noblenonsense's Blog

MIA and the downfall of Mania.com

(Sat 05/03/2008 11:45am)
For over a year I endured the developing world in Eastern Europe to come back to modern America. This modern America has been difficult to readjust too. What with all the obsession over actors, not real actors but wealthy people, and the overly rich athletes. Plus I went from getting a lukewarm shower every four days to any time I want (plus the whole drinkable tap water is fantastic!!!).

The one solace I've had in my readjustment to this "culture" is what my passion was before sci fi.

A bit before I left there was something called cinescape.com. A site that I used several times a day to get my kick of comics, movie news, trailer updates, and the random collection that is sci fi. Then mania.com took it's place and I adjusted. Heck I started blogging at the site and quickly came to enjoy the interaction between users.

Now this.

I hate this site. It's layout is clunky, less interactive, gives an ugly as sin avatar to begin with, makes the main page narrow while color fills the sides, and the front page...seriously...I preferred the pictures instead of little lines.

I'm missing in action for a year mania and you've screwed up your site! Want to make it attractive and change your logo? Sure thats fine. I like the new logo but expand the center and change the frontpage. It's like this site is trying to be the next myspace.

If this keeps up I'll have to rely on everything from IGN...

Goodbye to Geekdom

(Tue 02/20/2007 08:50am)
Geeks come in several froms:
Guys, gals, boys, girls, Star Wars role player, COSplayers, Con attendees, sports obsessed, fat ones, skinny ones, hot ones, probably should stay in the basement ones, comic obsessed, video game obsessed, LARPing obsessed, Dungeon Masters, Trekkies, electronic nuts, and dare I add...message board junkie.

Geeks range from students, executives, teachers, bums, lawyers, doctors, Trolls, gamers, developers, models, and even parents.

Geeks are everywhere doing everything. Just open your eyes to what lays ahead and theres a geek.

I've a hope that one day I will review comics for a living (you know be paid to do something I love) and/or actually write for a well established entertainment website/magazine (expect my resume Mania.com, IGN.com, and Playboy.....I read it for the articles...I swear...........not really). But until then I have a life goal to achieve.

You see faithful, or randomly selecting my blog, readers this geek is leaving the geekdom.

Sad? Not really. Though I'll miss the release of Guitar Hero III, World War Hulk (kill Iron Man dangit!), iPhones, and the fall of Sony.

This geek actually has a care for others and is joining the Peace Corps. No really...I am. I'm going to Ukraine for two years as a Youth Developer. So in two years from now I'll be wondering just what the heck happened to the world.

What I expect to have changed during my two years:
-Marvel will kill a major character but they will be brought back (pending on CW 7 it'll be Cap or Iron Man)
-Jean Grey will be alive and Emma Frost dead....crossing my fingers there
-Superman will still not be an accessible character
-Playstation 3 will finally start making money
-Some catastrophic event will happen in the U.S. surrounding the 08 election.
-People will die for various reasons: old age, cancer, AIDS related, car accidents, etc.
-HD TVs will be more affordable but people will still have to buy crap tvs to accurately play the Nintendo Wii
-Comic book movies will grace the silver screen. Some fans will like FF4 2 and some will hate it.
-Female bloggers (such as Aktrez and Jessica Chobot) will still be getting comments from random messagers saying "ur hotz"
-I will still not fully understand/appreciate Anime. But by God I'll still give it a shot!
-iPods/iPhones will be able to walk the dog, shred carrots, and fold my laundry
-Some famous person will get married, have kids, get divorced, and go nuts
-Lindsey Lohan will still have major issues
-Sony's PSP will be put to bed
-There'll still be obsessive Nintendo fanboys
-Chuck Norris comments will stop being funny....how sad
-LOST will still have a bunch of filler episodes and answer none of their questions
-Heroes will kick butt....YATA!

I'm off to the vodka, borscht, techno, and radioactive lovin' Eastern Europe. You can see me in Germany for Oktoberfest. Geeks love to drink.

See ya in two years!

Until next time fanboys and fangirls...BANG!

TV Show darlings

(Fri 02/02/2007 07:58am)
During Fall sweeps I actually wrote down the television shows to watch. I was hooked to the fall lineup. It seemed that I wouldn't be going to bed until the wee hours of day.

But thankfully, not really, the networks cut the shows that were not too popular. One of which, Smith, was in my opinion a stellar program. A heist television show? A-level actors/actresses mixed with some B-levels? Virginia Madsen?! How could people not like this show?!

Maybe it was air time, channel, its competition, or the insane budget that they would need to keep the show running. Probably a compilation of all of those.

Alas, after two weeks of grieving, I moved on.

There are two program juggernauts that I can say with a passion that I have never watched and for good reasons.

24- I hear a lot of comments like "each state needs two Jack Bauers to stop crime, terrorism, and corrupted politicians" on the same level of Chuck Norris comments. (Chuck Norris doesn't sleep....he waits.) But in a corrupted world I prefer to see hopeful messages or good deeds compared to a guy with a gun and screwdriver on a mission to stop a bomb, kill an evil dictator, and fight off the terrorists with his gritty good looks all within one day. Its not me. Plus in the world we're living in I see the show as more of a hindrance of multiculturalism. Sure the people that caused 9/11 were Arabic but that doesn't mean that all of them are terrorists. Why isn't Jack Bauer in Sudan fighting against genocide or stopping a Russian Muslim unhappy with current situations in Chechnya that they decide to blow up the Russian Embassy in the US? I mean if you want to play the terrorism card go full throttle!

Of course this is my reasoning for never watching a single episode and to be honest it's not my cup of tea. I liked Indiana Jones but that was more about archaeology, history, and adventure. Oh and don't forget the Nazi's.

American Idol- People actually watch this filth? Okay so if you're reading this and you love it just remember that I'm censoring what I really want to say about this show. Yes people have musical abilities, yes this show helps them attain superstardom, and yes its insanely popular. But it humiliates individuals, gives a false sense of hope to contestants, brought us William Hung, and is nothing more than a corporation out to make a huge bundle of money. It's corporate greed at its finest!

There are tv show darlings that I admit I can't get enough of: Studio 60, Jericho, and Heroes. I smile everytime I hear "Yata!" Who can't?! A Star Trek and X-Men loving Japanese guy is making that show. If not a great show its atleast multicultural. This show would've broken hundreds of barriers if it aired in the 60's and 70's.

What determines what we watch is the ratings. Unfortunately American Idol gets too many ratings. So I beg anyone that reads this...get your American Idol friend to change the channel. Have them watch How I Met Your Mother and The Class, get them hooked on Jericho. For God's sake have them watch an episode of Battlestar Galactica. Just do your part in getting rid of this show.

Until next time fanboys and fangirls...BANG!
P.S.- If you feel the need to get them to watch other shows I also suggest: Supernatural, Veronica Mars (I would kill for Kristen Bell...seriously.....I would push someone into moving traffic for her...okay..maybe not kill but you get the point), LOST (have them watch the DVDs), and of course Smallville.

You said what?

(Wed 01/31/2007 07:22am)
And a thank you to DarkJedi for letting me know that I apparently block comments. It is now fixed. Feel free to bash my thoughts.

Manga/Japanese Animation

(Tue 01/30/2007 07:18pm)
My first, and probably the only positive experience, I had with Japanimation or anime or the what not was with Dragon Ball. I was 10 or so and saw it on Fox at an early early time. So the next week there I was, up early to watch a kid with a tail look for giant marbles with stars in it. Jump ahead 8 years later and I had friends that were majorly into Japanese Animation. Somewhere inbetween Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball GT, Sailor Moon, Ronin Warriors, and Gundam I was lost.

I understood Dragon Ball and to some degree Dragon Ball Z (those battles took forever though). But Sailor Moon? Whats the fascination with this show?!?! Why are all her friends powerful? Why do they have cooler names? I mean Sailor Jupiter has a better ring to it. And some guy wearing a tiny white mask?

Fortunately I kept my fascination to Ronin Warriors. Cool looking guys in armor and a bad guy becomes good. What's not to like? Plus the show ended unlike Pokemon. Nothing like a good ending to make you enjoy it even more. It did end right? I wonder if I can get a DVD set of this show...

So maybe I'm okay with Japanese Animation but lost on the whole Anime, Japanese Animation, and Manga thing. Wait...is Voltron Japanese Animation or is it an American take on Japanese Animation...I don't get it.

In fact I don't get Manga. I can understand the love of another culture and their byproducts (I mean I love my Irish heritage) but...some of the Manga stuff I've come across is so overly sexualized that I'm so confused. Why do the Japanese (or better yet fans of Manga porn not just Japanese) like their women to have both genitalia? These things just boggle my mind.

Okay...its obvious...I know nothing of this material so I can't pass judgment. But frankly this genre intrigues me...or confuses me...both actually.


UPDATE: Ronin Warriors IS on DVD. Ahhhh glorious news.