Stargate Atlantis (Review)

The first spinoff to the series, this starred a young Aquaman, which caught Megan's interest for a few episodes then she went back to the entrapment of Facebook posts.

There's a debate among fans which show was better. SG-1 or Atlantis. I have to admit, both have a solid case. Atlantis has just as many good characters, loads of action and cool main villain (the Wraiths) to boot!

If I had to pick one, it'd be SG-1, but only barely. Sadly this series only went 5 seasons with the 5th sporting some of the best (and worst) episode of the series. The only weak character was Weir, who was replaced in the 3rd season, thankfully so I didn't have to watch her the whole time.

Other than that, this show is a gem!

Stargate SG-1 (Review)

After watching the movie my next step was to make it through the entire 10 season of SG-1! The show that takes place just a year later after the movie. Though it doesn't star any of the actors from the first movie they do however feature the characters.

Actually, now that I think about it, there are some actors from the movie who reprise their roles for the series, making it all the more credible.

When I first saw this series, the last spinoff had just ended. I remember liking it a lot but on my second time through, I have to imagine what I was thinking.

This show is great. I mean, awesome. Better than Star Trek and right below Star Wars for me in my opinion. I LOVED this show! So much continuity, humor, action and wonderful story arcs. The main characters all solid and even the shows two "replacement" characters weren't all that bad either.

If you've been thinking about giving this a try, I highly recommend you do!

Stargate Movie Review

It'd been a while, so a few months ago I decided to run through the ENTIRE Stargate series once again! The first one I started with was the movie from the mid-90's

It's excellent. A great tale based off the old conspiracy theory that aliens built the pyramids. The story is so engaging it'll pull you in almost instantly!

STILL a great movie after over 2 decades!

Dick Tracy Review

On the heels of Tim Burton's first Batman movie but before the era of Super Hero movies, there was Dick Tracy. It had a lot of stars, goofie make=up, colorful sets and all of it based off a comic strip character.

I remember as a kid being enamored with the story. He was like Batman's detective side with less action. The movie holds up though only for its unique design, star power and make-up. There are worse things you could watch. This isn't one of them.

Little Debbie Did it again

When I saw this at the grocery store this week I thought "What a desperate attempt to sell Little Debbie cakes. Who in their right mind would want them?"

Only later to find Megan with a box in her hand minutes later.....well played Debbie, well played!

Rocketeer Review

Last month I got the chance to re-watch this again with Megan (who had never seen it before!)

It's a solid entertaining film. Loved it all over again. If you were thinking about watching it again, do so. He soundtrack, scenes, characters, all of it. Good stuff!

Have a great weekend folks!

Gen 13 Comic (ongoing series review)

If I'm not mistaken I believe I've already review the mini-series of this comic but not the ongoing series because I stopped getting it after issue 2.

Once again when my brother gifted me this series to read I was interested to see if I'd missed anything I would regret. I loved the characters but hated the direction of the series. It was supposed to be based of the mini-series which had them on the run from Ivana and her I.O. goons. In the ongoing series, I think only 2 issues address it. The rest of the time they're on tropical islands, college keggers and a billion other frivolous things that teenagers did back in the 90's.

Confrontations against foes waged in Malls, Concerts and spring break vacations on the beach. It's as if MTV created their own comic about the 90's generation. The exact reason I stopped getting it. It lost it's focus and became uninteresting over night.

It's sad because the characters themselves were truly interesting and I would've loved to have seen more focus on their relationships with one another instead of a road trip the ended up with every girl on the team being stripped down to their undies.

Oh well.

Grifter Comic Review

My brother also gave me a collection of Grifter comics. Made popular by the Wildcats comics this character quickly became a fan favorite and started getting his own series. I'd always wanted to read it but when I finally did, I realized it wasn't very good at all.

The only thing this comic has is action poses of Grifter firing his guns at every angle the artist can think of. Sideways, upside down, you name it. There's a splash page in each issue. But story wise this comic's a complete dud.I had zero interest in what was going on the entire time.

Again, cool character, fun art but the story just ain't there!

Wild Core Comic (Review)

Another Comic I got to read was Wild Core. Kind of a super hero team up led by Backlash. I only knew half the roster but that wasn't enough to get in to the series as I'd hoped. By the time this came ou I was already moving away from comics anyway so this wasn't able to perk any of those interest. 

Any story lines taking place after "Fire From Heaven" felt lost and unguided to me. This was one of them.

 

Deathblow (Review)

Another comic Jeremy gave to me to read was the old Deathblow series from Wildstorm. It'd been a while since I'd read through it and I was happy to read through it again. The series started off with a wild story arc of Deathblow going on a mission with a Nun (with guns) who was protecting a child who could heal people and create miracles. The villain was a "dark angel" who wished to sacrifice this child and steal his power.

A really strange mystic tale.

The second half of the series was more "Punisher" like, where Deathblow went on shoot'em up missions and kill the bad guys in various places.

Really weird turn from what it originally set out to be. They eventually killed the character off (in a Wildstorm crossover event "Fire from Heaven") and gave him one last issue of his funeral which was weird because he was hardly in it and it focused on various other comic characters who had series going on at the time.

Overall it was ok, but not Image's best. 

Uncanny X-men Review

A few months ago my brother gave me a small run of X-men comics to read while being at home with my girls. I finished reading them a while back and forgot to give me thoughts on it.

Interesting enough, this series began with this issue which was one issue off from the first appearance of Jubelee! She was the "hot new mutant" in the series at the time which was funny to read how they thought a girl who shot fireworks from her finger tips would be that popular.

But this comic also had Dazzler on the team so I guess it was low times all around.

Jim Lee did some of the art in this series and you can tell. It look beautiful.

But the whole time I was reading the series I struggled to understand why the comic was so popular in the first place? Overall, the roster looked weak and the characters uninteresting. I don't get the hype this series was getting back in the day.

Anyway folks, have a great weekend!

Happy 4th!

I plan to do the same thing I did last year to celebrate....nothing.

Survivor NZ: Thailand

I just finished watching the 2nd season of this international spinoff of my favorite show and I have to say, Season 2 is SO much better!

It did suffer from having on of the WORST winners get the title but other than that, there were more interesting characters this season, more classic challenges like a Survivor auction (which I miss!) and a few new ones I'd never seen before on the American version of the show, so good for them for being creative on their own!

The best part about the season was that 2 childhood friends were accidentally cast for the show and they didn't tell anyone they knew each other until the end of the season! It was great! I've always thought about what would happen in that case.

If you are having Survivor withdrawal and want to  watch something to bide your time until the next season comes out, I suggest you give this one a shot.

I think it's cancelled now because of low ratings for their season finale. But seeing who won it all, I can't imagine many people outside the winner's family who was cheering for them to win in the first place.

Have a good one folks!

Firefly: The Unification War (Vol 1)

Got around to reading the latest few issues from the BOOM! comic run of Firefly.

Ho-hum.

The artwork is lacking, the story is even worse. The characters aren't true to he ones we see portrayed in the TV series.

It takes place before the movie, because everyone wants to write stories about the entire crew. It's kind of getting old and sad because the last comic book run took place after the movie and was refreshing to see where'd they'd go with the story moving forward. Guess no one wants to do that anymore. 

Unlike the novels, these comics are basically just run of the mill stories meant to cash in dollars.

I'll try reading the next Volume when it comes out but if the story doesn't improve, I'll be dropping it fast.

Survivor New Zealand

Ever since Survivor ended, I've had to settle in for a long summer until the next season arrives. But in that time I made a startling dicovery that New Zealand started their own version of Survivor a few years back and have 2 FULL seasons under their belt!

Well of course when I found that out, I went at once to YouTube to watch the entire 1st season. Here's my thoughts....

The Good

 The game has a lot of throw back challenges that I missed seeing in Survivor. I won't go over all of them because there were too many to count and would be difficult to explain without pictures. It was awesome seeing the old school challenges again.

Another interesting thing was the fact that another Survivor has been going on at another part of the world for 2 years and I didn't even know about it?!? Crazy.

Sala. Out of all 16 contestants, he was the only one worth their salt to be out there. He was a great competitor to watch and played with honor like Colby did back in season one. Those guys are super rare to find in the game these days so it was refreshing to see a player of that caliber in the game again. 

And, that's about it for the "good"

The Bad

There's a lot.

The game is slow, I mean SLOOOOOOOW. So much down time is filmed where the contestants do nothing but sit around talking about nothing. The game was so slow at times there were episode where NO ONE was voted off and NOTHING happened!

The host of the show is obviously trying to copy Jeff Probst as best he can. It's funny and a little lame at the same time. I wish he would've developed his own personality for the show but I guess you go with what works so....

The contestants are VERY aware of the cameras on them and no one wants to have a bad image so they're very self conscious which made for a very flat season. There was one episode where one girl (who'd flipped on every alliance she ever made) was called out on it mid-way through the game. She spent the rest of her time in the game, crying about how she was going to look like the "villain" in the season.

Yup. Everyone cared more about their image than playing the game.

The worst part was the winner. Billed as a "good guy who played with honor" the guy played the game as a complete spoiled brat. He whined when his alliance turned against him and sat on the beach for the next 3 days pouting about it.

He railed about how he played with "honor and integrity" yet he turned on his first alliance and broke his promise 4 episodes later! Saying "there was nothing I could do"

Another childish moment was after losing several challenges in a row to another player, he took off running down the beach to pout about how he wasn't winning anything. Yeah, a really "great" guy, I can see that.

Overall, it was interesting to watch. I can't recommend it unless you have nothing to do and love Survivor as I do. But I'm glad I got a chance to check it out.

July Movie Preivew

 Yep. This is one I look forward to seeing. Loved the first one. Totally shocked at how good it was. Interested to see where they take the story from there.

 PASS. None of these "live" Disney movies appeal to me at all.

 I never watched her cartoon growing up but this movie looks HILARIOUS! I won't watch it but bravo for making it a parody of the cartoon it's based off of.

Yep, another winner. Tarentino hasn't dissappointed lately. In fact, his movies tend to get better as he ages. Very interested to see this one as well.

Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments below!

The Secret Garden Movie (review)

Back in the 90's we would rent this movie from the library from time to time. I remember loving the book and thinking the movie was ok. So when Megan told me the same thing about her childhood memories of the movie we decided to watch it again.

Not that good. The cinematography is nice, the acting is ok but the story is slow and drawn out. If you're like me and have fond memories of the film, don't take another look at this one, it'll ruin those memories for good. 

Cold Pursuit (Review)

This one has been on my bucket list to watch ever since it came out. Megan loves Liam Nieson but for some reason wasn't motivated enough to watch it in theaters so we had to wait until it came out to rent.

Very good movie, in line with the rest of his revenge films yet I felt this one had some nuanced humor through out the movie after each death scene where they'd give the name of the person who died and a symbol of their religion.

The ending was quirky yet I loved it as well. It has the story arc of a Tarentino film without the excellent dialogue. Can't believe Neison continues to make solid films like this at 60!

Good stuff and well worth your time if you're looking for something to check out at Redbox one evening.

Firefly: The Magnificent Nine

Last month I finished the 2nd Firefly novel and it was just as good as the last one. I don't know how they do it with 2 different authors but each one read just like an episode on TV! The characters were spot on, the story line was engaging and from start to finish it was just a joy to read!

This one (like the last one and I'm sure the one coming out at the end of the year) takes place after the last episode of the series but before the movie, since they want to write all the characters in it.

Really fun book, well worth my time!

Walking Dead: Return to Woodbury

Finished what I think is the final novel in the series. I say that because it's been 2 years since this came out and there's been no announcement for any further books.

Overall, the book wasn't bad. Probably the best in the series. Lilly isn't in it as much (which is a good thing because he character is so awful)

Once again her decisions are bad ones and never make any sense. It's start off with everyone safe and sound living in an Ikea, which made for an extremely interesting story set up. Unfortunately it only takes one chapter for Lilly to decide she wants to go back to the burned down and abandoned town of Woodbury. Why?

Because that's where all her friends died? Because that's where she went through hell living with the Governor? Nope! Because she has "good memories" about the place and considers it home.

I home where her boyfriend, her child and everyone close to her were killed.....yep, that makes sense.

Along the way she convinces a few others to leave the safety of Ikea and go with her.

The story almost justified itself at the end but ended as pointless as a fart in the woods with no one around.

They did finally reveal that these adventures take place in the comic world and not TV show. That was nice. For the Walking Dead fan, these aren't bad to read, but the comics are way better. If this was the last book in the series, I'm not too sad.  

A face you can't say "No" to

Best board games that begin with Z

Of course it ends in this. The game that started the entire hobby for me. Though not played as much these days it'll always have a special place in my heart. And at this point, no other zombies game has interested me, so for a genre that's pretty popular with board games, that's saying a lot!

Have a great weekend folks!

Best board games that begin with Y

A new addition to my collection and the game that spawned the idea to make these posts! After I bought it, I realized it was the only game in my collection that began with a Y. So I thought to myself if I could make a post for each letter in the alphabet and here we are today!

This game is great. Really want to play it with more players because it's dice drafting meets area control and it's super fun! Pretty cheap to get online as well.

Best board games that begin with X

Not many game in my collection that begin with X. In fact it was between this and my other X-men game in my collection and this one won out. Over the past few years I've come to appreciate it more and more however because it is a pretty fun game.

I originally got it because I guy in my gaming group told me about how he played it growing up. I bought it and surprised him one night by showing it off on the shelf.....we've never played it together.

Ha! Guess he wanted to keep those child hood memories to himself.

It's ok, because my Nephews and I have a blast when playing it so that's all that matters.

Best board games that begin with W

Not only do I love worker placement games but that the theme matches the title is hilarious! Sure the artwork isn't the best but I have enjoyed this game so much over the years, I only hope one day I can play it with the crazy amount of 8 players it allows! (with the expansion)

Really underrated game.

Best board games that begin with V

Again, this one was a no-brainer. LOVE this game. It never gets old. I just got an expansion for it as well this year and it's so much fun to play with. Every expansion makes the games that much better! Flawless worker placement game and I don't even drink wine!

1st Father's Day

Celebrating my 1st Father's Day and Megan showed me these pics of the girls compared to our baby pics. Megan looks like Meridian and Piper looks like me.

Pretty good match if you ask me.

Best board game that begin with U

Another new game recently added to my collection this year and it's so sweet! Someone in my gaming group called it "Ticket to Ride without the Trains" There a little bit of truth in that but I don't like Ticket to Ride because you can get locked out of route quick and totally ruin your game whereas in this game you have plenty of options to pursue if one doesn't pan out.

Another good game from Mayfair!

Best board game that begin with T

Was there a question I wouldn't pick this as my T?

The epic game sadly won't get as many plays this year as it has in the past and that's mainly because of the twins but I will continue to play it at least once a year and revel in the moment when I do. Such a lovely game. I love 4th edition but 3rd is the one my gaming group wants next time so I'm happy to bow to their demands since I love a lot of the expansions in 3rd edition.

Epic game.

Best board game that begin with S

I have a lot of games in my collection that begin with S but I didn't consider a single one of them over this. My nephews favorite game to play as well as one of mine. This game has it all!

Making deals with other players to accomplish schemes, bidding and then finally fighting/betting in the arena. Even though you might not have a gladiator in the battle you're still on the edge of your seat, waiting to see if you're bet paid off. You may even have some cards to play when thing do (or don't) go your way.

Exciting from start to finish. Uh-mazing game!

Best board game that begin with R

A newer game added to my collection this year, I love it more and more each time I play it. It's a train theme, something I've been looking for to put in my collection for a while and it's worker placement, which is one of my favorite board game mechanics!

The expansions to this game are great too and I really hope this gets a reprint for more folks to explore the greatness of this game!

Best board game that begin with Q

Fantastic game that uses your own personal rondel, I found this at a bargain online at Amazon and have definitely gotten my money's worth out of it since.

Queen Games is one of my favorite publishers and they never cease to amaze me with the vast quality of games they produce. Whenever I see the "Q" logo I'm automatically interested in the game!

Best board game that begin with P

I've loved this game since it first came out. And even though it dropped out of my Top 10 this year I expect it to rocket back in when the newest Kickstarter edition arrives at the end of the year. This is the one Coop game that my entire group LOVES playing. Fast paced, real time action as you move around the board fighting as many aliens as you can while trying to achieve a common goal.

I've lost on the first round and barely won on the 8th. There's no telling what's going to happen every time you play. Superb game!

Best board game that begin with O

This one was an easy pick. This bag building game is such a joy to play. My only complaint is that I haven't played it enough! Some of the expansions I'm afraid will never see the light of day because my team hates Coop games and I'll never play it solo. But some of the other expansions have been put into it from time to time, making for another enjoyable experience.

Best board game that begin with N

I've recently acquired another good board game beginning in a N but I think this one is still my favorite (for now) Moving up and down the river with clear disks that push your canoe down the river while trying to collect gems is great. The more players you have, the crazier it becomes.

Such a fun game that I never play without the expansion.

Best board game that begins with M

Uwe Rosenburg squeezes by on this list (barely) over a few other games. But I love this pick up and deliver game with a clever mechanic that when every move you make impacts (and most times) helps other players. Really cool game and my favorite one from this designer.

Proud Mom and Dad

More pic of my pretty girls

My Pretty Girls

Party!

 Went to a wedding tonight. I was the MC for the reception. My nephew and I took some photos at the photo booth.

Have to admit, it was one of the better parties I'd been at in a while. Fun times!