Phoenix to hit dirtside on Mars...tonight!

It's taken a little over ten months to get there, but tonight, the Phoenix will land on Mars' northern polar ice cap. (that link should be good for viewing it live) In about ten hours, it's expected to land around 7:30EST. Almost eight years in the making, the Phoenix project is the first in NASA's "scout" programs, focusing on low-cost ways to explore our solar system. NASA's been at the helm the whole time with Phoenix, but once it's dirtside, the University of Arizona takes over the mission, that's a historical first. This is very exciting stuff, not that the Rovers we've got on there aren't cool enough, or even the Global Surveyor, but this is the first time we've been to one of the poles, which is suspected to have water ice. I'm 'tagging' this as sci-fi, even though it's real life it's so cool and 'out there' it's gotta get the tag. I'm also tagging it as personal, having been a big fan of the space program since I saw the first shuttle launch, live, in 1981.

Update: It went off without a hitch! The Phoenix Lander has been on Mars' polar cap for a few hours now, and already its sending in the first wave of photos (see below). Very cool stuff all around, I've got a couple of these links above, but for posterity: the excellent Phoenix Lander site found here, by the University of Arizona has a thorough site. At midnight they had a post-mission briefing, live, on NASA TV, which also had footage of the landing, pretty cool to check out as well. The whole reason us Earthlings were able to view the landing to begin with is because they maneuvered the orbiting Global Surveyor over the pole, and had a bird's eye view of the whole thing.

It's not that obvious, but most missions to Mars actually fail. With the Phoenix being successful, it lowered the track record to 50% success rate, it was before tonight. Basically, the NASA kids had a 20km window to thread the needle through. Twenty kilometers sounds pretty big, but they were covering 650 million kilometers just to get there. As they put it in the post-mission briefing, it's like standing on the shore in the state of Washington, hitting a golf ball, and scoring a hole-in-one on the continent of Australia. That's a pretty good shot...

The Walking Dead

All right, I've got the first forty-two issues of the Walking Dead under my belt...I guess it's review time! The Walking Dead has been out for a few years, and gained an incredible fan following. The first dozen issues or so are incredibly rare, this one snuck in under the radar and although it's put out by former powerhouse Image Comics, it's still got that "indie" feel to it.

Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore have got quite the book on their hands here. It's Zombpocalypse supreme as the title befits it. We've got your basic zombie infection/infestation ripping through the heart of America with an incredible death toll and very little government support. The nature of the zombies is largely biological, with the actual cause, or source, not being 100% clear. In the overall context of the zombie mythos, these are the slow moving, they-wanna-bite-ya, kind.

You start with a police officer as the protagonist, with the overall view of the world being from his perspective. Quickly, however, the cast of characters multiplies and instead of one main character with supporting cast, you've got something akin to LOST, where you've got at least half a dozen "main" characters. This is both a hindrance and a boon. On the one hand, you've got plenty of variety, and your favorites will come and go. On the other hand, which is kind of my complaint with LOST, is that there's almost too many characters to keep up with.

The basic trials of the survivors drive the story, and they're all over the map...literally. From scrapping out supplies and searching abandoned stores and house, to eight people living in a tiny RV, they run the gamut. Along the way, they encounter other survivors that are either friendly, or more often than not, as hostile as the zombies themselves. There's also a strong soap opera vibe that holds the story together, with internal alliances and rifts, matchmaking, drama, and the like. After a while, you get caught up in the story and relationships, and the zombies themselves become almost lost in the background.

The story itself is gritty, dirty, and soiled. Sometimes you feel dirty just reading it. It is incredibly adult in nature; this is NOT a kid's comic book in the least. I need to repeat that last part; this ain't no kid's book! It's got very adult themes and thanks to pretty decent illustrations, it also doesn't hold any punches in the visuals department. Sex seems to be the glue that holds the survivors together, and keeps them from going insane. It's also not always consensual. The zombies are, well, walking dead, duh. They're falling apart and very gruesome. The violence isn't always human vs. zombie either, in fact, it's almost 50/50 I'd say, and yeah, very realistic and detailed visuals accompany that too.

In the end, and the irony is a little heavy-handed, it's the survivors that are the 'walking dead', not the actual zombies. What they have to go through, just for the pure human factor, is hell on Earth. Hell on Earth that's been chronicled. It's a good story, although dark, but that's a given for the genre. It's gritty and dark, showing mankind at its worst. The medium, sequential art, felt a bit strained for me. If done right, this story would play out better in a cable television series over a few years. I'd almost settle for a trilogy of novels even, which is weird, because I'm a huge advocate of graphic novels as a legitimate form of literature. It wouldn't work as a movie, there's too many nuances that'd get lost in a short time frame. Overall, I'd give it a seven out of ten. It's not over yet either...I'll keep reading on.

Meeple-Mania

This week saw a return to some semblance of a regular geek night. After warming up with some Rush on Rock Band, we slid into some tasty riffs with Carcassonne. I don't play this great little game enough, if you don't know about it, or haven't heard of it, just click here, they'll lay it out better than I could anyway. It plays fast, simple to learn, every game is different, and if you fancy, there's a plethora of expansions out there for it. The Tower expansion in particular looks interesting. Shown above is the core set...and a Donut of Doom™. We played three total games, and each of the three players (me, Andy, and Ray) won one game a piece. As a footnote, you may recall I've never won a game of Settlers of Catan, so seeing a nice distribution of wins was quite refreshing.


In the third game, agricultural land-grabbing was all the rage.



Stretched out pic of the first game, in which Andy (yellow) was victorious.



For those of you keeping score at home...no, this doesn't earn you any points!



Me and my soon-to-be-completed twenty-six point city.



The full board of game one.



The first few turns of game two, which would eventually go to Ray.



Full board of game two.



Beginning to game three, in which I would eventually emerge the winner...shockingly.



Every game has its humble beginnings.



...the Donuts of Doom™.

Together they...FIGHT CRIME!

A couple of years ago I had found this Superhero tag line generator online. I can't find it now, and I don't even know why I had these phrases saved, but looking back over them now it's kinda funny, so I've put them here for posterity. There are a couple of redundancies, but that's the nature of "random" generators. Enjoy...

He's a time-tossed umbrella-wielding paranormal investigator on a mission from God. She's a green-fingered snooty bounty hunter from beyond the grave They fight crime!

He's a genetically engineered voodoo filmmaker from a doomed world. She's a cold-hearted wisecracking Valkyrie with the soul of a mighty warrior. They fight crime!

He's a fast talking moralistic cat burglar who hides his scarred face behind a mask. She's a beautiful junkie schoolgirl who don't take no crap from nobody. They fight crime!

He's a maverick neurotic sorceror gone bad. She's a brilliant communist nun who can talk to animals. They fight crime!

He's an impetuous native American paramedic with a winning smile and a way with the ladies. She's a supernatural goth advertising executive from out of town. They fight crime!

He's a lonely shark-wrestling paranormal investigator who hides his scarred face behind a mask. She's a pregnant impetuous archaeologist from the wrong side of the tracks. They fight crime!

He's a scarfaced dishevelled librarian from a doomed world. She's a virginal junkie angel who don't take no crap from nobody. They fight crime!

He's a lounge-singing albino farmboy from the Mississippi delta. She's a ditzy tomboy snake charmer on the trail of a serial killer. They fight crime!

He's a one-legged sweet-toothed boxer with no name. She's a green-fingered hip-hop lawyer with the power to bend men's minds. They fight crime!

He's a war-weary albino photographer who knows the secret of the alien invasion. She's a cold-hearted impetuous detective with her own daytime radio talk show. They fight crime!

He's a fiendish zombie dwarf on a search for his missing sister. She's a strong-willed punk angel with a song in her heart and a spring in her step. They fight crime!

He's a notorious guerilla rock star looking for a cure to the poison coursing through his veins. She's a beautiful impetuous bodyguard who inherited a spooky stately manor from her late maiden aunt. They fight crime!

He's a sword-wielding Amish hairdresser from a doomed world. She's a foxy impetuous journalist with her own daytime radio talk show. They fight crime!

He's a suicidal soccer-playing hairdresser looking for 'the Big One.' She's a high-kicking out-of-work femme fatale married to the Mob. They fight crime!

He's an oversexed chivalrous cyborg looking for a cure to the poison coursing through his veins. She's a transdimensional Buddhist advertising executive fleeing from a Satanic cult. They fight crime!

Leveled Up

Hey, hey, Master's degree shenanigans over the weekend abound; I completed my Master's in Science for Teacher Education, woohoo. Normally I'd keep the blog to geek business, but this one's pretty noteworthy, so I had to share. Plus, with all the school papers and projects put to bed, I'll have more time to actually spend on hobbies, heh. Well, I say "more time", I guess I really mean any time at all. Yup, I still found something Lego related to boot!

The Battle at Kruger

This has been around for a while, but I'm just now getting it on here. What looks like is going to be another run-of-the-mill nature video, where the predators eat the baby...goes all topsy-turvy! It's pretty epic for just eight minutes of safari footage, and a lot of action is going on that I've simply never seen, or heard of, before. Actually, it's being tentatively dubbed as possibly the "most amazing nature video ever seen". National Geographic channel is doing a special on this over the weekend, breaking it down bit by bit. Their tag line being: Three Species. One Battle. That's right, I didn't mention the third antagonist, did I?

Free Comic Book Day

Yesterday was Free Comic Book Day, and it was great! For me, comic books have been a big part of my life, helping me learn to both read and draw as a small child, and now I can share them with my own small child, heh. That's what made this Free Comic day even better, I didn't go for myself, I went for my daughter, which made it even more rewarding. Although, I completely forgot to grab the free Hellboy comic, darnit, since it was on the higher up 'mature content' shelf...arrgh!


Unfortunately there weren't any creator signings in our area, but we were lucky enough for some members of Vader's 501st Legion to be on hand. These guys and girls had the ultimate Halloween costumes, and were having a blast to boot. Plus, I was really impressed with how great they were with the kids, especially those who were a bit shy at first. It was good to see a little fanfare for the event.


You don't get a single free comic, you get quite the haul! As I mentioned earlier, they had two categories; the general audience table and the mature content out of reach. We obviously focused on the overloaded table full of kid-friendly titles. We picked up most of the comics available, two dozen altogether, some good titles too:

Gekiga!: a B&W indie comic of Hiroshima's aftermath
Marvel Adventures: team-up of Iron Man, the Hulk, and Spider-Man
Gumby: classic characters and an Eisner award winning series
Transformers Animated: cartoon style robot change-em-ups
X-Men; a new recruit earns her wings...literally
Ignatz: a collection of B&W stories epitomizing sequential art
Gyro Gearloose: a Disney adventure w/ Donald Duck and his nephews
Tiny Titans: a chibi version of the Teen Titans
Amelia Rules: a fun tale of a girl's (mis)adventures
Superman: written by Grant Morrison no less!
Worlds of Aspen: well-drawn collection of various titles
How-to-Draw: a quick little "how-to" comic, not too shabby
Dan Dare: looks like pulp adventures meet Star Blazers
Comics Go Hollywood: info on the translation from comic to screen
Hulk/Iron Man: two part bio of these two Marvel icons
Love and Capes: at first glance looks like a fun, witty romp
Sonic the Hedgehog: 'nuff said, it's Sonic...in comic form
Comic Book Diner: a collection of Sky*Dog titles
Kid Houdini, and the Silver Dollar Misfits: looks promising...
Drafted: humanity unites against an alien threat...looks cool
The Moth: looks absolutely great, simple Superhero goodness
Impact University: some more how-to-draw elements of comics
Owly and Friends: I've read these before; good stuff and lots of fun
Cartoona Palooza: a solid collection of titles from Ape Entertainment

Overall, it was fun, and great of the folks at the comic shop to host the event! Maybe next year I'll be the one dressed up as a Tusken Raider, haha...

IRON MAN!

Yes, happy May Day! So I saw the movie tonight, as you can tell from my quick use of the exclamation mark...it was indeed good. Very good. I attended with a likely band of brigands and scalawags, the usual suspects actually; Brianwalker, Andy, and Raymundo. This being Andy's idea as a matter of fact, so kudos to him. But enough, it was in fancy DLP digital whatcha-ma-callit, it looked beautiful.

I still say Unbreakable is the best superhero movie of all time, but it did so for so many different reasons and levels, it's almost unfair to lump into the four color world of name brand heroes. Up until tonight, I contended that the Incredibles (Brad Bird's the man) were solidly in the number two slot. Again, we're not dealing with storied and honored licenses dating back to the Golden Age of comics, but some great new superhero additions. Tons of honorable mentions too; Batman Begins, Blade, X / X2...now there's this one, this Iron Man that's been so anticipated. It was well worth the wait.



With a soundtrack straight from my iPod, a cocksure Stark that only Downey could pull off, and some of the best droolfest eye-candy graphics I've seen to date, this movie kicked like an Arkansas mule! My only real complaint is that they didn't use that last line in the actual movie.

They captured the spirit of the comics in every step. Stark drank, a lot, and it was alluded that he'd being so, in excess, for a long time. Not the most admirable quality, but at least true to form. His flirtatious relationship with Pepper Potts was done well, thanks in no small part of having Gwyneth Paltrow in there. Other than modernizing the time frame, they kept his origin just about verbatim from the comics, a nice touch in this day and age where comic-to-screen continuity is thrown out the window. Stane was in it, and played a big role too, I always liked him as Stark's rival, plus being played by one of my faves Jeff Bridges was a nice touch.

They also showed many, many shots of Stark from inside his helmet, surrounded by HUD's. This visual alone hearkened back to one of the comic's staple images. I've already talked about the visuals, but they deserve a second mention. They were stunning, the CGI in this film is starting to achieve that special place of being indistinguishable from the real thing.


There will be naysayers, there always are. Just remember two things; first, we could've ended up with something like the above pic, which is just fine for the convention scene, just not the big screen! Secondly...stay until the end of the credits, trust me.