For the last few months I have been debating whether to get an iPad or a Kindle Fire. The debate was between the price of an iPad and the deficiencies of the Fire (when compared to an iPad). Before I was able to decide, however, I received a Fire for winter solstice celebration (aka xmas). So I’ve had it now for about 2-3 weeks, and in that time I’ve used it extensively.
Maybe it’s because it’s new and different but I really like the carousel on the Fire. I have found Apple’s iOS to be getting bland and boring, but that has accelerated since I started using the Fire. (As a quick aside I think the Apple iOS needs a dramatic over haul stat). Maybe it’s just the way I like to categorize things or the way my brain works but I enjoy how the carousel breaks up the various different media sources (newsstand, music, video, web, apps etc) and then has a favorites and recently used section.
As a media consumer the Fire is outstanding. It has completely replaced my laptop when it comes to reading news, surfing the web, watching videos, reading books, comics, listening to music etc. Speaking of reading books, everything that I wish my Kindle reader had the Fire does. For instance, the ability to google and wikipedia words terms etc. (Amazon’s whispersync technology also is a big plus and works great when I switch between my reader and my Fire.) But I’ve always preferred the Kindle reader to iBooks. If there is one thing that amazon does better that’s it. I find iBooks to be slow and clunky but the Kindle app is like butter. Throw in the ability to check out books from the local library with Kindle and Amazon Primes new book rent service and I’m sold. The Fire’s native browser Silk works quickly and smoothly. It’s really fast for me and works better when you turn off flash. Is it faster and better than Safari? I don’t know I haven’t busted out my stopwatch to check, nor do I really care. Both my iPhone and my Fire load up pages quickly on WiFi. The problem I have on both is the same–advertisements on non-mobile websites. Need an app like ad blocker for Silk (if someone knows of one let me know as I haven’t been able to find one). Other than that I’m liking it and as more websites on going to HTML 5 (thank you Apple) I find less and less websites where you need flash to view them.
For reading comics the Kindle has been fantastic. In conjunction with my box.net account I can download comics as I need them. Unfortunately, there’s no native .cbr reader on the Fire so you have to buy one (there’s no free comic readers either) but $3 for a reader in the long run in not a bad deal. Videos from amazon and netflix load quickly and run smoothly, and the shape of the Fire is conducive to watching videos, but more on that later. Music on the Fire works well also. Pandora works flawlessly and Amazon (like Apple) provides 5GB of free space that allows me to upload most of my favorite music to the cloud and access it from anywhere–including work since I can access it from the web and don’t need to install any new programs on my work computer (which I like others can’t do). Also if I want 20gb of space it’s cheaper on Amazon ($20) than it is on Apple ($40). In this day and age that extra 20 per year is a lot.
Now the Fire is smaller in size than the iPad and this is good and bad. Good because it’s very comfortable to hold in my lap or one-handed whilst laying on the couch. It’s the perfect proportion for widescreen movies and TV shows and also retains the feel of a book when held upright. It feels less unwieldy or more normal than an iPad. On the negative side it’s smaller and that sucks especially when not every app includes a pinch-to-zoom feature (I’m looking at you comic reader, fix that shit stat). However, I still feel, like the iPad, that it’s a bit weird typing on it. For that reason, I only use it for writing short emails or blogs. For now, my laptop is safe.
This list is a bit late because I have been migrating the site to a newer, cheaper server. Hopefully this new server will be able to handle the crush of 12 people accessing my blog. This list also may includes books, movies, games, etc that didn’t actually come out in 2011. That is because I’m old and it takes me awhile to get around to things so just deal with it.
Best Novel: EasilyEast of Eden, Steinbeck’s grand tale spanning three generations. Absolutely loved the book and can’t recommend it enough to others.
Best History (or otherwise scholarly) book:Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, this massive tome delves deeply into the politics, military, and social history of the Civil War. A great starting place for anyone who wants to learn more. McPherson’s prose never bores but keeps you engaged through 800+ pages.
Best Comic: I read a lot of comics this year and enjoyed the majority of them. The ones I have been looking forward to the most though have been X-Men schism/regenesis storyline particularly Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine and the X-Men, and Uncanny X-Force.
Best Movie: Winter’s Bone. Yep I was about 8 months late on this one but still it was one of the best movies I saw this year, much better than The King’s Speech.
Best Movie (that I expected absolutely nothing from): Hall Pass. Hah! Seriously, I got this movie on Netflix and expected one or two funny jokes but it was hilarious and had one of the funniest/grossest laugh out loud moments of any movie I’ve seen for a long time.
Best TV Show: Damn there was a lot of good TV this year: Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Board Walk Empire, Louie, Modern Family, and I could go on and on. However, I think the show that I enjoy the most, can’t wait to watch every week, and am disappointed when the season ends is Justified. It’s easily one of the best/funnest shows on TV that literally no one watches or knows about.
Best Game: I slacked on the game playing this year but the most enjoyable game I played was Batman: Arkham City. GTA style Batman fun with tons of side missions and plenty of bad guy skulls to crush. Plus Mark Hamill reprises his role as the Joker. What’s not to like.
Best Album: This may be because I have been listening to it constantly for the last couple weeks but by far (and I admittedly didn’t listen to a ton of new music this year) my favorite album of the year is The Black Keys’ El Camino. The quality of their albums doesn’t seem to diminish with time or listens and it never seems like they release a lazy album. Pick it up.
Best Gadget: This is a tough one because I have picked up quite a few gadgets this year but I’m sticking with the latest one, my Kindle Fire. I absolutely love it. Full review coming soon but so far it’s fast becoming my go to gadget.
Next up my worst of list, because the only thing better than things you like are things you hate and get to trash.
So I have been hard at work on my paper this entire weekend. Actually, I was supposed to be working on this paper all weekend. However, instead of doing actual work I have been procrastinating, well, like it’s my job. So Sunday I turned on my XBOX 360 so I could listen to some music whilst writing, but before I started playing my writing music, I started looking at some of the new arcade games. One game in particular caught my eye, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai (and also check the developers blog). I decided to check out the demo, and damn I was hooked with a quickness. Although $10 can be a steep price for a broke ass student like myself I didn’t think twice about buying it. This game is amazing and I spent the better part of my Sunday afternoon furiously killing some fools.
The game is about some dude who washes dishes–amazingly I don’t think he is Mexican haha–who dies or something and somehow lives and wants revenge. Someone also kidnaps his sister and he needs to save her. The cut scenes are done as comic strips and the whole style of the game is very comic booky. The game does a very good job of feeling like a comic book come to life. Each level feels like individual frames of a comic book that you are slowly progressing through. Obviously this is all part of the design, but the fact that it comes through so clearly, and works so well, speaks highly of the designer not dropping the ball on his vision. The actual gameplay though is kick ass and the closest approximation for it is Ninja Gaiden. If you like Ninja Gaiden you’re going to like this game. If you like the action of Ninja Gaiden, but your fingers aren’t nimble enough to hit the combos (coughneverbesocialcough), you will most likely enjoy this game. It has all the cool action without the mind-numbing and finger contorting combos of Ninja Gaiden (although if you play for long enough your hands will cramp up like the caretakers). Oh yah by the way did I mention that there are zombie in the game? No? Well there are, so bonus points for the zombie slayage, and you even get a chainsaw in the game to slash those zombies back to hell. Also of note there are sweet executions that you can perform to finish off your enemies. One of my favs is when the Dishwasher grabs the psuedo-FBI agents gun and uses it to splatter said agents brains onto the wall.
Ok, I have been a bit remiss in blogging lately. I am trying to motivate myself for this last semester of school, studying for my comprehensive exams, looking for work and a job, and blogging. Unfortunately blogging has taken a bit of a hit lately, but hopefully I get in the groove soon and figure out how to balance everything out. That being said I am also pretty terrible at writing any type of favorite or year end lists, which brings me to this post. This is the first ever–and hopefully not the last–guest post. This is the first in a series of four favorite lists composed by Mr. Magness. Today’s list is Top 10 movies of 2008 (and spare me the whole “it’s too late for that it’s already February crap.” I’m a habitual procrastinator so deal with it, plus it’s better late than never). Seeing as how I rarely ever see movies in theaters (and the fact that I hate writing lists) I am ill-equipped to write up a list like this and defer to the knowledge and experience of Mr. Magness:
Mr. Magness
Another year and another drawn out list of my favorite movies, TV and books. Hopefully everyone enjoys it and hopefully this will spark some lively debate at home and through email. I have included the links to all the trailers for the best movies and television that I thought were great. If you pay close attention you will find 2, count them, 2 Sean William Scott movies in my top ten of the year. And the winners (OF NOTHING) are….
10. Burn After Reading
The new masterpiece from the Coen brothers was overlooked by critics but I think it is one of the best Coen brothers movies up there with Raising Arizona, Big Lebowski, and O’ Brother. It is amazing watching Clooney and Pitt dressed up and acting like such normal men and being able to act like such idiots and douches at the same time in this film. The characters that are in this movie perfectly embrace what it is to be the new version of an American moron. The whole movie revolves around a CD full of nothing and the desire for plastic surgery. It is very funny and is easily one of the best films of the year. http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/burnafterreading/
9. The Foot Fist Way
Danny McBride is the future of comedy and this movie should of launched his career but sadly not many people saw this little film. This movie is a story of an overweight Tae Kwon Do instructor in Minnesota. Not laughing yet…the main character is one of the most ridiculous humans alive and it follows his sad life even though he thinks his life is just Awesome!!!! Luckily Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Judd Apatow saw this film and put McBride in Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express (he was the best part of both movies). This has the humor of Napoleon Dynamite but of the R rated variety. Easily a movie that will become a cult hit and be quotable for years to come. http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_vantage/thefootfistway/
8. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The second best love story of the year and easily the most beautifully filmed movie of the year. This movie tells the story of a man who ages backwards and the struggles that come with any lifetime. This movie is a surprise from director David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven, last years Magness top ten Zodiac) but really captures everything that is pure and great concerning a love story. the film is almost 3 hours in running time but feels like it just flies by. Brad Pitt is good as Benjamin but his mom played by Tarjie Henson is absolutely amazing and she is well deserving of an Academy Award nomination. This movie leaves a Forrest Gump feeling in your heart by having us feel grateful we were able to take Button’s journey along side him. http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/thecuriouscaseofbenjaminbutton/
7. Frost/Nixon
Watching this movie by Ron Howard I was amazed how a simple interview could lead to such an intense political thriller. The movie is based around the interviews President Nixon had with David Frost a British journalist. Now the key word is BASED because it is not all fact but it sure makes for a great movie. The best parts are the interviews between Frank Langella (Nixon) and Michael Sheen (Frost) because of their chemistry and the noticeable tension that is built between them throughout the course of the film. It is well deserving of a Best Picture nod and is easily one of Ron Howard’s best movies. http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/frostnixon/
6. Slumdog Millionaire
The best love story of the year goes to this movie simply because I have never seen a movie quite like this movie. Who knew you could make such an intense, beautiful, devastating and romantic movie based around Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The story is told in flashbacks as a “slumdog” is answering questions on the game show. Every question is realized through the tragic events of the main characters life. Danny Boyle the director (Trainspotting, The Island) brings India to life in ways I have never seen before and really brings out the beauty that can be found any and everywhere. This movie is nominated for 10 Academy Awards and has a great chance of being this years Best Picture. http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/slumdogmillionaire/
So I finally got around to seeing The Dark Knight the other day, and I’m not going to bore you with another cookie-cutter review. Besides this movie is all over the news, and it’s making money hand over fist, so you have to be living under a rock, under another rock, to not know that this movie is great. What I do want to talk about is how solid this movie was from top to bottom, and some of the themes that were weaved in that really impressed me. You can take any movie that has come out this year–whether a dramatic, action, or otherwise–and The Dark Knight will match up to any of them.
This has to be one of the top comic book movies that has ever been made, and I think what surprised me the most was how deep the movie ended up being. Comics have always been fairly deep, and have always been a form of social commentary. As of late this has been translated into the movies better. From here on out I’m going to talk about some of the specifics of the movie so if you haven’t seen it then don’t make the jump.
So last night I couldn’t sleep, and I had just finished watching the X-Files. I started flipping around looking for something good to watch when I stumbled onto an episode of Spaced on BBC-America. Now let me preface what I am about to say by asking did you like Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz? If the answer was a yes (probably a resounding yes, because those two movies are money) then you really should check out Spaced. So what is it? Well it is a TV Show from the same team that did Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. It is obviously a British show, and it is hilarious. (I’m not one of those people that believes that British TV is so much superior to American, because it isn’t. I do like the British Office, but I also like the American one, and I think Jim and Dwight are way better in the American version.) There are many reasons why Spaced is a great show; foremost amongst them is that Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes, and Nick Frost have great chemistry on screen. They are all also great writers who know the audience that they are writing for. Unfortunately there are only two seasons totaling 14 episodes so it is a short lived series, but it packs a huge punch. I have seen the series a few times myself, and all the episodes are jam-packed with tons of laugh out loud moments. So do yourself a favor and check out the show on Netflix or just buy it. It is well worth the money. I found a few clips on YouTube so enjoy.
I went to go see Hellboy 2 today, and I got exactly what a expected, which is a great popcorn movie. The visuals were great, the story was solid, and I enjoyed myself immensely. I expected something good from Del Toro, and I expected him to show his skills, so my worries about him making The Hobbit would be assuaged. Well I am now excited about what he may deliver in The Hobbit. His creatures are awesome. Every movie he makes, I end up walking away from just amazed at the ingenuity that goes into his creatures.
Without spoiling the movie for anyone, I will tell you to look out for the tooth fairies. Despite the fact, that I don’t need anymore creepy crawlies to give me the heebie-jeebies at night, the tooth fairies were classic. Of course I will probably be on the look out for them tonight, and I will never think of the tooth fairy in the same way again. That is just one example of how masterful Del Toro is, his creatures are so good that they displace their predecessors.
Ok, so what works in the movie? Like I have already explained the monsters work. I have always liked how Hellboy looks–he doesn’t look as styrofoamy as the Thing from Fantastic Four–and he looks better in this movie. The story works, it’s not overly complicated. It’s a simple story that works within the mythology, and it creates tension with the characters. The best part is Hellboy’s origin, and the back story for the Golden Army, are given to the audience quickly and efficiently within the first 10 minutes of the movie.
After that Del Toro dives into the action. Hellboy, Liz, and Abe then embark on a pseudo-detective mission trying to figure out what is going on, and it works. The action flows, and these scenes are much more action packed that the first movie. Even the slow scenes are great–the scene where Abe and Hellboy get drunk is brilliant (they drink Tecate how cool is that?)–and they aren’t overly emo, but they just keep the story moving. The movie is also really witty, and funny. I found myself laughing quite a few times, and in a good way. The dialogue was well written, and helped to keep the movie light, especially when it started to get dark or emotional, but the timing of the comedy was perfect, and didn’t take away from the action or emotions, but instead complimented it nicely.
I do believe that this is the last Hellboy movie, unfortunately. Del Toro has said that beginning in 2009 he will be devoting himself to The Hobbit for the next 5 years. Because of that, and the ending, I believe that this will be the last one. It’s too bad–if that’s the case–because I want to see where Del Toro would have gone with the next one. I’m not going to spoil the ending, but I will say that it’s a good ending, and it feels like a real ending and not a set-up for a sequel. Also, I like how Del Toro resolved the conflicts that had arisen in the movie.
One last thing, when the credits rolled I was floored to learn that Danny Elfman had done the score for the film. I am so used to hating his music, mostly because Tim Burton always has Elfman make music that sounds exactly like his previous work. His score this time around sounded nothing like his previous scores, and it was a compliment to the movie, and not a distraction. With that said I will tell you to see this movie. It deserves to be seen in the movies, and I was glad to see that it was the #1 movie of the weekend; it pulled in over $35 million. I hope it continues to make money because it is a well made movie, and movies with this amount of creativity deserve to be seen. There is too much unoriginal trash being made in Hollywood these days, and it is good to see a movie that hits on all cylinders, and that has some originality in it. Go see it and enjoy yourself.
Update 11:07
I forgot to mention this earlier, but I love Selma Blair. She is great in this role, and doesn’t overact like Katie Holmes. Have I mentioned that I am so happy that Katie Holmes won’t be in The Dark Knight. She almost single-handedly ruined Batman Begins so it will be nice to see Batman without her goofy ass in it.
Last year was a terrible year for movies, and there wasn’t a whole lot to be excited about. This summer is shaping up to be much better, considering that there have already been quite a few great movies like Hulk and Iron Man. The next 6 weeks are looking to be a very geeky time for movie fans. Personally, I’m excited. This Friday, July 11, Hellboy 2 will be released. I’m looking forward to this movie for a few reasons. First off, I enjoyed the first movie–although it took a little too long to get going–and now that he doesn’t have to worry about origin stories, we can just jump right into the action. Secondly, I want to see how good this movie can be, because Del Toro is–if you don’t know–going to be directing the two Hobbit movies. I love Del Toro’s style, and I think it will meld well with the LOTR’s imagery. If he can really make this Hellboy movie his own, and really make into something great, then it will assuage some of my apprehension at him doing The Hobbit. So this Friday I will be making my way to the multiplex to check it out:
On the Friday after, July 18, comes the next movie that I am excited about which is The Dark Knight. Everything about this movie is top-notch. Check out the poster, which is one of the best posters I think I have ever seen (BTW thanks to PML friend Mag-10 for sending this my way). Everyone is fawning over this movie, and you know that when movie critics–generally snobbish, fickle, and jealous crowd–start singing the praises of a comic book movie, well then, it’s really good. I originally wasn’t sure about Heath Ledger as the Joker, but the more I see the more I am completely sold on him. Even though I like the Tim Burton Batman and Nicholson’s Joker, I always thought that that vision of the Joker was too campy, and not dark enough. I’ve talked to quite a few people who have said that they don’t care what Ledger does, that Jack Nicholson will always be the Joker. I say shenanigans to that. The thing that is great about the Joker is that he is a sadistic, demented criminal, that has a ton of fun being evil, and has absolutely no conscience. So far there hasn’t been a Joker that has captured that darkness, but I am willing to bet that Ledger’s performance is going to shock a lot of people. There is already Oscar buzz about Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker:
So I’ve been a pretty comic booky mood lately, what with a great Iron Man and Hulk movie. One other show I’m stoked about, however, is the new Spectacular Spider-man cartoon on Saturday mornings. If you haven’t seen this show yet, you should definitely watch or DVR it. So what’s so good about this show you may ask. Well for one the people behind this show get the character so much better than Sam Raimi seemed to. One of the biggest problems with Raimi’s Spider-man was that he was consumed with having the movies be about Peter Parker’s angst about being a teenager, and the death of his Uncle. That’s all fine and dandy, and it is an important aspect of the Spider-man story, but what really drives these stories are the villains. This is where Raimi erred. He forgot to respect the villains.
I mean what’s Bruce Banner without General Ross or Reporter McGee. If he didn’t have them he would just be able to kick it in a lab until he finds the cure. With them it adds drama and tension to the plot line. The thing is though in order to keep that drama you can’t just kill off all the villains Same thing with Peter Parker. Two of the villians, in particular, help to really push his character arc. Venom and the Green Goblin. But the Green Goblin was killed off in the first movie, and he didn’t even get to kill off Gwen Stacy, and he killed off Venom in the last one. In addition, Venom as a character was completely wasted in the third film. I just don’t get Hollywood’s sick fascination with killing off major villains. If you want to kill some of the ancillary villains that’s fine, but the major villains need to live on to come back another day, like Jason and Freddy. Otherwise you get these hamfisted attempts to resurrect a character, which would be unnecessary if the villains had been respected and dealt with correctly. Anyways I feel that this cartoon has greater respect for the story, and handles the characters much better. Check out this episode where Spider-man fights with the Sinister Six.
Just returned a little while ago from viewing the new Hulk movie, and I have to say that they nailed it. They really got it right. Now I’ve read some reviews of the movie and most reviewers have just crushed this movie. Don’t believe them. Here’s the deal, if you hated Ang Lee’s and like the comic books and/or the TV show, then your going to like this movie. What they got right most was the feeling. Something that I always liked about Banner was that he was a guy that was trying to fly under the radar, and he was very non-confrontational. Despite this, however, people always fucked with him. He was like a magnet for trouble and he had terrible luck. It was like anything that could go wrong went wrong. Now, in addition to this, he was a nice guy. If he wasn’t he probably wouldn’t have gotten into as much trouble as he always did. But he was nice and genuine and this invariably led to him getting into crazy situation. The movie gets this and Edward Norton plays Banner perfectly.
The movie also gets right the desperation and the movement. He is always ready to move at a moments notice, and he does the bare minimum to scrape by in life. The rest of his time is devoted to finding himself a cure. The movie captured this feeling. From the opening scene where Banner is hiding out, after a sweet opening sequence that re-explains his origin story, you are already anxious and taut. You just know that something is going to go wrong and ruin what semblance of a life he has created. Now most of the reviewers have criticized the story, and I strongly disagree with them. I didn’t go into this movie expecting The Godfather, but I did expect a fairly solid story. That’s what I got. It’s also a very simple story and we all already know it. He’s on the run looking for a cure, and at some point in time someone is going to try and capture him. It’s the same story just with different elements mixed in, but it works because every time he hulks out he starts back at square one.
In literature this would be called realism–think Twain, Garland, or Crane. Where you don’t get the full story, but you start somewhere after the beginning and finish somewhere before the end. There’s never a real resolution, but you get a snap shot of a person’s life. That is what made the TV show work, and if they keep this style going in the movies, they will work. A couple things I really like about the movie was the homage to the TV show: the beginning origins sequence, the shots of Norton’s eyes when he started to hulk out, they used the Lonely Man theme, and the kinetic energy of the movie. Unlike the Lee movie that dragged on and on, and tried to get waaaay too psychological, in this movie once Banner goes on the run, the movie takes off and doesn’t stop. One last point is on the animated hulk. Of course it’s CGI and doesn’t look perfect, but he looks pretty goddamn sweet, and much better than the last one. He’s not too tall or too crazy strong–like he doesn’t jump 10 miles with every leap–he’s more grounded in reality. What I really liked, however, was when the hulk came out you could see him get visibly pissed that people wouldn’t leave him alone. Time after time he tries to get away and yet people keep shooting him. At one point he just puts his head down and sighs because he’s tired of people messing with him, and he just wants to be left alone. This is directly influenced by the original Frankenstein, of course, where Frankenstein wants to be normal and blend in, but everyone keeps harassing him. That’s the feeling you get when you see the hulk. He just wants to be left alone, but then he can only take so much, and that’s when he goes bat-shit crazy. Anyways the movie is well worth the $10, and I’m looking forward to seeing it again, so go check it out.
