I've returned from my journey to a land far from my own. 'Twas a magical land, where Vash, Link, and slightly-ponchy rebel pilots frollick between rows and rows of kiosks and displays. A place where nothing is what it seems. A place...of "Glomping". Let me set the mood: Downtown Toronto, on a dull, moody day. The smell of rain is in the air. Not that I can smell it, though - my allergies are killing me. After traversing a handfull of escalators and what seemed like a million corridors that all looked the same - think "getting lost on the Death Star" - I finally arrived at my destination several miles below the earth's crust. Or so it seemed.

Before my pollen-raped eyes there sat an oasis for the Anime/Horror/Sci-Fi/Comic fiend in all of us. I'm talking FanExpo, hosted by Hobbystar. The best end-of-summer destination for anyone out to see, shop, and glomp. Here's why.

Random Cat Girl, thrown in for kicks.

1. Bump Elbows with the Pros. If you bring a portfolio, you can get critiqued by some of the industries top designers, conceptual artists, and writers. Mike San Giacomo, Dark Horse, G4 public relations. You name it. Proffesionals are ripe for the pickins'. 2. Geek Godesses. While tossing around the idea, you might think it's a big nerd-fest with no eye-candy, and the only picking up you'll be doing is at the refreshment stand. Guess again, my hormonal male friends. Cosplayers are complete vixens, and some don't even know it! Furthermore, any girl ballsy enough to admit liking dorky things is cool, right? Dude, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. 3. Tons of free crap! T-shirts, stickers, books, everything. 4. The not so free crap! It's still worth the ticket price! Up-and-coming comic series, swords, action figures, you name it. And I don't mean crappy toys - I'm talking Frank Miller and Todd McFarlane collectibles - not to mention the possibility of getting them signed. Every funny or obsucre T-shirt or poster you could possibly think of is up for grabs - not to mention the most obscurist of games, artists, products, and collectibles. You'll want to bring this stuff home by the bag full... 5. Be Star Struck!. Tommy Talarico, Carrie Fisher, Alice Cooper, and Leonard Nimoy have all shown up. Could you imagine meeting Carrie Fisher?! That's Princess Leia, man! She was there!

6. The Atmosphere could be the most rewarding aspect of the weekend. We're talking 40,000 people who all have something in common, and going out of their way to show it. Odds are, you'll start making friends in the ticket line. The oddities are endless, as I can't think of anywhere else one can walk leisurly through a crowd of Final Fantasy characters, vampires, zombies, ninja warriors and crazy gettups in general. Within 10 minutes, I had seen three Vashes, and a not so slim Han Solo. If you have a taste for the strange and abnormal, you'll love FanExpo. Not to mention the cosplayers. Tifa Lockhart's ass isn't nearly as hot until it's standing in front of you... 7. Kooky Camaraderie. Do you smoke? Ever wanted to "drag smoke off the water" with Hellboy to your left, and a TV-crew for Pure PWNage on your right? Believe me, I have. It's one of those zen moments that only come once a year. Like christmas, only not as gay. Although I'm no fan of Hellboy, I still find the image of Hellboy standing in a slight Toronto rain smoking Natives and talking about his hotel room something to cherish.

Justin and I with Jeremy of PURE PWNage. Me and my buddy Tommy Talarico. He Liked Killzone. Good choice, Tommy.

8. Holy Cosplay, Batman!. Everytime you see an amazing costume, you'll want to walk up and congratulate them. In most cases you will, and they'll love you for it. In fact, they'll get some buddies together and pose for a photo-op! Some costumes are wicked-good, and others arn't so wicked-good. For the most part, the owners are talented people. Can you make an authentic Stormtrooper helmet without losing your damages deposit on that new apartment? Some cosplayers have spent 2 years or upwards of $1200 in finding/making their costume.

More than half of your enjoyment will come from meeting new people, bumping elbows with celebs, and being sociable. If that cute girl dressed like Tifa Lockheart looks good, tell her! At least she'll know her work paid off.

At most, you'll get laid. But probably not. Optimism only goes so far.

9. The Proof is in the Puddin. This place proves its cool just by existing. I won a Nintendo belt by kicking ass at Tetris. This is democracy! Now how many places can you win a Nintendo Belt from Nintendo for kicking ass at Tetris?? Come on. You know I'm right.

10. A Seventy-Two Hour Fix is quite possible with FanExpo. The event takes place over 3 days.Triple the fun, triple the spending, triple the glomping. And triple cute Tifa Lockhart girl. Overnight, baby! Bow chicka wow wow!

So to anyone who likes any of this, check out FanExpo. It's held in the fabulous city of Toronto every first weekend of September.

If anyone wants to come with me next year, we can assemble a little strike force, 'know what I mean? Get a little "entourage" goin.
Assemble a teamski. Take this bitch by storm.

Over and Out.

I sit here in Loyalist College's computer Access Lab (lovingly nicknamed "SAL") digesting this morning's liquid breakfast. The on campus Tim Hortons is a godsend, and Although understaffed and a bit hard to find, it's my first morning stop. Alot has changed since my last article, especially what sits in the space below my television. What I said would never happen, indeed did happen. I've succumbed to the needlessly heavy, black and puke green mass of delicious evil that is the XBox.

In a market that was once dominated by Nintendo and then revolutionized the the oncomer Sony, in the late 90's, videogames were in their renaissance. The next generation of consoles upped the anti with powerful specs, streamline graphics, and a better fusion between design and practicality . Sony's PS2 (with its Ethernet/Modem connectivity, 300 Mhz processor, and Digital 5.1 theater-quality sound) was God's gift to gaming, and revolutionized the way people played. The age of 128-bit systems had begun, and with it came a slew of games that would get any player's mojo goin'. Buddys no longer needed to be in the same building -- or country -- to take turns fragging eachother. The PlayStation 2 , bringer of badass technology, was king.

And then stepped in Microsoft, the Darth Vader of modern gaming culture, with it's impressive budget and frickin' hardcore marketing strategy. As the XBox took the world by storm, Sony lost the market in one year, and was bested by this mystery challenger in black who sported all the same gizmo's and gadgets. It was no longer about who makes the better games, or which system was faster. It was all about morals. It was Microsoft (who now and then have many people criticizing Bill Gates and his evil technology empire) against Sony Entertainment.

Many people agree that the XBox was nothing more than a corporate ploy - Microsoft's "Manhattan Project", ready and waiting to reap big rewards from the video game market. If you really look at Microsoft's past history - their tendancy to move into markets and buy/wipe out their competition - their goal became as clear as day. They wanted money, and lots of it.

It's not like Microsoft needed to show it's face in the console industry at all. For a long while they graced PC's worldwide as the creators of classics like Age of Empires, MechWarriior, and the still very popular FlightSimulator series. But I guess there's only one thing better than making 30 billion dollars, and that's making 60 billion instead.

Now, roughly 3 years after the release of the XBox, and dozens of game releases later, Microsoft has actually built itself a reputation for it's high end technology, and groundbreaking entertainment. Although anti-Microsoft people may argue this, it's starting to look as if Microsoft is really all about making good games.

Well, just a couple more words on the comic that'll be coming out soon (hopefully). Right now I'm kicking around some ideas for the storyline, as far as that goes. Lately I've been re-reading one of my favorite series, Initial D. As you could assume from the image at your left (No, your left) it's about street racers. I won't bother describing it further, because as we all know my words "could never honor the fine art and prestige of such a glorious series" yada yada yada...

At the moment I have access to a scanner (I'm sitting in the Tech-Lab), so I can finally give you a snapshot of my art. Check out the images below, but remember that these are raw scanned images. Not only that, but their re-sized. They're horrible. Don't worry, I'll repost the better images to my webhost soon. ^_^

Right now I'm sketching out the main characters, which will probably be loosly based on people I know. It seems to be thesimplest way to go for now. I began thinking about a more abstract, non-manga web comic, but that just wasn't doing it for me. Yeah. Mine has to be Manga.

Sketch #1

Sketch #2

Sketch #3

Other than that, I've been checking up on this sweet online comic, labeled as an "epic fantasy manga. Epic. Manga. Hell...sounds like a riot! Check it out.

Hey everyone. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but today's review of Call Of Duty: Finest Hour has been preempted until tommorow. Please don't hurt me. Tommorow I'm taking a trip to Kingston, so I had no time for writing tonight. However, I did find some time for adding some pretty wicked-awesome additions to the site. Take a look at the new-fangled banner at the bottom of the page. Digital Blasphemy is a 3D animation studio that makes desktop backgrounds and all that cool crap. Take a gander, it wouldn't hurt.

You may also notice some new links at the left of the page. I figured letting you guys in on some well-to-do gaming sites couldn't hurt. And then there's the MegaTokyo daily Manga strip, and MuchMusic, which are bonuses thrown into the mix. I command you to visit them!

In the long run, this post has been a stall for time untill tommorow, when I'll post said revue.

My friend in New York sent me this Friggin' Hilarious Movie yesterday morning. You'll mess yourself laughing. *Well timed euphanism*


Thats all for now, check back later.

Hey folks, it's me again saying sorry for ripping you off blog-wise. I've been crazy-busy lately, so sue me! It's not like I'm getting paid for this. Gamewise, I haven't played much lately other than "KillZone" (I've quite nicely broken that game in) and "Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater" which was revued yesterday. If anyone's pondering my motives, I plan on blogging daily video game revues, with a couple movies here and there, along with the personal guff that gets thrown into the mix.

Anywho, back to games. I'm looking forward to "The Getaway: Black Monday" soon. From other revues I've heard, it sounds ok. Hopefully the new characters and storyline will be somehow connected to the first Getaway. I remember when I first got "The Getaway" - I was addicted to it for the entire summer. Although once you beat the game theres nothing more to do than joyride, it somehow never gets old.

Thats about it for today, everyone, I'm shuttin 'er down. I'm working on giving the site a total facelift. When I have something half-interesting to say, you'll be the first to hear it.

Stay cool.

Ok, so here's the deal. On Saturday, I borrowed Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, the newest and most rewarding installment in the ongoing Metal Gear series. Long story short, I was impressed. I beat the game in roughly 2 days, and every minute of it was joyus. The moment you pick up the controller and see that first cut scene, you know your in for a wild ride. There were a couple rough patches along the way, but nonetheless, this game proved to be solid. Here's why.

Story-Wise:
You play as Snake, an American Special Ops Soldier put on a mission during the Cold War. Although nothing in this game seems possible for the 1960's, somehow the story actually makes sense! It's friggin' weird!

Your mission is to destroy the Soviet Union's new super-weapon, the Shagohod. It's a crazy-big artillery unit capable of reaching land speeds over 300 mph. Throughout your mission to destroy said weapon, you explore dozens of surreal environments, fight some pretty menacing bosses, and get beaten into a bloody pulp. Plus you get to eat a wide variety of vermin. Joyus.

Apart from Snake's emotionless voice sounding like a bad Clint Eastwood impersonation, the acting was decent, the script was great, and the story was rich with colourfull characters.

However, Snake Eater also flourishes with a wide variety of story killers, too. An excrutiatingly long dream-sequence level brings the game to a screeching halt, while several over-the-top bosses and unlockable Ape Escape mini-games blow away the premise of believability. Oh, and the wicked-awesome Shagohod turns into a giant mech at the end. But hey, a certain level of outlandish weirdness is, after all, expected of a Japanese game.

Graphics-Wise:
Graphics were astounding, and make this game one of the best Japanimated games ever to be conceived; Textures, foliage, and hair combining to create a surreal experience for the player. However, while environments rocked, skin textures were somewhat unrealistic, and certain particle effects (such as lightning) were mediocre. This game suports its enthralling story with, in my eyes, quite decent graphics.

Engine-Wise:
Snake Eater doesn't dissappoint. I would write more, but the frame rate is remarkably good for the quality of graphics, there's no sign of choppiness, nor are there any noticable glitches. Bravo to Konami for pulling this one off.

Gameplay:
The controller setup was anything but easy to learn, and even after beating the game, I'm still sure I haven't used all of the combos. However, this hurdle is easily overcome after a few hours of gameplay.

Menus were robust. I mean really robust. Hardcore detail was put into logic systems, as well as the hundreds of unique tools your character can pick up throughout the game. Not only can you choose from around 12 different camouflages, but the cut scene animations are dynamic to what your character is wearing! Your ability to customize your character and build an immense inventory (a bit too immense for one backpack, might I add) definatly elevates this game to RPG status. Once you get a feel for the controls and insane menus, a fantastic world of ski-mask toting bad-guys and green monkeys becomes open to you.
It's appearant that this game is all about detail, and detail means quality in my books.

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater for PS2 earns a heartly 4 out of 5, although the Shagohod turning into a mech still bothers me. It's now official. No Japanese story is complete without giant robots.




Keep those joysticks moving!