Movie Review: The Purge - Election Day

So tonight marked a few firsts for me.  For starters, it was my first time attending a moving screening.  It also was the first time I realized that the building I had driven past for 10 years in the South Park area of Charlotte was actually the Regal Cinemas at Phillips Place.  Finally, it was the first time in months that me and the beautiful girlfriend had met up immediately following work for a pseudo date night.  Oh yeah...and it was the night of the Purge - the one night of the year where laws don't matter.

Bandwagon Fan's Day (Basketball)

Congrats

Welp...

One Humanity

Last week's tragedies in the news were not missed by Steve and J. Just as we were trying to tastefully address one another would happen, then another. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Sarah Grimmie, Orlando's Pulse Nightclub victims, and the miscarriage of justice in the Brock Turner sentencing. Our thoughts and prayers are also with you, our readers, through whatever difficult circumstance you may be going through.

VOLTRON Week Day 7: Pop Culture

Back cover of Blaze magazine issue #2

Voltron is everyone's favorite undocumented immigrant from the 80's - you hear that Donald Trump! He has permeated United States pop culture more than the Smurfs, GI Joe, and I even dare say Transformers. Yup, I said it: Voltron is more influential than Transformers. Case and point: Optimus Prime is the announcer for Voltron Defender of the Universe. Drops mic. Of course that's just the voice actor Peter Cullen but who's the announcer of your life? Your own voice in your head that you're reading this blog to? Lame.

VOLTRON Week Day 6: Enemies

Today's the day! Today is June 10 - the day Voltron: Legendary Defender is available for streaming on Netflix! So Voltron Week is done, no? No! Who the heck is Voltron fighting? And why is he fighting them? Grab a seat, sit down, and relax before you jump over to Netflix so you'll be in the know for Legendary Defender!

Virtually no insight is given as to why Planet Arus and Planet Doom are at odds so it can only be assumed that their kings, King Alfor (deceased) and King Zarkon, respectively, didn't respect each other. So this beef has been hyped Good vs Evil proportions to give us fodder for one of the most iconic cartoons of the 80's.

Just as with Voltron's weapons, I'm going of the memory of the episodes that I actually saw but check out Voltron Central for the full rundown of enemies in the Far Universe.

VOLTRON Week Day 5: Weapons

Speak softly and carry a big stick. - Teddy Roosevelt

Voltron's weapon arsenal is where Legendary Defender can take the most liberties and really change up the super bot for the better. So while Defender of the Universe has a myriad of attacks, as documented on Voltron Central, I'll just stick with the ones I actually saw for myself while watching the cartoon.

VOLTRON Week Day 4: Robot

So now that we have established the pilots, what the heck are they flying? Lions. They're flying mechanical lions. And what do flying mechanical lions assemble? A giant humanoid super robot. Perfectly legit, right? Well, that's the advantage of the "super robot" sub-genre of anime - the physics doesn't have to make sense nor be explained so just go with it. Like cosmic inflation of the Big Bang theory violating the speed of light - just go with it.

VOLTRON Week Day 3: Pilots

Crazy kids

Voltron is Mecha anime involving robots being piloted by humans - oftentimes kids/teenagers. Now, how do you get five teenagers - 4 boys and 1 girl - to live in close quarters, working together as a team without killing each other over the girl? Everyone stays in their own lane; that's how. So here are the 5+1 major archetypes usually associated with any team dynamic in a cartoon or anime:

VOLTRON Week Day 2: Origins - Voltron vs. Go Lion

Go Lion: King of Beasts

Voltron: Defender of the Universe is the American flavor of the Japanese Go Lion: King of Beasts. And since you can't know where you're going if you don't know where you came from, here's the Mech Bots' side-by-side history review in 1 video produced by Steve and J's brother from another YouTube Channel.

Not really.

VOLTRON Week Day 1: Netflix Preview

Welcome to Voltron Week on Steve and J TV! Declared so because Voltron is the #2 reason why being an 80s baby is the bees-knees (#1 is Candy Cigarettes, if you're wondering). This Friday, June 10, all the 2000 and 2010 babies will rediscover greatness so I'm letting my inner child out his corner to nerd all week about the OG Defender of the Universe.

R.I.P. Muhammad Ali (1942 - 2016)

(1942 - 2016)

Former Heavy Weight Champion Muhammad Ali died Friday, June 3, 2016 at the age of 74.

Rest In Power.

Disclaimer: Steve is an employee of Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner, however the views expressed in this post are of my own.