Long time, no post

[exatron]

It's been a while since I posted here. Work was bad for a while, including severely restricting internet access, and I haven't had much to talk about, nor the time to do any real cooking, but things seem to be better now.

Guess I'll kick things off with a backlog of comic reviews.

Gargoyles #4

I'm not sure how much to say about this issue since I don't want to spoil the big things for fellow Gargoyles fans, but I'll do my best. The issue kicks off with a trio of trick-or-treaters, dressed as Jackal, Hyena, and Goliath, reaching the doorstep of Jeffrey Robbins' home, where Hudson is handing out the goodies. After the kids leave, Hudson and Jeffrey have a brief, but insightful conversation about masks.

Back at Xanatos' Halloween festivities, Margot is chastising Brendan for being "the biggest cliche of the season", and uses Broaway, Lex, and Angela as an example of putting a new twist on one. We're then treated to Elisa, dressed as Princess Jasmine, introducing a guest she brough, which displeases Angela enough for her to pull Elisa away for some girl talk

Now, we get some quick cuts between the fight in the Labyrinth, courtesy of the guest at the end of last issue, Goliath & Elisa both meeting guests they didn't expect, and Angela flirting Brooklyn into putting on his costume. We also learn that Xanatos is missing his own party for a masquerade at the White House, and another Illuminati meeting.

Back to the fight scene again. Fang has his turn against the visitor, who was prepared for Talon, but doesn't fare too well. (I can think of a few people who won't mind since we get a nice look at his massive, stripey frame as a result.) Maggie is badly injured during the fighting, and the guest gets away, saying that the party is his next stop.

Finally, we get Goliath and Elisa having another chat in the castle when the Labyrinth's guest arrives, hoping for a fight. Owen interferes in his usual way, and a potentially nasty situation is diffused, until the guest resorts to one last trick

Overall, I liked the fight scene and that the story is progressing. At first, I thought the artist's linework was too thick for the action, but it looked much better on subsequent readings. I think I'm also having trouble adjusting to the length of an issue. To me, it feels like it's about half of an episode per issue, so I keep expecting more.

Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell #2

We rejoin the unnamed grandfather and granddaughter as they discuss guile, espionage, and Gralmek, a dishonored relative. Gralmek was a Mach Ghott (Small fish in Klingon), which isn't a source of dishonor in itself. He was just small and week.

Gralmek tried to make up for his small stature, and eventually accepted a covert mission to give the empire an advantage without violating the Organian peace treaty. Preparation involves a horrific scene where Gralmek is altered to look like a human, which he doesn't learn is permanent until afterwards.

After months of training to adopt human customs (including a nice use of font sizes to illustrate the Klingon tendency to shout), Gralmek is finally ready for his mission to Sherman's planet. The mission starts off differently from what the empire wanted since Gralmek felt that Mr. Darvin had the right to look his killer in the eyes, but things quickly settle in to the story we all know.

As "The Trouble With Tribbles" is summarized, we're treated to Gralmek's logs, and get to see him poison the quadrotriticale, hoping that his mission earns him a statue in the great hall.

Gralmek's logs come to an end just as his treachery is revealed, and the narration switches back to the Klingon grandfather. We get some really good lines here, including "All hail Gralmek of the Klingon Empire. Defeated by vermin." After that, Gralmek's fate is basically pulled from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Trials and Tribble-ations".

We then return to the grandfather and granddaughter, who discuss his decision and how Gralmek's tale may show that humans and Klingons have some things in common. Then, we get a big "the end".

This issue wasn't too bad. Gralmek's description of human customs totally fits the Klingon worldview, and his narration shows some interesting things that Klingons have in common with humans. I was a bit surprised to see that this story is over. I thought it was a six issue miniseries. Oh well, maybe they're doing some sort of anthology series.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between #5

Finally, we get to the plot that ties all of the issues together. I admit I haven't been able to get issue #1 yet, but it's still pleasant to see things move forward with this mini.

This time around, we're treated to smart-ass kidWesley Crusher at the weekly poker game, where he does really well, and soon find out why. He created a holodeck program of everyone accepting him to help deal with his mother being away.

Thankfully, we quickly get to the actual mission, set during season 2, the Enterprise was sent to investigate unexplained crop failures on an important farming colony. Interestingly, one of the crops mentioned is quadrotriticale.

While the away team is gathering information, including that the soil minerals are breaking down, Wesley is having a grass-is-always-greener with some of the colony's children. It seems they yearn for life outside the colony, and hope the crops keep failing. They're also smart enough to build a still out of an old Romula missile.

Back on the Enterprise, Dr. Pulaski, who is only heard over the comm system, complains about Data interrupting her research for his own. I like that she doesn't treat Data with kid gloves, like the rest of the cast, but it also shows why she only lasted a season. She can be very rude and abrasive, which doesn't pair well with being a foil for one of the show's most popular characters.

Eventually, we learn that the failed crops were contaminated with chroniton particles. Picard confronts Hommun, one of the farmers, who admits to using the chroniton particles to speed up crop growth. Wesley, who connected a few dots the adults missed, has his own confrontation with the children. It seems they sabotaged their parents' plans with the chroniton particles, and have to be convinced to confess. And by convinced, I mean Wesley gave one of the kids a black eye.

Jumping five years into the future, Picard wakes up in the middle of the night and puts the pieces of the previous issues together. Someone is using Federation records to produce weapons.

Woohoo! We finally get a plot out of this, and it sounds like it has potential. I think I have a better handle on what they're doing with the series, too.

Ultimate X-Men #82

Nightcrawler finally meets the Morlocks, who expect war between humans and mutants, and are making the necessary preparations. Meanwhile Jean and Scott argue about whether Toad should be sent on recruiting missions. (Jean's right, but for the wrong reasons) and Bishop begins creating a replacement for the X-Men.

Ultimate Callisto actually has some Morlock-like features… or acne. Either way, it's nice to see her abnormal appearance is more than just an eyepatch..

The Morlocks are naturally suspicious when Nightcrawler metions that he used to be with the X-Men, and he's starting to regret leaivng. Any happiness Nightralwer might have had is short-lived, though. Toad show up, offering a place at Xavier's school, which the Morlocks interpret as being infiltrated.

Bishop's new team is an interesting mix. Storm, Pyro (Still liking his burn victim design), and potentially Dazzler, who's a bit of a drunk right now.

It's the start of a story arc, so there isn't much plot to comment on. The characters feel close to where they should be. Iceman gets a nice whine about how they used to have a jet. And the cover, featuring a nicely-drawn and colored Nightcrawler, has a background for once.

The gym has been going fairly well. My weight is around 145 lbs. at ~15% bodyfat, the first slowly going up and the second slowly dropping. I'm now doing three days of lifting (chest & biceps, legs & shoulders, and back & triceps) followed by two days of rest. My biggest boundaries seem to be 55lb dumbells and eating enough. Eating quickly has never been easy for me, so it's hard to get enough food and prevent the day from becoming one long meal.

I picked up a few of the Transformers movie toys after seeing them on display. Wreckage looks like he got the Megatron buckethead while Bumblebee is kind of loose and floppy. I also got a Robot Heroes two pack because it contained something cuter than Chibi Cody- Chibi Ravage. That also meant buying a version of Mr. "The broomstick up his tailpipe has a broomstick up his tailpipe", but it was worth it.

Movie Starscream, which I haven't bought yet, makes me pine for the classic Seeker design. Speaking of Classic Seekers, it looks like I won't be getting a full set of them since Thundercracker, Thrust, and Dirge are Botcon exclusives.

For those who haven't heard, the movie's themesong has been released. It's kind of weird. The thing starts out like it will be an update of the season 1 theme, but turns into a weird rap thing. Some good came of it, though, since I also came across this, even if it only makes sense if you've heard the themesong.

I'm also thinking of bringing gifts to AC for friends and roommates. My plan is to give stuff from Michigan, like Vernors ginger ale and Sander's hot fudge.

Comments

[kylet.livejournal.com]

Actually, people recommended ginger ale at that time and it was the only non-can one I saw in the store...I think it was afterwards that you confirmed it was a good brand :-)

[exatron.livejournal.com]

To me, it's the only brand of ginger ale. Everything else seems tasteless by comparison.