Bayou Renaissance Man: OK, that's cool!

Bayou Renaissance Man: OK, that's cool!

A funny commercial from China for breath mint gum. Truly brilliant.

Bad officiating is nothing new...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110620/sc_livescience/romangladiatorsgravestonedescribesfatalfoul

Green Lantern

Saturday I had a chance to watch the new Green Lantern film in 3D and I must say I really liked it. I won't say it's great, but it's much better than the critics are giving it credit for. Of course, most of them really don't "get" films of this genre anyway, so I really only read the reviews out of curiosity than anything.
I'm not a big fan of most DC characters, so I only know the most basic facts of his origin, but what I do know of it, they seemed to stay close to. The visual effects were excellent, I thought, and the 3D was pretty good. I've noticed there seems to be two types of 3D. One kind give the impression of the action intruding out of the screen and into the theatre (the kind most people think of). The other provides a certain "depth" to what you see on the screen and it gives the film a certain texture. Green Lantern fell into the latter category, I think, which isn't necessarily bad, but some fans may have an issue with.
I will say, without any spoilers, that it does set itself up for sequels and there is a scene after the end credits. Overall, I recommend seeing it.

An Update

I haven't updated lately due to a combination of stress and just being plain busy. I'm generally not one to complain or have personal pity parties, but my Mother's house has been foreclosed on. This is the house where I practically grew up and it's been in the family longer than I've been alive. When my Father passed two years ago there wasn't enough insurance money to finish paying it off. My Mother just couldn't keep up payments between not having consistent work and taking care of my nephew and oldest niece. This has been on my mind lately and, while I know all things must come to pass, it has been depressing.
On a somewhat lighter note, I'm discontinuing "20 Top 20s". I've run out of ideas to post. Maybe next time I'll do "10 Top 20s" or similar.

20 Top 20s Part 12- Authors and Artists

Now, it's time for my favorite authors and artists. This list will include painters, book authors, comic books writers, and comic book artists.

1. Robert E. Howard

2. H.P. Lovecraft

3. Glen Cook

4. J.R.R. Tolkien

5. Larry Correia

6. George R. R. Martin

7. David Gemmel

8. Sun Tzu

9. Miyamoto Musashi

10. Luis Royo

11. Frank Frazetta

12. Jim Balent

13. John Buscema

14. Jim Lee

15. Stan Lee

16. Chuck Dixon

17. Roy Thomas

18. Larry Elmore

19. Lao Tzu

20. Max Brooks

20 Top 20s Part 11- Games

I'll now list my favorite games. This list will include table top role playing games, miniature based games, video/ computer games, and board games. I already know that the list will be heavily dominated by role playing games, as this is one of my favorite pastimes. In some cases, multiple editions of a game may appear. In these cases, I'll be sure that the different editions will be different enough to constitute an entirely different game.

1. AD&D 2nd Edition

2. Paladium Fantasy Role Playing

3. Age of Empires 2

4. Call of Duty 4- Modern Warfare

5. Rifts (Paladium)

6. Legend of the Five Rings 3rd Edition (RPG)

7. Deadlands (RPG)

8. D&D 3rd Edition

9. Conan D20

10. Iron Heroes D20/ OGL

11. Top Secret S.I.

12. Left 4 Dead 2

13. Medal of Honor (reboot)

14. Call of Duty- World at War

15. Risk

16. Chess

17. Dead Space

18. Warmachine

19. War Hammer 40,000

20. Chivalry & Sorcery 3rd Edition

20 Top 20s Part 10- Villains

I decided to go ahead and follow up on the previous post with a list of my favorite villains. Much like the previous list, these characters are drawn from T.V., movies, comics, and literature. Some of these are villains in the classic sense of the term; others are monsters or other adversaries.

1. Dr. Doom

2. Taskmaster

3. The Joker

4. Hamanu (Dark Sun)

5. Cthulhu

6. Soulcatcher (The Black Company)

7. Skurge the Executioner

8. Ghazghull Thraka (Warhammer 40,000)

9. Abaddon (Warhammer 40,000)

10. Bane (DC Comics)

11. Storm Shadow (G.I. Joe)

12. Megatron (Transformers)

13. Soundwave (Transformers)

14. Onslaught (Transformers)

15. Artemis Enteri

16. Lord Soth

17. Darth Vader

18. Deadshot

19. Firefly (G.I. Joe)

20. Skeletor