I Am SO Sick of All The "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire" Previews!

Seriously, not only is there a preview during every show I watch on TV (all three of them), but each preview SOMEHOW manages to spoil something in the movie! I've seen enough previews that I feel like I can roughly piece together the movie. Granted, I HAVE read the book, so it's only natural I know where everything is going to go, but there should be SOMETHING that I can enjoy experiencing for the first time when I go to see the actual MOVIE!!! From now on I will be actively avoiding any more "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire" previews. It was fun at first seeing all the new footage and what not, but now that I've seen pretty much every critical scene before I've seen the actual movie...well, now I'm sick of those previews. Hmm...only twenty one days, twenty three minutes, and fifteen seconds before the movie is released. I can hardly wait.

Pacing Myself

Today I got a HUGE package from Right Stuf in the mail! It had over twenty one different mangas, the "Love Hina: Best Song Collection Vol. 2," the second DVD for "Jubei-chan 2" (if you're not watching this then I have to ask what is wrong with you), and the two movie set of "Evangelion." So I've paced myself today. I've read four of the manga books (about to read the fifth one), I watched "End of Evangelion" (what an acid trip. I'll need to revisist that movie in another blog entry one day), and I wrote TWO reviews for my website (finally, I think my visitors were starting to grow impatiant with me). Oh, and my "Penny Arcade" lithograph is already at $200. Yummy. Oops, it's almost midnight, and I still have about an hour or so to waste before it's bedtime. Later.

Pointless Rambling

I only really watch four TV shows these days: "7th Heaven," "Everwood," "Smallville," and "ER." I watch "7th Heaven" and "ER" more out of tradition then enjoyment (I've watched every all new episode of "7th Heaven" since it premeired, and it feels like something is missing when I miss a new episode). I also catch "Naruto" and "The Batman" when I can, and I'm sure I'll check out the "Boondocks" when it premiers (me and my brother are having a bet to see whether or not it's more controversial then "Family Guy." Something tells me I'm going to win this bet). So most of the TV shows I've been watching have been on DVD. I just bought the first two seasons of "Gilmore Girls," and I am shocked with how much I've been enjoying it so far.

This show is not realistic in any way, but the dialog is VERY clever most of the time! If it weren't for the fact that I was so far behind in the storyline, I would start watching the new episodes on WB now. On the anime front I'm in the middle of watching "Planets," "The Big O," and "Maison Ikkoku," and I can recomend every one of these shows (so far). On the gaming side of things I've been playing "Xenogears" whenever I've had time...just for the record, this is a weeeeiiiiirrrrrdddd game! I also picked up the tickets to see Keith Urban and Steven Curtis Chapman in concert. Both in December, both less then a week apart from each other. I will be amazed if I can still hear after I see the two shows.

While I am still waiting patientially for the next Harry Potter and Inheritence books to come out, I have started reading Koushun Takami's controversial "Battle Royale." I've been enjoying the manga, and the book is also good, but dare I say the manga's execution of this story is just a tad bit better then the novels execution. On a final note, the president of Nintendoof Japan, Mr. Satoru "I think I'm good for the company" Iwata says that if the Revolution doesn't sell more systems then the Gamecube it will be a "complete failure." My response: Nice knowing you buddy. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Penny Arcade Fans Look Here

eBay: Penny Arcade: CTS Lithograph *RARE OOP* (item 6573014712 end time Oct-31-05 17:56:49 PST)

I know I must be starting to sound like some sort of advertising tool, but I'm selling one of those super-rare and super-cool "Penny Arcade" lithographs on eBay right now (along with my signed "Eldest" book). Check it out.

Selling Another One

eBay: Eldest by Christopher Paolini *SIGNED FIRST EDITION* (item 8346129891 end time Oct-29-05 18:17:30 PDT)

In case you missed your chance the first time, I'm selling another signed, first edition, first printing copy of "Eldest" by Christopher Paolini. Good luck bidding.

Eldest

eBay: Eldest by Christopher Paolini *SIGNED* (item 8342951605 end time Oct-21-05 23:32:01 PDT)

I bought "Eldest" about a month ago, shortly after I had finished reading "Eragon." When I finished "Eragon" my final judgment of the book is that it wasn't a GREAT book, but it was a very good book nonetheless! I bought "Eldest" in hopes that it would become a great book, as the potential was definitely there. Well, I bought and read "Eldest," and my thoughts on this book is more divided then those I had for "Eragon." The first couple hundred pages of "Eldest" are great. I loved the book, it was greatly entertaining, and there were a few twists that definitely got me wrapped up in Eragon and Saphira's continuing quest. The story also showed us what was going on back home with Roran, and his sub-story was so good it was threatening to take over Eragon's story in terms of quality.

Then (without giving too much of the book away) Eragon started his training to become a rider...and the book started falling apart. At first it was kind of interesting to see how Eragon started to hone his skills in various forms of magic and sword fighting, but either Paolini didn't have a flair for writing training that was interesting, or he just spend too much time on the training period. While Eragon continues, the story keeps revisiting side characters like Roran and Nasuada, and the book started to frustrate me because THEIR side stories were becoming a heck of a lot more interesting (and, might I add, entertaining) then the main characters story! I know that the kind of training Eragon has to go through would realistically (in this universe anyway) take a long time to complete, but there's only so many scenes I can read where Eragon "closes his mind so that all the voices of nature could be heard" before I just get tired of it.

You don't see J.K. Rowling explaining how Harry failed a potions exam every single time he fails one. She just says "after several failed attempts." See, how hard is that? Luckily, the middle portion of the book wasn't a total bore. There were some good moments, a couple of neat twists, and a certain relationship with a certain female elf that all works very well in my opinion. Then Paolini seems to get back on track with the final hundred or so pages, that are very intense, gripping, and includes yet one more twist that truly came as a shock to me and now has me hungering for the third book in the series to come out as SOON as possible! But I guess the real question is whether or not I ultimately recommend "Eldest," and how good is it exactly?

My final evaluation of "Eldest" is that it's a good book. It's not an excellent book, it's not a very good book, it's a good book. This book does have problems. While not all the stuff in the middle of the book was a bore, I think publishers of this book could have edited a couple hundred various pages in the middle of the book to help with the pacing a bit (because, let's face it, some of those middle chapters REALLY sag). I also think that when the third book comes out, when Eragon goes back to his training (we know he will have to since he hasn't completed his training yet), Paolini needs to give us more glances at the training then going into so much detail of the training. As it stands now, "Eldest" may be a flawed book, but you could still find worse fantasy books. Also forgive my shameless plugging, but there is still time left to bid on a signed copy of "Eldest" on the above link. Good night everybody.

Good Deals At "Sam's Club"

So I was at Sam's Club today, and found a ton of great TV sets on DVD at great prices. This included:

"Everwood" Season 1
"The Jetsons" Season 1
"Tom & Jerry" Spotlight Collection 1
"Top Cat" Complete Series
"Wacky Races" Complete Series
"Smallville" Season 1
"ER" Season 2

What's the best thing about all these DVD's? They were all $12.49. Now THAT'S a deal!

I Want To Relive Memories

One of the downsides of having a "To Review" pile is that most of the stuff in that pile is stuff I haven't read yet. This happens with anyone who has a review site (really, ask anyone), where the reviewers are almost always behind in the stuff they have to read. One of the things comic collectors have to deal with is storage. What I do is whenever I have a complete set of an entire series, I put those in a box, close the box, write the names of the series on the box, and I store them in the garage (don't worry, they're all wrapped in plastic, so they're fine). Today I decided to look through a couple of those boxs as a trip down memory lane, and I found myself longing not to read the stuff I haven't read yet, but to re-read some of the stuff in the box full of old stuff.

If I had the time to re-read any of these old series, I would want to start with "Kodocha" and then move onto "Love Hina." Despite the fact that the latter had some minor story issues for the first three books, I think these series are a couple of my favorite series. I also noticed my collection of "Sonic The Hedgehog" comics (which I still buy to this day). The series has evolved so much through the years, that I'm kind of interested in re-reading the whole series to see how it got to the point it is at right now. And what's this? Comics of "Darkwing Duck," "Chip and Dale," and "The Disney Afternoon?" Man, re-reading THOSE would bring back memoried! Whats more, I wonder how all those "For Better or For Worse" comics would read if I read them all in order starting from the very first book.

And with that, I close the box to several of my memories. I'm sure I'll re-read them again someday, but finding any free time to read comics now is becoming harder and harder to do, and when I do have the time, I normally have to read some of the new stuff so that I can write my review. I still love writing comic reviews, and chances are I always will, but part of my wishes I could go back to the days where I didn't have to worry about getting a review posted on time and just bask in a hamick reading the good old stuff. Oh well, enough remenising, I've got a copy of "Dr. Slump Vol. 4" to read now.

Dude!

eBay: Eldest by Christopher Paolini *SIGNED* (item 8342951605 end time Oct-21-05 23:32:01 PDT)

Okay, so get this: I am visiting my local bookstore (which is something I normally do in my spare time), and something cool happens. Want to know what it is? Well, they have gotten a shipment of signed "Eldest" books in. REAL SIGNED "ELDEST" BOOKS!!!! I am freaking out at this point, as I am really beginning to fall in love with Christopher Paolini's Inheritance trilogy, and I pretty much buy out the whole stock of books they get in. Now I have some Christmas shopping done, as well as have some books to sell on eBay for the holidays. But in case none of you want to wait until November when I do my first annual (hopefully) "Comic Book Guy's Cool Stuff Auction," you can start bidding on one of these books right now.

Just click on the above link and start bidding. I can't tell you what the reserve price is (that would be cheating), but don't worry too much, because it's not very expensive. Oh, and if you do win the auction, just tell me that The Comic Book Guy.com is one of the coolest sites on the internet in the comments box of the payment details, and I'll insure the book for free. How's that for a sweet deal? Now if you'll excuse me, I need to be a good salesman on my personal site.

You Had Me, And You Lost Me: "Yu Yu Hakusho"

The Comic Book Guy.com: "Yu Yu Hakusho" Review

Thanks to the ever arising expenses that must be delt with, I have decided that "Yu Yu Hakusho" must be cut from my budget. I just don't like the series that much anymore, and I can read it in "Shounen Jump" if I want to, so I see no reason to continue to buy the series anymore. I'll keep the first two books, but the rest I'm eBaying, and I'm cancelling my pre-order of volume eight. I'm sure the adventures of Yusuke will continue, but they will continue without me. He had me, and he lost me.

I Don't Object To This

Schwarzenegger signs game-restriction bill - News at GameSpot

I know there are a TON of gamers that are upset that the Govenator has signed a bill that basically states that minors can't buy violent video games without their parents permission, but I'm not one of them! I love video games, and I don't agree that video games are the source of violence (for some people I do, but not for all), but I do agree that if a game is rated in a way that means it isn't safe for all kids to play them, then there needs to be a law that prevents kids from being able to get a hold of them. You know how many parents excuse for letting their kids play violent games is because the kids would just buy the games even if they said no? A law like this will give the parents a better grasp of being able to say no, knowing that their kids CAN'T buy a game unless it's rated E!

Wal-Mart recently started a new store policy where if you are buying any movie that is rated PG or higher, you need some sort of identification before you can buy that movie. Some people think these things are taking away freedoms, but it's really just giving parents a better fighting chance. If you are of legal age to make your own decisions, then this law shouldn't be of concern to you. If you aren't of legal age though, then I guess you're going to have a problem with Arnold's new law. I wish I could say I sympathize with you, but I can't. I think these laws are a great idea; they give parents more power and it takes away no freedoms. Personally, I'm all for more power to the parents, since most kids think they are more mature then they really are. Thanks Arnold, glad I voted for you.