Random Pics of the Month - September

Wow. I think I skipped this last month. Since I did those hero/villain posts, I guess I didn't need anymore random pics. Anyway, here are my random pics for the month. One involves an event that happened this month, another is a tease for another themed month, and another is just something to laugh at.

As you can tell by this pic, my birthday was this month and it was pretty good. It wasn't anything too special, but I really liked it. I've been on this Earth for 28 years and that's definitely a blessing in my life.

 

I'm doing a themed month based on one of these teams. Guess which one. Also, my costume for Halloween is probably in there somewhere.

Fringe is awesome and funny. 

 The original Battlestar Galactica is not as awesome, but it is okay and it even provides some laughs as you can see here.

Turtle Tracks - The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Franchise

Leonardo: All right, guys! Let's make some awesome poses... guys?

Raphael: Nah.

Michalangelo: I'm tired.

Donatello:  I'm cold! Say, do turtles even get cold?

So, it’s been about a few months since I wrote my piece on those four walking, talking turtles. I still haven't done anything with them yet! I guess since I've done a lot of other stuff since then, the Turtles just skipped my mind. Today, that’s going to change with my look at the four TMNT movies.

Background
I basically talked about my experiences with the four movies in my intro post to this segment. I already knew who the Turtles were before I saw the first movie because I watched the cartoon every Saturday. I saw some of the first movie when I was in Kindergarten. Our teacher took it out after the third “Damn.” Yes, there was some cussing in it, but I will say that it’s pretty tame when you look at the stuff that’s out now. Anyway, I eventually saw the rest of it later when I got older. I saw the second movie while my family and I were in Iowa for a vacation. I saw that thing twice that day.

I don’t know when I saw the third movie. I either rented it or it was on TV. Either way, I’ve seen it a couple of times. Suddenly, a decade and a half passes by and another TMNT movie comes out. I didn’t go see it in theatres since I was in college and money was short. When it came out on DVD, I rented it and I think I’ve only seen it a couple of times. Recently, I saw that Wal-Mart had all four movies grouped together in a box set, so I got it. I’ve watched all four movies over the weekend. What did I think of them? Find out below:

Music Retrospective: The Police - Conclusion

So, I’ve finally looked at all of these albums. I have to say that this was pretty different and fun. While I will be listing my favorite Police songs, I also have two other categories. First, I’ll list the six weirdest Police songs. Next I’ll rank the albums from least favorite to most favorite. Finally, I’ll list my ten favorite songs. I chose ten because it’s such a round, nice number that you can take to your parents’ home. Also, my last list stopped at ten. So with all of that out of the way, let’s finish this!

 

I really wish I got to see them play when they did their reunion a few years ago.

 

Weirdest Songs – The Police come up with some weird stuff to sing about, you know what I mean? While there are a lot more songs I could include, I’ll just leave it at six today. Besides, I did this category for each album anyway.

6. Masoko Tanga – This is probably the most incomprehensible song I’ve heard. The music’s great, but what in the heck is Sting saying? Is he drunk? Is calling up Cthulu? Is he live or dead? I just don’t get it.

5. Can’t Stand Losing You – The song’s awesome but it goes into the weird territory at the end when the guy threatens to off himself. I guess I now know what NOT to do in a break-up situation.

4. Be My Girl, Sally – It’s a song about a blow-up doll… yeah, it’s shocking. You really don’t find out about that until later in the song/poem. It’s just a weird song in general because it’s mostly a poem. Still, some of the things he says are funny.

3. Murder by Numbers –That’s right, folks!  It’s the song about “murder.” While it is an awesome song music-wise, the lyrics are pretty weird. One lyric even details how you could off someone. While I like the song, I won’t take its advice. I also hope you don’t take it to heart since there’s too much of that going on these days.

2. Don’t Stand So Close to Me – It’s the song about a teacher dating a student who’s half his age… Let’s move on quickly, shall we?

1. Mother – As I said once before, it’s the “little black spot” on the Police’s final album. As a song itself, it's okay. So, what makes the song weird? Other than the fact that it’s about a guy with major mother issues, it could be the chaotic music and the constant yelling.

Music Retrospective: The Police - Synchronicity

Well, it’s finally here. Synchronicity was the Police’s final album. You may think that the title is a made up word, but you would be wrong. Synchronicity is defined as “the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality.” There’s a little trivia for ya! Anyway, the album was released in June 1983 and it was a hit. It spawned four singles. It was after this album where the band split up and went their separate ways.  It’s said that it’s their most popular album, but is it any good? Let’s find out, shall we?

Synchronicity

Weird Star Trek Eps. - Conspiracy aka "Stomach Monster!?!?!?!?"

Remember when I said that the First Season of TNG was pretty sub-par? Well, there are a few exceptions to that. While there were stinkers, there were some episodes that were actually pretty good. Today's episode is "Conspiracy." It's actually a follow-up to the episode "Coming of Age." In that episode, Picard was under investigation from Starfleet because the higher ups believed something was happening and they needed to trust him. It also featured Wesley Crusher heavily. It's an okay episode all-around.

In this episode, Picard is contacted by a  captain from another ship. He and other captains believe that there is some sort of conspiracy going in with Starfleet. Picard begins to suspect it more when the captain who contacted him dies. The Enterprise heads back to Earth to speak with Starfleet command. Admiral Quinn and Lt. Remmerick (the officers who headed the investigation) show up and one of them decides to stay on the Enterprise for a visit while Picard is on Earth. It's revealed that most of Starfleet's admirals had been taken over by alien parasites and that the parasites were a precursor for an invasion. They try to infect Picard but Riker shows up and a fight ensues. Picard and Riker end up finding the Queen of the parasites  (in one of the grossest ways) and kill it. We end the episode with the crisis averted and a sign that the parasites might return... or not as it turns out.

Picard: What the He--- Kill it! Kill it with FIRE!!!!

It's not one of their best episodes, but it is a pretty decent one. It's pretty action-packed as well. Admiral Quinn gets into a fight with Riker, Geordi, and Worf which was pretty cool and pretty funny. The stakes are pretty high since Starfleet has been infiltrated by these things. What throws this episode into "Freakin' Weird" territory is what happens at the end. Picard and Riker find out that Remmerick (the other investigator) is essentially the queen of these parasites. They blast him with their phasers and the dude literally blows up. Then, the actual queen rises out of what's left of the man and the two repulsed officers kill it. That was probably the most gruesome thing I've seen on something involving Star Trek. I mean, ... "Freakin' Weird, Man!!!"

Get down! He's gonna blow!!!

Another thing that makes this episode a weird one is that the parasites never show up after this.They don't get any mention after the season. I  read somewhere that they would have been brought back but they weren't for some reason. I don't remember the reason. It may have had something to do with the Borg though I may be thinking about the next episode "The Neutral Zone." I do know that this is a decent episode from a pretty sub-par season. If you want to see why the show stayed on the air, check this out. Before you check this one out, check out "Coming of Age" first. If you can tolerate Wesley, you'll be alright.

Trek Novels - Star Trek: Sarek

'Sup, guys! Well, it’s another day and another Trek Novel. Yes, it’s back once again. As I said before, I’ll try to do these every-so-often when I read one from my collection or find one that’s worth talking about. Today’s book is a mix of both. About a month ago, I was in Murfreesboro looking around at Outer Limits. I saw this book and read the little blurb in the cover, so I bought it. It took a while to read it but when I got about a quarter into the book, I couldn’t stop reading it. I read it throughout last weekend.

The book is Star Trek: Sarek by A.C. Crispin. I did a little research on the author and it turns out she has done a lot of sci-fi books. She’s done stuff for Star Trek, Star Wars, and even V. I also found out that she just recently passed away, and that kind of made me want me finish the book. The book takes place about a month after the events of Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country. At the end of that movie, The Federation and the Klingon Empire were trying to make peace with one another. Instead of doing a long synopsis that’ll take a while, I’ll just browse over the main plot and mention some things.

Star Trek: Sarek

Author: A.C. Crispin

QUICK BLURB

When tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire are brewing, Ambassador Sarek discovers a shocking conspiracy that involves a very secretive race. He and the Enterprise must deal with this as his wife, Amanda, has passed away. Also, Cadet Peter Kirk, James T. Kirk’s nephew, gets pulled into the Federation/Klingon situation as well.

Graphic Novels - Ultimate X-Men Vol. 2: Return to Weapon X

This installment of Graphic Novels is brought to you by Robocop, another remake and more of a sign that Hollywood wants to relive the 80’s. They've even dragged Nick Fury, Batman, Commissioner Gordon, and Rorschach into it as well.

Well, it’s another day and another Ultimate Universe trade. Instead of Ultimate Spider-Man, which I’ll get to eventually, it’s another issue of “Marvel’s Not-So-Merry mutants”: the X-Men. It’s the second volume of the series and it contains Ultimate X-Men #7-#12. The creative team for the issues is more or less the same. Writer Mark Miller and penciller Adam Kubert are back. This time, Kubert is assisted by Tom Raney and Tom Derenick for penciling the issues. On inks, Art Thibert is back with assists from Danny Miki, Larry Stucker, and the late Joe Kubert. With all of that said, let’s get to it!

SYNOPSIS

We start the story with an extended chase between Nightcrawler (!!!!) and a group of soldiers who look like they’re working for SHIELD. It's eventually revealed that the Weapon X program was sanctioned by SHIELD in this universe. Kurt is soon captured by the organization and the head is none other than Colonel Wraith, the man responsible for capturing Logan in the first volume. We then shift scenes to an abandoned Weapon X facility in Arizona. Logan is checking it out and searching for clues to his past. He’s also in telepathic contact with Xavier. At the Mansion, Jean is doing a checkup on Hank since his big operation.

We then go across the world and find out what Storm, Cyclops, and Colossus are up to. They’re apparently being interviewed by a Japanese pop star. The X-Men have actually become celebrities in Japan. They even sign some autographs. It’s here where some hooded figure brushes up against Peter to find the location of the Mansion. This person is none other than Rogue (!!!) and she is working (against her will of course) with Wraith in order to force the X-Men join Weapon X.

Graphic Novels - Crisis on Infinite Earths

It’s my first trade in about a month, so I might as well do a story that ended a universe. As you can tell by the title and side photo, it’s another Crisis event. It’s not just another Crisis event, it’s “The” Crisis event. Crisis on Infinite Earths was one of DC’s first major crossovers. It was a 12-issues maxi-series that started in 1985 and ended in 1986.  It was actually the event that helped DC get some things straight continuity-wise. It also led to most heroes getting their entire histories rewritten. Characters like Batman and Green Lantern essentially remained the same while characters like Superman and Wonder Woman underwent major changes… I’m sensing some déjà vu here.

The creative team for was essentially a team of all-stars. The writer was Marv Wolfman who’s known for his work on this book, The New Teen Titans, The Adventures of Superman, and many other books. The penciller for the interior art and covers was George Perez. Perez is also known for doing art in books that include The New Teen Titans, Avengers, Action Comics, and JLA/Avengers. I can easily say that he’s one of my favorites. The inkers on this series were Dick Giordano, Mike DeCarlo, and Jerry Ordway. Their names are also well known. The colorist was Tom McCraw and the letterer was John Constanza.

For a while, I actually thought about going into detail with all 12 issues. I did it with Infinite Crisis and Zero Hour (hey, it’s a Crisis event in my eyes). I’ve decided not to do it with this one for a couple of reasons. First, this thing is DENSE. It’s 12 extended issues. It may even be too dense for me to really give it a good, thorough look. The other reason is that I really don’t want to spend too much time on this one. Besides, I got to save October for something (hint, hint).

I’ll just be doing a simple synopsis… well, as simple as something that involves time travel, multiverses, and over 100 characters.  I’ll give my opinion on the story. Finally, I’ll list some highlights and favorite moments. With that said, let’s jump on the Cosmic Treadmill and see what’s out there… I just used “cosmic treadmill” in a sentence… ‘Bout time, I say!