2008 July - AudioShocker

Monthly Archive for July, 2008Page 2 of 5

Comic Book Shipping List July 23 2008: Octopi, Silent Farts, Energy Drinks & Pirates

Published

nick marino

on July 23, 2008

in Comics

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Shipping This Week: JULY 23, 2008

DARK HORSE COMICS

BERSERK TP VOL 24
LANKHMAR BOOK 06 SWORDS & ICE MAGIC

Nick: This would be a far more exciting title if it was "LANKHMAR BOOK 06 SWORDS & MAGIC ON ICE" -- don't you agree that a comic book about an ice show is far more interesting than a comic about ice magic?

SCRAMBLED INK HC

Nick: I've never tried anything made with octopus ink (I know they make black pasta with it), but this title definitely made me imagine scrambled eggs all grayish-yellow with the ink of octopi mixed in. Mmm mmm... tastes gooooood.

STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF OLD REPUBLIC #31 TURNABOUT
STAR WARS LEGACY #26

Nick: This month in Dark Horse's non-fiction Star Wars series: Fans cringe as George Lucas continues to milk the prequel concept as he releases Star Wars episode 2.5 as an animated film. When will the madness stop?!

USAGI YOJIMBO #113

DC COMICS

AMBUSH BUG YEAR NONE #1 (OF 6)
ARMY @ LOVE TP VOL 02 GENERATION PWNED
AUTHORITY PRIME TP
BATMAN #676 RIP 3RD PTG
BATMAN GOTHAM AFTER MIDNITE #3 (OF 12)

Nick: Detective Comics Comics' epic miniseries about Batman's plunge into the Gotham City disco scene of the 1970s continues.

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #15
COUNTDOWN TO ADVENTURE TP

Nick: You know what this title says to me? "The adventure isn't here yet... we're almost there... just wait until we finish the countdown."

Continue reading 'Comic Book Shipping List July 23 2008: Octopi, Silent Farts, Energy Drinks & Pirates'

AudioShocker Podcast #40 - Strange Dark Avatar

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nick marino

on July 22, 2008

in Podcast Episodes

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AudioShocker #40 [ 51:05 ] Play Now | Download

In no particular order we talk about The Dark Knight, Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 3 Chapters 16-21 including Sozin's Comet, The Strangers, Black Milk, Beatcast 001 Windrider by Nik Furious, Jay Faerber's Urban Myths, Afua Richardson, Marvel Adventures the Avengers #26, Watchmen movie, Warner Premiere's Motion Comics Watchmen #1, Sia, and more.

Am I the Only Person That Didn't Like The Dark Knight?

Published

nick marino

on July 21, 2008

in Movies

. 9 Comments

In defense of The Dark Knight, I was predisposed to disliking it. I've been salty with Christian Bale ever since he said that Batman Begins wasn't a just a comic book movie -- it was better. Well guess what Bale? I thought it sucked.

Superhero movie franchises have been lucky in that their sequels often eclipse their first outings. And The Dark Knight was better than Batman Begins. But certainly not "biggest opening weekend of all-time" better.

The Batsuit. In ten years, that stiff Batsuit will be almost as laughable as Batnipples on George Clooney.

The Batvoice. "Hey Christian," Nolan says to the film's star, "I want you to give me a husky whisper that sounds like you just gargled with whisky and Clorox. And make sure it sounds like @#$%."

Organized crime in Gotham City. It's strangely segregated and full of stereotypes. When the Russian, Italian, and black mobsters held a joint meeting with a Chinese corporate criminal, I cringed throughout the whole scene. Most of white characters were stereotyped heavily too -- they were all righteous control freaks that went mad with power (from Batman to Harvey Dent to Jim Gordon to even the Joker).

Rachel Dawes. She's was as stiff as the Batsuit and a total snoozefest.

Excessive runtime. I was ready for The Dark Knight to be over after an hour and a half. To my surprise, I still had AN HOUR TO GO. I would have preferred a "Previously in The Dark Knight..." showing a quick montage of the boring @#$% from the first half of the film, and then BAM! the movie actually starts in as the Joker busts out of jail.

When did Batman stop being fun? Both The Dark Knight and its predecessor are stalwarts of the serious. They struggle to remove any and all camp from the concept of Bruce Wayne and his billionaire's hobby of crime fighting. C'mon, the guy dresses up like a freakin' bat! He punches a psychotic clown in the face for fun! Batman is naturally campy. And that's not a bad thing.

To all the people who produced The Dark Knight and to all those who celebrated its "realistic" qualities while overlooking the fact that the movie was largely devoid of smiles, laughter, and fun:

Why so serious?

FNMTV - Jonas Brothers, Shwayze, Nelly, and Slipknot

Published

neal

on July 20, 2008

in Music Videos

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It's another installment of FNMTV, 5 super quick music video reviews from the master of vitriol (me). This week's videos were 'easy listening' for the most part. Don't believe me? Check them out for yourself.

Jonas Brothers - Burnin Up (Live)
OMFG it's Hanson! No wait, it's a non-girl-looking version of Hanson that wishes it was Maroon 5. As usual, this live performance is kind of half-assed. Watch the real video instead. It's stupid, but Danny Trejo is in it for like 3 seconds. That dude is awesome.

Nelly - Body On Me
Uhm... Did Nelly and Ashanti get back together? Am I that out of the loop? Didn't he crush her and she was doing late night drivebys or something? Either way, this is a pretty low impact video. Akon's voice is nearly tolerable for once too. Nothing special or even that flashy here. Surprising considering the whole thing takes place in a casino.

Shwayze - Corona and Lime
I won't comment on how ridiculous Shwayze is as a concept. You can read the artist bio yourself. The video is funny enough though. It's a little California Girls and a little Weird Al. That said, these have to be the whitest and least freaky deaky 'video-hos' ever. You could take this video home to mama or show it to your 8 year old.

Slipknot - Psycho Social
All I know about Slipknot is that they have a lot of drummers and they like masks. Both were present and I think I saw a tympany too. There is some stuff on fire - giant paper mache heads I believe. Who writes the treatments for these videos? If I were a record label exec I would be thinking, "My toddler's nightmares are more creative than this."

Lesley Roy - I'm Gone, I'm Going
Only two words to describe this: CHUBRIL LAVIGNE.

Beatcast #1 - Windrider by Nik Furious

Published

nick marino

on July 20, 2008

in Beatcast and Podcast Episodes

. 1 Comment

Windrider by Nik Furious [ 3:22 ] Play Now | Download

Windrider, an instrumental hip hop track by producer Nik Furious.

The Top 9 Most Intimidating Supervillains (Comic Book Villains, Of Course)

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nick marino

on July 19, 2008

in The Top 9

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This is the list that almost wasn't. I was ready to make this yet another "the Top 9 reasons the list I said would happen isn't going to happen," but I stuck it out and here it is.

9. Blob - Would you want to get stuck in this man's folds? I don't think so. Last thing I would want is to be smothered by Fred Duke's fat.

8. Morlun - I've never been more afraid for the safety of a superhero than when Morlun showed up in Amazing Spider-Man and beat the snot out of Spidey.

7. Mystique - A terrorist sociopath that can change her appearance at will. She's intelligent, cunning, violent, and amoral.

6. Sabretooth - Every year, Sabretooth hunts Wolverine down and beats him within an inch of his life. Then Victor Creed goes off and murders someone Wolvie loves.

5. Venom - Now that Mac Gargan bites off limbs and other body parts from other people when he gets hungry, I'm feeling pretty intimidated.

4. Magneto - I fear Magneto's deep convictions. He has the will and physical power to act upon whatever he believes to be right (even if it means death and destruction).

3. Cassandra Nova - Charles Xavier strangled his twin sister to death in the womb, but she survived. Then she savagely massacred 16 million mutants using Sentinels assembled from pieces of scrap.

2. Joker - One minute he could be laughing with you and the next minute he could be torturing you to death. Plus, he enjoys it when Batman beats his face in.

1. Doctor Doom - Victor Von Doom is a mad scientist monarch that's a true master of robotics and disguise (via his Doombots). He's violent, deceptive, and brilliant. Plus, he's into magic and he can time travel.

Common themes? Five out of nine villains predominantly tangle with the X-Men. Though I was raised on X-Men comics (and Marvel Comics, for that matter), that was a bit of a surprise to me. There's also quite a lack of DC Comics supervillains, not to mention characters from other comic book publishers (Shredder, maybe).

Next: The Top 9 Least Intimidating Supervillains!

Why the Top 9? Because 10 is too many and 9 is a better number. 3 X 3 = Awesome. Now that's what I call math.

The Dark Knight - TXT Message Review

Published

neal

on July 18, 2008

in Movies and TXT Message Reviews

. 1 Comment

As I came out of the 4pm show today, I received a text message asking me if I wanted to see Batman at 9:15, with a 7:15 dinner/ticket pickup. I curtly informed the gentleman that I had just screened the very same film. When he inquired as to how I had already performed this feat, I promptly replied, "I am a man. I make time for important things."

It is with this same level of personal duty or dharma, that I bring you my mobile review. As per the usual, 160 characters or less and typed out to Nick with a quickness known only to Jay Garrick and his successors.

Now that's what im talking about! dent and joker were well cast. twoface makeup is wacker than batman's voice though. brutal film. savage.

WHY SO SERIOUS?!

Tuesday's podcast will be heavily focused on The Dark Knight. I hope that isn't a problem.

AFI 100 Years 100 Movies Podcast #2 - Do the Pulp Thing

Published

nick marino

on July 18, 2008

in AFI Movies and Podcast Episodes

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AFI 100 Movies #2 [ 57:35 ] Play Now | Download

Continuing the countdown of the American Film Institute’s 100 Years... 100 Movies. Conrad explains the criteria for getting on the list, followed by conversation about Bringing Up Baby, Do the Right Thing, The Searchers, The Last Picture Show, and Pulp Fiction.

The Watchmen Trailer Is Here!

Published

neal

on July 17, 2008

in Movies

. 2 Comments

Trailer Addict just posted the new Watchmen trailer that will premier before Batman tomorrow. We finally get to see Dr. Manhattan. and can you believe that Malin Akerman, of The Heartbreak Kid and Harold & Kumar fame, is playing Laurie Juspeczyk? The trailer is heavy on CG - but for a book like The Watchmen, I'm not sure you could do it any other way. I can't wait to see Rorschach yell "I'm not locked in here with you -- You're locked in here with me!"

Keri Hilson - Flashdancing Takes a Lot of Energy

Published

neal

on July 17, 2008

in Movies and Music Videos

. 0 Comments

Keri Hilson just released the video for the lead single Energy off her new album. I don't know much about Keri, but it turns out she actually has been active for some time. I do know that Timbaland has been promoting her quite a bit these last few months though. So, how does the video stack up? Read on to find out.

The Track: When I realized this was the track from the Verizon commercial I've seen at the movies for the last 2 months, I almost shut it off. But I lingered. It turns out the worst part of the song is that keyboard intro before the bass really drops in. The beat is courtesy of The Runaways and not Timbaland. No guest verse, no vocoder, no screechy notes, no skits, no dance breakdown, none of that stuff. It is listenable, and so far, I haven't noticed the severely flawed logic present in other current hits such as Danity Kane's Damaged. Love it or hate it - prepare to hear this in the club all effing summer long.

The Video: Whoever wrote the treatment for this video watches a lot of HBO. This is Million Dollar Baby meets Flashdance meets The Pussy Cat Dolls. Confused? There is boxing, a wardrobe stolen from Jennifer Beals' closet, and wet hair / dancing that reminds me of Nicole Scherzinger. Perhaps she rubbed off on Keri during the Scream shoot?

It probably went something like this: Ok, We'll dress up Keri in something totally backdrop-inappropriate and she will alternatively spar and makeout with her trainer; he must have tattoos. Oh - she knocks some other chick out too, and at the end she gets ugly highlights and leaves.

Keri's silver tapsuit (is that what it's called?) is as ridiculous as her interpretive dancing/voguing, and I swear I saw some Happy Hands Club choreography in there. It was kind of hard to watch this without wanting to laugh. Hilson does look good and is clearly doing the damn thing, but I'm not sold.

The Bottom line: Energy is better heard and not seen.