If you're a fan of Dark Horse (and really, why shouldn't you be?), you're probably aware of Beasts of Burden. Hopefully that means you've picked up a copy. The 2nd issue just came out this past Wednesday, and the series is shaping up to be a fun read.
The story centers around a group of dogs and a cat in a town called Burden. Before you write this off as another typical dog story, you should know that there's more than meets the eye with this town. These dogs are more BPRD than Milo and Otis. In the tradition of books like The Walking Dead, it's best not to get too attached to characters.
The book, penned by Evan Dorkin and beautifully drawn by Jill Thompson (of Scary Godmother fame), isn't the first appearance of these characters. They first appeared in stories in two of the Dark Horse Book of the... series. I know it's in the Dark Horse Book of the Dead, but I'm not sure about the other one.
Pick up the first two issues of this series, if you can find them. It's a great paranormal story in the Dark Horse tradition.
When it rains, it pours on this blog. :)
If you are in the Knoxville area and want to get your geek on, head up to Pigeon Forge to AdventureCon. I'm excited about the prospect of seeing Jason Mewes, John Schneider, and Micky Dolenz in person! (Hopefully it won't be as disturbing as the summer show, where William Katt told this really inappropriate story about a rape scene cut from Carrie. I assume it was from Carrie. Can't imagine that would have been something cut from Greatest American Hero.)
Mostly I'm excited about the prospect of perusing longboxes of back issues and keeping my fingers crossed for that sweet deal on some cool vinyl toys.
Oh! Speaking of vinyl toys--my Medicom Where the Wild Things Are Carol VCD came in yesterday. He is beautiful! Pair that with my Teela and Ray from Matty that came in today, and it's been a good week to be a geek.
Last Saturday was one of the best Saturdays ever, even if it was the last Saturday of my vacation. Before viewing Where the Wild Things Are, and after a lovely meal at Jack's City Grill, Mr. Geeky V and I headed to the Johnson City Family Skate Center for the Little City Roller Girls' meet and greet, Get Down and Derby! It has been a loooooong time since I set foot in a skating rink. We found a seat and waited for the presentation to start. After a brief overview of derby in general, the girls talked about how to join. Then a brief intermission, and a scrimmage featuring girls from Little City, Blue Ridge Rollergirls and Hard Knox Rollergirls started. And then it hit me. I have got to try this! I talked to one of the girls at the t-shirt booth who is herself "Fresh Meat". She gave me a sheet to fill out and graciously answered my questions. I quickly filled it out and handed it back in.
Because I'm a giant nerd, when I'm interested in something, I do ungodly amounts of research. I have read more information about derby than I care to admit, and in doing so, have talked myself into trying it. I also know there's a lot of training I need to do, in addition to attending practices. Time will tell if I'm able to make it past Fresh Meat (I hope! I hope!). At the very least it's motivated me to get off my ass and do something. That's not to say I won't still read comics, play video games, and watch movies like it's my job. I'll still be the Geeky Vixen you know, but I'll have a better ass and a badass alter ego. ;)
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Now playing: The Chordettes - Lollipop (Squeak E. Clean & Desert Eagles Remix)
via FoxyTunes
Last weekend we saw Where the Wild Things Are. I loved it so much. Here are the things I knew I would love going in:
- Spike Jonze's handmade, organic look and feel. The guy can do everything: music videos, dressing up like an old lady on Jackass, movies, everything. I admire his touch.
- The monsters. This book and the Muppets made me love monsters at a very young age. As a kid I was the girl who was more afraid of lions than winged monkeys and actually wanted a monster under my bed.
- Catherine Keener. She is not afraid of weird roles (see Being John Malkovich), and she plays drama as well as comedy (see 40-Year-Old Virgin: "You want me to dress up like Thor? I'll dress up like Thor!")
Bottom line? Take someone you love to see this film. You'll laugh, you'll cry (or at least I did), and you'll remember what it's like to be a little kid in a big unfair world.
And promise me this, gentle readers. When you go see the movie, use my favorite quote on someone you love: "I'll eat you up, I love you so."
I have never been one to attend a sneak preview of a movie. I usually say, "Oh, I'll just wait a week." Not so with Whip It. A few posts ago I posted the trailer for this film, and, given my interest in roller derby, I've been excited about it since. After the rain changed our plans, we decided to give it a shot (plus, there was a free t-shirt in it for us). We got to the theater early, and took our seats. Soon after, our local roller derby girls showed up to peep the film. And that was pretty much it: me, Mr. Geeky V, our friends, and the roller girls. I don't know if it was the rain or Fame, but people weren't interested apparently.
They missed out. Honestly, this film was inspiring and beautiful in the most dangerous way. Drew Barrymore kicks ass as a director, and Ellen Page does a bang-up job as our heroine. For those of you who haven't seen the trailer, the story follows a teenager whose mom drags her to beauty pageants. Bliss (Page) sneaks off to Austin with her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat in a role that rivals her work on Arrested Development) to a roller derby bout. She falls in love with the sport and after the bout tells Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig) that they are her new heroes. Maggie says, "Well, put on some skates and be your own hero." (Incidentally, one of the Hard Knox Roller Girls said something similar to me at AdventureCon this summer.) Needless to say Bliss, after a training montage, becomes one of the Hurl Scouts, and the rest, well, you'll just have to see for yourself.
The movie is funny, inspiring, girl power goodness. Guys will enjoy it for the girl fights, and girls will go join their local roller derby league the next day. The message is not heavy-handed or cliche at all. And the soundtrack rocks (see "Pot Kettle Black" by Tilly and the Wall).
This is definitely one not to miss. Girls, grab your tribe, and head to the theater. By the way, the t-shirt kicks ass, too.
By the way, after the movie, one of the roller girls invited me and my friend to a practice. I'll keep you posted if I decide to go. :)
So sorry it's been a while since my last review, but life has gotten in the way of making plans for the reviews. It's late and I'm sleepy, so this is gonna be brief. I just had to jump on and say a few words about the new game Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Holy Next Gen, Batman! (I'm playing it on the 360.) When comics and video games, my two favorite things in all the world collide, I'm a happy geeky vixen. When the baby that they make is Arkham Asylum, well, it's a whole new level of happy. I had played the demo when they released it, but it couldn't have prepared me for how great this game is (so far).
We bought the game for Mr. GV, and in all honesty I was excited about the game, but not really about playing it. But let me give you some background about me and Batman. The first superhero comic I really got into was Batman and the Outsiders, and my mom and I went to see the Michael Keaton Batman flick three or 4 times. I watched the old Adam West show, collected Topps cards--I was a fangirl. I loved Wonder Woman, but I was captivated by the Dark Knight. Then the animated series came out, and though I was too old for cartoons, I watched it. I fell in love with Harley Quinn and Paul Dini's writing.
Which brings me to the beginning of the review. The opening cinematic is long, yes, but it really gives you a sense of just how far into the mouth of madness Bats is going. Intermittently along the side credits are rolling, and one in particular caught my eye: Paul Dini is the writer. OK, I'm in. :) Pair that with Kevin Conroy (the voice of animated Batman) and Mark Hamill's Joker, and it's like playing inside an M-rated episode of Batman: The Animated Series. The look of the game is shadowy and dark. The people are a little moist-looking, but that's a small complaint.
Gameplay is extremely user-friendly, at least on Normal. It requires three-dimensional thinking, which takes me some getting used to, but when you're Batman, you have to be a detective and know your surroundings. Features like Detective Mode help you distinguish enemies from victims, and even help you navigate through the asylum. Combat is what you'd expect if you know Batman--hand-to-hand or stealthy takedowns for the most part, but there are some ways you can use Arkham itself to take out inmates. This game is making me better at sneaking around, something I've never been good at in those Tom Clancy games.
In addition to combat and sneakiness, you also have the opportunity to solve 240 riddles from the brain of Edward Nigma himself. I've solved some of them, but in the course of the story it's difficult to take time out from the action to solve a riddle, so I'm guessing there will be a fair amount of backtracking once I've beaten the game. If you're an avid comic reader, especially in the Batman (or the very least the DC) universe, you should be able to answer them fairly easily. The riddles add a nice element to the game, and some of them lead to unlockable rewards.
According to the game I'm at 11% completion, which is cool, b/c that means I'm going to be spending more time in Batman's world than I anticipated. As big of a nerd as I am, though, I can totally see this game having replayability out the wazoo.
Bottom line is this: if you're a gamer and a fan of comics, you'd be remiss in skipping this one. It definitely has something for the comic lover in you. I think this one has mass appeal as well with its unique combination of hand-to-hand combat, cool gadgets, and sneaking around a madman's playground. That being said, though, there are enough delicious comic morsels to satisfy even Comic Book Guy.
It's late, so I'm signing off before my head hits the keyboard. I've got some comics reviews to post, but they will have to wait. Until next time, gentle readers!
