Pie Charts Don't Lie

Yeah, this is so true. If a zombie apocalypse did actually start up today, I think I'd spend at least 5 minutes jumping up and down with joy that the day I'd dreamed of for so long had finally arrived. Then I'd get my act together and head to the closest Wal-Mart to pick up shotguns, ammo, baseball bats and chainsaws. From there, I'd meet up with my friends, steal a boat and head to Catalina to found the new country of Patopia where I would rule with an iron fist.

Hey, at least I have a zombie contingency plan. What's yours?

Jonah Hex Has A Little Something On His Face

Here's the first trailer for DC's upcoming film based on the Jonah Hex comics. It stars Josh Brolin as the facially scarred, pissed off cowboy who is hunting down the man who killed his family (John Malkovich). I'm a big fan of western films. I'm also a big fan of comic book films. So, having a comic book/western film coming out is something I'm really looking forward to.

Yeah, it has Megan Fox too. No film is perfect, but somehow I highly doubt she's been cast in the film for her great thespian abilities. She's in the film as a prostitute, so I guess you could say she's been type cast pretty well. She'll be there for eye candy, and to get fanboys who would normally go to see a western film into the seats. I can't blame the filmmakers for doing that. Sticking Megan Fox into a corset and stockings and having her parade around the film will sell tickets. Let's be honest here, it will.

I'm going to look at the postiive things though. At one point in the film there is a horse with gattling guns strapped to it. That's pretty fucking awesome if you ask me. I'm sold. I'll be in line to see this when it comes out on June 18th.

By The Hammer Of . . . . . This Guy

Here it is, our first official look at Marvel's new live-action Thor. That's actor Chris Hemsworth (the guy who played Kirk's dad in the new Star Trek movie) playing the role of the Asgardian god in question. Sure, there's no hammer in the shot, no helmet, and no knee high boots, but damn if this doesn't look pretty impressive.

I'm pretty sure I wasn't alone in being a little worried about how director Kenneth Branagh was going to pull off fitting in a mystical Thunder God from a different dimension (complete with rainbow bridge) into the fairly well established Marvel movie universe. This pic is fairly reassuring though. Thor looks good. He's brooding properly as all disgruntled gods should. His costume is obviously inspired by the comics without looking completely over the top and cartoonish. He's got the required heroic manly stubble. Not too shabby.

Yes, I know that one pic doesn't mean the film will be great. I'm still waiting for a trailer before I'll start really making guesses as to how the film will be. All I'm saying is that this pic makes Thor look pretty damn cool, and that gives me hope.

Protection From A Galaxy Far Far Away

What you see here is quite simply the greatest condom wrapper you will ever find. This is supposedly a real condom wrapper from France. I'm pretty sure this isn't real. It's most likely a really clever photoshop job, but I really wish it was real. If it was, I'd go buy packs of these things and would only ever use this brand of condom from this day forward. I wouldn't even care if I had to import the damn things in from France at high costs. It would be totally worth it.

Oh, and for those of you who don't speak French, it says, "I am not your father!"

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Although, this does lead to some potentially really bad jokes that could take place during sex. You just know someone out there will eventually say something along the lines of, "feel the force flowing through you" whilst in the middle of some very intimate moments.

And yes, by someone . . . I mean me.

(Via Geekologie)

A Trip To Wonder Con 2010

2009 was the very first year that I ever attended Wonder Con in San Francisco, California. Being an almost 20 year veteran of the San Diego Comic Con, I'd heard about it for years, but for one reason or another had never gotten around to heading up north for the SD Con's sister show. The two shows are indeed very much related. Both shows are organized by Comic Con International, along with the APE Expo which focuses on Alternative Press Comics. I can't really say why I never got around to attending the show up in San Fran, but having been invited to take part in the GeekRoundTable.com panel at last year's show I finally had no excuses, so I went . . . and I had a blast.

Wonder Con really is like the little sibling to SD's con. It has a lot of the same great content, panels, guests, etc. that SD has. It has a really cool sales floor filled with more geek schwag than one can believe. Best of all though, the crowd is maybe a fifth of the size of SD's average attendance these days. If SD Comic Con is the Godzilla of comic conventions, Wonder Con is Mothra in it's Larval stage. Smaller, more accessable, but no less powerful or impressive in it's awesomeness.

My second year at Wonder Con was no less fun than the first, but due to some unforseen circumstances it ended up being a bit shorter for me. I was unable to take a day off of work for the convention, so I sadly wasn't able to attend any of the Friday daytime events. I had managed to get off of work a bit early though and was looking forward to seeing a big Tron announcement and a screening of the new Resident Evil movie in 3D in the evening, but due to nasty weather conditions in San Francisco, my flight up there was delayed for a few hours and I completely missed those events. My good friend Mike over at Inside Pulse was there though to cover the Tron event. You can find his article and review of the con HERE, which also includes some coverage of panels that I didn't attend, such as the Kickass panel.

As for me, I got into town way later than I expected, so I had to accept that I'd missed the first day of the con. I joined some friends at a rum bar downtown, drowned my sadness over missing my chance to see 3D Milla Jovovich in tasty tiki drinks, and eventually went to sleep. The next day, I was determined to make up for lost time.

Saturday morning, I got up early and headed straight for the convention center. This year for the con, instead of just going as a panel guest like I did before, I actually applied for and was granted a press pass. To my pleasant suprise, this came included with a pretty swanky press kit filled with all sorts of information about the con. Once I was checked in and ready to go, I immediately made a bee-line for the exhibit hall floor. That is afterall where my favorite part of cons lie. It's on the floor (in the trenches, if you will) with my fellow geeks that I really feel at home. I enjoyed walking the floor and snapping pics of anything unusual that caught my eye. You can see the whole set of photos over at the Geek-tastic Flickr account, but here's some of my favorites.

Saturday was also the day of the Annual Wonder Con Masquerade, so there definitely was no shortage of great costumes on display as well.

As for the panels, the very first one I got into was the Toy Story 3 panel. On stage were Jeff Garlin, Kristen Schaal and Jon Ratzenberger who all provide voices for the film. I was really happy to see Kristen Schaal on the panel, as I didn't know she was going to be in the film beforehand. I'm a big fan of her work. If you don't recognize her name, she's the lady who play the Flight of the Conchord's only fan Mel on their HBO show. She's also a great stand-up comedian whose comedy special I had actually watched the day before during my flight up to San Francisco.

The panelists walked through some voice acting scenes where they read the dialogue from the film in time with the movie projected on the screens, which was pretty cool actually. Then they did some Q&A with the audience. As fun as that was though, it was the panel after that which I was really looking forward too. The Resident Evil: Afterline panel.

I'm a big Resident Evil fan. I've played all of the games, I've seen all of the films, and in general I have a huge nerd crush on Milla Jovovich. After having missed the 3D screening of the trailer the night before, there was no way in hell I was going to miss this panel. I got there early, snagged a seat as close to the front as I could get, busted out my audio recorder and camera, and did my best to cover this panel as professionally as I could.

The audio from the panel will be getting edited into a future episode of the Patcast that I do, so be sure to look for that. Basically, the panel boiled down to a Q&A about the making of the film and what fans can expect when they go see it. They also screened the trailer (sadly only in 2D) for the audience, which you can see here. Resident Evil: Afterline is going to be the first film since James Cameron's Avatar that was shot using the same camera's he used to make the 3D for that film, so this isn't going to be some crappy 2D to 3D conversion like what movies like Clash of the Titans has done. No sir, this is going to be a full on immersive 3D zombie killing experience. Listening to Director Paul W.S. Anderson and stars Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter talk about the film, you could easily see how excited they are about this project. They were all very energetic and passionate in describing what making the film was like, and how they hope fans will enjoy watching it as much as they enjoyed making it. For classic Resident Evil gaming fans like me, they've promised a lot of inspiration for this movie came from Res Evil 4 and 5, so expect to see a lot of game elements in this film.

After the Resident Evil panel, I ran downstairs real fast to make sure I had a space for the Star Wars: Clone Wars panel. The Clone Wars is a show that in my mind has come a long way this season. There's been a huge shift in the tone of the show. It's gotten much darker and much more violent than I would have expected for something marketed as a kid's show. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I've been loving this season of the show, and I wanted to see what was in store for the season finale.

The panel was led by the show's Supervising Director Dave Filoni, who told us about how the final three episodes of the show will heavily revolve around a young Boba Fett and his quest for vengence against the Jedi for the murder of his father Jango. The trailer they showed for that panel can be seen here. Also on the panel was Daniel Logan, who played Boba Fett in Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and actress Jaime King, who voices the bounty hunter Aurra Sing on the show. Daniel Logan was obviously excited to be playing Boba Fett again. He could hardly contain his giddyness, so much so that I think at one point or two he was on the verge of letting out information about the show that he's not allowed to say yet. There was a few occasions where someone else on the panel had to cut him off from saying too much. I couldn't help but sympathize with Daniel there. If I was playing Boba Fett in the Clone Wars series, I wouldn't be able to keep quiet about it either. I'd be way too excited to keep secrets.

After the panel, I was able to actually run up to Dave Filoni and ask him a question that had been bugging me for a while about how much Ralph McQuarrie's original concept art for Star Wars influcnes the art direction for the show. He was very gracious and gave me a good long answer. Once again, I was able to record this exchange and it will be in the podcast that I will be putting out soon.

By this point in the day, the Con was just about over, so I met up with some friends and headed out for dinner and yet more Tiki drinks. The next day, I woke up nursing a bit of a hangover (damned deceptively tasty rum concoctions) and headed back to the convention. Due to the hangover, and my general running lateness, I missed the Max Brooks (Author of World War Z) panel in the morning. Instead, I spent a few hours wandering the floor of the exhibit hall again. Sunday's crowd was much smaller than Saturday's, so it was much easier to shop. I bought a kickass Batgirl shirt, took some more cool photos, and then had to head off for my flight back home.

I really did enjoy Wonder Con again, but I couldn't help but feel rushed all weekend. Having missed the first day really made a difference. Next year, I will be more adamant about getting there for all three days of the con. Two days just aren't enough really. I will definitely be back next year too, that's for sure. If you love the SD Comic Con, but are getting tired of the giant crowds and how big it's gotten, and you just want it to go back to being how it was back in the mid 90's, then Wonder Con is the place for you. It's like taking a trip back in time to when Comic Con was much smaller, but still totally awesome.

See you again next year Wonder Con!

The Symphony Of Science

The Symphony of Science has actually been around for a while now, and I've known about it for some time. I sincerely apologize for not posting about this long ago. I have been seriously slacking in my duties as a nerd blogger, and I apologize profusely for that.

With that said, if you haven't yet had the chance to see any of the Symphony of Science music videos on Youtube yet, you really are missing out on something truly wonderful. The project was originally created by composer John Boswell, whose stated goal is "to bring scientific knowledge and philosophy to the public, in a novel way, through the medium of music". The very first video from the series is embedded above. It's titled "A Glorious Dawn", and it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.

The song combines video and audio clips of the late Carl Sagan run through autotune software and mixed with original music from Boswell. The clips come from Sagan's groundbreaking 1980's science series Cosmos. Even Stephen Hawking gets in on the act a little bit into the song. That's right, Stephen Hawking . . . singing.

The end result is something powerful, intelligent, moving and beautiful at the same time. Please, take a few minutes and actually watch this video. Don't just put it on in the background and tune it out. Watch it. Pay attention to it. Leave yourself open to think about it. It's worth it, trust me.

If you like this song, you can find others at Symphony of Science's youtube channel. You can also download MP3's of the songs and find more information on the project at their official website.

On a related note, if you've never seen Carl Sagan's Cosmos, you just lost some major nerd points. I'm not kidding. But don't worry, you can easily regain them. Cosmos just so happens to be available on Netflix's Instant Play feature, so there's no excuse for you to have not seen it by now. Get to watching it. That's an order.

Joss Whedon To Direct The Avengers Movie?

Right now, the nerd blogosphere is practically exploding with the news that Joss Whedon looks to be all but confirmed to be the man Marvel/Disney (or is it Disney/Marvel) is tapping to direct the upcoming mega-blockbuster Avengers movie. You know, the film that will have the stars of Iron man, Captain America, Thor and the Incredible Hulk all in the same film? Yeah, that Avengers movie.

I think the internets are currently experiencing a collective nerdgasm. It's getting pretty messy out there.

This news really is spreading like wildfire. In the last 10 minutes alone, I've seen this bit of news pop up on just about every nerd blog I read (which is many). As a wannabe nerd blogger myself, it is my legal duty to report on this as well. Seriously, it's in the nerd blogging bylaws. Look it up. Anything regarding any combination of Joss Whedon and/or comic books must be blogged within a 24 hour period, otherwise one's nerd blogging credentials can be revoked for lack of fanboyism.

So is this a good thing or a bad thing? Admittedly, there are Joss lovers and Joss haters out there who will be respecively thrilled or horrified at this news. Personally, I was sort of hoping that Jon Favreau would accept the directing job since he's done such an amazing job with Iron Man, but I can't really knock Joss' ability as a story teller. Sure, he's known more for his TV work than his film work, but the man has logged many hours behind the camera directing some of the best Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse episodes himself. And as for his feature film directing experience, I have only one word for all of the Joss doubters out there.

Serenity.

Yes, it's the only feature film he has directed so far. It also happens to be one of the greatest sci-fi/space operas ever made. The man can direct, and he can direct well. He's also worked with Marvel before and anyone who has read his run on Astonishing X-Men knows that he can tell a kickass superhero story. Am I biased here a bit? Of course I am. I'm a fan of a lot of Joss' work. I'm not a total Joss fanboy (I didn't really care for Dollhouse), but I definitely respect the man's body of work and admire his storytelling abilities.

The real question will be who is writing the script for this thing? Will Joss be writing it? Will other's be writing it? As important as the director of a film is, it's really all about the script at the end of the day. I'm going to reserve making a full judgement on Joss' involvement in the Avengers until more details about the script come out, but I will admit that I'm certainly not unhappy about his involvement with this project.

Pics From Wonder Con 2010

Hey Everyone. It took a few days and some tinkering, but I've finally managed to get the photos from Wonder Con off of my now dead laptop. Thank the gods too. I was really worried that they would be lost for good. Luckily though, that's not the case.

The photos have been posted up to flickr. You can find the set here.

Lebowskifest L.A. 2010

By Gabriel Madrigal

Not a fan of The Big Lebowski? Watch it again… In fact, by the third viewing you will not only be quoting the movie, you will be completely in love with this cinematic masterpiece. Ok, it’s far from being a masterpiece but it is easily the most quotable movie ever. In fact, I dare say that there is a Lebowski quote for just about any pickle you find yourself in.

This past weekend, a celebration of all things Lebowski took place over two days in Los Angeles. The first day at the Wiltern Theater, consisted of a screening of the film with special guests. The second day, easily the most interactive, was held at Cal Bowl in Lakewood. Great cosplay, white Russians, bowling, special guests and 8-year olds, no not really (that’s from the movie, if you haven’t seen it yet), were aplenty.

This was the first event I've covered for Geek-tastic and I truly picked a great one. Let's hope these photos really tie the room together. The full set can be found HERE.

Technical Problems

Hey everyone,

A quick update about the status of the Wonder Con pics. I had just finished uploading them from my camera to my laptop last night and had begun organizing them so I could post them up to flickr when my laptop totally died on me. I'm not sure what is wrong with it, but it's no longer booting up.

To make matters worse, right after I had transferred the pics, I deleted them from my camera's SD card. Now, my dead laptop is the only thing that has copies of all of the pics I took at the con. I'm really hoping I can recover everything and that the laptop can be fixed, but right now I can't say for certain that will happen. It's is quite possible that all of my pics from the con may be gone forever.

That possibility saddens me to no end.

I will keep you guys up to date on the status of the pics as soon as I find out what's wrong with my laptop and whether it can be saved or not. Cross your fingers and let's hope for the best.

On the plus side, I hadn't transferred over any of the audio clips I took at the con, so I will still have those for podcasting purposes. Of course, all of my podcast editing software was on the laptop so it may be a while before I can get another podcast up.

What's Better Than Milla Jovovich Killing Zombies?

How about multiple Milla Jovovich's killing zombies . . . . in 3D!

This weekend at Wonder Con up in San Francisco, the first official trailer for the fourth Resident Evil film (Resident Evil: Afterlife) was released.  Sadly, due to flight delays I didn't get a chance to see the trailer presented in 3D, but I did get to see it in 2D at the panel on Saturday. 

If you're a fan of the Resident Evil films, or even just a fan of zombie films in general, then this may be something you want to check out.  It was shot using the same cameras and technology that James Cameron used to make Avatar.  Unlike most of the 3D films that you've been seeing lately which were shot in 2D and then converted to 3D, Resident Evil 4 was made from day one with the full intention of it being a 3D film. 

Zombie killing and Milla Jovovich beheading dudes with swords in 3D.  Can we ask for anything more?  I think not.

Oh, and speaking of that Resident Evil panel I attended last weekend, I was able to get some sweet audio recordings of director Paul W.S. Anderson and stars Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter discussing the making of the film and what we can expect when we go see it.  I'll be including those in an upcoming podcast, so be sure to stay tuned for that.

The Bounty Hunters Return To Star Wars: Clone Wars

Aside from Resident Evil: Afterlife, the other really cool panel I hit at Wonder Con over the weekend was the Star Wars: Clone Wars panel.  If you've been keeping up with the show at all this season, you already know that they've been consistently putting out some amazing Star Wars material.  I'd even go so far as to say that the Clone Wars series has been the single greatest thing to come out of the Prequel Trilogy.

During the panel, they showed us the above trailer for the three-part season finale.  It involves the return of Boba Fett and his quest for vengence against the jedi for the death of his father at the hands of Mace "Badass Mofo" Windu.  I will admit it, when I first heard they were bringing a teenage Boba Fett into the show, I was a little worried.  Ok, a lot worried.

I tend to hate kid characters in TV and Film.  They usually are rather boring, are badly acted, and almost always fall into what I call the "Anakin Syndrome" from Episode I where their cuteness is expected to make up for the fact that they ruin every scene they are in.  Seeing a young Boba Fett in Episode II wasn't exactly the greatest thing ever, and I was worried that we'd be forced to put up with more of the same with his return.

After attending the panel though, at least some of those fears have been put to rest.  Boba's still a kid, this is true.  He's not a little kid anymore though.  He's a teenager, and a pissed off one at that.  He's been taken in by Jango's old Bounty Hunter friends, and it looks like they're using his hatred of the Jedi to meet their own ends.  They're warping and corrupting him and shaping him into the Badass we all know that he will become.  Hearing some of the cast and crew discuss their goals with this story helped to settle a lot of my nervousness about Boba's return, but it was really the trailer that made me feel ok with it.

The trailer is dark and brooding.  There's some serious action going on in it, and it looks like the Jedi are getting their asses kicked around a lot.  Seeing Slave One is always awesome, but what really sold me was Mace Windu's little speech about Boba watching him as he killed his father.  Am I the only one that got chills listening to that?

While I do still have a few worries about Boba Fett's return, I must say that I'm now much more open to seeing what they do with him.  The crew behind the Clone Wars series have been delivering us top notch Star Wars greatness all season long.  I have no reason to believe they'll let us down now.

Also.  Bossk? Hell Yeah!  Now all we need is Dengar and this party can really get started.