Red Prime Shard: Surge Soda pop (Amazon) - Review

Anyone remember when the Coca-Cola drink: Surge was available in the 90s and for a while in the early 2000s?  It had a very 90s logo that came off as graffiti and hand painted, and it was delicious.  It was one of my favorite drinks in the 90s.  The commercials were weird with single can or bottle of Surge being set up as a prize, someone yells “SURGE” and then we see people race and compete for the drink, and it was advertised as a fully loaded citrus soda with carbos with the tagline being “Feed The Rush” and using signs of extreme sports to really make it an EXTREME drink for a 90s audience.  Honestly, I think a whole fridge or cooler of Surge would make more sense for these if we were to “Feed The Rush.”  About a year later, the logo changed to a more digital one that would clearly be made in a computer and for the most part, I think that one would work for a more mainstream audience, but there was a special charm about the original, and it seems Coca-Cola thought so as well since they used the old logo for the revival.  The drink was made as a competitor to Pepsi’s Mountain Dew and originally created with the codename MDK (Mountain Dew Killer), and for a while, it had a following, but then was eventually discontinued in 2003.  So with the revival version released, I wanted to try it again, but didn’t get the chance until recently.

Green Phoenix - Disney's Dark Age

Imperial March playing in the background

Between their ownership of Pixar Animation, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the entirety of Star Wars, the Walt Disney Company has become a nigh unstoppable juggernaut of the entertainment industry. Disney has become successful off of decades of successful branding and marketing their most popular entertainment properties until they have become staples of our childhoods.

And when one takes a look at the greater portion of these properties, a pattern emerges. The majority of them belong to a specific period of incredibly high-performing and critically lauded animated films released between 1989 and 1999, more popularly known as in cinematic history circles as the "Disney Renaissance".

But what about the period before the Renaissance? What was the state of Disney animation in the decades following the death of their founder, when the Nine Old Men began to pass and new talents rose and fell to eventually define my generation's childhood?

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Fast Cast Episode 6: Art & Animation - Ft. Loco-Laranja

The artist once known as T-McBee is now Loco-Laranja and has joined me to discuss the world of art among other random things.

ps. I apologize for the airplanes, there wasn't much I could do about that.

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Castle Woodwarf 2 (Steam) - Review

Red Diamond here again with another indie game review. What we have this time is a casual, yet intense, strategy game developed by Domo Games and published by Sedoc LLC. Castle Woodwarf 2. Interestingly, what we have this time is a sequel to a free flash game by Armor Games that has found itself released on Steam. What does this Dwarf & Dragon title hold? Click "read more" and let's take a look.

Fenris Talks About: Five Things You Didn't Know About Xbox Avatars

Ever wanted to know random trivia about Xbox Avatars? You've come to the right place. 

Hit "Read More" for more information!

Witch Thief (Nintendo Switch) Review.

YAY! It's time for a review of a shmup game, a 3D shmup game at that.  That's all that I need to say to get your attention.  This is Witch Thief for the Nintendo Switch.  (Click on "Read More" to read the full review.)

Green Phoenix - Dune (1984) Review

 

Based on the best-selling novel by Frank Herbert, Dune has been widely regarded by many as the one book that would be impossible to effectively adapt into film. Published in 1965, Dune became an instant best-seller and a staple of the science fiction genre; which meant that efforts to adapt it into cinema began almost instantly.

The first serious attempt to adapt Dune began in 1973, when a consortium of French filmmakers and producers hired on Alejandro Jodorowsky. Despite a great deal of enthusiasm and a star-studded cast, the story quickly ballooned into a 10-14 hour epic and the funding quickly dried up.

The next attempt occured in 1976, when Dino De Laurentiis bought the film rights from the consortium. He began looking for directors, with considerations given to Ridley Scott (who thought to hire on H.R. Giger and split the book into two films) before finally settling on David Lynch, whose vision was eventually manipulated to such a degree that he would later deny the film entirely.

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