Comic Recommendation of the Week: Hack/Slash

Happy Saturday everyone! So, last night as The Editor and Evan T. remotely played Red Dead (romantic Friday night, I know) I took The Editor's advice and started reading Hack/Slash. Hack/Slash is a story about Cassie Hack and how she survived a slasher attack. Since she survived the attack, she is now on a mission to kill all of the slashers out there to protect the innocent from being killed themselves.

 
The daughter of a slasher herself, Cassie wonders if that is part of the reason she kills. She worries if it is something so ingrained in her that she'll ever be able to quit. All of the slashers in the comic are done movie style, so most of them are able to return from the dead, including Cassie's mother (there is an explanation for that in the series, don't want to spoiler it for you).

There is a supernatural element to the series as well, as people make deals with the devil to gain success. Whenever a deal is made, the devil demands a "quota" of souls, meaning lives must be taken to maintain success. One of the most lovable characters in the series is actually a hell hound names Pooch who has been sent to earth to hunt Cassie, but finds his living accommodations with her friends too nice to do so.

Cassie is aided by Vlad, her protector, and gentle giant. Other people in Cassie's posse include Georgia, Cassie's best friend/sometimes girlfriend/stripper, and Lisa and Chris, whom Cassie saved from a slasher, and they now run Hack/Slash Inc., the website where people can go to report slashers and have Cassie look into the case.

It's super violent and kind of racy, but the story is truly entertaining. I devoured nearly two omnibuses last night, so you know it's good.

Things You Should be... Friday!

Things You Should be Listening to...


Puck Nuts- This is yet another podcast in the SModcast podcast universe. It's Brian John, Brian Quinn (sometimes) and Walt Flannagan from Tell Em' Steve Dave, as well as computer nerd Ming Chen and The Stash's illustrious Sunday Jeff. Originally, the podcast was made so that the boys would have a place to talk all things New Jersey Devils, but the show quickly morphed into a sports-talk show of sorts (thanks to the Devil's having a sub-par season). I'm not even the biggest sports fan there is, but if you ever wanted to become a little bit more knowledgeable about hockey and football, and you want to laugh while doing it, I suggest this podcast. It won't let you down!

Things You Should be Watching...

Top Gear UK- Okay, so I guess that today's post contains a lot of "guy stuff", however, as a girl, I very much enjoy these things too! Top Gear is a fantastic talk-show type car show that airs weekly on the BBC, and BBC America. The shows hosts, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May take you a a series of weekly adventures in this one hour show. They travel all around Europe, and hold friendly competitions, whether it be whose car will die first, or which luxury car is the fastest. They also have regular weekly segments like, the news and "Celebrities Driving the Reasonably Priced Car". If you're even a teensy bit of a car enthusiast I suggest you watch. These blokes will keep you rolling with laughter!

Things You Should be Reading...


Fables- I don't have any idea why I've waited this long to post about Fables. It's easily my favorite comic out there. When I explain the premises of the comic, it sounds ridiculous, but it's filled with more heart than any other book I've read. Okay, close your eyes and imagine every character from every fairy tale you can. Now take those characters, move the human ones to NYC, and move the animals to a farm. That's Fables. The Fables are forced from their homelands by a violent adversary, and the story revolves around defeating the adversary. It is a fantastic tale that now has well over 100 issues. The series has even spawned a number of spin-offs such as "Jack of Fables" and "Cinderella: To Fabletown, with Love". The writing, paired with some of the most amazing artwork I've ever seen will leave you wanting more.

Video Game Vixen!

Good day everyone! I'm feeling a bit under the weather today, so there is only on thing that means... Video games until my eyeballs fall out! I'm not quite sure what it is, but any time I don't feel well, I pop a game into the 360, grab a glass of Sprite, cuddle up under a blanket and shoot things all day long. I think it might just be the cure to the common cold. The post today is going to be me talking about some of my most favorite games ever. What you need to know about me is that I rarely get a new game. Generally speaking, I find a few games that I really REALLY like, and just allow myself to be consumed by them forever. The following is a list of some of my favorites, in no particular order.

Borderlands- This game is the most addicting game I have ever played in my life. When The Editor and I first got it last winter, we played this game from 6 PM til 3 AM on the weekends, and pretty late into the evening on work days. This game is a FPS, which allows you to gain levels as you gain experience. With the gains in levels, you also get better weapons, and fight harder enemies. you get to pick one of four characters, and each character comes with it's own special abilities that you get to "beef up" as you level up. The game takes place on Pandora, an alien planet, and you're basically just doing favors for different people to try and get to the "final boss". The first time you play through, you'll be like "Wow, that boss sucked. I mean, seriously?!", but then when you access all of the downloadable content, you realize that you have like, 7,000 more hours of game play left! Certainly the most bang for your buck.

Civilization Revolution- This game is a turn-based strategy game which requires you to start as one of 10 different civilizations, and try to make your civilizations beat the others in one of four categories. This game is addicting in the way Sim City was to me when I was a kid. It's really really fun to build an empire, and be attacking enemies, and have enemies attacking you. It's also a great learning tool for kids, because as you play, you unlock "great people", "World Wonders" and you learn about different cultures. It's fun because you're learning, and you don't know it. :-)

Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2- These two are probably my favorite games on the planet. These games are all about trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. There are "regular" zombies, and there are "special" zombies. The regular zombies just munch on you a little, while the specials just try and kill you right away. Each campaign has between 3 and 5 levels in it, so you can generally get a whole game in within an hour or so (comes in handy if you're trying to blow off some steam before a wedding or something). This is by FAR the best game to play if you've had a stressful day at work. You can just name each zombie after a co-worker or boss who upset you off, and just shoot away!

Dead Space- Yes, yes, I'm aware that there is a new Dead Space, however, I JUST got it in the mail yesterday, so I haven't had a chance to play yet. I just started Dead Space about a month ago, and I friggen love it. You're part of a mechanic crew sent into space to check out a space station that has had radio silence for about a week. When you get there, the ship is a mess, and no one is to be found. As you explore the ship, all sorts of nasty alien-monsters jump out at you, and make you scream. When I play this game, at times, I am literally white knuckled grabbing the controller because the game is so suspenseful. Just. Flipping. Awesome.

NBA Jam- This updated version of the classic game is the best co-op game to play. It's 2 on 2 basketball, old school style. As you advance in your division, you gain achievement points and get to unlock classic players like Larry Bird and John Stockton. Super fun game, and one game can be played in less than an hour which makes it another great game to play if you're short on time.

Kinect Adventures- This one gets the award for "Best Substitute for the Gym". The Kinect does motion capture on you, and translates your movements to your avatar. There are a whole bunch of challenges that you have to try and beat. Some of the challenges are things like, whitewater rafting, obstacle courses and kick ball. I live in the Northeast, and when it's below 20 out, I don't really feel like dragging my freezing buns to the gym, and this is a GREAT substitution for the gym. My abs, arms and legs feel AWESOME, and the best part is, it's FUN, so you don't even really care that you're working out. Also, the Kinect takes pictures of you at random while you're completing your quests, the aftermath of which is AMAZING.

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I know there are a whole lot of games that I've left out (Red Dead, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty), and I'm hoping to get to all of those someday when I play them, lol. In the meantime, I'm going to take the next few Thursdays and commission Evan T. and The Editor to share some of their favorites. Til tomorrow, happy gaming!

Wacky Wednesday: The Guardian Project pt. 3!

Hello hello! Here is the last part of our three part look at how old and washed up Stan Lee is! Much respect because he is my elder and helped create some fantastic characters, I'm just saying that at this point, it's time to give it a rest. You can see by looking at The Guardians that his "creative skills" are not what they used to be... Also, the blatant sexism is also pouring out of the minds at Marvel once again, because God forbid you ciould have a chick Guardian. It's not like girls like sports, right? I mean, we're more into painting our toenails and brushing each others hair. Ugh. Anyway, have fun guessing!

Is that Bobby Drake AGAIN?

The Coyote: He's the best there is

I thought this was a DC character...

Half man, half God you say? I hear he has a movie coming out this Summer

WTF is he riding?

Ummmmm.... Why does a duck need a wetsuit? I'm just sayin'...

Dark teleporter you say? I wonder if he has a tail too

Isn't this like, the 8th time we've seen Tony Stark?

Hot Nerd of the Week: Will Arnett!

Okay, okay, I admit, this one is a bit of a reach, however, he has greatly contributed to nerd culture (in addition to being one of my favorite people ever), so he gets a shout out.

Will Arnett was born in Toronto in 1970. He attended a variety of different schools where he learned French, and engaged in theater programs. After high school, his mother encouraged him to take up a career in acting, so at 20, Will moved to NYC to attend the Lea Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

After a few career setbacks with unsuccessful shows, Arnett's breakthrough came in 2003 when he was cast to play Gob on the cult TV show "Arrested Development". His comedic timing mixed with narcissism made Gob one of the most lovable (and most quoted) characters on the show.

After "Arrested Development" ended, Arnett recurring roles, as well as a few bit roles in other popular television shows. "The Sopranos", "30 Rock", "King of the Hill" and "Parks and Recreation" to name a few. He also stars in the IGN television show "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret" on IFC with his "Arrested" co-star David Cross.

Will has taken roles in quite a few nerdy movies as well. Movies like "Ratatouille" with Patton Oswald, "Monsters vs. Aliens", and "Jonah Hex". There are a whole bunch of other movies that I LOVE that he's been in as well, but I don't think anyone loves the movie "Lets Go to Prison" quite the way I do.



In 2005, Will married funnywoman Amy Poehler (whom he starred in "Blades of Glory" with), and the couple just welcomed their second child into the world. I can imagine that these two have quite the awesome household.

Good looks, great comedic timing, and a huge roll in one of the biggest cult TV shows of all time makes Will Arnett this week's Hot Nerd.

Can't We All Just Get Along?!

Hello again! Today should be "Nerding 101", however, I'm going to take a week off to discuss something that is really bothering me: pretentious nerds. Now, I know that nerds, geeks and dweebs come in all shapes colors and sizes, and I just assume that everyone knows that. Some nerds are hot, some nerds are not, but in the end, as a whole, are all nerds about something. Whether that thing be "Star Trek", or comic books, or video games, or sports, people always have SOMETHING that they are passionate about. What I find completely uncool is when a nerd makes fun of someone else for something they like.

This comes completely from the Super Bowl last night. I was very sad to see so many of my fellow nerds have statuses like "Ugh, can't wait for stupid football to be over so I can watch Glee" and, "Do I have all of "The Maxx" comic books? Then of course I won't be watching the Super Bowl.". It bothers me so much because it's like saying "Hey, I'm a cool nerd, and I don't like football, so it's lame". When you do that it doesn't make you any better than the people who pick on you for what you like. You may not be a sports nerd (because most likely it was "the jocks" who picked on you 10+ years ago in high school), but there are people who feel the way you feel about the Super Bowl the same way they feel about "Star Wars". It doesn't make anyone wrong or right, it just makes you sound like a jerk who likes to pick on people who aren't like you.

I'm a nerd of all trades. I really like to try and consume myself with something before I decide if I like it or not. I used to not like football, because I didn't understand it, so I joined a fantasy football team. I thought D&D was totally dorky, until I tried it, now I hold the weekly "Nerd Night" at my house. My point is, at the end of the day, we should all try to be a little bit nicer to one and other. By shutting yourself out of something, and making fun of people for liking the things you don't understand all you're doing is limiting yourself. I have made some of the best friends in the world just by expanding my horizons. I challenge you all to do the same.

*Hugs and kisses*

Super Bowl Sunday!!

Well, it's the big day!!! Super Bowl Sunday! Woot! Woot! Who doesn't like a good football game? Today's match up is the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the Green Bay Packers. I will be cheering for the Packers (since they are the team closest to my mitten-shaped home state), but if I were a betting woman (which I totally am) I would put my money on the Steelers. I mean, hey, Big Ben did wonderful things for me in fantasy this year.

The half time show will be the *yawn* Black eyed Peas. So. Totally. Over. Them. And you just KNOW they're going to play that STUPID song you've heard 3,000 times. Anyway, on that note, The Editor and I have decided to hold a little competition to see who is more attractive; Fergie or Mayor McCheese.

They both have hamburgery middle sections and heads shaped like hamburgers:

Fergie has been known to pee her pants while on stage:

 While Mayor McCheese likes to maintain a squeaky clean image:

Both have been known to hang out with some unsavory characters:

The Black Eyed Peas

McDonaldland gang.

But at the end of the day one is the mayor of one of the most popular towns ever, and the other is a former meth head.

NOT a mayor of anything.

I think there is a clear winner here. Not only does this guy look GREAT in a suit, but you know that he smells and tastes good too.

McCheese for the win!