.... God, I wish we had these ideas sooner.

Come one, come all, to the Mud Puddle Magic Emporium... This week, to kick off the new open season of blogging, we shall be covering a few, NEW topics (not like we really covered anything before.... but I digress). In to what we usual rant about, we will be trying to write about one of the follow, maybe two times a week... Here's a complete list of what we were thinking of:

Movies
Video Games
Politics
Music
Random Internet Goodness.
[insert all other avenues of creativity]
New Game Mastering (table top games)
New Our crazy Ideas of world domination.*
New and finally... Art? More on that at a later date.


* Yes, we've finally put together a plan, in which you all are the pawns, in our nefarious scheme of total power... But anyway, be sure to look for a post of something extremely awesome... And half baked. But we've half baked it twice, my friends.

Autobots, and Decepticons, and Bears; Oh My!

Well, it's been a little time since my last post, and I'm kind of disappointed it took me this long... Expect a bit more over the next few weeks.

Let's start back up with Transformers Two: Rise of the Fallen.

Now, I always liked Transformers in my (very) juvenile years, when it was on TV frequently, and the graphics weren't spiffy and 3D resemblance, but I never was a hardcore fan. I knew the basis of the show, who Optimus Prime was, Megatron, Hotshot, Bumblebee, Starscream... and so on, but I never really knew anything past that (probably because I picked up halfway through the series, and missed the entire beginning... Anyway.

Transformers 2 was pretty good, compared to the first one which I really didn't care for. I thought the action scenes were superb, and I actually felt a rush from two several-megaton robots beating crap out of each other for my amusement (or the fate of earth. Whichever.). Although admittedly, sometimes there were just so many moving parts in different parts, and they were all, for the most part, that metallic silvery grey, I had no idea who was choking who. Now for the bad:

Michael Bay definitely tried to hard with the humor bit. There were probably 12 unnecessary gags in there, that drove up the production cost up a few hundred thousand... I mean, sure, even if Sam's mom running into a hanging flower pots cost... $20, it ruins the whole moment of suspense... Transformers is an action series... And should be an action series. An occasional joke here and there is fine, but I mean it just seems like they're giving up the key nerd demographic, to entice more and more people to come spend money for the two bit puns.

Which I won't stand for ;).

So in hindsight, Transformers 2: Rise of the fallen is definitely must see if you're (A) into the series, or (B) like lots of action. If you're not either of those two, I'd definitely recommend renting T1 and T2, just because they're all around great movies...

I'd say Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen scores a solid, 8 god-killingly-awesome-transforming-Cameros, out of 10.

Matt Lauer Can Suck It!: Land of the Lost (spoilers possible)

The movie is hilarious, so I'll try and keep the spoilers low, but it's going to be hard... It was Classic Will Ferrell, backed by a great supporting Cast... They entailed: Anna Friel, Jorma Taccone and Danny McBride (more on him later). Supporting casts, are really the heart and soul of Ferrel movies; for without them, who else will he verbally - and sometimes physically - abuse?

But right, saving the best for... first, I guess we should start with the opening trailers... There Were 4: Year One, 9, G Force, Funny People. Two looked great, one looked... intriguing to say the least, and one looked AMAZING!
... For 8 year olds.

Let's start Funny People. I hadn't heard of it until tonight and all of you, sans Adam Sandler fanatics, haven't either. It looked kind of confusing in the beginning, but the movie in general looks pretty funny. Basically, Super Funny Man (Sandler) has sustained a flourish stand-up career for awhile... And his biggest fan (Seth Rogen.. score!) knows every joke by heart. They meet, get close and Sandler reveals he is really sick... and Rogen might have to take the throne. All turns out well though, and I'm sure Sudden-Death-due-to-Laughter is one of the diseases Sandler is affiliated with in the Flick.

Now for... 9. I saw this trailer (all) of the times I went to see Star Trek, and each time I didn't really know what's going on... see if you can make sense of it:
Mad Scientist is one of the last people in a dying world, and he's putting his legacy into a tiny, cloth, homunculus resembling creature, whose destiny is to save the world... Some big scissor monster is chasing him, and he's hiding in a mouse hole with other homunculi rag dolls. It sort of looks like one of those "Hero gonna slays the Dragon, and probably gets the girl to boot", which I'm not a big fan of, but hey, Tim Burton *is* magic.

G-Force, or the movie that was totally out of place being shown in a Borderline PG-13/R movie, would have looked kind of cool to me if I was half my age... It was about CIA agents, that were the government's pride and joy, and were being closed down and spread through out the country because they were becoming too well known. They started to live normally lives, only for the government to call them back again when they need them most. Does this seem like a R rated thriller to you, at first glance? Me too! Except, I forgot to mention the aforementioned CIA agents, are guinea pigs.

Lastly, Year One has looked epic since the firs time I heard about it. Hell, I was excited when I saw the cardboard cut out of Jack Black and Mike Cera. So basically, if you haven't heard any of the hub-bub, it's really like history's first round trip... But this time we use my favorite medium: Foot. They set out from their primitive hunter gather tribe, to some big city (looked like Rome... but that wouldn't make sense. Probably Jerusalem, or something like that). They stumble their way through the town, and comedy ensues. Can't you just wait for Black to over-deliver every joke, and Cera to under-deliver everything?

Now, to the feature presentation *lights dim, and cool music cues*

Land of the Lost, I think, was probably the best movie I've seen in the last 2 or 3 years, sans Stepbrothers for the sheer hilarity, and Star Trek... for well, being Star Trek. But Land of the Lost, was some of Ferrell's best work... I clearly remember, at one point, the whole theater was laughing from one joke, to the next big one about 2 minutes later... There were only about 30 people present. I don't want to spoil the whole entire movie, but Ferrell is dismissed as a mad man, by Matt Lauer and the scientific community and now teaches 7th or 8th grade children. Another scientist (Much younger and hotter, might I add), from Cambridge comes to talk to Ferrell about his theories about time travel... He shows him some fossils, and he eventually gets around to finishing the machine to take them, not backwards, but sideways in past, to the Land of the Lost. There, he does all of the following: Get's a blood feud with a T-Rex.
Roundhouse kicks an alien into a fiery oven.
Becomes the master of a half ape half man.
Freezes a Dinosaur my catapults nitrogen into it.

See what I'm getting at? Who else, but Will Ferrell. Movie is great though, I really recommend it... and if you're pretty liberal on what you kids (probably 10 or 11 is the minimum age I'd advise) watch, it's decently family friendly. Funny as anything, but not too vulgar... But I digress. At first, I thought land of the lost would ruin Ferrell's great dynasty of Hollywood Comedy dominance, but I was pleasantly surprised tonight. I can't really stress how funny it was, and everyone needs to see it for him or herself. There are puns, and tons of irony... even penis jokes! (PENIS JOKES FOR GOD'S SAKE!)
The movie was 9.5/10, where I thought it'd be in the high 5.x at best. Get off my blog (for tonight) get on Fandango. And go see this movie.

Ah right, and about Danny McBride... I thought he did a good job of acting, but I really wish the "Will Ferrell, and John C. Reily duo stuck together... they were harmony and hilarity... Harlartiy? I think that he would've played the place of Will a bit better, if only becasue him and Ferrell have a history of sheer awesome behind them.

-- We have topped the 500 hits mark! I'm looking forward to another 500 with you all :D.

A Shout-out to Coidzor!

HOLY $#!T: My Playthrough of X-Men Origins: Wolverine

As the title states, there was one phrase that me and my buddies couldn't stop shouting during epic fights... "HOLY ****, WOAH! DUDE!" reverberated through my basement louder than my guitar amp. This is simply because X Men Origins: Wolverine was:

GOREgeous.

I mean, sure, if you're not into the whole 'bloody heads being pulled off in the most acrobatic ways possible' then The game, probably isn't for you. But if you are... Every kill you'll feel the adrenaline pumping through you, and excitement of the slow-motion head being chopped off. I remember, at one point, there is a mini-boss battle, and you push the "Windigo" off a small cliff... you proceed to walk down it, only to be ambushed by the half-dead mutant, and we tries to crush you to death... Of course, the "Mash 'Y' Button" trap is waiting for you, but once you flex out of it, you rip the Windigos head off... while doing a back flip. I distinctly remember letting out a roar at this part, as the tension was so great... But when it really gets down to it, XMO:W is really just a button masher, with slow motion scenes of awesome gore... which, on no scale is bad, and is special in its own right, but the game could have been made so much more in depth. The game play is decent, and the skills and upgrades section, while essential in games these days, is nice. The game play, and the minor puzzles in XMOW are very... transparent. While the combat moves look nice, you're sort of limited to what you can do... and after a little while, it seems that the only strategy that will efficiently end your foes: Lunge, stab, stab, roll dodge, lunge, stab, stab, roll dodge, lunge, stab... et cetera. Camera Angles also weren't the greatest. The camera would occasionally glitch, and zoom really close in on Logan, making seeing the environment impossible (for all my World of Warcraft players can you say, Strigid Screecher?). This wouldn't be that bad of a problem, if it didn't happen most every boss battle. Last peeve that I have with XMOW, would probably be the redundance of all the puzzles presented to Logan... a striking majority of them - I'd say over 90% - are "Pick up the [C4/Crobar/Battery] and plug/plant it into/on the [truck/Cage/Generator/Machine] and press B". Even the very first time you do it, you feel bored, but by the 50th time...

So, in hindsight: X-Men Origins: Wolverine was great fun, even thoguh it's not very special... The gore is spectacular, if you like that kind of thing, but if not this game isn't for you. Be wary of the the camera glitches, and extremely poorly thought out array of puzzles and traps. X-Men origins is probably not worth the $50-60 to buy it, but renting it for a week or two worth is a great deal.

7/10.

A note about The Mud Puddle in general: Firstly, I'd like to give a big shout out to Mr. Nameless, on GitP for making this sweet banner, which you can see in my signature on the Giant in the Playground forums. This is the first post in a series of probably about 100 over this summer. I hope you all are as excited as we are.

-- Mud.

Justification

Missed us? I think not. Maybe noticed for a little while and then forgot? I'd hope so. Due to inexplicably busy schedules on both mine, and Biedrik's part, The mud puddle has started crusting over. Don't worry all that much... The idea well isn't dry yet, and come summer I'm fairly positive posts will be coming in (or out?) like clockwork.

Possible posts coming soon:

Our Reviews of:

Music:
- New Heaven and Hell album
- New Warbringer album

Movies:
- Star Trek
- Angels and Demons
- Terminator Salvation

Politics/Media News:
- Surprise review of an event I (Mrmud) has access to exclusively... This will be interesting.

But anyway, On behalf of both of us, I'd like to apologize on how slow things have been moving around here, albeit we had our reasons.

Stay tuned.

Superbowl; Super Rant!

Okay it's been awhile since my last post everyone, But I feel compelled to spew my thoughts about the upcoming Superbowl... This isn't going to go very in depth, because I'm no sports guru, just a modest fan.

"Pappa Kurt" Warner has 'played his Cards' really well over the past season, finishing his less than star studded team at a respectable 9-7, winning the NFC West. But the credit doesn't rely solely with Warner; Larry Fitzgerald has carried the Cards threw the play offs with 4 stellar games thus far. Kurt and Coach Wisenhunt have really turned the team around since last season...

On the flip side of that, is the AFC East Powerhouse, king of Smash-Mouth football, or simply the Pittsburgh Steelers. Big Ben and the team aren't competing for their 6th play off win... They're gunning for their 6th Superbowl.

But whatever with me and the stupid lines.

If the Cards are going to have a chance, I think, they rely on their 'O' line giving Warner enough time to deliver the football, and the brain's behind the operation on the sidelines calling plays that get Fitzgerald open, and down field where he can do what he does best. Steelers defense has never been a problem (quite literally, NEVER been a problem), and their basic pass rush can break down some teams... Just the Pass rush. Not when they are blitzing, but the core pass rush can break down a team's Line. But the odds are against the Cardinals, and I'm not sure Kurt Warner would change that; he operates best when he's under pressure. The Steelers cannot afford to go into this game thinking its already won, because we've seen this happen tiem and time again... Like with Joe Namath. If the Steelers don't play their very best football, the game, In my opinion will be the Cards. Easily.

That's why I'm going against my better judgment, and picking the Arizona Cardinals Over the Pittsburgh Steelers:

27-24.

No matter the outcome, the question of Kurt Warner being accepted into the Hall of Fame will arise somehow. Personally, I think he should be in because Tons of QBs with lesser stats and no Bowl Rings are in... But then again Kurt Warner is in a Pass-Happy-Offense, and was so, possibly even more so with the 2000-ish Rams. This renders stats inefficient in measuring how good he is. So... hm, the only way is to see how he changes a Football team... and so far, he's taken two teams out of the Cellar, and brought them all the way up to the Superbowl... America, induct Kurt Warner.

Anyways, just random banter, feel free to Comment!

Fuck. The. Roman. Airport.

So I felt that I might rant about some bad experiences I had flying to Poland recently. It describes what a massive monument to inneficiency the airport in Rome is. So 2 weeks ago when I set off to Poland I was supposed to fly on Swiss Air where I would change flights in Zurich due to a lack of direct flights from Boston to Warsaw. But, the flight was canceled so I got put onto an Alitalia flight that would go through Rome. BUT, I would need to get my boarding passes for my next flight in Rome, not in Boston. So the flight to Rome was fairly normal. Typical for a transatlantic flight. So I land in Rome, pass through security, and follow the signs that say "Transfers." The signs at some point stopped, probably because the airport makers assumed that like most people I would know which gate I'm going to. Sadly I didn't, but I saw something that sayid "Alitalia Help Desk" or something like that. So I stand in line for half an hour, after which I am told that they have no idea how I should get a bording pass for my next flight but some help desk in Terminal B would. So I get on some train thing to Terminal B, and find the help desk that I was directed to. However, they too do not know how I should get a boarding pass so they direct me to Terminal C, which I just came from. Apparently there's another help desk that should know what to do. So I head back on the quck train ride to Terminal C, find that help desk. They also don't know what to do, but I should head to another part of the terminal (at least I don't need to go to another terminal) where they will help me. So I head in the direction that they pointed me in, but I get lost. But I do see a general information desk, so I ask there. They say that I need to go outside, up a floor, and then to the place where you would normally check in if you were coming to the airport from the city. But I get pointed in the wrong direction and I end up wandering into another part of the terminal. BUT, I see a Swiss Air desk. Since these guys were originally supposed to fly me to Warsaw I thought they might help. They confirm what the most recent source tolde me, and give me good directions. So I get to the Alitalia desk where I'm supposed to be, but I'm told that due to the fact that I've had to walk all over the fucking airport my flight is gone. So I beg and plead that they get me on another flight. After 10 minutes, the Alitalia employee that I was talking with finally gives into my pleas, and puts me on a flight to Warsaw that would go through Paris first. But I only get my ticket. Not my boarding passes. This is when the greatest example of how inneficient this airport is appears. I get my ticket in Terminal C. I then have to be in Terminal A to get my boarding pass. Finally, I have to go to Terminal B to actually board my plane. That's THREE terminals just to get on a damn plane. So I finally get on the plane, but it just sits around and takes of an hour and a half later with no explanation. This is very bad because in Paris I'm going to only have 2 hours to get to my next flight to Warsaw. When I land in Paris I find out that I am in fact too late to get onto my next flight. However, my luck was actually good after this. I quickly go to an Air France desk, where they give me another flight, a hotel, food, and excellent directions to my hotel. What took 3 hours in Rome took 5 minutes in Paris. And the kind and merciful woman who provided all this said that she too had bad experiences with that airport. So I'm not a unique case. Later on when I finally get to Warsaw, it turns out my luggage didn't arrive. I report this to the airport so that they will know to look for my luggage. And they workers say that a lot of luggage seems to get delayed at that airport. Overall, I think there are some vital lessons to be learned from this.

1. Never ever fly Alitalia.
2. Never ever fly through Rome. If there are any complications you will be screwed. In multiple terminals.
3. Seriously, stay out of the Roman Airport.