Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The Final Countdown '2008'

So here it is, that time of year when I give my Best of the year that was 2008. I have been doing this on Myspace for a while but now that I have this here forum I'm gonna use it and run with it may this be the first of may for years to come. The way I work it is this list is all encompassing, music, movies comic, personal what not this is my Blog and what I say goes Damn it. This is also in no real order much like my brain its totally scatter shot. Now Lets commence:



1.Lets start with Comic Books and this year it's not a comic book per say it's a comic book writer that I give the head nod to. His name is Robert Kirkman and he writes to of the best comic I have read in quite a while... (A)The Walking Dead:If you love Zombies like I do I can Not urge you enough to pick up this comic. Now Granted this book has been around for 5 years, but I did not start reading it till this year. I have to give Major props to my Local comic book guru Floyd over at FJB comics here in downtown Jersey City, he totally got me and Grace into this book. It's the story of a man who wakes up to the Zombie Apocalypse that I fear everyday. He finds his family living with a group of survivors and that's how the story starts. This is not run of the mill zombie comic it has pacing that is amazing. Sometimes the horror does not come from a zombie but another human. Kirkman has a solid cast of characters but he is not afraid to kill them. That's right you can go 20 issues loving one character and then turn the page..and boom dead. it does not matter what sex or age is, no one is safe. every issue is a work of art thank to the art team of Charlie Adlard and cliff Rathburn. This is one comic that has me waiting for the next issue as if it was a t.v. show. Drama Lives in this book. I do warn you if you do pick this Book up you will be back.

(B)Another Robert Kirkman book is INVINCIBLE this one is for all my Spandex hero fans. Like "the Walking dead" this book has been around for a while but it's another one I did not join till I picked up the collected editions, and boy am I glad. This is an all age book that harks back to the early days of Marvel comics, it has everything you would want awesome superhero's, vile villains and family drama. I almost hate to say this, but Fuck HEROES, this is what the superhero dissection is all about. it deconstructs it and at the same time adds to it. It has a twist that would make M. Night Shyamalan gasp. The art work fits it so well, the story is on going and I can't say anymore with out sounding like a creepy love letter. If you like superhero books pick this one up it's got the goods!



2. This was the year for us comic geeks and there where 4 movies that really made me happy.

(A)The Dark Knight- What can I say that has not been written yet? Heath Ledgers JOKER, perfect. Scary. Haunting. Amazing. After I saw this movie I went back and reread 'the Killing Joke' by Allen Moore and you think of Ledgers JOKER and it adds something. That's right a comic book movie made my reading a comic book a little bit more enjoyable. yea it was a bit long, but come on when that truck flipped, I could have gone home a happy boy.

(B)Iron Man-PERFECT! Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark...perfect casting. He was Tony Stark, Like Ledgers JOKER the was IRON MAN I loved everything about this film. It got that marvel comic tone down, man. The music, the Score, the acting, everything. Got to hand it to Jon Favreau, he understood the source material and had a blast with it. It just worked so well. I was 12 again sitting in my parents kitchen reading my Wednesday shipment of marvel comics. I was so happy that they got it so right, I would say more so than Spider-man.

(C) Hellboy 2-LOVED IT! maybe I was biased cause at this years comic-con I got the chance to meet the cast, and the director Guillermo Del toro, an amazing visionary. What he did in Hellboy 2 was make it his own. Crazy monsters, larger then life threats, and a barry manalow sing along between a big red demon and a amphibious blue creature...I was laughing my ass off. Ron Pearlman is the only person who should ever play Hellboy if he does not want to play it again that's it, wrap it up.

(D)The Incredible HULK-I enjoyed the fuck out of this film, I really did. It had what Ang Lee's did not it had a real threat, and it had Hulk say "Hulk Smash" gone was the bullshit heavy handed art house crap of Father and son conflict, no it had the fucking Hulk fucking up shit in New York City, Fighting the abomination, using a cop car as boxing gloves holy crap! Pure fun, so happy.

3. It was a great year for me in music, lets start with shows, Got to see Clutch what was it 3 times this year the Atlantic City show was amazing and great times with a bunch of my friends, the show in Philly with Coheed and Cambria was great and the show at the starland ball room was sick! If you have yet to see CLUTCH get out and see them. One of the best live bands to ever play out. Another Band I went out to see a couple of times was as mentioned before Coheed and Cambria, the show with Clutch was great but the show at Terminal 5 was amazing. they played four nights each night dedicated to one of their albums. I did not see all 4 shows but I did make it out to see them play 'In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 my personal favorite album by those guys and I was not disappointed. the whole album, wow. More band should do this really.

as for Albums Metallica's Death Magnetic was fucking awesome. This is your fathers Metallica and I am so grateful for it. Hard, Fast, Brutal. I guess they watched enough Metalpocalipse to see that it's time for the most brutal band in the land to play the way they should...and the Video for 'all nightmare long' well just go find it on youtube and enjoy!

But the real fun in the year of music came from GROOVESHARK...all legal, all Free, all streaming all music. its amazing. it really is the best thing to come around, instant music all day long

4.personal life...I got a girlfriend in 2008, and she is great. she is so funny and sweet, she is willing to put up with my shit. I really can't say enough about her, all around great girl. I also got a new car in 2008 and it's so awesome I love this car more than it knows.

5. and here is the rest that made 2008 great (that rhymed) -Pineapple express, I loved this movie it was so fucking funny it had me laughing my ass off, as did Tropic Thunder, who knew Tom cruse had it in him to be that insanely funny and vulgar. on the T.V. front I loved rock of love charm school, so trashy it's amazing. well i kinda ran out of steam here kids I may add more, but for now this is what I loved about this year I will also post what made 2008 suck in the coming days.
till then have a safe and wonderful new year!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Groove is in the heart

The rumors are all false I'm not dead just been slackin'. I know this seems to be my most common fault of late with this here blog, Just slackin'. But as the year comes to a close and we gear up for the holidays, I find myself looking at the blog and saying...Oh i'll post later or tomorrow. It's been a fine season so far no real snow here in the DT/JC, granted last Saturday night it did flurry but it was fun and yes a snowball fight was had all in good fun. It was the good Rev. infamous Dans birthday and it was also The girlfriends friends birthday so we walked to his house and drinks where had good times. I have been looking for employment and I did get unemployment but man is the job market all dried up. FUCK. I have also been slacking in seeing new movies, I still have to see Frost/Nixon, The punisher, the day the earth stood still (RS2 really wants to see it) plus a few others.
another thing that has kept me from blogging is www.grooveshark.com. it's an all streaming, all legal music sharing application and it's addictive as all fuck, man. right now I'm grooving to the beach boys and was just listening to some skid row, weird musical taste huh? well that it don't forget I have my year end list coming soon so be sure to pop back, ya hear!