dashPunk

Every airship captain needs a well made pair of goggles, but not every captain has the charm and panache to pull off a successful negotiation. So for those rare instances that “negotiations are hard”, because no self respecting airship pirate negotiates often, the kind cunning pirates over at the HMS Ophelia have brought us the captain’s goggles.

The captain’s goggles are made from brass and leather, with an attached Gatling gun for extra leverage in those moments of hard negotiating.

Check the link below to pick up a pair for yourself.

Captain’s Goggles for when negotiations are hard.

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Review of:  Punisher: War Zone

Overall Rating:  4   “ALP (Avoid Like Plague): You’d tell your friend to get the hell out if they brought it over and insisted on watching it.“

Punisher or Punishment? After spending a long time stewing over Punisher: War Zone. I realized that I both loved and hated the movie for what it was supposed to be, and what it could have been.

As it was presented, Punisher was an insipid boom fest that fell below even the standards of other boom fests such as the video game to movie rendition of Hitman.  To add insult to injury the director stripped 10 minutes of footage that actually had plot in it to make Punisher more of a boom fest and falling short of both.

The entire aim of Punisher: War Zone was to show that Frank Castle still had a human side to him.  In order to sell the movie to the masses they left that idea on the cutting room floor and put out an example of bad speculative fiction.

Pros:

• The actions scenes were well executed.
• The flow of the movie went smoothly, although some parts of the time line are condensed.
• A small edifying moment when it shows that good can and must persevere the monstrosities of the world to come out on top.
• Not a reboot as was stated in early reports about the movie. It was more of a rewrite of his past.

Cons:

• The director set out to make a martial arts boom boom, rather than a good piece of speculative fiction.
• Dialogue between main villains seems like the work of a cheap porn script writer.
• Only a remnant of the plot was left in, detracting from the martial arts boom boom; but not satisfying the need for an actual plot.
• Characters are confused about when in the Punisher time line they exist. Depending on what statement you take from the movie they are either 4 or 6 years down the line after the murder of Castle’s family.
• Not a true sequel as I had hoped when I discovered it wasn’t actually a reboot.

With all aspects that I can see taken into consideration, feeling that it would leave both people who love a good plot and a good martial arts boom boom disatisfied I give Punisher: War Zone a 4 out of 10. It goes on my do not watch list.

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In recent years we’ve seen franchise reboot after franchise reboot. The Hulk, Batman, Star Trek, The Punisher just to name a few. And now we have yet another reboot of…The Punisher? In word handed down via interview for iFMagazine with director Lexi Alexander, the movie is

More of a reboot like THE INCREDIBLE HULK, than a direct sequel to the 2004 reboot that starred Thomas Jane, PUNISHER: WAR ZONE stars Ray Stevenson (ROME) as Frank Castle, a one-man avenging force out to take down all organized crime in retribution for the death of his family many years ago.

Now I have nothing nothing against reboots if they are properly done, but it seems Hollywood has gotten lazy. It was only four years ago that the last reboot of The Punisher franchise was done, and I loved it. Now they’re doing it again and saying they’ll do the same story even better. No longer are they willing to spend the money for original ideas they are settling for rebooting reboots. We need fresh ideas, fresh creative works, new blood. This trend is unacceptable. Make Hollywood take notice, that we are a force to be reckoned with and will not be placated with the same stories over and over and over again. If you see a fan film support it, if you like an indie film buy it, if they have merchandise wear it.

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According to the LA Times

Ackerman, a writer, editor and literary agent who has been credited with coining the term “sci-fi” in the 1950s, died Thursday of heart failure at his home in Los Angeles, said John Sasser, a friend who is making a documentary on Ackerman.

Ackerman was 92 when he passed away and an inspiration to many. One of the ways he influenced our generation and those that came before us, was his position as editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland. Though of his more famous achievements he was the writer/creator of the characters Vampirella and Jeanie of Questar.

He was a huge fan of all things fantasy, horror, and sci-fi which as stated in his LA Times Obituary, he was

a man who actually had known Lugosi and Karloff and whose priceless collection of science-fiction, horror and fantasy artifacts ran to some 300,000 items.

Which could possibly be the largest in the world, if not close.

Watch Forrest J Ackerman brief history of early Sci-Fi video here

His death is a great loss to all of fandom across the greater Speculative Fiction genre.

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