Welcome to Pages of Fun!

This is the personal Web site of Robert Wm. Gomez. I am an artist, musician and nerd living in Chicago, Illinois who has been maintaining this site (in one form or another) since 1996. Enjoy your visit!

Knight Vision: Hymns for the Invisible Church by Knights of the New Crusade, The

Format: 
LP
Rating: 
9/10

This is what happens when you give up on new music. You stop paying attention to music press and new releases and then great stuff like this record from The Knights of the New Crusade slips by. I've reviewed the Knights in the past here and here, and it's more or less the same Christian skuzz rock formula as before. And here's a term that probably doesn't get tossed around in garage rock reviews much, but Knight Vision comes across as a very well-researched record. It even closes with a relatively epic (7 minutes) track that features musical saw and exotic tribal drums. It's like an exorcism on the cheap.

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Wed, 2012-01-18 12:54

King Kong (Deluxe Extended Edition)

Rating: 
7/10

Buying this DVD was worth it for the extras (besides, I got it for less than five bucks). The movie itself was alright. As one might expect from Peter Jackson, the effects are great. The story moves along but it is not terribly deep, it's riddled with clichés and there's some truly questionable acting (especially from Jack Black). But, again, the bonus features are very interesting and go into great detail about the technology and processes behind the film.

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Fri, 2012-01-13 01:29

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Platform: 
PC
Rating: 
7/10

Baldur's Gate Fatty

I have had this game sitting on my video game to-do list for a long, long time. This is regarded as one of the best cRPG games ever. It is perhaps deserving of that praise simply for sheer imensity of its scale and attention to detail. Unfortunately, like other older RPGs, the game makes no concessions towards more casual players. Read More »

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Wed, 2012-01-11 15:40 | Posted in

The Muppets

Rating: 
8/10

Generation X'ers like myself tend to have a bit too much nostalgia towards The Muppet Show and the first couple Muppet movies. Sure they had their moments, but we tend to forget just how much of that stuff was just stupid hippy puppeteer self-indulgence. That said, as far as kids movies go, this sure beats the hell out of Space Chimps or Chipwrecked! There are plenty of Kentucky Fried Theater style sight gags and moments of self-aware parody to keep both parents and kids  entertained. The plot really tugs hard at the nostalgia angle to the point where eighty percent of the movie is just depressing and down-beat. Read More »

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Tue, 2012-01-03 16:51

The Last Page

Digging through some old files, I found this is a comic strip I did for the last issue of the Madison, Wisconsin art magazine, Artzine. I had previously done a few other comics for the 'zine on while I was graduate art student in Madison, but this one I did after I moved to Chicago in the early oughts. The "Scott" in the last panel was Artzine's editor and the current proprietor of Western Exhibitions Gallery here in Chicago, Scott Speh. This is a pen and ink drawing that was given shading and tweaked digitally.

View a close-up of the full image here.

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Fri, 2011-12-30 16:40 | Posted in

Pictures of the Socialistic Future by Eugene Richter

Rating: 
7/10

An incredibly prescient book from the 19th century that basically lays out everything that is wrong with the practical application of socialism decades before the first socialist states came in to being. Unfortunately, the story is more of an afterthought. However, just like the lunches that socialist "occupiers" want, this book is free: http://mises.org/books/socialisticfuture_richter.pdf

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Tue, 2011-12-20 19:43

The Psychic

Rating: 
7/10

Fulci! Certainly not the greatest Italian director, but he has his moments. This film, also known as Sette Note in Nero, follows a formula you probably have seen many times before. The climax is foreshadowed (in this instance as a psychic vison of a grisly murder), and you spend the rest of the movie putting the pieces of the future vision together until the events finally take place. Of course, there are twists and red herrings that add to the suspense, but you get the idea. Read More »

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Sun, 2011-12-18 18:36

Tension

Rating: 
7/10

I thought this was a pretty good film noir. There are some truly silly plot points, like a character going incognito by not wearing glasses or the cop hooking up with one of e suspects. But, overall, there was a nice amount of suspense and twists to keep me paying attention until the end.

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Fri, 2011-12-16 17:52

Phineas and Ferb: Make it Stop!

At times an issue emerges of such great importance that I feel compelled to take a stand in hopes of bettering our world and insuring the continuation of our species. I am speaking, of course, of the destructive influence of the Disney Channel cartoon, Phineas and Ferb. Children seem to love this show. That is understandable because what are children other than smaller, stupider versions of adults (with blemish-free skin). What surprises me is the number of adults who claim to like the show. Read More »

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Thu, 2011-12-15 20:16 | Posted in

Scratches: The Director's Cut

Platform: 
PC
Rating: 
6/10

Scratches - The Mansion

 

Having whet my appetite for adventure games on the excellent Sam and Max series, I thought it would be a good time to try some more modern PC adventure games. Scratches is an indie game that uses the tried and (not-so) true first-person point-and-click gameplay formula. Myst, Hell Cab, Dragon Lore... I have many fond memories... well, not really fond, but I do remember playing a lot of those types of games from back at the dawn of the CD-ROM era. Read More »

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Thu, 2011-12-08 15:19 | Posted in

Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

Rating: 
7/10

The final book of the First Law trilogy was a sort of step backwards from the previous book. In the previous book I grew to like a few of the characters. Unfortunately, in this book Abercrombie goes back to playing up the shades of gray and, by the time the finale kicks in, I stopped caring about everybody and just wanted the book to end.

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Thu, 2011-12-08 14:02

Obento Alternative by DS i Love You

Format: 
MP3
Rating: 
9/10

DS i Love You is actually one man, Kanji Honma, a Nintendo DSi and the excellent Korg DS cartridge. Given that credo, you might expect this to sound like your typical 8-bit video game music, but it doesn't. While there are hints of the 8-bit aesthetic, the final product really comes across more like a gritty version of Kraftwerk, or, more appropriately, Yellow Magic Orchestra. This is a very good thing. DS i Love You is so much more interesting than most of the DJ driven electronica that gets churned out these days. Unlike those knob-twisting posers, Honma places song structure and melodic phrases over loops and beats. It's amazing the sounds he comes up with given the limitations of his medium. Most excellent. Read More »

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Thu, 2011-12-01 21:18

Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse

Platform: 
PC
Rating: 
9/10

Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse

Having been burnt twice by buying the technically challenged Wii versions on Season 1 & 2, I decided to move from the den to the office and play season three on my PC. The visual difference is astounding. This game looks great both in terms of graphic quality and its cartoony art direction. This has been my favorite of the three seasons. Read More »

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Wed, 2011-11-23 11:52 | Posted in

Occupy Whatever

I had thought that the whole occupy Wall Street thing had lost all its steam but then some cop had go and kick it up a notch by spraying a little peppery spice. Bam! All the sudden pepper spray policeman has become a rallying point for the OWS supporters. I suppose this is good for the cause, because, frankly, up until now they haven't had any sort of unifying message around which to rally. Personally, despite my general agreement about wall street bailouts and corporate cronyism,  I never was a big fan of the movement. It seems to be yet another iteration of standard decades-old lefty memes mixed with the usual chanting and hackneyed street theater. Read More »

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Tue, 2011-11-22 23:26 | Posted in

Two Nuns and a Pack Mule by Rapeman

Format: 
CD
Rating: 
9/10

There's still quite a bit of Big Black's sound in this Albini follow up project. The guitar (there's only one this time around) screeches with the same fury as before and, this time around, he's found a human drummer. As one might expect, the songs have more of a live feel and are less industrial-sounding. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Being the synth-nerd I am, I tend to favor the more mechanized noise of Big Black. That said, most of the tracks on this disc are pretty great. However, looming around the edges are songs like "Budd" which showcases the indy-rock-jam-band self indulgence of those later Shellac records.

Submitted by Robert Gomez on Sun, 2011-11-20 19:11