Reviewing Marvel's Defenders and Two Old Pals Return to the Pokemon Anime

You have to admit Marvel seems to be king of Superheroes in live action. While DC has had some good Batman movies and I still love the Flash they seem to be struggling to create a universe that lives up to the legacy set by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU isn’t just movies either it has expanded into TV shows and more recently Netflix. Netflix has given some minds at Marvel the chance to build another universe within the MCU starting with Daredevil, starring Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock a blind lawyer who dons a mask during the night due to his enhanced other senses allowing him to kick butt as the Daredevil and basically see without really seeing.

Daredevil released its full first season on Netflix on April 10^th, 2015. Following Daredevil was Jessica Jones, starring Krysten Ritter as a former superhero turned detective with a bad case of PSTD as a bad memory returns from the past in the form of Kilgrave, played by the awesome David Tennant, this show as released on November 20^th in 2015. Another season of Daredevil was released in March 2016 followed by Luke Cage, starring Mike Colter as a former convict turn crime fighter when he is given superhuman strength and unbreakable skin, this show was released on September 30, 2016. Iron Fist was the last series to release earlier on this year (March 17^th) starring Finn Jones as Iron Fist a billionaire Buddhist monk and martial artist who gains powerful chi and is gifted with the mighty iron first power. For some reason out of all the previous shows which were critically acclaimed Iron Fist received mostly unfavorable reviews.

Finally all of these shows have come together in the miniseries Marvel’s Defenders continuing the plot from Iron Fist with some elements from the other four shows (Mostly Daredevil) coming into play. I actually have to admit I have not seen, for the most part, the other four shows as of watching this show which was probably not smart on my part but for some reason I just never got around to watching the shows, especially after I wasn’t too fond of the first Daredevil season so my expectations weren’t very high.

Marvel’s Defenders takes place after the events of the previous 4 shows and continues the evil antics of “The Hand” as they continue to seek everlasting life, their search takes them to New York City, home of Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. 

From Alien Hunter to Almost Immortal Villain

The Hand is made up of 5 leaders (5 Fingers) who are Alexandra played by Sigourney Weaver (Alien), the brilliant mastermind in charge though has some vulnerabilities that are poked at throughout the series.  

Madame Gao, played by Wai Ching Ho who made appearances in Daredevil and Iron Fist. She makes her return in Defenders as one of the 5 fingers and seemingly the voice of reason.

Sowande played by Babs Olusanmokun, the head of the cleanup crew seemingly for The Hand. Sowande is the influence Luke Cage needs to get involved in the resistance against the Hand.

Ramon Rodriguez as Bakuto a former sensei of Colleen Wing who fights with the Defenders.

Finally Murakami played by Yutaka Takeuchi, not much is revealed about him throughout the series but he seems to be the most bloodthirsty one of the lot, especially in his introduction scene which is unnecessarily gory in a way I’m not sure adds anything to the plot.

Joining the hand is Elodie Yung as The Black Sky, an amnesiac resurrected Elektra Natchios after her defeat in Daredevil, which is actually spoilers and I should of watched the first two seasons of Daredevil before this as well as possibly Iron Fist.

Marvel’s Defenders actually starts off a bit slow with a confusing premise of a first Episode but come Episode 3 the plot of the miniseries started to become clear which made watching a little more enjoyable for me. I feel events really begin to pick up with the introduction of Stick played by Scott Glenn (Famous for Urban Cowboy) who is the man who trained Daredevil and a blind warrior himself, also he pretty much kicks ass in most of the shots he’s in, or heads at least. 

Stick appeared in both Daredevil seasons as a premise to Daredevil’s training so it was cool to see him make a return in Defenders. Despite this I’m not sure how I felt about the ending I feel like the plot twist towards the end Episodes kind of fell flat on its face with the ending feeling almost rushed in a way.

The relationships between the four Defenders as they come from vastly different lives to a rocky start of a team is actually one of the great parts of this series and brings a much more down to earth and realistic relationship in comparison to the Superhero team ups of the CW Arrowverse, Legends of Tomorrow included. (Not saying I don’t love those shows.) Luke Cage and Iron Fist’s relationship is probably the strongest in the series and my personal favorite. The team has some bickering among themselves as do all teams when they first gather together but everything as I said feels realistic and down to earth despite all the supernatural occurrences.

The soundtrack for this series was good, some of the soundtrack like the Defenders opening theme were outstanding but some of the other choices of music felt out of place in a way. The sound effects however I found to be subpar to an almost atrociousness, the impact sounds, the punches and the kicks sounded so fake and out of sync with the rest of the show, they could of possibly lowered the sound just a little but even then the actual effects sounded like someone was just dropping a book on a table. Even worse the explosion sound effect in the final episode was broken and just a plain mess compared to how an explosion of that kind would actually sound, or at least sounds in better movies.

Overall I believe if you’ve watched the previous four shows that Marvel’s Defenders is worth a watch but it wasn’t too bad coming into the show with no previous knowledge; past events were explained as the series progressed. It’s flawed I can’t deny it and I felt as if Luke Cage was kind of shafted to the status of a Side Character instead of truly feeling apart of the central characters, which is a shame because Luke Cage was probably my favorite character out of the whole series. Marvel’s Defenders felt like a wrap up to Daredevil and Iron Fist while giving them open doors to new chapters as well as a new future for Jessica Jones, who while wasn’t involved in the plot really shone brightly in this series as my second favorite character next to Luke Cage. Krysten Ritter really pulled off that snarky, sarcastic yet good hearted badass female hero to a key and I’m interested in diving into her own show because of the awesome character that she is. There are also two side characters that shined to me as well such as Simone Missick as Misty Knight a badass police detective from Harlem who seems to be building up to be a major character in Luke Cage season 2 and Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing a former member of the Hand first featured in Iron Fist and is a katana swinging badass lover of Iron Fist himself. Anyway this series as well as the previous four shows are all available to watch Via Netflix so go give them a watch! (There's a Stan Lee cameo but it knocked me on my butt laughing when I spotted it.)

You can sign up for Netflix at http://netflix.com.

Also before I move on Wonder Woman is now on iTunes! You can check that out by clicking the link below.

Moving on I got some major news for Pokemon fans and fans of the original first few seasons of the Pokemon Anime! Two lovable and memorable characters that were major parts of my childhood are making their return after years of being absence in upcoming Pokemon Sun and Moon Episodes! The kick butt, water loving, psyduck owner and tomboy Misty and the ladies man Brock are both returning for two Episodes of the Sun and Moon anime this September 14^th and 21^st! (In Japan, not sure when it’s releasing outside of Japan dubbed yet) The announcement came in the newest issue of the Telubi-Kun magazine in Japan.

For those not aware Brock and Misty were Ash’s traveling companions throughout his Kanto and Johto adventures, with Brock continuing to travel with Ash through to the end of his Sinnoh Journey. Both Misty had returned to take over the Cerulean City Gym full time and Brock had left to become a Pokemon Doctor. While I can’t say I dislike any of Ash’s traveling companions and I’ve been an avid watcher of the show throughout the past 20 years Brock and Misty are by far my favorites and I mean these guys were the original crew that I grew up watching in over 5 movies and many Episodes so it’s tp be expected.

I can’t express how ecstatic I was to hear this news. Apparently Ash, who’s now attending Pokemon School (Which he accidentally got signed up for) in between his Alolan Island Challenge is returning home to Kanto for a special class. He meets up with his old pals and it seems they stick around for some adventures but here’s the awesome part… Brock and Misty both have Mega Pokemon now. Oh boy yes these two have been busy improving as Gym Leaders (Actually I’m not sure if Brock will be a gym leader in this I assumed he was still a Doctor.) as both Misty’s Gyradose which she caught after leaving Ash in Johto and Brock’s Steelix (Which evolved from his trusty Onix from the first few seasons) are both mega evolvable. Ash will actually be battling both of these guys! Yeah Ash here’s your chance to actually earn those Gym Badges you were graciously given.

These two Episodes are enough to make up for my disappointment regarding the upcoming new Pokemon movie Pokemon 20: I Choose You so I can’t wait to see the original crew back together at least for two Episodes. Now all we need is for Team Rocket to follow Ash back to Kanto (Which they will) and for Gary to come back and it’ll be perfect, oh and Charizard you can’t forget him. I actually feel like a little kid again, excuse me.

Now I may be pulling off a crazy and mad theory but does this also hint towards a possible presence of these two in the games? Giving them Mega Stones makes me suspicious and maybe a little too hopeful for a Pokemon World Tournament to return in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

I thought I would add that I’ve actually really come to love the new art style in Sun and Moon (Even though Ash has noodle arms.) it’s so much more fluid than previous seasons and adds a more cheerful mood to the more comedic season that Sun and Moon is and really I feel it’s proven to be great so far despite being different.

Speaking of something related to Nintendo… Remember back in 2015 Nintendo held the World Championships? (Arin from Game Grumps was there, if that rings a bell) Which was a revival of something they did way back in 1990? Well get ready because the Nintendo World Championships is returning once again this year! (I would have announced this sooner but I had no idea it was happening.) 

https://nwc.nintendo.com/

You can be a part of this competition by taking part in the qualifying rounds which are happening exclusively at Best Buys around the world… Okay it’s only in the country apparently and only in New York, San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Dallas, Seattle and Miami but if you can reach these areas click this link here for more info: https://nwc.nintendo.com/! The big event will be happening in New York City October 7^th, 2017. Apparently the qualifiers are using Mario Kart 7, which is pretty awesome to see the 3DS Mario Kart get some love again.

On a more negative note (Is there too much negativity in this blog today?) it appears come November 7^th the Miiverse will shut down on both 3DS and Wii U. Miiverse was a pretty cool social network for Nintendo players to share thoughts and artwork on and this removal is also negatively impacting some major games in a way that is completely ridiculous on Nintendo’s part. First up is Mario Kart 8 which will disable the ability to upload videos to Youtube (Have you guys seen the new Youtube logo? It’s pretty modern and snazzy.) which seems unrelated to the removal of Miiverse. Tournaments are also no more in Mario Kart 8.

Splatoon will no longer feature messages and drawings among Inkopolis but you still have the miiverse like feature in Splatoon 2 thank goodness.

Super Mario 3D World while subtle and not affective of the gameplay will no longer has messages from Miis from the Miiverse floating around the hub worlds.

Super Mario Maker is losing a pretty vital feature for sharing levels with others. No longer will you be able to share levels to Miiverse and comment on levels. You can still upload levels but this is a huge bummer for those looking for feedback on their levels.

Super Smash Bros for Wii U will now have an entire stage completely useless and broken, the Miiverse stage. No longer will those hilarious and sometimes stupid messages pop up in the background from Miiverse. The Tournament feature will also be removed, which I never managed to ever get into a tournament that was active so I’m neutral on that.

Xenoblade Chronicles X’s BLADE report feature is gone, but I’m not sure what that is as I’ve never played that game.

Finally Mario VS Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars is basically useless now. You will no longer be able to play other’s levels or upload your levels. You can still complete the 88 levels in the main game but that’s basically it.

I won’t rant on any longer but I have to say this is a bad move on Nintendo’s part; it wouldn’t have been so bad if features in the actual games weren’t breaking because of this. You can read more at: http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/27329/~/miiverse-service-discontinuation-faq. Oh yeah and the Wii U home menu is basically going to be a wasteland now, thanks Nintendo. Next time try to make features in your games implemented in ways that won’t break when you shut down certain services. I’m hoping the servers for Wii U and 3DS online games won’t be shut down any time soon unlike the Wii and DS.

Let’s talk about something more positive, pasta! Yes remember that delicious looking Pasta and Salmon meal I had a week ago? Well Mum took that same formula and reworked it, this time with some Spinach Fettuccini instead of Linguine and instead of Salmon some delicious Pork Scaloppini with mixed cheese. 

We got ourselves some Romano cheese and oh my lord it has added a new depth of flavor to our meals besides the parmesan we usually use. You really should try this meal out, you can read the basic ingredients and how it’s all cooked on the end of this blog, it’s the same just we added more butter this time round and different pasta: https://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/08/solar-eclipse-movie-news-pasta-knitting.html.

For today's free knitting pattern feature I'm going to be sharing something real quick but it's an awesome pattern regardless. This is the "Knotted Cables Washcloth" by KnitPicks.

This looks pretty cool actually especially for someone like myself who seems to love cable knitting. I'm not sure how difficult it will be but it looks like a fun challenge regardless of how hard it is, a pattern worth knitting indeed. Looks almost like some sort of fancy architect in a way, knitting architect.

You're going to need US 7 (4.5 MM) needles and some worsted weight yarn of about 100 yards to complete this pattern which you can check out here: http://www.knitpicks.com/cfPatterns/Pattern_Display.cfm?ID=55932220&media=FBK&utm_source=media&utm_medium=marketing&utm_campaign=FBK

(For those read this blog before it got updated, sorry about not including a knitting pattern at first.)

I’m going to leave you guys for the day, hope you enjoyed the read! Don’t forget to check out the new ZAK Entertainment Redbubble where I have some ZAK Entertainment merchandise as well as an awesome 1957 Chevy illustration I did available to purchase on apparel and other merchandise, you can check that out here: redbubble.com/people/zakentertains. Also don’t forget to support me on Patreon so I can keep ZAK Entertainment going. For now however…

This was ZAK Entertainment!

See you on Friday!

Today was a busy day, not going to lie.

[Photo Credits: Marvel, Netflix, ABC, Serebii.net, Telubi-Kun Magazine, Nintendo, ZAK Entertainment, Knit Picks]

Trying out the Yasutomo Authentic Chinese Paints! (Ft. LadyAnnaVintage)

It’s been over 6 months now since I begun doing artwork and almost 4 since I began doing watercolor, crazy huh? I swear it was only yesterday but here we are. I definitely feel as if I’ve benefited from becoming a beginner artist and I’ve been really enjoying it. I’m not great as of right now but I’m practicing hard and I’m eager to keep going and expand my range of art mediums. In that quest I have been trying out different art mediums but also different products within a medium such as Watercolor which has been my main medium for a while now. Primarily I use Sakura Koi watercolor (I started off with Crayola but let’s not pay much heed to that.) and Daler Rowney Watercolor which are beginner student grade paints but thanks to Mum, my Sister and a sudden gracious gift from the people at Schmincke (Which you can read about in this blog: https://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/07/schmincke-hordam-aquarell-samples.html) I’ve been able to experience new brands and share my experiences with you guys here on the blog.

Well today I’m bringing you guys a new experience that not just me but my sister underwent. For the longest time I've been an avid lover of asian paintings whether it be Chinese Ink and Wash or Japanese Sumi and awesome enough Mum had purchased these a few weeks ago but she was gracious enough to let both me and Annie try these Authentic Chinese Paints out in the first of hopefully many ZAK Entertainment and LadyAnnaVintage collaborations! See my sister if you’re not aware runs her own blog by the name of LadyAnnaVintage where she posts illustrations and photography as well as sharing her experiences regarding those pieces of art and reviews of the products she uses and boy is she ever good. Annie has been an artist practically her whole life so a lot of my inspiration comes from her. (As well as a lot of tips and tricks.) It feels great to finally collaborate with my sister on this brand new video where we dive in and try out these Yasutomo Authentic Chinese Watercolor Paints.

As a premise to this video Chinese Watercolors are not the same as western watercolors such as Winsor & Newton Cotman which is what Annie uses. (My Sakura Koi aren't western actually, they're Japanese.) The techniques used with these paints as well as the brushes are widely different and artists who uses these paints usually use calligraphy techniques. These paints are also mostly used on Silk or Xuan Paper which is known as rice paper over here. I’m afraid I wasn’t able to demonstrate that but this is our first time using these paints so enjoy the video below! (Grab some Popcorn, which I conveniently have as of the writing of this blog.)

Really need to work on the whole duo set up for future collabs but we enjoyed making this video regardless and hope you enjoyed too! Anyway as I said in the video Yasutomo and Company was established in Japan in the year 1954 by Mr. Ben Yasutomo. In an attempt to market products from Asia in America Mr. Yasutomo set up office in San Francisco in a strategic location to develop commerce between America and Japan. At first the company simply imported gift and paper products but soon in the 1960s introduced Asian Art supplies.

This set of 12 Authentic Chinese Paints includes Chinese White, Gamboge Yellow, Vermillion, Cinnabar, Rouge, Scarlet, Burnt Sienna, Carmine Red, Light Green, Light Blue, Phthalo Blue and Indigo so you get all the colors traditionally used in traditional Chinese and Japanese paintings. Now a lot of old famous Chinese paintings were done with black ink for Ink and Wash paintings but you’ll find just as many are done with Watercolors on silk. These watercolors are still watercolor, you wet your brush, wet your paper then apply pigment but they do have they differences. For one I find the colors to be vastly vibrant and the way they dry seem to be more feathered then other watercolors. Besides Traditional paintings methods which is basically calligraphy you can use this watercolors for other styles of paintings as well, you don’t have to paint using traditional methods which I sadly failed to do. Yeah I’m really going to have to practice in order to get anywhere near good enough to do traditional Chinese paintings. Most paintings usually only use 1 or 2 colors on a single art piece besides the black ink so instead of using a wide amount of colors painters would utilize the paints in a way that showed depth with only using a few colors.

The color swatch I was working on in the video.

The colors are pretty nice and I would seriously compare these too artist grade paints such as the Schmincke Horadam Aquarell paints I tried out last month. Why? Because of how much pigment you DON’T need to pick up with your brush. These pigments last and have such vibrancy to them. Some of these are opaque and transparent.

Warning you all now while you can use this for other styles of watercolor you might not want mix these with your other brands of watercolor. I don’t have any photo proof but off camera when Annie first attempted using these before we recorded the video she had attempted to mix the Chinese paints with her Winsor & Newton Cotman paints which then mixed to what she described as a “Muddy Grey Color”. So yeah these are probably not good for mixing but you can experiment if you wish.

Also if you watched this video I don’t blame you if you did a good facepalm during a few parts of this video. I guess I’ve proven how much of a novice I am by not actually molding the watercolor tube in my hand before squeezing it onto the pallet, thus the yellow paint came out separated. I thought this was something wrong with the paints and boy was I right. Never use these paints until you mold them in your hand to make sure the liquid is mixed with the pigment. I’m actually quite worried that the yellow paint might now be unusable due to this naïve move on my part. So yeah don’t be like me and mold that paint.

Overall these are nice paints and the colors are vastly vibrant. If you saw the video and her finished swatch pictured above you’ll see Annie did do a couple of color mixes to make some purple triangles in her color swatch so they’re good for mixing as well.

I have to say one thing about these paints though, certain parts of my color swatch have seemingly gone a little, sticky? Yeah I'm not sure what's up with that, perhaps I didn't add enough water to certain parts or perhaps it's the humidity that plagues where I live on a constant basis but regardless I'm not sure if the paints are supposed to do that. Might want to keep in mind when storing the paintings you use on this, make sure where you store it isn't too humid. This is probably a good tip for storing any art of any form to be honest, especially oil paintings.

I didn’t get to try these paints using the traditional brushes that belong to my Mum but I don’t actually know how to paint using traditional Calligraphy methods so it wouldn’t of been right for me to use them, which is why I’m going to start practicing on those kinds of techniques. One day I'll be able to paint those wonderful Sumi paintings and Asian paintings I've come to love all my life, maybe.

Anyway if you like what you see and want to get these paints for yourself you can do so via Amazon who has this 12 set of paints for $7.93 USD. (On the video I actually said $7.54 which they were at the time but they apparently raised the price.)

You can’t paint these watercolors without the brushes to go with them. Well I did but regardless you’ll want to get some of these BQLZR Excellent Wolf Hair Chinese Calligraphy Sumi and Kanji Brushes.

These are the three brushes I had sitting on the table in the video. These are great for calligraphy writing but also painting with these Chinese paints and are made from Wolf Hair with wood shafts making them great for beginners. These are definitely built for Chinese Calligraphy and have the perfect length for just that. These brushes are $5.95 on Amazon so be sure to check them out.

Also I found some Xuan paper on here which is the paper you would want for doing calligraphy and Chinese painting on. This roll is 14 x 10 inch and should work like traditional Xuan paper but I’ve not actually tried it out myself. You can buy this roll at Amazon for $5.99.

For more of Annie’s artwork please be sure to check out her blog ladyannavintage.blogspot.com and her DeviantArt annavintage.deviantart.com! Also be sure to check out both of us on Redbubble for awesome apparel and other merchandise featuring our artwork as well as ZAK Entertainment merchandise for the 1 year anniversary. redbubble.com/people/ladyannavintage is where you can find Annie's work and redbubble.com/people/zakentertains is where you can find mine. If you loved the video please be sure to support me on Patreon so I can get better video equipment and a new computer to bring you guys higher quality content! patreon.com/zakentertainment.

Check out Yasutomo's full catalog here: http://www.yasutomo.com/

So with that all said and done I have a free knitting pattern to feature, one I thought fit perfectly in with the Chinese theme. With winter coming up soon you’ve probably already begun your winter knits and now you can add a new one to your queue with this “Pandamonium” beanie pattern by Karin Michele of iknit2purl2.com!

Pandas! You just got to love the big black and white lovable bamboo eaters and now you can wear this really awesome pattern on your head this coming winter season. It’s knitted bottom up and is of course a colorworks hat but shouldn’t be too hard if you can follow charts. The yarn used on this pattern is Worsted Weight 100% Wool Cascade 220 Superwash yarn and you’re going to need 1 skein of these following colors: Gray (816), White (871), Black (815) and Caribbean (847). As far as needles you’ll need US Size 6 (4 mm) circular needles with a sixteen inch cord for the beginning rib, the same length cord on a US Size 7 ( 4.5 MM) for the body and US Size 7 (4.5 MM) Double Pointed Needles for finishing the hat off. You’ll also need stitch markers, scissors, a tapestry or dawning needle and a pom-pom maker. (Actually you can make pom-poms completely from scratch if you got some cardboard that you can cut into a circular say from a box or something.)

This actually should be a good pattern that isn’t too complicated but still giving you that fun and challenging knit that colorworks does. The chart is easy to follow especially thanks to Karin’s great instructions so you should have no problem knitting this up! It’s a great hat that’ll look awesome during the winter and for some reason I want to wear this while painting using Chinese paints, haha.

Anyway you can check this pattern out here: and don’t forget to check Karin out at iknit2purl2.com!

That’s it for today everyone! I finally finished watching Marvel’s Defenders so who knows that might have something to do with Wednesday’s blog. Until then however…

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you on Wednesday!

Homes For Dogs, Mario Takes Lunch, Mei's Icey Past and a Patreon Update!

For the longest time I’ve had an ever growing interest in Real Estate, no I’m not quite sure how I would incorporate that onto this blog (Anyone interested in me looking into movie sets and movie houses? That comes under Real Estate; I could seriously incorporate something like that onto my blogs) but regardless I have always been interested in the vast style of houses, lifestyles and the mathematics behind the deal. I believe everyone has the perfect home for them out there somewhere and not just humans to, pets such as Dogs, Cats and even Rabbits (Sorry I'm pretty partial to the hopping variation of pets.) also deserve the perfect home as well.

In a strong effort to make sure every pet finds their rightful home with their rightful human partners Coldwell Banker has launched its “Homes For Dogs Project” in partnership with Adopt-a-Pet.com. Many agents through Coldwell Banker across the country are pitching in to help every human and every pet find their match because a house isn’t really a home unless you have someone to share it with. I actually came across this program thanks to Christophe Choo a Real Estate Broker in Beverly Hills, California and his company “Christophe Choo Real Estate Group” who operate under the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury family.

As a man from a house that’s full of pets, 4 birds and 3 dogs to be exact (All are pound puppies), I was moved by this new campaign so I just had to share this with you guys as well to raise awareness. With your help this project will help over 20,000 dogs find their perfect home this year! If you’re interested in adopting a new friend for life then head over to Adopt-a-pet.com and also get ready for Homes for Dogs National Adoption Weekend which happens to be the weekend of September 9^th and 10^th, 2017. Many local areas will be conducting their own events so head to adoptapet.com/homesfordogs to see who’s holding this event in your area! Also be sure to head to https://www.coldwellbanker.com/blog/homes-for-dogs/ for more information about this project.

Back to Christophe Choo I’ve been following him and his Real Estate company for quite a few years now and if you’re interested in buying a house in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Hollywood, Holmby Hills and more in the surrounding areas you can check him out at christophechoo.com. I highly recommend you check out his Youtube as well as his video discussing the Homes For Dogs project (He shows off his adorable Chihuahuas, one of them being a rescued dog!) here:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWdcosWNz26bf9Jri8DTnow. 

I think what really appealed to me about him was how through his social media and Youtube channel he takes you not just to the houses in LA but the lifestyle around the house. I mean you can buy a home anywhere but location is a vital key in satisfaction when it comes to buying homes. Anyway be sure to go check him out on his Youtube and social media, if you’re interested in real estate or perhaps even becoming a real estate agent Christophe Choo is pretty inspiring.

Oh yeah if you're new to my blog you probably don't know about my 3 pound puppies.

The first is Edward, he's the oldest of the lot and boy have we had him a long time, I believe it's been over 10 years now. His eyesight isn't as good as it used to be but he still has some spark left in him.

Next is Barklay the big lovable doofus of a dog and my best friend in the whole world as seen by this timeless photo.

This is an awesome photo I took of Barklay and Eddie sitting together looking out into the wilderness. I've never posted this photo

Finally Alfie our newest edition he recently turned one year old and he's grown a lot from the little dog he used to be. Remember when I first introduced him? Yeah you can read that blog here: https://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2016/10/sir-alfred-great-chihuahua.html. It also includes a video of when he was only a few months old!

Here's a recent photo of the little Chihuahua sleeping, one of the few silent times for this active pup. He's so adorable when he's sleeping

Finally here's a photo of Alfie with a snappy jacket Mum knitted him.

These three can be a pain in the butt sometimes but we love them regardless and really make home feel like home. So be sure to appreciate your furry (Or scaly... Fishes and Lizards are pets too) friend today.

Shifting focus now I have a certain Red Capped fellow to discuss. If you’ve not been aware GamesCom 2017 has been happening in Germany this past week and while one day I’ll get my butt over to Germany I’ve had to sit out this event once again. That’s not going to stop me from discussing some new gameplay revealed for Super Mario Odyssey!

Oh boy I can’t stress enough how excited I am for the next Mario platforming adventure and I’ve been quite hungry for more news despite E3 showing off gameplay finally. At GamesCom Nintendo and Yoshiaki Koizumi, the director of Super Mario Odyssey, have revealed gameplay of a new world featured in the game and you better prepare to be starving after reading this blog. This new world is known as Luncheon Kingdom. I’m so excited to witness the new evolution of Eevee using the Burgerstone… Luncheon! Bad jokes aside this world is full of polygonal and food shaped (Is this the Nintendo 64 reborn?) crystal formations and its residents are funny enough, Forks. The prongs of the fork as their feet and arms which is quite clever and they totally took that from my childhood’s imagination.

It looks like some of the challenges in this world will be helping the residents prepare food and in doing so sends quite a call back to Super Mario 2/Super Mario USA, when it comes to picking up the turnips anyway. Throwing these turnips into the soup will give you coins and certain Gold Turnips will give you Power Moons. I’m not quite sure how you go about eating Gold Turnips, I mean I’ve heard of putting gold leaf in food but gold turnips? Mario seems to be raring to go as one of the outfits you can purchase for him in this world is an actual chef’s hat which is pretty awesome. The Italian inside of him is probably jumping for joy. This world would be a perfect oppuntinity to throw in some good old fashioned Mario pasta jokes, so get on that Nintendo!

Anyway when it comes to the gameplay Cappy comes into play as always and one of the enemies you can possess is quite the sight. Remember Lava Bubbles? No? Remember lava? Well I sure do. Lava has been my worst enemy in Mario since I could hold a game controller. Well I laugh in your face now Lava because certain Lava Bubble enemies can now be possessed allowing you to traverse lava. There’s also Tomato Enemies (Why not?) which you can splash into creating Lava on the floor. The floor is actually lava now but you can only traverse land via these puddles of what I assume is some hot spicy salsa. (Could be Picante, you never know.) Seems you can’t touch the ground as Lava Bubble without turning back into normal Mario.

One last small detail I noticed from this gameplay demonstration was the fact that when throwing cappy in midair it gives Mario a small boost to his jumps similar to the spin in Super Mario Galaxy but not as protrude. I never noticed this before but it looks to be quite handy.

Not much else was revealed regarding Super Mario Odyssey at GamesCom but it was nice to see some new gameplay of new locations. Super Mario Odyssey releases October 27^th 2017 for the Nintendo Switch!

Any of you guys play ARMS? Well you’re getting a brand new character for DLC very soon and I have no better way to introduce her then this.

She has no style.

She has no grace.

This girl has a FUNNY FACE!

Not sure why I just pulled a Lanky Kong reference? Well check out the new reveal video for Lola Pop below!

Yeah she’s literally Lanky Kong but a clown girl, which is pretty awesome. I’ve not yet played ARMs but I’ve been keeping up with the competitive scene and this character looks pretty awesome though I wonder how spam able that inflate block is. Lola Pop will join the ARMS roster for absolutely free in the next Version 3 update so get ready! (Somebody invite me over and teach me how to play ARMS.)

Before I move away from Video Game news, how many of you play Overwatch? Yet again this is one of those games I want to pick up and play because it looks pretty fun and as an avid Team Fortress 2 player (Trust me you don’t want to see the hours I’ve put into TF2 it’ll blow your mind.) I’ve been pretty interested in playing Overwatch given it’s similar but seemingly more beefed out gameplay. Despite not playing the game I’ve been avidly keeping track of the lore through the comics and animated shorts released for Overwatch. All of these shorts really make me wish there was an actual Overwatch movie.

Anyway after so long Mei the evil ice queen… I mean super adorable and kick butt Captain Cold-Esque super hero finally has her own animated short diving into her lore and backstory and oh boy it’s going to jerk a couple of tears, or a lot of tears. You can check it out below but maybe bring a tissue or two.

Alright that may have just been the best and I mean the best Overwatch short to date. It was so emotional and had an incredible soundtrack to boot. Mei might of just become my favorite Overwatch character, no lie. Anyway when are we getting that Overwatch movie Blizzard? Anyway if you need something to make you laugh after that you can check out another animated short released aka Junkertown: The Plan,  bet you can take two guesses what this one is all about. You can view that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q0QGtk_AM0.

We’re going to wind down for the day but I got a few more things to talk about. It’s not much progress but I actually DO have some knitting progress on my Dishcloth I started work on a week ago.

Once again I have to point out this pattern I’m using is going to make for probably my largest dishcloth yet but it’s quite simple to knit without being boring. I discussed and featured this pattern on this blog here: https://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/08/dishcloth-lycanroc-trailers-woodpeckers.html. I have no exact date when this will be finished but I’m doing at least a few rows a day so it should be done soon. Have any of you knitters tried this pattern out before? Don’t feel shy and leave a comment below! Speaking of commenting below I have a little teaser to give you knitters. As part of the ZAK Entertainment 1 year anniversary celebration I’m going to be doing a yarn give away! My first giveaway actually I should of probably done one sooner. This give away is not happening right now but you’ll know when it does if you follow ZAK Entertainment here on the blog and on our Social Media, get ready for it.

My sister, aka Lady AnnaVintage who runs a illustration and photography blog at http://ladyannavintage.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-still-life-photography-studies.html has a brand new blog up with some still life photography studies and man are they incredible for being pure studies. She also introduces something else in that blog as well but I might as well introduce you guys to it on here. As of now Annie has her own Redbubble store open!

To kick things off the ground you can now purchase an incredible bouquet flower watercolor illustration on T-Shirts, Phone Cases and more! You can purchase this at: https://www.redbubble.com/people/ladyannavintage/works/27719683-symphony-roses?c=751438-watercolor&p=art-print&ref=work_collections_grid

As well as this you can also purchase merchandise and art prints of Annie’s recent Sunflower Girl illustration here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/ladyannavintage/works/27652852-the-sunflower-girl?c=751438-watercolor&p=art-print&ref=work_collections_grid.

Be sure to go support my sister by buying some of these awesome products at https://www.redbubble.com/people/ladyannavintage

For those wanting some ZAK Entertainment merchandise I also have a Redbubble now that launched last Monday. On this Redbubble you can buy the ZAK Entertainment Logo with Camera and ZAK Entertainment Camera Logo on it’s own on your favorite products such as this snazzy T-Shirt.

You can buy this here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/zakentertains/works/27674692-zak-entertainment-logo?asc=u

Aside from this you can buy my recent 1957 Chevy Bel Air Illustration on T-Shirts, Phone Cases, Tote Bags and more as well here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/zakentertains/works/27652557-57-chevy?asc=u .

You can check all this out at https://www.redbubble.com/people/zakentertains

Now for a Patreon update! Yes it’s about time I add a new reward and it might seem a bit of a jump but I believe it’ll be worth it. Introducing the $50 Dollar Reward!

For this reward you’ll get all previous tier rewards but you’ll get ONE initial choice of Men’s or a Woman’s t-shirt in your size featuring the ZAK Entertainment logo coupled with its Camera companion.

I actually have some more rewards planned but I have to iron them out first before launching them so hold tight for just a little longer. For now you can subscripe and support ZAK Entertainment at http://patreon.com/zakentertainment.

Until then however I’m out for the day.

This was ZAK Entertainment.

See you on Monday!

[Video, Photo and Art Credits: ZAK Entertainment, Didomum, Christophe Choo Real Estate Group, Coldwell Banker Real Estate, Adopt-A-Pet, Nintendo Of Europe, PlayOverwatch, Lady AnnaVintage]

Solar Eclipse Aftermath in the Chamber of Secrets and Daredevil Knits

Well, we’re still here. The Solar Eclipse has come and gone and no cats and dogs rained from the sky so Bill Murray can rest easy. How did you all enjoy it? Me well I only got to see about 80% of the Eclipse but it was a sight to behold regardless, an eerie sight. Admittedly this was my first Solar Eclipse in my entirety of my life; sure I’ve seen Lunar Eclipses but never a Solar Eclipse. With our Solar Viewers we got from our Local Library my sister, my mum and myself all spent the day pretty much outdoors, despite the heat, watching the moon intrude it’s way over the Sun. Sadly I did not have the equipment to record it and I was not willing to risk my camera frying but Mum actually got a few photos by covering her iPhone camera with one of the lens of the glasses. This worked for the most part I’m not exactly sure if her camera ended up completely unscathed but she got a very few blurry photos.

Despite the solar viewers my eyes still felt a little bugged out after viewing this Eclipse but my eyesight isn’t perfect anyway so it’s probably no big deal. It took way over 20 years for me to finally see a Solar Eclipse so this will be an experience I’ll never forget. Funny enough it seems another one will be occurring in April 8th, 2024 but I’m not sure of the full details other than the fact it’s going to be in America again, are we going to be having more regular Solar Eclipses or is this just a rare round 2 happening?

After the Solar Eclipse had ended we wrapped the day up with what Mum is now dubbing the Solar Eclipse Chicken Pie. 

I don't think we could of had a more perfect meal then this on the day of the Solar Eclipse and it was delicious to make it even better.

Now let’s dive into the next movie I watched recently, well actually it’s apart of 8 movies I’ve watched in the past few weeks, Harry Potter. A week ago, as it’s now the 20^th anniversary of the series, I dropped a nostalgia Harry Potter blog about the very first outing of Harry, Ron and Hermione in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (Or Philosopher’s Stone in countries outside America.) as they discover a friendship that would last them throughout their years at Hogwarts of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which you can read here: https://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/08/harry-potter-and-sorcerers-stone.html. Spoilers ahead for the ending of the first Harry Potter movie and I say this with all blogs that discuss sequels there’s quite a few spoilers I just can’t avoid so please go read the first blog, watch the first movie or read the first book before trekking further but if you have already done so as I’m sure all of you have (We’re all Wizards on this blog) let’s dive into the next magical story by J.K. Rowling aka Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Directed once again by Christopher Columbus and of course written by J.K. Rowling the story takes place after the battle (And a game of Wizard’s Chest) to save the Sorcerer’s Stone from a weak Voldemort who had his influential claws in Professor Quirrell the former Defense of the Dark Arts teacher Harry returned home to the Dursleys to find them as Dursley as ever and just as abusive. Harry Potter isn’t the boy in the cupboard under the stairs now though he now sleeps in Dudley Dursley’s spare bedroom which might seem like a generous move by Vernon Dursley, Harry’s Uncle but you’ll find in the book the reasons behind this are not so nice after all. While in his new room Harry thinks over his memories from his first year at Hogwarts but also feels sad at the fact his friends haven’t been writing to him… Well they have been but a certain house-elf has been pinching them. This house elf is known as Dobby and he might be one of my favorite characters from the book hands down. Dobby is part of the house-elf enslavement despite most house-elfs being set free after the fall of He-who-should-not-be-named. Dobby doesn’t want Harry to go back to Hogwarts for his own protection which ends up causing quite a messy scene with the Dursleys.

© 2002 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Harry Potter Publishing Rights/J.K.R

Angry at what transpired Harry waits in his room until out of the blue a peculiar looking flying car (This is weird even by Wizard Standards) pulls up to his window. In this car are Harry’s Best Friend Ron Weasley and his older and twin brothers, the pranksters known as Fred and George Weasley, though I'm not sure any of these three were legal to drive but hey when you're a Wizard with a floating car I guess it doesn't matter. As a car fan and as someone who posts car blogs here on ZAK Entertainment this car is actually a Ford Anglia 105E Deluxe. As a kid I just thought of it as the Weasley’s flying car but this is a pretty cool fun fact.

© 2002 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Harry Potter Publishing Rights/J.K.R

Early on in the movie and book the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher makes an appearance, the infamous and conceited autobiographer Gilderoy Lockhart and oh boy this guy is a piece of work but might be one of funniest characters in the book/movie. I know these books and movies have been out for years but you have to watch/read it for yourself.

© 2002 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Harry Potter Publishing Rights/J.K.R

After a snide encounter with Draco Malfoy’s father Lucius Malfoy (That gets pretty rough in the book) Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the Weasley family including Ginny Weasley, Ron’s 1 year younger sister who’s starting her first year at Hogwarts. Ginny plays a major role in this story which involves a dark chapter of Hogwart’s history returning, the Chamber of Secrets is open and it’s looking to be a dark year at Hogwarts. Regardless of the dangers Harry and friends seem to get into some fun hijinks along the way.

Besides Gilderoy Lockhart, Dobby and Lucius some other new characters are introduced such as the mysterious Tom Riddle (Christian Coulson) (Don’t spoil anyone in the comments about who this is). 

© 2002 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Harry Potter Publishing Rights/J.K.R

Professor Sprout the Herbology professor is also introduced and played by Miriam Margolyes, as well as teaching you to never neglect your earmuffs; seriously those Mandrakes will make you go deaf.

Arthur Weasley is introduced as Ron’s father and a man ever curious about the muggle life. (Seriously what is the function of a rubber duck?). He works at the Ministry of Magic. Mark Williams plays Arthur Weasley and recently starred as Father Brown in… Well Father Brown which is a BBC series that’s still airing, it’s on Netflix for those who want to check that out, it’s about a catholic priest who solves mysteries.

Speaking of the Ministry the late Robert Hardy (Who passed away at the age of 91 on August 3 a few weeks ago) appears as Cornelius Fudge. His appearance is brief and I think a lot more is said in the book. Robert Hardy was probably more famous for playing Siegfried Farnon in the 1978-1990 BBC series “All Creatures Great and Small.” He was 91 so he lived a long life but it got me thinking, a lot of people from the Harry Potter movies are no longer alive such as Richard Harris who played Albus Dumbledore. Robert Hardy also played one episode each of “Inspector Morse” and “Midsomer Murders” and Sir John Middleton in “Sense and Sensibility.”.

Oh yeah back onto Gilderoy Lockhart did you know Kenneth Branagh played Henry V in the 1989 King Henry V? I did not put the two and two together until now, for some reason. He’s also starring in the upcoming new version of Murder on the Orient Express which perhaps I should talk about more in a future blog. You can check out a trailer for that here: . I’m not too sure about the mustache he’s wearing but it could be a good movie. He’s been in quite a lot of popular roles.

© 2002 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Harry Potter Publishing Rights/J.K.R

Back onto the actual movie setting can I admit that I loved the actual Chamber of Secrets dungeon as a kid? Is that creepy? I don’t know why but it seemed so enticing for being a creepy underground dungeon. I think the Chamber of Secrets book and movie in general fueled a lot of my imagination more than any of the other movies in the series.

© 2002 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Harry Potter Publishing Rights/J.K.R

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets also dives into the lovable Hagrid's backstory which cemented him as an all time favorite Harry Potter and storybook character in general of mine. Seriously you tell me anyone else who's cool enough to keep a giant spider as a pet? I shouldn't of said that though. I should not have said that.

Like the previous movie this movie follows the book for I would say 80% of it. There’s a lot of detail in the books that wasn’t translated to the movie such as Peeves the Prankster Ghost (Who wasn’t in any of the movies, sadly), Professor Binns the History of Magic professor, as well as some scenes playing out differently. Regardless of the sometimes unnecessary changes this movie is just as magical now as it was back then and perhaps surpasses the first movie in some aspects. This movie and book introduces a lot of story elements that come into play in later books such as The Half Blood-Prince, which funny enough was a working title for Chamber of Secrets before J.K. Rowling changed it. The plot of this movie really sets up the rest of the series but also works well as a powerful, engaging and pure magical adventure.

© 2002 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. Harry Potter Publishing Rights/J.K.R

I absolutely love this movie to the point I could possibly say it’s my favorite but it’s hard to choose… Yeah it’s my favorite who am I kidding? It takes the magic of the first film and amplifies it with a few new characters, a more engaging storyline with a premise that sets up the films to come and while I think the book surpasses it I recommend, as with all of the Harry Potter series, to read and watch both because they really do complement each other. If you don’t have it already you can buy the book from Amazon Kindle for $8.99 but don’t forget you can read this for free if you have kindleunlimited!

You can buy the movie from iTunes but if you’re interested there’s also an extended edition with a few deleted scenes, this is the version of the movie we have but I’m not sure if it’s any better than the normal edition other than being longer. If you’re wanting to upgrade from VHS (Which is what we did) this would be a perfect way to have the magic of The Chamber of Secrets on demand wherever you are while still watching it on TV. Both editions are the same prices so you can check them out below.

Normal Edition:

https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/movie/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets/id272931585?mt=6&at=1001lsFH&ct=1001lsFH

Extended Edition:
https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/movie/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets-extended-version/id397997690?mt=6&at=1001lsFH&ct=1001lsFH

This is blog 2 of an 8 part blog series for the Harry Potter 20^th Anniversary so hope you come back next time for the Prisoner of Azkaban! I hope these blogs get you younger viewers into the series that held a huge part of my childhood. All you have to do is follow the spiders.

So aside from Harry Potter I’ve finally began watching Marvel’s Defenders which just released its first season on Netflix. 

Defenders stars Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage as they have to come together to protect New York City from “The Hand” a mystical organization of Ninjas. I probably should have watched Iron First before watching Defenders because I was a tad bit confused. Actually the only two I knew about were Daredevil and Luke Cake because of being a fan of their comics and show. I was pretty excited when they announced this despite not seeing Jessica Jones or Iron Fist; I mean Marvel was setting up yet another Superhero team up how could I resist that, especially when I believe this may be connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie series. Marvel’s Defenders is more down to earth then the Avengers and doesn’t get as crazy which is a nice contrast to the Movies. So far I’ve warmed up to the series but I have to say it started off a little slow and due to my confusion with who The Hand was (Forgive me I’m not sure I ever read any comics featuring them for some reason). Regardless it’s now picking up and has been pretty thrilling so far. I have to say Marvel’s Defenders has prompted me to check out more of Jessica Jones and Iron Fist’s lore so that’s going to be a fun task, especially Jessica Jones with her dry sarcasm, for some reason I love her character for that. I’ll be talking more about this in its own blog when I finish watching the series.

What is really great about this show is what happened behind the scenes of filming this show. Daredevil won’t have to worry about suit damage because he can now just knit himself up one! Yes Krysten Ritter, who plays Jessica Jones, has taught Charlie Cox who plays Daredevil how to knit which is just completely awesome in every way. As a male knitter I proudly accept you into our ranks, Charlie Cox. Seriously though this is pretty awesome so thanks Krysten you’ve done a great deed. As proof you can check out the instagram photo below where you can see the two co-actors knitting together.

PROOF! I taught my friend, the already wildly-mind-blowingly talented Charlie Cox, a new skill set. #krystenknitter #knittersofinstagram #jessicajones #daredevil #defend

A post shared by Krysten Ritter (@therealkrystenritter) on Aug 20, 2017 at 9:26am PDT

I have to ask however, with his senses can Daredevil actually knit? I mean he can fight pretty well without sight maybe the art of knitting is a breeze to him.

For today’s FREE knitting pattern I’m featuring a pattern I bet Charlie Cox couldn’t resist. No need to worry about damaged suits anymore when you can just knit this “Daredevil Hooded Scarf” pattern from Alison Blakely.

I can’t believe I actually found this pattern. This may be one of the coolest patterns and coolest comic related pattern in general yet. This is actually a VERY creative pattern, it’s a hoodie and scarf hybrid and seems easy to knit too with only decreases and increases for the hoodie and the rest being straight knitting. She doesn’t specify which size needles are recommended but Alison used 6mm(US Size 10) needles to knit the test knits. Alison used two balls of Lion Brand Heartland in Redwood, this is a bulky weight yarn you can buy here: http://amzn.to/2g34Mi4 and Four Seasons Marvel in Red and Claret for contrast colors. You can also buy that here: http://www.4seasonsyarns.com.au/ but any similar colors in any yarn will work but I believe it must stay bulky yarn for the pattern to work.

You can download this awesome pattern and head out to kick super villain butt here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/daredevil-hooded-scarf There’s three different downloads as the pattern is mostly in separate color charts so make sure you download all three. Hey if you ever read this Charlie Cox, keep up the knitting! It’s a great pass time and well you can knit up this awesome Daredevil hoodie for yourself.

For now however I’ll leave you guys for today but before then just a reminder that ZAK Entertainment is now on Redbubble! From this comes T-Shirts and all sorts of other merchandise with the ZAK Entertainment logo and my watercolor artwork (Well the non Dream Eclipse related Watercolor work) will all be available for you to purchase. You can check out the full selection at: https://www.redbubble.com/people/zakentertains . So happy to finally bring you guys merchandise as a love letter for viewing this blog for the past year.

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you on Friday!

[Photo Credits: Didomum, Warner Brothers, Pottermore, J.K. Rowling, Krysten Ritter, Alison Blakely]