A vital question for all of the comics universe:
*Ok, I’ve never gotten that “Anarchy for the Masses” companion book for Grant Morrison’s “The Invisibles”, and it seems that there’s two versions: one from Mad Yak Press and a later ‘revised’ edition from The Disinformation Company with the new subtitle “The Disinformation Guide to the Invisibles”. So what are the revisions? I know there’s a new cover by Frank Quitely and some new illustrations by various folk, but are their any significant text additions or subtractions? Inquiring minds want to know.
*There was more than just the collected “Epileptic” at the Major Chain Bookstore yesterday, there was also the brand new forty-first issue of Michael J. Weldon’s mighty “Psychotronic Magazine”, which is released two or so times per year. This issue features a fun feature article exploration of George W. Bush’s involvement with Silver Screen Partners (he sat on the board for nearly a decade), and the many varied films they produced over the years. Weldon (perhaps with tongue a wee bit in cheek) theorizes that Bush’s low-work big-profit position was part of a complex Karl Rove-helmed plot to attain the governor’s seat in Texas. Apparently the final film that Our Current President was connected to in this capacity was the Dudley Moore/Bronson Pinchot epic “Blame it on the Bellboy”, which would provide a fitting capstone to anyone’s career in the cinema. Plus, feature interviews with Conny van Dyke of “Hell’s Angels ‘69", Robert Fuest, director of “The Abominable Dr. Phibes” and various episodes of “The Avengers” and “The New Avengers”, and Ken Norton, who once won the NABF Heavyweight Title from Muhammad Ali and went on to star in stuff like “Mandingo” and its sequel “Drum”. And don’t forget the dozens and dozens of short reviews for all sorts of movies that you’ve probably never heard of, but will be glad you’ve learned more about. I love how Seduction Cinema has won their own private little review area titled ‘Erotic?’. If you’ve ever read Weldon’s “The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film” or "The Psychotronic Video Guide", these reviews are essentially lengthy additions to those books, in much the same format. “The Psychotronic Video Guide” in particular, though prone to the occasional factual gaffe, is one of those books I find myself continually find myself flipping through, cross-referencing everything, occasionally reading stuff at random, and it’s sitting on my lap whenever I go through a batch of trailers on a Something Weird release or any similar compilation. And don’t miss the familiar art of Dan Clowes and Drew Friedman on those article headers!
*Also polished off the main game of “Ratchet and Clank”, and since I was such a good boy and didn’t cheat at all on my initial play-through, it’s off to GameFAQs to guide me to all the secret items and skill points. I really liked the game, even if most of the ten billion weapons were pretty much unnecessary, which is generally how I wind up feeling about mega-volume weapons games (it was just the wrench, the plain-ol’ blaster, the guided rockets, and the occasional Glove of Doom for me). I also loved how you have the option of obtaining an ‘ultimate’ weapon (in keeping with the game’s style, you have to buy it on the black market), but it’s not at all necessary to win the game. The structure of the game is pretty stage-driven, with each planet you explore essentially providing the next ‘level’, and there’s even the occasional vital item laying around in the open for little reason other than the fact that it needs to be there for the game to proceed. Yet despite all of this, the game’s ‘world’ proves to be pretty deep, with little elements and throwaway mentions early on paying off later (like the fact that almost all of your weapons are created by the same arms manufacturer, the corporate headquarters of which you wind up visiting later in the game), and nice little touches scattered throughout (once you get a PDA, you can order new ammo instantly at any point in the game; once you actually try it, doubtlessly in the heat of battle, you suddenly notice that the bastards have tacked on a hefty service charge). It was good.
*There was more than just the collected “Epileptic” at the Major Chain Bookstore yesterday, there was also the brand new forty-first issue of Michael J. Weldon’s mighty “Psychotronic Magazine”, which is released two or so times per year. This issue features a fun feature article exploration of George W. Bush’s involvement with Silver Screen Partners (he sat on the board for nearly a decade), and the many varied films they produced over the years. Weldon (perhaps with tongue a wee bit in cheek) theorizes that Bush’s low-work big-profit position was part of a complex Karl Rove-helmed plot to attain the governor’s seat in Texas. Apparently the final film that Our Current President was connected to in this capacity was the Dudley Moore/Bronson Pinchot epic “Blame it on the Bellboy”, which would provide a fitting capstone to anyone’s career in the cinema. Plus, feature interviews with Conny van Dyke of “Hell’s Angels ‘69", Robert Fuest, director of “The Abominable Dr. Phibes” and various episodes of “The Avengers” and “The New Avengers”, and Ken Norton, who once won the NABF Heavyweight Title from Muhammad Ali and went on to star in stuff like “Mandingo” and its sequel “Drum”. And don’t forget the dozens and dozens of short reviews for all sorts of movies that you’ve probably never heard of, but will be glad you’ve learned more about. I love how Seduction Cinema has won their own private little review area titled ‘Erotic?’. If you’ve ever read Weldon’s “The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film” or "The Psychotronic Video Guide", these reviews are essentially lengthy additions to those books, in much the same format. “The Psychotronic Video Guide” in particular, though prone to the occasional factual gaffe, is one of those books I find myself continually find myself flipping through, cross-referencing everything, occasionally reading stuff at random, and it’s sitting on my lap whenever I go through a batch of trailers on a Something Weird release or any similar compilation. And don’t miss the familiar art of Dan Clowes and Drew Friedman on those article headers!
*Also polished off the main game of “Ratchet and Clank”, and since I was such a good boy and didn’t cheat at all on my initial play-through, it’s off to GameFAQs to guide me to all the secret items and skill points. I really liked the game, even if most of the ten billion weapons were pretty much unnecessary, which is generally how I wind up feeling about mega-volume weapons games (it was just the wrench, the plain-ol’ blaster, the guided rockets, and the occasional Glove of Doom for me). I also loved how you have the option of obtaining an ‘ultimate’ weapon (in keeping with the game’s style, you have to buy it on the black market), but it’s not at all necessary to win the game. The structure of the game is pretty stage-driven, with each planet you explore essentially providing the next ‘level’, and there’s even the occasional vital item laying around in the open for little reason other than the fact that it needs to be there for the game to proceed. Yet despite all of this, the game’s ‘world’ proves to be pretty deep, with little elements and throwaway mentions early on paying off later (like the fact that almost all of your weapons are created by the same arms manufacturer, the corporate headquarters of which you wind up visiting later in the game), and nice little touches scattered throughout (once you get a PDA, you can order new ammo instantly at any point in the game; once you actually try it, doubtlessly in the heat of battle, you suddenly notice that the bastards have tacked on a hefty service charge). It was good.
posted by Jog at 10:17 PM
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