A Fork On The Road

Once in a while a cookbook comes along that is far more than a cookbook. Mark DeCarlo, humorist, loves food, all types of food, so he set out on a quest to travel the country back roads and take a taste tour of America.

Avoiding fast-food chains and the interstates, Mark looked for the Mom and Pop establishments that have gain their notoriety because of their food. Journey along with him as he discovers what good ol’ home-style cooking is all about.


Along the way you’ll meet up with some of the most interesting and ‘unique’ individuals who ever slung hash, fried eggs, served burgers or cooked up a concoction that customers can’t seem to get enough of. They share their recipes and memories.


A Fork On The Road, published by Lyons Press, travels the country not so much just to taste food but to rediscover the people and places that make up the melting pot which is the United States. From Jazzfest Cajun cuisine in New Orleans to sipping soup in Alaska, Mark invites readers to ride along on his culinary cross-county cuisine caravan.


Pack up your silverware, prepare your stomach for what it’s about to consume and hit the road, you’ve got 400 cities to travel on one stomach.

Cosmic

Welcome to the world of Liam, a twelve year old who looks like a grown-up, including the whiskers, and who has more smarts than he knows what to do with. 

It's his smarts that manage to get him in trouble from posing as a grownup in school to impersonating a fellow classmate's father in order to visit places children have no place being or doing things best left to adults-like purchasing a car--almost.

Looking older than he is has its ups and downs-like being mistaken for an adult and getting to do adult things and looking like an adult and being expected to act older than you are-even though you're a twelve year old boy.
Liam's masquerading as an adult really gets him into hot water when he poses as a chaperone for a group of kids on the first ever civilian spaceship flight.  Too bad Liam's not an adult-he might be able to figure a way back home when their spaceship malfunctions and they find themselves hundreds of thousands of miles away from Earth.
Cosmic is a delightful children's book with a unique main character, a quirky supporting cast and an outrageous and implausible story that author Frank Cottrell Boyce (I like that last name) manages to make perfect sense.  Look for Cosmic from Walden Pond Press.

Flip's Twisted World

Imagine living in a world where everything flips.  Suddenly the floor is the side wall, the ceiling the floor and to top things off everything is fraught with danger.

Gamers play Flip, a sorcerer's apprentice, who ignores his Master's advice and opens up a magical book and suddenly finds himself sucked into insane cube world where up is down, sideways suddenly become walkways and perspective and gravity have gone haywire.

You control the action and perspective with the simple flip of your wrist, using the Wii Remote.  Suddenly everything changes, new challenges arise as do new opportunities. 

Travel though six outrageous worlds collecting magical items and encountering a bevy of bizarre creatures and individuals.  Unlock goodies and alternate costumes, find pieces of Flip's Master's lost journal while desperately trying to find your way home-but only after you battle a ghost from Flip's Master's past. 
Flip's Twisted World is a 3D puzzler with an original musical score by Tommy Tallarico and featuring the voice talent of Anthony Stewart Head.  Flip's Twisted World is made for Wii and features some of the most imaginative, creative and fun scenarios, characters and tasks ever made for the Wii from Majesco Entertainment.

Rock Band 3

Get ready to rock and roll with the latest release of the Rock Band phenomenon from Harmonix. 1660 new songs are available for download from 80 rock bands that make the cut in this sing and play-along video game that has set the standard for all others.


Just look at few of the bands songs included in this game. Queen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Who, Def Leppard, Ramones and more!


Join in the fun as you rock along with 3-part harmonies, full instrumentation and for the first time – keyboards. Take your talent and passion to the next level with Rock Band Pro and Rock Band 3 even supports your existing Rock Band library of music.


Rock Band 3 has taken the best from previous versions and made them better. Whether you rock out with friends or alone at home or online, Rock Band 3 delivers thunderous music, realistic band member movement and lots of lights, special effects and even a surprise or two. Rock on!

NBA 2K11

Without a doubt Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player that ever lived. His incredible jumps, twirls, basket throwing skills, speed and agility are the stuff of legends. Michael no longer plays basketball but that doesn’t mean you can’t watch him play.

2K Sports’ new NBA 2K11 video game, rated ‘E’ for everyone, brings Michael back to the courts. Only this time you control the action as you put Michael through his paces as you relive ten of his most legendary games. Replicate his achievements in all ten games and unlock the MJ: Creating a Legend mode.

Boasting some of the most realistic basketball moves imaginable the games lets you seamlessly transition from move to move with no lag time or pause. Swoop, scoop, dribble, throw, jump, run or swivel, it makes no difference the maneuver, you’ve got the smooth moves that only MJ can deliver.


Basketball is not all about action just on the court. If you’re a big name like MJ then you have to deal with the press and all the fame that goes with your stellar career. Get ready to face the press, endorse products, deal with trade requests and more.


Another cool feature is NBA Today that provides real world NBA news, stats, halftime shows and commentaries.


NBA 2K11 is like being at an actual game with incredible graphics (player features are amazing), all the flash and splash of a real basketball game with crowd reactions, announcers and more and smooth game play with multiple characters that is seamless, realistic and fast-paced.

YGO 2010-11

From Konami comes four new products of the best-selling Trading Card Game: Yu-Gi-Oh!


Fans are sure to get a kick out of the super cool Legendary Collection consisting of six Legendary Cards (three mounted on the front of the silver embossed Collector’s Album and three in the interior see-thru panels) and the six Legendary Booster Packs.


They include Legend Of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Metal Raiders, Spell Ruler, Pharaoh’s Servant, Dark Crisis and Invasion Of Chaos.


The special cards are three Egyptian Gods: Obelisk The Tormentor, Seifer The Sky Dragon and The Winged Dragon OF Ra and The Most Famous Monsters: Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Dark Magician and Red-Eyes B. Dragon.


What better way to show off your Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Cards than in this new Collector’s Album?


Three new Tins are also available. All of them contain five Foil Packs and five Foil Cards (ranging from Rare to Super Rare). They are Majestic Red Dragon, Dragon Knight Draco Equiste and Black-Winged Dragon.


Yu-Gi-Oh! Players will be thrilled about the killer collection of Foil Packs and Cards included in each Tin.


Be sure to check out the new Yu-Gi-OH! Product Catalog for 2010-11 for all the cool merchandise headed your way.

Fantasy & Science Fiction #692, November December

The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction offers another stellar collection of novelettes, short stories and prose for the months of November and December. Starting off with a transparent runner cover the magazines jumps right into a story by Alexander Jablokov called Plinth Without Figure.

Other stories include Swamp City Lament, Albert E. Cowdrey’s Death Must Die, The Exterminator’s Want Ad, Michaela Ruessnet’s Crumbs, Venues, Planning Ahead with Jerry Oltion, Alan Dean Foster’s Ware Of the Worlds, John Kessel enters The Closet and discover The Teen Love Science Club.


Check out some new titles with Charles de Lint and Elizabeth Shepard, Paul Di Filippo investigates The Royalties Of the Fathers, Lucius Shepard dreams too much of films, enter the Competition #80, see what’s coming up and satisfy your Curiosities.

Otherworlds

Author/artist Tom Kidd offers advice on how to imagine, paint and create epic scenes of fantasy in his new title, Otherworlds, from Impact Books. One hundred and ninety two pages are filled with examples of his art accompanied by helpful hints on how to create fantasy masterpieces.

Kidd demonstrates how to use various types of media including ink, paint, pencil etc. He then goes on to tackle such subjects as composition, portraying realism in fantasy settings, anatomy, drawing, landscapes, cities, animals, flora and fauna, imaginary creatures, various lighting and weather conditions and how to begin, create and finish a piece of art.


Readers will learn how to take their wildest fantasy creations and give them validity in illustrations, paintings and mixed media. Tackle everything from complicated architecture to the most wide-sweeping scenes imaginable. It’s a book brimming with advice and step-by-step instruction on how to bring fantasy to life.

Wolverine Fox Robot

From Actionheads comes a Fox Robot representing my home state team, the Michigan Wolverines. Like the feisty Wolverine this Fox robot is lean, mean, extremely flexible, built to take on foes even larger than itself and extremely tough.

The Robot is a deep blue with yellow strips on its legs, arms, removable shoulder pads and helmet. A large yellow ‘M’ decorated its helmet.

An officially licensed collegiate product, the Fox Wolverine Robot is highly detailed, articulated at every joint (including its fingers) holds a football in its right hand and stands freely with not support in dozens of different poses.


There’s an entire series of the Robots and if you’re a ‘real’ football fan you’re sure to want to get them all. Check out the details on the arm armor, chest protection, pivoting waist, shin and leg armor and the cool extended lower arm armor and oversize shoulder pads. I especially like the stylized helmet with oversize face protection and the gripping hands. Let’s play some football!

Heroes And Warehouse

Recently Rittenhouse Archives released two new sets of Trading Cards: Heroes Archives and Warehouse 13 Season 1. Like all of Rittenhouse’s Trading Cards Sets the Cards are printed on heavy coated paper stock with solid ink coverage, cut in with clean, crisp edges and feature brilliant color photographs from whatever movie, TV show or popular culture collectible promoted.

Both sets of Cards come in 24 Foil Packs per Box and five Cards per Pack. I was easily able to assemble a Base Set of both Sets of cards and had enough duplicates to put a serious dent on a second Set of each Trading Card selection.

Heroes fans are sure to be pleased with the Heroes Archives Set as six (Count them, six!) Autograph Cards come per Box along with a Relic Card. I received the following Autograph Cards: Shalim Ortiz, Jassalyn Gilsig, Todd Stashwick, Blake Shields, Tessa Thompson and James Kyson Lee. My Relic Card was a piece of clothing worn by Ando Masahashi.


Other randomly inserted Bonus Cards include:


9 The "Quotable" Heroes Cards (I received 3)

8 Heroes Generations Cards (2 for me)

Special Case Incentive Cards are also available.

The First Season of the new hit series Warehouse 13 is photographically chronicled in Rittenhouse’s second Trading Card Set release. A short synopsis is given on the back of many of the cards along with information of key characters and more.


Two Autograph Cards (I got Alec Medlock and Tricia Helfer) and two Costume Cards (Mine are pieces of Myka Bering and Claudia Donovan’s costumes) are guaranteed per Box. Randomly inserted, fold-over Artifact Cards are also included (I found 3).


Look for Case Incentive Cards and a special Collector’s Album.

The James Bond Girls File #1 The 1960s

To me the best James Bond films were the ones made in the 1960s.  Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice and On Her Majesty's Secret Service were the ultimate expression of the excessive 1960s.

Perhaps the biggest draw of all of the movies, besides the film's star Sean Connery (sorry George), was the women.  James Bond women were 'bigger' than life (forgive the pun), sexy, seductive, vulnerable but strong, innocent and yet provocative and almost surreal in their femininity.

007 Double - O - Seven Magazine Archive Files: The James Bond Girls #1 The 1960s, looks at the Bond feminine phenomenon. Resplendent with black and white and color photographs of some of the most beautiful women ever seen on the movie screen, the magazine is a visual gallery of gorgeous gals.

A synopsis of each of the aforementioned films is provided including insights and behind-the-scenes information about each movie.  Captioned photos briefly describe each female role.  I really enjoyed reading about each movie and I learned a few new facts and secrets about each film.

It's a beautiful magazine filled with high gloss photos and printed on heavy paper stock with enticing full-color front and back photo covers of Daniela Bianchi and Claudine Auger.   

GreenLight’s 1:64th Dioramas Series 3

Double up with Greenlight's 1:64 scale diecast Dioramas. Four new releases all packaged in attractive display boxes with a clear front and side panels for easy viewing. Colorful background photos/illustrations showcase each Diorama's particular theme.


First up is Hitchin' a Ride that showcases two Indianapolis Yellow Cab vehicles, one yellow with illuminated roof sign and one more subtle silver. Both are late model cars (Ford Crown Victorias). The yellow cab features small silver hubcaps while the silver model sports large hubcaps. Each is a four-door with full exterior and interior details. Check out the grills and body details-sweet. Hey taxi!


The Country Road Diorama showcases a family of three enjoying the great outdoors with their bright red 1969 Chevy C-10 camper with white capper and a handy red power generator to bring all the comforts of home to outdoor camping. A park ranger is also incuded.


A Shelby Terlingua Ford Mustang and a Roy Woods Racing AMC Javelin AMX speed along the raceway in Greenlight's Road Racers Diorama. The yellow and black Mustang looks to be gaining on the red, white and blue Javelin as the both prepare to swing into a curve. You can practically smell the rubber and exhaust fumes. These babies are ready to race and rumble if the roll bars and pimped out engines are any indication. Zooom!


The driver of the sleek blue street ready 1988 Pontiac Trans Am didn't count on the cop pulling him over in the Hot Pursuit Diorama. The black and tan 1990 Ford Mustang Florida High Patrol cruiser officer looks none too pleased as he writes a ticket (a very expensive ticket) for the driver. I especially like the detail on the cop's car with its blue rood lights number decals.
All of the Diorama vehicles feature opening hoods, detailed engines, real rubber tires, metal body and chassis, detailed graphics and custom licenses.

Alien Anthology

For the first time all four movies in the original Alien series is being released in the new Alien Anthology 6-disc Blu-ray collection. 20th Century Fox celebrates the ground-breaking movies that proved that, "In space, no one can hear your scream."

These are the movies that proved a woman could be a strong action hero star as so aptly performed by Sigourney Weaver in the title role of Ellen Ripley. You'll watch her transform from a helpless frightened female to a powerful force that even death could not stop.

In Alien the crew of the Nostromo discover a downed alien spacecraft containing Alien eggs. The eggs hatch and terror runs loose.


In Aliens, Space Marines, accompanied by Ripley, visit the planet where the Alien spaceship crashed after a colony of people loose contact with the government.


In Aliens 3, Ripley finds herself on a penal colony populated by men and Aliens and in Alien: Resurrection, Ripley is back. Only this time she's hybrid clone made from the original Ripley and an Alien Queen. Ewww!


Four discs contain one movie each along with special features like commentaries, deleted and expanded scenes, theatrical trailers and so one. The final two discs include Blu-ray exclusives such as how each movie was made, pre-production, production, post production, special effects, music scores and much, MUCH, more.


In total, over 50 HOURS of bonus material is included in the Alien Anthology Blue-ray collection. On Blu-ray everyone can hear you scream.

DJ Hero 2

Get ready to dance! Activison’s new DJ Hero 2, for all game consoles, brings the dance floor to your home with its DJ versus DJ gunplay featuring some of the top performers of all time. Lady Gaga, Deadmau5, and Dr. Dre are just a few of the big names who contribute the wall-shacking, get-down-and-dirty, dance-until-you-can’t-dance-any-more soundtracks.


Twin turntables let players mix, match and do Freestyle scratching while the microphone lets any vocalist sing along to the lyrics.


Look for six new multiplayer modes including Party Play and DJ Battle brings out the competitor in players with call-and-response game play.


New players can start out in Empire Mode and after building their experience as a DJ they can eventually become the head of a nightclub empire with other DJs as their employees.


DJ Hero 2 players can match their skill against other players on and offline and keep a track of each competitor’s game level.


New features for DJ Hero 2 include Held Notes, Length Scratches, Freestyle Scratching, Freestyle Crossfading, Freestyle Sampling and Star Meter.


Regardless if you’re a DJ, singer or just want to dance along to the beat, DJ Hero 2 delivers on all levels.

Bryan Hitch’s Ultimate Comics Studio

One of my all-time favorite artists, who has made quite a name for himself, especially over the last ten years, is British artist Bryan Hitch. I first remember seeing Bryan’s art over 20 years ago in some of Marvel’s British comic book titles. At the time his style reminded my of Alan Davis’ work. Bryan’s art style would continue to grow and mutate, often emulating the very latest art trend, until his own unique style was established.

To American comic book fans that would be his Wildstorm work on The Authority progressing to DC Comics’ JLA and finally to Marvel’s The Ultimates and The Fantastic Four.


What distinguishes Bryan’s work from other artists is his fanatical attention to detail and talent for drawing panoramic crowd and fight scenes. Not since Neal Adams younger days has a comic book artist captured the sheer human emotion and body language and broad sweeping scope in comic books.


In Bryan’s new book, Bryan Hitch’s Ultimate Comics Studio, published by Impact Books with a foreword by Joss Whedon, the writer/artist shares some of his comic book creation secrets.


This is not a step-by-step instruction manual on how to draw comic books as Bryan is quick to point out. Rather it is an examination as to how Bryan creates characters, page layouts, his prep work and finished product, including inking and coloring.


He places high emphasis on accuracy, proper research, careful and meticulous rendering and page layout and especially the importance of being totally professional especially when it comes to meeting deadlines.

The book comes packed with Bryan’s illustrations and includes to-the-point written explanations, suggestions and observations. Besides being a beautiful book to look it is also a powerful reference tool to use when, and if, you decide to create your own comic book art.