Men In Black 3

Hello Faceplanters!  I realize it’s been a while since I’ve posted an article.  Life threw a giant pile of stuff at me, namely moving across the country to start a new job in an industry I have zero experience in.  So in short, I’ve been busy.  But that’s ok, because it didn’t stop me from doing one of the things I love ; taking in an excellent film.  Life didn’t stop me, but Men in Black 3 certainly did.  It is NOT an excellent film.  I have fond memories of the first one, I think I’ve seen two in bits and pieces from HBO, but I figured I’d give 3 a shot.  It’s a serviceable movie that has some cool moments, but whatever mojo the first film had is long gone.

Romantically Apocalyptic: Zee Captain lives on

The apocalypse.  Everyone seems convinced that it’s gotta happen sometime, and there sure are a lot of theories on exactly how that’s going to go down.  Is a comet going to burn away our atmosphere by coming too close to Earth?  Maybe an invisible mystery planet will crash into ours, ending all life.  While the current consensus seems to be that the end of the Mayan calendar is what is going to do us in (boooooring), one of the long, outstanding beliefs is that humanity will do it to ourselves in a series of nuclear explosions that will destroy society while looking totally sweet.

Romantically Apocalyptic by Vitaly S Alexius is actually more of a production than a web comic.  But we won’t hold that against this gem.  The comic is produced through a series of altered photographs and drawings using live actors and other props to create a beautiful, artistic story about the last three survivors of the end of the world, lead by Zee Captain, who is simply too awesome to die.

Goats: Two guys and a chicken walk into a bar…

Yes, that's a large angry broccoli man.

Jon Rosenberg has been in the web comic business for a long time.  In April of 1997, Rosenberg started Goats, which he refers to as a pseudo-autobiographical comic featuring himself and his friend Phillip, though you should be aware that apparently much of their life in 1997 was centered around booze and the consumption of booze.

I’m one of those fabled teetotalers you hear tales of whispered between alleys during the darkest of mardi gras festivals, so honestly booze related humor doesn’t really appeal to me.  However, what kept me reading Goats through the early years was the how the comic’s art style looked eerily similar to Berkeley Breathed’s Bloom County, and how quickly Jon and Phillip’s boring life of consumption slipped into insanity, bizarre livestock animals and sci-fi shenanigans.

Star Trek: To boldly go where Sci-Fi has gone before

Lets dial nerdy up a notch

It turns out I don’t really have a lot to review for you this week. My weekend, which was going to be spent obtaining and playing some new games for you all, was instead taken up by Enosh, who had a birthday late last week. To celebrate, I took him back to Arcade Legacy in Cincinnati, by which I mean he drove me there and then paid for his own ticket. Because I’m a good friend!

I guess I could have reviewed one of the games I played while there, but the only game I really remember was a Japanese fighting game, where I faced off against Enosh in a bloody brawl, him commanding the raw might of a hideously pill shaped Sasquatch, and me taking the left side of the screen as Little Red Riding Hood, which was the most humiliating character I could find.  I whipped Enosh in hand to hand combat with my plucky, sparkly magic powers.  YEAAH.

But since that game was entirely in Japanese so I have no idea what it was called, today I spent the day watching the newer, updated Star Trek on Netflicks to see what its deal is.

Spacetrawler: The exploitation of Earth on a multi-national level

When it comes to sci-fi epics there are a number of formulas we have come to expect over the years. A bunch of abductees becoming vital members of a spaceship’s crew is not one of those formulas. And yet, that is where we find ourselves in Spacetrawler. Creator Christopher Baldwin is an author and illustrator for MAD magazine, yeah apparently that thing still publishes. Spacetrawler kicked off in January and is Baldwin’s third serial webcomic following Bruno and Little Dee. Oh, he also did a bit of experimenting with Bad Mile and Water Street.

Alien Loves Predator: Extraterrestrial bromance in the Big Apple

You’ve seen them slaughter groups of marines, entire spaceship crews and devour unsuspecting comic relief characters.  They’ve faced off numerous times on the silver screen, killing hundreds in a blood lust before the humans wised up and, I dunno, shot them with guns or something.  But can they peacefully share an apartment in new York together?  Alien Loves Predator, written by Bernie Hou attempts to answer this age-old question.

The fabulous 50′s

I was reading the review of the E3 XCOM demo over at 8th Circuit and I got to thinking. What is up with all the games based on the culture of the 1950′s? First there was Bioshock, or was it Fallout 3? Either way, there are those two and now XCOM and an intriguing crime drama called L.A. Noir. The previous PC versions of XCOM were all set in 1999 or later so why does the reboot begin the 1950′s?