I'm a little behind on this little bit, took a little time to read everything. Let's commence.

New Previews and a Wizard. Haven't gotten through these yet. Let's move to the comics.

Infinite Crisis Villians United wasn't too bad. These IC specials that spun from the four mini-series that led up to Infinite Crisis add something of worth to the story as a whole. This one deals with the appearance of the Society (of Villians) that'll appear in Metropolis and kick some ass in IC #7.

Ion, Kyle Rayner's solo book since Hal Jordan came back to Green Lantern, sucked. I understand the need to set up a book and give a back story to a character with much history but what a snoozer.

I finished out the Tag & Bink mini. It was worth it... I laughed out loud. Good stuff, buy it if you like Star Wars.

Blue Beetle is slow right now, I'll let it catch up with itself. It did have an interesting leap for One Year Later.

Catwoman is picking up in interest since the OYL jump. I wonder how long they'll keep up with the "who is the father to Catwoman's baby" bit. They did have a nice exchange talking about the relationships between crimes/killers that inspired such films as "Psycho" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacare".

New Avengers Annual is featured as a wedding issue for Luke Cage and his long time girlfriend. Don't get me wrong... that's in there... in a few pages... but for the rest it was a nice issue that features just about everyone from the current Avengers team, and they were all working as a team. That hasn't even happened in the regular series yet. Pretty cool.

There it is. Some good, some bad... a lot to actually read.

Holy crap!

I don't know how it happened but I lost three pounds in a week!

And I wasn't even trying. I ate fast food. I didn't work out (aside from yard work). I'll be the first to say it; it must be a fluke.

But I weighed myself twice, just to be sure. Say hello to 221lbs. Yeah!

Well I haven't done one of these in the last two weeks. Frankly, it's been kind of slim pickens as far as good releases. And that kind of holds true into this week, however there's just more of it this time. A quick run down of the crap out this week.

Aeon Flux based on the MTV cartoon that became a cult favorite now has a crappy live action movie to shove into their faces.

Shopgirl staring Steve Martin and Clare Danes is about something, hell if I know what.

Match Point starring Scarlett Johansson is a Woody Allen film.... again... about something. Whatever.

Casanova and Tristan & Isolde, both probably love stories that look kinda not interesting. I'm willing to bet I'll see at least one of these.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children based on a game I don't play nor really care about. But a lot of other people I know like it so good for them. I just don't get it.

Dr. Dolittle 3..... keep on milking it 20th Century Fox. Make us proud.

American Dad Season One, that one show that tries to be like Family Guy from the creators of Family Guy. Too bad it isn't funny like Family Guy.

That's it.
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I see you.

Last Wednesday I got new glasses. From everybody I know (excluding my girlfriend) either from friends, family, or work... did only one person actually acknowledge my new eyewear. I thought they looked different enough from my old frames, but perhaps that's only cause I see myself every morning in a mirror.

Eh, but what do I know.

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Even though they're not the colored versions, these two covers for Infinite Crisis #7 are certainly busy... and rock. You could spend a good few minutes looking at each looking at who's who. Looking forward to this issue.

Get larger size (750x1110) versions at Newsarama here: [full story...]

Now I've never been much of a Lost fan, basicly because I don't watch it. But it's popular, and perhaps now it has saved the Star Trek movie franchise. I got this little blurb from JoBlo.com this morning:

Paramount has signed "Lost" co-creators JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof to develop the 11th feature in the STAR TREK series. Abrams will direct the film with Lindelof and fellow "Lost" mate Bryan Burk producing. The film, which Paramount hopes to be ready for a 2008 release, will center on the early days of classic characters like Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock as they train at Starfleet Academy and travel on their first space mission.

I'm also not much of a pre ST:TNG fan, so we'll see how this goes.

Well I finally got an issue of Invincible from the new store. Let us hope they continue this trend.

JSA from two weeks finally came in, all thanks to Diamond who distributes them.

Robin wasn't all that great, but not bad. Birds of Prey I found out that Gypsy (from the JLA Detroit days) is on the team.

Squadron Supreme was good. I like the story and art. It's different yet familiar at the same time.

Finally New Avengers is kinda getting dull. The new direction and flair of the series is kinda worn off now. Plus I really liked the David Finch artwork from before.

Night at the Roxbury * * 1/2
Just a random movie I put in one night. Of the more recent SNL movies to be released of the past 10 years, I felt this was probably the best of them. Mindlessly entertaining with a decent soundtrack.

A History of Violence * *
Based off a comic book is good in my book, and it had a nice supply of big name stars as well. The story of a retired mob killers' past catching up to him was played out nicely, and so it worked for me.

King Kong (2005) * 1/2
What a long ass movie. I think Peter Jackson was trying way too hard on this one. Too much over the top action. He did however manage to capture a nice feel of 1930's New York.

November 1/2
This was some indie movie staring Courtney Cox that I saw a trailer for and found interesting... what I got when I watched the film was a going nowhere murder mystery that had a feeling of Memento and I didn't even finish watching it.

Brokeback Mountain * * 1/2
I think a lot of people are just homophobic when even mentioning this film. They get the gay shit out of the way early on in the film to where the rest of the movie is just like any other forbidden romance love story. It actually wasn't that bad of a film.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon * 1/2
Over the past year or so I've been in and out of a project that has it's ties to the classic Universal monsters. I watched this purely out of curiosity... or even research if you will. I do enjoy a good classic Hollywood film, however this one just didn't do it for me. This was supposed to be a horror/suspense film... right?

The Chronicles of Narnia * * *
I'll be the first one to say I didn't ever want to see this movie. With that said, I enjoyed this film. The score, the slow motion action sequences, all of it... it makes for an entertaining watch.

While over at the Penny-Arcade site I saw a posting announcing the sequel to last years Playstation 2 hit Guitar Hero, a game I became quickly addictied to.

I SAID FUCK YEAH!
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In the town of Ravenna, Ohio, five teenage girls, ages 16 and 17, crafted some life-sized power-up boxes modeled after those in the NES classic. The cardboard boxes were covered in shiny, gold wrapping paper and had the black question marks familiar to most gamers. As an April Fools joke, the girls laid 17 of these boxes around the town in public spaces Friday morning.

The humor was lost on some residents, however. After noticing one package on the steps of a church, a concerned citizen reported the "suspicious package" to local authorities, who called in the county's hazardous materials unit and the bomb squad.

Upon further inspection, no materials designed to harm people, mushrooms to increase a person's size, or flowers that bestow the ability to project bouncing fireballs were found inside the boxes. The packages were empty.

Ravenna Police Chief Randall McCoy told the online edition of the Record-Courier that one girl came into the police department with one of her parents and claimed responsibility, saying it was just a joke.

Apparently, the girls got the idea from the Web site Qwantz.com, which gives detailed instructions on how to make the boxes. The Web site intended the posting to inspire art projects, and several subversive artists have submitted photos of their Mario blocks in action across the country.

The girls face possible criminal charges for their actions. While most in the online community think the authority's actions are a tad extreme, McCoy defends the proceedings of his department.

"The potential is always present when dealing with a suspicious package that it could be deadly," McCoy told the Record-Courier. "In today's day and age, you just cannot do this kind of stuff."
A posting on Quantz.com responds to the incident in Ravenna. "Not everyone has the same cultural context and not everyone is relaxed about public spaces. [The idea of the project] is to bring a smile to people's faces, to get them to connect with their neighbors, to bring color into an otherwise grey urban landscape. [We] are deeply sorry that things are not working out in Ravenna."

It had been a while since I've gone out and done anything so on Friday the girlfriend and I made it a date night.

We went to Cheeseburger in Paradise, a restaurant that I've been curious about ever since it opened almost a year ago (I think it's been a year?). The burger was great... but I didn't like the fries they served with it. They had a huge drink menu and I just randomly picked something I thought I might enjoy... oops... so much for guessing cause I ended up not liking it much. I'll stay with the standard drinks for now. The atmosphere and service wasn't bad but I was surprised I didn't hear the song "Cheeseburger in Paradise" once the whole time I was there. I would have thought it would play once an hour or so. Not that I'm complaining, I'm not the biggest Jimmy Buffet fan anyway.

Went to see Scary Movie 4, and looking at the weekend box office, so did everybody else. I didn't like SM3 very much but this continued the story a bit from 3 and brought it back to at least the level of SM2. What did I think of it? Well, of course it was a stupid movie, but it had enough entertainment value that I enjoyed myself. Showed a few interesting trailers before it including the new Omen that opens 6-6-06.... very cleaver. Saw the Clerks II trailer, unfortunately it had a few spoilers in it that the viewaskew people have been able to keep secret. I thought I had know the main plot up until then but you learn something new from the trailer. Still can't wait to see that movie.

Finished the evening out with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge for some... Dance Dance Revolution. What can I say, it's fun.

The Legends is finishing up quite nicely. Aside from the time it took for us to get some decent parking, I'm loving that place. Now if only theatre prices would go down it'd be even better.
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Only four this week. I know... ain't that enough? Interesting turn however, a 50/50 split between DC and Marvel. That's never happened before. I'm just going to speed into these.

Green Arrow #61, Oliver Queen is the new major of Star City. People still want him dead. Guy can't catch a break.

The Battle for Bludhaven, a bi-weekly mini that's supposed to go into detail about the destruction of this Gotham sister city no-more. What it's doing is boring me to tears introducing characters I hope die soon.

Uncanny X-Men #472 was probably an issue for someone who's followed the series a bit longer than I have... so I'll roll with it for now.

New X-Men #25: This is only my second issue in and I feel I've not felt the impact of this issue. Somebody who's apparently been around for a while bits the dust and a final page reveals some kind of robot that I remember seeing in the FOX animated X-Men show. So this could get better.

Possibly the greatest home-made light saber fight.

http://spikedhumor.com/articles/23299/Star_Wars_Duel.html?autoplay=true

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So here's the latest addition to my figure collection; McFarlane's "Bark at the Moon" Ozzy Osbourne.

I won this off of Ebay and got it for a steal! The shipping cost more than the item itself. However, this was the longest I've ever had to wait for somebody to ship a winning bid.

Note this: I won it and paid for said item on the 12th of March. I wait. I wait some more. I e-mail, two days later I get a response, "It's in the mail."

Great! So I wait. Where the fuck is it? Come the 10th of April I finally get it. I check the date on the postage... April 7th. Thanks a lot ass clown.

I lost a pound.

That's all great and fine, except I was at this exact weight on March 7. I went up and back down again in this, a span of a month.

I've actually been indulging myself, so I'm kind of surprised I lost anything at all. And I also cheated on my no pop rule again (second offense). I was out celebrating a friends birthday and had a Pepsi... with a refill!

I don't know, I guess this no pop rule is actually working in some degree. I'm still working out at least once a week if not more... however much that is helping this "diet" of mine. But I am losing... so I shouldn't complain. It's my own fault at how fast it goes though.

Clerks II Logo DECIPHERED!

C from Carls Jr, L from McDonalds Large Fries, E from Burger King's Whopper, R from Burger King, K from KFC and S from Popeyes.

Yeah... What can I say? I'm a guy in a suit.

This was the majority of my Sunday. I actually had fun doing. Only had one kid cry, two kids scream, and several kids smile happy with delight

What's this? New comics on a Saturday? That's what happened thanks to my old comic book store in Lawrence and my girlfriend for picking them up for me. Now, with the exception of two comics, I'm totally caught up.

Sentinel #5 from Marvel finished up this second go-round with these characters. It wasn't that much of a mini-series as far as major events go. It acted like the second story arc had the first series continued. Which it very well could have been. I still enjoyed it and hope to see this in some way shape or form later in Marvel.

Green Lantern Corps #5 from DC Comics wraps up that mini-series. So far the series has been blah and I haven't even read this issue yet. If the up-coming on-going series is anything like this, and it IS going to be done by the same creative team, then I don't think it's worth anymore of my time or money. Sadly.

The OMAC Project Infinite Crisis Special #1 ties in with issue #6 of Infinite Crisis. Nice to see what happens after a trip into outer space by a few JLAers, but other than that it's just issue writer Greg Rucka going blah blah blah with some government crap. Rucka has been fine with the Gotham stuff... gangs, gangsters and stuff that goes flap in the night.... but with the superhero stuff, it takes a turn towards political babble. Yes, I mean Wonder Woman.

Superman/Batman is just crap now. I've enjoyed about half of this series thus far, but it's so far out there right now it's gone. Sadly, I'll still buy this.

Ah, The Return of Tag & Bink. Pretty much the only series of Star Wars comics I've ever purchased. This take of goofy characters and the way their tales are told interwoven into the classic Star Wars movies is well done... and fun.

Finally, two issues of the Walking Dead. I loved the first issue I read, but then the second issue took a really odd turn. Something I wasn't ready for, and frankly didn't like.

First off I'd like to point out two variant covers for Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis and Teen Titans. It's really nice to have a connection now to get first crack at snagging these.

But more importantly... in Infinite Crisis #6... they killed off Superboy, one of my favorite characters, they frickin' killed him. Yes, I'm aware that death in comics is relative, however... alow me this moment. Damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!

And we all knew it was going to happen too. It's also a bit spoiled with the variant cover to Teen Titans with a giant memorial statue to him. It was a good issue, I'm loving the story. But really... I can't wait until the last issue of it next month.

They say that Aquaman has picked up, infact, the new "One Year Later" jump has saved this book from cancellation. However, being an Aquaman fan, I just don't get it. I don't like the story, the writing, or the artwork. This month the only thing I did like was the cover.

Can't say much for the OYL jump on Outsiders. It's just there.

Teen Titans... was different. It's the first issue of the OYL stuff, and so we have a new team. But the thing that I kept smacking my forehead asking god why was in the first three pages we see two kids; one male, one female. One in a green shirt, the other in orange. One with a giant "M" on it and the other with a giant "W".

Do you know what I'm getting at? Do ya?

How about Marvin and Wendy. Yeah. The one's from Superfriends.

Damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!

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Well, it's been two weeks again since I've posted anything about my so-called diet (sounds like a TV show). I'm happy to announce another pound lost.

One.

Yep, I'm well on my way.

Damn it.

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Lots to talk about here. First off the Oscar contenders Brokeback Mountain and Crash (special edition). I'm wanting to see Brokeback, just to see what the hype is about (hopefully more than just two gay cowboys). I wanted to see Crash just to see why it won best picture and actually saw it last night. So far I believe Crash to be the best picture of 2005. Really, go see that movie. Rent it tonight. I want a report of it in the morning!

The Chronic WHAT cles of Narnia (sorry, I had too) came out today. Some really nice packaging for the special edition too. But I really don't care to see this movie which looks like Lord of the Rings meets Harry Potter meets Neverending Story. Eh.

The Mel Brooks Collection with about seven or eight films in it, certainly looks good. I'd buy it if I didn't already have two of the films (at least favorites such as Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein), but previously unreleased to DVD such as Robin Hood: Men in Tights... I want that! Still, I don't feel like dishing out 70.00 for just that and other films I'm not quite sure of or already own. Mel Brooks is a genius. Just so you know.

And for Star Trek fans such as I, introducing Star Trek: Time Travel. It's got a little bit of everything and that's why I'm excited about watching these. I'm not a fan per se of the original series, but I think I can stomach the two episodes thrown on this set. Along with TNG and DS9, I'm all giddy.

Hey, anybody like television of DVD? Well damn is this your week. Apparently everybody scheduled today for TV DVD dump day. Series include; The A-Team, Knight Rider, Magnum P.I., Dawson's Creek, and Full House.

Before I forget to rant on this....

Last weekend was pretty sucky. Aside from other things, let me tell you how it was at K-Rap Mart.

Friday night I had to deal with a regular customer (a resident pain in the ass) known as Greg the Homeless Man. It's not just Greg, you have to add that last part. Anywho, GHM wondered into the electronics department and started asking about a DVD player that was on sale ($39.99). Most of the questions were about how to hook it up to a television. Like... every way humanly possible to hook it up to a television. Aside from the player itself, at one time I had about seven or eight different cords and hook ups on my counter explaining to the man how to hook the damn thing up (to a hotel television... natch).

He's notorious around the store, so when I go to bitch to my manager, she informs me that he has been in the store way before I even got to work at 4:30pm. Come around 9:40pm I walk around the men's department and I spy the cart he was pushing (complete with huge water bottle). Yeah, he was bugging another employee. The man left ten minutes after closing at ten.

Moving on.

Saturday around 1:00pm I get a phone call from my manager telling me that due to circumstances I would have to be moved from my comfy spot in electronics to the service desk... my worst nightmare. It's been about a good year or so since I've ever been scheduled at the service desk, and frankly I hate it.

I show up at three and it's busy. I come to find out that one of our very few checkers walked out and quit. And I'm informed that someone who's supposed to come in later is going to be fired due to not showing up for the past week. So automaticly I'm out two people. Crap on a stick.

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Found this last night on JoBlo.com. What follows could very well be the storyline for Spider-man 3 due in 2007. It sounds very busy.

With his secret now revealed to both Mary Jane and Harry, Peter must face the consequences of his actions and his new life together with Mary Jane as they finally form a relationship. Yet their newfound open display of love has yielded some unfortunate results, not the least of which is Peter's upset boss determined to make his life hell for causing his son emotional distress. Not helping is a young investigative reporter named Eddie Brock who Jameson has hired to find out why Mary Jane dumped his son for Peter - what's Parker's secrets?

At the same time an escaped prisoner hiding out on a remote beach is caught in a dreadful accident and finds himself turned into a shape-shifting sand creature. Peter's investigations into the past of this 'Sandman' brings him in contact with two very different things that will inevitably alter his life. The first a young woman named Gwen Stacy, daughter of the city's new police chief who is developing a soft spot for Peter. The other, a black substance from an accident scene which 'merges' with Peter's costume and gives him new found abilities.

Things come to a head however when Harry Osborn, determined to take revenge against Peter for his father's death and now equipped with what he needs to pull it off, teams with The Sandman in a new variation of his father's Green Goblin guise and causes mayhem. In the ensuing chaos lives are lost, including people very close to Peter, whilst the black substance covering his suit separates from him and merges with a distraught Brock to form something else entirely - a creature unlike anything he's ever faced. A 'Venom' that he may not be able to stop.