Play This: Santa Rockstar 3

Today was my last day of work for the year. Our Christmas vacation has begun, which is nice. It also means I’m absolutely exhausted. So I haven’t really had a lot of time to read, watch, play with, eat, or otherwise experience a lot of Christmas stuff for you guys.

So today, I’d just like to point you to an online game I discovered a few weeks ago: Santa Rockstar 3. This is, apparently, the third iteration of this “Guitar Hero” knock-off where you play as Santa Claus and rock it to assorted Christmas songs. It’s a fun little way to kill time, if you’ve got time to kill. Which I really haven’t lately. I need a nap.

Also, let me remind you that I wrote a Christmas book, which you can get for $2.99 on any major eBook platform.

And as longtime readers of this site know, it’s my little tradition to write a new Christmas short story every year. But this year, that’s not what happened.

I wrote two.

“Lucky Penny” and “The Stowaway” will be available as a free eBook sometime in the next couple of days — I’ll let you know. My little Christmas gift to you. (And like all Christmas gifts it will be a limited time only. Get it while it’s free, because in January the price will go up to a wallet-crushing 99 cents.)

Okay, Love you guys. I’m going to bed.

Everything But Imaginary #354: It’s About Time!

Two years after the game was first announced, DC Universe Online is finally slated for a November release. Why do they make these announcements so far ahead of time? And when it’s done with comics, do these early announcements help, or hurt?

Everything But Imaginary #354: It’s About Time

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 101: Secret Invasion

It’s been a few weeks now since Marvel‘s Secret Invasion storyline wrapped up. This week, Blake and Chase pick apart the build-up, the spin-offs, the aftermath, and the event itself. How did we get here? Which spin-offs were worth reading? And where is Dark Reign going to take us? In the picks this week, Blake bids farewell to Shrugged, and Chase is a fan of Thor #12. Write us with comments, suggestions, picks of the week, “Ask Chase Anything” questions, or anything else at Showcase@comixtreme.com!

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 101: Secret Invasion
Inside This Episode:

PLUS: In Week in Geek #6, you get a true rarity — a video game review from Blake. He talks about LEGO Batman: The Video Game, and gives you his review of the new book by Michael Davis, Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. (Trust us, friends, it’s not what you think.) Plus, he’s got a very specific request for your feedback.

Week in Geek #6: LEGO Batman: The Video Game & Street Gang

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 87: Yet Another Showcase Tangent

It’s a packed Tangent episode of the 2 in 1 Showcase Podcast — surrounded by the staff and customers of BSI Comics, the boys are joined by regular back-up geeks Mike and Kenny, as well as Marcus and Anthony of Lightning Age Studios! This week, the guys read your e-mail about the Star Wars episode, discuss the new Force Unleashed videogame, give more tidbits about DC Online, talk about the end of the war in Fables, chat up the new fall TV season, and debate whether Will Smith should play Captain America. In the picks this week, Mike recommends Fallen Angel Vol. 4, Blake enjoyed Avengers: The Initiative #16, and Chase picks Garth Ennis‘s new Avatar title, Crossed. E-mail us with your comments, “Ask Chase Anything” questions, or anything else at Showcase@comixtreme.com!

Episode 87: Yet Another Showcase Tangent
Inside This Episode:

What I’m Watching: The King of Kong

Although I have multiple levels of geekdom — comic books, movies, Firefly, the works of L. Frank Baum — one thing I’ve never really been big on is video games. Sure, I’ve played lots of them over the years, but never with the fervor or intensity as some of my friends, and there have been very few games that could hold my attention for hours, let alone days, or even years. But a great movie is a great movie, and even if you’re not a fanatic of classic video games like Donkey Kong, the documentary film The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is one of the most compelling, engrossing, and all-around entertaining movies I have seen in a very long time.

At its heart, this documentary follows the “sports movie” formula. In 1982, Billy Mitchell set the world record high score on the video game Donkey Kong, and for over 20 years no one else even came close. But in 2005, middle school science teacher Steve Wiebe became a serious contender to take away the top spot. The movie is about Steve’s effort to take the crown and Billy’s machinations to keep it for himself.

There is absolutely no pretense of objectivity here. The film clearly paints Billy as the villain and Steve as the hero, and real life is far more complicated than that. But the movie is no less amazing for that knowledge. Steve is portrayed as a good man who’s had a life of disappointments, and is chasing one last shot at true glory. Billy comes off as a man who has had that glory for a long time and is willing to do some dishonorable things to cling to it. The other, secondarycharacters are also somewhat suspect — there are several gamers in the film who come across as little more than sycophants trying to bask in Billy’s reflected glory or desperately claim some for themselves. Steve has his own cheerleading section, but they’re portrayed more as concerned family and friends than people who are just in it for the spotlight.

While much of this can be called into question thanks to the miracle of creative editing, there are some things editing alone cannot do: Billy holding on to a crucial tape until the perfect time to steal someone else’s thunder or his refusal to compete in a live venue despite his frequent protestations that such a venue is the only legitimate one are not things that a film editor can conjure up without Billy giving him the fuel. Moreso, Billy’s smug attitude and Steve’s decent-but-downtrodden nature seem very genuine. Again, some of this could be editing, but if it is, the editor was masterful in making it all seem real.

My advice is to not watch this as a documentary, not wonder how much is genuine and how much is creative presentation. Just watch it as a movie, and you’ll find an incredible character drama that has you pulling for the hero, furious as the villain, and completely mesmerized by a few guys who wanted nothing more than to play some old-school video games.

In Other News…

We’ve got a lot of new readers here at the Realms, and I just wanted to take a moment to greet them. A few days ago, I gave you guys a little write-up of Dave Kellett’s sublime webcomic, Sheldon. To my surprise, Mr. Kellett not only came across my blog post, but returned the favor with a link to this site from his website, giving me a pretty astronomical increase in page views over the past few days. I couldn’t be more surprised, or more grateful. I also made the official announcement of this website in this week’s Everything But Imaginary column, so some of those readers are here for the first time as well.

To everyone who is visiting Evertime Realms for the first time, welcome! I hope you stick around. There’s plenty of cool stuff here to kill a little internet time — movie reviews, book reviews, comic book reviews, columns, original fiction, podcasts… and starting Monday, my new serialized novel, tentatively entitled Summer Love. I posted the prologue to this new book this past Monday, June 9, so just scroll back a few posts and it’s there for the reading. So look around. Click. Comment. And we hope you enjoy your stay at the Realms.