twenty-something

Lord help me...

I bought a Nintendo Wii today.

I certainly can't afford it, and I certainly don't need it -- but I did it. I found one online, for retail price from a reputable, big name seller, and I went for it.

The catch is -- it's being shipped to my Mastercard's billing address -- in Rutland, Vermont. (D'oh!) So I think I'm headed home this weekend for an improptu visit and some family bonding time over a Nintendo, the first time that's happened since Dr. Mario came out in the early '90s.

I cannot wait to box with my grandma, save lives with my sister, and play Zelda with my bro.

Yay for buying-a-game-system-and-having-to-have-it-shipped-home-by-accident-inspired family bonding!

Superman Returns is amazing. Breath-taking. Damn-near perfect. I could gush and gush and gush all night -- but it's after 2a.m.. I'm tired. And I'm on a kryptonite high.

...

So I liked it. A lot.

You must must MUST go see this film, and soon. Go see it this week/weekend. Go see it three times. This movie deserves your time and your funds. It deserves be the biggest blockbuster of the summer -- hell, the biggest blockbuster ever.

From those opening credits to that last shot... I was smiling. A big goofy grin, I'm sure. I was captivated, forgetting that I was in an IMAX theater in New York, surrounded by 600 other people. I simply got lost in the film. I even cried a little, not gonna lie. I was the four-year-old with the Superman birthday cake again. And I was happy. Hell, I am happy.

Superman Returns delivered.

So apparently now Superman Returns two days earlier -- on June 28 -- according AICN and the official site.

Those paying attention will note that June 28th is my birthday. I'll be twenty-six with a geek-boner for Superman. What an amazing b-day present from Warner Brothers!

So now the real question is: Which lucky New Yorker(s) will accompany me to the midnight showing?

27 days...

Hm. 26 in 27 on the 28th. Weird.

[From Premiere, via AICN. Lots more pics here.]

Additionally, the teaser trailer for next year's blockbuster will pop-up before the new Harry Potter next week. A full 1:33 of footage!

On a date recently, I was asked which superhero I would chose to be. I couldn't lie, I had to say Big Blue. I felt like a huge dork... until he said Aquaman. He had good reasons, but still -- Aquaman?

I'm not a big gamer at all, but I do own a GameCube and I play it once in a while. I do like superheo game, though. Last fall, I picked up X-Men Legends and was instantly hooked -- so far I like the sequel. Marvel Nemesis is pretty cool after playing a few games. I haven't touched Spidey yet. I'm saving him for a rainy day.

Now to find the time to play all three of these new games...

It's sad that I immediately want one, right?

Good weekend here. My good friend Megs is back from ten months abroad, and I was able to spend some QT with her on Thursday and Friday -- then I took a quick overnight jaunt to the greater Boston area to visit Yelli. Lots o' fun!

One of my highlights is the new t-shirt I picked up at Urban Outfitters on Friday. Now, generally I am a fan of UO's tees (my dream job may be designing shirt for them), but this shirt just sang to me and I actually shelled out retail price to own it right away. I changed in the car and went out for a bit. And, damn, if this isn't the hottest shirt ever, I don't know what is. Everybody was checkin' this shit out!

Without further adieu -- prepare to drool, fanboys:

Here's the other one that I was eyeing:

Is this the new logo from Superman Returns? Or is it a fake made by an amateur with Photoshop? Here's hoping it's the latter... [Via Dark Horizons]

HeroMachine continues to amuse me, and apparently others.

Brian from FAF joins the forces of good with this demonic looking dude. This nameless creation came with only this explaination: "I like that my superhero rollerblades and carries a fanny pack." I think the image really speaks for itself.

Check out the pathetic attempt at a superhero over at aguysite blog. Nice try. :-)

Super-Crash needs more trusty sidekicks, so here's Robo-Duncan and Ultra-Yelli.

My vision of a supervillian is Drag. This man/woman/monster is sort of a Hulk-on-hormones. Once a mild-mannered aging drag queen, "Sandy Peaches" was loosing "her" edge -- so to stay on top in the fast-pased world of female impersonation, she turned to an experimental form of hormone therapy. But things went horribly wrong. Now, whenever Sandy feels fabulous, she is transformed into a raging beast who cannot find shoes in her size.

And last, but certainly not least, comes Dr. Wrath, a super-villian from the warped mind of Richard at Proceed at Your Own Risk. Here's the disturbing secret origin that was provided:

I'll be Wrath, the brilliant and distinguished, two time Nobel-prize winning scientist, Dr. Dick Rothstein,  who was driven insane by the epidemic of global stupidity.  One day, while struggling with rage in his laboratory after reading about George W. Bush's latest antics, Dr. Rothstein accidentally fell into a vat of radioactive serum that he'd been working on to cure the world's population of bigotry, intolerance and religious fanaticism.  At the same time, a classic bolt of lightening struck his lab and penetrated his anus just as his rage was at its peak causing him to ejaculate into the radioactive and electrically charged serum.  The combination of radioactive anti-bigotry serum, electricity and his own semen, altered the good doctor's DNA and turned Dr. Dick Rothstein into a maniacal misanthropic super villain. 

Unlike normal people, the slightest act of stupidity drives him into an uncontrollable rage leading to a frenzy of destruction and mayhem.  The only way to defeat him is to trick him into anal sex until he experiences orgasm.  This puts Dr. Wrath into a temporary torpid state allowing Super-Crash to contain and imprison the somewhat calmer persona of Dr. Dick Rothstein. However, unless he his confined and constantly penetrated or massaged by the prison guards, his evil super powers return and, if exposed to more than a few minutes of CNN or a few seconds of Fox News, he easily breaks free of his bars and begins yet another rampage endangering the stability of the world.

His evil superpowers include super shouting that can topple monumental buildings, especially neoclassical architecture; the mental mind fuck that allows him to force members of Congress to think until their brains explode, and the ability to stomp his feet until he causes level 12 earthquakes, destroying entire red states within minutes.

Although many are sympathetic to his cause, his disregard for the democratic process and his inability to differentiate between good and bad politicians makes him the greatest danger to democracy since, well, George W. Bush.

Make your own hero or villian at HeroMachine .

Look! Down at my blog!

It's a rollerblader!

It's a lima bean!

It's fetishist!

No! It's what I might look like if given superpowers -- or a physique more suited for spandex!

I'd like to point out that Super-Crash, protector of Twenty-Something, has a big green T-looking thing running down his supersuit. And note the use of the 20sum green. (I made very deliberate decisions in designing this outfit!) He also has a magic gauntlet that can... um, do amazing stuff. And a circle-thingee on his belt that he can throw, maybe. I don't know. I haven't thought it through. But I was bored and this is what I came up with.

But look at that crotch! And those size thirteens!

You too can make your own superhero (or villian!) with lots of 90s-era superhero cliches, like big guns or trenchcoats over costumes (right)! Just visit the Hero Machine. It's cool.

Now all I need is a sidekick and an arch-enemy... Any takers? (I'll post or link to any submissions.)

[Via Rich]

Dark Horizons reports a couple interesting choices for the impending Wonder Woman flick:

51-year-old but stil alluring actress Kim Basinger is being considered for the lead role in a big screen version of "Wonder Woman" if they play character as older according to The New York Post & Ananova.

"Blade" star Jessica Biehl is the favourite to play Wonder Woman if she's younger. "The Matrix" producer Joel Silver is in control of the planned Warner Bros' movie and again confirmed they are in talks with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon to pen the script.

Biehl is a bitch, and I hate her - but she does look kinda like WW, and is pretty. But I fear they'd cast somebody like Freddie Prinze Jr. to star opposite her.

Basinger's older than my mom, by a bunch of years -- but she still looks good (if only thanks to Botox). They could play up the whole Golden Girls angle, to capitalize on the gay demographic they don't hit with a friggin' Wonder Woman movie.

Joking aside -- I do see potential for both in Joss' hands.

Two very f-ed up images, courtesy of the ever-f-ed up Warren Ellis:

I don't care how innocent the time was when this toy was made.
They had to know this was just wrong...

Joker's boner? That's hot.

Superman is a Dick is back -- if only temporarily -- so rejoice!

If you have not seen this site yet, it's not just laugh out lound funny -- it's laugh out loud when you're alone in your apartment in your underwear funny.

I am turning into a comic book geek again, and I blame Joss Whedon (and maybe Corey a little).

Not only did I spend a chunk of time in a comic book store last Friday before getting my hairs cut (the whole comic scene is still over my head, and the store is chaotically organized, which doesn't help -- baby steps, ya know?) but now I am getting excited about an upcoming comic "event" (besides Batman Begins).

Apparently Mr. Joss has helped plan a massive Marvel crossover, "House of M," which gives me a geek-boner of a ferocity not experienced since my "90s-something" days when I worked in the comic book store my dad owned.

Whedoneque tipped me off:

Brian Michael Bendis reveals that Joss did help plan "House of M", an earthshaking event that will affect the entire Marvel universe. And it begins in Astonishing X-Men and New Avengers.

Somebody shoot me. I am a big gay geek.

Whedoneque post | Original COMICON.com post

According to AICN, here is Superman's new Jimmy Olsen:

Here's a round up of tiny little bits about silly little geek things that I like:

• ALSO KNOW AS: The fourth season premiere of crash-favorite Alias (following a so-so episode of the also-love Lost) made a big splash with over 16 million viewers last night. My thoughts on the episodes itself? Meh. A good start, but some sloppy writing in order to gloss over old storylines in order to "reboot" the series to its roots. I'll give it a shot. Even if I think that "A.P.O." is a completely lame name... isn't that a dog food? (Spoiler Speculation: in my humble day-after opinion, I'm thinking that Vaughn was the one to kill Sydney's mother -- or he at least assisted Jack. And why did "Laura Bristow" put a hit out on her pride and joy? To save the world -- remember the prophecy about the end of the world, the one with Syd's face? And remember Irina's last on-screen words? "It's you in the prophecy, Sydney, not me." Oh, snap.)

• AFTER-LIFE: TV Guide is reporting that The WB is seriously considering picking up my beloved Dead Like Me, which may-or-may-not have been canned (*sniff*) by Showtime a few weeks ago. I'm excited to see that there might be life left in one of my favorite shows, but I'm wary about it's move to a more censored network. Swearing isn't everything -- but it would change the tone of the show.

• CUE BALL: Marvel Comics has released advance info on Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men #10: "A familiar face returns to the pages of Astonishing X-Men just as things take a turn for the worse. But will the helping hand be in time?" THIS image (presumably the issue's cover) excites me more than one would think...

• MY TWO DADS: The pilot of the new animated show from Seth MacFarlane, American Dad, will premiere after the Super Bowl on 2/6. I got excited, but then I read that the air dates of other episodes haven't been set yet. MacFarlane's original gem, Family Guy, will air brand-new episodes "in the spring."

One of the first things I did when I got home yesterday was read the new issue of Astonishing X-Men (now up to #7), which I bought before heading out of town last week. Yes, I'm reading comics again (still) and, yes, now I'm selling out money for them.

Disclaimer: I didn't set out to buy it. A comic book store just happened to be right below the place where I was getting my hair cut, and I had to kill some time before my appointment. There was the new issue of this series I've been enjoying via download, and I just had to pick it up. I hid it in my GAP bag (did I mention the great sale they're having right now?), got my cut, and immediately headed to Boston. But I digress...
I've said it before, and I'll said it again: this book is really just amazing. This series was the first comic I'd read in ages, and this issues was the first comic book I've bought in, literally, over ten years. Worth every penny of it's $2.99 cover price (yikes- comics have gone up!). I was (and always will be) a comic-loving, prescription-sunglasses-wearing geek at heart, and this book taps that -- as well as my adult sense of, well, everything.

It's the Frosted Mini-Wheats of comics.

Read a detailed review (by someone else) here. Or just go out to your local comic shop and buy the damn book yourself.

PowerBook is back. It's not fixed, but I can still run it from my external hard drive. It's somewhat functional.

In other geek news:

• There's a new trailer for the new Batman movie, Batman Begins, and it totally rocks. Check it out here.
  
• Buffy's Joss Whedon may be writing/directing a big-screen Wonder Woman movie, or X-Men 3. Either way, I'm hard.
  
• I convinced Duncan that Jessica Simpson is covering Seal's "Kiss From a Rose" for Batman Begins. He got a little too excited. It's a lie.

Now, I can't remember the last comic book I read. I turned my back on the "hobby" at 14, far too cool (or at least far too committed to trying to be cool) to continue on. At that point, I worked at my dad's comic book store. (Yes, my dad owned a friggin' comic book store!) I was paid in new issues and trading cards. It was my life. And then, I hit high school, and one day, I just quit comics, cold turkey. And, sadly, my dad's shop closed within a few months, too.

I supposed in the last ten years, I've picked up a stray issue of my dad or brother's and read through it. But I haven't bought comics or paid any attention to the industry in years and years.

I recently discovered that you can download comics off of Limewire and read them with a handy-dandy OSX program unpretentiously called Comic Book Viewer.

I write this post because I just read (and then re-read) the lastest issue of Astonishing X-Men (Issue #6). And it friggin rocked my world. It's the conclusion to "Gifted," the first storyarc in the new series created by and for Buffy mastermind Joss Whedon. There's a cool team, new costumes, and an engaging plot -- featuring aliens, the return of a dead friend, and a "cure" for the mutant gene.

If you've ever read a comic, or you used to watch the old 90s X-Men cartoon, or you enjoyed the movies, or you like Buffy, or whatever -- I think you should read this comic book.

Plus: Emma Frost is hott.