Friday, December 10, 2010

Update - Holidays!

Hey All!

So yeah, work always gets rather busy around Christmas (I work with the disabled, in case your vaguely curious) and as such I ain't going to be able to write any articles until maybe mid-January. I have been very eager for Christmas this year and plan to use this break to the full!


The Question We All Must Ask

It's been one hell of year. Thank you to everyone who helped make this year one of the stranger, more stressful and more exciting years of my 24 years on this Earth thus far. Sadly out of respect to all my friends, nearly all my stories from this year are sadly off-limits. To add to the strangeness (& for those of you who don't live in Ireland) this has been happening.


Either That Or Snow, Although We All Know It Doesn't Snow In Ireland.

Time to plan how to get home to the country without dying on dodgy bendy country roads.

So all going well, until next time!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Volume One) Best Of


Hey all!

This is part one of a six part project looking at the best sections from each issue of the Scott Pilgrim comic book series. All moments are chronologically presented as they appear through-out the story and I'll leave it up to you to rank them quality-wise. For a full review of the concept and a review of the comics, click here!

Anyhow, onwards!

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Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Volume 1)


Scott Pilgrim's life is totally sweet. He's 23 years old, he's in a rock band, he's "between jobs," and he's dating a cute high school girl. Nothing could possibly go wrong, unless a seriously mind-blowing, dangerously fashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruising through his dreams and sailing by him at parties. Will Scott's awesome life get turned upside-down? Will he have to face Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends in battle? The short answer is yes. The long answer is Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life.

Moment Number 10 - Introducing Sex Bom-Omb (Play Along!)


A great way to introduce the band Sex Bom-Omb, whose members the core of the story. The addition of a play-along and the constant reminders that they suck immediately make them endearing, not to mention kind of awesome.

Moment Number 9 - Train Spotting Confusion


I thought this was very funny and another nice cultural reference. That's all really!

Moment Number 8 - Knives Chau's First Kiss


A rather sad moment, played for laughs. which works here strangely. Scott's fear of anything 'real' and his mis-treatment of Knives is one of the most tragic parts of the series for me and it all starts here.

Moment Number 7 - "You Sleep With A Guy! Ah Ha Ha!"


This scene is a cutesy budding romance scene with a bit more bite. Ramoma is already showing that, unlike Knives, she can run rings around Scott.

Moment Number 6 - Romona & Scott, Who Didn't See This Coming?


The true central theme of the book! Also, this shows a far less noble side to Scott, considering he is cheating on Knives. The book can be read as quite morally ambiguous from here on, which only serves to make the series more interesting and true to real life.

Also, doesn't this panel capture that first kiss with someone you really like rather well?


Moment Number 5 - "A Girl Drummer?!"


In one panel and a simple joke, Kim's character traits (being a bad-ass, somewhat angry but still quite sensitive girl) are flashed at us for a second. It's a very clever and fast character moment.

Moment Number 4 - The Gig, Everybody Meets Everybody, Scott's An Idiot


A true Scott moment. Only he would invite his girlfriend, the girl he is cheating with and all his gossipy friends to the same gig. Having wallace eyeball stacy's boyfriend is also a nice touch.

Moment Number 3 - "Their Song Was Only 0.4 Seconds Long? Their Good..."


A nice mock-up of arty-rockbands and a suitable challenger for Sex Bom-omb.

Moment Number 2 - Space Channel 5 Defense!


It's another game reference, this time to the dreamcast's 'Space channel 5'. If you got this reference, i officially think your awesome

Moment Number 1 - "Only $2.10? Aw!"


Ex-boyfriends turn into coins when defeated? That is the best video-game reference ever!


Volume 1 is a great introduction to a huge range of characters from this universe. While it has it's problems, including some of the weakest art of the series (Although thats somewhat deliberate) and an ending fight that derails the tone of the story, its still a very fun, fast and surprisingly clever review of young adults and generation gamer in general. This issue does a fantastic job of hinting at the complex and varied characters we will later get to met in greater detail in later issues. Every character seems to already be fully formed here and it is just up to us to get to know them better, which is a very hard thing to get right one issue in. Throw in references to games, bands, films and the city of Toronto itself and you have the first volume of one of the best series of the last few years.

Rather then go into anymore detail, go buy the damn book and enjoy it yourself! Do let me know if you see any moments I missed.

Til next time!