Posted by Rob on October 30, 2011 – 10:09 pm
After sitting through the terrible Treehouse of Horror XXII episode of the Simpsons, I stuck around on FOX in order to catch the series premiere of Allen Gregory. I like Jonah Hill, and I think he’s a funny guy. I figured I’d give the show a whirl to see what I thought of it. I still don’t know what to think of it too much, but I do know I’ll give it a chance and see how the next few episodes develop the series.
The show follows the life of seven year-old Allen Gregory (voiced by Hill) who comes from a powerful family. Allen’s father is gay, and they live together with the father’s life partner and an adopted Cambodian girl. Allen and his father treat the life partner like a piece of crud, and one of the running jokes seems to be that he is not taken seriously, and neither is the adopted daughter. Allen’s father was wealthy, but he is running out of money and is forced to send Allen to public school as he can no longer afford home schooling.
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Posted by Rob on October 30, 2011 – 9:49 pm
Filed under TV Shows
Tagged as avatar, bart, big bad bob, bigbadbob, devil, dexter, dr. manhattan, fart, fox, halloween, homer, krusty, lisa, ned flanders, nick swardson, pretend time, Simpsons, treehouse of horror, treehouse of horror II, treehouse of horror XXII
In order to get into a Halloween state of mind, Shell and I spent the weekend watching a good chunk of the Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror episodes. I ended up caving in and actually watched each one from their individual season sets, so there was a lot of getting off the couch every twenty minutes to change out the disc. The Treehouse of Horror marathon ended tonight at 8:30pm EST after we watched the episode from the current season, Treehouse of Horror XXII. Unfortunately, it was chock full of three lame stories that were just horribly constructed and presented. Please note that the following contains spoilers, so read if you don’t want to be heartbroken on your own.
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Posted by Rob on October 29, 2011 – 4:56 pm
Filed under TV Shows
Tagged as abc, big bad bob, bigbadbob, brothers grimm, curse, demon, fairy tales, grimm, nbc, once upon a time, queen, snow white, TV Shows, werewolf
I was shocked to hear that not only one, but two new TV series based on fairy tales were premiering this season. ABC showed off its new series, Once Upon a Time, on Sunday while NBC aired its first episode of “Grimm” on Friday. Just from the title of both shows you can tell they both revolve around fairy tales of some sort or another, but the two shows are completely different. While Once Upon a Time is a family-friendly show that features many of the classic fairy tale characters, Grimm is a darker and more original show that uses fairy tales as the backdrop for totally original characters. Let’s look more into how these two shows compare. Read More »
Posted by Rob on October 27, 2011 – 8:09 pm
With Halloween fast approaching, Shell and I got into the holiday spirit by popping on my Simpsons Treehouse of Horror DVD. I remember buying it for like $5 at Wal-Mart way back in the day and it’s an annual tradition to watch it at some point every October. Only problem is that it’s limited; it only contains four Treehouse of Horror episodes: V,VI, VII, and XII (which some from seasons 7, 8, 9 and 13.) It’s good and all, but the earlier Treehouse of Horror collections are missing, and some of those are great (“The Raven” and “The Monkey’s Paw” vignettes being two of my all-time favorites.)
So how to we fix this travesty? Simple…I would love to see FOX release something like “the complete Treehouse of Horror” collection. You know, all twenty-one episodes (that includes this seasons, which airs on Sunday) on four DVD discs. I would gladly pay $40 or whatever a new season costs, just to have all the Treehouse of Horror episodes in one collection. Otherwise I have to take out the first disc of every season (except the first season) and watch that individual episode separately. I’m a lazy guy and I have no desire to do that.
Would anyone else love to see this happen?
Posted by Rob on October 26, 2011 – 2:32 pm
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as 360, arkham asylum, batman, batman: arkham city, big bad bob, bigbadbob, catwoman, comic book, dc, dlc, game review, gotham city, joker, mad hatter, penguin, PlayStation 3, riddle, riddler, rocksteady, super hero, two face, xbox, xp
What makes a video game based on a comic book super hero perfect? Is it an original story that you can see unfolding on paper just as well as it comes to life on the TV screen? Is it great visuals and voice acting that make it seem like you’re watching a movie? Is it having a great supporting cast of villains and other heroes who either hinder or aid the super hero? It is all these things, and one more; a successful video game adaptation of a super hero let’s you “feel” like you’re in complete control of the guy under the mask, cape, and tights. Rocksteady got this formula down right with Batman: Arkham Asylum, and they’ve done it again with the sequel.
The biggest thing that Batman: Arkham City has going for it is that the Batman you are controlling feels like Batman. Batman is not a hero possessing super strength and speed…in the game he slow, controlled and methodical. Batman is known for his wide array of gadgets, and there are plenty to use from the batarang to the grappling hook to a freeze bomb. Batman is also known for his criminal science skills, and as the great detective you will be analyzing crime scenes to discover evidence, interrogate henchmen and use your intellectual knowledge to solve a whopping 400 puzzles left behind by my favorite Batman villain, the Riddler. All in all, the game stays true to Batman, and this dedication to the source material make Arkham City THE BEST super hero video game of all time.
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Posted by Rob on October 25, 2011 – 12:10 pm
I’ve been playing through Batman: Arkham City for the past few days and I’m really enjoying the game. Everything from the gameplay to the storyline to the crisp graphics are amazing. And then they go and throw in a little treat for Lost fans, and I couldn’t believe it. I went online and sure enough someone else had found it and went through the trouble of putting it on the ol’ youtubes. It’s not really a spoiler, and it is story-related, so you won’t miss it if you’re currently playing through the game (unless you’re not listening carefully.)
Posted by Rob on October 23, 2011 – 6:45 pm
Filed under Randomness
Tagged as alf, big bad bob, bigbadbob, costume, gangster, halloween, jay, Mario, party, penguin, pirate, princess peach, riddler, roland, silent bob
I’m in need of a Halloween costume this year, and I’ve been trying to decide what to do. While thinking about what I want to be, I’ve been thinking back on what I’ve been, and decided to share some of my past costumes. Not all of these were Halloween costumes, but as you see I just love to put on stupid costumes. Unfortunately one of these missing pictures is
Super Mario and Princess Peach
Jay and Silent Bob Read More »
Posted by Rob on October 22, 2011 – 12:54 am
It’s been quite some time before I had one of these!
I was reading in bed while Shell slept on the couch, and I woke her up when I was ready to go to bed. She looked at me and pointed at my shirt. I asked her what was wrong and she reached out, grabbed by shirt, and pulled it up a bit so she could look at my stomach. Then she said:
“I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand?”
“It’s not there.”
“What’s not there?”
“I don’t want my tea anymore.”
“Ok, I’ll toss it out.”
“My teabags still in there.”
“Ok, I’ll take care of it.”
“Make sure it doesn’t stain.”
“Ok.”
Posted by Rob on October 20, 2011 – 2:43 pm
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, co-op, competitive, dlc, gamefly, Gamestop, lord of the rings, multiplayer, online, online pass, PlayStation 3, PS3, PSN, rental, resistance 3, Sony, used, war in the north
Within the past few months, more and more games are requiring an “online pass” to play online. Granted, the code is provided in all new packages of the game. So you run into this problem when you either buy a game used or rent a game, in that you will have to pay $10 (every one I’ve seen has gone for $10 so far) in order to play online. Is this fair to gamers? The game companies think so.
The Defense:
Game developers believe they have a right to charge people who did not purchase the physical game $10 to access the online co-op and multiplayer features. They argue that they should be properly compensated for the time and effort they put into creating and maintaining these modes.
My Argument: Read More »
Posted by Rob on October 20, 2011 – 12:14 pm
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, breaking point, caw, create a finisher, create a wrestler, ecw, gamespy, predator, road to wrestlemania, royal rumble, skyrim, smackdown vs raw, smackdown vs. raw 2011, superstarbigbadbob, svr, thq, wcw, wrestlemania, wrestler, wwe, wwe 12, wwe allstars, wwe universe, wwe universe 2.0
Anyone who follows my blog knows I get crazy around this time of year when THQ starts releasing relevant information about their annual WWE new release. This year is no different, and they’ve done quite a bit of revamping since last year’s Smackdown vs. Raw 2011. Just remember, I am a fan of the game series, not of the actual WWE programming and do not watch it on television. So what exactly are the new features? Read on:
- Title: That’s right, THQ decided to drop the “Smackdown vs. Raw” title from now on and are sticking with just “WWE”. It makes a heck of a lot of sense and is something they should have down a long time ago. The first couple of SvR games were true to their name, as there were drafts between the shows in-game and there was a “Be a GM” mode where you had to get more money and viewers than the competing brand. But that all stopped over the past few years and it’s been more about WWE in general and less about a conflict between these two shows. So I’m totally happy with calling it “WWE ’12″ as opposed to “Smackdown vs. Raw 2012″ as it’s a heck of a lot easier to say and write. Read More »
Posted by Rob on October 19, 2011 – 4:14 pm
I’ve been nervous in regards to Gamefly’s delivery speed as of late. It took them seven days to receive the last game I returned to them, and I was expecting to wait four-five days for them to deliver Batman: Arkham City. Yet I was pleasantly surprised to find it waiting in the mailbox today (so I only waited two days). This has been one of my most-anticipated titles of the year and I can’t wait to dive in and punch some goons in the face!
The game is already in my PS3 and the updates are a-downloadin’. I probably won’t actually play until tonight, after I spike Shell’s ice cream with some of my patented “Nyquil Chocolate Sauce.”
Posted by Rob on October 19, 2011 – 10:42 am
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as batman: arkham city, big bad bob, bigbadbob, blast shard, dlc, festival of blood, gamefly, infamous, infamous 2, platinum, PlayStation 3, PS3, PSN, sucker punch, trophies, trophy, vampires, wwe 12
I’ve been on a gaming spree the past two days. With Batman: Arkham City coming in either today or tomorrow from Gamefly, I wanted to finish up my quest for the inFAMOUS 2 Platinum before it got here. So I put a good chunk of time into the game yesterday morning, afternoon, night, and then finished it up this morning. It was a lot of fun, and was one of my easier Platinums.
I took my time with my first playthrough, as a good guy, on easy. I did all the side quests, found every one of the 320ish blast shards scattered around the city, unlocked all the powers, played a bunch of the user-created missions, collected all the dead drops…I did it all. Since I played it on easy it was quite the cake walk, and I had a real blast running around and exploring the city stress-free. Oh, and back to blast shards…they are nowhere near as annoying in the first game. One of the last powers you can unlock is called “blast shard sense” and when you search for blast shards now the nearest one shows up on the map, regardless of how far away it is. So once I unlocked that I spent about two hours running back and forth through the city picking up the last few shards I had missed, but at least it was a sure-fire way to find them all painlessly. This is something I wish they had for the first inFAMOUS game… Read More »
Posted by Rob on October 18, 2011 – 5:53 pm
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, darth vader, force unleashed, God of War, knights contract, marvel ultimate alliance, qte, qte's, quick time events, Star Wars, video games, warriors legends of troy
I don’t know that I’ve ever met a single gamer that actually enjoyed and looked forward to quick time events. What, you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about?! Quick time events (henceforth referred to as QTE’s) are put into games generally to depict an epic battle between the player’s character and an insane boss. How it works is that eventually the gameplay will turn into more of a movie, and you will lose direct control of your character. Then button prompts will quickly appear on the screen and you will have to push the correct button before it goes away. If you push the button too late, or hit the wrong button, all sorts of bad stuff can happen. The lighter penalties include simply having to start the QTE over again, while others are less forgiving and will result in an instant kill.
Moral of the story is that QTE’s take a lot of control away from the gamer, as he/she has to focus solely on what button is going to appear on screen next. Also they are generally very frustrating and really suck the fun out of a great boss battle. I don’t know what game they first started in, but the game I first remember playing that had them was the original God of War on the ol’ PS2. Other games that I recall that included them were Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Knights Contract and most recently, Warriors: Legends of Troy.
Anywho, here’s a detailed list of why I hate them: Read More »
Posted by Rob on October 15, 2011 – 10:03 pm
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as batman, blast shard, borderlands, dead island, infamous, infamous 2, platinum, PlayStation 3, PS3, skyrim, Sony, trophies, trophy, uncharted 3, wwe 12
First off, let me get this off my chest… inFAMOUS should have been Platinum #12. I picked it up for free from Sony’s “Welcome Back Program” and have 98% of the trophies. The only thing holding me back from the sweet, sweet Platinum is a stupid collectible trophy. Through the course of the game you can pick up items called blast shards that increase your power, and there is a trophy for finding them all. Problem is that they don’t appear on a map until your almost on top of them, and this kind of tracking system is near impossible in a sandbox game like inFAMOUS. So yeah, when I look at my trophy count for inFAMOUS that 98% just slaps me in the face.
Now inFAMOUS 2, that’s another story. When I traded in my fat console for a slim one, I ended up snagging the inFAMOUS 2 bundle. Luckily Sucker Punch learned from the first game and finding all the blast shards is no longer an issue. One of the last powers you can unlock in the game allows you to see the nearest blast shard, no matter how far away it is. After unlocking this I spent about two hours running across the city picking up every last one of those suckers, and that trophy is now out of the way. Read More »
Posted by Rob on October 12, 2011 – 6:20 pm
Filed under TV Shows
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, cable, dvr, futurama, its always sunny in philadelphia, kindle, nook, Simpsons, terra nova, time warner, tosh.0, TV Shows
When we moved into our apartment in Albany two years ago, we were lucky enough to have the cable and internet provided as part of the rent. Since I never had to look at a cable bill I was pretty happy, and we were content with the 70+ channels we got, though I was a bit upset when they replaced the Travel Channel with the Golf Channel. So it was basic, but I wasn’t complaining.
We just moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and our current apartment did not provide cable (as I’m sure most don’t.) This meant I had to give the ol’ cable guy a call and schedule an appointment. On the day he was scheduled, I spent that morning imagining that we would hit it off and end up going to Medieval Times for a night of feasting and fighting. While that never happened, I did end up getting a sweet hookup, via a free DVR upgrade. Read More »
Posted by Rob on October 11, 2011 – 4:57 pm
Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as apartment, big bad bob, bigbadbob, charlotte, History, important americans, jobs, moving, north carolina, terra nova, transformers 3, x-men: first class
Man, it has been a crazy couple of weeks. Most of that time has been spent moving and getting the new apartment in order, but I’ve been doing other stuff as well. Here’s a recap on what’s going on:
- Moved to North Carolina last weekend. We are now living in Charlotte, NC. It took about five days to get all the boxes open and emptied and to get our apartment the way we want it. It’s similar to our old one in Albany in that it has two bedrooms, but the living space is a bit larger. It feels good to be able to sit back on our couch and recliner again and watch random TV and play games.
- I’ve also been working on a second website. I previously mentioned that it would remain a secret, but now I don’t really care. I ended up removing comment options on that site so that it would look a bit more professional. The site is importantamericans.com, and as the name suggests it contains articles about key individuals from American History. I did this for a few reasons; to keep my writing up, to keep my researching up, to have something to do that I feel good about, to educate people who don’t know all that much about history, and also as a resume booster. I started out writing two articles a week, but with the move I dropped it down to one. Now that things are settling down I’ll be devoting more time to it.
- Still looking for work. I’ve put my resume out to schools, museums, and government agencies and am waiting to hear back. Read More »
Posted by Rob on October 1, 2011 – 7:33 am
I’m gonna keep this short and sweet. We found an apartment in North Carolina and are moving up there this weekend. We’ve been spending the past week getting things packed up and situated, so between that and work on my other site, things have been tight. Once we’re settled in I’ll give ya’ll the scoop (oh gosh I’m becoming more southern in my writing!)
