Photo: DEREK KOUYOUMJIAN
It being the magical time of year that it is -- when the dead rise -- we've been lying in wait for Wacko Jacko to make his Halloween resurrection. Our sleepless nights and expert reconnaissance skills finally paid off when we spotted him at the Salem carnival, whooping it up on the merry-go-round.
Go ahead, pick any character, any person (even this guy); put them in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, and you've got a recipe for serious badassery. Case in point: Infinite Santa 8000.This weekly web series by a crew of Boston-based artists, animators, musicians, and voice actors (including occasional Phoenix contributor Mike Neel) tells the story of a renegade Santa Claus (not this one) who, in order to survive the desert wasteland that is earth in the year 8000, must brutally butcher deformed mutants for food
Castlevania and Metroid. The battles of the Belmont family and Samus Aran have long legacies all the way back to the original NES in ’86, and both parties are still duking it out with monsters and space pirates to the likes and dislikes of critics today (the Phoenix’s own Mitch Krpata gave Other M a resounding “meh”).
Okay, everybody, gather up your battle shovels and cans of baked beans. You know that impending zombie apocalypse the past 75 years or so of pop culture have been preparing us for? Well it's coming. Tomorrow. Here.Let it be known that we at the Phoenix foresaw this uprising of the previously dead.
In an interview at the Brattle Theatre, acclaimed director and maestro of the mystical Guillermo del Toro discussed The Fall, the second installment of his The Strain trilogy. He also payed homage to the video games he's come to know and love (and even make), and put the smack-down on America's favorite movie critic Robert Ebert for claiming that "video games can never be art."
You know what's missing from your comic book collection? A biographical account of the rip-roarin', Boss Hogg foilin' younger years of everybody's favorite bag of hot air (and former Phoenix contributor), Bill O'Reilly. Well, thanks to writer Jerome Maida (comic-chronicler of such cuddly characters as Mark Zuckerberg and Al Franken) and artist Aleksandar Bozic, that empty spot on your shelf will no longer remain vacant.
Last weekend, Rock and Shock invaded Worcester's DCU center and Palladium. For the uninitiated, Rock and Shock is a unique experience: half horror convention, half kick-ass metal concert. I was there promoting Infinite Santa 8000, my new animated web series about Santa Claus killing mutants in the year 8000 (no, really).
For me, this may be one of our most difficult calls yet. I’ve already said nice things about both of these games. They’re two of my favorites. Maybe I just enjoy time travel and scientists of questionable skill?
To review:
Day of the TentacleCurrently not doing so hot in our poll. Revolves around a nerd, a mad scientist, a bizarre young woman, and a proto-Jack-Black-ish slob in their attempts to get a diamond to power the time machine that will send them back in the past one day in order to prevent the evil Purple Tentacle from carrying out his nefarious plans.
Photo: COURTESTY OF NASA
As things on earth keep going to shit, moving to the moon looks like an increasingly attractive option. Lucky for us, the Boston Society of Architects and SHIFTboston are sponsoring the MOON CAPITAL Competition, an international design challenge that calls on architects, artists, urban designers, engineers, and good old fashioned lay-folk to submit conceptual ideas for lunar habitats, culture, and lifestyle.
President Obama will be in Boston this Saturday as part of the final campaign push for Governor Deval Patrick. The event will be at the Hynes Convention Center. Also at the Hynes Convention Center this weekend: Wizard World New England Comic Con.
Anyone else thinking what we're thinking?
President Obama is a celebrated comic-book nerd - he's even appeared in comics
Some of you are likely aware of the Laser Orgy 500, our current ongoing battle to crown the greatest video game of all time. We've received roughly one gazillion votes in this thing, and we've tried to stay out of it because, for the most part, you're all doing a great job with it. The Top 100 is almost perfect.
VOTE NOW: The Laser Orgy 500 - the Phoenix's quest to crown the greatest video game of all time.
The Sims and World of Warcraft both came out in the early aughts, the former in 2000 and the latter in 2004. The franchises are two of the most popular franchises of all time, alongside Myst, believe it or not -- but unlike Myst, these two games have had years of expansion packs and upgrades.
As our slideshow would attest, plenty of wonderfully oozy ghouls made it out to the Somerville Theatre for J. Cannibal's "Feast of Flesh X," the crowning event of TerrorThon '10, last weekend. But just in case you missed Zombie Spock, here's a little midnight moment of illogical zombie zen for you all.
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