Beyond My Geeky Life

Before reading the rest of this post, go watch the trailers at the following pages if you've not seen them yet: This International Star Wars: The Force Awakens  Trailer Has Tons Of New Footage Even more brand-new Star Wars footage We now have just over a month to go before The Force Awakens hits the theaters. The excitement keeps building, but there is a lingering feeling that we've seen all this before and were let down in the end. I remember the build up for Episode 1 and how in the end we were left with a film that did not come close to being what all the hype promised. So why do I think it will be different this time? Looking at the trailers there is a lot of obvious differences. To start off with the bad guys this time look like they will ave to be taken seriously. The new Stormtroopers look to be badass add aggressive. We are not getting stuck another batch of worthless solider like the battle droids, who were at no point anything close to a threat. I ca...

With just a over a month before the new Star Wars movie hits the theaters, with what may be a record crushing opening weekend with a predicted 600 million world wide ( http://www.imdb.com/news/ni59122843 ) we are seeing a big push for merchandising at all levels. As a collector I am enjoying seeing all that is coming out and as budget allows I am picking up new pieces for my collection. So one area of merchandising I don't see myself going after however is the Star Wars themed CoverGirl collection. http://www.covergirl.com/cosmetics/starwars-collection While I find it to be an interesting marketing concept, I just don't see myself picking any of it up. I'm not a fan of throwing a logo on just any old thing to make it collectible, and this seems just barely a step above that. I am sure it will sell well though, I'm just not going to go after any of them.

For those of you who have been living under a rock this last week, yesterday was Back to the Future Day. In BTTF2 Doc and Marty travel to the future from 1985. The date they travel to was 10/21/2015. Needless to say the geek community took full advantage of such a well known movie having an actual date that reality catches up to in their lifetimes. My boys and I got out to a local library and watched BTTF2 with a bunch of other people as we snacked on BTTF themed goodies. They also had trivia and activities for the kids. It was a lot of fun. My youngest and I got interviewed for a piece that will get broadcast on a local station. We then went home and played the BTTF card game. I love the fact that a one shot geek holiday has made it to that level of mainstream popularity. There was coverage of this day everywhere you turned. It shows just how huge geek culture has become. This is just more evidence that the geeks are set up to take over the world.

I am a collector of a great many things. My house is packed with my collections. I have major collections such as Star Wars, action figures, comics, DVDs, and books. Then there are my minor collections like wind-up toys, Minions and Little Green Men form Toy Story. I have been a collector for as long as I can remember, it is for me and so many others, a way of life. But not everyone understands this way of life. While most people who come over are impressed by my collections, I have encountered people who see my level of collecting as being hoarding. They are unable to grasp the passion for collecting and instead write it off as someone just keeping and becoming attached to a bunch of junk. I am not going to go into what hoarding is here, but you can go do the research and learn what actual hoarding is. It is a real serious condition that can screw up a person life. It is noticeably different from actual collecting though. I can look through my collections and find v...

Today marks 100 days until the official release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. And right now Star Wars seems to be everywhere. This last Friday was Force Friday, basically when all the new Star Wars merchandise was allowed to be sold. While the new figures were blowing out of stores like crazy, in fact you would be lucky to find much in the way of merchandise on store shelves right now, there was a good deal off classic trilogy items mixed  in with the new movie pieces. There were a few prequel items, but those were very few. The companies putting the merchandise out clearly do know what movies matter. Unlike the crazy amount of everything that was throw out there for the prequel merchandising insanity, they toned in down a great deal this time. While there is a lot of items released, it seems they were more controlled in making sure what was being sold had a little more thought that just slapping Star Wars characters on everything, although some of that did still...

We all know that for the most part Hollywood is not big on being original. Sequels and reboots flood our theaters constantly. With that comes both the good and the bad of it all. With Jurassic World I was not sure if we would get the good or the bad with the film. I was not into the hype and originally planned on waiting until the film made it to video before seeing it. JP 2 and 3 were disappointing, so I had little faith that JW would be anything more. Also with how Hollywood is making it obvious that there is no way to match the originals when they let a franchise sit for two decades, as we have seen with so many sequels (Or prequels) as of late. I have been let down so much by the big franchises. And while I consider movies like Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skulls to not be the worst in the franchise ( I find Temple of Doom to actually be a worse move) it was lacking. There was a lot of build up to finally getting a new adventure in that universe after all that time. I have lea...

For those who don't know, I am a fan of comic books. I have a good sized collection that spans around sixty years, maybe more, especially if you count reprints and collected works. If so, then I have comics from over 75 years ago. I have read the first appearances of many characters, including Bat-Man, Superman, Namor, The original Human Torch, The Fantastic Four, just to name a few. I have some idea of the evolution of comic books into what is on the market today. I won't claim to be an expert or even one of the most knowledgeable of comic book fans, but I feel I am able to form some fairly well thought out opinions concerning comic books. As I said I have read some significant first appearance issues now from all eras of comic books. The more I have read from the various ages (Golden, silver and modern) the more I see where the big changes have happened. With that I have no doubt at all that there is one comic that really can be said to have had the most influence as to whe...

I love going to sci-fi/geeky conventions. I get out to as many as I can in a year. Normally I can make it to four or five, even though here in Colorado it seems we average at least one a month, especially if you can travel all over the state. We are a geeky state. Last weekend we showed the world just how geeky Colorado can be by holding the Denver Comic Con and having an attendance of over 101,000 people. We have solidly put ourselves as one of the top five comic con. One of the greater aspects of DCC is the chance to meet various celebrities from all aspects of entertainment. This year I left with a lot of enjoyable experiences like the conversation I had with Anthony Michael Hall that covered his time on Saturday Night Live, Robert Downing Jr and joking about him getting a role in a Marvel movie. It was not a long exchange, but it was enjoyable and I left feeling like Hall was the type of person you would want to hang with. I can say the same about the incredibly talented voic...

The family went and saw Avengers: Age of Ultron this afternoon, in 3-D. It lived up to the hype and clearly set up a lot for future films. A lot of little treats for us comic fans as well as some real surprises. Marvel studios has yet another hit on their hands. Before the film started we were treated to the trailers. Several of them I had already seen on-line, but now I got to see them in 3-D. This included the one movie that will most likely give Avengers a run for top movie of the year and caused me to geek out big time. The trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was awesome to begin with, but to see it on the big screen, in 3-D... That in itself was worth the price of a ticket. I really have faith that episode 7 will get the Star Wars franchise back on track. And to keep this geeky weekend going strong, tomorrow is free comic book day. I am always up for free comic book and will be going to Mile High Comics to take part in the festivities.  And we already know that...

We've been watching the new show iZombie. We got hooked with the first episode and have enjoyed everything that has followed. I have not read any of the comic books, so I will only be talking about the TV series here. After the first episode I had to ask my wife "Shouldn't it feel wrong for me to be attracted to a zombie?" One aspect of the show that really does stand out is the main character, Liv (Played by Rose McIver), being actually attractive for dead chick. I also know I am not the only one who feels this way. I would not think I would find such a pale complexion attractive, let along sexy. This may be a high compliment to the actress, but there is something about Liv that is highly appealing. At a recent convention my wife cosplayed as Liv and that look worked for her as well. In giving the issue some  real thought, it came to me that we are now sexualizing zombies much the same way we did vampires a few decades ago. The idea of taking what is supposed t...

For February Loot Crate had the theme of Play. A lot of fun stuff in the box. My family really enjoyed the game Super Fight. It is a card game based around all manner of match ups between assorted characters with some truly bizarre weaponry. This was the first Loot Crate we had received that came with an actual novel. The book was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I read the back cover and it sounded interesting so it got moved up in my reading list. I was not disappointed. Over the last few days I found it real hard to stop reading as I got closer to the conclusion. The book itself is filled with many great pop culture references. Most are from the 80s, but there are some from the 70s and 90s. There were tons geeky trivia at every turn here. I actually learned some interesting new odd ball facts about Pac Man, Cap'n Crunch and more. The story takes place in a future where just about everyone is active in a virtual universe called OASIS. OASIS is filled with fan made worlds...

In some ways this is a hard post to write as I am very much conflicted over my feelings about the Spider-Verse saga that recently wrapped up in the Spider-man comics. Spidey is my favorite hero and so I wish for the best from his comics and am thrown off when it just doesn't all come together. I am going to start with the bad on this so I can finish with a positive note. Spider-Verse suffered from going no where real fast. The main six part story really was lacking. Each part did little to move the story and often felt like it repeated itself. Most of the real interesting stuff happen in the tie-in comics. The main story just couldn't handle it all. To some level it really felt like trying to get all the various versions of Spider-Man/woman/girl/pig/ape working together was too much to ask and regretfully it showed. Now there were some good scenes in the main story, but nothing that really stood out. The conclusion itself just happened. There was nothing in it that was as...

So a group of Hollywood Power Ranger fans went and made a really dark short Power Ranger fan film. And this is some dark, dark stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw5vcUPyL90 I remember being very unimpressed when Power Ranger first came out and thinking it would be so much better if it went dark and ah so intensity to it. So here we are twenty years later with someone doing just that for fun and it is undeniably better than the legitimate show. I would watch an actual series based off of this idea. In less than 15 minutes it has more suspense, drama and twist and turns as well as actual characters and character development. All of those are thing fully lacking from the actual show. Now I know one of the main arguments for Power Ranger is that the show is for kids. Now the short it self is clearly for adults, kid shows do not need to be that simple, that lacking of character and plot. I also love to see movie makers go and make these kind of well made pieces that they put ...

For those of you who do not keep up with such things, the Star Wars expanded universe has returned to Marvel Comics after over twenty-five years. There is logic to this, as both Marvel and Star Wars are now extensions of Disney. Soon after Disney took over Lucasfilm they went and announced that basically all the Expended Universe (EU) that had been put out there (Nearly three decades of comics, novels, video games and more) is non-canon. That means that all the good and bad that had come out of the EU is meaningless as far as Disney is concerned.  All that matters is the six movies and two Lucasfilm cartoon shows, Clone Wars and Rebels. With that being done everything was in place to start it all up again with a 100% fresh start. Last month we got Star Wars issue 1 from Marvel comics. It sold over a million copies. Issue two sold out. Today Issue one of the first spin off series, Darth Vader, came out and is in high demand. Originally Darth Vader was to be a limited series, y...

The new show The Liberians just finished up its first season and I have nothing but good things to say about it. For those unfamiliar with the show, it is a follow up to a series of made for TV movies titled The Liberian. The stories revolve around The Library and the man picked to head it up. The movies were fun and had some intriguing ideas to them, so I was not surprised at a series being created to continue the world. In the pilot episode The Library gets attacked and is pulled into a safe zone outside of reality. A guardian is chosen and three new co-Liberians are introduced as magic is reintroduced to the world. The Liberian from the movies is now a reoccurring character, instead of the focus of the show. The series instead follows the new team as they travel around the world to keep things balanced. There is a blending of mythology in the show that is enjoyable. Folk Tales and Greek Myths are just as relevant in this world as Biblical stories are. They end up with a fun co...

I really love it when I go into a movie not expecting much and ending up enjoying the film. I have been pleasantly surprised many times in the past. I think it is one reason why I often risk seeing a movie I think is going to be real bad. In this case I never once was excepting anything good. I was warned by many that it would disappoint. I still hoped that there would be something enjoyable in it. Wow was I wrong. The movie in question is 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)'. It lived up fully to my expectation, in that I was positive before hand that it would truly suck on every level and it did. I seriously cannot think of one good thing to say about the movie. There was 100% nothing about it that I enjoyed. I never once laughed at any of the humor in it, as it all fell flat and was forced. Shredder, the big 'bad ass' villain was silly. I could not take him seriously at all. His armor and million knives and well everything about him did not make him mena...

Over the last few years, ever since it got announced, Ant-man has gotten a lot of snarky remarks made about it. Check out the trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xInh3VhAWs8&feature=youtu.be I am fairly confident that it is going to be a good movie myself. So far Marvel studios has done an incredible job of making all their movies work (Remembering that the first Hulk movie was before there was  marvel studios). No one expected Guardians of the Galaxy to be a huge hit, with unknown characters and ridiculous characters with a talking racoon and a walking tree. Yes Ant-Man is not a hugely popular character and yes there are several silly areas in the concept. Our hero will be riding an ant into battle and his main ability is that he can shrink. If done right, and it looks like that is what they are doing, it can work. People need to understand that Ant-man is one of the older Marvel character and is a founding member of the Avengers in the comics. He has been a key part...

It really is odd to see the 'Disney' logo on Star Wars products now. I know Disney owns the franchise, but that doesn't mean they needed to put their logo on everything. It is not like Star Wars needs the Disney logo. The Star Wars brand is going to sell itself just as well without any connection to Disney. If anything the Disney logo might turn away some fans. There was no need to so blatantly connect the brands.  I know I will never view it as being Disney's Star Wars, that would just be wrong. What becomes puzzling though is that Disney has not gone and done that to everything Marvel. Marvel is doing just fine using only the Marvel brand. Just one of those odd things that caught my attention.