Ain't It Cool News - View Article

You'll want to check this out... Aliens Vs. Predator the Movie...

Greetings from the bowels of visceral pain and suffering...and other stuff too. Just wanted to post an interesting piece of information. It seems that the concert we're going to in November sold out. Come ready for battle because, as Adeptio will tell you, you have to fight for every inch at these places. It will be glorious.

Added Star Trek V Special Edition to the DVD Page.

Thanks for the 411 on Breed.

"We are all dead men. Only by victory will our lives be returned to us." - STDS9

Just FYI Executioner that game you were looking into 'Breed' has been pushed back until February 2004.

This is pretty cool.

Police Cars go digital age

I have a thought for a story about a young man named Phoenix who is destined to rise again... Also I need to put up three reviews this coming week since I didn't get to it this weekend.

1) Full Metal Panic - preliminary reports say 3.5/5
2) The Iron Giant - 4/5 (I would almost say 3.5)
3) The Slayers (Collection 1 Disk A) - 4/5

I just finished watching the movie "Solaris." Will someone please rent it and tell me why I didn't get one bit of it? I'll pay for the rental. They say its an endearing love story...?

That and another apology to Eric and Gail for not calling/emailing sooner about this weekend. I've been stuck on the bottom tier of the pyramid of needs during those few moments that I'm off work. I'll fix it.

Keep writing the good stories people!

Since other things are denied me... here are some upcoming release dates...

DVD Release dates:

• X2: X-men United -- Nov 25th


• Please Teacher Vol 5 -- Nov 4th


• Terminator 3 -- Nov 11th


• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Mega expansion ubbercool version) -- Nov 18th

Book Release dates:

• The Lone Drow (Book 2 of The Hunters Blades) -- Oct 28th


• Exile's Valor -- Nov 4th

So I apologize if the posts seem to have slacked off... Work locked down the proxy server on any game review sites so most of my information coming in has ceased. Quite annoying but I guess it leaves me more time to get my job done right?

Matrix Revolutions reviews

No posts really today... This looks cool, I'm contemplating trying it out when it is released.

Horizons

-- Nothing cooler than being able to play a dragon...

From the Nuclear Blast Home Page:

With the release of “Elements Part II”, STRATOVARIUS have finished their impressing concept. Nine new tracks including the single “I Walk To My Own Song”, showing again the variety of this legendary Power Metal act. STRATOVARIUS ever had their own sound they kept for years. Straight and catchy melodies, but still able to surprise. You all know what to expect, but in the end they created a metal masterpiece that will rest in our hearts for eternity. “Elements Pt. II” features many classical hymns and proves the high level of the band. “Elements II” also shows the more quiet side of STRATOVARIUS, with tracks like the classical influenced “Awaken The Giant”. On the other side there are Speed metal tracks like the straight “I’m Still Alive”.

Two things:

1) NightenGail and I saw Lain #2 last night. It was even more excellent than the first which in most animes (and books even) isn't normally true. By the third or fourth episode on the disk they drop a lot of the weird stuff and get more into the storyline which is MUCH appreciated. And the storyline is excellent. Still rates a 4.5 to 5 out of 5.

2) Sonata Arctica was excellent on Century Media records, I am quite nervous to hear of them going to Nuclear Blast. Not to say that Nuclear Blast bands aren't quite good, just generally they are a different sound then what I consider Sonata Arctica. We'll just have to wait and see what this entails (Whether the label tries to steer their music).

More from the Nuclear Blast Homepage:

We just received the following news from Gorgoroth:

”Gaahl [vocals] is heading to court the 20, October.
He is accused for unordinary vile use of violence. Gaahl risks a 6 years sentence if he gets condemned, the outcome of the court trial
will be announced in a couple of weeks.”
Other news:
“If things will turn out better with the local promoters, Gorgoroth will hopefully play on the metal festival in Tel Aviv the 7th of March 2004, be sure to check their website www.gorgoroth.tk for confirmation. Gorgoroth are also working on possibilities of touring in USA and Mexico etc, check back on this issue too.”

From the Nuclear Blast Homepage:

Sonata Arctica,the divine Power Metal band from the land of the Thousand Lakes based around vocalist Tony Kakko, recently signed a long term record deal with Nuclear Blast Records.

We are very proud to announce this new signing and are looking forward to a bright future together!

At this moment the band is working on new majestic hymns, which might be recorded before summer 2004.
Sonata Arctica is the future of Melodic Power Metal

I still haven't seen Lain #2 and Italian Job even though I have it from netflix because school / work has been overwhelming my schedule... I'm hoping I can get to it this weekend! I'll post a mini addendum to the review for Lain after I watch the second one.

Yes and no about Kill Bill. It had a lot of blood shooting all over the place... But nothing that was "ewwww". It was more along the lines of, ok lets use a blood pump here to have it squirt for no apparent reason. Was it 'horror' all that blood... No it was almost comedy. But to answer your question, yes it was damn bloody.

(edit) Thinking back there were two scenes that the gore wasn't ... Called for. 1) was seeing someone's brain after cutting off the top of the skull, 2) the opening scene was very dark.

(edit edit) Alright fine (after another 5 minutes of thinking). It definitely rates and 'R' rating. There was a lot of stuff in it that definitely is messed up. If you have any reason not to want to see random really horrible things, then skip it. (Stuff like... Rape was implied, death of a baby in the womb, putting a sword through someone's genitals)

Since I haven't had much to report today:

We saw Kill Bill Vol 1 this last weekend. In my opinion it was excellent, definitely two thumbs up and an instant classic. Nothing is cooler than a Japanese school girl wielding a ball and chain whooping ass.

Can't think of anything else to report at this time... Gaming industry is kinda quiet right now and Netflix is doing me good still. I have another anime to watch and The Italian Job.

For those of you who haven't checked it out yet, NightenGail posted a story on the Stories Blog on Sunday. It is a great start!

I really like this article... I am definitely contemplating it. I should have done it a long time ago.

MSN Money - Getting rich is simpler than you think - Start investing

I just grabbed samples of the new Falconer CD. The songs sucked, the new singer sucked...it is a last and ultimate sign...Falconer is dead. Long live their first album.

Been a long week. Installed a new server at work on Wednesday (7pm-2am), went to a wedding rehearsal and dinner Thursday, had someone arrested at work today, and participating in the actual wedding tomorrow. Next week will be worse because my store manager is leaving and I'll be doing her work as well as mine indefinitely. The remodel in my branch had gone from a week long project to a month long project. Now you're telling me that there's a sequel to X-COM coming out? Its over...the world can just burn.

X-COM 2?

Check out this Gamespot article. (Is the ImperialExecutioner cowering in fear?)
UFO: Aftermath Preview - UFO: Aftermath Previews for PC at GameSpot

Oh... Math Sucks

The Slayers DVD I rented was Season 3 I think... So we are returning it to Netflix and getting the first season disk one (Which I swear wasn't there before). I'll put up a review for it after seeing that one.

Added the new album by KMFDM called World War III. Also added half a dozen DVD's. I've been bad. I should be punished. Any volunteers?

This is amusing... A European commercial done by Ben Affleck...
IFILM - L'Oreal: Ben Affleck's Hair

Just an update... I actually posted 2 movie reviews today.

1) Ai Yori Aioshi
2) Serial Experiments: Lain

Check them out in the Movie Reviews Page.

I have posted my second story! Follow the link on the left to see it!

I have posted another Anime Review... Go check it out in the Movie Reviews!

If you haven't seen this page before it is pretty cool...

DVD Easter Eggs | Home Page

Half-Life 2 theft affects more than Valve - Half-Life 2 News for PC at GameSpot

Interesting, so because of the theft, we wont get the game until April 2004 and they are worried about more than just the game being affected because of the licensing of code from other development companies.

It is a sad state of affairs the gaming companies seemingly have to utilize Bank level security systems. That won't drive up development costs at all will it?

I have added a new section to the Movie Rentals area. It will allow me to post reviews on the Netflix Anime rentals I get. Since I am now subscribed to that service I want to make sure that any anime I watch is rated so no-one else gets suckered into the bad ones, or I get to spread the word on the good ones.

First review is on DNA² - Metamorphosis. I gave it a 6, watchable but not buyable.

Check it out! Here.

Very cool! The Disciples 2 game is getting another expansion pack and this one sounds cool.

Discples 2: Rise of the Elves

It allows you to finally take charge of someone other then the normal 4 races.

Check the site, pretty cool graphics.

Posted a new DVD I received today.

Hacker spoils game for software firm - Half-Life 2 source code published

Interesting article. It seems that some hacker broke into Valve's network and published their source code for Half-Life 2 on the internet...

I updated the template on the Stories blog to allow easier identification of a story. I pushed the poster's name to the top right under title so instead of having to scroll to the bottom to find when and who published the article, you get that information right away.

Atari to patch Temple - The Temple of Elemental Evil News for PC at GameSpot

I can believe it. The game looks great, has the best rules conversion of a D&D game I have ever seen. But there is a lacking something... Oh yeah, fun!

It isn't that bad, here is the deal:
1) The performance on a high-end computer leaves much to be desired
2) The character controls are a little rusty and require adept manipulation
3) The game misses the following two components:
  a> Lack of good rewards make playing only partially interesting
  b> It takes a long time to jump into the game, and even then you have long periods of 'time to get to the next section' which grate on the nerves

But besides for those issues it is a stellar looking game and a good start to a D&D franchise. They completely one upped Neverwinter Nights.

Second Story has been posted by the ImperialExecutioner... It not for the faint of heart, literally. Most of us have gone through it, but don't let that fool you.

Since I see it as foolish to include links to the Stories blog on every update, I am going to have you point your mouse a couple of inches to the left... Yes there, where it says Stories on the menu, now go ahead and depress the left mouse button. You will soon see..............asdfasdfl;askjfd;sljf (Page transmission ended, redirecting to new site)

I have now created a Stories from the Shadows blog on my site. You can access it here.


Also I posted the first story... A Shadowrun Short Story. "Blackened Alleyway"

They can change the name of their company all they want...but if they so much as breath the wrong way towards Ai Yori Aoshi, the world will become a very dark place for them.

In other news, the newest album by Enigma, called Voyageur, is another solid installment. Not their best work ever, but still worthy of your hard earned money.

Ain't It Cool News - View Article: "Pioneer Entertainment Inc. to Become Geneon
Entertainment Inc. After Acquisition Pioneer has announced that is has changed its name to Geneon Entertainment ' a new word combining 'generate' and 'eon,' embodies Pioneer Entertainment's creative capabilities to produce new entertainment with eternal value.' Yosuke Kobayashi will continue to serve as President of Geneon Entertainment (Usa) Inc. "

I don't know how I feel about this... We got a lot of good Anime out of Pioneer and I'm afraid this might change things.

Two new Mercedes Lackey books are scheduled for this Month (October)...

Exile's Valor
The Outstretched Shadow

Exile's Valor is the follow up to Exile's Honor which is set in the world of Valdemar

The Outstretched Shadow is a completely new series... It sounds pretty good, click here to see Amazon's description.