Monday: It has been nine long years since my beloved, and much maligned, Toronto Maple Leafs last made it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For those of you who don’t know much about hockey, the playoffs consist of four best-of-seven elimination rounds. The Leafs faced recent champs The Boston Bruins in the first round and they managed to make it to a winner takes all final game. That final game happened to be on Monday. They had a big lead, and yet still managed to lose in the end. It was genuinely heart breaking. I can’t really go on much more for fear of this blog getting stained by my bitter tears…

Tuesday: I went to a rock-and-roll concert by the best live band I have EVER seen. The Airborne Toxic Event put on a show like no one else. The singer climbed amps, poured vodka on the crowd, and sat on the edge of the stage with the audience reverently crowded around him. He sang every song like it was the last time he’d ever be able to say the words. There is so much raw emotion poured into every syllable he sings it’s easy to forget that the band is in the midst of a cross country tour and he has to perform every other night.  There most recent album is Such Hot Blood and it is worth every penny!

Wednesday: My lovely girlfriend and I have a book club of two. We alternate picking books, and with my latest pick I went with Stephen King’s The Shining. I had never read any King before, and somehow neither of us had seen the movie before. Well, we both finished the book this week and the Tiff Bell Lightbox happened to have a screening of the film last night. Going into it I knew that King was not a fan of the film, and I can see why. It loses a lot of the character detail from the book, and Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duval are not at all like their novel counterparts. That being said, it is gorgeously shot and some of the changes director Stanley Kubrick made were definite improvements. For instance, instead of the huge hedge maze from the movie, the book has hedge animals that come to life and attack people. Even in reading it I had a hard time finding topiary frightening. I can’t imagine it working on film, especially with the special effects available in 1980.

Thursday: I just got back from seeing Vampire Weekend, probably my favorite band of the last ten years. As usual, they put on a heck of a show… but it was hard not to compare them to Airborne Toxic Event and find them a little lacking. Their songs are certainly catchier, and more danceable. What they lack is showmanship, which A.T.E. has in spades (see Tuesday). It also didn’t help that the venue was all seats, making dancing somewhat difficult. Although, anyone who has ever seen me dance might consider that a blessing.

Graham Becksted is also addicted to The Simpsons Tapped Out, which takes up significantly more time than all of the above combined. He is also the author of Graham’s Grumbles, the second blog by that name that is listed in Google results when you search for Graham’s Grumbles. If you would like to be his 79^th follower (thank you, bots), he can be followed on Twitter @GrahamBecksted.

1. Burger King onion rings don’t have real onion.  Those cost cutting bastards.
2. McDonald’s started charging you for the sauce that comes with McNuggets.  Yeah they’re a bunch of fatherless children.
3. No free smiles at McDonald’s.  They took them off the menu.  Inflation.

So now you know.

Not making this up. McDonald’s used to give out free smiles.

Just hanging out

The new Iron Man movie is fun, cheeky, and has a lot of twists.  The writers had a lot of fun with the characters as they all turn their character archetypes upside down.  You have:

• A hero (Iron Man/Tony Stark)
• A damsel in distress / love interest (Pepper Potts)
• A supervillain (The Mandarin)
• A cute kid

I don’t want to spoil the movie so I’ll just say this: all these characters have some surprises in store for you.  The trailers for Iron Man 3 are a little misleading since they portray the movie as being your typical summer blockbuster.  The movie takes your blockbuster movie formula and puts a cheeky twist on all the elements you expect to be in an action flick.  The movie is low on anything intellectual and is thankfully the opposite of Ang Lee’s take on Hulk.

This is the second best Iron Man movie

The reason why I would put this movie in the middle of the pack is because I didn’t really feel for the characters.  This movie has a heart full of shrapnel that’s barely kept going with an arc reactor.  It doesn’t quite have that movie magic which makes the audience connect with the characters.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie and would recommend it.

Spider-Man has never been one of my favorite characters, but I can’t tell you why. He is a wise cracking average joe who just can’t catch a break but he also has super powers and fights crime. He’s designed from the inside out to appeal to someone like me! But, I think I have the same problem with him that Black Cat does. She is super into him when he’s in costume – he’s confident, funny, and kicks ass. As soon as he takes his mask off, though, he turns out to be kind of a whiny loser. “Boo hoo, my aunt is sick.” “Wah! My boss yelled at me!” “Oh no, my supermodel wife is on the Victoria’s Secret runway.” Get over it!

In direct response to my complaints (or, a long planned plot point of writer Dan Slott), Spidey got a total personality makeover!  In fact, it was more of a personality swap. With Doctor Octopus. Let me back up a bit. Doc Ock has been dying of some sort of disease for the last couple of years. His body’s gotten all decrepit and busted up. In a last act of desperation, he forced his mind into Spider-Man’s body, and Spider-Man’s mind into his body. Then, his old body died taking Spider-Man with it! Dun dun DUN! So, now, instead of being a nice-guys-always-finish-last sort of hero, Spidey’s kind of a dick. Doc Ock has decided to remain heroic, to kind of prove to himself that he can be a better Spider-Man than Peter Parker ever was.

This, as you can imagine, ‘caused a bit of an uproar when it first happened. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical at first too. But, as far as interesting changes you can make to a character, this beats just flat out killing him by a mile! I don’t buy any Spider-Man centric books regularly, so whenever he does pop up in something I’m reading it’s always a pleasant surprise to be reminded that this is not my father’s Spider-Man. Every time he’s placed in a situation that Peter Parker has been in a million times before, you legitimately don’t know what’s going to happen. Will he flat out kill a villain? Does he care about civilian lives? How long will it be until his other superhero friends start to catch on that something’s up with him?

The other thing about all of this is that I know it’s not going to last forever. I’ve been reading superhero comic books long enough to know that no one stays dead forever. Not even Bucky or Gwen Stacy. Superman was only dead for a year. Captain America lasted two. Doc Ock has been Spider-Man for about 9 months, so I give it maybe another year until Pete’s back in the driver’s seat. Maybe it’s time travel, or SHIELD having his brain patterns on file, or a clone, but somehow, someway, Spider-Man will be back to his status quo. Until then, though, I think we should all just sit back and enjoy the ride!

Graham Becksted has to acknowledge that the Toronto Maple Leafs are in the playoffs, so it’s hard for him to stay mad at anything for long. He is also the author of Graham’s Grumbles, the second blog by that name that is listed in Google results when you search for Graham’s Grumbles. If you would like to be his 79^th follower (thank you, bots), he can be followed on Twitter @GrahamBecksted.

Thanks to Cody Drees.

(right click to download) – Shaggy Reads Twilight Chapter 15 (29m42s, 27.2mb, warning: contains strong language)

I was skimming through the letters page of one of my comics the other day, and something caught my eye. One of the letter writers said that their favorite current Avengers title is Uncanny Avengers. Before I could even pause to ask myself what mine would be, the answer came to me without a hint of doubt. Young Avengers.

The current run by Kieron Gillen and Jaime McKelvie is so good. It’s innovative and exciting, and each issue is absolutely gorgeous. I think the only thing that is stopping it from being as big a deal as it deserves to be is that most people haven’t heard of any of these characters. There’s no Wolverine, Captain America, or Iron Man. There’s a Hawkeye, but probably not the one you’re thinking of.

The majority of these characters were first introduced in a title of the same name by Allen Heinberg and Jim Cheung. I think Marvel tried to keep these characters mainly for their creator’s use, so after the initial twelve issue run they didn’t pop up in much. The ones appearing in this series are Hawkeye, Wiccan, and Hulkling. Hawkeye is a rich girl who happens to be a pretty good archer. Wiccan is the reincarnation of one of the Scarlet Witch’s magic babies, and also happens to be a magician. Hulkling is a Skrull shapeshifter who is in a long term relationship with Wiccan.

The rest of the team are also all relatively new characters. Marvel Boy is a Kree from an alternate dimension and is the only member of the team who has also been an Avenger and a Dark Avenger. Miss America is so new that I know absolutely nothing about her, except that I think she’s also from an alternate dimension. Finally, there is young Loki. Yes, the Thor villain Loki. He may be the best character in the whole book.

Gillen really emphasizes the fact that he’s the god of mischief. He’s not a supervillain, or world destroying menace. He’s just kind of mischievous. Nobody trusts him, but they can’t help but be manipulated by him. The thing is, his heart seems to be in the right place. At least for now. I can’t wait to see what happens with him.

The other thing that makes this book so good is the beautiful art. Jamie McKelvie (with assists by Mike Norton) is doing some truly fascinating stuff. The art is so crisp and detailed it looks almost like a photograph from some beautiful, colourful world. Every month, he manages to do something new and exciting with panels too. For instance, in the most recent issue Marvel Boy rescues the team from some aliens. Over a two page spread, you see the floorplan of the room and you can follow the Kree’s path through the room. There are numbers on certain particularly dramatic moments that are numbered and correspond with panels that circle the floor plan and show more detail. I lingered on that image for a good long while soaking it all in.

So, like I said, we’re only four issues in. If my opinion means anything to you, you should go out and buy those issues ASAP. You will not regret it. In fact, you will probably send me a thank you note.

Graham Becksted will accept comments in lieu of thank you notes. He is also the author of Graham’s Grumbles, the second blog by that name that is listed in Google results when you search for Graham’s Grumbles. If you would like to be his 79^th follower (thank you, bots), he can be followed on Twitter @GrahamBecksted.

For a totally different viewpoint, watch the following series on everything that is wrong with fansubs:

For the most part, I agree that there are many things wrong about fansubs.  But I do like learning about things through translation notes (though more than 2 per episode is too much).  And I do find an endearing quality to poorly-done fansubs with English that doesn’t read right.  Sometimes they’re bad and I can appreciate poor execution.  That’s just me.  If you have a different opinion, post a comment.

Hey all, if you need some listening during your days, and wanna learn a thing or two about writing (or just hear how wrong we are, take your pick), be sure to check out our YouTube uploades of Write Night.

What is this Write Night, you ask? Every Monday me and a bunch of others get together to discuss a topic of writing, be it a specific genre, literary concept, or our own writing methods.

Presently there is no podcast version, but if you’d rather download the recordings, you can always use the Downloadhelper plugin for Firefox, or keepvid.com

Feedback or Vacuum: Who do you write for? – Write Night (13-01-16)

The Villain in You: Let’s Talk Bad Guys – Write Night (13-01-21)

Writing What You Know (and making up the rest) – Write Night (13-01-28)

Making Monsters – Write Night (13-02-04)

Origins – Write Night (13-02-11)

I knew what my favorite part was going to be before we had even set foot in the theatre. I knew with 100 percent certainty that I would not have to sit through the Oblivion trailer. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen it. And, the thing is, it was the exact same trailer every time. I’ve seen a bunch of Great Gatsby trailers, but at least there’s some variety! Finally, I was able to watch trailers without ever seeing Tom Cruise rhapsodize about the Super Bowl, or Olga Kurylenko look through a viewfinder, or Morgan Freeman light a cigar. It was great! And then, the movie started.

I think a lot of other places have commented on how the story seems to be a blended smoothie of other sci-fi films. (Planet of the Apes, Moon, and The Matrix are the ones that came to mind for me.) And that is definitely noticeable, but I was struck by the video game references in it. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I mean, the director’s first film is about a guy who gets sucked into a video game. I’m sure he’s played a few in his time and that would seep into his work.

The most obvious video game touchstone in the movie is the idea of invisible walls. You used to find them in most games that looked like you were outdoors. You’d eventually hit an area that you couldn’t walk past, or a threat of instant destruction if you pass a certain point. Cruise’s character is face with one of those. There’s an irradiated area that spells instant death if he passes a boundary that comes up on his ship’s screen. It even flashes red.

The rest of the video game nods were more subtle, and may have just spoken to my specific gaming experiences. For instance, there’s a part where Cruise is after these threatening orbs and he chases them into a canyon. At one point, it goes to his POV and we see a branching path ahead of him. Two of the orbs go to the left and the third goes right. I flashed back to Rebel Assault for the PC where you have to make a similar choice in a race at the beginning. In the moment, it felt so similar that I thought it had to be intentional. In the harsh light of my dining room, I’m not sure how many filmmakers are going to specifically reference a twenty year old star wars game in their blockbuster Tom Cruise movies.

Another reference that’s almost as ancient is MechCommander. That’s only fifteen years old. The premise of that game was that you were a desk jockey back at home base telling a bunch of Battlemech pilots where to go and what to do. You set up waypoints, and objectives and watch the backs of your team. That pretty much perfectly describes Andrea Riseborough’s character in this. She stays at home and tells Cruise what to do. She can see where he’s going and she can interact with his screens, letting him know where enemies are, or where his next objective is.

Finally, this one is a bit more recent. There’s a computerized female voice that interacts with Cruise at one point. She’s unreliable, and a little out of sync. She tries to coax him to her ship, and I swear she was this close to offering him cake. If you don’t get that reference, I demand that you immediately stop what you’re doing and go play Portal.

Ultimately, it was a fun little ride. Very pretty to look at, but I find that the more I reflect on it the more plot holes I’m finding. So, I would highly recommend that you try not to think too much when you see it.

Graham Becksted is excited to see what life will be like without The Oblivion trailer. He is also the author of Graham’s Grumbles, the second blog by that name that is listed in Google results when you search for Graham’s Grumbles. If you would like to be his 80^th follower (thank you, bots), he can be followed on Twitter @GrahamBecksted.