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.
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.
Banana Scoop hasn’t updated in over a month. We’re not on one of our many famous hiatus or breaks. It turns out I’ve kind of stopped the wheels on the machine after 150,000 views and nearly 900 posts. All to say a nearly heartbreaking farewell.
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.
I’m going to have to ask that you all bear with me for this post. I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of this game yet, so apologies if my opinions and assumptions are a little immature. Anyway, this week’s article will cover the game known as Saints Row The Third, which very recently was offered as part of the THQ Humble Indie Bundle if you paid over the average price people chose to pay (roughly 6$). It was an incredibly deal, and felt like a steal at that point considering the game is still roughly 20$ or more on Steam among other vendors. I quickly downloaded and got started (despite only having access to my laptop, which is nowhere near as powerful as a gaming rig, so I’ve been playing on the lowest settings). So far I’ve been incredibly entertained, especially with comedic style and dialogue between the characters. Without further ado, here is my first look at Saints Row, The Third. Continue Reading »
Alright, prepare for this big block of text. While I would love to spice this post up with a lot of awesome pictures and really cool stuff, I feel like it would detract from the overall point of this review. This is meant to be my own opinion of it, and shouldn’t really matter to you if you disagree with me. That being said, this is a really well done DLC and I have thoroughly enjoyed playing through each and every comedic moment it had to offer. From the witty and interesting Captain Scarlett to the creepy and rather strange Herbert, this DLC had be wanting more and more (at least, up until I had to start fighting more Hyperion robots. It would be nice to note at this point that while I did beat the DLC, I have yet to try and take down Master Gee, so I can’t really give you a good amount of detail concerning their drops. I can, however, give you an idea of how Hyperius is, and how much I enjoy the new tier of guns. Shall we move on to the review?
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.
Hopefully you guys had an awesome Thanksgiving break (for those of you who had one), for the rest of you, I apologize for not being able to post last week. I was incredibly busy, but now it’s time to get back to the weekly grind and give you guys the final installment of the Borderlands 2 Character Build Guides for now, at least until they release the next awaited character (who has been hinted at by Pitchford himself.) Anyway, let’s move onto the reason why we’re all here, Maya, the siren. While I haven’t had much playtime with her, she has been one of the most fun multiplayer experiences I’ve had thus far with the characters. While I don’t feel that she’s suited to single-player play due to her ability, I feel like Maya reigns supreme in lobbies due to her ability to both lock down an opponent and revive other players from across the map with appropriate aim. For the rest of the following article, you’ll be learning a bit about Maya’s history, reading about my playstyle with her, learning a way to build her, and checking which weapons I find useful with her. Without further ado, let us begin. Continue Reading »
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.
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!
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!
There are a lot of options to choose from when looking for something to watch on Netflix Instant – sometimes too many options to tell what is good and what isn’t. There is one movie available which stands out as a groundbreaking example of one of the world’s first sci-fi films.
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!
Welcome to the fourth installment of the Borderlands 2 In-depth Character Guides. For those of you who have read through the others, you know the drill, for those newcomers, allow me to cover a little step-by-step. Essentially these guides are made to help those new to the game adjust to their characters and learn fun ways to build them accordingly (as well as what weapons I prefer to use with them, but seeing as they’re mostly legendary, they’re a moot point until late/end-game). Anyway, this week’s guide focuses on one of the most fun characters to play in Borderlands 2, Salvadore, the Gunzerker. While a little psychotic and rather odd, this tanky character allows the player to dual wield guns at will, allowing him to increase is damage output and granting him some really awesome passive abilities. Without further ado, let’s jump right into the fourth guide in this set. If you’re new to the format, I’ll cover some secret information about the character’s history that are embedded into the game, followed by a set of builds to use for your character, and ending with a set of weapons that I deem appropriate for your character in particular (the character in question being reviewed). Continue Reading »
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.
Hello folks, and welcome to the third installment of the Borderlands 2 In-Depth Character guides. In today’s review, I’ll be covering the latest of what may be many DLC characters for Borderlands, Gaige the Mechromancer. This genius, half-cyborg, half-human girl may potentially be one of the greatest sources of DPS in the game while specced into the Anarchy tree. Compounded by her trusty sidekick pet-type ability, this character is easily one of the best single-player characters for those of you who just don’t want to risk getting into hacked lobbies or dealing with rather unsavory people over online games. In comparison to every other character (with the possible exception of Axton), Gaige can hold her own against hordes of enemies due to the fact that her ability will tank tons of damage while allowing you to dish out damage yourself. Again, like the other guides I’ll be covering the history, recommended builds, and my favorite guns to utilize with this class. Without further ado, how about we jump straight into the guide? Continue Reading »
As I finished a test on October 30th, I left the classroom defeated and broken. In a rage of impulsiveness, I went to the closest Gamestop and purchased Assassin’s Creed 3 on the fly. I had read a couple of reviews and I actually wasn’t expecting myself to buy this game. At least until the Game of the Year Edition came out with all the DLC loaded. But I was in such a foul mood after that test, I needed some immediate happiness. So after purchasing the game and throwing possibly over 10-20 hours into it already [maybe more], it’s been quite an interesting road.
Assassin’s Creed 3 picks up where Assassin’s Creed: Revelations dropped off [which I didn’t get]. My familiarity with the franchise only extends to 2 of the four previously released: Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood. The story is somewhat bloated between the present day Assassin/Templar conflict and the historical setting that’s essentially simulated. I have little care for the relation between the two and find myself loathing the present day stuff, so I’m going to focus this review on the historical setting chosen.
You play a Native American, Connor, during the peak of the American Revolution. The colonies are in conflict and the British Royal Army continues its oppression. Given the skills of a masterful assassin, it’s your job to turn the tides of the war making friends like Samuel Adams and George Washington along the way.
Banana Scoop 