Book Review: The Manhattan Projects, Vol. 1

Title: The Manhattan Projects, Volume 1
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Pitarra
Publisher: Image Comics

Synopsis (from Amazon):
What if the research and development department created to produce the first atomic bomb was a front for a series of other, more unusual, programs? What if that department was staffed by some of the greatest geniuses that ever lived? And what if those geniuses were not exactly er... right in the head?
(Collects The Manhattan Projects issues #1-#5)

What I Liked:

• Science. Bad. Very Bad.
• A bad-ass Einstein with a posse of other super-geniuses who lean more towards evil than good? Now THAT'S an awesome concept.
• I'm a sucker for stories that take real-life people or characters and put them together. This reminded me of BPRD and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but with super-genius scientists!
• I also loved the way Hickman incorporates all the scientific stuff and history into the story, as well as the way he twists all those historical figures into a Fringe-like alternate version.
• Oppenheimer. Holy crap.

What I didn't like:

• Not much I didn't like, really.
• Ok, it DOES remind me too much of Fringe, but that's not really a BAD thing.

Where to Buy it:
Kinokuniya KLCC lor. Where else?

The Biggest, Baddest, Warewolf Sale On The Planet

So, yesterday I went to the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale. And I bought a lot of books. The End.

What, you wanna know how the whole thing was like? Ok fine.

Location-wise, yes it's in Balakong (Mines), but it's a lot better than the LAST place, where we had to take a shuttle bus from the car park to the sale. This time, you just park inside the convention center, and walk up.

And no, unlike this dude, you can't park IN the hall itself:



Darn VIP Wolf.

Anyway, here's my first tip: if you're going for the sale, BRING YOUR OWN BAG. Preferably one with wheels. Don't have one? You can buy one at the entrance hall!



You can also buy T-shirts and other Big Bad Wolf merchandise (WAH BOOK SALE ALSO GOT OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE!), and the designs are not bad too:



But never mind the car, the shirts and the bags... HOW IS THE SALE???

Well, let's head in, shall we?



OMG. BOOKS. Books EVERYWHERE:



Ficton, non-fiction, fantasy, Sci-fi, children's books, magazines, coookbooks... there are literally TONS of books in there. Of course, as soon as I went in, I made a beeline for the graphic novel section, where I saw quite a number of familiar faces already hoarding the mostly Marvel stuff there:



It's safe to say that about 85% of the graphic novels at BBW were mostly Marvel trade paperbacks and hardcovers. there's some good stuff in there though - stuff by Frank Miller, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Marvels by Alex Ross... hardly any DC or books from other publishers around though.

Most of the graphic novels were priced from RM15, RM18, RM20, RM25 or RM30. There's also a few tables of manga but... meh.

I spent most of my 3 hours there at the comics section, but I also managed to take one quick round around the hall to pick up a few other things. Funnily enough, novels don't interest me much anymore, but I did find some great drinks books though:



I'd say the average price of each normal paperback is about RM8, though I saw some for RM5, RM10 and up to RM20 for hardcovers I think.

I have to say, this year's sale has to be one of the best planned and most organised book sales I've ever been to. They've pretty much thought of EVERYTHING to make book shoppers feel comfortable. No sifting through dusty boxes, no hot, stuffy warehouses... everything is neat and tidy, and browsing in the hall was pretty easy.

They've also got massage chairs (for those who are too tired to browse), food halls (books make you hungry!), and children's playgrounds (for the kids to spend their time), and the whole hall has nice cheerful colorful banners all over the place:



They've even got STORAGE SPACE for you to keep your unpaid stash (it's got a number system so you don't lose your books), so you don't have to zealously lug your precious stash around all the time!



This is an exceptionally great but evil plan, because it just makes you go back out there empty handed, and buy more stuff!

Don't worry if you can't carry all them books on your own though - they've even got porter services for you!

Yeah, I found the service at this year's sale to be pretty damn good. The so-called "Wolf Pack" were mostly friendly, and even offer to carry your stuff as you approach the cashier.



Maybe it's because it's just the first day and they're all still pretty fresh. I wonder how they'd be like by the end of the week... hehe.

SOOOO... in the end, what did I get? Well, my total damage came up to RM311 (I left my credit card at home and brought only about RM300 to the sale), and here's what I got:

1. Marvel Secret Wars TP
2. Marvel Secret Invasion TP
3. Daredevil: The Man Without Fear (Frank Millar)
4. Wolverine (Frank Miller)
5. Wolverine: Weapon-x (Barry Windsor-Smith)
6. Wolverine: Logan (Brian K. Vaughn)
7. Fantastic Four: 1234 (Grant Morrison)
8. Fantastic Four: World's Greatest (Mark Millar)
9. Captain America: Man Out Of Time (Mark Waid)
10. Spider-Man: Election Day
11. Spider-Man: One More Day
12. Spider-Man Mark Millar Ultimate Collection
13. 50% Wool 50% Asinine (RM8) - a collection of Argyle Sweater strips
14. Watching The Watchmen (RM25) - Dave Gibbbons on drawing the comic
15. The Beatles (RM15) - a hardcover coffee table book with loads of pictures)
16. The Everything Bartender's Book (RM5)
17. The Ultimate Guide To Spirits And Cocktails (RM20) - by far the best deal in my entire haul. only RM20 for a super thick, super detailed reference book
18. Shade's Children (Garth Nix) - The only novel I bought there.

----------------------------------------------

In case you STILL need it, here are the details for the sale:

Date: 7-23 December 2012
Time: 9am-9pm
Venue: Mines Convention Centre

63 Straight Hours of Book-Shopping Mayhem!

As if having 3 million books for you to choose from isn't enough, the guys at Big Bad Wolf Book Sale are giving you even MORE time to shop... they're gonna be open SIXTY-THREE HOURS non-stop from 6:30am on 7 December until 9:30pm on 9 December. Now THAT'S what I call a book sale!

After that they'll probably go back to the 9am-9pm schedule. After all, even Big Bad Wolves need to sleep SOMETIMES.

Here are the details of the sale:

Date: 7-23 December 2012
Time: 9am-9pm
Venue: Mines Convention Centre

I'll be there later today for the preview sale:



So watch this space for a full report of what the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale will be like!

The Big Bad Wolf Sale is Back!

Heads up, folks, the world's biggest book warehouse sale - The BIG BAD WOLF SALE - is back, and it's gonna be bigger and badder than ever!

With THREE MILLION over books this time, it's gonna be another mega-event for book lovers. And the titles they've previewed on their Facebook page so far look good. The comics and graphic novel section certainly caught my eye with some Marvel books as well.

Here are the details of the sale:

Date: 7-23 December 2012
Time: 9am-9pm
Venue: Mines Convention Centre

Hmm, at least it isn't as far as the last one...

The MPH Distributors Warehouse Sale is back!

WOOT! The MPH Distributors Warehouse Sale is back!

The last time I went for an MPH Distributors Warehouse Sale, I came back with two Absolute edition graphic novels, and a whole STACK of other comics. And this was before I even started on the books...

I'm hoping there'll be more comics this time around (I seem to buy more of those these days), but judging from the pictures they've posted on their Facebook page, there should be a whole lot more to look forward to as well! Woot!

Anyway, here are the details for the sale:

VENUE: The Crest, 3 Two Square, Block F, Ground Floor, No. 2, Jalan 19/1, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
TIME: 8am-6pm
DATES: 8 September - 17 September 2012

The New 52 is Nothing Like The Old 52

IF you're a fan of comics, especially DC Comics, you would probably have heard of the DC's New 52, a completely new reboot of the DC Universe that had 52, yes FIFTY TWO, new #1s, including new takes on Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and the Jusitce League among others.

Thanks to my iPad, I've managed to get most of the titles through the DC app (and er.. other means), and have read almost every single one of the titles. I've liked some of the new titles, and hated some.



It started out with the new Justice League #01, which was interesting enough, featuring Batman, Green LAntern and Superman apparently meeting for the first time. It's an intriguing start to the new series, and I'll definitely be er.. acquiring the next issue later.

The most significant change in the New 52 BTW, is that Superman doesn't wear his underwear on the outside anymore:



Ok, there are two new Superman titles in the New 52. The one above is Grant Morrison's take on the Man of Steel, through the new Action Comics #01, where Superman is still starting out with this whole superhero shit, and is a little bit more cocky and less goody goody than you're used to seeing him. Oh, and he wears JEANS. Awesome.

Well, I loved it a lot more than Superman #01, which I thought was a little too messy for my liking:



Another comic I quite liked was The Flash #01:



I've always had a soft spot for The Flash (I've got er... THREE T-shirts with his lightning logo on em), and since the Flashpoint event was supposedly the whole catalyst for this New 52 reboot, I was interested to see how things would pan out for Barry Allan.

Turns out this is a pretty straightforward reboot for The Flash. It's not an origin story, since we meet him when he is already an established name in Central City, but he hasn't married Iris West yet, and he's running around (heh) solving some mystery involving a friend from his past.

Nothing much happening in the first issue yet, but I think I'll stick to it for now.

Now, we move on to the main event, for me at least - the BATMAN comics.



I've been on a crazy rampage through Batman's past recent comics lately, having read No Man's LAnd, Streets of Gotham, the awesome Gotham Central, Gotham Knights in quick succession, and even the frankly lousy Batman RIP and Return of Bruce Wayne arcs (Batman Inc. is pretty interesting though, I have to admit).

The New 52 is a strange one for The Dark Knight. On one hand, in Detective Comics and Batman: The Dark Knight #01, he seems to be starting a brand new arc.



In Batman & Robin #01 however, he seems to be continuing on in the main continuity , with Damien Wayne (yes, Bruce's son) as Robin. The same seems to hold true with Batman #01 as well, which was great when Bruce Wayne was shown together with all three Robins, former and present (minus Jason Todd, of course). And then, there's the OTHER Batman-related titles like Nightwing, Birds Of Prey and Huntress...

Oh, and how could I forget THIS kinky little minx?



Catwoman #01 has caused a bit of a controversy with all the sexy, scantily-clad action she gets into, and THAT sex scene at the end of it, but frankly speaking, it's CATWOMAN. You DO expect some amount of tits and asses in this title after all, though the artist seriously needs to do more er... research for the next time he draws a sex scene - I mean, HOLY HENTAI SHIT, BATMAN, whaddafuck kinda position is THAT?

Overall, I thought the whole New 52 exercise is a pretty interesting one. The main characters - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Green Lantern - have pretty promising titles, while I also liked some of the lesser known ones such as Animal Man, Teen Titans, All Star Western (Jonah Hex!), Justice League International, and Justice League Dark (John Constantine FTW!). Some, like Red Hood And The Outlaws and Legion Of Superheroes are pretty bad though, and others like Captain Atom and Hawk And Dove just couldn't hold my attention.

The New 52 has definitely gotten me more interested in reading the DC titles again, and it should be interesting to see just how far the company is willing to take this. For now, some of the titles have gotten me hooked to reading comics again, and it's been great fun keeping up with the New 52 so far.

Pixar-mad At the Big Bad Wolf Sale!

Behold... my haul from the Big Bad Wolf Books Sale!



A total of 30 books, including children's books, comics, hardcover graphic novels, and cocktail books. The damage? Only RM230 (I only brought RM250 cash this year to limit myself, and no credit card too...)

Anyway, this year they had a new system for the preview sale, apparently because there are winners as well as media people at the preview, so we had to pick up this pass from Bookxcess before going there.



The location is in Serdang, actually right behind UPM, at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS), and you have to drive there, park your car, and take a bus that will take you to the sale. Word of advice: Bring a bag, or trolley to help you with your shopping, like this lady here:

Trust me, you'll need it. You don't want to be lugging a box full of books around THIS:

And that's just HALF the warehouse! Yes, it's THAT BIG.

It's all really well-organised, with BIG BIG SIGNS telling you which section you are in, be it Children, Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Non-Fiction, or Fiction.

Anyway, my favorite part of the sale was the piles of Pixar comic books by Boom! Studios, the studio run by Mark Waid, so the quality is pretty good. They've got WALL-E, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Cars and Finding Nemo comics, which were pretty awesome.

I sapued about 18 of these, all at FIVE BUCKS EACH! There There were some Muppet comics as well, but I didn't buy any cos I was on a budget...

The fantasy selection was pretty good as well, lots of new titles and old ones, and even the newer Wheel Of Time novels by Barry Sanderson. Hardover, going for... wait for it... EIGHT BUCKS!

As for non-fiction, there were lots of stuff too, almost half the hall was non-fiction, and cookbooks too.

Lots of dummies and idiots there as well:

I DID find the graphic novel selection a bit disappointing though. Mostly a lot of manga, Speed Racer, Star Trek, and Transformers stuff:

I found a Tank Girl: The Gifting for RM8, Maxwell Strangewell, a MAD Sergio Aragones hardcover book, and two Zits books for RM12 each. That was it, really. I also bought 3 kid's picture books by Oliver Jeffers, for RM8 each.

My haul this time round may not be as much as previous editions of the Big Bad Wolf Sale, but I was quite happy with it, especially all the cheap Pixar comics. Other than that, I didn't really browse much in the fiction section. No time. and no money. heh heh.

Anyway, The Big Bad Wolf Books sale will run from today to Oct 16 at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang, Selangor. Opening hours are 10am to 9pm. OCBC cardholders get an additional 5% off the total bill.

Have fun, and remember to bring a trolley!

The Big Bad Wolf Sale is Back! Be there or be less broke!

YAY! The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale is back! The biggest, baddest, cheapest book warehouse sale is back!

Remember all the other times I went to the sale? It used to be at Amcorp Mall (where Bookxcess is now), and the first time it came around, it DEVOURED my money because of the choices and the prices.

Now it's back, and promises to be the BIGGEST and with over a MILLION books for sale. It's claiming to be the biggest in the WORLD, and I'm pretty sure these guys wouldn't exaggerated. Heh heh.

Anyway, the next Big BAd Wolf sale is on from 7th - 16th October, and will be held at Hall A, MAEPS, Malaysian Agro Exposition Park, Serdang. Click on the poster above for more info and the map to the venue!

Be there or be... er... stay un-broke, but with fewer books!! :-D

A Sale Of Books And Comics

Just got back from the media preview of the MPH Distributors' Warehouse Sale. Pretty decent selection of books there.

They've got the entire A Song of Ice And Fire series for RM80 or something like that:



Got a lot of other books there as well, but frankly, I've been too spoiled by Bookxcess and the Big Bad Wolf sale to bother with the books these days.



For me, the main attraction was the comics section. the sale has a pretty good selection (almost four bookcases full!) of graphic novels and trade paperbacks, mostly DC Comics and Vertigo stuff, with a few Dark Horse lying around. Absolutely nothing from Marvel though. All going for RM13-RM50, which is a STEAL.

I saw lots of Superman and Batman titles, some great stuff like Preacher, Constantine, Hellboy, BPRD, Y: The Last Man, Fables, DMZ, Ex-Machina, Swamp Thing, some Neil Gaiman stuff, and A LOT of the usual superhero stuff.



Yup, there were some Absolute editions as well. I saw quite a few Absolute Sandman Vol II, and Absolute Batman: Long Halloween going for RM76 each. Now THAT'S a great buy. No more Absolute Watchmen and Absolute Kingdom Come though. The hoard of hoarding journalists sapu all oledi heh heh.

Anyway, the sale is open for the public tomorrow until Sunday. Here're the details and a very handy map to the sale as well!



Date: 15-18 September 2011

Time : 8am to 7pm
Tel: 603 7958 1688)
Facebook: Facebook.com/MPHDistributorsWarehouseSale

Address:
Ground Floor
Bangunan TH
5 Jalan Bersatu
Section 13/4
Petaling Jaya

Tonight, I Dance With Dragons!

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! MY COPY OF A DANCE WITH DRAGONS IS FINALLY HERE!



IT'S A BOUT TIME, GEORGE R.R. Martin!

Now PLEASE don't take this long to finish The Winds Of Winter!

PS: At a total of 1016 pages, this book is gonna break my back if I carry it around to read....

Book Review: 5 Very Good Reasons To Punch A Dolphin In The Mouth

Title: 5 Very Good Reasons To Punch A Dolphin In The Mouth (And Other Useful Guides)
Author: The Oatmeal

Synopsis (from The Oatmeal)
In the spring of 2009 Matthew Inman debuted his website The Oatmeal which became one of the most popular comics on the web, garnering millions of readers and nearly a quarter billion pageviews the following year. His website was subsequently turned into a book, and 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth is that book. It contains a year’s worth of comics, with a mixture of classic Oatmeal comics such as Why it's better to pretend you don't know anything about computers and How to use a semicolon, as well as plenty of brand new material that isn’t available online.

What I Liked:

• IT's The Oatmeal! What's NOT to like!
• Free poster!
• Greatest self-help book ever!
• It's got all sorts of awesome guides! Like how to prepare your pet for war! And why rabies is better than babies!
• Very educational. Like the 20 things you need to know about beer. and Coffee. and CHEESE!
• But some were damn stupid as well. Like how to use an aposthrophe. (Like, cm'on, who do nots know's how to use an aposthrophe, huh?) Oh waits.

What I didn't like:

• Ok, some of the comics were just too 'mou lei tou' to be funny.
• Not the free poster I wanted!
• I'd read most of the comics online before so at times I did feel a little er.. cheated.

Where to Buy it:

I got mine at Kinokuniya Singapore. Not sure if the KL bookstores have it (I haven't been to Kino KLCC in ages and Borders or MPH are usually hopeless), but I'm guessing you can probably order it from Kino, or alternatively, just buy it online from Amazon or The Oatmeal website itself.

Free Music and Cheap Books In Xcess!

Today is Music Freedom Day! And in conjunction with the celebration, Bookxcess is having a Music Appreciation Night tomorrow (Firday) and Saturday, night in conjunction with ongoing their Music Freedom Day promotion:



This event is organized to appreciate some free performances by Malaysian musicians including Azmyl Yunor,

Here are the details:

Date: 4th-5th March 2011 Time: 8pm-9pm
Venue: Bookxcess, 3rd Floor, Amcorp Mall
Admission is free!

RSVP At the Facebook event page, and non-members will get a FREE BookXcess membership and one FREE book thong when they attend the event.

Even if you don't show up for the shows, at least go check out the promotion, which has the AWESOME Rolling Stone Cover-To-Cover box set going for 30% discount from its alrady discounted and cheap price:



Usual price is RM99.90, but for the promo, it's gonna be about RM63 only! Dammit, I should have waited....

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Oh, and at the same time, they're also having a promo for International Women's Day, with discounts for selected women-themed books:




And no, guys, I don't think back-issues of FHM or Maxim count...

Come Read Readings From Readings!

Hey everyone! If you have time next Friday, go drop by at the launch of READINGS, the new book by Sharon Bakar and Benard Chauly's Readings.

I'm just gonna cut and paste Sharon's blog post on the event. She has everything there anyway:

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The evening includes readings from the book; music from Dewangga Sakti, The Buntut Pulau Moonshiners and others; and local publishers’ book mart

Date : Friday, 25th February 2011
Place: Black Box, MAP@Publika, Level G2-01, Block A5, 1 Jalan Dutamas 1, Off Jalan Duta,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Time: 8.30pm – 12.00 am
Dress code: Smart Casual

Part of the proceeds from book sales in aid of Yayasan Orang Kurang Upaya Kelantan. Admission free, but donations welcome.

Contact sharonbakar@yahoo.com 017 2644956 for further information

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Here's the invite with all the details:

Borders on The Borderline

It was bound to happen sooner or later, I suppose:



BORDERS FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY

Now, before you start picketing outside The Curve and Times Square demanding that the stores stay open, bear in mind that this is probably only in the US. Not sure how it would affect its international stores, but considering the franchise is owned by another company here, I think the shops should still be opened here.

Doesn't make much of a difference to me though, I hardly go to Borders. In fact, have you SEEN the Borders in Times Square lately? They seemed to have misplaced it. No, really, I literally could not find the store the last time I went.

Apparently, after all that hoo-haa about being the BIGGEST BOOKSTORE IN THE WORLD 6 years ago, they've finally ripped it all out and relocated to a tiny little place on the lower ground floor of the complex. I guess they finally that the clientele at that termite warren of a shopping mall just ain't the reading sort, eh?

The one in The Curve seems to be going strong though (not sure about the Gardens one - it always seems so empty whenever I go there).

But yeah, I'm not exactly mourning the demise of Borders. Besides, I still prefer Kinokuniya anyway. The selection is still way better, everything is nicely arranged, and current, and they have a kickass comics/graphic novel section that no other bookstore can match. I've even come to prefer the Kinokuniya in Singapore over the Borders there (which seems to have lost its charm somehow).

The other bookstore I frequent more these days is Bookxcess, of course. New books at cheap prices? AWESOME. Plus they are only about 4-5 months behind the usual bookstores anyway. Considering how few books I've been reading lately (something I REALLY need to rectify this year), I would rather not pay a full RM100 for a hardcover when I can just wait a while longer for it to hit Bookxcess instead. Plus their Big Bad Wolf Warehouse Sales are just AWESOME.

It WOULD be nice to have a lot more bookstores around, of course, and the demise of Borders IS quite sad. It WOULD be sad if they closed down the Malaysian stores as well. But seriously though, I DO wish they would buck up on they selection of titles, and/or layout, because as far as I'm concerned, even after six years and several new stores later, Borders here still has room for A LOT of improvement.

The Big Bad Wolf is Back. Quick, Hide Your Wallets!

Ok, something other than beer and alcohol this time... but equally money-sapping.

The Big Bad Wolf Book Warehouse Sale is BAAACK!





Oh dear. Talk about bad timing. Just when every sen I have has to go into funding my personal biggest event of the year (and my life, actually hehe).

Luckily, it's in South City Plaza this time, so I won't be tempted to 'just pop in' liek the LAST one in Amcorp Mall...

Anyway, if you want to know exactly how money-sapping this sale really is, check out my past posts about it HERE.

Eat. Pray. Love. SNORE.

Eat Pray Love
Not a Review.



Eat?
Yes.



Pray?
Yes.



Love?
Yes.



Watch this movie?
Er, not really.
Go read the book instead.
Apparently it's much better.