Made this Blue Jay for a Christmas gift.

     After a hellish schedule and some super nasty pink eye compounded with a sinus infection, I got my Christmas stuff out (mostly) and will continue working on next year's cards.  Here's a Blue Jay I made with colored pencils and framed for someone as a gift.  I'm including the pic without the frame to give a little bit more detail.

The Following - This show looks surprisingly good.

     I can't be the only one that thinks this show looks quite good.  The Following stars Kevin Bacon as Ryan Hardy, a former FBI agent who is after serial killer Joe Carroll played by James Purefoy.

     Purefoy's Poe-obsessed professor turned serial killer was put away for murdering 14 people almost a decade earlier by Kevin Bacon.  Well, Purefoy escapes and Bacon is brought back to help capture him again.  During Purefoy's time in prison, he somehow managed to amass a large cult following.
     Now that Joe Carroll is out he has a plan to force Ryan Hardy into being a hero in his "story."
The story is to be a form of living art where his cultish followers are out doing his bidding through various means of widespread killing and insanity.

     Personally I think Purefoy is what'll keep this show going.  He was wonderful in Rome, Camelot, A knight's Tale and I love his small role in John Carter of Mars.  (Slightly off topic, I'm quite curious to see how he did in Robert E. Howard's "Solomon Kane") 

     Typical to modern television I'm seeing the suspense filled episodic formula already, much like the plethora of crime procedure shows currently airing constantly on pretty much every station available.  I hope they can keep the psychological horror ramped up- offset the structure.  Keep it interesting, make each of the Followers someone distinct and individualized.  Each member of the Following needs to be unpredictable in their own way, while still under Joe Carroll's influence.  Of course meeting a weekly creep could also dampen things if it does become predictable- so they should put extra effort into making the episodes unique.   

     Pehaps with these guys can learn from shows like American Horror Story that they need to make it worth our time.  If they do, we'll be their following.

     It premieres Monday, Jan. 21 at 8c on FOX.

Borderlands 2: Sir Hammerlock's DLC to arrive Jan 15, 2013

     Gearbox has fficially announced the release date for the next DLC- Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt- January 15, 2013.  This has been noted on many sites, I saw it on the Gaige, Mister Torgue and now Sir Hammerlock's ECHOcasts on Twitter.  There are also phone ringtones featuring Hammerlock quotes (in addition to Torgue and Claptrap ones) available on the official Borderlands 2 site.

A tweet from a gentleman

     With some game play videos already out we can now see it takes place in a swampy area called Aegrus.  Sir Hammerlock has invited you out for a good old gentlemanly hunting trip, but along the way Professor Nakayama interferes and would really like you to become his arch nemesis.  This "Hyperion Scourge" apparently poisoned the Atlus CEO and is pissed that you haven't heard of him before.  He essentially pesters you into action by constantly ECHOing you while you're on the hunt.  He went and crashed his ship here and locked himself out of it.  Nakayama thinks Handsome Jack was the coolest person ever and has plans to clone him to restart his reign on Pandora.  And maybe he can become as cool as Jack in the process. 

The Hyperion Scourge

     So far, I'm liking the DLC.  I see the Drifters are back, saw new enemies (various Savages, Boroks and Scaylions), an awesome new vehicle (Fan boats) with 3 weapon types, and a couple new raid bosses- Voracidous the Stalker Seraph Guardian and Dexidous the Drifter.  One thing in particular I liked is the Witch Doctors.  They can heal or level up their allies as well a firing off varied attacks such as slag, fire and a crippling attack that dramatically slows your movement.

     While there still is no raise in level cap I am sure many people will complain, but I personally will complete the DLC and work on boosting my Badass Rank in the mean time.  Considering I have 3 level 50's(Zer0, Maya, Axton), a 33(Salvador), and a 25 (Gaige), it'll give me a bit more time to get the lower level Gunzerker and Mechromancer up to 50. 

     Gamespot has the first half hour of gameplay up with commentary:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/borderlands-2-sir-hammerlocks-big-game-hunt-dlc-revealed-6401825

The Phantom Pain: Metal Gear Stealth Marketing

     Just watched the trailer for The Phantom Pain. 
     This has  Metal Gear written all over it.  A new game company, Moby Dick Studio, turns up out of the blue, and a few members of team Konami had shirts sporting this on them at the Spike VGAs.  Not to mention the lead man's name is "Joakim Mogren" which contains an anagram of Kojima, and his next project "Ogre" in it.  I would guess this game is definitely a new Metal Gear on that alone.  Possibly even what the FOX game engine was designed for.
     After that fact, pretty much everything else about the trailer is steeped in Metal Gear-ness under the guise of Viral marketing.


Confused Snake...    ??? 

      A confused(drugged?) man wakes in a hospital and things go bad quite swiftly from there.  He's been in a coma from a car accident and another person is waiting for him.  The other person, other than the bandages, looks to be in good health.  It looks as if the place is under attack.  The focal character appears to have bodily scarring and a missing left forearm.       His initial inability to walk gives us a wonderful crawling movement that is EXACTLY like the typical crawl of soldiers with the title Snake.  That fabulous mullet and bandage over the eye, a Hideo Kojima staple, is very indicative of a Snake.  Could this be a clone in VR training of some sort, or a Snake we already know? 

     With the assault on the hospital we see many being dragged away or killed.  Are these people here for killing the protagonist, or here on a rescue mission? 
     There are many dream-like occurrences.  Feathers falling, a man on fire, a unicorn, and a giant flying whale, and a floating human.  Many of the military types have gas masks so could this all be hallucination?  This whole advertisement is one giant dream sequence.
     Then at the end there is a hovering person above beyond the gunman.  He looks awfully similar to Psycho Mantis.  Or the Sorrow, depending on the time period.  It looks like a lot of the stuff is a bit aged.  The lady speaking at the end has a Russian accent, so... could this be a game during the formation of Foxhound?  It would be unbelievably awesome if it were a complete remake of Metal Gear Solid, but it would be highly doubtful.  Personally I would like a game playing as The Joy.  A female lead protagonist in an awesome period piece era.

Is this Psycho Mantis?

    Even the end announcement has some hidden words above the The Phantom Pain.  This has got to be a ploy or a teaser campaign for the Metal Gear: Ground Zeroes.  Clearly the main person is a Snake, whether it's a Ground Zeroes teaser or another Metal Gear game will have to be determined.
     Regardless of what the final name of this title ends up as, I will be purchasing it.

Borderlands 2: *SPOILERS* Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt DLC

     Links to spoiler info are midway down the post.
     Well, I'm seriously looking forward to more Borderlands 2.  With the next DLC being Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt, I figure it'll be a hunting slaughter fest focussed on creatures.  Maybe a Pandora island infused with Jurassic Park references and the Island of Dr. Moreau. (See Axton pic)
     Many think that there will only be 4 DLCs, but I believe there'll be more.  It would equal much more money for Gearbox.  More playable characters as well.  If there is more than 4, the short DLC play lengths and the lack of raise in level cap will be more tolerable.

     Really, we've needed more giant beasts to slay for a while.  Where's the new Skagzilla, or a herd of Rakk Hives, I wouldn't mind a 3rd Mothrakk.  Perhaps a new Crawmerax?  With all of Hyperion's experimenting, some of their scientists and engineers had to have created something in the Wildlife Preserves.  Where's all the mega Stalkers?  The Drifters have yet to return as well.  We could definitely use another nonhuman Invincible.
     On the chance this is a Jakobs focussed place (like the first Borderland's Zombie Island of Dr. Ned) and maybe Jurassic Park-ish we could get to see some animals from long ago from the Pandora landscape.  Essentially dinosaurs running amok.  Prehistoric ancestors of Bullymongs, or Jurassic Bonerfarts if you will. 

     Here's 2 links with some decent *SPOILER* info:

http://orcz.com/Borderlands_2:_Sir_Hammerlocks_Big_Game_Hunt?Spoilers=true

http://www.reddit.com/r/Borderlands2/comments/14trix/the_inside_scoop_on_the_upcoming_dlc_spoilers/

     And here's a quick snippet of info someone posted on the Borderlands forums:
     After today's patch if you look at the files in the new folder "Sage" on the PC you can see much of what the DLC will be like if you are used to reading those types of files.
Without giving too much away there seems to be a new vehicle, at least 18 missions (it reads like most of these are 2-3 part missions and side missions might be extra), lots of new animal-type enemies that aren't just re-skins, New Seraph Items/Vendor.
This is speculative, but there are either several new Raid Bosses OR the new Raid Boss has 3-5 different enemies as a part of it.

Also I have a very good feeling Scarlett will be back in this DLC. This is NOT in the files, but there is something that kind of hints to something coming back from DLC1. Again I'm just guessing that Scarlett is back.
     -From a fellow named "ImmaCriminal."

     By the looks of it we'll probably not see a raise in the level cap.  I don't really mind that.  But I would like to see MORE stuff to do.  Pitchford said something along the lines of these 4 DLCs would be equivalent to The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, but maybe he meant that all 4 would equal to 1 Knoxx.  Seriously, these seem way shorter than even Zombie Island.  I do like them though.  My biggest issue was the inability to beat Master Gee without the freeze.
     More uses for our over abundance of currencies would be nice, as would an expansion for our bank vault.
     Also, I want a Butt Stallion cameo.  But that would probably be saved for the MASSIVELY LIKELY future Hyperion Moonbase DLC.

     More info as I can gather it.

Borderlands 2: Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt (New DLC)

     Well as I thought with my post last night, the new patch is out and our hint for the next DLC is sort of hidden in there.  The Trophies for the next installment have appeared in some PS3 lists, and our good gentlemanly friend Sir Hammerlock is taking center stage in this next one.


Smell that ol' slappy? That's the scent of a gentlemen

     It's titled "Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt" and the trophies listed are: 

1) Face Off (Bronze)- Completed the mission: The Fall of Nakayama

2) Done that (Gold)- Completed all Hammerlocks hunt side missions.

3) Been there (Silver) - Discovered all named locations in Hammerlocks Hunt.

     There is reason to suspect this'll be released before the years ends, from some of Randy Pitchford's Tweets.  I also believe there may be more than 4 DLCs in total, and at least 1 more character coming.  This has got to be a bankroll for them, so I'd imagine they'll keep pumping things out.  Hell, I might even guess they'd sell us more bank space as a DLC content similar to the new characters.

     Anyways- as long as they keep the Hammerlock brand humor, Big Game Hunt should be at least entertaining.  I wouldn't mind hunting some Badass Adult Bonerfarts again.
     Honestly speaking, I don't mind the other 2 DLCs, but I'm really hoping they up their game on this one.  Sure there were plenty of things to do, but it didn't feel like much.  It felt like the DLCs ended too abruptly.  More so with Scarlett than Torgue.  Mr. Torgue's sort of has an ending. 
     Captain Scarlett disappears at the end of Pirate's Booty.  While Moxxi and Torgue seem to be growing into an odd couple with hints towards Moxxi putting Torgues Arena to use at the end of Campaign of Carnage.  They could be an amazingly entertaining duo, ok- they already are.
     Many people are wondering what the next Invincible will be as well.  Perhaps with a wildlife type hunt it'll be a non human like Terramorphous or Crawmerax.  There's even some people joking about the data mined info of Crystaloferous the Invincible, who was supposedly the 3rd Borderlands 2 main game raid boss.  Could just be data left from an unused idea, we won't know until the DLC hits.
     I wonder if it'll be one of the MASSIVE wormlike creatures we see bones of all over.  But, then those could just be larger versions Master Gee's worms (such as the skeleton in Gee's cave on the back wall)- or the Leviathan's tongue.  

     Maybe we'll get some more info on who/what the Seraphs are, and more on actual Eridians or some such.  Gearbox and 2K have created an immense universe here, but are lacking in explanations.  Many gamers would like to know about these things!  Come on Gearbox, you can't tease us with these story elements and never fill us in.  There's a limit to how much "mystery" people can take without getting actual information.

     The level cap will probably hit, as it did with the first game's 3rd DLC, and I really hope they increase the bank storage.  The game trailer boasts "87 Bazillion guns"...  but you can only carry 27 items.  And use a giant vault that somehow holds half as much as your backpack, and then Claptrap's secret stash of 4.  I have 7 characters.  It is horrible to have to swap things around so much.  Seriously, if modders can do it, and in the first game you could do it, why not increase it??? 
     I personally believe they should just combine the stash and vault. 

     And make use of all these damn currency types!  I have tons of Eridium, Torgue tokens and Seraph crystals and nothing worth using them for.  Let me buy a larger bank vault or something.

Borderlands 2: New PS3 Patch/Update Dec. 13! TOMORROW!!!

     It's only slightly off from the release info previously mentioned-but GOOD NEWS!!!

It's going to hit tomorrow- Dec. 13, 2012!  Thank you Gearbox!

 

     We Playstation 3 users will finally be able to beat Master Gee the Invincible and have it STICK!  Pyro Caustic Pete the Ultra Invincible and Hyperius will now suffer my pent up Pandoran aggression - then I'll move to the FIXED MASTER GEE, and crush him with glee.  UNINTENTIONAL RHYMING!!! 
     We'll finally be able to get 100% completion for Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty.  Even though I've spent plenty of time waiting for the patch by enjoying Mr Torgue's Campaign of Carnage I am SOOOO pumped for this!  A return to Oasis for some good times.

     Here's the link of what the update has in store for us:
http://support.gearboxsoftware.com/entries/22127181-playstation-3-update-information

     Once again- THANK YOU GEARBOX!!!  We've been awaiting this for quite some time.

     On a side note- perhaps we'll see PS3 Trophy hints as to what the next DLC will be...
     Especially because of the new Character and DLC news previously listed.
http://joshuabarsody.blogspot.com/2012/12/borderlands-2-new-dlccharacter.html

Masters of the Universe: Like a Moss... Man

     Sometimes I'm dumb.  My best friend (http://nicholasstraight.blogspot.com/) is quite fond of Moss Man and another fellow posted something about him on Facebook.  Well, this is the first thing that came to mind. 
     Ok, pretty close.  The first thing was a Moss Man in the iconic Muhammad Ali pose, above a fallen Beast Man with the same caption.  This is all I could manage in a short time.  Maybe I'll do an airbrush of it another time.

New "Man of Steel" Superman trailer!

     Zack Snyder's new Man of Steel trailer is looking quite good!  I also see his love for giant red capes in slow motion is still intact long after 300.  Henry Cavill looks wonderful.  I know I'm going to catch sh!t for this, but thankfully they ditched the absurd red trunks. 
     Caught a couple quick glimpses of Zod, and Michael Shannon as the evil Kryptonian General is going to be great- especially after his performance in Take Shelter.
     I hope this film does for Superman what Batman Begins and Christopher Nolan did for Batman.

     At one point Kevin Costner, as Jonathan Kent, says, "You just have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be Clark. Whoever that man is, he's gonna change the world."  The music and imagery seem to be very good at leading you to wonder at the struggle of an alien adopted into our world.  He knows he will change the world, but the question he's forced to answer is how?  Those are big choices, such a great burden, to put on the shoulders of someone.  With extraordinary power, comes superhuman decision making skills.

     Because it looks as if Warner Bros. has a lock on the Youtube embedding feature, here's the link:  http://youtu.be/KVu3gS7iJu4

     Here's a Zod screen cap i took as well.

Borderlands 2: New Character Idea: Forgotten Atlus employee

I was getting ice cream!

      With Commandant Steele's opening the Vault and the withdrawn Atlas support on Pandora it seems like some things would have to be left behind, particularly, some really pissed off soldiers.     Maybe one of the Crimson Lance Royal Guard/Soldier/etc witnessed the Vault Hunters slaying the Destroyer after Steele's screw up and wanted to be a part of it. It would make sense that with the Lance attempting to take all the credit, and the real heroes being labeled as enemies, that there may have been deserters. Even more so after General Knoxx died and Atlas abandoning Pandora. Then Roland took a semi-reformed bunch and made the Crimson Raiders. The character could be someone Roland contacted or called in, maybe an old war buddy from his time with the Atlas Corp., but they arrived too late and want revenge.
      Really, think of another melee type character using a Lance Assassin. One more sword user could be pretty decent.

      Hell, they could even use the humorous "Personal Ice Cream Leave of Absence"(code 3.5.31 in the manual). Something along the lines of they went on an ice cream leave and came back to a missing military company and are just trying to find their way.

      Theoretically the skill couldn't really be ANOTHER turret, but perhaps they could deploy a Lance probe, mine, or an assault pod with back up soldiers or supplies. Or, in an extreme case, a reverse engineered Eridian weapon. I wouldn't mind an Atlas Engineer that somehow could call in a Guardian from the Eridian Promontory. Maybe they tapped into the lost technology and in a fit of revenge on their employer, due to being abandoned and left for dead, the character joined up with the Crimson Raiders.
     Whatever this Eridian tech would be, it shouldn't be a typical weapon, make it an Eridian Prototype of something that would work "like magic," think like something similar to the Siren's powers in the Borderlands universe. (More on this in the next 6th playable character potential post)
The Eridian tech could even be something salvaged by a Dahl employee, think of another Tannis type somewhere else on Pandora coming across something still working.

     The skill trees-(like the Atlas Badasses) could be divided into- Infantry, Defender, and Engineer.

Borderlands 2: New DLC & New Character Confirmation

     Just a quick post here.  Saw these on Twitter earlier today. 

 

      So it looks like we'll be getting some new DLC before the year is done. Hopefully it'll come with a patch to fix some of the problems like Master Gee the Unbeatable System Killer. I'll be looking forward to whatever it is.



 

     For the new character I am hoping for a faulty Hyperion robot that deploys a Jimmy Jenkins like tinier robot.  There are plenty of Hyperion robots that go all wonky, so when can we actually play as one?  Think about it- there's the Hyperion Intelligence Core, Mal, Innuendo Bot, Censor Bot, Jimmy Jenkins, and Perv-E- I'm sure there's plenty of other robots gone awry that could be fun. 
     It would be loads of fun to play as an off-kilter Wee Loader!

     I'm running short on break time here at work so here's a quick rundown of some others I think would make for good possibilities.

     1)  A were-skag or were-bullymong with a Skill of transforming into the alternate character for a short time.  Maybe a Midge-mong like centaur creature, there is so much potential here.

    2)  A Zombie left over from the Zombie island.  Can use a puking skill with elements.

     3)  Hyperion or Torgue engineer type with the exo-skeleton for ground shaking or Brick berserking punchy goodness.  Maybe an actual midget character that uses the exoskeleton to be "regular sized."

     4)  An escaped Rat with laser beam power.  Let them have a Mordecai like Ransack skill for increased looting like a Rat Thief.

     4)  A Bandit.  There's a plethora of things to draw on for a Bandit character.  A bandit just one day gets sick of being repeatedly getting slaughtered by Vault Hunters and thus starts their journey.
A possible skill -they could become enraged and get bigger and stronger like a Goliath.  I would like to see a Skag rider or Giant rider.  Why the hell aren't skags a ride already?
Even a simple Axe thrower would be ok.  Plenty of bandit kind to make use of.

     5)  A forgotten or left behind Atlus employee.

     6)  A Guardian, Seraph, or an Eridian.  (This would be guessing Zero isn't one of the 3 things listed)  This would open up more mystical or "magic" like powers similar to the Sirens abilities.  I believe this could be an amaing DLC addition.  (I'll have a larger post on this later)

After Earth: Can Will Smith help M. Night Shyamalan?

     Saw this trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's "After Earth."  I must say it looks fairly impressive.  Then again, when I first saw the Last Airbender trailer, it looked good at first- but it turned out to be an absolutely atrocious film.  He hasn't made a really good film since "Signs." 
     For me at least, I'll give it a chance.  Will Smith tends to be great in pretty much everything.  So what I'm wondering is, can the Smiths help redeem movies for Shyamalan?  This has the added benefit of Shyamalan not being the writer.  It is mainly written by Stephen Gaghan, who wrote Traffic and Syriana.  Which could be a very good thing for him- having anoter writer to level things out.  Hopefully this does well enough to regain the respect of moviegoers towards Shyamalan.

     Overall this looks like a father and son bonding movie combined with a coming of age film (in a new and hostile environment). Intriguing if nothing else. I'm going to take a chance on this, even if it's just for the visual effects' eye candy. I'm hoping it'll be at least a decent movie.




     Plot synopsis:

One thousand years after cataclysmic events forced humanity's escape from Earth, Nova Prime has become mankind's new home. Legendary General Cypher Raige returns from an extended tour of duty to his estranged family, ready to be a father to his 13-year-old son, Kitai. When an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Kitai's craft, they crash-land on a now unfamiliar and dangerous Earth. As his father lies dying in the cockpit, Kitai must trek across the hostile terrain to recover their rescue beacon. His whole life, Kitai has wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father. Today, he gets his chance.

     Well, I know the first thing many people are going to wonder is, aside from the fact their last names are Raige, what's the twist?  Shyamalan seems to always need one.  Just from the trailer- I would guess one of two things-

     1) Will Smith is a "non-person"?  It looks like he's ripped out of the ship when it's being torn open and crashing so maybe he dies in the beginning and continues through the rest of the film in a non-physical manner.  Maybe he's Jaden's future self, being imagined as a guide of sorts.  Or, on a FAR OUT THERE guess, perhaps a time travelling future self, guiding him through events he knows about before being sucked out of the ship.  Hell, Will Smith might play both Cypher and an aged Kitai.  If they set the film in multiple times.
     Perhaps he could be a hologram or synthetic human.  I don't know.  It's fairly difficult to judge by just the trailer here.  While it says there were 2 survivors, that could also be a ruse for storytelling purposes, as it looks fairly bad when he's thrown down that hall, then the ship is pulled apart during the fall to Earth.  So maybe he does survive and is just injured pretty badly and Jaden's character has to make it to Will and then go from there.  I mean it does show a LOT of Jaden scenes by himself, and then Will in a small control center type area communicating with him.

     2)  This Earth may be in the long reaches of the past, as opposed to a possible distant future.  Many old Scifi stories have used this notion and it works all right.  I don't think it would matter much as to when the story takes place.  The reason I mention this is because I believe I caught glimpses of a couple of dinosaur type animals.  In particular a sabre-toothed tiger.
     This might end up being an Earth seeding film- one where man leaves then returns to re-seed and repopulate the Earth.  Not necessarily through the typical human reproductive means.

     I'm sure I'll have more to say as more is released.

Lord of the Rings: And My (Broke) Axe

     Here's another stupid comic I made that I've thought about for a long time.  Gimli offers his axe to assist Frodo the Ringbearer in the Fellowship of the Ring, literally minutes after destroying it on Sauron's One Ring of Power.  Thinking about it always gave me a chuckle, hopefully it does the same for you readers.  Perhaps he just has a large supply of backup axes.
     The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is out in less than a week, and I am super excited!
     *SQUEEEEEEEE!!!*

One does not simply walk into Mordor, but perhaps 9 can.

     I always laugh at some parts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, here is one of them.  Pretty much right after saying one does not simply walk into Mordor, Boromir and the newly formed Fellowship of the Ring sets out to walk to Mordor.
     Made this while completing my yearly rewatch of the extended trilogy.  I'll put up another one later, probably more as the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey nears to theatrical release in a week.

Star Trek Into Darkness Teaser Trailer

A familiar sight

     With a week and a half until the Hobbit is released, and the Star Trek Into Darkness 9 minute preview, excitement is high.  I saw the Teaser Trailer for Star Trek and it looks good.  J.J. Abrams is up to his good old misdirection with trailers. 
     It also seems Inception and Prometheus added the GWWWWOOOOOOONNGG!!! sound to the trailer for dramatic effect.  There also appears to be a significantly less number of Abrams patented lens flares. Ok, only about 20% less lens flare.


     The trailer, being a minute and 20 seconds, contains lots of quick snippets featuring most the main characters and it looks like Benedict Cumberbatch might be playing Gary Mitchell.  (From the original series' episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before")  And I would guess if that's who he is, Alive Eve could then be playing Elizabeth Dehner???  While I am not 100% sure, these guesses are just speculation so far, but I will enjoy the movie regardless.       It looks like a hooded, kung fu Cumberbatch is fighting a Klingon (leather masked person) at one point, and Spock possibly visiting the molten caverns of Mount Doom.  Many explosions, Starfleet bases and cities exploding, and a ship (possibly the Enterprise, but that's highly doubtful, maybe an older model starfleet ship- but if it's Gary Mitchell- it could be the Valiant) crash landing in water are a few highlights of the teaser.  Then again the crash scenes might not even be related to the ship in the water scene- what if its rising out of the water?

     As for the screen capture pic above, could it be the result of someone's Wrath...  as it's following Cumberbatch's character asking, "Is there anything you would not do for your family?" (Note- they do NOT show who's hands they are, and I believe that is VERY purposeful)  That leads me to personally believe that Cumberbatch's crew, like Kirk's crew, is his family- much along the likes Khan's mindset.  From the many rumors I've heard, a LOT of people are thinking that Khan will be the villain.  But wouldn't it be cooler if Peter Weller was Khan and the scene above would be not Kirk and Spock, but Cumberbatch and Weller.  Providing the background for the revenge plot.
     I would like to add if Khan is here, I hope the ship crash is the Botany Bay in the past and it leaves him in suspended animation in the beginning of the film- which would explain the planes flying overhead for a funeral.  I mean the ship doesn't have the right nacelles to be the current Enterprise's.  I would like it if Weller was Khan and stuck in suspended animation and having Gary Mitchell raising the forgotten ship from the depths.  This would be FAR out there, but whatever.  Just a nod to the augmented people of the lost Botany Bay.  Keep it a small homage. 

     It looks like Cumberbatch is of Starfleet, at least for a time with the insignia showing on a black shirt, so that would lean towards Gary Mitchell or Garth of Izar.  Maybe this is all a back story- Weller and Cumberbatch in a ship crash (Botany Bay?), but I don't know.  Too many maybes right now.  I mean they haven't shown pics of Weller, so he might not even be playing a human.
     I've also seen talk of Sybok (without the ears) as the villain.  Any of these villains would work.  Khan or Gary because of what looks to be semi superhuman/telekinetic feats- fighting and jumping through thick plate glass.

     Oh, well, super excited for this film.  More to come, probably after the Hobbit shows the first 9 minutes.

Batman: Dark Knight Rises: Bane & Portlandia

Bane + Portlandia = Banelandia.

"Put a Bane on it!"

     The Dark Knight Rises is out on BluRay and DVD today, so I made a couple stupid humor pics. (the other is on the previous post)

     I was going to make it "Put a Bat on it!" and do a series of pics from the show Portlandia's "Put a bird on it!" skit, with a slew of Bat symbols placed on the objects.  Something about a jelly-smear Bane face just stuck in my mind, and this is the result.



Batman: Dark Knight Rises: Bane & Zoolander?

     With The Dark Knight Rises being released today on BluRay and DVD, I figured I'd throw some stupid pics up. 

     Apparently Derek Zoolander has been tricked by Ra's al Mugatu and his League of Shadows.  Billy Zane/Bane is trying to get him to back down from a walk-off with a Bruce Wayne sponsored Hansel.  (I originally wanted to photo shop Bane's mask onto Billy Zane, but didn't have the time)

     Perhaps I'll make some more Banelander pics in the near future...

A Thank You To All Visitors.

     Super quick post here:
     Holy Crap!  My blog has finally hit the 10K visitors mark.  The counter at the bottom was added quite a bit after I started here.  A hearty "Thank You" to anyone that has actually read anything here.

Lego Lord of the Rings: Best PlayStation 3 Trophy Ever!

     I've been waiting for this game for quite some time- here's proof with a post about it from 2008.  http://joshuabarsody.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-hell-isnt-there-lego-lord-of-rings.html

     Anyway, not that it's here, it's super fun.  Just in time for generating a bazillion dollars along with the theatrical release of the Hobbit during the Christmas season.

     Well, I noticed that one of the trophies (or Achievements on Xbox/PC/other) is "One Simply Does Not..." and it is achieved by walking into Mordor.  This is quite possibly the best PS3 Trophy made ever.  Thank you Traveller's Tales for putting this in there.  I laughed for like an hour about it, and decided to make this meme.

     I don't believe this Lego game is quite as good as a couple of the other Lego games- particularly the first Harry Potter and the 2nd Batman, they are spectacularly well put together.  There are a few new mechanics in play that are decent and the way they changed the "hub world" will take some getting used to, but it's looking pretty good so far. 
     I still highly recommend this game, for whatever system you play on.

Borderlands 2: Raid Boss Lockout Glitch

Hyperion union rule 4628.148.93-
Only 1 fight per day, so...
I'm on break, come back tomorrow.

     Borderlands 2 fans, as many of you have already noticed, we've recently found something in the DLCs has gone awry.  Well, another something.  It appears that ALL 3 of the "Invincible" Raid Bosses have been locked out.  Not just their usual deal of taking one day off for some sweet rest and recuperation after a hard battle, but a complete lockout.

     After paying our hard earned Eridian, the fight cannot be started because the system thinks we have already fought the Raid Boss within the last day.  The lockout timer has broken.  I would like to mention that I don't mind the normal 24 hour waiting period between fights.  I don't even mind the ludicrously poor loot drop rates.  I DO, however, mind being locked out of being able to do what I'm already limited in doing- fighting these long and tedious bosses.

     So instead of just having Master Gee's system freezing superpower single-handedly ruining the DLC experience, I now have to contend with the inability to fight any of the Invinci-douches.  Hyperius, Master Gee and PyroCaustic Pete have all gone on strike.  Hyperi-ass has joined up with Master Crash, and are dragging Pete down with them.

     Luckily, a few quick people on the forums have found ways of not only fixing it, but also unlocking the typical 24 hour restriction. It involves going "offline" and resetting the time and date to a future time- 1/1/13.  Sadly it only works on PC and Xbox as of now, so we PS3 users are kind of screwed for the time being.  That's 3 for 3 on impossible bosses.  Wonderful.

     Ok, Gearbox, I know things happen in gaming, but the frequency of these fairly HUGE problems are coming is very disheartening.  It kind of feels like this is being done on purpose.  We finally get a raid boss that is fun and decent, and this happens?  Seriously, I still haven't gotten credit for killing Master Gee because of the system freezes.
     I would rather wait longer for an initial release of future DLCs than have these constant issues arising.  I don't recall anything like this throughout any of my Borderlands 1 playthroughs.

     As of now, I know the patch for Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty is tentatively scheduled to arrive this coming week- I posted on this yesterday.  What worries me is the fact that it's taken this long to fix Gee (the new patch might not even fully do that) and now Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage is suffering as well. 
     It's bad because Gearbox may lose a bunch of gamers.  I am frustrated with these issues, and can only imagine that many are even more angry than myself.

     I would plead to Gearbox- no rushing, we will wait for Borderlands stuff if it means perfection.  Look at how well The Armory of General Knoxx was put together.