Is Ebay Worth It?

I may finally get around to learning how to sell on ebay this week. But I'm wondering if it will be worth it. I've got a used bookstore that will probably give me at least 5-8 bucks in cash for each of my "Supernatural" dvd seasons (1-3 if anyone's interested), and while I may be able to get more on ebay, I'm just not sure if I want to go to all the trouble.

Still, I've gone to the trouble of ordering free shipping supplies form USPS (which have arrived) and I know exactly how much each item weighs after taking them to be weighed at the post office. I need to get back on ebay to see what steps I'm forgetting. (Oh yeah, I'll need to get my wife's digital camera and have her take and send me pictures of the DVD sets.)

All these little details are just a pain in the butt, when I could get the whole thing over with and take these DVDs to my bookstore. 5-8 bucks is kinda lousy in trade for a DVD tv season, but I can get half that again (or more) if I accept trade credit instead. And although I don't often find something I'm really itching for at that store, I usually run into something to spend money on there every 3-6 months. Choices, choices...

Wonder Woman Theme Song

About ten years ago in college, we used to have a "share time" on Fridays in choir. So here I am with some buddies, standing in front of a bunch of graduate and doctoral students at ASU, sharing my affection for the only woman in my life at that time.

Descent Day!!

Haven't had one in awhile, but my bro-in-law and I are getting together again tomorrow for a "Descent Day"! We're both taking the day off to spend the day killing dragons and collecting treasure.

Well, he'll be doing most of that. I'll be trying to kill him and his miserable band of heroes. But what else is an "Overlord" for, right?

Gotta run! Have to work tonight if I'm gonna play tomorrow!

Boycotting Animals

Gorilla Grodd, an evil genius Gorilla that can talk and build ray guns and stuff, is being featured in this week's issue of Superman/Batman, but I'm not buyin'. I sneaked a look at the last page to confirm it was a self-contained, one-shot story, and felt zero loss about not picking up the book this month.

I hate talking animals. I hate them. That's just all there is to it. And talking animals in comics makes me feel like I'm watching the disney channel.

I usually hate movies that feature animals, too. Horse movies, dog movies, cat movies. Even if they don't talk, I hate when a story revolves around an animal. I just don't get it.

The End.

Death In A Spray Tank!

I discovered this weekend that my house was a little overdue for bug spraying. (While fighting giant spiders in the "Descent" boardgame, we discovered a REAL giant spider walking across the carpet!)

So I mixed up a double dose of the hardcore stuff and sprayed both the inside and outside of my house.

There's something gratifying about seeing bugs come out of their hiding places a few minutes later, as if to apologize for intruding just before they cough twice and die.

District 9 (Movie Review)

This Peter Jackson produced sci-fi flick has been simmering in the kettle for awhile now. But does it live up to the mystique? Hard to say.

My viewing of the film was tainted a bit by rumors I had heard that the flick had a heavy political agenda. I carried that baggage with me until almost the last 20 minutes of the movie, so my mind was a bit distracted and I may have been thinking too hard. So bear with me as I try to compensate for the baggage I brought to the movie and try to fairly review this movie.

The basic premise is that aliens came to earth 20 years ago in horrible physical condition. It's suggested that they were part of some sort of intergalactic "forced labor" and escaped to earth, seeking refuge. Humanity welcomes them and gives them some territory to live in, but then takes advantage of them ecomically, obsessed with gaining the alien's weapons technology. There is also a clear lack of respect, even rascism toward the aliens.

The lead character is a man who works for the oppressive human government, who is infected by alien technology that allows him to make use of the alien's weapons, which humans are normally unable to do. From that point of the movie until the end, various group of people want to either capture, kill, or in some way use him for their own gain.

The story is interesting enough. I was certainly never bored and was actually very invested in the direction of the plot. But I was involved more intellectually than emotionally for most of the film. The script and documentary style just don't lend themselves to helping us get to know these characters.

District 9 looks great from beginning to end. It's use of the documentary film style is striking and helps cover flaws in special effects, much as the camera work did the same for "Battlestar Galactica". The visuals were not cheap, by any standards, but like most CGI effects, they look like CGI effects. The details are great, but the motion looks computer generated. Still, the various weapons, robotics and explosions are fun to watch and most movie fans will likely be impressed or at least pleased.

Adding to the gritty realism this film shoots for is the fact that it is cast with unknowns from top to bottom. A VERY nice change of pace. The acting was wonderful across the board (though a couple "bad guys" were a little cookie-cutter) and during the first 15 minutes of "interviews" I kept wondering how they cast so many small roles with so many believable actors! The lack of a single American accent made me feel just a little like a cultural outsider, but at the same time it brought a wonderful sense of realism to the movie.

As for the relevance of this film to real world issues, it certainly scores well in this category. I can easily see people having worthwhile conversation after watching District 9. But if I were to start a conversation after this film, it wouldn't be about Apartheid or rascsim, issues the script was inspired by. Why? Because aliens are aliens and people are people. The film clearly paints the aliens as victim and the human "segregationists" as bad guys, but I can't firmly put a black hat on the humans for wanting to be separated from the aliens. I think it's certainly wrong to take advantage of and manipulate them, but separation just makes sense. Nowhere in the film was their any discussion of comparitive biology between the aliens and humans. It appears that humans just brought them to earth without making any effort to screen them for possible viruses or diseases that would be potentially harmful to humans. These are alien life forms, for pete's sake! Just opening up their ship may have exposed the world to a deadly airborne virus!

One could argue that I'm being a little too serious about this plot issue and that the movie is not meant to be realistic. Yet the movie, through its gritty content, social themes and documentary style, asks to be considered realistic. If the script included mention of the alien's complete biological safety to humans, then I could condemn their segregation, as I believe the filmakers want me to. Otherwise, I have to side with those who wish the aliens to remain as physically distant from them as possible.

So, if the apartheid comparison doesn't really work, what is there to talk about?

There's a very common catch-phrase floating around today that goes something like "people are basically good". I think we say this of ourselves because the thought of being judged and coming up short is more terrible than we want to deal with. Since the definition of "good" might be debated endlessly, let's assume for the moment that at the very least, a good person will think about and care for others more than themselves. If this is the starting point for a universal definition of "good", then District 9 makes a strong statement against the idea that we are all "basically good". This movie has almost no redeeming human characters. Even the hero spends most of the film serving himself. Every human is after prestige, power, or some form of self-preservation. And although this film is a work a fiction, it reminds us that historically we have shown these traits to be a defining part of our nature. We can strive for goodness, but we've got to deal with our junk along the way.


Quality: 8.5/10

Relevance: 8.5/10

Champions Online

I have NO idea if this game will be any good. But I REALLY hope it is. A Superhero action RPG that I can team up and play with my out of town buddy? Sweet!

And if it's really solid, it will also mark the first time I ever drop cash for an online fee. (Blech.)

But from what I understand, Xbox live is pretty cheap as online services go.

Comes out on PC September 4th. Hopefully the Xbox release won't be much later!

Free Sci-fi/Fantasy Boardgames!

As the "Summer Of Free" begins to wind down, I thought I'd share at least one more bit of free entertainment. Free Boardgames!

They certainly aren't likely to be the best you've ever played, but they're free! Lately I've been revisitng Dwarfstar Games (http://dwarfstar.brainiac.com) and also checking out the options at boardgamegeek.com. (I'd recommend using their search tool, putting "tags" in the filter and typing "free" in the search field. Then have fun!)

Not all free games are worth the time and printer ink to print up and cut out, but not all require extensive construction and you may just find a fun little gem to add to your collection! I've also found some user created lists at boardgamegeek.com that can help you sift through the crap to find the decent games.

Happy hunting!

G.I. Joe (Movie Review)

Although I didn’t collect the toys as a kid, I often watched the G.I. Joe cartoon whenever it came on. I came into this movie experience as a casual fan of “Joe”, but as a big fan of action movies with sci-fi elements.

On one significant front, this movie delivered. If you’re looking for a big action flick with lots of explosions, effects and crazy CGI fight scenes, don’t miss this flick. From beginning to end, viewers are assaulted with visually creative concepts. Gadgets, weapons and sets are often laced with CGI light or electricity. Not much realism in sight, but far from a Schumacher Batman movie.

Costumes are respectful of their cartoon counterparts. They are practical enough for a live action movie, and appropriately stylized for a movie of this type.

So what “type” of movie is this? It’s Michael Bay’s “Transformers” without the immature jokes and juvenile protagonists. Certainly tolerable and at some points enjoyable, but nearly without substance in terms of plot and featuring almost hopelessly shallow characters.

Although, as I mentioned, it is filled to the brim with nifty sci-fi weapons and gadgets, there are no boundaries established regarding what is possible technologically and what is not. As a result, I never feared for anyone's life, because for all I knew, some gadget would be pulled out at any moment that could respond to exactly the peril at hand.

This kind of world can still be fun to visit if the characters are compelling, but none of them really were. A few attempts were made to bring more than two dimensions to Ripcord and Scarlet, but they fell flat. (I also find Marlon Wayans incredibly unfunny, despite his efforts on this or his other films.) Duke and the Baroness had interesting conflict set up between them in the story, but it was instantly fixed late in the movie by another very convenient gadget. The best attempt at characterization was found in the backstory frequently referred to between Snake Eyes and Stormshadow. But the fact that Snake Eyes looks like a giant rubber action figure (complete with rubber nose and lips for some odd reason) kept me from investing much in him as a "real" person.

The only bit of relevance this movie possibly contained. from my perspective, is in a couple of exchanges between Ripcord and Scarlet, where they "almost" discuss the contrast between emotion and logic. But their dialogue is in service to a shallow romantic subplot and doesn't truly explore either of these ideas.

Fans of the original animated G.I. Joe will likely enjoy the ride and appreciate the "nods" to their childhood by way of catch-phrases and the appearance of various characters. This movie will also likely appeal to 'tween and young teen boys. But for those looking for any amount of realism or character development, this movie will be a disappointment.



Quality: 8.0/10

Relevance: 5.0/10

No Budget For Mediocrity

I can't believe I'm actually dropping JSA. After Geoff Johns departed, I was ready for a little different take. Not wanting it, especially, but content to tolerate a change, especially since Johns' run was losing a little of its life near the end.

But the "Fables" writing team of Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges has turned out to be mediocre at best on this book, and I just don't have money in my budget for mediocre. While not especially bad, their characterizations of JSA members have been simplistic and forced. In some small ways, it feels like I'm reading dialogue written for comics in the 60's. Way too much exposition and not near enough character for a book like this one.

It's been announced that Willingham and Sturges will split and each write their own JSA books soon. I'll take a look then and see if one of them can float above water. But for now I'm keeping my cash.

So Say We All

I've said a few times before (though maybe not on this blog) that "Celebrities are today's prophets". By that I mean, they are the ones telling us what we should care about morally and what ideas are valid, spiritually. It's a role we have given them and that many of them seem to embrace. Sometimes they do it through their art, but most of the time they do it on another stage, given to them because their art is loved.

Oprah spews her philosophy regularly and gives plenty of movie stars the chance to do the same on her show. Late night talk shows are not much different in this regard. Actors are sought out for political endorsement, as though they are expert economists that we can all trust. It's not just mindless kiddies in love with their fictional heroes that treat these folks like prophets, it's a frightening number of adults. Some of whom make very important decisions.

I couldn't have been given a more pointed example than when cast members of "Battlestar Galactica" were invited to speak before...get ready for it... The United Nations!!

If you think I'm kidding, jump over to:

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/697830/Battlestar-Galacticas-Edward-James-Olmos-Interview.html

Watch both videos(or at least the shorter UN video) and then come back here. Really, I'll wait...

Olmos actually had the UN chanting "so say we all" in agreement with his words!

Olmos told G4 viewers that the UN, as a result of his words before them, actually changed their charter so that the word "race" will never again be used by them to identify a culture or a people, other than the "human race".

According to Edward James Olmos, they were invited to speak because the show dealt with political issues relevant to the UN.

I thought it was great that the UN made that change to the way they operate! What a positive move toward greater unity! Hear me loud and clear that I think this change is a great thing.

But why did they need a freakin' movie star to motivate this change? Why were actors even there to begin with? Actors and screenwriters are not trained to be international diplomats. Why is the UN not seeking council that might provide moral guidance from... well ANYONE remotely trained to give it??

It could be I'm being too harsh. The UN may have speakers from various helpful backgrounds come to address them with regularity. But it clearly cannot be denied that celebrities have a powerful voice and abiliy to effect us. And not just with entertaining diversions! They have the ability to influence and change the way we think about moral issues!

But can they be trusted with that power? Just a few moments after sharing a poignant truth with G4 viewers, Olmos said that if we go back to using the word "race" to identify cultural groups, we will be "making the biggest mistake in the history of this planet". Really Eddie? The biggest? In the history of the planet?

I don't know about you, but it doesn't ask much of my memory to think of some more horrific human errors.

Sometimes celebrities can be right and encourage wonderful things! But they are often not careful with their words, speaking passionately from their hearts. And when people do that, it's hit or miss, folks.

When it comes to our worldview, the way we define and give value to the elements of life, I think it's vital that we keep our heads screwed on straight and critically discern every idea we encounter, no matter the source. "So say we all."