I took the plunge and finally bought myself a PS3 a couple of weeks ago. Doing so now means that once again I possess every current gaming system in the States which is really not something I thought I would ever do again especially in light of Sony's dramatic fall from power. Every time a game came was coming out that I really wanted and everyone swore that it would never come out on the 360 and so I thought THAT would be the game that makes me buy the system, it would suddenly be released on the 360. This kept happening at an ever increasing rate and so it looked like I probably would never pick one up especially considering my ever dwindling funds.

The pressure in my mind leaning towards a purchase started leaning a bit more heavily over the last year as I'm a bit of a movie buff and so it's only natural to desire the latest in movie viewing technology much like the Laserdisc provided oh so many years ago. I also was very impressed with Sony's presentation at this year's E3 and felt that not only did they have a lot to offer in terms of gaming, but that they didn't horribly embarrass themselves as I felt the other consoles did. Still though...it was mighty expensive and so I sat firmly on my spending hands despite the rather warm climate in which I live.

Then a funny series of events happened. Well...OK it's not really funny per se but somewhat serendipitous I suppose. Sony suddenly created an all new slim version with oodles of memory and they lowered the price to the very acceptable $300. Due to a clerical error, I found myself with some Best Buy credit and resisting the urge to go to town buying more movies for my apartment wall, I decided to join the Sony family once again!

With a small amount of excitement indicative of an older person that owns many gadgets already yet still harboring some of that boyish glee in purchasing a new techno fun box, I began to unpack my system and get it all set up. Luckily my friend (who already owned a PS3 due to his great need to be the all-consuming master of the Ryu Ga Gotoku series) was in attendance or I would not have been a happy camper as I encountered the first of a handful of confusing technology problems. I easily created my console profile and set it up to look all crazy sharp and awesome on my semi-respectable Philips 1080i LCD monitor. I connected it to my router and went online and got the system all updated and raring to go. Then I was prompted to create an online persona and I did as asked and hit the accept button.

Then it died.

Well, it didn't die but the connection to the internet suddenly died as did my friend's laptop and my desktop computer which were both connected as well. Luckily my friend was there and informed me he expected it to do that as his PS3 did the same thing and it took him a huhwhile to figure out why. Apparently there's this option to share videos or some such feature which is "on" automatically and is apparently incompatible with...um everything? I don't know why but somehow it kills your router and so I turned that oh-so-exciting feature "off" and rebooted my router and...WHALLAH! Everybody happy!

I watched the Blu-Ray movie that I had and then...well then the PS3 just sat there. Gosh I haven't been this underwhelmed with a system since I finally had enough of the broken Animal Crossing game and realized I don't really want almost any other Wii games. I mean, I know I mainly got it as a Blu-Ray player but still it seemed kind of sad just sitting there. Then I realized my same friend had some games so perhaps I should just borrow some and play around with my new system. He brought over a small stack and lazily I picked the Wolverine Origins game as, though I already played through it on my 360, I really enjoy simple beat 'em ups and thought it would be a fun lazy late night kind of game. So I put the game in my machine...

...and it looked like crap.

Then my friend came over and exclaimed "Hey, what's with the game looking like crap Mr. I have an HD TV?". Well, he didn't really say it like that but he did express curiosity as to the low resolution being angrily displayed by my new machine. I had picked the highest resolution and wondered what the deal was. I attempted to poke through the menus and fix the problem but nothing I did had any effect. Then I looked at the back of the game and noticed that the highest any game went was 720p -- even the exclusives! Could 720p look this bad? So (bear with me here) I called up a friend of mine that makes games for the various consoles and he confirmed that the PS3 indeed is a powerful but wicked beast that doesn't like to go to 1080. I was stunned. But then he informed me that 720p should look pretty darn good and so I was concerned that something was wrong.

After more digging I found out that the PS3 had a problem with 1080i. Apparently some early HD units don't support 720p and so if the game doesn't find 720p it just shunts it down to normal resolution. I was saddened but again, since I mainly got it as a Blu-Ray player I wasn't too upset. Still it was annoying to think I was just out of luck and any future exclusive I would buy would look like crap. But wait a tick! I didn't get my HD LCD until just a couple of years ago?! So I started pouring through the many, many, MANY options on the Sony menus and realized that the PS3 wanted me to check off ALL of the resolutions supported not just the highest one like I did with the 360. Feeling foolish but relieved I put my game back in and watched all the shiny HD goodness dancing before my eyes. Still...those sad early HD 1080i folks.

Also apparently 720p is better than 1080i anyways so gosh I feel really silly now.

So now I'm enjoying my PS3 and falling back in love with the awesome and incredibly light controller that Sony still offers. I played around with the Sony Home feature and it's fairly boring but also very impressive at the same time. The media within media displayed is very impressive and I like the idea of going to a virtual movie theatre and sitting down to watch a feature. It would be nice if they had more short films or features to watch instead of just programs that are basically ads for product but still it's kind of interesting. I like the mall and the arcade but honestly there's just not enough things to do, see and purchase to keep it interesting. Maybe once more companies get on board it can get fleshed out with more desireable content and exclusive events.

Still, I do find the place, small though it may be, to be oddly compelling and sometimes I just go there and sit under the ferns to the far right of the arcade or the far left of the theatre whichever you prefer. Attempting to be brutally honest due to hurt feelings I've suffered in internet land, I once again have made a semi-realistic but somewhat troll-like avatar to tool around in so everyone realizes I'm an older burnt out shell of a man who plays games. So if you're ever in that weird hub land and see me sitting there, stop by and do a funny dance in front of me or just say "hi".

Oh yeah that Wolverine game I was playing? I totally platinumed that baby!

Title - Halloween II (2009)

Director - Rob Zombie

Country - United States

Michael Myers is back in a sequel that few thought would actually happen least of all Rob Zombie who swore he wouldn't return as the first one was just too grueling to make. But the first movie made a decent amount of cash and with the promise that Zombie would have full creative control he soon found himself under a tight deadline but eager to do the part of the movie that he felt he neglected in the first Halloween outing namely putting the spotlight on his sister Laurie Strode (Angel Myers) played by Scout Taylor-Compton.

The bulk of this film concentrates on the character of Laurie Strode who a full year after the attack of Michael Myers is completely unaware that she is really Angel Myers the sister of Michael. Laurie is having great difficulty recovering from the attack and loss of her family and is constantly plagued by nightmares in which she is stalked by Michael whilst everyone around her dies horribly at his hands. And when I mean horribly I mean repeatedly injured well beyond the point of death. All of Michael's killing involves him stabbing, slamming, crushing and/or breaking people repeatedly over and over and over almost as if he feels the need to overly punish his victims even well beyond their point of demise. It's supposed to convey a more realistic and vicious approach to violence by and overpowering madman but these scenes are filmed in a rather distant or confusing manner so the impact of shock is reduced to the point that I felt very detached and unaffected by the whole murdering process.

Laurie's constant suffering is supposed to be the main source of sympathy for the viewer but unfortunately her character's attitude and actions vacillate wildly during the course of the movie and so she ends up becoming not much of an anchor for the film to revolve around. As a result, the only sympathetic character that the movie is attempting to build up throughout the film ends up being just an irritating little girl that appears ripe for slaughter in a typical horror film.As Michael looms closer and closer to Laurie her dreams intensify and eventually she develops dreams in which she is the killer wearing her brother's old clown mask while she slits the throats of her loved ones. Although she has become a vegetarian, the effects of eating her veggie pizza sickens her when at the same time Michael is shown busily eating the heart of a freshly killed dog. It's obvious the connection between her and Michael is becoming stronger but just how strong will it become? I bet you can guess.

The other character which we spend a lot of time with is Dr. Samuel Loomis played once again by Malcolm McDowell. His character has changed quite a bit as he has become a best selling author by writing about his "star" patient Michael Myers. Although much in demand due to the infamous nature of Michael, many -- especially family members of his victims -- are greatly sickened that Loomis appears to be cashing in on the tragedy and attempting to make as much money as possible on it. Although Loomis enjoys the fame and money, he demonstrates a great hatred for his audience and seems confused and angered by their inability to ask him anything interesting.

Loomis is obviously the symbol for modern man both need for and repulsion of violence in the media and in their daily lives. As much as people hurl hatred and anger upon killers and scoundrels, three times as many people can't get enough to feed their fascination for these same people. Loomis also appears representative of Zombie's own trafficking in the entertainment of killing as well as his great disdain for the viewing audience and the fans that gather around him at appearances. Several times Loomis is forced to put up with embarrassing and uncomfortable situations in order for him to peddle his wares to the public and I have to imagine that a lot of Zombie's own nihilistic hatred of these masses is shining through. Unfortunately these scenes only serve to strengthen the viewer's hatred of his character and the, at times, comical nature of his scenes greatly destroy the flow of the movie.

Then there's Michael. In the first movie Zombie decided to step away from Carpenter's mysticism surrounding the character and decided instead to concentrate on Michael as a damaged person. Not an unstoppable evil creature bent on killing all who come in his way, but a damaged individual who is lashing out due to his childhood trauma and the trauma he received in the mental hospital. How then did he survive a shot to the face? The scene in which Michael is shown waking up and escaping from the ambulance is shown to be a bad dream of Laurie's. So when did he escape? Where is he exactly and why did it take him a year to start wandering to town?

I'm going to have write between the lines and put in my own excuses that he escaped much like what happened in Laurie's dream (she "saw" it because they're connected see?) and then he wandered around the area in which he escaped somewhat aimlessly until anniversary of that fateful Halloween night once again arose and the ghost of his mother beckoned him to "unite the family". One of the hillbilly groups that he kills talked in such a manner that they appeared to know him and thus I would have to guess he was wandering somewhat dormant until he started seeing his mother and the symbolic white horse. Did I mention the white horse?

So Sheri Moon Zombie returns as Michael's ghostly mother (with his internal child in tow of course) and pops in now and again beckoning Michael to find his sister and unite the family once more so they can all be together as one big happy family. This generally keeps Michael motivated to keep moving on down the road killing the horrible people that he encounters along the way. This is all well and good common movie symbolism but towards the last act of the movie she begins to pop in so often...

that after a while...

you just start to get annoyed when you see her...

and then when she still won't stop showing up you just start to giggle after a while at her clumsy attempts to be the movie's big symbolic device that moves the film forward. She generally doesn't do much other than long for family unity, but in one instance she implores Michael to "have a little fun" with his victims much to his approval. Yesiree! You certainly won't miss or regret anybody's death in this film as pretty much everyone who is killed is just the most awful person you could ever meet. This oppressive nihilism of Zombie's really hampers the film as the over the top disgustingness of the majority of his victims just detaches one even further from the proceedings and pretty much destroys any tension that could possibly exist.

Eschewing the shiny 35mm look of the first film H2 is shot in grimy dirty 16mm and is quite obviously every bit a Zombie film quite a bit more than the first. The '70s grind-house aesthetic is in full force here with blurry close-ups and off-centered shots being quite common. This is actually the best attraction to the film as I feel that Zombie does have a good eye for this s+yle of filming and I somehow keep hoping that he will find a good vehicle to showcase it. Unfortunately this film is not it as it is remarkably uneven and the flow of the film is hampered by quite a number of elements.

I actually went into the film with positive thoughts. Zombie's first Halloween, although faulty, I thought had potential and I liked the fact that he approached it from a fresh angle as opposed to just makeing a retread. Zombie doesn't actually like slasher films and so I thought demystifying Michael and giving him a different persona might be interesting. But unfortunately the killings actually get in the way of Michael's justification to exist. In slasher films the killing is the thing. The body count is what drives the killer and the viewer. If you take the focus off of the killing and put in on the characters then you best develop those characters so the viewer has some kind of emotional investment in them. But Zombie just appears to hate all of his characters equally and so you just kind of watch the whole affair without any real interest or a care in the world.

Stay away.

Stay far away.

Things have been slowly coming to head for a number of years and decreased pay, less hours, mounting credit bills, some medical issues, car repairs, and my own massive stupidity have led to me to have very little cash in my coffers and the very real chance that things might take an increasingly ugly turn in the next year or so. But despite my history of depression and bouts of physical assaults against my own person I am attempting to saunter on down the road in a slightly ambivalent manner no matter where it may lead.

Despite the rather realistic but dark tone of my opening statements this blog is more about the little things that I am doing or enjoying whilst I am cut off from what was once my regularly shed-yuled life. I do have a tendency to just accept the bad with the good and although I sometimes slip off into the abyss I have always had quite a gift for keeping myself occupied no matter what means I had at my disposal.

Some years ago my car finally broke down for good and after years of adding to my credit debt in the hopes that each time a major problem occurred it would be the last, eventually I just couldn't afford to keep it running and sent it away to the graveyard. After a couple of years a good friend of mine gave me his slowly dying vehicle as he was getting a new car. This was AWESOME as I no longer had to bike for and hour and half to and from work and it greatly decreased the chance that I would be attacked on the street which has happened now and again during my life whilst biking around the big cities. Unfortunately after about 8 months the transmission died big time and thus it was back to huffing and puffing my way to work.

Recently my bike fell apart as all the gears had slowly become stripped due to the heavy use it got. I'm particularly thin for cash and so I wasn't looking forward to having to pick up a new one as I imagined that the prices had probably increased since the last time I had bought one. So I wandered down to the local Target store to pick up a cheap but serviceable bicycle hoping that it wouldn't damage me too much financially. Much to my delight the prices had actually dropped quite a bit and it ended up only being around $170. I took the bike up to the register and I was told the bike was $95 which only furthered my delight and both mentally and financially (of course )!

It's still a pain to bike around everywhere and I can't get to many places as it is L.A. but hey I'll take the good luck where I can get it.

O.K. now you're going to laugh at this one. I've somewhat curbed my habit of eating out every day and I've been trying to buy more things to make sandwiches with and frozen foods that I can snack on that last a good week. I was sitting at the computer late one night and I realized that I couldn't remember the last time I had a grilled-cheese sandwich. It's odd but although it's a rather simple thing to make I realized that I've always lived with somebody that really liked to cook and that they always offered up the idea of cooking me up some cheesy goodness -- I've never made it myself. So odd. So I actually sat there for a minute or two wondering what does one do to a simple sandwich to make it all toasty and essentially a nummy-licious type of foodstuff?

*thinks*

Right! Right! Butter needs to go on the outside dummkopf!

So happily I went about cooking me up my hot cheesy comestible...and I burnt it.

Then I ate it and somehow it still seemed delicious even though burnt toast is usually the saddest thing ever. Honestly, when you burn toast you either throw it away or you just angrily eat it noting what a failure you are as you cry into your orange juice and the birds outside sing a derisive little song about your shortcomings. Bloody birds.

But I sauntered on and now I'm a hot-cheese sammich making fool! I have a big preference for very sharp cheddar and occasionally I'll mix in some little bits 'o bacon. Good lord it's certainly a good thing that my metabolism is still somehow fairly high despite my ever increasing age otherwise I'd be quite a large-waisted man. But you know it's funny how something as simple as a sandwich can take me back to my childhood and make me feel all warm and happy inside.

Sadly most of my good friends have eithered moved far away or they have acquired a regular working schedule that is the polar opposite of my regular routine. This has resulted in the fact that over the last few years I rarely get out to the theatre all that often. I don't have a problem going to theatre on my own, but as my always lesbian couple roommates (sorta odd factoid that) will attest, I have a tendency to putter around my house if left to my own devices as I easily can lose myself in the movies, books and music that I have littered around my place.

But in an attempt to break that habit I've been venturing out into the big wide world and attending some viewings of movies that were actually released in the current year! As most people who know me know, I have a fondness for old movies and more often than not if I went out to the theatre it was some revival house featuring some silent or cult film. It's not that I dislike newer films, it's just that I tend to place a higher priority on movies that are hard to find or are rarely screened in a theatre setting. But since all those theatres are now on the other side of a small mountain I have been attempting to get out and watch some newer things while they are still all shiny and new to the general public as well and I actually find that I like that.

I've noticed that writing tends make me a bit happier and so I've been attempting to write little reviews of some of the films that I've been watching for the past few months. My use of language is rather rough and pedestrian as I'm sorely out of practice and so it doesn't always flow as smoothly or as coherently as I would like. But I'm trying to ignore my shortcomings and just stumble along with the attitude that as improper as my language use may be, it's fairly representative of how I talk and so I suppose warts and all it's my voice. I do sometimes suffer bouts of mental confusion and have trouble focusing and have to take breaks now and again but overall I'm happy to do it as it helps me ruminate a bit more over the movies that I've just seen a bit more than I normally would. Here's where I've been writing my reviews but be prepared that I like to watch a rather odd assortment of movies.

And finally we come to video games on my trusty XBox 360. The lady that you see above me is a comic book character from the Marvel universe so obscure that I'm fairly confindent that it would take you quite a long time before you found anybody who would recognized her. The lady's name is Lady Daemon and she is a character that I've had a fondness for quite some time. Along with Sumo Daemon she is my other alter ego profile on my 360 which I would use when I need a second player to get an achievement or my friend wants to keep a separate file for his accomplishments for a particular game that I have.

For some reason despite the fact that I have unplayed games I've been going back and playing some old favorites on my Lady Daemon profile just to unlock the achievements that I already have on my primary profile all over again. Right now my big game of choice is the Tenchu Z game and after playing a series of stress filled moments of shooting and fighting as Sumo Daemon, it's kind of nice to relax and unwind late at night as a ninja who just slowly and very patiently waits for their next victim to stray too close...and then it's far too late.

But when all is said is done I'm not attempting to garner sympathy or rail at the fates for the trials and tribulations that come my way in this rather wordy missive. I'm just merely taking note of how changes forced upon me are closing some door but opening others. Hopefully I'll be better off for the change when I'm eventually in a more healthy position, but for now I'm just going to make the best of what I have and try to live my little life in my little corner of the world. Besides, I'm sure my cat is happy with all the extra house time that I'm getting. Or is she? Hmmmmmm....

Title - Watchmen (2009) ~ Director's Cut

Director - Zack Snyder

Country - United States

I gained access to the director's cut of Watchmen a little early last week so despite being buried under tons of work I managed to give it a proper screening once and then watched parts of it on and off throughout the remainder of the week and over the weekend. Although I was not entirely pleased with the Watchmen movie when I watched in the theatres some months ago, I still found enough aspects of it compelling enough to warrant a rewatch with the excised material restored just to see if it would change my opinion of the film overall. Short answer: No of course not.

A few of the added scenes do make for some smoother transitions in a couple of places but one that should never have been left out in the first place is a great addition while a couple of others are fairly unnecessary or just plain embarassing in the case of the added Nixon/Kissinger footage. There's a bit more Rorschach out of mask and really, and I mean REALLY in your face to the point of distraction so I can definitely see why those were cut.

The scene that should not have been left out was a very effective and touching death scene involving the original Nite Owl Hollis Mason. His brutal beatdown transitions quite nicely and very emotionally effective to Daniel's hearing it on the news while he and Rorschach are questioning the bar thugs and really amplifies the emotions in his character as he targets a local Knot Top gang member and almost beats him to death while Rorschach ironically saves him by pulling Daniel away. Good stuff to see now but it's not a particularly long piece and it shouldn't have been cut.

But after all is said and done at its core I still am left with the Watchmen movie that Zack Snyder hath wrought. Despite my rather negative tone I am actually somewhat on the fence as far as the movie goes. There are some aspects that I did enjoy but then there's those nagging negatives and since I suppose I never did give Watchmen a proper review when I orginally watched it now is as good a time as any to go over some of those points.

I did appreciate some of the attention to detail concerning the attempt to make a period '80s film. Despite the very out of place and somewhat cartoonish political figures and TV personalities there were some more subtle attempts being made in the decoration of some of the homes of some of the heroes and characters such as the Nagel paintings in The Comedian's bedroom and the perfume commercial. But unfortunatly these are drowned out by obvious head beating red flags for those not paying attention and thus the original MTV station ID's and some random an rather inappropriate music inclusion. Oh did I mention the music?

I'm pretty sure this film makes some of the worst attempts at matching music to film that I've ever seen in a major film production. Other than a little incidental music courtesy of Phillip Glass, The Comedian's "unforgettable" and the opening working fairly well, everything else just seems inserted in the most clumsy and obvious way possible. It really took me out of the film in an incredibly violent way and I really started to have the feeling that this was done by a couple of film student's first attempt at marrying music to their film. One seemed to have a reasonable grasp on how things work, and the other just grabbed some music that they thought sounded cool 'cause he heard them in other films or their content was '80 or war oriented and never thought of how they would sound over the action.

An aspect that I did rather enjoy was the action. I'm very much a martial arts film fan and I so I'm pretty critical of fisticuffs being presented in film these days and how a film with a high level of production has no excuses these days for sloppiness or poorly staged conflicts. Damon Caro was the fight choreographer on this film and I believe he did quite a bang-up job. The fighting techniques of the various heroes are unique to their character and seem very natural and well thought out. Adrian Veidt's in particular are a thing of beauty to watch. As per his character as the "perfect man" his hits are perfect strokes of counter-hits and created openings in the defense of other's. Sure, there were a few openings a tad too large there during the end conflict but nothing egregious to the point that I just feel like I'm being overly nit-picking.

But this would all be for naught if the director couldn't properly block the scene and in this case I feel that Snyder did an excellent job in incorporating the visceral nature of the choreography with the sound and angles required to make them exciting. Unfortunately Snyder's heavy reliance on all thing digital do muck up a few moments as bones are broken and limbs are bent and copious amounts of very shiny CG blood slowly fly away from the wounds which is completely unncessary and also very silly to watch. I expect to see poorly rendered CG blood in crappy little made for TV horror films, not large budget efforts.

But that brings me to my biggest problem with the film -- the overall look. There seems to be an all encompassing sheen to the entire movie. Despite attempts to ground the film in gritty city locations and simple barren wastelands, the colour palettes of the obvious digital colour editing seem too extreme and as a result everything seems completely unreal. This is fine if you are attempting to make an unreal world, but this is supposed to be set in the real world and everywhere you look the color is too intense and the focus is too sharp. Even the details fail when the original Nite Owl's "old" war era news clippings look as new as the day they were published. Actually they look newer as the paper looks to be higher quality than they were orginally using.

Then there's the dynamic nature of the film. Despite my love for the action it goes completely against the aspirations of the material. The story is supposed to deconstruct the hero myth not build upon them. Yet time and time again the cool fight scenes come up and, entertaining though they are, they ruin the point that is trying to be made by its very execution. The Comedian's attempted rape is too dynamic and made to look almost interesting instead of simple and brutal. His character's revelation of Hooded Justice's thrill of violence is further downplayed as the reaction and sound are muted as if Snyder really had no idea what the dialogue meant.

Despite their self-denial, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre II are all but useless unless they are acting out "in costume". They are broken people that were raised as heroes and never allowed to develop as individuals. The film attempts to touch upon this but it is never expressed properly and the poorly handled sex scene completely misses the point. Even Rorschach is built a bit too much up as a righteous anti-hero when in reality he is just a rabid dog that society has created and released upon itself. Snyder tries to touch upon the concept of broken heroes as he clearly tried to follow the script, but unfortunately he can't resist trying to make the characters as cool and interesting as possible despite the fact that clearly they weren't supposed to be.

As I dwell upon Snyder's missteps though I think I understand why Alan Moore and others over the years always concluded that Watchmen was unfilmable. Because to commit the story to film it's practically impossible not to force dynamic properties upon the film and that is something that clearly goes against the point of the book. The pace and the construction of the book almost demand a certain amount of inertia being brought to the superhero concept. It presents the heroes and demonstrates how if they existed in real life how broken they would become no matter what their abilities were. It's an unnatural condition and a unnatural life and to attempt to make a film about heroes then forces you to make them look...heroic. Which is something they clearly are not.

Other than people asking me what I think is the best (insert anything here) EVER, whether I prefer Coke over Pepsi, or what was the last (insert anything here) that I (insert something within Gamespot's TOU here), I think I get asked what was the first (you get the idea) that you (this joke has run its course methinks). Obviously for reasons involving my inability to warp time my choices tend to be dated a bit farther back than most people on this particular board. So for no particular reason I'd thought I'd grab a few of my favorites.

First Anime/Cartoon -

Back in 1969 other than the excitement of being given a dinosaur pop-up book (conveniently my first dinosaur book) later that year at Christmas, I distinctly remember falling in love with Kimba the White Lion otherwise known as the incredibly famous Jungle Emperor series from Japan courtesy of the legendary Osamu Tezuka. I lived in Pasadena at the time and so our antenna easily picked up the signal but I would be sorely disappointed by my parent's choices of dwellings soon after this as we began a series of moves which tended to put us in fairly distantly located trackhomes in which PBS type channels (which is the channels that aired Kimba) were very hard to receive. So over my childhood years my beloved Kimba and Speed Racer were rare commodities and I treasured every moment that I could successfully grab a signal no matter how fuzzy.

First Comic Book/Magazine -

As a child I was a voracious reader. I read almost anything I could get my hands on and stories about the Greek and Roman Gods featured big into that equation as they offered up fantastic stories of superhuman feats. Then in one of those book club magazines (Dynamite I believe it was) they often had a feature on comics reprinting the origins of various heroes. I was fascinated by these articles but in those days no comic shops existed and only the occasional grocery store had a spinner rack with comics.

Unfortunately for me my parents had recently moved to Orange County which at the time was a barren wasteland as far as stores go. No grocery stores had comics and so the only comic happiness I could find were the short features found within magazines. Then in 1974 I discovered a drug store that occasionally got in a few of the Marvel magazines that they were marketing at the time in an attempt to bring in a more adult audience. I picked up an issue of Savage Tales No. 6 featuring Ka-Zar (Lord Plunder to you!) and read it over and over again with much glee! Much to my delight it also featured women in...well sometimes in little to no clothing and since it was John Buscema art it was very...um, well done.

Soon after that we moved once again to another distant series of track homes in Oceanside and I very quickly located what at the time was an oasis of comic book goodness...A 7-ELEVEN!!! I quickly biked to it as soon as I had the chance and snatched up a comic of my favorite series The Fantastic Four and so finally I had my first actual comic -- Fantastic Four #158! With trembling hands I read quickly through the comic only to find a cliffhanger at the end! I was saddened as I was so use to rarely being able to find issues that I was sure I'd never find another one after that. Luckily the regular deliveries proved me wrong and thus was born my love for comic collecting in 1975.

First movie in a theatre -

I was a mere 4 years old when I was taken to a showing of the legendary film 2001: a space odyssey. Why my father decided a 4 year old should attend a movie like this I'll never know but I would have to assume he thought it was merely a space adventure movie and there would be lots of color and explosions to keep me occupied. Regardless, see it I did and although I don't have clear recollection of actually being there, I do have very fond memories of growing up with the big deluxe vinyl soundtrack album. I used to play it over and over as I found the very odd tracks by Ligeti to be entrancing and spooky. It could be my natural passion for Hallowe'en as I often played the soundtrack in order to make our house seem more spooky to passer bys.

First vinyl album -

Throughout most of the '70s I had a best friend that was really into Johnny Cash. I mean really into Johnny Cash. As a result I pushed aside the Led Zeppelin albums littering most people's rooms at the time and mainly listened to Johnny Cash myself over and over again. Late one weekend night I caught this weird rock band wearing outlandish outfits and strange make-up and combining this with big pyrotechnics and a driving rock sound and lyrics. Well that was it for me as after that I was a solid Kiss fan!

The very next time my parents went out shopping I stopped by the record area and picked up their newest album for $5.99 and just played that sucker to death much to my parents chagrin. I slowly accrued all their older albums and soon started buying any magazine I could afford which featured them.

Good lord it all seems so embarassing now.

For the record, my first piece of music that wasn't children's music that I bought was a ABBA 45 single of Fernando! Then my first 8-Track that I was allowed to buy for a long road trip was Steve Miller's Book of Dreams. Luckily the early '80s came along and I developed an interest in music that was a tad less embarassing. My first Compact Disc ended up being Roxy Music's Avalon which I still have sitting on my shelf.

First movie I watched multiple times in the theatre -

When Star Wars hit the theatre in 1977 I just went nutzo! It was the single most amazing thing that I had ever seen and I somehow managed to convince my parents to attend multiple showings. When I was young I was exceedingly tiny and anytime somebody sat in front of me I really just couldn't see a damn thing. As a result I took to sitting in the very front seats which solved the problem as the seats weren't really all that close to the screen.

However one particular screening of Star Wars my parents went to some new fangled over-sized theatre and when I sat down I was looking almost straight up at the screen. Let me tell you that opening sequence in which the Imperial Cruisers come slowly flying down from the top of the screen is something I will never forget thanks to that HUGE screen.

My first pet -

I had an older brother and sister when I was growing up and although we often had pets in our family, the pet was always the family's or my brother's or sister's. While I was living in Oceanside and wandering the surrounding miles and miles of thick fields covered in high brush and railroad tracks I captured a California King Snake! I convinced my parents to let me keep him and despite the reservations of my sisters and mother concerning my ability to keep him caged I at last had my first pet!

Ah my goodness what a great snake he was too! Wild snakes, once they adapt to their surroundings, are a lot more docile than their raised in captivity brethren as they really appreciate their captivity. They're always in a warm environment, they always get fed, their owner who takes them out is warm and doesn't hurt them -- what's not to love?

I kept him as long as I could but eventually, as our family did so often, we moved on down the road and I let him go back into the wild. It still makes me sort of sad to think about it as no snake that I've owned after him has ever been as super awesome as that darn snake. I loved you Mr. Snake!

My First Vehicle -

It took me quite some time in my life before I actually got a car as I had a rather rough entry into the adult world through my own confused non-actions. One thing that my father did do for me however is to buy me this nifty Honda 450CM in order to get around a little bit. It wasn't great to ride on the freeway or anything, but it did allow me to get a job and get around the neighborhood in which I lived. This in turn led me to meeting what would be my first serious girlfriend which was quite a change in my life. Not bad for just a little putt-putt of a bike.

Well that's a small trip back through a few historic firsts in my life. What are some of yours?