When lousy entertainment gets out of hand, these heroes will rise to mock it!
Halo Fest 2021 was hosted by Prof Handsome on his Twitch page from 4/23 to 4/26 to raise money for Feeding America, and I was lucky enough to join him for part of his Halo 3 playthrough!
Prof Handsome’s Twitch Page: https://www.twitch.tv/ProfHandsome
Prof Handsome’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProfHandsome_
Halo Fest 2021 was hosted by Prof Handsome on his Twitch page from 4/23 to 4/26 to raise money for Feeding America, and I was lucky enough to join him for part of his Halo 3 playthrough!
Prof Handsome’s Twitch Page: https://www.twitch.tv/ProfHandsome
Prof Handsome’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProfHandsome_
AEW Dynamite is owned by All Elite Wrestling, Tony Khan, Shahid Khan, and TNT
Last week may have been the big TV show, but we’re only weeks away from Double or Nothing so this episode has to work double duty in giving us the fallout from the Blood & Guts event as well as setting up whatever is going to happen for the PPV. Not only that, but this is also something of a big show in its own right as we’ve got three title defenses with some big implications behind them! Can this episode of Dynamite carry all that weight and spin all those plates without collapsing, or will the most interesting thing about this be the giant mess that they make? Let’s find out!!
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Jon Moxley Vs. Yuji Nagata – IWGP United States Title Match
Moxley is accompanied to the ring by Eddie Kingston while Nagata is accompanied by Ren Narita
Before we can get to my utter lack of knowledge of New Japan, before we can get to my utter lack of knowledge of Yuji Nagata, before we can get to ANYTHING else, we have to talk about one thing. Wild Thing by The Troggs!? Look, Where Is My Mind for Orange Cassidy is starting to grow on me, but I’m thinking that Tony Khan is getting a bit TOO pop happy with his music because this is a VERY jarring change of pace! Moxley’s music may not have been a recognizable song, but it definitely fit him and his energy where Wild Things is just… not that. I don’t know, maybe I’ll find a way to get used to it or maybe it’s just a one off. In either case, let’s talk about the match itself, shall we? Now as I’ve said I don’t follow New Japan and don’t know who most of the guys on that show are, so having Yuji Nagata show up here doesn’t mean a lot to me, but I still like the concept of having matches outside of AEW’s world take place on the show. Wrestling is a BIG world and trying to close yourself off from everything else the way WWE does is what’s help make it feel like a weird little isolated planet of a thing, so I’m happy to see New Japan, NWA, or even Impact show up every once in a while to spice things up! Then again, I can’t say this was THE BEST match to debut the IWGP title for the Dynamite audience because… well I don’t think the match was particularly exciting. Look, I’ll fully admit that I can’t speak for all wrestlers and I know there are a few old timers that I still like to see even if they aren’t at their peak, but Nagata is just kinda slow here and Moxley has to slow himself down to make the match look competitive. Then again, I tend to prefer a quicker high flying style to something more methodical, and there ARE moments where Nagata shows what he can do; particularly as we get to the end when he gives Moxley an Avalanche Exploder before kneeing him in the face to get a two count. Moxley kicks out of it and manages to put Nagata into the Rear Naked Choke which can usually take out anyone, but Nagata wriggles out of it and puts him in an arm breaker that Excalibur is completely marking out for so it must be one of his signature moves, but Moxley makes it to the bottom rope to break the hold and the two start slugging it out once again. Moxley starts bleeding at one point which I think happened from one of Nagata’s elbows smashing him right in the cheek, and it makes for a very compelling image as he goes back for the choke to finish Nagata off. He fights out once again, but after a minute of back and forth Moxley manages to land the Paradigm Shift and gets the pin; winning the match and retaining his IWGP United States title. There was a lot about this match that didn’t click for me, from the fact that this is the first time I’ve ever seen Yuji Nagata wrestle to Moxley’s new theme music, so while it didn’t do a lot for me specifically I can still acknowledge that both guys put a lot into this match and that it will definitely work for those who know what to expect going in.
Continue reading “Super Wrestling: AEW Dynamite (05-12-2021)”
Spiral and all the images you see in this review are owned by Lionsgate Films
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
I’ll admit that I broke down and went to the movie twice this year to see movies at a theater; Nobody a few months back and Mortal Kombat a few weeks ago. This however is what I will consider the genuine start of me returning to theaters to see movies; not just because I’m finally vaccinated but because studios are starting to trickle out the movies that they had been holding onto for a year now starting with this reboot of sorts for the Saw franchise. Now I thought Jigsaw was a perfectly well executed movie that sadly did same tired thing we saw in the previous films. This movie on the other hand looks like it will be going in a different direction which is what I was hoping for from the last movie, but can Lionsgate deliver on that promise and reinvigorate the franchise with a bold new vision, or will we be begging for Tobin Bell to be written back into this franchise by any means necessary by the time this movie is through? As much as I’d like to see Tobin Bell’s head in a jar I’m hoping this doesn’t turn out THAT badly, but let’s find out!!
We begin our story many years after the death of the Jigsaw Killer John Kramer and follow detective Zeke Banks (Chris Rock), a cop who doesn’t trust other cops; especially after he ratted on one of his officers for straight up shooting a witness in the face and has had to look over his shoulder ever since. Because of this he likes to work alone, but after a recent undercover job goes sideways (one that he neglected to tell anyone he was doing), he’s assigned a rookie named William Schenk (Max Minghella) to try and keep him in line and reign in his behavior. He would have been out on his butt if his father (Samuel L Jackson) wasn’t the former police chief that everyone still respects, but that’s where the good luck ends as his best friend on the force is murdered in some convoluted death trap and his body parts along with taunting clues are sent to him at the police station; all mimicking John Kramer’s MO down to the red spiral symbol. It’s a race against time as everyone is working to find out who the new Jigsaw Killer is, but with so many enemies on the force can Zeke trust any of them to have his back? On top of that, why is this new killer targeting Zeke, and what secrets will he uncover about his own past along the way? I wonder how much nonsensical lore they had to read while going through the old Jigsaw case files. Was anyone in the world of the Saw movies able to ACTUALLY figure out what the heck was going on?
The Halo franchise is owned by Xbox Game Studios
It’s time once again for the Halo book club, and it seems that Contact Harvest wasn’t a fluke as this is another Halo book set in the universe but far away from ANY of the games! Still, Contact Harvest was one of the better books we’ve read so far (and that’s including the comic books they’ve tried to do), so perhaps this one will also prove to be a solid sci-fi adventure despite not having the Master Chief or Cortana’s marketable faces on the cover. Let’s find out!!
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The Cole Protocol – Novel (2008)
The Cole Protocol is written by Tobias Buckell
So it seems that Contact Harvest being a prequel wasn’t a one off for the book series and that we’ll be spending more time AROUND the Halo games than telling stories between. Continuity wise it’s SOMEWHERE in that nebulous space between Contact Harvest and The Fall of Reach, though leans much close to the latter since the Spartans are around and doing their thing for the war effort. This time though things are a lot less IN YOUR FACE BOMBAST as the story feels much closer to a spy thriller with various factions trying to out maneuver everyone else over a colony that shouldn’t even be there. Frankly it’d be more accurate to call this The Rubble instead of The Cole Protocol, but I guess protocol sounds cooler so they went with that. In any case, the story takes place in the secret separatist colony known as The Rubble; one big town hidden amongst a whole bunch of asteroids that are held in place by an AI named Juliana who is VERY invested in keeping this hunk of junk livable. Some of them are Insurrectionists, some are there for the great trading opportunities, and all of them want nothing to do with the UNSC; so much so that they’ve more or less made a peace agreement with the Kig-Yar; the Jackals of The Covenant who are MUCH more interested in finding and trading loot than spreading the world of The Forerunners and blowing up heretics. Sadly, this state of affairs cannot last forever as there appear to groups within The Rubble trying desperately to get their hands on a data chip that has detailed navigational data to Earth which could spell doom for humanity if The Covenant got their hands on it. To make matters worse, both a UNSC ship (eventually commanded by a younger Captain Keyes) as well as an Elite ship manage to come across this unauthorized “peace” which only escalates tensions and forces the hands of those who have sinister plans for all involved. Who is trying to get this data, and what do they plan to do with it? Are the Kig-Yar sincere in their desire to keep this colony out of the greater war, and what consequences could befall them for taking such a stance? And on top of all this there’s a small group of Spartans watching all of this and pushing events towards some sort of end goal that may ultimately be in Earth’s best interest, but is The Rubble and the people who built it just collateral damage? I’m not about to say that the book is evenhanded with its politics as military wisdom and strong leaders tend to fare better than those who follow more democratic ideas, but the fact that we’re bouncing around various stories with characters driven by believable motivation makes this one more genuinely engaging novels in the series so far.
Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America
The next issue is finally here, and not to sound ungrateful or anything but does anyone know why this took so long to come out? It was originally scheduled for the end of March but we’re just getting it now a month and a half later without any explanation from IDW; at least not as far as I can find! Oh who am I kidding, whether it’s one month, two months, or TWELVE months, I’ll be here all the same to tell you all about it, so let’s not waste any more time and jump right it!
Since it’s been an eternity since the last issue, a bit of a recap! Sonic, Tails, and Amy went to some sort of Eggman outpost in the middle of the ocean that seems to have been causing weather issues, but instead of finding some sort of doomsday device they tumble head first into a pocket dimension of sorts that looks to be a testing area for Eggman to work out the kinks on his new robot designs. Unbeknownst to everyone though, Belle managed to convince Tangle to follow them and they arrived shortly after to find the place crawling with badniks and no Team Sonic to be found. This issue picks things up with Tangle and Belle having stumbled upon the disturbing world of Pokémon Bootlegs as Eggman’s robo-bros are sending whatever horrific creatures they can after Sonic and his friends in their little pocket dimension. Truly the most sinister thing about the Egg Empire!
Halo Fest 2021 was hosted by Prof Handsome on his Twitch page from 4/23 to 4/26 to raise money for Feeding America, and I was lucky enough to join him for part of his Halo 3 playthrough!
Prof Handsome’s Twitch Page: https://www.twitch.tv/ProfHandsome
Prof Handsome’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProfHandsome_
Halo Fest 2021 was hosted by Prof Handsome on his Twitch page from 4/23 to 4/26 to raise money for Feeding America, and I was lucky enough to join him for part of his Halo 3 playthrough!
Prof Handsome’s Twitch Page: https://www.twitch.tv/ProfHandsome
Prof Handsome’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProfHandsome_
Red vs Blue and all the images you see in this retrospective are owned by Rooster Teeth
The Halo franchise is owned by Xbox Game Studios
It’s probably no coincidence that all things Halo peaked for me while I was in high school with not just Halo 3 being an amazing video game but this season of Red Vs Blue feeling like the evolution that the series needed to go in. I remember finishing my assignments early in some sort of extracurricular drafting class or something and episodes of this season in my free time which in hindsight proved to be a far better use of my time than that class ever was. I mean it’s not like I used any of those skills in any of the jobs I’ve gotten since then, and here I am today telling you all about a web series from the pre-Obama years! Perhaps it’s more of an indictment on our education system than anything else, but we’re not exactly in a position to fix America’s problems today. Instead, let’s see if my favorite season of the show still holds up to this day! Let’s get started!
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Red vs Blue: Reconstruction (2008)
Reconstruction was definitely a turning point in the Red Vs Blue franchise even if the next season or two that I saw did go more towards the Blood Gulch Chronicle style of wacky sitcom setups, there was still a stronger emphasis on story and characters that was started here. We pick up about a year after Recovery One and Season 5 where Agent Washington is sitting in on a soldier’s debrief as they describe a harrowing situation at their base. It seems that Tex’s ship didn’t just blow up at the end of Season 5, but was heavily damaged and ended up crashing on another Red Vs Blue training area where the Omega AI (AKA O’Malley) ran roughshod over the troops there; taking over their minds and forcing them to destroy their own equipment so they couldn’t even call for help. Eventually, the monster that attacked Washington in Recovery One, the thing that was stealing Freelancer AIs, arrived and left only one survivor after taking Omega. It’s clear that this monster, which they refer to as The Meta, must be stopped and will no doubt be going after South Dakota for the Delta AI which puts Washington in a unique position to get his revenge on her for betraying him back in Recovery One while doing the Freelancer organization a solid that’ll perhaps put him back in their good graces. Still, before he can effectively track this thing, he needs to learn about the Omega AI that the Meta now has, and there are only a few people in the galaxy who know much about it. Sad to say for Washington, he bites off more than he can chew as the two people he manages to recruit for this operation are Caboose and Church; long separated after Blood Gulch was disbanded and at least one of them is far from happy to be here, but at long as the trail might lead to Tex, then perhaps it’s a journey worth taking.
The Reviewers Unite 