Category: Commentaries

All my commentaries – written or video – collected under one parent category.

THE BITE COMMENTARY #20 – Forty-Five

“Oh! You’re having a birthday? That means you’re one step closer to death.”

That’s a line from the old Sailor Moon anime spoken by Minako “Sailor Venus” Aino in response to Usagi “Sailor Moon” Tsukino’s declaration that her birthday’s coming up. It’s supposed to be a funny line, but at the same time, there is a hint of truth behind that statement. Every year that goes by, the door to the great beyond inches its way ever so closely. Fewer of those ahead than there are behind us. That sort of thing.

That’s what these birthdays start to feel like after a while. One step closer to death.

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THE BITE COMMENTARY #19 – The (Not So) New 52!

Next month – August 31st, to be precise – will mark the 15th anniversary of The New 52!

The 2011 attempt by DC Comics to reboot their entire universe, kicked off by the five-issue event comic Flashpoint – which would be used as the basis for the Ezra Miller Flash movie that James Gunn declared “the greatest superhero film ever made” or something – which was done in a rush and without any prior warning ahead of time to give creators time to flesh out their plans, save for a select few involved who got to keep their continuities going despite the whole thing being a “clean slate” for all.

Five years later, the New 52 would slowly be phased in favor of a “Rebirth” that restored elements of pre-New 52 continuity.

There are a lot of pieces and articles out there that can dive into the whole history of The New 52 – here’s one example here – but this commentary is less about how the world viewed The New 52, but rather my own reaction to the whole deal… or perhaps a lack thereof.

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THE BITE COMMENTARY #18 – The Wrestling ReCap

So we’ve spent a whole month (June) not talking about wrestling… hence the reason why I didn’t specify the name of that extreme television program that aired on SciFi in 2006 (and also because it’s no longer around, so… oops, I guess). But now that that moratorium has come to an end, we might as well catch up on everything that has happened since the last time we touched wrestling, which would have been around the time of the post-PPV edition of Dynamite back in May.

For long time visitors of this web venture that has spanned multiple services over the course two and a half decades, consider this a sort of return to the old school format that this Bite commentary used to adopt before its first retirement in 2012. Hell, those who remember the short-lived Wrestling Rants of 2002 might see this as equally at home.

Believe me when I say that we’re going to have fun with a lot of these things.

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Christmas Special Axed, Doctor Who Put On Competitive Tender

Source: https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/doctor-who-christmas-axed-107069.htm

So after what seemed like an eternity, BBC has confirmed that Doctor Who’s Christmas Special has been officially cancelled and that the series will be put on competitive tender, which basically means the show is on indefinite hiatus until somebody comes up with the money to pick up the slack. As such, this effectively means that Russell T. Davies’ Bad Wolf production studios will NOT be continuing the series further.

How ironic that the man who was responsible for Doctor Who’s return after a long hiatus would also be the one to kill it… or at the very least, seriously damage it.

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THE BITE Commentary #17 – 20 Years Of A Rebirth

Twenty years ago – June, 6th, 2006… or 06-06-06 as the cool kids called it – I posted the 50th edition of the original Bite commentary series.

It was the first commentary post that I did since the series sort of went on a silent hiatus in 2004. Most of the post was reminiscing about the very first commentary that was posted in 2002 – June 23rd… we’ll wait until next year to post a special on that piece of business next year… assuming we make it that far, of course.

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THE BITE COMMENTARY #16 – One Year Later

I don’t feel like whipping up a new banner for this one, so here’s a picture of Maya sleeping with a copy of Robotron 2084 for Atari 7800. If this doesn’t warm your heart, it’s probably because you don’t have one.

Normally, I’d be posting a written review of sorts since that’s sort of the regular deal (and I sort of skipped one last week to make way for our other regular feature of letting the world know on every 31st day of the month that I have yet to watch the Star Trek: Section 31 streaming television feature starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh), but when I saw the date, I opted for this commentary instead.

For you see, today marks one year since I was hospitalized for a pulmonary embolism that left me short of breath and was on the verge of taking my life… or so I’ve been told.

I haven’t been keeping you folks up on the recovery process because, well, there’s not much to report; I take medication every day, I go for in for the barrage of checkups on various things, and we continue accordingly. And then there are some folks who have no clue what I’m talking about, so this is what today’s commentary will be about; a refresher of what happened last year, what we’ve been doing to get better, and where we’re at now.

Your usual happy-feeling fun time will resume tomorrow unless I can find another fun video for the Extra Bits. Beyond that, sit tight.

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THE BITE COMMENTARIES #15 – Star Trek Through Apathy

Star Trek is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary. The original series first aired in 1966 and has been on a roller coaster ride of sorts since that time, having seen multiple motion pictures, feature films, and animated projects under its belt. It has ridden the wave of fan support that produced a multitude of side material such as novels, comic books, interactive games, action figures, starship models, and other things. And it currently has a hit show on the Paramount+ streaming service. It should be a great time for Star Trek.

“Oh, but here comes crusty old Dave to rant and rave about how the current product sucks and how he misses the old days.”

Well, you’re half right. I do miss the old days when I actually looked forward to new Star Trek shows and movies. You’re kinda wrong about the show sucking, though. I’ve yet to see Starfleet Academy – never been big on young adult fare and me being a not-young adult anymore doesn’t help matters either – but I’ve heard generally favorable things from those who have. It’s hard to be invested in a franchise whose future seems to be in a state of flux, what with all the rumors surrounding ownerships and mergers. Will there even be new Star Trek after this current crop ends? Should there even be new Star Trek at this point?

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Whom You Hate And Refuse To Support… Or Something

Source: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2026/03/saudi-investment-firm-acquires-a-significant-number-of-capcom-shares

So the Saudis now own a bit of Capcom… or rather their Public Investment Fund owns a bit of Capcom, which adds to their list of video game stakes including EA, Nintendo, Activision/Blizzard, Take-Two, and others… and also they own SNK wholesale. That’s the controversial one because that apparently means Fatal Fury gets real-life soccer players and anus-relaxing DJs with funny accents as “guest” fighters. So does that mean we can’t enjoy Capcom games anymore because they’re partly owned by folks from a country who has a spotty history with human decency? Do we boycott them the same way we boycott SNK… or is it just business as usual?

My answer is… meh.

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How Many Of EGM #100’s Top 100 Games Of All Time Have I Actually Played?

About a decade ago… but not quite a decade ago because 2016 was a leap year… I did a quick lookback at The 100 Best Games Of All Time from the 100th issue of esteemed publication Electronic Gaming Monthly. For those who want to read said lookback, click here.

Today, we’re doing something different and we’re going to list how many of these games I’ve actually played. A lot has happened in ten years and I’ve played slightly more games than I did originally, so… yeah, here we go.

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