Beyond My Geeky Life

I am watching Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars and am going to try and write up my reactions as I watch it. The opening scroll ended with 'And None of This is Canon, so Just Relax', which was perfect. Perry gets to be the one to snag the Death Star Plans, which were conveniently all on one CD. They are doing a good job of making references to everything Tatoonie related in the opening song. I think Vader is abusing his power by having Storm Trooper get his socks for him. Apparently the Death Star was based off a handheld nut cracker. So this story is happening as the movie plays out around it, not a retelling of the story. 'Mos Eisley Spaceport, now 14% more scum & villainy.' Yep, a 'Who shot first' joke got in there. It was Han, and we all know it. For some reason the value of a time share on Alderaan suddenly dropped to nothing. 'May the Force be with you, and all that stuff.' 'Darth Vader can kiss my Bantha.' So we have ...

Just saw a commercial for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie that said "You've never seen heroes like this". Considering that this is like the millionth reboot of the TMNT, I really think they might not fully understand that term. I will be overly surprised and impressed if they really pull off giving us something that we really have not seen before, that also gives something of value to the TMNT legacy. This is one of the most unneeded movies we've been given. The current TMNT cartoon is doing just fine and has been introducing us to some really interesting and unique concepts for the TMNT legacy. The latest cartoon has taken all the best aspects of the past TMNT and worked them together in an on going narrative that draws you in. It is a new storyline that does a great job of effectively paying tribute to where it came from. And it works. So far for the new movie I have seen nothing that makes me think they are going to do the same. We have the turtles...

There is a movie coming out simply titled Lucy. It stars Scarlett Johansson as a woman who ends up exposed to some chemical that amplifies her mind and ends up giving her all manner of abilities. The first trailer I saw for the movie started off looking intriguing. It had action and suspense and of course watching Scarlett Johansson is always enjoyable. Then they ruin it by putting in what is happening to her mind. They use the outdated, overly proven inaccurate idea that people only use 10% of their brain. The trailers keep telling us how much of her brain she is using at different times to gain the various abilities and how we have no idea what will happen once she reaches 100%. They have Morgan Freeman be the one to give us the lines about using the various percents of her brain. His voice does make anything he says sound more official and authoritative, but that doesn't mean it is not junk. This is a simple unscientific concept that has been shown time and time again to b...

The movie has been out for a while, but I just got to see it about a week ago. Due to being a huge fan of Spider-Man, he rates as my favorite super hero, I had to see it and I am not going to hold back on my opinions of it. To start with I never saw the point of rebooting the franchise. I always felt after the screw up that was Spider-Man 3, they should have followed through with new casting, but kept the storyline itself going. I have no doubt at all this would have been a better choice for the studio. There was little in the first Amazing Spider-Man (ASM) that actually would not have worked as being a forth part to the story. In fact without having to retell the origin, they might have been able to work more with the plot. With ASM 2, we very much see that this would have been the better way to go. One thing that both the ASM movies have done is not understood that Peter Parker is a different person when he puts that mask on. Peter on his own is not really cocky or smart mouthed....

So I am going to talk about music this time around. The House of the Rising Sun is a really old song that no one is sure of the actual origins of. It has been recorded many times by many different artists over the years. Originally it was from the point of view of a woman ( http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bob+dylan/house+of+the+rising+sun_20021207.html ), but with what is most likely the most famous version of the song by The Animals, they switched it to a male POV ( http://www.metrolyrics.com/house-of-the-rising-sun-lyrics-the-animals.html ). This last year the band Five Finger Death Punch released their version of it. The song is updated and the music is noticeably heavier. The song is very catchy and is getting a lot of play on the radio station I listen to. It has been stuck in my head for several days now. Now to get geeky. The most noticeable change in the Five Finger Death Punch version is the change of location from 'New Orleans' to 'Sin City' ( http://www....

As many of you know I am a writer. This year I was invited to contribute to a new shared world anthology titled Taurin Tales. http://nomadicdeliriumpress.com/taurin.htm I am looking forwards to seeing just what we ended up creating, as I have only read my pieces (I will have two stories in this anthology).  I have seen some hints as to what some of the other writers came up with. It was an interesting experience to flush out the workings of these people. I think it will come together to make an enjoyable set of stories. J, the editor, is hoping this goes over well as he is already thinking of doing a second anthology that will have open submissions. However Nomadic Delirium Press is an independent small press and could use a little help to get Taurin Tales funded. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1521750492/taurin-tales

Now I shall start to reminisce about childhood memories in an attempt to show that I am one of those parents. I have started to go through my old comic books. I have a good sized collection. I’ve been collecting most of my life. I started in the mid-80s and had to cut down a few years ago, picking up a few here and there since then. I been enjoying the Mile High Comics dollar bin to pick up some old issues to fill in the gaps. Reading them has been a highly reminiscent experience. Odd thing is I mainly remember the ads. Now this is where I will start to sound like an old man. Comic ads today just are not as interesting and unique as what they were when I was growing up. It is hard to explain the personality of comic book ads to those unfamiliar with them. The most famous of those ads is most likely the old Hostess snack ads where known heroes from both Marvel and DC would use tasty Hostess snacks to distract the villains and save the day. They really were classic ads that stand out...