The First Bond to Fall...

Being a big James Bond fan, I thought I would jump in here quickly with a bit of sad news for those of us who have followed the exploits of the British secret agent and his forays into the media.

Actor Barry Nelson, who portrayed the first James Bond in a 1954 live TV Climax mystery theater, passed away last week at the age of 89.

Here' s what ABC News had to say about it.

LOS ANGELES Apr 13, 2007 (AP)— Barry Nelson, an MGM contract
player during the 1940s who later had a prolific theater career and was the
first actor to play James Bond on screen, has died. He was 89.

He is the answer to the trivia question: Who was the first actor to play
James Bond? Before Sean Connery was tapped to play the British agent on the big
screen in 1962's "Dr. No," Nelson played Bond in a one-hour TV adaptation of
"Casino Royale" in 1954.

Actually, in the TV adaptation, the character of James Bond was rewritten as an American CIA agent who went by the nickname "Card Smart Jimmy Bond". The villain, Le Chiffre was played by famed character actor, Peter Lorre.

Nelson spent his last years traveling the world with his wife.

That's all for now. I think I'm spoiling you all with three posts in a week, so I gotta get going. I'm off to be trained how to take care of my sister's two dogs, Frodo and Pippin while she's off gallivanting on vacation in a week.

Zangz.

P.S. You may also want to check out my last blog below if you haven't yet.

The Profits of Doom - LIVE!

Grrrrrr....

After many failed attempts to get to Blogger via Mozilla Foxfire (I get a error message that then closes Firefox when I get to Blogger's sign in page), I'm now forced to use IE browser, which I hate. No good reason for it, other than Blogger may have changed something on it's page that freaks out Foxfire. So I'm not in the greatest of moods here. I'm hopefully going to make this one short, but sweet.

In one my last posts I mentioned that I was going to see my musical favorites, Type O Negative live in concert this week. Here's how it went....

First, you have to understand, that there are certain challenges when living in the upper Midwest. The number one challenge is braving the weather. Mother Nature, again, provided my hometown with a wonderful blizzard that left us a few inches of cold, slushy, heavy gunk the was blowing at us with gale force winds.

Of course me, being the brianiac I am, was under the impression (back in March, when I bought my ticket) that it would be half-way decent by mid-April. I wasn't thinking 80 degree weather, but I was at least under my own ignorant impression that I wouldn't be walking to the venue in a snow storm.

The venue isn't all that far from me and parking in that area isn't always the best choice for many reasons. So, if I'm seeing a show there, I usually enjoy a good natured jaunt through the downtown/college area that takes just under an hour from Zangz's Vault of Geekdom Headquarters.

When I got home from work that evening, the big snowstorm that went through the town just earlier had subsided. So I put on my warm leather jacket and started off. Of course, God, who was conspiring against me with the help of Mother Nature, thought it would a fun shtick to start up the wind and snow again once I was well on my way there.

Once I reached the venue, I looked like a drown rat amongst the cool goth kids who probably were thinking, "Who's the creepy, moist guy?"

Well, once I warmed up I made my way into the main concert hall that Type O have played time and time again. I went up to my favorite perch where I can see everything perfect and don't have to worry about being crushed by the frenzied moshers. Once I got up there I was told by a security guy that to be up there was an additional $5. Realizing I was getting way too old for any moshing bull-frack I whipped out the ol' Abraham Lincoln, bought an $8 beer at the bar and relented with the fact that I'd been just nickled and dimed. Oh well. This was Type O Negative after all.

So I sat back with my beer, found a decent vantage point and enjoyed the show. The first opening band was Brand New Sin, a headbanger band with a slight dose of southern blues. Though the crowd was small at this point, they seemed to enjoy Brand New Sin, as did I!

After a 15 minute change over, the next opener came out. It was Black Metal avantegarde legends Celtic Frost. Their spooky intro tape lasted for what seemed like 20 minutes. Finally they took the stage amongst the smoke and dim, spooky lights, then they stood there for the remainder of the intro tape (another 5 minutes). Jeeze, play already!!! Finally they went into their opening song and from then on it was all out, full-on gloomy dark and powerful music. They intensified their music with an equally dark image as they all wore King Diamond-esque make up.

They certainly were darn fine musicians, but much like their intro tape, their set went on and on and on and on.........

They finally ended their show with a dramatic bow and left the stage.

Next up was going to be Type O Negative! But not before their sound crew tortured the frack out of us. First they'd play decent metal songs over the speaker system while the roadies switched the gear and put up Type O's set. So, all was good at first. Then they'd stop in the middle of a decent song and start playing a different one. Once the crowd got into that song, they'd stop it in the middle and start a new one. Then things got even more painful.

The house lights went down and the gloomy, blue stage lights came up which usually marks the entrance of the band. No such luck here. Instead they played the "Chicken Dance" song.... over and over and over... on a loop tape, don't ya know. Once again all the lights went down and the music stopped, usually marking the start of the show. Again, God frowned down upon us as the Chicken Dance was replaced by "It's a Small World After All", over and over again.

T.O.N. have a good time frellin' with their audience. Their last tour it was non stop marching band music before the show. The tour before that it was The Bee Gees greatest hits (which, comparatively, wasn't that bad at all!).

Finally all the lights went down and Small World came to an end. The four propagandist banners featuring Typ O's insignia (an "O" with a "-" in its center) which provided a backdrop to this evenings shinanagins lit up and the National Anthem of Kazhakstan (anyone seen Borat?) played at top level over the speakers. Then the drab four took the stage and went into a rendition of "Magical Mystery Tour" before plunging into their own stuff.

The set list went like this (I aped it from somebody at the band's message board)

Intro - Kazhakstani national anthem

Magical Mystery Tour (Beatles's cover)

We Hate Everyone

Profit of Doom

Anesthesia

These Three Things

Xero Tolerance (first half)

Hey Peter

Xero Tolerance (second half)

Halloween in Heaven (a highlight of the set!!!)

___________________________________

[I don't know if this was an encore or a break to fix Peter's Base, but there was a bit of a break in the show here.]

Love You to Death (another highlight!)

Christian Woman

___________________________________

Encore

Waste of Life (just the intro of it)

Theme from the Munsters bass solo (from Peter Steele)

Black No. 1 (a couple of members of Celtic Frost join in the chorus)

Ode to Locksmiths (outro - the chorus part that goes "We ain't going home...there's nowhere to go")

Their stage set was pretty simplistic as the stage room was limited. They had the banners with their logo on it, as I said before. They also had a couple of construction blockades painted in Type O black and neon green set in front of their speakers. They also had a number of audience participation lights that have been used on sitcom and variety show sets ("Applause", "Laughter", "Boo" and "You Suck"). These played a key roll in the aforementioned Chicken Dance blaspheme that took place prior to the band taking stage.

The band were in fine form as they seemed more energetic than the last time they played here.

Kenny (guitar, second vocalist) was especially energetic and playing incredibly well. Pete (bass, main vocals, main songwriter) seemed to be having a good time except for one point were he had to sit on a stool for a couple of minutes during a song. (rumors of back problems plagued some of the earlier shows on the tour), but after a while he was back up and jamming full throttle. Johnny is always a great drummer whether he's playing for Type O or doing his part time gig with Danzig and this night was no exception. Josh, as stoic as usual, takes to the keys with reckless abandon.... even though he looks like Moses. Imagine a stoic Moses banging around on a keyboard and you'll have a visual of the brilliance of Josh Silver.

The only two quibbles I had with the show was 1) the fact that the center mic's level was lower than the others, leaving both Kenny and Pete a bit agitated a few times. They both had to signal the sound tech to turn it up. Then 2) they could have done at least two more songs for their set. I now that their songs are long to begin with and time is limited, but would it have killed them to do two of their best songs, "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" and "Dead Again" would have been quite welcome over "Xero Tollerence/Hey Peter" for the umpteenth time.

Otherwise, this show was flawless and a very good time was had by all!! I enjoyed it better than the last time I saw them on the "Life is Killing Me" tour. Well worth being nickeled and dimed by the venue.

Well, that's all I have in me for this evening.

"May the power of Christ compel you!" (says Zangz's waving a bottle of Charles Shaw at no one in particular, trying to be as funny and cool as Peter Steele but, once again, failing miserably.)

Zangz.

New One!

Yep, another podcast is up. You can access it right HERE! This time around, I discuss some of my favorite Saturday Morning programing that we all enjoyed as kids. They just don't make Saturday mornings like they did back in the 70's.

You may also notice that we're starting to get a little more quality driven. The sound is a lot better and we're having fun with some SFX in the intros.

So, have a listen, won't you.

Zangz.

I've been GROUND!

The month of March continues to suck the life-blood out of my small, poor, worn out wallet as Type O Negative come to town this week. There are very few concerts I go to any more. But, Type O I make time for. They're a remarkably tight band and usually have a few surprises up their sleeves when they play live. So that'll be happening this week. I'll report on that at a later time.

Speaking of Type O Negative, here's just how much of a inattentive dumb-ass I can be. I bought their new album about a month ago, right? It's just today that I noticed that my copy came with an additional live disc of some of their music. WHATADUMBASS!!!! But it is pretty cool. It's like the Easter Bunny came one day early.


And speaking of fellow dumbasses, can you believe the stir that my favorite movie, 300, is causing amongst the liberal throngs. I consider myself to be relatively liberal most of the time. But, silliness like this makes me more and more moderate every day. I don't want my blog to become a festering dung heap of self absorbed political philosophy, but for people to call the movie a right wing propagandist film that was funded by the Bush administration is just... well... DUMBASSED!

Get a grip, people. If this movie had any real (not imagined from the minds of dumbasses) political agenda, one could just as easily see the invading Persians as the Bush administration and the evil Xerxes as George W. Bush. It can go either way if you think about. It's also based on a comic book that was written about 10 years ago, fer crissakes. On top of all of that, if any filmmaker in Hollywood ever united with the Bush administration for any reason, they'd find themselves on a blacklist and ousted from the business. Hollywood and George Bush mix as well as vinegar and wine. So stop yer whinnin' about it and enjoy the film for the full fledged butt-kickery that it is.

'Nuff said.


I guess the big deal of the last week was that I went down to my neighborhood movie theater last night (a classic old one, not one of those multiplexes) and sat down to enjoy myself a big huge helping of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse. Oh, what a wonderful action packed, splatter ozzed, eye candy filled, pulp fest it was!!!! I have to say, straight out, that this is my second favorite movie of 2007 so far (300 is first, so far). It clocks in at over three hours of crazy-assed action.

The Grindhouse films of the '70's were B-Grade, "R" rated pulp movies that were shown back-to-back in more of the seedier theaters of the time. Tarantino and Rodriguez bring that whole feel back with a double dose of schlock and shock with Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror showing first and then being followed by Quintin Tarantino's Death Proof.

Planet Terror, from Robert Rodriguez, is a fast paced, unstoppable force in itself. The outrageous plot, non-stop uberviolence and immense gross-out factor smacked me upside the head... in a good way. It's a great entry into the whole Zombie genre that actually does a decent job of character development between the gushing gunshot wounds, beheadings and puss spewing. You find yourself rooting for the main leads, El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) and Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) in their huge, violent battle against the plague infected zombies. Watching Rose McGowan on the big screen certainly does a nice job on your peepers (that's "peepers" as in EYES, you pervs!), but to watch her make good use of her "special leg enhancement" is frackin' beautiful!!! This flick was my favorite of the two as it played easily to my fan-boy, geek sensibilities! Babes, blood, blow-ups and Zombies! This was a real fun ride.

Quintin Tarentino's Death Proof was a completely different ride. One thing you'll have to understand going from the blood crazed and explosive Planet Terror to the slightly more subtle Death Proof is that Tarentino loves dialog... lots and lots of dialog. He also loves a good, healthy dose of character development.... lots and lots of character development. The first part of Death Proof might seem like a bit of a radical slow down from the previous Planet Terror. But if you're a big fan of Tarentino, fear not! This is right up your alley. He gives us some great characters, great dialog, and if you can wait long enough, some pretty incredible vehicular action.

In a nutshell, this little story is about why not to take rides from strangers. No zombies here, but Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike is one formidable psychopath! This IS Kurt Russell's movie. I've always liked Kurt Russell. Hell, I've based my Star Wars RPG character of Jodz Burdoz on his BTILC character, Jack Burton. That's how geeky I am and that's how much I enjoy Kurt Russell. I guess it's partly because I've grown up watching him. I remember being a kid and going to the drive-in (remember those?) and watching a Disney double feature. One would be something like Herbie the Love Bug (pre-Lohan) and it would be followed by one of the crazy teen movies that had a young Kurt running around his high school with some form of special power that was usually a science lab mishap.

Ok, then. Enough of this Kurt Russell man-crush crap! Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike is one of his best characterizations to date. First you kind of like the guy. You want to buy him a drink in a bar. But, by the end of the movie you're rooting for him to get the livin' smack beat out of him. Even though his character isn't anywhere near as fleshed out as a lot of the others in this film, Russell does an excellent job with it. As nasty as he gets, he's fun to watch.

The set up for the real fun to start is a bit long, but worth the wait. The car chase is pretty phenomenal and I wish there was more of that in the movie! Which leads me to the only problem I had with the telling of the story: (Major Spoilage! Highlight to read!)

Tarantino spends a huge load of time building up a bunch of characters of a group of girlfriends out for a night on the town (well actually, one Austin dive bar). Their story takes up a good, solid half of Death Proof. Unfortunately it all goes to rot when, well into their story, Stuntman Mike takes them out of the picture. Then we have to start all over with more character development from a different group of girls who'll have to deal with Mike.

For me that was kind of a waste. I feel Death Proof would have been a bit more parallel and fit better with Planet Terror if Tarantino would have condensed the whole first half of Death Proof and given more time to car chases and road rage. But, I guess that's the fan-boy in me. More action, less talk. One thing Tarantino is famous for is the dialog. And he certainly delivers there. There is some really great Tarantino-esque dialog that Quintin's fans won't be disappointed with!

I can tell you this the very final shot of Death Proof had the audience roaring with laughter and applause.

Great movie(s), great cast and fun uber-violent action! Good times! Grindhouse!


Hey, Haven't done this in a while, Have I? So here's a .....

ZANGZ'S BLOG OF GEEKDOM'S WEBSITE OF THE MOMENT

TRONGUY.NET
Just when I though I was pretty frellin' geeky comes along this guy. A TRON uber-fan who isn't afraid to show his Geek-Freak flag fly high. This guy is living proof that "It's all about the suit, babe. All about the suit." Filled with pictures and media for you all to peruse. God bless you, Jay Maynard. God bless you.

Well, that's all for today kiddies, I guess I could go on and on about a email discussion I'm currently having with my friend Carlo (a Reserve serving in the Middle East) about how friggin' hot Hero's Ali Larter is and how we want her to step on us. But, I think I'll leave that for my inside voice so as to not scare up any more restraining orders.

So, I'm outta here! Come home soon, Carlo!

Zangz.

Pound!: Something that can be done with both beer and sand.

Another hectic work week gone for good. We now have a couple of days reprieve before the shat-storm of a new work week punches us in the the stomach, then stomps on our head as we're down on the ground, then spits on our bruised body that is lying in a gutter. Perhaps your work week wasn't as disappointment filled mine. In any case, lets seize these couple of days and enjoy ourselves to the fullest!!!!

And what better way to start it all off than a good ol' blog from myself. So let's all get this over with so the imbibing can begin!


My friend, Carlo, will be arriving back home from serving our country in the Middle East. So it's great to have him back. There will be a nice big bash for him in a few weeks that I'm going to try and go to. There may be some dog sitting issues I have to deal with at that time. Which leads me to my next subject.


Guess who gets to look after my sister's menagerie while her and my brother in law are driving out to D.C? Yep, Uncle Zangz will be partying it up with a couple of lively dogs, Frodo and Pipen and a bit of a snobby, yet adorable cat, Molly. Perhaps I'll take them to the party. Hope Carlo has enough beer for all of us.


Why do we geeks think Chloe, the anal-retentive computer specialist on "24" is hot? Click HERE and wonder no more, foolish mortals!


Mr. Salty came up to me this week and expressed his slight displeasure at me for "spoiling" a recent major plot twist that took place on Battlestar Gallactica in a previous blog. I would like to take this time to formally apologize to Mr. Salty and the other readers of this blog who've had their heads firmly planted in the sand for the last month and obviously are quite clueless to what's happening in the show. I think I get to watch, maybe, 4 episodes a season and even I know what happened. Jeeze. Ya know what you can all do with that sand your heads been in... GO POUND IT!!!! Now you got me all salty.


I finished the game Prey right before it was due back at the rental place. I strongly advise you FPS fans who have the '360 to check this little under-the-radar gem out. I found it quite engrossing, eye candy for the next gen, and one heck of a detailed game. Plus it wasn't one of those pansy, single player modes. It appears they put as much time and effort into the single player game as they did the multi-player. It actually takes more than an afternoon to get through the game! There's a decent story involved also.


I've also been playing a little of the game Crackdown when I go over to Roberto DelAmorte's abode. I think I may pick this one up soon. I could give a flying leap about the Halo 3 beta that comes with it. Crackdown, itself, has enough open sandbox gaming to keep me happy as a clam for quite some time! The open world could be a heck of a lot bigger, but the gameplay is very addictive.


Zangz's Pod of Geekdom has expanded by a bit of a leap and maybe a half of a bound. If you listened to the last 'cast you'll notice how considerably clearer and more "professional" it is. My producer/technician, a man we'll call "Double A", got hold of some very nice recording equipment. On top of all of that we now have a decent place to record. It's a true lair of geekdom, a secret hidden place where I can truly plot and plan a worldwide take over.

Honestly, podcasting is the one medium where freedom of speech still fully exists. I think that right now is the time to either participate or listen to it. There's something out there for everybody. I tell you that now is the time, before the government and corporate greed take it over as they've done with all other media outlets. So support you local podcasters, won't you? It's one of the true last bastions of freedom of speech and expression.


Tomorrow will be loaded with Star Wars gaming, food, beer, Star Wars gaming, good conversation and Star Wars gaming. I'm sure our gamemaster, Mad Mario has some sneaky tricks up his sleeve. I'm looking forward to see what he's cooked up.

And speaking of gaming, Roberto Del Amorte is threatening to break out the ol' Bureau13: Stalking the Night Fantastic game and run a few. Cool. Let's hope he can put it together a lot sooner than our friend Trish has come up with a D&D game (or myself with a CoC game...doh!)


Ok, well that brings another glorious Blog of Geekdom to a close. Until next time, go pound it!

Zangz.

Check out this AWESOME PODCAST!!!!

Yep. I just popped in briefly here to shill my podcast, 'cause we have another beauty up. You can find it right HERE!

This time it's the second part on the subject of Role Playing Games. Not only does my gamemaster, Mad Mario, join us, but so does his lovely wife, Hope. I think this one is one of my favorites. So check it out!


Other notes? Not a lot. Like I said , I'm just popping in. But here is a few quick notes.


I rented the '360 game, Prey. It's a FPS where you are a modern day American Indian who finds himself having to call on the very spiritual background he has shunned to save the world from an alien invasion. It's pretty cool!!!

There's one part where you can actually interact with a jukebox that plays Ted Nugent and Judas Preist!!! On top of those little treats, the graphics are top notch (and I don't even have HD!). Plus, there are many parts of the game where you get to walk on the walls and ceilings of this Alien airship/base/planet/sphere/whateverthefrackitis. There's actually decent voice acting in this game as well.

Play it if you can get your hands on it.


I found myself, AGAIN, checking out Halloween and Haunted Attraction websites.... in March. WTF?


Well, I gotta get going as "24" is on in less than an hour and I need some food. So enjoy the podcast and I'll talk to you soon.

Zangz.

"I can't believe I died last night.. I'm frackin' DEAD AGAIN!!!"

Holy Bajeezers! It's been a while since I posted something here! We'll, I thought going into March would slow things down a bit, but I'm just as busy as I was in February. In fact, I just got home from work a half an hour ago. But, fret not. I have a cold brew to my side that is fondling my larynx quite nicely.

Ok, let's get going here, then.


First off, I believe there was a brand spankin' new Zangz's Pod of Geekdom posted this past Monday (see how frackin' busy I am. I haven't even had time to plead with you to listen to my podcast!). This time I have a rousing review of the blockbuster "300"!


That will lead me to my next subject, I went to go see the movie "300"!!!! What did I think of it? Listen to my podcast, ya mooks! Christ, am I shameless, or what? Hey, my next podcast will be part 2 on RPGs featuring my good friend Mad Mario and his lovely wife Hope. On top of all that, my podcast just took a leap forward in sound quality. For the most part, we will rarely be using my phone as a microphone anymore. We're now using professional type gadgets, don't ya know.


They killed Starbuck!!!! WTF??????


When I heard that they we're going to do a remake of "Escape From New York" (the movie... not the VH1 reality series with the obnoxious gold digging tramp and her vile mother), I first thought, "Oh crap, not another remake of a golden classic!?!?!" But when I heard that 300's, Gerard Butler would take on the role as Snake Plisskin I thought, "Well, there may be some hope here." Wait and see.


Me and a friend were talking about how frellin' pathetic Van Halen is these days. The only two members to show up for their induction into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of fame were the two members who are no longer in the band!!!!! WTF???? On top of that, the whole reunion tour for the summer has been cancelled due to Eddie Van Halen going to rehab. Sadly, I believe they blew their last gasp at being taken seriously as a hard edged rock band. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. You know, I don't even know why I'm even blogging about these guys.


This past Tuesday really put a dent in my wallet. Everything that rocks my world was released this past week. Casino Royale came out on DVD and Dead Again, from Type O, came out as well. I haven't watched Casino Royale on DVD yet, but I have been listening to Dead Again quite a bit. All I'll say right now is that I wish the title track wasn't only 4 minutes long, 'cause it is one of the best Type O Negative songs ever written! I still haven't gotten my ticket to see them in April when they come here. I better get crackin'.


You know what's also a good CD? Muse's "Black Holes and Revelations". It's about as far away as you could get from Type O, but there's some real good music on that disc. A lot of it hearkens back to Queen, while some of it can be put into the Radiohead category (although, they're probably pretty sick of being described as being like Radiohead).


I think I'll wait to see "Ghost Rider" 'till it comes out on video. I've heard that Cage is quite good in it, yet the plot is a stinkerooo.


Tomorrow is not only St. Patrick's Day, it's also a national holiday called Jenny-mas. Did ya know that? Ya know, it doesn't matter 'cause Jenny doesn't read this blog anyway. So let's move on.


When the hell is Young Sherlock Holmes coming out on DVD, anyway? I friggin' loved that movie! WTF, Spielberg?????


Eh... I got nothin' else.

Zangz.

Get listnin' ya Bastages!

New Podcast up right HERE!

This instalment of Zangz's Pod of Geekdom features my good gaming buddy Mad Mario. We discus the wonderful world of Role Playing Games.

So, stop wastin' yer time doing chores or taking care of your children or catching up on work and do something worthwhile for once in yer life. Treat yourselves to some real geeky conversation.


Oh, the massive snow storm wasn't quite the delluge our wonderful local media went out of their way to make it sound like it was going to be. But more snow and cruddy weather is expected this week. When the frell is spring going to come?

Until next time...

Zangz is outta here.

The Cold, White Sorrow Cometh.

Yep. There's a huge, massive amount of Mother Nature's witchery heading straight toward my Blog of Geekdom headquarters and all surrounding areas. It will pinch out and plop between 7" to 33" of snow upon us within the next 48 hours.

The actual amount is varied and depends on which overzealous, sadistically gleeful media weather dork you watch on TV. Most of them report this kind of bad news one of two ways: 1) In very serious tones as though they're reporting there's a meteor headed straight for earth, or 2) In incredibly happy and silly tones as though it's going to be a real party out there trying to shovel our cars out of the streets.

Either way, I say, "Frack them all!!!" Now some of you meteorologist fan boys out there my cry out in defense of these weather dorks with the age old saying "Don't Kill the Messenger". Let's take a look at where that ol' adage may have come from. Back in the Dark Ages there may have been a king or ruler who's country or land was at war. Messengers would come back from the battlefield and report on how said ruler's army was doing. If it was bad news, there were times where the king would act quite rash and in one quick knee-jerk reaction, sentence the messenger to his death. You have to wonder how these messengers delivered the bad news to the rulers to infuriate them so. If it was with the same shallow, sadistic happiness that our local media do, it's no wonder these guys got the gallows and/or guillotine.

"Hey, hey, hey, King Offwithhishead. It looks like your army really crumbled to pieces out there, letting all the Barbarian hordes into the countryside towns where they'll be raping and pillaging the lands by this evening. Looks like it's going to be one doosey of an evening around here. Whooo hoooo!"

Yep..... let's kill the frellin' messenger.


On to some well needed geekosity to help keep us all warm and cozy.


Trekkie's have reason to rejoice as the Trek franchise gets a well needed kick in the behind with the dawning of the reboot of the Star Trek movies that will be directed by geek god, J.J. Abrams. This is just what the doctor ordered for those films. Not only will it be a bit of a reboot to the mythos, it will be helmed by fan favorite Abrams. Though, a geek, I was never moved as much by the whole Trek franchise as many others (like my friend Spanky). But, I really do look forward to seeing this one. Read more about it here.


New Line are still being a bunch of sodding fools to blacklist Peter Jackson from any involvement the upcoming Hobbit movies. It seems the head honcho there has a silly little child-like beef with Mr. Jackson (the guy who helped promote, if not save New Line with The Lord of the Rings films). Although, I should say that New Line is attempting to make one good move on this whole mess they've created and trying to woo Evil Dead, Spider-man director, Sam Raimi onto the project. Now, I love Raimi's work on the Evil Dead and Spider-man movies like any other fan boy. But there's one big problem with him helming J.R.R. Tolkien's works.....

He's not Peter Jackson.

It's kind of like the current Van Halen reunion. Sure, we're all excited about David Lee Roth joining the brothers Van Halen again. But without Michael Anthony in the fold, it's still not quite Van Halen. I'm sure Wolfgang Van Halen will make a fine bass player, but he's not Michael Anthony. Will he be able to harmonize with Diamond Dave with a high falsetto voice that Mikey had and that helped define the Van Halen sound?

I just wish New Line and Van Halen would stop making choices based on ego and bitterness and do what's right. 'Nuff grumblin' done here... for now.


Been playing through The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion with great relish for the last several weeks. It's most definitely a great addictive game. For the last week, I've been trying to cure my character of Vampireism, which may sound real cool, but it's not so cool when you have to hide out in caves during the day time. By the time you can come out, all the shops are closed and you cant' sell anything that you've horded from dungeon delving. I did finally find a cure for it all. So things are back to normal.

I've also been playing Saint's Row, another open ended, free for all game based A LOT on the GTA series. Not as big of a world to create havoc in, but a fun title to play in between the release of GTA games.

I also took a crack at Perfect Dark Zero. A visually stunning game, but way too quick for the single player mode. It was over just as was really getting into the game play. For a FPS that's kinda sad.


All my favorite shows that plow along during the winter sweeps months are doing pretty well. Lost is still phenomenal and still keeps us guessing (an answer or tow would be nice about now, J.J.). 24 still has some balls to it. Yet, it goes back and forth with the feelings of, "We've done this plot on seasons' past, haven't we?" to "Holy Moses! I didn't see that coming!"


Since February is such a darn, awful month I'm quite looking forward to March as Type O Negative release their long, long, long awaited opus, Dead Again ( you can hear one of the new songs, These Three Things, if you go to thier official site and wait for the into page to load. Hope you have high speed!), AND the movie 300 is released, AND myself and some old tech school buddies will be getting together to share some grog and stories, AND I'll be partaking in another Star Wars RPG session, AND I will be one more month toward warmth AND.... AND... and? Jeeze, there's something else in March that really cool and I seem to be drawing a blank. I know it comes up in the beginning of the month, but I can't think of what it is. I get the feeling that's it's something really really important that if forgotten, great sadness will fill the land. Hmmmm... Maybe my good friend Roberto will help me remember.


Keep you ears and eyes open for another new episode of Zangz's Pod of Geekdom at AZCast.net to pop up at the beginning of the week. This cast features game master extraordinaire, Mad Mario and we discuss the wonderful world of Role Playing Games.


At this point I'm going to fix myself some grub and sit down for a cozy, intimate afternoon of Xbox 360 gaming.

Take care, and stay warm and out of Mother Nature's furry.
Zangz.

New Podcast Up!

February has been kickin' my butt all over the place. The weather has been, not only snowy, but also damn frackin' cold. Work has been extremely busy as I worked last weekend and will do more time this coming weekend. Then there's that god awful holiday that reminds us single freaks of nature what a bunch of misfits we are. That day of mourning hits us tomorrow.

February is certainly not my favorite month of the year.

But I was fortunate enough to squeeze out another Zangz's Pod of Geekdom (or Geekdome if you're a podcaster who can't spell..snicker..snicker).

You can listen to it HERE!

This time I prattle on about some of the really incredible ensemble, serialized, genre TV shows that have popped up in recent years.

Otherwise there's nothing else that really has me in a mode to blog on about. So take care and stay warm.

Zangz.