Assassin's Creed Revelations Trailer

First of all, this post is a little belated. I slacked off a bit when pouring through all of the E3 sweetness because it happened to fall right on finals week this year. So I am still discovering little nuggets of awesomeness that I missed out on when they were revealed a couple weeks ago. I just had to post this one though.

No matter what you thought of the first Assassin's Creed game (personally, I thought it had great atmosphere and platforming but was extremely repetitive in its mission structure) you can't deny that it had some amazing cinematic trailers. Since Assassin's Creed 2, it seems that Ubisoft has turned their trailer-making-machine into a distillery of supercooled badassery. Both AC2 and Brotherhood had brilliant trailers and, what's more important,  the games were brilliant as well! To say I am excited for Revelations would be an understatement. Watch the trailer and take the emotional seesaw from drooling glee to unrestrained frustration as you realize that you have to wait until November 30 to get your hands on the game.

Get To Da Choppa!!!

So, a few different people at my work have small RC helicopters that they fly around the office when they need a break from coding. When I checked online and saw that you could buy one for $20 bucks, I had to have one. Thanks to Amazon Prime, a few short days later I was in possession of this:

Most fun you can have for $20. Legally.

I gotta say, for the price, it's a pretty awesome little chopper. The controls are great and it's damn fun to fly. It has a few glitchy problems, stuff like having to flip the switch back and forth a few times to turn it on. Also, it's worth noting that if you and a friend both have choppers and try to fly at the same time there will be a channel conflict and your choppers will go out of control and crash! All in all, however, these are ridiculously fun and a great deal for the price. If you like RC stuff at all, I would highly recommend ordering one off Amazon. Here's a short video of crusin' in the S107G in my apartment. Enjoy!

Too Much Screen, Not Enough Sky

Don't get me wrong. I love my job. Awesome co-workers, awesome work. But the one thing that gets me is being shut inside all day. Especially because all of the windows in our office are always covered with blinds. It would be no different if we were working 10 floors underground. But we aren't. We are on the 19th floor of Merchandise Mart with a north facing view that we choose to cover up (Screen glare! Arrgh!). I don't mind because my job is super-fun. But every once in a while I turn around and peek through the blinds...and sigh...

The view from my office.

My view from my office.

Conan Red Band Trailer

When the first trailers for the new Conan the Barbarian movie came out, I was very skeptical. I'm a fan of both the books and the 1982 film and this new one didn't really look like it would stand up to either. Coming to this realization was a bit of a disappointment. As I got more info on the new movie, however, I realized a couple things:

A) Nothing will ever stand up to the classic excellence of literary Conan. Robert E. Howard created an iconic character that is too complex, I feel to be accurately represented in a single movie. His creation has endured and been supplemented by various authors (most notably, in my opinion, Robert Jordan with The Chronicles of Conan). If you like fantasy and you haven't read either Howard's or Jordan's Conan...seriously, get off your ass. Go acquire some barbarian goodness and enjoy.

B) Nothing will ever match the mood and feel of 80's swords and sorcery and Conan the Barbarian had it all. Hulking bodybuilder barbarians? Check. Vivid, ultra-violent fantasy imagery? Check. A superb score by Basil Poledouris? Check. I am an Arnold fan so I may be biased but Conan the Barbarian was pretty damn awesome. They just don't make 'em like that anymore.

Now, looking at it this way, the new film had some impossibly big shoes to fill. But as I watched the new trailer, I realized something that the actors and filmmakers had been saying for a while now: this is an original re-imagining of Conan. It won't live up to the books. It won't live up to the original film. It's not supposed to. It's not trying to.

I'm not saying the new movie will be great. But at least with this new trailer, I feel like it was finding it's own identity a little more. It's got some humor, definitely some bloody action and a very distinctive modern feel. I don't want to hype it because I am still dubious of the entire enterprise but at the very least I hope it will be fun. It's not going to win any awards but it can't be worse than, say, Prince of Persia. Right?

Anyway, enjoy the new red band trailer. I will be going to see it when it releases on August 19. Here's to being cautiously optimistic for an entertaining summer blockbuster.

Thundercats Remake!

Remember Thundercats from the 80's? If not, here's a little refresher:

If that doesn't make you nostalgic for the childhood magic of 80's cartoons then I feel sorry for you. From the mid-80's through the early 90's encompassed the creation of the classics of the modern cartoon age. Duck Tales, TMNT, TaleSpin, Rescue Rangers, Inspector Gadget, Winnie the Pooh, Gummi Bears, Johnny Quest... I could go on. All of these were precursors to the 90's cartoons that were the staple of  most of the kids in my generation (some of my favorites: Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, Ren and Stimpy, X-Men, Batman: TAS). Arguably though, while these newer offerings may have been wackier or more sophisticated, none quite matched the creativity of those earlier classics.

As far as Thundercats (and a lot of those other mid-80's shows), I can't even clearly remember any of the plot points or even what the main storyline was. All I've got is a general feeling of "Damn, those were the days...". But one thing I do remember is when my Dad got our first computer in the early 90's and used what must have been one of the first versions of CorelDRAW to sketch me out a replica Thundercats logo which I promptly printed out on our high tech black and while laser printer. And damn if I wasn't pleased as punch about the whole thing. So, when I heard that Cartoon Network was running a remade version of Thundercats,  I couldn't help getting a little giddy. And after I saw the trailer I have to say that I think it has a nice modern style with just enough 80's flair to keep it interesting. It is set to premier July 29. Check it out for yourself and see what you think: