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Pistol with Scope

Madelaine Petsch smiles

batman and robin

the war on christmsa

Age of X-Man

2018 Books of the Year

As voted on by the community, here’s the top ten books of 2018, along with some color commentary from me, Tiki God.

 (3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5, rated)

Scalzi sure can right some good words, this continues his streak of great stories that have interesting twists that kept me hooked for the entire read.

 (4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5, rated)

Unfortunate that I read this so long after it came out.  From what I understand, it is the progenitor of many of the scifi / cyberpunk tropes that I love so dearly.  Seeing them in such an early stage though, it just feels…wrong.

 (3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5, rated)

Marko Kloos is only the third author that I’ll grab anything they write, just as long as I see their name on the book.  The Frontlines series is fantastic and Kloos continues to bring the noise.

 

 (3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5, rated)

The best Batman story since The Dark Knight Returns, yes it’s that good, and yes you should read it as soon as possible.

 

 (1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

First in a series of three, this book really fucked with my head.

 

 (1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

Halo, so yay, but no Spartans, so boo?

 

 (1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

I believe this was the first of the Discovery books, and while it’s a great first entry, it’s not what I was really looking for in a Disco book.

 

 (1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

This was even LESS of what I wanted from a Disco book.  There was no Discovery in this book at all!

 

 (1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

Great origin story for the Mad Titan, great art, it was a pleasure to read on my kindle.

 

 (1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

Two Scalzi books on my 10 ten list?  Yes, he’s that good!

 

 (1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

What if plants were people and then people were zombies and some kid somewhere was the last hope for humanity?

 

 (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

This book really REALLY messed with my mind.  I’m a huge fan of this story’s fundamental core.

2018 Games of the Year

 (5 votes, average: 4.60 out of 5, rated)

I didn’t play it, and I’m not going to.  Horses and six shooters have a place in history, but no place on my xbox

 

 (3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5, rated)

This was a fun little diversion from real video gaming.

 

 (2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5, rated)

I haven’t playe it, nor will I in 2018.  I own it though, cause Epic gave it away for free.

 

 (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

This one I support, fully!  The color and sound dynamic was absolutely fantastic, I really did enjoy nearly ever moment I had with the game.

 

 (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

Great subject matter, great soundtrack, great visuals, horrible gameplay.

 

 (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

A IRL game making it to this list is weird as fuck, but here we are.  It was a fun game that I’ve only found the opportunity to pull out exactly 3 times.

 

 (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5, rated)

The best twin stick bullet hell game that I’ve ever played with a soundtrack that still gets my blood pumping whenever I hear it.

 

 (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

Didn’t play it, likely won’t due to the lack of PS4 in my home

 (3 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5, rated)

Dishonorable mention as one of the worst games of the year, no clue how it ended up on this list.  Who rating this higher than 1 star?

 

 (3 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5, rated)

While it wasn’t a terrible experience, I would hesitate to call this a “game”.

Special Mentions:
Rebel Galaxy
QUBE2

Did a game not make the list that you thought should have?

warhammer 40k warp marine

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 The Dream Child

The kids on Elm Street have. For five years, a walking nightmare named Freddy Krueger has haunted their sleep–seeking revenge for the horribly disfiguring death he suffered at the hands of the children’s parents. Now, through the dreams of an unborn child, Freddy has resurrected himself … and he’s looking for new victims in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child.

The movie opens with an infamous Rape Room that birthed Freddy; an origin that took 5 movies to get to and is completely fucked up in any way that I think about it. This scene is followed up by a graduation scene that goes on way too long and doesn’t really have the same feel as the rest of the movie. Turns out that Freddy was a demon baby from birth! born from a nun that was nearly raped to death by crazy people, but this isn’t just a flashback though, this is the actual rebirth of freddy, and freddy can getcha while you’re awake now! but why!?

Maybe because the main girl is “just a little pregnant”?

There was another rap song during the credits, I don’t think freddy was rapping this time though, for better or worse.

December 2018

Political cartoons from the desk of Matt Wuerker

Thor Ragnarok

Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok—the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization—at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger—the Incredible Hulk!

Found it for like $10 in 4k, so I bought it in 4k, then I watched it in 4k. It was pretty great in 4k, but it’s not all that much different in 4k. Maybe I’ve seen the movie too many times, but at this point, my memory of the film is in higher quality than the film itself.

Video posted to Donald Trumps Twitter account reveals covert US Navy SEAL deployment during Iraq visit

President Donald Trump and the White House communications team revealed a covert U.S. Navy SEAL deployment during the president’s visit with U.S. troops in Iraq.

superman and the lois

Nightmare on Elm Street 4 The Dream Master 1988

Freddy Krueger returns once again to terrorize the dreams of the remaining Dream Warriors, as well as those of a young woman who may know the way to defeat him for good.

What an interesting idea, that you could “defeat him forever”. Might as well try to defeat “hate” or “fear” forever, for all the good it will do you. This movie is really the first one that shows Freddy is less of an evil dude doing even dude things and more of an idealogical constant, a fundamental force of the universe that’s eternal and even after his “final” defeat can be resurrected just by thinking about him too much. As cool as that is, having a girl from the previous movie that’s such a powerful psych that she’s able to pull others into her own dreams, then absorb their memories and knowledge when they die at the hands of Freddy suggests that there’s a deeper connection than one would originally assume. Why would she get the powers when it was Freddy that killed them? Is she actually Freddy?

I took some notes, here’s a few of them chronilogically:

death by waterbed! I had one of those!
freddy at the beach, bitch
so she absorbs everyone’s powers / mental abilities when they do
she makes / uses a dream gun in the church fight scene
showing him a mirror, is this what kills him ultimately finally?
They end the movie by throwing a penny in the fountain.

Freddy rap in credits. Yes, seriously. You’d have to sit through about 2 minutes of the credits to hear it though, so I wonder how many people missed out on it when they left the theater right at the end of the movie.

Skip to 2:40 if the video doesn’t load right to it.

Star Trek Book Club Year In Review for 2018

I’ve own the domain since September of 2003, but have not had the ability, nor the willpower to really make much of it.  There was a time where it was just a list of books, then I tried posting Star Trek images, but that didn’t make much sense considering the url.  I didn’t want to let it sit fallow any longer, and thus in late 2017 I decided that I needed to actually do something with the site that made sense and I could share without much shame with the wider Star Trek community.  2,000 books later, here’s the site ready for it’s first year in review!

There were a number of new books this year, at least 28, but real interesting thing of note was that Star Trek: Discovery finally started to get some books.  The most popular post on the site was an announcement that a large bundle of books had been sent in and were being added as sources to the site, largely helped by the fact I submitted it to reddit.

Netflixs Dark Crystal prequel casts Mark Hamill Natalie Dormer

The cast includes Helena Bonham Carter and Keegan-Michael Key as well.

The Happytime Murders

The Happytime Murders is a filthy comedy set in the underbelly of Los Angeles where puppets and humans coexist. Two clashing detectives with a shared secret, one human (Melissa McCarthy) and one puppet, are forced to work together again to solve the brutal murders of the former cast of a beloved classic puppet television show. Also starring Elizabeth Banks, Maya Rudolph, and Joel McHale, this raunchy comedy is being hailed by critics as “hilarious, wickedly original and crazily quirky” (Neil Pond, Parade).

Maya Rudolph as a blonde is really the only truly ground-breaking thing going on here. I see why Sesame Street was so upset about the movie trying to tie it’s perversion to the childrens show, as these puppets are 100% directly ripped from Sesame Street in all but behavior only. There’s lots of drug use, murdering, gratuitous sex scenes and one extended scene of a puppet octopus sexually milking a puppet cow, getting puppet milk all over the room. Don’t get me wrong, this is a hilarious movie and the aforementioned cow milking scene is really the highlight of the first act, but it was the wanton desire to tie itself to a kids show that really rustled my jimmies.

Watchable and I laughed at a few of the jokes.

Trumps SchoolSafety Commissions Strange Focus on Discipline

The administration wants to keep schools safe by ditching rules meant to prevent racial bias in school discipline.

QUBE 2

In Q.U.B.E. 2 you play as Amelia Cross, an archaeologist who has awoken among the ruins of an alien landscape. With the distant help of another survivor you must solve the puzzles of this mysterious world and find a way back home.

If you’ve played Portal 2, you know what kind of puzzles await you in QUBE 2, a game that was included in the monthly game release for X-Box Games With Gold. It was a fun 8 hour long game with a much more serious story than Portal, but the puzzle elements were on point. There’s no portals per say, but plenty of blocks that need to be moved around in a puzzling manner.

Thoroughly enjoyable for small snippets and well worth the price I paid for it.

Wonder Twins #1

Men In Black International

The Men in Black have always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe. In this new adventure, they tackle their biggest threat to date: a mole in the Men in Black organization.

MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL

Trump 2020 campaign used a shell company to pay ad buyers at the center of alleged illegal coordination scheme with NRA

The Trump 2020 campaign used a shell company to pay ad buyers at the center of alleged illegal campaign coordination scheme.

Martha McSally Snags the Ultimate Consolation Prize

The Republican congresswoman will take a seat in the upper chamber alongside the Democrat who defeated her.

What a load of utter nonsensical bullshit.

Sanders and Warren Meet and Agree They Both Are Probably Running

Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders met Wednesday night to discuss what has become obvious: They both are considering a presidential run in 2020.

spiderverseattack

Its ridiculous that its unconstitutional for Alexandria OcasioCortez to run for president

Immigrants, young people, and everyone else should be allowed to run.

Never Alone Kisima Ingitchuna

Play as both Nuna and Fox. Switch between the two companions at any time with one button press, or play side by side in local co-op mode, as you rely on the unique skills of each character to succeed in your quest.

Less of a game and more of a sidescrolling, slightly gamified story as told by a village elder with an unintrusive soundtrack. It was short, but blessedly so, no need to labor the point or make it go longer than necessary. Judging from the comments, it’s actually the combination of two different stories.

The real interesting part of the game are the real life videos that explain who the story tellers are and what their people are like.

This is good if you can pick i up for under $3 or even free, as I think it’s on X-Box one free.

Thor Ragnarok

Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok—the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization—at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger—the Incredible Hulk!

Found it for like $10 in 4k, so I bought it in 4k, then I watched it in 4k. It was pretty great in 4k, but it’s not all that much different in 4k. Maybe I’ve seen the movie too many times, but at this point, my memory of the film is in higher quality than the film itself.

Night School

Directed by Malcolm D. Lee. With Ben Schwartz, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish. A group of troublemakers are forced to attend night school in hope that they’ll pass the GED exam to finish high school.

First Man 2018

Directed by Damien Chazelle. With Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler. A look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

The Texans Challenging Obamacare Have No Standing

If there’s no penalty for going without insurance, there’s no injury. That should be obvious.

Hellboy

Based on the graphic novels by Mike Mignola, Hellboy, caught between the worlds of the supernatural and human, battles an ancient sorceress bent on revenge.

Mech Cadet Yu Vol 1

A young boy gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he bonds with a giant sentient robot and joins the ranks of the illustrious Sky Corps Academy to protect the world from alien threats. Every year, giant sentient robots from outer space come to Earth and bond forever with a brand new crop of cadets at Sky Corps Academy to help keep the planet safe. But this year, instead of making a connection with a cadet, one of the mechs bonds with Stanford, a young kid working with his Mom as a janitor at Sky Corps. Stanford has the opportunity of a lifetime but he’ll first have to earn the trust of his classmates if he’s to defend the planet from the monstrous Sharg.From bestselling author Greg Pak (The Hulk, Superman) and fan favorite artist Takeshi Miyazawa (Runaways, Ms. Marvel), Mech Cadet Yu is a heartfelt underdog story set in a bright and bold sci fi world, uncovering the true makings of heroism and friendship in the face of overwhelming odds. This collection includes an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of Mech Cadet Yu, including the comic short story that inspired the series.

I caught the last couple issues of this before it was canceled, and it was confusingingly good enough to buy the trades to see what everyone was going on about in those issues. I’m glad I did, cause this series is great.

Teen Titans GoTo Movies

When the Teen Titans go to the big screen, they go big! It seems to the Teens that all the major superheroes out there are starring in their own movies—everyone but the Teen Titans, that is! But de facto leader Robin is determined to be seen as a star instead of a sidekick. With a few madcap ideas and a song in their heart, the Teen Titans head to Tinsel Town, certain to pull off their dream. But when the group is sidetracked by a seriously super villain and his maniacal plan to take over the Earth, things really go awry. The team finds their friendship and their fighting spirit failing, putting the very fate of the Teen Titans themselves on the line!

Why wasn’t the original show this is from this good? Why aren’t any of the other DC movies this great?

Who knows! But Teen Titans Go! To The Movies is a masterpiece of DC Animation. I hope they do more, if only for songs like this:

Trump backs off demand for 5 billion for border wall but shutdown still possible after Democrats reject new GOP offer

The White House says it’s looking for other sources of border wall funding.

what a fucking pussy.

The Future

THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS FUTURE

Former Senator Rick Santorum wants this photo removed from the internet

177281 views and 9791 votes on Imgur

Batmans Mask

Journey to Star Wars The Force Awakens Lost Stars

This thrilling Young Adult novel gives readers a macro view of some of the most important events in the Star Wars universe, from the rise of the Rebellion to the fall of the Empire. Readers will experience these major moments through the eyes of two childhood friends–Ciena Ree and Thane Kyrell–who have grown up to become an Imperial officer and a Rebel pilot. Now on opposite sides of the war, will these two star-crossed lovers reunite, or will duty tear them–and the galaxy–apart? Star Wars: Lost Stars also includes all-new post- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi content, as well as hints and clues about the upcoming film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, making this a must-read for all Star Wars fans.

What if the Star Wars books didn’t have to slavishly follow the Skywalkers? There’s now been two movies with this in mind, but this book came out well before either of them were being marketed. There’s a solid storyline here if you look past the fact that all these people were joining up with the Imperial Navy despite the horrors and evil that were apparent, which was something that completely rubbed me the wrong way. It wasn’t until the last third of the book that I felt comfortable with how the Imperial characters were acting or reacting to events around them and it sets up a nice battle that’s hinted at in The Force Awakens movie.

This was a good book that I had issues with and it took me nearly two months to get through, I just didn’t feel like there was much there to keep me hooked.

&lsquoDaredevil&rsquo Star Deborah Ann Woll to Star in New &lsquoDungeons & Dragons&rsquo Streaming Show

Deborah Ann Woll will serve as the DM in a brand-new Dungeons & Dragons show, which will launch in […]

Brain Challenge

Memory and math and visual tracking games. I enjoyed playing this in ye olden days of the xbox 360, so I figured i’d give it a go on the xbox one.

It did not age well at all.

Tom Clancys The Division Art Book Gets A Special Edition To Go Along With All The Special Editions of The Game

Tom Clancy’s The Division is going to have a big 2019. Starting with the sequel to the massive online co-op game that sold, at last count by digital trends, 5.5 million copies; The Division 2…

Wes Cravens New Nightmare

This time staying awake won’t save you… The horrifying child killer returns, stepping out of his celluloid world to haunt the life of the actress who first defeated him on film.

Movie opens with them saying “it’s only make believe”, which is the most incorrect thing that can be made in a Freddy film. Heather Langenkamp returns as the same girl from the first and third Nightmare films and her eyes are still uncannily blue. There’s a major shift in tone from the previous films, as this isn’t an action horror comedy, this is more of a psychological horror film. With this change of tone is a different type of soundtrack, much more orchestral and emotional and less campy fun.

There’s a few cool moments (the transition towards the end from reality to the movie was absolutely amazing) and some great acting. Of the original Nightmare films, I think this is the second best one, only behind the original.

Carcassonne

Single Player, Xbox LIVE Multiplayer 2-5, Local Multiplayer 1-4, HD (High Definition). Buy Carcassonne today and become a master of medieval strategy. Own a fully featured version of the board game classic and fulfill the need for challenge any time you want, or play socially, with up to five players on Xbox LIVE, or up to four players on just one Xbox 360. Multiple levels of difficulty offer a challenging experience for players of all ages and levels of experience. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/Live/accounts.

Not the table board game, the version for the x-box 360.

Judging how poorly I did with the digital version, I’m going to stay away from the tabletop version.

Peppermint

Young mother Riley North (Garner) awakens from a coma after her husband and daughter are killed in a brutal attack on the family. When the system frustratingly shields the murderers from justice, Riley sets out to transform herself from citizen to urban guerilla. Channeling her frustration into personal motivation, she spends years in hiding honing her mind, body and spirit to become an unstoppable force – eluding the underworld, the LAPD and the FBI – as she methodically delivers her personal brand of justice. From the director of Taken, this film is being hailed by critics as “a total adrenaline rush from start to finish!” (Dave Morales, Fox TV Houston).

I could not figure out why they named this film “Peppermint”. Did I miss someone’s name or maybe their favorite candy? This was a normal revenge violence flick, ala The Punisher, Payback, Taken, Death Wish, etc.  It was ok. Not really all that interesting and I have a few complaints about people shoving guns into their pants right after shooting them, but my biggest complaint is that the main bad guy looked like one of the actors from super troopers:

Hard to take him seriously when I was expecting him to chuck a whole thing of maple syrup at any moment.

A Star Is Born 1937

A young actress arrives in Hollywood to become a star. After many disappointments, she meets an older, alcoholic actor who takes her under his wing and they fall in love. She will have to choose between pursuing her dream and looking after him. From British Pathé TV’s Classic Movie Collection.

The movie that started a craze! The first of now four versions of the same plot! Of the two versions I’ve seen so far, this is the better of the two. There’s still the same story beats, but it really follows her more than it does him (as in the 80’s version), and it’s about a movie star and not a musician.

Enjoyable!

Adulting

Alleged Russian spy Maria Butina pleads guilty to engaging in conspiracy against US

Alleged Russian spy Maria Butina pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday morning to attempting to infiltrate Republican political circles and influence US relations with Russia before and after the 2016 presidential election.

BBQ Season