Giveaway Ideas

Hey guys, Stormy here and I wanted to give y'all a heads up here on my giving away project that I was working on. Okay, so here is the deal. I've got a lot of things on the table to give away, a lot of comic books and DVD's and even a few CD's...if you kids want them. And knowing that many people will want them, I need to figure out how to spread the joy. Now you may or may not know, I've had a few tables at a few different comic book conventions and you may have noticed that I haven't been on the scene for sometime now. Well I am telling you this here and I am telling you this now, the ChileanStorm is coming back!

But what about that free stuff? Well here is the thing, you want some free stuff then you've got to come by my table and say hi, and I will have a box of free things there for everyone. I might have a little bin for loonies if you want to grab more stuff. I want to try to have everyone at least get one item, but if you see stuff you really really want, by all means let me know and you can take it home.

So there you have it, now you know to come check out my little art table for some free stuff and who knows maybe some new art prints or a cool new fresh comic from yours truly. I will let you know here where and when my next shows will be, so be sure to check out the page often and stay update with me over on my Twitter, @ChileanStorm and also on Instagram and Tumblr. Until then, keep chasing the Storm! 

BLOG 4 YOU

Okay people, I've got the blog bug.

All the ideas...

I've got a lot on my minds and a lot of ideas and I want to write them out, I want to share and talk about all the things that we love. So I wanted to ask you, yes you. What do you want me to write about? What should we talk about? Now this could be just about anything and everything, video games we love or even political issues that need to be addressed, because that is important as well. Be happy, but also be aware of the world around you. Do we want to look at and review some more comics? With me thinning out my collection, I would be looking at the best comics in my collection and some great new comic books from independent creators that you need to be reading. And trust me you, there are plenty of books I would love to recommend. I also wanted to talk Magic: The Gathering with all of you, I want to share my Commander decks, Cube ideas, Puca Trades or anything else that comes to mind about our favourite trading card game. And speaking of games, do you want to talk video games? I've been on a big retro gaming trip, especially Nintendo 64 and the original PlayStation. Basically anything is on the table, I just want to know what you want to read.

Also I wanted to use this space to talk and promote other people who are doing some great work and need to be seen. I know a lot of people who are working really hard and deserve to get a lot of attention and views. And if you know someone or are someone who wants to promote new work, by all means let me know. 

So there you have it Storm Clouds, I need your help and suggestions! Leave a comment below, on Facebook or contact me on Twitter @ChileanStorm or even an email, I want to hear from you. Also it should be noted as well that me and my bestie, Toby Medeiros (@TeaEmComics) are working on a very cool new project...keep your ears open. 

Are you ready...?

Until then, keep chasing the Storm. 

That Force Though...

Can we talk about Star Wars? 

It has been enough time, I have seen three times already and ready for more viewings. But I think we have all seen it enough times that we can talk about it, the 7th movie in the legendary sci-fi saga. Because it has been years since we have been this excited about the Wars, especially after the less than stellar prequels. Now we got a movie that feels just right, a movie that fits in with the original three movies from years ago. And by no means was The Force Awakens a perfect movie, but when has any of the Star Wars films been perfect, even Empire Strikes Back has a few flaws. However it gives us everything we wanted in a new Star Wars and it has fans and new fans talking and guessing what will happen next. And at the end of the day, isn't that what we fans want to be doing? Talking about what might happen next, instead of how they could have fixed an awful green screened mess of a movie. 

This being my little soap box in the internet I just want to say, how awesome is Poe Dameron? In my long wizard like life I have seen a many things, but Hispanic on screen heroes have been few far in between. So seeing this Resistance pilot fly around and take down TIE-Fighters like it was Tuesday is just a great feeling, I could have used some more heroes like that growing up. But you know what, I have to say I enjoyed all the new comers to the Star Wars saga; Rey, Finn, BB-8 and Kylo Ren. Even Captain Phasma was pretty to cool, though what I would have given to seen her fight Finn, next movie perhaps? And holy crap, how great was Chewbacca?! For years everyone has agreed on how kick ass Wookies and Chewie really are and I am glad he got a lot of kick ass moments through out the film. I would also like to say that Han, Leia and Luke all did a great job as well. I know some people complained, but I felt it was still very much on point, though bring back Lando! I would have loved to have seen what Lando had been doing all these years. But again, maybe the next film...? Maybe? Hopefully. 

Also that Storm Trooper, give that man a cookie. You know the one I am talking about. Like all things the internet blows it out of the water with hype, but look into your hearts and you will see...he was pretty hype. 

Just like the Force however, for all the good like the Jedi, you have the Sith. What did I not like about the movie. Honestly not much complaints, or at least nothing that ruined the experience in general. Did the last fight seem weird considering everything that we had just witnessed in the last two hours? Perhaps, but I am not going to let that be my deciding straw on how I feel about the movie overall. The Phantom Menace had a really good fight at the end of the movie, does that make it a great film? Hell no it didn't, we had to sit through Jar Jar Binks and seeing a little kid try to mack on Natalie Portman, it was a bad movie that ruined going to the movies to see Star Wars. The last confrontation in The Force Awakens feels right, it feels like a round one to a much larger fight that we all know is going to happen and on a larger scale, so no need to analyse it too much. That being said Phasma did seem really silly, it was Boba Fett all over again. And let's face it, Boba Fett seems like a big botch. You had a character people fell in love with just on his looks alone, the man just held his gun and nerds went nuts for him. He was the ultimate space bounty hunter, he was on the posters for the movies. And the most he did was delivered a frozen Han to a fat slug on Tatooine and get knocked into the mouth of monster. Huh? So you now have the chance to do it again, but this time correct the mistakes of the past, but you end up doing the same. However with two more movies, I could very well be wrong, hell I hope I am wrong. Star Wars, the balls is in your court, make your move. You made a Storm Trooper an internet hero, give Phasma something the viewers can remember. 

And that's my take on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a hell of a great time at the movies for sure and one movie that I am totally okay with paying to see again and again on the big screen. I saw Snakes on a Plane five times, though technically I was working at the theatre at the time so I didn't have to pay, but I think I can make some more time for Star Wars. Be proud fans of the Force, it is a good time to be a Star Wars fan that is for sure. So what do you think? Did you like it? Hate it? Want to talk about TR-8R for a bit? You can do so right here in the comments below. Be sure to follow my page, tell your friends and share on social media, every little bit helps. So stay tuned for what ever comes next, I am actually not sure what I am going to write, I am just writing. Like the force. See what I did there. Okay I am out of here, be good and be kind and until then, keep chasing the storm. 

Good Golden Morning...

And Leo doesn't get an Oscar. Well at least we can look forward to another great year of movies from this guy. The way I see it, once he does get an Oscar, he is going to go all Eddie Murphy on us and make terrible terrible pay check movies. No, not really. I think that's one thing about Leonardo Dicaprio that we love most, pretty sure all his movies are great films. He picks his films and roles wisely, and that is something you got to love and which is why we really want to see him win all the time. It will be a cold and sad day when Dicaprio chooses to do a write off family movie. Although, I think almost every actor has done one or two. Scary thoughts indeed.

So the Oscars happened last night, and me being a bit of a movie geek, I was curious to see who won and who got the snub...

86th Academy Awards winners

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Animated Feature: Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
Best Cinematography: Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
Best Directing: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
Best Documentary Feature: 20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers)
Best Documentary Short: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
Best Film Editing: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
Best Foreign Language Film: The Great Beauty (Italy)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Best Original Score: Gravity (Steven Price)
Best Original Song: Let It Go - Frozen
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
Best Animated Short Film: Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares)
Best Live Action Short Film: Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)
Best Sound Editing: Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
Best Sound Mixing: Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
Best Visual Effects: Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
Best Original Screenplay: Her (Spike Jonze)

And that's the Oscars for you folks.

I will be the first to admit that I was just interested in seeing Frozen win as many awards as possible. I really loved that movie, and hell I will be the first to say as well I felt like Wolf of Wall Street needed to be recognized as well. But Frozen was an absolute joy to watch, it brought back those memories of watching Disney movies as a kid and falling in love with all the characters and the songs you would sing for days on end. I haven't felt so much love for an animated flick since The Little Mermaid and A Nightmare Before Christmas. So I am really happy to see Frozen get two well deserved Oscars for best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for Let It Go. As for the other picks, these are all really good and well deserved, I am happy to see Jared Leto take an Oscar as well. Was always a big 30 Seconds to Mars fan and I really liked Mr.Nobody, as strange as it was. I still need to watch a lot of these winners though, like Gravity and 12 Years a Slave, so it looks like I got to make some trips to the movies. And I still haven't seen the Lego Movie! 

So this was my Oscar recap, going to do my best to stay updated with you guys on a daily basis. So please come back and check back often, tell a friend and follow me on Twitter, Instagram and any other means of social media with the ChileanStorm. I am off for now, so keep chasing the storm. 

The Real Steel

Going to do something for those who want the point and case of things, cause I do tend to ramble and go deep into these kind of things; Man of Steel, was a great summer blockbuster movie and a great action flick. If action is your cup of tea, go see it. If you're a comic book fan, go see it.  If you simply like strong beautiful men in blue tights, well, yeah go see it. In fact, as a stand alone movie, there's no reason not to see Man of Steel. Okay so with that out of the way, pull your pants up high and get your pen protectors, it's about to get geeky. 

It goes without saying, spoilers might be spilled, so if you have yet to see the film, you may want to hold off...

The Man of Steel was a great way to start the DC Comics movie universe, the team brought on to make the film seemed to be the kind of team that would have been poised to create something larger then one movie, something that could expand to other movies, TV and comics. Instead we get a Superman movie. That's it. No mention or acknowledgement of a bigger picture. Do they owe us that, I guess not, but who wouldn't want to make billions of dollars. And besides, I find it hard to convince movie goers to see an Aquaman movie or even another Green Lantern movie for that matter. I am taking a shot in the dark here, but I have to imagine some movie goers had a little more interest in seeing Thor and Captain America, knowing that it would have all connected to a bigger picture. I know the comic book fans don't need anyone twisting there arms to see any super hero movie, that goes without saying. But to the curious type, I am sure finding out how all the pieces connect is a fun viewing treat. Why DC Comics and Warner Bros. are still being stubborn on this is beyond me. And I totally realize this is coming from the dark corners of my geeky soul, but I can't help it, it needs to be said and it needs to be done. Do this make the movie better or worst, absolutely not, I am not going to let that make or break my opnion on the movie entirelly, but it sucks not to see this go further. But with that out of the way, more about the movie itself, which many described as being too much action.

Here's the thing, I want to defend the choice to make this movie a lot more action based. Does anyone actually remember Superman Returns? This movie practically killed Brandon Routh movie career. This movie was supposed to be the definitive Superman movie, you had Bryan Singer drop the X-Men franchise for it, so it must be the must see super hero movie of the ages. It wasn't. Actually it was no where close. And see here's the thing, the biggest thing about this movie to me, was that it wasn't exactly awful or bad in any sense, the acting was fine (maybe Kevin Spacey was having too much fun as Lex, but whatever) and the effects were fine as well, classic score, no big deal. This movie's sin was boredom. It was really boring, think long highway drive with the family kind of boring with no entertainment but your Aunt's hilarious vacation stories...that you're hearing for the third time kind of boring. I didn't get it, how could a super hero movie be boring? Even the really bad ones are at least laughable, and if anything they got car crash syndrome; no fun when it's happening to you, but hell of a show to watch. Superman Returns is a lesson to future comic book related in films in what not to do as far as storytelling goes. This is Superman we are talking about, at what point in the film do you get the sense that this guy is a God among men? So it was nice to feel that kind of power with Man of Steel. You see what he can do, and basically know that any normal human being isn't going to be able to withstand a punch from this guy. And I thought it was great to see that balance with Clark holding back many times, knowing his power is to great to unleash when he's faced with a small time problem. And when is able to be "unchained", you know this guy means buisness. This is the Superman that we all imagine in our heads, the guy who can blow away a galaxy (this actually happened) or pull the planet on his back (sh*t you not, this also happened). And really after five films, it's about time you get to see this on the big screen. So too much action maybe some form of Superman venting over the years of holding back in Hollywood. You want a character study, wait until the fall for Oscar movie season, the summer is all about the action, and action you will get.

And it's not like you don't get to see Clark Kent grow as a man and as a hero for the planet. The interesting piece was seeing Clark doing the right thing and being a good person without using his powers, being the better man at times. It's something to consider cause this is something that makes Superman stand out above and beyond, the fact that we can all be a Superman in these regards, to help out and stand up for what is right and to a bigger man in situations. I loved seeing the influence his foster parents had on him, the contrast of his raising with that of General Zod, a character who was bred to destroy. Going back to Jor-El's theory on the flaw of having babies bred into different categories, and using free will as proof of the potential in each one of us. As a villain, I felt that General Zod was decent. Not the best, but nice to see someone who can go toe to toe with Superman on screen. His purpose and plan is laid out a lot during the film, reminding us, that this guy had a mission and he's going to see it to the end, he fights for his people and his lost home. The fact is he never had any other choice but to be the ruthless general that we see, he just wants to save his people, not matter what. Again, not the best villain to date, but I want to see what they will do in the next film, will we see a new Lex Luthor and team him up with Brainiac, Bizzaro or Doomsday? This geek here would love to see Bizzaro...but that's a pipe dream at best. Prove me wrong Hollywood.

Anyways, compared to the many comic book films that are out, Man of Steel does stand on it's own. It's a great action movie and really it does Superman justice, I mean let's call a spade a spade, this isn't the Green Lantern movie. Everything from the Superman universe is held properly together, with a few elements such as Luthor and Jimmy Olsen missing, but overall it's an awesome time at the movies. Yes I would have liked to seen a big movie universe start from here, but the fact that I didn't doesn't make this movie any less awesome. For what was done, a big thumbs up on my part. But what about you? What did you think, cause honestly for all my opnions on this film I could be wrong and I could have missed somethings, so let me know for sure, love a good movie talk. Looking forward to hearing what y'all think.

I will be back tomorrow, so stay tuned and subscribed to this blog and enjoy the ride.