Mustard Gas and Roses

Follow me on Twitter yall

2009-05-06T02:37:00.001-07:00

Comics ive been reading.

2009-04-17T18:10:00.006-07:00

Here are some comics that ive been reading and am currently in the middle of catching up on.

1. The Walking Dead

This is my favorite series im reading. Each trade I get is gripping and entertaining. No one is safe, anyone can die at any moment. I wouldn't classify this as a zombie book, id classify it as a survival book. Its all about the characters and it really makes you think what would happen if the world fell apart.

2. Y: The Last Man

This series is over and im currently awaiting the 6th and 7th volumes to arrive from instocktrades.com. Every time I read I feel like im watching a movie or television show it keeps my attention and its like comic book crack in the way that it makes me want more. Cant wait to finish it up.

3. Scott Pilgrim

Wow, what can I say about this one. Its so good and so true. Once I start one I cant put it down, the way the writer puts you in Scott's shoes you start to feel exactly like he does while your reading it. If hes having a bad time on a date you are wanting the date scene to be over, if hes excited about something your really excited too. Ive been checking them out from my library - finished 3, have 4 and 5 to go.

4. Invincible

Also by Robert Kirkman, this is a hardcore super hero book. It starts off as a sweet story but gets darker with each trade ive read. Very entertaining and fun to read. The main character is really like able and someone you can relate to.

5. Some of the Ultimate Marvel line

Ive read the first trade of Ultimate Fantastic Four and some of Ultimate Spider-man and X-men. These reboots in this new universe are great for someone like me who doesn't know everything about the continuity. I haven't read The Ultimates but I recommend FF, SM and XM to anyone who likes any of those characters.

My favorite TV shows

2009-03-20T20:30:00.007-07:00

Ive been pretty sick lately so im gonna keep this short. But I decided to post some of my favorite tv shows, some are canceled some are still running but there all great. Heres my top 5.

5. Arrested Development - This show was amazing, I watched it all within a couple weeks and it has so many running jokes. Its top notch, possibly funniest show ever.

4. Heroes - Season 1 of this show was so great, it hasn't been nearly as good since then but I still watch every week. If anything just for Sylar.

3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Funniest show on television, every show has my llol (literally laughing out loud). If you haven't seen it go watch it now.

2. Dexter - I just discovered this show a couple months ago and watched all 3 seasons really fast. Its about a guy who is a serial killer but also works for the police in blood splatter, go search it on wiki and then go watch it. Its really smart and funny, who doesn't love serial killers.

1. Lost - Nothing can compete with this show, it will be my favorite show for the rest of my life and if I had it my way it would go on forever and the creators would plan to have a series finale on the day that I die.

Music : Drake

2009-03-14T16:49:00.010-07:00

The type of music I like varies and it usually depends on my mood and the quality. Drake is a Hip-Hop, R&B, Rap artist from Canada. The first time I had heard of him was on Degrassi, a show I enjoyed back in 02/03/04 even to this day I still catch the occasional episode - he played the character Jimmy who later in the show was confined to a wheel chair and even had an arc of wanting to be a rapper. So needless to say this guy is talented on multiple levels, but I'm not writing this to discuss his acting skills, its his music that has me so impressed.

This mans music is dope. Its really refreshing to hear someone so talented and devoted, and his latest Mixtape - So Far Gone, is excellent. My favorite mixtape or album of the year so far, and its completely FREE (click here to download). He collaborates with other talented artists frequently such as the all-star Lil' Wayne, Trey Songz and Lykke Li. His
songs are very chill and relaxed but when he goes hard, he goes hard. His music is a nice step up from some of the
more mainstream Soulja Boy / Bow Wow / Lil Jon garbage that most kids are listening to. Start listening to him now hes going to blow up huge - guaranteed.

A couple songs I recommend you listen to are - Unstoppable ft. Santogold & Lil' Wayne, November 18th and Little Bit ft. Lykke Li.

I hope you enjoy him as much as I do.

Drakes myspace - Link
Drakes blog - Link

My favorite podcasts

2009-03-13T19:54:00.009-07:00

Podcasts are something that are very dear to my heart. I listen to them weekly and frequently. When I look for a podcast to listen to I will try to find one that is talking about something I want to listen to that could mean technology, comics, movies, video games, comedy or television shows. Here are my favorite ones, hopefully you guys will enjoy them too.

Diggnation - revision3.com/diggnation

There cant be a list of best podcasts without Diggnation its basically in my opinion the first good podcast. Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht host this hilarious podcast talking about the top weekly stories on Kevin's site Digg.com. Usually the discussions are very laid back and have my sides hurting during some of their conversations.

The Totally Rad Show - revision3.com/trs

Personally my favorite podcast ever. Hosted by Jeff Cannata, Alex Albrecht (of diggnation) and Dan Trachtenberg. They cover all the topics that fall in the nerd category movies, video games, comics and television. Their reviews and recommendations are top notch and if it had not been for them there would be many things that probably would have slipped under my radar.

The 10th wonder - heroespodcast.com

The best heroes podcast ive listened to, production is top notch and their opinions are those of people who love this show to death. If you are into heroes and want some more discussion to hold you over to the next episode - check out this podcast.

The Lost Podcast With Jay & Jack - jayandjack.com

The best Lost podcast out, ive listened to quite a few and this one is by far the best one. 2 podcasts are released a week, one right after the episode and another a couple days later. The production is good and the intro music to each segment is probably my favorite of any podcast. I personally cant get enough Lost and this podcast helps to numb the pain of having to wait a week for another fix.

iFanboy - ifanboy.com/podcasts

Last but not least is iFanboy. The best podcast about all things comic book related. This podcast helps my recent comic addiction by showing me what I should get and hearing their reviews of them. If you want a comic book podcast this one is my favorite and you should give it a listen.

I know im late - my top 5 movies of 08

2009-03-07T14:05:00.012-07:00

In this blog I will discuss - My top 5 favorite movies of 2008 - what are yours?

I know, its already March and im writing a best of 08 post. Well I just decided to start this blog and I thought it would be cool to put down my top 5 officially in a written form. It was really hard to narrow my list down to 5 because there were a ton of great movies that came out last year. I decided to go the "enjoyed the most" route when putting together my top 5. Ill try to keep this post short and only write a paragraph per movie. So without further ado.

5. Iron Man

When I came out of this movie I literally couldn't stop smiling - I was never a huge Iron Man fan. I knew of him and thought he was cool but beyond knowing theres a guy named Tony Stark in a super powered suit he built I didn't know any of the story line. If I had to guess my top 5 list after seeing this movie I probably would have set Iron Man in stone right at number 1. But over time it lost a little of the charm - it is probably due to the fact ive seen it several times now. Still an amazing movie and I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it already. Even if you are not a super hero movie fan you will still like, if not love, this movie.

4. Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Visually stunning, I found myself wide eyed trying not to blink while watching it. Guillermo del Toro is becoming one of my favorite directors (Blade 2, Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth and the upcoming Hobbit movies) he can really bring the world his movies are set in to life and its wonderful. In this next installment of the Hellboy series our hero and his friends find themselves up against The Golden Army, a magic mechanical army, and also against Nuada who is an Elf that seeks revenge(his race reminds me of the Blood Elves in WoW). The series is one of my favorite comic book movie franchises and im eagerly awaiting for a third one - I recommend it to anyone who wishes to see a visually amazing movie with great characters.

3. Pineapple Express

Stoner comedy at its finest. Pineapple Express is a comedy/action hybrid and I feel it succeeds well in both aspects. The cast is one of my all time favorites in a movie ever. Seth Rogen and James Franco are two of my favorite actors and they both do great in this film however they aren't my favorite of the cast. Danny McBride (also of Tropic Thunder) steals the show with his performance as Red. Every time he was on stage I was laughing, his performance alone is reason enough to see this movie. If your a stoner or enjoy a stoner comedy you will love this movie, if you aren't either of those there is still a chance you will like this movie - its just an insane time to be had (the ending scene had me in stitches).

2. Milk

Now a more appropriate top 5 movie, Milk. Before watching this movie I had never even heard of Harvey Milk - but wow what a life this man had. Sean Penn's performance was top notch and his Best Actor win at the academy awards was well deserved. This film is about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician and his life and struggle to achieve gay rights for the gay community. After watching this movie it actually made me want to be a better person and do more with my life. It also made me believe that with enough perseverance and ambition you can achieve your wildest dreams. The way they inter spliced actual news footage into the film was also a nice touch. If you want to see a touching and inspiring movie - see Milk, its great.

1. The Dark Knight

The obvious choice, but also the best. The Dark Knight is not only what I hope every comic book movie can achieve but also what I hope every movie can. Heath Ledger (RIP) was born to play the Joker, his performance is unmatched and it will probably remain that way forever - a very sad loss. Batman Begins was one of my favorite comic book movies and this sequel completely blew it away, the first time I saw this movie I od'ed on awesome. Bruce Wayne is back and hes still cleaning up the streets of Gotham City as the masked crime fighter, Batman, only now he has someone he really needs to worry about, The Joker, in this cat and mouse game between them we see what they are each made of. The Joker always has a plan and seems to be one step ahead of Batman at every turn, he even works his magic on Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart, who also did a great job) turning him against Batman. This movie is the best one I have seen in a long time, it will forever be close to my heart. I recommend it to everyone - go see it now if you haven't.

Well thats my top 5 movies of 2008, hopefully 2009 can live up to this last year - it was a great one. A lot of movies came close to making my list but fell short by a little bit. I went with the entertainment factor when rating them and some of the other movies may have been great but I didn't get as much joy watching them.

Here are some of my runner-ups. Frost/Nixon, Tropic Thunder, Role Models, Wanted, Wall-e, Forgetting Sarah Marshell, The Incredible Hulk, Definitely, Maybe, Sex Drive, Zack and Miri, Kung Fu Panda, The Wrestler, Prince Caspian, Cloverfield and Gran Torino. (in no order), 2008 was a good year.

For fun I asked my little brother his top 5 movies of 2008, here they are.
5. Bedtime Stories
4. The Incredible Hulk
3. Kung Fu Panda
2. Iron Man
1. The Dark Knight

First post, Getting back into comics - Runaways and Brian K. Vaughan.

2009-03-06T22:46:00.012-07:00

In this blog I will discuss - Comics, Runaways, Brian K. Vaughan and things I might cover in the future.

About a year ago I rediscovered comic books. I had not read any since my childhood - my father was very big into comics, I actually remember him being a talented artist drawing some of the various characters that I now love today. After he left I turned to video games and movies to fill my nerd void instead of continuing on with comics. Now I realize that I ended up missing a ton of awesome stuff, so I am trying to catch up with some stuff as well as start up and follow along with some of the newer stuff.

One of the comics I picked up and couldn't put down when I first rediscovered comics was Runaways. It is written by Brian K. Vaughan (i love this man) and drawn by Adrian Alphona. Essentially it is a story about a group of teenagers who find out there parents were actually super villains. If that isn't interesting enough - these teens have inherited some of their parents awesomeness and decide to run away, hence the name. When I picked up this book I literally could not put it down, it was beyond epic. The way they are able to capture some of the angst teens have, along with some very well placed pop culture references and great display of abilities and weaponry, this book is a breath of fresh air and its a great beginner comic to give someone to start with.

Another great thing about runaways are the characters, and their development as the amazing story goes on. My favorite character is Nico Minoru, she is the daughter of dark wizards and she possesses their spell casting abilities with her Staff of One. The odd thing about this staff is that it can only cast a spell once, so it makes for some smart word choices on her part when in tough situations. Another character I love is Old Lace, she is a genetically engineered dinosaur programed to obey and hear all of her masters commands telepathically. The idea of having a dinosaur in the story is awesome on its own, making it part of the team is amazing.

This amazing series is one that can establish a writer in my heart on its own, but no Brian K. Vaughan apparently isn't content with only one - he has several. I have started the crack version of comics that is Y: the Last Man, Ive only read the first two trades and it is damn good so far. I seriously cannot wait until the next one, it reminds me of another one of Brian K. Vaughans works. Lost - my favorite television program, EVER. He wasn't part of Lost when it first started, he started writing with Catch-22 in season 3 (one of my favorite episodes of lost) and also wrote The Shape of Things to Come in season 4 (another one of my favorites) - among others, all of the episodes he has co written have been spectacular. He is also co writing the up coming episode of Lost titled "Namaste", which looks great (I will probably start to blog about each episode starting with this one). But if you thought Runaways, Y: the Last Man and Lost were enough for this man, you were wrong. He also has written Pride of Baghdad which is a story of four escaped lions during a time of war - based on a true story, it is compelling and the ending was very sad. The artwork by Niko Henrichon was beautiful too. Brian has another comic series that is still ongoing called Ex Machina, I have picked up the first trade but have yet to read it - my guess is that I will probably love it too.

Comics are a great medium of entertainment that everyone should experience a couple of times in their life (if not more), and Brian K. Vaughan is someone I am forever grateful for getting me back into comics. I will probably blog about Y: the Last Man later, possibly in a review format. If you decide to follow my blog I will most likely be covering things like Television Shows, Movies, Comics, Podcasts, Everyday things that happen in my life and maybe food? who knows what this can lead too. I'm just bored right now and decided to pick up a hobby to fill in some extra time. As I'm writing this I am thinking of several things I would like to post a blog about but I will try to only blog once a day or once every couple days if I remember. Thanks for reading.