JasonX

"Tunnel of Love" was an extremely mellowed out album and that a lot of Springsteen fans don't like it because it signaled the end of the hungry and angry period of Bruce's career that was at the heart of his music during the period of "Born to Run" through "BITUSA". At the heart of those albums, there was a level of anger and angst in Bruce's music, between him dealing with his record label, who was threatening to drop him around the time he was recording Born to Run to the angst over the decline of America in the late 70s, early to mid 80s that served as the heart and soul of his musical output. Tunnel of Love was more mellow than his previous albums given it's themes of love and relationships, and for a lot of people it signified an end of the era with regards to Bruce going off into new stuff that was quite different from what Bruce had been doing for the previous decade. The Rising sold pretty well given the fact that Bruce promoted the album sans MTV and it did get a shitload of gushingly positive reviews. But in my eyes at least, it's a pretty horrible album that reaks of Springsteen cashing in on 911. I'd rank Tunnel of Love, despite it's flaws, as being better than the Rising personally. Lateralus would have been better off if Tool had made it into an EP and basically cut about 2/3rds of the crap on the album.

No fucking way; Laturalus sucked and was a HUGE step down from Aenema. Not to mention the fact that Maynard seems to be more concerned with APC than he is with Tool in terms of channelling his creative energies. Actually most critics and Springsteen fans consider BITUSA to be Springsteen's zenith point creatively, as after BITUSA Bruce bottomed out in terms of having he creative fire that fueled him from that rather lengthy stretch from Born to Run through Born in the USA and started going into a deep decline with him doing love songs and other music that only would appeal to the die-hard fans of his... As for U2, Pop is a decent but flawed album that had a shit first single (Discoteque) and was rushed WAY Too fast due to U2 being idiots and arranging the tour for the album before the fucker was done, resulting in the final product being heavily flawed. It had an interesting theme to it (a "God Is Dead" rock-disco concept album) but it just fell apart in terms of execution....

The new FG episodes are being well-received on the net, though there have been grumbling from some quarters about how Seth hasn't done much for Stewie and Brian this season despite it being apparent that they are the two most loved characters of the series. As for the A-Ha segment, it would have worked better if they had Meg be in it instead of Chris, since it would fit the video's storyline better, not to mention the whole "Meg can't get a boyfriend no matter what" running gag.....

Groening's being a huge fucking pussy crybaby little shitfaced cuntskull. Boo Fucking Hoo! Shitarama got cut into by football for about five-ten minutes for eight fucking weeks! Someone should take a baseball bat and beat Groening in the face until his face caves in for being such a cuntface complainer. Fucking Mike Judge and the fucking cast of MITM never bitched like the Shitface Skullcunt did about being on the 7 O'Clock Hour timeslot, so he should shut the fuck up about it. Plus said scheme won't work at all because quite frankly Fox won't jepordize the shows they've put on Sunday night (KOTH, Malcom, Arrested Development) that take-up the unused timeslots to the shitfaced skullcunt. And given how Seth has hand with Fox right now, you expect him to let Groening bully his way back onto the Sunday night line-up? Especially after the last time he did it, Family Guy was treated like shit and kicked off to constant changing timeslot-Land for Shitarama? Plus, I'm sure Fox would rather see Groening create something new or better yet, concentrate all of his energies on making the Simpsons not fucking suck than for Shitarama (which holds a lot of the blame given that Groening took all of the good producers/writers with him to Shitarama when that show launched, leaving the Simpsons to go into a never-ending shitdive qualitywise)....

So who were under the masks of Hassan's goon squad? Given their large builds, I would assume indie wrestlers but who? So has their identities been leaked out like they usually do when the WWE hired indie guys, puts them in masks, and uses them as extras on episodes of Raw/Smackdown? Or has the bad publicity about the segment caused Meltzer and the rest of the IWC who know these things purposely keeping the identities of the men under the hoods secret so the masked guys don't get their names put through the mud for participating in the segment?

Wonder Years isn't on DVD and won't be on DVD anytime soon as the show is stuck in music licenscing limbo hell.....

Every ten years actually.....

I've heard rumors that TPTB made Leary change the Sully storyline at the last minute (originally he was supposed to be gay and not a crossdresser). But as it stands, at least they gave the character SOME level of dignity by having him leave of his own free will rather than be outright forced out. That said, the show has SOMEWHAT improved since the shit first season but still has a LOT to be improved/changed. Making Franco a likable figure is a start and spending the first two issues having the world beat the hell out of Tommy, shit on his face, and then make him drink piss actually made me give a fuck about Tommy. But the show needs more work: They should rework the show so that Tommy is forever being assfucked by the world and never, EVER has the upper hand. Have Franco never forgive Tommy for what happened at the end of season one and then have Lou and Chief (the two most worthless characters on the show) die horrible, horrible deaths in a fire and replace them with new characters who think Tommy is lower than dogshit under their boots. Then, to add insult to injury, have Tommy's ex return to town and reveal that she's been shacking up with Dean Winter's character and have them get Tommy banned from having anything to do with his kids. Leary playing a worthless, walking abortion of a loser who can never catch a break? TV Gold. Leary playing a evil bastard who fucks up people's lives left and right and never gets his comeuppance? Garbage.....

The current rumors for the plot are: A. The Kingdom Come Superman engaging in a massive war against the present day DCU so as to negate the KC timeline from existence and bring forth the reality seen in "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" instead. B. Someone secretly corrupting all of the DCU heroes in order to turn them evil C. A massive six pile DC Battle Royal between the newly reformed Secret Society of Super-Villains vs the Big Three (Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman) vs the "Satillite JLA" (Hal Jordan, Hawkman, Zatanna, Black Canary, Green Arrow, and the Flash) Vs the Giffen JLA (Booster Gold, Fire, Elongated Man, Guy Gardner) Vs Spectre/Eclipso Vs Checkmate with the undercard being Donna Troy vs Brainiac with the stupulation being that if Brainiac wins, he gets to face the winner of "SSOSV vs JLA vs JLA vs JLA vs Spectre/Eclipso vs Checkmate" imeadiately after the fight and the Titans locked in a steel cage outside the ring to keep them from interferring in the match for Donna Troy.

And had cartoon porno-style names for the main characters. That said, I'd still rather watch G-Force than the shit stain that is "Battle of the Planets".

Eagle Riders was "Gatchaman II" and about the first 15 episodes of "Gatchaman Fighter" tossed in at the end of the series just so they could get the needed 65 episodes. The G2 episodes were decently dubbed (even though they changed the main villain to a guy so they could retroactively declare the G2 villain as the same villian from Fighter. And even though Robotech was butchered, it pales in comparision to Gatchaman, what with the way that it got passed around like a whore and having each character given new, often shitty names each time it got passed around. At least Harmony Gold was consistant with regards to making Macross, Southern Cross, and Mosepeda and Robotech: Macross, The Masters, and New Generation all consistant with one set of name for each version. Also, HG at least left the dark material intact (and then some, given their take on Southern Cross's ultra-ambiguous, ultra-dark ending) while Gatchaman was needlessly castrated right down to them purging the entire "Joe goes batshit suicidal" ending to the series.

http://thesmartmarks.com/artman/publish/article_1747.shtml Thoughts, comments, loose change?

Man, I still have all of those in mint, I wonder what they're going for these days.. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> UXM #266 goes for around $50-60 and #267-268 around $10-20. UXM #269 books for around $10 and UXM Annual #15 goes around $5-10.

Regarding Gambit joining the team; the issue that is considered the issue where Gambit joins the team is UXM Annual #14. It was published weeks before Gambit's first appearance and takes place chronologically inbetween UXM #267 and #270 (#268 is a filler issue and #269 is the "Return of Rogue" issue).

The only episodes of "True Life" that are worth a damn are from the 1998-99 incarnation of the show, back when Tabitha Soren was executive producer of the series and it dealt with FUCKING REAL TOPICS and not bullshit garbage involving rich pretty white people who go around crying about how hard it is to be pretty and white and rich enough to get fake tits or have a timeshare house.

If ESPN DID give a fuck about quality programming, they would have told the NFL to go fuck itself when they created a stink about how "Playmakers" exposed the dark side of the NFL. That said, "Tilt" bombed because it was a shit show. And that the execs should also note how MTV has become one of the most reviled networks on Cable after they abandoned music for shitty TV shows and Reality TV.

Yeah, it's a plot idea that has a ton of potential but at least they aborted it in a logical manner, IE Dutch realizes that TPTB want a hand-puppet they can control and Dutch, having regained his self-esteem after his confrontation with Vic and the other detective, telling Monica's boss that he'd rather stay a detective where he can do some good on the street and that by the way, he's not some sort of spineless wimp that they can manipulate. I'm thinking they'll simply do some more stunt-casting since they received a rather large ratings boost with Glenn Close and bring in a new big name actor/actress to play a new character brought in to run the Barn. Either that or they'll pull some contrived plot point out of their butts regarding Acaveda getting the job of interim Captain after no one else takes the job and use that to justify his pressence on the show, not to mention continue the Vic/Acaveda feud with regards to the current IAD storyline.

Yes and no; what is known is that FX is sellign the show into syndication after the end of season five and Shawn Ryan has stated that he has a definative ending planned for the show (though he's also said that his plans are subject to change if he fancies it, as season three underwent NUMEROUS changes from what Ryan originally planned). That said, I would not be suprised if the show lasts at least six seasons since unlike Nip/Tuck (which fast becoming the Sopranos of FX in regards to the lateness of new seasons) and Rescue Me (a horrifically bad show that needs drastic retooling/Dennis Leary being physically seperated from whatever crackpipe he's been smoking while writing for the show), "The Shield" is a consistant critical/viewer favorite. Watched it; and is it just me or does Morgan Spurlock's wife looks just like the chick who plays Kitty, the evil slutty secretary from hell from Arrested Development?

Yeah though part of me was thinking, "You brought this on yourself" given how, at least as a viewer, it's pretty much given that working with Vic will lead to him fucking you over one way or another (see Ronnie, Dani, Tavon, Shane, Lem, Claudette, Acaveda). Still, I have to wonder if they ended the character's arc on such a blatantly depressing note as a means to entice Glenn Close back for a guest appearance under the notion to her coming back and giving her character a "Growing Pains" esque "I'm doing fine/back on my feet like nothing bad ever happened" type deal or if Monica is going to end up like Tavon, tossed to the side as after his arc comes to a horrible ending.... That said, I have a shitload to say about the episode that will be in my upcoming review of the episode for The Smart Marks which will be up this weekend.

He's better as a villain. He was more entertaining in X-Men Evolution as Magneto's #2 and a foil for Wolverine than he ever was in the comics. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually the best thing to do with Gambit is make him Storm's love interest, with Gambit being someone who pushes all of Storm's buttons and stuff and Storm loving it since no one else treats her like an actual person instead of stuffy leader girl. That said, I've always liked Halle as Storm and felt that Famke Jansen was the "What the fuck were they thinking?" real casting mistake of the first two X-Men movies. Berry could work if they would just write Storm like a normal person and not the ice queen most people write her as.

That's only if they have Vic and Dutch finally beat the crap out of each other and have Vic make Dutch his bitch. If they have them finally beat the shit out of each other and have Dutch be the one who who makes Vic his bitch, you could get some decent milage out of the fall-out in terms of Vic having to deal with the fact that precinct's proverbial runt beat the shit out of him in a fair fight and how that causes him to end up being the subject of mockery from his fellow cops, who normally wouldn't dare make fun of Vic out of fear that Vic would beat the crap out of them. For me I was thinking they were going to have Dutch, still reeling from being dumped by Corrine end up sleep with the rapist's emotionally disturbed wife only to have her turn psycho on him the morning after they have sex. The man who raped Acaveda resurfaced and threatened to reveal he raped Acaveda/release the photo of him raping Acaveda (as apparently his girlfriend DID know how to download the photo and has been sitting on it for the last eight months) if Acaveda didn't help him get his jail sentence overturned by recanting his earlier statement about his involvement in a robbery (I don't remember the exact details if Acaveda did lie or not). Acaveda responded by going to Antwon and making a deal with the devil: in exchange for Antwon giving up the entire leadership of the Salvadorian drug cartel, Acaveda will negotiate a deal that would give Antwon full immunity from all charges he's currently facing and a place in the witness protection program. Oh and to show Acaveda that Antwon is willing to do business, he has to "silence" a fellow criminal in the same jail that Antwon is as a sign of faith, with the criminal in question being Acaveda's rapist.

Part of me is disappointed that they wasted yet another gold-mine of a plot (Dutch going apeshit and attacking Vic) but the back and forth manipulation between Rawlings and Acaveda and the fall-out of Acaveda fucking Rawlings over made the episode, though I think they should have had the episode end with Vic just walk away and not even acknowledge an obviously shocked and apologetic in the "what have I done?" sort of way Acaveda begging Vic to understand the logic he's using to justify his quite literal deal with the devil. Much more appropriate ending and having Vic, who's jaded sense of what is right and wrong/letting evil walk away in the name of the greater good is on the record, be left speachless at the realization of what Acaveda did and the line he crossed to do it, with Acaveda all but outright begging Vic to agree that he did the right thing on the basis that Vic is no stranger to such moral quagmires.... That said, the fact that Acaveda did the deal to kill his rapist makes this whole mess yet another thing that ultimately is Vic's fault since had he not set into motions the events that caused Acaveda's rape that Acaveda wouldn't have had to let Antwon get away scott free for arranging the murder of two police officers. But next week's episode should be extra-great since it's Glenn Close's last episode and the spoilers for the finale I've read have Glenn Close FINALLY breaking out her "Evil Psycho" moves as her character tries to get revenge on everyone who's pissed her off this season.

OK, since I have a corner of the sky at the Smart Marks and have some free time on my hands I figure I would open the floor for a poll to see what kind of review I should do for the site. I'm limiting the choices to shows not featured on "Television Without Pity", hence the picks. I've got a wide range of stuff, ranging from stuff I like to stuff I hate so as to keep things interesting. The winning show will have an episode of it recapped in great detail for The Smart Marks complete with commentary from yours truly. The poll will run for a couple of days and the winning show will be recapped next weekend. Enjoy!

Yeah, though the head writer purged just about all of that from the show a couple of years back when the midget actor died and he was given full control over DOOL, resulting in his replacement show-runners downplaying the whole insane magic stuff for more Jerry Springer type storylines like incest..... I never cared much for Passion, as it was lacking in the department of good looking women. That and the fact that the head writer for the show is considered by many to be the Vince Russo of daytime soap operas....

You know, out of all of the cliched one-liners that the writing staff stuck in this week's episode this is the only one that actually was funny.