Mark Bocek vs Mac Danzig: Nothing wrong with this one, as Bocek showed off his wrestling but couldn't produce much offense and eventually just took too much punishment. Danzig sure did take his time finishing it, but I suppose there's nothing wrong with being careful. He's a personal favorite of mine, stemming from his time on Ultimate Fighter where he stood out from the usual bushido lunatics.
Michael Bisping vs Charles McCarthy: All I remember about this is that McCarthy didn't do much and then decided to stand and take rapid fire punishment until he couldn't come out for the second round. I still don't think Bisping is up there with the elite, but dropping down to middleweight could change that. This was certainly a better performance than his last two fights, albeit against lesser competition.
Nate Quarry vs Kalib Starnes: Well what can I say that hasn't been said already? Starnes claims he broke his foot, which I find hard to believe because he moved on it for close to fifteen minutes after the supposed break. While I usually don't care for the actions Quarry performed near the end, I can't bring myself to really exclaim any disgust. What a horrible fight, and now Starnes is gone from the UFC.
Rich Franklin vs Travis Lutter: I can't really be objective here, because I dislike Lutter, and him coming out to Nickleback only solidified my feelings. When people say things like, "I was winning that fight the whole way until I lost", I really don't know what to say. Fortunately, Franklin pulled an awesome escape from an armbar and then just pummeled Lutter, who looked like he seriously gassed. Franklin is in a bad spot in the division, because he can't fight Silva again but he's clearly the most deserving of a title shot.
Georges St. Pierre vs Matt Serra: Total domination is pretty close. Serra had nothing in this fight. He got taken down at will and couldn't work anything on the ground, and his stand-up which won him the first fight was nowhere to be found. GSP is obviously now the best in the world at 170 and top five pound for pound. I could see an Anderson Silva-like period coming up, where he completely reigns over the division.
In other MMA news, Chuck Liddell is off UFC 85, which must contain the most cursed main event ever. With Mauricio Rua and Liddell now injured, Rashad Evans will get a new opponent. Too bad every other top light heavyweight is slated to fight in the coming months. The card didn't look too good to begin with and this only worsened matters.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
So...Much...Happening!
Information overkill is here. Communication and technology advances have made it so that anyone, anywhere, can know precisely what is going on with regards to practically any subject. Is this good or bad? Certainly the existence of so many possible opinions can open up many more avenues of discussion. Any online news gatherer will have countless reports on any one story. Not to mention all the new voices brought about by online forums, blogs etc. All these different sources can contain radically different opinions. But then comes the issue of where you pay attention. Do you try and find a single service that you feel is reliable, informative and unbiased? Or do you scan from site to site, thinking more about the general picture than any one specific author? Not to mention, in the era of everyone being able to say their piece, whose is really worth it? Let's face it, not everyone is an expert on the global food crisis or the recent Italian elections, myself included. However, it's funny how people who don't really understand the basics of an issue can help you perceive the particulars. So even in ignorance you find value. Other aspects include the lessening of local information mattering as much when we operate on such a global scale now and the saddening reality that even though more information is easily available, plenty of people are still greatly uninformed by choice or by extraneous circumstances. The amount of knowledge being released every day is completely exponential. This is one of a number of interesting 'problems' that have cropped up as we've hit stride in the twenty-first century. Right now we're in more of a transitional phase and it's likely by the time it's finished, I'll be dead. Maybe from info overload.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Sequential Shenanigans
Over the past three months I lost track of any concept of new comics releases and unfortunately I'm still not caught up. I'm an issue behind on Iron Fist and Punisher and two or more back with Captain America, Daredevil, Batman and Brave and the Bold. The ones I've missed several issues of are ones I generally enjoy, but they don't have me running to the store. Let's take a look.
Captain America - Whenever I think of this title under Brubaker, I think of one word: solid. The writing is always good and you can tell these stories are planned out because the execution is always spot-on. That said, the consistency can lower my excitement because I already know what I'm going to get. On the other side is a book like Iron Fist, which probably isn't as dependable from a craft standpoint but always bursts with the mad ideas that make it work. Another problem I have is the coloring. Everything I've seen from Frank D'Armata has been the same blurry mess that obscures just enough to piss me off. The pencils from Epting and Perkins are once again "solid". But, the fact that they have such a similar style adds to my feelings of
seeing the book before I ever read it. I know a large part of this comes from the book being close to three years old. Still, this is a very solid book that Brubaker has made completely into an espionage/action mold. I just need to complain about something.
Daredevil - I can't even remember the last thing that happened when I read this. Mr. Fear was still around, which was issue 100 at the earliest. Like Captain America this book is always a decent read, but I always go for the Super Soldier first. I think a lot of that has to do with Cap being a book that Brubaker has been in total control of from the start. With Daredevil he had to deal with material that was there before he started, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but from his planning on Cap I'd like to have seen what he could do if he'd started from scratch. Plus, maybe it's just having read more stories of the character, but most of what he's doing seems like old-hat. Now that doesn't mean it's badly done, just that, once again, over in Cap he's set up things that seem new, to me at least.
Batman - Seeing Grant Morrison's name on a book will make me try it no matter what. Unfortunately, so far this has been about as uneven as they come. Plus, besides a three-issue stint by JH Williams III, the art has been uniformly bad. I thought Andy Kubert did some okay work on his first few issues but it was all downhill from there. Sadly, Tony Daniel has me praying for a Kubert return. The story has been completely up and down, with a decent if somewhat low impact opening arc, followed by a text story I didn't care for and two more issues that were just there. But then we got the excellent #666 and the Club of Heroes arc with Williams. Since then there's been two issues that were part of a crossover and now I'm hoping that some sort of regularity has returned, as that's where I left off. And more than anything, I'd like to know what the hell is going on with the larger picture, because while it's obvious we're being shown the different incarnations of Batman, just like with Superman, so far I don't have any idea where we're headed. But with Morrison that's really half the fun.
The Brave and the Bold - No idea where I'm at here either. The last two I read featured Wonder Woman and Power Girl and then Flash with the Doom Patrol. And both were very good, certainly the best of the series so far for me. Both displayed why Mark Waid can be an excellent superhero writer when he's on. He clearly has these characters down and has set up just enough of a continuing story to tie things together, while keeping things easy enough to follow and not bogging down the individual stories with an overcomplicated plot. The art kind of leaves me cold, but let me explain. George Perez is certainly a good artist. More than anything he always tell the story clearly, which is certainly important. But nothing really stands out for me personally. I've never seen Perez in the same light as a Gil Kane or a John Buscema. And maybe I just don't respect my elders enough, but I'd rather see the widescreen antics of a Cassaday or a Quitely over him any day. Still, this is superheroics at their old-school best. Fun stories with no mass murdering rapists or continuity that you need wikipedia for. Does DC actually know they're publishing this?
Later with thoughts on the books that put in me a full sprint.
Captain America - Whenever I think of this title under Brubaker, I think of one word: solid. The writing is always good and you can tell these stories are planned out because the execution is always spot-on. That said, the consistency can lower my excitement because I already know what I'm going to get. On the other side is a book like Iron Fist, which probably isn't as dependable from a craft standpoint but always bursts with the mad ideas that make it work. Another problem I have is the coloring. Everything I've seen from Frank D'Armata has been the same blurry mess that obscures just enough to piss me off. The pencils from Epting and Perkins are once again "solid". But, the fact that they have such a similar style adds to my feelings of
seeing the book before I ever read it. I know a large part of this comes from the book being close to three years old. Still, this is a very solid book that Brubaker has made completely into an espionage/action mold. I just need to complain about something.
Daredevil - I can't even remember the last thing that happened when I read this. Mr. Fear was still around, which was issue 100 at the earliest. Like Captain America this book is always a decent read, but I always go for the Super Soldier first. I think a lot of that has to do with Cap being a book that Brubaker has been in total control of from the start. With Daredevil he had to deal with material that was there before he started, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but from his planning on Cap I'd like to have seen what he could do if he'd started from scratch. Plus, maybe it's just having read more stories of the character, but most of what he's doing seems like old-hat. Now that doesn't mean it's badly done, just that, once again, over in Cap he's set up things that seem new, to me at least.
Batman - Seeing Grant Morrison's name on a book will make me try it no matter what. Unfortunately, so far this has been about as uneven as they come. Plus, besides a three-issue stint by JH Williams III, the art has been uniformly bad. I thought Andy Kubert did some okay work on his first few issues but it was all downhill from there. Sadly, Tony Daniel has me praying for a Kubert return. The story has been completely up and down, with a decent if somewhat low impact opening arc, followed by a text story I didn't care for and two more issues that were just there. But then we got the excellent #666 and the Club of Heroes arc with Williams. Since then there's been two issues that were part of a crossover and now I'm hoping that some sort of regularity has returned, as that's where I left off. And more than anything, I'd like to know what the hell is going on with the larger picture, because while it's obvious we're being shown the different incarnations of Batman, just like with Superman, so far I don't have any idea where we're headed. But with Morrison that's really half the fun.
The Brave and the Bold - No idea where I'm at here either. The last two I read featured Wonder Woman and Power Girl and then Flash with the Doom Patrol. And both were very good, certainly the best of the series so far for me. Both displayed why Mark Waid can be an excellent superhero writer when he's on. He clearly has these characters down and has set up just enough of a continuing story to tie things together, while keeping things easy enough to follow and not bogging down the individual stories with an overcomplicated plot. The art kind of leaves me cold, but let me explain. George Perez is certainly a good artist. More than anything he always tell the story clearly, which is certainly important. But nothing really stands out for me personally. I've never seen Perez in the same light as a Gil Kane or a John Buscema. And maybe I just don't respect my elders enough, but I'd rather see the widescreen antics of a Cassaday or a Quitely over him any day. Still, this is superheroics at their old-school best. Fun stories with no mass murdering rapists or continuity that you need wikipedia for. Does DC actually know they're publishing this?
Later with thoughts on the books that put in me a full sprint.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Alright Folks, We're Back!
New musical opinions follow.
Dream Theater: Still can't do it. I took a fresh listen to some songs from the new album and nothing has changed. Still the same emotionless drivel. James LaBrie's voice contains no power. John Petrucci, while technically flawless, still cannot create a melodic hook or play a lead passage that is memorable. Mike Portnoy, while also technically flawless, cannot resist changing time signatures every ten seconds for no reason. Some of the riffs aren't bad, but that's all they get from me.
Slough Feg: Big Thin Lizzy influence here. Unfortunately the songs all sound the same and the lead playing is fairly homogeneous too. Too many extended solo sections where they just pour on the legato. I almost wish for a more standard song structure, because their singer, Michael Scalzi, has an excellent voice. Still, the music isn't too bad, but I only care about half of the latest album.
Firebird: Bill Steer's rock band with a heavy influence from the late sixties and early seventies. Pleasant surprise, to say the least, and shows that Steer can do other things besides melodic death/grindcore. The latest, Hot Wings, has a good mix of tempo that helps it as an album greatly. Good playing by Steer in general. His progressions and riffs are very dynamic and while he's no shredder, his lead playing is perfect for the music. Nice drumming by Ludwig Witt as well.
Planet X: Derek Sherinian's "metal fusion" band. His solo stuff found a place with me because it's heavily guitar driven, with players like Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Lukather. The focus here is less heavy and Sherinian is at the forefront with his keys driving the music instead of the guitars. He also has the usual slew of top talent, with Virgil Donati on drums and Allan Holdsworth dropping in on two tracks. Donati is the good version of Mike Portnoy, a drummer with ridiculous chops but the restraint to know when and how to use them. The songs have a jazz/jam vibe, with lots of trading off between the instruments. While it doesn't appeal to me as much as when he has the axe-slingers, this is still top-notch material if you're into fusion.
Dream Theater: Still can't do it. I took a fresh listen to some songs from the new album and nothing has changed. Still the same emotionless drivel. James LaBrie's voice contains no power. John Petrucci, while technically flawless, still cannot create a melodic hook or play a lead passage that is memorable. Mike Portnoy, while also technically flawless, cannot resist changing time signatures every ten seconds for no reason. Some of the riffs aren't bad, but that's all they get from me.
Slough Feg: Big Thin Lizzy influence here. Unfortunately the songs all sound the same and the lead playing is fairly homogeneous too. Too many extended solo sections where they just pour on the legato. I almost wish for a more standard song structure, because their singer, Michael Scalzi, has an excellent voice. Still, the music isn't too bad, but I only care about half of the latest album.
Firebird: Bill Steer's rock band with a heavy influence from the late sixties and early seventies. Pleasant surprise, to say the least, and shows that Steer can do other things besides melodic death/grindcore. The latest, Hot Wings, has a good mix of tempo that helps it as an album greatly. Good playing by Steer in general. His progressions and riffs are very dynamic and while he's no shredder, his lead playing is perfect for the music. Nice drumming by Ludwig Witt as well.
Planet X: Derek Sherinian's "metal fusion" band. His solo stuff found a place with me because it's heavily guitar driven, with players like Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Lukather. The focus here is less heavy and Sherinian is at the forefront with his keys driving the music instead of the guitars. He also has the usual slew of top talent, with Virgil Donati on drums and Allan Holdsworth dropping in on two tracks. Donati is the good version of Mike Portnoy, a drummer with ridiculous chops but the restraint to know when and how to use them. The songs have a jazz/jam vibe, with lots of trading off between the instruments. While it doesn't appeal to me as much as when he has the axe-slingers, this is still top-notch material if you're into fusion.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
What I Learned in Murray
1. Being friends with someone and then living with them doesn't always turn out like you would expect.
2. Being denied privacy can piss me off. A lot.
3. Constant sound bombardment of any kind at volume levels that can be heard in the Andromeda galaxy does not cheer me up. Connection to be had with point number two.
4. World of Warcraft is God's gift to a jobless idiot.
5. My financial management, which I thought to be only average, reached lofty heights when compared to the people I was surrounded by.
6. If I have a serious dislike of someone, I cannot hide it very well.
7. Listening to the same song constantly does not ruin its appeal for some people, even if it was minimal to begin with.
8. Hardcore, metalcore and screamo can quit.
9. The word 'epic' is criminally overused.
10. Religion can take people and turn them into complete fools.
11. You shouldn't try to mod the inside of a Rock Band guitar.
12. Some people can't tell what's what on a motherboard.
13. Matt B. can make some excellent pizza.
14. The Wire is still the greatest television show ever, even on my third time watching it through.
15. Getting a job at USEC is about as plausible as winning the lottery.
16. World of Warcraft, while God's gift to a jobless idiot, turns out to be the same boring, endless grind two months later.
17. Someone exists who would rather listen to Nickleback than Opeth.
18. I miss going to Crash on Sunday.
19. Not having a job, even a crappy one, really weighs on me.
20. I love Paducah.
2. Being denied privacy can piss me off. A lot.
3. Constant sound bombardment of any kind at volume levels that can be heard in the Andromeda galaxy does not cheer me up. Connection to be had with point number two.
4. World of Warcraft is God's gift to a jobless idiot.
5. My financial management, which I thought to be only average, reached lofty heights when compared to the people I was surrounded by.
6. If I have a serious dislike of someone, I cannot hide it very well.
7. Listening to the same song constantly does not ruin its appeal for some people, even if it was minimal to begin with.
8. Hardcore, metalcore and screamo can quit.
9. The word 'epic' is criminally overused.
10. Religion can take people and turn them into complete fools.
11. You shouldn't try to mod the inside of a Rock Band guitar.
12. Some people can't tell what's what on a motherboard.
13. Matt B. can make some excellent pizza.
14. The Wire is still the greatest television show ever, even on my third time watching it through.
15. Getting a job at USEC is about as plausible as winning the lottery.
16. World of Warcraft, while God's gift to a jobless idiot, turns out to be the same boring, endless grind two months later.
17. Someone exists who would rather listen to Nickleback than Opeth.
18. I miss going to Crash on Sunday.
19. Not having a job, even a crappy one, really weighs on me.
20. I love Paducah.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
The Usual
I still haven't relocated to Murray yet because I had my plans disrupted by a possible job opening at USEC (United States Enrichment Corporation). It's high on the list of places I never pictured myself working at but also high on the list of places I'd want to work at. My cousin has worked there for several years and let me know they're hiring entry level positions and he could get my application pulled. Totally unfair but definitely worth going for. The only problem is the job currently isn't open and there's no time frame for when it will be. So I'm hesitant to move out and pick up some crap jobs and then have to drop everything to enter the hiring process. Tomorrow is my last foreseeable day at my current job, so I'm going to be needing to get some income going fairly soon. Unless the opening is sometime in the next week, I'll probably just move and see what happens.
I bought Rock Band a week ago and have spent a copious amount of time with it, the worst being 18 hours in one day. I've mainly been on the drums, which was what really attracted me to it in the first place and there's been no disappointment. The guitar is almost the same as Guitar Hero, but I can't do much on hard and I can't sing at all, so the drums are a good fit. Playing with a group is awesome, but solo play is pretty lame after you've gotten a band going with friends. Fortunately I've found plenty of willing participants. Everyone was ready for a break after the initial firestorm, so the Lords of Thunder and 88 Miles Per Hour are on sabbatical to explore India or something.
On the reading front, I haven't gotten into anything new. I checked out Brasyl from the library, a book that sounded pretty interesting, covering three different people in separate time periods, all in Brazil. Unfortunately, after the twentieth modern pop culture reference in the first thirty pages it went back to the drop box. I'm glad I didn't pay for it. Comics-wise, I still haven't bought anything in months besides Criminal, which has literally become the 'if I could only buy one comic' scenario. It's my wonder drug. I've been re-reading stuff from the shelf I haven't been through in a while, including Hellboy Volume 1, both Whiteout stories, Seaguy and the first War Stories collection. All pretty good stuff that held up. I got more out of Seaguy the second time around and Hellboy was even better than I remembered it being. Makes me want more and to finally get caught up on all the BPRD books. I wish Mike Mignola was still drawing interiors. With the pamphlets I'm slogging through stuff while at work so I don't have to pay for it. Favorites at this point are Captain America, The Order, The Immortal Iron Fist, All-Star Superman, The Punisher, Lone Ranger and Umbrella Academy. Morrison's Batman continues to be deflated by horrible artwork and Daredevil is good but I can't really get excited about it.
I bought Band of Brothers for hardly nothing on Cyber Monday and finished it this week. I had previously seen it sporadically on the History Channel, and I'm not sure if I ever saw all the episodes or if they were even in the right order. It was thankfully easier to keep up with the fairly large cast watching it in chunks. Overall, it's a very good account of WWII from a unit that participated in many famous events across several countries. The Battle of the Bulge in particular is very well represented, as Easy Company held position in the freezing cold of Bastogne, Belgium while under constant shelling by German artillery, unable to do anything but constantly take cover. Most of the experiences are historically accurate, even though if you want to get into the details, there's plenty to nitpick about. The show was based on a book that chronicled events from WWII veterans of E Company. The show focuses on Richard Winters, who started out as a lieutenant in Easy and ended up a major by the end of the war. He's portrayed by all accounts very true to life, a caring and quiet leader who also was tactically very sound. I enjoyed the whole thing.
I bought Rock Band a week ago and have spent a copious amount of time with it, the worst being 18 hours in one day. I've mainly been on the drums, which was what really attracted me to it in the first place and there's been no disappointment. The guitar is almost the same as Guitar Hero, but I can't do much on hard and I can't sing at all, so the drums are a good fit. Playing with a group is awesome, but solo play is pretty lame after you've gotten a band going with friends. Fortunately I've found plenty of willing participants. Everyone was ready for a break after the initial firestorm, so the Lords of Thunder and 88 Miles Per Hour are on sabbatical to explore India or something.
On the reading front, I haven't gotten into anything new. I checked out Brasyl from the library, a book that sounded pretty interesting, covering three different people in separate time periods, all in Brazil. Unfortunately, after the twentieth modern pop culture reference in the first thirty pages it went back to the drop box. I'm glad I didn't pay for it. Comics-wise, I still haven't bought anything in months besides Criminal, which has literally become the 'if I could only buy one comic' scenario. It's my wonder drug. I've been re-reading stuff from the shelf I haven't been through in a while, including Hellboy Volume 1, both Whiteout stories, Seaguy and the first War Stories collection. All pretty good stuff that held up. I got more out of Seaguy the second time around and Hellboy was even better than I remembered it being. Makes me want more and to finally get caught up on all the BPRD books. I wish Mike Mignola was still drawing interiors. With the pamphlets I'm slogging through stuff while at work so I don't have to pay for it. Favorites at this point are Captain America, The Order, The Immortal Iron Fist, All-Star Superman, The Punisher, Lone Ranger and Umbrella Academy. Morrison's Batman continues to be deflated by horrible artwork and Daredevil is good but I can't really get excited about it.
I bought Band of Brothers for hardly nothing on Cyber Monday and finished it this week. I had previously seen it sporadically on the History Channel, and I'm not sure if I ever saw all the episodes or if they were even in the right order. It was thankfully easier to keep up with the fairly large cast watching it in chunks. Overall, it's a very good account of WWII from a unit that participated in many famous events across several countries. The Battle of the Bulge in particular is very well represented, as Easy Company held position in the freezing cold of Bastogne, Belgium while under constant shelling by German artillery, unable to do anything but constantly take cover. Most of the experiences are historically accurate, even though if you want to get into the details, there's plenty to nitpick about. The show was based on a book that chronicled events from WWII veterans of E Company. The show focuses on Richard Winters, who started out as a lieutenant in Easy and ended up a major by the end of the war. He's portrayed by all accounts very true to life, a caring and quiet leader who also was tactically very sound. I enjoyed the whole thing.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Forward Thinking
Here are some of the things on pace for 2008 that have piqued my interest. Maybe I'll reverse this later and look back at 2007.
The Wire Season 5: My favorite television show comes to a close with ten installments in January. I fully believe this will be as engaging and insightful as the previous four seasons have been. David Simon has established at this point his ability to put his characters through a very realistic version of hell and I don't see him going soft now. I'm expecting major falls all around, with the usual mix of politics, economics and sociology that you never thought could be this entertaining. And maybe, just maybe, a sprinkle of hope or potential progress somehow surviving. I can't wait to watch this but I'll also be sad to see it go.
Fable 2: This doesn't have a complete release date but it is listed for '08. It's the anticipated sequel to the Xbox RPG made by famed designer Peter Molyneux. The original had plenty of character customization and a largely interactive world, but was seen as a disappointment by some because the possibilities weren't quite as endless as Molyneux had promised throughout development. It's no surprise things have been so quiet thus far with Fable 2, leading to very little gameplay information and no more guarantees. I spent a lot of time with the original and never understood most of the detractors. I really liked the design style of the graphics, the simple combat and tinkering with all the abilities, character images and alignment choices. I'm hoping they take the foundation and build it up to be even better.
Final Crisis: Grant Morrison is easily my favorite writer when it comes to superhero comics. The big event series is usually something I take cover from, but with his guiding hand, this has the potential to be another joyous explosion of mad ideas. Fortunately he's paired with a solid artist in JG Jones, who can hopefully interpret the script well enough to provide a good compliment to the writing. It can and has gone either way: will we get something on the level of Frank Quitely and JH Williams or Howard Porter and Tony Daniel? I haven't read Marvel Boy, the only previous Morrison/Jones collaboration I know of, so I can't say. And I'm praying that this doesn't require any knowledge of the flood of DC material that is leading into it. If so I might as well not even pull it off the shelf.
There Will Be Blood: The first trailer I saw for this had me really confused and weirded out in a bad way. The second trailer, seen last week, got the same reactions but this time in a good way. So I really need to see this to determine the final verdict. The critics have practically already given Daniel Day-Lewis the Oscar for his leading role, and I'll be the first to say in the trailers it came across as a great performance. The limited release could prove to be a problem in my one theater town, so I may be waiting a while.
A Dance With Dragons: The fifth novel in George RR Martin's fantasy series has seen countless delays and still has no release date. More than likely it should be done soon though, so I'm putting it on here. The Song of Ice and Fire series is really excellent because while it contains many tried and true fantasy elements it thankfully is absent of many others. The ridiculous good and evil, black and white morality is the chief hallmark that is nowhere to be found. Each of the chapters is written from a different character's point of view, so many opinions and explanations offer varying takes on events. Martin has also built a rich world with extremely detailed past occurrences that reflect and influence the myriad plot lines that run throughout. Martin was the final nail in the coffin for boring machines like R.A. Salvatore.
Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar: An intriguing mixed martial arts matchup, pitting a former champion on the long climb back from injury in Mir against a former pro-wrestler stepping into a whole new world in Lesnar. While Mir may not be as good as he was after suffering heavy damage in a motorcycle accident, he is quite a challenge for Lesnar, who only has one pro fight to his name. Theoretically most newcomers from outside fighting sports are vulnerable on the ground and with Mir being a BJJ black belt, Lesnar could be in serious trouble if he gets taken down. But Lesnar is a former collegiate national wrestling champion, so he's not going to be helpless in there. He's also built like a walking tank and might not pass a steroid test. I think this is a great pairing of two fighters who have a lot to prove that could result in a good scrap or quick clunker.
So there you go: a television series, a video game, a comic book, a movie, a novel and an MMA fight. These are just all predictions; if everything on here ends up a letdown, don't gloat and tell me how wrong I was. My prophetic voice has always been pretty shaky.
The Wire Season 5: My favorite television show comes to a close with ten installments in January. I fully believe this will be as engaging and insightful as the previous four seasons have been. David Simon has established at this point his ability to put his characters through a very realistic version of hell and I don't see him going soft now. I'm expecting major falls all around, with the usual mix of politics, economics and sociology that you never thought could be this entertaining. And maybe, just maybe, a sprinkle of hope or potential progress somehow surviving. I can't wait to watch this but I'll also be sad to see it go.
Fable 2: This doesn't have a complete release date but it is listed for '08. It's the anticipated sequel to the Xbox RPG made by famed designer Peter Molyneux. The original had plenty of character customization and a largely interactive world, but was seen as a disappointment by some because the possibilities weren't quite as endless as Molyneux had promised throughout development. It's no surprise things have been so quiet thus far with Fable 2, leading to very little gameplay information and no more guarantees. I spent a lot of time with the original and never understood most of the detractors. I really liked the design style of the graphics, the simple combat and tinkering with all the abilities, character images and alignment choices. I'm hoping they take the foundation and build it up to be even better.
Final Crisis: Grant Morrison is easily my favorite writer when it comes to superhero comics. The big event series is usually something I take cover from, but with his guiding hand, this has the potential to be another joyous explosion of mad ideas. Fortunately he's paired with a solid artist in JG Jones, who can hopefully interpret the script well enough to provide a good compliment to the writing. It can and has gone either way: will we get something on the level of Frank Quitely and JH Williams or Howard Porter and Tony Daniel? I haven't read Marvel Boy, the only previous Morrison/Jones collaboration I know of, so I can't say. And I'm praying that this doesn't require any knowledge of the flood of DC material that is leading into it. If so I might as well not even pull it off the shelf.
There Will Be Blood: The first trailer I saw for this had me really confused and weirded out in a bad way. The second trailer, seen last week, got the same reactions but this time in a good way. So I really need to see this to determine the final verdict. The critics have practically already given Daniel Day-Lewis the Oscar for his leading role, and I'll be the first to say in the trailers it came across as a great performance. The limited release could prove to be a problem in my one theater town, so I may be waiting a while.
A Dance With Dragons: The fifth novel in George RR Martin's fantasy series has seen countless delays and still has no release date. More than likely it should be done soon though, so I'm putting it on here. The Song of Ice and Fire series is really excellent because while it contains many tried and true fantasy elements it thankfully is absent of many others. The ridiculous good and evil, black and white morality is the chief hallmark that is nowhere to be found. Each of the chapters is written from a different character's point of view, so many opinions and explanations offer varying takes on events. Martin has also built a rich world with extremely detailed past occurrences that reflect and influence the myriad plot lines that run throughout. Martin was the final nail in the coffin for boring machines like R.A. Salvatore.
Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar: An intriguing mixed martial arts matchup, pitting a former champion on the long climb back from injury in Mir against a former pro-wrestler stepping into a whole new world in Lesnar. While Mir may not be as good as he was after suffering heavy damage in a motorcycle accident, he is quite a challenge for Lesnar, who only has one pro fight to his name. Theoretically most newcomers from outside fighting sports are vulnerable on the ground and with Mir being a BJJ black belt, Lesnar could be in serious trouble if he gets taken down. But Lesnar is a former collegiate national wrestling champion, so he's not going to be helpless in there. He's also built like a walking tank and might not pass a steroid test. I think this is a great pairing of two fighters who have a lot to prove that could result in a good scrap or quick clunker.
So there you go: a television series, a video game, a comic book, a movie, a novel and an MMA fight. These are just all predictions; if everything on here ends up a letdown, don't gloat and tell me how wrong I was. My prophetic voice has always been pretty shaky.
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