March 2007
This is a list of posts published in March 2007.
Shadows of Colossus
I came across this article on Kotaku, a popular Gaming Blog, regarding an intriguing bit of product placement in the new Adam Sandler flick, Reign Over Me.
Reign, a comedy drama directed by Mike Binder, stars Adam Sandler as Charlie, a New Yorker who has disconnected from reality in the wake of a massive personal tragedy. One evening, as he plows his motorized scooter through the canyons of Manhattan, he runs across his old college roommate Alan (played by Don Cheadle). Or more to the point, Alan flags down Charlie, who is so withdrawn from reality, he doesn’t recall ever knowing him. The film then follows the two men as they rediscover their friendship.
Don’t worry, I haven’t divulged any plot spoilers in that synopsis. How could I? I haven’t even seen the film. All of those background details were plucked straight from the film’s traile... Continue reading »
Mii60
The rumors are true. I have followed my cousin’s lead and am also a Wii60 household, possessing both an Xbox 360 and a Wii for roughly the same price as the PS3. The Wii has been in the home since last November. With Zelda completed and nobody around to school me in Wii Sports, it is taking a wee little sabbatical pending the release of Super Paper Mario in April.
As great as that system is for those proprietary first party games (Mario, Metroid, Zelda) as well as the new game play experiences offered up with the Wiimote (this is a great party machine), the 360 offers a fantastic online mode. With Sean, Jason and Mook in the fold, I was missing out on all the hot online action and am happy to report that I can devote that 1-to-2 hour wedge of time I somehow carve most day after the fam has gone to bed to reacquaint myself with the online clan and get busy Grunt bashing. He... Continue reading »
Batting 300
I caught this flick last weekend with my best bud Sean. Earlier this year, he had posted his Top 5 Films of 2006. When I tried to comment, I realized that the only way I could make out a Top 5 List of my own was to list every movie I had seen in the theater in 2006 – whether it was good or not. A decade back, I used to see a movie almost every week.
Now, I know the reason for the decline in theatrical viewership (after all, I am a Dad with two young children at home) but I don’t think my tastes were as discerning then as they are now. Actually, truth be told, when I do get out to the theater I usually position myself for the biggest spectacle while the nuanced dramas (which tend to be more fulfilling) are placed on hold for home viewing. Now that I possess a 40” LCD HDTV, more and more films will find their way to the home theater.
Anyway, all of this is prologue for my brief r... Continue reading »
Grinding Gears
New Line Cinemas announced this week that they have acquired the rights to produce a movie based on the hit Xbox 360 game, Gears of War. When I first read this, I was intrigued. I’m currently playing through the co-op campaign of GoW and I have found that this game lives up to its pre-release hype. This is some wonderfully epic stuff set in a shattered world of ‘destroyed beauty’ and I am in awe of the gameplay and art design that went into crafting this top-tier title.
In fact, the one knock against the game has been its inability to flesh out a potent back story. As I’m playing the game, I can see some of that (it would be nice to learn a little something about this world outside of picking up the manual) however I also see what lead designer CliffyB was going for. He wants to pop you in the middle of the story so that you and your onscreen avatar Marcus Fenix have to work to get yo... Continue reading »
Lost – ‘The Man from Tallahassee’ – 3.13
Now that’s the John Locke I remember.
When Lost first launched back in September 2004, the first character I cottoned to was the mysterious John Locke. For starters, he was played by Terry O’Quinn, a fantastic character actor who I discovered in one of those late 80’s slasher flicks, The Stepfather, and later followed through his tenure on Chris Carter’s Millennium. Like all good character actors, O’Quinn lives in his roles and he has the knack for authoring solid authoritarian types who mask an edge. There’s always an air of menace creeping around the corners of his characters.
Locke’s first appearance on the Lost pilot was a memorable one. First we see him rising to his feet – shocked to be alive. Later in the pilot, Kate catches Locke from across the beach. He has a fresh slice carved over his right eye, which makes for a great, creep... Continue reading »
Lost – ‘Par Avion’ – 3.12
Although it had its detractors, the Hurley-centric ‘Tricia Tanaka is Dead’ seems to have served a real purpose – allowing Lost to slow down a tic, let everyone take a pause, get reacquainted and settle their bearings before we were off to the races. If Tanaka’s symbolic moment is a rusted VW bus spinning donuts in a valley, last week’s ‘Enter 77’ and this week’s episode have given the core survivors a mission and with that some real forward progress in the narrative department. Oh yeah, a generous sprinkling of those coveted answers as well.
On with the show.
1. While the title ‘Par Avion’ (loosely translated – ‘By Bird’) is tied to Claire’s plot to catch migrating seagulls and attach a message to them in hopes a South Pacific researcher will key in on their location. I found that Claire’s plot was really the B plot. Or, at ... Continue reading »
Lost – ‘Enter 77′ – 3.11
I’ve really got to start getting these updates out in a more timely fashion and not just on the day of the next episode.
This episode had a lot to chew on so I’m going to dispense with my normal three paragraph prologue and dive right into the observations.
On with the show.
1. The Sayid-centric ‘Enter 77’ followed Sayid, Kate, Locke and Danielle’s trek through the jungle to locate The Others. Using the compass direction Locke plucked off Ecko’s Jesus stick, they end up two days into the island in a remote stretch that Danielle had never trekked through. There they encounter a broadcasting station which houses two mysterious individuals – Mikhael Bakunin, who declares himself “the last surviving member of the Dharma Initiative” and Mrs. Klugh, the woman who presented Michael with his ‘laundry list’ last season. Klugh’s presence seems to... Continue reading »
No Escape
John Carpenter must be spinning in his grave. I read this morning that the trifecta is complete – there are now remakes of his three greatest movies in the works. While Rob Zombie continues toiling on his Halloween remake and Ronald Moore polishes the script for The Thing redux, now comes word that producer Neal Moritz is shopping Escape from New York with 300′s King Leonidis (Gerard Butler) as Snake Plissken. I said it before and I’ll say it again. If Carpenter must be remade, why don’t we fix those flicks that had great ideas but were botched in execution. Where’s the love for Prince of Darkness or In the Mouth of Madness???
Lost – ‘Tricia Tanaka is Dead’ – 3.10
First off, I apologize for the lengthy delay in getting these (or any) posts out. The times… they are a’ changing. At least that’s the way things seem of late as I have had a number of factors conspire to rid me of my precious free time for Blogging duties.
For starters, I am taking on a new client at work – just in time too as my current key account will be exiting our company in July and without another client to call my own, I might be out on the street singing Wonderwall for pocket change. Alas, those fears were remedied as we conducted a bit of an internal reorg and I have assumed ownership of a big-time player. And as a little bonus, my new client is based out of NYC so I get to bid the Midwest a long awaited adieu and head into the Big City on a regular basis.
That leads me to another factor that has robbed this site of my presence. Earlier this wee... Continue reading »
The Adventures of Gutt & Pole: Issue #300 – Along Came a Ryder
Editor’s Note – Here at The Ed Zone, I have a handful of recurring series that I like to bust out whenever the mood strikes. Most of you are familiar with the My Favorite Things pieces – most recently augmented with my publication of the Top 5 Favorite Summer Movie Memories. In addition, I like to run a little game show – Mii Match – every once in awhile (and am in the process of prepping the next thrilling installment.) Finally, I have the continuing Adventures of Gutt & Pole – which is essentially a vehicle used to fill you all in with the INCREDIBLY TRUE (if slightly embellished) details of my so called life – specifically as it relates to my circle of friends. Sean a.k.a. Pole gets top billing because he’s been the Butch to my Sundance, the Tango to my Cash, the Cagney to my Lacey. If you haven’t guessed, I’m the Gutt. Anyway, if you’ve missed the... Continue reading »
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