HARR HARR HARR!

“I think we threw historical accuracy out the window when you brought that iron Broadsword to a Bronze Age campaign setting!”

Season 1 blew my mind. And naturally, I was worried dead that season 2 would not live up to my incredibly high expectations. I hoped and I wished, and had I been iven remotely religious, I would have prayed.
It was almost with shaking hands that I inserted the newly bought Season 2 DVD, only a day after having finished season 1.
To my surprise season 2 lived up to every expectation, and more!
Allow me to elaborate.

Important Note: If you have not not finished season 1, then do NOT read further, as this review will contain spoilers of the previous season.

With Avon Barskdale incarcerated along with D’Angelo and Wee-Bey, the Barksdale Detail has accomplished its purpose and is effectively shut down.
McNulty is demoted to the marine unit, Greggs is working a desk job, Daniels has been re-assigned to evidence division, Lester is partnered up with Bunk in homicide division, and the rest have returned to their respective divisions.

The focus now shifts to the Baltimore docks, where union leader and treasurer Frank Sobotka has resorted to smuggling drugs and stolen goods through the port for a mysterious criminal organization known only as “The Greeks”, as a means to fund his political contributions and campaigning to maintain the prosperity of the docks.
However, a feud between Sobotka and the vindictive Major Valcheck results in the latter pressuring the newly made Acting Commissioner into assembling a detail dedicated to investigate Sobotka and the affairs on the Docks.

Despite the arrests and deaths of some of their best men, the Barksdale Organization is bruised, yet not broken. Avon continues to run the organization from prison through his second-in-command Stringer, while scheming for an early release. Stringer administrates the organization, and has to contend with the loss of their connections, dissention within the organization, as well as rival drug dealers eyeing their prized territory.
Bodie has been promoted to crew chief of the 221 Tower, while Poot has been given command over the Pit.

The second season of The Wire examines the struggles of the blue-collar working class, represented by the stevedores of the Baltimore port, and how easily the working class becomes victim to capitalism in modern America.
It portrays the betrayal of the working man, and how he must contend with a society that values maximum efficiancy at the expense of the working class.

With the addition of the Docks and the people working there, the ensemble of characters grows substantially, most notably among them, Frank Sobotka, as well as his reckless and and troubled son Ziggy, often paired with his more level-headed and intelligent cousin, Nick.
Also introduced are the mysterious “Greeks”, whose cunning are matched only by their ruthlessness.
The Barksdale Organization sees the addition of several new soldiers, but are not as notable, due to the Organization being featured less prominently this season.
Omar returns to Baltimore with his new boyfriend and picks up where he left.
Proposition Joe receives more screentime, and more plot involvement

Most of the original members of the Barksdale detail return in the second season, with many of them still suffering from their actions in the previous season. McNulty’s meddling yet again earns him the scorn of his superiors, but proves instrumental to the case.

Some of my favorite characters this season, were Frank, Nick and Ziggy Sobotka. I particularly liked how human they were protrayed, and how easy it was to sympathize with them. They are the perfect examples of ‘grey area’ characters.
Frank Sobotka, the struggling union leader resorting to desperate measures to preserve the jobs and futures of his fellow stevedores. Nick, whose frustration with the lack of working hours and a steady income, gets him involved in the smuggling business. The reckless and juvenile, Ziggy, offers both comic relief and tragedy the same time.
Omar is great as always, and delivers one of his most epic “Omar moments” this season.
Brother Mouzone was also pretty damn excellent.

Conclusion: Season 2 of The Wire is even better than the previous season. The pace is turned up, and characters that you get more emotionally invested in, as well as more character development.
Season 2 continues to to portray the city of Baltimore in a brutally honest way, depicting how an instituion’s failings affect the people living in the city, and how the port of Baltimore is connected to the the politicians and drug dealers of Baltimore.
Having recently done a re-watch of season 1, I really notice the difference in pace and characters, between season 1 and 2. Season 2 gets a lot more personal, and the pace is - as mentioned a few lines ago - faster.
So, if slow pace, and poor characterization were your main gripes with season 1, then I think you’ll find season 2 more to your liking.

The opening of the Pure Pwnage episode “Just the Guys PT 1″, and is a parody of Zero Punctuation

I for one found it hilarious.

Despite being almost virtually unknown to the police, Avon Barksdale reigns as the undisputed kingpin of the West Baltimore drug scene. But when his nephew D’Angelo is found not guilty of murder as a result of obvious corruption, Avon’s name is brought to the attention of Judge Phelan, who as a result pressures the Baltimore police into assembling a detail devoted to bringing down the Barksdale Organisation.
This is the premise of the first seaon of The Wire. It focuses on both the criminals and the police as they build a case against Barksdale.
Sounds simple? It’s really not. Because this is case is something of a Pandora’s Box, that if solved, could create a maelstrom that would not only mean the end of the Barksdale, but could drag lawyers, politicians and even police officers and brass down with its fury. And thus, the Barksdale Detail begins its work, with little to go on, and with the brass watching their every move.

The Barksdale detail is lead by the ambitious LT. Daniels, and consists of Jimmy McNulty, disillusioned and hated by the bosses for leaking the inforation about Barksdale to Judge Phelan, the level-headed Kima Greggs, torn between her devotion to police work and her worrying girlfriend, the smooth and quiet Lester Freamon, unafraid of disobeying his superiors, the hot headed duo, Herc and Carver, the clutz of a policemen Prez, and the more talented Sydnor. Jimmy’s old homicide partner Bunk Moreland also assists the detail, while the career-minded Deputy Commissioner Burrel keeps a watchful eye on them, and Rawls, leader of the homicide divison and a asshole of the first class seeks to hamper Jimmy’s every move.

The Barksdale Organization is lead by the soldier Avon Barksdale, with his best friend Stringer as his second i command, and the rock of a soldier Wee-Bey as his most loyal lieutenant who along with Stinkum ran the high-rise towers . Avon’s nephew D’Angelo, torn between his family’s expectations of him and his own conscience, runs the “Pit”, with the young’uns Poot, Bodie and Wallace working for him.
Also on the streets are legendary stickup man, Omar Little, a constant thorn to the drug dealers of west Baltimore, and Bubbles, a drug fiend and personal informant of Kima Greggs, usually paired with his protege Johnny Weeks.

Written mostly by Baltimore journalist, David Simon and ex-cop-turned-school-teacher, Ed Burns the Wire possesses a depth that is unlike almost anything I have ever seen, all while maintaining a stunning realism and captivating plot. Many of the minor characters are actually played by reformed Baltimore gangsters, and some of the policemen are played by actual Baltimore cops.
The characters definitely come alive, possessing an uncanny complexity. No 2D characters in The Wire, the characters are portrayed in a very human way, where everyone, whether they are policemen or criminals, are capable of good and bad deeds.
My favorite characters of season 1 are Omar Little, I just love the ‘coolness’ of this characters, and his sexuality and his strict adherence to his code makes him one of the most interesting characters I have seen on TV. I also very much liked D’Angelo, because of his diversity and the emotional conflict he brought. Stringer is also great, and I loved the way he and Avon ruled the Organization, much the same way I imagine Marc Antony and Octavian would rule Rome, had they been able to cooperate.

Conclusion: ll in all, The Wire is not really a cop and robber show, but a show about the city of Baltimore. It’s about what happens when an institution fails, and its repercussions for the rest of the city. Because everything is connected, if one institution fails, its repercussions can cause another to fail as well. Season 1 focuses especially to the vicious cycle of police, criminals and politicians, and how it affects society.
The Wire is not for everyone, of course. I can imagine that some people have a problem with its slow pace, and the fact that it requires your full attention, much like Deadwood. The Wire also possesses a ruthless, unyielding honesty that can be off-putting to some.
In style it can be compared to The Sopranos and Oz.

Anyway, I absolutely love everything about this show, and I consider it to be among the finest television ever made, along with Deadwood, The Sopranos and Battlestar Galactica. I recommend this to anyone who can handle a little grittiness, and enjoy shows with a certain edge. If you liked The Sopranos, Deadwood or Oz, then I’m confident you’ll like The Wire as well.

10/10

The show centers on Veronica Mars - Captain Obvious to the rescue! - , a 17 year old social outcast in the fictional city of Neptune, California, working part-time for her father - a private detective -, officially as an assistant, but unofficially as a investigator.
But hold on, we’re forgetting something important here, namely the background story! Because the background story practically defines the plot of the first season.

Six months prior to the premiere, Veronica Mars’ life collapsed when her best friend and daughter of the most powerful man in Neptune, is found brutally murdered. Keith Mars - local sheriff and Veronica’s father - accuses Lilly’s father of the deed, resulting in the Mars family’s near destruction. Veronica’s mother abandons them, Keith loses his job and Veronica loses her friends.

Fast-forward to present day, the supposed murderer - Abel Koontz - awaits his fate on death row, Veronica is a constant target for abuse and ridicule, and the remainders of the Mars family continues to be friendless.
Neptune appears to have moved on from the Lily Kane tragedy, but there is something rotten in the city of Neptune! New evidence begin to surface that casts doubt on the guilt of Abel Koontz. Naturally, Veronica take interest in the case, and begins to unravel all the dirty little secrets.

This is the premise of the first season of Veronica Mars.

The show focuses on Veronica’s struggles and social life at Neptune high, her investigations at her behest of her father’s, or - what remains - of - her friends, and the Lilly Kane murder mystery. The show follows a 1 case per episode pattern, with every episode - as far as I remember - tying into the overall season plot.
I compared the show’s structure to “Dexter” in this post, a comparison I still stand by. Though Veronica’s narrations are unquestionably lighter than Dexter’s.

The show can also be compared to “Buffy” - as evident from the title of this post -, in terms of main character, humour, style and dialogue.
Both shows maintains a witty dialogue, as well as a similar, very geeky humour - which I absolutely love - . Also, I somehow felt there was a tad similar dynamic amongst both main characters’ circle of friends.

The show features several interesting character, especially Veronica Mars played by Kristen Bell, who practically makes this show, and is reason enough to watch the series. She’s funny, smart, attractive and she’s got an iron will.
But don’t worry, there are other as well, such as Keith Mars portrayed by Enrico Colantoni, who - in my opinion - fits perfectly in the role of Veronica’s father. Logan Echolls is also a funny character, despite the fact that he’s a complete douche. Weevil was pretty cool as well.
I liked the concept of the medicated Duncan Kane, through the other aspects of the character was mediocre at best.
Clarence Wiedman was also pretty interesting, despite his limited screen-time.

I think the show’s main strengths is its main character, dialogue and its fast paced, often geeky humour - Which I, again, absolutely love - . That, and a strong season plot, interlinked with individual cases for each episodes.

Veronica Mars is very well produced, featuring a decent score and an intro that really got stuck in my head. Seeing as this is public television, there is no profanity, nudity or graphic violence, but these are not things I missed from this show - well, perhaps the profanity.

My main gripes with this show is my disagreement with the execution of some of the content, and a season finale that - in my opinion - somewhat that failed to satisfy.
The finale does not not weigh the show down much, though, as Veronica mars does not rely as much on the murder mystery as, say, “Dexter”. And the overall quality of the show remains very solid.

Anyway, that concludes my attempt at a review of this superb TV-show. I apologise for delaying this post, mys only excuse is that I’m a slacker of th worst sort.

And, in an attempt to rate:
9/10

Dramatic nonsense aside, It’s actually my birthday today. Getting older is no picnic, I - and almost everyone else - can tell you that.
Becoming 20 was great, it’s a round number, and for some reason it is considered the ideal age. But becoming 21? Well, you realise it’s only going one way from here on out. It’s all downhill from here, folks!

On the other hand, it feels great! Who the hell wants to be 20 forever? Apart from those really sad middle-aged people you see hanging out at the trendy clubs. Or people who never dares to stop drinking or partying, because it’s the only thing they have left to cover up the fact that they are a just a complete douche.
No, getting older feels good. Despite the fact that society has a lot of expectations of me, and that I don’t fulfill any of them, I still feel pretty good.

My birthday wishes are these: That the Kimbo inside me remains strong.
That I will soon get my hands on a proper PC.
That part 1 of the 4th season of “Battlestar Galactica” will hit the shelves as soon as possible, and that I’ll love it.
That Sci-Fi channel picks up “Firefly”.
That Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis and Neil Gaiman never stops writing. T
hat season 4 of “Lost” will hit the shelves soon, and that they don’t ruin the mystery.
That Diablo III will be great.
That McCain will lose the November election.
And that I will always have a book to read, a show to watch, and a game to play.

I’m not much of a celebrator, so today will be relatively quiet, save for my brother and perhaps a few friends visiting.
Hopefully someone will give me a pretty good movie to watch. The Movie-Ghost has been kind lately, and blessed me with good films such as “Juno” and “Charlie Wilson’s War”. Something along those standards would be pretty neat for a present.

And with that, I conclude this self-glorifying birthday post, and leave you to your affairs.

Oh, and by the way, next post will be about a TV-series. I swear!

What am I talking about, you ask? Well, simply This: Blizzard has officially announced today that a sequel to the award winning and critically and commercially acclaimed Diablo II is currently in development!
Official site can be found here.
Here is the official cinematic teaser:

So far only two character classes has been confirmed, namely the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor. The Barbarian should be known to players of the previous installment. The Witch Doctor, however, is more of a mystery.

Here’s a sample of Barbarian gameplay. As in the previous installment, the Barbarian relies on cold steal and physical prowess to survive in combat. As evident from the video, the Barbarian has several Area of Effect attacks in his repertoire, such as a jump attack that covers a lot of distance, as well as annihilates a group of enemies. It’s slightly similar to Charge or Intercept from World of Warcraft only 50 times cooler.
A shockwave attack that deals damage to enemy targets in a line.
A cleaving attack similar to Cleave from World of Warcraft, that does damage to at least 2 enemies per swipe. This ability may be passive, rather than active.
A ground stomp, that disarms enemies of their shields.
And a whirlwind attack similar to, well.. Whirlwind from World of Warcraft.

Here’s a sample of Witch Doctor gameplay. Not much is known to me about this class, except for a few abilities he possesses. One of them is the ability to summon pets, as well as amplifying their strengths.
As evident in the video, the Witch Doctor also appears to possess magical melee and Area of Effect attacks.
It also seems he has a few debuffs up his sleeves, such as curses and/or diseases Which makes sense, I mean he is a Witch Doctor.

As with the previous installment, online gaming will take place on battle.net

Take a gander at a few official screenshots here:

The atmosphere of the previous installments remains intact in Diablo III

A Bridge Too Far

The Witch Doctor making house calls

As I said, Diablo III appears to maintain the much-loved “Diablo atmosphere”, and it’ll be interesting to see how the story evolves, and how well it connects with the already-very-solid mythology. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a lot of new books expanding upon the Diablo universe. It’s simply the Blizzard way.

Here’s 10 minutes worth of gameplay footage:

As you can see, Diablo III also maintains the essence of the Hack & Slash, action role-playing game that was Diablo II. The overview camera, the very similar, yet improved interface, the dungeons, the combat and the overall gameplay all appears to contain the Diablo essence.
I’m looking forward to learning more about the new features, as the already revealed additions such as weapon enchants and environment interaction, sounds promising.
Watching the Barbarian slaughter his way through the tombs with such prowess and mobility, feeds the Kimbo inside me!
I find myself looking enormously forward to this game, and will await further information with great anticipation. It’s been at least four years since I played Diablo 2 properly, maybe it’s time to re-install and level a character? Perhaps say.. Barbarian?
Kimbo laughs with malevolent glee

You see what I mean? These only lend further proofs to my theories, and validates everything I wrote In this post! It’s all there! It’s all there, I tell you!
Anyway, with that being said, I conclude this mad ramble and leave you to your sanity.

By the way, I originally intended this as a “Veronica Mars” or “Eating my own Words” post, but decided to postpone t a day or so, after Blizzard made their announcement today.

“This place is thick with the stench of ghouls“.

On the surface, Dexter Morgan appears to be living a normal, and a very neat life. He is good looking, sympathetic and caring. He has a job as a blood-spatter analyst at the forensic department of Miami PD, a loving girlfriend, a caring sister and loyal friends at the Miami PD.
But it’s all a sham, for beneath the surface beats the heart of a calculating and highly skilled serial killer. His job, his appearance, and even his girlfriend, Rita, are all covers to hide who he really is. Compassion, empathy, love and remorse are alien emotions to Dexter, and his only true friend is his inner voice, aptly named “the Dark Passenger”, urging him to kill.

Due to a childhood trauma, Dexter developed sociopathic tendencies, stripping him of his ability to feel normal human emotions, and leaving him with an aching urge to kill. Noticing this, and realising the urge would never go away, his foster father Harry - a Miami police detective - taught Dexter everything about killing, and laid down the rules of who he is allowed to target.
Following the “Code of Harry” , Dexter knows who to kill, how to kill them, and how to get away with it. Faking human emotions, he is able to appear normal to the world by day, while carefully targeting his victims at night. He takes his time with them and collects “blood trophies” to appease the Dark Passenger.

Dexter is in complete control of his life, and all is well.
That is, until the mysterious “Ice Truck Killer” is brought to the attention of the Miami PD. Upon the crime scene, Dexter finds himself greatly admiring the work of his fellow colleague , feeling like a student watching the master at work. His fascination only grows, when the Ice Truck Killer is quick to entangle Dexter in his game.
Dexter is also forced to delve into his past and come face to face with the incident that shaped him.

I think the the quote “I can kill a man, dismember his body and be home in time for Letterman. But knowing what to say when my girlfriend’s feeling insecure… I’m totally lost” by Dexter describes the show pretty good. It describes Dexter’s struggles in fitting in with other people, and especially how to communicate and handle himself in his relationship with his emotionally crippled girlfriend Rita.
There is an impressive character development in this show, especially on Dexter, Rita and even his sister Debra.

Having recently watched season 1 of “Veronica Mars”, I realise that the two shows share a similar structure.
*Both main characters narrates throughout the show.

*Dexter’s “1 kill per episode” versus Veronica’s “1 case per episode”, although Dexter’s kills make up less of the plot of the episodes than Veronica’s cases.

*And last, but not least, they both share an ongoing “mystery plot” through out the season, though Dexter features a MUCH larger focus and intensity on its mystery.

The show features mostly solid acting, with the excellent Michael C. Hall as Dexter at as the cream of the crop. The actor playing the Ice Truck Killer was also pretty damn brilliant. It was also cool to see “Dr. Gloria Nathan”, “Enrique Morales” and “Moses Deyell” from “Oz” as “Lt. LaGuerta”, “Angel” and “Sgt. Doakes”, respectively.

Dexter is VERY well produced, featuring an imagery that is absolutely superb, not holding back on the violence, and making even the bloodiest and goriest of scenes, artistically beautiful. It also features an excellent score, with the incidental part of the soundtrack being reminiscent of Jesper Kyd’s work on the game “Hitman: Contracts, or the score featured in Luc Besson’s “Nikita”.

All in all, this is pretty much one of the very best TV-shows I have ever seen.
I have to extend an enormous thanks to Amras and my dear brother, for recommending me this work of brilliance.

If I have to rate it, then it has to be:
10/10

“Great. Now I have to print all new business cards”
-Satan, Prince of Darkness, First of the Fallen, Lord of All Things Unholy.. you get the idea.

Original Penny Arcade strip Here.

Also, prepare to be Dick Roll’d!