Author Archive
November 17th, 2009, 3:26 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
Publisher Harper Collins held recently held “The Graveyard Book Halloween Party Contest” in which independent bookstores would hold a in-store Halloween party using author Neil Gaiman’s novel The Graveyard Book as the theme. The results have just been announced and Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe was selected as one of the five first place finishers. They just missed out on winning the grand prize, consisting of a visit and signing by best-selling writer Neil Gaiman.
But all is not lost! By winning first prize, they’ll be receiving five signed copies of The Graveyard Book and a customized video greeting from Gaiman himself. Very impressive! It just goes to show you the wonders and importance of independent booksellers, so be sure to support your local indy bookstore!
Posted in: Books • Changing Hands • Gaiman | Post a Comment »
November 15th, 2009, 12:44 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
This was a big week for video game fans. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 hit the shelves breaking records for not just video games, but almost every sort of entertainment release. Over 2 million people were online playing the game simultaneously on Thursday. Like any big release, there’s a certain amount of controversy with CoD: MW2.
Staying as spoiler-free as possible, during the course of the game’s storyline a group of criminals commit a terrorist attack and the player, in the role of an American soldier who’s undercover with the group, can take part in this act where numerous innocent civilians are injured and killed. This footage leaked before the game was released and people were outraged.
Having spent the last few days playing through the game’s story mode, I have to say that the outrage is overblown and unjustified. First, even before beginning the game, players are give an option to skip the potentially offensive level if they choose to. Second, and more importantly, despite the shocking nature of the scene, there’s nothing gratuitous about it. The event serves to further the complex story that developer Infinity Ward is attempting to tell. The overall story deals with the hard choices to be made when fighting global terrorism.
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Posted in: Gaming • Nerd rage • PlayStation 3 • Xbox 360 • MW2 | Post a Comment »
November 13th, 2009, 2:39 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
Hollywood’s master of disaster movies director Roland Emmerich is back this week with his newest tale of wholesale destruction, 2012. Emmerich’s previous efforts have included such destructive fare as The Day After Tomorrow, Godzilla and of course, Independence Day. All of these were just practice for his latest work, however. After warming up by destroying things piecemeal with weather, giant monster lizards and aliens, he’s moved on to wrecking the entire Earth at once.
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Posted in: Movies • Reviews • 2012 | 3 Comments »
November 11th, 2009, 4:42 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
 Unsurprisingly, Fox has cancelled Joss Whedon’s sci-fi show Dollhouse. Looks like Whedon-fans can add another title to his resume of awesome-but-cancelled programs. The show has struggled in ratings since it began and this season has only been worse for the Eliza Dushku vehicle.
It was a shock to many that Fox even renewed it for a second season after cancelling Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Variety is reporting that the show is continuing to shoot the 11th episode and will finish out the 13 episode season.
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Posted in: Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Television • dollhouse • fox • whedon | Post a Comment »
November 9th, 2009, 5:02 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
If this kid came to my door on Halloween (or ANY night for that matter), I would simply give him all the candy in the house and then turn out the lights. The night would be over, as nothing else could possibly come close to out-awesomeing this ‘mech.
Now I just have to figure out how to reverse-engineer an adult size of this so I can turn it into an AT-ST costume and trample tiny Ewoks.
Posted in: Internet • costume | Post a Comment »
November 9th, 2009, 4:42 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
 Eisner-award winning comic book scribe Brian Michael Bendis announced on his Jinxworld forum that he will be teaching a class at Portland State on writing graphic novels. All I have to say is where was this class when *I* was in college? I thought it was pretty sweet that students were getting to read graphic novels in school. Now they get one of the greatest comics writers of the modern age as a professor? I’m jealous!
Bendis certainly has the pedigree to teach this course. He spent years toiling away doing independent comics (Torso, Jinx) before moving up to the big leagues as part of Ultimate Spider-Man. Since then he’s become the premier writer at Marvel Comics.
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Posted in: Comics • Technology • Bendis | Post a Comment »
November 8th, 2009, 9:34 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
 Video game fans in northeast lucked out this weekend when certain GameStop stores there started selling copies of the soon-to-be smash hit “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” Reportedly, the company made the decision to break the street date of Nov. 10 due to the fact that some competitors were already selling their copies.
Usually those who manage to wrangle a copy of a game early just get to gloat to their friends, but with the built in perks and advancement system in CoD: MW2 a few days headstart could give some gamers quite a leg up when playing opponents online.
I’m not much of a first-person-shooter fan, but I’ve been swayed over by the hype and will be jumping aboard the bandwagon just as soon as I can get a copy. Unfortunately, since I’ve been unable to find any local stores willing to risk Activision’s wrath, it looks like I’ll have to be satisfied with picking it up 12:01 a.m. Tuesday morning. If you’re like me, here’s a list of Best Buy and GameStop locations that will have midnight openings for your terrorist fighting pleasure.
Posted in: Business • Gaming • Call of Duty • MW2 | 1 Comment »
November 6th, 2009, 5:53 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
In 2001, after bursting onto the scene and receiving critical acclaim for his mind-bending sci-fi film “Donnie Darko,” writer-director Richard Kelly stumbled badly with his 2006 follow-up “Southland Tales.” His next major project “The Box,” opening this week, achieves neither the highs, nor lows of his previous efforts. It is, however, a thought-provoking and respectable effort, that proves Kelly is a talent and “Darko” wasn’t entirely beginner’s luck.
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Posted in: Movies • Reviews • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • The Box | 3 Comments »
November 5th, 2009, 2:12 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
 Sheldon Dorf, the man responsible for starting the convention that would become the San Diego Comic-Con, died Tuesday from kidney failure. Dorf was 76.
In 1970, Dorf put together the Golden State Comic-Convention, in a time where comic book cons were few and far between. From these humble beginnings the convention grew to what is now the largest gathering of comic and pop culture fans in the country.
Posted in: Comics • Conventions • Deaths • San Diego | Post a Comment »
November 4th, 2009, 4:20 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
 The first four issues of the critically-acclaimed and Eisner-award winning comic book series “Stray Bullets” are now online to read for free at www.innocenceofnihilism.com. If you’ve never had the chance to give it a try, I highly recommend you take this opportunity.
Writer-artist David Lapham creates a beautifully interconnected world full of criminal tales. We see how thin the line is between the normal world and the dark underbelly. Seeing the bad things that happen to good people who cross that line, mistakenly or otherwise, never ceases to enthrall. Lapham’s black-and-white art matches the intensity and strength of his writing. In my opinion, aside from the legendary Frank Miller and possibly Matt Wagner, Lapham is the finest writer/artist working in the industry today.
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Posted in: Comics • Internet • lapham • stray bullets | Post a Comment »
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