Art by 2013

League of Legends has essentially consumed my life these past days.  Of all the free time I have, it’s usually spent either drawing, Minecraft, or League of Legends.  I’m still a rising Summoner, only about level 20 or so, but I’m learning fast.  Of course, I have my favorite Champions to use that I feel most effective with.  I’ve decided to compile my favorite Champs that I’ve used in the past could of weeks I’ve been grinding the game with.  And whether it’s a crushing victory of a blowing defeat, I always have fun playing these 5 champs.  Here they are in no particular order.

As of late, I have a knack and tendency to pick up not very used champs and trying to make hem work.  I try to stay away from the heavily favored champs that professionals use like Kha’zix, Rengar, Draven, Jayce, etc.  If it’s mainstream, then it’s not my jam.

Singed

Art by Shadowsand

I read a neat graphic that taught me how to play Singed.  The main idea is that you taunt your enemy, get him to chase you, let loose your poison and watch him slowly die.  If he’s running from you, chase him instead, flip him, and then run away.  Singed overall is just such a fun champion to play.  He’s normally played a hard top and built ability user/tank.  Now he’ll never leave the game with an amazing K/D ratio, but you’ll have your enemies whining and complaining with how well you initiate and clean up.

Annie

Art by MizoreAme

Annie is the first champion I bought.  Adorable, small, and incredibly powerful, I thought Summoners eventually outgrew her as people bought more Champions.  But eventually I learned that she has a high skill ceiling.  She can pretty much nuke anyone she runs into once she has her stun.  My first Champion who I will always love to be playing for as long as I’m a Summoner.

Twitch

Twitch was the first big hero I bought.  When I first saved up for that big 3150 IP payout, I spent it on this Champion.  It was still in my early levels, before I did research on Champions.   I just saw this guy and I thought he was so cool.  Little did I know he is one of the biggest trolls in League of Legends.  How many times I have seen “f***ing rat” after I’ve stealthed away from a fight is unbelievable.  And he’s absolutely my favorite carry, whether it be unsuspectingly getting first bloods, or using my Ult to get a triple kill after breaking stealth.

Viktor

Art by BaSHeL1k

My most recent purchase has been one of my favorites in a while.  His laser proves annoying for pokes and his area of affect stun can be useful in team fights.  He was the first character I’ve used since turning 20 and using my tier 3 runes, so maybe my marginal improved performance can be attributed to the small ability power boosts or maybe Viktor’s raw awesomeness.  Fear the laser.

Amumu

Art by Numberslayer

This guy.  He looked super depressed and he had an adorable character design.  So he was the second champion I bought.  Once again little did I know, he was an excellent tank and initiator.  His ult still proves to be one of the most useful ults around, and his skillshot is highly feared if you can use it correctly.  These days, I use him as my primary jungle, simply because he’s easy to use and farms well.

My other Champs I’ve Purchased along with the Gripes I have

Sion – Foes Fear the Shield, but loathe the repetitive play style.  If your opponent knows how Sion works, you’re in trouble.

Shen – He’s great at game changing, but his play style is a bit boring for my taste.

Heimerdinger – He’s a great lane pusher, but he has little late game potential, not good if you’re not winning by a large margin with other harder carries.

Urgot – A difficult carry to master, he’s one I’m truly interested in becoming good at, but I usually hurt our team by claiming a carry and not being able to carry with him.

Morgana – An amazing nuker, but she requires herself to be put in the middle of all the action, which makes her easier focused.

Udyr – An unconventional hero with no ult, Udyr is a man of situation.  He has shields, movement bonus, area-of-effect, attack damage, he’s well suited for any problem.  However, his overallness doesn’t make him particularly excel at any one thing meaning won’t carry or tank or gank the best.

It’s no secret that my love for television extends beyond many of my other loves.  These include video games, movies, drawing, books, and comic books.  Doing these recaps are my favorite because it allows you to share with everyone about your favorite shows and gives others a chance to chime in their opinions on what I’m missing out on!  Trust me, these kind of things actually happen because it’s because of my readers that I got into Modern Family!

Anywho, Winter/Spring television is very much started and some shows only have a week or two left before their finales, but I figured now would be a good time to recap on what’s happened and why you should pick up on the shows I’m watching!  11 Shows this season, can you keep up?

The Hopefully Skeptically Good – Community (NBC)

Everyone was skeptical when this show returned.  And after the Hunger Deans episode, I almost jumped on board with them.  However, given time to grow, I came accustomed to this ‘new’ Community.  This being said, it is not the same Community as before.  Dan Harmon was the heart and soul of the original Community and since his departure, the show has gotten hallow.  The same stylistic gimmicks are there, but the wit is dense and uninspired.  The show is still watchable though.  Carrying the torch is primarily Donald Glover’s Troy and Gillian Jacob’s Britta with even Joel McHale bringing in the feels every once in a while.  Will we get six seasons and a movie?  Maybe and probably not, but regardless that might be okay if this is what the show continues to be like.

The Unfortunately Soon to Be Cancelled – Happy Endings (ABC)

ABC’s “Save Happy Endings” campaign pretty much nails the boards in the beautiful comedic coffin.  Instead of having faith in it picking up on its own, ABC essentially gave its small cult following an ultimatum: “Watch this or we’ll gut it like a fish”.  It’s such a shame because this show really is as ace as ever.  But being moved into a Friday slot and ABC burning episodes, it’s pretty much done for.  I’m gonna miss Eliza Coupe most, but maybe Damon Wayans Jr. can guest as Coach in New Girl, the romantic comedy tv show I’ll move to once this goes into the grave.

The Never Disappointing – Justified (FX)

Probably the least watched of all the shows on this list, the little known Justified is hitting all the high notes as usual.  Every week, I find myself upset with the shortest 42 minutes of my life.  I recommend you read about what the series entails here if you aren’t familiar with it.  Instead of a main baddy this time around, this season revolves around a mystery, in which can make Raylan Givens’s career.  Always at his opposite Boyd Crowder is trying to make his own career.  Throw in the Detroit Mafia, some new love interests, and the unforgettable Wynn Duffy and you’ve got yourself another amazing season for Justified.

The Perfect High Brow/Low Brow Balance Act – Archer (FX)

When you watch TV, it’s easy to just forget about the writing and enjoy the acting and story.  But with FX’s Archer, the writing is the true gem here.  When you watch Archer, you can almost read how clever the script is due its quick dialogue and transitions.  Even if you can’t keep up with some of the high brow humor hidden in the writing, the writers also throw in plenty of fantastic comedic timing that involve sex innuendo and physical comedy that will have you guffawing none the less.  And with 3 other seasons to provide callback jokes, Archer truly is the animated reincarnation of Arrested Development.  Sterling Archer and his colleagues at ISIS are very likely the most radical and hysterical group of people around.

The Bad/Good Show that Turned into a Great Show and Then Went Back to Being a Good Show – The Walking Dead (AMC)

In the fall, the Walking Dead was arguably the best thing that aired during the entire season.  Literally jaw dropping moments and cliffhangers episode after episode, The Walking Dead seemed like it was on top of the world.  Then when it came back on Spring, it struggled to maintain the fast pace and it became eerily close to the dreaded farm arc in season 2.  Sprinkled in the 8 episode run were a couple of noteworthy episode, those specifically written by new season 4 showrunner Scott Gimple who wrote the two best episodes of the season, when Rick found Morgan, and Merle’s Redemption.  I’m very excited with the new direction season 4 can take, especially being a reader myself.  And then there was the season finale that aired last night…words cannot describe the disappoint I feel.  With the major climax leading to a main character’s death, especially a character I never really cared for?  It was quite the bummer.

The Every Episode is a Jaw Dropper – Shameless (Showtime)

Okay, so I kinda gave up on this show towards the end of season 2.  It was very difficult to watch alone and if you weren’t in the right mindset, this show can be very very upsetting.  But at the beginning of the third season, I’ve found how to approach and love this show.  This show balances heart, raunch, sex, and genuine shock to such a perfect balance, that it has become one of the greatest emotional roller coaster rides you’ll ever see.  It’s a shame this show doesn’t get more buzz, but I suppose the “I can’t get pregnant, so let’s get my very fertile mother to have sex with you to conceive a genetically similar baby” storyline isn’t for most people.  Yes, you heard that.

The Perfect – Parks and Recreation (NBC)

Parks and Recreation is perfect.  Brilliantly written, emotionally sound, and hysterically funny, Parks and Recreation is simply perfect.  With the emotional and comedically high moment being the Knope/Wyatt wedding, this season hasn’t lost any momentum in how brilliant it is.  Maybe not as story driven as the equally perfect seasons 3 and 4, Amy Poehler takes Parks and Recreation home every week it’s on.  She deserves all the rewards.

The Young Comedic Veteran – New Girl (Fox)

Initially this show was about 3 dudes trying to tame Zooey Deschanel’s quirkiness.  It has since then grown into one of the strongest comedies around.  While Schmidt was the comedic high in season 1, Nick Miller has quickly become a fan favorite, acing every scene he is in.  The show is developing its own line of strong call backs, one of its strongest being fat Schmidt and mustached Nick Miller college roommates that very much slay me every time.  I don’t know what’s holding you back from this show if you’re still not on board, but it has very much joined the ranks of Parks and Recreation and Modern Family as solid comedies.

The Show I Hated to Watch, But Still Watched – Girls (HBO)

My roommates and I have caught up on Girls before season 2 ended.  Picture a room of 4 guys sitting on a coach watching 25 minutes of girls making stupid decisions and being intolerable.  But there we were, every week, trying to catch up on Hannah, Jessa, Marne, and Shoshanna doing the silly things they do.  Even likable characters like Andy and Ray have their low points and this show ultimately makes me rage and rage, but I keep coming back.  I don’t understand it.  An entire post could be dedicated to the amount of confliction I have over this show, so I should stop here before I pop a blood vessel.

The Super Strong Starter – The Americans (FX)

The only new show I picked up this entire season is FX’s The Americans.  Seemingly eerily close to Homeland in terms of broad subject matter [kids don't know about secret life, ambiguous heroes, etc.], I gave The Americans a shot and it does not disappoint   It’s so good, that I’ll be posted a fully blown article soon regarding why everyone should give the Americans a shot.

The Finally Arrived – Game of Thrones (HBO)

Yesterday the premiere aired and it was fantastic.  A Storm of Swords is a fan favorite and I have trust in David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to do a good job in conveying the story.  I ultimately know I have to put aside the intricate details of the book and the adaptation of the show, so I can truly enjoy both.  More to come on how well the show is progressing as time goes on.

Did you ever want to know what would happen to Batman when he would inevitably become aged?  In Frank Miller’s non-canonical but still incredibly relevant, “The Dark Knight Returns”,  follows Batman in his golden years, 10 years after retirement.  As Gotham is still in the dark shadows, a new generation of criminals who do not know fear try to take over Gotham.  Only so long can the Dark Knight sit idly as he watches the city he gave half of his life to burns.  But he isn’t the only one watching Gotham…When he inevitably comes back, an old foe’s spark is reignited to return as well.

Spoilers beware

The Parallel Universe It’s Set In

Earlier, I mentioned this graphic novel is ‘non-canonical’ meaning it isn’t recognized as the official Batman timeline in terms of how the story of Bruce Wayne actually ends, but is rather in a parallel universe in the DC world.  In this Batman universe, this is set after the canonical death of Jason Todd, Batman’s second Robin sidekick after he died at the hands of the Joker.  Distraught with grief and remorse, he hung up his cowl only to wither in boredom for the next 10 years of his life.  Having aged, his strength and speed have dwindled, but not by much and the purposeless Bruce Wayne struggles to find himself a worthwhile death after such an eventful life.

Bruce Wayne struggles with his inner self, even recognizing that the symbolic Batman within him isn’t finished with him just yet.  He looks to this inner strength to get him through the physical limitations his age have set on him because he needs it to fight this younger, stronger, and faster generation of criminals.  One thing that has not slowed down however is his mind, which he relies on the entire story to beat his foes.  Well…at least most of them.

Pointing out the Joker’s Only Purpose in his Life

Meanwhile, in Arkham Asylum, the Joker has all but retired his life of crime, living apathetically in a padded cell.  That is until his old foe comes back into light, where suddenly the Joker has a need to break out once more for one final tussle with his arch nemesis.   In what might be one of the most significant Joker vs. Batman fights I’ve ever come to read/watch, it is ultimately the Joker’s last laugh as he breaks Batman’s one rule for him as he twists his own spine whilst laughing in the face of his nemesis, thereby leading the cops to believe that Batman is indeed a dangerous killer.

When a God Fights the Batman

The government isn’t okay with this masked vigilante bringing up all this bad press, so they send in their golden boy, The Man of Steel aka Superman, in to deal with the matter once and for all.  The old friend of Bruce Wayne tries to convince him to stop the madness and retire for good before he truly has stop him, but in all his badassery, Batman tells him to screw off.  Batman prepares himself to fight the nearly invincible man and fight itself is one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever come to read/watch.  How does a human beat one of the most dangerous beings in the universe?  He does it by being the goddamned Batman, and I won’t spoil the actual fight, but man it’s definitely worth reading/watching.

Graphic Novel vs. Animated Feature

I read the graphic novel first and then watched the two part animated feature.  The primary difference between the two was that the graphic novel had more people stories that truly stressed how forsaken Gotham was and how desperately it needed the Batman.  Also, there were many moments where we could read the thoughts in Bruce’s head as he pointed out how old he was and his stubborn refusal to die.  The animated feature however had excellent animation that sometimes just can’t be replicated in a single page.  It was probably very redundant for me to watch and read both of them in such a close time frame, especially because I can’t really recall many of the differences.

Influence to the Nolan Universe 

There are many influences that can be seen in Nolan’s Batman Trilogy.  The biggest influence was how Bruce had retired and was eventually called back into action.  In the Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne must overcome his age and history of injuries to fight a much more fit and muscular opponent.  There’s a direct quote reference to how an older cop telling the younger cop that he was in for a show when the Dark Knight made his return that made me giggle as well.

The Epic Conclusion

How could the end of Batman’s epic saga start to begin?  In truth it really couldn’t.  Gotham will essentially always be a pit of crime and darkness, and the end acknowledges this.  But the end also acknowledges that it will take time and effort to make progress in that front and Batman sets up the conclusion of this story so well, that we truly believe that this will happen.  I won’t truly spoil the ending for you, but it ends in a satisfying manner.  At least more satisfying than the other graphic novels where I know the open ended nature of the criminals being locked back up in Arkham will eventually get back out to start another potential book.  The end of the Dark Knight Returns truly makes a mark of how Batman’s unbelievable journey could end, and if you ever want closure on what could be an ending to an unendable franchise, check this graphic novel/animated feature out.

Riot Ness Speed Draw

See the full drawing here

Gangster Kong

Full Description and More Art here

Visit here for the final drawing: Broken Luigi

What the what?

For those who don’t know, I made a statement for which I closed this blog after nearly 2 years of updating and sharing with you all my thoughts and opinions on movies, tv, and videogames.  I had essentially left this blog to start a new site Fig-tv.com.  The site is fully functional and features art  and videos created by me.  I’ve ultimately decided that throwing away both the audience I’ve created as well as WordPress’s amazing network abilities would be such a waste.

So I’ve decided to maintain Banana Scoop as a means to updating new images and videos I’ve added to my site.  I’m doing this primarily as a hope to both entertain an audience as well as simultaneously bring some traffic to Fig-tv.com.

I’m very excited in coming back to WordPress after all these weeks and I can’t wait to reconnect with everyone else from the old days.

Expect some updates in the time to come!

-Patrick

It’s been a blast.

Bananapost.tumblr.com, Bananafeed.wordpress.com, Bananascoop.com.  All three of these things have had such a profound effect on me.  I’ve dumped hours upon hours upon hours into these mediums as a form of expressing myself and my passion about movies, television, and video games.  I’ve learned an insurmountable amount of knowledge regarding how to entertain and run a successful blog over the past 2 years.  I had an idea that this blog would be something I had with me for the rest of my life.  One does not simply walk away from something that has been so important to them in their life.

Bananapost started as a tumblr that was merely dedicated to writing novel reviews and posting geeky images of cool things I found on the internet.  When I found the interface tools too constricting for what I wanted, I went to WordPress for a full blogging experience.  There I built a small but dedicated audience whom I have shared a loving amount of time with.  I found people that shared a similar passion and had joyous times discussing and geeking out about our favorite tv shows and movies.  I had dumped so much of my time into this blog that I was single handedly posting nearly 25 posts a week combining original content and sharing the original content of others.  When I decided to go pro, I upgraded the domain within WordPress to lose the tag and get the feel of a legitimate site.  From there, I even recruited up to 3 contributors who I thank immensely for donating their precious time to help my blog be the absolute best it could be.

I had one of the most unique experiences managing, writing, editing, and formatting this blog. I learned basic HTML, what maximizes viewership, how to properly deal with commenters, spammers, and others.  I was blessed to be Freshly Pressed by WordPress, twice.  I forsaked homework, responsibilities, and lectures to work on this blog and it won’t be something I will ever forget.

But now I turn to another medium.  One that doesn’t have Banana in the name.  One that doesn’t use WordPress as a medium, but a full blown website, built from the ground up by myself.  I am no CS major.  I have never taken a web design class.  I don’t know what HTMLX or what CSS style sheets are or even how to read stats from a website that’s not based on Blogger or WordPress.  I took upon myself to learn the basics and build a website on my own.  I’ve truly never been prouder of myself, if that’s not too vain to say.

This new site isn’t going to be a carbon copy of this site.  If you know me, I have an intense affinity for art and drawing and I intend to make that website solely centered my art and creative works.  The site is launching today and I advise you to drop by to support me.  Thank you for so much Friends, Families, WordPress bloggers, WordPress.com, and everyone else who has supported me in the past.

I look to the future.  Hopefully my new site will be as successful as this one.

New site: Fig-tv.com

Having barely played any of the Saints games in this series, I had a rather hard time adjusting to the story, but they made it relatively easy to follow for newer players. I won’t go too much into it considering I know absolutely nothing about it, so I’ll just cover what aspects about it I enjoyed the most thus far. As per every other game in the world, the introduction to the game helped you get acclimated to the controls and the characters, despite the game killing off one of my favorites at the beginning, before you even get to create your own character. For me, the intro to the game was incredibly long, despite giving my a lot of stuff to do while playing it. I kinda just wanted to land down in wherever I was supposed to be and go to town GTA style with a bat and the ability to run like hell. Fortunately I didn’t have to wait THAT much longer, and was awarded with a pretty sweet tricked out ride to put in my garage.

As far as the gameplay is concerned, I feel like Saints is an upgraded Grand Theft Auto, with so much more customization options and just overall simpler user interfaces. I may feel a little skewed concerning the controls since the last time I played GTA was on the original Xbox and I’m playing Saints currently on a PC, but I have a spare 360 controller for cases like that (though I haven’t gotten around to using it yet). It’s open-world to a degree, which is nice, and makes for some rather interesting fun when you decide to throw caution to the wind and just go on a rampage. Overall I like the way they developed it, and wouldn’t really fix much. The only issues I’ve had with performance are on my end due to my laptop being older than a couple of years.

I haven’t even scratched the surface of the depth this game has, despite having played it for quite a few hours already (mostly going around beating people up with the Penetrator). I do have to say that I enjoy the vehicle choices this time around in comparison to the other, more bland GTA ones. There’s something about the feel of these cars that just makes them so much more enjoyable to ride around in compared to its competitor. I do also appreciate the fact that you don’t just randomly lug around your entire stash of weapons like you would in GTA, and you actually have to think about what you want to select. In addition to that, the upgrade system adds an element of uniqueness in comparison to GTA, where you’re stuck with body armor and that’s it. I can’t really compare the two as one is based more in a fantasy realm as opposed to the realism and grit of the other.

Plot

The plot to Captain Scarlett’s DLC has you trying to find the treasure of someone known as Captain Blade, forcing you to fight your way through enemy infested sands in order to collect the pieces of a compass that should hopefully take you to his hiding spot. It begins by taking you through the occupied town of Oasis, or what remains of it. After taking out a few bandits, you find yourself talking to a rather lonely (and clingy) stranger known as Shade, who informs you of the situation. You soon find out that nearly all of the town’s inhabitants are dead (despite Shade’s musings), and are forced to undergo a series of quests (the first of which lands you a nifty new vehicle known as the Sand Skiff) in order to progress through the content. You eventually find yourself at the lair of Captain Scarlett, who tells you of the compass and the treasures hidden beneath the sands, after which she promptly gives you a series of quests in order for you to go ahead and find said pieces. After much frolicking around in your desert skiff, you assemble all of the pieces in order to unearth the treasure, only to find a large wurm known as the Leviathan, who promptly eats you. After defeating Scarlett (who betrays you, which is no surprise due to the game’s constant reminders of it), you end up in the Leviathan’s lair, where you must defeat it before finally getting to the treasure room at the end of the content.

It should be noted that you can only access the treasure room twice during each playthrough (4 times per character since you have two for the normal playthrough and two for the TVHM playthrough). Bearing this in mind, one should wait during their second playthrough on a character before choosing to undergo and complete this DLC.

New Weaponry

We are introduced to a new tier of weapons in this DLC, the Seraph weapons, all of which seem rather powerful (though do not fare well against the traditional end game legendaries. I can say that I do enjoy the Blood of the Seraphs more than Terramorphous’ Blood due to the nifty fact that the numbers change upon re-equipping it, and it provides additional stats on top of the regen. These weapons are much easier to get in my opinion, as they only require the player to farm up enough crystals to purchase them, making them much more accessible than legendaries depending on your view point. Additionally we get access to Captain Blade’s personal weaponry, all of which are powerful, despite their secondary curse effects that do wacky, insane things during battle. They definitely change up the game in ways only the developers over at Gearbox could manage.

New End Game Bosses

There were two end-game bosses this time around, Hyperious and Master Gee, both of whom are incredibly difficult to face using normal methods. The favorite and simplest way to down him (Hyperious) nowadays seems to be tossing a tediore weapon (preferably the Baby Maker or a Plasma Caster) in order to inflict copious amounts of damage when used in conjunction with the Bee shield. I’m not going to comment more on the subject as this is the only method I’ve used to successfully kill him. If you’re looking to do a legitimate run without the baby maker, you’re gonna have a hard time doing it (but if you manage, props to you).

There was a second boss added during this DLC called Master Gee. I have yet to defeat him due to the requirements you have to complete in order to even deal him any damage. Overall the fight doesn’t feel worth it at any point. This being the case (in my opinion), I have chosen not to include any information concerning him to this review (it wouldn’t be credible if I didn’t do it myself).

New Vehicle

The latest vehicle in this DLC is the Sand Skiff, which is an awesome boat that hovers on jets as you float across the sand. It is probably the best and most fun vehicle in the entirety of the game, despite that not being hard to manage with only two other forms of competition. Anyway, this particular boat is probably my favorite part of the DLC, hands down. Just driving it is a joy in and of itself, and with the wide, gigantic over world maps, there is definitely tons of space to drive it in. Regrettably, you can only use it in the DLC maps, meaning no Sand Skiffs in places like Three Horns or the Arid Nexus, as much as I know you all wanted to.

Afterword

Overall I feel like this DLC is definitely worth getting. If you have the Season Pass then this shouldn’t be an issue, but if you haven’t, this may tip the scale in favor of it. With Mr. Torgue’s DLC already out, that’s two sets of DLC for only 30$ at this point. At the rate Gearbox keeps releasing DLC, even the Season Pass might not be enough to have all the fun downloadable stuff. We’ll see when the they release their next awesome, fun-to-play expansion to one of my favorite series of all time.

This probably sums up a majority of the DLC without giving away too many spoilers. I tried to keep that down to a minimum in case anyone just wanted a general outline of the plot. If they want to see everything word for word then they can either look it up on the borderlands wiki or play through the DLC themselves. Hopefully you enjoyed a slight in-depth look into Captain Scarlett’s DLC.

Kick-Ass, a title you’ve only probably heard as a 2010 movie that relatively little people saw, revolved around a boy who wanted to become a superhero in everyday life.  The movie was based on a comic book written by Mark Millar (Wanted) and illustrated by John Romita, Jr.  Being a super geek myself, I’ve found myself in the same position that I wish I could be a superhero in real life.  Unfortunately this is not the type of comic book or movie to inspire you to do so.  Both tales are dark, one being significantly darker than the other, with cutting dialogue, violent page spreads, and snappy pop culture references.

Seeing as not many people have read or even seen the movie, I’ll keep this article light on the major spoilers.

The Disturbingly and Comically Dark Story of a Horny Teenage Boy

Mark Millar has created something amazing.  Known for his super badass graphic novel Wanted (which also has a movie adaptation), I remember reading the introduction that questioned the reason from going from something incredibly badass to something like this.  Writing about the pathetic life of a nobody who just decides to be a superhero?  Hardly a story, but Mark Millar ran with it and made it into something awesome.  While depreciating and hard to read at times, Mark Millar has created an amazingly original story with unbelievably awesome and original characters.

Fantastic Artwork by John Romita, Jr.

It must be the best job in the world, to draw the costumes of heroes like Captain Stars, Lieutenant Stripes, and Battle-Guy.  John Romita Jr.’s art is distinct and original.  As always, I never know what else to say about it, simply because I’m not well versed in the vernacular.  But if there’s anything I’ve actually learned from drawing, it’s that paying attention to artistic styles is key to getting better as a hobby artist.

Kick-Ass the Movie was Dark

Kick-Ass was released in 2010 directed by Matthew Vaughn starring Aaron Johnson, Chloë Grace-Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Nicholas Cage.  I had only watched this movie before I even knew there was a graphic novel out there with the same name.  I thought it was simply amazing.  There was an amazing narrative voiced by Aaron Johnson that summarized the ironies of his life, a soundtrack that I looked up after watching, a gleefully violent performance from promising rising star Chloë Grace-Moretz, and a surprisingly awesome performance from Nicholas Cage.  The movie is amazingly stylish with quick cuts during action scenes.  The script is full of bleak comedic timings that carries and is even amplified from the source comic material.  Overall, a great super-hero movie to watch if you’re looking for something fresh and exciting.

Kick-Ass the Graphic Novel was Darker

Nearly 2 years after watching the movie, I finally picked up and read the graphic novel.  Although I expected it to tread closely to the source material, I found it be more and more diverging as I read it.  Even the plot twists and romance story are shams.  Forget cliche, there isn’t anything cliche about this story.  And that’s why I absolutely love it.  The story is essentially about a lonely regular geek who tries to be a superhero to pick up chicks and beat up bad guys.  But let’s be honest, he even points it out himself, this isn’t Spider-Man or Batman, so even he knows he won’t get the girl and that he’ll get his ass kicked.  And that’s totally what happens!  That’s like a reverse plot twist.  The way the graphic novel delivers this twist is grim and dark and even sympathizing towards the main characters.  Even the end results on a relativel dark note, wondering why any of this even happened.

Comparing the Two

The graphic novel was definitely dark.  The movie adaptation took dark elements, flipped some of them around and made a semi-feel good movie.  Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.  In all honesty, if the movie adaptation were anymore faithful, I think the movie could’ve taken an incredibly dark turn leaving many people disturbed and upset.  Other than that, the two shouldn’t be so carefully compared.  It’s well known in todays culture that comic books and graphic novels are still in the taboo of geek culture in today’s society, so I’m behind the idea that only the hardcore geeks can actually read Kick-Ass and that the movie is a well placed medium that connects the boundary between geek and mainstream culture, carefully balancing the good and the dark.

I Apparently Missed the Second Book on Accident

So in my ignorance, I picked up Kick-Ass 2, assuming it was the second book in the series.  It isn’t.  The official second book in the series in actually titled Hit-Girl, which revolves around the popular 10-year old dual sword wielding, profane speaking sociopath integrating back into society.  Hopefully I didn’t get too spoiled by jumping into Kick-Ass 2, but it’s already too late [I found out when I reached the final pages of Kick-Ass 2.]  I’ll pick you up eventually…

Kick-Ass 2 the Graphic Novel was Even Darker…Like Disturbingly Dark

I quickly rushed into Kick-Ass 2 right after finishing Kick-Ass because I simply couldn’t get enough.  Boy was I in for a ride.  I find this volume to be superior to the original, in so many ways.  I simultaneously find it to be darker and harder to read.  This was incredibly hard to read.  Like upsettingly hard.  Kick-Ass has joined a league known as Justice Forever.  When a villain returns with his own league of cold-blooded killers, the only option is for shit to hit the fan.  And boy does it.  Kick-Ass 2 has incredible amounts of shock violence and horrors that simply knock you on your ass if you’re not careful.

Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall and How It’s Measuring Up

Aaron Johnson says the film adaptation will not be absolutely faithful to the comics simply because they can’t show some of the stuff in the pages.  Probably a good call.  Also: Jim Carrey is casted as ex-mafia born again superhero, Colonel Stars and he’s holding a hot dog.  Donald Faison, aka Turkleton, is cast as Gravity Guy.  There’s a superhero called Night Bitch.  Other than that, there’s not much else known about this movie.  Also, Red Mist is returning under a new name.  I’m not gonna say it here, but it’s going to be glorious in the reveal.  God this movie is going to be glorious.

History

Maya was originally stuck on a planet with a faction known as ‘the brotherhood’. Essentially she was taken care of by them under the guise of helping lead the planet, when in reality she was being held captive in order to force the entirety of their planet into fear of facing a siren. It didn’t help when the apparent head of the order refused to take her seriously (referring to her as ‘child’ constantly). They use her in place of a goddess, threatening her otherwordly powers against anyone who dared to go against their cult. Eventually they ask her to kill people in forms of public execution, many of whom had crimes that were left unknown (presumably innocent). Essentially the way the story goes is that Maya gets mad after they ask her to sacrifice a person and kills the head of the order before leaving the planet for good, finding her solace on Pandora while trying to search for more information concerning her people and her powers.

Recommended Build

There’s only one build that I recommend for Maya, but that’s only because I enjoy her as a multiplayer character. Overall I feel like she does sub-par in a single player environment, but shines above all with her revive ability in a multiplayer game. I’m not quite sure how hard she hits as I don’t really like her passive abilities too much. To be completely honest, I dreaded doing this character guide since I started because I honestly didn’t really like Maya’s role in general. After getting to play with her for a while, however, I’ve found that she’s incredibly fun to use in the right circumstances (mainly in multiplayer with lots of other targets to keep the enemies away from you). I like to focus primarily on the Harmony tree for obvious reasons when playing with friends. It helps keep both you, and your allies alive. Additionally, the extra slag from the final skill is never a bad thing. I like to go straight down cataclysm next in order to at least buffer my DPS with elemental weapons. Of importance here is the hellfire (which is still an amazing gun despite being compared to its predecessor from the original Borderlands). Overall this is really the only build I’ve played around with, but I’ve had immense amounts of fun doing it. There are more DPS oriented builds out there that focus more on Cataclysm or Motion, but they aren’t as fun to me, nor as gratifying as seeing my friend be lifted up his feet from across the map thanks to my res.

Created Using Borderlands 2 Skill Builder

A little side note is that the Siren’s ability is probably the most spammable ability in the game, and should be used as such. If something isn’t phaselocked during a fight, you’re doing it wrong. With a couple of cooldown relics, you should have no problem maintaining phaselock with reduction. Anyway, that’s a little tip more or less. Now we’ll move onto the weaponry.

Recommended Weaponry

This section is really odd to me for Maya, as there really aren’t that many weapons that she won’t use well. I will note that I recommend any elemental SMG’s and a couple of elemental assault rifles. A slagged Shredifier is also really fun to use (but good luck getting it to drop…). I would additionally recommend anything that buffs your elemental damage or elemental effect chance just because the additional damage stacks up quickly. Overall just use whatever you’re itching to fire at the enemy (with a preference for elemental things).

Sniper Rifles: Volcano, Elemental Pitchfork, Railer
Assault Rifles: (Elemental) Shredifier, Veruc, Hammer Blaster
Pistols: Anything (Preferably Infinity cause they’re fun)
Submachine Guns: (Elemental) Babymaker, Bitch, Hellfire
Rocket Launchers: Anything (I’m partial to the Mongol)

Afterward

That concludes my Borderlands 2 In-Depth Character guides for right now. I’ll focus on writing more concerning the DLC for now while trying to stray away from spoilers. I’ll probably end up just making a review for each DLC as I play through it (starting with Captain Scarlett, which is by now long overdue with the advent of Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage). Hopefully you guys have enjoyed learning a little about each character, and learned a little concerning how to play them (with my style). Stay tuned for more awesome video game coverage from SoGoCJE!

I’m in the middle of Fall TV heaven right now.  Shows have hit their climaxes and sh*t is seriously hitting the fan for most of the tv shows I’m watching.

Let’s review the shows I’m watching…

• New Girl
• Happy Endings
• Modern Family
• Parks and Recreation
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• Dexter
• Homeland
• The Walking Dead
• American Horror Story: Asylum
• Boardwalk Empire
• South Park

The Comedy Line Up

New Girl – Fox

More-so guilty pleasure than high praise, New Girl continues to represent what all television romantic comedy should be.  It has compelling and [mostly] interesting characters, great guests to spice up the cast, and a cast that looks like they’re having more fun than just reading a script.  In my honest opinion, I don’t praise it any more than that, simply because I think they’re getting a little too comfortable and there isn’t much of a compelling reason to continue watching.  Cece and Schmidt aren’t too much of a compelling couple, Winston is pretty stale as usual, and Nick is always cranky.  Either that or he’s trying to not be cranky.  And Jess is Jess.  Like I said earlier, guests are nice to spice things up (Rob Riggle and Jamie Lee Curtis were nice touches), but other than that, it’s an okay romantic comedy sitcom that I’ll watch…if I have nothing else to.  That being said, it does set the lower bar of what all romantic comedies should aim to be.

Parks and Recreation – NBC

Unlike New Girl, Parks and Recreation is on the higher end of the spectrum, with hilarious script writing, some of the best characters created on tv [ever], and something that many shows truly lack: heart.  I’m consistently calling it tv’s current most heartwarming comedy, and I continue to stand by it.  Parks and Recreation simply lights up my eyes and heart whenever the catchy tune starts.  Amy Poehler/Leslie Knope will always make me giggle, and the plot movement on the show [while not as compelling as season 4] is surprisingly good for a comedy sitcom.  Leslie Knope has made enemies in the past couple of episodes: Pawnee’s Resturant Association representatives, Councilman Jam, and Marsha and Marshal Langman all in the name of preserving her ideals and morals.  She finally met Joe Biden which reminds me that I could watch that .gif over and over again.  They saved up for season 5 for the show’s beloved Ron Swanson to finally get a love interest, which we can all root for how smitten she makes him.  Overall Parks and Recreation is simply wonderful and is surprisingly strong after so long.  I don’t doubt that they’ll keep it up.

After all, there is a wedding to plan.

SO MANY FEELS.

Happy Endings – ABC

I’d say Happy Endings found its groove during the middle of the 1st season.  Since then, the rapid-fire, pop culture based humor has taken off and become the comedy juggernaut it is today.  Still highly underrated and not well-known, this generation’s ‘Friends’ is certainly one of the funniest comedies on air.  They really upped the sexuality this time around and it’s not something I’m complaining about.  As usual, Jane and Brad carry a lot of the comedy as well as a lot of the heart, but as situational comedy [aka sitcom, did I blow you mind?] pairings go, Happy Endings doesn’t mind switching it up, with special call out to the Boys to Menorah episode, where Brad and Max prove to be a powerful combination.  The whole Dave and Alex thing is quite annoying, but the show is so meta with self references that I don’t know if they’re trying to make fun of how sitcoms often do it…Did Happy Endings pull a fast one on me?  Damn it’s even better than I thought previously.

And I thought it was pretty damn good.

South Park – Comedy Central

South Park ended it’s 16th season strong by taking on the election.  They also managed to tackle Hummer sales, Morgan Freeman, Chinese General Tsao chicken, the Disney/Star Wars merge, and the nature of Obama’s win.  Seriously, read that last sentence.  Are you f*cking kidding me?  Only South Park’s Matt Stone and Trey Parker could ever pull something like that off and still be coherent and utterly awesome.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – FX

For their 8th season, the gang has gone awfully meta, explaining in their own tv show how it has stood the test of time and still remained relevant and hilarious.  This show isn’t belted down by meaningless romances or an overarching storyline, it’s simply 5 of the worst people on the planet doing anything they possibly can to succeed in life.  Their warped idea of succeeding leads them to get involved in some of the most random stuff, and the idea pool is essentially endless.  They referenced within their shows about how quickly they switch from one radical idea to the next.  They also reminded us of how hilarious it is to bring a normal/sane person into their world and show us again how ugly they truly are as human beings.  But we love it.  We love Charlie’s illiteracy, or Dennis’s pretentiousness, or Mac’s insecurity issues.  I could watch these guys forever and ever.

Modern Family – ABC

This show is now my week’s chore show.  Every time I talk about this show, it’s usually accompanied with some negative flak.  Too vanilla, too predictable, and I’m even finding Phil Dunphy and Cam to be getting a little stale.  The twist regarding Haylee was a nice touch, whose surprisingly poor life decisions are the only thing that’s genuinely surprising.  For a show that promotes happiness, family unity, and ‘every-episode-will-work-out-for-the-best’ out the wazoo, her college drop was quite the nice twist that took me off my ass.  Kudos for you Modern Family, you definitely manage to shock me every once in a while, but if I hear another generic family value monologue by one of the characters that applies to the plot lines of all the characters at the end with a sarcastic comedic twist, you will only disappoint me.

The Drama Line Up

While comedy is a good way to boost morale throughout the week, it’s television drama that truly gets me going.  The Drama Line Up will contain MAJOR SPOILERS.  GET OUT while you still can.

Boardwalk Empire – HBO

Crime drama’s cliche line is “it’s nothing personal, it’s just business”. Gyp Rosetti puts that quote on it’s head and beats it in with a shovel. Bobby Cannavale for Best Supporting Actor

This year’s dark horse drama is attributed to how quickly Boardwalk Empire escalated into one of the more compelling dramas this year. Starting off as a relatively slow start to last season’s big twist, Nucky Thompson has conquered a lot.  Throughout the season, we saw some pretty wicked things.  Gillian Darmody proves to be one of sickest characters we’ve seen on TV.  Richard Harrow represents the show’s innocence and probably most rootable [word?] character.  Van Alden is some-what relevant again and is definitely one of the more interesting characters on the show.  Thank god Paz de la Huerta is gone.  I’ll say for sure that Boardwalk Empire is both fearless and beautiful.  Fearless because they aren’t afraid to push the limits of what’s been seen on television and even story-wise.  Killing off main characters as much as it has makes it probably the ballsiest show in TV, more-so than Game of Thrones because George R.R. Martin is the one pulling the strings versus tv series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.  The Boardwalk Empire writers get the genuine shock out of its entire audience when it does something shocking versus fans of the books in Game of Thrones expecting every move.  The series itself is simply beautiful because you lose yourself in the setting due to the high production values and convincing setting.  We get to the season finale of its third season and all the cards are on the table.  We know no one is safe and heads will roll.  And I’m so fcking excited.

Dexter – Showtime

A loathsome season that showed so much promise.  Dexter for me is becoming a chore.  A chore that I will hate watch until its series finale.  The supporting characters are awful, Dexter’s monologues are becoming repetitive and lost all significance or relevance, and the overall story-arc revolving around Deb finding out has lost its luster after the first 2 episodes.  The show’s only redeeming qualities are the main villain, villainously played by George Novikov is truly the only fresh and convincing face of the show.  At least the horse beating will be over by around this time next year…

Homeland – Showtime

I’m still catching up, making my way to about episode 6 or 7 of season 2.  As soon as I’m done, I’ll write a separate article for a total recap.

The Walking Dead – AMC

Before I went on my Boardwalk Empire binge, The Walking Dead was clearly the winner for this Fall’s TV best.  And the true best winner of best series this fall will go down this Sunday when the two premiere side-by-side at 9:00.  The Walking Dead has come far from its mediocre second season lull and has cultivated one of the best couples to root for this season.  Maggie and Glenn are somewhere in the ranks of Ben Wyatt and Leslie Knope.  They may not be as adorable as them, but given the circumstances of their situation, this romance is a dim flicker of light in a bleak post-apocalyptic future [present?].  Also, by introducing two parallel story-lines that are seemingly opposite worlds and then mashing them together in a smart and probably most compelling way [if the Governor had captured and retained anyone else, I probably wouldn't have cared as much].  New characters such as Michonne and The Governor add surprising depth to the series and almost warrant spin-offs so we can see what exactly make these characters tick.  Also, fcking zombies.  The true and final breakdown of this show in a post Fall season TV post.

American Horror Story: Asylum

Movies like Saw and Hostel have something called ‘torture porn’ affiliated with them.  Meaning one of their sole purposes is to show us demented, fcked up stuff, simply because we find it entertaining, with no real motivation or a rather shallow plot.  American Horror Story: Asylum has become quite a beacon of tv-allowed torture porn.  The first season balanced carefully: a heartfelt romance, a some-what rootable protagonist(s), and ghosts and gore.  Asylum seems to have lost a lot of the heart and we find even the barely rootable characters to be sick, demented, and preyed on.  There’s little happiness in the 43 minutes of Asylum, and it gets harder to watch without getting upset and disgusted for no meaning.  I’m curious to see what happens next, but do I really want to find out?

So what in the heck are you guys watching that I’m not that should be on my radar?

People still watch the Office?  More people going to praise Big Bang Theory?  I’m pretty interested into why some people watch TV.  Once Upon a Time trends quite a bit and has shown up on a lot of Entertainment Weekly covers.  I’m not a big network TV drama guy [once you go Premium cable, it's hard to go back], but I have heard good things from the CW shows Arrow…maybe when things calm down I’ll pick up this Batman-similar hero.  Simply because I don’t like not giving things a chance before completely blowing me off.  I love geeking out about TV more than anything else in the world, so let’s geek.

The winners of Fall TV so far:

Comedy: Happy Endings

Drama: A tie between The Walking Dead and Boardwalk Empire

Also so far, the fcking greatest gif of fall season.

Al fcking Capone.

There’s a lot of fear in those eyes, but damn if they’re not absolutely stunning

I fall in love easily with fictional characters, so this list was incredibly easy to make.  I just took a look at the 12 shows I’m watching and picked some of the people I simply light up to when the show comes on.  Naturally, writing this article made me swoon [can men swoon?] and certainly feel feelings within me that I should be embarrassed to feel about fictional characters.  But I ultimately didn’t care.  Being single myself, these fictional women are all I have to care about.  They may not keep me warm at night, but they certainly know how to burn hours of my life with nothing to show for..

wait what?

Pretty Serious Spoilers from respective shows below!

The Walking Dead

Dexter

American Horror Story: Asylum

Tread Carefully at Your Own Risk

Maggie from The Walking Dead (Lauren Cohen)

Ever since Andrea lost her head and became the ‘slut of the show’s current bad guy’, Maggie has since then taken hold the of the title of ‘incredibly sexy zombie killer’.  Ever since her debut in the third season where she’s a part of the zombie prison dispatch team, she’s become absolutely incredible.  And incredibly sexy might I add.  While no one would wear tank tops like her in a zombie apocalypse, we’re not complaining as long as the writers aren’t stupid enough to get her bitten.

Also, I won’t discuss in detail about what happened on last night’s episode, “When the Dead Come Knocking”, but I wanted to strangle the Governor while yelling, “DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH A HAIR ON HER HEAD YOU F***”.

Yeah…the show is that good.  She is that good.  +10 points for dating Glenn, as an asian myself, I’m all up for a southern belle falling for an asian guy.

April Ludgate and Darius from Parks and Recreation and Safety Not Guaranteed (Aubrey Plaza)

The only one who isn’t completely a tv show character, Aubrey Plaza gets points for being April Ludgate in Parks and Darius in Safety. Both are exactly what I’d imagine her to be in real life, cold on the outside, warm on the inside, with a mean sense of sarcasm and dry humor.  All aspects I’m completely gaga for.  Aubrey has a wonderfully unique look about her and combining that with her ability to become Janet Snakehole at any moment is a solid win for me.

Also, did anyone not love Safety Not Guaranteed?  Gawd, that movie was amazing.

Grace from American Horror Story: Asylum (Lizzie Brocheré)

Let’s get freaky here.  Full disclosure, I almost put Sister Mary Eunice as this position as her crazy turn as a possessed nun.  I reassessed my initial idea when I tried to search for images and most of them included her saying she was the Devil and her being a bit of a hussy.  Then I realized that maybe I’m going a bit too far with that one.  But then I remembered the true beauty of the show.  Sweet, sweet, homicidal Grace.  She knows how to wield an axe, but at least I could get lost in those beautiful blue/gray eyes.  She’s very pretty for a lunatic and I’m a complete sucker for blue eyes, dark hair, and bangs.  If she axed me in the chest, it would be worth it for being a moment with her.

Also, what in the hell is going on at that Asylum.  Way too much kay-razy going on there.  Even for an asylum.

Jane from Happy Endings (Eliza Coupe)

Gun to my head and I had to choose a soulmate on this list, it would be Jane Williams from Happy Endings.  The new age Monica [and maybe even more deranged and OCD], Jane is absolutely my favorite gal on this list.  She’s so incredibly well written as a couple with Brad and is so perfectly executed by Eliza Coupe.  Apparently tazing her only makes her stronger, she’s constantly in sex costume for weird role-play with her husband, she’s neurotically organized, and she’s got a banging sense in fashion.

Every single episode of Happy Endings, I let out a ‘Oh Jane….’

Hannah McKay from Dexter (Yvonne Strahovski)

These last two aren’t exactly the first choices, but I’m still pretty cuckoo for cocopuffs for them.  Dexter’s new romance interest has quite a colorful past.  Very few times has Dexter let someone off his table after strapping them down and only once has he banged that person on the table after doing so.  She’s definitely a bad person for killing as many people as she has, but for some reason we root for her and Dexter.  My reason?  She’s incredibly gorgeous and adorable.  Her actual name is Yvonne Strahovski for gawd’s sake.  This Polish beauty has all the right Slavic/Eastern European combination of looks.

Will they kill Deb together?  That’d be quite the season saving twist in my opinion.

Morena Baccarin from Homeland (plays Jessica Brody)

This one is reversed from all the rest.  And for good reason too.  As I continue to try and catch up on Homeland (S2E2), Morena Baccarin’s character Jessica Brody is a bit of a pain in the ass.  However, Morena Baccarin (who was forever unforgettable as Inara from Firefly) is absolutely gorgeous in so many gawddamn ways.  So I’m putting her on this list because only Morena, not so much Jessica.  However, maybe by the end of season 2, she’ll redeem herself which I’ll gladly rewrite when I finally ‘catch up’ on Homeland.

I demand to know any crushes you might have on fictional characters.  I’ll judge if they’re truly worthy gentlemen.  If you’re a girl, feel free to post your male crushes.  Or even your female crushes.  I’ll clearly love one of them more than the other…

All of us at Banana Scoop would like you wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.  Be sure to eat, spend time with friends and family, and be thankful for everything!

I had to forsake my family for a couple of hours to draw this…so appreciate it!

I uploaded a new video yesterday of me inking and coloring a new image.  I uploaded a video similar to this idea a couple of days ago, as well as the finished project that I’ve re-added below.  The inking and coloring of this project took approximately an hour and I was able to condense it to about 9 minutes.  I might continue to decreasing the time in each of these so they’re more watchable.

In any case, if anyone is interested, I’m using Adobe Illustrator CS6.  I’m more than free to answer any technical questions as well!

Background

Fritz Lang’s silent film “Metropolis” has an intriguing history. It first premiered in Berlin in 1927, but shortly after was withdrawn from circulation and about an hour of its footage was amputated and presumed destroyed. Since then, the search for a copy of the original version has become somewhat of a quest for the holy grail.

Made at a time of hyperinflation in Germany, “Metropolis” nearly bankrupted the studio that commissioned it, UFA. After lukewarm reviews and initial box office results in Europe, Paramount Pictures, the American partner brought in toward the end of the shoot, took control of the film and made drastic excisions, arguing that Lang’s cut was too complicated and unwieldy for American audiences to understand (clearly even then, Americans were not viewed as the most sophisticated of movie watchers).

Finally, after an 80 year search, a original cut of the film was found in the archives of a Buenos Aires museum. It was the only surviving copy of Fritz Lang’s complete film. Metropolis wasn’t completely lost to the world during those 80 years, however. The cut, “American-friendly” version has been wildly popular. In the 1980s, music producer Giorgio Moroder released a version of the film with a soundtrack by rock artists such as Freddie Mercury and Adam Ant. Along with the soundtrack, it also added some color to certain scenes. This version is available on Netflix Instant and is the first one that I watched. Also available on Netflix is the, now found, full version as Fritz Lang intended it. A great deal longer, it is in black and white and is set to a soundtrack of classical music.

Synopsis 

The movie is set in a futuristic city which is sharply divided between the working class and the upper class. The working class spend their entire lives underground, working backbreaking hours at machines in order to keep the city up and running above them. The upper class, comprised mainly of the city planners and their families, live a life of luxury and pleasure. The majority of both classes has no idea that the other one exists. In the film, a member of each class falls in love with each other. One of them is a working class prophet, a woman named Maria who brings hope to the city’s workers. She predicts the coming of a savior, a savior who will mediate the differences between the social groups and give the city the start of new era. The other is the son of the city’s industrious owner, known as The Master. The Master conspires with a crazy inventor to kidnap Maria and replace her with the inventor’s robot. The robot is given the same physical appearance as her, and the Master hopes to use it to influence the minds of the working class, who trust and follow Maria. Following orders from the crazy inventor, the robot creates a lot of problems for the working class, but she soon forms a mind of her own, bent on chaos.

Reflection

More important than the story are the unforgettable images: the endless columns of workers marching in nightmarish synch to and from their terrible labor; the monstrous “M” Machine, revealed in a visionary moment to embody the spirit of Moloch, the bloodthirsty deity of Old-Testament Canaan; Freder agonizingly laboring at the clock machine looking like Christ crucified; the mecha-Maria’s lacivious striptease seducing the privileged fathers of Metropolis into the Seven Deadly Sins; the immense gothic cathedral in which the final showdown occurs.

Religious allusions are everywhere. Maria and her evil doppelgänger suggest the Virgin Mary and the Whore of Babylon. Freder, the son, is a Christ-like agent of reconciliation, while the father, The Master, is a self-styled Jehovah taking the place of God in his own world, even unleashing a flood to destroy his people when they have displeased him. The Master’s offices are in a skyscraper called the New Tower of Babel, and the climactic conflict is replete with references to the Apocalypse.

The film’s resolution and message, “The mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart”, were criticized on release  - and later by Lang himself – as being hopelessly naïve. The real strength of “Metropolis” is really in the presentation of the city and its people, where cathedrals and catacombs exist alongside towers and sky-bridges, and the primal and the industrial are merged into one. There is a sense of history and myth to go along with the film’s famed futurism, an understanding that, in fact, the future is not new. It’s older than anything that’s ever been. Science fiction, at its heart, is not and cannot be about disconnecting from the present or the past. It’s about the possibilities and ideas, the fears and hopes, which emanate from our time and before, and exploring them in new ways and contexts. “Metropolis”, in many ways, codifies this in film, and that is what gives it its fascination, and its enduring power.  So the next time you’re scrolling through Netflix Instant, give “Metropolis” a shot. I personally would recommend either the 1980s restored version, or the original version. Both are thought-provoking, exciting, and entirely worth watching.

Yikes, I might’ve skipped last week in terms of articles.  Primarily because I’ve been working on a new project that has been taking a lot of time.  I’ve included the video introduction below.  The video is essentially about me starting up a new site sometime in the future that focuses on something a little bit different from this blog.  Check out the video below.

Woo-hoo, that’s my real voice!  Can you believe it?  Probably not exactly what you expected.  But enough about that, back to the real news.  The shift of focus to art from this movie and television blog will certainly have some repercussions to what I’m prioritizing, but overall I think it’s the right move.  [Ha, be sure to ignore the 'Banana Scoop is dead in the water quote', it's more of a humorous observation than a real statement.]  I’ll still be updating Banana Scoop as often as I am now, with only 1 or 2 passionate articles a week.

The other writers are now more like contributors rather than full time writers, being able to use this blog as a creative outlet medium at their own pace and time.  So I still hope you come by every once in a while to check out what we’re up to.  On a side note,  check below to see a time lapse of an art project I’m working on!

History

Salvadore’s history bugged me slightly, just because I couldn’t really get a firm grasp on what they were talking about. I understood most of it, retaining small details of his backstory that interested me. Essentially what I pulled from Salvador’s echo recorders is that he’s a very wanted individual with a rather sour disposition. We find the man being sentenced in a ‘court’ of law before Hyperion comes and invades his town. Salvador gets free, saves the town, and beats the ever-living tar out of the Hyperion brigade that shows up before getting information on the vault and deciding that it is well worth his time to go venture after it. While it’s not the most ingenious of plots, I didn’t really seem to mind it all that much. It was just enough for us to get a glimpse into Salvador’s demeanor as a character, and not someone we personify ourselves as. I enjoyed his backstory a little less than I did the other characters, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Builds

Sadly I haven’t experimented much with building my Gunzerker, but that’s due to the amount of fun and utility the build I already have has given me, so I’ll just briefly outline what I do with Salvador in order to give you guys a better look at how I play. I spec all the way down the Rampage tree, taking pretty much everything that looks appealing (I know, not very descriptive, but you can check my build below to see what I mean). The main reason I use this tree is the increase in both fire rate and reload speed the longer you hold the trigger (while this doesn’t work for single-shot weapons, it’s definitely fun). Of particular importance in this tree is the ability to increase magazine size with any weapon you carry, meaning Tediore reloads just got a whole lot deadlier. Overall I believe this to be an incredibly ability for those who just absolutely love their babymaker/plasma caster spam. Additionally, I spec into the gunlust tree in order for me to get a little more survivability. In this situation, however, survivability doesn’t relate to a lack of dying, as you will get downed a lot regardless, but it refers to the ability for you to get Second Wind much more so than normally as Gunzerking while in the fight for your life mode will generally guarantee your safety. Double grenade toss while gunzerking is amazing as well, increasing your insane amounts of DPS by giving you double MIRVS (which are by far my favorite type of grenade aside from the Fire Bee).

Created using Borderlands 2 Skill Tree Builder

Weapons

Normally I’d go into some awesome tangent about how there’s a lot of guns that are usable by the class at hand, but I honestly can’t do that when it comes to Salvador. The gunzerker can literally use ANY weapon in the game to its fullest potential, and isn’t really hindered by a specific weapon with the exemption of Snipers, cause let’s face it, they’re kinda garbage in comparison to everything else you can use. There are a couple of weapon glitches known as well, such as the Maliwan pistol/grenade launcher gunzerk glitch, which adds the damage of your rocket launcher to the damage of each shot you fire with a maliwan pistol. I’m not sure if this has been patched yet, but I’m fairly certain it will be as the damage is ridiculous to see, and definitely somewhat gamebreaking with a 300k damage revolver. Literally use any weapon that fits your fancy. There is no other way to play this class besides having fun with it, which is an awesome perk in and of itself aside from the ability to dual wield any gun in the game.

Afterword

I’ll be taking a break next week, as it’s Thanksgiving, and as much as I would love to give you guys the final installment of my Character Guides, there is just too much to be done in between then and now. I apologize for the inconveniences, and will definitely make it up to you guys later on. Hopefully you guys have been enjoying these so far, and will continue to support them as well as my next super-secret-awesome series. Good luck, and hopefully I’ll see a few of you in the Borderlands!

The Amazing Spider-Man came out on DVD and Blu-Ray this past week and I was able to finally watch what I didn’t feel obliged to watch in the movie theaters.  After only 5 years, it’s pretty absurd to get another reboot, with other reboots of such short range only being [in my knowledge] Sweden’s 2008 Let the Right One In and America’s 2010 adaptation Let Me In or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s Swedish and America’s version in 2009 and 2011 versions, respectively. But in all honesty, rebooting foreign films is somewhat understandable versus the Sony reboot with totally different cast and director.  So this was definitely an interesting watch.  Balancing whether or not it stands in itself from the original trilogy starting in 2002 or if it’s better or worse doesn’t necessarily matter, because it already made loads of money and sequels are on the way.  This new series will eventually overshadow the original whether it’s better or worse simply because it’s more contemporary.  However, I still find it interesting to write about as the new direction they took is definitely worth writing about.

You all know Spider-Man’s story.  Peter Parker is a textbook nerd with a descent heart and gets bitten by a mutative spider.  Director Marc Webb [500 Days of Summer] took a darker approach to the film with more realistic [but still fairly absurd considering the source material] storylines and better chemistry between leads Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone [in my opinion] than Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.  But let’s get into the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Spoilers Away!

The Good

Emma Stone is Adorable

Ben asked me how The Amazing Spider-Man was, and the first thing I said was, “Emma Stone was adorable”.  And she is.  After watching it, it was only her who was zipping around in my head and not the masked superhero.  I’m going to take this section as time to talk about the chemistry between the two leads.  Andrew Garfield plays Parker well as an awkward teenage nerd who plays not-so-smooth-Steve around Emma Stone which shows some of the most adorable and realistic moments in the movie, primarily because Stone reciprocates so well in a sarcastic fashion, with subtle facial movements proving she’s definitely invested in her role.  Stone is 7/7 on the roles I’ve seen her in.  She could play a Regina George type role and I would still fall in love with her.

The School Fight Scene was Incredibly Fun to Watch

10 years later, special effects have certainly gotten better.  My favorite scene in the movie might have to be the school fight [complete with the awesome Stan Lee cameo].  Compared to the other Spider-Man the fights included some stellar choreography [with great praise to the Doc-Ock train fight], and this movie took it even further with dizzying cameras and great use of Spider-Man’s web powers.  There was a lot of use of the ‘web’ that was both clever and simply awesome.  Trapping Lizard Man like a legitimate spider traps a prey was probably my favorite scene within my favorite scene.

The Different Take on Spider-Man/Parker Persona Piqued My Interest in Spider-Man Mythlore

I’m a Batman kind of man.  And being a Batman man makes me sort of a DC man.  My ‘love’ for Marvel only goes as far as the movie portrayals [which isn't very far], but I like to think true fans are those who actually dive into the legitimate mythlore of series they claim they love.  This movie certainly had a different take on who Peter Parker was and who Spider-Man was and from my understanding they stood closer to the actual comic mythlore.  This alone might be enough for me to try to jump into the series, so we’ll see.

The Bad

Lizard Man Wasn’t a Convincing Enough Villain

A one armed genius scientist would seem like a more reasonable villain.  However I found his motivations a little unconvincing.  He appeared to be a reasonable man of principle who wanted the sincere best for the world, descended into madness by injecting himself with the reptillian genes on impulse, became a crazy monster, wanted to sincerely kill Peter Parker, somehow retained the idea of having the ‘best for the world’ but misconstruing it to make everyone as monstrous as him, returns back to a man of principle and saves Peter Parker.  Meh.  It’s a tad too inconsistent for me.

The film sincerely did try to characterize him and give him some background to be a likable character turned to darkness, but I found his villain motives to be not as great as the actual character himself.  I can’t really put my finger on it why.  Not my strongest argument I’ll admit.

Still an Unnecessary Reboot

It’s not dumb to reboot this franchise.  Rather it would be dumb to not reboot this franchise.  One of the highest money making franchises out there, rebooting the Spider-Man franchise could purely be for monetary reasons rather than actually believing the public ‘needs another Spider-Man’.  So I’m not going to say, ‘the idea of rebooting this franchise after such a short time is so dumb’, but rather that it highlights another instance of how Hollywood is seriously running low on originality.  This movie treads so closely on the original Spider-Man that the story isn’t necessarily fresh or innovative rather than slapping a few new faces.

He Still Has the Freaking Spider?!

A movie plot point that concerned me was when he showed Gwen Stacy the spider that bit him.  Still having that spider is incredibly dangerous and could completely be irresponsible in the hands of a teenager, especially one in love.  He could let Gwen be bit, or someone could accidentally break it and it could get loose.  Parker has the ability to give anyone Spidey powers and probably has millions dollars of research and development in the palm of his hand.

The kids I knew in high school [including me] were dumb and irresponsible as hell.  If one of them had Spider-Man powers, it’d be bad enough, but having the ability to give anyone else he desired powers is even worse.

Super-Powered Parker is Kind of a Douche

Messing with Flash in the name of that painter, being angsty to his aunt and uncle when he was in the wrong, throwing a football hard enough to bend a field goal post?  Are you kidding?  1) How are people not noticing that human beings can’t jump that high or throw that hard? 2) He forgets to pick up his aunt in the middle of the night and he’s the one that gets mad and his uncle and aunt?  3) Bullying bullies doesn’t solve problems.  I didn’t really like super hero Parker.  It was funny at times, but in real life, that guy is definitely a douche.

The Ugly

How Are They Not Catching Him?

How does a teenager acquire Oscorp military grade string, spray it literally all over New York and the investigators not catch him.  If I were a detective, I would say, oh look, Oscorp grade string, find anyone in the city who has recently bought this in large quantities.  Trace suspects fitting the description, and boom, you caught your Spider-Man.  The same goes for spandex.  Paper trails are so easily left and it’s incredibly easy to track down people these days.  Bruce Wayne embezzled massive amounts of funds to make sure his tracks were covered when assembling his costume.  Peter Parker buys [with what money?  He's a jobless teenager in New York] military grade string and spandex and can get away with it.  Are you kidding me?

Overall

The movie is fun.  That’s about it.  It doesn’t deliver much else to add to an already tried and true franchise.  Seeing 4 Spider-Man’s at this point all of which revolve on relatively thin and generic superhero plots gets a little bit old.  Emma Stone spices things up for me because…Emma Stone.  Technically, it’s pretty neat.  Technology sure is a beautiful thing simply because the special effects in this movie were top notch and exciting.   That’s all I got.

yes, you, forever you, a thousand times you.