My Birthday!

My birthday was on Sunday, and essentially my birthday/ amazon wish list was filled with comic books! And I am very fortunate that i got all the ones that I wanted as well as some extras that i did not ask for from my girlfriend, as in general we have a no list rule between us which is getting harder each year so this year she did buy me some stuff form my list!

So the comics i got! As you can see in the picture, at the top is a Deadpool collection! This is the Deadpool by Daniel Way Volume 2 as volume 1 is not available! Marvel Masterworks - The Avengers, these were chosen as i already have the Captain America and Amazing Spiderman Masterworks and its always good seeing classic comics books and how they started! Green lantern for me is really a recent discovery as i was not sure about what the Lanterns powers were but after reading online i thought it was a brilliant idea and them against the Sinestro Corps was stated as a very good example! Avengers vs X men was chosen purely for the amount of characters that would be in the comic and assumed there would be some pretty cool artwork! And finally the Batman 75th anniversary book. I already have a Batman Encyclopedia and having a strong set of some of Batman's finest moments was a collection which i needed! I got really interested in Batman after playing the Arkham games and realised exactly how badass he was!

So there are the other bits that my girlfriend got me, my Flash T shirt which now involves me wearing it and shouting "ZOOM" quite alot as its funny and my girlfriend finds it funny which is good! She also got me some Jack Daniels as I do enjoy my whiskey and even have it neat which is not very common amongst people my age! Finally, the Geek Box, which is awesome! I have got three months worth and the first box was Apocalypse, and was cool but i will do a further blog post on my Geek Box! Another thing not in the picture is some Lindor Lindts chocolates which my girlfriend bought me which did not survive long enough for a picture...

Super Cool Mirror Selfie

So I would say i had another good birthday, also I was in Paris on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as my girlfriend one a trip so that was a nice addition to the general birthday and she also won some cinema tickets so got to see Guardians of the Galaxy which we both loved and agreed that it may have been Marvels best film! I also got a bit of money, and put together with some other money i have put aside i was able to buy an Elgato Game Capture HD, which means hopefully soon me and a friend of mine will be making videos of games and random stuff! Thats my birthday sorted, now not long for christmas and even more presents!

My 3DS XL and Pokemon Y

Last week, after a long amount of deliberation with myself, and with some trading in of old games (lego games which took a lot of thought as to whether i do want them!) I decided to buy a preowned 3DS XL from Game as that was where i could find it for the cheapest price. All i knew when looking around for a 3DS is that i wanted a 3DS XL with Pokemon Y as i wanted a red 3DS XL so wanted Pokemon Y to match! In the end i got a deal which came with a accessories set and even the official plug charger which doesn't automatically come with a new 3DS XL! I also got two downloads so i got Super Smash Bros on the NES and Zelda: Oracle of Ages, and i do love my retro gaming so that turned out to be good! It cost me £150 after trading in for all this, and luckily the guy who helped me was helpful and actually knew what he was talking about (Little side note, while he was helping me a women asked him if they had Pokemon Yellow for the DS, to which he kindly informed her that is a gameboy game and that other Pokemon games are available, I then said to him i actually have Pokemon Yellow! Just thought it was funny!)

After a week, I have no regrets at all! I have so far played Pokemon Y for 18 hours and am really enjoying it compared to other newer games such as Pokemon Black and Diamond which i had before! I also downloaded demoes for Ace Attorney (Awesome!), Epic Mickey (Looked fun!) and Castlevania (I died a lot but still interested in it!).

I researched before and do know that there is a new 3DS out next year, and will probably end up buying it later next year or basically when a new Pokemon comes out! But at the moment, i'm waiting for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as i only recently completed the GBA Sapphire!

After playing Pokemon Y for a bit, I have found Mega Evolution a nice addition, the EXP Share after i realised its not like the old one and turned it on is awesome and makes having side Pokemon so much easier! And being able to have the original starter is a nice way to make it a enjoyable Pokemon! And with Pokemon Bank, it will be easy for me to start again with different starters and different Pokemon! I currently have Delphox, Blastoise, Lucario and Yveltal as my main pokemon, with Tyrantrum and Hawlucha (Can learn Fly) as Pokemon who are back up and are only trained by EXP share and are still doing really well level wise!

Overall, very happy with my purchase, and will bring me many hours of happiness much to my girlfriends dismay as it means its less time she gets my attention! And if you have any suggestions about Pokemon that are good as i am still new to Pokemon Y and am always interested in new Pokemon, please let me know!

My Love of Harry Potter

I love Harry Potter! However, I am quite the latecomer to the world J K Rowling created. I watched the films, some in the cinema, and thought they was good but i never used to be a big reader and wasn't bothered about reading them when i could watch the films, how different could the books be, and surely they would be worse as i would have to read and not watch? How very wrong I was...

It was the summer of 2013, at work as a demolition worker i did not have much to do so could spend alot of time reading, so finished Lord of the Rings (Again, latecomer) and needed a next book. I as looking through and thought i had the time and Harry Potter was an option as i felt i should probably read it. My previous experience was my teacher in year 5 reading it to us and she had the most boring voice! I read the first book that day, and i was instantly hooked. The way it was written, how much more insightful it was than the films, everything was simply amazing. Within a week, i had read the next two, and one of my favourite bit of all the books is in Prisoner of Azkaban when you finally learn about the fidelius charm and the truth about how Voldermort found the Potters. And the beautiful friendship that the gang has. Also, my favourite spell is the partronus charm and a white stag is now a symbol i love and am disappointed the film doesn't show the stag as much!

After, I just kept reading more, and after another week I had read Goblet of Fire and painfully read Order of the Phoenix. The reason i say painfully is i like when things go well and right, and Umbridge annoyed the hell out of me as she does everyone and did not like that she was being so annoying and involved in Hogwarts, however on my second reading i found each better and easier! And it is interesting reading about the prophecy and when Dumbledore comes tells Harry everything.

Then came Half Blood Prince, and the thing i love about books in particular in comparison to movie or TV versions is the extra depth of knowledge that comes from reading them, and looking into Tom Riddles past was something i loved. And book Ginny is so much better than movie Ginny!

Finally was Deathly Hallows, and the first thing i thought was cool was finding out Shacklebolts patronus was a Lynx, a Lynx! Thats awesome! The main thing that made the book better than the film was the deeper understanding of how the Deathly Hallows works, and that at the end rather than breaking the Elder Wand, Harry puts it back in Dumbledores tomb, a nice little touch! And obviously the face off between Harry and Vodlermort is all that much better if not still overshadowed by Molly being badass!

Throughout reading and after finishing, i thought how much i had missed by not reading these wonderful books earlier, however at the age i read them (21/22) meant i could understand and appreciate them more! Afterwards i bought the Blu Ray set and made my girlfriend watch them through with me while i was there pointing out all the differences even though my girlfriend had read the books too she just does not remember much as like most people our age she read them when they came out!

This is why i love Harry Potter, essentially the amazing writing and the depth of information! But i would like to also know why you love Harry Potter or maybe you don't, why not? And just so you know, I am Ravenclaw and proud with a developing assortment of Ravenclaw merchandise which i will show in a future blog!

Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX and X

Final Fantasy has been a part of my life since a friend when i was younger introduced me to Final Fantasy X, and instantly loved it and had it for myself and have played it through a few times now! Then another friend who was a bit older showed me Final Fantasy VII, which is still the best Final Fantasy, although X is my favourite! And then i was introduced to Final Fantasy IX, and only recently did i buy VIII and now i have a small collection! So in this post i will just show a few pictures from the different games!

Final Fantasy VII Battle, Cloud and the classic Buster Sword!

Final Fantasy VIII Title

Shiva Guardian Force, a big factor of Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy IX Title

A picture of the starting main three characters, Vivi, Zidane and Steiner

For the PS2, Final Fantasy X graphics were sublime!

Tidus picture, again the graphics of the videos were beyond anything else!

So theres a few pictures, i will one day get round to blogging about each game individually, but with work, an Open University degree and other games my time is limited! I would like to know what is your favourite and why though, so let me know!

Pokemon Blue - How I play!

I have started playing Pokemon Blue, and since I am back to playing it its alway more enjoyable to start again! I have a Nintendo 64, Pokemon Stadium and a transfer pack which means i am able to play it throught the N64 and on my TV! I like starting with either Charmander and Squirtle, but since I have a favourite I went with Squirtle! Obviously beat Gary/Blue as he does have Bulbasaur which in my opinion is the weakest starter!

I then had the early choice on deciding what Pokemon i was going to commit to, as i have a pre set idea that i always choose to have three main Pokemon and then a legendary, i use this system in all Pokemon games and it works for me! I like to use a psychic type and since Abra is the earliest I will use an Abra and get Kadabra as psyhcic types are in my opinion a strong type and can beat most other pokemon!

Next, a third pokemon had to be decided on! My favourite pokemon is Dewgong, but having started with Squirtle and since it is not possible to catch one for a long time I thought it wouldn't be sensible for me to wait! I finally decided on a Nidoking, as i remember that they can learn alot of moves such as Thunder and Ice Beam I hope! This is good as a Nidoran is available from the start of the game and means from early on in the game i will have my three pokemon which will hopefully lead me to Elite Four supremacy!

Do you have your own way of playing pokemon? Or maybe you have a particular favourite set of pokemon? If so i'd love to know so i can understand how other people play!

Captain America - My Favourite Superhero

Since I have been interested in comics and superheroes, Captain America has been my favourite. I was quite the late-comer to the world of comics, and my full on love of all things superhero started when i first played 'Marvel: Ultimate Alliance'. While playing this game, I liked the character of Captain America, a hero with really a lack of power but who was still leader. From this, I researched from Marvel and other sources who this guy was, and the more I read, the more i felt he was a true hero.

One of the first thing I liked was that he was a leader, even though other heroes could overpower him, but the way he handled situations and treated heroes made other heroes respect him. As soon as he was discovered and became part of 'The Avengers' he was and stayed for a long time leader of some of the most powerful heroes Marvel had.

My fascination had started, and soon my girlfriend bought me a book called 'Captain America: Masterworks Volume 1', which is a collection of Captain America books from his early days. From reading these, it made me love him all that more, and one particular point which is also in the film 'Captain America: The First Avenger' is his handling of attacking enemy bases. Whenever I play games such as Halo I always go out guns a-blazing, and was never good at any stealth games and figured its just best for me to go knocking on the enemies front door! This is the same approach Captain America took, and as the enemy would have such bolstered defences, would never expect to be attacked on which is why he would do exactly that! (Did help he was pretty awesome and had a vibranium shield and could beat any man in hand to hand combat!)

Captain America being my favourite has lead to me buying a few items of Captain America merchandise, and even have a go at some decoupaging! My Bobble-head was bought in Universal Studios in Orlando back in 2008 (I should point out here i absolutely love America and Disney World/ Universal Studios and cannot wait to go again!). I liked that it used the word spirited to describe Captain America, as he is spirited and certainly never gives up! It also helps that it generally looks awesome!

I also have a collection of Marvel Hats bought in America, one of which was had sprayed to my design, sadly it didn't come out as good as I hoped and as they'd promised. Luckily, my girlfriend again stepped in and bought me a Captain America hat similar to my other hats and was decorated with comics I knew! So Another awesome gift from my girlfriend and more Captain America!

My girlfriend was even nice enough to allow me to put up my framed Captain America poster from my old bedroom in my parents house into the flat we live in now! It is a poster which I love and matches my phone cover! It did help that it fit the theme of our living room so my girlfriend didn't mind and luckily she is awesome!

So theres my post about Captain America! I want to leave you with one thought as to why in his role in World War 2 he was the perfect hero, also want to point out that I read this and couldn't agree more with the statement so if you said it i'm not taking credit for it! In Nazi Germany, Hitler thought the Aryan race was superior, this being people with blonde hair and blue eyes. This is exactly what Captain America was, he was Hitlers ideal human being, but he was the guy crushing his army and essentially punching him in the face!

Do you agree with me? Is there points about Captain America I have missed out that are important to contributing who he is? Or maybe you disagree and don't think he's as good as I think? Either way I would love to know your opinions!

'I only hope we never lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse' - Walt Disney

My first blog post! Being my first blog post, I wanted to use a quote from Walt Disney as he is such an inspiration with his innovative ideas and thinking. And quite possibly his most famous quote was; 
'I only hope we never lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse', in his case he is obviously speaking about when he created Mickey Mouse and what it allowed him to achieve in his lifetime, in short hugely successful theme parks and films!

Image Source

So I see this post as my 'mouse', this is where my blog starts and who knows where it will take me! My blog will be looking at things I and hopefully you find cool, including retro games, Marvel and DC, Harry Potter and of course, Disney. So in this post, I will be looking at the origins of Mickey Mouse, and his breakthrough debut in 'Steamboat Willie'.

The actual origin of Mickey Mouse is obscured, however Walt liked to tell his tale of how on the train ride back from meetings in New York when Oswald the Rabbit was taken from him (Disney now has the rights back and personally I love Oswald and his part in Epic Mickey!) he thought of this mouse. He originally named him Mortimer Mouse however Lilly (His Wife) disliked this, and so he choose Mickey instead. Walt then thought up his personality and voiced him, while Ub Iwerks (Disney artist) gave him form and movement. Essentially, Mickey Mouse was born!

They then went ahead and started producing the first cartoon under wraps and in secret, titled 'Plane Crazy'. The first Mickey Mouse cartoon was shown in the Boulevard Movie House on May 15 1928, with a good reception but not an overwhelming one. They then went about producing a second cartoon, named 'The Gallopin' Gaucho'. After two cartoons were made, Walt went about finding a buyer for the cartoons but could not find anyone. At this time, music began being played on films, and Walt felt this was the future and next big thing in animation, and went about creating a third cartoon which would be synchronised to sound, borrowed from a successful Buster Keaton comedy, they began work on 'Steamboat Willie'.

Along with another employe, Wilfred Jackson, Walt found a way to time music to the flow of film at a rate of 24 frames per second. Jackson then played his harmonica while Walt wrote down how many frames of cartoon would be required to match the tune. On a July night in 1928, Walt invited workers to bring their wives to the studio and projected Steamboat Willie while him, Ub, Wilfred and another employee called Johnny Cannon provided sounds when required to match the animation.

Walt then decided to travel to New York to sell the cartoons, and on the way stopped in Kansas City and got an old friend called Carl Stalling to produce a score for Steamboat Willie. In New York, he met a man called 'Pat' Powers and used his 'Cinephone' to synchronise the sound perfectly to the film. When Walt showed this to companies they would say it was good but never got back to Walt. Walt met a man named Harry Reichenbach who persuaded him to run it in theatres, and Walt agreed as he needed the money. Steamboat Willie opened at the Colony Theatre on November 18 1928, and Mickey Mouse was finally the sensation Walt had always knew it to be. It was shown before a talking filmed named Gang War and when people came out the theatre, they talked about Steamboat Willie. It got good reviews from 'Weekly Film Review' and even 'The New York Times'. Walt would stand at the back of theatres while people watched the cartoon and listen to what people said about it. After this, the studios became interested in Mickey Mouse and Walt signed with various studios and people, and the rest as they say is history!

Image Source

That is essentially what I see as the beginning of Mickey Mouse, if theres anything you think is wrong with my account, let me know! I'm interested in knowing the true origin so anymore information you have will be interesting for me! I used the book 'Walt Disney - An American Original' by Bob Thomas to find this information, and if you are looking for lots of information on Walt Disney, this is a must read!

Hopefully you enjoyed reading this post, if you have any ideas about what you'd like to see next or if you just want to say that you did enjoy reading the post, let me know!