Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on November 5th, 2008
Episodic Gaming, Circuit City closings, & Wii RPGs? - Welcome to the column that would get out and vote if only there was a candidate that supported more hot women in gaming known as Dare to Play the Game.
Yesterday was Election Day in the grand ole United States of America. While I could go on a nice rant about the person who got elected, this is not a politics column and I tend to steer far far away from such discussions. Did I vote? No, I can't support either of the candidates when each are about as phony as a $3 dollar bill. Sure, I might lean a certain way but until I feel strongly about somebody, I'm not going to spend my time to vote. Selfish, no; lazy, perhaps; but mostly a very cynical point of view. Another thing, I live in Texas, a large Republican state. My vote matters about as much as a penny in a bank vault of millions.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 3rd, 2008
Before I watched X-Men, before I watched Scooby-Doo, there were shows on my television like Sesame Street, Electric Company, and so forth. The purpose of these shows was to entertain & educate. There was also a range of 3 minute shorts that ran during Saturday morning cartoons on ABC that served a similar purpose. They were collectively called Schoolhouse Rock. From talking about Adjectives to Multiplication to our good ole Government, they helped to inform as well as entertain. In preparation for the 2008 election, Disney decided to come out with a compilation of fourteen Schoolhouse Rock shorts about everything from the Preamble to the Electoral College.
It’s a long long wait while I’m sitting in committee. But I know I’ll be a law someday, at least I hope and I pray that I will. But today I am still just a bill. That is probably the most famous short in all of Schoolhouse Rock. The “I’m Just a Bill” song. Three minutes of goodness about how government lawmakers decide whether or not to make a tiny piece of paper’s dreams come true. There is another short about Tax Man Max who tells you that Tax is that familiar melody, sinful and true. He isn’t whistling Dixie. He speaks the truth I tell ya. Did you also know that You Gotta be Cool when you’re walking on Wall Street? Buy low, sell high, take a piece of the pie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 3rd, 2008
As I get older, I still find myself watching a lot of cartoons. New ones, blue ones, ones that I have no idea how they got made in the first place. So, with this practice I often run into cartoons that I have never seen but feel the need to give them a chance and see if they have any draw whether to kids, parents or me the cartoon nerd who enjoys such things. In my review pile, I stumbled upon one such cartoon and that was Pucca. From a critical eye, one might dismiss the odd characters and strange style rather quickly. However, to the careful eye one might find something a little more entertaining.
Pucca lives in Sooga Village. She is consumed by one thing and one thing only, the pursuit of love. Or more importantly the love of a silent ninja named Garu. Garu might run from her kisses but he can not deny the constant trappings of the kung fu queen. They each have a best friend. Pucca has Ching, a very cute and very happy girl who looks like a reject off the Powder Puff squad. The best friend of Garu is a Bruce Lee look-a-like named Abyo who manages to rip off his shirt every episode at the earliest convenience. Together they fight in a series of eleven episodes against various forces including Tobe, the deadly ninja who is trying to beat Garu at his own art.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 29th, 2008
Game Cards, MK & DC gets the T, & National Gaming Day! - Welcome to the column that should get a national holiday just as long as it doesn’t have to divulge what nation it actually belongs to known as Dare to Play the Game.
I spent the last week in Ohio, I’ll try to refrain from any major jokes about buckeyes or Deliverance music or how freaking hilly the state is. I like my states flat, just like I like my wom…errr that just doesn’t sound right. Anyhow, it was a pretty nice trip to relax and enjoy the cold air. Yeah no Texas fall up there. October and already in the 40’s. My shivers were shivering. I also ended up with a cold as I mentioned last week. Truth be told, I really did have the cold up until the last day I left Ohio. Now I’m okay and my girlfriend is sick. Poor thing, I’ll probably have to nurse her back to health.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 22nd, 2008
Little Big Planet causing controversy, Rockband goes a little country, and Golden Axe: Beast Rider is a bunch of rubbish - Welcome to the column that would say something about Ohio but there are people with pitchforks & torches and the Amish are a little poed off too known as Dare to Play the Game.
I am currently sitting in Ohio. Oh Hi Oh. We've had a nice time in the Buckeye state but keeping it mostly simplistic. The temperature has been very cool for this time of year at least for me. As a result I've come down with a slight cold or allergies or something that makes me all sneezy, runny nose, stuffy nose and general bad things with my nasal region. So consider this article written under not the best of conditions. I have a feeling I will be sick until I step back on the plane to Texas and then it will be as if nothing happened. Crazy how things like that work. So I sit here with a tissue, and plenty of juice to guide me through the next couple of days. I hope I at least get well by tomorrow so I can enjoy the last day here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 17th, 2008
My personal bias may be leaning through but I fully enjoy the Transformers. More than meets the eye, robots in disguise, Starscream for President! Well, he can’t be any worse than the two turkeys we got running right now. Anyhow, after the Generation 1 cartoon series came and gone, we got a slew of off-shoots and attempts at re-creating the cartoon hit that was the Transformers. In the middle of 2005, a series produced by a partnership between Hasbro and Takara came to the fold. It was a sequel to Transformers: Armada & Transformers: Energon. It was called Transformers: Cybertron. Fifty two episodes later, the series ended. Was it any good or did it just get sucked into a black hole?
The destruction of Unicron takes place in the Transformers universe and has resulted in the formation of a massive blackhole. This blackhole engulfs planets and Cybertron is the next inhabited planet in its path. Optimus Prime and his crew of Autobots decide to evacuate to Earth as they consider how to keep Cybertron safe. Landmine is the first Autobot to make it to Earth as he finds his way through a portal.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 16th, 2008
Most people who know me know that Daredevil is my #1 Superhero of all time. Number #2 is Batman. Third is somewhat of a surprise for a lot of people. It’s the Punisher. It’s surprising because the Punisher is portrayed as a nemesis of Daredevil quite often in the comic books. However, like Batman and Daredevil, Punisher is a classic flawed hero. In the comics, his family was gunned down gangland style and he seeks out to “punish” those responsible. In the proceedings, he finds that the greatest enemy is not those who executed his family but himself. Drinking, suicidal thoughts, and endless pursuit to extract justice at any cost chip away at this very core. Enter 2004, and director Jonathan Hensleigh decides to bring the story of the Punisher to the big screen.
Howard Saint (played by John Travolta) is a powerful and influential mob boss. He has a wife, Livia (played by Laura Harring) and twin boys, Bobby & John (played by James Carpinello). Bobby Saint wants to do something to impress his father. Micky Duka (played by Eddie Jemison), a lackey of Howard Saint, along with Bobby go down to the port at Tampa Bay to negotiate an arms deal. There they meet Otto Krieg (played by Thomas Jane) and the rest of the Russian arms dealers.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 15th, 2008
Xbox Live upgrades, World of Warcraft education & addictions, and the Age of Booty! - Welcome to the column would probably be delisted if Metacritic even ranked us in the first place known as Dare to Play the Game.
The Ike debris is gone, the Ike debris is gone. *Happy dance* *Just a jump to the left* *And then a step to the right* *Put your hands on your hips* *You bring your knees in tight* *But it’s the pelvic….errrr. Perhaps I should stop right there. But the lawn has undergone a rather large improvement since last Saturday. I’m happy because this Friday I am off to O-HI-O. Full of bitches and hoes. And that’s just the cornfields. Oh wait, that’s Nebraska. Ohio, the home of the Buckeyes. A Buckeye is a tree that derives its name from the unflattering odor generated from the tree’s flowers, crushed leaves, twigs or chipped off bark. In other words, the place smells. I’m going to catch so much hell for that. Seriously though, it will be a good vacation, needed in so many ways I can’t begin to explain here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 13th, 2008
Standup comedians live interesting lives. The typical stand-up comic performs for fifteen to thirty minutes, two or three times a week. For many their sole purpose in life is to make people laugh. Many often suffer from depression when their acts bomb or they go through dry spells where they can’t get gigs or write new material. However, the best ones make their own breaks and find their way into their audience’s heart. Sometimes that can be accomplished through a MC. This MC or master of ceremonies can often take a grand event such as a tour that lasts 30 days & 30 nights and turn four men into superstars.
Vince Vaughn had a great idea. He would take four comics and tour thirty cities in thirty days from the Music Box Theater in Hollywood to the heartland of the United States. The four comedians would each be allowed their set. Among the four comics chosen was Ahmed Ahmed, a Middle Eastern comic who often uses his heritage to draw material for this act. He acted as the cornerstone for the other three comics.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 13th, 2008
The day that Bruce Lee left us was truly a tragedy. The Game of Death was Lee’s pet project, the one where he could truly show off his skills for the world to see. He never finished it. Even though there was ninety minutes of footage, it was never completely restored to make a complete film. Instead, a mere eleven minutes and seven seconds was used in a 1978 movie called Game of Death. The plot was revised and every camera & stand-in trick was used in the book to finish the movie. The rest of the footage was either lost or found its way into the documentary, Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey. One has to often wonder what the casting process behind casting a body double & stand-ins were like for somebody as unique as Bruce Lee. One also has to wonder how easy it would be to make fun of it.
On July 20th, 1973, Bruce Lee died suddenly at the age 32, leaving behind 12 minutes of footage intended for his dream project THE GAME OF DEATH. Director Ronney Kurtainbaum (played by Jake Sandvig) and casting director Eloise Gazdag (played by Meredith Scott Lynn) are on a mission to find the next Bruce Lee for the project or at least a reasonable facsimile. There are some strong candidates as well as many questionable ones for the film.
