Brand New Day, Brand New Opinion

Ok, it's been one month now. One month since Marvel decided to toss out twenty years of stories rewriting the entire Spider-man mythos with little to no explanation other than "It's Magic! (*jazz hands*) We don't have to explain it." at the end of the One More Day storyline . My reaction to the story was tempered greatly by the fact that I hadn't really read a run of 616 Spider-man comics in years. Ultimate Spider-man has been the best Spider-title published in the last decade, owing much to the talents and dedication of Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley... who together set a new record in American comics by putting out an uninterrupted run on USM for 111 issues. ( Yes, that's right, 111 issues. Many of them produced much more frequently than monthly.) It's by far one of the best runs of comics of all time. It features a teen-aged Peter Parker much as he was when he was created in the 60's; a teen aged hero with nothing but problems.

Anyway, Joe Quesada (Marvel EIC) didn't like the Parker marriage. He, as do many other writers, to be fair, feels that a married Peter Parker loses much of what makes Spider-man an interesting character. So he decided to chuck it. By having the Parkers make a deal with the Devil (ok, Mephisto, but same thing in the Marvel Universe). Yes, that's right, in the world where no one smokes because that's bad, it's ok for the hero to make a deal with the Devil. Mephisto saved Aunt May's life in exchange for the Parkers never having been married. But they don't remember it either, so it's not like they know any different, right? Oh, and Harry Osbourne is back alive. And Peter never had organic web shooters now. How did the deal to break the marriage affect those two completely independent things as well? You want an explanation? "It's magic! (*jazz hands*)" There ya go. Count me among the eye-rollers.

Now, however terrible that plot device to destroy the Parker marriage may have been, at least the results aren't that bad. I just finished reading Brand New Day, the first storyline in the new Spider-man status quo. And I admit, it feels kinda right. Peter can't get a job, isn't a registered hero, lives with Aunt May, and apparently the only people who actively like him now is the mob. That certainly sounds like Spider-man, even though my entire comic reading life has taken place during the marriage (it originally happened in the early 80's). My initial reaction to the decision was that we already had a perfectly good book about an unmarried Spider-man in USM. I see now that the result is different enough such that it doesn't matter; each maintains a separate identity still, and I can live with that.

I do somewhat miss the marriage from an idealistic stand-point; Peter Parker was a true nerd hero, he married the super-model! Of course, I haven't needed that kind of inspiration for a long time, but the 14 year old inside me is screaming.

Star Wars: The Force Undone?

I've been looking forward to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for quite some time, but with reservations. In certain respects the game appears to be more fanboy circle jerk than an earnest attempt at expanding the Star Wars universe in a manner consistent with what has come before. Witness the character features to the side wielding Lightsaber tonfa. Let that sit in for a second. Lightsaber tonfa. Placing a three foot glowing blade that will cut through pretty much anything severely hampers the versatility for which a tonfa is usually appreciated.

Lately these doubts in the games worth have been contributed to by the unending discussion coming out of the developers about all their efforts to make the physics and AI technologies work together. Most of the promo material we've seen has droned on and on about Havok this, DMM that, and Euphoria the other. I have no real issues with promoting the software technology behind the game. But with such an emphasis being given to the technology I'm starting to wonder if we are getting a game, or a glorified tech demo.

However cautious my enthusiasm for this game is it would be nothing but deception on my part to imply that it isn't enthusiasm which drives my concern. The game does look great, there's no arguing that. And I certainly look forward to playing it. But I haven't played a truly great Star Wars game since Knights of the Old Republic; and the potential is there for Force Unleashed to be the action RPG equivalent to KOTOR. That's what I WANT it to be. But the doubts continue to mount.

I had this plan

A couple weeks ago we went on vacation. Our usual one week in Walt Disney World, this time at Coronado Springs instead of Animal Kingdom Lodge because of the construction going on at AKL on the new Disney Vacation Club building. I was going to update the blog daily with the days happenings, the dining experiences, and the park conditions. That didn't happen, mainly because when I got back to the hotel at the end of the day I found myself, not tired exactly, but fulfilled to the point that I didn't even feel the need to pull out the laptop. So no daily updates, no daily pictures, just some photos of about half the days on the memory card, still needing to be uploaded to picasa.

Which is what I was going to do when I got home, but that monday was a little busy with unpacking, and I never got around to it. The following morning, I got a call on the way in to work that my grandfather was back in the hospital and was looking really bad. Anna said she'd come pick me up at work as soon as I got there (because I was in the carpool). Ten minutes later, I got another call saying that he'd passed away. The last week has been one of the saddest times of my life.

This week we're starting to get things back on track a little. We got a tree yesterday but weren't able to get it inside and into the stand until today. Christmas shopping is halfway done, those who remain are problem children who need to learn to embrace online wish lists. Not to mention all the late falling leaves which I haven't been able to get to yet. But things are coming back together. Maybe soon I'll get the pictures up, and I can write up a small over view of the vacation.

Laugh along @ Jack Thompson

Yeah, I screwed with the embed code so it would fit my blog column size, and it messes with the buttons. But it still plays, so please enjoy.

Louisville has a new home for Breakfast

Wild Eggs on Dutchman's Lane, in the building where Tumbleweed used to be. Best breakfast I've had since Key Lime Bistro on our honeymoon on Captiva Island. Anyone in or visiting Louisville really should give it a try. On our initial visit, I had the Stuffed French Toast (two slices of sourdough bread filled with cream cheese, fresh strawberries, and fresh blue berries, with a healthy portion of whipped cream) and Anna had the Surfer Girl Omelet (filled with avocado, cream cheese, mushrooms, green onions, tomatoes, and topped with alfalfa sprouts) with a side of their grits of the day.

Now, I hate grits. I've never met a grit that I liked. Yesterday morning, I kept stealing bites of Anna's. They were awesome... fresh grits (what a difference that makes) with lots of cheddar, bacon, and tomatoes.

Wild Eggs is definitely going into our rotation. Anna rarely is up early enough for eatting out at breakfast, but after we finished she remarked that she may now have a reason to get up before noon on Saturday....

Disappointment: Kenshin Big Edition volume 1

Just a quick note before I go into work this morning... major disappointment stemming from a much looked forward to manga release. In January Viz are beginning their new Big Edition line of omnibuses containing three volumes in one, restored color pages, and larger trim size. Much like the japanese kanzenban, but with more pages in each volume. I was really looking forward to this line of books for fairly obvious reasons. This morning the cover art for the first volume of the Rurouni Kenshin Big Edition Volume 1 was found on Amazon. Behold:


Glory in the mediocrity... for comparison's sake, please see the cover art from Kanzenban volume 1.


Why Viz? WHY?

Playing Catchup

It's been about a month since I've posted, but I'm pretty sure Alan is the only person reading anyway. Regardless, lots of stuff to catch up on.

When last I posted I'd started going back to the gym. Gym has been replaced by physical therapy sessions for the last three weeks. The ankle joint is feeling largely fine but aches are persisting in my Achilles tendon. Only 38 days from our trip to Disney World now, so I really need to get this cleared up. It's making me quite nervous. Some progress has been made, but not as much as I would have liked. I still have another week of PT, and then it's back into the orthopedists office on 11/5 for what will likely be my final check up with him since the ankle joint itself is pretty much healed up.

The last month has seen a dirth of game purchases. I went a little crazy on Xbox Live Arcade; having added four or five games easily. The biggest surprise for us has been Puzzle Quest. I'd resisted the game on handhelds for quite some time, knowing that it was coming to XBLA in beautiful high definition. Plus, the DS game didn't support multicard play so Anna and I would both need a copy, and we only have one PSP. Clearly XBLA was the only choice for a satisfying multiplayer experience, and this assumption has proven correct.


I'd been under the impression that Puzzle Quest was merely a puzzle game with a thin veneer of RPG elements taped over the interface to provide a new dynamic to the proven Bejewelled style puzzle mechanic. Oh how mistaken I was! The RPG elements are far more robust than I would have expected. You move your character from location to location over a simple Final Fantasy Tactics-styled map. Along the way you fight orcs, trolls, undead, and various mythical beasts. You recruit companions to aid in your fight, capture enemies, and lay siege to neighboring cities. You must invest in the construction of your private citadel by building a dungeon to keep prisoners, a mage tower to research spells, a forge to fashion new items, and much more. And everything is accomplished by completion of puzzles and in competition with NPCs. Puzzle Quest is so much more robust than I could have hoped, and it's proven a real surprise hit with the both of us.

Last Friday I picked up WarTech: Senko no Ronde for 360. It's a fairly niche Japanese title that combines shmup with 1-0n-1 fighter. I was shocked when Ubisoft brought it here. Even MORE shocked that they debuted it at full retail. These niche Japanese games have typically been brought over at a modest $40. I wasn't having it for $60, especially with the busted americanized cover art and horrible new moniker of WarTech (the original title was simply Senko no Ronde, at least they had the decency to leave it as a subtitle). It was reduced to $30 eventually, but I still couldn't part with the cash. Last week saw EB/Gamestop reduce the game to $10, so it became a no brainer.

In the TRU B2G1 sale last weekend, I also picked up skate., Eternal Sonata, and Halo 3. Even though I've never cared much for Halo, I realize this is something people will be playing for the next 5 years easily, so I might as well get some play time in with friends online. I'll get to them when I get finished with Blue Dragon, which I've returned to and managed to finish the first disc, finally. The rest of the game should go faster, I'm giving up on inspecting every last bread box and shrub in the hopes of gaining a tiny fraction of increase in abilities and resources.

That's about all I can stomach wrestling with blogger's poor interface. More updates on the last month tomorrow, perhaps.