“The Masque of the Red Death” is the story of Prince Prospero, a man attempting to hide himself from the plague of the Red Death by shutting himself in his abbey with 1000 other nobles.  He hosts a masquerade ball and mocks his guests until one guest wanders through the party dressed like a victim of the red death and won’t follow the orders of the prince.

Perhaps Poe’s most famous short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” describes a man that has killed an older man with a vulture eye, dismembered him and buried him under the floor boards of the house.  When two police officers call upon the man he is overcome with guilt in the form of the hallucination of the murdered man’s still beating heart.

“The Fall of the House of Usher” which is easily the most read of Poe’s tales (every high school student has to read this story at least twice) is the tale of Roderick Usher who invites a friend to help him with the sickness that has consumed himself and sister.  The illustrations for this story are very suitable as they’re completely dark and fit the mood of the story.

Along with several of the short stories the illustrators also include some of Poe’s most famous poems.  The book is attractive with gorgeous and creepy illustrations.  A wonderful addition to any library’s teen collection that will delight Poe fans as well bring in new readers.

Included in the back story is the reason for Professor X’s name as well as his handicap, the reason Beast is blue and hairy, Magneto’s holocaust story and the formation of the Brotherhood of Mutants.  Also keep an eye for it a hilarious cameo from Wolverine (actually you won’t miss it).  Overall the film was great and another worthy addition to the X-men franchise.

Kenji is a high school student that works a summer job for OZ checking code.  He is a budding mathematician that nearly earned a spot on the Olympic math team.  Natsuki is a girl in Kenji’s physics club and she needs travel companion to accompany her to her great-grandmother’s birthday party.  Upon arrival Kenji learns that he must play the part of the loving fiance.

After their first night at the family estate OZ security is breached by an AI program designed for hacking.  Kenji becomes the prime suspect after it is discovered that he solved a math problem sent to his phone.  After it is discovered that Kenji was set-up his “new family” must ban together to defeat the hacking AI, overcome family issues, and win a high school baseball tournament.

The direction and art are beyond amazing.  Getting sucked into the world of OZ is the easy part.  Getting yourself out is much more difficult.  Why are you reading this still?  Go see it already. The magic words are Squeamish Ossifrage.

First reaching American audiences viw radio in 1936, the Green Hornet made his debut with martial art expert side-kick Kato.  Britt Reid is the son of the owner of the L. A. newspaper the Daily Sentinel.  When his father suddenly dies, Britt finds himself at the head of the company and in control of a multi-media empire.  After pulling a prank with his father’s assitant, Kato, Reid decides that they should becoming superheroes.  With Kato’s technology and martial arts expertise, and Reid’s…money they form the duo known as the Green Hornet.  After taking out local gangs and thugs the Green Hornet attracts the attention of big crime boss Chubnovsky.  The Green Hornet has finally found a worthy adversary after Chubnoxsky is reborn as Bloodnovsky the red-wearing supervillian.

The movie is fairly tongue-in-cheek throughout the film while Gondry’s style add amazing elements to the fight scenes (alternating slowing and speeding of the time-code on alternating sides of the screen).  There are other touches in the film that make this a Gondry film and on whole the movie is entertaining and funny.  The Dark Knight this is not, but a still there is a great film here.

Here is one of my favorite Michel Gondry music videos: Daft Punk Around the World.

The album starts off with “Unluck” which beautifully displays his vocals and laid back production.  Then move on to the next highlight “I never learnt to share” which loops the haunting lyrics My brother and my sister don’t speak to me, but I don’t blame them.   “Limit to your love” is the outstanding single from the album (video below).  “Give me my Month” is the primary example I have for the Elton John comparison.

Overall the album is a slow melodic walk through a well manicured park.  The production is tight and Blake has carved a clever niche for himself in the electronic music genre.  Enjoy this album in isolation.

A description from the book:

Expelled from thirteen boarding schools in the past five years, seventeen-year-old Jane Fontaine Ventouras is returning to her Southern roots, and the small town of Bienville, Alabama, where ladiesalways wear pearls, nothing says hospitality like sweet tea
and pimento cheese sandwiches, and competing in the annual Magnolia Maid Pageant is every girl’s dream.

But Jane is what you might call an anti-belle-more fishnets and tattoos than sugar and spice. The last thing on her mind is joining the Magnolia Maid brigade and parading around town in
a dress so big she can’t even fi t through doors. So when she finds herself up to her ears in ruffl es and etiquette lessons, she’s got one mission:Escape.

What’s a hipster to do? Will Jane survive Bienville boot camp intact or will they-gasp!-make a Southern belle out of her yet?

The first thing you’ll notice is the amazing graphics.  According to wiki “Art director and character designer Daigo Ikeno” choose to give the game non-photorealistic rendering which makes the game look like you’re playing an anime episode.  The 3-D characters and backgrounds are richly detailed with animation adding to the overall effect.

The next thing you’ll notice (if you’re not an expert before you start) is that you suck.  Don’t worry there is a learning curve but it’s not too steep.  Choose a character that you like and focus on learning their moves, combos, and breakers.  Unfortunately, I don’t think this is game that you could master ever character like Smash Bros, there just isn’t enough space in a persons head to remember all those moves.

All in all, SSFIV:AE is awesome if you LOVE fighting games.  However, if you are a pedestrian player you may want to avoid this title because the key to mastery is repetition and that can be boring if you don’t love the format.  Enjoy gamers!