Stephen King, Vampires, and Caped Heroes – Geekout 29

February 12, 2017 Leave a comment

It’s time to discuss some geekiness today! Still a ways behind, but I’m hopeful that I’ll catch up. I’m writing these posts based on a page-a-day calendar that prompts me to name geeky things. Today we’re going to talk about Four Stephen King Book Titles, Four Video Games in which a Vampire is an Enemy, and Four Superheroes that Wear Capes. Seems reasonably possible. We’ll see if I can get all the way to four with that first one…

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And now for the content!

Four Stephen King Book Titles

Sadly, I tried to come up with all four here, but could only name 3. I’m falling one short. I’ve not read any of his books, however, I’m seen the movie adaptations of three of his novels. These are the novels.

IT

Saw this terrifying clown movie as a kid. At the time, however, I didn’t know the significance of who was cast as the clown. Let’s just say that I really enjoy his grin quite a bit. The film is based on the Stephen King novel, as I said, I’ve not read it.

The Shining

I don’t know how closely the film matches the book. I recall people talking about the differences, so I know there are some significant changes. Considering how good the film is, I’d expect the novel is very good as well. I think I might enjoy reading it, so I likely will at some point. Remind me not to take a job as a caretaker of an old hotel in the mountains…

Pet Sematary

This is a strange one. I don’t recall the details, except for undead pets. I think at least one of these was created intentionally. There’s an ancient burial ground (as there always is), and the pets buried there come back to life. Also, I had to look up the spelling of the title, because it’s not spelled correctly. The story is spelled that way because the children made a sign for the pet “sematary” where they buried their dead pets.

Four Video Games in which a Vampire is an Enemy

Had to be enemies. No Vincent for this one. I guess I’ll take my copies of Final Fantasy VII and go home… I’m going to count any enemies, whether they’re prominent in the game or not. I’m expecting that I can get a set of games that will all feature some prominent vampire. I’ll likely not shed too much light on them, however, since I hate spoilers.

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Without getting into the details, this Dungeons and Dragons based game has more than a few vampires as enemies. Some of them are named, significant opponents, so I don’t want to get into those details for reason of spoilers. This is a great, classic game, and there’s an updated version of the game that plays well on modern hardware.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

This past Wednesday I was having a discussion with some friends about what a great year 1997 was for movies and video games. This is one of those 1997 released games that I mentioned. It’s often considered one of the best of this large franchise. Yes, the franchise is full of vampires as enemies.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

This game has been in my Steam wish list for over two years now, and I’ve yet to play it. Having played Vampire: The Masquerade in its LARP form, I know that the game must have vampires as enemies. As I’m sure the main character must be a vampire as well. I always hear good things, and would like to play the game at some point.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

There are plenty of vampires that you can fight in this game. And if you’re not careful, you can become one! There’s some disease that you get first, and you’ll be a vampire before you know it. Oops! People in the game start making comments about it, because you look kind of scary to them once you’re a vampire. Not good. Fun though!

Four Superheroes that Wear Capes

No capes! OK, these guys have capes, which Edna would not approve of. I’m going to allow anything even cape-like as long as it’s a loose fabric hanging down behind the shoulders. OK. Three. Two. One. Let’s jam!

Batman

Considering his nickname is The Caped Crusader, it’s hard to imagine him without a cape. Unlike some others, Batman uses a functional cape. Flight or glider depending on the incarnation, but it’s also part of his arsenal of flare and intimidation.

Superman

How else would you be able to tell he’s flying if he didn’t have a cape being pulled by wires behind him? This cape-wearing superhero would be hard to tell to leave the cape behind. He’s a bit more powerful than most heroes, so if he’s willing to chance it, I won’t tell him otherwise!

Thor

This Asgardian ruler has a certain look to uphold, and the cape is part of his wardrobe. I believe he’d be wearing this cape at home and when acting as a superhero. Again, hard to tell him not to. I think he’d keep the cape if only for the look it gives him.

Dr. Strange

Similar to the usefulness Batman finds in his cape, the Cloak of Levitation that Dr. Strange wears is quite powerful. It’s a magical cloak that allows Dr. Strange to fly and can even move around, acting as a powerful tool or weapon as needed.

Wrap Up

Looks like we got most of that. The next post will cover Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and General Geekiness.

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Known Superheroes, Animated Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Races – Geekout 28

February 9, 2017 1 Comment

Many topics we’ve seen in this series of posts as I try to keep up with a page-a-day calendar I received last year. The calendar challenges me to name some geeky things each day. I go a little beyond that, trying to write something about each one as I go. Today, I’m tasked with naming Two Superheroes without a Secret Identity, Four Animated Sci-Fi Films, and Six Fantasy Races.

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Let’s see how it goes!

Two Superheroes without a Secret Identity

Most superheroes maintain a secret identity, so they can have some semblance of protection for their loved ones and normal lives in general. Sometimes the heroes are considered vigilantes working outside the law, so need the protection from the government as well as from the villains. Whatever the reason, there are some who cannot (or choose not) to maintain separate lives.

Dr. Manhattan – The Watchmen

After turning his transformation, Dr. Manhattan might have the powers to hide his new identity, but I doubt he cares enough to deal with it anyway. He’s completely blue and has incredible powers. He’s probably one of the most powerful characters in all comics. Ever. I don’t remember many calling him anything except for Dr. Manhattan.

Dr. Strange

Considering that his name was already Dr. Strange, that’s certainly not keeping things secret to use it still. My guess here is that what he’s fighting is too obscure for most people to even notice or care. He’s not fighting the normal villains like the Avengers. The magical world is separate enough that he probably doesn’t bother with a secret identity.

Iron Man

Doubt this was always the case, but the current cinematic version of this character almost immediately dropped that secret identity, revealing that he is Iron Man. I think it fits well, since the character is too arrogant to avoid the fame and glory.

Four Animated Sci-Fi Films

This is surprisingly challenging, since there aren’t that many good ones to be honest… Most science fiction films are not animated.

Titan A.E.

I’m probably the only person, but I really enjoyed this movie. I’ve seen it quite a few times actually. It’s objectively not a very good movie, but it has some elements that I enjoy that will seem familiar to any science fiction fans. You’ll probably laugh at how many famous people there are doing the voice acting for this not-so-successful film.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

I hope you weren’t worried about “Spirits Within” when you saw “Final Fantasy”. Yes, it would have qualified for this category, but I’d rather pull this one. This film is part of the Final Fantasy VII Compilation, taking place after the events of the game. Some Final Fantasy games would be considered fantasy, and some are a combination of fantasy and science fiction. Final Fantasy VII is one of the science fiction ones where there’s a world of technology, including some ahead and some behind our own. Mostly it’s just different from our own.

If you’ve not seen this film, I’d steer clear of it if you have yet to play the game. I know it’s challenging to go back to a 20 year old game, but I think it’s worth playing. Once you’ve played the game, the film will provide an interesting continuation to the story. I don’t know how the Final Fantasy VII remake will be, but I’d still recommend playing the original game first.

WALL-E

I love this movie. It doesn’t have the heart-wrenching beginning like Up, but it’s still full of emotion as well as fun. Foreign contaminant. It takes a bit of a comedic approach at times, but it’s got some strong environmental warnings. In the film, the Earth is no longer suitable for human life, and humans now live on generational ships in space.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Even being a Star Wars fan, I’ve yet to see this film. When it was coming to theaters, it looked more like a children’s film than a Star Wars movie. I know that the Clone Wars TV Show and also Rebels are good, but this I’ve never heard good things about. I may watch it at some point. We’ll see.

Six Fantasy Races

If there’s one area I’ve expertise in, it’s this one. Here we can cross into Dungeons and Dragons as well as plenty of fantasy novels. And I’m skipping humans, despite their being a race within the fantasy genre.

Elves

The standard race that appears in most everything. Depictions of them vary from being taller than or shorter than humans. Nearly always though, these pointy-eared creatures, are considered wiser and longer-lived than humans.

I debated bringing in the different types of elves, but that seemed a bit unfair. Many worlds have various elves, Tree Elves, Wood Elves, Forest Elves, High Elves, Dark Elves, Night Elves, etc. Each of these have different traits, characteristics, and societal structures.

Dwarves

One of my favorite bits about dwarves, though not consistent, is that even the female dwarves have large beards. Always makes me laugh, because it would be challenging, given the stoutness of dwarves in general, for humans to tell the difference. Could make for some awkward and potentially insulting pronoun-usages.

Dwarves are always shorter than humans, and are nearly always miners of some kind. They’re often greedy, hoarding gold, gems, and jewelry within their mountains. They’re also stocky fighters who can drink ale with the best of them.

Halflings

Halflings are a very short race, even shorter than dwarves most times. You may also know them by Tolkien’s name for them, Hobbits. Their small stature makes them light-footed and good at pilfering and burgling. Often overlooked for their size, most stories and gaming systems feature them more powerful than some might expect. Judge them by their size, do you?

Orcs

I often feel bad for Orcs, because everyone immediately assumes they’re all evil monsters based solely on their monstrous appearances. I’m sure there are stories where an Orc as good, but I’m not currently thinking of one. Orcs in Tolkien’s world are monstrously-perverted Elves if I remember correctly. If that’s the case, that at least means that they’d share some characteristics with the Elves. Are the Orcs smart? Are they wise? Would they, if they could, create a society of their own?

Gnomes

This nuisances come in garden variety or as illusionists. Probably more than that, but I had to make the joke. Gnomes are tricksters sometimes, and as such specialize in illusions if you play RPGs. They’re also very small, which you probably guessed based on the garden ones.

I’ve unintentionally played a gnome in a game of D&D. I was playing a Human Bard with very close ties to the Druids, and had requested a Reincarnation rather than a True Resurrection if I were to die in my adventures. It happened, and the Reincarnated brought my character back as a Gnome. Luckily, the Bard’s abilities at performing were epic, so he was able to resume his previous life. Just a bit shorter

Goblins

And everyone’s favorite race to hate, the Goblins. More than a decade ago, a comic called Goblins Comic was created. I haven’t read it in a long time, so I don’t know where the story has gone. It seems to still be going though, so maybe I’ll check in on it. What’s interesting is that the story follows two sets of main characters, some traditional characters, and a one is a group of Goblins. It’s great, because Goblins are not often the main characters of stories and are generally just the evil creatures that adventurers kill at the beginning of their quests.

Wrap Up

Next up for your geeky enjoyment is General Geekiness, Gaming, and Comics. See you next time!

“Yeah, I wouldn’t place a lot of confidence in what you just heard. Over and out.” – Wolf, answering a pager.

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Fruit Games, Anthropomorphic Characters, and Mad Scientists – Geekout 26

February 7, 2017 Leave a comment

OK. I fell off the wagon. Let’s see if I can catch up. I’m only about a week behind right now. Today I am supposed to name Four Tabletop Games in which Fruit appears, Six Anthropomorphic Comic Book Characters, and Two Franchises Featuring Mad Scientists.

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Time for geekiness.

Four Tabletop Games in which Fruit appears

This was surprisingly difficult. I’ve spent plenty of time trying to come up with these, and as a result, I’m going to be super lenient in my interpretation of “appears”. I’ll count pictures of it or physical representations of fruit (even if the game calls that fruit a vegetable).

Apples to Apples

There are Apples on all of the cards, so it’s fairly obvious. This is a light, party card game. The backs of the cards have apples, but the fronts of the cards have either prompts or answers.

Hi Ho Cherry-O

This isn’t even the prompt about naming kids tabletop games, but I was thinking of cherries and came up with this game. If you couldn’t guess from the name, this is a children’s game. Don’t know much about it, and I don’t even know if I’ve played it. Did it have commercials when I was a kid?

Agricola

This board game has little wooden bits they released as an add-on pack called “Vegimeeples”. It made it so you could have shaped pieces for your grain and vegetables. The current pack includes grain shaped and carrot shaped pieces. Originally, however, the orange vegetable pieces included were pumpkin shaped. And for those of you that know already, pumpkins are fruit, not vegetables.

Scoville

If you’re not a spicy-food fan, you likely don’t know that there’s a heat scale called the Scoville Scale. It helps in determining how hot a food will actually be. This board game is named after that scale, because the game is about peppers. Many people think these are vegetables, but they’re technically fruit. The seeds inside are a giveaway. I’d recommend leaving these out of your next fruit salad though…

Six Anthropomorphic Comic Book Characters

As you’ve probably noticed if you’ve been following along, comics are not my specialty, however, I am able to get some of the info about them. Knowing that, I’m not going to restrict myself in not duplicating in a franchise. Six is a lot to not do that.

And in case you don’t know, anthropomorphic characters would be ones that are human-like without being human. They are likely going to be bipedal and be able to grasp things in hands, but the animal may not have those traits normally.

Rocket Raccoon – Guardians of the Galaxy

I only know this character from the movie, not from the comics, however, I would assume they’re not completely off-base with him. The character is a raccoon that’s been modified. He talks, walks on hind legs and grasps things in hands.

Leonardo – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

With a pair of swords and wearing blue, this turtle is a mutant as large as a human and very human-like. My favorite of the turtles.

Michelangelo – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The party turtle of the group, Michelangelo is the orange, pizza-eating machine. My wife’s favorite turtle.

Raphael – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

He’s the red-wearing turtle.

Donatello – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This purple-wearing turtle does machines.

Splinter – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The mutant rat who trained the turtles, he’s just as large and human-like. He also grasps things with his hands and walks upright on hind legs.

Two Franchises Featuring Mad Scientists

Well these are fun! Mad scientists create such interesting things. I’m not going to be super strict on the “mad” part, allowing for anyone who has crazy inventions or experiments (whether madness is involved or not).

Walter Bishop – Fringe

This one has some fairly good madness. If you’ve not seen Fringe, I’d recommend watching the show. It was good fun. As you’d expect from television, it loses some of its direction as it goes, and gets into strange territory sometimes. This character is the best part of the show, which says something great about Walter. You can’t help but love this wild and crazy scientist.

Dr. Nefario – Despicable Me

He made a fart gun, so that’s kind of mad. Also, made pretty much all of Gru’s tech, so he’s got skills.

Wrap Up

We’ll be back soon with some Fantasy, General Geekiness, and Gaming.

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Insects, Kid Tabletop Games, and Comic Dogs – Geekout 24

January 29, 2017 Leave a comment

I’m a bit late wrapping this one up; life gets in the way sometimes. Anyway, I hope you’re still here and looking forward to some geeky topics. This one will be a bit quick, and it’s about Six Types of Insects, Six Children’s Tabletop Games, and Four Named Pet Dogs in Comic Books.

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Make it so.

Six Types of Insects

Upon reading this, I was a bit confused. Is “type” a technical term for these that I didn’t know existed. I commented about this to my wife, and she wasn’t sure at first what they meant either. We established they must have meant something along the lines of a word or words that people use to describe a group of species that are insects regardless of the taxonomic level. For example, it might be possible for a genus or a family to be an answer. Not sure what I’ll have in here though!

If you’ve ever played the board game Dominant Species, you know that insects are everywhere, and they’ve got way too many different species!

Ants

Ants are a remarkable type of insect, both for what they create and accomplish together and for their societal structure. Ants are everywhere on this plant, and that’s due to some really great achievements in their species. They build elaborate tunnels, work together, and have different classes with different roles.

I was a big fan of the game Sim Ant when I was younger. In the game, you controlled one ant at a time competing for resources against rival ant colonies, and you could make new queens to colonize other parts of the yard.

Mosquitos

One of the most hated of insects are mosquitos. Yes, there are many different mosquitos, which is why you hear about certain types being in certain areas. This is very relevant due to certain species being able to spread certain viruses and parasites that can harm humans.

Flies

One of the most annoying on this list, these little buzzing creatures get our attention quite easily. I don’t know that much about them, however, I do know that there are some species of these little buggers. It shows the significance of these fellas that we use a “fly swatter” to kill insects that aren’t even flies. We dislike these so much, we have a weapon with their name on it…

Bees

The insect on my list with the worst public relations team has to be bees. This is due to their close relationship to wasps, not their close relationship to ants. How do you know they’re closely related to ants? Remember that I talked about complex social structures and accomplishments of ants? These little guys are similar to ants; they have different roles, communication, and build things together. We love these insects for their role in pollinating plants as well as making honey!

The reason they have such a bad image is that many people think that yellow-colored wasps are bees. You can look up the difference, but one of the best ways to tell is how fuzzy it is. It’s not very scientific, but bees tend to be fuzzier and wasps are usually smoother. I’d guess this is because the fuzz helps to pollinate.

Butterflies

Humans love looking at butterflies. These insects make such beautiful patterns and colors and their wings, which really grab our attention. And when they’re flying around, they’re not buzzing and making annoying sounds. They’ll even sometimes gently move those wings while sitting otherwise still.

We also tend to find their larval form kind of cute. They’re caterpillars! It might be gross to some, but these little guys walk around on stuff until they eventually cocoon up and become butterflies!

Beetles

Not to be confused with the musicians, these little creatures are a strange group. I don’t know enough about them, but I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of beetles in your life.

Six Children’s Tabletop Games

I wasn’t sure why children’s was the topic here. Am I supposed to be remembering these from my youth or remarking on new ones? I don’t really know, so I’m going to name a couple each of children’s versions of modern games,  children’s versions of classic games, and classic children’s games.

Catan Junior

If you’ve heard of Settlers of Catan, you’ve gotten at least a glimpse into the modern world of board gaming. Catan is from the mid 1990s, so it’s not exactly new either. Catan Junior is the children’s version of the game. It’s simpler to play than the regular version, but the basic idea of the game remains.

Ticket to Ride First Journey

Like with Catan Junior, this is a children’s version of a modern game. In this case, as you likely guessed, it’s based on Ticket to Ride. With its basis being one of the easier train-themed board games, the children’s version should be approachable for kids.

Clue Junior

I think everyone reading this knows Clue, and to no one’s surprise, they make children’s versions of this. I’ve not played it, but I’d guess it just reduces the number of options to make the game easier and shorter.

Monopoly Junior

Another of the classics, most people will know monopoly. The kids version if going to be the same basic game, but with a smaller board and bigger pieces. I’ve seen this in store, and remember seeing the player pieces showing through plastic windows. The pieces are huge, which makes sense if you expect kids less-precise hands to use them.

Candy Land

And into the classics! This game has an awesome movement mechanic. You draw a card and move to the next space with the card’s symbol. Plus, it’s candy themed!

Chutes and Ladders

Probably known as Snakes and Ladders to some of you, this game has spaces where you can climb up ladders or slide down chutes. Chutes are bad, and ladders are good. I’m not sure how great “chutes” is for little children anyway, since I don’t think they know what those are. One probably has to explain to children that they’re like slides or something.

Four Named Pet Dogs in Comic Books

Don’t know the comic book dogs. Sorry. I tried to think of them. I think my wife will be disappointed, since she seemed excited by this prompt. She knows comics much better than I do!

Wrap Up

OK. I’m back in catch up mode, so I’ll try to get the next one out soon. The next one will cover Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and General Geekiness.

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Hellboy, Sci-Fi Captains, and Flying Creatures – Geekout 23

January 26, 2017 1 Comment

Are you as excited for this list as I am? Probably not, since I’ve seen the prompts. Let’s jump right into this one! Today I’m tasked with naming Two characters from Hellboy, Four Fictional Sci-Fi Captains, and Four Fantasy Creatures that Fly.

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Let’s put it all together!

Two characters from Hellboy

Nope. I wasn’t excited about this one. The extent of my Hellboy knowledge is that I’ve seen parts of the movie a couple of times, many years ago. I also can’t come close to naming two characters.

Hellboy

Yep. I’m cheating here probably. This is all I’ve got. I know there’s the blue fish-looking guy and some others, but this is the only name I can come up with.

Four Fictional Sci-Fi Captains

This is one of the ones I was excited about, since there are some great choices.

Malcolm Reynolds – Firefly/Serenity

Malcolm is the Captain of the Serenity, a Firefly-class transport vessel. I’m not going to sit here and try to sell you on the show, I’m sure I (and others) have done that before.

Jean-Luc Picard – Star Trek

An honorable member of Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard captains the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but I’m betting most of you knew that already. He and Kirk are Star Trek’s best known, which makes sense having each captained Enterprises on television and movies. And if you want to bother him, just barge in and call him John Luck Pickerd.

James Holden – The Expanse

I originally watched this series, but started reading the books before finishing watching the first season of the show. Now I’m nearly done reading the sixth (the most recent) book in the series. Season two will be out soon. It should cover the events of the second half of the first book. I’m looking forward to it. James Holden is a good captain of the Rocinante.

Han Solo – Star Wars

Didn’t think I’d skip this one, did you? Go Han Solo! This scruffy-looking Captain of the Millennium Falcon joins up with the rebellion after agreeing to ferry Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Have you really not seen Star Wars? If not, let me know. I’ve got recommendations for where to start!

Commander Shepard – Mass Effect

“I’m Commander Shepard and this is my favorite blog on the Internet.” – Commander Shepard

The protagonist of the Mass Effect series he/she captains the Normandy. I don’t want to get too into the details, since they’re pretty significant to the stories of the games. When playing the game, you decide whether Commander Shepard is male or female, so it’s hard to pronoun in this post.

Four Fantasy Creatures that Fly

One of the most useful abilities for a creature is flight. This level of mobility makes creatures useful in stories as hunters, mounts, and sometimes both!

Dragons

I’m not really sure what I need to say about Dragons as you should know of these already. There are plenty of types of dragons, and many of them are capable of flying. D&D players enjoy telling you the alignment of dragons based on the color of the dragon. It’s a thing.

Flying Bison – Avatar: The Last Airbender/Legend of Kora

In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang is often accompanied by his lifelong companion and friend, Appa. As a flying bison, Appa is able to carry Aang and his friends in their travels. Flying bison are very large creatures without wings, so how they manage to fly is quite mysterious. We know they’re using airbending (air magic from the show) somehow, but how they can keep such a heavy creature up is beyond me!

Griffin

Common in fantasy settings, griffins are mythical creatures composed of features of a lion and an eagle. They’ve got wings and talons from the eagle and have hind legs, bodies and tails of a lion. I think there’s some disagreement on the features of griffin heads, but I usually think of a lion head with a beak. Either way, they fly using those wings, so count for this list.

Interestingly, my character in the Solar Exalted game I’ve mentioned previously just finished taming a Griffin as a makeshift mount. Should be quite useful as I need to fly quite high very soon.

Thestral – Harry Potter Series

These creatures are visible only to those who’ve seen death, which means they’re invisible to many. They’re almost skeletal horses with bat-like wings and are how the carriages are pulled to Hogwarts Castle in the Harry Potter series.

Wrap Up

That’s all I’ve got for you today. Tune in next time for a post covering General Geekiness, Gaming, and Comics.

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D20s, Manga Writers, and Post-Apocalyptic Worlds – Geekout 21

January 24, 2017 1 Comment

As we’re into the fourth week of the year, what better way to celebrate than by nearly completing one of these geekout challenges. Today I’m tasked with naming Two Games that contain a d20 as a Component, Two Manga Writers, and Four Television Shows or Films [Set] in a Post-Apocalyptic World.

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Here we go!

Two Games that contain a d20 as a Component

For clarity, if you don’t know, “d20” means a 20-sided die rolled to get an indeterminable number as a result. These are nearly always a icosahedron. For this prompt, I could obviously just name some pen and paper roleplaying games here, but I don’t want to do that; I’m going to draw a line here for myself. This says “contains a d20 as a Component”, which I am going to interpret that the d20 must come with the game, not be a separately required purchase.

D&D Starter Set

This is a boxed set of Dungeons and Dragons. It doesn’t contain the full rulebooks, but it’s got simplified versions of the required rules in order to play. Also contained in the box are some premade characters and an designed adventure. Most importantly to what I’m writing here is that it came with a set of dice in the box., which means it counts! For people who wanted an easier way to get started with D&D, a box set lowers that barrier to entry greatly.

Formula D

Formula D is a racing board game where you’re driving your racecar around a track. You roll dice to determine how far you move, and the die is chosen based on the gear you’re in. What’s interesting here is that the movement dice are not normal and have some duplicate values on the faces. If you want to say that the d20 with non-standard printing doesn’t count, then I’ll cite the game’s damage die; the black d20 is a normal d20 with the usual sides and is used as the damage die in the game.

Two Manga Writers

Coming up with people’s names. Even when I have ever learned someone’s name, it’s so hard to remember. Here goes!

Akira Toriyama

He’s the artist/writer behind the Dragon Ball manga, so he qualifies for this. I’m more familiar with the anime based on the manga, which I did watch long ago. I’m also a Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross fan, and he did the character design for the former. If you know Dragon Ball, you’ll notice his style in the Chrono Trigger characters, and you’ll see it even more in Blue Dragon, another set of characters he designed.

CLAMP

And here’s why I said at the beginning of the post that I’d be nearly completing this challenge. I’m kind of cheating here, since I feel like I should be naming a person. I don’t know the names of the members of CLAMP. I know it’s a group of female manga artists who rotate responsibilities. In other words, if I could come up with one of their names, I’d probably be correct. Sadly, I’ll not be able to here.

Four Television Shows or Films Set in a Post-Apocalyptic World

I changed “that take place in” to “set in”, because that prompt was quite wordy. Anyway, I’m planning to be generous in the concept of post-apocalyptic, because devastating wars that cripple infrastructure, etc. certainly should count. If many are dead with society and infrastructure taking a giant leap backward, I’d say it counts.

The Matrix

Here’s a good one. After a war between humans and machines there’s not much left of the world. We know the sky was scorched, and the surface is uninhabitable now. Machines are using humans as batteries, and the remaining humans are hiding underground. Quite the bad scenario.

The Hunger Games

This world already had some issues, and a great war caused some more. I’d say (despite there being a functioning government) that this is a post apocalyptic world. It’s certainly a society that’s in shambles (in most places) after a war. And it’s kept in shambles intentionally. Much of the place is uninhabited, so I’d say it counts.

Zombieland

One of the best zombie movies I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen quite a few. This movie is comedy gold.Cardio. Double Tap. Always check the back seat. Such a funny movie. Can’t get enough of it. Obviously, being a zombie movie, it’s an post apocalyptic world of zombies.

WALL-E

One of the greatest of Pixar’s films, it takes place after the Earth has been abandoned by humanity. It was destroyed beyond use, so people took the space in generation ships designed to survive as long as needed. This movie has some interesting points we should consider with our society. Will we let the Earth get beyond our own saving? Who knows?

Wrap Up

Well, you can call this a win or a loss, but I did get some of it written. Tomorrow’s post will be Fantasy, General Geekiness, and Gaming.

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Pi, Tabletop Currency, and Female Supervillains – Geekout 19

January 22, 2017 Leave a comment

Today I’ve got an interesting prompt. One of them doesn’t allow me to answer as I normally would. At least I’ll be back on track today! On this page, I’ll be writing about Four Digits of Pi, Four Tabletop Games that have Currency, and Four Female Supervillains.

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Easy day! Here goes!

Four Digits of Pi

Here’s what I know: 3.14159265358979. Much fewer than some people, but far more than enough for most calculations regular people ever need to do. I’ve known these since I was in school. I believe that my calculator did 3.1415926535898. It was rounding, and I looked up the next digit, deciding it was a reasonably smart place to round with a 9 coming next.

Four Tabletop Games that have Currency

I’m going to assume this means board/card games. I’m also going to assume that the game itself should have a physical representation of said currency.

Solarquest

Most people will not have heard of this one, but it was a childhood favorite of mine. This game is similar to Monopoly, because it’s a dice-rolling, property-buying game. As a property-buying game, you probably figured out that it also has money to facilitate the purchasing of those properties, paying port fees, and buying fuel. Instead of moving around the outside of the board, you move over most of the board as you travel around the solar system, orbiting planets.

I like the game better than it’s earth-based counterpart due to the additional strategic elements and control. Your ship requires fuel and you can manipulate fuel levels against other players as well as using it to attempt to stay around friendlier planets for longer periods of time. It’s also a great way to learn the names of moons of the various planets in our solar system!

Die Macher

My favorite board game, Die Macher will take you 4-6 hours to play. It varies based on the group, and I enjoy playing with 4 or 5 players. In the game, each player takes on the role of a German political party trying to win seats in regional elections. To achieve this, you will need to spend quite a bit of money. You can get some money from your membership through the game, but you’ll likely need to accept a “donation” or two (clearly not a bribe…) Instead of paper money, the game uses cards as money. The cards are small, so it’s easy to conceal your full wealth. Being cards, however, it’s easy to deal with than paper in most cases.

7 Wonders

Coins are the currency in this game, and they’re mostly used for buying access to resources from your neighbors. This makes for a great economic element to the game, because you can generate an economy by trading with your neighbor, or try to starve them out of money and resources. And maybe you behave one of those two ways with each neighbor! I like this game for its ability to play quickly with up to seven players; most games increase time greatly for each added player.

Firefly the Game

This game is a bit thematic, so it’s certainly not for everyone. I enjoy the theme though! Some of you may have guessed this. When playing this game, you choose which scenario you want to play. One is simply amassing stockpiles of money, and other scenarios are more complicated. Regardless, all of them will require you to get money in order to hire crew and buy the supplies needed to achieve your goals. The money in this game is paper, and the designs on the money are quite detailed.

Four Female Supervillains

Not sure exactly how to define a “supervillain”, but I’ll go with the villains against the supers regardless of whether the villain herself has super powers. Time to list some dangerous women!

Harley Quinn

As far as I know, she doesn’t have any super powers of her own, but Harley is able to give Batman and others some trouble. She’s a fun, well-liked character, so she’ll make the list. I prefer the harlequin-style she had originally to the modern interpretation of her character. Then again, I prefer strong female characters to eye-candied female characters. And I don’t pretend that she wasn’t used that way previously, but I think the modern interpretation jumped over the line that was previously tiptoed around.

Catwoman

An interesting character when done well. She was a bit strange in Batman Returns, and I loved that we got to see the “making of” her costume. While she’s not always the villain, she’s certainly not completely on the Good side. I like that this character can team up with either side depending on her interests at the time. There’s no doubt that she belongs on this list though!

Mystique

Her power may not seem all that crazy, but Mystique really is one of the most powerful of the mutants. When she’s not on your side, it’s dangerous. Being able to look like anyone else can get her a lot of power when militaries like ours exist. Imagine her getting access to nuclear missiles or ordering airstrikes. Most mutants cannot detect her illusions either, so she’s able to easily fool them. It’s be to be aligned with her when you can be!

Emma Frost

As a strong telepath, Emma Frost is one dangerous opponent. On screen, we’ve seen her cause quite a bit of trouble for Professor X. Anyone who can mess with people’s minds is dangerous, but she’s more than just a telepath. She can take on a diamond form, which must be quite difficult for most mutants to deal with.

Wrap Up

Some of you may be wondering why I type “Good” instead of “good”. That comes from playing enough games where I might say “capital ‘g’ good” to make sure I’m emphasizing an alignment rather than just an action. I felt like doing it here. I’m weird sometimes. Anyway, tune in next time for Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and General Geekiness.

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Comic Artists, Star Trek Characters, and Wands – Geekout 18

January 20, 2017 Leave a comment

As I start the 18th of these posts, I’m looking at the page from this calendar, and I don’t think it read my saying that I don’t know people’s names. My next failing day is here! Today I’m supposed to name Two Comic Book Artists, Four Characters from the Star Trek Universe, and Six Films or Television Shows in which Characters Use Wands.

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As you may have guessed from my not knowing people’s names, I’ll be failing that first prompt. Let’s get to it.

Two Comic Book Artists

Probably my area of least expertise for this stuff is comic books, so it’s no surprise that I barely know the names of the authors of comics. I can’t name one comic book artist, and I’ve been trying to think of one since this morning. Sorry, artists. I appreciate your work, but I’m failing you here.

Four Characters from the Star Trek Universe

To start this one, I was thinking about restricting myself here. At first I was thinking of naming only characters whose names start with “Q”. Other options are just Ferengi, Vulcans, or Klingons. The latter options are still easy, so I think I’ll name doctors, since that sounds fun.

Beverly Crusher

My personal favorite of the Next Generation medical officers. Am I remembering correctly that she only missed one season, not being aboard the Enterprise? It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of her son, Wesley.

Doctor Phlox

One of the stranger medical officers on the show, Doctor Phlox had all kinds of interesting creatures to help with things. The only alien I’m including in this list, his medical knowledge was quite varied, learning things from various cultures. It always made him a little fun.

“The Doctor” – Emergency Medical Hologram

It’s interesting how this medical hologram was able to grow so much during the show. His being active too long let them learn just how advanced his program really was. He learned and became so much more than just a hologram. His growth reminds me of Data’s in some ways. One might overlook the needs of a hologram, but what is sentience and intelligence anyway?

Julian Bashir

Spoiler alert! I warned you! As it turns out, in a way, the only normal human on my list was Doctor Crusher. Julian is an Augment, which is the Star Trek term for the genetically enhanced humans. This is why Julian is as smart as he is, and it’s a secret he needs to keep (this is frowned upon). If you’ve forgotten what an Augment is, think Khan.

Six Films or Television Shows in which Characters Use Wands

Six is a large number of distinct movies and films to name! We’ll see if I succeed here! I’m thinking “wand” means I cannot include magical staves or scepters. I won’t do this, but I just realized I could name all 8 Harry Potter movies and be done. I’ll not do that though, since that’s boring.

Harry Potter Series

A bit obvious, the witches and wizards in this series wield wands to focus their magical powers.

Cinderella

The Fairy Godmother in the Cinderella cartoon uses a wand to cast her spells that set Cinderella up for a fun night at the ball.

Fantasia

I believe that Mickey uses a want to start some of the “fun” in this one. Am I wrong about that?

The Wizard of Oz

I seem to recall at leas the good witch using a wand in this. The fireball from the wicked witch was thrown by hand, right? Wow it’s been a while since I’ve seen this. I should watch it again, since I’m having trouble remembering.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

I think the White Witch uses a wand to cast her spells. Might be a scepter, but I think it’s a wand. Now I’ll need to grab the book later and check. Yes, it will be the book I check rather than the film.

Fairly Odd Parents

Wand wielders in this! Spent about a half hour coming up with a TV show, since the prompt allowed for them.

Wrap Up

I spent way too much time coming up with Wand stuff. I went through all kinds of options. I was thinking of shows that had a D&D style episode like Monsters and Mazes from Dexter’s Lab, Bender’s Game from Futurama, and the D&D game in Reboot. Couldn’t remember if any of them actually had a wand though.

I don’t feel too bad about missing one of the three prompts today, since I felt good about the next two.

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be back with General Geekiness, Gaming, and Comics.

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Joss Whedon, Train Games, and Captain America – Geekout 14

January 17, 2017 1 Comment

Maybe today is the day I catch up. We’ll see if I can get a second out completed. I’ve been answering prompts from a page-a-day calendar I received for Christmas last year. Each day there’s a new prompt, and it’s surprisingly difficult to come up with an answer. Today I’m supposed to come up with Two Television Shows [for] which Joss Whedon was a Writer, Two Games in which Trains appear, and Two Captain America Enemies.

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All aboard the geekout train!

Two Television Shows for which Joss Whedon was a Writer

This was a sudden, but inevitable question. Can’t really ask nerdy stuff without covering Joss Whedon these days. Naming four would have been easy enough. Two is a walk in the cemetery waiting for vampires.

Firefly

Glad I got another change to reference Firefly. So far, I’ve only mentioned it as being a Sci-Fi television show, having a comic published by Dark Horse, and for featuring an iconic named sci-fi starship. Clearly I am not a fan of the show. I’d like to thank everyone who helped make this show! It was really great!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

A show that was on at my house when I was a kid. This didn’t really catch my interest then, however, I’ve since gone back and watched it. I really enjoyed the show. Does this surprise anyone? Of course not! It’s got Quark in it! Armin Shimerman plays Principal Snyder of Sunnydale High in this show. It probably is Quark, considering that the he and Rom landed on Earth decades before the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer took place!

Two Games in which Trains appear

The number just wasn’t high enough for me here. I’m going over two. Didn’t know what kind of games it meant, so I chose board and video.

Ticket to Ride

Starting obvious, this is the most widespread board game about trains. It’s a light-weight, fun game that you can pick up at most stores. Don’t even need to visit your local game shop for this one. They’ve released different versions of the game as well.

Mario Kart 64

Wanted to pick something unexpected, so this is it! There’s a train in the desert level of the game.

Railroad Tycoon

This one is actually a trick. Did I intend the video game or the board game? Both! And based on that name, I think you can guess that there are trains in the games. The board game is quite fun, but it’s much heavier and longer than Ticket to Ride. Also, the board game no longer has the license to use the name from the video game. It’s now called Railways of the World.

Final Fantasy VII, VIII, XIII

I am certain that more of them also have trains if I thought about it, but these definitely have them. You start the game on a train in both 7 and 13. And you first meet Laguna, Kiros, and Ward on a train ride in 8.

Two Captain America Enemies

I wanted to say “Tony Stark” and “Bucky Barnes”, but my wife got mad at me for suggesting that. Bummer. Sometimes I like being horrible like that!

Red Skull

Classic and evil-looking, Red Skull is an obvious enemy of Captain America. He’s from the comics and was portrayed by Hugo Weaving in the recent movies, which means he was well-played. Look, I know another actor’s name!

Arnim Zola

Evil nerds are fun. Here we have a brilliant enemy scientist. I don’t want to get into everything he’s involved in during the movies for fear of spoilers, but for those in the know, it’s fun stuff! For definitions of fun that don’t require being Good.

Wrap Up

Added some extras here, because these were fun choices. Tomorrow’s categories will be sci-fi, fantasy, and general geekiness.

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Comic Vehicles, Star Trek Actors, and Madeleine – Geekout 13

January 16, 2017 1 Comment

Catching up due to weekends being lumped together! Although, along with that, I’m not going to be able to complete this one. Today I’ll be writing about Four Iconic Comic Book Vehicles, Six Actors that have appeared on Star Trek, and Two Madeleine L’Engle Titles.

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Let’s get to it!

Four Iconic Comic Book Vehicles

The vehicles in comic books are sometimes ridiculous, but can also be fun. Sometimes it’s only certain incarnations of them that are ridiculous.

Batmobile – Batman

I’m not sure I could have started anywhere else for this. Everyone’s heard of this fun ride by now. Not sure which style I like the best. Some are cornier and arguable poorly designed, but they’re still fun!

Invisible Jet – Wonder Woman

Not as iconic today as it was before, but this is still a very well-known vehicle. I seem to recall a sketch (Robot Chicken I thin) where Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman are “sitting in the invisible jet” and encouraging Aquaman to jump in. When he lands on his butt, all three of them laugh at him. Makes you wonder if she even has an invisible jet!!!

Helicarrier – S.H.I.E.L.D.

This is certain to be the largest vehicle I’ll list here. Unlike with the Iconic Named Sci-Fi Starships prompt, this one didn’t require named vehicles. For that reason, I’m counting a Helicarrier without choosing a specific one. No specific one would be iconic enough anyway. The biggest problem with a carrier, it can’t go over land. Problem solved.

Motorcycle – Ghost Rider

Not sure how many people saw this one coming! It’s pretty darn iconic. With “Rider” in his name, I’d say his vehicle must be significant!

Six Actors that have appeared on Star Trek

Since I don’t know people’s names, this is impossible if I don’t stick to the main cast. I don’t want to stick to the main cast, so I looked up the actors’ names based on other roles they’ve played outside of Star Trek. For example, the first listed actor I googled “vizzini actor” to get his name. Just to prove I can, I’ll list six main cast members at the bottom.

Wallace Shawn

With such a recognizable voice, who wouldn’t know immediately he’d been cast as the Grand Nagus? Talk about a fun character. Have you guessed yet that I like the Ferengi?

Terry O’Quinn

And “John Locke actor” got me this name. He was in a very memorable Star Trek: The Next Generation episode indeed! I’ll not spoil the episode, but you can tell almost immediately that something interesting is going on.

John de Lancie

I did not have to look up this name. Also, I’m deviating from my previous trend of choosing people known for something other than Star Trek. Yes, he’s been in other roles, but this one is too iconic for sci-fi nerds. Either way, I really like John de Lancie and Q too much to leave him off of the list! Also, I wouldn’t want to slight Q by not mentioning him here!

Dean Stockwell

Joining his old Quantum Leap buddy, Scott Bakula, for an appearance in Star Trek: Enterprise, this actor who also played Brother Cavil in Battlestar Galactica makes for a good chioce. Yes, I looked up his name using “brother cavil actor”. Tried “cavil actor” first, but that failed for a reason people other than me would expect.

Whoopi Goldberg

Another that I didn’t have to search based on a different role. I’m not counting her as main cast for the same reason that Q wouldn’t be. Most episodes of Star Trek: he Next Generation didn’t include her. She is well-known enough herself that I don’t know what else I’d say about her.

John Rhys-Davies

And who could forget when Janeway met “Leonardo da Vinci” on the holodeck!? Knew his name too! I’m proud of myself! He also played professor Maximillian Arturo in Sliders. Huh? Who’s Gimli? What’s this

Clint Howard

Someone is going to love this part. I searched for “ice cream man actor” to find him. Then, seeing his name, I remembered it (and who his brother is). He was a child actor in Star Trek and returned for Deep Space Nine and Enterprise if I remember right. Was he ever in Voyager or The Next Generation? If he did have a role in those, I’d be very impressed!

Yes, I included seven, because I wanted to!

Without Looking Up Names

Just proving that I do know some main cast members names.

  • William Shatner
  • Leonard Nimoy
  • George Takei
  • Patrick Stewart
  • John de Lancie
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Brent Spiner
  • Wil Wheaton
  • Scott Bakula
  • Kate Mulgrew

Two Madeleine L’Engle Titles

This is where I fail. I only know of one thing she’s written.

A Wrinkle in Time

I haven’t read it, but it’s too well-known for me to not know of this one. I’m sure people have recommended that I read it more than once, but I’ve just got so many books to read. Never enough time. It’s on the list, just not high enough to have been read yet.

Wrap Up

Two weeks of these down, fifty to go!

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