John Wick is the revenge movie we all hoped it would be. Straight forward without distraction of unneeded twist, nor neutered to avoid the ®. The action choreography flows with the soundtrack. The cars are classic, the women are fast, the fights are brutal, and feel is…familiar- in a comforting way. Twinges of 1970s grit and old school code combine with a rapidly paced 101-minute orchestra of ‘cool.’ 1994, 1999, and now 2014. Welcome back Keanu.
Only Six Northern White Rhinos Left, Extinction Looming
It’s been widely known for a while now that the northern white rhino is near full extinction. This breed of rhinoceros has been reduced to a small range of only 6 now that one of them has recently passed. Beforehand, northern white rhinos existed in parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Chad, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Uganda.
This new reduced number exists because one of the last surviving northern white rhinos, Suni, a 34-year-old male living at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya has passed. He was thought to be the last living male young enough to breed. Suni was actually the first northern white rhino born in captivity back in 1980 at the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic. Back in 2009, Suni and three other rhinos of its ilk were moved to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. This decision to move them from their natural habitat was made in order to help them breed much easier. This plan didn’t come to fruition though, plus additional efforts to aid the rhinos breeding failed.
The Ol Pejeta Conservancy released this official statement on the passing of Suni:
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of one of our northern white rhinos, Suni. Suni was one of the four northern whites residing on Ol Pejeta Conservancy. He was born 34 years ago at the Dvůr Králové Zoo as the first-ever northern white rhino to be born in captivity. Together with one other male and two females, he was translocated from the zoo to Ol Pejeta in 2009. Our rangers found him on the morning of October 17th, 2014, dead in his boma. Suni was not a victim of poaching and we have yet to establish the cause of his sudden death. The Kenya Wildlife Service vets will conduct a post mortem as soon as possible. In 2006, his father Saút died in the Dvur Kralove Zoo by natural causes at the same age as Suni was now.
This subspecies of rhinoceros once came in a healthy number of over 2,000 back in 1960. Due to poaching and the continued destruction of their natural habitat, that number was decreased to only a few by the end of the 1980s. By 2008, northern white rhinos were considered near extinction. In an even sadder bit of news, the last remaining group of northern white rhinos (just four) at Garamba National Park in DRC were poached before being moved to a safer park in Kenya.
Animal experts note that it might be 10 years before the last northern white rhino passes away. The conservationists at Ol Pejeta are doing their best to prevent this from happening. They have frozen the sperm of Suni and other male northern white rhinos, which can hopefully be used to breeding northern white rhino females with southern male ones. This plan could help regenerate the world small population of northern white rhinos.
Images: Wikimedia Commons, Ol Pejeta Conservancy
5 Creator-Owned Comics You Need to Read
Every week I like to share my picks of the new comics in stores that Wednesday over on Grizzly Pullz, but I don’t always get to explain why I am loving a particular series. Today we will be exploring a mix of creator-owned titles from Image Comics you should be checking out, and why I love them. We’ll be looking at a few series that range from critically acclaimed to fan-favorites, and in some cases new titles just starting out. These lists are not only a chance for us to share some of the great series, but to offer a starting point for any comic fan, new or old, who are looking for a few titles to try out. It can be kind of daunting to jump into the world of creator-owned comics, but I’ll give you fair warning, you WILL be hooked.
Avengers: Age of Ultron Trailer Out Early, Thank You Hydra
Remember how we were going to get the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer during the October 28th Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode? Well someone decided to crash the party, and if you believe Marvel, it was Hydra.
Continue reading Avengers: Age of Ultron Trailer Out Early, Thank You Hydra
Gotham: Fox Orders More Episodes and Casts Fan Favorite
Gotham is getting better – the show at least, not so much the city.
As the weeks pass and Gotham improves, we see characters start to fall into their places a bit more evenly. After the fifth episode – titled Viper – we saw Edward Nigma actually appear to serve a purpose at the precinct. Sal Maroni shed his jolly gangster look for a more sinister persona. This one more resembling the head of a crime family, though oblivious to threat Cobblepot poses him. And Bruce Wayne, whom I’d been calling for less of, showed glimpses of the drive that will someday steer him into the cape and cowl. The drug story also sets up a later appearance from another major villain, as Viper is the precursor to Bane’s Venom. Overall, the Viper episode was the best we’ve seen thus far, edging out the prior week’s Arkham for that title.
Continue reading Gotham: Fox Orders More Episodes and Casts Fan Favorite
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2: Pac Is Making Quite The Comeback
Everyone’s favorite chubby chomper has had quite the resurgence these past few years. Bandai Namco has plastered his unmistakable likeness to new downloadable games, made him an official member of the new Super Smash Bros. and given ol’ Pac his own TV show. Last year’s video game tie, Pac-Man and The Ghostly Adventures, was a solid, but not to0 memorable romp through the cartoon’s varied worlds. This year’s sequel expectedly arrives with a few new elements here and there, but it maintains the mediocre quality that its predecessor exhibited.
Once again, Pac and his best buds are set on a mission to stop Betrayus’ new evil schemes. The plot here is your typical Saturday morning, half-hour story fare so there’s nothing too interesting occurring this time around. You’ll take on the role of Pac-Man and run around various worlds that open up as you complete entire sets of one. Each world comes with a nice variety of platforming sections that pit Pac-Man against moving platforms, plenty of ghosts and tricky jumps. The abundance of power-ups and enemies to chomp on are your usual Pac-Man platforming fare. Each world and its fitting themes look good enough. The familiar sounds associated with old school and new school Pac-Man should put a smile on fans of all ages, too.
From time to time, you’ll come into contact with certain items that change-up Pac-Man’s repertoire of moves. Pac’s bouncy form lets him smash crates and hop to higher ledges, while his Ice Form allows him to freeze water fountains and use them for extra platforms. These mechanics are fun to utilize, but the majority of them have been seen before. Most of the platforming sections and Pac-Man forms seen here harken back to the last game, making this sequel a retread that’s decent at best. Sure, eating hundreds of pellets and eating tons of ghost in succession is fun at first. But doing these activities over and over gets tiresome real fast…
The only fresh and new play mechanics added here are the on-rails shooting stages that include Pac-Man’s friends, Cylindria and Spiral. There is some extra fun to be had as you shoot down airborne ghosts, blast through obstacles, collect pellets and nab the highest score and medal you can. Nabbing high scores and medals across the game’s many worlds are fun in short bursts. But the all-too familiar gameplay and not-so-new Pac-Man transformations may bore you before too long.
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 is just more of the same. The game itself is a solid platformer that includes a few gimmicks that may keep younger games around long. As for the older crowd who may have taken a chance on the 1st game in the series, there isn’t much new and fresh to get attached to here. This sequel feels more like a inconsequential upgrade than an actual improvement to a somewhat decent prequel.
Images: Bandai Namco Games
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