Neil's Ramblings

Stargate Reviews

2005-01-26T11:05:00.000-05:00

So last Friday was the premiere of the second half of this current season's episodes for both Stargate Series on Sci-Fi. Without further ado, the reviews! Stargate: SG-1--"Gemini" What we have here is an episode which would seem to fit several cliches...duplicate of one of the main stars? Check. Double-crossing up the ying-yang? Check. (Yet) Another way to make a former enemy more

Energon Omega Supreme Short Review

2004-12-08T21:57:00.000-05:00

Got Energon Omega Supreme today for the second night of Hanukah. Omega Supreme: As a robot, Omega Supreme is one big pile of metal. His main gimmicks are the rotating "guns" on his top left shoulder, one of which is his only missile launcher. When one of the "guns" are rotated, the other one follows suit. His right arm has a "cockpit" on the shoulder and his arm can be pushed forward by

Comics Reviews from the Past Month

2004-12-05T21:30:00.000-05:00

I just picked up about a month's worth of comics, so it's time to add them to my reviews! The Ultimates 2 #1: This was a "freebie" from my comic shop and I do have to say, otherwise I would not have picked it up. I got the TPB of the first Ultimates arc and while it was interesting, I'm not a huge fan of the Marvel Universe and by extension, the Ultimate Universe. There are so many other

Back Again

2004-12-05T19:35:00.000-05:00

I've had a myriad of personal problems occur, which has made Blogging low down on the totem-pole of my priorities. Still, it is an escape of sorts from said personal problems, so I'm going to try to post more frequently, though we'll see how frequently that ends up being.

Comic Review: Ranking the week (August 25, 2004)

2004-08-29T21:12:00.000-04:00

Only got two issues this week: Superman #208: I said, in my review of #207 that I don't think Azzarello's strengths lie in the action sequences. The fight with Equus bored me. What drew me into this arc was the strength of the dialogue between Superman and the Priest. We're back to that this week, but first we get a bit with Mr. Orr and the Priest. I like the fact that the Priest is now

Rating Microwave Meal Instructions

2004-08-26T12:34:00.000-04:00

For those wondering, I'm kind of borrowing the idea for this post from The Book of Ratings, so I encourage you to head over there and read their stuff (which is both thought provoking and hilarious!). I promise there stuff is a lot funnier then the following: I've been eating a lot of microwave meals lately and it struck me...when did making a meal become so complicated? Venting, stirring,

August 21, 2004: Justice League Unlimited Review

2004-08-23T11:40:00.000-04:00

Second week in a row I haven't watched Teen Titans. I have it on tape though, so eventually... "Hawk and Dove" This is one of those reviews where you're still not sure what to make of the episode. I enjoyed it when I watched it, but I enjoy almost all JL episodes. There's a lot wrong with this episode, but it's hard to pinpoint exactly what... In a nutshell, that crazy Greek God of War,

August 20, 2004 Stargate: SG-1 and Atlantis Reviews

2004-08-23T10:58:00.000-04:00

Had a bit of a busy weekend and when I had time at the computer yesterday, it was crawling at a snail's pace. Oh well. Stargate: SG-1 "Affinity" Another episode, another spotlight on Teal'c. First, the best part of the episode, the teaser. It's a nice day in Colorado when a car goes to park on the side of the street and is rear-ended. Meek Parking Guy is suddenly confronted by Macho

Is There Anybody Out There?

2004-08-18T14:46:00.000-04:00

Okay, I've posted the link here from a few places and the comments section is opened to everyone, I believe, so if you're out there lurking, please drop me a comment either to this post if you've got a general comment, or if you'd like to specifically remark about one of my previous postings, please feel free to leave a comment there. And don't be afraid to give me criticism, either for my

JLU Review: Kids' Stuff

2004-08-16T11:42:00.001-04:00

Sorry to say, I screwed up the tape and missed this week’s Teen Titans. I’ll have to catch it next weekend when it re-airs Saturday morning. But I did fix the tape in time to catch Justice League: Unlimited, though I ended up watching the repeat on Sunday night… The plot is pretty

TF Review: Energon Perceptor

2004-08-15T17:00:00.000-04:00

Energon Perceptor I was originally reticent to buy this, but due to the recent lack of new toys (I haven't gotten anything since Arcee in June), I gave in. Definitely an improvement over the Armada Perceptor team! High Wire: Vehicle Mode: High Wire is my least favorite of the Perceptor team and the main reason why is also one of my main complaints about the Energon line...things don't

Stargate Round-Up 08-13-04

2004-08-14T21:51:00.000-04:00

For those who may not know, I live in Florida, near Tampa, close to where Hurricaine Charley was supposed to strike. Luckily, for me it veered (but not lucky for those people it did hit... ). So I was expecting to be spending Friday night in darkness with candles, propane lamps, and flashlights to see... Stargate: SG-1 "Avatar" The concept? Tron meets Stargate... Teal'c tests out a chair

Catching up on almost a month full of comics!

2004-08-12T21:51:00.000-04:00

Okay, got my issues today! Hadn't been to the shop since early July, pretty much a full month, so I got 7 issues (plus another copy of Identity Crisis #2 to replace the one that went missing since my last trip...so mad that I lost an issue... I post over at Geoff John's board (registration required to read posts, sorry, not my rules!) in their weekly thread "Ranking the Week" so my premlinary

Action Plan

2004-08-11T20:50:00.000-04:00

Not yet a mission statement, but at least a plan of action. I like reviewing things, so I'll stick to that. Tentatively I think a review of comics I read every other week (when I get to the shop), reviews of Teen Titans and Justice League: Unlimited either Saturday night or Sunday, reviews of Stargates SG-1 and Atlantis Friday nights or Saturdays, and rambling from me in between. I might add a

Back Again

2004-08-11T10:58:00.000-04:00

Hello again dear friends, it's me again after 4 months of...well nothing. See the thing is, I've been ignoring a cardinal rule in starting a project...always have a mission statement that's clear and concise. Problem is, up until now, my mission statement for this blog was, "post what I want, when I want." And obviously, if this is some grand experimnet on my part to see who is out there

Greetings to those who found me through The Allspark !

2004-04-13T21:38:00.000-04:00

The Allspark Forums (Powered by Invision Power Board) So this is my pathetic attempt at a Blog. Get to know the real me. And while you're doing so, why not do it with songs: From a thread at Laughing Through Our Tears: Answer the following with song titles only... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Are you male or female?: It's Raining Men:

Shiv'kala's Ramblings

2004-04-07T22:27:00.000-04:00

Shiv'kala's Ramblings I downloaded the Google Toolbar for IE and it has a Blogger button on it, where you can hit it and it will create a post with the name of the site as the title and a link. I figured it would be fun to hit it while I was on my Blog. Such is my humor. Read through my archives and I mostly didn't cringe at what I posted. Hope someone else is reading this, but since I

Dude, I got you a...

2004-04-07T21:56:00.000-04:00

Sunday night was rough, got the "wish you'd do more around the house" speech from the wife and I was upset that I can't seem to calm my son down. He's been fussy over the past week and to be honest, sometimes I do take it personally. So when I got home Monday, I had two options, forget Sunday night or sink back into my depression to keep up appearances. All of you at home are probably saying

Return of the Mack

2004-04-07T17:19:00.000-04:00

Hello again friends. Haven't done this in a while, but I've got a few thoughts to post in subsequent, well, posts. First off, to catch you up to speed, I've settled into my new house and almost two months ago my wife gave birth to our son. More later.

I'm Back

2003-12-07T00:20:00.000-05:00

So I guess it's been a while since my last post, sorry about that. The holiday season is upon us. I love getting presents, so I'm excited. Wow, do I sound boring. Anyway, I wish I could come up with some Earth shaking ramblings recently, but I'm finding it hard to form thoughts. So Al Sharpton is hosting SNL. I can't stand him, he's an opportunist pure and simple. I'm all for racial

Random Thoughts

2003-11-23T23:12:00.000-05:00

1. DC really $^&#ed up Hal Jordan's character after "Emerald Twilight." Can someone find me a DC comic published since 1994 where Hal isn't shown to be a jerk, deadbeat, or at the very least a hothead? 2. I think we should add those speed strips things that most Nintendo Racing games have. You know the arrow or other shape that is lit up and pushes your car really fast, to regular roads.

Hypocrisy

2003-11-17T23:44:00.000-05:00

The whole sniper case has me wondering (as does the Green River killer and tons of other cases)...is it wrong to be against the Death Penalty and yet for it in certain circumstances. I think we're so used to seeing things as "this way or that way." Can't we try and find other options? The worst part is when we fool ourselves into thinking that we have other options. Take politics. We have

Time Keeps on Slipping

2003-11-12T23:05:00.000-05:00

I had an idea of what to put in this entry, but I need to go to bed soon and I don't have time to put it all down. I feel like the nights are going by so fast now. I sit down, turn around and bam! it's time for bed. I think it's just the fact that I do so much nights now, I'm still reading the comics I got on Sunday, I'm setting up my office, I'm on the computer, I'm watching TV, etc. Anyway,

Blah, blah, blah

2003-11-09T22:05:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't been posting much. Part of the reason I created this was because I got bored with the connection of my wife's laptop when we were living with her grandparents. I needed something to do while other pages were loading. So now that I have broadband, well things move much faster. We got a cat on Friday. He's a cute 4 month old, but he hasn't learned to use the litter box yet. I

November

2003-11-06T22:46:00.000-05:00

Kind of hard believing it's November when the forecast has temperatures in the mid to upper 80's for the rest of the week. Seems odd, especially since by now up North, we usually saw at least a dusting of snow.

Comics-again

2003-11-05T23:06:00.000-05:00

I picked up a few issues today, I needed to get boxes to start putting away some of the comics I had in storage. Teen Titans, Flash, and Formerly Known as the Justice League, if you're interested. All three show how comics can be fun, but in different ways. I'm mainly waiting for Sunday, when the local comic convention comes back. I went to it in June and walked away with tons of comics that

New House

2003-11-04T20:46:00.000-05:00

Haven't been posting much due to the fact that I just moved into a new house. It's really nice and I'm so happy. Plus, I'm back on broadband! Moving is fun and a pain in the butt at the same time, but it is neat to set up a new living area.

Nostaliga

2003-10-29T22:21:00.000-05:00

Today I was reminded of a favorite childhood memory. There used to be a used book store near us which also sold comics. The thing was, these were all used comics and were put there in random orders. Nowadays, when I go into comic book stores and finish getting all of the new issues, I look at the back issue boxes. They are all organized and the more I go, the more I know which issues they

Cable Companies

2003-10-27T22:15:00.000-05:00

We decided to go with Satellite in our new house over cable, since cable is way too expensive. Now I just read a report that it might be sports programming that's upping cable prices. Senator McCain spoke pretty much my thoughts in this situation...why can't we choose channels from a "menu" instead of getting the channels the cable company says you should for the amount you are willing to pay?

The World Series :(

2003-10-25T23:28:00.000-04:00

So, I guess my Yankees lost and the rest of the world cheers at the defeat of the Evil Empire. I'm going off to sulk...

Time, Why You Punish Me

2003-10-24T22:46:00.000-04:00

So I bought a book a few weeks ago that I've been waiting for, I've also got shows I taped all week, and 2 DS9 DVDs I rented to watch. I keep saying "I'll watch/read it on the weekend." But then Sunday night rolls around and I realize that I haven't read or watched enough and while not reading does make me sad, when I don't watch the tapes, I don't have any clear ones to tape the following

And they say that a hero will save us

2003-10-23T21:37:00.000-04:00

So there I was watching Stargate SG-1 (the episode was "2010" for those who care) when one of the characters comes through in the clutch and gave a smart-ass hero line that just made me sit up and say "DAMN HE'S NOW MY HERO." But then I realize, as cool as the character is, he's not real. See I always have a split idea on heroes. Part of me says that fictional heroes allow us to put up a

I Hate Furniture Shopping

2003-10-21T22:31:00.000-04:00

Well, it's gone beyond shopping at this point. In early September (or late August), we purchased a desk for my office and a couch from a furniture chain here. The couch needed to be a special order, but the desk was ready. Since the house wasn't, we combined the orders to pay one fee for delivery and left it at that. Mid-September they called to try to deliver the desk to us. We told them

Toys are meant to be played with, comics are meant to be read

2003-10-20T20:50:00.000-04:00

I hate to label myself as a "collector" even though I do "collect" toys and comics. My main problem with the title is that "collector" carries with it the stigma of buying something to have it and to show it off. I prefer to buy something and open it up, either to read it or play with it. It just annoys me that there are people out there who will purchase three or four copies (if not more!)

Shiv's Comic Recommendations--JSA

2003-10-19T21:53:00.000-04:00

Or why I love this book and why you should too (complete with shortened history of the JSA from 1990-present): One of the things about the DC Comics Universe that has always attracted me is their use of “legacy heroes.” Sure, Marvel has a few (Human Torch, for one), but DC’s heroes were the originals back in the 40’s and 50’s and they are still used today (some are the originals, others are

Commercials

2003-10-17T22:07:00.000-04:00

I swear the more commercials I watch, the less I want to buy stuff that's advertised. Sure there are a few good commericals out there, but more often then not, they are stupid, stupid, stupid. Right now the major one everyone gripes out is the Steinbrenner/Jeter commerical. And with good reason, it's a stupid commerical, playing on the idea that Jeter likes to party and Steinbrenner is the

Yankees Won!

2003-10-17T22:04:00.000-04:00

As a life-long Yankees fan, all I can say is YEAH! The rest of the country can go about their normal business now. So I was busy watching the game last night and didn't post, sorry. And tomorrow I'll be staying overnight in Orlando with the family while we take our daughter to DisneyWorld.

Comics Rant: Hal and Kyle

2003-10-15T22:39:00.000-04:00

Anyone familiar with DC comics, specifically Green Lantern knows of the divided fandom, created in early 1994, when DC brought writer Ron Marz in to get rid of the old Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, and the entire Corps of GLs, the Guardians, etc. Since then the lines have been drawn between pro-Hal fans (some of whom are a part of H.E.A.T.) and pro-Kyle fans. Of course, like any issue that divides

Tuesdays

2003-10-14T22:57:00.000-04:00

It's late, I didn't get on-line until late today since I was watching "The 'Frisco Kid" on HBO, a great comedy that, unfortunately, isn't as popular as it's contemporaries, such as "Blazing Saddles," which also featured Gene Wilder. So I'll leave you with a thought, from Winnie-the-Pooh's author, A.A. Milne, discuss amongst yourselves: "You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY,

Sisyphus Has it Easy

2003-10-13T21:31:00.000-04:00

For those not up on Greek Myths, Sisyphus is the one condemned to roll a boulder up a hill in Hades. Once he reaches the top, the boulder rolls down again. So he basically has one job to do for eternity, but they won't allow him to complete it. I felt the same way a few minutes ago, but it wasn't a hill, it was my inbox and it wasn't a boulder, it was junk mail. It seems that just as I delete

Where has Originality Gone?

2003-10-12T22:05:00.001-04:00

Okay, the title of this post may be a bit misleading, since there are a lot of instances of creativity still out there and also a lot of instances of someone taking an already established idea and doing something interesting with it. But for some reason, some supposed "creative" people out there seem to think it is a good idea to re-do and/or re-think ideas that have been established,

Saturdays ROCK!

2003-10-11T22:16:00.001-04:00

Well Saturday is usually when I venture to the comic book store, since I don't finish work in enough time during the week to do a run. So today I went and picked up a few, Dr. Fate #3, New X-Men #147, Transformers G1 V.2 #6, Transformers Armada #16, Transformers: The War Within #1, and Teen Titans #2. I read through them all and right now am watching Justice League on Cartoon Network. When

Stupid Box

2003-10-10T22:20:00.000-04:00

So I had a sinus headache, I've been getting them more often due to sleeping in air conditioning this morning. I stop at a convenience store to get some medicine, since Aleve, which normally I prefer, does nothing for this type of headache. I'm the type of person who gets drowsy using any medicine where the possibility of drowsiness is there. Even Advil makes me sleepy. So I buy the "

Music Stinks, What Else is New?

2003-10-09T21:55:00.000-04:00

So, I know I'm not alone in feeling this, but music on the radio has lost it's spark. I think it was back in 1998 when I last really enjoyed listening to current music on the radio. Nowadays it's "What decent song will be ruined by having the radio play it to death?" Yes there is good music out there. John Mayer has come out with really good songs, none of which I find annoying. I love Jason

Another Post About Comics

2003-10-08T21:23:00.000-04:00

I'm kind of on a recent comic kick, so I'll keep rolling with my thoughts. Lately, after perusing some sights, it came to my attention that a lot of fans, including myself, have all taken "sabbatical" from comics for a few years. Some longer than others, but at some point, it seems most comic fans get fed up with the status quo and leave, only to be drawn back in for something. For me it was

Saw the Rundown tonight

2003-10-07T22:22:00.000-04:00

And it ROCKED (bad pun, I know, SORRY!). It was a fun film and that's what I think has been missing from a lot of recent films, the fact that they are supposed to be fun. Best Matrix-like effects in a non-Matrix movie I've seen and even then they didn't appear to be total rip-offs of the Matrix style. Along these lines, but probably done better, the trailer for "Kill Bill" ran before this and

There's been a Vulcanquake, but the artifact's been unkryptoned, but I want to know what on Mars is going on!

2003-10-06T22:01:00.000-04:00

Okay, I made an off-handed remark about this before, but I thought I'd do more to explain it. As a fan of science fiction stories, there's always been something that's bothered me, namely the continued usage of the word "earth" to mean planet, even when spoken by aliens. In these shows we constantly hear things like "there's been an earthquake" when they're on another planet, "we've unearthed

Oh the joys of being a comic fan in the age of the Internet

2003-10-06T21:50:00.000-04:00

I love the internet and I spend a lot of time on it, reading news, going to fan-sites, reading and posting on board, etc. I have to say though, that my comic reading was a lot better before the internet. And this isn't a condemnation of comic boards in whole, just specific things that drive me up the wall. But mainly it's the "suspension of disbelief" arguments that get me. It'll go something

Sunday Ramblings

2003-10-05T22:01:00.000-04:00

So it's Sunday night, again, and the work week begins soon. Which means that for the next 5 days I'll get less sleep then I should and spend all day at work, come home and before I know it, it's time to go to bed to get ready for the next day. *sigh* At least in a few weeks the new Simpsons season will start and then I'll at least have some reason to look forward to Sunday nights. Nothing

Books: Star Trek Deep Space Nine Re-launch

2003-10-04T23:02:00.000-04:00

I'm about to make a plug for some books I really enjoy reading, something I tend to do when I know I've got an audience who like Star Trek, especially Deep Space Nine. So if you're not a DS9 fan or if you've heard me mention these books again, feel free to skip this post. But if you're interested in fun, humorous, and well written stories that maintain continuity, then read on... I don't know

Revisiting Why

2003-10-04T20:41:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I didn't post anything. I'm not sure why, except I feel I really didn't have much to say, which made me question, again, why I chose to start this Blog. On one hand I've wanted to write down my thoughts in a journal for a long time, but never really set pen to paper. This way, since I'm on the computer almost every night anyway, I might as well do something similar on-line. Of

Thursday Night TV, including Scrubs

2003-10-02T21:29:00.000-04:00

Scrubs is back! Yeah. Finally seriously funny TV with characters I really care about, but first...Friends: So the last season of Friends keeps going and while I did laugh, I also kept thinking how nice it is when most of these characters are retired. It seems to be that they aren't sure what to do with Phoebe, which explains the whole non "take one of my kids, please" plot line. And while

Shiv's Personal Life

2003-10-01T22:48:00.000-04:00

So, if you stumbled across this and wonder who the hell this Shiv'kala guy is, here is a basic "history" I'm a 25 year old (EDIT: actually I'm 24 until January, but I tend to forget how old I am, though this is the first time I said 25 instead of 22 or 23. Milestone I guess...finally thinking I'm older instead of younger), happily married man who just celebrated his second wedding anniversary.

What Shiv Likes: A Primer

2003-10-01T22:32:00.000-04:00

I'll be going into detail on each thing later on, but I thought I'd give you a head's up on what I like and what you can expect posts on. Television (current): SCRUBS THE SIMPSONS SOUTH PARK STARGATE: SG-1 JUSTICE LEAGUE DUCK DODGERS X-MEN EVOLUTION Television (older shows): BABYLON 5 STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES SUPERMAN FUTURAMA

Stargate SG-1: My New Obsession

2003-10-01T22:07:00.000-04:00

Years ago, around 1987 to be exact, I started watching Star Trek with the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it was good. In 1993 I started watching Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5 and things were really good (especially when all three where on at the same time). In 1995 Voyager started and it was okay. In 1997 I left to go to my Freshman year of College and stopped watching Voyager

Greetings and What This Blog Is About

2003-10-01T21:59:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my Blog. I guess I'm one of those people who used to say "I'll never have a Blog," but then I thought about it and figured, "hey, I have things to say and am interested in seeing who will end up reading this." So if you stumbled upon my Blog, WELCOME! I figure a lot of my posts will be comments on "geek" things such as Transformers, Comics, Star Trek, and other stuff I find