Um, what? Funny Amazon Review

Ok, so I'm looking up replacement batteries for our work camera, when I found this on Amazon:

From Amazon

The Butterfly Effect

Thought this was funny, got this in my email from a scholarship finder service I used years ago.

But guys, I graduated over a year ago. Maybe if I accept it, it'll send money back in time to help me pass faster and have a better life? Or change the timeline so Hitler is president of dinosaur-ninja land.

I'm Confused: Iron Man Armored Adventures

Ok, so I'm going to try to post more often, and this is one I thought up today, so I thought why not spit this out on my lunch break.

So one of the cool things about Netflix is I get to watch cartoons I missed in regular syndication because I haven't had cable in years and my adult schedule doesn't let me watch cartoons at 4pm anymore (so lame!). And I have little brothers who love watching with me. And they insisted on watching this show.

My knee-jerk reaction years ago was that this was not worth anyone's time. It's basically an alternate universe Tony Stark who is in his teens and fighting to regain his company from Obediah Stane after his father dies in a tragic plane accident, which is also when Tony was injured. He's somehow able to make amazing giant weaponry even though he's in middle school (there's no way that's high school).

That should be terrible. You're taking an adult hero who did and dealt with very adult issues (drinking, morality of weapons, millionaire playboy, etc), erasing all of that, and making him a teenager. That sounds dumb, right?

It works for Spider-Man because that's how he originally was way-back-when. And it worked for X-Men: Evolution because of the same thing; the X-Men were originally and mostly teens and young adults and dealt with issues that applied to that demographic.

But Tony is an adult genius character, who was injured in Vietnam (or Iraq if you go with the updates).

Well, somehow, they make it work, almost. Basically I enjoy anytime Tony is in the suit and facing villains, but the teenage drama stuff is cliche and sub par.

(See more at Project Rooftop)

The thing is, they did an amazing job with the villain designs. This tough because Iron Man has some pretty cornball villains (Mandarin? Spymaster? Grey Gargoyle? Whiplash? Living Laser? Blizzard? MODOK? The Unicorn?). However, they found ways to make them actually realistic, interesting and tragic.

They even did MODOK right. A giant floating head made only for killing.

So conclusion? I've watched most of the major episodes, skipping over the teen stuff, and I have to tip my hat to them. If anything, it's a great way of presenting Iron Man to kids without the messy mature stuff.

(Yes guys, I know about Heroes Reborn and the Ultimate Iron Man stuff. I don't like em for other reasons)

The Wolverine Problem

This recent cover sums up my thoughts exactly. I've been watching Wolverine and the X-Men since it's on Netflix, and I'm getting more and more annoyed with how they're trying to sell me on Wolverine. I'll admit, he's an interesting character with a tragic origin. But many of the other X-Men have equally engaging personal stories that are often tossed aside when the raging Canuck walks in the room. This argument also applies to the films.

Other than it's Wolverine worship, the series has been a great mix of all of the varied version of X-Men lore over the years and still has me pretty engaged. The animation designs are great, obviously inspired by the current comics and X-Men Evolution. It also smartly focuses on the Days of Future Past story and involve my favorite X-Villains, the Sentinels!

Thanks to JimSmash for originally posting the cover and inspiring this X-rant.

AVENGERS TRAILER!!!

AVENGERS TRAILER!!!

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/marvel/avengers/

AVVVVENENENENENGGGEERRRSSSS TRAAIIIIILLLLLLEEEEERRRRR!!!!!

Remembering Steve

I find it a bit ironic that the week I start this new blog, a great man passed away. Apple and Pixar both highly influence my life and while I know those companies are bigger than one man, Steve was still highly instrumental in founding and guiding both. He definitely made an impact on the world and inspired great design.

I watched his '05 commencement speech recently in honor of him, he said some pretty inspiring stuff. If you haven't seen it, I encourage you to check it out.

Scott McCloud had a good post, with this great quote:

"Great design can and does change the world. Poor design can and does ruin lives."

I also think Scott Kurtz did a great job capturing the mood with this strip:

Posted from my phone!

Woot! Posted this with the new Android app!