aside from being visually interesting and physically impossible short of wigs wrapped around foam, drill hair has three major features that lends itself to frequent use in character designs. First, it implies that the character spends a hell of a lot of time working on her hair in the morning, implying certain levels of leisure time combined with vanity. Second, the pointed nature of a drill and its resemblance to colonial European wigs adds to a general look of sharpness and nobility to a character design. Third, the standard drill is an upgraded cousin of the Twin Tail hairstyle, which has long been associated with tsundere. Add these three together and you have an easy route to the ojou-sama character archetype, the haughty character who looks and acts like a queen.

Pretty much every drill-haired girl will fall into this character type, from the above-mentioned Reika and Karin to Yurika from Project Justice and Char from Shuraki. Drill hair is character design shorthand at this point, giving you a bunch of character information in just a character’s hair and a little flag for ojou-sama or tsundere fans just like glasses are a giant flag for the tastefully named Richard Kim.

As a random note, Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun also included a highly amusing bit about how anime drill hair is made – Reika wakes up late one morning, and has to manually drill up her hair by sticking her finger in her tails and spinning it at about the speed of an egg whisk. It’s more than a little silly, and wholly hilarious.

Are you a fan of the drills? Do you wish I’d talked about something else? Didja miss me (or not miss me?) Let me know in the comments!

OMGOMGOMG Thunder Force VI for real, no lie! October is the revival of THE synth butt-rock shmup!  “I saw the messenger of the new god there.”

But thinking about that, consider there’s been announcements at the start of summer of TWO Bionic Commando games for the XBOX360, a Castlevania 2-player versus fighting game in the works (what?!), and a classic style 8-bit side scrolling Mega Man 9 for the Wii — and the last 8-bit game of the series (MM6) was fifteen years ago!