Who needs a turkey when there are dragons??

Happy Turkey Day, Internet! And what better way to celebrate this classic American holiday than with the time honored traditional element: dragons! No, you heard me, I'm celebrating my Thanksgiving with dragons.

 

Be Jealous

But why, you may ask, am I forgoing the traditional turkey and stuffing for a more mythological approach? I dunno, I'm bored, so why not. 

Technically it all started with a movie that is apparently still underrated, given the amount of people I've introduced it to since it released on DVD. I'm talking, of course, of the Dreamworks gem, How to Train Your Dragon.

Don't tell me you don't want three

Seriously, if you haven't seen it yet, what in the world are waiting for? Sure, it's no Shrek, and it's no Pixar movie, but there have by far been worse movies in existence (really, just look at last week's post). It's cliched, but who cares? It's pretty; I'm sorry if you missed the chance to see it in 3D in theaters, but blue ray on a good tv comes pretty close. It sounds freaking awesome

It's hard to just pick one to post, so you're homework is to listen to more!

and ultimately, it's FINALLY a good movie about dragons! I mean, what great dragon movies have we had lately? No, wait, what good movies containing dragons at all have we had lately? 

ok, there's one. A minor character, at best. And before that?

that's the Harry Potter dragon, if you forgot about it too. And before that?

uuummm, not so much. Great books, lousy movie. Before that?

granted, it was awesome when I was 12, and I haven't seen it since, but that alone should be a good indication of lousyness, right?

Anyway, you get the point. We were due for a good dragon movie. Very, very due. 

And to continue my newly created tradition, today Cartoon Network premiered a new movie "Firebreather," about a 16-year-old half human half dragon named Duncan. I was bored, it promised dragons, and so I watched it. 

Honestly, I wasn't expecting very much, and that's exactly what I got. Not very much. But come on, you promise some dragons, at least just make all the "monsters" dragons, not...wierd...demon...things. They did, however, enlist the voice acting of one Dante Basco to play Duncan's friend. You may recall him as the firebending Prince Zuko in the Avatar cartoon, and also as American Dragon: Jake Long (yeah, remember that one?). Basically, Basco can't seem to stay away from those dragon-fire related roles, eh? 

Finally, I've been reading a new book (I know, shock!) that seems like it holds some promise. It's called Starlighter, by Bryan Davis. 

Looks promising, though, right?

I'm not very far in yet, but so far there are two separate stories going on (I can only assume they merge at some point). One involves Jason Masters, who's of the warrior variety in a world that merges sci-fi photon ray guns with classic medieval swordsmanship, and his mission to locate a gateway that may or may not exist. Meanwhile, Koren is a human slave girl in a world ruled by dragons. Real dragons. Real dragons that have more society and civilization (and...slaves) than any dragons I've seen or read about so far, but hey! You can only establish so many rules about mythological creatures, right? Anywho, we'll see how this book goes. In the meantime, go enjoy your new Turkey Day tradition (or just stick to the old ones, I'm not picky). But don't forget to tune in next time for some more average nerdiness!

A Post That Could Only Dream Of Being That Epic

I had a hard time deciding what to post about this week. There hasn't been anything too geek-tastic to give me any jolts of inspiration this week. And then a miracle occurred in the student union theater on campus, where we students get to see wonderful pre-release movies for a dollar: they're showing Scott Pilgrim vs The World!

The tagline speaks the truth

I realize that I'm late to the Scott Pilgrim party (sorry, internet!) but at least I'm attending, right? 

Anyway, it's playing all weekend, and I may or may not start classes on Monday having seen it once each day...shut up. It was great. Well, it started great, anyway. 

If you didn't already know, the movie was based off of a series of graphic novels. I did get a chance to read the books before I saw the movie, but I feel like it might have been better the other way around. Don't get me wrong, it was still an excellent movie, and "the book is always better than the movie," I just felt a little...let down, I guess. Perhaps that's largely due to the fact that they followed the first two books almost completely exactly, even most of the third one. Everything after that just kind of got lost in translation, like they said "Oh, crap, we have to start summarizing some of this or the movie's going to be like 3 hours long!" 

I have to say, though, I loved that they acknowledged the fact that they changed so much. Towards the end, the second time Scott runs into the Chaos Theater, instead of saying something about which album is better, you can hear Comeau say "...based off of them. And the comics are way better than the movie..." which made me giggle a bit. So, if you saw the movie, but haven't read the books, good! There's so much more to get now! If you read the books and haven't seen the movie, go see it! It's still a great movie. If you haven't heard of this Scott Pilgrim phenomenon, I'm just not sure what to do with you ( I mean, if I'VE heard of it, you don't have a lot of excuse, honestly). 

Finally, remember back in post number one, when I mentioned that I dabble in various dorky things, but there's always someone nerdier out there? Here's a good example: I was watching the movie last night, and had the good fortune of sharing the theater with some guy who was just too excited about it. Every joke (and there are so many of them), he'd release this odd wheezy laugh. And sure, the whole audience would laugh at the jokes, but you could ALWAYS hear this guy above everyone else. And after every battle, he'd clap and cheer, like he forgot it was just a movie and that he really just witnessed someone exploding into a bunch of coins. I mean, I enjoyed it too, but I wasn't quite that overcome with emotion at every victory. But, to each his own, I suppose....

On a separate but slightly related note (by which I mean we are still on the topic of books-turned-movies), remember the Hunger Games? Yes, I read the next two, and yes, they were everything I hoped for and more! Well, Lionsgate is officially making the movie, set to release in 2013. WOO! Why can I afford to be excited? Because Suzanne Collins, the genius behind the books, is ALSO set to do the adaptation. There's just something comforting about movies when authors do the adaptation themselves. You know the movie will catch as much of the original vision as possible, and that it will come as close as it can to showing you what the author saw when writing it. Because, you know, otherwise you get jerk-faced director/screenwriters who think THEY understand what it's all about, and, well,

this happens. 

ANYWAY, that won't happen with the hunger games. No word yet on who will play Katniss. Some rumors flying around have suggested that Twilight's Kristin Stewart play the leading lady, a suggestion that made me throw up a little. Other rumors, however, have been suggesting that they cast Kick Ass's Chloe Moretz, a suggestion I think I could approve of. Ultimately, we'll just have to wait and see, but you can bet I'll be sharing updates as they become available!

Anywho, that's all for now. Tune in next week for some more average nerdiness!

Guess Who's Back!

Me...it's me, I'm back.

It's been a while (a little over a week is like 5 years in internet time, studies have been done to prove it, so I'm sorry for making you wait 5 years). It turns out that the Graduate School Beast is a jealous creature, and doesn't appreciate being ignored for a long weekend. So this week has been a maddening attempt to appease it. I barely made it out with all my limbs, but doggonit, I'll update this blog! And by the way, I believe that now D) All of the Above is going to be updated weekly, to avoid any further run ins with the Grad School Beast.

Anywho, this week's post is going to rave on and on about the wonders of a fantastic show on USA Network known as Psych!

Fake Psychic. Real Detectives.

If for some reason you are unfamiliar with this show, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??? WATCH IT! WATCH IT RIGHT NOW!!

*ahem*

The basic premise is that Sean Spencer, played by James Roday, convinces the Santa Barbara Police Department that he can quickly solve cases due to his psychic powers, all with the help of his best friend and reluctant partner in crime-solving Berton "Gus" Guster, played by Dule Hill. So every week Sean and Gus have wacky crime-solving adventures, make pop culture references, hide a pineapple somewhere in the show, and pretend to be psychic. 

Why do I bring this up now? Partially because new episodes are coming back on November 10th, which is good, because my Wednesday nights have been woefully Psych-less lately. But mostly because earlier this week, I learned why it can rock to go to a huge school. USA randomly decided to do a Psych College Tour, where they picked ten colleges that get to have an advanced screening of the new episode. Guess which school was picked for last Monday night? That's right, mine! 

I won't ruin the new episode for anybody waiting to see it Wednesday night, but I will tell you that it was pretty much awesome. Also, if you remember the episode that Cary Elwes guest starred in, but you could hardly recognize him as the same dude who played Princess Bride's Westley or Robin Hood: Men in Tights because he had let himself go so much, he got so much back in shape. But that's all I'm gonna say. 

But as if that wasn't enough, who surprises us with a personal appearance but James Roday and Dule Hill themselves! Don't believe me? 

BAM! The fuzzy quality proves that I took the picture from a decent yet still too far away seat

So they gave away pineapple pillows, answered various questions from the audience (Dule Hill had auditioned  for a role on House, but we're all glad he didn't get it because then he wouldn't be Gus! And James Roday actually wrote or helped write most of the upcoming episodes, including the season finale), Dule tap danced, and they let a few crazed girl fans give them hugs (no, I wasn't one of them; yes, I'm insanely jealous). 

So, that's all I got for now. The Beast is stirring, and homework is calling. So tune in next week for some more average nerdiness!

*talking about how great filming in Canada is* Roday: Plus, it's Vancouver! So there's, like, weed everywhere!

And here I had been thinking he seemed tired...or sick...or high