August in Texas, damned hot and pretty much all about work as I have to take a good chunk of time off in September and that means slaving away now to ensure I receive that break. So when I wasn’t falling asleep on the couch, here’s some of what’s been occurring.

Science Television: I was never anything other than average in science. Oh, I loved Space and the theories on the Earth’s formation and stuff on exotic animals and the oceans but it wasn’t too long into my schooling that I realized that I wasn’t going to cut it in the world of Science. Unremarkable, shall we say. My few talents lay in other directions. It was about a decade ago that I really got into the Non-Fiction work of Isaac Asimov (yes, Non-Fiction. Why not? He wrote everything. I believe he has a book in every category of the Dewey Decimal System), specifically his stuff on Space-Sciences and I could understand why Mr. Asimov was called “the Great Explainer.” For the first time I could see what he was talking about with a clarity I never had in any Science class because of the way he expressed difficult concepts in simple language. This is not to imply he dumbed down any ideas or theories, just that he had a way of sculpting language in a way understandable to those with basic knowledge of the subject under discussion. Since rediscovering cable last year, I still don’t watch much actual television but this month the Science Channel, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and often History International (when not doing excellent WWII stuff) have been running some great stuff on both Space and the formation of the planet. The last three or four times I’ve had the television on I’ve seen documentaries on Krakatoa (still active), the formation of the Hawaiian Islands by volcanoes (still active), great volcanic disasters, Meteors, The Big Bang, the search for extrasolar planets, hurricane formation, the possibility of parallel universes and the Drain the Ocean special where they used sonar readings and other data in conjunction with computers to give an idea of what the surface of our planet looks like under all that water. I still wouldn’t call myself a Science expert but it never hurts to learn anything and these channels have quickly become absolute must-watch if the cable box is on.

Rainbow 6 Vegas (either): Man, these games are old. They really are. So many newer things have run through the various systems at my pad but for some reason, when the guys are in the mood to blow off some steam these are the go-to games. I believe the co-op function is what keeps us coming back more than anything else. Most games are of the X-box Live theory of multi-player, meaning that if you and a buddy (or buddies) each have an X-box 360 and Live and a copy of the game you can all sit at home and play over the network. Developers often forget that people are social and sometimes your buddy and you just wanna sit on the couch and execute something with extreme prejudice while maintaining the ability to stop and have a smoke break or give each other shit with immediacy. Rainbow 6 Vegas (either of ‘em) has the split-screen co-op function and a multitude of story and terrorist hunt missions and three difficulty levels which make for a variety of play options and the clever and fucking cheap AI make the game a good challenge. Plenty of achievements and character customization, along with the forever it takes to advance at later levels equates to a ton of playtime. The game runs very smoothly on the Unreal engine and the level design for the most part is well thought out. We also just like shooting stuff and making terrorist scum beg for mercy before driving high velocity bullets through their heads and these games allow us to do that in an entertaining and co-operative manner so until Vegas 3 or something new in the Rainbow series comes along, these are the games to beat for unrestrained violence.

Daredevil 500: Ed Brubaker took over the reigns of Daredevil with issue 82 and immediately hooked me on a character I have little affection for (except for Miller’s run but he forced you to like DD with his unique layouts and ninjas) by throwing Matt Murdock in jail for the murder of Foggy Nelson and straight up having him “outed’ as Daredevil. Instead of special treatment he’s thrown in general population with the Kingpin and other enemies who have also heard the allegations that he’s Daredevil. Matt goes a little berserk, making the news in such a spectacular way that even a freshly re-introduced to the Marvel Universe Frank Castle (the Punisher) gets arrested just to watch Daredevil best the shit out of people. Things pick up when notorious rival Bullseye is transferred in and a riot is orchestrated to hopefully kill all these guys off. All the while, Daredevil is spotted frequently fighting crime around town. This arc was awesome but at it’s conclusion I dropped Daredevil again until the recent Lady Bullseye saga and the Return of the King(pin) (issues 111-current). The notorious ninja clan the Hand want Daredevil to lead them and go on a ruthless campaign to separate Matt Murdock from anyone or thing he cares about so he will be ready to focus on the tasks ahead. The Kingpin wants Daredevil to help him put a stop to the Hand and gain a measure of revenge. Matt just wants to know what the hell is going on. Some people have hidden agendas and multiple faces and Brubaker takes you on an interesting journey that cumulates in issue 500, his finale on the title. The issue has been out for a few days and the ending was obvious to me but the political power structure has shifted again in the now rather fluid Marvel Universe. There is a new series on the horizon focused on Matt Murdock’s learning the ways of the Hand but what does this mean for DD’s own title? Daredevil 500 does exactly what it’s supposed to; it wraps up Brubaker’s stellar run on the title as well as the current arc and sets up tremendous interest in the next arc? Will there even be a Daredevil 501? Will Murdock be in it, will it focus on the supporting cast, will it feature an all-new, all-different Daredevil? Lots of questions to be answered and I, for one, look forward to seeing where to goes with the new creative team.

Fantastic Fest 2009: This is the reason I am working like a dog right now, to ensure I get the 8 days off (plus recovery time) for this 8 day, 60+ film Sci-fi/Fantasy/Asian/Generally Badass Cinema festival that has run now for 5 years (missed only the first) at the Alamo Drafthouse here in Austin, Texas. Chock full of films that will come out sometime later in 2009/2010, if at all, 52 titles have been released and there is a third announcement of titles coming, barring special screenings that we only know about when we’re there. This month begins all the watching of trailers, narrowing the titles down to create your viewing list, attempting to view (if possible) some films ahead of time to make your schedule work better and the positive drooling over some of the things we’re getting this year. My mind has been pretty focused on this event since announcement one came on July 13 and I thought I’d take this opportunity to list a few of the films I’m most excited about this year. A bunch of Zombie films play at the Fest, including Zombieland with Woody Harrelson and the Danny Dyer vehicle Doghouse, but the big news is that George Romero is bringing his newest tale, Survival of the Dead, to Fantastic Fest! The Japanese represent with our first Takashi Miike film, Yatterman, along with the Tokyo Gore Police and Machine Girl visionaries’ newest films, Robo Geisha, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl and the Hard Revenge Milly films. Famed director Jess Franco will make his first ever North American Festival Appearance to accept the Fest’s first ever Lifetime Achievement Award and there will be three of his films shown. Traditional horror appears in the guise of The Children, 80s-era tinged House of the Devil, Hollywood’s Trick r’ Treat, grindhouse-y Smash Cut and Indonesia’s bloody homage to classic horror, Macabre. Vampires rear their heads in Hollywood’s Daybreakers and horror-comedy The Revenant. In the realm of truly bizarre there’s the full contact basketball opus Fireball, supernatural classic Hausu, corpse-dissection mystery Private Eye, UK thriller Salvage, steampunk superhero tale K-20, hostage thriller Duress and the four hour opus Love Exposure by Suicide Circle and EXTE’s Sion Sono! This isn’t even a third of the stuff I could cover and there’s still another announcement of 20 or so more films on the horizon. This is a stressful time of the year but one that is filled with so much anticipatory glee I can barely describe it. The list of films announced so far, plus a kickass look at the Festival and an idea of the parties, etc. can be found at fantasticfest.comfantasticfest.com, including trailers and I wholeheartedly encourage you to check it out for a look at one of the greatest Film Festivals in existence as well as a glimpse of tomorrow’s films today.

How awesome is FantasticFest? Check out this trailer for RoboGeisha!