Reasons to Survive This Week 10/24/11

Ok, guys, I’m gonna dedicate a good amount of time to writing this intro.  I’ve waste too much of my week stuck to the PS3, time for some real work to- hey! A Riddler Trophy! And another one! OH NO! A PHONE CALL FROM THE MURDEROUS VICTOR ZSASZ! SMOKE PELLET!

Check out this stuff and leave me alone for a week, okay? I’m Batman.

Monday

Joshua Jackson- Executive VP in Charge of Waddle Dees

It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally getting that Kirby console platformer that was promised way back on the Gamecube.
Kirby: Return to Dreamland brings Kirby back to the TV screen, where he’s sure to suck and blow like only he can. To follow the co-op trend, Return to Dreamland will have four player co-op, except unlike New Super Mario Bros and Kirby’s Epic Yarn where each character was exactly the same, Meta Knight, King DeDeDe and a badass spear wielding Waddle Dee each have their own abilities. It’s like if Mario 2 was four player! And come on, who hasn’t wanted to play as Waddle Dee? (Editor’s Note: Everyone.  Everyone Hasn’t.)

Tuesday

Jonathan London- High Falutin’ Movie Star

The People VS George Lucas is on DVD! This is a movie I became involved very early on in the process and became close friends with the filmmakers, helping them to get a few former Geekscape guests into the movie. It’s been pretty rewarding to see the movie achieve a lot of success on the festival circuit and now everyone gets a chance to see the film for itself. Alexandre Phillipe and company have put together the film equivalent of sitting through a very intense and insightfully balanced panel discussion on one of our favorite topics: George Lucas. Those of you who think that you’ve already heard all of the bitching and moaning (and praise) about the man will still find something new in the film to further shape your opinion of the man.

Ian Kerner- Star-Spangled Curmudgeon

I think everyone who was looking forward to Captain America: The First Avenger (Out on Blu and DVD) was at least a little concerned that a man running around in spandex on the battlefield in World War II would look cheesy, but the movie managed to make it make sense. Amazing action and heartfelt drama – I actually teared up towards the end. Hayley Atwell is a breakout star. Easily the best Marvel movie yet.

Russell Sherman- Will Find A Way

The People vs. George Lucas would have been on my list for this week but the people of Canada could have picked it up weeks ago, I’ve been seeing it in stores since mid to early September.  So instead I’m going to recommend Jurassic Park (Out on Blu).  Now it may be the entire trilogy but I’m going to pretend that the last two movies don’t exist and that this is the only way that I’ll ever get to see the awesomeness of the first one in glorious High Definition.

William Bibbiani- On Blu-Ray!

The Conversation on Blu-Ray! In 1975, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Part II won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. You know what it was up against? Francis Ford Coppola’s other movie that year, The Conversation. And personally, I think The Conversation is the better film. Gene Hackman stars as Harry Caul, a surveillance expert who gets caught up in a mystery that threatens his life and his sanity (one of which he will lose). Hackman has never been better, and there are at least two scenes in the movie you will probably never forget.

Island of Lost Souls on Blu-Ray! There are two kind of people who will read this. The majority of you, who will wonder “What’s that?” and the rest of us, who are pumping our fists and yelling “Finally!” Island of Lost Souls is the first ever film adaptation of The Island of Doctor Moreau, and considered by many to be the very best. Which is easy for them to say, since it’s been unavailable on home video for, basically, ever. Never been on DVD before, that’s for sure, and if you’ve found a copy of VHS or Blu-Ray, well, you’re a better man than I. Plus, it’s from the Criterion Collection, so it boasts an army of impressive special features and probably the best transfer possible for a movie from 1932.

Rare Exports on Blu-Ray! From Finland comes what may be the best Christmas horror movie since Black Christmas, a chilling tale (because it’s freezing over there) about an archaeological dig to uncover the tomb of Santa Claus, whose legend has evolved so much over the years that people forgot that he wasn’t a homicidal demon. Beautifully shot, and told from the perspective of a Spielbergian little boy who saves the day because he’s the only one who believes… that Santa is evil and has to be taken down.

Shane O’Hare- Hated All But Two Games This Decade

Six years after the release of Battlefield 2, one of the most genre-changing multiplayer games of ALL time, we get the sequel. Battlefield 3 is going to be next level, with the new Frostbite engine from DICE, we have graphics offered that have never before been seen. With the public beta offering a taste of what is to come and an aggressive ad campaign, BF3 created a run on computer hardware to the tune of almost a billion dollars. I am more excited for this game than any other game that has come out this decade.

Josh Jackson- CFO in Charge of Inappropriate Images

Finally, the game we’ve all been waiting for is finally here! That’s right, I’m talking about Dance Central 2!

Screw Batman, Uncharted, Zelda and Modern Warfare, this is my most anticipated game of this year, and from what I’ve already played, there’s no reason for it not to be. Not only does it feature a much improved set list, the ability to import the entire set list from the first game and supports all existing DLC, but it handles simultanious 2 player dancing so well, which is a shock since most Kinect games don’t even handle one player at a time without dropping the image. This will be the first time that paperweight called my Kinect will see extensive use since, well… Dance Central 1! Well, besides getting flagged for inappropriate images.

Noel Nocciolo- VP in Charge of Wild Years

A new album from Tom Waits, aptly titled, Bad As Me.  He’s my favorite badass in music and he takes his badass-ness to a myriad of heights with projects that are a little….off.  Jim Jarmusch movies. A really odd scene in Domino while one of his songs echoed in the background. Scored the Francis Ford Coppola critically-panned snoozer, One From The Heart with Crystal Gayle.  Has recently enlisted his son to play drums while on tour in mostly smaller markets where he claimed he’d never been and/or folks owed him money.  Has enlisted Les Claypool to wail on the bass guitar in the studio.  Isn’t afraid to be weird.  Isn’t afraid to tell macabre, sensitive and thought-provoking stories.  Opted for Marin County, California over Los Angeles to live, work and raise two (now grown) children.  Has written songs about hookers and g-strings.

Tom Waits is a dude’s artist.  I listen to him almost exclusively when I’m trying to get into the head-space of a dude, stay there for a minute, see how it jives, trying to get the xy thing. Tom Waits does Tom Waits; he doesn’t give a shit if you aren’t into what he’s throwing out to the ether, and very rarely plays live.  In an industry of pleasers, this is awesomely rare.  Every few years we are given the treat of new material.  In 2004’s Real Gone, he boldly embodied both the narrative voice of a deployed soldier as a person of both pride and of situational discontent in “Day After Tomorrow,” pointedly forcing the listener (mostly dudes) to think and feel something while hearing to the barren recording.  Waits’ wife is a writer and they often work together, further illustrating the “behind every good man is an incredible woman” theory.  He’s one of the few musicians making interesting work that could very easily just be read as poetry.

Can’t wait to see what kind of badass trouble I find myself in when I hear this record.

Molly Mahan- Eliminates the Impossible, Remains Improbable

Literature is still considered geeky, even if it’s not sci-fi or fantasy, right? If not, then the fact that one of the tales is penned by Neil Gaiman should at least give it some geek-cred. A Study in Sherlock is a new anthology of stories from modern writers, inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Edited by Laurie R. King (author of the Mary Russell series, which features Holmes) and Leslie S. Klinger (the scholarly authority on Sherlock Holmes), the anthology contains stories by Lee Child, Jan Burke, Tony Broadbent and more, there’s even a comic strip by Colin Cotterill! And I know comics are considered “geeky”.

Wednesday

Jonathan London- May Be An Elaborate Halloween Hoax

War of the Worlds (Out on XBLA) is a game I’ve been excited about since seeing the demo at E3 this year. Narrated by Patrick Stewart and set in 1953 London, the grey-scale game looks and plays a lot like the original 2D titles Prince of Persia and Out of This World, some of the greatest experiences of my early gaming life. If you loved those games, or last year’s Limbo, this is a game you won’t want to skip. The animation, the art direction and the sound design all look to lend themselves to a pretty awesome little game that might be the surprise download title of the year. Plus, it’s pretty damn awesome to see Martian ray guns frying fleeing army men into dust!

Frank Angones- Doesn’t Talk To Fish

This week sees the wrap up of the massively fun Spider-Island crossover in Amazing Spider-Man and the beginning of  Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron, who’s insanely fun, time-travelly Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine earned him an instant-buy pass from me. But I’m most excited for Aquaman #2.  Of all the New 52 relaunches, Aquaman was the happiest surprise.  Why?  Because it was a LIGHTHEARTED and UNIQUE.  So many of the books were carbon copy origin stories, a lot of grim and gritty nonsense.  Don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of big, scary moments and fish monsters.  Plus, it’s Geoff Johns, so I wouldn’t get too attached to that arm if I were you, Arthur Curry.  Still, there was a mix of epic action and humor in this book that put me in the mind of Johns/Katz’s Booster Gold run, which was one of my favorite books of the past couple of years.  With Pak/Van Lente’s Herc series on the chopping block at Marvel, I’m gonna start reading this book and Azzarello’s Wonder Woman back to back in a desperate attempt to scratch that itch.

Alexander (Monstar) Raymond – Likes His Buckets of Blood Bright Red

Horror Of Dracula/Curse of the Werewolf Screening! Those that are familiar with the legacy of Hammer Horror are well aware of the significance of Horror of Dracula. It’s was the movie that placed Hammer Studios on the map and led the “House of Hammer” to becoming the biggest name in British Horror. This also began the popular teaming of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in horror films, which continued in such films as Mummy and  The Curse of Frankenstein. Wednesday night at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, a special screening of this Hammer classic will take place at 7:30 on a double bill with the Oliver Reed starring Curse of the Werewolf. Curse is Hammer’s take on a werewolf tale, far removed from the Universal Larry Talbot tale that most are accustom to. To see these films again on the big screen is truly a treat. More info on the screening can be found here.

Thursday

Russell Sherman- Fantasy Frog Baseball League President

To the delight of pot heads throughout the world (I would say hipsters but the ones I know don’t get excited about anything) Beavis and Butthead (MTV, 10 PM EST) return to the airwaves.  I wasn’t a fan of the show then and I probably wont watch it this time around but I am a fan of companies seeing that there is a market for nostalgia and capitalizing on it.  I prefer when they do things like this and just bring back a show with the original cast (Furturama, Family Guy) instead of doing reboots of say the Mod Squad (I don’t have the facts to back this up but this will be next years reboot).

Frank Angones- Should Probably Rinse Off These Vampire Teeth He Found In His Coat Pocket

More than any other show on the air, Community knows how to do an epic theme episode; at this point, their yearly Paintball episodes are a holiday unto themselves.  Following up last years’ Zombie Outbreak Special, this year’s Community Halloween Special (NBC, 8 PM EST) looks like a riff on the old Treehouse of Horror setup, with each member of the study group telling scary stories in an attempt to figure out who amongst them has actual homicidal tendencies.  Looks like Community has finally how to shove several theme episodes into one! (Hopefully, that’s the case, and not a matter of the ever-on-the-bubble sitcom trying to get all their crazy Halloween episode ideas out there out of fear of cancellation).

Friday

Shane O’Hare- VP in Charge of Theatre Drinking

The Rum Diary. A movie starring Johnny Depp in a Hunter S. Thompson story? Yes please! I know it’s trendy to be all up on Depp’s junk especially for the hipsters who think they are fans of Hunter S. Thompson because they saw Fear and Loathing when their parents were at a Christmas party getting drunk and ignoring them, but I am genuinely interested. I’m going to take a 3 hour break from BF3 this week, grab a Rum and Coke and rolling to the theater to take a gander.

Molly Mahan- Is Coming Off As Way More Literary Than The Rest Of Us This Week

Although I don’t care much for the academic dilemma that is the film’s thesis (does it really matter if Bill Shakespeare wrote the plays and sonnets credited to him? It’s the words that are revered, not the man), I do enjoy political intrigue, period pieces and alt-history (what it?) story telling. By the looks of it, Anonymous has all that in spades. I’m hoping, at the very least, for some excellent Elizabethan word play and at least one soliloquy.

Eugene Ramos- May Own a Codpiece

Once in a blue moon, something comes along that makes me question my decision to major in British Literature of the 1500s. This Friday it’s Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous, which argues that I wasted four years of my life and $100 grand believing that Shakespeare wrote all the plays attributed to him. Sigh … who am I kidding? EVERYTHING makes me question my decision to major in British Literature of the 1500s.

Saturday

Tanya Tate- Is Open To Cosplay Suggestions

Next weekend, October 29th & 30th, the annual Long Beach Comic Con is going to take place. I’ve gone to the LBCC a few times, and I have always had a great time going. You may have seen me in full cosplay mode as Susan Storm, The Invisible Woman or Green Lantern Arisia. I have not made up my mind who I’m going to be dressed as this time, but I’m sure it’ll be something fun.

Guests for this upcoming convention include John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing), Shane Black (director of 2013 release, Iron Man 3 and that guy who told the naughty jokes in the movie Predator)  and many more. Panels include one by Robot Chicken and one on The Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror.  More info on all the guests, panels and going ons can be found on the Long Beach Comic Con website . And here’s a YouTube video I did at an earlier LBCC.