NASA Has Some Competition

Ok, so I'm a few days late on this, but better late than never.  SpaceX, a space-transportation startup company founded by Pay-Pal co-founder Elon Musk has made history.  On September 28th, they became the first privately funded company to ever successfully send a rocket into orbit. 

 

After three failed launches, the company founded by Elon Musk worked all of the bugs out of their Falcon 1 launch vehicles.

 

The entire spectacle was broadcast live from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Cameras mounted on the spacecraft showed our planet shrinking in the distance and the empty first stage engine falling back to Earth.

 

As the rocket ascended, cheers rang out during every crucial step of the launch sequence, and at the final stage their headquarters in Hawthorne, California erupted in excitement.

 

The tensest moment came just before stage separation. At that critical juncture, the third launch attempt had failed. This time, it worked out perfectly.

 

Eight minutes after leaving the ground, Falcon 1 reached a speed of 5200 meters per second and passed above the International Space Station.

 

"I don't know what to say... because my mind is just blown," said Musk, during a brief address to his staff after the successful launch. "This is just the first step of many."

 

Maybe it's just me, but I find this whole thing super cool.  Private companies are now going to be able to send their own rockets into space.  No longer will the US government and NASA have a monopoly on space travel in the US. 

 

And how awesome is the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk?  The man became super rich from creating pay-pal, but instead of blowing his vast amounts of cash on mountains of cocaine and expensive prostitutes (like most of us would), the guy decides to found a company that will revolutionize the space industry.

 

Next up for SpaceX is the launching of their Falcon 9 rocket, a larger rocket that is capable of carrying a lot more cargo into space.  I wish these guys all the luck in the world!

We Ain't Done Unleashing The Force Just Yet

 

Kotaku has an interview up with Hayden Blackman, the executive producer of The Force Unleashed, in which he discusses some great news about downloadable content for the game.  Coming out before the end of this year, a new campaign level and new unlockable characters will be released for the X-box 360 and PS3 version of the game.  The new characters will be Luke Slywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Kit Fisto.

 

Due out later this year, the new single-player mission is set in the Jedi Temple on the planet Coruscant. Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice travels to the temple to learn more about his father, and while searching through the rubble of the destroyed building he confronts his inner demons.

 

And that's not all.  Blackman also hinted that this won't be the only new content that the game may feature.  There could be more, maybe a lot more.

 

And Blackman said it's entirely possible that the internal development team working on this new DLC will continue to work on new episodes, that The Force Unleashed could essentially become a delivery system for episodic content.

 

"We brainstormed a ton of locations," he said. "There's easily another two dozen we could make into levels. This is a good way to continue the story."

 

"I wouldn't rule out any future content on The Force Unleashed."

 

 

Hot damn!!!  New levels and a fuller fleshing out of the story would be a welcome thing indeed.  I would love to see regular downloadable updates for this game.  I just hope they don't cost an arm and a leg when they come out.

The Dark Knight Is Coming To DVD On December 9th

 

What is sure to be on every geek's christmas list, the Dark Knight on DVD, has finally been given a release date.  That date is December 9th.

 

As should be expected by now, the film is coming out in multiple versions.  A single DVD package with nothing cool on it, a 2-Disc DVD set with a bunch of bonus features, a Blu-ray version with even more bonus features, and finally...a super duper deluxe version that comes with funky packaging and a toy of the Bat-pod.

 

Here's a look at the special features on the Blu-ray version:

 

Disc One:

• Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a scene.  Director Chris Nolan and creative collaborators unmask the incredible detail and planning behind the film, including stunt staging, filming in IMAX, the new Bat-suit and Bat-pod and more!

 

Disc Two:

• Batman Tech - The incredible gadgets and tools (in High-Def)


• Batman Unmasked: The psychology of the Dark Knight - Delve into the psyche of Bruce Wayne and the world of Batman through real-world psychotherapy (in High-Def)


• Gotham Tonight:  6 Episodes of Gotham Cable's premier news program.


• The Galleries:  The Joker cards, concept art, poster art, production stills, trailers & TV spots

 

I'm really say that the Batman Unmasked feature is only available on the Blu-ray version of the player.  I don't own a Blu-ray player, and that was the one feature I was really looking forward to seeing. 

 

And now I'm sad.  Damn you Warner Brothers.  Thanks for dashing my hopes.

 

Bastards!

Meet The New Alice

 

The first images from Tim Burton's version of Alice In Wonderland have surfaced.  They show off actress Mia Wasikowska in the title role of Alice.  I'll admit that she looks pretty good to play the part.  And I really like her costume.

 

I'm still totally scared about what Wonderland is going to look like though.  None of the sets or concept art for Wonderland have been seen yet, and I still expect to see some whacked out Nightmare Before Christmas version of it, complete with unnecessarily trippy versions the characters.

 

At least Alice looks good though.  Let's hope I'm wrong about the rest of it.

 

(Original link via MTV)

Heeeeerrrrrrrreeeeeee's Jason!!!

 

The horror film blog horrorbid.com has some behind the scenes pics from the new Friday The 13th remake.  The pics show good old Jason Vorhees, both with and without his mask.

 

Most of the pics show Jason without his mask on, and good lord that man could do with a goodly amount of plastic surgery.  Somebody get this man Michael Jackson's phone number stat!  If anyone knows a plastic surgeon, it's that man.

 

Even though I'm totally against the concept of a remake of Friday The 13th, I must admit that I at least like the Jason costume they're using.  Instead of the old jumpsuit, he's gooing with the ratty old torn jacket over shirt and pants look.  It's not bad. 

 

However, let us recall that Jason wasn't even in the first Friday the 13th movie, and he didn't even get his hockey mask until the third one.  So obviously this isn't going to be a straight up remake.  This will most likely be a total franchise reboot a la Batman Begins.

 

As I said, I'm still against the remake when another sequel would be totally fine in my opinion.  But at least they have Jason looking cool.

 

(Original link via MTV)

New Geek DVD Day - 09/30/2008

This was a tough week to choose which DVD's to feature here.  A bunch of good Geek DVD's came out this week.  Most of them were older films being released on Blu-ray, but still, it made for a hard choice.  To get around this I'm cheating a little this week and am featuring two films under The Good listing instead of just one.

 



 

The Good:  The Thing and Daredevil on Blu-ray

 

Why They're Good:  The Thing is a classic of Sci-fi horror.  A true master of the genre, it is unmatched in it's ability to convey the paranoia and isolation the characters in the film must be feeling as they start to die one by one.  Even when done in GI Joe form, the film is still great.  Plus, it has Kurt Russel looking like Grizzly Adams. 

 

Daredevil is a film I think gets an unfair rap by most geeks.  Admittedly, the film has some cheesyness to it, but it also has some really good moments in it too.  And if you've never seen the director's cut of the film, you really should give it a gander.  30 minutes of footage that were originally cut from the film have been put back in.  The additional footage gives the film an R rating due to it making the film darker and more violent.  A whole subplot is added in which Matt Murdock must defend a man who has been falsely accused of killing a hooker.  Overall, this version of the film is much better than the one that was released in theaters.  Plus, the film was directed by Jon Favreau, the same man who brought you Iron Man.

 



 

The Badass:  When We Left The Earth - The NASA Missions

 

Why It's Badass:  The Discovery Channel, hot off of their success with the Planet Earth series, teamed up with NASA to put together this amazing documentary series about the history of the US space program.  I'm a sucker for space exploration documentaries, and this one is pretty much the best one I've ever seen.  It has tons of footage from actual NASA space flights, interviews with astronauts, and it's all told with an excellent narrative that fills in the history of NASA and everything it has accomplished.  Let's be honest here, every scifi geek at some point in their life has dreamed about being an astronaut and getting to ride in the space shuttle.  This set is about as close as most of us will ever get to that, and it's fantastic.

 



 

The Awesome:  Iron Man

 

Why It's Awesome:  I don't even think I have to justify why this film has been given The Awesome spot, do I?  Was there any part of this film that wasn't cooler than hell?  Robert Downey Jr. was the most perfect casting choice for the role of Tony Stark any of us could have ever hoped for.  Jeff Bridges plays a great villain, and even Gweneth Paltrow as wonderful as Pepper Potts.  Throw on top of that great action scenes, pitch perfect comedy moments and even a nod to War Machine and you've got something that surpasses even die-hard comic fans' wet dreams.  This film is my choice for the best summer film of 2008 (sorry Dark Knight, I love Mr. Stark more).

The Dangerous And Wet World Of Street Wars

 

What are the Street Wars you ask?  Simply put, it's a game of survival, where players are locked in a deadly game of assassination...with water guns.

 

The NY Times has a great article online about the Street Wars, a game where players are given targets (real people who are also playing the game) that they must kill.  Killing here means they get sqirted with a water gun.

 

When StreetWars started on Sept. 7, each of the 250-plus contestants was handed a black envelope marked “Shadow Government,” with the name, home address, workplace, e-mail address, cellphone number and photograph of a player to kill by squirting. After each kill, the shooter acquires the dead rival’s target and begins stalking this new person, all the while looking over a shoulder for whoever is hunting him. It is permissible to shoot in self-defense.

 

The last person standing is declared the winner and is given a $500 prize.  But winning is far from easy.  Players will stalk their prey for days on end, sitting outside their homes waiting for their target to appear.  People will change their appearance from what they look like in the photos they provide.  They'll use umbrella's as shields.  They'll throw water ballons like hand grenades.  It's a dangerous, and wet, world.

 

The article follows player Michael Deane, one of the last 16 players left in the game, and in it he discusses some of his past killings.

 

He and a teammate — up to five can play together — staked out the target’s apartment for an hour and a half on Sept. 8. They grew bored and thirsty, and drove to a nearby CVS for cold drinks.

 

“Randomly, he just pulls up,” Mr. Donellan said of his prey. What followed is best described as a low-speed chase.

 

“Up and down two highways on Staten Island, just going,” he recalled. “He thought he lost us and went back home. We beat him back to his house.” Mr. Donellan squirted the target as he parked his car.

 

Street Wars was created in 2004, and tournaments have been held in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London and Paris.  I will definitely sign up for this if it ever comes to LA.  It sounds like amazing amounts of fun.  Paranoid fun, sure.  But fun nonetheless.

Really Stupid Droids

 

 

The Clone Wars cartoon series finally begins airing episodes this Friday.  The above clip is a preview of what we'll be seeing this week.  And, while I have no problem watching Yoda beat the crap out of a bunch of droids, I continue to have my personal problems with the idea of super retarded battle droids.

 

Ok, I get it, they're comic relief.  But does that mean they have to be so stupid?  Can't they at least be intelligent and marginally badass at the sime time that they're providing moments of levity to the show?

 

It just doesn't make sense to me that someone would design and build an army of robots specifically for killing and then not provide them with enough processing power to even aim their weapons straight.  Why do they even speak?  They're killing machines.  They have no need to speak.  It would be way more cost efficient to not include a needless feature like that.

 

And why do you have droids in the droid army driving tanks?  Why aren't the tanks droids themselves?  Why have pilots when you can design a tank that drives itself?  Look at things like the Cylon raiders.  Those spaceships don't have pilots, the robot is the ship.

 

Come to think of it, the droid starfighters are exactly like that.  So why aren't the tanks?

 

Ok, I am just going to overthink this to death.  I'm going to shut up now before I drive myself to the point of blinding geek fury.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Getting It On

 

Man, talk about an incestuous group of friends.  The crew of the Battlestar Galactica really gets around.  If the Cylons don't manage to kill off the entire human race, apparently herpes will. 

 

For the final wrap party for the series, the creators of Battlestar Galactica put together a special treat for the cast and crew.  A yearbook to share the Battlestar memories.  Apparently, inside this yearbook was a fun item called the "Frak Tree" which layed out in a family tree-like design who frakked who throughout the course of the series.  The one in the yearbook though has some spoilers in it, so it hasn't been made available to fans yet.  But that hasn't stopped industrious fans from making their own Frak Tree though based on the episodes that have aired thus far.

 

The above chart is the result.  An accurate diagram of every carnal act that took place on the show (and man there was a lot of frakking going on).  Reading the chart made me realize some creepy things about that show, that while I had already known them, I had never really taken the time to think about before.

 

For example, both of Adama's sons have slept with Kara Thrace.  I had forgotten that at the start of the series there was the whole drama with Lee's dead brother, and that Starbuck was his girlfriend.  So the entire rocky relationship they've been having throughout the series was all about Lee trying to bang his brother's girl.  That's kinda messed up.

 

Also, Gaius Baltar if a motherfucking PIMP.  He's in the middle of the tree, as he's almost slept with every major female character at some point or another.  For being the guy who brought about the end of mankind, he gets a lot of play.  He has five separate connections on the list, more than anyone else.  The only person to come close to him is Starbuck, with four connections on the list.  And of course, those two slept with each other.

 

Now I'm really interested in knowing that the final tree will have even more connections on it.  So who's going to sleep with who?  Who hasn't already frakked on that show?  I guess Commander Adama could sleep with Starbuck, thus completing the Adama triangle for her.  Or Baltar could sleep with Sharon since she's the only Cylon woman he hasn't frakked yet.

 

Or something truly disturbing could happen and a bald and cancer riddled president Roslin could sleep with anybody.  I don't know what it is, but the thought of that woman having sex, even when healthy, is something I find disturbing.  The concept of her frakking someone in her current condition on the show is downright nauseating.  But then again, she could always add Doc Coddle to the tree.

 

Oh god, I think I'm gonna go throw up now.

 

(Original link via IO9)

Kenneth Branagh To Direct Thor?

 

The internets are all abuzz this morning over a report from Variety that Marvel is in talks with Kenneth Branagh to direct the Thor movie.  Branagh, known primarily as an amazing Shakespearean actor, has directed a number of films as well, including Henry V, Hamlet, and a really crappy version of Frankenstein.

 

I'm not sure yet how I feel about this news.  I'll have to mull this over a bit and get back to you.  Admittedly, Branagh isn't known for directing big budget action films, so I can't help but wonder why Marvel would go to him.  However, Jon Favreau wasn't known for doing big budget action films either, and look how Iron Man Turned out.

 

So maybe Marvel might be on to something.  Previous rumors have stated that the Thor film might be a middle ages period piece where we see our Hero doing battle on large fields of warfare.  If that's the case, maybe Branagh and all of his Shakespeare experience might come in handy.  Marvel seems to be setting a good track record with finding unusual directors to make great versions of their films (who would have thought Sam Raimi could have made the first Spider-man film), so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one. 

 

If Branagh does indeed sign on to direct the film, I'll be intruiged to see what he does with it.

A New Spirit Trailer. The Same Old Fears

 

A new trailer has been released for Frank Miller's adaptation of Will Eisner's The Spirit, and I'm still as confused and annoyed as I was after the first few trailers.

 

The worries I have about the film still persist.  If anything, this trailer only served to reinforce them.  If I had to choose one word to describe my first impressions of what the Spirit movie is going to be like, I think I'd have to go with Schizophrenic.  I just do not understand what Frank Miller is trying to accomplish with this film.

 

On the one hand, visually it looks very dark and gritty.  It looks dead on like the film version of Sin City.  And that's how it's being marketed too.  This new trailer is all super serious and is obviously going for a dark and dirty feel to the film, what with the music and the "What are you?" stuff.  Yet at the same time, the elements of campiness that I am afraid of are still so blatantly there.  In this trailer you see the nut shot with the giant wrench that I mentioned in a previous post.  You also see the Spirit take a guy out with what appears to be a snowball.  Some of the dialogue in the trailer is intentionally cheesy too, like the line "Somebody get me a tie, and it sure as hell had better be red."

 

And what's with the guy blowing up Doctor Manhattan style at about the 2 minute mark?

 

I know I'm sounding really negative going into this film.  I'm trying really hard not to be, but I seriously think one of two things is going on here, and neither of them bode well for the film.  One, either Frank Miller couldn't figure out what kind of film to make so he made it half dark and half campy or; two, the film is campy like the Spirit is supposed to be, but the film is being marketed entirely incorrectly.  I am getting the feeling that it's possible since Frank Miller's name is associated with audience for things like Sin City and 300, then that's how they're trying to market the film.  But I get the feeling the film isn't like that at all.

 

The problem with both of those scenarios is that audiences don't really know what they're going to be walking in to.  And if people go in expecting one thing, and end up getting another, a lot of people are going to be annoyed and this film isn't going to do so good.

 

I hope I'm wrong.  I really do.  But I fear that things for this film are sort of doomed.

Just Another Muppet Monday

 

 

Ok, so I have mixed feelings about this Muppets clip.  First off, it's not really a Muppets clip per se.  I think this is technically a Sesame Street clip.  But Sesame Street is made by the Jim Henson company, so technically they are Muppets, they're just not called Muppets.

 

Secondly, while I'm a fan of REM, I (like most other people) am not a big fan of their song Shiny Happy People.  It's just too happy to be enjoyable.  However, changing the song to Furry Happy Monsters at least makes it amusing to watch. 

 

But what really sold me on this clip, and made me decide to post it, is the Muppet version of the chick from the B-52's.  The fact that the Henson company actually went out of their way to make a Muppet version of her for this video is hilarious.  And the fact that it is scarily accurate to how she really looks just makes it that much better.

 

So, even if you hate the song, you should give this clip a chance.  Even if only to watch the weirdly accurate B-52's Muppet.

The Week In Geek

This week on Geek-tastic, we learned the following:

 

• You can get into Disneyland for free on your birthday next year.


• The new James Bond theme makes me go meh.


• Lost makes me think OMGWTF way too often.


• The Dark Knight DVD will have some cool special features.


• The new Megatron looks like total crap.


• GeekRoundTable has a new podcast up.


• I've started a new blog.


• Alan Moore is a crazy bastard.


• Geeks + Cruise Ships = Weird


• The Force Unleashed is a fun game, but it's not perfect.


• Geek fashion sense comes in many different styles.

Geek Item Of The Week

 

Boba Fett Hoodie

 

A while back, clothing designer Marc Ecko was given the green light by Lucasfilm to design a line of Star Wars clothes.  His first line was pretty successful, so as Lucasfilm tends to do when they have a success on their hands, they ordered a sequel.

 

So Ecko's second line of Star Wars clothing is now available.  Most of it looks like total crap in my opinion, but the above hoodie is absolutely gorgeous.  Designed to resemble Boba Fett's armor, the hoodie is totally accurate, even including the scuffs in the armor's paint.

 

The downside is the hoodie costs $98.  But damn if it isn't pretty!

He's A Rocket Man! Burning Out His Fuse, Out Here Alone!

 



 

This is so frakkin cool.  I am totally jealous of this guy.  His name is Yves Rossy.  He's a 47 year old Swiss airline pilot and he's done something so unbelieveably awesome he should be hailed by all geeks everywhere as one of the true heroes.  Mr. Rossy has built himself a single person winged jetpack, and he's successfully flown it over the channel from France To England.

 

Crossing the 22-mile English Channel in a mere 13 minutes, the 48-year-old Rossy is said to have simply moved his head and back to steer the gizmo—made of eight-foot carbon-composite wings and kerosene-fuelled jet turbines—and landed by parachute. Wearing only a heat-resistant suit and helmet, he was moving at upwards of 125 mph. Remarked the sky captain, who took a similar, if shorter, joy ride above the Alps four months ago.

 

IO9.com has a link over to MSNBC, which has a video of the flight if you wish to see it.  It's amazing.  Rossy doesn't launch from the ground, he jumps out of a moving plane, falls for a bit, and then takes off like an honest to god jet.  It's so damned cool to see.

 

Bravo Mr. Rossy.  You have earned my admiration.  May you continue to fly through the sky for a long, long time.  In honor of your flight, I celebrate your accomplishment the greatest way I can.  I dedicate this song to you. 

 

It is Elton John's Rocket Man, sung by the legend himself...Mr. William Shatner.

 

Rorschach Pickets Fox Pictures

 

Angered that his story may be banned by the folks over at Fox Pictures, masked vililante Rorschach has resorted to a tactic he knows all too well.  He's picketing the offices of the studio. 

 

Armed only with a sign and a slogan, Rorschach vows to bring the evil corporate greed and corruption over at Fox to an end.

 

"This is a perverse attempt to block the dark and brutal truths of the world from being heard by the masses." the masked hero said.  "And I will not sit idly by and watch as it happens."

 

Ok, so I made that quote up.  But the story is totally true.  Some guy has taken it upon himself to dress up in a Rorschach costume and picket the Fox studios due to their attempt to get the Watchmen movie blocked from being released to theaters. 

 

I have no idea who this guy is, but he is now my hero.  Go my fellow geek, go!  You show them what angry nerds can do when they're pushed too far!!!

 

(Original link via ToplessRobot)

Spider-man Is A Whore

 

Don't get me wrong, I love Spider-man.  Growing up, Spider-man was always my favorite superhero.  All of my friends were into Batman or the X-Men, but I was always about Spidey.  Not only did he have cool powers and a cool costume, but he was funny too.  He cracked jokes while he kicked a guy's ass.  I always liked that about him.  Plus, he had a super hot girlfriend (they weren't married yet when I was a kid).  I still blame Mary Jane for my life long love of redheads.

 

But the most imprtant thing that made me love Spider-man was that he was, like me, a geek.  He was a totally geeky science nerd who just happened to stumble upon his powers by accident.  He really was the first geek comic icon in my opinion. 

 

I am telling you all of this so that when I say that Spider-man is a whore, you know that I'm not just being some bitter comic fan who hates the success of Marvel's Spidey films.  Regardless of the films, Spider-man has been Marvel's poster boy for over 30 years now.  He's been used to hock everything from toys to breakfast cereal.  But that's never really bothered me either.

 

What always bugged me growing up was the sheer number of Marvel Team Up's that starred Spider-man.  Spidey has had more crime fighting partners than Ron Jeremy has had sexual partners.  It doesn't matter who they are in the Marvel universe.  They could be huge stars like Captain America or totally lame characters like Howard The Frickin' Duck.  If they've ever appeared in a Marvel Comic, chances are Spider-man has teamed with them.

 

Now comes news that Spider-man has even started teaming up with people from the real world.  In the next issue of Spider-man, your friendly neighborhood web shooter will be teaming up with none other that one Mr. Stephen Colbert.  Now I'm a fan of Mr. Colbert's as well, but what the fuck is he doing in a Spider-man comic?  Seriously!

 

Apparently, Stephen Colbert is running for president in the Marvel Universe right now, and this team up is a promotion of that, as well as being a total begging for some media attention.  Fine, it's a promotional stunt, I get that. 

 

What I don't get though is why Marvel opts for the silly promotional stunt instead of a cool one.  So Stephen Colbert is running for president in the Marvel universe.  How quaint.  But do you remember who ran for President in the DC universe, and actually won?  Lex Fucking Luthor.

 

As a comic book fan, which sounds cooler to you?  Stephen Colbert making a couple of comedy cameos as president in a few books, or Lex Luthor using his power as president to make Superman's life a living hell?  I don't know about you, but I'd choose Luthor any day of the week.

 

If Marvel is going to run a story about a fake presidential storyline, why not take a page from DC's book.  I just don't get why Marvel would waste our time with something that, while it is mildly amusing, could be so much cooler if they really put half a thought into it.  Make your fake president matter to the universe at large.  Put someone in the office who is going to use it to fuck over the entire world.

 

I like Stephen Colbert and all, but he's no Lex Luthor.  And Spidey, shame on you for having such low Team Up standards.

Clone Wars Comes Out On DVD November 11th

 

Just in time for the Christmas rush, and less than a month after the series starts to air on Cartoon Network, the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars movie is coming out on DVD.

 

Set to hit store shelves on November 11th, Lucasfilm is releasing three different options for consumers.  There's your basic, bare bones one disc release that has the film and pretty much no special features.  Then there's the two disc set that has a ton of bonus features.  And finally, the movie will be coming on on Blu-ray as well with some exclusive special features for that version of the release.

 

The list of special features for the two disc set will feature the following:

 

• The Clone Wars: The Untold Stories: Preview stories, vehicles, planets, and battles from Season One of The Clone Wars television series. (This feature is in Hi-Def on Blu-Ray).


• The Voices of The Clone Wars: Meet the voiceover actors and see them perform their craft. (This feature is in Hi-Def on Blu-Ray).


• Gallery of Concept and Production Art (This feature is in Hi-Def on Blu-Ray).


• Webdocs: Six making-of featurettes, as seen on StarWars.com (This feature is in Hi-Def on Blu-Ray).


• Deleted Scenes: Cargo Bay, Platform Droid Fight, Rancor Pit and Through the Tanks


• The New Score: Kevin Kiner leads a 90-piece orchestra to create the unique sound of The Clone Wars movie and series. (This feature is in Hi-Def on Blu-Ray)


• Theatrical and videogame trailers (This feature is in HI-Def on Blu-Ray)


• A digital copy of the movie to watch on the go.


• Take the Hologram Memory Challenge: Test your skill and memory and unlock three hi-def TV series sneak peeks.

 

I'm amused that there are "deleted scenes" for an animated movie.  You don't usually see that.  I wonder what they chose to cut out of the episodes.

Stick Figures Explain The Mortgage Mess

 

I know this borders more closely to "real news" than it does to "geek news", but it's done in a geeky enough fashion that I thought it was post worthy. 

 

The Subprime Mortgage Primer is a very crudely cartoon that very accurately explains what the hell is going on with the US mortgage market and how it's causing all of these banks you see on the news to fail.

 

Hooray for stick figures.  You make even complicated topics easily understandable.

What The Hell Is Bungie Up To Now?

 

 

A few days ago, Bungie (the guys who make the Halo games) started a countdown on their website that promised once the counter hit zero, some form on information would come out about what their next project was going to be.

 

Well, the countdown hit zero, and when it did Bungie released the above video, and that was it.

 

It's obviously a teaser trailer for whatever their next game will be, but the question remains; What the hell is their new game about?  Is it another Halo game?  Is it a sequel to Marathon?  Is it something totally new?

 

Right about now, fan forums everywhere are lighting up with rampant speculation as to what the clues imbedded in the video mean.  They showed the Halo 3 logo, so does that mean it's a Halo game?  What about the other words that pop up once the screens come back online?

 

Out of curiousity, I freeze framed the screen a bunch of times and caught the following.  Here's a list of the screen messages that pop up:

 

• Por Favor Mantenham Se-Calmos


• What I'm guessing is "Please Remain Calm" in Russian pops up


• Please Remain Calm (in English)


• Expect Delays


• Road Closed


• Yellow Means Yield


• Obey Posted Limits


• Pardon Our Dust


• Proceed With Caution


• Maddie, Where Are You?


• Danger Flood Zone


• Final Notice: Bill Past Due


• Keep It Clean

 

Obviously, Bungie takes a perverse pleasure in messing with people's heads.  Who's Maddie?  Who's looking for her?  Why won't anyone tell me anything!?!?!?!

 

If you have any idea what the hell is going on, please, let me know.  My head is starting to hurt.

 

UPDATE:  So it turns out this is a teaser trailer for a new campaign expansion for Halo 3.  Word running across the internets is that it's going to come out next year and will take place sometime after Halo 2 and will fill in story through to the end of Halo 3.  No word yet on who you'll be playing (obviously, you won't be playing Master Chief).

Join The Evil League Of Evil

 

Supervillains everywhere take note.  The Evil League of Evil, led by the thoroughbred of sin Bad Horse, are accepting new members.  If you wish to join this most sacred of evil supervillain leagues, you need to record a video application, post it to either youtube or vimeo, and then send the league an email with a link to the video as well as contact information for yourself.  The cut off for entry is October 11th, so act fast if you wish for your application to be considered.

 

Those with the most evil of applications will be accepted into the league and their videos will be included on a DVD release of a film about the rise of fellow league member Dr Horribe. 

 

Remember though, sidekicks need not apply.  This is for true supervillains only.  So be sure your evil deeds are truly evil enough for consideration.  It helps to have a memorable name.  And don't forget about the evil laugh.  It's about standards people, standards.

 

Be warned though, those who fail to appease Bad Horse will be met with strict punishments.  Make the Bad Horse Gleeful, or he'll make you his mare.

 

(Original link via Wired)

Jack Thompson Has Been Disbarred

 

Finally, some justice is had in this messed up world of ours.  Jack Thompson, videogame protester and all around douchebag has been disbarred by a Florida court.

 

For those of you who don't know much about Jack Thompson, you can go read up on his exploits on wikipedia.  But here's the short-short version:

 

Jack Thompson is a die hard right-wing conservative lawyer who believes that videogames are the root cause of all the evils in the world.  He's been fighting strongly to get violent video games banned for years and has sued the makers of violent games many times in attempts to get their games pulled from store shelves. He also relates any violent crimes to video games and has tried to convince the media that events like the Virginia Tech shooting happened because of videogames.

 

Thompson himself though came under the scope of Florida courts back in February 2007 when the Florida Bar Association filed disbarment proceedings against him for allegations of professional misconduct.

 

The action was the result of separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them.

The case has been going on since then.  And the verdict came down today.  Jack Thompson has been disbarred for professional misconduct and can no longer practice law in the state of Florida.

 

Today is a great day for gamers everywhere as one of the industry's biggest opponents has been removed from power.  However, that's not to mean he's been completely defeated.  I highly suspect he will continue his crusade against videogames.  And he'll probably be even more vocal and vengeful in his attacks.  But at least now he won't have the power of the Florida courts behind him.

 

On behalf of all Geek-tastic readers, let me say the following:

 

Fuck you Jack Thompson.  You can suck our balls!!!

Geeks Can Be Fashionable Too

 

Wired has a fun piece up on geek fashion.  They take examples from a number of geek related TV shows and movies from the last 20 years or so and explain a number of the different types of geek clothing styles.

 

I was really glad to see the inclusion of Roy and Moss from The IT Crowd on the list.  I love that show, but it hasn't been aired here in the US yet.  Although, reading the article I found out that the show will be airing in the US on the IFC network starting on September 30th at 10pm. 

 

If you're a fan of british sitcoms at all, or are a coputer geek, watch this show.  It's so good!  It also has one of the most amusing opening credits sequences for a TV show ever.  Check it out:

 

The Cover To The New Issue Of Entertainment Weekly Is God Damned Hilarious

 



 

Thank god for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.  Without them I think I would have lost my mind by now over the stupid insanity that is modern politics in America.  Their ability to poke fun at the retardedness in the American Political system has helped keep me, and probably many other people, sane.

 

Above is the cover of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly.  If you don't get the joke, you should go check out this pic, which is the cover of the New Yorker magazine from a few months back.  This cover is a parody of that cover...and oh my good god it's brilliant!!!

Stephen Colbert in an afro wig.  Does it get much better than that?  I really don't think it does.

Guillermo Del Toro To Write Books That Really Suck

 

Suck blood that is.  Because they're books about vampires...get it?  Suck? Vampires?  It's a joke about how vampires suck blood.  Ok, sorry, I'll shut up now.

 

Anyways, Del Toro, seen above drinking what looks to be an iced mocha (or possibly a chocolate shake) has announced that he will be writing a trilogy of books about vampires, with some help from a writer named Chuck Hogan.

 

"The idea is epic in scope," del Toro said in a statement issued Wednesday by publisher William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. "The trilogy advances in unexpected ways and each book contains unique and surprising revelations about the history, physiology and lore of the vampiric race, tracing its roots all the way back to its Old Testament origins."

 

The first book will be called The Strain, and it is set to be released next summer.

 

If you don't know who Guillermo Del Toro is, shame on you.  He's the director of both Hellboy films, another amazing film called Pan's Labyrinth, and he's going to be directing the new live action Hobbit movies.  So the chances that his vampire books will be great are pretty damn good.  I'll be sure to pick up the first one and give it a try.

Johnny Depp Is A Very Busy Man

 

It's funny.  I remember back in the mid 90's or so when Johnny Deep was seen as an actor who avoided big budget films.  He was known for serious roles and art house films like Dead Man, What's Eating Gilbert Grape or Benny & Joon.  I always liked the guy back then too, he played Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood afterall.  And that was cool enough in my book.

 

Then, over time, his films started to get a bit bigger and bigger.  Sleepy Hollow, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, etc.  But even still those could be seen as roles he did because he loved the director or the role itself.

 

Then came a little film called Pirates of the Caribbean.  That thing exploded into something massively huge.  Follow that up with two even bigger sequels, and suddenly Johnny Depp is one of the biggest leading men in Hollywood.  And it doesn't look like he's going back to small arthouse films anytime soon.

 

Disney has announced a number of projects that will be starring Mr. Depp going forward, and they're all big films.  First up is a rather strange choice, Johnny is going to be saddling up to play Tonto, the sidekick to the Lone Ranger.

 

Johnny Depp has been cast in the upcoming Jerry Bruckheimer produced adaptation of the classic old-time radio and early television show The Lone Ranger created by George W. Trendle. The series followed a masked Texas Ranger in the Old West who rights injustices with the aid of his native American assistant, Tonto. He gallops along on his white horse Silver. The character’s signature quote is “Hi-yo, Silver, away!” Depp will play Tonto. Pirates of the Caribbean writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio have been writing the script. No start or release dates have been announced.

 

 Nevermind the fact that Johnny Depp IS NOT a Native American.  Nor is he usually playing a sidekick role.  That's definitely odd casting if you ask me.  There was no word in the article as to who will be playing the Ranger himself.  After that, Mr. Depp will be working yet again (for like the billionth time) with director Tim Burton to play the Mad Hatter in what will probably be Burton's total raping of the Alice In Wonderland story.

 

Depp must have signed a multi-picture deal with the studio, because it was also announced that the actor would play The Madd Hatter in Tim Burton’s 3D part live-action, part computer animated adaptation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Principal photography is set to begin in November, with a March 5th 2010 release date previously announced. Concept art from the film was shown, showing the classic Alice in Wonderland scenes done in Tim Burton style, complete with curved and slanted corners. Everything is really stylized. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb have huge heads, and are shaped like upward missiles. None of the characters look like a dramatic departure from the traditional designs.

 

The sentence in there that really scares me is that the concept art shown shows, "the classic Alice in Wonderland scenes done in Tim Burton Style".  Let me translate that for you.  Everything is going to look like the Nightmare Before Christmas and wonderland is going to be all fake looking and it's not going to be anywhere near the awesomeness of the original Disney animated movie.  Do I have to remid you what the "Tim Burton style" did to poor old Willy Wonka?  Yeah, I thought not.

 

Lastly, the one piece of news that actually made my bitter and jaded geek heart happy is that last little announcement.  Depp will be starring in a tiny little low-budget film called...Pirates of the Caribbean 4!!!

 

At the conclusion of the presentation, Walt Disney Studios Chairman Richard W. “Dick” Cook announced “How about another pirates movie!?” signaling that Depp was now signed for Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

 

Admittedly, the last Pirates movie was on crack, but I can't help but love big-budget pirate movies.  I don't care who's in them, or what the story is about.  I just love to see big ass pirate ships firing off cannons at each other and swordfights with guys who are also firing off muskets at the same time.  I will always geek out over such things.  So I'm stoked that we'll get to see more of Captain Jack Sparrow and the man who (in my opinion) is the cooler pirate...Captain Barbossa.

 

Also, hopefully, now that they've closed out the annoying Orlando Bloom/Kiera Knightly storyline those characters won't be returning at all and the story can focus solely on the Pirates.  Because, let's be honest, that's all the audience really cares about anyways, am I right?

The World's Largest Miniatures Gaming Table

 

Artist Timothy Hutchings has created an interactive piece of art that he calls The World's Largest Wargaming Table.

 

The table starts off as an empty landscape each day and becomes populated, and played upon, by attendees to the gallery where it's installed at.  The table measures 900 square feet in size. 

 

Unfortunately, the table is located in New York, so I'll never get to play on it.  It looks like the people in the photos are having a ton of fun though. 

 

You can see more photos of the table, and the artist's other works here.

 

(Original link via BoingBoing)

The Geek-tastic Review Of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

 

Ok, so after a week of playing The Force Unleashed I'm finally ready to share with you my thoughts and opinions of the game.  Mind you, I've never officially reviewed a videogame before, so I'm going to be making up the format as I go.

 

Also, I will be discussing plot points and will be REVEALING SPOILERRS about what takes place in the game.  If you don't want to have anything ruined, don't read this. 

 

 
Ok, you've been warned.

 

 

The Story:

 



For those of you who don't know much about the game, let me briefly say that the game takes place between the prequel trilogy and the good star wars film.  You play Darth Vader's secret apprentice, his name is Starkiller.  Darth Vader found you as a young kid, raised you in secret and is planning to use you to help him defeat the Emperor so he can rule the galaxy.  The game centers on the final stages of your training where you hunt down and kill Jedi knights and become a bigger and stronger Sith master.

 

The story is by far the strong selling point of the game for me.  It's a really good story.  It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than any of the prequel movies were.  As I was watching the cutscenes I actually felt like I was watching a Star Wars movie.  The writers and game designers did a great job capturing the feel of the classic Star Wars films.

 

Some specific things in the plot bug me as a Star Wars purist though.  The game takes place roughly 16 or 17 years after Episode III, and it sees your character officially begin the rebel alliance.  Wait a minute...what?  It took that long after Ep III to form the rebel alliance?  What the hell were Bail Organa and Mon Mothma doing for all those years?  Wallowing in their own misery?  I understand the desire to give the game's main character an important role in the Star Wars universe, but having him be the founder of the rebellion makes no sense from a timeline perspective.  Also, it kills the awesomeness of that scene at the end of EP. III where we see Yoda, Obi-Wan and Bail discuss organizing a rebellion against the Empire.  So was that scene all just talk now?  Did they do nothing after that?

 

Another thing that made no sense was that near the end of the game, Bail Organa gets captured by the Empire and is taken to the Emperor on the still-under-construction first Death Star.  Again, I ask WTF?  Ok, so he gets away at the end, but he couldn't just go back to Alderaan at that point.  He's a wanted fugitive of the Empire now.  He's been openly caught in Rebellion.  If this story actually took place, by the beginning of Episode 4 Alderaan would have been a completely Imperial held world.  Why would the Emperor let a known rebel leader go back to his homeworld without some form of reprisal?  It makes no sense.

 

I may sound like I'm being really negative here, but those are the biggest two plot points that bugged me.  Other than that, the rest of the story is actually a lot of fun to watch.

 

And I have to add that I absolutely love Proxy, your faithful droid companion in the game, who just so happens to be programmed to kill you.  He's a great comic relief in the game and has quickly become my favority Star Wars droid ever. 

 

If you have no desire whatsoever to play this game, and just want to watch the cutscenes, you can find them on youtube. Click here to see Part 1.

 

 
The Gameplay:







 

The gameplay of The Force Unleashed is a fairly straightforward action/adventure brawling game.  It has some elements of platformer to it, and there are one or two puzzles you have to solve too.  What makes the game really fun though is the force powers.

 

You're a very powerful dark Jedi in the game, and as such you get all sorts of fun force powers to wreak havoc with.  You can use the force to pick up people and objects in the game and throw them around, you can use the force to create large concussive blasts that throw everything around you all over the place, you can shoot force lightning at people, you can throw your lightsaber into things, and you can use interesting combinations of powers to create devastating combo attacks against opponents. 

 

The sheer amount of destruction you can cause in the game is a helluva lot of fun.  As you go through levels you will be leaving trails of broken and battered corpses behind you as well as destroyed rooms and pathways.  Grabbing Stormtroopers and flinging them into things is seriously amusing. 

 

At the of fights with large creatures and at the end of boss fights, the game treats you to cinematic kill scenes, provided you can hit the right button at the right time.  These are very enjoyable too as you get to see some new uses of the force never before seen in a Star Wars film.  Also, throwing a lightsaber into the face of a Rancor is fucking awesome!!!

 

However, the game suffers from a truly crap-tastic targeting system.  It's not so bad as to make the game unplayable, but it certainly detracts from the otherwise very fun gameplay.  It's most noticable when in boss fights or when fighting large creatures.  Instead of targeting the biggest threat to you, when you activate the targeting, the game focuses on whatever happens to be in your line of sight at the time.  So while you've suddenly focused on some crate in the background that you can pick up with the force, the Jedi you are fighting is stabbing you in the back with their lightsaber.  It can get really annoying sometimes.

 

Also, there were a few moments in the game where the entire game froze and I had to reboot my xbox.  At first I thought it was just my xbox, but after finding out that it was happening to friends too, it appears that the game may have had some manufacturing problems.  The freezing only happened to me a few times, but I've heard of others who have had it worse than me.

 

The game takes about 8 to 10 hours or so to beat, which may sound short, but is rather typical for an action game of this type.

 

 

Final Thoughts:

 





Overall, I really liked this game a lot.  I does have a few problems, but it does deliver on what was promised.  It's a fun romp through the Star Wars universe where you get to break a lot of shit and beat up a lot of people with the force.

 

If you're a big Star Wars fan, then this game is a must have.  If you aren't the biggest Star Wars fan, but you like action/adventure games like God of War, then you'll probably like this game too.

 

The game offers some replayability too in that it has two separate endings, and there's a bunch of hidden and unlockable stuff to be found in the game too.

Geek Cruises

 

Trying to figure out where to go on vacation?  Want to go on a cruise, but are bored by the idea of having to be surrounded by a bunch of annoying tourists?  Wishing there was a cruise for people like us?  A cruise for geeks?

 

Well, Wired has an article that provides you with all sorts of geeky cruises you can take.  There's a pirate cruise (of course), a videogame cruise and a chess cruise.

 

Thre's even a mac cruise where you can become an Apple certified support professional over the course of the trip.  Wow, training classes and cruise ships all rolled into one.  I don't know about you, but I definitely can't think of a more fun time than spending my vacation learning how to become a support technician.

Only Adam West Can Save The Watchmen

 

So says someone over at ComicBookResources.com.  According to said individual, they know people over at Fox that have told them that this whole Watchmen movie lawsuit has nothing to do with the Watchmen at all and has everything to do with Batman.  Specifically, it has to do with the 60's Batman TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward.

 

Sources tell me that Fox want the 1960s Batman TV series. Currently Fox own the TV footage, but Warner Bros own the characters and trademarks, via their ownership of DC Comics. The rights to a DVD release have been held up for a long time now, and this case looks like it may be the instrument to release them.

 

Oh, Fox will get a wodge of cash as well - many millions of dollars it seems. But it seems they also want the rights to release the Adam West-starring Batman on DVD, something long denied fans of the series. And Warners will get the “Watchmen” film, to release as planned.

 

So is this whole multi-million dollar fight over the Watchmen really about releasing the old Batman show on DVD?  I don't know if I believe this entirely.  Personally, I get the feeling that this is something someone at Fox thought of at the last minute.  I'm willing to bet the conversation at Fox went something like this.

 

EXECUTIVE #1: So, Bob, how's that lawsuit over the Watchmen coming?

 

BOB: Excellent sir. We have a court date set in January. We'll get this movie stopped yet. Screw the fans.

 

EXECUTIVE #1: Great work Bob. If you succeed in getting this film banned and successfully anger the entire population of geeks in the world, we're going to promote you and put you in charge of the next Superman films.

 

BOB: Thank you sir. And I have this great idea for a Superman movie where he's all dark and violent, it's very edgy. And at the end of the film he fights a giant robot spider!

 

Suddenly, FRED from the legal department bursts into the room.



FRED: Sir, I just thought of something. We've been fighting Warner Brothers for years now over getting the rights to the old 60's Batman TV show released on DVD, right?

 

EXECUTIVE #1: Yes, that's correct. What's your point?

 

FRED: Well sir, why don't we use this lawsuit over the Watchmen as leverage so that we can finally get our way with the Batman DVD's?

 

EXECUTIVE #1: Brilliant thinking Fred. We can totally use our current sham lawsuit to get whatever we want from Warner Brothers. They've dropped so much money into this film already, that having it blocked will hurt them badly. They'll do whatever we say just so they can release the film.

 

The lesson here:  The guys over at Fox are total dicks.  On the plus side though, if an agreement is reached that allows season sets of the old Batman show to come out, then the fans get a bonus from the Watchmen movie.  I guess we'll just have to wait to see what happens.

 

I do have one question though, what the hell is a "wodge of cash"?  Is it more than a bushel?  Less than a shitload?  Where does it fall on the analogy chart for large sums of cash?

Weird Al: Man, Myth, Legend

 

 

Ok, I feel all angsty and negative after my last post.  I need something to cheer my up, watching this video definitely helps.  As does this really awesome and in-depth piece about Weird Al Yankovic over at Wired.

 

I love Weird Al.  I think he's one of the true, eternal geek icons.  Long Live Weird Al.

Alan Moore Is A Crazy Bastard

 

I know that Alan Moore is seen by many people as one of (if not the) best comic book writers of all time.  His works include books like V For Vendetta, From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and, of course, The Watchmen.  His writing has been described as groundbreaking and amazing and all sorts of other high praised adjectives.  However, there's one thing I always get annoyed by when I hear other comic fans discuss the "greatness" of Alan Moore.  No one ever mentions that he's absolutely crazy-go-nuts wacked out insane.

 

Take for example, his recent comments about the Watchmen movie that may or may not be coming out next year.  Moore has long detested hollywood.  He's made many negative remarks on the state of the film industry over the last two decades or so, and he was no different in a recent interview with the LA times.  When asked about the upcoming Watchmen movie, Moore had this to say:

 

"I find film in its modern form to be quite bullying," Moore told me during an hour-long phone call from his home in England. "It spoon-feeds us, which has the effect of watering down our collective cultural imagination. It is as if we are freshly hatched birds looking up with our mouths open waiting for Hollywood to feed us more regurgitated worms. The 'Watchmen' film sounds like more regurgitated worms. I for one am sick of worms. Can't we get something else? Perhaps some takeout? Even Chinese worms would be a nice change."

 

Regurgitated worms?  The supposedly greatest comic writer of all time couldn't come up with a better analogy than regurgitated worms? 

 

Now, I don't wish to be overly mean here.  I can definitely understand a person's hatred for Hollywood.  Sure, they make a lot of stupid crap movies and about 90% of the stuff that gets made is shit.  But it's really hard to listen to someone rant about hollywood and take them serious when in the same interview I read the following about them:

 

Moore sometimes wears metallic talons, describes himself as an anarchist and, in the past, has told interviewers that he worships an ancient Roman snake god.

 

I've seen him wearing the talons in pictures, and I've got no real problems with anarchists.  But worshiping an Ancient Roman Snake God?  Um...ok...sure.  Whatever.  And let's not forget the fact that more looks like the kinda guy who mails out letter bombs to people.  Seriously, if you were alone in a dark alley and Alan Moore walked into it, wouldn't you be a little scared too?

 

Another thing that really bugs me about Moore is his hypocrisy.  In the interview he both decries Hollywood while schilling his own DVD at the same time.

 

There is one film that Moore is supporting right now. It's the new DVD release entitled "The Mindscape of Alan Moore" and it's an artfully executed documentary that is built entirely around Moore sitting in his somewhat spooky living room and ruminating about art, storytelling, magic and culture.

 

Sure, you'll back Hollywood when it's a movie specifically about you.  But everything else you'll call regurgitated worms.  I'm sorry, but this level of hypocrisy and sense of self-importance Moore seems to have bugs the crap out of me.  Sure, you wrote some of the best comics ever.  But you also wrote your best work 20 years ago.  So can you please shut up now and let us enjoy ourselves as we see talented people adapt your works into other mediums?  And besides, what are you even doing nowadays?

 

Moore said he is now working on new installments in his marvelous comics series "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," which is far more nuanced and daring than the forgettable film of the same title. The new stories take the narrative to the moon where there is a war underway between the giant insects (inspired by the H.G. Wells 1901 book "The First Men In The Moon") and nude lunar amazons.

 

A comic about a war on the moon between giant insects and nude lunar amazons?  Yeah, that sounds like a real masterpiece.  You have fun with that.

 

I will admit though that Moore did say one thing I totally agree with in this interview though.  He described how he sees the current state of the comic book industry, and god damned if the crazy guy isn't dead on.

 

"There are three or four companies now that exist for the sole purpose of creating not comics, but storyboards for films. It may be true that the only reason the comic book industry now exists is for this purpose, to create characters for movies, board games and other types of merchandise. Comics are just a sort of pumpkin patch growing franchises that might be profitable for the ailing movie industry."

 

I completely agree with this statement.  It really does seem to me that the larger comic companies like Marvel and DC now only exist to create properties for movie companies.  And smaller companies seem to be only making new comics that look and feel like they'll be easily adapted to a movie.  It's a sad state if you ask me. 

 

So I'll grant that Moore may be right about that one thing.  But I really do wish he'd shut up about the Watchmen movie.  Yes, you hate hollywood, we get it.  But you know what, we (your audience) don't care.  We love Hollywood.  You can call us brain dead masses all you want, but if it wasn't for us you wouldn't be able to afford your creepy living room in your house in England.  And I'm fairly certain you're going to make a vast amount of cash from this Watchmen movie.  So just sit there with your bags of cash and shut the fuck up and let us enjoy our movie.

My New Blog

 

The starting up of this blog has gotten be bitten by the writing bug.  However, not everything I want to write about is geek news related, and so doesn't really fit on this site.  To accomodate my other writing desires, I've started up a personal blog.

 

If you care at all to read it, you can find it here.

 

I've also added a permanent link at the top of this page called Pat's Blog.  You can click there to find the blog's address if need be.

 

The posts there will be a bit more personal most likely.  They'll be filled with my random thoughts and observations as I go about my days.  So if you care to hear the random musings of a mad man, feel free check it out.  Or not.  Whatever.

 

(Image courtesy of blogcomics.net)

The New GeekRoundTable Podcast Is Up

 

The fine folks over at the GeekRoundRable have put up their latest podcast for your listening pleasure.  To listen to the podcast, just go here.

 

In this episode, the RoundTable gives their opinion on the movies Dark Knight, Wanted and Wall-E.

 

A discussion is also had regarding the Tim Burton Batman movies, and whether or not they were good.  Of particular interest to me was the point that was made how Batman Returns wasn't a Batman film, it was a Tim Burton film.  I have long held this view myself.  I loved the first Batman film Burton did in 1989.  But Batman Returns just didn't feel like a Batman film to me.  It never has.  It looks and feels more like Nightmare Before Christmas than it does a Batman Film.

 

What suprised me though was that no one on the podcast mentioned the single biggest sin Batman Returns committed though.  It the film, Batman kills a guy!!!  I'm not making this up.  Go back and watch the film.  Batman commits murder in it.

 

It happens during the scene when the clowns from the Red Triangle Gang are disturbing the Christmas Tree lighting.  Batman has this thing of dynamite he picked up from somewhere else when he comes across a really large clown guy.  Knowing he can't beat the guy up, Batman decides to punch him anyways.  The clown laughs but see's batman smiling.  Confused, he looks down and notices that Batman has stuck the dynamite into his pants, and the punch was only a distraction.  Batman then knocks the clown through a manhole and walks away as a big explosion erupts from the manhole.

 

I clearly remember seeing this for the first time in theaters and thinking, "What the fuck!?!?!  Batman doesn't kill people!!!"  That scene has never sat right with me, and I still cringe whenever I see it. 

 

There are many other reasons to dislike Batman Returns (i.e. mind controlled Penguins with candy colored rockets strapped to them), but that scene alone is enough for me to say that this isn't a Batman film.  It's Tim Burton's warped view of Batman.

Meet The New Megatron

 

Latino Review has posted up a bunch of pics of the new version of Megatron from next summer's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and I'm left with only one question.  What the fuck is wrong with Michael Bay?

 

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with him?  Why does he feel this consistent need to make everything in his films exaggeratedly ridiculous?  Ok, I get that they wanted to do something different with Megatron in this movie.  In the last film they couldn't make him a gun, so they made him a jet, I understand that.  Now they've decided to make him a tank.  I actually understand that too.

 

First off, it's a nice nod to Galvatron, but I'm left wondering why in the hell Megatron in tank form looks so damned stupid.  All of the other transformers, when in vechicle modes, look like normal versions of whatever the hell they're supposed to be.  Optimus Prime is a normal looking truck.  He's not some super retarded robo-truck thing with spikes and armor and shit.  He doesn't look like a vechicle out of the Road Warrior movies.  He looks like a fucking truck.

 

Yet Megatron over here, is he a normal looking tank?  HELL NO!  He looks like something you'd see in the future sequences of the Terminator films.  He looks like something built by Skynet. 

 

Why can't Michael Bay just make him a normal fucking tank?  I just don't get it.

News That Makes Me Very, Very Sad

 

sfx.co.uk has a book review up of Doctor Who - The Writer's Tale.  The book is about Russel T. Davies, the writer and major creative force behind the new Doctor Who series.  In it, he discusses a bunch of stuff about being a writer, his work on Doctor Who, and a bunch of other stuff.

 

However, one sentence really caught my eye, and it made me sad.  It was this sentence right here:

 

Davies was asked to meet with George Lucas to discuss writing for the Star Wars TV series - he decided to decline.

 

The TV series they are discussing there isn't the Clone Wars animated series, it's the live action Star Wars TV series that comes out in 2010 or 2011.  Now there are two ways to really view this bit of news.  One is to be very very sad that Davies declined to write for the show.  This sadness stems from knowing that having him on the show would have made it a lot better than it would be without him.  His ability at writing great and entertaining scifi is nigh untouchable.  His decision not to take part in the show is very depressing because I would have loved to see what he written for it.

 

The other way to see this news is with hope.  Lucas asking Davies means that he's probably going around asking a bunch of other people to write for the show too.  And if he's talking to famous scifi writers like Davies, then I'm really curious who else he's talking to.  The implications here are that Lucas himself will not be writing the series and will be passing the reigns of the show to very talented scifi writers. 

 

This gives me a lot of hope that the live action Star Wars might actually be really good.

Some Details About The Dark Knight DVD Are Out

 

Blu-ray.com is reporting what are the first details that have been released about the forthcoming Dark Knight DVD set.  Unfortunately, no official release date has been set yet for the DVD, but we do know a little bit now about what special features will be on the 2 disc set.

 

In addition to the movie itself, the first disc will include the "Gotham Discovered: The Creation of a Scene" extra where Director Christopher Nolan and his collaborators unveil details on the planning of the movie, including stunt double work, how the filming in IMAX was done and information about the new Bat-suit, Bat-pod, etc.

 

The second disc will include the following documentaries: "Batman Technology: Gadgets and Tools" (in HD), "Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight" and "The World of Batman Seen Through Real Life Psychotherapy" (in HD), 6 clips from the Gotham Cable Premier's newscast: "Tonight in Gotham", plus art galleries on the Joker's letters, conceptual art, posters, production stills, trailers, and TV spots.

 

The thing that sounds the most interesting to me is the "Batman Seen Through Real Life Psychotherapy" extra.  Did they actually get real PhD psychologists to discuss the emotionally messed up Bruce Wayne?  If so, that's hilarious.  Maybe I'm just a psych nerd (I do have a degree in Psychology afterall) but this sounds like it has the potential to be vastly entertaining.  Real life psychologists discussing the Joker and Batman and breaking down what their particular psychological disorders would be if they were real people.  You can't get any more entertaining than that as far as I'm concerned.

 

Also, it wasn't mentioned above, but I'm sure we'll see a slew of other extras, such as audio commentary tracks and subtitles and blah blah blah.  What we really want to know though is whether there are going to be any deleted scenes included with the set.  I'm dying to see more Joker scenes with Heath Ledger.

 

(Original link via IO9)

New Geek DVD Day - 09/23/2008

 

The Good:  The Peanuts Holiday Collection

 

Why It's Good: Admit it. You, along with pretty much everyone else born after 1965, have been raised on these holiday specials. The Peanuts holiday specials are a staple of American culture. We've all seen these movies a thousand times. They're aired every year on multiple TV stations, and we all get sucked into watching them again at some point. But there's a reason for that. It's because they're so damn good. You can't help but not like these shows. They're absolutely classics in american television. I would argue anyone who tells you that they don't like these shows is an evil and heartless person that has no soul.

 



 

The Badass: The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset

 

Why It's Badass:  It's The Godfather.  Do I really need to say more?  Fine, ok I will.  Not only are these finally coming out out for Blu-ray, but the films themselves have been painstakingly restored to be the dark and gritty films they once were.  To read more about the restoration, you can go here.  I'm dying to see the newly restored prints.  I'm willing to bet the only versions I've ever seen were washed out and faded prints.  Now I'll hopefully get to see the films as they were originally intended to be seen...dark.

 



 

The Awesome:  This American Life - Season 1

 

Why It's Awesome:  Far and away the best weekly radio show in America was given a TV show on Showtime, and somehow they managed to make it not suck.  It fact, not only does it not suck, it's totally awesome.  Keeping the overall feel and scope of the radio show, but mixing it with amazing imagery and a unique directoral style, this show is absolutely captivating.  Each episode of the show picks a theme and then gives you a number of stories on that theme.  The stories are about normal people going about their normal lives, but the show focuses on how truly amazing normal lives can be when you really take the time to look at them.

The Top 50 OMGWTF Moments From Lost

 

The thing that makes the show Lost great are it's WTF moments.  Typically, in most other shows you'll get a couple episodes of buildup towards something big, and then there's a payoff of some kind.  But not on Lost.  No sir.  Instead, they'll give you a couple episodes of buildup, make you think there's a payoff coming, and then they'll do something so strange and from out of left field that it will break your brain.  Then you're left confused, weirded out, and trying to figure out not only what the fuck just happened, but what the fuck is going to happen next. 

 

Well some kind hearted soul has collected a list of The Top 50 OMGWTF Moments From Lost.  And they've added some little comments of their own regarding the moments.  It's a fun read.

 

A warning though, if you aren't completely caught up with the show right now, there are definitely some spoilers to be found amongst the list.  So read at your own risk.

For Those Of Us Who Can't Get Enough Jumping Through Portals

 

 

 

The above video is for the official/unofficial prequel to the smash hit game Portal.

 

The prequel is called Portal: Prelude, and I say it's official/unofficial because, well, it's slightly complicated.  Technically it is not an offial prequel to the game because it wasn't made by any of the people who work for Valve.  This was a mod made by fans so that people get to have more fun shooting a portal gun at walls and jumping through them.  However, Valve is fully supporting the project and has even made the game mod available on Steam.  So if that doesn't make it an officially sanctioned mod, I don't know what does.

 

There are a few downsides though.  Even though the game is free, it is only available for the PC, and you need to own a copy of Portal already to add the mod to.  Directions on how to do that can be found on the game's website.  And the other bad news?  No GlaDOS.

 

Portal: Prelude, as its name states it, is an unofficial prequel to the game Portal. Its story revolves around the pre-GlaDOS epoch, even before she was plugged in. At this time, test subjects were monitored by real Aperture Science employees whose work was tedious, lengthy and repetitive. This is why they decided to build a great artificial intelligence that could both replace them in these difficult tasks, but also take responsibility for many other tasks within the complex and compete with Black Mesa's superiority. All employees of the Aperture Science complex are now eagerly awaiting GlaDOS. Maybe even a little too eagerly, as the upcoming events will tell...

 

So even though there's No GlaDOS, that doesn't mean the game is going to be missing out on the great humor of the first game.  This time though, it'll be funny comments from the researchers who are running the tests.

 

Now I just wish this game would come out on Xbox Live Arcade.  I'm not much of a PC game guy, but I'd buy this in a second if it was availabe for consoles.

Will We Get To See The Return Of Mr. Glass?

 

 

The answer...maybe.  In an interview with MTV, M. Night Shyamalan discussed the possibility of making a sequel to his amazing comic book film Unbreakable.

 

I tell you I get asked about it all the time, so it’s not [an idea] I ever forget,” Shyamalan told MTV News. “I genuinely just asked this question the other day — should I make ‘Unbreakable 2’?”

 

If Shyamalan does indeed decide to revisit “Unbreakable,” he’ll have at least one of the original film’s stars ready and willing to join up — Samuel L. Jackson, who played the very-breakable villain, Elijah Price, in the movie.

 

“Every time I see [Shyamalan], he says, ‘I’ve written this thing for you,’ so I say, ‘why are you always doing these movies I’m not in?’” said Jackson.

 

According to both Shyamalan and Jackson, “Unbreakable” was originally intended to be a trilogy, but a series of bad reviews as well as fan and film critic misconception of Shyamalan’s work quickly tabled the idea of a possible franchise. As Jackson put it, “He was a victim of what Quentin [Tarrantino] was a victim of. ‘Jackie Brown’ is a great movie, but it’s not ‘Pulp Fiction 2.’ ‘Unbreakable’ is a great movie, but it’s not ‘I see f**king dead people.’”

 

If you've never seen Unbreakable, you need to, like right now.  It really is one of the best comic book movies ever.  No, it's not about any superhero you've ever heard of.  And no, it's not about any comic book you can actually read.  What it is about is a regular guy who comes to realize he has these powers.  Powers he can use to help those in need.  Over the course of the film he goes to see Sam Jackson, a man who definitely is not superstrong.

 

Jackson teaches him about comics and what makes a hero. He also explains his theory that comic books are just an exaggeration of real life powers people have, or used to have. It all feels very real and very possible. I was blown away the first time I saw this movie. If a sequel does indeed get made, I'll be first in line to go see it. But what would it be about?

 

“Back then we talked about what the rest would entail,” recalled Jackson. “I broke out of the mental institution. I’m out there doing stuff and ["Unbreakable" co-star Bruce Willis' "David Dunn" is] after me. It’s very cool. He still wears that rain thing, that windbreaker.”

 

So the idea seems to be there, and Jackson’s ready to break out the funky hair-do(n’t) and purple suit, so — bottom line — will we see an “Unbreakable 2,” Mr. Shyamalan?

 

“I do love the [comic book movie] genre, I just wanna make sure that I’m able to express who I am,” explained Shyamalan. “I don’t want to get so lost in the subject that I have to neuter everything that’s me in it, so maybe ‘Unbreakable’ is the comic book thing I should do — I keep coming back to that.”

 

We’ll take that as a solid “maybe.”

 

Damn, I really hope this gets made. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The New Bond Song

 

Want to hear the theme song for the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace?  Then go here to check it out.  It's called Another Way To Die, and it's written by Jack White and Alicia Keys.

 

I wasn't too impressed with it.  It's ok I guess, but as bond songs go it's sort of forgettable.  And why isn't the song called Quantum of Solace?  Most of the other songs are titled the same as the movie that it's the theme for.  Tina Turner sang Goldeneye, Madonna sang Die Another Day, was it too hard to name a song Quantum of Solace?

 

Personally, my favorite Bond song is still The World Is Not Enough by Garbage. Not only is it an awesome song, but it actually feels like a Bond style spy song. And the video for it is awesome. It has a robot version of Shirley Manson that is a giant walking bomb.  How rad is that?  And then the evil robot Shirley kills the real Shirley with a kiss so hot it's smoking...literally.  Any video with hot Shirley on Shirley action is going to win my vote as best video ever, but that's just me.

 

Hey, I wonder if that video is why she got cast as a T-1000 for the Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles show.

Get Into Disneyland...For Free

 

This actually suprises me.  Disneyland, a place I absolutely love but which is well known for being expensive as hell, is allowing people to go to one of its parks for free.

 

Here's the catch, you can only get in for free on your birthday.  All you have to do is register with Disney at the above link and you will get an email confirmation two weeks before your birthday.  Just print that up and take it to the park on your birthday and they'll let you in for free.  You can choose to either get into the Disneyland in California or Florida.  Neither of the other parks are available to choose from, so no Epcot or California Adventure, but why would you pick those over the Magic Kingdom anyways?

 

I'm really stoked Disney is doing this.  It's nice to see the park giving away something for once.  And if you think about it, it really is a brilliant marketing move.  Who ever goes to Disneyland on their birthday alone?  Pretty much nobody, that's who.  So for every free ticket Disney gives away, a half dozen or so friends and family will probably be going with the birthday person and will have to buy a ticket into the park.  It's a sure fire way to sell more tickets to the park, and all they have to do is give out a couple of free tickets. 

 

Regardless of the reasons though, it's still a free ticket to Disneyland.  Bravo Disney, I totally applaud this move.  I hope this becomes a permanent thing at the park.

Just Another Muppet Monday

 

OH...MY...GOD! I don't know how, but I've never seen this before. The above video features Johnny Cash, the man in black, singing a duet...with Miss Piggy.

 

I don't even know what to say about this. The coolness factor of the whole thing has left me speechless. Just watch the video and you'll understand. Miss Piggy shows up about halfway through the clip. And I have to give her credit. She's no June Carter, but she does a damn good job singing with Mr. Cash. And at least she has enough sense for once to not try to steal the spotlight for herself.