The Death of G4: Is this the beginning of the backlash?

We've been blessed to experience the renaissance of geek culture expand and blow up, integrating itself firmly into the progressiveness of what is considered pop culture.

I hate using the word "normal", because it is very limiting in its own definition when describing what the geek community is about.  Instead I'll say we've finally achieved some sort of place and comfort zone within the world.

One such cable channel that caters to that place within the world is G4.  The channel rose to fame within geek culture when it featured many special interest shows on technology and video games.  They spoke to gamers and geeks, not at them.

As years past by, their programming decisions became more and more idiotic and started to ostracize the G4 fans.  What programing guru decided to cancel a number of G4's shows and put in their place non-stop episodes of COPS?

And just recently there were a couple mysterious exits from two of G4's most popular hosts, Adam Sessler and Kevin Pereira.

Without much surprise NBC, who owns G4, announced a week ago that they are intentionally doing away with the only two shows that have anything left to do with geek interests and are "re-branding" for more of a D-bag crowd (or as they put it, readers of GQ).

Read an article on the subject HERE.

This comes as no surprise for anyone who witnessed the decline and downfall of what was once a pretty cool outlet for the geek community.  Their own stupid decisions throughout the years have lead to this.

I don't mean to turn this post into a eulogy for G4.  G4 has been brain dead for years.  What I am wondering is if this a harbinger of a backlash to the Geek / Nerd subculture that has been growing and moving forward for the last decade.

Trends come and go, and some seemingly wear out their welcome.  If you over publicize any one trend for too long, there tends to be a backlash against it.  Take for example the Heavy Metal scene of the 80's.  Sure Heavy Metal is still  going strong, but it is nowhere as popular as it once was back in the day.

Once the Grunge bands started to infiltrate the heavy music scene, there became a period where Heavy Metal had to retreat back underground.  I worry that the same may happen to geek culture.

After all, it is the elitist powers that control corporate America.  It is the frat boys and sorority girls (or "cool kids") that run the companies that turn the gears of America.  How many of them are going to understand or care about the geek culture and our importance within the consumer economy?

Just another dark thought that has been tooling around in my mind-skull for the last few days and I thought I'd share this little depressing morsel with the rest of you to ponder on about.


Speaking of DARK, you'll be seeing the changes of the annual Halloween make-over of my blog by the next post, because I can contain my excitement for the macabre holiday no longer!

Until next time, watch you back, because that shadow you thought you saw moving at night out of the corner of your eye was probably something undead and just waiting for you to fall asleep tonight so that it may pounce!

Zangz.

An AMAZING short film you all need to see!

This morning I awoke to that wonderful chill in the air that gets the creative juices squirting around in my mind.

It's a tell tale sign that my sinisterly spooky favorite time of year is just around the corner! I'm actually going to be starting to do Halloweenesqe activities later this evening when I take a Gothic Ghost Tour of the downtown area of Milwaukee.

I'll let you know how it goes once this blog ramps up it's annual celebration of Halloween in the coming weeks.

But, for right now I want to direct your attention to a magnificent little treat that someone drew my attention to recently.  It will take a mere 34 minutes of time to view this wonderful piece of work, but it will be well worth it.

The genre of Steampunk is a mashing up of an alternate history with fantasy and Sci-Fi thrown into the mix.  It revolves around a historical world that usually focuses on Victorian times where the machinations of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne actually exist and work.  Rather than progressing on into a full blown electrical future, society has advanced on the power of steam.  Usually there's great pulp adventure waiting to be had in the stories of Steampunk.

With the rise of the internet in our own time, we can go on-line and see fan made films as well as smaller independent movies that are available for mass consumption without being bogged down or stiffed by the corporate monsters that movie companies and the media can be.  Some people in Australia took advantage of this and came up with the little wonder you are hopefully going to take time to view.

 I could jibber jab on and on about this short film, but I think I'll just let you view it and soak it in.  I present to you, Aurora - A Steampunk Short Film....

Fan-fracking-tastic, wasn't it!  This is what you get when you have people with a creative and imaginative vision, who may not have the money that Hollywood does, but have the dream to make something happen.

Bravo.

I'll have a few more posts with other excellent fan films coming up on later dates.  We also have to look forward to the Halloween make over this blog usually gets during the Season of Screams!

So keep your eyes out for that.  And until next time, as a very wise sage once told me, Stay Vertical!

Zangz.

The Dark Knight Rises!

Now that I've seen the film twice and had some time to simmer down and let the film's resonance bang around in my little noggin a while, I'm ready to give my review on Christopher Nolan's, The Dark Knight Rises as if anybody really had time to care what I think on the matter.  Let's just pretend for right now, Ok?

THER MAY BE WHAT COULD BE CONSTRUED AS SPOILERS!  If you haven't seen the film yet, turn your eyes away unless you want to whine and cry on how a lonely, pathetic blogger ruined your whole movie experience after nearly a month after the film opened.  I will try and keep the spoilers to a respectable level and not try and give too much away just in case you want to peek.

Here we go....

After viewing the film the first time, I was surprised that there was a contingency of geek genre reviewers who were disappointed in Nolan's third and final story of his Batman trilogy.  I was pretty blown away and quite happy with what I saw.  Wondering if I was too wrapped up in the moment, I decided to see The Dark Knight Rises again a few weeks later to see if I was still under the spell of the hype and excitement (I don't know if anybody ever saw my spellbinding review on Star Wars, Ep. I: The Phantom Menace on my old, defunct website after I had just seen the movie.  I thought it was the coolest thing ever!  Yikes.).

I walked out of the theater a second time feeling just as satisfied as I had the first time.  It had me wondering, "What is wrong with people?  Did they see the same movie I did?"  Perhaps Nolan's second film in his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight was too damn good of a Batman movie.  No new villain was ever going to replace Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker, no matter who you could have gotten to play the role or what Batman villain you put in there.  That was a touch of magic that was not going to duplicate itself ever again.

Yes, Rises' plot is a bit denser and there's a portion of the movie where you are asked to suspend your disbelief a little more than you usually would have to in one of Nolan's Batman movies (yet not to nipples on the bat suit degree).  It's a movie based on the COMIC BOOK of the dark, brooding character of BATMAN, for crisakes.  Get over it, sit back and enjoy the film.

This film takes place eight years after the tragic occurrences that concluded at the end of The Dark Knight.  Batman has been out of commission for that time and his alter ego, millionaire Bruce Wayne, has been living like an invalid in his big mansion rarely stepping out into the streets of Gotham.  It takes a crazed, masked terrorist known as Bane to get Wayne to don the Batman cowl once again and leap into action.

I felt that Tom Hardy's Bane was far more interesting and frightening than the big, pro-wrestling looking hulk that the character is based on in the comics.  There is no secret "venom" serum that makes him superhumanly strong, just a criminal mastermind way of life and very good training in weaponry and combat that make him a perfect Batman foil.  Sure, Bane is big and physically imposing, but what makes him most dangerous is that he truly is of great intellect.  He is a James Bond villain as well as one of James Bond villains' henchmen all rolled up into one.  He's a man with a dark plan and he will turn Gotham city upside down before it is all said and done.  And he will brutally do away with anybody who foils his plans or gets in the way of his goal without a second thought.

I have to admit, I haven't really followed Anne Hathaway's career all that much.  I always saw her as another beautifull actress who got engaged to a corrupt millionaire, to be quite blunt about it.  When I heard Hathaway was going to play the "Catwoman" roll in the film, I had to wonder what she could bring to the roll.  I went with my gut feeling in trusting in Christopher Nolan.  I have to say that she totally pulled it off!  I really, enjoyed her interpretation of the cat burglar, Selina Kyle.  Her dry wit and take no prisoners approach to the roll was fun and very different than Michelle Pfeiffer's darker and more pulpy version of the character from twenty years past.  On a side note, I found it interesting that I can't recall her character ever being referred to as Cat Woman in the film and Hathaway is credited simply as Selina Kyle.

Christian Bale's Batman is a bit more melancholy in this film.  He knows that far more is at stake and that the safety of an entire city lies on his shoulders.  We know that he's already sacrificed his reputation with the people of Gotham City at the end of The Dark Knight.  This film asks the question, how much farther is he willing to go.  As it ends up, pretty far.  Bale brings back the gritty voiced vigilante we loved from the last two movies.

The supporting cast also do a rockin' job in their rolls.  Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are always welcome additions to the Batman movies.  They've kind have become the "Q" and "M" of Nolan's Batman films.  And of course the always fan-fracking-tastic, Gary Oldman.  I will be hard pressed to think of any other actor in the role of Commissioner Gordon.  God I love that actor.  Every role he plays is pure frelling brilliance!!!  Joseph Gordan Levitt's cop with a heart of gold is damn good too and we'll get to see him rise up the ladder of Hollywood as more great rolls come his way.  Wether you agree or not with the little twist that is revealed at the end of the film with his character and how it messes with the Batman mythos, he still pulls off a fine job.  Marion Cotillard plays an interesting role as a fellow philanthropist that falls for Bruce Wayne and ends up playing a pivotal role in the story line.  And as a Torchwood Fan, it was fun as hell seeing Burn Goreman playing the role as an unscrupulous assistant to a corrupt businessman.

Any hard core fan of the comics should know there is no way that Nolan was going to do a retelling of the Batman comic story arc "Knightfall" that featured Bane and the crippling of the Batman back in the 90's in its full, down to the letter script.  But, Nolan did bring in some pretty major plot points from that story and infused it with his own tale.  Batman is broken and he does have to RISE to return to save the day.  I also love how he brought back the story line from the first Batman movie, Batman Begins, to help wrap up his trilogy.

Being a Batman fanboy, I caught on to what may be the big plot twist about halfway through the movie when I started asking myself, "What is this one character's purpose in the story?  Something isn't right here."  Then it dawned on me who this character could actually be from the comic book series.  I think I audibly gasped in the theater when it hit me like a lead brick to the chest.  I was right and Gotham City suffered for it.

There are a couple of socio-political messages that we can glean from this picture when it comes to the state of Gotham City at the beginning of the film and what it goes through during the middle and end.  We can look at the beginning and understand Cat Woman's perspective and relate to where we are as a society today in her "....you're all going to wonder how you can live so large and leave so little for the rest of us" view.  the Occupy This and Occupy That movements are happening in the real world for a reason, people.  It is this view that leads to Bane and his terrorist brood into taking advantage of the people of Gotham and making them believe that there is a legitimate reason for the way he turns Gotham into a, shall we call it, anarchist state when in reality, there's something more sinister behind it.  How far do we go to fight the greed of the rich?  Are we willing to sell our own souls?

As for the action sequences, they are every bit as good as they were in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.  The brawls between Bane and Batman are brutal as you can hear every crunch of bone and mash of muscle with every punch.  The grand finally chase scene is almost as good as the one in The Dark Knight.  This time they incorporate a bit of dog fighting finesse in the skies of Gotham.

I'm trying to rummage through my mind to find any major issues that I had with this film.  I can find hardly any at all.  Too long?  At one hour and forty-some minutes it felt like an hour had gone by.  Does it ask you to suspend disbelief too much.  Well, there is the trauma and changes that Gotham city goes through that are a bit more epic than we have seen in the two previous films.  But, that didn't seem to bother me.

Is it as good as the previous two films.  Yes.

Perhaps fans that expected this to be clone of The Dark Knight or wanted the Bane story and Batman mythos to follow the Batman comic verbatim were disappointed.  But, if you have an understanding of what Nolan  has brought to the Batman film story, you'll get it.

After seeing Nolan's work on these three Batman films, I'd live to see his take on a James Bond film.  I can't wait for Sam Mendes, Skyfall this November and I think Nolan could do and excellent job as well.  He's showed interest, so who knows.


In other geeky thoughts.....

The weather has been getting a bit chilly and the Octoberfests are hitting the shelves.  Too soon to get into spookosity mood?  Perhaps.  Perhaps.......

BRUHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Until next time, stay vertical!

Zangz.

Darkest of Knights

I like Zangz's Blog of Geekdom to be an upbeat place where social commentary and current events are left for the more politically charged blogs that skulk about the world wide interweb.  But, there's no way anybody can write a review of the latest Christopher Nolan, Batman opus, The Dark Knight Rises, without having the horrible events that occurred at the midnight showing in Colorado standing in the middle of the room like a big elephant.

The fact of the matter is that a huge, movie loving audience, many of which were fan boys and fan girls, who thought they were going to watch the movie they'd been waiting years to see, would turn into an early morning horror show as a diabolical, human piece of garbage shot up the movie theater killing 12 and seriously injuring 58 innocent people, leaving families and friends without their loved ones.  A night that was supposed to be about the celebration of pop-culture geekiness was marred by this catastrophic and unjust act.

All these people were guilty of was trying to escape to a world where a dark, masked vigilante swoops in to brutally defeat the bad guys.  There's sort of a sad irony to that as one would wish that would have actually happened.  We all wish that a dark avenger would have come out of nowhere before this crazed pile of evil got off one shot and would have swiftly broken his bones and cracked his skull, leaving him a bloody, bruised mess for law enforcement to deal with.

Sadly, that is just dreamland and the the harsh reality of it is that didn't and could never happen.  Such is the suckage of the real world that we live in.  Perhaps thoughts of such dark fantasies are what keep us going and keep us attending the dreamland that is the movies.  I doubt that the movies will be of much condolence to those that lost loved ones.

I was going to write a full review of the film as I got the chance to see it today.  But, I think I'm going to wait a few days and see it again (yes, it needs multiple viewings to give it a more introspective review).

So stay tuned for a review of the most anticipated Batman movie of all time.

In the meantime, keep you thoughts with those that lost their lives in the tragedy as well as their loved ones that are either worried or mourning for their loved ones.

I think the great George Takei said it best after the incident took place....

Zangz.

A Lost Jem from the Past....

I was floundering around through some of the more creative writings in my computer files and came across this one.  It's the beginning of an article i was writing for a free press paper that a fellow mad genius ran.  It never got published due to the fact that the paper went under.  Go figure.  But, I decided to post the introduction of the article I never finished since I actually think it doesn't suck as much as what I usually post here.  Enjoy....

The Layman’s Guide to Role Playing Games.

Get ready for the adventure of a lifetime in the span of a misspent Saturday night!

So, you say that you’re getting tired of going out every Saturday night and drinking, partying, schmoozing with the opposite sex and cramming too much craziness into the evening.  Well, I got an idea that will certainly put the old’ kibosh on that!  How about an evening of getting together with a bunch of friends, sitting together at a big table in someone’s basement and breaking out the pencils, paper and 20 sided dice, for a good old session of Role Playing Game (or RPG for those not “in the know”)?

Many of you fine readers may be scratching your head, asking yourselves, “Just how is playing a nerd’s game going to benefit me?”

Well, let me ask you, isn’t there the slightest fragment of your imagination that has a yearning to be stroked?  (Insert self gratification joke here ________________.)  I believe that there’s some form of child-like exuberance locked up in everyone of us that needs to break out from time to time.  Somewhere, out in the city, there’s a stock broker wondering if the Dow Jones is going to pick up, if his portfolio could improve and if his Paladin will be able to thwart the evil sorcerer, Dothlock with his +7 Sword of Eternal Holiness.  Trust me.  There’s a little of the fantastical welling up inside of you whether you know it or not.

So allow me to give you a quick synopsis of the world of Role Playing Games.

The whole idea of RPG’s are to be able to still play games like Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Nurse Sasha and the Bad Patient and other imaginative games without running around with toy guns, plastic bows and arrows or latex and wet-naps. 

Instead, you and other players are seated at a table with your character sheet in front of you, pencil in hand and dice at the ready.  One of the players will be the Game Master (or GM), also know as a Dungeon Master (DM), a Storyteller, a Marshal, a Head Honcho or whatever the particular RPG your playing refers to them as.  Just don’t refer to them as “the jerk-knocker who killed off my Halfling mage”.  That doesn’t go over too well in most conversations.

The GM is the one who describes what is going on in whatever imaginary world you are playing in.  When the GM prompts you to obtain a certain goal, you will role a particular sided dice (in most games it’s a 20 sided dice, pending the rules and system of that game) and the dice will tell you if you succeed or failed in your attempt.  There’s much more to it than what I’ve described, but I’m writing an article, here!  Not authoring a core rule book fer crissakes!!

Well there you go.  Have a nice day!

Zangz.

Zangz's: The Grumpy Old Man

I have to admit that I'm feeling quite the old curmudgeon as of late. I've had this on my mind for a spell now and at the threat of sounding just like the oldsters I saw in my youth as middle aged grumps, I'll post it here for the 1.5 people that read this blog.

I was a child of the '70's. Our parents didn't have to strap us down in car seats until we were 12 years old. We would tool around the neighborhood on our big wheels, unsupervised at all hours of the day and usually into the evenings. We rode on bicycles without big white, goofy looking helmets. Our TV shows were Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood and Saturday morning cartoons. Neither of which were crappy anime or half hour commercials for toy lines.

Despite all of that, I look back at my generation and think we had it damn good. Despite being teased unmercifully by the bullies of my grade school, I look back at my childhood and remember how much of it I enjoyed.

Now here comes the "kids today" part that will age me greatly.

I'm finding that the generations that are teens and young adults now are, quite simply, a bunch of A-Holes.

There's a Machiavellian and quite shallow nature about them which makes me worry for the future. It's as though they are already getting into the corporate American groove of greed and apathy.

Not only are these kids being pampered and spoiled, their attitudes are becoming more and more expectant and entitled.

These kids are not being brought up with TV shows like Scooby-Doo or The Superfriends where the message of fighting evil and helping your fellow man were present. They're being brain washed by horrible reality show stars that make acting drunk and obnoxious will thrust you to fame and fortune.. Hey kids, you'll be rewarded for rotten behavior. Just watch Snookie!

Kids haven't been going outside to play with action figures for years. Instead they go online and play some multiplayer combat game where they toss out racial slurs and homophobic insults at each other and people they never met. This behavior isn't a rarity, it's the norm.

These bent and broken values seem prevalent in the young adults of today as well. I live in a part of town where there are scads of "twenty something's". They are young, privileged people who find it perfectly acceptable to be rude or at least stand offish as much as possible. They are far quicker to become belligerent when met with conflict than try and work things out.

I'm really hoping I'm just being an old out of touch grump and there truly is hope for the coming generations. I've been an uncle for over a year now and I delight in it as much as I can. Right now my niece, Lil' G, is in a constant state of wonderment and exploration of her environment and surroundings. She is a long way from being exposed to a lot of the shallowness of youth. I'm hoping to god that she'll be smart enough to steer clear of it, not get caught up in it or be victimized by it.

There are a lot of wonderful teachers and parents out there that are trying to intercept the attitude problems at earlier ages. Cheers to them. Let's hope it's not too late.


In other news....

Happy Father's Day all of you Father's our there! My friend Roberto got a wonderful gift from his daughter yesterday. A build a zombie action figure where one can customize and create their own zombie action figure! How flippin' cool is that? I guess there are little hints of hope for the coming generations.

Also, I had the fun experience of playing a new, fun, very adult oriented card game called Cards Against Humanity. If you have a dark and twisted, dirty mind, this game is just for you. I think I enjoyed it even more than Munchkin.

That'll be it for this time. Until next time, GETTHEHELLOFFMYLAWNYOUDAMNKIDS!!!!

Zangz.

A spoilerific blog post of my anticipation of Skyfall

I have two warnings for this particular post.

#1.  As the title of the post infers, there may be some serious spoilers within this post.  If you don't want to know a darn thing about the next, highly anticipated James Bond movie, Skyfall, due in theaters in early November, then you may not want to venture any further after the link to the trailer.

#2.  If you choose to accept, I have two assignments for you to complete before I go on with my post.


So the first assignment starts below.  View the UK trailer for Skyfall as many times as your geeklovin' heart contends...

Now that you've watched it four or five times visit the link posted below (WARNING: Possible SPOILERS abound as the author of this post breaks down the trailer you just watched and guesses at major plot points of the film.  One plot point might be a biggin'!  If this event does happen in the film, it will blow our collective minds!  You have been warned!  Click at your own discretion)......

CommanderBond.net's Skyfall teaser trailer breakdown.

Now I will interject my own thoughts on the trailer you just viewed and article which you just read.  Not that my thoughts are worth a hill of beans.  I do this for my own amusement.  What the frell?!?!  

This portion is also spoiler loaded.  (Scroll down to read since Blogger will not allow me to black it out so you can highlight it to read. (????)  Sorry, blame Blogger.)

5....




4....





3....






2....






1....

Being a huge Bond fan, I was elated when I heard that Sony and MGM ended their legal issues and went head first into preproduction of the delayed 23rd James Bond movie, Skyfall.  As usual, I promised myself that I didn't want to know a damned thing about the story or plot of the film before I saw it on the big screen this November.

Well, that fell through as I subscribed to the official James Bond YouTube channel and Facebooked them as well.  I can't help myself.  They've just concluded principal photography for the film and news is starting to leak out.

At first viewing of the trailer when it was released on the masses a few weeks ago, I thought it was a real classy, slick, artistic view of things to come.  But, it didn't really reveal too much of what the hell was going in the film.  Or so I ignorantly thought.

When I came across the above article, it revealed some pretty heavy revelations that could go down in this film.

Let's start with the title itself, "Skyfall".  There is a scene where Bond is taking a psychological, word association test.  When the term "Skyfall" comes up, Bond turns sullen and ends the test abruptly.  I originally thought the title was some sort of weapon that was gleaned from the old days of the Bond movies where there was some sort of satellite weapon aimed at the earth's surface by some terrorist organization that was holding the world at ransom.  After reading the article I believe Skyfall to possibly some sort of important reference to Bond's  deceased parents.

In the books and some of the movies, it is revealed that Bond's mom and dad, who died in a mysterious "mountain climbing accident"when Bond was a child, may have had some sort of dealings with the British secret service in the past.  Their deaths are mentioned in one or tow of the movies and their involvement with MI6 is mentioned somewhere in the literature.  It's all very brief, which gives the writers of the movie to get in there and dig deep and create a real background for his late parents.

In the article, there is a building that will play a major part in the film that is called "Skyfall Lodge".  Is this Bond's childhood home?  Is this why it hits such a nerve when it is mentioned to Bond?  I know the lodge will become a major set piece for a huge action sequence in the film.  Possibly the grand crescendo to the film itself.  What will take place there?  Will everybody get out alive?

That's the big question the linked article brings up.

This leads me to my next assumption of the movie.  I'm thinking that a huge character we Bond fans have all grown to know and love will be 86'd in this film.

Now if you've scrolled down to read, scroll down further to read this if think you can take it....  venture downward........

3...

2...

1....

From what I've read in the posted article, I sadly believe that Dame Judy Dench's "M" may be killed off in Skyfall.  If you have the article still up on-line in another tab or window, scroll down to the seventh teaser image where Ralph Fiennes is looking at Dench's M.  If you read the text below you may see where this is all going.  If Dench is out for the 4th Daniel Craig Bond film, old Voldermort could fit the bill of a decent conservative, stogy, "M" that could harken back to the older movies.  But it would lose a lot of heart that Dench brought to the character.

Now why in the hell would the producers of the Bond flicks be giving Judy Dench, the woman who single handedly rebooted the character of "M", the heave-ho?  I don't think it's entirely their decision.

I've heard a rumor that Dame Judy Dench has been dealing with some very serious eye conditions where her sight is slowly, but surely failing her.  She may be settling down from the acting world and thus leaving the James Bond films for good.  A horrible scenario, but it would fit the puzzle pieces together.

Now this is all conjecture and guesswork form myself based on the article, based on the trailer itself.  No one, outside of the people who worked on the film, will know the truth until November of this year.  We could all be terribly wrong and Dench would be in this thing for another number of years.  Either way, it's going to be one hell of a thrill ride this November!

Zangz.

The Geekification of YouTube

It was bound to happen.  Digital media has become a constant in geek and genre entertainment.  Look at any social social interaction on the web, like Facebook and Google+, and you'll find a abundance of fantasy, horror, sci-fi groups and clubs that offer all sorts of material to allow ourselves to fall into the wonders of Geek Culture.

The "post it yourself" social media web page, YouTube is no different.  Since it's inception, fan boys and girls have been flooding the page with oodles of content.  From Fan-films to video blogging to documentary shorts on comic conventions, you can find yourself lost for day's going through an endless treasure trove of cool as heck content.

YouTube has yet to be completely corporatized or censored by doo-gooding parental groups of purificationists.  YouTube realizes that geeks are made up of mostly mature adults where our minds won't melt if there's a bit of mature language used.  So now is the time to jump in and have a looksie if you haven't yet.

Let me help you get started.  I've picked out of few of my favorite YouTube content providers (or YouTube Channels as they're referred to).  Now, before you start viewing, there's something you need to keep in mind.  As I just mentioned, these channels are geared for adults, so if you have little ears and eyes close by......... for crissakes, put them back in the shoebox in the crawlspace!!!  But, seriously folks.  These channels are for adults.

That being said, here we go.  I'll give you a link to the channel, a review of it and then a little sampler plate of a couple of video's they provide.


The Nerdist Channel

Founded by stand up comedian / actor, Chris Hardwick, the Nerdist YouTube channel is the perfect compliment to his already established network of Podcasts, which I blogged about quite a while ago.  One of the great things about anything Nerdist related is that it doesn't restrict itself to just the genres of nerdom.  Sure there's a good dose of a love for Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but it also aims itself at pop culture in general.  Some of my favorite shows are posted below.

How much cooler is bowling with the cast and creator of The Walking Dead?  Not very frackin' much!

If you love the fan based, movie review website, Ain't-It-Cool-News, here's it's founder's own web show.  God this kid loves movies.

Here's a wonderful round table discussion of all things geeky with a special guest star every week. 

There's also shows with Weird Al Yankovic and one that specializes in Cos-Play at conventions.  Apparently they are also planning a Fangoria show with Anthrax's Scott Ian  Definitely a channel to keep you eyes on.

Next up is a channel that I tripped upon when I was looking for reviews on the video game, Red Dead Redemption.

3KB

This import from Canada features three fans of video games and movies who review them on an ongoing basis.  I enjoy their humor and camaraderie and their creativity to put something like this together.

My introduction to 3KB.

Their review of the best movie this summer so far.

Here's one where they have the main voice actor from the video game actually play the game with them.  Cool concept.

Geek and Sundry

Geek icon, Felicia Day, has been a pioneer in online geek content with her on-line show The Guild for some time now.  At YouTube she has her own channel where many a wondrous, geekesque related show can be viewed.

A show where they feature guest stars playing famous, geeky table top games hosted by Wil Wheaton? YES, PLEASE!  This episode features one of the greatest TV scriptwriters of our time!  Jane Espenson.

Miss Day's own personal video blog.  Is it kinda lame for me to post the episode where she poses in cute Steampunk outfits?  Methinks not!

A YouTube, online Fantasy book club where there are book reviews and interviews with the authors themselves.  If I were more of a literary genre geek, I'd be all over it like a bad rash.

I may let you know of a few more in another post coming up.  Right now I have to partake in a Memorial Day cookout.  So until next time, stay vertical!

Zangz.

GEEKS, NERDS AND FAN BOYS, ASSEMBLE!

I've had a nice little hiatus from posting here, but my creative juices are screaming for an outlet lately so I'm finally driven to post something.

The main subject that has scooped me up and out of my general imaginative and creative malaise recently was the viewing of the insanely anticipated, Joss Whedon helmed super-hero movie, Marvel's The Avengers.

This movie had every indication of not sucking.  A wonderfully mixed cocktail that includes Mr. Whedon, the man who created and wrote some of the greatest genre TV (Buffy, Firefly and Dollhouse, to name a few) as not only the director, but also the writer.  Then put a half of glass of one of the most famous super teams to ever grace the pages of comic books.  Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, The Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye under the comand of Nick Fury.  Then add one shot of great actors reprising their rolls from the previous Marvel, super hero films that had already made a big impact within the geek community.  Mix and stir and put a pickle in it and you have a cocktail full of geek magic.

The hype for this movie was so insane that it put the project on pedestal of such a great hight that any sort of failure would not be an option.  This had me a bit worried.

As we all anticipated the coming of The Avengers, an example that I was given at one time about another film project that had all the makings of a great picture, kept running through my mind.

Here was the original pitch on that other "can't miss" movie....

• From the mind of author Michael Crichton
• From the people that brought you, "Raiders of the Lost Arc", "Back to the Future", "Poltergeist", The Color Purple", "Cape Fear" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
• Special Effects by Stan Winston.
• A summer blockbuster, action adventure!
• Starring Man-God, BRUCE CAMPBELL!

And that film turned out to be..... CONGO

This proves the point that you may have all the wonderful pieces in place, but you still have to know how to move them.

So with a little trepidation, I took Friday afternoon off and went to see "Marvel's The Avengers".  After one initial viewing I can most certainly say that Mr. Whedon definitely knows how to move his pieces!

Back in my $30 to $90 dollar a week comic book addiction days, I was a DC Comics kind of guy  (despite the fact that their new logo kind of blows).  I've always leaned more toward the darker side of comic stories.  Batman and DC's Vertigo Comics imprint were always more compelling than, what I saw as, the Disneyesque, soap opera driven Marvel universe.  That's not to say I had any dislike for the Marvel super heros.  I've always appreciated Stan Lee and what his Marvel Comics brought to geekdom.

So every time a new Marvel super hero movie comes out, I find myself excited, but not to the point of fan boy craziness.  But, after seeing this movie, I probably should have been fan boy crazy after all.  I'm not sure if it was because I controlled my hopes and dreams before I saw it, but this movie kicked my ass eight ways to Sunday!  I loved the hell out of this flick!

There is one main reason, one person, who is responsible for this.  Joss F*#KING Whedon!

Sure, you can have your all star cast and your uber-awesome 3D effects and great action intense set pieces, but it won't mean a frackin' thing unless you have a great visionary guiding the story and characters.

This movie would have been just another big budget summer blockbuster that could have come out and had its two weeks at the top and then disappeared only to find limited success on DVD and Blu-Ray like many, many other summer blockbusters (let's see how "Battleship" does).  But Avengers has something that other blockbusters don't.  It has heart.

Let's face it.  The story-line itself is pretty basic and standard Avengers comic book fare.  Thor's God-Like evil brother, Loki, decides to seek revenge on Thor by using a intergalactic portal opening weapon and employs an alien army to try and destroy the earth.  Nick Fury and his secret service organization called S.H.E.I.L.D. bring the super heros together to help save the earth.  Not anything comic book geeks aren't used to in the Marvel universe.  Been there, done that, got the shirt several times.

But, somehow it is made fresh and new.

The first and foremost thing I love about this movie is the characterization, something Mr. Whedon has a crazy gift for, as anyone would know if they've ever watched the second greatest TV show ever, Firefly (Deadwood is the first, just sayin').  He has a love for the characters in his projects and it shows in his passion for the material.

Whedon magically takes each and every super hero and gives them their own place and story and time on screen that doesn't take away from any one of the team at all.  He brings in the feel from each of the previous super hero movies without ostracizing any of the characters.  There are a couple of characters I would have liked to have seen a little more of, but it doesn't deter from the sotry at all.  I'll get to those characters later.

Tony Stark (Iron Man) feels just like the Iron Man from the previous Iron Man films.  The same can be said for both Thor and Captain America.  They're the same characters we loved form their own films without being compromised or changed to fit the team up.

And the new Hulk / David Banner actor, Mark Ruffalo, fits in wonderfully as the soft spoken, somewhat troubled yet still caring scientist who turns into everyones favorite big, green raging machine.  Bixby would be proud.

It's the writing for each of the characters, including Banner's that makes this film stand out from the other Marvel super hero films.

It's wonderful watching how these characters interact and react to each other.  The dialog between them is something Marvel fans will absolutely love and adore.  Sure, there are the huge fights against each other that are staples of the comics that are pretty grandiose and visually impacting.  But, it's the quieter moments with each other that give the film heart.  The viewer gets to feel out the newly assembled super team as much as they feel each other out also.  That's the magic of Whedon.

There's also a fair amount of humor in the film that is nicely peppered throughout that makes our heros a little more human.  There's a scene between Hulk and Loki toward the end that is pure awesomeness.  HULK SMASH, indeed.

As for the action sequences and visual effects, of coarse they're going to bring it full throttle!  There's tons of action, explosions and crazy ass damage all over the place.  A geek's visual smorgasbord.

During my viewing of the film, I enjoyed every minute of it.  After having time to think about it, I could have had a little more emphasis on the characters of Hawkeye, Black Widow and Nick Fury.

Though Hawkeye played a pivotal roll in the film, he was somewhat still in the background.  If I were an uber-comic nerd I would have had more of an issue with his costume.  Having a black leather suit with purple highlights and no mask might seem hot and trendy for Hollywood, but THIS....

...is what Hawkeye looks like.  Why is Hollywood so afraid to put their super heros in masks?  Is Captain America the only one who gets mask time?

Black Widow certainly had a lot of cool scenes.  But, for some reason, I felt there was something missing from the character.  She needed more than to look hot in skin tight outfits.  And Nick Fury was originally looked upon as a bad-ass character who was going to whoopass and take names later.  Partially because the role was played by Samuel L. Jackson.  But, his character ends up doing a little ass kicking and more commanding and giving orders from the bridge of his secret air ship while the heros do the muscle work.

Admittedly those were the typical paltry, geek gripes that in no way, shape or form deter from the awesomeness of this movie!

In closing I'll raise a frosty Schlitz Tall Boy in the air and salute one Joss Whedon, for taking this beloved comic and its characters and giving them a wonderful send up that I hope many Whedon directed and written sequels will will come from!

ALL HAIL JOSS WEHDON, MAN-GOD OF THE AGES!

Zangz.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Widow_(Marvel_Comics)

There Be Dragons Here!

Just what has been occupying my time since Halloween, you may be asking? The severe lack of posts are not due to the usual lack of inspiration this time around.

Truth be told, I've been spending an ungodly amount of my time within a fantasy world where Dragons have returned, knights in shinning amour have given way to viking warriors and where ancient undead soldiers spend time lurking about in forgotten tombs and are just waiting for an ass-whoopin'.

If you've had your video game playing head in the sand for the last month you'd know I'm talking about the most ambitious, open world, role playing game to possibly ever grace counsel gaming systems.

On 11/11/11 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released to the masses. And you can bet you're sword wielding, potion poppin', amour wearing, sweet behinds that yours truly was in his local Gamestop at midnight to get his little paws all over this masterpiece.

Granted, I was probably the oldest geek in the place. No matter! I got my copy in a short period of time and tore back home to my apartment and popped that wonderful little disc into my '360 and sat in a state of mad anticipation!

The intro was very short and sweet and the next thing I knew I was being led into the story head first. Soon after I was working on the intricate character creation system. Then as soon as the introductory part of the story was over and the game let me decided what I wanted to do next, I found myself wandering the huge and beautiful landscapes.......

Once I actually looked at the clock and realized it was 5 AM I decided to take a short nap . I had wisely taken that Friday off from work and found myself up by 10 AM and back at the game. Since then I have taken advantage of the cold, gloomy and dark atmosphere that has seemed to curse the subsequent winter weekends and found a plethora of time to clock in at least 48 hours of the game. It being and open world, sandbox game, I found it very easy to do.

So what do I think of it?

One of the BEST GAMES I'VE EVER PLAYED!

Keep in mind, I'm an oldster. My first game system was a big red plastic box that you connected to your UHF atenea to play Pong. So I've been playing for a while and I can honestly say that this game has blown a few of my all times faves out of their places in the pantheon that is Zangz's All Time Favorite Video Games.

I have yet to reach the end of the main quest and story for the game, but have logged in more than enough hours to be able to give a decent review.

The main story revolves around you arriving in this Norse mythology influenced fantasy realm as a prisoner who was captured trying to illegally cross the border into the Northern most realm of the Elder Scrolls fantasy world know as Skyrim. You're cuffed and in a wagon with other prisoners being taken to your execution that is take part in a small town. As your head is being laid on the chopping block, all hell breaks loose as a dragon attacks and destroys the town. Once you escape the destruction the world is your oyster.

You can pursue the main story quest and find out why long extinct dragons have returned to the world and what major part you play in it. Or you can do whateverhellyouwantto! It's all your choice.

I found myself spending hours traveling the roads and reveling in the majesty and beauty of the Skyrim world before I took on any of either the main or side quests. There's almost too much to do and explore in this world.

There are hundreds of places to check out. Whether it be burial tombs, caves, ancient dwarven ruins, keeps, bandit forts, small townships and extravagant cities, there's hundreds of places to search, loads of people to interact with, take on dangers, loot treasure chests and look for cool-as-heck magical items. Almost each and every place you come upon, your jaw will drop at its beauty. The whole world is definitely seeped in fantastical artistry.

The game keeps you busy. I've been biding my time with the main quest, taking it in a little at a time so I don't blow through it too quickly. Luckily I've been keeping busy with the multitude of side quests that are provided for you in the game. Holy crap, there are a lot!! There are the main quest missions, then each city and township has its own set of quests for you, then there are the factions and political parties you can join who have a bunch of quests for you. AND THEN there are bunch of side and miscellaneous quest you can randomly come upon. It's mind blowing!!!!

You can take a gander at the gameplay right HERE!

They've also made the combat and magic systems much easier than any of the previous Elder Scrolls games. You don't have to be a hard core RPG geek to get the hang of how to manipulate and use your inventory.

In past Elder Scrolls games, I've played as a brute warrior with a penchant for hack'n'slash gameplay. This time around I've found it easy enough to play as a combo warrior / thief-esque / assassin type character without having to dick around too much with a complicated interface. You build up the stats from what you actually do in the game. You don't have to worry about wondering where to allocate a ton of skill points into. The game pretty much does it for you per how you like to play. Every time you level up you only have to worry about putting points into three (count 'em THREE) attributes and then only one point into a skill.

Do you want to be a bad-ass warrior? You can do that! Do you and to be sneaky thief? You can do that! Do you want to play as a powerful mage? You can do that! Do you want to play as all of the above? You can do that! Do you want to play as a little bit more of the above and a little bit less of the above? You can do that! They've really taken the whole sandbox gameplay ideal and applied it to RPG mechanics with little confusion for the player.

Here's a quick video on the gameplay mechanics of the game.

The world itself is an organic (over used annoying word alert!) living world where characters live their lives day to day despite your existence in it. Time moves on no mater what you do or don't do. Here's a time laps look at one of the cites in the game.

I could go on and on and on with what makes this game so frackin' awesome I'd be typing this post all night. Suffice it to say, this is one of the best gaming experiences I've had since Grand Theft Auto III came out or the time I first discovered Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. You may be asking yourself, "Does he think that there is anything is wrong with it?"

I've only run across a couple of things that slightly irk me.

First, I notice that once you discover and clear out a dungeon, cave, fort, whatever, that the enemies within don't regenerate if you revisit that same place later in the game. In Elder scrolls IV: Oblivion, a short time after you cleared a place you could go back in and still go after baddies while looting treasures. This doesn't seem to be the case in Skyrim. That could kill a little of the replay value that the Elder Scrolls games pride themselves for. I have to play through a lot more of the game to see if these dungeons are revisit-able, but right now it's looking like once you complete a dungeon, it's just an empty dungeon.

The net has been afire with a lot of criticisms of a lot of the major glitches that can plague the game. We all know that these Elder Scrolls games are so incredibly huge it is hard for developers, Bethesda, to catch all of the glitches before release time. In fact, in the past, some of these glitches are kind of amusing and endearing to a lot of us. This game, however, has a little too much of them and in some cases can make a quest incomplete. I came across such a quest where I was to collect three separate necklaces in three separate dungeons. I made the mistake of forgetting to grab the necklace off of the first dungeon boss in the first dungeon. When I returned much later on in the game to collect the necklace off the the carcass of the undead viking warrior, he was gone and the quest arrow telling me where the location of the necklace was pointing at the empty ground where the necklace should have been. So I couldn't complete the quest. Bummer!

Do these faults ruin the game? Hell no!!! The game is still a wonder to behold!

Lift up your cups or grog to the people at Bethesda Games who have created one of the top video gaming experiences that I have ever had the pleasure!!!!

For Xmas this year get you loved ones this game! They won't be disappointed..... unless they wer born without a soul.

Zangz.