sunpech.com

Moved from SmugMug again

2025-09-22T00:05:00-05:00

I seem to have this rich history of flipping between paid and free plans/services for my websites– in particular, my photography website: sunpechphotography.com.

I used ChatGPT to help me create the image above.

To SmugMug (2012 and 2013) #

I first became a SmugMug customer in 2012. But then they raised their prices after 7 years, and I quickly asked for a refund. However, in 2013, I went back to being a customer again. I think I did so after I realized that I may have left my domain empty for an entire year.

Back to Free (2014) #

A year later, I blogged about leaving SmugMug and building my own photography site. Back then, I built it with Ruby on Rails, Heroku, Amazon Web Services, Twitter Bootstrap, and Font Awesome. This was using all free plans/services. This held for five years, from 2014 to 2019.

Back to SmugMug (2019) #

Five years later, I’m back at SmugMug again because I wanted to upload large libraries of photos, and the free Heroku+Postgres plans wasn’t cutting it for me anymore. Side note, this was a few years before Heroku announced their next chapter (August 25, 2022), where they discontinued their free product plans.

Here’s what Sunpech Photography looked like on Smugmug:

It looks pretty decent and served up thousands of my photos in an organized manner very well.

Back to Free (2025) #

Today again, I’m once again leaving SmugMug, after being their customer for six years from 2019-2025. They keep increasing their prices to the point where I didn’t think it was worth it anymore.

I rebuilt my photography website with Hugo and host it on Cloudflare Pages. The photography site is a static website of roughly 18,000 files, and recreated with a similar homepage. I am using the hugo-theme-gallery theme. I even did some vibe coding and asked ChatGPT to generate some javascript for me.

I recently started using Cloudflare Pages. Traditionally, I’ve been using Netlify for my static websites. I do wish Cloudflare had free support for webhooks into Discord for notifications. Netlify does it for free.

Final Thoughts #

I’m not hating on SmugMug or anything.

The situation was that I needed less from them over time, and they kept raising prices. It was not a good match. Plus I really felt that I could achieve something similar using free services and save myself a bit of money.

SmugMug bought Flickr in 2018 and made a limit of 1,000 photos/videos for free Flickr accounts. But my Flickr still has all the photos I uploaded, depsite being over the free limit. They never deleted anything (yet)! In recent years, I have been disappointed in a lot of things photography related, so if they do delete them, I’d be bummed, but get by. Everyone needs to do what’s right for them.

Will the free services come to an end on Github and Cloudflare? Hopefully not! But if so, I’ll be ready to pivot.

Please visit: sunpechphotography.com

Home Lab Journey

2025-09-01T09:57:47-05:00

It’s been several years since I started my home lab journey. So I wanted to share my thoughts with family, friends, and Internet strangers out there looking to start a home lab, or at the very least improve the one they have.

Disclaimer: By no means is this a full guide to everything. Maybe more of a quick overview to get you started.

The image above was generated with ChatGPT.

What is a Home Lab? #

According to Google Gemini:

A home lab is a private, personal IT environment, typically set up in a home, for learning, experimenting, and testing various technologies without affecting real-world systems. It consists of hardware (like servers, networking gear, storage) and software (like virtualization platforms) and allows users to gain hands-on experience with IT infrastructure, practice cybersecurity skills, or host personal projects and services. Home labs can range from simple setups using an old PC or Raspberry Pi to more complex configurations with dedicated servers and network equipment.

Quick Story #

I was unhappy with my Asus home router/gateways. It would require weekly reboots to reconnect with various disconnected Internet of Things (IoT) wireless devices. One thing was becoming apparent, these consumer level hardware was not cutting it for me.

A friend nudged me into getting a UniFi Dream Machine Pro SE. I did and I never looked back. My cameras, doorbell, lightbulbs, and other IoT devices no longer disconnect so routinely.

It also became a slipperly slope into more hardware, software, and what became a home lab hobby. An expensive one.

Where to Start #

There are many ways to build out your home lab. Remember, it’s a journey, not a destination. Every home-labber starts somewhere, and slowly builds it out over time depending on needs and interests.

The Basics #

Router/Gateway #

I would start with the router/gateway. This is the central part of the home network to which all roads lead. See: UniFi - All Cloud Gateways.

If you have a lot of wired devices, consider looking at UniFi Switches.

Wireless AP #

Next I would look to add wireless capabilities. Most of our devices are going to be wireless, from our smartphones, tablets, laptops, media players, TVs, etc.

I like the U7 Pro Wall with the table stand (add-on). For a complete product list, see: UniFi - All WiFi.

That all said, if you can, use ethernet cable for those devices that simply do not move anywhere. This just solves any wireless disconnect issues.

For cables, see:

UniFi #

Ubiquit makes a great IT networking product line that is UniFi. They offer hardware that includes the router/gateway and wireless access points (AP) from above. The software updates the make is excellent and does improve things.

See: UniFi Store

Other Considerations #

The size of your home can influence you decision. Maybe you can run cable through the walls, maybe you can’t. Maybe you’re going mostly wireless, and can get a Unifi Dream Router where its the router/gateway and wireless all-in-one. Personally, I would’t recommend an all-in-one solution. I think it’s better to have functionality more spread out so it’s less brittle to single points of failure. Plus it’ll be easier to upgrade.

If your cable modem is also your router, which has become common these days, you may need to disable the firewall on it. You’ll need to know its model and search for how to disable it, and put it in bridge (pass through) mode. You want to avoid a double NAT situation.

Instead, your UniFi gateway will be your firewall and perform network address translation (NAT).

I think 1Gbps ethernet is a bit dated. You should aim to have 2.5Gbps or 10Gbps options on your server and switch hardware.

The Extras #

Storage - NAS #

Do you have a lot of files/media that you want either backed up, access at home, or are too large for cloud storage? Then you should consider a network area storage (NAS)!

If you have an old PC lying around, that could be enough to build your very own NAS with its own operation system.

I recommend Unraid. I love that it allows for HDDs of different sizes to be used, which is a good fit in case you have drives of different sizes that are still usable. It is also good in case you want to upgrade the drives gradually.

Unraid is a powerful, easy-to-use operating system for self-hosted servers and network-attached storage.

Unraid is not free– I recommend Lifetime ($249). They do offer 30-day free trial. See: Unraid Pricing.

TrueNAS is another alternative to Unraid. But it requires all the HDDs to be the same size. They are free.

Instead of using an old PC, you can build your own. I use PCPartPicker to help build mine. This service allows you to search and select the components to the computer and double check that parts are compatible with one another. And will also help you estimate how much you would be spending.

Either way, you can utilize cheap storage that are hard disk drives (HDD). I would stick to NAS drives, or better yet, refurbished Enterprise HDDs.

Another option is to outright buy your own NAS, hardware that includes the software.

Some hardware NAS options:

UNAS Pro - My recommendation
Synology - They’ve been around, but have recent controversy. See: Synology requires self-branded drives for some consumer NAS systems, drops full functionality and support for third-party HDDs
UGreen NASync

Services - Virtual Machines and Containers #

I run several services on my homelab and Proxmox Virtual Environment meets my needs.

I install services as Linux containers (LxC) with the help of Proxmox VE Helper Scripts.

The primary services I use are for my own Domain Name System (DNS) with Adguard, Pi-Hole, and Unbound.

In Adguard and/or Pi-Hole, you’ll want to add some DNS Blocklists:

https://github.com/hagezi/dns-blocklists - Normal or Pro is enough for most people.
https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts
https://firebog.net/

More Considerations #

You’ll need some old or new hardware to run Proxmox on. If you are looking for newer, more modern options, I find the mini PC selection today to be quite good.

Whatever you run Proxmox on, if it’s meant to run 24/7, then it needs to have the ability to autostart after a power outage. You’ll need to look into the device’s BIOS and make sure it support some form of “Restore on AC/Power Loss” or something similar, and then to turn it on.

Conclusion #

I hope this post was helpful in getting you started with your home lab journey. If this kind of stuff interests you– just know that plenty of more research can and should be done. There’s no way my blog post can cover every single scenario or use case.

Sometimes shopping online is always the best option– I recommend checking your local Microcenter for some deals where you can just pick up in person.

Resources #

Here are some more resources, some of which I already linked above, but I placed here again for organization.

Hardware #

UniFi Store - https://store.ui.com/us/en?s=us&l=en
GoHardDrive - https://www.goharddrive.com/
ServerPartDeals - https://serverpartdeals.com/

Software #

Unraid - https://unraid.net/
- I recommend the Krusader community plugin.
TrueNAS - https://www.truenas.com/
Proxmox - https://www.proxmox.com/en/
Proxmox VE Helper Scripts - https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts
- Proxmox VE Post Install - https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts?id=post-pve-install
- Uptime Kuma - https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts?id=uptimekuma
- Adguard - https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts?id=adguard
- Pi-Hole - https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts?id=pihole
- Unbound - https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts?id=unbound
- Homepage - https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts?id=homepage
- MySpeed - https://community-scripts.github.io/ProxmoxVE/scripts?id=myspeed

Subreddits #

Some of these subreddits have their own Discords too.

YouTubers #

Techno Tim - https://www.youtube.com/@TechnoTim
WunderTech - https://www.youtube.com/@WunderTechTutorials
Lawrence Systems - https://www.youtube.com/@LAWRENCESYSTEMS
Spaceinvader One - https://www.youtube.com/c/SpaceinvaderOne

San Diego Comic Con 2025

2025-08-03T11:41:50-05:00

Another year, another San Diego Comic Con completed.

I love this Old Spice deodarant ad in the Sails Pavilion. I did not know that Superman used deodarant….

Throughout this post I will reference KPop Demon Hunters as KPDH. And for San Diego Comic Con, SDCC.

Shopping #

I did some shopping this year, probably more so than any previous year I’ve gone. It wasn’t so much for me, but for friends and family.

I really liked the KPDH stickers from Naoko Mullallyy (@naybacca). I bought three sets from her. If you’re interested in her stuff, please check out Naybacca’s Etsy store. The stuff that sold out should be up on there!

Last year I checked out the Pop Mart booth on preview night, and it wasn’t all that busy. This year, completely different story.

The Labubu craze is real. The Funko Pops I saw at the smaller vendors were replaced by Labubus.

LEGO Con Booth #

I really loved the LEGO booth this year. I love this homage to Comic Con.

I do regret that I only visited them only on Wednesday, during preview night. I wish I spent more time there taking pictures because it was just amazing.

Just a few days before, our family spent some time at Legoland, specifically the water park.

Other Booths #

I’ve noticed that the bigger booths, say from Marvel or DC, have converted more booth real estate to sell merchandise.

Cosplay #

I only took a few photos this year of cosplays I saw. I was suprised with how many KPDH cosplays I saw considering the Netflix movie was only out for a month before Comic Con.

Panels #

Below are the panels I attended. The original schedule I made through Sched.com I ended up ditching nearly half of it because I wanted to spend more time with my niece and nephew.

Thurs, July 24 #

Spotlight on Jonathan Hickman (Room 5AB) 11am
Toys, Tariffs, and Trade Wars (Omni Grand Ballroom DE, 4th floor) 12pm
Collider’s Directors on Directing (Hall H) 2:45pm
Jim Shooter Memorial
Jurassic Park: Liability for Dinosaur Attacks Never Goes Extinct

Fri, July 25 #

The Walking Dead (Hall H)
Alien Earth World Premiere (Hall H) 1:25pm

Sat, July 26 #

The Legend of Kingdom Come Documentary (Room 5AB) 10am

I loved Collider’s Directors on Directors panel. This year they had Rob Reiner and Paul Feig.

The Jim Shooter and Jurassic Park panels I just ended up wandering into because they were near the Hospitality suite. Check out the The Legal Geeks, and their post: The Legal Geeks Return to SDCC for Jurassic Park and Daredevil Born Again Panels, for recordings of their panels.

I got a full screenings of Alien Earth (first episode) and The Legend of Kingdom Come (documentary, their website).

Resources #

The best resource for learning about SDCC is the SDCC Unofficial Blog and the SDCC Unofficial Blog youtube. Their discord is no more for some unfortunate reasons (see third link below).

Some other resources:

/r/SDCC subreddit
/r/comiccon subreddit
Some Discord links can be found here: SDCC Discord resources now that the UBlog Discord has been shut down.
If you are looking to attend SDCC, you’ll need to register at the Comic Con Member Portal.

Final Thoughts #

Overall, I had a good comic con with family and friends.

I wish the Comic Con app was better. It was just horrible and more or less was their website, which is also rather terrible. Every year I create a new Sched account to create/sync a schedule for SDCC.

I think Comic Con without the Marvel and WB (Game of Thrones), is a return to a more reasonable convention where people don’t spend their entire day(s) waiting to get into Hall H. In many ways I like it this way, but also miss it because I like the big announcements/panels from the studios. If there aren’t 5,000 people in Hall H, and another thousand waiting out in line, then they are elsewhere, like the exhibit hall.

There are so many ways to enjoy Comic Con. You can do panels, big panels (Hall H or Ballrooom 20), exhibit halls, offsite/outside Comic Con events, game rooms, cosplay, special parties, etc.

There’s no wrong way to enjoy SDCC– well, unless you stab someone near his eye with a pen. I was there that year (2010) and remembered this news when it broke.

If you are a fan of something, there’s probably something for you at San Diego Comic Con.

Infinity Saga Concert at Hollywood Bowl

2024-09-09T01:41:24-05:00

Last week I attended the Marvel Studios Infinity Saga Concert Experience at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday, August 29, 2024. This was my second concert there. My first was the Disney ’80s-’90s Celebration in Concert, which was amazing. We weren’t going to attend this one– our original concert plan in July was: Maestro of the Movies: The Music of John Williams and More. But our family got hit with Covid-19, so we had to cancel.

More info: Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga Concert Experience Debuts at the Hollywood Bowl

(Image from Marvel)

Funko Pops #

We read that they would be giving out some Funko Pops to the first 2,500 guests. The doors opened at 6pm. We arrived around 6:15pm and saw the long line for the toys, our group lined up and each got a Funko Pop. I got Bucky Barnes, but after trading around with family members, I got Thanos, which I wanted. Although I’m not sure I’ll ever bring it home from LA.

(Photo from my sister)

Besides the Funko Pop giveaways, there was a merch store. I didn’t go for the t-shirt since I didn’t see value in it other than wearing it a few times. I did go for the blanket.

Infinity Saga Concert #

At the beginning of the concert, Marvel Studios president, Kevin Feige, came out to greet the crowd. He mentioned that at Marvel there was a tradtion to stay until the very end for a special treat.

He also mentioned that this was the first of this kind of concert celebration, and that next year they would be doing a world tour!

The concert experience started around 8pm, and ended around 11pm– nearly three hours long! The music covered the movies starting with Iron Man (2008) all the way until Avengers: End Game (2019). The first half focused on Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. The second half, after intermission, they brought in Guardians of the Galaxy, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man, Black Panther, and Spider-man. They skipped Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and jumped right into Infinity War and End Game.

I recorded video of the parts I thought had the best beats and entertainment value. I couldn’t and didn’t want to record the whole concert– I do value being in the moment with friends and family. However, I do wish I recorded the music after Tony Stark’s death (spoiler?!). They had an extended scenes cut/montage that was really good of Stark’s message about the journey.

At the end, the surprise Feige hinted at, came when composer, Michael Giacchino came out and asked Gustavo Dudamel and the audience for 4 more minutes. Four. He turns his back and is wearing a Fantastic Four jacket with a giant 4 on the back!

Videos #

I made a full playlist: Infinity Saga at Hollywood Bowl Playlist

Edinburgh Fight #

End Game Fight #

End Credits and Fireworks #

Fantastic Four score debut #

Final Thoughts #

I loved the concert. I want to go see it when they go on a world tour, hopefully here in Chicago. I also hope to check out more concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, probably next year.

The concert was a reminder of the shared experience of storytelling on the big screen. I had similar feelings during moments along with 17,000 other fans of watching Infinity War and End Game in 2018 and 2019.

For those fans that question Marvel creatives’ choice on Robert Downey Jr (RDJ) being the new Dr. Doom, I urge them to consider the MCU movies we enjoyed from 2008-2019. The Russo brothers (directors) best movies are with Marvel Studios with Feige (producer) and Stephen McFeely (writer).

The whole gang is back together. I for one, am excited.

San Diego Comic Con 2024

2024-08-17T10:59:10-05:00

I like going to San Diego Comic Con with family and friends every year. Ever since 2010 we’ve been going. Only in 2011, 2020, and 2021 were years we didn’t go due to scheduling or Covid.

What’s been making it easier in recent years is the size of our group makes the effort into getting tickets and hotels much easier. I think our group size is around 15.

This year, and probably even more so next year, I may pull back from taking cosplay photos with my mirrorless. I think I would rather enjoy the convention with my niece and nephew more, and carry less camera equipment.

Cosplay #

Our group decided to cosplay as character from the Dragon Ball universe. I did not cosplay, as I’m more of behind the camera guy.

The Good Stuff #

Before I get into the problems and issues I saw at Comic Con, I want to share what I liked.

Many comic con fans tend to be more introverted and not always open to chatting with randoms publicly. I like to chat and share what I am passionate about. I also like hearing what others love to share. So it’s always a bit hit or miss for me to strike up conversations. One of the places I do that is in the hospitality suite, where most people sit down to snack, drink, and rest. This year I chatted with a group of Asian friends that have been going to Comic Con since the mid 1980s! After chatting for maybe 30 minutes, I had to take off. But not before taking this selfie with them (see below).

In the picture above, I am wearing a portable neck fan. I wore one at Anime Expo and Universal Studios earlier in July, I highly recommend them! See: JISULIFE Portable Neck Fan.

Comic Con is nice place to hang out with current friends and make new ones. I know that sounds cheesy, but it makes anything stressful like long lines, hot weather, or giant crowds all the more bearable.

Problems at Comic Con #

A lot of people had issues with how the lines, vendors, snacks, and spoilers.

The line outside for Hall H, in particular for Thursday’s Deadpool/Wolverine late afternoon/evening panel, was pretty bad. For one, the people maintaining the line did not utilize the huge tents set up outside. They had fans line up on the sidewalk under the sun! The weather was generally in the low 80s F, but the sun and lack of clouds made it so much worse. No one in charge thought to use the huge tents! Plus, there was a random drawing for this Marvel panel a week before Comic Con, to see who could even line up. This is a great idea, but ended up being poorly implemented since they weren’t enforcing it very well.

Some vendors had lotteries so winner could go to the booth at a select times, also could not honor the early winners for Wednesday and Thursday. My sister had a slot for 100% Soft for Preview Night (Wed), but they could only handle those in the first 30 minute time slot. Everyone else had to come back Thursday, which they said they would honor. Turns out, they couldn’t do that either. Ended up being a big waste of time for many many people with reserved time slots. Luckily a friend was able to get an item for me on Friday, so my Sunday 11am slot I didn’t even bother going to.

The 100% Soft item I got is: Yes/No Infinity Guantlet Vinyl Toy

The hospitality suite, also known as the snack room, increased the number of tables and chairs in the room– that’s great. But they cut down on the amount of snacks available– that’s bad. This was the first year where the snack room ran out of some snacks. They did have enough drinks though. I did see that they opened many 12-packs of various sodas. I wonder why they didn’t buy in much bigger bulk packs.

Spoilers Rant #

I had problem with spoilers being posted for the Deadpool/Wolverine. This isn’t so much a Comic Con issue, as it was social media influencers not being respectful for those that haven’t seen the movie yet.

I was very disappointed in Parks and Cons posting a video from the Hall H panel revealing the guest stars in the movie. Those at this special panel, also got a screening of the entire movie! I understand that it was a newsworthy moment. But unless you were at the panel or watched the movie, you would have had some moments spoiled. If a timely post was to be made, why not add spoiler warning as consideration?

It wasn’t just them, but all over social media. Since I was at Comic Con the very week the movie came out, I didn’t have a chance to watch until the following week. I ended up unsubscribing from many accounts that feel the need to post movie/tv spoilers for clicks and views within such a short time period of release.

Final Thoughts #

I do not want to come across as too negative here.

Overall the exclusives line sitaution has improved over the years. The lottery system, when done right, is a great way to minimize the long lines wrapping around everywhere for exclusives. Fans are given points per day they have ticket(s), which they can try their luck on trying to reserve spots at booths for the opportunity to buy exclusives.

I’ve been going to SDCC for over 10 years now. Even wish such experience, there are new things to learn and relearn about how to navigate such big events.

The best resource I recommend is the SDCC Unofficial Blog. Their youtube channel and livestreams is valuable for old and new con goers. They do have a discord, but any invite link has expired. You’ll have to look or ask for one if you want to join.

San Diego Comic Con is still incredibly fun and I enourage friends and future friends to check it out!

Anime Expo 2024

2024-08-16T10:58:01-05:00

Last month was my yearly trip out to California to visit family as well as attend some conventions. I got a 4-day pass for Anime Expo, but only attended one day due to getting sick (Covid-19) on the first day there! Con crud is already a thing in the pre-covid world.

So I can only speak of my one day experience at AX this year.

I loved how the main banner on the LA convention center featured Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. As many have heard, Dragon Ball creator, Akira Toriyama passed away earlier this year on March 1, 2024.

I also attended with my family, the AMV competition. It’s nice to see the work and creativity put into each video, and each category.

Cosplay #

The cosplay at AX is never a disappointment. I think most of the cosplayers and photographers were set up outside between the convention center and the Crypto arena, either in the bushes or parking garage. A lot of props to them for doing so, since it was rather hot outside.

Final Thoughts #

I’m not sure if I’ll be taking much cosplay photos in the future. There is a part of me that’s more interested in spending time with my niece and nephew than run around for photos. It can be a lot of work, when I’d rather put energy with family enjoyment.

Photography Updates

2023-11-23T13:58:47-05:00

There are two photography related updates I wanted to share:

I’m deleting my 500px account.
Drobo is no more.

Goodbye 500px #

I’ve decided to close my 500px account. I’ve been a user of their site since 2012. My main goal back then was to sell prints of my work, along with some licenses. But in 2018, they were acquired by Visual China Group (VCG), and shut down that marketplace.

See 500px Wikipedia entry.

Many photography services I used in the last ten plus years have either gone away or changed drastically. Nuvango, Instacanvas, and Twenty20 have all come and gone. So any link going to 500px from my blog will be broken. I believe I fixed outgoing links to Nuvango and Twenty20 already.

I’m not a fan of how 500px wants me to upgrade to access my liked photos history. See screenshot below.

The 500px community that I knew, no longer exists. Even the Flickr community isn’t quite what it used to be. Remember Google Plus?

It is a bummer that the time and energy I put into promoting 500px, that it’s come to this. I also do not trust VCG with my photos.

Hello SmugMug #

The only place to purchase my photos are on sunpechphotography.com, which is hosted with SmugMug.

Back in 2014 I wrote about quitting SmugMug and building my own site from scratch. How the times have changed!

Goodbye Drobo #

From the Drobo website:

As of January 27th, 2023, Drobo support and products are no longer available. Drobo support has transitioned to a self-service model. The knowledge base, documentation repository, and legacy documentation library are still accessible for your support needs. We thank you for being a Drobo customer and entrusting us with your data.

I once championed the Drobo hardware for backup needs. See my 2014 post on Converting Your VHS and Betamax Tapes to Digital.

For me, it was the product where I backed up all my raw images and videos. The writing of their demise was on the wall ever since the global covid19 pandemic started. Although it’s been almost a year since they announced this, it took me some time before found a suitable alternative.

Hello Unraid #

If you are a techincal person that can buiild a computer and install an operating system, I recommend Unraid.

The idea is that you own your own hardware that you either buy + assemble yourself, or you use some existing older PC hardware. You then just need to buy the Unraid license to boot up the system, that you also own.

You do not need to rely on a harware vendor like Drobo to offer you hardware or software support. If they go out business, you’re basically out of luck.

If Unraid doesn’t suit you and you really prefer a hardware solution, maybe give Synology a look.

San Diego Comic Con 2023

2023-08-01T01:02:02-05:00

This year marks my tenth time attending San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) with friends and family. We had a big group going this year, I think fourteen total. Most of us stayed at the Embassy Suites. So it was mostly just us nerding out amongst ourselves.

The nice thing about a big group is that we can cover more ground of the exhibit hall, panels, as well as offsites before, during, and after Comic Con. It also makes getting badges and hotels easier when the group works together in real time.

Hollywood on Strike #

In the weeks and months before SDCC, I knew about the writers and actors strike going on and that it might impact the convention. As much as I would love to have the stars, panels, and events at comic con, I understand that there are bigger things happening. Although the actors and writers didn’t go, we ended up enjoying the con as it was.

See: SAG-AFTRA Lists Strike Rules for Members: No Premieres, Awards Shows, Social Media Promo, FYC Events and More (Variety)

There were some SAG-AFTRA protestors with signs in front of the Gaslamp Quarter across from the convention center. I only saw them on Friday, just before noon.

As of the writing of this blog post, the strike is still ongoing. I do hope that an agreement is reached for all parties involved.

Cosplay #

Like all the previous years I’ve gone, I do enjoy the cosplay at comic con.

The Tekken 8 offsite had some amazing cosplayers. I played one game and got whooped. I last played when Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag was on the Playstation 2 as well in the arcade in the early 2000s. My Paul Phoenix is not what it used to be!

I really loved seeing the gliding Monkey King (Son Goku) cosplayer on his flying nimbus. The Spaceballs pingpongs were also nice to see, I love that movie. And all the GI Joe cosplayers, Tomax and Xamot– nostalgia is one hell of a drug!

Exhibit Floor and Offsites #

I thought the exhibit floor would be more packed than usual with Hall H and Ballroom 20 not having celebrity panel draw. Nope, I was wrong. The floor was rather traversable for the most part.

The only challenge for me was my four-year old nephew that I ended up putting on my shoulder so he wouldn’t run off, or possibly be bumped or stepped on.

There was a Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary offsite that I wanted to go to, but the pre-con ticket reservation was buggy and was filled within minutes.

The Tekken 8 offsite was also pretty nice. They had game booths set up (free t-shirt if you play the game), amazing cosplayers, a punching machine, as well as a section for tattoos and face painting.

I got to see the Grimlock Transformer dinobot at the Hasbro Pulse booth.

Photo Albums #

Here are photo albums on my photography site:

Resources #

I highly recommend SDCC Unofficial Blog. You can find them on Twitter, YouTube, and now on Discord (The discord invite link could expire in the future).

Another great resource is Parks and Cons YouTube channel.

For convention cosplay, please check out David Ngo (Instagram: @dtjaaaam) and mineralblu (YouTube).

Final Thoughts #

I’ve noticed that the hospitality suite has become more popular. There are lines to get in, as well as lines for snacks/drinks. I do notice that Comic Con staff does headcounts roughly halfway through a panel. I believe this is to help estimate how popular a room is so they can improve things going forward.

The one big negative that happened to me was my Sony a7iii camera had a mechanical shutter failure– it broke. Perhaps I’ll get into detail of that in a future blog post.

Comic Con felt more like a “comics” con this year, as there wasn’t the glitz and glamour of big studios or celebrities in Hall H or Ballroom 20. There are plenty of writers, artists, and small booths to catch your eye or wallet still.

I plan to return next year, hopefully with all the same friends and family, plus more if we can grow!

Anime Expo 2023

2023-07-07T07:32:26-07:00

Last week I went to Anime Expo (AX) for the first time since 2018, a good five years. It does feel bigger and more crowded than before.

I only took a few photos on Saturday, day one of the four day event. I’m getting a bit older, slower, and I had my niece and nephew with me. So much of my convention going experience revolves around these two kids now. Seeing them experience things makes me happy. The hustle to get photos is much more difficult these days.

I also spent more time in the artist alley, exhibit hall, and entertainment hall where I played some Street Fighter with my niece.

Anime Expo does have a discord: discord.gg/AnimeExpo

The AX landing page image/wallpaper is also amazing. I tried to get this as a deskmat in the merch store, but it sold out on the first day! I do not know who the artist is.

Cosplay #

As always, the cosplay was amazing. Although it seems a lot of the cosplay has spilled outside near the parking lot and bushes, where cosplayers and photographers can escape the super big crowds in the lobby, and focus more on poses and great shots.

Full set of photos can be found here.

Final Thoughts #

My sister summed it up pretty well: the anime fan community just gets bigger as many of the original con-goers get older, have families/kids, and still go.

Every time I go, it becomes more apparent that I do not know my anime/mange anymore, as there’s so much more than twenty-some years ago. And that’s a good thing.

There was a time when I was a younger anime/manga fan, where my options to watch anime were:

Get PAL VHS tapes from Thailand to watch on a compatible player in the US.
Get VHS tapes from conventions, local colleges, or online where we mailed tapes to each other/strangers for copies.

Anime has become mainstream and readily available to fans via streaming/Internet.

Anime Central 2023

2023-05-22T02:39:52-05:00

This past weekend on Saturday I went to Anime Central (ACen) up in Rosemont at the Donald E. Stephens (DES) Convention Center. The last time I went was in 2017.

I recently purchased a Sony 35mm f1.4 GM lens for my Sony A7iii mirrorless. I used this pair exclusively at ACen for all my shots. I’m getting a bit old now, and no longer want to carry too much gear on me. So I decided to trim my bag down a bit and go with just two prime lenses, a 35mm and 85mm. With just these two, I should be able to take most photos of either individuals portrait style, or group shots.

Dancing #

I notice that the dance group that usually forms in the main lobby is getting bigger and bigger. I wonder how they organize it since it seems as though strangers can get up to join and do the exact same dance routine as the performers at any time. Do they plan this? Is the song or beat agreed to before hand?

Cosplay #

The cosplay scene is so much better than six years ago. Everyone was having fun celebrating not just anime, but whatever fandom they wish to bring and share with others.

Some Sailor scouts. I’m surprised that Sailor Moon is still so well known today.

Among Us, a very popular game people played online together during the 2020-2022 pandemic years.

Full album can be found here.

Pokemon Go Collaboration #

I really liked how ACen worked with Niantic to have a special Pokemon Go game event during the weekend. From my count, they had eight special pokestops created for the event that physically coresponded to actual booths or areas of interest of the convention. It was really well done.

See: Pokémon GO Collaboration with Anime Central

Still seeking the secrets of the Unown in Pokémon GO?

We’ve heard rumors that the elusive Symbol Pokémon has been seen around Anime Central, so be on the lookout this weekend! You might just encounter Unown A. 😮https://t.co/sHjIJSb3Nb pic.twitter.com/uV2YS7zhBz
— Anime Central (@animecentral) May 20, 2023

Anime Expo is on July 1-4, 2023, and they are also collaborating with Niantic for a Pokemon Go event.

See: Anime Expo + Pokemon Go tweet

Final Thoughts #

I’m glad that we are moving beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. Being isolated from friends/family these past few years was rough. It is great seeing familiar faces once again.

Things seemed much more back to normal now. I imagine that other upcoming summer conventions will be quite fun!

San Diego Comic Con 2022

2022-07-31T09:00:00-05:00

It’s been three years since my last San Diego Comic Con in 2019. Although technically, in 2019, I did have a ticket, but I only went to pick up my program book, lanyard, and bag. I never actually went into the exhibit hall. There was some family situations, both good and bad, that prevented me from attending beyond that. We even had a room over at Hard Rock Hotel where many celebrities were at!

Then in 2020, Covid-19 hit with lockdowns and the pandemic. Two years of postponed events!

So my last post covering San Diego Comic Con dates back to 2018!

Until this year when things started to open up again. There was a mask requirement for all attendees and staff anywhere inside.

All face coverings must fit properly and snugly, must secure under your chin, and fully cover your nose and mouth. - Source: Mask Guidlines

Panels #

I did make it into Hall H for several panels and to give my feet a rest.

Walking Dead panel
Keanu Reeves’ BRZRKR: The Immortal Saga Continues
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

The Walking Dead fans as well as panelists were all very grateful and rather tearful for some of their last TWD panel as the final season is happening.

As I was told, the BRZRKR panel was the first comic to grace Hall H at San Diego Comic Con! Keanu Reeves was there and as lovely as ever.

They showed the first 20 minutes of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, which looks pretty amazing.

I’ve been a fan of Dragon Ball since the 1980s and 1990s. After nearly 40 years, there are still fans that keep it all going in terms of the anime, manga, shows, and video games.

Cosplay #

One of my favorite things about photographing cosplayers is seeing the costume, but also the human behind it. With masking guidelines, cosplayers and all those who attended were masked up.

Exhibit Hall and Off Site #

One thing that is not emphasized enough is that many off site events do not require San Diego Comic Con badges. So if you want to exprience or see stuff, you can just go to downtown San Diego and line up. Or in some cases, you can make a reservation online.

Funko Pop had a big presence this year in the exhibit hall. Just about every small vendor carried some Funko Pops to sell.

Streaming services like Netflix, Disney Plus, and Amazon Prime had booths and/or off sites available.

I’m really looking forward to The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. I heard it cost them $58 million per episode, the most expensive show ever!

Warner Brothers did not have their big booth signings this year which was understandable, as it protected their celebrity talent so they could continue to go into work and not shut down production. Suprisingly, DC did not have their big booth area either. What I did see, was a small HBO Max booth set up.

Dragon Ball Super was not only in the exhibit hall, but also the off site at Mariott Marquis San Diego Marina hotel.

Marvel had a big presence this year. I loved the life size giant Thanos statue over in the gaming area. But of note, was Daymond John (from Shark Tank) at the Marvel booth opening the Marvel Infinity Gem collection.

Article link: Marvel Infinity Stones Collectible Valued at Over $25 Million Revealed by Shark Tank Star

Shout out to my guys East Continental Gems for including me in the reveal of the official @Marvel Infinity Gem Collection!! They scoured the WORLD to find these rare gems & curate this collection🙌🏾 Check out the genesis series and get on the waitlist at https://t.co/M6Cxq2bNuL 💎 pic.twitter.com/x8jnTD5CJ2
— Daymond John (@TheSharkDaymond) July 25, 2022

There was an amazing Grogu (Baby Yoda) animatronic that was quite real-life. The Nintendo booth also had a giant Bowser to do like a 15 second video record for guests.

Photo Albums #

If you like the photos you see here, please check out my photography website: sunpechphotography.com.

Here are direct links to photo albums from this convention:

Resources #

I really like the Films That Rock youtube channel. They have recordings of some panels at Hall H.

The SDCC Unofficial Blog has a lot of great content before, during, and after Comic Con. They really are about that convention lifestyle!

If you like the cosplay scene, please give my friend David Ngo, aka @dtjaaaam a follow!

Final Thoughts #

The Good #

It was really great to be back in San Diego for the festivities at Comic Con. Considering there was a two year break, the con went off pretty well. I don’t believe the crowd or off sites were back in full force. The crowd were definitely not as big. The exhbit floor was very walkable as there were no one packed area.

I love the weather in San Diego. The city is also small enough to get around pretty easy.

The lines for the vaccination wristbands, a requirement, was pretty fast so long as you don’t go to the main site in front of the convention center.

The Bad #

This year I was a bit tired from going to Disneyland with family and swimming in the pool with my niece and nephew. By the time SDCC came, I was already tired! So I ended up not taking as many photos or walking around everywhere.

I do wish either the crowd was even smaller, which isn’t going to happen, or the convention center was bigger to handle everyone. I hear that the Las Vegas Convention Center is huge and can handle bigger crowds. But then it wouldn’t be SDCC anymore.

Also, there is a homeless issue in the downtown area of San Diego. It doesn’t always feel safe to walk around at night, or even during the day!

Overall, I do plan to attend with family and friends every year if we can get tickets. It’s a fun time to have by all, despite the hassle and safety concerns.

Discord: The Internet's Chat Room

2021-09-02T00:08:07-05:00

Discord is a voice, video and text communication service used by over a hundred million people to hang out and talk with their friends and communities. (Source)

I’ve been using Discord since about 2016, the very same year that Pokemon Go came out. Although I am a fan of both mobile apps, Discord has a special place on my smartphone and desktop, as I use it quite often.

Not only do I use it for community gaming for Pokemon Go, but I also use it to join financial, technology, and other various fan communities out there.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s explore why I think Discord is a great real time text app and soon to be, if not already, the Internet’s Chat Room.

Disclaimer: This is not a full fledged intro into Discord. That in itself can be a very lengthy piece of documentation.

Quick History of Chat Rooms #

Let’s take a quick look of the Internet’s various chat rooms. IRC is one of the first chat rooms of the Internet. Slack is like IRC. And Discord is like Slack. But in many ways, Discord is a better version of all its predecessors.

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. It’s been around forever. I’ve installed, joined, uninstalled, and reinstalled so many times over the years since I was in college. I try hard to like it, but it just never sticks for more than a few weeks.

The problem is that IRC a bit complicated and very text-based. You would join a server, and the server would have different channels, or rooms that you could chat in with others. One of the most popular IRC clients is mIRC.

AOL chat room should be mentioned because for many of us, this was how we first got onto the Internet. I was maybe a teenager when AOL hit off as an Internet Service Provider (ISP). I knew of these chat rooms, but didn’t really participate or hang out in them much. Like IRC, very heavy with text based chat with no media.

Slack improved upon IRC– notably in the graphical user interface (GUI). There are avatars for each user, coversation threads, and various other work integrations. It was made for work and business. It was also coined as the replacement for work email.

The problem is that the free version has limitations (10k searchable messages, 10 apps and integrations, 1-to-1 video calls– the basic features). For more, you’ll need to jump onto a paid plan. Nothing wrong with paying for a product you like– but it’ll cost $6.67 per person for Pro, and $12.50 per person for Business+. All of a sudden it gets very expensive. Plus my annoyance is that they don’t have a single sign-on for all Slack servers you are a part of– you’ll need to sign into each server and them to each of your client app install.

Other various chat and text messaging apps like SMS, WhatsApp, Line, etc have their strengths and weaknesses. SMS is just insecure and no one should be using it for their communications. Chat apps like WhatsApp and Line are very good in that they have end-to-end encryption– they’re secure. Where these secure apps falls short is that you’ll have access to your chat history with friends or family so long as you have your phone or back up your encrypted data. Otherwise, installing a new instance you will lose your encrypted chat history.

Perhaps the biggest weakness of these secure apps is that they often have friends creating subgroups, iterating through almost every combination. Say friends Aaron (A), Bob (B), Charlie (C), Dick (D), and Edward (E) are in one chat group. Say A through C are intersted in comics, so they start a comics group excluding D and E. Then C through E like sports, but A and B do not, so they are excluded. The number of sub groups created keeps going and going. Discord has a magnificent way to address this….

Discord’s Strengths #

Discord improves upon Slack in just about every way. It’s free, thare are no search limits, and no pay per user pricing plan. The pricing structure is up to the members to opt in for with what’s called Discord Nitro. For non paying members/users, the limitations are around file size upload for images and video and basic emojis. All things that most users can live with for basic use.

When you log into your Discord account, boom! All your Discord servers appear on the left, no need to add them to each Discord install instance (mobile, tablet, desktop, etc)! It’s a nice single sign on.

Discord also addresses the problems created by chat apps like WhatsApp, Line, or even SMS/MMS. There are two main issues:

Everyone in one chat for everything.
Multiple subgroups excluding members, iterating through many/all combinations.

One chat room to rule them all doesn’t make any sense. It’s too noisy, and friends talking about one interest, will subject all others to get noficiations on it.

The natural solution then is to create a subgroup to only include friends you think would be interested, and exclude those that don’t. This ends up creating multiple stacks of groups with all combinations of your friends and family. Fixes one problem, creates another.

The Discord server solution: Create a server, invite all friends and family interested, and break up topics/groups into channels. The Discord admin/creator can create roles (groupings), and assign members to them. Certain channels can be set to private where only certain roles or members can access them. Or the admin can just leave it up to each member to turn on/off notifications to each channel or category as needed. By default, you can make it an inclusive place where chat happen in the right channel, without having to exclude friends or family members.

Discord’s Weaknesses #

Discord is not fully encrypted and what is shared is stored in the cloud. Your every text, image, and video upload is stored in Discord’s web services. It would be legible to third parties if they need to view it. Your end-to-end-encryption chat apps (WhatsApp, Line, etc) are not stored in a readable way in the cloud. They can only be read by the sender and receiver. So I wouldn’t post very private information in any Discord chat.

The Internet can be a noisy place, so can Discord communities. Each user will need to set his/her own settings to their own needs. This may mean muting an entire server. Some Discord servers can be just a few friends, other can have users in the tens of thousands.

Conclusion #

I love using Discord– it really is the Internet’s real time chat room. It’s origins may have been where gamers chatted, but it has evolved to be where any community or group of friends can chat together.

If you haven’t already, check out the Discord app. You may be surprised that some of your friends are already on it in some gaming or some other interest-based community. There are some quirks and Discord culture you’ll need to learn along the way. Every community and server is different in it’s own way.

M1 Finance: One Year Later

2020-11-28T17:00:34-05:00

It’s been more than a year since I last posted about M1 Finance. Just wanted to give an update on my investing journey on what I’ve learned and adapted along the way.

Investing Strategy Changes #

The 2020 year has been a pandemic year where we had a bit of a recession in March/April. Dividends of companies got suspended as well as lost value in favor of many growth and stay-at-home stocks.

In response, I droppped my dividend focused portfolio in favor of just keeping an ETFs only portfolio. I didn’t want to have 50+ stocks in an account where I was just incrementally purchased fractional shares every week. I want my numbers to go up, but I’d rather keep it more simple with fewer holdings that I have more conviction in.

I changed my Core 4 ETFs in favor of some more growth. My changes:

Sold out of International (VXUS), Bonds (BND), and REITS(VNQ) ETFs completely
Added Ark Invest’s ARKK and ARKF
Increased VTI from 48% to 65%

ETF	Symbol	Percentage
Vanguard Total Stock Market	VTI	65%
Ark Innovation ETF	ARKK	20%
Ark Fintech Innovation ETF	ARKF	15%

My performance of value over time has been very satifactory. I pretty much kept to a weekly deposit schedule (Wednesdays), with occasional boost in an amount when the market dipped significantly.

Ark Invest #

I love the work of Ark Invest. Besides an a simple and cheap S&P500 index fund ETF, I recommend the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK). It’s their premiere ETF they offer that contains the best of the best innovative companies.

Ark Invest’s CEO/CIO, Cathie Wood and her analysts do an amazing job finding innovating companies for their portfolios.

They have an expense ratio of 0.75% on all their ETFs. Not expensive, but also not cheap either! But I think it’s worth it for them to do the work/research that I cannot do. The results speaks for itself.

Besides ARKK, I like ARKF and ARKG. I’m very bullish on Fintech and Genomic technology.

M1 Finance as a Brokerage #

M1 succeeds at making some difficult things easy, but struggles with the easy things. Fractional shares, auto-invest, dollar cost averaging, and portfolio allocation (pies) are all amazing and well done. But their customer support is a weak point as a brokerage. This seems to be a problem at a lot of the smaller start-up brokerages like Robinhood. They are great at getting young people to be clients on a great easy to use mobile platform, but they don’t have customer service! You will not find customer service a problem at more traditional brokerages like Fidelity or Charles Schwab.

When I was trying to close one of my accounts with M1, I contacted support via email and wasn’t able to get the request completed for over a month. I know they use Zen Desk for their customer support. I had to follow up several times before someone took action!

Final Thoughts #

I will continue to use M1 Finance as a brokerage. As I am bullish on my investments, I also believe M1 Finance will continue to grow in the coming years.

Links #

M1 Finance referral - Sign up for M1 Finance with this link (via desktop browser).
ETFs pie - My main M1 Finance portfolio based on ETFs.

C2E2 2020

2020-03-05T09:00:00-05:00

Last weekend was C2E2 in Chicago. I went all three days this year and spent most of the time in the main stage room for panels. I was barely on the show floor taking cosplayer’s photos, but I think I still got a decent amount.

The show floor seems to have expanded the autograph/photo-op area, as well as more space for cosplay and eating/chillaxing. I think it’s making great decision in creating a better experience for con goers than just a place to buy stuff.

Something that’s going on right now is the Coronavirus Diseseas (COVID-19). The McCormick Place convention center had hand sanitizer everywhere, as they normally do. One thing I just don’t get about bathrooms in general is that after you wash your hands, often the doors open inwards, so you would have to open the door with your hands! I wish there was a better way.

Photo Albums #

If you want to skip reading this blog post and just check out the photos I took, here are the links:

Photography #

For my photography, I didn’t use my flash at all this year. I kept it simple with my Sony 55mm prime and Canon 70-200mm telephoto. I used the Sigma MC-11 adapter on my Canon telephoto, which for the most part was pretty good. I did notice that it struggled for autofocus when in portrait mode (vertical) at full length (150-200mm). So to counter this I would just shoot landscape (horizontal), which autofocus was fine– still not as fast as on a Canon body, but still very good.

I took a record 3,680 photos this year across all three days. I actually filled my 64GB SD card and had to wipe my backup card and swipe it into the main slot so I could continue taking photos during the cosplay competition.

Cosplay #

The cosplay again was amazing this year. Generally on Saturday, many of the cosplayers that are competing in the Crown Championship will also walk the floor for a bit, before eventually taking to the stage for competition later on at night. I’m amazed that some of them can be in cosplay all day like that!

I didn’t attend any group cosplay meeting this year, as I didn’t want to take group shots. It’s just diffcult to do on a prime lens.

Crown Championship of Cosplay #

This year they skipped the ticketing/wristband process and just had everyone line up, first-come-first-serve. So in general, you would have to start lining up about one hour early to get in. If you are in a panel before the cosplay contest, the main stage, they do clear out the room. But once you’re in, they let you roam to take photos on the side, or even the front– which I love about C2E2. Same pretty much goes for the panels.

One thing I’ve noticed is that C2E2 didn’t have contestants on their website, so it took some time to find and credit cosplayers I photographed. So I put together a Google spreadsheet here:

C2E2 Crown Championship of Cosplay contestants spreadsheet

It has the category, contestant name, cosplay character, source, region, and results.

Panels #

I love going to the panels at C2E2. I think it may be the main reason I attend now, possibly over cosplay. I like how they give you access to photograph the guests on stage and spend time. The general formula is about 15-20 minutes of moderator warm up questions, then the rest of the time is for fans question and answer session.

George Takei is such an amazing person to listen to on stage. He has so many stories and experiences to share from in career and personal life. He covered everything from Star Trek, his fellow actors, being a closeted actor in Hollywood, finally coming out to help others, to being on the Howard Stern podcast. One of my favorite stories is how his name was often misread on set– George “Take 1” Takei.

Adama Savage is a favorite at comic conventions for a reason. He loves to attend not only as a guest speaker, but also loves to cosplay on the show floor! Like Takei, he doesn’t need a moderator, he can just hop on stage and talk directly to the audience and do Q&As. Like all panels he’s a part of, there’s never enough time to get to all fan questions.

I’m a fan of Netflix’s Umbrella Academy. I’m also a fan of Robert Sheehan. He’s great on the show, but also check out Misfits, which is also a superhero show that has Iwan Rheon and Nathalie Emmanuel from Game of Thrones! Emmy Raver-Lampman is amazing too, he smile just lights up the room!

The Mark Ruffalo was early on Sunday morning, 10am. Yet fans lined up early to get into the room that filled to capacity almost right away.

I wasn’t a regular viewer of the CW’s Arrow show, but I do enjoy seeing Stephen Amell at conventions. Amell and Emily Bett Rickards have such chemistry on stage, you can really tell they are close friends. The panel was really fun and everyone was having a good time. I recall one young fan having comments to say about Amell’s choice in socks.

I’m a fan of Amazon’s The Boys TV show. I haven’t read the comics, yet. On stage was Karl Urban, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, and Laz Alonso. These guys have so many stories and pranks to share from on set. This was on of my favorite panels I attended at C2E2. And I have to say that Atony Starr the actor is so different from the Homelander character we see on the show!

Final Thoughts #

If you are a Chicagoan or live in the midwest, C2E2 is a fantastic comic convention to attend. The cosplay, show floor, panels, guests are far above the average convention– and year after year, they keep improving. It’s not a huge convention like New York or San Diego Comic Con, but that’s a good thing. It’s more comforable to attend without the stress of crowds or crazy lines.

One last tip. If you are an out of towner, stay at the Marriott Marquis instead of the Hyatt Regency. The former is more quiet place to stay, the latter an absolute zoo outside of the convention hours. Up to you in what kind of experience you want to have.

M1 Finance

2019-10-17T17:00:34-05:00

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time reading books and watching youTube videos on investing. For years I’ve heard a lot about the Robinhood and Acorns apps, but there was nothing about them that made me want to try them out, or move away from my traditional brokerages. It’s great that they have mobile apps and free trades for young investors and beginners, but I’d rather manage my investments carefully on a desktop browser.

Soon enough I came across videos and blog posts recommending M1 Finance. What stood out was that it allowed for custom pies, free trades, partial shares, and autoinvesting. These are features

This blog post is about M1 Finance Invest. There are other services from M1 such as Borrow and Spend. But I have no plans or interest to use them.

I really like looking at my portfolio as a pie. I think it’s important to have a portfolio that is diversified across sectors to spread risk as well as reap rewards. Too many brokerages default to a table view and leaves you hanging on how to balance your portfolio.

Another really nice touch is having the company’s icon with each stock/ETF. Design-wise, it’s easier to identify companies by their logo than reading text.

When building and researching your portfolio, you can add stocks/ETFs directly into it. Or you can create a custom pie to add them into, then add pies to your portfolio. I think most people, including myself, organize these custom pies by sectors.

There is simplicity with the “Expert Pies” section, where you can pick from allocated pies based on what your goals and strategies are. They’re nice, but I like things to be even more simple when constructing a portfolio, so I prefer to look at Boglehead’s Lazy Portfolios.

Here’s my breakdown of the Pros/Cons of using M1 Finance:

Pros #

You can buy partial/fractional shares.
You can create individual, joint, and retirement accounts.
Autoinvest feature (Great for DRIP– dividend reinvestment plan)
Schedule deposits into account(s).
Every penny can be put to work.
Create custom pies.
Pies that auto balance as you keep funding it.
Create your own custom ETF!

Cons #

Not for day traders
Not for buying individual stocks/ETFs
No Mutual funds.
Only one trading window per day, in the morning before lunch.
You buy market price of selected stock/ETFs.

Say you want to own a piece of Amazon. Their stock is currently trading in the $1700-1800 range. For most people, that’s a lot of money for a single share. With partial shares you can own Amazon stock, but just a fraction of it.

A lot of people think they can time the market, they they can buy at low and sell at high. Time in the market is better than trying to time the market. It’s a better overall strategy to regularly fund your portfolio now, than to wait hoping that you will hop in at the right time with the right investments. No one really knows the future.

New vs Old Brokerages #

M1 Finance, Robinhood, Acorns, and WeBull represent the new brokerages, aimed at millennials and young people. They seem to be mobile first with beautiful and simple design on all screen sizes. I really like the disruption they bring, as a lot of brokerages have dropped their commission fees. To be fair though, it is only a matter of time before they all drop their fees to $0 since for years the price has been dropping.

If you prefer to buy individual stocks in full, then Robinhood is probably more for you.

I just don’t like Acorns investing strategy. It seems too basic for people who want to get started in investing, but only want to do so with their spare change by rounding up purchases. To me that’s not a strategy. Maybe some months it’s a lot of coins, other months maybe very little to none. And on top of that they have a $1 per month fee for accounts under $1 million, which would be most users. So say your rounds ups amounts to $10 per month. The Acorn fee would be 10%. That’s terrible!

I haven’t really looked into WeBull yet, nor have I seen many others jump to use them yet.

I am often frustrated with the “old” or more traditional brokerages like Vanguard and Fidelity. Navigating and using their website on the desktop browser is just awful. I have to click too many links too many times just to see the data I want. Their mobile apps are also poorly designed. Maybe the one clear advantage they have is they may have a physical location you can visit in person near you. And probably better customer support.

My Portfolios #

Here are two portfolios I have set up with M1 Finance:

Core 4 ETFs #

This portfolio is based off of Rick Ferri’s core four fund “cornerstone” portfolio (80/20). The Aggressive Growth portfolio has an allocation of 80% in equity and 20% in fixed income.

ETF	Symbol	Percentage
Vanguard Total Stock Market	VTI	48%
Vanguard Total International Stock	VXUS	24%
Vanguard Total Bond Market	BND	20%
Vanguard REIT	VNQ	8%

See Classic Core-4 Portfolio Allocations.

The strategy isn’t to find the needle in the haystack, just buy the haystack. As the total market grows, so does this portfolio. This is a long term strategy, so just buy and hold until I retire. I have no plans to change allocation until I’m in my 50s or 60s.

Passive Income #

This portfolio is based off of Joseph Carlson’s passive income pie, which is a dividend focused strategy in building wealth. It resembles a snowball effect where the monthly or quarterly dividends gets reinvested into the portfolio so you own more and more shares that pays dividends. The snowball gets bigger and bigger. Later on in life, after the portfolio grows to a large snowball, you may opt to have the dividends to pay your monthly bills or send you checks rather than be reinvested.

It’s important to pick good dividend paying companies too. This kind of portfolio is mostly blue chip stocks that have a history of paying out dividends as well as increasing it. I avoid any high yield dividends that seem seem unsustainable. Many of these companies have gone through multiple recessions too, so there’s some comfort knowing that they are well managed.

This is also a portfolio that I will make small tweaks to over time. For example, I may increase or decrease the Consumer Defense sector by a few percentage points to make room for changes in another sector. No rebalance needed, as future deposits will fund sectors where need be.

Disclaimer, these portfolios are what I think fits my needs. Your goals and situation(s) will be different from mine, so be sure to do your own research when you invest your money!

Final Thoughts #

M1 Finance is a great brokerage for those looking to do long term investing. You just need to design the portfolio pie allocations you want, then set a schedule or fund the portfolio when you can from your bank account. And that’s it. Set it and don’t fret about rebalancing unless you sell shares, which shouldn’t happen often at all.

For long term investors, the buy and hold for years type, the market price you pay is just fine. It’s not about trying to buy at the low for the day, month, or year. The strategy is to keep funding the account and getting those averages in basically. Twenty or thirty years from now, it won’t really matter if you bought at the absolute lowest. What’s important is that your money i

If traditional brokerages start offering partial shares and better UI in desktop/moble, then M1 would maybe be in trouble. But I don’t see that happening any time soon. I can see M1 improving their checkings account and eventually offering a credit card. Maybe even do what Acorns has with an option to round up charges to nearest full dollar so you can have another small stream of cash for investing!

For now, I’m really happy using M1 Finance. But I also wouldn’t be surpised if they get bought out in the coming year.

Resources #

Here are some resources for your reading and research.

Books on Investing #

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
The Little Book on Common Sense Investing: The Only way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns by John C. Bogle
Becoming an Investor: Building Wealth by Investing in Stocks, Bonds, and Mutual Funds by Peter I. Hupalo

Essential Websites #

The Motley Fool - Daily financial analysis reading.
Seeking Alpha - Financial analysis, news, custom portfolio watchlists, and stock symbol look ups.
Stocktwits - Custom watchlists and read the market chatter– often a lot of noise.
Yahoo Finance - Import your portfolio(s) and get real time updates.

More Websites #

Ark Invest - Let’s talk about the future.
Bogleheads.org - Investing Advice Inspired by Jack Bogle. Also see Lazy Portfolios.
ETF Research Center - Compare 2 ETFs to see what overlaps.
HyperCharts.co - Galileo Russell’s (Hyperchange) project/service focused on disruptive companies.

Referral and Promotion #

If you liked my blog post and want to open and M1 Finance account, please use the referral code below as there is an ongoing promotion. The current promotion is give $10, get $10. When you sign up and fund your account, we both get $10!

Referral: https://m1.finance/WVxtGBcwdF5g

Be sure to sign up on the website through the link above.

Migrated Website to Hugo

2019-09-08T03:03:14-05:00

Over the past week I migrated my blog from using static site generator, Jekyll to use Hugo. I also switched hosts from Github Pages to Netlify.

The main reasons for the changes are:

Jekyll/Ruby is just too slow as a static site generator in development/production.
Hugo/Go is fast.
Wanted to try out Netlify.

When I wrote new posts with Jekyll, it was painfully slow to build the site after any small set of changes. With Hugo, it’s really fast. I can pretty much hit command+S, to save all the time and have the page refresh right away.

Overall the project migration went pretty smoothly thanks to some migration tools. I specifically used ConvertToHugo.

Some of the challenges I came across were:

Updating some front matter for pages and posts.
Find/replace certain strings to improve site as well as front matter.
Migrating some Ruby syntax to Go (Hugo).
Figuring out Hugo scopes.
Learning how to create/use a theme.
Getting atom feed to work.

I tried out Netlify for the first time and love it. Their tools and interface was very intuitive for building and deploying was pretty straightforward. I also love how easy it was to set up HTTPS (Let’s Encrypt) wit them. And like Github Pages, it’s all free since I currently have no need for the paid features. I look forward to migrating a few other small projects over.

Star Wars Celebration

2019-04-17T09:00:00-05:00

This past weekend I went to Star Wars Celebration in Chicago. This was my first Celebration event I attended so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Overall, I’d say it was fun and very doable event for its size. What I mean by this is that larger cons like San Diego Comic Con is super fun, but it’s also super large where it’s not possible to do all the things you want. Celebration was isolated to an area about the size of a city block in two main buildings (McCormick Place and WinTrust Arena).

The one thing I loved was the amount of support fans gave each other and the guests often targeted by online trolls. I remember reading that Star Wars trolls and bullies exist just on the Internet, they don’t show up to cons because they wouldn’t dare talk like they do in public.

Mobile App Issues #

There was a big push to have everyone use the mobile app. But for the first two days, Thursday and Friday, there were many issues with it. People couldn’t get scanned, reserve spots for the stores, and other miscellaneous issues. What ended up happening was a huge 8-hour long wait on Thursday to get into the show store. The five scanning stations for prizes were down and couldn’t scan people to win prizes, which was a huge disappointment.

Reed Pop is the event organizer and usually does a pretty good job. I get the feeling they were trying some new things out and are going through some growing pains. Just a few weeks ago they put together C2E2 on the other side of McCormick Place and I thought it went rather well.

Exhibit Hall and Panels #

The exhibit hall was smaller than I expected. I was able to walk the entire floor in under two hours with moderate browsing of toys and displays. That said, there was an amazing variety of Star Wars vendors and booths set up. There were booths for fan groups, big vendors (Hasbro, LEGO, and Funko), books, local businesses, etc. I especially liked finding old Star Wars toys from the early 1980s that I once owned and played with.

I won the lottery for two panels at the Wintrust Arena:

The Mandalorian Panel (Sunday)
The Phantom Menace 20th Anniversary (Monday)

The line management really needs some work. I was able to walk into one of the Wintrust Arena panels without my QR code ever being scanned. I hope my info isn’t stored somewhere because my QR code wasn’t scanned and registered as entering. I wouldn’t want to penalized because someone working the lines wasn’t doing their job or their scanning app crashed.

Cosplay #

There was a large number of cosplayers, especially in groups, all over the place. I must confess it was a bit overwhelming to take photos of Star Wars cosplay again and again. I have nothing against cosplayers or anything, but some times as a photographer I don’t want to have fifty shots of stormtroopers. What I think most photographers want is variety to their set of photos.

Photo Albums #

Here are links to my Flickr photo albums:

Final Thoughts #

I bought a 5-day pass, but I honestly feel that only 1-2 days was all I really needed for Celebration. I’d say Friday and Saturday were the most fun and worthwhile days for panels and cosplayers in general. Otherwise, the livesteams are often good enough and there’s always someone who leaks video of panels that don’t allow video recordings.

The lottery system for panels and exclusive merchandise is a really great thing, but needs to be improved. A lot of hardcore Star Wars fans don’t mind waiting or straight up sleeping in line for their favorite panels or toy exclusives. The city of Chicago probably doesn’t allow that outside the convention center. There were problems and confusion with how the lottery system worked as well as people winning lotteries for days they didn’t even have a ticket. All this needs to be fixed and improved considering fans paid $100-200+ for their tickets.

I was reminded how much I dislike taking photos on the actual exhibit floor. The problem with roaming around the exhibit hall crowds is that there are too many photographers crowding the get shots of cosplayers. It’s just a mess for cosplayers knowing where to look while other casual photogs steal their attention away. It’s really not my preference to capture photos there.

Would I go again? Sure, if it was convenient for me to get there. And I probably wouldn’t buy tickets for all the days unless I knew I was going to enjoy each and every day. I love Star Wars, but probably not to the level to spend five days straight there.

C2E2 2019

2019-03-28T09:00:00-05:00

Last weekend I attended C2E2 at Chicago’s McCormick Place once again. It’a convention I recommend to all my Chicago friends to attend as it’s very convenient to attend and is quite affordable since they wouldn’t have to travel far.

If you weren’t able to attend, check out SyFy Wire’s youTube channel. They have videos of most if not all the panels that happened at C2E2 as well as many other conventions across the US.

One of the things I’ve noticed is how SyFy Wire’s presence keeps getting bigger and better. They have a mini-stage that is getting more foot traffic and the seats are filling more. This is a stage that is on the main floor and as far as I can tell, no one is keeping track of who sits or stands. So in a nutshell it’s very easy to attend. The panels are pretty amazing with wonderful guests.

Cosplay #

This year I spent a bit more time taking photos of cosplayers than at panels. Like every year, the cosplay community gets bigger and better every year. I think it has a lot to do with the Crown Championships of Cosplay taking place in Chicago every year.

Crown Championships of Cosplay #

The cosplay and craftsmanship of the contestants blows me away every single year. As a photographer, I love to attend this since I stand to the right of the stage and take photos the whole time. I haven’t really had any issue with anyone chasing me away.

This year, I rented out the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS Lens from BorrowLenses. It’s a really expensive lens. I wanted to try it’s zoom for the main stage competition and panels. Overall it was really great, but I don’t recommend hand holding it for shots for long events. I did bring along a monopod to help me steady the shots and relieve my arms from holding it. I would probably never buy it as I only use a lens like once or twice a year, so it’s not worth it for me to own. If you would like to rent photo gear, check out BorrowLenses.com.

Panels #

I wanted to hit up more panels, but the lines got full real fast– like 1 hour before the panel even started. So I ended up skipping quite a few of them I planned to attend. One of the really nice things is the C2E2 app gives notifications of when the line for panels are full so you have an idea of whether or not to head that way or not.

Photo Albums #

Here are links to all the photos and albums I created on Flickr. I’m actually paying money to be their customer this year, so I’m going to try and push my content on there a bit mroe.

Final Thoughts #

As long as I’m in Chicago, I’ll keep going to C2E2. It’s a fun and inexpensive convention in the midwest. If you plan to attend popular panels, I recommend going at least 1 hour early to either get in line or attend the panel before. The C2E2 app is fantastic way to plan your weekend, where you should have a plan A, B, and/or even C so you always have something lined up to do in case things don’t work out. Speaking of letters of the alphabet, for parking, leave early so you can find decent parking in either lots A, B, or C.

San Diego Comic Con 2018

2018-07-27T09:00:00-05:00

Another year, another Comic Con (SDCC) in the bag!

The programming for this year’s Comic Con was different than other years as some of the big studios were not there– namely Marvel Studios and HBO. I can understand Marvel Studios not being there this year, as they are between the Infinity War movies. They don’t want to give much information away in regards to how things are going to be in the coming movies and the next phase of their movie/storytelling development. I think it was a mistake for HBO not to be there with panels for Game of Thrones and Westworld– two massively popular shows right now. The former is closing on their final season next year, and Westworld just completling a huge second season and with probably many more to come.

The lines this year was also rather reasonable. They implemented a lottery system for autographs and exclusives which limited the insane lanes that other years had. No doubt they want fans to move around a lot more and spend more money than waiting hours in line in the convention center. However the lines for offsites are still rather long– and those are outside in the hot San Diego sun!

I recently got some new camera gear too. I’m moving from Canon to Sony. So now I’m shooting with a Sony a7iii and Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 GM. I rented a Sony 55mm f/1.8 and 85mm f/1.8 from BorrowLenses for Anime Expo in early July. I love both of the rented lenses, but the 55mm is just too expensive at $900. The 85mm is super sharp and a great buy at $600. So I bought the Sony 85mm f/1.8 for the SDCC trip.

Cosplay #

This year it felt as though some notable cosplayers weren’t at SDCC. There were still some creative cosplays walking around, especially from Cinema Makeup School. I didn’t take as many photos as I usually do– I did want to spend my time with my niece and family/friends.

Celebrities #

I didn’t take as many photos of celebs this year either. I shot mostly with an 85mm prime instead of my usual 70-200mm.

Misc #

Photo Albums #

Final Thoughts #

It was a tame year compared to previous Comic Cons, which is both a good and bad thing.

What’s great is that fans can get around much easier for panels, exhibits, and offsite shows. This is a big win. And for the lines in the convention, none were as long as they could have been.

What I wasn’t a fan of is no huge announcement or surprise. Maybe the problem is that previous years set a precedent for that. I didn’t even schedule time to watch any of the playbacks– I just showed up there to take a break from walking. So much of coverage gets uploaded onto youTube now within a week anyways.

San Diego Comic Con is still very fun to attend. I think next year when SDCC turns 50 it’s going to be a very big year and celebration.

Anime Expo 2018

2018-07-12T09:00:00-05:00

Last weekend I was at Anime Expo (AX). In general it was super fun to be taking photos of cosplayers there again. But it was a crazy hot weekend. It was 100+ ° F every day there!

It’s been three years (2015) since I was at AX. I mostly hung out inside the South hall again. I didn’t see as many cosplayers as I thought I would, and I think that may be because of the heat, and that many notable cosplayers/photographers set up near the Staples Center out West.

I’m glad I started to watch My Hero Academia, as about 25% of all the cosplays were from that anime!

Photography #

I got to fully test out my new mirrorless camera, the Sony A7III with the Sony 24-70 f/2.8 GM. I also rented the Sony 55mm f/1.8 Zeis prime and the Sony 85mm f/1.8 prime from Borrowlenses.com.

I also used the Godox AD200 flash along with the MagMod starter kit– specifically the flash diffuser.

I’m putting my Canon gear on the shelf for now– and in some cases sold a few pieces!

In general it was tough to shoot with the 24-70mm GM as it was a bit front heavy for single hand use. The 85mm was also tough as the convention center was pretty crowded– there just wasn’t space to back up for shots. So I stuck to using the 55mm since it was very light and easy to use with one hand. The Sony A7III body was really great to grab focus on the subject’s eye and face.

Photos #

Here are some of my favorite photos.

I made a collage of just My Hero Academia cosplayers.

Photo Albums #

Deadpool 2

2018-05-21T09:00:00-05:00

I watched Deadpool 2 over the weekend and I thought the movie was just okay. The movie was done in a Deadpool way, which is both good and bad. This is my review.

Spoilers below of course.

The Good #

The movie is made for comic fans and those familiar with comic book pop culture. Deadpool’s character in the comics and movies is very meta in it’s commentary of comics, pop culture, current events. On top of that, he doesn’t take himself too seriously.

I loved the portrayal of Domino by Zazie Beetz. She’s a perfect companion to all things over the top involving either Deadpool or Cable. When luck is a super power, the writing and action sequences can go just about anywhere.

Josh Brolin’s portrayal of Cable was also pretty good. He’s jacked and his costume/makeup with the techno organic virus eating at his arm/body looked fantastic. Cable’s story from the comics is incrediblly complex– I can see how they simplified it for the movies and do appreciate that.

We finally see an over the top CG Juggernaut that’s larger than life. The fight against Colossus is something fans have been waiting forever for. I wasn’t surprised by his reveal since I watch too many youTube videos with potential spoilers and analysis before movies come out.

I really wanted to see more of Domino, Juggernaut, and Cable in the movie.

The way the trailers set up an X-Force team up was brilliant. They spent a lot of time advertising one thing that only to obliterate most of the team in five minutes. Again, this goes back to Deadpool writers teasing one thing, but giving fans something else instead– very Deadpool.

The Bad #

I have a lot to pick with the movie, so here goes:

Since the movie is made for comic fans with a ton of pop culture references, it’s not a movie that will age well nor appeal to a wide audience. What is relevant today may not be obvious in ten or twenty years. There’s a large pre-requisite of having watched so many other comic movies to understand all the jokes made.

I get it that X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Green Lantern were terrible comic book movies that Ryan Reynolds was in. But we’ve explored these themes already from the first Deadpool movie. Seeing more of Hugh Jackman easter eggs and references is just lazy writing.

What makes the Cable/Deadpool team ups work is that the two characters contrast each other. One is serious and has a clear objective, the other is not. But having Colossus in the movie diminished that relationship since it was shared or offset. The movie would have been more balanced if there was less Colossus and more Cable.

I have no idea how Juggernaut was captured and held in the prison. And is he a mutant if there was any kind of power supressing neck collars? In the comics he is not a mutant! Writers need not explore this because, Deadpool. Lazy writing.

The first act of the movie was incredibly slow. The pacing at times was just awkward for an action/comedy. Not all the jokes landed well for me (Example: Star wars and Black Tom). Deadpool’s ambiguous sexuality is pushed a lot, which felt somewhat out of place since his story arc revolves around his love for his dead girlfriend, Vanessa.

Final Thoughts #

Deadpool a movie that you go in to watch, have fun, and then leave it there because it not a movie that advertises anything more or bigger like the Star War or Avengers franchise do. It’s just a Deadpool movie, have fun.

If there is to be third Deadpool movie, I’d like to see a bigger budget and more variety in what he would poke fun at. If it were’t for the CG Juggernaut, a lot of the movie felt like a Netflix budgeted movie release. It doesn’t scream blockbuster movie to me.

I’m curious as to what’s next for Deadpool and the X-Men franchise. New Mutants and Dark Phoenix release dates have been pushed back. The Marvel/Fox aquisition isn’t final yet. Will Disney allow for a rated R franchise? Would it make sense to have Deadpool officially join the X-Men franchise, or is it better off as it’s own do-whatever-it-wants-because-Deadpool-rules? If Deadpool is to join an X-team movie, will his break the fourth wall be a distraction from the narative? So many questions.

Avengers Infinity War

2018-04-30T09:00:00-05:00

Destiny has arrived. I watched the Avengers: Infinity War twice already and I loved it. The first time was the most emotional and suprising, the second time I caught some dialogue I missed and was more relaxed.

It’s been over three years since Kevin Feige announced the plans for MCU Phase 3, and ten years since the first movie. This is the culmination of everthing that has come before.

Spoilers below.

The Heroes #

The heroes that are in the movie are given an appropriate amount of time. It’s an all-star cast, and the directors, the Russo Brothers, did a great job of balancing and giving everyone their moment to shine.

It’s a prequisite to have watched the previous Marvel movies to really enjoy Infinity War. There were very few slow moments in the movie, as it was just moving from one place to another with tons of action and adventures. No hero origin or backstory is in the movie.

Below are all the MCU movies to date. Movies in bold are the essential movies to re-watch before Infinity War as they contain information regarding an Infinity Stone or character plot points.

Phase One:

Iron Man (2008)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Thor (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)

Phase Two:

Iron Man 3 (2013)
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Ant-Man (2015)

Phase Three:

Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Doctor Strange (2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Black Panther (2018)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) – Current

Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America really shined in the movie (ranked in that order mentioned). Thor and Rocket Raccoon had great chemistry with their mission to get Stormbreaker on Nidavellir. Iron Man, Spider Man, and Dr. Strange were fantastic with their mission on planet Titan. Captain America is solid as always with bringing the team on Earth together.

Scarlet Witch and Vision. Tony and Peter. Bucky and Rocket. Starlord and Gamora. Drax and Mantis. It was such a treat to see these heroes interact, crossover, and have their moments.

These are the scenes I cheered and nudged my friends at:

Spider Man getting the Iron Spider suit.
Captain America catching Proxima Midnight’s spear.
Thor’s entrance to the battle at Wakanda with Stormbreaker.

The Villains #

Thanos is literally the big bad guy in the Marvel Universe.

He is now the MCU’s best villain, knocking down Erik Killmonger and Loki. The problem with Marvel villains is that they don’t get fleshed out as characters. They often show up as “the bad guy” and the audience is supposed to accept that with no story as to what motivates them to do what they do.

Killmonger’s father was killed without explanation and he was abandoned to a rough life outside of Wakanda. Loki is the god of mischief– which if you think about it, makes sense for gods to be mischievous considering they live long lives and I would imagine would get bored of ordinary things.

With Thanos, his backstory is that his homeworld was overpopulated, didn’t listen to him, which lead to their demise. Thus his quest to wipe the universe to balance things out.

The Black Order served their purpose. I really liked Ebony Maw, how he was able to go toe-to-toe with Dr. Strange. I think Thanos might have called him E-Maw after he first meets Dr. Strange on Titan? I was a bit disappointed with Proxima Midnight’s look and especially how de-powered Corvus Glaive was portrayed in the movie.

Miscellaneous Things #

The opening scene, I really liked how they showcased how strong and powerful Thanos is by having him beat the Hulk easily MMA-style.
Scarlett Witch dropped her heavy accent.
Thanos finally “met the boyfriend” of Gamora and had a moment. He departed away with Gamora saying “I like him.”.
Not sure what the status is of Valkyrie, Korg, and Meek on the Asgardian ship. Can be written about later I guess.
I don’t see what it is about child Gamora that Thanos took a liking to right away.
The scene where Thanos turned Drax into stone blocks and Mantis into strings was a hat tip to the comics.
When Gamora stabs and “kills” Thanos, she also breaks down and cries. This expresses how complex their relationship is. He’s a father figure to her, but he’s also out to destroy the universe.

The Ending and Post Credits Scene #

Thanos assembles the Infinity Gauntlet and snaps his fingers, wiping out half the population of the universe. Infinity War is like the Empire Strikes Back in the original Star Wars trilogy. The good guys need to know what it’s like to lose to come back for a victory in the next movie.

I am uncertain on the status of the Infinity Gauntlet by the end of the movie. It looks burnt and damaged, but it still functioned (snaps fingers and teleported away). Thanos is alone on what looks like a habitable planet/area where he can watch the sunset of a “grateful universe”.

As Nick Fury is ashing out of existence, he contacts someone on his pager. That someone is Captain Marvel. This is a great tease for next year’s movie that takes place in the 1990s. Is she what the Avengers need to turn the tide? We shall see.

Avengers 4 Predictions #

The title has been held back, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be called Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet or Avengers: Infinity Crusade. Also possible they choose a more uplifiting title such as New Avengers, but I suspect that is a better Phase 4 title.

Like in the comics, no one stays dead forever. The writers can do whatever they want that serves the purpose of the story and/or character. Those affected by the snap of death will likely return in some fashion. Those that died pre-snap– maybe not so much.

Phase 3 started with Civil War where the Avengers broke up. They need to wrap that up before they advance to Phase 4 for new stories. So the Iron Man and Captain America need to patch up their differences, and it’s quite possible that one or both of them don’t make it.

Dr. Strange said he peered into the 14,000,605 possible futures where only one had them winning. That one most likely had Tony Stark in it, thus why he was willing to trade the Time stone for Tony’s life. Thus Tony will play an important role in the end game of the next movie.

Hulk was unwilling to come out after his loss to Thanos. I see there being a big payout to this in Avengers 4. I didn’t like Bruce Banner praising the Hulkbuster as the suit that kicked the Hulk’s ass. Technically, the Hulk has no upper limit to how strong he gets. The madder he gets, the stronger he gets. It adds some depth to Hulk as not just a big brute that smashes things, but can be afraid too.

I think Shuri was able to back up some of Vision in her lab in Wakanda, but probably not all of him.

Thanos’s sacrifice/murder of his favorite daughter, Gamora, was a pivotal moment in the movie. His action gave him the Soul stone. I can see Peter Quill taunting Thanos– if he was so powerful, why doesn’t he bring Gamora back. In doing so, it would undo the sacrifice and the Soul stone would leave the Infinity Guantlet.

Final Thoughts #

I consider Infinity War to be a huge success for comic book fans and to a degree non-comic-ready-movie-fans, as they finally got a taste of how good the original material in comic books are.

Avengers 3 and 4 was originally announced to be a two part movie. But they changed that since typically movies that are split into two parts aren’t well received– look at Harry Potter and Hunger Games series. It’s just better to market them as separate movies that stand on their own rather than incomplete movies without the other. But Infinity War is a full movie that stands on its own, as it did have a beginning, middle, and end– just not the ending most would have wanted because the bad guy won. I imagine the tone of Avengers 4 will be different, thus a different movie addressing another kind of story and characters.

I’m hoping that they will bring in Celestials, Eternals, and other cosmic beings to really blow open the Marvel universe. It would help mark the end of the Earth based heroes and showcase that the MCU has a whole universe to play with for story-telling, not just Earth ones.

With the Disney/Fox deal still going on, and not finalized yet, there’s a whole slew of properties that could return to Disney/Marvel. X-Men, Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom, Galactus, Silver Surfer, Namor, etc. So many other stories to tell!

C2E2 2018

2018-04-11T09:00:00-05:00

This year’s C2E2 was by far the largest and busiest I’ve been to. There seemed to be a bigger space rented out for the event over at McCormick Place. I didn’t bother to apply for a press pass this year and just went ahead and bought a 3-day pass. I’ve been denied 2 years in a row now and didn’t feel like applying– perhaps next year.

Like many other comic conventions, C2E2 offers mailing of purchased badges if they are bought before a deadline.

One thing my photographer friends and I noticed is that security is clamping down on their lighting stands and setup. It seems photographers should only setup on the floor space that C2E2 has actually reserved– so the area by the downstairs fountains are off limits now.

This was the year I finally bought the Wild Bill’s Soda C2E2 exclusive stainless steel mug. I think it looks pretty cool, plus they have soda station setup there for free refills the day of purchase, $5 for any day after anywhere. Costs $25.

Panels #

As like previous years, I tend to focus my time more on panels and celebrity spotlights for C2E2.

SyFy Wire’s Fangrrls - Ricky White and Yetide Badaki #

Ricky White and Yetide Badaki were on stage at the SyFy Wire stage to talk about American Gods. I think it’s a very under-rated tv show that people should pay attention to more.

The Daredevil You Know - Spotlight on Charlie Cox #

Spotlight on Charlie Cox and his hit Netflix show: Daredevil. During a fan question it was brought up that he was also in Stardust, a good movie based a comic!

Guardians of the Galaxy with Dave Bautista and Sean Gunn #

I went to both panels with Guardians of the Galaxy stars Dave Bautista and Sean Gunn.

SyFy Stage

Main Stage

Legends of Tomorrow #

I haven’t watched Legends of Tomorrow since the first season. I’m generally not a fan of the CW shows. Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, and Dominic Purcell were on hand to talk about the show.

This is - Milo Ventimiglia and Justin Hartley #

I haven’t watched the show This is Us, but there were plenty of tears flowing in the audience during this panel with Milo Ventimiglia and Justin Hartley.

Leaves of the Wind - Gina Torres and Alan Tudyk #

Actors Gina Torres and Alan Tudyk were talking about their current and past shows. This was the best panel with the largest audience in the main stage. Tudyk was signing random things for everyone who got up to ask a question from front pages of scripts, books, to old room keys. One takeaway, Firefly is probably never going to be picked up again. Let the past be the past.

Cosplay #

As always, the cosplay keeps getting better every year. This year the Crown Championship of Cosplay wristbands, which lets you into the main stage, was completely handed out by the time I got there around 1pm on Saturday.

C2E2 may be going through some growing pains. I think cosplay, especially with the championship taking place in Chicago, is getting bigger and more crowded. I’d like to have them dedicate a bigger space with good lighting just so cosplayers and can hang out for photo ops. I know they have an area inside the show floor for this, but the lighting and area is not big enough.

Here is my favorite cosplay from the weekend. 1977 Darth Vader toy cosplay! I had two Star Wars toys as a kid: Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I lost the plastic saber piece to both of them, so I ended up substituting toothpicks and colored paperclips instead. The cosplayer’s IG is: @tk61281, if you want to follow his work.

Photo Albums #

Here are links to full photo albums on my Facebook Page.

Final Thoughts #

C2E2 is a great con to attend in the Midwest. It gets bigger and better every year. Better security was something that stood out this year, as it was a hassle to do some things like take photos at the main stage or go through a security check point to get in. It’s a hassle, but not a headache like SDCC or Anime Expo.

They seem to have a good social media strategy on their @c2e2 (twitter) and @c2e2 (instagram), as the do contests and scavenger hunts the weeks before and during the con. They seem to really care about their fans– especially if you are local to the Chicagoland area.

Black Panther

2018-02-19T09:00:00-05:00

I enjoyed the Black Panther movie. The story, the characters, and especially the villain was well balanced and defined in this Marvel movie. This is my spoilery review.

The Good #

The characters were really solid. It’s an all-star cast!

Letitia Wright is amazing as Black Panther’s sister, Shuri. She was having fun and it really showed. She’s also starred in an episode of Black Mirror: Black Museum.

Michael B. Jordan knocked it out of the park as Erik Killmonger. Marvel finally did a villain justice by fleshing out a backstory with motivation for why he does the things he does. As a child, he knows he is from Wakanda and a potential heir to the throne. He returns home to find his father dead with claw marks. All his father wanted to do was help arm his people to fight back. It’s so tragic!

The Bad #

I thought the fight sequences weren’t as dramatic as Captain America: Civil War. Most notably the final fight between Black Panther and Erik Killmonger.

The problem is that these two individual not only have enhanced physical abilities due to the special herb, they also are wearing vibranium outfits that makes them virtually indestrucible! They could fight for days or even weeks, so the writers had to place the final fight along the CG tracks where the suits would yield/weaken.

I’m being nit-picky here, but the movie physics didn’t make sense. If vibranium is virtually indestructible and aborbs the kinetic energy of objects that hits the suit, then what on earth can knock down Black Panther? I just didn’t understand how Erik Killmonger was able to blast down BP during the scene where Klaw was being broken out.

Final Thoughts #

The movie is a Shakesperean tragedy.

The good isn’t always good, the bad isn’t always traditionally bad. The son, T’Challa, has to make right the wrongs of his father, T’Chaka, for abandoning his brother’s child and covering it up. The audience can understand why Killmonger would seek out revenge and weaponize his people that Wakanda has politically chosen not to be involved with. Erik can be seen as a product of good people making seemingly bad choices.

There is the change that T’Challa must go through to become king, despite his father saying it’s hard to be a good king and a good person at the same time. By the end of the movie, Black Panther chooses his own path to open up Wakanda to the outside world for the first time and to reach out to those that need it.

There’s a lot to unpack in the movie. It can be analzyed for quite some time, and possibly a complaint to be had is that the movie isn’t long enough to delve into everything as much as it could have– considering it’s a movie that’s PG-13 and 2 hour 14 minutes long, which is already long.

I pointed out more “bad things” I disliked than I liked only because there’s a lot going for the movie. It’s a good movie with small imperfections that were easy to point out. But overall I loved the movie and look forward to director Ryan Coogler’s future work.

Images for this post were lifted from wall.alphacoders.com.

Movies of 2018

2018-02-01T09:00:00-05:00

This looks like a good year for not just comic book fans, but fans of books and other franchises because there are so many sequels coming out. This is why I dropped doing comic book only movies for my posts and opened it up to all movies.

Here are my top 8 movies that I think will be hits:

Avengers: Infinity War
Black Panther
Ready Player One
Incredibles 2
Ant-Man and The Wasp
Deadpool 2
Alita: Battle Angel
Venom

Quick Thoughts #

Black Panther - February 16, 2018. The trailers for this movie looks amazing. The MCU gets a little bit bigger with this newest addition.

Ready Player One - March 29, 2018. I read the book a while ago. The auther, Ernest Cline, really likes the 1980s. And with Steven Spielberg behind the movie, the movie can’t get much bigger. The movie may potentially be better than the book!

Avengers: Infinity War - ~~May 4, 2018~~ April 27, 2018. The culmination of all things, of 10 years of Marvel Cinematic Universe. The world will finally see how much of a badass Thanos is in the Marvel universe! This is easily the movie I look forward to watching the most. The Russo brothers have done an amazing job with Captain America movies, I expect even better with this movie.

Deadpool 2 - May 18, 2018 (originally June 1, 2018). I’m a little indifferent about this movie. The first DP movie was fantastic, but we’ll see if they get Cable correct or not.

Solo: A Star Wars Story - May 25, 2018. Don’t know much about this movie as no trailers have been released yet. I also don’t care. I really liked The Last Jedi and would rather see the Star Wars movie franchise move forward with new characters than tell old stories.

The Incredibles 2 - June 15, 2018. Pixar rarely disappoints.

Jurrassic World: Fallen Kingdom - June 22, 2018. Nothing will ever beat the first JP movie. I just like seeing dinosaurs on the big screen.

Ant-Man and the Wasp - July 6, 2018. I’m not a fan of Ant-Man or the Wasp really, but this movie is a big action/comedy piece that fits well in the MCU. It’s a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously and just go to have fun watching.

The Predator - August 3, 2018. I will watch anything with Alien or Predator in them. I love the sci-fi/action/horror genre they sit in.

Venom - October 5, 2018. Also don’t know much about this movie. Fox really screwed up Venom in Spider-Man 3. But it stars Tom Hardy who makes good movies. We shall see.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix - ~~November 2, 2018~~. February 13, 2019. Again, I really dislike what Fox does to the Marvel characters in their movies. They have no plan or vision– their movies are generally trash. Like Venom, they are trying for the second time with Phoenix.

Fantastic Beast: The Crimes of Grindelwald - November 16, 2018. I have to watch it just because it’s part of the Potter-verse.

Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-it Ralph 2 - November 21, 2018. I really enjoyed the first Wreck-it Ralph movie. But non-Pixar animated sequels tend to be so-so movies that doesn’t have the charm of the first.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - December 14, 2018. Doesn’t seem like this animated movie is part of the MCU in any way. Looks good, but Marvel has traditionally released sub-par animated movies compared to DC.

Aquaman - December 21, 2018. I’ve given up on the DCEU. But I’ll watch the movie anyway.

Alita: Battle Angel - ~~July 20, 2018~~ December 27, 2018. I read this manga as a teenager way back. I don’t remember much, but I welcome more manga/anime based stories into Hollywood.

Star Wars The Last Jedi

2017-12-20T09:00:00-01:00

I loved Star Wars The Last Jedi. The movie is brilliant. I’ve only watched it once as of this posting and I plan on watching it a few more times to catch all the little things I may have missed.

Spoilers below of course.

Empire and Return #

The movie has similarities to both Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

The dark tones are similar to Empire. The failure of Luke Skywalker and the entire Jedi Order was touched upon. By the end of the movie, the Resistance aka Rebels were crushed to a group that fits on the Millennium Falcon.

Snoke’s character and throne room was reminiscent of Emperor Palpatine’s. Him bringing Kylo and Rey to fight each other also a callback to Return of the Jedi.

Our heroes took their hits just like in Empire, and it ended with a view out into the stars with hope.

New and Different #

The Last Jedi also introduced new characters in a story that had so many twists and turns that I could not predict anything! I just enjoyed the ride instead of trying to figure out the plot.

I really liked how they focused on other characters besides the Jedi. There are other heroes in the stories besides those that are force users. Poe Dameron, best pilot in the Resistance has his struggles with leadership. Finn, a First Order defector– has some qualm with Captain Phasma, although his origin story is still unexplored. General Hux had his funny moments– a break from the serious generals of the Empire.

So many women had memorable moments in the movie. Amilyn Holdo self sacrifice was amazing and beautiful. Rose, a maintainance worker that admired Resistance heroes saved Finn from foolishly sacrifing himself. Rose’s sister Paige actually sacrificed herself by dropping the payload on D’Qar.

Fans be Hating #

Star Wars fans are never happy with movies. From Jar Jar Binks, the script’s bad dialogue, midichlorians count, too much CGI, too many releases, Han shot first, etc– fans have complained about everything. They even put forth a petition to remove the movie from canon. See: Fans Start Petition To Remove ‘The Last Jedi’ From ‘Star Wars’ Canon. Note, the OP has since stepped back from the petition and urges others to find better causes.

The biggest complaint is how Luke Skywalker was portrayed. Some say he would never think to kill or hurt his nephew. Luke would never think his nephew Kylo would be irredeemable, considering what Luke went through with his own father Darth Vader.

They have a point, from a certain point of view.

The problem is that we put Luke Skywalker on a pedestal. He is a childhood hero of many people. The thought of our beloved hero not succeeding is blasphemous.

But his character is flawed. It is within his character to raise his laser sword on impulse or fit of rage. We saw that in Empire when Luke left Dagobah to help his friends when his Jedi training was incomplete. In ROTJ he almost loses it when fighitng Vader when he baited him out of the darkness with a comment on how he could turn Leia to the dark side.

Star Wars has dark things that people overlook for the story and fantasy elements.

Anakin Skywalker, as Darth Vader murdered young padawans. He hunted and killed fellow Jedi. He also ordered the destruction of an entire planet and it’s people. We are talking about mass genocide here. Yet his son Luke wanted to save him and saw the good in him. Turning Darth Vader was also necessary to defeat the Emperor too.

And Kylo wanted to be like his grandfather. Sure, he was swayed by the dark side, but that’s not an excuse for his desire to be a mass murderer.

So it’s believable for Luke to give up on his nephew considering the death and destruction he’s had to deal with before. I don’t think many people are going out there saying they would be okay with someone who was involved with killing billions of people on a planetary level.

Luke’s story arc is similar to Yoda’s and even Obi-wan after Revenge of the Sith. Their big failures led them to live as hermits. All of them had students that turned to the dark side. Perhaps this is part of the flaw of the Jedi religion, this pattern of self imposed exhile to meditate and be one with the force.

Not Happily Ever After #

Bad parenting and adulting is all over in the current trilogy. Han and Leia didn’t have a functional family with their son. I guess that’s to be expected, considering that Leia has been a princess, politician, and general in a war all her life. Han is a dirty smuggler that cheats for a living. It seems they were not there for Ben Solo, leaving it to Luke to train him, and ultimately fail.

That happy ending in ROTJ didn’t last long. There couldn’t be since there’s Episodes 7-9 and 10-12 following with who knows how many more. The war and conflict continues, always.

Rey’s parents were drunks that sold her off. I think it’s true, as it lends itself to the the other underlying theme that you don’t have to be a royalty or come from a special bloodline to be a force user or part of the Resistance.

Miscellaneous #

The Knights of Ren were present in the flashbacks in The Force Awakens, but were completely absent in this movie. Maybe in the blu-ray release there will be scenes that didn’t make the cut.

There should have been more backstory on Finn, Captain Phasma, and expecially Snoke. For a 2.5 hour movie, some time should be given to these new characters, ableit the latter are two are probably dead now. Phasma looks great, but I mostly just see her stand or walk into a scene– she barely has any actual action. What a waste.

The Canto Bight casino story felt a little long considering the their transports were under heavy fire and they were running out of… fuel. I didn’t think starships back then used fuel to do space travel.

The scene where Luke was milking the local creature and drinking it fresh was just odd. I’m just not sure what they’re trying to say other than that Luke really has to live off the land there.

The DJ character seemed rather annoying and incomplete. The stuttering and oddity didn’t work for me. However I did like how he pointed out that the filthy rich made their money from selling weapons and ships to both the First Order and Resistance. This is an interesting bit that was added. Now the arms industry has been introduced. I’m not sure if they are going to expand on something so complex going forward or not. But at least we know it exists.

I initially found BB-8’s take over of the First Order’s mech unit to be funny, but then it felt a bit much for a droid to do. I was hoping it would be DJ to redeem himself in some way, like Lando. But when in doubt, BB-8 is used to be the hero’s way out.

I really hoped they would get more into the Gray Jedi, those that walk between the light and dark.

Final Thoughts #

Fans have a right to be upset with The Last Jedi. Their childhood heroes are almost all but gone from being main characters in future Star Wars movies. If they choose not to be a Star Wars fan or support it anymore that’s their choice. They can vote with their wallet.

There is a part of me that doesn’t want to see Princess Leia, Han Solo, or Luke Skywalker exit the Star Wars universe. With Carrie Fisher’s death last year, I wasn’t ready to see her on the big screen for the last time.

However, we can also celebrate the movie for what it is– a bold move to leave the past and venture into new territory. That is one of the main themes of the movie, to move on and not live in the past. I’m not interested in seeing the same characters in the same time period where there are limitations on what they can and cannot depict. We need new characters and stories to tell.

Star Wars has been around for 40 years now. The first trilogy came out in 1977. The second trilogy, the prequels, came out in 1999. And the third and current trilogy came out in 2015. There are going to be fans that weren’t alive for the previous trilogies. For many fans out there, this is going to be the Star Wars trilogy for them, their heroes and their different struggles. And there’s a fourth trilogy already in the works.

Images for this post were from wall.alphacoders.com.

Justice League

2017-12-08T09:00:00-05:00

I am pretty disappointed in the Justice League (JL) movie. I went in with low expectations since it is a Zack Snyder movie that was finished by Joss Whedon. I’ve reviewed Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman where I’ve complained about Snyder as a director. Despite Whedon’s involvement, JL suffers more of the same– great visually with unappealing characters and story.

Spoilers below of course.

What I Liked #

Gal Gadot looks amazing as Wonder Woman. She’s the best thing about the team. Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck also look great as Superman and Batman respectively. The costumes on Flash and Aquaman are detailed and work for me as well.

The entire Justice League teaming up to fight Superman was great at showcasing how Superman is as powerful as Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg combined!

My favorite scene in the movie is where Superman was able to follow the Flash’s super speed. The look on Ezra Miller as the Flash realized that Superman could keep up with him was quite funny.

It’s great that the WB is trying to soften up the DCEU, aka the Snyder-verse.

What I Disliked #

The dialogue and story are terrible, as it didn’t advance the story or character development. The story was one chunk getting the team together and resurrecting Superman. The other chunk was fighting against the parademon invasion. The jokes and jabs had me facepalming quite a bit. I would describe it as TV show level bad. What I mean by that is that the quality of the scene, dialogue, and even camera shot is budgeted for a TV show, not a movie franchise.

I didn’t understand the following:

Why was Superman so pissed when he came back to life?
Why did the dirt rise up from Superman’s grave at the end of Batman vs Superman if they required the motherbox and the Flash to resurrect Superman?
Why did Superman’s death trigger Steppenwolf to do the invasion? Why not invade during the thousands of years before Superman ever arrived on Earth?
If Steppenwolf could teleport directly to the motherboxes, then how exactly was the one owned by man hidden and unreachable? He telported to Themyscira and Atlantis with ease!

The theme songs of Superman and Batman felt cheap. Sure, they were a a great throwback for those of us that remember the 1980s and 1990s, but the problem was that those moments weren’t earned.

The backstory of the motherboxes made the movie like Lord of the Rings where there were three races, the Amazons, the Atlanteans, and mankind– all trying to find/hide some ultimate power. It just took me out of the DCEU and I thought I was in some other fantasy universe.

The characters felt out of place of what I know of the comic book characters. The past success of Batman movies led WB executives to think that they should keep doing gritty Batman-like movies for all the DC characters! The DC movies as of late are pretty bad compared to the DC animated movies that have come out. The animated movies succeed because they are committed to the stories and characters from the comics. The current DCEU movies do not honor enough source material.

I don’t see how Superman would ever care about humanity. Jonathan Kent said that maybe he should keep his powers secret at the expense of people, including himself, dying. Martha Kent told her son that he doesn’t owe the world anything. Why is he a hero again? His parents don’t instill in him a sense to care about humanity.

Batman is the world’s greatest detective. One of the joys of seeing detective work is seeing how the case gets evaluated and solved. That didn’t happen here. Bruce Wayne had to steal the files on JL members from Lex Luthor. His million dollar security system was broken into by Wonder Woman. Again and again we see that Batman isn’t on top of anything.

Wonder Woman is inconsistent. In Batman V Superman she was absent from the world for a while, then rejoined to fight Doomsday and appeared to enjoy the battle. Then in her Wonder Woman movie, she seemed curious about the world of man and wanted to help. But in Justice League she was everywhere to help as if she was helping the whole time. I know many are on the Wonder Woman hype train this year, but I just want to put out there that maybe in a few years we will look back at see that idea of a female super hero is long over due, but the movie itself wasn’t amazing.

I don’t see Aquaman. I see Jason Mamoa. Perhaps he was just too good as Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones. His character is under-developed and doesn’t resemble any Aquaman comic I’ve ever read.

Flash is just comedic relief. Very little backstory is given about him. His explanation to Batman that he’s never fought anyone before and only pushes people and runs away was just bad. Batman having to convince him to just save one person to get him to try was just TV show level bad.

Cyborg’s CGI is distractingly bad and looks unfinished. The scene where Cyborg and Flash were digging up Superman’s corpse was also TV show level bad.

Final Thoughts #

This is the fifth movie in the DCEU, and I’m out of excuses to give WB to make a DCEU that fans can care about. Stories are about the human experience, and their movies fails convince me that I should care about the protagonists.

There is a part of me that would like to see the Snyder version of the movie completed and released, even if it’s a three hour version. I may not like Snyder’s storytelling, but having Whedon’s influence mix is still a mess. I rather go with a single director’s vision than two.

Is a reboot in the near future? If they choose to do a [Flashpoint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashpoint_(comics) reboot, I will be disappointed (again) since it’s supposed to tell a story of a darker universe– which they seem to already be in! But they may not have a choice given the poor response to their movies.

Thor Ragnarok

2017-11-08T09:00:00-05:00

I really liked Thor: Ragnarok. By far it was the best Thor movie from the MCU and maybe even the best Marvel movie of 2017. There’s not much to complain about in the movie. Spoilers ahead.

What I Liked #

The movie is a blend of Planet Hulk and Ragnarok story from the comics. Since Marvel can’t do Hulk movies– due to movie rights sitting with Universal, they just incorporated one of his best stories in with Thor’s to make a buddy space adventure and comedy movie.

It’s a very funny movie. There’s a lot of action and adventure in exploring the Marvel universe, but there’s so much comedy sprinkled everywhere. It’s a movie that doesn’t take itself seriously and is very open to poking fun at themselves. This movie addresses a lot of the problems with the previous Thor movies– too much of the setting taking place on Earth, being too serious, and Thor (main character) not teaming up with other Avengers post Avengers movie.

The colors used throughout is amazing. It really does remind me that the setting isn’t on Earth and is very other worldly.

The casting is fantastic. Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster was hilarious. There’s no way an elder of the universe can live for so long and not be quirky in some way.

The brotherly relationship of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was expanded upon.

Director, Taika Waititi really put the actors in the movie to good use with their strengths.

Idris Elba and Tessa Thompson were also great in the movie. Perhaps the reason that Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) was left out of the movie was because of the role of Valkerie. Probably same reason Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) was quickly cut from the franchise.

It’s great that Hulk finally got more lines in a movie. As great as and actor Mark Ruffalo is, I’d rather see Hulk form than Bruce Banner.

What Could be Better #

The serious parts of the movie could be better. The deaths of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), and Warriors Three seemed too short. There wasn’t much time to have an emotional moment before the next scene or gag came along.

Cate Blanchett is amazing as Hela– but I wish there was more of her in the movie. Like many Marvel movies, they are quick to prop up the villain, but not enough of a deep dive into why they are so bad. Hopefully this gets addressed properly with Thanos in Infinity War.

Final Thoughts #

Thor Ragnarok is fantastic. It feels like a blend of Guardians of the Galaxy comedic space team with the sci-fi adventure of Heavy Metal. The movie is a transitional film in the big picture aspect of where the MCU is going– some heroes are now dead or out of the picture, Asgard went through Ragnarok, Mjolnir was destroyed– things are no longer the same.

We are now one movie away before Avengers Infinity War. What will Black Panther have to say right before IW when our heroes are up against the power of the Infinity Gauntlet?

youTube Reviews #

Here are some recommended youTuber channels I watch almost every day. Their thoughts on Ragnarok are pretty spot on.

San Diego Comic Con 2017

2017-07-25T01:00:00-05:00

San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) has come and gone. This year marks my seventh year going to SDCC! Each year I have a good time, but every year it becomes less about the convention floor, offsite experiences, and buying stuff. Going to the con is now more about taking photos and attending panels.

Cosplay #

I love taking photos of cosplayers, but it’s really difficult to be at the right place at the right time to catch some of the awesome cosplay. Unlike Anime Expo, SDCC doesn’t have central locations that are great for photos. It’s too much about walking around and hoping you run into something amazing.

Celebrities #

The WB booth is the best place to catch and photograph celebrities from the mainstream panels. The other booths that they sign at are the Marvel, DC, and Fox booths primarily. The lighting and no-static-crowd-gathering is what makes the WB booth a favorite for photography. The Marvel and DC signings lets crowds gather to stand in area, but most people will never get a good shot because no one moves anywhere.

Like previous years, the crowds at these signings are getting bigger, and more unwilling to take direction from the security services.

I still take issue with some rude security guards that throws their hands in front of your cameras, but I also empathize with them a bit for putting up with large crowds that stay in unsafe numbers in an area.

Misc #

The show floor is more or less the same it’s been for the past few years. This year I noticed that there were actually more comics and less FunkoPops for sale.

Lines are still a big problem. Hall H and Ballroom 20 lines can still be pretty crazy long. Fans still camp out to get in and are essentially camping out at night through morning at times. Then there’s the lines for the off site areas that are also generally mismanaged. In short, unless you really really want to experience something, you’d better be prepared to wait in line in the sun.

Pictures #

I didn’t take as many photos this year as previous years. In my group my 9.5 month old niece was with us so I wanted to spend time with her and take photos of her cosplay outfit as well.

Resources #

Here are some useful resources for things in and outside of Comic Con:

These resources will help you with everything from getting tickets, understanding rules, the schedule, etc.

Here are some post-con reviews:

Final Thoughts #

San Diego Comic Con is still very fun. As long as there are amazing TV shows and competing movie studios that bring it, SDCC will continue to thrive. The merchandizing that goes on looks to be incredibly lucrative as so many vendors continue to return every year.

The lines are always a headache. When you have a mass gathering of bodies like this, there are always so many that take advantage of others and chat the line system.

I still hope for a day when a livestream will open the convention to more people/fans/consumers. The fans want to see it and spend money, and I’m sure the companies want to make more money from more fan participation.

Spider-Man Homecoming

2017-07-10T09:00:00-05:00

Spider-Man: Homecoming is a good, coming-of-age movie aimed at younger fans and those young at heart. I liked it on a few levels, but also felt distant because I’m older and watched other Spidey and superhero films since the early 1990s.

The Good #

I like how Tom Holland actually looks like a teenager. I’ve always preferred the younger teen Spider-Man that makes quips in battles. Toby Maquire looked too old for high school and Andrew Garfield too handsome/hipster/cool to be Peter Parker. Tom is young and can keep playing Spider-Man for at least the next 5-8 years.

The casting of Marisa Tomei as Aunt May is a big step away from the traditional white haired elderly woman. And it makes sense to make Peter’s aunt to be younger since she’s his mom/dad’s sister, not grandmother!

Although Michelle, played by Zendaya, had only a few lines, it’s clear that Marvel has bigger plans for her, especially after she revealed that her friends call her MJ.

Michael Keaton as the Vulture was amazing! The first three minutes of the film established him as the regular hardworking guy trying to make things work that got crushed by the government and corporation. They didn’t even ever call him the Vulture throughout the movie! The car scene before the Homecoming dropoff was brilliant. Seeing how Keaton was putting together how Parker was secretly Spider-Man was so well written and acted.

The Bad, or Small Issues #

Trailer fatigue. Not just this movie, but so many Hollywood films put out so many trailers giving away so much of the movie. I really need to stop watching movie trailers because I end up memorizing them and inadvertently placing scenes throughout the movie giving it structure ruining any surprise.

Peter’s friends are all on the academic decathlon team? It just seems a bit too convenient that every relevant high school character for the movie all sit at the same table, bus, and field trip.

It was interesting to see Tony Revolori take on Flash Thompson. He wasn’t a traditional meathead jock and bully, but someone who competed with Peter intellectually. This modern take also highlights that bullies don’t necessarily have to be physically menacing– assholes exist in many other forms. Plus Flash can’t compete against Spider-Man physically anyway.

Peter’s friend Ned, played by Jacon Batalon, was someone I had issue with as it just feels as though he absorbed some characteristics from the traditional Spider-Man with his tech hacking ability. He’s an obvious comedic sidekick– but I like those traits in Peter Parker.

Final Thoughts #

The movie was made for a younger generation. I can see where they are going with this.

They need to appeal to a younger audience that didn’t grow up in the 1980s or 1990s. There are teens today that probably never watched the previous Spider-Man movies or even the first Iron Man movie! This movie serves to bring them into the MCU so they keep growing their fanbase. It’s very smart marketing.

Think of the Star Wars franchise. There was a sixteen year gap between Return of the Jedi (1983) and The Phantom Menace (1999). And ten years between Revenge of the Sith (2005) and The Force Awakens (2015). Why would a successful franchise put so many years between their movies?? Since Disney now owns both Star Wars and Marvel, they won’t let that happen again. They will keep making movies and growing their audience with movie here and there that appeals to a different audience, yet satisfies current fanbases.

The cast is young, diverse, and are a hint of this new Marvel universe that is coming post Infinity War. So many people have written that this movie represents the beginning of Robert Downey Jr’s exit from the MCU and Tom Holland is picking up the torch. I think that’s pre-mature to call for now considering that Sony still owns the movie rights for Spider-Man. This may be more of a example of what other Hollywood studios can work out if they work with Marvel Studios. Ya hear that Fox??

The movie is good, despite not being made for fans like me. It’s been too long since I was a teenager in high school, so it’s hard for me to relate.

youTube Videos #

Wonder Woman

2017-06-07T09:00:00-05:00

I watched the Wonder Woman movie twice, didn’t like it much the first time, but enjoyed it more the second time. My initial reaction after the first viewing was rather harsh on the movie, and I think it had to do with how close I sat and how much my eyes had to travel when looking at the screen. The second time I sat further back in a sweet spot, and my eyes were more relaxed to enjoy the movie.

The movie was at good, but not as great as it could have been. I enjoyed several aspects of the movie, but had issues with many others. My level disappointment may very well be because I’ve been waiting for a Wonder Woman film for a long time, and I wanted them to do really well with it.

Spoilers of course.

The DCEU Wonder Woman has adapted the more modern, The New 52 version of Diana of Themyscira, with her basically being the daughter of Zeus. I really like this take, as it really brings up her power level to be that of a demigod. It directly today’s modern mythology of superheroes with that of classic Greek/Roman mythology. Absolutely brilliant.

The movie covers humanity’s dark times where the story revolves death, destruction, and despair– but Diana not only brings hope and light to mankind, but also to the DCEU to a degree. It’s a step in the right direction, but will the Snyder-verse also walk their superhero stories this way too? Time will tell– or rather the upcoming Justice League movie will.

The Good #

The story was simple, which I like for origin movies.

Act I briefly covers the mythology and history of the Amazons along with introduce Steve Trevor and the world of man.

Act II is Wonder Woman’s journey into the world of man and their war to end all wars. looking for Ares and interacts more with Trevor, his war gang, and Wonder Woman further discovers her capabilities.

Act III is the big reveal of Ares and their big fight.

Simple.

Gal Gadot looks amazing as Wonder Woman. Her performance in action scenes (although many were CGI or stunt double) was fantastic. The fights were entertaining and top notch. Many critics years ago that called her too skinny to play the role, must be eating their hats now. Her moment for her heroic costume reveal at the No Man’s Land scene was exceptional. Could very well be this generation’s hero moment like Christopher Reeves’ Superman helicopter scene.

Robin Wright as Antiope was a great choice. I wish she had more screen time! After her demise, I am left with a feeling that there was so much more history/story to be told about the Amazons.

The movie payed homage to not just classic superhero movies, but great classics as well. I think of the Richard Donner Superman (1978) during the alleyway scene with the blocking of the bullet(s), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when sneaking into the castle impersonating a Nazi, and Spiderman (2002) during the wall climbing.

The Bad #

The character dialogue throughout the movie wasn’t as strong as it could have been. The meaning and intention was there, but not enough lines were memorable enough.

The third act of the movie was messy. I didn’t see the need for the misdirect with who was Ares, the god of war. Ludendorff, played by Danny Huston, was the villain the movie pointed at, but it was Sir Patrick, played by David Thewlis that all of a sudden turned out to be Ares in the end out of nowhere.

Ares, the villain of the movie was mentioned by name throughout the movie, but was never built up. The big fight at the end had Sir Patrick be the mastermind by influencing mankind to do terrible things, and then all of a sudden he armors up and has all these undefined powers to fight Wonder Woman. For a movie that has so much war in it, leaving out the god of war’s menacing character until the third act is a mistake.

Chris Pine was a good fit for Steve Trevor– in that it was a typical Chris Pine movie character. From the moment Trevor meets Diana, he is amazed by her abilities, compassion for others, and determination to kill Ares to free mankind from his evil. I wish there were better lines between these two that would help set up the third act when Trevor told Diana that killing Ares wouldn’t do anything, that the evil in man isn’t from Ares, it’s just who they are.

The part of the movie that didn’t make sense was after Ares defeat/death– everyone including the Germans were happy and embraced one another. It was as though they weren’t just trying to kill one another moments ago, that they were indeed under the evil influence of Ares. It took away from the whole man has both good and evil in them.

Final Thoughts #

I really wanted the movie to spend more time on Themyscira and showcase Wonder Woman’s relationship with the Amazons, their culture, and the mythology/history. I would have loved the contrast between a beautiful island, home to the Amazons, to that of WWI Europe.

We’ve had so many Superman and Batman movies, they both had their origin stories retold many times, yet Wonder Woman’s origin in terms of her childhood upbringing was too short. Most people on this planet can give the basic origin story to Superman or Batman easily, but not Wonder Woman. This movie should have been that, the movie that really dives into her origin for the DCEU.

Wonder Woman is a movie I recommend everyone watches. It wasn’t a homerun for my expectations, but I’m happy with what they’re trying to do and they’re on base to score if they keep it up.

Anime Central 2017

2017-05-26T09:00:00-05:00

Last weekend I was at Anime Central (ACen) which was hosted at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. This was my second time attending, and I was also given a press pass again.

I stuck around the main entrance hall/lobby for most of the convention hoping to catch cosplayers on their way in or out of the exhibit hall. It seemed this year a lot of cosplayers were more casual and spent more time in the exhibit hall than the entrance. That, or they were hanging out more at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which is a hotspot for cosplayers.

Music and dancing are a big part of ACen. There are always groups or individuals dancing or practicing moves somewhere in the main lobby. There’s also a few musicians playing a flute or violin somewhere while they hang out with friends.

Cosplay #

It rained during this year’s ACen, so the cosplay gatherings moved inside for half the time.

The cosplay gatherings are becoming more organized every year. Just about every cosplay gathering will have someone designated as a countdown person, who’s job it is to countdown from five or ten how long the cosplayers and photographers have to to hold poses or take pictures before the next set will start.

I was lucky enough to grab this panorama shot of the DC cosplay gathering on Friday when it wasn’t too crowded yet. Most other gatherings, especially on Saturday, are way too crowded to jump in for a quick shots– getting there early is encouraged.

Cosplay Day 1 Favorites #

Cosplay Day 2 Favorites #

Cosplay Day 3 Favorites #

Photo Albums #

Final Thoughts #

Anime Central is growing and I’m seeing some of the same cosplayer faces again this year. Their main floor layout changed this year with the artist alley section being moved to the the side, providing the floor more space for fans to move around. The video game room moved to the main convention center building, which is a lot better than its location last year in the Hyatt. Everything is just better than last year.

This is a convention that fans and cosplayers enjoy a lot. I had fun– although I wish it didn’t rain, but that’s out of all our control!

I post cosplay photos from conventions on my Instagram often at: @sunpech. My next convention is San Diego Comic Con!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

2017-05-08T09:00:00-05:00

I enjoyed watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, it’s what a space adventure movie should be! What I especially love about the movie is that every character has his/her moment in the movie. It’s a great sequel to the amazing first movie.

The movie has FIVE post credit scenes, yes 5, so be sure to stay through the entire credit scroll to catch them all. This is my spoiler filled review of the movie, so read no further if you haven’t watched the movie yet!

As director James Gunn has said, the movie is about family. The relationships between Peter Quill and his father, Ego was explored as the main story arc. But the sister relationship between Gamora and Nebula, as well as Yondu and his former crew, were also explored briefly. I loved this character stories, but there were a lot of characters.

A little over halfway through the movie I was wondering when the main villain would reveal itself and give focus as to what our heroes should be doing. Don’t get me wrong, a Marvel movie actually developed a villain with a backstory this time, but the evil plot dropped in the last twenty minutes of the film. The Sovereign never struck me as evil, just an advanced stuck-up race that had a dispute with the Guardians of the Galaxy (GotG) about stolen batteries– of course sure they wanted to kill them, but not evil per se.

The movie felt like a series of television episodes cut together where you can see each character’s story arc. The team really only fought together at the beginning and end of the movie. The whole middle was just short character stories.

All of this isn’t bad, it just deviates from a more traditional movie story structure by having what seems like a lengthy middle section with short beginning and ending parts.

Yondu, played by Michael Rooker went out in a blaze of glory in a touching and appropriate ending. He also had some of the best lines of the movie.

“I’m Mary Poppins, y’all!”
“He may have been your father but he wasn’t your daddy.”

There are also some dark stories that were just hinted at, probably because the movie is PG-13. For instance, Yondu did some child-trafficking for Ego’s children all over the universe. All but Peter Quill weren’t able to tap into the light, and what happened to them– remember all the skulls/bones that Gamora and Nebula found? Speaking of which, whenever Nebula lost to Gamora, Thanos would upgrade her body parts– that would require her parts to be broken or torn off to begin with. Yeah, super dark stuff.

Easter Eggs and Post-credits #

There were two scenes that had The Watchers along with Stan Lee’s cameo. Entertaining of course for comic cans, but a part of me wishes that it wasn’t a funny bit and was more serious since this race only watches/observes things without interfering, especially when something big is happening. With Thanos coming for the Infinity stones, I thought they would us that to that.

I’m surprised they were even in the MCU, because Watcher Uatu is part of the Fantastic Four comics, which Fox owns as part of their movie contract. I’m guessing Marvel probably has rights to use their race, and specifically not Uatu. Perhaps that is the reason it had to be reduced to a cameo rather than the Watcher looking upon Earth’s sector from the moon, because that would have to be Uatu specifically.

Adam Warlock was teased in the second to last post credit scene in the cocoon that Ayesha had created. In the comics his character is deeply tied into the Soul Gem, but I think he’s going to be saved for later, post Infinity War movies (Avengers 3 and 4). This character is kind of a big deal as he’s pretty much the leader of heroes in the cosmic universe– when big things happens, he’s there leading and strategizing the team.

The original Guardians of the Galaxy from the comics were in the movie:

Stakar Ogord - Sylvester Stallone
Aleta Ogord - Michelle Yeoh
Charlie 27 - Ving Rhames
Mainframe - Miley Cyrus
Martinex - Michael Rosenbaum

Yondu used to be a part of this team. I remember reading that Marvel had plans for them in future movies, but I don’t think it’s set in stone yet.

Final Thoughts #

I really enjoy the Guardians of the Galaxy and the whole space adventure stories of the MCU. I thought Thor movies would be the ones to tell stories of the cosmic universe in an amazing way, but it was really Guardians of the Galaxy that delivered on that so far. Although I think the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok, will help push the cosmic universe even further– I already love the other worldly colors in the trailers. It just really takes me out of the Earth experience.

The cosmic universe is the post Phase 3 goal for Marvel. If they can just get beyond Earth heroes and stories, a whole universe of possibilities will open up.

It’s not just Disney/Marvel, but all of Hollywood that walks on eggs shells when it comes to the creative stories involving foreign countries, mainly China, where they have to make compromises as to how they depict foreign governments and outright censorship just so they can get their movies into the countries. With a larger cosmic universe, they are no longer limited to Earth, their stories are only limited by their imagination, or budget.

C2E2 2017

2017-04-26T09:00:00-05:00

This past weekend I went to C2E2 over at McCormick Place. Once again I wasn’t able to obtain a press pass, so I went as a civilian photographer– I bought my 3-day pass. Every year I’m going to try, and every year I’m probably going to get denied!

C2E2 isn’t too big that it’s uncomfortable to go as an individual or even as a family. McCormick Place is huge and there’s plenty of room to expand in case the crowd size does ever get bigger. I’ve been to San Diego Comic Con, and the show floor you are often walking shoulder to shoulder, back to back on the industry side of the hall. It is crowded and often uncomfortable.

I go to C2E2 for three reasons:

Celebrity guest spotlights
Comic/Industry panels
Cosplay

Celebrity Spotlights #

This year I spent more time at the main stage and panels than on the show floor taking photos of cosplayers. The main stage is where they do almost all the celebrity spotlight panels. It’s a big room that seats about 700-800 people. I really like how the main stage doesn’t restrict attendees from walking around to take photos. So I was able to move all around the room to take photos with my 70-200mm zoom.

The moderator for most of the spotlight panels was Clare Kramer. She did an amazing job as usual.

Most main stage panels are easy to get into. There are usually a few that are very popular that do fill to capacity. The two I wasn’t able to attend because of that were the Stan Lee/Frank Miller and the Agents of SHIELD spotlights. Something was also wrong with the projector that caused some delay and threw off my schedule.

Wil Wheaton #

The conversation with Wil Wheaton was vast, everything from table top gaming to mental health. I think at one point he pointed out that he was the cheaper or less expensive version of Chris Hardwick or something to that liking. Funny!

Zachary Levi #

I confess that I’ve never watched an episode of Chuck before. But I do know Zachary Levi from his role as Fandral from the Thor movies. He is a funny man that can entertain a room by himself– no need for a moderator because he can move the conversation along by himself with fans.

Jason David Frank #

I was never a fan of The Might Morphin Power Rangers US tv show. I used to watch the original Japanese show whenever I visited Thailand as a kid and just couldn’t get into the US version.

That said, I admire how much Jason David Frank works to connect with his fans. He does a lot of conventions every year and is able to be grateful and enthusiastic the whole time.

Michael Cudlitz #

Best known as Abraham from The Walking Dead, Michael Cudlitz is not forgotten. Sorry spoilers!

Frank Miller #

Frank Miller is comic icon. From writing, drawing, to directing, this guy has done just about everything. I really enjoyed his Sin City books as well as his original Dark Knight Returns books.

Vincent D’Onofrio #

Vincent D’Onofrio has starred in so many movies I’ve enjoyed over the years. His latest is as Wilson Fisk (Kingpin) in Daredevil.

Millie Bobby Brown #

The Millie Bobby Brown panel was one of my favorites! Like everyone else, I’m a big fan of the hit show, Stranger Things! Her character, [Eleven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleven_(Stranger_Things) was amazing and I can’t wait for Season 2!

I can’t believe she’s only 13 years old! She holds herself up so well for being so young. The stories she shared was incredibly funny too!

A few things she shared:

She loves the 1980s and thinks it was a wonderful and safe time compared to today.
Some of her favorite movies are E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Goonies.
When she hung out with older celebrities, after having some drinks they would give her their cell phone numbers.
The Cubs hat she wore just for Chicago fans. She saw it at the airport and her dad went and bought her one.
She liked having the crew cut, not a fan of growing her hair out.

Mike Colter #

I thought it was hilarious how many guys were hitting on Mike Colter at his spotlight panel. The running joke was that they were asking him out for coffee, as in it’s just coffee. Inside joke, you need to have watched Luke Cage to get it.

Comic/Industry Panel #

The only comic book related panel I went to was the one held by Comicstorian and ComicsExplained. It was fun just like last year, I had to leave early to prepare for the Crown Championship of Cosplay.

Cosplay #

I spent maybe 20% of my time on the floor taking photos of cosplayers. The bulk 80% was in panels and the main stage. I generally avoid the main floor because it has the ugly red carpet with horrible lighting.

The cosplay, year after year, is just getting better. The work that goes into the costumes really shows, and the cosplayers are becoming pros at posing for the camera. It’s a real treat to be a part of it all.

Although I have to admit that half of the cosplay I see I don’t even know where it’s from. They pull from so many different genres and stories that I cannot keep up.

Crown Championships of Cosplay #

This was the first time I attended the Crown Championships of Cosplay. Last year I thought about going but was too tired. Then when I saw the pictures from the event, I regretted not going, so I was determined to go this year. I was glad I did went through the trouble of getting a wristband– the event is so popular that they hand out wristbands the day of so people don’t stand in line all day to get in.

There were four categories that contests competed in:

Needlework
Armor
FX
Larger than Life

My favorites were the Larger than Life and Armor categories. Anything that looks battle-ready and looks like it was straight off a movie set gets me excited. The work and craftsmanship that went into the costumes really showed. I have no idea how the judges could pick winners out of them.

Final Thoughts #

Friends have asked if it’s worth going to. Simple answer: Yes!

The venue is big enough to accommodate larger crowds than what shows up on any day. There’s plenty of room to grow.

Have kids? No problem, comic cons have been more family friendly than ever before! Want to dress up or cosplay? Go ahead, you’ll fit in even more!

C2E2 is everything a medium-sized convention should be for comics and entertainment. It has celebrity and comic industry guests that’s accessible to all that show up. They have great exclusives and merchandise to buy. C2E2 is way better than Wizard World. The only things they don’t have is what you would find at large conventions such as SDCC and NYCC: big industry presence that brings exclusive content and big parties. But that is all to be expected.

Photo Albums #

Here are links to full photo albums on my Facebook Page.

Logan

2017-03-15T09:00:00-05:00

I liked the movie, but I didn’t love Logan. It was the best Wolverine movie Fox has made, but that bar is rather low to clear. After 17 years of playing the character, it was a good send off for Hugh Jackman. He really made the character his own over the years, despite being different from the comics-Wolverine character.

The Good #

What I liked about the movie is that it continues to stay true to movie-Wolverine character that Jackman has made in his solo movies. His character has always been conflicted about being a team player and helping others unless he really has to. He’s lived a long time and has done some terrible things and has lost everyone he’s close to. Much like a soldier that’s come home from a war with PTSD, he can’t find peace within.

I enjoyed the R-rating. Thank you Deadpool. A Wolverine has claws that are for ripping through everything.

Seeing Laura (X-23), played by Dafne Keen kill and maim soldiers was really fun. I do wish she had more lines to develop her relationship with Logan more. I hope there’s a director’s cut!

The Bad #

What I disliked is how the movie about the mutants is one where the mutant cause lost. Since Days of Future Past, we know there are multiple timelines. The Logan movie is branch of the darkest timeline where mutants aren’t being born anymore, Xavier no longer has his X-Men, and the story ends with genetically created mutant children are fleeing because there is no place in the world for them. There is no hope.

A movie that is like a one-shot comic that is mostly disconnected from main X-Men movie franchise. It doesn’t serve to further the stories of the X-Men and their cause, it serves to pay tribute to Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart. Both the actors were amazing, but what about Charles’ dream of humans and mutants coexisting? There is no story about the humanity redeeming itself, just death or running to hide.

I enjoy movie violence, but was anyone else bothered by how the children teamed up to kill Donald Pierce, played by Boyd Holbrook? His death was a team effort of kids surrounding him using all their powers at once to crush and bind him with grass or whatever powers there were.

Final Thoughts #

Fox has been doing X-Men movies for a 17 years, and just like the comic book industry, has all kinds of continuity problems with their stories. There was never a singular grand story they wanted to tell that built on the previous movies. The commitment to telling X-Men stories is not there. Fox just wants to make movies with just imagination to appease movie goers, but not the hardcore X-Men fans.

The movie is good, but not great. The actors really shine, but I’m left feeling sad and empty that it ended in a non-victory. So now the X-franchise is going back to the 90s to do the Dark Phoenix saga, again? It’s a mess, and I’d rather they return the rights back to Marvel Studios, and reboot it all.

YouTubers Reviews #

Book Links #

Some related reading material on the X-Men and Wolverine.

X-Men History Documentaries #

I love watching the X-Men documentaries by ComicBookGirl19. Highly recommended.

Comic Book Movies of 2017

2017-01-26T09:00:00-05:00

Last year I wrote a post about Super Hero Movies of 2016. I wanted to do the same for 2017, as it looks to be another amazing year for comic fans.

2017 Rankings #

This is the ranking, 1-6, ranked from most looking forward to, to least.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May 5, 2017)
Wonder Woman (June 2, 2017)
Thor: Ragnarok (November 3, 2017)
Justice League (November 17, 2017)
Spiderman: Homecoming (July 7, 2017)
Logan (March 3, 2017)

Logan #

I cannot get excited about Fox’s Logan. It has everything to do with the fact that I haven’t enjoyed a single standalone Wolverine movie. There was X-men Origins: Wolverine in 2009, which was a missed opportunity to tell a good origin story, not to mention they totally messed up Deadpool. In 2013, The Wolverine was boring. A scene that really bothered me was how Wolverine was unable to beat ninjas in the snow. It’s just another Wolverine movie that takes few cues from the comics.

The X-Men franchise rests on Hugh Jackman’s shoulders. I thank him for his portrayal and years of dedication to playing Wolverine, but I’d like to see him retire the role to someone else. I think that’s what this movie is, his final farewell and possibly a passing of the torch. I think it’s best I go in with low expectations.

Release date: March 3, 2017

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 #

The first Guardians of the Galaxy movie is my favorite movie from the MCU thus far. I have high expectations for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and I suspect I won’t be disappointed. Marvel made a great space adventure movie out of characters that weren’t super popular in the comics. Unlike Marvels Earth-bound heroes, this rag-tag group of misfits aren’t bound by anything and are free to be as fun and creative as they want. The colors and backdrop of other worlds is so refreshing compared to the rather bland look of Earth-based movies. I have the utmost confidence in James Gunn.

Release date: May 5, 2017

Wonder Woman #

I’ve been waiting for this Wonder Woman movie for what seems like decades now. Warner Bros/DC has really pushed Batman and Superman for years and have neglected the third of the holy trinity of DC Comics, Wonder Woman. I’m both excited and scared for this movie, as they cannot afford to mess it up.

I reviewed both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, and they are both so gloomy and depressing. The DCEU needs to turn things around and give fans hope.

Release date: June 2, 2017

Spider-man: Homecoming #

Similar to Wolverine’s character in movies, I also have a hard time looking forward to seeing Spider-man on the big screen. There’s just been too many bad movies and reboots. I liked seeing Tom Holland in Civil War, but that was just a small intro of a young, sarcastic, and funny modern Spider-man.

I like Spider-man, but we’ll see if Sony/Marvel teamup can undo years of terrible movies.

Release date: July 7, 2017

Thor: Ragnarok #

I look forward to seeing this buddy space road trip of Thor and the Hulk. Thor: Ragnarok should help set up Avengers: Infinity War. Rumor has it that it will combine elements of the Planet Hulk story by Greg Pak. I also really look forward to seeing Cate Blanchett as Hela.

Release date: November 3, 2017

Justice League #

I really hope they don’t screw up Justice League (JL). If DCEU can’t get their first JL movie right, then they should consider just rebooting their entire franchise. I love Ben Affleck as Batman, and I’m surprised at how great Gal Gadot looks as Wonder Woman, but I’m just don’t like the look of Cyborg. And I’m not sure I can get over a non-blonde Aquaman.

Release date: November 17, 2017

Calendar #

There’s a nice spread of movies for 2017.

Final Thoughts #

This year looks like another great one for comic fans. But most of the movies represent how well a studio can improve upon what they’ve done before (Logan, Spider-man, and Justice League). Plenty of room for excitement, but also plenty for disappointment too for flops.

Doctor Strange

2016-11-14T09:00:00-05:00

The last MCU movie for 2016, Doctor Strange came out last week. This is my spoilery review which covers some plot points and my thoughts of it’s potential impact on the movie universe.

I really enjoyed the movie. It was an origin movie that formally introduced magic and the multiverse into Marvel’s cinematic universe. This is a big deal because it opens the door to infinite possibilities for how they wish to expand or even link universes together– I’m looking at Fox’s Deadpool/X-Men franchise here. Hey, I can dream can’t I?

The Good #

The cast is amazing. Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, and Tilda Swinton were all great choices for their roles.

I know many were upset and accused “Hollywood” with the white-washing in regards to the The Ancient One. I disagree. There are politics involved with the comics character being Tibetan, which can offend not only people but also result in the Chinese government banning the movie in their country. So it’s a good move for them to not cast the character as an Asian role altogether– and not to mention that do we need to keep pushing the stereotype of Asian monks being martial arts experts with mystical powers? I think casting Tilda Swinton avoids all that because they gave a special role to an equally amazing actress. There is a part of me that questions whether or not she’s human or not– she may just be a unicorn in disguise.

I like how they elevated Wong to be more than a butler/sidekick in the comics to an actual sorcerer. I look forward to where they take this character with the talented Benedict Wong.

Wong confirmed that the Eye of Agamotto is an Infinity Stone, as many comic fans suspected. Thanos is coming for it!

I was pretty excited when Baron Mordo mentions that his weapon is the staff of the Living Tribunal. The Living Tribunal is a cosmic entity that is considered the second most powerful entity in Marvel comics. Although I don’t think they will fully translate this from the comics, it was a nice nod for comics fans. But if they do, oh my gawd!

I really liked how Doctor Strange dealt with Dormammu at the end. It became apparent that he couldn’t win the battle by brute force or stronger magic against a more experienced Kaecilius. The path to victory was for Strange to enter a time loop where he would fail time and again in sacrifice for planet Earth, something his character has a hard time admitting.

The after credits scenes were perfect. The one with Thor links the movie back to the MCU and teases that wizards have a part to play in next year’s Thor: Ragnarok movie. The second after credits scene shows that the real opponent of Doctor Strange is Baron Mordo, to which he has a case about there being too many wizards messing around with the laws of nature.

The Bad #

There’s not many things that’s bad about the movie, this is more me being nit picky.

Disney/Marvel often glosses over background stories to their villains and focus their stories on heroes. This movie is no exception. Yes, I get it that it’s a movie for mass appeal, but not developing major characters keeps those movie from being timeless for the ages. I would have liked to have 5 more minutes on how Kaecilius fell and turned against the Acient One.

I would have wanted the Doctor Strange movie to be, well, more strange. I mean this in the sense that I wish it went full on Harry Potter magic/fantasy with significant stories and background on artifacts, books, weapons, capes, etc. For example, the Cloak of Levitation seemed to choose it’s host, much like Aladdin’s magic carpet. Just a few more lines, a paragraph going into this would have satisfied me.

Final Thoughts #

The movie is a great addition to MCU, as it’s a good movie on it’s own, but also advances the Phase 3 storyline lead-up to Avengers - Infinity War. It suffers slightly in how they gloss over what I consider interesting bits in favor of appealing to a larger audience. I’m hoping they dive deeper into adapted material from the comics or even expand upon it in sequels.

They haven’t granted Doctor Strange the title of Sorcerer Supreme yet, so there’s more story, conflict, and learning to come. As Baron Mordo said, there are consequences to come from breaking the laws of nature.

youTube Reviews #

Here are some recommended video reviews on Doctor Strange that I enjoyed.

Suicide Squad

2016-08-11T09:00:00-05:00

My quick non-spoiler-y thoughts on Suicide Squad:

I went in with low expectations, overall, the movie was just okay. I was entertained, but not blown away by anything. If you are expecting what you saw the trailers, you are probably going to be disappointed. It’s worth a watch if you want to keep up with the DC movie universe.

Disclaimer: I watched the movie for free with my T-Mobile Tuesday App, which gave me free tickets. If I had spent money, I might be slightly more disappointed.

Everything below is my spoiler filled review of the movie.

The Good #

Viola Davis killed it as Amanda Waller. She was absolutely ruthless and I swear the temperature of the theater dropped a few degrees whenever she was on screen.

Cara Delevingne looks amazing as the Enchantress. I’ve always been fascinated with creepy witch-based characters in super hero movies– the first of which was Scarlett Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron when she stood behind Tony Stark at the beginning of the movie. Throughout the movie I wanted to see more of her and I loved the dark aura they put on her. I wasn’t a fan of her dance while she was channeling her energy to build the world ending contraption.

The scene where Dr. Moone summons Enchantress was one of my favorites. The hand flip was both creepy and amazing!

The Okay #

Joker and Harley Quinn were just okay. It’s hard for Jared Leto to follow Heath Ledger’s rendition in Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies. To add to that, it’s also hard for the crazy duo to follow the voice actings of Mark Hamill and Tara Strong for Joker/Quinn. Although I must say that Margot Robbie really does look like Harley, but there could be another movie to explore their toxic crazy relationship. It’s got potential to be great though.

Diablo was a nice touch and had a good final battle. I think it would have been better if as the demon, he sacrificed himself to take out the Enchantress’ brother rather than the underground explosive device. The demon versus monster should have been played up more. I just didn’t buy into him believing that his Suicide Squad was his family– perhaps there was more to it in another edit/version of the film?

The Bad #

From the numerous trailers that came out, my impression was that they were just going to have fun where bad guys would be tasked to do things the government couldn’t ask of anyone else– yet the movie toned it down, made the worst of the worse likable, relatable, and heroic. A team of super villains should contrast deeply with a team of heroes with how they do things right? Not in this movie.

You can really tell which actors the movie editor(s) had obligations to put the spotlight on more than others. Half of the movie’s dialogue belongs to Will Smith. Often times I forgot that Killer Croc, Captain Boomerang, Katana, and Slipknot were even in the team– well the last for obvious reasons. I think Harley Quinn’s butt had more screen time than Killer Croc. Katana’s blade wasn’t even utilized to capture any souls– it may as well have just been a regular sword!

I liked the short character intro they did at the beginning, but the constant flashbacks of Joker/Harley was annoying and ruined the pace of the movie. As much as I enjoy the Joker, there should have been less of him, and more about the squad.

The scene where Joker deactivates the explosive tracker in Harley’s neck and rescues her was a complete waste. Waller is captured anyway and Harley rejoins the team afterwards. It served little purpose.

Ocean’s Eleven is an example of how to handle a big cast and deliver a great well paced story where everyone has their moment and backstory told.

Suicide Squad shouldn’t have to deal with end-of-the-world type threats. The team dynamics would function better as a heist movie where so many things go wrong and they have to adapt. Anything where the focus is on action and moving the story along instead of slow breaks for flashbacks. The movie has a simple plot, but it’s filled with lines from Deadshot, and an abundance of Joker/Harley flashbacks.

In the comics, Suicide Squad is made up of B-grade villains that Batman could fight by himself. They are really out of their league when it comes to fighting some true magic wielding meta villains.

Final Thoughts #

Suicide Squad is a movie that has problems. The overall story was wrong, the editing was messy, the pacing was slow and didn’t match the advertised trailers, and the dialogue was horrendous at times. But I still gave it an okay instead of a thumbs down– here’s why: Suicide Squad is the kind of movie studios should be taking chances on. Mistakes were made, and they should learn from them.

If a sequel is green lit, I’d like to see them go with a full R-rating and create a story that is within the scope of the character’s abilities. It should be pure chaos, action, and violence.

YouTuber Reviews #

Here are some of my favorite youTubers with their spoiler-y reviews of the movie.

San Diego Comic Con 2016

2016-07-26T01:00:00-05:00

Just got back from San Diego Comic Con and I’m super exhausted! My sisters and I were lucky this year and we got rooms at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, just a few blocks away from the convention center. I even nabbed myself a Superman Conan FunkoPop that was being raffled away in the very same hotel we were staying at!

The weather was hot as the sun was unforgiving most of the time during the day. I mostly stayed inside taking photos and walking the floor. So I don’t have many pics of the off-site and outside events, as it was just too damn hot!

The Good #

Pokemon Go #

If you played PoGo, then no doubt you would be staring at your phone and playing all the time.

Pokemon Go was an extremely popular mobile game at Comic Con this year. I’d guess that about a third of the people were playing it. At many of the pokestops, lure modules were going off non-stop. I personally enjoyed catching a bunch of new Pokemon and leveling up to 23 doing some mass evolves with a lucky egg.

I went to the Niantic Labs panel, Re-Imaging Reality: Bringing Games Into the Real World With Ingress and Pokemon Go, in Hall H on Sunday where the founde, John Hanke, revealed the team leaders. There was a rumor that a legendary Pokemon would drop in Hall H– which turned out to be just that, a rumor. The vibe I got was that they wouldn’t make such Pokemon available until the game is fully released worldwide.

Marvel and DC #

Everything from Marvel and DC looks good in terms of TV and movies.

The Wonder Woman Comic Con trailer looked amazing, also the Justice League trailer was also good. Ths shows how the DCEU, Warner Brothers, is making corrections from Snyder’s gritty universe with Superman.

Marvel did well too with a new Doctor Strange trailer along with the official announcement that Brie Larson is the new Captain Marvel. I heard that Guardians of the Galaxy 2 exclusive footage also looked great.

Netflix is rocking it with Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders teasers.

Source: @hardwick

Favorite Eats #

I’m a big foodie and these are the places I always go to when I’m in San Diego.

Other Good Stuff #

The Kevin Smith panel on Saturday night was great as usual. Hall H does empty out by evening so his panel is quite doable with a short line. I love hearing his stories, but his Q & A is section of his panel is getting shorter, as his stories get longer. It’s just a nice way to wind down a long day at a con.

I really enjoy having Conan O’Brien at Comic Con. Although I never get tickets, it’s another fun way to wind down a long day by watching his show at night.

They seem to have downgraded the playback room to a smaller room in the San Diego Marriott Marquis and Marina. The room used to be in the Omni Hotel, but the room never fully fills to capacity.

The RFID badge system was great, despite slowing entrance/exits a bit. The pickup for bags, brochures, and lanyards is significantly shorter by having badges mailed before hand.

The Bad #

Security and staff/volunteer training is getting worse.

It’s becoming a media circus and the mobs of fans that crowd the booths to see their movie and TV stars is getting to be ridiculous. In previous years I would be able to go take quick photos and go about my business. Now it’s a crowd rush where I am stuck a tight crowd of hundreds of fans for 30-40 minutes. The fans are becoming unruly and pushy, and worst of all the security are less professional. A few security guards actually made the situation worse by being aggressive and taunting the crowd.

Comic Con is basically line con– there are lines for everything. I normally don’t get in lines for anything because I know it’s not worth it. Well, I was reminded of that when I was line a the American Gods booth, or at least what I thought was the line. I asked the end of the line volunteer if this was the end of the line for the booth, he said “yes”. So I get in line and wait about 5-10 minutes when a more senior staff member brings another group of people, tells everyone in line to step back from the booth, and tells us all to go to the end of the line along the wall. Basically, the 40-50 people waiting in line at the booth, weren’t really in line because no staff there could direct or coordinate things. I just left, reminded once again that it’s not worth getting in line for something unless you are really interested or are buying something.

Pictures #

The collages below are just some of my favorites I picked out. I posted the rest on my Facebook page. The links to the photo albums are below.

Out and About #

The amount of off site events is growing– essentially making the entire city of San Diego a comic convention. However, because it was so hot, I did not go to visit many of the sites because waiting in line in sun for hours is just a bad idea.

Cosplay #

The quality of the cosplay is improving, but there doesn’t seem to be as many people cosplaying like in previous years. This might just be because Comic Con is becoming more mainstream and many cosplayers are unable to get tickets like before.

Celebrities #

I enjoy taking photos of TV and movie stars. Of course they are beautiful and are there to promote their new work. But one of the things I notice is that some stars are there and are really happy to be there. They are grateful to fans and do what they so everyone is having a good time. Then there are others that may just be tired, or are just there because they are obligated to be there and put forth minimum effort. I thank everyone for greeting and signing posters to fans, but extra kudos to those that put in more because it really shows.

Photo Albums #

Normally I organize by day, but this time I’m organizing the albums by topic/theme.

Final Thoughts and Tips #

Besides snacks, drinks and comfy shoes/clothes, the best thing you can bring with you to Comic Con is a positive attitude. It’s a big party of 100,000+ people, so there’s bound to be people that are out to hate and put their needs over others. But if you can stay positive, be respectful, and offer understanding, then you are bound to help others around you.

The staff working the booths are people too. They stand for long hours and deal with hundreds if not thousands of fans every day. A simple please, thank you, or have a nice day can go a long way not only for them, but for yourself.

Example: Every year I pick up the TV Guide magazines at the WB booth. Thing is, they hand them out randomly, but mostly on the first day (Thursday), because Friday-Sunday is filled with a lot of signing schedules. This year I went on Saturday to try to pick them up, I asked this booth staff when they would hand them out, he told me not that day and to come back tomorrow, Sunday. So I thanked him and left. Next day, which is the last, I come back asking for the magazine and he said they wold hand them out later after this signing. I told him my situation that I would have to leave for the airport by the time they were going to hand them out– so he told me to go to the back and he would get them for me. He didn’t have to, but he was nice enough to. I thanked him again and told him that he saved me a lot of time.

So as a fan, we go to Comic Con wanting things, from seeing panels, celebrities, free stuff, toys, trailers, etc. We should remind ourselves that we are lucky to even go to Comic Con when so many others are not able to get tickets. I hope the rude behaviors I saw this year was mostly due to the heat.

Comic Con is incredibly fun for those that enjoy story telling and entertainment in all it’s various forms. I’ve been going to comic conventions for 21 years now. Things have changed so much and gotten so much better not only for the industry, but for fans. I hope this trends continues for years to come.

YouTube Playlists of Comic Con #

Flick and the City SDCC 2016 Panel Playlist - A rather extensive list of panels from Hall H and Ballroom 20.
Emergency Awesome SDCC 2016 Playlist
Nerdist at SDCC 2016 Playlist
Collider Videos - Not a playlist, since they seem to have deleted their SDCC playlist.

Warcraft Movie

2016-06-14T09:00:00-05:00

This is my review for the Warcraft movie, which is based off the video game.

I normally give a spoiler warning, but I won’t say enough about the plot of the movie to ruin anyone’s experience. But in case you are sensitive to any information and want to go in fresh, then you should stop reading now– but I doubt that since you’ve read this far already.

I do have some background in playing Warcraft III, World of Warcraft (WoW), Hearthstone, and other games from Blizzard Entertainment. I played WoW for 4-5 months, leveling my Tauren Warrior to level 52 before quitting because it took too much of my time. I have basic familiarity with the lore, but by no means am an expert or hardcore fan.

The movie was just okay for me. Definitely not good, but also not as bad as it’s Rotten Tomatoes score: 27% currently.

Fantasy-based movies and TV shows are hard to make for a wide audience. No matter how much or how many people enjoyed the Lord of the Rings trilogy, some people will find it incredibly dull and won’t watch it. The same could be said for the very popular Game of Thrones series. One thing they have in common is that need time to build out the fantasy world and characters– it’s not a simple 1-2 hour commitment, it’s many many hours.

You don’t have to be a fan to enjoy the movie, but fans will enjoy the movie more because there are Easter eggs hidden throughout. I watched the movie in 3D, which I don’t recommend for anyone because it’s distracting to have the eyes wander around the screen looking for things.

Blizzard has been building and expanding on the fantasy world for more than 20 years now. There’s no way that a movie can capture it in a few hours. There are more races, conflicts, characters than what is presented in the movie.

The best parts of the movie were the orcs and magic portrayed. Duncan Jones set out to portray both sides and he did a good job fleshing out the orc tribe. The CGI looked amazing and the actors were phenomenal. I really was taken into their characters that I just didn’t see actors behind the animation at all. The magic didn’t need any explaining, it was just fun.

The weakest parts of the movie were the humans– I just could not care about them or their race. The writing and casting was just weak over all. The human cities was big, but so short that as a viewer you don’t get to breathe it all in.

The overall story was rather simple. That’s why it’s doing well in the box office in China and overseas– it’s a visual story that doesn’t require reading subtitles to understand what’s going on. But there were still things that could have been better explained if they chose to do more narration. If you can’t show it due to time constraints, explain it.

I hope that Blizzard will keep making movies based on their video game properties. What makes their games fun is their craft in making compelling characters and stories. Now this movie may not be a hit in the United States, but I’m sure it’ll make them money world-wide. I want a Warcraft sequel. I want a Starcraft movie. I’d love to see an Overwatch TV series even. I would really love to see them stretch beyond video games.

Blizzard has a lot of stories to offer and I hope they break into the mainstream like Marvel has.

Other Reviews #

If you want something more in depth, check out these youTubers.

X-Men Apocalypse

2016-05-29T09:00:00-05:00

This is my spoiler filled review for the latest X-Men movie. I also talk about all the previous X-Men movies. It won’t be pretty.

I did not care for X-Men: Apocalypse.

I went in with low expectations and came out disappointed with what I saw. This is coming from someone who read some of the X-Men comics as well as watched the 1990s animated TV series.

The problem is it’s a movie where things happen, has characters from the X-Men universe, but in name only. It’s a bad description because it’s a bad movie. The movie is as hollow as the characters presented. I got sick of seeing flashbacks of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr’s friendship– it could only be worse if it were in montage.

Bryan Singer seems to ground his super heroes in reality and avoids anything over-the-top or similar to the comics. The action sequences are all rather plain by today’s standards. In the final battle, the heroes were launching a stream of energy and projectiles at Apocalypse for ten minutes. It’s not exciting to see someone stand in place with their arms up with the computer graphics (CG) doing most of the work.

The appearance of Wolverine as Weapon X is a gimmick. His appearance wasn’t a surprise as it was shown in the trailer. It’s used to help boost interest with a beloved character, but isn’t a main character in the movie. He was a misused plot device to get the inexperienced mutants out of a heavily guarded base. If they can’t fight against human guards, how are they supposed to fight against Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen later? It should have been an opportunity to show them work together to overcome obstacles rather than to easily stumble upon Weapon X.

The scene where a young Jean Grey, played by Sophie Turner, helped Wolverine remove the head gear was just awkward. The following scene, when he runs off into the woods was also strange. It’s as if they added that scene very last minute.

I’m thankful to Hugh Jackman taking on the challenge of playing Wolverine for all these years, but I’d like to see him hang it up and pass the mantel on to someone else– or better yet, retire the character for a few years and give a chance for other mutants to shine.

Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is not a mutant that is ever front and center in the comics– her mutant power is attuned for behind the scenes and in espionage. Because of her rise to fame in Hollywood, she’s given a lead role in the last two X-Men films. Her lines in the movie are poorly written and she seeminlgy wasn’t interested in reprising the role and or having the makeup process done to her as she was in human form for most of the movie.

Apocalypse was also very disappointing. Oscar Isaac is an amazing actor and this role and script was beneath his talent. The costume was not menacing and his human size was rather comical. Everything that made Apocalypse an awesome villain in the comics or TV series was left out. He’s immortal, has many undefined powers, and is augmented by celestial technologies. The latter I thought could have been incorporated into the movie to show just how powerful he was.

Cyclops has always been a big fail in the movies. He the X-Men’s leader, a straight arrow, and borderline difficult to have fun with, but he always keeps the team in check. Yet in the movies, he always fades into the background behind Wolverine. His love for Jean Grey is monumentally important, especially when it comes to the Phoenix stories, yet it’s never been properly portrayed. In this movie he’s been reduced to just screaming while he uses his optic blast.

The Danger Room was a nice touch, too bad it came at the end of the movie. It should actually be used to show team building and training. Speaking of which, that Danger Room fight in X3 was the best part of that movie.

The post credits scene with Essex Corp hints at Mr. Sinister and possibly X-23. It’s not terribly exciting, as Sinister’s origin is tied to Apocalypse, as well as Cable– it’s all terribly complicated. If this is the direction they’re going, I hope they can simplify their stories.

Evan Peters’ QuickSilver was the most fun part about the movie. QuickSilver is a good example of how they can have fun with characters and their powers. On top of that, he’s is actually more powerful than what I’ve seen in the comics. It’s interesting that Peters and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were both in Kick Ass, and they both play QuickSilver for different studios.

Other Issues:

There’s no way Angel could ever beat the Blob in the cage scene.
Moira MacTaggert’s line about Nightcrawler being out of energy after the group teleport was just silly. Is this a video game where they have power bars visible?
How could Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Nightcrawler not get caught when the helicopter landed? They were in a cage that neutralized their mutant powers!
Why bother having Jubilee in the movie? Her role has been or reduced to a brief appearance every time!
Psylocke had just a few lines in the whole movie and her character was completely undeveloped.
Who the heck says that Return of the Jedi sucked? No one.
If Apocalypse really wanted a quick way to wipe out humanity, why not just drop the missiles he launched instead of leaving them in space?
The movie has editing issues that makes me wonder if they will see the light of day with an director’s cut later on.

X-Men Movies #

There have been nine X-Men movies thus far, and I’m being generous and counting Deadpool as one of them. Just looking at the movie posters, you can see that six out of the nine have Wolverine in them. The franchise is more like Wolverine and the X-Men.

X-Men (2000) was good for it’s time, but it’s not a movie I have revisited much in recent years.

X-Men 2 (2003) is better than the first, but also does not stand the test of time. It falls into the trap of centering around Wolverine once again.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) is the worst movie of them all. It got Jean Grey’s Phoenix as well as all the characters wrong. It basically spat in the face of the movie and comic fans. I choose to ignore this movie as ever existing.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), despite it’s name, was a missed opportunity to tell Wolverine’s origin. This movie should have taken place in the past over many decades. The montage of the many wars Wolverine and Sabertooth fought in was the best part of the movie. And of course they got Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool completely wrong.

X-Men: First Class (2011) is probably the best X-Men movie to date. It was a fresh reboot that didn’t focus on Wolverine or other popular characters for once. It touched upon why humanity would be afraid of mutants– one of the core story elements to the comics! They gave a good origins story for Professor X and Magneto. The best part was that they recruited and trained young mutants along with team building, and gave a compelling reason for why mutants would join the antagonist, Sebastian Shaw. A solid movie all around.

The Wolverine (2013) was very boring movie. How is Wolverine unable to beat a bunch of ninjas?

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) was just okay at best. They centered the movie on the big Hollywood stars, Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Lawrence. The Sentinels looked awful and instead of breaking away from the old cast, they brought them back! At least this movie undid X3.

Deadpool (2015) is not really an X-Men film, but I enjoyed a proper introduction of Deadpool into the X-Men universe. Their portrayal of Colossus was spot on and showed how you can really have fun with characters with power.

X-Men: Apocalypse (2015) is on par with X3 in terms of crappiness.

Epic History X-Men #

If you want to understand and appreciate the history of the X-Men more, check out the video documentary series by Comicbookgirl 19. ~~Volume 3 should be out very soon by the time this blog post is published.~~

Update: Volume 3 is available for purchase here: Epic History X-Men, Volume 3: The Dark Phoenix Saga

Volume 1: The 60s Era #

Volume 2: The Phoenix Saga #

X-Men TV Show #

An X-Men television show would be a better medium than movies.

I remember when the Heroes TV series came out and was really excited. It was a show about individuals with special powers and how they deal with it spread across an entire season. It was a huge hit until season 2, when the writing quality just went downhill.

I can imagine an X-Men show being about mutants discovering their ability and being recruited to the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. There they are taught how to use their powers to find others, solve problems, and common things that you can parallel between those in real life that feel discriminated against or left out. Stories don’t have to be about the end of the world every time!

The problem with movie medium is that it always seems to have to be about a big catastrophic event. The best storytelling and character building should be around everyday things. Plus I don’t see a reason why they can’t do both, movie and TV. The X-Men universe is big enough that they could.

I’d love to see a show about heroes with powers done right!

Final Thoughts #

I’d like the X-Men franchise to reboot, minus what we’ve seen in Deadpool. Get Bryan Singer out and bring in a new director with a better vision. There’s a lot of continuity problems, yet he wants to reunite the old cast in a future movie. There are other mutants besides Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Professor X, and Magneto. That’s what made First Class great, it broke away from the same core movie X-Men. Singer also really likes blowing up mansions and destroying bridges. The imagery and CG is over used and has become a joke now.

I have no idea how they will ever do the Phoenix story line. It’s complex and involves alien races beyond the scope of Earth. It require a grown up Jean Grey and Scott Summers with a mature relationship.

Until things change, I will consider the X-Men franchise like the Transformers series, a money grab for studio executives that care very little for the source material. I’m sure many fans will continue to support and enjoy the X-Men movies, and that’s fine. I for one will not pay to watch crappy movies.

Recommended Books #

Anime Central 2016

2016-05-23T09:00:00-05:00

This past weekend I attended Anime Central, also known as ACen. I was given a press pass and attended all three days, May 20-22nd. My main goal was to take photos of cosplayers in and out of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. ACen is the Midwest’s largest anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture convention. It’s the third largest anime convention, but in recent news I’ve heard it’s the second now, behind Anime Expo (AX).

I was surprised by the number of people after the formal con hours. It seems as though the post-con parties is where the con really kicks things up. I’ve heard some con-goers compare ACen to DragonCon, in the sense that it runs around the clock through the weekend. After a full day of walking and taking photos, I was too tired for anything after 6pm!

I really like how ACen has the artist alley near the front, before many of the exhibitors. Most other conventions puts the artists to the side or the back where many convention goers may miss a lot of creative and/or local talent. Putting artist alley front/center allows most traffic to flow through and discover stuff you wouldn’t find easily online.

ACen’s gaming rooms are incredible. They had rooms for a League of Legends tournament, a free arcade room, retro games/gaming consoles, as well as more classical board and card game rooms. ACen offers games for which ever kind of gamer you are– and if not, you can bring your own and find people to play with you. What was also pretty sweet was the community of people willing to teach you how to play a particular game such as Go.

Cosplay #

I was impressed with the quality of cosplay at ACen. I didn’t think I would find such great subjects to photograph. I say this because I’m used to attending AX where the bar for cosplay is set pretty high.

However, many of the great cosplayers I saw didn’t hang out in the main lobby. A few of them were in the hotel lobby or outside near the gatherings and meetups. I walked back and forth all day long– to put it in context, I walked more on Friday at ACen than on any day at San Diego Comic Con last year.

One of the things I love about cosplay at anime conventions is how it encompasses everything from comics, anime, and manga to movies, TV shows, Disney, and cartoons, and even includes zombies and video games. The community is very open and inclusive to all forms of fandom.

Cosplay Day 1 Favorites #

Cosplay Day 2 Favorites #

Cosplay Day 3 Favorites #

Photo Albums #

Here are links to my full photo albums on my Facebook page.

Quick Tip on Drop-Offs #

The vehicle traffic can be pretty bad at times. If you’re going North on I-294 and are looking to do drop-offs or pick-ups, exit Balmoral Ave instead of exiting River Road like most people. There’s less traffic and lets you get to the convention center faster.

Final Thoughts #

My favorite cons to go to are San Diego Comic Con and Anime Expo, but they’re both in California. If you can’t attend those cons, give ACen a try. You don’t have to be an anime or manga fan to enjoy what they have to offer. I do notice a trend of dancing at many anime conventions– and if that’s your thing, you’ll love ACen’s dance culture.

There are a few things that I think they could do to improve the overall con experience:

Security - I never saw a weapons check booth. Plus many security guards were very lax on where people could enter/exit.
Traffic - At the con there seemed to be enough traffic guards, but the intersections just 1-2 blocks north on River Road didn’t have sufficient guidance for cars and people. This may be out of the hands of ACen staff though.
Cosplay - There are a lot of cosplayers just hanging out everywhere, there should be sections with backdrops with the ACen logos for photo ops. This should be in the main lobby where everyone hangs out anyway.

Anime Central is a great convention. I’d like to see it grow and offer anime, comic, and entertainment fans even more great panels, guests, and shows. I am reminded every time I attend a convention that I’m getting old. My first comic convention was in 1995, more than twenty years ago! Back then, it was just a comic convention for mostly guys that didn’t cater to girls or families. The only girls you saw back in the 90s were booth babes. ACen and other conventions today are bridging the gender gap and being more family-friendly. Being a geek today has never been so good, and it keeps getting better.

Captain America: Civil War

2016-05-17T09:00:00-05:00

This is my Captain America: Civil War review that contains spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, please stop reading now! I also provide some insights and predictions on what’s to come. I also assume you’ve seen all the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to date.

I’ve watched the movie twice now and I really like it. I even enjoyed it more the second time. Not only does it complete a trilogy of the Captain America movies, it also sets up Phase 3 of the MCU.

The Russo brothers did an excellent job directing some of the best comic book based movies of all time and I can’t wait for them to start with the Avengers Infinity War series. I’m amazed with how they handled action movies, considering that they are known for doing episodes of Arrested Development and Community.

Team Captain America #

I am very much with Steve Rogers– Captain America. This is a great clip from the movie on Cap’s view on signing the Sokovia Accords:

The United Nations is run by people with agendas that change. Signing the papers means surrendering your right to choose. Time and again it’s been shown that government and institutions cannot be trusted. The US Senate, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the World Security Council (WSC) were all infiltrated by Hydra.

I agree with Steve Rogers, the safest hands are always your own.

During the Battle of New York, the WSC’s decision was to nuke the city to save the world. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the helicarriers were taken over by Hydra and were repurposed into global massive killing flying battleships. Both were terrible ideas that Iron Man and Captain America each had to fix.

In Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve Rogers disobeys Colonel Chester Phillips and goes off to rescue Bucky and a hundred other captured US soldiers from the Hydra Nazis. This shows that Rogers not only has a strong friendship with Barnes but is also willing to do what he felt was right rather than be beholden to an authority.

The Sokovia Accords seem to conflict with the Good Samaritan law. Not that it should be used as a blanket excuse for all actions. The question becomes: is the enhanced being acting as a good samaritan/hero or for some other reason?

The Incredibles #

The issues present in Civil War are found in Disney’s The Incredibles. The government is paying for all the court cases and probably all the damage caused in the altercations by the Supers. There is also the cost of injuries sustained by the survivors, not to mention the loss of lives. If the Supers didn’t reveal their secret identities, the government relocated them and gave them new identities and amnesty so long as they never resume hero work.

In office scene with Gilbert Huph (Mr. Incredible) and his boss Bob, there are two sets of dialogue that show just what can happen when a business or institution has its own agenda against helping people.

How Customers Beat the Insurance System: #

Bob: Did I do something illegal?

Gilbert Huph: [begrudgingly] No.

Bob: Are you saying we shouldn’t help our customers?

Gilbert Huph: [pacing back and forth] The law requires that I answer no.

Bob: We’re supposed to help people!

Gilbert Huph: We’re supposed to help our people! Starting with our stockholders, Bob! Who’s helping them out, Huh?

A Man Getting Mugged: #

Gilbert Huph: Look at me when I’m talking to you, Parr!

Bob: [looking out the window] That man out there, he needs help!

Gilbert Huph: Do not change the subject, Bob! We’re discussing your attitude!

Bob: He is getting mugged!

Gilbert Huph: Well let’s hope we don’t cover him!

Bob: [leaving] I’ll be right back.

Gilbert Huph: Stop right now, or you’re fired!

Here’s the source for quotes above.

An insurance company is an example of an organization that is run by people. They’re supposed to help their customers, but they have an agenda to be profitable and keep their stockholders happy. Mr. Incredible is torn between his moral compass and the limitations set on him by his superior.

Despite the laws, heroes secretly save people in disguise. If they didn’t, people would suffer or die where normal law and rescue teams could not or were not able to help. In the end, the family of Incredibles and Frozone join together to defeat the villain Syndrome and his hero killing robot.

The Comics #

The Civil War series makes a stronger case for registration and accountability than the MCU. The story starts with a reckless group of enhanced humans, the New Warriors, that gets into a fight resulting in an explosion that killed over 600 people. This was known as the Stamford Incident, and brought about the Superhuman Registrations Act.

In the literature, the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Avengers, and other lesser known teams all co-exist in one universe. The MCU is much smaller as we know it. If anything, the MCU is one universe in multiple universes if you want to count Fox, Sony, and Universal as separate studio universes– although you can say that Sony and MCU have merged with Spider-Man.

What makes the comics situation more compelling is that there are more catastrophic incidents with more heroes, villains, and victims at play. The New Warriors were running a reality TV show and took on more than they could handle, didn’t have sufficient training, and their action only made things worse. Their goal was to look good for TV and celebrity status, not save people.

Iron Man #

In 2008, the first Iron Man movie started us all down a path towards the formation of the Avengers and the MCU we all love. In Iron Man 2, the US government wants the Iron Man suit, weapons, and technologies. Tony flat out tells them, “You want my property, you can’t have it!” At the end of the movie, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s assessment approved Iron Man for the Avengers Initiative, but not Tony Stark because he had compulsive behavior, self-destructive tendencies, and textbook narcissism.

Tony Stark sings to a different tune in Civil War. His character has gone through some changes and I can see why he would support the Sokovia Accords. It’s his way of making amends for some serious mis-steps from Stark Industries creating weapons for enemies to his AI gone wrong, Ultron, that led to the Battle of Sokovia. He’s also seen some serious shit in the Chitauri invasion in New York City, flying a nuke through a wormhole with no plan of returning, and all his enemies coming after him in three of his own movies. It’s no wonder he’s suffering PTSD.

It’s clear that it is Tony Stark who shouldn’t be trusted to operate with unlimited power and no supervision.

Miscellaneous Thoughts #

Captain America has also operated with unlimited power and authority. He’s always been right and chose the lesser of two evils. The criticism of how Scarlet Witch handled Crossbone’s blast is without proper context. The casualties would have been greater if she did not lift it above. Given the situations, it’s like choosing between bad and worse than bad.

If the Sokovia Accords were about making improvements to the performance of the team, that’s one thing– because everyone and everything can improve. But it’s really about appeasing the victims and ceding power to the United Nations. The task force that went to hunt down the Winter Soldier after the UN bombing operated on bad intelligence with shoot-to-kill orders based on grainy surveillance video.

I question if Black Panther was even on Team Iron Man. He was out to seek vengeance on his own. In the UN meeting before the blast, he spoke with Black Widow and said that two people in a room can get more done than a whole lot of people (the UN). His father countered that you would need many people if you need to move a piano. The funny thing is this is only true if you’re talking about average people– when it comes to enhanced individuals, one or two people may just be enough!

Chadwick Boseman was excellent as Black Panther. I look forward to seeing Ryan Coogler direct the film.

Black Widow’s decision to help Rogers and Barnes escape made a lot of sense. She has a dark past and at one point was Hawkeye’s target to take out– but he chose not to kill her because there was someone in there worth saving. Besides knowing that Cap wouldn’t quit helping Bucky, there must have been some kind of empathy towards what Hydra put Barnes through.

A young teen Spider-Man was also a welcome addition to the film. I thought the Peter Parker scene in Queens, New York was short, but I understand that they will flesh out that story and those characters in his own movie next year. I suspect that Aunt May knows that her nephew is Spider-Man. The age of clueless supporting characters may be over. Over the many reboots, they seem to cast a younger Aunt May each time. Marisa Tomei is likely that hip aunt that plays along to let Peter think he has her fooled.

Ant-Man was hilarious. I laughed at every single line he had. I wasn’t a huge fan of his solo movie, but Paul Rudd is a comedic character that adds so much humor to any situation.

Vison was somewhat absent during the airport battle– perhaps if he and/or Scarlett Witch really fought, the fight would have been deadly and short. It seemed that his role was to keep them from escaping or hurting one another too much. I would have liked if they had a shot of him floating in the middle of all the chaos of super friends fighting one another, and there to be an sadness to his eyes.

I particularly liked Baron Zemo’s comment about Captain America having some green in his blue eyes– a sign that he’s not perfect. This line then led to the part where he showed Stark the big video reveal, revealing that Rogers kept such a dark secret from Tony– for selfish reasons. I really enjoyed this break from villains being just the evil versions with the same powers/abilities as the hero.

Zemo won at the end of the film, and he did so because he used the heroes against one another. Sure, his plan to get Rogers, Barnes, and Stark in the same room at the end to watch the 1991 VHS was a bit far fetched, but I’m willing to suspend disbelief that everything would fall into place like that. The other five winter soldiers as a misdirect was interesting. I would have loved to see them fight at the end, but I understand that would have added another fifteen minutes to the movie and possibly taken away from the trio’s big fight against each other.

Final Thoughts and Phase 3 Predictions #

The movie ended with the Avengers broken apart and half of the Avengers as fugitives from the United Nations for going against the Sokovia Accords. Civil War is going to play out throughout MCU’s Phase 3, particularly in Spiderman: Homecoming, Black Panther, and maybe even Ant-Man and the Wasp. There needs to be some kind resolution to the conflict between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers.

What better way is there to resolve super hero conflict than the death of friends?

Tony Stark had a vision of the fallen Avengers in space in Age of Ultron. The scene where a mortally wounded Captain America says to Tony, “You could have saved us…”, is going to happen. Team Cap is going to confront a big threat without UN approval, and Team Iron Man is not going to join, resulting in at least the deaths of Hulk, Thor, Scarlett Witch, and Hawkeye.

I predict that Spider-Man is going to switch to Team Cap by the end of his own movie. Tony Stark irresponsibly brought in a teenage Peter Parker, who had no formal training into the airport battle. Imagine if he had hurt someone or was seriously hurt himself? He was told everything by an agenda-driven Tony Stark. Go for Cap’s legs. He’s wrong. Peter Parker was just fed this without a chance to think about it himself.

The idea for regulation of enhanced beings by the UN isn’t outright wrong. The concerning part is that it requires registration, and any non-complying participant is deemed an enemy to the world governments, punishable by being locked up in an underground ocean prison.

The Avengers’ initiative was formed because the planet would need Earth’s mightiest heroes to help them in times of great crisis. There will be a time when a greater threat comes along and the UN Council will not know what to do. They may not be able to see beyond Earth when the fate of the universe is at hand.

I’m hoping there will be an scene, possibly an post credits scene in Thor: Ragnarok where The Watcher appears on the moon, looking upon Earth.

Captain America: Civil War has the tone of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. They’ve come a long way to come together as a team, but have lost their footing and are separated. We don’t know how they are going to get back up and come together before the ultimate confrontation. We’re only at the beginning of Phase 3, there’s so much more to come!

More Civil War Reviews #

Reflecting on Console Wars

2016-05-04T09:00:00-05:00

I recently finished reading Console Wars by Blake J. Harris and I really enjoyed the trip down memory lane. I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s and played on video game systems by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Atari. This is my reflection on this gaming era after reading this book.

Console Wars tells the story of Tom Kalinske, an American business man and CEO behind Sega of America during its meteoric rise and fall. The book takes place between 1989 through 1996 and shows how they challenged not only Nintendo but the gaming industry as a whole.

Nintendo #

The Nintendo Entertainment System, or the NES, was the dominant gaming system during the mid 1980s and early 1990s. Most of the games I own are NES cartridges, followed by SNES cartridges, and then Sony Playstation CDs/DVDs. This wasn’t just because I played a lot of games as a kid and less as I grew up. At that time there were local video rental stores such as Blockbuster that let customers rent video games for a few bucks for a few days to a week. This was significantly cheaper than buying the game outright for $50-75. It was also a great way to test a game out before buying it.

Nintendo exerted a lot of control with companies that wanted to make games for the NES. For one, they were required to buy cartridges at about $10 each and pay 30% of revenue as royalty. This allowed Nintendo to pick and choose who and how many cartridges a company could get. On top of this they had to sign non-compete clauses to give exclusive rights to the game to Nintendo.

The reason behind such control was the Video Game Crash of 1983– a year when there was an over saturation of consoles and crappy games in the market. To avoid a repeat, Nintendo had to do quality control over their brand and products. So although it may have sucked to create games for the NES, it was certainly great to be a consumer.

My first experience of the NES was my cousin’s 8-bit Famicom console in Thailand during summer vacation in 1986. My sisters and I would play two games, Super Mario Brothers and Ice Climber. We were all hooked on this system– instead of going out to explore the local sights and scenery, we wanted to stay in and play video games. It wasn’t until I got back to the US that I noticed the NES was available in the Highland Superstore, an electronics store chain in the Midwest, which offered Kung-Fu Master as a playable demo in store.

Of course my mom did buy us a NES in 1988. It was the Nintendo Power Set with the power pads. In 1989, the GameBoy was my first big purchase as a kid. I saved up $100 from mowing the lawn and various chores and snuck into Auchan to buy the coveted device. My mom was surprised and furious that I did that behind her back. Looking back now, it was actually a good buy since none of the other mobile consoles did as well on price, marketing, or even hardware in terms of battery life.

Back in the late 1980s, there was no Internet as we now know it. So we had a Nintendo Power magazine subscription to not only keep us up to date on news, but to help us get through various NES games. By 1991, it was without question that we were going to upgrade to the 16-bit Super Nintendo since everyone– that is my mom, sisters, and I– enjoyed Nintendo family-oriented gaming system.

Sega #

In 1990, when I was in middle school, the 16-bit Sega Genesis was the console that most of my school friends wanted. The marketing and games available were geared to kids who grew up on the NES but wanted something more, especially sports and fighting games. Altered Beast was a game that looked great and came bundled with the system. I remember playing this game on the demo system at Kohl’s while my mom shopped. But many of us had Gameboys and a large library of NES games to keep us entertained. Plus we all knew that Nintendo was coming out with their own 16-bit system soon.

Kalinske understood that in order for Sega to thrive, they needed to be what Nintendo wasn’t. Nintendo’s target consumers were kids twelve and under. So Sega created an ad campaign targeting young teens and older. The line, Welcome to the Next Level! and the Sega scream had a kind of rebellious teenage, too grown up for kid stuff feel to it. I was almost a young teen when the Genesis came out and I wanted to be a part of it. However, I personally never owned a Sega gaming console, but my sisters did with a Saturn and Dreamcast which came out years later.

Sega released a slew of hardware from the 32x and Game Gear (GG) to the Nomad, all of which were poorly received. I only knew of one person that actually owned a Game Gear while the rest of us had Gameboys (GB). Sure the GG had color compared to GB’s monochrome, but GB had more games and a superior battery life.

During this time, fighting games like Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat were all the rage in the arcades. For me it was the 7-11 after school. Not only were these rival games fighting each other, but SNES and Genesis’ versions also competed against each other for their fans’ affection. Nintendo’s family friendly policy censored the blood by replacing it with sweat while Sega’s allowed for the fatalities, gore, and blood. My school friends and I all would have jumped ship to Sega if we all didn’t have Super Nintendos already. I even rented the Genesis console at Blockbuster just to play games like Mortal Kombat, Golden Axe, X-Men, and other cool games that Nintendo-didn’t.

By the mid 90s, Hollywood made Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat movies. That’s how popular these games were. More importantly, the 16-bit gaming consoles were also at the end of their lifecycle. It was the dawn of the 32-bit era. The next generation of fighting games was going 3D with games such as Virtua Fighter and Tekken. Another player was going to enter the fight against Nintendo and Sega– Sony.

Sony #

The Sony Playstation came out in late 1995, after the Sega Saturn which came out earlier that summer. It was the console system my friends and I waited for since its price tag was $100 cheaper than the Saturn. It was a risk and commitment I took since Sega even price-matched at $299 before Sony’s US launch.

I have versions 1-3, I skipped out on the PS4 because I just don’t game much anymore. But the PS2 is by far the best selling console ever and also doubled as a DVD player– much like the PS3 was also a Blu-ray player. Sony was a name brand and their strategy was that you were never just buying a gaming system, it was also something extra that you were connecting to probably a Sony TV.

At the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Nintendo originally was going to partner with Sony to create a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES, the SNES-CD, also known as the Play Station, but the partnership fell apart with Nintendo choosing Sony’s rival, Phillips instead. Just last year, one of the prototype devices was found and actually works!

Over the years Sony gained experience in the industry and decided they could come out with their own console system. Unlike many others, they actually succeeded. In case you don’t remember, there used to be 3DO, Atari Jaguar, Philips CD-i, and NEC’s Turbo-Grapfx to name the more popular ones.

Final Thoughts #

I really like this book and recommend it to anyone who grew up playing video games in the 80s and 90s. It’s really fun to read about what happened behind the scenes during this period of my childhood and how things were marketed towards us. If you are a fan of Sega, this is a great book for you. By no mean is it a complete history of the early gaming era, but it does cover Sega very well.

Although the book is titled, Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation, most of the book focuses on Sega. There’s not much content on Nintendo or Sony, which is disappointing because it would have given a more complete view of the battle. The book is well researched as the author interviewed over 200 people to piece the many stories together.

In some way, this book feels like the first volume of a series of books that could come out. I can see a volume two being about the rise of Sony and Nintendo’s mistake of sticking with cartridges for the Nintendo 64, and of course include material about the Microsoft Xbox for the new generation of gamers. Volume three could be about Twitch TV and YouTube Gamers and other streamers. But perhaps this would be 10-15 years in the future as video game streamers and eSports is happening right now.

I do hope more books like this comes out that cover the different gaming eras. But for now, if you want more you can check out the many retro gaming content that is on YouTube and the rest of the Internet.

The Gaming Historian #

I first heard of the book through a recommended YouTube channel: Gaming Historian, a retro-gaming documentary series by Norman Caruso. He has a ton of great high quality and well researched videos, definitely check out his channel if you are into classic gaming.

A few relevant videos to the book:

Links #

Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice Review

2016-03-29T09:00:00-05:00

Over the weekend I saw Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In a nutshell, I thought it was okay, but not great– nor does it match the hype. This post does contain SPOILERS, so don’t read any further if you haven’t seen it yet or don’t mind!

You’ve been warned….

I reviewed Man of Steel several years ago and gave it a generally positive review for a sci-fi Superman reimagining. I compared its grittiness to Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Batman V Superman followed the same tone. And it’s not suprising, given the the director was Zack Snyder. He was the producer and/or director for a number of films with a dark tone such as 300, Watchmen, and Sucker Punch. It’s as if DC executives liked Christopher Nolan’s Batman films so much that they decided to make the entire DC cinematic universe in a similar fashion.

There was also an excessive amount of trailers for this movie that gave away so much of the story. You could have missed the first half of the film and gotten by on the trailers alone to enjoy the second half.

Ben Affleck’s Batman was one of the best parts of the film. It’s as if they lifted the Dark Knight straight out of Frank Miller’s work. The action sequences, Batman’s altered voice and detective skills, and the costume designs all exceeded my expectations. The interactions between Affleck and Jeremy Irons may be the most accurate depiction of the Batman/Alfred relationship on the big screen to date. It seems as though too much of the film focused on Batman’s origin, which slowed the tempo of the film. Some editing might have been helpful as there was so much imagery that didn’t really push the story of both Batman and Superman being orphans.

This movie really shows how Batman is the captain of the upcoming Justice League movie. He may not be the strongest or the fastest, but he’s the smartest and knows the tactics of winning and is able to take on opponents more powerful than he is. And I’m fine with a Batman that uses guns or kills his enemies.

My second favorite part of the whole film was Wonder Woman. Gal Gadot did a marvelous job considering that she didn’t have many lines or much screen time. The movie highlights how powerful of a warrior she is– if need be she could fight Superman on even ground because she’s just that skilled in combat. It’s actually unclear if Superman was needed in the final fight. Would the magic of her shield and sword have been able to defeat/behead Doomsday? We’ve only been given a small taste of what to expect.

I look forward to her Wonder Woman film in 2017.

Henry Cavill is a great looking Superman, the best on screen we’ve seen thus far. I don’t consider Amy Adams as Lois Lane to be anything notable. It’s not even her fault even, as the story doesn’t leave much room for her and Superman’s love story with all the fighting. I’m just not convinced that she’s his world.

I wasn’t a fan of Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor, as I saw more quirky Eisenberg than Luthor. Many of his scenes took me out of the movie instead of convincing me that he is a brilliant businessman/politician who knows how to manipulate everyone around him. For instance, the scene where Luthor had to give a speech at his own party in his own house should have been captivating– instead it was just awkward.

Perhaps this modern take will appeal to today’s millennials as we redefine what is a successful business mogul. It’s not who is the most rich, but who is most conniving, manipulative, and intelligent that seeks out and obtains power. The WB released a deleted scene, Communion, which hints that Luthor knows more about whats to come than anyone. I’m open to where they are going with this new age Lex Luthor. The real estate businessman of the past films have been done to death.

Doomsday in this movie, is a creation of Lex Luthor using his own DNA and Kryptonian technology. I’m actually okay with this usage of the character in the third act resulting in the death of Superman. Doomsday is a brute that cannot be a movie villain on his own, not to mention a gimmick from the comics during the early 1990s. He cannot talk and his sole purpose is to destroy everything, and ultimately kill Superman. Looking at past brutes used in films, Nuclear Man and Non or examples, we see that none of them really talk or is very bright, and are simply there as a prop of the main villain– Zod and Luthor in these cases.

Final Thoughts #

Based off his past work, Snyder can put together visually stunning movies, but the script and story-telling is weak. That’s basically the problem with BvS. The characters leaping in the air, standing or walking in a field, and jumping into a fight all looks great in his films, but it’s being over-used. The movie is two and a half hours long, with a lot of slow moments that could put you to sleep. The scenes with no dialogue were used for some visual appeal, but didn’t really enhance the story, and should really be cut or replaced.

The movie also suffers from trying to be too many things. Snyder seems to have pulled from too many source material and jamming it all into one movie, instead of trying to tell a simple story.

The term, meta-humans, is used to describe Wonder Woman, Cyborg, The Flash, and Aquaman in a an Lex Luthor’s encrypted files. So are they lumping together all those with extraordinary abilities? There’s a DC Unified Origin Theory, which implies that both Wonder Woman and Aquaman are Kryptonians from long ago– basically aliens. There’s a part of me that’s uncomfortable with this Sci-Fi origin to everything. It didnt work well for Star Wars with midi-chlorians, and it’s not going to work here. There’s nothing wrong with asking the audience to suspend disbelief for fantasy, mythology, and certainly comics.

DC is playing catch up with Marvel big time. They are rushing to push out a movie universe without first building up characters and stories. As much as I enjoyed Wonder Woman having a small part in this movie, I actually would have preferred her having an even smaller part, and more of the film being a conflict between Batman and Superman. The versus in Batman v Superman, is rather misleading as it’s Lex Luthor that pushes them to fight. I was hoping that Luthor would be just manipulate them into fighting each other behind the scenes than outright kidnap Martha Kent.

The ending with Superman’s death is a rather necessity. Although grim and sad, it helps push Batman’s cause to form a Justice League to combat his premonitions. I have hopes that things will get worse, but also better as the title, Dawn of Justice, implies that the light is coming.

The movie isn’t terrible, but it’s definitely not great either. It’s a movie that doesn’t have great replay value, because there’s nothing upbeat or cheery. I do hope this changes and not all of DC’s films follow such a bleak tone.

C2E2 2016

2016-03-22T10:00:00-05:00

Over the weekend I went to check out C2E2. It was the second year that I’ve attended the show. This year, I went all three days, unlike last year. The cosplay this year was amazing– every year cosplayers keep upping their game.

Friday #

The main purpose of Day 1 was to pick up my lanyard, get a lay of the land, walk the exhibit hall, and determine whether I would be permitted to take photos from different positions in the main stage. I went to the John Cusack Spotlight to test my equipment settings and it was good to hear the advice he had for young actors who are starting out. Overall, a light day compared to the other days.

Saturday #

On Day 2, I went to check out the Supergirl Spotlight starring Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh. They told the host, Clare Kramer, that it was their first comic convention panel. They did an amazing job telling stories about the show, answering fan questions, and talking about Chyler’s obsession with Batgirl.

I also went to check out two of my favorite comic book Youtube stars, ComicsExplained and Comicstorian. DigsBot, Comicstorian’s animator, was also on the panel. I met all three of the panelists afterwards and they signed my hand cast. Overall, it was a good day.

Sunday #

On the final day, Day 3, I went to the J August Richards Spotlight and the Chloe Bennet Spotlight. Both of them are on the show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I’m amazed at how familiar the fans are with these actors’ previous work. I’m also impressed at how J August Richards can cite specific season/episode numbers when discussing the show. Chloe Bennet was hilarious as usual and she is also a native Chicagoan and White Sox fan. C2E2 being in Chicago, fans asked her a lot of local questions and she was able to name places such as Kuma’s her favorite burger joint and Lou Malnati’s as her favorite Chicago style pizza (although she said she’d heard that Pequod’s was good too).

Photo Albums #

Videos #

Marriage Proposal #

I witnessed my first con marriage proposal! Congrats to the happy couple!

Daft Punk Cosplayers #

The DJ let these Daft Punk cosplayers into his booth!

Gangnam Style Dance #

The DJ was fantastic and very nice touch to keeping the kids/parents/everyone involved.

Super Hero Movies of 2016

2016-01-25T09:00:00-05:00

This year (2016), is looking to be an amazing year for comic book and superhero fans. There are so many movies coming out from both Marvel and DC that it’s a stark reminder how great it is to be a fan. Don’t worry, this post is spoiler free for both the movies (since I haven’t seen them nor have they come out yet) and the source materials, the comics.

My 2016 Movies Ranking #

Captain America 3: Civil War (May 6, 2016)
Deadpool (February 12, 2016)
Dr. Strange (November 4, 2016)
Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (March 23, 2016)
Suicide Squad (August 5, 2016)
X-Men: Apocalypse (May 27, 2016)

Civil War is perhaps one of the greatest stories that Marvel can tell as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). As you can see in the trailer, it deals with heroes versus heroes. What team are you going to be on, team Iron Man or team Cap? There are so many characters in this movie it seems like an Avengers 2.5.

What you might know from the Civil War comic– which I’m hoping they follow the same theme from, is that it’s incredibly relevant in today’s world. What is freedom, how much government oversight should there be, what accountability should there be?

Release Date: May 6, 2016

Deadpool has a large fan following. When I go to conventions he’s one of the most cosplayed characters on the floor. Most people outside the comic book community wouldn’t even know who Deadpool is, and I think that’s a great thing because they are in a for a treat. The timing for this movie couldn’t be better as there are so many super hero movies out now, and the Deadpoool is a hero/villain that doesn’t take things seriously at all and pokes fun of everything and is known to break the fourth wall. If you haven’t already, check out the trailer. The marketing team behind this is also pretty amazing– thus why I picked the banner above, hint hint, it’s not a romance and very R-rated.

I’m hoping that 20th Century Fox gets this movie right and stays true to the source material. Ryan Reynolds is reprising his role as Wade Wilson after the horribly done, Wolverine: Origins, where they completely butchered the character. I agree with Emergency Awesome, Reynolds’ Deadpool is going to be the new Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, see his videos here and here. He should be the new lead character for the movies that Fox will build movies around.

Release date: February 12, 2016

Dr. Strange is going to be an important movie that swings the doors open to a bigger stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe– especially in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity Wars movies. I’m expecting this movie to be like Guardians of the Galaxy performed in 2014– a movie that no one had high expectations for and knew nothing about, but proved to be a great movie and story. Sorry no trailer or official posters out yet for this.

Also, Benedict Cumberbatch is cast as the master of mystic arts. He’s wonderful in everything, especially Sherlock.

Release date: November 4, 2016

Batman v Superman is a big deal for me because I want to see Wonder Woman (WW) make her appearance on the big screen after all these years. Many were critical of Gal Gadot’s size when they announced her as WW, but I think she looks amazing. I even tweeted in her defense. I won’t spoil it for you readers, but I’m hoping they take the New 52 take on Wonder Woman’s origin– it’s so much more interesting than what most people know.

I wrote a review on Man of Steel a few years ago where I said that the more I watched the movie, the less I liked it. That’s still true today, but I’m willing to give Zack Snyder creative leeway with the DC universe storytelling. Sure his movies are dark and gritty, but the action sequences are really fun!

I must also say that their trailers 1. shows too much of the story and 2. releases too many, too often. A trailer should just be an appetizer for what’s to come, not outline what’s to come act by act. I still believe in the movie going experience with going in without having too much knowledge of what I’m going to see. That said, here’s the trailer anyway. If you view it, you would see that there’s a lot going on in the movie, so it has me worried that the movie will seem rushed and forget to tell any sort of story or build intrigue.

Release date: March 23, 2016

Suicide Squad continues to pave the way for a darker DC movie universe. To be honest, I’m interested in only two characters from the team: Joker and Harley Quinn. We’ve seen so many incarnations of Joker (Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill (voice), and Heath Ledger). I want to see the Joker version that teams up with Harley Quinn on the big screen. Check out the trailer.

Like BvS, this movie also carries a lot of characters, all of which will likely be shown for the first time. Are the characters origins going to be rushed or non-existant? I have a feeling it’s just going to be an action packed movie of baddies with little to no story.

Release date: August 5, 2016

X-Men: Apocalypse is sadly not a movie I’m looking forward to. From what I’ve seen from the trailer, set photos, and 20th Century Fox’s track record of butchering Marvel characters, I don’t have much faith that they will do the characters justice. This is why it’s at the bottom of my list– my prediction is that it’s going to be a miss amongst hardcore fans as well as general audience. I just hope it’s not as bad as The Last Stand.

Fox’s X-Men franchise is in need of a reboot. I thank them for doing the first two X-Men movies, and First Class. However, Days of Future Past didn’t live up to my expectation and was just ‘okay’, not great. I’m curious how they plan to wrap up Jennifer Lawrence and Hugh Jackman’s big star leads for their movies.

Release date: May 27, 2016

Calendar #

Here’s a calendar with the movies marked on it. I really like how the movies are generally spread out, plenty of breathing room.

Final Thoughts #

I’m very much looking forward to viewing most super hero movies this year. Marvel has done an amazing job building out their cinematic universe and DC is attempting to catch up by throwing together a Justice League team in a very short time. I think what Marvel has been doing for years is paying off because they’ve been telling great cinematic stories for years now.

My concern is that DC is making the mistakes that Marvel made years ago by diluting their properties between movies and TV shows without an grand scheme other than maybe a multi-verse view of things. For instance, I can watch all the Marvel TV shows (Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, Daredevil, Jessica Jones) because not only are they well done, but they tie right back into the MCU, they matter. But I can’t for the life of me enjoy DC Shows (The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, Gotham, or Supergirl) because the shows are very CW, geared towards teens and young adults– I’m just not in their demographic. That the world described is so different than what’s in the movies.

But maybe DC needs to make those mistakes in order for them to correct it and make things right. Not that Marvel has everything great now either– just look at how Fantastic Four, X-Men, Deadpool, etc. all within the disastrous grips of 20th Century Fox. Only recently did Marvel strike a deal with Sony to get some creative control of Spiderman back into the MCU.

This all being said, I’m still very grateful that all these comics are being turned into movies. The big screen is such an amazing place for story-telling and it’s what I consider a better medium than comics themselves. If comics is considered sequential art, so then are movies, but with sound.

Photos from Willis Tower and John Hancock Observatory

2015-12-17T09:00:00-05:00

A few days ago my niece visited Chicago for the first time and I took her around to see and eat some of the best my city has to offer. Although I’ve visited John Hancock Observatory before, I haven’t been up to Willis Tower (specifically the Skydeck) since it was called the Sears Tower.

The challenge with taking photos at these locations was that we went up right after it rained and there were a lot of cloud/fog surrounding Chicago. Not to mention the windows at Willis Tower are incredibly dirty!

Here are some basic tips to improve your photos:

Bring your camera right up to the windows to reduce light reflections.
Use your coat to help block out rear reflections. It really helps to have a friend hold up your coat behind you or your camera. You can also use the railings.
Get low and steady. Although you can’t bring a tripod, you can bring a gorillapod.

All my editing was done purely in Adobe Lightroom.

Willis Tower #

Chicago Lights at Willis Tower #

West of Willis Tower #

North of Willis Tower #

John Hancock Observatory #

Chicago from John Hancock Observatory #

Lake Shore Drive from John Hancock Observatory #

How to Format your Hard Drive into exFAT

2015-12-01T09:00:00-05:00

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us and the upcoming holidays upon us, some of you may be getting a new external hard drive(s) for your Mac or Windows system(s). I wanted to write up a guide on how to format your drive into exFAT, the format that is well supported and ideal for many cases.

The Benefits of exFAT #

A few years ago, I wrote about how hard drives marketed to Apple devices are over-priced and are functionally the same as their Windows counterpart. I get that for Apple products there’s a premium fee associated with being in the ecosystem– but I feel there’s no need to pay extra when it would only take a few minutes to setup an external hard drive. This will save you money.

Also, if you have multiple operating systems (OSes) in your house or your friends and workplace, this format is compatible with all the major modern OSes out there. Apple uses HFS+ by default, which is Apple-only. Windows uses NTFS mostly, and still supports the FAT32 format– both widely supported other systems with drawbacks.

Here’s a table to illustrate:

	OSX	Windows	Linux	Notes
HFS+	Yes	No	Yes	Windows can support HFS+ only through a paid app.
NTFS	No	Yes	Yes	OSX can only read from NTFS natively. Writing requires another paid app.
FAT32	Yes	Yes	Yes	FAT32 is natively supported by OS X and Windows, but has limitations: 32GB partition limit, max 4GB file size, slower than NTFS and HFS+.
exFAT	Yes	Yes	Yes	exFAT is natively supported by OS X and Windows.

It should be noted that Linux can support both HFS+ and exFAT with some free package updates, but natively supports NTFS and FAT32. This is why Linux and open source is amazing. Also, when I say Linux, I’m referring to the major distributions such as Ubuntu.

When not to use exFAT #

There are many benefits to formatting a drive into exFAT, but there are some scenarios when it’s not a good choice.

You only ever want to use the drive on Windows PCs, no Macs or Linux OSes, ever. Keep format in NTFS.
You only ever want to use the drive on Macs, no Windows or Linux OSes, ever. Format to HFS+ (the default choice on the OS X section below.)
You only ever want to use the drive with TVs and DVD/Blu-ray players. Format to FAT32.
You like spending money on apps to read/write in other partitions/formats not native to your operating system.

Otherwise, the main uses are to use the external hard drive with many systems for both reading and writing.

Warning #

Before doing anything else, make sure to plug the external hard drive into your operating system. Also be sure that there is nothing on the drive you wish to keep as you will be formatting the drive, thus erasing anything on it.

Formatting exFAT on OS X #

Under Utilities, open Disk Utility. The screenshot below are for the new Disk Utility in OS X (10.11) El Capitan .

Find the external hard drive you’ve plugged in and select it on the left. Next click on Erase. As you can see, the drive I’m formatting is a Windows partition in FAT (technically FAT16).

Next, choose ExFAT from the Format choices. By default OS X will want to format it is OS X Extended.

Let the formatting run its course, this may take a few seconds to a few minutes depending on how big the drive is.

After it finishes formatting, the drive will be in exFAT format.

Formatting exFAT on Windows #

Open Windows Explorer and right-click on the drive you connected. Another small pop-up should come up.

From the pop-up, select Format. A new window titled “Format” should come up.

From the new window, under “File system”, select exFAT.

Formatting exFAT on Linux #

If you are running a distro of Linux, there’s no need for me to walk you through formatting a drive since you are probably have the technical know how already. I just recommend the following packages to help manage your external drives.

sudo apt-get install gparted exfat-utils exfat-fuse

Pictures from Open House Chicago 2015

2015-10-19T09:00:00-05:00

On Sunday I went to checkout Open House Chicago and did a little photowalk of my own. I actually had no plan to go until my sister gave me her priority pass the morning of. But I’m glad I did as it was not only had some good photops, but was a nice steps in too since I use FitBit.

The places I visited:

My favorite spot was the Aon Center. I went up to the 71st floor and had a 360 degree view of Chicago from the third tallest building in the city.

Chicago from the Aon Center #

Where to Buy #

Other Shots #

Like before, I processed them to be black and white. You can see more photos in my Facebook Chicago album.