Big Machine by Victor LaValle is, on the face of it, a rollicking old-school adventure. It subjects the reader to layers of complex character history; desperately dragging you along to the dénouement, but leaves you wanting more and in a thoughtful state of mind. It is that classic trope, extraordinary things happening to seemingly ordinary folk. But are they all they seem? Ricky Rice is a middle aged man in a dead end job. He has a dark history of drugs and broken relationships. He is the sole survivor of a tiny cult known as the Washerwomen who re-wrote the…
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I’m walking down the street, soda in hand, when I trip and nearly sprawl face-first into the concrete. My drink spills everywhere, the sickly yellow-green sheen of Mountain Dew coating the sidewalk and my clothes. “Well,” I think, “it could have been worse. I could have rolled a critical fumble.” Yes, my fellow geeks, this is how my mind works. In my everyday life, I go around pretending that RPG statistics have real-world applications. If I need to play an instrument, I have to pass a Dexterity check. If I have to lie to a police officer, I’ve got to…
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When The Hangover was released in 2009 it quickly became a sort of phenomenon. No one wanted to be the person in the office that didn’t get the joke, so soon the word of mouth made it a smash hit despite having a cast of relative unknowns. The writing was on point with jokes that seemed to hit at least once a minute. Not only did the jokes come fast and furiously, but they were belly laugh inducing. Unfortunately, The Hangover 2′s writing just falls flat. There are some very funny moments in the newest installment of the Hangover franchise,…
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Last week I introduced you to the world of designer toys. This week we are going to meet one of my favorite artists that constantly produces some of the most fantastic custom designer toys available, Jon Paul Kaiser. I met Jon on the Kidrobot forums quite a while ago and became a fast fan. The Kidrobot forums are a great place to meet and interact with other collectors and art lovers. There are always a plethora of images to introduce you to new and fantastic pieces, and some of the collections that users show off are just incredible. A trip…
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In September 1997, The Verve released what would become their biggest album ever. Urban Hymns became one of the best-selling albums of the year, earning nearly-unanimous critical praise, and has since regularly gained respectable placements on British “greatest albums of all time” media lists. Normally, I can simply shake my head at the vagaries that lead to such an album gaining a legacy like this, but in the case of Urban Hymns, I’m left with one nagging fact that prevents me from moving on: the album is a bad album. Now, I don’t mean a bad album in a Steps-this-music-is-so-tacky-it’s-almost-acceptable…
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By now, you’ve probably all read more than you ever thought you would about Sony’s PlayStation Network and the problems that have plagued it in recent weeks. In case you haven’t, the short version is that the security of user account details was compromised and millions of users’ names, email addresses, and encrypted credit card details were stolen. Over the past few days, the PlayStation Network was brought back online and a reasonable generous “Welcome back”/”Sorry we screwed up” package has been offered to customers. However, we learned today that the password reset page that Sony is rightly recommending their…
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Comics as post-modernism? Sure, why not? I think Marvel 1985 is a fair attempt; it might even be called meta-fiction — self-awareness as fiction. Originally published in a run of six issues in 2008, Mark Millar’s love letter to Marvel appears to be set in the real world. That is our world, not any of the previous Marvel Universes. We have characters set in 1985, and 1964 in flashback, and reading Marvel comics. Unfortunately for our protagonists, the Marvel super-villains have somehow broken through from the fictional Marvel universe to our real one. It is 1985 and comic book geek…
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Rain and technical delays were no match for the mighty fans at Nelsonville Music Festival this year. 2011 marked the seventh annual festival hosted on the grounds of Hocking College and if this year’s event is any indication there will be many more to come in the future. The words that were on the lips of everyone I spoke to was “laid back.” There was a wonderful small festival feel despite the massive star power that NMF packed this year. People were friendly, the talent was accessible and the staff (largely comprised of volunteers) seemed sincerely happy to be there….
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