BioShock came out in 2007 and I actually played it a few months ago but with the recent release of BioShock 2 I decided to review, largely because it’s so great. Oops, I spilled the beans!
Here’s the premise, and it’s a very good one for a video game: this apparent Ayn Rand devotee named Jack Ryan builds an underwater city called Rapture, hoping to bring in the most brilliant (and self-serving) minds in the world. Naturally, after awhile, everything goes wrong. Genetic experimentation becomes common and people become addicted to it, many of them going completely batshit and violent, while charged up with their genetic enhancements. A substance called Adam is necessary for a lot of these enhancements and there are these gross, little girls (Little Sisters) that go around removing Adam from dead addicts. These little ghouls are protected by inhuman golems in diving suits (Big Daddies).
The game is played from a first person perspective, which is not a genre I’ve typically been interested in. The only other first-person shooters I’ve beaten were GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, and the Metroid Prime trilogy. BioShock transcends my lack of interest in FPS games in a few ways. First, the premise and setting are so engaging. The story is revealed throughout the game via tape recorders found throughout the city (I guess every asshole in town kept extensive audio diaries el oh el). The game takes place in the mid-20th Century and the whole feel is kind of pulpy but with top of the line production values. Second, there is a big variety in weapons and powers. You shoot a lot of guns but you have also gain a lot of super powers throughout the game. Don’t like that asshole running at you? Shoot a bunch of bees at him from your fingers. Or freeze him and then shatter him with a wrench. It’s hilarious and fun.
A lot of the newer, popular game franchises either don’t appeal to me at all or just not enough to buy them until they’re used for $10. However, this game manages to be great and I’m sure will appeal to any old school game nerd. You can’t beat great gameplay and setting/story in one place. Having said that, the trailers I’ve seen for BioShock 2 look way too similar to the first game. Goddammit, remember the 1980s when the problem with sequels was that they were too different from their predecessors? That was a nice problem to have.
This 750 page book was released by DC Comics only a little over 2 years ago and is already out of print. Such is the fucking habit of comic book publishers these days. The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the 21st Century deluxe hardcover omnibus released by Dark Horse only last fall is already out of print. Why are you companies such stupid pieces of shit? Anyway, back to Superman; this book was released with a $75 cover price which was way, way too high. Yes, there are 750 pages, but the paper stock is basically newsprint and the binding isn’t the thing reinforced stuff you’re used to. I have nothing against this format but $75 is silly. Fortunately, it isn’t rare and I got it new on eBay for around $40.
Wow, what a long and agonizing intro. Anyway, this book collects the famous/infamous storyline from 1992 in which Superman was killed, replaced, and resurrected. The story was released over the course of 12 months in an era when Superman starred in FOUR monthly titles, so there are a total of 48 related story issues, plus a couple of crossover issues with JLA and Green Lantern.
This book does not quite contain all of those issues but does collect most of them. Two issues that focused on Supergirl have been omitted completely and a few issues from the mourning period have been truncated. I believe these edits were made to aid the flow of the story but it’s a bit strange when Ma and Pa Kent come to Metropolis and then return to Smallville about 2 pages later, stating, “It seems like we’ve been away from home for a million years (PS Not a direct quote).” I’m actually in favor of leaving out pages or issues that are redundant in the overall scheme of things and I think more pages should have been cut, especially those that annoyingly repeat previous plot points.
If you’re unfamiliar with the story it goes like this: a big dude escapes from some chamber and just fucks up everything he can, including the JLA. He and Superman have a cross-country fight during which he is laughably named Doomsday (“He can’t be stopped. It’s almost like . . . like Doomsday is upon us!” PS – Not a direct quote). Superman and Doomsday make it to Metropolis where they kill each other. Everyone is sad and gets emo for awhile. Clark Kent is presume missing/dead.
Four self-appointed replacements show up. “The Man of Steel” is basically an Iron Man-type, wearing a super suit of his own design. He’s the only replacement that does not claim to be the actual Superman. “The Last Son of Krypton” is actually a Kryptonian relic personified. His gimmick is that he’s basically a cross between Superman and Punisher, killin’ villainz. Next is the Cyborg, who looks like a cross between Superman and Terminator. Finally, we have Superboy, a clone of Superman with somewhat different powers and a very annoying personality (he seems to be something of a parody/statement on Marvel’s trend of young, bebuckled and bepouched heroes of the time).
The replacements bicker and bitch and moan amongst themselves. Superman is somehow revived, though weakened. The alien Mongul turns up and destroys an entire city. The Supermen plus Superman team and fight the aliens and a super surprise villain. The End.
The storyline is deeply entrenched in the comics continuity and the trends of the time. Lex Luthor is a young dude sporting totally womanly red locks and a mega gay beard. Supergirl is his bitch for some reason. Some pony-tailed douchebag that I guess I’m supposed to know keeps trying to fuck Lois. Best of all, Jimmy Olsen repeatedly wears Spin Doctors shirts in issues illustrated by John Bogdanove. When Superman is resurrected, he sports a MULLET. EL OH EL!
Several writers are present, including Karl Kesel, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern, blah and blah, although I suspect the editors pulled most of the strings. Four pencilers combine to illustrated about 90% of the book. John Bogdanove rises above the rest due to his strongly stylized work. Next is Dan Jurgens, not exactly exciting but certainly competent. Beneath him is Tom Grummett, also quite competent but a little boring. Last is Butch Guice, who likes to draw everyone pretty ugly. The others draw Superman and his lookalikes as Bruce Campbell types, with jutting chins and pointy noses but Guice’s Superman looks like a mediocre boxer that failed to block many punches.
All in all, it’s actually a pretty fun story. I enjoyed most of it even if I had a lot of questions, which were probably answered in later stories that I will never read. If you read this don’t expect to understand what the fuck Doomsday is or where he comes from. That thread just goes away. Don’t expect to understand how some dork made an Iron Man type suit in the basement of his building (without the benefit of billions in R&D that Iron Man has at his disposal). Still, the writing is pretty even and the art is always at least decent, sometimes pretty great, and usually pretty good. Usually I would read a comics story for the art or writing or combination thereof but this one is really about the EVENT itself.
For such a big epic created by a bunch of cooks in a small kitchen, the whole thing is surprisingly even and shows quite a bit of discipline. I liked it!
Here’s a very funny clip from the Colbert Report where Jeff Goldblum is reportedly dead based on Twitter posts. The funniest thing about this is that it really happened (the twitter posts) and reported as fact on the Australian Today Show. His death is to have happened on the same day as Michael Jackson’s death and this clip includes the Australian Today Show segment.
If you watch closely u will see there is acutely Two different things. My reasoning: At first the “thing” Could only get into the house. One from the stairs and the other from the roof;Then during the activity in the room one was trying to get the girl, and the other was trying to posses the girl; And then more proof was when they did the board thing, not only did it prove its a ghost but that it was strong enough to incarnate fire. If this was a “alien” or something it would not have done that. To be honest if this was real it would be more like this. Angels (roof dude) Vs demon (possessor and one coming from stairs) Fighting over her soul, or just trying to get her. Or Alien (the feet) vs Ghost (umm…ghost lol) Trying to get her. Here is my reasons for th AvD. We have no idea what angels look like, they could have weird feet like that lol, and then the demon because of the board thing and the possessing. AvG; The foot thing can prove it was an alien not a ghost, and the shadow thing, if u look into a camouflage that can give invisibility is by Bending light around the body. This will give the wearer invis, and no one can see them, BUT! just because the light is bent around them doesn’t mean it will not cast a shadow that is able to be picked up by the camera. Now for the ghost, the board thing kinda give it that, and the possessing thing and the fact it didn’t always cast a shadow. When she was possessed both times, no physical action was recorded, but when a shadow was casted there was. Showing there was not one but 2 or more beings after her. ..>< More to add to Demon/Ghost. The Photo, Demon’s are said to feed on fear and all that stuff, they would have planted that to strike fear into her and gain more power. >>>><<<<<<!!! To add to alien, he/she/it could have “tagged” her and just then found her, and the photo was a test to see if it was really her. On a side note, Alien’s Tech could cause this “Feeling” Psychics get from “Ghost/Demons” So it cant not be said that it was not a alien.
I was cleaning up the living room today and came across a magazine from exactly 100 years ago ( you would be amazed what’s just lying around this house).
Sorry… I didn’t scan the whole thing in (or any of it, really), but here’s the cover:
I have decided to start an occasional series that spotlights an 80’s video. The videos spotlighted will be rare, unusual,creative or ones that are well-known. So to start off not only the series but the year is, appropriately enough, the video “Theme From 2010″ by The Police member Andy Summers. The song is an updated version of ”Also Sprach Zarathustra”. The movie which the theme was taken from is the sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001″. The music video incorporates scenes from “2010″ and of Andy Summers in a great way. Enjoy!
CBS CEO, Leslie Mooonves, might contol the internet, or at least Google and Wikipedia…which are basically the internet. This seems minor, BUT Mooonves’s Wikipedia page only lists his current spouse, Julie Chen, in his profile box. (I thought all pages list past and presnt spouses.) It kind of gets a little more interesting. His ex-wife, Nancy Wiesenfeld Moonves, appears to have been completely wiped off of Google. Seriously, try to Google/Google Image her. All that will come up are pictures of Julie Chen. Where are the tabloid reports? How is someone that was married to the CEO of CBS for over 20 years wiped off of the internet?
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