Yearly Archives: 2012

GAMING

Harley Quinn Takes Revenge in ‘Arkham City’ DLC

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Gamers will soon have the opportunity to jump back into one of the best games of 2011 with Harley Quinn’s Revenge, a DLC mission that serves as a two-hour epilogue to the award-winning game Batman: Arkham City. As the title indicates, the DLC will focus on fan favourite villain Harley Quinn, and her retaliation for Batman’s actions at the end of the game’s original campaign. And here’s the kicker: You’re not playing as Bats. The Dark Knight has mysteriously gone missing, and it’s up to Robin to find out what’s going on.

The Boy Wonder was notably absent from the main game (minus a laughably brief cameo), but players will actually take control of him as the protagonist in this latest chapter. It makes sense given his recent addition to the challenge map roster, where he boasts a unique and robust move-set. He’s a character that begs to be used in the more expansive environments of Arkham City. For players like myself, who don’t care much for the challenge maps, the sheer badassery of Robin’s redesign and combat abilities was being squandered outside the main story.

IGN makes it seem as if Harley Quinn’s Revenge will be just as deep and character-rich as the full game, citing Batman’s psychological symptoms following the events of Arkham City as one example. If it can maintain the level of atmosphere they featured in their two full games, this could well be one of the best DLC opportunities yet.

Harley Quinn’s Revenge will be available for download May 29th (for $9.99 or 800 Microsoft Points), or, if for some reason you don’t already own Arkham City, the Game of the Year edition will feature the DLC, along with all previous ones, and comes out the same date in North America.

TV

AMC’s The Killing: Episode 207 – “Keylela” (Something Finally Happened!)

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So, after the first season finale most of the good will and momentum built earlier on was lost. People were pissed about the case not being wrapped up yet and wanted to know who the killer was. Just didn’t want to know bad enough to keep watching. When season 2 premiered it did so to much lower numbers than the previous season and it was clear that even the people still watching were less invested. Now I was one of the people who didn’t hate the finale last year, but even I found myself not caring anymore. So when season 2 started popping up on my DVR, it was the show that I had to “get around to watching”. It airs the same night as Mad Men and Game of Thrones, so it’s running uphill already. Season 2 to this point has been all about…well, not much. Mitch ran out and is working through some stuff with a runaway she can pretend is Rosie. And as it turns out Stan isn’t Rosies’ real dad, and Sterling Cooper’s Duck Phillips is Linden’s boss now.  Mostly though, its business as usual. Oh, and Richmond is paralyzed. Anyhow, I just watched Sunday’s episode and after 6 weeks of not really caring about the show anymore, something has finally happened…

Linden and Holder were investigating the Casino and the evil Indians told them to leave. They first found Linden in the woods outside and basically told her “We don’t get a buffalo f*** that you’re a cop. If we find you here again we’ll f*** up are dumb white ass.”  Well Linden heeds the warning, but being a goddamn space cadet, she fails to let Holder know what’s going on. Despite the fact that he is inside the Casino. Alone. So anyhow Holder is trying to get into this secret “Under construction” floor of the hotel and hires a gigolo to get him in there, but passes on the Man on Man action. He instead unwittingly gets some info from a maid and then the Hotel cops find him.

While this is happening Richmond’s staff tries to convince Stan Larson to speak out on Darren’s behalf, to which he promptly tells them to piss off. Eventually though Darren goes to see Stan himself, and something obviously resonated with Stan because that night he shows up at the Press Conference. Stan agrees to read a per-prepared statement which includes him almost immediately attacking the media for not caring about Rosie and being opportunistic vultures. Then, in a move I could not approve of more, he pulls a total ‘Mel Gibson – Ransom‘ move, and offers up $12,000 for any info on Rosie’s killer. Whom he will then surely then kill. It was pretty solid. Brent Sexton was awesome in that scene, and overall is just a really underrated actor.

So Sarah and Jack are on the run from CPS because, well you know, she is a really good Mom and all. And just when it seems things can’t get much worse for Detective Linden, she gets a phone call from Holder. Or at least from Holder’s phone. It’s a courtesy call from the evil Indians. They want to make sure Linden can hear Holder being beaten down in the woods. It was awesome. Real renegade stuff. The Killing was in some serious need of something like this. I’m actually excited for the next episode now…

Movie Trailers

New Red-Band Trailer for “The Dictator”

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Sacha Baron Cohen is the mastermind behind “Da Ali G Show”, Da Ali G Movie, Borat, and Bruno. In his first post-“Ali G” character outing, as well as his first non-documentary style film, Sacha Baron Cohen has brought us The Dictator, AKA Borat if he was more powerful. The first few previews were funny but not hilarious. This new red band trailer is a little bit funnier than the original theatrical preview, but not by much, and I wonder if this will be Baron Cohen’s first out and out flop.

Granted, the film’s fantastic supporting players will probably elevate it just a little bit, but I wonder if this is just same ol’ Sacha rather than a wholly original and brand new character for audiences to enjoy. Personally, I’m pumped up for Cohen’s portrayal of the late, great Freddie Mercury. The England-born actor seems to be born for the role, even resembling Mercury in more ways than one. But until then, we have The Dictator, a film that, while it looks funny, may not be as hilarious as we would have wanted.

Check out the new red-band trailer right here:

THE INTERWEBS

Avengers Assemble – Episodes 6, 7 & Extras

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I feel I may have been a bit lapsing in my duties to bring you the awesome. Avengers Assemble- The Series was something I started to cover a while ago and then slipped behind a little. So its time to play catch up! Today we are going to look at the end of the first season as well as a few of the extra clips they produced. For more on Avengers Assemble – The Series you can check out our look at the previous episodes here. Might as well check out an interview with Hawkeye AKA Chris Burns here just so you aren’t missing anything.

Continue reading Avengers Assemble – Episodes 6, 7 & Extras →

POP CULTURE

5 Spins Around the Record Shop – This Week in Music

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Here are the top five pieces of important musical information I feel you need to know:

1. Jack White’s debut solo album:

Blunderbuss, is #1 on the Billboard Top 200 albums, and deservedly so. I have been a fan of Jack White since… well… since I can remember. In my opinion, although there are those who disagree, this is his best work. I think that Blunderbuss is exactly what Jack White has always wanted to do, and he is showing a large amount of confidence and an insane amount of talent.Everything Jack White touches seems to turn to gold. I am glad to see he is getting recognition for his work. I will be attending his concert on May 24th. I will definitely let you know how that goes.

2. Andre 3000 to Play Jimi Hendrix

According to Rolling Stone, Andre 3000 from Outkast will be starring as Jimi Hendrix in an upcoming biopic. All Is By My Side is currently in pre-production and is being filmed  in Ireland. The film will be about Hendrix in 1966 & 1967. The film will be Written and directed by John Ridley.

3. NO DOUBT’s New Album

No Doubt, one of my personal favorite bands, has a new album dropping this fall! According to the Hollywood Reporter, September 25th is the magical day! This will be No Doubt’s first album since 2001. After Gwen Stefani’s God-awful solo career, I can only hope she will not have much creative input for this CD.

4. 6 year old LMFAO Fan Suspended…for Sexual Harassment

“I’m Sexy and I Know It”. Pure poetry. The LMFAO song is all over the radio, TV, and the internet. Fun fact, there is a Sesame Street parody that my little nieces love! Is the title lyric alright to say in school, though? According to Guyism, a six-year-old little boy was suspended from school for quoting the tune. The Colorado boy D’Avonte Meadows was in the lunch line at school when he said “I’m sexy and I know it” to a girl in line, which according to the school is an unwelcome sexual advance. Should this little boy be looked at like a perverted monster if he is simply repeating what he heard? Do they think that he even knows what it means? The moral of the story is, if you are going to say you are sexy, take the stick out of your principal’s ass first.

5. Rihanna on SNL

And finally, so unimportant you are probably asking yourself why it is on the music news page, current pop slut Rihanna was recently the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Her elaborate set involved a giant-ass spider-web and lasers. Is she a good enough artist to demand lasers? Regardless, here is a photo:

That’s it for this week’s music news. Join me next week for more melodic shenanigans.

TV

NBC Thursday Nights Might Get Shorter, Possibly Less Funny

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NBC really loves to do the short seasons so much that perhaps the only saving grace to everyone’s critical and cult hero yet ratings challenged darlings on Thursday nights might be the route they choose.

According to Deadline via WarmingGlow, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and Community are in the running to get shorter seasons with 30 Rock leading the way with 13-14 episodes for the smaller and most likely final season. Alec Baldwin has been very vocal about this being his final season and some of the episodes have gotten stale in the last few years in my opinion. However, just like with Chuck, they appear ready to send the show off the right way instead of letting it fade out into the night with no resolution like Alf (seriously, most random end to a series because Alf is basically screwed at the end, go watch it).

Also on the short season path could be P-Rex (what the cool kids call it) and Community. However, the shorter 13 episode season seems to be more likely for P-Rex [Ed. Note – No one calls it that] as opposed to Community. They are saying the chances for Community still run at 50-50 so we shall wait until the NBC Upfronts happen and the mass panic about people’s favorite show that no one watches reaches the boiling point. All I have to say is that if they bring back P-Rex, that’s cool but it’s time to shut The Office down. Used to love the show, now it’s just buried in my DVR for the last 8 episodes. I cannot defend that show anymore. Steve Carrell, we miss you.

I can’t let the post end on a bad note though, Whitney is probably going to be put out of its misery. Rejoice in that I guess.