Is There a Cardiologist in the House?

So my wife totally f#cked up dinner.
It's an unseasonable chilly day in April and my wife and I are discussing what we're going to have for dinner. She's at the store. I'm still at work.
Chili.
What sounds better than that? Chili with Fritos, cheese and diced onions. What a perfect comfort food for a dreary day. Something to look forward to.
15 minutes from home I get the call.
No chili. She swore we had plenty at home so she didn't buy any. She got home to find ONE can. Turkey Chili. So she tells me she made it, added some more beans and tomato sauce and I'm not going to like it.
Long story short. I'm disappointed. I'm not eating that sh!t so we go out.

KFC sounds good. So we go to KFC (Formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken because "Fried" has become a bad word).
On our way in my wife points out the newest sensation: The Double Down. She goads me to try one. If it's horrible I can write about it to the idiots who peruse this site.
For those of you who don't know what the Double Down is here you go:


Here's how KFC describes it:
"The new KFC Double Down sandwich is real! This one-of-a-kind sandwich features two thick and juicy boneless white meat chicken filets (Original Recipe® or Grilled), two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese and Colonel's Sauce. This product is so meaty, there’s no room for a bun! The Double Down comes in two versions – Original Recipe® or Grilled and the nutrition information is below."
CALORIES: 540 FAT (g) 32 SODIUM (mg) 1380

I opt for the Original Recipe version. What the hell...
So I get the "sandwich" and open the box (they conceal it so that you can't see the monster that it is at the counter) and there it is. It's exactly as they describe it. I pick it up take a bite as my wife is grinning and...
it's not that bad. It's what you expect it to be. I take a drink of my Dr. Pepper to wash down the first bite.
So we start eating "dinner" and talk about the day's events and her dork of a boss and I realize I've had three bites and my soda is empty. I've had to drink the whole thing to wash this cumbersome mess down.

Refill drink, attempt to finish "food." I get about half way through this thing and I have to wipe off all of the Colonel's Sauce and I've removed the bacon and cheese. I eat one so-called bun and throw away the rest.

I'm not sure why I ate this f*cking thing but I regret it. I've been eating fairly healthy for the majority of 2010 and I've just consumed over half my calories and ALL of my fat for the day.

Good thing I'm not tracking sodium.

Looks like I need to put in 10 miles on the treadmill.
Right. I'll do that as soon as I get out of the bathroom.


Don't eat this thing. Even if double dares you to double down!
- Darth

Louis Letterier Raped My Childhood (A Clash of the Titans Review)

It's been a while since we've done a movie review. This means either we haven't been to the movies much or we've had pretty good luck with seeing good movies. This all ends after seeing Clash of the Titans.

Let's start off with me pointing out that I thought the original from 1980 was a great film. It was perhaps the last movie to depend on stop-motion and was the last Ray Harryhausen film. For those of you who don't know who Ray Harryhausen is, he was responsible for such classics as Jason and the Argonauts, Mighty Joe Young, Mysterious Island and the Sinbad movies.

Now, does the original stand up to the test of time? Sure, it's outdated but it had some charm to it. This update doesn't. I'm sure some of you will disagree, but you know what? You're idiots. I'm sure you're going to say how great and realistic the special effects are but really, they're just more of that over-CG'd bullshit. But I digress.

PLOT
Let's talk plot. The plot in this new version barely resembles the original. The character names are the same but they are mixed throughout the film and have different relations to each other than the original. Of course, Perseus is here, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Pegasus, Medusa. The Gods are present: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades. Wait. Hades? Hades wasn't in the first one. Is this a bad thing? Yeah. It's the shittiest plot point in the film.

CAST

Guess who plays Hades? Voldemort. I mean Ralph Fiennes. But in this movie he gets to have hair and a nose. Totally unnecessary character in the film. I guess the director had the same coupon that Speilberg had for Schindler's List and Ralph Fiennes just came with Liam Neeson.
Speaking of Mr. Neeson. He's too recognizable to play Zeus. The entire time I was thinking "Liam Neeson needs a paycheck." Did he not have life insurance on his wife?
(low. I know even for me.)

Sam Worthington. Why does everyone think this guy is the next big thing? He was OK in Avatar, but really? Did he make the movie? No. The blue people, monsters and 3D did.
In Clash of the Titans he barely masks his atrocious Australian accent. He even had the same haircut he had in Avatar and Terminator: Salvation. Maybe this guy awesome like everyone says but I don't see it. McLovin' could have done a better job.

The other actors were just as replaceable. Granted the chick playing Andromeda was attractive but they weren't anywhere near as hot as the original actress. Maybe I'm just partial to the original actress because she was the first naked woman I ever saw at the age of ten.

A new character they added is Io, played by Gemma Arterton. She acts as the guide and is somewhat obnoxious. Not by her presence or lines but by her voice. This has to be one of the worst overdubs in film history. You shouldn't be able to tell that an actor re-records lines in a studio after everything is shot. Obvious.

All the other actors suck. Not worth mentioning.

THE 3D
Don't waste your time. The 2 minute preview of Step It Up 3D had more impressive 3D effects than this entire film. You could tell that the 3D was an afterthought because it was just lame. I want my extra $4.00 back. The movie was supposed to come out over a month ago but they saw the success of Avatar and thought they would jump on the bandwagon. There were probably a few cool 3D shots but I can't remember them. I do remember that the front of Liam Neeson's head was in 3D. Terrible.

THE CREATURES
Ok. This movie has a better Kraken. Of course you know that already because it was way overexposed in every trailer and commercial. It was a major selling point.

Pegasus was black and lame. In the original Perseus had to capture the horse and break it. In this he just walks up to it and pets it in the woods, it flies off to return when Perseus needs a ride towards the end of the film. Shocker. Pegasus is basically the token black character in the film. Off set it wears those lame Kanye shades.

The Stygian witches are grosser of course. They look more alien than witchy.
Charon the Boatman was kinda cool but not as creepy as the original "skeleton in a robe."
Hey Hollywood, do you have to overdesign everything?

Calibos is a very minor character. Could have skipped him altogether. In the original he was a major player who you hated but pitied. In this version if you blinked you didn't even know where he came from.

The Giant Scorpions were pretty cool but when the fight scene was going on you could barely tell what was going on. This is another shitty trend that Hollywood has taken on. Fight scenes that happen really close up so that you can't really tell what's happening. Gladiator was one the first movies to do this. Crappy action. Zoom out!

Finally, there's Medusa. I'm torn on this one. The new version was pretty cool. But of course it was way obvious that she was CG. Did the special effects guys even try to make her look real? She was similar to the original but she only turned ugly when she gazed at you and turned you to stone. That's fine. The Medusa scene was probably the highlight of the movie. But again, the original scene when they confront her in her lair is way more intimidating.

Good news though, Bubo the Owl did manage to make an appearance in the 2010 remake. Here's the scene:
Our heroes are equipping themselves to go on their quest. As they begin to leave Perseus hears hooting and clicking coming from the a trunk. He opens it and pulls out the mechanical owl who is perched on a branch. Perseus asks the leader, "What's this?" The leader replies, "Nothing. Leave it." Perseus drops it back in the trunk and leaves.
Louis Letterier (the director) to Ray Harryhausen: "Fuck you Ray, it's my movie now."

Don't bother. It sucked.

- DARTH

Bad iPhone Games, A Review

If any of you out there own an iPhone, I'm sure that you have had your dealings with some of the quintuple-zillion games that can be had for a good waste of time. I've run across my share of many a stench-filled game. Most are free, some are not, which really gets my goat; spending one scintilla of a dime on worthless tripe thats usually just plain poorly coded. The one that's sticking in my craw at the moment is an insidious beast of a game that, I'm ashamed to admit, has been an obsession off and on over the last 6-9 months, with a 4-5 month hiatus from it for the very reasons I write this now, ONLY MUCH WORSE THAN IT WAS BEFORE!! The publisher still says Miraphonic, though I believe someone else has bought them out. It still gets billed as one of the more popular free games out there. Boy has it gotten super duper lame-o since I decided to download it again, even though I told myself before NEVER AGAIN!! That game would be none other than Epic Pet Wars... I know, I know... Brady prolly plays Super Steppin' out, Shuck-n-Jive, Ultro-Fab, Night at the Mall Barbie! Nope. Only this sorry piece of shit... My only 14 year old, wanna-be, used-to-be pleasure. I can emphatically say at this point it is an infatuation whose load is fully blown. Before I get into it, I fully understand it is FREE; so is Ebola!!

The level of incompetence that seems to still permeate this app is past the point of humorous or even just annoying. It is a constant, over-arching theme!! It is supreme sloppiness and ass-holery all rolled into one steaming piece of ultra-copro-stench!! More times than not I will attempt to train my animal only to never reach a point that would indicate I have no exp. left or money gained. Often in the middle of a fight there will come a point that I win only to be shown that hit points are left and errors abound!! Anyway, that's enough taps of the keyboard wasted on this abysmal piece of donkey dung!!
MORAL----STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THIS WASTE OF CHARGE CYCLES ON YOUR PHONE!! YOU'LL KICK YOURSELF IF YOU DON'T....
Picture included is merely one of the many surprises that awaits the unsuspecting oaf looking for a free way to while away the time.
ANGRY BRADY

It's Miley!!!

Ok. So Miley Cyrus was the "mentor" on American Idol tonight.

Why?

I'm not going to deny that she is a talented young girl but really, couldn't she be replaced with any one of many photogenic, somewhat coordinated American girls who can sing?
Miley Cyrus is a shitty trend that has taken hold of pop culture all the way back to the emergence of Britney Fucking Spears.
A lot can happen in ten years. I'm sure, if I really thought about it, I could come up with examples that go even further back than Britney's "Oh baby baby" bullshit.

Here's what I think. Every time that some cute teen gets a hit record ANY cute teen could have done it. I'm sure you idiots really like the "artist" performing the hit song but know this: you would have heard the song anyway. It would have just been sung by someone else. They didn't write it. All of these songs are written by the same 15 people anyway.
Miley recorded it because her daddy has been spending his achey-breaky money for the last 17 years in an effort to get his little girl to be a star.
But really, is he that different from most of the fathers out there in the world who want to make Daddy's Little Princess's dreams come true? Puke.

Back to the Idol crap.

Let's get rid of the whole mentoring segment on Idol. The only reason they're on there is so that they can whore themselves out for whatever record or TV show they need the idiot public to spend their money on. It's rare that they get someone on there that's worth a shit. Even when they get someone who is established they just get on there and embarrass themselves like Elton John or Andrew Lloyd Weber. Hell, Quentin Tarantino made more sense.

I guess it could have been worse, they could have had Kanye mentoring.
Have I mentioned that I hate that guy?

-Darth

Help Us Zombi Reagan, You're Our Only Hope!!-less... (REAL REVIEW)

I haven't posted in some time, other than to say I hadn't been posting in some time, but in perusing the App's store it was suggested by Genius (part of the App's store) that I may like this app...

Firstly, I lived all of the Reagan Era and was none too impressed by Bedtime for Bonzo's twin partner in crime. People really seem to have a short memory, sorry Ronnie, pun intended! Where should I start??

Well let's see, the busting of the Air Traffic Controllers Union, I know don't start federal law prohibits government workers from striking, blah, blah, blah! The social impact was the target here. 11,000 plus workers---GONE a big thumbs down to unions and both thumbs up for business.

Reaganomics, a term that still haunts us to this day! While the promise of low taxes hits the average Pepsi-swillin', McDonald's eatin', American squarely in the pleasure centers of his/her monobrowed brain-case; that policy did very little for most middle class people. The military budget was raised higher that any other peace time Prez, 30%+ higher!! His policies toward Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps, were so profound that many elderly were eating canned dog food cause they couldn't afford med's, etc. At the same time all budgets that may have had an air of coffee house hangin', art fag-ish, crystal waving, incense burnin', liberalism were sent to the budgetary shitter!! Things as wacky as, federal education programs and the EPA to name a few!! All of this to eventually grab the American people the largest known deficit in history at that time, 3 trillion dollars!!!

While many people argue that it's a good thing the stance he took on Communism, the so called Reagan Doctrine was a very mixed blessing, if one were to call it that. "To provide overt and covert aid to anti-communist resistance movements in an effort to rollback the Soviets and governments with their backing." The biggest baddest piece of under-handed law breaking bullshit was the Iran Contra affair!! This is one of the biggest pieces of chicanery in our American history! Do you know how many people went to jail over that shit?!? High Treason I tell ya!! Does anybody know how many very poor south American countries he help to utterly decimate?!
How about "The War On Drugs"?!?!? This has got to be, and backed by statistics, the biggest waste of time and tax-payer money ever!! Well, second probably to our never-ending war in Iraq, when I think about it. Tell me one good thing the War on Drugs produced!! I can tell the reader of some. Millions of nonviolent offenders being taught how to very violent! Millions of kids growing up in broken homes, which compounds the situation! Assets that get seized that go into voluminous coffers to which you or I get to see none of, or know what gets done with! That's just to name a few.
Oh one good thing... I guess we all got to understand exactly what Alzheimer's disease is!
But I digress.
This is a review of an app. It's an app about a president that just wants to gloat about who "King Ronnie Raygun" was. BORING!!! ZERO stars.
Oh yeah anybody remember the Star Wars program?? That was sockin' money down a rabbit hole for ya'!!

Angry Brady

Mardi Gross

Every now and then I must venture out of my secret hidden base and mingle amongst the plebeians of society. This provides a great cover to those who I wish not to know my world domination plans.
I did this very thing on February 13th. Met at friend's house at 8:30a.m., followed them to their friend's house in Soulard. Made beignet's, drank mimosas and bloody marys, mingled.
At approximately 11:15 we decide to venture out and check out the festivities, hurricanes in hand. We get about 500 feet from the house and I capture this Mardi Gras magic:

It's 11:20 in the morning.

For those of you who are not local to St. Louis I'll fill you in on the Soulard Mardi Gras. It's the second biggest Mardi Gras celebration in the world. Second only to New Orleans. Like most people (including the people who attend) you probably don't even know what they're celebrating.I could do a bunch of research but I'm lazy. I think it has something to do with that Lent BS and everyone does it up the weekend before Lent and Fat Tuesday happens the day before Ash Wednesday and blah blah blah who cares.

Anyway, Soulard Mardi Gras is pretty gigantic and it seems to be growing exponentially every year.
It is the ultimate amateur hour. I would say the average age of those attending is probably between 20-30 with the occasional 30-50 year-old sprinkled about. AND of course you have your 50+ crowd who should not be there. Really, anyone with any sense should not be there. It is ridiculous.
Unless of course, you enjoy public intoxication, really loud morons puking everywhere and passing out. If this is your thing have at it.
The only thing that is not a drawback are the titties. They are usually popping out left and right for beads or just because the crowd demands it. This was not as prevalent this year because of the 30 degree weather. Which begged me to ask the question: What's the point?

Despite the gigantic, ever-growing crowd this year. The arrests and citations were somewhat minimal:
* 68 Minors in Possession of Alcohol
* 17 Urinating in Public
* 12 False Identification
* 4 DUI's
* 4 Supplying Alcohol to Minor
* 3 General Peace Disturbance
* 2 Resisting Arrest
* 2 Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer (an officer was punched and an officer was spit on while attempting to take a man into custody)
* 1 Selling Liquor without a License
* 1 3rd Degree Assault (a man got into a fight with a friend and punched him)
* 1 Property Damage (a man got into a fight at a friend's Soulard home and damaged a window at the home)
* 1 Marijuana Possession

Pretty tame if you ask me. What does the above list tell you? There weren't that many cops there.

My advice: If you want to celebrate Mardi Gras have your own party. Invite your friends over. Get everyone stupid drunk. At least make sure some of them are going to get their titties out. Then have them get the fuck out of your house when you're sick of them. (Call a cab of course.)


-Darth

Superbowl Half Time Show Sucked, I Told You It Would

Did you catch the 12 minutes of god-awful full force suck-tude that the Who perpetrated during the Superbowl Half Time Show? If not let me lay it out for you.

1. Roger Daltrey can't sing. Not a friggin' note! He screamed 80% of the crap he "sang". He's too old and his voice is shot I guess, though I'm not sure if he ever could sing.
2. Pete Townsend is just plain creepy looking. Personally his guitar playing has never been my thing, but now he's so "creepy old man" looking that all I could do was look at him and think, what the hell is that old pedophile doing on stage?
3. The laser light show that was going on was very high-tech, if today was February 8, 1990.
4. These songs (Pinball Wizard, Baba O'Reilly, Won't Get Fooled Again) are so dated. Pinball Wizard? I'll bet half the people watching the game have never played pinball.
5. These guys are old. Really old and they came off kind of sad. I'm not sure how the Stones do it, but the Who doesn't.

At least the NFL didn't actually pay the Who for their performance, they did it for free. Not sure why, maybe they had a crystal ball and saw how bad they were going to be.


Now the Half Time Show also includes the think-necked mental Special Olympics where the four commentators, James Brown, Dan Marino, Bill Cowher, Shannon Sharpe and Boomer Esiason all talk over each other, trying as hard as possible to get air-time and to get in a stupid pun or bad analogue. 


This year they had Shannon Sharpe who must have had a bag of marbles in his mouth. He was almost unintelligible. Since I'm not in the television production business I'm not certain but, I would think it might be helpful to listen to  the commentators talk before you actually put them on TV.


Overall the half time show was just what I expected, Sh!T. Just like every other year. You'd think the NFL could pull this thing together for once.


Good game though. I was thrilled to see the face of Payton Manning in complete disgust, near tears. I love it when the pedestal is knocked out from underneath the celebrated.


With all due respect,
The Chief

The iPad

Well, I'm not the kind to do a lot of dissin' on Apple, but I must say that the release of the iPad to the public was a major disappointment! Apple has done a lot of innovating in the last decade, shit for that matter most of it's existence! This thing, as released is a TURD!! I shall count the ways...
1. No camera! WTF!? That means no video chats or conferences, no photo taking, no video taking, NADA!
2. No app multi-tasking. With a processor this fast it's a waste of resources not to take advantage of that! I'm using X app and want to listen to say Pandora... NOPE! No can to dummy!
3. No true 1080p HD. When you want to watch a movie that's say filmed in 2.35:1, which a lot more theatrical releases are nowadays, you're only gonna take up about half the screen in portrait mode!! BUMMER!
4. No selection of other data carriers. I personally haven't had one problem with AT&T( and I even moved across the country with my first gen, nary a blip in service, except in mountains which I'd expect). I, on the other hand, just in principal don't like seeing any of the cell providers get too big or get a lock on anything!!
FUCK EM!! This is possibly the biggest faux pas on Apple's behalf! A lot of other humans HATE AT&T!!
5. No tactile feedback or more complex Gestures, as can be had on say, the newer MacBooks! Shit! Those even have 3 and 4 finger Gesture support!! LAME!
6. This is just a personal gripe of mine... FUCK E-BOOKS!!! Fuck em all to Hell!! Gearing us up for 

Fahrenheit 451 and shit!! I'd much rather have the ground up, chain sawn down, ozone depleting real thing in my hands! Ever see the e-book selections out there???!!! Hope you like reading the same shit as most everyone else!!

I realize this is merely the opening salvo from Apple, but if'n they don't get their shit together on the next version, it'll be considered a dumb move from many!!

The Price point ain't too bad considering 

it's an APPLE product... At least they got 

that ehhh??

Sorry Apple I still think you got the best products out there. just don't fuck this one up any more than you have.

That's my 6 cents.

AnGRy bRaDY

Real Review - Legion: What A F-ing Waste!

Legion
Directed by Scott Stewart
Written by Peter Schink and Scott Stewart

WorldFullofIdiots Rating:

Saturday my wife and I went to the movies. The plan was to see Daybreakers, the latest vampire movies. It looked good, but apparently its not. Its been out only a few weeks and its already down to one show, at 10pm on the smallest screen in the theater.

So we went for my next choice, another movie that during the trailer I remember saying, "oh fuck that looks goood," Legion.

The plot basics of this movie are nothing new, its about Judgement Day or Armagedeon, or whatever name (insert name of religion here) calls the end of the world at god's hand. The twist this time is that god is mad at us, and decides that he isn't going to put up with any more of our bullshit so he send a legion of angels to earth to kill us all. The crazy thing is that the angels possess our bodies and turn us into evil, flesh eating zombies.

I'm not sure but I think angel-possesion-induced-flesh eating-zombieism is mentioned in Leviticus.

Anyway the deal is that the angels are to wipe us out, buuuuut, god missed something. He didn't remember that this trailer trash little whore in the desert of New Mexico somewhere, is pregnant with what is eluded to be never called the Second Coming.

It's weird that omniscient God missed this. Seemed obvious enough to me within the first 10 minute.

Ok maybe the first 5 minutes.

So he send the Archangel Michael down to kill the mother or the baby or something. Its never really spelled out because before we know what is is supposed to do, we discover that he's not going to do it.

So far, pretty cool. Michael is some dude I've never seen before but he reminds me of whatever that guy's name is that play James Bond now and he seems to be capable of ass kicking.

The movie dissolves to a scene out in the aforementioned desert where the pregnant girl is working as a waitress in a shitty little diner owned by Dennis Quaid. The first and only scary scene in the movies occurs here and you've already seen it. The one with the demon-old lady? Yep that one and its pretty cool, but I had already seen it, for free, in the trailer. Kind of like when you used to by a CD for 14 bucks to later realize the only good song is on the radio, for free.

After this scene the movie begins to suffer from EXTREMELY poor editing. There's a bit where everyone is in a truck trying to get the victim of the old lady to a hospital. They're driving like mad across the desert straight in to a plague of flies. Next scene everyone is back at the diner, like the last 5 minutes never happened, leaving me wondering "how did they get back and who is the shit head that edited this movie?"

Editing is obvious throughout the movie, something that good editing should never be leaving you with several instances asking what just happened. Steven Kemper and the director Scott Stewart need to go back to film school and retake The Art and Craft of Film Editing. UCLA is offering it this spring through their extension campus.

The remainder of the film suffers from overwriting. Each of the characters that are in the diner at the beginning of the movie are given a sappy soliloquy about the tragic life, to the point that you hope the angel-possesion-induced-flesh eating-zombies come and eat them all and get it over with. I think the most memorable line is one delivered by Charles S Dutton playing Percy Walker the amputee fry cook. He tells us that when he was a little boy his daddy used to sit with him before he fell asleep and would ask him if he died in his sleep tonight, would he beproud of what he had done in his life so far, because if not he needs to get square. Or something like that.

At this I turned to my wife and asked, "who the fuck says that to a little kid right before he goes to bed?"

The movie's action and plot follow along a highly predictable formula; tough guy Michael, fights God's other right hand man Gabriel to the finish, saving the trampy waitress and her unborn baby, the diner owners semi-retarded son ends up with the waitress and all the angel/zombies go away and everything is fine.

I guess there is very little originality anymore, and even less in biblical fiction, but come on this was the best they could come up with?

All in all the movies gets a one ass-fist out of five, which means it sucked.

The Chief

Zombies: Way Cooler Than Vampires

"How many hours are in a day when you don't spend half of them watching television?
When is the last time any of us REALLY worked to get something that we wanted?
How long has it been since any of us really NEEDED something that we WANTED?
The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility.
An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe casing the dead to rise and feed on the living.
In a matter of months society has crumbled, no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV.
In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living."


This is the text that appears on the back of every collected volume of The Walking Dead. I challenge you to find a better written book series out there. Far better written than that Twilight crap for 12-year-olds and more suspenseful and engaging than Charlaine Harris' "True Blood" books that seem to be written BY a 12-year-old. The funny thing is, it's not even a novel. It's a monthly B&W comic book.
It is by far, the best thing out there in literature. Yes. Literature.
Now, I'm not going to go into the argument of of great comic books are and how they're under-appreciated blah blah blah. It's all been done. Instead I'm going to give a quick breakdown of the premise of this great book in the hopes that you literary snobs out there will pick up an issue and get hooked.

Officer Rick Grimes is shot on the job. He wakes up from a coma in a hospital months later to find the staff gone and zombies roaming the halls. He sets off to find his wife and son. On his journey he runs into a variety of survivors and forms a group that struggle to stay alive while fighting off the dead, the elements and lack of food. They find that the most dangerous obstacle out there is not the dead but the living.
Not everyone is going to make it and you never know when your favorite character is going to bite the dust. There are constant WTF moments in the book. I have, on occasion, put the book down in disbelief at what just happened. Whether it's a major character getting bit by a zombie, someone getting their hand cut off or some atrocity being committed by people who exist in a world where there is complete anarchy. You will also witness the slow disintegration of a character's decency and sanity while you ask yourself what you would do in the same situation.

The book really pulls you in and gets you involved with the characters, good or bad, and what their fate will be. It's not just the great writing of Robert Kirkman but also the superb, minimalistic art of Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn. Together they are master storytellers who aptly convey the desperation and fear in each character while they drive the story with great panels and a splash page here and there which blows you away with each little reveal.

Right now AMC has ordered a pilot for The Walking Dead TV series. It will swing into production in a couple months. Normally I'd be worried about something that I love so much getting the hollywood treatment but Kirkman will be producing along with Frank Darabont. Frank Darabont is the only guy to successfully adapt Stephen King onto the big screen with The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist.

Let's face it folks, the majority of great movies out there these days are pulled from the comic book genre. Maybe it's because Hollywood has finally figured out how to do it right along with the fact that they are running out of good ideas. I'm perfectly fine with that. If they can pull off The Watchmen, Iron Man and 300 there's hope. We just can't forget travesties like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Constantine, Judge Dread, Batman & Robin and Superman III and IV.
So pick up The Walking Dead. It's available in Trade Paperback format, which is how I read it. They collect 6 issues in every trade. Right now it is up to Volume 11. Each trade will run you about 15 bucks. Well worth it. They are readily available at any Barnes and Noble or Borders or better yet, your local comic book store. My only advice: Try to spread them out. I read the first 8 trades over a 4 month period. Now I have to wait 3-4 months for each issue. It's a bit torchoreous.

Turn off your TV and read a book you idiots. It doesn't matter if it has pictures in it. It still counts.


- Darth

Yet Another Piece of Shit Company

In my attempt to expand my home music producing abilities, I purchased the M-Audio w/Pro Tools production suite, a.k.a. Fast Track. I distinctly remember asking the sales person if it was compatible with OS 10.6.2. The reply was YES. 
Off I was to the homestead to configure my new tool. This was a really great deal being that it had Pro Tools bundled, albeit a scaled down version for $99. Following each instruction, I eagerly installed the drivers and configured the hardware. The last step at hand was to install the Pro Tools suite. Insert the disk I did only to wait 45 minutes while the Goddamn load bar stalled at 95%. After an hour and 15 minutes... I get a message from my OS stating that the install failed and to contact the manufacturer. FUCK!
I went to M-Audio's website where I was informed that if I even remotely wanted help, I would have to register my software. ????????? Let's see here, register something I can't even get installed in the first fucking place!! That's classic! 
All of this to ultimately have a stripped down version of ProTools anyway!! 
So, after utilizing all of my options that stood before me, I decide to call M-Audio's tech support, which I wouldn't be able to do unless I had registered the fucking thing I can't use to begin with. I dial the number which just so happens to be some area code I had no knowledge of. Yes!!! Not even a 1-800 number! It was bothersome, but I have some 8000 plus minutes banked and figured what the Hell. As long as I get this resolved I can deal with a few lost cell minutes. And  NO I don't have a land line, so don't go there. I had 45  minutes before I had to pick the wife up from work, being it that I had the day off. Thirty minutes pass, and I listen to neo-techno Muzak! Real Horror Show! I have to go!!! I hop in the car and drive the 15 miles to my woman's work, she gets in and we start heading home. All the while, still on hold! Half way back to the house, dude gets on the line and sounds ever so happy to be working for M-Audio. I tell him my plight, in turn he tells me,"well sir, our site tells you that that particular piece of hardware isn't yet compatible with OS 10.6.2. But if I'd be patient an update should be forthcoming." When? I ask. He didn't know...... S.O.L. I exclaim that that is bullshit and unless you really want to sit down and search their website for an hour to find out it is not compatible with my OS, is really poor customer support and relations.
The long and short of this review and story is, in my humble opinion, DON'T BUY SHIT FROM M-AUDIO!!! Unless you appreciate being treated like a piece of human rubbish!! Die a quick death M-Audio or work like Hell on your customer support!!!

Good Riddance Christmas!

I don't know about you but I am thrilled that the holidays are finally over.
I'm certainly no Scrooge but, really, I'm glad that sh*t is over.
Why?
The reasons are too numerous and we've covered a few of them already. Namely, peoples' lame-ass inflatable yard decorations and lights.
Here's a few others.

Christmas Cards.
OK folks. Only send these if they are a regular Christmas card that has a short, personalized inscription.
DO NOT send Christmas cards that are just a lame picture of your kids.I was over at a friend's house and noticed the abundance of tacky Christmas cards. There's your typical family portrait ones. That's OK. No big deal. But guess what? I don't want to see pictures of just your kids on the front. If they're my relatives. Barely appropriate.
My beef is when you send a pretentious POS card that has photos of your kids engaged in polo, football or swimming. WHO CARES? Face it; no one likes your kids as much as you do.
These are very typical "Look-At-Me" people.
And don't send Christmas letters. Get on Facebook and update people that way, you narcissist.

Cookie Parties.
Don't do these anymore. A group of wives will bake cookies and get together and trade them off. No one ever makes them as good as you. If there was a guy version of this and the dudes brought beer you would be the one bringing the fancy imported sh*t and everyone else would bring Miller Light and PBR.
I take it back. Men respect each other more than that.

Gifts.
Admit it. Your gifts suck every year since you've been a grown-up/parent. As much thought that your spouse or kids FEEL they have put into your gift it will NEVER come close to the AT-AT your parents (Santa) got you when you were 9.

Politically Correct "Happy Holidays" Crap
It's Christmas, people. I'm far from being a christian but I agree that the season needs to be called Christmas. I'm not offended if the checkout person says "Merry Christmas." Anyone who doesn't recognize this as Christmas just stay home. Screw Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. Those are separate, and let's face it, one is just made up.I'm sure I'll expand this list next Christmas. After all, I'm getting more negative and crotchety in my old age.

'til next time, you whipper-snappers!

-Darth