I'm Trick or Beat

What my rather forced pun-based title is trying to say is that I'm sort of tired of Halloween related stuff. It probably has something to do with the fact that me and Aiden had a little horror movie marathon over the weekend. I find that I obsess over the horror genre for most of the month of October, then I usually get kinda depressed afterwards (horror can be a pretty negative genre) and usually spend most of November watching upbeat comedies (Steve Martin's the Jerk is always a pick-me-up) . But nonetheless I love a good horror story when I'm in the mood for it.

Frankly, I was very tempted to purchase a $64 hardcover of Weird Science which collected the first twenty issues of the classic '50's anthology series from EC comics, a company known for it's incredibly edgy story-telling that inspired countless writers and film-makers. Surprisingly, the book is being released by Gemstone, a company that publishes almost exclusively Disney-related material. I have to applaud Gemstone for their fine treatment of the material: the book itself is quite handsome, the coloring has been cleaned up and for each book they've gotten a HUGE name to do a forward for the books. Well, not all of the books. Weird Science has a foreword by George Lucas, Crime SuspenStories will have a foreword by Steven Spielberg and Tales from the Crypt will have a foreword by John Carpenter. Now I guess I'm making to much of a big deal out of famous creators saying that an acclaimed comic is cool but I just appreciate that these lauded creators are giving thanks to the comics that inspired them. Maybe I'm just looking for more people to legitimize my favourite medium.

My one problem is that the first volume of Vault of Horror has a foreword by Goosebumps creator RL Stine. Really? Don't get me wrong, I read his Goosebumps books in elementary school and enjoyed them at the time, but he's really not that great of a writer. I guess he's still popular, and I have no problem with him thanking those comics for inspiring him, but shouldn't someone... better do a foreword there?

Still, as I've stated I've never even read an EC comic yet of seen enough bits and pieces of the books as well as pastiches and homages to fall in love with the books and their tragic history. But it's sort of like talking about how Citizen Kane is the greatest film of all time without having seen it, but have seen countless references to it and documentaries about it. I really should get this book but... $64! Geez. Looks like you're on my Christmas list.

Anyhoo, Aiden and I watched some horror flicks over the weekend to sate our horror lust and while most of the movies floundered (despite being famous) they were fun.

The first one we watched was Cube Zero, the prequel to the clever (though imperfect) Canadian sci-fi horror film Cube. For those of you who don't know, the premise of Cube is that people wake up finding themselves in a cube with doors on each side that leads to a similar room (though some of them are trapped). There is no food or water, but there is a pattern to the cubes that hint at an exit. Cube Zero tries to do some interesting things, but ultimately fails. The biggest problem is the unbelievably silly villain who is essentially (as Aiden pointed out) the same bad guy from Last Action Hero. It really feels like a relatively good Cube prequel is being interrupted by a really bad episode of Lexx (and keep in mind I like Lexx). I do like how it ties into the first film, but it really wasn't worth the movie. The first one worked better because we are given very little information about what the Cube is and the viewers only have the characters' theories and their own to work with, while this film just tells you how and why the Cube is. Disappointing.

Friday the 13th was pretty funny, but that wasn't really what they were going for. Don't get me wrong, there are parts of this movie that are scary, but I just don't like the characters enough to want them to win. Also, Ralph, the local loony who tells the kids there all doomed is hilarious and really should have appeared in the movie more. "You're all doomed... DOOMED!" I don't think the film makers intended him to be as funny as I found him but I still think the writers wanted us to laugh at him a little. On the negative side, we see Kevin Bacon's ass and various guys dressed as nevernudes. If you're gay and you're looking for a healthy mix of horror, titillation and Ralph, then I highly recommend it. Still, the final battle is a bit silly and drags on due to the fact that the Last Girl is constantly given chances to either finish off or further subdue the killer but she doesn't take them. The pattern goes like this: girl is chased and cornered by killer, girl finds something to beat the crap out of the killer who drops the weapon, doubles over and seems to be temporarily knocked out or stunned or something, girl runs away some where else with no real plan. This happens like three times and it gets pretty tiring.

Hellraiser was also rather disappointing, especially because I liked the only book I read by Clive Barker. Said book was The Thief of Always and when I read it it quickly became obvious that the book was aimed at younger readers, but I still enjoyed the book quite a bit. Hellraiser, however, is just sort of boring. It's about some jerk named Frank who opens a portal to the afterlife in a run down house and finds himself facing grotesque divine torture at the hands of the Cenobites (not to be confused with Cinnabites, which are a delicious cinnamon treat). Later, Frank's brother moves in with his ice cold wife who secretly had an affair with Frank. A twist of fate has Frank partially resurrected and he convinces his Sister-in-Law to seduce poor idiots so she can take them home and Frank can kill them and drink their blood, which will give him more flesh. Unfortunately, because this is Britain, any scene of passion in this movie is about as sexy as a luke warm fish. Any scene where people are kissing was about as sexy as church. Characters talk about sex but when I look at them I can imagine it being anything by dry, cold and uninteresting. I mean, for a film about pleasure and pain they could have tried to spice it up a bit. And I'm not even asking the characters to be attractive. I just need to believe that these characters would fuck each other.

Finally, we watched Land of the Dead, which was easily the best movie of the four that me and Aiden watched. A lot of Dead fans didn't like this movie but I thought it was a great way to end the franchise, even if the characters weren't all that deep this time around (I can't speak for Day of the Dead, which I have yet to see) but I like the story and it is surprisingly the most upbeat of them. I actually like the fact that the zombies have evolved and have become tool users and in a way shows that the zombies are actually close to becoming human. Sure that might take some of the scariness out of the zombie concepts, but it makes the film more interesting over all. The humans aren't that interesting this time around but there is a lot of great moments. There's a scene in which a character is given a choice between being shot and becoming a zombie and I found it interesting that he chose the zombie, wanting to know "how the other half lives". Not nearly as good as Dawn of the Dead, but still pretty good.

Well, most of the films weren't great, but being able to laugh derisively at them with a friend made it much more enjoyable.

Japan in the Ass

In the event that there is someone who has not been told, I will be spending my next year in Japan, teaching English as a second language with NOVA.

Well, I'm going to Japan for a year provided I get all of my documents in order before this upcoming Tuesday. I know I shouldn't worry and that everything will probably be OK, but I'm a worrier. I worried about this much before getting ready for the interview and now I feel worry again. Worry!

Anyhoo, I got some stuff done today: I was told that I should be getting my passport in two to three business days, which makes me less worried (since I forgot that I could ask them to hurry up for about thirty dollars) but Dad (as my guarantor) said he hadn't recieved a phone call about it yet and that he should have if it was sent out. Worry.

Later I got my set of original transcripts from my university. I also got six more passport photos, when it would have been much cheaper to get 8 when I got the actual photos for my passport. I was out in the rain so when I got to the photo place, my hair was all wet and the resulting picture looked like I had a really greasy comb-over. Yuck!

Frankly, this kind of stuff is driving me mad because I end up second guessing every move I make and am just not sure if I'm doing it all correctly. I'm already planning to spend all of tomorrow filling out all of the documents and double checking to make sure I have everything I need. Worry.

But I am still looking forward to Japan with great enthusiasm. I just know that I'll be able to do a good job on this and that I'll be able to thrive in the culture despite the language gap. I'm not saying it will be easy, but I've had the experience (albeit long ago) of living in a non-English speaking country for a length of time. And frankly, I just need a change in my life and a chance to do some real fulfilling work.

In many ways I'm not sure what to expect when I get there, but I'm told it's pretty easy to buy English literature at a book store and I'm planning to get the Internet (and a computer) for my room on the first few days before (hopefully) my work begins. I know that if I didn't then it would just bug the Hell out of my parents simply becuase I'd be even harder to get a hold of.

I will be living with two other teachers so I won't have to worry too much about being alone. Still, I have know idea if I'll be able to stand these people (or vice versa), but it's probably than living alone. I just think I'd end up becoming a creepy introvert or something. I still have no idea where I'll be living tonight, but frankly, I think I'd be happy anywhere, hot or cold. My parents are already talking about visiting me next Christmas. It would be pretty easy for my sister if she's still going to be staying in New Zealand.

The hours look interesting as well and look like they will range from 4 to 8 hours days on different days of the week (of course, that's just based on an example schedule) and the days I'll get off will most likely be in the middle of the week, which should make things interesting. It was also hinted that I'll probably doing a lot of karaoke as it's common for emp-loyees to hit the bars and go to parties together. Frankly, I think there's no better way to socialize than to massacre songs together while wasted. It's a real bonding experience. Frankly, I've never been involved with work that really allowed me to really get to know my co-workers, so I think I'll appreciate that.

I still don't know quite what to expect when I get there but I highly doubt any culture shock since I'm very much used to being in different cultures and am a lot more mature than when I started (imagine being a "picky eater" type kid when you're living in another country). I really feel like I'm going to be involved with something important to me and that I can finally make the next big step in my life.

Holy Alliance!

The more I hear about the upcoming Marvel: Ultimate Alliance game, the more I like. It looks like it's going to be a lot more polished than the previous X-Men Legends games. Don't get me wrong, those games were a lot of fun, but I had a few issues with them, and usually towards the end of each area, I found myself bored (especially in the first game, since there were only a few locations), though the boss battles were usually pretty good. Now, I'm not expecting Ultimate Alliance to be perfect, but I am expecting it to be a lot of fun.

Now, I'm not good at describing play mechanics like Jordan is, but I'm excited about the use of the Wii-mote to fight and use super-powers, but I'm still not sure what to expect exactly from the Wii-mote. The descriptions sort of paint a picture but I'm so use to classic controllers that I can't imagine it as feeling natural. Still, based on how great the DS is I'm optimistic.

I also appreciate that the "costumes" you can get for your characters not only give you different stats but also different characters. For example, if you have Captain America, one of his costumes is the U.S.Agent, Cap's less-than-stable replacement. With Thor, you can get a Beta Ray Bill "costume" so you can fight as Thor's oddly-named, hideous rival/ally. Hopefully they'll be a few more costume choices this time. The last X-Men game was good but I was very disappointed when they didn't include Jim Lee's X-Men costumes (which were popular with fans and appeared in the 90's X-Men cartoon) but they had hideous costumes that look like they belong to action figures that don't exist. Night Attack Wolverine indeed. My only real costume-related beef is that this game is clearly taking place in the classic Marvel universe, yet Thor is wearing his admittedly cool ultimate costume. I have less of an issue with using the Ultimate Nick Fury (which seems very likely) because he's just Samuel L Jackson with an eyepatch and therefore awesome.

Now all twenty playable characters have not been revealed yet, but I already take issue with Blade and Elektra being playable characters. Maybe if they were unlockable, but I'd rather they used Daredevil and Black Widow rather than a couple of untrustworthy murderers who don't really belong on any main stream super-team. Aside from that, however, it sounds like a great line-up. Still, I'm curious about the notable exception of the Hulk from the initial line-up, which makes me suspect the Hulk might be a major plot point within the game (a boss/unlockable character maybe?) or at the very least will play a large role.

Another element I like is that the game features not only a huge cast of characters (about 140 characters in all) but also all kinds of classic Marvel locations such as Hell, Murderworld, Castle Doom, SHIELD Helicarrier and the Skrull Homeworld (to name a few). Now, as I said, in the X-Men games, some of the levels started to look a like, but in this game it's so all over the Marvel map that I can't help getting excited.

Still, while I know perhaps too much about what's happening in this game already, I'm still guessing what characters will show up and what locations will be visited to give me a geekgasm. So I decided to write about some stuff I really want to see in either this game or the eventual sequel.

Heroes:
Union Jack: If the team were to hit Britain, I'd sure like to see them team up with this badass spy. In all honesty, I mostly like him for the costume, but he's a much cooler British hero than Captain Britain.

Runaways (right): This reluctant super-team is composed of teens (and one pre-teen) who discover that their well-to-do parents are actually all murderous super-villains and they team up to stop them. Unfortunately they have few resources, limited powers and gifts they barely understand and live in LA, far away from the super-hero mecca that is New York City. Since the series is heading in a road trip direction they could easily end up anywhere in the Marvel universe.

Marvel's Western Heroes: I wouldn't be surprised if there was time traveling in the next game and a quick stop in the West might be a fun excuse to showcase the Lone Ranger-esque Western super-heroes that were popular in the fifties.

She-Hulk: She's easily one of my favourite Marvel character's right now, mostly because she has the funniest series and is one of the most level-headed characters. Basically, she's the Hulk's cousin who gained his power set after a blood transfusion only Bruce Banner could give. But she doesn't have his terrible mindless rages (well... usually) and uses her hero-ness to be one of the nation's most famous and beloved lawyers. Unfortunately, she became poison to her firm when the opposition was able to point out that saving the world (and thus, her jury) could be a form of jury tampering. She was then hired by the firm that got her fired and must now try cases without her fabulous green bod. Now she works on cases involving super-human law.

Man-Thing (left): Not a hero, really, but neither is it a villain. It was, however, ordered to be the guardian of the nexus of all realities. Pretty big role for a creature that isn't really sentient. The Man-Thing is a big swamp monster who is empathic and who only reflects the emotions of any sentient creature it encounters. So if any creature is aggressive towards it or afraid of it, it attacks and becomes very corrosive. I always kind of liked Man-Thing, but I'm not sure why beyond the interesting character design.


Villains:
Kang the Conqueror (right): He's one of the most dangerous villains in the Marvel universe thanks to his time traveling. He's already conqueror the future, but is now bored and wants to conquer it in the time of heroes, where he faces the most opposition, just to show he can. He actually succeeded in the clever but overly-long Kang Dynasty story-arc but checking out all of the future's possibilities and preparing for every eventuality. He loses only because he is betrayed by his son.

The Kingpin: He looks like a fat-ass, but he's not. What looks like fat is actually almost all muscle, making him a physical match for even some of the super-powered heroes. But his real strength is his Machiavellian machinations and his tenacity. He's the runs all the crime in New York (and beyond) and though he's been taken out many times, he always finds a way to get his position back. He's also known for tricking super-heroes into beating the crap out of his competition. It's incredibly hard to make anything stick to the Kingpin no matter how much the evidence piles up. Plus, he has some quality henchmen (Elektra, Bullseye and Typhoid Mary) as opposed to the usual dumbass henchman most villains seem to have.

Thanos: When you need a villain bigger than Dr. Doom, you turn to Thanos. A mad titan from another world (populated by space gods) who worships death. Basically, his big plot is just to kill lots and lots of people to impress Death (who's a chick) until she reciprocates his love. He also constantly hunts for the Infinity Gems, which make whoever collects them all pretty all powerful. He did it once before and killed half the universe and almost all of the Marvel heroes. The universe got better.

The Taskmaster: Born with photographic reflexes (he can copy pretty much any athletic skill or maneuver he sees, including martial arts) the Taskmaster can beat most super-heroes in physical combat after collecting all kinds of martial arts just by watching. But what he prefers to do is stay out of the way and teach other villains how to fight. Still, he's a guy who only gets tougher to beat the longer you fight him.



Locales:
Wakanda: It's essentially techno-Africa. This African nation was the most technologically advanced long before any other nation, thanks largely to the vibranium mines across the country. And because of that, it's constantly under attack from villains and various greedy interests.

The Negative Zone: A crazy alien dimension that's filled to the brim with evil, violence and floating land masses.

Monster Isle: Really speaks for itself. Basically, before Stan Lee got into super-heroes Marvel was publishing almost nothing but sci-fi/horror stories with monsters in 'em. Most of these stories take place in the current Marvel universe, but to explain where they went, Marvel created a crazy island where most of those Monsters lurk. An entire level of monsters with a 12 for tall minimum? Sounds fun to me.

The Raft/The Vault/Negative Zone Prison: any one of these three jails would be cool to visit. And if it's to stop a jail break, then the creators could have fun sending an army of lame villain cannon fodder (with some really tough villains mixed in) rather than the usual faceless henchman. A fun idea for a very tough level.

Well, that's just my little wish list for the series, but so far, things are shaping up to be pretty good. Too bad for Jordan since that means that I'll be unloading all sorts of pointless comics trivia on him for each new character or area we face.

Gone NOVA

Man, what a weekend. For those of you who don't know, I travelled to Halifax to be interviewed for work with the NOVA corporation, which would allow me to teach English in Japan. Frankly, I've been getting ready for this for quite a while. In fact, the week leading up to this I was a bit of a nervous wreck. Just when I think I remembered everything, there was something else to do.

I spent most of Friday and Sunday riding on a bus and reading comics and books. It wasn't really all that fun. At around 6:30ish I got to Halifax and got to my hotel, which ended up costing about $238 including meals and such. It was a pretty decent hotel, though I didn't really have time to enjoy it. I spent most of the night getting ready mentally and ironing the Hell out of my shirt for the interview. Unfortunately, the next morning I discovered that I had ironed one of the buttons off my shirt. Luckily, it wasn't that obvious and I don't think cost me any points but it upset me greatly.

I got to my 8:45 appointment on time (I wanted to be earlier, but the first taxi the hotel called for me never showed up). The first interview was really more of a presentation and information session, though there was some teaching practice. It went pretty good, but I knew that it would be the second interview that would count. Unfortunately, I was the last person to have a one-on-one interview, giving me free time between 11:30 and 4:15. I got some lunch and got some comics from Strange Adventures, but that just took two hours and I spent the rest of the time hanging around the hotel.

The one-on-one interview didn't go bad but I tripped up a little in some areas. I was quite nervous and that affected my performance a little and I wasn't sure quite what the interviewer was looking for. Still, I think my role-playing as teacher went really well and I really got to show off my teaching skills well enough. Still, I'm as nervous as sin and I'm supposed to get my answer come Friday.

Anyhoo, I spent that night with friends of the family and was treated very well (as the elderly like to do) and took the bus out of town the next day.

Now if this thing with NOVA doesn't work out I can still try with JET, but I really hope that I get hired by NOVA, as I really like what I hear about it so far.

And frankly, I just want it because I already invested so much emotionally into this last weekend.