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Standard Setting Policy + Good personality and interaction with the policy = Great Book

Fellow sci-fi enthusiasts, 2013 isn't quite over, but it is close. Clearly a list of explosive titles that will be flooding onto shelves early next year is in order, but before announcing early 2014 book release dates, I thought I'd mention one from 2013 that I'm waiting on. Ben Bova's Mars, Inc.: The Billionaire's Club stands by itself in the world. This hard sci-fi book has no previous installations to drag it down. What's more, rather than being a politically fueled action explosion, it's a politically fueled right-wing world rescue.

One of the most commonly employed tactics for grounding the characters in our favorite sci-fi books is the development of the government and policies and how the people interact with them in their everyday lives. It sets the standard and helps to develop the strong main character that we need to stand out in a story. In fact, it holds a great number of our favorite sci-fi books together. As I'm speaking strictly from a Democratic standpoint, you might wonder about my interest in such a piece. It's just this: The wide array of ice cream flavors in the world should not go untasted. No matter our preferences, our politics, or our principles, our lives are full of people we don't agree with. To not read something that sounds so delightfully interesting simply because it takes a tone that opposes my view on politics would likely cause me to miss out on good reads. It's important to immerse ourselves in the lives and minds tucked between the sentences of a book or two that oppose us. I think you'll find that it's often rewarding to do so, but you don't have to look much farther than the summary to see why this book will be amazing. Set to release in December of this year, I think Mars Inc. might have what it takes to blow us away.

How do you get to the Red Planet? Not via a benighted government program trapped in red tape and bound by budget constrictions, that’s for sure. No, what it will take is a helping of adventure, science, corporate powerplays, a generous dollop of seduction—both in and out of the boardroom—and money, money, money!

Art Thrasher knows this. He is a man with a driving vision: send humans to Mars. The government has utterly failed, but Thrasher has got the plan to accomplish such a feat: form a “club” or billionaires to chip in one billion a year until the dream is accomplished. But these are men and women who are tough cookies, addicted to a profitable bottom-line, and disdainful of pie-in-the-sky dreamers who want to use their cash to make somebody else’s dreams come true.

But Thrasher is different from the other dreamers in an important regard: he’s a billionaire himself, and the president of a successful company. But it’s going to take all his wiles as a captain of industry and master manipulator of business and capital to overcome setbacks and sabotage—and get a rocket full of scientist, engineers, visionaries, and dreamers on their way to the Red Planet.

The man for the job has arrived. Art Thrasher is prepared to do whatever it takes to humans on Mars—or die trying!

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - Constellation Vol. 2 is a space opera/hard sci-fi book omnibus/compilation of short stories set to release in January 2014.

David Weber - Like A Mighty Army is a hard sci-fi book, the seventh in the Safehold series and the sequel of Midst Toil and Tribulation. It is set to release in February 2014.
Get the summary and pricing here!

Ann Vandermeer - Time Traveler's Almanac is a hard sci-fi book set to release in March 2014.
Get the summary and pricing here!

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson - Mentats of Dune is hard sci-fi and the most recent in the wide array of Dune books in the series. It is also the sequel to Sisterhood of Dune. It's set to release in March 2014.
Get the pricing here!

David, Eric, and Flint Webber - Cauldron of Ghosts is a hard sci-fi book and number three in the Crown of Slaves series. It is the sequel to Torch of Freedom and Crown of Slaves, and is scheduled for release in April 2014.
Get the summary and pricing here!

C. J. Cherryh - Peacemaker is a hard sci-fi book and no. 15 in the Foreigner series. It's the sequel to Protector and should be released in April 2014.
Get the summary and pricing here!

Larry Benford and Larry Niven - Shipstar is a hard sci-fi book and the sequel to Bowl of Heaven. It is hoped that it will be released in April 2014.

The Sea Without a Shore is supposed to be fairly action packed, I suppose we shall see, but David Drake has my bet.

Taylor Anderson - Deadly Shores is the ninth book in the Destroyermen series and sequel of Storm Surge. It's an alternate history/hard sci-fi book set to release in May 2014.

David Drake - The Sea Without a Shore is a hard sci-fi work and book ten in the Leary & Mundy/RCN series. Sequel to Road of Danger, Sea Without a Shore will be released in May 2014.

Although I haven't purchased and read all of the previous volumes in these series, the RCN series is one that I did, and I must say, it's one I'll remember. The story is space opera-ish, taking place during a time of near-faltering peace, which hangs by a thread. Like most cracked treaties, this one is subject to revolt by a faction headed by someone who can only be described as a ghost who may not even be real. The main character, Lt. Daniel Leary is charged with reestablishing peace, and his partner is the brains of the operation and a cyber-skilled tech beast. Did I mention she's female? It's a fun and classic read and one that I recommend. In my opinion, it warrants the reading of The Sea Without A Shore.
Get the summary and pricing here!

Jack Campbell - Steadfast is the new sequel to Guardian, of the Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier series. It's a military hard sci-fi book set to be released in May 2014.

Orson Scott Card - Earth Awakens is the second book in the First Formic War series and sequel to Earth Afire. This hard sci-fi book will be released in June 2014.

With such a line up, it's sure to be a great year!

Waves of villainous titles continue to pummel the stands as DC's Forever Evil event marches on. With so many colorfully criminal covers barraging me at the shop, I didn't know where to go next. Following my revelation from Green Lantern 23.3, I decided to try a villain I knew nothing about. My search led me to the nefarious Ocean Master, bane of boats and boogie boarders everywhere who's highlighted in Aquaman 23.2.

This title is immediately set apart from its predecessors by the title page. Ocean Master boasts the creative team of the Aquaman ongoing series as well as story help from Tony Bedard. Ocean Master is somewhat disappointing, however, as it starts just moments before Forever Evil 1. When the story opens, Ocean Master sits in prison with his lawyer, preparing for the trial to come. This is a tactful choice on John's part because it's a great way to play catch up in a natural way that doesn't bog down the story or TAKE THE WHOLE ISSUE. (cough Sinestro) It also allows for a nice little plant in which a security guard shows Orm some love and brings him a glass of water. (Atlanteans are easy to shop for.)

Just as the lawyer finishes making a case for Ocean Master's need to make a case, the Society of Evil takes over the world as per Forever Evil 1 and everything falls apart. In the ensuing chaos, Belle Reve Penitentiary is blown wide open, and Ocean Master is given a nice character moment when he stumbles across the guard we'll refer to as The Water Boy, lying beaten and crippled. The best villains are fully functional characters, not just angry guys with hammers who smash things. Here you get to enjoy the mentality of Ocean Master as he repays the kindness shown to him in his own way: by putting the guard out of his misery. It's fast, its ruthless, and it's a nice fake-out. Character development is certainly imminent. Following The Water Boy's death, Ocean Master pulls a Forrest Gump and goes for a walk, slowly but surely making his way to the sea. His journey brings him to a diner, where he turns his brutality on some fellow recently liberated villains. One quick costume change later and he marches on, leaving behind a woman he has rescued by slaying the other inmates. (Whether this was intentional or not I'll leave up to you.)

Just down the road, Orm comes across the house of the waitress who, with super speed, has arrived to her home ahead of Ocean Master and is setting a new record for the number of times a single person can be a damsel in less than an hour. As the world is turned upside down, will Orm save the woman? Can the rule of thirds be fulfilled? The answer is yes and no. The comic comes to an open ending with Ocean Master returning to his namesake, only to emerge moments later and race back to the woman's house.

This issue is conflicting. Outside of Batman 23.2 we haven't really seen much of what villains are up to following the events of Forever Evil 1. This issue occurred maybe 10 minutes into this wonderland for villains and wrong-doers. Sure, we saw Orm walk around and race off to do something exciting, with the final panel promising this is "not the end," but I expect that whatever comes after that final panel will be what all of these issues are about. Still, I have to say I enjoyed this comic the most of the Villains Month titles I have tried so far; it was a fun way to meet a villain and have some character moments.

Did you get to check out Aquaman 23.2? What did you think? There's something to these less-established villains. Stay tuned to our Villains Month Spotlight to see who we explore next.

Sonic is no stranger to the world of children's entertainment. First  adapted to an animated series in the early 1990s in the form of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic sped his way out of your Mega Drive console to your living room TV every weekday morning. This incarnation of Sonic is famously known for generating the famous "Touching People is No Good" YouTube clips that went on to create the infamous Pingas meme.

That's one buffed Knuckles.

Following this series was the darker toned Sonic the Hedgehog, or Sonic SatAM. This series first introduced the world to the freedom fighters and the world of Mobius currently used in the Archie series.

After Sonic SatAM came Sonic Underground. Most people prefer to forget about this series, but it did provide the first cartoon appearance of Knuckles and the chaos emeralds.

Finally, there was Sonic X. This series was loosely adapted from the post Adventure series games.

For those purists, Sonic did have one more animated appearance in the form of two ovas. Released outside of Japan as Sonic the Movie, this set of ovas introduces a storyline and setting separate from the games as well as other previously released material.

Joining these previous animated outings will soon be a CGI series. Coming in fall 2014, Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles will grace your TV in a series of 11-minute episodes.

Press release as follows:

Sonic Boom is a character-driven comedy that leaves a trail of robot wreckage in its smoldering wake. The series centers on Sonic, his best friend and sidekick, Tails, their never-ending search for adventure, and their battles with Sonic's arch-nemesis, Dr. Eggman. Rounding out the ensemble are fan favorites Knuckles and Amy Rose, plus a rogue's gallery of enemies—some familiar to Sonic fans and some brand-new.

Evan Baily, Donna Friedman Meir, and Jane McGregor, Executive Producers for SEGA, packaged the series, bringing together SEGA, Cartoon Network, and Genao Productions. Sandrine Nguyen and Boris Hertzog, Executive Producers for Genao, assembled a world-class lineup of partners in France, including broadcasters GULLI and CANAL J, Lagardere Entertainment Rights, and Lagardère Active TV Licensing & New Business. Baily, Meir, and Nguyen developed the series, and Hertzog and McGregor structured the financing and negotiated all the deals. Baily (formerly EVP of Production and Creative Affairs for Classic Media) and Co-Executive Producer Bill Freiberger (The Simpsons, Drawn Together) are showrunners. Takashi Iizuka, the head of Sonic Team and driving creative force behind the Sonic games, is overseeing the series to ensure that it's true to the Sonic characters and universe.

"Sonic is the star of the SEGA universe and the stage is now set for him to shine like never before. By teaming up with world-class partners in television animation like Cartoon Network, Genao Productions and GULLI, we're ensuring that the Sonic legacy will be introduced to a new generation of children across the globe," said Hiroyuki Miyazaki, SEGA's Chief Content Officer for Sonic.

"We wanted to strengthen our TV channels' editorial content with strong brands. This is our new objective. Sonic is an enormously popular and unique character with all the qualities of an animation series' great hero—humor, bravery, loyalty, inventiveness. We are extremely proud to welcome him across our kids and family channels at Lagardère Active and will activate across these channels to raise awareness and excitement for the new series," said Caroline Cochaux, Head of Programs, Kids & Family Channels, Lagardère Active.

"Genao is thrilled to collaborate with SEGA on this amazing project and embark on new adventures with the fastest hedgehog in the world. It is so exciting to work on such a world-class brand," said Sandrine Nguyen, Managing Director of Genao.

Emmanuelle Bouilhaguet, Managing Director of Lagardere Entertainment Rights added "It is an amazing experience to be associated to such a powerful property with professional partners. International broadcasters are seeking for strong comedy and franchise based series and Sonic Boom is the perfect fit!"

"On the New Business & Licensing Side, we are proud and excited to handle the representation of Sonic, which counts among the leading characters loved by kids. Thanks to our 360° platform which includes Digital Activities, Magazines, Indoor Parks, Grass Root events, we will push Sonic and the Consumer Products to a new level," said Benoit Roque, Head of Lagardere Active TV Licensing & New Business.

SEGA is actively seeking partners in support of the new series launch across a range of industries including broadcast and licensing. In terms of television and digital distribution, Lagardere Entertainment Rights holds worldwide rights excluding the U.S. and Asia (but including Japan); SEGA Corporation will manage Asia (excluding Japan); Baily, Meir, and McGregor will manage the U.S. through McGregor's company Jane McGregor, Inc. Licensing support will be spearheaded by Lagardère Active TV Licensing & New Business in France and SEGA in all other territories.

Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared as a video game character in June 1991 and instantly became an icon for a generation of gamers. Defined by his super-fast speed and cool attitude, in the years since he first raced on to video game consoles Sonic has become a true global phenomenon with over 140 million video games sold or downloaded worldwide across consoles, PC's, mobile phones and tablets. SEGA's iconic blue blur has also gone on to enjoy incredible success in many licensed areas, such as toys, apparel, comics and animation. This year SEGA announced an exciting three-title exclusive partnership with Nintendo for the Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise. The highly anticipated Sonic Lost World™ will be the first title to launch under this agreement and will be available in stores later this year for Wii U™ and Nintendo 3DS™ platforms.

Source -Sonic Boom (Working Title) – A New Animated Series Coming Fall 2014

This Job For Hire episode 2 is now live. In this episode:

In his search for employment, Michael attempts to bypass his agent Brandon entirely and go a different route, interviewing for a teaching position. It's time for Michael to learn a new lesson: perhaps Brandon is the one with the true hook-up.

You can view the episode using the following link:


 

You can also check out the previous episode here:

Want to know what happened the past few days in nerd culture? WEEK IN GEEK is your quick fix to catch up with the rest of the fanboys out there.

MOVIES

A raccoon named Oreo will serve as the model for Rocket Raccoon in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

My take: This is a much better choice than just going with Bradley Cooper ;) Joking aside, Oreo's a cute little guy and I still have my reservations about this movie.

Here's a trailer for the Need for Speed movie starring Aaron Paul.


My take: I won't be seeing it.

Artist Daniel James Cox has posted on his website concept art of Galactus as a humanoid in the Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer film that we never got to see.

My take: It's much better than the cloud, even though that was by far not the worst mistake the movie made and isn't the only reason why it was so poorly received.

Is Michael B. Jordan playing Will Smith's son in Independence Day 2? Some sources indicate that this is a possibility.

My take: Makes sense to me. Jordan's a good actor and he's about the right age to take on a big role as Smith's son in it.

A new Tarzan reboot is coming our way and some casting rumors are going around. Christoph Waltz may be Captain Rom, a Belgian soldier who wants to capture Tarzan in exchange for diamonds. Emma Stone or Margot Robbie may end up being Jane.

My take: There's a new Tarzan every couple of years. Meh.

VIDEO GAMES

Here is a trailer showing the Deathstroke gameplay for Batman: Arkham Origins. Enjoy!


My take: Looks cool.

Speculation that Beenox/Activision will announce a new Spider-Man game at New York Comic-Con.

My take: More on this to come, but if indeed there is a new game, I'm sure it'll be making a lot of fans happy.

Since the Wii U version of Batman: Arkham Origins will not have multiplayer, the cost has been decreased $10.

My take: That's how business should be done. Having less content means it isn't worth as much, so they should have decreased the price. Good job! Thank you, on behalf of every reasonable person out there.

We're getting a Kick-Ass 2 inspired game.

My take: Cool.

TELEVISION

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD was the biggest network debut in more than a year, earning a 4.6/14 with 11.9 million total viewers according to The Wrap.

My take: Always nice to see geek culture taking charge!

Another comic book character from DC will be showing up on this season of Arrow, as Dylan Neal will be playing Dr. Anthony Ivo, aka Professor Ivo, the creator of the Amazo android.

My take: The more references, the better!

Constantine may be another DC Comics entity that is coming to television screens, joining the Flash and Gotham (as well as Arrow of course).

My take: I'm not a big fan of the Constantine series, so I might actually not be checking this out. The Justice League Dark idea sounded interesting to me but flawed, so if this kills it, I'm not particularly hurt.

COMIC BOOKS

Artist Neal Adams lost 30 years worth of some of his artwork in a NYC taxi recently.

My take: I can only imagine the frustration.

There’s a lot of buzz around comic shops these days. Various events and publishing initiatives from the big two are constantly lining the shelves with waves of new titles. This coupled with the work being done by Image and other companies to stand out from the pack has led to quite a bit of comic discussion. Some books I try, and others I don’t, but every now and again I pick up a book to cut through the hullabaloo to see what all the fuss is about. This week I took Greg Rucka’s Lazarus for a spin.

Lazarus is quite clearly the beginning of something big. It tactfully uses the usually empty page behind the cover to quickly set up the world. While this makes for a few short, exposition heavy paragraphs, it does allow the book to get off to a quick start. We are in a world that’s divided not by governments, but families in a style reminiscent of Game of Thrones’ Westeros. People are lumped into three categories that resemble the cast system used during the dark ages; the royalty is consolidated into a single family, while serfs remain the worker bees and a group called the “waste” sit as a collective of everyone else. Each family chooses a member to become its Lazarus, or guardian. The very first time we see Forever “Eve” Carlyle, Lazarus of the Carlyle family and our leading lady, she’s dead, well, almost.

She describes with a cold demeanor the location of every bullet that impacts her then finally shuts her eyes for a little while. Earning her title, she recovers from several fatale blows moments later and easily kills her would be assassins who turn out to be hungry Waste seeking sustenance. This sends a conflicted Forever to the doctor for examination. This scene worked nicely and was a tactful way to navigate an information dump.

A check up later and Forever is clear for duty, though, its clear through ominous dialogue that the doctor is in some how cahoots with others to regulate her moods and thought processes. All of this passes by the highly trained warrior, however, which sends Eve heading home. There she reconvenes with her brother, Jonah, to discuss the attempt on her life. Jonah pushes Forever to believe the assault was done by the rival Morray family, although more heavily ominous dialogue leads us to see it very well could be the early workings of an inner family feud.(Sadly this kind doesn't have Drew Carrey)

The facility in which Forever was attacked was only accessible by certain individuals who were all round up and interrogated. Jonah quickly reminds Forever of their family’s gruesome policy and vehemently pushes her to kill them all unless the traitor does not reveal his or her self. Upon hearing this, one elderly man sacrifices himself. Although the book to this point was slow, there is a fine piece character moment here. Lazarus 1 finally comes to a close with Forever back at the doctor, getting yet another check up after the “unpleasantness”. Despite his prods she insists she’s fine.


Lazarus ends there on a bit of a whimper. The story went fast and I can’t say it felt like much happened although it’s clear that this is a world with lots of moving parts in which much can happen. My one real frustration came with the narration panels. There were no distinguishing marks on any of them. You could tell who was speaking after a moment, but I think that momentary pause breaks the suspension of disbelief and for that the story suffers. If this is a sign of things to come, I may throw Lazarus on my trade wait list. Wait did you think of Lazarus? The new story by Greg Rucka continues tomorrow when issue five hits the stands along with volume one collecting the first four issues.

Why do we love gaming? It's a medium wholly dependent upon our input. This gives games the power to impact us in completely unique ways. As a result of that, games become memorable to us for reasons completely different than the written word, or movies and television. This is dedicated to the most memorable moments in gaming.

When I was seven, for my birthday I received a Sega Genesis. Sega's landmark was a little franchise called Sonic the Hedgehog. But this isn't about the first game. This is about what would become a series staple, debuted in the sequel. Going Super Sonic. One of video game's MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS!

Super Sonic was something special when it was first introduced. But what made Super Sonic special wasn't the fact that it was just a powerup. Everything that went into Super Sonic made it feel special. You needed to earn seven mystical gems called the Chaos Emeralds. Once you had all seven, and at least fifty rings, jumping into the air caused the blue hedgehog to turn golden. Super Sonic was like Mario's Starman blended with hookers and blow. While Starman had a time limit, Super Sonic lasted as long as Sonic had rings. It made the already speedy Sonic even faster, not to mention impervious.


Super Sonic was special because you had to EARN it. Well. Or cheat your balls off. But when Sonic 2 was new, cheats were much harder to come by. The internet wasn't really a thing. And while we're being honest, the minigames that you had to go through to collect the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic 2? Impossible. But the fact that it was so difficult to unlock just added to the mystique. Sega would eventually tone down the difficulty slightly by changing the minigame in Sonic 3, but gathering all the emeralds still felt like a special accomplishment.

The Chaos Emeralds were always a part of Sonic the Hedgehog, but were utilized best from Sonic 2 - Sonic & Knuckles. These games implemented the emeralds perfectly. In Sonic 1, the emeralds were still in the game, but their impact was incredibly minimal. The next three titles would introduce and sustain their use as a prerequisite for Super Sonic. Sonic Adventure would go on to add the Chaos Emeralds as a plot device. Making the gems part of the story took away some of the allure.

Back when they were useless there were only six.

The emeralds were the ultimate in game collectible at the time. You could play through any of the Sega Genesis era 2D Sonic games and not know they were there. We all DID know, of course. Even before the internet. We had to, sometimes literally, jump through hoops to obtain them. They were exclusive. They were illusive. Once you've had the taste of Super Sonic power, there is no going back. You always WILL jump through those hoops. And that's why Super Sonic is one of video game's most memorable moments.

Rose Colored Reviews is back with another episode!


Original artwork courtesy of Amber Kerkove

In this episode, I discuss one of the most memorable British sitcoms since "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "The Young Ones." I will also give you the backstory of the entire series and give you my fond memories of this wonderful show.

Welcome back to your Monday morning pick-me-up, the Fanboys Anonymous Wipeout of the Week. You can now officially expect to see a gif of someone or something falling, slipping, tripping, flipping, or getting hit in the nuts to help make that Monday grind go by a little easier.

This week we return to the daring youths that choose skateboards as their preferred mode of transport. While the initial spill may not seem like much, just wait for it... wait for it...

BAM!

Poor guy. Just as he thought he didn't embarrass himself on camera too bad, he gets smacked right in the face with a heavy reminder of his mistake. Moral of the story: Never drop your guard down. Wow, a lesson here on the Wipeout of the Week.

Thanks to fellow FBA contributor Travis Goss for suggesting this weeks Wipeout of the Week.

After two failed attempts through Kickstarter to help fund the spiritual successor to the 2002 Nintendo Gamecube cult classic, "Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem," Precursor Games has made the official announcement in which "Shadow of the Eternals" is being put on hold as the team sets out to create other projects.

Courtesy of Precursor Games

According a forum post by the Precursor Team, this is what they have said:

It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to put the Shadow of the Eternals project on hold. We are very happy with what we have accomplished both as a group and with the community. The community has blown us away and was the one thing that kept us going through it all - we cannot thank you enough.

Many of us will be taking a break. For those who are not aware, we all worked on this project as a labor of love and self financed 100% of everything for a over a year to try to make Shadow of the Eternals a reality. Although we did not succeed on doing this, we succeeded in making many friends and starting something that we hope provided value for those involved. We have no regrets.

Denis, Phil and Aaron have decided to continue to run the forums for those who wish to stay hang out and talk. Denis, Phil and Aaron will also be taking a break but will be around posting and talking with everyone when they can. Others from Precursor will also be popping in from time to time.

Is the project dead? No, but we feel it needs a rest too. We have all agreed as a group that when and if the time is right we will get together and start it up again.

Keep your head high everyone and remember what we have accomplished together.

While this is a major setback for those who were wanting for this game to be completed, it is no surprise it failed to reach its goal. I do not believe this will be the last we will have heard of this game. As for now, it is a bummer.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, directed by Cody Cameron & Kris Pearn, written by Judi Barrett, Ron Barett, John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Erica Rivinoja. Starring Bill Hader (Flint Lockwood), Anna Faris (Sam Sparks), James Caan (Tim Lockwood), Will Forte (Chester V), Andy Samberg (Brent McHale), Benjamin Bratt (Manny), Neil Patrick Harris (Steve), Terry Crews (Earl Deveraux) and Kristen Schaal (Barb).

What is the forecast for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2? TL;DR = it's not as good as the first one and if you removed the puns, it would kind of suck. But let's go a little deeper into things and examine why this is the case. It's time for another REVIEWPOINT as we break down the film's hits and misses.


As always, let's start with the bad news first.


1. OVERLY SIMPLE PLOT

As this is a children's film, it naturally isn't going to be as complex as something like The Godfather or as intricate in detail as Inception, but that doesn't mean it needs to be stripped down to just a few bullet points on an outline. The entire film is basically just "remind us of the previous film, Flint has a hero who is like an evil Steve Jobs, they go to the island and it turns out the evil dude is evil and you shouldn't kill the living creatures, so they don't" and really nothing more.

2. LACK OF CHARACTER GROWTH

Mostly all of the characters have essentially nothing to do. In the first film, Flint's dad grew to be proud of his son and understand him, Brent went from being a jerk to being his friend, Sam and Flint fell in love, etc. However, they're just simply friends in this and the only characters that actually go anywhere are Barb and Flint.


1. THE PUNS

Easily the best parts of the movie are the puns. Here is a list of some of the Foodimals in the movie that aren't "just a tomato":

Barry the Strawberry (one of the stars of the movie)
Susheep (sushi/sheep)
Wild Scallions (wild stallion - look like giraffe / brontosaurus animals)
Peanut butter and jellyfish
Applie pie-thon
Bananostrich (weird execution on that one; they sound and look more like dolphins with legs)
Cantalope
Cucumbird
Meatbalrus (meatball walrus)
Double Bacon Cheesespider (which acted like a bit of a dog/spider hybrid)
Flamango (I was not compensated for my work on this film)
Fruit Cockatiel (I thought these were pineapple owl combos before I looked this up, so I naturally thought they were pineappowls)
Hippotato (nice touch having the potato/hippopotamus foodimals with chives for teeth)
Sasquash
Shrimpanzee
Tacodile Supreme (with habanero peppers for legs)
Watermelophant (watermelon elephants)
Wildabeet (wildebeest vs beets)

My favorite pun? The leek in the boat:


2. THE MARSHMALLOWS

These things were so cute that I had to give them their own section. Just look at them! In particular, the one that wanted Flint to pet it. Adorable.



Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs falls short of being as good as the first one (or better). It's still fun to sit through if you're a fan of puns, but once you've heard all the puns, it doesn't have much substance outside of that.

Would I recommend it? Don't watch it in theatres. Just check it out in a cheaper method if you're up for something light.

If you want to check out some more recent Reviewpoint articles: White House Down | The Lone Ranger | Man of Steel | Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox | The Wolverine | Turbo | Kick-Ass 2

"I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And, I was really...I was alive." -Walter White

It's hard to believe that Breaking Bad is over, but in ending when (and how) it did, it cemented its place in television history as one of the best television shows in history (arguably THE best, but that's not a debate to have right now). If I had to sum up this episode in one word, it would be "closure." Just like in the previous 61 episodes, things just clicked in a way that was not at all obvious yet made perfect sense for the story, and this episode proved that even in his endgame, Heisenberg was as brilliant as ever.

I had no idea where this scene was going, and it was absolutely perfect.

When Walt was trying to track down Gretchen and Elliot, I truly believed he was planning to kill them. Then I was proved wrong when he gave them all of his money and demanded that they give it all to Walt Jr. on his 18th birthday as a trust, and he (perfectly logically) explained that it would make sense coming from them due their history with Walt and the fact that they've proven to be extremely charitable when it comes to people suffering from the consequences of drugs. The scene only got better when the sniper beams targeted the two of them, and Walt's threat if they chose not to give the money to Junior or if they gave any of their own money instead was amazing. And leave it to Breaking Bad to make the scene EVEN BETTER by revealing that the two hit men were actually Badger and Skinny Pete with laser pointers and having them be the ones to have Walt realize that Jesse was still alive and cooking. A great final scene for those two characters.

Walt's last goodbye to his family (minus his son) actually did make me very emotional. After all it was in this scene that Walt finally admitted what's been obvious to us viewers for a long time now: that his "all for family" excuse was bullshit. He's done what's he done, as the quote I opened this review with states, for himself, and all because he liked it. Obviously Bryan Cranston played this scene very well, but Anna Gunn was right up there with him, and you could see her regain so much respect for her husband for finally being honest about something. It would've been nice to see them again after the scene, but the physical evidence that Walt gave her should be enough for the cops and DEA to let her off the hook. As I voted in Story Sync, that scene was both fitting and tragic.

Then Walt tracked down Jack, and the whole thing was turned up to 11. Finally seeing Walt's contraption in use to take everyone down was so visceral and so, so satisfying. As was seeing Walt still try to protect Jesse by tackling him to the ground and taking a bullet himself in the process. And I wanted to cheer when Jesse got his revenge on Todd and took him out. It was pretty sad (but absolutely right) to see that Jesse and Walt's relationship was truly beyond repair, and I was also relieved that Jesse didn't pull the trigger. Even if Jesse didn't notice that Walt had been shot, I personally don't think he would've been the one to kill Walt. As much of a monster as Walt is and as much as he deserved to die, I still don't think Jesse could bear to kill one more person he didn't absolutely need to kill, especially since that person did just save his life and free him.

Finally we got the absolute right ending for the series; Jesse was free to create whatever life he wanted for himself, and Walt was left alone to die. The fact that he died in a lab- the place he felt most at home- was perfect. Goodbye, Walter White/Heisenberg. The slogan for these final episodes was "Remember My Name." Indeed we will.

Random Thoughts

• That flashback showing Jesse making his box, the one thing in school he truly put all his efforts into, and the abrupt cut to his current state in the lab was heartbreaking.
• The very quick flashbacks to the previous flash forward scenes were an extremely effective way to get us all up to speed again, and I also loved the flashback to the very first episode while Walt was standing in the living room.
• I absolutely loved Lydia's death. Walt once again showed his genius by recognizing her habits and planting the ricin for her to put into her tea, and kudos to Vince Gilligan- the writer and director of "Felina"- for making it obvious without explicitly showing Walt do it. Then seeing her at the end clearly close to death and having Walt tell her what he did was awesome.
• Speaking of Vince Gilligan's directing, there were so many great shots in this episode, from Lydia unknowingly adding the ricin to her tea to the reveal of Walt hiding out at the Schwartz residence and the reveal of Walt there in the kitchen with Skyler.
• We never did find out what "Felina" means in the episode, but considering it's an anagram of "finale," maybe that's all the meaning we need. If anyone knows something that I don't, please sound off in the comments!

I just want to say thank you. Thank you to everyone involved in Breaking Bad for five incredible seasons, all topped off with a fantastic ending, and thank you to everyone who has actually read my reviews and helped our little site grow just a bit more every week. That may be all for my Breaking Bad coverage, but keep checking back to see what we're up to here at Fanboys Anonymous! And I leave you all with this:

Not my image, but still hilarious.

Geek Speak LIVE! is a weekly radio show with an explosion of nerd conversation. Join hosts Craig Kellerman, Travis Goss, "Classic" Dave, Michael Burhan, and Mike Paden as they rant on movies, TV, video games, comics, cartoons, technology, and whatever else is sparking our attention.

:: This week we discuss ::

The Announcement of SteamOS - Valve releases the first of a three part announcement involving revolutionizing the living room. It's a Linux based computer operating system that will be available for free.

Facebook for Trekkies - Are the girls you find on normal social networks repulsed by your Spock ears? Now there's a place for you!

IDA Complains About Grand Theft Auto V - Apparently in a game involving murder, drugs, rape, and various other criminal activity the most heinous feature of GTAV is the ability to hunt deer. Should we arm the deer and see if hunting really is still as fun?

The 2013 Emmy Awards - We go over the nominees and winners of each catagory.

The Over-saturation of Super Hero Movies - Seems like every other movie trailer these days has a cape in it. Is the end anywhere in sight?

The Current State of the Ninja Turtles - There's an active series on Nickelodeon, 2 new games due out soon, and a movie in production. Has the franchise reached it's highest point yet?

Actor of the Week: Nicolas Cage - We review Nicolas Cage's entire filmography.

It may take a while to reach foreign shores but, here in Blighty, the first episode of the BBC's new fantasy series Atlantis aired last night. It was trumpeted as having been made by the same team behind Merlin, a series which was an international hit for the Beeb but which, for me, never quite managed to decide whether it was meant for adults or children. Maybe Atlantis would have a clearer idea of its target audience.

A classic in the making? Or an epic fail?

The Greeks have an (English) word for it

LIVE FROM NEW YORK IT'S THE DACE MAN!! Well not really live...and I'm in New Jersey but I'm back with another Fall season premiere and how it ranked on The Dace Man scale. This week we saw the kick off of the 39th season of Saturday Night Live . Now what will the season have in store for us sans Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armison, and SNL Legend Bill Hader?!? Lets first take a look at the brand new cast before diving into the new season. Series regulars returning are Kennan Thompson, Seth Myers, Bobby Moynihan, Nasim Pedrad, Jay Pharoh and Taran Killam. This year also saw the promotion of Featured players Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong to the Not ready for Prime Time Players main eventers. The new string of featured players now reads Beck Bennett, John Milhiser, Kyle Mooney, Mike O'Brien, Noel Wells and Brooks Wheelan. With the cast hammered out lets dive into the episode featuring SNL Alum Tina Fey hosting!

The show kicked off with a the usual C-SPAN  title card and then into a skit about Obama and his Obama care. We saw several cast member give complaints about the proposed Obama Care. We saw SNL regular Jay Pharoh playing President Obama, which I for one think he hit spot on. The cast runs through till they get to the end where President Obama introduces a young man from New Mexico who was effective by the terrible medical standards in America......enter Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad played by Aaron Paul.explain the situation with Mr. Walter White..."Don't you wanna know what happened to him?" The cast yells no exit Jesse. The short cameo was very funny has me hooked to hang around for the rest of the episode. So Jay screams live from New York and Away we go!

Tina Fey makes her way to the stage for her monologue where she, like every one else who's ever hosted the show, states she's glad to be here yada yada yada. The joke coming out of that was the fact she no longer has a a show and needs to be on TV to maintain her SubWay status. Nice quip and I'm still with ya. She goes on to poke fun of how she never had a reoccurring character  through the nine years she worked there it hit with audience but not so much me because I remember Tim Meadows kicking the show off that way before introducing the reoccurring characters of SNL singing we are the world and he stating that he did not have a reoccurring character even though he had been on the show for X amount of years. Tina would then go on to introduce the six new cast members in a funny song, that did not show her ability to sing, but definitely hit her strong point of comedy. With the monologue in the bag lets break down the rest of the Season 39 premiere Clips Worth Watching and Things We Cant Unsee.

RECAP

• Girls Promo video that aired after the Monologue it made me smile and I was laughing by the end so well done on this. Tina Fey saved what would have been a trainwreck with out her
• They then rolled into a Skit about boarding airplanes. Being a man that travels for work week in and week out this one hit home and I was cracking up. The whole spot with Kennan Thompson and the oversized bag speaks so many volumes and I hate dealing with that which cause me to laugh when he exclaimed "Oh It'll Fit!"
• New Cast Member or Arcade Fire Member - Kennan made this skit until Lorne Michaels appeared and ended it on a perfect note!
• The E-Meth commercial. Aaron Paul is the man
• Arcade Fire Performance....Big ol' Meh.
• Time for Weekend Update with Seth Myers....and Ceily Strong. Thus beginning the experiment to replace Seth Myers once he leaves for Late Night. Honestly I feel any one will be better than Seth Myers. Im hoping Cecily you do better than him. As for late night...damn it....Just bring back Norm McDonald.
• Another note from Weekend Update.....Drunk Uncle is by far their best thing going and of course Aaron Paul is still the man!!
• Cinema Classics - This skit was a miss to me. I didn't find it funny and I'm usually a big fan of weird quirky humor. At this point I also noticed Tina Fey said Buh Bye weird and Kenan said it the same way at the end of this skit...so It looks like an Inside joke may have been occurring .
• "Cars for Sale" Segment - Another miss for me. I don't know why this didn't land for me personally because the live audience sound into it but I didn't even crack a smile...sorry
• Once again....sigh....Arcade Fire. What the hell is happening on my screen.
• Shoe Commercial Skit. Was actually pretty funny started of slow but they drove it home along with the show.

Overall I'd give the show a thumbs up. It was decent and had several moments where I was cracking up and that's the whole point of the show right? I think the biggest down of this episode is when they announced Miley Cyrus as next weeks guest....blah. Hopefully they turn it around like they do with most train wreck celebrities.

As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no not just porn) as well as all other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. So for The Few, The Proud, and of course The Dacetacular, grab a beer, or in this case, just yell LIVE FROM NEW YORK!!, and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!

For many Star Wars fans, desires of having a lightsaber in their hands has been dreamt about ever since the first movie came out on May 25, 1977. Soon after, fans have fantasized about having their own lightsaber battles. Although we are still a long, long ways away from having anything of the sort, scientists at Harvard and MIT just might have something which is a start in this direction.


Could we eventually have our own lightsaber battles?

According to an article by Ryan Whitwam of Geek.com:

A team of scientists from MIT and Harvard have been herding photons through a cloud of super-cold atoms in an attempt to get them to do something that was once considered impossible — bind together.



Courtesy of Geek.com

Whitwam continues:

The team used a vacuum chamber filled with rubidium atoms to facilitate the formation of photonic matter. The cloud of gas was cooled to within a few degrees of absolute zero using (fittingly) lasers.

Of course, there is still much research to be done. While this could possibly be a step in the direction for the creation of laser swords, "A few photons sticking together is a long way from a lightsaber, but we can still dream, can’t we?" said Whitwam.

Google it! It's a company that plays an important role in all our lives, so...how do they get away with neglecting users? Easy... They play an important role in all our lives. The call to commit some man power to answering the cries of users who need it can go unanswered for an eternity because the collective neglected will never trump the number of Googlers Googling. In other words, answering to issues, more specifically from AdSense and, in the new arena of online video advertising, YouTube, is an effort that might cost.

The Google logo is known everywhere, recognizable even to the illiterate, despite it's letter composition.

Why else would users be screaming from the rooftops to no avail. AdSense's first policy statements are:

All publishers are required to adhere to the following policies, so please read them carefully. If you fail to comply with these policies without permission from Google, we reserve the right to disable ad serving to your site and/or disable your AdSense account at any time. If your account is disabled, you will not be eligible for further participation in the AdSense program.

Perhaps it sounds legit at first, but considering the company lends no plausibility to the idea of extenuating circumstances, the rules begin to seem much harder on the user... Unfair even. The worst part about the entire situation is that, having set a standard of perfection from writers and video makers, the company retains the right to make any change they please to adjust any mistakes that may have been made. The very next lines go:

Because we may change our policies at any time, please check here often for updates. In accordance with our online Terms and Conditions, it's your responsibility to keep up to date with, and adhere to, the policies posted here. Exceptions to these policies are permitted only with authorization from Google.

When you first begin writing internet articles, one of the hardest issues you will have to fight with is not clicking on ads, especially on sites where there is no preview mode offered, or the preview mode opens into windows that are difficult, slow, or clunky, or simply irritating to use, because you will find that publishing prematurely and clicking it over to a live site is way easier. Want to show your girlfriend your web article? You better print a copy, because if she makes the mistake of clicking on an ad, it's over. The first line of the Invalid Clicks and Impressions policy states:

Clicks on Google ads must result from genuine user interest. Any method that artificially generates clicks or impressions on your Google ads is strictly prohibited. These prohibited methods include, but are not limited to, repeated manual clicks or impressions, automated click and impression generating tools and the use of robots or deceptive software. Please note that clicking your own ads for any reason is prohibited.

The issue with that is that someone you love could be looking over the live version of your article and be genuinely intrigued by an ad, leaving the impression Google is looking for, or rather the one you are not. Or, in the middle of a computer freeze/lock up, the ever so familiar aggravated mouse jerk and click flurry that we all think will somehow revive our glitched digital windows could easily result in impressions Google is not looking for. Each impression is worth pennies; the take a penny leave a penny, or the "keep the change". Literally, just pennies, however Google AdSense generates five billion dollars a year, so I was blown away that the company doesn't just adapt a method for the program that can simply ignore clicks that are invalid, since it can certainly afford to. From the investors to the coffers to the users, you would think a company as resourced as Google would have put such measures in place already. It's a change I think we all could embrace.

Beyond the strict policy, you are given a chance to dispute the issue... Which takes weeks and generally ends in a no answer, whatever the excuse may be and, in general, Google enjoys partaking in the fun of being a tad mysterious. If you shut your account down thinking you could start up another, because you clearly operate at an entirely different pace than the gargantuan hippopotamus company, think again! The company has a strict one lifetime account policy to boot. There are no second chances. If they close your account and you would like to have them readdress your case, because you don't feel they looked closely enough at the issue, tough luck. Because you are no longer a Google AdSense client, you can't get to a contact form. Is there a complaints section? Nope. If you eventually squeeze into some sort of hidden contact form which allows contact with AdSense, the forms themselves say they will basically throw the form away if it involves invalid clicks at all. Essentially, they want to be in your face when you would like to Google, but you are just an obstacle if you would like some extra consideration (AKA: The stockholder is the only Googler that matters).  Users be damned! There's a Googler born every quarter second and that's where the money is.

There are about 255 babies born every minute. That's a staggering number of people for Google to be interested in getting money from in some sort of way, but not interested in hearing from to address account issues and mistakes.

You don't have to be hugely invested in the production of YouTube videos to know what I'm talking about, but after using YouTube a little, you will quickly realize Google has tightly wound it's parasitic roots into the brand since the purchase. If you don't remember the purchase date, just remember, it didn't happen too long before everything you loved about YouTube changed. Does this sound familiar?

Thank you for your account suspension appeal. We have decided to keep your account suspended based on our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.

The issue? Did you really even break the rules? Generally, these statements from YouTube(Google) really mean,

We here at YouTube(Google) don't care enough to investigate, but we care enough about pretending to care that we assign automation to handle all our appeals.

My guess is that any number of complaints against the company will go unheard, unless they come from someone with a fancy stake in the company. My opinion is that Google, and everyone that's dipping into it, are too buried in cash to hear, or perhaps they are too buried to care. If you don't believe what I'm saying, I suppose you could just Google it.

I, like most, always find myself in the mood for horror come autumn time. Thanks, Halloween. Good horror can be hard to find. Thankfully, I have the perfect solution!

Creeped out yet?

Yamishibai is a (mostly) well done, very atmospheric collection of horror shorts. As a play on Japanese Kamishibai, the show has a look all it's own. The show features a different horror short each episode, and never exceeds the five minute mark. The majority of shorts played so far have been exceedingly creepy, but like every show not every episode is a hit. I would love to give a synopsis of one of the shorts, but they're better experienced via the medium they're given.

And thanks to the folks at Crunchyroll, you can check it out for free! Episode five is one of the stronger episodes in the show thus far, so definitely check that out and make up your own mind. It's only five minutes! You've got nothing to lose! Do it! Peer pressure!