The Co-Op Reboot Post

Co-Op, the webcomic my fellow gamer Treebeerd and I created last year has been on somewhat of a hiatus. The comic became too much of an ordeal and a large production each issue- and in all honesty got too focused and obscure to really be relatable to many. Well we learnt form our mistakes and are coming back for round two with our Co-Op Reboot next month. Aiming for shorter, single-gag strips rather than full page stories, this version should be much more entertaining and accessible to readers. We are also giving it the royal treatment with RSS feeds, web 2.0 frills and its own website. Initial efforts are looking good. Stay tuned for more on the re-launch and expect to see the comic going live next month!

The Oscar Worthy Post

I didn’t really watch the Oscar’s last night. Unless you count having it on in the other room while I was working at the computer…in that case then I totally watched the whole thing! There where only two categories I was particularly invested in this year and those where Best Supporting Actor and Best Animated Feature Film. Not that I was worried about my picks, but I wanted to make sure Pixar’s Wall.e got the nod over the competition for the best animation. I laughed out loud at Jack Black’s Dreamworks burn- very nice. I, like so many people watching, was hoping that Heath Ledger’s Joker would win the Oscar nod. It’s so rare that a comic-based role is given such a powerful portrayal, and even rarer that it should have the academy notice. Combined with his early death and the buzz associated with a post-mortem nomination there really was a reason to keep an eye on the category. I am really glad that he won. Not to discredit the other guys, but I am very pleased that his family got to walk away with his gold. The standing ovation they got and the teary-eyed shots of his former peers was really rather emotional. Topping that for Batman 3 will be a tough one Mr. Nolan… think you can do it? How about a wager? If you top Dark Knight then I’ll go see slumdog millionaire*.

* I’ll give you a head start, get a twisted version of the Riddler in there and pair him with a visual effects bad guy like Killer Croc or Bane. Even then it'll be hard to top Ledger's Joker.

The Taken Post

Taken is one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. It’s a terrific mix of all the action and detective work form the Bourne series (minus the terrible camerawork) mixed with the tense drama moments form traditional thrillers. Liam Neeson is the perfect casting choice for the film, and does not disappoint. His character, Bryan Mills, is an ex-CIA/spy/agent-of-some-sort who had left his old life to live closer to his estranged daughter, whom he lost in a divorce with his now extremely bitchey ex-wife Lenore (played with on-point bitcheyness by Famke Janssen). When said daughter takes a trip outside of the country she is abducted and taken into the flesh-trade ring. Mills is on the phone with her when she is taken, and vows to come after the guys who have taken his daughter. The lines he so calmly delivers down the phone really resonate;

“I don’t know who you are but if you don’t let my daughter go I will find you. I will kill you”.

Neeson’s casting is particularly perfect because he traditionally plays the paternal teacher roles, which he fall into early on in the film, as the kind, well-to-do father who wants nothing more than to be in his daughter’s life. His transition into his former self during his pursuit of his daughter’s captives is paced perfectly, and we see Neeson’s character progress from a father wrapping up a present for a birthday party, to a natural born killer dispatching goons with neck chops and headshots.

The extreme measures his character is willing to go to, to get his daughter back is often chilling, but there is an unavoidable sense of enjoyment when you see that he is willing to take out the scum that he faces (even after he’s got what get needs form them). The movie does an excellent job of making Mills accessible and very likable, but tossing in some edgy curveballs that keep you guessing as to what he is prepared to do.

Neeson’s acting in the beginning of the movie was a, little wooden, probably due to his character’s awkward transition to a normal life, but as a result a few of his lines seemed oddly lacking in charisma. That said I really have nothing negative to say about this film. If Taken can be faulted for anything it’s the lack of hype that went into promoting it. The advertisements that where shown didn’t little more than to highlight the premise of the movie and don’t do an effective job in letting you know how adrenaline-fueled this movie really is. Neeson is 100% bad-ass in this movie- to the degree where the commercials should consist of little more than a montage of flying elbows, car chases and jugular uppercuts.

The International Post

I have to start off and admit that I never intended to see The International. Sarah and I have had our eyes on another Clive Owen movie (Duplicity) which apparently comes out next month. Being that Owen starts in this film as well, we just sort of assumed it was the same movie. The mistake dawned on us after we where sitting through the trailers before the International started and an ad for Duplicity came on. “Well this never happens” we said to each other “Why show a trailer for the movie people are already about to see? Seems stupid,” But we soon found out who the stupid ones where... So with that said here is my review of the movie I never meant to see: The International*

What if the world’s largest bank didn’t make its riches off of overdue account fees and interest? What if all the world’s terrorist and military forces where funded and tied to one big financial institution? Could one man ever unravel such a plot? Have you ever found yourself asking these questions? Probably not… but if you ever did, The International is here to show you that there is pretty much nothing you can ever do about it should said evil bank ever exist. The main theme running though the film is that this problem at hand is much bigger than Owen’s lion-hearted detective character, and is not something he can stop. Unfortunately it’s not done in a hopeful, battle-against-evil kind of way. More so it’s just a miserable romp with minor splashes of intuitive detective work.

None of the characters are fleshed out or particularly likable, with the unexpected exception of the hitman character. The movie focus’ on Owen’s character (the name escapes me) as he teams up with a district attorney (played by Naomi Watts) as they attempt to build evidence in a case against an evil bank that profits from international conflict. Along the way they track down a hitman, solve an assassination mystery and have a shoot-out in the Guggenheim. The shootout was particularly engaging however and the hitman character they are hunting for a large part of the film, turns out to fetch an interesting mix of conflicted emotions from the audience. Some of the detective work was impressive and pretty clever, but in the end it just seems like it was a waste of time, as the ending fails to deliver.

The International is not a bad movie, but it reeks of mediocrity. There are pangs of greatness but they are fleeting and not enough to engage or impress. Now admittedly the fact that this was not the Ocean’s 11 meets Mr. & Mrs. Smith movie I was expecting to see might be souring my opinion of the movie. But I really did have a hard time getting into this movie beyond the big action scene and the occasional clever part.*Stay tuned next month for Duplicity's review!

The XNA Post

Eric and I have decided to join forces and work on a side-project together. The last joint venture of ours I remember was NintendoZone.com, back in freshman year of High School, and that was a pretty big success story (until Nintendo threatened to sue, and shut us down-jerks). This one is also gaming related but pushes us both in a more direct route. We will be attempting to make our own game for Xbox Live Arcade. Microsoft offers a developers community where, for a fee, wanna-be game developers can build and publish arcade games for the 360. It’s a whole developer-community, with forums, tutorials and various tools for building games centered on the Xbox console. Were both really excited about the prospect of building something that could one day be available as a game for sale. It’s a personal goal of mine that I have had for a long time to make a game, and with Eric’s programming skills and my artistic talents I think we might stand a chance at pulling it off. We want to start of with something simple to learn the ropes then gradually build up to a more involved and complex game. Even if nothing ever comes of our efforts, it will be a great learning experience and a lot of fun along the way. To be continued!

The Art of Shaving Post

This Valentine’s Day was a good one, as it makes the first time Sarah and I where actually in the same place for the event in the past 6 years. Sarah gave me a gift card to The Art of Shaving, a small store in Tyson’s Corner that focus’ on, well, shaving. I had an appointment and went in for a ‘traditional shave’ where Al the Barber- as he introduced himself, gave me proper shave. Now I’m no wild-man, but I do rock the stubble probably a little more than most. Having a proper shave, and potentially learning the best method to replicate it on my own was really exciting to me. Plus I like the occasional pampering, and this is manly pampering… right? Anyway I had the whole hot towel and wet shave treatment in the store’s barber chair. It was a little odd feeling like I was on display to a degree, but as with getting a haircut/wash, the soothing nature of it all sort of negates any awkwardness. I had conveniently ran out of shaving cream last week and was pushing a borderline beard when it came time for my appointment, so Al-the-Barber had his work cut out for him. It was pretty cool all in all. Sarah also gave me a shaving kit with the lather brush and various creams, so hopefully I’ll be able to improve my own skills (or lack there of) with a razor. It was a great idea for a gift, and a particularly creative Valentine’s idea. Afterward we did a little shopping, caught a movie and went to Brio for dinner. All romantically, and whatnot.

The American Interview Post

Yesterday I took the day off work to head in for my Citizenship Interview. The penultimate step on my application for US citizenship. All that’s left now, after passing the exam is for me to swear the Oath of Allegiance, at which point I will complete the whole process and have citizenship. The swearing in will happen within a month or so, according to the officer who did my interview. The interview consists of three parts; a background check under oath, a reading/writing assessment and a short civics quiz. I had been preparing for the civics portion with Sarah for a while leading up to the interview so I was well prepared and knew the material rather well. I’m really glad to have the process all but completed and look forward to receiving notification as to when I can go in and take the oath. There will be an All-American Themed Party to celebrate shortly following the event. Stay tuned.

The Cubicle Shuffle Post

This week has been a bit of a crazy one at the office due to department shuffling. The company has been expanding staff rather rapidly over the past few months (my hiring included) and needed to increase the office space we occupy in our current building. In addition to filling up the 5th and most of the 8th floor we have now expanded to the 7th, and Marketing and Sales have been bumped to the new space. This is of particular note for me because I am finally in the same workspace as my department. Previously I was on the 5th and they where on the 8th. I now share a divided cube with Eric our events manager. It’s a fair bit bigger than my previous space and has a window which is always nice. View’s not bad from up there either. I won’t lie, I have walked up to my empty cube on the 5th a few times out of habit.

The Car Show Post

Sunday, Eric and I went with Ken and Alex to the National Car Convention in DC. It was pretty cool to see all the cars on display, from the affordable to the very-much-not. I got to check out personal favorites like the Saturn Sky and Mazda RX-8. Sitting inside the cars and seeing them up-close, in all their polished glory, was a lot of fun an a great experience. While not scoping out cars that I could see myself cruising around, we wandered into the luxury vehicle sections, crazy hybrid-future cars and some massive RVs that made tour buses look paltry. I got the see the Chevy Volt up-close which was pretty impressive. The idea of spending .12 cents to got 40 miles is amazing. I can’t wait to see how the development of these efficient cars in the not so distant future.

After the show we headed to Chinatown and grabbed food at RDF. The substantial beer selection was terrific and between the four of us we sampled a fair few eclectic brews. My favorite was a banana bread ale from England. Good stuff! My surf and turf steak burger was fantastic too. Definitely a place I’ll return to next me I am in the area.

The Twitterish Post

I’m new to Twitter, and being that I don’t use my cell phone for texting much, I am a pretty poor Tweeter. Much like my blog posts, my Tweats are sporadic and often belated. If this is all jibberish to you check out this page and get up to speed. However the other day when logging in I found someone was watching Barack Obama. I checked out his feed and decided to follow suit. This morning I get a notification in my inbox informing me that Barack Obama is now following me on Twitter. Sure it’s no more impressive than having a celebrity on your MySpace friends list, but I still get a kick out of it. I’m pretty sure if you follow him, you’ll find yourself under the presidential eye too. I don’t know how he (or the person he pays to monitor his account) keeps tabs on all 253,562 people he follows, but I am pretty sure it has something to do with Santa Clausian powers only Presidents can wield.

The Coraline Post

Coraline is an interesting film and takes a direction not often tread by comparable movies. A uncanny and twisted adventure with just enough weirdness and creepiness to keep it entertaining and mildly terrifying a the same time. A fairytale nightmare most closely matched by the previous Henry Selick outings Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach- Coraline features the same stop motion animation seen in previous movies, but done on a level that truly impresses. Partnered with highly stylized art direction and character design, the film is as engages the audience in multiple ways with its story and its composition.

The basic plot centers on a young girl (Coraline) moving against her will to a secluded little down with her folks. Often ignored and brushed off by her overworked parents she becomes very disgruntled and depressed in her new home. Though a series of events she fiends a doorway to another version of her life, a dream world that’s ‘perfect’ with a mother who would do anything to keep Coraline happy, and stay with her on the other side of the door forever. The dream world is a wonderful place for the little girl or so she thought. Dot dot dot. I won’t go any further but the twisted tale involves a witch who steals soles and replaces children’s eyes with buttons. Not what one would expect from a seemingly childish fairytale.

My main gripe with the movie is that there is not enough character development with any of the main characters, which unfortunately really hurts this film more than most. If you are trying to get my to buy into the fact that this plastasine wireframe is a person I should care about, then you need to flesh her out even more so than other moves do when they have flat characters. Coraline just wasn’t established well enough before her adventure started, and unfortunately was less relatable throughout as a result. The worst instance of the characters being to single sided is with Coraline’s parents. We don’t see any of the good-side of them until the end of the movie, and considering that the plot hinges around their value to their daughter and her choosing between her real mother and her other-mother, this is a big drawback.

Despite character issues however the movie is very entertaining, and eerie enough to stay fresh throughout. There where some downright scary elements to the film that are the stuff of nightmares, but in its childish presentation it works really well as a whole. There are some things that just don’t make sense, and a few issues with pacing, but overall it’s an enjoyable movie, if not a hard to place one.

The New Couches Post

Yesterday our new couches arrived a the apartment, which was something we’d both been looking forward to since we ordered them back in early January. Ben and Jacob where over early in the day with the Hunt’s mini-van to collect the couches we where borrowing from their basement. After a few trips moving the things up and downstairs it was determined that two trips where needed to get both couches home. It’s really hand having vehicles that can lugging a large payload around- and people willing to let you borrow them!

The new couches look pretty awesome in the living room, though they will need a little breaking in. They are a alot firmer than the ones in the showroom, but I think a few weeks of couch potato-ing should fix that right up .I’ll just need to make sure to use the cushions in rotation! I felt bad for the guys that has to lug the sleeper sofa up the stairs…with the mechanism inside it, that thing is HEAVY! I had to have Jake and Dad come over to help me bump it into the corner after the delivery guys left because it couldn’t be a done with a one-man crew. There is a small tear on the chair, and the sleeper is missing a few bolts to tether down the back legs. A guy is coming over on Wednesday to maker the necessary repairs. Besides that we are very pleased with them. When combined with our other furniture purchases/presents of late the apartment is really looking nice!

The Punxsutawney Post

Groundhog Day, the most ridiculous of all the days came and went today leaving us with 6 more weeks of winter thanks to a rodent seeing its shadow. Who came up with this one? Shame on you people for keeping this thing going. Head over to the official website (groundhog.org) and read how this magical rat is apparently over 120 years old and lives in a home called Gobbler’s Knob, and stays alive by drinking a secret elixir of life recipe. I wish I was making this up. But considering the crazy mustaches on the guys that hoist the guy in the air on this day every year, then this is pretty much the most logical thing I’ve ever read. Apparently there where opening for ridiculous holidays in February.

The XLIII Post

Super Bowl 43 or “ex-el-eyeeeeee!” as I like to call it was tonight and while the first three quarters where a snooze-fest for me (not being a Cardinals or Steelers supporter) but the last 20 minutes where pretty good football. Bruce Springsteen was pretty dull to be honest, but his groin-slide into the camera was pretty hilarious. I loved his smug face after it happened. Considering he just tea-bagged America I can say a smirk is somewhat warranted. All said though I am one of those guys that watches the game mostly for the ads.

I have to say the commercials where particularly disappointing with a few exceptions. Everyone had mixed feelings going into it because of the state of the economy and the high cost for the 30-second spots. What was upsetting to me was that the ads that did have the money pumped into them where some of the worst ones there, and the 3D glasses gimmick was atrocious. I will seriously never drink a Sobe product ever again after that monstrosity of a commercial. Go-Daddy lowered even their standards and put out some of the worst ads of the night too, but that was pretty much expected. The best ad of the game goes to the one with the Koala punching (Career Builder) because I was rolling on the floor laughing. Doritos’s get an honorable mention too for the snow globe ad, and the Audi spot with Jason Statham was just awesomely badass (and has me looking forward to the Transporter hitting blu-ray next month).

Sarah and I headed out to THE CITADEL to watch the game with Eric, Coy, Holly and their friends. It was good time with loads of food and good company. Turns out that I was sitting on a packet of Rollos the whole night that Sarah had slipped into my back pocket on the way up to Eric’s apartment. So tomorrow I might be shopping for a new wallet.

The West Coast Brother Post

Virginia has a hard time containing my little brother it seems, as it hasn’t been two months since he returned form Iraq, and he’s already leaving town. His girlfriend, Courtney has landed a leading role in a television pilot for HBO, and she and Stefan will be heading to their new apartment in L.A. on Tuesday. I’m really excited for them despite the fact that they will be on the other side of the country. If the show gets picked up then it’s exactly what Courtney needs for her career to get going, and it’s not like there is any shortage of fires to fight in California, so Stefan’s career will be heading in the right direction too.

Sarah and I went out for Thai with them last night so we could spend some time with them before they loaded up the U-Haul and hit the road. We went to a place in Reston Town Center that was really nice. My ‘Kapow Chicken’ definitely earned the 3 chili-pepper rating on the menu for its hotness. Ended up having to drink a glass of half-and-half (they didn’t have any milk) to take out the spice afterward. It was fun to spend some time with Stef and Court, we’ll miss having them around for sure. But when they know all the movie stars and have a kick-ass social network setup over in Hollywood, then they will be the perfect people to go visit! I keep joking that I need to get my screenplay to Courtney so she can put in a good word… Now I just need to write it….

Hopefully their four-day road trip will go by quickly for them. I know they plan on stopping and seeing friends along the way so that will be nice, but lugging one of those trailers has to be a pain. Especially with the 55mph speed limitation on the tow-hitch. Best of luck to you both, send a postcard (or 10).