The Last Concentric Circle of Pop Culture
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Batman: Arkham Asylum II Video Game, Spike VGA 09: Exclusive Debut Trailer HD | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com
Dec 16th

This trailer is friggin cool. I cannot wait for this game!
Blu-Ray Review: The Fifth Element
Dec 14th


The Fifth Element
When I got a PS3, I was pretty determined to be good and not start buying a lot of Blu-Ray discs. I did pretty well with that for a bit with a significant other that brought the hammer down on my media purchases. So yeah, with that over, so was my media ban. My first purchase was The Fifth Element. And let me say, I was disappointed.
I figured this purchase would be a no-brainer in Blu. I already owned this movie on standard DVD, and I didn’t feel guilty about upgrading. I figured the colors and visuals should lend themselves well to the jump to 1080. Nope and nope.
I didn’t notice any real difference in this transfer vs the DVD. I expected a lot from the visuals in HD based on the games I had already played on my PS3 and even my X-Box 360. I was wholly let down. My belief at the time was that perhaps the movie was just too old to benefit from the jump to HD… a theory which was debunked with later purchase and upcoming review, Interview with the Vampire.
The only two things that didn’t make me have buyer’s remorse: 1) I already loved the movie 2) the $15 price tag (I’d have felt really guilty if I paid the $28.95 list price).
Rating: **
BlackBerry Storm – Day 1
Jan 6th

Day 1 with the new BlackBerry Storm and I can safely say so far I love this phone. The touchscreen is a little quirky but once you use it for a while, the quirks become second nature (pretty much like any cell’s quirks). I am slowly getting apps installed to make the Storm the device I’ve been dreaming of since Verizon squashed my dreams and nixed the iPhone™.
The battery life is something I will probably fret over as I have OCD about cell battery bars. But it is to be expected with as much as this beast does.
Weight-wise it’s not too bad. It’s pretty close to my LG enV (version 1). The enV’s thumbpad was also good training for the Virtual Keyboard on the Storm’s touchscreen.
And the click on the screen? It’s pretty nice. Some feedback would have been good, but at least, it still feels like you’re hitting buttons.
Tonight, I get my phonebook and pictures transferred over from my enV to the Storm so tomorrow should be a richer experience.
Let’s see what Day 2 brings me…
X-Box 360 TNA Impact!
Dec 24th
I’ve got a love/hate affair with this game. It’s a first-gen wrestling game from Midway so I wasn’t expecting the highly-polished affair of the WWE Raw vs Smackdown series.
Some bits of the game are pretty good… like one of TNA’s signature matches, the Ultimate X. The grapple move system isn’t overly complicated but could use some refining which I am sure will come if Midway continues the series.
My biggest Hate of the game comes from the fact that the button to leave the ring and the button to pin your opponent are one and the same. I leave the ring more often than not if I have my opponent in a pinning predicament near the ring ropes. I climb out, climb back in the ring, and then the bastard recovers and pulls a victory from his arse.
One thing I do like is that roster updates are available on X-Box Live.
I ended up buying my copy from Gamefly as it was on sale and coupled with promo coupons, I paid less than $2 for the game. Realistically, it’s a rental only unless you can get it as dirt cheap as I did.
Lost – Season 5
Dec 16th
Too Human
Dec 1st
Started playing Too Human this weekend… prelim thoughts: Kinda hard to get into at first but gets a bit better as you go along. Not quite as bad as I thought it would be but still not spectacular. Honestly though, at this point, it should be no more than a rental. Definitely not living up to it’s pre-release hype.
Traffic
Dec 1st
Honestly, can someone please tell me why the first snowfall of the year continues to amaze Chicago drivers? Come on.. really! We get snow here every damn year and everyone forgets how to drive in the stuff. It took me nearly 2 hours to get to work.. when it normally takes 35 minutes.
It also doesn’t help that those stupid Gotti-looking Sicilian butt monkeys who drive Mustangs with tires on their car from the Too Fast Too Furious movies that should not see snow ever get themselves stuck at the bottom of a hill because their car cannot get traction and go up said hill. Traffic snarls behind them, and it takes 20 minutes to go through a goddamm intersection. Morons. Every dago that waxes their eyebrows to look like a woman’s and has their hair inexplicably cemented into a spike that goes high enough the hair tries to stab God’s eyes out… these poor excuses for humanity… they need to be chemically castrated so as to not spread their stupidity into the rest of the gene pool. I’d rather allow the offspring of a Wisconsinite and Indianan over these morons.
End rant.
DC Universe Classics – Wonder Woman
Nov 26th
Finally, someone has released an articulated female action figure that isn’t ugly! Ever since the Toy Biz Marvel Legends Elektra figure (way back in Series 4), I’ve not been a fan of females in these hyper-articulated action figure lines.
Elektra suffered from one of the ugliest neck joint around as you can see in this picture
.
Wonder Woman, however, looks great! She’s powerful but not manly. My only real complaint is that I wish there was one less join on her upper arms.
DCUC and the 4 Horsemen have proven to be an action figure powerhouse. They’re putting Marvel Legends to shame these days.

Marvel Legends: Wolverine (X-Force Variant)
Nov 26th

So I was excited to find this Wolverine figure since I really loved the costume design. Excitement turned quickly to disappointment. I had high hopes for Marvel Legends when Hasbro took over the line… I really loved the Thor, Lord of Asgard figure. But each subsequent wave that comes out, I get more and more apathetic. The decos on the figs are pretty sucky compared to the Toy Biz days. And I have to say it… there is such a thing as too much friggin articulation. The feet have too many joints which causes this figure to have vertical issues right out of the package. The claws are also far too long and made of that crappy flexible rubber/plastic. I still can’t get some of them to stay uncrossed.
I think I am at the point I can safely call myself nearly done with this line. The only way I can get pulled back in is with a complelling figure that makes me want to purchase it (like the Alpha Flight Guardian figure that is part of the Wal*Mart Ares Wave).


