theredbaron

User Group: Members
Join date: 29-Aug-2005
Last activity: 6-Jan-2016
Posts: 1,283

Post History

Post: #288285
Topic: Comics Fans
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/288285/action/topic#288285
Time: 28-May-2007 11:06 AM

Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab

And does anybody know what the hell happened to Loeb and Cooke on Batman/Spirit? I've got issue #1, then nada...

Batman/Spirit was a one shot.

But it left everything so up in the air! Perhaps it was just to get Spirit on his feet...

But I did suspect that Loeb's move to Marvel may have done it as well (although, we're still getting Superman Confidential from the Loeb/Cooke team, aren't we?). I always thought that Loeb was a freelancer, still.

Post: #288284
Topic: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/288284/action/topic#288284
Time: 28-May-2007 11:04 AM

Look, I thought the movie was good. But by no means was it the bee's knees, nor was it better than the original film. I honestly believe that the second and third installments took what was basically an unassuming, rollicking, fun swashbuckler and tried to turn it into an epic trilogy of Biblical proportions. It simply doesn't have the substance to pull it off. These three films won't be remember as one of the great trilogies, but perhaps as three fun films of the time.

I'm not sure that everyone has given the plot of World's End if they thought it was easy to understand, let alone claim that a 10 year-old could understand it. Perhaps its more that I just didn't believe it - a lot of the dialogue in the film seemed to be the characters explaining the plot to us - and the explanations were almost as convoluted as comic book continuity (and if you've read as many as I have, you'll understand what I mean!). Probably the aspect that I had most trouble understanding was each characters motives: why they did what they did.

Particularly in the Jack Sparrow scenes, Pirates 3 seemed like a movie that knew it was a movie...

But for all my criticisms, let me re-iterate that I thought this was a good film.

Post: #288020
Topic: Comics Fans
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/288020/action/topic#288020
Time: 26-May-2007 1:01 AM

Originally posted by: JediSage
So who's reading what these days? I'm so far behind it's ridiculous (so no 52 spoilers PLEASE!). I'm still in the early 40's on that one. Everyone looking forward to Countdown? Or is everyone pissed off that there's another 4 books a month they have to buy?

I'm reading Justice League, Justice Society, Brave and the Bold, Countdown, the Spirit, Detective Comics (when Dini's on it), All-Star Superman, Welcome to Tranquility and Action whenever Donner and Johns are at the helm.

The Spirit is very clever. Great one-shot stories there. Brave and the Bold is brimming with old-school magic too in much the same way. Supergirl and Green Lantern were hilarious together. Detective has some pretty good one shots as well.

The Red Tornado storyline in JLA was promising, but now things are feeling a bit sub-par. I don't know if JSA is as good as the critics are saying, but it's still pretty good.

All-Star Superman and the Donner/Johns Action line feature some of the best Superman stories ever - which is not hard given the muck he's been dragged through over the decades, but they're great nonetheless. I'm finding Morrison's run on Batman to be almost as fun as All-Star Superman too. So refreshing to have fun Batman stories after all these years.

Countdown is shaping up to be a good, fast-paced TV series kind of comic. Like Heroes, I guess you could say.

I recommend Welcome to Tranquility for those who appreciate a different take on the superhero genre, of the geriatric kind!

I'm up to the final volume of Sandman (Endless Nights), and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now that I'm near the end.

And does anybody know what the hell happened to Loeb and Cooke on Batman/Spirit? I've got issue #1, then nada...

Post: #288015
Topic: Comics Fans
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/288015/action/topic#288015
Time: 26-May-2007 12:48 AM

Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab

Originally posted by: JediSage

Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Yeah, I've heard about it.

Not sure what to think of it.

I get the feeling that Miller is becoming more conservative in his old age. Just based on my own gut. Nothing else.

Miller's definitely right-wing, but not exactly conservative. Whores whores whores whores!
Originally posted by: JediSage
Thinking of picking up the first volume of Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus. Have to look it over. Not sure if I want to invest the time or $$ over four volumes of a series that never got finished.

Anyone else read Watchmen? Picked it up last week and am reading it now.

Watchmen is the ultimate graphic novel; no story I know of has come close to surpassing it.

I was tempted by the Omnibus myself. What do you guys think of Kirby's work? I've never read anything of his, to be honest, and I was thinking of making this my first Kirby book...

Sage, you don't know how lucky you are, reading that book for the first time right now. It may not seem like it at first, but it really is one of the greatest things you'll read. Period.

Post: #288013
Topic: Comics Fans
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/288013/action/topic#288013
Time: 26-May-2007 12:44 AM

Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Moebius--if you're not into the Superhero Genre, have you tried Bill Willingham's Fables series?

Fables is great guys, give it a crack. Lots of plot threads running all the way through it, tonnes of potential even this far into the series. But start from the beginning, don't just jump straight in.

My girlfriend actually BEGS me to borrow the next volume. That's how good it is.

Post: #282808
Topic: Hey guys, remember the time...
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/282808/action/topic#282808
Time: 17-Apr-2007 5:50 AM

Originally posted by: C3PX

Originally posted by: ferris209
I wonder how long it takes for them to invoke their second invasion once they find out we have a thread that actually has the words "WoW" and "biscuit" involved?

I considered this potential danger before posting. But I figured I am trying to coin a term in the guys honour, he ought to be flattered. If they do come back, then the boards will get a bit lively for a couple of days with a pathetic display of "TFNish" (that is another phrase I would like to see come into wide usage) language and immaturity and eventually die back down to normal. We survived their invasion once, we could do it again.

Yes, there are many more of them than us. And no, I doubt we could count on our very differently minded larger population of SW fans to come to our aid. We would be on our own. I have measured the ratio between them and us, just in case they do plan another invasion, and we are out numbered many times over, still, those are good odds for any SW fan!

Do guys know what really sucks? We don't have members dedicated enough to spent time monitoring the interwebs for any abuses of our name. I mean, fanedited.com trash talked us all the time and yet we never once invaded them. What? Have we no balls? We ought to be running campaigns against every single message board who so much as mentions our name in an unrespecting manor. What say you all?

Should we really stoop to googling for abuses against OT.com? Isn't that what the WoW Radio boys do? Are we really that sad? And then invading other boards? Are you insane?! Or just kidding, like?

Post: #282807
Topic: Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/282807/action/topic#282807
Time: 17-Apr-2007 5:41 AM

Originally posted by: Nanner Split

Originally posted by: TheCassidy
Any Wii gamers here shouldn't be doing anything other than playing Super Paper Mario. It's an amazing game.

Does it still have turn-based combat like the other Paper Mario games? Because if it doesn't, then I'm gonna have to get it. (I hate turn-based combat with a passion)

It's essentially a classic Mario platformer with RPG elements, whereby one can switch the level from 2D to 3D in order to find secrets and solve puzzles. The only downer apparently, is the ridiculous amounts of dialogue, which while well-written, interrupts the flow of the game.

Post: #282599
Topic: Grindhouse
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/282599/action/topic#282599
Time: 16-Apr-2007 10:36 AM

Originally posted by: JediSage

Originally posted by: ricarleite
It's not like "What the BLEEP do we know", which is filled with, well... crap. Crap disguized as quantum physics. It's a little bit more mature and open minded, it merely expresses ideas and lets you do the thinking - and it's not like it's enforcing concepts, it's more of a line-of-thought flow-plotted film, with short stories, short segments moving around. Kinda like an art museum, in which you look at each art and take what you consider to be valuable... I compare it to Kurosawa Dreams in that notion...

Never heard of it, although I would like to see A Scanner Darkly. Dick seems to have been quite troubled in his life.

Blade Runner - Only movie besides The Nightmare Before Christmas that I actually slept through, and I'm a Burton fan. So, SO over-rated.

I fell asleep during TNBC too, and I'm also a massive Burton fan...

Post: #282598
Topic: Grindhouse
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/282598/action/topic#282598
Time: 16-Apr-2007 10:35 AM

Originally posted by: generalfrevious
Didn't Rodriguez and Tarantino work together on Sin City? And wasn't that film obscenely violent, or does Frank Miller have a very warped mind?

Tarantino guest-directed on one of the four stories in Sin City, though I'm not sure what.

And Frank Miller is probably the king of comic noir, so it's very much his writing that gives the movie its grisly tone...

Post: #282597
Topic: Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/282597/action/topic#282597
Time: 16-Apr-2007 10:30 AM

Finally bothered finishing a game of Mystaria: Realms of Lore, and surprise, surprise - the rest of the game sucks just as much as the beginning. Terrible dialogue, terrible plot, and every battle is like one big, boring chess game...but I finished it, after all these years.

Now I might try my hand at Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. I've owned it for two years and haven't even played it yet...

Post: #281375
Topic: Grindhouse
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/281375/action/topic#281375
Time: 8-Apr-2007 10:51 PM

Originally posted by: Nanner Split
I know this isn't related to the conversation at hand, but since we're talking about over-rated movies, I thought I'd bring this up. Am I the only one that thinks Blade Runner is vastly over-rated? I've managed to make it through once, but I don't think I could stomach a second viewing. Then again, I thought A Scanner Darkly was stupid as well, so maybe it's just that Philip K. Dick blows.

I only made it through once myself, and my response at the end was pretty much, "WTF?!".

In other news, apparently Rodriguez's film is better than Tarantino's, though Tarantino's is still, thankfully, good.

Post: #281371
Topic: Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/281371/action/topic#281371
Time: 8-Apr-2007 10:44 PM

I am still only 64 hours through Twilight Princess and proud of it. I'm up to Ganon, but I'm going back and collecting the bugs and poe's souls and items, etc. before I go in and face him. To those of you who claim to have clocked this game in 30 hours or less: go back and play it again, you've missed half the game. Seriously. I haven't even heard any mention of Rollball yet...

EDIT: Rollgoal, sorry. The game's called Rollgoal. At the moment, I'm up to Level 1-7.

Post: #280180
Topic: Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/280180/action/topic#280180
Time: 1-Apr-2007 3:10 AM

Well, I live in Australia, and I never saw, heard or read any news of this kid's death. Didn't know about his project either, but if a 15-year-old kid got run over, it'd make the news over here.

Post: #280070
Topic: Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/280070/action/topic#280070
Time: 31-Mar-2007 12:01 PM

Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Aw, that's awful. (I mean the getting killed thing, not just the project not being finished.)

LOL.

Post: #280068
Topic: Could you answer Klaatu's question: 'Who is the greatest thinker?
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/280068/action/topic#280068
Time: 31-Mar-2007 11:57 AM

Isn't his name Hawking, not Hawkins?

1. Me. LOL, I don't know - the fact that modern thinkers are still here I think diminishes their greatness.
2. Kierkegaard or Leonardo Da Vinci.
3. Batman/Bruce Wayne.

Post: #278485
Topic: the beatles
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/278485/action/topic#278485
Time: 21-Mar-2007 10:41 AM

I picked up the Revolver CD a few days ago. I've had Taxman stuck in my head ever since (and I'm constantly reminded of it, working as a payroll officer LOL).

Post: #278385
Topic: 300
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/278385/action/topic#278385
Time: 20-Mar-2007 6:18 PM

Originally posted by: C3PX
I agree with how out of place those creatures seemed. What I found funny after reading the comic series is that it takes itself very seriously in comparison to the film. The only of the creatures you find in the graphic novel are the elephants and it is just one panel of them falling off the cliff. No Rhino, no orc guy in chains, no bomb throwers, no knife hands, no goat guy. And Xerxes is just a head taller than Leonidas, he is a big guy but you in no way get the impression he is a giant. Once this comes out on DVD I am considering making a edit that matches the book.

I beg to differ. I very much got the impression that Xerxes was a gigantic, larger-than-life god-man. And I haven't even seen the movie yet.

Post: #278384
Topic: Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/278384/action/topic#278384
Time: 20-Mar-2007 6:17 PM

Originally posted by: TheCassidy
Interesting...

Looks like Sony might be losing more PS3 exclusives. While it still has Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII, Capcom is going to release Devil May Cry 4 on the 360 and the PS3.

DMC4 Not Exclusive

It's a bold move, IMHO, but not a big surprise. Capcom has had great success with Microsoft recently, with Dead Rising and Lost Planet being two of the handful of games that have been met with success in the tricky Japanese market. It will be weird to have the fourth installment of a game franchise on a system which hasn't had any of the other games in the series, but here's hoping they get ported over as a compilation title or something.

Things are definately heating up for the 360 (no pun intended), with this news and other great titles set to release. In case you guys didn't hear, Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night is up for download tomorrow. Have at you!

As a Sega fan, I've seen it in spades.

Post: #277188
Topic: Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/277188/action/topic#277188
Time: 13-Mar-2007 9:31 PM

Originally posted by: TheCassidy
I'm not sure I'll ever play a Sonic game, again.

Let's just put it this way...Sonic + (edit) x youthful stupidity = disaster.

I have to admit, Sonic's transition into 3D has not been a graceful one. It really shouldn't be that hard. Sonic Adventure was a promising first step, back in the day, but everything since has been just as buggy, and altogether driven far too much by voice-acting and extra characters.

Strip it back down to Sonic, or Sonic, Tails and Knuckles if one must have more than one character; put in some special stages to earn those Chaos Emeralds; kill the voice acting PLEASE; and get some collision detection, PEOPLES!

Or what the hell, why not just a 2.5D game? A classic 2D Sonic platformer with 3-dimensional Sonic, enemies and obstacles?

Post: #277055
Topic: Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/277055/action/topic#277055
Time: 13-Mar-2007 9:31 AM

Originally posted by: TheCassidy

Originally posted by: C3PX
A Link to the Past and the other older games will take you no where near 3 hours a dungeon. Also usually the puzzles remain finished if they were difficult puzzles or if they were hidden secrets they usually don't go hidden again. But if you do stop and save or die in the middle you do begin at the entrance.

The dungeon design in ALTTP is so intuitively done, that even when you do die and start in the first room it's relatively easy to get back to where you were. All of the doors you unlocked (with keys) remain open so you can usually just use the Pegasus boots and run through.

For those of you that haven't played Zelda II, you have no idea how easy you've got it, right now. Jesus, wait till that game comes out on the VC. I think I left my NES on for a month finishing that game.

That gets me to thinking. What are the crown jewels in your gaming crown? Let's keep it to 5 "achievements" in your gaming history that you are most proud of. Here's mine.

1) Finishing 'Zelda II'
2) Finishing 'Halo' on Legendary
3) Beating 'Golden Axe' in the arcade for under $10
4) Finishing 'Ninja Gaiden' (Xbox, but on lowest difficulty setting - still hard!)
5) Finishing 'SMB 3' for the first time.

I've come close and given up on number 2 (got up to the Warthog gauntlet at the end, and gave up in frustration). Never played Golden Axe at the arcade, but I've finished it on Megadrive a million times (probably not as hard, and the game itself probably only cost me $20). So far, not very impressive, right?

But I have finished Ninja Gaiden 3 times (on Normal and Hard) with all 50 scarabs, so that's gotta count for something...

I guess the jewel in my gaming crown is how I play my Sonic games. I can equal the world speed record for Level 1 Act 1 of Sonic 2, but it's far more impressive just watching me play Sonic 3 in general. Last week a friend of mine commented on how fluidly I change my playing style depending on my choice of shield, which I've never noticed before, but I was stoked that he pointed it out. Aside from that, I can collect all the chaos emeralds by Level 2 (Hydrocity Zone). Not the hardest game on Earth, I know, but it feels good to be proficient at a game I enjoy so much.

Post: #276793
Topic: Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/276793/action/topic#276793
Time: 12-Mar-2007 9:48 AM

Originally posted by: JediSage

Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab

Originally posted by: JediSage
This saving problem is frustrating to me...it's poor design. They should have either TRULY allowed you to pick it up after saving and be where you left off, or remove the option.

Overall it's a big turn off for me. I'm assuming the Fire Dungeon in WW is not that difficult, being the first one, and yet I've spent about 2 hours on it and keep getting stuck at the beginning because I've got to take the kids somewhere...GRRRRRRR

Jed, it's always been this way in Zelda games. It's nothing new.

Then it's always been shit design...

I must admit, the old school gaming days did seem more difficult at the time, but looking back - the lack of save games was a substitute for actual difficulty, and an actual challenge (and by no means am I saying that modern games are pulling their weight in this respect, either). The clear and present danger of having to start all over again the next day was the moving force to complete a game...

Post: #276621
Topic: Comics Fans
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/276621/action/topic#276621
Time: 11-Mar-2007 10:36 AM

Originally posted by: JediSage

Originally posted by: theredbaron
It's on my list, but I haven't embarked on that journey just yet. I know it'll be good though. At the moment, I'm getting into Sandman. Up to Volume 3.

Congratulations. Great series.

Now I'm up to Volume 6 of Sandman, Volume 5 of Fables (yes, I finally took the leap and I'm never looking back!), and Volume 4 of Doom Patrol (great late 80s series by the sultan of strange, Grant Morrison).

EDIT: Oh, and I recently finished reading Kurt Busiek's run on Aquaman. It was great, sucks that he's handing over the reins, though.

Post: #275566
Topic: 300
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/275566/action/topic#275566
Time: 6-Mar-2007 4:06 AM

I loved the graphic novel, but I have to admit, I felt kind of ripped off afterwards. It's really quite short, and even though its art and style is very cinematic, they must have fleshed it out a lot to fill out an entire movie. I spent $60 Australian on it, and it really could have fit in a single-issue comic.

Still looking forward to it A LOT, mind you.

Post: #275565
Topic: Do you believe in aliens?
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/275565/action/topic#275565
Time: 6-Mar-2007 3:59 AM

Originally posted by: Nanner Split
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has this as its introduction:

Space, it says, is big. Really big. You just won't believe how mind-bogglingly huge it is. I mean you may think it's a long walk down to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space! Listen!.................and so on and so forth.

Seriously, considering how ridiculously huge the universe is, it seems a bit preposterous that only one tiny little planet within the entirety of it would have life on it. Unless this is just a really, REALLY early stage in the Universe's lifespan, where this planet was just a starting point and our population is eventually meant to settle the entire expanses of the universe..... but that's highly unlikely.

Yeah, but it's kind of a bunk argument.

"It's so BIG, so there MUST be something else out there."

Our solar system is big in itself, and there's nothing living there aside from us. Doesn't mean there's nothing, of course, but it doesn't prove there's something there either. Just show me the aliens.

Post: #272488
Topic: Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/272488/action/topic#272488
Time: 17-Feb-2007 10:58 PM

Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Funny. I bought one today, quite easily. The only things hard to find around here are the WiiMotes, and, of course, the Wiis themselves.

Well, in Australia, we have Wii-motes a-plenty (though nearly all packaged with WiiPlay since launch - which makes me wonder, why are there so many reviews of this game three months after launch as if this game is new?), but the Nunchuks are nowhere to be seen. The last shipment were sold out entirely to people who ordered them.