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
10th, 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 20th 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
17th) 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 14th
and 21st! (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.)
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 7th, 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 7th 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]
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