Spawn of Mind

WTF is SOPA ? aka The American Government trying to ruin the internet

2011-12-26T04:32:00.000+01:00

SOPA and Protect IP

2011-12-19T02:19:00.003+01:00

For some time now, there has been two bills set up for due process in the American gouverment system. Alot of you have probably already heard of these two and those of you whom are actually based in America have probably written your senators with your two cents.

So what's it to me? I'm a Dane.

It has everything to do with both me, and any other person based outside the U.S. as much as it has to with the Americans themselves. SOPA, the biggest threat to the internet we have faced thus far can basically take down all your favorite sites because they *might* contain copyrighted content or links to it. This is a direct censorship attack on sites like Facebook, That Guy With The Glasses, Youtube, Google, Screwattack, Overclocked Remix.. Basically, they can even take down webcomics because they might contain depictions of copyrighted characters. Consider popular series like Penny Arcade, 8-bit Theatre and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

To me, the internet isn't something you can actually gouvern. It is far too vast. In actuality, you can call The Internet the first man-made natural thought. It is literal no-mans land. The voting on the fate of these bills will take place this Wednesday, december 21st. If I have anyone in my audience who're based in America and still haven't contacted their senators - please do so. It is good old fashioned showdown, and the stake is Free Speech.

Annoying plotholes

2011-11-27T03:14:00.010+01:00

It is no secret that I absolutely love most things with a narrative. That said, I thought it might kill some time to list 5 annoying plotholes that I've personally noticed. Hopefully, at least one of these should be painfully familiar to you. Do note though, that this will contain SPOILERS in order to explain my points. Here we go:

5. Joker Disguises.

In "The Dark Knight" The Joker uses a disguise at least twice in order to reach his goals. Once as a redheaded nurse and once as a police officer. So what's so strange about that? It's disguises! Here the deal: The Jokers face ISN'T exactly a mystery to the general public. He quite literally appeared on main stream television and did a close-up of himself (Albeit with a cheap handheld camera). On top of that, even if we allow it to be hard to recognize him through the face paint, he has huge scars on each side of his mouth. You're telling me that no one noticed the police officer with a scarred smiley face, or the redheaded nurse wearing clown make-up? No deal.

4. Super Bulimia Man?

Another DC Superhero movie. In Superman Returns, good old Kal'el has been away from Earth for several years. Let's stop right there. While the movie might be 'meh' at best (it kinda requires you to actually like Superman, which alot of people sadly doesn't) the plothole actually came already at the premise which is kinda odd. Apparently, Superman also had a Super Eating Disorder as he spent his time at the ruined remains of his homeplanet of Krypton without food. Either Supes found a still-running Kryptonian Diner, or he lived for 5 years straight without eating. So what possible effects can not eating have on a Kryptonian body? None apparently, apart from changing Christopher Reeves into Brandon Routh.

3. Birds.

This is one that most people have probably thought of. At the end of The Return of The King, the 3rd Lord of the Rings book - Gandalf saves Frodo and Sam from the erupting mt. Doom by sending giant falcons to save them. So, why exactly didn't Gandalf just bring the birdies with him when he went to the council meeting at the elven kingdom? Well you might say, Gandalf obviously has an adventurous spirit and wants Frodo to make a difference to the world! I'm gonna stop you there, Gandalf already experienced the 'thrill' of making a Hobbit an international hero ONCE, in the form of Bilbo. Here's my theory of what the reasoning behind that ending was: A feeling of dread in the head of Tolkien when he realised he had written himself into a corner.

2. Coldblooded Dorothy

The Wicked Witch of The East from The Wizard of Oz was a mean old wench, She ruled the entire Eastern region of Oz with an iron fist and made the munchkins collect food for her. That said, Dorothy drops an entire house on her head, killing her, steals her shoes and leaves the premises as fast as possible. Sure, I'm making Dorothy sound alot meaner than she's portrayed, but let's be honest. Dorothy never really gives any thought to the fact that she's actually taken a life throughout the entirety of the rest of the series. On top of that, not only did she crush a woman with a house. She later goes on to MELT another woman, equivalent of pouring acid on her, while she cheers on as the woman screams in agony: "I'm Melting! I'm Melting! what world, what a woooorld...." That's just coldblooded murder. Psychopatic female.

1. Whatever happened to that Priest guy?

I love me some zombies from time to time. They're an easy fictional enemy and they're most definetly creepy. George A. Romero's Night of The Living Dead is an awesome movie, and I personally consider it part of the classic horror movie line-up (which mostly includes the classic Universal monster flicks). That said, at the end of 'Night' a Priest character is introduced. This guy has been bitten by the zombies, but for some reason he doesn't turn. He ends up having a dog following him around for protection. Not for the protection of him, but for others should he ever turn. Romero went on to make Dawn of The Dead, Day of The Dead, Land of The Dead and Diary of The Dead 1 & 2 with possibly more that I don't know of. Theese movies all supposedly take place in the same universe, but the Priest is nowhere to be found in any of the sequels. So where DID he go anyway? Well, only Romero knows.

So that was my humble list. I know alot of you probably expected the death of a certain Final Fantasy character to be there. So why isn't it there? Well.. I kinda wanted to stick to movies this time, or at least things that have been turned into movies. So perhaps on another list.

- Later Days.

News!

2011-11-25T10:05:00.005+01:00

So I decided to put a Project Wonderful ad on the site. I've also started advertising on Scandinavia & The World and if you got here by clicking that ad: Welcome! Check out the place. It's a bit dusty but I'll be gradually working on cleaning out the codwebs.

with that remark you might be thinking: Wait, isn't this made with a blogging service? Yes. For now. I'm currently saving up for the purpose of getting my own domain name where I can put not only this thing, but my entire online portfolio as well. That would mean my webcomics (There's 2 of them still online) and mayhaps some of my older stuff could be found all on the same page. That would make all this stuff a little more manageable, and make it easier for you guys to check out my stuff without checking several different places.

Video Games evolving into a form of media

2011-11-22T08:59:00.003+01:00

What is art? This is a question that has been on a lot of peoples lips since the first introduction of new media. To many, art is a piece of work from which each can draw their own interpretation, and emotional response based on their personal experiences, and personality. What large groups of people seem to agree on however, is what art isn’t. The conservative Christians in the so-called Bible Belt of the 30's and 40's considered the thriving popularity of movies to be the work of the Devil and the parents of the last decade spent their time worrying if little Timmy might learn how to hijack a car by playing Grand Theft Auto 3.

But can video games be considered a stand alone medium of expression? The shortsighted answer is a cold No. The more optimistic answer however is: Not yet, But it most definitely should.

When the general public thinks of video games they often think of them as playthings. A brief escapism from the everyday life, in a video game you can be a cowboy fighting a gang of thieves or a successful manager bringing your football team to the World cup finale. But potentially, video games can teach you about life, and maybe a little bit about yourself. In video games with charisma, a choice that may seem like the most positive at the moment can turn out hurting the people you are trying to help. A good example of this is the fairly recent fantasy roleplaying game: Dragon Age Origins.

In Dragon Age, you play as a warden. The Wardens is a international organization that has treaties with the different species in the world to bring them armies to fight a soon to come blight upon the land. When you go to the Dwarwen kingdom in the mountains, this is supposed to be smooth sailing. The king has recently passed away however and there is disputes between the kings own chosen follower, and his actual heir of blood. At a first glance, the choice seems easy. The prince uses less than honorable methods and the other one seems like a regular saint that has been forced into hiding by hired goons.

But when the game ends, and you get the updates on what has happened in the different nations since your influence, the saint-like heir is actually the bad ending. Instead of making the Dwarven nation a better place, he just carried on the same way the late king did and the land of dwarves plunged into civil war. The prince however, ends up changing the way the whole kingdom is run. People are now free to choose their own careers, where before they were locked into kind of life their parent of the same sex had, in likeness of the Indian caste-system from the real world.

This is kind of a weak example, but choices and consequences like this one could be used to teach players about the world we live in. Strategy games could be used to teach history and First person shooters could be used to explore the single soldier’s role in a war started by diplomats. It may provoke us, make us question ourselves and potentially make us change for the better.

Video games can also be documentaries, but this has a long bumpy road ahead of it. In 2007, a division of the video game developer Atomic games worked with the American military to develop a training simulator. During the process however, the band of soldiers that the division had worked with was sent off to Iraq to fight in the war. There, the band participated in one of the most bloody battles of the entire Iraq campaign and lost a lot of teammates. When the soldiers returned, they contacted Atomic games and asked them to convey the story of the battle through a video game to the rest of the world. What resulted was a survival horror game but not in the traditional sense, the fear would come from uncertain, terrifying unpredictability of an actual city war. It would use the likenesses and retelling of the soldiers and senior officers that fought in the battle of Fallujah to paint an as accurate and respectful picture as possible of not only those six days, but of the entire war.

But as was predictable, some people weren't happy. Once word got out that someone was making a game about such a recent event, people were outraged. Parents who had lost sons and daughters in the battle, and senior officers who didn't even participate started a debate about it. Heads were going to roll. These people, as with many others still viewed games as toys. Their anger reached the press, and the press literally destroyed the credibility of the small video game developer. Konami, who was slated to publish the title soon backed out of the project and Atomic games was left out in the cold. In a matter of a few years, that being as soon as 2009, Atomic games shut down completely. And that with Six Days in Fallujah still a ways behind hitting store shelves, which I suspect it never will.

There's a lot of blame to go around for this affair. It's easy for an enthusiast like me to just say that those that lost loved ones should have ignored the release of the title completely or even backed it up. After all, it seemed like a really entertaining title. But that's just it. Video games are still at a social standpoint where it's merely escapism. While Atomic games should have been credited for wanting to take the medium further, Six Days in Fallujah would still be released in the golden age of Modern war-based shooters. To many, Six Days wouldn't have stood out much in the flood of first person shooters that comes out these days and it would have been shrugged off as yet another Call of Duty- or Battlefield-like title. That said, to me the blame goes to Konami. Konami is a huge video game publisher, and has followed the medium since the beginning. Konami was originally one of the backers of the project before they eventually left it and that means they simply lost their spine. This is a huge publisher, they must have known that making this game was quite literally sticking your hand in a hornets nest. This was like if as huge a movie-company as Universal Pictures had backed out of a movie, simply because it said something the general demographic didn't agree about.

But that's the thing about freedom of expression. If you want to have a right, you have to accept the responsibility that comes with it. And you have to be ready to defend your points when confronted about them. There will always, always be someone who disagrees with you. If you're planning to use a medium as young as video games to express yourself, you have to understand that you will most likely be on your own. Even video games that was supposed try and teach children about the second world war has been stopped in development because of moral outrage, and that's even though it might have had the best intentions.

So that brings us to my conclusion. Video games are a very young medium. Older and more respected mediums has gone through exactly the same challenges that video games face today. Comic books still face them. Movies won them all. Rock N' Roll won them as well. We have a unique storytelling and teaching opportunity in front of us, now we just have to make people respect it. And once they do, we have to know how to live up to the responsibility that comes with it.

15 Things I've wondered about that you probably haven't

2011-10-31T07:20:00.003+01:00

Before we go on with my crusade against cultural ignorance, here's some random stuff:

1. In both Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog and Sonic X, a ring will give Sonic superspeed even by his standards. In the games, you collect a bunch of rings each level, yet no extra speed. Why is that?

2. Exactly what kind of ghost is Slimer supposed to be anyway?

3. Why do I know people that doesn't watch fantasy or science-fiction movies because they're too strange, yet hold a firm belief in supernatural phenomena?

4. Is it strange that I can see why people would be attracted to both Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Black Canary, yet I can't see it in Wonder Woman?

5. I wonder if Mr. & Mrs. Hitler lived to see their son become a historical douchebag

6. So. Capes. I'm still waiting for them to get back in fashion, please let it happen soon.

7. Wouldn't the world just be a scary fucking place if photographs were sentient like in Harry Potter?

8. So if everything we imagine becomes real in Fantasia... I don't think I have to finish that sentence.

9. Barbar's King of the Elephants right? I wonder if he can open diplomatic negotiations between the Ratqueen and the army of Nutcrackers

10. Whatever happened to Disney's Atlantis franchise? That stuff was awesome.

11. So where does Beetlejuice, Candyman and Biggiesmalls go when they aren't called upon? Puerto Rico?

12. So If I've gotten this right, Dr. Wily wants to take over the world, and replace everyone with robots so he can... what?

13. I wonder if my nephew will grow up with the same respect for Darth Vader as I had..

14. How exactly did no one notice that one of the nurses was the Joker? And when did he wire all those bombs?

15. I pray every day.... That there will never be a serious action movie make-over of Inspector Gadget.

East and West - Emotions and Archetypes

2011-10-28T02:34:00.003+02:00

Eastern and Western Entertainment. Some people can love both, others choose one side and live with it, and even others choose one side and start mocking the other. I'm here to clear up what the ACTUAL difference between the two sides of this apparent argument is. I'm a fan of both, but seeing both sides making strawman arguments against the other has reached a sickening point. I'm sick of this, none of these are 'genres' and should never be regarded as such. This can't really be covered in one article without being kinda overwhelming, so I'm going to touch two subjects at a time.

Emotions

Emotions are an important part of storytelling, if your characters don't have emotions it will be hard for the reader/listener/watcher to get into the characters and plotline. What I've basically tried to illustrate is the difference in which Western and Eastern animation/comics will show the emotions of the characters. Of course neither case is exclusive to the region and vice versa.

Basically, you can compare Western emotions to movies from the sound era. The story will be told in close-ups and facial expressions. There is a difference in which a human being can show sadness, and the detailed drawings of the west have the opportunity to capture this, if done well. A prime example of human facial expressions captured in animation is Dreamworks' The Prince of Egypt. Particularly in the scene where Moses returns from having met God. He meets up with his brother Rameses, now Pharaoh of Egypt. Rameses hopes that everything will turn back to normal. Unfortunately, Moses returns a ring given to him as a gift earlier in the movie, asking Rameses to free the Hebrews. Rameses' facial expressions through his reaction is beautifully animated, it manages to show by my count at least 6 emotions in about 40 seconds of animation. The Nostalgia Critic has also mentioned this in his video "Old Vs. New, The Ten Commandments vs. The Prince of Egypt" Which you can find HERE. (Around the 6:34 mark, but I really recommend watching the whole thing, it's good stuff!)

While the Western audience is treated to a more 'subtle' approach when it comes to conveying emotions, Eastern series often resemble what you would see in a silent movie or in a stageplay. One of the first rules I was taught in drama class was to never face away from the audience. The audience can't be allowed to see your back unless it's absolutely nescessary. In the same way, you have to 'emote with your hands'. Words have little meaning on their own, and since those in the back of the room can have a hard time conveying your emotions from your face, being able to emote with your whole body is a pretty good tool. Take a look at any silent horror film and you will understand. I especially recommend the public domain movie "Phantom of The Opera" starring the man with a thousand faces himself, Lon Chaney. Both of his parents were deaf, so he mastered the art of body language. Good news, it's public domain now, Go get it!

A good example of the Eastern animation making use of the whole body language thing is apparently best in their fighting scenes. Every punch and kick, however weak, is given special attention. The lights seems to dim around the action, and only the most important things are animated. My nifty drawing above also illustrates the difference in showing emotion in the two kinds of media.

Archetypes.

Here's where it gets fishy. When it comes to archetypes, the Eastern audiences are treated to archetypes way more often than in the West. Or at least, the Eastern creators are more open about it. A bad example of archetypes being put to use can be found in the series 'Naruto'. The creator himself, Masashi Kishimoto, has stated that when he first pitched the series to his editor at Shounen Jump (the biggest shounen manga magazine in Japan, and possibly, the world) his editor told him to add a rival for the titular character. Thus Uchiha Sasuke was born.

Masashi Kishimoto has stated that in order to create Sasuke, he studied the archetypical rival character in other manga, and he created what he himself has named "the perfect rival". Sasuke bears all the typical signs of a rival character: he has a tragic past (which only became more complicated as the series went along), he's adored by the main character's love interest (nevermind that the main character is oblivious to someone else loving him as well) and he's a bitter, emotional mess. He is the complete opposite of the main character. Sasuke has since gone on to be one of the most notorious examples of cardboard cut-out anti-heroism in the modern era of the genre. Among elitist manga fans, he is outright and publicly loathed and he bears a large part of the guilt in Naruto cosplayers being looked down upon. Don't trust me? Try cosplaying Uchiha Sasuke at a convention sometime. See what happens.

In the west, a more common archetype is the villain who is evil 'just because'. I'm not talking about a villain who is supposed to be a demon, that in itself is pretty obvious. I'm talking about the villains who just got out of bed one day and decided, "you know what? I'm gonna fuck it up for everyone but me!". Not that such a character can't be well-written, but there's the example of Victor Kruger, the Kurgan (played by Clancy Brown). For those that don't know, the Kurgan is the main villain of the first Highlander movie - his entire purpose in the movie is to go around killing off the other immortals so he can become a formidable enemy for Christopher Lambert's character, Connor MacLeod, the Highlander. While the Kurgan's background is fleshed out in the novelization, he just comes off as a mass murdering brute. Throughout the movie, in the modern era (I use the term loosely, the movie was made in the 80's), he wears punk clothes and hangs around in motels, and in the past he "killed Ramirez and raped his woman before his corpse was cold" (Ramirez being the teacher and friend of the Highlander). This could of course be explained by the Kurgan being born into a barbaric tribe in Russia around 1005 BC, but it's really not that much of an excuse. You'd think that after more than 1000 years the guy would at least have picked up some basic understanding of morals, but apparently not.

I'm the Joker! Apparently.

2011-10-17T20:19:00.000+02:00

I recently took a "Which Batman Villain Are You" test on the Escapist. Here's The Result:

If I weren't crazy, I'd be insane!

Take this quiz

In defense of The Simpsons

2011-10-09T02:00:00.003+02:00

*Sigh* I never thought I would have to write this. Here goes anyhow. One of my favorite shows of all time "The Simpsons" stands at the threat of being cancelled. This is despite other shows of the same nature (Family Guy) having 2 or 3 spin-offs running smoothly. This is sad. Whenever I defend The Simpsons in public or whenever I hear The Simpsons being talked about in public lately, alot of people accuse it of not being funny anymore, and having grown stale. More recently, people have said that Family Guy is a much better show and that Simpsons should be cancelled to leave more space in programming to that show.

I'm sorry but that is just not true.

Like alot of other kids of my generation, The Simpsons were one of my first mature satirical influences. These were dark times in Scandinavia, only 3 channels and most of them only showed local bad comedy or reruns of The Muppets Show to trick you into having a glimmer of hope that the monopolic channels might actually show something of quality for a change. Then, in 1995, a channel called TV3 burst onto Danish television, showing all of the sugarcoated American nonsense from the 80's that everyone missed if they didn't get it on VHS. Sooner or later, Simpsons started getting shown on Danish television and when I became old enough (Around 8) I was hooked. The family was dysfunctional as hell and reminded me alot of my own family. And as they say, truly good comedy makes people laugh at themselves. This is perhaps why Homer Simpson may be dumb and egotistical, but unlike Peter Griffin he actually cares about his family and will do anything he can to make them happy.

That's what I like about The Simpsons, and why I don't really care about Family Guy. Family Guy is just a collection of people who's cherishment of one another is dependent on comedic value. The charactirazations of the Griffins feels like easily modeled high concepts, with only few steadfast characterpoints that isn't thrown to the wind unlike the rest of the charactarizations if a joke calls for it. A very easy example lies in Peter. Peter is supposed to be catholic, but this is only brought up when it's convenient. Instead he goes and does all sorts of stuff like creating a church dedicated to The Fonze. If the creators intention with Peter Griffin was to make fun of catholics, they failed miserably.

I'm very fond of South Park, we know who the characters are, and although they're completely bizarre they don't just go and do stuff that they really... wouldn't do. For instance, we know that Cartman is a anti-semitic asshole of a kid, so we know that he's not suddenly gonna go pick flowers and dance around in a tutu.. unless brainwashed of course.

I see Simpsons as a classier South Park (No dancing poop), and a valuable asset to the comedic scene. And Family Guy? Uh.. Am I the only one that feels like I'm watching some animation a fanboy made to a stand-up perfomance? It doesn't really feel like a show.

A Random Selection of Good Old Games

2011-10-02T03:04:00.005+02:00

Most of the time, when you talk about old games that are good, chances are the most mentioned are either not only good but GREAT or almost exclusively from the consoles.

So this is a selection of old games in random order that aren't GREAT but they hold a nostalgic value to me, and can most definetly get the rank of "good".

THE PINK PANTHER - PASSPORT TO PERIL.

Back in the 90's, The Pink Panther was re-exposed to the world in a packet-format TV-series as was popular at the time. Typically, an episode of such a show would have a 10 minute episode with the host character (in this case, The Pink Panther) and then two 5 minute long cartoons with other characters like forexample The Blue Anteater. In Any case, the show spawned two PC adventure games for kids that would challenge them but teach them about stuff while they do it. Pink Panther - Passport to Peril taught kids (and at the time, Me as well) about different cultures and countries around the world.

The storyline is as such: There's been made a summer-camp called Chilly Wa Wa for the children of highly influential and rich people from around the world. But suddenly the children have started to act weirdly from one day to the other, Pink Panther get's assigned to travel around the world (England, Egypt, China, Bhutan, India and Australia) and find out stuff about the kids so he can try and make them normal again. All the while the kids playing the game would learn about the things children in these cultures have to deal with while growing up. There would also be songs, Awesome songs. Go check them out on Youtube. And while you're at it, check out the sequel Hocus Pocus Pink as well.

LEGO: Chess

Do you like Lego? Do you like Chess? Well then what the hell do you need to know?! This game taught kids about the boardgame chess while entertaining them with short clips depending on which character defeated which. There would be differently themed Chess boards and stories, forexample: In the Cowboy storyline, a sheriff is trying to capture three robbers. So yeah. It's Chess. CHESS!

DONALD DUCK: QU@CK ATT@CK

This is one of the simplest and shortest platformers I have ever played. It's easy as boink and you can pick it up and complete it in an afternoon. Which is perfect if you have an afternoon to spend. Seriously, I know standard length for a game is 10 hours and I wouldn't have it any other way. But this game is just too much fun to pass by.

For another really good Donald Duck game check out Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow.

(EDIT: I know the picture says "Going Qu@ackers" but it was called "Qu@ck Att@ck" in Europe.

ASTERIX: THE GALLIC WAR

It's the universe of Asterix The Gaule meets the boardgame RISK in a way. You start out with the ever-silly village that Ceasar somehow just can't conquer and then start conquering back all of Gaule from the Romans. While most of the time the conquering would be like a simple strategy game animation, other times it would switch to a platform game depending on if you're Asterix or Obelix. And other times (again) it would be a parody of the Olympic game Hammer Throw.

There, wasn't that fun? If you have other games that people really need to mention more, please name them in the comments! Maybe I can make more of these :D

Passionate Gaming

2011-07-15T19:33:00.004+02:00

Now I'm hardly the first to kick this ball on the green, hundreds if not thousands of far more capable minds have probably pondered this issue already. I've decided to throw in my thoughts anyway, as recent events has made me think about it more than normally.

People that know me personally, also know that I've never been big on competitive games, unless it's been along with people I actually enjoy spending time with. I've often soffed at the idea at actually putting out the money to play on Xbox Live because of all the reported problems with the service. That being the community. Communities build around and for games can be awesome, I've had some great experiences with the Civilization, Ninja Turtle, and Sonic The Hedgehog communities in particular.

Notice how none of those communities revolved around a fairly competitive game? While I love the Halo games or Team Fortress 2, I've never once considered venturing into their part of the jungle. People on the internet can be mean, sore losers. The crazy thing about it is, none of them are particularily dignified losers either. Now, most readers have probably noticed about now that I've been very judgemental about a group that I actually count amongst. And yes, I'm sad to say that I too can become far too involved in what was originally meant to be simple, time consuming, fun. Of course some of these games doesn't really count as simple fun anymore. Entire companies seems to have dedicated most of their resources to the rise of eSports.

Which brings us to the core of the subject, Why are there more sore losers in online gaming than elsewhere? And it's not limited to FPS's either. Recently, I had the pleasure of moderating a game of Werewolf on Board Game Geek. The whole thread is readable for those interested HERE Take a look at it, I'm actually rather proud of the Flavour text. In any case, one of the players in this game got rather frustrated, to the point of swearing never to play the game online again. I don't have any ill feelings towards the player, Werewolf is a deceivers game and I've always found such games to be best amongst friends. My point was, Werewolf is a board game. It's essentially about talking to people and deducting their roles from the conversation. So why can people be passionate about such a game the same way they would a First Person Shooter? The action isn't immediate, yet it appears to give you a feeling of absolute loss either way.

The most common answer to the question of why people are so angry online is the anonymity. Once you're anonymous, you don't really care about your fellow man. That I find to be wrong, I and several people I know are able to be perfectly friendly towards strangers. I think some people needs to think about what they actually do when they're online. If someone is mean to them, they bring the bad energy into other conversations as a direct result. Give the world a favour instead, if you have a bad day stay out of the public chatrooms. Don't go spamming up a storm in a groupchat in League of Legends just because your teammates might be doing worse than you. I can put myself in your stead, you might see yourself as a decent player, constantly put alongside bad players that you feel lose the game for you. The frustration of feeling you can do much better than that is common, but this is where you should show yourself as a better man/woman and maybe offer friendly advice. And please, word the advice in another way than "Go buy Aegis of The Legion N00b" or "Force of Nature plz". Likewise, if you find yourself constantly being blamed for failure, maybe you should listen to your teammates, don't get mad when somebody offers advice or tells you what would be a good idea or maybe even crucial to buy in a given situation. I've seen tons of players stating "Don't teach me" or "Get out of your moms basement, fag" in those situations. Knowing when you should just shut up, sit down, and be taught can really win the game for you. No matter how much of a champion you might think of yourself, there are always, Always, ALWAYS players that are better than you. And that's despite if you won some kind of tournament.

Sometimes, people just gotta be humble. Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna tell this Newfag Medic how to properly heal a Heavy.

- Later Days.

Minecraft

2011-07-11T20:45:00.007+02:00

Trivia: What does Hans do when he's bored off his ass in his summer vacation?

Answer: He makes a skull fortress in Minecraft

In all seriousness though, more games should give you the challenge of "If I make my Skull fortress out of sand with wooden teeth, will that be a reflection of ME or what I do to people that cross me?"

decisions, decisions.

The trained eye will notice I gave it eyebrows. That's how nice of a guy I am. No really.

Minecraft have become one of my new hobbies, much to my friends dismay as I apparently JUST. WON'T. SHUT. UP. ABOUT IT.

My friends love me, I'm sure :D

The thing I like about Minecraft is all the opportunities, one level I've totally flooded and another I've build tall buildings just to reach the sky. This is awesome, and it takes effort. The monsters can be a challenge and finding out what you can do with the materials you find. Making my own personal water-park has become a reality, and so has my skull fortress.

Now if only the game would provide me with 8 robotmasters and an arch nemesis...

In defense of The Boy Wonder

2011-07-08T17:31:00.007+02:00

Like any other fan of Batman: Arkham Asylum, I look forward to it's sequel. I haven't really had any complaints about the news about this game until I saw.. This:

Okay granted, That is a VERY cool looking costume and it uses Robins Colors without making them too bright. the staff and hood DOES make him look like a misplaced elemental mage though. That being said, did we forget the purpose of this character?

Batman is one of, if not the most popular superhero character, an excellent line of movies both new and old (with a few exceptions of course) has made Batman stand out in public consciousness perhaps more than anyone else that wears a cape and beats up criminals.

In case anyone forgot, Batman isn't exactly the most witty character around. He's a brooding no-nonsense John Wayne of the night. His parents was shot in front of him, and in return he decided to learn everything he could about the crimeworld, in order to combat it. A few months later, Robin came along. Robin was a kid, always firing off one-liners and wearing a bright colorful costume. Just as intelligent as his mentor and an accomplished acrobat, Robin became the arche-typal sidekick in the business. Robin was created so that children wouldn't fantasize about being Batman - But rather working beside him. Mostly to make sure they wouldn't start climbing buildings and wearing masks. Understandable.

Robin also had another effect on the Bat, he became happier. Sure he was still dark and brooding and hateful, but Robin was a bright spot in his life. I honestly think that the Robin character completed Batman. Made him something more than a one-dimensional avenger.

Of course, alot of people doesn't realise this. In the modern world-view, Robin makes Batman look gay. Mostly because of the internet, and the 1960's TV-series. Oh, and Robin wearing shorts. That could help. But really, aren't you just making Robin ping on your Gay-dar because you kinda WANT them to be gay? You want something to make fun of, plus you kinda wanna fit into the general consensus. After all, if you don't think someone is gay, you MUST be gay. Or well, that could just be me raging at the stupidity of the modern Batman fan. Seriously though, somethimes Batman fans like with any other fanbase can be a bunch of sheep. I've already written in great length elsewhere about my hatred of the Heath Ledger Joker, so I won't go into it here.

In any case, Robin is Batmans happiness. To some extent of course, but I think most people get what I mean by that statement. Of course Batman stories has to be somewhat dark, dark is cool.

But Robin doesn't really need to look like fellow-Teen Titan Raven. Otherwise we could just make Raven Batman's new sidekick.

...

Let's Not.

(Proof read creds to Sophie & Eric. Sadly, I don't have any links to any stuff they've done)

Review: Deadman Wonderland Season 1

2011-07-06T10:40:00.003+02:00

Quick Info:

Title: Deadman Wonderland (デッドマンワンダーランド Deddoman Wandārando)

Written by: Jinsei Kataoka
Illustrations: Kazuma Kondou

Published by: Shõnen Ace
Anime adaptation: Manglobe

Reviewed: Anime version

Liscensing rights: Tokyopop/Funimation

Aired on: Crunchyroll.com

So let's talk Anime, shall we? Deadman Wonderland is one of those ultra-violent, ultra-dark series that comes along once in a while. It starts off with a very bleak tone, and while it may delve into typical Shõnen territory then and again, it manages to keep somewhat fresh. It's based on a actual dead-wood manga, but I've only had the anime available to me (No actual effort was put into tracking down the manga though, the anime version is legally free on Crunchyroll.)

INTRO:

So I sit down in front of my computer, ready to have the usual J-pop insanity thrown at me,

or at the very least some sort of death metal nightmare. Instead I'm treated to a pretty descent little New Metal song, In English no less. The song is best described as akin to Pre-Reanimation Linkin Park, though it lacks rap it's very similar to their normal metal. Listening to it, I can't help but think of songs like Runaway or Papercut. The actual intro video, while very bloody and dark isn't all that visually interesting to look at. It features the most important characters in different kinds of poses, obscured by darkness and bloodsplatter.

PREMISE:

While it may be decently cool, The premise seems mostly like something an angsty teenager would come up with. A high school kid named Ganta Igarashi is somehow spared when all of his classmates are murdered brutally by an entity known as The Red Man. He is blamed for it however, and quickly sentenced to death. He's sent to the privately owned prison/fun fair called Deadman Wonderland. Built in the crater that once was Tokyo, Deadman wonderland is known for putting their inmates out in display as entertainment in a giant theme-park. Ganta quickly gains two friends, a secretive thief named Yõ Takami, and a albino fanservi-I mean happy girl named Shiro. It's also pretty fast established that Ganta has been given a special power to shoot bullets out of his palm. How it works, and why he has it it's too much of a spoiler to reveal here. The characters are cool enough, but the author seems to forget the story is supposed to take place in a high security prison and not a High School sometimes. Because of this, I sometimes feel there's a blur between this and any other High School battle shõnen available.

MAIN CHARACTER:

Ganta Igarashi suffers from the I'm-So-Weak-Phenonemon that's become very popular among authors these days. His personality and even given voice is very similar to Tsuna from Katekyo Hitman Reborn or Sena from Eyeshield 21. Both decent anime in their own right. The voice actress Romi Park, previously the voice of such characters as Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist does a stunning job though. It does make Ganta kind of intolerable in the long run, as these kind of characters lack of confidence tends to take up most of the first couple of story-arcs. All in all a very typical Shõnen hero that struggles to find their place in the world. The other characters, though interesting in their own right, really suffers from being comparable to other manga stereotypes as well. Off the top of my head, The character Crow is similar to Roronoa Zolo from One Piece.

ALL IN ALL:

While nothing groundbreaking or genre-changing it's a pretty good Battle Shõnen. The action is typically epic and like with any other series in the genre it let's you root for the characters and have your blood boil in excitement when the hero saves the day in the end. If series like One Piece (or something similarily popular) were to end tomorrow, Deadman Wonderland would probably be one of the series that the torch would be passed on to.

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The Power is YOURS

2011-07-05T08:25:00.003+02:00

As you may recall, I was very disappointed with Capcom earlier this week. They had announced that to battle THE SCOURGE OF USED GAME SALES Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D would only support one playthrough. Well it seems that enough fans have given them flak for this, and they have now retreated and announced that they will never pull something so absolutely stupid again. My faith in Capcom is restored! Well, at least for now.

In other news, Nintendo pulled a fast one on Legend of Zelda fans. At E3 this year, they had a showing of a HD rendition of Link in the Twilight Princess style battling a giant spider. The showing was absolutely gorgeous, but Nintendo has announced that it was only meant as a tech-demo to show off the Wii U's capabilities. That's what we in the fanbase call a total cockblock. That's sad. Well at least Skyward Sword won't be anything like any other Legend of Zelda game ever, right? Right? Who am I kidding? It's repackaging, and I'm probably gonna buy it along with everyone else. Fun.

And now for something completely different.

In my infinite sea of absolute wisdom (*cough*) I've realised how much my art-style in All Sorts of Happenings has begun to resemble that of The Peanuts. Now I'm a big Charles M. Schulz fan, So this really doesn't bother me THAT much. But it occured to me how sad it is that while Superheroes and Manga is flourishing well into the new millenium, newspaper strips is a dying breed. One could argue that the webcomic is the modern reincarnation of the newspaper strip but this is where I have to disagree. Popular webcomics have a habit of either being about a single hobby (Penny-Arcade with Video Games) or having a complex storyline (El Goonish Shive). The classic semi-philosophic family-oriented newspaper strip doesn't really have a modern equivalent. Series like The Peanuts or Calvin & Hobbes presented us with (at the time) unique stances on life. They taught us something about ourselves while at the same time being witty. In my upbringing at least, Newspaper strips played a role in shaping me into the person I am today. Sociologists theorize that we are in a post-modern era, in which our lifestyles are comparable to that of a charmeleon. We are no longer brought up solely by our parents, but by the instituions we frequent and the group of friends we create for ourselves. we resemble the Charmeleon in that while at work we may be the one that makes the jokes all the time, we can still fall into the role of the braniac at school. I believe that comic strips and fiction in general plays a much larger role in our upbringing in post-modern society. As an Atheist, I reject the fact that any God exists. Our morals are shaped by experiences and outside input, factual evidence that gives us our place in the universe. That said, I am honored to live on a planet where people feel fullfillment in learning about the world around them. To look back at our history of philosophers, Theists, Deists, Atheists or otherwise and see that some have spent their entire life building the modern zeitgeist that I'm privileged enough to live in is a humbling experience. And I truly believe that the future shapings will come from comics. While we may no longer have a Charles Schulz around, new comics like Scott Pilgrim and Nemi embrace the fact that our generation. My generation. Consists mostly of men and women who's concept of masculinity and feminism largely comes from a backdrop of fairytales and adventures as told to us by loving parents, or inspiring individuals.

Top 10 Insane Characters

2011-07-04T01:03:00.008+02:00

Insanity is a lovely character trait, and while it's mostly used for villains it just makes alot of fictional characters alot more entertaining. It's almost always more interesting to follow a character where you're not always sure what the person is going to do in any given situation.

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS.

10 - Stinky Pete The Prospector From Toy Story 2.

Toys are meant to be played with, and this becomes no more apparent than with the villain of Toy Story 2. Secluded ever since fabrication, Stinky Pete has watched all the other copies of his type of toy being taken home by kids and parents and being loved and cared for. This has made him Mean spirited and dark. He actually ends up deciding that children are mean to toys, and even destroy them and that th

ey will be better off being admired in a museum for years to come. His character arc is one of the coolest in the otherwise pretty happy-go-lucky movie, perhaps foreshadowing the pretty dark themes that the Toy Story movies would end up tackling in the final movie.

09 - The Black Knight From Monty Python and The Holy Grail.

Monty Python characters are already insane enough, hell the writers are probably a little insane as well. Then you have The Black Knight, he protects a certain path somewhere in medieval England for whatever reason. Then King Arthur shows up and they do glorious battle for all of.. 2 seconds. The Black Knight takes persistency to a whole new level. He loses an arm, calling it merely a fleshwound. This he does 4 times until he's nothing but a torso and a head. And even then he tries to keep fighting, this guy just doesn't know when to stop. Most Monty Python characters may be relatively insane, but when you're being called a looney by one of them, you might want to do some self-reflection.

08 - Wile E. Coyote from The classic Looney Tunes cartoons.

One of the most Stubborn characters in fiction, Wile E. Coyote is a Super genius living in the desert. Starting off as mere hunger, Wile E.'s hunt for the Roadrunner has become an insane addiction. He constantly comes up with increasingly convoluted and complicated schemes that always fails in the end. He clearly has access to post-order services and in one case even The Internet so one has to wonder.. Why doesn't he just order a pizza? Well because he's endured tons of amounts of pain just to catch the damn bird and he'd be damned if he ever stops trying.

07 - Scrooge Mcduck From Disney's Comic Book universe.

To those of you only familiar with the cartoon version of Scrooge, You're in for a treat! Scrooge's Gol fever in the comics are exagerrated to an extreme degree. If he looses money in a deal, he's able to cry so loud that it can be heard in the far reaches of space.

In one case, it even causes him to Flood The City of Duckburg With His Tears. That's alot of crying. Being an avid treasure hunter, Scrooge's Goldfever allows him to smell Gold already when he lands in the airport. It can cause him to run on water, lift giant rocks, and gain nightsight. When he's not out in the world making more money, he even bathes in them. He rarely eats more than three beans and a piece of bread with a glass of water, just to save money. If something becomes wrong with his money bin (such as having cracks due to over-filling) He's known to become seriously ill. He may be somewhat stable, not having been on a killing spree yet (at least not that we know of) but this is a serious case of obesession.

06 - Edward Wong Hau Pepulu Tivruskii The 4th from Cowboy Bebop.

Edward is a girl, though she may look like a boy. Edward is also a hacking prodigy from Earth in the year 2071. Edward also likes to talk about herself in the 3rd person. Edward is a very strange person, straying from place to place like a cat and always being pretty careless. She almost never walks normally, always running or climbing or prefferably

walking on her hands. She also named herself, as her father is always moving from place to place she decided her real name was boring. Her real name is Francoise Appledelhi, a boy's name because her father is too clueless to understand that he has a daughter, and not a son. Ed get's best along with other kids, but in particular a super intelligent corki puppy named Ein. For same strange reason they're able to have at least some kind of communication. Edward also never refers normally to people, with lines like "Father person, this is Spike Person and Jet Person". Though she may not be dangerous like some of the others on this list, she's definetly insane.

05 - Johnny from Ed Edd N' Eddy.

Johnny has a vivid imagination to put it softly. He talks to a board named plank, with a drawn face on it and it's able to throw him into fits of all-destroying rage. Being alienated by the rest of the kids in the cul-de-sac really doesn't help, making him create Melonhead the superhero persona. His faith in Planks reality is so believable to others that it's actually able to do physical harm to people without Johnny's presence. This kid needs a therapist, and soon.

04 - The Joker from the Batman comics.

The Joker is one of those classic insane villain that everyone knows. He's been subjected to something horrible at some point in his life, having permanent bleached white skin and freaky smile. He's come to enjoy he's super-villain persona too much and is now beyond the help of any psychologist. So he does what he loves, fighting his arch-enemy the Batman and making Gotham city into his private playground. His insanity has come to the point, that he can't remember his own past. Therefore he always tells us a new story, which makes him all the more creepy. Afterall, there's nothing more scary than the unknown.

03 - Tyler Durden from Fight Club.

Insomnia is dangerous, just ask this guy. After having problems sleeping he goes on a plane and meets Tyler Durden. Durden is a soap salesman, and has a very different lifestyle. Our main characters goes to live with Tyler Durden after a fistfight between the two gave him a rush. They start a Fight Club, and little by little it evolves into a cult. Tyler Durden decides he want to blow up all credit card firms in America, causing the destruction of debt. This of course turns to true insanity when it turns out Tyler Durden never was a real person, and our main character has been fighting against himself all this time. This is skitzofrenia on a whole other level, and the only way to defeat oneself is to shoot youself in the head. Which oddly Works.

02 - Johny "'Nny" C. from Johnny The Homicidial Maniac.

Johnny lives in a random American suburb, in a house that already had all sorts of torture devices when he moved it. He goes around killing anyone that annoys him (which in reality, constitues EVERYONE) and pours their blood on a certain backwall in his house. He's convinced that if he ever stops feeding the wall with blood, something even worse will come out. So he keeps on killing, and he isn't picky. He's kept company by three "creatures". One is Nailbunny, a floating dead rabbit with a nail through it's head, representing his inner child. Then there's two Doughboy statuettes named Mr. Eff and D-Boy. One of them claims to be working for the entity behind the wall, the otherclaims to be working against it. He's also known to go off on existential rants about modern society, actually making kind of a understandable point sometimes (I'm NOT crazy). But really, he's a serial killer with voices in his head. What more do you want?

01 - Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Shinji is troubled kid, so troubled that his puberty makes him think he's fighting aliens in giant robots. His relationship with women is convoluted, to the point of him giving his masturbation dream a persona named Rei (Yes, That really is what she's supposed to symbolise) while most of the episodes is just a Giant Robot anime, later on there comes whole episodes where we get a nice trip through the poor guys psyche.. And it isn't pretty. The two ending episodes were so confusing to most people that they made an alternate one i movie form, depicting what happened in the Giant robot world while all the stuff was going on inside Shinji's head. His mother and daddy issues is pretty.. entangled. Let's leave it at that.

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So that was my Top 10 for the most insane characters. Of course there are probably even more insane characters out there, but I tried not to make the list too samey (otherwise, Rorshach, Green Goblin and most of the Rogues Gallery of Batman would have made the list as well).

I hope you enjoyed my list, and will comment on what you think, perhaps mention some characters I haven't thought of?

Top 5 Ridicolously Dark Pasts

2011-07-03T10:13:00.008+02:00

Don't we all just love popculture? Well sure we do, it's entertaining as hell. But sometimes a character's background can be so dark and brooding that you just have to wonder "Just what the heck were they thinking?" And then do a Patrick Stewart facepalm to punctuate.

Now some of these pasts are actually in quality works, but they're still pretty damn silly-dark. Of course I can only use one character from each franchise or else I could just fill this up with Naruto or One Piece characters.

BEFORE WE START: PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS.

5. Drusilla - From Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Drusilla is one of those gleefully evil characters, being completely and totally insane. Drusilla was raised in a very religious family, and was put away in a nunnery because of her ability to be given visions of the future. Already somewhat rejected by her family, things became worse when she was discovered by a bored Angelus that was passing through her town. Angelus made her a project, raping and torturing her into insanity before finally siring her into a vampire. Drusilla has since only contained the ability to think like a child, and it's more or less a fact that there's nothing more cruel and cold than a child. Especially one that has found out that it enjoys maiming and torturing people. This coupled with the aforementioned ability to look into the future makes Drusilla one of Buffy's most insanely dangerous enemies.

4. Uchiha Sasuke - From Naruto.

Masashi Kishimoto has claimed that he thought up Sasuke to be the perfect manga rival, giving him all "the best" elements from shounen rivals out there. However one may feel about this character, theres no denying that he isn't lacking in

the dark past department. Uchiha Sasuke is from one of the noble ninjaclans of his village, their clan having a signature ability that's unique to their bloodline. It's a special type of sight that lets them predict their enemies moves, and alot of other clans and villages wants that ability for themselves. Enter Sasukes brother, Itachi. In order to protect his brother from getting killed he agrees to kill all the rest of the clan in front of him, and leave the village as a dishonored ninja. Sasuke is thus left to grow up with the dark memories of a killed off family, and a thirst for revenge that holds him back from gaining friends. This is of course what ultimately leads to him leaving the village and his team behind and becoming a villain.

3. The Bride - From Kill Bill.

Being trained into the ultimate hitwoman by her master and lover Bill, The Bride leaves the dark life behind when she discovers she's become pregnant. She hides in Texas, and plans to marry a lowly musicstore owner in order to give her child a normal life. Bill however, is not pleased and he sends her former colleagues out to her wedding reception when she's in final stages of pregnancy to kill everyone off. The group leaves a absolute bloodbath behind when they leave the church, but The Bride somehow survives, just to be put into a coma for 5 years. When she awakes she not only has an unstoppable thirst for revenge but she finds out that she has been used by the nurse responsible for her to rent out sexual favors to truckdrivers. Later on, insult is added to injury when her child turns out to be alive, raised by the very man that caused all of her suffering.

2. Superboy Prime - From The DC comics Event books.

Superboy Prime is a alternate reality Superman from Earth-Prime, The DC equivalent of OUR Earth. Other than sharing origins with his main continuity counterpart (crashlanded as a baby on Earth after his own planet was blown up due to a dying Sun) Superboy Prime actually has it worse. On his Earth, Superman and the Justice League was fictional characters, and Superboy was believed to be completely normal. That is, Until the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" where the passing of Halley's comet triggers his Kryptonian abilities, just in time for him to meet the main continuity Superman and witness his world be destroyed by the Anti-monitor. Initially being calmed fighting the good fight against The Anti-monitor, he later turns to anguish when the battle is over and he is left on Paradise-Earth, where he becomes more and more secluded and ultimately turns evil.

1. Nico Robin - From One Piece.

Nico Robin was raised by her mother's sister and her family. Being alienated and teased by the other kids, Robin copes by visiting the historians of the island. The island being known for the best historians in the world. She's taught to read and falls in love with the craft of archeology while she grows up. One day however, her mother shows up on the island after several years only for her and the entire group of archeologists to be publicly executed. It turns out that the group had found less than flattering historical facts about the founding of The World Goverment and they and the entire country is to be destroyed. The World Goverment executes a "Buster Call", the attack of thousands of marine ships that starts firing cannons relentlessly on the island only stopping when the entire population has been wiped out. Nico Robin however, is saved by a rebellious Marine captain and sneaked away on a raft. She then becomes one of the worlds most wanted criminals, her country having been branded as traitors by The World Goverment. She ends up being constantly on the run, using her devil fruit abilities to gain a name for herself as a fearsome pirate and then ending up in the mysterious Baraque Company due to nescessity. Ultimately however, the company is defeated and she joins forces with the Strawhat Pirates.

So that was my picks for the characters with the most ridicolously dark pasts, I hope you agree with some of my points and at the very least has found this informative. If you have any thoughts on this, please feel free to throw me a comment!

Review: Spiral Knights

2011-07-02T08:24:00.010+02:00

Quick Info:

Title: Spiral Knights

Price: Free to Play

Platform: PC/Steam Client/Facebook

Genre: MMORPG/Top-Down Shooter/Hack N' Slash.

Developer: SEGA, Three Rings.

Players: Massively Multiplayer, 4 Recommended for Action sequences.

Recently, Valve decided to support Free-To-Play games on their ever so popular Steam Client. Among the titles re-released for the client there was a game called Spiral Knights. Like with any modern MMO worth it's gull, you start off the game designing your character. The choices are somehow limited with only 3 types of helmet or armor available to choose from, you also get to choose from a sortiment of colors. Choose wisely however, as the color is the only thing you won't be able to change later on, it will become your permanent health-bar color and eye-color and all of your future equipment will sport the chosen color in some way or form. Very akin to the Guild Wars games. A friend and I had a 'incident' where both of our characters looked exactly the same. Thankfully, a really early quest requires you to aquire new amor in tier 2, of which there is lots to decide between so the problem was shortlived.

When you start the game, you wake up in no-mans land. The Spiral Order, the Knights of which you belong have crashlanded on a distant world. You'll have to fight your way to the rescue camp, armed with a sword, a shield and a handgun. Now already here you can find two pretty consistent complaints. The hit detection is pretty shaky, only hitting your target with the handgun 7 out of 10 times making you constantly switch to your sword. Even when it's strategically undesireable. The other complaint is the netcoding, a problem which alot of these games suffer from is that if you don't have a pretty good internet connection, The game is virtually unplayable. I myself, are for unrelated reasons only able to have a wireless 3G internet connection with a 20GB monthly download limit, making playing this game after the limit has been exceeded pretty problematic. If you can live with that however, the gameplay is definetly worth it.

Another reason to download the game is the free hat, If you're a Team Fortress 2 player (and if you aren't, why not? The Game is FREE now! Go get it!) you get a neat little helmet for your Soldier character which actually looks pretty cool compared to the standard equipment.

When you get to the Rescue camp, you're almost immediately transported to the city of Haven. Haven is your new permanent home-away-from-your-own-planet, Here you will be able to shop for equipment, chat it up with your fellow players, use the auction house, and train in the Advanced Training Center. More importantly though, this gives you access to "The Arcade" the area in which you're able to go to the action stages. The action stages are explained as being "The Clockworks" a maze of underground areas, riddled with monsters and traps. To get down to the clockworks however, you need to spend Energy. Energy function the same way as most Facebook games do. You're given a standard amount of energy, and every action costs some of it. When you're out of energy you can either wait a few hours for it to recharge or buy something immediately via micro-transactions with real money. An interesting twist on the tried and true formula is the Energy bazaar in which you can trade energy with other players with the in-game currency known as Crowns. While it definetly would have been preferred to just do away with the energy system once and for all, it's refreshing to see a new take on it. While the art-style is pretty cute it's also very standard and seen-before, so it's understandable they didn't go the League of Legends route.

All in all it's a very enjoyable experience, (Especially for the price of absolutely nothing) and it's a nice way to pass those times you need to wait for other games to patch, or your pizza to arrive.

By your powers Combined..

2011-06-30T07:40:00.004+02:00

I've never been good at keeping up with the current events in the DC universe. Mostly because DC comics hasn't been published in a monthly edition in Denmark in a decade. That being said, I have been able to sometimes go to an actual comicbook store (a rarity in Copenhagen, oddly enough) and take a look at the new hardback releases which is why I'm now able to talk about Green Lantern in Blackest Night.

To start off, naming this as a Green Lantern book is kinda silly, as most of the other DC heroes appear. It's more of an event book some would say, putting it in the same booth as Crisis on However-Many-Earths-DC-Is-Gonna-Blow-Up-This-Time. So why not call this Death Crisis affectionally, eh? Well because in my eyes it's more of a Team-up comic. The Flash and The Atom seems to have just as large roles in this as Hal Jordan and his merry band of intergalactic cops do so you might as well call this "Brave and The Bold, Zombie Edition". Also, Now they HAVE to do a Marvel Zombies crossovers. There will be blood if you do not comply with my nerdy wet dreams!

But what I could not imagine is what I would find in said comic. Now I'm totally aware of the Green Lanterns will powered ring and the stuff he can do with it. But as I used Blackest Night as my jumpng on point, I was kinda baffled by the stupidity of the Captain Planet-esque every-corpse-has-its-own-element thing that I was thinking

... Maybe Geoff Johns forgot he was writing a DC comic and started writing his saturday morning cartoon wet dream?

Or maybe he was teasing something? Captain Planet the Comic book? Nah. That could never happen. Could it?

HOLY CAPCOM IT'S REAL! RUN FOR THE HILLS, RUN I TELL YOU.

Speaking of Capcom..

I AM VERY DISAPPOINT!

According to The Escapist, Capcom has decided to come up with the most ridicolous DRM in gaming history. You see, Capcom has decided that to manage THE SCOURGE OF USED GAME SALES (Thunderstrike in Background) their new release of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D for the 3DS will not only support only ONE Save Game but by Extension Only One Playthrough. This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard since The American remake of "The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo" (and allow me to say that that is a retarded fucking idea). Capcom have bought alot of cheap fan thumbs-up over the years. Mega Man 9, Bionic Commando Re-armed and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 just to name a few, and this is SURE to kick them in the face. So what? Did they figure that they were so far ahead in the Awesome-O-meter that they could take some REALLY stupid chances? For this is not only going to hurt your PAYING, LEGAL, CUSTOMERS. This is going to hurt YOU. I understand that used game sales are hurting the industry. Heck, one could argue that it actually hurts MORE than piracy does. Giving money only to retailers and none to the developers is a very cruel move and I can see why you're upset. However, pulling off a dick move like this certainly ISN'T going to help. Then make a EULA with retailers, disallowing them to resell your products after they have bought them used from a customer. Really, the customers aren't gonna be that hurt by this, sure buying new games as opposed to used ones are expensive, but most hobbies are. If you can afford a 3DS or a PS3, then you should have more than enough to lay out the money for at least one of the truly top tier games that rarely comes out anyway. And on the retailers side, just what are you playing at? Retailers has it rough after digital distribution has grown, true, but not to this extent. This is just being a money-grubbing greedy person and nobody likes those guys. Sure, you may have to downsize in the next couple of years but you have to realise that retailing as a business really isn't going anywhere. There will always be people who prefer the feeling of looking through a store, looking at the shiny box-art and what-not. Making a fieldtrip out of going to your local mall, shopping, and then ending it at the restaurant floor is a international tradition now that will last for years to come.

Being directly mean to your customers is going to burn you in the long run, And I'm pretty sure heads are going to roll in the marketing department over this one.

To those interested, you can find the original Escapist article HERE

Stuff

2011-06-29T07:52:00.005+02:00

Anti-Heroic Addendum
As I showed my blogpost to my friends, one of them (a girl, such mystical creatures indeed) had a pretty good counter argument. You see, she argued that the "Superhero frontfigure" thing wasn't very up to date or at all in touch with todays industry. Granted, what she actually said was "I've never cared for Superheroes, I've always rooted for the villains and bad boys". But you know, potato, tomato, Shigeru Miyamoto, really.

Because she's kinda right, I myself have always been a big fan of both Disney's version of Hades and The Joker. Some bad guys are just so unquestionably evil yet somehow relatable that you can't help but feel a little sorry for them when they loose. After all, why do you think Iznogood or Pinky & The Brain ever got so popular? We know that what they want is horrible yet seeing them fail, time and time again when they come close to actually suceeding is why we enjoy their company. It's kind of sadistic really, we want them to succeed because we recognize the feeling from when we try to swat that one fly that JUST. WON'T. DIE.

But, that was kind of my point in my previous post. We have become very used to the worldweary Humphrey Bogart-type character that doesn't have perfect morals but is doing good for the rest of us in the long run. Characters switching sides has become a stable of modern culture and in particular the Manga fanbase where this among some has become known as "The Vegeta Complex" based on the very popular Dragonball Z, where on of the invading Saiyans that was the main villain in the first storyarc turn out to be one of the main characters most powerful allies in the long run. This is also seen in American popculture, with examples like Gambit from X-men, and Spike from the Buffy The Vampireslayer franchise. Of course the most well-known example of side-switching is Darth Vader. The one who started out as a noble jedi, betrayed his brethen due to the potential loss of his wife and children (which he ultimately lost anyway, cheery, eh?) and back into a hero when his son needed him the most.

Isn't this kind of naive? to assume that EVERYONE ultimately will hold up their end of a bargain like Hades or come to our aid in battle for the honor of the lost like Vegeta? One of the things The Dark Knight actually got right was this line of dialogue: "Some people just want to see the world burn". And while The Dark Knight might have been an open letter of sympathy to the Bush administration (Another article, promise) it actually had a point. Human beings can be fairly stubborn and some of them to the point of going to their deaths merely to piss off the people they disagree with. How else do you think suicide bombers can actually exist? Whoa, this took a very dark turn. So that's another reason we need our Supermen and Astro Boys, they balance things out with their just as naive pursuit of truth and justice to make our Rick Blaine's and Punishers all the more enjoyable.

GOD DAMN GRAPHICS
so, my computer died on me. The Graphics started gradually dying on a day-to-day basis in a period of 3 months, every day the "The Graphics Driver has encountered an error and has been reset" error became just a little bit more frequent, at first totally unnoticeable to the point of actually exploding the day-before-yesterday. I formatted my computer, with what turned out to be a too scratched windows back-up and now my computer shows black screen beyond the point of the Windows Vista logo before the logon-screen. It's a probable mixed drink of melted graphic-card, bad windows back-up and some kind of servicepack 1 update that triggers it. In case you're wondering, I've been going online from my fathers laptop since the "incident" and I'm now waiting on payday (tomorrow) to go out and buy myself a new graphic-card. I've always taken pride in having at least a decent gaming PC and I'll be damnned if I'm gonna be left behind.

WHERE'S WALLACE BARCRAWL
So I was searching online for refferential images of Wallace (or Waldo) online when I saw a group of individuals having a annual meet-up in canada dressed up as Where's Wallace characters. It wasn't a barcrawl and just seemed to be something of a communal nature. That's when I thought, I loved going to Zombiecrawl 2009. It's to this days on my top ten of favorite moments in my life. So why not combine the two? Therefore I have come up with the Where's Wallace Barcrawl. I will get as many people as I can and do a route in Copenhagen. The date isn't set yet, but It's probably going to be some time in September. My cousin Rikke has agreed to do a British version if she can't attend mine on the same date, More on that when I get some more information. But that's that.

Incidentally, you can find my comicstrip All Sorts of Happenings including the strip that caused the barcrawl HERE

The Modern Superhero

2011-06-25T12:03:00.010+02:00

Once upon a time, a publisher that would later evolve into DC comics decided to release a story about a man in tights. This was Action Comics #1, the story was called Super-man and the comic has since been hailed as the birth of a Golden Age.

Now to those that don't know, American comics are devided into "ages" based on the state of the industry, or a particular trend. The most referred to are as follows: The Golden Age where the superhero was born, The Silver Age where alot of them were reborn with science fiction origins (to the point of some of them being downright silly) and The Dark Age where everything was put into an ultra serious semi-realistic format (as realistic as an universe with Captain Marvel can be, anyway) with lots of violence and fanservice.

before the now classic superhero format, the closest thing we had to Superman were costumed vigilantes in Pulp books. Magazines with novels of all sorts of stuff, some following the same character and others with 5 or 6 different stories but the only kind that seemed to have survived up to this day and age is romantic fiction aimed at women.

We had Zorro and The Phantom and Mandrake The Magician, and before them, we had Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan. I'm sure you can make arguments for Thor and Hercules (even Jesus) fitting in there somewhere but let's keep it simple.

Now I'm personally convinced that todays Superheroes are actually placeholders for the hero myths. Alot of people scoff at Superman "He's too powerful" they claim "not identifiable with at all" and then they go read Deadpool comics. Seriously, that guy could survive roasting hot dogs on the flipping sun - anyway, here's my counter argument.

You're NOT supposed to identify with Superman (or at least not entirely), he's practically a reimagining of Moses. Born in another world pending destruction, sent down the Nile (or in Supermans case, through space) avoiding all sorts of dangers on his way. Brought up in other living conditions than was meant for him (His actual parents were reknowned scientists, his stepparents were lowly farmers) and then growing up to set an example for the common man. That's what Superman is supposed to be, a better man. By always following his naive sense of right and wrong, not being able to lie and always trying to grab defeat without killing anyone in the process he sets an example for others to follow. Sure Superman could beat people up as much as he wanted, and be king of the world but that's not what he does. Every time he get's in front of a criminal he initially tries to appeal to their conscience before using force. This is a man every other man should strive to be, and it shows.

Problem is, people don't like the whole morality lecture these days. They wanna be able to smoke, drink, generally not give a crap. Of course there's exceptions to the rule but when I venture around in the world (and especially the internet) I meet lots of people that really could take a lesson or two from The Man of Steel.

No, people identify with people like Batman. And I get it, Batman is cool. He's put down to our level by having no powers (other than extreme riches) and having his parents shot in front of him. People identify with El Mariachi because thugs killed his girlfriend and shot his hand so he couldn't play guitar. What is it about revenge that makes us identify with characters? Would we feel better about Superman if he went around in the universe, tirelessly looking for a way to somehow avenge his planet? Would we enjoy Mickey Mouse more if he went looking for his appearantly missing parents?

Anime and Manga seems to be the new go-to place for superheroes. Now alot of manga fans will kick me for this but mangas are basically superhero comics. Akira Toriyama, author of the famous Dragonball series was a huge fan of series like Superman, thus it had a direct impact on his work. Goku was a fugitive from a distant planet that was blown up by a menacing force like Superman, he was able to fly and had super strength. And in a twist he could be compared to Havock from X-men in his ability to shoot beams from his hands (Kamehameha!).

So I think that fans of modern shounen are ignoring the resemblance to western superheroes in their beloved franchises. Monkey D. Luffy is like Mr. Fantastic or Plastic Man and can stretch all he wants, Uzumaki Naruto can multiply, just like Multiple Man and Conan from Case Closed! is a huge fan of Arthur Conan Doyle and an ace detective like Batman or more obviously Sherlock Holmes. The main differences are of course the art style, which in Mangas case are influenced heavy by the artist (and so-called Kami No Manga/God of Manga) Osamu Tezuka that created his Astroboy character based on his work as an animator for Disney (thus the resemblance between him and the former mentioned mouse)

So where is the Superheroes at the home country USA going? Well, DC comics that started the whole thing is rebooting all of their franchises, and the well-known and established characters from all the big companies are facing increasingly darker themes like death, divorce, rape, religion, racism and miscarriages. While I like that some of these themes are discussed and presented in modern media (Red Arrow being the first singledad in superhero comics) they are far more often disposed off as soon as there are drops in the economy. Editors even going as far as killing of small innocent girls (Red Arrows daughter) or having even Spiderman selling his love of his life to the devil. Dark times indeed, and people are outraged every time.

But that's part of the problem, stories like these have shock value and this makes the major corporations have dollar signs in their eyes. People are going to be buying the comics if the death of a well known character is advertised on the cover. It's silly, shallow and never going to end.

Yet I feel like the heroes are in an era of change. The movies have increasingly bigger influence on the medium as a whole, and both DC and Marvel are busy producing more and more TV-series.

Superheroes will continue to set an example for the common man to better himself, doing what they do because they it's simply right, and let's hope that even a few of us follow the example to always do the right thing as well.

About The Duke

2011-06-23T07:34:00.003+02:00

I'm kind of late to the party on this one, but I might as well tell you all what's wrong with"Duke Nukem Forever".

Lack of relevance. Duke was a smash hit back in the 90's along with Spawn and Youngblood. In some ways he was a carry-over from what comic fans call "The Dark Age" of comics where all superheroes were supposed to be 'dark' and 'cool'. This resulted in Superman dying in "the Death of Superman", Batman breaking his back (in "Knightfall"), Green Lantern/Hal Jordan going bananas and trying to KILL EVERYONE (In "DC F'ed up", they kissed the booboo and made it better later) and Spider-man's "Clone Saga" (try keeping up with it, I dare you). To properly explain what actually happened, let me go off on a tangent with some history:

It's normally said that "The Dark Age" was born with the coming of Alan Moore's "Watchmen" and Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns". While both of them had their own political statement, comic editors thought that people were buying them because of the shock value, sex and bloody violence rather than the actual (well-written) stories. So while DC was killing off Superman and Marvel were trying to switch out Peter Parker with some other guy in a hoodie (Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider, long confusing story). The newly formed Image comics leaped into action with the really good, but also extremely dark and gorey "Spawn" and shot into the air like a magic beanstalk.

Meanwhile in Videogameland, the console wars were well underway. Super Mario's lighthearted Mickey Mouse-like antics were challenged by a blue hedgehog called Sonic from the smaller company Sega. This guy had attitude and was supposed to be the 'cool' alternative to Nintendo's Mario. Sega even went ahead with a pretty agressive strategy:

Now, my basic theory is this. Duke started out as a pretty basic PC-platformer with a guy shooting up stuff. There were tons of those back then, most of them taking place in grey places or sewers. I like to call this "The Grey Era" jokingly. I didn't have much of a console back then (and were barely alive, I'm from 1990), but somehow the developers chose to jump from a platformer and into a shooter - making "Duke Nukem 3D" one of the definitive first person shooters, and even GAMES of the era. People often mention him along with "Doom" and "Wolfenstein 3D" which both changed the world of games completely in their own right. That's a pretty big deal for a game. I have the feeling that Duke was a result of the thought that 'dark sells'. Duke was running around gunning down aliens with tons of gore, and even had the ability to watch half a second of porn in the very first stage on a theatre screen. You were able to give money to a stripper later on. Duke himself, of course, was a huge muscular guy with huge guns and an action movie personality. Every sentence he spoke was literally a quote.

So when "Duke Nukem Forever" FINALLY came out, it was as I had expected. A reminiscence of that weird spot between the Cold War and 9/11 where the only real action most guys got was from pop culture. And that's what I got. A dumb linear shooter.

So why does everyone hate him now? Well, 14 years in development and you come back with linearity and no cover controls in the era of "Call of Grand Theft Battle Shock: Combat Effect"? That's like swinging your junk around inside a nunnery. Things aren't gonna get pretty, and they certainly didn't. People were outraged. "FORCED STORY PROGRESSION?! IN THE ERA OF FALLOUT 3?! OUTRAGEOUS I SAY!" Personally, as a movie nerd, I love the game. But that's the thing. I don't think this is a game for gamers, It's more of a game for... cinephiles? Let's call it a shooter for that one guy that isn't terribly impressed having to live through World War II and Vietnam over and over again.

2011-05-26T02:11:00.004+02:00

Ever felt like kicking someone in the face?

No really. I mean have you ever seriously considered kicking someone in the face? Not just when you loose a game or someone just frankly pisses you off.

Face. Kicking. Impact.

I've had that feeling all day, I've REALLY seriously considered kicking someone in the face.

Hard part is getting to them first.

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Those that run in the Shadows

I've finished my first Shadowrun game yesterday. Also marks my very first Pen And Paper game. Well, It's not like I'm entirely unfamilliar with roleplaying I'm just used to Forum based Roleplay. And frankly, to actually be posed against challenges and stats and dice rolls is really refreshing as a difference to my Proboards where I would always end up being the most powerful character in the story, always stealing the focus to kick some demon ass.

That being said, I would be cool to play around with this system and apply it to Geminiterra. Something to think about, at least.

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In case you're not Aware, my side-webcomic All Sorts of Happenings has taken on a life of it's own and has recently updated. Check it out for some Spawn of Mind brand comedy if you wish. If you want, you can always throw a comment or something my way. Always nice to know if somebody enjoys my work :)

Paul Nicklen: Tales of ice-bound wonderlands | Video on TED.com

2011-05-10T23:59:00.001+02:00

Paul Nicklen: Tales of ice-bound wonderlands | Video on TED.com

Once again I'm Sharing a TED video on here but this story he tells is really funny and cool. So yeah! Give it a look! =D

Ten Truths

2011-05-06T09:11:00.002+02:00

Because Everyone else is doing it, And I'm an attention Whore

1. I stopped wearing fingerles gloves because it made me feel like a homeless person
2. If I wasn't an Atheist I would probably be a Buddhist.
3. I considered for a while that I might be Bi-sexual. After looking up some Porn, I found out I'm not. I also found out that I will never look that up again. Ever.
4. I have absolutely no interest in ever having kids and children are annoying to me. That being said I'm a Maesiophilic. Talk about confusing. TMI? Well F*** you!
5. While I have played most classic games while I was a kid, gaming didn't become a hobby until my Teenage years.
6. I have never turned in a School assignment without doodles all over the place.
7. While I officially loathe Pop music and everything it stands for, I find myself enjoying Lady Gaga.
8. I normally don't rage over Video Games BUT FUCK YOU SONIC AND THE SECRET RINGS!
9. I always forget to clip my toe nails for some reason. Ew. I should go check.
10. I have nothing against being dominated by a Woman, And that's probably Why I'm single :b

Update of Update Of Update Of Update Of..

2011-05-03T23:22:00.003+02:00

Doo-dee-doo sitting down writing a blog.. dum-dee-dee... Oh, what's this? Osama Bin Laden is dead? Well surely I must now devote all of my attention to this single occurence and forget all about that other wars that's totally unimportant right now.

Okay, so let me flaunt my European-ness for a few seconds.

I. Couldn't. Care. Less.

Surely everybody has gotten over that 'little mistake' by now. Well okay, I'll give you that Americans. You deserved to hang this bastard. Good for you. 3000 People ain't just coming back tomorrow and I guess "Just Revenge" is a pretty good thing to have crossed off the list.

That put outta the way, let's talk stuff I care about.

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PARTY

I had a party once, they tasted like Souls. But yeah, I held a little youth get-together to celebrate me turning 21. First succesfull Youth-party in my life-time! Go me! Woo!

Thanks for the folks that attended, That was awesome, you're awesome. And if you didn't live so damn far away I would totally have more parties like this. Only thing I regret about this party is that I didn't pop-out the camera so I could embarrass all of you by tagging you on Facebook the following Monday. Put that on my To-do list right under all the chicks I'm totally *cough*never*cough* gonna score :D

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In other news, some douchebag has stolen Samuel L. Jackson's copy of the script to Joss Whedon's Avengers movie.

Thanks, asshole. Joel Schumacher is no longer the biggest douche in Superhero movie history. And can someone please explain to me why Edward Norton isn't cast as the Hulk?? He was an awesome Hulk! What the hell! Gief Edward Norton and Robert Downey Jr. in same movie! Nao!

Derp

2011-02-09T08:28:00.003+01:00

So I finally got to Outland, In World of Warcraft. Now, you're going to think "Oh, you made a new character?" or "hey, you joined late?" No. This is on a character I've had since the original game. I'm going to let you call me a noob all you want but fact is, that up until now this game has felt like a CHORE. I mean it, a fucking job and I don't do work.... For free.. And I'm certainly not paying to do it! If you're interested in looking me up on Armory I play Znorkjin on the EU Moonglade server (coincidentally I also play League of Legends on the EU servers, Monotar)

I also tried out Starcraft II! God this is AWESOME! The campaign is all cool and lean like an episode of Cowboy Bebop and the custom maps are freaking awesome, If you have the opportunity I URGE you to try out StarJeweled or Zerghunter!

I really came into the whole Starcraft gig late, since I never played the original one.. Why didn't anyone tell me about this thing? Oh yeah, they did.. except I didn't listen 'cause I was too busy going SONICSONICSONICSONICSONICSONICOMFGBBQ! XD

So yeah, Derp.

So.

2011-01-30T21:23:00.002+01:00

Ever had the feeling that you have a Tyler Durden inside? That you live your life like Jack from the movie Fightclub with another person controlling your life even though this person is actually yourself? Yeah I know it sounds like New Age Hippie Bullcrap or whatchamacallit but god dammit it's MY New Age Hippie Bullcrap and you can't take it from me!

I've started to do strange things, like giving heart surgery to an already dead blog but whatever. I'll just sow whatever comes to my mind while I'm writing this and YOU lucky bastards get to reap the hilarious conseqenses. If there is any consequenses anyway they better be god damn hilarious.

My cat died, or rather is dying. Or at least I think so. You can never tell with her it's kinda strange. One day she looks like she gonna start on the big ol' sleep the other she's merely limbing. I gotta go to a vet with her but she's 15 yeas old and I fear veterinarians and their guilty looks at me. I wanted to go sooner sure, but it costs cash.

You know the world would probably be a much better place if everyone just decided that tomorrow all bank accounts would have the exact same number with 12 zero's behind them and then we could all do whatever we wanted, Get fucked, Get Fucked, and Get Fucked. There's three different ways to get fucked. You can get fucked up from beatings, which is the more common type of getting fucked, then there's drugs which is for the brave few who actually dares venture into that territory of assholes and then there's getting fucked, which is what most men and women are after. Get fucked, Get Fucked, Get Fucked, Reproduce, Rinse and repeat.

I should start doing some travelling, my best friend is right when he tells me that I should cut the crap and go with him to Japanica or whatever; You know I probably should. I might be slowly losing my mind though, It happens every time a movie hits me. Fight Club hit me hard, BAM, right in the face like a mallet wielded by a cartoon cat. I wonder if I ever get that damn comic written.. You know that feeling when you're just looking at a computer screen and then just emptying yourself all over the keyboard through your fingertips? That beautiful Nirvana where you're truly in contact with your own prejudices and hatreds and yet also in contact with your love and affection for your fellow man-animal? It's like a balance of perfection when you finally let your balls drop and write whatever the fuck pops up in your head and for a while you're truly there, There in perfect contact with your true emotions. Until you realise what the hell you've written and dare not press the post button. Dare not press it, dare not press it, dare not press it, dare not press it.........

I should post this on Facebook. See what people think, let them be reassured that I'm still a little beside myself with insanity.

And I should watch Citizen Kane... And Zeitgest Moving forward... Does anyone know where I can get a copy of Citizen Kane? Or Fucking Tron? or what about just listing all the movies I haven't seen even though I parade myself around like the fucking Wikipedia of movies. I should watch Star Trek. I feel like my Geek Cred is in jeopardy having only seen two Star Trek movies. And I should watch Gladiator and Titanic, just to prove to myself that they're actually as bad as I've told myself since they came out even though my hate for them was because people I didn't like went to see them and I felt like I'd be doing them a favor proving them right that it was movies for me.

I should Stop.

That Does it!

2011-01-11T18:38:00.002+01:00

I'm NOT going to watch Inception now, You wanna know why? Because of Chris Nolan! Fuck that guy!

According to Moviebob's newest article over at escapistmagazine.com Christopher Nolan who has been put in charge of Warner Bros. DC movie licenses has VETO'ed the idea of the Batman movies and Zack Snyders upcoming Superman piece taking place in the same universe.

You wanna know why? I'll tell you why. Because that guy is a HACK. There, I said it, I called one of the best directors of modern movie making a hack. Why did I call him a hack? Because he's got it into his little head that Batman needs to be "realistic". An Idea I've HATED since The Dark Knight (and still do, thank you). Thanks to this guy, We can kiss the dream of a Justice League movie goodbye. But don't forget, Chris Nolan already killed the Justice League ONCE. When the pitch for a Justice League TV-series was killed off because it had Ras-al-ghul's daughter as the main villain, hinting a link to his precious movies.

So this whining little prick can go to hell! Stay the fuck away from my superheroes!

League of Legends

2010-07-29T19:18:00.003+02:00

Most people that knows ANYTHING about the fanmade maps on good ol' Warcraft III has heard about Dawn Of The Ancients aka. DotA - Allstars. The makers has since formed Riot Games and made the Freeware Title "League of Legends".

League of Legends is Basically DotA.. is what I say when I present it to people, You have a number of lanes and you and your teammates has to go down these lanes destroying the enemy's towers and eventually their base and meanwhile defending your own.

Theese are the new features that's NOT in DotA according to the LOL homepage

Automated matchmaking, to make finding a good game easy
The ability to reconnect to games if you have disconnected
Completely new and original playable champions
Client-server network model with no host advantage
Advanced stat tracking
Built-in surrender functionality
In-game interface and controls designed for this style of play
Account-level progression, adding out-of-game strategic depth and customization, known as the summoner system
Regular updates with many more features to come!
An improved mini-map that shows your champion's pathing
Multiple maps, (Summoner's Rift, Summoner's Rift: Winter, Twisted Treeline, The Proving Grounds)
Features that make teaching the game to your friends easier, (game tutorial, bots, suggested items)

So come join me in playing this awesome game! That's pretty much all I'm doing these days anyway :b That and working on something exciting~~

my username is Monotar and I'm on the European version. Which both Americans and Europeans can download HERE

The Tale of a Mouse

2010-02-09T07:30:00.001+01:00

Most people i know have already heard this tale, but here goes:

So, i wake up one morning, go to my computer to draw the newest Bobby Macdog page, and what happens? The mouse. It stops randomly when i use it. So i think "hey maybe this is positive, I've used the same mouse for the past 6-7 years and maybe it's time to update to a wireless" So i dig in my stuff (I have loads of computer related things stuffed away in various boxes) and find the mouse I used to use on my portable pc, only problem is, the usb for connecting it to the pc is gone! God Dammit! After searching all over the place and pratically breaking my back over it, i decided to go down to the store and buy a new one. What happens? The mouse just feels wrong, It's too light, the old one was a heavy best of a mouse (I don't own a tablet) So now I can't draw pages, which means the pages of Issue 5 will have to wait for a while.

You know the worst part? same evening i bought the damn thing a friend of mine told me he had some used mouses over at his house i could've gotten for free.

Oh well, theres light at the end though, I gotta end a story on a positive note right? My good friend Mike Youngster has promised me his old tablet that doesn't work on his Mac computer, and since i'm a PC guy, it won't be a problem ^_^

Yay!

- Later days

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/dan/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

2010-01-05T00:41:00.001+01:00

Time to be all intelligent again. Here's a TED Talk =)

Fake.

2009-12-16T11:11:00.002+01:00

A School Project, the assignment was to make a video that fit the word "Fake". The result is this comment on Net Dating.

No knowledge of Danish is needed.

Inspector Meus Episode 4 (Final)

2009-12-16T08:17:00.001+01:00

The madness ends.

Inspector Meus Episode 3

2009-12-16T08:16:00.001+01:00

Inspector Meus Episode 2

2009-12-16T08:14:00.000+01:00

Inspector Meus Episode 1

2009-12-16T07:48:00.003+01:00

An old project i did while i went to Medieskolen Lyngby. This was before i really planned out what i was filming. This is episode 1 of 4. Back then we were called Burning Monkey Productions.

Christmas card extravaganza!

2009-12-06T12:38:00.002+01:00

To-From Cards by ~gizmo2300 on deviant ART

This is some gift To/from cards i thought you might enjoy. You are welcome to download them and print em out. Just click the thumbnail and find the download button. ^_^ And don't forget to leave a comment if you have the time, I love those.

-Later Days

On hold for a couple of days

2009-12-03T21:51:00.004+01:00

Oi.

I've decided to put BMD (The Adventures of Bobby Macdog) on hold for a couple of days to catch up on some writing on a professional project I'm working on along with Mike Youngster Who some of you may remember as the artist of the Front page of BMD Issue 4.

If you follow my Deviantart however, I might throw up some drawings and such.

Well, That's It.

- Later Days.

*PS: There MIGHT be some kind of Christmas and New Years thing uploaded on BMD.*

Concept art: Casper

2009-11-30T19:42:00.000+01:00

Thought you might like some concept art related to the current storyline

"Casper" by ~gizmo2300 on deviant ART

Comic spotlight - Universe F

2009-11-29T22:22:00.004+01:00

This is where i promote some awesome up and coming Webcomics to help out my fellow authors =)

Title: Dragonball Z Doujin - Universe F (By deadlychestnut)
EDIT: To those that don't know, Doujin is japaneese for Fanfiction

Story:
It's a fanfiction of the DBZ series by Akira Toriyama, it takes place in an alternate universe where Planet Vegeta never was destroyed by Freeza, and the saiyans actually joined the empire of the Cold family. (i think) Right now there's only 15-16 pages so if you don't want to read a massive archive before getting up to speed nows a good time to begin reading.

Art:
The art in this one is excellent, She's been able to more or less acurately portray the artstyle of the original series, and theres one of the characters that's a fun little nod to one of Akira Toryama's other series: Neko Majin Z

Bottom Line, Go check it out. You can get there by clicking the title of this post. =)

- Later Days.

Panic Hans is introduced to the public!

2009-11-28T05:41:00.004+01:00

Back in the day, i used to have multiple personas.

Like the smurf, there would be different types of me doing silly things.

Panic Hans was always getting into trouble and getting beaten up by mother nature. Nobody seems to like the poor guy.

There was Panic Hans, then there was Anti-H, Emo-Hans, Sad-Hans Creepy-Hans and Anger-Hans.

Anti was my favorite.

Anyway, here's a pic of poor Panic Hans.

By the way, i thought you might find this funny

I did, Laughed my ass of XD

Oi!

2009-11-25T14:27:00.002+01:00

This blog will from now on be used as the news log for The Adventures of Bobby Macdog.
Since for the two weeks or so it's just been... well.. Sitting there.

But not anymore! Also now i can embed videos in my news posts, awesome. No? There will still be a link to check out the old News archive though. And you can find that in the menu.

This is awesome

2009-11-16T18:31:00.000+01:00

2009-10-09T15:37:00.005+02:00

It's funny how often i randomly i forget about things i have done. This GIF forexample is NOT made by me, however i've used it on an old no longer active Dragonball Z fan site called "Son Gohan's Corner".

Anyway, that was actually not what i wanted to talk about, Today i'm going to Cinemateket in the center of Copenhagen to hear about 100 years of Danish cartoon history. And That's just awesome. What's more awesome is that alot of the good old Fleischer bros. Cartoons is now Public Domain and that means it can be used by anyone as long as it's being credited to the right source.

So here's a Betty Boop Cartoon, the only color cartoon she was ever in. Who would've have guessed that she's a redhead?

oooh.

2009-10-03T14:00:00.002+02:00

Do you know that feeling when you think you've done something but actually haven't? I had that feeling this morning. For the past 2 years i've been walking around thinking i have uploaded this picture to the internet. But in reality i haven't. This is done way back in 2006 and today i both scanned and colored it.

Bobby's fastfood period COLOR by ~gizmo2300 on deviant ART

Also, there's this video i would like you all to see which really made me think about my own creativity:

o.o Still alive

2009-10-02T20:53:00.002+02:00

I'm still alive folks. There just haven't been anything interesting to write about here. If i don't write here enough for you, you can find blog-like news on The Bobby Macdog Homepage..

SO!

I just wanted to stick my head out a little and say that i'll be at J-Popcon 2009 in Valby, Copenhagen. And you're welcome to say hi. You can find J-popcon's hompage by clicking the title of this post.

Before i crawl back into my hole i also want to say congratulations to Rio Di Janeiro for being chosen to host The Olympics of 2016.

Right.

- Later Days.

Spawn of Mind forum kinda opens

2009-09-09T16:12:00.004+02:00

Well, i decided to make a forum for Spawn of Mind where you can discuss all things you care about. The forum will be focusing on Bobby Macdog for now, but will at a later point feature discussion board for all Spawn of Mind related projects.

So go there! Now! You can get there by clicking the title of this post.

Later days.

Getting known

2009-08-21T23:59:00.004+02:00

getting known is hard.. <.< MUGEN (That's a free legal download link BTW). if anyone could explain to me HOW to create my own characters i would love to do so! ^^ Characters like Greg and Bobby would be nice to see in MUGEN format.

also if you haven't find out yet i've started a "filler" period over at The Adventures of Bobby Macdog where i will put gag strips up while waiting for the writing for issue 2 to be finished. i've already uploaded a couple once so get going!

today's pic is a guy i just came up with for fun, i've been told he looks like a One Piece character by Anne over at Godsk-n-art (it's in danish) which you should totally visit.

My anime collection

2009-08-18T17:49:00.001+02:00

I thought that i would for the sake of shits and giggles make a list of my anime collection so you can check out what a total nerd i am:

Bleach:

Complete series 1 (Region 4)
Complete series 2 (Region 2)

Series complete?: No.

Love Hina:

Full series, individual DVD’s, Danish release (region 2)

Love Hina specials box (Region 4):
Spring Special
Christmas Special
Love Hina Again OVA

Series complete?: Yes.

Full Metal Alchemist (2004):

Collection 1 (region 4)
Collection 2 (region 4)

Series complete?: Yes.

Astroboy (1982):

Complete Series collection (Region 4)

Series complete?: Yes.

Hellsing (2001):

Complete Series Collection (Region 4)
Hellsing Act 1 DVD (Region 2)

Series complete?: Yes.

Cowboy Bebop:

Complete Series Collection (Region 4)

Series complete?: Yes.

Trigun:

Complete Series Collection (Region 4)

Series complete?: Yes.

Pokémon:

Pokémon season 1 tape volume 3 (Region 2)

Pokémon MasterQuest Volume 2 (Region 2)

Yu-gi-oh:

Volume 1 (Region 2)
Volume 2 (Region 2)

Series complete?: No.

Beyblade:

Beyblade Volume 1 (Region 2)
Beyblade Volume 2 (Region 2)

Series complete?: No.

Naruto:

Original Uncut Boxset 1 (Region 2)
Original Uncut Boxset 2 (Region 2)
Original Uncut Boxset 3 (Region 2)

Series Complete?: No.

D.N. Angel:

Volume 1 (Region 2)
Volume 2 (Region 2)

Series complete?: No.

.Hack//Legend of Twilight:

Complete Series Boxset (Region 4)

Series complete?: Yes.

Silver Fang (Ginga Nageroboshi Gin):

Full Series Uncut Boxset (Region 2)

Series complete?: Yes.

Weed, the son of Silver! (Ginga Densetsu Weed):

Full Series, Individual DVD’s (Region 2)

Series Complete?: Yes.

Sonic x:

Individual DVD’s Volume 1-9 (Region 2)

Series Complete?: No.

Japaneese Movies:

Animated:
Spirited Away (Region 2)
Howl’s Moving Castle (Region 2)
Tales from Earthsea (Region 2)
Kiki’s Delivery service (Region 2)
My Neighbour Totoro (Region 2)
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Region 2)
Full Metal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala (Region 4)
Cowboy Bebop The Movie (Region 2)
Dragonball Z: The strongest one on Earth! (Region 2)

Live-Action:
Death Note 1 (Region 1)
Death Note 2 (Region 1)
Godzilla boxset (Region 2)
The Ring (Region 2)

Long list huh? Though it scares me that theres actually people out there to consider this very small

Bobby and Possible failuire is down, bad news about Silver Fang Ruined, and more!

2009-08-13T18:23:00.002+02:00

Well, for those that doesnt follow my twitter it might be nice to know that my two webcomic pages are currently down due to powers out of my control, here's the message you get when you try to visit the sites:

We're Moving!

Smack Jeeves is currently in the process of upgrading to a new server (it's really fast!). This should not take more than a few hours.

Sorry for the inconvenience! Thanks for being patient!

Update: The server move is complete. Just waiting for the new DNS to fully propogate.

i hope the sites will be back up later this evening or early tomorrow morning. Until then you can visit My Deviant Art Account

Okay.

Bad news about Silver fang ruined, the first episode will not be done by the deadline as i have yet to obtain the rest of the lines. I'm very sorry for whoevers been anticipating this (if any).

okay, final update.

I've yet to obtain a job, which means my plans for starting up a personal website with all of my projects is still yet to come true. I REALLY hope that i can make my own homepage with all of my projects and my own domain cause it's a dream to one day live off of them.

okay, that's it, catch you later!

Bobby and Greg goes listing!

2009-08-09T23:21:00.002+02:00

So.

if you like Possible Failure and The Adventures of Bobby Macdog be sure to go to their homepages and click the VOTE button daily so you can give a hand in getting it out there. ^^

That is all, The deadline for Silver Fang Ruined is set for the 15th of August.

Some news

2009-08-06T13:59:00.001+02:00

yeah, just writing to let you know that Silver fang Ruined episode 1 is like.. 75% done.

the script is more or less finished and we only need to record the last couple of lines, and then commence the final editing. I have been editing along the way and not finishing the script as the first thing which i am not going to do again cause that was utterly retarded. I'm going to do the script first, then the lines and the editing from now on, consideringt people actually watch episode 1.

While we wait, heres a drawing of Morroco Mole.

Later

Possible Failure get's it's own site!

2009-08-01T10:56:00.000+02:00

No Silver Fang ruined news this time around i'm afraid, The voice actor who does Grandpa Gohei is at Wacken, The worlds biggest Metal festival.

But there IS news, otherwise i wouldnt have posted. Possible Failure, my first Graphic Novel ever is going to start updating again. For the occasion i made This Smackjeeves site for it.

Once the old pages drawn back in 2008 runs out, there will start coming new pages. And don't worry i've already set the timer for it to update on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule all the way into October.

Possible Failure is the story of the odd team-up of a confessed christian and a convicted mass-murderer. when the massmurderer Greg Papowski is about to get sentenced to death, Joe Donstein breaks into the trial and offers something weird.

Be sure to follow when the hilarity hopefully ensues ^^

That's all for now, be seeing ya.

Restarting The Blog

2009-07-28T12:39:00.000+02:00

Okay, so i'm restarting the blog for the purpose of start using this for updates about my projects.

Mostly about Silver Fang Ruined, which you can see a preview of here:

Yeah that probably means that there isn't going to be that Young Indiana Jones Review i promised, but at least you got this, right?

In another News, i'm starting to once again update my webcomic The Adventures of Bobby Macdog With new and better looking pages.. that means i've decided to go back and color the old once while LaL, the writer on the current arc is finishing the story.

Top 10 Disney Games

2009-03-26T23:16:00.000+01:00

My personal top 10 of the Disney games:

10. Junglebook: Groove party
following the timeline of the movie, it's a dancing game where your main objective is to put your feet the right place at the right time.. it's got the good ol' junglebook songs and with a couple of new ones put in.. the new songs are only avaible in english though.

9. A Bugs life, the video game:
A Bug's life is a pretty good movie, though often forgotten about.. this game has the whole typical disney deal: clips from the movie, multi-language, and being a platformer.
Platforming is my favorite genre in video-games so that's a natural plus.. though sometimes the controls CAN feel a little stiff.

8. Toy Story 2
You play as Buzz Lightyear trying to save Woody. Just like the movie. Just like nr. 9 it's got clips from the movie and it's a platformer.. though the difficulty line is really weird its a pretty enjoyable

7. The Lion King: Story Book
Same as the one before, though with differences.. it's an interactive book telling the story, it's also got a couple of mine games which are pretty fun to play with. it also taught me alot of english as it is not avaible in other languages.

6. The Emperros new groove:
Another platformer? well. Most disney games are platformers to being with and the ones that aren't are usually crap.. this is one of the better platformers.. though not fantastic.

5. Tarzan, the Platformer:
Great platformer, has played this alot of times.. a bit too easy though.. moving on.

4. Lion King, The Platformer:
Alot of people has prised this game over the years.. and most people my age has played this.. it's as good as the movie.. you don't really need to know more.. it's fucking Lion King! =D

3. Quack Attack:
Platformer again, BUT WAIT! i believe this game to be one of the most underrated games EVER (though not as underrated as nr. 1) You star as freaking DONALD for a change! not following the movie universes you venture through the comic book duck-verse to serve Daisy. you battle characters such as Murlock the Wizard from the Ducktales movie, and The Beetle Bailey.. you also get to see your dumbass cousin get beaten up a few times which is always enjoyable.. seriously.. Disney.. gives us a sequel or a new cartoon show.. i would LOVE seeing the comics animated! (Hint: Do The Life and Times of Scrooge Macduck!)

2. Maui Mallard
Donald staring as a ninja fighting hordes of demons to protect a small tribal island? Hell yeah! sing me up! This game needs more attention (again, cartoon show with Donald people!) you play as Maui Mallard, played by Donald Duck, while searching a mysterious mansion for treasure to help the people of the island he runs into alot of demons and ghouls only armed with his bug-gun Maui continues his search for answers on why his island is in trouble in some lost Ninja ruins.. there he is imbuged with magical Ninja powers by the blessing of a voodoo spirit.. but only being a ninja as long as he is in total spiritual balance.. otherwise he turns back into the gun wielding Maui. This game is AWESOME and truly deserve the spot.

1. Ducktales, The Quest for treasure
wait, wait wait. Didnt i say it was a unknown game? WELL IT IS! this is NOT the reknown game for the NES (which i havent played) but instead a great game for the PC and Amiga back when DOS was still normal. The story is better (in my opinion) than what i have heard of the other one.. one day while at his office, Scrooge Macduck is challenged by his rival Glomgold Flintheart to who can gather the most treasure.. in the game you travel all over the world playing as forexample Huey Dewey and Louie in a Platforming stage, or flying through the skies as Launchpad Macquack.. all to get treasure to make sure Scrooge is the richest duck in the world. Pure awesome.

Star Wars, The New Trilogy

2009-03-11T21:27:00.000+01:00

I know this isnt an unkown thing but i gotta talk about it

Star Wars, one of the greatest titles to hit the silver screen and one of the most parodied series ever. When i grew up, i wasnt as much into movies (and particulaury Star Wars) as i am now. i think i saw the Star Wars movies whenever they were on TV and i didnt really care too much for the plot (because i didnt read subtitles all that well yet) i just remember liking the action sequences and the two robots.

Then, when i was about 9 years old Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace hit the theatres and i watched it along with my brother, what i saw was literally.. confusing. who were all theese characters? i remember asking my brother if the kid was Luke and he just sighed at me and shaked his head in despair.

Before Episode 2 got out, i had a chance to watch the original three.. now in a state where i understood what in the world was going on in this universe.. rewatching the episode 1 after that just made me mad at George Lucas. Why did we need episode 1, 2 and 3? it didnt make sense to me.

i then watched episode 2, i thought it was even worse than episode one.. it felt like "HEY! isnt it called Star WARS?! Where the hell is the WAR at?!" of course there were battles but it just didnt cut it for me, i wanted a war like in the originals, not a love movie.

Episode 3 had redeeming features, more action, better story (still bad dialogue though) but the movie still felt unnessescary to me, why did we need to know how Anarkin became Darh? it was all explained in the original 3!

Suddenly, Darth Vader wasnt a bad ass.. he was an EMO..

it makes me wonder.. what will feauture generations think of Star Wars? Will it still be great to them? PLEASE.. if you readers have the power to do it, make your kids watch the original 3 first.. or else i think it will be runied to them..

Reptilicus

2009-02-23T13:35:00.000+01:00

in the 50's and 60's the world was going nuts over the giant monster movies, monsters like Godzilla and King Kong had gained a cult following and it is therefore no surprise that the danish company Saga Studios attempted to jump on the bandwagon, the result is one of the most underrated movies in Danish film history.

The movie starts out in Lapland where a couple of miners led by a guy named Svend is drilling, suddenly they get blood and flesh on the drill and decides to send a sample to the Aquarium of Denmark.

The Professors there, concludes that it is the remains of a unknown species of Dinosaur, and after an error with keeping the specimen (being a tail) cold, it start to regenerate, turning out to become a fullfledged undestroyable dinosaur with wings!

Reptillicus (as it is named) starts flying around, first destroying Hamburg and Stockholm before attacking Copenhagen where it is defeated with a poisonus supergrenade shot into it's mouth.

The movie ends with a blown-off foot lying on the bottom of Øresund, which could regenerate to a new monster..

unfortunately, Danes are weird creatures who cant love something for the sake of the camp value, and Reptilicus remains the only one of it's genre to ever be made in Denmark.

I really like this movie, even though the effects are bad it could be made great, when my company gets bigger, i'm definately going to do a remake.

ONE MORE THING: This Blog has somehow turned into a place where i talk about lesser known popculture phenonemons and such. I think i'll just keep it that way.

SUPAH FAIGHTING ROBOTTO!!

2009-02-22T23:22:00.000+01:00

I love anime.

I'm currently watching The Cowboy Bebop and Astro Boy cartoons.. and i gotta say.. it's funny how sci-fi anime is amongst the most classical series out there.. series like Akira, Neon Genesis Evangelion and .Hack//Something or another is highly regarded as being either art or absolute classics.. it makes one wonder if the japaneese have some of their technological skill from being so interested in Sci-fi.

I've also watched Death Note 1 & 2 now.. Theese movies could teach alot of american companies just HOW to make comic books into movies.. especially considering what they're planning to do with the new Dragonball Movie. They follow the series enough to not actually just copying them and being utter redicolous because lets face it, following the source material is great, but from a financial and artistic point of view it would be just plain retarded to not try and improve without destroying the orginal stuff.

The changes between the Death Note series and movies is really not all that big and they're barely noticed (to me atleast) of course there are some characters removed, forexample the crime syndicate isnt in it at all, instead it's a journalist that gets the Death Note while Light's plan about forgetting the Note is going on.

Theres also no M or N, only L. But that actually great because M and N just felt unesscesary in the original series (in my opinion)

oh well.. that's my 2 cents..

My idea

2009-02-06T15:39:00.000+01:00

i like to consider myself a writer, i do alot of different stories (none of them proffesional yet) but i still like to see myself as one.

recently i read Frank Millers "Return of The Dark Knight" and that inspired me to a Batman story, for those of you who don't know the story is about Bruce Wayne becoming Batman again in the age of 50 after ten years.

Anyway, i like the story, and i like "Batman of the future" (the cartoon show) and then i got an idea:

Batman: True Rebirth.

an employee of Wayne Enterprises wakes up in an alley, he has been attacked by some villains.. he notices he still has his wallet.. then he turns around and finds Batman, Dead. For whatever reason he takes off his mask and get's surprised that Bruce Wayne, his employer, is The Batman.. for the sake of his heores reputation he takes the costume with him when he leaves the scene and calls the police.. the villains is jailed for Bruce Waynes murder and the attack of him.

some time after he decides that Batman can't die, so he sews the costume to fit him and puts it on, taking on the mantle of The Dark Knight..

but after a while, he runs into a pissed off Nightwing.

what do you think of the idea? please comment.

Batman and Spider-man

2009-02-04T14:07:00.000+01:00

......no under title due to lazyness :P

So, I and a friend talked about the Dark Knight and that was when i realised: The Dark Knight is pretty similar to another superhero movie, namely: Spider-man 3!

How are they similar you ask? well sure they look different but if you dig into the basics there are some similarities:

1. In both movies, the main characters thinks of stopping their heroic careers (i think)
2. in both theres three villains
3. in both movies, a main villain and fan favorite appears at the last 15 minutes of the movie but gets defeated almost at the same time
4. both are superhero movies, though they focus more on the villains
5. in both movies, the main character looses someone close to him

So there you have it, stolen or accident? you decide.

Awesome Title is Awesome, Yes.

2009-02-04T00:42:00.000+01:00

I've just reread The comic: Justice League of America meets The Avengers.

What do i have to say about it? probrably nothing that hasnt already been said, it's a good story.. buuut not executed very well.. i mean sure, it's hard to think up a premise for clashing to seperate worlds.

The book is pretty weird if you aren't a well-balanced DC and Marvel reader, you have to know what in the world is going on in both universes to understand what the hell is going on, and though i did my best to research (Wikipedia is your friend) i still had a hard time catching on. I guess the most hard part understanding was exactly WHO some of the characters were, i mean i'm familiar with them a little.. i know about guys like Superman and Iron man (and to be frank, who doesnt?) but when it came down to characters like The Vision or who the hell was dressed up as Green Lantern i got lost.

i gotta hand it to the Artist though, not everyone can Pull this off <- That's a link, click it. If you get the chance to pick this up and give a read, DO IT! =D if nothing else then for the novelty factor of Superman wielding Captain America's shield and Mjolner, the hammer of Thor!

Silver and Weed

2009-01-31T16:28:00.000+01:00

No, this post is not about how you can earn quick cash on illegal substances.

Recently, or well not that long ago i finished watching all of Silver Fang (Ginga Nagareboshi Gin) and Weed (Ginga Densetsu Weed) and i gotta say both was pretty entertaining:

Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, or Silver Fang:

The Original Series evolves around a Akita Pup named Gin or Silver depending on what part of the world you're from. (I'll just stick to Silver from now on). The mountains of Ohu is under siege by the monstrous bear Akakabuto which has grown to an extreme size due to it not sleeping thourgh the winter because it was shot in a nerve near it's brain.

Silver is the son and grandson of to great bearhunting dogs who both risked their life and died while facing Akakabuto on a one on one. Silver joins forces with the boy Daisuke but later leaves him to join an army of dogs who's seeking strong males to fight off Akakabuto and take back Ohu and the Twin mountain pass. This brings Silver in the company of strong dogs like the Great Dane mix Ben and the fighting dog Benisakura.

It's an old anime and it shows, the pictures isnt as clean as you see in most anime theese days and sometimes in the dubbed version you can still hear remnants of the japaneese voice actors which actually gives the series a nostalgic charm. The Anime was never on TV outside of Japan so chances are you haven't heard of it if you didn't have it on VHS.. luckily it's rereleased on DVD so get going and buy it!

Ginga Densetsu Weed, or Weed the Son of Silver!:

Weed is the son of Silver! in this anime everything has been updated, even the artwork!

The story takes place 14 years after the fall of Akakabuto, The Twin Pass of Ohu is under attack by a monster dog and Smith is send off to take the pregnant bitch Sakura to safety who bears the child of Silver who is now the boss of it all!

6 months later Sakura is dying and her son Weed is desperately trying to save her by getting her tasty stuff to eat, he meets up with the english setter G.B. who names him and Smith, after saying their farewells to Sakura who sadly dies, Smith and G.B. takes Weed to meet up with his father at the dogs paradise in Ohu, but they run into many trouble on the way.

This Anime takes a sudden turn from the classic Silver Fang setup to something a little more chaotic, also it's pretty obvious to the audience that this isn't made by the same crew that made the original series. Nonetheless it's entertaining as a stand alone anime and shouldnt be seen with the old series in mind or else you'll get a little dissapointed through most of the series as Silver nearly isnt in it.

All in all, it's two very interesting series that, if you haven't already you should definetly check out.

The Messiah Complex

2009-01-24T01:50:00.000+01:00

Hoo Boy..

Denmark has started publicing The Messiah CompleX recently starting with issue 152..
Now, i'm a comic book fan but i haven't read a single issue of X-men for a long time.. actually i think the last x-men issue i read was "Ultimate X-men" back in 2004..

So let's look into it from the perspective of a "newcomer" shall we?

First things first, the Danish translation is put together by the different books the stories is compiled by, making it easier for us so we don't have to follow 4 different series at once, for those who don't know.. the messiah complex is put together by reading the original Messiah CompleX one-shot + uncanny X-men + X-factor + new X-men. which means to get the whole story you have to buy from all of them. Thank god for Kim Helt.

Anyway..

The book starts out with the original X-men flying through the air in the Blackbird, that's the X-men all right, you got Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Cyclops and Angel... but who's this? Emma Frost, appearently she's some kind of blonde Jean Grey.. so what? she stays dead now? that's good for a change..

a couple of pages further in we see Beast and The Proffessor using Cerebro, not bad.. clasic X-men.. though on the artsy side i kind of can't get over Beast looking like a lion (i'm used to the old cartoon show).. we get etablished that because of the events of "The day of M" theres only like 2.000 mutants in the world.. but suddenly Cerebro explodes! it seems a new mutant with incredible powers has been born.. i turn the page two times aaaand.. What the fuck.. The Proffessor gets up off his chair and walks away.. granted i could have missed a plot where that became possible but i've only ever known the proffessor as a guy who couldnt walk bacause his legs were lame.. or something..

well the rest of the book is just alot of new characters getting introduced if you're new but it guess newcomers could give this a read without getting too confused..

Still, This comic will make as much sense for you that if you read Angel: After The Fall without ever having seen the tv show.

Welcome to Spawn of Mind

2009-01-22T00:41:00.000+01:00

A beginning of writing..

I love how i can suddenly start up a homepage in a matter of minutes and then suddenly write away about anything that i want. That's probrably what i enjoy most about the internet, Rules aren't there. Until now i have been using my Deviantart Journal and The News Sections of my webcomics homepage as a blog, but i guess this makes more sense as this actually IS a blog. Therefore i welcome you to Spawn of Mind, it will future anything i think of writing about just like a blog should be, no subject. I guess for first time readers i can tell you something about myself.

On the political part i'm a Social Democrat with much the same interests as the Social Folk Party of Denmark, which is where i'm from. I consider myself an atheist, even though i am per standard of my country a member of the protestantic church of Denmark, i don't really care about it that much and they pay the bills of my funeral when that time comes as long as i'm a member so i'm just gonna keep it that way for now.

I'm the head of Flaming Monkey Productions, which is a small film and animation/comic publication company which (at the time of me writing this) is still at a pretty early stage. I also do the writing for Mystical Chronicle which is a webcomic, i'm the artist/writer on The Adventures of Bobby Macdog, and I'm the creator of the fictional universe Geminiterra as well as a co-founder of various online RP's. As mentioned before i also have a Deviantart account.