Beyond My Geeky Life

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...

Just learned today of a this interesting, practically unknown, piece of Star Wars history. http://www.mcgreene.org/?p=296 http://www.nickstember.com/chinese-star-wars-comic-part-1-6/ This is a unlicensed mini-comic done in a style called ' lianhuanhua ' which is real popular in China. It is very much worth checking out. I love the art, even if most of it looks nothing like anything we see in the actual movie. A lot of odd use of characters (Oddly enough most of them from The Empire Strikes Back) in the wrong places, like the medical droid 2-1B as an imperial captain. Always interesting to see one of these odd pieces that are out there.

Now this is a perfect song for someone to parade with a Doctor Who theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WBqHdI5Bdw I really an impressed with how well done this video is. The make the song fit the storyline of the show with minimal alteration, which is just brilliant. So watch the video and enjoy and if you don't get it, then go and watch some Doctor Who. The basic set up of the video comes from the David Tennant years. Even if you not into Doctor Who, it is still a fun video.

I am really looking forwards to X-Men: Days of Future Past. Everything seems to point to this be a really incredible X-Men movie. If all goes well the family will get to see it Monday. All the trailers and clips I have seen have helped to reinforce the my confidence in this movie. So here I am looking forwards to an X-Men movie, feeling that a second is getting on track with doing a Marvel license right, even though they have been going up and down with their movies. If DoFP is as good as I it at seems, that will make 5 of the 7 X-Men movies as being good. It makes me think they are getting back on track and there is hope for the future movies. Then I had to learn about the casting for Gambit in the next one... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/video-channing-tatum-gambit-role-706443 Channing Tatum? Really? My personal opinion is that he is one of the most over rated actors out there today. He has no range at all. He is the exact same character in every movie he ma...

I made the mistake of showing the video to promote this to my boys. My say we have to enter. Does anyone have $50000 to give me so I can enter at the Jedi Grand Master of the Order level? http://www.omaze.com/experiences/starwars-episode-vii We get to see a set for Episode 7 and a new alien, so the video itself is pretty cool. Not sure why Abrams felt the need to return to Tatooine. Makes me a little worried about the chance of that there may be a lack of new worlds and ideas in Episode 7. I really hope I am proven wrong. There better be a good reason to be back there that works for the bigger story.  Guess we'll just have to wait and see.