U78

Ready set go 2012

2012-01-01T00:37:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!! Ok enough of that shit, the new year starts and well...lets see what shit happens this year. Tonights the night where most people go out and party and get drunk and just have a good time with friends and family. Well I live in Tampa...dont have any family here and dont really have any friends. That pretty much sums that up. If your wondering about the photo, I just googled 2012 and all this end of the world shit came up. I thought this asteroid hitting the Earth was pretty cool looking.

So for 2012 I hope its a good year and maybe some changes will take place. No high expectations just hoping for something different. So with that I leave you with my random blogging bull shit to start the new year.

Slugs - 1988 / Squirm - 1976

2011-12-12T20:45:00.002-05:00

Recently I just watched Slugs on the netflix instant. Not a whole lot to say about this, besides the fact that its good 80's horror. The 80's were a time of slashers and creature features and animals that could kill you. I had seen this when I was a kid, but didnt really remember much about it so when I seen it on the netflix I was like hell yeah. So long story short...yeah...killer slugs. No one knows why there attacking and killing people but one health worker guy has some theories and they go testing the water and what not. During all that crap you get to see some pretty cool kill scenes especially considering for the 80's. Really good practical FX of slugs eating flesh and cleaning it to the bone. The one thing that made me laugh was every time someone happen to find the slugs someone always seemed to fall right in the middle of them and of course get devoured. Good times.

Im throwing Squirm -1976 on this as well because while watching Slugs it really reminded me of Squirm which was a great movie from the 70's. While Slugs had its moments, Squirm is great flick thru out in my opinion. The original cover had really awesome hand drawn art which featured a skull filled with worms and what not. Really great art work back in the day. Again, nothing special as far as story goes, worms go crazy when a down power line hits the ground and starts to drive them crazy pretty much. These arent just regular worms there hook worms and you really get some awesome close up shots which show the actual teeth on these things. Really gnarly stuff, but again just a great over all flick. You gotta remember the time this was produced cause Im sure most people will say its stupid, but again for its time such an awesome movie. "You gonna be the worm face" A famous line from this flick. Creepy crawlys and flesh eating worms, what more can you ask for. When movies fucking kicked ass.

The WALKING DEAD

2011-11-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

Well Im in the middle of Season 2 right now and holy shit, this show is so fucking good. The only 2 shows I really care about as of lately are this and Dexter. I dont really watch many tv shows nor do I watch all that much tv in general, usually its more for just background. What I think I like most is that the zombies arent the center point of the show. They use them to help build the story which is what makes this show so good and on par with alot of zombie movies in my opinion.

This show actually has really good writing and phenomenal character developement. As a fan of horror this show just has a great balance of story telling mixed with the horror of the zombie apocalypse. It really puts it in your face and asks what would you do or how would you handle certain situations. Overall just a great show and worth watching if you havent seen it. Season 1 is on the netflix instant watch and Season 2 is currently running on AMC.

I love this show so much that Im thinking about actually reading the comics, just because for one from what Ive heard the show doesnt totally follow the comic panel for panel. So me being such a big zombie fan, Im curious as to how the comic plays out and what directions they went with that.

Stake Land - 2010

2011-10-10T19:44:00.001-04:00

I heard about this movie from a few various sites and really didnt hear or read much good about it. The reviews all seemed to be mediocre at best. As usual, I dont really follow reviews I just like to get an idea of what people thought overall. So finally got this little ditty from Netflix and well what can I say, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this movie. A great film with a dash of the end of the world post apocalyptic style. Fun for the whole family if you ask me, but Im sure your not asking me...

Anyways yeah so basically as with most of these type of movies, civilization is pretty much fucked and there are pockets of survivors and small towns that are some what up and running and people still trying to survive by sticking together. Are you waiting for the twist...wait for it...wait for it...Vampires, yep not zombies, fucking good old nosferatu. Dont let the word vampires put a bad taste in your mouth, dont think of that Twillight type shit, think more along the lines of 30 Days of Night. These vamps looked more demon than anything else, which Im totally behind. Thats how I prefer my vampires.

Yeah so overall its not a classic style horror, more action themed than anything, but again the mix of action and vampire killing are good and the vampire plague is somewhat treated like a zombie outbreak. When you do see the vampires some are slow shamblers while others are the more agile powerful kind. This movie really remind me of Zombie Land more than anything minus any kind of comedic value and well the zombies...shit the movies called Stake Land, I guess they didnt stray to far from there reference material. The movie basically follows 2 main characters with more coming and going thru out the movie, but really its focused on the young boy and the main guy known only as "Mister". Mister is pretty much a bad ass vamp killing machine whose only goal is to kill as many vamps as possible.

The other small side plot is the religious zealots that believe the vampire plague is gods calling to cleanse the Earth of the sinners. At first I thought this was sort of dumb, but once you get their story, its pretty cool and works well with the movie. So now not only do you have to worry about vampires, but you also have to worry about the zealots.

So regardless of how shitty my reviews are give this movie a chance, good story with good action with a side of horror for good measure. At least rent the motherfucker if anything its worth a watch for sure.

October is Halloween

2011-10-04T23:23:00.001-04:00

Well its October and Halloween is around the corner, this is that time of year where I just flood myself with horror. From all the shitty censored movies on tv to me busting out some of the old classics (70's and 80's is what I mean). Dont get me wrong, I watch it all the time regardless of the time of year...that is when there something actually good to watch, but for me even the not so good movies get watched. Beleive me Ive watched my fair share of 2 star horror movies on the netflix instant.

With that being said, i havent watched anything as of lately...what the fuck, Im such a slacker. Works been killing me and just been coming home exhausted and not really feeling like watching anything. Ive been trying to draw more as well. I still do my toy photography, but even that Ive been slacking on lately.

Just alot of shit going on right now and not enough time to do the things I want to actually do. I know, I know, youve heard it all before, well Im just joining the club.

Pete Alvarado Jr. - RIP

2011-09-22T21:26:00.001-04:00

Well today I came home from work and was preparing some food since the wife was out and Im in Lone Wolf mode. Regardless, I get a call from my parents and they inform me that one of my cousins was killed in a car accident. My heart sunk and I got that wierd feeling in my stomach. I cant beleive it my cousin of 22 years is gone.

When shit like this hits its always so hard to deal with especially when its some one so young. Well Im not a religious guy, but being hispanic I know my family is and may god be with you primo. Love you man and you will be missed. This photo is perfect, throwing up the peace sign looking all cholo as he makes his exit to whatever else is out there.

Gone but not forgotten.
-Peace be with you cuz

Long Ride Home

2011-09-17T04:16:00.001-04:00

Its about 3:55 am and well Im still up. I went out drinking with a few friends and had a good time. Im not the most social guy and usually end up in awkward situations because I usually dont know the hotest new trends or what all the cool kids are doing these days. Its not very often I run into people who can chat about action figures or Warhammer or video games...I'll make an exception there because now that video games are more "casual" now it seems to be more people are into gaming. Regardless of all of all that I still found myself sitting at a table with about 15 people who you could easily tell I was the odd man out...well my friend, his wife and I were the 5th wheels. It was a friends birthday party so to speak and well shes a "popular" person and she brought a whole ton of friends.

Long story short, this gal sits next to me and i'll admit she was pretty good looking. At first I almost felt bad for her because she somewhat drew the shortest straw and had to sit next to me. Everyones in there "dress to impress" outfits and im jeans and a Gears of War 3 shirt (fuck yeah!!) I tried so hard to carry conversation with her, but as I took myself out of the situation I realized how hard I was trying to bring up something interesting. The funny thing is I really could give a fuck about what any of those people care about or are into because it just wasnt my crowd. In the end me trying to stay interesting lasted about a good 5 to 10 mins total, I just didnt have anything to say, so ended up talking to the 2 people I did know and our conversation ranged from Dragon Age II into Cartoon Network's Adventure Time and Regular Show into a few random horror movies we had recently seen and if he had picked up any new figures.

Overall I actually had a great time because again, my anti-social self doesnt get out much so when I do get out of the house I usually enjoy myself regardless of how quiet I am. Plus once I get a few beers flowing thru me, I get a little more talkative, but at the same time a bit nerdier as well so it all cancels itself out. Once the crowd started leaving it was basically the final call to basically chat with the few people left or go ahead and call it a night...fuck it Im out!!!

So with that I got to enjoy a long drive home and be one with the darkness. Something I really enjoy about the cool calm nights that the day doesnt bring me. So there I was on highway 275 at 2:30 in the morning or so cruising along with my windows down doing about 65 and just taking in the night. I love seeing the flickering street lights over head as I pass each one. Again just very calming, something else that caught my eye was a giant red splatter that traveled for a while. I couldnt help but think in my mind of morbid thoughts that maybe some living being made a poor choice that night and didnt make it across. Whatever it was definetly had alot of red...or it could have been a painters truck who lost a can of red. I'll never know the true story there, but thats what ended my night.

As I entered the house my routine immediately kicked in...turn tv on, turn computer on, but tonight I felt like writing. Its currently 4:14 am and its about time to call it a night. I gotta get some rest so I can wake up and grind out another day.

Yautja at work

2011-09-08T23:11:00.006-04:00

Well while bored out of my mind at work, I happen to stumble upon a few random fan predator sites. Im a huge predator fan and always archive images I find of them. I just think there a really cool alien species. Very humanoid, yet still ugly as shit to classify them as non-human. So anyways, found this picture of somones sculpt looks to be a young yautja (the species name). I just like how the mandibles arent very long nor are the dreads at full length giving him that very young look. The elders usually have a higher crest at the top of their crown and again the mandibles are usually much longer and sometimes damaged with cracked teeth as well.

So again...bored out of my mind this is the shit I do when Im at work and dont have time to sketch or do something I actually want to do. Work just slowly creeps by and the day seems infinite and im just looking for any glimmer of hope to go home and draw, game or watch movies. Anything is better than work.

Just recently found out that one of the chics at work put her 2 weeks in which basically means shits about to get crazy. Im sure there going to have some kind of fucking plan to throw her work on me. Im not asking for promotion or anything, I just want to be left alone. Its hard enough to get thru the day as it is sometimes and now added work isnt going to make it easier. Whats next?

I Saw the Devil - 2010

2011-08-29T00:08:00.002-04:00

With my breif stay in South Korea, I remember several times in the subway stations seeing this poster, but obviously in all Korean. I didnt know what it was for or what it was about. Seeing the red knife, I figured it had to be some sort of dark suspense thriller so to speak, not necessarily a horror. I wasnt sure how big the horror scene was in Korea. I had only seen a handful of Korean movies and not many being horror...at least by Americas standard of whats considered horror. When you think of Asian horror most people probably think Japan and all their ghost movies.

Regardless of all that recently I threw this up on the netflix instant que and finally got a chance to watch it a few days ago. All I can say is holy shit this movie is so fucking awesome. Im not here to give spoilers or anything so i'll give the brief synopsis and leave it at that.

Simply put theres a crazy serial killer on the loose and well hes carving up women all over town and eventually crosses paths with a cop just as crazy as he is. This is where the movie gets interesting and more or less turns into a revenge film. The cop makes it his personal duty to go out of his way to track some might say stalk this killer everywhere he goes so that he can torture and torment him along the way. So what you get is this cat n' mouse game of both these dudes trying to out smart each other. With that comes some pretty cool blood and gore that I was actually really surprised to see coming from a Korean film. Some pretty cool action sequences take place between the cop and killer that are worth noting...but as I mentioned I wont spoil the movie.

If you get the chance watch this movie, its a fantastic back and forth murder fest of action and horror/suspense rolled into one film. This is something I'll probably add to the horror collection somewhere down the line.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - 2011

2011-08-22T19:46:00.001-04:00

Well got a chance to hit the theater recently and went and seen this. I had heard some good things about it, but wasnt sure how that was going to play out since I dont like most of the movies that Hollywood seems to put out these days. The only thing I knew was Ceasar the ape and Ceasar apparently becomes a leader and a major part of the story of overthrowing humanity basically. I dont know about you, but thats enough for me to want to see this movie.

My obsession with man being destroyed and animals/nature taking the planet back over was just realized in this film. While sure I know we could more or less destroy any kind of animal that would try something like this, but it still makes for an awesome concept in theory. I just love when animals come back to kill humans.

I wont give away spoilers or anything, I came out of the theater really impressed. This movie is its own stand alone movie with a cool story and enough action to keep most entertained. The first half of the movie is all story and character developement while the 2nd part of the film is more action and sets up what I think might be sequels to come.

My only complaint if I have to complain about something would be the sometimes crappy CG. Over all the CG was pretty good, but in certain scenes it really stood out, but again alot of times the story kept my mind focused enough that alot of times I didnt even really think of the CG. The story really does draw you in. The CGs not horrible, Ive seen far worse, but just a little something I noticed. Dont judge the movie on that beleive me this movie kicked fucking ass...at least in my opinion.

Go see this movie and bow down to Ceasar.

Hobo with a Shotgun - 2011

2011-08-07T02:32:00.000-04:00

I had heard about this shitty little low budget movie a while back on the website Bloody-disgusting.com. The whole grindhouse type flicks still seem to be popular and somewhat trendy ever since Quinton and Robert put out there 2 flicks with the crazy fake trailers inbetween. Regardless I dont have anything against it, I just think if your trying to make your movie look shitty and sound shitty just to have the "grindhouse" feeling or look I just think its trying to hard. Thats just my opinion, again regardless I watched this movie and thought it was ok. It really didnt live up to the hype that I was hoping for. I think somehow I got caught up in the hype of that same grindhouse feel hoping for an even more fucked up story. I guess thats what I get for getting carried away.

Time and time again ive told myself just watch it for what it is and enjoy it as a whole. So again a pretty simple story here. The streets are fucked up crime and violence rule and well one homeless guy is tired of it and literally goes back to taking the streets back. Lots of campy watery flowing blood, lots of head explosions and just random violence. Its fun, its over the top its a Hobo with a Shotgun...and nothing more.

I will make a special note for the 2 robot/armored dudes who were just fucking shit up all over the place. I thought they looked pretty fucking awesome, spikes and metal face plates, lol I was laughing at how shitty and at the same time amazing their costumes looked.

So if you have Netflix instant and you got about an hour to "kill" watch it and enjoy the violence.

The Sparkly ones

2011-07-31T23:45:00.001-04:00

Well over the weekend I went with the wife up to visit one of her friends in Jacksonville or as I like to call it Actionville. Regardless with lots of time on my hands I started going thru the few dvds she had in her collection. Id say total she probably had about 50 or 60 dvds. Nothing really caught my eye until I ran across Twilight...not one, but Twilight New Moon and Eclipse. I always laughed and this shit and just thought what a bunch of girly shit. Well I consider myself somewhat of a movie buff...now I said somewhat mind you. Anyways I always wondered what was the hype behind these girl vampire love stories and well there I was a lot of time and nothing to do and nothing really better to watch.

Needless to say I watched all 3 movies with my wife and friend and well...Im probably going to lose man points for this, but fuck they were actually decent. The whole idea of vampires and werewolves is a total subplot. Twilight is just your run of the mill love story with the idea of vampires and werewolves thrown in to put some excitement or something a little different for all the teens Im guessing. Not once do you ever see a single fang or any of the typical vampire lore. Occasionally someone flips out and there eyes turn red, other than that the whole vampire/werewolf side of things is so minimal. Again while Im not going to run out and buy these movies or anything I'll be honest and say it was just an all around decent movie. The first movie really was simple yet interesting enough to keep me watching more. The 2nd movie New Moon I have to say was basically the first film all over again just from the perspective of the Wolves.

In my opinion the 2nd film is pretty weak and while not the greatest of the 3 the ending was strong enough to keep the story going for an obvious sequel. With the 2nd film centering more on the wolf side of things and sadly the CG wolves really looked like shit and pretty much take away from the story if you ask me. Lastly I watched Eclipse which continues the story referencing events from the first film and picking up where the 2nd left off. Eclilpse easily made up for the shittiness that was New Moon. While I still dont get all the hype myself I will admit that again they were just decent movies. I guess to really appreciate the full potential of these films you have to have a vagina and be between the ages of 13 and 35 apparently. Reading the books probably helps as well (that isnt happening).

So needless to say after it was all over I just kinda laughed to myself and thought well since Im this far in I'll wait for the Breaking Dawn to hit dvd and watch that one as well. Its not a life changer nor will these kind of movies ever grace my shelves of horror but I can at least say now I have seen them.

oh Google...

2011-07-11T23:59:00.003-04:00

Well recently while fucking around with some google settings...I some how deleted my photos from my blogging. Not that I really care, but what the fuck. Anyways it kind of pisses me off, but at the same time no one reads this shit anyways its more for me. So i'll soon have more bullshit up here for...well me to re-read when Im bored and look back upon my life.

The Fly - 1986

2011-07-04T01:56:00.002-04:00

I recenly watched David Cronenberg's The FLY. Sitting back bored on Saturday night flipping thru the netflix instant I stumbled upon The FLY and thought ya know I remember seeing this as a kid and havent really seen it since. I figured what the hell I'll rewatch it again...to my amazement this movie still holds up today and holy shit it fantastic.

Basically about scientist Seth Brundle played by Jeff Goldblum who has been trying to master the science of matter transportation. Basically just trying to make things teleport thru these pods that hes built in his loft/science lab. So with this he starts to just randomly test different "matter" so to speak and having it go back and forth thru the pods. Dont worry Im not giving any spoilers here or anything, but basically one day he himself gets in and tries to transport himself and well you guessed it a fly gets in with him and during this teleportation some how his dna gets spliced with the fly.

So now the fun begins, from this point on we basically see his metamorphisis into basically a man-fly or fly-man, which ever you prefer. Now while the FX look a little dated because its not spewing out the latest and greatest CG that most are used to now. What you do get is good old fashion makeup and practical FX. The look they give Jeff Goldblum and seeing him transform is amazing and looks so fucking disgusting. Several scenes where basically his teeth begin to fall out and his finger nails come off certain areas of skin just start to basically deteriorate. He does a great job with his movements and fly like behavior even down to vomiting on himself and his food...its fucking amazing. When the full mutation is complete the ending creature sequence is just awesome and again just shows you dont need CG to make a believable creature. A great story and great practical FX will get the job done just as good if not better in the right context.

If you havent seen this movie you gotta give it a shot if your a fan of the genre. After seeing this Im going to go ahead and give the sequal a watch soon as well. Another one I havent seen since I was a kid. So if you into the creature features sit back and give it a shot because it really is an awsome movie.

What up!!!

2011-06-30T19:13:00.006-04:00

Well here we are again. I havent written in a while and nothing really worth writing about. Work is work...nothing new there. I think of that commercial where the song goes " I need a dollar dollar, a dollar is what I need" and they show the guy just going thru the motions of work. Thats how I feel...I go to work do my job but dont really pay attention to whats going on its just apart of my day. I come home and try and forget it all.

Oh heres some news I forgot about, well I just recently had my birthday and my brother came to visit. We ended up going to Discovery Cove and Busch Gardens. Ive been to Busch Gardens, but Discovery Cove now that was something memorable. To swim in the artificial reef with all the giant sting rays and when I say giant I mean giant. Ive seen giant manta rays, but these werent mantas they were sting rays or skates to be more proper. Fucking giant flying carpets is what they looked like under the water. A good time was had and to end the night we ended up at the phenomenal restuarant of Texas De Brazil. Wow...talk about awesome. You get an all you can eat salad bar with all kinds of exotic food and then the real eating starts when you flip your little coin over and the "gouchos" come by with giant spears of meat. They bring meat of all kinds, prepared in all sorts of spices and cooked various ways. It was awesome, nuff said.

Hmm...lets see what else...I recently started reading this book called Stiff - The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by author Mary Roach. Its pretty interesing, basically just what cadavers go thru when there on the slab from preperation or being shipped to various medical schools/labs for testing and practicing of medical procedures. Really good reading if your interested, the first chapter is all about the head and basically the lady at the school whose job it is to decapitate cadavers and get them prepped for medical students. Today while reading I reference a name from the book by the way of Karen Greenlee. Apparently shes probably the most well known modern day necrophile. You can read a very interesting interview with her here. http://www.nokilli.com/sacto/karen-greenlee.htm

Ok thats it for now, hopefully i'll get some photos going and i'll update this blog more often as I try but rarely get around to it.

Boredom

2011-04-20T22:52:00.003-04:00

I havent felt like doing much, I feel like ive hit this rut and just dont know how to change it. At work I just go thru the motions half the time Im not paying attention to much of anything thats going on around me. I walk in sit down and immediately put my head phones on and just listen to music and various podcasts to get me thru the day. Every now and then I'll sketch out some stuff on paper only to be interupted by my schedule realizing that well...I need to get my work done.

Ive still been selling stuff on ebay and trying to pay some bills and just save a little extra cash on the side. I havent even taken many photos of toys lately. I just havent really felt like it lately and keep putting it off. I have a buch of stuff that I want to get photos of but havent felt like opening the display case to get the few certain figures out to actually photograph. One of these days I'll get around to it again.

Its 10:42 at this very moment and im watching Dragon Ball Z on cartoon network, which this is the cartoon I usually have on as background, but it always amazes me how when I actually pay attention to it the stories always seem to draw me in even if I have no context as to whats going on. I think its just a combination of cool action and crazy characters all trying to fight each other that just makes for an interesting watch. I wouldnt run out and buy the series on dvd or anything, but when its on television i'll admit I like to watch it.

Alot of the newer cartoons pretty much suck, I recently read that Gi-Joe Renegades was canceled...I hope thats just rumor, but from the looks of it might be true. I thought the cartoon was awesome and again the story was well written. Looking forward to the new Thundercats and Voltron that should be hitting this summer. It seems that even in the cartoon world no one can think of anything new so they just go back to

what worked in the 80's and are remaking all these old cartoons. Me being a huge fan of cartoons I dont have a problem with it as long as there done well and so far from the looks of Thundercats and the concept shots of Voltron it looks to be promising.

Well on that note, im about ready to crash and just call it a night.

Ganbatte Nippon

2011-03-15T21:40:00.004-04:00

Launched on Facebook is "Ganbatte Nippon! - You Can Do It Japan" where folks around the world are roped in to encourage the folks in Japan who are affected by the current multiple disasters (Nuclear reaction being the third event to have happened).

The initiative started with printouts being held by denizens in Tokyo with the subtle "power" of encouragement via smiles and "positivity" (More snaps on FB). Since then the folks have stated on their FB this: "…we have been approached by a group of kind creative designers from different continents of the world who will lend their artistic talent in support of this cause. They will be designing their version of our signature [GANBATTE NIPPON] posters to be used for real in Japan for a street photography shoot. We will be assigning different teams of photographers to shoot it."

Hang in there Japan, Samurai never go down without a fight.
Article taken from http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/

Something new...not really

2011-02-24T21:55:00.004-05:00

Well today I found out that this kind sir stopped by a family members to take him away. Im not trying to make light of the situation, but you know me its just how I am about things such as this. Anyways cancer has struck again in my family and my uncle passed away last night. A great man, who taught me alot and who myself and my brother had some great times with. I remember he used to take us camping and we would go fishing and he used to drive us and my cousins around in this crazy old looking pimp ass RV. Sure it probably wasnt the smoothest looking ride on the road, but good times were had and those memories will always be with my brother, myself and our cousins. RIP Carlos

I guess I should post something good...nothing really going on February is almost over and March is upon us. Im looking forward to seeing Battle: Los Angeles and Sucker Punch, those look like 2 interesting movies that I will actually go to the theater for. Im always down for some alien invasion and well Sucker Punch just looks so over the top how can i not waste my money on that. Then later on in March i'll be heading to Orlando for the Megacon with a group of friends. I plan on snapping some cool photos and seeing all the nerdy shit out at the con as well as all the fun cosplay. Sometimes people dress up in the craziest outfits. Like usual, i'll be on the hunt for anyone dressed up like power rangers, hell yeah you just cant go wrong with getting your photo with some rangers.

On the toy front...ive still been selling a lot of my older toys that I dont care for anymore or just no longer see them fitting into my collection.
Other than that, still grinding.

Media Slab

2011-01-27T21:17:00.013-05:00

Well just yesterday we hired a new QA girl due to the fact that shes leaving us to go back to St. Louis. She will be missed, but the new girl seems like she'll fit in well. Lets hope shes mentally strong enough to handle it. This job isnt easy and its not hard, but it wears on you because its a daily grind and its the same fucking thing day in and day out. As a graphic designer I dont create shit nor do I even get the opportunity to create. The only time I get creative time is well...when its my own. I get my break or my lunch and I actually start sketching some random crazy shit out on paper and before I know it my break is over and its back to grinding.

A lot of times I think, cool i'll take my sketches home and continue there...usually by the time I get home I just end up hitting the sofa and playing video games or watching tv. So again, lets hope the new girl can hang before she wants to throw the towel in or just gives up all together.

On a side note, today I found out Clement Sauve passed away due to cancer. Im not sure what day it actually was, but I found out today thru deviant art from friend that I follow. He was the character designer for the game Army of Two and its sequal and also the new cartoon called Gi-Joe Renegades. He had a really sleek simplistic neo-anime style and at the same time simple, it was very detailed, if that made any sense. I didnt know him personally, but I followed him and his art and to hear of his passing is just one of those things where you sit back and just say lifes a fucking bitch. You can check his art here http://clementsauve.deviantart.com/

Im out

Merry Holidays...

2010-12-24T21:31:00.005-05:00

Well its that time of year again, where people are supposed to be happy and enjoy there time with family and friends. Its Friday Christmas Eve and Im actually off work enjoying my time at home just watching tv/movies and playing some video games.
Meanwhile work got so busy on Thursday that they had the nerve to actually ask people if they would voulunteer some of there time to come into work, I cant stand that place when Im supposed to be there let alone give up my holiday weekend for some asshole apparently waiting for floorplans because its oh so urgent to make sure he/she gets these drawings Christmas weekend. I dont want to turn this into a total bitch fest, because I actually feel good today and as I said am enjoying my time home so I wont mention work again.

Besides all that noise, theres really not much else going on. As Ive said last year, Im not really big on Christmas anymore. As you get older you definetly realize its a holiday for the kids at least the excitement factor that is. As an "adult" if I may call myself that the excitement is no longer there and all I seem to want is just to relax and hang out with my family.

Heres something...I actually went to Toys R Us yesterday since they were doing there 24/7 hours all week until 10pm tonight. What a total let down that was, I should have known though, they rarely ever have anything cool to begin with let alone Christmas week. I walk in and the shelves were bare, not a cool figure in sight. All I was hoping for was the NECA series 2 Predators. I just wandered around aimlessly and hoped something would catch my eye, but nothing. Mean while watching all the people grab shit and i say shit because in some cases it looks as if people dont even know what there reaching for they just grab it because well they need a gift for some kid. I also kind of felt bad for the actual employees there because Im sure
they all have had long days of dealing with asshole customers. As a former employee of TRU, I know how crappy that job can be at times especially during the holidays. Its funny though because once Christmas is over, walk into a TRU and you'll find that 2 or 3 people can pretty much run the whole entire store. Its a total ghost town.

I think the rest of my Christmas weekend will be filled with awesome 80's horror films and probably eating and more video games. So to all 3 of you who might read my blog, Merry Christmas or whatever you might celebrate and Happy New Year.

Prophecy -The Monster Movie - 1979

2010-12-14T23:08:00.006-05:00

I watched this movie when I was a child and well I can remember it being pretty freaky and really scaring the hell out of me. I found it used for a few dollars around Halloween at the local movie stop. I finally had a chance to re-watch this masterpiece of monster horror...

While it wasnt scary at all the second time around the overall movie itself was exactly the way I remembered it.

This was around the times of horror films being themed on mother nature more or less getting its revenge on humans for destroying the world and polluting it with our very existence. So to sum up this late 70's cheesefest the best way I can...nothing but awesome monster terror!!!

While the plot is farely simple and the obvious message of stop polluting along with deforestation are evident, what really gets your attention are the at one time awesome effects used to make the giant animals that live in this poisoned habitat. From a tad pole to a giant salmon as well as the star of the movie a grizzly bear.

At first glance its pretty much laughable and you sit back and think what a bunch of crap, but in 1979 Im sure it was state of the art awesomeness. When you first get the glimpse of the grizzly you see its horrid mangled mutated face and you cant help but feel sorry for it and its living conditions, but then when you see it shred people up you laugh and just hope it continues with its awesome spree of vengeance.

Im not going to go into to much detail because like I said the story is pretty simple and at only and hour and half its an easy enjoyable watch. You'll laugh and cry and wish more people were mauled by this awesome creature. As I said the movie doesnt really hold up now days, but its still an awesome piece of monster cinema and Im glad I picked i up for a few bucks. Well worth the money for the carnage and the awesome yet cheesey man in a suit grizzly bear.

Sci-Fi Revoltech - Jason Voorhees series #014

2010-11-22T20:56:00.015-05:00

Ever since Kaiyodo released there Revoltech line its been nothing but great news for collectors. A variety of characters from a variety of subject matter. The idea behind the Revoltech line was to basically produce a cheap, but accurate looking figure with a ton of articulation so that the collector could pose there favorite character in a variety of poses. On my few days off I finally got a chance to really check out my Jason Voorhees figure. Let me tell you this figure is nothing but pure awesome.
One of the things that seperate Japanese toys from American toys is the packaging. While America tend to use what most people see in the stores called blister packs (throw away) well in Japan most of there figures are boxed and with that you get beautiful box art to boot. The box is layed out like a book. Opening it you have the see thru character window including accessories and on the left of that basically getting the history of Jason. Now I cant read Japanese, but judging from the photos and such, my guess is its a brief run down of the character. Something I noticed was that this figure is based on Jason from Friday the 13th pt. 3. No where on the box does it actually reference pt. 3, on the front it only says Friday the 13th. Im not sure the reasoning behind this, I just thought it was interesting.

Jason comes with a ton of accessories as you can see. His diorama base and name plate along with switch out hands for gripping his many weapons of death and even included his switch out bloody head with the axe gash. This figure stands at approximately 5 inches and at 5 inches what you get is one of the best sculpted most accurately looking Jasons to date. Leave it to Kaiyodo's sculptors to do a great job, you can tell they did there homework when sculpting Jason. His mask is removable so that you can see his wonderful deformed face in all its glory.

The one thing Revoltechs sometimes lose points are with the joints. Again while the articulation is fantastic, you pay for that in presentation. The ball joints are easily visible in his elbows and back of his legs. In my opinion its not that big of a deal, but some people prefer to have joints more hidden, its just less of an eye sore I guess.

Friday the 13th pt. 3 is such an iconic film because its when Jason was still a "human". Early in the series he was unstoppable, but not undead as he becomes later in the series. Also for the fact that in part 3 he first appears with the iconic hockey mask and a horror icon was born. I prefer the Jason of old when he was a mutant back woods killer as opposed to the undead Jason. Ok back to the toy, with the alternate head as you can see, you get the notorious axe gash that he recieves at the end of the film. The toy nails it perfectly giving you the gash along with the mask that has the gash in it as well and allowing you to actually fit the axe in his head and leave it sticking out exactly like the film. So you can re-enact the whole "you cant be alive" scene in all its bloody goodness.

So to sum it up, a tremendous figure, featuring a kick ass sculpt along with a ton of accessories. If your a Friday the 13th fan or a toy collector this figure is a great piece to have in the collection. While he is out of scale with most of my other figures, its a fantastic representation of a slasher film icon.

The Art of Darksiders

2010-11-16T22:08:00.025-05:00

Today after work I was surprised to see waiting on my doorstep this amazing awe inspiring piece of work from one of the masters of the comic world Joe Madueriera or as most know him Joe Mad. The first time some might have noticed his art was from his early work with Marvels Uncanny X-Men when he did the Age of Apocalypse. Then when Battle Chasers was released it was all uphill from there. From the Ultimates 3 to starting VIGIL Games and producing Darksiders the video game, its all about Joe Mad. This book basically shows all the illustrations and sketch work from the game even showing concepts that werent actually in the finished game.

To the left you can see Ruin the nightmare horse that War rides during certain areas of the game.
His line work is to die for and his shading is just on another level. Its really rough and sometimes sloppy, but you can always make out what Joe was thinking or at least the idea he was trying to portray with his art. A few pages of Ruin in various stages. Having armor, to having smoke and flames and even details such as the chain links on the saddle. Again the art work alone is just stunning. In the book there are several pages of fleshed out concepts about Samael the great demon who rejected the Destroyer's rule. They even explain his upside wings, basically making a mockery of the angels he battles against.

Below are the Angelic Mounts that the Angels fly during battle. A couple pages of various development sketches involving wing design, the armor and different eagle type heads. Along with these are a few panels of animal concepts within the game such as crows, snakes and insects. Again the art is just stunning.

More armor concepts and head design for the Angels. This book is packed with various characters from the game and also there clothing, armor and weapons as well as background story. Even a few characters that arent actually in the game or at least maybe didnt make it to the final stages of the games development.

I put this photo in for a friend of mine, who I know will check this out later. Behold the Chaoseater the weapon of choice that War carries during the game. Again several pages of weapon concepts and development from the Chaoseater to the Harvester (Death's Scythe) along with his gauntlet.

I wasnt really trying to write a review more or less just wanted to talk about the book itself. Which again thru my very elementary writing I do what I can. If you want to pick up a copy of this book you can follow the link below and get it at a really good price off Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Darksiders-Vigil-Games/dp/1926778103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289963289&sr=8-1-spell

Something I did forget to mention that really pisses me off, as epic as this book is the spine was just glued together not stitched or sewn or however they do it. So i can honestly say that recieving this book today I can already see pages seperating. Several times ive had to slam the book on the ground to line the pages back up into the spine. Im sure i'll have to probably glue it back together at another time.

So that being said, it really is still worth the $26 bucks I spent to pick this book up. If you just a fan of Joe Mads or just an art collector or intersted in art or actually a fan of the game Darksiders this book is worth a look. Heres hoping Joe Mad and Vigil games are working on Darksiders 2. Fingers are crossed.

Hail of Bullets - On Divine Winds

2010-11-05T18:40:00.004-04:00

Well been listening to the new Hail of Bullets album and well to sum it up...nothing but pure fucking epicness. An old school style death metal band from the Netherlands with albums themed on War. In 2008 they released of Frost and War and then in 2009 they released an EP titled Warsaw Rising and now there newest album On Divine Winds. Referencing the Kamikaze pilots of Japan during WWII. This album is so tough, pretty much every song is themed on the Japanese perspective during these times. The songs that really stand out are Operation Z, Kamikaze and Tokyo Napalm Holocaust.

Just good old awesome chugging thrashing death. The lyrics are so well written, each song is like a little brief history lesson or a small story of some sort. This is a great fucking album. I listened to this 3 times today at work.

Autopsy - The Tomb Within

2010-10-12T19:34:00.005-04:00

New Autopsy. They have a newer album hitting later
in 2011 called Macabre Eternal from Peacville. Fantastic chuggin death doom. Cant wait.

Friends...

2010-10-12T19:21:00.003-04:00

Today while I was at work I recieved an email from a friend. I was told why dont I go out more and do I do anything fun. I was invited to a party and was told id be introduced to new people and that I need to make more friends. I'll say right off, I dont have many friends nor do I know many people. My hobbies and interests in most cases are considered along the lines of nerdy or geeky. I love horror, I love comics, I love artwork, I collect toys and I love to game, I love MMA and I love to draw (when I get time). Now with those things listed you can imagine my phone isnt ringing very much. I have a few friends that I keep in contact with and they know who they are. The others well...I dont really fucking care.
As much as i like to hang out with people and have fun, Im not a big socialite so to speak. Even if I was to go to a party...in most cases Im the guy that grabs a drink and some food and just kinda sits down. As I said im pretty much just a quiet nerdy guy. The things I consider fun arent exactly what others consider fun. I enjoy quiet nights of slasher films or murdering people in a game of Modern Warfare or Halo Reach (what ive been playing lately).
So I know my friend didnt mean any harm, but at the same time I hate that conversation of "what do you do for fun" its all fucking relative if you ask me. Just some shit I had on my mind today.

Nothing New

2010-09-20T22:22:00.005-04:00

The other day at the grocery store, I seen this chick looking at various soups and I noticed she had a really nice 3/4 sleeve tattoo. So as I walked by i stopped to compliment her and ask where she got it done. I dont have any tattoos, but tattoo art is fucking awesome to me, plus she had her sleeve done in the more Japanese style. A few peonies and a phoenix all done in black and grey. It was pretty fucking nice. So she turned out to be really nice as well. I know sometimes when you ask about peoples tattoos they get all fucking wierd like they dont want to be looked at like a walking canvas which I understand, but I was just complimenting her art. Im always on the look for great art because Ive been thinking about getting some art done as well. I just am really picky about art so I want to find a "good" artist at least to my taste to do my stuff. I had an idea of some japanese style snakes and flowers with maybe some demon faces and such. The layout would flow alot better than me describing it, money is the only thing holding me back really, but then again money is holding me back from doing alot of things.
Between buying toys and doing everything else I want to do my toy buying has dramatically cut back. Im just getting really picky and only certain figures make it into my collection these days. Ive been throwing a few things on ebay here and there just making some money back. So that wraps up this moment of bullshit that was stirring in my head. I just havent written shit in a while and thought Id drop by a few blogs I follow and write what was going on in my head. So back to life and getting ready to watch the countdown for UFC 119 this weekend Frank Mir vs Mirko Crocop.

Life goes on

2010-08-09T18:54:00.005-04:00

Well I got back on August 31st and Im still trying to adjust back to "normal" life. My sleep pattern is all jacked up and my eating habits are all out of wack as well. While I was there, there were moments where I kept thinking I cant wait to get back home on U.S. soil. Now
that Im home, all I seem to think about is whens the next time Im going to go back
All I can say is it was a life changing experience seeing so many different things and just seeing how people live in and learning so much from the great people of Korea and Japan.
Life goes on and now I must get back to my daily grind of photography, toys, MMA, horror and video games. Yes life goes on people. Until I feel like writing agian.

Got Seoul

2010-07-08T21:42:00.005-04:00

Well in a few days i'll be on a flight heading towards the other side of the world. I'll be landing in Seoul, South Korea...tell me that aint some cool shit. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think Id be able to visit the far East. So im not going to cry and ramble about how lucky I am, really if it wasnt for my wife thats one of the main reasons I'll be over there. Shes visiting some of her family and I just couldnt help but try and tag along. Luckily I had enough vacation time and money saved up to be able to do this. On Monday the 12th of July I will be sitting on a plane awaiting the unexpected. We'll be landing in Seoul, but her family actually resides in Suwon about an hour from Seoul. I plan on taking in as many sights as possible with lots of pictures. Im bringing both my cameras and ready to capture it all. As I said I dont really even know what to expect, Im just looking to relax and enjoy my time in what could basically be the one and only time I travel that far. Hopefully I'll try and keep this blog updated while Im over there to at least post a few pictures or what not.

So we'll see because I really dont know how its going to work. I actually just found out yesterday that American cell phones dont work in S. Korea or Japan. From what I was told there networks are so advanced American technology just doesnt work. There cell phones apparently make our cell phones look like childrens toys. So email will basically be my only communications to my folks back home and well the occasional home phone from the people I'll be staying with. Well a big fuck yeah for me and just waiting for whats to come.

Random work photos

2010-05-12T20:58:00.005-04:00

At work in the middle of the day when emails are flying and shits getting stale we'll sometimes slip in some random photos or just wierd shit to just kinda liven things up. This one has been sent around a few times and usually makes me laugh...not so much the bird, but the little girls face as shes throwing the bird.

Rob Zombie's Halloween 2

2010-04-16T00:31:00.005-04:00

Where do I even begin with this...movie. Well first off your wondering "wow you call yourself a horror guy" and you just now are watching Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 or H2 as the poster says or as Ive heard others say. First when this flick came out I remember I was like ehh...I'll go see it and give it a chance, but I heard so many negative reviews about it I figured Id wait til it came on dvd and let some of the hate die down so I could watch it with an unbiased opinion.

Well tonight I check my mail box and well look what netflix sent. Its time and I'll give it a chance. I watched about half of the movie and holy fucking hell...what the fuck was Rob Zombie thinking. I now understand why everyone thought it sucked so bad, I mean the first Halloween remake was bad enough, but it was at least watchable...this piece of shit I cant even describe. What he did to Micheal was just terrible. I mean Hobo Myers as they call him around the net is a total wreck. He grew a beard and was grunting and actually spoke "die" towards the end of the film.
I will say that I fell asleep in the middle of the film I was so bored with this piece of garbage. I dont even really know why Im writing this. Mr Zombie really took John Carpenters legendary film and the sequal and just made a horrible movie.

The hallucination scenes the dream sequences, it was a giant film of horror cliches. I just dont understand why everyone in Rob Zombies films has to look so poor and trashy also. What the hell is he thinking, I mean its like he just wants to put everything hes interested into a movie. For example the soundtrack...I can just picture him picking out all the music and like the girls room with Alice Cooper posters and pentagrams drawn on the wall...not even a poster its actually drawn on the wall...who the fuck does that. Then you have all these quick clips of classic horror cartoons and snipets of old horror references from other movies or music. It was just a mess of a film.

I just figured Id get that shit out cause I was still thinking about it. I have to say if you havent seen this film dont bother, go rent if you dont already own the original Halloween and Halloween 2 and be amazed at what great films they are. Dont bother with Zombies Halloween 2, it was boring and really added nothing to the genre.

Its 3am what are you doing?

2010-04-10T03:01:00.007-04:00

Well holy shit...its been a while since ive written anything. Not much really going on I guess. Work has been busy as shit and has taken any kind of creative thought from my body. I used to draw and obviously write alot more and do more photography with my toys and just random shit like that. Now it seems I come home from a long day and watch some tv before I end up crashing on the sofa or what not.

Ive still been playing alot of video games, just got the new maps for Modern Warfare 2 and there pretty cool. Trying to earn my special badges with my M10 Shotgun. A few weeks ago I actually played thru God of War 3 and son of a bitch thats a bad ass game. I love the whole greek mythology story behind it, the gods vs titans is so fucking awesome. Really great stuff. I wish they would have done more with the gorgons again. The first GOW had Medusa, and the sequal had her sister Eurayle(sp), from reading about them theres apparently one more sister and nope she wasnt in this one. Anyways regardless it was pretty freaking awesome to beat it and get more of the story. I'll just say there probably going to do more games with different characters maybe giving Kratos a rest.

Well if your wondering about the totally kick ass Godzilla poster...thats what Im watching at this very moment Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla. Look at that artwork...fantastic not many companies used hand drawn art anymore most of it is all photoshopped up nowdays. Beleive me you should see the US poster for this movie, total garbage. Why couldnt they just remove the Japanese kanji and slap some english at the bottom. Instead there like we dont want that cartoony art we'll make our own = crap.

So that pretty much sums up the past few months of nothingness. Im going to try and keep up with my blog more writing more frequently about whatever bullshit happens or doesnt happen for that matter.

tis the season

2009-12-24T20:58:00.005-05:00

Well its that time of year...everyones jolly and its cold and snowy and everyones visiting family and friends. I live in Florida and its about 75 degrees outside...not cold in anyway at all. I just got back from trying to find a "Macdonalds" as some people call it, lol (you know who you are). I just have that craving for a burger or whatever you wanna call what they serve. I mean theres nothing open right now though. I dont have any immediate family here so thats out.
I was talking with a friend a few days ago and I dont know if its because Im older or what but I really just dont give a damn about Christmas anymore. For me its more of a tradition now than a its about "jesus, the reason for the season" type shit. Im not religious in anyway so another strike for christmas, ha ha ha. I mean gifts dont really mean much to me anymore, sure there very much appreciated if offered, but its not the same as when your a kid and your opening your toys and such. These days I just want some days off work and to relax and hang out. Im going to drink a few beers and play some Modern Warfare 2, maybe destruction and death will perk me up a little bit :D
I know Im just rambling about bullshit, but it was just some random shit in my head that I figured Id jot down. I guess things arent all that bad, I could be in Iraq or Afghan shooting up some shit or dodging enemy fire. Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to everyone, you choose the least offensive.

Living Room Warfare

2009-11-15T17:16:00.009-05:00

Well last Monday I waited in a line with about a hundred other people at the local Gamestop to pick up my copy of Modern Warfare 2. Needless to say since that Monday I have played as much as I can and after several migrain headaches and sleepless nights and working in time to get some food all I can say is holy shit.

This game is fantastic. Theres something about tactical military shooters with an arcade style of play that make it so much fun. Lots of new guns to choose from with lots of new perks that allow you various weapon kits to have quicker reload time or being invisible to enemy radar. While the campaign is fairly short I thought the overall gameplay was awesome and while it seems that your only getting a small chunk of story from a larger epic that spans all kinds of twists and turns I was still excited after I completed it.

While the airport scene seems to be getting alot of attention, I didnt feel like it was all that big a deal. I dont want to give away spoilers or anything but think about it... Big Guns + Airport + people = Fun...or as others have stated controversy. When you first turn the game on it does give you the option to skip the scenes that might offend or disturb some players.

So anyways now that Im finished with the single player campaign Ive been playing alot of multiplayer online matches witch are really fun, but at the same time frustrating because without really knowing the maps all that well yet its really hard to know where the key hiding spots or sniping points where people sit or "camp" and wait for there kills. With that it seems like alot of the maps are specifically designed for "camping" or just sitting and waiting for those who arent familiar. Either way I think as we all begin to learn the maps I think the game will get a little easier to play. So far though I really dont have to many complaints. I still have yet to play the single player/co-op Special Ops missions. We'll see how those are when I take a break from the online play.

Well thats all I got for now, just kinda had that shit on my mind since Ive waited so long for this game and am now finally playing it. If your ever on Xbox Live hit me up I go by Sniper Will.

HALLOWEEN

2009-10-31T19:06:00.003-04:00

Well its Halloween and yeah Im so cool Im writing a blog...I know I should be at a party or dressed up as some derranged serial killer, but when your as cool as me with not many friends this is what you do. Write blogs and watch fuck loads of horror films.
So with that awesome news I shall enjoy my movies and well...do nothing. Tonight is free taco at Taco Hell, so maybe I'll get some tacos. I know thats some scary shit right there. Well...nothing else really going on, for some reason I just thought of writing some bullshit on here. Maybe if Im lucky the zombie apocalypse will happen tonight and I'll get to shoot some zombies and wait for my demise or just play some video games and wake up on Sunday as usual.

5 years forgotten

2009-10-23T22:23:00.002-04:00

Shit well I got something to write about now. Fuck, I come home and try and get some art off my external hard drive that I bought about 5 years ago...and I realize the computer isnt recognizing the "F" drive. I unplug it and plug it back in and still nothing. Fuck...Im not sure how many more times Im going to say fuck, but fuck... It was only a 100 gig hard drive but I bought it back before the external craze blew up. So long story short, all my art, all my music, all my movies (yeah that includes some good porn)all my photos fucking gone. I had some serious toy photography going on that I planned on cataloging plus alot of family photos that I had. Im going to try and recover it, but for now Im scratching it as a loss.

Looks like I have to start over now. I guess it would be wise for me to start actually backing up my external drive that I was using as a back up for my actual computer. At least external HDs are cheap now. One more for the road FUCK.

...Yup...Nothing

2009-10-05T22:42:00.010-04:00

Not a whole lot going on. I havent written in a while and now I know why...I dont have shit to talk about. I figured I would start doing my shitty movie reviews again. Really just nothing exciting going on in my life right now.
Ive just been taking pictures of a lot of toys Ive had laying around in my collection. Again nothing crazy but its a start.
So with that hopefully I'll have watched a few movies that I can at least say something. I dont want to give up my blog even if no one reads it its a way to write and get the shit that fills my head onto paper...or cyber space so to speak.
On that note I shall end this post and hopefully have something to write at a later time.

The Unclean Ones

2009-08-28T18:30:00.010-04:00

I havent written shit in a while...between gaming, and my current works in progress ive just been busy with other stuff. Heres my Nurgle Death Guard in the before shot. I havent painted these things in forever so hopefully they'll look good when Im done...or at least decent enough to put some photos up.
I have a few more photos, but I'll upload them at a later time. Until then Plague, Ravage, Rot and Death.

Mobile Suit Gundam Update

2009-06-09T22:17:00.011-04:00

Just posting an update on the RX-78 Mobile Suit being built in Japan. This thing is amazing to look at, now if they only built a Zeon Zaku to stand next to it. Life size mecha...doesnt get any better than that.

Mobile Suit Gundam

2009-05-18T00:12:00.004-04:00

Japans building a 1:1 (lifesize) scale RX-78 Mobile Suit Gundam. I think there doing it in some park...once its done its going to step on everyone and blow stuff up :)
Leave it to the Japanese to make something this awesome.

Splinter 2008'

2009-05-01T00:13:00.003-04:00

Well finally getting back to this shit. I recently heard about this new movie a creature feature of the sorts and when I heard this I started looking for it right away. Well I threw it down on the netflix and blamo I get it shorty after. Looks like not many people had this on there radar. First off I have to say I wasnt sure really what to expect, I just knew there was some sort of "monster" that was done in the old school makeup and latex not the shitty CG that most movies do now days. Dont get me wrong, theres a time and a place for CG, but something about practical makeup and latex when it comes to monster and such is just awesome and for some reason works better to me.

Well right off the bat, I find out its some sort of parasite that takes over the body, I wont give away to much, but man this movie kicked some ass. Better than I was expecting for a straight to dvd low budget little horror flick. Again its a fairly simple movie so I cant talk to much about it or it will give it away.

I'll just say the whole "splinter" thing is in reference to how this parasite travels from host to host. While it infects a new host it remembers the movements and habits from the last hosts and incorporates them into the new host. Seeing the creature crawl, walk, and jump around was pretty awesome. It sort of reminds me of John Carpenter's the Thing, but at the same time is a good original horror flick. Really gotta support stuff like this because it beats the numerous remakes that Hollywood seems to keep pumping out especially in the genre of horror.

So with that if your into some cheezy horror done the old way where the effects were more practical and monsters roamed the Earth, give this movie a shot. Its pretty awesome and easily had some pretty cool moments especially when you get to see the "creature".

- Blood n' Guts

The Economy Strikes Back

2009-02-16T23:39:00.002-05:00

Well once again the shit hit the fan at work today. In the middle of the day...probably around 3:45 or so...they had 2 seperate meetings. One meeting was to tell people the reality and whats happening and the other to tell people your now part time or no longer employed.
I think this is the 4th time now...I dont even know what to think anymore. Its just fucked up...

Friday the 13th - Remake Sneak Preview

2009-02-09T22:57:00.006-05:00

Well tonight a friend of mine ended up getting some tickets and seen Friday the 13th early. Ive been to screenings before so I know how it goes. Turn your phones off, no cameras of any type and there on you like a hawk. I ended up picking up about 10 promo posters which I collect what they call 1-sheets for movies. Ok on to the goods...
I dont want to give any spoilers away but lets say I went in with very low expectations and wasnt expecting much from this remake. I grew up watching Friday the 13th and have always considered Jason one of those childhood heroes. I know its funny but thats how much love I got for the J man. Just such an iconic character.

This film was done by platinum dunes which is the same company that brought us The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes. What they did here was basically take the first 4 Friday films and roll them into one movie with a little more back story to the mutant hillbilly that we've all grown up with. Thru out the whole movie you see references and similar scenes from older Friday films which I thought was pretty cool. I did notice is that its definetly a new Jason, its very bright and hollywood with lots of pretty teen characters. Now I know the old Friday films had there own "pretty" teens for the 70's and 80's, but I think the older films had more of a dirty gritty look. I guess more of that cheezy "grindhouse" feel to it. This film the characters play out every sterotype in the book as well as they just look like they should be appearing on some kind of WB network show for high schoolers there so clean cut.

You have the token black guy, the hot chicks, and one slutty hot chick, they even added an asian guy to this cast, theres the asshole, the local store clerk and of course just random campers and such. Plenty of sex and drugs to meet all the typical stupid requirements that are thrown in there for the masses to enjoy and make there comments. I heard enough people making comments to write my own movie on. Screaming and laughing out loud always goes hand in hand with these type of movies.

So back to the main star of this movie, Jason. The movie opens with a little back story and right from the get go, we get to see a glimpse of the man, which at this point everyone knows by now its "Sackhead" Jason. In the original pt. 2 hes wearing a potato sack or Ive heard some people say a pillow sack. You choose, either way its a tough look, and with this new "Sackhead" hes got it wrapped so tight he looks more like a ninja. Im not complaining because he still looks awesome like that, I actually would have prefered to see him with the sack on than when he finally gets his hockey mask, but again Jason isnt remembered for the sack its the hockey mask that brought his fame. I wont go into how he gets it, but he does and of course the crowd cheered and people were whispering and giggling and just enjoying see there character truly come to life.

So once he sports the hockey mask, its your typical stalk and slash film. I love slasher films and I have to say for a remake it was done pretty well. I mean I was talking to my friend and if I wanted I could get really nit picky and tear it apart, but I kept telling myself for what it was it was done pretty well. To me it showed Jason in a more human like form which is what I prefer over his half rotted mindless zombie act. He was thinking and planning and showing the audience why Camp Crystal Lake belonged to him. Again a few things I thought were a little corny, but to appease the masses these things have to be there, its part of the slasher formula that will probably never go away. I mean it was an enjoyable watch and in the end thats what counts.

So over all it was a good fun film, dont go in expecting too much just enjoy it have fun. Now the reason for the photo is because pt. 3 is my all time favorite and If I would compare it to pt. 3 over all...of course Pt. 3 is still by far the best of all the Friday films, plus it is the one film where he sports the hockey mask for the first time as well. Take it with a grain of salt, just fun flicks cant take them real serious, just laugh, scream, and enjoy the bloodshed. As Jason brings in a new year. If this film does good which I almost can gaurantee it is, they are already in talks for a sequal...go figure.

New in 09'...

2009-01-08T00:08:00.004-05:00

Uh...not a whole lot. Work is pretty slow, Ive been training in the print dept. learning some new things here and there. Today was pretty crazy. The weather has been pretty nice, waking up in the morning to almost 70 degrees and being able to wear shorts to work is pretty kick ass.

Well other than that, Ive been getting these crazy migraines the past few days. I think Ive been staring at too many screens again and not giving my eyes time to rest. I work at a computer all day with double monitors, I come home to sit at my personal computer and surf check email and so on, then I either watch tv or game for a few hours before I eventually go to bed. Could this be the cause of my migraines...maybe, or it could be some kind airborne parasite that I some how breathed in during my sleep. As it incubates inside my brain eating me from the inside out. I'll probably be at work and my face will just cave in, and this giant worm like creature will burst forth thru my face and plop on the floor and crawls away...

Probably not, but its a thought. Well hopefully 09' will be a better year than last.

Friday the 13th update

2008-12-11T20:34:00.004-05:00

Well it looks like there is a new poster that has been released. The teaser poster that was released at the SDCC earlier this year was just the basic hockey mask. For the teaser which I prefer http://unit-1978.blogspot.com/2008/07/jason-voorhees-is-remade.html

Now with the help of some photoshop we have this... Im not sure if its cool or not. I mean put jason on anything and it might turn out cool. To me the 2 things that jump out are his wierd long neck...and his overly huge Conan sword that was once a regular machete. Either way Im just excited to see that Jason will be back on the screen remake or not. Thanks to bloody-disgusting.com for the image.

Locust Killer

2008-12-04T18:34:00.006-05:00

Holy shit!!! I look a tired mess, but I already know Im an ugly dude, but oh man that lancer is fucking beautiful. Got to take a picture with my brothers lancer he got when he pre-ordered Gears of War 2. All the descriptions said that the chainsaw actually rotated...it doesnt its solidly mounted in. This killing machine is built pretty solidly and has some heft to it. Weighing in at a good 13 pounds it feels fucking awesome. On the other side of the rifle there is a handle that you can hold so when you chainsaw the shit out of everyone your hand wont get in the way of the blade.

The magazine actually comes out and if you put batteries in it, this bitch lights up blue like in the game. Blood splattered chainsaw and all, its a pretty impressive piece of game memorabilia. Nothing better than a giant rifle that can shoot you down then chop you in half. "Bring it!!!!"

Dead Space - blood n' guts!!!

2008-11-06T20:52:00.005-05:00

Dead Space...survival horror in space. Such an awesome game, and happy to see an original title play so good. Great story, great controls and pretty creepy and grim. The controls remind me of Resident Evil 4, but beleive me the game itself to me is better than RE4.

The bloodshed and gore in this game is amazing, and the whole concept of destroying the bad guys is to dismember them with your weapons. Yeah you can shoot them multiple times in the chest with your mining gun, but why when you can shoot his legs off and watch him crawl on the ground. Some of the harder enemies I figured out this strategy worked pretty well, shoot the legs off and get the hell out of there.

While the game itself is a little short, the graphics are beautiful and again the story is pretty well written. Id write more about it but then this post would go on forever.

However the bad guys known as Necromorphs are these crazy alien/hybrid zombies...in SPACE!!! Everything from zombies with spikes, crazy armored creatures with there guts hanging out, with worms dripping out of there mouth...as they walk towards you or run puking and screaming on there way to devour, chop, splatter, smear you all over the place. Even one creepy part you walk into a room with fetus's and yeah...some mutated fetus's come after you...beleive me this game is that good. I havent played a survival horror game like this in a while so for me being a big fan of horror movies and horror in general this game was such a treat.

Even the end boss was great, such an awesome boss battle...just a little to easy once you figure out his...its patterns.

EliteXC - Heat

2008-10-05T23:22:00.003-04:00

Well this weekend drove down to southern Florida to catch the fights. EliteXC who has a deal with CBS to air a certain number of shows for free on network television has been a pretty good thing. Some great fights and great tv. So Elite came here to Florida and of course Im going because I want to see Gina Carano a few others, but Gina was the main attraction for me at least :)
So obviously being in South Florida, the majority of the audience was there to see the main event Kimbo Slice vs Ken Shamrock. This next part I'll sum up real quick, Ken Shamrock being the moron he is, was training harder than he should have right before the fight and recieved a cut over his left eye which was due to a headbutt. Now why he was training that hard a day before the fight is still a mystery. Basically he ruined the main event and a stand in was required last minute. So "unknown" fighter Seth "silverback" Petruzelli from Orlando took the opening and ran with it Knocking Kimbo out in a sweet 14 seconds of the first round.

Well when Kimbo got dropped with a sloppy jab the crowd went crazy and started booing and people around me were already calling "bullshit". If you know the sport of MMA thats how the game works. Your name, your experience doesnt always make a difference. It only takes one well connected shot to drop someone and Kimbo ate that shot on Saturday night. While everyone was in amazement, I knew he was going to lose. Kimbo besides his street fights isnt that impressive on an MMA level of fighting. His striking is decent, but again to be a complete fighter you need to do more than punch.

So I had a great weekend and to sum up the fights...dumb crowd, lots of posers, casual MMA fans and drunk idiots booing, cursing not understanding the action on the ground. Its a given with the sport growing so much this is what it attracts and while its not Kimbo's fault, you could easily see who was there to watch Kimbo. Overall great night of fights, even the undercard which wasnt aired on television was really entertaining.

Friday the 13th pt 3 - The book

2008-09-21T22:51:00.011-04:00

Recently I was at a friends house and hes cleaning out his room with all his dvds and books and such and I spot with my eye the actual Friday the 13th pt. 3 book. It was published in 1982, so anyways I immediately tell him can I borrow this I have to read it to find out if there is anything different from the movie. Part 3 being my favorite of the series, I have to see if its different.
While there are a few parts that are different the one that mostly caught me off gaurd was dare I say the ending... We all know the ending of pt. 3, how Jason catches an axe to the head which gives him the famous gash on the right side of his mask/head and finally falls down. The ambulance and the police show up and well that pretty much sums it up. Now Im going to type this directly from the book the ending that was written.

- Then Jason turned his attention back to Chris, and got more than even he had ever bargained for. While he had been busy with the black man, she had found a sickle, the only available weapon close at hand. She seized it with all the hatred and determination left in her aching, bruised, tortured body. Jason looked up. His eyes went wide with fear. For a moment, he almost looked human. But it was only an illusion. Chris was running right at him, something shining in her hand. It went aloft and came down with one vicious, swiping motion, and lopped the mad monsters's head off directly where his neck met his shoulders. Crimson and carmine and vermilion flowed. -

Ok I didnt want to write anymore, but reading this book and finishing it tonight just blew me away at how good it was. Also made me think at this time, they obviously werent thinking about the many cinematic sequals that followed. Anyways I thought I would share that with you fellow horror people. Sorry it was so long but again to me it was very interesting.

UFC 88 Breakthrough

2008-09-08T20:29:00.013-04:00

I took off last Friday to head up to Atlanta, the Philips Arena for UFC 88. Got there Friday afternoon just in time for weigh ins. Instead of waiting in line for hours like most did, my brother and a friend had Fight Club passes where I ended up bypassing all the lines and headed right in for the Q&A and weigh ins.

Light Heavyweight Champ Forrest Griffin was there to greet and chat with fans. Forrest is a good fighter but as a person I dont really know him. I came close to meeting him when I visited Extreme Couture in Las Vegas where I watched him train. Even back then he wasnt really friendly. I know he was training but it only takes a second to say hi. Anyways in the Q&A he just answered all the dumb red neck questions which some guy proceeded to ask him if his wife could practice her gaurd with him...which if you dont know the guard position is a defensive position on the ground where the person on the bottom wraps there legs around the opponent on top to control there weight. So you get where this redneck was going, nothing but morons with a few legitimate MMA questions being asked.

During the weigh ins I was pretty much cheering for everyone, but the ALT crowd wasnt thinking the same weigh. When Ryo Chonan came out he got nothing but boos and people asking who is Ryo. It was amazing at how much disrespect Ryo Chonan and Dong Hyun Kim got. Nothing but boos, man I was so pissed. Here is Ryo Chonan (666 T-shirt) after weigh ins doing the pre-fight stare down with Roan Carneiro. I was going bonkers for Ryo, hes a bad ass. Im just a huge fan of the Japanese MMA scene and all the Japanese organizations. I have more pictures but I dont really feel like putting them all up. I was enjoying everything, but I couldnt beleive the disrespect that alot of the fighters got and the amout of people booing and screaming racial slurs. My wife and I held up a Korean flag for the only Korean fighter in UFC Dong Hyun Kim...what ensued was boos and people going ape shit at the fact of us raising the Korean flag. True MMA fans know that its an international sport, the Georgia fans didnt seem to know that. Again, Ryo and Dong Hyun both won and were booed out the area pretty much. I was getting so angry and started yelling back at people. It all paid off when Dong Hyun pointed us out for the support and we later got to meet him where he signed my wife's flag and took pictures. A total class act.

The main event consisted of Chuck Liddell vs Rashad Evans. While everyone in the arena was going crazy for Chuck right down to several people shaving there heads sporting those crappy mohawks that Chuck is so famous for. He was definietly the crowd favorite while Rashad Evans was unfortunately being booed and trashed all thru out the arena. The vibe of the arena drastically changed when in the 2nd round Rashad delievered a powerful overhand right that would put Chuck to sleep and the fight was over. I swear Chuck looked dead it was such a poweful KO. I went bonkers when that happened and immediately people were leaving and saying it was bullshit. The rednecks were so upset there hero had lost all hopes of getting a contending shot at the Light Heavyweight Belt. Rashad was the man and proved it that night. Such an impressive knock out, it was an amazing. Over all it was a great event despite all the drunk red necks around us throwing shit and just talking out there ass.

As the sport of MMA grows there will always be UFC fans and true MMA fans. The true MMA fans know who is representing.

Red Ring of Death

2008-08-31T17:48:00.003-04:00

Yep, if you own a X-Box 360 its bound to happen eventually. Im playing Call of Duty 4 (one of the greatest shooters ever) and blamo it freezes. I reboot the machine...wait a few minutes and were good to go. Call of Duty starts up and I begin playing again...blamo it freezes again. So this time Im like shit, ok maybe the game is scratched or dirty. I turn the console off, take out my disc which rarely even leaves my console. I look at it...no visible scratches no dust. I wipe it off anyways and Im like shit ok reboot time.
I reboot and were backup...blamo doesnt even get to the xbox logo screen and I see the fucking red rings of death. NO!!!!! I turn it off, and reboot again just thinking maybe it needs to just cool down for a few mins...nope its fucking dead. So I thought well I'll take a picture and blog the death of my box.
Luckily when I bought my Xbox at Best Buy I bought a service plan with it also for an extra $50 which covered it for 2 years...what do you know I had about 4 months left on it. In a sense I lucked out totally and just went to Best Buy returned it and swapped it out and got a new one. Simple as that. Im already back up and gaming, I still play lots of COD 4, but Im waiting for Mercenaries 2 in the mail from my Gamefly account.

Jason Voorhees is remade

2008-07-29T19:04:00.002-04:00

I discovered this today while surfing on my break at work. Im not a huge fan of all the horror remakes that Hollywood seems to be just pulling out of there ass, but shit this is Friday the 13th. In my mind Jason is the king of slasher films, yeah there corny and laughable and not at all scary, but thats not the point.
The point is Jason Voorhees is a horror icon and not to sound to lame, but one of those characters that I grew up watching as a kid. I remember being a small kid and watching Friday the 13th videos back to back. From what I read about this remake, it looks like there going to give you some background info on him, the mask his mother and then let the killing ensue and he murders teenagers left and right...Im there.

Toys R Us midnight release of Clone Wars toys

2008-07-27T22:28:00.002-04:00

Wow, what can I say. The nerds were out in masses, I say nerds but I'll easily include myself in that. You could definetly see a heirarchy of nerdom there though. My friend and I fellow toy outlaw got to the Brandon TRU at around 10pm thinking no one would be there. We get there walk up to see if it was the line for star wars toys...
With about 10 people already waiting we jumped in...within an hour there were a ton of people, way more than I thought would be out at midnight for some figures. It was all types as well, young old, families who brought there kids and such.

Well as I said the nerds were in rare form, the people in the front of the line were on a whole other level of nerdom. One dude, was all sweaty and loud and just had to let everyone know why he was there. With his ugly girl by his side they were strategizing how to get the best outcome of figures, in which he looks at her with a dead serious face and says "I'll grab the Anakins and you grab the Lukes". I couldnt help but laugh and realize what were we doing there. I mean I'll be the first to admit Im a nerd but damn it was just a sad sight to see a few of these people.

At approximately 12:01 they opened the door and let people in 10 at a time which we got in with the second group and crazy enough it was a battle ravaged war zone. Figures were strewn around, people were still grabbing carts and just loading them up. I just wanted a couple of clone troopers and such, and in the mix as Im reaching for a figure in a hurry a guy crosses my path and I lightly punched him in the face, lol...and who was it you ask? The fucking sweaty loud dude in front of the line. Which he proceeds to tell me "dont worry I'll grow a new face"...

So again, being the second group in, that shit was so ravaged it was hard to find anything good. I did managed to find a couple cool clones. I found out if you spent $30 you got a holographic general grievous. People were going bonkers for those things. Now with the upcoming movie that in my opinion looks pretty cool, I actually want to see this but then again going to the movies is something I havent done in a while. Well see I guess. Toy Outlaws strike again and it wasnt pretty.

Vacation

2008-07-18T11:55:00.003-04:00

Well I took a week off work and hung out with my family who came to visit. Not really much going on. We went to Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami and just hung out. Went to the beach cause my folks wanted to go there. Unfortunately its hurricane season right now so it rains every damn day.

I havent seen my folks in a while so its still cool to hang out with them. Well I have 1 more day with them as I think there leaving tomorrow. From then I should be able to get back to my normal schedule of photography and my boring life, of collecting toys and watching movies.

Since I havent written in a while, I figured I would just add a little update. Maybe some pictures soon...we'll see.

U78 out

Rain = Toys and boredom

2008-06-23T00:11:00.013-04:00

Well it was a shitty rainy weekend with nothing to do. I hung out with my fellow Toy Outlaw and we ended up at Toys R US or what we call TRU. As usual nothing new, he picked up some star wars troopers he was looking for and finally found them. Other than that...rather uneventful. Saturday Night was the Ultimate Fighter Finale, which was pretty good. Good fights made for an exciting night.
That ended around midnight or so...and then I was going to play Grand Theft Auto 4. Im trying to beat it before the new Battlefield Bad Company game comes out, but I dont think thats going to happen. Well as I said be it a rainy shitty day at 1 or 2 in the morning I started busting out some of the older toys and just checking them out. Which turned into I guess you could call it a photoshoot. My collection has been boxed away for almost a year now so when you open figures you havent seen in a while its like buying them brand new all over again. I was excited which is what brought the photos on. Below is the black Zaku II Tri-Star Chogokin. Pretty cool figure, diecast and pvc so hes got some heft to him.

Below is 18" MSIA DX Sazabi. Anyone who knows Gundam, knows Sazabi, from Chars Counter Attack. A bad ass mecha that cant be touched in design...well mabye by a few but still his design stands the test of time, those giant chunky feet and that samurai style helmet... The 18" Sazabi was really hard to find and I ended up importing him back during the US Gundam trend in early 2000.

Next up, Revoltech #24 Gaiking - Legend of Daikumaryu. Gaiking used to be a part of the Force Five anime series that was released in the early 80's. I grew up watching this cartoon, and man hes one bad ass mofo. In the anime Daikumaryu was this giant space dragon, which was kinda like the mother ship per say. The crew and other various mechs/vehicles were stored there. During the transformation the belly would open up and a pair of arms and legs would shoot out and combine with the dragons head and form Gaiking. It might sound corny but to me it was so awsome. Yeah alot of people probably dont know who Gaiking is but last year Japan revamped the anime and brought it back paying homage to the classic. Which I still havent finished, but its just good ole robot smashing action. No complex story lines, just giant robots destroying shit.

Alright Im getting tired of writing so Im going to wrap this up real quick. This is the Gelgoog from the Gundam Fix - Zenography series. The Zenography series were pretty much all the bad guys put in toy form. Like most toy lines, usually the bad guys arent all that special so Bandai wanted to dedicate a series just for them. Which Im all about the bad guys.

I still have lots more toys...sadly, so I'll bring you more robot updates as time goes on.
Alright thats it for this mishmash weekend of garbage and crap. I think next Friday is my birthday and...we'll see what happens.

Movie Night

2008-06-21T02:42:00.003-04:00

Tonight I ended up going to the theaters to see The Happening and walked into Hulk afterwards...what I call a double feature. Well after reading a billion bad reviews on The Happening, I figured Im not going to let the masses tell me if a movie is good or not. So getting to the point, I thought it was pretty good. Again, M. Night Shyamalan movies dont really do much for me anymore, the whole twist ending and crazy wierd storyline was done a few movies back in his career. Now I take it for what it is. So anyways again to get to my point, the idea was good and there was one scene that pretty much summed the whole movie up for me and thats where I figured it out, which was probably about 20 mins in. Over all I thought it was decent, I mean people are talking bad about it like its the worse film ever. I mean come on people it wasnt that bad. I got a kick out of it, to me the whole concept of humans dying off and nature prevailing always puts a smile on my face. In the end nature will prevail and we will be gone long before Mother Earth is finished.

To sum Hulk up...HULK SMASH!!!!! awsome go see it. I love how they referenced the old 80's television show. Great film and the Tony Stark cameo was fantastic.

Sinking ships

2008-06-04T20:17:00.005-04:00

Unfortunately more people were let go today. I have to say some really good friends at that. FLC is no more, which those who dont know is our lunch gang. I dont really have much to say, its just sad to see more people go and to see the company going the way its going. Again with the economy the way it who knows how much more of this we can take. A big farewell to those who left us. I wont name names but they know who they are.

Vegas 08'

2008-05-21T00:08:00.004-04:00

Well 2 weeks ago I ended up in lost Vegas some how enjoying my time gambling and visiting the fight gyms in the area and oh yeah getting hitched. Angela's friends my brother and his friend, and a college buddy here all went. We gambled and stayed out til 3 or 4 in the morning just wandering the strip... From hookers to porn cards to McDonalds at 3 in the morning to smokey little shithole casinos. It was only my second time there, but still it was just as fun if not better than the first time I was there.

My brother, myself and our friend Adam, all ventured out on our MMA journey to find Gina Carano the famous female MMA fighter and famous American Gladiator known as Crush. We visited Xtreme Couture and Master Toddys Muay Thai Gym. Finally found her and got to talk to her and get pictures with her. She was so awsome. At Xtreme Couture we were hoping to meet Randy Couture and Wanderlei Silva, but Randy was out and Wanderlei wa probably off training somewhere else.

So after eating at an expensive restuarant where our bill was about $800...yeah beleive me I ate my steak and it was amazing. The whole dinner was amazing $800 amazing!! Venturing from casino to casino, looking for the lowest minimum bet...it wasnt at Ceasars. Still had a lot of fun, I was up $130, used that to eat and shop and then actually used some of my own money which by the time it was all over I was only down $80.

So not that its a big deal, but yeah I got married. I havent really told anyone and dont really care to. Yeah I wrote this blog, but I know not many people read this so it doesnt really matter. It was a small little ceremony if you could call it that and off to the strip to gamble again. No big deal cheap and easy like the hookers on the strip. Good times had by all and especially getting my pic with Gina, which by the way shes fighting on May 31st for EliteXC on CBS. The first televised female MMA bout.

Tony Stark is IRON MAN

2008-05-03T00:09:00.012-04:00

Today with the release of Iron man I was pumped. I had been waiting on this movie for a while. Im a huge fan of Iron man and just the whole armor design and such. If it wasnt for the armor design I probably would just lump him in with all the other super heroes.

Well on another cool note, work planned a little outing for the floorplan group that was well appreciated. It was awsome to go see the movie with the group but even more awsome for the fact they paid for it. So anyways, the movie kicked so much ass. I dont want to give to much away but I have to say it stayed pretty true to the comic even going thru the different prototypes of his armor. With good action, a good story and some elements of humor the movie had a little bit of everything for everyone who attended.

While watching it I couldnt help but think this is as close as its going to get for what the U.S. would see as mech action. Especially the climax of the film...nothing but metal. Tony Stark wears the armor suit but again by American standards robot action every where. I mean I just kept thinking Japanese audiences are going to go crazy when they see this. There probably thinking of it as a breathe of fresh air considering that the Japanese are usually the one with breakthru mech action. For those who dont know mech or mecha is short for mechanical and in Japanese terms it refers to anything relating to machines be it guns, vehicles or in most cases robots. So again with this hitting theaters I think the Japanese will enjoy this film and be impressed for that matter.

I have to say after talking with my group we all were impressed with the film and had a great time. I have to geek out here for a minute and even mention the end credits were pretty awsome in the sense of they had the actual specs of the Iron Man suit and basically showed cad like drawings of the armor with animated break aways which showed the construction of Iron Man. Very cool indeed, cant wait for the dvd release of this.

Blood and lots of it!!!

2008-04-20T22:00:00.004-04:00

Today I finally got to see the movie Frontiers. Holy shit...This movie was supposed to come out last year with Horrorfest. I was so hyped to see it and was waiting for it after reading so much about it. Well of course it was taken off the Horrorfest lineup and delayed for a later release date. Well after much debate if the film would ever come out, some people got special screenings at select film festivals...Then the reviews came out. So after reading 1 review I was even more hyped now. So finally earlier this year after reading more crap about it I find out its finally being released this May in select theaters and right to dvd the week after.

Of course a friend of mine downloaded it and we watched it....I'll say it again holy shit!!!! Now I know why this movie was taken off the Horrorfest line up. I heard those films sucked, Frontiers is so hardcore your going to just shit your pants. I mean this film is brutal and just doesnt even give you a chance to breathe. Its a French film it had english subtitles and nothing but blood...

The brief run down is some theives run out of Paris after a political revolution is going on with rioting in the streets and the whole nine, so these thieves hit the high road out of there and head out to Amsterdam well on there way stop at a hotel or whatever you want to call it which of course happens to be run by neo-nazi skinheads. Well once they arrive the shit hits the fan. Again this movie is just fucking crazy. Its kinda like a twist of Texas Chainsaw Massacre goes to Paris meets American History X. Simply put just crazy. I cant wait til it actually is released on dvd im picking this flick up.

Nothing new!!

2008-04-13T22:01:00.005-04:00

Wow, not a whole lot going on here right now. I havent written in a while just nothing to really write about lately. My job is in the process of moving to a new location so thats the big news there. My lease here is about to be up so I'll be moving to a new apt. soon. I might stay in the same complex but move to a bigger place. We'll soon see. For whoever cares heres some true German engineering. The World War II German Panzer III. The German Panzer Units were a force to be reckoned with.

Judge Gabranth - Armor up!!

2008-03-15T01:37:00.013-04:00

I cant tell you much about this guy. I just know hes one of the bosses in Final Fantasy XII. The last time I played a FF game was back when FF 7 was all the rage. Then I played a little of FF 8 and after that the Final Fantasy hyped left me and I stopped playing them. Well everyone who knows me knows what a freak I am about armor design. So when I seen the judges from FF XII I was blown away at the armor design of these 5 judges. They only made a toy of Judge Gabranth, but I sure hope they do the rest of the judges. So once again just taking some photos of this awsome figure.

Produced by Square Enix Studios it looks like Square is actually producing there figures which I have to say are pretty nice. 20 points of articulation, he comes with alternate hands, and 2 swords which actually join together at the handles to form sort of a giant bladed staff of sorts. Over all an awsome figure, as I said I hope they do the other judges. The armor is more form than function but still its so awsome and great in concept. That helmet is just sick.

MEGACON 2008 ...NERDFEST

2008-03-09T23:43:00.020-04:00

Well Megacon came and went. It was pretty cool, while it pales in comparison to the San Deigo comicon, I think its Florida's biggest con. Either way its just a good time. Walked around seen all kinds of wild shit and it was funny because before we got there Luis, Crystal and I were talking and I had brought up the fact that it would be so awsome to see power rangers and I would have to get a pic with them. Well I cant say she was an authentic Ranger but she had the right costume. I only say this cause in my true nerd form, if I think back of all the sentai shows I cant remember there ever being a female white ranger. Either way her costume rocked and it was as close as I was going to get to getting my picture with a sentai character. Unfortunately some big gorilla of a mother fucker blocked me out a bit. Oh well what are you going to do, its a nerd extravaganza and everyone is out for there own. From toys, anime, comics, movies, and artists wandering and mingling around its wild to just walk around and take pictures and say hi to people you only hear about on the internet or see there artwork on deviant art.

So Crystal being the Star Wars fan she is, when we walked by the 501st Legion's booth, we both were talking about joining but for those that know the 501 are no joke. You have to have a costume approved by there higher ranking members...nerdy you say...oh hell yeah and thats what makes it even more cool. So while snapping pictures of the clones and troopers we see Darth Vader walk by and we both were like...we gotta get pictures. While Vader uses the force...Crystal looks like shes grabbing for something... While were taking these pictures another Vader walks by with the same costume but by his side was one of his Imperial Royal Gaurds which both costumes were so awsome.
Crystal also ended up meeting Felix, her con partner for life. She met this guy I think 3 times now at various cons we've been to which this time she ended up buying a Mr. Potato head that was suited up to look like the infamous Boba Fett. Nothing but coolness here folks move along.

Finally we have big spender Luis, who was on a mission to find some of the figures he was missing from Final Fantasy 7. This elusive deviant art celebrity ended up finding his figure as well as meeting up with a few other guys that he talks with on deviant art. This shot I just randomly snapped while walking thru the various halls but I think this was when we were going thru artist alley. As you can see hes in deep concentration while looking at artwork. So all around it was an awsome time and we all had fun. Afterwards we went and grabbed some pizza and headed on home which we still had to go with Luis to pick up Super Smash Bros for the midnight release. Yes I said it folks, even after Megacon, we were heading to get a second dose of nerdiness. We got there around 10 and waited outside like a herd of cattle waiting to be fed. We all huddled together and kept warm, while it was cold that night, there were enough sweaty stinky nerds to keep the masses warm. At midnight Luis heads in and gets his copy, off to his house to play and...wow did we play. Next thing I knwo its like 4:30 in the morning and by the time I went back to Crystals house to get my car I walked in the door and crashed at about 5:30 which with the time change really fucked me up. I'll say it again though, what a great day, cant wait to do it again.

The one True Spartan

2008-03-04T22:42:00.011-05:00

Well as if playing the game wasnt enough, Mcfarlane Toys knowing how big the franchise is, capitalized on this when they accquired the rights to Halo 3. So I picked up Master Chief and the Brute Chieftain and I have to be honest on first onlook I wasnt really impressed. For one I was utterly disgusted at how small these figures are. I mean most Mcfarlane figures are about 7 to 8 inches and then out of no where we get some of the best characters ever from one of the best video games ever and blamo Mcfarlane toys shrunk the chief down. Well another thing aside from the size was the fact that....what do I see, could it be, no it cant be...Mcfarlane Toys putting articulation into a figure. HOLY SHIT!!! 18 points of articulation on the chief and 15 on the Brute. Now that Mcfarlane finally got some joints in a figure they decide to shrink it...ok i'll stop talking about that. To the left here we have the chief himself in his standard armor. This is basically the default armor that you have when you start the game. If you decide to play online the higher your rank and as you unlock achievements you unlock more armor which Mcfarlane also is making each individual armor in varying colors so you too can go broke buying each Spartan. He comes with a frag and his trusty assualt rifle. I wish he would have come with more weapons but again it looks like Mcfarlane is going to supply certain armors with certain guns. That pretty much sums up the chief, and to go back to the quality of the figure. I have to say one thing Mcfarlane is known for is the sculpts. Most of his toys are usually pretty well sculpted ressembling there real life counter part or whatever fantasy figure there trying to emulate. So to add, once I actually opened the chief up I was pretty impressed at his poseability and how cool he looks out of the package. Most of the time once you open a figure they sometimes lose that coolness but the chief holds his own out of the package.

Now on to the Brute Chieftain, now as much as I love Master Chief and the Spartans, I always seem to have a soft spot for the bad guys especially when there alien monsters. The brutes are these gorilla type aliens that are basically trying to kick the Chief's ass. So when I seen the Brute Chieftain with his heavy armor and that helmet...I was sold. Im such a geek for armor. Very samuraish in that him being the chieftain he has this elborate head piece while most of the other brutes have smaller simpler helmets. I noticed that Mcfarlane also has some other brutes coming out soon also.
Well, the chieftain comes with his trusty gravity hammer and a frag. Why I didnt get this pic with this hammer...I have no idea. Anyways again 15 points of articulation, only problem to me being the legs, the joints are horrible, its hard to pose his feet correctly without him looking off balance or have his legs look anotomically incorrect. Once you mess around with it enough you'll see where the legs turn...yeah i said turn, for whatever reason (Im thinking the armor) his legs dont bend. If they do the joints are so tight Im scared to break him. Which his shoulders had this problem also and I noticed when I actually did get them moving I could see what looked like some sort of greese. Which explains the heavy plastic/greese smell that he put off. Most toy collectors know that awsome new smell when you first open a toy, its basically the equivilent of the famous new car smell, but in the toy world were a much simpler group.

A Wolf in Man's Clothing

2008-02-26T21:27:00.011-05:00

Well what can be said that cant clearly be seen in this picture. This dude is a bad ass machine of war. This guy is from the anime JinRoh - The Wolf Brigade. The story of a special unit of police called Kerberos Panzer Cops. A lot of German influence going on here. From the weapons down to the armor, and most noticable that helmet just screams German SS soldier. Basically the special unit is sort of a special forces group within the Japanese police. These guys are the shock troops, they do the dirty work. Counter Terrorism at its best, the intimidation factor alone in these guys outfits disolves any situation quick.

So again the story is basically what if during WWII the Germans had won the war and changed Japanese society. So in the anime, Japanese culture is severely changed and showcases a very fascist like quality. I dont want to go to much into the anime cause its kind of a complex story that could go on for a while. A solid story, with solid action and violence to say the least. These guys carry basic German Mauser pistols but the real beauty is when they pull out that MG44 and just start mowing shit down. Makes for some intense scenes when you see people getting shredded.

So about the figure, its a Medicom R.A.H. known in the toy world as Real Action Hero. The R.A.H. figures are also another 1:6 toy, again a 12 inch figure. Medicom is a Japanese toy company so most of there products usually originate from Anime or some kind of Sentai/Tokusatsu (Ultraman, Power Rangers, etc...) Theres a few other versions of the Panzer Cops out there from other companies but these guys are kind of a cult classic and are pretty steep when it comes to purchasing one. The Medicom version seen here is probably the cheapest version of all the JinRoh figures. If your wondering the meaning JinRoh would literally be Manwolf, and within the anime you see why these guys represent the wolf. They trust no one, they work as group, and they usually do there work in the moonlight. Like the wolf they do what they will to survive, even if it means eliminating one of there own.

You can't be Alive!!!

2008-02-24T22:37:00.009-05:00

I was a little under the weather this weekend so some how at 3 in the morning I found the energy to start photographing some of my figures. Anyways I ended up pulling out all my Sideshow collectibles Jason Voorhees figures. There all done in the 1:6 scale and for those that dont know 1:6th scale is your basic 12 inch figure, if that still doesnt give you an idea...basically barbie doll size.

Anyone who collects figures or toys of any sort Im sure knows who sideshow collectible is. They make some of the best figures and statues around. They basically get the rights/liscenses from the best sci-fi and horror movies and end up doing the characters into statues, or figures of varying size and articulation so you can create your own universe at home. Yeah I know its geeky but theres a market out there for it. Anyways so over the past few years Ive picked up all the 1:6th Jason Voorhees figures from the Friday the 13th line. They have the mother from pt. 1 and then it goes thru pt. 4 they skip pt. 5 (technically its not Jason), then so on up to Freddy vs Jason. They also for some reason didnt do Uber Jason from the horrible Jason X (in space). I didnt bother to pick up the mother from pt.1 because...well who cares about her. This is the story of Jason not his mother.

When you get a sideshow figure you get a full detailed piece of artwork in a sense. I mean various weapons, clothing and whatever other accesories were seen in the movie. As for the Jason figures of course the most iconic piece is when you get the figure and you see that awsome hockey mask and machete. From the above picture you can see details right down to the pillow sack Jason from pt. 2. The sack comes off to show a rugged, deformed inbred hillbilly...totally awsome. Each figure is sculpted to be movie accurate, right down to the gashes and stabwounds. If Jason took damage in the movie you can bet, they added that detail to the figure. As I said from slices, to various bones protruding thru the skin, to gunshots, to scrapes or cuts on his mask its there in all its glory.

So above is a group shot I took with all the hockey masks again excluding pt. 5 and Uber mecha Jason from Jason X. If you wanna check out the site for yourself sideshow carries all kinds of stuff relating to collectibles based on the movie industry. Nothing but high quality merchandise.
http://www.sideshowtoy.com/

Reptilian friend

2008-02-16T00:34:00.005-05:00

About a month or 2 ago I was coming home on a Friday night probably around 1 or 2 in the morning, as I opened my door I see a gecko creep in and run across the wall. At first I was like ah man hes going to go hide and probably die somewhere in my apartment. The funny part of this story is just the other day Im watching tv and blamo, what do I see scurry across the wall. Holy shit hes alive, so hes obviously eating and finding water. I really didnt expect him to live, but I guess the warm temperature of my apartment is working for him. Im not one of those people who just kills everything when I see it so I just sat back and watched him walk around before I thought about taking a picture. As soon as I moved he was going crazy so I slowly walked over and grabbed my camera and snapped this shot. The flash ended up scaring him and he ran off. So Im sure i'll see this little guy again. Hes not bothering me so I have no reason to bother him. Plus geckos are mostly nocturnal so hes probably up when Im sleeping, no worries here.

UFC 81 - Breaking Point

2008-02-03T12:31:00.001-05:00

Well UFC 81's main event wasnt Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar (above), but with all the hype you would have thought it was. Everyone seemed to be dellusional and cheering for former collegiate wrestler/WWE Superstar Brock Lesnar. While I was watching the event I couldnt help but think what the fuck is wrong with you people, that big guys got no business in the octagon. Former Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir made all those WWE fans sit down and shut up. When Frank finished Brock 90 seconds in with a knee bar. Brock had top control if thats what you want to call it and threw several hammer punches which even those were poorly thrown. If anything the only reason that big meathead lasted as long as he did was due to brute strength. Frank with plenty of head movement did what he could to avoid most of Brocks sloppy punches and with Jiu-Jitsu on his side Frank pulled off the knee bar, which a fighter of Brocks size and inexperience had no chance of escaping. Brock go home...the octagon isnt for you my friend.

The main event of the night was Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira vs Tim "The Mainiac" Sylvia (above Tim landing the straight right hand) for the Interim Heavyweight Championship. With no sight of Randy Couture wanting to defend his title the belt is obviously up in the air. Tim Sylvia the underdog which for some reason no one seems to like is very unorthadox and a heavy hitter. He came out swinging landing several shots and even knocking Nogueira down and cutting his eye.

Nogueiras only chance was to take Sylvia off his feet and get him on the ground where his strengths lie. Nogueira being an excellent submission fighter probably the best, no one can lock flow like Nogueira. So the first round going to Sylvia with an obvious dominance, round 2 again was being controlled by Sylvia but finally Nogueira strategy was to take the fight to the ground by trying to jump guard and go for the sweep to get top control. Funny thing being Nogueira did exactly that, jumped guard, got Sylvia down and went for the sweep and from the sweep transition went for the famous Guillotine choke which finished the match in text book style.
So over all a goodnight of fights. Brock showed us a WWE "champion" had no business in the real fight game and Nogueria as always showed us he can take a beating and still come out on top starting a new reign as the UFC Heavyweight Champion.

RAMBO - 50 cal. fun

2008-01-30T21:32:00.000-05:00

Tonight I went to go see Rambo finally...Man what a crazy war/action flick. They upped the violence up on this one totally. I think after the last Rambo that wasnt all that exciting, they wanted to take it back to the jungles and holy shit was it awsome.
Now your basic plot summary is Rambo is now living in Burma minding his own business working for what seems to be some kind of wild reptile/snake show or something cause we see him looking for snakes in part of the opening seqence in which he also gets paid for a cobra he catches. Well some missionaries come and ask Rambo for help to try and bring medicine and help the local villagers but the corrupt Burmese Army isnt having it. They obviously dont want a bunch of Americans drilling there words and teachings into the locals heads.

As you expected they get caught trying to help and are taken hostage. Rambo hears of this and wasnt having it either so him and a group of mercs who were recruited by another head church member of the same missionary group head out for the rescue. Rambo already knows what he has to do. He forges his knife and off we go to have some fun in the jungle.

Then it starts to get really good when the group goes into the main camp and gets ready for the hostage extraction. Guns are out and thats when we see the real stars of this movie...yeah the guns people, its all about supremacy thru firepower!! So being in SouthEast Asia, the Ak-47 makes a definite appearance, but the mercs are carrying the fun stuff. Im pretty sure I seen what looked to be a G3 carbine, M4 carbine, a benelli pistol grip shotty, and the super star the 50 cal. sniper rifle which made shreds of a few peoples chests and faces during the film. Also lets not forget the great knife kills that were seen also. And the ultimate star of the show...yes the mounted 50 cal on the back of a jeep. Holy shit, lets say they did it right. This mounted 50 chops, it dices, it slices, it cuts people in half, it easily removes heads, legs, arms, torsos...and just dumps people left and right. With all that gunfire shredding up stuff, I started laughing at one point just becuase it made me think they just wanted to throw people in front of the 50 for the fun of it.

Over all an excellent action movie, if you like violence and a high body count its worth a watch.

Cloverfield - US Kaiju

2008-01-24T21:45:00.000-05:00

I finally went and seen this movie on Wednesday night. I have to say I was really impressed with how the movie was done. I really have no complaints, besides the shakey camcorder type footage. Thats just my personal opinion though. For cloverfield it worked well, but in general I just dont care for what they consider the realistic shakey cam.

Down to the important stuff the monster. I didnt know what to expect really. I mean thru out the movie you see different parts of the monster. An arm here, a leg there, we see the tail at one point which I noticed it had fins and reminded me of some sort of fish like creature. Which going on the fish type theory, the monster seems to have a slimy appearance, not scaley reptilian skin like I had thought. I dont want to go to much into it becuase for those that havent seen it, I think it makes the whole experience that much better when you finally see the creature in all its beauty. From the way it walks and how the arms bend, to its roar and the background information that apparently its a baby that is lost and confused wrecking New York. After all that I still wish the monster had more screen time, but this isnt Japan and they needed to give the creature context by giving you the point of view from the people trying to flee.

In true Kaiju fashion, the Japanese would have had still poses of it standing and destroying stuff, giving you glimpses of the whole body. Either way again this isnt Japan and for what the US has as far as giant monster movies, the Cloverfield creature stands on its own and is a great design and great concept. Even down to the ending credits, with the ending theme song roaring away. It so reminded me of the Godzilla theme. So for those who are big Kaiju movie fans, Cloverfield is an awsome movie and definetly has a spot on reserve in my dvd collection right next to Godzilla, Gamera, The Host etc...

Alien vs Predator Requiem

2008-01-08T21:40:00.001-05:00

Well went out tonight to go see AvP2 and man this movie was definetly all about the man above. Wolf as they call him kicked so much ass in this flick.

So anyways, while the movie wasnt the greatest I did enjoy it more than the first one. To me this one at least was action packed and focused more on the Aliens and the Predator. Plenty
of killing and awsome use of all the predator weapons even introducing some new ones. The people in the movie well they were just there to be killed. No one real memorable, but all the people who were killed died in a cool fashion. As I said not an award winner but still a fun movie. Crystal and I couldnt help but laugh most of the way thru just because people were dying so fast scene after scene.

Good fun had by all.

Yarennoka 2007 opening

2008-01-01T22:24:00.001-05:00

This was from the Yarennoka event that happened New Years Eve in Tokyo. This was just a little intro basically introducing the fighters that would be fighting that night. Basically this video was broadcast on cable stations (from what I know and if you actually attended the event). After the downfall of Pride being sold to UFC, Japan was left with an empty feeling not having a giant MMA organization of there own so former Pride employees and other important people from other MMA groups came together to bring you Yarennoka. They brought fighters from different organizations as well as a few favorites to put on one of the biggest shows ever.

So a great start for MMA bringing in the new year. If you wondering Yarennoka means "You can do it" Lets hope to a good year of MMA with all the Japanese organizations working together to bring more great shows.

UFC 79

2007-12-30T01:53:00.000-05:00

Well tonight MMA history was made Former UFC Champion Chuck Liddell(left) taking on former Pride Champion Wanderlei Silva (right). It wasnt the main event but right from the weigh-ins we knew this fight was going to be war. While they may not have actually hated each other they still showed attitude towards each other as Wanderlei got up in chucks face and Chuck proceeded to flip Wandy the bird which resulted in security seperating them. Regardless Wandy looked in great shape and was ready to go. Chuck also definitly came to fight showing no backing down.

Both came to the center of the ring had a respectful stare down and touched gloves and it was on. First round was more feeling out process, with some low kicks from Silva, while chuck was throwing some jabs and setting it up for the big right hand. Chuck threw several shots that landed solid and looked like they stunned Silva, but Silva recovered and came around to return the favor to Chuck. Round 2 was more of the same, although this time Chuck really started to land some solid shots sending Silva to the fence. While up against the fence Chuck threw some pretty good elbows with some solid punches added in. I think one of the elbows is what actually cut Wandy's eye pretty good. He was bleeding pretty steadily which had me a little worried the fight would be stopped early. After 3 rounds of war, Chuck Liddell ended up taking the win by unanimous decision. After it was all over, Wanderlei didnt seem to be himself in my opinion, not to take anything away from Chuck. Chuck earned the win by controlling the fight. Chuck throws a good straight punch while Wanderlei throws big looping punches. That being Silva's one downfall, but again Chuck won fair and square so now Wandy goes back to the drawing board to train harder and come back to fight again. As for Chuck we will see who the UFC puts him up against now.

The main event was George St. Pierre(left) vs Matt Hughes(right), which GSP controlled every aspect of this fight. From the striking to the ground control to, clinch control GSP was everywhere, even getting off a text book judo throw as well as landing several elbows while pinning Hughes up against the fence and holding dominant postion.

In the 2nd round GSP executed a great hip throw which went into a reverse triangle, in which from that position he went for a kimura arm lock and transitioned into a straight arm bar in which the arm was so far stretched out that Matt Hughes coudnt even tap. He had to tap verbally in which we could see he looked at the ref saying "tap, tap, tap" Total domination by GSP. Next up GSP will fight Matt Serra for the Welterweight belt.

Merry Holiday

2007-12-24T21:06:00.000-05:00

Today my girl and I went out to visit some people. Something I realized, I mean if you know me you know I dont really care about socializing much or being around large groups of people. Today though was different. We went to pay a visit to the family who my girlfriend watches there children on occasion. Anyways I'll get to the point here. When I walked in there house I noticed that as much as Im not a huge fan of people its always a good feeling when people welcome you into there house. Angela more than me is pretty much considered family there and as it was all happening I just kept thinking how awsome it was how this family had gifts for her and treated and talked to us like they have known us for a long time. Which in my girlfriends case they have known her for a long time. Again regardless its a nice feeling.

After that we went to see another friend who we went to highschool with to visit her and some of her relatives. Again, we were instantly greeted with open arms, drinks and food were served which I greeted with open arms just the same. So I guess for me being really anti-social and not having any family here its just nice to have friends and people in general that treat you as family.

Fresh Air Full Moon

2007-12-22T03:50:00.000-05:00

I just got home its about 3:50 a.m. I went to drive my friends Luis and Crystal to the airport. There on there way to visit family and friends in Puerto Rico. So on the drive back i roll my window down and Im just enjoying my drive home. Im looking out the window with the fresh cool air blowing. I love when the highway is empty and all the stupid people are away. I can just relax and chill.

Im looking around taking in all the sights driving under the city lights and I notice theres a full moon out. Pretty cool to see that as well. Well this is the last weekend before Christmas or whatever people decide to celebrate these days.

When I got home I ended up taking a picture of the moon, but I forgot that my computer is kinda effed up and I havent been able to really add my own pics unless its already hosted on the net. Soon as this shits back up and running 100% I'll be adding pics again. So to all goodnight its almost 4 a.m. now and Im ready to crash.

The Fighter Warehouse

2007-12-16T01:01:00.000-05:00

So me and my girl are coming from Westshore mall and we see some girl in the middle of Kennedy Blvd. holding a sign that I couldnt really read but she was wearing a Tapout shirt. If you know anything about MMA you know what Tapout means. So were driving by and I couldnt help but notice and think why was this random chic wearing a tapout shirt, so I turn around and I see a grand opening banner for a store called The Fighter Warehouse. I have to say its a good day for MMA in the Tampa bay area.

As I stepped inside I see alot of brands of different MMA clothing companies as well as training equipment. An MMA enthusiasts dream shop. Again they have multiple brands of shirts which I picked up a Quinton Jackson Throw down shirt that had all his sponsors from UFC 71.

So while walking in, i see Matt Arroyo from the Ultimate Fighter and he was talking with some people inside telling of his stories while on TUF. I ended up meeting the owner of the store Isham Harris, which I have to say him and his staff were top notch friendly and professional. I was just so excited to see such a store within driving distance of my home. With MMA getting more popular and more mainstream we need these shops and training facilities to help the sport grow even more.

Head on over to http://www.fighterwarehouse.com/ to see for yourself and if your into MMA stop by and say hello and maybe buy a shirt. Im sure I'll be going back frequently to check out the new gear and hear the latest news. Support the sport, from the little grass roots tournaments to the many Japanese Organizations all the way up to UFC. Its going to be here for a long time.

If you want to actually speak with someone give them a ring @ 813-333-0639

Free fun

2007-12-16T00:55:00.000-05:00

Here it is in a nutshell, my girlfriend babysits for some pretty wealthy people who happen to get some free tickets to tonights Tampa Bay Lightning game. Ive never been to a hockey game before and holy shit I had tons of fun. I drank a beer...yeah just one, but still it was an awsome experience. I was screaming for no reason, booing for no reason and just having a grand ole time. I have to say im not the biggest sports fan, Im more a die hard fight fan, but I have to give to Hockey, that shit was fast paced and pretty action packed.

I am Legend

2007-12-15T01:30:00.000-05:00

Went to see it tonight with a group of friends...man I thought this movie fucking kicked ass. Im currently reading the book which I know is based upon the vampire plague. I had previously watched a movie called "The Omega Man" which was loosely based on the book. I put the link to my review of The Omega Man below just for comparison sakes so you can get and idea.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=48008143&blogID=310359870

So I had high hopes for this movie right off the bat. I mean when I heard they were making it I was super hyped, Will Smith plays Robert Neville. A doctor trying to find a cure for the plague man has created. I'll try not to give to much away but I was just so drawn into this movie. I mean as I was leaving the theater I heard a few people say "that was a different kind of zombie movie" which to me for one it wasnt a zombie movie. Sort of like a 28 Days later...they were infected and became enraged and well yeah became blood thirsty flesh eating cannibals. No matter, the "dark seekers" as there called in the film to me are just a quarter of the story. To me this movie was more pyschological taking a look into the life of a man who has lost everything. Human civilization is over as he knows it and his dog and him are trying to survive the best way they know how. As I said you see this man who in a sense didnt create the virus but who tried to stop it and failed and still hasnt given up hope. Almost in a guilty effort to try and restore things to the way they were.

You see how the human mind begins to break down with no human/social contact. Its amzing to see him drive around in an apocolyptic type setting of what was once New York. Anyone who knows me knows I have a total obsession with the concept of human extinction and the end of the world. I just think thats so deep on so many levels and again to see this man go thru life with no one and see how he still functions and tries to live a normal life is amazing to me.

The movie starts right into it with glimpses of flash backs that slowly give you the story piece by piece. Well done on so many levels as well as the look of a deserted NYC was so awsome to see. I kinda didnt care for the CG to much but again it wasnt that bad that I couldnt deal with it.

So for a little bit of info on the "dark seekers" Basically Robert being the only human whose immune to the virus, while others are easily infected, the host becomes slowly enraged in which they stated the host will show rabies like symptoms. So from this Robert Neville, does reserch in his lab to continue his search for the cure, which we see he was capturing rats and various "human" subjects to test his antidotes. I wont go into any details, but this movie was just awsome. Very intense scenes of total isolation with the right amount of humor to break the mood and bring you back to reality. This movie just sucks you in and leaves you wondering...what if

Anti-Social Party Mix

2007-12-09T02:35:00.000-05:00

Tonight I went to a my girlfriends/friends boss's party. Man I have to be honest I wasnt expecting much and me being my anti-social self I was all ready planning my exit strategy. So we met up with some good friends of ours, A&R (names arent important). So we get there we shake a few hands say our greetings and then me an Arthur hit the food. No one else was eating but when it comes to food Im just like fuck it Im not waiting for shit. My friend Art dove in first, just snatching shit up and eating it...I look over and Im like shit I need to get in on this. I immediately start eating and at the same time am avoiding people coming in to introduce themselves...you might say its rude...yeah but again Im anti-social to begin with so its my sworn duty to stay away from the masses. So we begin to eat and Arthur and I make ourselves at home real quick, with my plate of food in hand and drink in the other (rum & coke) I was like shit Im watching tv. Taking a sip of my drink I realized it was strong as shit....and i look at the cup and its practically clear...was there even any coke in this mother fucker, which if your wondering my drink was made by someone else.

So anyways some time passes and Im feeling good man...shit and four shots later of some shit that tasted like grape koolaid man im feeling real good. Next thing I know anti-social no more shit bags. Im fucking walking around, singing and some of the girls were dancing and next thing I know were all dancing and Im being my nerdy self and even though we had music going, Im beat boxing my own beats to dance too and some how later on that night Arthur mentioned somthing about Mortal Kombat and next thing I know Im beat boxing the MK techno mix and people are like fuck yeah!!!! WTF.....Yeah I know Im a nerd but as I always say, im a cool fucking nerd....OOOOOH SHIT!!!!!

Some of the guys ended up getting a pay-per-view fight that was happening that night as well. So not only am I getting my drink on, but Im watching an awsome fight for free and by that time the liquor in some of the girls was kicking in and blamo instant party and fun had by all. In one instance Im watching the fights, I look to my slight left and theres girls dancing shaking there asses...good stuff

Fresh Ink

2007-12-06T18:10:00.000-05:00

The other day I went with a good friend of mine to a tattoo shop around the corner. They go by the name Platinum Tattoo. I have to be honest I wasnt sure what to expect. We walk in and there were 2 other customers looking at the flash on the wall and in the racks. So while waiting for our turn we thumb thru the portfolios on the table which I seen some really nice work. I have to say I was pretty impressed.

So were up and Crystal begins to ask questions which I shortly joined her so I could hear what was going on. So of course the lady at the front gives us the minimum and tells us if we could wait a sec and talk to one of the actual tattooers. We sit back down look around some more then Crystal sees her chance to ask some questions and get a quote on what she wants. The guy was really cool as well as the whole atmosphere of the place. Very clean, laid back and again nice art on the walls.

Come to find out the text she wants needs to be bigger and shes going to rethink where it goes...which I think she was going to put it on her lower leg, going around. I guess we'll wait and see. Its just a trip for me to go into tattoo shops. Just to be around the artwork and the excitement of something so personal and permanent is a rush in itself. Awesome shit and i was just taggin along.

Trapped in a box

2007-11-29T18:53:00.000-05:00

Well Ive been cleaning up around my apartment and Ive gotten to the point that Ive noticed that the toys that I have open have now began to appear as clutter. This is a no no in the toy world. The whole point of collecting is to present it in all its glory. To show people what its all about be it a figure/statue or a piece of artwork in general. Even though I consider toys in general works of art. You want to be able to show a piece and let someone who has no idea about toys just look and say "holy shit bags thats awsome" even if they dont know what the hell it is.

So with that most of my toys have gone back into there boxes and stored away. I think Im going to start going thru them individually again and photograph some of them. So anything not box worthy is probably going to get either trashed or given away. With the Christmas season coming, most companies roll out the big guns, be it domestic or import. There is lots of good stuff coming out and I'll just have to be choosy as to where my dollars go this year. I do have a few things on pre-order but I'll have to wait and see what the new year has in store for the toy world.

Dang...my luck

2007-11-22T18:17:00.000-05:00

Well Thanksgiving is here and pretty much over. Yesterday before I left on my road trip to visit my folks my computer crapped out. Luckily I have a back up, hopefully I'll be back up and running in no time.

We left at 1 in the morning and began our trip. Its amazing how quiet the road is at that time. By morning we were in Hotlanta and it began to rain pretty hard and the traffic sucked as it always does in that area. So anyways Im here and just enjoying some chill time.

Cinema of Fear Series 1

2007-11-11T22:42:00.000-05:00

I usually shop at a certain online store that goes by the name http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/ there I have plenty of stuff on pre-order waiting to be paid in full upon release. Well just recently the new Cinema of Fear figures were just released from Mezco. So anyways along with that another hobby being horror and Jason Voorhees. So with that being said when I seen Mezco was going to release a Jason from Friday the 13th pt. 4, I already had mine on order... another figure to add to the Jason shrine.

Long story short it finally came in. I have to say its a pretty cool figure. I mean the sculpt is pretty well done, my only complaint being the hands. It looks like they didnt really know how to incorporate the joints into the mold very well and the fingers are a little rough looking but im very nit picky when it comes to the sculpt on hands, feet, and head on action figures. Cool thing is it comes with plenty of little gimmicks to put some life into this awsome figure.

First gimmick being the most notable, a variant head that has the machete slash in the side of the face. Also note the accurate gash from the previous film when Jason took an axe to the top of the head is also there. With a aresenal of weapons, you have your choice of the legendary machete, a cleaver, double sided axe, and the hack saw. Also you get the cool head stone of his mothers grave. Last but not least you get a variant hand in which during the film his hand was split down the middle trying to catch a machete mid swing from his rival Tommy Jarvis. As I said folks this figure is pretty much nerd proof accurate right from the film.

Something else I was impressed by was that for a Mezco figure its pretty well articulated, all major joints move. You have wrist, elbow, neck, knee, shoulder and thigh joints. Again not to shabby considering the state of other action figure companies NECA and McFarlane who usually produce more statuish figures with little to no articulation. I recently noticed that Series 2 will be releasing next year which will feature a Jason from part 6 in the lineup which I'll definitly be picking up.

The Forgotten Ones Pt. 2

2007-11-08T19:27:00.000-05:00

On October 15th I started this blog with the happenings that began at work. We had a lay off that day. As I mentioned the real estate world is upside down right now which in turn makes our jobs very uncertain these days. Today more people were let go... Im sitting at my desk and as people begin to gather around I wondered what the hell was going on. When I seen a few key people, I had an idea what was coming and sure enough blamo. Some of us survived, and some of us fell.

It just really sucks to see people you work with everyday, people that become like your second family just vanish. Boxes are given, paper and books are packed, family pictures and funny personal items that you are used to seeing on a day to day basis are all gone. Its those things that really get you down, hearing a familiar voice or a funny laugh that you look foward too...gone. Who knows the next time I write this blog about work related instances, I could be talking about my own demise. We will see what the future holds.

Defeat of the Gray man

2007-11-01T23:38:00.000-04:00

Well yesterday was Halloween and yes I didnt do much. Hung out with a friend and ended up taking his daughter to a couple houses to get some candy. It was her first Halloween. After she got her treats, Arthur and I thought...lets hit up walmart to see if any trucks came in.

We show up and of course we should have known, why we get our hopes up I just dont know. Swamped in a sea of crap ass figures from older series when they know damn well that 30th anniversary figures are out. So finally after all this frustration, we grab a cart that was near by and began to just throw all the old figures in and of course the infamous Gray man. We almost filled a cart full with shitty beat up figures that no ones going to buy. So for shits and giggles we counted 19 gray men. Who the fuck is going to buy them, not to mention as I said the packages are all beat to hell and its not like hes any kind of collector figure. So while strolling thru walmart with a cart full of star wars figures, we were at the pinnacle of geekdom. Yeah we got a few stares here and there, but hell who cares. So Arthur suggest wheel them thru the double doors and into there warehouse, which he ended up doing I might add. My plan was to just drop them off in the food section. No matter what, we knew they would be found and probably put back up on the rack the next morning.

Day after Halloween and I get a call from Arthur at work. He stopped in there mid day and fucking blamo!!!! Someone must have gotten the hint or maybe thought they were damaged goods. Arthur's call was to let me know that a shit load of new figures were out and he scored major. A bunch of the sought after Concept Vaders and a Concept Snow Trooper I was looking for as well as many more that I wont go into. Once I have them in hand I'll get some pics and post. So a 150 dollars later ToyOutlaws reign supreme.

Guitar Hero 3 - Midnight Release

2007-10-28T13:49:00.000-04:00

Wow, I was going to write this when I got home, but I didnt get home til around 4:30 am so I had to postpone that. Anyways I went with my friend Arthur whose a big fan of Guitar Hero, to the midnight release of GH3. We get there and there really wasnt that many people, but soon after more people followed.

So once the line started to form, it was evident that this was a video game release, it got nerdy really quick. Nerd was in the air and not a girl in sight... There actually was one girl who waited in the car while her boyfriend stood in line. I think she might have been to scared to venture out into the nerd kingdom that was Gamestop.

They ended up having a tournament that I made my friend enter and they passed out posters and stickers. Free swag is always a plus!!! So around the 12am mark they let every one pick up there games and guitars and howls of glee and excitement as many nerds will rejoice and jam into the wee hours of the morning....such as I did.

We get back to Arthur's place and I proceed to examine the package art. We both notice that the character Lars something something. Hes gotta be representing the black metal scene. I mean hes decked out in corpse paint (black and white face makeup), leather and spikes the true sign of black metal. So again after further investigation I tell Arthur it looked like they modeled him after the main man from the Norwegian black metal band Immortal. So I thought I would add a comparison pic.

Long story short, after lots of soda and explicit language, I decided to call it a night around 4 or so. Im starting to really dig these midnight release parties.

Screamfest 07'

2007-10-21T21:08:00.000-04:00

Well Crystal, Luis and I venture out to Orlando to hit up Screamfest 07'. Apparently this is supposed to be a rocking horror con like no other. Well I have to admit it was cool and I had a lot of fun, but for $25, I was expecting to meet Kane Hodder and Gunnar Hansen... The lines were way to fucking long and I wasnt about to sit there for hours so I could say yeah I met the guy who plays Jason in a few flicks, even though Jason is like my fucking hero.

So we stroll around and look at different horror merchandise. We run into the Manhunt 2 booth that was giving away promotional stuff for there upcoming release of yes Manhunt 2 from Rockstar games. I got a free shirt as well did Luis and Crystal. Free shit is always cool. So we further walk around and I find another shirt booth with nothing but horror T's and man I had my eye on 2 zombie shirts. So long story short, I didnt end up getting either of them...shit.

After that I ended up buying a movie from the Sentai series Kamen Rider Kabuto which is one of the better Kamen Rider series from what I know. The guys selling them were just a lone group with Godzilla/Kaiju movies and some Sentai stuff (power rangers/Kamen Rider). So after a couple hours of walking around there really wasnt all that much but it was fun no less.

People were all dressed up in there horror garb, and black was the color of the day. I also scored about 6 promo posters of the Masters of Horror logo. Im probably going to have one of them framed just cause its a cool simple skull logo. I think its just a clean minimal logo and for those who know me know Im a logo whore. So yeah after going to a horror con, I end up leaving with a Kamen Rider Dvd and a few cool posters. From there we end up leaving to go eat and venture on to sci-fi city where I was out-nerded by people who were playing the table top game Warhammer which I dont play but am a huge fan of. There I picked up a copy of the latest White Dwarf mag, to quench my thirst for the Marines of Chaos. After all that we call it a day and head back to Tampa.

Toy Outlaws vs the Gray Man

2007-10-19T20:38:00.000-04:00

Alright heres the deal, Friday night my friend and I ventured our around 1 am to try and catch the nightly trucks to see if we could score some concept figures from the Star Wars 30th Anniversary line. We've been trying to get our hands on Concept Vader and some of the other Sith Lords. I previously had seen some at a convention and they were going for $35 to $40 and just impossible to find. So our game plan was to drive to 7 different Walmarts in the area and hit them in the middle of the night when no one was around to snatch up the toys...all I can say is holy shit...what a waste. We head out on highway 275 to hit a semi ghetto Walmart on Dalemabry and shit first stop what do we see a bunch of old shit and a clone commander!!!Holy shit bags, clone commander is one of the hard to find clones that we think only comes 1 in a box. Of course my friend spots it and we look it over as both of us about shit our pants. With further inspection from our cybernetic nerd like eyes we spot a damaged spot on the package...fuck, we dont do damaged. So all that excitement for nothing, to cut into the wound deeper my friend grabbed the package and smashed it cause he was still contemplating buying it and I was just kinda like oh man...thats up to you but I dont want it so he fucked the package up more now there was no question neither one of us was buying it. Walmart 1 - Toy Outlaws down and out.

So after this we head to our next walmart and by this time its around the 1:30 mark. So we stop at the next one and we look around find some stuff and we score, fuck yeah 2 sand troopers the "super dirty" versions. Oh man, were like fuck yeah im buying this shit lets go...on our way to the cash register I feel an imperfection on the package I look down and I see that its got a rip on the upper right hand corner FUCK!!!! I look at my friend and Im like shit man I cant buy this theres a tiny rip in the corner. Mind you weve found this character before on previous visits to various other walmarts, but for some mysterious dungeons and dragon type reason they all seem to get damaged in the upper corners. After a short investigation inside my head I tell my friend that it must have something to do with how there packed in the box and when they get opened. So shit my ass, I cant make the purchase and proceed to ditch it in the childrens clothing section as I passed. We head out the gates and on to the next mission. Walmart 2 - Toy Outlaws fucking zero... again.

At the next stop we dont see shit, we ask for assistance and we get the typical walmart answer "whats on the shelves is whats out" I understand at 2 in the morning you dont want 2 fucking nerds to be asking you to go get special star wars boxes...understandable, nuff said. So once again we score nothing by this time its somewhere around the 2:30 mark. Were getting tired and more dissappointed by the minute. On our drives we discuss how a toy section should be handled and discuss that we would only hire people who know the business to work in our toy stores, thus we realized we would be out of business in no time. I think it was by our 4th stop that I finally ended up scoring 2 sand troopers "super dirty and clean" versions as well as a CZ-4 which was a pretty cool looking droid. One thing we keep running into is this shitty character that apparently is supposed to be a worker/pilot on the death star. He fucking looks so stupid, there isnt anything cool about him, just a worker looking guy in a gray outfit. I think because he sucks so much and nobody wants to buy him we always run into him and thus he has been dubbed the "gray man". This motherfucker stalks us and haunts the toy aisle like nothing else. No matter where we go we flip thru the Star Wars figures and fucking blamo the fucking Gray man appears in multples hiding other cool figures and blocking the way for new merchandise...Damn you Gray man!!!!

So to finally end this shit, we ended up not scoring shit really. No concept figures, nothing we havent seen. On our way home around the 3:15 mark we come to the realization that it must be the luck of the draw when you show up and the shit is just put out by the workers or something. Doesnt matter what time of day you go, doesnt matter whose working its just fucking luck. You either hit the jack pot or you dont and your plagued by the Gray man...

Winged Behemoth

2007-10-18T23:50:00.000-04:00

Around 11:30 or so I opened my door to say bye to my girlfriend when I noticed on the wall this beautiful specimen. Looks to be some sort of green Hawk Moth. These things are awsome and are truly a site to see. Some new light bulbs were just put in outside my door so obviously he or she came to check out the new lights. This is where a macro lens would have come in handy but I had to use what I had ya know. In the one picture I put my hand up to it so you can kind of get an idea of the size of this thing.

There definitly one of the bigger species of moth. Ive never seen a green one before, usually I see the brownish tan ones, whats also cool is when they spread there wings to fly there underbelly and sometimes under the wings they usually have reds and pink velvety colors. There really awsome. I wanted to pick it up and get a picture of it on my hand but I didnt want to disturb it anymore than I already was. Gotta love the insect world.

Free Gas

2007-10-16T19:07:00.000-04:00

Alright on my way home from work today I stopped to get some gas. Long story short, you know before you fill up they make you swipe your credit card. So I swipe my card and go thru all the pin number junk they ask of you. I go thru the process and I begin to fill up. So 20 dollars later I put the pump back in the holder thing and the screen says "pay cashier" Im looking at the screen like...bullshit, i already paid. So I look around and again it still says "pay cashier" out of no where it beeps and my receipt prints out. I look at it and it says thank you have a nice day.
I look over the reciept and it has my card account number on there and where it shows the money amout of gas...it says zero and for number of gallons pumped zero!!! Oh shit, did I just get 20 dollars of gas for free! I kept my receipt in my wallet just incase they think I ran off or something. So one of 2 things is going to happen here, I got free gas, or Im going to be getting a ticket in the mail or some shit. To be continued...

The Forgotten Ones

2007-10-15T16:56:00.000-04:00

Kinda sucks, today at work some people were let go. Its always amazing how in a corporate setting one minute your talking having fun and enjoying your job and the next thing you know...silence. The second you hear the news of someone leaving it hits you as if someone passed away. A eerie calm settles over the other employees as we wait for our fates. Some live to fight another day, some are slain and thrown to the lions of the outside world. With the housing industry being kinda slow right now, the lions are winning and there may be more deaths to come.

This was kind of like my first blog/test. So anyway it was on my mind and I just thought what the fuck, I'll write about it.