Hercules vs. Michael!

In 1995, a new TV show called “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” (HTLJ) caused a sensation in TV world. Loosely based on the rich mythology of Ancient Greece, and, as the series progressed, featuring Norse and African mythologies and religions as well, up to and including the rise of Christianity.

It proved so popular it spawned 2 spin-off series, among which “Xena: The Warrior Princess”, a series that at one point surpassed Hercules in popularity, if memory serves well. The success of these shows also resulted in countless lookalike shows using a similar formula, among which a Conan series and the underrated gem called “Roar”, starring Heath Ledger.

But I digress. Back to Hercules & Xena! An interesting theme that at one point, both shows began featuring a recurring theme, a larger arc if you will, of the death of the old gods, Norse and Greek alike, while newer religions and godlike beings are rising.

Enter “Revelations”, one of my favorite episodes of HTLJ, where none other than the archangel Michael shows up, apparently plotting to destroy humanity, and start the world over anew. In this he enlists the help of his old buddies, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Naturally, ol’ Herc is not amused, and with his buddy Iolaus and the reluctant help of his half-brother, Ares, the Greek god of war himself, he decides to take on the archangel and his apocalyptic allies.

This is in - my humble opinion, naturally - one of the better episodes of this series. It has all the usual ingredients: lots of action, the series’ typical humor, the clashing of different mythological beings, cats & dogs living together... The works!

As it turns out, the episode is available in 7 parts on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuArF2jIWlk

The Skeletor Show

Someone told me about this one; it's called The Skeletor Show. A funny parody series obviously based on the old Masters of The Universe animated series.

Follow the daily life of the Lord of Destruction himself, as he manages his empire of evil!

Here's the link to Episode 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61E2eI4QqH4

One of my favorite moments is the intro to Episode 7. Ever wanted to see Skeletor do opera?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn_DU7qcMbg

(That's real opera, not the browser...)

There's 10 episodes so far, the latest one numbered 9.5.

Oh, and don't forget the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zBGW6CdlWo

My IMDb movie reviews

In those rare moments when I'm not plotting world domination, or working on my singing career, I sometimes indulge in writing movie & game reviews!

You can read the ones I wrote for the Internet Movie Database, where I'm known as "Sentinel-15", here:

http://www.imdb.com/user/ur0809041/comments

Enter The Smurf

In our ongoing series "Europe's contributions to world culture" I present...

Father Abraham & The Smurf Song!

The Smurf Song is basically, well, a song about the Smurfs. No, REALLY! The Smurfs, as you may know, are are creation of the late Belgian comic artist Peyo; Father Abraham dedicated a song to them way back in the 1970's.

You can hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Pl7Oa8BtY

Be afraid. Be VERY afraid!

"Father Abraham" is a Dutch singer, and is fairly well-known in Holland and Flanders. "Vader", BTW, is not only Luke's father, but is actually the Dutch word for "father". So, Vader Abraham!

Here's his site: http://www.vader-abraham.com/

Wubi - user-friendly Linux Ubuntu installer for Windows

I just learned about something called Wubi. Sounds like a new Furby or something similarly sickeningly cute.

What it is, is a Ubuntu Linux installer for Windows. The neat thing is that it doesn't require a separate partition, or even a boot disk.

You download it, you run it, and Wubi will create a virtual drive. Next time you boot you will boot into a menu where you choose between loading Windows or Ubuntu. Should you ever need to uninstall it, it works just like uninstalling a Windows app. You boot into Windows and run the uninstaller; you know the drill.

Check this site for more information: http://wubi-installer.org/

By the way, I learned about this on the latest show of DL.TV, an online tech show; http://dl.tv/

Optimus goes vegetable!

He's a robot! He's a potato! He's an... Uhm, what?!

Now I've seen everything!

A Mr. Potato Head version of Optimus Prime! Face-plate and other parts are removable, and there is a moustache included, which is funny since that kind of makes him look like Peter Cullen! Not sure if he'll be pleased with that, but hey...

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/9431/
http://www.seibertron.com/news/view.php?id=10436

I.M.P.S. Relentless

http://www.impstherelentless.com/tek9.asp

Last weekend I learned of a SW fan film project named "I.M.P.S. Relentless". Originally meant as a spoof on shows like "Cops" and other so-called "reality" shows, this is about daily life in the Imperial fleet.

Production values and SFX are surprisingly good, and could compete with the best of what's on TV nowadays.

So far there's been a trailer and 1 episode, both featuring narration by Peter Cullen.

Vangelis & The Web

I'd like to formally blame Vangelis.

You know, Vangelis, the famous Greek composer & synthesizer pioneer, highly regarded by intelligent people with refined taste in music! (Yes, I'm a fan. Why?) Not Vangelis the brick layer, not Vangelis the singing pony, not... Well, you know.

So why do I blame him? Not because of his music which I have always liked a lot.

No, I blame him because of his official website. Did you know he even had one?

Well, he does. Here's the link: http://www.vangelisworld.com/

Go to it and you'll find an announcement for his "upcoming" album Oceanic.

Oceanic was released in 1996... 11 years ago! Yes, folks, the page has looked like that for 11 years. It's never been updated. Never.

Even I am not that lazy! Sammit!

Transformers

Having grown up with Sci-Fi and anime often featuring giant robots, transforming or otherwise, I had been eagerly awaiting this live-action adaptation of the Japanese/American phenomenon known as Transformers.

Well, I've seen it several times by now, and I LOVE it! Seeing screenshots of the movie doesn't do it justice; you have to see these things in motion. There's lots of action, lots of humor - even though not always to my taste, to be honest - and we meet up with some of our favourite childhood characters.

Speaking of which, returning to his role as [the voice of] the iconic Optimus Prime is veteran voice actor Peter Cullen (http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=peter+cullen). I'd go to see this movie just to hear him talk. According to one reviewer, he "sounds like a cross between a badass action hero, the guy who does the movie trailers, and God" (http://allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:322407~T1) which I think is a rather good description.

The story revolves around an artifact called the Allspark. This "allspark" has existed in various TF continuities meaning different things or concepts accordingly. In this movie it is a device that... Well, maybe you should find out for yourself.

In the mean time, there's some really nice toys out, such as the one featured here:
http://powet.tv/2007/06/11/powet-toys-transformers-movie-leader-class-optimus-prime/

In fact, I got him myself! Blame me.

ShadowBlame Part 2 - The Return of The Sequel

OK, Shadowrun's been out for a while now. Guess what? It's been generally received as a disappointment. Well, duh!

According to the reviews I've read, it's basically a Counterstrike variant with a few twists. Other than that there's too little variation in maps. Too shallow, too short.

What a shame. Here's hoping they will do a new RPG adaptation one day.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=77198

Miss me?

OK so I didn't post for 9 billion years. Blame me!

But now I'm ba-aaaack...