All posts by Stephen Sanchez

Marvel Comic Review: Venom #3

May 26, 2011 Stephen Sanchez 1 Comment

Mr. Remender still manages to keep me on as a regular reader of this new Venom title. Issue three is a vast improvement over the last one which I still enjoyed. Mainly because we are now out of the Savage Land and there is no more Kraven the Hunter. Oh yeah, also Jack O Lantern is back! It would seem that the Crime-Master (The guy behind the antarctic vibranium) knows Venom’s secret identity, so he sends Jack-O-Lantern to pay Flash Thompson’s girlfriend Betty Brant a visit while our sort of-hero Venom is frantically fighting permanent bonding with the Venom suit and closing in on the shipment of vibranium.

Not only do you get to see Venom kicking major ass against the henchman known as… the henchman, but there is also a small appearance by our friendly neighborhood Spiderman who finds Betty’s apartment totally trashed. His searching for Betty makes for huge complications and a cliffhanger that will having wishing you could time travel to next month for issue four!

I give this issue a four out of five bears. It was nonstop with the action, a good and non petty excuse for a Spiderman appearance and seriously a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. I doubt either will happen but you almost wonder how the two possible deaths at the end can be stopped. Unfortunately we have to wait awhile to find out. And I’m really digging this version of Jack-O-Lantern, whom I at first thought was a little corny. He was only used for a few pages in this issue but you can foresee than he and Flash will be throwing down once more very soon… maybe for the last time.

Wonder Woman Costume Revealed Again? – Adrianne Palicki

May 24, 2011 Stephen Sanchez 3 Comments

In extremely ground breaking news, according to a new picture recently released online, it looks as if Adrienne Palicki was in fact going to wear the Wonder Woman costume with the accompanying and awesome star spangled underoos. And let me tell ya, these did not look like the Linda Carter star spangled diaper-granny panties from way back when, Palicki was looking excellent in them. BEHOLD:

At first it was something that I thought may have killed the show with her not wearing the underwear but it appears she was going to anyways if the pilot would have aired! I demand that some network out there please man up and give this show a chance! The odds are that it truly did suck, but I prefer that we as fans all get to decide that on our own. So come on Netflix or someone just air the pilot and watch the ratings soar.

POP CULTURE

Scum of the Week – The Two Millionaire Food Stamp User

May 23, 2011 Stephen Sanchez 3 Comments

This week’s dirty peice of scum comes in the form of not a celebrity, not a world championship basketball team, not a shitty looking hat or an evil family friendly corporation. No this one was an every man. A regular joe who was lucky and fortunate enough to win the lottery. Yes, 59 year old Leroy Fick is still using his bridge card (food stamps) even though he is a 2 millionaire. And what’s worse? He doesn’t feel bad about it. He reasons that if the government is going to be taking half the lotto winnings in taxes then he should still be able to use his food stamps. What scum ridden turd. Of course it goes without saying that there are thousands of people out there who really do need this kind of assistance and they aren’t millionaires.

2684079645_056aedf6ca_z — I really hope he bought the ticket with his food stamps

I’m glad my tax dollars go to scum suckers like this, it makes me feel good about going to work everyday so a millionaire leech can take advantage of the system. I actually applaud Michigan officials for working on getting his food stamps revoked. Mr. Fick, maybe after you squander your million dollars you can reapply for your bridge card. Scum bag.

Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 7 – ‘You Win or You Die’

May 23, 2011 Stephen Sanchez 4 Comments

This episode aired on HBO Go (Online) the same night as episode 6 did which was a welcome treat and a precursor to one of the best episodes yet. So if you haven’t watched episode 7 online then there are major spoilers awaiting you ahead. This episode will air on TV May 29th.

We start the episode by finally getting to see Tywin Lannister on screen, who is definitely one of the characters people will grow to hate most over the course of the show. He’s one of those characters you love to hate and in the scene he has with Jaime you get to see what his ambitions are and the expectations of his house. Tywin is currently moving with 60,000 Lannister soldiers to protect the honor of his house against the Starks and their allies. As he questions and lectures Jaime, Tywin guts and skins a deer which for some reason made the scene all that better for me. He tells Jaime that they should have acted decisively, where if Tyrion was taken by Catelyn then Jaime should have killed Ned instead of leaving him alive. Jaime claims that he didn’t finish him because of the interference by one of their men and it wouldn’t have been a clean kill which Tywin scoffs at. Jaime, despite what everyone thinks of him, has a measure of honor that is his alone.

As the show goes on and we get more into his character it will become evident that Jaime has almost no identity for himself. He is constantly trying to live up to roles that others assign him from Aerys Targaryen to Tywin Lannister and later you will see from Cersei too. It all began with Aerys raising him to the Kingsguard years ago, which angered Tywin to the point of resigning his position of Hand of the King since his heir was now under oath to serve until death thanks to the “Mad King”. That is why Tywin tells Jaime that he needs to him to become the man he was meant to be now and not later. The look on Jaime’s face before he leaves clearly shows us that he has almost no idea what he wants, which is a great precursor of the route his character will take in future seasons.

Finally after being MIA for a couple episodes, Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch return to our screens albeit briefly. After Benjen’s horse is found riderless at the Wall entrance, we get to see Jon, Sam, Grenn and Pip all graduate. This is accompanied by the big disappointment of Jon not being made a ranger but a steward. Stewards are the caretakers of the Night’s Watch, they clean up, send ravens and do the menial day to day tasks in all of the castles of the Wall. So you might see why a swordsman like Jon might be a little pissed off about it. But as Sam points out, Maester Aemon assigned him to be the attendant to Lord Commander Mormont where Jon will learn of all the functions of the Night’s Watch and it’s command structure at Castle Black. More than likely Jon will eventually succeed Lord Commander Mormont.

We also get to see Jon and the recently converted (To the Old Gods) Sam recite their oaths in the Godswood a mile North of the Wall. It was a nicely touching scene until Ghost ruins it by bringing back a severed and frozen hand from somewhere in the woods. Imagine being Jon and wondering if that were your Uncle’s hand your pet direwolf brought back. Not that any of us has ever had a pet direwolf but you get where I’m coming from.

After the last episode with the Targaryens, it will be hard to follow up in this one. I still can’t get over seeing the pot of molten gold poured over Viserys’ head. It will live on as one of the best TV deaths of all time. Daenerys is trying to convince Drogo to eventually invade the Seven Kingdoms where their son will rule, but Drogo is reluctant telling her a king does not need a throne, only a horse to sit atop. However, after an assassin in the marketplace attempts to give Daenerys poisoned wine to cash in on the bounty on her head, Drogo is furious and in Vaes Dothrak he vows to invade and destroy the Seven Kingdoms for the attempt on his wife and child’s lives. This was a very powerful scene that I can’t come close to putting into a review as words. I have to give credit to Jason Momoa for sounding so convincing in a language created for the books and the series!

I saved the best for last in the events that are going down at King’s Landing. Cersei confronts Ned in a garden in the Red Keep, telling him that she thinks it’s time he went home to Winterfell after everything that has happened. Ned then reveals the realization he had come to in the previous episode; that Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella are all Jaime’s children and not Robert’s. Cersei admits to it, telling Ned of how Robert always loved Lyanna Stark even after he married her and that her and Jaime belong together. Ned offers her an ultimatum to take her children and leave King’s Landing before Robert returns from the hunt because he will be one angry King. Robert does indeed return from the hunt but he is gravely injured…by a boar. He missed his thrust and the tusks damaged him beyond repair, but at least good ole’ Robert killed it in the end. He has Ned write his last wishes, which are that Ned become protector of the realm until Joffrey comes of age. Ned writes everything but changes “son” to “heir” on the parchment, because Joffrey has no claim if he is a product of his mother and uncle’s incest. Robert also tells Ned to cancel the order of assassination against Daenerys, telling him that Ned was right. Unfortunately according to Lord Varys “those birds have flown”. This is when things start to heat up even more as Ned lets two important opportunities pass him up due to his great sense of honor.

The first opportunity is presented by Renly Baratheon, who is the King’s youngest brother if you haven’t figured that out. He urges Ned to seize Joffrey in the middle of the night so that as protector he can hold all of the power against the Lannisters. Renly even offers him a hundred men loyal to him in assistance of Ned in this task. Ned however refuses to shed blood in the castle that Robert ruled and to taking children from their beds in the middle of the night. So not only has Ned shown his cards to Cersei and alerted her that he knows of her incest, he has refused Renly’s support which would have been a great help. Next Ned summons Petyr Littlefinger Baelish to help him in taking Cersei and her children captive during the day with minimal to no bloodshed.

The Lannister men and guards far outnumber anything Ned has left with him and he asks that Littlefinger secure the 2000 men of the City Watch to help them. Littlefinger agrees even after he refuses Lord Baelish’s plan to securing the throne. Baelish tells Ned that he should install Joffrey as King and watch over him closely (pretty much as a hostage) and use his tainted birth as blackmail should he or the Lannisters ever step out of line. And if Joffrey was removed then he suggests that the more likeable Renly be brought in as King, even though Stannis is the older brother. Stannis though is so rigid and uncompromising that the kingdoms would fall into war with no one supporting his claim. Ned however will not let someone not even having Baratheon blood sit on the throne, let alone the youngest Baratheon brother. Even if it means the realm certainly falling into war, Ned’s honor only allows him to do things by the book.

Ned confronts the Lannisters in the throne room, presenting Robert’s letter making him protector of the realm and even denouncing Joffrey as having no rights to the throne. Cersei rips the letter up before everyone, ordering Ser Barristan Selmy to arrest Stark immediately. Just as the City Guard seems ready to fight the Lannisters they turn on the Stark men killing them all while Littlefinger places a dagger to Ned’s throat telling him -“You were right not to trust me.” Things are not looking good for Ned and the Starks. I promise the next episode will show why George R.R. Martin’s books stand alone from any other fantasy books out there.

I give this episode a 4.5 bears out of 5, because despite being absent of much action there was plenty of plot and character development. I can already tell that the next episode will be a five out of five and the viewers are either going to love it or hate it.

Episode 6 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 1 Review
Most Anticipated Scenes from Game of Thrones

SPORTS

WWE Monday Night Raw Review: May 23, 2011

May 23, 2011 Stephen Sanchez 1 Comment

Fresh off of last night’s Over the Limit, Jerry Lawler makes his way to the ring. Victorious over Michael Cole, Jerry brings out Bret the Hitman Hart to help him celebrate. I seriously was so glad to see Cole get humiliated last night not only by Hart and Lawler, but by Eve and JR as well. I’m hoping Cole will either go back to being a non heel commentator or just go to Smackdown because I can’t stand the sound of his voice. Surprisingly as Bret Hart is talking, he is interrupted by… R Truth?

Truth of course sits there babbling on about how he should get a title shot and how maybe he needs to beat on a hall of famer to get some respect. Good call Truth, going the Jericho route. Hart of course tells him to bring it on, but then that irritating John Cena music comes on and out comes the still WWE champ. He tells Truth the truth about what a nut bag he is and is about to take him on before the anonymous Raw manager (still? Really?) interrupts them all announcing he may give R Truth a shot after the main event tag match tonight, between CM Punk/R-Truth and John Cena/Rey Mysterio.

Our next match is a tag-team championship match between the champions Kane and Big Show vs Nexus members David Otungah and Michael McGillicutty. The match goes just like every other Kane-Big Show tag match. The opposite team unrealistically competes, except this time against the Nexus you can be guaranteed of cheating. That is of course what happens except this time they don’t get caught and it results it the Kane-Show losing their titles. I can honestly say this makes things a little better because nothing garners more interest in a match than seeing heels lose the belt. Otungah and McGillicutty are pretty damned boring with not a whole lot of talent going around, and I can’t wait until someone else takes the belts from them. It for sure doesn’t look like Show and Kane will be getting a rematch soon, since Big Show had his leg ran over in an altercation involving Alberto Del Rio and his Ferrari.

Finally the inevitable happens and Michael Cole comes down to the ring looking as if he’s going to cry. But the guy actually apologizes to not only Jerry Lawler, but everyone else and the fans. His only wish is that he can commentate side by side with Jerry on Raw and put the whole thing behind them. Jerry accepts after getting in a couple more jabs in at Cole. Thank god the feud is done and I can finally deal with Michael Cole being around again.

Immediately after, The Miz comes out with his butt buddy Alex Riley to bitch and complain about how he deserves another shot at the belt. The general manager responds by telling Miz no and monkey boy Miz fires Riley in a rage. He even slaps Riley causing the guy to snap. It was actually pretty gratifying to see Riley finally put an ass whooping on the Miz.

The next sees all of the lovely divas coming down to the ring for an eight woman tag match. I would tell you everyone involved but after Kelly Kelly and one of the Bellas start the match it is interrupted by Kharma who gets into the ring and inexplicably falls to her knees having a nervous breakdown as the divas watch on puzzled. I was a little puzzled too as we come back from commercial and all of the divas are gone. Uuuuuhhh okay.

We are then presented with a match between the U.S. Champion Kofi Kingston and Drew McIntyre, which a decent match but all too brief as many of the matches were tonight. All three of them…

After a nice Macho Man memorial the main event finally gets started with Bret Hart as the special guest referee. The match was pretty decent yet once again only about 7 minutes long after commercials. After a few twists and turns in the end Cena and Mysterio won with help from the ref. It felt a little cheap but they’ve made such a joke of R Truth that I find it hard to care. I was hoping for a little more out of a two-hour wrestling show instead of thirty minutes (if even) of actual matches. Booooo!

Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 6 – ‘A Golden Crown’

May 22, 2011 Stephen Sanchez 1 Comment

After the killing of his men and the injury of his leg by the Lannisters in the last episode, Ned Stark wakes up in bed to see the King and Queen standing over him. Cersei is of course angry at Tyrion being held by Catelyn, and now they’ve spun the story of Ned Stark being drunk outside of a brothel and attacking Jaime Lannister. Robert commands them both to shut it, having to smack Cersei for questioning his status as king. Robert orders Ned to make peace with the Lannisters and release Tyrion, while also offering him the clasp of the Hand back. Ned takes it as Robert leaves for a hunting trip.

GOT-2-6-1 — Queen Punch courtesy of WARMING GLOW

Bran, Robb and Theon have their own expedition in the forest underway as the Bran gets to test out his new saddle from Tyrion’s design. Things seem to going well until the little Stark runs afoul of a couple wildlings and a Wall deserter who try to rob him. Unfortunately for them, Robb shows up and whoops some ass, and Theon finishes the job. Robb decides to let the wildling woman (Soon to be known to us as Osha.) live after she surrenders her life to him. It was interesting in this scene to see Theon speaking to Robb of going to war with the Lannisters, because that would mean weakening the kingdoms and creating an opening for his father Balon to rebel again, not to mention an opportunity for Theon to return home.

Tyrion is having a rough time himself in the Eyrie. Besides his uncomfortable sleeping arrangements in the sky cells, Mord the turn-key of the cells decides to come in and yell at him for making noise and hits him repeatedly. He finally convinces Mord to tell Lysa Arryn that he wishes to confess his crimes. After appearing in front of the court of the Vale, Tyrion confesses to a number of crimes he committed in his childhood. Putting goat shit in his uncle’s boots and tossing off in his sister’s turtle soup. It was all pretty hilarious to me, but nothing was better than actually getting to see the Moon Door and getting to see Tyrion proclaim his right to trial by combat.

In trial by combat, the accuser and the person on trial are able to either fight themselves or choose a champion. Lysa Arryn chooses Ser Vardis of the Vale while no one except the sell sword Bronn will stand for Tyrion. Bronn as you will see loves gold and no doubt expects a great pay out from the little Lannister. The fight was excellent, showing us what a crafty fighter Bronn can be. He had to be in order to beat a knight in full armor. After Ser Vardis leaves via the Moon Door, Tyrion leaves through the main door. But not before paying Mord with his gold purse for delivering the message of confession and proving that a Lannister always pays his debts. Meanwhile in King’s Landing Ned filling in for Robert at court, hears from people in the Riverlands where his wife’s father rules that there is a rather large bandit and his men burning their villages and killing their loved ones. Based on his height, Ned deduces that it must be Ser Gregor Clegane who is one of Tywin Lannister’s men and Ned announces that Clegane shall be stripped of his knighthood and all of his lands, not to mention his life. As an extra added bonus he also has the Grand Maester deliver word to Casterly Rock that Tywin Lannister must come to court to answer for the actions of Clegane and if he refuses then he will be marked as an enemy of the crown. Ohhhh boyyyy. So much for peace between the Starks and Lannisters.

GOT-2-6-5 — Flawless. Victory. (Warming Glow)

We are then treated to a Sansa scene, where Joffrey actually comes to see her and offers her a necklace that she gladly wears. He also apologizes to her for how he acted and promises to never disrespect her and marry her so she can be queen. They even share a tender kiss after he is done telling her this. It makes me want to puke because he’s such a demented little turd and time will tell you the viewer just how sincere his promise is.

And now we get back to the Targaryens finally. In a Dothraki tradition, Daenerys gets the disgusting honor of eating a horse heart in front of Khal Drogo and some assembled Dothraki while Mormont translates for Viserys that her son will become the greatest Khal ever who will rule over the whole world. Viserys can finally see how there is no plan to make him king and decides to go off and sell his sister’s dragon eggs to get enough money to buy his own army. Ser Jorah Mormont stops him and shows that his loyalty lies with Daenerys and not Viserys who surrenders the eggs and storms out.

GOT-2-6-3 — That just looks delicious… (Warming Glow)

Things get worse a little later as “the dragon” storms into the evening feast honoring Daenerys’ unborn child Rhaego. (Named after her brother Rhaegar who died by Robert’s hand at the Battle of the Trident.) The moron insults her and even draws his sword on her after Mormont tries to remove him. After Viserys threatens to cut out their baby if he doesn’t receive the crown Drogo promised for her, Drogo agrees to give him what he wants…. literally. The Khal has his men hold the Targaryen boy down as he melts down his gold belt in an empty soup pot and then proceeds to pour it over Viserys’ head in what I can only describe as one of the most brutal, yet awesome scenes in the series. The clunking sound that Viserys’ head made as it hit the ground and his screams before were just eerie as can be; and here I was worried about how they would do that scene when not on the pages of a book!

Awesome episode overall. I’m giving it a 5 out of 5 bears because the episodes keep getting better and better, and the tension is building to a climax in the next episode. I promise I won’t be able to keep giving it five bears every week because the episodes will slow a bit towards the end unless HBO has made some changes.

Grizzly Bomb