#20 - #11 Comic Books

20 (tie). “Days of Future Past” by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin (X-Men #141 and Uncanny X-Men #142)
Days of Future Past was a major X-Men storyline, as it introduced many key figures and plotlines that would reoccur many times over the next 30 years (and counting).
The main concept of the book is that a group of X-Men in the future, a dark future where most mutants have been hunted down and killed by government-mandated genocide (using giant robots called Sentinels), decide to try to change their present by sending one of them back in time to stop the problem before it began.
The way they do this is by sending the mind of Katherine Pryde into the mind of herself as a teenager, Kitty Pryde of the X-Men.
You see, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are destined to kill Senator Robert Kelly, an anti-mutant Senator who wants to run for President. If they succeed, this will lead tot he backlash that made their timeline occur. So the idea is to avoid that by saving Kelly’s life.
The rest of the comic mixes in the present-time X-Men trying to stop the Brotherhood along with the future X-Men facing off against the Sentinels.
The story introduced the dark future timeline, which became a major trope for the X-Books (alternate timelines), plus introduced major characters like Rachel, the telepath who sends Katherine’s mind to the past, and a few new evil mutants who kept popping up over and over again over the years (Avalanche, Destiny and Pyro).
This was also notable in that it was the last storyline that the classic X-Men team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne did on the book (Byrne left the book after one more issue, a classic Christmas tale).

20 (tie). “E is for Extinction” by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and Tim Townsend (New X-Men #114-116)
19. “The Galactus Trilogy” by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott (Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #48-50)
18. “Civil War” by Mark Millar, Steve McNiven and Dexter Vines (Civil War #1-7)
17. “Under Siege” by Roger Stern, John Buscema and Tom Palmer (Avengers #270-277)
16. “The Sinestro Corps War” by Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Peter Tomasi, Ivan Reis, Ethan Van Sciver, Patrick Gleason plus a whole lot of other pencilers and inkers (Green Lantern Sinestro Corps Special #1, Green Lantern Vol. 4 #21-25, Green Lantern Corps #14-19)
15. “V for Vendetta” by Alan Moore and David Lloyd (After beginning serialization in Warrior, V for Vendetta #1-10)
At the heart of V for Vendetta is an engaging and difficult dilemma – if you HAD to choose, what would you prefer? Fascism or anarchy?
In the former, yeah, you’d be ruled by essentially dictators, but odds are that you personally wouldn’t be directly affected.
In the latter, yeah, you’d be free, but there would be no protection from chaos.
It’s a beautiful dilemma, and Alan Moore milks it for all that it is worth in this alternate reality where a “terrorist” named V (who wears a Guy Fawkes mask) tries to bring down the government, hopefully with the help of a young woman named Evie.
Moore and his brilliant artistic counterpart, David Lloyd, create a lush, dark and vibrant world that is too scary to want to live there, but too interesting not to want to read more about.
14. “Kraven’s Last Hunt” by J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod (Amazing Spider-Man #293-294, Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132 and Web of Spider-Man #31-32)
Kraven’s Last Hunt (originally known as “Fearful Symmetry”) takes a novel approach to the Spider-Man villain, Kraven the Hunter. Kraven the Hunter originally debuted under an interesting motive for being a super-villain – he was a famous big game hunter and hunting Spider-Man was a challenge for him. That was about it.
The only thing was that he never really succeeded in BEATING Spider-Man, and over the years, that has depressed him to the point of near-mania.
And that is where we open Fearful Symmetry, with a crazed Kraven the Hunter lamenting his failures and vowing to finally succeed – and he does – he not only defeats Spider-Man, but he buries him in a grave!!!
Taking on Spider-Man’s costume, Kraven goes on to try to show how he is a better Spider-Man than Spider-Man ever was.
Pretty rough stuff, huh?
J. M. DeMatteis crafted a wonderful psychologically taut thriller here, with great art by Mike Zeck and Bob McLoed.
This story, which serialized throughout all three of the Spider-Man books in late 1987, was exceptionally dark for what was a typical Spider-Man (heck, a typical SUPERHERO) story at the time – and it really made it stand out, but even in modern times the story holds up extremely well.
13. “The Judas Contract ” by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Dick Giordano and Mike DeCarlo (Tales of the New Teen Titans #42-44, Tales of the New Teen Titans Annual #3)
12. “The Age of Apocalypse” by Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, Fabian Nicieza, Andy Kubert, Joe Madureira, Steve Epting, Roger Cruz and a pile of other artists and writers (X-Men: Alpha #1, Amazing X-Men #1-4, Astonishing X-Men #1-4, X-Men: Omega #1 plus a bunch of tie-ins)

11. “The Great Darkness Saga” by Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt (Legion of Super-Heroes #290-294)
Probably the most notable aspect of the Great Darkness Saga is just how well Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen developed the drama of the storyline. It was very much a slow burn as things slowly got progressively worse until, well, all hell broke loose at the end of the story.
Larry Mahlstedt was Giffen’s inker at the time, and the duo produced some strong, dynamic and characterization-filled artwork.
After some small references in the issues before, the storyline began proper in Legion of Super-Heroes #290, as some mysterious powerful “dark” creatures keep popping up around the world capturing items of power, with the Legion trying (to no avail) to stop them at each opportunity.
n the next issue, the situation continues to deteriorate, and the mystery of WHO these “dark warriors” are becomes a bigger issue, as it APPEARS as though the dark creatures are actually powerful beings from the past – beings that have been long dead for years (centuries in some cases).
The Legion are getting their asses handed to them repeatedly, and as #291 ends, things look pretty damn bleak…and that’s before they reveal that Darkseid is the big bad guy!!!
The impact of that reveal was a lot bigger back when Darkseid was not such a popular villain for people to use.
And that, of course, leads into a dramatic last issue that has all the drama and action you would expect from the previous issues. It is impressive to see a story slowly build and have the conclusion be truly worth the slow burn.
Levitz and Giffen both come off as wonderful storytellers in this saga.

Top 100 anime

1                    Cowboy Bebop                9        1998           
2                    Fullmetal Alchemist                8.7        2003           
3                    Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood                8.9        2009           
4                    Mushi-Shi                8.5        2005           
5                    Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex                8.5        2002           
6                    Last Exile                8        2003           
7                    Haibane renmei                8.3        2002           
8                    Kidô Senshi Gundam Unicorn                7.6        2010           
9                    FLCL                8.5        2000           
10                    Gungrave                8.2        2003           
11                    Guardian of the Sacred Spirit                8.4        2007           
12                    RahXephon                7.5        2002           
13                    Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion                8.7        2006           
14                    Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2                8.7        2008           
15                    Kôkyô shihen Eureka Sebun                8.2        2005           
16                    Serial Experiments: Lain                8.3        1998           
17                    Kino's Journey                8.4        2003           
18                    Van Helsing                5.9        2004           
19                    Erufen rîto                8.3        2004           
20                    Mobile Suit Gundam 00                8.1        2007           
21                    Noein: Mô hitori no kimi he                7.8        2005           
22                    Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid                8        2005           
23                    Angel Beats!                8        2010           
24                    Full Metal Panic!                7.9        2002           
25                    Clannad: After Story                8.5        2008           
26                    Mobile Suit Gundam Wing                8.3        2000           
27                    Clannad                8.3        2007           
28                    Monster                7.3        2003           
29                    Evangelion: 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone                7.8        2007           
30                    Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance                8.1        2009           
31                    Mugen no rivaiasu                7.3        1999           
32                    Cowboy Bebop: The Movie                7.9        2001           
33                    Mobile Suit Gundam Seed                7.7        2002           
34                    Eden of the East                7.9        2009           
35                    Akira                8.1        1988           
36                    Spirited Away                8.6        2001           
37                    Castle in the Sky                8.1        1986           
38                    Highschool of the Dead                7.7        2010           
39                    Macross Plus                7.7        1994           
40                    Death Note                9        2006           
41                    Ef: A Tale of Memories.                7.6        2007           
42                    Ef: A Tale of Melodies.                7.5        2008           
43                    Outlaw Star                7.9        1998           
44                    Darker Than Black                8.1        2007           
45                    Kureimoa                8.2        2007           
46                    Spice and Wolf                8        2008           
47                    Fairy Tail                8.4        2009           
48                    Kidô butôden G Gundam                7.6        1994           
49                    Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam                8.1        1985           
50                    Kidô senshi Gundam: Dai 08 MS shôtai                7.6        1996           
51                    Howl's Moving Castle                8.2        2004           
52                    Princess Mononoke                8.5        1997           
53                    Baccano!                8.4        2007           
54                    Berserk                8.8        1997           
55                    Black Lagoon                8.2        2006           
56                    Lupin the 3rd                8.1        1977           
57                    One Piece                8.8        1999           
58                    Paranoia Agent                8.2        2004           
59                    Ah! My Goddess                7.7        2005           
60                    Escaflowne                8.2        1996           
61                    Fruits Basket                8.2        2001           
62                    Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu                8.3        2003           
63                    GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka                8.6        1998           
64                    Ghost Hunt                7.7        2006           
65                    Gunslinger Girl                7.7        2003           
66                    N.H.K ni yôkoso!                8.4        2006           
67                    Paradise Kiss                6.7        2011           
68                    Persona 4: The Animation                7.9        2011           
69                    Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom                7.9        2009           
70                    Steins;Gate                8.5        2011           
71                    Samurai Champloo                8.6        2004           
72                    Samurai 7                7.8        2004           
73                    Bakemonogatari                8.1        2009           
74                    Black Butler                8.1        2008           
75                    Blood+                7.8        2005           
76                    Ergo Proxy                8.1        2006           
77                    Gintama                8.4        2006           
78                    Hellsing Ultimate                8.6        2006           
79                    Mononoke                8.2        2007           
80                    Neon Genesis Evangelion                8.6        1995           
81                    Ghost Hound                7.6        2007           
82                    K-On!                7.8        2009           
83                    Kurenai                7.5        2008           
84                    My Neighbor Totoro                8.3        1988           
85                    Ninja Scroll                7.9        1993           
86                    Ouran High School Host Club                8.4        2006           
87                    Pafekuto Buru                7.8        1997           
88                    Excel Saga                7.7        1999           
89                    The Slayers                7.8        1995           
90                    Afro Samurai                7.8        2007           
91                    Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society                7.9        2006           
92                    Millennium Actress                7.9        2001           
93                    The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya                8.1        2006           
94                    The Twelve Kingdoms                8.2        2002           
95                    Wolf's Rain                8.1        2003           
96                    When They Cry                8.3        2006           
97                    Tengen toppa gurren lagann                8.4        2007           
98                    Trigun                8.5        1998           
99                    The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya                8.1        2010           
100                    The Girl Who Leapt Through Time                7.9        2006           

Getting Adobe Photoshop CS4 tomorrow

I've been using Paint Shop Pro since PSP 7.0 I think back in 2003. I have used Paint shop Pro X3 for over two years, yet now I have Paint Shop Pro X4.   I know I haven't been politically correct and taken the cheap way out on Flickr, photobucket image enhancement.   I had to dumb down to using Photobrush for image enhancement, because I had 56K seven years ago.

 picture enhanced in PSP X4. still not enough for flickr crowds!

I believe I'll also have Photoshop CS6 tomorrow besides my Dreamweaver CS6 and Paint Shop Pro X4 (above). I swear that flickr traffic only looks for the Adobe Photoshop in the EXIF tag, yet  Paintshop Ppro X3/X4 looks just as good on most JPEGs. That's why I've got minus 100 views on my flickr JPEGs.

Facebook Insanity

Facebook users don't comment to make me crazy to alienate, not the other way around. Why would Facebook acquaintances reply to me on their own walls, but not my wall? Capitalism reduces the labour of the worker to a commercial commodity that can be traded in the competitive labour-market, rather than as a constructive socio-economic activity that is part of the collective common effort performed for personal survival and the betterment of society. In a capitalist economy, the businessmen who own the means of production establish a competitive labour-market meant to extract from the worker as much labour (value) as possible, in the form of capital. The capitalist economy’s arrangement of the relations of production provokes social conflict by pitting worker against worker, in a competition for “higher wages”, thereby alienating them from their mutual economic interests; the effect is a false consciousness, which is a form of ideologic control exercised by the capitalist bourgeoisie. (See: Cultural hegemony) Furthermore, in the capitalist mode of production, the philosophic collusion of religion in justifying the relations of production facilitates the realisation, and then worsens, the alienation (Entfremdung) of the worker from his and her humanity; it is a socio-economic role independent of religion being “the opiate of the masses”

Bob Woodward's devastating account of Obama's failed leadership

From The Washington Examiner:

Arrogant, aloof, and unprepared is how Bob Woodward portrays President Obama in his new book The Price of Politics, set to be released next week. The book recounts Obama’s troubled relationship with Congress, from his inauguration through last summer’s failed debt-limit negotiations, with Woodward concluding, “It is a fact that President Obama was handed a miserable, faltering economy and faced a recalcitrant Republican opposition. But presidents work their will — or should work their will — on important matters of national business. . . . Obama has not.”

Guild Wars 2 review

It's awesome to say the least. A very good and different take on mmorpgs, it's a lot more similar to WoW now that the original was. One of the most drastic changes were the skills. In the first GW skills were kinda like cards, and you could choose a couple to play with, and since there were thousands of them, and you could also play with two professions, the possible combinations were mind blowing. Apparently that was hard to balance so they simplified it a bit. In GW2 most of you skills are determined by the weapons you are holding in your hands, so if you have two-handed sword equipped, you will automatically have all 5 skills for that weapon type. It's kinda underwhelming when compared to the original GW, these 5 are good and all, but in the long run it's gonna get pretty repetitive if you only stick to one weapon type. I like to think of it as being like Devil May Cry or God of War for example, you only had a small amount of possible moves but each of them served a purpose for a specific spot or time to be used. But in the end, I managed to unlock every single weapon skill in my first day of playing the game (there are only about 20 or so ), so it's kinda depressing to know that after I invest a ton of hours in the game I wont ever have the opportunity to get a new attacking skill. The other 5 skills you can equip are a dedicated healing, 3 utility support skills and one elite skill, but these are also only few to choose from. Oh well at least the PvP will be more manageable.

I'm a Charr Warrior level 20 at this point, fully completed the first 2 maps. There's a bunch of stuff to do, and there are dynamic events at almost every step of the way. I really like one of the cool new aspects they added, vista points. It's basically like the observation towers from Assassins Creed, you can find them all over the place, on top of houses, mountains and all over the environments, but getting to them actually takes some platforming. Yes that's right, platforming in an mmo, you need to scan around for possible ways to ascend, start jumping on rocks to make it across the gap and reach a destroyed wall from which you can then jump to another possible platform. Stuff like this was usually considered exploiting, but they really did carefully design these environments.

There's a ton of players present, especially in the starting areas, and it's really cool how everyone can fluidly work together without the need to invite anyone to the group, because everything is shared people are quick to jump in and help you with whatever you are doing, instead of just avoiding you like in other mmos. Also I have to say it's pretty hard, once you go out solo you quickly get overwhelmed and die, so it's always a good idea to play in groups. There's a ton of really cool new features, like the fact that you can be in more than one guild at the same time, and that you can invite a friend from another server to join you. The personal story is also great, you can make choices in how you deal and approach stuff and everything is recorded in your diary. There's also a lot of npcs that talk to each other and interact with others, so everything really does feel alive and organic, I have already witnessed quite a few hilarious dialogues taking place around me.

The most amazing addition to the game has to be the new pvp system. World VS World is simply crazy in scale, there are 4 huge battlegrounds taking place on a separate map, each of those with their towns, mines, resources, caravans, quests and stuff like that, so you can basically only ever play WvW and level up to maximum level, you don't even need to engage in combat with other players, you can help the fight by doing many other things, but I haven't explored all of that just yet. Back to playing I go!

EDIT: Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I'm actually playing with my wireless PS3 controller. I managed to set it up quite nicely, but it does take some concentration to get used to where the skills actually are. It wasn't easy to do since there are about 10 skills to use, plus jumping, evading, looting, switching targets, switching weapons, both mouse buttons so I can turn around and more. So yeah all of the buttons on the controller could have easily been used on just skills, but I set it up so that my healing and utility skills are activated with L2 + regular combat skill buttons. It's playable with my warrior, but I don't think other professions will be especially the elementalist since they have more skills to use because of elemental attunements. I just wish I could make the dpad work for extra skills somehow, but they become deactivated when my analog is used, because they are technically both used for movement so one negates the other, maybe if I used some different software... maybe I could try using voice commands, yeah that would actually be pretty cool.

SHMUPs XI - bought DoDonPachi and Soukyugurentai

I bought an Action Replay for Sega Saturn to play DoDonPachi and Soukyugurentai, DoDonPachi was #1 and Soukyugurentai was #20. On SHMUPs.com they both got 10/10. I also get to play Battle Garrega and Radiant Silvergun.