Geeky Update (Nokia, Saga, TR, Malazan Empire)

I've mentioned in one of my previous posts that I've been following what’s been happening to Nokia. I used to be a fan of the company. They are were the biggest multinational technology corporation based in Europe. Their products were ground breaking. Nokia released phones with front cameras, QWERTY keyboard, smartphones and touch screen phones way before Blackberry, Apple or Samsung even dreamed about them. They used to have a very good understanding of future technologies and dominated the market for many years. I used to proudly own their products.

That was up to the point when their new CEO took charge, Stephen Elop. I’m not going to go through Nokia’s downfall. I went through most of it here. However, not completely unexpected, the news arrived that Nokia was sold to Microsoft! Elop who used to work as the head of Microsoft’s Business Division before jumping to Nokia in September 2010 probably helped MS buy Nokia phone division cheap. Just check Nokia’s share prices for these last years. It’s a shame though.  I feel for the all the people who lost their jobs recently and for those who will lose it in the future. The evil Empire Strikes back.

On another different tone, I’d like to introduce to you the world of Saga! That’s a graphic novel for adults created by Vaughan and Staples. Vaughan is the writer of things like ‘Y: The Last Man’, the ‘Runaways’ and co-writer of the TV series ‘Lost’. The plot of the story can be described as ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in space with aliens, warlocks, robots, ghosts, mercenaries and all the rest. It’s about a young couple from two different worlds in war (tech vs magic) trying to escape with their new-born child. It might sound a bit unoriginal, but believe me the art, characters and storytelling is exceptional. Saga is now an award winning series and I would recommend it to anyone with a desire to read something different than what mainstream Marvel or DC have to offer at the moment.

What’s next? Oh, yes. PC games! I’m in the process of finishing ‘Tomb Raider’. Yes, the remake of the old platform/shooter. The development company did wonders at bringing Lara Croft to the new era. Keeping the same approach of having a female heroine trying to solve simple puzzles by climbing here and there and moving stuff around while shooting baddies and evil fauna works perfectly well. Unlike other disappointing remakes like SimCity (oh, what a waste of money), the publisher Square Enix manages to create a likeable character that evolves through the game trying to escape the island of Yamatai. The island itself of course holds many secrets waiting to be solved and sets a visually stunning setting for Lara’s adventures. If you liked the old Tomb Raiders, I guarantee you you’ll like this one too.

Finally, I couldn't finish this geek update without a book reference. So, I'd like to introduce to you the world of the ‘Malazan Book ofthe Fallen’. That’s an epic fantasy series written by Steven Erikson. OK, so it’s not a single book. It’s many. Ten books to be precise that consist this series. For the time being I’m going through number 7 (Reaper’s Gale) but I have to say it’s really good. For those who don’t know about epic fantasy, try to think ‘The Lord of the Rings’ or ‘Game of Thrones’ and empires, witchcraft, demons, various peoples, gods and all that.  

I’m trying not to read all books one after the other. I read other stuff in-between. I finished beforehand ‘American Gods’ by Neil Gaiman! That was also a good, interesting, read but I shouldn't divert from my main topic. The Malazan Empire holds many dark stories, twists in the plot and of course many different characters and point of views that make the books not that easy to read. Lots of people criticise the author for the number of characters with tongue-twisting names, the variety of locations and the deities involved.

At first, they story looks a bit problematic and lost without a true purpose. There are way too many characters with their agendas. Especially if you’re reading the first book and you’re unfamiliar with the author’s ways, it seems pointless. What I have to say is hold on. In every book that I remember there is a closure of some shorts, even if there are some cliff hangers for the future issues. It all makes sense in the end. To give you an idea the book I’m reading now has more than 1,200 pages and a list of points of view that’s very difficult to count. I’m loving it though and I can’t easily put it down.   

That's what my geek little bizarre world is all about these dates. Not sure how interested you are, but I'll keep you posted nevertheless...

Geeky Update

It’s been a while since I’ve last done one of those.

Firstly, I want to mention a Marvel graphic novel that I read recently. I’ve been reading comic books since I was a small boy. I remember laying wake from excitement in my bed in anticipation to a trip to the city where there was a proper comic book store, where I could buy things that were not available in the small town I grew up in. Since then, lots of things have changed. I’ve lost that children’s excitement, but not my total interest in them. What I do now is instead of purchasing the bi-weekly or monthly releases; I wait a bit and buy complete graphic novels or collections.

Lately, I bought a graphic novel titled “Avengers: the Children’s Crusade”. It features mostly the group of heroes called Young Avengers. I had a glimpse of them in the Marvel’s “Siege” storyline but I didn’t know mostly anything about them. They are as the name implies the new generations of super heroes that aspire to become like the proper Avengers and were formed during the time the senior Avengers team was temporarily disbanded. The graphic novel overall isn’t bad. Its art is quite nice and the storyline good. I would give it higher marks if it didn’t include dead people from the past coming back to life. It always puts me off when that happens.

 In any case, I was happily surprised to find a proper gay couple in the team. Wiccan, a powerful wizard who could be the reincarnation of Scarlet Witch’s son, is in a relationship with his alien shape shifting male teammate Hulkling. They properly refer to one another as boyfriends; they kiss and complain when given a room in the Avengers mansion with separate bed. The whole situation is written in a very realistic and respected way. There aren’t many gay characters in comic books and it’s always nice when I come across them. The Young Avengers series was discontinued, but a new version is coming up that still features both Wiccan and Hulkling, even if changes to the rest of the cast have been made:

Since, it is the beginning of March, I can’t not mention my upcoming birthday. It’s next week! Yay! Anyway, I was looking for a present for myself and I was delighted to find out that the new SimCity will be released on the 8th of the month! That’s so very appropriate. I’ve been a SimCity fan since the very beginning. I used to play it when the game still looked like this, back in the 80’s:

So, I can’t really miss it, when it looks like this:

I don’t normally pre-order stuff. I’m generally cautious before proper reviews are written and games are properly tested. I’ve made an exception in the past for the Elder Scroll’s latest release, Skyrim, and I didn’t regret it. I was extremely confident that Bethesda would deliver. In SimCity case, the preliminary previews I’ve read are quite good. Also, I trust the development company ‘Maxis’ and Will Wright. I’ve played every SimCity release there was. I love this type of strategy, resource management and control games. Another amazing example of the genre is Civilization. That’s another series of games I utterly love.

Finishing this post, I’d like to mention that EA, the company that now owns Maxis, is hosting next week a one-day conference in New York to discuss lesbian, gay and bisexual issues in the video game industry. That same company is the one that published with Microsoft the games in the ‘Mass Effect’ series. It was highly criticized when same sex couples could be formed in the last release of the game as I mentioned here.

Saltimbanco and other reviews…

We watched Saltimbanco by ‘Cirque du Soleil’ yesterday and I have to say I loved it. I didn’t really know what to expect and I was positively surprised. Some of the acrobatics they are doing are amazing. They make them seem so easy! The whole show is a colour feast with humour, nice music, great performances and breathtaking stunts. I especially liked the taking part of simple spectators, the “Chinese Poles”, the “Duo Trapeze” and the “Bungees”. I also loved the fact that things where happening in the background and around the central performers by the rest of the cast. I don't believe that any image can capture the atmosphere of the show, which I think is a must-see.

Chinese Poles

Duo Trapeze

We also watched ‘Inception’ the other day. It was quite good. My friend ‘gb’ was disappointed because he wanted something slightly more intellectual or mentally changeling. I don’t know how he got the idea that he would watch some kind of a Kieslowski movie. Inception is something like ‘Matrix’, a very good action movie to watch in the big screen with pop corn and cola. The music, the direction, the photography and acting keep you on your toes for the duration of the movie even if the ending is slightly expectable. I especially loved Cotillard and Ellen Page. I wasn’t very impressed with DiCaprio’s acting. Overall it’s an entertaining action movie to watch.

On a different subject, I started reading the new version of “The Avengers” by Marvel. After everything that is happening (“Civil War”, “Secret Invasion”, “Dark Reign” and “The Siege”) new teams are being assembled entering the ‘Heroic Age”! Between the different teams, I randomly picked the main one, “The Avengers”. I know that there is a movie coming out and I thought that the best people would work on the title to prepare fans for the movie. I was unfortunately wrong.


After the third comic, I have to say that I will probably abandon the title yet again. I was not impressed by the artwork or the storyline. The appearance and disappearance of Wonder Man (what the?), the battle with Apocalypse (was that it?) and the realisation that the time continuum is broken are presented in such a way that I am left uninterested. I also have objections on the selection of the characters (Wolverine also in this title? Two spiders? Hawkeye playing simply the role of a bystander?). I might give the title another chance or two, but I can’t see myself continue reading it for long…

Things turn ugly…

I came to work yesterday morning all happy and chatty about my half marathon. I was greeted by my colleagues with humour and laughter by all, except one. One of my mates at work did not join in the conversation and I noticed it at the moment but didn’t pay too much attention to it. An hour after that, I saw him leave the office without telling anything. That also stroke me as weird but I knew that he is frequent smoker so I thought that he would go out for a cigarette.

Then we received an email that he has been made redundant!
Almost nobody knew about it and we were stunned. I was speechless.

We are quite a small company and no one was fired / been redundant in the past years. My colleague’s departure yesterday was quite noticeable. I can’t help but feel sad for him. He was one of the latest additions to the company, more than a year ago, that means that he will not get compensated enough. The times are still tough and I don’t think it will be easy on him. We’ve been out a lot of times in the last months and we were getting along very well… We’ve already arranged his birthday drinks at the end of the month.

The question that came to everybody’s mind though is: “who will be next?”.


On quite a different subject, I am happy to say that it is my birthday tomorrow! I’m turning 29! I’ve arranged to be out of the office for the day. I even plan to be out of London to be more precise. I’m visiting some clients / users for some consultation and training on our software. It’s the first time I’m doing that and I’m quite excited about it. I like the fact that I am beginning to have a more active role in the company and (maybe) secure my position here (hopefully).



As a pre-birthday gift I’ve ordered and just received the following comic books. I’d like to thank Dyl for recommending / suggesting one of them that I never heard before: the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis

Guardians of the Galaxy: Legacy

X-MEN: God Loves, Man Kills

Get in touch with my geek side (part 3)…

I have mentioned in the past that I am a huge comic book fan. I’ve been reading X-Men since I was a younger geek and now that I’ve grown to a fully licensed geek, I just couldn’t stop, could I?
So, I wanted to comment on the recent developments. I don’t know if you received the newsletter but they’re bringing back Kitty Pryde (a.k.a. Sprite or Shadowcat) in Uncanny X-Men #522. She died a few months ago, saving Earth from a bullet fired from Breakworld.


To be honest, it’s not something not to be expected. In the recent past Colossus (Shadowcat's other half) died while releasing the antidote of the Legacy virus into the atmosphere (very bad disease, worse than the swine flu, killed many people included his sister). Then, Kitty Pryde went through the whole process of mourning him, taking a leave of absence and scattering his ashes in Russia. Of course, later on, he was found to be alive in an underground laboratory where he was kept for experiments. It was only fair that she would die, leaving him to go through the same process of mourning. He even got a tattoo on his check that spelled ‘Katya’ (sucker). Now, she’s about to be brought back to life and from my experience with comics, it wouldn’t come as a surprised if she came back as a villain (at least for a short while) to avenge for her death…

I’m not going to bitch about how they keep on bringing back dead people, most of the times with some lame excuse. We’ve seen it so many times in the past. It got me thinking though, about which character died most of the times. I’m between Xavier and Jean Grey. Xavier was the very first X-Man believed to be dead, only to find out that it was Changeling that died in his place (making Changeling the real first casualty). I don’t count how many times Wolverine appears dead, because he just gets better after a while. I think Psylocke is another good candidate...


The only character that I believed never to be resurrected is the first Warpath (so far), John Proudstar, although they did make a character out of his brother, James Proudstar, very similar to him, bearing the same codename and powers.
I’m not taking under consideration the latest ‘Necrosha’ story line, which to be honest looks good (so far).


On a similar issue, I came across and read 2 graphic novels based on X-Men that I really liked and recommend to anyone who might be interested that hasn’t read them.

The first is the Marvel Secret Wars:


The second is the ‘X-Men VS Avengers’:


That’s enough for today... I can leave my geek side for now to rest... May the force be with you...

Avatar and Comic books…

I saw Avatar yesterday and I have to say that it was really good. The direction, photography and visual effects were brilliant. I saw the 3D version that was really stunning. The plot was a bit predictable but not to an irritating degree. For example you knew some things would happen but the scene describing them was not endlessly dragged. JJ loved it. I do recommend it as an action sci-fi movie to be seen. (The main actor is soooo good looking as well)

I haven’t even started packing yet (my flight is due this evening) but at least I’m finished with my Christmas shopping. I just hope I’ll be able to fit all of them in my language with the clothes needed. The only one I haven’t bought a present for, yet, is me. I wanted to get me something small and useful. Normally I don’t buy myself clothes or other boring things like that for Christmas. I go for a PC Game, PSP Game, Comic / Graphic Novel, DVD or a book (I’m a geek, I know).

This year I wanted to find a good comic album…



Recently, I’ve realized that I can no longer follow all the major crossovers published by Marvel. (I’m sorry but if you do not know Marvel, X-Men or what a crossover is, the following will be very boring to you.) I’ve began to realize that you might have to buy general magazines like ‘Wizard’ to keep track of them and to be honest, I cannot be bothered chasing these on top of everything else.


I thought that if I was buying the graphic novels / albums, I would be OK. I normally go for the X titles (X-Men, X-Force etc) and in the past, they had their own crossovers and it was slightly easier to get some really good storylines with characters I knew. I bought many of them in the past, like the ‘Dark Phoenix Saga’ (amazing and classic), the ‘X-cutioners song’ (interesting storyline) or the ‘Mutant Massacre’ (included other, non X, characters but very interesting story as well).


From the recent major crossovers I’ve enjoyed the ‘Civil War’ and the ‘House of M’ very much. I managed to get the main story album and not how it affected the individual teams and heroes. I really had to try though and find them. I remember buying an individual ‘house of M’ title when it was originally released that featured Brian Braddock and Psylocke and I was like ‘what is going on now?’

Now with the ‘Secret Invasion’ or ‘Dark Reign’ I feel confused again. I refuse to keep on buying all these different comics just to understand what is going on. I think that alternatively I’ll need all Marvel publications for that, from Fantastic Four to Avengers to X-Men. Of course it’s a sales scheme to get more comic books sold, but I think I’ll pass. Am I the only one thinking like that?


So, I’ll try to find and buy some of the old major crossovers. One that I always wanted was the ‘Fatal Attractions’, but I can’t seem to find it in a reasonable price anywhere (any suggestions?). I’m also missing some important storylines like the transformation of Angel to Archangel (the first time), how Bishop joined the X-Men or the ‘New Mutants’ became ‘X-Force’ but I don’t even know the name of these stories (yet). Alternatively, I’ll settle with ‘Onslaught’ or the ‘Age of Apocalypse’ though I have most of the individual titles for these…

Get in touch with my geek side (part 1)…

It’s been ages since I’ve done it, but I spent a fairly lazy weekend (excluding Saturday night) doing stuff I’ve never done in ages. First of all I went through some older comic books I have. I’ve been reading comics (especially from Marvel) since I was a boy in primary school. I can still remember the excitement I got before every scheduled trip to a near city from where I used to live, that had a comic bookstore. I think that you can still ask a couple of my then classmates and they would remember how I used to go on and on about it…

I’ve always loved comic books that had more than one main characters in them so that I could check how they would interact and evolve. That is why I used to read the X-series of Marvel and JLA. Occasionally I would buy titles like Spiderman, Daredevil, Batman or Spawn but X-Men and everything related was my favorite. I used to think that comic books with always the same characters would eventually repeat themselves and be boring. I didn’t even buy Fantastic Four for the same reason. Don’t get me wrong but it’s a matter of taste…


I read somewhere (I think) about how the secret lives of superheroes appeal to young gay men that hide their sexuality like having a second life. I don’t know if it’s true but I really loved my comic books when my mother hated them. She didn’t like me spending so much time (and money) reading them and she always argue on how I should be reading ‘normal’ books that would actually teach me something (according to her). That is why I used to hide them from her but she always managed to find them and throw them away. I think that I lost some amazing copies that way that I’d pay a fortune now to buy again…

However, I do have comics to thank for so many things. Primarily, I do believe that without them I wouldn’t get so much into reading and learning English. Comics and Computer Games are the main reason that I had to study harder in learning English so that I would understand what was going on in the plot.

Now, I don’t get that excited (losing my sleep) when going to buy my new comic books as I used to (sad but true), but I really do love browsing through them before choosing what to buy. I also tend now to buy Graphic Novels or whole Albums that I didn’t used to before because I simply couldn’t afford them.

X-Men Personality Test

OK, I think I did OK...

http://www.zipperfish.com/quizzes/quiz/x-men-personality-test/