Almost a fortnight since my last post. It’s amazing. I’ve been busy with work (okay, not THAT busy with work), and with a couple of other commitments I have. For one, the 313 site is in progress, and we stopped featuring that hand which had “Under Construction” beneath it, and actually given a preview of what to expect in August/September.

I’m currently recreating my first “superteams”, back in Secondary School when I was hot on the Avengers and stuff… So I created the Salvation Legion, and the Enigmas.

The Salvation Legion was based on my perception of the end days, with the Catholic Church comissioning a bunch of superheroes to fight at the end of time. It was childish, and naive, but it did provide the basis for many of the characters I plan to introduce in the upcoming 313 comic. Worst still, there’s apparently a “Vatican Secret Guard” that appeared only once in Marvel Comic’s Venom: Sign of the Boss #2. Brrrr… the thought that my childish idea could be sold for US$1.99 in 1997 is not reassuring.

While the Salvation Legion was an overt superteam, much like the Avengers, the Enigmas were undercover and discrete. I based them on my then new-found love, the World of Darkness from White Wolf Publishing. The Enigmas were supernatural beings, with a personal agenda that was neither good nor bad. I remember an apt description of it in the Palladium RPG game system. It was a neutral alignment known as aberrant. Concisely put, “there is no honour among thieves, but the aberrants are the exception to the rule”. Think Robin Hood meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

So do keep a lookout for the webcomic… we should begin operations mid-August, after Singapore’s 37th anniversary of independence.

BTW, I didn’t realised you checked my blog out that regularly, Lyndon. You’ve been busy with yours, I see. Thanks I really feel much better now that a handful of you have asked when I’m updating my blog. Yes, my ego is a hungry monster that feeds on pride.

Welcome to Non Sequitur tribute - yes, today’s most controversial cartoonist Wiley, to whom nothing is sacred, is featured on Catholic War Machine. Enjoy.

Bah… apparently it’s not very visible… sorry… click on the pics to see the enlarged version.

After watching Raw on Wednesday night, a bit of Smackdown! and then seeing the wrap up on Afterburn last night, I’m a hardcore WWE fan again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not naive… I know the matches are all pre-determined and it’s more of a soap opera than a competition. But that’s exactly why I watch it. Sure, sometimes the storylines are just plain sick, but thankfully, they’ve moved on.

I’m particularly interested in the way the WWE is finally pushing newly acquired talent, and at the top of the roster lies two very atheletic superstars, Edge and Brock Lesnar.

Adam Copeland aka Edge, was first introduced into the WWE in 1998. Together with onscreen brother Christian (Jason Reso), they burst onto the scene as members of vampire threesome, the Brood, and later under the cultic Ministry of Darkness, led by the Undertaker.

Edge and Christian (as they called themselves in their post-Ministry personalities) later went on to become a very successful tag team in the WWE, winning the title 7 times, twice at consecutive Wrestlemania events. Edge was, however, the more popular “brother”, and scriptwriters for the WWE capitalised on this. He was made King of the Ring in 2001, fending off wrestlers like Rhyno and Olympic gold medallist Kurt Angle to top the tournament.

This year, Edge got the biggest push of his career, wrestling solo for the first time at WrestleMania X-8 at the Skydome in his Toronto hometown. Naturally, he won. Edge never seems to stop going, and he will face off to former WWE Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho 9 days from now at Vengeance. Will he defeat Jericho and finally enter the top echelons of the WWE? Only time will tell.

Brock Lesnar achieved an amazing meteoric rise after his debut on WWE Metal late last year. His official entry into the WWE as The Next Big Thing in mid-March this year has been all but disappointing. His hulking body, monstrous strength coupled with fast reflexes has made him undefeated so far. Suceeding Edge as this year’s King of the Ring, Brock Lesnar has secured a match with the WWE Undisputed Champion (I’m guessing the Rock) at Summerslam. Will Brock Lesnar succeed where so many have failed? Will he be the one to fill in the cavity that Stone Cold Steve Austin left behind? Is he really the Next Big Thing? I sure hope so. A man of his abilities is what the WWE needs now to pick up the pieces and move back into the big time.

Finelines: My Vitriol

Oh, what can you do
They’ve got the lenses on
And staring through you

-Windows & Walls, Finelines, My Vitriol

I know I’m supposed to review this on my main page, but hell… A review will be up there soon, though. Be patient.

Just watched Minority Report over the weekend. Liked the show so much I went to the official website, and signed on. Haha… I’m eligible to be a Precrime Officer. Check out my certificate.

Precrime. It works.

But seriously, Minority Report rocks. It is by far the best movie of the year, beating Spider-Man and Episode II hands down. I’m really glad I got over my boycott-the-short-gay-man attitude in time to catch Tom Cruise in a film that cannot be classified in just one category. It’s been hailed by some as a Sci-Fi flim noir, but I like to think of it as an action-packed drama.

Based on a short story by Philip Dick, Steven Spielberg paints a pretty picture of Washington D.C. in the year 2054, where murder hasn’t occured for the past six years. This is thanks to Precrime, its director Lamar Burgess (played by Max von Sydow) and Chief Detective John Anderton (played by Tom Cruise). Precrime is a police-unit which uses predictions from three psychics known as precogs, to prevent murders from happening by arresting the murderer-to-be and incarcerating him or her. This system works fine, and though people do question how ethical a system that accuses based on intent can be, the results are hard to deny.

That is, until the main person responsible for executing the job becomes the latest target. Chief Anderton becomes a fugitive of the very system that he upheld and worked for when he is accused of a murder he did not commit. His instant reaction is to escape, to run, to find a way to prove his innocence. What ensues is an unraveling of the complex web that is Precrime, till the mastermind behind it all is revealed.

In my opinion, the dream team of Spielberg, Cruise and John Williams, together with an excellent screenplay by Scott Frank and Jon Cohen, makes this fast-paced, action-packed, plot twisting drama one of the best films today.

Kevin Smith fans rejoice!

Not everyday that I provide free advertising on my blog. This isn’t everyday.
One of these days, I’m going to produce Flash advertisements… someday.

Kahless the Unforgettable, Emperor of the Klingon Empire, and “Rightful Heir”

The legend of Kahless, as described by veteran scribe Michael Jan Friedman in his epic “Kahless”, is one comprising of both hyperbole and truth. There are many stories, ranging from those in public knowledge, such as the seven day battle with his dishonorable brother Morath, to those kept in the upmost of secrecies, such as the forging of the first bat’leth. Friedman reveals that neither of these legends are true, and though Kahless was a warrior superior in both combat prowess and charisma, he was no god, and though he allowed generations to worship him as such, it would be a long time before “he” would come again amongst the Klin.

“Rightful Heir” was very much a commentary on our religion today, and, I feel, a direct attack on the attitudes of Christians in particular, who believe that Christ will return as He promised. The episode recounts how Lt. Worf, Security Chief onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise experiences a crisis of faith when he is unable to see a vision of Kahless during his meditations. So desperate is he to regain his faith, that he travels to the Monastery of Boreth, which orbits around the star Kahless is believed to return from. There, he is further tested, when young warriors around him receive the vision of Kahless, but not him. One day, Worf is finally visited by the Unforgettable One, who turns out to be real! Has Kahless really returned as he had promised?

To cut the long story short, this Kahless turns out to be a clone of the original, his mind filled with the legends that his predecessor was believed to have wrought. This pretense is soon discovered, and Worf, angry that his faith has been cheapened, attacks the Klingon responsible for the cloning, Koloth. But Koloth says something truly thought-inducing-”How do you know this [cloning] isn’t the way Kahless meant to return?”

And that got me thinking, but not for long, of course. I believe that Christ will return as He has said he will. The whole Bible may contain myth and legend, and hyperbole, but the truth remains that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was born of a Virgin, and who died for us to redeem us from our sin. This same Jesus Christ will come again, to call us to Himself, at the last days.