The Week In Geek 1/20/19

It'll be like my Senior Prom...except my date won't leave me to
ride home in the back of another couple's van. Good times.

This Week in Gaming.... So, anyone that keeps up with me on Twitter knows that I've recently purchased a Playstation 4 and, with it, Destiny, the MMO shooter everyone's talking (or whining) about. For someone who hasn't owned a console in more than ten years, this has basically been the equivalent of me plugging into the Matrix. As you can tell from my posts on comics, I read heavily about anything I get into, so yeah....expect a lot of gaming posts to come this year.  
So Destiny. This week, Bungie announced (on Reddit **shudder**) a new event for Valentine's Day which includes a party in the Tower, the game's social hub (which, I should mention, is the most awkward place to try and communicate with other people), some fixes and improvements that will come with next month's update and a special new 2v2 battle in the Crucible (the game's PvP mode). I can only assume this is to pacify the fans who have been complaining that there haven't been any major events such a new strikes or items since The Taken King expansion in October. I also have to say I found it odd that Bungie would announce love is in the air on the same social networking site where nude pics of every celebrity that's ever sexted were leaked and circulated last year. Hopefully, this is the start of Bungie getting a little more improvisational and learning to fully embrace the inherent outlandishness of the MMO crowd they're trying to unite with the FPS crowd they already have. Or maybe what half the internet is saying is true and Bungie is totally just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. Who knows?

My reviews for the week on Batman and Tokyo Ghost are up and available on Black Nerd Problems as usual. Feel free to read, comment and share as usual. 

The Week In Geek 1/6/16

This Week In Star Wars (in case you're not sick of me talking about Star Wars yet)....I was scrolling through io9 and I saw yet another article listing all of the "minor" issues with The Force Awakens which, no offense to io9 in particular, has gotten goddamned annoying. The most annoying thing is that, since Force Awakens has been so well received and is well on its way to beating Avatar in worldwide sales (meaning there's nothing to justify an article on what sucks about it), every article you read has to preface it with, "Don't get me wrong...we like this movie, but..." in the same way racists start racist comments with, "Look, I don't want to sound racist, but..." Because outside of Star Wars, the week or so after New Year's is slow news in geekdom and the usual suspects need some shit to talk about.

In this very same week, JJ Abrams was on a podcast where he gave a very reasonable explanation for the naysayer who whine about the movie being a remake of A New Hope. First of all, he shouldn't have and, quite frankly, didn't have to do that if you ask me (I'm going to say that if you're reading my blog in the first place, that counts as you asking me). For one thing, there's the inevitability that if you keep feeling the need to justify your work, you'll say something stupid that will eventually end up as comedic fodder like when Max Landis said he wanted to make American Alien the opposite of AllStar Superman (I'm assuming by "the opposite", he meant "bad" because that's what's happened so far) or when Zack Snyderclaimed to have saved Watchmen from Terry Gilliam or whatever. Furthermore, we all know that, no matter what they say, directors and writers totally listen to the fans. Even the trolls. We know this, but it just looks bad when said creators actually respond because, ultimately, NEVER have these statements ever shut fanboys up no matter how thought out they are. Never. Zack Snyder has responded to Man of Steel criticisms for ages now and yet MoS is STILL the most divisive movie every in the genre. It doesn't even work in politics. Donald Trump could get on the stump tomorrow and claim that Jeb! Bush is a holocaust denier and Jeb! could say something logical and reasonable like, "I'm not responding to nonsensical, unfounded allegations. Let's talk about the issues." Despite this being a completely mature, rational way to respond to a Presidential candidate whose entire political strategy is based around lying and flinging gargoyle shit at the other candidates, odds are good that we would still ridicule him and call him "low energy" or whatever else Trump has convinced him he is. It's not that we want to believe something Donald Trump says. We don't. We know that, in all likelihood, it isn't true. But the fact that Bush is so visibly wounded, you can tell it affects him. Even when he's not directly addressing it, he's addressing it and, ultimately, dignifying the comments. Put simply, JJ Abrams, at this juncture, should just not be dignifying these things that are only being discussed just because the nerd blogosphere needs some shit to talk about. Also, I'm not a director/producer worth millions of dollars or anything, but if MY movie were holding solid at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, io9 and anyone else who has anything to say about it could go fuck themselves no matter how well intentioned their "think piece" is. But that's just me, so....

My comic review for the week on Invincible Iron Man is up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Outside of that, I may get a little inconsistent with the blog reviews since I just moved a PS4 into my house and will be playing unhealthy amounts of Destiny for both self-care and research purposes. Yes, I heard what I just said. Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous. Yes, I still mean it. That is all.

The Week In Geek 12/30/15

This Week In Things Too Geeky To Discuss With Your Friends.....No matter how you feel about Star Wars: The Force Awakens (sorry, but I'd be happy if my movie had a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes), you have to admit it's nice to have the nerd community geeking out about Star Wars again in a less abstract, fan fictiony way. It's also nice that the introduction of John Boyega's rogue trooper character, Finn, has created a reinvigorated sense of community within the Star Wars blerd fandom. I was personally getting tired of debating over Samuel L. Jackson no matter how awesome it was that he repelled an entire enemy platoon singlehandedly. My favorite thing is that, since Star Wars is a very self sustaining marketing engine that responds to its fans, you end up getting cool shit like this action figure based on everyone's favorite electro baton wielding stormtrooper. 

He wasn't a huge part of the initial marketing campaign, but after the movie released and the internet lost their shit (though I still don't understand why...I mean, he lasted for half a lightsaber fight). Now, the movie is barely two weeks old, ready to surpass Titanic sales and now he has his own action figure. He doesn't even have a name but he has an action figure. Disney wastes no time.

And the amount of detail that goes into this universe is ridiculously geeky. Nerds....we have a cross section book. My relationship with bookstores over the years has left me privy to some wildly geeky shit, but after all this time, sci-fi cross section books still stand firm in my pantheon of the geekiest shit a human being can purchase in public in front of other people. I mean, it's basically an automotive manual for vehicles that don't actually exist. Neil Degrasse Tyson is basically America's wacky Science Uncle and even he isn't THAT geeky. Isn't it fucking awesome?  

This Week In Wonderfully Nerdy Women That Don't Know I Exist.... Readers, there is simply not a higher note to start the year on than talking about Ariell Johnson, the sister from Philly who is opening up her own comic shop. The idea behind Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse is to build a sense of community in the Kensington part of Philly around two things that a). get blerds through the day and b). are both not Meek Mill: comics and coffee. It feels like the next logical step, given that the past couple of years in the industry have really been focused on creating more conversations about diversity in comics as well as the way geekdom treats women. The fact that safe spaces are happening on a physical level as well as a conversational one is an exciting prospect and a wonderful omen for the possibilities of things to come in the blerd community.