Thor

Thor was pretty good. He's never been one of my favorite characters but I am familiar with his mythology and in my opinion they did a great job of telling his story. Loki was good in the movie, as was Odin. Sif, Volstagg and the other warriors were also prominent in the film. (I did have a problem with an aspect of Loki's character but I won't mention it as it may be a spoiler) It does a fair job of tying the story into the Avengers and SHIELD, and a character or two make cameos and are mentioned, but I think that it was probably geared more towards people that don't know much about Thor. I guess every first movie is, Spider-Man, Iron Man, they all have to give the origin story for the benefit of those who aren't familiar with the characters. The effects were great, I especially liked how they weaved the Hubble Telescope pictures into the film. I watched it in 3D IMAX, although I really can't say it did much for me. I guess the 3DS has made 3D kind of novel for me at the moment. Overall, I definitely would recommend this movie for comic book fans, and it's probably a decent watch for action fans. It's not going to be in my top ten superhero movies, but it's definitely not in the bottom either.

Afterwards, my friends and I hit Buffalo Wild Wings and had some grub and a couple of beers. It was my first beer in several months. Crazy. My baby girl is nine months old, and in that time I've gone out probably a handful of times. You've got to try to make time for yourself or you'll go nuts. This was a good chance for me to catch up with old friends and blow off some steam, I actually felt like a real live person for a while instead of just a dad and a student, heh. Not that I'm complaining, I'm getting too old for the clubs and bars, but every once in a while it's fun to just have a day to yourself.


-Gil 

To 3D or not 3D, that is the question...

Let's talk about the Nintendo 3DS.  I know it's been out for a while but I wanted to spend a little time with it before I posted my review. Let's start out with the basics. It costs as much as a console and it doesn't come with a game. Ouch. Sure, it has AR Games, A Mii game, and Face Raiders, but I'm not sure if it's enough. Now, I'm upgrading from an old DS so I'm not sure what was on the DSi but the camera, activity log, recorder and pedometer are all new to me and fun additions. It's pricey but it kept me busy until I was able to purchase a game a few days later.

Thanks

As I am sure you've all heard, Osama Bin Laden is dead. The Fandads would like to take a moment to say thanks to all of the brave dads, moms, women, and men bravely serving our country and doing us proud. We can all sleep a little bit easier tonight.

The Accident

In video games when a character gets hurt they lose a bit a stamina or a bar of health.  The same could be said about comic book characters, they are usually well by the next page or last panel.  Unfortunately, this is not the case in real life, when someone gets hurt or has an accident there are bruises, crying and a lot of screaming.

Contest, updates and more. UPDATED

If you follow us on Twitter (@fandads) or "like" us on Facebook you would have seen that this past weekend we had a contest to win a Gears of War 3 beta code.  We want to send a congratulations to Codie S. who won our contest and received the Gears 3 beta code.  We also would like to let you know that we have more contest in store in the coming weeks and months. Read on to see what we have planned.

Homefront

The reviews of Homefront haven't been too kind. Some people are complaining about the graphics, others are disappointed with the length of the game. I know that it isn't a Halo killer, and it didn't blow anyone's mind, but after playing it through and spending sometime playing it online I have to give it my seal of approval. 

For the sake of those of you that haven't played it, I won't spill too many details, but it gets you into the story from the start. I found myself having visceral reactions to what was happening on the screen. The story is good, maybe even a little too hard to watch at times. I feel that Homefront does a good job of pulling you in, I know I wanted some payback early in the game. Yes, the story is short, but is that such a bad thing? Quality over quantity right? Do you really want long, drawn out missions just for the sake of shooting enemy soldiers? I think the story is just right, it gives you some closure, a sense of accomplishment, but it definitely sets things up for a sequel or DLC.

Multiplayer is fun, nothing to write home about, but in my experiences it isn't as full of glitchers or campers as some other FPS are. I'm not the greatest FPS shooter, which frustrates me in most games when playing online, but Homefront is actually fun and I can hold my own. The points you can accumulate also add another interesting dimension to online play. Even if you haven't been pulling your weight, you can always save them up for something big and help out your team in the clutch. 

Overall, Homefront is pretty much what I expected, hopefully this is the beginning of a new franchise, if for no other reason than finding out how this story ends. That's why I think you should check Homefront out, if for no other reason than finding out how the story begins...

-Gil

And You Thought You Took Too Many Pictures.

An MIT scientist has recorded 90,000 hours of his son's first words. Interesting read, check it out.