Monkey Love

Nothing is better during the holidays then giant apes, so we went to go see King Kong before Christmas. This is the second remake of the 1933 original, so the story is fairly well known: girl meets monkey, girl and monkey fall in love, girl's friends capture monkey, monkey takes a dive off a tall building. It's a classic tragic love story.

How was this latest version? It was really good...and really long. Like over three hours long. Better use the restroom before the movie starts. Remember when movies used to be two hours? For a while, they were clocking in at about ninety minutes, now everyone is making big, long epic movies, whether or not the story merits it.

A good movie can be as long as it likes, as long as it holds your attention. I have to admit that I my attention was beginning to wander within the first hour. It took the movie an hour to get to Skull Island, which is where everybody knows the action really begins.

I particularly enjoyed the movie when they were on the island. Dinosaurs, bugs, bats, head-sucking leeches, what's not to like? The CGI in this movie is top-notch; it's amazing how life-like King Kong looks. They've come a long way from guys in monkey suits and apes made out of clay. This Kong is one handsome-looking gorilla.

Naomi Watts did a good job. As my fiancé says, she's a likable Nicole Kidman. Jack Black was good, but I think everyone will agree that it's more fun to see Jack Black as himself rather than a serious character is a serious movie.

The funniest thing about this movie are the reviews:

"Here is the jaw-dropping, eye-popping, heart-stopping movie epic we've been waiting for all year"
"It's everything people have ever wanted from the movies- action, romance, surprise"

"One of the best movies ever made"

"This movie will change your life. If you have two children, you should rename one King and the other Kong"

Mmmm...bananas...

I made the last one up. Keep your pants on, people. It's a good movie, but it's not earth-shattering good.

It Came From The Bargain Bin: Nano Breaker

In an earlier entry, I wrote about my unbridled love for cheap video games. In a nutshell, the sins of a game at $50 are a lot easier to swallow at $20; …most of the time.

I picked up a used copy of Nano Breaker for around 15 bucks. I was curious about the game because I love a good hack ‘n slash game (like the Dynasty Warrior series), and the screenshots I’ve seen showed buckets of blood. What’s not to love?

Well, there were many times during this game I was ready to eject the disc and never play it again. With my trusty Action Replay Max, I bulled my way through the game to the end. Without it, I wouldn’t have bothered; life is too short to waste on mediocre video games.

What was wrong with the game? Mostly the bad camera angles and frustrating time I had jumping around on platforms. I think I wore out the “x” button on my controller. There’s nothing I hate more than the double jump on a platform that eventually drops or vanishes. With this game, the bad control scheme and awkward camera angles combine together to make a difficult thing even more hair-pullingly difficult.

The best thing about this game was the gallons of blood splattered on every wall and floor. You can change the color of the blood from red to blue, green, yellow, and purple. You even have a multi-colored blood option. It’s like someone swallowed a rainbow and vomited all over the place. It’s pretty amusing.

Other than that, there’s not a lot to recommend about Nano Breaker. If you’ve got twenty bucks to burn, be my guest; but there are a lot of better games out there.

By the way, there are no less than four different covers for this game (for various international releases). It's like getting a big box of poo in four different flavors! Collect them all!

Fifty!

Hey! It’s my 50th post! What a milestone! Actually, it’s not much of a milestone. Considering I started this blog in late August of this year, I should have been past my 100th post if I had my act together and wrote something every day.

Unfortunately, I’m not that prolific.

Anyways, to commemorate this unremarkable milestone, I’d thought I list some of my favorite blogs I like to read. In no particular order, here they are:

mocha + blue: This is the one that inspired me to start my own blog. I looked at this blog and said, “Gee whiz, this looks fun. Gosh darn it, I’m gonna start my own blog!”. So I did (but I don’t really talk like that, for cryin’ out loud). If you look closely, this is where I swiped my sidebar setup from (thanks, Monica!)

Dave’s Long Box: I check this blog religiously for new posts. It’s all about Dave reviewing his comic book collection, and it’s the one blog that makes me laugh out loud. Dave has a sharp eye and a keen wit about all that is good and bad (mostly bad) about comics.

Daily Gluttony: This is all about a Southern California resident who loves food. She spends a lot of time going to new eating places and rating the food. It’s well written and pretty entertaining, although it doesn’t do me much good. If only we had a blog like this for the Bay Area…

Sketch Club: A group of artists pick a person they see during their lunch break, and each draws this person from memory. It’s interesting to see how each perceives the subject, as well seeing each artist’s distinct drawing style.

Go Fug Yourself: I’m not into fashion, but how can you not like a blog that pokes fun at what celebrities wear? It can be really vicious at times, but it never fails to amuse.

So much for the big 50th post gala celebration; be sure to check back for the even bigger 100th post blowout…in about five years.

Rockin' The AK Rocker

I've been a good boy this year (or so I think), so I'm enjoying my Christmas gift early: the AK Rocker. My better half was kind enough to get this for me and let me open it early. Either that, or I would be looking forlornly at the big box in the corner until the 25th.

What is the AK Rocker? It's chair made for playing video games! There was a time when I would scoff at things such as this - it seemed so unnecessary. Why would anyone need a special chair just for playing video games? Preposterous!

Well, I just happen to be in need of such a chair. My work/entertainment space where I play most of my games (in other words, not the living room) really needed a chair for me to sit by the tv. I was pretty much dragging my desk chair over and lowering the chair height to properly see the tv. What I needed was a real low chair, since sitting on the floor gets a little uncomfortable after a while.

Enter the AK Rocker. It's entirely made of plastic with a cloth cover that fits snugly over the seat area. It's easy to assemble and pretty lightweight. Once you hunker down into the chair, it's quite comfortable.

The best part is that it's a rocking chair - but it's not your grandmother's rocker. You know how most guys, at some point in their life, like to lean back in their chair and balance on the two rear legs of the chair? I bet all guys have done this at least once, and I bet 90% of them have fallen completely backwards (I did it in high school, right in the middle of English class).

The AK Rocker lets you relieve those good times without the pain of smacking the back of your head on the floor. If you keep leaning back, the chair will go backwards, but it will gently settle you into a horizontal position. Look at the look of bliss on these two guys:


Rock on, dudes. All you need now is for someone to help you up.

Poopmouth

Here's my new word for today: logorrhea (law-guh-REE-uh), which means an excessive use of words. I've heard the phrase "diarrhea of the mouth", but I never knew there was actually a word for it. Logorreha is derived from the Greek word logos ("word") and rhein ("to flow").

Oddly enough, while the Greek word rhein is also part of the word diarrhea, I don't believe "dia" means poop.

OK, that's enough scatological talk for today. See? There's another word for you. Don't say that blogs can't be educational too.

Still Poppin' Fresh After All These Years

Before I forget, happy birthday to Poppin' Fresh, the Pillsbury Doughboy. Born in 1965, the little guy made of dough is 40 years old and still going strong.


Not too bad for a guy who's been poked in the gut more times than any human being can stand.