Heel Turn

One of the best and most underrated underground hip-hop groups ever. Masters of the Universe is a hidden masterpiece of hip-hop, and the nice thing is that One Be Lo's (formerly One Man Army) singles work is almost as good. But yeah, nothing will ever equal the work he did with Senim Silla. If these guys were together today, they'd be ruling hip-hop.

Also, Conquistadors is their best song, but KGB is a close second. "Ha ha, you lose!"

Which one is Owen, again?

You guys should all listen to the Libertines because indy scenester girls love them. I was talking up this chick at the bar, and I had to pretend I listened to them to get her number. Mandatory listening if you want hipster chicks.

The Sword in the Stone, The Great Mouse Detective, and The Emperor's New Groove are perennial favorites.

They are different, but in my opinion USM is the better of the three.

Also, HT, I'd say Runaways is the best thing Vaughn ever wrote. Ever.

Minor Threat's whole discography.

You can thank me later.

Having only just started reading comics last year I never really paid much attention to the names of writers/artists but I have finally found a guy whos work I really really like. Brian K. Vaughan is most definately my favorite writer around right now. His work on Runaways, Y:The Last Man, Pride of Baghdad and the last one I just read, The Hood has been really good stuff. Sometimes his work takes a steer towards getting across a political opinion(A very heavy theme in POB unsurprisingly) which I normally cant stand in a comic, but whatever political opinion he's trying to get across, its norally overshadowed b y the characters and their stories.

I think the next title I invest time into will have to be Dr. Strange: The Oath. I hear a lot fo good things about it and even though Strange has never appealed to me(I cant get into magic) Im sure he'll make it worthwhile. Anythign else by Vaughan that is a must-read?

I personally suggest you catch up on Immortal Iron Fist, it's kind of a kung fu story mixed in with modern business and some really under rated art. I was very sceptical about Iron Fist before reading, but it's quite an interesting little tale.

Not a spoiler, but no way is Locke dead. We didn't see him die, and it's already been established that he heals quickly as a result of his special rapport with the island. Besides, he's probably the most integral person in the entire show right now -- he's definitely going to pull through.

As for the deaths, Ben and Charlie are a lock to be killed off. People are claiming that Sayid and Kate are due to be killed off...I dunno. Sayid has an unresolved storyline with Nadia and an interesting backstory that has yet to be fully fleshed out -- plus he's a useful deus ex machina for the writers in his technological expertise. He's one of the best actors on the show, as well, which you hope would count for something. However, if they're looking for a shock death, he's got the least ties to other people in the current cast, so he'd be a likely candidate. However, recent spoilers seem to suggest that Sawyer's going to become leader of the 815ers, while Jack becomes leader of the Others, and I can only see Sawyer as leader with Sayid dead.

Kate, to me, seems more likely. They've gone about as far as they can with her character, and I don't see a long-term romance blossoming on Lost given the disdain shown for their relationship-centric first six episodes. Despite her popularity as one of the "faces" of Lost, she might be more useful as a story device to ultimately set Jack and Sawyer against each other, Lord of the Flies style, with Sawyer blaming Jack for her death. It'll be a shame if she dies, though -- she's been more tolerable this season than any other, acting as one of the few clear-headed, normal people on the island.

Regardless, it'll be a shame to kill off either character, as both contribute heavily to my enjoyment of the show. Plus, it'll leave the main cast fairly thin, with only Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, Desmond, Claire, Jin, Sun, Juliet, and Locke as established characters. They can certainly flesh things out by bringing lesser characters like Naomi, Rousseau, Alex, Richard, Mikhail (aka Locke's punching bag), Rose, Bernard, and Tom to the forefront, but I don't feel that any of them are as compelling as the previously established characters. In addition, Lost doesn't have the best track record in introducing new characters -- Ana Lucia, Paolo, and Nikki all tanked miserably, and Juliet has received a tepid reaction at best. The only two successes have been Eko and Desmond, and one of them is dead.

I thought Thanksgiving was priceless. Just random death scenes? That was the entire point of movies from that era, you tack on a flimsy plot, perhaps a holiday setting and then a bunch of ridiculous murders.

The three people who said Master Chief are either liars, idiots, teenagers, alcoholics, Microsoft employees, or some combination of those five things.

Two words: ice beam.

Yeah, you should definitely try to check out the rest of the seasons. It gets alot better, except for the last season thus far. Seasons 2-5 are all great. (Season 3 has the best episode of the show.)

Is that the Pine Barrens episode? Awesome episode

I didn't get that -- the monster is a flying cloud of smoke/nanobots. How does it NOT just fly over the barrier? Kate can climb over it, so clearly, it's conceivable to do.

That lineup is fucking ridiculous. Seriously, MF Doom, Mos Def, Pharoahe Monch, Hieroglyphics (with Del AND Pep, hopefully), Jedi Mind Tricks and the fucking WU on a single show? It's like the concert promoters read my brain. Or looked at the top 25 on my iPod.

Looks incredible. And we're going back to Liberty City, baby! I love that it actually feels like NYC with the rampant advertising and eclectic architecture.

But... Liberty is a conglomeration of NYC, Chicago and Jersey. It's quite possible that it's taking the San Andreas route and making the game world an entire state and this is just part of it.

Okay, this season has finally turned around. It looks like they were getting the filler out of the way early, as opposed to saving it for later.

Seriously, though, Locke is the fucking destroyer. He blew up the Swan, the communications station, killed Mikhail, and now blew up the sub. AND he has the best line of the season so far: "I hope that box is big enough to imagine you another submarine."

-Katsuyori Shibata def. Yoshihisa Yamamoto via TKO (punches) in Round 1.

I know Heel Turn rolls with the Shibata love, so I'm sure he's pleased about this. Though, Yamamoto is one of Japan's top whipping boys.

I've been reading a shitload of comics these past 6-7 months, but only Marvel. Is there a good jump-on point for DC? Is it worth it? I was planning on picking up Superman and Batman versus Alien and Predator out of sheer curiosity, but apart from that, I'm really not sure. I heard this week's Batman is good, so I might pick that up. Help!

BUT THE FLAME FOR THE NEXT EPISODE! AND PATCHY! AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM HIM ABOUT THE OTHERS AND DHARMA!

Fuck the spoiler tags. I have someone jumping ship here.

I thought it was average verging on poor. Not only was there absolutely nothing significant in the long-term (both in terms of plot and character development) but the episode itself was full of terrible clichés and heavy-handed devices. Vincent delivers a dead arm and a set of keys and then leads Hurley to the van and he doesn't bat an eyelid? BS. The whole childhood flashback made me cringe with the formulaic 'you make your own luck' theme and the father's departure being to blame for Hurley's eating. POOR HURLEY.

I've just had enough with all the flashbacks now. They were fine as a means of establishing the characters off-island, but there's no fucking point trying to build the characters now. The only flashbacks are the ones which add something substantive, not these airy-fairy ones that have nothing to do with anything.

The whole van thing was pointless and really showed how lazy the writing has become. Is Hurley saying 'if I'm not back in 3 hours, tell someone' really enough for us to believe this mysteriously-undiscovered van's more than a short run away from camp? Is Sawyer really able to drink decades-old beer? I don't really GAF, but that's another question left unanswered and it irritates me.

Lost has this incredible power to swing between the good and the bad. I loved the last two episodes, and I struggled to watch this to the end. In the first season they could at least develop many storylines at once because everything was focused on the beach. Now they seem to have tunnel vision in each episode, with only fleeting glimpses of the majority of characters.

Some people seem to think that this episode added to our knowledge Hurley's obsession with the 'curse.' How much of that could have been achieved through his conversations with Charlie? Probably most of it, especially the idea that you can make your own luck. Considering the contents of the last episode, this would have been the perfect time to tie all of that into Hurley's 'curse' situation. I'm not saying that the van part isn't necessary for the plot, but it felt like the flashback was put in there purely so they could make it a Hurley-centric episode, not because it had any purpose. The writers seem to have an irrational fear of advancing the same storylines and using the same characters prominently for two episodes in a row - which is a shame because Desmond would have been the perfect foil for Hurley in this episode.

How much of all this was already known before this episode? The flashback didn't actually tell us *anything* new about Hurley's character, since we've already been beaten over the head with Hurley's belief in the curse and that he is to blame for his bad luck.

I hope Sayid or Sun or someone shoots Juliet right in her one-expression-having face. She's melodramatic, smarmy, and totally uninteresting. Having her around makes me pine for Ana Lucia, who I loathe only slightly less.

Also, this season has sucked hard thus far, primarily due to the gaping logic holes, especially with Jack. He's alone with Tom watching Juliet and Ben talk -- why not stab Tom in the throat with a scalpel and make a run for it? And what does him having Kate recite the story do as far as reassuring him that she's free? She could be held at gunpoint and still be able to repeat it. To bottom line it, the cast is getting incredibly bloated and unwieldy with all the characters, and I hope a significant percentage are killed off before the end of the series. The in-depth characterization is what's driven this show and given it it's best moments, and the writing staff is very quickly losing sight of that.

There is only one name:

Team Your Mom.

Also, if you need an alternate, I'm right here. I'm a pop culture and trivia wizard.

I wanted to like the original for this so badly, but it was just horrible to play through, filled with irritating objectives and weak play control. I can't possibly see how they're going to make it better if they're sticking to the original formula.

Token life imitating art comment.

Didn't Serenity basically tank at the box office, pretty much killing any chance of a second film?

It did pretty well on DVD from what I understand. Either way, a direct-to-DVD or made for TV sequel shouldn't be out of the question. Although I would still prefer a Buffy movie.