Skyrim

I have spent most of this weekend in Skyrim and to be honest really wish i didn't have to work Monday so i could play some more. This game is, as you probably already know, amazing. It takes everything great about Oblivion and adds so much more. The setting is beautiful, taking influence from Nordic legends, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones to name a few.

15 hours in and the game definitely has a few problems but the good outweighs the bad so much that it hardly matters that the odd mammoth here and there starts moon walking. The amount i know im going to get out of this makes it hard to think of anything else that is such value for money. Forty quid for hundreds of hours of first class entertainment. When i look back at the first RPG that hooked me i am amazed how far we have come. It was Dungeon Master on the Atari ST and as you can see things have changed alot in 24 years!

The bottom one is Skyrim by the way!
http://www.elderscrolls.com/

Actually, why the hell am i writing this! Im going back in for a few hours before bedtime!!

Anime in the U.K. (an extremely short history)

I loved Battle of the Planets as a kid, it seemed so much cooler than other cartoons like Banana Man and Super Ted. At the time i didn't realise it was actually Japanese in origin. Its funny but looking back now a lot of my favourites were either Anime or based on a series that originated in Japan, such as Robotech and Transformers.

Then in the early 90's Manga Video introduced me to whole new world i never new existed, the preview trailer alone blew my tiny little mind.

I loved films like Fist of the North Star and Battle Angel Alita but more importantly if it wasn't for Manga Video most of us over here would never have seen the masterpiece that is Akira.

Since then things have only got better. More and more films have been released over here, and around the same time they come out in Japan. Beautifully translated and subtitled rather than badly dubbed and 5 years old. If you are new to Anime you can't go far wrong by starting with the Ghost in the Shell films, visually stunning and set in an amazingly detailed Science Fiction world.

And for anyone still not convinced, whats not to like about giant mechs beating the crap out of each other!

Captain America Annual #8 1986

This afternoon I'm in the loft still trying to sort out this:

Ive been coming up here on and off for months and don't seem to be getting anywhere. I think its because i keep stopping to read gems like this:

 

Captain America Annual 8 from 1986. This issue features a great team up between  Cap and Wolvie. The story involves a villan called The Overrider and his robot TESS. TESS stands for Total Elimination of Super-Soldiers, a project proposed by Prof Daniel Schumann to keep the Super-soldiers in check after the war. As it turns out Cap was the only Super-Soldier created and the project was scrapped. Forty years later a mutant called Richard Rennselaer, A.K.A. Overrider has control of a TESS robot that Prof Schumann had completed in secret.

The Overrider plans to take control of Americas nuclear missiles and bury them on the ocean floor. He is doing all this as his son suffers from "Nuclear Psychosis, an overwhelming dread that the world will end at any moment".

 

At the end Cap gives Wolverine a speech condoning his methods and telling him The Avengers would never have him, which is quite ironic as The Ol' Canucklehead seems to be on every team going at the moment!

A great old school comic, written by Mark Gruenwald with great artwork by Mike Zeck.

Shaolin.

Only a couple of weeks until the U.K release of this amazing looking film.

Jackie Chan and Andy Lau, epic.

New Comic Book Day!

 

Good haul today, particularly looking forward to reading the new Daredevil and Punisher books. I try to pick up my standing order every 2 weeks so the next fortnights reading will be:

Daredevil #1

Punisher #1

X-Men Legacy #252

Uncanny X-Force #12

X-Men Schism #2

Astonishing X-Men #40

Secret Warriors #28

Uncanny X-Men #541

Secret Avengers #15

Wolverine #13

Amazing Spider-man #666

Fear Itself FF One Shot

Avengers #15

X-Men #15

Moon Knight #4

The Dark Tower - The Gunslinger #3

American Vampire #17

plus the free DC comics new 52 preview comic.

I'm really enjoying American Vampire, plus as a fan of the Dark Tower books the comics are always a good read. Four of the Marvel titles are Fear Itself tie ins which can be a bit hit and miss, i really like the core stories during big events but the tie ins seem a bit tacked on.  I'm mostly a Marvel kinda guy but flicking through the DC new 52 preview I'm considering giving a few titles a try, Jim Lee's art on Justice League is beautiful and i always loved WildC.A.T.S so will definitely be picking up Grifter. Anyway, gotta go. Comics dont read themselves!

Marvel Comics Civil War.

I missed Civil War when it first ran in 2006. I stopped collecting in the late 90's and started again a few years back. So Amazon selling the hardback collection half price was an excellent opportunity to catch up. Having just finished reading it i can say it definitely lives up to everything i have heard about it. Firstly, the basic plot premise of superheroes split by a superhuman registration act allows for some really good character work. This is only helped by the fact that Millar obviously loves all these characters as much as us the readers do. As much as you don't want too see old friendships divided, the opportunity to see Marvels big guns going head to head is too good to miss. The quality of Steve McNivens artwork is amazing and easily an equal for the writing. All good crossovers feature colossal fight scenes and McNiven handles these beautifully.

This is as much fun as the original Secret Wars.  I will definitely be giving this a second reading, and soon. If your a comic fan and haven't read this then it is definitely worth a look. If your a Marvel fan seeing all your favourite heroes go toe to toe is a fanboys dream come true.

Next, Siege!

P.S. the hardcover is damn sexy and has lots of extra content other than the main story.

Alien Trilogy U.K. VHS boxset.

This is one legendary box set. Released in 1993 as a Limited Edition it included a  t shirt which mine is sadly missing. I do however have everything else which includes:


Four VHS cassettes, one for each film plus the making of Alien 3.

Twelve art prints, four from each film.

A booklet covering the making of all three films.

Three badges, one for each film.

A flyer advertising the Alien War live experience which ran at the Trocadero centre in London. Plus a 2 for 1 entry pass for the same event.

 

And a certificate showing the Limited Edition number.

This is how all box sets should be. When you are paying money for films you probably already have a box set has to be extra special, and this one is. The case is beautifully designed, the life size facehugger is exquisitely detailed. The artwork contained in the prints and booklet is amazing. The badges are a nice little extra and the Alien War flyer brings back good memories of going there with my cousin in the mid 90's. If your an Alien fan and don't already have this i recommend you keep an eye on Ebay for one. And if anyone happens to have two of the t shirts, can i buy one?

Follow the link for a great vid of this box set by Discjunkie tv.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0QD6ERyod8&feature=player_embedded

Rutger Hauer loves Pez?

Welcome. I have created this blog out of curiosity. I use various social websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram but have never had a blog and have decided to give one a try. This may or may not last, but while it does the main theme will be things i have collected in my 35 years as a "geek". The reason for the strange title? As i sat  in the loft creating this blog and coming up with title after title that had already been taken, i looked up at a bookshelf and saw a Boba Fett pez dispenser stood next too a copy of Blind Fury on VHS. And so i found a title so random that it wasn't being used anywhere across the whole of the interweb.