Flying Cars, Grimm Tales, and Bond Villains – Geekout 20

January 23, 2017 1 Comment

Writing a blog post nearly every day means that I can write about all kinds of geeky topics. It’s been interesting writing these this year. So for a backstory, I received a page-a-day desk calendar for Christmas. On the calendar, it challenges you to list some geeky things based on three prompts it provides each day. I take that, and I write a little bit about each of my responses.

For example, today I am supposed to list Four Films in which Flying Cars appear, Four Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales, and Four James Bond Enemies. If I’m restricting my answers in some way, I’ll usually explain how.

2017-01-23 Geekout

Let’s see how this day goes!

Four Films in which Flying Cars appear

For this, I think I’ll distinguish that flying cars and near-ground hovering cars are not the same thing. I’d also like to think that the name “car” is not required for these vehicles, but they should be car-like.

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones

In atmosphere, it’s common to have “speeders” in Star Wars. There are landspeeders, snowspeeders, airspeeders, etc. in their world. I’d say that the airspeeders seen in the second of the prequels are most certainly an example of flying cars in a film.

Back to the Future Part II

Where this movie’s going, we don’t need roads. In this film we seen flying cars landing on streets and continuing to drive. These cars use a hovering technology to lift them up into the sky as flying cars. We get to see this quite early, since Doc Brown has converted the DeLorean time machine into a flying car before the events of the movie take place – or in the future past… OK, let’s not go there.

Star Trek Into Darkness

They may not be common in Star Trek films and TV, however, flying cars do exist in the world. In fact, if you saw Star Trek Into Darkness, you watched current Spock’s fighting prowess on display while he was standing atop a flying car.

The Fifth Element

In The Fifth Element, our main protagonist is a cab driver named Korben Dallas. His cab? A flying cab, because the film is full of flying cars. I don’t have to get into the details of the film too much here, which is good; I wouldn’t want to spoil the movie for anyone who wants to watch it. I enjoy the film, and think Gary Oldman and Chris Tucker play some amazingly fun characters in the film!

Four Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales

And in this category, we’ll see how these both Grimm and grim tales have been adapted into modern version we still tell today!

Rapunzel

I’ll focus on what most people won’t know here, and I’ll assume that most people have seen Tangled. In the Grimm’s story, Rapunzel’s soon-to-be father is caught stealing food from the witch’s garden. The food was a craving from his pregnant wife. He is allowed the food in exchange for the soon-be-born child.

You know the locked in the tower and climb the hair bit of the story, but the prince part has some changes as well. He gets Rapunzel pregnant and plans an escape with her during his visits. Before they can complete the plan, Rapunzel foolishly gives away his visits, and when he next climbs up, the witch is the only one there. She pushes him onto thorns, blinding him. A bit more violent eh?

This is surprisingly a happy story, since he eventually finds her from her singing. His sight is restored by her tears and they raise their children happily ever after. This version takes a dark turn, but ends up in the light.

Hansel and Gretel

Again, the story starts as we all know it. The children are taken into the woods, because the family will not be able to feed them during the famine. They children leave stones as they walk, so they may follow them home. The next time they’re unable to get the stones, so they use bread crumbs. Could have worked if animals (likely mostly birds) hadn’t eaten the crumbs.

The children are now lost in the woods for days and, unlike the candy-houses of modern day, find a sugary bread and cake house. Obviously the starving children eat some of the house before being lured inside by the witch who discovers them eating her house!

The witch enslaves Gretel and is fattening Hansel for a meal, force-feeding him. Lucky for the children, the witch has poor eyesight, so when she checks to see how plump Hansel is getting, he shows her a bone instead of a finger. This fools the witch, but she eventually decides to eat both children immediately.

Before the witch can throw Gretel into the oven, she tricks the witch into leaning in first, and Gretel pushes her in, killing the witch.

And as we saw with the last tale, the story ends happily here. After the grim, cannibalistic encounter ending in the children murdering an old woman, they escape home with the witch’s treasure. Their evil stepmother, the one who wanted them gone in the first place has died, and the treasure now makes the family rich and happy.

Rumpelstiltskin

Like with Hansel and Gretel, this one has it’s darker element maintained well in modern versions. I forget exactly how the girl gets locked up by the king, but I believe her father had claimed that she could spin gold from straw. Anyway, once locked up, she’s told to spin the gold or be killed.

Luckily (or perhaps unluckily?) a magical being shows up to help. He offers his services in exchange for her jewelry, and spins the gold. I forget how many times this exchange happens, but eventually she’s out of items to trade for his services. The king has also declared he will marry her if she can spin gold again. Without anything to offer, he demands her first-born child as payment and does the deed.

Avoiding death again, she’s set free and marries the king. When their first child is born, she refuses to give him up, offering instead riches. In an uncharacteristic bit of generosity, he offers to rescind his claim if she can guess his name within some time period. No one knows his name, so she’s doomed (likely why he was willing to offer the opportunity).

She searches for him in the woods at night, and she somehow manages to find him talking excitedly to himself about his great success. In his excitement, he refers to himself by name, and she’s able to return home and give his name at the final opportunity to guess. He leaves without the child, and we get another happily ever after.

Cinderella

The story of the wicked stepmother and stepsisters is consistent here. She’s good and kind as her mother instructed her just before dying, which doesn’t help Cinderella much. Of note, Cinderella is not the German name of her, it’s the English. I just searched, and it seems that it’s “Aschenputtel”, and the Internet tells me that literally means Ash Fool.

I recall there being something done in their version that triggers the magical elements with the birds. I don’t recall what it is, but she does get help from birds in this version (it wasn’t just Disney’s version!) They help with chores and such, so she can be done in time for the ball. You know, the ball where the prince is looking for his bride. She’s left behind anyway, and the birds give her the outfit. I don’t remember how, but I recall it being the birds still.

There’s no midnight thing, but after the ball she makes an escape from the prince. To be honest, I’m not sure why she does that! Unlike in some modern versions, there are more nights of balls. Cinderella returns again, and the prince looses her again when she escapes while he’s walking her home. Failing again to find her, he plans a “trap” for the third night. While the ball is in progress, he has the stairs coated in a sticky substance to keep her from running away. When she tries, one of her golden, yes golden, slippers gets stuck. Now the prince has a way to find his bride-to-be during the day!

Ready for the less-than-pleasant part? In order to fit into the slipper, at the suggestion of their mother, one stepsister cuts off some toes and the other her own heel. Each in turn is thus able to fit the slipper, nearly fooling the prince. The noticed bleeding feet eventually giving away their disturbing treachery. Obviously, when Cinderella tries on the slipper, not only does it fit, but the prince recognizes it’s her.

And just in case it wasn’t disturbing enough already, those evil stepsisters get their eyes either poked or plucked out (I can’t remember which) by the birds from earlier. A bit gruesome there. At least Cinderella and her prince get a happy ending!

Four James Bond Enemies

This says “enemies”, so I’m going to allow myself the main villain or their henchmen. I’ll try to avoid hitting the same film multiple times, since that’s no fun. Although a couple I could pull their whole set of enemies and be happy with the result!

Goldfinger – Goldfinger

The titular character of a Bond film, this antagonist is obviously gold-obsessed, even killing someone and painting her with gold. To be honest, I don’t know if the paint killed her, or if she was dead first. Been forever, since I’ve seen the movie. Either way, he’s plotting some evil that you can watch the movie to learn about!

Janus – GoldenEye

Spoiler Alert! I like this character too much to exclude him from this list, but I attached that spoiler alert just in case. This is the assumed name of Alec Trevelyan, known also as 006. Bond was fooled into thinking he was killed by General Ourumov in the beginning of the film. Since Ourumov is the traitor working with him, that obviously was faked. Anyway, he’s a brilliant villain played by Sean Bean, so how can you dislike the character?

Jaws – Multiple Films

This giant brute is a recurring character in the Bond franchise, and attempts to kill 007 more than a couple of times. I most know him from Moonraker, because he was included in the bonus level of that title in the GoldenEye video game for the Nintendo 64. Jaws is depicted with metal teeth, which, in addition to being scary and iconic, can bite through quite a lot.

Oddjob – Goldfinger

I couldn’t do it! I like Goldfinger and wanted to include him, but I’m adding his henchman, Oddjob here as well! This henchman is strong, and also has a blade in the brim of his hat (likely a chakram). As a result, he is able to throw the hat as a weapon to decapitate his target.

Also, you’re practically cheating if you choose him as a character in the GoldenEye N64 game… The character model (and thus hit box) is shorter than the other characters! Don’t remember him being that short in the film, so perhaps the game developers just wanted a short character and chose him.

Wrap Up

Wrote a lot more than I intended today! Anyway, make sure to follow my blog to catch the next post, which will cover a Gaming, a Comics, and a Sci-Fi topic!

Filed under All, Fantasy, Science Fiction Tagged with , , , , , , ,

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.

2017-01-20 Geekout

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.

Filed under All, Fantasy, Science Fiction Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Witches, South Park, and Cthulhu – Geekout 17

January 19, 2017 Leave a comment

When I decided to start this, I figured this would be one of the best ways to encourage myself to start writing on this blog. I’d left this place stale for quite a while, having only posted a few things when I felt like it. A personal blog isn’t something I’d really taken on before. Either way, I’ve been successful so far with this Geekout challenges from the page-a-day calendar I received for Christmas.

Today I’ll be writing about Four Named Witches, Six Characters from South Park, and Two Games in which Cthulhu appears.

2017-01-19 Geekout

An interesting set of topics here. Let’s get diggin’!

Four Named Witches

I’m not sure “named” needed to be said here, but still fairly easy to handle. What defines a “witch” seems to depend on the source material, so if they’re calling someone a witch, I’ll count it!

Hermione Granger – Harry Potter Series

In the story’s world, magic users are referred to as “wizards” if they’re males and “witches” if they’re females. I kind of wanted to pick a less-significant character to the stories, but I thought people would have me strung up for skipping her. Can’t keep writing these if I’m dead now can I?

Written as a very smart witch, Hermione seems to know just about everything that’s readily available to someone of her age (and some things that aren’t as well)!

Samantha Stephens – Bewitched

A classic television show here, Samantha marries Darrin Stephens, a non-magical man who’s in for more than he bargained for. Choosing to marry him rather than a warlock, she tries to not use her powers, but that’s often difficult. Her mother is often around causing mischief and trying to separate them. It’s always fun watching her struggle with trying to not use her powers. She and her mother are both witches, and I’m sure others were on the show, but I’d not come up with a name for them.

Morrigan – Dragon Age Series

She and her mother are referred to as witches of the wilds in Dragon Age, so I’d say they nicely qualify as witches. She’s a shapeshifter, which is an interesting power.

Sabrina – Sabrina, The Teenage Witch

As another television show character, she’s also on the cornier side of things. She’s a teenager who finds out she’s a witch. Her aunts are around teaching her the ways of witchcraft and such. I don’t remember the show too well, but I recall it essentially being a sitcom where the main character has some magical powers. Sounds fun to me!

Six Characters from South Park

I remember when this show came out. I wasn’t very old at the time, but it was pervasive even among children too young for its material. I’ve not really kept up on the show at all, but I knew it long ago. I’ll get the basics here.

Kenny

I’ll start here, so I can reference him more easily below. Starting from the beginning there was a running gag about Kenny dying. I recall seeing Kenny with his hood off in their movie, but before that his face was mostly covered by his hood. He’s always wearing the bright orange winter coat with the hood covering most of his face.

Stan

He is another one of the main characters of the show. Stan’s most known line must be about how one or more people or things just killed Kenny.

Kyle

Also a main character, I seem to recall Kyle also exclaiming about Kenny being killed. It’s been too long to remember much there. I do remember that Kyle is the Jewish one, and considering the show, that’s going to be brought up often.

Cartman

Likely the least mature of the four main characters I’ve just mentioned, Cartman is also the show’s source of fat jokes. He’s the overweight, spoiled kid and is genuinely not nice to people (normal for most of the show’s characters).

Chef

As his name implies, Chef is the school’s cafeteria worker. To be honest, I’m not sure if he has another name; I didn’t watch enough of the show to know for certain if it’s a convenient name or a nickname. The main characters often get advice from Chef.

Butters

Like Chef, Butters is also a very prominent character in the series. The main thing I remember about Butters is his obsession with Bennigan’s. Don’t know if that was actually prominent or not, but I remember it.

Two Games in which Cthulhu appears

For those of you who don’t know, Cthulhu is a fictional being created by H. P. Lovecraft, an author who wrote plenty of weird stories about powerful, strange magical creatures, events, etc. Cthulhu is generally depicted as a giant humanoid creature with dragon-like wings and an octopus for a head.

Arkham Horror

A game that a really enjoy, Arkham Horror is a sometimes long game where the players work together to stabilize the world before a powerful, Great Old One arrives. Cthulhu is one of the ones that can be on his way. The players are trying to stop him (or another) from showing up, but also need to be prepared to fight the being should it arrive anyway!

Call of Cthulhu

This is a role-playing game that I’ve not played, but I do know people who play it. Fairly certain Cthulhu must have some kind of representation in the game. Don’t know what it is here, since I don’t know the game that well. I couldn’t exactly leave this one off of the list though.

Wrap Up

Tomorrow we’ll be discussing Comics, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy. I hope you make it back tomorrow!

Filed under All, Fantasy, Role Playing Games Tagged with , , , , , ,

Zombies, Bat-romance, and Yoda Quotes – Geekout 16

January 18, 2017 1 Comment

With weekends only having 1 page, I’m at page 16, which means I’ll be about 52 days short of 365 for the year. By my calculations, I’m about 1/20th of the way through the calendar. Daunting! This set of topics looks interesting though! Today I’ll be naming Four Games with a Zombie theme, Two Batman Love Interests, and Two Classic Yoda Quotes.

2017-01-18 Geekout

Not sure what I’ll trim the lists down to here!

Four Games with a Zombie theme

These have certainly been popular over the years!

Slow zombies, fast zombies, smart zombies, dumb zombie, a nerd’s book by Zombie Seuss.

I liked how open-ended this question is, since it also allows for both board and video games. Based on its saying “a Zombie theme”, I would think it would need to be more than just having a zombie or two in it. Zombies are in D&D for example, but it’s not zombie themed.

Resident Evil/Biohazard

A classic game that was utterly terrifying when it first came out. It’s a bit laughable now, but graphics and gameplay have come a long way since the original of these hit store shelves. In some ways, the restrictive camera and difficult controls made the game harder and scarier. The game takes place in a mansion filled with zombies. I’ll not dive into the lore, but I will say that it’s extensive. The game features an exploration element, because you can learn more about the lore by exploring more locations and reading as you play.

Just don’t get turned into a Jill sandwich by the voice acting’s quality in this game…

Dead of Winter

I’ve not played this game enough times yet, but I’ve enjoyed it when I have. This is a (mostly) cooperative board game where the players take control of survivors struggling in in a zombie apocalypse scenario. The game mechanics work well as you try to feed everyone and defend yourselves against the hordes.

Zombies!!!

Not exactly the most strategic of games. This one has a large bag full of plastic zombies, and you’re exploring city streets trying to find a helicopter to escape. Also, yes, those exclamation points are in the title of the game. The cool mechanic in this one is that players move their own survivor piece as well as the zombies, so other players can really mess you up! Good luck surviving!

Left 4 Dead

Fast zombies! This was one heck of a crazy game! This is a first person shooter, cooperative game. You work as a team traveling from one safe house to the next, killing zombies and trying to make it to the next stop in one piece. Ammo and medical supplies will be there, so get there before you run out. This game’s zombies often run right at you, so it was fast-paced excitement when it came out.

Two Batman Love Interests

Superhero romance is always a dangerous issue, since it often means the pairing of two already-known characters. That leads to a circumstance I’m not keen on. I’ll explain what I mean by this in my selections.

Catwoman

If you’ve seen movies, cartoons, or comics, you know this is a thing. Even if nothing exists in the content you’re viewing, there are often hints at past/future interest between the two. Catwoman isn’t just straight up villainous, which is what makes her such an interesting character. She’s teamed up with the good guys before, and has motivations for what she does.

I know there’s something to establishing relationship through shared struggle, so perhaps this is an added factor in their relationship. Either way, I don’t get the impression that Catwoman is a character included only as a love interest for Batman, which is why she’s a good character in her own right. Just get her movie right next time…

Although, in all seriousness, I don’t think it has ever been romantic involvement (could be wrong), but I find the Poison Ivy and Catwoman relationship more interesting. I thought I’d heard a rumor of a movie about Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn. We’ll see if DC movies can redeem themselves…

Wonder Woman

I am fairly certain there was at least one story arc where Batman and Wonder Woman were at least somewhat romantically involved. I’m not a big fan of the concept, however, as too often female characters only exist as the male character’s love interest. Wonder Woman is great, and my opinion of her as a character increases as I learn more about her! Is it a thing that supers go for other supers? Maybe.

Two Classic Yoda Quotes

I’ll follow the rules and only pick two for this one, but Yoda imparts some great wisdom on Luke in the short bits of conversation shown on screen. I took “classic” here to mean that the quote should come from the original trilogy only.

That is why you fail.

When Yoda lifts that X-Wing using only the power of the force, Luke doesn’t believe what he’s seeing. Yoda informs him that it’s the reason he failed, which in talking about the force makes a lot of sense. It also makes plenty of sense for us as well.

When we approach a difficult task, expecting it to fail, we’re setting ourselves up for failure. We’re not trying as hard, since we’re expecting a failure anyway, why would we try as hard? Why would we make adjustments to try and make it succeed when we’re expecting failure anyway.

Wars not make one great.

Luke went looking for the “great warrior” Yoda to train him, but that’s one way in which Luke is terribly wrong-minded when he reaches Yoda. He believes Jedi to be warriors. This is an easy misconception given the little he knows of them (and his previous training). He was first taught about a Jedi weapon and told about a war, but Jedi are really the peacekeepers of the galaxy (or they’re supposed to be).

Greatness isn’t about who can defeat whom in battle. Great people improve the world around them and help other people. Yoda has fought in war, but it’s not what makes Yoda great. In The Empire Strikes Back, you don’t see Yoda teaching Luke to wield weapons and fight opponents. He isn’t shooting at human-shaped targets with a blaster or pointing a lightsaber at them. He’s learning to center himself and control his own body. He’s learning to become a better person. A Jedi.

Wrap Up

Did I seriously just succeed after catching up? That’s awesome! Keep watching next time for some more geeking out! The next one will be about fantasy, general geekiness, and gaming.

Filed under All, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Video Games Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Laser Weapons, Fairies, and SNL – Geekout 15

January 17, 2017 Leave a comment

Now that I’m back on track, let’s see if I can get a good streak going. Today I’ll be listing Four Fictional Weapons that use Laser Technology, Four Named Fairies, and Six Cast Members of Saturday Night Live.

2017-01-17 Geekout

Sounds difficult right now, but I think I can handle it. Let’s get diggin’!

Four Fictional Weapons that use Laser Technology

Not sure whether laser-targeting would qualify. Perhaps it would. We’ll see if I need to go there. Let’s get started with some laser weapons.

Laser Pistols and Laser Rifles – Fallout 4

This game has a few different types of weapons, and one of those types are the laser weapons. They’re reasonably OK. Having ammo for all of your weapon types is a challenge in this game.

Sentry Turret – Overwatch

Wow are these things currently really annoying. I think they’re laser weapons, but I’m not 100% on this. Either way, they’re neat. Symmetra can currently put up 6 of these little things, and they’ll destroy you if you step near them!

Iron Man Suit – Iron Man

As if this suit didn’t have enough weapons. I recall him having some lasers in the suit.

Death Star – Star Wars

Lasers combining together to create a beam powerful enough to destroy a planet? Check. Thermal exhaust port that would be an impossible target to hit unless you’re a jedi? Check.

Four Named Fairies

I’ll need to be careful that my choices here are actually fairies and not something similar to a fairy. Also, it says “named”, and I would think of “Fair Godmother” as a title rather than a name.

Tinkerbell – Peter Pan

Boring choice here, but Tinkerbell is a well-known character. I’m also fairly certain she’s a fairy.

Navi – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Hey! Listen! This is easily the most annoying character on this list! You can tell, because many of you will have read that in her voice! At the start of the game, you get Navi. Joy!

Razzly – Chrono Cross

Razzly is a strange member of your party in Chrono Cross. As many characters are in Chrono Cross, she’s optional, and she can be missed entirely. Her in-game profile says she’s “A Forest Fairy”.

Queen Mab – The Dresden Files

One of the most powerful characters we’ve met in the Dresden Files. She’s part of the Winter Court, one of the two Faerie Courts in the Dresden Files. The Dresden Files is one of my favorite book series ever written. If you’ve not read it, go check it out!

Six Cast Members of Saturday Night Live

They’ve had so many at this point, so I’m going to go through a set that did some SNL-inspired movies. Plenty of these cast members did more than one and also cross over into the others’ movies!

Dan Aykroyrd

Beldar Conehead. Some chewing gum? Plenty of classic characters here, but I’ll reference the Coneheads skit where he played an alien with a cone-shaped head.

Will Ferrell

What is love? Well, Steve, that’s something you’ll learn about eventually. For now, you just go ahead and keep dancing like an idiot, Steve Butabi.

Chris Kattan

Names? Steve and Doug Butabi. You’re brothers? No…. YESSS!!!! OH MAN! Definitely the crazier of the Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan duo, which takes some work.

Molly Shannon

She’s a Superstar named Mary Katherine Gallagher. And as usual for an SNL-inspired movie, she’s a bit out there.

Mike Myers

It’s Wayne’s World host, Wayne Campbell! May be the main character of the sketch, but I’m jumping to the better character.

Dana Carvey

Garth Algar is definitely better than Wayne. If you’re gonna spew, spew into this. I love Dana Carvey’s impressions, so he’s on the list despite my not wanting to go over on this list. And yes, the next one had to be included.

Tim Meadows

Leon Phelps, the Ladies Man. Oooh a lady! Did you watch SNL in the 90s? OK, you saw plenty of Tim Meadows. Did you see this movie though? It’s not as popular as some of those others, but I do enjoy it. Saved one of the best movies for last here.

Wrap Up

Game, Comics, and Sci-Fi are coming up tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Filed under All, Fantasy, Science Fiction Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

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.

2017-01-16 Geekout

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.

Filed under All, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Video Games Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

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.

2017-01-14 Geekout

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!

Filed under All, Fantasy, Science Fiction Tagged with , , , , ,

Narnia, Constellations, and Magic the Gathering – Geekout 12

January 15, 2017 Leave a comment

And the catch up game continues. I’m hoping it only takes a day or two, but these posts take me a lot longer than I expected them to! Time to just jump right in to this! Today I’ll be writing about Two Chronicles of Narnia Titles, Four Constellations, and Four Magic the Gathering Creatures.

2017-01-13 Geekout

Not as open-ended as I like my questions, but I know the topics well this time!

Two Chronicles of Narnia Titles

Since I mentioned The Voyage of the Dawntreader in a previous post, I’ll be skipping it here. While I’m not a fan of all of the books in the series, I do like the ones I’ll be naming as well as the chronologically first book in the series, The Magician’s Nephew.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

How could I not have chosen this classic story?! It’s a fun tale of adventure for children and about children! And it almost feels like the whole story could be in the imagination of a child, which is one aspect of the book that I’ve always enjoyed.

Prince Caspian

Continuing the story with the same characters still, Prince Caspian adds a new element to the series. Much changes in Narnia between these two books.

Four Constellations

There aren’t many constellations that I go around naming, but I do have four that I easily identify in the sky. I’m going to skip the Zodiac constellations, since I’m not a big fan of the constellations themselves or the idea that “being born under one” has any meaning at all.

Orion

One of the easiest constellations to find, due to that “belt” of three stars. The rest is easy to find once you orient yourself from there. I’ve always thought this was one of the better constellations, since I can visualize what it’s “depicting” better than most constellations.

Cassiopeia

I like pointing this constellation out to my wife when we’re outside at night. I usually call it cas-three-opeia, because it looks like a rotated, malformed three. Human pattern-matching also makes finding the big three in the sky easy. And for the record, I don’t see Cassiopeia herself in the set of stars.

Ursa Major

Not quite as easy as Orion and Cassiopeia to find, but still quite easy, you just find the Big Dipper first. The dipper is the tail of the “bear”. To be honest, I never thought this looked much like a bear. It’s more rodent-like if you ask me.

Ursa Minor

Also supposed to be a bear, we know it better as “The Little Dipper”. It looks more like a measuring cup than a bear to me anyway. How someone got “bear” from this, I’ll never know!

Four Magic the Gathering Creatures

When I first read this, I was thinking this said “Characters”, which got me all excited. I was thrilled that the calendar had a page getting so specific to the lore of Magic the Gathering as to ask for the characters rather than the cards. I even brought up the topic to my wife, because I think it’s nifty. I knew she didn’t have any idea of the characters in it. I was planning to talk about Urza and Mishra as well as my favorite character, Squee. Instead, I’ll read the prompt correctly, naming creatures from the world…

Squees ToyUrzas Armor

Orcish Librarian

I love this card so much. I have a ridiculous deck where I run this card. This card can obliterate your own deck if you’re not careful, which makes the artwork on it so great! When I realized my character/creature mistake, I immediately suggested I could use this card now. We both laughed, thinking about the picture and commenting on the “Library Paste”!

OrcishLibrarian

Maro

I recall having a deck that revolved around having Maro. What I don’t remember is how I managed my hand size, keeping Maro strong.

Maro

Slivers

There are many different slivers. They’re creatures that provide a benefit to all slivers, so having many of them builds power quickly.

 Metallic Sliver

This was the only sliver I could find quickly. Sadly, it doesn’t include a benefit for other slivers. It’s an interesting one, since it’s also an artifact.

Plague Rats

One of my favorite creatures! These guys are crazy. I recall playing a deck with some of these in high school. Interestingly, someone else did the same thing. We played big group games, so the two of us teamed up that game. Stronger Plague Rats that way!

Plague Rats

Additional Creations

I couldn’t resist adding some extras!

Bonus: Orcish Farmer

This stick in the mud makes mud! Or Swamp in this case…

Orcish Farmer

Bonus: Prodigal Sorcerer

There are some who call him… Tim. I call him “Tim”, as many others do. He’s named after Tim the Enchanter. It’s a fun name given to him, because he can ping people and creatures for a point of damage.

Prodigal Sorcerer

Bonus: Llanowar Elves

These mana-producing elves along with their Fyndhorn, Quirion, and Urborg brethren are able to provide you with an extra boost to your mana economy. You find these in many decks, but the Quirion and Urborg are mostly found in multi-color decks as they can produce more than just green mana.

Llanowar Elves

Wrap Up

Yes, I did got dig up my cards and find those cards to take the pictures. Had I not sorted these cards a couple of weeks ago, I’d not have been able to find them.

Also, I noticed right before clicking that “Publish” button for this post that “Ursa” and “Urza” are both mentioned in this post. Totally not confusing at all!

Filed under All, Fantasy Tagged with , , ,

Consoles, Comic Cats, and Cartoon Aliens – Geekout 11

January 14, 2017 Leave a comment

Coming to the end of week two of this challenge, I’m attempting to Geekout with this page-a-day calendar I’ve received. It asks me to list a set of things each day. Today, I’ll need to come up with Six Video Game Consoles, Two Comic Book Characters with Cat Attributes, and Four U.S. Cartoons with Alien Creatures.

2017-01-12 Geekout

These don’t look all that challenging. All three are open-ended questions again, so I think I’ve got them in hand.

Six Video Game Consoles

When I was a small child, my brother and I asked our parents for an NES for Christmas. My parents said that we couldn’t afford it, so we’d have to ask Santa. Christmas morning came, and no console was found under the tree. Later in the day, my family was all treated to small me screaming about something down in the basement. I assume my parents must have sent me downstairs to get something from down there. The console wasn’t under the tree, it was hooked up to a television in the basement. My first video game console. And boy was that a ride.

Nintendo 64

Nintendo’s venture into 64-bit consoles was something they’d been talking about for a while. I remember watching promotional videos Nintendo sent out on VHS tapes talking about the system. I read many articles about the system before its release.

The year that console came out, it was hard to find. Places sold out of them quickly. Somehow my parents managed to get one. My father had a cool idea for how to wrap it. I loved the idea so much then, and it has inspired me to do some creative work of my own.

The console was under our tree for a while before Christmas. It was wrapped together with games, additional controllers, and some extra pieces of cardboard. The interested part is that it was a uniquely shaped gift. It was shaped like some kind of poultry, maybe a chicken or a turkey. It was blocky, but you could tell what it was.

Playstation

When my brother and I were little, we saved our allowance money for years. We didn’t receive as much as most people we knew, but we also knew that saving it meant you could get better stuff with it. This is one example of that paying off. In fact, this console is not ten feet away from me right now and still works well, which is impressive for being the initial model to hit stores. We bought it when the price was still $300. This is one of my all-time favorite consoles, having been host to so many great games! I loved that this generation had both cartridges and discs, since both had advantages at that time. This system was a true marvel, being a success right out the gate.

XBox 360

Microsoft’s entrance into console gaming didn’t go as well as Sony’s. Their first console wasn’t as hugely successful, however, as we all say, the second time’s the charm. The 360 was a massive success, not just for having improved their game library, controllers, and system itself. Their true win was in their online support. Xbox Live may not have been free, but it worked so well that it destroyed its competition.

Sega Genesis

Being the only Sega console I owned, I had to name it here. It had some great games, including the more violent version of Mortal Kombat. The console was fun, however, Nintendo did have the better controller in that generation with the SNES. Sorry, Sega.

Atari 2600

This classic, famous console is old and goofy. I know some people love the wood-paneling along the side, but I think it just makes it look older. Joysticking was still the thing for this machine. Helping to contribute to the crash of game consoles, who could leave it off of the list?

Game Boy

Since I incidentally named other consoles in previous bits of text, I’m going to allow a handheld console in here. The original Game Boy was awesome; I played that handheld so much. My Game Boy is also within 10 feet of me right now. It’s right next to my two Game Boy Pockets and my Game Boy Color. I’ll lump those together for the most part, since Nintendo was brilliant enough to have them play the same games. Unlike the competition, Nintendo realized that quality games and battery life were far more important than colors an specs.

This brick of a handheld only showed images in shades of green, but it did so for hours on far fewer batteries than the competition. I remember using the magnifying glass and light combo adapter to use at night. I also was one of those people who caught the Pokemon craze immediately, picking up the game as soon as it released in the US.

Two Comic Book Characters with Cat Attributes

Thinking about what “Cat Attributes” might mean, I’m going to decide that naming actual cats would be outside of the spirit of the question, so Luna will not be listed. I do, however, think you can have “cat attributes” without physical feline traits; whiskers on humans will not be a requirement for this.

Cat Woman

Too obvious on this one? Cat-like? Absolutely. I will say that giving her a movie of her own may have been a mistake… She’s a fun character, because she’s not just a straight up villain.

Black Panther

They’ve brought him to the big screen, and it’s good. Great work, Marvel! Do this character well! I am looking forward to his having his own movie!

Four U.S. Cartoons with Alien Creatures

Well this is going to focus on some of the weirder characters from cartoons.

American Dad

While it’s not a show I watch, I’ve seen more than a few episodes of it. I included it, because it’s a show that prominently features an alien and isn’t sci-fi other than that (as far as I know).

The Flintstones

I’m sure you forgot or are trying to forget that this show had an alien! The great Gazoo, if I recall the name and spelling of that green, stereotypical alien thing.

The Simpsons

For as much of the Simpsons as I’ve seen over my lifetime, I’m blanking on the name of the two green aliens from the show. They’re cycloptic , tentacled alients wearing tall, nearly-cylindrical space helmets. Also, I didn’t want to list Futurama, since that seemed too easy.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast

There are a couple of aliens here, including my favorite bean-loving idiot, Brak. If you’ve never watched this show, you missed out. It was one of my favorites as a kid.

Wrap Up

Yes, I’m going to playing a bit of catch up on these! I was unable to publish each day, so I’ll be doing a couple of these some days until I catch back up!

Filed under All, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Video Games Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Fictional Elements, Greco-Roman Movies, and J.J. Abrams – Geekout 10

January 11, 2017 Leave a comment

Well into the second week of this, I’m hoping to get back on track. This seems to be the day. Some large numbers here, but I think I can get some good answers to these. Today we’re looking for Two Fictional Sci-Fi Elements/Materials, Six Films Based on Greco-Roman Mythology, and Four Films or Television Shows Created by J.J. Abrams.

2017-01-11 Geekout

That first one, the sci-fi one, is a cake walk. The fantasy prompt should also not be too hard to come up with, even with six being the number. The general geekiness question about J.J. Abrams at first seemed easy, but “created by” might be the challenge here. Let’s get started!

Two Fictional Sci-Fi Elements/Materials

Well here’s an easy one. Don’t even have to leave Star Trek and Star Wars for this one.

Transparisteel

As the name implies, this is a strong, transparent material. If you’ve played any Star Wars games, you’ll have come across this material frequently. It’s often used for “windows” on starships, cockpits and other areas needing transparency.

Dilithium Crystals

Any Star Trek fan will immediately know these crystals. They’re used in the warp drives on starships in the Star Trek universe. As such, they’re important in many episodes of Star Trek.

Six Films Based on Greco-Roman Mythology

I’ve not seen plenty of these, but I do know of their existence. Surprisingly difficult, since I’m (for now) unwilling to accept multiple Hercules movies.

Troy

This movie follows Achilles and depicts the events of the Trojan Horse. Definitely qualifies for this category.

Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief

Based on the first book in a series, this is a light take on mythology. It’s a modern setting, but involves gods, their children, and plenty of other mythical creatures.

Hercules

I’ll lump both Rockules and the animated Disney movie together for this. I’m not a big fan of either of these two movies, but they exist!

Clash of the Titans

Classic movie. I’ve not seen this one either. It’s about the titans, so it fits the prompt.

300

Yes, I’m counting this one. The same as the Trojan horse story, this seems to fall into the realm of myth closely enough.

Wrath of the Titans

I did not see this movie when it came out a few years ago. Was it good? I was guessing not, since most of this type of movie aren’t. Also about titans, so fits the bill for this one.

Four Films or Television Shows Created by J.J. Abrams

I’ve been wrestling with the idea of what constitutes “created by”, because I’d like to consider it to be something he had the idea for, produced, directed, helped write, etc. I started with three TV shows that I believe qualify, but couldn’t come up with anything else that I thought fit the bill.

Lost

My wife and I really enjoyed watching this show. There were points where it was not-so-good, so it’s hard to evaluate its legacy at this point. I think it suffered from the same issue that many shows do, which is they don’t set out with a full story and are making too many changes as they go. Each season gets a focus, throwing off the rhythm.

Fringe

Walter. The show is good, but Walter makes this show. Some great characters and a lot of fun here. This show is supposed to go off the rails a bit, so it’s fun that it does. Setting expectations for the win!

Alias

I only saw a few episodes of this show, but my wife watched it consistently. She seemed to like it, but I never got around to catching up from the beginning.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I didn’t want to use this example, since he’s not the creator of Star Wars. He didn’t even say, “hey I want to make Star Wars VII”. I think a more accurate description is that Disney wanted to make episode VII and he was selected to work on it. I’m fairly certain he was involved in screenplay, directing, producing, etc. I guess I’ll call that enough and include it here.

Wrap Up

Didn’t finish it as well as I would have liked, but I did manage to get there. Calling that a win for now.

Filed under All, Fantasy, Science Fiction Tagged with , , , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →