Meatman does it Again
582934
Very well done addition to the fine Meatmen series. I will purchase more Meatmen and probably from Copperfish Books LLC. They were the best.
338907
Another great book by Jim Butcher. It's definitely more of a Victorian style occult steam-punk setting, but he manages to weave all these disparate concepts together into a great story. Modern Sci-Fi/Fantasy is getting trampled under the influx of cut-rate romance authors, but Butcher helps keep the genre alive by writing excellent books like this.
2196595
Very enjoyable sequel to a very fun book. There is enough philosophical meat to generate some fun discussions about AI and what it means to be a person, as well as the nature of evil. Yet the book does it in an organic page-turner way that is not preachy or didactic. The longer chapters, focusing on fewer characters, miss something of the narrative history feel that made Robopocalypse so fun (along the lines of World War Z). But what it sacrificed in narrative zip it made up for in character development. While it's not quite as fun as the first book, it's almost as good (good enough I have read both cover to cover in under 3 days). I can't wait for the third installment. Hope it comes sooner than 3 years from now!
3333899
I loved the TV show Meat Men.  This book is laid out very well and oozes Mr. LaFrieda's passion and joy.  It is obvious that he lives and breathes his profession.  I love the beautiful photographs and thick paper.  High quality book.  His information is quite useful and thorough.  I highly recommend this book because Pat knows meat better than anyone.  (Except maybe his dad:)
2729714
Devil said bang continues on from the Sandman Slim universe and delivers a fantastic story and very interesting look at the politics of hell. If there is any real detraction, I would have to say that the ending was a bit abrupt... but does nothing more than keep you salivating for the next book to come out. If you haven't read them yet, I would strongly suggest starting from the beginning which is Sandman Slim and work your way towards this book. You won't be disappointed. .
4380139
Another great addition to the Dresden Files. As Jim Butcher really starts digging into his characters he is able to intertwine the relationships so the stories don't seem like "oh, today's guest star is [blank]". Jim Butcher also is letting each character grow with the novels and not remain a static 2-D person to play the foil-du-jour to Harry Dresden. In Small Favor, many past characters and story lines build up more steam as Dresden has what might be called a "crapstorm" dumped on him. For those of you familiar he has to deal with the Denarians, Winter (Mab), Summer (Titania), the Archive and Kincaid, no support from the C.P.D., Gentleman Johnny Marcone, and what turns to be a little more insight into the Black Council. You can almost feel Jim Butcher using 'Small Favor' to take mythos of Harry Dresden and crank things up a notch and given what has been said and done, the future is "gonna get really good!"
4347968
I absolutely love this album. Lamb of God never disappoints. There's not a bad album in the bunch from these guys. Every album is awesome and I love the fact that they are starting to get more diverse with a song like overlord. \m/
3968483
By 1990, the Meatmen franchise was well-established, and many of the regulars had found their niches. A pattern had been established; open with a Tom of Finland reprint ("Sightseeing the Guards" in this case), have your regular milestones along the way for the erotic strips ("Stephen", "Sean", "The Hun", "Mike"), and fill in around the edges with slice-of-life/funny strips (Jeff Krell's "Jayson", Jerry Mills' "Poppers", Kurt Erichsen's "Sparkle Spinsters", and sundry cartoons by Gerard Donelan), and Bob's your uncle.

Worthy of special mention this time are the always-enjoyable Krell (poignant as well as funny this time), Erichsen and Donelan 'toons, and the breath-taking "Bigfoot & A Half", by "Sean", in which a group of horny and lonely lumberjacks discover the veracity of a mythical wild thing in *no* uncertain terms. My goodness.

Space was usually left for experimental strips, however, and as relative newcomers Stephen Lowther and myself, as Howard Stangroom, were the 'filler' in the sandwich this time; "Creatures of the Night" wasn't originally intended for "Meatmen" at all, but as the 'pilot' for an ongoing series another publisher was proposing, a gay comic book with regular features rather than the scattershot anthology of "Gay Comics". When that project fell through, I just added more nudity (and the most politically-correct, multi-ethnic street gang ever - I'm a great believer in equal-opportunity ogling!) and submitted it to "Meatmen", where the adventures of a vengeful super-heroic gay Spectre proved pretty popular.

Most of the Stangroom & Lowther material is now collected in full-colour, rather than Meatmen's black & white, in the "Prime Cuts" paperback from Germany's Bruno Gmunder (also available on Amazon!), but the rest of the book is an enjoyable selection - I don't get "The Hun" or "Mike", but lots of folks do, so live & let live -  and one of the best of the early series.
4861544
Another killer album from KG.  The mood masters create another morose, yet galloping ode to serial killers and the untouchables of society.  Standout tracks are Red Skies and my favorite, Blood of the Lamb, with a fantastic solo and a chorus you can't let go of. I only wish someone would sign these guys and give them a crapload of cash, so they could make albums more frequently.  And One Direction sells out stadiums?  I don't want to live on this planet anymore...

Score one for thoughtful music and get this album.
1831040
As fans of their first book, In The Charcuterie, I was super excited to see a new work come out. I first came across Fatted Calf, the charcuterie retail store that backs the writing of their cookbooks, on a trip to California.  And, as a deep-rooted lover of all meat products (and production methods), I was immediately impressed by their level of commitment to their craft that is clearly informed by immense knowledge and dedication  their sausage / salumi are some of the best I have had, think small-batch tasty goodness, and some of their pts, like the nduja are quite addictive.

Although more specifically focused than the previous book, what I love about Jerky is all of the background material, descriptions of the various types of meat (beef, pork, goat, etc.), tips on preparation (various flavoring spices and drying techniques), plus the photographs are exceptionally well done. As to actual implementation, with 40+ recipes (thats a lot of jerky!) I do appreciate how they have scaled this for people to baby step their way into the jerky making process (meat + salt + sun) and then expand out as far as possibly desired, be it Ethiopian or Algerian spiced jerky.

This book makes a perfect gift for meat lovers who may want something different than the thousands of grill-based books out there, and also for those who are interested in expanding their Paleo diets / recipes.
2845013
Love that they are doing these in comics.  Jim Butcher is a good writer.  One of my faves.
3045685
The 'classic' era of Meat Loaf seems to run from the iconic first 'bat outta hell' up to the 'Welcome to the Neighborhood'.  This cd falls nicely in that time period.  If you are a fan of the classic Meat Loaf vocal and sound this cd is for you.  A great addition to any music collection.
1391142
I love Meatloaf and the numerous on how to make something other than the same old meatloaf.
1485048
If Jim Steinman had his way (and Todd Rundgren had the money) there probably would have been an orchestra on all the tracks of "Bat Out Of Hell" instead of just on one of them. So, you could kind of see "Bat Out Of Hell Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra" as a realisation of a vision - with the album finally released as it was always intended to be.

Of course, it's dangerous to mess with a classic record. Therefore, I had some reservations about this version. But, thankfully, they were unwarranted. Meat Loaf and the Neverland Express are amazing throughout - Kasim Sultan (bass, musical direction) has the group as tight and together as they've ever been. Six of the tracks are recorded with the orchestra, rather than all seven ("All Revved Up" is just Meat and the band), but it's not so bad for that. "All Revved Up" is a little...well, it's a touch off-tone with the rest of the album, and it's a bit too...slow. But hey, Meat's not as young as he used to be.

The rest of the album I have no complaints about, however. I was never a big fan of "Paradise By The Dashboard Light", but this version is perfectly fine (as good as the Night of the Proms versions, for sure), and the orchestra really do manage to add something to all the rest of the songs, taking them to a real, new place, that justifies the purchase of this album even if you already have the original "Bat" CD (I've got at least three copies of it, myself - the original, the Revamped version, and the 25th Anniversary edition - and I still think this was money well spent).

Probably the pick of the tracks (and this could just be me with my love of the song, it's always been my favourite) is "For Crying Out Loud", with Meat really delivering a stunning performance. It's moving. It's not quite as good as the original (but what is?), but it's up there.

Then there are bonus features - though this only applies to Aussies and people in the UK, or so they tell me. The CD comes with two extra tracks - "I'd Do Anything..." and "Couldn't Have Said It Better", both from the Melbourne concerts. Like "Paradise", I was never a massive fan of "I'd Do Anything For Love" (I know, blasphemy, huh?), but the version here is pretty good, I admit. "Couldn't Have Said It Better" (of which I've now heard four versions, including the studio) is at its best here, with Meat, the band, and the orchestra making it a real extravaganza.

The bonus DVD contains some great stuff. A teaser of the full-length DVD package is provided by the concert footage of "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" and audio of "Dead Ringer For Love", which is really good. The video clips of "Couldn't Have Said It Better" and "Did I Say That?" are included - which is a very nice touch, I thought, even if the songs are edited to death. But what's really nice is a bonus that DVD owners don't get - versions of "I'd Lie For You" and "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through", recorded live with the Symphony. They're very good (but there's no option to kill the picture gallery that shows when you play them - a minor quibble). My only regret is that he didn't play "Modern Girl" (I requested it at the signing in Melbourne where he announced that the MSO concerts would be released on CD and DVD, and he just looked at me and said "No", a little disbelievingly).

This is a great package, and comes thoroughly reccomended. Get this one and chuck it in the car, and get the DVD when it comes out - for home use. Just because there's less on here, don't confuse it for being an inferior product.
2006104
This manga is great.....plain and simple it's just great. If you like horror, if you like character, if you just plain like manga i'd recommend this.

A fresh new take on Frankenstien-style lore, with great art, a fun and compelling main character, and a creativity i've not seen in a long time.

I'll give an example of that creativity from our heronine Miss Fran. How would you keep a severed head alive? Electricity? Some sort of life serum? Robot or cadaver body? Well i'll tell you this, you wouldnt hollow out some of the skull and stuff organs inside it.

If a full recommendation from a stranger means anything from you, you have it.
3709463
Mr. Parsons Sparhawk is like a slow cooker as the story develops he amassed more levels of flavor as the story develops. The next chapter I'll leave in BVs capable hands.  As I am sure it won't just be an appetizer but a grand meal for us to injest. Thanks.
4958088
Following from volume 1 we continue the storyline of Cammy and her mysterious past with M.Bison. As is evident from the cover Cammy gets a lot of attention in the volume. We also revisit Ryus quest to improve in order to face has masters killer, Akuma. Following along is his young pupil, Sakura, Ryu seeks training from two of the most diametrically opposite characters in Street Fighter, Dhalsim and Gen. Ken is preparing to get married and Guile is dealing with an unhappy Julia who is tired of her husband constantly putting his life at risk.

The first fight is an awesome one between Cammy and Chun-Li who recognizes Cammy as her fathers murderer. The fight ends in a no contest but is great nonetheless. There is a rematch between Ken and Vega while Ryu faces off against the brutal Balrog. We also get round two of Ryu vs Sagat and a cool fight between Gen and Akuma. This is only an abbreviated list of all the fights in volume 2. If I had one issue with the fights its that almost none have a definite winner. Its almost like Capcom was loathe to job out any of their characters. It was nice that the artists care enough to have the fighters moves stay consistent with the video games.

The minimum a book of this type needs to get by is the fighting but the SF comics go the extra mile and produce some decent characterization. Video game adaptations usually set the bar pretty low but it feels like Udon actually put in some effort here. Sure the story is based on an existing template from the game but its amazing how often game adaptions fail. There are some moments that are darker than one would generally expect from this kind of story. In one scene a character murders her own mother as a test of loyalty to M.Bison.  There is even a shocking death of one of the games characters and we learn just what sort of bastard Gen was.

Just as with volume 1 there are a number of artists and although they are not uniformly great there were no points in the book where I found the art bad. There are times when the art becomes radically different in style from the rest of the book but it never bothered me. I actually found it a little cool seeing the different artists working together to produce the book. In the end it all works together to produce a very attractive book.

There are a lot of non-gaming licensed products with the Street Fighter name on them and a lot of them aren't very good. This is one of the best. I consider it sort of a companion piece to Street Fighter the Animated Movie released in 1989. Whats cool is the Capcom, for the most part, stays consistent with the continuity between the games and comics. The comic does take some liberties but nothing that bothered me. The $50 cover price may scare some people away although at this point it shouldnt be a challenge to find it for less than $40. The fact is this is this is a high quality book which justifies the price. If you're a Street Fighter fan I don't think youll find the price excessive. It really adds to the whole video game experience by giving fans a more complete picture of the characters, their lives and their motivations.