Movies
Dare To Enter The Vault of Horror
When most people think of Tales From The Crypt I’m sure they think of the zany Crypt Keeper puppet that frightened throngs of “kiddies” staying up past their bedtimes through the ’90s, or maybe they think of that Billy Zane movie that followed the memorable HBO show in which the aforementioned puppet hosted. However you “slice” it “boils and ghouls,” Tales has had many incarnations over the years after its initial horror comic existence that started the franchise. Before the series was brought to television, another EC Comics series curdled the blood of moviegoers. That film was Vault of Horror.
Coffee Break 3/28/2011
When I was seven, I played with the Transformers Head Master, Hardhead, like he was a badass Autobot soldier. He always beat the hell out of Ramjet, Kickback and any other scrub Decepticon that wasn’t Galvatron. Thanks to the Internet, I now know this is completely untrue. He has more in common with a drunk uncle than he does a staunch defender of Fortress Maximus.
Winter Never Changes
Winter The seemingly endless months of January and February have the unique distinction of being the most boring time of the year for videogames. The big rush of the Fall and Christmas seasons have long passed. We are now left with a faint memory of triple-A title releases as we all hold fast till the first one drops in 2011. However, there is always that one game that is released in the winter that everyone thinks is the best game ever. Last year was Mass Effect 2. Critics exploded with delight with the idea of another BioWare game. Granted, what
Nicholas Courtney 1929-2011
Unwinnable is sad to hear Nicholas Courtney, Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart on Doctor Who, has died at the age of 81. Mr. Courtney was born in Egypt, the son of a British diplomat. He studied at Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art and first appeared on Doctor Who during the 1965 serial The Daleks’ Master Plan (not as the Brigadier, but as Space Security Agent Bret Vyon). He would win the hearts of Who fans in 1968 as the Brigadier in the serial Web of Fear (though he held the rank of Colonel at the time). The Brigadier
A Split Subject: Coming To Terms With Artificial Intelligence (In Brief)
HAL is real, and it plays Jeopardy! In an interesting competitive twist, the legendary quiz show featured “Watson,” an IBM supercomputer possessing the ability to understand and process natural language, facing off against past Jeopardy! icons Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. The computer won. Although this is by no means a sign of the end times, Ken Jennings was closer to the truth than he may believe when he joked “I for one welcome our new computer overlords.” Perhaps he shouldn’t be so hasty.
Too Close to Home: Portlandia
Living in Portland seems to grant me a level of street-cred I’ve been able to ride for the majority of my adult life. The city is, at the very least, a part of a lot of people’s periphery. Our environmental practices and policies are nationally lauded. Our music scene has perfected the delicate oxymoron of being a well-known underground. The beer is good and rent is cheap. Really, not too shabby for a town in a state people still pronounce as OH-REE-GONE. Sure, we may take ourselves a little too seriously at times. And the hipster epidemic shows no signs
The Best Movies of 2010
It probably goes without saying, but you’re not going to agree with much of what’s listed here. Movies are fickle beasts, with so many to choose from and everyone having their own tastes. There are probably a dozen other options for each of these categories that are just as good. But this is my list, so stick it.
