Mark Schwaber Review is up!

Delusions of Adequacy has posted their review of Mark's new album and it's very positive. Here's my favorite part.

"Schwaber has a knack for creating both brilliantly sparse and intelligent tracks while also shaking it up by introducing different instrumentation, keys, and varying levels of emotional intensity blended with his favorite artistic influences. Songs like “Man Down” and his album closer “You are Just Like Me, You Will Never be Free” speak to the influential Smith, while more upbeat songs like “Island of the Burning Trees” will circle through your head long after you’ve put down your headphones. If you are looking for intelligently crafted, emotional pop with solid rhythms and laid-back harmonies then this is an album you could easily get hooked on."

I've found a few other reviews and there on the front page of luckycreature.com. Have you seen a review? Let me know,
Also Decibully cancelled last night, but Collection of Colonies of Bees were very good, and I usually dislike instrumental bands. Oh well. By the way, The "killing card" is that good. Do I need to remind you to buy it if you haven't already?

what?

o.k. so now comics have movie trailers? freaking cool. check out the trailer for civil war, marvel's much hyped limited series starting next week right here. Weird. Guy sounds like Dennis Haysbert.

Nintendo is calling the revolution Wii? WTF? Prounounced we. As in Wii like gaming. Wii like to sound like we like to play with our Wii. Ouch. what a terrible name for it here in the states. Oh well I don't care , I just hope this doesn't kill the system before it launches.

Going to see Decibully and Collection of Colonies of Bees tonight. I'll take pictures.
"I could have set you free, but I watched you burn." -Rainer Maria.

kissy comics.

so im not going to go through the trouble of posting my comic covers this week. why? one has luke cage and jessica jones kissing. Granted there getting married. How sweet. the other issue astonishing x-men # 14 has wolverine and Emma frost kissing. How misleading. Eh.
O.k. Both of these issues get a's from me. Astonishing may be the best book on the market where nothing really happens. I really am becoming more of a Joss Whedon fanboy everyday and John Cassady's art is superb.
New Avengers Annual is funny and actually a bit cute at times. It's strange that these two superhero books read more like an episode of any good hour long comedy than a comic book. whoopee! I'm o.k. with that.
Time to go train my brain.

14 days until the craziest day in gaming history

14 days from now gaming geeks, myself included will pull themselves away from their consoles and glue there heads to their monitors waiting for news from the electronic entertainment expo. This is where all the big announcements are made, where the public will first touch the revolution and the ps3 as well as see many never before heard of games. This year being the launch of both Nintendo's and Sony's new machines has just added fuel to the fire. Sega has already got a head start ( a smart move since they won't get lost in the shuffle this way) by posting a new previously unnanouced game on there website every day until E3. There first announcement. Virtua Tennis 3. If you ever owned a dreamcast you know this is good news.
Other things I'm looking forward to.
Pricing. for both the revolution and the ps3.
Launch games. These could make or break a console. really what you bring to the table on day one could affect you for the entire consoles lifespan. Witness the gamecube. or the pitiful performance of the 360 in japan.
More games for the nintendo ds, my favorite little handheld.
The secret mentioned but not yet shown about the revolution.
Screenshots,
Videos
Joy,
and the long wait till fall, when I can go into the mall and fork over too much of my money for a shiny new machine.
Oh, excitement!

sunday food, puppets, food

good sunday off got up and went to the bluegrass brunch buffet at The Mill and enjoyed some bluegrass standards, then headed out to West Liberty for the EulengSpiegel Puppet theatre's performance of Cinderella. Pretty neat to see the Arizona Puppet theatre perfom the piece and it was at the New Strand which if your a regular reader here, you know I like that cinema alot. Just had really good Mexican food at Delicas de la mar? in West Liberty, Yummy. Full belly, nice weather time for a nap..good night.

Brain Age a true gem of 'gaming'

Nintendo's Brain Age for the Ds is doing exactly what the DS set out to do. Draw in Non gamers. For those non gamers out there DS stands for Dual Screen and it could possibly be my favorite system of all time. I have about 15 games for it all ready and have only traded in two that sucked so far(madden and Snood). Basically Brain Age is a quick five minutes a day test. It can be anything from reading out loud to doing multiplication. The goal? to make your brain younger. and I got to say, my brain right now could use some work. For only 19.99 you should give it a try. Theres no guns in this game, no swords, and no girls! but it's definetly a new innovative way to think about gaming. That's right, think, gaming, same sentence. I love the new Nintendo, it has made me forget there is no Sega system to dream about anymore, made me excited to watch the release lists again.

LOST Creators say BEAM ME UP!

That's right Variety is reporting that Paramount has signed JJ Abrams (creator of Alias, And Lost and director of the upcoming Mission Impossible 3) to write and direct Star Trek 11 for a 2008 release date. This news came completely out of nowhere, and if was anyone but Variety I would think it was fake but that is Hollywood's trade paper, they don't do fake news. I got very excited when i saw the headline and then felt my stomach tighten badly when I saw the premise. A young kirk and spock? No come on you can do better than that. I hate the latest Star Wars movies for one thing in particular. They started this whole prequel crap. I want a story to move forward not tell me the past of people I already know. Can you hear the fanboy bickering beggining as soon as they cast young kirk and young spock? How will anyone accept a new Shatner? And even with that bad feeling in my mouth I'm still kinda excited. You see Star Trek had been left for dead and to get this kind of talent behind a new motion picture is a step in the right direction and a vote of confidence from Paramount themselves for the viability of new Trek. When was the last time Star Trek had a creative person like Abrams working on it? Maybe back when Nicolas Meyer made the Wrath of Khan. And the article doesn't mention Rick Berman at all, who has held the reins of Trek for too long. I think he should receive praise for his work on TNG and DS9 but as early as the second season of Voyager you could tell he was burnt out on ideas, and yet he stayed with the franchise for 10 more seasons and two more movies. Which led to mediorce storytelling. So yeah Im excited even if I'm not exactly thrilled, more Trek to me is like ice cream on a summer day, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that the green light stays on, and that we won't have to wait past 2008 for another adventure. Until then maybe Lost is a holodeck?

Network of Terror

So just received the songs from Network for the split with the Disease which we hope to get out this summer. The two songs are Collapse and Intollerable Suffering and they are brutal, Fast, and exaclty what they should be. If you like grindcore, good hardcore or just great people making intelligent music you've got to give it up for these guys. Anyway should be getting the Disease song soon. It's going to be a fast and lovecore kind of summer.

nova is back

Nova # 1 (annihilation miniseries) O.k. so if you read Nova comics in the 70's or like me out of quarter bins in the 80's and then followed him to the the New Warriors, you know the man can be both a great hero or a pretty hokey lousy one. All depending on one thing. The writer. The costume can't fail. It's simple looks great and really plays well in space. But along Nova's long journey as a Marvel B-hero he's done alot of awesome stuff, and a lot of really hokey drug induced badly dialogued stuff. Annihilation may very well redeem this characther to the point that he will move back into the Marvel universe where the rest of his Warriors teamates will soon bite the dust. A truly enjoyable space read by Abnett and Lanning.. A plus. and bonus props to Andy Schmidt. What a wonderful coloring job. Loved the snow.

New Avengers 18. Eh. I can't get past Deodato's artwork. I'm sorry. I liked his run on Hulk but it doesn't work for this book. At times it's distracting and it just doesn't fit with Bendis's dialogue. If he is the regular artist on this book after Civil War, I may very well stop buying it. It's just so... CrossGen. and for those of you who don't know, that's a bad thing.

Now reading. Going to start Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler tonight. Now playing Star Fox 64.(for the 100th time i think). What fun it is to be me.

oh what the hey. have some kolchaka goodness.
American Elf
is so cute.

Ricky Gervais & Patrick Stewart

So You TUbe is quickly becoming a site I am going to way too much but it's really neat, Today someone linked me to an episode of Ricky Gervais extras starring Patrick Stewart and it's hilarious. The Office was a brave new step for television comedy and I can't wait to see more of the Extra shows once they come to DVD here in the states. Anyway if you want to laugh at Patrick Stewart being a perverted old man here you go

tornado!

So last night a tornado or a series of tornado's came through iowa city. About two blocks from our house which luckily is fine, is a row of houses that i don't think anyone we be living in again. We went walking downtown after the storm and of course thousands of college kids were out wandering around as well. downtown suffered some damage as well and it will be interesting to see which buildings will have to be torn down. Luckily as bad as it was no deaths have been reported and we got our power back late this morning. Now I just have to figure out how to navigate the closed streets to work today. I feel lucky again but also very sad for everyone who lost something in this storm. I am glad everyone is o.k. and thats what is really important.

smack.

Only picked up Loveless # 6 today at the comic store. Still loving it. This issue focused soley on Atticus and gave him some much needed background. Lost tonight. last new episode till may. Also been watching steven spielbergs miniseries Taken on dvd. it's very high quality surprised I was never interested in it before. Just goes to show no matter how big of a geek you are you can't catch all the good stuff.
Playing Chaos Field (gamecube) and Mario Kart (online on the ds). holding my breath for the ps3 price announcement and whether i will be able to afford one this decade and can't wait to buy a revolution this fall. About halfway through reading the kite runner. It's a doozy and a very very good novel. The new Rainer Maria has me singing now. and that's a wonderful thing.

new mark schwaber video

there is a video up for mark schwaber's "the pressure it feeds" off the killing card now up here buy the record here ,thanks

new rainer maria!

Finally got the new Rainer Maria album Catastrophe Keeps Us Together. It's very good I just wished Kyle would sing again. Oh well.
What to have for dinner? What are you having?

red steel! first revolution screens surface.

Ok fellow blogger and gamer el moco posted scans of next months game informer with the very first nintendo revolution screens for Ubi Softs Red Steel. As you can tell from the screen you will hold your gun out with the revolution controller and can turn it ghetto style to shoot if you so wish. All the talk about how the revolution's graphics wont hold up to Xbox 360's can probably be silenced now. I mean doesn't this look good enough to your everyday gamer? How good does it need to look? I'm sorry Microsoft, I think your flawed, still not shipping enough units machine just got pawned by Nintendo. And you know what? Sony's PS3 is just around the corner too. Go back to breaking computers with Windows. Yeah I've become a Nintendo fanboy, but hey the DS was a step in the right direction for gaming, please bring on the Revolution.

spring is coming.

yep. it's starting to warm up. for most of you , my friends to the south, it's already warm, but here the skies are just now turning into thunderstorms, ushering in the new weather. I'm ready to go exploring, to see what the small towns of Iowa say to me, what they want to teach me about life here. It's time for another adventure. Any chance I get to explore, and to see something unique. I've been thinking about how winter can collapse around us, keep us huddled inside watching movies and drinking hot chocolate, and sure that's nice too, but my feet were made for walking sidewalks, and their ready to make fresh paths. to meet the world.

Marcel Dzama goes plastic

so that's a picture of sea snake one of six figures in Marcel Dzama's Uzama "monsters of winnipeg folklore" action figure line produced by Cereal Art, that jess picked up in Vegas. The other six figures are Uzama, Cloudinus, Evil Ugolinor, Tree Man, Xenophaner. The packaging reminds me of old star wars figures, and it serves it's purpose nicely. Glady he didn't go with the blind packaging which would have made it very hard to even try to get a complete set. As art toys go these at least move but there obviously using rip off star wars or gi joe molds with different heads. Jess got them on sale at Fao Shwartz so if your one of the few lucky people who still have one of there stores you can get the entire set for around 40$ thats a steal when Giant Robot is selling them at $20 each online. If you can't afford a Marcel Dzama drawing and who can , then one of these figures will be cheaper than even buying one of his books, and they even come with a little book of his drawings inside.

It's nice outside! let's read comics!

so we went to see mama mia last night. I have to admit I'm not a fan of ABBA so that may have swayed my opinion but I think the play is done well, composed well but the story isn't really all that good. And isn't theatre supposed to tell a story? I'll give it a B for the talent and the stage production but after seeing Avenue Q and Sweeney Todd, this play just didn't do as much for me. Sorry ABBA Fans. O.k. It's comic book day.

Moon Knight # 1 I grew up reading the 80's version of this characther when i had an extra 1.25 and there were no New X-Men books on the shelf. Moon Knight was always cool, and I've always liked the Marvel B characthers better. Heck I read all 75 issues of New Warriors and most of the Alpha Flight run. When I found out they were redoing Moonie it caught my eye but I was sold when they announced David Finch would be doing the art. He sold me on New Avengers and this book could be amazing if they keep the pacing up. I really think Moon Knight could be Marvel's Batman, I give the first issue and A+

Also picked up the Annihilation Prolouge for my earlier statement about the New Warriors. Nova! The story seems great but did anyone else think Kolins artwork was a bit, well awful? Im glad he's not doing the Nova series which is the only one I think I'll pick up right now. I also like Drax a lot, think I'll have to check out that trade of his recent miniseries.

Jessica picked up the new Giant Robot which is always fun and this...

Strangetown #1 by Chynna Chugston. Oni Press. Chugston created the Blue Monday series and my favorite of hers, Scooter Girl, and this story takes place in Grangeton, Oregon, and it has all the charm of her ealrier work with a bit of mystery thrown in. Her characthers are overly caffeinated youthful caricatures that just work. I think she is one of the few true American Magna artists, because it reads like magna, but with our cultural influences which is definetly nice.
It says it's a irregulary published ongoing series. Let's hope it doesn't go the Optic Nerve route and only come out once every couple of years. Wooh lot's of comic reviews. sorry about that. let's go watch lost.

lovesick discography

Just received my copy of the Lovesick discography put out by Harlan Records yesterday and I am enjoying it a lot. The cd has something for everyone who was a fan of the band as it collects 33 songs, everything the band did except the last Makoto album. The earlier songs are more intense than the later ones, more filled with energy and enthusiasm. Favorites on the disc are When if not now? repeat the sounding joy, meet me at midnight. These are songs you can step to, and shake your hands in the air. Pure emotion. You can order it online from my favorite label Polyvinyl, thats where I got mine. enjoy.

july 27th, 2007

So i played the card game Apples to Apples last night. It's a pretty fun game that takes absolutely no strategy or thought, so I can recommend it to anyone, even those of you who can't count.

O.k. so this movie has been rumored for a long time, but now that the teaser trailer is out I guess it's official. The Simpsons, The Movie will be out July 27th, 2007. I have not been watching the Simpsons lately, I guess I just got a little burned out by it, but I'm pretty sure my butt will be in a theatre seat next year. I mean a big screen Homer episode? Of course! You can view the newly released teaser trailer here

Now Playing, Chaos FIeld(cube), Sonic Rush(DS), Tiger Woods(DS).
Now Reading, The Kite Runner.
Now listening, April's Paste Magazine sampler.

Lucky Creature Attacks!

Staying with the Lucky Creature news kick, here's the cover for Lucky Creature Attacks!, our comic book project. It may change a little before it gets printed but voila, the front of the comic! It's a drawing by the wonderful Jessica White Enjoy!

The Disease/Network of Terror Split 7"

Hey everyone. Thats right, this summer we will be pleased to release a colored vinyl 7" of these two amazing bands. The Disease and Network of Terror. If you haven't heard them go check out their myspace pages for samples. It's definetly a payback to my roots in the days before I fell in love with pretty slow music. Were real excited about this release and we will tell you more about it later.
stay lucky in 06!