Taste Test- Green Lantern Glo-Balls

I'm not a big fan of the Hostess snack cakes. In fact, I couldn't tell you the last time I had a Twinkie or a Ho-Ho. It's literally been years since I've had one. They're just really unappealing to me. But, being a geek and a sucker, I immediately bought the Flash cakes when I saw them at the grocery store. Slap a superhero on your package and I'm sold. That's how they got me to eat countless Ninja Turtle pies. For those who don't remember, they were a "vanilla puddin' power" filled pie surrounded by a green frosting. Not great but it was a Ninja Turtle pie so I kept buying them. I only got through half the box of the Flash cakes before I gave them away (they tasted horrible). When I went back to the grocery store about a week later I saw that they had Green Lantern Glo-Balls (green Sno-Balls).

I was veeerrrry curious as I've never tried the original Sno-Balls but I just couldn't bring myself to buy them. Especially since friends (I'm looking at you, Greg) had made crude jokes about the fact that I really wanted to try these "Glo-Balls." Of course, I decided, "what the hell," and bought them.

I didn't read the box and hadn't realized it was basically a big marshmallow. Did not enjoy it at all. I love marshmallow peeps but these were nothing like that. So now, I can say I tried "Hal's balls" (as The Nerdy Bird put it) and I can say that my experimental days are now over and I will be Glo-Ball free for life.

Review: Star Wars- Clone Wars: Republic Heroes

I'm a bad gamer. It takes me forever to start a game and even longer to finish it. I finally had some time to sit down and dig into the year-old Star Wars- The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes game on the X-Box 360. I played it on and off for about a week before finishing it. After having just finished Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, I was ready to trade in the first person shooting for some badass Jedi action. This was not the game I should have picked up.

Yes, it recreates the characters and storyline that makes me love the Clone Wars series so much but that's pretty much all it has going for it. If only the team at Krome put as much time into the mechanics of the game as they did in the storyline then we might have gotten a decent game. Pretty much all of the characters from the shows first season pop up in the game. You get to control Jedi (Mace Windu, Obi-Wan, and Plo Koon amongst others) and Clones. Padme and Yoda show up in the game but, unfortunately, they are not playable characters. The villains that make appearances include Count Dooku, Cad Bane and Asajj Ventress.

The game is set up in three acts that are comprised of 20+ levels. That's 20+ repetitive levels. It works for the Lego games but here it's just plain BO-RING. Not only that, but the game is plagued by horrible camera angles and even worse controls. There were many times when jumping was frustrating as hell due to the fact that I couldn't really gauge distances. Oh, and couple that with the fact that sometimes the controls were unresponsive and you have the recipe for some good times. There were some points in the game were you have to bounce between walls. During these points you WILL attempt it at least fifty times before getting it right. Thank goodness you have unlimited lives.

When playing as a Clone Trooper you have your trusty blaster at your side. In theory, running around as a Clone Trooper shooting Droids is awesome. In Republic Heroes, it's damn near impossible. You can't really lock onto enemies so you just have to run around firing and hope you hit something.

Overall, I'd have to rate this a 5 out 10. The storyline is comparable to the show (that's good) and the cut scenes look and feel like the show (also good) but the in-game graphics weren't at all impressive. In fact, they reminded me a lot of the Dreamcasts Jedi Power Battles game. Not what you want from a next-gen console. Unless you want to risk your patience and sanity, this is not the game you're looking for.

Searching for "Killer Klowns From Outer Space"

14 miles south of Santa Cruz, California is the city of Watsonville, my hometown. Its claim to fame is its agriculture (strawberries, apples and lettuce) and Martinelli’s (known for its sparkling apple cider). What many people don’t know is that in the 1980’s Watsonville had some visitors. From space. Specifically, Killer Klowns From Outer Space.

I was never scared of clowns and never understood why other people are. I found the ones in this film pretty silly, even if they had razor sharp teeth. When Killer Klowns From Outer Space was released I looked at it as a comedy while friends were terrified. Most of the classic Chiodo’s Bothers film was shot in Watsonville and the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. After rewatching the film recently I decided to go on a little tour of some of the places where it was shot. Some were in walking distance or a short bike ride away. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), I didn't run into any Killer Klowns. Check out the pics from the film and the locations as they look today.



Get your GEEK on

I love being a Geek. We get some of the coolest products on the planet. Below are 5 items that every Geek can appreciate.


Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver Wii Remote-


The Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver is in your hands. This time it's a fully functional Remote Controller accessory for Nintendo Wii and is compatible with all your favorite Wii games. It can be connected to the Wii Nunchuck controller and Wii MotionPus attachments.



It's not a cheesy attachment like the lightsabers that were made for the Wii. No siree. This is an actual Wiimote. THIS IS AWESOME SAUCE! Unfortunately it'll only be available in the U.K. But, from the research I've done, even though the games are region coded, accessories/peripherals aren't. Translation: I will be importing this from the U.K. after it's released on October 29th.

Lady Clankington's Little Death Ray-

Introducing the world's first steampunk "adult toys" from Lady Clankington's Cabinet of Carnal Curiosities. Uh, yeah, 'nuff said.

Wii Darth Vader Sensor Bar Holder-

Yet another awesome Wii accessory. Channel the Force into all of your games with this Wii Darth Vader Sensor Bar Holder! This sculpture-quality Darth Vader character in high-density resin will look great in any room. The specially crafted Lightsaber is engineered to safely support the sensor bar while maintaining full range and performance. Specially made to Nintendo standards to work perfectly with original Wii Sensor Bar.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles BATSU Action Figures-

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are ready for martial arts action with this latest series in the new BATSU collection of stylized action figures! This set includes stylized versions of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michaelangelo, each 5" tall and equipped with their signature weapons.

The DC Vault: A Museum-in-a-Book with Rare Collectibles from the DC Universe-

The DC Vault unlocks DC Comics' most fascinating secrets and deeply buried treasures, presenting a colorful array of historic and never-before-published memorabilia, including early sketches, covers, memos, press materials, and much more. From a working reproduction of a 1942 Junior Justice Society of America decoder, to a series of Public Service Announcements starring Superman and Batman, to the original pencils and inks for Wonder Woman #63, this dazzling chronicle contains more than 25 plastic-encased archival pieces for readers to pull out and examine, all while learning about the artists, writers, and world-famous super heroes that make up the DC Universe.


I received one of these for Christmas a couple of years ago and LOVE it. There are so many cool  pieces within the book and it's all ridiculously well put-together. A MUST for any comic fan. Also, be sure to check out the Marvel and Batman versions!

Links

I have been ignoring the blog waaaay too long. Getting ready for the move and enjoying Santa Cruz as much as I can before I leave has made me lazy when it comes to posting. Bad, I know. So, here are some links of things that you can hopefully enjoy as much as I do. Now, I'm off to the beach!

Fanedit.org- Love this site! What are fan edits? They are "a new take on existing movie material created by video artists. Anything can be changed, improved, restructured for a different watching experience and only the sky is the limit."

Double Rainbow- You haven't heard about it? Well, you'll have to see it to understand just how awesome it is.


Robot Unicorn Attack- A game that will suck up HOURS of your life.

Rilo Kiley Network- I have a thing for girls with guitars. I don't know why. It's a thing. There may be none finer than Jenny Lewis. This is a great place to get live music and video's.
Undercover Karaoke with Jewel- Jewel goes undercover and sings karaoke to an unsuspecting crowd.
 
Kermit the Frog reacts to "2 girls one cup"- Pretty self-explanatory.
 
 

Making Mixtapes...with @Nakedhobo

It's that time again! Bringing you another awesome mixtape, this time from fellow GEEK (yeah, capital G-E-E-K) Glenn. Those of us on Twitter know him as @Nakedhobo (if you're not already, that's a none too subtle hint for you to follow him. GET TO IT!). Glenn also has a blog, Naked Hobo, where he regularly posts movie reviews. I discovered it after we started chatting on Twitter. Yes, lots of people do reviews but I think Glenn is doing something really cool. If you go waaay back to the beginning of his blog you will see that he put down a challenge for himself:

500 Movies

Inspired by my friend Mike I have decided to watch 500 movies I have not seen before and write short reviews here. I plan to have all 500 done within about 1 1/2 years or so, depends how ambitious I feel. Don’t expect real in depth reviews for the most part as it really is not my forte. Two films are up already and I will most likely add a third tomorrow.

How far is he? Well, to date he is on number 252. Half way there! Check out his blog, stalk him on Twitter and enjoy his mixtape!

Glenn- "I use this when I need to get stuff done."

Intergalactic- Beastie Boys

Boom Boom Boom- John Lee Hooker

That Certain Female- Charlie Feathers

Clash City Rockers- The Clash

Just Like Heaven- The Cure

Amazing Grace- Dropkick Murphys

Weapon of Choice- Fat Boy Slim

Lust for Life- Iggy Pop

Priest 85- Irritating Rainbow

Ace of Spades- Motorhead

Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver- Primus

Cool for Cats- Squeeze

Ant Music- Adam and the Ants

Flash- Queen

Have You Met Super Meat Boy?

I was recently CD shopping at the local Streetlight Records when I happened upon a shelf full of flyers. On that shelf I found a copy of a comic called "Super Meat Boy." After going through the comic and laughing my ass off I went straight to the computer and typed in supermeatboy.com to find out more about Meat. Just who is Super Meat Boy? According to the comic, he's "a boy made of raw meat who leaves a trail of blood wherever he goes. He's like The Little Engine That Could, Obama and Jesus wrapped into one. He's that awesome."

Super Meat Boy is the brainchild of Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes. The two creators will soon be bringing Super Meat Boy to your computer or console this Summer on XBLA, WiiWare, and PC. The official description of the game:

In Super Meat Boy you take the role of a small animated cube of meat on his quest to save his lady love Band-Aid girl from the clutches of the evil Dr. Fetus! Sliding his way through saw mills, salt factories and even hell itself, Meat boy jumps into action in this fast paced and extremely challenging platformer that will "melt your face off".

Super Meat Boy features platforming madness spanning over 300 levels of saws, disease, fire, lasers, missiles, and various other traps that Meat Boy must avoid to rescue is lady love.



Isn't that one awesome looking trailer? I CANNOT wait for this to be released. I've never downloaded a game for any of my consoles but I WILL be getting this bad boy on the Wii. Oh, FYI, if you simply cannot wait for to get your hands on some Meat, Super Meat Boy Handheld is now available on the iTunes AppStore for the low low price of $0.99!!! Unfortunately, I haven't had the Iphone Kool-Aid myself yet so I have to wait.