50k and some change

Just to let you guys know, the online petition that would name the last week of January to National Pie Week has reached and surpassed the 50k mark that was set as a goal. So today at 7 on Attack of the Show, you will get to see Olivia Munn, in a "naughty" french maid outfit, jump into a giant pie. So make some popcorn, lock the door, turn off the phones and prepare to enjoy some darn tootin original american entertainment.

Reading List: The Black Company, The Books of the South

The Black Company is one of my all time favorite series of books. What started as a likeable read when I read the first collection, The Books of The North which collects the first three books of the Black Company, quickly became one of my all time favorites as I tore through the 2nd collection, The Books of the South. This book collects the 2 part story that continues the adventures of the mercenary group, The Black Company after their part in the world changing war between the Empire of the Dominator and the rebellion of the White Rose. They quickly find their way wormed into another war, in which they have no stake only to learn that their being there may not be so coincidental and may have implications that go all the way back to the Company's conception centuries earlier. The third book in this collection, The Silver Spike, tells the aftermath of the previously mentioned war that the Company no longer has a part in. Thats really all I can say because I dont want to ruin anything for anyone who might be interested in reading it. The best thing about this series is easily the characterization. Yes, its a fantasy story that features magic, crazy creatures and power mad wizards but the story revolves around the people in the story, not the roles they play. This series is so good that even if it followed the classic fantasy recipe of archtype characters, it would still be one of the best series in the fantasy market. The other big thing is that you cant take anything that happens at face value. Somethings may seem rushed or contrived but as you keep reading, you realize that there was always a little more story that you werent privy to yet. In most cases I find that kind of thing annoying but it works perfectly for this series. I have to give this series my highest recommendation, especially if you like epic fantasy but are tired of cliche characters and reworked group up with the lovable loser who all of a sudden is the fabled most powerful guy alive now as they barely manage to find and kill the super bad guy storyline. Even if youre not a fan of fantasy novels, I dare say that you could still find the Black Company books entertaining. Now all I have to is wait for the next compilation that will hopefully collect the remaining 4 books of the series.

Sometimes, you just need to know when to stop.

Oh yeah, as a big fan of animated movies, I have been waiting for this ever since I heard it was coming out. Not one but TWO movies all together on one DVD. I went straight to Wal-Mart after work monday night and waited for the stock crew to put up the new releases at midnight and I bought me one. When I got home I realized that the whole thing was like an hour and 15 minutes. Kind of a rip but I wasnt about to let that get me down. Ive decided to review these 2 films separately, so first off:


Hulk vs Thor

I was pretty disapointed with this movie. I dont know I just couldnt get into it. My main thing is that Ive never been a big Thor fan or a fan of the whole Asgardian part of the Marvel Universe. Truthfully, Ive never been a fan of ancient mythology in comics to begin with. I think its kind of a cheap out, where a writer cant think of a good origin story for a character so lets just make him or her a god and say they have whatever powers we can think of. Anyways, the story itself for Hulk vs Thor was good. I liked the whole Hulk gets sent there by Loki to kill Thor and he fights all the gods and everything. I love the animation style they used. I just dont like the characters that much, Im sorry, I know thats not a good reason to not like it, but thats what it is. I personally think that the idea was great but the execution of that idea could have been handled better. So for Hulk vs Thor, on the Heath-Scale I have to give it a 4 out of 10.

Hulk vs Wolverine

Now this movie, I loved. I thought the flow was better it had better fighting and the supporting cast was more to my liking. I know its favoritism, but I just cant help it. My only complaint is that it was too short. I feel like they should have had more fighting between Wolverine and Hulk. I do love the fact that they added the Weapon X guys. Deadpool is one of my favorite characters and to see him in an animated movie is just unbelievable. I thought this movie was written better and the characters was just more interesting. Again, not a valid reason but thats just the way it is. I have to tip my hat off to Mr Nolan North, the actor that voiced Deadpool. I know he probably had nothing to do with the script, but he had me rolling throughout the film. He really brought Deadpool to life and the same to the rest of the guys. This was easily one of the best movies that Marvel has put out lately. I give Hulk vs Wolverine on the Heath-scale a score of 8 out of 10.

If you havent signed yet

Yesterday I put up a post about Olivia Munn's online petition to change National Pie Day to National Pie Week. If she was able to to hit 10K signs by this Friday, she would jump into a giant pie on Attack of the Show on Friday's episode. According to her website, http://www.heyolivia.com/, they hit 9K in one day! Now the bar is set at 25K. If that goal is reached the set up will remain the same only she will be wearing a french maid outfit when she does the jump. If they recieve 50K signs by Friday, she states that it will be a "naughty" french maid outfit. So if you havent signed, do us all a favor and go sign the thing! You can find links to the petition at her blog or at http://www.g4tv.com/pie

Once again, I am denied

The company I work for fortunately is still doing pretty good business. With the economy the way it is I am very grateful to have a decent paying job even if I have to put up with some stupid crap. ITs not what I want to do the rest of my life, but of course nothing really is. I can best relate to the movie Office Space, where when asked what he would do with a million dollars, Peter stated that he would do nothing. Thats my philosphy exactly. Yeah I may be a lazy bastard but hey thats me. Anyways sorry bout that, this whole month, my company has posted voluntary lay offs. Anyone who wanted could take anywhere from 1 to 5 weeks off, of course making only unemployment. I decided to take just one week, that being next week the first week of February. Naturally, just as my luck usually runs, right when I got to the point where I'm looking forward to my upcoming time off, My Dept at work (where Im the only employee) gets swamped with orders. I know this is a good thing, job security right? And with these orders coming in, I was told today that my week off next week my be denied and I will be expected to be at work. ITs not like a big deal or nothing, but I was looking forward to being able to just lay around the house doing nothing but surfing the net and playing WoW.

Sad day for tech fans today.

Sad day people, for www.webbalert.com is no more. Webbalert was Morgan Webb's personal vlog where she went over the new developments in the tech world. She often uploaded a new video every week and it was always insightful and very informative. Now it seems all my tech news will come on Attack of the Show's Gadget Pron segment. Hopefully we will see MS Webb return to the 'net with something new in the near future, cause the less Morgan Webb just means we all lose.

GO sign for PIE!

Miss Olivia Munn, host of G4's Attack of the Show is petitioning everyone to sign to change national pie day to National Pie Week! I know, amazing! If they recieve 10K signees by this friday, she will jump into a giant pie on Attack of the Show on Friday's episode. They are already halfway there for my signature was 5520 something. so Check out her post on it at her blog at http://www.heyolivia.com/ or www.g4tv.com/pie like it says on the ad. Even if you dont like pie, sign just so we can see her jump into a huge freakin pie, cause Im under the impression it will be something I doubt that we will ever get to see again at any other time.

Thank the Lord!

As some of you may know, Ive been sick lately. I was real bad during the holidays but finally cleared up a few days after New Year's. Although, my ear has been stomped up ever since. I dont know why but I get hit with it every year and always at this time of year. But today, while at work, my ear finally popped. Finally, I have tried to for weeks unsuccessfully. Today has to be my favorite day of the year so far, so HALLELUJAH!

Babe of the Week 1/25 - 1/31/09

The gorgeous Devon Aoki has been featured in The Fast and the Furious 2 and Sin City. She also starred in straight to DVD gold, Debs. She is half Japanese and half German, I think, but she is all beautiful

At least its not as bad as the last one

Woot! TWO movies in two weeks, the 2009 movie season is starting out strong. Too bad there isnt anything else coming out worth seeing til March. Maybe the new Street FIghter movie but thatll probably suck really bad. Anyways. My friend Matt and I went and seen Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans. I wasnt all together hyped up for this movie. Ive never been a big fan of the series to start with and the 2nd one was absloute trash. I did however decide to give this film a chance and I was desperately hoping it was better than the last one. Well my hopes were fulfilled and come to find out this might actually be the best one in the trilogy. The story is sound and with Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen leading the way, most of the acting is spot on. There are a few exceptions of course. Michael Sheen returns to play Lucien the leader of the Lycans in this prequel that shows us how the war between Lycan and Vampires started thats only been eluded to in the previous films. He stars opposite Rhona Mitra who plays Sonja the daughter of Victor, played by the once again returning Bill Nighy. If you have seen the previous two then you should have a faint idea about what happens, especially since they show the scene in the first film. Fans of the series will like it, Im sure, but im still a lil meh over the whole thing. I know my problem with the series is trivial, but I just cant get over how crappy the Lycans look sometimes. As my freind Matt pointed out, it looks like they use claymation at several parts of the film and that has plagued this entire series. Maybe they dont have the funds to get proper special effects, I dont know. What I do know is that they could have come up with something better than this:
And thats one of the beter looking ones in the film. All in all, its a decent film if there is nothing else to watch or like I said, youre a fan of the series. On the Heath-Scale I give Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans a score of 7 out of 10

A very cool website for you

A buddy of mine showed me this site. www.boardgamegeek.com. My friends and I play the occasional board game and are always on the lookout for something new and different. THis site lists almost any and every board game you can think of. It has user reviews and ways to communicate notonly with the creators of the game but other players as well. This is a very cool site for you table toppers out there.

Lost has returned!

I beleive the term is serendipity. Its where things happen at the right time and it kinda wows you. Like youre thinking of something and the next day, whatever it was you were thinking about, you happen to come across it. Or better yet when you find out something right when you needed to know it. I was on my way out the door to work yesterday when I decided to go ahead and log on my cpu to check a few things before I left. To my surprise the first thing I see is on MSN is that the new season for Lost started that night. I had no idea and I was able to tape it so I could watch it when I got home. Very awesome indeed, could be coincidence, could have been fate, who knows. Ive come to the realization that I have been having a lot of these moments lately, mostly about trivial stuff. Anyways, watched Lost and it was incredible. A lot of questions are being answered and many more are being raised. I dont want to ruin anything on here for you guys especially when I know some of you have yet to see season 4 and probably wont see season 5 til it comes out on DVD. After last nights show, I have to say that Lost has made its way back to the top of my fave TV shows again.

Reading List: Hammer of God

Hi guys, just finished Hammer of God by Karen Miller. Its the third and final chapter in her Godspeaker trilogy. Overall, it was a pretty good series. Well thought out and very different than your run of the mill fantasy. One thing I loved about this series is the definite existence of a god. While many books prelude to higher power it is refreshing to see a book where not only a god is a major part but an active participant. Not a major character mind you but a definite plot device. There are only a few flaws that jump at you during reading, one of which is the reoccurance fo the same situation again and again. Its like not only are you told subtly but hit over the head repeatedly until you die then she moves to your family and starts hitting them. The other is her character depth. Dont get me wrong, she features great characters who are very diversified and original, but they only go so far until its the same story as the first flaw. One thing I cant praise enough is her pacing. While, like I said above, it seems to be repetitive, but when the story reaches its inevitable climax, it really shines. In this series as well as her previous works, Ive rarely felt as excited as I do when all the loose ends are tying up to finish a great story. I would highly recommend this and her other books to any and all.

Well one thing's for sure

Never ever go out and buy store brand bagels again. I was watching How It's Made on TV earlier today and saw the bagel episode. All these workers wherever they are at finish the production line by grabbing a handful of bagels and put them in line to be packaged. None of these guys had any kind of gloves on. Now I know there are probably a lot of products made in the same fashion, but what you dont know, doesnt make you sick. I saw these guys manhandling bare handed every freakin bagel that was being packaged for our consumption. So my suggestion, want a bagel go to a bakery.

Reading List: The Scout

Some of you know that I spend a lot of my time reading. I know that will surprise some of you, especially those of you that play World of Warcraft with me at all hours of the night. I do most of my reading at work on breaks and such and I usually average about 1 decent sized book a week. Any of my buddies can tell you that I spend quite a chunk of change on books all the time. So I figured I would keep you guys up to date on what Im reading at the moment and my thoughts on it. I just finished The Scout by Harry Combs.


Its a sequel to the book; Brules. The Scout continues the life of Cat Brules, former outlaw, Indian hunter and army scout as he spends his time in the US Army. It tells from his perspective, famous battles such as the battle of Little Big Horn among others. While I really liked Brules, this book left a little to be desired. I wont ruin anything for you, but more time could have been spent with his time in the army. Its still a good western and does answer some questions left from the previous book but it still leaves many parts of Brules' story to be told. Im not sure if I am going to continue with the series in the next installment The Legend of the Painted Horse. I wouldnt recommend this book, only if you have read Brules and really liked it and have to know how he spent his years in the service. Do give Brules a try though, seriously a very good western and very different from the basic mysterious gunman saves the town story that is featured in most westerns.

Heath's Retro Review!

New feature I might be doing on here from now on. Since I already do reviews of the films that my friends and I go see when we go the the movies, I thought I might also reveiw movies that have been out for a while. Anything you want me to review just leave me a message and I will see if I can. Now if you want to watch something like The Notebook or some other chick flick, youre just out of luck cause that aint gonna happen. So be sure to keep an eye out in the near future.

Congrats!

Woot! The Arizona Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl! I never in my life thought id see the day. Now with if they win and the Red Sox winning the World Series, alls that left is hopefully seeing the Cubs Make it to the series. After Tennessee fel last week, I threw my hat in the with the Cards, and Im hoping two weeks from today we will be watching them celebrate the NFL Championship! Also, Im glad that the Steelers made it as well, mainly because I cant stand the Ravens. If they win, it will pu them at the top of the list of teams that have won the Super Bowl the most with 6 wins. So lets go Cards, just one more game!

Babe of the Week 01/18 - 01/24/09

The Super Hot Kristen Bell, star of Veronica Mars and lately Heroes on NBC. She was also in the movie Fanboys but that film never came out and is still in "Limbo".

Apparently I have Alt-itis

Alt-itis, a condition that plagues a many of MMORPG'er. A few gaming terms for those of you that are not "in the know", The character that you play with the most on any given Massively Multi-Player Role Playing Game is refered to as your "main". Most people use their first character that they started or the one they are online with the greater part of the time. Most people also start other characters along with their mains to play with when bored or burned out wiht that character. These other characters, are referred to as "alts". A player that uses a lot of alts is said to have Alt-itis. Posted above this way too long diatribe of explanation that I could have said with only a few sentences are pics of 5 of my characters including my Main. I also have 5 other characters, 2 of which are used only as "bank" characters which are mainly kept in the main cities and used to hold money and transport materials between characters. The other 3 are all low level and dont really share mauch playing time at all and will probably be deleted sometime whenever I feel like it. I was accused of this condition by some friends after finding out just how many characters I played with. But thats ok I like have a choice on what kind of game i feel like playing at any certain time. Heres a crazy pic for you that shows just how crazy World of Warcraft has been getting and why Im still hopelessly hooked.

Yes thats me flying an airplane in a fantasy RPG and I know, Awesome!

Not a great way to start the new year

First movie of 2K9! Too bad it was Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I had some high expectations for this film. I like Kevin James, and this film being produced by Adam Sandler's production company; Happy Madison, I was for sure to see some his zany humor as well. While this film did have some truly funny moments, it was too bogged down by overly sensitive feely good scenes and it spent way too long trying to be funny in some places. After the way too long build up showing just how much of a loser this guy is, the film finally takes off in what I think could be described as a comedic version of Die Hard. Also appearing along side kevin James is Grundy VA native Jayma Mays who has also appeared in Epic Movie and in Heroes. My final thoughts, wait for this to hit HBO where you can watch it for free late at night when youre bored out of your mind and dont have to worry about wasting your money. On the Heath Scale, I give Paul Blart: Mall Cop a score of 6 out of 10.

A little slice of awesome

I love technology. With the right tool even a sometimes complete moron like me can accomplish something spectacular. If you scroll down toward the bottom of my blog you will see the latest addition to my blog, only the greatest thing to EVER hit the internet, Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog in its entirety. If you havent yet seen it, sit back, relax and be prepared to experience the best 45 mins of your life outside of sex, having kids, marriage (if youre a chick) etc etc. Joss Whedon is a freaking genius. Ive never been a huge fan of any of his work but after watching this, Ill defend his awesomeness til the day that the good Lord calls me home. Enough of reading this, go watch Dr. Horrible! And even though you can watch it all here or on youtube or how many other various websites you should still go buy it on DVD and give these guys some money. You can find it on Amazon for only $10.

Go Watch This part 2!!

http://www.watchtheguild.com/
After seeing Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog, I decided to try another web series that I had heard about called The Guild. It stars Felicia Day (also in Dr Horrible) as a troubled girl whose only interaction is that with her friends online in a MMORPG. When something crazy (wont ruin it for you) happens she turns to the only people she can for help and they all decide to meet in real life and solve their problems together. Its a lil cheesy especially at the end, but its pretty good with some very funny moments. Any of you that are WoW fans or just like online gaming in general would get a kick out of this. First season is out and online at their site and season two is in full swing, so go check it out!

Go watch this!

http://www.drhorrible.com/

A friend of mine recently showed me one of the greatest things that has ever hit the internet. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, is a internet series that took the net by storm last summer. IT stars Neil Patrick Harris as a aspiring super villain and his quest to enter the nefarious Evil League of Evil, all the while trying to win the affection fo the girl of his dreams and trying to avoid his nemesis Captain Hammer. It is directed by Joss Whedon who was the mastermind behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. It is incredibly funny, touching and genuinely good. You can buy it on DVD like my friend and I did on Amazon for only 10 bucks or you can scrounge around Youtube and find all the episodes and watch them. One way or another you should definitely go check it out.

Random thoughts

I was bored earlier tonight just wondering around Youtube watching mostly crap. What got started on a couple of videos that a friend of mine recommended which were pretty good quickly gravitated towards Dr. Horrible Sing A Long blog song covers and finally began to end around Rick Roll'd prank videos. One of the best things I have ever seen was these videos of people getting on the intercom at Walmart and yelling random stuff. Apparently its pretty easy to do, just pick up one of the phones and either hit page or some variation of 96. Most of them have it written on the phones themselves. So if youre bored, you oughta go check them out some of them are pretty hilarious.

Babe of the Week 01/11 - 01/17/09

The beautiful Mila Kunis, most popularly known as Jackie from That 70's Show. Hasnt yet been in too many movies that I know of. She was in Max Payne which I didnt really care for and starred in American Psycho 2 but I havent seen that one yet.

The Heath List hate edition

In response to today's travesty of a game which saw Tennessee screwed out of the playoffs, here is the top 5 teams in the NFL that I just cant stand.

5) St Louis Rams

4) Baltimore Ravens

3) Dallas Cowboys

2) New England Patriots

1) Indianapolis Colts

Agree or Disagree?

Screwed!

Now before I get started here, just let me say that Im not usually one to find people to blame for things going bad. Tennessee lost today and they sure didnt help themselves. I mean when it comes down to it, Tennessee could have done some things a lot better. They were penalized like 13 times. At least 5 of those were for offsides which is insane. A lack of proper execution really hurt us in the long run. Now with that out of the way, the main thing that beat us besides ourselves was one freakin blown no call by the refs. On their last drive, at one play Baltimore hiked the ball at least TWO seconds past the end of the play clock! Should have been a delay of game penalty that would have cost them 5 yards. Not only was it NOT called, the play that was peformed set Baltimore up so they could get in position for their field goal attempt. If the foul had been called, who knows what could have happened. Baltimore could have went ahead and connected on the next pass and we could have lost just the same, but I would know for sure that it was us that lost it, not a fluke blown call by some blind refs that pay no attention to whats going on in the game. Apparently where ever the refs were from, they no longer abide by the rules and only quit playing when everybody's tired. All in all, its nothing but a bunch of crap. Hopefully, whoever Baltimore has to play next whips them good and knocks em out and hopefully whoever that is wont have to play against the refs too.

Woot! Finally!

FInally feeling better. Ive been sick since Christmas with a sore throat and swelling and sinus pressure. It got so bad that I actually went to the doc and if you know me pretty well, you know im not one for going to the doc unless I really have to. Ive been gettin better the plast week or so but today is the first that Ive went without meds or gargling salt water like the doc told me to and I still feel great. Just want to throw a congrats out to the University of Florida. They again proved the dominance of the SEC by winning the National Championship last night over Oklahoma 24 - 14. 3rd year in a row for the SEC and the end is nowhere in sight. Last night was also the only night I ever pull for Florida too, so I am kinda glad thats over and I can go back to hating them with a passion like I do the rest of the time. It is cool to see A SEC team win again, no I just hope that Tennessee can get back to their glory and be the ones winning the title. Now with college over with, I can put all my power into cheering for the Titans as they get ready for the play offs this weekend against Baltimore.

Babe of the Week 01/04 - 01/10/09

Honestly, I havent seen many movies featuring the super hot Jessica Biel. Only ones I can think of are The Illuisionist and the one where Adam Sandler and Kevin James are gay. She was easily the best part of both of those films.