Chrono Trigger Rap

Posted by John Klein III on August 11, 2017
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Songs, Websites. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

So I was going down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos that I’ll get more into further down this post, when I suddenly had the temptation to search for “Chrono Trigger Rap” and was really surprised what I discovered.

I came across Richie Branson’s Bring Back Chrono –

He hosts his own videos.

YouTube member, Narutokun11, was kind enough to transcribed the lyrics :

Verse 1
If I could travel back in time, like a VHS and rewind
Way before I decided to write my very first rhyme
I’d set my destination back to 1995 when the Super NES was in it’s prime
While everybody waited in line for NBA Live
I was on the grind saving up every quarter and dime
And Chrono Trigger was the game I decided to buy
When I saw that GamePro gave it 5/5
First RPG I ever played, my friends thought it meant Rocket Propelled Grenade
Asking when you coming out to play, used to tell ’em to wait
Cuz I had to save the world from a hell of a fate
So I would time travel
Through many different eras in my Wings of Time and engage in Active Time Battle
Slaughtering each and every opponent like cattle with no hassle
All in the name of Guardia Castle.

Chorus
I really wish that they would bring back Chrono
And Luca, and Magus, and Marle, and Robo
And Ayla, and Frog so you know we never solo
Triple Tech Attack to anybody sayin YOLO
Best flow ever bout the best game ever
Bet you can’t name a recent game made better
I’m reminiscing on the Squaresoft era
Killing beasts in the name of world peace, no meta.
I remember being broke without a thing
Nothing to my name but a pocket full of change, but
All I had was video games, yeah, all I had was video games
Yo I used to play Chrono Trigger each and every day
Hoping that the world would not refuse to change. Why?
Cuz all I had was video games, yeah, all I had was video games.

Verse 2
I never would have thought that when my age was older
That I would rhyme about time machines instead of Range Rovers
I’m killing tracks like I used to kill Fiend Soldiers
No New Game+ it’s game over
I wish I could go back in time and save Left Eye,
And Tupac, and the notorious guy from Bed-Stuy
I’m old school I guess you can call me Reptite
Everything I spit is truth, gotta keep my rep tight
I meant keep a tight reputation
Despite the fact that my rhymes have gamer motivations
I used to play Chrono Trigger with a lot of patience
Played every port from DS to Playstation
If I could say one thing to Square Enix,
I’d tell them resurrect Chrono Trigger like a Phoenix
Down, and if that happened then I would think I’m dreaming
And then I’d get excited and vomit like Willie Beamen.

(Chorus)

You can find his YouTube page here –

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV7eKepD9v4IeU99ndTV14Q

I also liked his song 1999 A.D. (Otaku King III) –

He was interviewed on Street’s Corner, San Antonio Spotlight –

wherein he debuted his song “Level Up” which is also quite good.

He released an album in 2013 (how did I not know this!?!) titled, From Guardia with Love.

All the proceeds from the album went to a great charity, Extra Life.

You can learn more about the charity here –

https://www.extra-life.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_Life_(fundraiser)

I’m not sure if you buy the album –

https://richiebranson.bandcamp.com/album/from-guardia-with-love

if the proceeds still go to Extra Life but it is still worth a download.

So great that someone was inspired from one of my favorite games of all time and still being inspired by it today to create amazing songs.

. . .

For the past few nights, I’ve been having trouble sleeping, I’ve been looking up end songs to some of my favorite RPGs over the years.

Legend of Mana –

Thanks to Whoomp VIdya Gaems, for hosting the video!

Song of Mana is sung by Annika Ljungberg.

Star Ocean 2 –

Thanks to Hells616 for hosting this video!

I had like eight save files just so I can play with all the characters and have legitimate teams.  I’m sure I four Claude teams and four Rena teams.  I want to say I stuck with Rena’s side more, she had Dias.

Man, that’s the game I started my gaming food of yogurt cover raisins and apple juice and just play into the wee hours of the morning.  Oh, to be a kid again!  Now, I just obsess over my old RPGs, wish that I could play them again and relive the adventure.

That reminded me of Star Ocean 3 : Till The End of Time –

Thanks to Xygor for hosting both videos.

The second one features the song, The Small Bird That Forgot How To Fly” (飛び方を忘れた小さな鳥, Tobikata Wo Wasureta Chiisana Tori) by Misia.  Thanks to the Wikipedia page for providing that sentence.

How great is Nel Zelpher in that game?  She’s simply the best!  I remember buying a game guide for this game and finding out ahead of time that there is a way to not recruit her and I was super worried about messing that up.  As I really wanted to keep her on my team, she was by far the best character.

Look at those sweet moves!  Thanks to MeykTaruka for hosting that video!  Sadly, YouTube doesn’t just have scores of scores of videos about Nel.

. . .

Last night, I was watching these videos, and jumped from those videos to my excitement of FLCL getting brought back for a second and third season.  So I thought I’ll look up FLCL best moments or something, to relive the story without having to watch all six episodes.  Which I’ve done and I love that show, like crazy, but I didn’t have it available to watch super late at night.

Unfortunately, I didn’t see any videos that really had a Top 10 Moments or anything.

I did find this video –

Thanks to akidearest for hosting her video.  I was surprised I only knew like three items on there.

Her comment about the Pillows’ music video for Ride On Shooting Star, made me want to watch that video.

Thanks to KING RECORDS for hosting that video.

That video is all types of nuts!

Gosh, I just love the Pillows and can’t believe I haven’t actually seen them before.  They are coming back for the additional two seasons, as well.

Then I looked up Pillows English Song and wasn’t surprised they hadn’t recorded any songs in English (why would they, they are amazing!) but somehow I went from that search to Chrono Trigger Rap.  Then I made this post!

. . .

Typing about my love for that game, MatPat over at his Game Theory YouTube channel has created two Chrono Trigger videos –

Is Chrono Trigger ‘s Time Travel Accurate?

Now, this was his very first video, so the humor is there but the production isn’t quite there.  But there is a charm there that one can (and did) build an empire on top of.

The other video is Chrono Trigger Retells the Bible!?!

Which I hadn’t seen until last night.

MatPat’s channel name is, The Game Theorists

A while back, I came across the Completionist’s video for Chrono Trigger, as it was his 200th completed game –

and spent some time going through his channel afterwards.  I like him too but I haven’t played nearly enough games that he has but he has covered quite a few that I’ve played.

His channel is, That One Video Gamer

. . .

Which finally, brings me to Chrono Cross.

If you want to lose a week’s worth of your life, please check out this incredible website –

https://www.chronocompendium.com/

So much thinking and thoughts have gone into and out of that website!

Here is Chrono Cross’ Final Song –

Thanks to BigTimeHacker for hosting the song.

The song is Radical Dreamers – Unstolen Jewel, sung by Norko Mitose.

Which the visuals there made me want to watch a gameplay footage video.  Instead of following that instinct, I choose to see if anyone wanted to try to explain to me the timelines for Chrono Cross, as I felt like that’s what YouTube should be for, explaining timelines in video games from 2000.

Thanks for hosting the video, Terracorrupt!

So that was pretty much like two hours of thoughts.  Then, of course, I was writing this post in my head, and that’s when I feel asleep.

This post a little longer than I was originally expecting to make it but I sort of wanted to get all of my thoughts on Chrono Trigger out of the way.  Well, the thoughts that got me down the YouTube rabbit hole, anyway, as I could talk about the game for hours.

. . .

Last night, I discovered that Richie Branson is on Pandora, so you can hear his music there, if you would like.

Moana Music Videos

Posted by John Klein III on August 9, 2017
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Songs. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

So I keep getting these songs stuck in my head, after watching the film.  I wish YouTube and Disney had more official videos from Moana, as I would like to visually see the songs again without having to watch the film and forward to those sections.  Here are the three I can find:

Auli’i Cravalho’s How Far I Will Go

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Opetaia Foa’i’s We Know the Way

Dwayne Johnson’s You’re Welcome

DisneyMusicVEVO hosts this video too, thanks!

I get those two words “You’re Welcome” stuck in my head!

Jermaine Clement’s Shiny

Which is probably my favorite song of the film, thus far.  It really surprised me with the lyrics and it feels like it is from a different film, altogether.  It also is sung by Jermaine Clement, who I really enjoy.

DisneyMusicVEVO hosts all four videos, thank you!

I gave up on @Midnight after they spoiled the death in Force Awakens, like a week after the film came out.  But one of my favorite moments from the series is Jermaine Clement

Thanks to Comedy Central for hosting this video!

How Far I Will Go lost the Oscar for Best Song to La La Land’s Star City.

Thanks to YouTuber HuproZ for hosting the song.

I haven’t gotten around to watching La La Land, we look forward to it going onto any of the streaming channels.  The song seems okay, if not a tad somber.  I’m sure, within the context of the film, it is very powerful.  Just not radio worthy.

Now, La La Land’s Another Day in the Sun –

Thanks to YouTuber Deepikara for hosting this video.

This sequence is mind bending good!  How did Damien Chazelle and Linus Sandgren accomplish that, along with every single person that was needed for this masterpiece.

You know who else was very funny on @Midnight?  Michael Shannon, I wish his introduction was on YouTube.

He had even funnier segments on there but Comedy Central went with this one – which is still pretty funny.

 

Sunday Dinner : Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole

Posted by John Klein III on August 7, 2017
Posted in: Cooking. Tagged: . Leave a comment

http://www.food.com/recipe/loaded-baked-potato-chicken-casserole-505862

I completely forgot, again!, that I was taking pictures of Sunday Dinners for this blog!  So that’s a picture of Walker Dennis’ uneaten serving.

I had misgivings of baking it at 5oo degrees, like the recipe required.  If I know why food had to be baked at certain times or what ingredients do recipes, like the science of it all, I could probably be better at cooking instead of learning by experience.

What I’m getting at is, the potatoes were baked way to long.  Next time, I’ll bake the potatoes for 30 minutes, stirring them every ten minutes, instead of every 15 minutes for 45 minutes.

I will also cut down the chicken baking for 12 minutes and modify that to six minutes.  That’s what I should have done last night, but I went against my better judgment and my instincts.  I think I’m at the point now when I have to trust my cooking instincts.  The potatoes around the edges were pretty badly burnt but there were some in the middle that were pretty tasty.  This entire meal had a pretty nice spice to it.  I figured it was going to with the three tablespoons of hot sauce, I went with Cholulua brand of hot sauce.  It was that or Tabasco but I prefer Cholulua, myself.

It was a very tasty meal, I just wish the potatoes stood a chance.  By the time the recipe called for cheese, bacon and green onions, my family was getting pretty hungry so I only cooked that section for three minutes instead of the four I was going to, for the 3 – 5 minutes requirement.

Heck, as far as I know, the potatoes were probably ready at the 30 minute mark.

I’m still not great at frying bacon, I think I just don’t have the patience for it, as it starts popping and I need to put salt down or something to prevent that from happening so I can get the bacon as crispy as we prefer.  So I went with the Oscar Meyer microwaveable bacon.  I prefer cooking with their bacon bits but my wife wanted to make sandwiches with the remaining bacon – which I completely support.

Which meant the chicken didn’t get to cook in the bacon grease, but again, I’m not sure if that meant it wouldn’t have been so spicy or does that mean it would have been as spicy but with that delicious bacon flavoring.  I don’t think it needed that.

I also only went with six potatoes so I could keep five potatoes for breakfast this upcoming weekend.  I’m hoping the potatoes last that long.  I should post that recipe, once I have it mastered, as I keep modifying it.  My wife is a big fan of fried potatoes and instead of buying the Ore-Ida Potatoes O’Brien, I’ve been trying to make my own.  It was pretty good last time but I keep modifying times and such.  Expect that one, one of these days.  I was making it every weekend, for three weeks, but our schedule didn’t permit it for this last one.

. . .

I got some of my own television watching in this weekend, which I couldn’t believe.  So I’m trying to learn more about Jodi Whittaker, the future 13th Doctor, and caught the first episode of ABC’s The Assets.  I was going down a Wikipedia spiral that landed me on the cases of Aldrich Ames (the CIA double agent for the Soviets) and a slew of other spies such as Robert Hanssen, the FBI version of Ames, and subject of the film, Breach.  So my two interests align – which is always fun when that happens.

I then watched the first episode of Broadchurch, well, up to the point where Tennant and Whittaker have their first scene together.  My wife and I had watched this episode, months ago, when we wanted to compare Gracepoint and Broadchurch, as she had watched the entire season of Gracepoint.  I knew Tennant was in both, so I thought it would be a fun exercise to see how different they were.  She thought it was a pretty straight forward adaption of the pilot episode.  So she didn’t need to watch the rest of Broadchurch.  I opted to watch more of Broadchuch, but never came around to it.

I had to stop right then, as I realized I still haven’t finished The Empty Hearse episode of Sherlock, so I went back and finished that one.  I’m sure the months in-between viewings hurt it, as it started off so strong but the case seemed to wrapped up so easily.  I’m not sure when I will get around to watching the rest of the series – probably after I finish Doctor Who Season Nine.

Which, I was able to watch Episode 2, Witch’s Familiar.  Apparently I was more than half way through the episode, which I didn’t remember that so I wasted some time watching that section again.  I’m excited to watch the next episode about the underwater base and the ghosts.

I’m really going to miss Jenna Coleman when she’s no longer on this show.  I know it is coming, just not sure when.  I see Amazon has season ten but I rather not have to pay for it, so I have to track when that happens.  It’ll be nice if it happens by the time I finish season nine.

So Doctor Who Season Nine, Sherlock Season Three and Assets – are the shows I have to finish.

We also got another episode of Person of Interest’s final season under our belts, I think we are nine more before that’s over and we’re two away from finishing Daredevil Season Two.  So we’re doing it.  Slowly but progress is happening.  We’re also now on season two of The Office, which is fun finally delving into that show.

Oh, and I saw that Sing film, as of course, we have time to watch children films.  I saw Sing and Moana, for the first time.  My family had seen it already, fully, but this was my first time seeing it straight though.  Now it is Monday and I got various clips of songs playing in my head.  Mostly the chorus lines.

I picked out Jemaine Clement’s voice, so quickly, and I wish the Rock had done a voice for the film, like an accent or something, as for the first 30 minutes of Maui, I kept thinking about Dwayne Johnson in the recording booth.  But one doesn’t hire Dwayne Johnson and then have him do an unrecognizable version of his voice.  Clement had some change done to his voice, it wasn’t until he started to sing that I recognized him.

Not a bad weekend, at all, really.  Wish dinner was a larger success but I have plans to make it again but with my modifications.

We also got our family portrait done, for our church’s directory, and our son was all smiles.  Which we knew he would be, as that kid loves saying “cheese” and smiling big when we ask him for “big smiles” so it went quickly.

 

Lady Singers Slaying it July 2017

Posted by John Klein III on August 4, 2017
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Songs. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

We’ve been on a real music kick during July 2017.  Lots of fun songs on the radio.

Julia Michaels – Issues

Thanks to JuliaMichaelsVEVO for hosting this video.

Miley Cyrus – Malibu

Thanks to MileyCyrusVEVO hosting this video.  Did not recognize this as a Miley Cryus song, she really is a great singer when she has something to say.

Kesha – Praying

Thanks to keshaVEVO for hosting this video!  Kesha is now free of “Dr.” Luke and has also dropped the silly $ from her name.  This is such a powerful song, what a way to tell the world that you are back!  #FreeKesha #ISupportKesha #StopRapingKesha #DontGetRapedAtWork

Selena Gomez – Bad Lair

Thanks to SelenaGomezVEVO for hosting this video.  This was one of those songs that I really liked, only heard like the middle portion of the song and could never hear who sings it.  Of course, it would be Selena Gomez.  I really like the way she’s dressed in this video, really down to Earth.  I guess that she’s 24 (I had to look it up) but she still looks like a 16 year old so I appreciate that she isn’t dressed as sultry as some of her other videos.  It is a nice simple song and she dresses for that part.  I may also be just an old fuddy duddy too, of course, she can dress however she pleases.  I just can’t or shouldn’t watch those videos.

Alessia Cara – Scars To Your Beautiful

Thanks to AlessiaCaraVEVO for hosting this video.

I may just be in a certain mode this month but I’ve really been enjoying these songs on the radio.  I may be also listening to Living Between Wednesdays, and those early episodes, I can’t hear them on my phone when it is in my van cup holder – unlike my other podcasts that I can hear just fine.  So I’ve been listening to the radio a lot more than I usually do.

Thanks to Mix 102.3 here in Helena for their excellent policy for stating the artist and song title after each and every song.  The other stations don’t do this, so I don’t listen to those stations when I’m hunting for information on songs.  As I can’t seem to memorize an important lyric enough to go to work or home and Google that particular lyric.

Then I discovered, thanks to YouTube, that someone is nice enough to create a Top 40 playlist and update it weekly (as far as I can tell) so that’s been super helpful.  I’ve been missing my days of watching VH1’s Top 20 Countdown and getting to see music videos and staying current.

 

 

Teri Cole

Posted by John Klein III on August 3, 2017
Posted in: Uncategorized. Leave a comment

http://helenair.com/news/local/obituaries/teri-brannman-cole/article_8f543b93-b231-5d91-86d5-8907afb23d12.html

Today marks the one year sadiversary of my sister-in-law.  For Christmas, it has to be like five years ago now, she gave my wife and me these two blankets – a blue one and a red one.  At first, I was like “blankets, really?” but with me working two jobs, I often sleep on the couch so that I don’t disturb my wife by coming to bed.  I’ve slept with that red blanket so many times, I’ve spent a lot of time with that blanket.  It gets cold here in Montana and I’ve gotten so use to having it over me that it is a constant fixture in our living room.  I, of course, picked the red blanket, for Marvel.

We found some pictures of Teri for her funeral slash wake, last year.  After the pictures were scanned at her mother’s house, we placed them in the passenger door compartment.  I keep meaning to bring them into the apartment and back in the photo album but I sort of been liking seeing the picture and being reminded of her again.  We were not that close, I was definitely closer to her two sons, but we had a handful of moments together.

Just wanted to put some thoughts down as I’m reminded of her today.  I had sort of forgotten (or taken for granted) about how those blankets were gifted to us – and my wife uses her blue blanket pretty often too – and who gave them to us.

I should have posted this earlier in the day, but I finally came up with a way I wanted to memorialize her.

Turtle Soup Episode 156

Posted by John Klein III on August 2, 2017
Posted in: Podcasts. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

http://turtlesoupshow.com/episode-156-old-chien-khan-and-the-dogstar-boys/

Ryan and Eric played my fourth e-mail to the show!  It is read and the follow up discussion occurs between the 25:15 to 34:30 minute marks.

In the middle of the discussion, I had the thought that this is what my e-mails should be.  An item that actually sparks a lively discussion.

I felt pretty embarrassed that I had forgotten that in the Archie Adventures run, that we got plenty of Future Don and Raph together, something I had completely over looked.

Just so I can write about it here, I asked what Raphael and Donatello talk about when they are on a mission together.  As those two’s dynamic doesn’t really get much attention.

There are only six different ways to break out a duo with the Ninja Turtles.

The Rarely Seen

Raphael and Donatello
Leonardo and Michelangelo

The Classic – Sharps v Blunts

Leonardo and Raphael
Donatello and Michelangelo

The Video Games – Long v Short

Leonardo and Donatello
Raphael and Michelangelo

I’m not really sure what you call that third grouping of characters, but usually in video games, me and a buddy will pick Leonardo and Donatello for their sweet longer weapons.

After they moved onto the third e-mail of the episode, I did have the thought about trios of the team but I already knew it was going to be a long e-mail.  I did record a version of it, to be a voicemail, but it ended up being a full minute and some seconds, and that felt too long.  Though they have had aired long ones before, and never once commented on how we should keep them to a certain length.  I guess when you have two hour long episodes, extra minutes are not a bad thing.  Especially if it truly adds to show content.

We’re in the middle of season two of the Nick cartoon, and I want to say that say that Raph and Don have been paired up once, maybe twice.  We’re at the episode where Karai was turned into a snake.  I swear, we must have missed the first half of that season as none of those episodes looked familiar.

Hulu finally updated season four, but I want to earn that season so we’re slowly working our way through season two.  Walker Dennis is currently addicted to Secret Life of Pets – which isn’t all that bad of a film.  Louis C.K. doesn’t even try to change his voice, so he sounds the exact same as Brendan’s dad from Home Movies.  But, if you are going to hire Louis C.K., you hire him for that specific voice he has.

We’re also very slow in working our way through Out of the Shadows, which doesn’t seem like a bad movie.  It is silly but so far, unoffensive, my man.

Sunday Dinner : Slow Cooker Chicken with Stuffing

Posted by John Klein III on August 1, 2017
Posted in: Cooking. Tagged: . Leave a comment

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/228109/slow-cooker-chicken-with-stuffing/

The picture is from my second helping, I was so hungry, I forgot to take the original picture!

My parents, my sister and her two kids (with the third in her belly right now!) came up from Arizona to spend the weekend.  Is there a faster way to refer to one’s own parents, sister and her two children?  I’ve been struggling with a nice phrase to summarize this group for a week now.  I don’t want to say “my family” as I have a wife and on my own son, and it doesn’t imply who exactly is coming up for the trip.

So with having to feed eight people instead of my typical three, I doubled the recipe.

We went with two Costco packages of chicken thighs, two cups of chicken broth, two cans of cream of chicken soup, two boxes of Chicken Stove Top stuffing and a cup of water.

I Googled it and you don’t actually change the cooking time at all, when you double a recipe.  The rule is to cook it for the same amount of time, and then check on it like every fifteen to thirty minutes, to see if it needs additional time.  Since we went to Lake Helena, I had to keep it on the warm setting for an additional hour.  We were back within 30 minutes, but with three kids under five, it takes us a while to get everyone ready.  I wish we ate around that 30 minute mark, as the stuffing still looked pretty great.  Instead, it looked a little darker than I would have preferred.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it except for Walker Dennis and the younger cousin.  Which is odd as Walker really enjoys stuffing but with two new playmates, they didn’t have time for meals, with all of the playing they could do.

San Diego Comic Con 2017 : Highlights

Posted by John Klein III on July 26, 2017
Posted in: Convention, Fun With YouTube, Websites. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Thanks to io9’s Charles Pullian-Moore for writing such great reviews of the convention, I felt like I was there.  Also, the studios releasing the trailers pretty quickly, helped too.

I’m going to post links to the days and trailers and offer my opinions on what I thought about what I found interesting.

Thursday

http://io9.gizmodo.com/all-of-thursdays-news-trailers-and-everything-else-fr-1797112240

Noah Hawley, of the incredible Legion show fame (and even more fame with Fargo) is going to bring Doctor Doom to theaters.  I imagine the Fantastic Four, or at the very least, Reed Richards, will appear in the film.  I still say that a West Wing style Doctor Doom show (or film) could be very good.  Maybe he’ll cast Rachel Keller in some role for this.  Legion Season Two will be ten episodes, as opposed to eight episodes, which I’m all for.

Batman 32 will have Catwoman’s response to Batman’s wedding proposal.  I’m all for these two getting married.  I want more heroes to be married and have children.  I’m married and I have a child, and my life is so much better now.

I wish the Ninja Ghostbuster Turtles didn’t have the hair, how much better would that have looked?  I do love the concept of mixing these two franchises together, in toy form.  I just don’t think they needed the extra step.

Friday

http://io9.gizmodo.com/fridays-news-trailers-and-everything-else-from-san-di-1797148502

The Defenders trailer came out!

Thanks to Netflix for hosting their own trailer.

This looks like so much fun!  We are almost done with Daredevil Season Two and still have Luke Cage and Iron Fist to watch, so it’ll be a while before we’re ready for this.

Misty Knight, from Luke Cage, will be coming over to Iron Fist’s second season.  That show has Colleen Wing already so let’s hope that we get a Daughters of the Dragon spinoff out of that!  That’s all I really want.  That and an official Heroes for Hire season of Luke Cage and Iron Fist together.  I take it that, with the low reviews Iron Fist gets, that Luke Cage doesn’t appear in it.  That’s what I’m guessing.

The new X-Men show, Gifted, got a trailer – a long trailer.

Thanks to Marvel Entertainment for hosting this trailer.

We just started Season Five of Person of Interest (the final season) and I’m glad I can go from that show to this show for my Amy Acker needs.  She’s so great on that show.  It has to be super awkward when Stephen Moyer leaves home for the set, right?  Like, are they going to ask him to see if his lovely wife, Anna Paquin, can make an appearance?  I keep having that through in regards to Carrie Preston’s appearances on Person of Interest.  Like, they ask Michael Emerson if his lovely wife can come for a few episodes and she said, “sure, why not.”

I need to get Walker Dennis into Big Hero 6 but we don’t have Disney XD, so I’ll probably hold off on that, for now.

Todd MacFarlane, Kevin Smith and Blumhouse Productions is bringing Spawn to teathers, so MacFarlane’s like 20 year mission for a R-Rated Spawn film might be getting closer to becoming a reality.

Saturday

http://io9.gizmodo.com/saturdays-biggest-news-trailers-and-all-the-other-stu-1797166112

Rob Bricken wrote the above article.

New Thor Ragnarok Trailer!

Thanks to Marvel Entertainment for hosting this trailer.

So much love for this trailer!  What I enjoyed the most was hearing Hulk talk!  That’s character development!  They are both like fire, Hulk is raging fire and Thor is more like a smoldering fire.  So incredible!  It makes sense that Mark Ruffalo is in this but I thought there might be a chance where he wasn’t going to be in the film.

Still no Black Panther trailer nor Infinity Wars trailers!  I was really hoping for that Infinity War trailer, that’s what made me keep checking out YouTube around 10 at night, each night this weekend.

Not thrilled that Captain Marvel is taking place in the 90s, thus pre-Iron Man.  So they are going to have to age her for Infinity War or put Brie Larson in ice to explain the lack of aging?  That seems silly.  I like a two-eyed Nick Fury in this (he’s definitely losing one of those!) and the Skulls being in this. I wonder what FOX got so that Marvel could get the Fantastic Four alien race?  The article implies that it is a “shared custody” issue like Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

Oh man!  Michele Pfeiffer is going to be Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp!  We have to get footage of her in any sort of Wasp uniform, that would be incredible!  We never got a good or proper shot of Michael Douglas as old school Ant Man, right?  They won’t make that mistake with Pfeiffer, that’s for sure.  Oh, and Laurence Fishburne is the Ant Man and Wasp film as Bill Foster.  Good thing Marvel already made Civil War.

The Justice League trailer came out!

Thanks to Warner Bros. Pictures for hosting the video.

JK Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, I can get behind that!  I like the Flash not getting the memo on disappearing at the dramatic act break of a conversation.  Still not loving that costume.  Looking at the Wikipedia page for the film –

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_League_(film)

William Dafoe is an adviser to Aquaman!  That’s two Raimi Spider-Man cast members in this film!

Amy Adams will be in this too!  I did like the ending “non-reveal” of who Gordon is talking to.  That’s a nice touch.

The Flash film is set to adapt Flashpoint, which seems pretty lofty for two hours.  Also, so odd to not just use the CW shows’ cast members if storylines are already going to be recycled.  Feels like a mess already in the making.

I’m excited about Batman by Gaslight being adapted for an animated film.  Seems fast, but they are going full two films like Dark Knight Returns with Death and Return of Superman.  I liked Doomsday but if they want to expand it, I’m all for that too.  So much was left out of that first attempt.  Though Louise Simonson’s story still brings a slight tear to my eye.

Thanks to gameraspinning for hosting this video.

It really made me think about Ma Kent during that storyline, like I’ve never given it much thought before.  I want more creator retrospectives on these DVD releases or just plain documentaries.  I would watch those so hard!

I still need to read Ready Player One

Thanks to Movieclips Trailers for hosting that video!

They were nice enough to leave a comment about the Easter eggs:
Deadpool/Harley :34, Iron Giant :45, Freddy 1:00, Duke Nukem 1:01, DeLorean 1:43, Ben Mendelsohn 1:48

I caught the Iron Giant cameo, on my own and that was Deadpool and Harley Quinn, so that’s cool.  I should read the book.   I know Rob and Brian with the Uncanny X-Cast loved the book and my friend, Ben Tiller, liked it too.

Flash Season Four trailer!

Thanks to The CW Television Network for hosting this trailer.

So what type of Nega-Barry is going to show up?  I like them handling Iris having to deal with losing her fiance.  Caitlin having a larger role, is nice too.  I keep wanting to watch the Arrow one but I don’t want spoilers as I heard that season finale got intense.

Supergirl Season Three Trailer!

Thanks again to The CW Television Network for hosting this trailer!

Kara Danvers : No More!

Here is the CBR article that I read after the season two finale to help explain who that was at the end of that episode –

http://www.cbr.com/reign-supergirl-season-3-villain-explained/

I’m not familiar with Reign, at all.

I like Adrian Pasdar being in this, he was one of my favorites in Heroes and Agents of SHIELD.  We’re getting some DC and Marvel two-timers going on here.

The Krypton trailer didn’t reveal much.  Still an odd concept for the show, that I thought for sure would just fade away.  Is Syfy Channel still a thing?  It’ll be like if Gotham featured Thomas Wayne’s college years, for how far removed this is.

Riverdale Season 2 trailer.

Thanks to Entertainment Tonight for hosting this trailer.  Seems like an odd choice though.

I’m so pumped for this show to return, that it is crazy!

Strangers Things 2 trailer.

Thanks to Netflix for hosting this video!

There are going to be lots of people super tired on Wednesday, November 1!  I know I’m already tempted to take that day to recover.

Star Trek Discovery trailer.

Thanks to Star Trek for hosting their own video.

This show looks like it is going to be pretty awesome!  I wish it wasn’t going to look that great, as it doesn’t feel like it leads into The Original Series, as it takes place ten years prior to their first mission.  What happens wherein Starfleet goes so retro?  At least Jonathan Archer and his Enterprise stories are still in continuity – that’s what really matters.  I’m still hoping that we get plenty of Jason Isaacs as the Captain, it feels weird to not have a Captain-Centric Trek series.  It reminds me of what the original plan for the West Wing was, but then Martin Sheen committed to more episodes and we got the terrific show that we got.

Orville Trailer.

Thanks to FOX for hosting this video.

I was luke warm on the concept of this show, it could be fantastic like Galaxy Quest, or some show that would be a footnote in Star Trek parodies.  This looks like Seth McFarlane having a lot of fun and now I’m looking forward to this.  I didn’t realize Seth and Todd spelled their last names the same.

Here are the Eisner Awards Winners –

http://io9.gizmodo.com/here-are-the-winners-of-the-2017-eisner-awards-1797155107

I’m so out of touch that I don’t recognize any of the projects, outside of character names but I do know creators still.  Which is nice.  Even nicer is Jill Thompson winning two awards!  Saga is still popular.  Todd Klein (no relation) is still slaying it with lettering.  I bet that Chip Zardsky Jughead series is pretty fun.  I do like The AV Club, I don’t go there as often as I probably should.

I’m super interested in Ed Piskor’s X-Men : Grand Design, especially as Kitty Pryde would definitely be present for that!  Lockheed and Magik too!  30 Years of X-Men, Uncanny X-Men 1 through Uncanny X-Men 280, condensed into 300 pages.  Sign me up!

Harley Quinn Day is replacing Batman Day, September 23, this year.  Which seems pretty dumb to me.  Is she really that popular of a character?  I mean, I like her, and I’ve heard she is DC’s Deadpool but this blows my mind.  The character turns 25 this year, so I guess it is an anniversary year for her.

Sunday

http://io9.gizmodo.com/sundays-biggest-news-trailers-and-all-the-other-stuff-1797175366

Charles Pulliam-Moore is back at the writer of the article.

The Doctor Who Christmas 2017 Trailer!

Thanks to Doctor Who for hosting this video!

I love this concept so much!  From the casting of it to the general overall feeling of the trailer itself.  The article states that Mark Gatiss is not portraying Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, as that’s who I thought he was playing.  He’s a World War I Captain, which I wouldn’t have noticed on my own.  Should be a great time!  I still haven’t watched any additional Doctor Who since my last post on the topic.  I need to get caught up!  David Bradley is the modern day William Hartnell!

This is the Avengers Infinity Poster –

That is beautiful!

Ryan Meinerding is the painter of that poster.  He’s the current Marvel Studios Head of Visual Development.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/dc-has-an-epic-plan-to-save-itself-from-the-comics-apoc-1797174893

So sales are down for both Marvel and DC.  That’s pretty interesting.  I imagine the closing of stores like Hastings, probably plays some part in that, as I know it took me out of the game.

Frank Miller is giving Superman the Year One treatment.  Not sure if that’s necessary.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/in-a-world-without-fantastic-four-comics-dc-basically-1797157225

DC is making their own Fantastic Four title!

The Terrifics is a bit on the nose, sure—Plastic Man’s got Reed’s stretch abilities, Phantom Girl can go intangible and phase through objects like Sue, Metamorpho has the same sort of appearance issues that have plagued Ben Grimm over the years—but hey.

Mr. Terrific is the Human Torch, I guess?  I’m all for Phantom Girl having a larger role in the DCU, outside of the Legion of Superheroes.

Such a fun concept!

It really reminds me of when DC released their “Invasion” trade and wrote “Secret No More” on the cover – poking fun of then Marvel’s current Secret Invasion storyline.  I miss that fun rivalry.

I’m sure I’m missing a bunch of stuff and YouTube hasn’t presented me with any panel coverage like they did last year.  I guess I can look up which panels happened this year and see if any footage found its way onto YouTube but I feel like I got the larger pieces of news.

If anyone has anything I should look at, please let me know!

. . .

I went looking for some comic news, on my own, and found Newsarama’s X-Men Inhumans ResurrXion panel coverage –

https://www.newsarama.com/35601-sdcc-2017-x-men-and-inhumans-s-resurrxion-panel.html

No Kitty Pryde references and no additional article about the art from that panel.  I’m just feeling more and more disconnected with comics.

Sunday Dinner : Patty Melt

Posted by John Klein III on July 24, 2017
Posted in: Cooking. Tagged: . Leave a comment

I have to admit, this was a bit out of my skill level.

Patty Melt Recipe

I went through a serious Patty Melt phase, like eight years ago.  I was ordering it whenever I saw it on the menu.  Back when I ate out a bunch, in my twenties and newly dating the woman who I would eventually marry.

I’ve been wanting to try making my own hamburger patties, so when my wife wanted me to attempt this recipe, I was all for it.

From the directions, I should have cooked the onions at medium heat and not medium low.

I also put the Garlic and Parmesan Spread on both slices of bread.  We bought the Sam’s Choice as our Walmart didn’t have the Hidden Valley selection.  Sam’s Choice was pretty sweet and tangy, not sure if that’ll be the case with Hidden Valley.

I also put Swiss cheese on both slices of bread too.

I thought it came out pretty well.  I have to work on my patty formation and I’m still not awesome at making grilled cheese sandwiches but I’m getting better with each attempt.  Just not mastering when to flip it over or the amount of butter on each slice of bread.

I also went with 1/4 teaspoon with everything as I couldn’t find our 1/8 teaspoon and that was fine.

There may have been extra Worcestershire sauce.  I would say that I wasn’t thrilled with the onions until the Worcestershire sauce came into the pan, as that’s when the onions got that classic brown appearance.

My wife and Walker Dennis cut up the pineapple.  Super 1 Foods had pineapples for only 89 cents!  So we picked one of those up.  Now, I have to check for pineapples, when we are at the store, as if they are usually a dollar, we are going to pick them up more often.

The fries were just the Great Value fries with garlic powder thrown on there.  I like to use the seasoning with one part of the dish in another part, to make the tastes have synergy.  I should have added onion powder to those fries too, to bring the entire dish together.

Now I can start making other hamburger recipes, and I’m super excited about that.

 

 

Jodi Whittaker is the (13th) Doctor!

Posted by John Klein III on July 21, 2017
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Websites. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Thanks to BBC for hosting the video!

As I’m sure most people know, Peter Capaldi is out as the 12th Doctor.  Replacing him, is Jodi Whittaker, an actress I’m not that familiar with.  Not like I’ve been that familiar with most of the Doctor actors prior to their casting.  Well, besides Christopher Eccleston and John Hurt.  Oh, and Paul McCann, but I knew him mostly from hassling Christopher O’Donnell in the always amazing to rewatch, The Three Musketeers.

I have no problem, at all, with a lady being the Doctor.  Wouldn’t it have been awesome though, if it was a complete surprise, come Christmas 2017.  I guess we have five months to forget the news, but we would be reminded of the casting choice again, before then.  Gosh, is Christmas just five months away?  Ooof!  Walker Dennis is a December baby, so December is pretty tight for us.  Lots of planning goes into making both his birthday and Christmas a thing to do.  Being in Montana, also means we have to really plan where to host a birthday party too.

I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who ever since I saw it on PBS with my parents, in the 80s.  Probably why my favorite Doctor will always be Peter Davison, the 5th Doctor.  Especially when people want to talk about Tom Baker, the fourth (and without doubt, the most famous version of the Doctor – prior to the relaunch) Doctor but I like Davison so much more.  It helps that he is the star of The Five Doctors, and I’m a sucker for any story that involves multiple-Doctors.

It wasn’t until a few years ago when I thought about my origins with the franchise when I doubted if I watched Doctor Who on PBS, in the way that I thought I did.  I recall watching it on PBS, with my parents.  But if you look at when Davison was the 5th Doctor, he’s tenure was 1982 through 1984.  Which I was born in 1982, so I must have watched reruns on PBS.  Most likely, I just saw my father’s tapes of the program.  My father was huge on recording everyone on VHS, back in the day.

I was a little late coming back with the 9th Doctor, as I couldn’t watch it anywhere.  I’m sure Hulu had it before Netflix did (now Amazon has it) and that’s when I caught up with the show.  I’ve really liked the new show.  With their production schedules, I saw the Season 8 finale, and the Christmas episode but did not come back for the 9th season.  Until this news broke, and then I relooked it up and Amazon has the series.  I saw the Magician’s Apprentice and I’m going to try to catch up with all of season nine, hopefully soon.  I was missing it already but learning that it isn’t just Capaldi’s final season but also Steven Moffat’s final season too.  Well, ten is their final season, and that just wrapped up.  I read the episode list for season ten and that final moment sounds so amazingly fun that I have to try to get caught up.  I’m sure it’ll cost me actual money to watch season ten, so I’ll just wait until it is free with Amazon Prime (if it isn’t already).

I’m going to really miss Jenna Louis Coleman as Clara, she’s up there with Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) as a great companion to the Doctor.

Here are two Wikipedia Pages that will cost you a full day of temptation to keep opening links.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doctor_(Doctor_Who)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regeneration_(Doctor_Who)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_(Doctor_Who)

For the companions of the original series, I’m a big fan of Jo Grant (Katy Manning), Peri Brown (Nicola Bryant) and of course, Sarah Jane Smith (the legend, Elisabeth Sladen).   I do like how how the companions make the Doctor transition work as smooth as it does.

My mother was always a fan of the 2nd Doctor’s companion, Jamie.  Kilt and all.

My parents were huge fans of the show and even my Aunt Denise (my mother’s twin sister) was a huge fan too.

There has been fun projects like the charity event, The Curse of the Fatal Death –

Thanks to Doctor Who for hosting their own video.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who:_The_Curse_of_Fatal_Death

Here is the page that explains how the zaniness that went into this!  Moffat was always a fan.  This takes place but does not take place, between Doctors 7 and 8, before the American attempt to relaunch the series.

It boosts a very impressive cast of actors portraying the Doctor –

Rowan Atkinson (Ninth Doctor)
Richard E. Grant (Tenth Doctor)
Jim Broadbent (Eleventh Doctor)
Hugh Grant (Twelfth Doctor)
Joanna Lumley (Thirteenth Doctor)

That’s right, Jodi Whittaker is really the second woman to portray the Doctor!   Hugh Grant probably could make a grand Doctor too, if he wanted to.

Apparently I should watch Broadchurch Season One as it has Whittaker as the mother of the missing boy and, of course, David Tennant (the 10th Doctor) in it.  My wife really liked the show.  I believe she watched the FOX version, that also stars Tennant, and saw the first episode of the BBC one and it was so similiar she didn’t need to watch a second episode.  I’ll go BBC, of course, so I can see Whittaker as an actress.  I’ve read that I should check out Venus, a movie she did back in the day.

Referring to charity specials, I’m sure this is the one that finally convinced me to watch the relaunch series.

Thanks to Hollie Bird for hosting this one, it was the best one I could find.  There used to be a legit version, like a year ago.

I’m sure people have written about this before, but I’ll write it here too, as I’m trying to make this my initial Doctor Who post that just covered all of my thoughts on the franchise (or most of them, at least).

But David Tennant is a smart man, so his favorite Doctor was also the 5th one.  Davison’ daughter, Georgia Moffett, starred in an episode titled “The Doctor’s Daughter” during Tennant’s tenure.  They met, fell in love, got married and now have three children together.  So that is super fun and makes me smile as the chances of all of that happening are insane!

Here is a video of all the Regenerations –

Thanks to Doctor Who again for hosting their own video.

So happy that we finally got to see McGann’s regeneration.  I still wish they had him be the Doctor during the Time War but if John Hurt agrees to do your show, you take that opportunity!

Reading more about the season 10 finale, so much fun that they got David Bradley to portray the First Doctor, like how he did for the incredible An Adventure in Space and Time.  Well, he portrayed William Hartnell, the actor who started this entire odyssey but its really one and the same.

Looking at the other videos that Doctor Who has up on YouTube, I wanted to point out, when I mention Joanna Lumley above, that they had already made The Master a woman, the very fun Michelle Gomez as Missy (short for Mistress, the female Master – so clever!).

I might have to say Tennant is my favorite of the modern Doctors, the more I think about how many awesome adventures he had.

That 50th Anniversary lead up and the episode itself, was pretty amazing and really was a present for the fans.

My sister-in-law and my wife tried to watch the show, I forget who finally convinced them to give it a shot.  I kept telling them, don’t give up on the show until the episode “Dalek” as that is really the first episode of the relaunch that dives into the mythos plus it reintroduces the Doctor’s greatest (and my favorite) villain, the Daleks.  I love those guys!  The Master is probably my second favorite, as I’m crazy for Evil Opposites.

Watch the below for some of the greatest trash talk as the Daleks belittle the Cybermen –

Thanks to minetruly for hosting the video.

-You are superior in only one respect
-What is that?
-You are better at dying.

So great!  I had the dumbest and widest smile when I heard that.

That’s from Doomsday, and Tennant had the best season finales.

Oh man, this show introduced me to John Barrowman, well me and the rest of the world.  Such an amazing actor!

I haven’t seen any episodes of Torchwood nor Sarah Jane Chronicles, but I really should.

K9, the Doctor’s robot dog companion, such a great addition to the show.

You really can tell any story that you want with Doctor Who – ultra serious, silly comedy, any time period, any planet – there are no rules.

Have I really written 1457 words regarding Doctor Who and not once mention the TARDIS!  Time and Relative Dimension in Space, so great!  My favorite way to travel through space and time.  That classic console room, with the spheres, such a great design.  Glad they were able to add those back in for the 50th Anniversary Special, even if it was just for a moment.  The Day of the Doctor, I really should use the proper title.

I recall Conan, back on his Late Late Show days of NBC, had a parade of characters and one of them was something along the lines of “your uncle who still is into Doctor Who” and that guy was dressed with the classic 4th Doctor, five yard long scarf.

I do like how all the Doctors have their own specific wardrobes and such.

For a franchise that is now 52 years old, they are still doing an outstanding job keeping it current and hip.

I am surprised they went with a woman Doctor before going with a different nationality male Doctor, good for them though, either way.

I still remember when the Doctor was supposed to turn into the Valeyard from the Trial of a Time Lord, the Sixth Doctor storyline.  That concept has stuck with me, over all of these years.  The Doctor’s evil personality that comes between his 12th and final, 13th incarnation.

But if you count the War Doctor, and we have to at this point, 12 is really 13 so he’s on super borrowed time.  Unless they just keep injecting him with additional life or some timey wimey nonsensical silliness.  They can really do anything they want, at this point.

Another reason to watch Broadchurch, is that creator, Chris Chibnall, is the new showrunner, so Jodi Whittaker should be in great hands.  Does she get a male companion?  All lady companions?  There are a slew of questions that need to be answered.  I’m sure her first season is going to run the gauntlet of all the classic villains, just to get their take on his new female body.  Which, I would really like most of them to just shrug it off.

Romana, a fellow time lord, and her second incarnation (Lalla Ward) married fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, for a few years.  There was an episode where she burnt through like six of her incarnations, and they were mostly all alien types.

I should mention the spin offs of Doctor Who, including the Big Finish Productions Audio Adventures.  I’ve never heard any of them, but they do have quite a few multi-Doctor adventures.  The only book I’ve read is The Eight Doctors by Terrance Dicks – also a mutli-Doctor adventure.  Which makes sense, it is essentially printing money.

Now that I know how to link to the templates, here is all of the Multi-Doctor stories –

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Multi-Doctor_stories

Just like LOST, whenever I finish an episode of Doctor Who, I have to go to the Wikipedia page to see if I missed any of the continuity nods or allusions.  That’s how I’m wired.

Such a great show!